Ponies? No thanks…

Early in the morning, I decided to check out Netflix… Netflix apparently had the new My Little Pony animated series that are making so-called bronies everywhere act like jabronies. Feeling a bit bored, I decided to sample an episode of the show… and promptly shut it off after about five minutes…

I guess I’m not a bronie… I’ll stick with that other girly show about magical girls in sailor suits. At least it’s part of the same species…

Now… upon further study, I realize the above post needs a bit more context, so here’s the deal. This is not a “hate” thing or anything like that. I sampled about five minutes of a twenty minute episode of the show and decided that it was not for me. Kudos to all involved for producing a show that people like enough to gain some popularity; I’m just not one of those folks.

Finally…

After what seemed like forever, but more like a couple days after a major snowstorm hit, our trusty Montreal snow removal crews are in the process of clearing the snow from our street. Thank fuck for that. Now I can get out of my dungeon this afternoon and get some last minute bits up.

Also, I’m in a mad rush to produce some content for year’s end… including the traditional 2012 in Review article.

BluRay Review – Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1 (Blu-Ray)

Until I start my own swag of Blu-Ray collection or however it’s supposed to be written, I’m stuck nicking my bro’s collection at the moment. So I checked out the Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 Blu-Ray (will eventually go for Season 2 afterwards) and I’d have to say that I’m somewhat impressed by what they did with the remastering, where they actually remade the visual effects using the original film elements rather than a simple upconversion or using CGI effects that would look too modern even for a 1987 show.

The end result is visual effects that are the same as the original version, but with more lighting and details that would otherwise be lost in standard definition televisions. There’s very little in terms of actual changes with effects (particularly one notable change in “The Naked Now” that’s on screen for a second, but easily noticeable if you’re familiar with the show.) It looks really good for the most part (with some shots looking rather odd) and really does more to sell me on the Blu-Ray experience than anything else on the market.

As for the show itself, well, the first season of Next Gen was definitely a work in progress. When people compile a list of the best episodes from the entire seven-year run, only a very minute number of them are from the first season. For every quality episode such as “Where No One Has Gone Before” or “Datalore” or “The Big Goodbye”, there’s about four or five crappy episodes like “Justice” or the overly-sexist “Angel One” or the overly-racist “Code of Honor.” The show eventually got a bit better with everyone finding their footing, but the first season was definitely growing pains. Still somewhat enjoyable, I think.

On a whole, it’s a nice little job they did here. The effects are vastly improved, the picture quality is rather sharp, the bonus features (comprising episodic promos, a look at the remastering process, a retrospective with lots of screen test footage, an edited version of the infamous TNG Gag Reel floating around the internet, and they even snuck in the DVD extras) are plentiful, and it’s just a really well-done package. It’s definitely a worthwhile upgrade to the BluRay format that’s worth the double-dipping if you already own the old DVD sets.

Random Thought On… TNA Reducing Their PPV Count

Kind of odd timing that I would be discussing something that was leaked out a couple weeks ago, but all things considered, it’s still pretty noteworthy if they follow through on this plan. Basically, TNA is dumping two of their PPVs in order to increase build up for two other PPVs of considerable importance. The No Surrender PPV? Turfed to make the build to Bound For Glory more memorable. The Against All Odds PPV? Turfed to build to their Lockdown PPV.

For what it’s worth, I think this is a smart idea. PPVs in this day and age are getting up there in price and their importance happens to diminish every year. There use to be a time where PPVs would be the place where you’d get to see stories and feuds come to an end or, at the very least, progress such tales in the next chapter. Nowadays, they’re little more than placeholder shows you have to pay money for… and oftentimes, just build up to some special edition of RAW.

In TNA’s case, their focus should be to try and drum up interest in their Impact Wrestling show. Maybe shitcan a couple more PPVs and do a television special or two in their place similar to the old Clash Of The Champion shows that WCW used to put out. It’s worth considering, I think.