ValueSubtracted

Some sort of surprising outcomes last weekend

It's funny, I was just about to say the narratives of the season seem to be taking shape, but you're right - there are still some things up in the air.

Riders vs Bombers in the West Finals?

I wouldn't be mad about that at all. But I do hope BC can get things more together - I like Buck Pierce.

My Argos won without Chad Kelly yesterday

I'd also like to see the defending champs gather some more steam.

That quote is...really something. RTD has a habit of overexplaining things to the point of incomprehensibility, but that takes it to a new level.

I do think the basics of what he's getting at ring true - they certainly struggled a bit with "how much sexism should the Thirteenth Doctor encounter," and "how much racism should the Fifteenth Doctor encounter?" They both probably should have encountered more than they did, but if the story isn't about that, you run the risk of derailing the entire story. But if you include it "casually," as just a fact of the world, as they did in this case...that's not necessarily better. But maybe it's still worthwhile?

I don't think there's a right answer, but RTD sure managed to find a wrong one.

On this topic, I was certainly laughing right along with the show's depiction of Mickey-as-a-murder-suspect, but that has unsettling racial implications on its own, if you really interrogate the idea.

Hopefully, this launch will go without major hitches. Canada Day week is probably a good time to do it, since there will be fewer commuters.

Elbows way, way down.

Oh boy, it's the one with the farting aliens.

I don't care for this one at all. It's a very pure expression of RTD's "kid-friendly" vision of Doctor Who, but...it makes it kid-friendly by featuring farting aliens. No thanks.

But there's still good stuff! Pretty much everything about Rose's return is pretty great. Jackie's anger and relief after Rose has been missing for a year, Mickey's status as a suspected murderer, all good stuff. We get to meet Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, who's always a delight. We get to see UNIT, still with "United Nations" in their name. We also get to meet Toshiko Sato.

The broad strokes of the plot are interesting. A crashed UFO, faked by aliens not as a diversion, but as a trap for the council of Big Brains that would immediately convene. I like that a lot. I also liked the way the Doctor immediately drops his dismissiveness of ~~Ricky~~ Mickey as soon as he says something intelligent.

But at the end of the day, those farting aliens are always going to be there.

I didn't say that.

Star Trek VI is generally considered one of the "good ones".

Of course, the secret is, they're all the good ones.

Yes, even that one.

I would probably go with "whatever was the most recent release," so West is canonical, but his identity as the would-be assassin is not?

Which I prefer, to be honest - having the Klingon be a Klingon helps to reinforce this as a cross-faction conspiracy.

Some traditions need to be upheld.

Some picks were exchanged yesterday, but it's been pretty quiet.

30 seconds later

EDM @ WPG

Well, that was a little too close for comfort. It looks like the Elks might be able to figure something out if their O line improves.