Like you, I loved this show as a kid - and I think I'd be too afraid of ruining my own memories of it by attempting to watch it again now!

I learned that lesson when I tried to watch a Blake's 7 episode about ten years ago... 😬

Some things are best left to nostalgia.

I loved Arrival, and personally I found both the ideas and the characters compelling - but if the 'language changing perception' part didn't land for you, I can see why you wouldn't care for it.

If you haven't already read it, it might be worth trying the short story that it's based on ('Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang, in the collection Stories of Your Life and Others), instead. I found the story a bit drier than the film, but perhaps you'll prefer it.

(ETA: And in the time I was thinking about and typing this up, I see others have beaten me to suggesting the short story!)

That's a great list. Have seen a good proportion of them, but there's a couple (The Endless and Stalker) that I wasn't aware of, so will have to watch out for.

I loved Looper.

Haven't seen any mention of a new starter area (and given that we got Swanfleet/Cardolan in Before the Shadow as an alternative starter area, I think it's probably unlikely we'd get another new one so soon) - but you never know!

They ARE teasing a new River Hobbits-themed housing area, though.

Mostly, I'm hoping those hairstyles might be available to Shire Hobbits at some point. They look awesome!

I've always loved this artwork.

Any idea what the original source for it is? A reverse image search just turns up a whole lot of reposts on wallpaper sites and the like.

I'm no artist, and I doubt my few screenshots would be of interest, given:

The weirder the better, plz.

But I'm curious, why the emphasis on weird? What's wrong with a simple N7 or a classy shot of the Normandy?

Also, in more practical terms - what dimensions does a banner need to be?

This is worth it for the universal toolkit alone!

I'd read it as a new race, just as with the stout-axe dwarves. But I could be wrong!

I'd read it as a new race, just as with the stout-axe dwarves. But I could be wrong!

Thank you, that's very much appreciated. 🙂

Saw this earlier - have to admit I'd forgotten all about it, but was still sad to hear it won't be happening now. I loved Mr. Robot, so would have been very interested to see what Sam Esmail did with this.

Heh, that's a fair point! Unfortunately I'm no artist either.

Oh! Yes, that makes sense. So I'm the one who misunderstood 🤦🏻

Sorry, @inkican 😔

See, this (along with perpetual anxiety over whether I've worded something the best way) is why I normally just lurk online... but I want to see this group, and Kbin/Lemmy more generally, succeed... so I'm trying to participate more!

100% agree! And unfortunately even if some kind of oversight or legislation is brought in now, there’s no putting that genie back in the bottle 😕

I'm not

I think you might have misunderstood my comment - I didn't think you were the one doing the downvoting, I was expressing my surprise that others were downvoting you. Sorry if that wasn't clear!

I've found this one really useful as well, especially if you're looking to get your 10 daily quests done as efficiently as possible:

https://lifebeyondtheshire.com/lotro-midsummer-festival-quick-guide/

I haven't seen Silo yet (soon!), but Severance was amazing, and very unique. For All Mankind is great, too. And I know people have mixed feelings about Foundation, with all the changes from the source material, but I enjoyed that, as well.

One thing I like about Apple TV's shows is that they don't seem to be afraid to try new directions - Severance is a great example of this. As is Servant - I didn't enjoy that one, but it was certainly different! While other streaming services appear to be primarily focussed on the next big media property they can adapt (The Witcher, Wheel of Time, Rings of Power), Apple seem to be a bit more willing to think outside the box.

You're welcome!

I was genuinely surprised to see the downvotes, especially when I can see the effort you're putting into trying to promote activity and discussions here.

I'm a little confused why people are downvoting this thread (and some of the others in this group). I'm guessing folks are using the downvote to mean 'I disagree', but if I'm not mistaken, the effect it actually has is to reduce the likelihood of the thread showing up in the 'All' front page of both the local and remote instances, and hence potentially harms the growth of this magazine/community.

Even if you don't agree with the premise of the thread, that doesn't mean the discussion itself isn't worthwhile. And if you don't agree, maybe post your comments as to why, rather than just downvoting?

Personally, I think downvoting should be a tool to say 'this doesn't belong here at all' rather than just 'I disagree with you'.

I'm 100% in agreement with just about ALL of this. Are we the same person? (I guess not, since I haven't watched Lower Decks or Prodigy.)

I especially agree about much of the humour falling flat, but like you, I'm just not a fan generally of that brand of humour. But I do think The Orville shines brightest when it's playing things straight, rather than for laughs.

I don't know about causing extinction, but I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about how disappointing it is that, as kids, we were promised in fiction/movies/TV that in the future robots and AI would be doing all the menial work, freeing humans up to spend more time being creative...

And instead here we are, faced with the prospect of AI doing much of the creative work, while we're left with the menial stuff.

The artwork is very cool, though personally I'm not sure using AI generated art is the way to go.

I'm choosing to be optimistic and excited for this. Loved the books, especially the first one, and I'm very intrigued to see how they'll adapt the source material.

Plus, I'll watch just about anything that Benedict Wong is in, I adore him.

You have to use Blood Arrow first - on hit, Blood Arrow has a 33-100% chance to trigger Exsanguinate. You'll see a separate little window pop up when it's been triggered, which you can click on to use it, though you can also use it via the skill bar when it's active.

I think FibroJedi's guides definitely deserve a spot here (I know you linked the Midsummer one separately, but if this is going to be a central post for useful links...)

Another casual LOTRO player here, although I had been getting back into it more recently (until Diablo IV came out...!)

I'll add my vote to see a community for it - there is/was a reasonably active subreddit dedicated to the game, so why not on the threadiverse?

Another way of looking at that, is that it's the PERFECT time.

I suspect the poor reception of the movie is the main reason no-one's tried to adapt it since. Well, that and it'd probably be very expensive. Which hasn't stopped shows like The Wheel of Time, or Power of the Rings, or House of the Dragon being made - but those had massive fan bases built in.

I agree though, I'd like to see a TV series adaptation. Maybe Apple will give it a shot, since they're already doing Foundation?

Oh yes, Eureka was also great fun.

I used to use Goodreads, but switched to StoryGraph at the beginning of the year, and haven't looked back. The only time I refer to Goodreads now is when I want to know if a book in a series can be read standalone, since that's often mentioned in their question/answer section for the book, and it saves risking spoilers by reading reviews.

Though that said, I've yet to come across a spoilery review (that wasn't indicated as such) on StoryGraph...

I looked at BookWyrm, and did set up an account on an instance, but I prefer StoryGraph.

ETA: I haven't really looked at the recommendations feature on StoryGraph, so I can't help you with how well that does or doesn't work. My TBR is way too long already...!

Everything I was going to say has already been mentioned, some numerous times: The Expanse, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Firefly, Farscape, Fringe, Altered Carbon season 1, Dark Matter, Killjoys, Twelve Monkeys.

So may I offer up Timeless and Warehouse 13? Both character-focussed and on the lighter side, but also dealing occasionally with some pretty deep character arcs. And they were just FUN (especially Warehouse 13).

Also, more recently I really enjoyed The Peripheral (though I would have preferred a proper ending, rather than the dangling threads we were left with - especially since, at the time, we didn't know if there would be a second season).

ETA: Oh, and I haven't seen any Star Wars shows mentioned besides Andor - which was admittedly fantastic. But my favourite Star Wars TV series are SW: Rebels and SW:The Clone Wars. The latter because it added so much depth to Anakin and Obi-Wan, along with many other characters, and also gave us great new characters like Ahsoka and Wrex. And Rebels holds a place in my heart - many of my favourite Star Wars characters come from that series (Hera, Kanan, Sabine... and Chopper!)

Completely agree with all of this. I loved show-Drummer so much. Cara Gee did such an amazing job with her (as did the writers, obviously - but it was Cara that brought her to life).

In a similar vein, I also have to give kudos to Wes Chatham for taking a character (Amos) who, on the page, wasn't the easiest to like or even really know, and making him maybe the best damn character on TV. SO many layers.

I'm currently (finally!) reading the last book of the series. I love the books and the show.

Agreed! I adored the first season of Altered Carbon. As you say, season 2 was still good, but in comparison to the first season it felt like a bit of a let down.

The Laundry? As in Charles Stross' Laundry Files series? If so, cool! Didn't know it had a TTRPG.

For me, I think a good example would be Greg Adams (the chief engineer). Other ship crew members like Joker and Doctor Chakwas, or even Gabby and Ken, get plenty of love, but it seems like most people overlook/forget about Adams.

I suspect it's at least partly because he's quiet, unassuming, and tends to mostly nerd out about the Normandy. Maybe that's also why I like him! The nerdy banter between him, Gabby & Ken, and Tali is great fun. I also love the quiet conversations between him and Karin Chakwas that you can overhear in ME3.

Could we not start this group/magazine off by pitting people against each other dependent on who their favourite companion is?

Let people like their own favourites, it doesn't have to be a competition...

Frame it as "Tali's my favourite, this is why", and I'll support you all the way, regardless of who my own favourite may be. But stating that it's "widely accepted that Tali is the best"? No, sorry, it's not. Everyone has their own favourite romances/squadmates.

(And for the record, I like Tali, she's one of my favourites too. This isn't an anti-Tali post. It's a 'please be welcoming, not antagonistic' post.)

I liked the Silo series too. Hoping to watch the TV adaptation at some point.

Some of my favourites:
Murderbot series by Martha Wells
Imperial Radch series (Ancillary Justice/Sword/Mercy) by Ann Leckie
Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
Dogs of War duology by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Expanse series by James S A Corey
Monk & Robot series by Becky Chambers

I've not read the Xeelee series so can't say if there's any similarities, but they are all excellent sci-fi series and well worth your time.