Grab Bag: Sci-Fi/Fantasy edition! Plus 49ers turnovers equals first loss, Cal pulls off an upset, among many upsets in college football, SF Giants fire Manager, Dubs news, Castro Theater news!
- Colby Michaels
- Oct 2
- 16 min read
A little something different with this blog post. Besides the sports stuff, three Sci-fi/Fantasy series ended their seasons recently, and I thought I would devote the CULTURE CLUB to them! And the Sportsball stuff at the end!
Late Breakingish local news: On my errands Tuesday, I was in the Castro getting my roast beef sammie from Rossi's Deli when I looked up and saw this on the Castro Theater marquee:
This will definitely bring in more people and positive energy to the "Stro"!
Culture Club:Sci-Fi/Fantasy Edition!
Alien: Earth: I already covered the first two episodes here: https://colbymichaels.wixsite.com/getyourgameon/post/grab-bag-dog-days-of-summer-verlander-gets-first-win-sf-nightlife-to-lose-iconic-space-sports-stu
After reading that recap, the next six will make a lot more sense- I hope!
For Episode 3, James Gage of IGN does a nice job of summing up our hybrids: "Metamorphosis" is about: moving their (hybrids) stories forward while setting their childishness against some truly harrowing moments lest we forget the Lost Boys were, until very recently, terminally ill children.
The episode moves from the crash site to Prodigy's Neverland island high-tech facility, created by boy genius and trillionaire, Boy Cavalier (I'm not kidding about his first name!), who is as annoyingly smug and obnoxious as 100 Elons! (We hate him! lol). At the island, the synthetic Kirsh and his team proceed to do experiments on their found cargo (the science vessel, the Maginot, that crashed in Prodigy territory, but the ship belongs to Weyland-Yutani Industries, and they want their property back, sending the surviving crew member, the cyborg Murrow, to retrieve the alien species.). That's the jist for this episode, although in the beginning, we get a very scary and action packed scene between the Queen xenomorph and Wendy and her very human brother,Hermit!
Episode 4 - Observations. This is the ep where our adorable octopus eyeball alien gets a new host, a sheep- and this scene is as creepy and icky and disconcerting as it reads, and that eyeball sheep has been the star of the series ever since, based on viewer comments- because that eyeball alien is very ,very smart, and might be the most dangerous alien of all the species brought back to Earth. Other notable happenings are Boy knows this sheep/alien is intelligent, and has "ideas" for it, that in this episode, it is made very clear that employees and the hybrids are property of Boy's Prodigy Corporation, and that Wendy can communicate with the Xenomorph! Uh-oh!
Episode 5: "In Space, No One..." . We get series creator Noah Hawley basically doing his own Alien movie- 90 minutes! It tells the story of the Maginot before it crashed on Earth. Murrow is the security officer on the ship, making sure that Weyland's "cargo" makes it back, but things go from wrong, to bad, to worse to we are effed! This episode also has my ickiest , I wanna hurl moment of the series, when the locust-like alien species drops some eggs (??) into someone's water bottle-YUCK- That does come to an icky fruition later in the episode. I'll say no more other than the twist that Murrow discovers that makes him very, very angry at someone! Very well done episode as a "standalone".
Episode 6: "The Fly". Well, the title does reference another alien species, this one that can spit acid and digest you from the outside- where's the can of RAID when you need one? Also, as the baby xenomorph grows, Wendy is still able to communicate with it. Morrow has blackmailed one of the boy hybrids to get him an alien xenomorph egg, or else he will kill his birth mother (who was very surprised to learn that her son was "alive". ). By the end of this episode, we lose two characters, neither in a pleasant way! Episode 7: Emergence. After Wendy discovers that one of her hybrid family, Nibs, had her mind set back to "factory settings", she has had enough of Neverland, Boy, and humans in general, but she does take her human brother, Hermit and Nibs, and tries to escape the island, with an assist from the now fully grown xenomorph, who when Prodigy security catches them, Wendy's xenomorth goes all Benihana chef on their bodies! Meanwhile, the boy hybrid Slightly has a face-hugging body stashed under his bed (like any teenager would do!), and after some back and forth, convinces his pal, Smee, to help get the body out of the facility and to a location Murrow will meet them at. How this turns out would be a spoiler, but I can say it does not go well. Neither does Wendy and Hermit's escape, as Prodigy guards where waiting for them at the boat, and when Nibs goes bonkers on the guards, Hermit stuns her, leaving the last line from Wendy (which you will have to watch and hear for yourself!).
Episode 8: The Real Monsters. The season one finale! I gotta be real cagey here as to not spoil. I can say that Weyland-Yutani is in the air, ready to crash the island and take back their "cargo" by force, except most of the alien species are now free, including the Venus fly-trap one we don't get much of in the series till this episode. Also, that jerk genius Boy has found a human host for the Eyeball! The terms "ghosts" and "hide and seek" are used as the hybrids turn the tables. Yep, that's all I feel comfy sharing without giving too much away!
Overall, I LOVED this series! The first two Alien movies are at the top of my all time favorite movies list, so I was holding my breath as to how this television series would play out, and was wonderfully surprised at how well it was done! A lot of fans really like the "look" of the xenomorph in this series! Highly recommend, especially if you are an Alien fan. On FX and Hulu! The Sandman: Again, I reviewed the first 5 episodes here, so read this to catch up: https://colbymichaels.wixsite.com/getyourgameon/post/summer-sizzle-grab-bag-my-dei-version-wild-wimbledon-giants-all-stars-valkyries-reviews-of-sinn
As you can tell, there was some disappointment in those first five eps, so us fans were eager to see if the show could rebound for the series finale with the last 5 (there IS a bonus standalone episode).
I can report that YES, Sandman did rebound in their final five episodes! Much more centered and grounded. Basically, after the events of the last episode, Morpheus/Sandman has spilled family blood, and what we know from mythology as being the Furies (they don't like that name, so they are also referred to as the "Kindly Ones"), cut Morpheus life thread, thus removing his immortality and marking him for death. Our dour, melancholic, pasty white Morpheus sets out to see if something can be done about this, and seeks counsel from his and his god siblings parents (separately) , Time and Darkness. At the same time, Morpheus sets out to find his successor, which in a nice piece of writing, is something I did not realize, but was there all along from the end of season one! Turns out a certain baby born in season one has the "powers" necessary to become the new Dream Lord to rule of the Dreaming (and nightmares) realm! Morpheus plans to claim the lil tyke are foiled by the god Loki (yep, that Loki), so Morpheus recruits a human who he has worked with before (and her descendants!), Constantine (she is the highlight of this series for me, with her no nonsense/wicked smart humour!). Meanwhile, the Furies have contacted the boy's mother, and basically set her up to kill Morpheus. All things come to a head in the penultimate episode, with the finale feeling like an epilogue. I'm good with this summation!
The acting is very good, as are the effects of the fantasy realm, and while I would have liked to have seen a mother *Redacted due to spoilers* , I was okay with the ending of the series. The bonus standalone episode was about my favorite character, DEATH! Titled "The Cost of Living", Has Death on her once every 100 years holiday, where she is just a human enjoying the sights, sounds, smells of what we take for granted. Without getting into the plot, I'm going to use some AI help here with the themes:
The Core Theme
A Privilege, Not a Burden:
The central message is that life's difficulties and inherent pain are balanced by its beautiful moments, emphasizing that the entire experience, from joy to heartbreak, is what gives life meaning.
Death's Mortal Day:
For a single day every century, Death inhabits a human form to better understand the lives she oversees, leading to a renewed appreciation for existence.
Life's True Cost
The Demands of Existence:
The "cost" refers to the price of life itself, which can be incredibly high, involving pain, loss, grief, and eventual death.
The Counterbalance of Joy:
In return, life offers profound beauty, love, art, connection, and sensory experiences that make the hardships worthwhile.
The Message of the Episode
Embrace the Present:
The episode encourages viewers to make the most of their lives and not take any moment for granted.
Life is Worth It:
By living through the difficulties and appreciating the small moments of beauty, connection, and joy, one realizes that life is a gift to be cherished.
Deep thoughts indeed! The execution of the plot was a bit off, but I was in deep thoughts after I saw it, and the title of the episode kept nagging at me, and I did some research, and I agree with what the points Google AI generated! All episodes now airing on Netflix.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: I'm going to approach my review of this one differently. A big shout-out to the You Tube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@TrekCulture . Sean's Up's and Downs of each episode have been very helpful, funny and insightful- if you are a Trekkie, check out these ten episodes of Season 3, then dig into that You Tube channel-it's worth it! As Sean and his mates Tom and Ellie do on a sister You Tube show, "WTH Just Happened?" which is their immediate take after seeing the episode, I will be doing my own rankings of the eps this season!
Here is Sean's Season 3 review of all the episodes- very spoilery, so watch the season then come back to this video, or if you have, jump right in!
Before I start, I have to agree with the query Tom put out there late in the season after watching the bulk of the episodes, which was MY feelings as well for S3: "What is Strange New Worlds? I'll circle back on why that question was posed later. Oh, and Martin Quinn as Scotty- perfect casting! A delight throughout this season!
Now, starting with least favorite episode to favorite episode: 10: What is Starfleet: Dang, this was dull and poorly executed. The premise was a documentary styled episode about Starfleet, except that unlike most docs, the content creator came in with an obvious bias (Starfleet bad), so already skewed. Throw in a blurry crisis within the documentary, and this episode was just a hard miss! 9. Wedding Bell Blues: I had to watch it twice to see if my initial reaction would change, and it only got worse. This was one of the " comedy" episodes, and i hardly laughed, ws mostly frustrated on how Spock was tricked into believing he and Nurse Chapel were still in love, and to get married, and so was the entire crew. It got a bit more interesting when Spock and Kirby realized what was going on, and the end scene with the reveal of the identity of the "alien", and what Spock and Chapel said to each other was nice. Only thing missing to make this episode worse for me was a canned laugh track!
8, Space Adventure Hour: Chief of Security officer La'an is tasked with testing out this new holo-deck technology (hehe), and chooses a murder mystery set to her favorite detective book heroine that she read growing up. Set iin the late 1960's on a show that is the episodes title, it was definitely an homage to Gene Roddenberry and the OG Star Trek, and all the stuff that went down to get the show on the air. The cast had fun with the role-playing, but the cheesy , schlocky set for the TV show and the "acting" by the "actors" left a bad taste in my mouth. Not a bad episode, just weak and kind of there.
7, Terrarium: We finally get an Ortegas episode! The Enterprise's pilot gets her own episode, when thru a series of events, crashes a shuttle onto a planet that was in a ohh, pocket universe?? That was my first problem with the ep! Ortegas later encounters a Gorn, who have been the big bad for this season. Over time the two form a communicative relationship and , well, bond. Mixed bag for me here, as the Gorn are scary, mean and terrifying, but also showing this particular Gorn as not being hostile also pulled me in. The ending was an emotional mixed bag, and the "bonus?" part of this being a pre-arranged test by the Q-like Metrons was just unnecessary.
6. New Life, New Civilizations: The season three finale certainly looked promising, with our crew having to take on what is essentially a truly evil force, but as the episode went further on, not so much. I had no problem with the Spock/Kirk mind-meld, and was looking forward to a big battle between good (Captain Battel) and evil (medical ensign Gamble-who is possessed by the great evil), but the cheesiness of the planets sets and costumes, especially "god-like" Gamble, was giving me Stargate vibes! The worst for me though, was NOT getting the battle, but instead a 10 minute montage of Battel and Captain Pike's life would have been if this battle had not taken place! It WAS a nice montage, but too long! By episodes end, I was left disappointed (and sad).
5. Four and a half Vulcans: Another "comedy" episode, that would've ranked higher if Sean had not pointed out something. Pike, Chapel, La'an and Uhura have to transform into Vulcans and join Spock ( the half of the title) to infiltrate a planet and save it from destruction. They do it in record time, beam back up, but the reversal drug to make them human doesn't work, so they now Vulcans! There is a lot of humor I found fun in this episode (of COURSE La'an would take on the Romulan side of a Vulcan!) , but after watching the ep a couple of times, I realized that while the actors are having a blast, these "Vulcans" are stuck-up snobby racists! Many jokes/digs made about how inferior humans are, which lost the initial funny for me. OH! there is a rare post-credits scene featuring Spock, that is quite amusing!
4, The Saralat that Ate its Tail: This was a young James T. Kirk episode where he has to take command of USS Farragut (where he was the #1 to its Captain), and deal with a crisis when the Enterprise is swallowed up by a giant ship. It's Kirk's first real challenge of dealing with a crisis and of his decision-making choices. Great episode for him and Spock (we know how that turns out!), and the reveal at the end is both heartbreaking and leaves open-ended questions about morals and ethics.
3, Shuttle to Kenfori: A zombie episode! Battel's Gorn condition is not improving, a unique plant that might help her is located on a distant, abandoned planet from the Klingon War. Pike and the Doctor (Joseph), take a shuttle down to track it. They find odd things on their way to the sub-station, where they encounter zombies! A Klingon ship has detected them and is also on the planet. It turns out one of these Klingons has a history with the Dr Joesph. This was a fun scary episode with some great acting from Pike and the Dr. Joseph!
2, Thru the Lens of Time: An away mission to investigate an ancient ruins temple turns dangerous, as the temple is holding an ancient secret! There's a lot of sci-fi multi-dimensional stuff going on, but the biggest is when Gamble opens a bag, and a glowing orb zaps him, taking out his eyes! Gamble is able to to be beamed back to the Enterprise, where we find out he is possessed by a great evil, the same evil that Spock and Kirby have discovered in a well full of the same glowing orbs! Uh-oh! Our crew, via pairings, take a leap of faith and escape the temple. Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, evil Gamble creates mayhem on the Enterprise, and Battel's inner Gorn recognizes this evil species and has a fantastically filmed fight scene with him! The crew are able "remove " the evil from Gamble, and get it off the Enterprise, but Gamble is dead. Or is he?
1, Hegemony Part 2: Pro-tip: Go back and watch the season 2 finale Hegemony, THEN watch this season 3 opener, which due to the strikes, we had to wait almost 2 years for! I Loved, loved, loved this episode, because it was SO INTENSE! One one hand, you have Spock and Chapel trying to save Battel from being baby Gorn food, to Pike having to make some serious decisions (poor Scotty!), to La'an, Sam Kirk, Doctor Joseph and Ortegas on a Gorn ship ready to be consumed in their Alien-like cocoons! Lots of action, great visual effects, excellent acting; this episode is probably in my top three favorites of this series! The intensity just DOES NOT STOP!!
So, to wrap, Season 3 of SNW was a mixed bag of episodes; we had comedy, we had drama, we had mystery and we had horror, all wrapped in the sci-fi bubble. This season was good, but a bit all over the place with regard to theme, hence the earlier question posed: "What is Strange New Worlds?". We we will have to wait till 2026 to see if an answer is forthcoming! All episodes of SNW now airing on Paramount Plus!
Sportsball!
San Francisco 49ers: Host the Jacksonville Jaguars and their QB Trevor Lawrence, he of the flowing Farah Fawcett hair. Brock Purdy is BACK, as is WR Jauan Jennings.
First Quarter: 49ers get on the board first with a 35 yard field goal from Eddie Pineiro. 49ers turn the ball over on a fumble by, and then Jags running back Travis Etienne Jr rushes 46 yards for a 7-3 lead.
Second Quarter:A bad passing decision by Purdy allows for another turnover for the Jags. Lawrence marches his team down the field , with a mix of runs and passes, and after 14 plays ,89 yards and eight minutes off the clock, theJags cash in with a passing touchdown, now 14-3, with both TD's coming off of 49er turnovers. Niners go three and out and have to punt to the Jags. Jags close out the quarter with a 26 yard field goal, and halftime score is Jags 17- Niners 6. A very sloppy first half for the 49ers.
Third Quarter: After stopping the Jags on the opening drive, Niners march down the field in eight plays , 73 yards capped off by a shovel pass to Christian McCaffrey for the touchdown! Niners elect to go for 2, and convert, making the score, Jags 17 Niners 14. Jennings did take a big hit on that conversion, so concern for Jauan! jags come back a get a field goal four minutes left, score now Jags 20 Niners 14. Niners were stopped by another dropped pass by our receivers, and Niners forced to punt, AAANND Jags punt returner runs it back to the end zone for a Jags 87 yard TD. Jags failed on the 2 point try, so score 26-14 Jags to end the 3rd quarter.
Fourth Quarter: Niners turn the ball over on downs on their opening drive. Jags get the ball back. Jags go 3 and out, and Niners get the ball back on their seven yard line. Purdy marches the team down the field, 8 plays, 92 yards with some great catches by CMC and Kendrick Bourne, finishing with a 21 catch and run touchdown to TE Jake Tonges! Score now 26-21 Jags, with 7:40 left to play! Jags march down the field but MISS a 47 yard field goal. With 2:51 left, Jags force another fumble by sacking Purdy and recover the ball mid field with 2:46 remaining! Thats FOUR turnovers by the 49ers offense! Final: Jacksonville 26 San Francisco 21. Quick turnaround as the Niners travel to the LA Rams on Thursday Night Football! UPDATE! For the Rams game on Thursday, the 49ers will be without: Kittle, Purdy, Jennings and Pearsall! Backups are going to have to step it up- might be good that this is on Amazon Prime! KTVU will be airing here locally in the Bay Area.
California Golden Bears: After last weeks stinker of a loss, the Bears traveled to Boston College cross-country to play the Eagles (who had the week off), and due to a rough start, were trailing 14-0 in the first quarter, and 17-14 at halftime. Third quarter was a snoozefest, no score, so still 17-14 going into the fourth quarter. both teams traded touchdowns, and it was the Eagles up 24-21. With 1:30 left in the game, star freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw a 51 yard catch and run TD to WR Mason Mini to bout the Bears ahead, 28-24! Boston College game back though, and was on the 5 yard line with 15 seconds left (nails were being bitten!), when Cal linebacker Luke Ferrelli intercepted the pass in the end zone to secure Cal's first victory in the ACC conference, and on the road! Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele line for the game: 22/34, 254 yards, 2 TD's and one INT. The Bears next host another tough ACC opponent, Duke (yeah, it's not just their basketball program thats good anymore!) in Berkeley this Saturday! A very happy Colby after last weeks clunker!
Week 5, collage football said, " Let's mess up some betting, and throw in a bunch of upsets!". It started Thursday when Virginia upset 8th ranked Florida State, then on Saturday, in one of the three big match-ups, it was all the underdog teams that won their battles. #6th ranked Oregon Ducks travelled to Penn State and upset the Nittany Lions, #17th ranked Alabama travelled to #5th ranked Georgia and upset the Bulldogs, while #4th ranked LSU travelled to #13th ranked Ole Miss, where the Tigers were upset by Ole Miss! There were few other upsets, but the ones I listed here really shook up the Top 25 rankings, with Georgia and LSU falling out of the top 10, and Oregon 2nd behind Ohio State, and Ole Miss ranked 4th, the highest ranking that program has had in 10 years! Whew!
San Francisco Giants: The Giants managed to sweep the lowly rockies in their season finale, and finished the season at .500 ,81-81. On the last day, Willie Adames, winner of the player chosen Willie Mac award, hit his 30th homer! There will be changes in the offseason, starting with if the Giants decide to keep Bob Melvin as manager. Roster-wise, starting pitching for sure is a need that needs to be fulfilled. UPDATE: The Giants did fire Melvin. From what I've heard, Melvin was good at tasking, but not so good at motivating or getting on players when they aren't doing well (hence the disastrous summer slump.). Should be interesting who the Giants select to replace Melvin. Oh, Bruce Bochy was released as Texas Rangers manager....just sayin'. Update to this update- Posey poured cold water of Bochy as manager idea!
Golf: The Ryder Cup, which is US vs Europe golfers in team play. Some of the worlds best golfers are paired up to represent their teams. Going into Sunday's final round, Europe was up with a huge lead, 12-5. The Americans made a furious comeback, only to fall short 14 (the magic number) to 12. Only one Europe golfer won their match out of 12 matchups on Sunday!
Golden State Warriors: The long, long stalemate is over! Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors agreed to a 2-year, 68 million dollar contract! So much drama with this! The 2nd year is a TEAM option, so if/when the Dubs trade him to another team, Kuminga starts with a fresh contract. Update! Dubs signed a true center, Al Horford, to a one year contract! Last update cuz I need to post!!!!! It's a family reunion as Steph's lil bro' , Seth Curry has signed a one year contract with the Warriors as well! We will finally see the Curry Brothers play on the same team!!
Weird Stuff : Residents residing in the San Rafael Bay Area are extra edgy lately, as a rather large squirrel has been on a rampage of terror! Video link below! I have this exchange burned in my head after seeing the video: Aggressive squirrel says to a Honey Badger, "Honey Badger? More like "Honey Bitch!". And yes, this did give me PTSD from my recent squirrel soup hot tub incident!
Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for reading - comments open below! Oh, and congrats for those of you who snagged Taylor Swift's new album!
1.Octopus
The squirrel reminds me of the 440 egg lol
Sam Smith will be able to go full glam at the Castro! After they’re done there, the Castro should bring in some even bigger names. Imagine a Bette Midler residency there!!
And a big “YUM” for Luke!!