The Next Evolution

[SFDebris]

January marks the tenth anniversary of the video reviews, welcomed to the net with the feedback "Who does this asshole think he is?" Hence the origin of the phrase "I'm just a viewer with an opinion."

At this point, looking over where we've been and where we have to go, the show will be undergoing a shift that will be in one sense rather minor but in another sense, massive. Since the beginning, this show has been about Star Trek, and that will not change (you'll certainly see that when the anniversary hits). However, there's some unpleasant realities that need to finally be addressed:
-the number of episodes are finite
-the number of notable episodes (the very good and the very bad) are picked over
-there's a lot of other stuff out there that has been waiting

The feedback I received said what I was afraid of: after ten years and the extremes significantly dwindled, "all Star Trek!" was starting to feel like too much Star Trek, that the reviews could start to feel stale, or that I started to sound bored with the material.

So I asked the question: what if there were only three Star Trek reviews a month, and the fourth one a film? The response was overwhelmingly in favor of this move, WITH the caveat: make it a science fiction movie. Less like Cabin in the Woods, All-Star Superman, and The Day After, more like Star Wars, The Terminator, and Forbidden Planet.

However, while the opposition were the minority, they were a PASSIONATE minority. A Saturday Trek review was expected part of the routine.

In addition, I have been slowly trying to increase Youtube-viable works. While Youtube seems to have gone out of its way to make itself more and more hostile since I started there in 2008, the more I can SAFELY put there, the better. Some people I know are having problems accessing vid.me videos through the site, and I am working on a solution for that, but whatever problems it has, Youtube is more functional.

For managing the site, I break the schedule down into four week blocks (usually). Starting with the February block, the Saturday schedule is going to be like this:
-First Saturday, a science fiction film
--For the first year I have planned the two remaining Trek films, two more Star Wars films, and some classics like 2001, Them, and The Day the Earth Stood Still, to name but a few
-First Saturday will ALSO see a Youtube-safe Trek mini-review
--These will be somewhat like when I did The Worst of the Worst or the Awful-Thon, a short look at episodes I've covered before to get to the meat of them, and generally focused on those more extreme examples
--So if you're still interested in just Trek on Saturdays, these will be a chance to revisit the old favorites!
-Saturdays 2-4 will remain new Star Trek episodes

In addition, because there are a lot of films that wouldn't fit this criteria, there will be a standard film review during the week as usual (unless there's a game review, in which case ALL BETS ARE OFF THAT MONTH and anything can happen). I'll be doing the first Mobile Suit Gundam film this December, so don't be surprised if you see the two sequels in the new year.

Also, I have been giving some of my Patreon supporters EXTREMELY early access to the new addition: books. These are going to be more on the level of the Foundation ones than World War Z (though I also have an elaborate review of a book planned for next year), 10-20 minutes or so. Extremely early access means "a year or more," so as not to diminish their value.

And of course, there's a lot of animated works that will be presented in mutil-episode bundles such as Paranoia Agent, MLP, and Mahoromatic. The plan is to have one of those on a monthly basis too (and if I eat my Wheaties, i might even tackle a story arc in a non-animated show that way).

So generally, once February starts each month will have:
-3 New Star Trek Reviews
-1 Star Trek Mini-Review
-2 Films
-1 Book
-1 Multi-episode complilation
-2-3 Standard reviews
-2-3 Half-Hour show reviews

Again, when there's a game, all bets are off. And if I do a miniseries, that may throw a little chaos in there too.

So, there's the new plan! I hope this will continue to meet your expectations for the show, and maybe inject a bit of fresh life into it so the next ten years can be as much fun as the first!

As always, thanks for watching, and thank you to everyone who has helped support and/or spread word about the show!

[Nevix]

Cool! I wondered sometimes what would happen once the Trek episodes started to run out. Now I know!

[TheNewTeddy]

Well.... this I can live with. I was concerned we were going to see trek replaced with more anime, but if it's being replaced with other sci-fi, I can live with it.

[ORCACommander]

Holly crap that is a lot of work. I must invest in coffee plantations then

[Admiral X]

Something you can try with YouTube to get around the auto-flagging is to flip the image, so the video clips are actually the mirror of what they should be, or to frame the clip with something so it doesn't take up the whole screen, like say by making it look like the clip is playing on a TV screen. I've seen other reviewers get by with this, so you might be able to. The trickier aspect is any music you might use, as those can be auto-flagged as well.

Damn, I really miss Blip.

[gourdcaptain]

Something you can try with YouTube to get around the auto-flagging is to flip the image, so the video clips are actually the mirror of what they should be, or to frame the clip with something so it doesn't take up the whole screen, like say by making it look like the clip is playing on a TV screen. I've seen other reviewers get by with this, so you might be able to. The trickier aspect is any music you might use, as those can be auto-flagged as well.

Damn, I really miss Blip.

The problem is I've always found all of those intensely annoying and everyone who I've seen does those does them on other video hosting websites as well.

[Admiral X]

Well, yeah, they made one video and uploaded it at other hosts.

[RobbyB1982]

That sounds perfectly good Chuck!

And super busy!

And yes, you've done a ton of Trek by now. When marathoning a series and playing your videos side by side after, I'll often go "Huh, there's a gap of episodes here" but you've covered quiiiite a bit of it. ANd yeah, it natural to be running out of the good/bad/memorable stuff when you've done roughly 430 out of 740. That's still nearly 6 years of material on your old schedule, 8 on the new one.

Still plenty more to go, but yeah, it's probably mostly going to middle of the road average stuff at this point... barring Discovery running for years and years.

[LavarosVA]

This sounds perfectly reasonable, but if I also may make a suggestion. Maybe you could open yourself up to reviewing Trek material that isn't just the shows/movies? There are plenty of comics and video games out there after all.

[Sir Will]

That sounds great, perfectly fine. You do great work. And you do so much. Take care of yourself.