Corner Stores, Kingdoms, Space and more - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

 

   This has been one of those almost too spent to effectively bottom out weeks, and I'm hoping for an otherwise peaceful Friday in which I can get some key things accomplished and so start myself in a better, personal direction. None of that has anything to do with this piece, other than it being a light hodge-podge. I'm kicking this week off with a few shows that have been rolling out over the past several years, but which I either hadn't noticed or at least taken the time for until recently. The first two are on Netflix, the third on CBS All Access -- which will officially become Paramount+ in early March. After that, a couple notes and a closing feature from 56 years ago.
     If there's a blanket caveat I should be giving to these weekly blog pieces, it's that I have trouble sleeping, considerable (always by my own, petty, scale) stress, and the unhealthy habit of burying my attentions in other, often passive, activities instead of facing and slaying or taming my dragons. So, sometimes my interest is at least partly due to it not being something I'm supposed to be doing. Think back to how trivial things gained a luster when then presented as an alternate to doing homework or cleaning out the garage.

     A pleasant little sitcom I recently got around to is the Canadian family comedy Kim's Convenience. Set in Toronto, it revolves around the Kim family, Korean immigrants who own and run a convenience store. It's a gentle slope, and it's necessary to give one's self the chance to settle in with them and their lives.
     If one's looking for loud or obviously edgy comedy, this probably isn't one of the first places to look. Familiar sitcom tropes are part of the mix, and there's an underlying morality play aspect that rears its head. It's generally not a laugh out loud series, though some of those moments started to sneak in on me as I settled in with the Kim family. Once I did, though, it was nice to catch some spontaneous laughs hitting me in the half-beat of silence following the end of a scene.
     This brief trailer for season one is more of a concept item, focused solely on the shop-owning couple, not making an attempt to try to introduce their two, Canadian-born children, nor the rest of the regular and supporting cast. It's a good place to start.

     The series was adapted from Ins Choi's 2011 play of the same name, with the parental leads being played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jean Yoon, who are reprising their roles from the stage. As Appa and Umma (Korean for father and mother) they have a very believable, comedic chemistry.
     There are four, 13-episode seasons available on Netflix - though as I understand it some weird and imperfect deals mean that season four isn't available globally - sorry, Netherlands. Season five was shot last year under strict COVID-19 protocols, and has just this month begun to air on (presumably) CBC Television, so I've no idea how long the wait will be before the (again, presumed) appearance on Netflix. When they renewed it in early 2020 it was for two more seasons, so we know that at least a season 6 is in the plans.
     Also on Netflix is an animated comedy fantasy adventure from Matt (Simpsons, Futurama) Groening, centering on the very un-princess-like princess Bean of Dreamland, her family and cohorts in the series Disenchantment.

     A marvelous, comedic voicecast lend their talents to what has turned out to be a fairly epic tale, as pieces of a much larger puzzle slowly come to light over the course of the various misadventures. As it rolls through, there are signs for sharp-eyed fans of Futurama that this show and that are all part of the same timeline, though so far it's all just lightly referential.
     There are thirty episodes available so far - the latest 10 appeared in mid-January - with 10 more on the way. Currently there's been no word on whether they're intended to wrap the tale, or if they're interested in doing more. I'd be up for more if they believe they have more of a tale to tell. I went through all 30 episodes in what felt like a leisurely pace by modern, shut-in, binging standards, which means around 10 days.
     Over on CBS All Access, one of the Star Trek spin-off series is the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks. An adult, animated adventure series with a comedic bent, it's likely to appeal to those Trek fans who also enjoy Seth MacFarlane's The Orville. It focuses on lesser crew members - generally up-and-comers - on the U.S.S. Cerritos, presented as one of Starfleet's least important ships, in the year 2380. It's open and accessible to all comers - they let you know what you need to know along the way - though it's rich with mostly open references to other Trek series and characters. (The trailer's somewhat misleadingly a Prime Video one, but that's because they're trying to get people to sign up for the CBS streamer through their Amazon account.)

     The 10-episode first season aired on CBS All Access from August to October of this past year, and while the date's yet to be announced the second season is planned to air later this year.
     I'd watched the first episode months ago, didn't have a strong reaction to it either way, and just noncommittally walked away. While taking a look at the CBS streamer's offerings again early this week, and not remembering how much of this I'd seen, I clicked on it and soon remembered that I'd only watched the first one. Rolling back on with episode two, it all went almost surprisingly smoothly.
     Otherwise, both The Expanse's fifth season (on Amazon) and The Stand miniseries (on CBS All Access) are rolling toward conclusions, each being enjoyed on their own merits. Just one more episode to go on the former, and two for the latter.

     In the case of The Stand it's been interesting to do an ongoing compare and contrast with both the 1994 miniseries and the novel, to see what they decided to change or emphasize in this new adaptation. Next week's episode will be the big, main climax in Vegas - the titular Stand - with the following week's finale being the new coda to the piece, reportedly giving more of a spotlight to Frannie's personal adventure in the story. As she'd been relegated to supporting player and plot device for much of especially the latter portions of both the novel and the earlier mini-series, that apparently prompted this new/expanded ending. How well it works we'll know two weeks from now.

     I've been very good so far in my restraint concerning the rewatch of Babylon 5 since it moved to HBO Max on Tuesday, keeping myself to a single episode each day. I haven't taken the time to jot down any notes as I've gone, but it was fun to return to this reset point, before the characters had started to be fleshed out. It's all the more exaggerated as the series starts with the roughly double-length pilot tv movie from 1993, before continuing with the first episodes of the actual series the following year. That pilot film is fuzzy in more respects than one, so both visually and in who each of the characters would become. There are even pronounced differences in the appearance of the characters between the pilot film and the series launch. I mention this in part so that a newcomer knows not to lean too hard on the technical quality of the pilot. It begins to sharpen up in all respects with the first series episode, "Midnight On the Firing Line."

     Finally, and offered with no connection to anything above other than as an accessible distraction, I'll close with a print of 1965's horror anthology film Dr. Terror's House of Horrors. This was the first of the Amicus horror anthology films, and was launched as an attempt by writer/producer Milton Subotsky to recapture something of 1945's highly-regarded Dead of Night. To that end, it has an encounter on a train ride to serve as the bookends tale to encompass the others, with five separate stories told in between. The cast includes Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, and a Donald Sutherland who was still in his twenties when this was shot.

     Here's hoping our respective Fridays go (or have went) smoothly and well, and our weekends are as much our own and pleasant as possible as we try to keep thoughts of Monday out of mind and recharge.  - Mike