Review Nebula Announcements: September 2016

Hello, everybody. With September 2016 right here, I just want to make a couple of announcements regarding what this month - and, to a lesser extent, this year - holds for The Review Nebula.

First off, let's back to the boys in the Small Rouge One.

The trailer for Red Dwarf XI came out less than a week ago - premiering on Dave and rapidly getting posted to YouTube through official and unofficial channels.

Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Steven Universe Review: "Fusion Cuisine" (Season 1B, Episode 6)

"All comedy is derived from fear." - Garnet. It's as close to a description of this episode as I can come up with.

Airdate: November 6th, 2014

Written By: Lamar Abrams and Hellen Jo

Plot: Garnet screws up royally while on the phone with Connie's mother. Incensed, she requests to see Steven's mom and dad for dinner. Funny thing, though - Steven's mom is sorta dead, and all of the Crystal Gems have flaws that could screw up a potential dinner. Steven, however, has a trick up his sleeve - have the trio fuse into Alexandrite. Hilarity ensues... and by hilarity, I mean a dinner that makes the ones attended by Frank Reynolds look professional in comparison.

Review:

There's a thin, fine line between "characters engaging in momentary idiocy" and "characters becoming around as naive as Ralph Wiggum". Remember back when I reviewed "Keep Beach City Weird", a few days ago? Well, no need - I just reviewed it a few days ago. One of my chief complaints about that episode was that at least two of the characters were turned quite stupid in order to aid the climax - crossing the line, or at least, toeing it.

Which brings us to "Fusion Cuisine", the episode on tonight's menu.

Opinions on this episode range the gamut from "ingenious comic romp" to "waste of 11 minutes, who wrote this crap" (Lamar Abrams and Hellen Jo, for those wondering). A lot of this deals in the more "awkward" comedy found in this episode - a good chunk of it, frankly, based on the characters being dumbasses or otherwise irritating.

Taking Another Brief Break

Just letting you know ahead of time that the next review (either "Fusion Cuisine" or "Make Room for Lisa") won't be posted for at least another couple of days or so, possibly a week. I'm starting a new school year, and am dealing - mentally and otherwise - with some of the transitional aspects, given that I've transferred from a community college to my local four-year university. (Thankfully, I'm living at home, so the transition is a bit easier, but still.)

Sorry for the inconvenience.

On an unrelated note, despite the Summer of Steven ending, new episodes are still airing weekly, for those unaware. Thursday night's episode, "Mindful Education", was easily one of the show's best episodes - containing both a thought-provoking plot, awesome character development, and what I consider to be my favorite song from the series so far. (Yes, I prefer it to "Stronger Than You" and "It's Over, Isn't It".) Standout effort all around.

Steven Universe Review: "Keep Beach City Weird!" (Season 1B, Episode 5)

"Snake people, or sneeple, control our government at the highest level!" - Ronaldo Fryman. If this man took a government course in high school, he must've been very disappointed at the curriculum. Or satisfied.

Airdate: October 30th, 2014

Written By: Raven Molisee and Paul Villeco.

Plot: Steven stumbles across Ronaldo, in the hunt to validate his own conspiracy theory. He has compiled the various strange events going around across Beach City, and has come to his ultimate conclusion... the world is ruled by otherworldly snake people! Unfortunately for him, a pretty valid counterargument comes up - there are these three aliens who happen to live in the town, and get on to various misadventures. Once Steven disproves Ronaldo's theory, he suffers an emotional collapse. Steven, feeling bad, tries to fix what went wrong... only to see Ronaldo at his most insane.

Review (SPOILERS):

We all know the reason for Steven Universe's existence, right? Well, it's the result of Rebecca Sugar's deal with the Illuminati, a group of freemasons led by Preston Manning and Bill Shorten, who power the megabanks that engineered the Allen Gregory false flag, to power the sale of propane and propane accessories, all to line their pockets so that they can financially appease their sentient god, the Great Computer.

"He gets all his information on astronomy, phenomenology, and physics from a single reference book - The Junior Encyclopedia of Space. It's the only one he could find with pictures." - Queeg, Red Dwarf.

Yeah, that makes no sense, right?

Conspiracy theorists generally have stretched things really far to determine that certain world events are all part of this idea to start a new world order - whether it be the September 11th attacks, the election of Barack Obama as President, the rise of Donald Trump to the GOP nomination, even the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shootings. (Really? Arguing that an incident where children got shot was fake in your attempt to prove that the world is controlled by bankers? What the hell?)

While Steven Universe largely takes it's social commentary on a larger level (analyzing authoritarian governments and the role of "eye for an eye"), this episode decides to take a targeted look at the conspiracy theorists - what makes them tick?

Steven Universe Review: "Island Adventure" (Season 1B, Episode 4)

It could be worse. You could be trapped on a shuttle that crashed on an ice planet.

"I'm the warp master!" "That's nice, Steven." - Steven and Sadie, the latter starting to sound like she knows where her life is going, and ain't liking it.

Airdate: October 23rd, 2014

Written By: Raven Molisee and Paul Villeco

Plot: While bragging about his ability to warp to Lars and Sadie, Steven realizes that the two's relationship is down in the dumps... to say the very least. He suggests the trio go to the island that he and the Crystal Gems were on just before. Lars doesn't want to stay, but the Warp Pad goes missing, thus stranding them on the island. There, Lars's emotional defenses begin breaking down, leaving him vulnerable, and bringing him closer to Sadie.

Review (SPOILERS):

Last we left the tragic saga that was the relationship of Lars and Sadie, the former was breathing fire as a result of the latter's act of revenge. Said revenge was caused by Lars betraying Sadie's trust, after (apparently) they slept with each other. Yeah, those two get on like water and oil, and still work together. Get these two to Corrie already.

Personally, while not as interesting as the sci-fi antics of the Crystal Gems, I do like these two characters. They serve as Steven's connection to the human world that the other Gems have a tenuous grasp on. And as the Gem sphere of Steven's little life prepares to catch fire, the sparks are flying at the Big Donut.

Red Dwarf XI: First Preview

Image taken from the Red Dwarf website.

"Kryten, set a course for Red Dwarf. The slime's coming home!" - Rimmer, at the end of "The Beginning".

Finally!

This September, Red Dwarf returns for a new batch of episodes. Red Dwarf XI will mark the first series in four years, after Red Dwarf X's run on Dave led to rather high ratings and overall good reviews. General consensus of Series X was that, while not as sublime as the earlier series, it was a return to form compared to the controversial previous three series.

Steven Universe Review: "Secret Team" (Season 1B, Episode 3)

Loudly shouting out "secret team" might do the exact opposite to your team, kid.

"We gotta come up with a name for our secret-keeping team. Something cool, like... a Secret Team." - Steven, showing this show's aversion to proper nouns for objects or places.

Airdate: October 16th, 2014

Written By: Hilary Florido and Katie Mitroff

Plot: Steven and Amethyst's exercise of "diving into puddles of water in the latter's room" sends them into Pearl's room. There, a series of bickering between the two gems causes a bubble (formed by Rose) full of broken gem shards to pop, letting loose a lot of limbs. Since the bubbles are stored in Garnet's room, the Gems fear death at the hands of Square Mom. Thus, the trio form an alliance - a "Secret Team", if you prefer, in order to get the gem shards back into a bubble.

Review:

Going from epic episodes to silly little quasi-vignettes appears to be par for the course for Steven Universe right now. We've had an episode about Steven lamenting the death of his mother followed by a kid who might not even be human trying to kill him over a toy, Connie and Steven taking down a robot followed by a beach party, and Steven's band trouble followed by a quartet of episodes that showed him learning that there was a lot of drama involving Gem culture. A lot of drama.

Here, after episodes focusing on Steven's father lamenting his lack of communication and Pearl's tragic desire to reach a utopia, we get... Steven forming alliances within the Crystal Gems over a popped bubble.

Epic, eh?

Before Anybody Asks....

First off, yes, I am aware that there will be a new Steven Universe episode per weekday for about a month. I will be watching as many of these episodes as possible. No, I will not be reviewing them yet. Besides the overload of episodes, I want to get all of the previously-aired episodes out of the way before I review any new ones.

Second, I am more than aware that Star Trek: Beyond is coming out this Friday. I will be going to a local theater on opening night. I am also doing a bit of a "movie re-watch" this week - watching some of the Star Trek movies in the few days leading up to the premiere of Beyond.

To cut a long story short, I don't think I'll be getting my "Secret Team" review out this week. "Make Room for Lisa" is also unlikely to be reviewed. Slightly more likely, yet still questionable, is my review of "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid" on my Futurama blog. I don't think I'll be getting my next review (which is probably going to be "Secret Team") out on this blog until sometime next week.

Just consider this a brief, confirmed break. We all need one once in a while.

"Smoke me a kipper. I'll be back for breakfast."

Scullyfied Simpsons: "Marge Simpson in: Screaming Yellow Honkers" (Season 10, Episode 15)

"Anger is what makes America great. But you must find a proper weapon for your rage." - Sgt. Crewe. Personally, I watch Simpsons episodes produced during the show's decline and complain about them on a blog. 

Airdate: February 21st, 1999

Plot: While trying to flee a variety show, Homer sees the four-wheel strength of the Canyonero. He goes to buy it, only to get the "F-Series" - a version of the car targeting women. His fear of being labeled gay has him toss the keys to Marge (read, has him hotwire her old car). Marge gets behind the Canyonero, and immediately gains some impulse. Unfortunately, this translates into road rage - one that gets her sent to Traffic Court. This proves ineffective, though, and eventually, her license is suspended... just in time for an incident at the zoo that, for some reason, requires her help. (Go on, guess why?)

Review:

As I mentioned in my review of "Coach Steven", America seems to be the nation that runs on pure, unbridled Id. Power seems to permieate from every single thing we do - the biggest homes, the most powerful cars, the most passionate politics, etc. Granted, this is a broad generalization, but there is truth in the stereotype of the powerful American. Here, this episode takes a look at the SUV - arguably the most powerful type of car in existence - and how even the meekest of us can become power hungry. Unfortunately, it's in execution where the episode falls apart.

Steven Universe Review: "Space Race" (Season 1B, Episode 2)

"I like to dream
Yes, yes, right between my sound machine.
On a cloud of sound, I drift in the night
Any place it goes is right
Goes far, flies near
To the stars away from here..."
- "Magic Carpet Ride", Steppenwolf.

"The idea is ludicrous. It would never work - although, several humans, a monkey, and a dog did make it into space..." - Pearl, talking about building a spaceship out of spare parts... and also effectively writing every American's letter to their representative on why we should increase funding to NASA.

Airdate: October 9th, 2014

Written By: Joe Johnston and Jeff Liu

Plot: A trip to a bunch of broken warp pads leaves Pearl nostalgic for the ability for interstellar travel - particularly, the ability to know what is going on back at Homeworld. Steven and Greg are inspired to make their own silly little space shuttle. Pearl sees this, gets involved, and takes it's construction to the furthest possible limit.

Review (SPOILERS):

Three episodes ago, we watched as the world of Steven Quartz Universe went from the tiny sea town of Beach City, Delmarva, all the way into the deepest corners of outer space. So, why don't we explore these new limitations ASAP?

Yeah, funny little thing about space travel - it's rather complex and stuff. Can't slap it together. I would make a comparison to this episode, but I can't. Because this episode was put together like a Westminister Abbey model in a bottle - carefully assembled.

"Edward the Confessor himself could not have done better. Now to set the clocks to Greenwich Mean Time..."
(Unfortunately, the clocks never get adjusted properly.)