I’m OK with it having more serious themes, and the related serial rather than episodic structure. I would not say it is the best such attempt I have ever seen, but I find it at least good enough to be a positive experience overall for me.

After my parents divorced, my Mom met her old HS boyfriend at a reunion. His wife had passed away, they reconnected, and then they got remarried. And it was a successful remarriage for both until he eventually also passed away.

I’ll admit to being a little mixed-minds about that, because in essence that is because magic for Tolkien was quasi-religious. And really maybe not so quasi as just allegory (although Tolkien denied it), and specifically Roman Christian. Wizards were basically angels, the elves were much like saints, most magical…

On paper, this is everything I could possibly want in a show, including Darby in the lead role.

Yeah, my understanding is that although Sauron/Annatar was not directly involved in the making of the Elven rings, and in fact did not originally know about them, because Sauron had originally taught the art of their making to Celebrimbor, there was still enough of a connection for him to reach out to their bearers…

I know it has come under reconsideration of late, but I don’t think Buffy was THAT greasy . . . .

Yeah, I taught introductory college classes when I was in my 20s. On a couple occasions some attractive students hit on me, and I politely made it clear that nothing between us was possible. It wasn’t that hard, because it was obviously wrong to me.

Parodies can in fact be made (with some caveats) without violating the original copyright.

Although I agree with your priorities personally, apparently not enough other people did. Meaning The Expanse got a fair shot, and if it was performing well enough for Amazon, presumably it would have gotten more episodes, possibly more seasons.

I mean, if you think your dead child’s body is being desecrated, that is going to be very upsetting to a loving parent. Xan’s parents got to that conclusion fast, but I find it plausible that the people selected for these sorts of missions would have a heightened ability to quickly identify and react to not-normal/alie…

So in addition to the possibility of getting more content—I actually think the Laconia tease works narratively, in a way which I wish we saw more of, in fact.

I’d love for this to be true, but when ships are passing by an external point of view, the sounds shift in a way that only makes sense from that external point of view, and not from the perspective of someone on the ship itself.

The DuckTales’ theme song is definitely WAY up there. I particularly like the newer version.

Yeah, that trailer was very promising.

Unemployed Americans from coal country?

Ha, I personally identified SO strongly with Mike on my first watch that I kinda hated the movie. It eventually became a personal favorite, but it took some doing (and actually getting married myself, I suspect).

Some fools claim absolute perfection is unattainable for humans, and this is the rebuttal.

The music says, “It’s 2001! No, it’s Barbarella!! No, it’s BOTH!!!”

Yeah, I mentioned in another post when I think of my favorites classic intros, this is right at the top of my comedies list.  Great song and great job establishing the show’s setting.

In terms of 80s action shows, those three plus Magnum P.I. are probably the first four I would name as favorites.