Abbott Elementary 2.09

Sick Day

Ava removes everything from the refrigerator in the break room, including Janine's lunch. Janine eats her lunch anyway and calls in sick the next day. Ava can't find a substitute so she takes over Janine's class herself.

Barbara and Melissa enjoy the day without Janine. Jacob stands up for Janine. Gregory pushes Ava to act responsibly.

Thoughts

I thought that the Barbara and Melissa subplot was kind of ridiculous. I was kind of surprised to see them get so happy about not having to spend a day near Janine.

Poor Things (2023)

Poor Things (2023)

starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe

directed and produced by Yorgos Lanthimos

142 minutes

Scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) restores life to the body of a dead woman. She was pregnant at the time she jumped from a bridge in London. He takes the brain of the unborn child and places it in the woman's head. He names her Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). Godwin, or God as he prefers to be called, cares for Bella. It takes time for her brain to develop.

God makes plans for Bella to marry Max, his assistant. Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a lawyer, convinces Bella to go with him to Lisbon. God reluctantly lets her go. Bella embarks on a journey that takes her from London to Lisbon to Alexandria to Paris and then finally back to London. She grows along the way from a childlike woman into one who has very definite ideas of what she wants.

Inuyasha 1.06

Tetsusaiga, the Phantom Sword

The Unmother, the demon that is impersonating Inuyasha's mother, tries to wring the location of his father's tomb out of Inuyasha. She first tricks him by bringing back his memories from childhood. He is caught in her spell and doesn't realize what it happening. Kagome can see that the creature that claims to be Inuyasha's mother is anything but that but she is bound by magical chains that prevent her from moving or even crying out. She finally does with some help from Myoga the flea, whose bite bites helps her to break free from the chains. Kagome manages to break the spell with which the Unmother has enthralled Inuyasha.

Sesshomaru returns. He has heard enough. He knows how to find their father's tomb. He uses his magic and retrieves the black pearl from within Inuyasha's right eye. Sesshomaru uses it to open a portal to another dimension. He crosses through. Kagome and Inuyasha follow him. There they find the tomb.

Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet (2006)

Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet (2006)

27 minutes

This documentary was made for and included with the 50th anniversary DVD set of Forbidden Planet. I found it and watched it on YouTube. There are quite a few people interviewed for this short documentary, 20 according to IMDb. There were actors (Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, and more), special effects people, writers, directors, and other people connected in some way to the film industry or Forbidden Planet.

The focus is mainly on the look and feel of the movie, including the special effects and the music. There is some time spent talking about the origins of the movie. It was the first science fiction movie that was not a B-movie but an A-movie.

Doctor Who (1963) 12.01.03

Robot - Part Three

Sarah rushes in and distracts the Robot. Benton and other troops from U.N.I.T. show up and open fire on the Robot but they are unable to harm it. They hear a noise in a cabinet and find Prodfessor Kettlewell inside the cabinet, bound and gagged.

Sarah and the others, including the Doctor, return to U.N.I.T. HQ. She is talking to the professor when she gets the idea to infiltrate the next meeting of SRS (Scientific Reform Society). Benton objects but U.N.I.T. doesn't have the authority to stop them and the Doctor is still asleep, recovering from his most recent encounter with Kettlewell's Robot.

Professor Kettlewell gets into the meeting and then helps Sarah sneak into the building. She starts to record the meeting and take pictures but then she is found by the Robot. The Doctor, the Brigadier, Benton, and a squad of troops show up but they are unable to prevent Miss Winters, Jellicoe, Kettlewell, and the Robot from escaping with Sarah as their hostage.

Paranoia Agent 1.08

Happy Family Planning

Three people (Fuyubachi, Zebra, Kamome), who met through an internet message board, make plans to commit suicide. They try a number of things but none of them seem to work. Fuyubachi is an older man with white hair. Zebra is a guy in his twenties. Kamome is a young girl. Fuyubachi and Zebra, at Fuyubachi's suggestion, try to lose Kamome when they find out how young she is. 

The trio starts in Tokyo but then heads out to the countryside. Their only encounter with any of the other characters from previous episodes in Shonen Bat. They talk about Shonen Bat before he shows up. They try to get him to kill them but he runs from them and gets away before they can get him to fulfill their wish. They suspect that he might be FOX, another person from the message board.

They try to kill themselves by asphyxiation, overdosing on pills, hanging, jumping in front of a train, but none of their attempts are successful, probably because they are already dead.

The Phil Silvers Show 3.25

Bilko the Genius

Bilko takes an aptitude test. There's a mix up with the results of his test and he is mistakenly classified as a genius. Bilko is put in charge of a team of soldiers who are all scientific experts. He puts them to work predicting the outcome of horse races.

Thoughts

There's a little more to this episode but not much. Most of the regulars from the show make a brief appearance early in the episode but after that Barbella and Henshaw are the only ones to appear in the last two-thirds of the episode.

This was fun. It falls short of greatness but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars (1977)

starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford

directed by George Lucas

121 minutes

After watching the 1997 version of this movie  I decided to give the original version another try. I have the limited edition two-DVD sets of the first three Star Wars movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi), which include the original unaltered versions of the movies. It was such a breath of fresh air to watch the original cut of Star Wars (1977). It was reassuring to see that my recent experience at the theater didn't ruin the original for me.

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen

directed by Fred Wilcox

98 minutes

Starship C-57D lands on Altair IV despite a warning from one of its only two inhabitants, Doctor Morbius (Walter Pidgeon). Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen) and his crew are there to find out what happened to the Bellerophon, another starship which landed on Altair IV twenty years before.

Doctor Morbius tells them a bit about what happened to the rest of the crew and passengers of the Bellerophon. He also shows them the fantastic technology that the Krill, the former inhabitants of Altair IV, left behind. It isn't long before Starship C-57D and its crew are attacked by a giant invisible creature. Some crewmen are killed. Commander Adams decides that it is too dangerous to stick around.

Star Wars (1997)

Star Wars (1997)

aka Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (20th Anniversary version)

starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford

directed by George Lucas

123 minutes

I went to see Star Wars (1977) tonight at the AFI Silver Theater. I wasn't sure which version they were going to show. I hoped that it would be the original theatrical version. I guessed wrong. It was the 1997 version that I saw tonight. I saw the 20th anniversary version of Star Wars (1977) in theater in 1997. I didn't like it then. This is the second time I have seen it since 1997 and I still don't like what George Lucas' tinkering does to the original.

Inuyasha 1.05

Aristocratic Assassin, Sesshomaru

Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's older brother, comes looking for him. Sesshomaru is looking for the grave of their father. Sesshomaru thinks that his younger brother might no where it is.

Kagome returns to the feudal era and brings with her a bicycle and a first aid kit. She tries to help Inuyasha heal from the wounds he received during battle in the previous episode but he has already healed up. Inuyasha and Kagome learn about Sesshomaru and his quest from Myōga, an anthropomorphic flea.

Inuyasha doesn't have long to wait before Sesshomaru and Jaken, his assistant, show up. They bring with them Inyasha's mother. She died a long time ago but as Sesshomaru explains, it is within his power to bring people back from the dead.

Doctor Who (1963) 12.01.02

Robot - Part Two

Miss Winters and Jellicoe walk in and give the robot orders to halt. They tell Sarah Jane about the Robot and then give her a demonstration in the hopes of convincing her that it cannot be used to harm people. They ask Sarah Jane to swear that she won't tell anyone about what she saw but she leaves without agreeing to their request.

Sarah returns to U.N.I.T. HQ and tells the Doctor and and the Brigadier about what she saw. Sarah, the Doctor, and the Brigadier go to visit Professor Kettlewell. She tells him about what she saw. Kettlewell gets very distressed by the news that the Robot may have been ordered to do things that are against its programming, like killing people.

Miss Winters and Jellicoe reprogram the Robot and send it out on a mission. It breaks into the home of a government official, kills him, even though that is against its prime directive, and steals some plans.