some friendly folks

In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like.

Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

Normal board rules about conduct and behaviour still apply, of course.

It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.

The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.

This week we lost the original Miss Teschmacher, Valerie Perrine (Who was, as an actress, so much more than that role, but what a role she made it), at the age of 82. When your acting debut is in the film version of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse 5" and you get good reviews,

Also, Nicholas Brendon, Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, died. This is a complicated one; I genuinely liked Xander as a funny, flawed, messed up, and committed character (I always liked the description: "You'd trust Xander with your life, but maybe not your new car"), even though I know the fanbase has reviewed the character in a mostly negative light. I have friends who met Brendon at conventions and spoke highly of him. But I also have to acknowledge his troubled life following that series which harmed others too. So I think I will echo Charisma Carpenter's elegant tribute that "I will miss the version of the man I once knew"

Variety has reported that Star Fleet Academy will not go beyond it's two, already filmed, seasons, which seems a shame, given that if the same logic had been applied to even TNG, we'd likely have no franchise at all now. (They've been screened early seasons over here, and BOY are there a lot of rough episodes in those. Some great performances, and there's a gem or two of an episode yes, but mostly a serious slog). Though admittedly, if I had to pick between seeing Prodigy get a third season or SFA, I'd be team Protostar all the way.

The live action version of "Moana" got a trailer, though all it does is add another of my list of "What is gained by making this movie (as opposed to something new), beyond cash?"