History Awesome / SFDebris

* His VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition review (while not completed yet) takes on a new challenge for the format: roleplaying character development for his noble WHILE the game is happening around him. Starting off as a skittish, neurotic TheUnfavorite for his house, you can see that while he's playing through the game, he's also having his "prophet" start to develop. Start to grow more confident, to see alternate sides, and use his noble scheming brain to [[BecomingTheMask become the leader that everyone "mistook" him for]].

** One for Lwaxana Troi in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E10Haven}} Haven]]".

** His dressing-down of Anders' motivations for blowing up the Chantry, and the fact he tried to trick Hawke into being a participant is something to behold:

--->'''Rose''': No, your mistake is assuming that "surrender yourself to execution or life in prison" is a reasonable argument. Would you take a look at the pair of us (BH and Gault) here? One of us spent ''thirty years'' on the run, staying one step ahead of the worst being thrown at him. . . ''and he's the '''sidekick'''' in this relationship.'' [[BadassBoast What do you think my commitment is to staying alive?]]

* His DragonAgeInquisition review (while not completed yet) takes on a new challenge for the format: roleplaying character development for his noble WHILE the game is happening around him. Starting off as a skittish, neurotic TheUnfavorite for his house, you can see that while he's playing through the game, he's also having his "prophet" start to develop. Start to grow more confident, to see alternate sides, and use his noble scheming brain to become the leader that everyone "mistook" him for.

-->'''Chuck:''' The reason ''Doctor Who'' was cancelled... (displays picture of the Sixth Doctor's outfit) [[ItMakesSenseInContext was]] [[ForWantOfANail this]].

* While he acknowledges that Loraine Williams went on to have issues with the gamer community, he lays out that even though Gygax would go on to become a beloved king of RPGs in the future, Loraine taking over was absolutely necessary to save the company from his neglect and foolishness.

* In his review of "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E23ProfitAndLace Profit And Lace]]" he utterly rips into [[AbusiveParent how horrible a parent Ishka is]] to Quark. Quark is a misogynist but in every appearance Ishka has made she has treated him like crap and never showed him any kindness. By this point Quark had risked his life to save Ishka in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E10TheMagnificentFerengi The Magnificent Ferengi]]" and [[UngratefulBastard she still treats him like trash]]. Even by the end of the episode when he Quark allows himself to be humiliated by a scheme Ishka drags him into her treatment of him hasn't improved. Chuck doesn't defend Quark's misogyny, but notes that give how his badly his own mother has treated him his entire life, [[FreudianExcuse it's hardly surprising he has such a negative view of women]] even if the show doesn't acknowledge it.

* The introduction to his ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' review, attacking the viewpoint of fans of the franchise claiming that they own a piece of it. He doesn't own any of the franchise itself, but he does own how it makes him feel, and he's going to have opinions based on that, and trying to deny them is true undeserved entitlement.

* His review of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite'', he defends Superman's refusal to kill Atomic Skull, even when a mob of people in Metropolis is calling for the villain's death. He points out that Superman doesn't want to play JudgeJuryAndExecutioner. If society is not willing to take the measures needed to stop a murderer like Atomic Skull, then the failure is on society, not Superman. In fact he argues that wanting Superman to kill is admitting that we cannot be trusted with our own decisions and need Superman to make them for us. In fact he praises Superman for sticking to his principles instead of giving into mob mentality.
** On the subject of superheroes not killing supervillains, he has also brought up the case with Batman's infamous refusal to kill the Joker. He argues that it's not Batman's fault the Joker keeps killing people, not when society refuses to take the measures needed to actually stop the criminal. In fact, it's unreasonable to want a vigilante to handle a problem like a mass murdering supervillain simply because we as a society are too inept to do it. Simply put: if the only way to ensure the Joker never kill again is to execute him, OUR justice system needs to make that choice and pull that trigger. It is not, never has been, and never ''should'' be Batman's responsibility. The same applies to any hero and villain: if it is known and accepted that a given villain is BeyondRedemption, then it is up to ''us'', not the superheroes, to choose to take that final, permanent step.

** Overviewing and defending ComicBook/PowerGirl in the review of [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Fearful Symmetry]], saying that, at her best, she at least reflects the immigrant experience better than Superman does and is slightly more relatable (near the end, even saying at her best -- the 2009 Gray[=/=]Palmiotti[=/=]Conner run -- she reminds him more of a Marvel character), but also admits that the crazy backstory that's tied in with ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and the DC alternate universe cosmology leaves her VERY hard to adapt. And then ending off with [[SelfDeprecation "I'm shallow, but I'm not THAT shallow."]]

* His analysis of "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 Twilight's Kingdom – Part 2]]". He points out that Twilight's title of Princess is a strong case of "YouCantGoHomeAgain", and how, while her library was the place where she took her first steps into a larger world, it can only remain in the past, and that she can only go forward. It's time for her to spread her wings, and become what she was always meant to be. What follows immediately afterward is Twilight's fight with Tirek gloriously set to [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers The Touch]].

* From his review of "Only Human', the mental image of the Autobots thwarting 9/11.
* His review of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'''s "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E11WhereNoFanHasGoneBefore Where No Fan Has Gone Before]]". He opens wondering if he should treat this as a Trek review... and within 10 seconds decides yes, to the point that he gives out awards just like he does with Trek Reviews. The highest honor he can give a review: treating it like an episode of ''Star Trek''. Crosses over with Heartwrming.

* As a companion to both his reviews of "Recap/StarTrekS2E14WolfInTheFold" and "Recap/BabylonFiveS02E21ComesTheInquisitor", his look at UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, giving a brief overview of his historical deeds as well as his representations in popular culutre, specifically the ones that led to his appearances on ''Star Trek'' and ''Babylon 5''. It's a brief but fascinating dive into why this heinous historical figure has so captured the imaginations of the public, even so long after he committed his crimes, that in ficton, Jack The Ripper lives forever. . . and fiction is the only place in which one such as him ''should'' live.

** Taking a few data points and constructing a probable alternate narrative of the film. Leonard Nimoy agreed to return as Spock only because the character would be killed off, giving Nimoy an out from a franchise he'd long since felt had run its course. The idea that Spock would die was leaked to fans, who became enraged, and so the death was apparently shifted and rewritten, with the ''Kobayashi Maru'' scenario serving as a fake-out death. Chuck points out a few salient points: after Khan's initial attack on ''Enterprise'', Scotty's nephew, Peter Preston, is killed. But the circumstances leading up to that, damage to Engineering, insufficient power, a ticking clock before inevitable destruction, are ''precisely identical'' to those that result in Spock's death at the climax. Combined with the fact that, between Khan's initial attack and his HeroicSacrifice Spock has almost no presence in the film, and Chuck posits that Spock was intended to die in that initial action scene, to raise the stakes relatively early in the film and add the sense that AnyoneCanDie, and it was later tweaked to be the film's climax instead. A [[JustForPun fascinating]] dissection of change arguably being for the better, yet also a compelling glimpse into what might have been.

* His summation to ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', talking about how some have criticized the ending for being "materialistic," i.e. Marty's life is better because his parents and siblings are living in house with nicer furnishings and wearing nicer clothes. But the point isn't that they have better stuff, it's that, because of the changes to George and Lorraine's characters, they have ''become better people'', motivated to set goals for themselves and strive to accomplish those goals, which has had the side effect of improving the material quality of their lives. Even Marty now having the [=4x4=] truck he'd gazed at longingly at the beginning of the film has deeper meaning: Marty was shown drafting on cars with his skateboard, at the whims of drivers happening to be moving the direction he wants to go. His plans for the weekend were trashed because the family car was totaled. The time machine car takes him on a journey to the past that imperils his very existence. And at the end, after changing history for the better, getting to know his folks when they were his age, and returning to his family's improved circumstances, he now has a car of his own. Chuck posits that Marty's relationship with cars is the relationship of teenagers with life: being at the whim of others and not having control over where you're going, when, or how fast. Thus, Marty now having a truck is symbolic of him passing into adulthood, being able to set his own course and make his own choices, to decide the path of his life from here on out. Even the fact that it is a [=4x4=], a truck designed for off-roading, is symbolic. Marty is no longer bound by outside forces, he can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants, make his life into what he wants it to be.

* His VERY thorough discussion on how comics nearly collapsed in TheNineties. In 13 parts, and it's great to see all the what ifs and the key points in the drama.

** On the subject of superheroes not killing supervillains, he has also brought up the case with Batman's infamous refusal to kill the Joker. He argues that it's not Batman's fault the Joker keeps killing people, not when society refuses to take the measures needed to actually stop the criminal. In fact it's unreasonable to want a vigilante to handle a problem like a mass murdering supervillain simply because we as a society are too inept to do it.

** Overviewing and defending ComicBook/PowerGirl in the review of [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Fearful Symmetry]], saying that, at her best, she at least reflects the immigrant experience better than Superman does and is slightly more relatable (near the end, even saying at her best she reminds him more of a Marvel character), but also admits that the crazy backstory that's tied in with ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and the DC alternate universe cosmology leaves her VERY hard to adapt. And then ending off with [[SelfDeprecation "I'm shallow, but I'm not THAT shallow."]]

--->The show has laid out the uneasy question: where is the inevitable end here? Bruce Wayne didn't become Batman because he wanted to watch from on high, he did it to help the situation ''on the ground'', fight mobsters and corrupt politicians and others who are making it so a family can't even walk home without a father and a mother being brutally murdered before their child. The others were similar. What this has become wasn't what they set out to make it, they just wanted to do what they could to help people. Then a problem came along that was too big to handle alone, so it was time to work together, until even that wound almost not being enough, so that more power was needed to avert the problem, and support and technology to go along with it. And now, you're throwing around ''so much'' power that even the most mighty governments on Earth could have trouble opposing you, and it's no longer a punk with a gun in an alley that you want to knock down and tie up, you've become a player on the world stage! Everything has spiraled out of control, and you could use that power to dominate. You never would, you ''never '''would''''', but when it's realized that you '''could''', that can make people afraid. And what have you become now? You stopped that punk with a gun, but now there's a punk with ''thousands'' of guns turning them on the people he rules, killing more fathers, more mothers, even the children now, and that's something you now have the power to stop but was never a level you ever expected or wanted to rise to, and when they turn to the sky and call out to God to deliver them you realize they're unknowingly looking to you in your Watchtower and asking their prayers to be answered and you have the power to ''do that'' but you lack the knowledge and the wisdom that ''comes'' with that job! And even as you wrestle with what you're even supposed to ''do'' anymore those you wanted to protect now so fear what you can do that now they take steps to stand against you if you decide to become everything they fear! They even strike against you in that fear! Until the unfairness of it all weighs you down, responds to your outstretched hands of friendship and slaps it away so many times you can't help but think, maybe you '''''DO''''' need to do something! You '''''DO''''' need to protect these people from themselves, because they're so blinded by fear they're willing to undermine the ones best equipped to protect them! And in anger you lash out, and in terror they lash back, and all you wanted was just to try to help people see they could make the world a better place and now it looks like instead of inspiring you've terrified! And how do you get off this rollercoaster, how do you go back to the way it was when all you were trying to do was fix the small stuff and show people you don't need powers to make the world better? To just be a man who is super or a woman who inspires wonder, to be the one carrying a lantern in the dark, to find a way to answer the collective cry of "SAVE US!" Without it being followed by a finger pointing at you and adding '''"FROM THEM!"'''

* Overviewing and defending ComicBook/PowerGirl in the review of [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Fearful Symmetry]], saying that, at her best, she at least reflects the immigrant experience better than Superman does and is slightly more relatable (near the end, even saying at her best she reminds him more of a Marvel character), but also admits that the crazy backstory that's tied in with ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and the DC alternate universe cosmology leaves her VERY hard to adapt. And then ending off with [[SelfDeprecation "I'm shallow, but I'm not THAT shallow."]]

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossTheEighthDimension'': Taking Buckaroo's pithy, cheesy (and no doubted intended to be such) statement "No matter where you go, there you are" and applying some deep philosophical thought to it. In the movie, it comes after Buckaroo, playing a gig with the Hong Kong Cavaliers, has realized someone in the audience is not having a good time, and singled out Penny Priddy. The audience jeers at her sob story, and Buckaroo gently remonstrates them "Don't be mean. You don't have to be mean." He ties this to John Whorfin's later (and equally cheesy and intended to be) "Character is WhatYouAreInTheDark," ''then'' ties to his review of the ''Series/Babylon5'' episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E21ComesTheInquisitor Comes The Inquisitor]]" to point out that, if true character is defined by what you do when you're alone in the dark and no one's watching, Buckaroo is countering that you're ''never'' alone in the dark, there's always someone there watching you and judging your actions: yourself. No matter where you go, you bring yourself with you, and you are always there to look at what you do and ask: Is this who I want to be? A solid analysis of one strange scene from this patently and unapologetically ridiculous movie, that shows why it has a small but extremely devoted fanbase.

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossTheEigthDimension'': Taking Buckaroo's pithy, cheesy (and no doubted intended to be such) statement "No matter where you go, there you are" and applying some deep philosophical thought to it. In the movie, it comes after Buckaroo, playing a gig with the Hong Kong Cavaliers, has realized someone in the audience is not having a good time, and singled out Penny Priddy. The audience jeers at her sob story, and Buckaroo gently remonstrates them "Don't be mean. You don't have to be mean." He ties this to John Whorfin's later (and equally cheesy and intended to be) "Character is WhatYouAreInTheDark," ''then'' ties to his review of the ''Series/Babylon5'' episode "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E21ComesTheInquisitor Comes The Inquisitor]]" to point out that, if true character is defined by what you do when you're alone in the dark and no one's watching, Buckaroo is countering that you're ''never'' alone in the dark, there's always someone there watching you and judging your actions: yourself. No matter where you go, you bring yourself with you, and you are always there to look at what you do and ask: Is this who I want to be? A solid analysis of one strange scene from this patently and unapologetically ridiculous movie, that shows why it has a small but extremely devoted fanbase.

'''Janeway:''' Oh, it's happened ever since they installed my Dr. Replicators on the Enterprise-C. Unfortunately, the drug's side-effect substantially increases testosterone. That's why you're so aggressive and you've lost your hair. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Sorry...]] Look on the bright side! Once you go on this mission it won't matter, because there is no way anyone will be coming back from Romulus alive!\\

* If you've seen enough of Chuck's reviews, you know that stories involving the potential death of a child hit him very personally, and often draw his ire. "[[BabylonFiveS01E10Believers Believers]]" hits this exact scenario, with a dying child who could be saved by Franklin's medicine but whose parents will not permit the operation on religious grounds. Not only does this hit our reviewer on a personal level, but gets into heavy topics of religion and politics that he is sometimes reluctant to discuss for fear of alienating chunks of his audience. Yet delve into these subjects he does, even noting that religion really isn't the issue, it's what the doctor knows to be best versus what the patient believes to be best, and beliefs do not necessarily need to come from religion (and brings up an episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', where an African-American patient was convinced a drug "targeted" at African-Americans was cheap, inferior knockoff of the drug white people would get). Even if some of his usual jokes feel a bit more like a defensive mechanism this time, even as it's clear this episode is profoundly uncomfortable for him to watch, he lauds it for being uncomfortable to watch ''because that's exactly what it's supposed to be''. He still simply ends the review without giving the episode any rating or overview discussion, but it's remarkable he did it at all, and that he intelligently discussed the complicated and uncomfortable topics with his audience. He even admitted that he was hoping people would forget he hadn't reviewed this episode, so he wouldn't have to.

* Narrating a scene from ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' to start out his review of ''Film/TheManFromEarth''. Coupled with the use of Baba Yetu in montage near the end.

* He notes that some criticize "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E5Phantasms Phantasms]]" for having Data attack Troi, putting her into the DamselInDistress and NeutralFemale tropes, but defends it as the only choice that made sense from a storytelling standpoint. Crusher needs to remain able to handle the medical part of the plot, Data had just menaced Geordi in "Descent," so they're both out. That leaves Riker, Worf, or Picard, and Frakes, Dorn, and Stewart are all as tall or taller than Brent Spiner, meaning the sense of menace would be lost. Yes, intellectually the audience knows Data is capable of overpowering even Worf effortlessly, but that intellectual knowledge doesn't compare to the visceral feeling of Data appearing like a SlasherHorror villain before the helpless Troi. Quite simply, the story needed that emotional beat, and Troi was the best choice to provide it.