Lost in Space and ReBoot: The Guardian Code Review

You are tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips and in this episode

of the podcast I'll be covering well Two different

franchises this episode. I'm doing a review of

Lost in space the first ten episodes of the series

so far my thoughts on it uh... as well as reboot

the guardian code after seeing the first ten

episodes of that as well uh... and uh... yeah

it's been kind of interesting watching these

two series and getting a little bit of uh...

behind the scenes of some of the uh... uh...

the stuff going on in both series as uh... they've

progressed i'm Impressed with one, one I'm kind

of on the fence still, but we'll get right into

it after a quick little bit of housekeeping.

The next episode I will be having Dodd back on,

I'm fairly sure. I didn't have him on this one,

mostly because of a time crunch and I needed

to get this done ASAP. It's my kid's spring break

week, so... for elementary schools, so I don't

have the freedom of time that I would have had

normally. Just got to figure out a little bit

of household fixing as far as plumbing is concerned.

Had to re -build my shower plumbing pieces essentially

because it was leaking. Been a problem for a

while, but I got through it, got it figured out.

So suffice it to say, we're going to be doing

some entertaining things on this episode. So

I'm gonna get right down to it into Lost in Space.

Now just to preface this, this show, the new

Lost in Space anyhow, I'm kind of... When I saw

that this was coming to Netflix, I was interested

right away. Mostly because I grew up where my

parents watched the original Lost in Space. The

original Lost in Space was kind of revolutionary.

It came out before track, it was black and white,

and then I believe later went color or they later

translated it. So anyways, I watched the The

first ten episodes of this to begin with I got

the first five and then I think because I watched

them or maybe they just decided to unleash the

other five I I went through and Watched them

all I Will say that I have been very impressed

with the treatment of the series as far as How

they've portrayed the new lost in space The cast

it's it's a pretty solid Piece of sci -fi and

I love this this reimagining because it kind

of keeps the heart of the original series and

re -does it for now. So the classic one was in

the 1960s. This one is set 30 years in the future

of now. So colonization space is a reality. The

Robinson family among those tested and selected

to make a new life for themselves in a better

world. But when the new colonists find themselves

abruptly torn off course en route to their new

home, they must forge new alliances and work

together to survive in a dangerous alien environment

light years from their original destination.

So it stars Toby Stevens as John Robinson, Molly

Parker as Maureen Robinson, the Robinson kids

which are Taylor Russell is the confident Judy,

Mina Sunwell or Sunwall is the middle child Penny

and Max Jenkins is the new Will Robinson and

they're of course stranded along with The Robinsons

are the two outsiders fighting themselves thrown

together by circumstance is the the new version

of Dr. Smith played by Parker Posey and the inadvertently

very similar looking and and acting Don West

played by Ignacio Serracchio So anyways, it's

It's it's very well written The sci -fi doesn't

look cheap in it, which I'm actually quite happy

about. It doesn't have that Star Trek Discovery

level cheap, and it doesn't have the Orville

-style cheap either, because they both have it

in different ways. This is very much a full -quality,

full -money -in Netflix production where it doesn't

look like... Like a CBS product or a Fox product.

It looks definitely like something Netflix would

put out. It's dark But it's got a lot of light

tones in it. It's very cinematic. I I found that

I Wasn't too sure when I first started watching

it Just because reboots and remakes don't really

lend themselves and usually they they bomb terribly,

but Again, the 90s and the 80s trying to resurrect

things from the 60s or 70s, it didn't really

play out well for them, whereas I think now the

TV scope is different, the writing's better,

TV has more of that cinematic film universe writing

style. So I've been very happy with how this

series has turned out. The episode list consists

of... Like I said before 10 episodes. They're

not really titled because they just kind of go

into the episodes which is kind of nice That

we don't have this. I mean they have the intro

stuff, but I mean it's it's not this big extravagant

thing I love the fact that it's a 50 minute runtime

Instead of the the 35 minutes we got on Star

Trek discovery, which is on on Netflix as well.

The entire series will be up on April 13th of

this month, and I think that it's definitely

the sci -fi family drama type of stuff that we've

been lacking. It's very, very fun, very scientific

in a sense, but it's very much about this core

unit of this family. I think it's a very solid

contender for this new revival of major sci -fi

television between, you know, like Altered Carbon

and Star Trek Discovery, The Orville, I know

there's a couple other series I'm forgetting,

like the one that parodied Star Trek, but...

I think that this fits in this particular time

and it's not too dark. It's got a lot of uplifting

and bright moments that kind of keep it in that

lost in space requirement that it had. But I

love how they've kind of mixed a lot of the characteristics

and a lot of the focus of the 60s with... the

modern -day look and feel of how families work

now and how the television landscape looks now,

the aesthetics now. What they've done with Dr.

Smith's story, kind of an interesting dilemma

there. I can't go into too much more detail on

it. I will just say that it's going to be an

interesting way that they're portraying it. I

wish I could go into more details, and I guess

I will once everybody's seen it, but I do like

the twist that they threw on the new version

of Dr. Smith here. And then, of course, we have

the original actor, Bill Mooney. Will Robinson

is going to be making a cameo in the show, although

they don't state by what way that he's going

to be in the series or how he's present. I didn't

really notice him with him, you know, if he's

there. I couldn't pick it out. It wasn't something

that I just actively noticed because, one, I'm

not familiar with his current look. I don't follow

him all that much, but I do know that he's supposed

to have some kind of a role in the series. I'm

just not sure to what degree. There's a lot of

shady past to Dr. Smith in the series and how

she came to be a part of the Robinson crew. There's

a nice little twist with the aspects of the planet

that they're living on during the series. Again,

can't go into too much detail here. I love the

fact that there's a bunch of Jupiters, not just

the Jupiter 2. I expected to not see anybody

else in the series for the most part once...

the Robinson family was on their own. But it

was kind of interesting seeing how that whole

dynamic played out, because it was almost kind

of like one of those sci -fi TV series that used

to be on Fox, where they went back in time to

prehistoric Earth. It kind of reminds me of that

in a sense. It's a little bit different. The

aspect of the robot... It's kind of a mystery

like as far as anything like there's there's

They don't really divulge They do but they don't

and I may have to rewatch it to get the gist

of it, but they don't really divulge what the

What the robots Doing or how it There's some

of that that's not really there. The new take

and the new design of the robot, I'm a little

iffy on mostly because I'm nostalgic and I love

the original robot from the 60s which is not

practical or realistic by today's standards by

any means. But it's still, they kept some of

the... Thought patterns of it. They didn't make

him hokey and stupid like the 97 film which I'm

thankful for And there's there's different aspects

again to the series with pertaining to the robot

and There's just a lot to like about about this

new series. I have a lot of high hopes for it

especially after touching the tail end of the

series I I think that it's Going to be a solid

contender that's gonna be around for a number

of years, especially the way that they ended

the season It's I I'm very blown away by the

series It's probably like if if this had been

out for our GCR and awards I think we would have

had this as a pretty high contender this year

So I'm gonna take a quick break. I hope you guys

enjoyed the conversation on lost in space I'm

gonna come back on the other side with the reboot

the Guardian code And we're back. So, I'm gonna

talk about Reboot the Guardian Code. After seeing

the first ten episodes of this, the basically

first season, even though I think it's still

the same season, even when it comes back, the

United States got season one, or the first ten

episodes, on March 30th, which I blitzed through

as soon as it was available, and... The rest

of it won't be available until June 30th when

YTV gets the first 10 episodes. That's when Netflix

will get the remaining 10 episodes. It was supposed

to be 26 episodes upon initial release and then

they bumped it down to 20. The 10th episode I

think definitely leads up to some things. There's

a lot of thoughts and a lot of things that I

have as far as this series is concerned. There's

a lot of... Apprehension to the series. I think

that it's well warranted in some regards and

some it's a mountain out of a molehill it's kind

of a cross between the two different boats and

I think that Had the production team and had

the fans work closer together. I think we could

have had a solid series I think there's a lot

of venom on both sides of the fence That needed

to be mended prior to the series and it seems

like They tried to incorporate part of the original

series into it, and it kind of fails in a sense.

I'm going to be trying to contact and interview

some of the writers and producers and whatnot

with the show as time goes on. I have a couple

of contacts there. Because I'd like to kind of

delve into a little bit more information and

have it straight from the horse's mouth rather

than... one side or the other, and I'm not going

to be attacking or anything like that. I'm going

to be fair about it. I loved the original series.

This one has its ups and downs. I have particular

issue with the writing of the live action segments,

which I find to be very weak in certain regards.

I think that the sorcerer... Is is probably by

far the weakest character we've got The the teenager

aspect the the almost Power Ranger VR trooper

superhuman cyber Superhuman Samurai cyber squad

Code Lyoko or whatever Parody that everybody

else has been comparing this to I think that

that's very much in tune with what the fans thought

and and I get it they're trying to market this

to today's teens and preteens and we're you know

20 years out of the the marker there but I think

that at the same time things should be kind of

resonating with the original fans as well especially

when your PR department hasn't done their job

and I say this to be very polite and nice about

it but It's when when you're trying to contact

the company And get any kind of information even

a response It's in in you're waiting for weeks

even though they're not doing anything or at

least it appears. They're not doing anything

and then all the marketing gets bumped in the

last ten days of before it releases and Even

then it's it's mere weak Promotion they're they're

using Instagram Facebook and Twitter on the Guardian

Code. Rainmaker hasn't touched their social media

in over a year, and then they come back around

the time of the show launch and try and use it,

which has barely anybody following it. And the

Guardian Code, which should have been starting

its ramp up a year ago, even as early as August

of last year, they still only have about a hundred

followers on Twitter. And that's it. and that's

the same thing with their everything else and

it seems like all of their writers and their

cast and producers are the only people following

their accounts unless they're people like me

that are trying to get any kind of information

which when you dig through their website and

you find more information on there than what

they're even giving out just by a search through

their WordPress site because it's not that hard

to find it when you're using WordPress. Especially

when it's not programmed correctly in the back

end and you can find out what everything is I'm

not saying I did this personally. I just know

people that have found through it and I've also

looked at some of the imagery and information

that were back there and so I Was going through

this I watched the series. I watched it from

a critical eye Without trying to divulge and

destroy the series First episode, it had a very

Power Rangers vibe to it, where you have the

dark code going against the web, and you have

Vera, who's basically Alpha -5, who ends up Alpha

-5 in the flesh, through a 3D printer of organic

material from the web, and somehow still has

connection to the internet. But anyways... She

comes out and basically calls the four teenagers

to room zero to become Reboot Rangers, Reboot

Guardians for the Guardian Code and how this

room has holographic wall and nobody knows that

it's here is kind of mind -boggling in of itself.

You get the sorcerer who glimpses he's got a

weird twitch in the series. And he's also kind

of not all there in the head. He's wanting to

destroy the internet. He's wanting to kind of

bring society crashing down to the old days before

it was all high -tech. He somehow knows about

mainframe, which is another thing that's a little

bit weird. He knows about the first mainframe

computer, which it doesn't lend to know whether...

This would be something I would be curious to

ask, because if there were... Because they said

the mainframe computer is an ancient, you know,

thing. And that's where they find Bob, Hexadecimal,

Enzos, Dot, Megabyte. So I'm wondering if there's

multiple mainframes. And the one from Season

4 is just one mainframe that's been heavily modified.

and the one from this show is basically a season

one version that got shut down early. So I'm

wondering if that's the case or if because it

went in low power standby mode that's why everything

reverted to season one and so we lost all of

these characters that had otherwise been there

for a couple seasons. I loved how they introduced

Megabyte. They brought him back. He was in an

alleyway deactivated. They re -animated him,

brought him back. His CGI model was perfection

to his Season 1 megabyte model, which I enjoyed.

And the gripe with, and this is jumping to episode

10, but with Bob, Dot, and Enzo, is that they...

Their designs were a little off like wonky in

the face and in some of the design yet The megabyte

model we saw for 15 seconds looked better by

comparison and hexadecimal looks awesome, too

So I'm wondering If maybe those are like early

imports of the mainframe people and maybe they're

gonna return in the the second half of the series

Which I would be interested to ask the actors

or not the actors but the the writers some of

that information, if that's a case there. Because

I'm not trying to destroy it or attack it, I'm

just curious. Because they really weren't modeled

all that great. I like the voice, but a lot of

the writing for those characters were not very

well done either. Very weak, trying to play on

the original reboot too much in that essence.

especially Bob's introduction where he calls

on the intro speech that he did. It just sounded

off. When he was speaking normal, he was more

fine than at those nostalgia moments. The other

thing I really liked was Megabytes seemed to

be very true to form as did Hexadecimal. when

they showed up. And when I say that, I mean like,

one, I loved that they brought back the voice

cast of the original series for those that they

could that were still among us. I will say that

the actor that replaced Tony Jay as Megabyte

has done a pretty well job. There's certain aspects

where I find him lacking, but overall, I think

Tim Brumman did a pretty well... impersonation

of Tony Jay to where There were certain scenarios

depending on his tone that he could play The

original Tony Jay voice especially in scenarios

where he's doing a deep low Speaking voice where

he goes hexadecimal And so things like that it

was it was very nice touch there I Liked how

megabyte was very sarcastic with the sorcerer

Especially when you get to episode 9, he's like,

what is it today? Perhaps a cyber patch removal,

or taking over a satellite, or, you know, and

he just starts naming random things that didn't

work that the Sorcerer just had to have control

of, or have Megabyte do, and Megabyte's just

kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah, just keep your

shorts on, and Sorcerer's just getting whiny

about it. So I thought that was kind of funny.

I do see the parallels between the Sorcerer and

Megabyte though, with Megabyte getting the upgrade

and the delete key option where Unicron did the

same thing to Megatron to create Galvatron. Where

he, you know, Megatron's like, I don't listen

to anybody and Unicron's like, well, have it

your way and starts to obliterate him. And then

he's like, I'll accept your terms. And then,

you know, just has to listen, basically. And

so that's kind of the boat that I see Megabyte

in. I would love if Megabyte next half the season

figured out a way to get off of the Sorcerer's

delete key option, even if that meant going back

to his original form, which I think would be

spectacular. If nothing else, like, what I miss

most about the original Megabyte, it was the

virus symbol on his chest and the face. The head

and face of the original Megabyte I think made

the entire character. The body, I had no issue

with that being renovated. The scepter I thought

was kind of an interesting twist of what they

did with that. I love his new throne room and

the fact that he took it from basically Minecraft.

I love his new troops. I love how he infects

and creates his new troops. I would be a little

interested to know what happened to all of the

binomes from the reboot world. like Mike TV and,

you know, Hair Doctor and Hack and Slash and

characters like that. I really hope that they

do a lot more close -knits between the original

series bridging it and the current season because

I think there's a lot of potential there and

I loved how they went into the game and the new

Guardians couldn't reboot. There was a lot of

aspects with the new Guardians that I really

liked. I liked their gear. I liked a lot of their

their actions. I liked a lot of the the the new

portrayals that they kind of added to the series.

I liked the fact that they weren't able to reboot

so they had to figure out another way of playing

the game because Bob is the only one that could

do that because he's a true Guardian. I have

some theories as far as when they they turn on

the reboot land. I think that the sorcerer must

be Austin's dad and I think that because he He

kind of has this weird digital twitch like he's

been in a system, but doesn't realize it he's

very singular focused on Tearing down the net,

but there's no reason why And it and he's totally

oblivious to the fact that you can send things

through translate it to tech until he sees the

blood on Megabyte's hand and I like the little

silver orbs that they find that Austin's dad

or something in the net keeps leaving behind

basically showing that they digitized Austin's

rat and put it in the web and I think that the

sorcerers started around the time that Austin's

dad disappeared and which kind of leads me to

believe that part of Austin's dad is still in

the web. And part of him is physically the Sorcerer,

which would explain the insane ability of being

able to hack and do what he's doing, as well

as the fact that he knew about Megabyte, he created

Megabyte, he knew how he recreated Megabyte,

he added the delete key because he knows how...

Basically tyrannical he is and and would betray

him first chance he got So again, I think that

that's going to play out to some degree on the

series I think that we're gonna see what happens

to Austin's dad I think that the the the mark

guy or the guy that's that's at Austin's house

with his mother I believe that he is a part of

the Department of Internet Security, DIS, which

happens to have two people from the show Continuum,

which funny enough, one of the writers, Todd

Ireland, is also from Continuum, which I really

loved that series when that was out. It was a

fun, great series, sci -fi -wise. But I have

high hopes for it going forward because I heard

that there was a lot of issues with the first

10 episodes between lighting, rigging, animation,

the fact that some of the things were kind of

rushed, some of the things were kind of done

at the behest of the CEO of the company, just

because they wanted to push this Unreal Engine,

which don't get me wrong, I love the new CGI,

I love the new graphics that they've applied

to the series. I just wish that they would have

taken a little bit better care with mainframe.

Some of it was accurate, some of it was was correct.

I just wish that the characters were more visually

correct because that seems to be a point of contention

with the fans and their personalities. Another

thing that seems to be a point of contention

is the fact that they had this basement -dweller

sounding guy who come to the realization that

mainframe stole a line. He has a bunch of reboot

memorabilia. Here's a joke about... Oh! You know,

and my mom said I'd never amount to anything,

you know, playing in the basement for 20 years

or something like that and he pulls out an old

Escape from Alcatraz looking game that would

be something they would have played on the original

reboot. Very, very basic in a sense. And I like

what they did with it. I think that it was a

nod and it could have been inferred as partial

knock on the fans just for the fact that He was

a huge fanboy of the original reboot and mainframe

and I'm kind of curious to know what that whole

deal is But again, it was it was still fun the

loser or the user lost I mean, I think he won

twice in the original series Even though they

kind of inferred he didn't win at all But either

way like nitpicks and all I think overall I don't

think it deserves a one star or anything. I think

that It should at least get five Even if like

because like for me I found a lot of and I know

I'm not the target demographic the The live -action

bits I found to be very jarring and kind of annoying

It wasn't It wasn't as entertaining as I'd hoped

the digital world. I loved 90 % of it so Like

if I was going to edit it and have the series

without the live action bits and only keep what's

necessary of the Sorcerer and Vera. I think that

it would cut the series in half, but you would

still have all of the solid animation points.

Even the revival of Reboot, the mainframe being

turned back on in Room 0. So I think that we're

getting to that point where the series could

be good, and every series gets a reboot. everyone

does. Transformers, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers,

like everything gets a reboot. I think that some

of it, like those don't even consult the fans,

they don't even try, like they just kind of do

what they're gonna do. And the new Ninja Turtles

even is jarring to look at. They totally changed

everything. So it's, some people are extremely

mad about that series. I've just kind of come

to the realization I'm not their demographic.

I still have my original show. It's not going

anywhere. I wish that if they're going to do

continuations, they don't make the old show look

like garbage or sound like garbage or be written

that way. But again, I'm not on the production

staff. If I were, I would love nothing more than

to lend my knowledge and my fanfare to whatever

series it is that I'm a huge fan to. To help

better the series, but in the end it's it's still

their production overall But I I enjoyed the

series for what it was I'm looking forward to

the second half the series because hexadecimal

is gonna play a bigger part with megabyte now

They've introduced Bob and some of those other

people I hope that they return in the second

half because the titles are very vague for that

that season or that half of the show But I would

say give it a shot There's certain episodes that

you'll want to pay attention to like the second

episode specifically and the Like the the tenth

episode specifically and there's a couple sprinkled

throughout. I think the the third episode is

pretty good, too I think because megabyte gets

his castle fortress around then Which I I still

love I think that that's very megabyte of him

But I think that they've captured the essence

of Megabyte really well, which is kind of hard

to do. I wish that some of the original production

staff or creators of the show would get some

input in future seasons. I hope that if this

did do well enough, I hope that they would revisit

more of the original reboot in the new series

and kind of have a nice meshing between the two.

I think that that could lend for a very strong

contender there And I wish that the PR had been

better between the fans and Rainmaker mainframe

Entertainment or studios or whatever they're

calling themselves this week Not that I'm hating

on the company. I like the company. It's just

I haven't been Blown away by any of their their

recent marketing attempts because they've been

very closed -mouthed. They've not divulged anything

to press whatsoever which leads me to believe

that common thought of the way the video game

industry works where you hear nothing or you're

not allowed to talk about it or they don't give

you anything on it then that shows that they

just don't have the They don't have the confidence

that it's gonna go the distance and that's why

they're just not putting all their effort into

it And I kind of am that same belief that I know

enough people in the gaming industry that that's

Generally what happens and that's what they think

and that is true And so if that happens with

television, it doesn't lead that it's like the

difference between the first half the show in

this half I was able to watch Lost in Space on

Netflix and the series was awesome. Now mind

you, both series are available on Netflix, but

I really loved Lost in Space, but I think this

show could have been better had they promoted

it properly, had they not created this dissension

with the fans. Yes, I realize some people are

going to attack it no matter what. but I think

that if they'd kind of jumped in front of the

PR wagon early and stopped giving canned answers

and deleting posts and hiding comments and had

just given information progressively up to the

point of release, I think that they would have

saved themselves a lot of heartache. So I'm gonna

come back on the other side with a quick thought

and move on. So I hope you guys enjoyed this

Tuesday edition of Altered Geek. I hope you enjoyed

the reviews or the thoughts on Lost in Space

Season 1 and on Reboot the Guardian Code. I hope

that you'll tune into the Friday edition of the

show and see what's coming up next. I have a

couple of different series things, a couple of

new things to talk about, whether it comes to

film and television. in some animation, but I

think that that's about it for the most part.

We did get some feedback on the social medias,

which I'm going to pull up, and it's been fun

to kind of go in this new direction with the

podcast, kind of just talking about whatever

just happens to pop up. The the the hashtag what's

geeky to you can always be reached or you can

comment on at altered geek on on the the Facebook

and the Twitter So going back to some feedback

we have a new home for Toys R Us kids and KB

toys and fun feedback Brad says since we talked

about the the past shows that could come back

or Desiree It says, beloved store that's now

dead, Zellers, all the way. I had the older stuff,

Zetti, and then a toy box with a newer design.

We stopped to eat at the restaurant after doctor's

appointments so many times as an adult. There

was a smaller one at a local small mall where

I would often go. A total Canadian institution,

eh? Yeah, I've heard of Zellers, mostly through

Dodd, and it kind of reminds me or sounds like

our targets for around here kind of thing, so.

But yeah, a lot of stuff on the horizon. Also,

some freshly renewed show information. Roseanne

renewed for season 11, or revival season 2. I

watched the first two episodes of that, it's

actually pretty good. I was not a huge fan of

the original, but I found myself laughing and

entertained by the new one. Because it kind of

plays by today's standards, so another revival

show that's pretty good. Supergirl renewed for

season four. I think Black Lightning was already

renewed for second season. We also have... I

believe... I know Riverdale's renewed for another

season. I believe some of the other shows could

be getting a... renewal, but I'm not entirely

sure on that yet. There's possibilities Big Bang

Theory may be canceled with Season 12. The series

Showrunner hits at the end, says there's certainly

stories they want to tell. They haven't told,

who knows what will happen after Season 12, so

Season 12 might be a nice chance to tell them,

because they're finishing Season 11. It says

we're getting pretty close to being done, at

least right in Season 11. We have... another

month and a half of shooting, and we have some

general thoughts of 12, then we'll get a break

after 11 to recharge and come in with more. So

it's not been renewed, but there's a possibility.

There's also the Last Man Standing revived, possibly

revived, WGN America acquires cancelled ABC sitcom.

WGN America has picked up the existing episodes

of Tim Allen's Last Man Standing to add it to

its comedy lineup. Network will begin airing

reruns of the series April 30th. They're happy

to welcome Tim Allen and his show. It says their

viewers love a good laugh and are confident Last

Man will contribute to the momentum that has

made WGN America one of cable's fastest growing

networks. I would love for that show to come

back, honestly. I didn't love Home Improvement

enough to have it come back. This show, I did.

I was kind of sad it went down in flames, but...

CMT originally was going to revive it but or

explore the the possibility to order multiple

season 20 episode runs But I would love for WGN

America to get it although I don't know how I

would get to watch it But you know never know

it's kind of cool I know Krypton is floating

about there it May or I believe it it got renewed

for season 2 by sci -fi It'll come out in 2019.

I'm not gonna be following that show I'm not

picking up any more superhero shows in fact when

the ones that I watch get cancelled. I'm done

I'm not watching any more of those so Anyways,

I think that about rounds this episode out I

think it's gonna be pretty long as it is so until

next time get altered get geeky with the altered

geeks