Kicked off a sunny, chilly fall morning with some holiday-themed Scooby Doo. "A Nutcracker Scoob" is from the late 70's-early 80's show featuring Scooby, Scrappy, Shaggy, and Daphne. Fred joins in as well for this tale of the crew helping an orphanage to put on their big Christmas pageant. The show may not go on when a miser claims he's going to shut them down...and then the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears, searching for a treasure hidden in the house. The kids have to find that treasure, before the ghost and the old man find a way to get rid of them all for good.
Spent the rest of the morning writing. The winter is fast becoming spring...and the end of the girls' year at the manor. Finn and Rey are working in the garden when Rey asks him why Harold wants Leia to sleep with him. Part of it is the spell...and part of it may be that he genuinely loves her. Finn has his own feelings for Rey, but he has no idea how to get the words out. They finally decide that a party would be just the thing for the boys to spend time with the girls and to bring Leia together with Harold.
A few days later, they discuss it with the other kids. It'll be a surprise for Leia and Harold. They'll make a party of it. Kaydel will trim up the fancy old clothes in the attic. The others will decorate and make the closest thing they can to a feast for Harold and Leia to enjoy while the kids dance and court each other.
Had yogurt and muffins for lunch around 1. Watched more Scooby Doo while I ate. Backtracked to the mid-70's series for "A Scary Night With a Snow Beast Fright." This time, the whole gang heads up north when a professor calls for their aid. By the time they arrive, he's gone, and a huge dinosaur-like snow beast has destroyed the Inuit village where he was doing research. The gang has to find what became of him and the Inuit chief, and what the beast is really protecting. Meanwhile, Scooby's more interested in a flirtatious sled dog.
Moved ahead to "Alaskan King Coward" while I got ready for work. Scrappy rejoins Shaggy and Scooby as they head further into Alaska to mine their fortune. This time, a real defrosted dino-monster ends up chasing the trio across the frozen landscape. But Scrappy's not about to let this claim-jumper get a hold of their land and sets about trapping him.
Wish I'd stayed with Scooby. Work was a pain. Nothing I did this afternoon seemed to please anybody. There was a huge milk spill right after I got in. I went to get a nice, dry mop and bucket from the back, where they're all kept. They got one from the bakery. I ended up bagging and mopping the bathrooms instead of gathering carts, which is what really needed to be done. And I realize that the old ladies don't mean to be offensive when they complain about me helping them with their heavy groceries and not a boy, but...what do they think this is, 1950? Did they all sleep through the 70's? I'm perfectly capable of lifting things, thank you. And I'm tired of my condescending boss' dumb jokes about me starting his car for him. I've told him twice that I can't drive. Thank heavens I spent the rest of the evening gathering carts and shelving groceries.
Cheered myself up with more Babes In Toyland as I ate leftovers for dinner. There were at least three live TV versions in the 1950's. I did the third one from 1955 to honor the late stage and cabaret performer Barbara Cook, who passed away this summer. Here, she and Dennis Day (as Jane Piper and Tommy Tucker) are the Mother Goose lovers, genial TV comedian Wally Cox is Grumio, and the Bill Baird Marionettes are among the major stars. Nasty Barnaby owns the toy factory, which he lures the kids, then the lovers, to, hoping to eliminate Tommy. But Grumio and his marionette friends are off to the rescue!
Finished off the night after a shower with Men In Black 3. It's a decade after the last film. Agent J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are still the best partnership the Men In Black organization has...at least, until K disappears mysteriously after a confrontation with an alien named Boris the Animal (Jermaine Clement) who claims that K was "already dead." Turns out Boris had gone back in time to 1969 and killed K before he could shoot off his arm or deploy the net around the Earth that cause the extinction of his race. Now J has to go back in time to the late 60's, an era of peace, love, and major civil rights trouble and team up with a younger K (Josh Brolin) to find the ArcNet and get it into space, or none of them are going to have any kind of future.
This was...really, really strange. Even for this franchise. On one hand, Josh Brolin made an awesome younger Tommy Lee Jones. He had his mannerisms down perfectly and paired well with Will Smith. Clement made for a great vicious villain, too. And I give them credit for a far more original plotline this time around.
On the other hand, the time travel doesn't make much sense, the recreations of the late 60's mores and fashions are more weird than spot-on, and the story is a tad too complicated at times. The aliens themselves also have a bit less screen time, though there's a couple that are pretty interesting (notably the odd fortune teller/hippie who is crucial to the plot).
And while this wasn't bad...yeah, I'm still going to say this series didn't need to go past the first one. There's talk of a reboot or revival at the moment. Honestly, I think this is a good place to leave it. Like The Matrix, this series was made for its time and place. The first one and the third one are a lot of fun and are recommended. The second one is more-or-less a rehash of the first one and is pretty much for fans only.
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