Welcome to Retro Watching

What is retro watching?

I have a problem where I start to binge watch a new show, get a panic attack part way in, and then never touch it again.

I put this down to pressure to binge watch everything. So to counteract that I'm going to be watching tv shows the old fashioned way I did in the 90s and 2000s. An episode a week. The shows may not be retro but the way I watch it is.

Current Schedule: (I will keep this up to date)

Monday: Star Trek TOS Season 1 & Charmed Season 1

Tuesday: La Brea & seaQuest (the inspiration for this idea)

Wednesday: Good Omens Season 1

Thursday: Doctor Who Season 11

Friday: Twin Peaks Season 1

Saturday: My Hero Academia Season 6

Sunday: The Owl House Season 1

I then got autistic about it and made a spread sheet and decided to rate each episode based on 8 criteria:

*Since I will be watching different shows of different genres this category will be different depending on the type of show. Most of the shows will have Cheese but it will vary for others. For instance Good Omens will have Gay as a rating.

1-6 are rated on a scale of 1-10

7 and 8 are rated on a scale of -10-0

They are then sorted on a Tier list depending on the numerical value per episode.

I will also write a short review per episode and post it here

tags will be the shows, episode name and number, and #retro watching

I will also reblog these to my main blog @ineffectualdemon

This is just so I can keep this project organised.

This is how I have fun btw

Screenshots of the spreadsheets under the cut:

Star Trek TOS Season 1 Episode 7 - Mudd's Women

This was an....interesting episode.

I don't know how to feel about it honestly. The kinda siren quality of the women and the men's goo goo eyes were ridiculous and kinda cringe.

But I did think Mudd looked like the gay pirate from the gay pirate plate story which was fun.

Also the weight of colonisation and sending wives to colonies and the history of colonisation made it interesting but also a bit icky in places.

However! Eve got more and more interesting the more real she got. And I absolutely love her attitude towards the end where the miner guy is complaining and she's being sassy as fuck back.

Him: why you ugly :(

Her: you bored me so much I got ugly

Him: :⁠'⁠(

It's definitely a product of her time but I do like her finding confidence

Also points for Spock's sassy look

Scores:

Story: 8/10 - it grew on us

Acting: 7/10

Cheese: 6/10 - mostly for siren powers and goo goo eyes

Enjoyment: 7/10 - again grew on us. The second half was better

Effects: 5/10 - not much but what was there was fine

Charm: 4/10 - all of that towards that end

Cringe: -2/0

Aged Like Milk: -2/0 - it wasn't a terrible message about gender politics for the time but it was very much of the time this aired

Overqll Rating:

B Tier

Star Trek TOS S1 Ep6 - The Enemy Within

I'm back! It's been missed for quite a few weeks due to poor physical and mental health but I'm back!

Too bad it was this episode

It's just not my favourite. It's not the worst thing I've seen but not the best either

The story isn't a horrible concept but Shatner's acting was....variable to be kind and shit to be unkind.

Frankly it only ranked as high it did in some categories because of unicorn dog.

The sexual assault scene was difficult to watch. I understand it's place in the story and I appreciate how they handled it and how they were not at all depicting it was a positive thing. Still fucking hated it though

So saying that, the scores:

Story: 7/10 - it's a Jekyll and Hyde inspired story and the added pressure of the crew on the planet needing to be saved was a decent story line

Acting: 5/10 - it's this high because mainly the other actors didn't deserve such a low score

Cheese: 8.5/10 - UNICORN DOG. Also the moment evil Kirk in intense eyeliner first turned to the camera with dramatic lining was really funny. Evil Kirk had a lot of funny moments

Enjoyment: 3/10 - not my fav episode at all

Effects: 3/10 - they couldn't get a double that at least looked a little like Shatner?

Charm: 4/10 - all of that is Unicorn Dog

Cringe: -8/0 - that one scene was awful. Also why do all evil entities in the galaxy hit on that one Yeoman?

Aged Like Milk: -1/0 - mostly the lighting, acting and directing choices

Overall ranking:

C grade

All credit to the unicorn dog

Star Trek TOS S1 Ep4 The Naked Time

I was so excited for this episode!

Sulu did not disappoint and neither did Spock's breakdown as highlights though in very different directions

So many wonderful highlights!

This was just so fun and exciting!

Also Bones just ripping off Kirk's sleeve is fucking hilarious

But really I loved this episode even though some moments had me cringing hard

Ratings-

Story: 7.5/10 - nice to see a change from god like entities

Acting: 8/10 - earns this score from Spock's breakdown scene alone. It's really something special

Cheese: 5.5/10 - it seems low but outside of Sulu nothing was massively fun cheesy

Enjoyment: 7.5/10- it was a good time!

Effects: 5/10 - there weren't a lot to judge and what was there was fine. We're watching a streamed version that has added digital effects for space so we can't count those

Charm: 8/10 - Sulu chasing people with a sword and Spock being heartbreakingy vulnerable just endears this episode to me

Cringe: -3/0 - I'm sorry the nurse confessing to Spock had me hiding behind my shirt. Also some of the other moments had me cringing this hard. Love the episode but some hard cringing

Aged Like Milk: -1/0 - the Riley stuff made our teeth ache

Overall Ranking:

B Tier

But a high B score

I haven't watched anything the last three days because I'm not doing great mentally?

I'm not super present and I'm really fatigued so it's been...challenging. I'm also supposed to be writing an essay that I have done very little on

But I have until the 18th to get that and a three minute voice presentation in *hysterical laughing*

Did I mention I do very badly with stress?

Anyway the idea is this project is supposed to be fun so if I'm not going to be able to do it that day that's okay

seaQuest DSV S1 Ep2 The Devil's Window

Okay I have to start off by saying I have since learned that they never used a real dolphin on set. It's an animatronic and I am BLOWN AWAY by that. Like they have footage of real dolphins in the sea but Darwin that we see "talking" and swimming about the ship is an animatronic and that's clearly what all their effects budget was spent on (I joke. The effects were impressive at the time)

So the effects are never dropping below a 6 because of Darwin

Talking about this episode this plot is so predictable and silly.

Darwin gets poisoned with bacteria from a sample taken from a "black smoker" (a deep sea vent) as it's being taken up and of course gets sick. Which none of the many scientists and geniuses aboard the ship can figure out what happened even though they know he was swimming about when they were bringing the sample up.

Anyway we first learn he's sick because he swims up to the bridge and PSYCHIC BEAMS HIS DISTRESS AT BRIGERS AND JAXOR

Jaxor is a major character in this by the way. (I know its mean to call Ted Raimi Joxer but I say it with affection and also because they don't call his character by name in this ep. He's just Lieutenant)

Anyway yeah they got a Psychic dolphin as well who keeps saying "Light is Dark and One" which they eventually figure out is him being scared to die alone so they find his mom and let him go and everyone is very sad

Except for the scientist who is in charge of the Black Smoker research and is very upset that his project is being delayed because of a sick dolphin (Who also at the drop of the hat pontificates grandly about how they "entering the birth canal of the earth" and to "touch the bones of the world" He's great!)

Anyway Sad Bridgers is going to open a new sample container even though the doctor now knows it's what made Darwin sick and is frantically trying to call him but he can't hear her because it's loud. But it's okay! Because he's smacked in the face by an adult dolphin flying at him

Also Darwin's mom brought him seaweed which cured Darwin.

What.

It's a weird episode but Darwin is back and safe and Joxer is still Feeling Things from being psychic beamed by a dolphin and they gave the earth a suppository (and yeah they joke that that's exactly what it is)

What I was delightfully surprised by is that they end on a science fact! They tell you about when Black Smokers were discovered and some facts about it given by Bob Ballard an actual Marine scientist he has a wiki about him

Anyway the ratings:

Story: 5/10 -because I predicted most of the plot in the cold open

Acting: 6/10 - almost everyone is overacting just a little too much except for those who are overacting more

Cheese: 9/10 - psychic dolphin and also a man got hit in the face with rubber dolphin and that's not even getting to the earth suppository

Enjoyment: 8/10 - I am still happy to be here

Effects: 6/10 - Darwin is spectacular. Now I know I can see it but it's a very convincing animatronic. The lava was shit

Cringe: -2/0 - psychic dolphin, Darwin's mom bringing him medicine what the fuck

Aged Like Milk: -1/0 -but I feel mean about it just because our knowledge of deep sea vents has increased a lot so their info is a little out of date

Overall Ranking:

B Tier

Star Trek TOS S1 Ep3 Where No Man Has Gone Before

This episode had highs and lows but the best part was Spock being all "One of my ancestors married a human female"

You mean your fucking Dad!? Is that who you mean???? What the fuck

Third episode out of four (if you include the originally unaired pilot) that include brings with unimaginable god like powers but it was still fun.

Liked Gary calling Kirk a "walking stack of books" at the academy.

Hated how fucking creepy Gary was around women

WHERE THE FUCK WAS BONES

I feel like this was shown out of filming order.

Also when I was cheering Kirk telling the psychiatrist to back the fuck up and leave Spock alone I had to pause to have this conversation with my Teenager

*just in relationship stuff. In practical he's the one bandaging them back together

Anyway onto the actual plot guy gets god like powers and becomes an asshole

I do like the moral dilemma and the actual story I like the growing tension and the effects and sometimes the actor playing Gary could be extremely unsettling

Other times it was goofy as fuck

When they were fighting my kid called the energy blast from the gun a Gayzer

They weren't wrong

Anyway ratings!

Story: 7.5/10 - rehashing storylines a little it feels like but still different enough to be good

Acting: 6/10 - it was really good in places and poor in others. William Shatner did actually a really good job though

Cheese: 8.5/10

Enjoyment: 7/10 - it was fun but had low moments

Effects: 4/10 - the cup on what was clearly fishing line killed me

Charm: 7/10 - really did have a good time with it

Cringe: -3.5/0 - everything Gary was creepy as fuck with Elizabeth made me cringe so hard

Aged Like Milk: -2/0 - the "walking freezer" comments were not great

Overall rating:

B Tier

Weekly Wrap Up 3

This is a day late but that's okay.

I didn't end up watching MHA or the Owl House this weekend due to chores and depresison but that's okay. We can try again next week.

I still did most of the watching and it was fun!

Shows Watched:

Star Trek TOS - Charlie 'X' - B

La Brea - The Hunt - D

seaQuest - To Be or Not To Be - B

Good Omens - Hard Times - our first S Tier episode

Doctor Who - The Ghost Monument - B

Twin Peaks - Traces to Nowhere - B

Overall Week Rating: ...not sure. I'm reworking the rating system a bit to be based on percentage which would give this a C ranking but I'm still experimenting.

Will get back to you on that

All in all it wasn't a bad week and I'm really enjoying watching Good Omens with my Husband and Star Trek TOS with both Husband and Teenager

No MHA this week due to battling depression by organising. We got a lot done thanks to husband!

But no MHA today.

Might watch that and owl house tomorrow but we'll see

Twin Peaks S1 Ep2 Traces of Nowhere

I was under the impression that Dale Cooper came to a weird town and yeah, Twin Peaks is weird but he's far weirder. And I know that's his 'tism rizz at work and I'm also autistic but wow. He's just an odd guy and I love him.

Ratings because a coherent review isn't happening today:

Story: 7/10 - The story of this episode was fine in that it felt like an extended dream of some kind

Acting: 7/10 - Again how do you rank the acting in this? In any other show it would be terrible but here it's excellent

WTF: 8/10 - Dale Cooper, the psychiatrist beach room (also he shares vibes with the teacher from Victorious in this episode), LOG LADY TELLING DALE TO ASK THE LOG WHAT IT SAW

Enjoyment: 6.5/10 - I'm not mad I'm here but I'm also struggling to focus at times

Charm: 7/10 - it's weirdness is its charm and it keeps me around

Cringe: -1/0 - Nadine talking about her drape runners and cotton balls. I almost sped past it

Aged Like Milk- -1/0 - I don't know why exactly but I'm feeling it needs it. Maybe somewhat in how Mrs. Packard is portrayed but maybe it's something else but something is making me give it a -1

Overall Ranking:

B Tier

Doctor Who S11 Ep2 The Ghost Monument

This was fine.

I liked it well enough but I wasn't a huge fan of some of the camera work. There seemed to be a lot of weird close ups that felt strange and kinda annoying.

I like Thirteen a lot though. She's fun and she feels like the Doctor. She feels a lot like Ten tbh which, even though he's not my fav that's not a bad thing.

The companions I'm not sure on. I like Graham which is funny because my husband is too used to him as a presenter and it puts him off when he tries to watch.

The flying cloth enemies was kinda funny though I'm not going to lie and the idea of a race was cool but it fell a little flat in practice.

Anyway! Ratings!

Story: 6/10 - it was fine and engaging enough

Acting: 6/10 - some characters were more engaging than others

Scare/Cheese: 6/10 - I was briefly freaked out by the cloth but then it ended up being goofy as hell

Enjoyment: 6.5/10 - I didn't feel the urge to pick up my phone and look at it. I wanted to know what was going to happen next but it wasn't the best

Effects: 4/10 - So first the goofy flying scarves, but also for a planet with no life except microbes why are there plants in the background of shots?

Cringe: -1/0 - the call of the duty moment. Ugh.

Aged LIke Milk: 0/0

Overall ranking:

B Tier

Good Omens S1 Ep3 Hard Times

I love this episode

The first time we watched this and the credits hit halfway through after the catalogue of Gay Throughout The Ages we had to pause and have EmotionsTM

It hits even harder watching it after watching season 2 because all the extra details it gives us:

The change in Crowley from the Flood to Job.

The flirtatiousness of the French Revolution scene

The backstory from the Resurrectionists informing the fight about Holy Water

It hits so deliciously all of it.

Side note: Why was young Shadwell so hot? That was unnecessary

And then the rest of the episode is also so good! It flows well and the camera work in Heaven is so good at making you uncomfortable and nervous. And I always note how he goes out of his way to big up Crowley as this clever adversary who did this on purpose. He knows this will get back to hell and he's trying to make it seem like Crowley was tricking heaven, fooling them. Being clever.

And the bandstand fight is ugh. How many times is Neil Gaiman going to make me watch these two break up?

Because depending on how you look at it we get 4

After the episode I had an interesting discussion with the Husband about it as an adaption because they prefer Season 2. Which I find interesting, because this was our favourite ep of Season 1 and it had the most that wasn't in the original book added. And while this is in our top 3 adaptions of books to film it is interesting that while we think it's excellent, when it's staying close to the book it feels ever so slightly off because we have a vision or idea of how it should go and look in our heads that doesn't necessarily match up.

But once it's doing it's own thing with new material it feels more right.

It's not a bad adaption at all, we both still adore it but it's interesting. I think he notices it more than me because he's watched Season 2 more recently.

Anyway, I love this episode

Ratings:

Story: 9/10 - how could it be less after that opening sequence?

Acting: 10/10 - Mr. Sheen and Mr. Tennant decided to break my fucking heart after all

Gay: 10/10 - again how could it be less after that opening sequence?

Enjoyment: 9/10 - love this episode

Effects: 6.5/10 - a little be eh in places but!

Charm: 9/10 - now to be transparent if we hadn't watched the second season already it would be a 8 but because we had it made it all that more charming

Cringe: -1/0 - I'm sorry but Aziraphale being smug he got one over on the Nazi's always makes me physically cringe

Aged Like Milk: 0/0

Overall ranking:

S Tier

seaQuest DSV S1 Ep1 To Be or Not To Be

I don't normally do this but me wanting to watch this show again so very badly is what prompted this whole project (shout to @tesria for buying me the boxset because she is literally the best)

But anyway I'm going to live blog my watching of this first episode.

But I'm putting it under the cut so you can skip it if you want to

Shorter review and ratings here:

Short review:

It was silly, and fun, and seeing Jonathon Brandis as Lucas made me want to cry. (RIP Jonathon). Anyway I love this show

Ratings:

Story: 6/10 - it was a pilot episode and a lot had to be established but it was gripping enough and I was engaged the whole time

Acting: 6/10 - mostly it was pretty good but there were a few low moments. Mostly from secondary characters

Cheese: 8/10 - It has a talking dolphin named DARWIN

Enjoyment: 8/10 - I had so much fun with this

Effects: 4/10 - I should be more generous for the time but holy shit did it not age well

Charm: 8/10 - but holy shit was it charming and fun to watch

Cringe: -1/0 - there is a DOLPHIN who TALKS

Aged LIke Milk: -1/0 - I have to give it one for the opening credits and the effects cause holy shit

Overall ranking:

B Tier

La Brea S1 Ep3 The Hunt

This was shit

Lets see all the storylines they tried to cram in:

All the acting was wooden as hell the plotlines were predictable and boring. It was supposed to be a big emotional moment when the Best Friend crashed going through the portal light thingy but I do not care because none of these people can act at all except Ty the Psychologist. Who we also learned his tragic backstory which is that he is dying of a brain tumour. I don't care that I'm spoiling this because you should not watch this show.

It's shit.

Anyway Ratings:

Story: 2/10 - so much going on and none of it interesting

Acting: 2/10 - so wooden and boring and I just don't care about these actors who cannot convincingly portray emotion at all. I haven't even learned most of their names

Cheese: 6/10 - the "Don't you think I know that!" is doing a LOT of heavy lifting here

Enjoyment: 2/10 -so many predictable plot lines crammed into one episode and I don't give a shit about any of them. This show wants to be lost so badly istg

Effects: 3/10 - all the animals except the rabbit were so painfully obviously cgi

Charm: 1/10 -no charm

Cringe: -2/10 - the bad acting

Aged Like Milk: 0/0 - nothing egregious

Overall Ranking

D Tier

Star Trek TOS S1 Ep2 Charlie "X"

I really liked this episode!

Sure the kids face when using his mind powers was goofy as hell and some of the effects made me laugh but the actual story was excellent

The response to Charlie slapping Janine on the ass is "what the fuck is wrong with you! You don't DO that" by absolutely everyone which is excellent

Especially when followed by Kirk's speech of "When a woman says no she means no so back the fuck off and leave her alone" (I'm paraphrasing)

But also the autistics in the house really related to Charlie's rant about struggling to fit in.

I also like that there was no good ending or result. No clean answer to the question

Yes Charlie had to go back but that is also a tragedy

Anyway I really liked this episode

Also "You need me to run this ship and I need him" about Spock. Yeah you do Kirk ;)

Anyway ratings:

Story: 8/10

Acting: 5.5/10 - that face Charlie made brought it down a lot

Cheese: 8.5/10 - the face was doing a lot of work but so were the effects

Enjoyment: 8/10

Effects: 4/10 - the pantyhose over the face to make them a faceless person was very silly

Charm: 7.5/10

Cringe: -1/0 - all the work is the face

Aged Like Milk: 0/0

Overall Ranking:

B Tier

Weekly Wrap Up - Week 2

Only four shows watched this week due to Christmas and health

Still it wasn't terrible

Shows Watched:

I've Got You Under My Skin - Charmed - Tier C

The Man Trap - Star Trek TOS - Tier B

Day Two - La Brea -Tier C

The Book - Good Omens - Tier A

Week score is technically a D but that's because only half the shows were watched.

Still I enjoyed myself and had a good time.

Retro watching will be dark for the next week and Charmed will be dark for two because of my friend's schedule but that also works out well for me