Defiance - Season 1 Review

Imagine, for a second, that you have a birthday party to organise. For this you’ve hired a great chef to help mark the occasion. He asks for flour, eggs, milk, and icing sugar, and you look forward to the great cake he is surely cooking up. But then, when the day of the great occasion comes, there stands the master chef studiously building a sandcastle of flour and eggs, with milk for the moat and little icing sugar guardsmen on the battlements.

It’s a different idea, that’s for sure, but all you wanted was a cake, so I’m sure you’d rightly be more than a bit disappointed.

Rockne S. O’Bannon is that kind of chef. He’s the creator of Farscape, a 1990s cult sci-fi show about an astronaut lost-in-space on the far side of the galaxy. Here, O’Bannon has been headhunted by the SyFy channel to create their big new sci-fi drama, and headline their recommitment of genre television. Instead, he’s made a frontier drama about the troubles of a small town.

Sense the disappointed already? After that exciting premiere three months ago, Defiance has settled down into a weekly rhythm of a plodding anti-climax.

The characters motivations are impossible to pin down and their personalities less even than paper-thin clichés. Logan, our protagonist, is an anti-hero in the style of Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds but he has almost nothing to do and precious little to say. At the end of the entire series I know nothing about him – is he’s smart or funny or reckless or calculating or broodish or boorish, I couldn’t tell you. He has an adopted daughter, he was a soldier in the war, and now he’s the town “lawkeeper”. But the entire show hangs on the charisma of the lead role and Grant Bowler is so bland, and the scripts so drearily written, that his presence is a void, often devoid of the slightest importance to the story or interest to the audience.

His adopted daughter is an alien, and she’s angry at the world. There is a plot about her species having telepathic and powers of prescience, but she doesn’t react to that discovery with anything more than continued gently simmering anger at the world. She sometimes tumbles into bed with the deputy sheriff, but that isn’t a plot or part of her story – it’s just something that happens.

There are other aliens in Defiance, and although that’s the main hook for the poster, in truth it’s little more than a footnote for the actual show. Aliens showed up, and their arrival sort of ended the world-as-we-know-it. In this near future, the Humans and Alien Races live side-by-side (except where they don’t. We don’t see that.) These aliens are all mostly human, the most interesting ones being too expensive to show. Apart from some cultural differences and some casual racism they may as well all be human for the needs of the story. Their uniqueness is never explored or used as part of the narrative – the largest attraction of cult classic Farscape – and so remains only to be the thin tether keeping Defiance classified as a “science fiction” show.

For example, this is the main season long story: the town of Defiance is having an election, and the mayor may not be re-elected. Meanwhile, the son of a shady businessman is engaged to the daughter of the biggest landowner, causing mild tension. But, with Aliens.

To be perfectly clear, none of this makes this a "bad" show, and I'm actually looking forward to sitting down for season 2 next year. But I couldn't recommened anyone catching up with this show as it is. This isn’t even “bad” sci-fi, but that means it can never be “it’s so bad it’s good!” sci-fi. Terra Nova or Falling Skies are bad, but they had a charm in their awfulness – like watching a bad B-movie where you enjoy mocking the characters while you watch. Defiance doesn’t have that. It’s just dull. It’s a dull frontier western about small town politics, with weak characters.

Playing The Sims 3

As part of the current Humble Bundle, EA are giving away a whole bunch of games for less the £3. One of those is the Sims 3, and so I decided to give it a try and see how everything's changed. I haven't played a Sims game since the first one about fifteen years ago. My curiosity was up.

ORIGIN is a horrible service. The Sims 3 runs through it, and even worse, has extra hurdles to make it work elevate it to being an especially repulsive product. In order to activate the game you have to jump through three dozen hoops on the official sims website, entering your password and secutiry questions (like your former pets favourite foods), all while enerting your product code repeatedly, which you cannot even cut and paste but must type out manually into several tiny boxes.

Then ORIGIN tears apart your internet provider to download as much of the game as possible as quickly as possible, which is nice in theory but a nightmare in real life. It means you can only download games at night when no-when else wants to use the internet, because ORIGIN is hogginle all the bandwidth. And I do mean "all". It's like being on dial-up in the mid-90s; you need to be sure your mum wont want to use the phone for the next hour because you want to use the internet to download the friggin' Sims.

Then it wanted to patch itself several times, get me to log in again, and get me to sign in after I'd logged in. As an added bonus, the only way to change the graphics settings are in-game, and they require a restart after changing, of course. So, all things considered, and hour went by before I even got going.

Starting with the default couple in the default house, I then sat through the "how to move the camera" tutorial, because I thought it's be quicker to complete the thing than look around for how to turn it off.
Eventually, I was in the game. I had two sims - a husband and wife. They had a house, which I furnished with the necessities. And then we were off, finally, to play the game.

They world was their oyster.

I thought it would be a bit, ahem, off to immediately send the wife to the bookshelf to study cooking, and so instead I immediately sent the husband to the bookshelf to study cooking.

Having grown up on The Sims 1, I have a healthy understanding of how goddamn useless your sims are when they first start the game. They can just about "cook" a light salad for dinner, and half the time they manage to set the entire kitchen ablaze doing just that (Lord knows how) and that just isn't on.

So first things first, one of these two must immediately study cooking, while the other goes around going 'coo-ee' at all the new paintings and pot-plants, as Sims are want to do.

My new grown-up enlightened modern sensibilities enabled, Mr. Sim spent the rest of the day studying cooking, with no time allowed for a toilet break or a coffee break. Meanwhile, the wife got a job as a politician because that used to be an "easy" career choice, given how goddamn over-powered the 'charisma' ability is/was, for all you need to do to train that up is talk to yourself in the mirror.

And so the first day was passed, with Mr. Sim sitting in the cheapest most uncomfortable chair known to man reading how to cook, and his wife, Mrs. Sim, talking to herself in a mirror.

At 9pm they ordered pizza, talked for a bit about the tv and the weather (I think, it's hard to tell with sims) until they were happy, and sent promptly to bed.

The Sims 3 has this concept of "weekdays" and "weekends" which I find disconcerting. On weekdays you have to send your Sim to work and you get weekends off. Back in my day, your sims could just bunk off work every one day in three and there'd be no repercussions, but that allowance doesn't exist anymore.

So Mrs. Sim needed her rest in order to be ready to go to work the next morning, in her first day as an important local politician. And there in arose a problem: I had placed the bed slightly too near the wall for both Sims to get in it at once. And with Mrs. Sim asleep, Mr. Sim couldn't get to bed. Making matters worse, in order to move the bed, I'd have to wake up Mrs. Sim - not an option with work at 9am the next day.

So, I sent Mr. Sim back for a nap on the couch, and then he was to spend an all-nighter studying cooking.

Morning came, and Mrs Sim woke up. Slightly too late, I might add, to both have a shower and eat breakfast, so off she went to work. Hungry. Mr Sim then went to bed, tired and angry at the world, to sleep all day.

That evening he set the kitchen on fire trying to cook the first nice meal for the two of them, moments after the wife broke the toilet the first time she used it, and so I let them burn to death for their stupidity.

= THE END =

Fantasy Football 2014 Season Preview

A new Fantasy Football season is upon us, and at 1130am the Fantasy Deadline slamed shut, with every side confirmed for the start the season.

The two highest scoring players in the game last season where Bale and RVP. As a result, they’re the two most expensive players in the game this time around. Finding the funds for either requires sacrifices elsewhere, and so choosing to go without either is a popular thought.

The uncertainty of the transfer window doesn’t help matters. Gareth Bale has been so strongly linked to Real Madrid for record breaking amounts of money that his departure appears almost a foregone conclusion. That leaves the big question at the start of the season as this:  

To RVP or not to RVP.

League Top Scorer two years in a row, and nailed on first choice for the defending champions, Robin van Persie would be first name into any fantasy team were price no object. But his value of £14m is incredibly high. Suarez and Aguero are £11m, and Rooney is £10.5m, with a clear gap to the £9.5m strikers below them. Cutting the necessary £3m-5m from the rest of your squad means losing out on a lot of other talent. Nonetheless, if RVP hits form, not having him selected could be disastrous, and finding the money spare mid-season (without using your transfer wildcard) would be a tough task. Another factor, RVP is “fixture proof”, as he’s a captinable asset no matter who he’s up against, capable of scoring in any game, and potentially takes penalties and free kicks for Man Utd. It is, to my mind, the biggest decision of pre-season.

I decided straight away I wanted RVP, and everything else was based around making room for him.

As a result, my starting team has a strikeforce of RVP, Dzeko and Lukaku. Worth £29.5m all together, I’m reliant on RVP scoring a lot, and straight from the start. My midfield is Hazard and Coutinho, Mirallas, Delph, and Wanyama. Two top players/ one mid-priced/ two budget (£35.5m). My backline has no premium defenders: Jose Enrique, Mertesacker, Coleman, Collins, Shaw. They’re only £25.5m. My goalkeepers are a rotation pair of Vorm and Marshall, meaning I need the two welsh teams to keep clean sheets this year. Here’s hoping those fifteen turn out to be good choices! My starting team last year made me cringe when I looked back on it at the end.

The transfer window has been a slow burn this summer, and not too dramatic so far. Soldado at Spurs should provoke interest; I would buy him for sure if I had the funds. Manchester City have also spent big, but until a few games have been played it’s uncertain who will be first choice for each position, making it uncertain how to act on those signings. Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd have done little worth notice, yet. The last two weeks of August are sure to throw a spanner into many fantasy football plans, somehow!

The two biggest “want-away” transfer targets, who keep being making headlines, are Luis Suarez and Wayne Rooney. Two key players for Liverpool and Man Utd, both would be key players for whichever team they end up with. The uncertainty over them keeps them out of many fantasy football teams. (Suarez is also banned for the first six matches for biting Ivanovic last season.) It seems unlikely either will be sold in the end, but it should keep them out of most fantasy managers thoughts.

The other factor skewing these opening selections is a double game week (DGW) for Chelsea and Aston Villa. It is not uncommon for managers to overload their team with DGW players for this one week and hope to score big. I personally am very distrustful of this strategy. Real football managers often rotate their squads unpredictably when fixtures congest like this. However, picking the right player on a DGW can really pay big, and the allure is indisputable.

The defending champion of our league is Jon Hackett. His team is built upon a front line of Soldado, Lukaku, and Weimann (of Villa, presumable for the DGW.) A midfield of Hazard, Walcott, Ben Arfa, Sterling, and Jesus Navas, in total worth £40.5m – the advantage of saving that £5m by going without RVP. His defence has Cahill, Rat, Zabaleta, and Coleman, with a Westwood/Boruc GK pairing. That’s three Chelsea players for their DGW, and doubling up on Man City for their early run of easy games.

Ross Cooper ‘s is the only other team to have started with RVP. Encouragingly, his team is similar to mine, with RVP, Dzeko and Lukaku up top. He also has Hazard and Mirallas in the middle, like me, and besides them Walcott, Kim (Cardiff), and Grandin (Palace). That’s a £36m midfield of two premium/ one mid-priced/ two budget, like mine. His defence is more economical, with Dawson, Luna, Amorebieta, Collins, and Clyne, allowing him a Mignolet/Marshall GK pair.

Then there’s Andrew “Claims he would’ve won if he’d not run off to the USA mid-season” Hackett. He’s gone for Soldado, Lukaku, and Benteke up front – a popular combination from non-RVP teams given this Villa/Chelsea DGW. His midfield of Hazard, Walcott, and Mirallas are also popular choices, with Zaha and Grandin cheaper hopefuls. A backline of A. Cole, Lescott, Toure, Rat and Shaw are solid choices, and not too expensive at £26.5m for the lot. He has the two Saints keepers of Jaaskelainen & Gazzaniga; with Shaw that means he can double up for any Southampton clean sheets. He’s gone heavy for the DGW with four expensive players, but apart from that it’s an even side with players from all different teams.

James Brand meanwhile has Soldado, Dzeko, and Lambert up front – a middle option to the expensive Sold/Dzek/Benteke of Andrew and the cheap Sold/Dzek/Weimann of Jon. His midfield of Hazard, Walcott, Coutinho, Mirallas, and Kim is expensive – a three premium/one mid/one budget set up. His backline of Ivanovic, Koscielny, Collins, Garrido, and Chester is balanced, with a Mignolet/Mannone GK rotation pair. He’s got two Arsenal and two Liverpool players for their early fixtures.

There’s also Mike “in Australia” Hackett with a Lukaku, Berbatov, Anelka front three. A midfield of Walcott, Carrick, Arteta, Yaya Toure, and Fallaini, possibly to take advantage of the new bonus points system. A solid backline of Zabaleta, Glen Johnson, Koscielny, Walker, and Shawcross, with a GK pair of Begovic/Foster. Three Arsenal players in that team make him reliant on them getting the best of their early fixtures.

Finally, there’s Paul “Father Figure” Hackett, who’s picked a Benteke, Lukaku, Dzeko attack. Behind them come Mata, Hazard, Lallana, Puncheon, and Routledge. That’s a midfield reliant on Chelsea and Saints early fixtures. Then a strong defence of Kompany, Vidic, Jagielka, Vlaar, and Huth with a GK rotation pair of Mignolet/Guzan.

Some interesting things to note at the start.

The RVP question has led to only two people choosing to start with him, while 5 go without. That could be good news for me, as his goals would benefit me and not the others. Also, everyone has been won over by the Chelsea DGW opening, with everyone except Mike starting with at least two blues players, and Jon, Andrew and Paul choosing three. Those three also have made sure to have at least one Villa player included as well, (Andrew and Paul choosing Benteke, Jon taking Weimann) and Paul having Vlaar to make 5 DGW players! Given Villa’s tough fixtures and blank GW3 it’ll be interesting to see how the gamble pays off. Hazard is the most popular of the Chelsea players, with everyone except Mike finding a way to fit him in their team. Lukaku is also very popular, in every team except for James’, with no-one choosing to go for any other Chelsea striker; Ba & Torres held in low regard. Obviously, the general view is that going without that pair is too risky for the Chelsea DGW. It’ll be very interesting to see who carries them through into September and the season proper.

Mingolet also proves popular, as I’d thought, with 3 teams starting him as GK. None of them, however, have trusted to put him in for every game. Instead, they have him in a rotation pair (presumably), with a £4.5m or £5m keeper. Bale has been left out of every team, however as he’s famously not fit for the season start, he could well become important if he’s still at Spurs when the transfer window shuts. In his place, Soldado has proven a popular choice for non-RVP teams. Three people chose him as their most expensive striker, hoping he settles quickly to the premier league, and to take advantage of Spurs' great early fixtures. Excluding Chelsea and their DGW, only Mike’s chosen the bold idea of fielding the full three players from one side, with three from Arsenal. Andrew did the same, however his is deceptive - since his backup GK is Gazzaniga he cannot play all three at the same time.

The only other stand out player is Theo Walcott. He finds his way into four teams, despite limping out of England’s friendly match against Scotland midweek. He scored 14 goals last season, and is one of the top goal-scoring midfielders. Interestingly, absolutely no-one has gone for Santi Cazorla, who costs the extra £0.5m more, and scored twelve goals last season from midfield. Other ignored players include Sturridge, Aguero, Giroud, Silva, Michu, Baines or Cech – a great surprise to me personally as I’d expect them to be popular choices all around. Also, James is the only person other than myself to choose Coutinho in midfield. Other players have steered well away from the £9m midfielders, Jon taking Jesus Navas the only exception. The others looking to the premium options (Hazard, Mata, Walcott,) or for value elsewhere.

And that is how the teams set us up for the season ahead.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I just rewatched the first half of The Hobbit, and it’s quite the mess. Truth be told, I think it does come together by the end, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to watch it all in one sitting.

It's hard to pin down exactly what'd ruins the early sections of the movie for me. The "wizard" with bird shit in his beard, who drives a sled pulled by rabbits, is a prime choice for the worst bit. But what really did it for me, and made me actually up and rage-quit, was the scene where the trolls are making constant fart and snot jokes, being the dictionary definition of "mild peril" like this is goddamn Ice Age 5 or Madagascar 6 or Cars 4 or whatever cheap hackney kids movie is in theatres now.

The fact it takes forever to get started, and that Martin Freeman makes the exact same reaction face before and after he speaks every line (hesitates, frowns and sighs,) put me in a bad mood, and then that troll scene finally did it.

However, I stand by it being a good movie. Not just a decent one, but a good one. A movie worth watching. And I got to thinking, how can a movie which deliberately wastes so much of the audience’s time be forgiven for such a thing?

After (literally) two hours of wasting time, the movie starts to come together. Gollum shows up, and afterwards there's something of a final set-peice. Those scenes are actually really great to watch, taken on their own, and truth be told they leave me cautiously looking forward to the next film. Call me a sucker and you'll likely not be wrong, but An Unexpected Journey does pick up at the end.

See, I was thinking about it, and here's the thing. The Hobbit assumes it's already won you over. It doesn't feel the need to achieve anything quickly, or really to do anything at all, because it knows you'll put up with its timewasting bullshit. And people like me do, put up with it I mean, and walk out planning to buy a ticket for the sequel. Because I'm happy to watch a band of adventuring misfits walk slowly around New Zealand for a few hours.

If you can suffer through the worst bits, which there's admittedly a constant stream of early on, and can get past the entire enterprise having the feel of the unnecessary prequel to a better movie yet to come, it does honestly start to become something different once the gang leave Rivendell. I'd say it's worth finishing.

It’s just that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is hard to love.

2013 and the Months of Bad Movies.

In case you hadn't noticed, by the way, there are literally no good films out. At all. There's only stuff life GI Joe 2 and Burt Wonderstone coming out in the next few weeks, and that looks about as enjoyable as tinnitus.

This is literally the worst start to a year, in terms of movies at the cinema, that I can think of.

For example, through these first 12 weeks of 2013, it’s been a miserable time at the box-office. To quote my go to movie website these days, 'There have been only two legitimate box-office hits: Oz the Great and Powerful (us$145 million after 10 days) and Identity Thief (us$123 million after six weeks). It’s so bad at this point that the third and fourth highest grossing films of 2013 are the forgettable Mama (us$71 million) and the putrid Safe Haven (us$66 million). Nearly every weekend this year has been met with either a huge bomb or a major disappointment." Take Jack the Giant Slayer, Bryan Singer’s massive us$200million picture, which came in at just over us$28 million. That's a worse opening than even John Carter, and it’s not alone. Die Hard 5, Gangster Squad, Safe Haven, Hansel & Gretel, Parker...


2013 blows.


(source)

How To Watch Star Wars

So, the other day, I was killing time at the bus stop, in the freezing wind and snow, letting my mind drift, and I wondered to myself, what movies would I wish to watch for the first time again.

Obviously some movies with big twist endings. Maybe Chris Nolan’s movies, The Prestige, Memento, Inception. I wish I could see The Matrix in the cinema, or Jurassic Park on the big screen.

And while those are good thoughts, those are not the right answer. I wish I could watch Star Wars for the first time again. Because I want to watch it in machete order. I don’t want to watch it in the normal order, and neither should you. Just listen as to why.

First though, a disclaimer. This isn’t my idea. I wish I had thought of it, but I didn’t. The original idea, as far as I know, comes from an American blogger called Rod Hilton, back in 2011.
http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/

Second, this is a spoiler free zone. If you’ve never seen Star Wars, well, you’re priorities need straightening. But I’m not going to tell you what happens and ruin the fun for you, so don’t worry about that.

OK. So. Star Wars. The first film, which is Episode 4, came out in 1977. It’s followed by Episodes 5&6 in what’s called the Original Trilogy. Then, in 1999, there was Episode 1, followed by Episodes 2&3. The general view is that the new films, or The Prequel Trilogy, are not quite as brilliant as the Original Trilogy.

If you decide to watch Star Wars for the first time, you are presented with two basic options. You could either watch them in Release Order, or Episode Order. Both of the options have massive flaws.

Watching them in Episode Order (1,2,3,4,5,6), ruins the twist in Empire, which you might already know, but more than that the prequels don’t tell a very good standalone story. You need the knowledge of the 4,5&6 to really enjoy the prequels.

The problem with watching them in chronological order is that the prequels are designed to lead into Luke Skywalker’s story, and so the ending of episode 3 is unsatisfactory as it’s not meant to be THE END, but just a natural pause between episodes 3&4.

The alternative suggestion, which has exploded in popularity amongst Star Wars fans, is affectionately known as Machete Order.

Star Wars isn’t really the story of Anakin Skywalker, it’s the Story of Luke Skywalker. Machete Order maintains this by starting with Episode 4, which is the beginning of Luke’s journey. We then continue into Episode 5, which famously ends with somewhat of a cliff-hanger. BUT, and this is the fun part, instead of going straight on, to Episode 6, we take an extended flashback to the Prequels. This means that we get to see the best start to the series and the best end to the series, in their rightful places. Delaying the resolution of Luke’s story makes it all the more satisfying, and it frames the prequel story neatly.

So, after finishing Empire Strike Back, what do you watch next?

This is the clever part. SKIP EPISODE 1.

Star Wars Episode 1 is one of the most disappointing films ever made. If you want to know exactly why, I name Mr. Plinkett’s review as one of the best videos on all of youtube. Simply put, Episode 1 is boring and pointless. NOTHING that happens in the movie is necessary to the grand plot of Star Wars, and almost none of it is enjoyable to watch.

EXHIBIT A – Jar-Jar
EXHIBIT B – The Senate

In Machete Order, you skip straight from Episode 5, back into the flashback prequel story of Episode 2. And the things which get removed, are gone for the good of everyone involved.

There’s almost no Jar-Jar, there’s no terrible acting from Jake Llloyd, no midichlorians. We don’t need to know about pod-racing, and while Darth Maul is cool, he’s not actually important to anything. There’s no confusion between Padme and the Decoy, there’s no Trade Disputes, no references to a virgin birth.

But it’s not just about removing the unloved ugly child of Star Wars, removing Episode 1 tells a far better story. Every new character in Episode I is removed from the main story afterwards (Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, Chancellor Valorum), or re-introduced more effectively in Episode 2(Mace Windu, Palpatine, Watto). Anakin is never an annoying child, he’s an impulsive young man when we first meet him. Obi-Wan looks like Obi-Wan did in the Original films, and in Episode 2 he acts more like he did then, compared to Episode 1 when he was only an apprentice. Knowledge of the prequels also adds a great deal to the final film, episode 6. (To explain why would be a severe spoiler, so if you want to know why you should check out Rod Hilton’s original article.)

The biggest problem with machete order is that viewers tend to think there was more back-story in Episode 1 then there actually was. People assume Episode 1 was important somehow, when it really, really, isn’t important at all.

You can still watch Episode 1, after everything else. It does have some fun moments, but it’s best to treat it in the same way you’d treat any Expanded Universe stuff, like the TV show or the video-games. It’s not part of the main story.

I wish I could re-watch Star Wars. I wish I could watch it just for machete order. Just so I could see it the best way.

4 - 5 - 2 - 3 - 6

Community returns to TV!

Community started up again this month, and that’s all kinds of a good thing. Having had to cruelly wait nearly four months for the was-to-be-October-19th season 4 debut, anticipation levels for the new season were as high as could be.

Community has always been a show which is constantly changing. As Abed himself says, “I remember when this show was about a community college.” Those early episodes of the Study Group having homework assignments due for Spanish class are long gone, with neither of these opening episodes paying more than lip service to the idea the group are studying history this season. This isn’t unexpected. After introducing Omar-From-The-Wire as a biology teacher last year, the show completely wasted any potential humour hidden there. Instead, Community went off onto a wacky tangent about Troy being head-hunted by the AC Repair school. The Study Group are that only in name, and have been for a few years now, and so worrying that the new season will focus less on their College lives feels a moot point.

The reason for the extra scrutiny this time around, comes from the departure of show-runner Dan Harmon from the series. The much talked about animosity between Chevy Chase (Pierce) and Harmon, with the wrap party public spat and embarrassing drunk dial debacle, ultimately led to Harmon leaving the show and Chevy Chase sticking around for this fourth season before also parting company.

Having a show-runner leave the show is by no means the final nail in the coffin for a program often rumoured to be in danger of cancellation. The West Wing continued on without Sorkin, Larry David left Seinfeld and Amy Sherman-Palladino left Gilmore Girls. The loss of Dan Harmon may actually free the show to move in a new direction. While the tone of the show was definitely set by Dan Harmon, the characters themselves have been rather directionless of late. Shirley has been poorly used, Britta and Annie have been devoid of momentum in their personal arcs for a long time now. Last season’s over-reliance on Tory & Abed was what made this most apparent, with those two being given most of the main plots and character development.

A new season brings new opportunities for Community to grow, and with Dan Harmon moved on from the project, this could actually allow the breathing room the show needed just as it was beginning to stagnate. In some ways it reminds me of the new life which was breathed into Star Trek after Gene Roddenberry stepped down, with Berman & Piller taking over. Hopefully the tenure of David Guarascio and Moses Port will do the same for Community.