Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Oh hey, Wordle...static.klipy.comYoung Justice Robin: Dick Grayson's Confident LookALT: Young Justice Robin: Dick Grayson's Confident Look 001
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 08/09/2026...even prioritizing it over their learning. This ep is all too relevant today, as far too many are enabling the rich and powerful just because they're rich and powerful and people kowtow to them in the hope of being richer and more powerful. All you have to do is call out the BS for what it is. 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 08/09/2026...Even the teacher. She was sharp-tongued in this episode, but there's no evidence she was that way with students. The only "evidence" of any wrongdoing is Radin's word, and we know how much that can be trusted. The teacher even notes that she gave compassion to the students who truly needed it... 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 08/09/2026...As for the soldier, while I don't agree with the punishment, this was a different time and the military code of justice might have allowed for it when someone almost cost the lives of half a company of soldiers. ... 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 08/09/2026I'm not sure I get Nicole's issues with the three guests, especially the priest. Yes, he should treat people with grace but there's also a time to call out immorality, especially if it leads to the consequence in this story, and most especially if the transgressor is as unrepentant as Radin. ... 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026... I've got to give props to DC, however, for including Dark Patterns under Start Here. As a limited series set early in Batman's career, it should be very accessible to new readers. As one of the best Batman series in forever, it should be very engaging, too. 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026...If that is indeed the motivation for Start Here, however, then I question the utility of including the first issue of Batman Vol 2. It's a continuity which no longer applies, so will confuse readers. What's more, New 52 is arguably the most isolated of DC's main continuities. ... 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026It's a great idea for DC Comics to rerelease comics with the banner "Start Here" if it's an attempt to help out new readers. One of the most common reasons I hear for not reading comics is that people don't know where to start. #dccomics #starthere ... 111
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 25/08/2026She's one of the few people who had appeal across the current political and social divisions. 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I'm glad you both had a great time! I've heard from people on other podcasts that it's such a welcoming environment. Even people who aren't TZ fans have had a good time there. Hopefully I'll make it next year. 120
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Why does Rod Serling matter? Because the truth matters. Because humanity matters. Because right and wrong matter. Because character matters. Because justice and peace matter. Because family and home matter. Because imagination matters. Because good writing matters. 020
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 14/08/2026So in Nicole's explanation of why she chose the bagpiper to date, she said "I'm thinking like me in college, musician pretending to be Scottish". Nicole pretended to be Scottish in college? 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 08/08/2026Well, it's a rare object that can tune into AM radio, cap off the Fourth of July, and give you a shave and a cut for two bits. 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 08/08/2026He's a brave man for putting on that fire hazard of a helmet. It's amazing that he didn't arrive in the next time period resembling an overdone s'more. 020
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 18/07/2026If you're casting actual Taskmaster contestants as the respective mythological personages in this scenario, who have you got for each one? 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 15/07/2026...to the Earth freezing but there's a switch in who's caring for who. The latter switch is a deeper one, too, because it's not just narrative but social, as it's usually the younger who are supposed to care for the older. Is this the only double-twist in the original TZ? 020
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Top marks to Nicole for highlighting that at the end it's Mrs Bronson who is caring for Norma and not the other way around. I don't think there's enough recognition that this is a rare - perhaps only - instance where there's a double twist in a TZ ep. Not only do we switch from the Earth burning... 120
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 09/07/2026...Eisenhower's words upon visiting Ohrdruf Concentration Camp in April 1945 were all too prescient. collections.ushmm.org/search/catal...collections.ushmm.orgCollections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 09/07/2026This might very well be Serling's best and most important closing narration. While it's certainly true that we all need to remember the camps lest we become the grave-diggers, there's a more immediate concern in that there are those who would deny the camps ever existed. Sadly,... 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 09/07/2026That was an interesting bit of trivia that the impetus* for this episode was that there was a Wild West fort set going spare. Seems such a superficial and coincidental beginning for one of the best and most important TZs. *I won't say inspiration because that obviously came from a far deeper place. 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 04/07/2026I think this is one of the episodes with a double twist. Not only is the Earth heading away from the Sun rather than towards it, there's another reversal in that the older woman is looking after the younger one, where as it's usually supposed to be the other way around. 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026...To add to your list of creepy kid films from that time, there was also Village of the Damned from 1960, based on the book Midwich Cuckoos from 1957. The women in a quiet English village all get pregnant and have creepy offspring with telekinesis, mind control powers and glowing eyes.static.klipy.comVillage of the Damned: Scary Halloween EyesALT: Village of the Damned: Scary Halloween Eyes 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026I know this is one of the best regarded episodes of Twilight Zone but I don't like it. I can respect it with the acting, etc., but I just don't like it. I know there are reasons but I just find children acting out annoying. Then the jack-in-the-box is too goofy and kills the menacing mood. ... 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 23/06/2026In the latter, each episode starts with Nicole encountering someone unpleasant. To alleviate Nicole's anger, the GoCF shows her that person's future. Nicole is then faced with the quandary of warning that person about what's going to happen, or staying quiet and enjoying the schadenfreude. 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 23/06/2026Hmm, which sitcom do I want to see more: Nicole paired with the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, in which his moral character and constant speechifying push Nicole to the brink of taking him to the theater, or Nicole with the Ghost of Christmas Future, in which the GoCF shows her other people's futures? 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 19/06/2026It's surprising that M.A.S.K. wasn't more popular, given that it was a mix of Transformers, GI Joe and comic superheroes. Transforming vehicles + Hi-tech operatives + Masks, gadgets, super powers and secret identities Not to mention the cartoon was 🔥🔥🔥 with one of the best 80s cartoon theme songs.static.klipy.comMobile Armored Strike Kommand MaskALT: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand Mask 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Whoops! That's the episode where Clemente gets investigated by a city in Sri Lanka, which sounds like a Grant Morrison joint, rather than the iconically ruffled detective. Columbo not Colombo sounds like one of Peter's segments. Speaking of which, Cop Rock sounds bizarrely ill-conceived. 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Also, would anyone else like to see a crossover episode where Ramos Clemente lives but gets investigated by Colombo for the murders of his friends and of the civilians? #FalkversusFalkstatic.klipy.comColumbo DetectiveALT: Columbo Detective 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026It's like Animal Farm in 22 minutes. I'm also probably not as harsh on the performances as you, bad accents and beards notwithstanding. All that said, it likely only rises to a C tier for me. So I guess not much of a difference in opinion. Is this a half-hour ep that would work better as an hour? 210
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026I have a decisive difference of opinion to you, although perhaps ultimately only by one grade tier. I think of the D tier as being for episodes that are completely lacking. Whatever this episode might lack, it explores an important idea: when the oppressed - or their leaders - become the oppressors. 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Did you say Dark Patterns?static.klipy.comGreg Davies on TaskmasterALT: Greg Davies on Taskmaster 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 14/06/2026How did the theater not know about you or not ask you to do the talk? It would have been informative and entertaining. 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 13/06/2026It was a great class all around. The professor was a good teacher, and the subject matter helped me learn a lot about nature, weather, why my environment is the way it is. A 'real world' education, both literally and metaphorically. 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 13/06/2026Unfortunately we've found out just how much we relied on people having a conscience and what happens when they don't. 🫤 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Were there any alarming surprises for you in terms of what could be done in real life? "Supervillain Training Class" 😁😁😁 Lesson 1: Building your secret lair Lesson 2: Mastering the cackle Lesson 3: Finding a creepy assistant Lesson 4: What Eternal Sunshine teaches us about mind control 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Everyone had to bring in a mason jar and one person from each group brought in one of the following: flour, sugar, chocolate chips or cocoa powder. Those ingredients were then shared out and layered inside the jars as a model of soil. That model also formed the basis of a great brownie recipe. 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026...it wasn't long into the movie before the question was asked "we just have to list the scientific flaws, right? We don't have to list the flaws in logic and reason too, do we?" Would have been a long assignment. That was a great class. Another time the professor split us into groups of four. ... 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026I had an Earth Science class where one of the extra credit assignments was watch either Volcano, Dante's Peak or The Day After Tomorrow and list the scientific flaws. The class was right before lunch so the prof offered a groupwatch of one of the movies during lunch. We watched Volcano and... 100
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026With how much I enjoyed your work on issue 7, I'd like you to do more TZ too! 🙂 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026I notice that the issues of IDW's TZ that I think worked best and felt true to the original - 1, 5 & 7 - have also had a separate writer and artist. While that seems largely a coincidence at this point, it is possible that a team rather than a single creator helps avoid the problems in 2, 3, 4 & 6. 000
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Issue 7 of @idwpublishing.com 's Twilight Zone by @tonyfleecs.bsky.social and @andypriceart.bsky.social is the best issue since the first one, and might be the best overall. A very human story told with pathos and I really didn't see that particular twist coming. Which is to say, it's very TZ. 2143
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 10/06/2026So did Nicole do a course on podcasting and Allison Brown learn the banjo at Harvard? If so, I might have to rethink my perception of stuffy ol' Crimson as all Latin, law and legacies. 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 01/06/2026Operation: Iron Coffin was the subject of a question in Saturday night's comic book trivia night. Had people asking that it be added to their pull list right then and there! 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 26/05/2026I should have guessed it was something in teaching! 020
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 25/05/2026Your father's service to society - both in combat and beyond - is deeply appreciated. May I ask, what was going to be his major before he switched? 1111
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 18/05/2026What about the creamsicle stick, though? Would that still fly true? Sounds like a useful tactic - disorient your foe with a random sticky mess so that they don't see the charged creamsicle stick flying at them like a tiny energized spear. 120
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 18/05/2026Could Gambit gambitize a creamsicle, would it just melt, or would it be a combo where he gambitizes melted creamsicle at someone? 170
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 15/05/2026So it's the newspaper equivalent of Golden Delight whiskey? 110
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 14/05/2026Well, Peter, life goes on. Taxes, permits, all that fun adulting stuff. The world doesn't stop just because of an apocalyptic war. Oh, wait, yes it does. 🙃 BTW on top of everything else did you see the name of the newspaper? NEW WORLD. Ironic coincidence or gag by the Prop Department? 010
Dan Benbow @archer-awe.bsky.social · 13/05/2026It gets asserted that "every villain is the hero of their own story" but the 'every' makes that statement false. Some villains do see themselves as the hero of their story. More are the protagonist of their story, or at least want to be. Others know, however, that what they're doing is not heroic. 000
