Sorry for the delay...

Hey everybody, Noel here. I wanted to apologize to everyone for how sporadic our posts have become with increasingly long delays, as well as explain a bit about what's going on. No, the blog isn't dead, and nor are we abandoning our watch-through of Starman.

For the last 20 years, my mother and I have been taking care of my disable sister at home, with me working full time as her care attendant. Sadly, things have gotten to a point where we need to sell the house. This week, we just completed the long and draining process of moving my sister into a group care home (oof, the separation anxiety), and now I'm sorting through stuff and packing in prep for my own pending move while also looking for a new job for the first time in nearly two decades. With this bottleneck of my free time, all my projects have slowed to a crawl, some to a complete halt, but once things settle, we can get everything rolling up again soon. This site especially is one I have much fondness for and I don't want to leave everyone hanging. I just have a lot of things I need to sort out of the way first.

Thanks everybody for your patience and for continuing to read along. And to Tony for sticking with me. We should have a new post going up in just the next week or two as Tony's already finished his portion. After that, there probably will be some more delays, but within the next month or two, I should finally have a firm enough footing on the next chapter of my life that I can maintain a schedule again.

Starman, episode 8 "Peregrine"

Hey, look! A bonus double post this weekend!


Again wandering woodland roads with no money for a hotel, Starman and Scott come across a group of people gathered around an injured falcon, all of whom are too worried about getting attacked to help it. Starman conjures up his animal soothing abilities and gently guides the bird onto his hand, and follows directions to a nearby veterinary clinic run by the harried Casey Flynn, who set the place up to care for local livestock, but is struggling to break even on just a handful of pets. As soon as Starman arrives, all the other animals freak at the sight of the wild falcon on his hand, but he uses a Jedi hand swipe to silence them, impressing Casey enough that she offers him a job helping out around the place. As for Scott, he gets the joyous task of being a babysitter to her toddler son, Joey, who finds no shortage of foodstuffs to hurl at the teen.

Starman, episode 7 "One for the Road"

At a high school in the fictional suburbs of San Leon, California, Starman is nervous about letting Scott go in alone to register as a student, but Scott reveals dancing around missing records and faking info is something he has some experience with.

Starman, episode 6 "Secrets"

Apologies for the extended break over the holidays. We're back!


In the Skid Row slums of Los Angeles, Starman and Scott are settling in for the night at a cheap motel, seemingly unaware that Fox is closing in outside, with a strike force (well, two other guys) arming themselves with tranq guns as they move in on both the door and window. Fox's men crash in, but just missed the heroes, who snuck away on the back of a laundry truck. Wandering after spending a rough night on the streets, the two catch a news flash about a woman who escaped from a nearby psychiatric hospital: Jenny Hayden.

Starman, episode 5 "Best Buddies"

On a bus to Phoenix, Starman shoots awake from a nightmare, and Scott explains to him the mysterious mechanics of dreams. They're headed to a photo assignment Liz lined up for "Paul Forrester" so they can get some extra cash, and arriving at their hotel, Starman is recognized by the friendly staff, who also kindly hand him a $260 bill for a bar tab left behind by Paul during his last stay. While in the lobby, Jake Lawton, a howling man in a business suit, rushes over and wraps Starman in a huge hug. Seems he and Paul worked in Vietnam together, he as a journalist, Paul as a photographer. They haven't seen each other in a decade, and Paul apparently never responded to his letters, but Jake buys him a drink and invites him home for dinner that night, then excuses himself as he has a business meeting with a Japanese client for his current importing business.

Starman, episode 4 "Blue Lights"

In a small rural town in southern California, the inhabitants delight in how clockwork the routine has become as waitress Laurie signs off each evening to meet up with Charlie Ewing, a cheerful if insecure deputy sheriff who's often down on himself, even as he's hoping for a promotion. It's because of this that he's been unwilling to fully settle down with Laurie, much to her chagrin.

Starman, episode 3 "Fatal Flaw"

Starman and Scott are taking a hot dog break alongside a dirtbike track, where Starman reveals he's been reading up on photography and wants to try putting the cover profession of Paul Forrester to some use. He ultimately ends up with a face and camera full of dirt when he gets too close to the track, but when he spots a rider who wiped out with a broken arm who's about to be hit by a truck, Starman uses his orb to lift the boy to safety. The rider notices, though, and spots Starman as the man drags Scott away and they hit the road.

Starman, episode 2 "Like Father, Like Son"

Scott vows to never pass a hitchhiker again as he and Starman continue to unsuccessfully thumb for a ride. Scott is still bitter and unwilling to connect with Starman, and as soon as they follow a lead on his mother, Jenny, to a mountain lodge, Scott wants nothing more to do with his father. Ducking off the road to avoid a police traffic stop, Starman decides to put the $600+ in cash Liz gave him to use in buying a car. As they arrive at a used lot, Scott cautions Starman about the dishonesty of dealers and the importance of haggling. After shenanigans, they pull out with a car.

Starman, episode 1 "The Return"

In Chicago, photographer Paul Forrester is awoken after a night with a beautiful model by his editor, Liz Baynes, bursting into his hotel to tell him he's going to miss his flight to Nicaragua. These two have a complicated relationship, having once been lovers, but now being combative business partners as she lays into him over his plans to swing by the erupting Mount Hawthorne first to snatch some pics before leaving the country. He swipes some cash from her purse, ducks a punch (a routine gesture to them now), and rushes out the door. Sure enough, he arrives at the volcano and the helicopter he hired gets caught in a plume.

Starman - The Movie

Noel

For those who don't know, I've been hosting a podcast for a while called Masters of Carpentry, in which myself, my co-hosts Alexander & Julia Adrock, and occasional guests, have been working through the entire filmography of writer/director/composer John Carpenter. There was some question about how I wanted to cover the television series Starman, a followup to his classic film, and since it met most of the criteria we were looking for here (short-lived: check! genre piece: check! available on DVD: bonus!) Tony was kind enough to agree to explore it with me here. This isn't so much us taking a break from the status quo so we can tie into something else as it is a very natural crossover, and a way to kill one project with two blogs instead of doubling everything up on both. After all, this would have been on our to do list regardless (though maybe not until after The Phoenix and The Powers of Matthew Star).