I see Dr. George Dawson blogged about an interesting movie he saw. And Dr. H. Steven Moffic watched an interesting play the other day.
I like science fiction. I watched an old X-File show the other night, “War of the Coprophages.” You can read a Wikipedia article for a nice summary of the plot and more. You can watch X-File episodes on the Comet TV network on cable and a few streaming services.
The reason I like this is because of the parody. Many reviewers say it doesn’t rise to the level of satire, and it’s tough to challenge that view. I usually tell the difference based on a pretty good distinction you can find at this web site. Early on in the show you can tell it’s going to be one of the Monster-of-the-Week (MOTW) episodes.
The show makes fun of itself with funny lines and sight gags, several of which could almost make you gag. One makes use of an effect that makes you think a cockroach is crawling across your TV screen. The Wikipedia article calls that a fourth wall effect.
I like the big sign on Dr. Jeff Eckerle’s building where he has a lot of manure which he’s using to research how to make methane from dung. The sign says, “ALT FUELS, Inc: Waste is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” It’s clearly a parody, although I found a legitimate recycling web site in Helsinki which actually uses the phrase “Waste is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Who knew? I can’t tell if they got the idea from the X-Files.
I also got a kick out the conversation between the scientist, Dr. Ivanov, and Mulder in which Ivanov pretty much sticks a pin in the balloon of Mulder’s conception of extraterrestrials being humanoid—of course they’d be robots according to Ivanov.
Later as the show is wrapping up with Mulder typing his report, he describes the distinction between simple and direct robotic problem solving and human higher brain function, with the latter suffering by comparison because of our tendency to get lost in default mode network ruminations which often go nowhere. He ends up seeing a giant cockroach which looks robotic crawling towards him—and flattens it with an X-File report.
The show is a string of crap jokes, which I loved. But that’s not because I love crap. I just like it when we’re deflated. It cuts us down to size—about the size of a cockroach. Sometimes that’s about the size of the difference between parody and satire.
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