I'm currently getting through the first season of The X-Files (slowly).
The episode "Space" is about a space shuttle being sabotaged. And damn, people really did think it was the end of history in the 90s, didn't they? The episode starts with Scully asking Mulder "Who would want to sabotage the US space program? The Soviet Union is gone." And Mulder is like "Maybe terrorists. The space program represents the superiority of American progress. Or maybe it was sabotaged by people who hate technology." And then he talks about maybe its about hiding aliens because it's Mulder and of course he would say that.
And here I am thinking about the current state of US Space exploration and Space X, and how naive people were in the 90s. They really thought the US was funding space research because they cared about human progress.
They really thought that this was it. That the US had won and capitalism had won and that it could only get better from here. They didn't realise that the Soviet Union was the only reason the US was pumping money into Space exploration. It wasn't about progress to the US oligarchs, it was about propaganda. That's why it took Sputnik to really get US to really try and catch up.
Once the Soviet Union broke up and "Space race" propaganda glow wore off, they didn't have to compete with Soviet science anymore, so the funding slowed down now the whole thing is gradually becoming a privatised mess whose progress pales in comparison to Soviet or 70s NASA.
Now all they have to do for space propaganda is get Elon to dance around and send a car or some billionaires into orbit on a piss leaking shuttle now and again.
The West in the 90s had no idea just how screwed they were about to be, now that capitalism no longer felt threatened by a scientific communist superpower.
Holy shit Dirt_Owl it was just a throw away line in the X-Files what is wrong with you. 
Yeah, that's really a vibe in most 90s media. I was rewatching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a few years ago, and the way the show, through the character of Hilary, portrays causes like environmentalism and animal rights as naive idealism for clueless people is so quintessentially 90s. Basically saying ”lol, look at these kooks who care about these minor imperfections, don't they realize how good we have it now?”.
I have to say the show tackled some heavy subject matter like cop racism in a way I didn't really remember from my original watching years ago.
I think it was RenegadeCut who covered sitcoms dealing with police brutality and damn those Fresh Prince episodes stand out. Particularly with Carlton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYGnO11m8HE
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That keep happening over the 00's too. In Harry Potter everyone makes fun of Hermione because she wants to free the slaved elves, of in community where the blonde woman (Rita?) Is the sjw for laughs
Being a communist is being cursed with the knowledge that there's truly no such thing as a throwaway line
The throw away lines give a much better insight into general vibes and attitudes of the time than the overall plot or ideas pushed directly by the show.
It's almost like
schniff ideology is much more interesting and strong when it's not overt, but pervasive and involuntary.Little details and quips have always been very telling
X-Files is the most 90s show ever and serves as the perfect encapsulation of the end of history but from the POV of a not super partisan dumbguy who is still conspiracy pilled. Matt and Felix had a great discussion on it save for the random tangent about modern tv. They described Carter like an enlightened surfer dude, can't see the forest for the trees, but sees the forest when everyone else is saying trees don't exist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoPUL_t8yUk
Like the show has Unit 731 as a prominent plot point and something the US not only took ideas from but, like in real life, kept from facing war crimes trials. The show unambiguously shows the US as not dominated by singular personalities or even ideas, we are the hegemon and all the moves us is the machine of neoliberalism. If aliens are in charge or not does not seem to actually matter much, if we control them or they usdoesn't either.
There is something wonderfully honest about the show. It sucks that the relaunches could never find their footing. I think part of it is X-Files works best in that end of history mindset and era. The best continuation from what I hear was the season 10 comics which more or less carry on right from the series heyday.
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Ive been watching malcolm in the middle and yeah the 90s do just seem like they really were a fever dream for everybody involved.
Funny enough Malcolm in the Middle is the most honest 90s US sitcom because it actually acknowledged that the average American family wasn't some rich ass mansion owning mofos.
Hal is a working class hero too. He leads a workers revolt at a grocery store. Towards the end of the show it is revealed that he has skipped every Friday at work for years
I've been watching Walker, Texas Ranger in preparation for my podcast Talker, Texas Wanger
And you aren't kidding, 90's TV is a hoot
This episode I just watched was basically Die Hard in a two story hotel during a hurricane except there was a paraplegic woman in a wheelchair who wanted to blow her brains out because she couldn't golf anymore
She regains her love of life by helping Walker kill an escaped convict by ramming him with her wheelchair
Just the fact that Walker, Texas Ranger ran for almost a decade is really saying something.
My favorite episode of WTR begins with Chuck Norris battling Gary Busey (disguised as a nun or maybe a priest) in an alleyway. Meanwhile a young lady (with indicators of Downs Syndrome) stands as a silent witness, holding two Big-Gulp sodas, (or maybe slushies).
That's all I remember, but it haunts me.
The breakroom tv at work sometimes has Walker, Texas Ranger on it. The funniest episode I saw was the one where genderqueer satanists show up to town.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0743578/
They didn't realise that the Soviet Union was the only reason the US was pumping money into Space exploration.
Have no source about this, but the welfare state and the quality of live of the first world, was also because they had to show how living under capitalism was better, but once they didn't had to keep the facade, they went back to any benefit the working class got from the capitalists and this is why now everyone is broke except billionaires.
It was also to hold back socialism because it would've been a threat to capitalist hegemony if the citizens were unhappy, once there was no USSR welfare states and workers' rights started getting stripped.
In the Nordics, which are seen as model social democracies, the US funded succdems to counter the USSR's influence, for example.
yeah,
s having those takes is unsurprising but the usian chauvanism from two people with ongoing experience of how corrupt the system is got a laughthe Gender Bender episode in season 1 has Scully say some transphobic shit at the end, and combined with her always trying to explain away the weird experiences and toe the department line makes her consistently unlikeable
Transphobia in 90s media, many such cases!
”lol, this woman is actually a MAN!” was a depressingly common ”punchline” in 90s comedies.
And those jokes are why I never thought being trans was anything but a punchline that people used in movies (I'm looking at you Ace Ventura)
the Gender Bender episode in season 1 has Scully say some transphobic shit at the end
Thanks for the warning. I've only seen some of the later season episodes so this is all new to me mostly.
another warning for sexual assault
watching media that plays with gender can be interesting but
spoiler for a 30-year-old episode
this one has aliens who extend their life by alternating sex before they die, and the topic which makes for interesting discussion isn’t explored beyond “our suspect is having sex with humans of both genders, wonder if we should be looking for a man or a woman?”
Even as a teen and not yet very progressive I didn't like the episode. It really feels premised in outdated sentiments not just in carelessness but playing on "intrigue" for lack of the better word from that era. It sorta needs even broaching the discussion to be novel to a big chunk of the audience
They really thought the US was funding space research because they cared about human progress.
Unfortunately many people nowadays still think this. They are the same people that think the Olympics aren’t a nationalistic display of dominance.
For what it’s worth tho, I love x-files.
If you love xfiles like i do but also like to make fun of what you love check out 'monster of the week' an xfiles comic that lampoons (with love) every episode in order of appearance. It's a great accompaniment to the camp that is xfiles
One that's aged pretty well is Babylon 5. The show's creator also wrote like 95% of the episodes. He was much more cynical and suspicious of "end of history" narratives than most showrunners of the era. I wouldn't dream of spoiling the plot details. But let's just say that his opinions about fascism and fascists are crystal clear: "must be stopped by any means necessary" and "shoot them early and often" respectively.
Writing nine episodes of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe while it's turning into even more of a hyper-capitalist action figure commercial hellscape will do that to you.
Edit: No, seriously, why did they feel the need to churn out "meteor that transforms into a wooly mammoth" as a He-Man toy?
What can I say? The man had a work ethic. Not unlike Tim Follin's soundtrack work on shovelware NES and C64 games.
Ok knowing nothing else i absolutely want a transforming Woolly mammoth but.. Does it just turn into an amorphous shape?
New bit idea: we convince everyone woolly mammoths are more closely related to dinosaurs than elephants because they laid eggs.
Also that would make mammoths kill the dinosaurs when that one huge mammoth dropped.
I'm not so sure, he also wrote Superman: Grounded where Superman was a weird, condescending Randian dick. Although that comic did switch writers at some point, so I'm not sure how much of that was JMS.
Babylon 5 had some awful filler episodes (TKO being the prime example) which never should've been made.
Babylon 5 had some awful filler episodes (TKO being the prime example) which never should've been made.
This is true. But that was mostly in the first season where quite a few episodes were written by others, and JMS didn't yet have the clout to fend off the worst of studio meddling.
I do always tell first-time watchers of B5 to just skip TKO. Thankfully it has nothing to do with the overarching plot.
Update, I just looked up the writer of TKO. Several of the earlier weaker episodes were his. He also wrote Born to the Purple, Deathwalker, Eyes, A Spider in the Web, GROPOS, and Knives. Some good concepts, but definitely not series highlights because of the clumsy writing. Frankly I'd put them all in the bottom 10% of the series.
Also, being a sex pest/predator was also supposed to be an "oh you adorable scamp" character trait.
I don't recommend watching 'The Mask' for this exact reason
It is BAAAD
Jimmy Carry-core was a large part of my childhood and I refuse to go back and watch any of it now for this reason.
Doesn't help that I was in a long term relationship in my 20s with a girl and her brother thought he was really good at his Ace Ventura and Maak impressions. Pure cringe on top of being the height of Carry's career.
I haven't watched the Sonic movie just because it's post anti-vaxx Carry and I have a hard time separating that from him since I am autistic. I did like his acting in Man on the Moon and Eternal Sunshine though.
His best bit in entire life was dunking on Alessandra Mussolini on twitter.
There's a lesser known 90's show called The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. that I remember being pretty weird but good. It's been awhile since I've seen it, so not sure how well it has aged, but I was thinking of checking it out again. Some other 90s shows to check out:
- Tales from the Crypt
- Tribeca (this won awards but for some reason has been totally forgotten and is difficult to find)
- My So Called Life
- Freaks and Geeks
- Eerie, Indiana
- Quantum Leap
- Daria (I still really love this one)
- The Maxx (dark, but good imo)
- Liquid Television
- Sliders (this one is kinda garbage but still hilarious)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- VIP (ok this is trash but I liked it for some reason)
- Parker Lewis Can't Lose
- Todd McFarlane's Spawn (the series, not the movie)
the new Quantum Leap is also decent and has a couple episodes which explicitly say
”trans liberation now!”yeah, it’s a continuation, two seasons so far, and there’s a major non-binary character at HQ that is just treated normally and no one comments on it except maybe one relevant leap per season
https://fboxz.to/tv/watch-online-quantum-leap-z1b3v
I'm pretty sure Dog Boy on Liquid Television is where Trump got the inspiration for his "hairstyle".
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I tried watching quantum leap not that long ago, the sexism was so bad I couldn't make it through the second episode.
Me sabotaging the space shuttle
(because the space shuttle was a huge piece of shit)
I guess it is show about FBI agents so I can't be too picky.
Or maybe it was sabotaged by people who hate technology.
I feel like this is less an end of history thing and more a 200 year running denial to realize the luddites were entirely correct
