Ben Saunders

[Ben Saunders]

About 80% of the internet is just ragebait at this point, yes.

[Ben Saunders]

I can barely even recall the sequence of events in The Force Awakens.

I’ve watched it exactly one time but: Kylo Ren stops a blaster bolt with the Force. Poe Dameron does some bullshit. Finn defects because he doesn’t like killing and then immediately starts killing his ex-co-workers. Rey eats some magic bread and beats up like four dudes. Simon Pegg is a big ugly fuck. Rey bypasses a compressor because she’s a genius somehow and says she’s never seen this much green in the galaxy, which makes everybody in the theatre chuckle because that means WEED. They all team up and take down Death Star III (This Time It’s A Planet). That’s not how the Force works. Han Solo dies, Kylo gets shot by Chewie then gets humiliated by Finn and Rey while punching himself in the stomach. The end.

Edit: I forgot the bizarre filler Kanjiclub scene, the orange lady (she is an orange) and Boba Fett Is A Girl Now (She Is Also Useless).

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve still not watched The Rise of Skywalker.

TLJ killed all my investment in the sequel trilogy so I just went into TRoS as if it was some random action movie, and in that sense it is… kind of funny? Still dreadful, especially one moment regarding the supposed fate of a legacy character that is incredibly cheap and dishonest, and generally as a Star Wars movie and especially as a finale to the entire saga it really is atrocious. But if you aren’t invested whatsoever in any of these characters or anything happening on screen, you can at least laugh at it.

I find it kind of astounding how almost everybody is like yeah IX sucks. I was so used to literally everything being 50/50 for so long that everybody actually agreeing on something almost didn’t feel quite right. We haven’t seen unity like that since the final season of Game of Thrones, and I don’t know when we’re going to see it again.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 04/11/2026 

TFTM, The End, Waiting for God, Balance of Power, Future Echoes

[Ben Saunders]

Fair enough, I was implying it was poorly executed in episode 9, but I don’t think anybody who isn’t a Reylo shipper would put much effort into defending that one.

You’re probably the first person I’ve seen since the initial hype died down to call 7 “very good”, to me it’s lazy and uninventive but could have served as a sort-of decent launching point for a new trilogy if the next two instalments did some serious work to build upon it. They didn’t. On its own it’s almost remarkably bland and not really even worth criticising anymore, blah blah remake of IV etc. Who cares at this point. I liked it up until Poe Dameron crashes and dies, only to be brought back later for no reason because JJ Abrams liked him. First time in a cinema I went for a piss and wasn’t really concerned I was missing anything. I came back to “oh they’re building another Death Star” and I was like of course they are man.

[Ben Saunders]

Now that’s some rad shit. 

[Ben Saunders]

Vader deciding to side with a son he’s never known over the regime he’s served for decades is just as romantic a notion.

If you downplay the themes of fear and loss throughout the saga and how Anakin losing his mother traumatises him into selfishly not wanting to lose Padme and how this is mirrored by him selflessly throwing away his life to save his son and put a stop to the cycle of abuse then yeah you could maybe make a statement as reductive as this.

I would participate in Force Awakens apologia if it was still 2016.

[Ben Saunders]

Kylo Ren’s story was always so stupid because it was like, did you not see Return of the Jedi? Did you miss the whole redemption thing? But apparently people just are that stupid.

[Ben Saunders]

Kylo Ren’s story aged like fine wine

A girl found him hot though so he was redeemed

[Ben Saunders]

Right wingers like the aesthetic of the militaries and hierarchies in things like Star Wars and Star Trek and don’t actually pay attention to anything beyond that level. How anybody could watch the fall of Darth Vader and think hmm yes this is obviously a good thing that is happening is beyond me.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 03/11/2026 

Meltdown, BTL, SL, PU

10

[Ben Saunders]

A fun side effect of the AI boom is that everybody, and I mean everybody, is just uploading horrendous AI upscales of everything now, even things that don’t need it. Take a look at this monstrosity.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 02/11/2026 

The Beginning, Give & Take

9

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 01/11/2026 

Rimmerworld

8

[Ben Saunders]

I like Star Trek V. Kirk’s speech about needing his pain is great and I love the comfy friendship bits between Kirk Spock and McCoy. Everybody complains about the ending but I’m a journey-not-the-destination kinda guy.

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve only watched the TNG movies once but I don’t remember being particularly annoyed by Insurrection. A stellar review, there. Nemesis left me feeling like I had to take a shower after watching it though, it’s a seedy and insipid film.

[Ben Saunders]

Thanks clem, episode ruined. 

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 31/10/2026 

easyyyyyy

7

[Ben Saunders]

Ah yes, I heard about the Backwards one. I’ll need to look closely next time I watch that one.

[Ben Saunders]

>Wake up

>Patrick Stewart is still dead

[Ben Saunders]

Speaking of Out of Time, this Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedDwarf/comments/1xi4odd/who_is_this/

…alerted me to the presence of a visible stand-in for Kryten making it into one of the shots. Just who the hell is this guy and why have I never heard about this before? Did he have to do as long in the makeup chair as Bobby? Did he do it regularly? Are there any other episodes with visible stand-ins?

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 30/10/2026 

Rimmerworld, White Hole, Pete I, Tikka

6

[Ben Saunders]

I was just thinking about how I used to hear “kitty school” as kiddy school, what a coinkidink.

[Ben Saunders]

One of the few men who could not only step into the role of Captain of the Enterprise following William Shatner, but actually manage to surpass him in the eyes of many. He could balance the stiffness and stoicism of command with the warmth of a truly great leader and the vulnerability of somebody who experienced great trauma. A performer who had you glued to your screen. There is of course his ordeal with the Borg and how he copes with it afterwards, but I also recently watched the episode where he mind melds with Spock’s dad and has to deal with his very intense emotions of growing old, frail and useless. A sobering performance that echoes the fears and the reality of diseases of the mind such as dementia, and which could so easily fall into over-the-top, hamming-it-up territory, but never allows itself to. An episode that will be much harder to watch going forward.

Sad to see Walter Koenig go as well, a man who genuinely seemed to love Star Trek and its fans, appearing in fan productions, and who always seemed so intelligent and witty in interviews. A sad couple of days.

[Ben Saunders]

Is anybody going to pay for Netflix to find out?

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 28/10/2026 

Polymorph, Me2

4

[Ben Saunders]

My attention span is fried by decades of instant gratification, but I still never check my phone during a movie. I did watch an extended cut of Attack of the Clones recently where I was like damn, this shit long af, but that nonsense clocked in at like 157 minutes. You need to be a real Star Wars head to be watching something like that with no breaks.

Lord of the Rings Extended is funny because Return of the King just doesn’t stop ending. They’re at the peak of Mount Doom and there’s still 35 minutes to go. Imagine if they added the scouring of the Shire as well, it would be ridiculous.

Maybe a lifetime of watching Classic Who has made me somewhat more resilient to slow pacing than your average 31-year-old. I do notice when a movie is long, but as long as it’s not boring I’ll stick it out. I also notice when a movie is short, like oh I carved out my afternoon for this and it’s already over? Boo.

[Ben Saunders]

everyting is also really cheaply made.

[Ben Saunders]

Especially if they’re small, off-duty and Czechoslovakian.

The Czech Republic breaks up at some point between now and the 23rd Century.

[Ben Saunders]

You can continue a movie from where you left off, you know.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 27/10/2026 

Polymorph DNA Rimmerworld

3

[Ben Saunders]

You can search for “4000” and “6000” but not “4,000” and “6,000”. You can’t search IQ but you can search any other two-letter combination that has results. PE doesn’t return the phrase “PE teachers”, I imagine that it can search for two-character strings but not return them.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 26/10/2026 

Twentica, Part 3, Part 1

2

[Ben Saunders]

We love you Squiffy Kryten

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 25/10/2026 

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 24/10/2026 

I thought it was the basketball scoreboard for so long. Guessed everything except BitR

[Ben Saunders]

It’s an acronym.

[Ben Saunders]

I want to say Vance doesn’t have the cult of personality that Trump has and is such a clown that I don’t see him actually ever becoming President, but at this point anything could happen. Democrats will likely run somebody unelectable once again.

[Ben Saunders]

Triple posting, but I also tend to rate things in their own context rather than globally, for example, how good is this as an episode of Doctor Who, how good is this as a Star Wars movie. This gets rid of silly thoughts like “am I really about to rate Claws of Axos higher than The Godfather?

[Ben Saunders]

For fun, my ones are: Live and Let Die, Pony Island the videogame, Time and the Rani, TNG’s Shades of Gray, Time-Flight, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy Part Four, The Reality War, The Witchfinders and Fugitive of the Judoon. Star Trek Picard, that one Star Wars movie I don’t want to derail the thread with, and The Polka King, a Netflix original with Jack Black, get 2s. Yes, most of these are TV shows, and I’m sorry. I just don’t watch a lot of movies.

Timewave is a 2, too.

[Ben Saunders]

For something to hit 8/10 for me it has to make me feel some sort of emotion or have me on the verge of tears, 9/10 has to give me actual chills. 10/10 is reserved for Star Wars (1977), the Breaking Bad finale, Caves of Androzani Part Four, the TNG episode where Data has a daughter, Classic Who (itself) and a few episodes of Chuck, apparently. I went through a phase of rating everything good or dismal I watched on IMDB. 

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve seen a few instances of people reviewing businesses or Uber drivers etc with 4 stars and saying that they only didn’t get 5 stars because “nothing is perfect, there’s always room to improve”, and even if it’s just ragebait I think great tragedy should befall those people.

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 22/10/2026 

lucky guess

[Ben Saunders]

I was going to ask what kind of donuts they were, but Googled it instead, and apparently they’re Indian style “Balushahi”. Did he order them from a takeaway? 

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 21/10/2026 

Boo

[Ben Saunders]

Young people apply, but by the time they’re diagnosed they aren’t young anymore.

[Ben Saunders]

It depends if the movie had anything for me to chew on and think about during the credits or if I need to catch a train or something. If I’m just watching at home I’ll at least let the music finish while I tab out and go do something else. 

[Ben Saunders]

Watching an old movie where they do the credits at the start (the Star Trek movies) is so dull, thank God for George Lucas. Although the latest movie I am aware that did this was Men In Black, all the way in 1997. I’m sure many, many other movies have done it since, but most seem not to. Lucas got fined $250k for putting the credits at the end of Empire (they let him off for the first one) and resigned from the Director’s Guild as a result, which is why we didn’t get Return of the Jedi directed by Steven Spielberg. 

[Ben Saunders]

#RedDwarf #Smegle 20/10/2026 

WH, DJ

10

[Ben Saunders]

Craig looks like a waxwork and Clare looks like one of the Spice Girls

[Author]

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