Reviews

As someone who spent the last 40 years (1983 to 2023) in IT roles, I find shows that use computers as part of the plot difficult to watch. Some are blindingly stupid (CSI Cyber, anyone?), and use magical tech that does everything the user wants while randomly hitting the same small group of keys. And the computers make ridiculous, annoying noises constantly. I was watching one CSI where they had a picture of skid marks. From looking at the picture, and hitting all the keys at the center of the keyboard very quickly while the computer made a cacaphony of silly noises, they were able to figure out the weight of the person in the trunk. Took maybe 10 seconds. They may as well all flap their arms and fly of to the crime scene. That would be just as believable as what the 'computer' just did.

THIS show, however, is completly different. They use actual technology, and they use it properly. Finally a show where they don't dumb-down the tech to the level of a five year old. The characters use real technical terms without needing to take a sidebar to explain it to the viewer. They use real hardware such as a Rasberry Pi, and real software such as Perl, Ruby and Python. In the first episode he talks about TOR without resorting to a by-the-numbers explaination like most other shows. The writers obviously did not assume that the audience would be simpletons, as tech based shows almost always do. The story itself is powerful and compelling, and by using technology as it exists in real life, it is quite a breath of fresh air for this retired Nerd. 10 out of 10!

As far as a cooking show goes, this one is fast moving and fun to see the recipes they come up with. However, the part that cannabis plays is completely silly and ridiculous. To start with, they only use micro-doses of THC - usually less than 8mg, often as little as 2 or 3mg in a dish shared by all six judges. Not enough for even someone who has never tried THC to feel. Even funnier - the judges start acting stoned within minutes of having their first micro-dose. Anyone who has actually consumed THC in this manner knows that it takes at least 2 full hours before any effect is felt, plus you would need at the very least 5 times more THC as they use. Because of the very tiny doses, it's unlikely any of them actually felt anything at all. But the judges sure act "stoned". Imagine a show where they put a thimble full of beer into a recipe and then six people share it and act quite drunk. And we all know how fake most people look when pretending to be drunk. This show is the cannabis version of that. It would seem the cannabis part is just a marketing ploy intended to 'titillate' those who know nothing about it.

For those who have never tried cannabis - it is NOT anywhere close to as powerful and quick acting as they pretend it to be in this show. It's actually very much milder than alcohol.

The opening credits were fairly sparse and went by nicely, and the ending credits had many words and names. I noticed most of the words were also spelled correctly. In between the beginning and ending credits there was a bunch of stuff that really could have been cut from the movie. Many of the scenes had people in them, and were in color. They exist in a sort of Adventure Time universe where reality is constantly changing - either that or the plot make no sense. No spoilers here, it's what the title implies: ship driving around the ocean, bashes into a big hunk of ice while frantically driving away from it, and hilarity ensues. If this was a high school project, I would say it deserved at least a B. As long as it wasn't a senior high school project.

Funniest quote: "The lifeboats are death traps!" - said by a guy in a chopper who obviously knew this in advance.

This show is purported to be all about how different products are manufactured, but in fact the actual manufacturing process is only covered in a very superficial manner while the majority of each and every segment is blatant marketing, extolling the wonders and virtues of the product with hyperbole and plenty of standard marketing terms. Very disappointing and not worth your time unless you watch TV just for the commercials. (If you are that type, there is the extra bonus that this half hour commercial is interspersed with other commercials).