MST3K 1008: Final Justice

I'm back to commenting on the episodes in the latest Mystery Science Theater 3000 set. Instead of watching them in strict "numerical order," I decided to skip over "Soultaker" (as I've already commented on it) and move on to "Final Justice." ("Please, can't I have just one more justice?") The time between viewing "Manhunt in Space" and it may not be the only factor in my decision, though; it may also have to do with seeming to recall having formed the impression when I first saw the episode that the "riffing" somehow was a little too convinced that just featuring the immortal Joe Don Baker again was enough to condemn the movie. However, in recent days returning to certain Mystery Science Theater episodes seems to have improved my impressions of them, so I was willing to at least give "Final Justice" another try.
( 'Meatloaf, Texas Ranger.' )

Twilight Launch

Although it was delayed several times for a variety of reasons, I was able to watch the launch of space shuttle Discovery through the official streaming video just a few minutes ago. It was just twilight in Florida, but the sky seemed to get darker once the engines started. (For some odd reason, it was also encouraging that the announcer seemed to get more excited for the final seconds of the countdown.) I did find myself thinking during the six minutes of powered flight after the solid rocket boosters are jettisoned that there's not as much evidence of what's actually going on from the video feed from the fuel tank, but it was interesting to see sunset being left further behind in the distance.

This latest mission is one that I've been awaiting for a while: with the final set of solar panels to be attached, the space station will be evened out again and will look pretty much the way it's been "supposed to" when complete for a good long time. Now, of course, for the rest of the mission and the actual attaching...