Fancy Falls: Trudging On
In which there's little progress, video essays and other magical artforms
Here is my single resolution for 2026.
I will write six episodes of ‘Fancy Falls TV’ (title TBC) by the end of this year
February is hard, isn’t it? A middle land of nothing, with the occasional excuse to buy a present for those you love or make some pancakes.
I’ve not done anything of note for the inhabitants of Fancy Falls this week. Personal development through media consumption, if I had to justify myself to an HR department. But sometimes we just get through the week. And there was some genuine magic and fun in what I got up to that wasn’t writing, so read on.
Televigion Update
Worthwhile Watching - Mon 16th
After drafting this week’s post, and doing some tinkering and fiddling with the look of my Substack page, I spent around two hours watching three videos from Steve Shives.
- This is the Superman We’ve Been Waiting For (Superman 2025 Review)
- Did Star Trek: Enterprise’s Final Episode Even Actually Happen?
- Steve’s Star Trek FAQ
It’s not challenging stuff, but I’m getting to know a creator I liked by videos that sit closest to my interest or tell me most about him. The first video inspired me to send a message to my wife in bed to say we should watch Superman together soon, as she hasn’t seen it yet and I’d love to see it again and hear what she thinks.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Ep5 (Sky Atlantic) - Tue 17th
This was pretty much exactly the episode I imagined, brutal fight scenes that were well executed, and a foretold death. I also imagined there would be something to fill out the runtime, and it was a flashback to show how awful Flea Bottom and Dunk’s youth were. Also well handled, with humour and poignancy.
I don’t know what episode 6 holds, except a further terrible situation. I remain hooked, though won’t need more than one episode like this per season.
Superman (again) (Sky Store) - Wed 18th
I watched Superman1 again, half alone. The Televigion Wife fell asleep halfway through, more to do with being comfortable than bored as far as I could tell.
I don’t think I enjoyed it as much second time around. The first time was what inspired my new strand for Fancy Falls last year (Things That Make Me Feel Good) and it was a solo cinema trip that felt special. Knowing the surprising plot developments, it didn’t have the same impact, and most of the characters except Superman felt thin. Mr Terrific was still great, and Guy Gardner/Green Lantern is silly fun. But Lex felt muddled, and Lois underserved.
I definitely want more of all of them, and hope Supergirl and Lanterns will expand what this DCU will do.
Wonder Man Ep1-3 (Disney+) - Thu 19th
Finally started this show, way behind everyone else in the world, and it’s really charming and fun. A light confection with low stakes, but well handled and much more palatable for me as Hollywood satire than The Studio, which is just overt and on the nose.
Old Habits - Fri 20th
I tried to watch the new Starfleet Academy but just couldn’t take how YA it all felt, with a very muscly young man with only his boxers on glinting in the sunlight and a betrothed young couple earnestly head tilting at each other. So I headed for my other comfort, video essays.
Lindsay Ellis has a new one on Trey Parker and Matt Stone and South Park, which was diverting and well researched, then I saw the 4hr FD Signifier video on Tyler Perry in my Watch Later and started that. It’s an even better video on a subject I know little about, but will find fascinating, if the Beyonce, Kendrick Vs Drake and Sinners video are anything to go by. But is it a worthwhile use of my time?
I know I’m in the doldrums a bit at this time of year, and will happily give myself some leeway to mope and not do as much as I hope every week on Fancy Falls. But it’s worth pointing out my patterns to myself too.
Move over Michael, it’s Patrick’s Turn - Fri 20th
Having finished No Time Like the Future, I’ve moved to the next autobiography on my TBR pile (bypassing all the fiction and history, not sure why) which is Making it So by Patrick Stewart. I worried it might be a little actorly and stilted, but in the first chapter it is warm and witty and heartfelt. It’s clearly written for an American audience as he explains a lot of Yorkshire words and British context, but that’s my only quibble so far. He is a master storyteller, and doesn’t do the “my parents were born here and at this time with no context and here’s an overwhelming description of all of their parents and grandparents” but instead tells stories that illuminate who they were, as far as he knows.
It’s always a good sign when I want to tell The Televigion Wife a story from a biography while we’re reading in bed, and I had two or three in chapter one. She’s reading Future Boy just now2, which I might have ruined by telling her too many of the stories already...
Wonder Man Ep4-8 (Disney+) - Sat 21st
We watched episode 4 on Fri and Eps 5-8 on Saturday. So easily consumable, funny, and with a genuine friendship at the core that is lovely to watch. Not much more to add than the first entry, but I’d be very up for more Marvel series like this. Superhero adjacent with great, rounded characters.
FD Signifier on Tyler Perry (Nebula/YouTube) - Mon 23rd
I’m 2hr45mins into this 4hr5min video and it’s a fascinating deconstruction of a hugely successful film-maker (a billionaire no less) whose work I have never seen. Am I wasting my time watching this video? Perhaps. But it’s teaching me about another culture through the failure of an artist to represent or support them, is an in-depth analysis of media, and FD Signifier is just a wonderful presenter of ideas that I could watch discuss pretty much any subject.
The final section I have yet to watch is on his business practices, having covered his history, and a breakdown of his films and their themes. It’s clear already that it’s about not supporting a community and keeping everything for himself. That’s the only way to billionaire-dom, of course.
I am proud of myself for stopping at the point that I did (around 10.30pm) to change it up and read more Patrick Stewart autobiography in bed. It means I’m not fixated on finishing, but enjoying the watch.
Endings - Mon 23rd
I finished the Tyler Perry video tonight, and it was exactly as expected after four hours of beautiful construction. Advocating for a community supporting others like them, from within a system they’ve been fortunate to break into, as opposed to whatever nonsense Tyler Perry seems to do. This is what all artists should aim for. In fact, it’s what society in general should aim for.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was even better, exactly as expected but playing with tropes and deconstructing expectations to build a better sort of TV show than the ones before it. And damn funny.
Both immensely satisfying.
I also finished last week’s Starfleet Academy and scrolled my phone, having read reviews beforehand. The opposite of the above. I haven’t given up on the show, but it’s not the Star Trek I need right now.
I don’t usually update the Monday evening journal entry, but this feels like closure on a lot of things from this week.
The World of Fancy Falls
Lent - Tue 17th
I’m giving up Snacking After Pudding. This allows for pudding to be at dinner time, usually 5.30pm or so, or after bedtime, which is 8pm or so. But once it’s done, there’s no more eating. This is a good thing that I’ve been trying to do anyway, but having it declared to my wife and daughter will help make it reality.
They’re giving up chocolate (with no get out clause) and watching the tablet at the table (which can be bypassed if we eat in the living room...)
Wednesday Off - Wed 18th
It’s half-term, and I opted to take a single day off in the middle of the week to join in on a family trip to Bamburgh Castle. It’s made for a strange work week, a two day week, a single-day weekend, another two day week and a standard weekend. I’m not sure it’s a pattern I’d do again, as I don’t feel ready to come back, and there’s more to catch up on than a usual weekend since everyone else was working!
But I did enjoy running away while things continued.
Also, 50 day streak!
Weighing In - Thu 19th
I still weigh myself every morning. I took this up while doing Noom to lose two and a half stone, which I have so far achieved two stone of. I’ve never been able to give up the daily weigh in. I guess I’m addicted to the joy or admonishment I give myself in the shower after weigh-in. I can usually parse the food and snacks of the previous day to make sense of the fluctuations, but this week I had a great downward trend going, then it has crept back up on the same trajectory.
I have to remember to look at the average over longer periods, as daily fluctuations are so dependent on salt intake and water retention, and the, ahem, schedule of bodily expulsions.
Or maybe, like Duolingo, I need to break the habit and see what happens without my daily ritual.
Magic, But Not on TV - Sat 21st
Though last week I was asking for recommendations of TV or film where magic approaches our reality, today I found it in the National Galleries in Edinburgh, and the Edinburgh Playhouse.
Paintings - there’s a magic that is captured in certain landscapes or faces. It doesn’t need to be a magical or fantastical setting, but there’s something about capturing a moment that TV just glosses over. I think it’s the fact you can live for as long as you like in the moment of the painting. I’m actually even more drawn to sculpture as an art form, where there’s detail and change built into where you stand relative to the work.
The Nutcracker ballet from Varna International Ballet was a wonderful belated Christmas present for us all from my parents3. It’s a story we know well after The Televigion Daughter obsessed over the Alex T Smith book version, the CBeebies panto, and the version from the Royal Ballet on TV this Christmas. This production was simply staged, but full of magic. The Televigion Mum pointed out that the whole cast looked happy throughout, and seeing the portrayed ease while ultra talented people make their bodies do magical things is breathtaking.
More Spontaneous Laughter - Sun 22nd
In the clearly fertile comedy period of post-bathtime, the Televigion Daughter fired an imaginary message using a coat hanger as a bow, and suggested that if it went too far, we might need a Little Pickle Man. Or at least, that’s what I heard. What she really said was Litter Picker Man. And we laughed for five solid minutes.
Footnotes
It was the free film I selected when we switched to Sky broadband and TV in the last few months, but should be available on streaming in the UK once HBO arrives at the end of March.
A Christmas present I finished very swiftly, if you recall.
And more enjoyable for extending into February, and brightening it considerably.