Heartwarming / SF Debris

• In the review of Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, nostalgia movies and returns of old favourites are discussed at length, and the treatment they get falls definitely into the heart-warming category. SF Debris states that there are three types of nostalgia movies, and paradoxically, when he talks about movies of the third type, which are the most flawed of the three, the result is the pure heart-warmth:
  SF Debris: The eternal flame nostalgia is a movie that you know has problems, but you're glad that you watched it — to see that it's back again. You're probably never going to watch it again, but you're happy just knowing that it's there. That you could go on to watch it if you ever really wanted to. It's the film equivalent of knowing that there's always a bed and a hot meal at mum's house if you ever needed it. Even though you know you never will. It's just good to know the flame hasn't completely gone out. So you can hope that maybe it'll be back again, and as good as you can remember.
• From his Firefly review of "Shindig": His treatment of Kaylee. Why the hell couldn't a girl dress in a gorgeous dress and feel pretty and enjoy herself at the ball if that's what she wants?
• This moment from the review of Firefly, episode "Out of Gas": When the crew are having dinner together, things seem very positive for them, and all the moments that are mentioned are very sweet, but especially when SF Debris points out that Zoe showed her concern for Wash by saving him a plate from dinner and that he adored her over it, which he should. It's in the voice. The way Chuck says it is... just aaww.
• The end of the Hogfather review, about how Terry Pratchett's work will live on long after his death, both his own and whatever his daughter will do to continue it.
  To continue the tradition of stories and songs to be past from generation to generation, as they always had been, how else do we remember the old lessons and the wisdom. And the little lies that prepare us for the big ones, That fantasies, the ideas, and the wonder will remain, the great gift the he will always leave us. Works that do not deny the darkness of life, or the stupidity of humanity, and yet do not allow this to descend into pessimism and cynicism. To not destroy optimism, but to remind us, we can do better, and we will. And these are lessons and stories that we will treasure always. Long after we have left him, to the care, of the reaper man.
• Music montages and tributes:
  • The usage of "Under Pressure" for the TNG finale "All Good Things..."
    • Double example: he let Linkara use the same song for a similar tribute montage in History of Power Rangers.
    • Triple example: Linkara could have very easily just done the same thing without saying a word. Instead he contacted Chuck and asked permission, the two of them treating each other with respect.
  • The end montage for Captain Kirk set to "Faithfully" in his review of Star Trek: Generations, which managed to be a more touching tribute to Kirk than the film was.
    • For some, this was also a bit of a Tear Jerker... but in a good way.
  • He did some familiar during his Star Trek: Nemesis review for Data which drew Superman comparisons.
  • His "Skin of Evil" review beginning with a montage for Tasha set to "Knocking on Heaven's Door".
  • The end montage in his review of WALL•E set to "In Your Eyes".
  • His tribute to Elisabeth Sladen in the "Seeds of Doom" review.
  • His tribute to Leonard Nimoy set to "Baba Yetu".
• His dedication of the Star Trek (2009) review to Dennis "Ghost Rider" Mullan, a longtime online friend of Chuck's who went missing in New York City on December 31 2010, and has not been seen or heard from since.
• The opening to this 5th Anniversary Clip Show, when the characters from each of the various recaps join in song. The Trek characters all in-character, too. Or more to the point, they're all nods to Chuck's Alternate Character Interpretations. After five years, they're almost as much his characters as the series!
  Londo: I love to have a drink
  Sisko: I love to HIT THINGS
  Data: I love my lifeforms ♪
  Worf: I hate when Data sings
  The Doctor: I love the whole world / With all its sights and sounds
  (boom-de-adda boom-de-adda)
  Janeway: I love to shoot stuff!
  Vultan: I love that HE'S ALIVE!!
  River: I love to taste dreams
  Harry: I hate to be alive!
  Crichton: I love the whole world / And all its craziness
  (boom-de-adda boom-de-adda)
  Kirk: I love green women
  The Cat: I love when things are mine!
  Picard: I love my relics
  Female Shepard: I love to hold the line
  Lone Gunmen: We love the whole world
  Roy Batty: It's such a brilliant place
• In his look on Reg Barclay, he gives a concise, logical reasoning for why Seven of Nine is a very good love interest.
• The end of his review of Puella Magi Madoka Magica episode 10 showcasing the relationship and love between Madoka and Homura....set to 'Time After Time' by Cyndi Lauper.
  • His analysis of the ending makes it that much more heartwarming, pointing out how Madoka essentially granted everyone's true wishes: Mami doesn't have to be alone, Kyoko can be a hero like she wanted, and Sayaka's selflessness will not end in misery.
  • Also while Urobuchi says Homura failed in her task to save Madoka, Chuck manages to see it as victory, pointing out that because of Homura, Madoka will never become a witch and will never die and, by extent, no magical girl's wish will end in despair.]
• His general bashing of how the crew of the Enterprise turned on Kirk in Star Trek V, especially bringing up Chekov and Sulu, who he mentioned in Star Trek III, decided to help Kirk despite that it would likely mean the end of the careers (despite not having the highest opinion of that film), without a second thought, and brings up Sulu's loyalty to Kirk in Star Trek VI as further signs of his true character and that it's further reason to pretend that V doesn't exist.
• A minor one, but during his review of "Fair Haven" he admitted that when he reached the end of Mass Effect 3 with his Femshep (no, not that one) and had to chose one of three endings in which only one would have Shepard survive he felt that there wasn't really a choice.
• In his reupload of "Shuttlepod One", he praises Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keeting for their performances and laments how their talents were wasted on episodes like this one.
  • In that same review, he takes time to clarify that he is not prejudiced against Southern people, nor does he have any beef with Connor Trinneer's acting chops, and is instead poking fun at the fact that Tucker, while supposedly an engineering genius, often acts in stereotypical ways that undermine attempts to have him taken seriously.
• Much as he mercilessly takes Star Trek: Voyager to task for being disappointing, he'll give them credit where it's due.
  • He prefaces the entire series (in his review of "Caretaker") by stating that when the series premiered, not only was he prepared to like it, he was expecting it to be completely awesome. Much of his vitriol towards the series is very apparently his own disappointment that show didn't live up to what it was promised to be. And he admits that it wasn't just a case of unrealistic expectations. . . Voyager had a lot of potential that was never fully realized.
  • Perennial whipping boy Brannon Braga gets props for ''Projections," with Chuck stating that Mind Screw-type episodes are really his forte, and when given the opportunity to write one does a bang-up job.
  • Harsh as he is towards the characters, he repeatedly takes time out to state that his hate does not extend to the actors, fully believing that everyone involved did the absolute best they could with what they were given. Special notice to frequently stating that he feels sorry for Garret Wang, who seldom if ever got to do anything interesting or compelling with his performance of Harry Kim. He also states that, much as he likes joking about Janeway being an evil megalomanical sociopath, Kate Mulgrew made the character watchable, even likeable, despite unfavorable stances the character was often forced into by the writers.
  • "Fair Trade" gets a stamp of 7, high for a Voyager episode and outstanding for a Neelix-centric episode. Chuck praises Ethan Phillips' performance and the writers giving Neelix a complex and empathetic dilemma. It's not enough to salvage the character in our reviewer's mind, but it's enough to call the episode and Neelix's role within it an example of a Good Voyager Episode.
  • He credits "Survival Instinct" as a perfect example of what should have been an average Voyager episode. Ronald Moore brought some fresh eyes to the series, and turned in a script that wasn't a major event episode, not part of a sweeps week, a midseason hiatus cliffhanger, or big, flashy season finale, just another episode to fill out the run of the season. And it is excellent, with great pacing, good character moments, interesting visuals, and solid performances all around. Hell, even Robert Beltran looks like he's enjoying himself. It shows perfectly what the cast and crew could accomplish with just another script to shoot, get in the can, and move on, and if it had been the level set for show's average episode, Voyager would have been amazing. Sadly, Moore left not long after due to the unpleasant work environment, but "Survival Instinct" remains to beg the question: if this is the level the show could have attained just week to week, what would the real event episodes have looked like?
  • And caps his review of the series finale, "Endgame" with dissecting exactly how much the show had going for it. . . an unexplored and unknown area of the galaxy to play in, writers who knew the genre and the specific lore of Star Trek, actors who knew their craft and could turn in any performance demanded of them, and a crew who clearly put 100% into making every single episode shine ("even when making a silk purse out of a sow's ear"). If it hadn't settled for being safe and formulaic, Voyager could have been great. It just had to reach for it. This is all the more poignant if you actually like the series, as while SF Debris will make you look at its flaws, its shining moments are not glossed over and its potential is on full display.
• The pains he takes to make clear that he's not blaming Colin Baker for the initial cancellation of Doctor Who, in a video all about how his run was the beginning of the end.
• In "Skin of Evil", he does seem to sympathize with Denise Crosby's frustration over Tasha Yar's meager characterization in early TNG, noting how a scene as insignificant as Tasha chatting with Worf can still carry some weight and make it worthwhile. He even bemoans the fact that he had very few clips to utilize in the opening tribute.
  • Especially when you know that Crosby herself said if she'd gotten more scenes like that one, she would have stayed.
  • In "Yesterday's Enterprise", noting how it serves as a Bookend to "Skin of Evil". In "Skin of Evil", Tasha earned the respect of one Klingon (Worf), and in "Yesterday's Enterprise", she earns the respect of all Klingons for her Heroic Sacrifice.
• His review of "Sugar Dirt" (uploaded on Veteran's Day) begins with a two minute tribute to veterans of all wars.
  • Which crosses into a moment of funny when, right after the title, he says "Now here's the part of the show where I get to be an ass!"
• In "These Are the Voyages...", as much as he hates Brannon Braga, Chuck grants some leniency for admitting how much he screwed up.
• On the Tear Jerker page, there's a section about Chuck's wife, who is mentally ill and left home for her own reasons. He updated a couple of weeks later, saying that he managed to talk to her uninterrupted and she came home. And then he thanks his viewers for offering their support.
• His defense of the Federation in "The Jem'Hadar" about not backing down from the Dominion, considering his previously mentioned, rather large, issues with Starfleet, the Federation, and the Roddenberry Ideal.
• In his "Vincent and the Doctor" review, he quotes his father on why it's important to keep helping the mentally ill even if failure is inevitable.
  Some once asked my father why he was going to so much trouble to do something for one of these mentally ill people that I've mentioned, because tomorrow it was just going to be forgotten and irrelevant. All he said to it was "I'm not doing it for tomorrow. I'm doing it for today.".
• Each episode of the Star Wars: The Old Republic: Imperial Agent Class Quest review has a segment where Chuck vents about something he hates about the game. For the final episode, Chuck clarifies that despite his venting about various game mechanics that suck, the game world itself is breathtaking and shows a long montage of all his various alts.
  • The fact that in all his Old Republic playthroughs (which to date are all Sith Empire classes), he tries to RP his characters as being A Lighter Shade of Black
  • For that matter, the Sith Inquisitor series starts with him talking about how much he'd always wanted to play a Sith Sorcerer, even in a tabletop setting, and it never happened. Then SWTOR offered Sorcerers as an advanced class and the story was basically Sorcerer-centric for that class. For Chuck it was his gateway drug to other MMOs simply because in his own words, "it was a bait [he] was powerless to resist." While we've seen Chuck tackle personal favorites on the show before, this is probably the series that features him really getting into it the most. Hearing Chuck gush about what Sith Sorcerers are (admittedly before TOR, a fairly obscure piece of Legends canon outside of Palpatine), explaining how the story works with genuine enthusiasm, to just getting into the Roleplay side of things far more naturally than usual is very much a feel good moment. After all the times we've seen Chuck be a cantankerous old bastard about even things he loves due to the show, watching him just for once go all in while giving legitimate criticism at the studios making the game, shows that yes, this story really IS near and dear to his heart.
• This comment from the WALL•E review:
  Chuck: You know, if there's a karma for robots, WALL-E will probably be reincarnated as a Dyson Sphere.
• Memorial Day 2017: His video he's chosen to release is Beast Wars most famous episode "Code Of Hero". Framing the beginning and the end of the review are musical tributes to the heroism of warriors. The perfect tribute to the ending arc for the noble Dinobot and all the good he did in becoming a defender and hero in his final moments.
• The tenth anniversary video, featuring clips from everything Chuck has reviewed set to "In Time" by Robbie Robb.
• In his Review for Howard the Duck, Chuck does bring up that, despite what one may think of his Films, George Lucas does show himself to have a genuine passion for filmmaking.
• The end of The Hermit's Journey where Chuck discusses the legacy of George Lucas and how he's only human and thus has a balance of bad and good qualities. After closing his statement of the latter truly outweighing the former, we see the glimpse of Obi-Wan Kenobi being struck down by Darth Vader to the tune of Dreams to Dream
• The Christmas Day episode (which happened to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the site) finishes with a deeply heartfelt speech thanking fans for their dedication and for, more than anything else, their generosity, as the site's year in 2019 was objectively miserable; server migrations, whole scores of reviews lost, hardware breaking...and the fans helped him through all of it.
• Ending his Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse review with a music montage showing Peter and Mary Jane together to prove his point that MJ IS Peter's soulmate.
• In his review of "The War Games", after comedy bit where the Doctor pulls something from Jamie's sporran:
  I miss Patrick Troughton so damn much.
• In his review of Superman vs. the Elite, he goes into a deep analysis of the idea that the modern world requires a group like The Elite and concludes that it's flat-out wrong. Our world has overall gotten better, to the point that what used to be considered miracles have become almost mundane thanks to medical technology, like restoring sight to the blind and allowing a woman who lost her leg to dance. From our many inventions designed to combat climate change, to the recent developments toward fusion, and even something as simple as soap can make the world better. Rather than the world getting worse, we're only now more aware of its problems, but we have the power to solve them. Superheroes don't exist to force changes on society, but to lend a helping hand and to be an inspiration, to show that we can be better.
• He makes a surprisingly motivating speech near the end of "The Masterpiece Society", where he admits that the society began life with good ideas, but it's become too stagnant to survive. Of course, it's not the first time it's happened and the people will survive. And the people, after eight generations, can surely build something even better. Gets a little undercut by his angry rant about the Prime Directive at the end, but he admits that he wishes that's the note he wanted to end on.
• His hero from Dragon Age: Origins gets to walk off into the sunset following his work in the world. He gave the Mages a place to be free from the chantry, he shook up the royal household, he saved a werewolf tribe, killed an archdemon without dying. And at the end of it all, catches back up with Morrigan to raise their child together.
• Doing a compare/contrast between the creators of Dungeons & Dragons vs Magic: The Gathering helps to put in perspective how Magic managed to create a trio of leaders who could work together and not step on each other's toes. How Atkins and Garfield could contrast between presentation and mechanics, and how Garfield and Elias could contrast between having game ideas and refining them. And that all together, there's mutual respect on all sides as they all needed each other to make Magic a success.
• On Christmas 2022, after 14 long years, Chuck finally reviewed every episode of Voyager, capping it off with "Hunters". He gives the episode praise for its humanizing portrayal of the crew and how everyone they left behind seems to have moved on, but they've won a small victory by getting messages to let everyone know they're still out there. And he ends it off by reciting some of Robert Browning's poem The Last Ride Together before one last rendition of Roxette's Harleys and Indians. A surprisingly heartfelt sendoff to his review series.
• During his analysis of Captain Archer, Chuck makes it clear that despite all the jokes he makes about Janeway being crazy, he has a sense of respect for her. That same kind of respect is what fuels his criticisms of Archer.
  Chuck: In a difficult situation, Kathryn Janeway almost always rose to the challenges, but Jonathan Archer is not a captain for hard times.

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