Today, February 16, is the 47th day of the year, and given that that is my favorite number (see here for why), I thought it was a convenient time to review how I’m doing on my 2025 goals.
Now, I actually have a bunch of real life goals that I haven’t shared here (yet?) but I also have my viewing goals which I have shared–25 things coming out this year, and 25 things that came out before this year, all of which I want to watch this year.
Day 47 is between 1/7 and 1/8 of the year, which means there will be 6 or 7 such blocks of time to review things later as well.
Anyway…
Things that came out in before this year…
Slow Horses season 4
We started watching this and got about halfway through, but then we got interrupted when we went back to season 1 and started rewatching it with my daughter. We finished the first season, but still have two more before we pick up season 4 again.
Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3
We actually finished this! But to be fair, there were only a couple of episodes left. So I think instead of crossing it off my list I’ll just amend it season 4 instead. We have already kicked that one off and have the first three (all excellent) episodes.
Andromeda season 3 (and beyond)
This is a challenging show to me. I managed to finish an episode I’ve been in the middle of forever, and to get into the middle of the episode that comes after.
Timeless
I actually haven’t watched this at all in 2025 because it disappeared off of whatever streaming platform that I was viewing it! Oh no, will I still be able to finish it this year? We will see.
Quantum Leap season 5
I have made progress here. I blogged about the last three episodes I watched this year (the most recent one is here), which leaves only three more episodes to finish the whole series!
The Bionic Woman season 1
I can’t remember if I have only watched this in 2025 so far (or if I started before the new year), but to date I’ve seen the first nine episodes of this show, out of the fourteen that are in the season that I bought. So good progress, I’d say.
What If…? season 3
I have seen a few episodes of this, but not all of it. I don’t know how many of those episodes I actually watched since the new year hit, but some of them I definitely did. The show has moved so far off of its original concept (see how things would have turned out if very specific events MCU happened differently) and just instead seems to be in telling wacky new stories with MCU concepts all mixed together differently. And it’s invariably ridiculous.
Batman: Caped Crusader
We actually finished this, and I forgot to mention it in my monthly summary recently. Batman: Caped Crusader was a ten episode animated series, a new take on the hero which feels like mix of the classic animated series from the 80s (Bruce Timm is heavily involved in each) but with a lot of modernisms, including a more liberal view of racial diversity and sexuality, and a more serialised approach to the storytelling (although most episodes are mainly standalone). The season ends with a two-part Two-Face story that was pretty solid, and it gave Batman a small character arc where he comes to recognize that his butler, whom he calls “Pennyworth” is someone special to him.
Superman and Lois season 3
We’ve made a start on this one, gotten a couple of episodes in. So far, the season is a pretty take on the now-classic “Death of Superman” story. We still have to see where it’s going but so far it’s better than what we had in Batman v. Superman and Justice League. The show still has got the strengths that we expect–good family dynamics and solid performances from the core cast, and an overall really good take on Superman. But it’s also got the same weaknesses that it has all along, including occasional bouts of awkward pacing and contrived storytelling. But overall so far so good.
All Creatures Great and Small season 5
We are underway with this one, but still have an episode or two left. A lot of what I watch depends on who in my family is around, because different shows are watched by different members of my family. All Creatures is a “me, my wife and my two younger daughters” show, and based on recent family movement, All Creatures has made it onto our screens faster than most things on this list.
It’s such a nice series. I just love these characters and the performances that bring them to life.
Things that came out (or are coming out) in 2025
A Minecraft Movie
Like most things under this heading, this hasn’t come out yet, but what did come out was a second trailer, which was infinitely less stupid looking than the first one. Does it make it a film I want to watch more than before? Err…not really. I think I’d rather watch something egregiously bad than something that is just kind of lame.
Star Trek: Section 31
This came out in late January so I did actually watch it in full. You’ve probably heard it was bad (if you have heard about it at all) and I won’t be the one to tell you otherwise. Although it was probably more “pointless” than it was just “abysmal.” Still counts as bad, though. You can read more about it here.
Jurassic World: Rebirth
There’s a trailer for this one that came out somewhere along the way, and overall it just looks lame. Like it’s trying to be Marvel-esque with the jokes and the quips, but they all seem so flat that you’d almost think it was some sort of parody. The dinosaurs too look impressive, but not interesting.
Severance season 2
This is coming out now. This series is a “whole family” show for us (although my wife’s tolerance for weirdness is growing thin so we’ll see if she hangs in there). This means we have a good time watching it together, but we don’t always get to it right away. Nonetheless, we’ve managed to watch four of the five episodes that are out so far, and I’m really enjoying it. The plot is advancing and the mysteries are developing–whether this all ultimately pays off remains to be seen, but in the meantime I’m having a good time watching it.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
This isn’t coming out until July, but a trailer hit a little while ago, and in general I really dig it. I’d have preferred that the MCU introduce the Fantastic Four by making them the newest heroes in their continuity–ie debuting as heroes and celebrities in the “present” of the MCU. And I’d prefer that the MCU drop the overwrought “multiverse” concept all together. But given that neither of my preferences were going to come to past and we were going to make Marvel’s first family part of some retro-future alternate universe, the movie looks pretty cool.
And it’s interesting that this film is coming out within weeks of Superman. The advanced looks for both movies show us worlds that are bright and bold and steeped in the pulp hero origins of the whole superhero genre, and they can pull off making that part of solid movies, I’m all in.
Captain America: Brave New World
I just saw this last night! I wasn’t very hopeful about it but it was actually okay, and had a fair amount going for it without ever becoming top-tier. Anthony Mackie is fine as Sam Wilson, and the movie does as good a job as any other MCU project at making him an engaging leading-character to watch. Harrison Ford takes over from the late William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross, who is now the president of the United States, and has a central role in the story. Ross has gained a new character motivation related to his estranged relationship with his daughter, and with the new actor he doesn’t quite feel like the same character, but Ford himself is quite good. Still, it would have been nice to see William Hurt play the part again just for the sake of emotional continuity.
The movie takes a lot of plot cues from Captain America Civil War, as Cap is once again motivated to help a disgraced friend who is being framed by a crazy mastermind of a villain for the murder or attempted murder of a world leader. That friend is Isaiah Washington, the forgotten black Captain America, played by Carl Lumbly, and he is excellent.
The writing is not as smooth as I’d have liked them to be–there are several sequences where it feels like the movie is trying to insert some character development for Sam, for instance, in a way that the rest of the movie seems to be fully aware of. But on the whole it was a decent film with generally fun action scenes. That action works best when Sam (and his partner Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon) are pulling off aerial manoeuvres–it’s where these characters feel like they are really doing their own thing. There is definitely an effort to create solid ground-based combat as well, but it never feels like it reaches the glory days of what we had in Winter Soldier, for instance.
The movies includes a comment about how even though people may be on different sides of a political argument, they can still see the good in one another. That’s a sadly counter-cultural idea at the moment, but one that I appreciated.
Tron: Ares
There hasn’t been anything out there about this film yet, not really anyway. But I have found my Tron keychain and started making regular use of it as a way of making myself prepared for this movie.
So I’m as ready as I can be!
So to summarise, here are both lists. Bold Face means that I’ve started it (or advanced from where I was at the start of the year), and strikethrough means it’s finished.
• Slow Horses season 4
• Pachinko Season 2
• My Adventures with Superman seasons 1 & 2
• Star Wars: Clone Wars season 1
• Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3 season 4
• Star Trek: Short Treks
• Daredevil season 3
• Andromeda season 3 (and beyond)
• Timeless
• Max Headroom
• Quantum Leap
• Doctor Who – Evil of the Daleks
• Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
• Madame Web
• The Bionic Woman season 1
• Superman movie serials
• What If…? season 3
• A Christmas Story Christmas
• Babylon 5 The Road Home
• The Bear season 2
• Parasite
• Batman: Caped Crusader
• Superman and Lois season 3
• All Creatures Great and Small season 5
• Stateless
• A Minecraft Movie
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Ironheart• Star Trek: Section 31• The Thursday Murder Club• Captain America: Brave New World• Jurassic World: Rebirth
• Karate Kid Legends
• Wonder Man
• Daredevil: Born Again
• Thunderbolts*
• Stranger Things 5
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Story
• Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning
• Silo – season two, episodes 8-10
• Only Murders in the Building season 5
• All Creatures Great and Small season 6
• Andor season 2
• Wicked: For Good
• Doctor Who season 2 (aka series 15)
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3
• Tron: Ares
• Severance season 2
• Superman
