I recommend the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, and I hope Netflix does not do to this what they did to the Marvel shows they recently created, which was to sell them to a different pay to stream network that I do not subscribe to.

The Umbrella Academy is based on a set of graphic novels. There are multiple versions, but this is a suggested in-order set to look at if it interests you.

Number 1: The Apocalypse Suite, which includes numbers 1 through 5,thought this volume goes through number 6 and has other material in it:

The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1

Number 2: Dallas. Yes, there is a Kennedy connection.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas

Number 3: Hotel Oblivion.

The Umbrella Academy Volume 3: Hotel Oblivion

The reason this is a great idea is because it places a group of people with sufficient internal conflict to be in a story, in a context where the writers can do pretty much anything they want. Star Trek, of course, did the same thing, with their voyage to wherever the writers imagine scenario.

The first Lost in Space had the misfortune of being produced at a time when All Television Sucked. If you want to see how bad things can really get, have a look at the original pilot.

This was made in the days where pilots were pilots, typically not shown to the general public. So they were sometimes made on the cheap, or in other ways flawed. The first episode or two use the hour long pilot’s plot and modified script, and IIRC many of the scenes.

The second lost in space was a mediocre movie with a premise that should be re-shot and edited. In this version, the to-be-lost-in-space family have to leave earth because a global recycling program that had been put in place years earlier had a small miscalculation that added up, unnoticed, over time, with the ultimate result of destroying the environment. Obviously, the re-write would use global warming.

Mediocre as a movie, in many ways, but taking full advantage of modern effects. And a number of good scenes.

Anyway, all that is behind us now. Netflix is making “Lost In Space” staring Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, and Max Jenkins. Have a look:

It is a series. Looks excellent. The robot is a major upgrade!

I am not an expert on the old Dr Who’s by any means, but it has come to my attention that a lot of people are unaware of the recent addition of Dr. Who shows on Netflix, even though I did post something about this on my facebook page. Try to keep up, people.

Here is the specially designed Netflix page which provides many of the important details.

And here is a cool blog post I found that covers the larger issue of access to all/many of the Dr. Who episodes.

So there you go.

However, if you run Linux on a regular computer, you can’t watch Netflix videos, as you can with Windows or a Mac. Why? My understanding is that the the people who own and operate Netflix, bless their pointy heads, think that if they released a Linux version of Netflix, Linux “hackers” would break through the DRM protection schemes and everyone would be able to watch Netflix for free.

As Shawn Powers has pointed out a number of times, they’ve got that backwards. In reality, if Netflix continues to diss the Linux Community, there is no telling what will happen. Eventually, Linux “hackers” will figure out how to show Netflix on their own computers. When that happens, this will mean that Linux-using Netflix subscribers will be able to watch what they are paying for on their own desktop and laptop computers like Windows users can. But it might also mean that Linux users will be able to easily install a Netflix Watcher that may not bother with little details like whether or not the service is paid for. In other words, it might be possible some day for Linux users to type:

sudo apt-get WatchNetflixForFree

and in a few moments have an app installed on their computer that will simply drain Netflix of all it’s DRM’ed bits and bytes. For free. Out of revenge. For being dissed.

I don’t know which of these scenarios is going to happen, but it may be the case that an important step is happening in this direction. (Hat Tip Mike)

There is now a project to raise funds to pay a bounty for a functioning Netflix application for Linux. The rules require that the application be legal. That is good. I hope it is created and I hope it is legal. But, you know as well as I do that movement in the direction of making a legal Linux based Netflix streaming application will result in the development of technology that could be used illegally, to just plain take what is currently owned by Netflix.

And, given the way that computer systems operate, it would be fairly easy, I think, to install the necessary software on any Windows machine to run the “Steal the Netflix Bits and Bytes” app and run it. Minimally, one would simply run a key disk or CD based copy of Linux and watch movies for free on any computer, but it would probably be even easier than that.,

I would personally oppose that and I would never use it. I do not subscribe to the idea that if you can easily steal something (like movies or musi), that stealing that thing is therefore ethical, perhaps even morally required. Napster was a low point in the history of personal computer technology, in my opinion. But I’m just one person. The “WatchNetflixForNothin” app is probably possible, and a combination of Netflix misreading the Linux Community and the simple fact that this is both insulting and potentially “fixable” may result in free movies for all who care to type that line I cite above, or something like it being a reality.

I assume Netflix will soon come to understand the error of its corporate ways, and produce a Linux Netflix Application.

In the meantime, you have the option of applying the pressure. Check it out: Netflix on Linux Contest.

*Please do not bother impressing us with your detailed knowledge of how Linux and the system the Mac runs on top of are different. They are more similar than any two randomly chosen (repeated sampling) operating systems running computer-run devices, and are widely considered to be in the same family of operating systems.