The summer of 1977 was my first introduction to actor Dave Prowse. Not in person, of course, but when he (in character) boarded a captured Rebel starship in the opening scenes of “Star Wars” (pre-New Hope). I can never forget Prowse’s embodiment of that awesome black-clad villain. What an entrance! In fact, I still remember…
The Mandalorian, Chapter 13: “The Jedi” returns…
****CORUSCANT-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!!**** The Mandalorian Chapter 13, written and directed by series’ co-creator/producer Dave Filoni (“The Clone Wars” “Rebels”) is now available for streaming on DisneyPlus. Titled “The Jedi,” this episode reintroduces another fan favorite from the animated Star Wars into live-action, and Baby Yoda has a name… “The Jedi.” On the planet Corvus, the…
Star Trek: Discovery, S3.7: “Unification III” takes the next logical step…
****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!!**** “Last time on Star Trek…” The title of this week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery, now streaming on CBS-All Access, sequels a 29-year old two-parter from Star Trek: The Next Generation, with the evocative but accurate title “Unification III”. This episode sees a long-held dream of Ambassador Spock’s fulfilled; the reunification of the…
Retro-Musings: Is the Spanish-language version of 1931’s “Dracula” the better bloodsucker?
Monster Mash. As a kid I loved the Universal Studios monster movies. I was about born about 30-40 years too late to have caught them in original theatrical release, so I used my parent’s old 25” Zenith to get my monster movie fixes. I used to collect the Aurora model kits of the monsters as…
“Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” (2020) is not your father’s Life Day…
If At First You Don’t Succeed… 42 years ago, there was a great disturbance in the Force… CBS aired “The Star Wars Holiday Special” and it was arguably the worst thing to happen to the Star Wars universe before Jar Jar Binks. CBS and Lucasfilm created a shot-on-videotape variety special (which were insanely popular in…
The Mandalorian, Chapter 12: “The Siege” is another brief but effective episode…
The latest chapter of DisneyPlus’ “The Mandalorian” is now available. “The Siege” is written by series’ producer/co-creator Jon Favreau and directed by recurring guest star Carl Weathers, who also reprises his role of Greef Karga for this episode. And yes, Baby Yoda does some cute stuff, too… ****IMPERIAL FORTRESS SIZED SPOILERS!!**** Chapter 12: “The Siege.”…
Star Trek: Discovery, S3.6: “Scavengers” has some trust issues…
The latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery is now available to stream on CBS-All Access, and it’s consistent with the terrific offerings of this third (and easily best) season of the series to date (kudos to new showrunner Michelle Paradise). That said, there are some choices made in this episode which some fans may find……
The Mandalorian, Chapter 11: “The Heiress” patches things up…
The latest chapter of The Mandalorian is available for streaming on DisneyPlus, and it’s a significant step up from last week’s “The Passenger” , which was, in my opinion, the absolute nadir of the series to date. You can only go up from that one. “The Heiress,” written by Jon Favreau and directed by a…
Star Trek: Discovery, S3.5: “Die Trying” sows a few space seeds…
Written by Sean Cochran & James Duff, and directed by Maja Vrvilo, the fifth episode of Star Trek: Discovery’s stellar third season, “Die Trying,” is now available for streaming on CBS-All Access. While the title may sound like a cheesy ‘80s action flick, this elegant entry is anything but, as the temporally-displaced starship Discovery and…
Is “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002) all that bad? Yes it is, but…
Written by “Gladiator” scribe John Logan (who also wrote 2012’s “Skyfall”) and directed by famed editor Stuart Baird (who clearly had little-to-no feel for the material), “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002) is one of the most derided entries of the Star Trek film canon. For this overview, I’m going to skip the traditional synopsis, and just…
The Mandalorian, Chapter 10: “The Passenger” never quite arrives…
Disney Plus has just released the 10th chapter of The Mandalorian, titled, “The Passenger,” and it marks the first time I was deeply disappointed with an episode of this usually fine series. At the risk of offending the Disney and Star Wars gods, I didn’t like this episode at all. For the first time in…
Star Trek: Discovery, S3.4, “Forget Me Not” explores troubles with the Trill…
The latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery, “Forget Me Not” (now available for streaming on CBS-All Access) continues the winning streak we’ve seen in the previous three installments of this series’ stronger, more confident third season under new showrunner Michelle Paradise. That this previously stumbling series seems to have found its footing in year three…
