The Clone Wars. Following the unexpected success of George Lucas’ “Star Wars” in 1977 (“A New Hope” wouldn’t be added to the title until years later), studios big and small were scrambling to create their own space operas. Some were embarrassingly obvious in their mimicry (Luigi Cozzi’s “Starcrash”), others gained their own cult followings (Glen…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.10: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2″ delivers on the promise…
*****GIANT BORG CUBE-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** The 10th and final episode of Star Trek: Picard’s first season, “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” (Written by Michael Chabon and directed by Akiva Goldsman) has been released via CBS-All Access (AmazonPrime overseas), and it wraps up the freshman season’s arc in a satisfying, very Star Trek-way. The finale is a fascinating rumination on…
Why “The Martian” is the perfect film (and book) during safe-distancing and quarantine…
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many parts of the world, including my own (sunny southern California), to a virtual standstill. My wife and I are both home right now in self-quarantine, and many conventions we’d planned to attend, such as WonderCon and others that I’d planned to cover for this site, have been indefinitely postponed…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.9: “Et in Arcadia Ego,” Part 1” takes a familiar descent…
*****BORG CUBE-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** Taking a brief break from our shared collective anxieties over the COVID-19 pandemic gripping the world right now, the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard’s first season, “Et in Arcadia Ego” Part 1 is now streaming on CBS-AA (you know you’re in for some heavy s#!t when they Latin up the title). Written by…
“Star Trek” has been, and always shall be about diversity and social justice…
This entry is a response to the increasingly high volume of complaints I read online (and hear in person at conventions) that new Star Trek is “too politically correct” these days, and only “panders to liberals.” Some say that new Star Trek has become obsessed with winning the “Social Justice Warrior” demographic. Reality check, please?…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.8: Picking up the “Broken Pieces”…
******BORG CUBE-SIZED SPOILERS!!****** The latest episode of “Star Trek: Picard” is available to stream on CBS-All Access (AmazonPrime overseas). “Broken Pieces” (written by showrunner Michael Chabon, and directed by Maja Vrvilo) finally answers some of the larger questions of both the characters and the story, giving the soon-ending first season much needed coherence. “Broken Pieces.”…
Max von Sydow (1929-2020); his power compelled you…
Actor Max von Sydow was born on April 10th, 1929 in Lund, Sweden and passed away in France, on March 8th, 2020. The acting legend spent 70 of his 90 years in front of the camera, debuting as Nils in the 1949 film, “Only a Mother.” During his long, illustrious, incredibly prolific career, von Sydow played…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.7: “Nepenthe” offers a welcome respite…
*****BORG CUBE-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** This week’s episode of “Star Trek: Picard” is titled “Nepenthe”… a title that is very telling. Nepenthe, in Homer’s “The Odyssey,” was a drug that brought relief from pain and sorrow for one who takes it. That’s exactly the reaction I had from this installment, scripted by producer/showrunner Michael Chabon, with a…
Doctor Who, S12.10: “The Timeless Children” need a timeout…
*****TARDIS-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!!****** The Season 12 finale of Doctor Who has arrived, and it’s basically a Page One rewrite of all Doctor Who lore, from 1963 on up. Everything you thought you knew of the Time Lords and Gallifrey are no longer what they seem. As a longtime fan of the show, I’m not…
“The Invisible Man” (2020) shifts focus from predator to prey…
Universal Pictures, the studio which birthed the famous “Universal Monster” series of the 1930s through the 1950s (Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Wolf-Man, and the Creature From The Black Lagoon) has been struggling to rekindle their famed horror movie embers for decades, with mixed results; from 1999’s “The Mummy” to…well, Tom Cruise’s…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.6: Opening up ”The Impossible Box”…
*****BORG-CUBE SIZED SPOILERS!!***** This week’s episode of Star Trek: Picard, “The Impossible Box” (a title subject to multiple inferences) was written by Nick Zayas and was nicely directed by Maja Vrvilo. The best thing about this week’s episode (over halfway into the season) is that the exposition/setup portion of the story is now largely over,…
Doctor Who, S12.9: “Ascension of the Cybermen” rises to the occasion…
*****TARDIS-SIZED SPOILERS!!****** Well, just as I was beginning to doubt that Doctor Who could make yet another Cybermen armageddon-finale work, showrunner/writer Chris Chibnall and director Jamie Magnus Stone pull it off, delivering a penultimate 12th season finale that offers a solid new story, as well as the promise of wrapping up certain mysteries left for…
