*****SUPER-SPOILERS!!***** “Supergirl” on the scene. In October of 2015, I decided to watch CBS’ new TV series “Supergirl”, and to my surprise I enjoyed it very much. It was less of a typical superhero show and more of a young woman making her way in the big (National) City story (more like “The Devil Wears…
Rejudging “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” 30 years later…
Pre-Judgment (1984). *****TERMINAL SPOILERS AHEAD!!***** Way back in late fall of 1984, I remember my sister coming home to tell us about a movie she just saw called “The Terminator” (1984). The title didn’t impress me at all, because it sounded like a million other cheapie action-exploitation movies on shelves of video stores at that…
Disney bakes “The Bad Batch” and other Star Wars treats for May…
May the 4th was strong with the Force. While my own household celebrated “May the 4th” in our own way, Disney+ also offered a slew of new Star Wars-related content for this unofficial Star Wars holiday, which is really a thing now. First up was the launch of a new post-“Clone Wars” Star Wars cartoon…
A personal Star Wars celebration for an early “May the 4th”…
How I first saw “The Empire Strikes Back.” For this “May the 4th” day, I’d like to share a personal Star Wars story. When I was all of 13 in the summer of 1980, my family and I went to see “The Empire Strikes Back”, with my dad driving the hour and a half freeway…
Effectively dreaming “The Lathe of Heaven” (1980) into reality…
1980 was a heady time to be a teenaged sci-fi fan. It was the year that ushered in a diverse range of sci-fi movies like “The Empire Strikes Back” “Battle Beyond The Stars”, “Flash Gordon” “The Final Countdown,” and “Altered States.” My parents’ old 25″ Zenith TV set practically exploded with sci-fi related content as…
Reflecting on the reimagined 2003 “Battlestar Galactica” miniseries, Part 2…
Previously, on Battlestar Galactica… In my previous column, I did a write-up/review of the first half of the 2003 reimagined “Battlestar Galactica” miniseries. Part 1 of the rebooted miniseries is definitely the more action-packed of the two, while Part 2 establishes the direction for the series going forward. Without further ado, let’s get right into…
Reflecting on the reimagined miniseries of “Battlestar Galactica” (2003), Part 1…
Childhood Favorite Reborn. As a not-quite 12 year old kid in the fall of 1978, I became a huge fan of the original “Battlestar Galactica”. I watched the series religiously, often sticking a tape recorder by the TV speaker to record it for later playback (VCRs were new in those days, and prohibitively expensive). I…
Remembering a performer who populated my childhood, Felix Silla (1937-2021)…
Felix Silla, an actor and stuntman active in the industry since the early 1960s, succumbed to cancer at the age of 84, on April 16th, 2021 after a lengthy battle. The actor is best known for playing the hirsute Cousin Itt on TV’s “The Addams Family” (1964-1966) as well as the robot companion “Twiki” to…
Closing argument on Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (2020)…
I’m taking a rare break from this column’s usual offerings of sci-fi/fantasy/horror content to cross examine writer/director Aaron (“The West Wing”) Sorkin’s latest courtroom drama based on the surreal “Trial of the “Chicago 7” (nearly eight, until unrepresented defendant Bobby Seale’s charge was nullified). This famed court case is a collision of establishment and counterculture,…
“Space Sweepers” (2021) scavenges familiar sci-fi elements into a colorful mix…
Sweeping Victory. Netflix is currently streaming the pandemic-delayed Korean space fantasy “Space Sweepers” (2021), originally known as “Seungriho” (“Starship Victory”). The film is a space-western action adventure with many familiar elements whose characters and heart keep it together when some of its other parts don’t quite add up. Directed and cowritten by Sung-hee Jo (“A…
New trailers & teasers beam down for Star Trek’s “First Contact Day”…
*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!***** April 5th marks Star Trek’s “First Contact Day”—the fictional future holiday marking the creation of warp drive and ‘first contact’ with the Vulcans in 2063 (42 years away). Not unlike that tumultuous time in Star Trek’s imaginary future, the past year has seen some tremendous challenges as well (a deadly global pandemic, an…
Personal Log, Supplemental: Getting the second COVID-19 vaccination shot…
Supplemental Log: Stardate April 1st, 2021. For those readers who follow this site, I chronicled getting my first COVID-19 vaccination shot so that my fellow Star Trek/sci-fi fans (and valued readers) facing vaccination might have an idea of what to expect. Well, the first vaccination went just fine; a little ache in the injection arm,…
