January 3rd, 2018 will mark a special stardate in Star Trek history; the 25th anniversary of the premiere of the second live-action Star Trek spinoff series, “Deep Space Nine”… I still remember the premiere of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” on January 3, 1993. I was living in my tiny bachelor apartment at the time…
Month: December 2017
“The Shape Of Water”; just your typical, Cold War-era, girl-meets-amphibian love story…
Guillermo del Toro (director/producer of “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Devil’s Backbone,” and the “Hellboy” movies) directs and co-writes (along with Vanessa Taylor) a Cold War fairytale that exists in a surreal, stylized early 1960s that brings to mind the TV series “Mad Men,” as well as some of the earlier, better films of the Tim Burton canon…
Doctor Who’s “Twice Upon a Time” is a true sentimental journey…
This year’s Doctor Who Christmas offering, “Twice Upon a Time” is the holiday season swan song from writer/producer Steven Moffat, as well as departing current Doctor, Peter Capaldi. It’s not quite as frantic as other Doctor Who Christmas specials; with the series’ annual holiday angle worked in less gaudily than in some previous installments….
“Hamilton” takes its shot in L.A…
My crafty wife scored tickets for us to see “Hamilton” near the end of its L.A. run at the historic (and utterly magnificent) Pantages Theatre on Hollywood and Vine (yes, that famous convergence in the heart of Los Angeles; it’s our coast’s answer to Broadway and 42nd). Well, last night (Dec. 23rd) we finally saw…
Holiday Retro-Musings: the 1984 version of “A Christmas Carol”…
Full disclosure; I used to be a bit of a Scrooge myself. It wasn’t that I hated Christmas, but it just seemed to bring on a lot of artificial pressure and stresses. Huge crowds at shopping malls, increased traffic (California traffic is already a force to be reckoned with), frayed tempers, bad gifts you can’t…
First impressions of “The Last Jedi”…
Last night (on “Force Friday,” no less) we saw Rian Johnson’s new Star Wars movie, “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.” Had our 5 pm tickets for the big, Dolby Atmos (mercifully non-3D) theater at our favorite new cinema. Much anticipation ensued… Normally I’d post my usual big, fat, spoiler-laden review for it right away…
In defense of “Star Trek: Generations”
Twenty three years ago, on a brisk November night (brisk for California, anyway) a friend and I went out to the first night’s showing of Star Trek Generations (GEN). The theater we saw GEN in was a relatively new multiplex only about a mile and a half from my old apartment, alongside the train…
’Twas the week before “Jedi”….
‘Twas the week before “Jedi”, and out in the void Kylo ’n troopers were stirring; and one little droid Green wreaths were hung on the doors with care, In hopes that Luke Skywalker soon would be there; The rebels were ready, all snug in their ships, One more week to blow the First Order to bits……
A year of “Musings…”
As I look at the date on my computer’s calendar, I realize that it’s been a full year since I first began this blog (!). Wow… one year and 80-odd entries later, and it’s still a tremendous source of personal pleasure for me. I remember hemming and hawing about starting this blog, trying to decide…
“Star Trek: Discovery” and “The Orville”; two versions of the same show?
Blade Runner’s Tyrell Corporation (in the 1982 original) had an interesting slogan for its humanoid ‘replicants’; “More human than human.” In a way, Fox’s Star-Trek-by-any-other-name TV series “The Orville” is the Tyrell answer to Star Trek’s latest (and arguably least familiar feeling) incarnation, “Discovery.” It’s been over 12 years since the previous Trek TV series “Enterprise” was…