*****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,…
Month: February 2020
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…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.5: “Stardust City Rag” entertains in spite of its title…
*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** While this week’s Star Trek: Picard bears the unfortunate title of “Stardust City Rag” (possibly the least catchy Star Trek title ever), it is nevertheless a solidly entertaining entry in this young Star Trek series. The episode was written by Star Trek novelist/producer Kirsten Beyer (“The Farther Shore”) and again directed by longtime…
Doctor Who, 12.8: “The Haunting of Villa Diotati” scares up an old enemy…
*****TARDIS-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD***** This week, the Doctor and her TARDIS-traveling companions arrive at Lake Geneva, Switzerland on a stormy night in June of 1816; the very night that saw the birth of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s “Frankenstein” story…and their time travel tour, as usual, hits a few snags. Written by Maxine Alderton and directed by Emma…
The TARDIS touches down in L.A. yet again for Gallifrey One 2020…
Gallifrey One: It’s Bigger On The Inside! Since 2014, my wife and I have been steady attendees of what is the largest Doctor Who convention in the United States, “Gallifrey One” (or, as it’s known by longtime conventioneers, “Galley One”). Compared to the Soylent Green-level madness that is San Diego Comic Con (130,000 attendees) Galley…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.4: “Absolute Candor” opens up…
*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** Written by series’ showrunner Michael Choban and directed by former “Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) costar/veteran director Jonathan Frakes (“Commander William T. Riker”), the 4th episode of “Star Trek: Picard” takes a closer look at Romulan culture following the aftermath of their star system’s supernova (2009’s “Star Trek”) and in the wake…
Doctor Who, S12.7: “Can You Hear Me?” isn’t giving us the finger(s)…
*****TARDIS-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!***** Stylishly directed by Emma Sullivan, Doctor Who 12.7, “Can You Hear Me?” was written by current showrunner Chris Chibnall and Charlene James, and is a solid, if not exceptional, outing in what has largely been a hit-and-miss era from Chibnall. “Can You Hear Me?” isn’t among the best of the series, but…
Living Star Wars at Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge: “Chewie, we’re home…”
Welcome to Disneyland, in Anaheim, California… Funny thing is, for the last 21 years, I’ve lived only about a half hour to 40 minutes (in good traffic) from Disneyland, but I rarely go there. In fact, I’ve gone to Disneyland exactly six times over four decades. Mainly because it’s very expensive (increasingly so all the…
Star Trek: Picard, S1.3: “The End Is The Beginning” assembles a ‘motley crew’…
*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!!***** The third episode of CBS-All Access’ “Star Trek: Picard” series has been released, and it is a strong chapter in this new series; we see Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) get back into space, and we see him assemble a new ‘crew’… former First Officer Raffi Muskier (Michelle Hurd, who is excellent), Dr. Agnes…
Doctor Who, S12.6: “Praxeus” is a mashup with a message…
*****TARDIS-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!!***** The latest episode of Doctor Who, “Praxeus”, is written by current series’ showrunner Chris Chibnall & Pete McTighe, and was directed by Jamie Magnus Stone. Once again, as we’ve seen many times in the Chibnall-era, global locations are used to impart some international scope to the episode, with various locations passing for…