“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” ends an uninspired third season…

******STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!****** I’ve already written two columns on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ (SNW) third season, with a double-review of its opening episodes “Hegemony Part 2,” and “Wedding Bell Blues,” and I recently did a writeup on the rest of the season to date. Then came the last two episodes, “Terrarium” and “New Life and…

Retro-Musings: 1975’s “Rollerball” plays a mean game…

*****TRACKSIDE SPOILERS!***** The dystopian sports allegory has been a subgenre of science fiction films since the 1970s. These films usually take place in a not-too distant future where deadly games are presented in a world not unlike the waning days of Ancient Rome, where gladiatorial matches kept the public distracted and docile enough for caesars…

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, S2.5: “Charades” deconstructs Spock…

*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!****** This week’s episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes a rare look at the human half of the stoic, self-identifying Vulcan science officer, Spock (Ethan Peck).  Like last season’s “Spock Amok,” “Charades” sees Lt. Spock feeling not quite himself, at a particularly bad time—as his Vulcan fiancée and prospective in-laws come aboard…

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, S2.2: “Ad Astra Per Aspera” is easily the best modern Star Trek episode to date…

*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!***** Last season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” ended with the USS Enterprise’s first officer, Commander Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn), aka “Number One,” being taken into custody by Captain Batel’s security team, once Starfleet got wind of the fact that she was a genetically-engineered Illyrian masquerading as a human (genetic enhancement is forbidden…