The Bad News in Breaking Training is the first of two sequels to the 70s classic. Both Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal are obviously missing, but they also mention Japan very early on, so the third film was already being prepped. This time out, the Bears are supposed to head to Texas to play in…
The Bad News Bears (1976) – Michael Ritchie
I haven’t seen this one since I was a kid, and watching it now in the 2020s, some of it is jarring, and honestly, it’s hilarious in its shocking bluntness, though the casual racism thrown around… wow! Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) is a drunk, former ballplayer who has been bought and paid for to coach a…
Smallville (2006/2007) – Subterranean, and Hydro
Before he was Teen Wolf, Tyler Posey showed up on Smallville as Javier, a migrant worker, in Subterranean. Written by Caroline Dries, this episode debuted on 7 December, 2006. While Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) and Lana (Kristin Kreuk) mull over Lex’s wedding proposal and Lana’s pregnancy, Clark (Tom Welling) gets involved in helping Javier. Javier was…
Star Trek: #28 – The Last Word (1986)
Diane Duane returns to write another issue of DC Comics’ ongoing Star Trek series. On comic spinners until July of 1986, the issue featured art by Gray Morrow. We’ve had supporting character stories before, but this is the first one that puts McCoy front and center. Stardate 8899.7 McCoy’s personal log reminds us of recent…
Nothing But Trouble (1991) – Dan Akroyd
Nothing But Trouble is an interesting experiment. Oh yes, it’s bad, but I think I see what Akroyd was doing with this film when he settled into the director’s chair, and of course, he had his hand in the script as well. He paired with his friends Chevy Chase, and John Candy and delivered what…
Battlestar Galactica (2009) – Sometimes a Great Notion, and A Disquiet Follows My Soul
The second half of the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica got underway on 16 January, 2009 with Sometimes a Great Notion written by David Weddle and Bradley Thompson. So the Colonials and the rebel Cylons have arrived at Earth, the home of the Thirteenth Colony, only to discover destruction and ruins. The destruction…
Star Trek: Lower Decks (2022) – Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus, Trusted Sources, and The Stars at Night
Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus was written by Ben Rodgers and first aired on 13 October, 2022. The episode gives us another holodeck movie, and you just know that’s going to be a lot of fun. It also means there are going to be lots of easter eggs and deep cut trivia. There’s a nod to…
The Regulators (1996) – Stephen King as Richard Bachman
Reading Desperation and The Regulators back to back is a fun experience, and once again ties in with Dark Tower/Talisman ideas of echoes, twinners and the like. Ka, man, it’s all Ka. Of the two books, The Regulators is the darker and more violent of the two, which is saying something because both books lean…
Battlestar Galactica (2008) – The Hub, and Revelations
Jane Espenson wrote The Hub, which first aired on 6 June, 2008. Aboard the rebel Cylon baseship, things are happening. The Hybrid (Tiffany Lyndall-Knight) keeps jumping the ship, and Roslin (Mary McDonnell) is having visions because of it. She sees herself on her deathbed, surrounded by Cottle (Donnelly Rhodes), Adama (Edward James Olmos), Starbuck (Katee…
Club Paradise (1986) – Harold Ramis
On paper, Club Paradise should have worked like gangbusters. Directed by Harold Ramis, it’s filled with comedy legends like Robin Williams, Rick Moranis, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty, and Brian Doyle-Murray. It also has reggae superstar, Jimmy Cliff, screen icon, Peter O’Toole, Joanna Cassidy, Carey Lowell, and Twiggy. It’s a fun cast, a perfunctory…
