My journey through Paramount Pictures’ The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series continue with another trio of episodes this week. Up first is Still Valley. Series creator and showrunner Rod Serling adapted Manly Wade Welmman’s short story for this episode that first aired on 24 November, 1961. The tale, set in 1863, follows Sgt. Joseph Paradine…
Star Trek: Mindshadow (1986) – J.M. Dillard
The Human Adventure continues on the Book Shelf this week with some more non-canon Star Trek adventures. And for the first time in a long time, this was a Trek book I enjoyed. Dillard has a knack for the characters, and while some of the beats may not have been completely inline with Trek, I…
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) – The Magicks of Megas-Tu, Once Upon a Planet, and Mudd’s Passion
Captain’s log: stardate 1254.4 Long before the search for Eden and God led the Enterprise to the Final Frontier in Star Trek V, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) encountered a similar adventure in a similar location. Written by Larry Brody, this episode aired on 27 October, 1973. The Enterprise…
The Mind Reels Hosts The Degrassi Reunion Panel
Back during Toronto’s Comic Con, Sue and I were fortunate enough to hang with our friends Pat Mastroianni, and Stacie Mistysyn, and make new friends with Stefan Brogen, Dan Woods and Kirsten Bourne. Or, perhaps you know them by their character names, Joey Jeremiah, Caitlin Ryan, Archie ‘Snake’ Simpson, Mr. Raditch and Tessa Campenelli. We…
Jailhouse Rock (1957) – Richard Thorpe
The Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book brings me back around the Musical genre, and this time around it features Elvis Presley himself. The story, such as it is, follows Vince Everett (Presley) who is serving one year (!) for manslaughter. While in the joint he meets a former country singer, Hunk Houghton…
Alexander Nevsky (1938) – Sergei M. Eisenstein and Dmitriy Vasilev
DK Book’s The Movie Book suggested one more Key Film for Sergei Eisenstein following my screening of Battleship Potemkin; the classic Russian film Alexander Nevsky. Starring Nikolay Cherkasov in the titular role, the film is incredibly engaging, and well-produced, and if nothing else you can tell that the composer Sergei Prokofiev’s score influenced such composers…
Doctor Who (David Tennant) – The Family of Blood, and Blink
The story started last week in Human Nature comes to a conclusion this week in The Family of Blood, and sees the Doctor (Tennant) making some difficult choices, and sacrificing a chance at love and a life of quiet happiness. Based on his novel, Human Nature, which featured the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), Paul Cornell…
The Mummy (1999) – Stephen Sommers
While the updated version of The Mummy blasts into theatres this summer, the 1999 reboot was on the list of recommendations from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for follow-up titles to Raiders of the Lost Ark. This version, directed by Stephen Sommers, stars Brendan Fraser, Oded Fehr, Rachel Weisz and Arnold…
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) – More Tribbles, More Troubles, The Survivor, and The Infinite Vulcan
Captain’s log: stardate 5392.4 David Gerrold revisits one of his most popular creations in this week’s animated foray into the Trek universe. Airing on 6 October, 1973, the Enterprise encounters Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams) again, and this time the tribbles are definitely causing more troubles. It seems the little animals are growing to incredible sizes,…
The Twilight Zone (1961) – It’s a Good Life, Deaths-head Revisited, and The Midnight Sun
Paramount Picture’s The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series starts off with a classic episode this week. So good, it was remade by Joe Dante in the feature film (and it was very much suited to his storytelling style). Hold onto your happy thoughts as the series creator Rod Serling penned teleplay from a story by…
Dune (1965) – Frank Herbert
Arrakis. Dune. Desert planet. It was time for a revisit to Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic. I had journeyed there twice before. The most recent trip had been in the early 90s when my friend Dennis had convinced me to read them again, as they were some of his favourite books. I had worked my…
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) – Yesteryear, One of Our Planets is Missing, and The Lorelei Signal
Captain’s log: stardate 5373.4 D.C. Fontana, like Samuel A. Peeples lends her credibility to the blossoming series by penning this very entertaining episode that aired on 15 September, 1973. The Guardian of Forever makes an appearance in this episode, and as Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) return for their sojourn…
