TD Rideout

Batman (1966) – The Sandman Cometh, and The Catwoman Goeth

The Sandman (Micheal Rennie) is in Gotham, and for the first time in the television series, a supervillain pairs up with another master criminal, in this case, Catwoman (Julie Newmar) in this two-parter was written by Charles Hoffman and Ellis St. Joseph who also came up with the orghinal story, but exited after Catwoman was…

Family Ties (1983) – Elyse D’Arc, Tender Is the Knight, and The Homecoming

Elyse D’Arc finishes up season one. It closed out on 11 August, 1983 and was written by Micheal J. Weithorn. There’s a little trouble in the Keaton household as Steven (Micheal Gross) and Elyse (Meredith Baxter) have some marital difficulties as they are troubled by the fact that they aren’t getting enough time with one…

Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Peacekeepers (1988) – Gene DeWeese

The second original novel in The Next Generation book series came out om September of 1988, two months before the premiere of season two. The crew of the Enterprise comes across a strange derelict starship and when Data and LaForge investigate they are transported away, leaving Captain Picard and the rest struggling to find out…

Odds On (1966) – Michael Crichton

While Michael Crichton was in med school he wrote a series of novels under the pseudonym John Lange, and that seemed like a good place to start if I was going to explore Crichton’s writing, revisit some I knew (like Sphere the other week) and discover some new favorites. Odds On is a crime thriller…

Batman (1966) – The Puzzles Are Coming, and The Duo Is Slumming

With Frank Gorshin held up in contract negotiations over his performance of The Riddler, the series had to create a new villain for this two-part story. Enter The Puzzler. Played by Maurice Evans, the character has a knack for aviation and Shakespeare (and puzzles) and he seems to be in Gotham City to stir up…

Extraction II (2023) – Sam Hargrave

So despite the crap shape Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is at the end of the first film, he gets rescued, saved, and rehabilitated. In fact, Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) retires him to Austria in a little cabin by the lake, but when an unnamed man (Idris Elba) shows up and offers him a job, one with…

Extraction (2020) – Sam Hargrave

Sam Hargrave delivers a kinetic action thriller starring Chris Hemsworth from a story partly created by Joe Russo from the graphic novel, Ciudad. Hemsworth is Tyler Rake a mercenary who seems to be willing to take any mission that pays in the hopes of some day fulfilling a death wish caused by the loss of…

Hill Street Blues (1985) – Somewhere Over the Rambo, and Oh, You Kid

Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) conducts his corruption investigation and presents his findings to the committee, though Chief Daniels (Jon Cypher) is less than thrilled about the suggestion that he may be responsible for not curtailing some of the corruption that has permeated the force. Somewhere Over the Rambo was written by Jacob Epstein, Walon Green…

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) – Guy Ritchie

Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of the classic 60s series The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which serves as a bit of an origin story for the series characters is uneven at best. What could have launched a fun franchise, that wouldn’t equal Mission: Impossible, but could have been a delightful theatrical tentpole fumbles as it proves unable to…

Batman (1966) – The Cat’s Meow, and The Bat’s Kow Tow

Catwoman (Julie Newmar) is back, out of prison and prowling Gotham City. She also has a new scheme. This two-parter was written by Stanley Ralph Ross, and part one, The Cat’s Meow first aired on 14 December, 1966. Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward) are on the alert when they learn that Catwoman is…