Jaye (Caroline Dhavernas) gets single white femaled in Karma Chameleon. Written by Tim Minear this episode aired second, on 19 March, 2004, when it was actually the third in the narrative order. When a fish in the bar, and a stuffed chameleon tell Jaye to help ‘get her words out’ when it comes to a…
Author: TD Rideout
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Encounter at Farpoint (1987) – David Gerrold
It says David Gerrold, but the wily, and brilliant sci-fi author actually allowed D.C. Fontana’s original work to take the center stage here, putting his name on it to allow it to get out. Fontana had originally been tapped to write the novelization, she wrote it, and then Gerrold was tapped to write it. He…
Star Trek: Invasion! First Strike (1996) – Diane Carey
Diane Carey launched a cross-generational story that swept through all four of the then-existing series, The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Each novel featured a standalone story that connected with the other tales, and the first featured Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise. Set a very short…
Batman (1966) – True or False Face, and Holy Rat Race
False Face (Malachi Thorne) – who the hell is False Face? – shows up to menace Batman (Adam West) and Robin the Boy Wonder (Burt Ward) in True or False Face. Written by Stephen Kandel it first aired on 9 March, 1966. Constantly in masks and disguises False Face sends false messages to taunt the…
I See You (2019) – Adam Randall
The thriller I See You explores some familiar territory but does it in an interesting way, as we watch the lives of the Harper family as they deal with their internal problems while the town they live in is rocked by a series of child abductions. Jackie Harper (Helen Hunt) is a doctor who is…
Rocky Balboa (2006) – Sylvester Stallone
Stallone returns to write, direct and star in Rocky Balboa, which sees Stallone’s iconic character return to the boxing ring one last time. Watching all of the films this close together, this entry actually has some nice emotional resonance. Rocky (Stallone) is mourning the death of Adrian (Talia Shire), he’s stepped away from boxing for…
Hill Street Blues (1984) – Fowl Play, and Bangladesh Slowly
Fowl Play opens with the reveal that Swan (Tim Robbins) took his own life after what happened at the rookie party in the previous episode, and all eyes are on Buttman (Micheal Biehn). Lucy (Betty Thomas) is determined to bust him, and Washington (Taurean Blacque) and Coffey (Ed Marinaro) are right there with him. The…
The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion (2018) – Park Hoon-jung
I had a look at the Korean action thriller The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion this week, and while this style of story has been done a number of times before this one was done in a solid and entertaining way that kept the plot, the twists, and action beats coming. That being said,…
Batman (1966) – The Joker Goes to School, and He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul
The Joker (Cesar Romero) is back as Lorenzo Semple Jr. pens The Joker Goes to School. Originally airing on 2 March, 1966, we get a peek inside one of Gotham City’s high schools, the very one that Dick Grayson aka Robin (Burt Ward) attends. And there’s something going on there. It seems the vending machines…
Wonderfalls (2004) – Wax Lion, and Pink Flamingos
This week, I’m diving into the classic Bryan Fuller series, Wonderfalls. The show definitely did not get the love it deserved at the time, mainly because Fox, in their usual way of screwing over genre shows, aired them out of order. In fact, they only aired four episodes, leaving nine unaired, but the series found…
The Mind Reels 