Kevin Conroy brought his incarnation of the Dark Knight to the big screen in the 1993 animated film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Released between the first and second seasons of Batman: The Animated Series, the film was originally planned to be a direct-to-video release before being repurposed for a theatrical release. The film combines…
Author: TD Rideout
Rocky III (1982) – Sylvester Stallone
With ‘Eye of the Tiger’ blaring from every radio station in 1982, it’s wild to think of a time before the song, and the film existed. 1982 was a great year for moviegoers, and Sylvester Stallone brought Rocky back to the screen for a third go-round, in Rocky III. Once again, he wrote, directed and…
Hill Street Blues (1984) – Hair Apparent, and Lucky Ducks
Hey look! It’s Andy Garcia in one of his earliest roles. He plays a Diablos gang member in Hair Apparent. Written by Jeffrey Lewis, Michael Wagner, Karen Hall and Roger Director from a story by Steven Bochco, Lewis, David Milch, and Mark Frost. It first aired on 3 May, 1984. Ernesto (Garcia) is upset that…
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) – Jon Watts
Tom Holland’s appearance as Spider-Man in the MCU entry Captain America: Civil War introduced the new webhead to millions of immediate fans. Combining a youthful exuberance, and actual nerd cred, Holland’s Peter Parker rings true to the comics, even as this incarnation introduces unique spins on familiar characters like Aunt May played this time around…
Batman (1966) – Fine Feathered Finks, and The Penguin’s a Jinx
It’s that bat-time, and I’ve got that bat-channel, so it’s time to dig into another pair of episodes of the classic Batman series from 1966. My love for the first two episodes is apparently not a one-off, because I absolutely enjoyed episodes three and four, which combine to form one full story featuring that cagey…
The Expanse (2021) – Strange Dogs, and Azure Dragon
The final season of The Expanse is a six-episode finale, attempting to not only move the story continually forward but wrap up narrative threads. The first episode, Strange Dogs, was written by Naren Shankar and dropped on Prime on 10 December, 2021. Fans of the novels will be delighted with a glimpse of one of…
Phasers on Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World (2022) – Ryan Britt
I have one complaint about Ryan Britt’s examination of Star Trek, it’s too short! It goes by at warp speed, sharing anecdotes new and old, and taking us through Trek’s entire timeline up to 2022. The series, the movies, the fandom are broken into separate chapters and Britt delivers an easy-to-read, occasionally brilliantly funny examination…
Batman (1966) – Hi Diddle Riddle, and Smack in the Middle
I have never seen the original Batman television series. I did see the movie that was released between seasons at a Saturday matinee when I was a kid and it inspired hours of play, but I’d never dug into the 120 episodes that comprised the series. I’m determined to fix that, so here we go…
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) – Jay Oliva
Flash (Justin Chambers) has his hands full after the timeline is changed around him in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. Based on the graphic novel, Flashpoint by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert, this animated feature, though featuring great voice work by its all-star cast suffers from the same thing most of the other adaptations suffer…
Rocky II (1979) – Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone writes, directs and stars in his 1979 follow-up to the 1976 hit Rocky. Picking up moments after the first film ended, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is dealing with the fallout of his fight with Rocky (Stallone) while Rocky is having his first brush with fame and money even as a rematch is on…
The Mind Reels 