This week, I take my first step into what became known as the Shatner-verse, a series of Star Trek novels written by Captain Kirk himself, with the aid of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Set some months after the events of The Undiscovered Country but before the opening of Generations, Kirk isn’t doing to well with…
Author: TD Rideout
Cold (1996) – John Gardner
John Gardner’s final 007 novel, Cold aka Cold Fall, his sixteenth, feels a little bit more like the James Bond we know, a balance between Ian Fleming’s literary creation, and his cinematic iteration. Far more enjoyable than his adaptation of GoldenEye, the novel is split into two parts, taking place before, and then after, his…
Millennium (1998) – The Mikado, and The Pest House
Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) brings his skills and gifts to the internet in an episode that gives us a serial-killer-of-the-week story as opposed to the mythology arc that has been introduced more strongly this season. The Mikado was written by Micheal R. Perry and debuted on 6 February, 1998 and sees a website broadcasting live…
The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)- Justin Lin
Justin Lin slips comfortably into the driver’s seat for the Fast and the Furious series directing the third feature in the series which, chronologically takes place after the events if the sixth film (which hadn’t been made yet). This is important because of a character death and his appearance in the next films, as well…
Phantasm II (1988) – Don Coscarelli
I love the Phantasm movies, all of them, every piece of the five movie collection. I remember first coming across the series when I was working at a video store, but recalled the poster for the second one showing up in a lot of DC comics I was reading in the 80s. Low budget, or…
M*A*S*H (1975) – Payday, White Gold, and Abyssinia, Henry
We’re closing in on the end of season three, and with Payday, Hawkeye (Alan Alda), serving as the payroll officer of the month has an unexpected windfall. Written by John W. Regier and Gary Markowitz, this episode first hit the airwaves on 4 March, 1975. As everyone finds ways to spend their pay, card games,…
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) – Joseph Zito
Back when I first started the blog, I got through the first three Friday the 13th films, and kind of stalled. Now, here I am ten years later, continuing the journey with Jason (Ted White in this film) as I explore the beautiful Shout! blu-ray box set. This is the last film released that still…
The X-Files (1998) – Bad Blood, and Patient X
Vince Gilligan delivers a very comedic entry in The X-Files with Bad Blood, which first aired on 22 February, 1998. A riff on not only classic vampire beliefs as well as the classic he said/she said trope. The episode opens with a shocking moment, a young man, Ronnie (Patrick Renna) is being chased, and ends…
Mission: Impossible (1967) – The Traitor, and The Psychic
We’re coming up on the end of the first season of Paramount Picture’s Mission: Impossible, and the wonderful Eartha Kitt guest stars in the penultimate episode, The Traitor. Written by Edward J. Lasko this IMF assignment first aired on 15 April, 1967. When an American agent turns traitor and hides out in a foreign embassy,…
Battlestar Galactica 5: Galactica Discovers Earth (1980) – Micheal Resnick and Glen A. Larson
The Battlestar Galactica jumps forward a ways, passing over a number of episodes (that will be visited in later books) to give us an adaptation of the three hour series opener for the ill-fated, Galactica 1980, which just didn’t have the oomph, mythos, production value or stories of the original, equally ill-fated, series, though it…
