Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to join me as I explore another two episodes of the classic Mission: Impossible series as I explore The Complete Series on blu-ray, available now from Paramount Pictures. The first mission up this week is Operation Rogosh. Written by Jerome Ross, it first aired on 1…
Author: TD Rideout
Star Trek: The Better Man (1995) – Howard Weinstein
Space, the final frontier… Don’t be fooled by the cover art, this story takes place a couple of years after the events of The Motion Picture, and apparently the burgundy uniform jackets are in place. The story itself, however, if entertaining, well-crafted, and very much a true Trek tale, and it puts Dr. McCoy front…
Poirot Investigates (1924) – Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie’s first collection of short stories, first published in 1924, sets forth a number of mysteries before her Belgian creation, Hercule Poirot, his little grey cells and his good friend Captain Hastings. While still capturing some of the humour of her novels, the short form of the stories doesn’t allow for a lot of…
Millennium (1997) – Wide Open, and The Wild and The Innocent
Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) steps back into the darkness this week as Charles D. Holland pens Wide Open, which first aired on 3 January, 1997. Frank is called in to assist on a case that seems to defy logic, a series of murders taking place in homes with top of the line security systems. Cathy…
John Hughes 5-Movie Collection (Blu-Ray)
For those of an age, John Hughes films defined their high school years, and spoke to them in ways that other teen comedies (and dramas) seemed incapable of doing. There was a reality to the way the characters were written, even in some of the more comedic entries, and consequently, the viewer could relate to…
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) – W.D. Richter
For many people Peter Weller will always be RoboCop. For me, Weller will always be the super-cool Buckaroo Banzai, the neurosurgeon, rock star, comic book hero who fights Red Lectroids from Planet Ten with help from his back-up band (of fellow awesomely named scientists) The Hong Kong Cavaliers, as well as his fan club, the…
My Science Project (1985) – Jonathan B. Beteul
When I was growing up in Bermuda, my fellow Canuck, Sean lived across the street of Cedarcraft Lane, and he and his brothers always seemed to be renting odd movies that I had never heard of – they were well into their b-movie science fiction before I came along. And one weekend, I was able…
M*A*S*H (1973) – L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel), The Trial of Henry Blake, and Dear Dad… Three
The first episode up this week, L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel) gets it right. Written by Carl Kleinschmitt, series developer Larry Gelbart, and Laurence Marks, from a story by Kleinschmitt. It first aired on 27 October, 1973. While Hawkeye (Alan Alda) is trying to make some time with Lt. Regina Hopkins (Corinne Camacho), one of the…
The Quest (1986) – Brian Trenchard-Smith, and Russell Hagg
I remember the first time I saw this film, and how the idea of it resonated inside me. There was just so many things I could relate to in it. I was living in a foreign country, like Cody (Henry Thomas), I was fascinated by the possibility of lake and sea monsters (still kinda am),…
The X-Files (1996/1997) – Paper Hearts, and El Mundo Gira
Vince Gilligan pens Paper Hearts, one of the best episodes of season four according to stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. It first aired on 15 December, 1996, and earned composer Mark Snow an Emmy nomination. Mulder (Duchovny) has been having very vivid dreams, dreams that lead him to the unmarked grave of a little…
