The Korean actioner, The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion was very engaging and I loved how it built a world and introduced the viewer to genetic manipulation, enhancing the human state, the variety of parties involved and a hint of the plan at its heart. The first film ended with some interesting reveals about…
Batman (1966) – The Purr-fect Crime, and Better Luck Next Time
Catwoman in the form of Julie Newmar makes her first appearance in the Batman series. She’s been mentioned, but it’s not until The Purr-fect Crime written by Stanley Ralph Ross and Lee Orgel, which aired on 16 March, 1966, that she actually showed up. The famous cat burglar is off to cause a lot of…
Wonderfalls (2004) – Karma Chameleon, and Wound-up Penguin
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…
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,…
The Mind Reels 