While arguably a riff on his own Pretty In Pink, John Hughes delivers another fantastic teen dramedy, overseen by director Howard Deutch that plays role reversal with its Molly Ringwald alter-ego film. This time the main character is Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz), a high schooler who wants to be an artist, but his family’s blue…
The X-Files (2001) – Nothing Important Happened Today II, and Daemonicus
Scully (Gillan Anderson) gets pulled deeper into the super-soldier investigation by Doggett (Robert Patrick) and Reyes (Annabeth Gish) when Shannon McMahon (Lucy Lawless) reveals more about the program in Nothing Important Happened Today II. Written by series creator Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, this episode first debuted on 18 November, 2001. And as the opening…
Mission: Impossible (1969) – The Brothers, and Time Bomb
Leigh Vance pens The Brothers, from a story by Robert C. Dennis, that saw the IMF heading to an oil rich country to overthrow the tyrannical leader of the nation, Selim (Lloyd Batista), and replace him with his twin brother, who is being held captive. Phelps (Peter Graves), recruits his usual team, Paris (Leonard Nimoy),…
Star Trek: Discovery – The Way to the Stars (2019) – Una McCormack
When I read her Picard novel, Last Best Hope, I was completely taken in by McCormack’s writing, with her Discovery novel, The Way to the Stars, she has cemented herself as my favorite Trek author working today. Available through the Gallery Books imprint of Simon & Schuster, Star Trek doles out literary adventures, with both…
The Lone Gunmen (2001) – All About Yves
The short-lived spinoff from The X-Files, The Lone Gumen, aired its series finale, All About Yves, on 11 May, 2001 (though they aired The ‘Cap’n Toby’ Show after it – the series had already been cancelled). Written by Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz, the episode sees Michael McKean’s Man In Black, Morris Fletcher,…
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964) – Ishiro Honda
UFOs, political assassinations, alien possession, the Shobijin (Emi and Yumi Ito) and alien monsters see the known kaiju on Earth, all located around Japan, unite for the first time to combat King Ghidorah, a three-headed space beast which destroyed an alien civilization on Venus centuries ago, and has now arrived on Earth via meteor. This…
The Puppet Masters (1994) – Stuart Orme
Somewhere in The Puppet Masters, despite its continuity errors, its plot holes and poor performance by its lead actor (who is surrounded by some fantastic character actors and recognizable faces) is probably a decent film, I mean it’s based on Heinlein’s novel, so it had a great starting point. When something comes down in the…
M*A*S*H (1978/1979) – An Eye for a Tooth, Dear Sis, and B.J. Papa San
Ronny Graham pens the first episode up this week, An Eye for a Tooth, which first aired on 11 December, 1978. While Father Mulcahy (William Christopher) ruminates on why he’s been passed over for promotion, again, Charles (David Ogden Stiers) pushes the prank war between Houlihan (Loretta Swit) and Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and B.J. (Mike…
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) – John Hughes
My journey through some classic John Hughes continues with this 1986 classic that, like so many of his films, came along at just the right time for me. Matthew Broderick is the titular Ferris Bueller, and despite already hitting his quota of sick days for the year, he’s taking a day off to show his…
The X-Files (2001) – Existence, and Nothing Important Happened Today
Series creator Chris Carter closed out the eighth season with Existence, which debuted on 20 May, 2001. Picking up where the previous episode left off, we see the metallic skeletal frame of the alien replicant/super soldier version of Billy Miles (Zachary Ansley) reforming itself so it can continue its pursuit of the pregnant Scully (Gillian…
The Mind Reels 