Laurence Heath sends the boys of the IMF team on a personal mission with his script for The Condemned which first aired on 28 January, 1968, and is the first assignment this week as I delve into another two episodes of Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible – The Complete Series on blu-ray. Jim Phelps (Peter Graves)…
Battlestar Galactica 7: War of the Gods (1982) – Nicholas Yermakov, and Glen A. Larson
The next novel in the Galactica series, War of the Gods, seems to have eschewed the Galactica 1980 tie-in, and simply gone back to the Adama Journals intercut with chapters detailing the action of this adaptation of the epic two-parter that gave us a hint at a deeper mythology working in the series. After a…
Map of Bones (2005) – James Rollins
James Rollins second novel in his Sigma Force series continues the highly enjoyable combination of science, mythology, history and high adventure. This time, Sigma Force’s Grey Pierce is assigned with his team to investigate a massacre at a church in Germany, and the subsequent theft of ancient Catholic relics. Relics that have some strange properties,…
Millennium (1998/1999) – Omerta, and Borrowed Time
The series gives us a bit of an odd Christmas episode with Omerta. Written by Michael R. Perry, this episode first debuted on 18 December, 1998. Frank (Lance Henriksen) and Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) decide to get away from the holiday hassle, and the memories of Catherine (Megan Gallagher). They end up in Vermont, and Frank…
Warlock (1989) – Steve Miner
Back in the early 90s, I would occasionally babysit the kids next door to get some extra cash (or any for that matter, as I was trying to find a work/life balance between schooling, job hunting, and friction at home). Amongst their collection of VHS tapes there was a copy of Warlock, and I don’t…
Congo (1995) – Frank Marshall
A script based on a Micheal Crichton novel, creature effects by Stan Winston, directed by Frank Marshall who has a long association with Spielberg and Amblin, an all-star cast including Laura Linney, Ernie Hudson, Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell, Dylan Walsh and Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje. Seems like a sure-fire win right? I hadn’t watched this one since…
M*A*S*H (1976) – The Interview, and Bug Out
The season four finale, is a black and white episode, shot as interviews and and as a documentary (with Loretta Swit glaringly missing, she was busy on Broadway). Clete Roberts, who actually served as a war correspondent, plays the Interviewer, and the episode is a collection of interactions between him and Hawkeye (Alan Alda), B.J….
Frost/Nixon (2008) – Ron Howard
I love a film that depicts journalism taking on truth seeking and corrupt politicians. Perhaps in some corner of the multi-verse I’m a newspaperman, who knows… So when Ron Howard dramatised the incredible confrontation between Richard M. Nixon (Frank Langella) and host David Frost (Micheal Sheen) I was there from the get go. Then the…
The X-Files (1999) – Terms of Endearment, and The Rain King
Bruce Campbell pops up in The X-Files this week with Terms of Endearment. Written by David Amann, this story first aired on 3 January, 1999, and sees Spender (Chris Owens) blowing off a potential x-files investigation, that Mulder (David Duchovny) recovers, and heads off to Virginia to investigate. While Scully (Gillian Anderson) covers for him,…
Mission: Impossible (1968) – A Game of Chess, and The Emerald
The IMF team takes on yet another corrupt member of some unnamed Soviet Bloc country in A Game of Chess. Written by Richard M. Sakal, this episode was first broadcast on 14 January, 1968. Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team take on Nicholas Groat (Don Francks), a chess grandmaster who is also organising a theft…
The Mind Reels 