Stargate: Atlantis (2004) – Suspicion, and Childhood’s End

When Sheppard’s (Joe Flanigan) team is ambushed by the Wraith yet again, Weir (Torri Higginson) begins to suspect that there is an informant somewhere on Atlantis. Blame initially falls on the Athosians who the Earth expedition has taken in and housed. Suspicion was written by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie from a story by Kerry…

Pirate Latitudes (2009) – Micheal Crichton

By the time this post appears on the blog I will have read this book about a month and a half ago while I was on a vacation in the Caribbean. Consequently, surrounded by an environment Crichton’s characters inhabit, the ride was an adventuresome delight. In the year 1665, Captain Charles Hunter is in Port…

Stargate SG-1 (2004) – Icon, and Avatar

Daniel (Michael Shanks) is in the middle of a global conflict in Icon. Written by Damian Kindler, it first aired on 6 August, 2004. Told through flashbacks while Daniel recovers, the story sprawls three months, from SG-1’s first contact with the planet of Tegalus. Daniel briefs O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), Carter (Amanda Tapping) and Teal’c…

Red Heat (1988) – Walter Hill

Red Heat has quite the pedigree. It has Walter Hill directing. It has a score by James Horner. And look at this cast, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Belushi, Peter Boyle, Gina Gershon, Laurence (as Larry) Fishburne, Brion James, Ed O’Ross, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Mike Hagerty. That’s insane. Red Heat keeps Hill solidly in violent, and…

Raw Deal (1986) – John Irvin

I knew not all of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s early work were going to be winners. And there was a reason I never wanted to take a chance on Raw Deal. From everything I’d seen, trailer and image wide it looked pretty horrible. Surprise, surprise I was right. It has a horrible soundtrack and score, and the…

The Andromeda Strain (1971) – Robert Wise

I greatly enjoyed reading Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain and then I decided to correct an oversight in my viewing history and check out the 1971 film directed masterfully by Robert Wise. I love that like the book, the film is played very straight, and consequently it makes the idea all the more frightening. When…

Stargate: Atlantis (2004) – Hide and Seek, and Thirty Eight Minutes

Everyone is settling into Atlantis, McKay (David Hewlett) is taking gene therapy from Beckett (Paul McGillion) so he can access Ancient technology, but now he has a problem in Hide and Seek. Written by Robert C. Cooper from a story by Cooper and Brad Wright, this episode was first broadcast on 23 July, 2004. McKay…

Northern Exposure (1994) – Fish Story, and The Gift of the Maggie

Ruth-Anne (Peg Phillips) gets sick of retail when everyone treats her poorly, and hits the road on Chris’ (John Corbett) Harley. She joins up with a group of bikers known as the Diablos, led by Turk (Stephen McHattie), and she gets a bit of a new look on things as she realizes everyone has problems….