I remember the summer that Alien opened, 1979, two years after Star Wars rocked the world. The Force stayed with me all through my childhood, and through to this very day. But Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and a little magazine called Starlog, got me very interested in genre film and television. I wasn’t…
Tag: aliens
Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) – Before the Flood, and The Girl Who Died
Before the Flood is the conclusion of the cliffhanger to last week’s underwater base/ghost episode from last week. Penned by Toby Whithouse, and first airing on 10 October, 2015, it finds the Doctor (Capaldi) travelling back in time to before the underwater base was flooded, and the deserted sunken village they were investigating is alive…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992) – The Inner Light, and Time’s Arrow Part I
Captain’s log: stardate 45944.1 First airing on 1 June, 1992 this superior episode, and always a fan favourite was penned by Morgan Gendel and Peter Allen Fields from a story developed by Gendel. After Picard (Patrick Stewart) is scanned by an unknown probe, he collapses on the bridge. When he awakens he finds himself on…
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – The Day of the Doctor, and The Time of The Doctor
The Day of the Doctor, the big 50th Anniversary episode of the iconic science fiction series was written by Steven Moffat and aired fifty years to the day after the premiere episode of The Unearthly Child, 23 November, 2013. The Doctor (Smith) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) are summoned by UNIT and their commander, Kate Stewart…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992) – Hero Worship, and Violations
Captain’s log: stardate 45397.3 Airing on 27 January, 1992, this Data (Brent Spiner) episode is a little dull. And once again, it feels like the series could have done something really good if they hadn’t played it safe. Written by Joe Menosky from a story by Hilary Bader, the episode sees the Enterprise responding to…
South Park: The Complete First Season
It’s hard to believe that South Park is twenty years old! And what better way to celebrate than a re-release of the series previous seasons on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures? As I settled in to watch this show, for the first time in a very long time I was struck by a couple of things….
Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need To Know (updated and expanded for 2017) – Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Michael Kogge, and Kerri Doughtery
A couple of years ago, DK Canada sent me a book that could answer almost any question you may have had about the Star Wars universe in celebration of the upcoming The Force Awakens. Now they’ve done it again, releasing an expanded and updated edition of the text for the new Star Wars film, The…
The Twilight Zone (1962) – Four O’Clock, Hocus-Pocus and Frisby, and The Trade-Ins
Paramount Pictures’ The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series on blu-ray continues to entertain. This week’s trio of episodes continue to guide me deeper through the third season of the iconic series. First up is Four O’Clock, which first aired 6 April, 1962, was penned by series creator Rod Serling, basing it on a short story…
Doctor Who (David Tennant) – The Poisoned Sky, and The Doctor’s Daughter
The Poison Sky is the conclusion to last week’s cliffhanger. Written by Helen Raynor this episode first aired on 3 May, 2008. The Doctor (Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) save Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) from hit ATMOS car, and our heroes plunge into a full-on confrontation with the Sontarans and their errand boy, Luke (Ryan Sampson)….
Alien: Covenant (2017) – Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott returns to the science fiction genre again and retreads things that have gone before in Alien: Covenant. The latest film in the seemingly indefatigable series connects the previous film, the divisive Prometheus with the first film in the series, 1979 Alien, both directed by Scott. And while I didn’t hate it, the film…
The Mind Reels 