Both Smart (Don Adams) and the Chief (Edward Platt) are in trouble in this episode! Smart the Assassin first aired on 19 February, 1966 and was written by Budd Grossman. KAOS gets their hands on Smart and hypnotizes him in order to have the agent assassinate the Chief during their nightly chess game. His trigger…
Tag: chess
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) – Roy William Neill
Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are back, and this time out, their story takes its inspiration from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual.’ They left behind some of the World War II storylines, though it still has an influence. Watson is voluneering at a convalescence home housed on the…
Northern Exposure (1991) – Spring Break, and War and Peace
It’s the spring thaw in Cicely and everything seems to be going a little nuts something indicated from the get-go when we get a look at Maggie’s (Janine Turner) latest dream in the opening teaser. Spring Break was written by David Assael and was first broadcast on 6 May, 1991. Holling (John Cullum) is trying…
Family Ties (1988) – It Happened One Night, Designing Women, and Truckers
The seventh and final season of Family Ties got underway with It Happened One Night. Written by Marc Lawrence, it debuted on 30 October, 1988. Elyse (Meredith Baxter) and Steven (Micheal Gross) are eager to take the family camping, but outside of Andy (Brian Bonsall) the rest of the family elect to not go. After…
Family Ties (1986) – Checkmate, Engine Trouble, and A Word to the Wise
Alex (Micheal J. Fox) learns the difference between countries fighting for honour, and two people playing chess for the love of the game in Checkmate. Written by Micheal J. Weithorn, it first aired on 30 January, 1986. Alex is gearing up for a showdown with a Russian chess champ, Ivan Rozmirovich (Albert Macklin) and despite…
Family Ties (1983) – Margin of Error, French Lessons, and I Gotta Be Ming
Alex (Michael J. Fox) gets in all manner of trouble in Margin of Error. Written by Michael Russnow it was first broadcast on 9 February, 1983. Alex is playing the stocks on paper every day for a school project, and he’s been making a theoretical killing. When he asks Steven (Michael Gross) and Elyse (Meredith…
The Prisoner (1967) – Checkmate, and Hammer Into Anvil
Number Six (Patrick McGoohan) squares off against Number Two (this time played by Peter Wyngarde) in a layered scheme in Checkmate. Written by Gerald Kelsey, this episode first debuted on 24 November, 1967. Inspired by a life-sized chess game, Six begins canvassing his own pieces, fellow prisoners, as he’s reasoned out how to tell the…
Star Trek: Discovery (2019) – Project Daedalus, and The Red Angel
Captain’s log: 2257 Jonathan Frakes returns to direct this episode that first aired on 14 March, 2019 and was written by Michelle Paradise. When members of the Discovery crew infiltrate a Section 31 station, Pike (Anson Mount) and the rest begin to fear they have a leak aboard ship. Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Spock (Ethan…
From Russia With Love (1957) – Ian Fleming
This week I dove into Ian Fleming’s fifth James Bond novel, and the one that was most closely adapted for the big screen, though SPECTRE is slipped into the film version, whereas in this tale it is simply east versus west as SMERSH, the Russian spy organisation comes up with a plan to humiliate the…
Infernal Affairs (2002) – Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, and Alan Mak
DK Canada’s The Movie Book rolls out the What Else to Watch list following my screening of Oldboy. Infernal Affairs is up for viewing, and served as the basis for the North American adaptation, The Departed. Yes, The Departed is a solid film, the original is so much better. Tightly edited, fantastically crafted the film…
The Mind Reels 