Station log: stardate 51948.3 Ronald D. Moore pens the teleplay for this episode from a story by Pam Pietroforte. It first aired on 10 June, 1998. The Defiant races towards an inhospitable planet after receiving a distress call from a Starfleet captain. It seems, the captain, Lisa Cusak (Debra Wilson) crashed in an escape pod,…
Tag: contact
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) – Gene Fowler Jr.
Before he had a Little House on the Prarie, or traveled on the Highway to Heaven, Micheal Landon was a Teenage Werewolf, and I got to go on the prowl with him as I settled in for this 50s era classic, and the next recommendation from DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies. Landon plays Tony,…
Space: 1999 (1977) – The Immunity Syndrome, and The Dorcons
This is it, the last week of Space: 1999, and while some of it has been very good, and a number of stories showed some promise, the series, as a whole, has not weathered the decades as well as it could have. The penultimate episode is The Immunity Syndrome (not to be confused with the…
Lifeforce (1985) – Tobe Hooper
Special effects wizard John Dykstra, legendary composer Henry Mancini, Alien scribe Dan O’Bannon, Sir Patrick Stewart, and the lovely Mathilda May are all part of Tobe Hooper’s sci-fi vampire movie. And you’d think that with credits like that, including Steve Railsback and Peter Firth would make this a solid entry in the Monsters in the…
Star Trek: Voyager (1995) -Eye of the Needle, and Ex Post Facto
Captain’s log: stardate 48579.4 Hilary J. Bader came up with the story that Jeri Taylor and Bill Dial turned into a teleplay for one of my fave episodes from the first season. First airing on 20 February, 1995, Voyager detects a wormhole which allows them to make contact with a Romulan ship in the Alpha…
Space: 1999 (1976) – Space Brain, and The Troubled Spirit
A Christopher Penfold script takes us farther out into the universe this week with Moonbase Alpha, in this story that first aired on 29 January, 1976. And in what seems to be a recurring theme throughout the first season, a member of Alpha is taken over by an alien presence, one that is a big…
Space: 1999 (1975) – The Full Circle, and Another Time, Another Place
The Full Circle was written by Jesse Lasky Jr. and Pat Silver. It first aired on 11 December, 1975. And honestly, has my vote for worst episode of the season, if not the series. The moon comes across a strange planet, one whose surface is shrouded in a strange mist. When an Eagle, and additional…
Seven Fallen Feathers (2017) – Tanya Talaga
Seven Fallen Feathers is a defining book. It is a haunting, distressing and angering discourse on racism and loss in Northern Ontario, and across Canada. Talaga, a dedicated and insightful journalist turns her investigative eye, shining it like a spotlight onto a piece of Canadian life that many of us are loathe to discuss, accept,…
Ejecta (2014) – Chad Archibald and Matt Wiele
Our friend Julian Richings gives a tour de force performance in the first release from Anchor Bay this week. The film itself, Ejecta, is a bit of hit and miss b-movie affair, but Richings, himself, is perfectly on point giving his all, and elevating every scene he’s in, which is practically all of them….
Armada (2015) – Ernest Cline
Cline has done it again. Crafting another fantastic novel that embraces and celebrates pop culture interwoven with a thrilling narrative. Embracing its inner Iron Eagle, Ender’s Game and The Last Starfighter, while in turn paying nods to Contact and 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Cline has crafted a novel that revels and embraces…
Interstellar (2014) – Christopher Nolan
Sure, it took me a while to get to this one, but it’s been a big month, and for me this is worth the wait. With recognizable influences from 2001: A Space Odyssey (the return of silence to space, and walking, talking robots that resemble the iconic Monolith) and Contact (not the least of which…
Trailer Tracks: Contact (1997) – Robert Zemeckis
I read this novel by Carl Sagan a long time ago, and was very eager to see the movie when it was released. For me it was well worth the wait, it was a very human story, set against the backdrop of possible contact with an alien species. With a well-rounded cast including Jodie Foster,…
