The mysterious Ood return this week in Planet of the Ood. Written by Keith Temple, this episode had an airdate of 19 April 2008, and updated the Ood mythology a bit, as the Doctor (Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) find themselves on an ice planet that serves as a factory for the Ood. It seems…
Tag: culture
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1974) – Albatross, How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth, and The Counter-Clock Incident
Captain’s log: stardate 5275.6 Dario Finelli pens the ante-penultimate episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series. Airing on 28 September, 1974, the story idea is a smart one: Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) finds himself accused of causing an alien plague. Kirk (William Shatner) is stunned, and he and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) investigate the events and…
Star Trek: Uhura’s Song (1985) – Janet Kagan
Evan Wilson. Ugh. The very definition of a Mary Sue. This character joins the U.S.S. Enterprise this week as I continue my non-canon adventures with her crew, exploring the Pocket Book universe based on Gene Roddenberry’s beloved creation. A planet inhabited by bipedal felines is suffering from a seemingly unstoppable disease, and one of Uhura’s…
Silence (2016) – Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese’s beautifully shot passion project, Silence, is unveiled on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures today. Based on the novel by Shusako Endo the film is vibrant and gorgeous, while it plays with some tough questions about religion, faith, cultures and beliefs. Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson share top billing in this film, but…
55 Days at Peking (1963) – Nicholas Grey and Guy Green
Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven headline this recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Lawrence of Arabia. The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 is at the heart of the story, as a cast of characters are swept up into the drama, and terror of the siege…
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The Complete Series
Just over 24 years ago, Paramount expanded the Star Trek universe again, and for the first time ever, as the sixth season of The Next Generation continued, there were two Star Trek series running on television concurrently. And what a different manner of series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was. Instead of exploring the galaxy,…
Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders (1984) – Jean Lorrah
It’s been a while since I checked in with the non-canon universe of Star Trek, so I dived into the world of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in this would-be murder mystery. Spock is preparing for some leave on his home planet of Vulcan. When an attack from a Klingon ship wounds one of the Enterprise’s…
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) – Matt Reeves
It’s back to the Apes saga as I dive into the most recent sequel as I continue my way through the Sci-Fi Chronicles. Set a decade or two after the previous film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Caesar (mo-capped by Andy Serkis) is leading a growing nation of evolved apes. But…
Hot Docs 2015: The Visit – Dr. Michael Madsen
If alien life landed on our doorstep, would we be ready? Would we know how to handle it? Are there procedures in place? The simulated experience of an alien’s (the audience) arrival on Earth is put up onto the screen by Madsen, as he puts the United Nations in the spotlight, as the only body in the…
Hot Docs 2015: The Queen of Silence – Agnieszka Zwiefka
Screening today at the ROM theatre at 7pm, is this beautiful, joyous and heartbreaking film… With an objective eye, Zwiefka plunges into the reality of an illegal, tiny Roma slum on the outskirts of a Polish suburb. Families struggle to survive, living in their shanty town, their children dumpster-diving for clothes and toys, while their parents…
The Mind Reels 