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: disaster
Star Trek: Voyager (1998) – The Killing Game: Part II, and Vis a Vis
Captain’s log: stardate 51715.2 The conclusion to the thrilling two-parter The Killing Game is the first episode up this weekend. Penned by Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky, it debuted on 4 March, 1998. Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) has regained her autonomy thanks to the Doctor (Robert Picardo) neutralizing her neural inhibitor, and she is now aware…
SpaceFlight: The Complete Story, From Sputnik to Curiosity (2019) – Giles Sparrow
Space. The Final Frontier… Ever since I was a child I looked up at the sky in wonder. This is an experience that I think everyone has shared, but only a few of us grow up with that sustained sense of awe through the rest of our lives. After my introduction to Star Wars and…
Star Trek: Voyager (1996) -The Thaw, and Tuvix
Captain’s log: stardate unknown Joe Menosky pens this episode from a story by Richard Gadas. It first aired on 29 April, 1996. The Voyager, still continuing its homeward journey comes across a planet that seems to have suffered some disaster, but there are still life signs, from a group in stasis. Unfortunately, when an away…
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004) – Stephen King
The penultimate volume of Stephen King’s magnificent fantasy western opus is on the book shelf this week, and leads us along many roads, some hauntingly familiar, all troubling. With the abduction of the pregnant Susannah by Mia, the daughter of none, mother of one, at the climax of the previous book, everything is set up…
Marnie (1964) – Alfred Hitchcock
Vertigo is the next big title in The Movie Book from DK Canada. As I’ve reviewed that previously, as well as a number of the films on the What Else to Watch list, I settled in for the 1964 film, Marnie, directed by the master, Hitchcock, and starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. Hedren is…
Black Hollow Cage (2017) – Sadrac Gonzalez-Perellon
Opening today at the Carlton theatre here in Toronto is this slow-burn of a sci-fi drama from writer-director Sadrac Gonzalez-Perellon. Set in the not so faraway future, the story follows a young girl, Alice (Lowena McDonell) who lives in a remote house in the forest with he father, Adam (Julian Nicholson) and a dog she…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992) – The First Duty, and Cost of Living
Captain’s log: stardate 45703.9 Airing on 30 March, 1992, and written by Ronald D. Moore and Naren Shankar, The First Duty is a superior episode, and it’s just unfortunate that Robert Duncan McNeill’s character wouldn’t be the same one he played in Star Trek: Voyager. That would have made for some great continuity connecting the…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991) – Disaster, and The Game
Captain’s log: stardate 45156.1 Airing on 21 October, 1991, Ronald D. Moore penned the teleplay for this episode from a story created by Ron Jarvis and Philip A. Scorza. Disaster plays much like an Irwin Allen version of a Star Trek episode. Attempting to push characters outside of their comfort zones, or put them in…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1989) – Loud as a Whisper, and The Schizoid Man
Captain’s log: stardate 42477.2 Loud as a Whisper first aired on 9 January, 1989. Written by Jacqueline Zambrano, I’m sure there is a fairly solid tale in here somewhere, with a great message. But it gets a little lost along the way. The story line revolves around a deaf mute diplomat and negotiator named Riva…
Red Dawn (1984) – John Milius
The final recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Dr. Strangelove is John Milius’ dark and violent film, Red Dawn. With an all-star cast including Patrick Swayze, Lea Thompson, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Powers Boothe and Harry Dean Stanton, the film chronicles an invasion…
Star Trek: Crisis On Centaurus (1986) – Brad Ferguson
Well, except for the product placement, the implication that the Earth isn’t under a one government rule, and that the economics of the future are a little different (according to Picard) which is not followed here, most of this tale is fairly enjoyable. In fact, of it had been rewritten and edited a little more…
