Smallville (2002) – Tempest, and Vortex

Tempest closes out the first season of Smallville. Written by showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar from a story by Philip Levens, season one came to a close on 21 May, 2002. The spring formal is here, Clark (Tom Welling) and Chloe (Allison Mack) are headed out together. And there’s lots of other character stuff…

The House of Fear (1945) – Roy William Neill

Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are back for their tenth outing together in The House of Fear. Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Five Orange Pips, this one leans into using the Universal Monsters sets and, consequently has a very gothic feel to it. When a gathering of gentlemen, known as the…

Smallville (2001) – Pilot, and Metamorphosis

The Superman mythos got the teen drama remix with Smallville. Perfectly cast and solidly scripted, the series ran for ten seasons, and while I did enjoy it, I never got past season five originally. We’re going to fix that this time out. The show launched with its Pilot on 16 October, 2001. Written by Alfred…

Superman: Dawnbreaker (2019) – Matt de la Pena

I’m going to restart Smallville this week. I never finished it when it was airing and writing about them guarantees that I have to watch them all and explore the whole series. And since Superman has always been a hero of mine, I’ve also been scouring for a good Superman novel. Dawnbreaker is that. Giving…

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…

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) – Roy William Neill

Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are back in action, confronting and dealing with more World War II espionage as Sherlock Holmes heads to the new world. Not even using a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story as a launching point, the story is short, simple, and honestly, didn’t really need Holmes’ insight. A British…

Northern Exposure (1993) – Heal Thyself, and A Cup of Joe

Holling (John Cullum) is cracking wise in Shelly’s (Cynthia Geary) LaMaze class and is getting on everyone’s nerves, including Joel’s (Rob Morrow). And Holling has no explanation for it. Or maybe does. Maybe he’s a remnant of an older age, and isn’t used to discussing female bodily functions, and doesn’t think men should be in…

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (2021) – Becky Chambers

The last book in the Wayfarer series by Becky Chambers is just as engaging as the rest of the series, and once again, it got my a little teary-eyed by story’s end. I love the way she writes. This time the tale centers on a few of the alien races we’ve encountered through the books,…