The Pine Bluff Variant, the first of the two episodes this week, is more of a conspiracy thriller, and gives us an X-Files episode without any supernatural or paranormal leanings. Written by John Shiban, the episode first hit the airwaves on 3 May, 1998. Scully (Gillian Anderson) is suspicious of Mulder’s (David Duchovny) behaviour, especially…
Tag: hostage
Brokenclaw (1990) – John Gardner
James Bond is back in action this week in John Gardner’s tenth 007 book, and probably my least favourite of the series at the moment. This one took me too long to get into, and then I felt not a lot really happened in the story to begin with until the climax. Bond is in…
Chuck (2012) – Versus the Bullet Train, Versus Sarah, Versus the Goodbye
We’re racing to the conclusion this week! Chuck (Zachary Levi) has been captured by Nicholas Quinn (Angus Macfadyen) and is aboard a bullet train in Japan in Chuck Versus the Bullet Train. Written by Nicholas Wootton this episode debuted on 20 January, 2012. Chuck thinks Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) and Casey (Adam Baldwin) are dead, but…
Millennium (1996) – 5-2-2-6-6-6, and Kingdom Come
Writers James Wong and Glen Morgan pit Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and the Millennium Group against a serial bomber in 5-2-2-6-6-6 (which entered into a phone pad spells K-A-B-O-O-M), which first aired on 22 November, 1996. Raymond Dees (Joe Chrest) is a bomber, there is sexual transference involved, as well as the desire to be…
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) – Len Wiseman
Except for one blatantly over the top moment that completely destroys credulity, the fourth entry in the Die Hard series is pretty damned solid entertainment. Bruce Willis returns (without his hair) for a fourth time as NYPD John McClane who gets swept up in what appears to be a techo-terrorism plot to bring down as…
Die Hard 2 (1990) – Renny Harlin
Bruce Willis returns as John McClane in the follow up to the blockbuster hit, Die Hard. Two years after the first film changed the action film game, Twentieth Century Fox delivered a sequel, one with just as solid a story as the first, something that started to slip after the the third entry. In this…
Deep Rising (1998) – Stephen Sommers
Writer/director Stephen Sommers delivers a fun creature feature romp that, even with some dated VFX, is still a lot of fun. Treat Williams leads a cast that includes Famke Janssen, Wes Studi, Jason Flemyng, Anthony Heald, and Kevin O’Connor. Williams plays Finnegan, a kind of Han Solo of the high seas. He and his crew…
The X-Files (1994) – Duane Barry, and Ascension
In its second season, The X-Files really got to show us what it could do, and the first two episodes up this week form a pair of my favourites, in a season packed with standout episodes (and a couple of clunkers). Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Krycek (Nicholas Lea) are called in on a hostage…
Licence Renewed (1981)- John Gardner
In the early 80s, the estate of Ian Fleming reached out to author John Gardner to continue telling stories about James Bond, 007, and to perchance, bring him into the 80s. This involved a bit of a retcon moving the events of the previous novels from the 50s/60s to the 60s/70s. Gardner’s first effort, Licence…
Star Trek: Enterprise (2005) – Terra Prime, and These Are The Voyages…
Captain’s log: 22 January, 2155 The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Enterprise brings the Terra Prime two-parter to a close in this story written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Manny Coto, from a story developed by the Reeves-Stevens and Andre Bormanis. It debuted on 13 May, 2005. Paxton (Peter Weller) is holding the solar…
Chuck (2008) – Versus the DeLorean, and Versus Santa Claus
Matthew Miller gives us our first Chuck (Zachary Levi) episode this week, Chuck Versus the DeLorean, which originally aired on 8 December, 2008. Sarah’s (Yvonne Strahovski) con artist father, Jack Burton (Gary Cole) – another Big Trouble in Little China reference – rolls into town, in the midst of a long con on a sheik…
Star Trek: Renegade (1991) – Gene DeWeese
Gene DeWeese delivers a pretty standard Trek tale for this week’s instalment of the Book Shelf. This is his third Trek novel, and while it’s not a horrible tale, it’s just a run of the mill story. Set during The Original Series, the Enterprise is called to a pair of warring planets to mediate their…
