Season 9 of Doctor Who comes to a close with this six-part story that was written by Robert Sloman and aired from 20 May to 24 June, 1972. With a premonition that The Master (Roger Delgado) is back, the Doctor (Pertwee) warns UNIT, and the Brigadier (Nicolas Courtney) to be on the look out, but when he…
Tag: island
Mysterious Island (1961) – Cy Endfield
The Sci-Fi Chronicles book continues its exploration of the cinematic Jules Verne. I’ve previously covered the highly enjoyable Walt Disney version of 20,000 Leagues, so up next is Mysterious Island, which serves as a bit of a sequel to Leagues as it sees the appearance of Captain Nemo; this time played by Herbert Lom…
Doctor Who (Jon Pertwee) – The Sea Devils
The Doctor (Pertwee) comes across the Silurians again in this six part-story, The Sea Devils, that was written by Malcolm Hulke and aired from 26 February to 1 April, 1972. Jo (Katy Manning) and The Doctor travel to a remote island off the coast of England where The Master (Roger Delgado) is currently incarcerated. What…
Books of Blood: Volume 1 – 3 (1984 – 1986) – Clive Barker
There are few authors that can get under my skin with their stories and nightmare imagery. In fact there is only one, Clive Barker. With the imminent arrival of The Scarlet Gospels in May, I thought I would throw some of his books back into my reading cycle, and what better place to start…
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) – Charles Barton
The Frankenstein cycle in the Sci-Fi Chronicles books takes a quirky turn (and not for the last time) into comedy as the Monster tests out his comedy feet in this Universal classic that was my introduction to the original monsters. Costello’s brain is up for grabs as Wilbur (Costello) is watched over by Sandra…
Airwolf (1984/1985) – Random Target and Condemned
Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent) and company take to the sky again this week in this week’s double episode. First up is Random Target, which aired 8 December, 1984 and was written by Westbrook Claridge, Herman Groves, Chester Krumholz and Paul Savage. Anne Lockhart guest stars as Sgt. Anne Brennan, a cop called in to…
Toronto After Dark: Solo (2013) – Isaac Cravit
The Toronto After Dark Film Festival screened a couple of winners last night, the enjoyable Odd Thomas and the brilliant camp thriller, Solo. Gillian (Annie Clark) is the newest camp counsellor, and as such must do a solo two night camp out on a lone island. She is driven out by Fred (Richard Clarkin), and…
Jurassic Park (1993) – Steven Spielberg
As soon as I heard about Michael Crichton’s new book in 1990, I scrabbled to get my hands on a copy, and ended up co-opting and keeping my mother’s hard cover edition as soon as she was done with it. Then, hearing that Spielberg had bought the rights for it, I knew I had…
Stranded Review (Book #1) – Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbetts
I was one of the millions of people worldwide who watched Richard Hatch irritate, dominate, and win the first season of television’s epic reality show pioneer, Survivor. After that, I watched a few seasons, then tapered off to other things, and came back to it again after a few years, once I realized that…
TIFF 2012: Come Out And Play – Makinov
Several factors were in play to draw me into this screening, not the least of which was a fascination with what kind of director would so desire to remain anonymous that he would wear a mask on set and not even divulge his real name to anyone? That and the fact that kids can…
The Mind Reels 