Whatever 1I/2017 Oumuamua and now 3I/Atlas are, they fired my imagination. These intersolar voyagers are cloaked in mystery and possibilities. David Wellington’s novel, The Last Astronaut, takes that idea and runs with it giving us a cross of Crichton, Clarke and Lovecraft. A combination of science and wonder with unnerving horror. Sally Jansen was the…
Tag: nasa
Capricorn One (1977) – Peter Hyams
Moon landing conspiracies didn’t really have any traction until Peter Hyams wrote and directed Capricorn One. Citing the fact that the most important event in mankind’s history had taken place, and the only witness was a television camera sparked his imagination about what could and couldn’t be done with that idea. The Apollo missions were…
Invaders From Mars (1986) – Tobe Hooper
I remember when Invaders From Mars came out in 1986. I knew it was a remake, having read about it in Starlog magazine, and while I didn’t recognize the names of those involved as I grew they would become very familiar to me. What I remember most is reading the novelization when I grabbed it…
TIFF ’22: Good Night Oppy
I love documentaries about space exploration, the sense of discovery, wonder and hope that permeates them, and humanity when we set our sights on a goal. Director Ryan White understands those feelings and shares them, and guides us on a fantastic journey to the planet Mars. In 2003, two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, were launched…
Moonfall (2022) – Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich seems to really enjoy putting global destruction, and cardboard characters on the screen, and Moonfall is no different, but unlike 2012 , and Independence Day: Resurgence this one actually like a lot of fun, though there’s a bit of a stumble with the last third of the film, though there may have been…
Flight of the Navigator (1986) – Randal Kleiser
Disney delivers a staple of 80s childhood with a revisit to Flight of the Navigator. Watching it now, I find myself more interested in the mysteries going on at the edges of the story than the main thrust of the narrative following young David Freeman (Joey Cramer), his abduction and subsequent return eight years later,…
The Puppet Masters (1994) – Stuart Orme
Somewhere in The Puppet Masters, despite its continuity errors, its plot holes and poor performance by its lead actor (who is surrounded by some fantastic character actors and recognizable faces) is probably a decent film, I mean it’s based on Heinlein’s novel, so it had a great starting point. When something comes down in the…
Mission to Mars (2000) – Brian De Palma
Director Brian De Palma delivers what feels like his spin on Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, unfortunately the shoddy and very obvious CGI in a number of the sequences of the film, and especially during the climax when a practical effects would have served better, and leant a stronger reality to the film, which needed…
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) – The Andorian Incident, and Breaking the Ice
Captain’s log: 19 June, 2151 Roxann Dawson directs while Fred Dekker pens the script for this episode from a story he developed alongside Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It first aired on 31 October, 2001, and added a new and interesting wrinkle to the Trek universe. In what became one of the defining episodes of…
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) – Broken Bow
Captain’s log: 16 April, 2151 The Star Trek prequel series, Enterprise, debuted with the feature length episode, Broken Bow on 26 September, 2001. It was written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. The series is set a century before the adventures portrayed in The Original Series, and introduces us to the crew of the first…
The Mind Reels 