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…
Tag: nasa
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…
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…
Doctor Who (Peter Capaldi) – The Lie of the Land, and Empress of Mars
The conclusion to the Monk Trilogy is our first episode this week. Written by Toby Whithouse, the episode first aired on 3 June, 2017. The Monks have changed history, having assumed control of Earth when power of consent was given by Bill (Pearl Mackie) at the conclusion of last week’s episode, when she had them…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1989) – Contagion, and The Royale
Captain’s log: stardate 42609.1 Airing on 27 March, 1989, Contagion is a fairly solid story written by Steve Gerber and Beth Woods. In response to a distress call from their sister ship, the U.S.S. Yamato, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) orders the Enterprise to violate the Romulan Neutral Zone. Racing towards the ship, the Enterprise downloads…
The Mind Reels 