Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2023) – Those Old Scientists, and Under the Cloak of War

Those Old Scientists is a massively entertaining episode that combines humour with some great character moments and gives us a crossover that fans had been hoping for. Not only does the episode incorporate characters from the animated series Lower Decks, it was also directed by Jonathan Frakes. The script was written by Kathryn Lyn and…

Star Trek: Mudd In Your Eye (1997) – Jerry Oltion

Harcourt ‘Harry’ Fenton Mudd is back to cause trouble for Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise in Jerry Oltion’s Mudd In Your Eye, set during the original five-year mission, the tale ties into the previous Mudd episode, “I, Mudd” and arguably before (?) the animated series episode “Mudd’s Passion”. The Enterprise is requested…

The Russia House (1990) – Fred Schepisi

Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney, and J.T. Walsh star in the cinematic adaptation of John Le Carre’s novel, The Russia House. Written for the screen by Tom Stoppard, the film was the first, big Western film to be shot on location in the Soviet Union. Featuring a gorgeous score by…

The Expanse (2018) – IFF, and Assured Destruction

Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham, collectively known as James S.A. Corey the author of The Expanse book series pen IFF, which stands for Identify Friend or Foe, debuted on 18 April, 2018. While Mao (Francois Chao) arrives on Io to confer with his science team over the protomolecule and human hybrids they are creating as…

The Expanse (2017) – Static, and Godspeed

Holden (Steven Strait) cuts Miller (Thomas Jane) loose from the Roci once they return to Tycho Station, following the assault on Deimos, and Miller’s actions there. And that leads Miller down an unexpected alley in figuring out a way to deal with the new things that seem to be happening on Eros, it’s broadcasting some…

The Expanse (2016) – Critical Mass, and Levithan Wakes

The final two episodes of the first season of The Expanse aired together on 2 February, 2016. The first part, Critical Mass was written by Robin Veith, Dan Nowak, and Naren Shankar. Leviathan Wakes, which was the title of the first novel in the series, was penned by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. We go…

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) – Jun Fukuda

There are more alien problems in Godzilla vs. Gigan, which, like the previous films, combines some of the monster destruction, and kaiju shots from previous films (which causes a couple of continuity errors, but nothing to detract from one’s enjoyment of the monster mash). This time out, we join a manga artist (and honestly what…

Mission: Impossible (1967) – The Seal, and Sweet Charity

Phelps (Peter Graves) and his IMF team take part in some high tech theft in The Seal, the first episode up this week, as I continue to explore The Complete Series on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures. Written by the team of William Read Woodfield and Allan Balter, this episode was first broadcast on 5 November,…