On 17 April, 1972, the television landscape changed with the premiere of a show that would run for eleven seasons, and ably walk the line between comedy and drama as it explored life on a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. Developed for television by Larry Gelbart from the Academy Award winning film…
Tag: pilot
Blue Thunder (1983) – John Badham
I remember seeing Blue Thunder when it was released on home video. Or perhaps it was on a free weekend of Super Channel or First Choice. I remember enjoying it as a kid, loved the helicopter, the nude girl doing yoga, Roy Scheider, and the helicopter. It’s been decades since I watched it, and I…
Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon (1983) – L. Neil Smith
Lando Calrissian aboard the Millennium Falcon, with his pilot droid and friend Vuffi Raa at his side finds his way into more trouble this week in L. Neil Smith’s second book in his trio of Star Wars novels that follows the scoundrel and gambler. Lando just can’t seem to make a living as a freighter…
Star Wars: Rebels (2014) – Spark of Rebellion, and Droids in Distress
Where The Clone Wars took us to the years between The Attack of the Clones, and The Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Rebels takes us to the time between Sith and A New Hope (as well as Rogue One and Solo). Dave Filoni who served as the showrunner of The Clone Wars, is also…
Catch Me If You Can (2002) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg gives us a film inspired by true life events, and puts Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Walken through their paces as I dig into another title mentioned in Ten Bad Dates With De Niro. DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., the youngest counterfeiter and fraud in American history. Before his nineteenth birthday, he’s cashed…
Chuck (2007) – Pilot, and Verus the Helicopter
This week I begin a revisit with the awesomeness that is the television series, Chuck. I remember being completely enraptured with it from the first episode, which debuted on 24 September, 2007 – right when I needed some fun and joy. The pilot for the series was written by series creators Josh Schwartz and Chris…
Shogun (1980) – Disc 1
Ah the late 70s and early 80s, the age of the television mini-series, an almost forgotten television event, though slowly being rediscovered by the advent of the limited series. It’s slightly different of course, because back then, there were only a few channels available, making a mini-series an event over consecutive nights. Shogun was based…
Keep ‘Em Flying (1941) – Arthur Lubin and Ralph Ceder
The next title in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies features that great comedic duo, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. They make an appearance in the chapter on Monstrous Apes, as Abbott encounters a gorilla (a man in a suit) partway through this rather patriotic picture. The pair serve as ground crew to Jinx Roberts…
Moonlighting (1985) – Pilot
I decided to lighten it up a bit now that I’ve finished Miami Vice, and I definitely wanted to dig into another classic 80s series. I remember only seeing a couple of Moonlighting episodes when it originally aired, and of course, the pilot when it was released to home video as a feature length film….
Miami Vice (1985) – Golden Triangle: Part 2, and Smuggler’s Blues
This week we dive further into Castillo’s (Edward James Olmos) with the second part of the Golden Triangle. Written by Maurice Hurley and Micheal Mann the episode debuted on 18 January, 1985. Castillo works to protect his wife, May Ying (Joan Chen) from General Lao Li (Keye Luke) and his family that run the human…
The Mind Reels 