In the Heat of the Night shouldn’t be as timely and relevant as it still is. You’d think we could have moved beyond such levels of racism and prejudice, and yet, sections of society seem worse than ever before, and it seems to be both hidden and overt. Featuring powerhouse performances by Sidney Poitier and…
Tag: prejudice
Enemy Mine (1985) – Wolfgang Petersen
Enemy Mine, from director Wolfgang Petersen and starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr., looks like a 50s era sci-fi film (particularly the model work and space suits) but it’s message of prejudice, hate, and race war, is as relevant today (and arguably more so) than it was when it was made. Feeling like a…
M*A*S*H (1973) – L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel), The Trial of Henry Blake, and Dear Dad… Three
The first episode up this week, L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel) gets it right. Written by Carl Kleinschmitt, series developer Larry Gelbart, and Laurence Marks, from a story by Kleinschmitt. It first aired on 27 October, 1973. While Hawkeye (Alan Alda) is trying to make some time with Lt. Regina Hopkins (Corinne Camacho), one of the…
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1992) – J.M. Dillard
This week’s Trek novel is the film adaptation of the last big screen voyage of the crew of The Original Series, J.M. Dillard adapts the screenplay and fills it out with some additional character building scenes which add some nice depth to the events that unfold. Captain James T. Kirk and the majority of his…
Star Trek: The Three Minute Universe (1988) – Barbara Paul
Space, the final frontier… I dug into another Trek novel this week, hey, there’s a lot of them, so they’ll probably be appearing on here fairly regular, I haven’t read this one since it first came out in ’88, and I don’t remember being a big fan of it when I first joined Captain Kirk…
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) – Cardassians, and Melora
Station log: stardate 47177.2 Written by James Crocker from a story by Gene Wolande and John Wright, this episode first debuted on 24 October, 1993. Doctor Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and the Cardassian tailor (and possibly spy) Garak (Andrew Robinson) investigate Cardassian war orphans left behind on Bajor after the occupation, and those that have been…
The Twilight Zone (1964) – The Encounter, Mr. Garrity and the Graves, and The Brain Center at Whipple’s
Our penultimate trip to the Twilight Zone gets underway this week, with The Encounter as I draw to the end of The Complete Series on blu-ray from Paramount Pictures. Written by Martin Goldsmith, this episode first debuted on 1 May, 1964. It stars George Takei and Neville Brand. After World War II, prejudices and hatred…
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991) – The Drumhead, and Half a Life
Captain’s log: stardate 44769.2 Jonathan Frakes directs his third episode of the series, from a script by Jeri Taylor. This episode, a bottle show, first aired on 29 April, 1991. Trouble comes aboard the Enterprise when a Klingon exo-biologist, J’Ddan (Henry Woronicz) is being investigated by Riker (Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) for sabotage, and…
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – The Rebel Flesh, and The Almost People
This week’s journey in the TARDIS brings us a two-parter written by Matthew Graham that aired on 21 and 28 May, 2011. The Doctor (Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) find themselves on 22nd century Earth, after getting caught in a solar tsunami. There, on a remote island, a factory and its employees…
The Twilight Zone (1963) – Valley of the Shadow, and He’s Alive
It’s time to venture further into The Twilight Zone, as I delve deeper into season 4 of The Complete Series on blu-ray now available from Paramount Pictures. First up this week is Valley of the Shadow. Written by Charles Beaumont, this story sees reporter, Philip Redfield (Ed Nelson) finding himself stuck in a strange small…
The Mind Reels 