James Bond is back, in the modern era. Jeffrey Deaver, acclaimed author of the Lincoln Rhyme novels updates 007 for the 21st century with his novel, Carte Blanche. While there are recognizable names and characters, Deaver shakes things up a little bit as he establishes a new timeline for Ian Fleming’s iconic character. This time…
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Star Trek: Picard (2022) – Monsters, and Mercy
Monsters is probably my least favourite episode of Star Trek: Picard Season Two, and perhaps the whole series in general. It changes several things about Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) established past, though they can be argued the other way, the age of his mother, Yvette (Madeline Wise) when she died, there’s next to no mention of…
Star Trek: Picard (2022) – Fly Me to the Moon, and Two of One
Jonathan Frakes directs Fly Me to the Moon, which brings us to the halfway marl of season two of Star Trek: Picard, and features a brief cameo by Lea Thompson who directed the previous pair of episodes. Written by Cindy Appel, the episode debuted on 31 March, 2022, and reveals what Picard (Patrick Stewart) has…
Star Trek: Picard (2022) – Assimilation, and Watcher
It makes a kind of sense for Lea Thompson to direct an episode about time travel, and that’s who sits in the director’s chair this time out as I continue to explore Picard Season 2. Assimilation was written by Kiley Rossetter and Christopher Monfette and it was first broadcast on 17 March, 2022. La Sirena…
Star Trek: Picard (2022) – The Star Gazer, and Penance
Season two of Star Trek: Picard gets underway with a firefight on a Starfleet bridge, and Picard (Patrick Stewart) is right in the middle of it. The clock rolls back forty-eight hours and the the episode got underway on 3 March, 2022. Written by Micheal Chabon and Terry Matalas, a name we’re going to see…
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Encounter at Farpoint (1987) – David Gerrold
It says David Gerrold, but the wily, and brilliant sci-fi author actually allowed D.C. Fontana’s original work to take the center stage here, putting his name on it to allow it to get out. Fontana had originally been tapped to write the novelization, she wrote it, and then Gerrold was tapped to write it. He…
Star Trek: Picard – Season Two (2022) – Blu-Ray Review
Paramount Canada sends Star Trek: Picard – Season Two home today on blu-ray and DVD! The three disc set is packed with extras, and no matter where you fall on the continuation of Patrick Stewart’s iconic turn as Jean-Luc Picard, it is fantastic, nonetheless, to see the character return again. This time around, there is…
GoldenEye (1995) – John Gardner
John Gardner’s penultimate 007 novel is a short, uninspired adaptation of the 1995 film, GoldenEye which saw Pierce Brosnan finally step into the shoes of James Bond. I’m not sure if Gardner was simply tired of writing Bond books at this point, or if he was less than impressed with the film’s script and was…
Licence to Kill (1989) – John Gardner
James Bond returns this week in John Gardner’s adaptation of the 1989 film, Licence to Kill. This is probably the most disjointed of his novels as he tries to marry his version of the literary 007 to the big screen version, and it doesn’t always work. In fact, throughout the book Bond thinks he must…
The Mind Reels 