McKay (David Hewlett), Ford (Rainbow Sun Francks), and Zelenka (David Nykl) are leading a team of scientists through Atlantis to make sure everything is operational after the events of the storm. Unfortunately, two of the scientists seem to be infected with a virus that kills them! McKay orders a self-regulated quarantine, while they try to…
Tag: scientists
The Andromeda Strain (1971) – Robert Wise
I greatly enjoyed reading Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain and then I decided to correct an oversight in my viewing history and check out the 1971 film directed masterfully by Robert Wise. I love that like the book, the film is played very straight, and consequently it makes the idea all the more frightening. When…
Stargate SG-1 (2002) – Shadow Play, and The Other Guys
Stargate Command is stunned when they are contacted by Jonas Quinn’s (Corin Nemec) people the Kelowans. They are seeking aid, and are offering naquadria in exchange. O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) is less than thrilled with the idea considering how some of the planet chose to paint Daniel (Michael Shanks) as a traitor. Things take an…
Farscape (1999) – Back and Back and Back to the Future, and Thank God It’s Friday… Again
When Moya brings aboard a couple of scientists from a disintegrating research station things start to get bizarre and a little temporal in Back and Back and Back to the Future. Written by Babs Greyhosky it was actually the third episode broadcast, first airing on 2 April, 1999. Verell (John Clayton) and his assistant, Matala…
The Andromeda Strain (1969) – Micheal Crichton
I’ve read lots of horror novels, and enjoy Stephen King’s stories but nothing I’ve read in the genre has ever gotten under my skin and unnerve me. Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain got me. I think the story got wrapped up too quickly, but the essence of the story really got to me, and seemed…
Moloch (2022) – Nico Van Den Brink
The Dutch film, Moloch, delivers some solid folk horror in this atmospheric tale. Betriek (Sallie Harmsen) lives a quiet life, looking after her daughter, while trying to forget the trauma that scarred her as a child, when her grandmother was murdered. This has caused a bit of conflict between her and her own mother, Elske…
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…
Brainstorm (1983) – Douglas Trumbull
Special effects wizard Douglas Trumbull delivered his last Hollywood movie in 1983. Problems with the production company, and the untimely death of one of the film’s leads, Natalie Wood, impacted his opinion of the Hollywood machine, and he left them behind. The film features a solid cast, Christopher Walken, Louise Fletcher and Cliff Robertson join…
Screamers (1995) – Christian Duguay
Screamers is a bit of a mess. It has a solid pedigree but somewhere between its origin and its filming, I imagine a number of things went wrong, culminating in the disappointing movie it became. The film stars Peter Weller and is originally based on a story by Philip K. Dick and Dan O’Bannon had…
The Three Body Problem (2008) – Liu Cixin
Wang Miao and Ye Wenjie are the central characters in a vast cast in this epic Chinese novel that is the first in a trilogy, also known as The Three Body Problem. Treating its subject matter with intelligence, and pouring on the science, the story takes us through the first steps of contact with an…
The Mind Reels 