I first learned Phil Tippet’s name in 1983 when I was reading a behind-the-scenes magazine about the making of The Return of the Jedi, and there was a discussion on the stop-motion and go-motion techniques used to create the movement of the Scout walkers in the Star Wars sequel. I was fascinated by what I…
Tag: war
M*A*S*H (1983) – Strange Bedfellows, Say No More, and Friends and Enemies
Mike Farrell gets behind the camera and settles into the director’s chair again in Strange Bedfellows which was written by Karen Hall and debuted on 10 January, 1983. Charles (David Ogden Stiers) is suffering from a seasonal allergy and his snoring is keeping both Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and B.J. (Farrell) awake. It’s complicated by the…
M*A*S*H (1982) – Who Knew?, Bombshells, and Settling Debts
Hawkeye (Alan Alda) has a troubling moment when a nurse he was involved with is killed by a landmine, and he realizes as he prepares her eulogy, that he didn’t know anything about her. Written by Elias Davis and David Pollock Who Knew? first aired on 22 November, 1982. While Klinger (Jamie Farr) pesters Charles…
War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) – Matt Reeves
Matt Reeves followed up his turn on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with War for the Planet of the Apes, the third film in the new series, which works to tie itself back into the original series, forming one big circle. Andy Serkis dons the mo-cap suit again to bring Caesar, the chimp,…
Fringe (2009) – Ability, and Inner Child
The mythology arc really kicks in with Ability. Written by David H. Goodman from a story by Glen Whitman and Robert Chiapetta this episode first aired on 10 February, 2009. The story picks up with Mr. Jones (Jared Harris) escape from prison via the teleportation device, and its effect on him. It also reveals that…
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…
Battle Royale II (2003) – Kenta Fukasaku and Kinji Fukasaku
Battle Royale II is very much a different creation from its predecessor. Set three years after the events of the first movie this film moves the film mythology forward. Shuya (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko (Aki Maeda) have made their escape, and Shuya has now started what the rest of the world calls a terrorist organization,…
Shards of Earth (2021) – Adrian Tchaikovsky
Before I could dig into Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky, available now through Orbit Books, I had to familiarize myself with the characters of the universe he created by reading the first volume, Shards of Earth, also available from Orbit Books. Within pages of Tchaikovsky’s book, I was wrapped up in the imagination…
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) – Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson’s second 007 novel was an adaptation of the second Pierce Brosnan film, Tomorrow Never Dies. And while he seems to have some trouble adapting some of the more over the top action beats of the film, his take on the story actually works really well, and is one of the strongest film adaptations…
Star Trek: Discovery – The Enterprise War (2019) – John Jackson Miller
Where was the U.S.S. Enterprise during the Klingon war (2256-2257) as depicted in Season One of Star Trek: Discovery? Miller’s novel, The Enterprise War, available now from Simon & Schuster through their Gallery Books imprint, answers that question. Tying itself in with the events of the television series, as well as the previously released novels,…
The Mind Reels 