Blog Archives

Stardate 03.24.2017.A: Max Headroom's 'Blipverts' Episode is now screencapped!

3/24/2017

For those who caught Max Headroom during its run on television and paid attention, the program was a bit visionary (i.e. "ahead of its time"), and that probably accounts for the critical praise yet relatively uninspired ratings it earned: folks likely found it a bit too cerebral and wishing for more traditional escape tuned it out. But the wit was there, as was the social commentary, not too different from what Gene Roddenberry did with Star Trek a few decades earlier.

Max's first episode -- "Blipverts" -- premiered in the U.S. on March 31, 1987, and I've managed to find a little extra time this week to screencap that hour for posterity's sake. I've posted them right here, or you can access them by following the same link on March 31st's Daily Citation page. Keep in mind that the set release from Shout Factory wasn't exactly "cleaned up" for the ages, so the detail isn't nearly as good as I'd like ... but it is what it is.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Stardate 03.23.2017.B: No Tribble At All (Retro)Reviews 'The Last gasp'

3/23/2017

... and coming in today from the "Friends Of SciFiHistory.Net" Department I'm giving a polite shout-out to Jessica Osborne's recent blog post wherein she reviews Trevor Hoyle's 'The Last Gasp.' It's up on her site which you can access right here. She talks briefly not only about the book but also about her chance to meet Hoyle himself at an author's event, and it's an interesting little column for those wanting to know a bit more.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Stardate 03.23.2017.A: Resident Evil Taking Up Residence On Home Video This May

3/23/2017

Ah, what remains to be said about the Resident Evil franchise? I suppose after so many films even writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson perhaps ran out of things to say, and that's what inevitably brought us to Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, which Sony Pictures Home Entertainment recently announced would be coming to video this May, 2017.

Meh. I've seen a few of these pictures -- only on home video, I might add, and never in the theatres, so I really couldn't say anything about how they work up on the silver screen -- and for what it's worth I honestly don't see a lot of distinction between them. Recently, I even rewatched part of the original on pay cable, and it just didn't hold together as well as I suspected it originally had.

I'm a huge supporter of zombie films, so I'll eventually get around to watching all of them (even this final chapter) and maybe even sounding off on them in exclusive reviews for SciFiHistory.Net. Also, I have to admit that the only enduring quality I've noticed is the lovely Milla Jovovich's performance: no, it isn't Oscar-worthy, but in this saga she's proven herself over and over again as a reliable female action star, one definitely deserving of better material. One time, I'd read a commentary wherein the writer called her "the affordable Sigourney Weaver" (in a shout-out to the Aliens franchise and how that particular actress put her stamp on pop culture), and I suspect I'd agree with that sentiment now that her journey has come to its end. (Or has it?!)

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Stardate 03.22.2017.A: The Expanse Expanding Into Season three

3/22/2017

Like any blogger, I do find in increasingly difficult to write something (if anything) about a program I'm not currently watching and/or not currently "up on," but I recently picked up the first season of Syfy's The Expanse on DVD so as to "get aware."

Meh.

I watched the first three episodes, and I have to say that I wasn't quite enamored with much. There are a few performers in there that I'm totally thrilled with (Thomas Jane is always a joy to watch, as is the reliable Shohreh Aghdashloo), but I couldn't quite build a foundation around those first three hours that would compel me to hang with it. Don't get me wrong: I will finish out that season as I do own it for that very reason... but if nothing develops to tickle my fancy that may be all she wrote so far as that franchise is concerned by yours truly.

Still, I did notice the story in Deadline the other day (here) confirming that the network has indeed renewed the show for a third season. This was a bit of a surprise since I'd read some commentary a week or two back about how everyone in SciFi media thought the property was headed for the chopping block due to lackluster ratings. Hopefully some good will come from this, and man's dark journey into the stars will endure.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Stardate 03.21.2017.A: Buck Rogers' "Planet Of The Amazon Women" Is Capped!

3/21/2017

Happy Tuesday, all of you regular readers!

Coming in today from SciFiHistory.Net's vastly understaffed "As Time Permits" Department is yet another collection of screencaps from the late 1970's / early 1980's SciFi gem, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. A while back, I rewatched Buck's "Planet of the Amazon Women" and managed to cap the episode from start-to-finish; this morning, I weeded out some of the lesser pics and have posted all of the relevant and more interesting takes right here for you to behold in all of their 25th century glory. They can also be accessed via the November 8th's Daily Page wherein this episode's information in contained for chronological posterity.

Enjoy!

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Stardate 03.20.2017.A: Logan - Saving The Best For Last

3/20/2017

We, fanboys, can be a treacherous lot, occasionally rushing in where angels fear to tread. When we see something that's truly inspired, we tend to 'pile on' our praise, and why shouldn't we? For those of us who've been around for quite some time (like yours truly included), we know that we haven't always had it this good, that for years our television and comic book properties languished in sub-par adaptations that occasionally didn't even see the light of day (or the goodness of a release schedule) when the intellectual property owners decided the finished product was just that bad. What with the Christopher Nolan Bat-films and the continuing puppy mill that is Marvel Entertainment, we've a lot to be thankful for, and Fox's LOGAN is just one more notch in our collective bedpost.

Honestly, I won't belabor the point (too much, anyway) as there has already been plenty of worthy praise heaped on Hugh Jackman's swan song to the X franchise, but as I finally got around to seeing it this past Friday with the wifey I thought I'd offer up a few thoughts.

First: yes, it really is that good.

LOGAN's only real significant stumble (so far as this viewer is concerned) is when it kinda/sorta becomes a "road picture": like all of them, the script necessarily adopts a formulaic way of building characters while strongly adhering to the usual cat-and-mouse chase between the good guys and the bad guys. Thankfully, James Mangold's script (along with a few other contributors) still has a few cards up its sleeves, punctuating some of the predictability with a surprise here and there; but these sequences still slowed the picture down from its terrific set-up and necessarily stalled some of the energy before the final reel and reveal. This isn't so much a complaint; it's just an honest observation that even the best "road picture" might by design have to take the easy road in order to stick to the story.

Second: major kudos of "mirroring" the legendary Western SHANE so effectively.

For those unawares, SHANE is a 1953 Western starring Alan Ladd, Jack Palance (in a small but important role), and Van Heflin. Essentially, it's the story of an aging gunfighter who has to saddle up one more time due to circumstances well beyond his control; and Logan -- as played by Jackman -- has always kinda/sorta been portrayed in that mold. He's been the senior outsider, the guy who's seen it all and done it all so sticking to the usual "good guy" mold has never appealed to him. He dispenses justice the way he sees fit, and, yes, that might mean with more than a fair amount of bloodshed along the way. But in LOGAN, the Wolverine has clearly seen better days, and just like the tale of that ol' gun-hand fate has a way of tying up your loose ends for you.

Lastly: thanks for going the R-rated route.

This may sound like the least relevant point I'd like to make, but that's far from the truth: those who've followed the Wolverine in the books (I've done so mildly as I'm more of a DC man) know that most of his best tales do involve some bloodletting, and LOGAN serves up some of the mightiest kills captured in any of the X-Men flicks to date. I did read one review online who felt it approached a level of being gratuitous, but I find it perfectly necessary given the nature of this particular story and also helped underscore the mortality of every single character's circumstance: this world is not pretty, and sometimes it shouldn't be.

So -- again -- thanks for all involved for making LOGAN the powerhouse conclusion a character this interested deserved. I'll miss Jackman in this mold -- if it indeed is his last hurrah -- but I'll always cherish the memory of how he went out like such a boss.

Stardate 03.16.2017.A: The Quiet Hour - DVD Review

3/16/2017

Honestly, Science Fiction is a huge, huge genre that embraces all kinds of storytelling.

Its tales can be humorous or dramatic, serious or lighthearted, and even contemporary or futuristic. Fans of the genre have proven over time a willingness to take in just about any parable, and it’s been my experience that they’re incredibly forgiving of inconsistencies or contrivances so long as they’re given a reasonable beginning, middle, and ending that serves the narrative as best it can. Heck, just look any episode of Star Trek’s third season, and it’s obvious that even the most discerning Trekkie has a good heart about glib yarns.

Where SciFi can get a bit tricky is when the independent feature tries to squeeze itself into that genre’s already wide corridor. Traditionally, the indie flick tends to be far more about character and/or atmosphere than it does the usual flash and sizzle of the more fantastical accounts. For example, 2014’s EX MACHINA took the indie’s character-driven focus and adapted it soundly to its tale of cautionary artificial intelligence, but 2015’s UNCANNY took largely the same ideas and fully realized it as a legitimate independent feature: one found critical success (the former) while the second never really found its audience.

This is why films like THE QUIET HOUR really have the deck stacked against them: without some solid substance between the opening and closing credit rolls, it’s destined for obscurity.

(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last three paragraphs for my final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at “things to come,” then read on …)

From the product packaging:
“Humans are few and far between since Earth was invaded by unseen extra-terrestrial machines that harvest the planet’s natural resources and relentlessly kill its inhabitants. In a remote part of the countryside, where starved humans have become as dangerous as the alien machines hovering in the sky, a feisty 19-year-old girl, Sarah Connolly sets out on a desperate attempt to fight back a ground of bandits and defend her parents’ farm …”

There’s a bit more, but that’s really all that’s needed to understand where HOUR’s story comes from and how its characters interact, and – to its credit – the film stays that course crafted by writer/director Stéphanie Joalland. This is essentially a tale of survival, but it’s doubly one of invasion, the first of extraterrestrials and the second of humans. There’s even a near parallel of “drilling” as the heroine Sarah (played by the lovely Dakota Blue Richards) almost endears a sexual assault, one shadowing back to the aliens repeatedly boring into our planet’s surface; yet it’s all handled metaphorically with some subtlety as the Earthly aggressor gets thwarted by another before he can consummate the attack.

Sadly, no matter how hard Richards and her co-stars try, HOUR feels more like a bad weekender as the hours march on with little effect, dwindling impact, and/or interesting character development.

In the simplest estimation, Sarah and her blind brother Tom (Jack McMullen) are exactly the kind of creations audiences want to care about. This connection establishes a baseline from which a motion picture like this builds. You need to know them; you need to understand them; for it’s precisely from there that you identify with their plight. Without that foundation, all of what happens becomes only a serious of unfortunate events provided context by a script and the other actors plunked into the action.

Sarah is crafted with a youthful nobility – she’s keeping watch over her family’s stead – because it’s the responsible thing to do, but Joalland’s script never gives her any other depth: sure, she might be hiding a secret or two from her brother, but we all do that, don’t we? You don’t tell your sibling about that time mom slipped up and said you were her favorite, right? Or when dad had too much to drink? Sure, Sarah’s a good kid – resourceful, even quite comely – but why didn’t she do a better job at hiding pop’s grave? Think of her as Katniss Everdeen for the ‘sticks,’ if you’re familiar with the term.

Tom is even lesser a creation, perhaps given a token disability in order to heighten the suspense when his blindness really never plays necessarily into their present circumstance. (Yes, I caught that the death of his mother was the last thing he saw, but it was all delivered so flatly I’m not sure it mattered.) McMullen certainly did what he could with the character, but as written by Joalland I got the feeling Tom was supposed to be vastly younger than the twenty-ish adult who incarnated him. Dare I suggest that the casting was all wrong? If he were a child, then Sarah’s forced servitude might’ve been a touch more meaningful, but when hindsight is twenty-twenty I try not to overthink it that much.

Karl Davies plays Jude, the “soldier” (or is he?) who shows up on the Connolly farm and puts the central conflict in motion – this trio is meant to play off one another in what’s intended to be increasing tension even after they’re collaborating against the nameless band of thugs chasing Jude for reasons unclear (until the final reel, that is). Again, his character is affable enough to be believed but not complex enough to be real (another scriptwriting invention), so the performance only further muddies this already dirty premise.

Still, HOUR deserves credit for effectively creating this slimmed down bleak glimmer into what survival for the truly rural class post-invasion looks like. Dozens of good wartime features have taken the same tact – a soldier stumbles into a small community, and then the survivors must band together against the odds – so it stands to reason that Joalland’s film could work if shaved of its more predictable moments and beefed up its characters and effects. In fact, I liked the idea of the small-town perspective so much so that I stuck with this one ‘til the big finish. That in and of itself says something.

You don’t need the shock and awe of big alien spaceships to weave a good tapestry these days; you must deliver audiences to a place they’re willing to visit for 90 minutes, and – in that case – HOUR is about 25 minutes too long and undercooked.

THE QUIET HOUR (2014) is produced by Frenzy Films. DVD distribution is being handled by Monarch Entertainment. As for the technical specifications? HOUR is largely efficient – sights and sounds are good – but the atmosphere isn’t all that interesting for ninety minutes. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features, then you’d better find the “coming attraction” special ‘cause that’s all you get; and that’s always a disappointment to this viewer.

(MILDLY) RECOMMENDED, but – even then – THE QUIET HOUR is mostly for die-hard SciFi fans with plenty of patience. The film’s chief problem isn’t so much its awful pacing as is its disappointing payoff: we end right where we began. Film buffs will sit through practically anything providing a reward in the final reel. HOUR tries to muster up one of mild significance, but coming and going quietly only works if the wild ride in between is worth the investment; and I’m not convinced this one is.

In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Monarch Entertainment provided me with a DVD copy of THE QUIET HOUR (2014) by request for the expressed purposes of completing this review; and their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.

Stardate 03.15.2017.A: The 100 Looks Ahead At a Fifth Season

3/15/2017

A few days ago, I noticed the article on Deadline.com stating that The CW Network had given Jason Rothenberg's The 100 a renewal for a fifth season, and I stopped short of sharing it then and there as I wanted to take a moment or two to actually think about what that meant to me as a viewer.

Honestly, I've been watching since the beginning (if I remember correctly, I screened the first two seasons on home video in a binge, and then started serially viewing on television), and it fairly quickly turned into one of those programs you enjoy but kinda/sorta hate to admit. This isn't to imply that it's an inferior program in any respect; the production values are very solid, and the big cast -- young and younger -- all turn in affable work in the Apocalypse drama.

Still, I have to admit that Season 3 just wasn't all that interesting plot-wise.

On more than one occasion, it felt a bit clunky, almost as if there was some behind-the-scenes tensions and/or creative developments not everyone was perfectly comfortable with handling, and a fair share of the action had series centerpiece Eliza Taylor (as the plucky Clarke Griffin) heading off on kinda/sorta 'vision quest' to 'find herself.' (My two cents: that's never a great thing for dramas, especially television ones.) Granted, it didn't last all that long, but then her characters (out of the blue) started experimenting with some lesbian yearnings; and -- although there were hints of some same sex attractions -- I never felt it evolved organically the way a good story would.

Thankfully, the writers never quite shoved it in the face of the viewers the way things happen on in the Greg Berlanti "universe of shows" (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow); but it was awkward enough that I couldn't help wondering if network shenanigans led showrunner Rothenberg into homoerotic territory.

To the franchise's credit, no one has been spared from the ongoing carnage, and even a regular, semi-regular, or two have been felled in the sake of good storytelling. Not every death has created fascinating subplots to explore, but these young adults have certainly become the respectable 'Katniss Everdeens' for the TV generation. Plus, The 100 gives Henry Ian Cusick something to do; keeps Isaiah Washington around as a curious mentor; and banks smartly on the good looks of Paige Turco to keep older fanboys (like myself) mesmerized with beauty she's become.

Consider it a solid guilty pleasure, though don't look for all of it to make perfect sense.

If you're not watching, then shame on you. There's no time like the present to catch up (summer months are terrific for binging on DVD), and the future is yet to come.

Stardate 03.14.2017.B: SciFi-ShoutOut - EArthling House Huntress Web Series

3/14/2017

Regular readers of the SciFiHistory.Net daily pages already know how often I've lamented about how few truly inspired SciFi comedies exist these days. It's extraordinarily difficult to get the formula right as 'going too light' risks ignoring much of what makes SciFi interesting and 'going too heavy' means demeaning those same principles ... but every now and then I stumble across something that looks like a winner, and I give it props.

Today's SciFi-ShoutOut goes to what appears at this juncture to just be an idea-in-waiting: CBC Comedy's "Earthling House Huntress" looks to satirize all of those home-buying reality TV entries by skewering it toward the SciFi-inclined, namely aliens looking to set up affordable residence here on Earth. I saw this little snippet via the Grand Ol' YouTube.com, and I thought I'd share it for interested participants.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Stardate 03.14.2017.A: Doctor Who - All You Have Is Now

3/14/2017

On the one hand, there's really very little use in belaboring an issue. I learned long ago that the only real constant in the universe is that "things change," and typically the more we as a people push back against that inevitability the more likely we are to cause ourselves greater damage than were we to embrace what comes next. The older you get, the more you see the writing on the wall, the more you feel the stitching on the ball, and you pretty soon you find yourself repeating that age-old phrase, "It is what it is."

Still, on the other hand, I was one of the few who actually liked Peter Capaldi's incarnation of Doctor Who when he appeared on the scene. (Well, so far as I was noticing, anyway.) He was a bit of a curmudgeon, true, but the best skeptics always are ... and the good Doctor has always been a balancing act of pessimism and optimism if there ever were such a character. I suppose that's what goes hand-in-hand with having the fate of the cosmos in your hands with such frequency: you realize that saving the universe today only means that you'll have to do the same tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that. So on and so forth.

It was about time for the Doctor to become a bit of a grouch, and Capaldi handled that with a master's touch. He wasn't 'mean for mean's sake' to anyone he met along the way (even the villains, by and large), but he certainly approached his share of derring-do with a bit of an attitude.

Well, his final days are upon us it would seem as this upcoming season and holiday special promises to be his march into oblivion (though viewers can be assured he'll be back in another guise post haste). The BBC has released a trailer for the episodes just around the corner, and though it was shared endlessly across the Information Superhighway yesterday I'm feeling inclined to do it for my little corner of the web below. Take a gander ...

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

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