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Reviews
Doctor Who: Terminus: Part Three (1983)
Necropoliptic Nonsense
The Big Bang Theory presented in this episode is neither as entertaining nor as plausible as its TV sequel. Trapped in a lazaretto in the center of the universe a mixed bag of villains and visitors face annihilation as a result of the Doctor's tripping a switch to jettison the fuel that will ignite a second Big Bag. The companions all fail to helpt the situation, either inadvertently or deliberately, and the Doctor is only just able to snatch victory from the jams of destruction with the help of a giant doglike physician who heals lazars by absorbing the disease from them. The story is difficult to follow, and hardly woth the trouble.
Stargate: Atlantis: Poisoning the Well (2004)
Hippocrates vs. Hypocracy
Medical ethics get short shrift here, with predictable results, making the Tuskegee Experiment pale by comparison. Although the lesser of two evils is chosen, it's still and evil, revealing the Hyde within Altantis' Scottish medical doctor.
The planet is menaced by the Wraith, one of whom is in custody in Atlantis, and Major Sheppard offers him up without first getting approval from Dr. Weir, whose civilian control rankles him. The Scottish doctor is charmed out of his resistance by the lovely daughter of the planet's administrator, who is desperate to complete a weapon that can be used against the wraith. Sweetness and light give way to despair and death in yet another imperialist incursion.
Star Trek: Picard: Monsters (2022)
Where failed psychologists got to die.
I suppose Picard might be explained by Freud, but he didn't do very well with Leonardo da Vinci. Whoever was responsible for this travesty of an episode needs analysis by the editors, producers, directors and others who have an legitimate interest in story-telling rather than psychosis.
Roswell, New Mexico: Killing Me Softly with His Song (2021)
Themes from Roswell
As a New Mexico native, I recognized the biases and right-wing prejudice exemplified in this episode. In 'little Texas", the eastern side of the state, oil and gas interests are the worst alien influences in reality, so it seems appropriate to use them as background. Although "pure" sci-fi and fantasy are strangers to the series, it is difficult to imagine sustaining three seasons on the original plot lines. As for "pure escape", we don't deserve a way out of our mess.
The Lincoln Lawyer (2022)
Broken
This is a mystery that follows a plot line resembling a wacky-tracks plot line that the cast seems unable to navigate to a successful resolution. The principal links are twists that include murder of central characters, miraculous discoveries that are worthy of Revelations. The cast is miscast, with a couple of exceptions, and the obscurity of the story line is matched only by Los Angeles smog, which figures prominently in the cinematography. I hoped that binge-wtching would resolve these problems for me, but I was mistaken. I think this is a poor effort by Netflix, and not worth the time to wathc.
Star Trek: Voyager: The Q and the Grey (1996)
Circus
This series has more tentpoling than the Barnum and Bailey circus. As much as I enjoy Q, I find this too much of a good thing, diluting his appeal in the ennui of the repetitious Janeway journey. It might be the failure of the basic premise of the series, which requires the continuous injection of successful characters from earlier incarnations of the franchise, or it just may be the intellectual shortcomings of the writers, but it will soon be the injection of Jeri Ryan that prolaongs the agaony.
Manifest: Mayday: Part 2 (2021)
There are no spoilers for this series
The series must have been better with the commercials. It could not have been worse. Sci-fi and fantasy are one thing. Total nonsense is another. The self-undermining premise of the story is insufficient to justify the lack of mental effort required to make any sense of it and I say that after wasting 3 three seasons binge-watching it. Don't waste your time. I.
Arrow: We Fall (2018)
We Fall is awful
There is neither rhyme nor reason to this plotline. Arrow and Felicity used to say "It's complicated," and the writers seem to have adopted this as their plot motto. The series gets harder to stomach, as artificial sweetener and color tend to overwhelm any real development of the characters.
Legends of Tomorrow: The Getaway (2019)
Jejeune.
Nonsense can be funny, but this series has run out of anything more than poor slapstick. There has been a general devolution of the characters, and many of the better ones have wisely decamped. I believe that there is no reason to expect anything better than comic book wit, but this is halfwit.
Republic of Doyle: Gun for Hire (2013)
Stock Characters go stale
The reappearance of Martin Poole is further evidence that this series is going stale. Although recycling action scenes was an early clue, although the chase scenes provide the only movement in the plots. Perhaps both the stock characters and the writers should be replaced.
Sorjonen (2016)
Ultimately a stone downer!
I made it through the first season and the first episode of the series, despite the mismatched dubbing and closed captions. There are no interesting cases here that transcend the combination of Finnish weltschmerz and Russian violence that is only relieved buy the principal character's weirdness and his wife's unsuitability. The final resolution of the cliffhanger case by the suicide and confession of the perpetrator provides a prime example of the malfeasance of the writers. It's been a long sad trip and I'm getting off this train.
Hinterland (2013)
Puts the "H" in "Hangdog"
It is rare to see the protagonist, a dissolute London policeman who has decamped to Aberystwyth, Wales, show any pleasure in any part of this series. His hangdog expression, which haunts most of every episode, matches the general Welsh desolation of slate mines and rain. It is not that he is peculiarly depressing, since most of the other characters seem to be in low spirits, even when drinking too many. The darkness is illumined slightly by the two principal woman actors, but the remainder of the cast exhibit signs of melancholy that can be a real downer if you watch a number of episodes in a row. If the title Dark Shadows were not already in use, it would be perfect for this series. Be sure your uppers are available.
Grey's Anatomy: Sanctuary (2010)
How bloody awful!
As if the increasing soap in this melodrama was not already too much, a mass murderer bring more blood and gore into the hospital. Of course, since this hasn't happened before, no one, including hospital security, has a clue how to respond. Dr. Dreamy is the target, but anyone in a white coat will do when the shooter loses his way. The prolonged adolescence of the cast surfaces in the crisis, further proving that this hospital is the site of a mocumentary of the genre.
Criminal Minds: True Night (2007)
great gobs of gore
This is senseless violence in every meaning of the word. It is also graphic violence in a literal sense. If it were an actual graphic novel, it would be in my circular file. Unfortunately, Netflix has no way of editing out episodes like this, so it gets caught in the spatter. Even for this series, this is a grave disappointment, and should be buried.
The Flash: The Wrath of Savitar (2017)
Where's Wally?
Wally's mother becomes the latest illusion affecting his speed performance as an avatar of Savitar, available directly to him without the intervention of Vibe or of other members of the team. In the usual mind -bendingly mindlessness of the tribe, Wally is sucked into the Speed Force allowing Savitar to emerge from his captivity there leaving Wally in his place for eternity. Flash reacts violently and attempts to kill Savitar, who explains the he is the future. Although stabbed through his clavicle, the Flash is saved, ironically, by his staff doctor, who opened the door to the whole episode by holding onto a piece of the Philosopher's Stone shed from the Flash's injection of Savitar into the Speed Force in the first place, hoping to shed her super cold power with it. Is it irony or is idiocy? Only the writers know for sure
The Flash: The Darkness and the Light (2015)
Blind men tell no tales.
Aar! Let's make fun of the handicapped, since we've run out of plots, ideas, themes, memes, and way past the end of the story line. What studio exec did we have to sleep with to get these jobs. It wouldn't be so bad if we had a few more authentic characters. Of course, soap opera sci-fi doesn't need anything less superficial than a uniform. Assuming that we can get a real writer could we think of something new?
The Flash: The Fury of Firestorm (2015)
Deja Vu all over again.
The originality of these stories resides in the ability of the writers to pull rabbits out of hats, to fly into an impossible situation via Deus Ex Machina airlines, and to rehash old episodes into disjointed story mosaics with abstract patterns unintelligible to ordinary humans. If there were metahumans in the real, as opposed to the comic book cosmos, they might understand the plot, or at least find it in the infinite number of parallel universes that the writers have grabbed off of pseudo scientists (read string theorists). Wait until they find out about the other seven dimensions they invented. Although the use of scientific knowledge used to be the staple of hard science fiction, the postmodern state of science is incapable of supplying any stiffening to this rubber story line.
Star Trek: Discovery: Despite Yourself (2018)
Mirror mirror mirror
This is a new twist on an ancient Star Trek theme, which brings the quirky sex lives of characters to rationalize their violations of Star Fleet protocols. Of course they are in an alternate universe so no worries. In this "imaginary" universe humans are the Evil Empire. The mirror in this episode is right out of some cosmic anti-fun house where Tilly is the anti-Lorca, with the real Lorca and the real Michael MIA or dead. LOL-not!
As usual the crew is rescued by deus ex machina airlines.
Fortunately, in this alternative universe Terrans don't have to apologize and so the writers are of the hook.
Star Trek: Discovery: Lethe (2017)
Curiouser and curiouser
Alice in Wonderland is the text of this series and in this episode we begin to grasp the logic of the relationship between the prequel and the original series since it links Michael to Spock's career in Star Fleet. It is too soon to know whether the logic is Vulcan or Freudian, but the assumption of the rank of Science Officer presents a paradox similar to other forms of time travel. Reverse continuity in time will be difficult to achieve for the writers.
Travelers: Jenny (2017)
CDC meets DMC
A pandemic caused by a pathogen designed in the future to "save the world" by reducing population by 30% is being spread by the Travelers, many of whom are revealed to be working for the "Faction" a dissident group that has resulted from the Director's previous missions' effects in the future. AI is not working any better then than it is now, and ripples in the stream of time become tsunamis from here to eternity.
The plot thickens to opacity and it seems to be crystallizing before the usual gun battle breaks out between the two teams of travelers and the Director arrives on Deus ex Machina airlines to resolve the conflict and save the day. Lots of collateral damage occurs but a miracle cure heads it off at the past.
I Think We're Alone Now (2018)
Still waters run deep
Post-apocalyptic stories are seldom as realistic as this, which has a contemporary setting and survivors who are as banal as the pair who populate a small town after everyone else has perished from an unknown cause.
Dinklage is amazing as he was in Game of Thrones, but his character is far more subtly wrought and limned by a restrained expression of his pain and compulsion to rebuild the environment in which he is struggling to survive what has killed almost everyone. Fanning is a more familiar post- apocalyptic character who finds herself in his company after foraging through the countryside and town armed with a revolver. Only after a car crash renders her unconscious and helpless does she persuade the fearful Del to allow her to stay and help clean up the remaining homes and shops in the town, burying the bodies in a vast, but not mass grave.
After they finally become intimate, he meets her parents, who reveal the truth that shatters their world. It also shatters the watcher's perception of whatever reality the film was intended to portray.
The underlying metaphor is physical: the second law of thermodynamics postulates that entropy must increase and, in the end, result in chaos. Biological systems create new energy as do radioactive decay and thermonuclear reactions in stars like the sun. These processes, which we have learned to replicate on a small but lethal scale, are transcended only by denial. The film reflects fundamental truths, but denying them is the postmodern disease.
The Shape of Water (2017)
Moving and subtle like a deep current of emotion
Much as I enjoy hard science fiction, I think that romantic science fiction like this has its place in the genre. The political and cultural nuances are resonant of our time while the personal and spiritual themes are as timeless as the human spirit. Unlike the tridimensional world in which we live, the film offers us an enjoyable realistic situations that are permeated with natural magic. If allegory and metaphor escape or confound you, there are plenty of alternatives in the motion pictures. There are no movies stars, no elaborate CGI diversions, no clever dialogue, no thrilling car chases, just solid, meaningful drama.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
Easy come, easy go.
One might think that having seen the original 2015 movie one would find this a typical sequel. It is very similar to the original, apart from the lamentable lack of Emily Blunt, who lent a touch of class to the original. While the remainder of the stars perform credibly, and the child star adds an unexpected charm, replacing the male stars might have weakened the sense of deja vu all over again. Given the abrupt end of this film, one may expect yet another sequel, which, like this one, will add more blood and guts with less plot. Sometimes, like the Chevy vans in this series , stars vehicles just break down from overuse.
The Doctor Blake Mysteries: Hear the Angels Sing (2017)
Fascinating denouement
What a pleasure it is to watch this detective procedural set in 1950s Australia with a flawed protagonist who ingratiated the viewer with his humanity and intelligence he applies to his duties as a police surgeon who compulsively meddles in solving murders that afflict the village of Bellarat. The sympathetic cast and sensitive psychological approach is appealing, the plots are challenging and the storyline has been sufficiently consistent to create expectations of the viewer that the series will continue.