Science Fiction

The Freemaker Adventures – Home One

  • Title: LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures – Home One
  • wiki: link

The Freemaker Adventures - Home One TV revoew

Season two of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures begins with the Freemakers finding a new home with the Rebellion. While the humans prove their value with repairs and ability to trade for parts, Roger (Matthew Wood) ends up getting into trouble (although one of his stunts does earn him a medal when he unintentionally helps the Rebel Fleet take down a Star Destroyer). Another of Roger’s screw-ups gets both the robot and Rowan (Nicolas Cantu) involved in a bombing run. Even Zander (Eugene Byrd) gets some short-lived glory by taking down an entire squadron of TIE Fighters… before blowing himself up.

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Kill Switch

  • Title: Kill Switch
  • IMDb: link

Kill Switch movie reviewThere’s an interesting set-up in Kill Switch that sadly get lost by the one-note gimmick of the film’s first-person presentation. While the flashbacks pull back and allow scenes to unfold naturally, every scene taking place in the present is shot like a first-person shooter (which becomes even more obvious once our protagonist starts to pick up weapons). Had director Tim Smit been more interested in making hard-core sci-fi the results could have been more compelling.

The premise of screenwriters Charlie Kindinger and Omid Nooshin‘s script is a company has found a cheat for clean energy. Their new invention will create a parallel Earth from which we will be able to steal all the resources we need. Will Porter (Dan Stevens) is aggressively approached by the group to join their team. And when things go wrong, like vehicles from the parallel Earth dropping from the sky through portals, it’s up to Will to travel to the other side and set things right. And surprise, the world isn’t devoid of sentient life as the scientists hypothesized. Instead it’s full of doppelgangers (including coworkers Bérénice Marlohe and Tygo Gernandt) in a mirror reality devolving into chaos.

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Darth Vader #1

Darth Vader #1 comic reviewSet earlier than Marvel’s previous Darth Vader series, the new comic begins shortly following the events of Revenge of the Sith with a newly resurrected Darth Vader sent out to prove his work to the Emperor and earn himself a new lightsaber. The logic of his mission seems a bit off, even for a Sith proving himself to his master, and I don’t know how I feel about the comic’s goofy explanation for where red Kyber Crystals come from.

While the setting allows for far more storylines than the previous comic (set between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back) it also means we’re unlikely to see much in way of appearances of core Star Wars characters. The issue also includes a more humorous back-up story set far later in Vader’s timeline (mainly to justify a higher pricepoint for the comic).

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Doctor Who – Knock Knock

  • Title: Doctor Who – The Pilot
  • wiki: link

Doctor Who - Knock Knock television review

“Knock Knock” puts a Doctor Who twist on a classic haunted house story. After Bill (Pearl Mackie) signs a release with five friends to rent a creepy old house The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) becomes concerned. Insinuating himself into their first night on the house, the Time Lord discovers there’s more to the old home than just creaky boards and odd sounds. The house, or to be more precise the alien bug creatures in the house, it turns out consume the renters one by one for the Landlord (David Suchet) who has been feeding the creatures unsuspecting tenants for decades.

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Star Trek – Dagger of the Mind

  • Title: Star Trek – Dagger of the Mind
  • wiki: link

“I must now use an ancient Vulcan technique to probe into Van Gelder’s tortured mind.”

Star Trek - Dagger of the Mind TV review

This week’s Throwback Thursday post takes us boldly back to where no man had gone before. In “Dagger of the Mind” a relatively simple cargo drop-off at a penal colony on Tantalus V leads to the discovery of something sinister once the former head of the institute stows away aboard the Enterprise. Seeking answers, Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. Helen Noel (Marianna Hill) beam to the surface to have a look around for themselves. There they discover the doctor in charge is using a neural neutralizer not only to calm the patients but also alter people’s memories which Dr. Adams (James Gregory) uses on Kirk in an attempt to control the captain by implanting memories of a fake tryst with Helen who is then put in danger. Kirk breaks free of the conditioning long enough to turn the tables on his tormentor who gets a deadly taste of his own medicine.

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