Science Fiction

The Umbrella Academy – The Cleanse

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Umbrella Academy – The Cleanse
  • wiki: link

The Umbrella Academy - The Cleanse

“The Cleanse” is most notable for revealing how the Ben died during the flashback of the opening scene showing the last mission he went on as a member of the Umbrella Academy. Hargreeves (Colm Feore) explains the action of his other self and also why this version was working so hard to keep the team away from the adult Jennifer (Victoria Sawal) whose proximity to a member of the team, or anyone exposed to the marigold which gives them their powers could lead to the end of the world (foreshadowing the end of the series).

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Terminator Zero – Model 101

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Terminator Zero – Model 101
  • IMDb: link

Terminator Zero - Model 101

Despite showrunner Mattson Tomlin‘s assurance that the new Netflix anime set within the Terminator universe treats all the films as canon (a troubling proposition in its own right as the films don’t really fit together), the opening episode of Terminator Zero feels distinctly separate and different from what has come before. Jumping between 1997 and a cliched workaholic father’s science experiments and 2022 where the machines are hunting down the last of humanity, the most the show feels like the original Terminator is in a brave young woman (Toa Yukinari) running from, fighting, and escaping a Terminator after her. Although it appears both she and a Terminator will join the 1997 time fairly soon, in the opening episode it’s definitely the weaker of the two stories.

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The Umbrella Academy – The Squid and the Girl

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Umbrella Academy – The Squid and the Girl
  • wiki: link

The Umbrella Academy - The Squid and the Girl

As the show moves into the rockier final episodes eventually limping to an unsatisfying series finale, the family, minus Klaus (Robert Sheehan) who begins his own misadventures getting stuck using his powers for his old dealer, go in search of Jennifer (Victoria Sawal) who wakes up to meet her kidnappers Gene (Nick Offerman) and Jean (Megan Mullally) and their cult is obsessed by helping bring about the return of the original timeline through a cleanse. Ben (Justin H. Min) eventually finds and rescues her which will turn out to be not great for the rest of the world.

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Star Trek: Prodigy – Kobayashi

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Star Trek: Prodigy – Kobayashi
  • wiki: link

Star Trek: Prodigy - Kobayashi

Star Trek Saturday gives us another episode of Star Trek: Prodigy. “Kobayashi” reintroduces two concepts from previous incarnations of Star Trek. The first, the Holodeck, is discovered by Dal R’El (Brett Gray) who becomes obsessed with the second: The Kobyashi Maru Scenario. Much of the episode consists of Dal failing the Starfleet training scenario over and over before learning the lesson that the program is meant to offer. The hologram scenarios are notable for offering versions of several Star Trek characters to fill out the training crew making use of their voices from the Star Trek library including Spock, Uhura, Scotty, and Odo which limits what they can say but still works well enough to sell the premise of the episode while offering a hat tip to what has come before.

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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
  • IMDb: link

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Set hundreds of years after the events of the previous films, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes introduces a new protagonist to kick off a new trio of films which tease the return of humanity into the world as well. Noa (Owen Teague) encounters a rare smart human named Mae (Freya Allan) leading to a larger story for the upcoming sequels about the rise of humanity, although the conflict of this film will be more ape vs. ape with Noa standing up the the despot Proximus (Kevin Durand) who has destroyed Noa’s home and abducted his clan to further his own ambition of unearthing and unlocking secrets of human technology.

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