Science Fiction

1984 – The Last Starfighter

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Last Starfighter
  • IMDb: link

The Last Starfighter

Released 30 years ago, The Last Starfighter is a classic tale of wish fulfillment when a poor trailer park kid finds himself in a world beyond his wildest imagination. Recruited through the use of a video game, Alex Rogan (Lance Guest) is tapped to join the Star League and defend the frontier against Xur (Norman Snow) and the Ko-Dan armada. After an impromptu space trip courtesy of an unscrupulous recruitment officer (Robert Preston), Alex finds himself in deep space where the world of his video game is played out in front of his eyes.

Alex’s refusal to fight saves him the fate of the rest of the Starfighter recruits who are killed in a sneak attack by Xur’s forces. This leaves Alex alone as the last Starfighter pilot and the only one between Xur’s conquest of the galaxy. Casting Catherine Mary Stewart as the girlfriend back home, having her own misadventures with an android left in his place, and Dan O’Herlihy as Alex’s co-pilot and friend Grig, the movie offers a twist on the basic hero’s journey with humor, drama, some early computer effects (which still look pretty damn good 30 years later), and a love story which will eventually lead Alex back home after finally finding his place in the universe.

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Star Trek – Mudd’s Women

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Star Trek – Mudd’s Women
  • wiki: link

Star Trek - Mudd's Women

Chasing down an unregistered starship refusing to answer their hails, the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew are unprepared for what they find aboard. “Mudd’s Women” introduces Harry Mudd, the captain of the ship with an unusual cargo of three exceptionally beautiful young women (Karen Steele, Maggie Thrett, Susan Denberg) for whom the less-than-reputable space trader is attempting to arrange marriages which would be beneficial to them and lucrative for Mudd.

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
  • IMDb: link

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a surprise hit in attempting to reboot the Planet of the Apes series by explaining how the seeds of humanity’s destruction were sewn and the steps which led the apes to eventually become the dominant species on the planet. The first film has a few plot holes that still nag me, and although I enjoyed Rise of the Planet of the Apes it hasn’t been a story I’ve returned to or have given much thought to seeing expanded in sequels.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has many of the same strengths and weaknesses of the first film with the sly observations on gun violence, race relations, and how militant individuals can spur on a war which isn’t necessary or beneficial for either side. It also has the same types of nagging plot issues that Rise was saddled with as the script relies on some awfully stupid decision making by characters acting against their own interests (such as including a militant human, a one-note character played by Kirk Acevedo, who just shot one of the apes as part of a diplomatic mission the success on which humanity’s survival hinges).

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Extant – Re-Entry

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Extant – Re-Entry
  • IMDb: link

Extant - Re-Entry

Created by Mickey Fisher, the first episode of CBS’ new sci-fi series stars Halle Berry as astronaut Molly Woods who is slowly readjusting to life after spending 13 months isolated on a privately-owned space station. Her family life back on Earth is far from normal even before her return as her husband (Goran Visnjic) is a robotics inventor obsessed with creating human-acting artificial intelligence the prototype of which he has created as the pair’s son Ethan (Pierce Gagnon). Of course life on the space station wasn’t any more normal as somehow Molly got herself impregnated by some kind of alien apparition taking the form of her long-dead first husband (Sergio Harford). Cause, you know, in space shit happens.

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Super Secret Crisis War #1

/ / Comics

Super Secret Crisis War #1IDW’s big Cartoon Network crossover begins here as villains Aku, Mojo Jojo, Vilgax, and Mandark band together with an evil plan to send robot warriors to capture their enemies Samurai Jack, Ben Tennyson, Dexter, and Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttecup.

The first issue allows the various villains and heroes to each have their moments to shine (although I would have liked more Mojo) while also setting up a scenario where the various heroes’ realms are all now unprotected. The villains also accidentally send robots to several other worlds leading to the capture of Ed, Edd, and Eddy (where the story begins to falter a bit) and setting up the various other one-shots over the next six months beginning with Johnny Bravo.

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