Science Fiction

After Earth

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: After Earth
  • IMDB: link

After EarthBased on an idea from one of the film’s stars, the latest from director M. Night Shyamalan stars Will Smith and Jaden Smith as an estranged father and son in the far future who crash-land on a post-apocalyptic version of an abandoned Earth and must work together to survive. Part coming of age story, part father/son dynamic, part horror film, and part shaky science fiction, After Earth proves to be the most straightforward movie of Shyamalan’s career. Instead of twists or late reveals After Earth relies on drama, action, and ramped-up tension to play out a predictable story.

After racing through setting up this version of the future, the destruction of Earth, the settlement across the galaxy, and humanity’s battle with generic movie monster aliens known as Ursas (creatures who can smell and track fear of their prey across great distances), our story begins in earnest with General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) arriving home from his latest assignment to his talented but skittish son Katai (Jaden Smith) who on that very day has been denied advancement in the Ranger Corps for his inability to show calm in the face of danger.

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Doctor Who – Series 7 (Part Two)

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Doctor Who – Series Seven (Part One)
  • tv.com: link

Doctor Who - Series 7 (Part Two)After starring as different versions of the character in “Asylum of the Daleks” and “The Snowmen,” Jenna-Louise Coleman is properly introduced as The Doctor‘s (Matt Smith) new companion Clara, the impossible girl. Over the second-half of Series 7 The Doctor and Clara will travel to the planet Akhaten, fight a Martian Ice Warrior on a nuclear submarine in the middle of the Cold War, journey to the center of the TARDIS, battle WiFi created to steal peoples’ souls, go hunting for ghosts, and take on a new race of Cybermen in the universe’s greatest theme park.

In both “The Crimson Horror” and the finale “The Name of The Doctor” the show brings back the characters of Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), and their Sontaran butler Strax (Dan Starkey) as The Doctor returns to Victorian England and makes a trip to the one place no time traveler should ever go – his grave on the fields of Trenzalore.

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Battlestar Galactica #1

/ / Comics

Battlestar Galactica #1With Battlestar Galactica #1 Dynamite Entertainment launches a new comic series based on the original late ’70’s sci-fi series. This means we get the classic versions of the characters, the original Colonial uniforms (including those kick ass jackets I’d kill for), and the design of the original Cylons.

As a fan of the original series I was cautiously hopeful, but despite a kick-ass cover from Alex Ross and a completely insane plot about Temporal Weapons (missiles used to make enemy starships disappear from existence), the first issue is a bit of a disappointment.

The art by Cezar Rezak isn’t bad but certainly doesn’t do much to make a story that’s focused mostly on explaining the basics of the classic storyline for new readers all that interesting. And despite the absurdity of time missiles, the plot to this first issue by co-writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning feels sluggish and even, at times, uninspired. As much as I’d like to give this title time, there’s not much here to prompt me to pick up next month’s issue. Pass.

[Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99]

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Doctor Who – The Name of The Doctor

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – The Name of The Doctor
  • tv.com: link

“When you are a time traveler there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself… It wasn’t talking about my secret. No, no, no. That’s not what’s been found. It was talking about my grave.”

 

Doctor Who - The Name of The Doctor

It’s been 26-and-a-half years since the name The Valeyard has been mentioned on and episode of Doctor Who. Not only does the final episode of the 50th Anniversary season mention him by name, but it strongly foreshadows his imminent return. Of course that’s far from all “The Name of The Doctor” offers. We finally learn the secret of Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman), see The Doctor‘s (Matt Smith) final battle with The Great Intelligence (Richard E. Grant), and take a trip to the one place no Time Lord should ever go – his grave. The second-half of Series Seven has been high on concept, if a little shaky at times in execution, but the season finale sets up some huge stories for the show’s 50th Anniversary Special and beyond.

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Star Wars #5

/ / Comics

Star Wars #5The latest issue of Star Wars is split between Han Solo and Chewbacca trying to stay one-step ahead of the Imperial agents on their trail deep underground in Coruscant and Leia and her team of Stealth X-Wings being ambushed by a Star Destroyer and an entire fleet of TIE Interceptors.

The Leia storyline provides much of the action as Leia is severely wounded in a dangerous attempt to save the squadron. While dodging Stormtrooper and a pair of recognizable bounty hunters, Han and Chewie make a new acquaintance who offers them a way off the Imperial homeworld, but there’s a question as to whether or not they can trust the young woman or meet her steep price.

With the focus on the other characters, Luke and Prithi‘s storyline gets only a couple of pages, as does that of the Dark Lord of the Sith who makes a decision concerning the troubling identity of the young man who destroyed the first Death Star and Vader‘s current assignment overseeing the new Death Star. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

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