Science fiction, fantasy, horror, and media (comedy, drama, TV, audio, romance)

  LEGACIES   Wow! Season four of this series is awesome, the best thing on TV right now. A spinoff that came from THE ORIGINALS which itself was a spin off of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, this surpasses both of them. All three have their built in flaws and delights but LEGACIES, about the school for witches, werewolves, and vampires is NOW consistently good.   It, almost unlike both previous series, has been surprising in its twists and turns and been consistently changing for the better. VAMPIRE was stuck on the Elena thing for a long time and reveled far too long on its villains and how the evil affected every member of the cast of characters that were good.   Fine enough, the series had more good than bad episodes for a short time in its first year it felt like a new DARK SHADOWS, only edgy and with a lot less unintentional camp factors. A fair share of great episodes.   THE ORIGINALS started out strong with the set of villains from VAMPIRE but in lat...

  DARK SHADOWS 385 “Abigail and the Countess are convinced that you are a witch and they brought this man here to prove it.” “Now, why should I run away?”   Natalie is right and wrong. She says someone in this house wanted that duel to take place. Angelique did not, though who knows what SHE really wants. Natalie also says someone wanted Jeremiah to die. There’s no real proof of that, only that Angelique did not want Barnabas to lose or to die. At this point, Nathan seems as if he’s still a “good guy” worrying about Jeremiah, bantering with Natalie and defending Barnabas’ actions. When Trask arrives (a great Jerry Lacey), we see brand new backdrop of a clear, white outside pole holding the front porch overhang up and bushes. It looks great.   Nathan also opposes Trask, who it seems has no appointed church but is self ordained. Nathan even warns Vicki and tries to get her out of the house.   It’s harder and harder to like Vicki in ANY scene she’s in. ...

  PICARD s2e9: HIDE AND SEEK This must be a record for how fast the badness can start. Rios runs with his doctor and her son to get away from the new Borg and Agnes. We don’t see where they run to because the camera follows Agnes to the Queen’s half body…and Agnes is suddenly naked. Sigh. Cringe.   More Borg appear. Tallin appears with weapons, but just one for her and one for Seven. Rios and his two friends arrive. More…three minutes in and... I’m done.   I mean maybe I’ll watch ep10 but this looks boring and I can’t deal with it any more. I hate this show. I’m over this season. Maybe ep10 will provide more but I don’t care about any of this.   PICARD season two: epic fail. MST get your hands on it: it is ripe Riffing material.

  UNCHARTED, HARPOON, and THE WITCH   Two movies. Yeah. Tom Holland Mark Wahlberg are in UNCHARTED, which is based on a video game (?). The movie starts off well enough and the two are engaging but about 42 minutes in, it feels…inauthentic, which is the opposite of how it felt in the first 30 or so.   The jokes which were fine in the first 30 minutes aren’t any longer and the twists and turns feel illogical and forced. The action isn’t even that great either, the fights not being all that well done and maybe too fast speeded up?   There are a few wtf moments like a dance club under a church and at least two great set pieces which the movie bases itself around (it’s not enough though) including two old pirate ships (?) hoisted in the air by helicopters and the payload of a plane AND the stars being dumped out the back.         Tom and Mark are infinitely watchable in this buddy movie but it also felt as if Mark’s character mig...

  DOCTOR WHO-PLANET OF FIRE parts 2 and 3   Okay, let’s get this out of the way. First, there’s a lot of boy shorts on display but for the hetero in us, we get a LOT of Peri, too. Peri, for her part, is given a lot of bravery, facing down the Master or rather the Master in Kamelion or something and the Master AND pushing him, threatening him, and shouting just as loud as he can and she does it in style to be honest, though the acting is a bit rough around the edges. I’ve really warmed to her in this serial over the years and given that she’s not Adric or Romana or even Tegan or Nyssa, she’s rather good in many ways here, proving her merit. What I do not understand is the Doctor leaving a total stranger in his TARDIS with another total stranger, Howard without at least checking that it’s not Kamelion but never mind.   Okay, the outfits on Sarn: on young guys like Ro…hand on (hand on? A slip? I meant hang on) a sec…   There’s a poor soul named Zuko (see AVA...