Category Archives: TV Reviews

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew: Way, Way Out Past the Barrier [S1E2] – TV Review

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TL;DR – It continues the energy of that first episode by throwing our characters right in the deep end and seeing if they can swim.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Hyperspace.

Skeleton Crew Review –

Today, it is time to look at the second part of our two-part opener for Skeleton Crew. Our first episode very much homed in on that Goonies-In-Space vibe, which was just a charm to watch. Today, we see if that was just a first-episode glitch or if they really can make this vibe last a whole season or more.

So, to set the scene, after being accidentally flung into hyperspace on a surprise spaceship in This Could Be a Real Adventure. The new crew of Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter), and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith/ Kacie Borrowman) have to work out how to get the Onyx Cinder back home. When they wake up the robot’s first mate, SM-33 (Nick Frost/ Rob Ramsdell), all they want to do is get back home. The only problem is that the ship does not know where that is. It is also damaged, so they go to a pirate port for repairs. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Wars: Skeleton Crew: This Could Be a Real Adventure [S1E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a charming start to the series that gives the set-up you need for an adventure like this.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

Wim pretends to be a Jedi.

Skeleton Crew Review –

Sometimes, there is a premise so strong that you know it will be interesting and what if Star Wars was also The Goonies is right up there. But a concept will only get you so far. It is the execution that is make or break, and today, we look at the first episode to see if they can marry the two together.

So, to set the scene, a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, The New Republic has been trying to maintain order after the collapse of the Galactic Republic, but piracy remains a significant issue. The life of a pirate is a fraught one, and coups are many. But where there is action, there are also just normal people living their lives on the planet of At Attin. But when Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) was running late for a test and took a shortcut that did not turn into a shortcut, he instead stumbled on something long buried in the forest. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Dune Prophecy: Two Wolves – TV Review

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TL;DR – Games with games, betrayals with betrayals, prophecies with prophecies.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this series.

Spacing Guild Liner.

Dune Prophecy Review –

Now that I have watched the first two episodes of Dune Prophecy, I can see what sort of vibe they are going for. It is safe to say that this series is not going to be for everyone. Indeed, it is tonally quite different from the two Dune Films, but probably not so different from the next Dune Film, whenever it happens. However, I will say that the one person this series is for is me, and I am pleased about that fact.  

So, to set the scene, in The Hidden Hand, we see that many different factions are moving in secret to find power in this new empire. The sisters of the Bene Gesserit are at a crossroads, wondering where their future will lead. Spice mining is becoming more difficult, but that might be one of the Great Houses moving for power rather than rebellion from the local population. Also, political marriages are becoming tense when child husbands end up dead. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Citadel Honey Bunny – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is the first Citadel show that I think captured what set out to do with this series.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this series.

Doing a motorbike stunt.

Citadel: Honey Bunny Review –

We are now three seasons deep into this grand Citadel experiment from Amazon Prime. The first season was a complete mess, but that might have been more about behind-the-scenes issues than anything else. On the second outing, Diana jumped over to Italy and was an improvement on the formula. But today, it is India’s turn to show what they can do, and spoiler for the review: what they can do is quite a bit.   

So, to set the scene, we are in Nainital in the year 2000, and Hanimandakini “Honey” Raj (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) is dropping her daughter Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar) off at school and building up a café. However, things take a turn when Honey notices that she is being followed in the market. She dodges her pursuer, sends a coded message of alarm to her daughter Nadia (Kashvi Majmundar), and almost gets a surprise attack, but she misses the second tail. For you see, back in 1992 in Bombay, while Bunny was trying to make it in the acting world, she met Raahi “Bunny” Gambhir (Varun Dhawan), who was on the stunt team. But when Honey struggles to get work and is in desperate need of a job, she discovers that stunts are not all that Bunny does for money. On the side, he and his group Chacko (Shivankit Parihar) and Ludo (Soham Majumdar) also engage in a little corporate espionage. We will be looking at the season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Silo: Order [S2E2] – TV Review

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TL;DR – We get to see a society on the brink of collapse, where years of lies have come home to roost

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

Juliette Lives Graffiti.

Silo Review –

While the opening episode, The Engineer, was all about what happened to Juliette, I wondered if we were just going to keep following their story. However, the casting list showed me that we were still going to stay linked to the Silo from the first season in some capacity. Well, today, we see just what those links will be.

So, to set the scene, after being set up by Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) and Robert Sims (Common), Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) was forced to go outside and ‘clean’ in the season finale. However, she does not clean and just walks away, breaking centuries of tradition. Also, Nichols was well-liked in many sectors of Silo, and people were upset and asking questions. The whole Silo is on the cusp of rebellion. Everyone just saw Juliette walk over that hill, and everyone, especially those down below, wanted to know what that meant. Is it safe? Can they all leave? What else is management lying about? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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The Penguin: A Great Or Little Thing & Full Season – TV Review

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TL;DR – A phenomenal ending to one of the great surprises of 2024

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this series.

Penguin wakes to see Sofia looking down on him.

The Penguin Review –

To say that the DCU has had a bit of a bad run up until now might be putting it mildly. Indeed, even this year, they had the absolute disaster of Joker: Folie à Deux. So, I am not sure that I had much hope in a television spinoff of The Batman, which was not even in the DCU as it was made during the bifurcation period. However, I have never been gladder to be wrong. In today’s review, we will first look at the season finale and then the season as a whole.

So, to set the scene, things are coming to a head in Gotham as the war between Oswald “Oz” Cobb (Colin Farrell) and Sofia Gigante (Cristin Milioti) comes to an explosive climax. Now Oz has been captured by Sofia and has been brought to a final confrontation with Francis Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell). Because a profound revelation is about to drop after some prompting from Dr. Julian Rush (Theo Rossi). Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Of Gods and Angles – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is a solid, fun episode that makes the most of its silly premise.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

The USS Cerritos in the Veraflex Nebula.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

There are many ways in which Star Trek Lower Decks can shine, and one of the best of them is when they decide to go on a deep dive into the lore to find something to explore. Sometimes, that can be expanding on Orion culture for the first time since Enterprise, and other times, it can be a love letter to Star Trek’s fondness for caves. Today, we dive all the way back to the era of Those Old Scientists, with some demigods and a fight over angles.

So, to set the scene, the USS Cerritos has been positioned next to the Veraflex Nebula for weeks as it hosts peace talks between the Orbs and the Cubes, the photonic species that live there. It is hard to get people to talk when they complain that the ship has too many edges or that article ten is wrong because ten has an o in it. But as this goes on, Mariner (Tawny Newsome) is put in charge of an ensign, Olly (Saba Homayoon), on their last chance and gets some home truths when one of the diplomats turns up dead. They have to investigate because they are not high enough status to arouse suspicion, which, of course, went down as well as you would expect it to. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Nautilus Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – When this series comes together, it is a delight to watch. Unfortunately, a lot of the episodes are a bit hit or miss.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Stan service that viewed this series.

The crew does a slow walk.

Nautilus  Review –

In today’s re-make/re-boot culture, there are stories that you hear over and over again because they are in the public domain. Sure, it is great to see another take on Peter Pan, but there is a treasure trove of works in the public domain that are interesting and ready for interpretation through a modern lens. Today, we are looking at just such a property that has not been delved into since 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

So, to set the scene, it is 1897, and the British India Company has stretched its influence across the globe through colonisation and imperialism. One of those ships, in its vast navies, was on its way to Bombay when something rumbled the ship from below. They could have let it go, but Captain Youngblood (Jacob Collins-Levy) had to hunt it down. The only problem is that what they saw was not a beast but a craft unknown to science at the time and one that just ripped their hull out from underneath them. For this is a machine, a machine made of metal, that can travel under the water and is led by the magnificent Captain Nemo (Shazad Latif). We will be looking at the season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Dune Prophecy: The Hidden Hand – TV Review

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TL;DR – This first episode is mainly about the vibes, but if you click with it, you will be there for the long haul.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Bing service that viewed this series.

A lone figure in a red dress appears during a nightmare.

Dune Prophecy Review –

One world that I have always loved diving into is the world of Dune. It is a weird and wonderful world full of texture waiting to be explored. It also has a history that stretches for tens of thousands of years, giving you a wide range to place a story without banging up against the story of the films. A world of intrigue teetering on the edge of the abyss for many.   
So, to set the scene, in the years after the Butlerian Jihad against the Thinking Machines, humanity had to find a new way forward. There were many competing forces during that time, one of which was the witches of the Bene Gesserit. On Wallach IX, those same sisters are grieving the death of their first Reverend Mother. The sisterhood is at a future point. Which way forward would they proceed? Shall they point people in the right direction, or should they be the ones controlling things from the shadows? Thirty years after blood was shed in the Bene Gesserit cloister, 116 years after the end of the Great Machine Wars, and 10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. It will be time to see which direction the sisterhood takes. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Starbase 80?! – TV Review

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TL;DR – A weird little fun episode that gets to put the cap off the running joke of Starbase 80

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

Starbase 80.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

One of the recurring jokes on Star Trek: Lower Decks is that no one ever wants to get transferred to Starbase 80. The very joke of it is enough to put a pause on any dubious activity. We have known how bad it was since way back in Season One and now it is time to find out if the legacy lives up to the reality.

So, to set the scene, after cataloguing a bunch of algae on the ocean planet Piskes 9, the USS Cerritos was meant to head to a Captain’s Conference on Casperia Prime. However, after a navigation malfunction, the ship had to drop out of warp because they were flying blind. That is no problem. There is a Starbase they can reach by impulse. The only problem is that base is Starbase 80: Insert creepy music here. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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