Tag Archives: Science Fiction Television

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Caves – TV Review

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TL;DR –  A charming clip of friends stuck in a cave.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

As Season Four of Star Trek Lower Decks progresses, I have been genuinely joyful about how the shake-up of promoting the team has let the show evolve its dynamic. But never one to shy away from a good reference. This week, we get not one but two deep cuts as we dive into the world of Star Trek caves.

So to set the scene, we open on the planet of Grottonus as the USS Cerritos orbits above. It has been an age since they were promoted, and for the first time, the old lower decks team of Boimler (Jack Quaid), Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) have all been put on the same away mission. Mariner is ecstatic right up until she discovers that it is a “cave mission”. Everyone else loves caves, but like clockwork, there is a tremor, and the away team is trapped. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.       

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Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Eight: The Jedi, The Witch, and The Warlord & Full Season – TV Review

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TL;DR – A lacklustre conclusion to a solid season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

A Star Destroyer docked at the temple.

Ahsoka Review –

Well, we have reached the end of what turned out to be Ahsoka’s first season, and I came into this series with a bit more trepidation than any of the other Star Wars series. I did not watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels growing up, and I wondered how much that would have hindered me starting here. But as we reach the end, I am a little more confident about where we are and, surprisingly, where we will go from here.

So to set the scene, after fighting, flying, and finding across multiple galaxies, Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson), Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Ezra (Eman Esfandi) are finally reunited on Peridea. However, while this is a joyous moment, there is no time to celebrate because time is running out. Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) has been filling his star destroyer with its cargo, and it will soon be ready to fly back home. They must act fast to stop the tyrant and the last lingering remnant of the Imperial Order. But time is not on their side as their ship crashes to the ground. 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 Wars: Ahsoka – Part Seven: Dreams and Madness – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is time to get our battle on as the many different elements of this show come crashing together.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

the nightsisters

Ahsoka Review –

When I came into this show, my only connection to any of the characters was Ahsoka’s (Rosario Dawson) time in Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, and that probably was not a ringing endorsement. Add to that some more time with Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) on Andor, and hey, is that the cool space dad, Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), who is in everything. I didn’t come in with the passion for these characters that many people did, but I am starting to understand the appeal.

So to set the scene, Ezra (Eman Esfandi) and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) get reunited down on the surface, not knowing that this is part of a trap set by Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and Lord Baylan (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) are chasing at their heels. Up on a space whale, Ahsoka and Huyang (David Tennant) are ready to re-enter this new galaxy, not knowing that the Nightsisters (Jeryl Prescott Gallien, Claudia Black & Jane Edina Seymour) warned of their coming and they have prepared a trap waiting for them. But back in the republic, Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has to answer for her wilful ignoring of the Council. A court-martial is in her future until she receives aid from an unlikely source. 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: Something Borrowed, Something Green – TV Review

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TL;DR – We delve into Orion culture one dagger to the shoulder at a time

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
USS Cerritos

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

The one thing that Star Trek: Lower Decks has worked hard at is finding that middle line between being a comedic take on the Star Trek universe and being a show that would fit in that universe. While you can see that love in every single Easter Egg [there are so many]. But they don’t always get that balance right. Today, we get a fantastic example of what an episode can be when they walk that narrow line.

So to set the scene, the Lower Decks gang is still getting used to the new world where they are Lieutenant (j.g.). It comes with perks like not living in a corridor and being able to finish all your tasks for the day, but it also comes with responsibilities. For Tendi (Noël Wells), that means going back to Orion because her sister is getting married, and Starfleet wants to make a good impression after an Irion ship mysteriously vanished. Tendi is understandably hesitant, even more so when T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) and Mariner (Tawny Newsome) tag along. But hey, it is not like her sister will get kidnapped just before the wedding? … Right? … Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Six: Far, Far Away – TV Review

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TL;DR – We get a story from a galaxy far, far away.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The hyperspace sled approaches the whale graveyard.

Ahsoka Review –

Last week with Shadow Warrior, we got the middle point of the narrative, laying out where everything will be heading. However, while all that was going on, there was part of the story that was absent. The driving force of the season so far. The only question is, was it worth the wait?

So to set the scene, as Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Huyang (David Tennant) hop on a ride from a star whale heading to a galaxy far, far away. Lord Baylan (Ray Stevenson), Shin (Ivanna Sakhno), Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) rocket into a floating graveyard and the ancestral home of Morgan. But the anticipation does not have to wait for long as the Grand Mothers (Claudia Black, Jeryl Prescott Gallien & Jane Edina Seymour) announce that Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) is on his way. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Foundation: Creation Myths & Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – The crisis climbs to a crescendo as cracks cascade over a crumbling continuum of chance and causality.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The death of Terminus.

Foundation Review –

Well, we have come to the end of the second season, and what a fascinating season it was. Adapting novels to work in a visual medium is no small feat, let alone one of the founding icons of Science Fiction. Taking a selection of interconnected short stories and making them work as a whole and in a framework that will work with a modern audience is a tightrope to pull off, and today, we will see just how well they have managed this task.  

So to set the scene, we open in the moments after Long Ago, Not Far Away ended by discovering just how Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) survived being very dead, so dead that even Salvor (Leah Harvey) believed he had passed. A trick from Gaal (Lou Llobell) so powerful that not even Tellem Bond (Rachel House) sees through the deception. As Terminus lays there as a flaming ruin, with Brother Day’s (Lee Pace) fleet in orbit, the question becomes, how can psychohistory’s plan continue from here? When all we know has been left in ruins. But when a sensor is tripped, Demerzel (Laura Birn) soon discovers that secrets can escape no matter how much you try to control them. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Five: Shadow Warrior – TV Review

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TL;DR – A blast into the past and a push into the future.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Dual on the astral bridge.

Ahsoka Review –

One of the first things I mentioned back in Part One: Master and Apprentice is that I was coming into this series without watching the Rebels or Clone Wars animated shows that were being used as the springboard for both the characters and the narrative. I had wondered if this would be a show where you could follow what is going on if you were not coming in with all that extra homework. Well, today, we get the best litmus test for that.  

So to set the scene, last week’s Fallen Jedi did not end on the best note for everyone. Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) was tempted by Lord Baylan (Ray Stevenson) about the chance to be reunited with her lost friend and didn’t destroy the map. While Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) was thrown from the cliffside into the waters below. Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and the cavalry arrived, but it was not quick enough to stop Morgan Elsbeth’s (Diana Lee Inosanto) Hyperspace sled from jumping off into galaxies unknown. But what is waiting for Ahsoka in the ever after is not what she was expecting … a battle. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Foundation: Long Ago, Not Far Away– TV Review

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TL;DR – The calamity of capriciousness causes crisis conflagration.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

A jail for an andriod.

Foundation Review –

As we crash into the end of the season with today’s penultimate episode, there is a building wonder as to whether this season can stick the landing. It has pulled in so many different directions. Will that work when you bring everything back together? Well, this is what we will explore today.

So to set the scene, in The Last Empress, we discovered that Demerzel (Laura Birn) might, in fact, be the actual Empire, using the cloned dynasty almost as a shield to obscure her power. Today’s episode starts with her story of discovery, imprisonment, and how Cleon I (Terrence Mann) rescued/imprisoned her. But while this is happening, Brother Day/ Cleon XVII (Lee Pace) is going to Trantor looking to bring the Foundation down. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Four: Fallen Jedi– TV Review

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TL;DR – This is an episode that dwells on the weight of choices

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Ahsoka and Sabine ponder what to do next.

Ahsoka Review –

Thinking back on this season, it has been interesting, but I have not found the depths that many other people have with the show. I think part of that is that I am not coming with the wealth of experience from The Clone Wars and Rebels TV shows we draw from. However, this week, I am starting to see hints of what others revel in: destruction and creation coming in equal measures.

So to set the scene, in Time to Fly, Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson), Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Huyang (David Tennant) discovered that Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) has been building a giant hyperspace ship able to jump between galaxies. She wants to jump to where they think Thrawn ended up, bringing the last living Imperial Fleet Admiral back from the dead. Even though their ship has crashed, and they are stuck on the planet, the team has to do something to stop the map from being decoded before it is too late. 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: I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee – TV Review

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TL;DR – It’s promotion time, and things are changing on the USS Cerritos  

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Romulan wreckage.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

There is only one thing better than a new episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks dropping. That is two episodes dropping at the same time. But if Twovix was the episode where our crew [mostly] got promoted. Then I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee is looking at the fallout of that decision.

So to set the scene, in Romulan space and on a Tal Shiar ship, the crew are busy cleaning up the Reman juice leftover from an interrogation when a strange ship appears and blasts it away. Back on the USS Cerritos, the crew is busy backing up their bunks because they are now all Lieutenant Junior Grades. Well, Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), and D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) all got promoted. Poor Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) got left behind, but for how long? Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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