Tag Archives: Science Fiction

The Expanse: A Telltale Series – ARCHANGEL – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – We take a look at the bonus episode from The Expanse: A Telltale Series featuring Chrisjen Avasarala  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for this game.

New York skyline.

The Expanse Review –

Earlier this year, we looked at a new Telltale-style game from Deck Nine that brought us back into the world of The Expanse. The Expanse: A Telltale Series explored the world of Camina Drummer (Cara Gee) before she joined the story that we know. It was a fun blast, bar that time, I accidentally got a crew member killed. You can read our full review of the game HERE. I knew there would be a bonus episode dropping at some point, but I didn’t know who it was going to focus on, and now it is here. I could not wait to give it a whirl.

So to set the scene, Undersecretary of Peace Operations Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) has been sequestered away from the United Nations to the Secretary General’s bunker. The rest of the politicians are up on Luna, and this is a sort of safety net, or prison, depending on who you ask. But if you are alive, you can work to find a way forward, even if there are phone calls from Calisto to distract you. Because Mendez (Rogelio Ramos) is out there trying to take your job, and you will not let that snivelling excuse of pustule get his way.

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Loki: Science/Fiction– T.V. Review

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TL;DR – A solid interlude preparing us for the chaos that will be the season/series finale.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is an audio cue at the End of the Credits.

This start to turn to spaghetti.

Loki Review –

Now Loki likes big ‘what the heck moments’ that dramatically shift everything we know. It didn’t hit as well as it could have in Season One, but I am not sure anyone particularly saw last week coming, where death came from every side. The question is: can they build upon that moment and propel everything forward or languish in possibilities?

So to set the scene, after fighting off the threat from Miss Minutes (Tara Strong), it looked like for a moment that they were actually going to stabilise the Temporal Loom and save the Multiverse. That was until Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) ran out to fix the problem and was immediately spaghetti-fied. Quite gruesomely, I should add. All Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Morbius (Owen Wilson), Sylvie (Sophia di Martino), Casey (Eugene Cordero), and O.B. (Ke Huy Quan) could do is sit and watch as the Time Loom collapsed under all the different timelines and the TVA was destroyed from within. Which makes it all the more peculiar when Loki opens his eyes to find himself still in the now empty TVA and time slipping all over the place. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Old Friends, New Planets and Season Four- TV Review

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TL;DR – A solid end to a fascinating series.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Walking across the bridge at the Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

We have reached the end of the season for Star Trek: Lower Decks of what has been a solid season for the series. However, when you have summoned the great ‘To Be Continued …’, you must ensure you live up to that hype. In today’s review, we will first tackle the season finale and then look at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, at the end of The Inner Fight, we discovered that the person behind all of the ship mutinies was former Starfleet Academy bad boy Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill). What is worse, he has just kidnapped Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and warped her away to his lair, where his fleet is kept. He is trying to start a revolution across space with a Genesis device to back it up. Starfleet is holding back so it does not accidentally cause a war, but Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) does not have the time to wait. We will be looking at the episode and series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Air Force Wong

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TL;DR – For the first time in a while, I think we actually saw some character progression for Rick

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Unity's ship lands in San Francisco.

Rick and Morty Review –

This season has been interesting in how safe they have felt. I am unsure if this safety was embedded before one of the creators left, and things got shifted up. Whatever the timeline might be, the outcome has been honestly quite forgettable. I had hoped that this season might pick up, and this episode is the first look that it might just be doing that.

So to set the scene, much to everyone’s surprise, Rick (Ian Cardoni) has been going to therapy with Dr Wong (Susan Sarandon) all by himself. He is even ignoring the calls of The President (Keith David) while there, which the President takes … well, not good. But when Virgina turns to love, and it appears that a Hive Mind (Christina Hendricks) has landed on Earth, it is time to get a crash course in couple’s therapy. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Heart of the TVA – TV Review

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TL;DR – It starts from 100 and then blasts ahead from there.   

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

The remins of a palace stuck in time.

Loki Review –

After a strong opening, last week’s 1893 was the first time I had pause to wonder if Season Two might not be on as firm a footing as I had first thought. But you can’t count your chickens before they hatch, and we still have half the season to go. With that in mind, let us jump into this episode before the episode starts a paradox it can’t fix.   

So to set the scene, after helping Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) escape with knowledge of the TVA because they were fighting. Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) make their way to the end of time to see the dead He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) and his crumbling palace. It is here that Miss Minutes reveals that Renslayer helped with the last war, like did most of it themselves, and well, maybe they don’t need another He Who Remains to run the TVA. Which is when Victor Timely arrives in a TVA and might be the only one who can save the world. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: The Inner Fight – TV Review

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TL;DR – A tail of two parts, one fascinating, the other frustrating.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Outpost Scientists.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

It is the penultimate of Star Trek: Lower Decks’ fifth season, and I wondered if the show could pull all those different threads together. Since the revelation at the start of the season about a mysterious ship destroying non-Federation vessels, it felt like we were barrelling towards something. Now it is time to see if that something was worth barrelling towards.

So to set the scene, we open in on Persioff IX, where a pair of Outpost Scientists are observing a local creature that spits acid and is covered in neurotoxin, and when things go wrong, Mariner (Tawny Newsome) rushes out to fix the problem herself. Her friends, Tendi (Noël Wells), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), have become concerned about this risk-taking behaviour, even the command crew. When Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore) is concerned about your risk-taking behaviour, you know there is a problem. All they need to do is distract Mariner because they must pick up notorious risk taker Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill) before he influences Mariner to do even more risky behaviour. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: The Jerrick Trap  

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TL;DR – This is another perfectly safe episode that does not go as far as it could have.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Warning – Contains moments that may cause distress.

Jerry enters Rick's Lab.

Rick and Morty Review –

Last week’s How Poopy Got His Poop Back ushered in a new era for Rick and Morty and gave us a pretty okay episode. It’s not bad, but it’s not standing out, either. The question I had was this choice they made for just the first episode, or is this foretelling where the rest of the season is going? And I think we are at the latter.


So to set the scene, Jerry (Chris Parnell) is frustrated because one of the neighbours said they didn’t have his rake way too quickly, meaning they have his rake. Rick (Ian Cardoni) replies with one of his usual dismissive remarks. But this time, Jerry does not let it lie. He chastises Rick for not using his brain as much as he could. Incensed, Rick demands they swap brains to see who is the worst off, but not in a Freaky Friday way. Well, Rick cannot handle being in Jerry’s body for three seconds and ‘removes himself from the equation’, and Jerry has no way to control his new gadgets and crashes into the ceiling. This is not a good day for Rick’s computer (Kari Wahlgren). We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: 1893 – TV Review

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TL;DR – An episode of two halves, one fascinating and the other frustrating.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

Chicago

Loki Review –

This season of Loki has been delightfully refreshing, as it is clear that they have learned from their mistakes on the first time out. However, after setting up the narrative drive for the season, it is time to get into the meat of things, and that is when things could go awry.

So to set the scene, we opened in 1868 in Chicago, Illinois. After fleeing the TVA at the end of the last season, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) jumped back to find Miss Minutes (Tara Strong). But the unpaved streets of Chicago were not where she expected to end up. Even more so when she discovers Miss Minutes’ plan. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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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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