Tag Archives: SciFi

Movie Review – Rim of the World

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TL;DR –  This is fun adventure flick in the tradition of saving the world being thrust upon young people. A fun cast, a good set up, and a good use of world building.   

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Rim of the World. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

If you have read this site before you will know I am a fan of the alien invasion genre, indeed Independence Day is one of my top ten films of all time. So I am always interested to see different takes on the genre, to see where they can take the formula. Today we are looking at the newest Netflix film based around this very scenario, but also more than many films I have seen this year, Rim of the World both knows what it is and what it wants to do, and at all times it succeeds in these core drives.

So to set the scene, we open on the first day of summer camp as kids from around Los Angeles and further come together to have a fun time away. Alex (Jack Gore) is a space enthusiast who likes to live in his world of screens, but there is a reason for his isolation. Zhen Zhen (Miya Cech) has secretly flown across the Pacific to attend the camp in an attempt to overcome her disappointed father. Dariush (Benjamin Flores Jr.) is full of bluster, the rich kid that has it all, and cares more about his sneakers than other humans, but then it is all a shield. There is also Gabriel (Alessio Scalzotto) who no one quite knows why he is here. Rim of the World adventure camp is full of zip lines, canoe rides, and camp counsellors that may have needed more of a background check before starting work, so your usual summer camp. However, while all that is happening the International Space Station is being destroyed because entering high orbit is an alien mothership and as people will find out as the sky explodes, they are not here to make new friends.

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Movie Review – Prospect (2018)

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TL;DR – A sci-fi film that excels in creating atmosphere in both world building but also in creating a suffocating feel.    

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Prospect. Image Credit: Gunpowder & Sky.

Review –

I don’t think it is any great surprise that I am a fan of science fiction, I’ll take it any way I can get it. However, it is a rare film that captures my attention for doing things a little different and Prospect is such a film. Instead of big battle scenes and space opera set pieces, it focuses on building atmosphere and exploring the lives of its characters.

So to set the scene, we open in space convey ship as Cee (Sophie Thatcher) is listening in to some music only to forget to be back in their pod in time. She lives on the edges of society with her father Damon (Jay Duplass) trying to scavenge whatever they can to stay afloat. They are over a moon that is covered in a forest (the green) that produces toxic spores that make it impossible to breathe for more than a few seconds. However, it is home to some biological gems that are quite profitable if you can find a site that was not picked clean during the rush. Landing off course, they have to go overland to their job site when they run into Ezra (Pedro Pascal) and his crew. Setting off a tense scene because the Convoy ship is leaving in three cycles and it is not coming back which is just the moment everything falls apart.    

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TV Review – The Orville: The Road Not Taken and Season 2

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TL;DR – Time travel, parallel universes, and the end of the universe, oh my.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Orville: The Road Not Taken. Image Credit: Fox.

Review –

Time travel is a dangerous thing because you never know just what you may accidentally do. Today we are looking at the second part of an interesting look at the past of The Orville. It gives us time to see characters in a new light, in new circumstances, and asks the question: what could really happen when you know the future?

So to set the scene, at the end of Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Kelly (Adrianne Palicki) was meant to be sent back in time with her memories wiped so she could not accidentally change the crew’s past and her future because of the knowledge she knows. Well at the end of last week’s episode we discover that the memory wipe didn’t take, and out of a need to not cause any pain Kelly decides not to accept Ed’s (Seth MacFarlane) proposal for a second date. I mean that can’t change anything, right, it is just one date, right …? Well, as it turns out it might have changed everything. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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TV Review – The Orville: Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow

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TL;DR – We look to the past and find out how much we have changed, the show included

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Orville: Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow. Image Credit: Fox.

Review –

Time travel, oy vey, nothing quite gives me a headache like a temporal mechanics headache and today we are looking a doozy of one. Now, of course, this is not the first time that The Orville has dabbled in the world of time travel with Pria happening all the way back in Season One, which also set up some stuff that the show has yet to quite follow through with. However, today’s temporal jump is a much more personal affair.

So to set the scene, we open with Ed (Seth MacFarlane), Kelly (Adrianne Palicki), Talla (Jessica Szohr), and Gordon (Scott Grimes) sharing a drink and reminiscing about the past. Talking about the past has Ed reminiscing about lost loves but Kelly makes it clear that it would not be good for the ship or them if they repeated the past. The next day Isaac (Mark Jackson) and John (J. Lee) are showing Kelly a potential new temporal device when the ship is hit by a massive gravity wave. Not only does the damage the ship but it interacts with the device and all of a sudden a Kelly from seven years ago is standing in the science lab. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2 and Season 2

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TL;DR – An episode filled with emotional moments and big changes

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –

As I sit here after watching the final episode of Season Two of Star Trek Discovery, I am feeling a lot of emotions. On the one part, there was nothing too surprising that happened in the episode if you had been paying attention so far this season. However, it was also an episode with emotional moments that hit you in the gut.

So to set the scene, we begin where Part 1 ended up, with the captured Section 31 Fleet let by Leland/Control (Alan van Sprang) surrounding the USS Enterprise and the USS Discovery. Leland/Control has one want, to get the Sphere data found on the Discovery, and everyone has one hope to let Michael open a time wormhole to the future, so the ship can fly out of reach of control. Everyone is working to get the Time Travel Suit ready, charging the time crystal, and preparing for an onslaught. However, no matter what they were preparing for nothing they could do could get them ready for what is about to happen. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Such Sweet Sorrow Part 1

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TL;DR – An episode filled with goodbyes and also beauty

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Such Sweet Sorrow Part 1. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –


It is so close to the end and you can really feel it as each episode ratchets up the tension and leaves you aghast when the credits role lamenting that you can’t just watch the next episode then and there. Well, today we are exploring the penultimate episode of Star Trek Discovery’s second season, an episode of goodbyes and of also of real beauty.   

So to set the scene, we begin today right where last week’s Through the Valley of Shadows left off. After trying literally everything to stop Control getting the Sphere data and with Leland/Control’s (Alan van Sprang) armada closing in there is only one thing left to do, destroy the Discovery. With subspace communications being blocked, Pike (Anson Mount) puts out a call of someone he knows he can trust and soon the Enterprise and his Number One (Rebecca Romijn) have arrived to evacuate all the crew. Only then to discover that things never quite go to plan. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.     

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TV Review – The Orville: Sanctuary

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TL;DR – If we don’t defend those who need defence why should we save ourselves.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Orville: Sanctuary. Image Credit: Fox.

Review –


In the background of The Orville has been a growing problem for the Interstellar Union, and no that is not an external threat, but an internal dilemma. For a long time, there has been a growing unease with Moclus and parts of their culture that seem to go against what the Union stands for. This week this issue comes to a head when the very nature of the Union is called into question by Dolly Parton, sort of.

So to set the scene, after the destruction of a large chunk of the fleet in Identity Part 2, the Interstellar Union is trying to bring more ships online and upgrade the weapons of those ships they already have. The USS Orville is sent to Moclus to get the upgrade and also taxi some engineers to a scout ship, much to everyone’s annoyance. However, the engineers are carrying more than just supplies with them, which puts Bortus (Peter Macon) in a difficult position having to choose his own people over the crew. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Through the Valley of Shadows

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TL;DR – In our darkest moments we show our true strength or failure, and be glad we had Pike on our side.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Through the Valley of Shadows. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –

Things are starting to really hit the fan in Star Trek Discovery as a secret sentient AI is positioning itself to wipe out all sentient life and it has started using nanites to replicate real people. That’s a problem, a real problem, a ‘resistance is futile’ kind of problem. But never fear because the red lights are back and this week brings us revelations of the future and connections with the past.

So to set the scene, with the knowledge that Control now has 50% of the sphere’s data and that there is no more Red Angel to help because her time crystal was destroyed in last week’s Perpetual Infinity, everyone is a little bit on edge. No one more than Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) who watched her mum come back from the dead, be mostly disinterested in her, and then get sucked back into the future with no hope of returning all in a space of a day. That is going to be upsetting. But another of the red bursts has emerged this time over the Klingon planet Boreth, a sore spot for Ash (Shazad Latif) as it means reconnecting with L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) now the Mother of the Klingon Empire. As well as this, a Section 31 ship had an odd transmission and Michael is desperate to find Control and this might be the way to do it. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.     

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Perpetual Infinity

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TL;DR – Um wait, what, um did it just get all Borg up in here?

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Perpetual Infinity. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –

This is an episode of reconnecting, finding purpose and watching that all fall apart because that is how life is. This week we look upon the precipice where nearly everything is falling into place and we discover that the big bad might not be as unfamiliar as we once thought.

So to set the scene, at the end of last week’s Red Angel Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) was brought back to life as the trap the set to capture the Red Angel worked. Only to discover that the Red Angel was not Michael (I mean causality theory should have let you see that one coming) but was instead her mother Gabrielle (Sonja Sohn). Today we get to see it all happen when one moment Mike (Kenric Green), Gabrielle, and Michael (Arista Arhin) were sharing dinner and the next thing the Klingon’s arrive. Gabrielle jumps into the Red Angel suit in the hopes of jumping back an hour to warn them but is instead thrown 900 years into the future at which point her suit malfunctions because no matter what she does, it keeps bring her back to that point 900 years in the future. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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TV Review – The Orville: Lasting Impressions

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TL;DR – It looks at the addictions we could have, to objects, to people, to the past, and how sometimes we need help to get us out of it.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Orville: Lasting Impressions. Image Credit: Fox Network.

Review –

As we continue through Season Two of The Orville, tonight we take a step back from the big galaxy-ending conflicts to take a smaller quieter look at the past. However, while this is a smaller story, it does not mean that it doesn’t pack a punch. It explores what it means to be alive, what it means to get lost, and what it means to not be able to give up.

So to set the scene, in the far future of The Orville there is a quaint moment when a time capsule near Albany is dug up from 2015. In the time capsule, there were all sort of artefacts from the time period and such a diverse collection that Dr Sherman (Tim Russ) is taking them to be displayed in a museum. However, there is one area where they are at a loss, in the capsule, there is a mobile phone, but the battery is long been depleted. Well, the crew of the Orville will not stand for that so they work together and finally get all the power back revealing the phone was owned by Laura (Leighton Meester) who left a message for whoever would find it and who instantly captivates Gordon (Scott Grimes). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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