Tag Archives: Space Opera

Star Trek: Prodigy – Ascension, Part I & Part 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – Honestly, wow, I was sitting on the edge of my chair for the whole episode.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The USS Voyager-A and the USS Protostar.

Star Trek: Prodigy Review –

Have you ever been sitting watching a show and suddenly thought, “Hey, whatever happened to [insert important plot point here]”, only to get slapped in the face with that plot point a few moments later? Well, if you have ever had that happen to you, then you will know what I felt like as we jump into the episode today.  

So, to set the scene, after getting the USS Protostar back into orbit during the Last Flight of the Protostar and a number of struggles, we finally get back into contact with the USS Voyager-A. While Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Chakotay (Robert Beltran) get a moment to reconnect, things go from bad to worse. First, Starfleet wants them back to Earth so that they can deal with the Protostar themselves. But before that can happen, a danger from the past comes back with a vengeance. 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: Prodigy – Last Flight of the Protostar, Part I & Part 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is time to escape a world and find who we are.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The Protostar sails across the planet.

Star Trek: Prodigy Review –

After a season-long hunt for one Chakotay (Robert Beltran), there was always going to be a question of whether the series would be able to stick that landing. That is a huge emotional weight with a payoff that is needed given they are a legacy character … and you know what, I think they did it.    

So, to set the scene, at the end of The Devourer of All Things, as the time vultures circled in, there was only one hope left for the future. That was our team of Dal (Brett Gray), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), Jankom (Jason Mantzoukas), Zero, Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), and now also Maj’el (Michaela Dietz) had to jump through a portal to places unknown. Good news: they found the USS Protostar and Captain Chakotay. Bad news: they are stuck on a sand bar on a K-class planet and have no way to get off 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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Star Trek: Prodigy – The Devourer of All Things, Part I & Part 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This two-parter was a clear love letter to Star Trek.   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

USS Voyager-A over a planet

We are at the midway point in Star Trek Prodigy’s second season, and what a season we have had so far. We have swapped around holograms, had conversations with whales, been led by mysterious foes, and also discovered that The Doctor (Robert Picardo) 100% has written at least one enemies-to-lovers holonovel. However, everything is about to shift under their feet, and I can’t wait to see how.

So, to set the scene, after taking some shortcuts through an abandoned Borg Transwarp Conduit and stopping to get Zero (Angus Imrie) a real body. The team of Dal (Brett Gray), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), Jankom (Jason Mantzoukas), Zero, Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), and Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) have arrived at the coordinates in the nebula hoping to find a clue from Chakotay (Robert Beltran). But when they find a planet hidden in subspace, things take a turn. 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 Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Choice – TV Review

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TL;DR – Another flashback episode that I didn’t think we needed to have, yet it grew on me as time went on.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Twin moons loom overhead.

The Acolyte Review –

In the last episode with Teach/Corrupt, I championed how this series was able to keep up the momentum of its narrative after the shocking events of Night. Then I opened up this episode, and the dreaded sixteen years earlier appeared on screen. I had wondered if we would ever come back to Destiny and see what happened from the Jedi’s perspective, but I didn’t think that it would take up a whole episode.  

So, to set the scene, 16 years before the events of our time, the Jedi Sol (Lee Jung-Jae), Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss), Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman), and Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) were on a mission to the planet Brendok. It should be lifeless after a hyperspace explosion, but it is full of life, and the Jedi want to know why. Could this be a great convergence point for The Force, or is something else at play? However, as Sol explores the northlands, he finds a young Mae (Leah Brady) and Osha (Lauren Brady) playing under a tree that looks like nothing else on the planet, and history is made from there. 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 Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Teach/Corrupt – TV Review

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TL;DR – We take a breath after last week’s revel, only to dive deeper into the force.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

a 'Totally' Unknown Planet.

The Acolyte Review –

After a giant climatic episode, shows can struggle with the aftermath. Once you have paid off all that build-up, it can be hard to move on from that. Last week’s Night was very much an episode like that, with mass casualties and reveals a plenty. Today, we see if they can follow that up or if they will fall into the same traps.

So, to set the scene, at the end of Night, many Jedi had fallen, but Sol (Lee Jung-Jae) managed to escape with Osha (Amandla Stenberg), but wait, that is not Osha, that is her sister Mae (Amandla Stenberg). Because Mae was captured by the new Sith master on the scene, but for all Mae’s planning, she forgot to notice that Sol was not the only one to walk out of that 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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Halo: Reach (2010) – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – It might be the first Halo game to connect with me on a narrative level, as well as the general gameplay.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Game Pass service that accessed this game.

The Destruction of New Alexandria.

Back late last year the Halo TV series hit its stride for a moment during the conflagration on the Planet Reach. Alas, the strength in the show was fleeting, but it had me wondering if that strength was based on anything. It was here that my friends introduced me to Halo: Reach, and ever since then, I have had a plan to check it out. Well, I was able to jump in with some friends, and it is time to see just how well a game from 14 years ago resonates with me today.  

So, to set the scene, there has been a long war brewing between the Human forces of the UNSC and the growing alien Covenant threat. There had been numerous skirmishes, and all of humanity was working on a way to combat the Covenant’s technological edge because, sooner or later, they were going to find something meaningful. Well, when the Visegrád Relay Communications Outpost loses transmission, Colonel Urban Holland (Pat Duke) sends in Noble Team led by Carter-A259 (Freddy Bosche) to investigate. Noble Six (Amanda Philipson/ Philip Anthony-Rodriguez) discovered that it is not just a communication fault; the Covenant discovered Reach, which means an invasion is imminent. If Reach is about to fall, then they need to get to Sword Base because there could be one thing that saves humanity.    

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The Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Night – TV Review

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TL;DR – An explosive episode that had me audibly gasping multiple times.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The Sith is revealed.

The Acolyte Review –

Well, one of the big problems that a show can have is setting up a fascinating Part 1 only to mess it up for Part 2. Oh, the lousy letdown, after waiting a week or even more, is such a letdown … looking at you, Doctor Who. But sometimes they nail the landing, and today, we get just that.

So, to set the scene, Mae (Amandla Stenberg) has arrived to hand herself into Jedi Master Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo), only to find him already dead because her Master (not spoiling it here) has returned. This is when Sol (Lee Jung-Jae), Yord (Charlie Barnett), Jecki (Dafne Keen), Osha (Amandla Stenberg), and a bunch of other Jedi arrive. Things could not get any worse. Well, that is when the Sith arrives and blasts all the Jedi away. 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 Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Day – TV Review

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TL;DR – A slow build of tension, the creaking forest, the looming darkness, and lightsabres drawn.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

The Jedi line up.

The Acolyte Review –

Well, last week, we took a turn that I had not expected as we dived back into the past with Destiny. It was an episode full of mysticism and likely an unreliable narrator or two. It was an unexpected detour, but now we are back on the hunt because Jedi are falling like flies, and there is a new evil on the rise. Which, of course, is your average Saturday night in the Old Republic.  

So, to set the scene, we arrive on the forested planet of Khofar, where the Wookie Jedi Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) is located. Unfortunately for him, he is next on Mae’s (Amandla Stenberg) hit list as she targets all the Jedi involved with whatever happens on her home planet. Back on Coursaunt, Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) and the other Jedi have also noticed the pattern. But Sol (Lee Jung-Jae) convinces them to send him and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) out to get Mae because she knows things the Jedi Order desperately needs to know. 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 Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Revenge/Justice – TV Review

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TL;DR – We move from intrigue to a very narrow path, but one that still has me interested.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Warning – depicts scenes that may cause distress.

Mae squares off with Torbin.

The Acolyte Review –

If the last episode was an Amuse-bouche to get us ready for this world, then this week is, it is time to serve us up with an entrée, well, narratively speaking, at least. We are done speculating, and it is time to dive all into this world where the Jedi are hiding something.  

So to set the scene, Sol (Lee Jung-Jae), after securing Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and proving she was innocent because only Luke can be in two places at once. He takes his Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) and new knight Yord (Charlie Barnett) to the planet Olega, where Mae (Amandla Stenberg) has attacked another Jedi Master Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman). This time, she was unsuccessful in the kill, the first time, but where there is a will, there is a poison. 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 Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Lost/Found – TV Review

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TL;DR – Overall, this episode did what it needed to do: it made me interested in what was to come.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Mae battles Indara.

The Acolyte Review –

Well, it is back into the world of Star Wars on the small screen and a world that has been quite a bit hit-and-miss from time to time. For every Andor, we have gotten missteps like the Book of Boba Fett, and it is hard to see where things will land with the constantly shifting tentpoles of the Star Wars Universe. With that in mind, we dive into a new show that has the benefit of being slightly detached from what has come before but maybe not as detached as it needed to be.  

So to set the scene, there was peace across the galaxy one hundred years before the rise of The Empire. But that peace was being held up in part by the Jedi Order, the training ground for all users of the Force. But some people trained themselves away from the Jedi Order in secret, one of which was an assassin on a mission of revenge. We find ourselves starting this journey on the planet of Ueda, which may shape the future of the galaxy or at least the Jedi Order. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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