I’m a critic. It’s become something of a bad word. I’m a critic of stories: spanning many types of storytelling mediums – film, TV, books, comics… I love stories. I know stories – I’ve studied them extensively. I know what ...
Read More »The Orville: A Star Trek pastiche
How many episodes should a series need to work out what it’s about? No, I don’t mean the audience working it out, but the show itself. The Orville can’t seem to decide what it is going for. Is it a spoof? ...
Read More »Star Trek Discovery: To blandly go…
The new Star Trek films baffle me. They have proved popular despite their obvious lack of quality. They are incomprehensible to newcomers because they rely so heavily on material from the established franchise, and they are a slap in the ...
Read More »Virtual, augmented, and simulated realities in science fiction
While there is plenty to be miserable about in the social, political, and economic landscape of 2017, it isn’t all bad. Most of us have smartphones, high-definition television, on-demand media services, and more. I can’t help agreeing with Akira the ...
Read More »Star Trek teaches us to embrace our past
I know, I know, I need to stop re-watching the same shows and make time to tick off some titles on my enormous to-watch list. But sometimes an old favourite is the only thing that will hit the spot… which ...
Read More »The Pattern of Baldness
Among the many baffling decisions taken in the lacklustre X-Men: Apocalypse, the audience was treated to the great revelation about Charles Xavier’s baldness. Rather than his hair simply thinning and receding with time, providing a realistic transition from James McAvoy’s ...
Read More »What we know and what we want from Star Trek: Discovery
It’s been more than a decade since Star Trek graced TV screens in a new outing. And Enterprise left a bit of a sour taste in many fans’ mouths. It wasn’t all it could and should have been. Will the ...
Read More »Star Trek Beyond: Plot contrivances, stating the obvious, and destroying the Enterprise (again)
… And yet still much better than the last two. Anyone familiar with me knows that I am a huge Star Trek fan. But yes, I’m one of these bastard snobs that doesn’t like the new films. Sorry, but they ...
Read More »5 times science fiction tackled racism
Here’s my theory: if more Brits were science fiction fans, the vote Leave campaign would never have succeeded. Despite how complex the issue of whether or not to remain in the EU really was, the campaign in the lead-up to ...
Read More »Science fiction and fantasy TV theme songs: An assault on the ears
Theme songs are important. They set the mood and make fans immediately think of their favourite shows. Unfortunately, science fiction and fantasy television have been consistently appalling at picking a good song for the job. Why is that? When Star ...
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