Echoes from the Satellite

 Like everyone else, I am still reeling from the latest episode of The Mandalorian ! So... SPOILERS .... Boba Fett!! Jedi temple!! Force energy fields!! Death Troopers!! Moff Gideon!! Bye bye Razorcrest!! By the Maker, can we take any more shocks? Well, we have two more episodes to go to the end of season two, and one of the big questions is, did Grogu make contact with any Jedi when he was on the seeing stone? And if so, who? There are a number of candidates being tossed around: Mace Windu, Ezra Bridger, Cal Kestis. But the one possibility that I am truly excited about is Luke Skywalker.  As someone who was there at the beginning, who remembers a film called  Star Wars and not A New Hope , I've been a big fan of Luke for a long time, and without getting too much into the new trilogy, I was among the many who were less than thrilled with his fate in The Last Jedi.  Bringing a young Luke who is still optimistic into The Mandalorian , even in a cameo role, would do a lot to soothe t

  In my last post, I discussed how the two major science fiction franchises, Star Trek and Star Wars, now had live action TV series  that were carrying on their legacies. I dissected Star Trek Discovery in that post. In this one, I turn my eye to the Star Wars series, The Mandalorian . When I heard the initial premise for The Mandalorian , I was not particularly enthused. A bounty hunter? In the Outer Rim, dealing with low-life criminal types? This was an aspect of the Star Wars universe that didn't feel compelling to me. But the first season was a revelation. It had the feel of the original trilogy, but it took us to new places and expanded upon existing concepts. And of course, there was Baby Yoda. The second season began airing on October 30, 2020, and as of this writing, there have been five episodes released. This season is so far notable for giving viewers a look at the larger Star Wars universe, providing greater insight into how things are shaping up since the death of the

 Both Star Trek Discovery and The Mandalorian have returned to our screens in recent weeks. These shows, rightly or wrongly, carry the weight of their respective franchises on their shoulders. Decades of films and TV episodes have created rich mythologies for writers to mine and fans to enjoy. I am a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars, and I am happy to see them continue. But the two franchises are taking very different paths, and as a viewer and fan, I find myself reacting quite differently to these two approaches.  In this post I'll look at Star Trek Discovery. The next post I'll follow up with my take on The Mandalorian. Star Trek Discovery was a show whose production I followed eagerly. For years I had been hoping that Trek would return to TV, its first, and best, home. Everything I heard about the show ratcheted up my excitement for it. And then it premiered and...I wasn't sure what to think. The main character mutineed and started a war, because her captain didn&

OK, we're halfway through October, so I'm running late on this, but there's still plenty of time to cram in some scary movies.  I've put together a list of some films I think you might enjoy. I tried to come up with some more unusual choices, hopefully a few things you might not have seen yet. They are spread across several categories. My tastes lean towards monsters and sci fi, and I'm not a gore or slasher fan, so keep that in mind. The Universal Horrors : 1) The Wolf Man (1941):  It seems like every Halloween people are fond of pointing to the Universal Dracula, Frankenstein , and certainly Bride of Frankenstein as classics of horror. But The Wolf Man is every bit as good as those films. With its tragic story, eerie forest scenes. and iconic Jack Pierce makeup, it's still a compelling movie. 2) The Black Cat (1934): This story of revenge, black magic, and twisted souls features Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and is a pre-Code horror film, with some truly d

In my last post, I discussed a film, Quatermass and the Pit , which dealt with aliens altering human evolution in the distant past. This time, I'm going to talk about another film that focuses heavily on this concept, Ridley Scott's Prometheus .  I am a huge fan of the original Alien . I saw it in the theater when it came out in 1979 -I had an older brother who took me - and it made an impact on me, not only for the bizarre yet beautiful  H.R. Giger creature designs, but also because of the intriguing lifecycle of the alien, and the mystery of the  derelict  alien spaceship. Like many people, I wondered about how the alien eggs got on that ship, what happened to the space jockey, and who were these people who wound up crashed on LV-426? There were so many questions that were left unanswered. When Prometheus was announced, I was filled with a great sense of anticipation and excitement, because it was going to be a prequel to Alien , and would provide answers to so many of the q

 One of the most basic questions humanity has always had is, How did we come into being? For some, this question is answered by religion. For others, science reveals the truth. But regardless, the origins of mankind, of our rise to prominence as a species on planet Earth, is fascinating to consider. Human beings as individual organisms are not very impressive compared to other creatures. We are not especially strong or fast, we don't have claws or fangs, and our skin is soft. The advantages we have though, are our intelligence, and our ability to work together, to cooperate. Over many thousands of centuries, we were able to develop societies and cultures and advance ourselves to a point where we were able to take our first steps off the planet. But what if we owe  our intellect, our drive, our ability to work together, to the intercession of an outside intelligence? The idea that aliens could have interfered with mankind's evolution is one that has been around for some time, ce