Paul Levinson
Bio
Novels The Silk Code, The Plot To Save Socrates, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Prof, Fordham Univ.
Stories (742)
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Review of Foundation Season 2 Finale
Well, you probably won't be surprised that I have mixed feelings about the Foundation Season 2 finale, up on Apple TV+ since September 15, but I've been so busy expanding my alternate history short story It's Real Life into a novel, I haven't had a chance to post my review of the Foundation Season 2 finale here until now. And, if you've been reading my reviews of this second season, you probably won't be surprised to find out that, although there were things I really didn't like in this episode, the things I did like were in the majority, if not in number of their appearances then in the intensity of the stories they conveyed.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Futurism
Review of Chris Cosmain's Novikov Windows
I'm going to here review a a very recently published, nearly 500-page time travel novel -- Chris Cosmain's Novikov Windows: A Time Travel Novel (that's the sub-title) -- I've just read, in two days. That should give you an idea of how compelling I think this novel is.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Foundation' 2.8-2.9
Well, finally an episode of Foundation -- 2.8 -- that's really firing on all cylinders. By which I mean, the Trantor parts and the other parts were nearly equal in power, and that power was impressive, answered all kinds of questions, and stood on the verge of answering more. So, good thing that two more episodes await us this season.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Reinventing Elvis: The ‘68 Comeback'
I just saw Reinventing Elvis: The ‘68 Comeback. The new documentary, narrated by Steve Binder -- about Elvis Presley's Comeback Special that aired on NBC back on December 3, 1968, directed by Steve Binder -- has been streaming on Paramount Plus since August 15, 2023 after opening two weeks earlier in theaters. The documentary did for me and my appreciation of Elvis what Peter Jackson's masterpiece The Beatles: Get Back did for me about The Beatles. Except The Beatles since the first time I heard (and saw) them on The Jack Paar Program in January 1964 have always been much higher in my estimation, more prominent in my life and love of music, at the pinnacle of that, in fact, than was and now is Elvis. But Peter Jackson's documentary both reaffirmed and lifted my connection to The Beatles, and Steve Binder's documentary did the same for me for Elvis, albeit at very different levels.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Beat
Review of 'Invasion' 2.1-2.2
Invasion -- the latest narrative that explores an H. G. Well's War of the Worlds scenario -- is back on Apple TV+ in the past two weeks with the first two episodes of its second season. Episode 2.1 is entitled "Something's Changed," but I don't think all that much has changed, unless change is defined as zooming into elements that were already there in the first season, which is fine with me.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Outlander' 7.8
[Spoilers ahead ... ] Outlander 7.8, the midseason finale, was superb on many levels. First and foremost, it amply continued what was clear in the previous episode 7.7: it provided a vivid example of the insanity of war. Those Battles of Saratoga brought home the sheer depravity of war. Jamie is almost killed in the first battle. He almost kills his son in the second battle. Characters that we got to know at least a bit and liked are shot down like blades of grass being mowed. There's always a discrepancy between the nobility and the insanity of war -- the wanton killing of people. And watching these battles unfold on the screen was almost enough to make me a pacifist. But I always also think about Bertrand Russell, a dedicated pacifist until Hitler and the Nazis changed his mind.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' 2.7
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds from its inception was a boundary-breaking Star Trek, daring to launch a whole series about a character who had appeared in a crucial two-part episode in the original Star Trek in the 1960s, after re-introducing him for one season of Star Trek: Discovery in 2019. Strange New Worlds has succeeded in this admirably, not only telling us stories about Pike, but about younger Spock, Chapel, Uhura, and James T. Kirk, as well as introducing a whole passel of admirable new characters, including M'Benga, Noonien-Singh, Ortegas, Chin-Riley, and Sam Kirk (James T's brother). Episode 2.7, put up on Paramount Plus just a few days after 2.6, continues that pathbreaking storytelling, with a time-travel tale that combines Strange New Worlds with the animated Lower Decks.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Futurism
Review of Foundation 2.1-2.2
Foundation is back on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes of its second season. Here's a review, with some spoilers. Here's what the first episode of the second season is most like: the first season of Foundation on Apple TV+. Here's what it's significantly not much like: Isaac Asimov's novels, upon which this series is supposed to be based. But you knew that, and I said that, already. In fact, I just did, when I said the first episode of the second season is most like the first season.
By Paul Levinson2 years ago in Futurism
