tv review
Reviewing insightful and thought provoking science fiction TV and technology.
Review of 'La Brea' 1.5
A good La Brea 1.5 last week, with the best at the end with the letter. (Queue up the Box Tops' "The Letter".) The letter -- from Eve -- traveled from the past to the present the hard way, second by second, in a bottle, which could also be considered the natural way. And it (of course) arrived at a most propitious time: the tear in the sky (as in rip, but it's emotionally also a teardrop from an eye) is closing. Dr. Rebecca Aldridge carefully explains to Gavin that this could be his last chance to rescue his family from the past.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
The Foundation Trilogy Is Made Into a TV Series That Appreciates Its Intricacy for the First Time.
Foundation was originally a collection of short stories published in "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine in the 1940s. It eventually became a trilogy of books written in the 1950s, with Asimov intending to illustrate the fall of some great future culture.
By Alejandro Betancourt4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Invasion' 1.1-3
This has been a great week for science fiction on the screen. An excellent episode of Foundation, an outstanding first half of a new Dune movie and ... I decided to see if I could get a trifecta by watching a brand new science fiction series. Like Foundation, Invasion is on AppleTV+, which put up the first three episodes of this ambitious series on Friday. It had a lot to contend with, debuting just as Foundation was getting into really high gear, when Dune was making a justified name for itself the moment it opened. And ... Invasion succeeded.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Foundation' 1.6
Well, the three-hour first part of the Dune movie debuted on HBO Max last night, but of course I watched the latest episode of Foundation on Apple TV+ first. And I was greeted by something straight out of Dune -- interstellar travel via the folding of space. In Dune this is done by members of the Space Guild. In Foundation, the folding is done by Spacers, a nod to Asimov's work, in which people who went to space, in the original robot novels, were Spacers.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'La Brea' 1.4
Well, I predicted last week that there was more than one sinkhole than just the one in La Brea and Gavin's special vision would show him that Levi was alive after his plane seemed to burn up in the La Brea sinkhole, and I was right. I was also figuring that La Brea would continue to be a series worth watching, and I was right about that, too.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'La Brea' 1.3
A good solid third episode of La Brea on NBC this past Tuesday, in which Levi, an accomplished pilot and old friend of Gavin, with a real relationship to the family, flies into the sinkhole. The plane is engulfed in flames and [spoilers ahead ...]
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Foundation' 1.5
I knew it! How many times have you read here in my reviews of television series and movies, how many times have you heard me say this on panels at science fiction and other popular culture conventions , that if you don't see a character's head literally blown to pieces, well, he or she may still be alive. I said this about Tony Almeida on 24 and I was right. I'm still saying this about Tony Soprano -- that he wasn't killed, indeed, wasn't even shot -- and I still think I'm right.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Squid Game'
Well, I binged the nine episodes of Squid Game the runaway smash hit on Netflix the past few nights, and I really liked it. A lot more than Hunger Games, as a matter of fact, which the Korean Squid Game has been frequently compared to, though I'll admit none of the Hunger Games movies were ever high up on my favorites list.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Foundation' 1.4
Well, once again, I thought the narrative on Terminus in Foundation 1.4 ended much too soon, almost in mid-action. I suppose I should get used to it. And once again, my favorite part of the episode were the scenes with the clonal Cleons. I suppose I should get used to that, too. Yet episode 1.4 was because of those clones my favorite so far.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'La Brea' 1.2
A strong second episode of La Brea on NBC last night, in which the situation of the narrative -- x number of people suddenly sucked 10,000+ years into the past, and x number of people in the present knowing something about this and trying to do something about it -- is clarified, deepened, and fleshed out with characters who are beginning to come into sharper focus.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
