tv review

Reviewing insightful and thought provoking science fiction TV and technology.

Review of 'Perfume'
Perfume, a 2018 movie which my wife and I saw just the other night on Netflix, starts out as a straight-up, if perverted, serial killer story, based on Patrick Süskind's 1985 novel of the same name. A beautiful singer is found dead, with her scent glands removed. There apparently is a murderer at large who gets off so much on scents, he (or she) needs literally cuttings of glands to satisfy the craving.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
Star Trek TV Productions To Add AR Wall To Create Virtual Sets, Like 'The Mandalorian'
Alex Kurtzman, the executive producer of multiple Star Trek shows, has confirmed that his productions have begun to include AR walls in place of on-location shoots.
By Culture Slate5 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Raised by Wolves' 1.8-10
The story brought vividly home in Raised by Wolves 1.8 and 1.9, that androids can bear biological children, a hybrid of some sort of android and human, lifts this series into territory not even explored in a series as sophisticated as Westworld. Of course, Westworld takes place on Earth, with a science a lot earlier in its development than what we see in Raised by Wolves, so I'm not criticizing Westworld on this account as much as noting the difference. And that difference is about as profound as it gets.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Raised by Wolves' 1.6-7
Lots of important, even game-changing events in episodes 1.6-7 of Raised by Wolves, up on HBO Max Thursday night: Campion and Paul are becoming rivals, even though it looks as if they'll still ultimately have each other's backs in life and death situations. But other than that, Campion is representing spirit and Paul logic and science, which is interesting in itself since Campion comes from the atheists and Paul the true-believers. This may be a significant indicator of the future and the changing roles of central characters on this planet.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Raised by Wolves' 1.4-5
I thought the 4th and 5th episodes of Raised by Wolves were really good, especially the 5th, because it gave us a nice big origin story about Mother -- how she was created, and endowed/programmed with her mission. Her maker tells her she's humanity's last hope, a nod to Star Wars mythology.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Amazing Stories (2020)' 1.2: The Heat
Life after death stories -- the departed coming back to help, haunt, or otherwise interact with the living -- are a dime a dozen. Amazing Stories' (2020) second episode, "The Heat," manages to visit this well-trodden path with a story that is at least somewhat original, even if that originality relies upon yet another very well-worn gambit in fiction.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Netflix’s ‘Away’ shows a mission to Mars. It may be closer to reality than you think
In the second episode of Netflix’s space drama “Away,” two astronauts head outside into space to make some emergency repairs.
By Sandeep Verma6 years ago in Futurism
review of 'Away'
My wife and I just finished binge-watching Away, a 10-episode series, on Netflix. I can't recall a better movie or television series about missions to Mars or early human settlements on Mars, and that includes contenders like The Martian, The Martian Chronicles, and Total Recall.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Raised by Wolves' 1.2-3
I just watched Raised by Wolves 1.2 and 1.3, on HBO Max. It's all that is available there now (along with the first episode that I saw and reviewed here the other night), but the three are more than enough to convince that this will be a major science fiction series, with a complex, multi-level, intriguing narrative.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Amazing Stories (2020)' 1.1: "The Cellar"
I finally had a chance to take a bite out of Apple TV+'s reboot of Amazing Stories (it's so quiet when I write, you can sometimes hear a pun drop), and I thought I'd tell you what I thought of it.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Raised by Wolves' 1.1
I saw Raised by Wolves 1.1 last night, courtesy of HBO Max, where the series is set to debut tomorrow, September 3. In a sentence, it's a big concept, altogether excellent combination of fast action and deep philosophy, as befits Executive Producer Ridley Scott, and especially well-suited to our pandemic ridden time, when the very fate of humanity could well be at stake if things get much worse.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Top 10 Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Shows and Movies You Can Stream Right Now. Top Story - August 2020.
10. Upload The age-old question of “what happens after we die” is at the heart of Amazon’s “Upload,” a show about a man who dies and his consciousness is resurrected in a digital afterlife. He can still talk with his living friends and family, something that might provide a lot of comfort to many people who lose a loved one suddenly. There’s a catch, of course: The dead person’s afterlife only exists so long as their storage space on a gigantic server is paid up. People can opt in to this afterlife party if they want, and if they have the resources to support it, and the idea of death shifts greatly for those who make this purchase. They’re literally buying extra time, but they can’t physically touch or hold or interact with people, and technology doesn’t exist to download their minds into another body.
By What If6 years ago in Futurism