tv review

Reviewing insightful and thought provoking science fiction TV and technology.

Review of 'The Orville' Season 2 Finale
The Orville really brought it home last night with a season two finale (2.14) that built on last week's superb time travel episode (2.13). In effect, making both parts a brilliant two-part time travel engenders alternate history story. Although time travel and alternate history can and do often happen independently of one another, the two science fiction genres are naturally connected. If I go back in time with knowledge I obtained from the future, that instantly creates an alternate reality in which a different series of events are spun, put in motion by the knowledge of the future I now have in the past.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Orville' 2.13
I've said many times in my many places that time travel is my favorite genre of science fiction. The best episodes of Star Trek TOS and TNG were time travel stories—"City on the Edge of Forever" in TOS, "Yesterday's Enterprise" in TNG. So I was expecting that sooner or later The Orville would check in with a time travel story—if not quite as superb as the TOS and TNG stories, right up there in excellence, anyway. It did so tonight.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Orville' 2.12
Another powerful episode of The Orville last night—2.11—which follows the two-part "Identity" episodes (rebroadcast the past two weeks) even better than did the episode that followed the first showing of "Identity," though that episode was excellent, too.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Orville' 2.11
A real diamond of an episode—2.11—of The Orville last night, right up there with the best time travel stories of Star Trek: TOS and TNG.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Project Blue Book' Season 1 Finale
Well, Project Blue Book ended its first season last night pretty much the way it's been all season long: intriguing, worth watching, but still not getting beyond its cheesy pulp, though some of that was good, too.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Orville' 2.10
Well, critics are waking up, after the two-part episode last week and the week before, about how good and important The Orville is. Will Harris of The Verge observed that "With the two-part episode 'Identity,' The Orville has matured into serious science fiction." I actually thought the series was born serious science fiction—that is, in its very first episode—but, hey, welcome to the club.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Project Blue Book' 1.9
Well, the shiny round object in Project Blue Book 1.9 wasn't in the sky, or even on the ground. It was in Barney's neck, and was evidence that he had been abducted by extraterrestrials.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Orville' 2.9
An altogether excellent conclusion to The Orville's two-part episode—2.9, entitled "Identity" Part 2 (but I've entitled my reviews "Recalling Čapek)—that touches all the bases, including:
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Project Blue Book' 1.8
"They're already here"—that's what the Corporal tells the Generals, who have brought him in to help with another strange situation in Project Blue Book 1.8. The question, as always, is who are "they?"
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Orville' 2.8
The idea of a species of AI—robots (mechanistic), androids (flesh and blood), what have you—rebelling against, overthrowing, massacring their human, or biological creators is at least as old as Karel Čapek's 1922 R.U.R. Against all odds, The Orville picked up that theme with the lovable Isaac and his polished, gleaming "people" on Kaylon in last night's episode 2.8.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
'Russian Doll': Natasha Lyonne's Time-Loop Drama Adds New Twist to 'Groundhog Day'
The premise of Bill Murray's 1993 comedy hit, Groundhog Day, about a weatherman forced to relive the same day over and over, has been adapted many times in movies such as Edge of Tomorrow (2014) and Happy Death Day (2017), as well as TV series including DC's Legends of Tomorrow (S3x11) and Star Trek: Discovery (S1x07).
By Marguerita Tan7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Project Blue Book' 1.7
A strange, not really resolved, episode 1.7 of Project Blue Book, which features Native American legends of The Star People maybe come true, and Quinn himself under investigation for a good part of the story.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism