Mr Jago meets Oscar Wild and also meets his wordy match. (Jago and Litefoot -season 4)

Jago and Litefoot go Season Fourth. I can't help loving a bit of pretentious flowery dialogue. In these Jago and Litefoot stories, we have it in abundance. Especially from the Victorian theatre manager, Mister Jago. Professor Litefoot does not do bad either with his pretentious wit. Now we have the Doctor Who character of Leela thrown into the mix with her Sevatean warrior straight talk. It all makes for splendid dark humour and a wonderful uncanny season 4 jaunt. This series had two fine stories out of the four. I must confess to being not to keen on the first tale set in Brighton. But the second and third just blew me away with fiendish cleverness on the part of whoever wrote the scripts. The fourth was hijacked and I felt our friends went backstage for long periods. One of the stories, I liked, involves Oscar Wilde. The creepy tale is very clever and an absolute peach of a listen. A diabolical conundrum that is splendidly thought out. I know I am always raving about the wonderful dialogue between Jago and Litefoot but I honestly can't express how much I love it all. In one part of the tale, Jago heaps colourful and pretentious praise upon Oscar Wild. The arrogant writer casually bats back a culinary machine gun of pretentious words that leaves Jago dumbfounded and gulping. For once the theatre manager is at a loss for words. Furthermore, he has been raked by several words that he has never heard before. It was excellent humour. Then, to top it all, the actual story was fabulously dark and ghastly. Science fiction - horror and Gothic shivers at its sublime best. Whoever sat down and thought out this plot was very good indeed. Then the fourth seemed to bomb a little. Jago and Litefoot are the stars and in this story, they seemed to be pushed in the background. Therefore despite having one of the most enjoyable of the stories so far, it also had one that was not so good. I might have given it three stars out of five, but I did enjoy the Oscar Wild story. That got a six out of five - lol. The overall performance earns the entire series 4 a four-star in all.

Future Shock - 2000 AD Comic.

I saw a splendid documentary about a well-known British comic last night. I downloaded it from Amazon Prime etc. The documentary was about an hour and forty-five minutes with all these creatives from writing, artwork and editorial of a comic. The comic in question is 2000 AD and I’m sure many of us will remember when it first came out in the late seventies. I certainly do and I remember many of the first Judge Dredd stories along with a host of other characters.

As I recall, it was a time of upheaval in Britain. There were strikes. Wilson and then Callaghan Prime Ministers were going to the IMF for loans and the Punk Rock trend was metamorphosing into a rage of anti-authoritarian discontent. And then Margaret Thatcher came along.

(I'm not having a pop at any of the politicians that I'm mentioning. They were all in this circumstance as we all were.) :D

This documentary is a series of interviews about how the British comic 2000 AD went against the grain and was also disestablishment with many of its stories. The artist and writers were a mishmash bunch who foresee the decline of the average comic in the newsagents. They wanted to go against the grain a produce something edgier and darker.

I got to listen to the views of these 2000 AD founders as various creative people spoke about the survival of the comic through good and bad times. How it is still doing well to this day. The big-name creative comic writers and artist were Pat Mills, Dave Gibbons, John Wagner, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Brian Bollard, Dan Abnett, Alan Grant and Carlos Esquerra. Also, a among guests was Karen Berger of Dark Horse and Vertigo comics.

It was a very interesting look at how so many of the other British comics did not like this new 2000 AD comic and often tried to stop the creation for all manner of reasons. But 2000 AD rode the storm, especially Pat Mills who has stayed the distance. A great listen if you have the time.

1. How many of you people remember reading 2000 AD back in the day?

2. What did you think?

3. Who were your favourite characters? 😃👍

How Many of Us Would Like One of These?

These flying contraptions look like great fun. Where I live in the Fenlands, our neighbouring little Hamlets are miles away. One could fly just a little way over the hedgerows and travel directly to the neighbouring town. No winding roads no worry about bridge river crossings. Just straight as the crow flies.

Then a dreadful thought. What if they replaced mobility scooters? Oh dear, the sky would be congested with doddering old folk scaring all the cows and sheep as they raced across the meadows at three miles an hour. :D 

John Carter and the Vicious Plant Men of the Valley Dor.

                                                                   

John Carter goes on a further adventure to Barsoom. This time he arrives in the mysterious world of the plant men and the great white apes. He has materialised in the Valley Dor. The place where Barsoom people believe the afterlife live on. It is the land at the end of the River Iss where Barsoom people go to die. A sort of Elephant's graveyard. A place from which no one returns. Land of the dead. A world Barsoom people believe the afterlife continues with renewed splendour. It all sounds wonderful and fine. When the people of Barsoom decide they are too old, the pilgrimage along the River Iss begins. They will never be seen again once entering the Valley Dor.

Except when anyone makes the religious pilgrimage of death, they are unaware of the horrors that face them. John Carter appears on the plain where he observes the herds of plant men. Then he sees a group of green Tharks come upon the land via the river. Old people making the journey to what they believe is, Heaven. The Tharks are set about by the plant men. One of the Tharks is none other than John Carter's old friend, Tars Tarkas. From here on we go on an adventure of fighting

If any of the new arrivals escape the vicious plant men or the white apes, they find themselves in the land of the Therns. The survivors are enslaved and often eaten by the Therns. In this terrible land of the Therns,  we are introduced to the slave girl Thuvia. There are daring escapes and new dangers among the Black Pirates and the vile self-proclaimed Issus Goddess of Barsoom's underworld. Here, John Carter and the Thern Princess Phaildor find new dangers.

There are splendid battles as John Carter dreams of escape to the nation of Helium where his wife and love Dajah Thoris is. Also, his child who was in an unhatched egg prior to his ten-year exile back on Earth. On this note, there are other splendid and delightful surprises. 

Edgar Rice Burroughs novels are pulp fantasy adventure stories. But pulp adventure done right is breathtakingly addictive and wonderful escapism. This second John Carter of Mars story is a real roller coaster adventure of damsels in distress, noble heroes and colourful villains. It is glorious to be John Carter with his black and white simplistic rules of honour. Plus his superhuman strength on Mars. This enables him to be a warrior of distinction. It is all wonderful escapism. 

Fifield Xenomorph Mutation (Deleted Scene) From Prometheus.

P R O M E T H E U S - Fifield Xenomorph Mutation (Deleted Scene)

I wished this part had not been deleted and watered down. It would have enhanced the movie a tad more. Prometheus is a fine prequel. A lot of people did not like the movie. The scenes and the spaceship were splendid. This deleted scene, plus the fallen spaceship scene towards the end would have made the movie complete for me. I would like to know more about the Engineers.

A climatic ending with the two ladies running for their lives as the ship, shaped like a giant Celtic neck torc, is rolling down upon them. Sporadic meteorite debris is exploding all about the woman in this hectic scene.

I thought it was a splendid film undone by a sad follow up in Alien Covenant. 

Unparalleled by D.S. (My Goodreads Review)

Unparalleled by D.S.   Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Doctor Carson is baffled by her new patient. The man is Stuart Milton. He has been telling a story of his life that is very different from the one he has been living. Stuart Milton has been living a different life to the one people keep insisting he has been living. He is obviously traumatised. He is logical and accepts he is traumatised in some way. But he knows he had a pregnant wife, despite what his honest brother and others are telling him.

Doctor Carson a psychiatrist can't detect any form of lying during her psychoanalysis. Milton is telling the truth. Even under hypnosis, Doctor Carson can only deduce her patient is telling the truth. It is as though her patient has quantum lept into the world from a parallel universe. That is just for starters. There are other things at work too. More bizarre consequences begin to unfold as Stuart Milton and Doctor Carson delve deeper into the phenomenon.

This is a very compelling science fiction story. All the credible approach to the strange phenomenon are there. Very gripping indeed.

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Growing Interest for Gothic and Steampunk Style Science Fiction

Growing Interest for Gothic and Steampunk Style Science Fiction

Over the last few years to the last decade, there’s been a growing interest in different types of science fiction. Gothic and steampunk have certainly become a favourite whether through the physical or digital form. Just look at the books released, the books that have been adapted to movies and shows, and the growing use of steampunk and Gothic nature for new shows.

Just why is this? What do Victorian Gothic and steampunk offer that other science fiction works can’t? Why are they so alluring? It’s worth taking a look at how they differ to others that make them so intriguing.

What Are Victorian Gothic and Steampunk?

You’ve likely heard of Victorian Gothic. Think of the period dramas that bring a sci-fi element to them. They’re darker in nature, fusing together the architecture of the past with sci-fi and fantasy elements. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of the best examples of Victorian Gothic literature.

But what about steampunk? Is that some sort of band?

Steampunk first became a term used by Kevin Jeter, who wanted to stand out from the futurist “cyberpunk” authors. Steampunk mixes old and new together, fusing the Victorian period with modern technology and new designs.

While the two forms of sci-fi have grown in popularity in recent years, they’ve been around for some time. Disney incorporated them in the likes of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days back in the 50s and 60s. However, it’s only now that they’re really gaining traction and going viral. Books are being turned into movies and TV shows and they’re heading to Broadway and the West End as musicals.

More Focus on Positive Influencers

There is a growing trend to finding more than a damsel in distress or a typical romance novel. People want more from their stories; more than the basic good vs. evil. This is where steampunk comes into play. There’s more focus on the positive influencers throughout the story.

This could be a strong female character, who is smart, cunning, and protective. People of colour are more fairly represented and the LGBTQ community has characters to aspire to be. In fact, in a lot of steampunk science fictions, someone who isn’t the typical white, straight male isn’t on the outskirts or the one in distress all the time and nothing seems “weird” about that within the story.

However, within all this is some focus on the good elements of the old. The storylines can often be more streamlined, focusing on character development instead. Old and new technology is mixed together and there are some elements of the 18^th and 19^th century brought back into play in a positive way.

Take the Old with a New Twist

Steampunk and Victorian Gothic science fiction also offer the chance to bring old works back with a modern-day twist or with a new and fresh story. Look at Penny Dreadful, which took all the monsters from the Victorian novels and made it into a show for the modern-day. The Frankenstein Chronicles has offered much of the same. Even though both are set in Victorian London, they both bring elements of today’s world or a fresh take on the stories to add modernity to them.

There’s something about history that is alluring. Stories from the past have lessons for all, but we don’t always see them from one old tale. Plus, with a steampunk version of historical science fiction, the world of alternate history is opened and that’s sure to draw people in.

Even futuristic shows can bring in history. Look at The Handmaid’s Tale and The Hunger Games for how things can go back to the beginning.

A Move Away from the Minimalist Look

When you look at contemporary science fiction, you’ll see a lot take the minimalist approach. Some shows and movies even focus on just plain white rooms or opt for one standard colour throughout. Victorian Gothic brings in more of the colouring of the past. There’s a focus on the deep, bold colours.

Steampunk has the ability to stand out. There’s a personality that many people need when it comes to viewing or reading pleasure. It’s no surprise with that in mind that the contemporary options just do nothing for the soul.

Victorian Gothic and steampunk science fiction is certainly on the rise. More authors and showrunners are turning to the styles, adding more colour and vibrancy into their works. People want to see the hidden gems from old tales and need to see the tropes turned on their heads into beautiful tales of wonder.

THE GUNS OF THE IRONCLAD ROARED!

THE INTREPID GUNS ROARED!
THE MARTIAN FIGHTING MACHINE WAS TORN APART BY THE INIQUITY OF HUMAN FURY! #WarOfTheWorlds #scifi #adaptation #paperback #Kindle #KindleUnlimited https://buff.ly/2t3kQTH  https://amzn.to/2MpcRJl 

1. Did you enjoy the dreadful thought of the War of the Worlds Tripod Fighting Machines from Mars?

2. What About the War of the Worlds 1953 Radio Broadcast?

3. Or the Jeff Wayne War of the Worlds Musical?

Science Fiction Lovers Indulge This Thought.

Imagine, if you will, how it would have been to be a Victorian sailor from retro British times of 1898. You are on board HMS Thunder Child and the ship is picking up strange semaphore messages from the shore stations. Invaders from Mars are striding about and destroying the entire fabric of our nation. Would you believe such outrages things? The entire ship would be alive with speculation and disbelief. These sailors were destined to see three Martian fighting machines and confront the colossal edifices in battle.

As an impressionable young lad, I always found myself pondering such things.

I would walk about in my dream thinking, “If I was in that story, I would do this or that.” I found myself wishing for all sorts of adventures.

When I read H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, I remember getting a tremendous lift out of the short excerpt when an ironclad called H.M.S. Thunder Child attacked three Martian tripods in the River Blackwater to save a paddle steamer full of refugees. 

WHAT ARE YOUR BEST DALEK EXTERMINATIONS?

The big kid, which still lives inside of my 58-year-old body, loves Doctor Who and his glorious enemies. Especially the Daleks! I can remember, as an infant, being terrified and compelled by the splendid bad guys. I recollect the later William Hartnell stories. Most of all, The Dalek Master Plan. The whole thing about the Daleks was scary yet very necessary to me. I enjoyed being spooked by them. I wanted them to be defeated but never completely destroyed. They always had to come back with another diabolical plan.

At the beginning of a Doctor Who Dalek story, there always seems to be a character that is nicely prepared for the big ghastly finish – a sooner or later reckoning with the Dalek death ray. A laser blast that engulfs its victim in a hideous and deadly aurora. A ball of pulsating energy in which the victim’s photographic negative withers in the final stages of agony before dropping to the floor dead.  Sometimes coupled with an agonising and blood-curdling shriek!

1. Power of the Daleks Lesterson.

As I kid, I remember the first Patrick Troughton story. I knew that the character of Lesterson in The Power of the Daleks would get exterminated. He started off thinking he knew what he was doing – much against the Doctors warnings. Then he was discovered coming out of the production line capsule. I have that vague memory of him trying to pathetically amuse and patronise the Daleks as he nervously tries to talk his way out of his predicament. It was to no avail as he was bathed in the deadly energy glow. His body form went to negative and then he seemed to linger before dropping lifeless to the floor.  

2. The Day of the Daleks - The Controller 

I also knew The Controller from Day of the Daleks was going to meet the same type of fate. The Controller was a robust character who led the downtrodden human slaves for the Daleks. He was no more than a superior slave and not really a bad person. Just someone trying to make the best of a bad job. He was untrustworthy material for the Daleks. When the Controller saw an opportunity to defeat the Daleks he secretly joins the conspiracy by aiding the Doctor’s escape but was later discovered. When he stood before the Dalek who made the accusations of treachery, the Controller went bravely before being bathed in the deadly energy glow that briefly turned his body form to a photographic negative. The glow went and he fell to the floor dead.

3. Genesis of the Daleks - Ronson.

Then there was the kindly Ronson from Genesis of the Daleks. A man that we all liked. A Kaled scientist who had genuine concerns about the way the development of the advanced mutations of his people was going. He was concerned about the mutated Kaleds being put into the mark one travel machines and having all their emotions removed except for hatred. Hatred was enhanced. I knew this well-intentioned man would become a victim of the Dalek death ray. As it happened, he was technically the first ever victim of a Dalek. Davros, the creator of the Daleks, accused him of being a Thal spy and orders him exterminated in front of the science committee. 

Ronson, in his final moments, is given space as his fellow scientists back away from him. The man stands there, vainly trying to protest his innocence. The scream comes from Davros, “Exterminate!”

Ronson is pleading, “No Davros…”

The Dalek ray zaps and poor Ronson’s body is bathed in the negative glow as he withers and screams in agony. Then the engulfing glow vanishes as Ronson lies dead across a table. I think Ronson was the most likeable of the characters that I remember getting exterminated. Not that the others, I’ve mentioned, were bad. The others started off a little up themselves but realised the error of their ways before getting exterminated by the Dalek heat ray.

4. Revelation of the Daleks - Vogel.

Vogel and Kara

My next memory, and perhaps my favourite, was the extermination of Vogel in Revelation of the Daleks. To be fair to the character of Vogel, he knew exactly what the Daleks were and was stealthily against them from the start. The character of Vogel is delightfully repulsive to me. He is a Uriah Heep type character. A snide and a complete crawler to his employer Kara. They (Kara and the subservient Vogel) both have delusions of grandeur concerning their cleverness against Davros and his Daleks. They believe they have outwitted the mad creator of the Daleks. During an over presumptuous celebration drink to the obliteration of Davros, they are rudely interrupted by a Dalek delegation. The actor, Hugh Walters, plays Vogel with a superb show of empty bluster as he tries to scold the Daleks for their rude interruption. In the most arrogant and camp voice he reproaches them.

“How dare you.” He blasts in his ladylike voice.

It is wonderful theatrics. We all know what is coming and his character has been nicely fattened up for the kill. I remember gloating and enjoying the scene because this character is a snide who has sent a knight and his squire on a deadly fool’s errand for his and Kara’s gain.

The Daleks delegation has no time for such a man off ill-deserved confidence. The Dalek heat ray engulfs him. The nasty side of me is treated to Vogel screaming and withering in the negative glow. When the deadly glow abates, Vogel has a lingering moment of thespian theatrics. He is still alive for one last pathetic and pitiful look at his mistress and employer Kara. He then falls to the floor dead. I loved this scene. It made me feel so wonderfully wicked and then I felt ashamed of myself. The actor was brilliant in his portrayal of this despicable man who only wanted to destroy the Daleks but is somehow portrayed as bad.

Kara kneels down beside Vogel’s dead body and says. “How inconvenient…” and then goes on to make a reference to how difficult it is to find good accountants these days. This was all smashing and fun stuff. I was 26 by this time and still watching the show with my sons. They were glued to it.

Back to the Garden After Rain and Sun.

Each a day there are new colours. It is a pleasure getting up of a morning and looking at that little patch by the garden pond and the little greenhouse The Lupins are up and now the Foxgloves are growing too. There are Cosmos and Cornflower. The Snow on the Moutain white is growing around the fish pond and waterfall. Wild Red Poppies and the Orange California Poppies too. Soon I hope to see a big Sunflower starting to grow. 

The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke (My Goodreads Review)

The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story was set so far in our future that my mind boggled a little at the distance. The human race as retreated in upon itself and lives in a city called Diaspora. It is on Earth, but the planet is no longer home to vast continents and seas. The people who live in Diaspar are virtually immortal. They can live in the city of Diaspar for hundreds of years and then they return to the computer’s memory banks. Their memories are filtered and they return to new lives every thousand or so years. Many have been reincarnated with new carbon bodies on several occasions. The whole of Diaspora is a place of many delights. No one wants to leave because they are conditioned to want to stay in their city always. What lies beyond the city walls holds no interest to any of its citizens at all. The city has existed for hundreds of thousands of years. Before that, mankind had been part of a huge Galactic empire. Humans had travelled among the stars. That huge empire lasted for almost a million years. The people of Diaspar know of these things but the collapse of the empire is only known vaguely.

On rare occasions, a unique person is born to Diaspar. The biologically enhanced humans are given a twenty-year-old body and sent forth from a waiting room to two guardians who welcome them to their first day. Most have lived before, but now and then on very rare occasions, a unique is sent to Diaspar. A unique is a new person who has not been reincarnated. Uniques have a desire to explore. They want to go beyond the city walls and find out what lies outside. What happened to the humans who travelled to the stars? There are a wealth of wonders to discover outside Diaspar. Alvin is unique and has the strong urge to find out such things. But first, he must escape from the Utopia of Diaspar.

This is set millions of years in our future and is a fine sci-fi read. I enjoyed the beginning and the ending was superb. It flagged at times in the middle. But stay with the story. It is well worth it.

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Ringworld by Larry Niven (My Goodreads Review)

Ringworld by Larry Niven

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Overall a very entertaining story. It redeemed itself in my eyes as the story progressed. At first, I found it a little taxing. I was expecting this ringworld visit as the title suggested. The gathering of our four explorers was a little corny. At least that is what I felt at the beginning. I also found the characters difficult to like too. This circumstance did get better when our motley crew got to the Ringworld. The notion of a small star having a thin line of ribbon circling it. This thin line was at a distance. Close up, the width of the line is a million miles. If the Earth was opened out as a flat map it could easily fit into the width of the line of the ringworld we (The reader) visit. The inner length of this entire Ringworld has a surface area equivalent to three million Earth surface area displacements. As one might well imagine, this place is gigantic and our motley crew of four will barely scratch a tiny thread of the surface and find a wealth of intriguing things. This is when the story really comes alive. If you like sci-fi, I think you might like this. The only reason I don't give it an extra star is that I genuinely felt the start was hammy.

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The Last Colony by John Scalzi (My Goodreads Review)

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I read the first few pages of the story, I began to think I would not like it. I stuck with it and I'm so pleased that I did. It just suddenly took off as the reader goes to colonise another planet with our wonderful characters. The humans are under instruction from the Colonial Union, but they are colonising in secret because there is a conglomeration of other races known as the Conclave. They have forbidden any form of colonisation unless the species are in the Conclave's conglomeration - a union of species. Humans don't seem too keen on this.

The story makes for a wonderful bag of political intrigue, super enhanced space troopers, and battle action. The dialogue and the characters are first class. One situation after another keeps the reader gripped as the explosive situation develops from one circumstance to another. This was book three in a series. I only realised this after I had read the book, but it stands well on its own. I will read others in the series after this.

The Last Days of Thunder Child


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The Vampyre by John Polidori (My Goodreads Review)

John Polidori, Author of The Vampyre by Richard Garnett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lord Ruthven arrives in London. It is around the period of 1810 - perhaps a few years either side. He is gracious and debonair. He has a compelling aspect about him that high society ladies are drawn to. Many are willing to risk their reputations. Lord Ruthven ignores most and selects odd ones that he finds enticing.

He makes friends with Aubrey. He is a wealthy young gentleman and an orphan. Together Lord Ruthven and Aubrey travel to Italy. What ensues are serious of consequences that lead the two men to separate. Aubrey finds Lord Ruthven’s conduct questionable. The young gentleman travels to Greece. Here he meets an innkeeper’s daughter who tells him folk tales of vampires and areas that local people dare not go. More dreadful events happen and then Lord Ruthven appears again.

Everything leads to more intrigue and further paranormal conundrums as Aubrey leaves his late friend Lord Ruthven back in Greece. The victim of bandits in an attempted robbery. He is made the guardian of his younger sister’s wellbeing. He is also oath-bound not to speak of Lord Ruthven’s death for one year and one day. Then a more diabolical circumstance manifests. Aubrey is at a loss and suffers huge mental torment. An even bigger supernatural event is before him.

The story is good but it is almost constant narration. Well written but tedious even though it is short. I think much of the story could have been presented via dialogue. It would have made the novella longer and more exciting. The overall plot was good, but I can't help feeling that a tremendous opportunity was lost to make this a bigger and more classical novel than it is. Perhaps if John Polidori had lived longer, the story would have been revised with dialogue to create a better feel. After all, his friend Mary Shelly was able to improve Frankenstein. This group of people in Lord Byron's friendship wrote the stories participating in a horror story competition.

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SJW Star Trek Discovery Ideology is Anti-White Propaganda (Surprise! It's improving.)

I loved the ship and the effects. I was not sure about the new Klingon look, but hey! Star Trek is a form of escapism right. I mean complaining about the Captain and the first officer being beamed over to the Klingon ship to do a highly dangerous mission is stupid. Is it? When there are loads of rank and file crewmen that are more expendable? Well... let's be honest, I'm sure Kirk did it. So did every other Captain on that note. 

The new SJW Federation ideology certainly has messed things up. I feel they have left a bad signature for this TV series. I liked the special effects but I found myself wanting the Klingons to win. I could understand the point of view of not wanting multiculturalism imposed. I felt it was trendy left wing from the start. When the Klingon did break into an English statement, it was to mock what the Federation would say. "We come in peace." I could see how this Klingon thinks that would be sinister. The Red Indians were often told this, but I suppose those populist xenophobes deserved all they got. I hope it improves, but I'll not hold my breath. 

As for the first officer! How did she ever get to such a position with her horrendous attitude? Even physically assorting the Captain and trying to take over the ship. I felt as though the federation were a bunch of clowns messing up a major drinking session at a wild party. 

The Klingons clearly knew what they were doing. I had sympathy for them. I'll watch a few more episodes with the vain hope it improves. Maybe see things from the other point of view because up until now, I understand that this alien race and to some extent, we viewers do not want to be polluted by new SJW Federation ideology. All in all, a very sad start to a much-loved TV series. It looks as though it has been hijacked by the trendy lefty brigade. Sorry but this was nothing short of anti-white propaganda. If you don't like imposed multi-culturalism you are a xenophobic (white person) Klingon.


I stand by what I have said concerning the beginning of the TV series. It was an awful start. However, as the weeks progressed; the characters are becoming more human. Especially Michael! Wow! The person is beginning to lighten up. Some vulnerabilities etc. Some kindness and appreciation of friends. The pilot and the first episode after were very disappointing. As the show progresses I'm suddenly becoming drawn to the plots that are beginning to unfold. Michael's character is a big improvement plus the re-addition of Tyler from the pilot episodes.

Read A Great Sci-Fi Book While Commuting to Work.

A Great Fiction Book to Read Online During Morning Commute to Work

E-readers can compare a multitude of fabulous fiction books to read. One can sit on a train or bus and go online to the various ebook suppliers and roam the online bookstores. The growing online fiction book market leaves the commuter spoilt for choice as the individual searches through a multitude of fine fiction books of various interest. All to read online.

With the various publicity stunts and huge sums of money in advertisement applied to some of the best-selling books, the reader is not always presented with the best fiction books on offer. There are thousands of books to read online and whatever the reader favours, there is bound to be a multitude of choice in any genre. If one does a good search first.

I’m trying to target the reading fan who likes to compare best historical or sci-fi books to read. It is not always the best-selling fantasy books that can excite the reader and take them away into a fantasy world – away from the humdrum motion of the rocking train. Sometimes it can be the more obscure titles that become a top fantasy book to read.

I would like to propose a fiction book to read online. Of course one can buy it in paperback, but I’m targeting the work commuter who wants to use the various e-reader devices and compare benefits of reading great online fiction.

Try this retro British Sci-Fi fantasy book set in Victorian Britain. An adaptation of a Martian Invasion from a top-selling Sci-Fi story of all time. It is on sale now.

Read the great online Sci-Fi adaptation online: The Last Days of Thunder Child

Alien Covenant - Needs a Credible Plot for the Good Special Effects.

Most of the movies that Ridley Scott helps to make are enjoyable. He has a signature that I like. The camera work with contrast and colour have a unique feel. As does his use of light and shadow. The visual feel gives his movies certain atmospheric credibility. This combined with good actors makes his scenes very compelling indeed. I’m always enticed into his films. This is one of the constant things one always takes for granted. Ridley Scott’s on-screen signature is fantastic.

Because I was gripped by his science fiction film Prometheus. I was keen to watch the follow-up movie called Alien Covenant. With my usual expectation of enjoyment concerning Ridley Scott movies, I decided upon an impulse buy of the DVD while shopping in the local supermarket.

I’m going to say from the start that I was disappointed by the storyline. Despite the very good start of the movie. The scenery was fabulous and the actors were good. My problem was the script. How it progressed from one situation to another as the film progressed. It was something that could have easily been improved with a few small tweaks here and there. I know slight errors can be forgiven sometimes, but on this level and with such superb effects, I feel parts of the story let the great visual look of the film down.

The Plot

The start of the story was good. I was sucked in straight away. The usual Ridley Scott signature was there. The actors were good and convincing. I thought the inside of the spaceship was sensational. It was a vessel full of cryogenically frozen human colonists on their way to a new life in a new world. This was a journey that would take over seven years. Hence the passengers being frozen for the long journey. We enter the story part way into the journey as the ship enters an ion storm or something else to do with bad space weather. I’m not a knowledge box on such things but evidently, these space storms happen. A group of cryogenic crewmembers are woken because of the emergency. The computers click them into wake up mode. All good stuff and very atmospheric. The Ridley Scott thing is plodding along nicely. The crew must repair the minor damage of the ion storm. Once the job is done, everyone can go back to bed for the rest of the journey. All except for the onboard android that is the janitor while the humans get their long lay in.

A faint signal of human singing is picked up from a star system less than a few weeks detour. This happens during the repair work just before the crew can return to their cryogenic beds. The crew of the Covenant decide to investigate and veer off course for a temporary look. They hope to discover the source of the singing beacon. I was still gripped and the continuity of the story was working very well. The whole thing had a claustrophobic feeling of being aboard a giant ship in the middle of space. I enjoyed some more superb scenes. Especially as the landing craft leaves the mother ship with a group of explorers. They descend to the planet to look for the source of the beacon.

The Plot Begins to Deteriorate.

The landing stage of the movie is when everything went bad! The scenery was still grand. The camera work maintained that wonderful Ridley Scott signature and there are some more monumental things to see. But the storyline and the continuity were blown away for me as the film began to lose its way. I was suddenly picking holes with the situation I found the landing party in. I can never understand how the filmmakers can create such a real feel for an alien environment and then mess it up with a storyline that borders on sheer stupidity with a run of silly little misdemeanours.

Issue 1. The crew of the Covenant landing craft can pinpoint the location or source of the signal but opt to land the ship on the edge of a lake. Half in and half out of the water. It made for a splendid scene. The ship looked great and the topography was marvellous. A volcano could look great and real but you don’t land your shuttle in the lava. This landing zone in the lake seemed totally impractical. The away team just come out and down the ramp onto the shingle of the shoreline because the shuttles legs are actually in the water. This crew of explorers need to walk a good few kilometres to the source of their beacon.

Issue 2. I can’t understand why the shuttle pilot did not edge his craft closer to the intended area. A good few kilometres closer. There were loads of places to land the thing. The shuttlecraft can do vertical landing and take-off.

All sorts of dilemmas unfold, as one might well imagine, where aliens are concerned. There are monsters, panic, death and explosions etc. All good stuff. The away team quickly get into trouble and find themselves stranded. They get into this very quickly and did not need to go for the many kilometre hikes.

They get to the source of the beacon. Depleted in numbers and very traumatised. It is a vacated complex where the giant humanoid engineers once lived. The giant engineers are all lying about dead and in a petrified state. Then the usual bad weather syndrome kicks in and cuts their communication off from the Covenant spaceship in orbit. I think this has happened before in other movies. The whole storyline is beginning to look like a Golan Globus production on Prozac. Again, I would like to stress that there are great props and the actors are good. They can only do what they can with their script.

Then it gets worse on the storyline front. On board the orbiting Covenant spaceship, the crew are debating about how risky it would be to take the ship to a lower orbit. It’s dangerous and they must consider the 2,000 cryogenically sleeping colonists on board. They have a duty to them. Well, that all sounds reasonable. Except they decide ‘to Hell with the sleepers.’

I’m now getting a bit miffed with all these scientists sharing a brain cell between them. The Covenant crew, in a bold move of outrageous stupidity, decide to risk it and descend to a lower orbit where the storm is raging. I’m saying to myself, “There are other shuttles on board and they could wake a few more sleeping people.” Surely someone else who can man a shuttlecraft?

Everything to do with the plot becomes unbelievable in the surreal surroundings as the surviving members of the away team are getting into various dilemmas. The horror situation is splendid and the panic is obviously very believable. Then they have this great idea of splitting up. Despite the fact that they have seen these Aliens, munch on some of their late buddies. They still go for the good old ‘let’s split up’ idea at this compound where the giant humanoid engineers once lived. There is a big enough area at the engineer’s ruins to land a shuttle in the first place.

Only the special effects and the horror scenes kept me watching. As the film draws towards its climax and conclusion, there are still lots of nail-biting and gripping scenes. Even a rescue shuttle that can land directly at the source of the trouble where the beacon is. Hey, why did they not do that in the first place?

The Covenant does send a second shuttle in the end. Hey, why did the Covenant go lower into dangerous orbit?

There were so many other reasons to allow our crew to walk into the wilderness. Even if they had landed at the complex first, it would be reasonable to send an exploration team out and the same credible results could have happened. I felt a lot more thought should have been put into the storyline. It could have been so much better. This was great cinematic Ridley Scott visual effects with a pound shop storyline. I would still recommend watching this movie but it falls short of Prometheus.

I watched for a second time the other day. 1st June 2019. It is a great shame because the props and the actors are all good. It is just a few little aspects of continuity that are overlooked. It spoils the entire film.