Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 2

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.7: The Medium and the Message

>

One of the joys of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the way it bends conventional TV/streaming narrative structures, weaving it into the stories it tells -- blending, as per Marshall McLuhan, the medium and the message, into one -- playing, in Season 2, with animation (episode 2.7) and the musical (episode 2.9), and  this summer, in episode 3.7, with the documentary as a vehicle of exposition.

That's a good choice for a Star Trek story vehicle.  A documentary seeks to present the truth, to pose and answer questions about the subject of its investigation.  I've long thought about the fact, going back to the original series in 1960s, that it was significant that the explorations Star Trek showed us were conducted in a military context, by a group of people who had to obey orders, could be court-martialed (as per what seemed to happen to Spock in "The Menagerie" in TOS about what he did for Captain Pike!), etc. There have been lots of scientists and science in every Star Trek series, but their stories were always governed at some ultimate point by the military.  It thus was refreshing to hear the documentarian in Strange New Worlds 3.7, entitled "What is Starfleet?",  voice his prime question as: are the crew of the Enterprise and Starfleet, soldiers or explorers, military or scientists?

The answer, of course, is that they've been inextricably intertwined throughout all of Star Trek, and that's one of the things that help make Star Trek in all its forms so compelling.  The individual stories have usually been riveting too, raising deep ethical questions as our characters risk their lives.  Episode 3.7 tells us the story of an intelligent, literally interstellar organism which a more conventional humanoid species has enlisted, against its will, as a weapon in its battles.   The Federation has some responsibility to support the humanoid species, but will the Enterprise support its enslavement of the interstellar being?

Well, I didn't warn you about spoilers in this review as yet, and it's a little far into the review to warn you now,  so I'll conclude this with no warnings and just my recommendation to make sure you see this episode of Strange New Worlds, and for that matter, the superb whole series.

See also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.1-3.3: Gorn, Spock & Chapel, and The Walking Dead ... 3.4: Lots of Laughs and Serious Business ... 3.5: Endearing Pseudo-Science ... 3.6: Chris and Jim

And see also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.1: Nurse Chapel ... 2.2: Racism and Sexism in the Courtroom ... 2.3: Time Travel and Alternate Universes ... 2.5: Chapel and Spock ... 2.6: Jimmy Kirk ... 2.7: Pike, Spock, and Boimler ... 2.8: Ethically Wrenching ... 2.9: The Operetta ... 2.10: Young Scotty and Five Other Great Things about This Season 2 Finale

And see also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.1-1.2: Great Characters, Actors, Stories ... 1.3: "Instead of terraforming planets, we modify ourselves ..." ... 1.4: The Gorn and the Wub ... 1.5 Going to the Chapel ... 1.6: Two Stories ... 1.7: The Kiss ... 1.8: Ends of the Continuum ... 1.9: Momentous! ... 1.10: Everything!

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Smoke Season One Finale: The Partnership from Hell

Just circling back with a review of the Season One Finale of Smoke, which I saw a couple of weeks ago. There's no word yet about whether Apple TV+ will be going forward with further seasons, but I sure hope they do.

Here is some of what I liked best about the finale, and the season in general:

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

1. Taron Egerton's performance as Gudson is mind-blowing and Emmy-worthy.  He manages to be genuinely frightening just by talking, even when he's not setting fires or committing other violence.  In the finale, this is heightened by make-up or whatever the producers did to his face.  The less-handsome Gudson with a slightly bloated face that we see is telling us, what?  That the better-looking arson investigator/arsonist was how Gudson thought of himself, thought that he looked, and what we see at the end is the way he really looks?  Probably.  But whatever the message, it was truly unnerving.

2. Jurnee Smollett's performance as Calderone is also top-notch and memorable.  What we learn about Calderone in the finale and the episodes that led up to it is that she, in her own way, is just as violent, even more so, than Gudson, if not as chilling and terrifying.  But she's willing to break the rules when necessary, including standing by and letting her boss and ex-lover Burke die after she hits him in the neck to repel his sexual advance and he's the on the floor choking.  She's also happy to frame Gudson for the arsons he committed when he seems to have successfully evaded being brought to justice.

So, Gudson and Calderone are indeed a partnership from hell, both a mixture of good and evil in themselves, and even more so when they're operating together.  This compelling and frightening partnership. eminently deserves more screen time!

See also Shocker at the End of Smoke's Second Episode ... Smoke 1.6: A Perfect Narrative Structure

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Dexter: Resurrection 1.9: And Then There Were Two

I said and discussed in my review of Dexter: Resurrection 1.8 last week that Dexter was facing three potent enemies (individual and groups) in New York, and Batista was the weakest.  In tonight's Emmy-worthy episode, we see all three of them at work, and one of them eliminated.

[Spoilers ahead .... ]

And that indeed was Batista, who is not killed by Dexter, after Det. Wallace of the NYPD gives Batista his marching orders -- get out of our New York, or I'll arrest you tomorrow for impersonating a police officer -- but by Prater.  In a brilliantly effective scene (one of many in this episode, and in this series), Dexter cuts not Batista's throat (or plunge the knife into him as Prater is requesting) but Batista's bonds that are holding him on the killing table.   And Batista, still understandably fired with fury at Dexter for the killings of LaGuerta and Doakes, jumps Dexter, but is shot (presumably to death) by Prater before Batista can choke Dexter to death.

I thought this was one of the most memorable scenes in the entire constellation of Dexter series.   Dexter tells Batista that he (Dexter) wasn't the one who killed LaGuerta and Doakes.  Batista says that doesn't matter, Dexter was still responsible for their deaths, as he will soon be for Batista's, lying there bleeding from numerous bullets.   I say he's "presumably" dead, however, because I've long had a principle in TV viewing and reviewing: if you don't see a character literally blown to bits, or at least their head blown off, they could still be alive (see what happened from time to time in 24).  After all, Dexter: Resurrection is based on that very principle, seeing as how it sure seemed that Harrison had shot Dexter to death at end of Dexter: New Blood.

There were many other prime scenes in this superb episode.  It was great seeing Dexter get the drop on Charley, and great seeing Harrison talk his way through Charley attempting to find out more about Dexter. 

Just one more episode of this debut season of Dexter: Resurrection left , and I'm looking forward to seeing which of his enemies is left standing.

See also: Dexter: Resurrection 1.1-1.2: The Imposter ... 1.3: Killers and Prey ... 1.4: The Nefarious Club ... 1.5: Father and Son and the Watch ... 1.6: What's Half of Gemini? ... 1.7: Batista and Dexter in the Car ... 1.8: The Enemies: An Evaluation

And see also Dexter: Original Sin 1.1: Activation of the Code ... 1.2-1.3: "The Finger Is Missing" ... 1.4: The Role of Luck in Dexter's Profession and Life ... 1.5: Revelations and Relations ... 1.6: On the Strong, Non-Serial-Killer Parts of the Show ... 1.7: First Big Shocker ... 1.8: Dexter's Discovery ... 1.9: Brian's Story ... Season 1 Finale: Satisfying

And see also Dexter: New Blood 1.1: Back with a Vengeance ... Dexter: New Blood 1.2: Dark Tendencies ... Dexter: New Blood 1.3: Fathers and Sons ... Dexter: New Blood 1.4: Harrison and Kurt ... Dexter New Blood: 1.5: No Satisfaction for Serial Killers ... Dexter: New Blood 1.6: Breaks and Arm Breaks ... Dexter: New Blood: 1.7: Dexter vs. Kurt ...Dexter: New Blood 1.8: The Hug in the Car ... Dexter: New Blood 1.9 One Down, One To Go ... Dexter: New Blood Finale: Superb, and I Didn't Like It All
And see also Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope


And see also Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Geller Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra:  Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers  ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain

And see also Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations

And see also reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter 

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Foundation 3.8: Deconstructing Constructs

I said last week that I thought episode 3.7 of Foundation might well have been the best episode of the entire series so far.   Episode 3.8 on Apple TV+ tonight was certainly not in that league.

Here's some of what I really didn't like about 3.8:

[Spoilers ahead ...]

1. The conversation between Hari and The Mule at the beginning, specifically when Hari says he's been dead 300 years.  So this Hari is a hologram?  That's what most people whose comments I have come across seem to think.  But what kind of hologram has the power over the physical world that this hologram has? Maybe this "hologram" is not a living being, but he's certainly not a hologram, either.  Or, more specifically, not an entity that warrants the categorization of hologram.  I've complained throughout my reviews of this series that I find it irritating that it has characters from Asimov's trilogy -- like Gaal -- who have the names of Asimov's characters, but are almost nothing like them.  So why use the names?  And now the series is doing the same with constructs like holograms.  

2. Of the three clonal Cleons, the only one I'm now finding interesting is Dusk.  Day's story is repulsive and verging on ridiculous, some kind of grotesque fantasy that barely deserves the term science fantasy, let alone science fiction.   Dawn's story started out full of intrigue and possibilities, and now it's headed the way of Day's.  What exactly is he doing in that same room with Bayta?   The Cleonal story was and still is a wonderful piece of original, non-Asimovian science fiction, but it's quickly losing its impact and relevance.

***

About the only part of 3.8 which worked for me was Demerzel -- the Daneel part of Day's story didn't -- but we need to see more action and less talk from her (like Elvis was talking about posthumously in "A Little Less Conversion).

But I still live hope about what the Foundation story on television can do.

See also Foundation 3.1: Now We're Talkin'! ... 3.2: "The Fault, Dear Brutus, Is Not in Our Stars" ... 3.3: Dawn and The Mule ... 3.4: Cleon Knows His PKD ... 3.5: Cleaving Closer to Asimov's Trilogy ... 3.6: Finally! But ... 3.7: The Origin of The Mule

And see also Foundation 2.1: Once Again, A Tale of Two Stories ... 2.2: Major Players ... 2.3: Bel Riose and Hari ... 2.5: The Original Cleon and the Robot ... 2.6: Hari and Evita ... 2.7: Is Demerzel Telling the Truth? ... 2.8: Major Revelations ... 2.9: Exceptional Alterations ... Season 2 Finale: Pros and Cons

And see also Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematician, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones ... Foundation 1.3: Clonal Science Fiction, Hari Seldon as V. I. Lenin ... Foundation 1.4: Slow Hand, Long Half-Life, Flipped Coin ... Foundation 1.5: What We Learned in that Final Scene ... Foundation 1.6: Folded Variations ... Foundation 1.7: Alternate History/Future ... Foundation 1.8: Divergences and Convergences ... Foundation 1.9: Vindication and Questions ... Foundation Season 1 Finale: Right Up There

  Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Dexter: Resurrection 1.8: The Enemies, an Evaluation

Checking in with a late (5 days after its streaming) review of Dexter: Resurrection 1.8.   For me, the episode indicated two things:

1. Dexter has three people or groups of people out to get him.

2. It's not clear, at this point in the season -- with just two episodes left -- which of these enemies if any will succeed.

It looked, at the end of episode 1.7, that Batista had a pretty good shot.   I thought, then, that Dexter would see he had no choice but to kill his former colleague from Florida.  But Dexter does a pretty good job of confusing and eluding Batista in 1.8, which leads me to think that Dexter may not need to do the worst to survive this danger.  Good news for people like me who enjoy even when Cuban food is just talked about.

That leaves Leon Prater (played by Peter Dinklage) and Charley his deadly sidekick (played by Uma Thurman).  In addition to being played by top-notch power-exuding actors, and even though they clearly don't agree on everything, the two are beginning to close in on what Dexter is and what he has done to Prater's precious club.  Charley is already telling Prater about her suspicion of Dexter, and judging by the closing scene, Prater is beginning to act on this.  And--

There's a third group: NYPD Detective Wallace and her associate Detective Oliva. Their wheels grind more slowly than Prater's and Batista's, who have personal grievances against Dexter (to say the least) and have no need to respect the law in New York City.  If I was forced to choose, I'd say this last group is mostly likely to succeed, or come closest to succeeding.

Dexter dying seems out of the question, first because it happened already and he survived, and second, Paramount surely wouldn't want to cancel such a superb series.  On the other hand, looked what just happened to Dexter: Origin Sin, which I'm still hoping will find a life elsewhere.

See also: Dexter: Resurrection 1.1-1.2: The Imposter ... 1.3: Killers and Prey ... 1.4: The Nefarious Club ... 1.5: Father and Son and the Watch ... 1.6: What's Half of Gemini? ... 1.7: Batista and Dexter in the Car

And see also Dexter: Original Sin 1.1: Activation of the Code ... 1.2-1.3: "The Finger Is Missing" ... 1.4: The Role of Luck in Dexter's Profession and Life ... 1.5: Revelations and Relations ... 1.6: On the Strong, Non-Serial-Killer Parts of the Show ... 1.7: First Big Shocker ... 1.8: Dexter's Discovery ... 1.9: Brian's Story ... Season 1 Finale: Satisfying

And see also Dexter: New Blood 1.1: Back with a Vengeance ... Dexter: New Blood 1.2: Dark Tendencies ... Dexter: New Blood 1.3: Fathers and Sons ... Dexter: New Blood 1.4: Harrison and Kurt ... Dexter New Blood: 1.5: No Satisfaction for Serial Killers ... Dexter: New Blood 1.6: Breaks and Arm Breaks ... Dexter: New Blood: 1.7: Dexter vs. Kurt ...Dexter: New Blood 1.8: The Hug in the Car ... Dexter: New Blood 1.9 One Down, One To Go ... Dexter: New Blood Finale: Superb, and I Didn't Like It All
And see also Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope


And see also Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Geller Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra:  Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers  ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain

And see also Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations

And see also reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter 

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Foundation 3.7: The Origin of The Mule

Well, until the ending of Foundation 3.7 -- up on Apple TV+ today -- I was going to say it was a horrible episode, or maybe an episode about horrible things.   And it was.  Until it revealed to us the origin of a maniacal character, the arch enemy in Asimov's Foundation trilogy, and in this the third season of its adaptation on streaming television,

As I've been saying in all of my reviews of this season so far, it adheres to enough essential elements of Asimov's trilogy, and its sequels and prequels, to be immensely enjoyable, at least to me.  And it's been doing this while deepening and broadening the original story, as it's been doing and did again in 3.7 to our understanding of Demerzel.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

But 3.7 did something that Asimov never did.  In his narrative, The Mule was a power-hungry mutant, who had the power to literally change people's minds.  We readers were supposed to assume, I guess, that the Mule was just born that way.  But episode 3.7 has finally given us a much narratively better explanation, by telling us The Mule's backstory.

The Foundation preyed upon The Mule's parents, by allowing them just one child.  The Mule's parents had two, and the Foundation representative gave them until its next soon-to-come visit to divest themselves of one of their children.  The father decided to save their baby and kill their son, I guess about 11 or 12 years old.  As the father was attempting to drown him, the boy discovered that he had the power to mentally direct his parents to drown themselves.

The whole scene was revolting to see. (Seeing or reading a  science fiction story in which children are hurt, or worse, is something I never want to do.*)  But the whole scene did raise the profound ethical quandary: if you could travel back in time, and eliminate Hitler as a baby, would you do it?

And now, after all these years, we have an answer as to how The Mule arose.  Had he not been nearly a victim of the worst kind of violence as a boy, perhaps his mental power would not have arisen.  Or, if it had, perhaps he would have used it for good, not evil.

And one last spoiler: the brief conversation The Mule has with Hari in the last moments of the episode -- that's with live Hari not his hologram, since we saw last week that the hologram has no knowledge of The Mule.  In a way, that's a happy ending.  It's good to see Hari Seldon alive.

*I guess a partial exception is the movie adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Last Night of the World" in The Illustrated Man.

See also Foundation 3.1: Now We're Talkin'! ... 3.2: "The Fault, Dear Brutus, Is Not in Our Stars" ... 3.3: Dawn and The Mule ... 3.4: Cleon Knows His PKD ... 3.5: Cleaving Closer to Asimov's Trilogy ... 3.6: Finally! But ... 

And see also Foundation 2.1: Once Again, A Tale of Two Stories ... 2.2: Major Players ... 2.3: Bel Riose and Hari ... 2.5: The Original Cleon and the Robot ... 2.6: Hari and Evita ... 2.7: Is Demerzel Telling the Truth? ... 2.8: Major Revelations ... 2.9: Exceptional Alterations ... Season 2 Finale: Pros and Cons

And see also Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematician, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones ... Foundation 1.3: Clonal Science Fiction, Hari Seldon as V. I. Lenin ... Foundation 1.4: Slow Hand, Long Half-Life, Flipped Coin ... Foundation 1.5: What We Learned in that Final Scene ... Foundation 1.6: Folded Variations ... Foundation 1.7: Alternate History/Future ... Foundation 1.8: Divergences and Convergences ... Foundation 1.9: Vindication and Questions ... Foundation Season 1 Finale: Right Up There

 

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.6: Chris and Jim

I was just talking with Sean Fodera yesterday on LinkedIn about how much I was enjoying seeing earlier versions of characters from the original Star Trek series on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds -- Sean was commenting on my review of SNW 3.5, which I just posted yesterday -- and little did I know that the most current SNW episode, 3.6, which I just got around to seeing last night, would have a remarkably excellent Christopher Pike/James Kirk story, indeed, one of the best episodes of the series so far.

[Some slight spoilers ahead ... ]

The basic story -- not to give too much away -- is the Enterprise and the ship on which young James Kirk is a Commander are involved in a mission in which both ships and their crews are threatened.  Kirk becomes (acting) Captain and must move in a hurry, in a damaged vessel, to save Pike and La'an who are fighting for their lives on the Enterprise.

One of my favorite scenes involves young Scotty and young Kirk, who orders Scotty to get their ship traversing space as quickly as possible.  In a scene we've seen many time in TOS, Scotty objects that the ship they're on is too damaged to move that fast without damaging the ship even more.  Now in TOS, Scotty almost always manages to get the ship moving at the speed Kirk wants, anyway.  In SNW 3.6, the ship indeed breaks down as it moves so quickly.  And this results in young Kirk having a crisis of self-confidence, and his leaving the Captain's chair, after he so significantly occupies it and crosses his legs.

Kirk feels he was wrong to order Scotty to get the ship moving so fast, over Scotty's objections.  (One question I had:  did the ship break down moving at that speed because Kirk's order was foolhardy, or because young Scotty just didn't have the know-how to get it moving safely? Maybe that question was the point.)  It's left to Spock to talk the situation through with Kirk, get him back to the deck to lead the life-and-death mission both ships are in, and therein begin to establish the relationship they'd have in the future, which was the mainspring of the original series and in effect everything that came after.

All in all, 3.6 did a really fine job adding a crucial chapter to the back story of Chris and Jim, as well as Spock, Scotty, et al, which deepened my appreciation of this saga now playing out on our screens for six decades.  You can't ask much more from a prequel series.

See also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.1-3.3: Gorn, Spock & Chapel, and The Walking Dead ... 3.4: Lots of Laughs and Serious Business ... 3.5: Endearing Pseudo-Science

And see also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.1: Nurse Chapel ... 2.2: Racism and Sexism in the Courtroom ... 2.3: Time Travel and Alternate Universes ... 2.5: Chapel and Spock ... 2.6: Jimmy Kirk ... 2.7: Pike, Spock, and Boimler ... 2.8: Ethically Wrenching ... 2.9: The Operetta ... 2.10: Young Scotty and Five Other Great Things about This Season 2 Finale

And see also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.1-1.2: Great Characters, Actors, Stories ... 1.3: "Instead of terraforming planets, we modify ourselves ..." ... 1.4: The Gorn and the Wub ... 1.5 Going to the Chapel ... 1.6: Two Stories ... 1.7: The Kiss ... 1.8: Ends of the Continuum ... 1.9: Momentous! ... 1.10: Everything!

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.5: Endearing Pseudo-Science

>

One of the most endearing things about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is how it picks up the flavor, the ambience, the beat of the original Star Trek that was on NBC for three years in the 1960s.  And that's as it should be, since SNW takes place right before TOS, with many of the same characters -- Spock, Chapel, Uhura, Scotty, and of course Pike -- on board the Enterprise at a younger age (even though Pike looks older in SNW) than they were in TOS.

It's difficult to describe exactly what it was in the ambience of TOS that made it so appealing.  There was an innocence, sometimes almost a clumsiness, not just in the way TOS was filmed, but in the stories themselves.  It was, after all, a successor to Captain Video and his Video Rangers from the 1950s on the Dumont network, which I saw and loved as a kid, too.  Both TOS and Captain Video tackled complex topics (the fate of Tobor the robot on Captain Video is a great example), and they did that it in a way that was relatable if not completely scientifically clear.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The quest for immortality, and its connection to quantum physics, was a great example in SNW 3.5.  The science wasn't wrong per se, but it was not quite right, either.  It was rather an extrapolation from the quantum mechanical principle that one thing could be in two different states at the same time.  Weaving that into a story that included monsters taking over some of the Enterprise crew was a typical TOS move, though, improbable to the point of being cartoonish, even laughable, even as people were dying.  But like the episodes in TOS, it all somehow worked to make a refreshing hour.

It also was good to see Spock, Chapel, and La'an and their complex almost romantic relationship, as well as Pike with his true love.  I'll be back soon with another review -- very soon, I've somehow fallen an episode behind in my viewing of SNW.  Hmmm ... could be a QM time-warp in my neck of the woods.

See also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.1-3.3: Gorn, Spock & Chapel, and The Walking Dead ... 3.4: Lots of Laughs and Serious Business

And see also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 2.1: Nurse Chapel ... 2.2: Racism and Sexism in the Courtroom ... 2.3: Time Travel and Alternate Universes ... 2.5: Chapel and Spock ... 2.6: Jimmy Kirk ... 2.7: Pike, Spock, and Boimler ... 2.8: Ethically Wrenching ... 2.9: The Operetta ... 2.10: Young Scotty and Five Other Great Things about This Season 2 Finale

And see also Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 1.1-1.2: Great Characters, Actors, Stories ... 1.3: "Instead of terraforming planets, we modify ourselves ..." ... 1.4: The Gorn and the Wub ... 1.5 Going to the Chapel ... 1.6: Two Stories ... 1.7: The Kiss ... 1.8: Ends of the Continuum ... 1.9: Momentous! ... 1.10: Everything!

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Dexter: Resurrection 1.7: Batista and Dexter in the Car

Well, as I said last week, Batista at this point is easily Dexter's greatest danger -- more than Detective Wallace and company, more than Prater and Charley.  I mean, he knows about Dexter as much as I and you do.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

So my favorite scene is episode 1.7 is at the end, when Dexter warns Batista, who is then thrown out of Dexter's car (told to get out by Dexter), after planting a tracking device that presumably Dexter doesn't know about.  My only question is why Dexter didn't kill Batista right then and there, or at least try to.  And, actually, I'm also wondering why Batista got in the car with Dexter, knowing how deadly Dexter could be.

I guess the answer to the first is Dexter needed to think about the best way to kill a detective.  And the answer to the second is Batista wanted to plant the tracker.   But there's now a very volatile situation between the two, to say the least.

Over on Mastodon, where I post links to these reviews (I do on all my social media), David Scott Moyer, whom I didn't know before now, commented on my post there of last week's review, "I suspect one of Dexter's upcoming kills will either save or avenge someone close to Batista." I replied "that could be something that could save Batista," which I'd like to see happen, because Batista has always been a great character, and David Zayas gives him a great portrayal.   But it was crystal clear in episode 1.7, in that scene in the car, that the hatred Batista feels for  Dexter for killing all those people that we the viewers also loved runs pretty deep.  (Btw, as Dexter's inner voice reminded us a few episodes ago, it was the Trinity Killer who killed Deb, of course not Dexter.)  But I can't see anything Dexter now does slaking Batista's need to bring his former friend and colleague to justice.

And I think Dexter got to realize that in the car ride.  (Tour de force acting, by the way, by both Michael C. Hall and David Zayas in that car.)  So I'd say, the only thing that could stop Dexter from killing Batista is someone else -- maybe Prater? -- kills Batista first.

I expect some powerhouse episodes ahead.

See also: Dexter: Resurrection 1.1-1.2: The Imposter ... 1.3: Killers and Prey ... 1.4: The Nefarious Club ... 1.5: Father and Son and the Watch ... 1.6: What's Half of Gemini?

And see also Dexter: Original Sin 1.1: Activation of the Code ... 1.2-1.3: "The Finger Is Missing" ... 1.4: The Role of Luck in Dexter's Profession and Life ... 1.5: Revelations and Relations ... 1.6: On the Strong, Non-Serial-Killer Parts of the Show ... 1.7: First Big Shocker ... 1.8: Dexter's Discovery ... 1.9: Brian's Story ... Season 1 Finale: Satisfying

And see also Dexter: New Blood 1.1: Back with a Vengeance ... Dexter: New Blood 1.2: Dark Tendencies ... Dexter: New Blood 1.3: Fathers and Sons ... Dexter: New Blood 1.4: Harrison and Kurt ... Dexter New Blood: 1.5: No Satisfaction for Serial Killers ... Dexter: New Blood 1.6: Breaks and Arm Breaks ... Dexter: New Blood: 1.7: Dexter vs. Kurt ...Dexter: New Blood 1.8: The Hug in the Car ... Dexter: New Blood 1.9 One Down, One To Go ... Dexter: New Blood Finale: Superb, and I Didn't Like It All
And see also Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope


And see also Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

And see also Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Geller Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra:  Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

And see also Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers  ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain

And see also Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations

And see also reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well

See also about Season 1: First Place to Dexter 

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music

Foundation 3.6: Finally! But ...

Well, we finally got to see my favorite scene in the whole Foundation saga by Asimov, the three Bs, and others -- the scene that made me a fan of science fiction for life -- we finally got to see, in Foundation 3.6 on Apple TV+, Hari's hologram talking to the First Foundation about some crisis involving the Traders or whomever, with no mention of The Mule, when The Mule's armada appears in the sky.

It's a brilliant pivotal quintessential scene, as only Asimov could write it.  Seldon's Plan earlier proved to be right when, in the face of the overwhelming forces of General Bel Riose, the First Foundation survives and succeeds when the General is called back to Trantor by an insecure Emperor.   So we readers of course expected this to happen again, and Asimov fooled us.  Exactly the kind of surprise you relish in a novel.

So why didn't it work as well on streaming TV?  Several reasons:

1. The Empire, though struggling, is not in such deep disrepair.  That's in part because of Demerzel, and in part because the clonal triumvirate, despite their internecine squabbling, are impressive.

2. The Second Foundation is already a major player.  So much so, that the destruction of the First Foundation doesn't seem so serious.  I mean, I wasn't happy to see Bayta knocked unconscious but it wasn't a major blow, because the First Foundation has already seen its much better days.

3. I think the writers of this episode overplayed their hand when they had Hari's hologram explicitly voice his ignorance of The Mule.  Asimov's scene was much stronger with Hari's hologram not speaking of The Mule at all.

But I'm very glad to see the story moving along, and I'll be back with more next week.

See also Foundation 3.1: Now We're Talkin'! ... 3.2: "The Fault, Dear Brutus, Is Not in Our Stars" ... 3.3: Dawn and The Mule ... 3.4: Cleon Knows His PKD ... 3.5: Cleaving Closer to Asimov's Trilogy

And see also Foundation 2.1: Once Again, A Tale of Two Stories ... 2.2: Major Players ... 2.3: Bel Riose and Hari ... 2.5: The Original Cleon and the Robot ... 2.6: Hari and Evita ... 2.7: Is Demerzel Telling the Truth? ... 2.8: Major Revelations ... 2.9: Exceptional Alterations ... Season 2 Finale: Pros and Cons

And see also Foundation 1.1-2: Mathematician, Man of the People, and Cleon's Clones ... Foundation 1.3: Clonal Science Fiction, Hari Seldon as V. I. Lenin ... Foundation 1.4: Slow Hand, Long Half-Life, Flipped Coin ... Foundation 1.5: What We Learned in that Final Scene ... Foundation 1.6: Folded Variations ... Foundation 1.7: Alternate History/Future ... Foundation 1.8: Divergences and Convergences ... Foundation 1.9: Vindication and Questions ... Foundation Season 1 Finale: Right Up There

 

Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music