Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 61

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Published on May 02, 2022 12:06

Outer Range 1.5-6: Time and the Bison

Well, here's my idiosyncratic review of one of the most idiosyncratic series on television. Ever. As in, as I said in the previous review, in Twin Peaks territory, or west of the Twilight Zone, certainly when it comes to the west pasture.

Here are the two things that made the most sense to me:

1. Autumn says that pasture and everything that's going on in it and around it is about time -- all the time that ever existed. Ok, that's a lot to chew. But it's true, even if it leaves us nowhere closer to figuring what out what's going on.

2. The guy crashes into a bison that suddenly appears in front of him as he's driving and Tony Orlando's "Knock Three Times" is playing. (As I said last week, the music is excellent in this series, including the song about -- I think -- dying in the snow -- and edelweiss -- not the one from The Sound of Music, which is also excellent -- which comes at the end of episode 6). Anyway, chances are this guy will be knocked into some other time, right, because, as Autumn says ... (see # 1 above)

And speaking of Autumn, things between her and Royal get much worse, mostly because of Royal, but you can't really blame him, but Autumn brands herself (I think) and then gets Royal's family into an uproar by threatening to go to Sheriff Joy and tell her Royal killed Trevor. So that sort of makes sense -- but Autumn's ultimate motives are still occluded, and that's an apt word with two other concluding episodes to this season, and so much recalcitrantly incomprehensible.

Like why, for example, did Cecilia cut herself on the dead bear's tooth? To get some of that immortality into her circulatory system? Who knows, and for I know, maybe that was an accident -- maybe Cecilia was reaching for something, who knows that.

Anyway, all of that occlusion is part of the series' appeal, and one of its highlights, and I'm sure we'll find out at least little more next week. I'll back to you here then.

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Published on May 01, 2022 21:22

Star Trek: Picard 2.9: Cooperation!

I'll start off this by review of Star Trek: Picard 2.9 by saying I thought it easily was the best episode of the season. Every major character was sharpened, in some cases to the point of having an epiphany, in other cases with the result of being transformed into something very different from what they were all season.

[Spoilers ahead ...]

Agnes and the Borg Queen are now thoroughly integrated. No surprise there, except -- this turns out to be a good thing! Not just for the two characters, but for the universe. Agnes used all of her persuasive powers and intelligence to convince the Borg Queen that being on the side of thriving life was a better way to go than turning everyone into a defacto robot. Their coming to terms begins with Agnes saying "Bullshit!" in response to something the Borg Queen said and the Borg Queen likewise criticizing Agnes's response, “To share your own crude colloquialism — Bullshit!” This rapprochement over a word became the Borg Queen agreeing with Agnes that she -- both the Queen and Agnes -- would be more satisfied, feel better, if she got her essential energy from cooperation rather than assimilation. That's a lesson that's profoundly important on and off the Paramount Plus screen, especially so in our world today.

Seven of course was a beneficiary of this coming together. She ends up becoming part of the Borg again, but the enlightened, cooperative version, that respects individuals. Seven, also of course, doesn't feel completely good about this, but she gets that this is the best way of expressing her Borgness, which she had never totally divested, before the rapprochement.

Meanwhile, Picard has a life-changing experience, finally realizing and understanding how what he experienced as a boy put a damper on the rest of life. He feels guilty about his mother's suicide, and has carried that burden throughout his life. Now that he's free of that, let's hope he finally get together with Laris, if not in this season than the next.

Speaking of true love, it also was good to see Raffi able to see and interact with Elnor again, even if he was only a hologram. But his telling her that his last living thoughts about Raffi was the love he had for her will help her comes to terms with his death and the guilt she's been carrying about that.

And still on the subject of true love, it's not clear if Rios has said a final goodbye to the doc and her son. Being the optimistic romantic that I am, I'm hoping we see them together again.

Which leaves the ancestor of Data's creator. With the Borg now stepping into the light, Adam Soong, motivated by Q, has become the biggest villain on the scene. I'll let you know next week what I think about how all of that works out.

a little time travel story -- free

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Published on April 30, 2022 11:32

Captain Phil interviews Paul Levinson about Elon Musk's Purchase of Twitter and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 289, in which Captain Phil on WUSB-FM Radio (Stony Brook, New York) interviews me about Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

mentioned in this interview:

my brief essay Hitler, Trump, Putin alternate Beatles story It's Real Life Bob Mann's Hot Media podcast Frank Lobuono's Being Frank podcast

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Published on April 28, 2022 18:52

Podcast Review of The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 288, in which I review the first episode of The Man Who Fell to Earth on Showtime.

Written blog post review of this episode of The Man Who Fell to Earth.

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Published on April 26, 2022 18:06

Katia Iakovlenko speaks to Paul Levinson about getting Ukrainian voices out to the world

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 287, in which I interview Ukrainian scholar and writer Katia Iakovlenko about getting Ukrainian voices out to the world via art and writing, in this time of the Russian invasion.

mentioned in the interview:

"It's Time for Ukraine to Speak" recent essay by Katia Iakovlenko "warнякання" music by Антон Слєпаков / Андрiй Соколов Ukrainian artist/painter Horska Alla (1929-1970) "Pleasures of the Harbor" LP by Phil Ochs (1967) Katia Iakovlenko's Twitter

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Published on April 26, 2022 17:14

The Man Who Fell to Earth 1.1: Great Provenance and Excellent Start

The Man Who Fell to Earth, which debuted tonight on Showtime as a ten-episode television series, has a long and distinguished history. The novel of the same name by Walter Tevis was published in 1963 to critical acclaim. I didn't read it, because I had switched as a teenager by then from science fiction to rock music as my passion, and didn't go back to science fiction until a few decades years later -- Philip K. Dick's 1962 The Man in the High Castle had made it just under wire. Meanwhile, The Man Who Fell to Earth was made into 1976 movie starring David Bowie which I saw and loved, and which also received critical acclaim. A 1987 made-for-television movie followed, which I'm pretty sure I didn't see, and certainly can't remember. A now this new Showtime series.

I just saw the first episode and really liked it. In addition to the multiple provenance of the story from the novel, this new series also has echoes of the superb 1984 movie Starman starring Jeff Bridges and the also superb movie, also from 1984, The Brother from Another Planet starring Joe Morton. So, to be clear, saying that the first episode of this new series is reminiscent of those two great movies is high praise indeed. Both movies have lots of humor, poking fun at the mores of the day, and the new Man Who Fell to Earth looks to have plenty of the same. Both movies also have some serious punchlines, and it looks like the new series has those, too. And, like The Brother from Another Planet, this Man Who Fell to Earth is Black, and his initiation into the culture of our planet will be mainly through people of color in the United States.

Like all of these other narratives, this visitor from a distant planet is both very bright and mostly clueless about our customs here on Earth. We may or may not find out the reason for this cluelessness during the series -- usually, it's some variation of the crisis was so severe on that planet far out into space, that the visitor and/or his people didn't have time to properly research us. The new series begins with the visitor addressing an assembled group of dignitaries or whomever, speaking in perfect English, with flashbacks to the time he first got here. I think this kind of flashback is overdone in narratives these days, and the story would have been better off if told in real sequence, but that's ok.

I thought Chiwetel Ejiofor was excellent as the man who fell, as was Naomie Harris as the woman who reluctantly helps him but you know that will be much more, and it's too soon to tell about everyone else. But I'll definitely be back here next week and after to tell you what I think of the ensuing episodes.

first spaceship to Alpha Centauri from Mars

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Published on April 24, 2022 22:14

Podcast Review of Outer Range 1.3-4

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 286, in which I review episodes 3 and 4 of Outer Range on Amazon Prime.

Written blog post review of these episodes of Outer Range.

podcast review of Outer Range 1.1-2

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Published on April 24, 2022 13:00

Review of Outer Range 1.3-4

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 286, in which I review episodes 3 and 4 of Outer Range on Amazon Prime.

Written blog post review of these episodes of Outer Range.

podcast review of Outer Range 1.1-2

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Published on April 24, 2022 13:00

Outer Range 1.3-4: Twin Peaks Out West

So it occurred to me, as I was watching the enthralling third and fourth episodes of Outer Range, that this new series on Amazon Prime has a lot of Twin Peaks in it. I mean, an investigation of a murder against a backdrop that has a Philip K. Dickian mind-bending vibe is a rare thing, with a pulsing potential to be memorable if it's done up right. If Deputy Sheriff Joy, one of my favorite characters (and being played really well by Tamara Podemski) expresses a joy in cherry pie, I may be on to something.

Outer Range is one strange bird, if I may mix metaphors, and getting stranger by the episode. In the third and fourth episodes, and linguistically evocative also of Twin Peaks, we have a mountain disappearing. This gives the time shifting or time traveling or whatever exactly is going on a much longer timeline. If we're talking about mountains coming and going, we're entering the NBC series La Brea territory, and even further back than that.

Autumn probably has the most knowledge of what's going on at this point, and she's not saying too much, despite her seeming willingness to answer every question. On the other side of the being informative curve, it's not clear how much of what happened to Royal (good portrayal Josh Brolin), when he spent the better (or worse) part of the dead of night in that waterhole, is something he either doesn't really remember or doesn't want to talk about. I hope his wife Cecilia keeps pushing him for a briefing, and he does more than looked pained when she walks away, frustrated, because he's not talking.

He does have a lot on his mind. A dead body is bad news in the most normal of times, and Outer Range is most assuredly not normal. Wayne (well played by Will Patton) knows a little more than what he's saying, too, and the fact that he's more focused on that west pasture than who killed his son, says a lot, too.

But back to that in-and-out mountain: You can't beat Burl Ives singing "Big Rock Candy Mountain," and with Juice Newton's "Angel of the Morning" also playing in episode 1.4, we've got some timeless music in this time warping narrative.

See you back here with my review of the next two episodes next week.