Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 88
October 23, 2021
Podcast Review of Dune, Part One
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 200, in which I review Dune, Part One. Yes, it's the 200th episode, and it also includes congratulations from Captain Phil, Andrey Mir, Howard Margolin, Joel McKinnon, Bob Mann, and some other surprises!
Written blog post review of Dune, Part One is here.
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October 22, 2021
Dune, Part One: Half the Movie, Twice the Power of Most Other Complete Films
The first half of Dune -- over two-and-a-half hours of almost a six hour movie -- came up on HBO Max late yesterday. It's also in theaters, and an expert critic of two proclaimed that it can't be fully or really appreciated unless you see it on the big screen. Maybe my mind is prone to see in cinematic vistas, but I liked the movie just fine on my Mac Airbook.
In fact, I thought this first half of a movie was superb, far better than most other complete films, including David Lynch's 1984 brave attempt to do Dune (the only thing I remember about that movie was Sting). The new 2021 first half of the movie was true in all important respects to the original Frank Herbert novel, very well acted and staged, with desert scenes that made me thirsty. The sandworm and the Fremen were especially effective, and all the major characters shined (well, I guess you can't say that about the Harkonnen, who were nauseating, but that's exactly what they're supposed to be).
I've told people over the years who are thinking of starting the Dune book series -- I first read the novel in the mid-1970s, about ten years after Frank Herbert's masterpiece was finally published -- that they just need to suspend their judgement for the first third or more of the book, which is dense and often boring, and hold out for the tour-de-force it becomes as the story progresses. That origin of Dune, that template that director Denis Villeneuve had to work with, makes his accomplishment even more impressive. And in addition to the movie narrative, the battle scenes and the music are powerful, too.
Jason Momoa was outstanding -- he should talk in his roles in plain English more often. His character Duncan Idaho has a great future ahead, and Momoa got him off to a good start. I also liked Jason Bardem as Stilgar, and Zendaya was stirring as Chani the short time she was on the screen. Oscar Isaac, who was powerful in Scenes of a Marriage, delivered the same as Duke Leto in Dune.
I first saw Rebecca Ferguson in Reminiscence earlier this year, and was struck by her performance. She was fine in the crucial role of Lady Jessica in Dune. I thought I saw some cheap shot at Timothée Chalamet in some review I glanced at and didn't read. He was fine in the even more important, pivotal role of Paul. I'm looking forward to seeing him with blue eyes.
That will happen in Part Two, when with any luck we'll also meet Alia, (maybe) see what happened to Duncan Idaho, see more of the Bene Gesserit, meet the Emperor, and who knows what else. And I'll be back here when that movie is released with another review.
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Podcast Review of Foundation 1.6
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 199, in which I review the sixth episode of Foundation, just up today on Apple TV+ earlier podcasts about Foundation: October 15, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.5 ... October 8, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.4 ... October 1, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.3 ... September 24, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.1-2 .... July 17, 2021: Thinking about Asimov's Foundation Series on AppleTV+ ... March 12, 2009: Asimov's Foundation and Herbert's Dune Trilogies as Sources of Philosophy written blog post review of Foundation 1.6 postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogy
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October 21, 2021
Foundation 1.6: Folded Variations
Well, the three-hour first part of the Dune movie debuted on HBO Max tonight, but of course I watched the latest episode of Foundation on Apple TV+ first. And I was greeted by something straight out of Dune -- interstellar travel via the folding of space. In Dune this is done by members of the Space Guild. In Foundation, the folding is done by Spacers, a nod to Asimov, in which people who went to space, in the original robot novels, were Spacers.
Brother Day travels via folded space to a distant world. The more interesting action, and I expect the more ultimately important, takes place back on Trantor. Brother Dawn, now a young man, differs from his clonal twins. He's a better shot than Brother Dusk ever was, and Dawn is color blind. Color blindness is usually the result of genetics. If that's the cause of Dawn's inability to see red, that means something went wrong with the oft-used duplication process. Certain drugs can also cause color blindness. If that's the cause of Dawn's faulty vision, the big question is who caused it. A genetic cause would implicate the robot Demerzel. An environmental cause could be due to anyone in Dawn's vicinity once he came out of the tube.
Dawn also seems in love with the lovely gardener. Now in Asimov's novel, a gardener kills the Emperor, much to a young Hari Seldon's horror. But that gardener was a muttering old man, an individual who slipped through the lines of Hari's predictions. Will the young, lithe gardener do the same to Brother Dawn? I hope not, they make a nice couple. But I'm going to keep an eye on her.
And speaking of Hari? Of course we learned nothing more about what we saw at the end of last week's episode. But I am used to that. We do see that Hari planned the stabbing, with a very reluctant Raych. But everyone and their favorite grandparent guessed that already.
Alright, I'll be watching and reviewing here Dune tomorrow. If I don't see you then, I'll see you next week with my review of Foundation 1.7.
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
October 20, 2021
CSI: Vegas 1.3: Three Especially Enjoyable Facets
Another good episode of CSI: Vegas -- 1.3 -- I'm thinking I'm going to review every episode.
Among my favorite segments tonight:
Sara and Gil: Gil has some kind of land sickness condition -- happens when you spend so much time on a boat, and then switch back to land. Sara tells Gil she's going nowhere, "you can lean on me". A really nice statement of her love and commitment to Gil. And in the coming attractions, we see Gil concerned about something concerning Sara -- I hope the source of that concern is professional not personal health.
David Hodges: The planted evidence would invalidate multiple thousands of cases David worked on, and a judge helped raised the ante by saying the fate of all of those cases would be decided in one trial. So if David's found guilty, we can expect a massive crime wave in Las Vegas, and likely across America. Given the real increase in crime in our off-screen reality due to the pandemic, the last thing any place in America now needs is yet another spike in crime. One hopeful development: the neighbor's dog that the bad guy killed had enough blood on its teeth to provide (via the new sophisticated 2021 CSI tech) a general ID of the guy: middle age, Hispanic. So that's helpful. But so far, finding helpful evidence in the David Hodges case is like pulling teeth (sorry!). That's good news, though, for the narrative.
The Case of the Week (Maxine, Joshia, and Allie): Hey, I'm getting to like the new crew, and tonight's case had some excellent elements. We've all heard about the magic of three-dimensional printing. I didn't know, though, that it could print up a convincing face mask, so that the person who wore it could pass as someone else. Actually, I don't know for sure if that can be done in our reality -- which in turn raises the very interesting (to me) question of what part of the science in the new CSI is science fiction?
Well, we have the rest of the season to find out. I'm looking forward to it.
See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial ... CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain
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Call for Essays and Science Fiction Stories for Volume 2 of Touching the Face of the Cosmos
It’s been almost six years since we brought out Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion, an anthology of essays and science fiction stories, assembled with the purpose of jumpstarting the human movement into space by connecting it to the sense of wonder, the need to know what we are doing here in the universe, that is the basis of religions and spiritual thinking.
Since 2015 and especially recently space exploration has gained momentum:, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and William Shatner have gone very briefly into space. Elon Musk has sent a ship with people into orbit for three days. The United States has sent robots to Mars, and the Chinese have put a crew in Earth orbit for months.
But we as species have not lifted off this planet in the way that many foresaw when people first walked on the Moon in 1969. We are still in need of a more robust connection to that spiritual sense of wonder to lift us beyond our home planet.
We therefore think the time is right for a second volume of Touching the Face of the Cosmos. As with the first volume, we are looking for both essays and science fiction stories, 500 (five hundred) to 7000 (seven thousand) words in length (but query us if you have something that you think would be perfect for the anthology, but is shorter or longer). We would like original essays and stories, but will consider a very limited number of already-published science fiction stories.
-- Paul Levinson and Michael Waltemathe
Deadline for receipt of submissions is 1 February 2022.
Please send to:
Levinson@Fordham.com and michael.waltemathe@rub
Podcast Review of You seasons 1-3
Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 198, in which I review all three seasons of You on Netflix.
Blog post written reviews of You 1, You 2, and You 3.
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October 19, 2021
La Brea 1.4: Expanding Horizons
Well, I predicted last week that there was more than one sinkhole than just the one in La Brea and Gavin's special vision would show him that Levi was alive after his plane seemed to burn up in the La Brea sinkhole, and I was right. I was also figuring that La Brea would continue to be a series worth watching, and I was right about that, too.
We indeed learned in La Brea 1.4. that there was more than one sink hole, including one in Mojave. Sophia's associate, a new character, knows all about it, and she's ready to have her special plane take a trip back 12,000 years, despite Sophia's reservations. I hope she takes Gavin along -- on the other hand, if Gavin goes, who can tell the people in our present what's happening back then?
Not much in the prehistoric monster catalog in this episode, though some kind of big, underwater snake did do its best to pull Riley under. Fortunately, Levi dove in and shot the snake, freeing Riley. Must have been one effective shot, underwater, a feat we alas didn't get to see.
The drug story in the past is trite, and doesn't add much to the narrative. But the expanding number of sinkholes has real possibilities. How many of them are there? How long have they been there? How long have we known about them? Who is the "we" -- are the sinkholes just in California, all across America, all across the world?
La Brea clearly has the makings of a rich science fiction series, and I look forward to cashing in as a viewer.
See also La Brea 1.1: Pros and Cons of Falling Into the Past ... La Brea 1.2: Deepening Horizons ... La Brea 1.3: Descending Into the Maelstrom
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October 18, 2021
Baptiste 2.1: Souls on the Edge
Baptiste is back for a second season on PBS, starring Tchéky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, the quirky genius of an investigator who has a dogged, uncanny talent in finding missing people, as amply demonstrated in two seasons of the prior series aptly entitled The Missing.
The first Baptiste season saw him applying his talent with a weakened brain, which turned out more than sharp enough to do what was needed. The new season shows Julien in top shape, beginning to help a woman (Emma Chambers, played by Killing Eve's Fiona Shaw) whose husband and two sons have suddenly and unaccountably gone missing -- and Julien in not such good shape, a year later, when Emma, also not in such good shape, in a wheelchair, comes to see him to plead for his help. Julien has long hair, which actually looks pretty good, but he's unkempt and almost dissolute.
So, in addition to where are the missing sons -- we learn before the episode concludes that the husband was murdered -- the big questions are how did Emma wind up in that wheelchair and why is Julien in such ragged condition? The veering back and forth between the present and a year earlier works well, and adds to the harrowing quality of the narrative.
Actually, all of Julien Baptiste's attempts to find the missing have been harrowing, but there's something especially desperate, souls on the edge of the precipice, in this second or fourth season, depending on how you're counting. This keenness makes me only keener to see what the next five episodes have in store for us. If I have a chance, I'll try to report back here with a review of each episode.
See also Baptiste 1: Logic, Passion, and Unflappability ... The Missing 1: Worth Finding and The Missing 2: Unforgettable
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CSI: Vegas 1.2: My Half-Joking Suggestion for the Villain
Circling back, maybe stepping up, with a review CSI Vegas 1.2, which is actually a continuation of the original CSI, then and now on CBS. I'm still liking it.
The modus operandi appears to be one ongoing case involving David Hodges, who stands accused of forging evidence in who knows how many earlier CSI cases, and another case which will likely change each week. For 1.2, I enjoyed seeing both unfold, but I'll confine my review to the profoundly important (for CSI) David Hodges case.
Sarah and husband Gil disagree strongly on Hodges' guilt. Sara feels in her bones that Hodges is innocent, framed by some nefarious player. Gil can't go by feelings, not even by Sara's logic. He has to wait for evidence, to tell him how he feels.
[Spoilers ahead ....]
Good news for Gil's reliance on evidence and Hodges' innocence at the end of the episode. Gil finds that someone was silencing Hodges' neighbor's dog. Since Hodges has no reason to do that, Gil concludes that Sara's instincts and logic are right: The person who framed Hodges must have been responsible for the neighbor's dog,
The question still remains of who and why? I'm half jokingly thinking that a good candidate would Nick Stokes, played by George Eads, who was with CSI from the beginning until almost the end, leaving after he had some kind of altercation with a writer for the show. He'd have a big grievance against CSI, right?
In any case, it's very good to see Sara and Gil back in action, and I'm liking the new characters, too, so I'll likely be back here with another review or more.
See also: CSI: Vegas 1.1: CSI on Trial
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