Joseph Baneth Allen's Blog, page 36
June 4, 2024
Werewolf By Night
Just finished watching "Werewolf By Night" released by Marvel Studios and Disney.
Now as frequent readers of my reviews here on Facebook, Goodreads, and other social media websites know, I do not subscribe to any streaming services, so if a movie and/or television show is released on a streaming service, I have to wait for it to be released on DVD and/or blu-ray - if every - before I can see it.
"Werewolf By Night" was one of those shows. I had heard rave reviews of this one-shot episode of a popular cult comic book series from Doomcock and Nerdrotic on YouTube and I wanted to see it for a long time, so I'm glad that I was able to get a DVD of it.
Now while I never the the "Werewolf By Night" comic book series, so I'm only assuming that this one off 52 minute episode follows most of the premise behind the original comic book series.
"Werewolf By Night" is takes an interesting reverse Wizard of Oz approach to this one-shot episode where the action of the Gothic horror is filmed completely in black and white until the episode's finale dissolves into glorious color. In fact, "Werewolf By Night" does pay homage to the Wizard of Oz.
"Werewolf By Night" opens with the funeral rites of the leader of the Bloodstone Temple as famous monster hunters gather to pay their respects to their departed leader and compete in a monster hunting competition to gain the powerful Bloodstone relic. Only one of the monster hunters who have gathered for the funeral is not what he seems and soon a hunt turns into a fight for survival that forces one monster hunter and a monster to team up.
Great Gothic Horror Fun!
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235509306266...
Now as frequent readers of my reviews here on Facebook, Goodreads, and other social media websites know, I do not subscribe to any streaming services, so if a movie and/or television show is released on a streaming service, I have to wait for it to be released on DVD and/or blu-ray - if every - before I can see it.
"Werewolf By Night" was one of those shows. I had heard rave reviews of this one-shot episode of a popular cult comic book series from Doomcock and Nerdrotic on YouTube and I wanted to see it for a long time, so I'm glad that I was able to get a DVD of it.
Now while I never the the "Werewolf By Night" comic book series, so I'm only assuming that this one off 52 minute episode follows most of the premise behind the original comic book series.
"Werewolf By Night" is takes an interesting reverse Wizard of Oz approach to this one-shot episode where the action of the Gothic horror is filmed completely in black and white until the episode's finale dissolves into glorious color. In fact, "Werewolf By Night" does pay homage to the Wizard of Oz.
"Werewolf By Night" opens with the funeral rites of the leader of the Bloodstone Temple as famous monster hunters gather to pay their respects to their departed leader and compete in a monster hunting competition to gain the powerful Bloodstone relic. Only one of the monster hunters who have gathered for the funeral is not what he seems and soon a hunt turns into a fight for survival that forces one monster hunter and a monster to team up.
Great Gothic Horror Fun!
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235509306266...
June 1, 2024
Kronos
Just finished watching "Kronos" released by Regal Films, a division of 20th Century-Fox back in 1957.
"Kronos" is a rather curious science fiction movie. Like most classic science fiction movies, it was filmed in black and white, and it uses a mixture of practical effects and animation also just like some classic science fiction movies from that era. It also shows that there is a sexual relationship between the two love interests - something unusual for a science fiction movie of this era unless it's clearly established and stated that the couple is married within a moment of being introduced on screen.
"Kronos" also introduces a solution to the Fermi Paradox by way of the "grabby alien" theory where an alien civilization seeks to destroy another one by literary taking everything it has - in this instance all of humanity's energy producing technology.
"Kronos" opens with a flying saucer in deep space. It
emits a glowing ball of electrical energy, which races to Earth. It intercepts a man driving his pickup along an isolated road in the American Southwest desert late at night and takes over the man's mind, directing him to LabCentral, a U.S. research facility, where a pair of scientists have been tracking the flying object, thinking it to be an asteroid.
The possessed man knocks out LabCentral's security guard, then proceeds into the main building where the entity leaves the pickup driver and enters the mind of Dr. Hubbell Eliot, the LabCentral chief. Meanwhile, in a research lab below, astrophysicist Dr. Leslie Gaskell and his computer science associate, Dr. Arnold Culver, have been tracking the flying object. They realize that it is not only headed toward Earth but is moving under intelligent guidance. They order three nuclear missiles fired, but they fail to destroy the object, which dives into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.
The two scientists, along with Vera Hunter, LabCentral's staff photographer and Gaskell's girlfriend, rush to Mexico. After their arrival, they see an enormous dome, glowing and steaming, appear on the ocean horizon. The next morning, on the beach outside their room, they find that a very tall machine has appeared; its four-legged body has two mobile antennae.
They use a small helicopter to land atop the machine, glimpsing its complex inner workings before being forced to leave and fly back to LabCentral when the machine begins to move. The possessed Dr. Eliot, using lists of power stations and atom-bomb arsenals around the world, telepathically directs the machine. Now named Kronos by the news media, it methodically attacks power plants in Mexico, draining all their energy. In doing so, Kronos grows larger, consuming more and more power as it moves from one power source to the next. Four Mexican Air Force fighter planes attack, but the ever-growing alien machine easily destroys them and continues on its rampage.
Meanwhile, when Kronos is absorbing energy, Eliot is momentarily freed from the influence of the energy force controlling him. Eliot tells his returned colleagues that Kronos is an energy accumulator, sent by an alien race that has exhausted its own natural resources; they have sent their giant machine to drain all the Earth's available power and then return it to their dying world.
On Eliot's recommendation, the United States Air Force sends a B-47 bomber to drop an atomic bomb on Kronos. Gaskell warns the Air Force general in charge that an atomic explosion will simply supply the alien machine with more massive amounts of energy. The general attempts to abort the mission, but Kronos, aware of the plan by way of Dr. Eliot's mind, magnetically draws the jet to crash into it, absorbing the bomb's nuclear blast. The alien machine, now grown to an immense size, appears unstoppable, harvesting all forms of energy at will.
In another uncontrolled moment, Dr. Eliot locks himself in an hermetically sealed room and smashes the only electronic keypad for the door; he and the energy force which has possessed him expire. As Kronos draws near Los Angeles, Gaskell realizes that reversing the machine's polarity will force it to feed upon itself, until it is destroyed in a gigantic implosion. Gaskell, Culver, and Vera convince the Air Force to bombard Kronos with nuclear ions, which will cause the polarity to reverse; the experiment works, and Kronos is completely obliterated in the resulting implosion.
The movie ends with a cautionary note that there might be more Kronos machines lurking out in the galaxy.
One of the most intriguing things about "Kronos" is how it got the way the media is used to influence public opinion exactly right and how journalists often have their own agenda.
Some fun facts about "Kronos": it was filmed in two weeks and had a budge of $160,000.0. Also Jeff Morrow, who played Gaskell, went on to lend his voice to the original George Jetson. Oh yes, and "Kronos" was filmed using "Regalscope" which is another way to say it was filmed in CinemaScope.
Strongly Recommended.
Four Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Kronos-Action-...
"Kronos" is a rather curious science fiction movie. Like most classic science fiction movies, it was filmed in black and white, and it uses a mixture of practical effects and animation also just like some classic science fiction movies from that era. It also shows that there is a sexual relationship between the two love interests - something unusual for a science fiction movie of this era unless it's clearly established and stated that the couple is married within a moment of being introduced on screen.
"Kronos" also introduces a solution to the Fermi Paradox by way of the "grabby alien" theory where an alien civilization seeks to destroy another one by literary taking everything it has - in this instance all of humanity's energy producing technology.
"Kronos" opens with a flying saucer in deep space. It
emits a glowing ball of electrical energy, which races to Earth. It intercepts a man driving his pickup along an isolated road in the American Southwest desert late at night and takes over the man's mind, directing him to LabCentral, a U.S. research facility, where a pair of scientists have been tracking the flying object, thinking it to be an asteroid.
The possessed man knocks out LabCentral's security guard, then proceeds into the main building where the entity leaves the pickup driver and enters the mind of Dr. Hubbell Eliot, the LabCentral chief. Meanwhile, in a research lab below, astrophysicist Dr. Leslie Gaskell and his computer science associate, Dr. Arnold Culver, have been tracking the flying object. They realize that it is not only headed toward Earth but is moving under intelligent guidance. They order three nuclear missiles fired, but they fail to destroy the object, which dives into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico.
The two scientists, along with Vera Hunter, LabCentral's staff photographer and Gaskell's girlfriend, rush to Mexico. After their arrival, they see an enormous dome, glowing and steaming, appear on the ocean horizon. The next morning, on the beach outside their room, they find that a very tall machine has appeared; its four-legged body has two mobile antennae.
They use a small helicopter to land atop the machine, glimpsing its complex inner workings before being forced to leave and fly back to LabCentral when the machine begins to move. The possessed Dr. Eliot, using lists of power stations and atom-bomb arsenals around the world, telepathically directs the machine. Now named Kronos by the news media, it methodically attacks power plants in Mexico, draining all their energy. In doing so, Kronos grows larger, consuming more and more power as it moves from one power source to the next. Four Mexican Air Force fighter planes attack, but the ever-growing alien machine easily destroys them and continues on its rampage.
Meanwhile, when Kronos is absorbing energy, Eliot is momentarily freed from the influence of the energy force controlling him. Eliot tells his returned colleagues that Kronos is an energy accumulator, sent by an alien race that has exhausted its own natural resources; they have sent their giant machine to drain all the Earth's available power and then return it to their dying world.
On Eliot's recommendation, the United States Air Force sends a B-47 bomber to drop an atomic bomb on Kronos. Gaskell warns the Air Force general in charge that an atomic explosion will simply supply the alien machine with more massive amounts of energy. The general attempts to abort the mission, but Kronos, aware of the plan by way of Dr. Eliot's mind, magnetically draws the jet to crash into it, absorbing the bomb's nuclear blast. The alien machine, now grown to an immense size, appears unstoppable, harvesting all forms of energy at will.
In another uncontrolled moment, Dr. Eliot locks himself in an hermetically sealed room and smashes the only electronic keypad for the door; he and the energy force which has possessed him expire. As Kronos draws near Los Angeles, Gaskell realizes that reversing the machine's polarity will force it to feed upon itself, until it is destroyed in a gigantic implosion. Gaskell, Culver, and Vera convince the Air Force to bombard Kronos with nuclear ions, which will cause the polarity to reverse; the experiment works, and Kronos is completely obliterated in the resulting implosion.
The movie ends with a cautionary note that there might be more Kronos machines lurking out in the galaxy.
One of the most intriguing things about "Kronos" is how it got the way the media is used to influence public opinion exactly right and how journalists often have their own agenda.
Some fun facts about "Kronos": it was filmed in two weeks and had a budge of $160,000.0. Also Jeff Morrow, who played Gaskell, went on to lend his voice to the original George Jetson. Oh yes, and "Kronos" was filmed using "Regalscope" which is another way to say it was filmed in CinemaScope.
Strongly Recommended.
Four Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Kronos-Action-...
Justice League - Crisis On Infinite Earths - Part Two
Just finished watching "Justice League - Crisis On Infinite Earths - Part Two" released by Warner Brothers.
No adaptation is ever a 100% true adaptation of a work. Take film director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord Of The Rings" for example. Jackson left many things out of his adaptation of Tolkien's work and made some changes to Tolkien's literary achievement where he stayed mostly true to the story line.
I do remember when DC first released it's original "Crisis On Infinite Earths" comic book series - I even still have some of the original comic books in the initial run tucked away in my comic book collection.
This release of "Crisis On Infinite Earths" focuses on DC's "Tomorrowverse" animation series which focuses on one of many of DC Comics re-imaginings of its superhero universe. While DC has released many different re-tellings of "Crisis On Infinite Earths" and even a sequel which turned one of the original heroes of the series, Superboy Prime, into a villain.
And there are changes to this version of "Crisis On Infinite Earths." SPOILER ALERT - Supergirl is Harbinger and John Constantine is a version of Pariah.
To summarize Part Two: The remaining Earths being held together with a tower on each one keeping the anti-matter waves at bay. Joker tries to destroy one with Solomon Grundy and Killer Crock while Tomorrowverse Batman teams up with different members of the Bat-Family from various realities to stop this attack. The remaining heroes gathered by The Monitor are coordinating in an attempt to prevent being wiped from existence. The majority of the first half goes over the lives of Supergirl and Psycho-Pirate who was the main villain from Justice Society: World War II. We learn about Supergirl's life after Krypton exploded at the beginning of Legion Of Super-Heroes at how she ended up spending some years under the care of The Monitor and then eventually heading to Earth to reunite with her cousin. Psycho-Pirate's entire backstory is covered in his prior life on Earth-2 as Charles Halstead who can control emotions, how he gained the ability to travel to other worlds from Dr. Fate, and how he went from one reality to another when he would wear out his welcome just restarting his plan in a different universe. It turns out that Psycho-Pirate was also Doctor Spectro from the DC Showcase: Blue Beetle short, meaning that he has assumed different identities on other worlds, and finally gets a visit by Supergirl who is now Harbinger thanks to a power transfer from The Monitor. Pycho-Pirate gets The Monitor to also give him a portion of his cosmic power to enhance his own empathic abilities as the villain begins to make contact with The Monitor's opposite, the equally powerful Anti-Monitor. This mysterious new enemy sends hordes of shadow demons against the heroes who are defending the towers. Wonder Woman disappears along with the Amazons on their world, the Bat-Family fall prey to Psycho-Pirate's control, and John Stewart manages to finally awaken John Constantine from his centuries long haze of being Pariah but at the cost of the last remaining Green Lantern ring. Psycho-Pirate manipulates Supergirl into taking out her aggression on The Monitor, brutally attacking and killing him. The Anti-Monitor coalesces all his shadow demons into a single huge giant about to destroy the final tower, ending on a cliffhanger.
While it's nice to see an animated version of "Crisis On Infinite Earths," it does seem at times that they are trying to focus on fan service with the Batman Family, but while brief cameos are okay, having a character appear and quote one line while standing static isn't really great fan service. Just saying.
Recommended.
Three-and-a-half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Justice-League...
No adaptation is ever a 100% true adaptation of a work. Take film director Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord Of The Rings" for example. Jackson left many things out of his adaptation of Tolkien's work and made some changes to Tolkien's literary achievement where he stayed mostly true to the story line.
I do remember when DC first released it's original "Crisis On Infinite Earths" comic book series - I even still have some of the original comic books in the initial run tucked away in my comic book collection.
This release of "Crisis On Infinite Earths" focuses on DC's "Tomorrowverse" animation series which focuses on one of many of DC Comics re-imaginings of its superhero universe. While DC has released many different re-tellings of "Crisis On Infinite Earths" and even a sequel which turned one of the original heroes of the series, Superboy Prime, into a villain.
And there are changes to this version of "Crisis On Infinite Earths." SPOILER ALERT - Supergirl is Harbinger and John Constantine is a version of Pariah.
To summarize Part Two: The remaining Earths being held together with a tower on each one keeping the anti-matter waves at bay. Joker tries to destroy one with Solomon Grundy and Killer Crock while Tomorrowverse Batman teams up with different members of the Bat-Family from various realities to stop this attack. The remaining heroes gathered by The Monitor are coordinating in an attempt to prevent being wiped from existence. The majority of the first half goes over the lives of Supergirl and Psycho-Pirate who was the main villain from Justice Society: World War II. We learn about Supergirl's life after Krypton exploded at the beginning of Legion Of Super-Heroes at how she ended up spending some years under the care of The Monitor and then eventually heading to Earth to reunite with her cousin. Psycho-Pirate's entire backstory is covered in his prior life on Earth-2 as Charles Halstead who can control emotions, how he gained the ability to travel to other worlds from Dr. Fate, and how he went from one reality to another when he would wear out his welcome just restarting his plan in a different universe. It turns out that Psycho-Pirate was also Doctor Spectro from the DC Showcase: Blue Beetle short, meaning that he has assumed different identities on other worlds, and finally gets a visit by Supergirl who is now Harbinger thanks to a power transfer from The Monitor. Pycho-Pirate gets The Monitor to also give him a portion of his cosmic power to enhance his own empathic abilities as the villain begins to make contact with The Monitor's opposite, the equally powerful Anti-Monitor. This mysterious new enemy sends hordes of shadow demons against the heroes who are defending the towers. Wonder Woman disappears along with the Amazons on their world, the Bat-Family fall prey to Psycho-Pirate's control, and John Stewart manages to finally awaken John Constantine from his centuries long haze of being Pariah but at the cost of the last remaining Green Lantern ring. Psycho-Pirate manipulates Supergirl into taking out her aggression on The Monitor, brutally attacking and killing him. The Anti-Monitor coalesces all his shadow demons into a single huge giant about to destroy the final tower, ending on a cliffhanger.
While it's nice to see an animated version of "Crisis On Infinite Earths," it does seem at times that they are trying to focus on fan service with the Batman Family, but while brief cameos are okay, having a character appear and quote one line while standing static isn't really great fan service. Just saying.
Recommended.
Three-and-a-half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Justice-League...
May 30, 2024
The Tip of The Iceberg
Just finished reading "The Tip of The Iceberg - My 3,000-Mile Journey Around Alaska, The Last Great American Frontier" by Mark Adams, published by Dutton back in 2018.
As frequent readers of my reviews here on Facebook, Goodreads, and other social media websites know, I have a rather large tsundoku, my anti-library of unread, yet-to-be read books stored in my library and my baby sister's old bedroom - probably about 2,000 unread, yet-to-be-read books or more. The "Tip Of The Iceberg" has been waiting patiently in my sister's room for about six years for me to read it.
I had enjoyed reading Adam's "Turn Right At Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step At A Time."
It is an enormously satisfying parallel adventure, pairing the story of Edward Harriman’s 1899 expedition to Alaska with the author’s modern retracing of the same adventure nearly 120 years later. Both stories are beautifully told, with plenty of illuminating historical context to bring the past to life, and enough wry observation, real adventure and beautiful nature writing to make the modern story almost as amazing as the original one.
The constant throughout is the Alaskan wilderness. Adams allows the original explorers to speak for themselves, and passages by John Muir and John Burroughs are powerful in communicating the wild vastness and shocking beauty of Alaska and the awe they felt as they encountered it. But Adams’ writing is so vivid and affecting about nature, and his descriptions so good, that it is his writing that makes the real connection for you to wild Alaska.
Finally, Adams is no armchair adventurer, and his enthusiastic pursuit of the journey pays off in two ways. He has real adventures, recalled with humor and terror disguised as humor. But most rewarding are the portraits of the people he encounters in Alaska. He honors all by truly seeing them and reporting with compassion what he sees. Throw in some fascinating and tragic Native American History, some environmental history, some climate change, some geology, some huge earthquakes, some modern Alaskan political science, some tsunamis and some beer for dinner. Adams also highlights his encounters with bears in the Alaskan wilderness.
Strongly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Tip-Iceberg-00...
As frequent readers of my reviews here on Facebook, Goodreads, and other social media websites know, I have a rather large tsundoku, my anti-library of unread, yet-to-be read books stored in my library and my baby sister's old bedroom - probably about 2,000 unread, yet-to-be-read books or more. The "Tip Of The Iceberg" has been waiting patiently in my sister's room for about six years for me to read it.
I had enjoyed reading Adam's "Turn Right At Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step At A Time."
It is an enormously satisfying parallel adventure, pairing the story of Edward Harriman’s 1899 expedition to Alaska with the author’s modern retracing of the same adventure nearly 120 years later. Both stories are beautifully told, with plenty of illuminating historical context to bring the past to life, and enough wry observation, real adventure and beautiful nature writing to make the modern story almost as amazing as the original one.
The constant throughout is the Alaskan wilderness. Adams allows the original explorers to speak for themselves, and passages by John Muir and John Burroughs are powerful in communicating the wild vastness and shocking beauty of Alaska and the awe they felt as they encountered it. But Adams’ writing is so vivid and affecting about nature, and his descriptions so good, that it is his writing that makes the real connection for you to wild Alaska.
Finally, Adams is no armchair adventurer, and his enthusiastic pursuit of the journey pays off in two ways. He has real adventures, recalled with humor and terror disguised as humor. But most rewarding are the portraits of the people he encounters in Alaska. He honors all by truly seeing them and reporting with compassion what he sees. Throw in some fascinating and tragic Native American History, some environmental history, some climate change, some geology, some huge earthquakes, some modern Alaskan political science, some tsunamis and some beer for dinner. Adams also highlights his encounters with bears in the Alaskan wilderness.
Strongly recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Tip-Iceberg-00...
May 28, 2024
Fellow Travelers
Just finished watching "Fellow Travelers" released by Showtime.
Confession time: I was a little leery about purchasing this blu-ray of the "Fellow Travelers" limited mini-series off of eBay because I feared it might have been a boot-legged version.
eBay is allowing the sale of these blu-rays of various series that have not been released here on DVD and/or blu-ray here in the United States.
Yet I had gotten onto Dad when bought boot-leg dvds of movies that were still in the theaters from the Beach Boulevard Flea Market. He won me over by stating that he was getting them for Mom and Selma because they could not go to the movie theater.
It's a slippery slope - since I don't subscribe to any streaming services, and since there's no stateside release date, why not go ahead on get the series where it's being sold?
Now "Fellow Travelers" is the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon, which I have not read yet. So I can not tell you how exactly the series follows the novel.
Tim Laughlin is a young Fordham grad who comes to Washington. There he meets Hawkins Fuller, a slightly older man with whom he falls in love. Fuller has some feelings for Tim but he is essentially a user, promiscuous and self-centered, while Tim is giving, generous and also profoundly religious. The series follows their relationship throughout decades as gay men in the 1950s within the context of the red scare, the lavender scare and the sometimes larger than life, sometimes smaller than life world of Tailgunner Joe, Mary McGrory, Perle Mesta, Richard Nixon, Drew Pearson, et al.
Now, I remember how controversial it was when a mini-series on the Jonestown Massacre aired on network television and showed Powers Booth in the role of Reverend Jim Jones in bed with a drugged out man that he seduced. If you watch this, be prepared because while it doesn't show the actual penetration, it does show rather graphic sex between the two actors.
Strongly recommended as a slice of fictionalized version of historical events.
Five Stars.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/126387433098...
Confession time: I was a little leery about purchasing this blu-ray of the "Fellow Travelers" limited mini-series off of eBay because I feared it might have been a boot-legged version.
eBay is allowing the sale of these blu-rays of various series that have not been released here on DVD and/or blu-ray here in the United States.
Yet I had gotten onto Dad when bought boot-leg dvds of movies that were still in the theaters from the Beach Boulevard Flea Market. He won me over by stating that he was getting them for Mom and Selma because they could not go to the movie theater.
It's a slippery slope - since I don't subscribe to any streaming services, and since there's no stateside release date, why not go ahead on get the series where it's being sold?
Now "Fellow Travelers" is the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon, which I have not read yet. So I can not tell you how exactly the series follows the novel.
Tim Laughlin is a young Fordham grad who comes to Washington. There he meets Hawkins Fuller, a slightly older man with whom he falls in love. Fuller has some feelings for Tim but he is essentially a user, promiscuous and self-centered, while Tim is giving, generous and also profoundly religious. The series follows their relationship throughout decades as gay men in the 1950s within the context of the red scare, the lavender scare and the sometimes larger than life, sometimes smaller than life world of Tailgunner Joe, Mary McGrory, Perle Mesta, Richard Nixon, Drew Pearson, et al.
Now, I remember how controversial it was when a mini-series on the Jonestown Massacre aired on network television and showed Powers Booth in the role of Reverend Jim Jones in bed with a drugged out man that he seduced. If you watch this, be prepared because while it doesn't show the actual penetration, it does show rather graphic sex between the two actors.
Strongly recommended as a slice of fictionalized version of historical events.
Five Stars.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/126387433098...
"Star Wars - Dark Forces - The Collector's Trilogy"
Just finished listening to "Star Wars - Dark Forces - The Collector's Trilogy," released by HighBridge Audio first back in 1998.
As a side note, I did get Zack Newsome and Jeff H., a.k.a. minions number one and two, get their own copies of "Star Wars - The Collector's Trilogy" for Chanukah over a decade ago back when it was on sale for under $20 a set. Now if you can find a good used copy, it will set you back several hundred dollars.
"Star Wars - Dark Forces" is an audio adaption of the "Star Wars - Dark Forces" books written by William C. Dietz, which in turn were novelizations of the original "Star Wars - Dark Forces" computer game released back in the late 1990s. It was produced by the original producers of the Star Wars Radio Dramas that aired on NPR.
What makes "Star Wars - Dark Forces" compelling and thrilling as an audio adventure is that it stays true to George Lucas' vision for Star Wars - something that Disney should take notice of. It should be noted that this is out of print.
The story of Kyle Katarn adds a major element to the events of Episode IV and fills in a story for a minor big character in the Star Wars Universe. The story takes us through the life of Kyle from Imperial Academy to rebel spy and finally to Jedi Knight. The story takes place essentially behind the scenes of the main Star Wars story pictured Episodes IV-VI. Kyle is finishing his senior year at the Imperial Academy & set to join the ranks of the Imperial Navy when the unexpected happens. While his Jedi powers have managed to keep him safe and not greatly manifested themselves yet, a senior mission opens him up to some rather deep seeded questions. He eventually crosses paths with a rebel spy team who he befriends and aids during a clandestine mission on a luxury liner and forever turns his back on the Empire. Kyle continues to aid the rebels in several vital missions without really declaring his loyalty to them. Meanwhile Kyle is on his own personal mission to find out out the truth about who killed his father & his family's mysterious past. Sparking a love interest with his rebel handler, challenging a Sith Lord and discovering the truth about his family's past told in the true fashion of Star Wars lore are part of the glittering adventures of Kyle Katarn in Dark Forces.
The difference between a radio drama and a pure audio book is the level of detail. With the radio drama we hear move sound effects and greater voice inflection to help paint a more vivid picture.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Forc...
As a side note, I did get Zack Newsome and Jeff H., a.k.a. minions number one and two, get their own copies of "Star Wars - The Collector's Trilogy" for Chanukah over a decade ago back when it was on sale for under $20 a set. Now if you can find a good used copy, it will set you back several hundred dollars.
"Star Wars - Dark Forces" is an audio adaption of the "Star Wars - Dark Forces" books written by William C. Dietz, which in turn were novelizations of the original "Star Wars - Dark Forces" computer game released back in the late 1990s. It was produced by the original producers of the Star Wars Radio Dramas that aired on NPR.
What makes "Star Wars - Dark Forces" compelling and thrilling as an audio adventure is that it stays true to George Lucas' vision for Star Wars - something that Disney should take notice of. It should be noted that this is out of print.
The story of Kyle Katarn adds a major element to the events of Episode IV and fills in a story for a minor big character in the Star Wars Universe. The story takes us through the life of Kyle from Imperial Academy to rebel spy and finally to Jedi Knight. The story takes place essentially behind the scenes of the main Star Wars story pictured Episodes IV-VI. Kyle is finishing his senior year at the Imperial Academy & set to join the ranks of the Imperial Navy when the unexpected happens. While his Jedi powers have managed to keep him safe and not greatly manifested themselves yet, a senior mission opens him up to some rather deep seeded questions. He eventually crosses paths with a rebel spy team who he befriends and aids during a clandestine mission on a luxury liner and forever turns his back on the Empire. Kyle continues to aid the rebels in several vital missions without really declaring his loyalty to them. Meanwhile Kyle is on his own personal mission to find out out the truth about who killed his father & his family's mysterious past. Sparking a love interest with his rebel handler, challenging a Sith Lord and discovering the truth about his family's past told in the true fashion of Star Wars lore are part of the glittering adventures of Kyle Katarn in Dark Forces.
The difference between a radio drama and a pure audio book is the level of detail. With the radio drama we hear move sound effects and greater voice inflection to help paint a more vivid picture.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Forc...
May 17, 2024
Alien Earths
Just finished reading "Alien Earths" by Lisa Kaltenegger, published by St. Martin's Press.
As founding director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute, astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger has built a team of tenacious scientists from many disciplines to create a specialized toolkit to find life on faraway worlds. In Alien Earths, she demonstrates how we can use our homeworld as a Rosetta Stone, creatively analyzing Earth's history and its astonishing biosphere throughout to inform this search.
Kaltenegger provides a fascinating account on how the discovery of other solar systems caused scientists like herself to rethink how to search for life in the cosmos.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Earths-S...
As founding director of Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute, astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger has built a team of tenacious scientists from many disciplines to create a specialized toolkit to find life on faraway worlds. In Alien Earths, she demonstrates how we can use our homeworld as a Rosetta Stone, creatively analyzing Earth's history and its astonishing biosphere throughout to inform this search.
Kaltenegger provides a fascinating account on how the discovery of other solar systems caused scientists like herself to rethink how to search for life in the cosmos.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Alien-Earths-S...
May 9, 2024
The Spider #96 - The Spider and the Deathless One
Just finished listening to "The Spider #96 - The Spider and the Deathless One" by Norvell W. Page writing as Grant Stockbridge.
Norvell W. Page was the preeminent writer/chronicler of The Spider's adventurers and he pulls out all the stops for what appears the third and final outing of Munro, the man of a thousand faces who returns from the dead to wreck havoc on Richard Wentworth and his friends and family as he schemes to destroy and take over New York City.
Now in the interest of fair disclosure, I have written end notes for Radio Archives that are still in use and though we have never met, I am friends here on Facebook with Nick Santa Maria.
What makes this outing of The Spider particularly interesting is that it's the first time Richard Wentworth is tricked by Munro's machinations into taking the helm of the police department as the acting Commissioner of Police - effectively hog tying Wentworth's hands since he is honor bound by his oath as acting commissioner to uphold the law.
Yet despite his best efforts, Wentworth is thwarted at every turn by Munro who is always just one step ahead of him, and it soon becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse where Wentworth must outwit Munro by offering himself up as the sacrificial lamb.
A great thrilling outing of The Spider. Nick Santa Maria. does his usual bang up job with another rousing and thrilling performance.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.radioarchives.com/The_Spi...
Norvell W. Page was the preeminent writer/chronicler of The Spider's adventurers and he pulls out all the stops for what appears the third and final outing of Munro, the man of a thousand faces who returns from the dead to wreck havoc on Richard Wentworth and his friends and family as he schemes to destroy and take over New York City.
Now in the interest of fair disclosure, I have written end notes for Radio Archives that are still in use and though we have never met, I am friends here on Facebook with Nick Santa Maria.
What makes this outing of The Spider particularly interesting is that it's the first time Richard Wentworth is tricked by Munro's machinations into taking the helm of the police department as the acting Commissioner of Police - effectively hog tying Wentworth's hands since he is honor bound by his oath as acting commissioner to uphold the law.
Yet despite his best efforts, Wentworth is thwarted at every turn by Munro who is always just one step ahead of him, and it soon becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse where Wentworth must outwit Munro by offering himself up as the sacrificial lamb.
A great thrilling outing of The Spider. Nick Santa Maria. does his usual bang up job with another rousing and thrilling performance.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.radioarchives.com/The_Spi...
May 7, 2024
Extinction
Just finished reading "Extinction" by Douglas Preston, released by Forge.
Douglas Preston deftly looks at the impact de-extinction may have if it proves that it can be successfully done and what unchecked scientists may attempt to bring back from the ages.
Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction by genetic manipulation - that had may failures before success.
While his wealthy entrepreneur and brilliant and slightly mad scientist didn’t bring back any apex predators, the vividly written mammoths, glyptodonts, Irish elk, and others draw a stream of healthy visitors to this beautiful site in Colorado.
The murder of two guests kicks off the thread of an investigation that runs through the book. Agent Cash and Sheriff Colcord conduct a superbly written, suspenseful series of investigations as things get weirder and deaths continue. The company is up to something even stranger than bringing back mammoths, but the investigators don’t know what is or how it’s connected to the murders. A mix of grieving parents, secretive executives, cultists in the forest, and a movie company using mammoths in a Western (go with it) add to the fun and suspense. And when you think you’ve solved the mystery, you haven’t.
The characters are excellent. Cash is especially notable because most writers would make her Hollywood pretty, not plain and a bit stout. She has a secret past which implies we’ll see her in another book, and I hope so. She and Colcord’s initially prickly partnership changes to professional respect and friendship, with the possibility of more in maybe future novels.
Erebus is breeding Neanderthals and has kept them in a "Truman Show" simulation that strove to keep them ignorant of the Modern World - What could go wrong? How about “everything?” Children do get curious about what their parents are hiding and sometimes get very very angry when the truth is revealed. Preston’s take on Neanderthals is original and surprising.
Preston has written a high-octane thriller, and yet it should serve as a cautionary tale. De-extinction does sound like a wonderful idea, until you take into account that the world is a far different place then it was even 100-years ago, and just because you can bring something back doesn't mean that you should.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076...
Douglas Preston deftly looks at the impact de-extinction may have if it proves that it can be successfully done and what unchecked scientists may attempt to bring back from the ages.
Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction by genetic manipulation - that had may failures before success.
While his wealthy entrepreneur and brilliant and slightly mad scientist didn’t bring back any apex predators, the vividly written mammoths, glyptodonts, Irish elk, and others draw a stream of healthy visitors to this beautiful site in Colorado.
The murder of two guests kicks off the thread of an investigation that runs through the book. Agent Cash and Sheriff Colcord conduct a superbly written, suspenseful series of investigations as things get weirder and deaths continue. The company is up to something even stranger than bringing back mammoths, but the investigators don’t know what is or how it’s connected to the murders. A mix of grieving parents, secretive executives, cultists in the forest, and a movie company using mammoths in a Western (go with it) add to the fun and suspense. And when you think you’ve solved the mystery, you haven’t.
The characters are excellent. Cash is especially notable because most writers would make her Hollywood pretty, not plain and a bit stout. She has a secret past which implies we’ll see her in another book, and I hope so. She and Colcord’s initially prickly partnership changes to professional respect and friendship, with the possibility of more in maybe future novels.
Erebus is breeding Neanderthals and has kept them in a "Truman Show" simulation that strove to keep them ignorant of the Modern World - What could go wrong? How about “everything?” Children do get curious about what their parents are hiding and sometimes get very very angry when the truth is revealed. Preston’s take on Neanderthals is original and surprising.
Preston has written a high-octane thriller, and yet it should serve as a cautionary tale. De-extinction does sound like a wonderful idea, until you take into account that the world is a far different place then it was even 100-years ago, and just because you can bring something back doesn't mean that you should.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076...
May 3, 2024
The Asteroid Hunter - A Scientist's Journey To The Dawn Of Our Solar System
Just finished reading "The Asteroid Hunter - A Scientist's Journey To The Dawn Of Our Solar System" by Dante S. Lauretta.
Dr. Lauretta, the Regents Professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Departmnt of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona, has written a classic book on how an unmanned space exploration mission is first conceived and launched.
Lauretta chronicles both his career and the Osiris-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu. He deals, in a succinct manner, with how he got to NASA and became one of the principals proposing an asteroid sample return mission. The bulk of the book, like many years of his life, is the story of that mission. It includes all the steps and twists and turns that never make the news. It’s fascinating. Lauretta does an excellent job of clearly explaining the bits of science and engineering needed to get to the asteroid, grab the sample and bring it back to earth. He shares the excitement and the wonder of it all.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1538722941?...
Dr. Lauretta, the Regents Professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Departmnt of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona, has written a classic book on how an unmanned space exploration mission is first conceived and launched.
Lauretta chronicles both his career and the Osiris-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu. He deals, in a succinct manner, with how he got to NASA and became one of the principals proposing an asteroid sample return mission. The bulk of the book, like many years of his life, is the story of that mission. It includes all the steps and twists and turns that never make the news. It’s fascinating. Lauretta does an excellent job of clearly explaining the bits of science and engineering needed to get to the asteroid, grab the sample and bring it back to earth. He shares the excitement and the wonder of it all.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1538722941?...
