Kevin Singer's Blog, page 11
November 10, 2014
The brilliant failures of Doctor Who
Doctor Who‘s season 8 two-part finale overflowed with action and emotion, but it exposed the flaws consistent with the Steven Moffat era of this classic show. All season long I’ve been wondering what the heck was going on with Doctor Who. A hallmark of the show is that it constantly changes its stars while keeping […]
November 7, 2014
Orphan Black on the horizon
Arguable the best sci-fi show—if not the best show period—on TV, Orphan Black has been a masterpiece in terms of acting, character, and breakneck plotting. If it isn’t obvious, I love this show. For those unaware, it follows a group of clones, all played brilliantly by Tatiana Maslany. These clones are stalked by several shadowy […]
October 30, 2014
Doctor Who: rating Peter Capaldi
As an American, Doctor Who is not part of my culture the way it seems to be in the UK. I first started watching it when I was maybe 8 or so, because channel 9 in New York would show episodes of this crazy, British sci-fi show on Saturday mornings. My first Doctor was Tom Baker, he […]
October 24, 2014
Hellraiser: behind the scenes
I was a teenager when I watched Clive Barker’s iconic horror movie Hellraiser. It freaked me out, to say the least. I’d never seen evil presented on screen in such a visceral, repulsive way. What made it so scary? First, several years of Catholic school had conditioned me to be afraid of hell. Second, the villains […]
October 12, 2014
The strange case of Hemlock Grove
A few weeks ago, I started watching the Netflix supernatural series Hemlock Grove on a whim. Somehow I managed to get through all 13 episodes of the first season. Still, I’m not sure if the show is a brilliant mess or a well-meaning failure. Hemlock Grove, based on a book by Peter McGreevy (who also […]
October 4, 2014
Read this book: Bitter Seeds
Ian Tregillis’s alt history/sci-fi mashup scores big on imagination, even if many of his characters are flat. Aside from the supernatural/horror/sci-fi, another thing I’m a fan of in pop culture is alternative histories. The “what if” has always fascinated me, mainly because it lets the imagination run away. In his book Bitter Seeds, Ian Tregillis […]
September 26, 2014
Why not Mars?
World building is an integral part of fiction. When it comes to sci-fi, Mars seems like the perfect world to build. It’s been long ignored. Now, it might get its chance chance. Writers (myself included) are closet megalomaniacs. When you write, one of the more important, though hidden, tasks is you have to construct the […]
September 19, 2014
To life
A famous actor died last month. He committed suicide after reportedly suffering from bipolar disorder. Like a lot of people, it hit me hard. Unlike a lot of other people, it was difficult not just because he was a much-loved actor, but also for more personal reasons. First, there’s a myth that creative people are […]
September 14, 2014
The Leftovers rehashed
A strong premise plus great performances does not equal a successful show. I was looking forward to HBO’s new show The Leftovers for two reasons. The first was that it was created by Damon Lindelof, the mastermind behind Lost, one of my favorite TV shows ever. The second reason was the premise: two percent of […]
September 9, 2014
Wanna live forever (well, at least 30% longer)?
Immortality beckons. It’s that one thing unattainable to all of us. No matter how lucky, rich, or good looking we are, the odds are 99.999999% that we will die (there’s always the slimmest of chances that someone, somewhere has outsmarted death). But like modern day Ponce de Leons rambling through Florida searching for the fountain of […]
