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Review: Picard Season 3 episodes 1-4 (spoilers)
It was definitely worth waiting to see where this season was going. As it turns out, the first episodes have their own semi-complete arc. The story is far from finished but this is a distinct chunk of storytelling. Overall, this season of Picard is playing it safe and leaning into nostalgia and classic plot elements…
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Not really a review of Picard Season 3 episodes 1 & 2
Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), Picard Season 3 is still available in Australia on a service I have rather than Paramount+. I’m watching it and two episodes in, it is fine so far but…well we’ve been here before and both previous seasons have ended up weaker as they progressed. This final season appears to be leaning…
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Could you rewrite the Lord of the Rings as a techno-thriller?
Despite my attempt to resolve forever the difference between fantasy and science-fiction, apparently, my typography-based typology has yet to catch on and the never-ending discourse continues. I have mentioned before that while we make conscious attempts to define categories by sharp rules, our brains do weird things with them. One model (disputed) for the underlying…
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The problem with streaming era Trek
Star Trek has had a number of incarnations and has had a fair share of dud episodes, inconsistent ideas and poor choices. Nonetheless, it has pushed forward as a franchise that delivers interesting science fiction stories and ideas. I believe we can draw a relatively neat circle around a current era of Trek that distinguishes…
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Picard Season 2 – final episodes
I want to say that I liked the big ending of Picard with the conclusion to the events on the Stargazer that frames this season. I can’t really do that because it didn’t make a lot of sense but I like the idea of the story that this was an ending to. Put another way,…
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Magical Therapy & Mothers
Spoilers for Picard Season 2 Episode 7, Moon Knight Season 1 Episode 5 and Russian Doll Season 2 Episode 3. That’s a lot of spoilers and three different streaming services and three genre shows but with quite different premises. So what do they all have in common? OK, not entirely in common, more like two-and-half…
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Picard Season 2: Episodes 7 & 8
I’ve really not much to say as this was two episodes of padding. The plot advances by about five minutes in total. The main story development is that Jurati-Borg-Queen is now working with Dr Soong to stop the space mission. Things aren’t really happening for any reason at all and the principle of preserving or…
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Picard Season 2: Episodes 5 & 6
Two episodes at a time really fit the rhythm of this series. Each episode sets up multiple things of apparent consequence but only some have a lasting impact on the plot. Young Guinan, for example, was there just for Picard to meet Young Guinan and maybe that was reason enough. Rios being captured by ICE…
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Picard Season 2: Episodes 1 & 2
I had expected that the second season of Picard would stream in Paramount+ in Australia. However, to my surprise, it is available on Prime. So having not planned on watching it, I am now watching it. Cora has two extensive summaries of the details of the first two episodes here and here. If you aren’t…
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Farewell Star Trek Discovery
So non-US fans of Star Trek Discovery were surprised by the sudden policy change yesterday. Within the USA, the show had originally been used as a way to entice people to sign-up for the streaming service CBS All Access which was later rebranded as Paramount+ but in much of the rest of the world, it…
Camestros Felapton
Two Time Hugo Award Finalist
Camestros Felapton 