Category Television & Streaming

Sep 15 2024

Exploring The Land Of The Lost

Fifty years ago, the children’s program Land of the Lost premiered on Saturday morning on the NBC television network and surprised many viewers with its well written and imaginative scripts. Even though the production was undeniably low budget and the acting by some of the performers was a bit over the top, Land of the Lost quickly won over many fans thanks to its spirited presentation. The TV show was produced by Sid and Marty Kroft who ruled the Saturday morning TV landscape in the ’70s with many fantasy and comedic live-action programs. Land of the Lost stood out and was their best production because it ditched the juvenile humor seen in their other programs and focused on drama and sci-fi elements. Even though it was a program aimed at children, Land of the Lost had an unexpected mature and serious tone that was appealing to anyone.

The TV show followed the adventures of the Marshall family, Rick (Spencer Milligan) and his children, Will (Wesley Eure) and Holly (Cathy Coleman), who while out whitewater rafting in the Grand Canyon fell through an interdimensional portal that transported them to a timeless world full of dinosaurs. Trapped in the lost land, the trio struggled to survive while trying to find a way home. During their adventures the Marshalls encountered many unusual denizens including Cha-Ka (Phillip Paley), a member of the Pakuni, a primitive tribe of ape-like humanoids, and Enik (Walker Edmiston), an advanced reptilian/insect-like humanoid who was also trapped in the Land of the Lost. What made Enik’s backstory so fascinating was that his race the Altrusians actually devolved into the savage Sleestaks, who were the dominant species in the Land of the Lost. The Marshalls usually met other travelers from different eras who wound up trapped in the land and often found a way to return to their own time period.

The episodes were devoted to plots about environmentalism, family strife, survival and surprisingly imaginative sci-fi concepts, especially time travel. During the show, the Marshalls discovered these interdimensional constructs called pylons that could transport anyone who entered them into different dimensions including modern-day Earth, though navigating them was difficult. These devices were used to explain why Rick Marshall left the show (in reality Mulligan was removed from the TV show due to conflicts over merchandising) as the father was whisked back to Earth unexpectedly at the start of the third season and replaced by Uncle Jack Marshall (Ron Harper). As Jack explained to his nephew and niece, he was trying to find his brother and his children and followed the same route that stranded the Marshalls in the lost land.

By the third season, the scripts were less imaginative and more geared toward children. The storylines took on more fantastical elements as Uncle Jack, Will and Holly encountered the Medusa, fire-breathing dimetrodon, a unicorn and the ghostly captain of the Flying Dutchman ship. Still the first two season were very thought provoking as the Marshalls met an eerie translucent alien called the Zarn, mysterious human visitors, and alternate versions of themselves. One of the reasons why the scripts stood out was because many of them were written by acclaimed sci-fi authors like Ben Bova, Norman Spinrad, Theodore Sturgeon and Larry Niven. Star Trek scriptwriter David Gerrold was the story editor in the first season and recruited fellow Star Trek writers like D.C. Fontana, Margaret Armen and even Walter Koenig to write a few episodes.

Thanks to its dramatic tone, the stories that focused on survival were more impactful and viewers felt the constant dangers the Marshalls faced as they dealt with carnivorous dinosaurs, environmental dangers, temporal and interdimensional dilemmas and the barbaric Sleestaks. One haunting episode, “The Search” had Will and Holly struggling to save their father who was electrocuted by crystals that operated the pylons. Anyone watching it could sense the desperation and panic from the siblings who were forced to face the possibility of their father dying. Another eerie episode “Split Personality”, had the Marshalls encountering alternate versions of themselves who were frozen in time and needed their help.

Even though the series never had a concluding episode, due to the temporal nature of Land of the Lost it can be argued that the Marshalls did find their way back home in the first season finale episode called “Circle”. Inside one of the pylons, the family was able to return back to their home but it was revealed they were trapped in a Mobius loop and another version of themselves wound up trapped in the Land of the Lost by the time the episode concluded. So in a sense, at least one version of the Marshalls returned home and subsequent episodes followed their variants.

In the decades since Land of the Lost stopped airing, the program has maintained a cult following thanks to a heavy syndication run that lasted many years. There were two attempts at remaking Land of the Lost. One included another TV show that aired for two seasons and featured the Porter family who were stranded in another dimension inhabited by dinosaurs and Sleestaks. Then there was a feature film in 2009 that starred Will Ferrell and as expected by the casting was more comedic. The film was a major dud with critics and fans and flopped at the box office. It also featured one of Leonard Nimoy’s last voice performances as he portrayed Enik. Sadly, the film ignored the dramatic survivalist aspects of the original Land of the Lost and insulted the memory of the original with its moronic humor. Regardless of how the remakes were received, Land of the Lost still has many devoted fans who appreciated the bright scripts and its imaginative, dramatic tone that engaged viewers.

José Soto

Sep 1 2024

The Bell Riots, September 1, 2024: A Critical Moment In Star Trek History

Once again reality has caught up and will pass science fiction at the time of this post, in this case with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Fans of the TV show know all too well that this date marks the time of the infamous Bell Riots.

In the two-part episode, “Past Tense” Commander Ben Sisko, Dr. Julian Bashir and Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax accidentally time traveled to San Francisco on August 30, 2024, and were pivotal figures in the Bell Riots on September 1, one of the most violent periods in American history.

For anyone who has not seen these episodes, the Bell Riots were an important event in American history that influenced the country to seriously tackle its social problems. During this time period of the 2020s, the homeless and jobless were forcibly housed in so-called Sanctuary Districts, which were essentially walled-off, overcrowded internment camps were the residents were poorly treated and lived under harsh conditions. Things came to a head on August 31, 2024, when Bashir was attacked by a gang of thugs. One man, Gabriel Bell, tried to help Bashir but was stabbed and killed for his action. Bell’s death created a ripple effect in history were the United States deteriorated and ultimately the United Federation of Planets was never formed.

It turned out that Gabriel Bell would have become a key figure in an uprising in the San Francisco Sanctuary District that took place on September 1, 2024. Bell became the face of the riots and his actions by protecting District employees who were taken hostage and giving a sympathetic face to the homeless residents. Unfortunately, Bell was killed by national guardsmen who took back the District, but his actions were publicized and turned public opinion against the Districts and swayed the United States to find long-term solutions to its social problems.

Bell was killed near the conclusion of the first episode and Sisko quickly realized the devastating effect Bell’s death would have on history. Thus, when “Past Tense, Part I” concluded, Sisko and Bashir took part in a takeover of the District’s processing center where the hostages were held and announced that he was Gabriel Bell. The dilemma was that in order to carry out Bell’s life to its conclusion, Sisko had to die. But how was this resolved in “Past Tense, Part II”? Well, this is Star Trek. 😀

“Past Tense, Part I and II” was one of the better time travel episodes in the Star Trek franchise because of its unique nature that it took place during a then-future period in our history (the episodes aired in January 1995, which was a risk. After all, it was very likely at the time of filming that the future portrayed in “Past Tense” would not come to be and fortunately the Districts do not exist in our reality. Obviously, the now-contemporary Earth depicted in those episodes are set in an alternate timeline. Yet, the social issues are still with us.

Homelessness is a major social issue affecting many communities in the United States and is getting worse partly because of the affordable housing crisis. San Francisco has been demonized by many who decry it as the epicenter for urban decay as it faces homelessness. Thankfully, no one has advocated for rounding up the homeless population and dumping them into so-called sanctuaries. Then again if things get worse, this can happen in our future.

At least unemployment is low and not a major issue as depicted in those Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. It should also be pointed out that the episodes did not and could not have predicted that the world was recovering from a pandemic or that a woman was running for president of the United States. But the episodes did hint that democracy was at risk based on the authoritative actions of the California governor in the episodes (who was not Gavin Newsom). Sure it was inevitable that predictions would turn out to be incorrect, but at least it did get correct that housing and homelessness would still be issues and as a bonus the episodes did get correct that the internet would be prevalent in our culture.  

While these episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine may have been a bit heavy handed when it tackled the issue of homelessness and social and economic inequality, it carried out the noble Star Trek tradition of examining current issues facing our society in a sci-fi setting. The backdrop of the social messaging capably added to the tense drama of Sisko and his companions trying to survive a savage period of time. More importantly the issues it brings up were not easily solved and still provide food for thought to this day.

Jun 30 2024

Dark Matter Is The Multiversal Journey We’ve Been Looking For

Dark Matter, currently streaming on Apple TV+, just concluded its first season as it took viewers on a mind-numbing journey throughout the multiverse.

Based on the novel by Blake Crouch, Dark Matter tells the story of Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton), a mild-mannered physics professor who is kidnapped one night by a stranger and left in a world not quite like his own. It is revealed that the stranger is himself. Actually this is an alternate version of Jason from another reality who switches places with Jason. In the alternate reality, Jason is a world-famous scientist who built a machine that lets people travel to other universes. This alternate Jason forced the original Jason to switch places because of his life which he covets. The original Jason is married to Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and has a teenage son, Charlie (Oakes Fegley), which is something the alternate Jason doesn’t have in his universe.

As the alternate Jason tries to fit in to the original Jason’s more mundane life, the original Jason with the help of the alternate Jason’s girlfriend, Amanda Lucas (Alice Braga), goes on a life-altering journey throughout the multiverse as he attempts to find his way home.

The concept of the multiverse was a somewhat obscure subgenre of sci-fi books but has recently gained popularity in mainstream media. The most famous examples were the TV show Sliders and the award-winning film Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Whereas both films approached the multiverse concept at different extremes, Dark Matter manages to take a more centered approach that doesn’t go overboard with weird universes of talking rocks or holding back on the multiverse concept.

At first, the TV show takes place in two universes, but soon goes into a wild journey throughout the multiverse as Jason and Amanda explore universes that are either mundanely different, such as Danila having blonde hair or extreme, as seen where the duo are trapped in a world frozen over in an ice age.

Strongly supporting these journeys is the great performance by Joel Edgerton who is able to convey different subtleties to his characters. What was interesting was that while the alternate Jason is the show’s antagonist, he is not some mustache-twirling villain. He only wants a chance to live on the road he did not take. In his world, he let Daniela go years ago and came to regret it. What makes him so much scummier is his inability to let her go and move on with Amanda. We cannot help rooting and sympathizing with the original Jason as he discovers that each world he visits is not his own. It was painful to see him falling apart as he sees alternate versions of his family dying or never existing.

The other actors, especially Connelly and Braga, also turn in memorable performances, as each of them grapple with the consequences of Jasons’ journeys and actions. It was always interesting to see the alternate versions of the people in Jason’s life, which made each episode so watchable.

Equally as enthralling were the journeys themselves. Thankfully, the worlds they visited were not the cliche alternate worlds were the Nazis won World War II or Barack Obama never became the U.S. president. The TV show instead concentrated on having the characters visit worlds with either tiny differences from Jason’s or were wildly different. One brief but terrifying visit had Jason and Amanda nearly killed as they stepped into a world which had no atmosphere. An intriguing twist to these journeys was the realization that each world any character visited was influenced by their state of minds, which made Jason’s goal of getting home that much harder and desperate. Complicating his journey is the growing relationship he has with Amanda, which leads him to recognize his hopeless situation yet he remains committed to his world and Daniela and Charlie.

As fascinating as the journeys were, what made each of them so engaging were Jason’s reactions to them. We sympathize with him as each journey leads to bitter disappointment or pain. We know each heartbreak taxes Jason and we could only hope that the setbacks do not have dire effect on his mind and soul.

Dark Matter took a wild twist in its final episodes that could be confusing to viewers not paying enough attention. But the last episodes were intensely riveting and enthralling for viewers who have followed Jason’s odyssey. It’s not certain if there will be a second season for Dark Matter, even though there were a few potential plot threads that could be followed up if the series continued. Still, Dark Matter concluded in a satisfying manner and whether or not it gets cancelled the series merits watching by fans of multiverse stories and fine sci-fi.

Apr 25 2024

Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver Is A Perfect Reason For Not Giving Directors Free Reign

Well, Madame Web actually has a competitor for the worse film of 2024. That would be Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver for those fortunate enough to not have seen it.

Director Zack Snyder’s hardcore fans keep insisting that Snyder should be allowed to do whatever he wants with his films. They claim that his vision for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) was stymied by idiotic studio heads who then ruined his films and the rest of the DCEU. However, Snyder’s latest film is a textbook cautionary example of what happens when a director is given carte blanche creative control over a film.

Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver, which streamed last week on Netflix, is the sequel to Rebel Moon, Part One: A Child of Fire that streamed last December. The storyline is based on a failed pitch for a Star Wars film and it is about a young woman named Kora (Sofia Boutella) who lives in a quiet farming colony on a moon that has to recruit a team to help her colony fend off an invasion by the evil Imperium. It’s essentially a sci-fi remake of Seven Samurai (which has been done before with Battle Beyond the Stars), as she recruits eccentric warriors to defend her colony. The first film was OK with excellent production values and cinematography although the script was derivative of other sci-fi tropes, and man, it was full of slow-mo shots. It was hoped by critics that part two would be a huge payoff for the setup, but that did not turn out as expected.

Instead of giving a satisfying and coherent conclusion, Snyder goes all out and indulges in the worst aspects of his cinematic bag of tricks. The film just oozes needless slow-mo shots of people farming, walking, or making any kind of motion. It was slow-mo porn! The film also boasted too many exposition dumps that brought the film’s story into a screeching halt. The scenes were the characters stopped in their tracks to give us extended back stories were clumsily done and were too long thanks to…slow-mo shots. What was worse is that these character expositions did little to endear us to Kora and her team of misfit warriors. The decisions made by the characters in their back stories often did not make sense and in the end none of the stories made the characters memorable. This was clear when not only was there no sympathy for any heroic characters when they died but it was hard to tell who they were during the well-staged battle scenes.

To its credit, Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver, had great special effects and design that evoked Warhammer 40,000 and of course Star Wars. The final boss battle between Kora and Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein) was well choreographed as they fought with their lightsabres, or whatever the swords are called in the Rebel Moon universe (help us but more films are planned) and Anthony Hopkins was brilliant as the voice of the Jimmy the rebel robot. But logic of the epic battles in the final act did not make sense. How could an advanced intergalactic force fail to detect simple farmers hiding out with weapons? How is it the main heroes are able to take out scores of armored enemy soldiers armed with axes and clubs? This was worse than when the Ewoks defeated the Empire’s forces in Return of the Jedi. All these flaws would have been forgivable if 1) we cared about the characters and 2) the battles engaged us. In other words, the battles were boring, the worst possible insult for action scenes.

While derivative from the start, Rebel Moon, Part Two: The Scargiver had the potential to be a rousing action film that would have been Zack Snyder’s answer to Star Wars. Instead we have to give credit to Lucasfilm for having the wisdom to turn down Snyder’s pitch.

The problem with the two Rebel Moon films boils down to the fact that Zack Snyder was given too much creative freedom and he overindulged his worst cinematic impulses. Yes, Snyder is a very talented director but he needs firm guidance when executing his films. So, if there are more Rebel Moon films, Snyder will have to either control himself or allow himself to be guided by objective partners.

José Soto

Apr 16 2024

The Post-Superhero Film & TV Era

As we move further into this decade, it is apparent that the superhero era in films and TV shows has ended. We all know about the hurdles many recent superhero films and TV show have faced with diminished quality and profit. Guaranteed would-be hits like The Marvels or The Flash failed spectacularly last year and help cement that the superhero films and TV shows are no longer as popular at they were in the previous decade.

This does not mean that there won’t be anymore superhero films or TV shows or that they will never be popular again. There are several superhero films and TV shows in various stages of development and it is possible that a new era could arise. It has happened before. Back in the early 2000s, superhero films became dominant in films thanks to the success of Spider-Man and X-Men, but they then diminished in quality and several films did not perform well. However, as we all know the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) exploded on the scene and launched an even more successful and popular era of superhero films and TV shows. It is similar to what has happened with the comic books that inspired these live-action films and TV shows.

As comic book fans know, comic books have had their ups and downs throughout history with different ages. When they first came into prominence in the late 1930s they sold very well, but by the mid 1950s comic books declined in popularity and sales until the release of Showcase #4, which revamped the Flash and introduced a new age of comic books. Essentially, the eras come and go in cycles with comic books as they reinvented themselves and there is little reason to doubt this won’t happen with superhero films and TV shows. For all we know this year’s Deadpool & Wolverine will usher in a new age of superhero films and TV shows. Or it may be a while as other genres capture the attention of viewers as they offer a fresh new take on superheroes.

So, until then what genre can replace the superhero films and TV shows in terms of prominence and popularity?

It is too early to tell, but we have a couple of contenders: video game-based properties or monster-based properties.

The MonsterVerse based on giant kaijus like Godzilla and King Kong has proven to be unexpectedly popular, while Godzilla Minus Zero blew away audiences and critics with its high quality and success. There are plans for films based on classic movie monsters like the Wolfman and Frankenstein’s monster, which could fulfill the failed promise of the so-called Dark Universe from ten years ago. The only issue with these monster films is their limited scope in terms of story. It is difficult to make compelling stories that focus on giant monsters while ignoring poorly developed human characters. But it is possible, again look at Godzilla Minus Zero.

On the other hand, video games have provided ample material for filmmakers to mine from. The most popular video games are based on science fiction, horror and fantasy and everything in between. In the past, films based on video games fared poorly as filmmakers were unable to translate what made the games so popular into film.

However, there have been many recent films and TV shows based on video games that were wildly successful and were well received. These include Sonic the Hedgehog, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Last of Us, The Witcher, Halo and most recently Fallout. Although the quality and success of these projects varied, it is clear that they are becoming more and more prominent in theaters and in streaming services. These properties are just the tip of the iceberg of available video games that are practically begging to be adapted to live-action. There are plans to produce films and TV shows based on The Legend of Zelda, Death Stranding, Borderlands, Minecraft: The Movie, Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect and Bioshock. Of course, we will also be getting sequels and new seasons like Sonic the Hedgehog 3, The Last of Us, Knuckles, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. The subject matter of these projects range from alternate history, hard sci-fi, horror and animated cartoons.

Will these films duplicate the success of the MCU and other superhero films and TV shows? It’s hard to say at this point, but do not be surprised if some video-game based property explodes and captures the public zeitgeist. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was able to do this given that it earned over $1 billion when it was released last year. It’s possible that the sequel could earn more money and cement the Mario Brothers as the next big thing. Or maybe it will be some other video game property. The future is wide open for video game-based films and TV shows to dominate the public consciousness.