In this episode, we have a selfish rich and very old man named Harlan Hawkes trying to cheat death. Not surprising, I found the writers pushed ageist narratives such as the notion of old people being selfish curmudgeons and older people should be less entitled to life than younger people. The conclusion was somewhat predictable in the sense that Hawkes could not cheat death but his selfishness also led to the death of a young woman. There was an afterlife scene in which Hawkes apparently consigned to a harsh eternal fate while the young woman went to a peaceful afterlife. I suppose one might call it karma but Hawkes fear of death had been explained by him witnessing the murder of his parents when he was a child and having to hide under their lifeless bodies. Hence, one might question the 'god' of the afterlife for not considering the unimaginable psychological trauma that adversely affected his entire life. But we can't expect theology to be just, and certainly not rational.
Reviews
33 Reviews
Watching in the era of AI is thought-provoking
19 May 2024
The story is engaging with the expected Outer Limits twist but a rather predictable conclusion. Nevertheless, I found it very thought-provoking. The show originally aired in 1995 when Artificial Intelligence (AI) was a nascent technology and a synthetic human-like robot was a future fantasy at best. In 2024, though, AI has evolved exponentially with technologies like OpenAI's ChatGPT, and we can now converse with human-like AI devices that synthesize human emotion. Putting that AI into a human-shaped form-factor robot is also feasible, but it would likely be prohibitively expensive to make a fully synthetic human robot.
The implications, however, are far more profound than a malfunctioning jealous robot. Security, privacy, psychological impacts, and ethical considerations come to mind.
The implications, however, are far more profound than a malfunctioning jealous robot. Security, privacy, psychological impacts, and ethical considerations come to mind.
Zero Hour!
(1957)
Heroics and Heroic Redemptions
15 March 2024
Warning: Spoilers
For the moment, let's ignore the 1979 Airplane! Spoof of this movie. To push the storyline of a reluctant passenger needing to fly the plane, the writers came up with the idea of food poisoning; both the pilot and co-pilot, along with numerous passengers, were incapacitated due to eating a bad fish dinner. The co-pilot was incapacitated first, and the pilot was aware that he would soon end up like the co-pilot. Instead of doing an emergency landing at the nearest airstrip, it's bizarrely decided to continue to the final destination. So once he keels over, a passenger (named Ted Stryker) who is a former WWII fighter pilot is recruited to fly the plane, but he's reluctant due to PTSD, and the pilot on the ground who's assisting him is a fellow fighter pilot who has little confidence in Stryker. After lots of angst and flashbacks, he manages a crash landing that tears off the landing gear. Apparently, though, the movie budget was insufficient to the show an evacuation, and the movie abruptly ends with the pilot on the ground feting Stryker. It's easy to see why this movie became spoof fodder 20 years later. Movies of this type in the 1950s were typically overdramatized and overacted with predictable narratives of heroics and heroic redemptions. If you've seen Airplane!, you'll certainly enjoy seeing the movie that inspired it.
Mission: Impossible
(1996)
Insult to the original Mission Impossible
24 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
In the original Mission Impossible TV show (1967-1973), the leader of the 'Impossible Missions Force' (IMF) was Jim Phelps, portrayed by the debonair Peter Graves, excepting the first year of the show. As the iconic leader of the IMF, he took on seemingly impossible missions by assembling a team of expert specialists to get the job accomplished in fantastical ways. His calm demeanor, leadership, and unwavering commitment to his team was the proverbial glue that held the show together.
Two decades later, Tom Cruise and company brought the TV show to the big screen but decided to ludicrously retcon Jim Phelps as a aged vicious mole and villain looking for a giant payday to make up for his small government salary. One of the original actors from the TV series (Greg Morris who played Barney Collier) rightly called the movie an abomination.
As such, the retcon resulted in IMF agents being pitted against each other and even the CIA. It went from impossible missions to comical absurdity and logical gaps greater than the Grand Canyon. Of course, Tom Cruise, who was cast as the IMF team leader, ultimately exposed the evil Jim Phelps and took over as the leader of the IMF in future movies.
Two decades later, Tom Cruise and company brought the TV show to the big screen but decided to ludicrously retcon Jim Phelps as a aged vicious mole and villain looking for a giant payday to make up for his small government salary. One of the original actors from the TV series (Greg Morris who played Barney Collier) rightly called the movie an abomination.
As such, the retcon resulted in IMF agents being pitted against each other and even the CIA. It went from impossible missions to comical absurdity and logical gaps greater than the Grand Canyon. Of course, Tom Cruise, who was cast as the IMF team leader, ultimately exposed the evil Jim Phelps and took over as the leader of the IMF in future movies.
A more rational alternative
21 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Imagine if you passed by a memorial about the horrors of war that was designed to forcibly and unknowingly implant false memories of you committing atrocities in that war. Such a device would, in fact, be considered a weapon as it purposely inflicted psychological damage, and its 'anti-war' designers would be considered sadistic criminals.
This is exactly what happened in this episode of Voyager as the crew passed an uninhabited planet that contained the remnants of war and this memorial device that attacked the crew. Rather than destroy the device, the crew decided to fix it up and leave a warning buoy behind. It's insanely irrational but a simple rewrite would have made for a still great but rational story.
Instead of the designers intentionally producing this bio-psycho weapon posing as a memorial, the memorial would offer those who came by an opportunity to experience the historical events like how Captain Picard experienced a lost culture in the Inner Light episode. For dramatic purposes, the Memorial would malfunction due to lack of maintenance, and the crew would experience false memories of committing the atrocities. Then, the crew would find and fix the memorial to ensure it does what it was designed to do.
This is exactly what happened in this episode of Voyager as the crew passed an uninhabited planet that contained the remnants of war and this memorial device that attacked the crew. Rather than destroy the device, the crew decided to fix it up and leave a warning buoy behind. It's insanely irrational but a simple rewrite would have made for a still great but rational story.
Instead of the designers intentionally producing this bio-psycho weapon posing as a memorial, the memorial would offer those who came by an opportunity to experience the historical events like how Captain Picard experienced a lost culture in the Inner Light episode. For dramatic purposes, the Memorial would malfunction due to lack of maintenance, and the crew would experience false memories of committing the atrocities. Then, the crew would find and fix the memorial to ensure it does what it was designed to do.
Highly advanced species rejects evolution
18 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The story suggests that dinosaurs on earth evolved to the point where they left earth and ventured all the way to the Delta quadrant and became a highly advanced species known as the Voth. That's a stretch but it's Voyager and that's where the story takes place.
Unfortunately, as advanced as the Voth were, they rejected science as it pertains to their biological evolution. Despite evidence from their own scientists proving common DNA with humans based on their evolution on Earth, their leaders rejected such a notion as heresy. If they were primitives steeped in religious supremacy, it would be understandable but not a space-faring species that even more advanced than the Federation. It would have been more realistic if the Voth had reluctantly accepted intelligence over latent superstition.
I think the real problem here is human writing that's fixated on portraying lizard-like reptilian like species in an unfavorable light. This includes the Gorn, Jem'Hadar, Cardassians, Xindi, and course the Voth.
Unfortunately, as advanced as the Voth were, they rejected science as it pertains to their biological evolution. Despite evidence from their own scientists proving common DNA with humans based on their evolution on Earth, their leaders rejected such a notion as heresy. If they were primitives steeped in religious supremacy, it would be understandable but not a space-faring species that even more advanced than the Federation. It would have been more realistic if the Voth had reluctantly accepted intelligence over latent superstition.
I think the real problem here is human writing that's fixated on portraying lizard-like reptilian like species in an unfavorable light. This includes the Gorn, Jem'Hadar, Cardassians, Xindi, and course the Voth.
Violates the Prime Directive with Impunity
13 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The muse is a goofy bottle episode in which B'lanna Torres gets involved with thespians from a primitive alien culture. How this happened was a rather dubious scenario of Torres and Harry Kim being sent by themselves on an away mission to get some dilithium. Unforunately, the shuttle on a planet crashes and Torress is alone as Harry Kim took an escape pod and landed somewhere else on the planet, and wasn't seen until near the end of the episode.
Fantastically, only one alien from the planet sees the crashed shuttle and it happens to be a playwright and actor. He somehow manages to play the shuttle logs while Torres is knocked out, and use the information as fodder for a play. One play is not enough though and the playwright returns to the shuttle to get more fodder from Torres herself as he had tied her up. Torres convinces him to help her get some dilithium and this is where the prime directive was violated with impunity to include Toress being transported back to the ship from the stage in front of an aghast audience.
Fantastically, only one alien from the planet sees the crashed shuttle and it happens to be a playwright and actor. He somehow manages to play the shuttle logs while Torres is knocked out, and use the information as fodder for a play. One play is not enough though and the playwright returns to the shuttle to get more fodder from Torres herself as he had tied her up. Torres convinces him to help her get some dilithium and this is where the prime directive was violated with impunity to include Toress being transported back to the ship from the stage in front of an aghast audience.
Too stereotyped and too pat.
12 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
I was disappointed in the portrayal of Dr. Marr as a negative female stereotype. Here's my rewrite of the story. Rather than portraying Dr. Ellen Marr as the emotionally wrecked shrewish female scientist, I would have portrayed her as a highly professional scientist who cogently believed that the entity should be neutralized at any cost to prevent almost certain further planetary destructions that the entity would need to do survive.
Picard would feel otherwise, with other crew members either agreeing with Marr or Picard. Riker given his direct experience with the entity, would strongly agree with Marr.
In the end, the entity would still be destroyed but inadvertently. Picard would express a thought to Riker that Marr intended to prematurely destroy the entity. Riker would agree it was a possibility but he believed it would have been the only course of action regardless.
Picard would feel otherwise, with other crew members either agreeing with Marr or Picard. Riker given his direct experience with the entity, would strongly agree with Marr.
In the end, the entity would still be destroyed but inadvertently. Picard would express a thought to Riker that Marr intended to prematurely destroy the entity. Riker would agree it was a possibility but he believed it would have been the only course of action regardless.
Suggests violence over peace
10 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
It is an interesting concept, but I think the messaging was backward as it suggested that Picard would not be successful if he failed to engage in violence in his youth. If Picard had chosen non-violence with the Nausicaan and never got 'noticed' in his career, he would have likely left Starfleet and pursued one of his passions, such as archeology and perhaps had a family. He would undoubtedly find it immensely fulfilling. And when Q brought him back to the original reality, Picard would feel terrible regret that he had chosen a path of lonely, violent militarism with never-ending wars with other species like the Borg and the death of many under his command. Q would have the last laugh.
Sisko done wrong
9 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The storyline involves a genius human scientist who constantly brags on himself and this causes his alien wife to fall out of love with him. The customs of the alien include mating for life and only death can break the bond. However, the alien has super telepathic abilities that allow her to subconsciously project herself in corporeal form and attempt to have an affair with Sisko. The downside is Sisko is trying to have a relationship with an illusion and unless the alien stops the telepathic projecting, her real self will die. When the scientist realizes this, he decides to save his wife by ending himself. His widow decides to go back to her home planet without remembering her telepathic encounter with Sisko. I feel bad for Sisko because he got shafted and he had to endure this nonsensical script.
Science or Superstition
30 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
In this episode, B'Elanna Torres has a near-death experience that correlates to Klingon's religious beliefs about the afterlife and their version of hell. This is despite her rejection of the beliefs as superstition. After being revived, B'Elanna is very distraught and confides with Chakotay. Surprisingly, Chakotay doesn't offer his usual assistance to find a spirit guide as he did in the past but expresses skepticism and advises B'Elanna to see the symbolism. This rather surprising rebuff from Chakotay eventually pushes B'Elanna to request to be put in a state of near-death to help her mother, whom she was in this hellish afterlife. It strained credulity on multiple levels and was like watching the Twilight Zone.
Absurd Premise
30 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode was a bad case of absurd premise plus logic gaps wider than the Grand Canyon. We're suppose to believe a crazed Bajoran Vedek in the Alpha quadrant was intent on sending a subliminal mind-control message to the Marquis that are aboard Voyager in the Delta quadrant. We're supposed to believe that the Marquis (inc. Tuvok who was undercover as a Marquis) were brainwashed during their training to receive such a subliminal message that would cause them to mutiny and exile the Starfleet crew (inc. Janeyway) to a planet while they would return to the Alpha quadrant and resume the Marquis resistance. And when the mutiny was eventually foiled, everything was back to normal as though had nothing had happened. Even if the mutiny had succeeded, it would still take decades for Voyager to get back to the Alpha quadrant and perhaps never considering they intended to leave the Starfleet crew behind.
Riker out of Character
27 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Given this is season 7 and everything we about the Riker character and his relationship with Picard, the writing was senseless. For the purpose of storyline, Riker is transformed out of character into a naive & disloyal fool who turns on Picard to back the Admiral who Riker knows is pursuing an illegal action. A Riker in character would have called a meeting with the Admiral and Picard to lay it all out and recommended that PIcard put the Admiral in the brig for attempting to once again violate the treaty of Algernon. The story could have continued to have PIcard retrieve the cloaking device in order to acquire evidence to court-martial the Admiral.
No Shuttles?
26 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Counselor Troi becomes a non-consensual random vessel for an energy only life form to become human via super accelerated pregnancy. The baby is born a male despite no male being involved; perhaps the energy life form synthesized an Y chromosome? The baby grows like a weed but doesn't last long as the Enterprise is carrying dangerous cargo that might become lethal due to the presence of the boy. Rather than get a shuttle and depart the ship, the boy quickly decides to end its human existence and go back to being a pure energy life form. He didn't seem overly upset about it but Troi was very distraught. I felt bad for Troi but I'm sure she'll be okay by the next episode.
An episode pushing genetic fallacy
26 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
It was an interesting episode, to be sure, but the underlying moral imperative pushed by the writers was odd, to say the least. In their mind and as espoused by the characters, positive technology derived by evil means or for evil purposes should not be used and, in fact, erased from existence. I wonder if the writers knew that birth of space exploration was rooted in the development of V-2 Rockets used by the Nazi regime in WWII to inflect horrific missile attacks on civilians. And of course, critical medical advances that were derived from the Manhattan Project and the development of the Atomic bomb. Yet, in the final act of this show, the holographic doctor grandstands by announcing that medical technology used to save a crew member would be erased from the database because the doctor who developed it acquired it through evil means. A classic case of genetic fallacy in which information is dismissed based on it's origin rather than it's content.
The DS9 Version of The City on the Edge of Forever
24 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Past Tense is essentially the DS9 version of The City on the Edge of Forever in Star Trek TOS. In both episodes, the Trek characters go back in time (1930 and 2024 respectively) and due to their interaction with just one person (both social activists), change the timeline to where their future doesn't exist. I thought the TOS version was more credible in the sense that the crew had to avoid saving the activist from a lethal accident to preserve the timeline. In DS9, the activist died due to the presence of Sisko and the others. As a result, Sisko decided to assume the identity of the activist and accomplish whatever he did to save the timeline. The TOS version was more subtle and thought-provoking in its social commentary plus it was moving emotionally. DS9 was heavy-handed with the commentary and rather convoluted in having to achieve the saving the timeline outcome. It is interesting though that this episode made in 1995 was unfortunately more accurate than not with respect to rampant homelessness and social-political upheaval that we're facing as 2024 arrives.
Interesting but underwhelming
22 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This was an interesting sequel to the Demon episode in that we got to see what happened to the Voyager duplicate crew. Unfortunately, the storyline was a bit underwhelming. Instead of staying on their home planet, they somehow all forget they were duplicates and used a duplicate of Voyager to go back to Earth just as the original crew was doing. After a mysterious affliction that was causing a molecular breakdown of themselves and the ship, they discovered they were duplicates, and all died with nobody else the wiser. Even the original crew was never aware as the duplicate ship disintegrated as well. What a disappointment. Instead of the dubious notion of duplicates forgetting they were duplicates, they might have decided to use the duplicate of Voyager to follow the instincts of their human DNA to explore the universe around them. And perhaps to help the original Voyager gratitude for giving their planet sentience.
Passengers
(I) (2016)
Nothing Plausible
17 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The sci-fi concept was very interesting. A hibernation spacecraft traveling over a hundred years to ferry crew and passengers from earth to a distant planet. The ship suffers damage from an asteroid collision and caused a malfunction where one random passenger (Chris Pratt) was waken from hibernation 90 years too soon. Unfortunately, the Pratt was in a ship designed by Hollywood. There were no safeguards, the computers were clueless, and the crew that might be able to help were also in hibernation in a sealed vault that was more secure than Fort Knox. Why? Becuause Hollywood wanted Pratt to wake up a female passenger (Jennifer Lawrence) for companionship on his lonely voyage. It only got more ridiculous from there. It's sad because the concept allowed for many plausible scenarios.
Face your Fears
4 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode reminds me of Remember Me from TNG but it also has an Outer Limits horror monsters vibe. It was a well told crafted that developed the Alara character who is facing an explicable variety of nightmares come to life. Only late in the episode does the audience find out that Alara is actually in a simulator (holodeck) and had used a memory block to avoid realizing it so she could understand and control her fears that might prevent her from doing her job. She did successfully face her fears although I was troubled by the ridiculous contrivance where Alara abused her authority as security officer to prevent the Captain from stopping the simulation. Apparently, there's a Directive 38 that allows the security officer to take control of the ship and she falsely invoked it. It seemed rather counter productive given the premise of the episode.
Strange Dystopian Star Trek
1 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Much of the episode was devoted to retelling the horrific experience of Dr. M'Benga and Christine Chapel while at war with the Klingons and, in particular, a Klingon General turned diplomat who was aboard the Enterprise. In the final act, the General was murdered by M'Benga, and Chapel covered for him by claiming that the General was killed in self-defense. Captain Pike was dubious but didn't overly press it and that was the end of the show. What was most appalling was not the fact that the Doctor murdered in vengeance but the lying and the lack of interest to immediately conduct a security investigation that would readily and forensically determine the General was the victim. And there was seemingly no diplomatic repercussion with the Klingons. Just another day on the USS Vigilante, err Enterprise.
2:22
(2017)
Circular Logic Gone Awry
24 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
As I'm an aviation geek, I was interested to watch this movie based on the gripping air traffic control scene I saw in a trailer. Turns out that was the air traffic control scene was just a lead-in for a murder mystery wrapped in a cosmic but convoluted sci-fi time loop. In the air traffic control scene, the protagonist is distracted at 2:22 PM by a vision of a murder at a train station. The distraction nearly causes the collision of two aircraft, and our hapless protagonist is suspended, and spends the rest of the movie piecing together what turned out to be a past murder that occurred at 2:22 PM. But it wasn't just a murder in the past. Thanks to convoluted sci-fi magic, the murder was going to happen again with a different cast of characters including the protagonist. It's a long mind-numbing affair with where the protagonist ends up solving the past murder and preventing the repeat murder. Absurd nonsense.
Polar
(I) (2019)
Gird yourself for a High Body Count
30 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This Netflix flick is a decent combination of extreme violence, bad comedy, and dollops of sex. Unfortunately it's not decent enough for 10 stars due to the overacting of the portly villain, his laughable henchmen, and absurdities such as our anti-hero having to enduring 3 days of brutal torture but still managing to be a killing machine on day 4. There was some poignant moments that made for a bit of thought, especially at the end of the film. Overall, I recommend this movie to those with a stomach for bloody good violence.
Man of Steel
(2013)
Senseless Action Defies Logic
5 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not one for orthodoxy when it comes to the re-telling of an iconic fantasy character but logic went out of the window in order to show an insane level of seemingly endless destructive actions scenes which made one numb. In this version of Superman, our hero from Krypton unwittingly precipitates an invasion of Earth by his own people that results in massive destruction and death. Even as the invaders cause destruction that makes 9-11 look like a fender bender, Superman engages in never ending fight scenes with his nemesis (General Zod) that cause even more havoc and destruction. In the end, Superman reluctantly kills General Zod and it causes him terrible anguish to do so but he doesn't seem to be at all shaken by the insane amount of death and destruction caused to Metropolis by own people, and due to his presence on Earth. Even more absurd is the movie ending as though the destruction of Metropolis never happened; Superman gets a job at the Daily Planet as Clark Kent, and he also destroys a surveillance system that the military made to try and monitor him. Wouldn't you want to monitor an interloper with lethal super human powers after all the death & destruction that his people caused? The fact is between every action packed scene, the plot was muddled with logic gaps aplenty. Where was there decent and thoughtful scenes with his parents, overall I found the Man of Steel but overall I found the movie to be an exercise in reckless smash-em up action scenes than anything else.
Star Trek Beyond
(2016)
Phoned In Preposterous Mess
4 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
While I'm happy to see the Star Trek franchise continue, it's difficult to see how it's been transformed into a mindless action flick with the actors going through the motions to execute a plot that's beyond ridiculous. The plot being that of a pre-starfleet military officer who gets stranded on a planet, does a pseudo-vampire thing to become immortal, harnesses an advanced alien weapon technology, and is intent on being a genocidal maniac to get revenge on humanity for becoming peaceful. The maniac and his alien weapon of mass destruction cannot be stopped with the trusty phaser or photon torpedo and so the Kirk& crew comes up a novel idea. Simply broadcast some rock music which causes the weapon to go haywire and the federation is saved yet again. Along the absurd story and frantic action scenes,Kirk, Spock, and McCoy try to lighten things up with the usual Star Trek tropes. Too bad; let's hope the next one is better.
The Butterfly Effect
(2004)
Okay for a cheap rental
2 November 2016
Warning: Spoilers
As I watched the Butterfly Effect, I wondered if the writers were influenced by an episode of Star Trek Voyager titled, "Year of Hell". The story premise was exactly the same; a man (Ashton Kutcher) is driven by the love of a woman to travel back in time to rectify a mistake but whatever he does results in a new future that is no less nightmarish than before. Overall, I found it to be an semi-interesting yarn but eye-rolling ridiculous as Kutcher keeps going back in time and coming up with idiotic fixes that naturally result in a worse future. His final solution to avoid ever having befriended the love of his life is predictable and flat but it had to end somehow.
Tell Your Friends