Fatman - the Movie: A Review by Warren Bull

 

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Star Trek: Discovery: A Review by Warren Bull

Star Trek: Discovery: A Review by Warren Bull

                                       

image from wikimediacommons

Star Trek has to be the most successful failed television series in history. The ratings of the first season were low enough that the show was on the verge of cancellation.  After the second season only an extensive letter-writing campaign saved the show for its third and final year.   It was produced by Desilu Productions and Lucille Ball went against her Board of Directors to keep it going

Since then there have been eight more series, most lasting longer than the original. By now, 774 episodes have run over 35 seasons. Ten movies, hundreds of novels and hundreds more comics, short stories, and works of fan fiction exist.

Star Trek: Discovery, named for the ship, has two seasons available; two more are still in the planning stage. It was launched in 2017 for CBS all access. In the timeline of the Star Trek universe, the Discovery exists at the same time as the original ship the Enterprise. The crew of the Enterprise is the same as the crew mentioned in a prequel to the well-known cast of the original series.

This series is darker and more violent than the late 1960s version. My wife objected to noise level, especially screaming of people being tortured. There was little visual depiction of blood and gore, but the series had more auditory brutality than is common on television. 

While Star Trek was notable for including some minority characters, Discovery has “enhanced” characters with robotic features and abilities. Racial differences are no more remarkable in this universe than the variety of eye colors in ours. The “Federation,” which is treated with respect and admiration in Star Trek, is fighting for survival, and losing. In desperation, the values and ethics noted in the late 60s version, have given way to an “us versus them” mentality. 

The murky uncertainty leaves the watcher wondering which side a character might really be on. Sometimes the characters do not know themselves, which, as a mystery writer, added to the intrigue of the shows. Relationships between the characters grow and change. Trust is always an issue.  The surprises and twists are too well plotted for me to give them away.

The authors, Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman reminded me of how

Tom Stoppard used minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet in Stoppard’s

Play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Characters like Spock are

recognizable but different as seen from a unique point-of-view. 

I would not rate this show as highly as Picard, but it pulled me in and I definitely recommend it.

A Quarter of Eight by Walter B. Gibson:  A Review by Warren Bull

                  Walter B. Gibson writing under the pen name of Maxwell Grant developed the character of the Shadow and produced more than 300 works about the character. Before he became a writer, Gibson worked as a reporter and as a magician. He churned out additional books, articles, and stories as an amazingly prolific author. He did not own the character of the Shadow. Other writers contributed to the series, which was not uncommon at the time.

               I’m certain there must have been fun and memorable writing in the series of popular books. Unfortunately, I didn’t find much of either in A Quarter of Eight. The first two chapters set an interesting premise in two different but promising settings. The plot was unpredictable, partly because characters kept appearing and disappearing late into the book. Mysterious strangers can be interesting, but when they appear by the handful, it is hard to keep up.

              One of my personal pet peeves is an abundance of exclamation points. It seemed to me that nearly every chapter and scene change came with one. I think of that as an attempt to portray emotion by punctuation. It works badly once. Used repetitively, it becomes increasingly annoying.  I was impressed, but not in a positive way, by how many times bullets poured in through a window without hitting anyone. There were an excessive number of shooters who missed not just the broad side of a barn but also the ground at their feet. The author often told the reader what was going to happen. She thought that she was finally safe, but she was not!

       The misdirection came in boatloads. I finished the book only because I set out to write this review.

I cannot recommend this book.

Pickard: A Review of the Television Series by Warren Bull

Pickard: A Review of the Television Series by Warren Bull

Image from the verge dot com

I heard good things about the series before I saw it. I was intrigued by a 79-year-old actor (the redoubtable Patrick Stewart) playing a 94-year-old hero in a classic science fiction universe where action is an expected part of the plot. I knew Stuart had said he felt he had done as much with the character he could do, but he was persuaded to reconsider by the writing.

What I had not known and did not immediately figure out was that the “showrunner,” executive producer, and principal writer was Michael Chabon.  Combining a writer of his stature with an actor as talented as Stewart resulted in a truly memorable series. 

The show starts 18 years after Admiral Pickard retired in disgust following the Federation’s failure to evacuate Romulans from their home planet, which was destroyed by a supernova. The Admiral is also mourning the death of his subordinate and great friend Data (an android) who gave his life to save Pickard. For reasons still unknown, while Romulus was destroyed synthetic lifeforms attacked human settlements on Mars, killing everyone. Creating artificial life has been outlawed.

The show is slower and more contemplative than other Star Trek creations. Pickard goes on a redemptive journey while investigating a murder. He has to face the consequences of several actions he took years earlier. The cast includes mostly new characters who have their own heroic journeys to complete as well as a sprinkling of characters from the various versions of the Star Trek franchise.

I enjoyed it immensely. Data, a unique non-person who yearns to become fully human, has always been a fascinating character to me. He is the ultimate outsider, even more than Spock on the original Star Trek, a half Vulcan who had a human mother. 

As a writer, I often wish I had the option of clearly labeling the time and place of back story events that partially unravel and explain why characters in the present behave in unexpected ways.  In the series, words appear on the screen before the action starts. I don’t know how to do that as effectively on the written page.

You’re pretty much stuck where you are anyway. Do yourself a big favor and watch the series. If you don’t like science fiction, you can watch a great storyteller at work. 

The Silver Mistress by Peter O’Donnell: A Review by Warren Bull

Image from Goodreads dot com

The Silver Mistress was published in 1973. It is the sixth novel of eleven about the heroine Modesty Blaise. Two short story collections were also published. Like the Phantom, the character started in a comic strip. She first appeared in 1963.  The first novel came from a screenplay and became a best-seller.

I was impressed that the story grabbed my attention and held it throughout the book. The climactic battle is between Modesty and a martial arts phenomenon who had defeated her and her best friend earlier. It was believable and compelling. Before Katniss Everdeen and Emma Peel, Modesty was a sexy and highly competent woman who could more than hold her own.

I was interested enough to seek out earlier books in the series. For a quick and easy read that is well written and engrossing, I recommend The Silver Mistress. I plan to read more in the series.

The Veiled Lady by Lee Falk: A Review by Warren Bull

The Veiled Lady by Lee Falk: A Review by Warren Bull

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The Veiled Lady is Lee Falk’s original story about The Phantom. It is number 4 in a series the comic strip creator, Lee Falk, wrote for Avalon Press in 1973.  I probably should have started with Number 1. Unfortunately, that book is rare and expensive. The plot of The Veiled Lady is not particularly engrossing: A damsel in distress, threatened by monstrous insects needs to be rescued. In my opinion, variations on the theme have been done better.

The female character is not a dishrag. She has skills. She is a crack shot, an unarmed combat master, and she has a Ph.D. in biology. On the other hand, she screams and faints at regular intervals, when the hero is available to rescue her.

The action is fairly well described although I found it hard to believe that The Phantom could extinguish hot lava that splashed on a character by slapping it with his hands. The bad guys die satisfactorily. One man is redeemed. Good triumphs at the end.

The cover art is fun and appropriate for the subject. Note: Apparently, the cover artist was not overly fond of bras as women’s apparel.

It did bring interesting questions to my mind. I wanted to know why over four hundred years of sons following their fathers in the role of The Man Who Cannot Die, AKA, The Ghost Who Walks, AKA The Phantom, none of the sons ever decided to trash the costume and pursue a career as a plumber or a bartender. And did the Phantom and his wife ever have daughters? Or more than one son? What did they do? Apparently, for more than four hundred years women became enthralled with the concept of giving up civilization in favor of living in a cave. I am willing to accept that African pigmies could be wonderful friends and emotionally supportive. Still, the women would have to be real environmentalists.

I think reading this series might be a fun way to pass the time, but I don’t suggest starting with The Veiled Lady.