Tuesday 30 April 2019

Fleeing From The Cylon Tyranny No More

Yesterday was the fortieth anniversary of the broadcast of The Hand Of God. It's the finale of the original Battlestar Galactica and for my money the best episode of the series.

This is the episode that sees Galactica stop fleeing and fight back against the Cylons. This is the episode that sees Galactica apparently arrive at or near its final destination. This is the episode that best bridges the gap between this series and the twenty-first century reimagining.


I wrote this for Hero Collector.

Friday 26 April 2019

The Nostromo Seven

Joss Whedon, writer of Alien Resurrection, described his TV series, Firefly, as “nine People looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things.”, it’s an evocative description of Firefly, but it’s arguably even truer of the original Alien (although to make the maths work you have to include the alien and Jones the cat).

People talk at length about Ripley, the Alien and the relationship between them, but the rest of the crew deserve our attention too. Here they are below in a white void staring out of shot.

Today is Alien Day* and Alien is forty years old this year, so I wrote this.


* The planet featured in the first two films is designated LV-426, and in American date order this corresponds to April 26th.

Friday 19 April 2019

Death, And What Comes After

It's Easter time and as our thoughts turn inevitably to death and resurrection. We think of an individual that changed so many lives. A leader that died and came back to us.

I refer, of course, to Captain Kathryn Janeway.


A great many Star Trek characters have kicked the bucket and returned to tell the tale. Famously, on the big screen Spock copped it and came back for more, but only once. Until Harry Mudd trapped Gabriel Lorca in time loop to kill him again and again, Janeway held the record for the number of deaths she survived. She still has the most varied demises over the course of Voyager's seven year journey.

In celebration, I wrote this for Hero Collector.