Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Man from Atlantis S1 E6

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“The Mudworm”

The second episode of the series Man from Atlantis continued an early trend of including the same bad guy. Victor Buono returned as Mr. Schubert, the mad genius with delusions of power.

This episode, Schubert had sent one of his machines, the Mudworm, to the ocean floor to mine out an extremely rare element that would give him control over satellites as well as no concern for money ever again.

I liked this episode too, because the ending was unlike most shows of this genre. The show resolved the conflict with Mark going to the Mudworm and talking it into helping out.

I have enjoyed Victor Buono on the show, but I would like to see someone different for a few episodes instead of it always being Schubert.

Admittedly, the plot was a little thin, but I did enjoy the unconventional manner in which it was resolved.

Twin Peaks S2 E15

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“Slaves and Masters”

Pete is a chess master? Surprise.

I do like how they brought Pete into the story with Windham Earle. Another thing I love is Leo getting caught by Windham and made to do what he wanted. There was a feel of Karma for Leo, getting what he done back in spades. I almost feel sorry for ‘Mr. New Shoes.’

The Windham Earle storyline continues to be the best part of this post Laura Palmer story on Twin Peaks. The ending with Cooper and the death mask was really creepy.

They wrapped up the Ben Horne crazy storyline and the James Hurley storyline pretty quickly. I wonder if that was a response to those not being well liked? I did enjoy the Ben Horne crazy bit, but the whole South winning the Civil War/ Confederate flag scenes might be somewhat tone deaf. Certainly plays different today than it did back int he 90s.

I just dislike James so much. He is such a rotten person. Even after getting framed for murder, he is kissing on Evelyn. Donna really deserves better than him. I don’t know why the show played James up to be some kind of good guy because I found him to be selfish, inconsiderate, and downright dumb. He and Evelyn deserved each other.

One of the funniest scenes in the show was when Nadine caught Ed and Norma in bed, but did not even blink. She hopped in bed with them and talked about how she was disqualified in her wrestling meet because the airplane slam was illegal. Ed and Norma just sat there, shocked. Nadine then told them that she knew about them and said it was okay with her because she was going after Mike.

Post Laura Palmer, Twin Peaks has struggled to find any consistency. It has some good moments, good scenes, but there are as many scenes and storylines that just do not work in any manner either. Windham Earle is an absolute winner though at this point.

Moonlighting S5 E7

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“Take My Wife, For Example”

A powerful divorce lawyer comes to Blue Moon to hire David and Maddie to try and help her fix the marriage of her most recent client.

As Dave and Maddie were following the husband, they had a long conversation about certain aspects of their relationship. Maddie called David a hard kisser while David told Maddie that she had never gotten him a present.

This led to several jokes with a car that Maddie gifted to David that he hated and David practicing kissing with the office staff.

One of my favorite parts of the episode was lawyer Betty Russell, played by four-time Emmy Award winner Colleen Dewhurst. Dewhurst won a couple of those Emmys for her role of Murphy Brown’s mother on the CBS comedy series. She was also very successful on stage in the theater. She was a gripping actor and this supporting performance was a good example.

The episode kicked off with Dave and Maddie trying to discover why there were fewer viewers than before and ways that they could increase viewership. Maddie wanted ‘socially relevant programming, exploring the rich fabric of universal truth in a vibrant human way’ and David wanted hooters. It was a funny intro.

This episode was light and fluffy, with some funny moments. It was a fine watch.

The X-Files S4 E5

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“The Field Where I Died”

My memory of this episode from when I originally saw it was that this was a really good episode. Now, during this rewatch, I have found that I am not a big fan of it.

This episode dealt with past lives, of a character of the episode named Melissa, as well as Mulder. Scully believed that Melissa was suffering from multiple personality disorder. There is also a local cult called the Temple of the Seven Stars with its leader Vernon Ephesian.

Kristen Cloke was the actor playing Melissa and she was a standout of this episode with her ability to play the different personalities. David Duchovny had an extended monologue under hypnosis where he was retreating into a past life, but that scene was not the best scene I have seen. I did not enjoy that section and it really sent the episode off the track.

I also did not love the ending, with the tragic deaths of everyone in the Temple of the Seven Star, including Melissa, having killed themselves by taking poison.

Most of this episode just did not feel like it hit the most effective emotional beats.

Man from Atlantis S1 E5

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“Melt Down”

This is the first episode of the weekly series. Prior to this, Man from Atlantis was a series of TV movies, each around 90 minutes long (give or take). This started season of 13-episode season.

For the first time, we get an opening theme, which I liked quite a bit.

Episode 5, “Melt Down” saw the return of Mr. Schubert, the villain from the first TV movie performed by Victor Buono. Buono makes a fantastic villain.

A couple of big, welcome changes seem to have been made. Mark Harris has gained some superpowers besides being able to just breathe underwater. He had some extra super strength as he showed by kicking the ass of Schubert’s goons and crashing through some doors and a sonar of some kind he used to destroy some technology. The extra powers make a lot of sense and I was very pleased to see Mark crashing through the wooden door.

The show even threw in some A-Team throws, with the goons being thrown by Mark out of the pool he was in and flying across the room.

The characters of Elizabeth and C.W. were still here in episode 5, but Miller Simon was not here. I do not know if he returns as the series progresses, but I’m not sure he was needed.

Mark had more of a personality as well, confident and strong. He always felt so detached and icy, and, though he still had some of that, he seemed more human than he was before.

The sci-fi aspect of the show continued to be good, and the underwater scenes are still just fantastic. I would have loved to know how they filmed these scenes and how much of it was actually Patrick Duffy.

This episode dealt with the villainous Schubert causing water tides to rise across the planet, threatening worldwide flooding. It was like a climate change story on fast forward.

This was a really good episode and I feel like it put together some of the things that the TVV movies had been lacking. We’ll see if it can maintain this level of sci-fi goodness.

Twin Peaks S2 E14

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“Double Play”

Post Laura Palmer murder Twin Peaks continues to be a mixed bag.

  • Windham Earle made his first appearance, creepy as all get out.
  • Leo’s return to life is really well done and frightening.
  • James is still terrible. Donna deserves so much better.
  • Pete is shocked by Andrew being alive, but I do like Catharine letting Pete know the truth. Their relationship is strange, but oddly sweet.
  • I do not like the black widow character with her over developed sexual abilities.
  • Sure seemed like they dropped the Little Nicky storyline quickly.
  • Leo and Windham Earle together? Yes, please.
  • I could have any number of scenes with Harry and Cooper showing how much they respect each other. Coop explaining his past with Earle laid out the rivalry beautifully.
  • Dr. Jacoby was all over this episode after not having much to do since the very early part of the first season.
  • Refighting the Civil War? Ben Horne’s crazy behavior is great.
  • Norma feeling good when Hank was arrested.

The show has some intriguing storylines, but there are so many things that just do not work, and even those that are good, there is just something missing at times. Possibly the missing piece was David Lynch.

Moonlighting S5 E6

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“In ‘N Outlaws”

I thought I had seen all of the Moonlighting episodes, but I do not remember this Dipesto centric episode. I can’t believe that I could have forgotten this travesty.

Carmine Ragusa appeared as a part of the Viola family, one of Herbert’s cousin. Yes, I mean Eddie Mekka, not Carmine, who was the character he played for years on Laverne and Shirley.

Laura Palmer’s mom was in this episode too. Match Game’s Patti Deutsch, John Capodice, Susan French, Val Avery, Pat Crawford Brown, Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd all guest starred in this episode.

Yeah, Maddie and David were not in this episode much. A couple of scenes at best.

The plot of this episode was all over the place. It was about a murder trial that Agnes wound up on the jury for. By the way, I just was called to jury duty and it was considerably different than the way this was done.

This is all that was bad about Moonlighting and probably my least favorite episode of this series so far.

X-Men ’97 S1 E3

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“Flesh from Fire”

Is there anything more useless or unnecessary than the “Skip Intro” button on this series?

At the end of episode 2, we see double Jean Greys and, those of us who are comic readers, we know what that meant. Madelyne  Pryor, aka The Goblin Queen, was a clone of Jean Grey from the evil Mister Sinister, and she was the mother of Cable.

This episode felt a little rushed for me, but I could understand why they did. There was so much packed into this episode, with the Inferno arc and the techno-organic virus which led to the Cable storyline.

This episode felt like a horror movie, almost body horror film in many ways, and in all the best ways. They did not need to do it this way, but so much of the body horror in the mansion included such character moments for the X-Men.

The animation continues to be great. One of the great things they have done was use specific X-Men classic covers as frames in the episode. Those are epic things that are like Easter eggs for the comic lovers of us.

This has been an amazing continuation of the X-Men animated show so far. With the Storm and Forge end, Lifedeath is on its way which is a classic X-Men story.

Shogun S1 E6

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“Ladies of the Willow World”

In episode six of Shogun, some big things happened.

We see some of Mariko’s back story, and see how tragic it actually was.

We go inside the best brothel and engage between John and Kuki, the top courtesan of the house. He was given this as a gift from Toranaga, a thank you for saving his life during the earthquake last episode. Of course, this was not what John had wanted, as he had asked once again for the return of his men and his ship. John wants to leave Japan, but Toranaga continues to keep him. He even promoted him to the head of his canon brigade.

An attempt to vote against Toranaga by the council failed, leading to the death of the regent who voted against the plan.

We continue to see the machinations of Ochiba no Kata, who has her own plans brewing clearly.

We learn of the plan called Crimson Sky, which is Toranaga’s forces launching an all out assault on Osaka, killing the regents and setting up a new form of government with Toranaga at the head. A Shogun. Toranaga rejected the plan at first, however, the death of regent Sugiyama changes his mind and we end the episode with Toranaga’s forces honoring their leader, preparing for their attack.

A fascinating episode as we dive into another aspect of the Japanese culture with the brothels. The manner in which sex is used is not what I am used to seeing. This show continues to be really great.

Man from Atlantis S1 E4

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“The Disappearances”

This is the fourth and final TV movie of the series, which was actually entitled “Man from Atlantis IV: The Disappearances.”

It is interesting that I remember this being one of my favorite TV shows when it was on back in the 1970s, but after watching the first four TV movies, I do not remember anything about them.

I enjoyed this fourth movie of Man from Atlantis quite a bit. In fact, it might be my favorite of the four.

According to IMDB, “Elizabeth is kidnapped, one of dozens of scientists held prisoner on the island of Felicitos, controlled by special mineral springs that render their victims completely happy and compliant. Dr. Smith is using them to build a rocket to take her away from our troubled planet in search of some better world, and Mark must find a way to counter the brain-washing and free the captives“

I really do like this show. There are problems, of course. The acting is not what I would call great, but for the 1970s TV, it is acceptable. They have the most conveniently placed cameras around the sub and areas where people can watch what is happening on monitors. That is just a weird bit that doesn’t really affect anything. In a show about a man with webbed fingers who can breathe underwater, having cameras in places that make no sense should not be the biggest drawback.

I did like the Dr. Smith villain of this episode. She was quite brutal and cruel, yet I could understand why she was doing what she was doing. It could be an episode that features a debate on climate change, even before it became a real thing.

Mark was a real hero in this episode. He came up with solutions for everything from the torpedo to the mind-control. I thought the look of Mark when he was trapped in the shed without water was great for the special effects of the time. His underwater scenes were excellent as they always are for this show. Those scenes underwater were well done and looked great. I am not a huge fan of the manner in which Mark always swam, but that would be the way a real person would swim. Today, he would be more CGI and could look like he was swimming faster. Still, I liked the realism of the shots.

Moving ahead, the show starts its regular series run of 13 episodes, which was all the show would get. This is actually a pretty decent sci-fi series and, despite some flaws, has been a fun watch so far.

The X-Files S4 E4

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“Unruhe”

This X-Files episode featured a really creepy villain, a cool paranormal effect that we have not seen before and another solid performance from our leads.

Unfortunately, as it seems to be the wont, Scully was put in jeopardy again.

The main villain, Gerry, as played by Taylor Vince, was great as the antagonist of the episode. His backstory really informed his psychosis and the fact that the paranormal aspect really did not have much to do with himself is a neat change for the X-Files.

But I am going back to the fact that Scully got taken again and had to be saved by Mulder. I understand that that could happen, but it sure feels as if that trope happens on too regular of a basis for this show. We need Scully to rescue Mulder more often, as she did in the previous episode, “Teliko.”

The whole concept of psychic photography was different and provided a cool effect for the show to play off. It was odd though considering that Gerry was not making it happen intentionally. That it was the side effect of the “howlers” in Gerry’s head (or at least that is the implication that I took from it).

This was a good episode featuring the monster-of-the-week story.

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

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“Becoming”

Lookee there… it’s Father Gabriel.

Did not expect to see this former character again. Did not expect to see him interacting with Jadis. I really thought he was going to buy it at her hands in this episode. I am glad how it worked out for him.

Jadis, however, met her fate at the hands of Rick, via a walker. She caught up with Rick and Michonne and their showdown was very intense. It was unclear what was going to happen. Yet, when the walker took a bite out of Jadis’s neck, the end of the major feud came.

Jadis showed her inner humanity after the walker bite by telling Rick and Michonne the truth about the dossier that she had on Alexandria.

The whole wedding proposal reaction between Rick and Michonne was a beautiful moment before they return to the C.R.M. in the finale next week.

Man from Atlantis S1 E3

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“Killer Spores”

This TV movie was actually titled Man from Atlantis III: Killer Spores. It is the third of four TV movie prior to the debut of the short-lived TV series.

For the second TV movie in a row, Mark, Elizabeth and Miller have to deal with something extraterrestrial as they were assigned to recover a space probe from the military. Mark can hear a horrible screeching sound that the others could not. When he arrived at the site of the space probe, Mark discovered  strange, blue, intelligent spores covering it. They started spreading across the city, causing panic and problems.

This is a pretty good sci-fi episode. The spores are able to take over people’s minds and make them do what they want. The spores use the people to learn. Meanwhile, Mark is conflicted by his desire to not destroy the spores and trying to save his friends.

The best science fiction leads to moral quandaries and “Killer Spores” seemed to have that very conundrum.

This episode was better than the previous one, though the conclusion with the spores hopping a ride on a launching rocket back to space was iffy. There were a whole bunch of these spores, but it seemed as if Mark only transported a couple to the rocket. I got a feel of a hive-type group from the spores. It made me think about the Borg from Star Trek: A New Generation.

Man from Atlantis S1 E2

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“Death Scouts”

The second of the Man from Atlantis television movies was actually entitled “Man from Atlantis II: Death Scouts.”

According to Wikipedia, “Mark investigates the disappearance of three scuba divers, two of whom are ‘replaced’ by waterborne aliens (Tiffany Bolling as Lioa / Dilly and Burr DeBenning as Xos / Chazz). The aliens assignment is to scout Earth and check its defense capabilities. They also give the impression that Mark may also be one of them, specially bred for Earth infiltration.“

I was not wild about this story. While I appreciate them trying to tie Lioa and Xos to Mark’s background, it all felt kind of muddied. It seemed to indicate that they were lying about Mark when they informed him that he was from their planet, but at the end, it sounded as if Lioa had confirmed that he was from earth.

It was a messy story. If Mark did not have a connection to these two, why did they both have the webbed fingers? The symbol on Mark’s trunks, was I to understand that it is not the same as he saw in the spaceship?

I hope that this was a lie because I feel as if making Mark an alien from another planet is just lazy writing. I do not know if they will ever go into further details on his past in the short season one, but I’m sure it could be handled more deftly.

There were just too many plot holes for this tv movie. There were some decent sci-fi shots, several of which actually reminded me of The Land of the Lost, but the writing of the story felt off.

However, the shots of Patrick Duffy underwater continue to just amaze me. I am curious how they shot these, especially those that seem to have Mark in a tank of water for extended periods of time while on screen. How much did Patrick Duffy do on his own? I would love to know the specifics of these shots because they are the best underwater shots I think I have seen and this was 1977.

Twin Peaks S2 E13

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“Checkmate”

Once again, there are parts of this new arc of stories on Twin Peaks that are decent and have its share of mysterious moments, and there are parts of the new arc of stories on Twin Peaks that are just horrendous.

Let’s start off with the good:

  • The creepiness factor of the Windham Earle chess game is just top notch. He feels as if he is a worthy challenge for Cooper.
  • Dick and Andy in search of info on Little Nicky. More on this later though.
  • Major Briggs and everything surrounding him. Project Blue Book? Giant Owl? The performance of Don S. Davis as Major Briggs in this episode was exceptional.
  • Crazy Ben Horne is the best Ben Horne.
  • Nadine beating the hell out of Hank and making out with Mike? Funny!
  • The return of a live and in person Leo. The final shot of Leo with food all over his face was just frightening.
  • Agent Cooper really has respect for everyone. His response to David Duchovny out of the dress was amazing.

Not so good

  • James. Everything with James. Falling into bed with Mrs. Marsh really tells me that James is not, nor ever has been, in love with Donna. She deserves way better than James.
  • Dick and Andy are more like bumbling boobs in pursuit of Little Nicky. Did they get out of the adoption office? The show did not tell us. I guess they did since Andy was at the showdown with Renault.
  • David Duchovny in drag at the end is silly. He’s pulling up his dress, wouldn’t Renault notice the gun too?
  • Bobby and Audrey still feels forced. Trying to find someone for Audrey besides Cooper.
  • Josie. That’s all I got.
  • They really wrapped up the Renault drug storyline quickly.

The overall feel of Twin Peaks during this time is that it could have benefited from some editing and tightening up the scripts. There were some good ideas here, but they were too inconsistent, not developed enough.