Before we can discuss Apple TV+’s new sci-fi series “Foundation” we have to look at the origin of the story.

When famous science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov was just 21 years old he was on his way to meet with John W. Campbell the famous editor of Astounding Magazine. Although he had been writing professionally for three years and had sold five stories to Campbell, he was a relative unknown. That fifth story “Nightfall” would really make his mark in the sci-fi world but it had not yet been published. The meeting was supposed to be a story pitch man Asimov had no idea what to pitch. Using free association, he opened the book to an image of a soldier. That made him think of military empires, the Roman Empire, a Galactic Empire! He had his idea. He had just read Edward Gibbon’s “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” and decided he would retell the story in an outer space setting. The result was a series of eight stories that appeared between May 1942 and January 1950 in Astounding. Then in 1951 he added a new introductory story and the entire set was published as three books known as the “Foundation Trilogy”. The series was awarded a Hugo award in 1966 as “Best All Time Series” – a special one-time award that many expected would go to the “Lord of the Rings”.

In 1981 Asimov was persuaded by his publisher to write a sequel fourth book “Foundation’s Edge” published in 1982 followed by another sequel in 1986 and then two prequels in 1988 and 1993 bringing the collection to a total of seven books. These prequels and sequels also tied in the Foundation series to other series of books including the Robot series and the Empire series.

In 1981 when Asimov prepared to write the first sequel, it had been 40 years since he had begun the series and so he went back to reread his original trilogy. Here is what he wrote about the experience…

I read the original trilogy sometime in the early 1970s and although I enjoyed it, I have to agree with Asimov’s assessment. Not a lot goes on. It’s a lot of people sitting around talking about the politics of the fall of the Empire.

Asimov goes on to explain

I was unaware until recently that there were any sequels or prequels. In preparation for watching the new TV series on Apple TV+ I decided to reread the original trilogy and discovered the four additional novels. I had heard rumors that the TV series might dip into some of the material of the prequels so I ended up reading all seven books back to back.

I have to say that I enjoyed the prequels and sequels much more than the original material but of course Asimov had matured by 40+ years and the new stories did contain some action and excitement other than simply the “permutations of ideas”.

As always, if you want more information about the topics in this blog such as details of the Foundation series you can click on any of the links in this document which will take you to IMDb and Wikipedia articles on the topics.

I’ve always thought that the title “Foundation” was an unintentional perfect title because many of the themes and tropes introduced in the series have become the foundation for many sci-fi stories and epics in the years since then. Many have said that Frank Herbert’s classic series “Dune”, a film version of which will be out in October, was his response to Foundation. And Asimov has acknowledged that much of Star Wars has been ripped off from his stories that he doesn’t care because he acknowledges that he simply ripped off Gibbon’s Fall of the Roman Empire. Star Wars hyperspace drives, the mind probe, and a Galactic Empire with a capital planet that consists of a city covering the entire planet (Coruscant in Star Wars, Trantor in Foundation) and other ripoffs will jump right out at fans of both works.

In anticipation of the new series, I went to IMDb and looked at the cast list. The first thing I noticed was that several characters had switched from male to female. One could hardly expect to find strong female characters in positions of importance from a sci-fi story written by a 21-year-old grad student in 1941. So the swap of genders seemed like a good choice. But the thing that disturbed me most was that I saw characters in the cast list that did not exist in the original source material. That made me worried that they were going to stray far afield from the original material. “Foundation” had had previous false starts of adaptation to film or TV. Some said that it was “unfilmable” and I worried that they would make significant changes to make it filmable. Check out this interesting article written before the release of this series about the history of attempting to adapt Asimov’s work to film or TV. Various scenes from the trailers also indicated there was much more action in the story than was in the original books. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Now that I’ve seen the first two episodes which premiered September 24 on Apple TV+ I found that indeed they have made significant changes to the story but it is mostly thing is that they have added. And those additions, at least so far, are very positive changes.

The main story of both the book and TV series is about mathematician Hari Seldon who has invented a branch of psychology and mathematics called psychohistory. The core idea is that although you cannot predict individual behavior if you have a large group of people (such as the quintillions of people scattered across 25 million worlds of the Galactic Empire) you can accurately predict the future. Seldon’s equations show that the Empire will fall within 500 years. Nothing can be done to save it. That will lead to 30,000 years of Galactic war, barbarism, and chaos. However, that can be mitigated by the establishment of a Foundation. It will be a repository of human knowledge and experience that will survive the fall and rebuild a second Empire in a mere 1,000 years rather than 30,000.

The opening episode of the series follows quite closely the short story that Asimov added to his original eight when the stories were collected into book form. We follow mathematician Gaal Dornick who is arriving at the Galactic capital planet Trantor to work with Seldon. This is one of the characters that the TV series switches to female. They also expand the back story of Gaal and her homeworld Synnax. It is a world where religion rules and science and mathematics are forbidden. Although still a believer at heart, she has been forced to renounce her faith in pursuit of mathematics. She has won a contest to solve a complex mathematical problem and earned her a job with Seldon. This back story is fascinating and is absent from the original books.

I mentioned that the cast list including characters that are not in the books. The main characters added are a trio of people who serve as the Galactic Emperor. Although the Emperor plays a big part in other parts of the Foundation Series, he is absent in the original short story that is depicted in the first episode. The trio consists of a young boy about eight years old, a grown man brilliantly portrayed by Lee Pace, and an old man portrayed by Terrence Mann. They are known as Brother Dawn, Brother Day, and Brother Dusk. They are clones of a previous Emperor Cleon I and this continuous line of clones have ruled as Emperor for 400 years. We get to see the younger version being trained in the ways of politics, the political savvy of Brother Day as he deals with political unrest of the Outer Worlds, and the wise counsel of the elder Dusk who is struggling with his own mortality.

The performances of Pace and Mann are so seamless that at one point I thought perhaps the elder was also portrayed by Pace in makeup until I checked the cast list. The insights into the political atmosphere of the time and the way that the trio of Emperors deal with it adds greatly to the original story.

From interviews with Pace I get the idea that these characters will continue years into the future with Pace playing the role of different clones of the same line as they rotate through the line of succession. One interesting twist, Day asks Seldon is there anything we can do to slow down the fall of the Empire? Seldon says “Yes, stop making clones of yourself.” The idea is that they had the same leadership more or less for 400 years and they need fresh ideas at the top. Something they won’t get as long as they keep reincarnating themselves. I thought that was a clever concept not in the original work because the clone leadership did not exist in the original stories. It showed me that the writers can innovate around Asimov’s core concepts quite well.

We were also introduced to Demerzel, a character from the prequels who carries a secret that I felt was revealed too soon in the TV series. This is another character that has been changed to female and of the three main characters who have had a gender swap I tend to disagree with this choice although I suppose in the end it doesn’t matter. It’s just that this character plays a larger role in Asimov’s Future History timeline and that character has always been male. She serves as an advisor to the Emperors and mother figure to the young boy clone .

We should also briefly discussed the world-building that they’ve done in the series. The sets and costumes are detailed and lavish. This is going to be on par with what we anticipate from the upcoming film of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” which will be in theaters in October. It’s trying to be an outer space version of “Game of Thrones” (without the nudity) and so far it seems to be succeeding.

Depictions of key elements of Asimov’s stories fully met my expectations such as the holographic projector known as the Prime Radiant which contains Seldon’s equations and the Imperial Library which so closely matched my mental image I wonder if perhaps I had seen a glimpse of it in the trailer before rereading the books.

I believe that the changes made for the TV series have added to and not significantly detracted from Asimov’s original story. The changes are not just to add action and stunning visuals (although they do that phenomenally well) they so further add to the political intrigue which is the core of Asimov’s work.

There are some spoilers below. So for now I have to say I am much more optimistic about the series than I was from the trailers and other early release material. The show has great potential.

It is only available on Apple TV+ and new episodes of the 10 episode first season will appear each Friday.

I’m rating it “I Really like It” and highly recommend it.

***Minor spoilers ***

As previously mentioned, there isn’t any action or adventure in the original trilogy although the prequels and sequels make up for that. So the writers of the TV series need something visually spectacular for the medium of television and they deliver a very memorable spectacle. There is a space elevator on the capital planet of Trantor. You park your spaceship in orbit and ride an elevator all the way to the surface. There is a terrorist attack that destroys the space elevator. The elevator shaft which is hundreds of miles long comes crashing down onto the planet wrapping itself most of the way around the surface killing 100 million people. It is an amazing bit of special effects with very memorable visuals. A retaliatory attack on the homeworlds of the suspected terrorists is much less memorable or innovative.

At the end of the original short story and the end of the first TV episode, we find Seldon and his followers exiled to a distant planet Terminus to establish the Encyclopedia Galactica Foundation which will preserve human knowledge and experience through the upcoming fall of the Empire. The Emperor exiles them to get them out of the way and doesn’t want to destroy them thus creating a martyr and implying that perhaps Seldon was right and the Empire is falling. This exile was part of Seldon’s plan all along.

The book jumps 50 years to a new story set on Terminus but the TV series 2nd episode begins to cover the four-year journey to the planet Terminus. Something that is not covered in the books. In fact, this is one place where the sci-fi technology breaks down from “reality”. Terminus is 50,000 light-years from the capital Trantor but they have been forbidden from using “jump drive” technology to get there. How you travel 50,000 light-years in just four years without some sort of FTL Drive is a bit of plot-driven technology that sadly is not explained.

It does give us an opportunity to develop a romantic story between Gaal and Seldon’s right-hand man Raych Foss. It also gives us interesting insights into Seldon’s relationship with his followers.

I won’t spoil any more of the story beyond that but it does take some interesting turns and we will have to wait and see where we go from here.

H.P. Lovecraft is a renowned author of many works of horror and fantasy who is most known for his creation of what became the “Cthulhu Mythos” about a group of ancient powerful deities from space who once ruled the earth. Other authors have taken up that same universe of characters and creatures to create their own horror stories and Lovecraft himself has been a character in many other works of fiction. So it is no wonder that author Matt Ruff would you take up the legacy of Lovecraft in his dark fantasy horror novel “Lovecraft Country“. That novel has been turned into a new HBO series of the same name. The series was created by Misha Green known for the TV series Underground and a former writer for Sons of Anarchy. It also has executive producers Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams.

The main theme of both the novel and the TV series is mistreatment of African-Americans in the 1950s. It is ironic because Lovecraft is well known as a racist whose works including two highly racist poems “New-England Fallen” and “On the Creation of N—–s”. (N-word deletion by me).

Despite Lovecraft’s racism, Ruff builds his story around a fan of Lovecraft and sci-fi in general who happens to be African-American. The story depicts the brutal circumstances that African-Americans endure to survive in the Jim Crow era. In one scene our main character Atticus “Tic” Freeman is describing the plot of Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ “John Carter of Mars” series to another black woman. She surprised to hear that the hero of that story was an ex-Confederate officer. She complained “He fought for slavery. You don’t get to put “ex” in front of that.” Atticus replies “Stories are like people. Loving them doesn’t make them perfect. You just try and cherish ’em, overlook their flaws.” I see that as author Ruff’s justification for appreciating Lovecraft’s stories and weird creatures despite the author’s racism.

As a personal aside, I sort of take the same approach to sci-fi author Orson Scott Card whose radical conservative politics and anti-gay stance doesn’t stop me from appreciating his works as long as those works don’t seem to reflect those beliefs. I can still despise Mel Gibson and abhor his anti-Semitism while enjoying his films. I suppose that’s easy for me because I’m a straight, white, Christian and I do not take personal offense at homophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism even though I abhor them. Author Ruff is also white so perhaps it’s easier for him to create a black character who can look past Lovecraft’s racism and enjoy the stories while facing life-threatening racism in his everyday life.

In the first episode of the HBO series, Atticus connects up with his uncle George Barry who is the author/editor of a guidebook for traveling African-Americans similar to the famous “Green Book”. Atticus has heard that his father Montrose Freeman has gone missing. Atticus and Uncle George go on a road trip in search of his father and to make more installments in the Green Book. There are accompanied by his friend Letitia “Leti” Lewis.

Atticus is played by Jonathan Majors whom I’ve never seen before. Uncle George is played by Courtney B. Vance known for “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and for playing Johnny Cochran in “American Crime Story“. Leti is played by Jurnee Smolett most recently seen as Dinah Lance/Black Canary in “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey“. She is the sister of controversial former “Empire” star Jussie Smolett.

Clues left in a letter his father sent leads Atticus and friends to search rural Massachusetts in an area known as Lovecraft Country (an area which was the setting of many of Lovecraft’s stories). Along the way they pass through a number of so-called “sunset counties” which are racist areas where African Americans are warned “Don’t let the sunset while you are here”. It’s basically a sort of “The Purge” type of situation where after sundown, racists are given free reign to murder blacks.

The horror of the very real and deadly racism that they encounter is actually more terrifying than the worst of Lovecraft’s monsters. And by the way while being chased through the woods of rural Massachusetts by a lynch mob they run into some of those Lovecraft monsters. Notably they encounter several “shoggoth” described as a “massive bubble blob with hundreds of eyes”.

The special-effects of them being chased by these monsters and eventually cornered an abandoned cabin is a very well done state-of-the-art sequence. Lots of terror, blood, and gore. There are some amazing special-effects also in an opening dream sequence.

Overall the writing and acting are excellent. You really feel the terror in both the racist and supernatural monster sequences. I will be anxious to see what happens in the remaining 9 episodes. I’m giving it a strong rating of “I really like it” and suggest you check it out. The first episode will re-air throughout this week and is available on demand. The remaining episodes will air Sunday nights.

A new sci-fi thriller called “Devs” is available on Hulu. This eight part miniseries is released under the branding of “FX on Hulu” however the series doesn’t appear to be available on FX network at least as of yet. Nick Offerman plays a billionaire genius Forest who runs a computer company that has made major breakthroughs in quantum computing. If you’ve not heard of quantum computing it’s a new type of computer processor that takes advantage of some of the bizarre properties of quantum mechanics. Pundits currently claim that it has the potential to create the most powerful computers we’ve ever seen. It could be a disruptive technology that could unlock any current encryption techniques rendering all computer security obsolete. In real life quantum computing has yet to deliver on its promises but in this series it has delivered way beyond expectations.

The story follows Lily Chan played by Sonoya Mizuno works for a computer company called Amaya along with her boyfriend Sergei. Sergei gets promoted to the company’s top-secret division known as “Devs” but disappears the next day. She goes on a quest to uncover what really happened to him and to try to figure out what’s really going on in the company she works for.

The entire show has a very creepy feel to it. The Amaya company campus is in a wooded area featuring a giant 60 foot statue that looks like a two-year-old girl dressed in a dress. It sort of looks like a giant baby doll. No explanation is given why they have this bizarre monument. We get lots of creepy looking shots of this figure towering above the trees. The soundtrack that runs continuously beneath the show also adds a very creepy feeling to the entire thing.

At this point I will just say that after 3 episodes I’m really enjoying it and giving it a strong rating of “I like it“. It is being described as a miniseries of 8 episodes so don’t expect a second season. If I’m going to continue to talk more about it I really need to get into some spoilers. If you read on, I don’t think it will ruin your enjoyment of the show but some people are especially sensitive to any spoilers so if that’s you… stop reading now and go watch the show.

spoilers below

In the opening episode, Sergei is taken on a tour of the Devs facility by CEO Forrest played by Nick Offerman. It is housed in a completely separate building on the Amaya campus. A giant quantum supercomputer is housed in a vacuum sealed building that hovers inside the building using magnetic levitation. The entire thing is completely sealed from the outside world. Sergei is invited to sit down at a workstation, look at the code they are developing and then he will realize what the Devs project is all about. After several minutes of staring at the screen he suddenly jumps from his seat, runs into the restroom, and vomits violently.

We don’t have to wait long to find out what disturbed him so much. Forest explains to him that indeed this quantum computer has proven that the entire universe is deterministic. Every event in the world is the inevitable consequence of chemistry and physics working on the conditions prior to that moment. Everything is total cause and effect. Essentially free will does not exist. Everything that we do is 100% the inevitable consequence of what has happened prior to that. So this computer has the ability to accurately predict the future as well as run the equations backwards and look into the past.

In subsequent episodes we see them looking in on the crucifixion of Jesus, the burning of Joan of Arc at the stake, and then more personal items such as Marilyn Monroe having sex with her husband Arthur Miller. The latter was done so in violation of company policy and earns the programmers a reprimand. One of the female scientists Katie played by Alison Pill bemoans “Why do male techs always feel the need to caricature themselves? Step one: Create a new technology that reinvents the nature of human existence. Step two: Use it for porn.” Personally I would’ve gone for Marilyn and JFK.

One of the other consequences of the revelation that the universe is completely out of our control means that the enigmatic CEO feels no sense of guilt over anything. If one is not responsible for one’s own actions then one can do whatever they want because that choice is not theirs. It is inevitable.

The main part of the story is Lily trying to uncover Sergei’s disappearance. She is shown a video of him committing suicide but she doesn’t believe it’s real. She comes to discover that he is in fact an industrial spy for Russia. She had no idea. This furthers her feelings that everything isn’t what it seems to be. I’ve only seen the first 3 out of 8 episodes sort remains to be seen how deep the conspiracy goes or where the story will turn after this.

The questions raised by this strange technology and the bizarre revelation that the universe is not what it seems to be along with the mystery of the boyfriend spy and a hidden agenda of the company make this very compelling viewing. As stated before it gets a rating of “I like it” and if you like creepy technology shows sort of like Black Mirror then I highly recommend it.

The much anticipated “Star Trek: Picard” premiered on streaming service CBS All Access today. Only the first episode is available and a total of 10 episodes will be released on a weekly basis. The story revolves around former Enterprise Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in his retirement from Starfleet.

There’s no way I can really describe what’s going to happen in future episodes without giving some major spoilers as to what happens in this opening episode. So if you don’t want to know what happens in the opening episode I will just say that I like what I’ve seen and if you are at all a Star Trek fan you definitely want to check it out. One suggestion I will leave you with is you should watch “Star Trek: Short Treks” season 2 episode 6 “Children of Mars” also available only on CBS All Access before watching this premier episode.

SPOILERS BELOW

The series takes place 14 years after Picard has left Starfleet. It opens with a dream sequence where he is playing poker with Cmdr. Data. Brent Spiner returns to play the role and somehow doesn’t look a day older than we last saw him years ago when he sacrificed his life to save Picard in the film “Star Trek: Nemesis“. One little bit of nitpicking, Data’s eyes didn’t look quite right to me. I don’t know if it’s the fact that we are seeing him in HD compared to the analog TV in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” or what the reason was. It just seemed that during the close-ups it was more obvious than usual that he was wearing yellow contact lenses.

The dream ends when they look out the window and you see the destruction of Mars. You might not immediately recognize it unless you’ve seen the Short Trek “Children of Mars” that I mentioned earlier. That short subject depicts an attack on Mars that devastates the planet but doesn’t really explain who is attacking or why.

Picard is living in a French château surrounded by vineyards that are being cared for by robotic machines. He’s accompanied by a pet bit bull which he affectionately refers to as “Number One”. He is tended to by what appeared to be a butler and maid who I initially thought were Vulcans but on further reflection they are probably Romulan. They show great affection for the retired admiral.

Picard is about to be interviewed for a news program and through the course of this interview we get a lot of back story about what has happened in the days since we last saw him. In short, the Romulan sun was going to go supernova. Picard persuaded Starfleet to help with a mass evacuation of the entire planet before it was destroyed. This was despite the fact that the Romulans were a long time enemy of Starfleet. Picard makes it clear he was there to save lives… the fact that they were Romulan lives was immaterial.

The rescue effort was aborted when Mars colony was attacked by so-called “synthetics” which are apparently androids. The reporter points out that Mars is still burning yet to this day. The end result is that synthetic life forms have been completely banned and all research into creating them has been terminated. By interplanetary treaty they are forbidden.

Intercut with Picard’s story we meet a young woman named Dahj played by Isa Briones. She is celebrating with her boyfriend that she has been accepted to a position at the Daystrom Institute in Okinawa to do artificial intelligence research. Suddenly three black clad assassins transport into her apartment, murder her boyfriend, and try to take her captive saying along the way “She hasn’t activated yet”. Suddenly she does “activate” and despite having a hood placed over her head she quickly attacks the three assassins and with almost superhuman moves ends up killing them all. It is obvious she has no idea how she obtained the skills to save her own life and kill these three assassins. As she wanders the streets in a daze, she sees Picard being interviewed on TV and is irresistibly drawn to seek him out.

Picard does not know the woman and has no idea why she would come to him even after she recounts the story of the attack and her unusual ability to easily dispatch her attackers. Through a series of events, Picard concludes that not only is she an android despite the fact she appears completely human (she bleeds real blood), he also theorizes that she is somehow the daughter of Cmdr. Data. Data had once painted a portrait of a woman exactly resembling her and titled the painting “Daughter”.

There are a couple of plot twists I have not revealed. So I didn’t completely spoil the story. I hope I just set it up for you to anticipate what comes in future episodes. The rest of the series will cover Picard trying to figure out who this woman is. Unfortunately (sorry spoiling) she is killed in a subsequent attack by more assassins who are revealed to be Romulan. Picard then goes on a quest to go in search of her twin sister.

Previews for upcoming episodes reveal that we will see Jonathan Frakes reprise his role as Cmdr. Riker a.k.a. Number One and his wife Deanna Troy played by Marina Sirtis. Although these will only appear in a single episode, it doesn’t appear that this is a flashback or dream sequence. Frakes is also listed as the director of 3 of the episodes. We will also see Jeri Ryan reprise her role as former Borg “Seven of Nine” from the TV series “Star Trek: Voyager“. Unfortunately IMDb.com does not yet list her as part of the cast so we don’t know how big her role will be. But the previews indicate it might be significant. There may be other cameo appearances from other previous Star Trek series.

Overall Patrick Stewart credibly re-creates an older version of his most famous character. We also look forward to seeing more of Alison Pill in her role as an artificial intelligence researcher named Dr. Agnes Jurati. I’ve been a big fan of hers ever since her role in “The Newsroom“. Apparently Picard will spend the next episode recruiting a crew and a ship for his quest so we will have new characters introduced soon.

With the exception of one brief shot, the special effects are state-of-the-art. The stunts and action sequences were well done. The plot has great promise leaving many mysteries to be solved over the course of 10 episodes. The show has already been approved for season 2 as well. What is the origin of these extremely human looking androids? Why did the androids attack Mars? And what are the surviving Romulans up to?

I’m sure somewhere along the way Star Trek fans will nitpick a variety of issues. I’ve loved every episode of “Star Trek: Discovery” for the past 2 seasons on CBS All Access but some fans say it’s terrible. I seriously disagree.

I’m giving it a strong rating of “I Really like It” and suggest you check it out. Together with the third season of “Star Trek: Discovery” and the excellent series “The Good Fight” CBS All Access is well worth the money. I’ve also been using it to watch current episodes of CBS programs because I am typically many weeks behind and I don’t have room on my DVR to record them all. Although I’m endorsing the service, of course I have no financial connection to it and the opinions are all my own.

Theologians and pundits have often wondered what kind of reception Jesus might’ve had if he had appeared in modern times or what would happen if the promised second coming came in modern times. The new Netflix series “Messiah” gives us a glimpse into what might happen if that occurred. Some spoilers included below.

A charismatic figure who looks like a stereotypical image of Jesus begins preaching in Damascus initially to a mostly Muslim audience. He claims responsibility for a giant dust storm that wipes out the terrorist organization ISIS. The crowd gives him the name “Al-Masih” Arabic for the Messiah. He then leads approximately 2000 refugees to the Israeli border demanding to be let in. As he crosses the border, he is immediately arrested leaving his followers alone in the desert creating a political and humanitarian crisis. Al-Masih is played by Mehdi Dehbi.

The story mostly follows an Israeli interrogator presumably Mossad named Aviram Dahan played by Tomer Sisley and an American CIA agent Eva Geller played by Michelle Monaghan. While being interrogated Al-Masih seems to have secret knowledge of his interrogators that gives him an air of mystical power that shakes them up considerably. He escapes the Israeli prison by an unknown mechanism and Aviram is suspected of releasing him although he did not. After appearing briefly in Jerusalem and miraculously healing a young boy of a gunshot wound, he disappears again and then reappears in a Texas border town that is wiped out by a tornado. Only the small church run by a troubled pastor and his family survives the devastation. Although he originally preached to a Muslim audience he claims to have no particular denomination affiliation and speaks openly to this Christian community challenging them reform their lives to live out their life in peace and harmony with their fellow human beings.

From there he leads a cross-country caravan to Washington DC but no one is sure exactly what his agenda is.

Eva spends much of the series trying to figure out who he really is. Is he a con man? What is his political agenda? There are hints of Russian connections and connection to a known terrorist who hacked Wall Street. All the while she and Aviram struggle with their own personal demons and are haunted by Al-Masih’s mysterious ability to know their life story.

The entire 10 episode series explores the nature of faith, fame, politics, and what it means to really live out one’s peaceful religious convictions. I suppose the main spoiler that I will include is that although his true past is revealed and there is ample evidence that he is a charlatan, there is also ample evidence that there are some supernatural forces involved and that he may in fact be legitimate. He never claims to be the Messiah himself only saying that that’s what his followers call him. He claims to be “The Word” sent from the Father which is a reference to the Gospel of John which describes Jesus as “the Word made flesh”. The series pretty much leaves you to make up your own mind about who or what he really is. Were the supernatural events simply illusions of a skilled magician or was something real happening?

Overall it is extremely well written and well acted by all involved. It is one of the most thought-provoking TV series I had seen up until the time I completed the 10 episode binge which took me just two days. However the title of “most thought-provoking TV series I’d seen in a long time” was eclipsed just a week later by another show that I will review soon.

I highly recommend this series to anyone of faith or those who are interested in religion and its role in modern society. I’m giving it a strong rating of “I really like it“. Check it out and form your own opinions. Would love to hear from you on Facebook about what you think of the series.

Moving along to our next review of a streaming TV series we have to take a minute to discuss the new Disney+ Star Wars series “The Mandalorian“. If you’ve been on social media at all the last few weeks you’ve already seen hundreds of memes about this series most of them featuring a character that has come to be known as “Baby Yoda”. This adorable little green creature is the same species as the Yoda character from the original Star Wars series. Unfortunately George Lucas never did tell us the name of the species of this iconic character. In this series he is only referred to as “the child” but immediately the Internet has dubbed him “Baby Yoda” even though the original Yoda is already dead at this point in the timeline of the Star Wars universe.

While Baby Yoda is central to the 10 episode plot of this series, it really is about the journey of the title character. Mandalorians are a race of fierce warriors who have a rich history throughout the Star Wars novels and especially the various Star Wars animated TV series. Our title character, often referred to as Mando is played by Pedro Pascal who is most known for playing Oberyn Martell in “Game of Thrones” and 30 episodes of the Netflix series “Narcos“. He is, as many of his people are, a bounty hunter and mercenary. He is given an assignment to retrieve dead or alive (preferably alive) an unknown subject. All he knows is that he is 50 years old and he has a tracking device which can locate the subject.

When he finally battles his way into a compound to retrieve the subject, he discovers it’s an infant Yoda like character. Star Wars fans know that when we met the original Yoda he was 900 years old. So a 50-year-old infant is not out of the question given what little we know about the species. Being duty-bound to fulfill his mission, he turns the child over to the client magnificently played by documentary filmmaker Warner Herzog. After turning over the child and fulfilling his contract, he begins to worry about what their intentions are for the creature and decides to steal the child back again to rescue it from whatever nefarious purposes the client might have. This sets off a whole wave of consequences in which his Mandalorian friends have to help him escape at the expense of revealing their secret hideaway. The entire rest of the series chronicles their journey to try to escape a horde of bounty hunters who are trying to retrieve the child.

Along the way we have a number of notable guest stars such as Nick Nolte who voices a CGI character that marginally resembles him named Kuiil. In later episodes we see Giancarlo Esposito as an imperial officer named Moff Gideon, Amy Sedaris as a spaceship mechanic and Ming-Na Wen as an assassin. Gina Carano also appears in three episodes as a former rebel soldier who accompanies the Mandalorian on a couple of missions.

Each episode is approximately 30 minutes and includes a great mixture of action and story. The Baby Yoda character is undeniably so cute he is irresistible but is not just about his cuteness. The real story is the personal journey of the Mandalorian who is trying to make his way in the universe and protect his new adopted charge Baby Yoda. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that Mando is not a native Mandalorian but is a so-called foundling who was adopted as a child by Mandalorian warriors. That helps explain his empathy for the child who is caught up in circumstances not of his own making.

I suppose if you’d never seen any Star Wars, you could enjoy this on its own as an action-adventure sci-fi series. But the real fun comes from all of the references to the original Star Wars stories and even deeper and more obscure Easter Egg references to the extended Star Wars universe especially the animated series which gives you much of the back story of the Mandalorian people. Along the way we visit Luke’s home planet of Tatooine including Moss Eisley spaceport and a familiar booth in a familiar cantina. A plethora of classic Star Wars characters including sand people and Jawas make appearances. There is a hilarious scene in one of the later episodes where a couple of storm trooper scouts are killing time by taking target practice and famously missing horribly. They are portrayed by Adam Pally and Jason Sudeikis.

As the title of this review suggests this is the best Star Wars we’ve seen since “The Empire Strikes Back“. All of the characters, not just Baby Yoda, are interesting and have memorable moments. The action sequences and special effects are state-of-the-art and worthy of theatrical film. Because these are essentially new characters, the fans don’t have a backlog of expectations about what they want to see so they have been free to enjoy the series on its own merits. The show has already been renewed for a second season and I suppose the fan fiction writers are already hard at work trying to guess what’s going to happen and unless it meets their predictions they are going to be disappointed. That’s a shame because such practices have destroyed the latest Star Wars films. Expectations about what the fans want to see have been so high that when they aren’t met exactly, the fans rebel as if they owned the franchise. Perhaps this new series will inspire fans to just sit back and enjoy it and not try to impose their own expectations on the plot lines or characters. It also helps that creator/writer/showrunner Jon Favreau has done a wonderful job extending the Star Wars universe to these new characters while maintaining a deep reverence for the rich traditions of everything that has come before.

I’m giving it a strong rating of “I Really like It” and it is recommended for any fans of action-adventure, sci-fi whether or not you have a deep knowledge of the Star Wars franchise.

Overall the Disney+ platform may be the most cost-effective streaming subscription service because it includes not only the entire Star Wars catalog but the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the entire Disney and Pixar catalogs. At just $6.99 a month or $69.99 per year it is quite reasonably priced. There is also an option to bundle Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for just $12.99 per month which is a significant savings for what it would cost to subscribe to those individually. A number of Disney+ films and series are planned. We’ve already got the “live-action” version of “Lady and the Tramp” and more Star Wars series are in the works as well as season 2 of “The Mandalorian”. So there’s a lot to like here. By the way none of my reviews are sponsored by anyone and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I barely have time to write reviews of new broadcast TV shows so I rarely write reviews of shows on streaming networks. But there has been such a lack of interesting new shows on broadcast that I need to point out a couple of really interesting series recently released on streaming. (See my recent blog “Is Broadcast TV Dead?“)

We are going to start off with a new offering on Apple TV+ titled “For All Mankind“. It’s a bit of alternate history sci-fi about what might’ve happened if the Soviet Union had landed on the moon before us. In real history, once we had made it to the moon first, the US visited the moon 6 times but with nothing left to prove, the space race was over and decades later we still haven’t been back. But in this alternate history, the space race continued.

The series is created and produced by Ronald D. Moore who is most known for the reboot version of Battlestar GalacticaClick and the romantic time travel series Outlander as well as several Star Trek series and films.

Our main characters are fictional astronauts and their families but most of the other characters in the series are based on the real life people who worked on the space program. Fictional Astronaut Edward Baldwin is played by Joel Kinnaman who has been in a variety of TV shows but is most known for playing detective Holder in “The Killing“. We also have astronaut Gordo Stevens played by Michael Dorman, a NASA engineer Margo Madsen played by Wrenn Schmidt and a memorable performance by Chris Bauer as real-life NASA astronaut/manager Deke Slayton. Colm Feore appears in three episodes as former German rocket scientist Warner von Braun who oversaw the design and construction of the Saturn V moon rocket. You can click on the names in this or any of my other entertainment blogs to see their resumes on IMDb.com. I won’t bother mentioning their many roles.

Before writing this review I have seen all 10 episodes and I’m pleased to report that it is already renewed for season 2. There are going to be some minor plot spoilers in the rest of this but I don’t think it will ruin your viewing. After the Russians landed on the moon one month ahead of Apollo 11, the US goes ahead and sends Armstrong and Aldrin to the moon as planned. But I will spoil the story this much to say that this mission doesn’t go exactly as smoothly as history’s real Apollo 11. The series also covers Apollo 12 but makes no mention of the accident suffered by real-life Apollo 13. There is a time jump in the series and from that point forward all of the missions are fictional.

As mentioned before, the story follows the continuing space race between the US and the Soviet Union. It now becomes a race to build a permanent moon base. On one of the missions, water is discovered in the permanent dark areas of Shackleton crater near the Moon’s south pole. In real life, water wasn’t discovered there until a few years ago when satellite reconnaissance detected the presence of frozen water. This early discovery makes a permanent moon base feasible and both countries race to build a moon base on the edge of this crater some distance apart from each other.

The Soviets also get one up on us by landing the first woman on the moon paralleling the true life events where they put the first woman in orbit years before we did. In this alternate history, we respond by rapidly recruiting and training a group of female astronauts and several of the episodes through the middle of the season forward deal with that story. Not only does the series deal with women’s issues it also touches on LGBT themes. It dramatically illustrates the way such issues were dealt with or not dealt with in the 70s and 80s. We get a glimpse of the political background of this alternate history which has some interesting twists and turns as well. The world these characters live in feels very real. An excellent bit of alternate world building on the part of the show’s creators and writers.

The writing is excellent. The acting is wonderful. The drama is compelling. There are surprises and tragedies that will break your heart. I will warn you don’t watch episode 9 unless you are prepared to watch the finale episode 10 immediately following.

I have to admit a bias because I grew up in the Apollo era and have always been a spaceflight enthusiast. But I don’t think that you have to be a space history buff or a spaceflight enthusiast to really enjoy this series.

For the most part the science is reasonably accurate. There are a couple of places near the end where I thought they glossed over a couple of issues for the sake of keeping the story moving. However I found much less of what I call “plot driven technology” then I find in many sci-fi series. I should mention that the special-effects are excellent as well for a TV series. Also a big tip of the hat to the set decorators. On the wall of one of the astronaut’s homes there is a wall decoration identical to one that has been hanging in my living room since the early 1970s.

I was fortunate enough to get a free subscription to Apple TV+ when I purchased my new iPhone 11. There are at least 2 other series available on Apple TV+ that are worth checking out.One of them is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi series titled “See” starring Aquaman star Jason Momoa which I will review soon here. And a drama series called “The Morning Show” starring Jennifer Aniston which I have not yet seen but which earned a number of Golden Globe nominations. Ultimately whether or not it’s worth the subscription price to you is something you alone will have to decide. Overall Apple TV+ does not have a huge catalog of programming. There are less than a dozen original series but I suppose it will grow over time.

I’m giving this a strong recommendation of “I Really like It“. If you do have access to Apple TV+ this is something you should definitely check out. Really quality stuff with more to come next season.

In 1985 audiences learned just how funny getting old could be with the hit sitcom “The Golden Girls” which ran for seven seasons. The formula was to put a bunch of veteran comedic actors together and let them shine at what they do best. It’s quite possible that the new Fox sitcom “The Cool Kids” could easily have been called “The Golden Boys” if not for the fact that one of the four actors is female. In my opinion it has the potential to be just as successful as “The Golden Girls”.

The show takes place in a retirement home where our main characters occupy the best table in the dining room. The show opens with our main characters discussing the fact that one of their number their friend Larry has just passed away. They become very defensive about who can occupy his seat. They are compared to “the cool kids” at a high school lunchroom where only a select few get to sit with them.

The cast is made up of sitcom royalty. First of all we have Charlie played by Martin Mull who has played a number of memorable characters in supporting or guest during roles for decades. Although he claims he had to audition for the part it is clear that the writers have custom tailored it to his personality. Basically he’s playing the same quirky, offbeat character he always plays. There are constant references to bizarre things he has done in his past. If you’ve seen him before and enjoyed his performances this will be very familiar territory.

Next we have comedy veteran David Allen Greer as Hank. He’s most noted for his work on the sketch comedy show “In Living Color” from 1990-2001. He has had many other sitcom roles and guest starring appearances. He most recently appeared as the father in “The Carmichael Show” which ran for three seasons from 2015-2017.

Next we have Sid played by Leslie Jordan. You will recognize him as the diminutive flamboyant gay character Beverly Leslie who has appeared on many episodes of “Will & Grace“. Although the character name is different, it’s the same over-the-top gay character he is known for playing.

The newcomer to the cool kids table replacing the recently deceased friend Larry is Vicki Lawrence as Margaret. It’s a bit ironic that she is most known for her elderly character Thelma ‘Mama’ Crowley Harper which originated on “The Carol Burnett Show” in 1967 and later in her own spinoff show “Mama’s Family“. For that character which she played at a young age she wore for prosthetic makeup to age her. Now at age 69 she’s playing an elderly character however Margaret is very much unlike her grumpy iconic Mama. Margaret is spry, funny, and very much likable. In the opening episode she has to earn her way into the empty seat at the cool kids table.

Although constantly played for laughs, the show is dealing with the rather serious issues facing everyone late in life as we wrestle with our own mortality and the loss of dear friends. At times it does become poignant and deal with the topics seriously. This of course is in extreme sharp contrast to the rather sad and tearjerking new series “A Million Little Things” (reviewed here) which also deals with friends who have lost one of their number and the consequences of dealing with it. So if you want to laugh in the face of death or wallow in its sadness you get a choice between these two shows.

Like many sitcoms, at times this one is silly and ridiculous but that’s what sitcoms are supposed to be. My ultimate test of any sitcom is “Did it make me laugh?” And this one had me in stitches several times. You immediately understand who these characters are and appreciate them quickly. The chemistry between them is phenomenal. If audiences find this show I’m confident it can be a big hit.

I’m giving this a strong rating of “I really like it” and I suggest you check it out.

Academy Award-winning actor J.K. Simmons is starring in a new sci-fi thriller called “Counterpart” on the premium Starz network. After just one episode I’m completely hooked and can’t wait to see where it goes. Even if you’re not a sci-fi fan, Simmons performance is already reason enough to check out the show.

He plays Howard Silk who is a rather timid bureaucrat who works for some UN agency in Germany. We aren’t really sure exactly what it is that he does. Part of his job involves going into a highly secured room where he faces another man behind a glass plate. They read some sort of coded messages back and forth between one another. At one point he notices the other man has a spot of food on his tie and points it out to him. Silk is later reprimanded by his bosses for having unapproved communication with the other man. The entire thing is very mysterious and enigmatic.

Silk is hoping that he has been approved for promotion but is highly disappointed when he finds out he has yet again been passed over despite his nearly 30 years of service to the agency.

We see that when he is not at work he spends all of his time at the hospital visiting his wife who has been in a coma for six weeks after a traffic accident. Each day he brings her fresh flowers and also drops off one flower at the nurse’s station in gratitude for their care. He spends time reading to her in hopes that she will awaken. He is visited by his brother-in-law with whom he obviously has an adversarial relationship. Her family wants her moved to London and to bar him from having anything to do with her continued care. The brother-in-law leaves him a power of attorney to sign but Silk refuses to sign it.

His world gets turned upside down when he is called into a meeting the topic of which he has no clue. In this meeting he is shocked to meet Howard Silk… a man who seems to be an exact duplicate of himself although with a completely different personality. While Silk 1 is a very timid, mild-mannered, dowdy kind of person, Silk 2 is confident, self-assured, in charge of everything that is going on around him. Silk 2 is from “the other side” although Silk 1 has no idea what that means. Apparently Silk 2 has important information that he is willing to trade. But he will need the help of Silk 1 to carry out his mission.

Silk 1 is totally clueless about the entire situation. Eventually it is explained to him and to us that approximately 30 years ago, East German scientists were performing some sort of secret experiment in the basement of this building. They ended up creating a passageway between our world and a parallel universe in which everything was 100% identical. However in the 30 years since that event, the history of the two worlds has diverged in significant ways. Silk 2 has been very ambitious and has worked his way up through the ranks of the agency to become a kind of diplomatic courier who has permission to travel between the two worlds carrying diplomatic pouches.

Silk 2 has uncovered a plot that there is an assassin from world 2 who has traveled to world 1 with a hit list of people that she plans to kill. One of them is Silk’s wife. Silk 2 tells Silk 1 that in his world, his wife 2 died of cancer two years ago. The rest of the first episode involves setting up a trap at the hospital to try to catch this assassin. Silk 2 takes the place of Silk 1 after hospital visit and although he is coached by Silk 1, important details were left out of the daily routine and the plan goes awry.

The significant differences between both Silk characters and the way that Simmons so distinctly portrays their personalities is compelling viewing. He is completely believable as both the mild-mannered bureaucrat and the hardened, action oriented superspy. The mystery surrounding these parallel worlds, the history behind this bizarre situation, and the conspiracy theories about what’s really going on are all very compelling as well. I can’t wait to see what happens next. There are 10 episodes scheduled this season and was green lit for 2 seasons from the very beginning. One of the frustrating things you find about such series when they appear on broadcast networks is that if they don’t find an immediate audience, the series can get canceled after just a few episodes. You are left hanging with lots of unresolved plot issues. It’s encouraging that the network made a commitment to 2 complete seasons from the very start.

This series gets a very strong “I like it” on my rating system. Highly recommended for sci-fi fans. Suggested viewing for anyone who enjoys good acting and mysterious storytelling.