Review

This First Officer : The Alpha Protocol Book 2

The First Officer

Forgotten treasures lie waiting in deep space. So too does the greatest threat humanity has ever encountered…

Assigned to a new warship with cutting-edge technology, Jack Samson returns to the Frontier, determined to cast off the question marks over his previous conduct.

This is the sequel to The Alpha Protocol. It immediately introduces a new character Hannah Wolff, a navy-reservist scientist assigned to help study the alien data discovered in the first book. While the first book only let us see the perspective of Jack Samson, the narrative now splits back and forth between Hannah and Jack. Only other characters in the first book are mentioned, and none of them turn up. Which seems strange from a storytelling perspective, but is probably more in line with a major military campaign where people aren’t likely to cross paths very often. 

Once again, while a lot of the ideas feel very familiar, the writing is engaging and story is quick paced and action packed. A good read. 

Firefly episodes ranked best to worst

firefly-title-screen

The science fiction TV series Firefly, well known for its loyal-to-fanatic following among fans and for its early cancellation after a single season, has few enough episodes that it’s easy to watch and rewatch them all and to analyse and compare them individually. What follows is my very subjective opinion on ranking the episodes, from favourite to least favourite. I’ve kept it spoiler free so that anyone can read it (even though the people interested in this would probably have watched all the episodes anyway, and this is not a viewing order recommendation for first-time watchers).

This list does not consider Serenity – either of them. The first episode “Serenity”, and the 2005 film Serenity, bookend the whole series: they couldn’t go anywhere else than the beginning and the end (cough cough, “The Train Job” isn’t the first episode, you hear?), and their style is different from the other episodes, not just a continuation or a one-job episode, but respectively an introduction and a conclusion of sorts.

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Prey (2022) – In 100 words or less Spoiler Free

Prey 2022

Pretty decent. I like the differences in Predator tech as opposed to other movies. Acting and characters are pretty good. A little on the predictable side. I would say the second best Predator movie to date. Unlike Predator 2. However if you were to watch the first movie and then Prey you’d likely notice a lot of commonality. 

It’s Time to Give Star Trek: The Motion Picture Another Look 

Star Trek: The Motion Picture The Director's Edition Updated & Improved 4K Ultra HD

For more than a few Star Trek fans, the first cinematic outing featuring the crew of the Starship Enterprise is something they would rather forget. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is an outcast of the Trek family. Many prefer to pretend it doesn’t even exist and consider Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as the true beginning of the film franchise. 

The recent release of the remastered “Director’s Edition” of the film in 4K UHD on Paramount+ provides an opportunity to revisit this venture. While it has not been magically transformed into an all-time masterpiece, it no longer deserves to be jettisoned into the wormhole of irrelevance. 

To fully appreciate the film, one must understand the context surrounding it – the rocky road to getting it made and how it paved the way for future installments on both the big and small screens. The drama behind the scenes more than matched what was shown on the screen when the movie premiered just ahead of Christmas 1979.  

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