Review: Halo (2022)

This series, based on the video games, debuted in 2022 and has been renewed for a second season. It was executive produced by Steven Spielberg, who you’ll remember for Jaws, Close Encounters, Indiana Jones and that execrable remake of West Side Story. But we’ll just skip right over that last one, because I’m not bitter. …

Review: Life on Mars / Ashes to Ashes (UK)

Life on Mars Life on Mars was a two-season UK show from 2006. I had seen the US version from 2008, but I wanted to check out the original since I’d heard it was much better. Spoiler, it is. So much better. It’s a science-fiction premise where a contemporary policeman has an accident and abruptly …

Part Thirty-Four: Oops!… I Did It Again. 2000, A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

The Year 2000 was the final year of the 20th Century. Technically, the 21st Century didn’t start until January 1st 2001. Just to be pedantic. But although it was only the last year of the 20th, 2000 was still a landmark year in our gaming chronology. So let’s get started. Hasbro Hold on to the …

Review: Dark Matter

I finally had the chance to sit down and watch through the three seasons of this Syfy show. Are you missing Firefly? Do you want to watch a show that reminds you of the Traveller RPG? This series is what you’re looking for. The show ran from 2015 to 2017. Thirteen episodes per “season.” Now …

Part Twelve: It’s All About That Space. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Two RPGs came out in 1982 that tried to attract the attention (and buying power) of fans of a certain type of science fiction. Was the time right? In cinemas we’d already seen the release of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi, Flash Gordon and the first two Star Trek movies. Battlestar Galactica and Buck …

Jupiter Ascending: A Review

I just re-watched this movie for the third time, and enjoyed it very much. Afterwards I checked some reviews online, just for fun. Fun is what I did not find online. I can’t comprehend why this particular movie got such a bad reception, when we have Dune and Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars …

STAR TREK – The Re-Watch

I’ve decided to do a complete re-watch of the original Star Trek series from 1966. This is the show that made me into the science fiction fan I remain today. I was fortunate enough to be able to see the show in its original airing, although I don’t remember much in the way of specifics …

Classic Traveller Weapon Cards

When I was running a Traveller game last year, I was thrilled to find a post on the Tales to Astound! blog by Chris Kubasik (link on the sidebar). He had created these little index cards with all the info for a single weapon on them. The idea being that you could print them out …

On Fan-Made Mods to PC Games: Modding

This is my first time playing Fallout 4. I got the latest version on Steam with all the DLC but haven’t made time to play until now. I’ve waited a long time and as a fan of the series, I’m pretty excited. Before I started I scoured the NexusMods.com site and pulled the most popular …

The Man in the High Castle

I just finished watching season four of this show, and I thought I’d write a post about it. Overall I give it four stars out of five, and recommend you catch it. Especially if you're a younger viewer without a good working knowledge of World War II. But I’ll try to avoid spoilers. First of …