tv review
Reviewing insightful and thought provoking science fiction TV and technology.
Review of 'Beforeigners' seasons 1 and 2
I just binged the first two seasons -- twelve episodes -- of Beforeigners on HBO Max over the past few nights. On Jackie Reich's suggestion. She was Chair of my Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, and is now Dean of the School of Communication and the Arts at Marist College. She told me on Twitter, "I think about you when I watch it — all that time travel!" She has my number. As Ricky Nelson almost said, "I am a [time-] travelin man."
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Playhouse Presents: Snodgrass'
My just-published Beatles alternate history story, It's Real Life, is getting some good response. Over in the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, someone (Wildest cat from Montana) recommended that I see a short 2013 movie Snodgrass -- actually a 24-minute episode of a British series of standalone dramas, Playhouse Presents, that ran from 2010-2015.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Station Eleven' Finale
What a glorious, hopeful finale to the masterful television series known as Station Eleven. An ending so uplifting, in a story of humanity beset by a virus that kills 99% of the population, that it can serve as beacon of hope, a map to a better world, in our own world, also beset by a deadly virus, but far less lethal than the deadly flu in Station Eleven.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Needle in a Timestack'
For some reason, I just saw something about Needle In A Timestack late last evening. It's been streaming on something called Amazon Instant Video -- apparently since the end of this past October -- and it costs 99 cents to see. It will be on Amazon Prime Video, presumably for free, on January 28. Now, ordinarily I'd wait the two weeks and see it on Prime Video. Readers of my reviews will know I'm a cheapskate. But, by my reckoning, not only does time wait for no one, neither does time travel, or at least time travel narratives should not be obliged to wait. That, and the fact that the movie is based on a story by Robert Silverberg (which I haven't read), a great writer whom I not only admire but know fairly well, tipped the balance.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Station Eleven' 1.8-9
Station Eleven is such a deep and deeply nuanced story, it's going to be talked about and studied for years, even decades, to come. Just as episodes 1.8 and 1.9 coax us through these times and time spans. If this characterization seems a little more poetic than usual, it's because Station Eleven is itself pure poetry.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Station Eleven' 1.4-1.5
Well, if you thought Station Eleven wasn't dead serious, you'll give up any hope that it wasn't after you've seen episodes 1.4-5, up on HBO Max today. No, only kidding, of course. This is a series about the near extinction of the human species, so how could it not be deadly serious? But I wasn't really kidding, if that makes any sense. As serious and to-the-core frightening as this narrative was from the get-go, it's even more, a lot more so, after these two new episodes.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Station Eleven' 1.1-1.3
With Apple TV+'s run of superb science fiction -- Foundation, Invasion, and Finch -- temporarily on pause, it looks like HBO Max has picked up the slack with a powerful new series, Station Eleven, a new Matrix movie up next week, and the first half of Dune this past October.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Invasion' Season One Finale
There's much less talking and no real combat in the Invasion Season One finale up on Apple TV+ today (yes, there will be a second season, the series was renewed two days ago). Our main characters all over the world, still in various stages of profound shock, after what happened last week, struggle to understand what's going on. Much like us, the viewers, on our other side of the screen.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Futurism
