Category Archives: science fiction

On The Tube: Yet More Star Trek

Posted on 24 April 2023 by catholicsensibility

It was about a year about Paramount+ wrapped up a second disappointing season featuring Star Trek’s Captain Picard. C-minus review here. I may have been generous in giving that grade. Season Three, the Star Trek braintrust seemed to get right. … Continue reading →

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M1: The Crab in the Bull

Posted on 19 August 2022 by catholicsensibility

In 1842, William Parsons, Earl of Rosse aimed his fine telescope at the constellation of Taurus the bull. He drew a deep sky object he viewed there. Would you say it looks like a crab, left? I’d say a silverfish, … Continue reading →

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On The Tube: Night Sky

Posted on 27 May 2022 by catholicsensibility

The title of the streaming series on Amazon Prime is a misnomer. There is one extraterrestrial vista through a window at the end of an underground passage in rural Illinois. However, this show unfolds entirely on Planet Earth. It begins … Continue reading →

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On The Tube: More Star Trek

Posted on 5 May 2022 by catholicsensibility

One season wraps up as another series begins. The second of three Picard seasons comes to a merciful and tattered ending. I commented on another social media platform, “What a relief!” Good characters and acting, visuals deserving of a Star … Continue reading →

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Takes On Time

Posted on 29 April 2022 by catholicsensibility

Time is a frequent theme in science fiction. Various authors have handled it well in different ways, and when they do it well, it reflects our desire for change, even change in ourselves. There’s a Christian contrition aspect in how … Continue reading →

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On My Bookshelf: Science Fiction Big and Small

Posted on 3 February 2022 by catholicsensibility

In home quarantine, I’ve had a chance to catch up on some reading. I had seen some good reviews of Chris Paolini’s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. It’s an enormously long read, a unique blend of military science fiction … Continue reading →

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On My Bookshelf: Binti

Posted on 12 October 2021 by catholicsensibility

For at least a month, this novella has been on my tag list for online borrowing. It finally popped up “available” a few days ago. According to my app, it took me fifty minutes to read it. I sent it … Continue reading →

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On My Bookshelf: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Posted on 12 July 2021 by catholicsensibility

The author’s premise is not new. Bill Murray explored it with a groundhog in Pennsylvania. That flick was inspired by Ken Grimwood’s Replay, a novel I would recommend for the personal examination of living a life over and over. Catherine … Continue reading →

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Another Robot Movie

Posted on 7 June 2021 by catholicsensibility

Resting at home from a medical procedure today. Once assured I was feeling fine, if fatigued, and after a mid-afternoon nap, my wife departed. Time for a science fiction movie (that she would probably dislike.) Archive looked like the most interesting … Continue reading →

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On The Tube: Counterpart

Posted on 11 November 2020 by catholicsensibility

The premise of Counterpart attracted me. Two parallel worlds, each kept mostly secret from the ordinary people of the other. There’s that science fiction premise, but everything that follows is espionage. I generally find modern espionage fiction, book or tv, … Continue reading →

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A Future Footing

Posted on 5 November 2020 by catholicsensibility

Four episodes into season three, Star Trek Discovery finds a footing. Not its footing. Just a footing. I last wrote about this show last December. Certain weaknesses dragged things down the first two seasons: mishandled characters (killing off Philippa Georgiou … Continue reading →

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The Vast of Night

Posted on 19 July 2020 by catholicsensibility

A “science fiction mystery” is how this film is described on wikipedia. Fair enough. It’s a good piece of filmmaking all around: acting, character development, music, pace, direction. It takes place in rural New Mexico about sixty years ago and … Continue reading →

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Tales From The Loop

Posted on 13 July 2020 by catholicsensibility

This weekend I completed my watch of the Amazon Prime series Tales From The Loop. It explores people living in a midwestern community. Underground is a mysterious physics research facility. I found it compelling. More human than about 95% of … Continue reading →

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On My Tube: Amazon SF

Posted on 12 May 2020 by catholicsensibility

Generally I don’t offer book or tv reviews unless there’s some element of faith involved. Or astronomy. In these days of pandemic, our streaming options have expanded somewhat. While I originally got sucked in to Amazon for High Castle, I’ve … Continue reading →

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Dystopia In Current Science Fiction

Posted on 15 April 2020 by catholicsensibility

One unfortunate trend in speculative fiction (in my opinion) is the ongoing indulgence for dystopia. To be clear, I think dystopia is fine if that’s your story. The problem is that publishers seem to be gravitating to it in great … Continue reading →

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