Netflix plans an ambitious series based on Gaiman’s legendary Sandman graphic novels, and today they announced some of the main cast. Some of the actors closely recall their print counterparts; others represent new takes. Tom Sturridge, the Tony-nominated actor also known for such films as the 2012 film adaptation of On the Road and 2017’s Mary Shelley has landed the challenging role of Dream.
No word yet on Death.
As the end of the current season approaches, The Expanse gives us one of its strongest episodes to date. We have a definite Hugo candidate for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
As worlds fall apart, our characters move closer to each other.
We have a shorter review than usual this week, but much to discuss, as two small ships ponder taking on a navy, and a couple of characters bid “oyedeng.”
A three-episode arc brings Season Three to a conclusion. Discovery has changed its premise each year, resulting in very distinct seasons. These episodes bring us to a new equilibrium, a new premise, and new uniforms.
The show has taken some dark turns, and this week’s episodes handle these with extraordinary acting, writing, and visuals.
Even in the darkest times, people can find hope.
“You can’t imagine how much the world can change in six months.”
Lauren Beukes has established a name as a writer who crosses literary, SF, and other genres, producing some of the best speculative titles of this century. Penned before the current pandemic but not published until 2020, Afterland has most of the male human population die from a plague that hit in, as it happens, 2020. The overwhelmingly female future is no women’s paradise. Our protagonist, Cole, and her son, Miles, find themselves on a nightmarish road trip, with representatives of legal and criminal enterprises in pursuit. Among her adversaries: her own sister, accompanied by a pair of mercenaries.
Doctor Who‘s next season will be, according to showrunner Chris Chibnail, “on telly straight away,” just as soon as they can finish shooting.
Meanwhile, we have this New Year’s Day Special, with the Doctor, her companions, a pair of Jacks, and the show’s most iconic foe.
Pity none of these can help us with COVID.
James Doohan, best-known as the Enterprise’s Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, died in 2005. His ashes made it to the International Space Station three years later, a fact only . Entrepreneur and “private astronaut” Richard Garriott, with the backing of Doohan’s family, smuggled the ashes onto the ISS in 2008, thus fulfilling a final wish of the Star Trek actor.