Reviews by TrekMedic

The collaboration between Chris Cornell and Rage Against The Machine was originally criticized as a one-off vanity project, replacing Zac's politically-charged angst rap with the "grunge" of Chris Cornell's soul-searing, nihilistic howling. Guess what? People liked them! They really liked them and the group spawned two more albums. This one is my personal favorite, probably because, unlike their eponymous CD, which sounded like Chris Cornell was simply replacing Zac for a Rage session, you can hear Cornell's stamp on most of the songs. "Like A Stone," Drown Me Slowly," and "Doesn't Remind Me" are my favorites and the three that have migrated to my streaming playlists. Such a shame Cornell isn't here anymore to create more of this magic.

I was barely aware of them as a kid until radio started playing "I Want You to Want Me" in heavy rotation. Following the success of their Japanese tour, they went from zeroes to heroes overnight. However, none of the songs carry any of the same energy (critics accused them of dubbing the overwhelming audience noise) in their studio format,...ain't that a shame?

To this day, I've owned the 8 track, LP, cassette AND CD!

Holy cow! The stuff I'll watch when I'm stuck in a blizzard! Even the presence of Erin Karpluk couldn't salvage this Canadian retread dreck!

Channeling my inner Rod Serling,...

Imagine, if you will: the year is 1964. The United States is still basking in the afterglow of Kennedy's visionary Camelot society. At the cinemas, the Western World was being introduced to that entertainment juggernaut of a suave, British spy with the three-digit moniker.

Well, this is post-WWII America and anything that Europeans can do, the Americans can do better, right? Well,...

The premise was terrific: take the premise of Bond's role as a righter of wrongs at any cost and serialize it. Give the main characters a numerical ID like Bond! Make the setting what was then arguably the West's center of entertainment, finance and politics, New York City, and nestle it into that center of global politics, the United Netw,...um,....Nations! (Originally, the "U.N." was meant to be ambiguous, but the show's producers feared legal issues with the real UN and fleshed out the name).

The first season, in black and white, as well as the technicolor second season, achieved the show's objectives: despots, dictators and any organization, such as THRUSH (a nod to Bond's SPECTRE) that threatened to disturb the UN's attempt to sow peace and self-reliance throughout the world were usurped by Napoleon Solo, Illya Kuryakin and a who's who of the 60's character actors. And they were done in a cold, dramatic style that made many believe these were real global exploits. And, like SPECTRE, THRUSH was originally meant to have a leader who could easily change identities. Lee Meriwether's character, the ice-cold Dr. Egret, was meant to be the original, but the idea was never fully fleshed out.

The show rapidly became a global, iconic success. But like much of the entertainment industry of the latter 60s, the show because both a victim of its own success. Numerous TV shows and movies, like Dean Martin's Matt Helm and James Coburn's Flint made the concept all-too-ubiquitous. Then there was the acid-dropping silliness that infused Western culture. A poorly-made spinoff, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., failed to launch. The show devolved away from it's original plan. Now, lunatics with outlandish, camp visions of godhood and global domination often fell victim to their own gimmicky plans, simply with the help of U.N.C.L.E.

Ratings took a nose dive. The 4th season attempt at returning to the more serious, real-world escapades failed to recapture that early glory and the show limped off into the kaleidoscope sunset of 1968.

Sigh,...oh, what it could have been if it maintained the laser-like focus and discipline of similar shows like Mission Impossible!! And that 007 guy? Yeah, he's still around at the movies, isn't he?

Superb! David Mack fleshed out the Season 4 two-part throwaway episodes [Link removed - login to see] into a timeline that spans hundreds of years into the future of an alternate Star Trek universe, featuring some of your favorite ST characters in completely different roles.

Interesting book! Here we are, well into the 21st Century and many of the cartoons from the 1960s New Yorker magazine are still relevant today. I guess history really is doomed to repeat itself if we keep forgetting it?

Luc Besson, a bunch of Euros with throwaway money and a 21st Century remake of The Fifth Element (with some Star Wars nods thrown in). I don't know if this was intended to be a franchise, but the all-too-abrupt ending makes me think those Euros ran out of euros.

Nom-nom-nom! Sweet corn, salt, pepper and butter! Thrown on the grill wit your favorite proteins to accentuate the flavor and you're in heaven!

How do you take top-tier action-movie actors like Vin Diesel, mix them with other reliable box-office favorite actors (Elijah Wood and Rose Leslie, fresh off her star turn in Game Of Thrones) and a smattering of box-office greats like Michael Caine and NOT have a winner on your hands?  This had the look and feel of a guaranteed profitable franchise! What went wrong? Too much CGI, Vin Diesel's one-note performance, sub-plots going nowhere,...and the final chapter/plot wrap-up pretty much killed it for me.  Makes you wonder if the production team realized this wasn't the hit they wanted and re-wrote the end to cut their losses?

Dear Saint Florian: in the past decade what have we US firefighters and paramedics done to displease you so much that first, you dump the moderately-realistic Chicago Fire on us, then 9-1-1, with it's cougar dispatcher, now this dreck??  I've been told by my eldest daughter that it's a spin-off of Grey's Anatomy, but I've managed to be spared from the so-called "Shondaverse" for all these years. 

But I digress...where do I start explaining the flaws in this show?  The cancer-ridden captain (and father) having the sole authority to pass station command off to his daughter when he becomes too ill to continue?  No, wait, let's have her compete with her boyfriend for the promotion while the Battalion Chief referees? The "afternoon delight" between firefighters? The never-ending female empowerment themes ("Can you believe I'm a grrrll and driving this big-ass ladder truck? Yee-ea-ah!!")? The ubiquitous/mandatory gay character (not that there's anything wrong with that,...)? 

I could type up a whole dissertation on the differences between East Coast and West Coast firefighting, but I've already done that for my degree and instructional certifications. 

Bottom line?

 - parents almost NEVER have direct command over their children in a major fire department

 - promotions ALWAYS go through the civil service process

 - I'm truly surprised the City of Seattle and the Seattle FD are approving the use of their name for this mess (copyright or brand approval denotes tacit support)

 - For partial disclosure (I can't disclose my department location, per City and union rules), we DO have female firefighters (both career and volunteer) in our department and one of my lieutenants (and friend, trusted aide, and fellow instructor) is openly gay.

Thank God I'm retiring in 2 years!