Star Trek: The Amazing Stories
{5/5} “It is not possible for me to be with you today to honor my father. I am far away on a mission to promote galactic peace. My mission honors my father’s memory. Sarek and I often did not agree. Everyone knows that. And yet… he is the reason I am where I am today.” […]
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds V
{5/5} “Within the confines of the library, the cadets were polished, serious, stiff. Outside, in the fresh air, amid the profusion of color, with the soft green grass beneath them, they were seedlings reaching for the sun. With their guards down and their minds open, they were flowers ready to blossom.” (from “Efflorescence”) Star Trek: […]
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within
{4.5/5} “Our species — no, forgive me, our cultures — aren’t the same at all. Quelin fear outsiders because we use them as scapegoats for the things we fear about ourselves. We bar cultural exchange because change frightens us. Whereas your people… You fear outsiders because they gave you no choice in the change they […]
Sorry to Bother You
{5/5} “Stick to the script.” Sorry to Bother You, released in 2019 Cassius Green, a black man, starts a telemarketing job in order to make some much needed money. When he initially falters, an older black man gives him some advice: use his white voice. This change immediately propels him into the ranks of successful […]
Black Wine
{4.5/5} “I cannot keep thinking in the language of cruelty in which I was born… But here in the mountains they have names for the things I want to become: happy, secure, gentle, kind, good. I will will learn the subtle words, the nuances of meaning, and I will be able to think thoughts I […]
The Commuter
{4.5/5} “That’s a left-handed guitar.” The Commuter, released in 2018 Michael commutes on the train to his job every day — he was formerly a cop and now sells insurance. When he finds out he’s lost his job, he’s worried about telling his wife because their financial situation is precarious. On the train home he […]
Memory Wire
{4.5/5} “I think they simply wanted to make us whole… to cure what they saw as our tragic failure. Failure of memory. Which is failure of conscience. They were surprised, I would guess, by our capacity for aggression. For ruthlessness, for inflicting pain. Conscience is memory… and the stones would restore it.” Memory Wire by […]
Rams
{5/5} “‘Oh, you’re gorgeous.’ ‘What’s that?’ ‘Just talkin’ to my sheep.’” Rams, released in 2020 Colin and Les haven’t spoken in 40 years. But they’re brothers and they live next door to each other. They’re both sheep farmers, and this year Les’s sheep wins the top prize at the fair. But when Colin has a […]
Penn & Teller: Fool Us (season 7)
{4.5/5} “It’s very hard to fool them. But against all odds, there’s still a group of intrepid magicians who dare to dream the impossible dream.” Penn & Teller: Fool Us season 7, aired in 2020-21 Magicians who have fooled Penn and Teller twice return to try for a 3rd. Penn surprises Teller by doing a […]
New Suns
{5/5} “A country that has reached the age of wisdom would stop building monuments to the warmongers of its history, but rather erect them for its peacemakers, those who saved lives by preventing the course of events from descending into a time of sword and fire.” (from “The Virtue of Unfaithful Translations”) New Suns: Original […]