Change Your Image
Martin-1211
Reviews
First Signal (2021)
So bad, I had to review it so I could warn you.
The premise looked intriguing, and right up my alley. But the acting, directing, editing, and set design are simply awful. There's a distinct pause after every line. The actors speak in a range from monotone to intense monotone. The President of the United States travels around with ONE aide and NO security. The setting is apparently a corporate conference room-and not the fancy conference room where executives meet, the low-rent room where they host company safety briefings.
The science is the BEST part of the film (and it has some holes). The writers know something about orbital mechanics and hypothetical propulsion systems (the em-drive); but the infodumps are incredibly clumsy, including several As You Know, Bobs.
I can't tell if the story is prescient, or if they re-edited it to make it current. It was released in 2019, but it opens with a G7 summit where Russia has been excluded due to their invasion of Ukraine.
I'm going to stop watching now. I have better things to do with my time. Maybe I'll change the litter boxes...
Tales of Tomorrow: Verdict from Space (1951)
Sturgeon has written better
This episode was OK (given 1950s TV budget and effects); but writer Ted Sturgeon has written better. This was too much story for a half hour, I think, and they cut out things that would've filled in some plot holes. The professor figures out a lot of things far too quickly.
The ending has been done many times through the years. That made it predictable, but I liked the way they conveyed it on a limited budget.
For the reviewer who asked if Arthur C. Clarke might have been inspired by this when he wrote 2001: that's an interesting observation, but 2001 was based on Clarke's story "The Sentinel", written in 1948 and published in 1951. One might as easily wonder if Sturgeon were inspired by Clarke. But really, there are only so many story ideas.
Tales of Tomorrow: Test Flight (1951)
Not quite "The Man Who Sold the Moon"
The plot is extremely close to the Heinlein novella "The Man Who Sold the Moon". There's a twist at the end, but I won't spoil it. (I saw it coming from about the middle.)
There's nothing wrong with similar stories. There are only so many ideas. What matters is the execution. They did a good job of compressing a big idea into a half hour. An industrialist begs, borrows, and steals to launch the first rocket into space. He tangles, with governments, rivals, partners, and friends, letting nothing stand in the way of his vision. Will he reach space? What will he learn in the process? What fate lies ahead?
This is the fourth episode I've seen. They were shot on a 1950s TV budget with 1950s special effects (i.e., not much). But I like the stories.