TV: “Dune: Prophecy”

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Max

You knew it was coming, just as you knew Game of Thrones would be more than a single series.

That’s right, the Dune movies will have a new spin-off on Max (formerly HBO Max). It is called Dune Prophecy, and it starts long before the time period of the movies. About 10,000 years earlier when two sisters start the Bene Gesserit.

It is inspired by the book Sisterhood of Dune, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. The trailer tells you what you need to know, yet here is a little bit from the book if you want to dig a little deeper:

It is 83 years after the last thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium.

The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of the disgraced Abulurd Harkonnen have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their noble family.

Raquella Berto-Anirul has formed the Bene Gesserit School and, through a terrible ordeal, has become the first Reverend Mother.

The descendants of Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva use mutated, spice-saturated Navigators who fly precursors of Heighliners.

And Gilbertus Albans, ward of the hated thinking machine Erasmus, is teaching humans to become Mentats…while hiding an unbelievable secret.

Led by the fanatic Manford Torondo, the Butlerian movement, fiercely opposed to all forms of “dangerous technology,” sweeps across the known universe in mobs, millions strong, destroying everything in its path.

The 6-episode series will premiere this fall.

Television: For All Mankind

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Promotion for season two of For All Mankind. (Apple TV+)

While awaiting the return of the Star Trek and Star Wars televisions series (by the way, do not forget that the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery is slated to start tomorrow), I started to watch For All Mankind on Apple TV+. I am only halfway through season two, but I have enjoyed every minute so far. I am just surprised there has not been more press about this impressive series.

I was somewhat skeptical to start the series because I knew it was an alternate reality to our actual space program. Yet what I saw as a weakness was actually the show’s strength. The series re-imagines the space race with the Russians, having the U.S. set up a Moon base after the Russians are the first to step foot on the Moon. It just shows us what could have been if we did not stop the Apollo program 50 years ago and dither around until the Artemis program.

And while the series has plenty of action – almost as though your are watching multiple Apollo 13 movies – what makes it different is that it has heart. It is almost the Mad Men of NASA, showing the good and bad of that period in terms of human lives.

For All Mankind is honest about the period from the 1960s through the 1980s, showing that the real drama was right here on Earth as we dealt with Vietnam, racism, immigration, marital and family issues, and even a lesbian astronaut.

I did not expect all of this in one show, nor the superb acting that makes it all come to life. I am now hooked on the series, finding it strange that I already have nostalgia for an American lunar space program that never existed even though it could have.

The series continues with a Mars program in seasons 3 and 4, but I do not want to get ahead of myself. Let’s just say this other America gets to the Red Planet long before we do.

We are creating plenty of drama today with the real lunar program currently under way, as well as an eventual Mars program. It may in fact lead to some great television series down the line. I just hope we stick to the script and keep the current drama going for years to come.

Television: Space Shuttle Columbia Special on CNN

Posted on by onespaceman2000

NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia had its maiden flight on April 12, 1981 and continued to fly for another 22 years until its final disastrous flight in February 2003.

More than 20 years after this tragedy, CNN is retelling the story in a special four-episode program titled Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight that premieres on April 7th and ends on April 14th.

In its publicity for the series, CNN states:

Across four episodes, the story of the ticking-clock of Columbia’s final mission is told in dramatic detail, beginning months before the troubled launch, unfolding across the sixteen days in orbit, and concluding with the investigation into the tragic loss of the seven astronauts’ lives. Weaving together intimate footage shot by the astronauts themselves inside the orbiter, exclusive first-hand testimony from family members of the Shuttle’s crew, key players at NASA – some of whom have never spoken before – and journalists who covered the story on the ground, the series paints an intimate portrait of the women and men onboard and uncovers in forensic detail the trail of events and missed opportunities that ultimately led to disaster.

We are certainly in another place as a nation these days, but the end of the shuttle program crippled our human spacefaring capabilities for years until SpaceX came along. We are back to reusable spacecraft again, but in a whole new format – less spaceplane and more Apollo capsule.

I look forward to the look back. I just hope we are done with “missed opportunities” and have a new mindset as we head back to the Moon.

Television: 3 Body Problem Premiering on Netflix

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Netflix

We live in a time where we have plenty of science fiction options on television and at the theaters. Be it the Apple TV+ remake of Issac Asimov’s Foundation, the current showing of Frank Herbert’s Dune: Part Two at theaters, or the ongoing television series spinning more Star Wars and Star Trek tales.

And now, starting tomorrow, we will be treated to a Netflix series on the 3 Body Problem, one of the more recent science fiction series from the mind of Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The new series based on the Hugo-awarding winning book was created by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss, as well as Alexander Woo from HBO drama series True Blood.

So what is it about? Netflix has a paltry summary, so let’s go to the book summary itself (and the trailer):

Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

The reviews are mixed, though I am sure you will want to judge for yourself. But just in case you want some insights from others, check out these reviews:

Should you want to see the Chinese television series, you can find it here on Youtube. Or you may want to circle back to this version if you don’t care for the Netflix production.

Note: You can also find the Chinese version of the series on Amazon Prime. Rather than 8 episodes, you will find the Chinese version called Three Body has 30 episodes. I am working my way through the Amazon Prime series and so far prefer the slower-paced Chinese original. Netflix seems to rush through the ideas, whereas they are better developed in the longer series.

Credit: Amazon Prime

Television: Spaceman Premiering on Netflix

Posted on by onespaceman2000

When I hear the name Adam Sandler, I do not think of a serious movie, particularly one about a space. And yet that is what Netflix is throwing our way, or at least it might have been a serious movie until they threw in a giant talking spider.

That’s right, Adam and a spider are coming to Netflix on March 1 in Spaceman to entertain you.

Here is the Netflix pitch (and the trailer):

Six months into a solitary research mission to the edge of the solar system, an astronaut, Jakub (Sandler), realizes that the marriage he left behind might not be waiting for him when he returns to Earth. Desperate to fix things with his wife, Lenka (Carey Mulligan), he is helped by a mysterious creature from the beginning of time he finds hiding in the bowels of his ship. Hanuš (voiced by Dano) works with Jakub to make sense of what went wrong before it is too late.

Should you want to bypass the movie and go straight to the book, you can look for the novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař.

Like the new series Constellation on Apple TV+, space has become a big canvas to tell the more mundane story about lonely humans. The spaceship and other hardware are simply furnishings in such tales.

All I know is that NASA is recruiting volunteers for its own long-term isolation Mars program and I just hope the agency have sprayed the facility for spiders.