Personal Highlights
Moonbase Theta, Out: All Your Base – Episode 6: Zeta. I firstly just want to mention how much I love that base Zeta is just casually hanging upside down from the moon on the miniseries’ logo! This week we meet Mining Supervisor Tina Haugen, and her job and the setting of this episode instantly make me think of comparisons with Nessa on Base Theta (sob). After spending so much time with Roger, It’s an interesting insight into another kind of relationship separated by so much distance, that of a parent and child – which, again, we had seen from a very different perspective with Nessa in season two. Alicia Atkins (The Beacon, Copperheart) puts in a brilliant and highly emotional performance, and I loved the little Easter egg!
To Chart a Well-Trod Course: Episode Four – Homeward Bound. It’s the finale of this mini-series, and I’ve really enjoyed this examination of interpersonal relationships. There’s a lot to talk about in this final episode; there are two very different conversations, and narratives about the same series of events, but eventually some common ground is finally reached. This series has really explored how flawed humans are, and the impact trauma has, especially from the point of view of someone who isn’t human. I would love to hear more of this story, but it’s still a satisfying ending.
Oz 9: episode sixty-four – Is there anyone on the bridge whose name isn’t completely douchey? It’s a very fun flashback episode for the Oz 9 folks, set before the launch of the Oz-8000 ships. One very silly joke in particular that made me laugh so much that I had to pause the episode for a few minutes! There’s also some very impressive smashing of the fourth wall, even by Oz 9 standards! Who knew narrators were Time Lords?
Lost Terminal: 6.6 – It’s dark again. It’s another episode with a very different feel than usual. This time there’s a focus on different relationships between AIs and humans, through a mostly negative lens. There’s an emphasis on problems with communication – which has always been a big theme in the show, portrayed in many different ways – not only from Seth, who has a lot of thoughts on this issue, but also through some other AIs. I’d also been waiting for Antarctica to strike, and she has, but I was surprised to learn that she didn’t work alone – due to his nature as an AI, Seth isn’t the most reliable narrator.
Marsfall: Bunker Down: What Comes Next – M02E06. Right from the beginning of this episode, it’s a highly emotional ending to this miniseries. The story is wrapped up as the truth comes to light, with tragic consequences. It’s really interesting looking at how all this miniseries ties into the main Marsfall series, and in particular the other AIs we’ve met, and it ends on a very interesting note.
Within the Wires: Season 6, Episode 5 – Friday 26 October 1973. Things have definitely got very creepy in this lonely house, and I have a lot of questions – including what in the heck is going on with the weather?? Creepiness aside, it’s really interesting how Cliodhna is getting some details about a past and a way of life that is completely unfamiliar to her. She’s only learned about families as part of her education, she’s never been part of a family or had any first-hand experience of one; so it’s interesting to consider how much the ghosts she’s encountered symbolise a lost past, and what the Society replaced.
The White Vault: Episode 5.02 – Scatter.Well. That was certainly A Thing That Happened. The deliberate hiding of information is not at all a new tactic in this show’s narrative, but as the team arrives in Ny-Ålesund, we know that something’s awaiting them. Discovering what exactly it is comes as quite the shock. The addition of Amelia, who’s never actually been to Ny-Ålesund – or at least, that’s what she says – is particularly interesting given the circumstances, as the audience’s knowledge and expectations are more closely aligned to hers. We have, however, been here before; but the situation was very different back then. This is a whole, unfamiliar, new world.
InCo: S3 Episode 16 – Children. Oh, this is interesting. For a planet that is believed to not actually exist by the people living within the Galactic Union, the Galactic Union itself sure does like controlling what the people of Eolara know about their own planet. We’ve known that the GU is shady because of, oh, how this fairy tale planet actually exists, but this is an even bigger conspiracy that Nova is only just beginning to scratch the surface of. I’m very intrigued to learn what she discovers.
Electromancy: Episode 10 – Independent Study. It’s the season one finale, and that was a very interesting ending! I really enjoyed how this Saturday detention gave Jenna and Brynn an opportunity to have some more serious discussions, about topics that they hadn’t touched on before. We still have a lot of questions about Jenna and her family, and even though there were some interesting world-building details about the area Jenna’s from – including some information about religion in this world – it left me wondering even more about the secrets that she’s hiding.
Less is Morgue: Episode 205 – All Dogs Go to Tallahassee. Peppermint is the best girl! Evelyn is reunited with her pet dog from when she was alive, the now ghost-dog Peppermint. It makes for some delightful moments, and it’s great seeing Evelyn so happy. Unsurprisingly, Riley is not extremely impressed at Evelyn’s four-legged companion, and has some…not-very-well-thought-out plans about getting a pet of their own.
The Amelia Project: Episode 44 – The Man With No Heartbeat. We finally meet Kozlowski! It was a lot of fun seeing him roping the CIA agents into his plan to fake his own death. I also loved the emphasis on the importance of his story, how it reflected clients’ stories and the Interviewer’s love of them. The callbacks to former clients was a fun addition too, with Kozlowski’s tattoos, and how the agents didn’t understand what was right in front of their faces.
Trailers and Prologues
2298 released a second pre-season prologue, and as with the first prologue episode which was released at the end of last month, the focus here is on a different character to season one. So far we’ve been following Profile 13 – and I’m curious if this unlucky number will have a particular significance in the second season. It’s a call back to the beginning of the story, as Profile 13 registers with the Network, but as they’re aware of the disappearance of Profile 24’s recordings, they have some very different intentions.
COPPERHEART (Note: I appear in this teaser). After a hiatus due to the pandemic and other issues, COPPERHEART is due to release the first of its huge four part season one finale next month. With so much at stake for the residents of GL51, this first glimpse of the finale is a very tense one, as we hear clips from some of the key characters in the story.
A teaser episode, ahead of Augie’s Attic first season, features a short story titled Lights Out. Our narrator has their electricity cut off, and experiences some strange things over the course of the day and night that they’re without power.
Where the Stars Fell released the first of two minisodes before the launch of season two on the 3rd of December, and there’s definitely big now kiss energy. We’re introduced to a new setting in the town of Jerusalem, and a couple of new characters, but Ed is still very much being…Ed.
The Way We Haunt Now released a trailer for its second season, due to launch on December 4th. Eulalie is scared by something which is…definitely not a tree. Could she be haunted again?
Casting Calls
Sci-fi anthology Breathing Space, Fading Frontier is casting for their second season. Unpaid, deadline 22nd November.
Super Suits is an upcoming superhero sitcom from Faustian Nonsense (home of Chain of Being and Dos: After You, among others), and is currently casting. Paid, no deadline has currently been set.
A Sky Full of Pods 