‘Reviews’ Archives
Doctor Who redeemed?
Daleks, new and old (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I've just finished rewatching Asylum of the Daleks, the first in the new Doctor Who series which aired on BBC HD on 1 September. After a previous series which can best be described as patchy, and an earlier outing for Daleks in Victory of the Daleks which was widely seen as lamentable, I was fearing [...]
Homeland versus Once Upon A Time: brilliant versus abominable
Channel 5 has done well out of its American imports over the last few years. Once it got over its late night sultry made-for-TV phase, it picked up with CSI, CSI New York, CSI Miami, and, to a lesser extent, Law and Order, with all of its variations. Procedural drama, as its called, is all very well, and CSI has certainly done Channel 5 proud. But [...]
What makes great science-fiction? The Foundation Trilogy
What makes great science-fiction? List some of the greats: A Scanner Darkly, by Philip K Dick, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin, Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson (most people will think of Neuromancer, but for my money, MLO is better), A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C Clarke, and you might wonder if there's any connection at all. [...]
The not-so Righteous Mind?
Social and Cultural psychologist Jonathan Haidt begins his quest for a new psychological theory of morality with the question of why people on the political left and right (or, in American, liberal and conservative) are so adamant that the other side have virtually no morality at all. Haidt's book starts by reviewing the work of Drew Weston and [...]
BBC should do grown-up science-fiction" />
HMV, Jessops, Blockbuster — victims of the wired world" />
