Category: Science Fiction

TV Review: Star Trek Voyager

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction7 Comments

I’ve been a Star Trek fan ever since I was ten or twelve or thereabouts–whenever it was my dad first showed me “The Empath.”  Since then, I watched every episode of Classic Trek, and sizable chunks of…almost everything else, even the animated series.  But until recently, there was a gaping hole in my Star Trek experience.  I had never watched Voyager.  I’d seen maybe a dozen episodes and could identify every major character, but compared to the other series I felt decidedly unacquainted with Voyager.  Happily, Netflix streams every series of Star Trek, so a year or so ago I set out to fill in this gap.

VoyagerVoyager covers the adventures of the crew of the starship Voyager under Captain Janeway, lost in the Delta Quadrant with a 70 year journey ahead of them to get home.  I watched the last episode a week ago.  Here at the end of the journey, I think it was a decent show, but the weak link of the franchise.  Mostly, I struggled with the characters.  I know people who say they love this crew, and I liked them well enough by the end–but I had a lot of trouble connecting. Continue reading “TV Review: Star Trek Voyager” →

Movie Review: The Age of Adaline

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction1 Comment

Age of AdalineI’m fascinated by time travel and reincarnation and immortals living through different eras, so of course I was intrigued by The Age of Adaline, about a woman who stopped aging in 1937, and in 2015 is, to all appearances, still 29 years old.

There is a plot here, about what happens when Adaline falls in love, jeopardizing the safe but rootless existence she’s been living, hiding her past and her…condition from everyone.  She also bumps into a decades-ago paramour, played in the present by Harrison Ford, complicating life even further.

It’s a pretty good plot, romantic in spots and tense in others, but what really made me love this movie was Adaline herself.  Adaline is played by Blake Lively, who I’ve previously only seen in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies, and I’m so impressed by her here.  She was so convincing as an old soul in a young body.  Adaline walks with an incredible amount of poise and confidence, and does seem in many ways older than her physical appearance. Continue reading “Movie Review: The Age of Adaline” →

The Martian by Andy Weir

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction2 Comments

Digging through my pile of exciting books, one of the first I finished was The Martian by Andy Weir.  It was a good read–not as exciting as I hoped–but I can see how it could be a really great read…for someone else.  Someone with a bit more interest in science than I have!

Set in the near-future, the title character is Mark Watney, an American astronaut left behind on Mars when his team has to make an emergency evacuation.  The rest of the crew believes he’s already dead–but Watney survives, and now faces the challenge of surviving alone on Mars until the next schedules mission…four years away.  Luckily, most of the supplies for the mission were left behind, but it’s still a struggle for food, water and air.  Meanwhile on Earth, satellite images soon alert NASA to the mistake made, and the whole planet rallies around how to rescue the stranded astronaut.

In a lot of ways, this book reminds me of Hatchet, essentially the story of a castaway surviving alone.  That comparison feels like a helpful framework for addressing what I did and didn’t like about this book. Continue reading “The Martian by Andy Weir” →

Book Review: Smek for President

On By cherylmahoneyIn Juvenile, Reviews, Science Fiction1 Comment

I reread The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex recently, which is so delightful and funny and surprisingly meaningful.  It made me very excited to jump into the recently-published sequel, Smek for President.  Which was a bit less meaningful, but still funny and delightful.

The sequel picks up two years after the first book.  The world has settled back into normalcy after being invaded by aliens (twice) and Gratuity “Tip” Tucci is trying to get used to being a normal kid again, after being on her own for six months when her mother was abducted, and then saving the world.  J.Lo (the alien Boov, not the singer), who Tip met and befriended in the first book, is living with Tip and her mother but trying to cope with being the only alien left among all these humans.  Worse, the other Boovs blame J.Lo for accidentally summoning enemy aliens, who ultimately led to their loss of control over the Earth.

Tip and J.Lo set off together to the new Boov world, one of the moons of Saturn.  J.Lo wants to set his case before the great Boov leader Smek, and Tip wants to rebel against her mother.  They find the Boovs engaged in their first presidential election, and more interested in arresting J.Lo than in hearing his story.  Hijinks, naturally, ensue. Continue reading “Book Review: Smek for President” →

Classic Review: The True Meaning of Smekday

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction, Young Adult2 Comments

I reviewed The True Meaning of Smekday a couple of years ago–and it was a delightful read!  The sequel, Smek for President, finally came out this past month, so I reread the first in anticipation.  Today I’m re-posting my review for the first one.  Stay tuned for a review of the new book soon!

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I don’t remember anymore where I originally heard about The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, but I know I read it because I couldn’t resist that title–or the premise that came with it.

Sometime in the very-near future, aliens called Boovs land on Earth on Christmas Day (in true Doctor Who tradition) and proceed to take over the planet.  Resistance is, shall we say, futile.  The Boovs rename Christmas as Smekday, in honor of their General Smek who conquered Earth (Smekland).  Our heroine is Gratuity Tucci–her friends call her Tip.  Tip’s mother was abducted by the Boov on Smekday, a story she begins to relate for a school writing assignment on “The True Meaning of Smekday.”

When all humans are ordered to relocate to Florida, Tip sets out alone in her car (she’s eleven, but she taught herself to drive after her mother disappeared), accompanied only by her cat, Pig.  Along the way, she meets a Boov named J.Lo (his Smekland-name).  He has his own troubles, and they form an uncertain alliance.  They realize that the troubles for Smekland have just begun, when another race of aliens comes to invade: the Gorg, known throughout the civilized galaxy as the Takers.

I am always impressed by books which can manage satire-level humor, balanced with genuine tragedy and heartache.  Telling an absurd abduction story is one thing.  Telling a tragic abduction story is another.  Doing both at once–now that’s really something.  There’s a lot of humor throughout the book, but there are also serious dangers and serious tragedies.  Neither detracts from the other. Continue reading “Classic Review: The True Meaning of Smekday” →