"Second Contact" – Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E01
It’s not hard to make jokes at the expense of the Final Frontier. Saturday Night Live has done it. Futurama extended the idea to seven seasons and four movies. In 2013, Star Trek convention attendees ranked Galaxy Quest the seventh…
7 Questions for Reed Lackey, Writer of 40: The Temptation of Christ
I watched Douglas James Vail’s 40: The Temptation of Christ, and I had some questions. So I decided to ask the screenwriter. Reed Lackey is a friend of Reel World Theology; he’s one half of Christian horror podcast The Fear…
Greyhound: Harassed and Helpless
Tom Hanks’ Greyhound doesn’t waste much time on exposition: on-screen text tells you how crucial supply convoys are to the Allies in Europe. A brief flashback introduces you to Hanks’ Commander Krause. But tension and dread is already building by…
Editorial: I’m Learning about Racism
I grew up outside a small, rural town that’s so ordinary and homogenous that there’s actually a documentary about it. I stole a joke from somewhere that “I was twelve before I learned that the name of my town wasn’t…
How to Watch Star Wars the Right Way: The Flashback Order
The One True Way™ to watch Star Wars is a hotly debated topic in many circles. With the completion of the Skywalker Saga last December and today’s release of the final film to Disney+, there’s no better day to watch…
"Et In Arcadia Ego, Part 1" – Star Trek: Picard S1E09
Look at them. They’ve never met anyone like you before, that granite face, wisdom and integrity etched into every line. The eloquence, the conviction…they don’t know what hit them. —Dr. Altan Inigo Soong Soong’s criticizadmiration of Picard might as well…
DuckTales, Family, and the Surprisingly Insightful Deathtrap
This review contains spoilers for Woo-oo!, the pilot for the 2017 reboot of DuckTales. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s on YouTube for free (as of the publishing of this article) and the full series is streaming on Disney+.…
"Stardust City Rag" – Star Trek: Picard S1E05
Note: I can’t very well begin this article any other way than the episode did: with spoilers. Make sure you’ve seen “Stardust City Rag” before reading any further, as well as Voyager’s season 7 episode “Imperfection.” Picard still thinks there’s…
"Absolute Candor" – Star Trek: Picard S1E04
It’s so empty. I mean, of course, right? It’s right there in the name: “space.” It’s not like it’s called “vast quantities of stuff.” Although, come to think of it, there are over three billion stars in our galaxy alone…