By Dave B.

​In Star Trek: Picard (CBS All-Access) the venerable Captain Jean-Luc Picard finds his forced retirement brutally interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious young woman who has a connection to one of Picard’s closest friends. She’s being hunted by a covert Romulan agency that has infiltrated the highest reaches of Starfleet. Picard takes it upon himself to fulfill a sense of obligation to his old friend and go a mission to protect the young woman’s sister, while uncovering the nature and scope of a genocidal conspiracy that could have dire consequences for all life in the galaxy.

By Dave B. 

​In the second season of Netflix’s Altered Carbon, Takeshi Kovacs (Anthony Mackie), who has spent the past three decades searching for his lost love, finally gets the chance to reunite with her. The catch? He must return to his homeworld and solve a deadly mystery that dates back hundreds of years to the colony’s founding. 

By Dave B.

​In Men In Black: International (2019, currently on Starz), the venerable franchise introduces us to some new characters. Molly (Tessa Thompson) has been searching for the MIB her entire life after a childhood encounter with them and an extraterrestrial. Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) was once one of the best agents in MIB, but has since lost his way. Together, they must prevent an invasion by an enemy that doesn’t just conquer planets, but also infiltrates the bodies of those planet’s inhabitants. 

By Dave B.

​If you’re familiar with any part of the Doom franchise, then the plot of Doom Annihilation (2019, currently on Netflix) won’t surprise you: a group of marines is dispatched to a corporate research facility on the Martian moon of Phobos. Upon their arrival, they discover that a terrible mishap has killed most of the scientists and staff at the facility. The marines are now all that stands between Earth and an ancient, implacable enemy, hell-bent on the destruction of the human race. 

By Dave B.

In the second season of Lost in Space (Netflix) the Robinson family finds themselves separated from the rest of the colonists, trapped on a world with a methane atmosphere. After the Robinsons bumble their way to a reunion with the rest of their group, they come face to face with a seemingly overwhelming alien enemy as well as purely human threats.

By Dave B.

In The Mandalorian (Disney+), a highly skilled bounty hunter goes rogue after becoming attached to one of his targets. His efforts to flee his pursuers are in vain, forcing him to confront the remnants of the Empire while protecting a child with mysterious powers. 

By Dave B.

I’m not going to bother giving you an overview of the plot of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It’s laid out for us all in the first 60 seconds of the 155 minute film. And to some extent, that exemplifies what is wrong with this movie. When you combine the soulless monster that is J.J. Abrams' filmmaking with the soulless monster that is Disney, it’s not surprising that you end up with a soulless film. That’s not to say that The Rise of Skywalker isn’t entertaining, because for the most part, it is. I didn’t start getting really bored until the final 30 minutes of the movie. But it’s entertaining in the sense that it’s fun to watch cool CGI and space battles on a big screen. 

By Dave B.

In the fourth season of The Expanse (Amazon Prime) the crew of the Rocinate is tasked with going to an illegally colonized planet to determine if ancient artifacts present there pose a threat to humanity. Meanwhile, Secretary-General Avasarala is in the midst of a reelection campaign, as she tries to halt people from colonizing over 1300 newly discovered worlds until more is understood about them and how they came to be depopulated. On Mars, Bobby Draper finds that her homeland is changing before her eyes as the aftermath of war and the potential of immediately habitable new worlds throws the need for the entire Martian terraforming project into question. 

By Dave B.

​Mortal Engines (2018, currently on HBO) takes place on a post-apocalypse Earth where mobile cities vie for resources, with huge metropolises devouring smaller towns. London, having exhausted the resources of England has crossed to continental Europe, intent on finding a path through to the comparatively untouched hunting grounds of Asia. Hester Shaw, the movie’s heroine, will stop at nothing to stop London’s relentless onslaught while fulfilling her own need for revenge against the most influential member of London society. 

By Dave B.

The fourth and final season of Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle finds the world on the brink of chaos as rebels in Japanese-held territories are bleeding the empire dry, and the Nazis strive for ultimate power over not just their empire and the territories of a crumbling Japan, but also over the multiverse itself. As rebels across the former United States prepare for their last stand, all hope for freedom rests on a pivotal showdown between the powerful, but embattled Reichsmarschal Smith, and the universe-hopping rebel Juliana Crain.