Category: Sci-Fi

This is… The Night Gallery Impulse Purchase

Rod Serling’s Night Gallery is best remembered today for its pilot episode, featuring Steven Spielberg’s directorial debut.

At the start of 11th grade I got a part-time job washing dishes. Coinciding with that was Night Gallery becoming a regular series. On weekday work nights I usually got home about 10 o’clock and I’d watch Night Gallery when it was on.

With those memories in mind, I went to Amazon to see if Night Gallery is available to buy or stream. Only $15 for the complete series on a 10-disc DVD set? *Click!* Done.

Succeseverance

Two well-regarded TV series I didn’t watch were Succession, available on HBO Max (that I have) and Severance on Apple TV+ (that I don’t have). As happened years ago with Breaking Bad, my interest in Severance was piqued by Stephen Colbert’s praise for the series.

With season 2 of Severance about to premiere, season 1 is now available for free on the Roku Channel.

https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/e3ff336ee4705000a82fa68163cdb149/severance

I binge-watched all nine episodes over the weekend. I’m now considering the 90-day Apple TV+ trial to catch season 2. Succession has almost 40 episodes over four seasons. That’s a big commitment I’m not ready to make yet.

KHAAANNNNN!!!!!

Two Sci-Fi movie favorites and a silent Max Fleischer cartoon, with its own Sci-Fi elements, have made it into the National Film Registry this year.

https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/25-films-named-to-national-film-registry-for-preservation/s/55d5285d-916f-4105-b7d4-7fc3ba8664e3

I am especially pleased with the addition of Invaders from Mars.

Original Martian Mutant Costume from Invaders From Mars

Also getting the nod this year is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the feature that put Trek on a different track from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Speaking of Trek, William Shatner is scheduled to appear once again at the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour in Ticonderoga, New York. I’m semi-seriously considering being there. A lot this coming year will depend on my medical status.

https://startrektour.com/product-category/2025-06-shatner/

Kudos to animation historian Jerry Beck for helping to make the restoration of “Koko’s Earth Control” happen.

December 7, 1941, 1979, 1999

Three anniversaries today. 1941 you know about. 1979 one of you remembers. 1999 was the day when the retina in my left eye spontaneously detached, beginning one of the most difficult periods of my life.

Twenty-five years! Just like Pa Kent, it don’t hardly seem that long. Uh, oh. Looks like Pa had the afib real bad!

Wait. What 25th anniversary did the neighbors think the Kents were celebrating? Pulling baby Clark out of a burning rocket from outer space?