Alien: Earth on Hulu.

Boy, this show was a roller coaster of good ideas, bad ideas, and hit-or-miss execution. I absolutely hated the first 2 episodes, to the point that I really didn't want to watch any more of the show. But my partner was liking it (I guess?) and she wanted to keep watching, so I watched it with her. I'm not sure if I'm happy that I stuck it out, or not. It does get a little bit better -- for a little bit -- but then it completely shits the bed.

I wasn't keen on the show being about children's minds being implanted into android bodies. Going on to treat them like a super hero team was one of the cringiest things I've ever seen in this franchise (and that includes Alien: Resurrection and Prometheus).

But then the show starts to get into the ethics, morality, and metaphysics of putting someone's consciousness into an android body (and other questions regarding trans-humanism), and the mind-body dilemma that is inherent to such an idea. Here Alien: Earth starts to get genuinely good. Are the androids really the same people? Are the original people dead? Are the androids property of the company that manufactured them? Does that company have the right to control what that android does? Does that company have the right to wipe parts of that android's memory, or change the android's personality, in order to fix a "glitch"?

Of course, all of these questions can be adequately explored without having the gimmick of implanting children's minds into the androids. The writers could just as easily have written a story about regular androids becoming sentient, and pose the exact same questions about whether they are "property" or "people". It's been done a billion times before in science fiction, so even though these are all interesting questions, it's nothing particularly new or innovative. I think the use of children was done to make the audience more sympathetic and "human-like", because the people in charge don't have any respect for the intelligence of their audience. It could also have been a decision made in order to justify the characters doing stupid, illogical things, but I'll get to that later.

At the same time, there are completely new aliens that have never been seen in this franchise before, that get a lot of screen time. There's a creepy, parasitic eyeball alien thing that is probably the single best idea that this entire show has going for it. It's gross and disturbing on a visceral level, but also the idea of it tunneling into your brain and taking control of your body is terrifying on an existential level. Honestly, an entire show (without the Alien title and branding) about that eyeball parasite probably could have been worth watching on its own. But Hollywood is averse to new IPs and can't make anything that doesn't have a recognizable brand attached to it -- again, because executives have no respect for the intelligence of their audiences.

Alien: Earth season 1, episode 1 - © Walt Disney, Hulu

Treating these cyborg children like a superhero team was so stupid.

Ever since Captain America: Winter Soldier and And Man (and also Logan), I've been eagerly awaiting Marvel Studios to be able to make a Fantastic Four movie. Winter Soldier and Ant Man were both genre pieces (a spy thriller and heist film, respectively). And, of course, Logan (not made by Marvel) is a western. The success of those movies as both comic book films and also genre films had me excited for the potential of a Fantastic Four movie that would be a science fiction genre film.

After all, the Fantastic Four differ from most other comic book heroes in that they don't just save the city or the world from bad guys, but they are also scientists and exploders. Many of their comic book adventures involve them flying their rocket ship into space to explore new planets and phenomena, and interacting with cosmic and celestial beings.

It took a long time for Marvel to re-acquire the rights to Fantastic Four (by its parent company, Disney, outright buying the previous rights-holder, Fox). In the meantime, Black Panther kind of beat Fantastic Four to the punch as Marvel's "sci-fi" genre piece. But that didn't lessen my anticipation.

This is the first Marvel movie in a long while that doesn't feel like it requires homework. It stands alone, and is a welcome breath of fresh air. It also feels much more in line with the good movies from phases 1 and 2, in terms of both its quality, and also in its lack of baggage. It's easily the best Fantastic Four movie (and I'm someone who thought the first 2 from the early 2000's were just fine), and it's probably the best Marvel movie since Infinity War.

Silver Age Sci-Fi

But is First Steps a "science fiction" movie?

It certainly has a lot of the trappings of a science fiction film. First and foremost is its wonderful 1960 retro-future aesthetic that feels like it's pulled straight from a 60's-era silver age comic or science fiction pulp. Much in-line with science fiction, the central problem of the movie (and, in fact, many smaller problems as well) is treated more like a scientific or engineering problem that the four have to solve. This is in contrast to most other super hero movie that simply requires the hero to play "detective" to figure out where the bad guy is going to be, and what their weakness is. And of course, there's a healthy dose of outer space adventure in the middle of the movie.

Unfortunately, the space-faring adventure is just that: adventure. There's little in the way of exploration or discovery.

Image ©: Walt Disney, Marvel

There is a stand-out space-faring chase scene.

The outer space scenes do make for a pretty spectacular set piece though. I particularly loved the way that the heroes use the gravitational time-dilation of a neutron star to help them resolve a problem, and then have to calculate a sling-shot maneuver to seal their own escape. It's the sort of thing that you would see in a sci-fi pulp story, or even in an episode of Star Trek (though this movie involves a lot more visual spectacle).

It's been a few years since Black Mirror released any new episodes. The last 2 seasons, and the interactive special, Bandersnatch were all let-downs, and it was starting to feel like the show had run out of creative juices. I kept hearing that the reason for the hiatus was a combination of the creators having run out of ideas, and also that some of the ideas that had come up with were getting too close to being real, and they didn't want to give real-life companies any ideas. (But I can't find a primary source for any of these claims, so take them with a grain of salt).

Well, Black Mirror is back with a seventh season, and I think it's a return to form for the series!

If you were disappointed with Bandersnatch and seasons 5 and 6, then you will be in for a pleasant surprise, as season 7 comes out of the gates swinging with an episode that I believe to be one of the series' best. It follows that up with 2 underwhelming episodes. I feel like these are more a problem of a failure to stick the landing, than of being fundamentally bad ideas, as they both start out with interesting premises. But then it goes on a real tear with 3 good-to-great episodes to close out the season. The penultimate episode is also fantastic and ranks among my favorite of the entire series.

Image ©: Netflix.

Image ©: Netflix.

Season 7 includes 2 of the best episodes of the entire series.

This isn't the first time that I have said that a game is difficult to review. Mouthwashing is a very difficult game to review. Usually, however, when I say that I'm having difficulty reviewing a game, it's because I have very mixed and conflicting feelings about that game. Or because it's borderline impossible to review the game without discussing extensive spoilers. Well, that last one actually is true in this case, but there's a more important reason why this game is difficult to review: Mouthwashing is a very difficult game to play. Not "difficult", as in "challenging", the way that Dark Souls is "difficult". Not "difficult", as in "broken", the way that a lot of awful low-budget indie games might be. Instead, Mouthwashing is thematically and emotionally difficult to play because it depicts a lot of very disturbing and grotesque subject matters that are just hard to sit through.

The low-fi, PS1-inspired graphics do not, in any way, take away from the visceral visual design of the game. In fact, the low-fi visuals, combined with a film grain filter, give the game a gritty, grimy feeling that might have been harder to accomplish with higher-fidelity graphics that might fall into the uncanny valley. For example, it might seem that the lack of facial animation is a flaw in the game that makes it difficult for some players to understand the emotional context of what the characters are saying, and to read the actual plot of the game with a cold detachment that will make the story harder to understand. And while that is true, there is also a very valid thematic reason for why the characters don't have facial animations, and for why their emotions aren't immediately obvious.

The crippled, disfigured husk of Captain Curly is disgusting to look at, and even more disgusting to listen to. The pain and humiliation that Captain Curly is subjected to are absolutely horrific to behold and contemplate. And that's just the start of the awful things that this game subjects the player to!

This a grotesque game that can be difficult to play.

But this isn't a game about body horror; it's a game about abuse, and the failure or unwillingness to take responsibility for one's actions.

But this story is delivered in a disjoint, non-linear, and sometimes abstract manner that can make it difficult to follow on a first playthrough. It might take a second playthrough to really understand what is going on, and what had happened prior to the events of the game. Thankfully, the 2-ish hour runtime means that a repeat playthrough isn't much of a burden at all. It's nowhere near as annoying and burdensome as something like having to replay Silent Hill 2 remake to try to get different endings, or to collect all the collectibles.

And this is where it starts to get difficult to talk about this game without spoilers. Honestly, if low-fi, psychological horror walking sims about abuse aren't your jam, then you won't play this, and probably won't care about spoilers. Otherwise, if you're into this kind of thing, then you probably know who you are. If you haven't already played the game, and you might be interested, then you should stop reading and play it. It gets my fullest recommendation!

It is impossible to talk about this game's merits without major spoilers...

Continuing to go through my back-log of shorter games that I've bought in bulk on sales, I spent a couple nights going through an indie game called Exo One. Exo One is a sci-fi ... um ... adventure game? Puzzle game? Platformer? Infinite runner? I'm really not sure how to classify this game ludically. Exo One feels like somebody thought "let's adapt the last 10 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey into a game" So it's part 2001, with a little bit of Contact thrown in for good measure, and plays similarly to Journey (but without any of the multiplayer aspects that made Journey such a beloved insta-classic). Basically, it's a game about going somewhere, but without really knowing where that "somewhere" is supposed to be. As such, it's the journey that matters; not the destination.

The basic plot, as I understood it (because it's a bit trippy and difficult to follow), is that an alien civilization transmitted data to Earth containing plans on how to build an exotic interstellar space craft (hence, the Contact reference). When a crew of astronauts travel to Jupiter to test the spacecraft, there is some kind of accident or unexplained phenomena that causes one of the astronauts to become lost in space. We play as that astronaut trying to return home -- well, actually, it's a little bit more complicated than that, but what's actually happening falls into spoiler territory, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

The spacecraft itself is a metallic, shapeshifting ball that can transform into a discus-shaped glider. It is equipped with a "gravity drive" that allows it to temporarily multiply the the force of gravity that is applied to it. As such, the core gameplay loop consists of rolling this ball across alien landscapes, using the gravity drive to pick up speed whenever you are falling or rolling downhill, and then jumping and transforming into the discus glider in order to reach higher elevation or travel long distances.

What if the climax of 2001: A Space Odyssey were a game?

Yeah, it's a weird one...