A handful of screen offerings

 

As the days shorten in the Northern Hemisphere, people's thoughts seem to lean toward indoor activities, such as watching movies.  Or at least, that was what used to happen before covid-19. These days I suppose indoor activities are the norm. for many people.

There are a few interesting offerings for science fiction fans.

I'm looking forward to season two of The Mandalorian.

Then there's a new version of Frank Herbert's classic SF Dune. I have high hopes for this one. I was seriously unimpressed with the 1984 movie (Sting was in it) and although I didn't mind the first episode of the mini-series with John Hurt, I quickly ran out of steam with that one, too.

This next one I happened across by accident, one of those titles listed down the right side of the screen when you watch YouTube. It piqued my interest. Books and movies are always throwing up possibilities for new stories. A minor character might end up getting his own story. Admiral Philip Guthrie in Linnea Sinclair's Dock Five series comes to mind. Or you might read something in a novel and find yourself wondering how that happened? In my Morgan's Choice, Admiral Ravindra has a tattoo, something men of his class just don't have. I turned that into a short story (Ink).

Back to YouTube. I noticed a short film entitled Birth of a Monster – a Star Wars story. Half the fun of this one was trying to work out how it fitted into the Star Wars universe. I won't spoil it by telling you – if you've watched the original trilogy, you should be able to work it out. It's about twenty minutes long.

It adds depth and understanding to an otherwise puzzling scene.