spookyrat1

This cringeworthy Australian so - called sci - fi movie is just plain embarrassing to all connected with it. It must be, judging by the little information you can actually find about it, even on its IMDB page.

A loser who spends his time either drinking, or driving his muscle car (but never working), happens to hook up with a barmaid with a heart of gold, who works at his local watering hole. Boy meets girl. Boy doesn't realise what he's got, until he hasn't got it any more. Boy heads off hiking around various Queensland locales, supposedly seeking some sort of redemption..

Somewhere along the particularly weak narrative, there is apparently an alien invasion that we never see, or find out much about at all. There is a radio broadcast heard at one stage, that appears to borrow heavily from the old Orson Welles radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. The actual storyline is made even more difficult to follow, because, you guessed it, the movie is set out in a series of flashbacks. Why? Because, you know, that's the trendy way to tell these stories with virtually nil content, don't cha know?

It was so tempting to award this non - event of a film a score of 1 (get it). But the most positive aspect is seeing the various Queensland locations, especially the Sunshine Coast and parts of its hinterland. So 1 ends getting a very well - deserved 2.

I thought the first season brought a great new impetus to the franchise. The first really adult spin - off; more violent, earthier language, a little more female - focussed, whilst still having some tenuous links to the original series.

Season 2 was even better, with Anson Mount just owning many of the episodes, with his wonderful interpretation of Cpt. Christopher Pike. Good seeing a young Spock too, even though there were difficulties in reconciling the Spock - Burnham relationship to the existing Star Trek canon. And what made these 2 seasons stand out, was the non - captain, central protagonist who also happened to be female.

Season 3 was OK. The concept of heading into the future and finding out about The Burn was imaginative, but did we really need the insert of the Tal/Gray relationship, which just felt forced and cheesy and better suited to some other show. Discovery already had plenty of diversified characters. I'd rather find out more about existing crew members such as Detmar the pilot, without introducing rather sappy new ones.

Season 4 is a definite comedown as many others have already cited on this forum. It's kind of like the Discovery TV version of the failed 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture reboot. You know what I mean. Starship crew facing overwhelming odds against a universal threat, talk, talk and talk some more. The series seems to be losing that edge it displayed in the first couple of seasons. We're served up an absolute minimum of action and a maximum of speeches. It didn't help that the "villains" were given almost too many redeeming features and that Burnham back as a captain was both a bit too derivative and bland.

I really hope the series can resurrect itself somewhat with Season 5 and I find myself happy in knowing that it is wrapping up at its end. Season 4 was ultimately quite disappointing.

Look if your idea of cinematic engagement is to watch some actors sit on seats and tell yarns, then this may well be the movie for you. Me ... seriously you have to be kidding. Intriguing concept perhaps, but I was already over it, during the first story when after 5 minutes we were still facing the one expressionistic type portrait of some bloke sitting in a corner, while the female narrator, who eventually appeared, droned on. Twelve more similarly delivered stories followed, most with some sort of indigenous theme. This sort of thing would have stronger impact and audience involvement performed in a theatre or perhaps at some sort of book or writers' festival. But as a successful cinematic piece of work, it makes for a wonderful soporific.