science fiction – Page 9 – PopCult Reviews

TV Review – Mrs. Davis

Mrs. Davis (Peacock)
Written by Tara Hernandez, Damon Lindelof, Jason Lew, Alberto Roldán, Noelle Viñas, Jonny Sun, Jason Ning, and Chikira Bennett
Directed by Owen Harris, Alethea Jones, Nadra Widatalla, Frederick E.O. Toye

I can’t say that Mrs. Davis was my favorite TV series watch of 2023, but it was the most consistently surprising. From the opening sequence to the final episode, this has to be one of the most original pieces of streaming content ever made. You have Damon Lindelof bringing his mystery-centered storytelling, and Tara Hernandez adds comedy, resulting in something so hard to describe. If you have seen the trailers or even just production stills, you’re probably confused about what this show is. I will attempt to explain it without spoiling it, but it will be spoiled a bit. Going in blind is probably the best way to watch Mrs. Davis.

Movie Review – Asteroid City

Asteroid City (2023)
Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Directed by Wes Anderson

“All Wes Anderson movies are the same,” they shout. From an aesthetic point of view, the director is exceptionally consistent these days with a particular visual sensibility. I would argue that it has changed over time. Go back and watch Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, then compare it to this film and The French Dispatch. They are very different in how they look but share similar rhythms. That’s what I find is true about all his work, the rhythm of the stories, characters, and comedy. Asteroid City is no exception, but I would argue a need to look deeper than the surface level or study how what’s happening aesthetically flows into the themes explored in the story. Asteroid City is a profound film about big emotions, particularly grief, and how we process them.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Alone Among the Stars

If you enjoy the reviews, podcasts, and other content we make here at PopCult Reviews please consider sending a tip of appreciation through our Ko-Fi. Thanks!

Alone Among the Stars
Written & Designed by Takuma Okada

You can download the game and pay what you want here.

Even today, with so many diverse tabletop RPGs for people to enjoy, the mainstream response to hearing about ttrpgs is for people to think of Dungeons & Dragons. While DnD certainly created a structure for a very dominant roleplaying style, it is not the be-all and end-all of the hobby. With recent decisions by DnD’s owners, Wizards of the Coast, to try and limit the open gaming licenses, which allow third parties to create content for the game and send Pinkerton agents to harass & threaten a streamer who legally purchased material WOTC accidentally sent out early, it’s time to find a new game. One thing that helps to expand your horizons is to engage with something wildly different than you are used to, and Alone Among the Stars is nothing like DnD.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Galatea

If you enjoy the reviews, podcasts, and other content we make here at PopCult Reviews please consider sending a tip of appreciation through our Ko-Fi. Thanks!

Galatea
Written & Designed by S. Kaiya J.
You can purchase this game here.

The Wretched by Chris Bisette has spawned a whole subgenre of solo ttrpgs using that game as its framework. Many provide variations on that base game’s mechanics of dice, playing cards, and block tower. Galatea’s take on these mechanics perfectly fits its premise and tone.

The title references the Greek myth of Pygmalion. In the story Pygmalion, the sculptor carves a statue of a beautiful woman out of ivory. He prays to Aphrodite that she might come to life as he’s fallen in love with the image of her. His wish is granted, and the two marry and live happily ever after. This story has inspired many narratives about artificial life, including the origins of the Wonder Woman character.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part Four

If you enjoy the reviews, podcasts, and other content we make here at PopCult Reviews please consider sending a tip of appreciation through our Ko-Fi. Thanks!

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here.

Read part three of this series here.

The Vigilant nears its first destination on its first shortened FTL jump. Kei Becker searches the ship’s supplies for anything that might help Rozhan Kane’s damaged eyes but comes up short. Kane weakly assures Kei that he will be okay; they will reach Lyra and find sanctuary there. Astrid is watching the sensors as they get closer to ending the jump while Jorruns is trying to brainstorm ways to keep the engines running a little longer. Kei notices those two keeping their distance from each other, with Astrid not attempting to hide her dislike of Essence-using laborers from the Trade Enclave. In better times, Kei might address this tension, but now, people seem to focus on their tasks, and more significant threats are happening.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part Three

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here.

Read part two of this series here.

The Vigilant gracefully glides through the vast expanse of space, weaving its way through the remnants of long-abandoned planet-cracking mineral drills & shards of the ancient facilities that once dotted Orcus’ surface. As it approaches this floating graveyard, the hull groans under the stress of sudden turbulence as if protesting the eerie surroundings.

The graveyard itself is a haunting sight. Metal carcasses of massive, once-grand spaceships float listlessly in the void, their lifeless frames casting shadows in the darkness. Debris and wreckage are scattered everywhere, testaments to the violent ends of these colossal vessels. They had been coming here to pick up for distribution or in orbit, waiting for clearance to jump. Their crews never fully understood what was happening.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part Two

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here

Read part one of this series here

In our last part, I did a brief overview of some of the differences between Ironsworn and Starforged that stood out to me and engaged in the worldbuilding process of getting our game set up. My particular take on Starforged is much more populated and inspired by the core science fiction tropes in film & television (Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune, Alien, Blade Runner, etc.). That’s a lot to take in, but as we create our character and hone in on their particular goal, there will be a lot of elements in this universe that don’t immediately touch on the type of story I’m attempting to tell.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review – Ironsworn: Starforged Part One

Ironsworn: Starforged (Mophidius)
Written & Designed by Sean Tomkin
Art by Joshua Meehan, Jeff Zugale, and Sarah Dahlinger

You can purchase the game here

It’s no surprise that Starforged is a science fiction “version” of Sean Tomkin’s fantastic solo rpg system Ironsworn. But it’s much more than that. Mechanically, this is Tomkin taking his system further, tweaking things from Ironsworn but also improving it. As with Ironsworn, this can be played solo, co-op, or as a traditional GM-guided tabletop experience. If you thought Ironsworn was impressive with its many themed oracles, Starforged will blow you out of the water. Everything about this game evokes the tone of the science fiction genre and helps to immerse the player in a world of space exploration and encounters with alien entities. So far, this has been my favorite solo tabletop experience doing this series.

PopCult Podcast – Desperado/The Day of the Beast

One is the story of a mysterious man carrying guns in his guitar case & out for revenge. The other is the tale of a Spanish priest attempting to get into the Devil’s good graces on the night the Antichrist is to be born.

Book Update – March/April 2023

A Short Film About Disappointment by Joshua Mattson

Here’s the premise: Film critic Noah Body writes and uploads his reviews on a widely ignored content aggregator in the near future. He is a wannabe director who is forced to watch the worst movies knowing zero people are reading his work. Noah starts including details of his complicated & spite-filled personal life in these reviews. Through eighty movie reviews, we follow Body’s life and how it falls apart around him. That sounds really good, right? It’s a shame that this book is a nearly unreadable piece of crap. I loved the premise, but the final product was a brutal slog. One of the most significant issues is that the chapters aren’t movie reviews. The main character is not fun to read. I love having unreliable narrators or a challenging protagonist, but Body is just pretentious in a way that I derived no humor from. I checked on Goodreads, and this one has a lot of people listing it as DNF (Did Not Finish). I certainly felt like dropping it pretty early on. If I could give this review a title, it would be “A Long Book That Led to Disappointment.”