Watched and Read - January 11, 2026

 

Here’s what I watched and read last week…Lot’s of documentaries this week. 

 

 

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MOVIES

The Ice Storm (1997), directed by Ang Lee, is one of his best films. It’s a nuanced story with complex characters. I also highly recommend Rick Moody’s novel on which the film is based.

Dead Presidents (1995), directed by the Hughes Brothers, is an okay film. I appreciate the The Deer Hunter–inspired vibe they were aiming for. The Hughes Brothers have a great sense of style, which unfortunately is stronger than the story itself.

Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (2024), which aired on Nat Geo, is a wonderful and beautiful documentary. The cinematography is incredible, and it’s available on YouTube. Definitely worth checking out.

The World Beneath Your Feet (2018) is an excellent documentary that follows Matt Green, who set out to walk every street in New York City. Green, once a civil engineer, not only journeys through every street but also seems to know everything there is to know about the sites and places he encounters. I highly recommend it.

Secret Mall Apartment (2024) is a documentary about a group of artists who built an apartment in an unused space inside a mall in Providence, Rhode Island. The characters are a bit hard to identify with, but I really enjoyed watching how the apartment continued to grow over time.

Lily Topples the World (2021) is a very cool documentary about Lily Hevesh, a domino artist.

Carmine Street Guitars (2018) is a rocking good documentary about a shop that makes handmade guitars in Greenwich Village.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020) is a good documentary about meteorites that have impacted the Earth. I love that Werner Herzog preserves the quirks and oddities of the characters he and Clive Oppenheimer interview.

Sliding Doors (1998), directed by Peter Howitt, is a romantic comedy that depicts two alternate timelines in the life of Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow): one in which she catches the Tube home and one in which she doesn’t. It’s an interesting premise. I hadn’t seen the film in a long time and, for some reason, remembered it as more of a psychological thriller, so I was in for a surprise. Ultimately, I didn’t think the film worked as a whole, and the ending didn’t work for me at all.

Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off (2022) is a really good documentary directed by Sam Jones. I was shocked to learn that skateboarding declined in popularity in the early 1990s. And I couldn’t believe that Tony Hawk and his friends are still skating in their 50s!

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TV

Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Timescape,” Season Six. I’m doing research for my new novel, which involves time, and this episode has a bit of a Twilight Zone feel. Captain Picard discovers the Enterprise frozen in time while in battle with a Romulan warbird. It’s really cool how they resolve the story. Definitely one of Star Trek’s top episodes about time.

Besides that, I’ve watched all the shows I wanted to see! I’m now looking forward to All Creatures Great and Small.

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BOOKS

Insomnia (2022) by Sarah Pinborough is a good whodunit with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde–style storyline. It also makes effective use of the unreliable narrator.

Ronald D. Moore - The Bonding

I recently watched a Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) episode called "The Bonding," which was penned by Battlestar Galactica (2004 series) creator Ronald D. Moore. "The Bonding" was Moore's spec script he wrote in 1988. The history behind the script is that Moore was on tour of the Paramount studio where they filmed Star Trek. Moore showed the script to the show's creator Gene Roddenberry's assistant, who liked it and was able to get Moore an agent.

"The Bonding" eventually made its way to Michael Piller (who had been promoted to lead writer of the third season). Piller purchased the script and the episode aired during the show's third season on October 23, 1989. I believe that Moore's introduction into Star Trek not only helped the show's transformation, but is an example of fandom writing that finds its way into prime time TV. Moreover, "The Bonding" is an early example of what is now commonly referred to as the re-imagining of a previous TV show or movie.

Before Piller was promoted to lead writer, the original ST and the first two seasons of TNG were primarily "alien of the week" situations. Though many of the "alien of the week" scenarios were great episodes, TNG, arguably, had no clear identity. During the third season, however, the themes of the episodes gradually turned inward, developing deeper characterization to reflect the inner-selves of the crew of the Enterprise. During the third season would begin to form TNG's identity. "The Bonding" would play an important role in the series transformation. 

The episode centers on the story of a young boy named Jeremy Aster, who's mother (Lt. Marsah Aster) is unexpectedly killed on a scientific mission. Worf, who was apart of the mission, is upset about Marsha's death because it reminds him of the passing of his own parents. Jeremy and Worf come together through a Klingon ritual called the R'uustai - a bonding where the two become brothers.

In certain ways, "The Bonding" contains the ethos of fandom writing that media theorist Henry Jenkins describes (borrowing from Michel de Certeau) as textual poaching. Jenkins' study on fandom explores how fans are able to re-create and re-imagine their favorite story world. For example, fans can appropriate uncharted character traits by creating their own stories and filling in missing gaps.

One can think of textual poaching as readers who rent spaces, but never fixed in one location. But whereas de Certeau interprets poaching as a tacit and lone process of appropriation, Jenkins extends the concept of textual poaching into the world of fandom, where fans' expression is outwardly projected such as attending conferences or sharing information on the web. 

 

The story of "The Bonding" retains the integrity and history of the Star Trek series as well as re-imagining new ideas within that world. That is, Moore expands and renews the traits and identities of characters already established by previous ST writers while giving them more depth and complexity. For example, Moore creates a character arc for Worf by introducing the backstory of Worf''s father's honor who had been rejected by the Klingon's. A story that would further develop in the 4th and 5th season. Moreover, "The Bonding" contains themes that  Moore would fully explore in Battlestar Galactica such as honor, loyalty and solidarity. 

Battlestar Galactica is arguably one of the best re-imaging of a prior show of this past decade.  I believe Battlestar Galactica laid groundwork in terms of re-imagining a story world that both respects the intellect of the viewer as well as the story's origin. The new Star Trek movie and Batman series have already proved this to be.