We Leap In Peace For All Mankind: A Review of Quantum Leap – Atlantis

Theorizing that one could produce a show about time travel within a single character's lifetime, Donald Bellisario led an elite group of TV writers into the desert to develop a top secret television series, known as Quantum Leap, a show starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, where in each episode, Dr. Sam Beckett found himself leaping from life to life, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to put right what once went wrong, with his only guide on his journey being Rear Admiral Al Calavicci, an observer from the Project who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. After airing five seasons of temporal adventures and changing countless lives, the show vanished! Now, 30 years later, a new group of TV writers and producers are picking up where the original show left off, but the question for Quantum Leap fans remains, is this new show any good? Let's find out together! (Does a series of review articles really need a saga sell? Well, if we had one for every episode of the show, I'm gonna put one for every review!)

As with last week and going into the future, Spoilers Ahead!

Well, it was better than the first one, right? I kid, we'll get into the nitty gritty of my feelings for this episode, and full disclosure, I am writing this after having seen the third episode because I was under the weather last week, but things are definitely heading in the right direction. The original show, for all my love, had a rough start too, and it boggles the mind that they chose such a heavy character-based theme for their second episode after their pilot, whereas this episode here is a much more action-oriented story, which is both good and bad. But let's start with a brief recap of the episode.

Ben in SPAAACE: Ben Song (Raymond Lee) & Addison Augustine (Caitlin Bassett) on the hull of the Space Shuttle Atlantis

This episode finds Ben leaping into the body (yes, in this show he occupies their body, the original show had them swap places, we don't have time to unpack that, they chose to get rid of the Waiting Room concept in this one which I personally disagree with) of astronaut David Tamara, who is part of an important mission to set up the, I hesitate to say groundwork, for the International Space Station. But the mission turns deadly because a debris storm will claim David's life unless Ben can prevent it. And back at the Project, Magic and Jenn are hot on the trail of Janis Calavicci while Addison and Ian debate whether or not they should give a flash drive recovered in Ben and Addison's apartment to the Project. It's a lot to work on in one episode, but it serves a purpose to show that everyone is reeling from Ben's absence and that he was the great uniter, able to get them all working to a common goal, a skill Ben brings to the Space Shuttle.

The Atlantis Crew L-R: Samantha Stratton (Carly Pope), Ben Song (Raymond Lee), Jim Reynolds (José Zúñiga), Max (Leith M. Burke)

When the promo images for the episode came out, I was punching the air because of the name of one of Daniel's fellow astronauts, Samantha Stratton. To a new fan, that name means nothing, and it probably means nothing to casual fans, but to me, it means a lot. In “Genesis”, aka the episode I talked about ad-nauseum in the last review, comparing it, you may remember that Sam leapt into Captain Tom Stratton. In that episode, he not only completed Tom's test, but also helped delay Tom's wife Peggy from going into premature labor and saving the life of their unborn daughter, who Peggy names Samantha, in honor of Sam, who had mentioned his own name while still amnesiac earlier in the episode. It stands to reason that the daughter of a test pilot would end up going to space, but there's an interesting wrinkle. They never mention that, not back at the Project, Samantha doesn't bring up her father flying the X-2, which is strange, because the name isn't one that they picked out of a hat. They chose that name on purpose. Were the scenes cut for time? Or does this indicate that the omission was intentional and may relate to the season-long arc, whatever it ends up being? These are the things that keep me up at night folks.

Beth Calavicci (Susan Diol)

But the second promo image that made me absolutely shit a brick was seeing that Susan Diol would be reprising her role as Beth Calavicci. Now, Diol was not a long-time cast member of the show, in fact she only appeared in one episode as a main character and one episode, the finale, in a cameo role at the very end, but with Dean Stockwell no longer with us, her presence is very important. She's the closest that we've got to having Al's presence on the show. It not only shows that the show cares about the legacy of the show, but that they're trying to bring the Janis plot into the fold with familiar elements to ground it, such as Beth. And she hasn't missed a beat, although I wish her role was larger, it was just fantastic to see her again and her talking about Al brought a tear to my eye. But maybe we'll see more of her in the future?

Janis Calavicci (Georgina Reilly)

As for the Janis plot, I'm warming onto it, if only because it seems that Janis isn't so much an antagonist, but more of a deuteragonist, even if her methods are the same as every stock hacker villain in every show with her blowing up her server room to prevent Magic and Jenn from recovering information. If Al was around, I think he'd agree with me that she's being quite the nozzle! But what we learned in this episode were interesting and I hope that seeing more of her next week will help reinforce her character's arc in a clearer way.

The Quantum Leap Project Team At Odds: Magic (Ernie Hudson), Jenn (Nanrisa Lee), Ian (Mason Alexander Park), Addison (Caitlin Bassett)

It was also interesting to see the team at odds without Ben around to unite them, they're all stressed and on edge, and they have different goals, particularly Addison, who is worried for Ben, but Magic and Jenn objectively realize that Ben had goals that were quite different than everyone else's and maybe should be kept in the dark. It's good that they decide to give him the benefit of the doubt and give Addison a chance to get the information from Ben as time goes on, though.

But what did I think of the episode as a whole? Well, I'm still not sold on the 50/50 split on Project vs Leap. The crux of the show, at least for me, is the leap, seeing Sam (and now Ben) back in the past, experiencing the life of someone else and fixing it. Marinating in that life, spending days or even weeks there as he tries to solve the problem. This episode is very action-oriented, as was the first episode, and it feels like we keep jumping back to the Project instead of spending time on the leap itself. I wanna see Ben and Addison solving problems in the past, I wanna see Addison whacking the handlink, I want to see Ben relating to people. And we got a little bit of that, but I want more of it, and I want the end of the episode to feel earned. This felt like a lot of standing around talking and then suddenly action! Hopefully this is just growing pains, though. The pacing is still problematic, but again, growing pains?

We didn't get much on Addison, but we did get some info about Ben, which helps because not even Ben himself knows who he is. We hear about Ben's personality from Jenn, who informs us that Ben was the glue for the project, which is a great thing to learn and then Ben uses that skill to bring the astronauts together and even turns Samantha Stratton in for a reckless plan, not as a snitch, but to convince the others to work together. Stratton will do what she wants anyway, at least this way we're all in this together. It's a neat dynamic and it's something that Sam might have done.

The time period was once again something that could have taken place in any time period, particularly because it was an episode that didn't take place on Earth, the only real plot point hinging on the time period was the reasoning for the mission and the placement of Mir. But at least the visuals were more interesting because we were IN SPAAACE! Honestly, a lot of the visuals felt like a budget version of “For All Mankind” a prestige streaming show that I absolutely adore, so that was a big plus.

I'm trying not to theorize so much, since they'll never make the show the way I imagine it, but I have hopes that we'll see more lore as we go forward. Gummy bear handlink, that's all I ask, Martin Gero! But in all seriousness, I hope that we'll figure out more of why the original Project was shuttered and why they decided to bring it back online so many years later. I also hope that, with Deborah Pratt around as a producer, that we get to hear Ziggy properly interacting with Ian, Jenn, Addison and Magic back at the Project. If there's one thing this show needs, it's a hybrid computer with the ego of Barbara Streisand.

Overall, I enjoyed this week's episode, even if it wasn't quite what I'd expected it to be, and I have high hopes for the next one, because in Quantum Leap tradition, the third episode is taking us back to the 1970's for a bout in the boxing ring, which is what Sam did back in his third episode, so if that episode is any indication, we're in for a treat. See you next time!

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments!

Putting Right What Once Went Wrong: A Review of Quantum Leap - July 13th, 1985

Theorizing that one could produce a show about time travel within a single character's lifetime, Donald Bellisario led an elite group of TV writers into the desert to develop a top secret television series, known as Quantum Leap, a show starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, where in each episode, Dr. Sam Beckett found himself leaping from life to life, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to put right what once went wrong, with his only guide on his journey being Rear Admiral Al Calavicci, an observer from the Project who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. After airing five seasons of temporal adventures and changing countless lives, the show vanished! Now, 30 years later, a new group of TV writers and producers are picking up where the original show left off, but the question for Quantum Leap fans remains, is this new show any good? Let's find out together!

First off, there will be spoilers ahead, so go check out the episode, it aired on NBC on September 19th and should be streaming on Peacock as you read this, so watch that and come back here.

It's weird to see things like newsstands and turntables be considered part of “history”, right?

Did you watch it? Great! Let's begin. First off, I want to say that I definitely enjoyed the episode. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but I've been a fan of Quantum Leap for about eleven years at this point, so having it return, in any form, makes me extremely happy. And unlike Star Trek and its return, the network is giving it a chance to make it on broadcast TV instead of relegating it to an exclusive streaming service. Which is already a plus for me! So, I'll start by giving a brief recap of the plot in the event you're reading this and haven't seen it.

Project Quantum Leap has been revived and Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) is one of the leads working on the Project, alongside his fiancee, Addison (Caitlin Bassett), Ian (Mason Alexander Park) the lead programmer, Jenn (Nanrisa Lee) the head of security of the Project, and Herbert “Magic” Williams (Ernie Hudson) the head of the Project and a former leapee, with Sam having leapt into “Magic” back in Season 3's “The Leap Home” aka the one where Sam saved his brother from dying in Vietnam. During their engagement party, Ben gets a message from a mysterious figure who tells him that they have a brief window to work with and like Sam before him, Ben Song steps into the Quantum Leap Accelerator and vanishes. He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that are not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. This time around, Addison is the hologram and Ben is in Philadelphia in the eighties, working as an undercover cop on a jewel heist to steal the Hope Diamond, needing to save one of the members of the crew, only in it to get money to pay for his wife's medical treatment, from being killed.

The cast from L to R: Herbert “Magic” Williams, Jenn, Ian, Addison Augustine

As a pilot episode, they picked a very safe leap. Apparently the original pilot featured the San Francisco Earthquake, but the network ordered a new pilot and this is the one that they went with. A jewel heist isn't the most unique premise, and it's something that could have been slotted down into any time period, whereas the best leaps on the original show were dealing with situations that could only happen in that specific era, such as episodes dealing with racism in the pre-Civil Rights south, or when he leaped into Lee Harvey Oswald, which naturally can only happen in and around the Kennedy assassination. And the eighties, as a decade, unfortunately isn't very visually distinctive. Yes, there is an eighties that looks cool, the neon eighties, but in the original show, any time that Sam leaped into the eighties, it was used as a backdrop for a more interesting premise, like “Temptation Eyes: February 1, 1985” where Sam encountered a woman with psychic abilities who could perceive Sam as himself as opposed to the leapee, all the while Sam was supposed to figure out how to prevent her from becoming the next victim of a serial killer. A jewel heist is not nearly as interesting, even in the eighties, and that brings me to my next point.

The episode moves at a breakneck speed. We meet Ben and Addison and then Ben leaps and then Ben is tossed right into it, and he has to drive the car and then he has to deal with the crew and all that other stuff. In comparison, “Genesis: Part 1 – September 13, 1956” has the episode open with Al finding out that Sam is leaping, we get the visual shorthand for time travel and then Sam spends about ten minutes of the episode dealing with having total amnesia and a different reflection and then Al shows up for the first time, but Al doesn't talk to Sam for another ten minutes and Sam has to figure things out on his own, fumble around without direction. Not to mention that Al can't tell Sam anything about the future or himself because the rules of the Project prohibit giving information to the leaper that they don't already know. I'm not against the concept of those rules being loosened, but to just dump everything onto Ben in that short amount of time, it's just unrealistic that he accepts everything as fast as he does. There was a lot of time to breathe in the original pilot episode so that the viewer could adapt to the premise, but I suppose the network didn't want viewers to be confused during that first commercial break so they insisted on dumping everything out in the first ten minutes, not to mention the fact that the episode was shorter than a standard episode, I watched it on TV and it ended at like 10:55, early enough for them to play an extended season trailer at the end, so the episode was already shorter than it should've been, usually a show ends closer to the :58 mark if it's an hour-long show, it should've been a two-parter to allow for breathing room, and then they should have at least been full parts.

Pacing issues aside, I really like all of the characters. Ben and Addison are both really interesting thus far, and Ben especially, given that he has reasons to leap that neither he nor Addison know about at this time (because of the Swiss Cheese memory effect). It was a little weird, because we didn't really get to know the real Sam before he leaped, but we got to see the real Ben for a little bit and it seems at odds with the charming, dashing, knocking out bad guys Ben that was on the leap. Was that part of the host bleeding through or does Ben have layers that we don't know about? I'm excited to find out! And as for Addison, we don't know that much about her yet, apart from the fact that she loves Ben and will do whatever it takes to bring him home. I'm hoping we'll see more of her character as the show progresses.

The original Quantum Leap had some interesting characters back at the Project, but they never really got a chance to shine, most only showing up once or twice. I think Gooshie was the only one who appeared more than once, but the new show seems to be intending to split the focus 50/50 on both Ben and his leaps and the Project, which I like, because one of my favorite parts of Quantum Leap fanfic and the tie-in novels were parts that included asides to back at the Project with Donna, Tina, Gooshie and Dr. Beeks, so I'm curious to see where things will go. I'm also curious to see how things will go specifically with Magic, considering that he's the first character we've met thus far who has a tangible connection with both the Becketts (having been a member of Tom Beckett's platoon in Vietnam) and with the Project, since Sam had leaped into Magic, so he may possibly have residual memories of being in the Waiting Room. We also get an interesting twist in the episode, learning that the mysterious figure who triggered Ben's leap was none other than Janice Calavicci, aka the daughter of Al, whose actor Dean Stockwell passed away last year (the episode was also dedicated to him), which was a nice touch they didn't need to add, but I appreciate that they're trying their best to make this a true continuation, featuring connections to the original, but not just re-doing the same show, if the pictures we saw of Sam and Al during the episode are any indication. (Plus I've seen some promo images from next week's episode that further that idea, with a character on the leap and a character back at the Project both having a connection to the original show.)

Our new Quantum Leaper, Ben Song! Huh, a time traveling Dr. Song, where have I heard that before?

And now for the pedantic Quantum Leap fan nitpicking! My first one is that there's no time dilation at the Project. Addison tells Ben that it took them a few hours to locate him, which I found hilarious that she was so concerned, the original Project routinely lost Sam for days and weeks on end, where Sam's leaps were instantaneous to him, the Project suffered from time dilation. That's a minor point, but it was interesting to note. The second one is that everything looks too sleek and modern at the Project. I know that the original show was made in the nineties and that was just how it was back then, if Star Trek was any indication, but I miss the gummy bear control panels and Ziggy being a blue orb. I did however like the redesign of the accelerator chamber, that looked dope. And the third is that they did a way with the concept of the Waiting Room. For the uninitiated, the Waiting Room was the place where Sam's hosts went in between the leaps, since Sam was replacing them with only their aura causing him to appear to be the host to the people around them. The new show is taking the approach that Ben and his host are occupying the same space at the same time, something about the law of quantum superposition or something. I might be in the minority, but I liked the Waiting Room and thought it opened up unique opportunities for the show, particularly if this new one intends to spend a lot of time back at the Project. However, I'm not going to say that it doesn't fit into the canon or anything, it's clear that this is a new Project Quantum Leap based on the old one (since it takes place in L.A. and not the New Mexico desert), so it's not out of the realm of possibility that they changed the method by which the leaper interacts with the past.

But apart from those nitpicks, I really liked the episode and am definitely looking forward to seeing more of the show as the season goes on. And I certainly hope that it will run for at least as long as it's predecessor, but hopefully longer. At least long enough for them to wrangle a certain former Starfleet captain to make an appearance. (I'm holding out for the cliffhanger Season 1 finale being Ben running into Sam and triggering the biggest “Oh boy” in the show's history)

I Am Not A Theater Critic: Mr. Saturday Night Review

I am not a theater critic. Among the many hats that I wear, book reviewer, movie reviewer, bookseller, guy on the internet who talks about his dog too much, theater critic is not one of them. And there's a reason for that, I don't really see shows all that often. I think I can count the shows I've seen on one hand unless you count the Spider-Man, Scooby-Doo, and Barney the Dinosaur live shows at Radio City Music Hall. The reasoning is mainly the price, despite living in New York City, going to a Broadway show is reserved for a special occasion and usually I only get to go if the tickets were won in a contest or as a gift. I bring this up because for my birthday this year, my parents got tickets for my brother and me to go see Mr. Saturday Night at the Nederlander Theatre.
Let's get this out of the way first, Billy Crystal's still got it! It makes me wonder why the Academy Awards hasn't had him back in over a decade to host when he's still got both the timing and physical ability required to host the show, and considering he's only hosted nine times, having him back one final time to make an even ten hosting gigs seems like a no-brainer to me. Besides, how else am I going to hear funny songs about the Best Picture nominees set to old lounge singer standards?

Watch this and tell me you aren't charmed, I dare you!

But back to the show, I admit, despite being a huge fan of Billy Crystal since I was a kid, I haven't seen all of his movies, which means that before seeing the show, all I knew about Mr. Saturday Night was what I remembered from listening to the audiobook for “Still Foolin' 'Em”. It's not for lack of trying, it's just never been on any streaming service I own and I sort of wait for movies I wanna watch to come included. So I was going into this knowing that it was about an aging comedian and that was basically it, which I think might have been a good thing.

I won't spoil too much, but the premise of Mr. Saturday Night: The Musical is that Buddy Young Jr. (Billy Crystal), an aging comedian deals with the trials and tribulations of his waning comedy career, when he gets a unique opportunity to return to the limelight, but has to grapple with self-sabotage, lack of support from uncaring showbiz bigwigs and his fractured relationship with his daughter Susan (Shoshana Bean). The musical features a lot of names that I had heard of, or who had appeared in things I'd seen, Buddy's wife Elaine is played by Randy Graff who originated the Broadway role of Fantine in Les Miserables in 1987, Buddy's brother Stan is played by David Paymer, who played the same role in the 1992 film, which is an inspired piece of casting, and two of the actors in it, in addition to other credits, both appeared in recurring roles on the CBS Sherlock Holmes adaptation Elementary, Chasten Harmon who plays Annie Wells, Buddy's new agent (a role originally played by Helen Hunt in the film) and Jordan Gelber, who plays several roles across the show. Gelber also originated the role of Brian in Avenue Q which I always forget about because I saw him on Elementary before I ever saw Avenue Q.

Going into the show I knew that it was going like it, because I've never disliked any Billy Crystal project, and I absolutely adored it. The story was fantastic, touching and heartfelt in all the right places, I particularly love that it's very family-oriented, particularly the relationship between Buddy and Stan, and the music was phenomenal. So much so that I've been listening to the soundtrack nonstop since I saw the show back in July. And with the show only running until September 4th, (which has passed since I started writing this review) it might be the only way for most to experience it, which I highly recommend, because the music is great, I particularly like “A Little Joy”, “Timing”, “Unbelievable”, and “Stick Around”, but every song is a gem.

The entire soundtrack for your listening pleasure

Since seeing the show, I have now watched the original film and you know what? It makes me appreciate the musical even more. The original film performed poorly at the box office despite it being a great film, in my humble opinion, and I think the musical learned a few lessons from that experience. The musical and the movie end the same way, mostly, with Buddy reconciling with Susan, but because the musical puts more work into Susan's character, it resonates a lot more. And Buddy's acerbic tendencies play a lot better on stage than they do in the movie for some reason that I can't put my finger on. I still enjoyed the film, but I think I'm glad I saw the musical first, because I would've just been comparing it the whole time, whereas I had the reverse happen, but I'm able to appreciate the changes more.

If I had one critique, it's that they don't really pay off anything for Stan, Buddy's brother, in regards to the fact that they establish that Stan had originally asked out Elaine, Buddy's future wife, hours before she met Buddy, and she fell in love with Buddy instead. They mention it once in passing where Elaine off-handedly jokes to Stan that it was almost them together, but apart from that, it seems a strange plot element to include that sort of goes nowhere. In the original film, Stan is shown to have a crush on her from afar, but when Buddy sends Stan to bring Elaine backstage so that Buddy can meet her, she's obviously already interested in Buddy and Buddy alone, so any unresolved feelings are entirely on Stan's side, while Elaine in the musical had the experience of meeting Stan before seeing Buddy perform which was a strange addition to me.
The in-theater experience was also very interesting, like I said, I haven't been to many shows but this one felt very different, which I imagine is because it was Billy Crystal, who is a stand-up comedian before anything. Everyone clapped in between songs, which I thought was not the proper way to act at a show, but evidently it was different for this show, but the actors seemed okay with it, so I guess it was what they wanted. After all, a huge part of the show is that Buddy interacts with the audience during “Buddy's First Act” to do what he calls “Yiddish scat-singing” which would fall flat if the audience wasn't providing the “Oys” and “Veys”.

What's the difference between jazz scat singing and Yiddish scat singing? Flem!

My brother and I were also among the youngest people in the audience, the entire theater had a faint smell of ointment. (I kid, I kid) Which isn't surprising, because of course, Billy Crystal is an older comedian, but I think there's something for everyone in this show, particularly if you enjoy Billy Crystal's unique brand of comedy. Of course, you can't go see the show anymore because it's no longer playing, but I definitely recommend checking out the soundtrack and hopefully we'll see some sort of full release of the show in full so that everyone can experience this wonderful show. I don't think I'm the type of person to do ratings, but I'd give it five out of five stars and two thumbs up.

Michael's Summer Reading Recommendations!

I know that summer is already practically half over but if you’re looking for some fun summer reads to enjoy while relaxing on the beach or sitting by the pool look no further than some of my personal recommendations! Just be forewarned that these aren't going to be your typical recommendations, they're recommendations based on books that I've read, so expect some fun stuff.

First off, I recommend “The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”. Why read just the first book when you can read the entire trilogy in five parts? “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” is a wholly remarkable series and if you’re a fan of sci-fi and British comedy, particularly the style of Monty Python then look no further than Douglas Adams's epic that is one of my favorite sci-fi series of all time for very good reason. has options in the event that you would The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy is a wholly remarkable series and if you’re a fan of sci-fi British comedy particularly the style of Monty Python then look no further than Douglas Adams is epic that is one of my favorite sci-fi series of all time for very good reason. Plus it also has options in the event that you would rather listen instead of reading, as there are multiple audiobooks and radio dramas, the latter of which feature a stellar cast whose voices are the definitive versions of the characters for many.

Next up is “Norwegian Wood” by Haruki Murakami, which is a fascinating read, and one unlike my typical cup of tea. I read this book because, working at a bookstore, I saw the book an awful lot and a few of my co-workers read it, so I decided to give it a shot and I ended up really enjoying it. Although I found the book to also be conflicting, as while it's written extremely well, the main character isn't exactly a compelling protagonist and I found him to be a slightly more likable version of Holden Caulfield, so in my opinion, it's an interesting counterpoint to “A Catcher in the Rye” but set in 1960's Japan.

“How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America” is a mouthful of a title but a really interesting book. I picked it up for secret reasons, (I may or may not want to write a mystery) but I found it really cool, not only did it detail things that I had no reason to have interest in that I found fascinating anyway, but it also has a lot of recommendations for other mysteries in it that I also used to find some summer reads for myself, that I can't recommend here because I haven't finished them yet. Both as a writer and as a reader I definitely think it's worth a read.

“Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel may not seem like the type of book well-suited for our current climate, believe me, I had the same opinion once I realize what the book was about, but considering that it was a near-constant sight at the cash register during the holiday season this past December, I gave it a shot anyway and was blown away at how brilliant it was. I don't want to give away too much, since that would be cheating, but trust me, it's a fantastic novel with interesting characters, even if the recent television adaptation left me rather unimpressed.

I may not seem it, but I'm something of a scientist myself, or at least someone interested in science from a layman's perspective, so “Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feyman” by Richard Feynman was right my up my alley, even if I read it solely based on a recommendation from an actor who recommended it in his memoir. I’ve been fascinated by science, particularly physics and astronomy from a young age but unfortunately I don’t quite have the mental fortitude to turn it into a career, hence why I am a writer but I do have an appreciation for the sciences and for the scientists that do the science. And so I found Richard Feynman's account of his life to be absolutely transfixing and I particularly enjoy his anecdotes about his learning of science in his early childhood. As both a scientist, and as a person, Feynman is super interesting, and this book is a good showing of that. The stories he relates are both funny when he goes into his non-scientific interests, but also gets heavy when he talks about his work on the Manhattan Project. There's some questionable dated stuff but it doesn't diminish the quality of the book.

This one is more of a personal choice, but while there have been many books about the filmmaking process and many about the making of particular films, “Fade In” by Michael Piller is probably my favorite. Written by one of the men who helped shape an entire era of Star Trek before his tragic passing, it details the process of making the 1997 film, Star Trek: Insurrection from conception to release and it's a fascinating look not only into the writing process (which is fascinating to me as a screenwriter) but also into just how much a movie changes between inception and it's premiere in theaters. If you're an aspiring filmmaker, definitely check this one out, even if you're not a Star Trek fan, I think the insight into Hollywood filmmaking when you're working for a major franchise is worth the read.

Another good read is “Console Wars” by Blake J. Harris, which details Tom Kalinske's time at Sega of America and how he contributed to making Sega the powerhouse that it was during the 16-bit era. The first time I tried reading it, I got bored, but when I went for a second time, I was enraptured. It felt cinematic like watching a biopic (which released back in 2020 and I have still yet to check out). If you're into video games or at least vaguely know about the Nintendo/Sega rivalry, you'll enjoy it. My only critique is that it ends when Kalinske leaves Sega, so it doesn't detail the downfall of Sega in the console market which I think would be an interesting read as well.

I'm a big fan of licensed tie-in material, which I know is like the bottom of the barrel to people who only read “real books” but tie-in material is such a rich and diverse landscape to show stories featuring characters usually only depicted onscreen in scenarios that can only be shown in the cinema of your mind. And to that end, “Heir to the Empire”, the book that kickstarted the Star Wars Expanded Universe is a great read. I read it back in December 2019 after “The Rise of Skywalker” came out and I absolutely loved it. I read both it and its sequel in a matter of weeks. I don't care if they're not canon anymore because they're still fun reads that give insight into what the canon was like back then, and I particularly enjoy the prototypical versions of things that were eventually set in stone by the Prequel Trilogy. If you're a Star Wars fan who hasn't read it, you've really gotta cause it's a classic. And if you're curious about the Expanded Universe, check out this video on it that I adore: https://vimeo.com/260024110

So go forth and enjoy some of my picks, and let me know in the comments if you do and what you think of them!

What's In A Name?

For those of you who know me in real life, you may be wondering about the web address of this website. Well, not about the “writer” part, I think you're all smart enough to figure out why I put that in there, I'm referring to the fact that it features my middle initial, and that's for a few reasons. The first of which is that I just like my middle initial, but it goes a bit further than that.

For my entire life, I've never been unique, at least in naming. The first name Michael (Origin: Hebrew, Meaning: “who is like God?”) was the most popular baby name from the year 1954 until the year 1998, save for 1960 when David strangely supplanted it for a year, so for my entire life, there were always other Michaels in my life. For starters, there were three other Michaels in my own family, my paternal great grandfather, Michael Joseph, his son, my paternal great uncle Michael Joseph, and his son, also named Michael Joseph. And then when I was in school, there were never less than at least two Michaels in every class I was ever in, forcing us both to go by our first name and our last initial, making me “Michael G”, and on one rare occasion, “Michael Gl” when there was another Michael G in the class whose last name happened to come earlier in the alphabet. This also failed when I had a class in high school with five other Michaels, but four of them had it worse than I did because I got to be “Michael G” but they had to be numbered because they were all named “Michael Chen”. In a way, I never had my own identity, I was always one of many. I can't tell you how many times I had someone tell me in high school that they'd tried to get my attention but I ignored them, it wasn't malicious, I swear, it was because when I hear my name being shouted I just assume that they want someone else. Heck, even today if I hear my name called on the street I have to resist the urge to turn around because it's usually a mother yelling at her child and not intended for me. You ever see those personalized license plates in gift shops at places like Disney World? I always had a lot of trouble getting a hold of those, not because my name is so uncommon that they don't warrant getting a plate, but because there are so many Michaels, the shops couldn't keep up with the demand and they were always out, and if they weren't, the name was misspelled “Micheal”. In fact, it even persisted into my current job, where there happened to be another Michael working there long before I started, and thus if anyone needed my attention, they had to ask for “Michael G”, otherwise there would be a lot of confusion. However, he recently left for greener pastures, thus I have become the “Alpha Michael” and now any new Michael will be forced to go by his initial to differentiate himself from me! Victory is mine!

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, the second reason that I've decided to go by my middle initial professionally, it's also because my name is so common that not only are there 412 people with my name in the United States because I'm not even the only Michael Gleason who wants to write for TV and movies! That Michael Gleason was born in 1938 and was a writer and producer for such shows as Peyton Place, McCloud, and the co-creator of the hit series Remington Steele, perhaps best known today as being the first big break for actor Pierce Brosnan, future James Bond. Now, we've never met and we'll never get the chance since he passed away eight years ago. My reasoning for adding the initial, even if I'm far from the only other Michael J. Gleason who wants to go into the entertainment industry is that at least it distinguishes me from the wildly successful Michael Gleason whose success I'll probably never manage to match. I could always change my name or adopt a nom-de-plume, but the issue with that is that I actually really like my name and don't have any name I'd rather go by, so unless I want to do some writing that I don't want to be connected with my name (which is unlikely, I have no shame and will make you read anything that comes to my mind no matter how dumb) I'll need to use that middle initial in order to make sure that I stand out somewhat from the sea of other Michaels.

Except at work though, the Alpha Michael prevails again!

Birthday Blues?

Over time I've had a strange relationship with my birthday, when I was a kid, I was always excited for it, partly because it always coincided with the end of the school year, the last day of school either being the day before or day after my birthday (I always preferred it when it was the day before) but once I turned eighteen I started dreading my birthday. Not because I feared getting older, no, I'm fine with being another year older (and wiser) but I'm not okay with getting older and feeling that I haven't done anything with my life. As my friends from high school started getting married and starting careers, I was still living at home, working a part time job that I hated and producing YouTube videos in my spare time. Not to disparage the YouTube videos, I love making them, but when all I've got to show at twenty-five is a mediocre YouTube channel and no social life, it can be pretty demoralizing.

On my twenty-fifth birthday, I sat in the outdoor dining area of a very nice seafood restaurant, surrounded by my immediate family, and while I enjoyed the meal, I couldn't shake this feeling of dread. Still in the midst of a global pandemic, it seemed as if every job application I sent in for jobs in the film industry (the field that I'd spent four and a half years studying) was ignored or outright rejected, unemployment was almost over and I had nothing to show for spending a year and some change at home. All those writing projects I intended to finish, left unfinished, I was spotty when it came to making videos because of said pandemic, I hadn't seen any of my friends in ages, I drifted apart from most of them throughout high school and college and my closest friend's life keeps him too busy for us to hang out like we used to, all I did every day was exist. And sometimes that's enough, but not when I was turning the same age that my mother was when she married my father, a year before she gave birth to me. My mother was on the cusp of starting a new chapter in her life when she was my age and I was stuck in the mud waiting for a future that may never arrive. And I absolutely hated it.

Contrast that with today, as I sat at a table in a rather nice hibachi restaurant, again surrounded by my immediate family, again enjoying my meal, I finally felt content. What a difference a year could make, I may not have made any further progress on the writing projects and video production is still rather difficult, but I have different reasons for it, reasons that I like a lot more. In November of last year, I started a job as a bookseller for a corporate bookstore that you've probably heard of (but I don't know if I'm allowed to name and I don't want to risk losing that job by naming it) and my life has changed for the better. I've gotten a lot better at interacting with people (having lost the few people skills I had honed over the years during quarantine) and have a lot more friends, sure they're also my co-workers, but I enjoy spending time with them at work and it makes the job, which is already great, even better. I love helping customers find books, I love shelving them, and even the parts of the job that I'm not as fond of can't lessen my enthusiasm for working there. I used to leave the house for my previous job dreading having to walk into that office, but I always leave the house with a smile on my face and a spring in my step now, even if the temperatures have been below zero or nearing a hundred degrees. (And this is measured in Fahrenheit because I'm a filthy American)

I don't know where I'm meant to be in life in five years, or a decade on, will I still be at the bookstore, will I be a famous filmmaker, but I know that where I am right now, at this moment, is exactly where I'm meant to be. Maybe I'm not in the field that I want to be in, but I'm in a far better position to pursue my artistic goals when I have the security of a job that I enjoy and doesn't diminish my creative energies. Plus, with this business having locations across the country, I have the latitude to move to a new location, such as Los Angeles if the winds blow me in that direction, after all, half the entertainment industry is here in New York and the other half is across the country. Ultimately, it feels fantastic and freeing to know that I'm in a place that both values my talents and provides me with a measure of joy every day. It's true what they say, love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life. Hopefully this feeling will endure and I'll no longer have to dread my birthday because I think I'm gonna have a lot more to show for myself in the years to come. Happy Birthday to me!

Hello World!

Hello there, everyone, and welcome to my blog! As a writer you probably assumed that I already had a blog, well, in fact, I’ve had several over the years, ever since I was twelve, but I never managed to keep up with them because frankly, I never thought my life was all that interesting. But I recently had the kick in the pants I needed to want to start breaking into the writing business and the first step in doing that is to write, and while I’m not working on any screenplays at the moment (I was a film major in college, didn’t you know?) I am working on some short prose stories that I’d like to share and I might share insights on my writing process or just what I did this week in my free time. Or maybe I’ll share secret work stories from the major corporate bookstore that I work for who I don’t think I’m allowed to name. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for right now, and it’s back to trying to figure out how this site building stuff works so that you can actually read my blog posts.

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Michael J. Gleason