WormholeRiders News Agency

Category: Fallout

The Last Of Us Lauded – Superb Series Sweeps The World!
Hello Dystopian Drama Lovers,

Image courtesy HBO

The Last of Us series on HBO represents a masterpiece of conversion from video game to a scripted series that superbly brings the action of the game to viewers who may have never played the game. Our grade for the first two seasons is a solid A+ for converting game play action, drama, and sheer excitement to a superb science fiction series!

Created by Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, the HBO series is based on is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Entertainment for the Playstation gaming console. The Last of Us Part One sold over twenty million units on the Sony Playstation platform and more when the game was ported to the Windows 10 platform in 2023. Despite relatively poor sales on the Windows platform (the game was never allowed by Sony to be on the X-Box). With the release of The Last of Us Part Two game, a total of over thirty seven million units have been sold to date for the Playstation.

Image courtesy Sony Playstation

In the game Players control a primary character named Joel, an individual escorting a teenage girl named Ellie exactly like the series. Through the post-apocalyptic landscape of the United States that is devastated by a mutated fungus turning its victims into grotesque creatures from a real life fungal virus known as Cordyceps that mutates from an insect disease jumping to infect human hosts.

Season one cast courtesy HBO by Rodin Eckenroth of WireImage

The conversion of The Last of Us (TLOU) to a streaming series is an ongoing effort of bringing popular video games to streaming series and movies. Tracing gaming roots to computer video game success as in the 1990’s, two examples are Wing Commander (1999) and Doom (2005) both were released as movies subsequent to computer video game mania in the last decade of the twentieth century. Joined by Silo on Apple TV in 2023 based upon a trilogy of books, and Fallout on Prime Video in 2024 based on the wildly popular video game. TLOU represents a trend for streaming series enjoyed by the general public worldwide.

Image courtesy HBO

Originally, WormholeRiders News Agency watched season one of TLOU because it featured two celebrities that we have admired for many years, Anna Torv as Theresa ‘Tess’ Servopoulos and Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller. We soon enjoyed the entire main cast of Bella Ramsey as Ellie Williams, Gabriel Luna as Tommy Miller, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Rutina Wesley as Maria Miller, Catherine O’Hara as Gail Lynden, Kaitlyn Dever as Abby Anderson, Maurice Dean Wint as a cult priest, Kendra Anderson as The Priestess, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen Coghlan, Lamar Johnson as Henry Burrell, Storm Reid as Riley Abel, and Jeffrey Wright as Issac Dixon, leader of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF). Additionally, both seasons feature a fine supporting cast, crews and creators across the first two season’s story arc.
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Season one of TLOU chronicles the journey of Ellie and Joel twenty years after the viral outbreak as they struggle to survive the Cordyceps infection that has decimated the world. Traveling from the ruins of Boston, then Kansas City, Joel is seeking his brother Tommy while protecting Ellie during their journey. Along the way viewers learned that Ellie is immune to the disease which leads to her being captured by a group of survivors known as Fireflies.

During the ending of TLOU season 1, Joel chooses to save Ellie from a Salt Lake City hospital where she is being held captive. Here the doctor, Abby’s father we learn later, planned to perform surgery on Ellie that would have killed her in order to create a cure for the Cordyceps infection sweeping the world. Joel kills everyone in the hospital to save Ellie who was unconscious during the massacre.

Image courtesy HBO

Unfortunately, Joel lies to Ellie about what happened at the Salt Lake City hospital, claiming that the Fireflies, a revolutionary militia group in the series that opposes the authoritarian government organization known as FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency) stopped looking for a cure. FEDRA a takeoff on the real world FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).

After Joel tells Ellie after her rescue from the Fireflies that they had stopped looking for a cure, they leave Salt Lake City. This development sets up a destructive dynamic in the relationship between Ellie and Joel that will erupt with catastrophic consequences in season two.
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The Last Of Us Season Two:

Image courtesy HBO

The second successful season is based on the characters from season one with some changes to game character actions. However, the series emotional intimacy, the consequences of human moral ambiguity and life in a post-apocalyptic society are the foundation making TLOU an enjoyably, intense story.

Season two begins with episode one “Future Days” where we find the TLOU survivors five years later living near Jackson Hole Wyoming. Here the epidemic survivors have been able to effectively barricade the city of Jackson living somewhat normal lives amid the dystopian chaos. Here we find Joel’s brother, Tommy, as a member of the Jackson council. The mostly happy survivors not infected by the Cordyceps virus who have scavenged food supplies including copious amounts of whiskey and wine from the surrounding communities that lubricates their life in the city.
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Referred to generally as the city of Jackson in the series, the inhabitants have created a mostly pleasant community replete with electricity, hunting, farming and family developments. The Jackson city council trains and deploys Jackson citizens to patrol the surrounding environment searching for other survivors as well killing any as infected Cordyceps victims that threaten their city. However, two things happen; First the city is attacked by the fungal monsters, and two; it is noticeable that Ellie is estranged and distant from Joel. In the process, Ellie befriends a woman named Dina who become best friends and lovers.
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Meanwhile, unknown to Ellie and Joel, Abby has vowed to hunt down and kill Joel for the murder of her father. Abby and her gang find and lure Joel to a mountain lodge while he was on patrol outside Jackson in the third episode “The Path”. Despite being saved by Joel, Abby vows that when she finds and kills Joel, it will be as slowly as possible as punishment for her father’s murder.

Image courtesy HBO

Ellie is also captured by Abby and her minions, witnessing when Abby stabs Joel to death after whacking him with a golf club. In the TLOU2 game, Joel is also killed in The Last of Us Part Two by Abby. However, there is a major difference from the game story arc in that Tommy was the witness to Joel’s execution setting out to follow Abby to Seattle, not Ellie. In this series scene, Abby does not immediately connect Ellie as the person who is immune from the fungal epidemic that killed her father.
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The change of Ellie being the witness elevates Tommy to major character status when Ellie loses a vote in the Jackson council to establish a posse to hunt down Abby for killing Joel. Ellie and her best friend Dina set out to follow Abby and exact revenge. We learn later that Tommy and Jesse following them cross country to Seattle Washington.

Flashbacks are eloquently employed to fill what has happened between Joel and Ellie since they arrived in Jackson Wyoming not far from Jackson Hole in the real life Teton county area.
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Significantly, the sixth episode “The Price” features Joel and Ellie celebrating her sixteenth birthday as a flashback. In the episode viewers flashback to a museum for astronauts located in Wyoming at the Museum of Science and History that is featured as a location featured in TLOU2 video game. In the series the abandoned museum is where Joel Miller takes Ellie as a surprise for her sixteenth birthday. The museum has been recreated for the series as the flashback Ellie recalls.

Image courtesy HBO

When Joel takes her to see an Apollo space craft that she sits in, the flashback features good times between the two main characters where Joel has restored a guitar that he made for Ellie before Ellie confronts Joel about what happened at the hospital in Salt Lake City. Eventually Joel breaks down in tears admitting to Ellie that he murdered Abby’s father in order to save Ellie from being butchered as an ingredient for the Cordyceps infection fungal virus cure. Ellie states that she will try to forgive Joel with tears again welling up in his eyes.

Subsequent to Ellie and Dina leaving Jackson to track down Abby, we later learn that Tommy and Jesse decided to follow and protect them. Viewers also learn that Dina is pregnant with Jesse’s child. Along the way viewers learn about a religious extremist group known as the Seraphites, a primitivism cult that lives on an island in the Seattle Washington area.
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Living without technology, the Seraphites instead use knives, bows and arrows as weapons. The Seraphites group is filled with obsessed cultists led by priest perfectly portrayed by Maurice Dean Wint. The cult followers believe that Cordyceps is God’s retribution to humanity for their sins. The Seraphites are observed torturing and often murdering anyone that strays from what they deem as the proper path unless they swear allegiance to the Seraphite cause. Known as Scars, this is a reference to religious fanatics such as Islamic Terrorists that plague the real world today.

Image courtesy HBO

In the Seattle area during season two, viewers also meet The Washington Liberation Front (WLF) known as ‘Wolves’ in the Seattle area in episode four named “Day One”. The Wolves are sworn enemies of the Seraphite’s often hunting them down to protect their base located at Lumen Field, formerly known as Seahawks Stadium (2002–2004), Qwest Field (2004–2011), CenturyLink Field (2011–2020).

In the TLOU2 game once in Seattle, Ellie and Dina find a grisly trail of dead bodies that Tommy left in his wake, tortured and interrogated for information that reflected a dark side of Tommy’s character. In the series second season, Tommy and Jesse wisely decide to follow Ellie and Dina. This yields results that ultimately end up saving both the girls lives in the city overrun by the WLF and the sickening Seraphites.
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In the TLOU season two series finale “Convergence” Ellie, Dina, Tommy and Jesse are reunited in Seattle. Internalizing the consequences of staying in Seattle, Tommy, Ellie, Jesse and Dina decide to return to Jackson Wyoming, but only after Ellie decides to kill Abby.

However, before they could do so, Abby caught Ellie, killed Jesse, and shot Tommy in the head on “Day Three” in Seattle during the seventh episode “Convergence”. Abby did not share Ellie and Tommy’s sentiments and has no intention of allowing Ellie to obtain her revenge for Joel’s death.

Image courtesy HBO

In TLOU2 game play, it is revealed that Tommy survived his head shot by Abby, but not without permanent scars both to his mental health and physical body. The final episode sequence depicts Jesse dead, Tommy shot with Abby firing on Ellie as the screen fades to black with a segue to “Day One” with Abby at the WLF Lumen Field encampment.

The WLF is featured again in the season finale, episode seven “Convergence” when Abby flashes back to “Day One” at Lumen Field.

Questions for TLOU season three to address will likely surround around the following items that need to be resolved:

Will Tommy survive just as he did just like in the TLOU2 game?
Does Ellie survive Abby on Day Three is Seattle? We suspect the gunshot sound is Dina shooting Abby.
We also suspect the sequence is homage to this famous scene in an ending that is similar to the “Who Shot JR” cliffhanger episode “Who Done It” from the famous Dallas television series circa November 21, 1980.

The answers to these questions and more will be determined in the already approved The Last of Us season three on HBO. See you then!

We look forward to The Last Of Us season three in the future and hope that panels and Press Rooms will be featured at San Diego Comic-Con in July later this year. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or your family!

We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on X, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
June 5, 2025
Silo Superb Science Fiction Dystopian Drama Set for Season Two!
Welcome Silo Science Fiction Lovers,

Image courtesy Apple TV

Apple TV has become one of the few places where good science fiction drama series can not only be created, but thrive since the recent dearth of such programs on United States broadcast television. With the final episode of recently completed season two of The Ark, no science fiction programming is available until Alien Earth premieres in 2025 on Hulu and hopefully FX Networks.

Thankfully streaming services such as Apple TV have filled the broadcast television science fiction void with series like Silo, based on the successful novels by Hugh Howey. Following their success of For All Mankind created by Ronald D. Moore and the fabulous Foundation series based on the famous Isaac Asimov novels Both series have been renewed for a fifth and third seasons respectively.

Now comes Silo, created by Graham Yost who is well known in the science fiction community for his time as an executive producer for the great Falling Skies series that encompassed five fabulous seasons from 2011 to 2015.

Image courtesy Apple TV

Silo begins it’s second a season on Friday November 15, 2024 after a well received season one. The series stars Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible series) as Juliette Nichols, Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption) as Bernard Holland, Harriet Walter (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) as Martha Walker, Common (Rapper) as Robert Sims, David Oyelowo (Star Wars: Febels) as Sheriff Holsten, Billy Postlethwaite (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Angela Yeoh (The Batman) as Deputy Molly Karins, and Will Patton (Outer Range) as Deputy Marnes.

Image courtesy Apple TV

This superb science fiction series features a large ensemble cast that makes the dystopian drama of life underground both frightening and exciting in a place where mining minerals is mandatory.

How do we know? As seen in season one, children are observed drawing with colored chalk that is made from mined gypsum. Everything the survivors deal with to survive including food production that must occur inside the Silo.
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Season One – Going Outside:

Image courtesy Apple TV

Subsequent to a past apocalypse on the surface that has apparently poisoned the planet, sets the tone for Silo making it a very believable science fiction story.

Mining is only part of what these survivors of humanity have to do to survive where the inhabitants deal with extreme stress of living in a confined space that causes some to go crazy and seek escape to go outside “Outside” even if the only job available is to clean the view plate portal.

Image courtesy Apple TV

In the first season, to establish the observed results of going “Outside”, several characters are killed off before Juliette is somewhat accidentally involved to investigate the phenomena. As viewers learn, going “Outside” results in deaths of all who want to do so. This is due to the deficiencies of the “heat tape” used to seal the hazmat suits that apparently the secret mayor Bernard Holland and his team know about. When people want to go Outside, they are always granted permission to “clean” the view plate windows people on the inside often look through.

Image courtesy Apple TV

Of interest is that living underground ensures one thing, that some will want to escape the tyranny of Mayor Holland, forcing him to ensure they never return to upset the balance of life in the Silo. Mayor Holland’s struggle is his obsession to stay in control of everyone the Silo. This drama declines in season one when the slowness of these details falters as he must decide who will be eliminated by sending them “Outside” to certain death.

As thrilling as season one was for humanity living in such an underground sanctuary, season one story arc was a bit slow as viewers internalized the characters and their lives. None survive the ordeal of going “Outside” until Juliette uses non defective “heat tape” she found that properly seals her hazmat suit.

Image courtesy Apple TV

This is how we are ultimately introduced to the main character of the series, Juliette Nichols, a technical expert and computer hacker who successfully escapes the tyranny inside and and doesn’t perish “Outside” in the process of seeking freedom.

The tagline “Julliette Lives” is the set up for a superb season season two of Silo that begins in only ten days on Apple TV!
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What We Expect in Silo Season Two:

Image courtesy Apple TV

One thing is certain in season two, just like season one; Silo inhabitants are convinced that they must avoid going outside. The exception is Juliette Nichols, the hacker who beat the odds by having non defective “heat tape” to protect her from the poisonous atmosphere when Mayor Bernard Holland orders her “Outside”.

“Julliette Lives” is where things start in Silo season two. Based on the latest chapter adapted from Hugh Howey’s popular book series, the action picks up right after the season one cliffhanger. Season two introduces Steve Zahn (War For the Planet of the Apes) as a survivor named Solo from another Silo when Julliette sees there are more than one Silo and take refuge in one.

Image courtesy Apple TV

If everything in season one was about the few souls who are searching for the truth, while Mayor Holland and his gang are about hiding the truth from the inhabitants, in season two viewers learn what happens when political power changes hands.

As for the supporting cast, other than who we see in the season two trailers, it is not known if we will see all of the season one ensemble cast who were at the point of rebellion when Julliette escapes the Silo. IMDb shows only that the Juliette character is scheduled for nineteen episodes. Season one hinged on Juliette’s plowing forward to find out what lies beyond. Based on the five minutes sneak peek released by Apple TV, where a rebellion has indeed broken out, Juliette will likely devote her efforts to learning about building communication with the other Silo’s survivors.
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Image courtesy Apple TV

The first few minutes of the sneak peek finds us with a torch carrying young person running past signs that are reminiscent of the Fallout series that took the world by storm. It is also similar to the dystopian Snowpiercer series that completed a fourth season thanks only to AMC which brought the third season Warner Discovery (TNT) cancelled series to viewers for closure.

In the extended five minute trailer, the rebellion in the past at other Silo leads to the death of everyone who went to the surface. Juliette finds their skeletons on the surface as she heads to another Silo to meet the new character.

Image courtesy Apple TV

In Juliette’s mission to learn what else of humanity has survived outside her own Silo, she meets the new character named Solo, portrayed by Steve Zahn. Zahn realistic acting takes the science fiction dystopian drama in a new direction by being someone who appears to be nice guy from an abandoned Silo raising the question; are there any other active Silo’s? Or is Juliette’s that only one that is still fully functioning?

Image courtesy Apple TV

While Juliette will apparently invest much of her time in the first episode investigating the rebellion that occurred in the other Silo, she will also literally be building a relationship with Solo after leaving Mayor Holland behind to deal with a potential rebellion, Zahn’s arrival will undoubtedly provide a refreshing perspective juxtaposed against Juliette’s world where the people she knew that escaped only wish in their dreary lives to only get outside to clean a Silo portal window.

Since becoming interested in Silo as a series, I can offer that Apple TV science fiction series have proven to be desirable dystopian worlds to explore and invest time in since it is unique from other worlds such as Snowpiercer and Fallout.

Image courtesy Apple TV

The adventure is about what people seeking to escape their own lives in real life reality. What is fascinating is that Juliette Nichols and her new pal Solo, who promises to provide additional perspective, will also perhaps some much needed comic relief. No doubt they will explore the other Silo in detail to reveal where the series is going.

Since the other Silo rebellion is from that appears to be a failed experiment, it should reveal what the Silo’s are really all about. This factor is similar to Fallout where the world fell apart with only a small percentage of the world’s population surviving to enjoy the spoils of their protected shelters.

The season two questions that arise are;

Will the new rebellion end up the same way as the skeletons found near a tattered flag on the surface?
How many of the season one characters will join the rebellion or will they perish as in the past?
Will Robert Sims question what Bernard Holland has been brainwashing everyone with?
And critically, will Juliette be able to help her former friends to avoid the horrible fate of the other Silo(s) as she learns about the truths of the outside world?

Image courtesy Apple TV

As we prepare for Silo season two, Graham Yost, in his genius at story telling, will provide viewers many other avenues of discovery that are just up ahead for all the survivor’s (if any) in all the Silo’s.

Clearly as the dystopian adventure unfolds, viewers will be impatient biding their time for other doors of knowledge to be discovered that have yet to be opened to learn the chapters of the past history regarding the Silo’s. This factor will deliver excitement since there is so much more story to tell. No doubt viewers will be waiting in eager anticipation to learn what is coming in each new episode!

We will be back to continue our analysis of Silo in the future during season two. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or your family!

We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on X, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
November 5, 2024
As The Wormhole Turns – Amazon MGM Studios Streaming Science Fiction Series AND #WeWantStargate!
Welcome Back WormholeRiders and Science Fiction Series Lovers,

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Our previous article focused on the non renewed La Brea series that apparently indicates an end of an era in scripted science fiction series on United States Network television as it appears to be the case as TeamWHR reported. This article will focus on a special series of As The Wormhole Turns relating to streaming services that have taken the place of network television scripted science fiction series.

Only two pure science fiction genre series remain, The Ark on SYFY and The Lazarus Project on TNT. Both series are on cable channels, not major networks. As a result of this decline in scripted science fiction series, it is apparent that the big three United States television networks ABC, CBS and NBC appear to be bowing out of scripted science fiction series for the time being.

Why? The networks in the United States are faced with withering competition from streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney Plus, Hulu, MGM+, Netflix, Paramount Plus, Peacock, Sling, Crackle TV, and many other streaming services.

One of the Elephants:

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

This first analysis will focus on one of the “elephants in the room”, Amazon MGM Studios science fiction programs that have been featured in the United States on Prime Video and MGM+.

The Man in the High Castle (2015), starring Alexa Davalos, Rufus Sewell, Chelah Horsdal, Jason O’Mara and featuring a huge ensemble cast is an alternate reality timeline story about Germany and Japan winning the Second World War. In our opinion, this was the first major success for Amazon Prime streaming science fiction programs and should be watched by fans of scripted science fiction series.
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Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Since then there were two series that we followed. The first series we enjoyed was “Night Sky” (2022) starring J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek that featured an alien wormhole portal on Earth.

In the case of “Paper Girls” (2022) we interviewed the cast at the San Diego Comic-Con International convention, an exquisite time travel adventure. Unfortunately, neither of these well done streaming programs were renewed for a second season.
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Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Another huge Amazon Studios success was the purchase of “The Expanse” (2015) from SYFY who unexpectedly cancelled their most popular science fiction series. SYFY abruptly stunned admirers of the series. The last SYFY episode, season three episode thirteen “Abadons Gate” was broadcast on June 18, 2018.

Fortunately, we were at San Diego Comic-Con in July of 2019 as a studio panel guest and interviewing star Cas Anvar about the cancellation when Amazon announced live during the Eisner Awards dinner they were purchasing all rights to “The Expanse” and would return for a additional seasons to the delight of series admirers including our team. The revitalized series broadcast to rave reviews for season four, five and six. “The Expanse” concluded it’s six season successful run on January 14, 2022.
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Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Notable recent Amazon Prime successes are “The Wheel of Time” (2021) starring Rosamund Pike now headed for a third season.

Nest is the most expensive television program ever made, “The Rings of Power” (2022) which although not yet announced, is rumored to have a third season in the works.

Both of these science fiction fantasy series have done well on Prime Video.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

On that point, Amazon Studios and MGM Studios only recently, within the past two months, have been renamed Amazon MGM Studios ending their individual names on their social media and websites sites including the introduction of Amazon MGM Studios banners featured specifically on new streaming products.

The inclusion of the Amazon MGM Studios banners began with the hugely successful “Fallout” (on Prime) season one dystopian science fiction series that follows the and “Outer Range” season two discussed in more detail below.
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On the MGM+ streaming service our favorite science fiction series are “From” (2022) which just completed a second season and is entering a third, and “Beacon 23” (2023) which recently completed a second season that we hope will be renewed for a third season. The positive news about Beacon 23 is that Paramount Plus began broadcasting Beacon 23 in the United Kingdom this month (June 2024) hopefully strengthening the series position to qualify for a third season.
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The Amazon Prime and MGM Plus Back Story:

Image courtesy Amazon Prime

Now in 2024, virtually all of the other recent science fiction series are now exclusively only on streaming platforms. What we now know as Amazon Prime began on September 7, 2006 as “Amazon Unbox” in the United States. On September 4, 2008, the service was renamed “Amazon Video on Demand”. The Amazon streaming services expanded in 2011 when Amazon bought the United Kingdom based streaming and DVD by mail rental service named “Lovefilm”. Subsequent to this acquisition up to the present time, Amazon re-launched their effort in what we now known as Prime Video. In April 2024, Amazon Studios and MGM Studios merged their two accounts on X into what we now know as Amazon MGM Studios. Another change occurred when Amazon Prime modified their subscription to feature advertisements on all programs and movies not purchased by the viewer. For a modest $2.99 USD extra each month, subscribers can currently eliminate advertisements on all Prime Video content.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

What we now know as the MGM+ streaming service was originally launched in the United States as “Epix” in October 2009. Epix was the result of a joint venture between MGM Studios, Lionsgate, and Paramount Studios.

MGM Studios acquired 100% ownership of “Epix” in late 2017. In March 2022 Amazon purchased MGM Studios. Pending final approval by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), MGM Studios announced that Epix would be renamed as MGM+ on January 15, 2023. The famous MGM Lion logo and introduction was reborn digitally for new programs and movies after many decades of the filmed version of the famous lion which is still featured on old movies and famed programs such as Stargate.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Aiming to not shock the viewers, Amazon took a slow approach using a gradual transition that took hold in early 2024 when the SEC waiting periods had been completed. MGM Plus, now known as MGM+ assumed it’s place in the Amazon Studios family of Amazon MGM Studios as mentioned above. MGM+ re-positioned itself as a successful sister service on a separate subscription streaming service to the aforementioned Prime Video service. We include both here together because they are owned by the same Amazon parent company.

TeamWHR Favorite Amazon MGM Studios Science Fiction Streaming Series:

Fallout (2024):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

One of our four favorite science fiction series by Amazon MGM Studios is Fallout on Prime. Based on the highly successful Fallout video game series, Fallout with a post apocalyptic story line has taken the world by storm!

Starring Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Leslie Uggams, Michael Emerson, and talented ensemble cast, Fallout accurately transforms the excitement of the game play into a science fiction series adventure of epic proportions in the “Years after a nuclear apocalypse devastates America, a violent raid by bandits on an underground fallout shelter forces one of its residents to set out into a barren wasteland filled with radiation, mutated monsters, and a lawless society of those who remained on the surface.”
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Outer Range (2022):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

An “Outer Range” wormhole portal in the “west pasture” of a ranch in Wyoming spans 150 years or more in the range wars between American Indians and two ranch families, the Abbott’s and the Tillerson’s. The portal which contains a black crystalline mysterious mineral, opens and closes at various time periods often sending people from the past to the future and from the future to the past. The results confound the residents and authorities in the fictional town of Wabang, Wyoming

Starring Josh Brolin, Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor, Will Patton, Tom Pelphrey, and Tamara Podemski with a great ensemble cast, “Outer Range” is a slow burning intense series about human interactions, prejudice and human history that intrigues the viewer as the exact same characters from different realities sometimes exist at the same time. The season two finale concludes with an “It’s just beginning” that we hope leads to a third season renewal.
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From (2022):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

“From” has been a runaway supernatural science fiction series hit that began on “Epix” about a group of people who become trapped in a small town with no apparent easy escape. Described on IMDB as “… the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normality and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest; including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down.”

“From” stars actors we have admired from many years in other series including Harold Perrineau, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, David Alpay, Ricky He, Hannah Cheramy, Avery Konrad and features a fine ensemble cast that make the nightmare seem all too real.
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Beacon 23 (2023):

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

“Beacon 23” is wild science fiction series set far in the future. The “beacons” are supposed to be off limits to political intrigue as safe places where one person is stationed to aid passing space vehicles. “Beacon 23” is described by the studio as “A man living in the 23rd Century works at a remote lighthouse in space that serves as a beacon to help passing ships.” In reality it is a way point for intergalactic conspiracies featuring human beings and fully evolved Artificial Inteligence (AI) beings blended into conflicts between competing civilian, governmental, and military agencies.

This series stars Stephan James, Natasha Mumba, Lena Headey, Eric Lange, Ellen Wong, Stephen Root and Hannah Melissa Scott as a teenage version of the Aster character portrayed by Lena Headey with a stellar (pun intended) supporting cast. The second season and it’s cryptic finale answers many questions that had been posed during season one. We are hopeful “Beacon 23” is renewed for a third season.
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Stargate:

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Any analysis of the Amazon MGM Studios science fiction series must include the Stargate franchise. Dormant since “Stargate Origins: Catherine” (2018) but with new movie and or series rumors since then. This includes Stargate trending several times on X over the past two years is the “WeWantStargate” hashtag.

Therefore, many Stargate admirers have wondered why, in the approximate two years since Amazon Studios purchased MGM Studios, the new Amazon MGM Studios have not yet officially announced a new Stargate franchise product?

Why the delay? The precise reasons are known to only to Amazon MGM Studios but are likely related to the following reasons.
1. All Stargate sets, costumes and props were sold off at the Vancouver Auction in June 2011.
2. Therefore any new Stargate, even streaming, will be very expensive to produce from scratch.
3. Many various sites, including TeamWHR indicate the Actors, Writers Strike stopped progress.
4. Amazon MGM Studios priorities may be focused on other franchises (discussed herein).
5. Or is there a fear of killing off the franchise if a new Stargate series is not done correctly?
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Will they do so at San Diego Comic-Con 2024? We hope so and include one of our favorite scenes from “Stargate Ark of Truth” above to encourage TPTB at Amazon MGM Studios to proceed ASAP because WeWantStargate and so do ten’s of millions worldwide!

We conclude our analysis of Amazon MGM Studios streaming services with only a suggested enhancement for Prime Video; Don’t drop all episodes of a streaming science fiction series at the same time. Admirers of science fiction enjoy meeting on social media on a weekly basis to chat about the latest episode their favorite science fiction series. Dropping all episodes at one time damages the enthusiasm which may contribute to less than successful series.

Next Up The Ends of Beginnings:

The Ark at WonderCon Image by David Yeh courtesy SYFY

In this edition of As The Wormhole Turns, TeamWHR will continue to cover The Ark science fiction series until it concludes it’s run on SYFY.

However, with the lack of new network scripted series we will begin migrate our science fiction series analysis to spotlight the major science fiction programs that will be featured on various streaming platforms.

Next up will be the second of our feature articles about streaming focus on Netflix and a rumored bundle deal that will also include Apple TV and Peacock TV and a different approach is being taken by a streaming service named Tubi. Free to all viewers, Tubi has taken this approach financing their streaming service with paid advertisements.

We will be back in the near future with more on streaming services as we head to San Diego Comic-Con as well as our favorite television series and movie analysis. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or family and leave your comments! We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on Twitter, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
June 20, 2024
As The Wormhole Turns – La Brea The Road Home Part Two Ends An Era?
Welcome Back La Brea and Wormhole Science Fiction Lovers!

Image courtesy NBC

As our article title and the third season La Brea poster header indicated all season long, is this an end of an era in scripted science fiction series on major network television channels like NBC?

Do such science fiction series, subsequent to lower ratings as compared to police, fire, and hospital scripted programs (which are flourishing), spell the end of the science fiction genre on major network channels in the United States?

Unfortunately, this would appear to be the case for new science fiction series that could be broadcast on the United States television networks ABC, CBS or NBC.

There is good news however. Beloved science fiction television genre series is well underway via movement to streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Crackle TV, Disney Plus, Hulu, MGM Plus, Netflix, Paramount Plus, and Peacock TV.

Image courtesy NBC

What this means is that although science fiction on major United States based network channels may be at the End Of Life (EOL) for now, the science fiction television genre will live on to be loved by tens of millions of viewers as evidenced by recent science fiction series successes such as Fallout, Foundation, For All Mankind, Outer Range, Halo, The Mandalorian and other new content being created for and by streaming television services!

The Forty Year Back Story:

Image courtesy ABC

ABC Network (now part of Disney) was a player in the modern science fiction broadcast world subsequent to their highly successful Lost series from 2004 to 2010 with 121 episodes. After a notable original V mini-series success on NBC in 1983, V The Final Battle in 1984 and a shortened nineteen episode weekly series on NBC that left science fiction fans with huge cliffhanger, ABC picked up the franchise. ABC subsequently left the science fiction genre after a two season run of a reboot of V Series from 2009 to 2011 that also disappointed fans who had hoped the story arc would be completed in a third season.

City On The Edge Of Forever. Image courtesy Paramount Plus

CBS Network had never been a significant science fiction content producer until it picked up the Star Trek franchise now broadcast on the Paramount Plus streaming service.

Likewise, the CW Network (originally UPN – The United Paramount Network until 2006), like SYFY, is actually a cable channel that produced significant science fiction related content including The Secret Circle (2011), The Vampire Diaries (2009), Arrow (2012), iZombie (2015), Legends of Tomorrow (2016), Riverdale (2017) and the popular Superman & Lois (2021) entering its fourth and final season soon.

Image courtesy SYFY

With very few exceptions, notably the SYFY Channel in the United States (a cable channel that is owned by NBC), there are few relatively new science fiction scripted series on network television remaining.

These include as The Ark headed for a second season and comedic science fiction series Resident Alien (hopefully pending renewal for a fourth season).

Now in 2024, virtually all of the other recent science fiction series are now exclusively only on streaming platforms.

Streaming Roots and How We Arrived Here:

Image courtesy SYFY

The roots of successful streaming programs can be said to have arguably begun in earnest in May 2007 with the Sanctuary web series first broadcast on the Internet. The Sanctuary web based series was so successful it actually crashed the Internet servers on launch day. I was peripherally involved in a support role for fans to interact with the series star Amanda Tapping while running a popular website dedicated to supporting the Stargate franchise prior to the launch of WormholeRiders News Agency in 2008. Sanctuary, produced in conjunction with Space Channel of Canada (now known as CTV SciFi), was such a success that the web series was picked up by SYFY (then the SciFi channel) that ran four seasons from 2009 to 2001.

The Invaders Image courtesy ABC

SciFi began broadcasting in September 1992 with the hit movie Star Wars Episode IV (The New Hope) as its first broadcast.

SciFi had much early success over their early years which can be attributed to broadcasting re-runs of iconic science fiction programs such as the early episodes of Dr. Who, The Prisoner, The Invaders, Star Trek the Original Series (TOS) and many various fan favorite science fiction movies.

Image courtesy SYFY

SYFY’s first original hit series was the short lived one season dystopian space opera Mission Genesis in 1997. Then came First Wave co-produced with the Space Channel broadcast from 1998 to 2001.

This was followed by the now classic Farscape series that was broadcast from 1999 to 2003. Farscape was co-produced with Nine Network.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

SciFi then invested heavily in additional science fiction scripted series beginning when it acquired the rights in 2001 to broadcast Stargate SG-1 owned by MGM Studios (Now known as Amazon MGM Studios).

Stargate SG-1 was originally on Showtime from 1997 to 2001, then continued to be broadcast on SYFY until 2007 for a combined total of ten episode years totaling 214 episodes. SYFY then added the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica in 2004, and Stargate Atlantis in 2005. MGM released two follow on direct to DVD Stargate SG-1 movies in 2008 that SYFY also broadcast. Stargate Universe began in 2009 and in 2010 SYFY created Caprica, a popular Battlestar prequel series that sadly only lasted one season.

Image courtesy SYFY Sharknado

SYFY also became well known for their weekly wild and often wacky science fiction movies for which it became famous in their own right.

The wildly successful weekly movie series generated huge followings of millions of viewers every week that culminated in the success of the Sharknado movies (1 to 6) series that concluded in 2018.

Image courtesy TNT

Close competitors in the with superb science fiction content in the twenty-first century were the Turner Network Television (TNT) Network and its fabulous Falling Skies series with five seasons broadcast from 2011 to 2015.

TNT’s also broadcast their subsequently successful program called The Last Ship, a dystopian action science fiction drama series that ran for five seasons from 2014 to 2018.

Image courtesy Warner Brothers TV

The Fox Network was a strong contributor with their original The X-Files series from 1993 to 2002, Sliders in 1998, Firefly in 2002, and the iconic fabled Fringe series produced at Warner Brothers Television that ran for five years and 100 episodes from 2008 to 2013. Fox and the fascinating time travel mystery series Alcatraz was not renewed after one season in 2011 despite strong ratings when the network decided to renew Fringe for a fifth season instead. Fox left the genre after NexT rogue AI series in 2020 which ran for only one season. Fox Network television was subsequently acquired by Disney which has its hands full with Marvel and Star Wars streaming series.

The Beginning of The End:

Image courtesy NBC

The decline of science fiction series like La Brea on network television channels can be traced back to its roots on December 03, 2009 when telecommunications giant Comcast announced its intent to acquire mass media company NBC Universal from General Electric corporation amid concerns at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of potential negative effects within the vertical entertainment industry since Comcast was also heavily involved in cable television and internet services in many United States media markets.

Image by Mark Taylor courtesy NBC

On March 19, 2013 General Electric divested itself from NBC giving Comcast sole ownership and a free hand to reduce employees located within duplicate internal divisions. Through this acquisition, Comcast gained ownership of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the film studio Universal Pictures, cable channels such as SYFY, Universal Parks & Resorts. Among other assets owned by NBC Universal was the USA Network and the E! Channel who often ran large entertainment convention events at San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon in San Francisco and Anaheim as well as at New York ComicCon at the Javits Center.

Image by Greg Gayne courtesy NBC

SYFY reigned supreme for many years via their continued strong interest in scripted science fiction series (many were acquired and developed with Canadian UK network partners) subsequent to beginnings of the merger mania in 2009.

These fabulous programs included Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, Eureka, Helix, Haven, Alphas, Lost Girl, Merlin, Defiance, Continuum, 12 Monkeys, Dark Matter, Killjoys and The Expanse. Their last major five year successes concluded with the supernatural science fiction thrillers Van Helsing, Wynonna Earp, and The Magicians.

The cracks in the formula became apparent when SYFY, out of nowhere, stunned viewers when it dumped The Expanse despite rave reviews and being the highest rated science fiction program in 2018.

Fortunately The Expanse was picked up by Amazon Studios, running on Amazon Prime for three more seasons on the streaming service with success and high praise.

Image by Mark Taylor courtesy NBC

In 2018, the pressure on broadcast networks became evident when a fabulous science fiction series on the NBC’s USA Network named Colony became a casualty. The NBC and Comcast merger “Reductions In Force” (RIF) became known as “the night of the long knives” which impacted the majority of staffers, employees and publicists whose careers ended abruptly with what many believe were unanticipated layoffs. Another great NBC series, Manifest, was not renewed but was saved by streaming service Netflix.

Image by Greg Gayne courtesy NBC

Great SYFY series such as Primeval New World, Ghost Wars, Incorporated, and Day of The Dead were subsequently not renewed after single seasons, likely a result of terminating publicist marketing employee teams in “the night of the long knives” that were needed for continued series success. Krypton, based on the DC Comics Superman franchise, made it to two years to 2019 but effectively ended cable channel SYFY’s dominance as undisputed king of science fiction series as an NBC network affiliate. SYFY original programming suffered as a result. Alien Nation and horror based Chucky remain as the only multi-season survivors.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

However, all these events actually jump started the streaming services movement which can be traced in large part to huge success in 2015 with a The Man In the High Castle broadcast on Amazon Prime Video for four seasons concluding in 2019.

This factor was repeated with the Warner Brothers Discovery merger last year that cancelled a completed season four production of Snowpiercer ready to be broadcast on TNT (the fourth season now will broadcast by AMC in 2025), and Westworld which had been renewed for a fifth season on HBO but will not be produced after the merger that produced the Warner Discovery conglomerate. With talk of further consolidation in the entertainment industry looming in the future, all this could mean the end of ABC, CBS, or NBC network channel science fiction series in the United States.

Image courtesy NBC

Since that time a few months ago, new science fiction series broadcast on major network television channels ABC, CBS and NBC are few and far between. After NBC chose not to renew a superb series named Debris with good ratings created by J.H. Wyman of Fringe after broadcasting only thirteen episodes in season one ending in late May 2021, the beloved La Brea time travel science fiction series on NBC may be the last major network television effort in that regard, at least for the time being.

The Future of Science Fiction Television is Streaming:

The Mandalorian Image courtesy Disney Plus

Streaming services accelerated during the transition subsequent to the entire Star Wars and Star Trek franchises moving to streaming platforms when Disney purchased Lucas Film.

CBS, broadcast owner of Star Trek franchise launched Paramount Plus, the renamed CBS All Access streaming service.

Star Wars series such as The Mandalorian, Obi Wan Kenobi, The Book of Bobba Fett, and Andor have been a success on Disney Plus. Star Trek series including Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds have been huge successes on the Paramount Plus streaming service.

All of this begs the question:

Will ever be another science fiction series to be launched on a major network channel in the United States?

Or is the science fiction genre to only find life only on streaming services in the future? We shall see.

In the meantime, enjoy the wildest moments of La Brea courtesy of NBC included below.
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The Road Home Part 2:

Image by Mark Taylor courtesy NBC

We here at Team WHR believed that there is much more to this superb La Brea story remaining to be told. Unfortunately, “The Road Home, Part 2” is the finale for this terrific time travel science fiction adventure series. Although we had been hoping for at least five full seasons of the La Brea series, as the old adage often applied to television programming saying goes; “Don’t Cry and Be Sorry it’s Over, Be Happy Because It Happened”, and we are because the series ended without cliffhangers!

On that note, we waited to post this analysis hoping that series creator David Appelbaum would be able to place La Brea with one of the major streaming services. As of this post, that does not seem to be happening at this time, but will remain hopeful that may occur in the future after we publish this feature article.

“The Road Home, Part 2” finale aired subsequent “The Road Home, Part 1” after a remaining character named Helena (Emily Wiseman) surfaced in the episode “Fire Storm” where we learned that Helena is Gavin Harris’s (Eoin Macken) half sister. We also learned that Time Travel was invented by their father who finished setting up the technology in 1965 using modern 2020’s computer technology to create jet aircraft that in the end help save our heroes.

Image by Greg Gayne courtesy NBC

The good news of La Brea is that the series producers and creator ensured the series would conclude on a happy note creating an enjoyable ending for their fans. Eve (Natalie Zea) and her family of Gavin, Josh (Jack Martin), and Izzy (Zyra Gorecki), in fact all the main characters including Sam Velez (Jon Seda) and his daughter Riley (Veronica St. Clair), Scott Israni (Rohan Mirchananey), Veronica Castillo (Lily Santiago), Lucas Hayes (Josh McKenzie), Judah (Damien Fotiou), and even Petra (Asmara Feik) daughter of deceased villain Maya Schmidt (Claudia Ware), all safely make it back safely to 2021 either using the prototype Time Travel jet aircraft or utilized a wormhole portal to return home to their own time, most likely closing once and for all after everyone returned to 2021.

Image courtesy NBC

In the end, Ty Coleman (Chiké Okonkwo) decided to stay in 10,000 BC with his wife Paara (Tonantzin Carmelo) to live out their lives. Levi Delgado (Nicholas Gonzales) sadly passed away sacrificing himself to save the others.

We never learned the fate of Silas (Mark Lee) and other characters in 10,000 BC. Likewise, Leyla (Edyll Ismail) daughter of Ruth (Chantelle Jamieson) never consummated her relationship with Izzy due to the shortened third season.

Image courtesy Amazon MGM Studios

Lastly, the La Brea series finale reminded me of the famous two part Stargate SG-1 episode “Moebius part 2” where the main characters went back in time to fix the future. The end result was that Stargate SG-1 main characters lived as themselves in ancient Egypt as a method to ensure that the future characters never had to go back in time in the first place so they could fish at Jack’s pond that had no fish before Moebius but did have fish when the future characters ended the eighth season knowing they had changed the future.

Image courtesy NBC

Therefore, speaking of endings, there are a La Brea few items that were not addressed in the finale: Did Gavin destroy the trouble making Time Travel computer chip in the jet aircraft?
Did everyone get back to the correct time at the end (pun intended)? Did the original wormhole ever occur in the pilot episode if Gavin destroyed the time chip technology after returning to 2021? Did the finale cleanly avoid all time paradoxes of having two of several main characters that existed at the same time (again pun intended)?

Image courtesy NBC

In closing our analysis of La Brea, one of our favorite science fiction series by the way, we wonder If Gavin did not destroy the time chip after they all returned after the wormhole occurred in 2021, since the items above were never really addressed, what could happen in the future?

Although unlikely, It remains a long shot possibility that a La Brea series could return in the future, perhaps on a streaming service, so everyone can learn more about Gavin’s father in 1965, and the fate of humankind in the future.

We certainly hope that to be the case!

We will be back in the near future with more of your favorite television series and movie analysis. In the meantime, please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or family and leave your comments!

We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future! Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit TeamWHR on Twitter, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR
April 25, 2024

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