Rob E. King
I am a librarian, writer, and proud member of Twin Peaks and Robert E. Howard fandom. I've also somehow become the go-to writer for MTV's 90s animation series.
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in EpisodesTwin Peaks Episode 17: Midseason Mirage
I am writing this on Dec. 8, 2020. Episode 17 aired on Dec. 8, 1990, 30 years ago today. That wasn’t planned. Honestly, though, the more I learn and write about Twin Peaks, these coincidences seem to become expected. There is a magical quality to all of it, even 30 years later. While the series’ […] More
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in Potpourri
Home I’ll Finally Be: The Death of Jack Kerouac
A small summary of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood states that “[it] visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing…” So far in 25YL’s series “Summer of ’69,” a selection of the cultural change we have covered includes the Stonewall riots, Moon landings, the Grateful Dead, Cuyahoga River fire, and the release […] More
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in Premieres
A Televised Encounter of the First Kind: The Premiere of Project Blue Book
The staff at 25YL have been excited about this premiere since its San Diego Comic Con promotion last July. There are quite a few reasons for this particular show’s topic to capture us. Some of us miss the earliest intrigues of The X-Files, or we’re huge fans of Aidan Gillen’s work in The Wire and […] More
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Cancelled Too Soon: Rome
It is not a hard sell to say that HBO and the BBC’s Rome (2005-2007) ended too soon. We know many of the reasons why: expensive production in Italy, HBO cutbacks for historical productions, and strategic planning on HBO’s part. Creator Bruno Heller has cited a lack of structure for the show, claiming that while […] More
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in Episodes
Strange Angel: Season One Finale
This will be my final coverage of Strange Angel Season 1. There was some inevitability that it would end better than it began, having had episodes to stage the strange content. Jack Parsons’s story is unique, though it is not a particularly well-known one. An audience would require some buy-in to fully believe it, short […] More
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in Episodes
CBS All-Access: Strange Angel: Mid-Season Review
Rocket science didn’t take off at any rapid pace. We see that through the struggles of Jack and his fellow ambitious scientists, and we see that through the show’s pacing as well. That can be a good point as it illustrates the environment, or it could move too slowly for its audience. Anyone with an […] More
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in Premieres
CBS All-Access: Strange Angel: Premiere Review
Very much estranged from its source biography, CBS All-Access’ Strange Angel, directed by David Lowery feels like Disney’s The Rocketeer or Martin Scorcese’s The Aviator meets Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Influenced by rocketry, pulp fictions, and the occult alike, this series is the story of one of America’s greatest success enigmas: Jack Parsons. This […] More
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in Series
MTV’s Oddities Part 2: The Maxx: Julie’s Pangea, Laura’s Ghostwood
As Mr. Gone, antagonist in The Maxx, welcomes us to the next iteration of MTV’s Oddities, it feels appropriate to begin with his opening monologue to set the stage for this article’s topic. “Most of us inhabit at least two worlds, the real world, where we’re at the mercy of circumstance, and the world within, the […] More
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in Series
MTV’s Oddities Part 1: Cerebral or Simply Heady Animation?: The Head
As Twin Peaks (1990-1991) invited audiences to slowly begin to accept the inherently weird around them in a setting just short of Magical Realism, popular culture would embrace its particular brand of subtle, soap opera weird as well as more overt art-house efforts well into the early 1990’s. And as Twin Peaks affected much of […] More
