So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[bdub76]

I'm still struck by the coincidence that Kevin Sorbo was Dean Cain's runner-up for the role of Superman in Lois & Clark, and they both ended up following parallel career/ideological paths taking them about as far from Superman as you can get.

A lot of actors go the conservative route. Jerry Doyle from B5 ran in a race as a Republican. A lot stay in the closet politically as it impacts their work opportunities. We definitely saw this with Sorbo. The guy from Growing Pains also had trouble getting roles. His sister moved on from Hallmark to GAC. The guy from the Passion of Christ actually lucked out with Person of Interest. There is definitely a polarization going on in media these days.

And if you go back in time for science fiction writers, there are a lot of conservative science fiction writers as well.

I finished Club Dumas, and it was free of political stuff. It was a nice take in the genre space of Da Vinci Code, but it was tied to the Three Musketeers. I enjoyed it, and I'd recommend it.

 

[youngtrek]

Read (or finished reading) in February 2026:

“Star Trek Generations” (novelization) by J. M. Dillard (1994) (a reread) (read Kindle version this time but also parts of ending from my original hardcover first edition I still have which has the originally shot version of a certain famous starship captain’s death, different from what’s in the released film)

“John Williams: A Composer’s Life” by Tim Greiving (2025)

“Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum” by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry (2025)

“Batman: Revolution” by John Jackson Miller (2025)

Brings my 2026 GoodReads count to 5 (of my 75 books goal)

(I also have managed to get halfway through “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: The Making of the Classic Film” by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto (2025).)

— David Young

 

[Reanok]

Star Trek Enterprise Shockwave Paul Ruditis

 

[Steve Roby]

Let it be noted that I worked on that book long before Sorbo turned into a right-wing crank.

He was just the dude from Hercules then.

The political thing doesn't help, of course, but neither does his time on Hercules. Howard's Kull tends to the gloomy and philosophical when not fighting lizard men or those who want to overthrow him, and that just doesn't make me think of Sorbo.

As for what I've been reading, some game tie-in novels (Assassin’s Creed: The Engine of History: The Resurrection Plot, Watch Dogs: Stars & Stripes, Watch Dogs Legion: Cold Reboot), some game tie-in graphic novels (Cyberpunk 2077: Psycho Squad, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Madness Volume 1), a Shadow pulp novel (The Python), and a couple of Alien tie-in novels (Alien: Perfect Organisms and Alien: Cult).

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

First Samuel. Which is to say that I'm about 5 pages shy of yesterday's quota. But I'm expecting a quiet afternoon, with plenty of time to catch up, and maybe even do the math-check on my federal tax return, and start on the state return.

 

[Christopher]

The political thing doesn't help, of course, but neither does his time on Hercules. Howard's Kull tends to the gloomy and philosophical when not fighting lizard men or those who want to overthrow him, and that just doesn't make me think of Sorbo.

The thing is, Raimi & Tapert's Hercules was actually a very thoughtful, empathetic hero with a tragic past (at least in the weekly series, because he'd retired from adventuring to start a family in the last TV movie, so they had to kill off his wife and kids to get the series underway). So it doesn't sound all that different, really. And I felt at the time that Sorbo did a pretty good job playing the part.

One thing I liked about Hercules/Xena is how they inverted gender stereotypes. Though Hercules started out in the original movie with the misogyny you'd expect from Ancient Greece, his encounter with the Amazons in that movie opened his eyes, and for the rest of the series, he was an enlightened, sensitive guy who didn't want to fight if he could avoid it and wanted nothing more than to start a family and raise kids. Meanwhile, Xena was the one who was tough, aggressive, quick to anger, and emotionally closed off.