A Rockwork Orange [WIP: In Nature]

Timelapse for building the first set

The Brick And The Dead [WIP: In Nature]

NEW FILM PROJECT

It's been about a decade since my last foray into filmmaking. In the past few weeks I've started work on a new project: "In Nature" a short horror film using LEGO stopmotion.

I have ambitious goals for this project: including zero use of generative AI, and creating a theremin-based score. At the same time I've learned from my previous experience with LEGO filmmaking and have written the script more carefully, using a smaller cast and fewer locations.

Sets were designed in Bricklink Studio...

...and arrived looking like this

Colour-sorted and ready to build

They're Justified, And They're Ancient [Podcast Review: The Harbingers]

While investigating the relics of an ancient civilization, ambitious anthropologists and rivals Adam Blackwell (Andrés Enriquez) and Amy Stirling (Lauren Grace Thompson) make discoveries that bring magical powers back into the world. But when magical power collides with political and financial power, the results can be dangerous.

The Harbingers is a fictional podcast produced by Audacious Machine Creative. As of this month the first season is now complete, with all episodes available on Spotify or other services, and a second season in production for release later this year. 

There is a lot of Harbingers to enjoy. The first season is 16 episodes long, with episodes varying from 30 to 60 minutes in length. Production quality is excellent, as is the writing - the story is structured around a catastrophic event, with both protagonists telling their stories to the lawyer preparing them for a Congressional hearing. The stories begin in the highly competitive world of Harbinger academic study, but develop into globe-spanning journeys involving a Presidential campaign and a tech billionaire's quest for limitless energy. There is real thought about the implications of the different magical powers, how they might be used and how society might react to their existence.

There are a lot of twists and developments and the whole picture is revealed gradually over the season - or is it? While the first season has a satisfying plot and conclusion, there are still unanswered questions, untold chapters and unmet characters of the story. The ancient Harbinger civilization with its architecture, myths, languages and values is also imagined in great detail, even though we only learn about it from the fragments, relics and discoveries that have survived to the present day, and there is definitely more Harbinger history to uncover. I am really looking forward to season 2.

The performances from Enriquez, Thompson and all of the cast are outstanding, and as a result the friendships, relationships, drama and peril, and the tension between the two main characters all ring true. Highly recommended for fans of archaeology, magic, superpowers and lawyers. 

Stuck With You [Review: The WONDERfools Episodes 2 and 3]

Some highlights from episodes 2 and 3 of Korean superhero drama The WONDERfools - minor spoilers only. Three characters have now developed superpowers - teleportation, super-strength and STICKING TO THINGS! but they don't understand how their powers work so can't control them. As a result:

• The teleporter appeared for a few moments on the set of a TV historical drama, so now believes they are a time traveller.
• The super-strength character now has some interesting holes in their walls.
• The character who's superpower is STICKING TO THINGS! finds their arm is stuck to their fridge door, so they have to stand in front of the fridge and persuade their family that this is for completely normal reasons.

So far this series has been an absolute treat, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who likes superhero dramas and needs to break their addiction to the MCU (yes, Geek Twins, I'm looking at you).

The rebellious and chaotic Eun Chae-ni, played by Park Eun-bin, remains the star of the show, but the whole cast is strong, and the arguments between the characters appear to be getting bigger and more melodramatic. I believe the sticking superpower may be unique, and I'm looking forward to see how this power might be used for the good of humanity later in the series.

Meanwhile a series of flashbacks reveal that one character spent their childhood in a 50s style concrete laboratory being subjected to experiments by a sinister scientist. This is a widely used trope, seen in films and dramas from Firestarter to Stranger Things. Here it's just one part of the greater mystery of Haesong City.

As with many non-Western productions there are constant switches between melodramatics, slapstick or farce, and more serious and nuanced drama - there doesn't seem to be a requirement to stick to one tone. This, combined with the complex maze of secrets and twists that are slowly unravelling, makes The WONDERfools difficult to predict. I'm still holding back on the urge to binge the entire series so I can savour it for as long as possible, but I doubt I can hold out for much longer.

And The Beat Goes On [Honkai Star Rail]

Some more thoughts on Honkai Star Rail:

I've played for a couple of years now, with some breaks - still playing through the Amphoreus storyline. Initially I was put off by the Ancient Greece-inspired setting but I've warmed to it over time, and what's really impressed me is the depth of the story. On several occasions I thought I was approaching the end of this chapter - how silly of me to think that completing the Flame Chase Journey would be the end! instead of reaching any kind of finale, the player is thrown backwards and forwards in time, and whole new layers of reality are uncovered, Matrix or Inception style, with new storylines and characters. 

The story also involves themes of death, loss and self-sacrifice explored in a deeper and more emotional way than storylines earlier in the game, although there are still plenty of comedic elements too.

For no particular reason I'll end this post with a video from the recent Honkai Star Rail concert livestream - a performance of one of the in-game songs, Sway To My Beat In Cosmos, by @chevyha , the voice of Robin.

 

Global Superpower [Review: The WONDERfools episode 1]

Started the first episode of The WONDERfools this week and was completely gripped. The episode opens on Eun Chae-ni (Park Eun-bin, star of Extraordinary Attorney Woo) who lives and works in her grandmother's restaurant, dreams of travelling, has a severe heart condition, no money and lots of punk attitude. Within the first 1-2 minutes there's a fantastic, character-defining scene where she takes on a group of street evangelists announcing the end of the world.

This opening episode is about establishing characters - in addition to Chae-ni, her family and friends, we also meet Lee Un-jeong (Cha Eun-woo), a very junior official in a government complaints office. Where Chae-ni is comically loud and punk, Un-jeong is the opposite, facing down the angry complainant that terrorizes everyone else in the office with a calm, deadpan response. It's early in the series but I feel like it isn't going to be a coincidence that these two have complementary personalities. 

The episode also establishes that there are links between several of the characters, and that pretty much everyone is hiding something. This also applies to the setting, Haesong City, on the surface a regular mid-sized modern town but there are hints of mysterious goings on in the past and the present.

Although I've been looking forward to this series for a long time I didn't know what to expect, apart from a superhero TV show with a different tone from the MCU. I'm now fighting the urge to binge-watch and looking forward to wherever this series takes me.

The Visitor - theremin version

"The Visitor" Sienna Spiro

Theremin cover version played at Queen's Head Open Mic, 7.5.2026 on Lost Volts LV4. Accompaniment John Drummond. Thanks to Neil Dennis for the video.

Happy March 7th

A blessed March 7th to all those who celebrate!

Summertime (George Gershwin) - theremin version

Summertime by George Gershwin, performed on Lost Volts LV4 theremin at Cricketers Open Mic Night, 28th August 2025. Thanks to John Drummond johnsopenmics.uk for accompaniment.

Lost In Your Eyes - theremin version

Happy birthday Debbie Gibson! 

"Lost In Your Eyes" by Debbie Gibson (and the song fairies), performed on Lost Volts LV4 theremin.

Everybody Was Mok'Bara Fighting [Review: Star Trek Section 31]

A team of Section 31 special agents on the hunt for a rumoured superweapon must persuade space pub landlord, ex-Section 31 agent and even-more-ex-Mirror Universe evil dictator Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) to ally with them. It turns out this is not the only thing linking Georgiou and the weapon.

In Star Trek history, Section 31 is the Federation's secret service, sent to carry out covert, deniable missions that might be seen as clashing with the Federation's ideology or laws - a lot like Special Circumstances in Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, or perhaps the secret services of our own world. Section 31 first appeared in Deep Space 9 episodes. They have cropped up in Enterprise, Picard, Lower Decks and some of the recent films, and were central to the plot of Discovery, which also introduced Emperor Georgiou.

The Section 31 movie was in many ways not what I had expected. The films and episodes above give an impression of a sinister and super-efficient spy agency, possibly with a mild black leather fetish. It's a little surprising that the team of special agents in this movie, supposedly Section 31's elite, are actually a bunch of comical, clumsy, arguing misfits. How do they ever actually get anything done? And how did powered-armour-obsessive Zeph and work experience girl Rachel, in particular, qualify for the Star Trek equivalent of 00 status?

However this description misses the point of Section 31, which is really all about Georgiou - and about Michelle Yeoh. I first saw Yeoh in action in the mind-blowing martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yeoh is a talented actor who has appeared in a wide range of roles, not least Everything Everywhere All At Once, but Section 31 is designed to put her martial arts talents centre stage. This is an action-heavy movie in which no opportunity is missed for fantastic, joyous hand to hand combat - unusual in the phaser-heavy world of Star Trek.

Section 31 may not be the best Star Trek movie (obviously that's Galaxy Quest) but it's certainly the best Star Trek martial arts movie.

Score: Three stars out of five.

All movies reviewed on The Sci-Fi Gene blog are awarded three stars out of five.

If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking - theremin version

"If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking" from Honkai: Star Rail. Music by HOYO-MiX, performed in-game by Chevy as Robin. This is my theremin cover version for the Hoyoverse Multiverse Vistas 2025 competition, fan-made music category. I'm playing a Lost Volts LV4 theremin. Backing track uses the official HOYO-MiX score on MuseScore. I am grateful as always to the open source software movement for Blender, MuseScore and Audacity.

The title of this song is also the title of an Emily Dickinson poem which includes the lines "Or help one fainting robin / Unto his nest again" (full poem here) - and I love the way Robin's story in HSR takes inspiration from the poem.

I've really enjoyed the journey of creating these two videos for #MultiverseVistas and continue to enjoy trailblazing my way through the Amphoreus missions.

You can find Chevy on youtube @chevyha and instagram @chiffonhaha.

Honkai: Star Rail Theme - theremin version

Honkai: Star Rail theme by HOYO-MiX - theremin cover version for the Hoyoverse Multiverse Vistas 2025 competition, fan-made music category. I'm playing a Lost Volts LV4 theremin.

Hasta La Multiverse Vistas, Baby [work in progress]

New project intended for the Honkai: Star Rail Multiverse Vistas competition:

Merilick

 A there fellow young once called was Jack
Quite limericks didn't who's track
The his body captive
Brain his of overactive
Wrong and words in would order his stack.

As Time Goes By - theremin version

As Time Goes By, performed at Cricketer's open mic, Halloween 2024

Somewhere Over The Rainbow - theremin version

 

Somewhere Over The Rainbow, performed on Lost Volts LV4 theremin at Cricketer's open mic, Halloween 2024. Thanks to John, Vanessa and Lisa as always. Information about this and other open mic nights here: www.johnsopenmics.uk

There's Thargoids On The Starboard Bow [Elite 3D]

A trip down memory lane: Elite 3D, a version of Elite hacked by Mark Moxon to use anaglyph 3D, playable on a BBC micro emulator (standard BBC B with 6502 second processor). This was one of my favourite BBC games back in the 80s.

Elite was first released for the BBC Micro 40 years ago, on September 20th 1984. At a time when every other game involved three lives and a hi-score table, Ian Bell and David Braben, produced something original and unique - an imaginative 3D sci-fi universe in which you could fly your spaceship from star to star, docking at space stations, trading legal or illegal goods, upgrading your weapons and ship systems, fighting pirates or becoming a pirate yourself. 

Elite was both a creative achievement - the first true open-world game, and a technological achievement - realtime 3D graphics for stars, planets, spaceships, space stations and asteroids, AI for enemy ships, an economic and political simulation, eight galaxies to discover, and a few "surprises" all crammed into 32K for the original BBC version - in fact there's even a 16K Electron version with only a few less features. That's less bytes than an e-mail.

Versions of the game appeared on other home computers and early PCs, each with their own quirks and twists. Braben went on to write two excellent PC sequels, Frontier and Frontier: First Encounters, and (much, much later) successfully returned with the MMO Elite: Dangerous.

The original Elite was known for a steep learning curve, particularly for combat and docking skills. I had forgotten just how hard this game could be: on my first flight I emerged from hyperspace and was immediately attacked by swarms of pirates - there's only one on screen here but look how many are on the scanner. I didn't stand a chance, but at least managed to take three or four down before they got me.

I've never forgotten the sound from this game - particularly the screeching as my shields are worn down by enemy lasers, followed by the crashing sound of hull damage.

Also among the pirates was a Thargoid - I'm quite sure I saw it. I didn't get a screenshot because I was too busy dying.

On the other hand, a few flights later I survived to reach the safe zone, and managed to successfully dock with a space station - this was another hard-earned skill when first playing the game. Inspired by the film 2001, docking involves lining up with the space station entrance, then matching the rotation of the space station.

The trading aspect of the game is also quite hard - even after several more flights buying and selling goods I'd only managed to earn a few extra credits, nowhere near enough for the upgrades I want.

You can play Elite 3D in your browser here. There's more information about it here.

Mark Moxon, the one-time editor of Acorn User, can be found on Mastodon (@markmoxon@universeodon.com) where you can read about his Elite-related and other projects. I love the 3D anaglyph hack - it doesn't change the game at all but adds to the experience while remaining firmly grounded in the 80s. Silly hacks are also part of Elite lore - the best of these was the hack for the Archimedes version that added fluffy dice and a bumper sticker.

Bow Belle

There was a young woman named Saoirse

Who joined Team GB as an aoirse

But her aim wasn’t great

Almost shot her best mate

Which led to her rapid depaoirse.

Tracks Of My Tears [Review: Honkai Star Rail]

I've always enjoyed RPGs and other games with a strong open-world component, where there's a sense that the world is much bigger than the game, that events are unfolding everywhere whether you are there or not, and where you can choose to follow the main game arc, explore, dive into the lore or the social buzz, or take a break and enjoy the scenery. Games such as Omicron:The Nomad Soul, Anachronox or Cloudpunk have been particular favourites.

Honkai Star Rail is another such game. It's a Chinese RPG, although very much in the JRPG style, and is indirectly linked to Genshin Impact and other Hoyoverse games through a kind of multiverse setting. The plot revolves around the hero, a character apparently created to contain a dangerous object called a Stellaron. Following the first missions, set on a giant space station, the hero joins the crew of the Astral Express on its interstellar mission to stop natural disasters caused by other Stellarons.

Like Anachronox and many role playing games, Star Rail involves turn-based combat, with your party of adventurers choosing whether to use their attacks, skills or ultimate moves. As the game goes on you can build up a larger group of characters so you can select which four suit a particular battle. I'm learning which characters work best together and how to activate certain characters' extra attacks or abilities.

It's also ridiculously complex - so far I've found at least six different ways to power-up your characters and develop their abilities. 

Characters follow the paths of Aeons (ancient god-like entities) - this acts a bit like a character class in D&D and decides some of their strengths and abilities. It is possible for characters to change path.

You can also power up your characters with individual experience points, Trailblaze experience points (whole team experience), Light Cones (an individual ability boost), Traces (a kind of tech tree for each character that can enhance their different skills and attacks), Relics (basically armour - masks, body armour, boots etc) and Eidolons (possibly recovered memories that, once earned, add to the character's stats). Light Cones and Relics can themselves be upgraded as well. There are also temporary boosts such as food items.

All clear?

Following the missions in the main story arc will bring you into combat against gradually more powerful enemies, but there are also plenty of non-combat missions. I was surprised to find that, having defeated the big enemy in the second major chapter of the story, I was then sent on a series of missions to listen to the new mayor give speeches, visit all of my newfound friends to say goodbye, and take selfies in all the locations I'd visited, before I could progress to the next chapter. Is this normal for computer games now?

There are also more side quests than you can shake a stick at. Characters in the game will call or text you, with conversations that often lead into invitations or errands, while simply exploring the various cities and talking to inhabitants can also lead into missions. There are daily missions and challenges too - it's actually quite overwhelming, but it does give that sense that you are part of a wider world. If you just want to fight monsters, whether to gain experience or materials for crafting, or just for fun, there are several different types of location where you can do this.

As the difficulty of the main story arc gradually increases I am increasingly finding that I have to abandon it, do a whole load of missions, fights, crafting and upgrading before I can return with stronger characters.

Star Rail is fairly child friendly. It's vague about death - fights take place in a kind of combat zone, and monsters often appear to be banished to some other universe rather than killed, while humans and other sentient characters are usually defeated rather than killed, even if they appear to be blown apart in the combat. There's a lot of friendship, but only hints of romance between any of the characters. 

The world of Star Rail is large, and it expands as you play - each chapter in the story arc is set in a completely new world or space station, each with its own cities or zones. Most of the time you are free to follow the plot missions or leave them behind, teleport freely between different locations and pursue other missions or activities. Each region is distinctive and there's plenty of interesting places to go.

Many aspects of Star Rail prioritize gameplay over realism. It is a game after all. For example, the ability to teleport anywhere, leave one mission behind and follow another, gives a great sense of freedom, but takes away a sense of urgency for the main story missions. It also means the Astral Express itself isn't required for travel, except at the start of each chapter when it brings you to a new location. You can also bring a line-up of any characters you have recruited into a battle - so they can be different from the characters actually present or involved in the mission. Each character has their own attack style and animations, from regular baseball bats, swords or spears to giant chickens and energy-blasting guitars. This is not hard sci-fi.

Star Rail has several play-to-play aspects. However I have been playing for free, without any in-game purchases, and so far I haven't felt disadvantaged or excluded.

A good test of an RPG (for me!) is whether the player warms to the characters and feels invested in their stories. Star Rail passes this test well, at least for several of the main playable characters and NPCs. Overall Star Rail is a fun open-world RPG with enough scope, depth and story for me to lose myself in it for a while longer.