Comment Stream

Re: DSC S1: Context Is for Kings

I'm onboard.
There are many things I could question or quibble about, but so far the stuff I like is winning me over and I'm willing to wait for answers, or look the other way. For now. All of the Trek series have masterpieces and failures. Changes. This one will be no different, and I think this one is off to a good start.

I'm definitely grateful that I gave this show lots of thought before I watched it. I worked hard to not approach it with any particular expectations, so far as any Trek fundamentalism goes. I only hoped for two things: more good episodes than not good, and pretty please now and then address current issues.

As far as I'm concerned, 3 for 3 episodes dominated with female characters is my second concern answered, in spades. I loved Michael in this episode. But I also like that she isn't the lone woman in the mix - that's a very pleasant surprise. Especially in our current political climate. Michael figures out the code and stands up to a grizzly bear type monster in an episode that just happens to air on the same weekend that the idiots in DC are saying Puerto Rico is "in the middle of a big ocean, a very big ocean."

So I'm onboard.

Re: DS9 S6: Profit and Lace

These sorts of episodes are a strong argument for the British 6-10 episodes per season (series in British nomenclature). As I rewatch DS9, I find myself wanting to skip ahead to the relevant Dominion episodes, which even the Magnificent Ferengi embedded itself in. In British TV, there isn't the pressure to produce 24-26 episodes per season, so you don't end up pulling scripts of the reject pile because you don't have anything better in the pipe, and I view this as a reject script that should have stayed on the reject pile.

But this was a throwback to some of the more uncomfortable TOS and even early TNG episodes, with the cringe-worthy sexism. I realize it's all done in the name of Ferengi female liberation, but the episode does it so badly, the writing is so awful, and ultimately the whole thing comes off as wrongheaded I barely could stomach the 50 minutes of blech. This isn't just one of the worst Season 6 episodes, it's one of the worst DS9 episodes, and in the top ten bad Star Trek episodes.

If they wanted to show Ferengi society becoming more liberated, even in a humorous way (which, let's face it, the Ferengi episodes are), surely they could have found a better vehicle than this.

Re: VOY S5: Fifth Season Recap

Thanks Rosario and Jammer for the discussion. It was really refreshing, and honestly reminded me of questions that ran through my head when I first found your reviews Jammer, which was by now many years ago. These days, I use your reviews as cross-reference against Memory Alpha.

I had always meant to ask this Jammer, but I've noticed that your reviews span series beyond Star Trek. Might I ask why Babylon 5 is missing?

I have to tell you, my first exposure to Star Trek was during reruns in the '70s. Of course I saw every subsequent series first-run.

I remember feeling a mix of bewilderment and even a little indignation years ago, over a decade ago now, at what I thought of as the harshness of the lens that Voyager was subjected to, whereas DS9 was so triumphantly exulted by comparison.

Not to rehash what you and Rosario have already very well discussed, but I must agree. With the exception of DS9 (I have not seen a single season of ENT), Star Trek at the time was never meant to be serialized, and any hint at continuity was almost tongue-in-cheek. Last year's TNG cast reunion spoke to the lack of continuity as well (someone put the question to Wheaton, who answered).

I have to admit, I always thought of being disappointed in any Trek but DS9 for not having long-term consequences, continuity, or reference to what had happened before to be rather similar to being disappointed in water for being wet. Sure, it has the potential to be hard as ice, or misty as steam, but it's not. It's water. It's wet. Potential doesn't enter into it.

But with all that off my chest, I have to say; I especially loved your DS9 reviews. And if I could convince you somehow to get into B5 and review it, I would be very very very pleased.

Don't get me wrong, obviously I read your reviews over a decade later; and it should be clear that I value them. You have a wonderful critique. I have simply felt that the lack of big picture got on your nerves more than it probably deserved to.

Happy New Year!

Re: BSG S1: You Can't Go Home Again

I agree with Max as well. This episode seriously damaged my opinion of the characters, if not the whole show. If this were Star Trek or the real military, the next in command would have relieved the captain and taken over command as he was acting irrationally and endangering the entire fleet for personal reasons. The fleet, his ship and 50,000 people are not his personal tool to wield as his moods or feelings dictate. To quote Spock, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Starbuck flying the Cylon ship was just too much disbelief to suspend. There was a gaping hole in the hull. The ship is not airworthy, let alone spaceworthy. The end. Even if a jacket stuffed in the hole could keep some of the air in while she was on the ground, the jacket would have disintegrated as she passed through the atmosphere, much like her ship did on entry. For the sake of argument, lets assume that the jacket is 100% fireproof and indestructible. Without some sort of super adhesive, the jacket would be sucked out the hole as soon as the ship hit the vacuum of space. No amount of "cramming it in there good" would keep this from happening. even if it didn't get sucked out, it wouldn't be an air tight seal. The air would be sucked directly from the tube it was coming out of to the hole and out into space. Lack of oxygen or the vacuum of space would render her unconsious and then dead within minutes, let alone both at the same time. To Michael, regarding "Since it was humans who created the Cylons in the first place, it stands to reason that Starbuck would be able to fix one of their vessels and fly it." This makes no sense. That's like saying that beacuse a human designed a F18 jet, that any pilot should be able to hop in and fly it with no instructions, with controls that weren't designed to be operated by hands and feet, no gauges, indicators, radar or visibility. Even if she got off the moon, having no radar, charts or anything else to orient her own position in the endlessness of space, not to mention the position of anything else, with her just "looking out the window" as it were, the chances of her even running into the Galactica or being found by it are about a zillion to one. There isn't even an up or down in space. Without any sort of orientation, she would be comletely lost. Even if all of this were possible and she did run in to Apollo, she would never be able to outfly and avoid being killed by the 2nd best pilot in the fleet the first time flying this damaged vehicle via the imprecise controls of pulling and kicking various tubes or cables or whatever they were. That is alot to overcome.

Re: VOY S4: Day of Honor

Soo, was this the only time in Star Trek history where the warp core ejection system actually works?