Comment Stream

Re: Star Trek Into Darkness

I personally enjoyed ST:ID, warts and all, plotholes and all. I don't know if ID set itself out to be a "remix" or alternate version of TWOK but there were certainly a lot of clear homages to TWOK though some notable differences too, the most significant one, of course, having Kirk be the one to "die" after repairing the warp core. One of the things that I liked the most about ID is that, instead of Khan being portrayed as a simple megalomaniac out to hunt down and kill Kirk and his crew, he was, at least initially, presented as a somewhat more complex character. Of course, when we first see him, we abhor what he has done (blowing up the Section 31 building, attacking Starfleet and killing some of the senior staff) but after Kirk captures him and we find out more about what is really going on, a more nuanced picture of the situation and of Khan himself emerges. Plus, it was kind of neat to see him and Kirk actually team up against Marcus, at least for a little while. Of course, Khan was using Kirk (and Kirk knew it) and it was only a matter of time before he reverted to being "pure evil" but getting there is still fun to watch. Unlike TWOK, Khan is ultimately subdued by Spock and placed back into cryotube with the rest of his people. I would say that I'm disappointed that we didn't get enough Khan in this movie but I would be incredibly surprised if this is the last we see of him. Just, hopefully, not right away in the next movie

Re: TOS S1: Space Seed

Having been a longtime fan of TWOK, it was interesting to see the TOS ep that preceded it, as well as to go back and look at the character of Khan again after seeing Into Darkness. After watching SS, it makes me wonder to what lengths Marcus went to in order to ensure that Khan didn't commandeer HIS ship and revive his crew after reviving him in the alternate timeline. He obviously was smart enough to ensure that Khan couldn't easily figure how to take control though, of course, Marcus eventually lost control of him thus leading into the plot of Into Darkness. I was dumbfounded by the seeming stupidity of Kirk giving Khan access to technical manuals of the ship. I would think that that sort of information would be considered highly classified but above and beyond that they knew almost nothing about him before giving him such unwarranted access to the information. As for their decision to allow him and his people to go into exile, I think that they probably had no real choice of what to do with him other than to exile him to a remote planet. Unlike the Jack Pack augments, Khan and his people were physically and mentally fit and would be a threat/menace to the Federation and couldn't simply be maintained in an institution. Short of killing him and the rest of his augments, there was almost nothing else they could do with a whole group of super-people stranded out of time. Of course, they probably should've kept tabs on what was going on in the Ceti Alpha system before accidentally stumbling them but then we wouldn't have gotten the excellent TWOK movie, would we?

Re: ENT S2: Regeneration

Though not a huge fan of ENT (actually, my wife and I had only seen the pilot before this episode), I really enjoyed this episode, particularly since it was connected to First Contact, which is one of my favorite ST movies. The story actually felt a LOT like FC in a lot of respects, including the creepy atmosphere, action, and the feeling of dread that pervades the episode. Not since FC have the Borg felt so menacing, even more so (I would argue) than they were in some of the early TNG episodes, maybe even more so because of the pre-TOS technology. Like FC, this felt almost like a suspense/horror movie as characters are being hunted by the Borg and threatened with assimilation via their nanoprobes. I was on the edge of my seat throughout most of the episode though I pretty much suspected that the Enterprise crew would be o.k. I'd say that Earth got rather lucky given that the Borg survivors from First Contact could have potentially achieved their initial objective of assimilating Earth had they stayed on Earth and kept assimilating people left and right. They also might have taken Enterprise had they not left during the ship-to-ship encounter (my only guess is that they were summoned back to the ship to crew it and/or repair it prior to its destruction). However, the ingenuity of the crew, as well as Archer's realization that the science team ultimately could not be rescued, saved the day in a way that seemed plausible and didn't involve some huge contrivance or deus ex machina.

Re: DS9 S7: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

A very well-done and intriguing if somewhat convoluted episode. It was a finely crafted mystery that kept me on my toes trying to figure out what was going on every second of the episode up until the end when Ross explains everything. The one thing that I have not seen mentioned by anybody here nor by Jammer, was anybody sort of freaked out by Koval's repeated questioning of Bashir about the "Quickening" disease and his apparent desire to have it replicated? It makes me wonder if he ever got his hands on it and what exactly he'd do with it if he did? And the Federation was actually there to support HIM- and to get Senator Creetak out of the way!

Re: DS9 S7: Extreme Measures

This was arguably a weak episode, definitely the weakest of the "Final Chapter" episodes but it did have a few scattered good lines and moments that, while not enough to make it a good episode, keep it from being far from the one of the worst ones IMHO (most of the ones dealing with Ferengis or the Mirror Universe). The first part of the episode works well with Kira and Garak bringing Odo back from their last mission to steal the Breen energy weapon and Bashir and O'Brien hatching their plan to capture the expected Section 31 agent (who turns out to be, of course, none other than Sloan). Bashir's rejoinder to Sloan about his protesting the use of the Romulan mind probes as being illegal was clever ("I hope that you can appreciate the irony of that statement!"), as well as his Bond villain-like line about expecting Sloan to "resist until the bitter end" were quite clever. I also was intrigued that there seemed to be a "part" of Sloan that seemed to like Bashir (sort of hinted at the end of "Inter....") and was quite willing to give them the cure once he had made amends-in his mind anyway- to friends and family members in a quite touching scene. Things got a little murkier and less enjoyable when "nice Sloan" was killed by the "bad Sloan" who then promptly disappeared, leaving Bashir and O'Brien lost and confused about where to go to find the information they needed and then getting fooled into believing (briefly) that they were out of Sloan's mind and back on the station with a dead Sloan. The end was a muddled mess with Basir and O'Brien finding Sloan's "office" and sifting through all of Sloan's secrets and Bashir becoming ever so briefly tempted to try and steal more Section 31 secrets at the expense of finding the cure for the Founder disease. Thankfully, O'Brien was there to keep Bashir on track and they ultimately succeeded but it ended up being a close shave. I was happy to see Odo get cured at the end of the episode but I wished that the execution of this episode, as well as the payoff to the Section 31 storyline that started in Season six's "Inquisition" had been a lot better than it end up being.

Re: DS9 S6: The Magnificent Ferengi

Saw this ep for first time last night. As Ferengi eps go, this one was one of the better ones IMHO (perhaps the BEST one, actually). Taken at face value and without any sort of critical examination, it was entertaining and amusing. I laughed out loud when I saw them pull a "Weekend At Bernies" with Keevan and I thought that it was "hilarious" when Keevan's last words were "I hate Ferengi!" before keeling over and dying. It's too bad they killed him off because I kind of liked his character.

Re: DS9 S6: Statistical Probabilities

Just saw this ep for the first time last night. It was nice to finally revisit the Dominion War, which had been basically shunted aside since "Sacrifice of Angels". It was interesting hearing a raw discussion of the costs of the Dominion War, as well as the current course of the war. The thing that continues to bother me though is that the Dominion, pinned down in the Alpha Quadrant without the ability to obtain reinforcements/supplies, still seems utterly invincible and the Federation appears to be on the losing side despite some pretty significant victories under its belt since the end of S5: The destruction of the shipyards (Call to Arms), the destruction of the main K-W facility (A Time To Stand), the destruction of the array (Favor The Bold?), the retaking of DS9 (Sacrifice of Angels) and, most significantly, the apparent destruction of the reinforcements from the GQ in the Wormhole and the Prophets' intervention to prevent further Dominion reinforcements from the GQ (Sacrifice of Angels). Given those losses, it's hard to believe that the Dominion was, at this this point, still poised to win and the Federation so desperately losing- so much so that even Bashir was convinced that the Federation should surrender! It's a relief that he finally came back to his senses after Sisko and O'Brien (and even Quark to some extent) sobered him up a bit (and both Sisko and O'Brien were on target with their reactions to Bashir's suggestion). I was aghast at Jack's follow-up plan to deliver classified intelligence to Weyoun and Damar but thankful he didn't succeed. Seeing Weyoun and Damar hiding out in a storage bay waiting for him to show up was priceless, as was Odo's reaction to finding them there. LOL. All in all, it was an interesting and thought-provoking episode. Although I consider myself an intellectual, I realize that "the numbers" aren't the end-all/be-all of our existence and that there are significantly more variables in any given situation than can be adequately anticipated/accounted for in "the numbers" as the conclusion of the Dominion War approx 1 year later proved.

Re: DS9 S6: Sacrifice of Angels

I have some of the same misgivings that most people here have. It was a great episode but seemed a bit rushed and, of course, contrived. I think that the main problem with how they resolved the Occupation Arc due to the writers gradually digging the characters on the station into a hole that was almost literally impossible for them to get out of, starting with Rom, the only person capable of disabling the station's deflector, being captured by the Dominion and thrown into a holding cell while Damar proceeded with his plan to deactivate the minefield. Once Damar successfully detonated the minefield allowing for Dominion reinforcements to come through the wormhole, the writers REALLY had to be in a bind at the point, hence the "deus ex machina" use of the Prophets that they ultimately used to get rid of the Dominion fleet at the end. In a way, I didn't like it but I honestly couldn't think of anything short of a genuine "miracle" that was going to save the Federation at that point, which is, of course, exactly what Sisko got. Other than the season finale, the Occupation Arc (sans Sons & Daughters, which I only recently saw on DVD) was all that I've seen of S6, so I'll be eager to see what the rest of S6 is like.

Re: DS9 S5: Call to Arms

An awesome season finale that not only shook things up (something that has been happening a lot during this season) but completely changed the status quo with our band of heroes actually being forced to ABANDON the station and allow the Dominion to capture it. The whole thing was golden but the best scenes by far were the sabotage of the station that Kira and Odo implemented prior to the Dominion boarding the station, as well as Nog's reaction to the Dominion and calls for payback. Seeing the Defiant and Rotarran join the Federation/Klingon fleet at the end was simply awe-inspiring. Although it was definitely a victory for the Dominion, it was gratifying that they suffered some setbacks- as Weyoun ruefully points out to Dukat, who seems so "drunk" on their capture of the station that he doesn't seem to care about the larger picture of the war.

@Justin@Paul: I too thought that it was a little strange that they had enough time to abandon the station in the way that they did but I had always assumed that there was an off-screen moment where Sisko issued a formal surrender to the Dominion fleet in exchange for an opportunity to leave the station, which was granted (probably by Weyoun), though OTOH the Dominion ships were still firing on the Defiant and Rotarran as they were leaving, so maybe not. Perhaps, once the minefield was activated, it took some of the wind out of the sails of the Dominion fleet and they realized that they would have to leave the station intact in order to disable the minefield, so they simply ceased their assault for the moment. Maybe they saw that the Federation was abandoning the station, so they just figured that they'd let them leave- so that they wouldn't have to waste more energy fighting them? It is a good question. Just not sure there is a good answer for how they played this scene. It didn't really detract too much from the episode for me, however.

Re: DS9 S4: Body Parts

@Anthony2816: I was wondering about that too. I expected Garak to follow through on his promise to "surprise" Quark after he decided to break his contract with Brunt but it was just like the whole subplot with Garak disappeared by the end of the episode without even a mention. I would have liked to have seen some kind of subtle nod between Quark and Garak that killing him (Quark) was off- though I'm sure that Garak eventually figured it out that Quark had called the plan off when his bar was sacked by the FCA and, well, Garak is smart enough to not want to be open about their plan.

Re: DS9 S4: Hard Time

It probably wasn't supposed to be the point of the ep but it would have been nice to understand a little more about what O'Brien did to warrant such a punishment and,more importantly, why the Feds would not have been able to get the Agrathi to reverse the procedure. Seems like there should have been an extradition hearing before his mind was messed with in the first place too. No Fed recriminations for what the Agrathi did to one of its officers? However, substance-wise the ep made for a good dramatic ep.

Re: DS9 S4: Rules of Engagement

I agree with the last post. It was pretty clear that what happened was an accident and that pretty much anybody in command of a starship CURRENTLY ENGAGED WITH a hostile enemy, particularly one engaging in hit-and-run/cloak tactics, would likely have made the same mistake. Why would Worf or any other starship captain expect a simple unarmed transport to suddenly de-cloak in front of them in the middle of a battle with hostile forces in the first place? O'Brien would have made a different decision if in charge? Really? Interesting episode but I think that Worf's case for acting as he did was stronger and more obvious than what it was made out to be in this episode IMHO. I don't honestly know how anybody would've reacted differently under the same exact circumstances.

Re: TNG S1: Too Short a Season

I see this episode as being generally despised by ST fans, however I thought that it was a fairly solid-by S1 standards-story. I thought that the story was actually quite interesting with an elderly starfleet admiral being forced to confront the consequences of his secret actions many years ago, as well as the tragic implications of his decision to use an alien de-aging drug, not only for himself but also his wife, who was left in the dark about Jameson's decision to use the drugs so that he could be part of this mission. I liked how the episode dealt with Jameson's past decisions to arm both sides and acknowledges that Jameson (probably) made a huge mistake by arming combatants on both sides that cost Karnas' world years of death and devastation BUT also smartly acknowledges the fact, as Picard points out, Karnas didn't have to keep the fighting going either and that he could have worked for peace.

Re: Star Trek: First Contact

This was one of my favorite Star Trek movies and is what, perhaps, did the most to turn me into a Star Trek spinoff fan even though I had been casually watching the series- in various incarnations for years. Instead of meandering around a lot- like in Generations- this was thrilling and suspenseful story that reminded me of what I liked so much about movies like Aliens and other horror films. For some reason, BOBW and other TNG episodes (except maybe the first one-Q-Who?) never really made me fear the Borg. Yes, they were powerful and threatening to the Federation and, yes, they ravaged an entire Federation fleet and captured Captain Picard and turned him into one of them but here they exhbit a truly menacing presence, establishing a foothold on the Enterprise itself and mercilessly picking off Enterprise crew members one at a time and turning them into Borg drones, almost like a good zombie movie. The sight of seeing a crew member lying on the ground turning grey as he is assimilated by the nanoprobes injected into him is creepy but what is even more creepy is Picard dispassionately phasering him to death, in accordance with his previous chilling directive to fire on former Enterprise crew members assimilated by the Borg. The movie's study of how Picard's previous experiences with the Borg and how others around him viewed his actions and judgement regarding the Borg was the most compelling part of the movie, an interesting contrast with the character of Khan in TWOK. Here, our "hero" is the one with "revenge issues". Thankfully, unlike Khan, Picard had a more supportive crew and other people around whom were willing to confront him about his recklessness and ultimately saved him (and, likely humanity), from himself. The one thing that I found slightly odd about Picard's intense reaction towards the Borg is that this isn't the first time since BOBW that Picard was faced with the Borg. After all, the Enterprise did encounter the Borg in two different episodes during the TV series (I, Borg & Descent) and he did not exhibit quite the same level of intensity towards them that he did towards the Borg in this particular situations. Plus, he did have some emotional release in "Family", which immediately followed BOBW. However, this is only a minor point. Picard's relentless vendetta against the Borg made for some really memorable scenes towards the end and it was great seeing Picard get really angry and fiery for once. Data's back-and-forth dialog with the Borg Queen was really fascinating as well and I was definitely not the only one in the theater who cheered loudly when he turned the tables on the Borg Queen, who thought that she had Data under her thumb, and not only prevented Cochrane's warp ship from being destroyed by deliberately missing it but took out the Queen and the rest of the Borg collective by venting the plasma core. Awesome scene. It was also nice to see other supporting cast members on Earth playing a significant role in helping ensure that the warp flight goes as planned. The fact that Vulcans turned out to be the first ETs to make contact with Earth seemed......well...fitting, given their prominent role in the UFP. Excellent movie all around.

Note: I've often thought it would've been neat to have somehow managed to bring Sisko into the story to compare and contrast their reaction to the Borg, given that both of them were intimately affected by the Borg's invasion of the Federation and the battle of Wolf 359. It probably would've ended up being too much storyline to handle but it would've made for an interesting crossover.

Re: Star Trek (2009)

Having been disappointed by "Star Trek: Nemesis" and despairing of the very real possibility of no further Star Trek films (TNG or otherwise), I was both pleasantly surprised and apprehensive about a "reboot" of the ST franchise and what it might look like. After seeing the film, my fear and apprehension about the film quickly evaporated and found myself enthusiastically embracing the "reboot" button that Abrams pushed on the series. Having gone in with the expectation that we would be seeing another "prequel", I was shocked to discover that not only was this a prequel but they were completely demolishing the established universe and creating an entirely different reality, one that, thankfully, was NOT "reset" by the end of the movie. Whatever else you might think about the movie, it's pretty hard to argue that it wasn't "gutsy" by blowing up Vulcan AND leaving it blown up at the end of the movie. I thought that Abrams chose his cast wisely to fill the shoes (or boots) of the TOS-era characters and loved all of the nods and homages to the franchise. There were plot holes and contrivances aplenty to be sure, however as being somebody more interested in being entertained than making sure that everything makes perfect sense, they didn't bother me much, at least not to my overall enjoyment of the movie. If I had to liken this to any of the previous ST movies in, I'd have to say that this reminded me of everything I loved about ST:First Contact in terms of tight pacing, visuals. I also quite enjoyed Giachhiano's bombastic score for the movie which fit the movie well and whose end credits paid homage to the original Alexander Courage theme. I look forward to further new adventures in the Abrams-penned rebooted ST universe!