Comment Stream

Re: DS9 S4: The Quickening

One of my very favorite episodes! I always cry at the scenes with the baby at the end.

Re: Sobering and trivial reflections on a 25th anniversary

Congratulations on a quarter century of reviews!

I believe I've been following your site since the very beginning! I discovered your site while on school campus one day back in March 1995, trying out this unusual little program called Netscape Navigator, and saw the Internet, *graphically*, for the very first time ever (I had only experienced the Internet as ASCII text up until that point). And how cool I thought, someone is reviewing the latest Trek spinoff, Star Trek: Voyager. And so intelligently written, thoughtful and in-depth, I'll have to keep following these reviews at home. Still have the URL I jotted down that day... (actually found it in a list of hand written bookmarks on my old Apple IIGS computer that I used back then!). Remember this?

http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~epsicokh/trek/

Hope you and your family stay well during this crisis. I'm unfortunately in the epicenter of COVID outbreak in Canada, we surpassed over 4,000 infected in just this province alone (we're above New York). Trying to stay self-isolated and occupied but I was shaken when one of my neighbors was wheeled out on an ambulance stretcher in the middle of the night, right next door to me. Keeps getting closer it seems. Scary stuff indeed. Could you even had imagined this kind of scenario just a few weeks ago?

Well, still enjoying your reviews all these years later, it's like no time has past coming back here and reading them! It's a bit like comfort food, it brings you back to days of long ago!

Re: Latest 'Picard' trailer reveals familiar faces

@OmicronThetaDeltaPhi

I hoped once STD flopped (and boy, did it ever!), CBS might rethink their strategy and give us back real Trek. Instead, looks like they're doubling-down with STP, sigh. So yeah, you're probably right that real Star Trek isn't coming back for a very long time...if ever.

Not sure why you think that. I actually REALLY like the Orville! It has its flaws, and at times reminds of Voyager, but I'm actually enjoying it for the fact it basically *IS* Star Trek (just the generic no-name brand of it). I feel like I'm back in the early 90's, watching new episodes of TNG or VOY! Hasn't quite hit the level of TNG at its peak, but if the writing keeps improving, as it has, it just might come close! (won't say close to DS9, the writing and stories on that show were just masterful, some of the best TV watching ever).

Re: Latest 'Picard' trailer reveals familiar faces

@OmicronThetaDeltaPhi and Jimmy

I'll admit I enjoyed Generations and First Contact, despite their flawed writing. I'm less forgiving of Insurrection and Nemesis, though if I watched any of these film again today, I might have a differing opinion. Especially in contrast to JJ-Trek and STD, I think Nemesis is likely to feel like Casablanca now! ;)

I think I should have phrased that as..."the people who gave us the Trek we knew and loved are slowly fading away". Doesn't mean we can't have a new generation of writers and actors to keep what they started going. It's just discouraging seeing those people pass away and the new ones replacing them literally vandalizing the very notion of Star Trek. I want to hope and believe one day, somehow, we get back real Star Trek. Maybe that's wishful thinking at this point...

Thumbs up for the comment about books, DVD's and Blu-rays! I actually bought the TNG series boxset and the first 10 movies on Blu-ray and planning to sit and re-watch them soon! Still hoping to pick up TOS and TAS series on Blu-ray if they drop in price (guess I'll have to settle for DVD's for DS9).

Re: Latest 'Picard' trailer reveals familiar faces

@ Jimmy - It's also the first time we've lost a main cast member from the post-TOS era Trek (TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT). Hard to believe so much time has past that we're at that point...

Which brings up the point, Picard could very well be the LAST chance for any kind of TNG send off (Nemesis certainly wasn't it). How long before Stewart, Frakes, McFadden, Dorn, Spiner, Siritis and Burton are too old to act, or pass away? And sadly, with STP, it looks like we're getting more non-canon (and more nonsense!) Trek, in the same vein of STD. I would prefer at this point if they just left things alone, unless they bring back classic Trek writers or at least people who know what Trek was about.

I think at this point I'm going to consider "All Good Things..." the final ending to TNG and make believe everything past it never happened (like I've done post Aliens, Terminator 2, Ghostbusters 2, and so many other ruined franchises). At any rate, seeing the original actors and writers die just makes me realize the Trek we knew and loved is slowly fading away.

Re: Latest 'Picard' trailer reveals familiar faces

On a rather somber note, we lost some notable people formerly involved in (real!) Star Trek this month.

As of December 10, 2019:

Dec. 8: René Auberjonois - actor who played Odo in Deep Space Nine
Dec. 5: Robert Walker - actor who played Charlie in the TOS episode, "Charlie-X"
Dec. 2: D.C. Fontana - writer of TOS episodes, as well as TAS, TNG and DS9

Rather sadden me to hear about Auberjonois. Deep Space Nine was one of my all time favorite Trek shows, and always hoped there might be a movie, sequel of some sort of continuation. His passing really lessens the possibility of that, and just sad in general to lose such a great actor and Trek personality.

D.C. Fontana is another hard loss, there are just so many great stories and ideas she contributed to Trek lore, in fact she embodied a lot of what Star Trek was.

Re: DSC S2: Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2

@ Brain - I wholeheartedly agree. I've been a regular follower of Jammer's site for nearly 25 years now (honestly, started back in early 1995 reading his Voyager reviews from a text-based terminal program!) and know how critical he has been in the past. His reviews always incredibly insightful, well analyzed and written, but each and every single star (even half stars!) had to be deservedly earned. No free passes. In fact there were several times I felt he scrutinized certain episodes a little TOO critically in terms of the star rating.

Best examples were TNG's "Darmok" and DS9's "Sacrifice of Angels" only getting 3 stars, when clearly they deserve 4 stars. Does anyone here, including Jammer, believe STD's "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2" is on equal footing with those? Or "If Memory Serves..." is superior to both those TNG and DS9 episodes?

I'll read the reviews, see we generally see eye to eye, but then scratch my head when I see the star rating, and think, is he even rating the same episode he just reviewed? What irks me is how TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, TOS and TAS and others had such high standards for stars given out, and STD gets such different treatment. Like it's "special" and needs to be segregated in its own little world.

As for this particular episode, especially when I compare it to most any from TNG or DS9 era, it just screams of being intellectually bankrupt. I don't watch Trek for non-stop explosions (sparingly used, admittedly fun though), sci-fantasy, terrible acting, unrelatable cardboard characters, and piss poor writing and logic. To me this episode deserves something in the order of 1 or 1.5 stars, and that's being generous if it honestly wants to be considered official Star Trek canon.

You know, I'm looking back now not only at season 2, but the series as a whole up to this point. Dare I say it, there is not ONE SINGLE EPISODE I would actually want to sit and re-watch again. Not one s-i-n-g-l-e episode, now or any point in the future.

Even Enterprise, as much as I disliked that series, I can still think of a handful of episodes that were fun or entertaining that I could re-watch again (e.g. "Dear Doctor", "In a Mirror, Darkly"). Ditto for Voyager which has a good handful or more, despite its overall failing as a series.

At any rate, I highly respect Jammer's reviews but I'm going to have to shake my head every time I see STD getting above average to excellent star ratings (I feel the same way with the star rating for recent Star Wars films; Last Jedi 3.5 stars? Seriously? Am I missing something?). I really feel like STD caters towards the lowest-common-denominator out there, and almost feel like these star ratings are trying to cater towards them by not hurting that groups feelings. Are we not allowed to be critical anymore?

Re: DSC S2: If Memory Serves

*Ahem*, if I may...

TNG's "Darmok" received 3 stars, but this episode of Discovery deserves a full 4 stars? More extreme, DS9's "Sacrifice of Angels" shamefully and far too critically received only 3 stars, but this episode of Discovery get a 4 star rating of perfection? Really?

I'm going to assume Jammer's thinking is each TV series is relative to the other, with him holding a higher level of expectation and standards of one over the other (i.e. if this were an episode of DS9, it likely would've scored 1 or 2 stars), but still... it's cringe worthy to see anything about this so-called Trek series get such high praise.

Personally, I found "If Memory Serves" fares no better than any other episode in this series so far. Sure, maybe it plays out better and above than some of the other really poorly written episodes of season one, but did I truly enjoy it? Did it make me re-examine my feelings on Star Trek Discovery on a whole? Absolutely "no" to both. Sorry, I just can't stomach this TV show, it is not Star Trek and it is just not a good television series in general.

As of this date, there is not one single episode of Star Trek Discovery I would ever want to watch again. It's depressing (even the opening title music is about as uplifting as a funeral march!), dull, convoluted, confusing and just a big giant mess. I suppose I still watch it out of obligation, in that I've seen every single episode of Trek (and movie)--ever. It's hard to believe that anything could be worse than Enterprise or Voyager, but even with those series, there are still a handful of episodes I could again re-watch and enjoy.

Yeah, I know I sound cynical here but honestly, I've tried to be as opened minded and neutral as possible to get into Discovery and I just...cannot. Sorry, but this show is just terrible, and I certainly disagree that this particular episode deserves 4 stars.

Re: DSC S2: General Discussion

What can I say, I have no enthusiasm whatsoever for STD's season two. Season one was literally a chore to sit through and watch, it was just THAT bad (and I'm not even touching on how completely detached it was from anything Star Trek related; speaking as someone who's seen ever episode of every Trek series, even the animated one).

Unless CBS has completely reboot the series, which I very much doubt, I'm going to have difficulty sitting through it once again. But hey, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, I did sit through all of Voyager and Enterprise in hopes those would improve. Unfortunately they never did and I get the same feeling we'll be on the same path with STD. Heh, ironically, the only positive of STD... re-watching some Voyager episodes recently actually seem palatable by contrast! I never would've imagined anything could make Voyager look good!

Re: Pondering Patrick Stewart's return to the franchise

Wow, here's RedLetterMedia's pitch for a show titled "Star Trek: Galaxy".

https://youtu.be/xe1hKZjCVyM

I really wish this fan pitch could be submitted to CBS as it is *exactly* the type of Star Trek I've been yearning for every since TNG and DS9 went off the air decades ago. Voyager and Enterprise visually looked the part, but the writing, direction and characterization of the cast were abysmal to say the least; rather like feeding your brain a junk food version of Trek. Still, as bad as they were, they still were Trek on a basic level. As for STD, it is so incredibly bad I cannot even categorize as good or bad Trek, it just isn't Trek, period. Honestly it's just turned me off completely from the series. It's offensive it carries the Star Trek name and just about killed my decades of enthusiasm for the series.

At any rate, this Galaxy pitch rather reminds me of the film U-571, same type of premise (loosely) but in this case having to resurrect, repair and pilot a (now) outdated Federation Galaxy class starship to get back home, with Picard in command. How cool would that be? Suggest you guys watch their pitch, I'm curious what you think.

Unfortunately we'll likely get something completely different from CBS instead, along the lines of Star Trek: Discovery if not worse. Mindless garbage that goes against everything that Trek has ever stood for, and likely will rewrite Picard as an action-guy, punching and shooting his way out of situations rather than using diplomacy and cerebral thinking. I almost don't think I can stand to watch it.

Re: DSC S1: Will You Take My Hand?

Yeah...I mean, I can understand them winning because...L'Rell or Tyler or someone takes over and likes them, but...The "Big Bomb" thing?

I'm wondering if the Mirror Mommy plotline was added halfway through. (Partly due to protests on killing her off?) That might explain some of the clumsiness.

I mean, I can see her being WANTED to be used in it...but, well? It feels like Lorca's 'Pure Evil', and such was reversed. (Also, the bomb is just OY)

I'm betting that the last bits, where it kinda collapses, are the parts where they only had vague ideas, not detailed notes.

Re: DSC S1: What's Past Is Prologue

@ Jay - I completely agree with you. The visual aspects of Discovery simply don't fit in, and not just the underlining technology, even the way ships move through space. In Star Trek there is a sense of science-fiction realism when ships move slowly at impulse with blinking navigation lights, the current show is more like science-FANTASY (ships move more like Star Wars, and the spinning saucer section borders on cartoon level of visuals!). Of course that is only the tip of the ice berg with what's wrong with Discovery, I just don't consider it cannon at this point (anymore than the last three Trek films). At best it's an alternative reality Trek.

@ Ed - I don't buy that and here's the thing. EVERY incarnation of Star Trek following TOS has acknowledged the TOS universe, unmodified, as it aired in the 60's. TNG episode "Relics" showed the original bridge of the NCC-1701, just as it appeared in 1966-69. DS9 "Trials and Tribble-ations" showed the crew actually interacting on scenes of the original "Trouble of Tribbles" episode, further cementing THAT as reality. Then ENT had "In a Mirror, Darkly", which showed the bridge of the Defiant and the uniforms of the crew, just as it did in the 1960's TOS episode. Even VOY and TAS acknowledged the TOS era of technology, costumes and history in their episodes.

STD (and the new JJ-era movies) are the first to throw all that history in the trash bin, and ignore the past.

There are just some things so bad, I have no choice but to ignore them as official cannon. Just like everything beyond Aliens, or everything beyond Terminator 2, or everything beyond Nemesis (mind you, Nemesis is pushing it, but at least it was visually recognizable as was the technology).

Re: DSC S1: The Wolf Inside

Well, I have no comments about this particular episode, but I do have much to say about Star Trek Discovery as a whole. As a matter of fact, I've held back since it started in September, so this is the very first time I'm sharing my thoughts about the new series.

Let's just say I'm no stranger to Trek, I've watched EVERY single episode of EVERY series (TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, all 13 films) and viewed most during their original run, save for TOS which dates back before I was born. I've also been a regular of Jammer's site since it opened in 1995. Okay, sure, I was incredibly disappointed (to put it lightly) with VOY, ENT, Nemesis, and almost completely turned off to the series with the reboot films, but never could I imagine it sinking any lower. Oh my, then along came STD (perhaps it should be short for "Star Trek Dreck"?).

I made every effort to be opened minded and really, really wanted to enjoy this, but I simply cannot. Plain and simply, this is not Star Trek. Worse, it is not even entertaining or well written television. This is a dark, depressing, violent and aimless show. Horrible writing, grotesque visuals (horror film gore in Star Trek?) and just mediocre plotting and pacing. By contrast watching TNG was fun, exciting, wondrous and left me feeling a sense of optimism and hope for the future. As others have said, it was a world I've always fantasized about living in. DS9 had dark moments for sure, but it was still firmly planted in the established Trek universe, and dealt directly with how certain events or people conflicted in that universe. It showed a darker side of the Trek universe, yet while still plausibly existing in that
universe. The characters were complex and relatable, and most of all, likeable. I was
completely absorbed by the stories, characters and settings. Stories I still distinctly
remember decades later, and lessons and morals (be it TNG, DS9 or TOS) I still refer back to this very day. I was touched, moved and inspired watching Trek, how many other television shows do that? By contrast, watching Discovery leaves me feeling sick and depressed afterwards, and certainly uninspired. I don't care about these characters, about where the show is going, sitting through and watching it is just a chore. Forcing myself to endure it in hopes, maybe, somehow, I'll acquire a taste for it and it'll somehow improve. I think it's clear at this point, I'm fooling myself that such a moment will ever come.

Let me also point out that STD is *not* science-fiction, it is science-fantasy. When I think back to the Star Trek films of the 80's, the Enterprise on impulse engines moved in a very slow, plodding and steady manner. It FELT like an actual spaceship moving through space, something I could imagine as existing in our far future. Compare that to scene of the USS Discovery in "Into the Forest I Go", where the ship is rapidly blinking in and out of space every half second, while the saucer section is spinning like a fringing Figet spinner toy after each jump. What is this, a cartoon? Even Star Wars isn't that hyper about how ships move. A spore drive, using what seems more like magic and fantasy to navigate space?

Then there is the way these characters talk and act. Tilly sounds like one of the cast from Two Broke Girls or Modern Family (or any current day sitcom/drama), and the crew dropping F-bombs on top of that? This is supposed to be the future, where humans have highly evolved and entered a period of enlightenment, these are merely contemporary copies of any Joe Blow off the street from 2018. Not just in the way they speak, but the way they act as well. And don't get me started on the Klingons, which have been transformed into some kind of violent space-monsters (and look like the California Raisins!) with the most grating and ear piercing of vocals.

Well I could go on for pages, but this is just to say I do not like what I see. I find myself already fatigued with this series and it's not even done with its first season yet. Voyager was campy and ridiculous, and Enterprise was dull, but at least I could still recognize them as Star Trek series. I even managed to enjoy a few episodes from those series. So far, there is nothing I am walking away with from Discovery except a sense of depression and feeling of dread. After watching "The Wolf Inside", I felt the need to rinse my mind of it by turning on a light comedy show afterwards.

Will I still continue to watch Discovery? Probably for now, just out of curiosity to see where its headed. I definitely do not like its direction, and feel at this point, I'm just watching like someone fixated by the sight of a train wreck or other disaster. I think the fact it has "Star Trek" in its name is the reason I haven't completely stopped watching it. I have to chuckle about something though. Years ago, I distinctly remember one of you on Jammer's site commenting, if a new Star Trek series were released that is nothing but a TV test pattern, we'd still watch it. Well hats off to whomever said that, looks like you were right!

Re: TNG S1: The Big Goodbye

Jammer...really? Not sure I will put much credence to subsequent reviews. I thought this to be a fascinating episode and exploration of a technology that IS sci first and at the time no one had seen to this extent. Your review is a beacon unto the unworthiness of retrospectives and the snobbery that goes with the territory.

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

@Brandon
"I don’t have the money."

Neither do I, but luckily it's airing on the CTV network up here in Canada, which is a free over-the-air channel (much like CBS, NBC, ABC or FOX in the States). In otherwords, fully expect it to be available freely in downloadable form.

@Omicron

"There’s also “a Word of God” from Roddenberry and the production staff of TOS that the arrowhead symbol was intended for use aboard all Starfleet starships, and that the few counterexamples we’ve seen were mistakes. "

Interesting about the arrow head Starfleet logo. I had no idea the different badges were simply production errors! I always though it was unique to the Enterprise NCC-1701 crew, and because of their special and unique merits, it was later adopted by Starfleet in the future. OK -- scratch that particular nitpick about Discovery!

@Dom

"Precisely this. Trek at its core was about optimism, adventure and exploration in the fun sense of the word, liberal humanism. At a time when people thought the nuclear superpowers would destroy the world, Trek said that there is a future and it is bright. "

Well said! And that precisely explains the part of my nitpick about the look and feel of this new show.

Ironically, the world today seems to be once again at the same crossroad it was with regards to the nuclear superpowers destroying the world. And so much more really (climate change/crash, daily terror attacks, extinction of animal species , record breaking temperatures, droughts, famine, floods, etc). If ever you wanted Trek to paint a bright future and give hope, now would be it! Maybe the show reflects how little optimize there is in 2017 for our future?

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

"The problem is that they’ve changed EVERYTHING, including the general feel of the show. The trailer looks like it came from some dark dystopian film rather than Star Trek. And unlike some random and obscure continuity trivia, this fact bothers me a great deal."

Oh, I completely agree and couldn't have said it better myself! Those are all my feelings too. This drifts even further away from Trek than the movies IMO. At this point though, I'm just nitpicking the trivia details because there's just so much wrong with the whole thing, that it's almost not worth pointing out. :) It's not even the tip of the iceberg what's wrong with Discovery (from what we can see so far).

As for the insignia badge, didn't the captain of the USS Constellation (TOS's Doomsday Machine) have a very different looking badge? Or for that matter, the crew from any other federation starship in TOS.

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

Brandon: Maybe I'm making a bit of a stretch here, but if they have little to no interest in acknowledging the look, feel and essence of the Trek universe, where will that leave stories, writing and the original vision of the show?

Hey, if they can pull off amazing stories and characters with great depth and development, plus fascinating sci-fi that has a point to tell, all the power to this series. I just don't see that happening from the peek we're getting here (and I'm afraid the films really set a bad precedent for future Trek). I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong though, but we'll just have to wait and see....

So why don't you want to watch it beyond the pilot?

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

I can't even get past the publicity photo (see Gizmodo.com link above). Their uniforms look like a cross between a Nascar driver's suit, and the blue jumpsuits from Enterprise. And if this is before Kirk's time, each ship is supposed to have a different insignia badge (the universally worn Starfleet badge didn't come about until the movie era, right?). Maybe it bothers me because just underlines the fact this is a different universe/reality from regular Trek.

I'll watch it and see, but we should get a sense of whether it passes or fails after an episode or two. Or rather has enough potential to continue watching (TNG and DS9 were pretty rough in their early seasons, but I could tell they would blossom into something great, and they did). I will say I don't have much optimism after the 3 films and seeing the Discovery trailer. I'm going in with low expectations but hey, who knows...maybe I'll be surprised.

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

Star Trek derailed, or just ceased to be (from my perspective at least), since the reboot films. This new TV series makes absolutely no attempt to bring it back on track, just stray even further away from what it once was.

Even as bad as Voyager, Enterprise and the last TNG film (Nemesis) were, at least they looked and felt like they were in the Star Trek universe. Don't get me wrong, the writing was horrendous, but at least you felt there was potential to bring it back on track. And for what it's worth, I can pick out a handful of respectable episodes that were well done and Trek worthy. Certainly only a tiny fraction, but there were a few (whereas I see nothing positive to extract from the recent films). So after the 2009, 2013 and 2016 films, and what I see of Discovery, I just feel Star Trek is dead.

Ironically the only ones wanting to keep it alive are not Paramount, but fans on the outside. 'Orville' and 'Star Trek Continues' may be the only way to still see anything approaching real Trek these days...

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

OmicronThetaDeltaPhi - How true. There is quite the difference between a "prequel" and what we have here, a "reboot". Discovery obviously wants to disguise itself as a
"prequel", but when you re-imagine the whole Star Trek universe from the ground up, it is anything but.

The characters, vision, premise and even the basic look and feel has changed so much from what came before, I personally do not consider this (or the 2009-2016 films) part of Trek canon. I did that with Aliens and Terminator 2, following those films, everything that came after didn't happen in my mind (and I'm starting to do the same with Trek now).

Yep, I actually re-watched TNG season 1, plus the start of season 2 on Netflix last year (before they removed it from the Canadian side, grrr) and quite enjoyed it. TAS too, to my surprise! I'd really like to watch DS9 again though, nevermind just as Trek, it was some of the best TV I've ever watched!

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

OmicronThetaDeltaPhi - Well, assuming it is released, we should know by the first episode whether it fits within the Star Trek universe or not. And for the record, the JJ-Abrams movies certainly do not. In fact they've strayed so far from "Trek", it almost makes Voyager and Enterprise seem like respectable viewing.

When I first heard of Discovery, I was hoping for not only a return back to the Prime universe, but with writing and set visuals we only last experienced in the DS9 era. Not something that sinks even deeper into the abyss than the 2009-16 reboot movies. Ugh.

I'm also tried of all these prequels. Enterprise, JJ-movies and now Discovery? What is all this going *backwards* nonsense, why not go forward? Ironically just one of the many things (now absent) that Trek was once about.

I've about given up on new Trek, I think I'll go re-watch TOS, TNG and DS9 (just picked up the complete TNG series on Bluray, planning to go season by season to see if it still stands up today!).

Re: Trailer proves the existence of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

The latest rumor I've heard is, as of now, Star Trek Discovery will take place in NEITHER the Prime universe, or the JJ-Abrams (Kelvin) movie universe. It will be another reboot.

Worse, in order to attract JJ movie fans, the look of the new series will borrow heavily from his work (i.e. lens flares, look of ship's interiors and consoles, etc). It also looks to be borrowing from Star Wars, to attract that crowd as well. I also heard all the Trek writers and producers who wanted to preserve Trek canon are out, meaning this reboot will be only loosely based on any Star Trek we've ever seen. If at all.

After watching the trailer, I can't say this has *any* appeal to me. I didn't like the three reboot films, and this seems to stray even further in terms of story, canon and overall Trek lore. Dare I say it, this looks far worse than Enterprise or Voyager. I've watched every TV episode of Trek and every film. This is actually the first time I would consider skipping over a television series with the "Trek" name. Based on the trailer, and these rumors, if true, I rather see the whole Discovery project canceled.

Orville by contrast LOOKS like something I would enjoy watching. I would prefer a serious tone sci-fi series along the lines of TNG and DS9, but I'll take this over Discovery! And I'm thinking back, one of my favorite TV shows of all times did a well balanced mix of sci-fi and comedy. Anyone remember the British series, Red Dwarf? (the original run: 1988-1999).

Re: ENT S3: Similitude

Suspension of disbelief, people, is the key to enjoying ANY Star Trek episode. Nitpicking over a fictional story is puerile, arrogant to the point of hubris, and thoroughly sanctimonious to the point of nausea.

I think Similitude was one of the best episodes of Enterprise, and that Enterprise as a series is very underrated. Archer was a bumbling fool due to being the FIRST, does anyone expect an intrepid novice to behave any differently?

For Chrissakes, most people sincerely believe in magical gods that created the universe from nothing, yet people rank on silly Star Trek stories that are simply STORIES from the mind of man.

That's why they call it "science fiction"; simply enjoy the STORY - anyone who actually thinks that "warp drive" or "transporters" will ever exist in any universe has lost contact with REALITY, just like those who think religious dogma is fact.

Re: Trailer: 'Star Trek Beyond'

Might not be a bad idea.

And on that topic, I just saw said trailer. Seems Star Trek is going from bad, to worse to just completely unbearable. The Heavy metal rock playing throughout the trailer pretty much sums it all up. And if not that, "from the director of the Fast and the Furious"?

I think after this third movie, the reboot will need a reboot.

Re: Checking in for 2014, Part 2

Only two months after Nimoy's death, we've lost yet another classic Star Trek actor.

On May 1, 2015, Grace Lee Whitney, who played Janice Rand, passed away. She played the Captain's Yeoman in the first season, and then years later reprised her role in four of the Trek feature films, and even a TV episode of Voyager in the 90's.

Sadly that leaves only four of the original main cast members left: Shatner, Nichols, Takei and Koenig.

Jammer: Might be an idea to post a tribute to both Nimoy and Whitney at some point in the near future.