Comment Stream

Re: LD S4: Old Friends, New Planets

Also: Jammer much respect to you for your incredible hard work on writing these reviews and turning them round so quickly and accurately. Thank you.

Re: LD S4: Old Friends, New Planets

Started brightly with Sito at the academy giving ,e some hope we’d see a ‘Sito is alive’ episode which would have been phenomenal. Instead it was zany. Mariner was strong as was Tendi, but still some was lacking. Great to hear Sito’s voice again.

Re: TNG S7: Lower Decks

Re-watched after Lower Decks (the series). Such a good episode and elevated higher now. Genuinely shed a tear at both episodes (The Inner Fight).

Re: LD S4: The Inner Fight

I shed a tear at the Sito scene.

Locarno has found out she’s alive and going to rescue her with Mariner?

Loved this.

Re: LD S4: Caves

Totally agree with you Chrome.

Re: TNG S5: Silicon Avatar

Watched this at random tonight (literally choose 5, 4 at random) and it has some interesting points, as evidence by these comments still taking about it 10 years after the review and 30 years after airing.

Firstly, I notice chickens don’t get the amount of respect that humanoid killing crystalline entities do. I appreciate it’s probably an anachronism of writing but I think it unlikely 24th century people would eat animals (in S1 Riker says they don’t), yet it’s a ration for our love interest.

Next up: in 7 seasons I’ve never know Riker to have a go at Picard like that, it was surprising to me that Jammer didn’t mention it. ‘I’m not a raw cadet!’ And ‘I’m just off to write a letter’ I mean, wow. Riker was I feel personally affected though and it did affect his judgement. If they could track the thing I can’t see why it’d be the only chance to kill it.

Picard sees a bigger picture as usual and sees things from the entities pov. That’s a good thing. He’s right to try communication. There’s no immediate threat to anyone so no complete hurry to kill.

The chilling scene at the end where Data coldly tells her her son would not approve - she’s disappointed to hear this obviously, but the lady has quite obviously also gone mad. All perspective has been lost and she will convince herself it was the right thing.

It wasn’t made clear what would happen to her for doing this apart from being sent to her room, and she may not care her career is over.

For her this is still a win, she’s avenged her sons death. How she feels from now on will be new territory ofc.

And it being called Silicon Avatar - this is because of Data seeming to be her son? This is very poetic. Telling us the ending in a way.

Re: PIC S3: Surrender

Just here to say

Jammer, not the whole TNG crew… what about Wesl…

Ok never mind, they’re all here.

Even Tasha, dead for 33 years, gets a showing.

[Rigel hint that Leah Brahms is Geordis wife].

Re: PIC S3: The Bounty

I’d prefer it was Leah Brahms, all this is all a dream.

Re: PIC S3: No Win Scenario

Definitely getting the TNG feels here, with good writing, characterisations and direction (Frakes’ best) good idea to have no Raffi and I felt a Riker manoeuvre quip was coming with the asteroid trick. Interesting that Deanna is always on FaceTime- I suspect the actress is self conscious about her appearance?

Actually worth watching again. Felt like Jack was going to tell Picard something before he was interrupted by Shaw.

Who is Sydney’s mother?

[ There are some clunky negatives common to nu trek that don’t really scan, but… let’s not go there].

Re: PIC S3: Seventeen Seconds

Mostly agreeing with the comments here, so just a side note.

Ok it has been made very clear that Sydney’s father is Geordi. But who is her mother? And why isn’t she ( Sydney) espousing her as a role model? That name dropping would have been killed dead at the academy.

Anyway it better be Leah Brahms or this is not canon for me.

Re: LD S3: Mining the Mind's Mines

Always good to see Leah Brahms. I re-watched Galaxy's child last night due to LD having Susan Gibney back to see if he was creepy or not (as I remember it being fairly creepy as he made her feel guilty for discovering his fantasy plaything). I don't think he intends to be creepy in this episode, I think he's just hopeless with women - communicating, treating them as equals, acting around them. The list goes on. In fact if you notice his character is hopeless with women throughout TNG whether he has a crush on them or not. The only exception is Guinan who ignores all that anyway - although he does laugh at her as well. He also can't handle it in an episode when a junior officer has a crush on him. He's inept.

Not that is excusable.

I like to think they get together eventually. If you look at it 'charitably', Leah doesn't seem that bothered and seems to realise it is because he is inept and that she isn't perfect either (as she admits at creepy and uncomfortable fungilli dinner). No doubt she knows many inept with women engineers...

Anyway, always a huge fan of Leah. Named my daughter after her.

Re: ORV S2: Sanctuary

A wonderful episode. They seem to get better with time and rewatches.

Most important line for me:

The history of moral progress can be measured by the expansion of fundamental rights to those who have been denied them.

Simple, almost banal, but powerful.

Re: PIC S2: Farewell

When I think about how humans are developing as a species, it makes me realise how much work we have to do to even get anywhere near the future painted in TNG. 30 years on from it and we've gone backwards if anything. That was what TNG was all about, painting it as normal that we would evolve and become better.

Now we can't even make a TV series properly - about this very thing. PIC (and DISC) are the proof really that we haven't progressed. Because we can't even do that right. Most of the season was set in present time (so gave no hope for the future) and what was in the future was a galaxy ending event, which had no stakes and we all knew wouldn't work.

What is also noticeable is that the writers and producers of TNG and their like, were adults. They brought a maturity to their stories and a pride in their work. They took responsibility. In modern Trek everyone is happy to claim credit (8 ex producers) but no one takes responsibility. They have to talk it into being good rather than just... make it that way.

PIC 2 was yet another disappointment. It wasn't even consistent with itself. At the end of S1 they were all on a plucky independent ship, start of S2 and they're all in Starfleet, except of course, Seven, who wasn't admitted due to bigotry. What now?

Then they're effectively civilians in a strange new world in itself - today. This has all been done so you've got to compete against ST IV, and even VOY for Christ's sake. And they got nowhere near.

Poor storylines included:
FBI agent saw a vulcan
ICE guys are all dicks
Raffi is guilty
The Borg and Jurati are lonely
Picard's mum hanged herself
Picard's dad was distant
Janeway didn't support Seven
Guinan has a bar called 10 forward, and cries about humans today
All of that Spiner stuff

and.. the

Timeline... so they changed the future by:
Killing about 12 people (leave them in a wall, it's fine)
Allowing immigrants to escape
Stealing a car
Smashing bar windows (never got that one, for fun. How is this fun?)
Killing more people (oh well! guess we'll leave him in an alleyway)
Caused days of unexplained darkness in France
Security guards at party...

Anyway, I think if you've got Picard, you just do more TNG. Just do that.
S1 could have been - retired Admiral decides to be archaeologist, gets caught up on planets where they need help... kind of a Knight Rider for the galaxy. Moral issues would come to the fore, it could be episodic, or two parters. He could get help from old crew mates...

No... we get
Mum's hanged herself
Daddy doesn't care
Q is not immortal
Borg are here for hugs

There was no mystery, wonder, life to aspire to... would people watch PIC and say 'that's inspiring?'

PIC didn't have to be a comic book story - god knows we have enough of those churned out (how many Spidermans and Batmans are we on now?) it always sat alone as a vision... that was what made it popular!

Only good thing... Seven was made a Captain (maybe, if it goes through). But she should be one anyway... passing by a planet that Picard was helping out. How cool would that be?

Bring on the Orville.

Re: PIC S2: Monsters

Psychologist: Even your closest friends call you Captain
Next scene
Raffi: What’s going on in there J-L?

Christ on a bike.

Starting to wish Elnor survived and Raffi was killed off. That’s how bad things have got…

Probably the weirdest episode of ST I’ve ever seen (yes including Beverley having ghost sex) as no plot, random events, bizarre decisions, Jurati goes to a bar and to get endorphins, she breaks glass. Why?? Just why?

No Spiner or Q this week. Why?

Best Bit was from a film.

Are you from outer space?
No I’m from Chile…

Difference here was that she was actually seriously asking him this. In ST IV she was being sarcastic.

Re: PIC S2: Two of One

By the way, can anyone else think of a time travel story where someone who is meant to be hit by a car is saved by someone else from the future, who is related to that person, and then they dream about their mother? Next thing you know we’ll see Lea Thompson in an e… wait

Re: PIC S2: Two of One

Quite the number of issues.

1) Teresa never asks how the hell Rios escaped from ICE and how the hell he got himself to a party with mega security and famous NASA astronauts.
2) Jazz band kicks in despite not knowing anything about this performance
3) Strange alien face appears in Picard’s memories or am I mistaken?
4) Why does Elbore keep turning up?
5) How did everyone witness this collision? And where did Renee disappear to? ‘Tell security guy, thanks for saving my life, I’m just off to quarantine.’ No mention of any concern or future contact from her.
6) Seven has one line. Nods approval.
7) Kore - what?
8) Jurati’s mysterious device has no effect on her
9) Teresa angry so she fall in love later.
10) Hurd is depressing and depressed

They need to put Seven in charge.