Comment Stream

Re: Site Version 8.0 (2024)

@Jammer - I just found out the Carlin "AI" video was actually written completely by Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen. There's no way that AI could have done that.

Re: Site Version 8.0 (2024)

@Jammer - I watched the AI George Carlin video and thought it was incredibly realistic. By the way, I've tried searching your site on the internet archive and it doesn't go back further than 2006? Was the site using a different name before that date?

@Mal - Weyoun didn't appear in Enterprise. Wasn't Combs playing a different character in that show?

Re: VOY S7: Endgame

Wow, was that the best the writers could come up with? Having said that, you could say the same about the series as a whole, don’t take any risks, just play it safe. One of the main criticisms was that the show was too episodic, there was almost no sense of a ship stranded thousands of light years from home and then, they are home, how did that happen? The Seven/ Chakotay romance was beyond absurd, it’s literally me the writers couldn’t wait for it to be over and thought, just give them any old rubbish. Throughout the seven seasons and the twenty three years that Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant the crew faced the Borg, Species 8472, the Hirogen, deadly pathogens and many other menaces and survive without a scratch. In Scorpion, Harry is assaulted by a member of Species 8472 and is being eaten alive from the inside. The Doc delivers one of his hypo sprays and Harry is back on his feet in no time, it takes longer than that to get over the common cold, yet in Endgame, two of the main characters are dead and one other, Tuvok has succumbed to a mental illness, where was that plot armour? One of my biggest complaints is the absence of any continuity. Voyager would have been returning to a quadrant devastated by the Dominion war, billions dead, major planets, including Earth had been attacked and Starfleet suffering major losse, they were struggling to get enough ships into battle, even with the aid of allies, the Klingons and Romulans. Many of their friends and family would have been casualties of that war, but no, it’s like it never happened. As for the time travel element, unlike TNGs All Good Things, which was a beautifully crafted story involving time travel, Endgame was a complete mess, it’ was as if Janeway had written the script herself. In the Year of Hell, Annorax, fails to restore things to the way they were despite repeated attempts, yet here, everything goes her way, as if she had written it herself. Voyager could have been a great series but the writers threw away every opportunity they had been given, perhaps Endgame sums up the series as a whole.

Re: VOY S7: Renaissance Man

Yet another episode in which the Delta Flyer is so easily overcome just because the script demands it. In Unimatrix Zero it goes toe to toe with a tactical Borg cube taking hit after hit from its super advanced weapons yet in this episode and many others they are overcome by a single shot. In the next episode, we’re home guys, yeah, that makes sense. Voyager could have been a great series but the writers didn’t have the balls to make it one, they just played it safe.

Re: SNW S2: Lost in Translation

I’m honestly baffled by the generally positive reaction to this episode. SNW has usually excellent writing and this episode includes just the most ridiculous choices. Why is Uhura allowed to do anything freely after Ramon blows up a fuel pod? Why is she ever left alone? Why is the crew so weirdly skeptical? They’re literally flying around space meeting weird aliens all the time. Why in the world did Pike ask Uhura “what’s the play” instead of just executing the very obvious next step of evac and destroy? Why is Una doubting her chief engineer when she suggests root cause analysis?

The story was interesting but absolutely the most sloppy execution I’ve seen from this group. Felt like there was a guest writer who’d never written anything before.

Re: SNW S2: Charades

@Jon from Rhode Island

As a Star Trek fan since 1998, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It provided an entertaining and humorous experience, while also delving into the complex dynamics of Spock's relationship with his mother and their connection to Vulcan. It was a refreshing exploration that added depth to the characters.

While it's true that there have been a few lackluster episodes in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard Seasons 1 and 2, overall, I've found the recent Star Trek shows to be satisfactory. The production quality, storytelling, and character development have largely met my expectations.

When it comes to the criticism of "nuTrek," it's important to recognize that those who vehemently dislike the newer Star Trek iterations represent only a tiny minority of the fanbase. It's crucial not to generalize their sentiments to the broader audience. I've noticed that a majority of these critics tend to congregate in Jammer's comment section, which may contribute to a skewed perception of overall fandom sentiment.

Personally, I choose to ignore the more toxic comments, but I do appreciate those who offer valid criticism with well-supported arguments. Constructive feedback is valuable, as it allows for meaningful discussions about the show's strengths and weaknesses, rather than dismissive comments that merely state "it sucked."

Re: DS9 S2: Crossover

The only thing worse than watching Nana Vistor try and act, is Nana Vistor trying to multi-roll.

Re: VOY S4: Retrospect

I think everyone is overlooking a very Important point. Seven said that Kovin had an assistant help during that process where she had her nanoprobes removed. Why was this person not questioned? If this person did not exist then the story is clearly false from seven. If the assistant does exist then that makes seven's story very likely true.

Re: TOS S2: Catspaw

First off, it’s not clear that this was created initially as a Halloween episode since they originally meant to air it earlier in the season—in line with its earlier production—and then decided to air it around Halloween for the obvious reasons. Second, I wonder how much of Bloch’s original script survived the production process because this has all the thumbprints of Roddenberry—inert pace for the first half, lots of psychobabble about human sensations and the subconscious, and no clear motivation for the whole alien mission. Are they studying us? Or are they here to conquer us—and what the hell is with those carrot legged puppets? Shouldn’t beings who are immaterial have an immaterial form rather than looking like they fell out of a ragbag? (See Trelaine’s parents.) and How do they “transmute” those sock puppets through interstellar space? It’s godawful bad but you gotta like the “special effect” of the cat’s giant shadow on the wall. That’s one you can do at home!

Re: DS9 S4: The Visitor

Since only Sisco traveled through time did he ever tell his son Jake what happened during those episodes. If not, definitely a hole in the plot.

Re: Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett

Looking forward to your Andor review, Jammer.

Re: ENT S4: Affliction

@H - Interestingly, by the time you made that comment we’d already had an in universe explanation for the Romulan forehead ridges, in episode 3 of Star Trek Picard. Ridged Romulans are “northerners”. Of course, it’s still messy that we apparently only saw Romulans from the south for years, then Romulans from the north for years, but there you go. It might reflect some sort of factional shift in power, if I was going to fan-splain it.

Re: SNW S1: A Quality of Mercy

@Jason R. - did you really have to quote almost his entire reply??

Re: TOS S1: The Naked Time

I’ve been re-watching my beloved DA9 with my wife and have started trying to watch TOS on my own. I’ve never quite been able to fully get into TOS before but something while watching this episode this time clicked and I really loved it. I think it was the strength of the acting that primarily did it for me but it was also a strong script that balanced humor with a primary hook that gave great insight into the characters. Even Sulu’s kind of comedic take on space madness have you a real sense of his character.

Re: VOY S4: The Gift

I HATE the Star Trek Walk-a-circle Serious Conversation^TM

It is the absolute most ridiculous directing choice to have people conversing while walking a circle around each other. Janeway does this constantly, always talking to the back of people’s heads.

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 1

@Yanks - Thank you! Looking forward to discussing.
Did you enjoy the Discovery premiere?

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 1

I am re-watching Star Trek in airdate order and I am finding myself often times disagreeing with Jammer (but LOVING) his reviews as I genuinely prefer TNG/VGR to DS9 with ENT coming in behind. As I write down notes after I finish the episode and give it my own rating for fun, I find myself comparing it to Jammer. Here is the funny thing - we match a lot for Discovery. This review is spot on - 2.5 stars. It was an average opening with a storage that was average, masked by amazing effects and cinematography. It looks beautiful but the actual story is lacking. After 18 months, I was hoping for something more engaging for an opening. Once we arrived in 3188 and things in the galaxy went downhill fast and we found ourselves in a retread of "Andromeda", I am cautiously optimistic that the writers will avoid that. However, it just did not feel original to me - the Federation fell, things went terrible. I am hoping this season explores it well because for me Discovery always starts off great and then sputters by the finale.

I hope some details are explored, i.e., did the Federation fleet just blow up at once given there is quantum slipstream technology?

Also, is anyone like me in that they actually like the cast very much BUT their least favorite character is Michael - the main character?

Re: TNG S4: The Nth Degree

One thing I always wondered about that episode was whether the uncanny knack for 3D chess was something the Cytherians intentionally gave Barclay or whether it was just the tag end, temporary effect of the brain boost?

Re: TOS S1: Tomorrow Is Yesterday

Some of you are trying too hard to act like the show was too hard to be believable. Its a science fiction show for goodness sake. Everything is not going to be logical. 200 years ago, people would have called us crazy for wanting a phone that was portable. They would say thats not possible. Enjoy it for what it is. Its not supposed to be totally predictable. Wow.

Re: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Also, shouldn't introducing a phaser into 1986 have massively changed the timeline they returned to...

Re: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

So Kirk gets demoted and takes off in the freshly built Enterprise-A that same day?

If the ship was built and ready to go, it must have had a captain assigned to it.

Looks like another command officer got Captain Decker'd by Kirk.

Also, Scotty gives away transparent aluminum, and Chekov gives away a phaser, so whoever invented those in the prime timeline got royally screwed by this time heist.

Re: TNG S1: Symbiosis

Watching Star Trek TNG for the first time starting with season 1 episode 1, and I found this episode ridiculous and terrible enough that I had to do an internet search to confirm that I had just watched something so poorly written and thought-out.

None of the premise or explanation of this episode is rational or believable:

- A planet which has figured out space travel hasn't figured out how to examine and understand chemical compounds and has no conception of what drugs are?

- An entire planet is addicted to a drug and nobody on it has even been separated from the drug long enough to realize that withdrawals pass? Nobody on this planet ever gets lost in the wilderness, doesn't have the funds to acquire the drug, or any of many other scenarios where they'd inevitably get over the withdrawal period? How do newborns come to be addicted to the drug? Nobody ever just wilfully refuses to take it either out of protest or with a goal to suicide, or some other motivation?

- Picard and his crew violate the "prime direction" worse than speaking simple truth to these people all the time. And Picard violated the prime directive worse than telling the 'drug addicts' the truth when he saved them from their decaying ship - that interventionist action ensured that the entire planet would continue to be drugged, while if Picard hadn't done that they would have been forced to go through withdrawal with no alternative. Picard obviously violated the "prime directive" to save Wesley Crusher... but he wouldn't save an entire planet filled with teenagers of Wesley Crusher's age, and of children and babies younger than him?

- Picard gives utmost hypocritical speeches on the prime directive and how critical it is in an episode where he violates it multiple times, including wilfully and knowingly by giving the inhabitants of the drug-using planet the coils they need to fix their cargo ships. Picard later reverses that decision, but not for the sake of the prime directive, but because he wanted to cut their supply of the drug - and he openly acknowledges that he's flip-flopping and being selective in where he applies the prime directive by responding to the drug seller's "that's absurd!" comment by saying, "you did not think so when it worked in your favour". There is just 1 minutes and 50 seconds between Picard selectively applying the prime directive as a tool for ulterior motives and openly acknowledging that he's doing so, and him giving Dr Crusher a lecture on the prime directive's importance in the elevator. This is stupid.

- The planet that makes and sells the drugs to the other is 100% filled with evil persons who eagerly exploit the other planet's people and feel no compassion or sense of humanity towards them? Not one of the people on that planet cared to send a message to tell the other planet that they're just addicted? An entire planet's population has no compassion, doesn't regard other people are equal to themselves? How could that planet then care for each other? They couldn't, they would inevitably rationalize betrayal of each other just as they do the people on the other planet.


These are just some select major issues with the episode, while I think I could point out a dozen more. This whole episode's premise and execution was completely stupid, and it shouldn't have been done. The episode also is entirely ignorant of the topic of drug use and portrays out-dated (were they ever in-date?) tropes of people who use drugs, and is like watching a very old film that features extreme racial prejudices that were normal at the time, but which reeks of ignorance when watched today.

I would not be surprised to find out that this episode was sponsored by the US government or some other third party - though, the DEA seems a very likely possibility.

Re: DS9 S1: Captive Pursuit

Luke, when a white man makes the haughty presumption that his cultural practice or morals are somehow superior that is racist garbage. Who are you to tell someone else that their custom is wrong? What makes your morality superior to someone else’s, aside the fact that you’re white and therefore more moral according to your own beliefs?


Yes Luke, I do think that you belong in jail, or better yet you and your progeny should be put in the service of the coloured people who you think yourself superior to. That is the real future, Luke my boy, not this racist Star Trek nonsense. Whites are dying out and losing more power everyday, the rest of the world no longer has any reason to hide our hatred of you, and there is already talk of dispossession and punishment for your lot which will only get stronger as the years go on. It will be delicious irony when your grandchildren are made to work for the benefit of black and brown people, that is if your children are even allowed to breed :)

Re: DS9 S1: Captive Pursuit

Michael, I went through your comments.

In some you say that you’re black, in others you say that you are Jewish, in some you say you’re a lawyer, others you say that you’re in finances regardless you always say terribly racist, bigoted garbage, like right here. To be honest I think that you belong in jail.

Re: DSC S1: Context Is for Kings

Did anyone else think it was unusual for a security chief (Landry) to have long hair tied back in a ponytail? Women in the military and police usually are required to have short hair, or tie their hair up in a bun. Think back to Tasha Yar in TNG, with her short hair. Janeway also had her hair tied back or cut short. Anyway, Landy only lasted for 2 episodes, so it's not a huge issue - just something I noticed now after re-watching the episode.