Jammer's Reviews

Re: TNG S6: Tapestry

Really enjoyed this episode. But then I always love Q (even though all Q episodes aren't great), especially with Picard.

Re: TNG S6: Face of the Enemy

I agree with those that say Sirtis did a great job here. Inf fact Every time she has been given a decent script she has done well. The problem has always been that she has been given terrible scripts.

And I love Seymour here (and in other roles).

Re: TNG S6: Chain of Command, Part I

Jellico is the character you love to hate. Ronny Cox is a great actor, and really plays Jellico well.

But I agree with the anti-Jellico contingent. He is not a good leader. Being strong doesn't mean demeaning your followers nor demanding unreasonable actions. Riker was correct in the way he behaved, and especially the words he had for Jellico at the end.

The real problem of leadership though is Admiral Nechayev. She unreasonably passed over Riker. I get it for the story reasons, but in universe it doesn't make sense. I would have much rather had Riker off on a separate mission instead of how they did this.

Re: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

I remember this film being not that good, and of course hearing about just how terrible it is. However, after watching all the TOS movies, this is underrated and not as bad as its made out to be. I certainly enjoyed it more than STI and STIII. It's not a great move by any means, and has its bad moments, but I enjoyed watching it. It has a decent story at its core, and for the most part doesn't drag on.

Re: TNG S6: The Quality of Life

An enjoyable episode. Three stars. While Data's move was ridiculous, how it ended was awesome

Re: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Oh and the death of Spock was so well done. Just all around great writing and acting for that scene.

Re: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

I just watched this and was blown away how well it stood up and how tight the whole movie is.

I'm a TNG fan first and foremost but this is my favorite movie.

Khan is such a great villain, but I love Kirk and Spock outsmart him as a TEAM. And they use his arrogance and ignorance on modern actions (IE that ships can really go 3D and the regulations) to defeat him.

Re: TNG S6: Time's Arrow, Part II

I was greatly awaiting this episode in my rewatching. I remember it fondly from my first viewing 20 years ago. I did not disappoint. This is just behind BoBW in my rating of TNG 2 parters. I absolutely love these two episodes.

Love how the wrapped everything up here. As someone said I love how there already we established at the start and we didn't have to see them do that.

4 stars absolutely.

Re: TNG S5: Time's Arrow, Part I

Forgot to say 4 stars absolutely.

Re: TNG S5: Time's Arrow, Part I

I was greatly awaiting this episode in my rewatching. I remember it fondly from my first viewing 20 years ago. I did not disappoint. This is just behind BoBW in my rating of TNG 2 parters. I absolutely love these two episodes.

Yes this one is world building but the cliffhanger was good. Lotta good parts in this.

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2

Man, I loved Angel more than Buffy. I might be the only person on earth who did.

Angel was darker, yes, but that just made it's goofier moments more hilarious. Shame it never got the finale it deserved.

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2

@Bob

That's for sure true.

I only used the star ratings as a quick and easy barometer to show one man's trend.
Everyone is free to do their own honest evaluation of past shows. A few of us have, I'm sure.

I know that the shows with the most 3.5/4 star ratings for me are DS9, TNG, TOS, VOY, ENT, and DISCO.

Only two episodes of Discovery are rated 3.5 or better in my view, both from season two: New Eden and If Memory Serves.

But, like Booming said, picking out ratings is not about determining which season was better. It was used to show if a series is putting out high quality content at least some of the time.

And even when looking at seasons as a whole, as I said I'd rather have a season that had a few total stinkers but also a few 4 star gems, as opposed to one that flatlined with every episode being "just good."

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2

@ Chrome,

well I added the math in just to clarify the results of the poll.

The fact is Discovery has failed to reach a standard expected of past shows. It's had three years to do it (considered the barometer by most fans) and all it has to show for it are three wildly different half-baked ideas in three wildly, tonally different seasons.

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2

I don't think it's fair to call Star Trek Discovery a science fiction show. It's more like a melodramatic action show masquerading as a sci-fi show. It's as much a sci-fi show as Community is educational television because it's set at a school.

Discovery doesn't challenge the viewer. It doesn't examine big questions about the human condition. It doesn't examine the role of technology in the lives of the people who use it. It doesn't do any of the things we expect a sci-fi show to do.

It's not about anything.

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2

@Chrome

Maybe I'm misunderstanding,

but if next season of Discovery was fifteen episodes all rated 3 stars I would not consider that the best season ever. Not by a long shot. I'd call it the most cromulent season ever.

How could I call it the best when previous seasons had episodes that reached so much higher than 3 stars? In fact I'd rather have a season that had, say, five 3.5 or better episodes even if it also had five that were rated 1.5 or worse. I'd rather have that than one that never reaches the next level of greatness, even if it also never dips below what is considered acceptable.

But that's just me

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2

Discovery is not getting better. It's different, sure. Every season feels like it belongs to a totally different show, but it's not improving. It's doing different things okay and different things wrong, but it's not getting any better.

For fun I went back to look at the number of 3.5 or higher ratings that Jammer gave in the first three seasons of past Star Trek shows, and compared them to Disco.

A few caveats: Star ratings are subjective, but since these ratings are all by the same person it's good for seeing trends. Also, past Star Trek shows had more episodes per season, but that's actually a handicap in Disco's favor since the whole reason TV shows have fewer seasons is to increase the quality per episode.

That being said:

The Original Series had seventeen episodes rated either 3.5 or 4 stars
The Next Generation had fourteen episodes rated either 3.5 or 4 stars
DS9 had a whopping twenty-three episodes rated either 3.5 or 4 stars
Voyager had twelve episodes rated either 3.5 or 4 stars
Enterprise had twelve episodes rated either 3.5 or 4 stars

Discovery has had four episodes rated either 3.5 or 4 stars

21% of TOS is rated 3.5 or higher
19% of TNG's first three seasons are rated 3.5 or higher
32% of DS9's first three seasons are rated 3.5 or higher
18% of VOY's first three seasons are rated 3.5 or higher
16% of ENT's first three seasons are rated 3.5 or higher

.09% of DISCO's first three seasons are rated 3.5 or higher. That's not counting the last episode which, as of writing, is not yet rated.

Tastes vary and everyone is different, I know, but I think the trend is clear that Discovery is not improving nor is it all in all a better show in terms of quality episodes than its predecessors.

For the record

TOS had nine episodes rate 1.5 stars or lower
TNG had fourteen episodes rate 1.5 stars or lower
DS9 had one episode rate 1.5 stars or lower
VOY had nine episodes rate 1.5 stars or lower
ENT had six episodes rate 1.5 stars or lower

DISCO has had zero episodes rate 1.5 stars or lower

So I guess Disco's best is nowhere close as good as the previous shows, but it's also not as bad as those shows could be, either. But when there are fewer episodes per season, that's hardly worth crowing about.

Re: DSC S3: That Hope Is You, Part 2

"Booming nailed it when saying this show is aimed at making people feel instead of think. There is absolutely nothing in this show that is thought provoking. "

Darmok and Tapestry and The Inner Light and It's Only a Paper Moon were also aimed at making people feel. I don't see anything wrong with that. It's just that the most that those same attempts by Discovery has elicited from me so far has been eye-rolls.

Re: TNG S5: The First Duty

@Diana - I like that explanation a lot. My head canon was always that one was a fake name and you have the perfect story for that.

Great episode. Better than I remember.

Re: TNG S5: Cause and Effect

Absolutely loved this episode. One of my top 3 as well. I was getting more and more excited as I kept getting closer to this episode watching Season 5 haha.

@Jeffrey Jakucyk - GREAT explanation about how its more of a loop bubble than a true loop.

Re: TNG S5: Ethics

I usually agree it's Jammer and most of the commenters but not here. This was a bad boring episode. I knew what was going to happen from the start. There easy nothing interesting here. And I love Crusher and Darmok.

Half star at best.

Re: DSC S3: Su'Kal

The whole setup of Discovery won't allow for what people are asking of it. Telling the writers the characters are too emotional or it isn't sci-fi enough isn't going to fix things. It's just going to, at best, result in the type of reaction we've already been seeing - the viewers don't feel it's Trek enough? Let's bring in the Enterprise and Spock. Not futuristic enough? Let's go 900 years to the future. Someone on a message board said there are no trans characters? Quick, bring one in. The writers of The Expanse and The Mandalorian have no doubt already planned out the whole thing, from start to finish. In comparison Discovery is always going to feel half-assed, flitting from one plotline to another with never a chance to develop it beyond the bare bones of a vague idea. That's what you get when you have no other M.O., no vision other than to try to please everyone.

Re: DSC S3: Su'Kal

That would be such a brilliant tagline if they used that.

"Star Trek: Discovery. Embrace the Failure."

Re: DSC S3: Terra Firma, Part 2

"oh-so-earnest, and overplayed, and frankly unearned"

If that's not this whole show in a nutshell.

Re: MAND S2: Chapter 16: The Rescue

@Pebbles Dod
"Where is the tension when each pocket of fighting yields the expected ones as winners no matter how long those scenes drag, and boy they drag. "

So in the episode "The Tragedy", you expected the bad guys to take off with the baby? Because that's what they were fighting for, which means they were the winners.

Re: MAND S2: Chapter 15: The Believer

"The Believer" may also refer to the Imperial officer whom Mayfield shoots.

Fucking unbelievably fantastic episode. Three in a row, too, with "The Jedi" and "The Tragedy" before this.