brdavid-429-96270 Reviews

Stargate SG-1: Rules of Engagement (1999) Season 3, Episode 9

Slow start to a very different Jack O'Neill at climax

[7/10 · 7 April 2023]

This is the episode that will forever get you to look at Jack O'Neill in a different light. Unfortunately it took the series a rather long time to get to this point.

In Children of Light we get a look into Jack O'Neill's leadership on the battlefield when they emerge on Chulak. Afterwards it feels as if Jack's rank of Colonel isn't highly shown, illustrated, or even portrayed. Granted they do a fair job, but now we finally get to see the Colonel behind that rank and it comes at the climax of this episode.

Never have I thought Jack to be more of a marine than an airman, which is basically what this episode showcases. Witnessing the Colonel finally emerge as the team is going into a combat situation is such a wonderful breath of fresh air.

Rules of Engagement is a rather "odd" episode that seems to take a rather naïve approach to the situation at hand, you have a battalion of troops training for a day of battle and all I really see are "kids". Granted they are supposed to be immature, but I think they over did their immaturity in order to force the idea they believe SG1 is from Apophis. Everything they say and do would seem to go against it. Everything about this episode is one long walking plot hole, but then it changes in Act 3 and yet again, like many SG1 episodes, Act 3 is another successful landing of what seems to be a rather unstable episode. SG1 has a long track record of this.

Rules of Engagement is a mediocre episode that ends well.

Stargate SG-1: Demons (1999) Season 3, Episode 8

One of the worst episodes... right up there with Emancipation

[3/10 · 6 April 2023]

Demons has it all. A cliché plot, a trite villain, an inept attempt a folktale. Add all of it up and get what might be the worst episode yet since Emancipation.

The story centers around a medieval village that is terrorized by a Unas, the being they encountered when trying to recover Thor's Hammer. This being is playing Satan trying to get the villagers to sacrifice humans. What could have been done in a novel way is thrown out the window for pedestrian.

The village guardian is played in the most cliché way as possible, to showcase the worst possible character of Christian values. In fact nothing of the Christian religion is shown as positive in this episode. It insists on focusing on the worst parts, which the writer wants the viewer to believe this was all common place in the medieval era. Academia has shown medievalists to be more educated than this.

The episode could have played in a way where the main villain might be something more than just a guy with a fancy powerful ring. The main character we sympathize with could have been so much more than the scurrying type we receive. The ending could have been more thought provoking. SG1 has certainly done episodes where we think one thing only to have the episode go in a different direction: Learning Curve, Spirits, Touchstone. These episodes could have been terrible, but the writing was clever enough to spring something novel.

Demons isn't novel. It's just another anti Christianity episode that still thinks the dark ages were about Christian torture and superstition. The Dark Ages are called Dark because this was the period after the fall of the Roman Empire and when most of the world was in complete turmoil. Nothing was getting recorded, and no real singular empire in control. Lots of little factions vying for power. Spirits played to the Native American cliché in a more superior form than this. It's as if the writers for SG1 clearly have no idea how to write a Christian episode.

Skip this like you skip Emancipation. There is nothing here except that we learn Teal'c cannot drown. He will pass out then come back to life. That's it. That's all you get from the episode. Beyond that... skip it. Nothing to see here.

Stargate SG-1: Politics (1998) Season 1, Episode 20

Skippable if you read this review

[5/10 · 4 February 2023]

This episode follows immediately after the events of There But For the Grace Of God. This episode serves as a plot device to make it difficult to save the planet because the president has shut down the Stargate program through the Senate Committee of Senator Kinsey. Kinsey played by Ronny Cox is a caricature of the most annoying, frustrating character ever put to screen. He is deliberately antagonistic, completely unlikeable as a character which makes trying to engage him worse in that he was making good points. Ronny played the character way to bullish and over the top. If the character was toned down and sensible, at least his points would have been acceptable, but due to the tone, he comes of as stupid, and foolish. Obviously the point, but that because the episode needs him to be stupid and foolish just to give the Stargate team an obstacle to save Earth.

All in all this episode is annoying at best, stupid at worse. If you want skip it by simply knowing that Daniel conveys his message to SG1 and the base. They barely believe him, but now they can't go to the coordinates because they are shut down.

Watch the first five minutes. That's it. That's all you need. The ending is just the program has been shut down.

Clip shows drive me crazy but I realize they were a necessity back in the day since the production ran out of money and clip shows are very cheap to produce. But most of the time they are skippable and the b-story is never worth it.

Miami Vice: A Bullet for Crockett (1988) Season 4, Episode 20

You do not need to watch this one. Clip Show!

[1/10 · 20 May 2022]

A clip show happens when the studio runs out of money. What happens for a season is the studio gives a series a lump sum of money to make their season of episodes. They budget per episode. Some episodes are more expensive thus they can take away money from future episodes. It is possible that too much money has been used but they still have a quota to make, 22 episodes. So the production team opts for a cheap alternative called a clip show.

Clip shows are cheap because more than half the episode is taken from previous shoots. Most of the episode is shot in a single location. It keeps the expenses down.

The problem is that clip shows are very much a worthless episode. They may be good for someone who started Miami Vice with Season 4, or if you are nostalgic. I have never seen a clip show worth much of anything.

If you want to know the story here it goes.

SPOILERS!!!

Crockett and Tubbs are about to make a deal, it goes bad. Crockett and Tubbs chase down two suspects, guns one down but forgets about the girlfriend who shoots Sonny point blank.

The doctors can't seem to remove the bullet which is inching closer to his spine. They can't find the girl who shot Sonny.

The end has Tubbs arrest the girl at the airport, and the Doctors save Sonny.

There! I saved you from having to watch it. I didn't skip anything. I included everything. In other words, there is nothing here. Clip Show. Have your remote handy for fast forward. I watched this episode in 20 minutes.

Miami Vice: Golden Triangle: Part 1 (1985) Season 1, Episode 13

Solid Performances, but fragmented story

[8/10 · 12 February 2022]

The only real problem with this episode is that it takes a complete 180 degree turn about 40 minutes in going from one story to a completely different story. Crockett and Tubbs are investigating a string of crimes perpetrated by two cops. Castillo is personal in wanting these officers badges. In one attempt gone wrong Crocket and Tubbs shift tactics and manage to make an arrest with a hooker "Candi", working for the two corrupt cops. During their investigation they manage to gain the attention of an Albert Szarbo who wants to rob a secure safety deposit safe that Crocket and Tubbs are using as their cover as hotel security.

Szarbo enlists the help of Crocket and Tubbs but are only using them to gain access to the bank which they rob earlier. Szarbo learns that in his heist he only took "papers" which he doesn't understand their meaning. Immediately in learning this they are assassinated. When Castillo learns "how" they were assasinated his interest peaks and he learns there is a connection to old enemy of his back when we was working undercover in Thailand.

Suddenly the story is now about opium, slaves, and Castillo's wife.

The episode is solid enough but the whole first 35 minutes seems like a completely different episode, something that could have been it's own show, but it turns into a prologue for what this is episode is really about.

We never learn anything new about Szarbo. We never even really learn how the first 35 minutes are connected other than the papers in the safe connect the two parts of this show. It's a very weak thread and quite jarring when it makes the switch.

Be that as it may you get a very well done climax as Castillo is seem kicking some a** against an assassin. This is a side we have not seen and definitely adds more of edge that was already there. All in all the episode is good, but it could have been great if the first 35 minutes had a better connection to the last 10 minutes. It would be like watching the episode Cool Running only to have the last 10 minutes of the episode be Milk Run. Odd way to write an episode.

Star Trek: Voyager: Pathfinder (1999) Season 6, Episode 10

Best Episode I have ever seen for the series!

[10/10 · 13 December 2021]

If you have kept with my reviews I tend to not tow the line with the rest. That is, episodes others say are the best, I cannot stand, and certain episodes people hate (The Thaw, for example) I love.

This one is the best I have ever seen, and I have seen them all up to now. This episode embodies everything that made me love Star Trek TNG, and Deep Space Nine. It uses an old character in a very appropriate way and even brings back his faults in a great way.

The resolution is excellent and I would watch this episode over and over again. If only the whole series had this kind of writing.

Star Trek: Voyager: Equinox, Part II (1999) Season 6, Episode 1

Janeway is unfit to be captain

[2/10 · 9 December 2021]

Never have I seen an episode where the captain is so erratic and evil and I'm not talking about Ransom. Ransom I can understand to a degree, but Janeway's actions are borderline masochistic and evil. She literally has a prisoner bound to a chair hoping they will break before they are killed by an alien. She overlooks the obvious to get help just to launch a vendetta. She makes so many blatant uncharacteristically decisions that if I were under her command I wouldn't trust her ever again.

I realize this episode is rated highly. It had an excellent start but the writing is plain horrendous that I question if I want to continue watching this show knowing what I just saw. Honestly, I wish Mulgrew left the show (she was thinking about it) and the character died on the bridge at the beginning. That would have been a better fate than what came from this episode. From here on out her character is tainted with the knowledge of what she is capable of, which is pure evil.

Star Trek: Voyager: Dark Frontier (1999) Season 5, Episode 15

Nothing like Best of Both Worlds

[6/10 · 9 October 2021]

This episodes appears to be taking a lot of cues from Best of Both Worlds and trying to make that one episode that will stand out, thinking the series needs a boost to be relevant. Dark Frontier is nothing more than a façade. It's a plot device that follows a McGuffin then reveals a fan favorite villain only to move towards a resolution that isn't very thrilling, unlike Best of Both Worlds.

Janeway, after an encounter with a Borg vessel wants a transwarp conduit and finds the potential device on a limping borg sphere. They plan a heist but all is complicated by a "voice" that tells Seven to stay on the borg sphere or Voyager will be destroyed. The plan goes well, Seven stays behind and all is revealed it was the Borg queen who wants her individuality. An escape plan is hatched and it all succeeds.

What makes this episode fail is where Best of Both World succeeds. In Best of Both Worlds, Riker is faced with the decision to either move forward or stay where he is, threatening any further advancement. Riker is comfortable with the safety net he has a 2nd in command and with being on the Enterprise. However a hotshot commander with her eye on Enterprise's command position begins to show Riker where he needs to focus his attention. Riker has gotten, slower, more safe, doesn't take the risks that are necessary to get noticed and suddenly starts to realize that he might not have a future outside the Enterprise. However that all changes when Picard is kidnapped by the Borg and he is forced into being a captain and into shaping himself without Picard there to help. For the first time Riker is without the net. Worse, the entire crew has to battle against time to save Earth and we have no idea how they are going to accomplish it. The whole episode is thrilling down to the last second when it is revealed how the Enterprise crew wins. And how they win is not through recently found technology, but through their own humanity and understanding of other species. It was a brilliant episode.

Dark Frontiers verges onto something with the B story of the Hanson's with flashbacks of Seven's time as a child. Her parents came across the Borg and studied them as one would study apes or wild animals. They tagged them, watched them act in their nature. It was a rather interesting part of the episode that I got drawn into, yet nothing of that B story really helps the A story. They use the notes as a means to help them in their heist and rescue plan, but it never seems to link itself to the Hanson story well. Therefore we have two separate episodes where the Hanson story could have stood alone and I think would have worked well.

An overrated episode that fails on thrills, but does succeed with delivering some rather unique viewpoints, especially Seven witnessing "assimilation". That might be the first time I was ever uncomfortable watching the series. I rather commend the series writers for going there. Too bad the rest of the episode never bothered to move further into unexplored territory.

Star Trek: Voyager: Someone to Watch Over Me (1999) Season 5, Episode 21

Interesting A story, wasteful B story

[5/10 · 9 October 2021]

As interesting as it was to see a relationship happen between The Doctor and Seven, the B story doesn't seems to give any support to the A story. In fact the B story is a complete waste of time.

Neelix is suffering a monk (perhaps a novice) who is outside the monastery, and is now indulging, to an excess, on everything he cannot have back home. This is treated in a very "laughing" and jovial manner, unfortunately that should not have been the case, and it only cements the series itself into being rather flippant about religion. A few lessons could be learned from Deep Space Nine. Instead of the story trying to understand why this novice is overindulging, or perhaps even trying a way to merge the two stories is never approached. What we have is 30 minutes of a fun A story while we suffer through the rest of the episode's B story.

Merging the two could have been easy. A novice who is frightened of making his final vows goes "off the deep end" into over indulgence to curb his fear. The doctor who cannot bring himself to tell Seven that he has fallen for her. Both suffering from a fear of moving forward. Neelix could have offered his experiences to the monk in order to help his decision. Then while trying to recover from intoxication the Doctor and the monk have a one on one. It is this one on one that allows both to move forward. However the monk succeeds at his decision the Doctor is still hesitant.

I understand that to a lot of fans this episodes is on their top list. It's not skippable, but if you are watching on DVD you can fast forward over the monk parts. They are irrelevant to the story.

Star Trek: Voyager: Timeless (1998) Season 5, Episode 6

Overrated

[5/10 · 4 October 2021]

If this is one of the best the series has to offer, then perhaps I should stop while I am ahead.

Timeless is a story about how Ensign Kim made a mistake and somehow he is able to alter the past to fix the mistake. Instead of focusing on the story of Ensign Kim's mistake the story is focused on the "action" of his mistake. Garret Wang unfortunately gives a rather subdued performance that needed an extra boost. In many ways I found his acting very distracting. Actually I'm usually finding his acting wooden, and uninspiring. There have been very few episodes where an exception has been made.

What could have been an episode about the morality of changing the past and discussions about such a decision, instead the story isn't about the decision, the story is about the "action" after the decision is made. Again, another example of this season having interesting ideas for a story, but never executing that story correctly.

Drone still stands out as the best this season has to offer. If the B-story to Extreme Risk was the A-story, then that episode would have been the best the whole series had to offer. Timeless, despite a fan favorite, in my mind was dull and lifeless.

Star Trek: Voyager: Once Upon a Time (1998) Season 5, Episode 5

The Flotter of Oz?

[3/10 · 4 October 2021]

The parallels to The Wizard of Oz are present but the story, the chemistry, the fun of The Wizard of Oz is absent. The main story line consists of a little girl whose mother is on an away mission and gravely injured and dying, yet her daughter is oblivious to this because Neelix refuses to tell her due to a traumatic experience he had as a child. Neelix is protective and it comes off rather coldly.

The episode is dry, uninspired, and without purpose. How to save it? What if an episode is told through the eyes of a child? That is, a day in the life of what it is like to be a child on a Starship? If you want to have a Wizard of Oz feel to it, have them in a situation where they have to journey through the starship, meeting characters along the way. Perhaps our characters can be perceived as the children might see them. It could have offered a rather jovial and fun light to a rather cold series.

As it seems, Season 5 seems to be marred with excellent story ideas that are never executed properly. Night, a perfect potential episode that would explore our character's darkest thoughts and going through a dark period in their lives, but nope, we get a morality tale of toxic waste. Extreme Risk, one of the best b stories I have seen only to be wasted by a terrible A story. In The Flesh, a non-sensible way of flipping the story to tell it through the eyes of aliens. What could and should have been an excellent episode marred by just how bizarre and impossible it all seemed. Hopefully the season doesn't continue to be marred by the same patterns.

Drone seems to be the only stand out episode this season thus far.

Star Trek: Voyager: Hunters (1998) Season 4, Episode 15

Enter the Hirogen. Another laughable wooden villain.

[5/10 · 17 September 2020]

When will Voyager get a writer to give the series a compelling villain? First we had the Kazon, a rather paltry group of gangs that offered nothing more than another version of the Klingons and nothing tangible or novel. The Vidiians were better, but very 1 dimensional in their purpose. There was a moment of story with The Doctor and Vidiian he fell in love with, but that ultimately had one episode and it was over and done. Annorax from Year of Hell in my opinion is probably the best one yet. His purpose had practical meaning, something you could get behind and understand. There was a sense of dread and the idea that Voyager may be way over their head (which they were). It was relegated to a two part episode, and that seems to be the end.

Now enter the Hirogen, a copy of Predator on a low budget. They are ... tall. They are... strong. They are... wearing masks. They... take trophies. There is nothing of value to these villains. They are not scary. They are not menacing. They are simply a vehicle that Voyager must maneuver around. They get in the way, and nothing more than that. They have nothing of value to the plot, to the story, to anything that matters, other than another villain the Voyager crew must out maneuver.

Where are the Dukhat's of this series? Where are the Duras Sisters? Where are the Khans? Everything we seem to get villain wise is just some awkward menace.

What makes this episode better than 1 star are the letters from home. I was a lot more interested in that over anything the Hirogen had to offer. There were some dark revelations and even some tie ins to DS9. If only the writers of Voyager could have written a story that would have introduced the Hirogen in a more organic way over, "We got letters from home. Happy times. Sad Times. HIROGEN!!" What if the Hirogen represented a distraction from home? What if these were say an offshoot of the Maquis that would bring the crew off balance. Nope. HIROGEN!

Watch for the letters. Skip the rest.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

No Chemistry, nothing new, except one interesting idea.

[5/10 · 5 September 2020]

Dark Fate presents to us an amalgamation of things we have already seen in other Terminator movies. Dark Fate is both hard to watch and hard to have fun with when the chemistry isn't there, the acting is subpar, and the story is trite.

The one interesting idea they had deals with why Arnold is in the movie. It's the one thing I believe Cameron brought to the table and it was interesting. It was about the only time I was actually caught up with the movie.

Not as bad as Genysis, though.

Star Trek: Voyager: Mortal Coil (1997) Season 4, Episode 12

The Atheist Episode

[5/10 · 23 August 2020]

Mortal Coil is shallow when it comes to story. Neelix is killed and is dead for 18 hours. When he is revived everything he was taught about Heaven was something he never experienced during those 18 hours. Therefore, heaven does not exist and now Neelix must learn to cope with that.

Great. Another notch on the pole for Voyager on how to take an idea that could be interesting, and turn it into something hollow and useless. Neelix's faith is a driving force in his life. That would be all well in good, but we never really knew that until now. Take Worf. We knew Worf was a highly religious and zealot figure by season 4. An episode where Worf's faith is challenged was actually done in TNG, and we could at the very least be sympathetic to Worf's journey. Neelix's journey has no such connection. We are only told Neelix is devout in this episode.

Secondly, when Neelix's faith is challenged he seeks answers through a random spirit guide. this is where I question if the writers understanding of religion. Religion is based on faith, a faith of a belief that we were told about something you cannot prove. That faith and another belief may not be compatible. That is, my faith does not have the same basis of belief as say Islam, or Buddism, so Neelix asking Chacotay for help is like a Catholic asking a Daoist for help. You will receive the help based on the faith of the person you asked and that may not help your current situation since that person doesn't understand your faith. Neelix needed spiritual direction from a Talaxian Priest. However given none such person was around, Neelix probably went to the first person he felt might give him answers but it only made things worse. In the end, religion is painted with a broad brush, as if faith is universal, and everyone has the answers Neelix needs. That's not how faith really works.

The problem this episode has is that it never truly resolves Neelix's faith crisis. It never resolves the idea of heaven. It simply states that heaven does not exist and we all have to deal with it. That's a rather hollow lesson to be taught by Voyager, especially given that Chakotay was at least giving Neelix some insight into the spiritual. His lessons really don't fit into the overall narrative of the story since the story never cared enough about these elements to truly explore them in any depth in the episode.

In the end, what could have been an interesting look into faith in general, turns out to an atheistic diatribe that is more of what Hitchens or Bill Marr thinks of religion over what religion is really about.

Star Trek: Voyager: Before and After (1997) Season 3, Episode 21

The Curious Case of Kes

[8/10 · 20 May 2020]

This is definitely an episode that is more than worth it, and let me just say I love Jennifer Lien. I love her portrayal of a character that should be explored more, a character that gets discarded too many times. Kes should be in the forefront a lot more. This episode brings her forward again and it's definitely worth it. The best episodes of this season happen to be Kes focused: Warlord, and now Before and After.

This episode focuses on Kes as it appears she is appearing in different parts of her future, as she is apparently travelling backwards in time through her life and accumulating memories as she goes back. The ending is brilliant and her reaction to her continuing to move backwards is genuine. She is a fantastic actor and in my opinion Lien, and Dawson are the two actresses that are the most interesting of this show.

A rare time that Voyager is good and it all goes to Lien. Thank you for the good episodes!

Star Trek: Voyager: Sacred Ground (1996) Season 3, Episode 7

Not as bad as some think, not as good as some think.

[5/10 · 28 April 2020]

There are reviews that state this as one of the worst episodes of Voyager. Tuvix wins that award for me right now. There are some that hails this as the best episode of Voyager. The Thaw holds that award for me as well. Sacred Ground is an interesting attempt at defining what it means to have faith and how one can balance it with science and vice versa. This was one of the main ideas of the movie Contact where the main character takes a journey that can only be described to others from her point of view and thus requires faith to accept it. It was an excellent movie and take on how religion and faith interconnect. This episode attempts it but doesn't come close.

For Voyager faith is in the way of science and science in the way of faith. For Janeway her journey was to let go of science in order to accept faith, however it is determined at the end that science could have in fact saved Kes. So which is it? This episode fails to balance the ideas that science and faith can coexist, especially in a universe where atheism runs rampant among the humans but not among the aliens. Why is it that the aliens are more religious than the humans in Star Trek. We could have finally explored the religions of humanity and perhaps even brought Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam into the mix.

Instead the episode speaks from an atheistic point of view or perhaps from a fundamentalist point of view, the view that science and faith cannot co-exist, that in order to solve a problem you either use faith or science. Faith is a matter of personal journey. The experience of faith is different per person, something this episode tried to show when they show how Janeway was more about the trial and less about being personal and taking things slow. It was more about her determination than about herself when quiet. The problem is that none of these themes work into the finality of the show nor do they work to present a proper backstory to why faith and science are so opposed right now in the Star Trek universe. This episode could have explored the possibility that how Kes was saved could not be explained. No reason for science to be even mentioned, except near the end where Chakotay may mention to Janeway, "The Doctor examined Kes more careful and discovered that it is possible the field itself was responsible" and leave it hanging.

Not a bad episode, but it doesn't explore itself enough to give it depth it needed.

Star Trek: Voyager: Tuvix (1996) Season 2, Episode 24

Forget Threshold, this is the worst episode of Voyager yet.

[2/10 · 15 April 2020]

Some Spoilers:

With Threshold i can accept the fact that breaking a "barrier" and going into another dimension can change you into a salamander. It's the dumbest thing you'll ever see, not nearly as insulting as Tuvik, an episode that actually asks us to accept one thing, that Captain Janeway is willing to cold blooded murder just so she can have things back to the way they were.

The episode deals with the effects of a plant that combined the DNA of Neelix and Tuvok into a new being. Tuvik is played by Tom Wright who does an excellent job, but the story itself deals with the idea that two people who lack the traits of the other, when they come together as one, perfect each other. We now have the perfect person between the two. But this episode doesn't deal with that.

The episode deals with the idea that because this new life form came to be through a merging of three species, this caused the death of hosts and now a decision must be made, save the new life form, or kill it to bring back Neelix and Tuvok. This is by far the worst Star Trek has ever given us, and I have seen Shades of Grey.

Star Trek: Voyager: Basics, Part II (1996) Season 3, Episode 1

Formidable conclusion that missed more than hit.

[6/10 · 15 April 2020]

It's now obvious to me that the creators and writers of Voyager so desperately wanted their own Gul Dukat as De Longis portrayal of Maje Culluh has a lot of similarities and the writers were trying to make him as animated and as formidable. The big difference between the two characters is depth. Gul Dukat has depth. He is a character. Culluh is a wooden block of a character. He is just another bad guy on the screen who is as dumb as they need him to be so the crew of Voyager can beat him. When the crew for DS9 beats Dukat, it's real. It really does seem Dukat always has the upper hand. A lesson worth exploring for Voyager.

Basics II follows three subplots, and tries very hard to cram them into a single show. The result is this should have been a two parter. What is happening on the ship is far more interesting than what is happening on the planet. Suder's subplot of him finally getting his mind back and able to cope and live with his past comes back to haunt him when he is asked and tasked with the very job he not longer wants. Dourif does an excellent job but Suder's talents are not given the screen time necessary, because apparently we need to know that Voyager is learning to have diplomatic relations with an alien species. There is also another alien on this planet that takes a few officers as dinner. One of which made me incredibly angry because the officer is someone whom we've following for some time now and I was really beginning to like the character. Hopefully it was the actor who wanted to leave and not the writers writing the character off. It was a rather unfitting end for a very fitting character.

Voyager has been a show that consistently foregoes the obvious plot element for the less enjoyable one. I feel like they want to shoehorn an episode into a situation rather than let the situation call to a character or perhaps focus on a character and ask yourself what should this person learn today? This episode felt it more necessary to focus on diplomatic relations with neanderthal people over the psychological pressures of being an assassin and the toll it can take on the human psyche. It made Basics Part II a rather forgettable follow up to a situation that asked for a lot more.

Star Trek: Voyager: Flashback (1996) Season 3, Episode 2

Nothing of consequence happens other than Sulu is painted in a bad light and the writers do not seem to care.

[5/10 · 15 April 2020]

Not much to say other than a terrible episode marred by writers who are ignoring the elephant in the room in order to tell a story that honestly should have been left on the cutting room floor. So many ways this could have been a better episode, but this episode was more about "Sulu! We have Sulu!" over, "how can we utilize the character of Sulu and Tuvok well).

Star Trek: Voyager: Prototype (1996) Season 2, Episode 13

*sigh* Is it possible for Voyager to find it's way out of the box?

[5/10 · 7 April 2020]

When this episodes beings we are looking through the eyes of a robot Torres rescues from space. It has an excellent pace, an excellent and rather unique fish out of water experience I was hoping was going to play out throughout the episode. Instead we get yet another "Voyager does something good only to get punished for it later" episode. A series that seems to be endless with this show.

A lot of time is spent on the energy and excitement of Torres trying to fix the machine and coming to a rather radical solution like a student with their thesis project. She solves the puzzle, the robot is fully functional and now they get to learn from the machine about who it is why it was in space.

It all starts interestingly until we see the robots are not what they appear to be, they kidnap Torres because she can build and repair them. Reminds me of the TNG episode Samaritan Snare.

This is where discovery ends for this episode and we are thrust back into the same idea Voyager has been exploring now for a while, war, war war. Everything seems to be about war with Voyager when in the end, it could be more about exploration like TNG. Voyager cannot seem to write an episode where Voyager gains something along the way. Instead they are always dealt a blow that makes you wonder why they continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Janeway is definitely a person who gives the benefit of the doubt.

In the end, this is a shallow episode with shallow writing. Frakes is a competent director here but the material to work with is trite. It poses nothing interesting of discussion, nothing interesting is learned other than for Voyager to never rescue more things in space. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

How could it have been fixed?

First change the costume as they reminded me of the movie Sleeper and I really couldn't take them seriously. Moreso, rewrite this robot like Asimov would by making it a robot that evolved. That is, this robot gained consciousness, it feels alone, afraid, and it is praying to a God. We learn from this robot as it explores the ship and what a wonderful time for us to see the ship from this perspective. The ending could be a ship looking for it where the Robot refuses to return, kinda like Short Circuit. I think having the robot be a beacon of hope for the ship would have been a great change of pace over the dismal endings where they are trying to one up Deep Space Nine.

Star Trek: Voyager: Non Sequitur (1995) Season 2, Episode 5

Unfortunately Garret Wang cannot carry an episode

[5/10 · 1 April 2020]

This episode outright proves 1 of two things: 1)cannot give us a character that is interesting or 2) The writers cannot give us a character of Ensign Kim that is interesting. It is possible Wang is only working from the script and the director. However I don't think I want to lay blame on the writer and director when I see a story that could have been interesting, but turns out to be rather boring. Actually i blame both.

Non Sequitur is an episode that puts Ensign into a situation where it appears he is back in San Francisco with his girlfriend and back in Starfleet. He discovers that he was never assigned to Voyager and doesn't know what any of this means. The first thing Kim does is try to communicate with whomever he thinks is in control of this reality only to realize that everything seems to be real.

So would be the logical next step here? Well, Kim isn't in any danger, Kim isn't held hostage, Kim isn't hurt or injured or does any injury seem to be forthcoming to him. In seeing this, my first response to Kim was "why not just play along?". It was something that I honestly didn't understand why Kim decided to proceed as if he was in danger. Also Kim when he finds the Voyager logs classified, proceeds to enter his authorization code. If Kim suspected that he was still under alien influence entering that code was a large character error.

For an episode that could have explored the acting of Wang and character of Kim this episode falls very short. McNeill gave an interesting character but it all falls flat with a rather odd and typical Star Trek ending.

Can be skipped.

Star Trek: Voyager: The 37's (1995) Season 2, Episode 1

"The Neutral Zone" but with a Voyager Spin

[5/10 · 26 March 2020]

An episode that take 30 minutes to come to its point, 10 minutes to discuss the point, and that's that.

An episode about aliens that have kidnapped humans and brought them to a planet as slaves. In the time between 1937 and the current year, a lot has happened. The human slaves revolted and now have the planet to themselves. However they had around 8 humans in cryogenic stasis. No explanation is given as to why they are kept in stasis other than that the other humans think they are dead.

This episode is more about the prospect of staying on a planet that "feels like home" over the perils of getting back to home. That's really the whole idea of the episode itself and we never really a chance to explore that aspect of the plot. The moment we get to point, we have 10 minutes left, enough for a monologue from Janeway and a few conversations here and there about it, but all in the span of 5 minutes. The build up took so long to achieve and the resolution below average.

Overall, skippable episode. Nothing stands out, not even David Gaff, who was a memorable character from the Police Academy movies. Nothing to see here with starting Season 2.

It was said this episode was a screenplay written for Season 1, so I will assign this episode to that season and take the next episode as season 2 and see if this season starts off better with that in mind.

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

A Waste of a Rambo Movie. A Waste of a Movie. The 4th Rambo is the legitimate ending.

[3/10 · 22 March 2020]

Rambo is supposed to be about a man separated from "the world". A man who has drifted not just from everyone else but from himself, enough so that he can survive in a world that doesn't want him. Rambo is a solitary man, who eventually finds the moral ground. He is the grim reaper to anyone who stands in his way.

This movie is about a guy troubled by his past who happens to be good with traps and explosives. This is not about Rambo, but about some other military guy that could be anyone.

The series ended with Rambo 4 and truer to the character tale that pits Rambo against the militia of Burma. In that movie he warns missionaries not to go into the area they wish to go into , but they go anyways. The mercenaries then find the hell they were warned about, and Rambo comes to save the day. It wasn't the best plot but it was definitely more Rambo than this one.

Rambo is a guardian for his niece, who wants to go to Mexico to talk to her dad, warned by Rambo not to go, but goes anyways. Rambo then goes in to find her, get captured, beaten, then left for dead. Comes back with a vengeance to kill everyone in the most uneventful finale yet. The 4th installment at the very least gives us something to hate about most of the characters. This Rambo really only concentrates on a few. As for the rest we really don't care and thus it is just canon fodder.

This movie adds nothing to the character of Rambo. It adds nothing to the story. It's a waste of space and should be ignored. Stop with the 4th movie and spare yourself this wasteland of an entry.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Civil Defense (1994) Season 3, Episode 7

Apparently this episode took time to get off the ground... at that shows

[6/10 · 24 January 2020]

From what I read, this episode did not have a script that everyone liked. They had the idea, but no script. Eventually a script got approved but not after constant rewrites. In the end, the producers are happy with the final result, but I have to disagree and say, this episode has potential and falls flat.

The finale is not any twist, nor is it an exciting finale. It seems more like a disaster film where everything that could go wrong can go wrong. We don't learn anything really new from the characters, we do not seem to gain any new ground, except to learn that Dukat and Garak hate each other. Neat, but what about the main characters?

This is an episode with the potential to have dialogue and interactions that could move characters forward, in the end, it is a disaster episode that moves at a plodding pace and ends with a rather unconvincing display.

This is rated high among fans, I rate it lower. However it does give us back evil Dukat. For that I give it a higher rating.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Meridian (1994) Season 3, Episode 8

A better B story than the A Story

[5/10 · 24 January 2020]

Directed by Johnathan Frakes, this is the story where Dax falls in love, for reasons, to someone she just met and only knows for a few days. Granted, let's assume for a minute that this can happen, the episode does nothing to convince me that Dax is truly in love with Deral. Yes, we have a few instances where they are walking in a garden, they climb a tree, they have a few nights together, they solve the problem of keeping the planet stable between dimension, but the A story is incredibly weak in convincing me that Dax is in love enough to give up her career and live in a state she has no idea would be like. In many ways this like having a fling with that special someone for a week, only to go off with them over at some isolated island where you are totally isolated. It's just not convincing and it makes for a tiring episode.

But then we have the B story, Quark is approached by a rich horny man who wants nothing more than to bed Kira, but since the real Kira is out of the question, he wants a hologram version. So now we have Quark and Kira going at each other in a rather playful and amusing manner. Jeffery Combs is excellent and is probably the best thing this episode has to offer. I would say skip the whole thing but the B story is worth it. Perhaps you can skip the Meridan story altogether and just play the B Story. Either way, an episode worthy for season 1, not when you are 3 years in.