I've watched each season of any Star Trek show more times than I can remember. The Next Generation was a show I rejected at first but with every time I watch it I embrace it more and more.
Yes, there are a lot of things debatable about the premiere season in terms of quality of the writing, continuity errors, character developement, actors performances to name a few. It is easy to critisize after the fact and with many years now gone. And even I am the first to admit that there are many cringe worthy or eye rolling moments in this first season. But remember, althought they had the original show to base it upon, they literally started with a white sheet of paper. Especially with the characters.
I also like to write a few words about the remastered HD version as I was initially oposed to that. Having now seen it I have to say it really looks great. The special effects are what most benefitted from the overhaul. They look much more crisp and detailed now. In general the picture looks great and I am amazed what they got out of the original source material. A minor negative is that the picture background looks very grainy at times especially if you're sitting close to your screen, whereas the important foreground is almost always amazingly clear. It also gets grainy when there is camera movement whereas static shots are really the best. But that is not really a downside. Brilliant and vibrant colours.
It is now easy to read the screens (which I did ocasionally). At the same time it is also easier to spot minor imperfections on the sets and props plus you sometimes spot the egdes of the make-up on characters. And it becomes really obvious now when a stunt double was used. But those are all not really flaws, nevertheless I thought I share this remarks.
Voyager became a different show with season 4. It wasn´t a big overhaul but a lot of little things that finally made this show reaching up to it´s potential.
The addition of Jeri Ryan as Seven was a big plus. Althought she was ment to be the babe and bringing some sexy looks she´s done so much more. Seven brought conflict to the show. She was the sandpaper between the rest of the crew, always questioning their methods and motives. She was the strong opposite to Janeway, the both of them clashing horns at every corner, and I think a lot of time Seven was spot on in her assessment of Janeway. They wrote more interesting stuff for Seven in even half of the season than they ever did for Kes. I liked Jennifer Lien but I felt her character never really went anywhere in terms of developement.
I also liked the B´Elanna/Tom relationship. It was bound to happen to couple two characters and those two seemed to be the only ones believable.
Overall scripts became better, the show alltogether had more and better continuity. I still didn´t like any character particulary which over the whole run of the show never really changed. Personally I would have liked to see more of the Hirogen who, from the introduction, were far more interesting and threatening than the Kazon ever became. But I´ll admit that ultimately the Hirogen were maybe a bit to single minded and since Voyager was bound to move on draging the Hirogen along would have ultimately been the same as with the Kazon.
The second season didn´t provide much progress compared to the first. They were still doing what worked best before. I saw little in terms of character developement.
The whole idea of the show was to put a ship literally "where no one has gone before" but we only see glimpses of other cultures. Instead they keep dragging the Kazon along and it became more and more aparent with every Kazon episode that they didn´t work. As the writers and producers agreed later it was unfathomable that you travel a year and a half at high warp and still haven´t left them/their space behind. After all they were a sub-culture that overthrow their supressors just 30 years ago.
I still couldn´t pick a favorite character. Althought I don´t really hate one each of them had a minor flaw or two as far as I saw it. K. Mulgrew does a great job but I never could bring myself to like Janeway. Chakotay is kind of the dog that wants to please his master. The Doctor was still to arrogant but showed promise. Neelix is symply irritating. I can´t really say why I never liked Tuvok. Kes is a non-factor - they just didn´t found a way with her. B´Elana, Tom and poor Harry Kim all had there moments in the show but nothing that got to me. This was unusual because with every other Trek incarnation I had a favorite right from the get-go no later than the end of the premiere season.
But overall it still was on a level back at the time that few shows had so there was reason to go on.
Just finished season three of Voyager.
Luckily the Kazon are gone. If you´ve read my other reviews you know why I never liked them. That freed up time for other stories and species. In a way they pushed the reset button on certain things which helped the show in the long run. I would say this is the better Season 1. This Season has one of the best episodes up to this point f.e. "Unity", "Real Life", "Distant Origin" which was my favorite of this year. We meet the "Q" again, "Before and After" was really well made and "False Profit" was a fun episode to watch. But this season also contains the infamous "Trilogy of Terror". If you don´t know what this is about google it. For me it felt like a rolercoaster that has some really exicting sections and than some boring ones. They still couldn´t keep it on the same level for a whole year. Since there were more good episodes than in the first two season combined (this is my personal opinion I´m sure other´s feel different) I´d rank this as the best Season so far.
I could never quite figure out why Voyager was my least favorite of all the Star Trek shows. With TNG and especially DS9 I was hooked after Season 1. Voyager was more of an effort to like. Since it was Star Trek I wanted to watch it and like it. Which ultimately I did. For me until the end of this year in general everything was "just-so". Watching it now, almost 20 years later, I wonder if it hadn´t been Trek would I have had the patience to see it through ?
From time to time I revisit Moonbase Alpha because it is still one of my favorites of all time and I associate a lot of memories with it. It was something we watched as a family and something I played as a kid.
There were some really good scripts in this first season and, yes, some bad ones too. Oftentimes though the good ideas were pulled down by cringe-worthy dialogue. It comes with the time and place this show was produced. It wasn't as sophisticated as Star Trek had been but I loved it nonetheless (I actually watched Trek much, much later). The 70s design fit really well and the modells they built looked great (if you know Anderson TV shows you know what I mean). Most people who are watching it today for the first time will put it among the silly 70s scifi show category. But those of us who knew it from back then will always appreciate it.
I have now watched it on BluRay for the first time and can absolutely recommend them. It's amazing how well they remastered this. The details are amazing and I have discovered things I have never noticed before. If you are a fan and haven't watched it in HD do so. You won't be dissapointed.
One of the best first seasons of any TV show I've ever seen.
I also wanted to watch the second season in HD, but I did not get past Episode 4. There are not many shows whose quality decreases so much from one season to the next.
As soon as the second season starts, you realize that it's a different show. The design has changed, which is not unusual. But here it was a step back. They just put in more stuff that had more flashing lights, but really did nothing but fill up space. And since the sets were getting smaller anyway due to the limited budget, everything seemed crowded. I really liked the simple and clear design of the first season. And the women now wear skirts - extremely modern and future-oriented (joke) .
Several cast decisions were made. Gone are Paul, Victor and David without a single word of explanation. In comes Tony and again no explanation. And they picked up Maya, played by Catherine Shell, because you need a resident alien and a little more sex appeal for the US audience. And of course there is a romance between these two new characters right away.
They also completely changed the soundtrack and the main title. While the first season included orchestral melodies and a strong main title, there are now synths in the main title and much more tempo that promises more action. And the style in the episodes changes from classic to funky and jazzy which does not fit at all to a sci-fi show.
To say that the quality of the stories worsened would be an understatement, it plumeted. Some ideas had substance, but if you think that the first season was missing in the science part or the dialogues were bad you should stay away from the second one.
The new producer Freiberger had a vision of where the show should go. It was the Americanization of a promising show. I do not think those changes where the show was needed. It backfired while the second season was still produced and in the end it killed the show.
I will always hold the first season in high regard and gladly whatch an episode here and there but I don't think I watch the second ever again.
HD Quality is good, though.
I have no idea why they thought they needed another kid. That Seven was totally annoying and did nothing for the show. Plus that motherly behavior of Peg at the beginning of the season didn't work. I don't remember if they ever explained what happened when Al found the relatives and why he lied that he didn't found them. Luckily the kid was used very sparsely.
One of the best seasons of all of Star Trek. There isn´t a bad or weak episode. The continuity and complexity is outstanding and could only be achieved in the setting of a fixed location. Yet the show never became boring. They went to places, even back to earth. The depth of the characters is amazing and the writers added layer after layer. Everyone had an episode where he could shine. There is the right amount of action, fun, drama - it is well balanced. The storys were building on each other with an all encompassing storyline that connects the beginning with the end of the season which was rare at the time and not without risk. But when this season ends you know you haven´t reached the top of the mountain yet.
In retrospect I must say this season marked the beginning of the end.
First, the whole thing with Peggys mother (never seen but always there) and her hillbilly Wanka father was boring as hell. I also didn't like Buck being gone and then coming back as another dog. I'd rather have them had no dog any longer. And with David and Christina getting older their characters lost something of believablity. Alltogether there were less really great episodes, most are just OK.
But I admit that all didn't bother me back in '95 - just now, watching this again is another thing.
I do understand they had to write in the pregnancy for Peggy because Katey was pregnant in real life. But why on earth give Marcy one , too ?
Due to the unfortunate fact that Katey lost the baby it became a dream sequence in the show. But I can't help asking myself what would have happened had she had the baby.
Another great season of DS9. This is more like a 26 hour feature. The quality is awesome and it´s a reminder of what can be accomplished in TV if given the chance. Shows like this don´t come/came often. I dare to say there is nothing on todays listing that can compare. If so I haven´t seen it, yet.
I´m almost reluctant to watch the next season knowing it´s the last one.
The 11th, and final, season started of with some really stupid episodes like "Twisted" or the two-parter "Requiem for a Chevy-Weight" which probably is the reason I never finished the show during its original run. It wasn't so much the stories but the behavior of the characters that were a bit too much even for this show.
Now, after I finally watched the complete season I think it had some really good episodes after all. But ultimately it was time to close the book. I usually binge watch most of my shows and I did so with MwC at the beginning, too. I love the show, it is one of my all time favs, even now I had tons of great laughs but due to the repetitive nature of the stories I couldn't binge this.
But it is one of the few sitcoms that you can watch whenever you find an episode. And no matter how often you may have seen this particular episode, you still get a laugh.
I think the first season was so-so.
They took about everything that worked for Star Trek so far in the past in terms of stories. We had Holo-Adventures, Alien-mind-takes-over, some sorts of time travel, other dimensions, nebular entities and so on. The rare exception, and highlight of the first year, being "Jetrel". Very powerful episode. And some stories just don´t work at that early stage of the show. I mean you build a whole show about the fact that they need 70 years to come back and than you have early episodes that promises to take out huge chunks of that trip. Not going to work.
I never quite had a favorite character from the beginning as I did in TNG or DS9. The Kazon were a race I never liked - I always saw them as a poor mans Klingon. Another general flaw of the show for me was althought they wanted to show that they are one crew, a Starfleet crew, and did everthing possible to create togetherness, you could always identify Marquis from their rank insignia. It might look minor but that shows seperation in my eyes.
Nevertheless, as with most shows, the first season is a building block from which you go on.
I don't remember that arkward theme in this season. Sounds like some kiddy cartoon clown show.
It´s been so long since I last watched it I´d forgotten how good this show was from the beginning. There were already some really good stories, some I even consider to be among the best of the complete run of the show.
It seems in this season it was more important to create some artifical competition than to show real skill. I get it, after that many episodes it gets repetitive. But I'd much rather see the display of skill without some ridicolous rules.
This is the weakest season so far when it comes to the contestants.
It used to be that the best in every round moved on to the next. This season it's more who's the least bad. People with broken weapons move on because others are a millimeter too short. There has to be a little leeway.
For me season 4 was the weakest so far. Not bad or awful just, you know, the weakest.
It started with that badly cobbled together England episode. Then there is that thing with the intern-of-the-week. Hated that. Althought in the long run I began to like them more they are all no replacement for Zach. I hoped they would bring him back at some point, since it was hinted that he did not actually kill someone. Well, didn't happen.
The plot for Angela and Jack was something that felt like if they did not know what to do with the characters. I was alright with the break-up. That was concievable and legit. But throwing her head over heels in another romance with her ex Roxy, who appered out of nowhere, only to drop that also just a couple episodes later was a waste of time. But it was good they did because it wasn't working. And now the Ang and Jack romance is in limbo althought at the end of the season they were talking about starting over. My guess is the show runners don't want another romance to distract from the main one.
What else ? Max Keenan - they wrote him out of jail only to dissapear into nothingness. He has one small showing in one episode (I don't count the dream-episode).
Some episodes I did not particulary enjoy include the circus, the ghost and the steal-the-body-from-the-wake. They had some good parts but were alltogether to cliched and especially the later felt so overdone. Maybe 22 episodes would have been better.
But even with all this negatives I consider Bones still one of the better shows and it still had many good things to go for. I am now maybe more analytical while watching then, say ten years ago, so everything is fine.
A good 7 for season 4.
Well, now the elephant has left the room. B & B are finally married. Only it just does not feel that way, everything is as if nothing has changed. But that's my personal opinion and in my view, it's actually a good thing. As long as the constant back and forth stops I'm fine. I just wish Booth would once stand his man and he would tell Bones to shut up. Anyway, the focus is no longer on these two, which creates time and space for the other characters.
In general, the stories are good, the show has long since set and does what it does best. And finally, Pelant is history! Although his mind lingers throughout the season. Which brings me to the Ghost Killer, something I did not like. It leads to an exciting season finale, but the connection to Pelant, who discovered at least the tip of the iceberg, is thin at best. No explanation as to the why. Or did I miss that ?
I feel relieved after this season because I was afraid that I would reach a point where I would stop. If nothing completely stupid happens, I am confident that I will finish this series.
In its entirety better than the previous season. There were some really good episodes like "The Patriot in Purgatory" or "The Spirit in the Machine". Some good moments alltogether. But I still shy away from the B & B romance. One of the show's strengths in its early parts was the relationship between these two characters. Now I think that's one of the weaknesses. It's just too much in the spotlight after 8 years. I have lost all interest in this topic and am much more focused on the characters of the second level.
For the most part, the show is at a standstill. It does what it does best but brings little new.
For me S6 was much, much better than the previous two. Better written stories, some even creating an arch, resulted in better episodes. For me there was one reason - the main focus was not B&B. As I've written before that whole thing was dragged out for too long and the show was much better without that.
Of course it couldn't last. The last two episodes threw everything around, althought my guess is it was more out of necessity because it felt hasty and rushed. Emily Deschanel was pregnant for real so they had to do it now. They slept one time together and hit the jackpot. I was pi**ed that the trigger was the death of Nigel-Murray. Athought that, too, might not have been intented. Speaking of that death - I hated it. First Zach had to leave, now my favorite intern.
What I really like to see more and more is the story of Jack and Ang which feels much more natural and fluid. It is so much more better written than the other one. And, of course, I always love to see Billy Gibbons.
Everything taking into consideration I had much more fun, and emotional moments, this season so it's a step up to a solid 8.
For the most part the first season was OK. Neither overwhelmingly exceptional nor brutally awful. Just, well - OK.
I can live with the wacky science because it is a science-fiction superhero show. There has to be some leeway. One major factor I really didn't like is the, as one trakt friend of mine likes to put it, teen-oriented crap, that turns up in all this superhero shows. There always has to be some sort of romance, love interest or the like going on. Because all these awkward moments that result from that are so fun, right ? Wrong, so distractful and also not really character building. Iris was pretty much a nuisance the whole season and I can easily see the whole storyline working without her character in it. Secondly, the villains, from top to bottom were really weak. Most of the time they were only an afterthought in any story, just to be put away by The Flash, or to be killed off later. And the villains they keep aren't even metahumans but morons with techy guns that weren't even developed by themself. The major storyline with Dr. Wells was what drove the season. That was what kept me hanging in until the end.
As it is now I can't say I will see the end of the show. There are a lot of things that need to become better for me to really go with this all the way.
Season two had its up and downs much like season one. Zoom was a great villain until he dropped his mask and developed the I-Love-You virus .
They should have ended this after S10. This show has basically degraded into a mediocre comedy that tries to do crime drama. The writers are more concerned to create awkward moments between characters, which is then underscored by some funny music, than writing something serious. The best that happened this season was Hodgins being paralyzed because it created tension and conflict. Didn't last long though. Plus, the constant discussions between Booth and Brennan are so nerving. It is incomprehensible how a guy stays with this woman. And of course everyone of the main characters needs to have a relationship. So after a brief stint with the hot photographer Cam is back with Arastoo and Aubrey and Jessica are dancing around each other.
I really don't think there was a memorable episode in this season. Well, only a dozen left.
Just finished season two and I am still not feeling it. And right now I am asking myself why I should continue ? Because of the show itself or the MCU tie-ins. Upon further inspection both arguments don´t seem to be compelling right now.
It is not an awful show but it isn´t exceptional either. I wish they would get rid of Hydra once and for all. Like Rayna said - it is so 1945. And all this back and forth twisting makes me wonder if this will be another show where they are writing themselves into a dead end street and then do a ridiculous twist out of that. Production is good thought.
And as far as the MCU tie ins are concerned, how, if anything, does this fit together? Because it seems the show is doing its thing for 98 % of the time and everytime a new movie is about to premiere they are writing in some lines to remind people that, yes, we are in the same universe. You really don´t lose out if you only watch the movies. And if you´d ask me it would be a better fit within the X-men anyway.
I´ll give this season another six while in reality I think of it more of a higher five.
I just recently finished season one. I´ll have to admit had I watched it at the original airdate I probably wouldn´t have made it past episode five. But since so many people said it would become better I continued.
It looks cool, the action is good but althought beeing part of the MCU it felt more like watching Fringe or X-files most episodes. It is missing the real superheroes. Maybe it was never supposed to have them but after watching the movies it feels like that.
From the main characters only Coulson is really great. His story, the mystery surrounding him, is what drives this show so far. I also liked Mae but the rest are weak. Skye is an arrogant I-know-it-better-typ and that kind of wunderkind has been overdone. Ward is the stereotype muscle. I disliked him even before he turned out to be a traitor. And that romantic arc between Skye and Ward was on the wall from episode one And don´t get me started about Fitz/Simmons because they feel more like something from a Disney kids show.
The scripts became better towards the end, more cohesive, but I also must say the villain(s) left a lot to be desired. It´s always the take-over-the-world type with little depth.
That is my assessment after the first season. I haven´t yet watched the rest so please don´t spoil. Maybe some of the things I mentioned will change later on.
I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to stop after this season. The show is pretty much on rotation, it's a drifter. And so is my attention - drifting in and out. Stories are following a blueprint and oftentimes you can pretty much hear the words before they are spoken.
Then there are they major things - killing Sweets, bringing in Aubrey, another child for B&B. All of this did not made this show better. Yes, there are still some nice moments but they are getting few and far in between.
I don't want to quit at 90 % completion so I carry on but that really is my main motivation. Right now I have no interest in learning anything new about the characters
Bones was one of the last shows I really, really loved to watch. Where I would look forward to every new episode. This show was great right out of the gate because it was well crafted and developed. The characters had enough depth from the pilot on, to be interesting, and enough in the background to be developed. It was easy to attach to them and care for them. They were all perfectly cast and everybody gave it their best.
We all know that in the long run their would be the romance on the horizon but personally I think in the early parts of the show it did not stand in the way. It has always been a character driven show so those things are to be expected. But it also felt believable, the affection, the care, the friendships - I totally bought into that.
There are always pros and cons in re-watching a show. You know what will happen so it's fun to look for clues when things started to develope. But because of that, it also takes away a bit, because of what you know.
After now having completed the first season, again, I have to say that I still love this show. Interesting cases, great, snippy humor - there were several attemps to do a character like Bones in similar shows, as is always be the case when something is succesfull. None came close. There is only one Bones.
I give this season a very strong 9, trending towards a 10.
I've finished S5, and already I am a good way into the sixth, when I realised that the end of S5 was when I stopped the show on its original run. Althought I can't remember why that was. Might be something trivial like just not having the time. But it could have been something else, too.
A large part of this show, well the main part really, is centered around the connection between B&B. The seed, that there is something grewing between them is planted very early. The problem is that they dragged that out for too long maybe because they didn't know how long the show would last and they didn't wanted to jump the gun. When they finally decided for Booth to confide his love to Bones and she rejected him the thing was already a dead horse. It had reached a point were it became annoying for me to watch that constant back and forth.
Another thing that really became annoying, in itself and in relation to a possible romance, is Bones behavior in general. Now, I know she is supposed to be that way but the constant correction of others and her rationalizing everything makes her more and more unlikable. The character hasn't really shown any developement since day one and I have now reached a point where I wouldn't want B&B to end up together.
Luckily there is a lot more to the show once you look past that non-romance so I have ample reason to go on. Still a 7 for the season.
One thing I hate is the imbedded commercials by Toyota were the characters literally cite brochure texts. I know product placement is normal but, please, make it less obvious
