Riker calls for emergency attention from security, so who shows up? Worf, with Geordi. Neither has a phaser. La Forge isn't even part of the security division—at this point in the series, he's the helmsman. But Dr. Crusher happens to bring along a phaser when called to a medical emergency onboard the ship… because that makes sense. (We'll try to ignore how Worf and Geordi play along with Admiral Quinn's lies about what happened to Riker. That's also bad.)
That chair Remmick is sitting in looks an awful lot like the one used for Admiral Jameson in "Too Short a Season". That's because it was the same prop, redressed.
Not a nitpick, but doesn't fit into the review proper, either: I had no idea Captain Rixx was a Bolian. This is the first appearance of the species in Star Trek, and I guess I'm used to the later makeup design—which uses a much more saturated blue. Bonus trivia: The Bolians were named after Cliff Bole, who went on to direct a total of 42 Star Trek episodes across TNG, DS9, & VOY. He also directed on numerous other well-known shows like MacGyver, The X-Files, Baywatch, and Charlie's Angels.
Some background information on what was happening in the television world at the time explains why this episode wasn't as good as you might think it should be. After all, it's clearly meant to be a taut thriller about the possibility of Starfleet being seized by aliens. It's obviously meant to be part of a larger story arc—that started several episodes back, when Quinn gave Picard that warning.
The writers' strike of 1988 was ultimately responsible for this letdown. This "Conspiracy" plotline was meant to be intertwined with the Borg, who were to be introduced at the start of season two. But the writers' strike delayed the rest of the Borg storyline several months, and this piece of it was dropped. That's why nothing ever comes of the "homing beacon" Data reports.
It's too bad. Aside from it being entirely too easy for Picard and Riker to win against the "mother creature" (in Remmick's body), I enjoyed this one. It's not perfect, but "Conspiracy" as part of something bigger would have been better than what ultimately happened: treating this like any other incident-of-the-week—essentially, pressing the "big reset button" and pretending like these events never occurred.
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@finfan For this one in particular, I spent a fair bit of time reading IMDB's trivia, looking for background on Google (ending up at Wikipedia), and putting it all together in my head—with some help from writing and rewriting paragraphs several times.
That's the general process. If I'm curious about something in the episode, whether an on-screen detail or just a hint at production stuff (like the writers' strike), I'll go research it after writing my nitpicks down. (I try to write down only nitpicks/goofs I personally noticed, though occasionally something too good not to mention slips past me and I crib it from IMDB…)
It's interesting that you mention books. I, too, have several Star Trek reference books but it's far more convenient to simply leverage the Internet for research after (re-)watching an episode, since I'm already on a computer.
Filler episode that added nothing to the story long-term. Meh.
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@drive95 World-building for Part II and giving Ellie a chance to show her own mettle is filler?
Hmmm, they're starting to drag their feet. We used to have action, this episode was a total bore
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@ramadri I second @jamatiknakmuay… if you're expecting constant action, you're watching the wrong genre.
Can someone explain how come Pria disappeared?
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@misnomer Something like that.
Making her disappear is actually more problematic from a temporal mechanics perspective, since implying that Pria no longer exists in that timeline also implies that she never existed, which means she couldn't have saved the Orville from the dark matter storm, and therefore they couldn't have destroyed the wormhole, and so she actually should exist in this timeline after all.
In short, it's a most ingenious paradox. It didn't have to be. They could have had her not disappear, but dropped her off at a Union base as originally planned, before they knew she was from the future.
This show is pretty F good, except the fact they are constantly forgetting that there is no gravity in space
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@dumbsloth87 I think @fenkins was likely talking about the process Miller used to get the bombs off the cart on Eros. He very clearly lifted each unit up, then rested it on the cart as if it was very heavy while changing grips to lift it over the railing. Right before setting each unit down, the base lit up as if to indicate a magnetic fastener activating, but all of Miller's movements up until putting each unit down indicated that he was under gravity—which he wasn't, in-universe.
Yay, more Kendra and more of her atrocious fake accent!
Seriously... kudos to the rest of the cast for keeping a straight face in her scenes. Must have been hard.loading replies
@ajperez81 If you believe what you read in magazine interviews, Bianca Lawson didn't much care for it either. It was a last-minute addition that kept being tweaked on set, away from authenticity in favor of being easily understood by American TV viewers. (IMDB trivia at https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533522/trivia?item=tr3427878 citing an interview in SFX magazine that I haven't yet tracked down, likely because it's from the pre-digital age of magazines.)
Shout by LeftHandedGuitarist
The lack of female Jaffa warriors is certainly something the show has needed to address, but it's a shame that this is the way it was done. Not a bad episode by any means, but it's very forgettable even with Jolene Blalock guest starring. I absolutely want to see more Jaffa women kicking people's asses. Blalock is the best part of this but Christopher Judge doesn't have that much chemistry with her and the romance subplot is really misplaced within the context of the story.
The other good part of it is Daniel's friendship that forms with the young girl, Nesa. I wish the episode had allowed more time for this to be explored, along with helping to make us to better understand the aggressive views of her older sister. This feels like an episode with too many elements crammed in, so the important ones in there don't get a proper chance to breathe.
It's actually quite surprising how few female writers worked on SG-1 over the years.
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@lefthandedguitarist I can't take that romance thread seriously, not considering who wrote the script. Teal'c would surely be above such nonsense, but I guess Christopher Judge wasn't. :joy::frowning:
Review by Andrew Bloom
VIP9[8.4/10] I have to be real -- about halfway through this episode I was hating it. It seemed like we were headed for the hackiest, wackiest, sitcom-y finale imaginable. Johnny fumbles the ball on his anniversary with Moira only to run into the Schitt’s after brushing them off! Alexis’s ex-fiancee tells her about a party being held by her other ex that she wasn’t invited to, which she crashes, only to run into Mutt’s new girlfriend! David and Stevie compete for the affections of the same guy after needling one another about high school dating prowess! It’s all so broad and dumb that I figured this season, for all the good work it’s done, was headed for a crash landing.
Instead, it soared from that point on. I don’t know if this was some kind of intentional feint, to lure the audience into thinking that the show was up to its old tricks and going for the cheap seats, but instead it pivoted toward something real and even touching in pretty much every storyline as it closes out its second season.
The Stevie/David bit is probably the least of them. David mainly got his major growth moment in the last episode, so it’s fine that his bit here is more of a lark. Frankly, their competing for the same guy, with it not being clear whether/if he was interested in both of them or just David felt more like a setup for season 3 than anything super relevant to the present moment. But it still positions them as friendly but combative after all they’ve been through, so I dug it, even if it wasn’t my favorite part of the episode.
But I did really like where they went with Alexis. I assumed that her meeting Tennessee, Mutt’s new girlfriend, was going to revert her back to (1.) offering her passive-aggressive compli-sults and (2.) compensate by hooking up with Ted again despite the fact that the poor guy’s been through enough. The episode started to head that direction, only to pull back and do something much better.
Instead of this experience being cause for backsliding in Alexis, it becomes another chance for her to grow and, most importantly, to develop her empathy. Instead of just feeling sorry for herself given the impact that seeing Mutt with someone else has on her, she realizes how shitty it must have been for Ted to go through that and asks him how he deals with it. He answers that he wasn’t okay, that he cried a lot and that it took him a long time, but that he eventually just got through it. Aleixs understands and even apologizes, and it’s a really sweet and human moment from someone who could be the show’s most cartoonish character (give or take Roland).
And yet, Roland factors into the episode’s crowning moment. I love the impromptu dinner party scene, where the Roses run into their wealthy former friends who just so happen to be passing through Elmdale. The Roses initially try to puff up their current living situation and laugh along with their old friends trashing Schitt’s Creek. They’re embarrassed at their current station and want to seem like they can still fit in with their former moneyed cohort, something especially tricky once Roland and Jocelyn show up.
The Schitt family are incredibly good sports about the whole thing, even as the rich visitors trash their town and even the restaurant they’re so excited to get to dine at. Eventually though, Johnny has had enough. He excoriates his former pals, declaring that for however much these interlopers think themselves above Schitt’s Creek, they’re shitty friends who left the Roses high and dry. Meanwhile the Schitts may not be terribly refined, but have been beyond generous with our refugees from the world of wealth.
I’m not sure there’s been a more heartening moment in this show than Johnny declaring that Schitt’s Creek is their home. It’s a vindication of the fact that however much the Roses may yearn for their more financially secure and, let’s face it, spoiled life, they’re increasingly realizing how equally hollow and shallow that life, and the people in it, were. While life in Schitt’s Creek is unquestionably harder, it’s also full of more genuine people, who are rough around the edges and have their eccentricities and blind spots as well, but who have done a great deal to welcome the Roses into their homes and lives despite the fact that the Roses themselves haven’t been the most gracious guests in the world.
And yet, they are trying and they have gotten better and they have fully and finally accepted themselves as a part of this place. (At least until the next finale-needed conflict arises.) There’s something incredibly sweet about the closing scene at Mutt’s party, where the Roses and the Schitt’s and their various friends and acquaintances all come and dance together. They affirm their love for one another. They join in the bonds of friendship and celebration and, subtly, the fact that they’ve become better people through all of this. That’s a hell of a way to end given where this one started.
You could say the same for season 2 as a whole. This year of the show started out pretty weak, with a string of rough episodes that made me wonder if the show had missed its mark. But while there were still bumps in the road, the show committed to depicting growth in each of the Roses over the course of these thirteen episodes, and earned this great finish in the process.
(As an aside, I loved the cold open with Johnny trying to cajole the kids into wishing their mom a happy anniversary, citing the neighboring Bloomfield family as a model, only for Alexis and David to suggest that the Bloomfields were a little too cozy. Their faux-sincere congrats for Moira, and her response that the kids were starting to sound like those weird “incestuous Bloomfields” was a hilarious punchline. One place where the show definitely stepped up its game in season 2 was the great cold opens!)
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@andrewbloom No need for rudeness especially when the so-called "War and Peace comment" is spot-on. Plus, Trakt does have a "Read more" button now on long reviews.
The movie might be showing its age, or maybe I'm showing mine. The structure just felt off. The pacing was much too slow until the last quarter. There's something grating about Maverick's character—there's supposed to be, but I couldn't really find anything to like about him. And of course the romance is entirely unnecessary, but that's been a Hollywood problem since long before this movie (and still is).
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@pipeinformatico Calm down, Shouty. Women can relate to plenty of things that aren't "romance".
This show is so good over 500 people have voted on it over four months before it's air date. Sweet Christmas!
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@neverm0re I'm fairly sure Trakt didn't exist in 1989…
Shout by Peter
Low budget sci-fi, which seems promising on first look, but soon starts squeaking from multiple directions. For me it fits into category of "fill" series, which I watch when I have nothing better to do. My opinion is based on 9 watched episodes.
Few examples: [Minor spoilers]
*Jodelle Ferland aka Six wants to play immature girl, but is not really working. Everyone acts like she is about 14 years old, but she is clearly much older than the character she is playing, which is funny.
*I've also seen multiple attempts of funny scenes, but show didn't get anything more than "huehueh" from me.
*Four is a guy from traditional samurai family. I always facepalm when I see their soldiers "going to battle", with traditional samurai armor, drop their swords and start shooting with guns. (And no, their armor is not bulletproof).loading replies
Six isn't a girl, though. That's Five.
Man that was tense! I totally see why Bella said there would be some divided opinions on this one because David was one sick guy. Like... not even the game went there haha. IMO though it worked pretty well, as it made me sympathize a little less with David here than in the game. Great episode and tense all the way through! Sad we're coming up on the finale but man... The hype is real haha. (Nice work here by Troy, did a great job!)
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@shmuckle The game went close enough to there that it was obvious if you paid attention. Just requires a little reading between the lines, same as Bill/Frank.
Is the issue with Barney's new wingman a real thing? It seems so ridiculous that it has to be untrue.
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@legendaryfang56 Please, he's obviously just an anime protagonist. :wink:
I don’t know if it was the show’s budget or what but that party looked very scarce for someone who makes 120k a year
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@aars26 She's only been at that salary level for, what, three episodes? It's fine.
I’m so happy that Amy gets to finally be manager. She earned every single ounce of her new salary, however she does not deserve all that crap from her coworkers.
I get that it’s supposed to be funny, but it just comes across as pretty ridiculous, I mean, for instance, Garrett casually announcing her contract without a bat of an eye and Cheyenne also casually mentioning Amy’s salary to a customer? I mean, what the fork is wrong with these people. Again, AMY DESERVES BETTER. (Minus Jonah because they’re actually perfect for each other).loading replies
@lemicomo I handle sitcoms being ridiculous as a test of disbelief suspension. At some point, you almost have to make the characters do something unrealistic or you end up with another straight drama. The situation is supposed to be the source of the comedy—hence "sitcom", for "situation comedy".
Of course Garrett wouldn't have done that in real life, but it's OK because he's a TV character and it sets up the situation.
Worst episode of the series
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Statements like this need at least one reason given, or they're ripe to ignore.
Shout by Just Another Movie Nerd
VIP10And they just had to start the episode with that fucker Kinsley. Another episode ruined by having to watch the ugly mug of that political asswipe.
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@pjonsson I have to ask, was someone forcing you to watch this show? Kinsey isn't my favorite character, but he doesn't show up that often. Now I'm curious what you'd think of Kai Winn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—another "political asswipe".
Just a little bit
…ch
There's nothing particularly bad about this episode, it's just so very forgettable. It's a great showcase for Dax and Terry Farrell finally gets to show us the slightly more fun side of her which will become a trademark of her personality. I like Trill culture so it's nice to get some info about how it all works, but the whole relationship between Jadzia and Arjin is quite dull and just feels half hearted.
Odo has a great mini disagreement with Kira and makes his points beautifully, the voles on the station are a humourous background story and the Klingon chef is always welcome back.
But the whole thing with the tiny universe is just uninteresting and feels without any real stakes. They just end up putting it back where they found it, but isn't it still going to pose a risk there once it continues to expand?
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Hmm, the implication of putting the protouniverse back where they found it is that, since it came from a subspace pocket, it won't impinge on normal space. I don't think we the viewers actually know enough about how subspace "works" to know.
Voyager can land! That's pretty cool, and something I only vaguely had in the back of my memory. I thought that the sequence was done pretty effectively here.
While this riffs on similar ideas done in the TNG episode 'The Neutral Zone', it makes it more about the Voyager's crew than the people they find, which was a good decision. It does feel like quite a big moment when Janeway and Chakotay walk into the cargo bay to see how many people want to leave. Honestly, I was a bit surprised that everyone wanted to stay because the show hasn't really managed to sell the idea that everyone there is working towards the same goal at all.
It's also nice for them to encounter something that isn't a spacial anomaly. I quite like that the people they find include Amelia Earhart (dodgy wig aside) and how Janeway bonds with her. The rest of the 37's are a bit flat, though - at least, the ones who are actually allowed to talk. It's particularly annoying the way Fred goes all-American and immediately becomes hostile. Nice to see Tackleberry from Police Academy, though!
Overall, this is a fun episode. A few things bugged me: finding the car floating in space and it works - wouldn't all liquids inside be extremely frozen? Also, having Paris be a geek for 1930s automobiles certainly detracts (again) from his bad boy image, but in this case it does serve the character better because he needs to move away from that. On the flip side, I thought that the way the rest of the crew talk about the car was quite realistic, and kind of charming. Once we meet the humans living on the planet, it feels like a massive cop out that we don't see these incredible cities they are talking about; yeah, I get that it would have been a huge and expensive undertaking to put them on screen, but the dialogue around them feels so awkward and could have been handled so much better: "I'd love to see your amazing cities!" "Oh wow, weren't those cities amazing!" just doesn't cut it.
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@lefthandedguitarist When they "came back" from the settlement tour, without showing anything at all, all I could think was, "Something something budget," haha.
One of the things I enjoy about this episode is how it shows the main characters isolated and working together, each of them playing to their own strengths. Terry Farrel has been given very little to do as Dax throughout the first seasons, and I would say that this is the first episode where she's actually been given the chance to act. She does a great job, too, especially once her symbiont is removed and the calm, confident personality allowed to her by Dax disappears and we see how scared and young Jadzia is. We are given a great look into how the Trill work, too.
The guest cast are excellent, too. Tim Russ is barely recognisable as a Klingon. John Glover gets to change from a timid character into a different person. It's remarkable to see how different he plays it once he's joined, laughing with Sisko about their past adventures. The commander himself works against Verad and his crew brilliantly, playing on their emotions and never backing down. Meanwhile, Bashir shows that he isn't easily intimidated and O'Brien... well, O'Brien gets shot and rolls around in pain.
I like this as a display of friendship between the characters, they've reached a point where they trust each other. The problem I have, though, is Quark. He does something absolutely despicable and is told several times through the episode that he's finished. None of these people will ever trust him again. And yet, the episode ends with zero repercussions for him and all is forgotten. That doesn't ring true at all.
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I guess someone had to leave room for the others to act, so Colm got the short straw this time around.
This stage of DS9 is still mostly following the episodic formula of the Trek shows that preceded it, so the lack of any consequences for Quark is hardly surprising. It's not until later—a season or two, as I recall—that the show really gets into cross-episode persistence. I remember interviews with the creative staff on my DVDs saying that the push for longer and more involved story arcs was something of an ongoing battle. Given the "reset button" basis of its predecessors, it's not surprising that it took DS9 some time to break out of that mold and evolve the franchise (only for Voyager to keep treading the old path, generally).
What kind of idiot voted 1 point before the episode is aired?
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@thatvegasguy @borayeris My guess would be one of the Moclan black site guards.
"This is a very frustrating conversation."
I don't know about you guys.. but this episode was hilarious to me. :joy:
AND NOW WE'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT THE TATTOO WAS
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@dftv We know it's "a picture of not a doctor", and that it's not a decimal point.
These past couple of weeks have been hard on me and after watching this episode I’m like “hey it could be worse, at least you are not Noah.” I feel so bad for laughing at Noah’s misery but it distracted me from mine, and he never gives up so I’m gonna take that as inspiration.
I feel bad for Mateo and I totally get where he’s coming from, but Cheyenne’s not to blame, I hope he can find a place where he gets to grow professionally and be safe. Let his case be a reminder of what immigrants go through and all the obstacles they face in trying to be productive members of society, lets put an end to ICE’s prosecution on people!!!loading replies
@aars26 Who's this Noah guy you keep mentioning in comments?
Did SG-1 need to show some Jaffa women? Yes, definitely. The fact that we only ever see Jaffa men fighting for their respective system lords needed to be addressed somehow, and this story did cover it as far as Moloc is concerned.
However, I was deeply disappointed in the wardrobe choices made for this episode. Just like in every video game or action movie featuring women in fighting roles, the Hak'tyl warriors wore unrealistically skimpy outfits that would provide no real protection in battle. These costumes were no better than what Hathor wore* a few seasons ago—and in that case, "Hathor never expects to find herself in active combat" was a flimsy but valid excuse. Ishta and the others here go off to raid other Jaffa parties for symbiotes with no armor at all. It's no wonder they lose so many good warriors in trying to procure symbiotes for the children among them.
We also have to acknowledge that Teal'c's romance with Ishta makes no sense. Had Christopher Judge not written the script, I very much doubt that idea ever would have come up. Though I have no evidence to prove that it was indeed his idea, the lack of any co-writer credits for this script is about as damning as possible. To think that Jolene Blalock took a break from T'Pol's Bermanization on Star Trek: Enterprise to film this, where her character was arguably treated even worse… Sigh.
Honestly, I'm out of energy now to also complain about the huge gaping plot hole: there were at least three symbiotes available at the SGC for reimplantation into Neith, since their original Jaffa hosts had given them up in favor of Tretonin treatments.
In writing this down, I talked myself into revising my rating from 6/10 to 5/10. Whoops.
* — And at least Hathor's skimpy costume covered where her symbiote pouch should be; "Birthright" overlooked that detail a few times.
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@wpafbo79 It's not "the fact that they are female" at all. It's the fact that they are going into battle with no protection, regardless of gender presentation. This isn't only a TV thing; it's been a trope (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChainmailBikini) in video games for decades.
As for the Hak'tyl warriors getting such armor for themselves? They could make it, I'm sure. It can't be harder than raiding other Jaffa for their symbiotes.
This is fine if a little by-the-numbers. It's a standard alien virus sci-fi story in which the main cast need to go into lockdown and have to find the cure before time runs out. But the Atlantis characters do help it along and keep it interesting. The most interesting part is the tension between Weir and Sheppard and I love that they sit down at the end to talk it out - the different dynamic here thanks to the mix of civilian and military personnel do give this show its own flavour.
There's some odd stuff too. Ford is strangely on edge even before he finds out he's infected, and his freak out moment certainly makes sense but feels a bit out of character for him specifically. Similarly, McKay seems to be overdoing it but I guess he can be forgiven in this circumstance.
It also falls back on the standard sci-fi trope of an EMP to fix things, which seemed the obvious route as soon as they figure out that machines are part of the problem.
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@lefthandedguitarist Don't forget that at least Sheppard's radio should have stopped working after the first EMP attempt, and all the active radios in the city should have been killed by the second, bigger EMP. (But I guess the puddle jumpers have their own Ancient comms tech… plot armor edition.)
A cool concept and the episode allows us to understand more about the Wraith without reducing how intimidating they are. That can often be a difficult thing to achieve. I like the twists and turns this one goes through on its journey, and I like that this gives Dr. Beckett more to do for the first time. The guest character played by Allison Hossack felt a bit too similar to the one she played previously over on SG-1, but she does a good job here.
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The guest character played by Allison Hossack felt a bit too similar to the one she played previously over on SG-1
@lefthandedguitarist It did feel like I'd seen Perna before. I had, under a different name: Zenna. :grin:
The tone of the episode changed. It's nice to see stuff that isn't straight forward. That said, McKay's superiority sure showed this episode. He was ready to change everything for his own ideology
The two young children had far too much chocolate on their faces for the single bar they got. Regardless, they were adorable.
Side note: Episode with trees
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Side note: Episode with trees
@smatthew More like, "Another planet that looks like Canada" :joy_cat:
Review by LeftHandedGuitarist
A strong and effective send off for Daniel that does hit the right emotional spots. It's handled with care. Of course, even back in 2002 it was widely reported that Michael Shanks was going to be leaving the show, so there wasn't a surprise factor here. But that didn't diminish how sad it was to watch.
While the episode does remove his character, it has the foresight to not "kill" him off as such, leaving the possibility open for appearances in the future. But even so, this manages to feel final. The farewell between him and Jack is played very nicely, and it was the right choice that Daniel selects him to say goodbye to. Their friendship has been rough along the way (even as recently as a couple of episodes ago with the ending of 'Meridian'), but it's really grown into one of the most solid relationships here. The tears in Michael Shanks eyes feel genuine which is a testament to his acting abilities.
Whether you agree with Daniel's reasons for leaving is another matter. He seems to almost be giving up, despite his protestations that he's not. He claims to feel useless and that he's done all he can; I'm not sure I quite feel the same. The episode attempts to justify his state of mind, but the fact that it's not been built up kind of makes it not ring entirely true for me. He and SG-1 have accomplished a LOT over the past few years.
Other than that, this introduces us to the naquadria element and also Jonas Quinn. I like Jonas and I think this episode helps to establish his morals quite well.
I remember a lot of online discussion back in the day about Carter's goodbye scene with Daniel where she's talking about "why do we always wait to tell people how we really feel?". This was misinterpreted by a lot of people, myself included, as her declaring some romantic feelings towards him. I think it's an easy mistake to make given the words she chooses, but it's definitely not meant that way.
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(even as recently as a couple of episodes ago with the ending of 'Meridian')
I believe you meant "Menace"? This episode is "Meridian" :grin:
Clipshow episode #2, and they are still a bit painful to sit through. Much like 'Politics', the surrounding story is moderately enticing and I always liked the way that Stargate at least tried to make clipshow episodes fun. The re-use of existing sets in a new capacity is clever enough as yet another method of saving money, but still this episode is difficult to really get into. It lacks the spark and heightened tension that 'Politics' had. However, one thing I did kind of appreciate was that the clips actually related to each other, and were put together in a way that summed up the overarching alien narratives so far.
The reveal of Hathor isn't all that welcome given that her previous appearance was one of the worst episodes of the entire series, but they do better here. The episode has a really awkward moment when we see the two "future" base staff speaking Goa'uld, because the performances there are laughably bad.
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tbh I was pleasantly surprised at how much original footage this part incorporated. Like you, I didn't care for the last episode Hathor appeared in, but with fewer/shorter flashbacks and less lethargic pacing I think this would be a pretty good episode.
