I was worried after the sharp turn last week's episode took, but this was MUCH better. Although, I really wanted to see exactly when/where Georgiou ended up.
I'm not sure what to think about this. The recap of the previous seasons at the start was useless, so I was lost from the outset. What's going on? Who's a robot? Who died last season? Which time line did we leave things in? I have no idea. This episode changes things up drastically so in that respect it's almost a new show, but I found I just didn't really care about anything happening on screen. There's a lot to take in here and not much explanation. The dialogue was weird too, it sounded like a teenager who has just learned to use swear words.
The Singapore backdrop makes for a great looking futuristic city, and Aaron Paul's scenes were the best parts of the episode. This show severely lacks in characters that I feel anything for, so he's a good addition.
An absolutely wonderful beginning. All the spirit of classic Trek, characters that are vibrant, a sense of fun and adventure, and it brings up relevant modern issues like Trek always has. I can't wait to see where we go from here. Anson Mount and Ethan Peck are just brilliant in their roles as we already knew, but the new cast seem to fit immediately too. Celia Rose Gooding in particular captured the vibe of Uhura very well, even though we saw so little of her. And that was a nice little surprise with the Lieutenant at the end.
This episode is rightly lauded as one of the best of the entire franchise. It's emotional, powerful and thoughtful and exemplifies exactly what the show is about. But, and I am frustrated with myself for saying this, I don't really love it all that much. This could be a product of having seen it a bit too often, or having it always rammed down my throat as BEST TREK EVAH!1!!
I get it, it IS quite wonderful, but I've always found it to highlight The Next Generation's inherent weakness, and that is that the episodic nature of the show. This is an episode that absolutely demanded to have repercussions for Picard as a character, and there are absolutely none. It should have utterly changed him as a person. The fact that this is such a self-contained episode makes it lose its power somewhat for me. Much in the same way that Worf is completely fine following 'Ethics' or that Riker falls in love but has forgotten all about it after 'The Outcast', TNG tells fantastic stories that you can dip in and out of at any time but so rarely rewards the viewer for watching.
Kind of a stupid episode for my tastes. The gang of kids were really annoying, and the duplicate Earth was never explained or even questioned.
Despite being as formulaic as they come, this is a great episode and one of the better Klingon-centric ones. It's mostly due to the rich characters and how much history they all have by this point, plus Kor has been a joy in every appearance he's made. The b-story with Ezri/Quark is quite delightful too.
Although, I do have to question why Worf assigns Kor to work specifically on Martok's ship after being told to keep them away from each other.
Very dated from a production point of view, and the script is absolutely terrible. BUT, the story itself is exciting and it certainly did some ambitious stuff not seen on the show before.
Pretty enjoyable, but then again it's always a fun time to see regular characters acting so different. Echoes of a Mirror Universe episode as it begins. But, is it just me, or does Janeway not actually seem all that different from her usual self...?
Robert Picardo does a stellar job as usual. I'm kind of surprised that the EMH backup has never been mentioned before. But then again, this is Voyager where each episode just does its own thing, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised.
The ending wraps things up a bit quick. I think the episode spends too long going through the early parts without the Doctor, when the episode would have benefited more from spending time with him and what he can do to help these people see the truth.
Another episode I seem to have no memory of! But again, not too surprising because it's nothing special. Geordi episodes just seem to fall so flat for me, and I can't help but think that it's because LeVar Burton's performance is crippled by that damn visor on his eyes. The most interesting parts of the episode involve the Klingons, and there are two pretty great actors playing the guest roles here.
We also get our first glimpse of a shadowy Romulan female who will emerge soon. The ending highlights the limitations of episodic television as Deanna emphasises to Geordi that it will take him a "very long time" to resolve and accept what has happened to him; nope, he's fine by the next episode.
I enjoyed this. It's lighthearted but still tells a good sci-fi adventure story (much like Star Trek IV). Spock and McCoy had some great stuff, Kirk was extremely cool under pressure. Laughed at the sexy computer. The ending didn't make the most sense, but ho hum.
As someone who considers the podracing sequence to be a highlight of The Phantom Menace, I found a lot to enjoy here. Fantastically animated race sequences with a great sense of speed, and a nice guest cast too.
Fantastic, although the circular nature of it was a bit disappointing. I loved the sister's backstory that tied into an event we saw in back in a previous episode.
The conversations and tension between Ahsoka and Rafa are great. Loving this arc.
General Grievous casually smashing a battle droid and being told by Dooku that "those are expensive" was the best moment. Not only amusing, but a nice demonstration of the difference in the way the Separatists and the Republic regard their troops. For the Republic (or at least the Jedi) all the clone's lives are important.
This is one that just feels like a whole lot of nothing much, stretched out to fill a two-parter. The only really interesting parts are the explorations of Data's apparent emotional experience, and the quite excellent scene between him and the Borg in the brig (although it feels very silly when you realise that the security guard is sitting there the whole time and not paying any attention to what's going on), but Data's coercion just feels unnatural. And the reveal of Lore is always a nice little thrill.
Admiral Nechayev continues to be unpleasant, too.
The episode does contain what has to be one of the worst lines of writing in the series: "You have killed Torsus! I will make you suffer for this!"
Dear God, if you write like that you should not be employed.
This was an episode that had slipped my memory, but almost as soon as it began it all came flooding back. It's actually an episode that I watched a lot as a kid and was one of my favourites. As it stands now, I don't think it's a real classic but it's certainly entertaining. I'd never realised before how much of a player Commander Riker was!
The actor playing MacDuff the imposter is pretty good, and manages to catch us off guard from the moment we see him because we know he's not meant to be there, but it takes a while to know for sure.
"You have to have sex with me. It's the only way I can be saved."
Apart from that, wow. Excellent.
Based on how this episode began, I was not expecting it to build up to what it did. A meaningful sacrifice and some great combat sequences.
I don't like sport. I have no idea what baseball even is, some strange foreign thing maybe? But I quite love this episode despite the fact that I don't understand the game part of it at all. It's a wonderful display of all the characters camaraderie and passion, and it's damn funny. It's such a bizarre thing for the show to do, but it works.
Avery Brooks is on fire here with a powerhouse performance. He makes it look like he's having fun and it's infectious. His animated exuberance is wonderfully juxtaposed by the stoic Vulcan captain. On top of that, all of the other characters get a chance to shine with excellent comedy coming from Worf, Odo and Rom.
I also love how much Kira gets into the game, and that she's pretty good at it.
More entertainng than part 1, but a lot more stupid. Data's change is nonsensical and Lore is reduced to a James Bond villain. Picard and Geordi's method of re-enabling Data's ethics is a giant WTF moment. And while the return of Hugh is welcome, he isn't given anything interesting to do. I don't understand why the writers didn't team him back up with Geordi given their past friendship.
I really enjoy the stuff on board the Enterprise with Beverly in charge though, it just makes a pleasant change, and similarly it's great to see an untested bridge crew. But Lore deserved a better send off.
Kind of bland all round, with the only interesting moments being a couple of tiny scenes with Wesley and the Gatherer leader. There's an attempt to look at hatred and prejudice, but it doesn't come across with any force or meaning.
That may be because of the focus on Riker's romantic interest in Yuta. She's far too much of a blank character to give this any weight.
There's also the big question of why he didn't just stun her at the end, unless I missed something.
What I always enjoyed about this episode was the sense of the show beginning to open up more and more. We're starting to get into slightly more epic territory here (despite it being something of a bottle episode). On a more character based level, the fact that it's O'Neill who gets his brain jumbled here allows for a lot more fun than had it been Sam or Daniel (although Teal'c would have been interesting). This also really highlights the team's camaraderie and is a lovely display of them working together in ways that best suit their skills.
This is essentially a sequel/follow up to season 1's 'The Torment of Tantalus', but there have been some stepping stones to get here. The ending scene with the Asgard is certainly one of the series' most defining moments. "Your species has great potential."
This was better than the first episode, helped no end by Pepe's game show segment and the addition of Danny Trejo. Still, there's a long way to go and I'm not convinced that the central concept really works.
[Rewatch] Somehow the Seventh Sister (played fantastically by Sarah Michelle Gellar) feels a lot more dangerous than the Grand Inquisitor. I can't say the same from the Fifth Brother, though, who is about as bland as it's possible to get. Nice to see Zeb, Sabine and Ezra (and Chopper) working together well and in harmony for once.
This is pretty good fun. I like the conceit that Kes is travelling backwards through time instead of forward, and I like that some of the glimpses of the future are hints of what we will see coming in some form or another later down the line. So often when Trek does future stories it all turns out to be an illusion, and this never strays into that territory.
This episode feels like it's all about hairstyles, with both the Doctor and Kes sporting new looks. I guess Ocampan hair grows pretty fast.
There is some absolutely terrible dialogue, especially during the Andrew/Harry/Tom scenes.
The concept of Picard having a son he didn't know about is a good one, unfortunately the episode bottles out of doing anything interesting with it. To make things worse, Jason is an annoying arrogant ass played by a poor casting choice. Very little works here outside of Patrick Stewart who, as always, gives us a great deal of conflicting emotions and shows his awkwardness at trying to connect to a son he had no idea existed. Then we find out he never was his son, which makes everything feel pointless and reeks of a fear of doing anything adventurous with the show at this point.
DaiMon Bok is a pathetic bad guy and this only serves to push the Ferengi a step backwards, especially when compared to the excellent work going on with them over on DS9).
Of all the things I expected to happen today, Wesley Crusher making me cry was not on the list at all!
The Bonding is a super emotional and highly charged episode which unfortunately stumbles along the way. It deals with an issue that would seem to be a big part of Trek (what happens to those left behind by an officer's death), but the episodic and self-contained nature of the franchise means that it can only be explored to a certain degree (at least until DS9 comes along with its far more serialised storytelling).
We'll never see Jeremy Aster again, but even Wesley won't really revisit the feelings he shares here. It's a shame, because his scenes really make the episode come to life. The relationship with his mother really is a wonderful part of the show. I enjoyed the brief Data/Riker scene, too. Quite lovely stuff.
Patrick Stewart is on form as always and gets the best line: "no one is alone onboard the Enterprise."
The show just keeps stepping it up. This was a joyous adventure full of fun and making full use of the characters. Ethan Peck is bringing so many good things to his portrayal of Spock. Pike's pirate excursion was delightful and I'm becoming genuinely heartbroken for how Chapel's feelings are being thrown around.
The real star here turned out to be Jesse James Keitel who absolutely slayed it, creating a character that I am super eager to see return. Slightly less impressive was the pirate Remy who felt like he was there only for joke purposes. Still fun though, especially as we got to see Pike in armoured apron.
And wow, that ending twist! I didn't even realise how much I wanted that until it happened.
Keep doing what you're doing, Strange New Worlds. This is so much fun. I just wish we were getting more Hemmer.
One thing I really appreciate about this show is the way that scenes dig in. So many shows will let a scene get interesting and then cut away to something else. Mindhunter lets them continue and the results are mesmerising.
We're at a point here where a number of different plot threads have begun jockeying for attention, all gripping, but the show gives all of them room to breathe.
I thought this one was great fun. The actors here really made the characters work with their comedic timing, and the animation was just beautiful throughout. I have to also give credit to how great the backgrounds and environments were, overflowing with detail (definitely got a The Last of Us vibe at times). The climate change message wasn't exactly subtle, but that doesn't mean it's not needed.
I also love cats, so this worked for me.
This was glorious. The stunning stylised 3D art reminded me of the sort of thing seen in Telltale games (and, oddly enough, old LucasArts adventures like Full Throttle), but obviously much more detailed. And so colourful! Visually this just ticked all the right boxes for me. The story itself was exciting and felt pretty unique (farmers with mechs battling giant insect aliens) and allowed for defined characters to come through despite the short run time.
