Category: tv reviews

Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 125: Shades of Grey

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek:TNG
Episode: 2.22 Shades of Gray (7-17-1989) SEASON FINALE
Rating:  3/5
Redshirt Status: 0/18.5/21.5

Notable Guest Stars:

…everyone has literally been here before.…

Review:

Today we present…. a clip episode.  This episode is not uncommon in television, and usually for the same reason this episode was made this way: Budgeting.

Its hard to review an episode that is 90% clips of previous episodes and 10% staring at Will Riker almost dying from a scratch. On the bright side, I get my Imzadi fix, but I know Marina Sirtis probably would have liked better then to just stand there with various faces of worry and fear, and Jonathan Frakes probably would have preferred to not have to lie on a bed with sticks appearing out of his head.

It is unique among TNG because this is the only clip show they ever had to make.  But if you want someone to blame for this one, blame the Borg.  They used up quite a bit of the budget for that episode as well as Elementary, Dear Data. So the Borg and Moriarty. 

I used to joke that “when in doubt, blame the Romulans” but I think I’m going to change that to Moriarty.

However, if you need a recap of the last two seasons and and Riker’s character development, I suppose this this could be considered a good episode to use.

Interesting Notes:

  • Written by Maurice Hurley
  • Directed by Rob Bowman
  • This is the last script contribution from Maurice Hurley
  • Took 3 days to film the new material.
  • I reached this on July 15, so its almost to its 31st anniversary.  (I posted it in February. Dear lord, how behind did I get???)

Pros:

  • Riker character analysis I suppose.

Cons:

  • Nothing really stands out in this episode.

Screencap from CgynusX1.net

Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 124: Peak Performance

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek:TNG
Episode: 2.21 Peak Performance (7-10-1989)
Rating:  5/5
Redshirt Status: 0/18.5/21.5

Notable Guest Stars:
Roy Brocksmith – Sirna Kolrami
Armin Shimerman – Bractor.  Armin Shimerman pretty much plays 90% of Ferengi before he lands as Quark in DS9.
David L. Lander – Tactical Officer.  He played Squiggy on Laverne and Shirley.
Glenn Morshower – Burke.  He has appeared on several Sci-fi shows I’ve watched, but he has also appeared on 24, which I don’t but one of my long-time friends loves that show so I feel I should mention it.

Review:

This is a pretty well-rounded episode.  It plays up all the main character’s strengths and manages not to be overly obvious about it.  Picard shows his ability to get his crew into their best selves.  Troi gets to be a counseler, and we get to see Riker in command of his own ship, showing that he can be a Captain if he so choose.

Wesley, Worf, and Geordi also show their skill set on the Hemingway.  Although again, I question the wisdom of sending a person who hadn’t finished the academy on this, but Wesley doesn’t do too badly.   There are only two people who fail in this episode.  The first is Sirna Kolrami who spents half the episode hating Riker for no good reason and half the episode annoying Picard.  Actually he annoys Picard the whole episode.  The second is the Ferengi who spend most of TNG being idiots which is why they failed at being a good villain for the franchise.  DS9 develops them better, although potentially worse at the same time given, they were working on the original concept which has been accused of being antisemitic in nature.

Interestingly enough, this episode helps defend my personal head canon that Data actually does feel emotion, he is just not equipped to deal with it in the same manner as humans, or perhaps to feel as deeply as humans.  He feels a loss in confidence, brought on when he loses a game that everyone, including himself, thought he would be good at.  I’m sure we have all felt that at times when we fail at something.

Picard gets pushed into helping Data out, and shows how he is probably the most likely to effect Data overall.  Deanna and Pulanski are his friends, but he sees Picard as his mentor, the person who is helping him the most to be human.

This episode does make me wonder one thing though. Why haven’t the Federation come up with a way to make synthetic Dilithuim crystals. It just seems that they have such problems with the crystals chipping or cracking that they would have found out some way of making a synthetic version, if only to act like a flat tire till someone gets to a Starbase.

Interesting Notes:

  • Written by David Kemper
  • Directed by Robert Scheerer
  • Reuses set designs from previous episodes.

Pros:

  • Character showcase for almost all characters
  • “It is possible to make no mistakes and still loose.”

Cons:

  • Nothing really stands out in this episode.

Screencap via CygnusX1.net

Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 123: The Emissary

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek:TNG
Episode: 2.20 The Emissary (6-19-1989)
Rating: 5/5
Redshirt Status: 0/18.5/21.5

Notable Guest Stars:
Suzie Plakson – K’Ehlyr. She also has appeared as a Vulcan doctor, and later as Mrs. Q.
Lance Legault –K’Temoc
Georgann Johnson – Admiral Gromek
Anne Elizabeth Ramsay – Clancy. She is known for her role on Mad about You
Diedrich Bader – Tactical Crewman. I know him as Jethro Bodine in the film version of the Beverly Hillbillies.

Review:

This episode is an important episode for Worf’s storyline, as well as a major Klingon episode. The episode starts with a poker game, but the main plot begins when the Enterprise is sent on a special mission and an emissary is sent – via a probe – to tellthem the particulars.

K’Ehlyr is a character I wish we had seen more of. She’s a half human Klingon and seems to work as a federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire. She is sent to help the Enterprise to greet a Klingon ship that has been in cyrogentic sleep since before the treaty between the Empire and the Federation and would therefore want to attack Federation colonies along their route.

This almost plays second fiddle to the secondary plot of K’Ehlyr and Worf’s romance. It develops the traditions of the Klingons involving marriage. Klinons seem to be romantics, where lust, love and marriage are all intertwined. Worf is very particular about this, though he seems to loosen on the matter later seasons (evidenced by how he handles his relationships with Deanna and Jadzia.)

Back to the main plot, this episode ties back into the Kirk era. This episode takes place about 80 years after the events of The Final Frontier so this mission must have been sent out around the same time. So imagine the Klingons from that point in time coming across the Federation of Worf and Co. Its going to be a long process helping them adapt.

On a bright now, K’Ehylr will return in a later season, but not for a while. I wish we could have seen more of her. Seeing her interact with B’Elanna would also have been interesting. They are both hybrids, though the halfs are switched.

This episode was well written. It may have had two plots, as is common in TV shows, but it was balanced so you don’t feel like one story outweighed the other. Each part has a satisfying conclusion to the story at hand.

As I’m scheduling this to post, I realized it is kind of amusing that an episode dealing with Worf and his first love ends up posting on Valentine’s Day.

Interesting Notes:

  • Written by Thomas Calder
  • Directed by Cliff Bole
  • This is the second Dixon novel episode.
  • This the first of two episodes involving K’Ehylr and both are important to Worf’s storyarc as a character.

Pros:

  • K’Ehylr
  • Klingon Culture explored.
  • Worf backstory
  • Seeing Picard deal with his crew on different things.

Cons:
Nothing really stands out in this episode. 

Screencap via CygnusX1.net

Posted in Rewatch, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 122: The Manhunt

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek:TNG
Episode: 2.19 The Manhunt (6-19-1989)
Rating:  4/5
Redshirt Status: 0/18.5/21.5

Notable Guest Stars:
Majel Barett – Lwaxana Troi. My favorite TV mom.
Carel Struychen – Mr. Homm
Rod Arrants – Rex.  He was a popular soap opera actor.
Mick Fleetwood – Antedean Dignatory. I’m not sure which one was Mick Fleetwood though.  Neither have lines that are distingishable.
Robert O’Reilly – Scarface.  Later to appear as Chancellor Gowron.

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 122: The Manhunt” →
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 120: Up The Long Ladder

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode: 2.18  Up The Long Ladder (5-22-89)
Rating:  3/5
Redshirt Status: 0/18.5/21.5

Notable Guest Stars:
 Rosalyn Landor (Brenna) – Landor does mostly voice acting in recent years, but she did appear in several TV shows during the 1980s, and appeared in the 1990 film Bad Influence, which I’ve not seen but includes Rob Lowe and James Spader.
Barrie Ingham (Danilo)- Ingham was prolific television actor and a long career. He was in The Great Mouse Detective, which I haven’t watched in years. Should probably change that.
Jon De Vries (Wilson & Victor Granger) DeVries has appears as a guest star on many television shows over the years, most recently The Black list and Elementary. He also had a part in the film Sarah, Plain and Tall. A film I loved as a kid, and really should watch again (It stars Glenn Close and Christopher Walken and remains my favorite film of both)

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 120: Up The Long Ladder” →
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 119: Samaritan Snare

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode: 2.17 Samaritan Snare (5-15-89)
Rating: 3/5
Redshirt Status: 0/18.5/21.5

Notable Guest Stars:
Christopher Collins – Grebnedlog. He would continue to appear on Star Trek in DS9
Tzi Ma – Biomolecular Specialist

Review:

I watched this episode with my mother, who is a nurse.  While she wouldn’t be in a surgery (she’s not a surgical nurse) she agreed with me that this episode is full of technobabble that makes no sense.  They even made up a name for a scalpel, calling it a Tissue migrator.

I don’t really care for this episode.  I feel its not anyone’s best.  There is nothing in particular bad about it, but nothing particularly good about it either.  This is probably the shortest review ever, because other then Picard’s backstory, there is nothing really important in this episode to comment on.

Interesting Notes:

  • Written by Robert L. McCullough
  • Directed by Les Launau
  • This episode plays a part in the sixth season episode Tapestry

Pros:

  • Picard backstory
  • Advancement of technology to include artificial hearts.

Cons:

  • I like that they are now wearing hair coverings in surgery, but why not masks?  Its it the sterile field?
  • This is supposed to be a routine procedure with complications, yet the complication is something only one doctor can handle? I would think they would have had someone able to deal with it at the hospital.
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 118: Q Who

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode: 2.16 Q Who (05-08-89)
Rating:  5/5
Redshirt Status: 18/18.5/21.5

Notable Guest Stars:
Lycia Naff – Ensign Sonia Gomez.  She will appear in one more episode, with the original intent that she should be another recurring minor character ala Miles O’Brien.  I wish they had continued that.

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 118: Q Who” →
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 117: Pen Pals

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode: 2.15 Pen Pals (05-01-89)
Rating:  4/5
Redshirt Status: 0/.5/3.5

Notable Guest Stars:
Nikki Cox- Sarjenka.  She was on several soap operas
Ann H. Gillespie – Hildebrandt. She is currently an Episcopal priest, which makes her the second Star Trek actor to seek a path in religion.

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 117: Pen Pals” →
Posted in Rewatch, Star Trek, Television shows, tv reviews

The Rewatch 114: The Royale

Posted on by sokorra

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode: 2.12 The Royale (03-27-89)
Rating: 4/5
Redshirt Status: 0/0/3

Notable Guest Stars:
 Sam Anderson – Assistant Manager. He played Holland Manners in the first episode of Angel.
Jill Jacobson – Vanessa She’ll appear again in DS9.
Noble Willingham – Texas. He is a veteran, and appeared on the TV series Walker: Texas Ranger for several years before trying his hand at politics.
Gregory Beecroft – Mickey D. He appeared on several soap operas through out the 1980s.

Review:

Continue reading “The Rewatch 114: The Royale” →