The first season of Star Trek: Next Generation was something of a disaster. There's very few kind things I can say about that season as it's genuinely one of the worst seasons of any purportedly good show that exists. The second season has generally been listed with the first season as seasons you should skip when watching Next Generation. So is it as terrible as its predecessor?
As Patrick Stewart would say, "Heavens no." (At least, I think he would say that. I feel like he's said this before, but I could be imagining it.) The problem with the first season is that there were hardly any actually good episodes. The best you could hope for was mediocrity. The second season is an improvement in that regard. The best episodes of this season are actually good episodes of television as opposed to "good for this season." Hell, I could be convinced this was a good season of television... if I was living in 1988.
But it's 2014, and I'm trying to grade it on those terms. I will be taking context into account at least a little bit - if I'm being honest, this is really not a good season if it aired today. (Of course, the second season has never had a great reputation). While it has raised the bar for what its best can be, it's still not exactly incredible television quite yet. Plus, this season has some episodes on par with the worst of season one.
All of the characters are starting to come into their own this year. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner were the best at quickly defining their characters in the first season and that hasn't gone away. William Riker probably benefits the most from the change of seasons. Jonathan Frakkes strikes me as a William Shatner surrogate - but he actually works for me unlike Shatner in the original series. Frakkes seems to have way more fun with this role than Shatner did and it certainly shows in his performance.
The other standout character, who is ever so slowly growing on me, is Lieutenant Worf. He stands in stark contrast to the others for the better and his established characteristics make him particularly compelling. I'm a little surprised that Michael Dorn and Worf end up on another Star Trek series and he airs in the most Star Trek episodes of any actor, but I can sort of see why in this season. Plus, I don't want to leave out Geordi LaForge, who doesn't really get his own episode to shine, but nonetheless remains a consistent figure.
The two less well-liked characters, Dr. Pulaski and Wesley Crusher, aren't that bad in this season either. The writers seemed to learn from their mistakes somewhat from the first season with Crusher as he's mostly bearable. I won't be sad to see him leave the show when he does though. Not yet at least. Dr. Pulaski isn't great, and she's definitely a downgrade from Beverly Crusher, but she's not awful. She's mostly just annoying, but as with most characters on this show, she grows on you the longer she's on the show. (I forgot about Troi, who really hasn't changed at all and is still mostly useless.)
Unlike the first season, in which I wholeheartedly encourage you to skip some episodes, I probably would just recommend you watch this entire season. There are skippable episodes yes and there are awful episodes. There aren't actually that many bad episodes in this season, but if they're bad, they're usually AWFUL. On second thought you should probably skip those episodes. There's just much fewer episodes to skip.
I'm a little confused as to why the second season is lumped together with the first season. This season is noticeably better and I'd probably even go as far as to say that there's no reason to skip this season. This season might even work better as an intro to whatever the show will become (which I am excited to see in the future), because the first season barely fleshed out any of its characters. Now, they actually seem like characters!
This review may seem pretty optimistic about this season. It has everything to do with my expectations. I did not expect this season to be as good as it was, but I still wouldn't necessarily call it that good. Thus, the grade below will probably be incongruous with my relative praise. (And it is relative - the first season so far lowered my expectations, I am probably overrating this season.)
Grade - C+
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Rewind: Star Trek: Next Generation S1
Before I begin this review, I have been - let's say warned - to not watch this show until Season 3. I obviously didn't listen, not because I didn't believe the warnings, but because I am a person who likes to watch things from the beginning. However, I didn't completely ignore the advice - my viewing schedule of the first two seasons is somewhat sporadic and I skip many episodes.
For instance, for this season, I picked out only the episodes that weren't terrible. My standard for watching an episode was not high and yet I ended up skipping about eight episodes. You're probably wondering how exactly I decided what was and what was not terrible without watching them. It's actually pretty easy to find people's opinion's on episodes online. That combined with looking at their IMDB scores gave me a pretty clear picture of what to avoid, such as "Angel One."
You may ask why I'm writing a review with such an incomplete viewing schedule and I'd answer there's very little chance my opinion on this season will change. I watched the best of the best and while I won't quibble with a few of these episodes I skipped possibly being worth watching, they most likely weren't good enough to drastically make this season seem better. The results were not pretty. And these were the best the series had to offer. If anything, watching more episodes could only make my reaction worse so I'm doing the season a favor.
I won't share every episode I watched, but "Conspiracy" is pretty much the only great episode. Not all of them were bad episodes, but all of them had a significant problem holding the show back. For instance, "Encounter at Fairpoint" is way too long and boring to justify its length. I'm being a little unfair as I also really enjoyed "The Big Goodbye" and "11001001." "Datalore" and "Home Soil" do an effective job at creating backstories of Data and Worf, the former much better, while also introducing me to a recurring villain (I'm guessing by the way). "We'll Always Have Paris" is also a good episode, almost solely due to the acting ability of Patrick Stewart with a weak romantic backstory and a bland female weighing the story down.
Those episodes aside, this season has a lot of episodes as mediocre or worse. It actually reminds me quite a bit of the original Star Trek. Somehow, the original has aged better than the first season of Next Generation. I don't know how that is possible, but it holds true for me. And trust me, that's not a compliment to the original series, which I find has aged as bad as any show I've ever seen.
So why exactly should you watch the first season of Next Generation? Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner are the reasons. These two men carry the show with a helpful assist from Gates McFadden as Dr. Crusher. Stewart lends a dignity to the show's proceeding it so clearly has not earned yet. Spiner is so good it confuses me that I've never seen him in anything else.
The rest of the cast is either expositional dialogue or downright awful. Denise Crosby is quite awful as Tasha Yar, though she got better as the season went along and I could see a scenario where she became a decent character. That said, I'm not sorry she exited the show. Marina Sirtis is not necessarily the problem, but her character is so poorly written she doesn't stand a chance. And I probably skipped the worst Wesley episodes, but Wil Wheaton is not a great actor. (I don't hate him, but I can easily see how people did.)
Basically, The Star Trek: Next Generation has a first season that leaves no indication it will find future greatness. The only potential greatness is Patrick Stewart. I've read that Gene Rodenberry had a large creative voice in the first two seasons and is partially, if not totally, to blame. I'm not sure if that's true, but it would make sense. The Next Generation aired 20 years after the original Star Trek, but the show regressed rather than improved upon. I'm certainly intrigued to see how exactly the show turns that around.
Grade: C-
Playlist
1. "Retro [ROUGH]" - Childish Gambino
2. "Jazz (We've Got)" - Tribe Called Quest
3. "Never Catch Me" - Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar
4. "Rebirth of Slick (Cool like Dat)" - Digitable Planets
5. "Summersong" - The Decemberists
For instance, for this season, I picked out only the episodes that weren't terrible. My standard for watching an episode was not high and yet I ended up skipping about eight episodes. You're probably wondering how exactly I decided what was and what was not terrible without watching them. It's actually pretty easy to find people's opinion's on episodes online. That combined with looking at their IMDB scores gave me a pretty clear picture of what to avoid, such as "Angel One."
You may ask why I'm writing a review with such an incomplete viewing schedule and I'd answer there's very little chance my opinion on this season will change. I watched the best of the best and while I won't quibble with a few of these episodes I skipped possibly being worth watching, they most likely weren't good enough to drastically make this season seem better. The results were not pretty. And these were the best the series had to offer. If anything, watching more episodes could only make my reaction worse so I'm doing the season a favor.
I won't share every episode I watched, but "Conspiracy" is pretty much the only great episode. Not all of them were bad episodes, but all of them had a significant problem holding the show back. For instance, "Encounter at Fairpoint" is way too long and boring to justify its length. I'm being a little unfair as I also really enjoyed "The Big Goodbye" and "11001001." "Datalore" and "Home Soil" do an effective job at creating backstories of Data and Worf, the former much better, while also introducing me to a recurring villain (I'm guessing by the way). "We'll Always Have Paris" is also a good episode, almost solely due to the acting ability of Patrick Stewart with a weak romantic backstory and a bland female weighing the story down.
Those episodes aside, this season has a lot of episodes as mediocre or worse. It actually reminds me quite a bit of the original Star Trek. Somehow, the original has aged better than the first season of Next Generation. I don't know how that is possible, but it holds true for me. And trust me, that's not a compliment to the original series, which I find has aged as bad as any show I've ever seen.
So why exactly should you watch the first season of Next Generation? Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner are the reasons. These two men carry the show with a helpful assist from Gates McFadden as Dr. Crusher. Stewart lends a dignity to the show's proceeding it so clearly has not earned yet. Spiner is so good it confuses me that I've never seen him in anything else.
The rest of the cast is either expositional dialogue or downright awful. Denise Crosby is quite awful as Tasha Yar, though she got better as the season went along and I could see a scenario where she became a decent character. That said, I'm not sorry she exited the show. Marina Sirtis is not necessarily the problem, but her character is so poorly written she doesn't stand a chance. And I probably skipped the worst Wesley episodes, but Wil Wheaton is not a great actor. (I don't hate him, but I can easily see how people did.)
Basically, The Star Trek: Next Generation has a first season that leaves no indication it will find future greatness. The only potential greatness is Patrick Stewart. I've read that Gene Rodenberry had a large creative voice in the first two seasons and is partially, if not totally, to blame. I'm not sure if that's true, but it would make sense. The Next Generation aired 20 years after the original Star Trek, but the show regressed rather than improved upon. I'm certainly intrigued to see how exactly the show turns that around.
Grade: C-
Playlist
1. "Retro [ROUGH]" - Childish Gambino
2. "Jazz (We've Got)" - Tribe Called Quest
3. "Never Catch Me" - Flying Lotus feat. Kendrick Lamar
4. "Rebirth of Slick (Cool like Dat)" - Digitable Planets
5. "Summersong" - The Decemberists
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Rewind: Star Trek S3
Well, this season was... ummm... not good. Star Trek has never really resonated with me like I think it does for some folks, even accepting the flaws inherent when watching a TV series from the 1960s. Much as I've tried, even the episodes I would call good come with some sort of "but..." With that said, the third season of Star Trek is terrible.
At some point, I'm going to develop my Top 10 Star Trek episodes (which I will post here) and my intent was to re-watch 25 selected episodes that either I remember being good or one of two other sites I've visited had praised. I had heard all about the quality of the third season so I estimated I'd take 10 episodes from the first two seasons and five from the third. Needless to say, the third season was so bad, I couldn't pick even five episodes from the third season to make that list of 25. I almost feel compelled to go back to the first season and see if my first impression of it was too harsh!
It's pretty easy to figure out why that is the case. After the second season, the show managed to stay on the air purely from the strength of fans mailing in letters begging them to not cancel the show. Which worked... except that it was granted a season with a reduced budget and moved to Friday nights, which was basically the kiss of death. Gene Rodenberry was so frustrated that he chose to step away from the show for the third season except for as an executive producer.
It's tough to say whether the reduced budget played a hand in the quality of the show dropping. I'm leaning towards no, only because the special effects and sets have never been that impressive in the first place. Now, if the budget managed to impede the writing - they couldn't buy a script due to the price and/or they were forced to ignore a script because of budget limits - now that's something that would indirectly affect the show. But they could probably figure something out - I mean they explained why Spectre of the Gun looked cheap so there are writing ways to get around that.
What hurt the show to me was repetitive plots, women being women, and Shatner being Shatner. Look, go ahead and read my first two reviews: I've constantly said he's the one who holds this show back, the thing that has aged worse than the sets, the sex politics. With that said, he didn't hold the third season back - the writing did. It's full of plots we've seen done better, plots that go nowhere interesting, and interesting ideas that just quickly peter out.
Also, my least favorite episodes in the past have been episodes were women fawn over Kirk and holy shit that's like every episode this season. And if it's not Kirk, it's Spock or McCoy or Chekhov or Scotty (poor Sulu). These are the type of situations where they meet and boom it's love. I wish I counted, because while it might not be every episode, it's damn near close to it. Naturally, the best of these happens to be when a woman falls in love with Spock (All Your Yesterdays).
Overall, I really was only able to single out four episodes of this season that I liked. That may be a bit harsh, but it's not extremely off. "The Enterprise Incident had me hopeful for the third season as it was only the second episode of the year (After "Spock's Brain" which um, really?). Then "Spectre of the Gun" was a fun episode, "Day of the Dove" was interesting but makes less sense the more you think about it, and it's a long string of disappointing episodes. I'd go over some of them, but I don't even think they were memorable enough to remember (except the "Empath" oh man that was awful).
Thankfully it finishes sort of strong, at least compared to the rest of the season. After the space hippies episode, "The Cloud Minders" is a very un-subtle take on slavery, but it still kind of works. "The Savage Curtain" opens up with Abraham fucking Lincoln in space, I don't think any more needs to be said. (Although it's near a copy of "Arena") Lastly, "All Your Yesterdays" is the last great Star Trek episode with Spock going back in time and suddenly gaining emotion with an attractive woman.
Actually, who am I kidding? In the original series of Star Trek, it's literally always an attractive woman. By the last season, it was getting ridiculous how every episode had a woman in extremely skimpy and impractical clothes. Even in the freaking Arctic the lady wears practically nothing! (In hindsight, it really shouldn't be a surprise why Star Trek appealed particularly to self-proclaimed male geeks.)
Anyway, the show simpers out with a hilariously bad episode by just about every way imaginable. See, a former lover of Kirk's (ugh) is driven to madness and overtakes Kirk's body (ugh) and then... she pretty much typifies what I'm sure was the male idea of a female in power. Because she's really emotional. And terrible at her job. Also, we have the hammiest Shatner acting of the series and it's quite... annoying... to watch. (But also kind of funny - did people think he was a good actor ever?)
There's not much good with the third season of Star Trek. You could point to any number of factors, but the main point is that there are very few watchable episodes and ever fewer good ones. Star Trek has always had issues with the things it suffers from in this season, it's just magnified by bad scripts. I just spent roughly 20 hours watching the third season and I suppose the purpose of this post is to advise you to spend 20 hours doing something else.
Grade - C-
Playlist
1. "Endless Shore" - Melody's Echo Chamber
2. "Public Service Announcement" - Jay-Z
3. "Lola" - The Kinks
4. "Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
5. "Rock to It" - Shad
At some point, I'm going to develop my Top 10 Star Trek episodes (which I will post here) and my intent was to re-watch 25 selected episodes that either I remember being good or one of two other sites I've visited had praised. I had heard all about the quality of the third season so I estimated I'd take 10 episodes from the first two seasons and five from the third. Needless to say, the third season was so bad, I couldn't pick even five episodes from the third season to make that list of 25. I almost feel compelled to go back to the first season and see if my first impression of it was too harsh!
It's pretty easy to figure out why that is the case. After the second season, the show managed to stay on the air purely from the strength of fans mailing in letters begging them to not cancel the show. Which worked... except that it was granted a season with a reduced budget and moved to Friday nights, which was basically the kiss of death. Gene Rodenberry was so frustrated that he chose to step away from the show for the third season except for as an executive producer.
It's tough to say whether the reduced budget played a hand in the quality of the show dropping. I'm leaning towards no, only because the special effects and sets have never been that impressive in the first place. Now, if the budget managed to impede the writing - they couldn't buy a script due to the price and/or they were forced to ignore a script because of budget limits - now that's something that would indirectly affect the show. But they could probably figure something out - I mean they explained why Spectre of the Gun looked cheap so there are writing ways to get around that.
What hurt the show to me was repetitive plots, women being women, and Shatner being Shatner. Look, go ahead and read my first two reviews: I've constantly said he's the one who holds this show back, the thing that has aged worse than the sets, the sex politics. With that said, he didn't hold the third season back - the writing did. It's full of plots we've seen done better, plots that go nowhere interesting, and interesting ideas that just quickly peter out.
Also, my least favorite episodes in the past have been episodes were women fawn over Kirk and holy shit that's like every episode this season. And if it's not Kirk, it's Spock or McCoy or Chekhov or Scotty (poor Sulu). These are the type of situations where they meet and boom it's love. I wish I counted, because while it might not be every episode, it's damn near close to it. Naturally, the best of these happens to be when a woman falls in love with Spock (All Your Yesterdays).
Overall, I really was only able to single out four episodes of this season that I liked. That may be a bit harsh, but it's not extremely off. "The Enterprise Incident had me hopeful for the third season as it was only the second episode of the year (After "Spock's Brain" which um, really?). Then "Spectre of the Gun" was a fun episode, "Day of the Dove" was interesting but makes less sense the more you think about it, and it's a long string of disappointing episodes. I'd go over some of them, but I don't even think they were memorable enough to remember (except the "Empath" oh man that was awful).
Thankfully it finishes sort of strong, at least compared to the rest of the season. After the space hippies episode, "The Cloud Minders" is a very un-subtle take on slavery, but it still kind of works. "The Savage Curtain" opens up with Abraham fucking Lincoln in space, I don't think any more needs to be said. (Although it's near a copy of "Arena") Lastly, "All Your Yesterdays" is the last great Star Trek episode with Spock going back in time and suddenly gaining emotion with an attractive woman.
Actually, who am I kidding? In the original series of Star Trek, it's literally always an attractive woman. By the last season, it was getting ridiculous how every episode had a woman in extremely skimpy and impractical clothes. Even in the freaking Arctic the lady wears practically nothing! (In hindsight, it really shouldn't be a surprise why Star Trek appealed particularly to self-proclaimed male geeks.)
Anyway, the show simpers out with a hilariously bad episode by just about every way imaginable. See, a former lover of Kirk's (ugh) is driven to madness and overtakes Kirk's body (ugh) and then... she pretty much typifies what I'm sure was the male idea of a female in power. Because she's really emotional. And terrible at her job. Also, we have the hammiest Shatner acting of the series and it's quite... annoying... to watch. (But also kind of funny - did people think he was a good actor ever?)
There's not much good with the third season of Star Trek. You could point to any number of factors, but the main point is that there are very few watchable episodes and ever fewer good ones. Star Trek has always had issues with the things it suffers from in this season, it's just magnified by bad scripts. I just spent roughly 20 hours watching the third season and I suppose the purpose of this post is to advise you to spend 20 hours doing something else.
Grade - C-
Playlist
1. "Endless Shore" - Melody's Echo Chamber
2. "Public Service Announcement" - Jay-Z
3. "Lola" - The Kinks
4. "Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
5. "Rock to It" - Shad
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Star Trek: S2 Review
The more I read about Star Trek, the more fascinated I am by its history. This may be the only show whose history is vastly more entertaining than most of their episodes. Through reading about the show, I read a general consensus that the first season is the best and then it drops off somewhat significantly in later seasons while its budget was being reduced.
The show should have been cancelled after the first season, except the network had developed a new ratings method just a few years prior. They should have been cancelled after the second season, except massive - MASSIVE - fain mail was able to get the network to concede. However, they set the show up to fail for the third season essentially sealing its cancellation at that point. The reduced budget will be something interesting to look for in the next season, but for this season at least I didn't notice.
I don't think the second season is noticeably worse than the first, or at least the differences are so small as to make it irrelevant. The first season was good, but it took about half the season for it to hits its stride. Even that good stretch had some clunkers. Being a revolutionary television show is a tough gig. They tried a lot of new things - too many for me to grasp because they have been ingrained into pop culture. When you try new things though, things don't always work. That's not really a complaint. Think of Star Trek as a trial run for shows that came later.
I mentioned this in my first season review, but it bears repeating - in fact I'll probably say it in my third season review: this show had to write for 56 episodes in two years. That's insane. That's over four seasons worth of episodes of your typical cable drama nowadays. If Star Trek was forced to cut down to 13 episodes a season, I think that it would have been a fantastic show even by today's standards. Not only would they remove some of the lesser episodes, but they could spend more time polishing up the episodes they had.
Somehow William Shatner's acting is even more unbearable in this season. He literally ruins this show for me. The writing's pretty good, although laughably sexist. The other actors are a little over the top, except for Leonard Nimoy, but they basically sell you the scenes. Shatner on the other hand is infuriatingly terrible. I actually looked for cases where I saw good acting for him and could find none. But I don't even need to be paying attention to notice his bad acting. Some people dig the line readings from Shatner, but I absolutely despise it. And I realize that IS Star Trek, but Shatner is the only basic weakness of this show for me - ignoring 1960's attitudes - and boy it is a huge one because he is in just about every scene.
On the other hand, Nimoy is the saving grace of this show. He has this character down pat and he can really act. He's remarkably measured while everyone else seems to be in a stage play they overact so much. I have found zero inconsistencies in his character throughout the show's run. That's a credit to both Nimoy and the writing team who have seriously created one of the greatest characters of all-time.
Nothing exemplifies my opinion of acting on this show better than "Return to Tomorrow." Shatner is at his hammiest. Sargon "borrows" his body for a short time and the transfer scene is absolutely hilarious. I don't think it was intended to be hilarious. It kind of takes you out of the scene. But then Nimoy comes to the rescue when Henoch takes over his body. This is when you can tell he can actually act. He instantly transforms into a different person and it's completely believable. Nothing has held up better than Nimoy's performances.
The show built off last season's string of great episodes by having a few to start of this season. Four off the first six episodes were genuinely still really great. In the first episode, Spock needs to return to meet his future wife, and any Spock story thrust to the forefront of the episode I will probably love. There's also a wonderful parallel universe storyline, a murderous intelligent probe who confuses Captain Kirk for his creator, and a guilt-stricken captain who wants to destroy the thing that killed his crew.
It's at this point that I wondered if I could unequivocally praise this season. These were episodes I didn't have to like with reservations about a certain plot point or character. It's probably not a coincidence that none of the stories involved Kirk and his women. Oh how I hate those storylines. Since I am obviously allergic to Shatner's charms, you can imagine how I feel when almost every significant woman of the week that appears turns into a girl with a high school crush. There is so little time invested into the characters and their sole defining trait is that their inexplicably smitten by Kirk just because he gives them a sideways glance or a smile. And when Shatner starts hitting on the females, it's cringe-worthy as hell. It is so obvious men wrote these scenes because these blatant, inappropriate actions work every damn time.
Anyway, after "The Doomsday Machine," the season tails off a bit. Harry Mudd makes an appearance in an ok episode, only really memorable because Harry Mudd is one of the few returning guest stars. Spock's parents visit in another episode in an episode that is pretty good, except "women are always emotional" is a little too prominent for my tastes. McCoy gets to be the one with a woman for once in "Friday's Child" and the results are amusing in a good way. But the McCoy aspects are the only interesting parts of that episode. "Obsession" has the potential to be great with Kirk questioning himself. Of course, Kirk's irrational actions turn out to be completely justified in the most ridiculous way possible. "Wolf in the Fold" suffers because there's never a sense that Scotty murdered anyone. The episode with the tribbles was mildly amusing, although the episode itself is pretty average. Anyway, episodes seven through sixteen are decidedly unimpressive and that's quite a long stretch of episodes.
Not to fear, the season gets back on its feet with "A Piece of the Action." Once you can get past the ridiculous premise that this world copied 1920s Chicago based off a book, it's entertaining and completely different than anything the show had done. At this point, any new episode that is radically different than its same basic formula - godlike being with a flaw, computers are evil, the merits of interfering with a foreign planet - that its welcome for me even when it doesn't work.
A fresh idea occurs in the next episode when the starship gets threatened by a giant, energy-sucking organism that is horrifying and appropriately scary in "The Immunity Syndrome." "A Private Little War" tackles the merits of interfering with a foreign planet, but its pretty ambiguous on an easy answer (and apparently is a comment on interfering with Vietnam). "Patterns of Force" is yet another episode about interfering with another's culture, and uh, features Nazis. Between this and American Horror Story, I think I've had my fill of random Nazi appearances in shows where having Nazis makes no sense.
Unfortunately, the season kind of slowly simpers out with weak and/or extremely repetitive storyline. There's an utterly ridiculous episode about some foreign country following the actual US Constitution that is taken completely at face value, a story about a computer with too much power that is entirely too predictable, an episode about the gang entering a culture that has adapted from the past very strictly, and then the finale that seems to come from a different show (because it does; it was meant as a pilot episode that didn't get picked up and they shoehorned the plot into Star Trek for some reason).
Overall, this season has nothing resembling "A City on the Edge of Forever" and that probably makes this season worse. It also has a few downright awful episodes as well. Despite the inconsistent quality of the episodes, the second season doesn't do anything to diminish the reputation of Star Trek in my mind (Shatner does that all on his own).
Playlist
1. "Holding on For Life" - Broken Bells
2. "Midland" - Arthur Beatrice
3. "Act Your Age" - Bliss n Eso
4. "99 Problems" - Jay-Z
5. "Loot My Body" - Man Man
The show built off last season's string of great episodes by having a few to start of this season. Four off the first six episodes were genuinely still really great. In the first episode, Spock needs to return to meet his future wife, and any Spock story thrust to the forefront of the episode I will probably love. There's also a wonderful parallel universe storyline, a murderous intelligent probe who confuses Captain Kirk for his creator, and a guilt-stricken captain who wants to destroy the thing that killed his crew.
It's at this point that I wondered if I could unequivocally praise this season. These were episodes I didn't have to like with reservations about a certain plot point or character. It's probably not a coincidence that none of the stories involved Kirk and his women. Oh how I hate those storylines. Since I am obviously allergic to Shatner's charms, you can imagine how I feel when almost every significant woman of the week that appears turns into a girl with a high school crush. There is so little time invested into the characters and their sole defining trait is that their inexplicably smitten by Kirk just because he gives them a sideways glance or a smile. And when Shatner starts hitting on the females, it's cringe-worthy as hell. It is so obvious men wrote these scenes because these blatant, inappropriate actions work every damn time.
Anyway, after "The Doomsday Machine," the season tails off a bit. Harry Mudd makes an appearance in an ok episode, only really memorable because Harry Mudd is one of the few returning guest stars. Spock's parents visit in another episode in an episode that is pretty good, except "women are always emotional" is a little too prominent for my tastes. McCoy gets to be the one with a woman for once in "Friday's Child" and the results are amusing in a good way. But the McCoy aspects are the only interesting parts of that episode. "Obsession" has the potential to be great with Kirk questioning himself. Of course, Kirk's irrational actions turn out to be completely justified in the most ridiculous way possible. "Wolf in the Fold" suffers because there's never a sense that Scotty murdered anyone. The episode with the tribbles was mildly amusing, although the episode itself is pretty average. Anyway, episodes seven through sixteen are decidedly unimpressive and that's quite a long stretch of episodes.
Not to fear, the season gets back on its feet with "A Piece of the Action." Once you can get past the ridiculous premise that this world copied 1920s Chicago based off a book, it's entertaining and completely different than anything the show had done. At this point, any new episode that is radically different than its same basic formula - godlike being with a flaw, computers are evil, the merits of interfering with a foreign planet - that its welcome for me even when it doesn't work.
A fresh idea occurs in the next episode when the starship gets threatened by a giant, energy-sucking organism that is horrifying and appropriately scary in "The Immunity Syndrome." "A Private Little War" tackles the merits of interfering with a foreign planet, but its pretty ambiguous on an easy answer (and apparently is a comment on interfering with Vietnam). "Patterns of Force" is yet another episode about interfering with another's culture, and uh, features Nazis. Between this and American Horror Story, I think I've had my fill of random Nazi appearances in shows where having Nazis makes no sense.
Unfortunately, the season kind of slowly simpers out with weak and/or extremely repetitive storyline. There's an utterly ridiculous episode about some foreign country following the actual US Constitution that is taken completely at face value, a story about a computer with too much power that is entirely too predictable, an episode about the gang entering a culture that has adapted from the past very strictly, and then the finale that seems to come from a different show (because it does; it was meant as a pilot episode that didn't get picked up and they shoehorned the plot into Star Trek for some reason).
Overall, this season has nothing resembling "A City on the Edge of Forever" and that probably makes this season worse. It also has a few downright awful episodes as well. Despite the inconsistent quality of the episodes, the second season doesn't do anything to diminish the reputation of Star Trek in my mind (Shatner does that all on his own).
Playlist
1. "Holding on For Life" - Broken Bells
2. "Midland" - Arthur Beatrice
3. "Act Your Age" - Bliss n Eso
4. "99 Problems" - Jay-Z
5. "Loot My Body" - Man Man
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Rewind: Star Trek Season 1
I'm going to write this review with a heavy dose of context involved because it'd be unfair and impossible to grade this without it. Star Trek suffers mightily from being the first to do many of the things they did. I don't exactly know which specific things they did first only that many of their then original story lines are now played out and cliche.
So I'm going to try and focus my complaints on things they could control. I got to be honest though. In terms of 2013, having never seen the show and admittedly having seen many of its copiers, Star Trek is not a good show. It's not a show I would recommend anyone watch unless they are like me who want to watch a show that started it all.
I understand why it was considered great. I can see some of the things that made it great. There's a few things that I personally think Star Trek had control over that they did wrong, but most of it happens to just be a bi-product of being aired in 1966. I can't think of another example of a show that is considered so great to age so incredibly badly.
The biggest obstacle that makes the show hardest to watch for me personally is William Shatner. He's an atrociously over-the-top actor that I can't take anything seriously. I'm not the first to make this complaint, but you have to see it to believe just how bad he is. This show is basically content telling us how awesome Kirk is at everything, which gets old pretty fast. Also, the villain of the week structure is both a positive and a negative. When the villain is bad at acting, it really just makes the episode borderline unwatchable.
Then, there's the things it can't control. The first season is a whopping 28 episodes at 50 minutes an episode. It shows at times that the writers are struggling to come up with original ideas. I'm impressed at how many times it does. It was also 1966 so the networks demanded that the show would wrap up each episode nicely and just completely ignore the deaths of many Enterprise passengers.
I'm impressed with the writing, specifically the writing for Spock. I'm pretty amazed at how they seemed to write such good lines for a character with no emotion. I totally bought it. Leonard Nimoy is a large reason why as he's a genuinely good actor and one of the reasons I choose to continue watching the show. I also think DeForest Kelley is a pretty good actor, sometimes aims too over-the-top, but frankly it's barely noticeable when Shatner is his opposite.
The show did have a weird fixation on wanting to prove Spock's dedication to logic as a fault. Sometimes, it made sense to criticize, such as Spock figuring out the best chance to survive is by letting crew members stay on the planet and likely die. Other times, they do a poor job of showing why logic was wrong in that certain scenario. Almost always logic is the best way to make decisions.
The first season is filled with many merely ok episodes, a few great, a few awful, and then "A City On the Edge of Forever" which is considered a classic episode and rightly so. I would strongly suggest you watch that episode. It has aged quite well. It's kind of like how the only 80s movies that have avoided the 80s touch (in a bad way) are those that are movies set in the past. Well most of this episode takes place in 1930. And I got to say, I was impressed at the design of it - it reminded me very much of Once Upon a Time in America - which came 20 years later.
I guess a small mention should go to the show's poor special effects (doesn't matter) and sometimes blatant sexism. Not to mention the aura of Kirk is irresistible to just about every woman Kirk wants, which makes little sense. But those are products of the 1960s and apparently Star Trek was a very progressive show at the time.
Anyway, Star Trek was a landmark point in television that just hasn't aged very well. Despite that, there are still some episodes that are really good even now, but some have suffered mightily. I'd recommend this show only to those that are purely watching to get a sense of history, or to those who will someone be able to pick the good from the bad.
I'll attempt to highlight ones I particularly enjoyed - however this took me about six months so I could be forgetting some.
1. Pilot: The Cage - I know Star Trek would be different without William Shatner, but I liked this version of the show better with Jeffrey Hunter. Either way, it's worth it just for the contrast.
2. The Naked Time - Funny episode where crew acts all out-of-character
3. The Corbomite Maneuver - Memorable villain
4. Balance of Terror - This involves bigotry towards Vulcans, Spock's race - Got to be some strong subtext since at the time racism was still pretty common
5. The Squire of Gothos - Godlike being who wants playthings (read: humans) is pretty scary
6. This Side of Paradise - Pretty funny episode where Spock has feelings and smiles
7. Devil in the Dark - Some monster is attacking miners - memorable
8. Errand of Mercy - Not sure I recommend, but this is the beginning of the Klingons, popular villains.
9. The City on the Edge of Forever - Best episode by far of any in the first season
10. Operation: Annihilate - Season finishes strong with five good episodes of last six
So there's 10 episodes you can watch without having to suffer through mediocre or just downright bad episodes. I don't know if they are bad because they aged badly, or they've always been bad, but some are just bad in 2013.
I will attempt to watch the second and third seasons - thankfully the episode list dwindles down to 26 and then 24, but I'm not sure I'll write about it. Frankly, I'm not sure I'll have anything new to say, but I might anyway just to recommend episodes.
Playlist
1. "I Want You Back" - Jackson 5
2. "Ordinary People" - John Legend
3. "Hello Operator" - The White Stripes
4. "Otherside Remix" - Macklemore ft. Fences
5. "Your Ass Got Took" - Scarface
I guess a small mention should go to the show's poor special effects (doesn't matter) and sometimes blatant sexism. Not to mention the aura of Kirk is irresistible to just about every woman Kirk wants, which makes little sense. But those are products of the 1960s and apparently Star Trek was a very progressive show at the time.
Anyway, Star Trek was a landmark point in television that just hasn't aged very well. Despite that, there are still some episodes that are really good even now, but some have suffered mightily. I'd recommend this show only to those that are purely watching to get a sense of history, or to those who will someone be able to pick the good from the bad.
I'll attempt to highlight ones I particularly enjoyed - however this took me about six months so I could be forgetting some.
1. Pilot: The Cage - I know Star Trek would be different without William Shatner, but I liked this version of the show better with Jeffrey Hunter. Either way, it's worth it just for the contrast.
2. The Naked Time - Funny episode where crew acts all out-of-character
3. The Corbomite Maneuver - Memorable villain
4. Balance of Terror - This involves bigotry towards Vulcans, Spock's race - Got to be some strong subtext since at the time racism was still pretty common
5. The Squire of Gothos - Godlike being who wants playthings (read: humans) is pretty scary
6. This Side of Paradise - Pretty funny episode where Spock has feelings and smiles
7. Devil in the Dark - Some monster is attacking miners - memorable
8. Errand of Mercy - Not sure I recommend, but this is the beginning of the Klingons, popular villains.
9. The City on the Edge of Forever - Best episode by far of any in the first season
10. Operation: Annihilate - Season finishes strong with five good episodes of last six
So there's 10 episodes you can watch without having to suffer through mediocre or just downright bad episodes. I don't know if they are bad because they aged badly, or they've always been bad, but some are just bad in 2013.
I will attempt to watch the second and third seasons - thankfully the episode list dwindles down to 26 and then 24, but I'm not sure I'll write about it. Frankly, I'm not sure I'll have anything new to say, but I might anyway just to recommend episodes.
Playlist
1. "I Want You Back" - Jackson 5
2. "Ordinary People" - John Legend
3. "Hello Operator" - The White Stripes
4. "Otherside Remix" - Macklemore ft. Fences
5. "Your Ass Got Took" - Scarface
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Supernatural Genre
Before reading this, I suggest you read the introduction to this site where I say what I'm doing.
Previous Sections
The Shows That Changed Television
Quirky Comedy
Unconventional Drama
Classic Comedy
British TV Shows
This section of TV shows is relatively easy to understand. It's a television show where there is a force beyond scientific understanding at play. Simply put, these are shows with ghosts, aliens, and all kinds of other manifestations of that nature.
I mentioned that British TV Shows was a section I would finish pretty fast since barely any British TV shows last all that long. Well, this is the direct opposite. Most of these shows are long-running and the first TV show is hard to watch, because it is a show that has aged terribly.
I'm going to start in chronological order, starting with the TV show I am in the middle of watching.
Star Trek (1966-1969)
Well, I don't really know where to start. I'm watching this the same way a movie buff would need to watch The Birth of a Nation. Yes, it's not really good in modern terms. Yes, it's definitely not politically correct in modern terms either. But it changed television into what it is today.
Part of the problem is that many shows do what Star Trek did first. So the originality aspect of Star Trek that made it so great is simply another cliched show from my perspective. So let me run down the many problems that I've run into while watching this show:
Perhaps the worst effect any TV show can have on its viewer: boredom. I constantly check to see if the episode is almost over. It's a chore to watch most of these episodes. I do it, because I want to appreciate television history, dammit. But seriously, it seems like a lot of the episodes have a whole lot of what I call "filler" - pointless bullshit that doesn't advance the plot.
The acting is incredibly over the top from William Shatner and whoever the villian is that week. Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley are actually great actors that only highlight how bad Shatner is at acting. This is a problem that I can't blame on the time period, quite frankly. Good actors existed in 1966 right?
Things I can blame on the time period: the sometimes blatant sexism evident in some episodes. It's pretty bad as all the women just fall for Captain Kirk for pretty much no reason. When I say all the women, I mean ALL the women. Is William Shatner really that attractive? I have no idea. When stuff like that happens to men like Shatner and Dennis Leary in Rescue Me, I'm always so confused, because man do I not see it.
The special-effects are out-dated sure, but that has never bothered me before. I don't know the writing just seems way out-of-date. I'm trying, but I am struggling. I'll have a post up about Star Trek whenever I finish.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
My interest in Star Trek was piqued because of the cult fandom it produced. The reason I ended up choosing to watch it was because of this series. I haven't seen an episode, but by all accounts, this one is actually good. Like good in 2012 not good in 1966 only.
Really I want to watch this for two reasons: Patrick Stewart and LeVar Burton. Stewart, because of X-Men really, and he just seems like a fantastic actor. Already he's got a point over the older show because the leading man can actually act. Burton, because, well any Community fans out there? (That's the only reason by the way - He appears on episode of Community as LeVar Burton)
Also, Wil Wheaton hasn't turned out half bad. Not all child stars become crazy lunatics.
X-Files (1993-2002)
I have never seen an episode of X-Files. However, this is one of those shows I go into pretty much knowing its awesome. There's a special value to finding a show when it starts and then watching it be one of the best on television (Here's hoping The Americans is that!). But it's also nice being able to start at the beginning knowing the show is headed to a wonderful place.
And that's where X-Files is. I haven't seen Californication, so I'm not familiar with David Duchovny's acting credentials, but for some reason he annoys me. It's the representation of what I imagine his character is like in Californication and that imaginative character annoys me, so in turn he annoys me. Sense, this makes none. I know.
Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
I want to watch this really for one reason: Michael C. Hall. Namely, I've heard he plays a vastly different character than he does on Dexter. I mean that makes sense since Dexter is one of the most original characters created. But if I thought I appreciated his acting on Dexter, I think I'm going to be blown away on this show.
I have no idea if he stars or is a supporting player, but I don't really care. Also, I'm under the impression that it's actually a good TV show, which is important.
Supernatural (2005- )
Here's a show that I've wanted to watch since it first aired. I never got around to watching a single episode somehow. This blog has given me the motivation necessary to watch this show.... in like a year. Plus, some twitter friends of mine are die-hard watchers of this show who've recommended it to me.
The Guild (2007- )
Well, this is awkward. I have basically no idea what this show is about. I just found out it was a comedy and it also is apparently a web series. I just assumed it was on television since it's on Netflix. Anyway, I'm a fan of Felicia Day so I'll give this series a shot.
An important thing to note by the way is that my sections are meant to be general so if a TV show doesn't appear to belong in a section, I don't really care. I'm just trying to organize my TV shows into a coherent way for me to easily view all of them at one time or another.
Anyway, I'm forcing myself through Star Trek, which as I said, has aged pretty awful. The most excited I am for any of these series has to be Six Feet Under, which I've wanted to watch for a while. Next in line would have to be X-Files, a highly regarded show.
Update on Current Shows: (Episode listed is first episode I haven't seen yet)
American Horror Story - Season 1, Episode 3 - Very shitty so far, heard season 2 is good, might stick with it
Freaks and Geeks - Season 1, Episode 11 - I'm dragging this show out as long as possible. Excellent.
The Simpsons - Season 1, Episode 8 - Haven't seen this show in a while. Might attempt an episode tonight.
Sons of Anarchy - Season 2, Episode 4 - Still a very good show. Surprised they've maintained the quality of the first season.
The Sopranos - Season 2, Episode 11 - I will finish season 2 at some point in my life...
Next post: Probably episode reaction to the second episode of season 1 of The Sopranos, though I may think of something for tomorrow.
The Shows That Changed Television
Quirky Comedy
Unconventional Drama
Classic Comedy
British TV Shows
This section of TV shows is relatively easy to understand. It's a television show where there is a force beyond scientific understanding at play. Simply put, these are shows with ghosts, aliens, and all kinds of other manifestations of that nature.
I mentioned that British TV Shows was a section I would finish pretty fast since barely any British TV shows last all that long. Well, this is the direct opposite. Most of these shows are long-running and the first TV show is hard to watch, because it is a show that has aged terribly.
I'm going to start in chronological order, starting with the TV show I am in the middle of watching.
Star Trek (1966-1969)
Well, I don't really know where to start. I'm watching this the same way a movie buff would need to watch The Birth of a Nation. Yes, it's not really good in modern terms. Yes, it's definitely not politically correct in modern terms either. But it changed television into what it is today.
Part of the problem is that many shows do what Star Trek did first. So the originality aspect of Star Trek that made it so great is simply another cliched show from my perspective. So let me run down the many problems that I've run into while watching this show:
Perhaps the worst effect any TV show can have on its viewer: boredom. I constantly check to see if the episode is almost over. It's a chore to watch most of these episodes. I do it, because I want to appreciate television history, dammit. But seriously, it seems like a lot of the episodes have a whole lot of what I call "filler" - pointless bullshit that doesn't advance the plot.
The acting is incredibly over the top from William Shatner and whoever the villian is that week. Leonard Nimoy and DeForrest Kelley are actually great actors that only highlight how bad Shatner is at acting. This is a problem that I can't blame on the time period, quite frankly. Good actors existed in 1966 right?
Things I can blame on the time period: the sometimes blatant sexism evident in some episodes. It's pretty bad as all the women just fall for Captain Kirk for pretty much no reason. When I say all the women, I mean ALL the women. Is William Shatner really that attractive? I have no idea. When stuff like that happens to men like Shatner and Dennis Leary in Rescue Me, I'm always so confused, because man do I not see it.
The special-effects are out-dated sure, but that has never bothered me before. I don't know the writing just seems way out-of-date. I'm trying, but I am struggling. I'll have a post up about Star Trek whenever I finish.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
My interest in Star Trek was piqued because of the cult fandom it produced. The reason I ended up choosing to watch it was because of this series. I haven't seen an episode, but by all accounts, this one is actually good. Like good in 2012 not good in 1966 only.
Really I want to watch this for two reasons: Patrick Stewart and LeVar Burton. Stewart, because of X-Men really, and he just seems like a fantastic actor. Already he's got a point over the older show because the leading man can actually act. Burton, because, well any Community fans out there? (That's the only reason by the way - He appears on episode of Community as LeVar Burton)
Also, Wil Wheaton hasn't turned out half bad. Not all child stars become crazy lunatics.
X-Files (1993-2002)
I have never seen an episode of X-Files. However, this is one of those shows I go into pretty much knowing its awesome. There's a special value to finding a show when it starts and then watching it be one of the best on television (Here's hoping The Americans is that!). But it's also nice being able to start at the beginning knowing the show is headed to a wonderful place.
And that's where X-Files is. I haven't seen Californication, so I'm not familiar with David Duchovny's acting credentials, but for some reason he annoys me. It's the representation of what I imagine his character is like in Californication and that imaginative character annoys me, so in turn he annoys me. Sense, this makes none. I know.
Six Feet Under (2001-2005)
I want to watch this really for one reason: Michael C. Hall. Namely, I've heard he plays a vastly different character than he does on Dexter. I mean that makes sense since Dexter is one of the most original characters created. But if I thought I appreciated his acting on Dexter, I think I'm going to be blown away on this show.
I have no idea if he stars or is a supporting player, but I don't really care. Also, I'm under the impression that it's actually a good TV show, which is important.
Supernatural (2005- )
Here's a show that I've wanted to watch since it first aired. I never got around to watching a single episode somehow. This blog has given me the motivation necessary to watch this show.... in like a year. Plus, some twitter friends of mine are die-hard watchers of this show who've recommended it to me.
The Guild (2007- )
Well, this is awkward. I have basically no idea what this show is about. I just found out it was a comedy and it also is apparently a web series. I just assumed it was on television since it's on Netflix. Anyway, I'm a fan of Felicia Day so I'll give this series a shot.
An important thing to note by the way is that my sections are meant to be general so if a TV show doesn't appear to belong in a section, I don't really care. I'm just trying to organize my TV shows into a coherent way for me to easily view all of them at one time or another.
Anyway, I'm forcing myself through Star Trek, which as I said, has aged pretty awful. The most excited I am for any of these series has to be Six Feet Under, which I've wanted to watch for a while. Next in line would have to be X-Files, a highly regarded show.
Update on Current Shows: (Episode listed is first episode I haven't seen yet)
American Horror Story - Season 1, Episode 3 - Very shitty so far, heard season 2 is good, might stick with it
Freaks and Geeks - Season 1, Episode 11 - I'm dragging this show out as long as possible. Excellent.
The Simpsons - Season 1, Episode 8 - Haven't seen this show in a while. Might attempt an episode tonight.
Sons of Anarchy - Season 2, Episode 4 - Still a very good show. Surprised they've maintained the quality of the first season.
The Sopranos - Season 2, Episode 11 - I will finish season 2 at some point in my life...
Next post: Probably episode reaction to the second episode of season 1 of The Sopranos, though I may think of something for tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)