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stephendibb
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Legends of Tomorrow: wvrdr_error_100 not found (2021)
All good fun as usual
Bit schmalzy for my taste, but as 1000th I suppose they know what the kids want.
Really only wanted to point out that I think someone on the script team has been reading Becky Chambers for one plot idea. ;)
Star Trek: Voyager: Before and After (1997)
Time's arrow
One of the stories told about Merlin was that he was living his life backwards through time.
By the time of Arthur he was middle aged. Circumstances proscribed him from talking too much of the future. Instead he would hint and advise on courses of actions. Perhaps Kes is Merlin, or the writer's version anyway!
As a fun fact, this explains why Merlin was so easily caught by Morgan Le Fey in the cave. He was, in fact, actually escaping. Write that one into an episode!
Legends of Tomorrow: The Ex-Factor (2021)
Ever fallen in love?
They play with my emotions. It ought to get 3/ 10 and it should.
But then I see the humour and anything less than 7/10 would be rude.
Ever fallen in love with a series thats dumb? Ever fallen in love with a series that some...would think has gone far, too far to be fun with? Ever fallen in love with?
This episode was as silly as ever, but that's what it's all about. Gravelly voice superheroes in the rest of the comic universe have their place too, but I just want a laugh sometimes and The Legends and their group dynamic gives me that.
Plus, I have pogoed live to The Buzzcocks in my day (well that aged me!) and the final rendition of a fave song in a new tempo let me hear it with new ears. So thank you for that!
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Honor Among Thieves (1998)
"If I come out alive, this guy, Lefty, ends up dead. That's the same thing as me putting the bullet in his head myself."
I am glad that someone else got the Donnie Brasco reference in the story. The rather facile comments about "why O'Brien?" misses the point that most viewers would not be too interested in a story based around some Kevin from plant management on Deep Space "choose your own number"!
We want to see our heroes push the envelope. O'Brien is a character who has always been a bit more questioning of things, whilst still as his foundation accepting the Federation as the only option. He is one of the nuts and bolts that make the machine work, hence engineer; a human engineer. So, here he is and we want to see how he would cope.
He copes by showing his natural affinity to see the best in people and he sees the best in such a flawed character as, Bilby. Just like Donnie Brasco, who was also based on real situations, he cannot stop caring for the one he ultimately has to turn in. But, both he and Bilby have their role to play, and as the episode title suggests both O'Brien and Bilby have their own code of honour to live by.
All the actors involved did a fine job, but of course the leads, Meany and Tate shine through. The short episode format means things have to push along, but altogether a fine story told.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Die Is Cast (1995)
A Shakespeare tragedy
Continuing the Shakespeare motif, a quote from A Midsummer Nights Dream. "The course of true love never did run smooth"
Garak is undoubtedly a most interesting character and the scene where he and Tain share a drink side by side on the sofa, reminiscing, shows the true reason for his need to want to be by Tain's side again. As any militaristic hierarchy would understand, "Don't ask, don't tell". Also the torture scene shows the horror of trying to keep a friend alive under the most extreme conditions. Which is worse, betraying a friend to help them live or killing them?
Beneath the fighting and back-stabbing, this to me is a tale of what true love and true friendship can sometimes cost .
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Meridian (1994)
Lets climb a tree
"With a brief stop to climb a tree!"
Honestly? Eight lifetimes and still falling for a line like that, Jadzia!
Well all the actors did what they could with a thin gruel, but " Please Sir, I don't want any more!"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Tribunal (1994)
Darkness...
The obvious choices of Kafka and Orwell are certainly there, but I would suggest Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler as another influence,
The Cardassian trial is a show trial. Guilt or innocence have nothing to do with the verdict. The verdict is all, in the sense that it confirms the States control over what is right and what is wrong. The State gives comfort and it gives stability. The fact is that most people want a quiet life. They want to put bread on the table and they want to go to bed knowing that they will wake up to the same thing over and over again. Why do people vote or accept a voice with comforting platitudes? Because the alternative is believing in your own voice and being disappointed by it.
Stalin knew that. Every tin-pot after him knows that, even the ones leading some countries today know that. Arthur Koestler understood that.
I give eight stars for Colm Meany and for Rosalind Chao (who really should have been given much more in the series). The story could have been a little less pat at the end and therefore I took away a star , but meh what can you do in 45 minutes!
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Paradise (1994)
An earlier village?
Is this where M. Night Shyamalan got his idea for The Village from? Alexis, together with some like minded scientists decide to cut off a village of unknowing colonists from "civilization".
OK, this episode uses outsiders to break the spell and M. Night Shyamalan uses a spell breaker from within, but the basic idea is similar. I am not saying Deep Space Nine is original either, but every storyteller takes their seeds from the one before.
Nice touch with the kids at the end. The younger generation always feels bound by the actions of their parent's and yearn for something else; something different.
Lucifer: It Never Ends Well for the Chicken (2020)
It was all a dream...or something like that
It is never a good sign when a long running show pulls out the fantasy/ dream episode. Considering the series on or off history it is almost as if the whole team is trying out how far they can push their luck and still come back.
Still, this kind of episode is such a trope in american long runners that it was almost inevitable.
I would have given one less star if it had not been for the fun gender bending of the characters. Chloe does look good in a suit, tho they did not dare push it too far did they? Lucifer in Ru Paul drag would have definitely given another star!
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Sub Rosa (1994)
A bonny tale
Noting the production staff's comment in trivia, I can understand why the fanboy's had difficulty with this one!
I cannot say that it was the best episode ever, but I admire the attempt at a "women's" story. Please be noted that I am not a woman, so this may be mansplaining. Sue me!
We are talking 90's. Not studio system Hollywood, but the episode still smells of Brigadoon. Mind, nobody actually broke into song and dance and for that we can be grateful. Also the "woman falls for a strong man" trope is, hopefully, rather dated by today's tastes and it does not quite pass the Bechdel test. But the attempt at least of showing a woman's story lifts my star score. Considering how many women were involved at all levels in many of the episodes, it would have been interesting to hear the discussions in the lead up to this one! If, again, what the production staff said is correct, it at least tried to give "the other half" of Star Trek's fans something more than just Phasors and Kirk kissing the green one!
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Tapestry (1993)
Q's message?
At the beginning, when Q threatens Picard with them spending eternity together. is it a threat or an invitation? Picard can change his actions, and himself, and live out his life with his real heart, in a steady, but boring existence or he can "die" and live eternity with Q.
I suggest that Q was proving Picard in the fire of his youth for a potential eternity in the Q realm. Picard shows he is the stuff Q believes him to be, and he allows Picard to continue in the life Picard has created.
Q is capricious, but he may understand that Picard can supply a balance which Q lacks.
Why was Picard returned to life then? Well, we all die, but not perhaps just now.