Month: February 2012

  • Trekathon 289: Gambit, Part II (TNG)

    Riker and Picard play pirates as they try to stop a renegade Vulcan. Once the Macguffin gets upgraded from ‘pot shards’ to ‘world destroying weapon’ things pick up a lot. With something to care about in the plot, it begins to make sense that Riker and Picard stay on the ship rather than making a…

  • Trekathon 288: Invasive Procedures (DS9)

    Someone wants to steal the symbiont that makes up half of Jadzia. For about 10 minutes I was afraid this was going to turn into ‘Die Hard on a space station’. So the ‘symbiont kidnapping’ angle came as something of a relief. This episodes take a bit of Jadzia’s character that hasn’t been much examined,…

  • Trekathon 287: Gambit, Part I (TNG)

    Captain Picard dies, and Riker seeks revenge. And gets kidnapped. I was a bit worried at the start that we were going to have another ‘being convinced they’re really not dead’ episode, but this time we got ‘Anger’ rather than ‘Denial’. I guess ‘Bargaining’ and ‘Depression’ will come along later in the series (Although snark…

  • Trekathon 286: The Siege (3) (DS9)

    Star Trek’s first 3-part story draws to a close as the station is besieged by the Bajorans. Ultimately the story fizzles out a bit. It’s an attempt to do something new and interesting in terms of Trek story telling, but the writers and producers just don’t seem confident enough about this. For instance, killing off…

  • Trekathon 285: Interface (TNG)

    Ah, the old ‘aliens appear as a crew member’s dead mother’ trick. It’s troubled episode when two people staring quietly at a screen is one of the better moments in the episode. This is a very slow developing episode (and strangely enough one without any B-plot). That’d be OK if there was a bit more…

  • Trekathon 284: The Circle (2) (DS9)

    Everything gets just a little bit worse than last time. This episode is a bit weak overall, but has some nice character moments: * The Odo/Kira scene early on where they are fighting about Kira just giving in to living is a fantastic window into their relationship, and the farce that develops is hilarious. *…

  • Trekathon 283: Liaisons (TNG)

    Once again alien ambassadors are very annoying as they try to learn about humanity. As you might be able to tell, I’m getting a bit tired of this story. Troi and the chocoholic, and Worf and the angry ambassador were silly and dull – trying to do too much means that nothing really worked well.…

  • Trekathon 282: The Homecoming (1) (DS9)

    Kira rescues a renowned POW from a Cardassian camp, as political tensions worsen. So Season 2 starts with the same Bajoran politics angle that was the best promise from Season 1. And it is also a far riskier episode than anything tried in Season 1 – politics heavy, action light, and probably the weakest cliffhanger…

  • Trekathon 281: Descent, Part II (TNG)

    Back for the final season, with Lore tempting Data with emotions to join him in ruling the galaxy. Overall a very disappointing followup to what was a fairly strong part 1. There are three components: Crusher commands the Enterprise to avoid the Borg ship – a technobabble filled yawnfest. Riker and Worf meet up with…