Month: August 2012

  • Trekathon 475: Blaze of Glory (DS9)

    Eddington helps Sisko stop a final revenge attack by the Maquis. Last season we had a [great Sisko/Eddington episode](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2012/06/trekathon-420-for-the-cause-ds9/), followed up by an [even better one earlier this year](). Fortunately someone was taking notes about what works, because while this is really just more of the same it works really well. It’s a great pity…

  • Trekathon 474: Displaced (VOY)

    The crew of Voyager is kidnapped one-by-one, to be replaced by aliens. Just didn’t make sense. Either this is a situation that should have been easily dealt with by Voyager security, or the alien race is so advanced that the elaborate plan was a complete waste of effort. Mind you, the theme of the day…

  • Trekathon 473: Children of Time (DS9)

    The Defiant finds a planet made up of their descendants. Helpful hint to the writes of this episode: a happy pastoral scene with the community helping to plant crops does *not* provide a basis for all of the characters to suddenly decide to act differently. The core moral dilemma was nicely presented here, but the…

  • Trekathon 472: Distant Origin (VOY)

    A link between Humanity and a Delta Quadrant race is discovered by an alien researcher. This is a very brave episode. It’s about a third of the way into the episode before we even hear the name ‘Voyager’. The majority of the screen time is given over to a non-regular alien in heavy makeup. And…

  • Trekathon 471: Soldiers of the Empire (DS9)

    Worf goes on a mission with General Martok. Star Trek has always had fairly clear ideas about Klingon society (well, since TNG at least), but has always struggled to present them on screen in a way that makes sense. This episode goes a long way towards making it work. Sure, there’s a brutal hierarchy to…

  • Trekathon 470: Real Life (VOY)

    The Doctor decides to simulate a family for himself. A strong finish doesn’t make up for a weak start. This story starts off in very predictable and dull territory – oh, the Doctor has made a family that’s far too happy and nice, but let’s make it more realistic. There’s nothing new here, it’s been…

  • Trekathon 469: Ferengi Love Songs (DS9)

    Quark goes home to find his mother starting a relationship with the Grand Nagus. Remember a couple of episodes ago when there was a half decent Ferengi episode? It wasn’t a trend, it was an attempt to lull you into a false sense of complacency. So that this piece of absolute garbage can hit you…

  • Trekathon 468: Ties of Blood and Water (DS9)

    Kira works out her daddy issues with her Cardassian ‘father’. Meh. Tried for deep and moving, just didn’t quite work. The Kira part of the episode just had some missing element, nothing I can put my finger on, that kept things from coming together properly. The more interesting part of the episode was Dukat and…

  • Trekathon 467: Before and After (VOY)

    Kes becomes unstuck in time, from her death back to birth. After 3 seasons and 63 episodes Voyager finally pulls a really episode together. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good story well told with good Science Fiction elements. It even gives us some hints about things that will be happening fairly soon. The main…

  • Trekathon 466: Business as Usual (DS9)

    Quark becomes a weapons dealer to get himself out of debt. This is really pretty dark stuff. Quark gets into the business of selling weapons across the quadrant, and then in order to get out of it sets up a trap to kill his boss, his cousin, and two warring leaders from another planet, because…