ST:TOS: The Enemy Within

It's been quite a long time since I posted a review here, but I think it's about time that I get back on track (feel free to keep track of how many times I say that). A few months ago after I made my last entry I decided to begin a full-fledged rewatch of all of star trek. Yes, that's around 700 episodes and 11 movies. At a reasonable rate (about one per day), I worked out that it would take at least until the next star trek movie comes out to finish everything, except for The Animated Series, whose existence I try not to acknowledge. As a result, I'll have to put all the other shows here on hold at least until I get caught up with the star trek reviews.

But enough babbling; let's get on with the review. Although Kirk pretty much demands full attention towards him in every scene that he appears, partly due to how he is written and mostly due to Shatner's peculiar acting, but this episode really takes the time to flesh out his character. The Enemy Within does this in a rather straightforward manner: by splitting Kirk into two people. One Kirk embodies all of his negative, primal, and aggressive tendencies, and the other contains all of his positive qualities.

Not even Spock could resist the attraction of Unicorn Dog

The trouble all begins on a geological survey when ensign blue shirt slips on some rock and injures himself. He is beamed aboard and carries a plot device with him, some strange type of magnetic ore, that does something to the transporter. However, he and Kirk beam back fine, so Scotty doesn't recognize anything out of the ordinary. To close off the teaser, we are introduced to evil Kirk, not to be confused with Mirror Universe Kirk, who conveniently materializes after everyone leaves the transporter room.

This is yet another prime example of how TOS pushes the envelope when it comes to its sci-fi story elements. Ultimately I'm willing to suspend my criticisms when it comes to the imaginary physics that star trek presents, because the genre is science fiction. I have no problem with transporter technology, regardless of whether or not it would work in real life, because TOS has established it as a critical part of the series, and there is a reasonable explanation of how it's supposed to work. However, I do have a problem with the transporter suddenly being able to split a person into two different beings that are polar opposites in terms of personality, which as far as we know isn't explicitly determined by some structure in the brain, or something simple like that. The only reasonable explanation that I can come up with is that the ore is magical, and if I'm willing to admit that, then I might as well be watching Harry Potter (yeah, I went there).

If there's one thing I have to say about evil Kirk, it's that Shatner sure enjoyed playing the role. The many moments that displayed evil Kirk lurking around the ship with a menacing look on his face merited more than a good laugh from me. However, most of his outbursts are so over-the-top that he doesn't bring very many serious feelings to the table, except for maybe when he tries to assault Janice Rand. He doesn't have too many lines of dialogue, so he acts as more of a foil for the good Kirk to realize the flaws he has as a captain.

"I can't believe I let Scotty install Windows Vista on this thing!"

And that's where the real story of the episode lies. Janice swears she saw the good Kirk, who was actually the evil Kirk, trying to assault her, which has most of the crew believing that the good Kirk really did do that. To make matters worse, evil Kirk has covered up the scratches on his face that Janice gave him using makeup, which only has me wondering why Kirk stores makeup in his quarters. On top of that, the transporter is now officially broken, so the landing party must be rescued before they freeze to death. Even Sulu can't cuddle up with somebody for too long.

As the episode nears its conclusion, good Kirk realizes that without his evil, aggressive side, he is incapable of commanding the Enterprise. As he loses his ability to make decisions, a situation that would have had Freud jumping up and down with excitement, his confidence weakens. Just as his evil side lacks intelligence and skill, his good side lacks the authority to make command decisions. Neither can live without the other. Eventually, Kirk is re-integrated and the landing party is rescued.

On the surface, this episode is littered with campy acting, mostly on Shatner's part, but it works brilliantly on a deeper level. Although there are quite a few plot contrivances, especially for TOS, The Enemy Within shows significant character growth for Kirk as well as offers an interesting look into the human psyche. These two points come together in the quote near the end, "I've seen a part of myself no man should ever see." The question is, was he referring to the good Kirk, or the evil Kirk?

Score: 8

Best Quote: "I've seen a part of myself no man should ever see."

Best Moment: Evil Kirk yells "I'MMMM Captain KIIIIIIRK!"

Red Shirt: 2 (+1)

TZ: Walking Distance

This episode revisits some of the themes presented in the last one, The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine, without having to resort to annoying and unrealistic characters. Walking Distance essentially takes TSMS and brings it up to a relatable, thoughtful, and even emotional level. Comparing the two is like comparing the Star Trek: The Original Series episode Space Seed to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The former is pretty good, but Khan is so much more effective and recognized as Kirk's villain in the film than he is in the TOS episode. When I think of 'Khan', I think about Kirk waging this epic space battle against an enemy who won't surrender even if it means giving up his life, and not the brief TOS fist fight.

"You know, you'll never have to use cursive again after 5th grade..."

Speaking of characters, right off the bat the protagonist of this story is instantly likeable. His name is Martin Sloan (Alright, when I think 'Sloan', I think of the Section 31 leader from Star Trek: DS9), and although he isn't the most exciting character on the show, he does have qualities that make him relatable. He's a fairly stern guy who doesn't really like how things are going for him in his life at the moment, but he isn't necessarily grumpy. He walks toward his home town which is within walking distance of a gas station, longing for the good ol' days like we all do sometimes.

The episode plays on this idea, and the Twilight Zone spin on it is that Sloan has actually traveled back in time to when he was just a kid. He gradually notices this as he wanders through the town: the ice cream sodas that taste just like they used to, kids playing in the streets, people who have long been dead in perfect condition. He is still his adult self, so his parents obviously have a difficult time believing his story when he confronts them, especially since the young version of himself is right there with him.

"Walking distance, yeah right."

The realization finally hits that Sloan has somehow missed out on his childhood, and runs to tell his younger self to enjoy himself while he is still young, but only succeeds in pushing him off a carousel and injuring his leg. However, the most important portion of the episode hits when Sloan sits down and has the inevitable father-son chat. His father believes that Sloan has really come from the future, and tells him that everybody has their time as a kid, when life is simple and worries are few, so Sloan should be looking towards the future instead of burying himself in the past. Finally taking this to heart, Sloan finds himself back in the present, and limps off to actually live his life.

This episode has a simple message, but it carries through surprisingly well. It's a prime example of the dreamlike storytelling that The Twilight Zone does so well, and in combination with the enthralling music really places the viewer at the heart of Sloan's unwillingness to let go of his past. If written better, I would have given this episode a 10, but some of the dialog seems just too straight forward, like this moment:

"Sorry I yelled at you, but you see... I'm a city man in search of myself. I've come back to my hometown to find a piece of my childhood. Maybe I'll find that it was here with me... all along."

This sounds more like something you would say around a campfire at 2 AM.

Score: 9

Best Quote: "You've been looking behind you, Martin. Try looking ahead."

Best Moment: Sloan's chat with his father.

Cheesy 60s Moment: Young Sloan falling off the carousel.

ST:TOS The Naked Time

I don't know who came up with the title for this episode, but I can't think of any other episode off the top of my head that has a more misleading title than The Naked Time, or a funnier one when taken out of context. Sure, at one point Sulu takes his shirt off and chases men around with a sword, but it doesn't get as bad as the title would suggest. In reality, the title refers to the crew's inhibitions being stripped rather than their clothes, but let's move on, shall we?

The Enterprise approaches the planet that sounds like a bad sci-fi movie, 'Psi 2000', and the crew takes note of its impending disintegration. Spock takes an away team to the planet's surface, and discovers some frozen scientists who bear evidence of killing each other. Unknown to himself or the rest of the team, Tormolen catches supposedly what is some sort of virus in classic TOS fashion and brings it aboard the ship.

From there, we see the disease spread from person to person, as noted by suspenseful sounding music and the infected crew members furiously rubbing their hands. After feeling intense dread about the Enterprise's mission and saying things like "we shouldn't be out here", Tormolen falls ill and soon dies. McCoy is confused about the whole ordeal, and can only conclude that he has gone the way of Padme Amadala and simply lost the will to live.

What makes this scene even weirder is that this is supposedly Takei's favorite episode

But before anybody thinks of washing their hands, the disease gets out of control, and soon all heck breaks lose on the ship. This begins the most entertaining part of the episode, as we see crewman after crewman falling to the disease and Kirk trying to remain in control of the situation. After Sulu and Riley struggle to maintain orbit and are shoved off the bridge, they begin to create problems of their own. Their inhibitions have been lowered, so naturally Sulu appears topless in the corridor with a sword and starts chasing people around, and Riley locks himself in Engineering and starts singing an annoying tune over and over again. I half expected Kirk to insert a statement in his captain's log saying, "Note to self, remove all alcoholic beverages from the mess hall."

The Enterprise begins to fall closer to the planet, and after some time Scotty is able to retake engineering. A cold restart of the engines is the only possible way to escape in time, but it requires Spock, whom is now incapacitated, to perform some calculations. Kirk manages to make him regain control of his emotions, and by now Sulu has been cured by McCoy, so they barely manage to escape, as Kirk himself begins to fall victim to the disease and longs for a woman in his life.

As if we haven't had enough crazy things going on in this episode, the cold reboot actually goes better than expected, so much so that it actually knocks them three days back in time. I'm still trying to figure out how that one works, but at least they didn't evolve into salamanders.

"Dang, this is not looking anything like Nevada."

The thing I like the most about this episode is that it doesn't need a guest star villain or a subtle political statement to be full of value. It's just a simple story about the crew getting infected by an alien pathogen, and yet we see some classic character moments here. McCoy facing something he doesn't quite understand, Scotty running out of time and power, Spock struggling with his human half, Kirk trying to maintain command and save his ship, Uhura...monitoring stuff. There's so much going on here without the episode losing integrity that I have to give this one a high score.

Score: 9

Best Quote: "It is like nothing we've dealt with before."

Best Moment: Sulu chasing crew members with a sword.

Red Shirt Death Count: 1 (+0)

LOST: White Rabbit

I've decided to do something a bit different in the reviewing of further Lost episodes, mostly because by now the show has fully immersed itself into the flashback/island format. I'll simply be splitting up each of these reviews into two parts: the events that take place on the island, and the events that take place in flashbacks. The format will stay the same, although I'll be able to draw greater conclusions from looking at the flashback and island stories side by side, and hopefully unveil some things I missed the first time around.

Flashback:

This portion of the episode, in itself, contains two stories. The first one involves Jack as a kid. He is threatened by school bullies, but his father offers little consolation for trying to stand up against them for the sake of his friend. In fact, he does the exact opposite. His father, Christian Shepard, tells young Jack that he can do the difficult job of a surgeon because he "has what it takes." He has the ability to make decisions that determine whether a patient lives or dies, and claims that Jack ultimately does not.

"I know this airport gets crowded, but I really don't think you need that many escalators."

Despite this, it's clear that Jack cares for his father anyway. Years later as an adult, he travels to Australia to retrieve Christian, who died from alcohol poisoning(that is, severe levels of alcohol in his blood, not his drink being poisoned). He argues to get his coffin on the plane, so that he can take Christian's body back home and bury it.

Although we know what Jack was doing in Australia, the question this part raises is what caused him to argue for his father's proper burial in the first place. We will see on the island that this flashback works well for the episode, and it's certainly written well because of how well the kid and adult roles tie together, so I think this part was successful. Whether or not Jack's character appeals to you at this point, there's still a lot to ponder.

Island:

On the island, we see Jack's uncertainty with his leadership abilities be reinforced with "visions" of his father, being unable to save a woman from drowning, and some of the people in the group questioning his decisions. At various points throughout the episode he runs off chasing a "white rabbit", or sight that he's not even sure is real, and once nearly gets thrown off the edge of a cliff before Locke steps in to save him.

It's also noteworthy to point out the first time references to Alice in Wonderland. Obviously the title is a glaring one, but other instances include Sawyer reading the actual book(Not sure, but it at least it has a rabbit on the cover), Locke calling Jack's "hallucination" a "white rabbit", and Jack almost falling off a cliff while following the white rabbit. And we will see many more instances of these, especially in Jack's episodes.

Unfortunately, Jack couldn't see that his father was just trying to do his business

I really enjoyed the conversation between Jack and Locke in the middle of the jungle. It's the establishment of the "man of science, man of faith" debate that goes back and forth throughout the series, with Jack trying to explain away the sightings of his father as a hallucination, and Locke countering by saying things like "we all know that this island is special." I'm getting pretty deep here, but I think that almost falling off the cliff was sort of a halfway "wake-up call" for Jack. Synonymous with almost falling down the rabbit hole, he realized that something bigger was going on, but didn't want to deal with that at the moment. He needed to stop chasing white rabbits and memories of his father in order to deal with the rest of the Losties and the freshwater caves that they had just discovered. This mini revelation culminated in his speech at the end, where he finally let his leadership qualities shine through; "If we can't live together, we're going to die alone."


This might sound like I'm trying to analyze what happened to Jack's character in this episode, but that's only because there wasn't much to criticize. The episode's effectiveness may come down to your feelings about Jack or the way he's acted, but for me this episode has stood the test of time well even with a somewhat weak B plot about the water shortage.

Score: 8

Best Quote: "If we can't live together, we're going to die alone."

Best Moment: The conversation between Jack and Locke.

WTF Moment: Jack almost falling off the cliff.

B5: Born to the Purple

This week on Babylon 5, Londo falls for a slave girl who turns out to be after more than his sideways mohawk. I'm pretty sure that every single sci-fi show has this exact story at some point during their run, and well, I'm personally sick of it. The plot is very poor excuse to try to usher in some character development by having a character be seduced by someone who seems nice at first, but has an unseen evil side. All you need to do is change a few words to fit the context and the story is the same. For example:

Star Trek Voyager, "The Disease": Harry Kim gets seduced into forbidden sex with an alien and contracts an STD.

Lost, "Stranger in a Strange Land": Jack sleeps with a woman in Thailand and gets in trouble over a tattoo she gives him.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Game": Riker is given a "game" by a woman on Risa that brainwashes the entire Enterprise crew.

So, although the intentions of the women in these episodes may differ, the story is almost always predictable. It sometimes works, but this is not the kind of story I want to see in a show that's supposed to be about humans desperately trying to make peace with interplanetary powers.

"I told you, world 8-3 is impossible."

Now, back to the show. There is really not much to say about the A plot. As said before, Londo falls for a girl who turns out to be a slave working for some evil dude who wants him out of the picture. Londo eventually figures this out, denies it for a bit, and the rest of the episode follows the formula we've already seen. Namely, "Let's go find the evil guy hiding somewhere on the station." Most of the humor is worthy of a smile at best, such as the joke where the ambassadors in the council room are playing some future version of a gameboy while waiting for Londo to arrive. It was funny, however, when Talia found out where Adira, the slave, was by telling the evil guy not to think of her location. She should use that tactic every time someone is concealing something.

There isn't too much to say for the B plot, either. Garibaldi is looking for a comm signal that seems to appear and then disappear, which Ivanova refers to as a gremlin. After trying time and time again, he eventually tracks it to none other than...Ivanova herself. Apparently her father that we didn't know about before is dying, and we learn a little about her history.

"Finally, a chance to cut this ridiculous hair off."

But do we care at this point? Not at all, because the episode is almost over, and this was a subplot. This one was a slight improvement over the previous episode, but really only because I could tell it was trying to develop its characters a bit without bringing on boring guest stars like the soul hunter.

Score: 3

Best Quote: "You have kissed far worse things in your time, Mollari."

Best Moment: The computer calls Londo's personal files "purple files".

Best Race: Narn. G'Kar has some cool scenes.

nuBSG: 33

Generally, the pilot of a serialized sci-fi series is pretty dull. This is mostly due to the fact that all the characters need to be introduced, the plot needs to be established (and possibly the framework for some story arcs), and we need to get a taste for what the show is to become. Oh, and the audience has to be entertained throughout all of this.

The re-imagined Battlestar Galactica has a significant advantage in this area. It already had an entire miniseries to do all this, so the actual pilot has no problem on the entertainment side. The show loses absolutely no momentum in this transition, and if anything it slows down to focus more on the characters and their actions in the face of the impending Cylon threat.

Steve worked diligently to plan bathroom times to account for the 33 minute cycles

Except, in this episode, it's more like the continual Cylon threat. For some unknown reason, the Cylons are jumping to hyperspace every 33 minutes to meet up with the Galactica and its fleet. Not a moment too soon, not a moment too late. By that time, every ship in the fleet must jump to hyperspace or risk further damage by the Cylons. It appears to be an effective strategy, as the crew on board the Galactica is tiring more and more with each jump, and systems begin to fail, causing them to lag farther behind on the 33 minute cycle.

Meanwhile, Baltar is having issues of his own. The consciousness of Number Six is still inhabiting his body and pushing him to accept that God exists and has a plan for him, and he is constantly haunted by the fact that it was him who let the Cylons infiltrate Caprica's defenses. There were actually some enjoyable scenes with him in this episode, such as when he is trying to carry a conversation with Roslin and others, but Six is posing questions of her own. He is forced to phrase his responses in a way that will work for both parties, while trying not to sound crazy.


Eventually, it is discovered that one of their own carriers is leading the Cylons to attack them at the end of each cycle, so Apollo and Starbuck reluctantly destroy it. You would expect an episode like this to occur somewhere in the middle of a season, and not at the beginning of one, but this episode is still solid. The plot continues to be entertaining and engaging, although there are still some things to be worked out. I can't entirely feel sympathy for the characters at this point, and there were quite a lot of trips into Baltar's head. (They were okay scenes, but the constant bantering got old pretty quickly)

Score: 8

Best Quote: "Well, I'm sure someday if you're a good Cylon, he'll reward you with a lovely little walking toaster of your very own."

Best Moment: The crew being forced to destroy the carrier.

TZ: The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine

If you follow my blog, you know that I have reviewed some of the older sci-fi series like Star Trek: The Original Series and the Twilight Zone almost as much I have reviewed shows that have aired within the past ten years. I don't claim to be a huge fan of this type of nostalgia, but isn't it kind of ironic that I have only reviewed three episodes so far for this series, and there's already an episode on the dangers of investing one's self in the past? I would find that to be creepy, if only the episode itself was halfway decent.

Oh, if you don't know the plot behind this one, then don't worry. It's pretty straight forward. We are introduced to a woman by the name of Barbara Jean Trenton. She's an aging film star, and her life would be pretty fantastic except for the fact that she can't let go of her past fame. She spends most of her time in seclusion watching her movies from 20+ years ago, which as you might have guessed isn't exactly conducive to her social life.

Imitation is the sincerest form of arrogance

Throughout the episode, Barbara longs for this seclusion, but she is continuously interrupted by people close to her that know better and just want her to move on with her life. Eventually she actually gets to meet the man she once acted with, before realizing that he does not even resemble the person that she remembers and sees on her screen every day. In the end, though, she actually gets her wish, and her agent finds her "trapped" inside the film. Yeah, that one has to be seen to be believed...

A typical reaction to seeing the Lost series finale

Although this episode, like the others, had a good message to send, I think it pretty much failed in doing so. The whole point, in my opinion, was supposed to be that Barbara was too caught up in her nostalgia to care about things happening in her real life, but as soon as she got her wish she found that it wasn't what she actually wanted her life to be. The problem with this episode is that there is no indication that this was actually the case. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Barbara actually rejects her friends when they call out to her from beyond the screen, and simply happily goes on with her life. So what we get is just a somewhat creepy, but mostly laughable ending to close off an "I could care less about the plot" episode. This doesn't really feel like a Twilight Zone episode, and the only really redeeming value to it is how the Barbara character is portrayed. The depiction of a self-absorbed movie star is fun to watch, but the story is a let-down.

Score: 3

Best Quote: "Picture of a woman looking at a picture."

Best Moment: The maid uttering an ear-piercing scream upon seeing Barbara on the screen.

Cheesy 60s Moment: Barbara sees her previous co-star in his aged state, and her eyes widen on an overly dramatic note.

-Patrick D

ST:TOS Charlie X

Another day, another god-like entity. No, I'm not being facetious. It's been a total of two episodes since Where No Man Has Gone Before, and we already have a plot that revolves around much of the same idea and a similar story. But this time it's about a teenager, so I guess that's different. *shrugs*.

Contrary to what you might expect, however, TOS actually does a great job at keeping the audience, or at least me, interested throughout the episode while forcing you the think about the situation and draw your own conclusions. And here's the situation. A boy is discovered on an abandoned planet and comes aboard the Enterprise. His name is Charlie Evans, and the exact circumstances surrounding his life are somewhat of a mystery, hence the title of the episode. Because he has been away from civilization for most of his life, he knows little about society's social "rules" and therefore has problems fitting in correctly with the rest of the Enterprise crew.

"Three more strokes and you beat Kirk."

The twist is that Charlie appears to have god-like powers, those very similar to Gary Mitchell, something he doesn't reveal fully until he becomes infuriated with being unable to do anything right in the real world. Eventually his powers pose a threat to the crew, and Kirk is forced to stop him as long as he can. Apparently Charlie can only be concentrating on several targets of his powers at one time, so the bridge crew help create problems around the ship, so many that Charlie cannot possibly stop them all.

3D Chess: The chess of the FUTURE!

But Charlie's race returns, in their evolved state, and Charlie finally gets what he deserves. He unwillingly leaves with his race, crying out in anguish that he will never be able to love, or touch anybody for that manner. So, on the surface, this episode seems dull and cheesy, but Charlie's character really progressed throughout this episode. At first, he seemed like the innocent child who didn't understand the rules of life, or how to be in a relationship with someone. He failed each time he tried to do something right and could only hang his head in shame. Eventually, though, his anger caught up with him and he found that he could only effectively get things done through using his power. In the end, though, you still feel sympathy for his situation. He only ever wanted to belong, but he found that he couldn't even do that with his power.

All in all, a decent episode. Charlie's character got annoying at times, but there were many interesting scenes. Uhh, except for the Uhura singing scene, which I admit was ten times better than watching her nude shadow dance in Star Trek V, but still...uncomfortable.

Score: 5

Best Quote: "I wanna...stay...stay...sta..." (Charlie fading away)

Best Moment: Kirk trying to explain to Charlie why it's wrong to hit a girl.

Red Shirt Death Count: 1 (+1) Our first red shirt death, which I'm counting as a death because it was never shown that the crewman was brought back from oblivion.

LOST: Walkabout

As hinted at by the creepy camera turn around Locke at the end of the previous episode, this one attempts to uncover the shroud of mystery that surrounds the character this early in the show. And it does so brilliantly. In fact, this is the best character introduction so far in the series. Albeit this is only the fourth episode, but his character is portrayed so well, which is a combination of the great writing and acting.

Locke could have sworn that he was wearing a white sock before the crash

The Losties have entirely run out of food by now, and Locke takes the opportunity to emerge from the nameless group of extras in the background and lead a hunting party into the jungle. In some flashbacks, we learn that Locke has a job that he doesn't really enjoy. He is constantly aggravated by his coworkers, and all he wants to do is go on a walkabout into the Australian outback. This is where the main theme of this episode sets in. In his past, Locke has this feeling that he is meant to do something greater, but his condition, being in a wheelchair, prevents him from doing so. On the island, he has the ability to fulfill this dream, and he seizes it. But he does so almost too smugly, leaving the other Losties to doubt his abilities, and he comes face-to-face with the smoke monster, setting a limit on his abilities after all, and forcing him to question his faith in his destiny himself.

"You know the difference between me and Professor X?
I make this look cool."

This, like many of the season one episodes, is a character building one, so there wasn't much that was too crazy, except that Locke was somehow healed by the island. I assume that this has something to do with him being a candidate for Jacob's spot. After all, we will later see that Jacob came to Locke after he fell from the building and gave him his touch. It also makes sense that Locke was merely scanned by the smoke monster, because it is revealed later that the man in black apparently cannot harm any of the candidates.

Another weird thing was the man in black appearing to Jack at almost the same time that the smoke monster was chasing Kate and Locke. So, after he scanned Locke, he immediately ran back to the beach and appeared to Jack? How does that make sense?

Oh, and it was funny how the typewriter-type machine that Locke was using at his job sounded exactly like the smoke monster. It actually makes metaphorical sense, too. Locke ultimately meets his match on the island with the smoke monster, and is also troubled by his job in the flashback. Ahh, you clever Lost writers. Always have to throw in an easter egg here and there, don't you?

Score: 8

Best Quote: "Don't tell me what I can't do!" (Not particularly clever, it was just well delivered)

Best Moment: The revelation the Locke was previously in a wheelchair.

WTF Moment: The same moment.

Schedule...Change?

So, when I started this thing I thought I would have ample time to do this, but that's just not turning out to be the case. Over the past few weeks I have failed to post posts on the day that the schedule indicates. When I miss one of them, my schedule gets thrown off entirely because my summer work ethic isn't strong enough to catch up.

Basically, I'm throwing out the schedule for now and I'll post stuff sporadically at least until the summer is over. I'll continue to review shows in the same order, but most likely not on the same days.

Yep, that's all for now. The next post will probably be after the independence day weekend.

B5: Soul Hunter

The episode begins with an unknown ship coming out of the hyperspace vortex and veering out of control towards Babylon 5. This might just be me, but if I was building that station, I would make sure that it's not directly in front of the vortex. You know, so somebody can't just send a bomb through there? Actually, I guess if someone really wanted to destroy the station they could just send an unmanned ship through there, because that will apparently be enough to get the job done.

Sinclair manages to grab the ship before it runs its course, however, and brings the pilot onto the station. While the alien is still in sickbay, the Minbari Ambassador Delenn recognizes him as a "soul hunter." The alien has the ability to sense oncoming death, and he claims that he travels around, capturing the souls of people before they die. It's nice that the show is taking some risks here to transcend other sci-fi series, but it doesn't really seem to fit with what they've already established here. You can't just throw in a spiritual aspect into the early first season of a series without leading up to it and expect the audience to be awed by it. You need to take some steps first in order to convince even the most skeptical viewers that there is a possibility that souls and "life after death" exists.

Neelix's game spread far after Voyager returned home

(You need to be a real ST: Voyager freak to get this one...)

I guess my main point is that it's difficult to introduce such a topic at this early stage in the series; most of the time it just makes the show look silly. The idea behind the soul hunter is somewhat interesting, but they didn't really expand on his motivations and ended up depicting him as a gone-crazy alien who wants to capture souls for some evil reason. He escapes and is about to capture the soul of Delenn, but Sinclair arrives and uses the soul capturer machine on the soul hunter. Oh, the irony.

This episode took a crack at something completely unrelated to the plot, but it ultimately didn't accomplish much. It was better when it focused around how the different aliens on the station were interacting rather than around a cheesy season 1 plot device.

Score: 2

Best Quote: "If that's the case, then we just have to figure out who's going to die."

Best Moment: Soul capturer captures the soul capturer

nuBSG: Miniseries Part 2

This is the second and final part of the miniseries pilot before we get to the actual episodes, but I'm still going to keep this brief because this part of the miniseries pretty much has the same quality of the first part. The plot is just allowed to progress a bit more until we reach a nice position in which the series can begin.

The Cylons continue their attack on the Twelve Colonies, and soon Galactica is the only remaining battlestar. The ship makes an FTL jump to Ragnar to recover. The colony ship bearing Roslin and the Raptor that Baltar has taken refuge in reunite, and they amass a group of about 60 ships, but only 40 of them being FTL-capable. Roslin is forced to leave the sublight ships behind, not having enough time to evacuate the civilians.


The FTL-capable ships meet up with the Galactica at Ragnar, and Baltar goes to work on removing the programs on board their ships that cause them to be susceptible to the Cylon's hacking. However, he is now being haunted by a virtual image of the Cylon "Number Six". Baltar soon discovers that there is a Cylon agent on board, while the fleet is forced to leave Ragnar when the Cylons show up.

This part of the pilot runs much like the previous one, but I can feel the impact of the story increase as the plot thickens. Already we have a few characters being forced to make questionable and cold decisions for the sake of humanity's survival. It's a very cool premise for a show; I can only hope that this idea remains central to the series and that the actors take it up a notch.

Score: 7

Best Quote: "You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things you've created."

Best Moment: Baltar witnessing the Cylons attack Caprica.

TZ: Mr. Denton on Doomsday

As the episode opens, we see that this story will take place in the old west. *Sigh*. Now, don't get me wrong, I try to be open-minded when it comes to episodes and movies set in unique places and locations, but the setting isn't interesting to me at all. Sci-Fi episodes set in the old west can actually be entertaining and worthwhile if done properly, Star Trek: The Next Generation's "A fistful of Datas" comes to mind, but I've never been a huge fan of the wild west genre.

Like I said, if this episode was done well I would not be complaining about this too much, but I really had a tough time caring about the plot. I'll try to keep this brief so I don't sound like I'm droning on about this and getting nowhere. So, a washed-up gunslinger named Al Denton is encountered by Henry J. Fate, who wants to give him another chance. Fate(that's a subtle pun, huh?) offers Denton a potion that he claims will make him the fastest gunslinger in the West for ten seconds.

Denton agrees, and takes a swig of the potion before he is about to face Pete Grant, a young gunslinger. But, he sees that Pete Grant has done the same, and they both shoot each other in the hand. They will both now be unable to fire a gun again, and Denton tells his opponent that they have both been blessed because they will never again be able to fire a gun in aggression.

So, the message is there, but you sort of have to be a fan of the genre in order for the episode to have a resounding impact. The actors are entertaining to watch, but the episode didn't really work for me.

Score: 5

Best Quote: "Because, you see, Fate can work that way...in the Twilight Zone."

Best Moment: Denton and Grant shooting each other in the hand.

Cheesy 60s Moment: There isn't one that particularly sticks out to me.

ST: TOS The Man Trap

The Enterprise arrives at planet M-113 to hand over some medical supplies to Dr. Robert Crater, when McCoy identifies the Doctor's wife as "Nancy", the woman with whom McCoy used to be romantically involved with. Kirk finds this a bit odd, but he doesn't really start to question it until a couple crewmen on the planet are found dead with several hickeys on their heads.

Kirk pays a visit to the props warehouse

Known to the audience, but not known to the crew, Nancy is actually a creature that can take the shape of any being. The reason that it has been attacking the crew members is that it needs salt to survive. It lures men by changing into an appealing woman, catching them with a hypnotic stare, and then sucking the salt out of them. Hence, "the man trap".

In the middle part of the episode, the creature finds its way onto the Enterprise and wanders around, looking for its next victim. It takes the form of various crew members in order to stay under cover, and it's a wonder that the rest of the crew don't put much thought into it's strange behavior. There is some very strange dialogue during this part, such as "go chase an asteroid", "he must have gone Space Happy", and "your own personal Yeoman". Despite this, however, we get an interesting look into how the crew operates on a daily basis and a feel for the unique space-venturing atmosphere of the show.

Insert your own "Sulu is gay" joke here

While McCoy goes back to his quarters and rests, Kirk and Spock hunt down Dr. Crater and question him about death of his crewmen and "Nancy". Dr. Crater tells them all about the creature, but claims that it's only trying to survive. The creature, who has now taken the form of McCoy, also agrees with this viewpoint, but this only leaves Spock suspicious about McCoy. Dr. Crater reveals that the creature and him have developed a sort of symbiotic relationship ever since the creature killed the really Nancy Crater for salt.

But the stress from the lack of salt and the investigation starts to get to the creature, and it kills Dr. Crater. It nearly kills McCoy when Kirk and Spock rush in, having discovered the creature's secret. McCoy is eventually forced to kill the creature to save himself and the rest of the crew.

This episode was not great by any means, but it still had the atmosphere and character interactions that would be prevalent throughout the rest of the series. Most importantly, though, this episode showed how original Star Trek could be when written and acted correctly.

Score: 7

Best Quote: "It needs love as much as it needs salt."

Best Moment: The creature begins to suck the salt out of Kirk, and McCoy is forced to kill it.

Red Shirt Deaths: Still 0, but there could have been at least 4 this time...

LOST: Tabula Rasa

As the title suggests, this episode centers around the idea of tabula rasa, or "clean slate" as it's translated from latin. Now that the Losties are stranded on the island with people that don't know them very well, they all have a chance to start their lives over. This idea will remain central to the show for a while now as we see flashbacks from the points of view of other characters, but the story is focused more around Kate this episode.


As hinted at in the pilot, Jack discovers from the dying US Marshal that Kate is a former criminal. This information starts to leak out to some of the other Losties, most importantly Hurley and Sawyer, but we still don't know what it is that she actually did. Sawyer eventually decides to just put the Marshal out of his misery with his remaining bullet, but he misses the heart and causes the Marshal to have a longer, more painful death. Locke returns Vincent to Walt, and there's some hope that the relationship between Walt and his dad will be sustained.


There weren't many clues in this episode that I could find, but this is expected because it's an early season one episode. One thing that is interesting, however, is the fact that the plane was already far off course before hitting turbulence and crashing on the island. This might suggest that Jacob had something to do with the plane crash, although Desmond is the one who caused the system failure that caused the turbulence. This will definitely be something to think about as I watch further episodes.

Score: 8

Best Quote: "Three days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over."

Best Moment: The camera rotating around Locke's head at the end. It's a nice lead-in to the next episode.

WTF Moment: It's not a very big moment, but the Marshal surviving the gunshot was surprising.

B5: Midnight on the Firing Line

This episode starts off with a really cliché sequence. We see a few Centauri on a station orbiting Ragesh 3. Okay, so I guess all Centauri share that sideways mohawk hairdo. What's up with that thing? Anyway, the conversation sounds something like this:

"Somebody's dropping out of hyperspace!"
"They're attacking us!"
"I know who they are! They're the-"
The station is destroyed.

I know they probably just needed to fulfill the CGI quota for the week, but they could have found a better way of doing it. I'm probably getting too picky, though, so let's get to the rest of the episode.

Londo Mollari analyzes the footage recovered from the attack and discovers that the Narn are behind it. This really brings out the tension between Mollari and G'Kar, and a fight nearly breaks out between the two. Apparently the Centauri once had control over most of the galaxy, to the point where humans almost believed that they were distant cousins of them, but now the Narn want their turn.

"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of hairspray!"

However, at a council meeting, G'Kar presents evidence that the Narn were not behind the attack. He calls up a live feed to Ragesh 3, where a Centauri somewhat reluctantly claims that Ragesh 3 has allied with the Narn in order to receive aid when none was given by Centauri Prime. Mollari refuses to believe this evidence, stating that the whole thing was forced.

Mollari grows more and more upset with G'Kar, and assembles a weapon in secret to kill him. On his way, though, he encounters Talia, who gets a telepathic vision of the intended event. She informs Garabaldi, who stops Mollari and convinces him not to go through with it. Sinclair has received new information about the attack by now, and declares that it was entirely unprovoked. It turns out that the Narn were behind it after all.

"Yeah, he always walks like that..."

This episode was a nice step forward. I didn't see any of the annoying characters that I saw last week, and the plot didn't hesitate to keep moving. It isn't anything special yet, but this episode was more interesting to watch.

Score: 5

Best Quote: "The wheel turns, does it not, Ambassador?"

Best Moment: G'Kar and Sinclair talking in the Zen garden. It just seemed like a good scene.

nuBSG: Miniseries Part 1

Before I get this review going, I should say that I'm completely new to Battlestar Galactica. This just seemed like a nice place to start because I've heard good things about this series. I've gathered a little about the back story from around the internet, but for the most part this should be new and interesting.

The Cylon War has ended over 40 years ago, and humans from the twelve colonies of Kobol have built an Armistice Station in hopes of maintaining peaceful relations with the Cylons. In all the time that the station has been maintained, the Cylons have never sent an ambassador. However, today is different. Two Cylons enter as guards, and a woman walks in and approaches the officer. The officer can only sit in shock as the woman says "It has begun," and the station is destroyed. Wow, what an epic opening. I hope the rest of this show is as exciting as that was.

The apparently famous scientist Gaius Baltar is greeted in his home by a woman who is identical to the one in the armistice station. She reveals that she is a Cylon agent, an android that has used him to access critical facilities and gain information about Caprica. Before Baltar can fully grasp the situation, he sees a nuclear explosion go off in the distance through his windows. Caprica is now under full attack, and the Cylon tells Baltar that there are twelve Cylon models, and that she is number six.

The Galactica is soon informed of the attack, and the crew are completely caught off guard. In a desperate move, they send several Viper fighters out to meet the Cylon Raiders. They barely manage to get rid of the Cylons, but the Galactica is spinning out of control, so Colonel Tigh is forced to decompress sections of the Galactica's flight pod and kill 85 crew
members.

After a Raptor bearing Helo and Boomer from the Galactica makes an emergency landing, they are confronted by a group of survivors that are seeking refuge. They can only take three adults, however, so they have a raffle to decide who goes with them. The last number is 47, which belongs to an elderly woman standing next to Baltar. The elderly woman is allowed to board, and Helo gives up his seat on the Raptor to Baltar, whom he believes is more important.

Because the President and his cabinet have all perished, Secretary Roslin is the only person who can take the position. She is sworn into the position of the President of the Twelve Colonies despite some protests.

There's already some good stuff going on in this portion of the pilot. There's a nice balance between the visual effects and person-to-person shots, and the soundtrack sounds pretty cool too. It has somewhat of an exotic feel to it, and it's more contemporary than what I was expecting. The plot is moving along well, and I like how the Cylons are shrouded in mystery, at least at this point. Still, the acting doesn't really cut it for me yet, which I think brings this pilot down to just a "good" level for now.

Score: 6

I'll do the best quote/moment things after I see the entire miniseries.

TZ: One for the Angels

The episode opens and we get a brief narration on Lew Bookman, the man who is standing on the sidewalk. He is a salesman who is around 60 years old, and it doesn't look like he is having much success. There is another man several feet away from him, taking down a few notes, whom the narrator refers to as "Mr. Death".

As Bookman returns home we see several children waiting by his house, and he appears to have much more success with selling toys to them. I wouldn't be surprised if that was his major source of income because he gets along with them so well. Bookman soon enters his house, only to find Mr. Death sitting there. Mr. Death informs him that he must die at midnight, but Bookman obviously resists. After a few failed attempts, he explains to Mr. Death that he needs to make one last sales pitch, "a pitch for the angels", in order to finish his business on Earth. His thinking is that as long as he is puts off this pitch, he will stay alive.

♪ Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street? ♪

Mr. Death, however, is smarter than that. In retaliation, he switches his target to a girl that Bookman is especially good friends with. He causes a car to run her over, and she is rushed to the hospital. Bookman is not going to let her die at midnight, so he sits at the steps of the hospital, awaiting Mr. Death. When Mr. Death arrives, Bookman tries to distract him by making a few sales pitches, and closes off the deal by selling himself to Mr. Death.

Hello, Bella. Meet Mr. Death

This is one of the only problems I have with this episode: it actually works. Mr. Death is so distracted by these propositions much that he actually forgets about visiting the girl at midnight, and the girl survives. Although Bookman does take her place, which was what Mr. Death aimed for originally, it just doesn't make any sense that Mr. Death would be persuaded by Bookman's pitches. He's Death. How could he possibly miss this deadline?

All grievances aside, the episode is saved by Ed Wynn, who plays Lew Bookman. He plays the part of the bumbling salesman who just wants to escape death especially well, and it's entertaining to watch him to do it. The episode doesn't really have a twist, but it wasn't necessary for what it was trying to do. It would have been far more interesting if the episode had been more like "Masque of the Red Death", in which a man thinks he can escape death but ultimately cannot. This one had the same idea, but the "Mr. Death gets tricked" part ruins the episode for me.

Score: 4

Best Quote: "Depature time is set for midnight, and departure will be midnight."

Best Moment: Mr. Death and Mr. Bookman eerily walk off into the night.

Cheesy 60s Moment: Mr. Death turns to the camera on a dramatic note.

ST:TOS Where No Man Has Gone Before

Here's where the Star Trek episode order starts to get confusing. As I talked about in the last TOS review, The Cage was rejected as a pilot and never initially aired. The second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before(WNMHGB), had a much better reception and was accepted by NBC. However, The Man Trap was actually aired as the first episode and WNMHGB became the third episode. Yeah, I don't get it either.

WNMHGB begins with Kirk and Spock playing a game of three-dimensional chess, and we get some nice opening banter between them. Kirk, however, is too preoccupied with a ship's distress call to have a chance against Spock. The crew recovers a ship recorder in dead space from the SS Valiant, which is supposed to be sent out in the event of an emergency. Soon, they discover that the crew had accessed records on the subject of "ESP" in humans before the captain had initiated a self-destruct.

The Enterprise soon encounters a strange field or barrier of some sort that wreaks havoc on the ship. Consoles explode, light fills the bridge, and the Enterprise is forced to travel on impulse power only. Two crew members who have been identified as having high levels of ESP, Dr. Dehner and Gary Mitchell, are targeted by the light, but they both appear to be unharmed except for some brain damage in specific areas. Here is where I start to disagree with the episode. The whole idea of ESP seems really illogical and foreign to me, mostly because the premise itself doesn't make much sense. Perception without sensation? That doesn't make much sense, but the episode takes it one step further when Spock suggests that people with these abilities could potentially be dangerous. Wait, what? ESP doesn't imply any "dangerous" abilities, it just implies that one can perceive things without actually sensing them.

Well, it turns out Spock was right, as Mitchell begins exhibiting some strange behavior. He increases his reading speed dramatically, and develops the ability to manipulate things entirely with his mind. *Sigh*, okay. From now on I'll just let the ESP stuff go because it is, after all, science fiction. Anyway, Spock calculates that in about a month, Mitchell will have developed to the point where the crew will just seem like mice to him. He urges Kirk that the crew's safety depends on Mitchell being taken out of the picture. Kirk does not want to accept this, partly because he has known Mitchell for so long and partly because he does not want to leave a man behind.

Things take a turn for the worse as Mitchell shocks Spock and Kirk with, I guess you could call it force lightning, and Kirk is forced to sedate him and bring him down to the deserted planet of Delta Vega. Hey, wasn't that the same planet that Kirk was marooned on in latest Star Trek film? Interesting. It's not long before Mitchell breaks free of his cell before the Enterprise can leave, and he takes Dehner with him, who has also been recently endowed with the "powers". The two now god-like people set up their paradise, but Dehner is still uncertain about the power that they now yield and how Mitchell is using it.

Beware the haunted extension cords on Delta Vega

Eventually Kirk arrives and tries to battle Mitchell. He is now impenetrable to phaser blasts, though, and Kirk is powerless against him. Mitchell even creates a grave for Kirk, but his reign ends when Dehner and Mitchell have a lightning battle, ending with Kirk pushing a boulder into the grave into which Mitchell falls. Yes, apparently huge rocks can destroy Gods.

Kirk is caught in a grave situation...

This was a pretty good pilot. Although we didn't necessarily get much back story on the characters, I don't think we needed too. It was a nice opening for the series because we got to see where the show might be headed, and a feel for the episodic nature of it. Mitchell really went where no man has gone before, but on a deeper level, Kirk also did because he was forced to kill his own friend for the sake of the crew.

Score: 6

Best Quote: "Will you try for a moment to feel? At least act like you've got a heart."

Best Moment: The force lightning battle

Red Shirt Deaths: 0, but 3 people did die