You know on any given day I could watch literally any slice of Star Trek? I even love the stinkers somehow.
Defend an awful Trek episode
- Thread starter Oddish
- Start date
Let's have some fun with... Fair Haven.
1. Harry finally manages to not look like a muffinhead (don't worry, Harry detractors, "Spirit Folk" will compensate. Mooooooo).
2. The Doc is great fun as the village priest.
3. It's an intriguing exploration of Captain Janeway, in a position where she has to deal with balancing her position as a captain with her own neglected (by necessity) emotional needs. The saying "no man is an island" is true, and it applies to women and captains as well.
1. Harry finally manages to not look like a muffinhead (don't worry, Harry detractors, "Spirit Folk" will compensate. Mooooooo).
2. The Doc is great fun as the village priest.
3. It's an intriguing exploration of Captain Janeway, in a position where she has to deal with balancing her position as a captain with her own neglected (by necessity) emotional needs. The saying "no man is an island" is true, and it applies to women and captains as well.
(Some) resident firebrand (who absolutely wasn't@Oddish) described an Enterprise episode the other day as "Archer hangs out with Bin Laden" and I can't help thinking that Desert Crossing was the episode being described?
I loved it. The whole 'prime directive' thing was explored well in conversation between Hoshi and T'Pol, we saw a weird desert sport, the cinematography was great and it had Clancy Brown in it.
Another one that I'm not sure if people hate or not is TNG: The Royale. It's a bit hokey and cheap in places and it's a pity (in a sense) that somebody cracked Fermat's Last Theorem, plus Data is acting his weird S1-2 self, but I was entertained and I thought it had a great concept in it's heart.
I loved it. The whole 'prime directive' thing was explored well in conversation between Hoshi and T'Pol, we saw a weird desert sport, the cinematography was great and it had Clancy Brown in it.
Another one that I'm not sure if people hate or not is TNG: The Royale. It's a bit hokey and cheap in places and it's a pity (in a sense) that somebody cracked Fermat's Last Theorem, plus Data is acting his weird S1-2 self, but I was entertained and I thought it had a great concept in it's heart.
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Except that wasn't me; it was someone else. I'm controversial, but not that controversial.
Sorry! I'll edit accordingly...
"Great" if you like nightmare-fodder, I suppose. "Great" if you like problems that can only be solved by killing the last (apparently homicidally crazy) survivor of an apparently sentient, apparently civilized, species. "Great" in the sense of MAGA. I rest my case about everybody and his dog already defending "The Man Trap."
And I don't see anything the slightest bit wrong with "Move Along Home." It was, as I recall, one of the last DS9 episodes before The Dominion began to dominate.
“Great” if you see it as a bit of period genre fiction? It’s just that. TOS is dodgy in all kinds of ways and we could spend a lifetime tearing strips off of it. It’s a product of it’s time. I’m sure they didn’t think the whole ‘genocide’ thing through. They just wanted to do a vampire story.
I don’t see what MAGA has to do with it, but your bee, your bonnet I guess.
So yeah, I think it’s great. If you don’t, that’s also great? I don’t get the aggression.
Does it really matter if the Salt Vampire was the last of their kind (which, btw it wasn't, they showed up in the 24th century)? It was killing people so they stopped it.
Killing a single individual isn't suddenly "genocide" because they are supposedly the last of their kind...
Killing a single individual isn't suddenly "genocide" because they are supposedly the last of their kind...
Assignment Earth has a great cast, but most backdoor pilots tend not to get picked up and throwing in series characters to bridge the official show and the intended spinoff usually does them a disservice too, generally with bad dialogue that even upends the episode - such as how Assignment Earth's does.
The Way to Eden may have been crammed with too much, with none of the elements given enough time to shine. It's saying rather a lot about society at a high level, the hippie movement, genuine participants and others faking it, there's a great song, and the irony - despite being not very surprising - pretty much reminds us that "the grass is always greener on the other side, until you try to smoke it."
Move Along Home is the first Trek episode to give Ferengi some depth and be more than a cliche. (And if they were to remain a cliche then they needed more actors like Ethan Phillips to inject some actual menace that goes above and beyond the script shtick.)
Ethics at least tries to discuss a sensitive issue about medical procedures versus relative urgency. It flops badly, due solely to forcing one side with the most contrived means, but the guest doctor's side could have been handled a lot worse.
Look past some vulgar sexist moments/dialogue and the lamest plot setup ever for Scotty, and Wolf in the Fold has some genuinely effective moments thanks to good acting by those possessed.
Turnabout Intruder has excellent acting, especially by Sandra Smith and William Shatner. I wish the story made up its mind as to what it wanted to say before filming, was it the claim that women couldn't be captains (fully disproven by 1986's ST4TVH, but the social commentary attempted had more to do with network censorship or "standards" at the time and Gene gave up with any subtlety), or that Janice was legitimately insane and was wrongly scapegoating Kirk for everything as he was the only, effective representative of the Federation available at the time.
Spock's Brain has everyone acting it earnestly - had they camped it up like Batman, the show would have shattered.
Plato's Stepchildren just about works if you roll with the high concept as to how the Platonians developed their brainadope powers and used it to torture others. Alexander already made the story, but all the actors playing it sincerely didn't hurt it. Still, the episode also gives a feel of "how long until the show is axed?"
The Way to Eden may have been crammed with too much, with none of the elements given enough time to shine. It's saying rather a lot about society at a high level, the hippie movement, genuine participants and others faking it, there's a great song, and the irony - despite being not very surprising - pretty much reminds us that "the grass is always greener on the other side, until you try to smoke it."
Move Along Home is the first Trek episode to give Ferengi some depth and be more than a cliche. (And if they were to remain a cliche then they needed more actors like Ethan Phillips to inject some actual menace that goes above and beyond the script shtick.)
Ethics at least tries to discuss a sensitive issue about medical procedures versus relative urgency. It flops badly, due solely to forcing one side with the most contrived means, but the guest doctor's side could have been handled a lot worse.
Look past some vulgar sexist moments/dialogue and the lamest plot setup ever for Scotty, and Wolf in the Fold has some genuinely effective moments thanks to good acting by those possessed.
Turnabout Intruder has excellent acting, especially by Sandra Smith and William Shatner. I wish the story made up its mind as to what it wanted to say before filming, was it the claim that women couldn't be captains (fully disproven by 1986's ST4TVH, but the social commentary attempted had more to do with network censorship or "standards" at the time and Gene gave up with any subtlety), or that Janice was legitimately insane and was wrongly scapegoating Kirk for everything as he was the only, effective representative of the Federation available at the time.
Spock's Brain has everyone acting it earnestly - had they camped it up like Batman, the show would have shattered.
Plato's Stepchildren just about works if you roll with the high concept as to how the Platonians developed their brainadope powers and used it to torture others. Alexander already made the story, but all the actors playing it sincerely didn't hurt it. Still, the episode also gives a feel of "how long until the show is axed?"
That show needed to be released on DVD or blu-ray. I recall a few excellent scripts and Jeri more often stole the show with her acting.
When the Bough Breaks...
1. It presents a very important message on the importance of caring for your planet, and things like ozone layers.
2. It actually uses Wesley as a smart and resourceful kid, instead of a prodigy genius who saves the ship three times a week.
3. If you like the typical TOS episode format of "Enterprise barges into a society that's very different from the Federation and imposes Federation norms on it", you'll like this.
4. Uhhh... I don't know... Picard gets a stuffed Tribble stuck to his back?
1. It presents a very important message on the importance of caring for your planet, and things like ozone layers.
2. It actually uses Wesley as a smart and resourceful kid, instead of a prodigy genius who saves the ship three times a week.
3. If you like the typical TOS episode format of "Enterprise barges into a society that's very different from the Federation and imposes Federation norms on it", you'll like this.
4. Uhhh... I don't know... Picard gets a stuffed Tribble stuck to his back?
I lost track of that show. But I recall enjoying it.
Absolutely one of my favorites. I've seen it at least two dozen times.
It was the 9th episode of Season One, long before the Dominion stuff started - could you be thinking of a different episode?
And once the Dominion stuff did start, it immediately dominated. I rest my case.
I prefer "The Devil in the Dark." Where it turns out that (1) WE were the real monsters, and didn't even know it, and (2) we communicated with the Mother Horta, and peace ensued.
(And if memory serves correctly, "The Devil in the Dark" was the very first ST episode I saw all the way through, having seen the end of "A Taste of Armageddon" and the beginning of "Space Seed.")
Pre home video days?
I recall reading old reviews circa 1966 that were lukewarm if not tepid over the series' hand-picked premiere, which proves that long before the 2000s TV networks would air new shows out of order or with some arbitrary mindset out of cliche beliefs. Even more so since 1966 adverts of Star Trek sell the series as "adult sci-fi" yet it's got all that nerdy talky stuff but no full frontal nudity and rabid violence stuff...
https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/star-trek-anniversary-favorite-episodes-50-years-1201853965/
Which is amusing, since NBC was parading "The Man Trap" because it was full of ACTION and ADVENTURE and BIG SCARY MONSTER FOR THE KIDDIEZ!! In reality, it's rather a lot more, even by 1966 standards, and it missed the point of many critics... it's not the greatest episode (but not the worst by any measure either) but it is one of many TOS episodes that has to get a plot rolling by bypassing the most obvious workarounds that would otherwise prevent the episode from occurring... just give them the salt and, voila: No set of mysterious murders. "Friday's Child" is another overall-good story with topical themes told allegorically, which also spends too much time setting up the Capellans to demonstrate a fragile and tense situation... so what does James T Dumbell do? Brings down the rookiest security guard imaginable, who promptly spazzes and gets killed, with then Kirk openly admits he knew he was young and inexperienced -- as if that's going to help matters because the briefing room scene told the landing party (and audience by direct extension) about this society's notion that the weak and feeble don't deserve to live. Get past that teensy issue and there's rather some good plot meat and compelling scenes, and big hair on some men who rock it well too, but the setup is typical of the usual TOS style of "get into plot with as much dumbfoolery possible" that often boggles the mind.
(Proof that it was sold as adult sci-fi... the kids wouldn't care about any of the nuances, parents would be lucky if the kid looked at the monsters and counted the number of suckers on its body - if that... usually kids would cheer the monster on every time it killed someone... and this is 20 years before Gen-X's cynicism took off...)
Strip syndication. Mid-1970s.
If you wanted to videotape a television show back then, you needed an EIAJ-1 1/2" open-reel VTR (probably black-and-white only), such as a Sony AV-3650, and either a standalone tuner or more likely a combination receiver/monitor, which you would have to hook up to the machine (easiest using an 8-prong cable, which provides 2-way audio and video in a single cable).
Not long after that, Sony introduced the very first videocassette format: 3/4" U-Matic. One hour maximum capacity on a cassette the size of a thick hardcover novel. Which was used in a broadcast-quality version (3/4 SP) right up until the end of the standard-definition era (although Betacam SP had mostly displaced it by then, with 30 minutes on a "Type-S" cassette, the size of a Betamax cassette, or up to 90 minutes on a "Type-L" cassette that was about the size of a 3/4" cassette).
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