April 2012
11 posts
7 tags
122. [TOS] The Alternative Factor
SCORE: (1/5 stars)
In pretty much the worst clusterfuck of the season, outside forces conspire to make an absolutely terrible episode of an already lackluster script. The Enterprise is in orbit around a planet when all of a sudden, reality begins to blink out of existence. It’s over as quickly as it begun, but readings from the ship combined with Starfleet headquarters data suggest that it...
7 tags
121. [TOS] Arena
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
Beaming down to Cestus III, where the hospitality of Commodore Travers is legendary, Kirk and party are instead treated to the aftermath of a war zone. The inviting transmissions they’d received were apparently spoofed by the attackers, about which they know nothing, but it looks like they haven’t left, as the smoldering ruins of the colony begin getting shelled...
7 tags
120. [TOS] The Squire of Gothos
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
En route to someplace not relevant, the Enterprise encounters a planet in a previously surveyed area of space that was unaccounted for. Since the plot that doesn’t take place calls for them to not tarry, they decide to just make some cursory scans and continue on their way, when Kirk and Sulu are whisked away, vanishing right from the bridge. Spock sends an away team...
7 tags
119. [TOS] Shore Leave
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
Kirk’s not had a break in a while, and it’s beginning to affect his performance. He won’t hear of it, of course, even when they’re in orbit over an idyllic planet and the whole crew is preparing for shore leave trips. Spock pulls a page from the Biblical prophet Nathan and tricks Kirk into ordering his own shore leave, so down he goes, only to learn...
1 tag
We'll be back after these messages
Due to personal issues, I will be taking a week’s break from doing reviews. We’ll be back on April 22nd. Live long and prosper.
7 tags
118. [TOS] The Menagerie – SHORT REVIEW EDITION
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
[While “The Menagerie” is a two-part episode, it makes heavy use of footage from the original pilot, “The Cage,” and so will be reviewed as a single episode. In addition, as I’ve already reviewed “The Cage,” this will be entirely based on the episode itself and not the plot of the pilot.]
We return to Starbase 11, presumably some months after Kirk’s court...
7 tags
117. [TOS] Court Martial – SHORT REVIEW EDITION
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
The Enterprise is visiting Starbase 11 after suffering damage from an ion storm that left one crewman, records officer Lieutenant Commander Ben Finney, dead. While undergoing repairs, Kirk writes a sworn deposition regarding the incident, but after the daughter of the officer accuses him of murdering her father, and Spock delivers computer data that conflicts with Kirk’s...
7 tags
116. [TOS] Miri – SHORT REVIEW EDITION
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
In accordance with Hodgkin’s Law of Parallel Planetary Development (also known as the Producer’s Law of Not Spending Money We Don’t Have), the Enterprise finds a very familiar planet. Its atmosphere, mass, shape, and terrain all seem to match, shoreline for shoreline, our good old planet Earth. In fact, up to about 300 years ago, the planet seemed to have an...
7 tags
115. [TOS] The Galileo Seven – SHORT REVIEW...
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
Kirk’s dealing with a stuffy bureaucrat who insists on micromanaging every aspect of Kirk’s mission and pulls rank at every opportunity, when they encounter a quasar-like object and Kirk diverts from their vitally important mission of bringing space vaccines to a space planet that has space AIDS. He launches a shuttle to investigate (while Sulu grumbles that they...
7 tags
114. [TOS] The Conscience of the King – SHORT...
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
In an episode that thinks far more highly of itself than it ought, riddled with plot holes for the sake of Shakespearean homage, Kirk is forced to face a demon of his past. Lured three light years off course by an old friend for what he claimed was a new synthetic food, but was just a ruse so Kirk could see an acting troupe, lead by a man named Anton Karidian. Kirk’s...
4 tags
93. [MOV] Galaxy Quest
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Well, that’s just great. Episode 92 ends with a cliffhanger as Taggart orders the use of the Omega-13… and we have to wait 18 years for a resolution that doesn’t actually come, because when Galaxy Quest finally gets a chance to make a movie, they decide to go all meta and make it a mockumentary about the cast. It kicks off at GalaxyCon 18, where the cast are...
