Star Trek Masturbatathon

[Happenstance]

I don’t mind bad language being used in Star Trek but it depends on the situation. Where it popped up in this episode wasn’t right at all.

[Hero-of-Time]

I finished the first season of Deep Space Nine last night. Brilliant stuff, especially the latter half of it. Some of the stand out episodes were If Wishes Were Horses (Rumpelstiltskin), Dramatis Personae (virus causes the crew to cause mutiny), Duet (Bajoran's looking for vengeance after what happens in the war) and In The Hands of the Prophets.

Duet was quite a powerful episode that showed an ugly side of war and how the victims sometimes turn out to be worse than those they were fighting against due to the events that happened. Watching the episode I couldn't help but compare the actions that went on in the Bajoran camps with the Holocaust, which I suppose was the whole point. Knowing what happened during World War II I don't think you can watch this episode and not see what they were referencing.

I loved the final episode and the tension that was created by the religious beliefs of one race and how that religion was twisted into something more sinister to fit an agenda. As a religious person myself, I feel there was a lot of messaging in that episode which is very relevant in today's society. Also, IIRC, Vedek Winn is a recurring character and the old biddy constantly causes trouble right until the end. I'm interested to see how she actually gets away with setting up the events that occurred in the final episode of the season because i'm sure ends up as Kai. Maybe they just brush over it?

I'm looking forward to starting season 2 tonight. 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Hero-of-Time

[Happenstance]

I'm surprised you didn't list "Move Along Home" as one of your favourite episodes  

[Happenstance]

Spoiler

Vulcan Starfleet officers and sunglasses do.not.mix!

I don’t trust the drummer from Sex Bob Omb.

 

[Happenstance]

Just rewatching the end of Generations. I’m sure we’ve all said it a thousand times but god dammit Kirk’s death is so crappy. For a character so important to the history of science fiction, television and cinema he deserved so much more. Can you image if they had Picard emerge from the Nexus on the planet and up in space, Kirk’s Enterprise (let’s say refit) emerged triumphantly from the ribbon to take on the space bound threat and sacrifice itself one last time with Kirk on the bridge (not a bridge).

[Hero-of-Time]

On 2/6/2020 at 1:41 PM, Happenstance said:

I'm surprised you didn't list "Move Along Home" as one of your favourite episodes  

I did quite like that episode. It was one of those quirky ones that seems to pop from time to time in a Star Trek series.

20 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Just rewatching the end of Generations. I’m sure we’ve all said it a thousand times but god dammit Kirk’s death is so crappy. For a character so important to the history of science fiction, television and cinema he deserved so much more. Can you image if they had Picard emerge from the Nexus on the planet and up in space, Kirk’s Enterprise (let’s say refit) emerged triumphantly from the ribbon to take on the space bound threat and sacrifice itself one last time with Kirk on the bridge (not a bridge).

I've always felt that as well. I think the whole ending of Generations just feels quite flat. To be fair I hated that the killed him off in the first place and then to do it in the manner in which they did was even worse.

My journey through Deep Space Nine continues on. The first 3 episodes of the second series were great. The conflict inside the Bajoran government and the corruption that was going on was interesting to watch. As expected, the whole Winn trying to assassinate another soon to be Kai from the first season did get glossed over/forgot about. By rights she should have been arrested. The whole Minister Jaro investigation seems to have been dropped as well. I'm only a couple episodes of when this happened so we'll see if it crops up again at some point. 

Invasive procedures was a good episode and I was chuffed to see John Glover make an appearance as a Trill. He'll always be Lionel Luther to me but he played a great part in this episode.

The episode following this was an interesting one. It focused on the Cardassian children who were left behind after the occupation of Bajor. Once again it was an episode that dealt with serious issues like what happens to children during times of war and the influence a parent has on the upbringing of a child. I was happy to see Garak finally make another appearance and hopefully he will start sticking around a lot more. His smile when he was standing behind Dukat as all the evidence was being aimed towards him was amazing.  I'm still not sure if I agreed with Sisko's decision. Sure, the Cardassian was the kids father but I imagine he would have had a better upbringing on Bajor.

The last episode I watched was the weakest of the bunch. It involved a Starfleet officer coming aboard the station and trying to adjust to the gravity. The side story of Quark being targeted for death was a far more interesting and entertaining story. The Klingon restaurant and it's owner did get a laugh out of me though. 

EDIT: I've still not watched the latest episode of Picard. I'm going to wait for a few episodes to build up before I start it again.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Hero-of-Time

[Happenstance]

16 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I did quite like that episode. It was one of those quirky ones that seems to pop from time to time in a Star Trek series.

You might be the only one then, it’s generally thought of as one of the worst episodes in all of Trek 😆

17 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

EDIT: I've still not watched the latest episode of Picard. I'm going to wait for a few episodes to build up before I start it again.

One thing I will say is that the first 3 episodes of Picard are basically the pilot so it might be worth watching the 3rd and then letting some build up.

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

You might be the only one then, it’s generally thought of as one of the worst episodes in all of Trek 😆

I will say that some of the acting in that episode is hilarious, especially when they are all choking and need to take a drink to recover. 

[Ronnie]

I never had a problem with Kirk’s death, not everything needs to be EPIC. He sacrificed himself to save a planet full of people. Not a bad way to go. 

Great film too, I loved the Enterprise-B intro and the Bird of Prey v D space battle. The latter shows how a proper space battle should be filmed. Not that nonsense Nemesis or anything from Discovery. And much as I loved Rise of Skywalker, Abrams PLEASE take note how to do vehicle combat.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Ronnie

[Hero-of-Time]

The Dominion have finally been mentioned...

 

[Happenstance]

Bought the new Star Trek Picard book last night. Interested to get some extra backstory on the Romulan disaster etc along with at least a bit of info on what happened to the Enterprise E.

I thought episode 4 of Picard was another good one. I kind of just wish the entire series had dropped at once. I initially defended weekly releases as it worked fine for Discovery but Picard’s pacing has felt off and I think it would work a lot better if it was flowing from one episode to another.

[Hero-of-Time]

I've nearly finished season 2 of Deep Space Nine, with only 5 episodes left to watch. I think the season started strong, dips in the middle and then returns to form as the season progresses. Armageddon Game, Whispers (loved this one), Paradise, Shadowplay and Blood Oath were all fantastic episodes, even if the fight scenes in Blood Oath were pretty rough. 

I completely forgot the birth of the Maquis was in Deep Space Nine. Both of these episodes were a good watch and was happy to see Dukat play a larger role in this storyline. There was a back and forth between him and Sisko that got a good chuckle out of me.

Commander Sisko : I believe her.
Gul Dukat : Why? Because Vulcans don't lie?
Commander Sisko : As a rule, they don't.
Gul Dukat : They don't blow up ships either....as a rule.

Brilliant. His delivery was perfect.  

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Hero-of-Time

[Happenstance]

Looking back at it after all these years you see how the build up to the Maquis was done quite well through episodes of TNG with O’Brian’s old commander attacking Cardassian ships along with O’Brians own obvious prejudices and the settlers being relocated which turned Wesley into Super Wesley.

[Hero-of-Time]

I finished season 2 of Deep Space Nine last night. This series continues to be fantastic.

The episodes The Wire, Tribunal and Crossover were great viewing, the latter being a nice way to give a nod to the original series. Kira's final line about being through the looking glass gave me a smile. The Wire was an interesting look at Garak and i'm still not sure if any of the stories he told Bashir were actually true.  The Jem'Hadar have now emerged and i'd forgotten just how much of a superpower they were, as well as how cool their fighter ships are. I can't wait for it all to start kicking off now that they've been established.

I watched the first episode of season 3 and was happy to see the arrival of the Defiant. I adore that little ship.  For some reason I thought that didn't make an appearance until later on.

Once again, i'm looking forward to continuing on with the series.

[Hero-of-Time]

I'm over halfway through the 3rd season now. Still loving it.

There have been some great scenes/episodes so far. Civil Defense was a good one and I got a good laugh when Dukat arrived on board. Him laughing at Garak hiding behind the console was hilarious, as was Garak telling him off for hitting on Kira when everyone's life was at stake. Defiant was another good one. I didn't realise that the "tough little ship" line came from this episode. Clearly Riker using it in First Contact was a call back to this. 

Merdian was probably the weakest episode so far. I din't really care the whole Dax love story/disappearing planet thing. The whole episode dragged on and never really amounted to anything.

The highlight so far has been both parts of Past Tense. Absolutely brilliant episodes and ones that are VERY accurate about what is happening in today's society. It's freaky that the episodes are set in 2024 and what they show isn't that far off from the here and now. Not enough jobs to go around, over crowding/over population, the sick and the weak being left to fend for themselves, fake news hiding true facts, the poor getting poorer  while the richer and getting richer. It's pretty scary how spot on they got with these episodes and also pretty sad.  

There's a fantastic quote by Bashir in this episode which sums up how I feel about what goes on today.

Quote

Causing people to suffer because you hate them... is terrible. But causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care... that's really hard to understand.

I think that's half the problem with the world today. People have simply forgotten how to care about one another.

[Hero-of-Time]

Season 3 is now over and then went straight on to season 4 and watched both parts of The Way of the Warrior before calling it a night.

I thought the finale of season 3 was very weak when compared to the previous two. Sure, it was setting up the Founders arrival in the alpha quadrant and also placing the seeds of mistrust, something seen straight away in the opening of season 4, but it still felt pretty flat to me.

I was fuming during the episode Life Support. Man, I hate Kai Winn, I really do. Bitch just gets on my nerves and I wish someone would put her in her place. She essentially killed Bareil and then took all the credit for the peace talks. She annoyed me again during the episode Shakaar, again for most of the same reasons. I've got to give credit to the writers because they did a cracking job of making a character really unlikable/a villain.

I enjoyed a couple of the Quark episodes that were in this season. Both Prophet Motive and Family Business were outstanding. Seeing the Grand Nagus acting all nice and rewriting the rules of acquisition so that they were about peace and kindness was hilarious, as were some of Quarks reactions to it all. The whole mother being naked is such a weird thing in Ferengi society. It was really off putting having Rom stand there saying he wanted his own mother to remove her cloths so he felt more comfortable.  

Other notable episodes were Visionary (O'Brien keeps skipping through time), Distant Voices (Julian is in a coma and fighting his own mind) and Through the Looking Glass (Sisko returns to the mirror Universe to help the rebellion). All great episodes that had me gripped. It is a bit weird that O'Brien isn't actually the same one. Sure, there's only a few hours difference between them both but still.

Explorers was a weak episode. It mainly feature Sisko and Jake just sailing through space on an old Bajoran ship that they had built. It wasn't that interesting and the episode kinda dragged on.

Facets was a hilarious episode, mainly due to Curzon Dax showing up, merging with Odo and then just going about drinking and gambling. His banter with Quark and the kiss on his head had me in stitches.I was a bit freaked out though when he confessed his love to Dax. I mean, how old was she when she became a host and how old was Curzon? Sisko always called him old man so I imagine the age difference would have been quite sizable.

I was surprised that Sisko started growing his beard in this season. I honestly thought that the beard and bald head all arrived at the start of the fourth season. Clearly I was wrong.

I LOVED both parts of The Way of the Warrior. It was a hell of a way to start a season off and it's here where things really start to kick off with the show, IIRC. Strangely I remember a few scenes from these episodes, despite me not seeing them since the original showing back in the 90's. I remembered the whole conversation between Quark and Garak about the Federation and how they compare it to root beer. I also remembered the scene where Worf gets drunk with the older Klingon and ask about what the empire is doing at DS9. I think this was mainly due to Sky using that scene to promote the new series. I remember the advert was that scene, with both of them being drunk, singing in Klingon but then Sky had added their own subtitles as if the Klingons were telling people not to miss the new series. Funny what the mind remembers.  

 

[Happenstance]

Just finished the Star Trek Picard book. I really enjoyed it. Thought it did a good job explaining the problems they faced evacuating all the Romulans and why the mission ended. It even did a good job subtly showing the change Picard was going through over the years, becoming a lot more consumed by this mission. It's a shame more of this information hasn't been included in the series as I think it gives good background on everything that happened and fleshes it out quite a bit.

[Hero-of-Time]

3 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

Just finished the Star Trek Picard book. I really enjoyed it. Thought it did a good job explaining the problems they faced evacuating all the Romulans and why the mission ended. It even did a good job subtly showing the change Picard was going through over the years, becoming a lot more consumed by this mission. It's a shame more of this information hasn't been included in the series as I think it gives good background on everything that happened and fleshes it out quite a bit.

Interesting. I may pick it up if it adds something extra to the series.

[Happenstance]

I'm moving onto a Voyager relaunch book next. They've all been sitting on my Kindle for far too long.

[Hero-of-Time]

Been a while since I updated about what i've been watching and figured i'd do so now. I'm now halfway through the 5th season and it's just been getting better and better.

• Rejoined - How in the hell did I not remember this episodes? Dax in a quick lesbian scene...good viewing.  
• Little Green Men - This was a great episode and one that I actually remember watching on Sky back in the day. It was pretty clever to make the Roswell incident part of the Star Trek universe.
• Our Man Bashir - I enjoyed this James Bond type episode. I usually love the holodeck episodes that occur in every series of Star Trek and this was no different. Although Kira's Russian accent was a little rough. Still better than Avery Brook's standard acting though. 
• Homefront and Paradise Lost - These were good episodes that highlighted the paranoia that can occur in war. Sisko's relationship with is father and trying to get him to take the blood test was an interesting watch. I'm sure the guy who played his father was in Star Trek VI.
• Sons of Mogh - This was a pretty sad episode. Worf's relationshp with his family has always been a complicated one and this was no different. Having to balance his duties with Star Fleet and keeping his Klingon traditions alive was causes contention and the way that the problem was sorted was pretty brutal. Poor guy had to give up his family member in order to satisfy both duties.  
• Bar Association - This episode was great, mainly because it was the turning point for Rom's character. For too long he lived in the shadow of his brother and it this episode was the one that gave his character a boost and showed the smart side of him. 
• Rules of Engagement - Fantastic episode. I love a good legal battle movie/episode and this was delivered. The way it was shot/directed was great, with each character giving their testimony as if they were giving it at the time of the incident.
• Shattered Mirror - Once again, another episode from the Mirror Universe. This episode confirmed that Sisko did indeed bed the MU Dax the last time he was over there. Randy SOB.
• For The Cause - This was a really weird episode. Garak being interested in Gul Dukats daughter was a little creepy. I had to Google the whole thing to see what the deal was with it and apparently the writers weren't happy that Bashir and Garak were being classed as gay due to their close relationship. This episode was to squash those rumours. Still, really weird way to go about it.
• The Quickening - This was a rough episode to watch given the situation with the virus spreading across the world. This is another episode I remember watching back in the day. As soon as I seen the pregnant woman I instantly remembered how it all ended.
• Broken Link - The episode was a pretty weak season finale. t didn't really all come together until the last minute of the episode. Still, the cliffhanger was a good one and I was glad I was able to crack on with the nest episode to see how things played out.
• Apocalypse Rising - This was a fantastic start to the series. Seeing some of the crew was hilarious and I think Brook's acting skills are served better as a Klingon rather than a human. I remember that Martok was the traitor purely because I remember the real one only having one eye.
• The Assignment - The Pah Wraiths finally made an appearance. IIRC, these things play a major role in the story line later down the line.
• Trails and Tribble-ations - One of my favourite episodes from any Trek series and I enjoyed watching it again. The scene about how the Klingons look completely different always cracks me up. Actually, has it ever been explain in any Trek media just what happened to them to make them look like the way they do now?
• Things Past - It was great to see what the station was like during the occupation. It was also an interesting look at what Odo was like before he started actually looking for justice and doing his job properly.
• For The Uniform - Fantastic episode. Sisko going all in to try and stop the Maquis and Eddington. I loved the fact that Les Mis was brought up in this episode. Sisko being compared with Jarvet was such a fitting comparison.
• In Purgatory's Shadow and By Inferno's Light - Another excellent two parter. Worf and Garak being captured by the Dominion, Martok showing up, Bashir turning out to be a changling, Worf battling the Jem' hadar in the arena, Garak's revelation about his father, Dukat and the Cardassian empire betraying the Federation, the Romulans showing up to defend the station...brilliant stuff. There was so much going on and the episodes went at a blistering pace. Loved them.
• Doctor Bashir, I Presume - I completely forgot that The Doctor featured in this episode. I love that character and seeing him, or rather his creator, was great. Leeta also featured heavily in this episode which is always welcome.  I HATE how they done this to Julian's character. It was such an unnecessary change and one that never sat right with me. After watching it I searched the net to see just why they done it. Apparently they wanted the series to have a character like Data. Also, they weren't happy that Julian wasn't really a mans man and this would change that. Alexander Siddig hated this change and in fact never even knew about it until a few days before shooting. He disliked it so much that he open stated that he sabotaged any lines that made him sound like Data/robot. He said he would just fluff the lines and give them no real effort. 

The arrival of Worf to the series was such a good move. He really brings something to the show and there have been so many funny moments involving him due to the delivery of his lines and his dry sense of humour. 

[Happenstance]

14 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Actually, has it ever been explain in any Trek media just what happened to them to make them look like the way they do now?

Yeah Enterprise covered it. It was the Klingons trying to recreate the augment genetics that created Khan, got turned into a virus somehow and then turned the Klingons more human looking. It ended with them saying within a few generations they’d regain their Klingon features. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Just finished the finale of season 5. Brilliant stuff. I wonder what the budget was for this episode. The battle for DS9 was quite lengthy and featured a lot of special effects, what with all of the ships attacking and stuff getting blown up left and right. I loved that Sisko left his baseball as a warning for Dukat. I loved it even more when the Defiant and Martok joined the MASSIVE armada of Federation and Klingon ships. Very hype moment. 

It's great to see Weyoun making more appearances now. I always liked his character. 

*starts season 6*

[Ronnie]

Back when people knew how to make compelling space battles.

Apart from Rogue One I can't remember the last amazing scifi space battle I've seen in ages.

[Happenstance]

 

[Hero-of-Time]

I finished Deep Space Nine over the weekend. Absolutely brilliant stuff. The final 10 episodes is some of the best TV i've watched in a while. I loved that these episodes were essentially one massive finale but split into 10 parts. There's so much to unpack in the final season. The Breen joining the Dominion, the Defiant getting blown up ( I was gobsmacked when this happened because I completely forgot about it ), the rise of Dumar, the turning of the tide thanks to the Cardassins, the Cardassian revolution being led by Kira, Starfleet being in bed with Section 31, Dukat going completely off the deep end, Sisko being born of the prophets, the siege of AR-558, Worf killing Gowron...it was just non stop and I loved it.

When I was younger I often thought that DS9 was one of the weaker shows but after watching it all again these past few months I'd say I enjoyed it more than TSG. It's still not as good as Voyager but it's certainly in second place now.

With that done and dusted I started watching the Picard again. I'm halfway through the series and i'm still not sure if I like it or not. Don't get me wrong, I love the nods to the older series that keep popping up ( loving that Hugh showed up ) but the general tone of the series is not what i've come to expect from Star Trek. The whole thing just seems quite dark and moody. Also, I HATED the scene at the start of the 5th episode where the implants were getting removed. I hate seeing that kind of stuff where people are tied down and being tortured and I found that whole scene very unsettling. Again, not what I want from Star Trek. I'm still interested in how the story turns out but, like Discovery, it's just not recapturing that Star Trek feel for me. It did at the start but with each episode that I watch that feeling is slowly going away.