Topic: Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews

[Tom]

DS9 4.20 Shattered Mirror
Writer: Ira Steven Behr (Writer), Hans Beimler (Writer)
Director: James L. Conway
Cast: Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Michael Dorn (Lt. Commander Worf), Terry Farrell (Lt. Commander Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Alexander Siddig (Doctor Bashir), Nana Visitor (Major Kira), Felecia M. Bell (Jennifer), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Carlos Carrasco (Klingon Officer), Andrew Robinson (Garak), James Black (Helmsman), Dennis Madalone (Guard)

In this episode, Jake meets the mirror Jennifer Sisko (his mother). Though this is a nice idea and has a good payoff, they focused too much on this storyline for my taste. Still the episode was fun to watch. Though it is strange, how the rebels could build a perfect replica of the Defiant in such a short time. It is also sad to see mirror-Garak degraded to being the labdog of mirror-Worf.

Rating:

[Tom]

DS9 6.08 Resurrection
Writer: Michael Taylor (Writer)
Director: LeVar Burton
Cast: Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Michael Dorn (Lt. Commander Worf), Terry Farrell (Lt. Commander Dax), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Alexander Siddig (Doctor Bashir), Nana Visitor (Major Kira), John Towey (Vedek Ossan), Philip Anglim (Bareil), Scott Strozier (Security Guard)

This time around, two characters from the mirror universe come to DS9. Mirror-Bareil and mirror-Kira. I never found the character of Bareil very interesting which made this episode rather dull.

Rating:

[Tom]

DS9 7.12 The Emperor's New Cloak
Writer: Ira Steven Behr (Writer), Hans Beimler (Writer)
Director: LeVar Burton
Cast: Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Nicole DeBoer (Lieutenant Ezri Dax), Michael Dorn (Lt. Commander Worf), Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko), Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien), Armin Shimerman (Quark), Alexander Siddig (Doctor Bashir), Nana Visitor (Colonel Kira), Andrew J. Robinson (Garak), Jeffrey Combs (Brunt), Max Grodénchik (Rom), J. G. Hertzler (Martok), Tiny Ron (Maihar'du), Chase Masterson (Leeta), Wallace Shawn (Zek), Peter C. Antoniou (Helmsman)

Usually I do not mind Ferengi episodes that much. There are some that I really enjoyed (like "Bar Associations" from season 4). But sadly here it is mixed with a mirror universe episodes, which also is the last mirror episode of this series. I would have liked to have a proper solution to this storyline instead of having it made into a comedy episode.
Besides this, it is an enjoyful episode.

Rating:

[Tom]

TOS 3.09 The Tholian Web
Writer: Judy Burns (Writer), Chet Richards (Writer), Gene Roddenberry (Original Characters By)
Director: Herb Wallerstein
Cast: William Shatner (Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), James Doohan (Scott), George Takei (Sulu), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Sean Morgan (Lt. O'Neil)

Originally not a mirror universe episode. It was just mentioned that the Defiant (a ship that went missing and the Enterprise was searching for) is phasing in and out between alternated universes.
It is revealed in an episode of the prequel series "Enterprise", that the other universe was the mirror universe.
No matter what, this is still a great episode. Captain Kirk is presumed dead and McCoy and Spock have to learn to work together without Kirk being there to balance them out.

Rating:

[Tom]

ENT 4.18 In A Mirror, Darkly
Cast: Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer), John Billingsley (Phlox), Jolene Blalock (T'Pol), Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Charles "Trip" Tucker III), Vaughn Armstrong (Captain Maxwell Forrest), Franc Ross (Grizzled Human)

In the fourth season of Enterprise they finally understood what potential making a prequel series has.
This episode completely plays out in the mirror universe. We see the mirror universe twist of the first contact of Cochrane with the vulcans (with footage from the movie ST: First Contact). And we see the mirror universe version of Archer's crew which is similar badass as Kirk's mirror universe crew. And a great idea to combine the story about the missing Defiant from the "Tholian Web" episode of the original series with the mirror universe. They even changed the opening credits for this two-parter.

Rating:

[Tom]

ENT 4.19 In A Mirror, Darkly, Part II
Cast: Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer), John Billingsley (Phlox), Jolene Blalock (T'Pol), Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed), Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather), Linda Park (Hoshi Sato), Connor Trinneer (Charles "Trip" Tucker III), Gary Graham (Soval), Gregory Itzin (Admiral Black), John Mahon), Derek Magyar (Kelby), Pat Healy (Alien), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice), David Sobolov (Slar)

In this second part, Archer has taken control of the Defiant (which is of the same starship class as the original Enterprise). So we get to see his crew onboard a ship which is very similar to the old Enterprise. They even wear the appropriate uniforms.
This episode is a good conclusion to the two-parter.

Rating:

[Tom]

VOY 3.04 The Swarm
Writer: Mike Sussman (Writer)
Director: Alexander Singer
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Commander Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lieutenant Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Lieutenant Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Carol Davis (Giuseppina Pentangeli), Steven Houska (Chardis), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))

My next theme: The pairing of Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres (known in the fandom as "P/T"). This is my favorite canon Star Trek couple. I like how they slowly build it up in season 3 with few scenes thrown in in a couple of episodes. Sadly they neglected this pairing during season 5 and 6 but luckily made again some nice episodes in season 7. I will not watch every episode where those two share on-screen time, but will make a selection of episodes of which I remember they had some nice scenes between them.

One story in this episode is about the consequence of the Emergency Medical Hologram running longer than it is supposed to. The doctor's matrix is degrading. We get the chance to see the guy who has programmed him (Dr. Zimmerman) who looks exactly like the doctor. It's the good part about this episode. Robert Picardo is great playing the doctor having dementia. And he is also fun as Dr. Zimmerman.
With the other part, although nicely executed, I have a problem with: Who does Janeway think she is? The alien they encounter make it obvious, that they do no tolerate trespassers. But because it would take Voyager 15 months to go around they space (I assume they did consider 3D space ), she decides to risk the ship and go through their space. Also it seems a little strange, that going around that space would take 15 months, but going through it would only take 3 days.

P/T moment: In the beginning of the episode, Paris asks B'Elanna about her love life. And it also marks the first time (as far as I remember), that he hits on her.

Rating:

[DJ Doena]

Also it seems a little strange, that going around that space would take 15 months, but going through it would only take 3 days.

It's a "slice of bread" territory. High and wide but not that thick.

[Tom]

Also it seems a little strange, that going around that space would take 15 months, but going through it would only take 3 days.

It's a "slice of bread" territory. High and wide but not that thick.

Yes, that was clear. They even showed a picture of how it looks (more like a schematic of a Tie-Fighter: wide on the sides in in the middle, but having two passages where it isn't that thick). But I don't feel it's realisitic. I would have believed it more, if the passages were about a few week's journey. But three days? I think it is to extreme compared to the 15 months around. And of course the picture they showed was in 2D
Probably would have only taken a few days flying around their territory if they would have considered 3D 

[Tom]

VOY 3.14 Alter Ego
Writer: Joe Menosky (Writer)
Director: Robert Picardo
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Commander Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lieutenant Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Lieutenant Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Sandra Nelson (Marayna), Alexander Enberg (Ensign Vorik), Shay Todd (Holowoman), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))

I am skipping the episode "Macrocosm" even though I remember it had a nice P/T scene in it. But that episode is so stupid (Macro-viruses flying around and Rambo-Janeway going after them), that I do not want to watch it now.

The episode "Alter Ego" is about an alien who takes over a holodeck character, Harry Kim and Tuvok both fall for. As you can probably guess, this amounts to a stupid episode. Although I did like the conclusion to this episode.

P/T moments:
Tom complimenting B'Elanna on her dress and him getting competition from the vulcan Vorik.




Rating:

[Tom]

I have subscribed now this this youtube channel. It has amusing Star Trek reviews pointing out the stupid plot issues.

[Tom]

I have subscribed now this this youtube channel. It has amusing Star Trek reviews pointing out the stupid plot issues.

I will catch up on the videos on this channel in due time beginning with the oldest.
I just laughed my ass off during this review of an early Voyager episode:

[Tom]

VOY 3.16 Blood Fever
Writer: Lisa Klink (Writer)
Director: Andrew Robinson
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Commander Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lieutenant Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Lieutenant Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Alexander Enberg (Ensign Vorik), Bruce Bohne (Ishan), Deborah Levin (Ensign Lang)

The first episode with a big P/T focus. Vorik goes into Pon Farr and chooses B'Elanna as his mate. She refuses but is infected by the blood fever of the Pon Farr when Vorik briefly mind melded with her.
Under the blood lust, B'Elanna chooses Tom as her mate which leads to some great P/T scenes.

The end of the episode marks the introduction of the Borg to the Voyager series.

P/T moments:
There are a lot to choose from in this episode. My favorite two are the following:




Rating:

[Tom]

VOY 3.21 Before and After
Writer: Kenneth Biller (Writer)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Commander Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lieutenant Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Lieutenant Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Jessica Collins (Linnis Paris), Michael L. Maguire (Benaren), Christopher Aguilar (Andrew Kim), Janna Michaels (Young Kes), Rachael Harris (Martis)

Kes is travelling backwards in time from the time of her death to the present. This leads us to see a possible future for the Voyager crew (which will be an alternate future because Kes retained her memories and the timeline will certainly change because of this). So we got to see the Year of Hell, some of the crew dying, Kes' child and and grandchild.
One thing always bothered me about this episode. The producers chose a very bad point to change Kes' hairstyle. I remember the first time I have watched this episode, I thought not much about the longer hairstyle of Kes in the scenes set in the future. I thought that she will let her hair grow in the future. So when she was back at the present time, I thought that she still had one jump back in time left, because she still had the longer hair. As it turned out, they have changed her regular hairstyle between the previous episode and this one. Really bad choice as it just confuses the time-traveling even more. It would have been better, if they changed her present hairstyle after this episode. Then they could have used as a reason for the change, that Kes saw it in the future, liked it and decided to make this change.

P/T moment:
In this possible future, Tom and B'Elanna were a couple until B'Elanna died in the first Krenin attack.

Rating:

[Tom]

VOY 3.22 Real Life
Writer: Jeri Taylor (Screenwriter), Harry Doc. Kloor (Original Material By)
Director: Anson Williams
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Commander Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lieutenant Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Lieutenant Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), Wendy Schaal (Charlene), Glenn Harris (Jeffrey), Lindsey Haun (Belle), Stephen Ralston (Larg), Chad Haywood (K'Kath)

Another great doctor episode. He wants to learn what it is to have a family and creates himself the perfect Brady Bunch as his family. After B'Elanna sees this, she convinces him to make the family more realistic which leads for him having to cope with a difficult family life with real tragedy thrown in.
The B-Plot on the other hand is really boring. The anamoly of the week is endangering Voyager yet again.

P/T moment:
Tom catches B'Elanna reading a trashy Klingon romance novel.



Rating: