[S06.E09: Clap Your Hands If You Believe...]

That X-Files opening killed me. "The truth is in there." LMAO I kinda knew this was gonna be a fun episode, but goddamn.

I love how, despite the existence of demons, angels and even Norse gods, UFOs always become too much of a stretch for Sam and Dean.

One thing you gotta give Jared Padalecki credit for is how well he played Soulless Sam, something a lot of people seem to agree on. After Dean gets aliennapped, he just accepts the drink from the waitress with a smile and checks her assets out, playing well a person told to fake his emotions. That's a hard balance to straddle, but I think Sam has been nailing it so far this season. Jared's reading of "Do you have bigger cups?" was great.

And I know it's been said to death, and I know I said that the Soulless Sam arc could use a little more meat, but I do like Soulless Sam for not only the refreshing dynamic of Sam being the pragmatic one and Dean the empathetic one, but also how Sam is basically Sherlock now - Cumberbatch, not Jeremy Brett or Downey - the stoic but crass, no-nonsense robot that even Spock would raise a brow at. "Have you considered the possibility that you suck at hunting UFOs?" Sherlock would usually follow this up with, "What? I was telling him the truth. Isn't it kind?" Another great quote by Sam that could have easily been said by Cumberlock: "Better run, man. I think the fourth kind is a butt thing."

Robert Picardo played a great Leprechaun with all the mischievous mannerisms and posture that come with the role. I gotta say, this is easily one of the best monster-kills of the show just because of how freaking hilarious it is, that the salt-counting actually works.

Lastly: King Oberon. I've played so much Shin Megami Tensei that I would have loved to see King Oberon appear this episode instead of just being mentioned. Also, no mention of Queen Titania? Midsummer Night's Dream? 😛

4/5 for this fun ep by Ben Edlund.

[S06.E08: All Dogs Go to Heaven]

1 hour ago, CluelessDrifter said:

A Big Foot is the closest to a Yeti (Abominable Snowman).  Wendigos are essentially insatiable cannibals with supernatural abilities, and the one on the show came across much more like Predator with the way it could blend in to its surroundings, but if we're going for real world reasons, it's because of the show's budget that they didn't keep doing it, and based on the effects that they had in later season even with a a bigger budget, that's probably a good thing.  In the earlier seasons, they didn't need the crutch of VFX, because the storytelling was there, the show was darker, had less of a budget, and was still much better at eliciting the horror of the things they came across without really needing to show monsters in all their monster-y goodness.  As their budget grew, I think it actually hindered the overall storytelling.

Yeah, honestly, I would've probably not nitpicked so much about how lame the Alpha creatures look if the main plot's more interesting, or if the Soulless Sam plot had more meat to it than "Sam lacking empathy scares Dean." Much as I like it when there's a cool-looking monster around, that's not really why I watch this show for because I understood its limited budget on TV. Same with other smaller-budget cult TV in their early seasons like Buffy and X-Files before they became bigger in later seasons: I enjoyed them for the character writing.

Unfortunately, Supernatural has Sam as a character.

It's not even quite Mulder and Scully where their chemistry made the show great; Sam and Dean's chemistry did make early seasons entertaining, but that's like 3 seasons maybe out of 15 before they chewed each other out and begun the moping every season up till 6; Mulder and Scully's chemistry was great throughout almost the entire show, even in the reboot. "Sam and Dean" doesn't quite have that kind of appeal.

[The Twilight Zone - General Discussion]

The Fever

I still remember my experience playing Marvel Snap. It's a free to play mobile game that got great reviews for how fun it can be for players without paying a dime. Of course, the truth isn't all that ideal, as it can become increasingly challenging to get better cards the more lootbox you open. With each opened lootbox, your "Collection Level" increases, and you'll be matched with opponents of the same CL that might have been lucky enough to have better cards than you, thus leading you to a bad time and tempting you to essentially... "pay to win."

There have actually been far worse and predatory schemes from other mobile games, but much like Mr. Franklin Gibbs (Everett Sloane), I can easily fall into addiction with games like these and would end up paying quite a big sum (though thankfully never into the thousands). You hear of how much one has to pay to get the top gear in Diablo: Immortal, after all, and you'd wonder "Why not daylight robbery, Blizzard?"

The point is that addiction and gambling can come in many forms, even today, and our contemporary "pay-to-win" gambling addiction might just be as damaging as your more traditional slot machine kind too.

While Emily St. James of the AVClub might have considered this a "bad" episode - and I agree to a certain extent due to the repetitive nature of the script that didn't really go anywhere meaningful - I still like the message and what Rod Serling was trying to say. It lacks subtlety and mostly revolves around Franklin being an unlikable twat who verbally abuses his wife while he pulls on the one-armed bandit, but there's enough variety here to keep things from becoming completely one-dimensional, such as the amusing scene of the coins calling out to Franklin, or even the unintentionally hilarious design of the slot machine that's stalking him in his delusion. There were a few things I would try to improve (if I'm actually a talented writer like Rod instead of just some hack on an Internet forum) like making the machine design creepier or have the moment where the casino owner hangs the "out of order" sign over the machine be more disturbing (instead of just quirky in a dark comedy kind of way like it is now), but for the most part, the episode delivered the message Rod was trying to say quite decently, even if it's not very entertaining compared to many other episodes. I particularly like the way Franklin's addiction felt relatable and realistic, with him rationalizing at first why he has to play the slot machine (to get rid of the ill-gotten money). This is classic addiction behavior 101, and I've lived through it.

What does hurt the episode, however, is that it's not very Twilight Zoney. The only supernatural element of the story is the machine with a supposed mind of its own, which is way too silly of a concept to be taken seriously (not to mention shifting the blame of addiction onto slot machines or video games). Plus, its goofy voice is less Austrian T-800 and more Mr. Spell. I think that weak link to the core of the show (supernatural things with ironic twists) is the same reason why episodes like this fail, because that's not why we tuned into the show and why we liked it in the first place (for another example, see the campier and goofier episodes of Batman: The Animated Series divorcing themselves from the darker, more psychological elements of the caped crusader). Or at least not for me.

Something else I've noticed about the Twilight Zone universe: it has fragile windows.

3/5 I kinda have a soft spot for it just because it touched on a topic I care about.

The Last Flight

This was a really well-written one, far superior than the previous one obviously, but time travel stories are so abundant nowadays that I'm spoiled, and it becomes challenging being that impressed by one anymore, regardless of how good the twist is.

But thankfully, this episode's appeal for me is less about the twist and more about the character of Flight Lieutenant Decker (Kenneth Haigh) and his journey to discover his courage in the face of fate. I love how the episode is slowly built up to peel away Decker's character and what he's lying about to Major Wilson (Simon Scott's mannerism as Wilson makes me feel like Clancy Brown could play Wilson in a modern iteration of the episode). Information about him is gradually fed to the audience piece by piece so as to build intrigue, but I also like how natural it feels; he's a coward who deserted his mission and comrade in arms, so he had every reason to lie.

What's a bit of a cheat, however, is his sudden crisis of conscience and willingness to suddenly sacrifice his life, even though he hasn't even witnessed for himself the good Mackaye would have done had he lived. It's not the worst transition ever though, and it merely requires a little suspension of disbelief for a half hour show that needs to wrap things up quickly. In a longer episode, the ending might have the three men at the American airbase hold a tribute to Decker (and the beginning would show Decker and Mackaye bonding together) or something hokey like that, so perhaps that's a good thing. It's short enough that it leaves you pondering on your own the pathos of Decker's fate and how he became a hero that day.

4/5

[S06.E08: All Dogs Go to Heaven]

3 minutes ago, CluelessDrifter said:

As a refresher the below, and I wouldn't call a Wendigo a third-tier monster.  It just isn't European in its origin so it's less well known, but in actuality, they're pretty top tier as far as monsters go.

I suppose. I was speaking in terms of popularity, not in terms of how powerful the Wendigo is. I've definitely heard of Dracula, but I've never heard of the Wendigo until I got much older (unless you count the Abominable Snowman). But honestly, it doesn't matter either way, because I wouldn't have minded seeing an Alpha Wendigo in place of the Alpha Vamp if it means we get a cooler-looking monster.

[Star Trek - General Discussion]

1x16: The Menagerie, Part 2

"It was thought the fiction of a court-martial would allow us ample time to show the entirety of Captain Pike's journey on Talos IV." - The Talosians, maybe

"You forgot you are on trial, Spock. You WILL answer all questions put to you." I get that the reason for Spock's response to the above statement is that the others (mostly Kirk) wouldn't believe him even if he tells them the truth, but c'mon, they're already seen a psychic projection of a movie with multi-cam angles on their projector, and in that movie, they've already seen what the Talosians' powers could do by the time that quote above showed up. If those things aren't enough to convince them, then nothing will. Plus, I don't know why Spock would be so secretive to Kirk anyway.

In fact, much of Spock's behavior and just this entire episode don't make sense this episode. There's being emotional as a half-Vulcan, and then there's breaking all manner of rules to save one man, even if it's his former captain. Spock, the "logic is the end-all, be-all" guy, risking the entire Enterprise for one man. I was also a little confused about Commodore Mendez's message at the end until the Star Trek wiki explained what happened to me (that he also received the Talosians' feature presentation transmission back at Starbase 11).

Furthermore, that final shot of Pike on the screen walking alongside Vina whose beauty is restored... Yeeeah, The Cage AND that final shot were produced before TOS. But okay, granted, never aired, so never canon till this episode. Fair enough. A bit of narrative maneuvering that makes that final shot lose a bit of that intended heartwarming magic if you've already seen The Cage before this episode. In The Cage, that Pike you see walking away with Vina is an illusion created by the Talosians for Vina's sake, while the real Captain Pike could be seen walking away back to his ship. Knowing that fact makes the edited footage feel a bit awkward. lol Reminds me of Power Rangers (especially the older seasons) where budget constraints forced Saban to recycle footage in ways that sometimes don't make a whole lot of sense when you think too hard.

And finally... Talosians, a dying alien race whom Pike left behind to die, slowly. Is it such a good idea to leave his fate in their hands? Especially in his quadriplegic state that's not ideal for breeding (the Talosians' initial goal for keeping life going on Talos IV)? I mean, I guess Vina and him could work something out but... I don't see how.

A bit of a mess, a bit too much Cage footage than necessary even this episode (the Orion girl footage would've sufficed for Spock to make the point tbh), and questionable intent from the Talosians. Let's call it a 3/5.

Interesting side note: while reading up on Spock in Strange New Worlds, someone pointed out that was pre-Kolinahr Spock, which would retroactively explain why Spock smiled so goddamn much in The Cage, but since Kolinahr wouldn't really be introduced yet by this episode, it was a pretty clever way to explain Spock's behavior in Cage down the road.

1x17: Shore Leave

We are still some ways off from the first appearance of the holodeck in Star Trek: The Animated Series (and a whole GENERATION away from frequent holodeck hijinks 😉), so we would have to make do for now with a VR planet.

We've had a revolving door of cast members and Enterprise crewmembers early on in the show (Pike, Gary Mitchell, and even Rand was gone) before it settled on the crew of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. However, if you didn't know anything about the show or perhaps Star Trek in general (not knowing Kirk or Spock would probably qualify you as living under a rock, but McCoy, not so much), it's understandable if you thought that this is the episode McCoy bites it. The cast members had certainly sold it well enough with their performance. Poor Bones, finally found love with not-a-doctor only to be pierced through his heart - quite literally. Emily Banks and DeForest Kelly shared great chemistry with each other, so Barrows breaking down in tears felt quite powerful, as was her attempt to calm herself down. It's too bad this is seemingly Emily's only role as Barrows for TOS (I couldn't find any record of any other appearance) as I quite enjoyed her acting here, particularly her scenes with DeForest.

That said, perhaps it's for the best as Yeomans seem to fall into the problematic fate of having their sexuality exploited for the plot. I know, I know, product of its time, and while I respect Barrows' fantasy of being ravished by a dashing Don Juan, it's still a rather disturbing idea to have your rape fantasies come to life. Sulu had a samurai, Rodriguez had a tiger, Kirk an old flame, McCoy a black knight, all rather tame concepts, but then out of nowhere - rapey Juan! Just saying.

Still, an amusement park planet where your greatest fantasies - or fears - could come to life. Obviously, this could be the most fun or the most uncomfortable experience you'll ever have, even if it's all harmless. While writing reviews for The Twilight Zone, I had often touched on the concept of escapism from reality, and what a delight it might be to just get away from the hassles of real life (even having written a fan fiction about a similar VR concept decades ago as a kid), and I still stand by this statement after this episode, even if I don't necessarily think it's very healthy. It's a drug for the mind for sure, but it's one we would possibly never experience in our lifetime with our limited VR technology anyway, so why not dream a little? We could all probably use a shore leave on Shore Leave Planet, given the chaos of real life affairs at the moment.

3.5/5 It's a fun harmless little episode with some seemingly real stakes midway through, and I had a rather good time watching it. 

Footnote: for a moment there, I thought that Kirk had wandered onto the set of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but then I found out it's just Vasquez Rocks.

[S06.E08: All Dogs Go to Heaven]

10 minutes ago, CluelessDrifter said:

I love Rick Worthy's performance as the Alpha Vamp.  I also really like his backstory on how he was really struggling with getting roles at the time that this came up, and he credits it with reinvigorating his career.  I wouldn't change him being there.  I think we got sort of what you're describing with the wendigo in season 1.  

I suppose that's a fair take.

Can't remember much about the Wendigo. Season 1 felt like ages ago, even for me. Still, that's a wendigo though, not a vamp. I've never been big on wendigoes as monsters go since I'm not really familiar with them. And if a third-tier monster like a wendigo is cooler-looking than the more popular vampire, let alone the Alpha of all vamps... yeah, doesn't sound right. lol

[S06.E08: All Dogs Go to Heaven]

18 minutes ago, FlickChick said:

Sorry Magnus, all I can say is buckle up! 🙁

I'm pretty sure I've already learned about that before, but I guess I was in denial and having wishful thinking. Ah well... it's nice to dream, isn't it? 😂

[Batman: The Animated Series - General Discussion]

40 minutes ago, Tenshinhan said:

I think it aligns well with the Batman comics.  Not every criminal is a supervillain like the others.  For some it's just a gimmick and not much more.  Given the Trio's backstory I think it makes sense for the characters.

It makes sense, but that doesn't mean it's interesting. It's why nobody bothers to show Spider-Man fighting ordinary street-level mafia even though they actually did that in the comics. Nobody would pay to see that on the big screen or even the little screen. Something that's realistic and sensible doesn't always translate to something that's engaging. I wouldn't want to watch an entire episode with Bruce having meetings at Wayne Tower, for example.

 

40 minutes ago, Tenshinhan said:

One thing I appreciate about the Animated Series is that they used stories from all throughout the different eras of Batman comics.  You get episodes of silly camp right alongside the serious and dramatic stories.  This was especially important for a children's cartoon show.

I suppose. The thing that drew me to the show was something more different, that it's filled with more mature content than your average Saturday morning cartoon, as is appropriate for a Batman show. It's what made the series revolutionary for its time, a dark show for children about a vigilante beating up the criminally insane at night while dressed in a bat costume himself.

Given time, I might be able to appreciate the moments of camp for the kiddies, and I do accept them for what they are... but I call it like I see it as an adult audience member in terms of my own enjoyment of the episode. I don't really enjoy camp, especially when it applies to Batman stories. I probably wouldn't even watch The Brave and the Bold even though I heard great things.

[Pokémon - General Discussion]

So, MAJOR SPOILERS in regards to Ash and Pokemon, some of you may have heard what Ash has finally done.

Spoiler

Yes. I'm talking about that thing. That very freaking thing. That son of a gun did it.

It only took him about 25 years. Talk about your underdog story. And so, his journey comes to an end.

I've left Pokemon since Sun and Moon since I didn't really enjoy that one as much as XYZ, but I'm glad I've returned to see our childhood hero takes his crown as THE Pokemon WORLD Champion.

Of course, the details are a little iffy, like Charizard suddenly headbutting Pikachu even though Leon said Fire Blast. Plus, he pretty much relied on Pikachu to take down Leon's last two Pokemon. Plus, he literally won using the power of friendship. I'm not even exaggerating - that's what happened. Pikachu has a dream talking to all the friends he made throughout ALL seasons, and he got back up when he was about to faint. It's all very campy and cheesy, but the original Pokemon theme from season 1 made up for it. I teared up. I couldn't help it. lol

I was watching the sub btw, so the theme was Mezase Pokemon Master, but I saw that the dub team had the cover version of the season 1 theme as well from the 2017 movie, "I Choose You!" I grew up with the dub, but I ended up gravitating towards the sub in my college years, then stuck with it ever since till XYZ/Sun and Moon, so the Japanese version of the theme kinda resonated with me a little more than the dub theme.

And that's that, I suppose. I heard they're getting two new protagonists for next season for the new Scarlet/Violet region.

[Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?]

32 minutes ago, Elizabeth Anne said:

Reminds me of when my kids were teens and my rule with their music was "if I can hear it, it's too loud".  

Try living in an apartment. I have to keep my music volume managed even in daylight or we would get noise complaints.

Makes me wonder how loud people living in private estates could turn their music up to.

[Health and Wellness Chit-Chat: Your Primary Care Topic]

As I've mentioned in another post, pretty sure I've come down with the ol' covid, no thanks to my mum inadvertently spreading it to me. It started as a sore throat, then a 38.6 Celsius fever, plus muscle aches. I felt like my brain was literally being cooked even after taking the Panadol my local polyclinic prescribed, so I had to buy a fever patch, but ultimately, sweating it out was the answer to really bring the heat down.

Now my fever is gone, but I still have dry coughs and food tastes bland. I read that people's sense of smell and taste while suffering covid don't get their senses back for up to a year. Ugh. I'm not sure if I could handle food tasting like nothing for a year. Might have to try out acupuncture if this goes on too long.

[The Venture Bros. - General Discussion]

So, how important is it to watch this series in production order? Because, as you could tell from my last post, I might have messed it up by watching it by airing order (no thanks to HBO Max).

[Batman: The Animated Series - General Discussion]

2x06: The Terrible Trio

Our first real dud of the season, though not the first of the series. But with more than 60 episodes in the first season alone, a few duds among both seasons isn't too shabby. That said, it does remind me of a discussion on Reddit when comparing Batman: TAS with Superman: TAS. According to Redditors, the former has higher quality episodes but in a less consistent manner, whereas the latter is consistently good, but never to the heights of Batman. Still looking forward to watching it and the rest of DCAU someday though.

The trio of jokesters Bruce got to fight this episode is pretty mediocre, but that's nothing really new for the world of comic book superheroes. You'd always get a Frog-Man or Paste-Pot Pete somewhere between great storylines, especially for a long-running series, so I'm pretty used to it and gave this a mere shrug.

I gotta admit though, despite calling it a dud, I wanted to like it at first, and I sort of did, at first. It's not one of Bats' more iconic rogues for sure, and Penguin pretty much already covered being the billionaire gone bad angle (even though the concept of exploring what Bruce Wayne would've been like had he not lose his parents at a young age like these frat boys is interesting... on paper), but I initially liked them for their ability to outwit both Bats and Robin. It's not exactly a four-dimensional chess move to put civilians in Bats' way, but the effort should be acknowledged. But then Warren Lawford let a piece of evidence loose in front of Rebecca Fallbrook and imprinting his ring on her father's jaw... annnd he's down to the idiot booth. They can be clever alright, but as Bats said: experts in arrogance.

I kinda laughed a bit when Bats said "scoundrels like these are worse than the Joker - at least he has madness as an excuse." I get the logic of that, but these are just spoiled frat boys. It's hard to take them as seriously as someone like the Joker. Must be a slow day at the Batcave.

Furthermore, their costume is just ridiculous. I get that they were from a Batman comic, but it feels more like they belonged in one of the goofier Spider-Man comics than Batman, particularly one starring Paste-Pot Pete. A bat motif and costume is cool; the fox, vulture and shark motifs for the trio aren't really working out, looking more like Halloween costumes.

Also, who talks like that in real life? “A valiant effort, stout sentinel, but the game was ours before it began.” There's suspension of disbelief, and then there's "Waitwut? Am I watching the wrong show?" Campy and hammy, and yet somehow still mediocre villains.

But perhaps I'm being too harsh about it since, as is the case with I've Got Batman in My Basement, these two episodes are reminders that this is still a Saturday morning cartoon of sorts targeting children. It just happens to be darker than your average kids cartoon. That's why when Batman conveniently saves Rebecca at the last precise moment, just happening to fly by at that very last second, I gave it a pass for just being a cartoon. Then again, Bats does have a flair for the dramatics and theatricality, so it might make sense (also the reason for his Stealth Hi/Bye when he mysteriously vanishes mid-conversation).

But cartoon or not, the animation quality's no excuse though. Done by Jade Animation instead of the usual Dong Yang, Rebecca's facial expression was so obviously distorted in one scene even I noticed it, even though I don't usually pay attention to these details (ironic when watching an animation to not pay attention to the animation quality, I know, but cut me some slack; I have an attention disorder, probably).

The only satisfying part of the episode might be the ending when Warren's cellmate is about to have a new bitch in the form of a privileged frat boy. I got HBO Oz vibes watching that scene. Then again, prison rape is such a touchy subject I'm not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole.

More points off for Robin being completely useless this episode.

1.5/5

[S06.E08: All Dogs Go to Heaven]

5 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

It could be more about the show itself being unable to get the rights to really use those specific characters as much as anything. They could name drop Dracula in s4 because the shifter wasn't actually supposed to be Dracula in the show.  The show may have wanted to continue crafting their own original vampire lore of which they would hold the rights IMHO

 

True, but my point wasn't that they didn't use Dracula specifically, but that it wasn't a creature as demonic-looking or as epic in scale as him. The Alpha Vamp's just some guy with bad teeth.

[S06.E08: All Dogs Go to Heaven]

Now that I understand they're doing Alpha versions of classic monsters, it's almost a disappointment in hindsight that the Alpha Vamp wasn't Dracula, Nosferatu or at least someone as cool as them. That's one of the problems I always had with low-budget shows like this, they pull their punches and make their monsters look too much like humans instead of something actually monstrous and inhuman. It's boring. Remember Coppola's Dracula from '92 starring Gary Oldman?

Now THAT looks like stuff out of nightmares. I get that it's an unfair comparison since it's a big budget movie by a big name director (though Coppola's days from being The Godfather guy was kinda left behind by then since he had a string of mediocre works), but I'm just saying. You're gonna present the "Alpha", or the first of all monsters, which should be a pretty badass concept on paper, I was just expecting something with a little more kick and less mundane.

That does beg the question, however: who would win in a fight? The Winchesters or Dracula? Buffy already kicked Drac's ass once, though to be fair, I guess she has superhuman strength (and maybe agility?). Moving on to the episode at hand.

This time, we've got a werewolf knockoff skinwalker who's this cute little German Shepherd. For what it's worth, Shepherds scare me a lot, as do many big dogs that bark, so good job I guess. All things aside, I don't really mind skinwalkers over werewolves in hindsight because 1) it's based on actual Navajo folklore where evil witches could turn themselves into animals, 2) it feels more realistic turning into a regular animal than some fantasy monster, 3) Supernatural's werewolves were never really that terrifying-looking or monstrous-looking anyway IIRC (except maybe the anime version). I accidentally spoiled myself learning about "pureblood" werewolves, but I'm not holding my breath. Plus, Dean was right: you never really know how many of those dogs prowling in the day are skinwalkers just waiting for the signal, making it far more disturbing than your typical werewolves prowling in the night. And that's why I'm a cat person.

I kinda like this episode's Subplot of the Week tbh, which isn't usually common for me when it comes to MotW episodes. Obviously, Lucky's a murderous psycho (as Mandy put it, maybe not in those exact words) who killed Mandy's husband and their landlord, but the whole concept of man's best friend being a lethal protector, whether their actions are justified or not, is often an intriguing exploration of the relationship between dogs and humans (for another example, also see the 1993 movie, Man's Best Friend, starring Lance Henriksen, which also featured a dog who would kill anyone to defend the protagonist). Then again, Lucky isn't really a dog, but some hobo who got way too aggressive in protecting his supposed family (not to mention what Daisy said, Lucky did feel skeevy in human form, but possibly also in dog form as well since he followed her into shower). Good concept; execution leaves one yearning.

Also, I second Ditty's notion about Soulless Sam being more entertaining. I think it's the same way with many protagonists when their "dark side" is unleashed and you get to see them cut loose without any moral restraints (see Angelus in Angel and how he's often more popular). Sam has indeed become a better hunter, of course, but with a very steep price of lacking that humanity to not sacrifice innocents for the greater good. Without Dean around, he would have killed Mandy if it meant stopping the pack. And truth be told, much as it is interesting to see where Soulless Sam would go in terms of pushing moral boundaries, I never really minded Mopey Sam as much as other people, probably because I don't mind mopey characters that much (probably because I've always been somewhat of a mopey whiner myself full of angst and was able to relate to Sam's daddy issues during season 1). I mean, I have my limits in tolerance for mopeyness in a character (I legitimately wanted to murder Ben in Telltale's Walking Dead game, even as I saw my pathetic self in him), but Sam hadn't really crossed that line for me yet.

Reading these comments, I feel bad we've come to this point where Sam is just an annoyance every episode. Sure, that might have started as early as bloodlust Sam in season 4, but there's always a chemistry between Jensen and Jared that made the brotherly bond work. I don't like to hate-watch a show, so I try to give these negative elements of a show an open mind for as long as I could tolerate it, and I just enjoy seeing the brothers working together so much that I wouldn't really want to see seasons-long drama where they just fight with each other all the time. Just stick with the fun campy stuff of saving people, hunting things, family business and I'm a happy pup.

2/5 for this episode. Was going to rate it a 3, but then I thought about how contemptible Lucky really is in a self-righteous and possessive kind of way, and Soulless Sam's bickering with Dean didn't do this episode (or this season if I could be honest) any favors. The tune's getting old. And the other .5 decrease is because the brothers didn't bother to kill Lucky even though they were so willing to kill Madison to prevent her from hurting anyone else. Like, what the fuck? Lucky killed at least three people this episode, not to mention being an actual creep compared to Madison. Big F moment.

P.S.: Dexter reference!

Side note: Just found out season 6 was supposed to be a five season arc. Yeah, okay, now that makes sense.

[Star Trek - General Discussion]

12 minutes ago, rmontro said:

But it doesn't matter if it makes sense, because it's so iconic.

True. The rule of cool means you don't have to explain it because it's too cool to not include it. Why did James Bond chase bad guys in a tank in Goldeneye in the middle of the street? Because it's cool and iconic, even if it's impractical and over-the-top.

 

12 minutes ago, rmontro said:

The part I like about that show is (and I may be mixing this up with The Cage) when Pike is given the added options to mate with Number One or Yeoman Colt to become the new Adam and Eve.  And at the end of the show, Yeoman Colt has Pike sign something and then asks him "Captain, who would have been Eve?".  And this seems to really annoy Number One, who scolds her and tells her to get back to her work.  Personally, Yeoman Colt would have been hard to turn down in that kind of situation...

Yeah, that's from The Cage as I remember it. In my opinion, and hopefully not to get too creepy/sleazy here, but I think both Number One and Colt have their own good points in their own way. I found Number One's annoyance not to really be out of jealousy for Colt or anything, but more out of the professionalism she seems to uphold, which is something I've found respectable about her when I first watched it. Colt felt like a schoolgirl with a crush more than anything to be honest; Number One felt like Pike's equal. It's no surprise that Strange New Worlds included her but not Colt.

[The Twilight Zone - General Discussion]

I Shot an Arrow into the Air

Took a break from watching as I was distracted playing The Dark Pictures Anthology games. lol Not all of these games came with a twist, but as someone who's a fan of TZ, you might enjoy Man of Medan and Little Hope for their twisty conclusions (House of Ashes too to a lesser extent). Plus, I came down with a bad case of fever, muscle aches, and dry coughs, possibly symptoms of covid even. But I'm feeling better now, thankfully (food's still tasteless though).

Now onto our episode tonight: 

Spoiler

IT WAS EARTH ALL ALOOONG!!! *cue laugh track*

 

Seriously though, despite knowing the twist ending, I still enjoyed myself rewatching the episode. It's not the best character writing since Pierson goes off-screen midway, Donlin (while likable for his cool and honor under pressure) is a bit too stiff to be interesting, not to mention an idiot for leaving his gun around Corey whom he accused of murderous intent, and Corey is one of those selfish dicks every survival situations gotta have with no redeeming values. That said, before the reveal, one would be justified in thinking that Corey's viewpoint is, at the very least, a sympathetic one: trapped on some unknown asteroid with no way of knowing if you'd be able to get home in less than four years (the time it took to build the ship that brought them there), a weak man's "every man for himself" instincts would inevitably kick in. These don't seem to be the hardass marine types (SEMPER FI, OORAH!) so loyalty in life or death situations is unlikely to be a thing on a TV show.

Of course, that cruel twist ending flipped everything around, and that's what made the episode work even in a rewatch. Knowing the twist actually makes the prior build-up towards it more fascinating to watch since you're just watching smugly as Corey seals his own fate by murdering his comrades. The trope presented in the ending is not nearly as polished as Planet of the Apes (with a screenplay that poses far darker implications of humanity's sins as written by your very own Rod Serling), and I couldn't care enough about Corey to feel like the ending is cruel irony rather than karmic retribution. That said, I'm all for downer (or even nihilistic) endings more than the feel-good ones, even when the episode isn't particularly well-written.

3/5

The Hitch-Hiker

I've always found hitchhiking a fascinating concept because it's not a thing in Singapore. Sure, we have a service called Grab nowadays which is a ridesharing company like Uber (they also provide food and shopping deliveries), but it doesn't pose quite the same danger as hailing a ride from a stranger you meet on the road, hoping he doesn't kill you. At least the Grab app has an emergency "HELP ME I'M BEING ATTACKED BY A SERIAL KILLER" button that lets you call for aid, so it's not really the same.

And of course, America knows this and has spent decades mining from this would-be horror tale with its many hitchhiking slasher movies, one of the more famous ones being The Hitcher (Google literally gave me a result with "77 Best Horror Movies About Hitchhiking" at the top). It's a tale as old as killer in a cabin in the woods and brain-sucking zombies in the horror genre. I also couldn't help but think of the "Thanks for the ride, lady!" guy from Creepshow 2 watching this episode. lol

Of course, that's not really what this episode is about, a killer hitchhiker. Quite the opposite, really, though I kinda saw it coming and predicted whom the hitchhiker was (kinda forgot what the twist is during my rewatch tbh). It's a nice twist, but what makes it work better than most TZ episodes is the amount of time we get to spend with Nan Adams (Inger Stevens) and explore her justified fear of this stranger stalking her, a very real fear even today. It also helps that Nan carries enough charm and wit in her dialogue instead of just going through the motions of the plot till the inevitable twist ending; she feels like a real person that way. There's quite an amount of what one might consider padding, but unlike Time Enough At Last, the many scenes of Inger looking confused and frightful is thematically linked to the story at hand: a lone woman stranded in the middle of nowhere trying to get away from a phantom stalker constantly on her tail, giving her that sense of uneasiness (I particularly like how the music score when she's on the run bears resemblance to Hitchcock's Psycho, which was also scored by Bernard Herrmann). She couldn't quite explain why she felt this way even though the hitchhiker didn't really do much aside from just standing there like the mousey little man he is. It's a nice build up to the end where that anxiety finally makes sense, and tranquility sets in upon revelation. It's a solid and coherent narrative where each scene builds on top of another to reach the climactic twist reveal. Even the scene with the sailor adds a nice spooky touch that leaves us wondering if Nan is really just seeing things. I also like how the sailor was acting rather intimate with her despite being strangers, making us wondering if it's such a good idea for her to pick this lecher up. Of course, as we would come to learn, it's not Nan that's seeing things after all, and the sailor, for all his counted blessings of hitching a ride with a pretty lady with the looks of a movie star, got more than what he bargained for as he freaked the heck out.

This reminds me of that perfect episode from season 2 of Supernatural, "Roadkill" (probably my favorite episode of all time to be honest), which also features a woman (played by Tricia Helfer) whom also isn't quite aware of what her state of mortality is. It's a trope that has been used a couple of times, the spirit not knowing they're a spirit, but I think it works because of its roots in folklore regarding wandering spirits unable to pass on to the afterlife due to some unfinished business. It also allows for great tragedies to be played out most of the time. In particular, I like this episode's closing, where Rod gave a very succinct but impactful narration (as opposed to his usual closing remarks in other episodes): "Nan Adams, age twenty-seven. She was driving to California; to Los Angeles. She didn't make it. There was a detour... through the Twilight Zone." It's a real shot through the heart when Rod punctuated what was already revealed earlier as the audience is still grappling with the tragic truth, "She didn't make it." It's simple yet clear in a rather somber way, like a coroner coldly pronouncing someone's time of death. Curtains.

Two final notes to end this great episode on. If this was filmed today:

1) The episode would be much shorter due to cellphones.
2) There would be a contrived flashback to earlier scenes showing the people Nan talked to, and how they were talking to nobody but an empty space.

4.5/5

[Star Trek - General Discussion]

1x14: Court Martial

For a show like Star Trek that features the episodic adventures of the protagonist without much continuity, it's inevitable that the writers would try to shake things up with special set-pieces or genre-changes from time to time, or in this episode's case: LAWYERS. IN. SPAAACE!!! Then again, perhaps it's not so much an attempt at changing up the formula as it's an attempt to cut cost since courtroom dramas are cheap to produce, especially when they're usually restricted to a single set.

Of course, being a courtroom drama (IN SPAAACE), the plot plays out predictably, with the last minute evidence showing up at the final act of the episode to turn the verdict around. One also has to wonder why they didn't just use any thermal or motion sensors to track the existence of any other crew member outside the bridge and the transporter room. You'd think that by the 23rd century, the Enterprise would have technology to track the motions of crewmembers aboard the ship.

But as flimsy as the plot is, I like most of it enough, save the abrupt insertion of a fight scene with Kirk's shirt being torn open, again. As far as courtroom dramas go, one where the supposedly infallible technology is called out for providing bad evidence, it's not too bad, and it could have been worse.

3/5

1x15: The Menagerie, Part 1

In an episodic show like this, it's inevitable that we would get a clip show. But to be completely fair, The Cage wasn't really aired officially till decades later after this episode, so it was less of a clip show and more of an in-depth exploration of a guest character for many audience. That said, having already seen The Cage, however, I do feel that some of the scenes are rather redundant in showing the reason why Spock forced the Enterprise to land on Talos IV, like Pike's conversation with Dr. Boyce (which is really there just to let the audience connect with Pike).

That said, it's amusing that Mendez pointed out the detailed recording of the video log entry showing scenes from The Cage, especially with the recording featuring multi-cam footage and an external pan-in from outside the Enterprise at the beginning. Not to mention that the footage also shows the Talosians looking at Pike and his landing party through the monitor. Usually, a clip show like this would silently treat the multi-cam footage of previous episodes like it's a natural thing, but I do like that there's an in-universe explanation here that the footage might be a transmission from Talos IV, possibly streamed through the Talosians' psychic powers (sort of like Teletubbies if you think about it).

Looking back at the footage from The Cage, I also realized how much younger Leonard Nimoy looked in the episode, even though it was filmed just a year or two prior to TOS' true pilot. That's some nice make-up to either de-age or age Leo here.

I've read that poor Captain Pike here would learn about his unfortunate fate in the future on Strange New Worlds, so that's something that would draw me to the spin-off at least, even if it's spun off from the widely hated Discovery (which many have claimed is worse than Enterprise, so that's saying something). Still, at this point of the canon, Pike has only been seen in one episode of the series: the pilot, The Cage, and in hindsight, he seemed like a throwaway prototype to Kirk. Of course, I'm not too familiar with what plans Roddenberry initially have for Pike. But all the same, it's not easy to feel much for Pike aside from surface-level sympathy (as opposed to someone like Kirk or even Spock whom we've spent half a season with by this episode), even if the clip show here was meant to connect us with his character.

I will admit, however, that I liked Pike as a captain, possibly even more than Kirk in some cases. Pike is more grim and serious, not exactly the quippy and wisecracking leader you'd usually find in such shows. He feels more like a veteran suffering from PTSD next to Kirk, and I've always found such qualities in a leader of a story to be more interesting and engaging because I'd be invested in seeing how he's going to work past his demons to lead the team (such as Angel when he started out in the Buffy spin-off, feeling the weight of his past and working through his depression).

That said, how about that iconic wheelchair, huh? I can't watch this episode without remembering Captain Musky from Futurama. Still, you'd think that by the 23rd century, technology would advance enough for quadriplegics that Pike would get some sort of Darth Vader armor deal.

I really love how McCoy stood up for Spock here. While these episodes don't usually have a continuity, watching the series in production order kinda gives you a sense of how close these two have become despite their ideological differences, especially after The Galileo Seven (which was aired after this episode, despite having been produced earlier), not to mention the previous episode, Court Martial, where he accused Spock of being the most cold-blooded man he had ever known (before realizing what Spock's true intention was at the time). It was also kinda cute when he had to ask Spock if confinement to the quarters was sufficient as punishment for mutiny.

Of course, we've seen Spock show his emotional side before (SMUG IS AN EMOTION, MR. SPOCK), but aside from Galileo Seven, this feels like the first time Spock really went out of his way to bend the rules in a very human way. Spock's merely half-Vulcan, after all.

That said, the vagueness of his intentions can feel rather frustrating, especially if you have already seen The Cage and might have also guessed why he had brought a crippled Pike to Talos IV. This means that all the footage we've seen in Part I so far feels like filler that contributes little meaning to Spock's trial. Like I said, it feels like it's more of a lost episode meant for an audience that hasn't seen the pilot, so perhaps it's unfair to judge it through the perception of someone watching the series for the first time in 2023. Perhaps it's simply because I'm just not a fan of rewatching things. lol

3.5/5

[Batman: The Animated Series - General Discussion]

29 minutes ago, Tenshinhan said:

I think that not every Batman villain needed to be given layers.  Some characters are just greedy, sick, or love crime. 

True, but TAS' version of Penguin lacking layers is one reason why I never found his episodes interesting.

30 minutes ago, Tenshinhan said:

I'm not sure why they even bothered giving Mr. Freeze layers, but I guess someone behind the scenes must have really liked the character.

Eh, I like it though. Mr. Freeze's tragic background makes him one of my favorite Batman villains.

[Batman: The Animated Series - General Discussion]

2x05: House & Garden

"Goodbye, Mr. Wayne."

What? lol Does the Plant Creature assume that Bruce Wayne can't swim or something? It's not from a very great height that he fell from, so any surface tension wouldn't harm him much even if he's not Batman. Though to be fair, its intelligence is questionable, considering we don't know how fast these things grow at a natural rate (without the plant steroids Ivy pumped them with at the end of this episode) and how smart they are.

It's a shame things turn out this way. I wouldn't have minded settling for a more generic villain if it meant Pamela could have been reformed. That would have made for a nice refreshing change in one of Batman's rogues gallery for once, someone who could reform like criminals could in real life. It would also prove that Batman villains can be reformed, and incarcerating them and fighting them again when they break out in an endless crusade that lasts forever isn't necessary, especially for villains who used to be on the right side of justice like Harvey Dent (who has actually been cured multiple times in the comics, even fighting crime in Batman's place).

But as it is, I can't complain either because I love how twisted Ivy's plan was. I felt so disturbed watching those babies crawl out from those plants, especially when you consider how little Pamela values these offspring. There's something sympathetic to her plan, especially if you consider her confession that she's infertile to be true, and yet the way they burn out after being used as Pamela's disposable bodyguards just makes me question just how much value she places on the value of her "family." I believe she merely likes the idea of a family, but in terms of appreciating them as sentient lifeforms (as opposed to disposable tools one pumps quick-growth steroids with), maybe not so much.

That being said, it doesn't take away from the pathos of Ivy's newly layered character in TAS. Paul Dini did a great job fleshing her out, as I've always found her tree-hugging extremism to be too simple of a motive for a Batman villain, and infertility as a motive for a children's cartoon is beyond ambitious for Dini. Now if he could only fix the Penguin (I also heard Catwoman was did dirty on TAS, though my memory's unclear on that one except remembering the notorious Tyger Tyger).

4.5/5

Side note: Poor Dick, cockblocked by Bruce. I would say he and Barbara are meant to be together, but Batman Beyond 2.0 would prove otherwise with Bruce's affair with her... though I don't know if that's canon. Then again, even if it's canon, I remember seeing an old Barbara who's still in love with Dick in the Batman Beyond movie.

[The Twilight Zone - General Discussion]

1 hour ago, Annber03 said:

The man truly had a way with words. 

Makes sense, considering he was inspired by Ray Bradbury's works, the famous author of Fahrenheit 451.

[S06.E07: Family Matters]

"Of course - your problems always come first."

OUCH. Castiel's right though. Dean's been a self-centered dick. Plus, he's surprised a woman could speak her mind. How 1950s. Is this The Twilight Zone or just your typical CW sexism?

I like that Gwen survived though, out of all the redshirt Campbells. She's at least the one with the most personality among all of them (and the only female character with personality this season). Here's hoping she'd survive though because I still stand by my initial desire for more recurring characters who are hunters we could have our spotlight on instead of just Sam and Dean hogging the camera all the time. I get it's their show and I get that we got a Bobby episode not long ago, but variety is the spice of life.

Crowley being the main antagonist oddly makes me like him even more. lmao Obviously, demons, and especially Crowley, are not to be trusted, so the smart choice for Dean would have been to stab Crowley anyway since Sam's supposed to be dead in the first place. Just saying. Dean could run the show alone, as we've established in my post for the last episode.

The whole soulless issue seems arbitrary by pop culture standards anyway. One could argue that the T-800 lacks a soul since he's just a machine, yet even he could be programmed to be an ally. Sam seems to possess a similar capability to learn from his mistakes, so he could probably learn some semblance of human empathy as well even if it's fake empathy; just needs a little practice.

I don't mind Purgatory being the goal, since it's always cool to explore yet another biblical location, especially one related to Dante. I doubt Crowley just wants it for real estate though. The most obvious answer is that he's looking to secure the location as an insurance in case he gets sent there someday, like all good little demons.

3/5 for the episode. I like the twist, but I would like to see more done with it first, because Supernatural, like many similar shows like it, tends to build up the hype with cool concepts but fail to deliver. The Alpha was kinda cool, so I was hoping he'd be a bigger threat (or at least had his history explored more), but alas.

[The Twilight Zone - General Discussion]

The Four of Us Are Dying

Another idiot who squanders a useful power. Maybe try not turning into a criminal, huh? If Arch Hammer needed money, why not perform a gig as the resurrected Johnny Foster or something? Hell, there could have been a dozen other ways. Archie wasn't just cheap; he lacked imagination.

This episode shares the same problem with both And When the Sky was Opened and What You Need: cool gimmick for the plot to hinge on, but barely enough substance in their characters to keep the audience emotionally invested. These stories work better as a pulpy short film or short story you'd consume once from an adult magazine or late night TV (when there's nothing better on) and forget about, rarely meant for a revisit. At least in something like Mr. Denton on Doomsday, for example, you could sympathize with Al Denton for his trauma of having shot a kid as a gunslinger, so there's a little more meat there.

Why does Archie want to hook up with Maggie, for example? One could speculate from what little we've seen in the episode that he merely wants to get laid or perhaps have the company of a woman for a night, but there's not much to go on from there to make me care, especially in a rewatch, and especially because we're quickly forced to care about a different set of scenario: Virgil Sterig the mob boss trying to get even. And then there's this random father and son story out of nowhere. As Emily St. James observed at the AV Club, it feels like Rod was trying to tell too many stories at once and ended up shortchanging all of them. All one could care about is the cool gimmick of the face-shifting powers, and even then, not so much during a rewatch.

That being said, you also have to remind yourself what kind of show this is and why some of us are watching it in the first place. This is not Mad Men. The whole appeal of the show is the cool gimmicks happening, so we could get weirded out by the bizarre and the supernatural. As I've mentioned, these stories sometimes work better as pulp material to be consumed and forgotten, and Rod might even have intended them that way, considering DVDs and blu-rays weren't invented yet (not to mention TiVo and DVRs), so you really have to view this show through the production habits from that era. So, as I've mentioned in my reviews for Supernatural, we do have to adjust our expectations accordingly. Archie changing faces into anyone is indeed a cool concept, admittedly. The fact that there isn't a more substantial story to be found isn't restricted to this episode alone, and it's a trait and a trademark of the entire show even: episodes with cool gimmicks and nothing more. Perhaps we ought to be satisfied with that.

I really wanted to like this episode though because frankly, I do love the way cool and strange phenomenon or even super powers keep popping up on this show. But perhaps I was disappointed because I was also expecting to feel some kind of pathos or sympathy for Archie's foolishness when I saw this episode was coming up next, but in the end, he's a villain who deserves his fate. There's nothing in the episode that made me root for him, much like Fred Renard in What You Need, making the "tragic and ironic conclusion" feel empty, something to be shrugged at.

2.5/5

Side note: A young Jerry Goldsmith composed the score for this episode. I'm more of a John Williams guy, but I really like his score from The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser version) and Mulan. The synthesizer during the haircut scene was brilliant and cathartic.

Third from the Sun

Now here's an episode I can get behind with, and it helps that there's 1) a clear and immediate theme we could relate with: fear of nuclear warfare present in the '50s, and 2) a relatable protagonist who's possibly responsible, albeit partly, for contributing to said warfare, our Oppenheimer of the story, ladies and gents (anyone else looking forward to Nolan's film?). The strength of the episode is that the brilliant twist isn't all that the episode has to offer; it's merely the cherry on top of a fascinating and disturbing discussion on whether our Earth would someday share a similar fate. Plus, the moment you saw the UFO, or hell, the strange design of the telephone, the cat's out of the bag, which was the intention, of course, to let audience in on the joke (evidenced by the strange camera choices of Dutch angels and that claustrophobic feel). Good looking for aliens though. My theory is that they weren't from Mars or a distant planet, but an entirely different parallel dimension, and they have merely flew through a portal or some kind of space-warp phenomenon (I have no idea what I'm talking about).

And of course, it's not just nuclear anxiety that was relevant to the time of the episode's release, but also McCarthyism that occurred just a little around a decade prior, that fear of people listening in and policing your conversations, that very Orwellian 1984 sort of fear (which was published 1949, in the midst of McCarthyism). This episode has layers in its themes that go beyond Rod's usual trauma from WWII in other episodes, which is what really make it such a strong and compelling entry.

As noted by David Simkins on the commentary track (alongside Marc Scott Zicree), we the audience didn't know what time period the Sturka and Riden families were landing on Earth, but presuming it's the '60s, then they also had the Cuban missile crisis to worry about. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the nightmarish fire of the '60s (racial and gender roles issues and the Kennedy/MLK/Malcolm X assassinations on top of the Cuban crisis). Maybe they had an even worse stroke of luck and landed on Earth, 2020... Time to hop aboard on another ship, fellows.

4.5/5 for a very tense (how about that playing card scene? felt like a "bomb under the table" Hitchcock scene more like) and well-written episode filled with fascinating themes we take for granted today (the preciousness of life amidst nuclear warfare, McCarthyism, etc.).

A beauty about this whole series is that each episode, at least for the first few seasons, is only half an hour long, so even if there's a dud, you could easily watch it once and skip to the next one. For other anthology shows, however, this proves more challenging, especially a show like American Horror Story where if a season's concept is something you find dull, you'd have to sit through an entire season to know if it's worth watching, or if there's at least something worthwhile to sit through, however little. That's probably just one of the problems that would surface for Twilight Zone as well when it switches to an hour format, along with other contemporary anthology shows that have a similar format like Black Mirror. And the problem with that format, aside from testing the audience's patience with bad episodes, is that they can be expensive to make, so you might only get three episodes out of a very bad Black Mirror season and nothing else. I'm guessing for TZ, it might have been different or found some way to cut costs.

[Star Trek - General Discussion]

1x12: Conscience of the King

"Logic is not enough."

All things aside, I would have liked to explore a story on synthetic food curing famine (still a very real problem today in our world, if more than ever), but with the solution meeting obstacles.

That said, I like the idea of a murder mystery on the show, even if it's not so much a mystery as it is a quest to attain proof to convict a mass murderer. As I mentioned before, Star Trek being an episodic show allowed for a wider range of topics and themes to be covered, including different formats and experimentations. It's not quite The Twilight Zone, but similar to it, audiences could expect a broad range of unique stories to be found, asking themselves "What incredible adventures would Kirk and his crew run into this time?" Of course, much like many film productions with a low budget, part of the reason such creative inspirations came about was probably due to the budget constraints. A simple spree murder, one usually seen in low budget slasher movies than sci-fi serials, makes for a nice change of pace in genre within Star Trek, not to mention exploring Kirk's struggle between acquiring justice... or his revenge.

Despite being one of the more "talky" episodes, I really liked Kirk and Anton Karidian's exchange. Appropriate to his character, the conversation was very Shakespearean, with Anton questioning Kirk's own humanity in an age when people have long lived in convenience due to the wonders of cold, mechanized technology that could prove easily whether two seemingly different men are the same person. Zack Handlen of AV Club called out on the awkwardness of the episode because it feels like a murder mystery written for a western or a pre-space age setting, because the technology that offered Kirk photographic and auditory records of both Kodos' face and voice means that killing off eyewitnesses is redundant. However, I would argue that the existence of such convenient technology that turns human lives into statistics merely made Kirk's quest all the more meaningful; he had to know for sure whether Anton is Kodos or not because a human life has to be worth more than what a computer determines. Otherwise, he would have been no better than Kodos, a lesson I kinda wish he had conveyed to Riley a little bit in some subtle way (instead of, you know, just shooing him away to the sick bay, never to be seen again for the rest of the episode). Nevertheless, the writing of Kirk's dilemma amidst the ship's technology was a brilliant way of using the show's futuristic setting to put a new spin to its familiar storyline of vengeance and catching a murderer.

Arnold Moss delivered an amazing performance as Anton Karidian. His exchange with Kirk only lasted for one scene before he met his end, but boy, was it a memorable one. You don't usually see such serious acting on a sci-fi show like this in the '60s besides Twilight Zone (which is another reason why this show's as special as TZ), and it's powerful enough to make me somewhat sympathetic to his character. Sure, Anton's a mass murderer, but from what he has described, it seems that he was forced to make a decision in a very desperate situation, something Kirk might have been familiar with (and this familiarity was something Anton called out on during the speech). Such ambiguity to Anton's actions is what makes me love this show's writing so far and what lends strength to the episode despite its mundane premise. The tragedy that Kodos' actions, however justified he might think, led to his own daughter's hands to be stained, made this episode all the more poetic and grandiose. I love my Greek tragedies, so this episode easily lands as my favorite one so far.

While the Lenore flirtations with Kirk were the weakest part of the show (albeit not a boring one, as Kirk seemed to genuinely enjoy Lenore's company, and not in a "I just want to jump your bones" way either), I quite enjoy how it all turns out at the end with Lenore and her father. It's not all too surprising, but I think that predictability only made it more tragic. While Barbara Anderson's mourning might have been a little dramatic (better suited for a stage play than a TV series), I think it fitted the story due to its relations with Shakespeare and Macbeth, which was why it didn't really take me out of the moment, and instead left me captivated.

And I haven't even talked about the nice little moments between Spock and McCoy this episode, which once again establishes their distinctive roles between Spock's intelligence and McCoy's heart as the latter invites the former for a drink (but Spock ultimately declined). It's a nice little moment that shows the mutual respect they have for each other in spite of their polarizing worldviews.

5/5 for this episode. Absolutely brilliant.

1x13: The Galileo Seven

McCoy: "Mr. Spock, remind me to tell you that I'm sick and tired of your logic."
Spock: "That is a most illogical attitude."

Kirk: "Mr. Spock, you are a stubborn man."
Spock: "Yes sir."
Laughter ensues aboard the bridge.

First appearance of the shuttlecraft! No more excuses for not being able to send a small landing party when the Enterprise has some mechanical failure and whatnot. It took a while for the shuttlecraft to be invented due to budget issues, so a couple of the previous episodes seemed amusing in hindsight because the problems there could have been resolved with a small security team (AKA redshirts) sent out on a shuttlecraft. Of course, as shown in this episode, the craft's not perfect either, and it had to be sacrificed this episode. Ah well.

This also marked the first episode in production order where Grace Lee Whitney has mysteriously disappeared from the Enterprise (at least till The Motion Picture).

This was also the first time Spock was in command of an Enterprise crew, and there's an interesting parallel here between Spock's logic failing to protect the crew and High Commander Ferris' strict adherence to the rulebook that results in Kirk abandoning his crew. The lesson of the day is, of course, that logic and rationality aren't always the highest priority, especially in survival situations. Appropriately, in production order, this episode came immediately after Conscience of the King, where Kodos also resorted to the most rational response (in his mind anyway) of sacrificing half of the survivors for the survival of the other half. Kodos' logic could be argued to have been affected by his emotions as well, his panic and urgency of saving what people he could in a desperate situation (as Kirk eloquently put it, "Desperation is a highly emotional state of mind"). Never did it occur to him or Spock any other possibilities or probability beyond the obvious logic, which is what separates a thinking and feeling man from a machine. Of course, what separates Spock from Kodos is the former's human side ultimately succumbing to the illogical emotional state of saving his crew in a last ditch desperate attempt.

By the way, what ever happened to that Ferris with that stick up his butt? Did they jettison him onto Taurus II? lol

On a personal note, the planet Taurus II greatly reminds me of the planet Tarith from one of the side missions Mass Effect 2, which is also consumed by a thick mist where dangerous creatures (in the latter's case, fire-breathing insects called Klixens) attack the landing party (in the latter's case, you, the poor sob).

Unlike last episode's more theatrical style, this one is more of a character study with a simpler plot, albeit one I greatly enjoyed as well. That said, it means the study forces into existence some plot points that are questionable for the sake of the plot, such as Kirk taking the spare time away from delivering a space plague vaccine to launch a scientific exploration in a hostile environment that had been noted to disrupt their sensors, using a crew that's put together seemingly to justify the "head vs. heart" debate that would ensue between Spock and McCoy plus an accompanying Scotty for reasons instead of the latter two's subordinates. As Spock would put it, "Highly illogical."

That's not even counting the fact that Spock was right anyway about placing priority on the ship repair (and their escape) over holding a funeral ceremony. I'm guessing the Enterprise isn't a military ship, because if it is, such subordination and the endangerment of the crew for a ceremony would not have been tolerated.

3.5/5

[Batman: The Animated Series - General Discussion]

2x04: Avatar

BATMAN. IN. EGYPT!!! AKA that one Batman episode crossed over with Indiana Jones, with a dash of Scooby-Doo when Batman pulled a Velma impression on Ubu when he unmasked him. Not that it's a knock on the episode, but I found it amusing. "Jinkies! It's old man Ubu!" 

For a moment there, I'd thought the cloaked Ubu to be the return of Phantasm, considering the similar design in their silhouette . Then again, I already knew that she wouldn't appear in the DCAU again till the Justice League: Unlimited episode, Epilogue.

Corporeal gods are often disappointing, especially when you take a look at how weak those supposed god-like beings can be in CW's Supernatural (in fact, Thoth Khepera would fit in easily in that show, being a generic mummy/zombie creature Sam and Dean kill every Tuesday). Even Star Trek's Gary Mitchell and Charlie Evans proved to be far more superior in their capability than Thoth, the supposed "goddess of immortality" who's easily killed by falling debris. Then again, I guess this variation of Batman isn't quite ready to fight someone on the level of Darkseid yet.

I liked Talia's betrayal though. It didn't come off as cheap because of course Talia would betray Batman to ensure he escapes the from arms of the law. She's even remorseful for it. And it also made sense that Batman didn't disarm her, even though he could have easily.

3/5