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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • However what I don’t think is justified is the label as one of the worst Star Trek episodes. Is it nuts? Yes. Is it annoying that they have the technology to bring everyone back to Earth and simply de-lizard them after the trip, and then it’s never brought up again? Also yes.

    But it’s nowhere near the worst episodes because it’s neither offending and un-Star Trek (like TNG’s Code of Honor) nor is it boring. It’s actually pretty entertaining for the first 35 or so minutes. It just goes off the rails at the end.






  • I'm not good with scores so I'll just explain how I rate Discovery.

    Back in the 90s/00s I never understood the hate that some Trek fans had towards a new Trek series. Every time a new series premiered there was a large (or at least very loud) chunk of the fanbase hating on the new series. I liked them all. Some more, some less. But I enjoyed them all for being Star Trek and watched them all countless times. (same goes for LD and SNW)

    To put that in perspective:

    1. I still don't remember the names of all the bridge officers on Discovery.
    2. I only watch Discovery episodes once.

    I never felt inclined to rewatch a single episode. It's not that all of them are bad but there's just nothing about them that makes me rewatch them. Especially since 90% of them are embedded in season-long story arcs. (same with Picard, although I do plan to rewatch season 1 and 3 at some point)

    At first I liked Discovery for trying something new. I'm not one of those fans who wants a new Trek show to do exactly the same thing that other Trek shows have done before. You need to do new things if you want to keep a franchise alive. But when you do season-long story arcs you need a plan. And Discovery didn't have that. It was quite obvious both in seasons 1 and 2. Season 2 was at least helped by Captain Pike. It's hard to rate those two seasons because there were so many ups and downs. But in total I'd say the first two season were better than the 3rd and 4th seasons.

    Season 3 was a chore to watch. Jumping to the future was like jumping the shark for me. There's not nearly enough world-building to make that future interesting – and how can there be, when there's only 13 episodes and all of them are part of a story arc.

    Season 4 was okay. I give them credit for doing something big with non-humanoid and really strange aliens. But this story could have been told in the 23rd century with minimal changes. So why again are they in the future?

    In short: Discovery is okay-ish but nothing more.






  • My vote goes to DS9 season 2 which is severely underrated. Althouth I like the latter half of DS9 more – mainly because it had Worf in it, and Worf is the best {{:-) – season 2 lay the foundation for DS9’s later success.

    The whole season is a huge step up from season 1 which often felt like TNG on a space station. In season 2 the writers began to really try out new things. It starts with a never-before-done 3-part episode, then does some more great world-building in “Cardassians” and “Necessary Evil”, then slowly builds up a mysterious force in the Gamma Quadrant by the name of “the Dominion”, then achieves the feat of making Bashir likeable in “Armageddon Game” upon which his friendship with O’Brien is built, then does a couple of standalone highlights like “Whispers” and “Blood Oath” (in which Kor, Koloth and Kang return! which in today’s crossover-ridden landscape would be just a footnote but back then it was a huge deal), then lays the foundation for the Maquis on Voyager and also does more with the Maquis then Voyager ever will do, oh and in the same episode spells out the show’s leitmotif “it’s easy to be a saint in paradise”, …

    … and we’re still not done yet because the rest of the season is a total banger: “The Wire” is a trip into Garak’s psyche, “Crossover” brings back the mirror universe, “The Collaborator” is a big step in making Kai Winn one of the show’s main antagonists, “Tribunal” is the OG O’Brien-must-suffer episode, and “The Jem’Hadar” introduces the Dominion literally with a huge bang by blowing up a Galaxy Class ship. You know, the ship class that we just spend 7 years with and which escaped countless foes unscathed.

    Seriously, never skip season 2 on your re-watch. Don’t listen to anyone who says that “DS9 only gets good once the Defiant shows up”. No no no. This is the real deal.


  • I agree. The episode isn’t perfect but the first ~35 minutes are decent.

    I’ll never understand why it’s considered to be the worst Star Trek episode. Yes, it has a weird ending but Star Trek had plenty of weird episodes (which aren’t considered bad). What I find much worse are episodes like TNGs Code of Honor that are insulting, or episodes that are downright boring like SNWs The Elysian Kingdom.