Star Trek: The Original Series : The Man Trap Review

Over the years i've reviewed a great a deal of the Star Trek movies some of which did feature the cast of The Original Series. However i've never actually sat down and watched an entire episode before now and well that box has very firmly been ticked as i've just watched what is my first ever episode of Star Trek: The Original Series and well i'm going to talk about it and so then join me as I review the episode that sees the Enterprise encounter a deadly shapeshifting alien with the episode in question being called simply just "The Man Trap" enjoy.

The plot of this episode the Enterprise orbits a planet where they are to perform a routine inspection on the planets only inhabitants only to find that one of them isn't quite who they seem to be. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. To be frank to this episode it's plot isn't as bad as it really could have been as it was only the sixth episode to be shot and therefor the team where still finding there feet plot wise but it's also not one of the more better plots either as this episodes plot does come across as being quite dull and boring alot of the time with it's idea of a creature that can chance shape into one being something that isn't that fully baked. While there are a few bad things in this plot like the fact that they set up that this plant can detect who is a real person and who isn't but then they don't do anything with it or have it play a major role in the plot of the episode it's literally just in that one scene but in all fairness when this episodes plot does want to be good it is a really good plot with there being alot of thought and effort put into it with the episode being really well written by writer George Clayton Johnson who wrote episodes of The Twilight Zone amongst other things here turning his talents to science fiction with the result being a plot that was good for a first episode but could have been alot of more better with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this episode is William Shatner as Captain Kirk , Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock and Jeanne Bal as Nancy Crater. Also starring in this episode is Alfred Ryder as Robert Crater , DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy , Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand , George Takei as Sulu , Nichelle Nichols as Uhura , Bruce Watson as Green , Michael Zaslow as Darnell , Vince Howard as Crewman , Francine Pyne as Nancy III , Budd Albright as Barnhart , Larry Anthony as Berkley , John Arndt as Sturgeon , William Blackburn as Hadley , Frank Da Vinci as Brent and Vinci , James Doohan as Montgomery Scott , Sandra Gimpel as M-113 Creature , Eddie Paskey as Leslie , Jeanne Malone as Yeoman and Ron Veto as Harrison.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. While it is understandable as to why this episodes acting isn't that great as the episodes main actors are still getting us to there character and are still finding them it still does make you wonder if the makers of this episode had enough time and budget to do a second take as this episodes acting does feel like the acting that you would find in the just take of any scene but in all fairness the acting in this show from is something that has been mocked in the past and for good reason as it is over the top especially from alot of it's main actors. With the best actor in this episode being DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy as he does have to juggle alot of different emotions in this episode from being anxious about seeing a woman that he once dated again to the joy of seeing her again to the love that he still feels for her and the anger of when he is forced to kill her before she kills his friend Captain Kirk all of these things are done subtly all through the actors facial expressions and yet they are all things that help to make his performance in the episode be as good as it could have been as by all right this episodes acting should have been really flat and yet he managed to turn a good and subtle performance with him making a character that is usually seen as being grumpy and miserable quite human with this being something that really does shine through in his performance. With the acting that's in this very episode really being helped by the fact that the script is for this episode is just so good that all this episodes actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode. 

Effects in classic television shows and movies can at times be really cheesy and while that is also true for this episodes effects as well there are some shot that do make you wonder how they pulled them off in the first place. As while it is easy to work out how they did the transporter effects as that's just animated lines added to the live action footage the episode does have alot of shots of the Enterprise and while yes alot of them are clearly just a model against a black background the episode will then have in camera moves or will have the model come into frame from far away both of which are things that would be hard to do with just a model therefor there does need to some level of animation added to the scene to make the effect work in the first place. Whilst it would have been super easy to do these kinds of effects today as you could very easily just do them in a computer in the sixties they would have had to have found unique and creative ways to make these effects work in the first place and whilst yes they might look cheesy by today's standards you have to to think back to how they would have looked back in those days and in those days having a model flying against a black background with a painted on planet in the background would have been seen as being really good and to be fair to this episode those old school classic effects do help to add a bit of charm to this episode as they help to make the episode feel alot less like a time capsule and alot more like a science fiction show as today every one and there grandmother knows what the transporter effect looking like as it's that well known, the effect itself is perhaps the most simplest of the effects in the episode as it is just handdrawn on lines over the live action footage and yet both that and the model effects in this episode do stand out due to how simple that they are.

Whilst the episode doesn't really have a good mystery to it as they out right show you who the monster is alot of the time. The episode does do a good job of building up tension with it being done by doing the most simplest of this things just by having the monster in it's human be around people who might find out that one of them isn't who they say they are and that is a good idea as it does mean that at any minuet the monster could either kill another crew member or be found out with the best example of this being the meeting that Kirk has with several of the crew including the monster now being disguised as Leonard with the tension being built just by having the camera cut to between the two characters and showing there reactions to what the other is saying. It truly is masterful storytelling as so much is getting across in such a short amount of time and yet it all works with the only thing that could have made be even more better being if we never saw the monster transform into Leonard in the first place as while that is a great to get across the fact that a main character is in danger the episode does have a similar scene later on in the episode where we find out that the monster tried and failed to kill Spock therefor there was no need to show Leonard being attacked and if we never saw that then it would make the meeting scene all the more suspenseful as now we the audience would have no idea that the monster was even there in the first place. This is something that could also be applied to the rest of the episode as it would have been more effective to hid the monster transforming into different people until the last possible minuet just as a way to built up tension as they we could have had crew members arguing with each other all trying to out who is the real person and who isn't with this adding some sort of replay value to the episode.

As was mentioned this was the first episode of the show to be broadcast but it's not the shows actual pilot episode as there were two other pilots made before this episode was even written. With "The Cage" and a pilot version of the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" being made before this episode and while both episodes would actually air in the first season of this show with "The Cage" being tuned into the two part episode "The Menagerie" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" airing as the third episode it doesn't change the fact that either episode was made before this one altho to be fair this was the first episode to air officially thus making it an unofficial pilot episode but in saying this tho it actually doesn't do any of the things that the other pilot episodes tend to do. As we never see the Enterprise launch on it's five year mission and we never see the main characters meeting for the first time as all of that is done off screen with the episode being more focused on telling its own story and the episode is all the more better of because of it as given just much that this episode has to do in the first place to tell the origin stories of not only the main characters but also why they are in this five year mission in the first place would be overkill for any episode and therefor getting rid of all of that and just focusing in this plot does serve to make the episode alot more watchable not only to returning viewers who are seeing this episode for the one hundredth time but also for people who are seeing this episode for the first time as there are is no heavy lore dumb in this episode its just the main plot and that's it with this being something that does make the episode more welcoming to new time fans of the show when it would have been super easy for the makers of this show to have a big lore dumb right at the start of the episode it does show that they knew that doing that might put people of watching episode two of the show and therefor chose not to do in the first place.

The creature in this episode which actually doesn't have a name does have a really creepy look to it with it's body basically being like sasquatch with it having an oval shaped mouth and fangs for teeth. Which is a really creepy look as it does make the alien look like it comes from another world with the make up effects on the creature looking like they belong in a feature film as they do look really impressive with them holding up even all of these decades later with the only thing that does let the monster down being the fact that we don't get to see that much of it in it's monster form as alot of the time it is just copying other characters which is understandable but if the creature looks this good then why not show it off as much as you can. Even it's goal to steal the sugar from every human body being something that does work as it is a unique idea and it does make the creature stand out all of the more because of it so much so that one could argue that the villain in the series three premiere of Doctor Who straight up copies this episodes villain only replace sugar with blood, there is mainly one thing about the villain that never gets explained and that's why it decided to take the form of Nancy in the first place as it could have taken the place of any other person once it gained Roberts trust but it kept on coming back for his sugar cubes as his dead wife who he knew was dead as she saw the monster kill her in the first place this is something that really should have been explained as it does make the villain seem more sympathetic in it's own way and yet by not doing that t makes a creature who we are told is the last of it's kind seem like a true monster with the Enterprise crew coming across as being heartless for ending an entire species when they could have given it and Robert more sugar and left them both on the planet happy with each other and yet they didn't for some odd reason.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty minuets and twenty eight seconds. Which to be fair to this episode is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this show to have in the first place and the episode it self really does need that amount of running time as it does have to et up all of the characters as well as the plot of the episode and the world that the show takes part in and it t that in anything under forty minuets would mean that something would fall threw the cracks and the episode itself might end up being all the more worse because of it and yet due to the fact that this episode is as long as it is does mean that the episode can be as good as it was ever going to be with the episode even having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet despite this the episode still doesn't use its running time all that wisely as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop its plot as the episode doesn't really give us anything that add things to the plot of the episode with this being something that does make this episode plot feel really underbaked and it's ideas whilst they are good just ideas and not something that's fully formed as the episode doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot with the makers of this episode being more focused on showing us the creature transforming into different crew members then they are in giving us a well developed plot. With the episode understandably not really giving any of its characters any kind of character development this is something that does make sense for this episode as it was the first episode to be broadcast but this is also that is true for all of the episodes guest characters as well as none of them are given any form of character development when they really should have done with the makers of this episode being more focused on showing us Leonard sleeping ten it is in giving its characters some actual character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us inn this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. While the episodes action doesn't really hold up today as there's nothing fancy to it as it's just a group of people trying to fight over a gun it's how they pull it off that makes the episodes action work as yes it is quite cheaply done but due to the fact that the makers of this episode did give us scenes that make you care for all of the characters involved you do end up caring for all of the characters the monster included in the action in this episode. With the episodes best action scene being when The Monster tries to attack Kirk as both he and Spock bed for Leonard to use the phaser to kill it but he wont' due to the fact that he sees the love of his life with Spock even getting thrown around the room like a ragdoll and even slapping the monster in it's human form to try and get it to turn into it's monster form with it only being when Kirk is near death that Leonard then fires the phaser twice with the second shot being the killing blow, this was a masterfully done as while there wasn't alot to it interms of action it did do a good job of telling a story of Leonard coming to grips with the fact that his beloved Nancy is no longer with us and the thing that has been parading as her is a monster that has been killing people with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall as far as first episodes go this isn't the best one as An Unearthly Child has this episode beat by a long shot but at the same time this was still a really good episode that whilst it does have it's fair share of problems as all first episodes do does do a really good job of showing us just how good that Star trek could be in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now the i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad that things that are in this very episode in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in his very review from Amazon . Co . UK and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Star Trek: Section 31 Film Review

For some reason Paramount right now has trouble getting a new Star Trek movie off of the ground that is unless it's based off of Star Trek TV series that not alot of people actually like in the first place. Which really is very much the case with this film as this film is a spin off film from a TV show that's not that well liked by alot of Star Trek fans and so then join me as I review the film that is basically Oceans Eleven but in space with the film in question being called simply just "Star Trek: Section 31" enjoy.

The plot of this film is really hard to wok out as the film basically has no plot to it whatsoever which is the first of many things wrong with this film. As by not having a plot then you rob your film of reason of existing and while yes there is a hint of plot explained at the start of the film with something needing finding but that's really it and the film never really touched upon that in any meaningful way which makes it feel like an afterthought when it's something that really should have been treated as the main plot of the film. It's this kind of thinking and logic that only hits home that Paramount has no idea what there doing with Star Trek as they've left it in the hands of people that have no clue what there doing instead of giving it to people who are actually fans of the franchise and would there for want to turn in something that's not only watchable but actually good but where as here it comes across as being made by people who just wanted to cash a check as this films plot is a about as far away from Star Trek as you can get and while the idea of doing something that's basically Oceans Eleven but set in the world of Star Trek is a good idea you still need to have an actual plot to make it work and because of the fact that this film is missing a plot then the whole idea just doesn't work as well as it really should have done with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and as well as being not really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is one of this films executive producers Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou and Omari Hardwick as Alok. Also starring in this film is Kacey Rohl as Rachel Garrett , Sam Richardson as Quasi , Sven Ruygrok as Fuzz , Warcraft ad Captain Marvel star Robert Kazinsky as Zeph , Humberly González as Melle , James Hiroyuki Liao as San and Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis as The Voice Of Control.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / resented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Which for this film having something that's not that bad in it is a god send as while the actors in this film do there best not even they can save this film and to be clear Michelle Yeoh is pretty much awsome in everything that she's in and can pretty much save anything that she's in because f the fact that she's just that good of an actress and while she does turn in a good performance in this film not even she can make this stinker of a film passable as everything surrounding this film is just that bad with it being clear as day that this films director Olatunde Osunsanmi really has no clue how to get a good performance out of his actors which makes sense given that he's directed several episodes of Star Trek: Discovery with nothing that he's worked on getting any kind of positive reviews whatsoever with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film really is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Cause And FX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad given that this film is a made for TV film with it being clear as day that Paramount Pictures gave this film a big budget just so that they could afford some decent looking and FX and it really was money well spent as all of this films CGI really does look really good and while granted it won't ever look as good as the more recent theatrically released Star Trek films given the fact that this is basically a made for TV movie this films CGI could have looked alot more worse then what it does with alot of the credit going to Cause And FX as it does come across as them not only knowing what there doing but also knowing the world of Star Trek and knowing the level of effects quality that those films usually attract and while they won't ever be able to replicate or even reach that level of quality on a made for TV show budget that didn't stop them from taking a massive swing and at least trying to reach the high quality bar of the effects from the more recently theatrically released Star Trek films as this films CGI is just that good.

For some strange reason even tho the casts of the last three Star Trek movies have been trying for years to get a fourth film made. Paramount instead chose to make a film spin off of a Star Trek that not alot of Star Trek fans actually like and while basing a film off of what is more then likely the most popular character to come from Star Trek: Discovery what doesn't make sense is to make a movie from that show when you have a perfectly good set of actors who have already starred in three Star Trek movies to begin with all of whom are begging Paramount Pictures to pick a script for the fourth film and get that fourth film made in the first place which they very easily could have done as they have alot of scripts for that fourth movie being worked on and yet they instead chose to make a made for TV movie based off of a show that caused alot of division amongst the Star Trek fanbase which makes no sense it would make sense if Star Trek: Discovery was popular enough to warrant a movie being made about but it was never that popular in the first place with it only just scrapping by and only just getting renewed alot of the time and while it's not needed to watch that show to understand this movie you should at least have a basic knowledge of the Emperor Philippa Georgiou character which even then really isn't all that needed to watch this film and to understand what's exactly going on in this film either.

Much like with Moana 2 this film also started life as a TV show but unlike Moana 2 where it at least had a through line running through the movie. This film doesn't even have that going for it which makes the fact that it was originally planned to be a TV show even more obvious then what it was in Moana 2 as here you can quite literally tell where it was going to go to a commercial break or when an episode would have ended which makes it look like that they had already filmed episodes of the show but then cancelled it and decided to edit together whatever footage that they had shot together into a movie which makes the movie come across as being a mess of a film and it's really something that should have been tackled early on into development as if the makers of this film did that then they would have released that they have a huge problem of a movie on there hands and can at least make changes to fix the problems that people have with this movie but since they actively chose not to do that and just straight up not promote this movie at all it means that not only do they have a really bad movie on there hands but that they also have a movie that won't do any kind of numbers for Paramount+ either as next to nobody even knows about this movie and so that means that the people who might have liked this movie in the first place will more then likely not know about it because of the fact that it was so poorly promoted by Paramount Pictures.

There are a few things that this film doesn't really fail at the first of which is the fact that alot of the new characters do seem like interesting characters and could be good characters should they appear in more Star Trek media. The second of which is the fact that this film could be considered a film that's so bad that it's good as while the film doesn't give any of the new characters a chance to shine or even get across what they bring to the team what it does do is create a film that is so bad that you can't help but watch it and while people's enjoyment of this film will very much depend on how much that they liked Star Trek: Discovery this is a film that will go down by many fans as a film that is at the very least entertainingly bad as all we the audience are there doing is just sitting there wondering just how badly that they can mess this film up even further even on the most basic levels of film making and then when they reach those levels and mess up even more things like the fact that even tho this film really should have been an Oceans Eleven movie but set in space they instead treated as being like Mission Impossible but in space and that is something that just doesn't work but is still fun to see with this film having a good idea but just not going all the way with it something that they very easily could have done if they stuck with there original idea and kept it as a TV show since then they could fully develop all of the new characters and give all of the characters and not just Michelle Yeoh as chance to shine as this is a film that really should have been an ensemble film.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty five minuets and twelve seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for a made for a TV movie but it's also the shortest Star Trek movie to date as alot of them clock in at around the two hour mark with this film not even having enough there interms of plot to cover it's own running time as it's more busy on trying to sell us on the idea of more Section 31 movies and shows then it is on being a good movie with a plot and as this movie has no plot to speak off it really does make the movie feel like chore to sit through as all your left wondering is when the plot of the movie will actually begin and all you left doing is watching the characters just doing random things for no apparent reason and these are issues that could have very easily have been fixed if they bothered to hire a directed who actually directed hit movies instead of movies that all got negative reviews and had a production team that actually cared about the franchise instead of hiring the same production team that ran the franchise into the ground with Star Trek: Discovery but because neither of that happened we are instead stuck with a movie that is longer then what it really needed to be as there's no reason for this movie in it's current shape to be this long in the first place and a production that have made it quite clear as day that they don't care about Star Trek but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I gave t actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. As it's always a great time when you get to see Michelle Yeoh kicking butt in a movie and she really does get alot of really good action scenes in this film to showcase what she can still do but that's also the problem as alot of the films action does showcase everything that Michelle Yeoh can do but it's all stuff that we've seen before in other movies and TV shows and a  result of that is the fact that it feels more like a show real for Michelle Yeoh then it does an actual action movie as none of this films new characters get a chance to showcase what they can do and because of that as impressive as this films action can be at times it all just feels very formulaic and like there just going through the motions when what they should have done is give the new characters some action scenes as that would then make the films action feel more different and would offer a verity of action scenes instead of just having one person take the lead in all of the films which is great for the trailers but it does also mean that this films action can get repetitive at times you know what's going to happen next before it even happens something that wouldn't be true if some of the films new characters took the lead in the action and that would would then give us the audience a chance to see just what it is they bring to the team as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall out of all the more recent Star Trek movies ever made this is easily the worst one as there really was no effort put into making this film at least really somewhat watchable and while this film might be a film that's so bad that it's good it's really also a film that really does fail to do even the most basic of film making things as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 2 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images hat I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Star Trek fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine "Emissary" Review

Star Trek has spawned many a TV show in both the realms of animation and live action and while it's prime was no doubt really in the sixties. The franchise started to become really popular again around the nineties with there being three live action shows airing during the decade with only two of them ever airing at the exact same time at different points in the nineties and so then join me I review the episode that saw Deep Space Nine launch with the episode in question being called simply just "Emissary" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is Commander Benjamin Sisko is told that he is destined to discover an ancient home world by going through a wormhole and must discover it before a race of aliens called The Cardassian's find it and use it's power for evil. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good as the plot of the episode is a good example of just how good this franchise was and still could be when it's at it's best with the plot of the episode doing a very good of setting up all of the characters in a way that feels organic and giving at least one of them a really interesting character arc for the episode with the plot of the episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this episode is Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko , Rene Auberjonois as Odo and Siddig El Fadil as Doctor Bashir. Also starring in this episode is Terry Farrell as Lieutenant Dax , Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko , Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien , Armin Shimerman as Quark , Nana Visitor as Major Kira , Camille Saviola as Kai Opaka , Felecia M. Bell as Jennifer Sisko / Jennifer Alien , Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat , Joel Swetow as Gul Jasad , Aron Eisenberg as Nog , Stephen Davies as A Tactical Officer , Frank Owen Smith as Curzon , Lynnda Ferguson as Doran and Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard / Locutus Of Borg.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With alot of the episodes cast turning in some really solid performances but on the flip of side is the fact that we do get alot of really bad performances in this episodes which is understandable as this is the only the first episode of the show but with that being said you always want to start of with your best foot forward and that is something that this episode is very severely lacking acting wise as while we do get good performances from the likes of Avery Brooks , Colm Meaney and Nana Visitor for example however we also get some really bad performances from the likes of Cirroc Lofton who comes across as being more really annoying then cute and Marc Alaimo for example who really is just over the top but not in a charming way with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good  that all the episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help the overall quality of the acting that's in this episode.

Doing the CGI for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Rhythm & Hues Studios and VisionArt. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented t us in this very episode well the in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us  in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the episodes CGI having aged really well as alot of the time it really is hard to tell what was done in a computer and what was done as miniature which does go to show you just how good the CGI in this episode really was with the episodes CGI being alot better then what it really had any right to be alot of the time as while we do get some dodgy looking CGI effects those are very few and far between with the episode having alot more good looking CGI effects in it then it does have some really bad looking CGI effects in it as well.

For those of you that don't know both this show and Star Trek: Voyager are set in the exact same continuity as both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. With this episode having a few characters from the The Next Generation either be a guest character or join the show as apart of it's main cast with Sir Patrick Stewart guest starring in this episode and Colm Meaney joining the main cast and while having this connection does indeed make sense as The Next Generation was a big success when this show was being made it also doesn't work in this episodes favor as all it does is remind you that you could be watching a much more better show and while this episode does set up it's new characters really well it does nothing to introduce the guest characters which does make sense but again at the same time there will be alot of mainstream audiences that don't know these characters and won't want to watch several seasons of a TV show and a few movies just to get a decent understanding of who these characters when the episode could tell us who these characters and explain to us why these characters are actually really important characters.

To this episodes credit it does delve into some rather adult themes with the episode dealing with the themes of death and how hard it is to move on when you've lost someone that you love. This was a rather mature theme to take on as not alot of TV's would take on this theme and even fewer would tackle it in the way that this episode does by having what can only be described as not really time travel as Commander Sisko interacts with a being that doesn't understand linear time and as a result of that is the fact that he has to come to terms with the death of his wife and in doing so tech the being that humans and aliens deserve to live and deserve a second chance of life which is something that does work really well as it ties into his character arc of learning to come to terms with the death of his wife and learning to forgive the person the person that he deems responsible for her death that being none other than Captain Jean-Luc Picard which also gives him a really interesting character arc for this episode and while that arc would have worked better if it was stretched out over the course of the series the way that it was handled in this episode works really well as well.

While the episode does go into some details on the characters backstory not alot of the characters get alot of character development. With the character that gets the most character development being quite easily Commander Sisko who goes from wanting to leave Starfleet and hating pretty much everything that they do to someone who is willing to forgive Captain Jean-Luc Picard for something that he had no control over and couldn't help doing and while it is understandable that he would get alot of the character development in this episode it also would have helped the episode out quite alot if some of the other characters not only got some character development but also became alot more fleshed out then what Commander Sisko is as this is an ensemble franchise it always has been and when only one of the ensemble gets character development and gets to become more of a fully fleshed out character then the whole show start to suffer because of it as the us the audience now have no other reason to watch the rest of the rest of the show as none of the characters get the chance to come across as being interesting characters.

Now then this episode has / has an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty minuets and forty nine seconds. With this episode originally airing as a two hour premier episode before being split up into a two part episode when in syndication with the episode really having alot there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of running and the episode itself having enough story to justify being a two part story as it does have alot of things to set up like the location of the show the shows characters and what there relationships to each other will be in the series moving and it has to do all of that and still tell a good story and t wouldn't be able to do all of that and as a result of that is the fact that by giving in an extra forty five minuets it gives the episode that needs to do all of that and then some and while yes yes the episode could have used that extra running tie to fully flesh out alot of it's characters the episode does make the best of it's longer running time but I will admit that the episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So ow then as this is an action show that really does mean that I ave to actually talk about the actual action thats actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad by Star Trek TV standards. As Star Trek TV shows have never really had the best action in them at least in the early nineties as alot of them just had ships firing at each other and the characters reacting to it and that's also the case here but at the same time tho we also get to how thew action in this episode deeply effects one of the characters which does make it oddly engaging but at the same time tho we the audience do expect there to be alot more fun and creative action scenes in them and that's something that Star Trek was very sadly lacking at this point in time as alot of the action in this episode just felt very samey and not really all that new and creative at all in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while this wasn't a good episode it wasn't necessarily a bad one either as it does good job of setting up all of the things that need to bet set up like the characters and the location of the series for example but at the same time this episode isn't the strongest episode to start out on either as the acting is really weak and the plot really take a while for it to really get going as well which does harm the episode as a whole in my freaking opinions anyways / least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Star Trek fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website that I personally preferred to use to get the images that I personally used in this very review being the wonderful Google Images since all of the images that are currently up and and featured / presented to us on Google Images are all fairly high in quality and as well as being fairly freaking high in definition.

My First SPOILER FREE!!!!!!!!!! First Impressions Of Star Trek: Prodigy

 

Animation fans we've gone from having one Star Trek based animated series to now having three Star Trek based animated all within the space of must be sixty years at the very least. Well the Star Trek franchise has now just this week debuted it's newest evert animated series and well you just know that I had to give you my first impressions of the show as a whole and so here are my SPOILER FREE!!!!!!!!!! first impressions of the third ever Star Trek based animated series with the series / TV show / show in question being called simply just "Star Trek: Prodigy" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is a bunch of prisoners find a star ship and try to repair it an escape from the prison planet that they are all on all before some guards try and find them and recapture them all and possibly even kill them all. Now then in terms of what I personally thought / felt about the plot of this episode in all I in all honesty thought / felt that the plot of this very episode was at best decent at best which for more modern day Star Trek shows is a freaking blessing in the disguise and is a very good thing indeed in my opinion anyways / at least.

Starring in this very episode is Brett Gray as Dal R'El , Ella Purnell as Gwyn and Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog. Also starring in this very episode is Angus Imrie as Zero , Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk , The voice acting legend Dee Bradley Baker as Murf , Jimmi Simpson as Drednok , John Noble as Solum and reprising her role from Star Trek: Voyager and the film Star Trek: Nemesis is Kate Mulgrew as Captain / Hologram Janeway.

Now then according to what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was at best very freaking extremely passable at freaking best. This is only naturel of course since very few first episodes have great or even good acting in there first episode but it's still a disappointing thing to see or in this case even to hear in this very freaking episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Doing the animation for this episode and for this show as a whole is I think CBS Eye Animation Productions. I say that I think CBS Eye Animation Productions is doing the animation for this show because try as I might I couldn't find an actual animation studio listed as doing this shows animation with CBS Eye Animation Productions being the closest studio that I could possibly find as quite possibly doing the animation for this show and now then in terms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode in all honesty I in all honesty thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was a very mixed bag of affairs for me personally. Since even tho there are some very well animated there are also some scenes that aren't that very well freaking animated and thus looks like an very freaking early Playstation 3 video game freaking cutscene in my freaking opinion anyways / at least. 

Now then I can very safely say that thus far at least this show does seem to be alot better then Star Trek: Lower Decks is. However tho that really isn't a high bar to reach since that show isn't good and it's a show that alot of die hard Star Trek fans and none Star Trek fans just don't like and for good reason however tho I can see some none Star Trek fans liking this show tho but I really cannot see die hard Star Trek fans liking this show tho in my opinions anyways / at least.

So now then unlike Star Trek: Lower Decks this show is aimed more towards kids and teenagers which in all honesty I think in all honesty is a really good move since it does then have the potential to get little kids , kids and teenagers into the Star Trek multi-media franchise. However tho with all of that being this show thus far doesn't seem to be a good representation of what Star Trek is and what Star Trek could possibly even be when it's at it's best in my opinions anyways / at least.

So now then so far at least pretty much all of this shows characters have very little to no redeeming qualities. Which is a big issue for me personally because of the fact that it now makes it supper freaking hard for me to route for any of these characters because of the fact that thus far at least they've all been presented as being people who are very freaking unlikable people in my very freaking opinions anyways / at least.

So now then this particular / exact / very episode has / had grand old running time of exactly forty five minuets and three seconds. Which I in all honesty think / feel is a bit of a long time for this episode since you very easily could have told this story in the bog standard twenty two minuets running time since there was nothing that's in this exact episode that just screams forty five minuet running time in my opinions anyways / at least.

Now then since this show is an action show after all that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode and well in all honesty I in all honesty think / feel that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was once again average / OK at freaking best. Which was something that I personally was expecting to be the case since in all honesty when you think of Star Trek you don't think of high octane action scenes / action sequences in my opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this show does seem like it's going to be a good show but that is something that sadly only time will be able tell but i can say that thus far this show is off to a really good start since it did leave a good first impression on me personally in my opinions anyways / at least. Now i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this post and since this post is only my first impressions of the show Star Trek: Prodigy but who knows if there will every be an actual review of this show but so far this show does seem lie it will be an actually more modern Star Trek show in my opinions anyways / at least.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Star Trek fandom wiki page , the official PIXAR fandom wiki age and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images that I ultimately ended up using in this very review being Google Images this is simply just due to the fact that all of the images that are currently up and on and featured / presented to us on Google Images are all fairly high in quality and as well as being fairly high in definition.

My First Impressions Of Star Trek: Lower Decks

 

Well then here's a post I really wasn't planning on doing simply because I forgot that this show was even coming out this month. I was going to produce a first impressions of this show but I honestly thought that the show was coming out later in the year like September or October I honestly forgot that that it was coming out today and well since i've just seen the first episode here are my first impressions of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" enjoy.

I really wish that I could tell you the plot of this episode or this show for that matter however it seems like there's no plot to either one. This episode does have somewhat of a story about making contact with an alien race and helping them out but it's so thin that it might as well not even be there and just based of this episode there seems to be no plot to the actual show and so I have to wonder why should I get invested in these characters if the makers of the show aren't bothering to tell any kind of story whatsoever.

Starring in this episode and the rest of the rest of this series are Tawny Newsome as Ensign Beckett Mariner and Jack Quaid as Ensign Brad Boimler . Also starring in this episode and the rest of the series is Noël Wells as Ensign D'Vana Tendi , Eugene Cordero as Ensign Sam Rutherford , Dawnn Lewis as Captain Carol Freeman , Jerry O'Connell as Commander Jack Ransom , Fred Tatasciore as Lieutenant Shaxs and Gillian Vigman as Dr. T'Ana.

Acting wise this episode does fair a little bit better in my opinion since all of the actors are clearly trying to give a good performance. However the issue is that the actors aren't given a good enough script and so they have nothing to work of when it comes to something like character and so even tho the actors are clearly trying to make this script work they just can't because the script won't allow them to.

Doing the animation for this episode and this series is Titmouse who have worked on so many TV shows , video games and film's that it would take me all day just to list all of there credits. Now I say this as a fan of Titmouse and what they've produced but the animation in this episodes while it is OK it's clearly not the studios best work which is a shame because when the animation in this episode wants to be good it can be good to look at but then there are times where the animation looks pretty bad and that makes me wonder who gave this animation the OK.

Now then this episode seems to be like a parody of Star Trek the issue is we already have a show like that called The Orville. Honestly The Orville is alot closer in spirit and tone to Star Trek then Star Trek: Lower Decks seems to be since The Orville is made by people who understand what made Star Trek such a phenomenon in the first place while also pointing out a few of the more funnier aspects of the show.

While the show was being promoted I saw lots of videos on Youtube comparing this show to The Orville which is fair enough. However none of them pointed out the obvious thing and that is the fact that the show visually looks alot like Final Space which I don't get because that was the first thing that you notice is that it looks like a cheap version of Final Space hell it's even an adult comedy so it looks like the makers of this show saw an episode on Final Space one night and decided to remake aspects of that show only they added the Star Trek name so it would get alot more media attention.

As with anything to do with Star Trek this show is being aired on CBS All Access because god forbid another network airs a Star Trek show. This also means that if you live in anywhere accept America then your screwed because there are currently no release dates for this show internationally but the team is hard at work on getting that fixed and so if you like Star Trek then chances are you'll have to wait a little bit longer to watch this show in other countries.

I want it known that even tho i've said some negative things about this show i'm not entirely against the show. Since it could serve as a way to introduce new fans to the world of Star Trek which at the end of the day is a good thing since it would hopefully get them to watch the classic episodes and movies be they from the original series , The Next Generation or the various other Star Trek shows I only hope that the fans that this show does create don't turn out like the new Star Wars fans where they bash everything that came before Disney buying Lucasfilm.

Since this is a comedy because clearly The Orville wasn't enough of a parody of Star Trek that means we have to talk about the jokes in the episode. Which for me personally was very hit and miss for every joke that got a smile out of me there were several that followed that didn't even get that , yes all comedy is subjective but when your jokes can't even get someone to smile then you've clearly told an unfunny joke.

Overall I cannot say that this was a good pilot because it's honestly not it does everything that a pilot episode shouldn't do. As such I don't really see my self watching this series on a weekly basis however it is one that I can see myself checking in on every few weeks just to see if it's improve however since this is the e first episode im not going to give it a rating since I want to see if this show improves or not but im not that hopeful.

All images used in this review were gathered from either the official Star Trek fandom wiki page , Google Images or The Orville Season 1 fandom wiki page. I will admit that the images from the fandom wiki page's as high definition as I thought that they would be but i'm shocked that there aren't that many high definition images of this show on Google Images as such I can't really recommend the Star Trek fandom wiki page just because they don't have that many images for this show but here's hoping they upload some soon.

 

My First Impressions Of Star Trek: Picard SPOILERS Ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Star Trek fans I make it no secret that i'm not that big of a Star Trek fan i'm honestly more of a Star Wars fan I always have been and I always will be. However like alot of you I found myself excited for the show which i'm about to talk about because it looked so good and the fact that a great character actor like Sir Patrick Stewart was returning after years pf saying that he wouldn't only had me more interested and so here are my first impressions of Star Trek: Picard and yes there will be spoilers..

The plot of this episode called "Remembrance" picks up years after Star Trek: Nemesis and find Jean-Luc Picard long retired but all of that ends when a young girl enters his life and he now must go on a quest to find her sister and find out why people want them both killed. Yeah this is honestly a really great story to open the season since it does a great job of reintroducing Picard as well as introducing all of the new characters and it does it all with such great pacing.

Of course reprising his role is Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard with Stewart also serving as the shows executive producer. Also starring in the episode is Isa Briones as Dahj and Soji Asher , Alison Pill as Agnes Jurati , Harry Treadaway as Narek and Evan Evagora as Elnor. Now I will say that there is a cool guest star in this episode which i'm not going to spoil here but when we get into spoilers all bets are off.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in this episode it was honestly alot better then what I was expecting it to be. Simply because the acting in any pilot is never as good as the acting in any of the other episodes since the actors are still trying to find their characters here tho since the characters are so well defined they don't have to find them at all they just know what the character would say and that really does help with the performances in my opinion.

SPOILERS STAR HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now this might not be considered a spoiler but i'm playing it safe but guest starring in this episode and also reprising his role is Brent Spiner as Data. Now I do know that the character died at the end of Nemesis and so don't worry they don't retcon that film how they bring him back is by having him appear in Picards dreams which is really they only way that they could have brought the character back at least without retconning the film.

However I will like to add that he doesn't really get alot of screen time in this episode in fact I think in total he's in it for around five minuets but i'm not exactly sure on that. For some reason Brent Spiner just looks sad in this episode and it honestly makes me wish that the character doesn't appear in future episodes just simply because I don't want to see a sad looking Brent Spiner i'd much rather they introduce a new companion for Picard.

Now I really liked the character of Dahj I thought by making her the daughter of Data let alone one in a pair of twins was both predictable and yet at the same time a great way to link it to Next Generation. Most continuations hit you over the head with the connects like for example the Star Wars sequel trilogy but here I felt that it was done in a way that was rather subtle and not heavy handed plus that connection is seemingly important to the plot of the show unlike say Kylo Ren being Han's kid which isn't important at all.

There is one thing that I really didn't like about the character and that's the fact that they really didn't give her a character at all. Which is a shame because she's only in this one episode and is the catalyst for the events of the show and so you'd thing that more of an effort would have been made into giving her an actual character but they don't so all we get is the typical person who doesn't really know what's going on until she dies.

Now there was one scene which not only sold me on the episode but also sold me on the entire series and that's the interview scene near the start of the episode or more importantly Picards speech that he gives during that interview. That one speech was so well done and I felt was very in character at least from what I could gather during the episode that I decided right there and then that I was going to watch as many episode of this show as I can because I want to spend more time with this man and it was such a bada*s moment as well.

SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I have no idea who's doing the titles for this show but I will say that imagery and the music by Jeff Russo came together to form something truly beautiful. I'd honestly say that the episode is worth watching just based of the opening titles alone just because they are so stunning to see and i'm not going to lie I came close to crying during the opening titles that's how moved I was watching them.

Overall guys and girls just go and watch the episode right now I don't care how you see it just go and see it. So far i'd say that this is the best first episode of the year and we're not even a month in that's how confident I am in that statement because it is so good and so entertaining if this is what Star Trek is like at it's best then I might have to check out some of the older episodes  and as you guys know I never give ratings out when I do these first impressions and so I will once again say just go and watch the episode right now.