The Surlaw Reviews - 7/1/21 - 2021 Mid-Year Update

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Fri Aug 08, 2014 12:10 am

The Wobbler wrote:Turns out "which glasses are different??" is not the kind of trivia people like playing in bars.

Truly a sign that we live in the darkest of times.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 10:30 pm

I know this only vaguely belongs in this thread, but I'm gonna post it anyways.

I've been using the Wobbly guide going back and watching some Star Trek Next Gen recently, and I just watched the one where Data makes a daughter. Holy hell that slime is sad! I don't think I had ever seen that episode before. The actress who plays the daughter was really good. Hell, the whole thing was just really good.

It's weird watching this now. I haven't really watched any of these since the original run and/or reruns at that time, when I was like 10 years old or something. Despite some bad acting here and there and dated production values, this is a pretty great show.

I also tried watching DS9 a year or two ago, but it's just not for me. For me, a strong Trek needs a strong captain, and Sisko's acting just made me cringe almost every scene. Also the political stuff just isn't as awesome as seeing Q get his powers back and deciding that the first thing he'll do is change into the Starfleet uniform.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 2:45 am

msw188 wrote:Sisko's acting just made me cringe

WHAT?

Sisko's tranquil fury was the best! He was like Denzel in Training Day, he didn't need to raise his voice to let you know you were on his bad side and he didn't need to get his own hands dirty to put your butt in a whole world of trouble.

Obviously DS9 is a bit darker than some of the other series, and as a whole it doesn't hold up as well as TNG. However, the best episodes of DS9 are so far ahead of the best episodes of anything else that you can't even draw a fair comparison. If you want something to feel embarassed about, there were plenty of awkward pregnancy transfers, Ferengi sexual politics, and at least two supporting characters who may've been intended to be mentally handicapped. There were plenty of uncomfortable topics handled in even more uncomfortable ways, and the episodes that were bad stunk to high heaven... but I don't remember any that you can blame Sisko for.

I don't know why this bothers me so much, I mean, nobody'll ever hold a candle to Kirk. But please, reserve your criticism for the Captains who deserve it: Janeway and Bakula.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 3:41 am

Sorry man, it's just me. Something about the way he enunciates every syllable just sounds fake to me, like he's on a stage. Picard could be theatrical but it never took me out of the show. Sisko just never sounds like a real human being to me. Neither did Troi on TNG, but hey, she WASN'T human. She also wasn't anywhere near as important to the essence of most episodes of TNG as Sisko to DS9, from what I've seen.

To be clear, I'm not talking about the writing here. Sisko might be a better written character than any of the others; I wouldn't know, as I've only watched a handful of DS9 episodes. It's the acting. I've only seen maybe 5 episodes of Voyager, and none of whichever Bakula is in, so I can't say anything about them.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 3:47 am

Avery Brooks as Sisko is on the fine line between serenity and complete insanity. Avery Brooks himself is kind of a weird zen grandpa. Dude's my favorite Trek captain. Yeah, his acting is extremely theatrical.

As a whole I actually think it stands up massively better than TNG. Both shows have a weak first season and both start to hit their stride in their fourth. DS9's final season is extremely good serialized TV, especially for the 90's, while TNG's final season ranges from spectacular to miserably bad with little in between. The worst episodes of DS9 (Melora, Meridian, Let He Who is Without Sin) are atrocious but the worst episodes of TNG are somehow even worse (Code of Honor, Subrosa.)

I actually think Kate Mulgrew's pretty good as Janeway too! Her first officer's the one sleepwalking through the whole thing. Voyager's overall mostly bad but it's still like 25-30% decent. I know that's not saying much.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 4:30 am

You (Wobbler) mention the Measure of a Man episode a couple times on those lists, and yeah that episode was great. But at the moment I actually like the daughter one more. I mean, "Is Data property?" is a fantastic ethical question to explore, but doesn't quite hit home as hard as "Do Data and Lal constitute a parent-child family?" I can't quite pinpoint why.

The first question has a bit more of a logical flavor to it; the question passes from one of definition to one of future legal and ethical implications. All of this is eminently understandable to Data, as is the issue of self-preservation. But the question of family carries a lot more emotional weight to it that Lal ends up understanding better than Data. As my friend put it, 'Data not being able to really be sad makes the whole thing sadder.'

There's more to it than this, but it's getting late.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 4:45 am

If I had to make an absolute, season-wide Top Episodes list those two would both be there. It's a shame some of the later Data-centric things (Masks, Descent Part 2, the movies) are pretty stupid!

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:04 pm

Probably worth checking out if you can get it dirt cheap on a Steam sale, not worth full price. Free for PS+ bros, though!

Road Not Taken

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 1:08 am

Yeah, that doesn't sound like my type of game at all.

Gonna continue to babble about Trek. Just finished the Best of Both Worlds, and will absolutely claim that that slime still holds up today. I agree with Wobbler's take on his site - the Borg never felt anywhere near as threatening later on as they do here. I'm not sure who to 'blame' though. This feels like the kind of plot that can only be done once. I mean, once you blow up a Borg cube (that already wiped out an entire fleet) in the nick of time orbiting Earth, you can't really top that. I remember as a kid the Hugh episode being kind of neat, but I have no lasting impressions of the Lore+Borg thing that I'm pretty certain happens. Then you get the 'dumb action movie' take of First Contact. Honestly though, if I were a writer tasked with writing a 'threatened by the Borg' episode after this, I would have pretty much zero ideas.

In fact I'm curious to see, moving forward, what episodes can top this. Again, you can't really make the physical stakes much higher. I vaguely remember some other two-parters feeling 'big', but not like this. I'm sure there are plenty more great character episodes that I'll appreciate more now as an adult. This has been great fun so far.

Aside: The episode I'm most looking forward to is the one where Dr. Crusher is the only one remembering people and they're all disappearing. I think out of all the episodes I remember from back in the day, that one has stuck with me the most as being incredibly bizarre and scary.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 4:17 am

Best of Both Worlds is still great, and I wish the episode that followed (Family) had actually been named Best of Both Worlds Part 3 because it's necessary as a conclusion and up there with my favorite episodes. It's also an episode that gets completely ruined by the movies.

The Hugh episode isn't the best written but Picard's ultimate choice is one of my favorites ever, if only because it so completely throws out the "ends justify the means" methods used in pretty much all other sci-fi. Dude's a True Hero.

Descent is the Lore/Borg two-parter and it's really pretty stupid.

I'm up for more Trek talk as you keep going through!

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 8:04 pm

Knocked out a bunch more last night and this afternoon. I liked Family, but I think it suffers from the tv setup. The Picards' relationship has some nuance to it that I don't fully buy into over the course of 15 fractured minutes or so. Loved Worf's parents though.

Brothers sucked unfortunately. But Remember Me (Crusher only one remembering people disappearing) lived up to my fond memories. I forgot how it ended, and even if the Traveler is dumb, I was still okay with it. It still hinges on Bev recognizing what's going on, and getting to where she has to go. I don't think Mcfadden is a great actress per se, but something about her here really works for me.

Also watched Reunion. I remembered the idea of this episode, but totally forgot how it ended up playing out. I'll agree with you, Plakson is really perfect for her role and it is a shame she only lasted so few episodes. To this point, the only 'one-off' actor/actress I can remember being as sold on is Lal, and some of Q's performances.

Something else I've thought about - this show was really fortunate to land Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan. The character is kinda weird and a bit 'cheap' when she drives part of the plot (Yesterday's Enterprise). But even then the actress is believable, and for pure character interactions, she's the best. She actively makes the actors around her better - surely there's some kind of science to prove this.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:26 pm

From what I know, Whoopi actually went to Paramount and asked for a role of the show, which they gave her with no hesitation. She's definitely one of the best supporting characters.

Game review!

I liked this one more the second time through. Still has some imperfections and really weird difficulty balance, but it's better than most faux-8bit indie games.

Shovel Knight

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:37 am

Hey, that game sounds like it could be a lot of fun! I'm definitely buying a WiiU when Smash is ready to come out, and maybe I'll grab this.

(PS: Hopefully the online Smash is better this time around, so we can all enjoy 4on4 Villager Battle Royale)

I'm slightly surprised to hear about Whoopi, but that's great. Also, I just watched the one where Data learns to dance, and got rewarded with the best Data face ever.

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:52 am

They're going to be adding new characters and modes to Shovel Knight as part of free updates to meet their Kickstarter goals, so by the time Smash is out it will probably have a lot more features too.

msw188 · Post by **msw188** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:48 am

Watched some more last night and today. The Wounded was pretty good; I remember always loving O'Brien as a kid, and he stands out as one of the most natural actors on the show going back to it now. Of course, he has less asked of him than the regulars.

I also watched Clues, which wasn't on your essentials list, but it was one that had stuck with me as a kid and it was fun to revisit. Most interesting was the Drumhead. Probably just unsettled me as a kid; now it feels a little heavy handed, but I get they only had like 40min to work with. Of course Picard delivers the message, but I ended up just as interested in Worf; I wish they had more time at the end for his resolution. His episode-ending conversation with Picard is okay, but it would have been nice for them to get into it a bit more. Maybe would have been bad pacing-wise, I don't know.