Author: tederick
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Review: STAR TREK INSURRECTION (Blogging the Next Generation – Movie Release Week Special)
“All field units. Intercept the android.” There’s a new Star Trek movie in theatres, and I’ve got pretty serious problems with it; which makes this a perfect time to continue my backwards troll through the endlessly problematic Star Trek: The Next Generation feature films, bringing me to Star Trek: Insurrection, a.k.a. Star Trek 9, and…
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Review: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
Bandersnatch in a Bandit Hat So here we are. Star Trek has completed its metamorphosis from a science fiction framework built on new and innovative storytelling into a “greatest hits” reboot where the entirety of its narrative tension is derived from the current article’s relationship with the audience’s knowledge of the original version – specifically,…
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Blogging the Next Generation: “The Ensigns of Command”
“That’s the short definition of ‘captain.’” It took 23 years but I finally found out what the title, “The Ensigns of Command,” refers to, which has been kicking the back of my head all this time. It’s a line from “The Wants of Man,” and refers to the ensign as a flag, rather than, say,…
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Blogging the Next Generation: “Shades of Gray”
“If you drop a hammer on your foot, it’s hardly useful to get mad at the hammer.” Well, here we are – the end of the season, and the notorious clip show. The WGA strike shortened Season Two to 22 episodes, and “Shades of Gray” was hastily installed to cheaply fill out the order. It’s…
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Blogging the Next Generation: “The Emissary”
“Looks like it’s just us, handsome.” I mentioned the Next Generation poker game’s influence on my life in my post about “The Measure of a Man,” but if there’s a single scene that probably taught me more about how to play the game than any other, it’s the one at the head of this episode…
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Blogging the Next Generation: “Manhunt”
“Last time I saw something like that it was being served on a plate.” I’m stupidly fond of this episode even though I realize that it’s not very good; Lwaxana Troi going on a post-menopausal sex jag across the Enterprise is simply too hilarious for me not to mark it as memorable. She even makes…
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Blogging the Next Generation: “Up the Long Ladder”
“Antidote. If we’re going to share, let’s share. Now quote me a little of that poetry.” A weird smashup of what seems like three different episodes, “Up the Long Ladder” is charming in parts but can’t escape the vague stupidity of its writing, nor the ramshackle construction of its various plots. It’s most remembered for…
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Blogging the Next Generation: “Samaritan Snare”
“I’m just not overly thrilled at the prospect of my innards being made the subject of Starfleet gossip.” “Samaritan Snare” is one of those rare instances of a premise so oddball it actually works, or at least, is really memorable: it’s the one where Geordi gets kidnapped by the race of… really dumb guys. The…