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Reviews
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Subspace Rhapsody (2023)
Some of you are seriously allergic to fun
This is a pretty bold thing to do for a franchise that, as far as I know, has never broached the subject of musicals. While I don't think it's the best episode or worthy of a 10, it's not a 1/10 and DEFINITELY not the worst Star Trek episode of all time as some people are claiming.
Have you people seen any Star Trek in your life? You think this was the worst of all time? Really? Please, be real for a second. It's not. I'd honestly say this is above average. The plot reasoning behind the spontaneous singing could be better, but it's certainly not bad.
There's some pretty good singing on display here from various actors, some of it you can tell has autotune but several of them were also just belting it out with their own voices. I just think it's impressive how they pulled this off. There are issues, and ultimately I think it will boil down to if you can't stand musicals or not; but I really liked this. I was particularly fond of the Uhura focus towards the end of the episode, considering in the past of this show we got an Uhura focused episode where she was communicating with aliens through harmony. This felt like a spiritual callback to that.
I saw a review saying something along the lines of "what scifi fan would want a musical?" ME! I do, I think it's a neat idea. Based on the numerous other high reviews, clearly a lot of people liked the idea too. Going into it, I was worried it would make me cringe based on how they'd handle the singing but it really didn't. Uhura's actress stands out having great vocals, but she's not the only one. Apparently some of the actors have experience singing in the past and you could definitely tell.
I don't know, I can't justify giving this episode a 1/10. I could maybe understand if you gave it a 3, 4, 6, whatever. But a 1? Come on now. You're just lying to yourself if you've seen other Trek and are calling this the worst of all time. I love Star Trek, and there have been some absolutely awful episodes before that this episode comes nowhere close to being as bad. I knew this one would be divisive but I'm glad to see so many people who agree this episode is solid.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Deja Q (1990)
Q is confronted with mortality, we're all doomed
Where Season 2's Q episode focused on the Borg's introduction displayed Q's incomprehensible power, this episode strips it all away from him. What we're left with is all of Q's annoyances and quirks, without any of his power holding him up on a pedestal. The result is a pretty hilarious episode as Q meanders about the Enterprise trying to act just as pompous as before, only this time being forced to comply to being ordered around; more importantly, being forced to confront his own selfishness and mortality.
There's a pretty decent main conflict tossed into the mix about a moon on a collision course with the planet it orbits. Ordinarily the stakes would feel much lower with Q being present, but having him with his powers gone definitely helped sell the severity of the situation here. I really liked how Q's "character arc" and the main conflict converged by the end of the episode, it was a pretty satisfying conclusion because it was tied to Q's exploration of his own self. I think it would have fallen a bit flat otherwise.
Overall, a fantastic episode. Made me laugh out loud several times, a lot of the dialogue was pretty clever, giving this sort of back and forth banter feel to most of the runtime. Data laughing authentically was hysterical, but it also got an emotional reaction out of me knowing how important that must be to him. Great episode full of heart, humor and tension where it's needed. I have to give it a 10/10 because I just felt like all of the elements came together very very nicely by the end.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Ensigns of Command (1989)
Almost gave this a 7, but there were just too many great Data moments and I had to bump it up to 8
This episode at points made me cringe, but at other points it also made me really emotional. The romance in this one felt pretty forced, but I also really like the insight Data gets from a lot of events in this episode. At the end of the episode, I found Picard's conversation with Data about creativity and feeling to be pretty emotional and profound. I really like the slow burn of characters so far. And the alien invaders intent on eradicating this colony are pretty ominous enough to sell the severity of the situation. I loved Picard's pettiness towards the end of the episode, just waiting while they hailed Enterprise. A lot of satisfying pay offs in 1 episode, mostly character related for Data. So yes, I really think this episode has flaws, but I just got too much sheer enjoyment out of the character and dynamic related positives here that I had to give it an 8/10.
Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Chapters: Special 1 (2023)
Possibly the most disturbing portrayal of an apocalypse I've ever seen
Attack on Titan is no stranger to dark subject matter, but the story decided to go into full throttle here. With the rumbling, every step the titans took felt like it was crushing my hope in real life. It's a devastating display to say the least. The best way to describe this episode is a rollercoaster of emotions, and that's Attack on Titan its best.
When Eren stares at a blue sky as a child talking about freedom, it reminded me that it's the same color and look of the sky from Season 3's first opening sequence Red Swan. Adding that context into the mix makes the scene extra brutal.
Still, despite the brutality and fear, the scouts stay determined to put an end to the chaos and try to get their lost friend back.
We get an extended sequence of a certain Titan loving scout giving their absolute best in a scene that made me extremely emotional.
I even got reminded of Kaiju disaster event films where there's one giant monster they're spending time to destroy. The nature of the colossal titan and the founding titan with all the heat surrounding them reminds me of Shin Godzilla even. There's so much crazy imagery showing.
This episode was phenomenal.