The biggest problem with "Interface" is just that, by this point in the series run you don't care.  We knew very little about LaForge's upbringing.  We only know that he isn't half as efficient with women as he is with his engines.  Gimmick casting aside (good to see Ben Vereen), this plays like a weak forerunner to…

I've always had a problem with Lore, the evil-twin android.  He is an android, and thus (a huge device, I know) not capable in expressing true emotion nor would such emotion automatically become tantamount to the concept of evil.  I don't see the Borg operating in that capacity either.  I believe evil is as evil does…

45 years…incredible.  The franchise has passed through many hands; Roddenberry, Coon, Lucas, Freiberger, Bennett, Berman…like a living artifact or window into different times.  My mother took me to the movies when I was very young and I started watching the show in syndication.  She was a big fan and it was one of the…

Remember the audition notes from a few weeks back?  They had other ideas for Picard - I forget who the other applicants for the role were.  Roddenberry didn't want him because of the baldness but Justman insisted.

Barleycorn, you have an extra 20 minutes to kill and that's what you're going to do?

I agree.  The recent movie gave me a headache while watching.  That's never happened with me before.  Too much action and not enough thought put into the story.  The script lacked pauses to consume what little information had been given.

But you hit it on the head in the review, Zack.  You said it's hard to give gravity to all of the characters in an ensemble situation - you need a prime mover.  Thus the inherent flaws in TNG have more to do with the ensemble and the sluggish pace of most (even the best) narratives.  Where it took an eternity for a…

That's Zack.  If you've been reading his reviews for a while, you'll see he revises his thinking 3/4 of the way into the essay, thus the grading inconsistency.

I enjoyed an alternate cut of TMP; I don't know if it is still available but when the movie first came out on VHS, it was a special longer version (I know how that sounds but this particular edit worked better than the original theatrical run) - the editors chose different takes of performances, different angles of…

The movies took a different view in regard to their handling (or mishandling) of Picard's character.  He goes nuts in every movie.

It had to have been difficult keeping with up the internal continuity because the DS9 and Voyager writers had to keep tabs on what, if any, changes were being with the movies.  The movies tend to laugh in the face of television narratives.  As a result, "Scorpion" was a follow-up to "First Contact" and they did a good…

Wow, VCD.  Jesus.  I never went for that media but a friend of mine has a whole collection of movies on that format.

Isn't this the first we see of the Borg "infecting" their victims with a virus-like incorporation?  Rather than the rigorous process of taking humanoids apart and putting them back together in the Borg image.

I like Zack, but sometimes he takes a lecturing tone when he wants to connect a theme to an episode.  He gives the episodes more thought than the writers ever did.

"First Contact" may have been the best of the TNG adaptations for the big screen, but I had a couple of problems with it. Namely the use of time travel (that old fall-back; when in doubt, use time travel as a catalyst). A handful of original episodes, "Star Trek IV", a couple of TNG episodes, DS9, Voyager, and…

My wife insists Caine nailed Chief Brody's widow.  Did he?  I forget.

Remember "Force of Nature" where 20 minutes of the episode is taken up with conversations about Spot?  Jeez.  Hell of a B-Story there.

The problem is you never think Data is going to run away with Lore and the Borg.  You never get that indication, and that numbs any impact the 2nd part would have.  Star Trek has always been a main offender in the realm of "consequence-free" television.

If they're popular enough, we'll get 24 episodes out of a season, but mostly 22 - half-hour shows coming in an 20 minutes, double that for hour long shows.

The only thing I liked about "Fistful" was Troi's costume.  She got ass for days.