tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post921235599462357847..comments2024-03-19T10:41:35.976-05:00Comments on Bronze Age Babies: Readers' Write (2): Discuss... Bad Episodes of Good TV ShowsDoughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-5917385051852738902014-01-06T03:26:21.647-06:002014-01-06T03:26:21.647-06:00All right, just thought of one more, also Star Tre...All right, just thought of one more, also Star Trek, this time DS9. First, I should say that I generally disliked the excessive use of the holodecks to generate stories in any of the Trek series, but I truly despised that Vegas night club in DS9 with the self-aware holographic lounge lizard. And there was that one episode when some kind of sub-routine or computer virus - which played out as a mobster taking over the night club - threatened to wipe out that program (big loss) and for some reason the entire DS9 crew had to go into the holodeck in period costumes to save the day. That was bad enough, but then in the end Sisko belts out a song with the lounge lizard - truly the most cringe-worthy moment in any Star Trek episode I've ever seen.<br />Also pretty bad was another episode of DS9 in which the station's crew plays a baseball game against a bunch of Vulcans in the holodeck (where else?).Edo Bosnarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-47441157281434943522014-01-05T17:36:28.086-06:002014-01-05T17:36:28.086-06:00Granted, LIS may have been cringe-worthy for most ...Granted, LIS may have been cringe-worthy for most of it's duration, but lord-help-me, I LOVE that Space Pod from Year 3.<br /><br />Just used my $50 Amazon gift card from Christmas for the 2009 copy of Magical Mystery Tour CD and that beautiful Moebius LIS Space Pod..:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Space-Pod-Finished-Moebius/dp/B0069FI3E0/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1388964827&sr=1-2&keywords=lost+in+space+pod<br /><br />A HUGE Apollo LEM fan, it's such a cocky-lookin' little spacecraft.david_bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00218727673816200051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-59216506041045909072014-01-05T10:24:48.413-06:002014-01-05T10:24:48.413-06:00Season 3 suffered from two huge problems: 1/2 as m...Season 3 suffered from two huge problems: 1/2 as much time to tell the story and twice as many characters to fit into that time. All the stories seem like unfinished sketches. They still have their moments and Yvonne Craig is just a dream to behold, but it's very sad to see the sharp decline of my favorite super hero show.Doc Savagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08783244633195233970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-57238277705486429372014-01-05T07:40:36.026-06:002014-01-05T07:40:36.026-06:00The winter weather party is just getting started h...The winter weather party is just getting started here in Indiana: forecast up to 14" of snow, high wind and temps of -21 by Monday morning. Looks like a good day to stay inside and catch up on some reading...no sign of White Walkers here yet, but we are watching.Redartzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08221459636234713619noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-62735186649912255782014-01-05T04:09:35.850-06:002014-01-05T04:09:35.850-06:00Prowler, my friend, if art and literature have tau...Prowler, my friend, if art and literature have taught us anything about zombies, white-walkers, or vampires, it is that they are immune to severe cold.<br /><br />Unlike my car battery. (rimshot, and goodnight)<br /> M.P.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-23325369232789033392014-01-05T03:11:25.985-06:002014-01-05T03:11:25.985-06:00J.A., totally agreed about "Genesis" - t...J.A., totally agreed about "Genesis" - that has to be the most ridiculous and cringe-worthy episode of TNG. There's a similarly bad episode of Voyager, in fact it's my vote for worst and stupidest of that series, called "Threshold," in which Paris and later Janeway start 'evolving' super-fast, eventually turning into mindless creatures that look something like a cross between catfish and salamanders. WTF?<br /><br />As for the weather here in Croatia, it's been unseasonably warm. Whereas about this time last year I was literally thigh-deep in snow, for the past 2 weeks temps have been in the 50s (F), and skies mostly overcast with occasional light rainfall. I don't miss the snow, but I really wouldn't mind some nice, normal freezing temperatures right now. This is just weird...Edo Bosnarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-55765908636485762032014-01-05T02:21:52.969-06:002014-01-05T02:21:52.969-06:00Not SLOW cold the word should be COLD.
The Prowle...Not SLOW cold the word should be COLD.<br /><br />The Prowler (from the old.........ahh you know)...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-42519372253397987962014-01-05T02:20:08.308-06:002014-01-05T02:20:08.308-06:00My first reaction to the topic was the Fantasy Isl...My first reaction to the topic was the Fantasy Island episode where Roddy McDowell was Mephistopholes. He was dressed as the opposite of Mr Roark, all black to Roark's all white. It just seemed so out of character for the show. I've read on the internet that there was a sequel but I don't remember seeing that one, or I have and I've put it all together in one big memory. In keeping with the Fantasy Island episode, the Knight Rider one where Hasselhoff played duel characters, the good Michael and the evil Russian (with mustache). That is definitely one I love watching but I have to be alone. The Star Trek episode with the gangsters is the one where Spock has to keep his hat on the whole time to cover his ears! I loved it!!! <br /><br />It could be worse question - at what temperature do we have to stop worrying about zombies? Is there a point where it now becomes so slow that they can no longer function? Has there been a zombie movie set during the winter?<br /><br />The Prowler (from the old Spider-man Crawlspace).<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-4037981186365297792014-01-05T02:18:58.097-06:002014-01-05T02:18:58.097-06:00Actually, I meant, "I'm hoping there aren...Actually, I meant, "I'm hoping there aren't."<br />If it get's much colder in South Dakota, it might end up looking like a John Carpenter movie.<br />I'm only sorry I never got around to buying that flamethrower I didn't get for Christmas.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-82951818733247632032014-01-05T01:53:42.141-06:002014-01-05T01:53:42.141-06:00Hold tight, Garrett, we're all in this togethe...Hold tight, Garrett, we're all in this together. <br />It could be worse, if we've learned anything from Game of Thrones, there could be zombies on horseback out there.<br />I'm assuming there aren't.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-49987723037246998672014-01-04T23:40:29.966-06:002014-01-04T23:40:29.966-06:00We're sitting at -25C right now, with the stro...We're sitting at -25C right now, with the strong wing putting us at -38. Chilly day even for Edmonton! :)Garettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-20157670978025007712014-01-04T22:34:21.274-06:002014-01-04T22:34:21.274-06:00Doug, there was a funny scene from that F.F. comic...Doug, there was a funny scene from that F.F. comic you mentioned, where the Thing got abducted to the Skrull planet to fight in the arena, where all the Skrulls dressed and looked like gangsters and molls from the Prohibition Era.<br />A Skrull looking exactly like Edward G. Robinson walks up to Ben Grimm and tells him they don't like uppity aliens.<br />The Thing replies, "I didn't figger to win any popularity contests in this dump."<br />That's classic Ben Grimm, there!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-36310400190416136382014-01-04T22:15:36.892-06:002014-01-04T22:15:36.892-06:00It's a balmy 24 degrees Celsius down here in T...It's a balmy 24 degrees Celsius down here in Trinidad - that's 76 degrees Fahrenheit to you guys up there. Brrrr! Hope the cold hasn't adversely affected anyone of you all.<br /><br />Doug, I am shocked that you have never seen A Piece of the Action. Sure, it's not Trek's finest hour, but it does have a cheesy charm. Wanna see Spock dressed up like Al Capone? Check. Kirk inventing a non-existent card game, the aforementioned fizzbin? The Enterprise crew interacting with people who look and talk like they came straight out of a 1930s Chicago gangster movie? Check and check!<br /><br />Seriously, I read somewhere (probably in Starlog) that the real reason they wrote this episode is that Paramount wanted to utilize its exiting sets, hence the gangster angle.<br /><br /><br />- Mike 'life unscripted' from Trinidad & Tobago.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-75513493849945837462014-01-04T21:33:39.652-06:002014-01-04T21:33:39.652-06:00One of the worst Next Gen episodes I can think of ...One of the worst Next Gen episodes I can think of is 'Genesis'. It's a final season episode, the crew starts to de-evolve into lower forms of life. J.A. Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15800901321134394272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-65583526694853660092014-01-04T20:40:12.643-06:002014-01-04T20:40:12.643-06:00Oh, and for you '66 Batman fans, most of the p...Oh, and for you '66 Batman fans, most of the pre-Batgirl episodes were good. <br /><br />The REAL stinkers came in the 3rd year with Yvonne Craig. She was gorgeous, but by cutting the story-telling time by half (going from 2-parters to single episodes) they eliminated what worked in the first year so well, like the balance between Aunt Harriet scenes and better story development. Add to both terrible scripts and cut budgets, bad ratings due to market/media over-saturation had ended things quickly.david_bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00218727673816200051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-16606183290483094542014-01-04T20:19:58.204-06:002014-01-04T20:19:58.204-06:00Regarding Trek episodes (hoping some folks would m...Regarding Trek episodes (hoping some folks would mention awful episodes for Next Gen and later Trek..), I don't find anything wrong with the more light-hearted 2nd Season episodes. The REAL stinkers for me were the ones which either had 'no heart' or just came off terrible.<br /><br />Ones that come to mind are 'Alternative Factor', 'Obsession', 'The Omega Glory', 'And the Children Shall Lead', among others.<br /><br />The original Battlestar Galactica had 'Greetings From Earth', an otherwise OK episode if it wasn't for Bobby Van and Ray Bolger as slapstick/dancing robots.. Uggh.<br /><br />I won't even venture into the insipid Galactica 1980.<br /><br />Buck Roger's 2nd year anyone..?<br /><br />Agreed with J.A. and Graham on 'Happy Days': Like Eric and Kelso on 'That '70s Show', once Ritchie and Ralph left, the show's producers decided to 'contemporize' the show, ruining any residual charm. There was simply no reason to watch any longer.<br /><br />Cousin Oliver, indeed.david_bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00218727673816200051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-38939837730353504472014-01-04T20:18:55.109-06:002014-01-04T20:18:55.109-06:00I thought Buffy went downhill once they went to co...I thought Buffy went downhill once they went to college.Doc Savagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08783244633195233970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-75745172520549494462014-01-04T20:16:28.356-06:002014-01-04T20:16:28.356-06:00Sunny and mid- to upper-70s here.Sunny and mid- to upper-70s here.Doc Savagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08783244633195233970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-46144066490664297342014-01-04T19:58:46.594-06:002014-01-04T19:58:46.594-06:00Let's see-- I'm going to go 'WAY back ...Let's see-- I'm going to go 'WAY back for one example: The DRAGNET radio program (RADIO, mind you)had a very well-known episode called "The Big .22 Rifle for Christmas" which is quietly horrifying, wrapped in despair, and resolves in an utterly unbelievable, unsatisfying and unbearable fashion. Dragnet was a great radio program (and I've always been fond of the two original television iterations, too), but this oppressively heavy-handed cautionary tale has one little boy accidentally kill his best friend w/ the rifle he got for Christmas and then try to cover the accident up while everyone searches for the missing kid. The parents are distraught, but the entire episode has an unrealistically detached emotional tone across the board. Ultimately, (in an effort to show there are no hard feelings-???) the parents give the surviving boy all of their dead son's Christmas presents. I think. . . I think this was Jack Webb's idea of "warm & fuzzy" under the given circumstances, as it was a Christmas episode. I cannot listen to this horrible episode whenever it plays around Christmas time. I know they made a television version as well, and I can't bring myself to watch that either.<br /><br />In the modern era-- I'll cite Buffy, but I'm not at all in the hate-Dawn camp, as I think Michelle Trachtenberg's delightful performance managed to save what otherwise could have been a show-killing device (still plenty dubious, make no mistake). No, pretty much the whole second half of the final season was just awful, culminating in one of the worst series finales I think I've ever seen. Characterizations simply gone or ignored; characters behaving like parodies of themselves; writing that clearly relied on cliches rather than true thoughtful interplay-- ultimately a complete abandonment of what had made the series so good for at least four of its seasons.<br /><br />HBHumanbellynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-60293246298191780312014-01-04T19:24:39.629-06:002014-01-04T19:24:39.629-06:00I stopped watching Happy Days after they basically...I stopped watching Happy Days after they basically started ignoring the fact that it was set in the 50's and early 60's, with Potsie and Chachi wearing then-modern hair styles, Mr. C's 70's glasses, and Joanie's perm. Then Fonzie got the middle-age spread going on. When the actors don't even want to go through the motions, then why should I?<br /><br />Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10547751537787941998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-16363619498938156682014-01-04T18:45:18.954-06:002014-01-04T18:45:18.954-06:00Not to hijack David's topic, but how many of o...Not to hijack David's topic, but how many of our readers are getting in on this wonderful winter weather over the past week? South of Chicago, we're expecting 8"-12" of snow in the next 24 hours (we already got 4"-5" on New Year's Day), followed by a high on Monday of -14 degrees F. Not sure everyone subscribes to global warming theories, but I'd read that one potential characteristic was weather extremes...<br /><br />DougDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-72025685276912730942014-01-04T18:26:36.870-06:002014-01-04T18:26:36.870-06:00A Piece of the Action is one of the best Trek epis...A Piece of the Action is one of the best Trek episodes! I agree the premise is silly, but I suppose they had to take advantage of any wardrobe/props they could with their low budgets. I also liked Patterns of Force--something wild about nazis and Trek together. Perhaps there should be a discussion on favorite Trek episodes? Doug it's hard to believe you haven't seen Star Trek with all the other things you've read and watched! Seems to me the Corbomite Maneuver episode is overrated. Garettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-85750623689180326282014-01-04T17:40:27.431-06:002014-01-04T17:40:27.431-06:00Edo --
Well, if I never came out of that closet, ...Edo --<br /><br />Well, if I never came out of that closet, I will now. I can probably count on one hand the number of complete episodes of Star Trek I've ever seen! And no, I don't dislike the show -- quite the contrary, it's been on my to-watch list for say, 40 years!!<br /><br />When I was little, it was on TV in reruns. Can't-miss TV for me, though, was Batman and Lost in Space. Star Trek was on around the same time of day, but the kids next door weren't into Trek so whenever it came on it was playtime! No one in my family was ever into comics or scifi, so unlike JA I didn't have any sort of "role model" to steer me towards it. And over time, for whatever reason, I just never watched it. I don't apologize, but I don't have any explanation either.<br /><br />Furthermore, I loved $6 Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Battlestar Galactica, the POTA TV show, Greatest American Hero, etc. The mind boggles...<br /><br />DougDoughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04248324005584963229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-11110462141162416752014-01-04T17:21:44.603-06:002014-01-04T17:21:44.603-06:00Every episode of Buffy after Dawn arrives. Dawn=C...Every episode of Buffy after Dawn arrives. Dawn=Cousin Oliver.<br /><br />Every episode of Happy Days after Richie and Ralph leave (which is being charitable, since the show hasn't aged well, unless you feel nostalgia for the 70s).<br /><br />I think Spock's brain is hilarious. I'll never forget watching that as a kid, my father & I laughed our asses off over that episode!J.A. Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15800901321134394272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5293155946761960913.post-72628560867639548112014-01-04T16:05:58.598-06:002014-01-04T16:05:58.598-06:00Doug, wow, I can't believe you've never se...Doug, wow, I can't believe you've never seen "A Piece of the Action." Like I said, it's not a bad episode - if you can get past the utterly risible prospect that an alien culture would completely copy 1920s Chicago (down to the lingo), it's actually pretty amusing. Also, it's where Kirk invented the card-game <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Fizzbin" rel="nofollow">fizzbin</a>, which, apparently, some people actually play.<br /><br />William, as for jumping the shark, sometimes there are entire series that basically have a "jumped the shark" concept, yet still got produced and aired, i.e., "Joanie Loves Chachi."<br />Edo Bosnarnoreply@blogger.com