Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 2-08: Necessary Evil

Episode:

28

|

Writer:

Peter Allan Fields

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Air Date:

14-Nov-1993

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Deep Space Nine's Necessary Evil, by writer Peter Allan Fields and director James L. Conway. I'm mentioning those names because they happen to be the same ones you'll find in the credits for season one's Duet, which is maybe the best episode so far. In fact looking at the other stories they'd later work on separately (Way of the Warrior, For the Cause, In the Pale Moonlight for instance) it seems like neither of them really understood how to make a bad episode.

Though I did watch an episode of The Orville that Conway directed a few weeks back... and my research for that reminded me he did that episode of Next Gen where Wesley Crusher falls into a flower bed and is given a death sentence. And then dies. R.I.P. Wesley. Or maybe he doesn't, I don't want to spoil it.

But if you continue past this point you will find a huge variety of SPOILERS for Necessary Evil and perhaps a couple of earlier Trek episodes as well. It's a detective story based around a couple of mysteries, so you might want to be more careful with this one if you haven't seen it before/in a while.

Babylon 5 2-12: Acts of Sacrifice

Episode:

34

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

22-Feb-1995

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This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've jumped back to Babylon 5 for season two's Acts of Sacrifice. I'm just past the midpoint of the season now with 11 episodes behind me and 11 still to go, which means I'm 4 episodes behind where I was at this point last year. I need to step up the pace.

Hang on, I recognise that ugly rubbish spiky spaceship... this is the episode with the Lumati in it! The title had me thinking it was the one where Londo's old friend shows up and then stuff happens, but nope it's this one. I guess I should start mentally preparing myself for how it ends then.

There's going to be SPOILERS beyond this point, by the way. Not just for this episode, but maybe earlier ones too. I'll not even hint at anything that comes in later episodes though, except for just then where I said that Londo's friend shows up and stuff happens.

The Orville 1-10: Firestorm (Quick Review)

Episode:

10

|

Writer:

Cherry Chevapravatdumrong

|

Air Date:

16-Nov-2017

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm writing a quick review of The Orville's 10th episode, Firestorm. So quick in fact that I'm just going to say SPOILER WARNING then get on with it. Also CLOWN WARNING.

Justice League 1-01: Secret Origins

Episodes:

1-3

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Writer:

Rich Fogel

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Air Date:

17-Nov-2001

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about the first episode of the Justice League cartoon! Or maybe the first three episodes depending on how you look at it. Either way, the story's still called Secret Origins.

Justice League was the seventh cartoon in the epic DC Animated Universe continuity, which began with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992 and ended with Justice League Unlimited in 2006. So that places this episode about two-thirds of the way through the DCAU era, at a point where Static Shock and Zeta Project (cartoons 5 and 6) were still airing. In fact, Batman Beyond (cartoon 4) also had an episode left to air, so it was a busy time for DC animation.

I didn't watch any of them at the time though. First time I saw any Justice League was a few years later when I was flipping through channels and caught 10 minutes of an episode where the League goes into a parallel universe and meets versions of the Golden Age Justice Society. Except I didn't know that, as I'd missed the start, so what I saw looked to me like some goofy Golden Age-inspired comedy series for young children and I quickly decided I wasn't interested. And that's the story of how one of season 1's best episodes nearly put me off the Justice League cartoon forever. Fortunately, my second exposure to the series left me hopelessly addicted until I'd finished it all off.

This is going to be a full recap with commentary and massive SPOILERS, but I doubt I'll be saying much about events in the DCAU cartoons leading up to it and I definitely won't be spoiling anything that came after it.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-09: Into the Forest I Go (Quick Review)

Episode:

9

|

Writer:

Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt

|

Air Date:

12-Nov-2017

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about Star Trek: Discovery's epic mid-season finale, Into the Forest I Go! I mean I'm just assuming it's going to be epic. It was originally scheduled to be the first episode to air in January after the break, but it got moved forward for a mysterious reason and I'm theorising that reason to be that the last episode was significantly less than spectacular and they wanted more of a hook to get people eager for chapter 2.

The episode is the directorial debut of Chris Byrne, who's directed absolutely nothing before this so I can't have any opinions about his work whatsoever. Though he was a second unit director on several episodes, including Discovery's pilot, so I expect he knows which direction to point the cameras. Writers Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt have got even less on their IMDb pages, but according to Memory Alpha, the repository of all Trek knowledge... they wrote the Discovery mid-season finale Into the Forest I Go together. Well, that's a big help.

This is one of my rushed scruffy reviews, meaning no long screencap commentary, just a few opinions and observations. Also SPOILERS, for this and earlier Trek episodes as well.

The Orville 1-09: Cupid's Dagger (Quick Review)

Episode:

9

|

Writer:

Liz Heldens

|

Air Date:

09-Nov-2017

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing some thoughts down about the ninth episode of The Orville, Cupid's Dagger.

The official synopsis for the episode says:

"The Orville is called to mediate a peace treaty between two warring cultures, but tensions run even higher between Ed and Kelly when a familiar face boards the ship. Meanwhile Yaphit declares his love for Dr. Finn with surprising results."

Or to summarise: "Skip this one". At least that's how I read it. The tension between Ed and Kelly has to be my least favourite part of the series so far, with Yaphit's love for Dr. Finn being a close second place, so I'm already getting ready to call this my least favourite episode so far. I've got all kinds of preconceptions formed. But I suppose I'll have to actually sit and watch it first before I can really list all the reasons I hate it.

This will be one of my quick reviews without the epic screencap recap; just a few opinions, a couple of observations perhaps, and a lot of SPOILERS.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 2-07: Rules of Acquisition (Quick Review)

Episode:

27

|

Writer:

Ira Steven Behr

|

Air Date:

07-Nov-1993

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about second season Deep Space Nine episode Rules of Acquisition (originally known as 'Rules of Aquisition', without the 'c', but they fixed the title for later broadcasts).

I started listening to a Deep Space Nine podcast called The Rules of Acquisition a while back, and I was a little disappointed to discover that they're not just covering this one episode every week, over and over again. They could've Star Wars Minute'd it for the first 43 podcasts, then started to delve more deeply into its themes and philosophy over the next few years, but nope they had to move onto episodes people would actually want to hear about instead. Though they also keep spoiling Westworld and Game of Thrones, so I may have to pause listening to them until I've experienced all popular entertainment released up until the podcast airdate. But that's fine, as I've still got quality DS9 podcasts like Greatest Generation: DS9, bOrgcast and soon Misson Log to listen to if I want to remind myself how redundant my own website is.

I've been giving Deep Space Nine episodes a full screencap recap up to this point, but there's 26 of the bloody things this season and I've got other things I want to write about too, so this is one's going to be a quick review instead (because it's a Ferengi story and I hate 'em). There'll still be massive SPOILERS for the episode and possibly earlier Trek episodes too, but I'll not spoil anything released later.

Star Trek: Discovery 1-08: Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (Quick Review)

Episode:

8

|

Writer:

Kirsten Beyer

|

Air Date:

05-Nov-2017

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've got another rushed Discovery review for you. This time I'm writing about Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum, which I've had to type so many times now in my notes and for filenames that I don't even have to check how to write it anymore.

Memory Alpha tells me that this is the ninth Trek episode with a Latin title, after Sub Rosa, Dramatis Personae, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, Ex Post Facto, Non Sequitur, Alter Ego, Terra Nova and Vox Sola, and I hope it's a hell of a lot better than most of them were, because that's the opposite of a 'Best of Trek' boxset. Memory Alpha doesn't mention that it's also the eleventh title with a comma in it, probably because who would ever care?

This is the first ever TV episode to be written by Voyager novelist Kirsten Beyer, and I'm not sure if I should be worried about that or not. I've never been keen on Trek tie-in novels, and I'm not all that keen on Voyager either, but she'll likely know the Treknical terms and suchlike better than most so there's a chance I may end up pleasantly surprised by how much closer to classic Trek this one feels.

If you want to read further, prepare for SPOILERS, both for this and earlier relevant episodes of Star Trek.

The Orville 1-08: Into the Fold (Quick Review)

Episode:

8

|

Writer:

Brannon Braga & André Bormanis

|

Air Date:

02-Nov-2017

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm watching Into the Fold, the eighth episode of The Orville's first season. Of at least two. Because it just got renewed for a second season!

Now it just has to hold out for one more year and it'll reach the fabled season three, where Star Trek series get really good. Though sometimes it takes until season four, so Fox should probably hold off cancelling it until then just to be sure. Not that Fox actually kills off every sci-fi series early, it probably just seems that way because short-lived series like Firefly and Terminator had such a vocal fan base. And Dark Angel, Dollhouse, Space: Above and Beyond, Alien Nation... okay, I suddenly feel like checking Wikipedia to see how many of their science fiction series actually made it past season two.

Hmm, there's X-Files, Fringe, uh... Sliders. Man this series is so doomed.

This is one of my quick reviews so there'll be no epic screencap recap, just a few words on what I thought about it and a lot of SPOILERS.

Babylon 5 2-11: All Alone in the Night

Episode:

33

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

15-Feb-1995

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm writing about an episode of television! Every season of Babylon 5 lasts precisely 22 episodes, so by my calculations that makes All Alone in the Night the midpoint of season two.

I did some more calculations and figured out I've heard the phrase 'all alone in the night' exactly 32 times already, as it's been part of the opening monologue on every episode so far. Other titles they could've used include: 'A Shining Beacon in Space', 'A Dangerous Place', 'Our Last Best Hope for Peace', 'Neutral Territory', uh... 'The Name of the Place'. Could've, but didn't.

So this is a bit like the Where No Man Has Gone Before of Babylon 5 then I suppose. Kind of makes it seem like the episode's going to be a little more monumental than most, though my fuzzy memories are telling me... it isn't.

I'm going to go through the whole episode now, sharing my thoughts and screencaps as I go, so be prepared for SPOILERS. It's probably best to assume there'll be spoilers for earlier B5 episodes too, though I won't ruin anything about what happens later.