The Video Game/Movie Review Blog

Another singular review today. I've just got a lot on my plate, including an upcoming Switch game review that I hope will be an enjoyable distraction from all this Star Trek. Before I continue, though, I want to give a shout out to the family and friends of Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols AKA the original actress for Nyota Uhura in The Original Series, who passed away yesterday late at night due to old age. Ms. Nichols was an inspiration to many people, of all walks of life, and just by playing a character in a TV show, with her being a black woman, in a time when black actors were still being marginalized, is a big step. We love you, Ms. Nichols, and may your legacy continue to inspire people to be the best they can be. With that said, our episode for today is called Who Mourns for Adonais. The idea behind this episode is...ridiculous to say the least. The episode involves the Enterprise getting held in space by a giant green hand, which turns out to be an energy field created ...

We have reached season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series! This one has a lot of great episodes, so be prepared for some interesting reviews! Thankfully, we start this season off strong with one of the best episodes of TOS. The episode I will be reviewing today is called Amok Time. The episode starts out with Spock being extremely emotional and asking Kirk to take him to Vulcan for some unknown reason. Kirk initially declines since he feels Spock is just stressed, until McCoy examines him and realizes something is biologically different with him and if Spock isn't taken to Vulcan, he could die. Because of this, Spock explains to Kirk that Vulcans have a mating drive called the Pon Farr, and he basically needs to go to Vulcan to fulfill those urges with his never-before-mentioned wife, T'Pring. Of course, when they get to Vulcan, things don't go as planned and Kirk and Spock somehow end up in a fight to the death. This episode is great for many reasons. I love the character...

We have finally reached it, the season finale of Star Trek: The Original Series. Season finales are not this show's strong point, but of the season finales that are in this show, this one is probably the best. The episode is called Operation: Annihilate. The story behind this one is that a plague of mass insanity has overtaken a collection of planets, with the most recent planet being the home of Captain Kirk's brother Sam. When the Enterprise arrives, they find a ship that flies into the sun to apparently cure whatever causes the insanity, and on the planet, they find Kirk's brother dead, and his sister-in-law and nephew in pain. It turns out that they have been infected by parasitic organisms who want to spread and infect everyone because...well, it's never really explained. After Spock ends up getting infected as well, Kirk and McCoy endeavor to find a way to reverse the infection. I personally liked the storyline, which feels like a fun sci fi story, even if it isn...

For these two episodes, I have to say wow, first of all. Mainly because one of the episodes is a mess, while the other is absolutely brilliant and is considered one of the best episodes in all of Star Trek. So, we have a bit of variety for these reviews. The first episode I will be reviewing is called The Alternative Factor. This episode has a really interesting premise, where the fate of the entire universe is at stake. Instead, we get a man who seems like he is on a regular supply of meth and wants to destroy the universe because he hates the alternate universe version of himself...for some reason. This episode is kind of lazy, and the villain, Lazarus, was just annoying. Nothing else to say. Moving on. The other episode, on the other hand, is quite better. This episode is called The City on the Edge of Forever, and it definitely earns its beloved reputation. The episode involves McCoy jumping through a time portal after accidentally injecting himself with a large amount of cordrazin...

Hey everyone! I know that I'm posting this later than usual, but life happened so I wasn't able to finish my second episode until 20 minutes ago or so. Regardless, I'm here now, so let the reviews commence! The first episode I am going to review today is called The Devil in the Dark. The concept behind this episode is that, on a mining planet, an unknown creature has been killing the miners there, so the Enterprise crew, specifically Kirk and Spock, are sent to investigate. They end up finding out that the creature is an intelligent silicon based life form called a Horta, and that it was only attacking the miners because they had unknowingly been destroying its eggs. I like this episode because, instead of just trying to destroy the attacking creature, the main characters instead try to understand it. Also, the Horta, after appearing in this episode and no other canon works since, has become quite a popular creature in the Star Trek fandom, so apparently this episode made i...

After a couple days of only being able to review one episode, I'm back to reviewing two episodes today. One of these I enjoy quite a lot, the other is not as much of a favorite but it is quite funny all the same. The first episode I will be reviewing is called A Taste of Armageddon. The story concerns the Enterprise going to a planet called Eminiar VII to establish diplomatic relations with the help of ambassador Robert Fox. The Enterprise is warned away from the planet because it is currently at war with a neighboring planet called Vendikar. Despite this, Kirk and Spock take a landing party down, and find out that this interplanetary war is not your typical war at all. Instead, it is fought with computers, theoretical battles, with real casualties, who are to report to disintegration chambers if they are designated as killed in battle. Naturally, Kirk doesn't take kindly to this, especially when the planet's leaders say that everyone on the Enterprise was killed and theref...

There'll only be one episode to review today, but as I mentioned yesterday, this episode is quite important to the future of Star Trek, especially for the story of Captain Kirk. The episode is called Space Seed, and it focuses on the Enterprise encountering a derelict space vessel from the 1990s, (yeah, that aged well), called the Botany Bay. Exploring the vessel reveals that it is filled with a bunch of people from that time, which was known for a third world war that was focused on eugenics, and one of the people onboard wakes up. This man is named Khan, and yes, he is exactly the Khan you think he is. Specifically, he is Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically altered superhuman who attempts to take over the ship, hoping to establish a new dictatorship with his similarly altered followers. While this episode does feel clunky today, Ricardo Montalban plays the role with fantastic precision. He makes out Khan to not be just a strong character, but intensely smart as well, and through th...

Today's episode is an interesting one, as it is about a subject that I've enjoyed seeing on television, within reason. In this case, our episode today is all about the Enterprise going up against what is, for all intents and purposes, a cult. The episode is called The Return of the Archons, and focuses on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beaming down to a planet called Beta III after Lieutenant Sulu comes back acting very...blankly happy. It turns out that most, if not all, of the inhabitants of the planet act exactly like Sulu, praising a strange being known as Landru. Kirk eventually learns that the main populace is known as 'the body of Landru' and is basically peaceful, but mindless, although there is a small amount of people trying to resist against them. The rest of the episode is them learning more about who and what the mysterious Landru is and the resolution is very Star Trek. I enjoyed this episode mostly because I love getting to see the Enterprise getting to encounter...

Well, today should be quite fun as far as the reviews go. I managed to watch four, yes, you heard right, four episodes today, so this will be twice the length of my previous review pages. The first episode I'll be reviewing is called The Squire of Gothos. In the episode, the Enterprise encounters a strange planet which proceeds to send a rather odd set of messages that seem to have come right out of a Shakespeare play. When the crew beam down to investigate, they find that the one sending the messages is a seemingly omnipotent being named Trelane, who looks like a revolution era soldier for some reason, and that the planet, Gothos, is his personal playground. The main conflict is that Trelane seems to view humanity as quite primitive and warlike, as they were back in the times he is emulating, which he admires for some reason, and attempts to keep the crew on his planet so he can study them. I like this episode because it subverts the usual story of advanced aliens having an intere...

These episodes are not really my favorites, but one of them is silly and fun, and the other is a pretty solid character study, so they are still quite good despite my personal opinions on them. The first episode I will be reviewing is called Shore Leave. The episode starts off with some of the Enterprise crew, including Doctor McCoy, beaming down to a seemingly idyllic planet as somewhere to relax for their shore leave. Things get complicated, though, when McCoy encounters a white rabbit and, you guessed it, a girl named Alice following after him. When Kirk beams down to investigate, he finds there is a lot more to this planet than it seems. This episode is definitely more light and playful in tone, with a pretty happy ending. The idea is that this planet can literally bring the imagination to life, and the crew later learn at the end that it was just intended as a fun retreat by an advanced alien race. There is a particularly funny scene with Kirk fighting against one of his old schoo...

Today is another twofer, and both of these episodes are quite important to the future of what Star Trek would become and are also just entertaining episodes in their own right. The first episode I will be reviewing is called The Conscience of the King. The story of this one involves the Enterprise being called to Planet Q by a man named Thomas Leighton, because he thinks that the leader of a traveling theater troupe performing there, a man named Anton Karidian, is Kodos the Executioner, a brutal dictator who killed half of the population of Tarsus IV, a planet that both Kirk and Leighton grew up on. After Leighton later is found dead, Kirk decides to investigate into the Karidian troupe of actors further. The mystery element of this episode was very fun, and watching the crew try to deal with someone trying to kill their captain made for an entertaining story, with a great twist at the end. It's less of an action packed story and more about the investigation into Karidian's cha...

I have a pretty busy day today so I'll only be able to review this one, but regardless, I still felt it only right to at least review the second half of the episode I watched yesterday. Today's episode is called The Menagerie, Part II, and obviously acts as a followup to the previous episode, The Menagerie, Part I. This one has a lot more focus on the story of Christopher Pike on Talos IV, as the previous episode ended with him being captured by the Talosians, a race of aliens who have the ability to project extremely powerful illusions. In this episode, we see that Captain Pike was captured because they wanted an Adam for their Eve, a human woman named Vina who was saved from death by the Talosians after a crash on their planet. We get some cool illusion sequences involving Captain Pike and Vina, including a scene on Rigel XII where Pike fights off a monstrous soldier, a scene on Earth where Pike and Vina are having a picnic with some of his horses (Pike LOVES horses, which I ...

I was excited for both of these episodes since I really enjoy both of them a lot, and on a rewatch they didn't disappoint, so this will be a pretty positive pair of reviews. The first episode I watched was called The Corbomite Maneuver. After the Enterprise destroys an odd cube emitting dangerous radiation, they are visited by an alien named Balok who informs Captain Kirk that, due to him destroying his warning beacon, the Enterprise will be destroyed. There is a lot of interesting character work at play here, specifically with Kirk's responses to Balok's threats. His best response is arguably the titular Corbomite Maneuver, where Kirk attempts to convince Balok that destroying the ship will cause an element called Corbomite (made up by Kirk as a bluff) to reflect Balok's attacks back at him. By the end of all the craziness, it turns out that Balok is actually a nice person and was just testing the Enterprise to see if the crew really were as kind and selfless as they s...

Well, today will be another two episode review, and I clearly have a favorite out of the two, but they both have their moments, in my opinion. The first episode I will be reviewing is called Miri. The story involves Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beaming down to a planet that seems initially abandoned, but turns out it is populated entirely by children, with the adults having entirely died out due to a mysterious plague. Kirk and his away team end up contracting this plague and have to work to find a cure while also figuring out why the children weren't affected. This one isn't exactly one of my favorites. It has a lot of hammy and corny scenes, which are funny to see, but I wasn't all that invested in the plot. It wasn't terrible, but it didn't really stand out as one I really cared about much. The other episode I will be reviewing is called Dagger of the Mind. The story behind this one involves a supposedly insane man escaping from a penal colony onto the Enterprise and t...

This review will be another twofer, one is a little bit problematic but was progressive for the 60s, while the other one I feel is underrated and was pretty fun to revisit. The first of these two is called Mudd's Women. The most significant thing about this episode is it introduces the character of Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd, a conman who would later become a minor recurring foe in the Star Trek universe. The story involves Mudd being rescued from an exploding ship along with three women who are basically mail-order brides who basically get their looks from a beauty drug called the Venus Drug. Seems pretty problematic as a plot, but the execution is a mixed bag. One of the girls does want to be more than just a pretty face, and does show off a couple moments of cleverness, which was appreciated. The theme was also that self confidence is what makes a person truly beautiful, more than makeup or anything else, which is a pretty solid message. But there were way too many ...

Okay, today is my first multi-episode review, so this should be fun. Both of these episodes were quite enjoyable so these reviews will be positive. First off is The Naked Time. The concept of the story is that for some odd reason, the crew of the Enterprise is robbed of their reasoning and inhibitions, similar to being intoxicated. Some of the effects include the helmsman, Hikaru Sulu, played by George Takei, running around and chasing other crewmembers with a fencing foil, or Spock, the emotionless Vulcan, crying about not being able to express his feelings to others freely. I actually quite like both of these scenes, the first because it's quite funny and Spock gets a pretty good quip in as well. The other because Leonard Nimoy does an amazing job at depicting how hard it is to keep his emotions tethered, especially because he is half-human (it's the Vulcan way, due to how intense their emotions are otherwise). Overall, the episode was entertaining and classic Trek all the wa...

I have to say that Star Trek: The Original Series is generally a series of extremes, with episodes either being amazing or terrible. Not many in between in my opinion. Thankfully, this one is definitely one of my personal favorites. The episode I am reviewing today is called Where No Man Has Gone Before. The story is quite interesting, involving an officer named Gary Mitchell getting zapped by a mysterious energy field and gaining god-like powers. This episode was actually the main pilot for the series despite being the third episode aired, and you can definitely tell, but it's still an interesting episode regardless. The action that plays out in the episode is pretty intense, showing Mitchell getting more and more unhinged, to where he eventually names himself as a god, and Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew as merely insects. Even with a more action focused plot, there still is a morality play at work with Kirk comparing Mitchell's disregard for 'lower life forms' ...

I know that with a new series finding its legs, that means there will occasionally be episodes that don't end up working, but wow, is this episode a product of its time...and not in a good way. The episode I am reviewing is called Charlie X, and it sees Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew welcome a guest on board the ship: A 17 year old young man named Charlie Evans who is very...off as a person. It seems like he has no idea how to socially interact, which is very true, but it ends up making him come across as super creepy, especially as he has this rather, well, intense obsession with Janice Rand, a female member of the crew. And here is the problem with the episode for me. While the episode is certainly watchable, and there are some pretty good moments from Captain Kirk, Charlie himself is just a disturbing character. He's a stalker with a crush that also happens to have the power to do anything he wants. Yes, he's the villain of the episode, but there was no sympathy to...

It's been a minute since I posted here, but I have been a little bored of superhero films lately so I'm doing something different, specifically, I'm planning on reviewing every piece of Star Trek film and television out there, so hopefully this ends up being enjoyable. I may review only one episode on some days, or many episodes on others. It depends on how much time I have to watch episodes. Today, I will be reviewing the episode of Star Trek: The Original Series called The Man Trap. This one is one of my favorites, and not just because it was the one that started it all, but I like the tone behind it, and the story is pretty fun for a 60s sci fi television episode. Basically, in the 23rd century (the setting of the show), the starship Enterprise, captained by James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, goes to a planet called M-113 to have the ship's doctor, Leonard McCoy, played by DeForest Kelley, perform a medical exam on the two inhabitants of the planet, a scientis...