House Rewatch

House Season 2

The second season of House continues to grow in strength, the chemistry between the cast which was excellent right out of the gate is more refined and allows for a more turbulent and at times vicious amount of interaction. The major change in this season is the recurring character of Stacy Warner who after her husband is diagnosed by House takes a full time job in the legal department. There is no question that between Stacy and House there remains passion and never one to miss an opportunity House twists the knife on her husband. Sela Ward as Stacy and Currie Graham as Mark Warner both do an excellent job.

Favourite Episodes:

• Autopsy
• House Vs. God
• No Reason

My Random Journey Through Trek #28

Enterprise
Vanishing Point

Trip and Hoshi are investigating some ruins on an alien world that is devoid of all life, as a diamagnetic storm approaches the risk to the two crew members and the shuttle provokes Archer to make use of the transporter. Trip is beamed up first and then Hoshi and all seems well but Hoshi doesn't quite feel right with herself and soon begins to feel as if she is being ignored and then suddenly two other crewmen are taken by the planets inhabitants and she is unable to communicate them or even enable the universal translator, she is relieved from duty. She learns later that she has been replaced on the bridge and then her very body begins to fade in front of her eyes and then it's as if she isn't there at all. Phlox believes she has pretty much dissolved but being invisible and incorporeal she learns that aliens have boarded the ship and intended to detonate an explosive and during the struggle she steps onto a transporter pad and is energised...

Well what can you say about an episode of Enterprise that is Hoshi centric, too little too late perhaps since the character certainly had a lot of potential when introduced in the premiere episode and it has to be said that the age old transporter issue has been done to death on the franchise. I'll admit the twists and turns of the episode were not that bad and I think I liked the idea that like in dreams so much happened in the space of a heartbeat and no question that if such technology ever comes into existence the medical community will probably have to write a whole new book on the physical and psychological issues that come along with it.
I didn't quite understand why Enterprise was spending time examining long abandoned ruins, scans from orbit would have located anything of significant interest and only two people, nah sorry it served the plot but didn't make sense. The scene with her father was weird to say the least, of course once we learn this is all in her mind then perhaps yes her issues with a father who may not truly understand or appreciate her and maybe a mother than isn't around a lot could explain the rather head banging against the wall conversation Archer was having.

Overall an average episode from the second season of Enterprise, good to see Hoshi front and center but it wasn't really strong enough to really give Linda something to get her teeth into.

IMDB

Rating 5

Fringe Season 2

The season kicks off with the excellent A New Day in the Old Town and continues the story of the season 1 finale with Olivia and her visit to see William Bell in the other universe. It also opens up the long running infiltration arc of the other side soldiers who it turns out have been around a lot longer than anyone thought and with their technology are capable of duplicating anyone.
This second season really does step up the mythology of the show and moves aways from the standalone monster of the week type episode but that style of episode will never really go away just influenced more by the overarching storyline of each season.  There were some major character additions in this season although it has to be said the characters were version of our existing group with one or two exceptions and that will pay off more in the third season. Overall the stronger mythological aspects pay off and the show held it's on in it's much more competitive day and timeslot after being moved by FOX in the US market. We also got a musical episode which is not unusually these days although this early in a show certainly is, there were elements of Black Betty that I liked but overall it didn't work for me and there's the anomaly of the episode "Unearthed" which was aired out of order. The season finale is used to really pave the way for the full integration of the alternate universe into the show full time, it seems the network was worried and maybe they were right to be but for the Fringe fans the new characters and stories were rivetting stuff. We also got a few notable guest actors both well known at the time and later on in the careers such as Peter Woodward, Meghan Markle, Sebastian Roché, Peter Weller, JR Bourne, Martha Plimpton, Roger Cross, Pascale Hutton and Orla Brady.

Favourite Episodes

• A New Day in the Old Town
• August
• Jacksonville
• Peter
• White Tulip
• Northwest Passage
• Over There 1 and 2

Star Trek Enterprise Marathon Part 13

Star Trek Enterprise Marathon Part 13
Season 2 Disk 6

The Breach
An emergency extraction of a Denobulan scientific group and a moral dilemma
for Phlox both of which really contribute to a dull episode.

Congenitor
An advanced space faring culture is open to friendship with the crew of the
Enterprise and seem willing to share technology, a great boon to the human
race until Trip sticks his nose in.
I repeatedly yelled at the screen for anyone to smack Trip around the head,
when will he learn not to interfere where he doesn't belong. On the upside
well done Malcolm, he shoots he scores and the late great Andreas Katsulas
plays the alien commander.

Regeneration
The wreckage of the Borg sphere destroyed in First Contact is discovered
on Earth and a couple of Borg regenerate and escape Earth and attempt
to contact the collective in the Delta Quadrant.
The Borg may have been over used in Voyager but this was a decent episode
which took a solid foothold from the movie, still a little easy to kill but they
had to be I guess.

First Flight
Captain A.G. Robinson a compatriot of Archer is dead, this story tells in
flashback the story of their competition for commanding the early warp 5
engine tests which ultimately led to command of the NX-01.
An entertaining episode, suffers a little because the scale should be bigger
but an excellent performance from Keith Carradine.

Star Trek Enterprise Marathon Part 10

Star Trek Enterprise Marathon Part 10

Season 2 Disk 3

Singularity
During an investigation into a black hole the crew slowly comes down with a malady
that manifests as a sort of obsession with whatever each person deems important at
the time. T'Pol seem unaffected and despite Reed trying to mutiny and Hoshi make
the worlds best soup everything turns ok.
Alas pretty much a rehash of a generic Trek story.

Vanishing Point
Hoshi is forced to use the transporter and then believes her molecules were not put
back together again correctly, she believes she is slowly becoming invisible and much
to her horror Phlox confirms the fact. After "dying" Hoshi is even more shocked to find
herself still very much alive but unable to communicate and then discovers aliens from
the planet are planting explosives onboard the ship.
This wasn't a good episode, I'm afraid they haven't done enough work on the
character in the first season and well any episode with this pay off needs to be bloody
fantastic not to have you throw the remote at the tv.

Precious Cargo
A transport ship asks for help repairing a cryo pod carrying a beautiful alien medic back
to her own world but she revives and all hell breaks loose. Trip is trapped on board the alien
ship when it flees with it's kidnapped cargo forcing Trip and the woman to effect escape and
then crash land on a nearby world where romance ensues.
Padma Lakshmi who played the alien woman Kaitaama is absolutely drop dead gorgeous and
looks really good when water logged but alas we've seen this style story before on Trek.
It wasn't that bad an episode it just pushed the bounds of credibility a little both Don Juan Trip
and the escape:)

The Catwalk
The Enterprise is warned of a wave front approaching that can not be escaped by a warp 5
ship, ok that's so ridiculous why bother watching the rest of the episode.
I did though and while I guess it's possible the crew with limited resources and sanitation and a
dog can live in the nacelles for a few days it's quite remarkable they get boarded just at their
most vulnerable point.
Lets say this wasn't my favourite episode, some nice graphics though.

Star Trek Enterprise Marathon Part 8

Star Trek Enterprise Marathon Part 8
Season 2 Disk 1

Shockwave Part 2
Stuck far in the future Archer and Daniels attempt to jury-rig a temporal communications
device in the hopes of contacting Enterprise and ultimately gaining access to the time travel
tech being used in that time frame.
T'Pol is being interrogated by the Suliban who have lost contact with the future masters
and it's this confusion which saves the day both for Archer, Enterprise and ultimately the yet
to be born Federation of Planets.
This was a very satisfying conclusion to the first season cliffhanger, yes of course you had
to accept the MacGyver approach to temporal phone calls and how easy it was to fool
the Suliban but nothing new about that, the good guys in any show tend to perform miracles.

Carbon Creek
Dinner with T'Pol, Trip and Archer leads to story telling and she tells them a tale of the true
first contact between the Vulcans and Humans after a research vessel crashed near the
small town of Carbon Creek. The Vulcan survivors make a life for themselves in the
community and when rescue finally comes one decides to stay behind which leaves Archer
and Trip speechless, was it a true account or a tale weaved by a mischievous T'Pol?
Carbon Creek is an excellent episode, first off great to see the interaction between the three
main characters in the show and for once they did the titillation with really class, silhouetted
T'pol was awesome:)
The episode has a lot of humour, not really laugh our loud but subtle and working off of what
we know of the characters and situation.

Minefield
A huge explosion rocks the ship ripping away a part of the saucer, the ship has struck a
cloaked mine in a star system they were exploring and another mine is now clamped to
the hull close to the impulse manifold and could destroy the ship.
Reed goes out to disarm the mine and is trapped as it extends another clamp and a ship
de-cloaks identifying itself as Romulan a race Archer became aware while far into the future.
A stark choice is presented, try to disarm the mine and risk it's explosion while relying on
the patience of the Romulan ships or jettison the plating and sacrifice Reed.
I enjoyed this episode even though they may have taken Reed's "rod up the backside"
character a little too far but that is at least countered with some good exchanges later.
It's difficult to know if the writers did the Romulans justice, little is known pre-Romulan
war but it doesn't seem in character for them to not destroy the Enterprise on sight.

Dead Stop
The Enterprise badly damaged after the mine explosion is limping along and is guided towards
an automated repair yard, this high tech facility controlled by computer docks the ship, discusses
payment and then begins the repair to the ships hull. The crew are given leave to visit the station
where replicators provide them with any food they desire and everything seems to good to be true
and then Mayweather is found dead in an area they were told to avoid while repairs were ongoing.
Dead Stop is good solid episode and very rewarding not to have the ship all in one piece after the
episode Minefield, continuity and consequences of actions add such flavour and backbone to a
show, something other Trek series never took real advantage of.

Star Trek Marathon IX

Star Trek Marathon IX
Season 2 Disk 2

The Apple
A red shirt bloodbath as a tropical paradise is revealed to be a controlled colony of happy go lucky people under the influence of an artificial intelligence, Kirk gets upsets (not a fan of AI) and gives these people freedom. A cheesy episode but the red shirt deaths are a riot:)

The Doomsday Machine

An excellent piece of scifi television as the Enterprise discovers her severely damaged sister ship "Constellation" and with Kirk investigating the wreck Decker takes over the conn of the Enterprise and sends this ship into the battle convinced he can win this time. This episode has some top notch enhanced graphics as well as being an entertaining episode, lots of action and drama. Commodore/Captain Decker is the father of Will Decker who was going to command the refitted Enterprise as seen in the motion picture.

Catspaw

This was a Halloween special and well couldn't quite make up it's mind what it was meant to be. There were some interesting elements with a very alien species looking into our existence and manipulating the crews minds but it wasn't funny enough or scary enough.

I, Mudd

An android infiltrates the Enterprise and steals the ship, his final destination is a world populated by androids under the leadership of one Harry Mudd, fun and games as Harry the loveable rogue indulges himself but Kirk and Co convince the androids they can do better without him and then crazy, random and illogical acts are presented to shut them down. A fun episode nicely shoot with a number of twins and Harry is great:)

Metamorphosis

A federation official is returning the the ship to get medical treatment but the shuttle craft is pulled off course and they are stranded on an small world with a sole human occupant. The "companion" an energy based intelligence brought them to provide company for the "man" but things take a twist when it realises or is convinced by Kirk that if it cares it should not hold the man on this world despite the benefits to him. This is a very clever episode even more so by the link to the Federations and Earth history, it also provided the seed for a series of Trek novels. Elinor Donahue plays Nancy Hedford, she looked great.

Extras

Previews

Star Trek Marathon VIII

Star Trek Marathon VIII
Season 2 Disk 1

Amok Time
The second season opens strong with a trip to Vulcan and more background on that race
and Spock in particular, an excellent story and fantastic music and makeup. An epic episode
which like Balance of Terror really set the baseline for a species alas not always lived up to in
later years. T'Pring played by Arlene Martel is gorgeous:)

Who Mourns for Adonais?
Grabbed in mid flight by an energy based "hand" the Captain and land party find someone who
claims to be Apollo on the planet they are orbiting. Could the ancient legends of Greek culture
and others actually have substance in that they were alien visitors with access to high technology
which would seem to the humans at the time like magic?

The Changling
This episode is probably the source for the motion picture as a long lost probe is discovered and
it's far more powerful than it should be as well as having it's own agenda which basically relates to
killing or sterilising everything it doesn't deem to be perfect. An ok episode and well made and yes
another one where Kirk out logics a computer:)

Mirror, Mirror
Here we go a classic Trek episode and the first time we learn of the alternate/parallel universe
where the Federation are the bad guys and stomp all over the other races in an orgy of violence
and gore. This spawned the trope of bad guys have goatees/beards and it has to be said Spock
rocks the pirate look and Uhura, holy smoke:) A fantastic episode which spawned some of the
better DS9 and Voyager episodes decades later.

Extras
Previews
Starfleet Access Episode
Billy Blacburn's Treasure Chest 2

Falling Skies S2 Trailer

Falling Skies returns to TNT on the 17th with a double episode, no word on it's UK return.
The series finished on a high with perhaps the best scene of the entire series as it's cliffhanger and well it worked I want to know what happens now:)
Official Website

Farscape Marathon Part 10

Farscape Marathon
Season 2 Part 10

Liars, Guns and Money (3): Plan B
With Crichton the prisoner of Scorpius and under going the procedure to have the
neural clone removed is friends are still planning on attacking the depository in a do
or die rescue attempt.
We learn a lot more about Scorpius through his "clone" and even more so how much
John has become part of the family of Moya.

Die Me, Dichotomy
Overloaded with currency Moya flees to a planet where Rygel informs them of an
alien medical specialist who resides there. With enough cash John could be treated
and with the clone removed back to his normal self but of course who else do we
know that has had some exotic medical work done.
A rather low key season finale even with it's cliffhanger.

Season 2 was a lot of fun, there were two trilogies which were both very very good
particularly the Princess one and making full use of characters and situations we've
met previously also pays off adding depth to the stories.
An interesting cliff hanger in the finale.

Extras
Commentary "Die Me, Dichotomy" with Ben, Claudia & David Kemper
Deleted Scenes
Season 2 Bloopers
In The Raw: Directors Cut
Re:Union
Farscape Undressed
Listening In "Die Me, Dichotomy"

Farscape Marathon Part 6

Farscape Marathon
Season 2 Part 6

Mind The Baby
Aeryn has done a deal with Crais to save the lives of John and D'Argo but what is
the future for Moya's new born hunted by the Peacekeepers and desired by Crais.

Vitas Mortis
D'Argo meets an aging Luxan priestess who he is honoured to aid in her passing on
but thanks to a huge life force she rejuvenates herself with disastrous results.

Taking The Stone
A Chiana episode as we meet her brother, I really do not like this
episode:)

Crackers Don't Matter
The show bounces back with an alien scientist promising a cloaking field for Moya
but he has his own agenda. Meanwhile the crew go a little bonkers with plain old
crackers being the focal point of their paranoia.
An excellent episode on every count.

The Way We Weren't
The discovery of a recording of Moya from years ago shows the murder of her
original pilot by the peacekeepers. A moving episode with both back story for
Pilot and Aeryn who despite their past grow even closer.
Another excellent episode.

Extras
Commentary for Crackers Don't Matter with Claudia & Ian Watson
Commentary for The Way We Weren't with Ben & Claudia
Deleted Scenes
Listening in with composer Guy Gross