Ben Sommer

Admittedly I have a huge soft spot for Enterprise since it was the only Star Trek show that aired when I was alive and reruns were always on the sy-fy channel. What I liked about the show, and pardon the pun, was it showed we "get from there to here." Enterprise shows how humanity goes from the scrappy post-World War III society to the optimistic future that was seen in the 1960s show. I also enjoyed that the character had flaws. While Archer admittedly acted like an idiot sometimes, I liked that he went from optimistic to questioning if humanity had a place in outer space to optimistic and more seasoned, by the show's end I could buy the fact that he is what led to the Federation forming. I initially did not like T'Pol, feeling as if she was a Vulcan 7 of 9 at first, but her character accepting her place as one of the Enterprise's crew as well as her romance with Trip I found endearing. Speaking of Trip, while I know that some people did not like his character, I found him to be likable throughout the show. Also, his character accepting T'Pol as a member of the crew as well as being moral support for Archer worked well for the show. The rest of the cast is pretty solid as well, with Phlox being the most fun and interesting bringing an alien medical perspective to a mostly human crew. The actor who played Reed, Hoshi, and Mayweather, while not given the most characterization, managed to bring a level of depth to the character that admittedly might not have been on the script. I also enjoyed Shran who grew to respect Archer more and more during the course of the show. Even minor characters like Forrest and Suval were well realized for the screen-time they had. The show is not perfect, while seasons 1 & 2 are not as terrible as some have said, they do feel quite stale. However, season 1 & 2 are not worth skipping since there are many good, and even great episodes to be found, just skip over episodes like Rogue Planet, Horizon, Vox Sola, Two Days and Two Nights, and A Night In Sickbay. The show has some forced elements like the decontamination scenes which was done to make the show "sexy" and many took issue with the theme song (tbh I actually liked it). While some say it was a rip-off of DS9's Dominion story, I personally enjoyed the Xindi arc with Enterprise's third season since the characters found themselves shifting from explorers to soldiers in order to save Earth, this led to some interesting character growth, especially for Archer and T'Pol. Even those who overall dislike the show will say that season 4 was pretty good since it connected with, and explained many elements of the other shows in some well-written story arcs. However, while I don't detest the finale as many fans do, I can admit it wasn't a good idea having the finale of this show be a TNG episode and killing Trip off was done for shock value. That said, it's not the best Star Trek show, but I have always liked Enterprise and had it lasted for its intended 7-year run, I have no doubt that it would have taken its place as one of the best shows in the franchise.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has some of the best characters, story arcs, and episodes of all of Star Trek. I also appreciate that the show took risks for its time such as serialized storytelling and attempted to break the mold by not having the 100% perfect utopian version of the future that Roddenberry wanted (which tbh I always found boring). The show developed characters such as Nog very well who started off as a juvenile thief and became a respected Starfleet officer. Garek is another great example, not only played excellently by Andrew Robinson, but I liked how he started off as being very duplicitous and ended up being another well-rounded, and even sympathetic, character. Odo, my favorite character, I enjoyed for someone who started as an outcast and then discovered that his people where essentially the show's main antagonist, and grew to become great friends with the rest of the characters, only to be forced to rejoin his people. Even Dukat, who could have been a cartoon baddie, was mostly well done as a multi-dimensional character who actually thought that his occupation of Bajor was a good thing. The show also tackled themes of race, prejudice, and the effects of war and what it does to our morals. So, why isn't this show my favorite Star Trek show? Well, to be honest I thought that the last season was a major disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it has some good moments such as the story arc where Nog loosing his leg and the episode where he is mentally recovering in the holodeck was good. I also thought that the writers did a good job wrapping up the Dominion War itself. However, there were too many missteps in my opinion with the last season which curb stomped my enjoyment of the show. The first was the handling of the Dax character. Now, while she wasn't my favorite character in the show, I liked Jadzia Dax and was bummed out when she was killed off. In season 7, they introduced Ezri Dax as a replacement. While Nicole De Boer was likeable, I think that introducing and having to develop a new character in the last season took time away from the rest of the story and characters. It might have been better to not bother with a replacement. The next issue I had was the story with the Pah Wraiths. Not only did this arc take up a lot of time in season 7 as well as make Kai Winn and Gul Dukat into evil mustache twirling villains that the show had successfully avoid for the most part, but it took the prophets and turned them into being that we don't quite understand (since they don't understand how linear time works) into magical gods in which some use their powers for evil. Lastly, I don't like what was done with Sisko's characters in season 7. Sisko always seemed like the everyman Captain instead of the "best of the best" which Kirk, Picard, and even Janeway were. He had a son, pursued a relationship and remarried, and even would invite his crew for cook-outs. However, season 7 essentially made him space Jesus in that he was conceived by a Prophet and when he supposedly dies, goes to the wormhole/celestial temple and everyone awaits for the day when he will return. for me, this kind of spat in the face of what I liked about the character and ruined his character in my opinion. That said, seasons 2-6 are still great television and are highly recommended (season 1 is mostly skippable) most people seem to like how the show wrapped-up. That said, before Game of Thrones' last season put a damper on an otherwise good show. For me, DS9 was the first to stumble across the finish line.

I know that a lot of Star Trek fans find Voyager to be their least-favorite show in the franchise. Many think that the show should have not played it safe and should have really explore its premise of a ship stranded a lifetime away from home. Also, many found the writing to be inconsistent since the episodic nature of the show meant that the stakes, characters, and stories would be essentially contained within an episode. That said, and I even agree with some of these complaints, I still enjoy Voyager. For a start, I actually like the characters. I thought Mulgrew played Janeway well with a Kathrine Hepburn-esq grit which worked well for a Captain in her situation. While a bit bland, I liked Chakotay's respect for Janeway even in situations when he doesn't agree with her. Tom Paris I thought was an interesting take on a disgraced Starfleet officer who got in with a bad crowd, but eventually found his footing again on Voyager. The Doctor managed to be somewhat egocentric, yet likable, and his character eventually gaining the respect of Voyager's crew was well-played. Tuvok is another highlight in that Tim Russ manages to play a Vulcan who is showing emotion without showing emotion. While not outwardly projecting himself, you can tell what is going through Tuvok's mind and his episodes are usually a highlight of the show. Seven of None also impressed me in that I thought she was just going to be eye-candy, but thanks to good writing and a good performance from Jeri Ryan, actually worked as a character. Neelix was another character I though I was going to hate, but I didn't mind him overall, but his over-eagerness was a bit too much at points. While I don't have much to say about B'Elanna or Kim, they were likable and worked well with the other cast members. I will say that Kes could have been cut from the early seasons and not much would have been lost, however I did like her exit from the show (the one in season 4, not the episode in season 6) While episodes like Threshold the Fight and terrible, and even the series finale was a bit of a disappointment, I find the reputation of Voyager being mostly mediocre to be strange since many of my favorite Star Trek episodes such as Blink of an Eye, Scorpion and The Gift, Bride of Chaotica, Killing Game, Projections, Relativity and Future's End come from this show. Yes, the show could have benefitted from serialization but the show did have ongoing arcs with the Hirogen, Borg, and Kazon (who were kinda lame but no worse than the TOS Klingons). Also, had Voyager delved headlong into a darker tone, it likely would have alienated general audiences. DS9 is better in hindsight because that show is in line with what audiences like today, but back then it was not as well liked and Voyager was made a lighter show to counterbalance DS9's grit. Stargate Universe had a similar premise to Voyager and was the darker show, but was rejected by many leading to a premature cancellation. Going back to the Borg, I don't think they were ruined in Voyager, overused and with some bad episodes like Unimatrix Zero which made them mustache twirling baddies, but episodes like Unity, Scorpion, Drone, and Dark Frontier showed that the writers could still make the Borg interesting. In all. I don't think Voyager is deserving of his bad rep and for me it's a show that I like to put on every once and A while. It's not the best Star Trek show, but when I put it on there is a good feeling I get from watching this show even more so than the better shows like TOS, TNG, and even DS9. But Voyager has that Star Trek sense of optimism that makes it immensely rewatchable.

The Animated Series is worth a look for TOS fans who would like to see a continuation of the original characters, and I do enjoy most of the show. However, the one element that prevents TAS from being as good as TOS is its presentation. When watching TAS you can tell that many corners were cut to keep the budget down, this is why the animation looks cheap even for 1970s standards and why many of the main cast also voice other characters throughout the show. That said, I do appreciate that this show could do more with animation than TOS could with its creatures and effects so the animation for the character looks bad, the animation backgrounds and creatures are very imaginative. Also, I do enjoy many of the stories, especially those that are sequels to TOS episodes such as Yesteryear and More Tribbles More Troubles. Even elements such as the Holodeck and characters like Robert April debut in this show. So while TAS is a far from perfect show, I would still recommend it but only to hardcore TOS fans.

This is my favorite Star Trek show. While TOS can feel outdated to some with its very 1960s sets and costumes as well as having some cringy moments. That said, I feel that TOS still has some of the strongest writing of any of the Star Trek shows. I will even say I still consider the cast and crew of this show to be better in terms of chemistry than some of the later shows. The trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy are still iconic to this day for a good reason and even the more minor character like Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov and enough characterization to be memorable. I personally still enjoy most of this show with seasons 1 and 2 still holding up for me in terms of quality. It's only season 3 that I have some difficulty watching from front to back. Unfortunately, there were many changes to the show with key staff leaving, including Gene Roddenberry, and budget cuts as well as the show being put on a poor time-slot ensuring its cancellation. That said, I'm still glad season 3 exists since the show was only saved for one more year by a fan campaign and while some might say not having season 3 would have been better, I'd say it was worth it for there are some episodes I enjoy in season 3 (Enterprise Incident, Tholian Web, World is Hollow for I have Touched the Sky, Cloud Miners, are great season 3 episodes to name a few. While I wouldn't call it good I do enjoy Spock's Brain). So while some of the later Trek shows have outdone TOS is some ways, this is the Star Trek show that I find myself revisiting the most if I just want to pick up an episode and have fun. As an aside, In recent years I have heard that many cannot get into this show due to its aesthetics and production value. Contrary to many people’s belief, TOS looked good for 1960s standards. All of this being said, I don’t think that one should dismiss a show based on how and when it was made. Many great show such as The Adventures of Superman, 1960s Batman, and the original Doctor Who all exhibited these traits, but are great television. In all, the quality of the writing should be the keystone to good television, not how we perceive it today in terms of how its “aged”. If this does bother you, there was a special edition of TOS that added new SFX so that can help one’s viewing experience.

Watching ST:TNG again, I have to say that the show is actually better than I remembered. While I have always enjoyed the TNG, I remembered the show being more of the stuffy, duller, and ponderous Trek show. That said, I found myself enjoying TNG due to the show being a bit more complex than TOS. Now, I still really enjoy TOS but TNG tends to got a bit further with its concepts and ideas as well as character development than TOS. This is because in the 1960s television hasn't heavy on continuity aside from maybe referencing some elements of previous episodes. While TNG isn't as serialized as later DS9 or Enterprise, it has more continuous story arcs and character growth than TOS or even Voyager. I will even say that seasons 1 and 2 have gone up in my opinion. Granted some terrible episodes like Code of Honor and Shades of Grey are present, but Arsenal of Freedom, Where Silence has Lease, Symbiosis, Skin of Evil, and Where No One Has Gone Before actually caught me off guard on how much I enjoyed them considering they are from the shows bad era and a few of these episodes have made it one worst of lists. I will even say that I didn't mind Wesley Crusher that much, yes the boy genius trope was pretty bad but I liked his surrogate father and son relationship with him and Picard, especially since Picard blames himself for his father's death. The characters of TNG are mostly pretty good, but I will say that they don't quite have the same chemistry as TOS, DS9, or Voyager. I liked Picard for the fact that her was a seasoned and dedicated officer, while this might make for a dull character in some shows, the writing and Stewart's acting make it work. Riker is generally very likable and Data made for some interesting episodes that occasionally put him in a new light such as The Most Toys in which he almost murdered a man in the most cold manner and lied (I'm surprised no one talks about that scene, for a moment Data became the Terminator essentially). La Forge was mostly wasted on mediocre episodes like Galaxy's Child and Interface which was a shame since Levar Burton is a capable actor. Same goes for Troi, when the show focused on her it was generally a sub-par episode with her mother or her dealing with her ability to sense emotions. Unfortunately, the show rarely focused in Dr. Crusher or her temp replacement Pulaski. I still believe that seasons 3 thru 6 was the show at its best with essentially a whole new writing staff. However, I actually found season 7 to be the weakest season with such duds as Force of Nature, Genesis, Eye of the Beholder, Bloodlines, Emergence, and Sub Rosa in this season. The show did manage to end well with the All Good Things... finale, and I even enjoy the films Generations and First Contact from this cast. So while I used to always enjoy TNG but would generally go for TOS any day, I have to admit that that now I can see why many see this as the definitive iteration of Star Trek.

Cybertron is easily the best of what is called the Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron). Granted, this isn't saying much since Cybertron the best mostly because unlike the other two shows, it's competent. There were no obvious animation errors and poor dubbing errors that took me out of the show, and I will say that I did enjoy Cybertron for the most part. However, there were elements that I didn't care for. The first is the animation style, while it was consistently better in this show, the mix of CGI and 2D animation was a bit jarring. That said, the 3D animation gets better as the show progresses and is almost to the quality from Beast Wars/Machines. Although, compared to Armada and Energon, Cybertron looks like a Pixar production. Next issue was the continuity, in Japanese Markets, Galaxy Force (Cybertron's Japanese version) was not intended to be connected to Armada or Energon, so there are many little inconsistencies between Cybertron and the other two shows. That said, I can enjoy Cybertron as its own entity separate from the previous shows so this doesn't bother me. One issue with Cybertron was that the show did tend to pad out its plot in order to fill the 52 episode mandate in Japan, I feel as if some trimming could have been done. Also, there was a sense that Cybertron was aimed at a slightly younger demographic with pop-culture references and more colorful characters (Thunderblast and Thundercracker defiantly spring to mind). This doesn't bother me personally since these shows are generally aimed for kids, but I can appreciate it when kids shows have elements even adults can enjoy. However, this show does have its fair share of good characters and development like Optimus Prime learning to stop doubting himself and many new characters introduced like Scourge and Override eventually learning to trust the Autobots and siding with them. I also liked the human characters since they also had their own growth in the show as well as the fact that they were actually helpful and weren't annoying. Also, the voice acting in general was better with more emotion present and less of a stilted feeling to the overall show. As an aside, I even really liked the robot designs with a good mix of G1 and new elements. While I'm not saying that Cybertron was perfect, but I was surprised how much I liked it and of the three Unicron Trilogy shows, this is the one I don't mind watching.

The sequel to Beast Wars and unfortunately it's not very good. It has some good elements, but overall this show has too many issues to ignore. The first is the fact the the characters from Beast Wars act out-of-character throughout most of the show. Primal went from a level headed leader to a spiritual guru, Rattrap has regressed back to his selfish version from the beginning of Beast Wars which really ruined his character progression, and Megatron is obsessed with removing anything organic, including his own beast mode, despite the fact that he reveled being a T-Rex or even a Dragon. The biggest character mess-up was with Rhinox's character who goes from Primal's mentor and friend to an antagonist. While some have argued that his change into Tankor messed up his mind, the show never makes this clear so for all we known Rhinox himself betrayed Primal which just doesn't work with his character. The fact that Megatron was able to get to Cybertron first and wipe-out Cybertron's population honestly made Beast Wars feel pointless since Megatron ends up winning just right after that show ended and before this show even starts. Most of the show drags with Vehicons chasing the Maximals, and the Maximals retreating which gets repetitive really fast. I also didn't care for the organic vs technology message which came off as preachy and pretentious, the Maximal designs are also pretty weird and are honestly my least favorite designs in all of Transformers, they look like anthro characters with Borg tech on them. The show gets somewhat better in its second season, and the last seven episodes are a decent conclusion, but I can't really recommend a show based on the last few episodes being good. This is a shame since some of the ideas are decent in the show such as the Maximals on the run, if retooled with a populated Cybertron with other characters to interact with as well as replacing this show's Megatron with maybe the G1 Megatron or even a new Galvatron, this show could have been a good mix of Transformers mixed with the Fugitive. Granted, we have to deal with the show we ended up with and even judging the show on its own, it's still pretty weak.

25 years after its initial release, the Doctor Who movie still seems to be largely reviled. I won't deny that this is a poor way to introduce new viewers to Doctor Who. for a start, the movie immediately gives the audience an exposition dump about the Daleks on Skaro (which aren't even relevant to the overall plot), the Master, and regeneration and expects the audience to know what all of this is. In all, the film feels like it has 2 hours worth of plot crammed into this film and it feels very hectic. I also think that having McCoy be the Doctor early on was a mistake since the Eighth Doctor narrates the intro, but the audience would have no idea about who this Doctor is and changing lead actors must have been strange for newcomers. The film also introduces concepts such as the Doctor being half-human and other things that fans debated over like the Doctor getting romantic and the "Americanization" of the property. While some of this, such as the more romantic version of the Doctor, are more common in the modern era, a lot of these additions are still debated in the fandom. Lastly, while many despise Eric Roberts as the Master, I will admit his performance in the first half is good. However, as the film progresses, Roberts becomes more camp. That said, with all of these points are still held against it, I do enjoy the film. Sure, it's no-where near the best that Doctor Who has ever produced but I don't think that this film deserves to be remembered as a poor failed American pilot for a British property since there is a lot to like admire about the film. For a start, even people who hate this film will say that Paul Mcgann's Doctor was excellent with a good mix of Pertwee's charm, Tom Baker's alien quirkiness, and Peter Davison's nobility. I actually liked that the film's plot takes from stories such as Deadly Assassin and Castrovalva, but manages to feel unique due to its direction. Speaking of direction, the film wasn't an American-produced hack job that some say it is with accomplished director Geoffrey Sax managing to give a cinematic feel to the film. The TARDIS itself never looked better than in this film with the look being inspired by the 1960s version of The Time Machine. The supporting characters are pretty good as well with Grace and Lee having pretty decent arcs with both characters discovering their self-worth, and I already mention that I actually don't mind Robert's Master. I wasn't bothered by new elements such as the more romantic Doctor and I didn't mind the American setting. Also, for as much as people complained about the half-human line, Doctor Who has always been making up continuity is it went along with the first and second Doctor's origins being unknown until it was discovered that the Doctor was a Timelord who stole is TARDIS and was a criminal and I won't get started on the Timeless Children revelation. As far as the action scenes like the motorcycle chases are concerned, action was quite common in the classic series with Pertwee's era in particular and the revival series was also more action oriented. Also, one reason that I do enjoy the film is that producer Philip Segal and writer Matthew Jacobs were fans of Doctor Who really pushed to get this film made. Again, the film isn't perfect (far from it in fact) and I actually used to hate this film myself and I can get why it's not a fan favorite. But now I appreciate it for being a noble attempt to revive the show, and I think that the film should be given some credit for attempting to revive what was considered a dead property and the fact that this film was even made is nothing short of a minor miracle.