TV.com

show: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

episode: Trials And Tribble-ations

The Bottom Line: "Perfect"

This episode was the greatest. Seeing the DS9 crew interact with the original crew was priceless. However, its status as a wonderful tribute to Star Trek goes much deeper than just mixing and mashing the two crews (although it helped).
Seeing the characters act all awed by their surrondings was great, especially by Dax. Also great was the characters' serious lack of knowledge of TOS technology. My biggest laugh is when Sisko hits his patch, thinking his communicator was still there. Despite their hating jokes, the two agents in the framing story gave two of the best jokes: one of them mentioning six Enterpirses and not five, a nice reference to Star Trek's near future in this tribute to the past (and yes, NX-O1 wasn't included), and when the agents called Kirk a menace (it was just great). I also liked how Sisko reacted when they asked (also sounded a bit accusitory) if he had made a joke. The best part was the inclusion of David Gerrold and Charlie Brill. It helped to connect this episode to it TOS prequel. Brill definitly grew as an actor between the two episodes. David was just a nice presence, despite him just having a cameo role. Thanks to the text commentary, I was touched by a scene of him petting a tribble in the hallway of tribbles that Basher and O'Brien find. The text commentary said all the tribbles in this episode were new...except the one David was petting (it was from the original). I liked that little touch.
The mixing of the two shows was flawless. If you edit the footage from this episode into the original episode and showed it to an unsuspecting person, he/she would never know the difference, that's how good the mixing was. i can almost think the DS9 crew time traveled to the taping of the original episode to shot the scenes. The costumes and sets were spot on with the original sets and costumes. The effort to make the new Enterprise scenes match the old ones was not wasted. The ship visuals were great as well, way better than the visuals in the original episode. My only complaint is that, the Star Trek Remastered version of the original made all the visuals with K-7 and the Enterprise in this episode obsolete (Paramount, if you're reading this, please remaster this episode so that 'Trials' can fit with the Remastered 'Trouble with Tribbles').
This episode was made by fans. It shows in all the care and attention that went into this episode. It is one of the greatest episodes of Star Trek ever, one that I can watch over and over again.

P.S. Get the DS9 Season 5 set and the Klingon Fan Collective set for this episode. The season set has behind the scenes stuff for this episode and the Klingon set has a text commentary for it.

show: Power Rangers

episode: Pushed to the Edge

The Bottom Line: "Superb"

I thought this episode was very good. We get to see a different, almost sensitive side to Camille as she does all in her power to help Dai Shi. I like Jellica. She's a trickster, something I only remember one of the monsters in Mystic Force being. We also see the very first time Dai Shi gives a hoot about Camille. Flit also shined in this episode, since he didn't have to comment on a megazord battle and can have more normal dialogue. I hope the rangers interact with him soon.
On the ranger side, we get a look at Lily and her cherry attitude. It felt natural helping the Jungle Karma customer (Camille in disguise). I kind of wish we got more time with the rangers, but I really shouldn't complain since we'll see them again for 21 more episodes.
I wanted to smack Camille for her words to Lily at the end. She should've just slap her or stab her in the back judging Lily's reaction. I also felt sorry for Fran. She definitly wasn't ready for dealing with Camille. I also can't help if this episode is supposed to be a prelude to Dai Shi and Camille becoming good at the end.
The only problem with the episode is that it was definitly two Gekiranger episodes put together. I happen to like the Geki version of act one better. We got the red and blue rangers turned into babies. I would've loved to see Lily go through the same problems that her Japanese counterpart had to go through.
A great episode. I hope the writing staff keeps up the excellent work.

show: Power Rangers

episode: Lights, Camera, Action

The Bottom Line: "Great"

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. Despite it suffering from the lack of Ranger and monster contact, due to the use of two different series, this was still enjoyable to watch.

I found out that this episode was meant as the 100th episode, and it shows that the makers wanted commemerate the occassion. While Power Rangers isn't known for it contiuity with previous episodes, they did a good job here with Kimberly and Billy doing all the talking about Pudgy Pig, since the others weren't there at the time. Also, that little quib about the talk show host telling kids "don't try this at home" was a cute little jab about how Power Rangers were looked upon as too violent. Evidently, the makers wanted to jab at the whiners. Also, Jason, Zack, and Trini's words at the end were a nice little shout out to the Power Rangers's past (how brief it may be when compared to today).

The rest of the episode was pretty much the same old stuff, but it was still a pleasant episode of Power Rangers. I wondered if Jason David Frank knew that, in about 10 years, he would be involved in another tribute to the Power Rangers (PRDT's Legacy of Power).

show: MythBusters

episode: Alaska Special

The Bottom Line: "Perfect"

This episode is classic Mythbusters across the board. We get explosives, crashes, and Jamie and Adam tortured. You can get much better.
When talking about the dog sinking a truck with a stick of dynamite, I was absolutly waiting for the myth to be called 'Confirmed' or 'Plausible'. I was surprised by the 'Busted' sign. However, when they finally sunk the truck, it was beautiful. I laughed when they they said they had to blow the ice up again to get the truck out. And the dog was cute.
The myth of speeding towards a moose to avoid damage when driving. When they first showed a truck that hit a moose, all I could say was "Well, hitting a moose can only end one way...Badly". That moose was cool to see, as well as their fake moose. Of course, the best was the cars plowing thru the moose. Classic Mythbuster car damage for all four cars used. Great myth. (It was 'Busted; the only way to avoid damage would be to drive a Formula 1 car at 90 mph on icy roads...I think I'll take a 45 mph at a moose)
The final myth, about cabin fever, was the weakest myth in this episode although, thankfully, it didn't take too too much time and being the weakest in this episode is exactly a bad thing. Basically, the yeti at Adam's door and all the bits with Kari watching the two men were what brought this myth up a few notches. Her reactions to Adam and Jamie blowing their spit tests and her "writing" her name in the snow was classic. (The myth was deemed 'Plausible').
Overall, a great episode that washed away the less than excellent taste of some of the episodes between the Supersized episode and this one. I can't wait for the NASA one.