TAEMO Reviews

Star Trek: Discovery: Jinaal (2024) Season 5, Episode 3

"Surprisingly well written"...

[7/10 · 11 April 2024]

...does not mean, it was an outstanding episode, it just means that the scene stucture, the dialogue, characterisation and characters were better than normal.

First of all, Tilly and Renor: In the beginning, Tilly is her normal annoying self, she does not wait until permission is given to speak, she is bubbly, happy and cloy. When put in her place by her new first officer, she comes down a bit. And at the end of the episode she makes a good point about connecting with people and earning respect. But Raynor does as well. And while they may not like each other, they know where the other comes from. So, character and structure wise, that was a well written start of the relationsship of two characters.

The root of their argument was Reynors decision to get to know his new crew by giving everybody just twenty words of introduction time. This is not only a good choice by the writers to make his character more interesting and also helps to define the rest of the bridge crew a little better. Now we no more about those characters than we have ever in the last years.

Two more relationsships are flashed out a little more, Saru and the Vulcan and the short haired girl and the Trill. The scenes concerning both couples were not just straight forward, they was always a little twist: Saru being manipulated by another Vulcan and the short haired girl being subtly pushed to break up with the Trill despite the Trill being the one who wanted the relationsship to change. Really well written and surprisingly well subtly acted in all the aforementioned scenes. It was especially refreshing to see Tilly annyed and quiet and not loud and stupid.

Now we come to the last point, the progression of the main plotline. While not bad this time, it was not as interesting as the character scenes. In this episode Culber gets willingly possessed by an old Trill Symbiont or rather its mind and leads Burnahm and Book to the hiding place of the next piece of the puzzle. First of all, Cruz gets to act as a different character and he does a good job. Secondly, to find the next piece BnB have to solve a very StarTreky problem. Not bad, not outstanding, but not bad at all. Also the revelation what the price of the treasure hunt might be and why it was hidden so long is actually interesting and logical respectivly.

So all in all I think this was the best epsiode yet in all of Discovery, from a writng standpoint. For the episodes to get better completely we need more believable relationships, better setups and payoffs and characters that act logically and not stupid. And this episode showed that at least that the people in the writing team can write.

Star Trek: Discovery: Under the Twin Moons (2024) Season 5, Episode 2

The plot thickens very very slowly.

[6/10 · 4 April 2024]

Just like last episode, the show looks very good, the plot is a different story. One of the first scenes is a hearing concerning the burying-the-saucer-sections-of-two-starships-in-sand-maneuver in the last episode. The scene has no purpose except reiterating the events of last episode, which was already in the recap. So what's the point?

Then we head down to the planet and even though time is perhaps of the essence, Burnam and Saru stopp to discuss her future first officer and Saru suggests Booker? Why him, he does not have a commission. Saru explains he can stand his ground. Really, this is how you can become an officer on a starship now? No academy, no training, just a good reputation. I wonder what the rest of the bridge crew has to say should he be chosen.

Then drones attack, of course the transporter is immediately not working. On the ship Tilly has to figure out how to deactivate the drones and they are helped by Raynor, a man. I did not believe it. But okay, he helps and the solution is to plant bombs in the holes out of which the drones come, which is basically a big head and the drones look like the eyes. I could not help but wonder which computer game end boss was the inspiration for this. Could be Contra III. And then they discuss who will pull off the stunt, Saru or Burnham. (While they talk the drones break off their attack and wait for the conversation to finish. ) Guess who will? Of course Saru is better suited but Burnham does it anyway. But we new that before, right.

On the ship Booker wants to contact the bad guys or should I rather say bad persons via the "dark net" ? And for some reason Stamets orders non essential personel to leave engeneering and he does it with an attitude: "Thank youuuu!" Why, he is the boss down there, right, just give the order.

The purpose of the scene escapes me, maybe to stall or to learn about them, apart from that, the conversation only made me think about the mask of the bad guy, looks like an alien on B5.

On the planet Saru and Burnam figure out another lead - a device thingy- in one of the ruins, one which the baddies do not have, just like the missing info on the head piece of the staff of Ra in Raiders.

On the ship of course Burnham figures out it is a map. What else and now we can go to Exegol, no Trill. Why Trill? The others are going to the wrong place, Betazed. Maybe there is a connection because it is the planets of Deanna Troi and Ezri Dax, and both were Counselors. That would be cool. No, it would not.

Next scene, now we know the purpose of the scene in the dark net, because now Booker knows the bad gal is his cousin twice or 1000 times removed on his mentor's side. Okay, personal connection to plot, check.

End of episode, we are back in HQ, chillin'. So I guess time is not of the essence. So it is not urgent to find whatever we are looking for. And if our characters are not in a hurry, why should I be excited?

Well I was not excited and the episode was writing by numbers and pretty lame even Callum Ketih Rennie was a let down this time. Thinking of him, I rather watch BSG or Californication or X-Files.

Frasier: Reindeer Games (2023) Season 1, Episode 10

You got Peri Gilpin...

[5/10 · 9 December 2023]

... plus ten extra minutes for this eoisode and this is all you can come up with. You have her come in for a third act cameo. What a waste of a great, still beautiful actress. Do they still have acts without commercial breaks? I never liked commercial breaks but since the writers structured episodes and scenes according to a given structure it all felt coherent. This did not feel coherent nor structured just scenes all over the place. Two telephone calls with Niles without David Hyde Pierce and you never get the impression that Niles is on the line. Sorry, you want to like it, it is not even that woke but it is just not well done.

Frasier: Freddy's Birthday (2023) Season 1, Episode 7

Lilith is just great.

[8/10 · 17 November 2023]

Bebe Neuwirth returns as Lilith and since I have always found the actress to be superb and the character great, this episode is a highlight.

Ms. Neuwirth looks a bit older, sure, but she is great as ever. The new aspects of her character also show she has learned over the years to be a more "normal" human being. She knows how to be friends with Freddy's friends, she knows about Freddy and what Freddy likes, she commands respect when around normal people, everybody treats her well and yet she is stilk Lilith. And the performance is great. I never understood why Ms. Neuwirth was not marketed differntly. Yes, Shelly Long looks sweeter, Kirstey Alley was very beautiful but Ms Neuwirth when styled properly is second to none, her acting abilities being far superior compared to all others. What a leading lady she would have been, had they decided to give her a permanent role on Frasier (1993) and a nice arc, from a stiff cold person to a caring mother and "normal" human. Alas, it was not meant to be. But we have her here with Kelsey Gramner, great combo and still the highlight. The Allen character is not funny, the Freddy character is a little flat and the rest of the regulars, I have to say, almost none existent. We have yet to see what David can do. The firefighters have potential as does the young lady Freddy picked up, looks wise, I mean.

To sum it all up, great episode and great chemistry between Grammer and Ms. Neuwirth.

Frasier: First Do No Harm (1998) Season 6, Episode 5

Isn't that the point,...

[8/10 · 17 August 2023]

...the overanalysing and the messing up part. If they had settled down Frasier and given him a long lasting relationship it would not have worked. And we have proof for that. Once Daphne and Niles got together, the show was not as funny anny more. Next proof is Teri Hatcher herself, the main guest star of the show. She was fresh of her cancled Superman show. Why was it canceld, because the rating plumeted after her Lois Lane character and Superman/Kent got together. So unlike my predessors in the comment section here I really enjoy Frasier messing it up.

Furthermore, Teri Hatcher had not just finished Superman but also Tomorrow Never Dies. Allegedly most of her part was cut due to her poor performance, at least that is what the tabloids said at the time. Here I think she is pretty good especially her comedic timing and her movments. I even watched the ending twice because of her.

All in all, nice show.

Tatort: Unsterblich schön (2010) Season 1, Episode 780

The Writing is not bad in this one but...

[7/10 · 7 February 2023]

...other things are odd. Editing for example, a still image of the eye of the victum. A still image in a movie is odd.

Then there are the magnifications of close ups, the editor zoomed into a closeup. The result ist the same as with the still image, the film grain becomes all too visible.

Next, the actresses playing mother and daughter are just 10 years apart. Yeah, Sean Connery and Harrison Ford were also only12 years apart as father and son respectivly in the Last Crusade but Connery without hair lood older. Here mother and daughter look really old and it does not work. One gets confused.

The story is not bad this time, the characters make sense, the motivations and motivs make sense.

But it is odd, something in a Tatort is always off, bad, not right. A little more effort soemtimes and maybe you have a special epsiode. But not like this.

Tatort: Liebeswut (2022) Season 1, Episode 1,202

Where do they get those writers, directors and some actors?

[5/10 · 30 May 2022]

What was that? Most of the characters - here is hoping not to offend anybody - are clearly mentally challenged. Nothing against mentally challenged characters in a movie, but all the suspects were clearly written and played as retards. Even the headmistress of the school. The cops weren't really that smart either. Never thought about tracing the kidnappees smartphones.

The actors weren't that good either, not even the two leads. The one cop with the childhood flashbacks was overacting constantly. Even when they were observing in secret a ransom hiding place and she wants the money courier to leave, because he is, just as the rest of the characters, stupid, she lets out a scream. Well done, cover blown. The one actor who stands out was the fat neighbour. He was not bad.

The ending with the secret basement was not a bad idea. But the final scenes within the basement were too short. They should have built up more tension and shown more of the underground maze.

The final scene is a voice-over of the flashback cop. The only voiceover in the movie. Stands out like a sore thump. And then the shots of characters filmed in slow motion with brown leaves raining down on them. Reminded me of the rose petals in American Beauty, but without the poetic look and the meaning. Or maybe I am just too stupid.

Star Trek: Picard: Farewell (2022) Season 2, Episode 10

So much potential squandered. (spoilers)

[3/10 · 6 May 2022]

Much of the episode did not earn to be written about. Then there are the resolution scenes on the bridge of the USS Stargazer: so much did not make sense. Jurati is missing, nobody took notice, Rios is missing, people wondered despite the fact that in this timeline he lived out his life in the 21st century. Raffi behaved strangely. Did or did she not remember their trip to the past? Elnor called from the Excelsior, reported something, then said the last thing he remembers is La Sirena. What a statement?

And then the explanation of it all. If it all made sense, Jurati, the Queen's unmasking, the unknown threat, Seven's battlefield promotion - how can she get one, if she is not even enlisted - Jerry Goldsmith's score, man, if everything made sense and if the characters had history and if all of it was earned, what an emotional impact it might have had. But this falls mostly flat.

Then Guinan's explanation of it all, why she could not tell Picard in the past, so contrieved.

Sorry, but that must have been the worst season of Star Trek, yet.

Star Trek: Picard: Watcher (2022) Season 2, Episode 4

Possibly the worst episode yet from a writing perspective. Spoilers I guess

[3/10 · 27 March 2022]

Wow, that was bad. The writing and also the direction was pretty bad and here is why: so in the writers room you break the story of the entire season, then for each episode and then staff writers get assigned episodes which move the story from point a to b (episode 1) or b to c (episode 2) and so on. Of course to kickstart a season or to end a season the showrunner might write the first or last episode because the main story may also be his or her story. And since the showrunner is mostly a little more experienced and better at his or her job than the other writers - he is the boss after all - those episodes might turn out better. So for episode 4 the two female writers got the job to move the story from point D to point D. Yes, correct, the story does not move hardly at all. At the end of episode 4 almost everybody is at the same point as they were at the end of episode 3. Rios is still in custody, Rafi and seven are looking for him, Jurati is seduced/ manipulated by the Borg Queen and Picard is looking for the watcher the entire episode. Rafi and Seven thought they knew the location of the watcher by the end of episode 3 and may be they were right but they abandoned their mission in order to look for Rios. So Picard has to start from scratch here and decides to visit Guinan, because he thinks she is the watcher. Of course if you only are allowd to move the story forward this tiny step, namely finding the watcher, there is not a lot to do for our two writers. So, the mission would have been to at least give us an entertaining hour, alas they did not. If you are given the weakest filler episode you are probably not the strongest writer of the bunch. The Guinan scenes were very repetitiv. Guinan not trusting Picard and pointing a Shotgun at him. I mean she has a Bar and greets her customers with a watchdog and a weapon? Really. Guinan had a weapon under her counter on the Enterprise but that was more for comic relief. Here she is foul mouthed, depressed and not very optimistic, a little like Luke Skywalker in TLJ. And it does not fit the Guinan character at all. It does not help that they recast Guinan with another younger actress. I did not think the actress was good, the stuff she was given did not help. She refuses to help Picard and Picard does not want to alter the future so he is not telling her his name and his mission. In the last scene they have, because the plot has to move, he is doing it anyway and she agrees to take him to the watcher in an instant. Why? Dont' know why. Then there is a little conflict between Guinan and the watcher for no reason and she leaves. Guinan here was not needed and they should have left her out. Rick Berman once said that the writers could only write Guinan into an episode and hire Goldberg if she was contributing to the plot in an interesting and important manor. Well they should have thought about that maxim before using the character. Was not interesting and not important.

Rafi and Seven look for Rios and Rafi talks to a police officer so she might tell them Riose's location. A random person then tells them were to look. That is not interesting and badly written. Totally uninspired. What follows is a car chase were the reason for driving fast is not given and allows other cars on the street move in the way of the hero car for no other reason but to be an obstacle. The chase ends by a beam out of the car to where the bus is in which rios is deported. "Rios is moving fast." Stupidest line ever. Of course he is, he is on a bus. Also the reveal of the beam out I guess was intended to mirror the beam out of the elevator in Star Trek IV, where we go into the point of view of the police officers for the last seconds and then see through their eyes, that the car was empty. Here, no tension at all, we see the beam out and then have a little tag with the persuing police officers as well. Did not work Mrs Thompson. Sorry.

The watcher has the ability to take over random humans just like the agents in Matrix. Directorially that was done really badly. One human out of a group of three is possessed by the watcher, leaves the group. The others in the group do not react at all just continue the stroll, not wondering were their friend is going. Next time do your homework Mrs Thompson. Then they go for ten meters and the watcher changes the human again. Why? Ten meters. So stupid. The identity of the watcher is stupid, Guinan is very stupid. Rafi shoots open a police car with a phaser she has to work the slide first. Once inside the car she hacks the computer to start it. Stupid. Seven can drive a car, stupid. Guinan has time sickness, stupid. Guinan does not know Picard. Who cares at this point? Q is depowered by a female Q, of course. The deportation officers act like bad guys for no reason, of course. La Serina is damaged, heating does not work but the cloaking device does. Oh, there is a cloaking device. Would have come in handy two episodes ago during the fight. Jurati does something with the number 15 and so they figure out the world ends on the 15th. Picard reacting with joy because he realizes Guinsn's bar is on forward avenue 10. Why now, he beamed to the same location in the first episode. I mean he has to give the computer an address when he beams somewhere, right. Just like the nav system in a car. And here he reacts. Bad direction. And oh my god you two writers, you are bad writers. I could go on and on.

Tatort: Tempelräuber (2009) Season 1, Episode 745

Why Ulrich Noethen?

[7/10 · 14 March 2022]

When it started, I wondered why they cast Ulrich Noethen in a normal part, not main cast, not killer. The regular cast of characters in the Münster Tatort has been pretty strong in the last 20 years - not necessarily the actors, the characters - the autistic doctor, the screaming cop, his blue collor father, the deep voiced woman boss, the Sams - even if you do not know their character names, the characters are memorable and for a Tatort, for a German TV-show fleshed out. And then come the guest actors in this episode or guest characters, also strong. And then comes Ulrich Noethen and you wonder, why they cast a major German movie star - may be not movie star but one of the best actors - in a pretty boring guest part. Well, there is a scene where the Noethen-character tells another character that he is her father. Sounds pretty cliche for a drama, right -I am your father - and it could have been cheesy, but Noethen pulls it off and it is believable, touching, great and not cliche at all. That is why you cast a great actor like Noethen.

The Chef Show: Robert Rodriquez/First Friday (2019) Season 1, Episode 5

Time and Again

[10/10 · 9 March 2022]

I could watch this show and the Skywalker-Ranch episode time and again. RR's Pizzas must be really special, and he has a Pizzaofen in his house that runs on gas and wood. Great. And the cooking is mixed with movie anecdotes. What else could a movie fan wish for.

Wetten, dass..?: Special: 40 Jahre Wetten das...? - 70 Jahre Thomas Gottschalk (2021) Season 1, Episode 216

Super until Joko und Klaas

[7/10 · 6 November 2021]

Great bets, great music, Thomas was great, as were all the guests. Then came Joko and Klaas and Refugees and the fun was gone. Why politics? That was the end of the show. Good night. Abschalten.

Zur Hölle mit den anderen (2018 TV Movie)

It could be good...

[6/10 · 2 September 2021]

If the structure was better. During the visit the visiting couple is always about to leave and then they don't. The situation constantly escalates and then everybody is back to normal even though in real life the insults exchanged would not allow it. And that is not natural. There should be a step by step escalation and not escalation, de-escalation, escalation, de-escalation. That would be a more natural structure. The writer obviously thought she could not hold the audience's attention otherwise. But if you somehow foreshadow the conflict to come then a gradual escalation is not boring but interesting.

The movie is advertised as a comedy. Is it funny? Yes, a bit. The actors are not bad. Britta Hammelstein is escpecially good. Mira Bartuschek is also good but her character comes across a bit mean, at least that is how she plays it. And that should not be, we should like all the characters otherwise there is no connection with the audience.

Again, some gags are pretty good, but as mentioned before the structure is not natural. After trading the first round of insults the party would be over in real life. But it goes on and there suspension of disbelief ends.

Der König von St. Pauli (1998– )

When I first saw it on Sat1 in 1998 it was okay, now on Amazon in 2021 it is pretty average..

[5/10 · 16 February 2021]

Here is why it is bad and this review is mainly based on the first episode. Should I be able to get through more, I will change this review to a general one and post this as a review attached to the first episode. Also, before we start, rumour had it back then that Dieter Wedel fired the original director because his scenes were unusable and stepped in to direct the show himself. I don't know if this is true or when Wedel took over, but if this show was shot in sequence and the first episode or parts of it is the work of the original director then may be that's the explanation why this is so bad. Also scenes tend to get better at the end of the episode and the staging is more natural , the line delivery not as overacted. Firstly the staging of the scenes and the framing of the shots look just awful. Maybe the reason for the latter is the change from 4:3 to 16:9 on Amazon, but it is just no fun watching it. The staging is also so uninspired and not logical. They try to kill Kranzow by throwing him into the harbour. And the reason he is almost killed is not the way he smashes into the water, or that he cannot swim or the current; It is because he swallows too much of the dirty water and he cannot really swim somehow but survives at least 5 minutes until they send a rescue ship. And the killers know he might not die and survive but they also assume he will not talk when they hear that he might live? Yet they make a second halfass attempt on his live. Okay much of what I just wrote was maybe also a writing problem and the reason they are only halfass attempts is because he has to come back half way through the show when his son has taken over so there can be conflict and a reconnection with his son. But the assassination attempts look ridiculous. First the attempt in the harbour then the second one in the hospital. The killer behaves so suspiciously and the reason nobody saw him, was because there is only one nurse for 80 patients. Okay the explanation is also writing. The following scene with his son explaining to the nurse who his fathers is in the underworld reminded me of the Godfather. The problem again is the writing because the son talks so stilted and not how real people would talk. Also almost every scene before that told us how big his father is in the Hamburg underworld or party mile and how prestigious his his club is, yet when we see the club it looks like a small beephole, the guests in it look bored and the dancers are not very professional. Most of the actors are well known German actors but they somehow cannot deliver. Even Heinz Hoenig who got a great career boost from this show is pretty bad in this first episode especially in his first scenes where he overacts completely. Sonja Kirchberger is hot, but not that good, Oliver Hasenfratz is not even present in the scenes he is in. And it is also so plain obvious that we are on a backlot. The entire scenery looks cheap. Okay now we jumped from writing to acting to production values and design in two sentences but it is very difficult to write a structured review when the entire episode is all over the place.

Ferdinand von Schirach: Feinde - Gegen die Zeit (2021 TV Movie)

It was good, but...

[7/10 · 4 January 2021]

First of all, I will review both titles here, not because they belong together but because - and this is the big BUT - part two offered nothing new and was a bit of a let down. We also cannot speak of part one and two here but of companion pieces, because both parts tell the same story from a different point of view. Also both parts were shown at the same time on different stations and the respective other part after that. Yet for some reason I think "Gegen die Zeit" would work on its own and the other part "Das Geständnis" (The Confession) would not. Maybe I only think that because I watched "Gegen die Zeit" first.

Before we start here is my table of content:

1.Acting 2.Writing 3.Plot

1. Bjarne Mädel I did not like before this and now I know why. I did not like the characters he played in Stromberg (German version of The Office) and Der Tatortreiniger (Crime Scene Cleaner). In Stromberg he played a shy stuttering jerk and in Der Tatortreiniger I do not know what the character was. Because of that, I did not like the actor. And I do not mean to say it was bad acting. Here the character he plays is good and Mädel is good. Very good? No. Why not. The courtroom scenes. As a cop, Mädel's character is pretty tough but in the courtroom scenes he is not. I understand of course that people are intimidated when on the stand but here Mädel playes the character so differently from the rest of the movie. And he plays him shy and a little stuttering just like his other characters in Stromberg and Tatortreiniger. That difference was too much. The other crinchworthy scene that substracted from the overall strong performance was after the waterboarding scene when he cried. My wife and I laughed. That should not have been. It was good to see Brandauer again and he delivered. He is very good as always and his character is interesting. Because of him the film is better.

2. The writing was not bad. But two things were not good and did not make sense structurally: First, during the courtroom scene the topic of torture is brought up long before it is actually revealed to the court that it was torture that made the subject confess. Of course it was the elephant in the room, for us, the audience, but why talk about torture for so long without it being the issure. Structurewise this should have been reedone. Secondly the only reason why they were dancing around the topic of torture for so long in the court scene especially in the second part was the fact that the kidnapper did not tell his lawyer that it was torture that had made him confess. Yes, the cop threatened him not to reveal that. But come on, the kidnapper was shown to be extremely intelligent and resourceful. Don't tell me he did not know that torture was forbidden and that telling his laywer would only help him win his case. The bad thing here is that not telling his lawyer about the torture and the lawyer having to find out about it does not make sense for the above mentioned reason and the scenes that show the lawyer investigate why his client had confessed without a real reason is almost the only new stuff we get in part two or should we say the companion piece. But since we already know there is no point watching it.

3. The plot is also not bad but has its faults: A girl gets kidnapped. A cop has a hunch that a certain suspect might be the kidnapper and because there is no real evidence, only a hunch, the cop decides to torture the suspect into revealing the location of the kidnapped girl. He succeeds but the girl is already dead because of reasons. During the trial the torture is revealed and the kidnapper is released. My problem here is that the "second" part "Das Geständnis" is only there because the kidnapper was afraid to reveal the torture and the lawyer had to ask why his client had confessed. That was very contrieved. Other than that the lawyer is fleshed out more which was good because it gave Brandauer screentime. The rest of the story is the same as part one. Maybe they should recut everything as one part and then it would be better.

In conclusion, the advertising of those two parts was always about "Watch both sides of the story" only then can you judge. I did not get that, because why would I root for the kidnapoer. Then again, maybe I just do not get it. But it was alright.

Star Trek: Discovery: People of Earth (2020) Season 3, Episode 3

Where are the children? Spoilers

[5/10 · 30 October 2020]

This is supposed to be a generation ship, so where are the children? Nobody seems to wonder since nobody had an explanation anyway. And so Discovery's plan to pose as a generation ship is another half baked idea by the writers. Now somehow we get the impression the writers can do no better.

The 12 year old message, and the sender that vanished. And the young girl's idea to be part of Discovery to find the sender. Nothing seems interesting and motivations are far fetched. Everybody always giving a speech. The umpteenth You-Are-The-Best-Crew-Speech. Why not do it with gestures. Saru points at the Captain's chair, Burnham turns it to Saru, he sits down hesitently, gives the first shy order and then we get the "Aye-Captain"Chorus. That would have been far more resonant.

Now to the main conflict, earth gov and the Titan-raiders. It was nice to see that everything was resolved with words instead of weapons. But is was a bit simple. Never the less, right track. Earth is still a paradies, also a bit lame, but positiv. Also right track.

All in all, less words, better writing and we might finally get true Trek.

Star Trek: Picard: Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2 (2020) Season 1, Episode 10

Cannot get worse.

[1/10 · 26 March 2020]

One star for Data's final scene, allthough it did not make any sense.

Nothing made sense. How was Picard sacrificing anything? He had space Alzheimer's, you don't die from Alzheimer's just so, first you get senile. He died like from a stroke or brain tumor. But a space battle where you do not get hit won't make your tumor grow faster. But Picard died from some kind of brain condition, not from phaser fire so basically he did not die from or for anything. He risked his life, yes, but he only happened to die shortly after a battle in which he was not injured unless you argue the stress of the battle furthered his condition. And in the end he is brought back to life, no, not by Khan's blood, but by memory transfer and an android body. But not really an android body, no mega strengh, no super hard drive, and only ten or so additional years of life for good measure. My point being, why introduce the brain condition if it had absolutely no consequences for the plot. Another captain in the J.J. Verse had a sickness-sublot that went nowhere; Kirk in Into Darkness. Bones examined him multible times in the movie, saying his life signs were off. That sublot went nowhere. I bet his condition was removed with Khan's blood and the rest of the dialogue referring to it was deleted. In both instances the subplot was just introduced to inject a little mystery or drama or excitment in early scenes without consequences later. Picard could have easily died from a phaser hit in the ship, would have made no difference. The would be sacrifice would not have had a different impact on the plot, namely none. Soji stopped the skybeam before Picard died, because of the speech not because of the sacrifice.

Also, the android body was built before anybody knew of Picard's condition. So who was it built for?

Rafi and Seven are together now. When did that happen? I mean Seven and Chakotay were also together out of the blue but they had 4 years to get to know each other. Rafi and Seven had like 4 Minutes?

So Alton Soong really is Alton Soong, not Lore, just another long lost relative. How disappointing. Completely useless character. He did do nothing Maddox could have done, had they not recast and killed him for also no reason. Where was he all the time? And if he is not Lore, where is Lore, why was he never mentioned on the show? Lazy writers perhaps? "If we mention him, we must explain where he is, why he was not used by Maddox. That is at least two lines of exposition. We could give that screen time to Picard when he is a Pirate with a French accent. Steward will love it."

Two big Armadas warp in, Picard says something and all 500 ships warp out again. Nobody stays behind to keep the peace, for negotiations, to say hi to Picard, to investigate new life? I guess it would have cost screentime to show that or thinking time on part of the writers to come up with plausible courses of action of all parties and characters involved. And why do all ships look the same? Lame!

Jurati needs the eye of a dead android to get by a retina scanner to break Picard out, so she lures away Soong with a ruse, the oldest trick in the book. And Soong falls for it. Okay, maybe he is stupid, he is only a cyberneticist. Then she breaks out Picard of his room and in the next scene, they are on their ship. How did they leave the android village? Are all the inhabitsnts stupid? And the walk to the ship was long, how did they make it in such a short period of time? It feels like a minute. Narek enters the cube, goes away, nobody stops him. Are all the exbs and Seven stupid? I mean Legolas is on his heels, like a second behind him but arrives an hour after Narek on La Sirena's crash site. Missing scenes? Or did nobody care?

On la Sirena Narek is trusted by everybody, no not by arguments he has to convince them, just because. And they hatch a plan: destroying the dish that creates the 100th skybeam in scifi history. At least Star Trek had the first one in a far far better movie namely Star Trek V. In order to get into the android village, they want to present Narek as a prisoner to the androids because he presumably had killed an Android by stabbing its eye. The "plan" works, they let Rios, Rafi and the rest back into the village. I don't know why a plan was necessary because you can get out without anybody giving a s#i+. Why would it be a problem to get in? Of course it isn't. Rios is even able to smuggle in a grenade in a soccer ball. But the the village is a spa anyway, nobody would mind a soccer ball, right. And then all hell breaks loose. Humans and Romulans kick Androids with mega strengh and win. And what do the rest of the 100 Androids do while their village is under attack. We do not know, because we are not shown. Sutra is disabled by Soong who had a quick change of heart, and he disables her behind a bush, two meters away from the rest of the androids. No reaction shots by the nearby synths. And they must have seen or heard that, they have augmented hearing and sight, right. Every human could have seen it. But we get nothing. I guess director Goldsman was not in directing mood that day and said: "Ah, let's only have a few close ups of kicks and punches, so I don't have to imagine what the rest of the villagers do during the attack."

By the way, imagination or the lack of it; They have a device now that does what the owner imagines, reparing a ship, creating hundreds of holograms outside a ship in space, etc.???? They pulled that trick in Voyager's Basics Part 1 but they had to install holo emitters first. Here nobody cared and by nobody I mean writers. I mean we had our share of wunder devices in the last decade in scifi cinema and tv for example the little healing balls in Black Panther or the metall in that movie that does what it needs to do. But a device that does what you imagine? Far out. But that is of course the laziness of the writers. Or was somebody too cheap to hire a technical consultant who translates "tech the tech" into technobabble that makes sense. Imagine a cop show without a technical consultant. Cop 1: "We need to arrest that guy, but we don't have a warrant" Cop 2: " So what, use the universal warrant in my clove box, you can even search the White House with it and arrest the President."

This review is not structured and at first it was only the first line about Data, but I just cannot stop writing. Wow, Data wants to die. They had him in a computer for the last ten years or so, they built 100 androids but not a body for him? Why, because de-aging is to expensive. Then why not put him in a female body, that would help his exploration of humanity and woke culture.

Maybe if I can think of more I write more. Come to think of it, this show is even stupider than discovery and that says a lot.

I thought of more: Picard , a few episodes ago, could not fly la Sirena, now he can, very well in fact, and before he does, says, "I hope I observed Rios well." Why, this is so stupid. As if somebody could learn how to fly a fighter jet by observing somebody for 10 days. And if he can do so, because he was a Captain and a pilot then that is the reason, he can do it, not because he observed Rios. There was a scene between him and Rios at the helm last episode or so. Why not use such a scene to teach Picard. Or end the scene with the line : " Now show me how this thing works." Also, why do we need a magic device that repairs the ship. Why not just have Rios repair the ship because he can do it because it is his ship. Then we would not need a conversation between him and Rafi about "imagination". Then it could just be a character scene while they talk.

Is there good stuff? As mentioned above, Data's second death is one of it. It felt a little like 2001. When Lore was deactivated in Decent Part 2 Lore's voice became deeper and deeper just like HAL's in 2001. Here Data's simulation was all chrome like the ending of 2001, where the astronaut lived out the rest of his life. Nice scene between Stewart and Spiner. But it all gets blemished by the contradictory setup. As mentioned before, why did nobody tell Picard, Data was alive. Why no new body for him. Yes, he wanted to die, but for ten years. Why not shut off Data ten years ago if that was his most fervent wish? Let's not speak of the fact that his memory was recreated by a single neuron. Really, why would I need a hard drive if everything fits on one bite.

What else was good. The beginning of the battle, Picard's line: "...lead by example..." Unfortunately the rest, the pay off was not well executed. If you kill him off, do it for good. Yes, Spock was brought back, but his resurrection took 2 and a half movies. His body was brought back in Star Trek 3 and his mind in Star Trek 4 and 5. Only at the end of the last movie Spock was his old self again. Here, Picard is out and about in 5 minutes. That is not earned.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Penumbra (1999) Season 7, Episode 17

Beginning of the Final Chapter (Spoilers)

[8/10 · 12 May 2019]

Somehow I have overlooked this episode for the last 20 years. This was great and it sets up the last ten episodes. We have Damar's hate for the Dominion in its infancy, Dukat having surgery to become Bajoran, the Founders becoming more ill, we are reminded of Sisko's destiny as the Emissary and of course the Worf and Dax relationship gets sorted out with a nice callback to Jazia.

I really hope now that What We Left Behind comes out, more people watch this show and it gets remastered and maybe an 8th season gets produced.

Master Eder and His Pumuckl: Pumuckl ist an gar nichts schuld (1988) Season 2, Episode 13

Hans Brenner steals the show.

[9/10 · 5 March 2019]

Meister Eder's eletric saw is short circuiting but he must finish a cabinet. Since he is in a bad mood anyway everything that goes wrong is blamed on Pumuckl despitechim being innocent. The highlight is the scene where Hans Brenner as the electrician thinks Meistet Eder is screaming at him and leaves. So funny.

Star Trek: Discovery: An Obol for Charon (2019) Season 2, Episode 4

Lazy Writing

[7/10 · 8 February 2019]

Yes, the show may be more like Star Trek now, but it is still too stupid and unearned to be really good. First of all, the mystery of the sphere, which was set up to fast and not fleshed out enough, in my opinion, but okay, it is a mystery. The fun part is solving right.? Right? No, because it is not solved. Saru just says, I know what it wants, but how he did it is never explained. I can set up any problem if a satisfactory solution is not required. Imagine Holmes identifying the murderer by just saying the name, and no further explanation is given. All the hints that were layed out before were irrelevant or did not mean anything for the solution. That would be lame for the viewer and only half of the work done by the writer. Sure there were the light flashed, I dont know. Imagine again a teacher giving you the solution to an equation but not explaning the steps that led to it. The unearned part: May be I dont remember it from the first season, but since when do Saru and Michael share a bond that deep. I did not whats the recap maybe it was shown there. But if the relationship was any good one remembers. Saru knows half the crew longer than Michael and he chooses her to help him for his suicide. Sure the scenes were a little touching, but not touching enough. I did not get their strong bond. Maybe its just me

All in all, kind of a filler. The red sphere looks like one of the red bursts but nobody ever mentioned a possible connection. And may be there is none, but then make it blue or green.

Star Trek Continues: To Boldly Go: Part II (2017) Season 1, Episode 11

How can this be better than Discovery and the movies combined?

[10/10 · 14 November 2017]

There will be no spoilers just an assessment; This is better than the commercial shows. Of course Discovery and the Kelvin-Films have superior production values, but since when were perfect effects and sets important? Ever since the Star Wars Prequels we know that plot matters and not effects.

That is not supposed to mean the acting, the effects and the sets are bad, they are pretty outstanding, so good that you forget after a couple of minutes that you are "just" watching a fan-film.

Star Trek Continues has something far more important than a grand budget, this has actual characters, an actual story and above all, makes us invest emotionally and pays off big time in the end. You watch this, you will care for our triumvirate in the end even more, you will understand their future actions and decisions. And isn't that what a story is all about; we the audience care for the characters in it.

It is sad that fan films are no more, at least not in the current format. This show has been a treat from the beginning and this episode is clearly the peak of fan films. I doubt it will be surpassed any time soon.

Tatort: Der Himmel ist ein Platz auf Erden (2015) Season 1, Episode 943

Reboot the Franconian Tatort!

[1/10 · 23 April 2015]

It is like they searched for the worst actors all over Germany and put them together into this episode of Tatort. On top of that the direction was bad too and the writing was ridiculous. It is hard to write an objective review when every aspect of this production was incompetently executed.

First of all a new inspector comes to Franconia, to Nuremberg, and the only bit of local color is a shot of Nuremberg's main station and phony Franconican accents. Hell, this new inspector is our, the audiences, eyes and ears; we should discover his new work place, his knew home, this "strange" place called Franconia through his eyes. But alas, this episode of Tatort could have been set anywhere in Germany. We get endless point of view shots from a car driving through the nightly Nuremberg. Why? We saw nothing anyway. Could have been filmed in Munich for all we know.

One review said that much of the runtime of this episode was dedicated to introducing the new characters and the new setting. Firstly, there were no characters, they were cartboard cutouts, soulless, badly written stereotypes: one inspector who cannot fire a gun, not even when she has to shoot during target practice; the comic relief boss who screams all the time; the new guy who, well is new. If those are the characters we have to live with for the next couple of years then the Francoian Tatort is doomed to failure. Secondly, there was not much time spent on introducing the "characters". We know practically nothing about the two principals, or three, if we count in the screaming boss. If one comes to a new city one has to move in, make new friends, go out eating because you haven't had time to shop. But no, nothing. The main character gets out of the train as if he wants to stay for three days, yet he is intent on staying for years.

The writing as mentioned above was ridiculous. Laughable dialogue, badly written action and scenes. The murder plot itself was okay I guess, or would have been, if the character introduction story had been strong. But it was not.

The direction: No, no, no! Maybe the director should have told his ham actors that they were not standing on a stage but that a camera was pointed straight at their faces. No need overact in every scene, worst of all the interrogation scenes and the scenes with the chief inspector. This actor obviously thought he was in a comedy.

The editing; it was unconventional the say the least. Was it bad? It was not good that I can say. There were flashbacks so clumsily intercut with the rest that every time I saw it a badly cut internet porn came to mind. And then there was the endless driving scenes at night, no dialogue, nothing to see. Why?

All in all, I am not a fan of reboots, but maybe they should reboot the Franconian Tatort, start over, discount this entry, throw it out of the canon, forget it.

Pumuckl und sein Zirkusabenteuer (2003)

This does not work because...

[3/10 · 15 April 2012]

...the actor portraying Meister Eder (Hans Clarin) and the voice actor lending his voice to Pumuckl (Kai Taschner) do not go together very well. To make one thing clear, this is not the fault of Hans Clarin, his acting is solid, subtle and understated and it was there before any part of the Pumuckl-animation was done and before they dubbed in the gnomes voice. Therefore, the problem is the animation of Pumuckl and his voice actor. Another, although minor problem is the cinematography.

Firstly, the animation; ever since the last movie "Pumuckl und der blaue Klabauter" Pumuckl's animation lost its edge, which was that the gnome looked a little impish and mischievous without looking mean or evil, a little rascal so to speak. Starting with the last film, Pumuckl's appearance changed from this look to a friendly looking baby face without any hint in his facial expressions that there is a thinking brain and a mind behind his eyes that can on occasion be angry, mean and devious. Looking at Pumuckl in this film, you would assume he is just a monotone, dull and boring being without any wheels turning inside him. Though not only the appearance is not working, also Pumuckl's positioning within the frame is wrong most of the time. You never really get the feeling that someone is touching him, interacting with him properly or looking at him. That might be the reason that most of the scenes between Pumuckl and Meister Eder are played out in two different shots (action and reaction) rather than using two shots. The eye lines in the two shots almost never match. That is of course mainly the fault of the animation department, and partly that of the actor. In the 1980 TV show the interaction of Pumuckl and Meister Eder (Gustl Bayerhammer) is so convincing, they should have given tapes of the show to George Lucas to show his actors and animators how to act convincingly against thin air. Not only the eye line has to match correctly but also the focal point of the eye has to be right. This manifests itself in how wide an eye is open or closed. If we look into the distance, our eyes are open wide, if we focus on something right in front of our eyes, the eyes are much more closed, the pupils are a little closer together. The difference is only subtle but it makes all the difference in the world. The cinematography is very dark. If we are in rooms we can barely see the surroundings, just the faces of actors. Everything lies in shadows. This gives the movie a rather eerie quality something which could not have been intentional for a kid's movie. Maybe it was to hide something?

Secondly, the voice actor; Hans Clarin had voiced Pumuckl beginning with the audio dramas in the early sixties, the television show from 1982 to 88 up to the last movie in 1993 and the subsequent TV show. Because of problems with his vocal cords, he did not do the voice of Pumuckl in this movie and was hired to play Meister Eder. (Gustl Bayerhammer, the last Meister Eder, had died 1993 even before the last film was finished and so had to be dubbed over himself.) There is a rumor however that there is a version of the trailer for this movie featuring Clarin as the voice of Pumuckl and I would love to see it and, most of all, to hear it. By 1982 Clarin had nailed the voice. If you listen to the audio dramas the pitch of his voice is a little deeper. Hearing it, you would guess Pumuckl is about half a meter to a meter in size. When doing the TV show and Pumuckl's size was about 30 cm (one foot) Clarin lowered his pitch. Now in this film, the problem is not so much the voice of actor Kai Taschner, which if done right, would have worked as well. It is more his acting abilities, maybe the sound mixing. He always screams his lines; there is no subtlety to it. No lowering his tone in emotional scenes, it has always the same volume. This, combined with Clarin's subtle acting as Meister Eder simply does not match. You never get the feeling of true interaction, rather that of two performances done separately. Maybe it was the sound department's fault as well. You never really think that the two voices were recorded in the same environment, Pumuckl's is always louder. Then again, in the end, the director should have realized the problems and dealt with it.

To sum everything up, the actors are great; Ernie Singerl, Hans Clarin, Christine Neubauer and the boy actor, they all deliver. The story might be a problem, last Pumuckl outings always had a bad guy. The TV show never had a bad guy; it was always Pumuckl discovering the world. The biggest problem, and my comment covered that in great detail, is that of Pumuckl and his interactions with the world. This is the integral part of the movie. Imagine, if the interaction of Luke Skywalker and Yoda had not been convincing or that of Gollum and Frodo and Sam, the movies would probably have failed. This movie did fail, because it could not make Pumuckl a convincing part of the world.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: All Good Things... (1994) Season 7, Episode 25

Das Beste, was Fernsehen zu bieten hat. (Spoilers)

[10/10 · 12 February 2012]

Das ehemalige Schreiberduo Ronald D. Moore (Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica) und Brannon Braga (Enterprise, Terra Nova) haben diese letzte Episode der Serie zeitgleich mit dem Kinofilm Star Trek Generations geschrieben. Sie sagen, sie hätten schon beim Schreiben gemerkt, dass diese Folge besser würde, als der Kinofilm. All Good Things ist wirklich ein herausragendes Stück TV, mit einer spannenden verzwickten Handlung, Top-Schauspielleistungen von Patrick Stewart und John deLancie und dem Rest der Crew. Die Gerichtssaalszene gehört bestimmt zum Besten, was die Serie je hervorgebracht hat. Dadurch, dass die Handlung in drei Zeitebenen spielt, und außerdem auch Außenaufnahmen gedreht und neue Sets gebaut wurden, bekommt die Folge eine fast Kinofilmähnliche Dimension. Häufig wurde die Serie dafür kritisiert, dass Handlungskonflikte nicht durch menschliche Lösungen entspannt wurden, sondern einfach durch technische Hilfsmittel, quasi ein Deus ex Machina. Diese Folge tut etwas ähnliches, die Crew der Enterprises muss in drei Zeitebenen zusammenarbeiten, um auf die technische Lösung des Problems zu kommen. (Patrick Stewart als Captain Picard ist das Bindeglied der simultan ablaufenden Handlungen und springt zwischen den Zeiten umher.) Doch das ist hier so gut gemacht, dass man in diesem Fall das sogenannte Technobabble (Technikgeschwätz) übersieht. Warum? Zum einen springt Picard am Ende so schnell, dass er, hat er die Lösung in einer Zeitebene heraus, er sofort die Informationen in einer anderen weitergeben kann. Alles folgt Schlag auf Schlag. Manchmal ist ihm Data mit der Lösung nur Sekunden voraus und die beiden sprechen die Lösung simultan. Durch die sehr gute Regie des Deutschen Winrich Kolbe wird das bloße Gerede über Technik fast wie ein Gedicht vorgetragen, oder, da alles mit Musik unterlegt ist, wie Sprechgesang. Besser geht es nicht.

Wenn in Amerika oder überall auf der Welt Serie auslaufen, dann ist dass meist kein großes Ereignis, da das Ende einer Sendung meist aus schlechten Geschichten und deshalb aus schlechten Quoten resultierte. Serien, bei denen das Ende fast ein kulturelles Ereignis war, waren M.A.S.H. , The Fugitive (Kimble auf der Flucht), vielleicht Lost, und Star Trek The Next Generation. So erfolgte die Einstellung nicht wegen schlechter Quoten, sondern, weil Patrick Stewart nicht mehr wollte und weil man die Serie im Kino weiterführen wollte. TNG war mit der Einstellung 1994 auf seinem Höhepunkt, und das in jeder Beziehung. Dieser Folge ist der Beweis.

Jurassic Park (1993)

Der Film gehört in die 250 besten Filme aller Zeiten.

[10/10 · 5 February 2012]

Viele Menschen glauben, dass alle Dinosaurier in Jurassic Park von der Spezialeffektfirma Industrial Light and Magic (Star Wars) mit dem Computer gemacht wurden. Das wurden sie nicht, nur der kleinste Teil der Dinos entstand im Rechner. Der Rest waren/sind animatronische Puppen (Roboter) der Firma Stan Winston Studio (Terminator). Is das wichtig? Nein, denn die Verschmelzung beider Techniken gelingt so überzeugend, dass die Illusion auch noch nach fast zwanzig Jahren perfekt ist. Außerdem ist der Film so gut, dass man beim Zusehen nicht dazu kommt, über die Machart nachzudenken. Man ist von der ersten bis zur letzten Minute gefesselt. Der Film basiert auf dem Bestseller von Michael Crichton. Spielberg und Drehbuchschreiber David Koepp änderte einige Aspekt des Romans, die aber nicht sehr stören, wenn man nicht gerade ein devoter Fan der Romanvorlage ist. Ein Beispiel für eine Änderung: Der Charakter Hammond stirbt am Ende des Buches, im Film überlebt er und taucht im zweiten Teil wieder auf. Der Character Hammond ist der Besitzer der Firma InGen, welche im Film die Dinosaurier klont, um sie als Attraktionen in einem Vergnügungspsark auszustellen bzw. vorzuführen. Er wird von dem britischen Regisseur (Gandhi) und Schauspieler Richard Attenborough gespielt, der für die Rolle nach Jahren wieder vor die Kamera trat. Die anderen Schauspieler im Filmen waren keine Stars, als sie für den Film besetzt wurden, noch wurden sie welche, druch den enormen Erfolg des Films. Das haben wohl Spielberg-Filme so an sich, sie sind selbst der Star, sie machen keine. Nichts desto trotz sind die Schauspieler alle sehr gute Schauspieler, die ihren Rollen mehr Dimensionen verleihen, als ihnen das Drehbuch vorgibt. Zu erwähnen sind der Neuseeländer Sam Neill als Paläontologe Doktor Alan Grant, eine Rolle, die zunächst Harrison Ford angeboten wurden. Seine Freundin Ellie Sattler wird gespielt von Laura Dern, Tochter von Hollywood-Veteran Bruce Dern. In der Rolle von Hammonds Enkel Tim ist Joseph Mazello zu sehen. Damals Kinderschauspieler, heute spielt er in Filmen wie G.I. Joe oder Sozial Network. Der Wildhüter Maldoon wird gespielt von Bob Peck, einem mittlerweile verstorbenen englischem Schauspieler, der durch die Mini-Serie Edge of Darkness bekannt wurde. Diese Miniserie aus dem Jahr 1985 wurde 2010 mit Mel Gibson in der Hauptrolle als Kinofilm unter dem selben Titel neu verfilmt. Der beliebteste Charakter im Film so wie im Buch ist wahrscheinlich der Chaostheoretiker Ian Malcom, gespielt von Jeff Goldblum, welcher in der Fortsetzung Lost World die Hauptrolle spielt. Der einzige tatsächliche Filmstar in Jurassic Park ist wohl Samuel L. Jackson als Computertechniker, der aber zum Zeitpunkt, da der Film gedreht wurden, noch keiner war. Erst ein Jahr später wurde der mit Pulp Fiction weltberühmt. Aber wie gesagt, der Film wurde nicht für einen Star gemacht, noch dient er als pures Vehikel Effekte vorzuzeigen, wie z. B. Transformers, sondern er verbindet alle einzelnen sehr guten Elemente - auch die Musik von John Williams - zu einem sehr guten Ganzen. Ein fast perfekter Film, der mit Spannung, Action, sehr guten Effekten und gut geführten Schauspielern zu zwei sehr guten Stunden Unterhaltung zusammengeschnitten wurde. Den kann man sich immer wieder anschauen.