Topic: Rate the last TV show you've seen

[broodwars]

Seriously, everyone, read the Enterprise relaunch novels. They fixed it so Trip didn't die, told the original story behind the Kobayashi Maru, and started the Romulan War. They've explained how a few things fit into continuity, and are actually attempting to explain in a semi-reasoned way why TOS era things look the way they do despite being from 100 years after Enterprise.

I honestly didn't know Enterprise was popular enough to get a "relaunch" series of novels.

[NWR_insanolord]

Relaunch is the standard way to refer to Trek novels taking place after the series finale of one of the shows; they all have them. The great thing about the novels is that they don't even have to try to appeal to mainstream people; they know they're only going to sell to the fans, and because of that contain all kinds of great references only they'd get. These Enterprise novels, for instance, are full of offhand references to other series, like making Travis' family's cargo ship being the one that left the book "Chicago Mobs of the Twenties" on the planet from the TOS episode "A Piece of the Action."

[Plugabugz]

The Dominion arc was building up slowly from Season 2. Season 4 with the Klingons was due to Paramount insisting on breaking up the flow (which IMO benefitted the show). Trom "Sacrifice of Angels" and "Waltz" which set Sisko and Dukat as enemies did the show start its final march to the finale.

There is also the intriguing idea that Russel T. Davies wanted to do a Enterprise/Doctor Who crossover, but those plans were nixed due to Enterprise being canceled.

I wonder how this would work when it's almost been completely established that the TARDIS is a more powerful ship than anything Starfleet has: For instance the ship can be directed to a particular point in time/space by an "emergency control disk" (a DVD, proven in Blink), if a companion is left inside the ship alone for 5 hours it will automatically return them to their time (in Silence in the Library), breathable atmosphere can be extended outside the ship (in The Beast Below and The Time of Angels) and the TARDIS automatically translates languages telepathically so everyone speaks english (in The Christmas Invasion), and if it crashes and wrecks itself it can rebuild itself (The Eleventh Hour). I wouldn't see the point the two having a crossover really.

EDIT: Oops, i forgot to press send on this message last night..

[Halbred]

It would be cool to set a new Star Trek series one or two generations in the future (from TNG/DS9/Voyager's perspective) to see what the universe looks like now. What areas have been mapped, what technological advances have been made, etc.

[ThePerm]

Mad Men 8/10 very entertaining. Need to watch season 3 and 4.

[broodwars]

Eureka - Season 3 - This is easily the best season of the show so far, as the writers tried to break out of the Eureka formula a bit with a couple interesting story arcs, not as much sexual pandering, and some needed character developments.  My only issue with it is that while the show was fairly-consistenty good (outside of a Recap episode and a few "sick" episodes, and I hate those), it rarely attempted to take that next step and be "great".  Incidentally, whatever happened to that Drycleaner lady that Carter was seeing for a while?  She was his girlfriend for several episodes, and then she was just...gone, replaced by Tess. 

[Halbred]

Funnily enough, my wife and I just stopped watching Season 2 because it was so terrible and don't intend to pick up Season 3. I've got Justice League Unlimited on the way now. If its predecessor was any indication, JLU will be awesome.

I'm still waiting on Bones season 5...it comes out in October, which is annoying. I've been itching for that show for a loooong time.

[ThePerm]

i always liked Bones, its like a forensic show where I actually like the detectives.

[gbuell]

I watched a little Bones, maybe I got the wrong impression but it seems incredibly cliche and poorly-written... am I wrong?

[ThePerm]

it is really cliché, but a good mix of cliché. Its pretty much your standard CSI show, just move on from there. No need to follow an ongoing serial plot. Something to watch when your bored. I like it better then CSI, only because Deshcanel and Boreanaz give off a Molder/Skully vibe. The Halloween episodes are always good.

[Halbred]

That's exactly why I like it: Bones and Booth make a great banter-driven team. I'd try the show again, Grant, but rent the first season and start from the beginning.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Also, despite how crazy and loose the "science" on the show usually is, this was probably one of the better handled time travel scenarios I've seen on TV SciFi.  If for no other reason than because it didn't work like a cosmic reset button after they wrote themselves into a corner.

I am officially retracting this statement about Eureka because they're using the time travel plot to bring back a dead character, so it was a cosmic reset button after all.

[broodwars]

Also, despite how crazy and loose the "science" on the show usually is, this was probably one of the better handled time travel scenarios I've seen on TV SciFi.  If for no other reason than because it didn't work like a cosmic reset button after they wrote themselves into a corner.

I am officially retracting this statement about Eureka because they're using the time travel plot to bring back a dead character, so it was a cosmic reset button after all.

Let me guess: Nathan?

[Halbred]

Last week's episode of Mad Man: Meh/10

Indeed, how DOES Joan Holloway stand up? I'm really getting sick of the ex-Mrs. Draper. The daughter, Sally, is also starting to on my nerves. The show is becoming less and less about the business and more about these unresolved family issues that have been brewing since the 2nd season. Maybe Sally will die or something, and THAT will force Don and Betty to take a hard look at what they've been doing.

[Caliban]

Also, despite how crazy and loose the "science" on the show usually is, this was probably one of the better handled time travel scenarios I've seen on TV SciFi.  If for no other reason than because it didn't work like a cosmic reset button after they wrote themselves into a corner.

I am officially retracting this statement about Eureka because they're using the time travel plot to bring back a dead character, so it was a cosmic reset button after all.

Let me guess: Nathan?

Huh? It was all an illusion of sorts. Nobody came back.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Also, despite how crazy and loose the "science" on the show usually is, this was probably one of the better handled time travel scenarios I've seen on TV SciFi.  If for no other reason than because it didn't work like a cosmic reset button after they wrote themselves into a corner.

I am officially retracting this statement about Eureka because they're using the time travel plot to bring back a dead character, so it was a cosmic reset button after all.

I am officially retracting this retraction because the time travel plot was unrelated to the incident to which I referred.  That's what I get for jumping the gun and basing my opinion on a preview.

Also I am officially apologizing to Caliban for not getting this retraction posted earlier to avoid confusion.


That said, the time travel thing does make me wonder why Carter was so sure the person in question was really supposed to be gone.

[Caliban]

It's alright. I actually thought you just didn't finish watching the episode the whole way through lol. I have to say though, if they do bring him back I would not mind.

[TJ Spyke]

I still have one disc left, but I am watching Beast Machines: Transformers. I remember why I didn't like the show when it originally aired, it basically craps all over Beast Wars. On a commentary for the show, the showrunner even admits that Mainframe Entertainment (the animation company that made the show) hired him specifically because he was not a Transformers fan and told him to ignore Beast Wars because they didn't want to have a continuity to the show. They completely changed Rattrap's personality, the explanation for Rhinox becoming a Vehicon and wanting to destroy both Optimus Primal and Megatron is weak at best, and they never offer any explanation for why they lost their transmetal forms. I now realize why many of the events of it were basically retconned for the Transformers: Universe comic.

[broodwars]

I still have one disc left, but I am watching Beast Machines: Transformers. I remember why I didn't like the show when it originally aired, it basically craps all over Beast Wars. On a commentary for the show, the showrunner even admits that Mainframe Entertainment (the animation company that made the show) hired him specifically because he was not a Transformers fan and told him to ignore Beast Wars because they didn't want to have a continuity to the show. They completely changed Rattrap's personality, the explanation for Rhinox becoming a Vehicon and wanting to destroy both Optimus Primal and Megatron is weak at best, and they never offer any explanation for why they lost their transmetal forms. I now realize why many of the events of it were basically retconned for the Transformers: Universe comic.

I didn't like Beast Machines, either, when I originally saw it on TV.  I have the DVD boxset, though, and I thought the show dramatically improved in its second season and had a pretty impressive finale.  Rattrap in particular reverts back to something like his older self in the last batch of episode.
 
Also, to Beast Machines' credit, due to the stylization its animation has aged a lot better than Beast Wars' has.

[TJ Spyke]

I don't know about that last point. I watched the original Beast Wars a few weeks ago and it still looks great. It looks pretty much the same as Beast Machines (which isn't that surprising since the same animation studio made both). I will admit that it got better in season 2, but it comes nowhere near as close as Beast Wars in quality.

[broodwars]

I don't know about that last point. I watched the original Beast Wars a few weeks ago and it still looks great. It looks pretty much the same as Beast Machines (which isn't that surprising since the same animation studio made both). I will admit that it got better in season 2, but it comes nowhere near as close as Beast Wars in quality.

The first season of Beast Wars looks terrible now in most episodes, with a sea of blurry textures and really bad-looking explosions and particle effects.  The second and third seasons have aged a lot better, though, since of the characters gained shiny (literally) new Transmetal models and the effects got a slight overhaul.
 
I definitely agree on the relative quality of the two properties, though: Beast Wars is IMO the best Transformers series ever made by sheer virtue of writing and imagination, which is why I'm both sad and a little annoyed that everyone gushes over the original crappy Transformers series instead and constantly demands that the original series is constantly remade in new TV, movie, and videogame projects.

[TJ Spyke]

At least hardcore fans still enjoy it and they have continued to make Beast Wars comics. It would be nice to have a movie based on it (at least give us a DVD movie).

[oohhboy]

I never got in to Beast Wars. I loved Reboot, but I never understood BW with it's even then terrible CG. There was a purpose to the CG in Reboot, but why bloody BW.

Part of it was me raging that Optimus wasn't a truck and me as a kid thinking WTF is going on? Feel free to blame it on kids like me for wanting G1 as retarded as I was back then.

Ahh, Reboot, learned much about computers that I needed to unlearn from that show. Running games kills your system. Running in 8bit mode is like an acid trip. Viruses taking their sweet time doing god knows what. The internet is a series of tubes with fly Galleons.

Good times.

[Caterkiller]

Pheneas and Pherb! 10/10

I always just wrote this show off as another Disney mess, but after just one episode I became hooked! It is so clever and funny!
For me Fairly Odd Parents became the new Spongebob, now this is the new fairly Odd Parents. I havn't laughed even laughed at Family Guy like i've laughed at this in a long time.

But for those of you who have no soul and and can only laugh at adult low brow humor, this may not be for you. For everyone else, next time you are sitting around watching tv with the little ones, check it out!

[TJ Spyke]

oohhboy, most people who felt like you did changed their mid when they actually watched the show and saw how great it was. Everybody is entitled to their opinions though. I hate The Office and Lost (for example), but I know both shows have big followings.

The Transformers franchise was almost dead at the time and this brought it back. They also wanted to differentiate it from the past 2 series, that is why they had the transformers land in prehistoic earth (and since this was before humans had even learned how to talk, they had no choice but to scan animals as their alternate forms. How can you call it terrible CG, especially when it's the same as ReBoot? It may not be state of the art now (although it still looks good), but it was the best thing going at the time.