Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
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Welcome to my site of acclaimed reviews of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and more. I'm Jamahl Epsicokhan, and I've been posting my reviews online since 1994. I founded this site in March 1995. Since then it has grown to include reviews of the complete Star Trek canon. My goal is to provide the web's best single-author site for reviews about Star Trek.
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
My one-sentence review of "Coming Home," Discovery‘s fourth-season finale, is as follows: It does all the right Trekkian things, but is predictably and sometimes painfully obvious about it. There’s very little that happens here that was not telegraphed or expected, and that simultaneously speaks to this season’s merits and shortcomings. On balance I consider this ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
It took a while to get here, and it got a bit tiresome with the padded pace in recent weeks, but we’ve finally reached the destination — the home of unknown Species 10-C. And even though the destination alone can’t make all the stops in the journey along the way worthwhile, this on its own ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
Discovery, over the last two seasons under showrunner Michelle Paradise, has turned into the Star Trek workplace drama that’s all about not only the respectful workplace, but the respectful workplace where we talk openly about our feelings. I’m all for the first thing, considerably less about the second thing, but that’s just me. It’s interesting ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
The barrier in "The Galactic Barrier" is an arbitrary technobabble device whose sole purpose is to impede our characters’ progress in getting from A to 10-C. If it were a compelling and interesting technobabble device, I could forgive that, but the fact that this episode feels so dramatically inert makes this a pretty tough sell ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
On the whole, "Rubicon" is a well-executed series of cat-and-mouse games between Discovery and Booker/Tarka, with the suspense upped by the parameters of the personal stakes and the ticking clock. Book and Tarka are very close to being ready to deploy the isolytic weapon, and only Discovery now stands in their way. Burnham has to ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
"All In" describes the subject, but not the spirit, of this week’s episode of Discovery. This is fine as a routine stopgap sort of episode, but the lack of ambition is notable. Fortunately, the lack of ambition is somewhat offset by the fact that at least there’s a solid character core here, even if that ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
I struggled quite a bit with the idea of the ship unable to carry out key functions as a result of a crippling emotional crisis in "Stormy Weather." At the end of the day, it just seemed ridiculous, even wrong, that a computer that’s supposed to simply do what it’s instructed to do would fail ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
"Stormy Weather" is a mysterious, focused, and claustrophobic sci-fi yarn that works pretty well … up until it doesn’t. This is a story about the crew working a single problem on multiple fronts. Meanwhile, the darkness of the rift (reminiscent of Voyager‘s "The Void" and V’Ger’s cloud from ST:TMP) and the unknown of what’s coming ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
"All Is Possible" is evidence that Discovery is trying. It’s trying to build out the universe, develop and empathize with its characters, and adhere to a storytelling philosophy that relies on dialogue rather than overblown action. It’s also, as I’ve said previously, trying to be the Trek show most in touch with its feelings. If ..read more
Jammer's Blog » Star Trek: Discovery
2y ago
"Choose to Live" is the best episode of Discovery in a very long time, since maybe "Die Trying." It works because it mostly keeps its stories grounded and straightforward, rather than excessive and overwrought, and puts forward sincere interest in them. Instead of shaking the camera for an hour while artificially employing emotional manipulation, it ..read more