Five Props From Star Trek That Seem Silly Today

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve talked about how much I loved the original Star Trek, and a lot of that stuff really holds up. The transporter is still damn cool, the bio beds are neat (if simplistic), tricorders are awesome (though they never looked they really did what the characters said they did) and the phasers and communicators still kick ass. Other things have been fixed like the lame chronometer Sulu would look at is much better in the enhanced version of the episodes. But other things are..not as cool. It only makes sense that a show created fifty years ago would like kind of dated in certain areas. Thank goodness the stories and characters are timeless.


Of course this is just for fun, heck even early TNG is starting to look dated so it only makes sense some things in TOS just seem silly. Here are five examples :



Spock’s Scanner and Bridge Buttons

 
It’s a question which has baffled me for ages. What the hell is Spock looking at through that scanner? When I was a kid I didn’t get it at all, and as an adult I kind of do. I wonder if Leonard Nimoy enjoyed that blue light flashing in his eyes? Scotty has his own and Sulu also had a version, but it still doesn’t answer the question. What the heck were they seeing in that thing??? Speaking of what the heck was up with jelly filled buttons and flashing lights which had no apparent meaning? Though the crew understood what the flashing meant. At least the ear piece made sense, even if it was silly that they had to use them.

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 8, Part 1)

Welcome  to season 8! We’re finally getting toward the end with only a few more articles left.  So what did we get this season? While we got some good episode the crappier ones are getting more common. Sadly that started with the first episode…






Season 8, Episode 1
Fun with Debra

Plot Summary-Debra complains that she and Ray don’t do enough together so Ray agrees to take her golfing

Nitpick of the episode-This seems a lot like a few earlier episodes which tried to address this issue.

Best Line-(yeah I got nothing)

Episode Fun Fact –Brad Garrett is absent in this episode, the only episode of the series he missed, due to contrast negotiations with CBS. Thankfully they had a perfect excuse for where Robert was in this episode.

Deleted Scenes-none

Syndication Edit-top of teaser

Best Character-Ray, love he spends time with the kids in the beginning. I should bring up why he seems to hate doing this with Debra, but I feel like we’ve discussed that already.

Worst Character-Debra, in the opening Debra tells Ray to watch the boys. He ends up taking them golfing and even though the boys had fun she can’t let Ray off the hook for doing “what he wanted to do”. Finally she relents but why was she such a pain about it? She gets mad even when Ray does what she wants!

Final Thoughts-This was clearly not supposed to be the first episode because it feels like a filler show. Debra talks Ray into going golfing with her and it goes as expected. We see him and Debra enjoying each other’s company at first but tired of each other by the end. Is this a metaphor for their marriage? I get Debra wanting to do more with Ray but even she gets that golf is something he does as alone time. Why not find something new? Oh yeah we did that before. In fact this feels like at least three episodes they’ve already done!

Grade-B-, been there done that

Underrated Trek-The Savage Curtain (TOS)

Welcome back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by most. Ah, season three of Classic Trek. Some ideas are so silly that you wonder what they could have been thinking. Here is a prime example :

 

Is it possible to take an absurd premise and roll with? Sometimes it works (green hand in space) and some times it’s just dumb (Spock’s Brain..need I say more?). Where does this one fit in?

 

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 7, Part 5)

Season 7, Episode 21   
The Shower

Plot Summary-After Marie gets Debra angry at Amy’s shower, she over drinks and ends up behind bars with a DUI.

Nitpick of the episode-I looked it up and I guess you can gets arrested for a DUI even if the keys are just in the ignition. That seems a little extreme, but I guess the episode wins this one.

Best Line-“Oh! So she finally killed Ma.”…Robert after seeing Debra in prison which was a great moment

Episode Fun Fact –Debra says a line in prison about being glad she’s out since she has three kids at home. This line is taken straight from Ray Romano’s standup.  The amusing thing to me is that it took until season 7 for them to work it in!

Deleted Scenes-more at the bridal shower,  Marie and frank commenting before ray and Debra come home from jail

Syndication Edit-

Best Character-Robert, that scene in the jailhouse is great but the best part is when Robert walks by Ray and Debra, and then realizes who he just walked by! I also love how thrown in to the scene he is, as if the creators forger Robert was a cop and then they remembered so they got him into the end.

Worst Character-Marie, what is it about her that she can’t just be somewhere without also being the center of attention? Can’t she just sit back and relax? The worst part is when Debra stands up for herself and insists she doesn’t need Marie, what does Marie do? She gets pissy and leaves. Ugh. Fair is fair and she does give a nice apology at the end.

Final Thoughts-This episode is saved by being really funny. Without that it’s just another crazy Debra getting mad at Marie episode. I already talked about how well done the jail scene is, but the scene at the hearing for Debra to get her license back is good to. I like that Marie apologizes and the scene features Joel Brooks, a great character actor who always gets a few laughs. I like seeing Debra getting a little karma here for being a bit crazed half the time. I’ve noticed that Marie is quicker to apologize for things than Debra.

Grade-B+

The Case of the Disappearing Sitcom Character

It’s not unusual for a series to begin with a character who disappears after a few episodes because the creators realized they have no use for them. However, sometimes a character will be introduced during the series run in the hopes of getting more viewers, or some other silly reason. Sometimes its random kids who pop up, and sometimes its a supporting character who rose to fame



But other times it’s a brand new character suddenly jammed into a show to shake things up. Ok once in awhile that does work (Seven of Nine anyone?) but usually these characters don’t work. As hard as they try the character just doesn’t fit. The part that amuses me is when the characters just vanishe, no explanation or anything, despite the setup that indicated they were supposed to be around for awhile. Nope. They quietly fade into the background, never to be mentioned again. For instance when DS9 introduced The Defiant it also introduced a Romulan officer who was supposed to be on board as part of the exchange for the cloaking device. Her name was T’Rul and if you remember her than I give you credit!


There are plenty of these. We had The god awful Quizmaster on Sabrina who was around for a season, Tori on Saved By The Bell who was meant to fill the void for Jesse and Kelly (very long story there) who vanished as fast as he came, and of course Dr.Miller on Scrubs meant to be the anti-Dr.Cox and vanished pretty quick. Here are ten examples of characters introduced to be regulars who quietly disappeared without a trace. Now to be clear these are characters introduced later in the show’s run to shake things up. The case of characters who started with a series only to vanish without a trace is another subject altogether (so no Judy Winslow and Chuck Cunningham will be on here). Also the character has to have clearly been intended to stick around and appear more than once



Frankie on Benson

Here’s a trivia question for you, what was Jerry Seinfeld’s first sitcom appearance? Several years before “Seinfeld”, he appeared on Benson in a the role of Frankie the delivery boy. The gag was he was a wanne be comedian trying to also sell jokes to the governor. He didn’t last long. The funny thing is that I didn’t know this foe years as much as I adored Seinfeld the comedian and the show, because all of his scenes were cut in re-runs. Which makes sense since  his scenes were pointless. Jerry Seinfeld had said he was fired rather unceremoniously also.

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 7, Part 4)

 




Season 7, Episode 16
Sweet Charity

Plot Summary-Debra forces Ray into doing volunteer work, which he enjoys-until Robert starts to hog the attention


Nitpick of the episode-Why is Ray so insecure when Robert is the center of attention? Is it so hard to come back another day? Granted it would have been nice if Robert told Ray he was going but since it was Debra’s idea I guess we know who to blame

Best Line-“I was doing charity work and because it wasn’t convenient for you you wanted me to stop”..Ray

Episode Fun Fact –We see Timmy again, for some reason.


Deleted Scenes-none


Syndication Edit-top of teaser, Ray yelling at the cable company

Best Character-Ray, nice to see him enjoying charity work

Worst Character-Debra, do I need to explain why? This is one time when it’s not me being nitpicky,  she’s awful here. Ray is enjoying his charity work but when it became inconvenient she tries to trick him into quitting. By lying to Robert which is even worst. Ugh. At least she gets called out on it.  Oh and did I mention she signed him up without asking him and then guilted him into it?


Final Thoughts-First of all, the thing with Ray and him fainting at the blood is stupid. He’s an adult for crying out loud! The episode itself is ok but what is up with that twist in the end where we find out Debra sent Robert in to discourage Ray form doing any more charity work? Is she really that awful that she makes Ray feel bad for not doing more charity and then tries to get him to quite when it’s not convenient for her anymore? Obviously it was another case of her making him do something because she didn’t want to, not expecting him to enjoy it!


Grade-B-

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 7, Part 3)

Season 7, Episode 11
The Thought That Counts

Plot Summary-Ray promises Debra he has the perfect Christmas gift for her, and ends up taking credit for Robert’s idea.

Nitpick of the episode- what the hell was Ray thinking not giving the right price to Frank and Robert? It really is like he was trying to hog the glory. Kind of hard to defend him here.

Best Line-“It’s like I killed my mother’s birthday”…Ray

Episode Fun Fact –

Deleted Scenes-None for this episode

Syndication Edit-

Best Character-Amy, this will happen more now that Amy is a regular but it’s so nice when she calls out Robert on things. In this case, why it’s so important for Robert to make Ray look bad.

Worst Character-Robert, he doesn’t land here often but man when he does he deserves it. Dude who cares whose idea it was??

Final Thoughts-The Christmas episode I always forget. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just doesn’t stand out like the others. That makes sense since it’s simply Ray trying to find a gift for Debra and then taking Robert’s gift idea. In fact it starts weeks before Christmas and goes right to the day after, making the holiday a footnote. It’s not new, except the part where Ray explains he puts more thought into Marie’s gift because Marie cares about things like that. Though that seems a little forced. The other big thing in this episode that I do love is that way Amy calls out Robert for his incessant need to make sure Ray looks bad. Why is it such a big deal where the idea came from as long as Debra loved the gift? And the tag at the ice capades is beyond lame.

Grade-B

Random Thoughts-Is It Time for Big Bang Theory to Go Away?

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If you’ve read my stuff you know how much I have raved about “The Big Bang Theory”. I discovered it in the middle of the shows 3rd and 4th seasons and just loved it. It was really funny and all I wanted was to see more. I loved this show a point when I thought I was done with TV (little did I know the DC TV universe was coming). Three years ago they announced that the show would be renewed through Season 10. That sounded cool, a nice fitting run for a good show (despite what some think. Seriously what is up with the hate this show gets? It’s not nerd blackface!!)



This season that is now ending is that 10th season. And a few weeks ago it was announced that the show would get two more years after this. And I just have to ask, why???? The show is not what it used to be, though I can’t go so far as to call it awful. What started as a show about four nerds and the pretty blonde across the hall has moved way past that. I didn’t object when Amy and Bernadette joined the cast and the show evolved into the Friends knock off its become. But after all this time we have Leonard and Penny married, Howard and Bernadette married with a child, Sheldon and Amy living together and have even had sex, and Raj has overcome his problems talking to women. So, what is there left to do??


Now one could argue you can still do stories about the group raising their own kids. They’ve already started this with Howard and Bernadette. And forgetting that is about as far from the original premise that you can get, even if I accepted that what else is there? Besides having Leonard and Penny fight, again. Or Sheldon and Amy fight, again. Or maybe actually let Raj have a female that lasts for once. Oh I know let’s bring other characters in like the annoying Stuart or Bert who was in tonight’s episode. He was such a minor character that I had no idea who the heck it was when I saw the episode description. I guess we’re supposed to care about this guy now? I talked before about how it’s always a bad sign when show’s begin to create new characters for us to care about, it means even they know that there isn’t much left for the original characters anymore.

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 7, Part 2)

Season 7, Episode 6
Robert Needs Money


Plot Summary-When Ray and Debra give Robert a check to help with expenses, they are appalled to find out his he is using it for a trip to Las Vegas

Nitpick of the episode-If you thought I was to critical back in “Cruising with Marie” by insisting Debra wouldn’t have allowed Ray go off with his mother like that, check out the tag of this episode where Ray tries to talk Debra into letting him got to Vegas with Robert. She practically threatens to leave him!

Best Line-“No! No way! Lending money to Robert is the stupidest thing I ever heard.”..Frank

Episode Fun Fact –

Deleted Scenes-top of the teaser, Ray comes home with cookies; Ray trying to talk to Robert

Syndication Edit-Frank and his rules about lending money to people

Best Character-Ray, this is one time when Ray doesn’t under react  . He’s gets mad at Robert pretty quick.

Worst Character-Robert, What the hell did he think Ray and Debra gave him that money for??? And he is way out of line when he says that Ray is only successful because of luck, thankfully he apologizes.

Final Thoughts-I really don’t know about this episode. It feels like rehash, we’ve seen this Ray/Robert stuff before. We bet more Robert whining about how lucky Ray is and how Ray supposedly doesn’t want to see Robert happy. It also feels a lot like that episode about Ray having control of the checkbook.  I guess the idea was to comment on how lending money to family can sometimes backfire. Which it can. But it just goes back and forth about whether Robert is going to actually take that money. Not good when an episode reminds me of three others.

Grade-B-

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 7, Part 1)

 




Welcome to Season 7! At this point the show was huge. It was the #1 comedy on TV. Ray Romano and Brad Garrett had just won their first Emmy’s, and the series itself just won its first Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series. So with all this accolade, what did Season 7 give us? Well, age was definitely starting to show. There were some strong episode bust a lot more weak one’s. But at least we had an arc about Robert and Amy to give us some new ideas. But I am getting ahead of myself, let’s start with the baggage left over from Season 6…




Season 7, Episode 1
The Cult

Plot Summary-Unable to stand Debra and Marie’s argument, Robert joins a cult. Which prompts a scheme to get the two to like each other again

Nitpick of the episode-This may the most farfetched episode the show would ever do. A cult? Oh wait, the frog lady episode is coming……

Best Line-“Nice try  but you’re not that good an actor ”…Robert

Episode Fun Fact –Finally get a new opening, using the Jungle Love sequence that ended the clip show.

Deleted Scenes-Robert is visited by Gerard to get Robert I to tell cult (this was obviously the original teaser since it sets the cult up)

Syndication Edit-Ray accept Roberts offer to go to a meeting

Best Character-Frank, you gotta love how he comes in and smacks Robert on the head.

Worst Character-Debra, there is a moment in the start of the show where Ray is rambling about pickles when Debra mimes banging her head Into the fridge, exasperated. Why????? It’s a small moment but aggravates me.

Final Thoughts-It bugs me they had to resort to a sitcom cliché, “The Plan”, to get things back to status quo but I’ll take it. To be fair it’s not the first time the characters on the show would scheme about something, though this one follows the standard formula closer than any other. And it’s not a bad episode at all. The stuff with the cult is kind of out there but thankfully doesn’t last very long. And Marie and Debra’s reconciliation is a very strong moment, I think the creators knew they needed more than just the usual here.

Grade-B+

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 6, Part 4)

Ok folks got a few extra episodes since the season 6 disc 5 only had four.  And besides I really wanted to get those last episodes out of the way. But we’ll get to that. Let’s start with a great episode….




Season 6, Episode 16
Lucky Suit

Plot Summary-When Robert get an interview at the FBI, he asks Marie to iron his lucky suit..only  for her to proceed to burn and ruin it. Then she makes things worst by faxing a letter to the FBI!

Nitpick of the episode-where the hell did Marie get a fax machine?

Best Line-“Oh, it was going okay, and then Agent Garfield read me a letter about crazy Robert in his lucky suit.”…Robert

Episode Fun Fact – Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts won Emmy’s from this episode, it’s not hard to see why. Actually it was Doris’s second win, she won the last year also.

Deleted Scenes-the interview actually went longer (they cut it at the right place)

Syndication Edit-Marie’s scene at agent Garfields went a bit longer as was the tag

Best Character-Marie, the scene in Agent Garfield’s office is pure gold.

Worst Character-I’m going to give the episode a pass, no one is bad here.

Final Thoughts-Once again this seems to be the season about exploring why our characters do the things they do. In this case, why does Marie interfere so often? And the scene where she explains how she feels about Robert having the job he does is one of the best scenes in the series, and it’s no surprise it earned Doris Roberts an Emmy. I’ve said many times Brad Garrett can get a laugh with just a reaction and he proves it here when Agent Garfield reads the letter. He says almost nothing but man does his face say it all! I thought he was a little too angry at the subsequent scene where he confronts Marie, and not all of what he accuses Marie of is accurate. It’s not all wrong either, as Frank even indicates at one point. The funny thing is I would usually criticize an episode that had so little of Ray in it, but this one works and it’s nice to see some tender moments between Robert and Marie at the end for once.

Grade-A-, Doris Roberts had said this was her favorite. No surprise here. I once said Robert episodes aren’t so good, meet the exception

Analytical Episode Guide:Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 6, Part 3)

Season 6, Episode 11
The Kicker

Plot Summary-When Frank catches the game winning football at a game, he decides he’s going to keep it

Nitpick of the episode-The fact that Frank managed to catch that ball is beyond preposterous. Also Debra states she read Ray’s column when they were dating even though its been established he didn’t get it until they were engaged. By the way no radio station would share Frank’s last name like that.

Best Line-“I caught that ball fair and square and anyone who doesn’t like it can kiss me in the back pockets”…Marie z.  ,

Episode Fun Fact –I don’t usually comment on continuity flubs but it’s obvious when he ball breaks the window it doesn’t come from across the street (you can even see the arm of the stage hand who threw it!)

Deleted Scenes-ally is upset ray did the puzzle on the cereal box, Ray worries about the remote (these are both stupid bits best cut)

Syndication Edit-top of the teaser, frank wants her spoon

Best Character-Ray, the way he handles the problem is very nice (better than his first idea to trash his father in the newspaper-yeah that was a bad idea!)

Worst Character-Frank, do I need to explain why?

Final Thoughts-This is sort of a perfect Frank episode, as we see all his sides here. His sarcastic side, his jackass side, and in the end that he does have a heart when he’s finally persuaded to return the ball. What’s interesting is how against Frank the family is, I mean it’s not even close! ! That whole scene where they try to get the ball from him is a cute moment with all of them working together for once. The way the problem is finally resolved is cool. The scene in the kitchen with the family listening to the radio is probably a little longer than it needed to be, we get it!

Grade-B+