Underrated Trek: Bliss (VOY)

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. I’ve done a few of these now for Voyager but have yet to really talk about Seven of Nine. I did a couple she was in but was hardly featured. She shook up the show and, in my opinion, made it interesting. Here’s an example with an episode that she rocks in. This is :

 

Bill Prady of “Dharma and Greg” and “Big Bang  Theory submitted this one. So can Seven carry an entire episode mostly by herself?  Is it good? Let’s take a look :

 

Five Effects from Star Trek-TNG That Seem Silly Today

A few months ago I talked about how some of the props from the original Trek series seem kind of lame today. As far as The Next Generation, they served a little better. Oh sure some of the stuff is dated but not laughably so. The effects on the other hand, not so much. Oh sure some episodes the effect worked fine, more than fine,  but other effects either due to financial concerns or just lacking time and resources, were weak and seem silly today.



For instance, the awful episode “Manhunt” featured an alien race called the Antedian’s who, well, look like this….







Yeah, pretty silly. Or how about this goofy monster from "The Dauphin". The only thing worst than the hideous design is the atrocious morphing effect that preceded it.

But those are just two examples. Man Season 2 was rough. Anyway here are five of the most notable horrible effects in TNG whether it be bad makeup or awful CGI.





Skin of Evil

I almost feel bad ripping into this one again, but what the hell were the creators thinking with the Armus? A oil slick that comes to life? I suppose there was potential with the idea but not only is the moment of the slick awful animation, but when he forms into a humanoid form it just looks stupid. This was even lame for the time the episode was made!

Top 5 Worst Live Action Movies Based on Cartoons

It seems like such a simple concept, take a cartoon and make it live action. All you have to do is have actual actors and viola, no problem! Right? Well it sure doesn’t seem to work out that way most of the time. I mean some get it, like Transformers. Yeah those movies are from perfect but the give what they promise. And I don’t think G.I.Joe was THAT bad. When I watched the first Alvin and the Chipmunks it felt like Alvin and the Chipmunks. And then there’s the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and while they may vary in quality none of them are truly awful.

However some are not so lucky. Some are so far off the mark that they aren't just bad, they piss the fans of the source material right the hell off! Here are five live action movies based on cartoons which are just awful. And it can be any kind of cartoon from a show to comic strip.






#5.The Flintstones

I saw this when it came out, it was hyped big time, and I can’t deny it. I liked it when I saw it. It was ok, nothing too bad. The characters were on track and it felt like we were watching a live action episode. With one big exception. That idiotic plot! The Flintstones was, at the end of the day, a simple sitcom with sitcom situations. Here we get a money laundering scheme, I think,  with sexual innuendo. Uh, yeah. No! It has the same problem as Mr.Magoo, but with that one the cartoon hardly had a solid premise so you could divert from it. The Flintstones did have a solid premise, and this movie feels way off the mark. Sometimes getting the look down isn’t enough, check out the Speed Racer movie as another example. Or the infamous Robin Williams “Popeye” movie which got the characters down cold (especially Olive Oil) but man was it soooo boring!!!

Five Cartoon Remakes That Missed The Mark

With the Ducktales remake having come out (FYI it’s nothing offensive but not for me), I noticed people seem to like it. And after checking it out, I see why. It seems to upgrade stuff from the original series but keeps the heart and charm that made that series work. To bad some other reboots don’t get that. Sometimes people will reboot a cartoons series but will either focus on one area to much over another, or just miss the mark entirely on what made the cartoons so beloved.


Some get it, for instance the JLA cartoon was leaps and bounds better than the old Superfriends show. And the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show had its fans, in fact they did a special crossing over the old show with the new. But not all are so lucky. Here are five cartoon reboots that I wanted to like but I have to admit, they just didn’t get it right.





He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

In 2002 the 80's series got a reboot, and I watched the pilot episode. It did fix a lot of the problems with the classic show, most notably better animation leading to awesome action scenes. The characters and backstory were fleshed a lot better too. But the show missed one thing the new one had, heart. The characters in the old show were memorable and we liked them, and I didn’t get that with this one. For example The Sorceress went from being a kind mother figures to a dead pan Egyptian style princess with no personality at all. So I saw the pilot, and that was it for me.

Five Sitcom Characters Who Wanted to be Actors

I’ve talked before about how sitcoms have universal occupations that it seems like every show has at least one character who fills it. While Mike Brady as an architect was unique, how many teachers have there been in sitcoms? Or nurses? Or lawyers? But by far one of the most common careers we seen on these shows is the actor wannabe. You know, someone who has decided he would be the best actor in the world even though they have no talent or training. Then we spend a large majority of the series laughing at their exploits. This is so common it goes all the way to I Love Lucy, where Lucy did anything to be in Ricky's show despite her lack of any talent. Or how about on “Coach”, Hayden’s daughter tried to become an actress (subconsciously trying to get Hayden’s attention) but was so awful she ended up giving up and going into advertising in New York. And of course on “Head of the Class”, Mr.Moore was a substitute teacher who really wanted to be an actor. When he left the show the reason given was he finally got his big break (in real life Howard Hesseman was fired). 

I guess it makes sense, it makes for better stories if a character is struggling at their job and there’s no profession that struggles like would be actors. Here are five characters who really thought they’d be great actors…..


Bobby on Taxi

I loved the lime in the pilot when Alex explains to Elaine that he is the only cab driver in the place. Everyone has other jobs or wannabe jobs like Tony was a boxer and yes, Bobby wanted to be an actor. The only episode about that I remember is one where he played Louie to impress all of Louie’s friends at a reunion. I guess he did land a soap opera and there was another about episode him trying to making it big within 24 hours or give up per a vow he made. Jeff Conaway left in Season 3, and in his last appearance Bobby had lost a role on a TV show but was going to stay put in LA to pursue his dream.

Top 10 Favorite Episodes of “The Brady Bunch”

How’s this for crazy, four years ago I did a series of Brady articles and included my list of the worst episodes. Would you believe I never did my list of the best? That’s awful and needs to fixed.

I talked a couple weeks ago about how I adored He-Man growing up. Well that doesn’t even describe how much I loved The Brady Bunch. It was on every single day at dinner time and I adored it. Well, most of it. It was simple, it was sweet, and it didn’t talk down to kids. Ok it could be corny, though some people are a little to hard on that (something I discussed before).

This is one of those shows where, with a few exceptions, different people can have very different lists. It’s all about what appeals to you about the series. So here are my ten favorite episodes, in broadcast order. It was supposed to be five but became ten, anyone surprised?






“Tiger! Tiger!”

I needed one from Season One. Why did I pick this one? I don’t know, it’s better than most that season I guess. There is another Tiger episode involving Jan thinking she’s allergic, but that one is mostly filler. This one has some real heart in it when Tiger runs away. And I love how the family canvass the neighborhood to find him. It’s a well done moment, leading to the conclusion when we found why Tiger ran away. It’s stupid, but at least there’s a reason unlike other shows which don’t even give that. By the way I liked the episode where the kids get measles, but the sexism of the time hurt it foe me. A female doctor treating men? How could they know anything about men problems???? I know it made sense in 1968 but….please.

Underrated Trek:Dramatis Personae (DS9)

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. If you follow this series you know I have done a ton of TNG and TOS articles and a few though not enough Voyager. DS9 is the one I have slighted the most because I simply don't have much to say about it. The bad episodes are, well, bad. But even more than that, I am a Next Gen fan and DS9 was way to dark for my taste. Bad? Heck no! But I never could get into to it. I have noticed a trend that people who grew up with and love DS9 for it's darker tone look down on the more cerebral Next Generation. But Next Generation paved the way for DS9 and did some very good things especially when it focused more on character and less on story. So I decided to do a DS9 article since my last was much to long ago. I wanted to focus on Season One since that was a rough year. It was still a "TNG" show and hadn't found it's way yet. There were a few good episodes, like this one episode I always liked:

A first season episode that isn't to bad? Let's discuss....

Five Forgotten 80’s Franchises I Grew Up With

As I was discussing He-Man the other day it made think of all the cartoon franchises from the 80’s that are still around. TMNT, My Little Pony, Transformers, and even JEM and G.I.Joe are still kicking ass with lousy movies. He-Man and Thundercats are even still around, though these days mostly in comic books.

But what about the cartoons of the 80’s that didn’t make it? Those franchises which had potential nut have instead disappeared. Here are some examples of what I mean. There are toys I played and/or shows I watched, and yet noting ever came from them. And since I’ve gotten into trouble before, let me say while the word forgotten is in the title I am sure many remember these franchises very fondly.



Before I get to the five, I was going to mention Popples until I realized that this franchise has been rebooted on Netflix. This was a cute toy and harmless little cartoon show. And of course a comic book. But since I love sharing things that people can never forget, here is the opening intro which is a real earworm:

Brave Starr

From Filmation,  who gave us He-Man, we have Brave Starr! It’s a western show about cowboys… on an alien planet. Called New Texas. With robot horses. What? Yeah, at least Cowboys of Moo Mesa made sense. But the toys were cool and thanks to my brother I had a few of them.