Top 5 Worst Star Trek Virus Episodes

Recently I had a pretty nasty cold. It’s probably the same virus that everyone seems to be getting in different degrees. So I watched Star Trek to pass the time, and got to thinking about all the disease episodes that the various series have done. From decent episodes like “The Deadly Years” to goofier fare like “Genesis”. I guess it makes sense why there are so many since often these episodes are light on plot. I’m not sure why, but I would be lying if I said that these weren’t often my favorite episodes.


However, while some are great others are just dumb. That’s what I wanted to discuss today. Since this is a top 5 it will be one episode per series. And just to get one obvious one out of he way, no Genesis will not be on the list. Why? Because I already discussed, and as silly as it was there was a TNG episode I think is even worst! But we’ll get to it.




#5.Miri (TOS)

I may be alone on this one, but I hate this episode. It is just so uncomfortable that I can’t even sit through it. After the Enterprise beams down to a planet which is exactly like Earth (for some reason), they find only children alive. The adults have all been killed by a disease which the landing party now has. The disease cause sores to form which lead to insanity and death. There’s more but I think I have said enough. I know this is not hated by most but for me it’s just a bad episode though it does feature the talented Kim Darby in the guest cast.

Five Comic Book Artists I DON'T Like

Over the last decades there have been many artists who have worked on Comic Books. Some are amazing, like Alex Ross, and transcend the medium with their art style. Then there are others…I just don’t like it. One of the great things about comic books and why I think they endure, is the disagreeing. Kids disagree on which superhero is better. Adults disagree on which company makes the better books. And in that vein, artwork can also be subjective. Here now are five famous artists that I simply DO NOT like. I am sure they are great people and have legions of fans for their work, I simply am not one of them.

Ranked in order of artists I admire even if I don’t like their style to artists I have no use for. Period.




Gil Kane



Yeah this is a big one. He was huge working on Superman, Atom, and Green Lantern just to name three. Not to mention his Marvel work. He was around for ages until he passed away in 2000. It’s his Superman that is best known to me. He was one of the definitive artists of the Silver Age and worked everywhere. And while I have happily read the stories he has drawn, I really have to admit I am just not crazy about his work. The way he draws characters they look more like cartoons than people. And there have been one or two stories where his style was even distracting for me. It’s hard explain but it’s kind of noisy artwork and it gives me a headache. Plus the characters look awful. I respect the guy he’s done amazing work, a lot of which I enjoy, but I am not a fan.

Five Things I Hated in The Batman TV Series

So this Christmas I got a cool gift. A box set of every single episodes of the 1966 Batman series. Obviously I wasn’t around in 1966 but it was huge in re-runs when I was a kid. And I loved this series, couldn’t get enough of it. This was my introduction to the character Batman and his vast
 supporting cast. So I put the DVD’s in and….

Several things struck me. The writing was awful, one episode had the exact same bit of dialogue used three times in the span of a minute or two. We all know that the episodes were two parters, but it seemed like to fall into the trap required Batman had to be a complete idiot/clutz for a few seconds. Aunt Harriette was only there to keep people from thinking Bruce and Dick were gay, and she really contributed nothing to the episodes. Yeah I know she was a feature in at least one episode, but I actually hate that one. And Bruce and Dick’s lame excuses to dart away were stupid. It was one thing when Clark had to trick Lois…….




I guess this really was a kids show, because it seems silly watching it as an adult. However, I could still put my nostalgia goggles on and remember why I loved it as a child. It was based on the Silver Age so the silly dialogue was excusable, the traps were pretty clever for the most part, the comic book action panels can be ignored, the stupid bat gadgets, and the fact that the villains were all goofballs was understandable. Adam West really owned the role and he made it work, being funny but also very deadpan. The actors also loved their roles which is why Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshen, and Cesar Romero (to name three) will always be associated with this show and the characters they brought to life.



It really is pretty good, if dated…except for a few things which I just can’t look past. Five things which just annoy me from the 1966 Batman TV series.

Underrated Trek:Q-Less (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. Q was such a popular character on TNG it only made sense to have him pop up in the spin-offs. On paper anyway, because it was clear the writers on DS9 had no idea what to do with him. Not all the Q episodes were great, Q-Pid (the episode this is a sequel to) was awful and The Q and the Grey on Voyager was even worst. So, where does this fit episode fit in? Today I give you:









DS9 was so good I forget sometimes how awful the first season was, so different from the rest of the series. TNG had an excuse, but the creators for this show should have known better. Not that all the episodes were bad, just check out “Duet”. Let’s see where it went wrong here.

Look at Sitcom Cliche’s-I Hate You (at first)!!!

It just wouldn’t be a normal sitcom if two characters didn’t have some sort of inexplicable hostility between each other. Sometime it is within the main cast, and sometimes with a recurring guest star. Often they are in-laws who never learned to get along. Other times they are just friends who got off on the wrong foot and remained antagonistic. The thing that annoys me about this cliche, is that very often no matter how much hatred these two characters have they will almost always be friendly at some point before the end of the series. It’s as if the writer’s can’t come up with a way to get keep them rivals so they give up on it even if it hurts the characters (or even the show) a bit.

Of course in TV Tropes these are rivals or “arch enemies”. And of course they are not limited to sitcoms. But we will ignore drama’s for now.


Before I start my list, here is one huge exception:



Seinfeld

I give this show a lot of credit. There were times when if this were another sitcom, Newman would have become friends and even a permanent part of Jerry and their little group. At the very least he would have made a regular part of the cast and appeared in every single episode. But this is one show that did not give in to that, and Jerry and Newman were rivals for the whole run of the show. Of course every character had their own rival. Elaine had Sue Anne Mishky, Kramer had Mickey, George had various people including Lloyd Bruan, and Jerry had Kenny Bania.

And yes this is not the only show to keep a good rivalry going. Check out Married..With Children. But most series are unable to do this and fall in thos cliche. Here are some examples :

My Top 15 Favorite Nostalgia Critic Jokes

Yeah yeah, I know that dozens of people have already done this kind of list. I also know Doug Walker himself also did a list like this. And yes I also know that this is not a video show it’s a blog which takes some of the fun out of it when you have to click links. But screw it I’m doing this anyway.

I have been a long time fan of Nostalgia Critic for awhile now and still can’t get enough. I have already done a list of my favorite episodes, so today I want to go over my favorite jokes. These are gags that I can see over and over and will make me laugh even if I am not even watching the episode. It takes a lot of talent to make a joke so funny that I find myself trying not to laugh out loud because it just popped into my head at work or whatever and I don’t want people to think I’m nuts.  In fact that was how I picked my choices, by scrolling through the list of episodes and seeing what I remember.


Before I begin, I tried to find standalone clips but some of the links below are to the joke from wherever it fell in the episode. So feel free to click off after the moment I have described has passed. Unless you love that episode. Oh, and yes this is a top 15. If you read my stuff it should come as no big surprise I couldn’t narrow it down more. I also tried to have choices they were not as beaten to death with over use (the Chuck Norris meme for example) or any that Mr.Walker himself had on his own list, but there are a few exceptions.


So where do we begin?

My Top 8 All-Time Favorite Christmas TV Episodes (#1)

Welcome back my friends as I count down my all-time favorite Christmas sitcom episodes. To tell you the truth, picking #1 was almost impossible. I could have swapped it for the #2 or 3 choice easily. So why did this win out? I love this episode so much I have an extra special tradition with it. More on that in a bit as today I give you one of the best show’s of the 80’s.




My #1 favorite Christmas episode is from a little show simply known as:

“Christmas Cheers”

Aired December 17, 1987