Community 2×02 Accounting for Lawyers
Jeff in his natural habitat. It was cool to see the lawyer from the pilot episode back and how he could twist anything to his liking.
It was also cool to see them all in formal wear and going on a Mission Impossible.

$#*! My Dad Says 1×02 Wi-Fight
Shatner as the grumpy old man totally works for me. I’m not sure about the older brother and his wife though. Maybe they need a bit more time to find their pace. They are lucky that they have Shatner and I am willing to give them that time.

Melissa & Joey 1×08 Dancing with the Stars of Toledo
It was an OK episode. I really loved the all-male Tango, it was incredibly funny to watch them dance and they really pulled it off. I also liked the drug-induced dream sequence. It’s of course a staple of these kinds of sitcoms but you also have to find two people that can actually pull it off and I think these two can.

Raising Hope 1×02 Dead Tooth
Even the show acknowledges that it’s weird. And as the cast is getting wider, more weird people come into it. But it also shows the genuine care between father and daughter.
What makes it more fun for me is the fact that I can’t stop seeing Garret Dillahunt as the Terminator from The Sarah Connor Chronicles and then to watch him here.
And Sabrina reminds me a lot of the young Ally Sheedy from WarGames.

Bones 6×02 The Couple in the Cave
To quote someone else (Giles): “The subtext is rapidly becoming the text.” After my last review I have to admit I was surprised how fast they got working together again in a business as usual sense. But there is of course the whole Hannah issue now.
And I have to disagree with Bones on one issue: To lay down your life for another member of your species can absolutely make sense in an anthropological view, for example when a mother dies protecting their offspring.

Gossip Girl 4×03 The Undergraduates
It was interesting to see Serena being the odd one out. After everything that had happened before and in this episode I assumed Juliette’s endgame was against her, but the end proved me wrong.
Eva on the other hand reminded me a lot of Dan. She could be the grounding rod for Chuck that Dan was to Serena in the first season.
And Dan, well, he’s still Mr. Dependable, he would have made a great dad. And I’m not sure this whole Georgina baby story has come to an end. I guess we’ll see.

Life Unexpected 2×03 Criminal Incarcerated
And yet anther one: Emma Caulfield’s character (whose name I have not yet memorized) reminds me a lot of Buffy’s Anya. Not the social awkwardness (that this character doesn’t have) but the switching from pure business to suddenly showing a bit of warmth and compassion.
I also liked it how the entire Paige thing blew up in the most perfect inappropriate moment. It was like a chain of tiny explosions that lead to the big boom.

The Big Bang Theory 4×02 The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification
This episode was beyond ridiculous. Sheldon was again cranked up to (his, not normal people’s!) eleven. But I would have loved to see them actually jog. That would have been so much more fun.

Smallville 10×02 Shield
Now they are pressing forward the idea of going public with all their might and I like it.
I also liked that Clark didn’t question the choice Chloe made but recognized her as one of them (he did it before but I like it confirmed).
And I liked the talk between Carter and Lois. But that also caused some problems. Clark must have known that Lois would recognize him, she wrote a front page article about the JSA after all. So even if she didn’t know the secret that would have raised some red flags.
And being a fan of Stargate SG-1 I loved this whole Carter being an archaeologist thing. Granted he’s more than a thousand years old, but the wink is just too obvious. Like in the season nine finale when he was looking for the Kandorians (i.e. aliens) in Egypt and “all he found in Giza were mummies”. Or the specific mention of the sun god Ra (the first Goa’uld they killed).

Cougar Town 2×02 Let Yourself Go
It’s funny how this show can make you feel like something big is changing even though one has known these characters only for a year.
But now let’s go back to the guys doing same crazy stuff…

House M.D. 7×02 Selfish
That was a hard episode. I always feel stronger towards a case when the solving doesn’t only involve some medical magic but also having someone else sacrificing something.
I also loved how House tried to be himself (telling everyone about Huddy) and not being himself (not going up against Cuddy when he feels to).

How I Met Your Mother 6×02 Cleaning House
This was the first episode in a while that I really liked again. It could have used a little less Barney crazydom but overall it tugged all the right strings. I liked Barney’s brother and his dad and I liked Ted and Robin (Why can’t she be the mother?!).

Two and a Half Men 8×02 A Bottle of Wine and a Jackhammer
Alan has learned way too much from Charlie without even realizing it.
And I have to admit, I’m really curious on how this is going to work out because it brought Jake more back into the game. And I like Lindsey (but I also liked Chelsea and she’s gone, too).

Community

A cool sitcom (without laugh track) about a bunch of students in a Community College.
As with most shows, it needs a few episodes to settle in, but I really liked it from the start. The dynamics within the group is so great because they have such heterogeneous backgrounds. If it weren’t for that college, these people probably would have never met. That’s were a lot of the fun comes from.

Cougar Town

A sitcom (again without laugh track) about a divorced mum, her teenage son, her ex-husband, her neighbour friends and her assistant/friend.
The show started out as exactly what it says on the tin but moved quickly away from it. Which was a good idea. They are probably going to rename it next year. All the characters are very quirky with Jules being the queen.

Glee

The Glee Club at a high school.
I’ve watched the first two episodes but it just wasn’t my terrain. It seems to be a big hit in the U.S. but I simply can’t see the appeal.

The Good Wife

Alicia Florrick is the wife of a former D.A. who has been charged with crimes regarding the misuse of the powers of his office. Now Alicia has to work again and she starts as a junior associate at a law firm of an old friend.
I really enjoyed this year, it was a good drama show with a lot of interesting characters. And it’s never clear-cut, not black/white. Just like reality.

Human Target

Christopher Chance (not his real name) works for people who need a bodyguard of the special kind.
This is a popcorn show. You watch it, you enjoy it and you don’t think about it. If you watch it, you’ll enjoy it most of the time. If you don’t watch it, you haven’t missed anything.

Justified

Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has been transferred back to his old hometown in Kentucky where he meets his ex-wife and his old flame who just shot her husband. And that’s not the only baggage he’s having.
The first season as a few more episodes but I really like it. All the characters have depth and it’s obvious that there’s a bigger plan and not just writing on an episode-to-episode basis.

Life Unexpected

A teenage girl wants to escape the Foster system and finds her real parents. And they try their best to give her a home.
Sometimes it’s corny, but I really enjoyed the show. The characters are all interesting and while the show progresses they move away from the concept that the episode has to end on a high note.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand

Spartacus is the name he was given by his Roman captors. Now he’s a gladiator and he’s fighting to get his freedom back and to see his wife again.
A very graphic show (in all aspects) that has an actual story behind all the blood and the sex. Should the Vampires of True Blood ever have a blood shortage, they could come here.

Stargate Universe

A group of military personnel and civilian scientists make a one-way travel onto a ship in a galaxy far away. Now they try to discover the secrets of the ship, of that galaxy and they try to get back home.
It’s not just because it’s different from its predecessors SG-1 and Atlantis. It’s because the characters make no sense most of the time (like starting rebellions when there’s nothing real to gain) and also because most of the time nothing happens. And even when something happens, it’s not interesting. I haven’t even watched the last few episodes anymore and I doubt I ever will.

White Collar

Basically a spin-off of the movie Catch Me if You Can. A former con man works now for the FBI, solving crimes.
Peter and Neal have an interesting relationship and their cases are also interesting. And the co-characters like Peter’s wife and Mozzie also have their charm. Just like the guys from Leverage Neal is a con man with style.

Human Target 1×01 Pilot
The pilot episode certainly looked interesting. The action was well balanced above realistic and below unrealistic. It looks like as if it’s going to be Die Hard or Lethal Weapon in a series format and I certainly will watch more episodes of it.
“You wore a vest? Where’s my vest?” – “I’m your vest.”

24 8×01 – 8×04 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Dammit. I should have known better. I decided to watch the season en bloc when it is over. But I just had to peak a little and was already drawn back in…
I love Jack’s new “Are we done here? Can I go home now?” attitude. Of course they aren’t done and Jack can’t go home.
When I read that that Freddie Prince jr. (Wing Commander, Scooby Doo) – He married my Buffy, dammit!!! – would take the part of the leading CTU Field Officer I was a bit worried. But he has gotten older and looks like he can pull it off.
Of course there are again the typical 24 plot points like the incompetent CTU boss, the CTU member who has private problems and I am already wondering who the mole is – but that’s OK, it’s 24 after all.
What I also like is that – aside from the 24 alumni who have returned this season – these episodes feel like a huge School Reunion party: The aforementioned Freddie Prince jr., Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica) – looks gorgeous btw -, Paul Wesley (Stefan in The Vampire Diaries), Cliff Simon (Ba’al in Stargate SG-1), David Anders (Takezo Kensei / Adam Monroe in Heroes, Julian Sark in Alias), Jürgen Prochnow (Dune, Das Boot) and according to the CTU files Callum Keith Rennie (Ray in Due South, Leoben in Battlestar Galactica) will also appear anytime soon.

Life Unexpected 1×01 Pilot
I was made aware of this series at least twice. The second time was a few days ago when blogs reviewed the pilot episode. But I’ve seen bits and pieces of this episode before – most likely in a trailer a few months back. And even though I had forgotten the show in the meantime I now remember that I decided back then that I’d give it a try.
I really liked the pilot. The characters are believable and down-to-earth. Even though the show runs on The CW this isn’t Beverly Hills 90210 or Gossip Girl, this is different. As with every show it now depends on what kind of storylines they are going to tell and how this triangle+attachments is going to work out.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand 1×01 / 1×02 The Red Serpent / Sacramentum Gladiatorum
Lots of nudity (male and female). Even more blood. Better you put a bucket below your telly in case it spills out of the screen. The optic leans more towards 300 than Gladiator, especially when there’s blood flowing. The problem is the story. These first two episodes show how Spartacus became a Gladiator but it didn’t give the viewer an idea what the entire show is going to be about. And that’s why I am not yet convinced. To quote Buffy’s Spike: “I love a good slaughter as much as the next bloke” but I also need a real story in between.
Time will tell … at least you now get the chance you never got with Xena: To see Lucy Lawless in the nude.

Chuck 3×04 Chuck vs Operation Awesome
The only thing I’ve ever seen Brandon Routh in was Superman Returns but here he didn’t remind me of his character there. I like him as addition to the team because he could stir things up a little.
I don’t know if it’s just my imagination because they announced it but the show actually feels a bit less funny and a bit more serious. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an Action Comedy and there’s plenty of fun in it. But the general tone during the spy action seems to have darkened a little since last year. I’m not complaining – I like it.

Castle 2×13 Sucker Punch
I didn’t think that they would ever bring up the topic of Beckett’s mum’s murder ever again since they so thoroughly dismissed it at the beginning of the season.
I liked how they handled this case and I also liked the end a lot. Now I hope that they don’t forget it again but actively push that story forward.

House M.D. 6×10 The Down Low
This episode had the perfect House mix. Both ploys were really enjoyable (though I had suspected that House helped Foreman – which he did not) and the case was a really good one. I liked how the characters interacted and I also thought it was a good ending to the story even when it was a sad one.

How I Met Your Mother 5×13 Jenkins
While the name-giving Jenkins story was funny I loved the “but, erm” storyline. The drinking game was so cool.
Only while I am writing this I notice that the “mother” topic was put on hold again, but since I didn’t miss it during the episode I can’t really use it as an argument…

The Big Bang Theory 3×13 The Bozeman Reaction
He considers Penny a friend, how cute. I thought it was great that all the characters got their fair share of jokes and screen time (even though Sheldon was the light house again).
I am also pleasantly surprise of how much a non-issue Leonard’s and Penny’s relationship is. I feared it would become the center story with an ultimate break-up and then on and off again (Ross/Rachel or Clark/Lana anyone?). To not making it a major plot point is certainly an interesting move (though I still think there is something coming…).

Two and a Half Men 7×13 Yay, No Polyps
This was also fun, especially the way it played out – even though it played with an old cliché.
Funny thing: I recently showed someone the Pilot episode and recognized Chelsea in there. As it turns out, before Chelsea became Chelsea in Season 6, she also was Suzanne (Season 1), Tina (Season 2) and Nina (Season 5). Not that I mind but since when does Hollywood have a shortage of beautiful women?

Heroes 4×15 Chapter Fourteen ‘Close to You’
I don’t want to complain – or actually I want, otherwise I wouldn’t write this – but the season has aired about 2/3 of its episodes and by now I wish something big should happen. As I said in the beginning I have nothing against a slow start but I didn’t mean that nothing should happen. The goal of the season has been clear for a while now (stop Samuel) but when they did the same thing in the first season with Sylar it was much more interesting – except for the end which was kinda lame.

Heroes 4×16 Chapter Fifteen ‘Pass/Fail’
I have to say I found this episode a bit boring, neither the Hiro nor the Sylar/Claire nor the Samuel storyline really worked for me, especially since I don’t really know what to make of that trial (Was it a dream? But the how he got healed? Was it “real”? I hardly think so). And that Samuel is not the most stable person isn’t exactly news.

Cougar Town 1×12 Scare Easy
And Jules dumped another guy. It was an OK episode but Jules was a bit too quirky for my taste in this one. But I liked the ending; it’d make for a cool Slasher movie.

Cougar Town 1×13 Stop Dragging My Heart Around
Oh yeah, this one will have consequences. I liked the switches between all the couples and their conversations to point out all the differences between them. And I like their attempts at writing songs, it’s a cool new element (or I haven’t noticed it before Scare Easy).

The Good Wife 1×12 Painkiller
The case itself wasn’t that interesting this time, but the story around Kalinda was. Maybe I missed a bit but I couldn’t figure out for which side she’s now really working and where she’s only pretending – if she doesn’t play them all. That was very intriguing and I will figure it out over the next episodes.

Bones 5×12 The Proof in the Pudding
That was a really nice toying with the JFK assassination conspiracy. I liked it how went back and forth about whether this was actually him and thus whether JFK was shot by two persons. But the panicking Camille was also great.

Burn Notice 3×10 A Dark Road
Finally Michael is back. And Cagney & Lacey, too. Both women interacted very well with each other until the bitter end. I still like this show very much, it’s a great cast and a cool story, even though they just exchange one bad guy who looks over his shoulder with the next and everything else remains the same.

Human Target 1×02 Rewind
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the previous episode but I hope that was just a glitch. Time will tell.

Leverage 2×11 The Bottle Job
I believe this story actually worked better with Jeri Ryan in it. Nothing against Gina Bellman, but Jeri is sexier and that was exactly what they needed to pull this double con. And I have to say I didn’t see that ending coming. Especially the recaps were fun because of this.

The Vampire Diaries 1×11 Bloodlines
Just when I feared that they had softened Damon I can calm down, he shows that he’s just as nasty as ever. Good for him.
What I didn’t understand was why they revealed the secret whether or not the teacher was a Vampire (with a ring); they could have toyed with the viewers for a while there.

White Collar 1×08 Hard Sell
So, no game-changer after all. OK then, fine with me.
Even though I am not a big comic collector, I would totally be awesome to have the contents of that vault, especially the “Action Comics” #1 issue.

Supernatural 5×11 Sam, Interrupted
That was a nice twist on the “checked into an asylum” storyline that appears on every fantasy show at some point. It was just a bit incredible how Sam and Dean were constantly able to open all kind of doors in the loony bin. Security and sweeping of patients does not seem to be a big issue there.

CW 04

The Big Bang Theory 3×10 The Athens Recurrence
I do that very rarely but I watched the scene where Penny recites the physics stuff three times in a row. It’s so great to see her keep a straight face and the others get dumbfounded. Sheldon can be so proud of her. 
I also really liked the reference to the pilot when Penny explained why Sheldon sits where he sits.

Two and a Half Men 7×10 That’s Why They Call It Ball Room
This was a cool episode, it had many scenes that made me laugh, for example the couch incident or Alan’s wedding video or the dance lessons. I also liked that Jake had a few more scenes but I still feel they should make at least one entire episode about him again sometime soon.

Bones 5×10 The Goop on the Girl
“You look like sisters.” I really liked Zooey Deschanel’s appearance on the show, it was really funny. It also kinda answers the question why Brennan behaves the way she does even when she had a normal childhood until the age of 16. It must be a gene running in the family.
What I didn’t like was Booth dissing that radio man for having a negative opinion of the U.S.. But I think that’s a cultural difference. In Germany we’ve come to love criticizing our country and everything the parliament (we elected) does.

Castle 2×11 The Fifth Bullet
This one had a really nice assortment of guest actors: Marc Blucas (Buffy’s Riley), Anne Dudek (House’s Cutthroat Bitch) and Carlo Rota (24’s Morris O’Brian). I especially like Carlo because he often plays (he was recently on Stargate Universe, too) these somewhat grumpy character’s that aren’t really likeable (because they aren’t really supposed to be) and he does a great job with them because you actually don’t like the characters but you don’t transfer that to the actor.
But I also liked Marc Blucas in his amnesia role, he was a nice guy.

FlashForward 1×10 A561984
So Dominic’s character doesn’t actually belong to the evil bad guys. But he was still the most interesting character in this episode. I honestly don’t know if I will even remember this show when it starts to air again in 4(!) months.

Gossip Girl 3×11 Treasure of Serena Madre
It’s like watching the crucial elements coming together just to be detonated in a nuclear detonation inside the Thanksgiving turkey. Though I have to say I would have liked it if the bomb had a few megatons more. But let’s see what they make out of the fallout.  

Gossip Girl 3×12 The Debarted
I had hoped for more fallout from this but it has to do, especially the three events at the end will put new fuel in the fire. Though I have to say one thing: While I really like all this scheming and plotting I have no sympathy whatsoever for drug dealing and I think it’s way overdue that Jenny gets seriously punished with prosecution and everything. She had way too much luck in the past three years but now the show has reached a point where this has to stop.

How I Met Your Mother 5×10 The Window
It is somewhat surreal to see actress Joanna Garcia one week in Gossip Girl as a 20-year-old and a few weeks later as a 30-year-old here. Apart from that the episode was quite funny. But I liked best that they acknowledged that Ted drifted away from his search for The One and they now intend to go back to it – it’s the title of the show after all.

Paradox 1×03 Episode #1.3
I have to admit, I have serious problems understanding the people. Not the main cast, but most of the guest characters. Sometimes I have no idea what they are talking about even when it’s supposed to be English. I am far more used to American English.
And the show itself doesn’t hold much interest for me; I think I’ll drop it again.

V 1×04 It’s Only the Beginning
Even though I hadn’t really read any spoilers the revelation at the end wasn’t really one. The very concept of the show allowed for this conclusion. But I won’t complain about the content, because it was an interesting episode again.
However I think it’s a big mistake to make the break this huge. In January a whole batch of new seasons starts and people might forget the old ones that don’t jump back in again.

White Collar 1×04 Flip of the Coin
This was a fun episode, I really liked it how Neal and Mozzie used their abilities the “proper way”. I also really like Mozzie, I liked the actor since his character Martin Lloyd in Stargate SG-1.
Now that I’ve gotten used to the different characters, I really start enjoying them.

White Collar 1×05 The Portrait
That was a really nice con Neal pulled here and I also like that the background story is beginning to go somewhere (literally) instead of staring onto a bottle for three episodes. It’s great to see how Neal begins to work both for the FBI and (if necessary) for the clients.

White Collar 1×06 All In
While the case was OK, the end was what made this episode really interesting.

White Collar 1×07 Free Fall
Whoah. What an episode and what an ending! I have to say that even before the end this was the best episode so far and the ending was really unexpected. I’d say it turns the entire premise of the show on its head (unless of course there’s a ploy within the ploy within the ploy).
Now I definitively will watch further.

Disc 2

Crackers Don’t Matter

Synopsis: D’Argo has brought an alien onboard who claimed that he could cloak the electromagnetic field of Moya’s. They would become invisible to sensors which has become necessary since Scorpius deployed wanted beacons all over the place. Thy make a test run on Farscape-1 and it actually works and then they agree to follow T’raltixx to his home planet, but they have to pass a cluster of five pulsar stars and their light has side-effects on less-developed life-forms. Soon the crew starts to get aggressive and suspicious towards one another but it doesn’t stop even after they passed the pulsars. Something else is going on.

My Opinion: The funny thing is that John didn’t wear the “armour” shown in the picture above when he was nuts, but when he started to get a clear head again. I love it when fictional characters go crazy and paranoid, it’s a lot of fun to watch them: “Why don’t you want to show me the record, what are you hiding? … So now you suddenly want to show it to me? Why? What’s on it?” and so on. And why was John the hero of the day? Because Humans have less precise senses and aren’t affected as much by the light. Inferiority can help survive.
Spoiler (mark to read):
And I am not sure whether or not we’ve seen the introduction of Harvey. When John sees the transmission by Scorpius during his aggressive phase, Scorpius seems to become real and gives him advise. And Harvey is the mental image of Scorpius which lives in an implanted chip in John’s head. He will be introduced later in this season.

The Way We Weren’t

Synopsis: Chiana finds a Peacekeeper recording device which documents that Aeryn has been on Moya before and that her squadron has killed the former pilot. Aeryn didn’t know that it was Moya because she had been on many Leviathans. Slowly she begins to remember what happened back then and how Pilot became Moya’s pilot. But she’s not the only one remembering, Pilot does it as well and he’s not amused.

My Opinion: Everyone has a past and naturally Aeryn’s isn’t one painted in pink. I really liked the flashbacks because it gave both Aeryn and Pilot more background and once again it wasn’t all black/white. OK, Aeryn’s past was black, but Pilot’s past wasn’t exactly white. And again there are some parallels to Stargate SG-1: Both Teal’c and Aeryn had to leave everything behind even though Teal’c’s leaving was more a choice than Aeryn’s. Both were necessary to get the show moving but both seemed sudden. And both series showed in later episodes such as this one that it wasn’t such a sudden move after all. It just seemed that way because we the viewers didn’t know their past.

Disc 3

Picture if You Will

Synopsis: Rygel and Chiana trade for some items and Chiana discovers a picture that seems to depict her. But the picture is changing, it seems to predict the future: First her legs get broken and then she dies in a fire. The crew is still shocked about this when the picture suddenly shows D’Argo and his death. Every attempt at destroying the picture fails and they fear to get picked one-by-one. Back at the trading ship they find out that the picture is a creation by Maldis – the sorcerer who captured John and was defeated by Zhaan.

My Opinion: I’d would have liked to see Maldis longer, he’s such a good diabolic character. But to introduce him earlier would have meant to reveal the answer to soon. This way the episode turned from “weird in the beginning” to “really weird in the end”. I love it. The special effects may not be so special but you have to have the idea and the ultimately go through with it and tell the story.

Home on the Remains

Synopsis: The crew is seriously starving and Zhaan begins to blossom (literally). She needs meat or she will die. So Moya lands in the corpse of a Budong*, the greatest space-living creature known. There is a mine and a colony in which Chiana and her brother have lived a while ago. The minerals in the Budong’s bones are valuable, but it’s dangerous because there live other creatures, too, who feed from the rotting corpse or a miner.

My Opinion: I loved the way John killed the Keedva. It simply had to be a homage to Luke’s killing of the Rancor in Return of the Jedi. But I also liked how Chiana was willing to do anything to get meat for Zhaan and how D’Argo couldn’t bear it because he cares for Chiana. We’ve seen traces of this development in previous episodes but after the kiss in the end it’s very obvious.

*The classification of the Budong on the Farscape Wiki is also fun to read:
Height of average adult: Big
Average length: Really big
Average wingspan: Really REALLY big

Season 2: Disc 4 – 6

Children of the Gods is the movie-length pilot of Stargate SG-1. It is said that there were creative differences between the producers and the networked “Showtime” chipped in, too. Additionally due to the story-telling of the series some aspects don’t make sense anymore.

Thus someone decided to create a “Final Cut” version of the pilot where scenes are reordered, shortened and the FX were enhanced.

Changes that were made (in loose order):

The (in)famous full frontal nudity scene of Sha’re was re-cut. She’s still naked but one does not see it anymore. Back then Showtime insisted on the scene to push the MPAA rating up. But since SG-1 is supposedly a “family show” this was deemed inappropriate. This is one change I don’t mind. The scene never bothered me (why should it?) but it’s no loss either. But from where I am standing, I could start an argument on why a show where most people carry weapons of some form and were people get killed on a weekly basis (and we’re talking big bloody staff weapon wounds) somehow becomes “family friendly” just because they cut out the 20 seconds nudity scene.

In the original version, Apophis captured that female Air Force officer, brought her into his harem, then also captured Sha’re. Then he tested said officer, deemed her unworthy, killed her, tested Sha’re and implanted the Goa’uld. Now he captures the officer, kills her, captures Sha’re and implants the larva. No harem. In combination with the above nudity scene the pilot showed how Humans are merely “walking meat” in the eyes of the Goa’uld. They have no regard for the value of human lives. They are just slaves for them to command.
This ruthlessness gets lost in the new version. Here Apophis takes only what he deems necessary as if he would actually care. Don’t know why they did it but I don’t like it.

Earth has no DHD (keyboard to open the gate), they built a computer to do the work. But in the original version Apophis magically opened the gate without using the computer. Now one hears him shout a command and it sounds as if his Jaffa are dialling out manually. That’s OK.
Another FX change is in regard to the Death Glider. The pilot had a never seen again version of the Death Glider that has a ring transporter system. They added an additional Tel’tak (a transport vessel later introduced in the series) and made it look like as if the Tel’tak activated the ring transport. That’s OK, too.

They also removed the scene where Kawalsky is taken over by a Goa’uld (which is addressed in the episode after the pilot). That makes somewhat sense for a stand-alone movie but even then they could have let it in.
They also removed the scene where Kawalsky doesn’t know that O’Neill had a son. That makes sense, because it’s later established that they’ve known each other for many years.

But what I really didn’t like were some changes in the pacing and in Sam’s introduction. In the original version there’s some bantering between the old gang and Sam when General Hammond introduces her (topics: She’s a woman and a scientist). That and when it comes up again when they meet Daniel was all cut out. But instead they used alternate cuts of the scenes or simply cut it out. Now the flow is gone. Some of the scenes end with a long pause before the next camera angle. It’s like the actors are waiting for the director to shout “cut”. It happens all the time, especially in the beginning. There’s no natural flow anymore.
I always liked the joke about the location of Carter’s reproduction organs, especially because they make fun about it later in the series.

And they removed the MacGyver joke! 

So my final judgement is that I can’t think of anyone who actually needs this “Final Cut”.

And I love to see so many known guest actors in it:

Robin Curtis (Star Trek 3 & 4), Peter Jurassik (Babylon 5, Sliders), Nana Visitor (Star Trek DS9), Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street, V), Stephen Williams (The Blues Brothers, 21 Jump Street), Teri Hatcher (Lois & Clark, Desperate Housewives), John de Lancie (Star Trek TNG, DS9, VOY, Stargate SG-1), …

Synopsis: SG-1 takes part in the ceremony where the last Ba’al clone gets his symbiont removed. The last of the System Lords is defeated. But something is happening. First Vala disappears, then Teal’c and then more and more people. Cameron, Sam and Daniel manage to get through the Stargate home but when they arrive on Earth everything has changed. The gate is somewhere in the arctic and Earth’s history of the last 60 years seems to have changed. Another Ba’al clone has changed the past to win in the future.

My Opinion: The elements of this story aren’t new, not even to Stargate SG-1. A time travel after which the Stargate program doesn’t exist also happened in Moebius. And the way the “ripple effect” changed the future didn’t make much sense either. But I still liked this movie, it was nice to see them all again (Don S. Davis in his last appearance) and I liked how Daniel tried to speak to Daniel and how they once again joined forces with the First Prime Teal’c. Also this movie didn’t have any lengths, it felt like a slightly longer regular episode even though it was twice as long.

Disc 1

Premiere

Synopsis: John Crichton is a scientist and an astronaut and he wants to prove that one can use Earth’s gravitational pull to accelerate a spaceship. But something goes wrong and his tiny ship “Farscape-1″ is sucked into a wormhole and John gets stranded … somewhere. He’s thrown directly into a fight between a Peacekeeper command carrier and a prisoner transport ship: Moya, a Leviathan, a living ship. Aboard Moya he meets the hynerian Dominar Rygel XVI, former ruler over 600 billion people, the delvian priest Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan and the luxan warrior Ka D’Argo. Unfortunately for him he looks like a Sebacean – a Peacekeeper. And he gets imprisoned with another Peacekeeper: Peacekeeper Special Command officer Aeryn Sun.

My Opinion: Just like John we are simply thrown into the story and have to figure out what’s going on. I liked the idea of “translator microbes at the brain stem” for the translation issues. The problem wasn’t forgotten and yet easily solved. I also liked all the “Muppets” (most animatronics were created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop): Rygel, Pilot (Pilot is the pilot of Moya, living in a symbiotic relationship with her) the aliens on the first planet John visited. I also liked that Aeryn didn’t simply switch sides “just because” but was forced to run.

Disc 2

I, E. T.

Synopsis: John has still a hard time getting accustomed to this whole new universe when they find a homing device deep in Moya’s guts that has been activated recently. To remove it would be too painful for Moya and so they have to land on a planet and sink the ship into a swamp to dampen the signal. They have to find a way to anesthetize the entire ship in order to remove that device. And suddenly Crichton finds himself in front of people who have never seen an alien before.

My Opinion: With this episode Crichton’s tradition of making cultural references has begun. In this case it was Dagobah and Yoda. And it was funny to see John (who has just learned that Humans aren’t alone in the universe) explain to a woman that her race isn’t alone in the universe and that he can fully understand how she feels right now.

Disc 3

Exodus from Genesis

Synopsis: Some sort of space bug has entered Moya and is crawling through the walls. They begin to disturb Moya’s operations and they are somehow turning the heat up. John is able to capture and kill one and Zhaan dissects it. But soon after copies of the crew members begin appear and start to attack the real crew. And Aeryn’s condition worsens because Sebaceans can’t stand heat and their body functions begin to break down. As if this wasn’t enough a Peacekeeper Marauder closes in and tries to re-take the ship.

My Opinion: This episode introduces another common theme of the show: That not everything is as it appears to be and that such misunderstandings can have fatal consequences. I thought it was a great idea of John’s that he tried to convince that Peacekeeper that Humans can multiply by thousands in no time (nobody knows Humans after all) and that Crais (the command carrier commander) should stay out of his way.

Disc 1

Throne for a Loss

Synopsis: Rygel is pretending to be still the monarch of his people to get a contract for a transport job. But then he is kidnapped because of his “importance” and Moya couldn’t leave orbit even if she wanted to because Rygel used a control crystal as “jewel” in his scepter. D’Argo, Aeryn and John try to get him back and for this they use a strength-enhancing gauntlet which they got from one of the attackers. But unfortunately it makes one not only stronger but also hightens one’s aggresive traits.

My Opinion: This was an average episode. But it started another Farscape tradition: The usage of nicknames, especially by John.

Disc 2

Back and Back and Back to the Future

Synopsis: Moya and her crew save two people from a ship that is just about to implode. They are scientists and their race is allied to the Luxans (they are basically genetic cousins) and D’Argo insists on helping them. But shortly after they have come aboard John begins to experience (sexual) hallucinations or that’s at least what he thinks they are. But then he is killed by the female Ilonic (Matala) and awakes in the past. He’s erratically jumping through time and he tries to prevent his (and everyone else’s) death but that’s not going to be easy since D’Arge has fallen in love with Matala.

My Opinion: This episode represents what I like about Farscape. First they lure you onto a false track and then throw you in a completely different direction. By seeing the first “flashes” there was no way to predict how this episode would turn out. It’s also fun to watch when the others talk about Crichton and come to the conclusion that the Humans must be a weird species. When the USS Voyager went into the Delta Quadrant or the Stargate Atlantis team went into the Pegasus galaxy, their destination was still recognizable, at least remotely like home. Here, everything is very different – OK, not everything.

Disc 3

Thank God It’s Friday … Again

Synopsis: D’Argo has gone down to a planet for a few days and when the gang goes looking for him he’s very different. He’s calm and joyful and totally not D’Argo. But everyone there seems to be calm and joyful. They work hard today and party at night because tomorrow is a rest day. But when the sun rises they work hard today and party at night because tomorrow is a rest day … John and Zhaan try to get D’Argo back while Aeryn has to deal with Rygel whose sweat and other excretions have become explosives.

My Opinion: Great! First he’s farting helium and now he’s peeing nitroglycerin. They certainly have a lot of fun with that puppet. I also liked that they started to make more out of Aeryn, more than just the brainless warrior she was bred to be.

PK Tech Girl

Synopsis: Moya finds a Peacekeeper command carrier deep in the uncharted territories. This ship is famous and has been lost for ages. It was the first ship Rygel was imprisoned and tortured on. But now it’s only a plundered wreck. D’Argo and the others go aboard to find star charts and navigation information and Aeryn wants to find out what happened to the ship. But then they find a tech girl aboard – a tech girl from Crais’s ship! He was here and could return any minute with his very own command carrier. But they can’t leave either. Scavengers are closing in on their position and if they try to run, they’ll die.

My Opinion: John is Kirk, he gets ‘em all. And yet another weird alien race, one who can spit fire like a dragon! I also liked that they didn’t kill off the tech girl as it is custom for guest characters that fall in love with a main. And they pointed out a fact which lay out in the open but I hadn’t seen it: John and Aeryn may come from (metaphorically) different worlds but they have one thing in common: Neither one can go home, back to their own life.

Disc 4

That Old Black Magic

Synopsis: The gang visits a commerce planet to re-stock their supplies. But then Crichton meets a very strange man who seems to know a whole lot about him – more than anyone from this part of the universe should know. But then this man – a sorcerer – puts him into some kind of coma and his mind into a fantasy world. And to make matters worse he reaches out into space and brings Crais to that same place. And Crais is more than willing to play that game – and to kill Crichton. Meanwhile Zhaan tries to help John but in order to do that she has to re-awake powers she buried very deep for good reason.

My Opinion: As far as Farscapes episodes go that play (partly) in someone’s mind this one was really down-to-earth. But I really liked that they showed Zhaan’s other side. We’ve seen glimpses of it before but this was the first time we get a notion of what she’s really capable of. But I also liked that she disliked that side of her. They can’t be all warriors and I like her more in her role as healer and “zen master”.

DNA Mad Scientist

Synopsis: A scientist has found a way to show basically anyone their way home by taking a DNA sample. Even John tries his luck but has none. The only one not participating is Aeryn – she knows exactly where home is and that she can’t go there. In exchange for one of Pilot’s arms the scientist is even willing to give them a way home under avoidance of any Peacekeeper territory. Rygel, Zhaan and D’Argo take their chance but later they start a fight because the crystal can show only one way before coming useless. But that wasn’t the only time the scientist rigged the game.

My Opinion: Luckily that arm grows back. But when I first saw that episode and the scene were D’Argo chops Pilot’s arm off I thought “WTF?”. This was the first episode where they showed real hostility within the group because everyone wanted to go home – their home. And I really liked Claudia Black’s (Aeryn) mask when she was injected whit Pilot’s DNA. She really looked like a humanoid Pilot.

Disc 5

They’ve Got a Secret

Synopsis: The crew is still sweeping Moya for any hidden Peackeeper technology that could endanger them. But then D’Argo accidentally destroys such a piece and gets flushed out into space. They can retrieve and revive him but he’s disoriented and thinks he’s back home with his family. But that’s not their only problem: Some form of virus seems to have infected Moya. The Diagnostic Repair Drones (DRDs) begin to behave seemingly erratic and then Pilot loses control over the ship and falls into a coma. Now they’ve lost any connection to the ship and life support begins to fail.

My Opinion: Moya’s pregnant! I really liked that discovery and how Moya tried to protect her child and how Aeryn tried to cover for the unconscious Pilot. But I also liked that we learn the secrets of the former prisoners. I never noticed before that D’Argo’s son was mentioned by name so early in the show. And I found it fascinating that Pilot didn’t know anything about Moya’s pregnancy even though they live in a symbiotic relationship.

Till the Blood Runs Clear

Synopsis: Crichton’s doing some experiments in a solar system where the sun has some unusual flares and by re-creating his original flight he manages to open another wormhole. But Aeryn prevents him from flying blindly into it. The spatial distortions damage Farscape-1 and he cannot return to Moya but has to land on a nearby planet. There he tries to get his ship repaired. But he and Aeryn also run into a pair of bounty hunters who are looking for the three escaped prisoners. And when D’Argo comes looking for John and Aeryn John has to become a bounty hunter himself.

My Opinion: You can say anything about John but he’s certainly not slow but rather quick on the uptake even though the others may not see it (yet). And I love it when he throws people off-guard by using references to Earth culture. I also like that Zhaan has absolutely no problem with nudity. Her reaction to the warm sun forebodes the revelation of her true nature in a later episode. I also like about this show that we see most of the supporting characters of an episode at least a second time. We will see the bounty hunters again and the mechanic, too.

Disc 6

Rhapsody in Blue

Synopsis: A group of Delvians lures Moya to their planet. They want to learn what Zhaan can do – to kill someone with your mind. That’s the crime Zhaan was imprisoned for and they want to use it to free their home planet Delvia from the Peacekeepers. Zhaan reluctantly agrees and unites her mind with the leader of the local Delvians. But the latter one doesn’t play with open cards and tries to distract John and the other so they cannot interfere with the unity – a unity that could kill Zhaan.

My Opinion: I really liked how John tried to reason with Zhaan and how he showed her (also in a mind melt/unity) how he sees her – as a gentle and peaceful being and not as a murderer – and how that brought her back. I also liked how the Delvians projected false images and memories into the different people to distract them and how everyone thought he/she was the only one who wasn’t affected.

Disc 5

The Flax

Synopsis: Aeryn is giving John flying in lessons in Moya’s shuttle pod and he’s a slow learner by Sebacean standards. But than their pod gets caught in some form on energy barrier and they can’t free themselves. Moya’s looking for them but it’s not until they take a strange man aboard that they learn that the pod is caught in the flax, a “spider web” laid out by pirates in this region of space. D’Argo and the scavenger leave Moya to help the pod while John and Aeryn have to repair the pod or they won’t survive until help arrives.

My Opinion: So great. What a plot twist. That man, that scavenger is actually the female of his species and she has developed a crush on D’Argo. This episode was so full of love, especially since Aeryn and John have developed feelings for one another. And even Rygel didn’t behave like a self-centered egomaniac – OK, he did, but it was just a facade. The actions of D’Argo and Rygel prove that this crew is finally becoming a team – luckily for the viewer there will always be topic of controversy between them.
But I would have liked subtitles very much on this episode. The scavenger was hard to understand. Unfortunately british TV show DVDs often don’t have english subs, not even for the hearing impaired.

Disc 6

Jeremiah Crichton

Synopsis: John is frustrated and takes his ship “for a tour around the block” when Moya suddenly and unexpectedly starbursts and is gone. Three months later: John lives a quiet life alone yet close to a village. On this planet no technology seems to work but John doesn’t care. It’s peaceful and the people are friendly and he can live here. But when the crew of Moya finally finds him the trouble starts. While John looks close enough to the indigenous that isn’t true for neither D’Argo nor Rygel. And it was the Hynerians that brought these people here a long time ago. But Rygel cannot prove that he’s a god as he’s supposed to according to their holy writings.

My Opinion: They can make weird and strange yet realistic looking aliens – but they cannot make a false beard that looks real. It was an OK episode with the usual love triangle between a beautiful woman, the foreigner and the clansman who also desires her.

Disc 7

Durka Returns

Synopsis: Moya has problems doing starbursts during her pregnancy and when they come out of a very bumpy ride they accidentally ram another ship. On that ship is a Nebari guard, a female Nebari prisoner – and Durka. Durka was the captain of the lost command carrier and should be dead. But he’s alive and now Rygel wants him dead for the things Durka did to him. But Durka has changed, the Nebari have altered his mind with a mental cleansing. He’s not the Durka that tortured Rygel – or so they say.

My Opinion: Ah, Chiana. Our newest crew (and cast) member. Gigi Edgley does an awesome job portraying her. She’s a great character and great addition to this colourful gang. I didn’t care much for the rest of the episode because it was obvious that Durka’s true nature would reappear one way or another and that he would get punished. But I really liked it how Rygel declared victory over Durka by stating that the latter couldn’t do anything to the former that he hadn’t already done and that he never managed to break him.

A Human Reaction

Synopsis: Moya suddenly detects a wormhole that is closing soon. And it leads directly to Earth! John says goodbye to everyone and departs with Farscape-1 and returns home. He crash-lands somewhere on the coast of Australia. But he isn’t welcomed as a hero or even with open arms. The scientists find the translator microbes and they aren’t sure if he even is John Crichton – the man that disappeared seven months ago. And then D’Argo, Aeryn and Rygel appear in the shuttle pod – on a planet that has never seen an alien before. When Rygel dies in an “accident” John has to escape or his friends will die in similar “accidents”. And why is every magazine on a news stand seven months old?

My Opinion: The first of a number of “Earth” episodes (real or imaginary). Of course this time it was only fake and happened all in his mind (or a simulation, I haven’t figured that out). I thought that John’s imagination of how his alien friends would be treated was fairly realistic. They don’t represent some star empire and won’t be missed – so they are good subjects to be scrutinized. OK, everyone who has seen E.T. could come to this conclusion.

Disc 8

Through the Looking Glass

Synopsis: The crew (or a few of them) consider to abandon the ship since Moya can’t conduct a proper Starburst at the end of her pregnancy and they are basically sitting ducks. Moya wants to prove to them that she can starburst if necessary and attempts to do so. But something goes wrong and the ship gets stuck between dimensions. And not only that the ship also seems to exist in several dimensions at the same time and the crew is scattered on these different versions. They have to find a way out of there or the ship will ultimately be destroyed.

My Opinion: It was an OK episode, but nothing special about it. For John it was a real-life jump’n'run. For the actor’s sake I hope they didn’t have to shoot too many scenes to often.

A Bug’s Life

Synopsis: A Peacekeeper Marauder is closing in and John decides to try a different tactic. He’s posing as Peacekeeper Captain while Aeryn takes her old role as Lieutenant. The others (with the exception of Chiana) have to return to their cells. But the Marauder isn’t looking for them. They have a task of their own and they need to bring something to a secret Peacekeeper Gammak base in the uncharted territories. But that “something” escapes and it turns out to be a virus that can possess people and it plans on reproducing.

My Opinion: I love it when they blame John when his plan didn’t work (again). As if one of their plans had ever worked the way it was supposed to. And while this was yet another just OK episode I once again found it interesting how far you can get if you wear the right rank insignia and have the right attitude/aura.

Disc 9

Nerve

Synopsis: During their engagement with the Peacekeeper Marauder Aeryn was hurt and needs a compatible donor or she will die. But where does one find a Peacekeeper in the uncharted territories? There’s only one way: John re-assumes his role as Peacekeeper and flies to the Gammak base. Even though he has help in the form of Gilina – the PK tech girl – he gets caught by Scorpius. And Scorpius wants to know how he got onto that base and why he’s here.

My Opinion: Now that’s another type of episode. It has seen the introduction of both Scorpius and Stark (a prisoner on the base), both characters who will become recurring guest stars on the show. And we learn that John is not the only one looking for wormhole technology. And we learn that the race that produced the fake Earth put the wormhole knowledge into John’s brain. And Crais is on the Gammak base, too!
What I also liked was this small piece of continuity. That Aeryn was stabbed in the previous episode could have easily been forgotten (or the wound could be healed by now), but they didn’t. They took that tiny piece of story and continued there with a follow-up story that in itself is much bigger.

The Hidden Memory

Synopsis: John is still fighting against the Aurora Chair (a machine that can extract memories) because he doesn’t want to betray Gilina. But Scorpius simply assumes that he’s hiding more knowledge about wormhole technology and he digs deeper and deeper into John’s memories. Meanwhile Chiana has returned with the cure for Aeryn. Now D’Argo, Zhaan and the not fully healed Aeryn (the only one who can pose as Peacekeeper) try to free John while Rygel and Chiana have to help Moya – she’s gone into labour.

My Opinion: Moya’s offspring is very beautiful – and very dangerous. It’s a Leviathan/Peacekeeper hybrid gunship and as such heavily armed. This ship will have a very interesting life.
I also liked how Gilina manipulated the chair so that it shows her kiss with John in a different context. But that “context” guarantees that Crais has to sit on the chair himself. Too bad that – in the end – she had to pay the price of being in love with the main – she died in his arms.
If I had to classify this (and the previous) episode I’d say it’s a second pilot episode. The previous episodes have introduced us to the universe and its rules and now the main arc begins: The hunt for wormhole technology also known as John versus Peacekeepers versus Scarrans versus John.

Disc 10

Bone to Be Wild

Synopsis: Moya and her child is hiding from the Command Carrier in an asteroid field when they receive a distress call from an asteroid. John, D’Argo and Zhaan go down there to help while Aeryn has to take care of the child. He doesn’t communicate with his mother and Moya hopes Aeryn can help since it is a Peacekeeper hybrid. Down on the asteroid they find a scared young woman and some kind of monster who’s chasing her. But things aren’t as they appear to be.

My Opinion: “You are a plant??” Zhaan is flora, not fauna. And I love these twisted episodes where you are constantly switching sides based on the “evidence” that is presented to you. And I really like the costume designers on that show. Even when they create aliens of the two-legs-two-arms-one-head-variety they still come up with some really cool ideas and not just some additional wrinkles in the face.

Family Ties

Synopsis: Due to his knowledge of Crais’s secret Scorpius has practically taken over command of the ship. He doesn’t care for the gunship or the prisoners, all he wants is Crichton. And he is lucky: Rygel has stolen a pod and defected to the carrier. He wants his freedom in exchange for the exact location of Moya in the asteroid field. But the others won’t allow it. John devises a plan that includes a suicide run against the Command Carrier with the second pod in order to give Moya and her offspring the chance to clear the asteroid field and to starburst. But there’s another variable in the equation: Crais.

My Opinion: That’s why Ben Browder (John) was a worthy successor of Richard Dean Anderson (Jack) in Stargate SG-1. You fight against a superior enemy and against overwhelming odds but your crazy idea is so crazy that your enemy doesn’t expect you to go through with it. They destroyed the Gammak base and Scorpius couldn’t do anything about it short of killing John – which he cannot do without losing the wormhole knowledge. I also liked that Crais had to flee from his own ship and that his pursuit of John is effectively over. They did this for one season and to continue that story would become boring at some point.
Since this was a cliffhanger, I will continue watching immediately.

The Season – My Opinion: As I said, Farscape is different than other series and it will stay that way till the end. There’s not a single character I don’t like or don’t care for, even the puppets seem very real to me as they have their own and very unique characters. It’s lovely to see Aeryn comforting Pilot (who by the way is voiced by Lani Tupu who also plays Crais) and ensuring him that nothing will happen to Moya and her child Talyn.

And from a collector’s viewpoint: I have very few items in my collection that have such a nice package and cover art. While slim covers have become the standard for TV show season, these seasons come in a custom box containing 5 separate cases, each of them individually designed (no amaray or slim cases):

Season 2: Disc 1

Season 1

Disc 1

Pilot

Synopsis: It’s the year 1999 and Judgement Day hasn’t happened – yet. Sarah and John are constantly switching aliases and living placaes. But one day two cyborgs have still found them: One comes in the form of a young girl called Cameron and she was sent to protect John. And the other is a classical terminator. They try to escape him but in the end there’s no place they can hide, just another time.

My Opinion: To fully enjoy the show one has to put it in a parallel universe to the movies. It’s similar to the Highlander movie (There can be only one!) and the series. While I liked the general general idea of the show I had a problem with some story elements. For example: Cameron took the other cyborg out with a power surge. In my unprofessional opinion two minutes should have been enough to somehow destroy him or at least to damage him severely – he can’t resist after all. And some of the stuff in the vault seemed unlikely, too. Even if I knew how to build a microchip in 1965 there wouldn’t be the the technology (wafers etc.) to actually do it. But they had to find a way to push the series forward to today and it was fairly ok.
So I like the story but one mustn’t think to much about the logic.

Gnothi Seauton

Synopsis: They jumped eight years into the future, into 2007. And now all three of them need new identities to blend in. Cameron leads Sarah to a group of resistance fighters who were send back by John to destroy Skynet before it goes operational. But when that fails they have to visit an old friend. Meanwhile John explores the technological differences between 1999 and 2007.

My Opinion: The writers are obviously not very burdened with the complex issues that go with time-travel. It seems that whenever they need it they will send people back and forth through time as if nothing could disrupt the timeline. But if that were so then we would be back on the concept of a time-loop as the movie Terminator had present it (It has always happened that way and always will be, there’s nothing we can do about it). But Terminator 2 had thrown that overboard and declared that the timeline can be changed and (as Doc Brown explained it in Back to the Future 2) that will result in another timeline. I also had a problem with that “Zombie Terminator” who can obviously walk without its head attached – I thought the “eyes” were its optical sensors?
Another thing I noticed: I don’t know how far ahead the pilot was shot and what they thought would happen after it, but I didn’t have the feeling to see a Mrs. Dyson or a detective who was eight years older than in the pilot. They should have used a better mask to make them look younger in the pilot (Look at Bruce Boxleitner in Babylon 5: In the Beginning!)
Too bad Enrique had to die, I would have liked it to see Tony Amendola (Master Bra’tac in Stargate SG-1) more often.

The Turk

Synopsis: Sarah is looking for former employees of Cyberdyne Systems to check whether they are continuing the Skynet project or doing something else dangerous. Connor and Cameron pose as siblings in their new school and try to blend in.

My Opinion: Is it my imagination or did the metall skeleton of that terminator look a bit too shiny? He had been blasted to peaces and has lain in the garbage. Which brings up another question: How did he get there in the first place? He wasn’t within the time bubble and thus hasn’t travelled with the others. What happend to that bank building in the last eight years and why has no one ever found the skeleton or the head – which lay quite open on the side of the street?
And when Sarah burned down Andy’s house the fires looked digital – and fake. Don’t they have the money anymore to burn down a real, wooden facade?

Disc 1 – My Opinion: The show is enjoyable, the characters are fine. But as you can see the show opens a can of questions for me and they bother me because that makes me thinking that either the writers didn’t see this problems or they thought the viewers wouldn’t notice or that the viewers wouldn’t care. None of which is really an acceptable answer in my opinion. But I will continue to watch and see how it unfolds.

Disc 2

Heavy Metal

Synopsis: While the others are asleep Cameron checks for possible threats and she finds a huge shipment of the alloy the Terminators are made of. It’s protected by another Terminator but John wants to steal the alloy and destroy it.

My Opinion: I liked it that John took charge even if it was dangerous. But apart from that not much has actually happened.

Queen’s Gambit

Synopsis: Andy – the man who had built the Turk – build yet another machine. It’s a chess machine and he’s competing in an computer chess tournament to win a government contract with the military. But someone kills Andy – it’s the missing resistance fighter.

My Opinion: For some reason I expected the whole time that Cameron would challenge one of the chess computers. I know that they have to stay undercover and she’s a machine and has no emotions, but still, something in her eyes made me expecting it. I still don’t know what to think about the “FBI Terminator” / “Cromartie” yet because I have no idea what kind of plot they have for him in future episodes.

Dungeons and Dragons

Synopsis: Derek Reese, the resitsance fighter and brother of Kyle Reese, will die if his wounds aren’t treated. John contacts Sarah’s former fiancé from eight years ago because he is a paramedic. And while he tries to save Derek and learns the truth, Derek has dreams about his past (or future, depending on the point of view).

My Opinion: This was basically the introduction episode for Derek and since they’ve put that much effort in explaining his background I believe he’ll stay for a while. I like him, he seems like the right type to be a resistance fighter. And with every episode I like Cameron more.

Disc 2 – My Opinion: Either I have become more lenient or they didn’t make as many mistakes as in the previous episodes. I also think the addition of Derek and Charley could be interesting. But that depends on how long they will stay.

Disc 3

The Demon Hand

Synopsis: After he found the hand of the Terminator Special Agent Ellison begins to dig real deep into Sarah Connor’s file. He watches her video tapes from the mental institution and he tries to get in contact with Dr. Silberman, her psychiatrist during her stay there. Meanwhile Cameron tries to retrieve the Turk.

My Opinion: I liked this episode for two reasons. The first one is the nice wrap-up of the second movie. And even though it’s on “another timeline” I thought that this Dr. Silberman was very close to the one we saw in Terminator 3 shortly before he encountered the Arnie-Terminator for the third time.
But my favourite scene of this episode was when Cameron left the apartment after she got the information. This scene screamed at me “Never forget that she’s a machine, not a feeling, living being, no matter how she looks like.”. She protected them as long as she needed them and then they were of no more concern to her. To save them would have been an act of humanity and that’s not on her program.

Vick’s Chip

Synopsis: Derek finds the CPU of the previously destroyed Terminator and accuses Cameron of lying and she admits to it. After the argument is over, John tries to load the data from the memory chips to see what the Terminator was doing before he was destroyed. And there they find a connection to a project which can control the entire traffic infrastructure of Los Angeles.

My Opinion: This is one thing that has always bugged me on Science-Fiction series: That somehow all computer hardware and software is compatible and that they can communicate with one another. OK, Skynet and the Terminators are an invention of the human race but where did John even get a compatible interface port to plug the CPU in?
But that aside I liked the fact that both Cameron and Derek became a bit more grey (ok, we already knew he killed that Turk guy, but still).

What He Beheld

Synopsis: Sarah tries to purchase the Turk but the seller tries to blackmail her with her past and he’s watching John to make sure Sarah pays. But his plan doesn’t turn out as expected. Meanwhile Ellison discovers that Kester is a fake FBI agent and he tries to take him down.

My Opinion: Taking into account that it wasn’t planned as cliffhanger it was a decent one. It leaves quite a number of questions open that demand an answer and thus the viewer will most likely tune in “next year”. I especially wonder why Ellison is still alive. Is he important to Skynet or is it just because he was unarmed and no threat to Cromartie? But then again Terminators are not the Borg, why should he let someone live who can identify him? As I said, enough reason to continue watching.

Disc 3 – My Opinion: I like the show better with every episode I’m watching and the less time travel is involved the less mistakes with the timeline happen.

The Season – My Opinion: It’s not the best show in the world, but very enjoyable, especially due to the two female leads. I’ll continue watching it even though it’s likely to get cancelled after the second season.