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A big fan of both Doctor Who & Star Trek. Also, a bass player in a band called "The Cut-Outs". I am also a faithful follower of the Chicago Bears and Chicago Blackhawks! Time to clean house. Will be selling and posting a variety of items soon!
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Reviews (5)
16 Jul, 2009
Cast changes aside, the 2nd best season of the series!
5 of 5 found this helpful Faced with less-than-expected ratings due to less-than-stellar stories, “Star Trek: Voyager” needed to inject some excitement and life back into itself. The cast could only do so much with the material they were given, so a choice was made to let one character go in order to bring on another. Depending on who you talk to (though you could easily see how they could have axed Garrett Wang in Season 3’s cliffhanger), it was going to be Ensign Kim. Fortunately for the actor, he made a very important list, gained some popularity over the summer and another casualty came to be.
When we last left our crew, they’d encountered one of the “Star Trek” franchise’s fallbacks; the Borg. In order to get safely through Borg space and wind up a wee bit closer to home, they must give these interstellar baddies some newly developed technology to fight an even more powerful enemy. Along the way, they begin to lose Kes (Jennifer Lien) due to her ever evolving mental abilities and gain a new member, Seven (Jeri Ryan). She’s a former Borg and a total hottie! She also gives Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) a run for her money by questioning almost every command decision…not to mention annoying the crew with her abrasive manner.
Aside from our latest cast addition, there are some terrific episodes and character arcs this season! “Year of Hell” is a 2-parter not to be missed as Voyager is relentlessly pursued by a scientist intent on changing the galaxy back to its former past, Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and Torres (Roxann Dawson) admit they’re in love, Kim (Wang) nearly finds out what it’s like to mate Borgy-style, Neelix (Ethan Phillips) discovers his faith after dying, the Hirogen stick around to hunt the crew, Chakotay (Robert Beltran) falls in love with a woman all over again after discovering he can’t remember the first time, Tuvok (Tim Russ) gets to investigate dome difficult cases and the Doctor (Robert Picardo) winds up briefly being sent back to the Alpha quadrant to defend a new prototype starship from Romulans, easily the most entertaining episode of the entire season.
There is the occasional dry spell in this season with episodes that just don’t seem to fit. “Living Witness” is definitely a solid episode in itself and quite dramatic, so it’s a shame that it feels so out of place, since we know “Voyager” does make it home, thus this episode probably couldn’t take place. Okay, I’m reading too deeply into it. “The Killing Game” is fairly lame and “The Omega Directive” still comes off as confusing. Despite these lows, the majority of the season is solid, fun and thought provoking. It’s definitely a highlight in Voyager’s run.
Paramount has released “Star Trek: Voyager (Season 4)” in its original Full Screen format. It’s a shame they didn’t start playing with Widescreen until “Enterprise” because this would have been a terrific series to showcase the format. In any case, video quality is crisp and audio matches. The episodes look and sound terrific.
The season finale may not have been a cliffhanger, but it was a pretty good one to end on. Actually, I’m surprised the writers didn’t take full advantage of their newest character and give her something interesting to do that would leave everybody wondering how it ended. Jeri Ryan did her job by bringing some excitement to the show, but she also turned out to be a fine actress to boot. Yes, Voyager found a pulse again here and it’s come back strong.
Overall Rating: A- 94.8% good
16 Jul, 2009
Season 2 is a hit!
The show’s sophomore season improved on an already good thing, and while it delivered more interesting story arcs and richer character development, its most impressive alteration was in the expansion of series stand-out Jeremy Piven.
Fresh off filming the indie flick “Queens Boulevard,” season two picks up with the boys returning to L.A. and searching for their next project. Vince (Adrian Grenier) and his manager, Eric (Kevin Connolly), are pulling for “The Pablo Escobar Story,” but super-agent Ari Gold (Piven) is leaning toward a summer blockbuster like “Aqua Man.” Pitching it as “‘Spider-Man’ underwater,” Vince initially refuses Ari’s offer, but when he discovers that James Cameron is attached, he jumps at the chance to work with the famed director. Production on the film is sent into turmoil, however, when Vince’s ex-girlfriend, Mandy Moore, is cast as the underwater hero’s onscreen love interest.
And while Vince deals with his past, the other guys begin to develop their futures. Eric already takes his duties as a manager seriously, but when he meets Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui), the sexy daughter of Ari’s boss, Terence (Malcolm McDowell), he’s given the opportunity to expand upon his clientele. Meanwhile, Vince’s older brother, Drama (Kevin Dillon), is finally making headway with his acting career, including a role alongside Brooke Shields in a TV Movie of the Week, and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) actually gets off his ass to do some work, in this case representing an up-and-coming rapper. Ari isn’t without his own transformation either, whether he's battling Terrence for control of the agency or struggling to keep Vince as his star client.
As was common in the first season, the second year of “Entourage” is loaded with cool hot spots (like Sundance, San Diego Comic Con and the Playboy Mansion) and even cooler guest stars. Among the best include Ralph Macchio, Gary Busey, Chris Penn and Bai Ling, but none come even close to topping the appearance by Bob Saget as Vince’s new neighbor and frequent visitor of the local bordello. Still, despite the on-location shooting and hilarious cameo performances, the success of the show remains on the shoulders of the five leading men, and while Grenier and Connolly may appear to be the stars of the show, almost every memorable scene relies on either Piven or Dillon to shine. The former, especially, is given a much meatier role this time around, and when he’s not “hugging it out,” he’s dropping amusing one-liners perfect for your car bumper.
“Entourage” is, and continues to be, one of the best shows on television. It’s got a talented ensemble cast, steadfast writing, and the blessing of nearly every celebrity in Hollywood, and until that changes, you’ll just have to grind your teeth and value what attracted you to the series in the first place.
Overall Rating: A+ 97.3% good
16 Jul, 2009
Short but excellent 2 disc collection
While many may not realize that the debut season of “Entourage” consisted of a measly eight episodes, it probably has something to do with the progressively larger seasons that followed. Convinced of the series’ staying power after the success of its first year, HBO extended the second season order to 14, and when word rained down that the show’s junior year would continue the trend by featuring 20 episodes, it wasn’t so much a surprise as it was a natural (and well-deserved) promotion. It was a win-win situation for both parties. Fans of the series were jazzed about adding more “Entourage” to their TV diet, and the show’s writers would be able to develop more complex storylines. That is, until it was learned the season would be split into two parts.
Still, there’s something to be said for the fact that the second half was delayed to coincide with the final season of “The Sopranos.” It seemed “Entourage” was finally a big enough success to be partnered with the network’s most popular show, and when both seasons ended in late June, it served as a symbolic passing of the torch from one program saying its goodbyes to another just beginning to hit its groove.
To call the second half of season three a necessary continuation of the ongoing story, however, would be pushing it. Consisting mostly of filler material meant to stave off the real drama until season four, the eight episodes that make up this leg of the show’s journey amount to one thing and one thing only: the return of Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven). After sacking his top-flight agent for losing The Ramones biopic at the end of the first half of the season, rising star Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) has moved on. His new agent Amanda (guest star Carla Gugino) is not only more cutthroat than Ari, but she’s a helluva lot prettier too, and her first order of business is landing Vince a quality role. But when Ari returns to tease his former client with the opportunity to finally make “Medellin” (AKA The One That Got Away), Vince can’t help but chase his dream project. And in doing so, he chases away Amanda as well, both emotionally and professionally.
Overall Rating: A+ 98.9% good