Trekking Out: More TNG 6

“The Chains of Command” is a fantastic, dramatic two-parter. Ronny Cox delivers a great performance as the abrasive Captain Jellico while David Warner returns to the Trek universe as the Cardassian who tortures Picard. Written in consultation with Amnesty International, the ordeal for Picard is far worse than when he experienced with the Borg.

“Ship in the Bottle” is an excellent contrast to the previous dark story, and is example of a Holodeck story done well. Daniel Davis returns as Prof. Moriarty and we get some Barclay to boot in this sequel to season two’s “Elementary, Dear Data.”

“Acquiel” is a mystery-style episode that never quite works for me. It’s meant to be a Geordi-centric episode, but only in that he falls for one of the guest characters, a young woman who may be a murderer.

“Face of the Enemy” has a few holes in the plot if you examine it too deeply but it’s a lot of fun to watch Deanna Troi forced to go undercover as a Romulan helping Spock with his underground movement.

“Tapestry” is yet again proof that the Q character doesn’t have to become stale. This time around he helps Picard revisit his past and change the course of his personal history.

“Birthright” is a two-parter I couldn’t be bothered to watch again. The scenes is part one where Data’s dream program is activated with the help of Deep Space Nine’s Dr. Bashir, but the second half with Worf is rather dry.Technorati Tags: star trek, ST:TNG, tv, dvd

Trekking Out: The Quality of Life

I only watched one episode last night. “The Quality of Life” is a pretty standard episode the explores a frequently-used science fiction theme: A what point can a machine be considered alive? In a sense, this is a sequel to season two’s “Measure of Man” where Picard must defend Data’s rights as an individual. This time around, Data is advocating for the rights of small worker computers that are evolving. A solid effort overall. And Geordi has a beard.

The “New” HMV

On my way home from work Friday I stopped by the renovated HMV on Bloor St.

The new design of this store is the first of its kind in Canada and meant to take the retailer beyond just selling staid media such as CDs and DVDs by providing a multimedia experience to shoppers. Supposedly this has helped increase sales at UK stores and will help HMV compete with bricks and mortar retailers such as FutureShop as well as the online models such iTunes.

I’m not a retail analyst, so whether it will work in all stores, I can’t tell you. I can tell you this: If I can’t buy what I want, it doesn’t matter.

The store layout provides space for fewer CDs and DVDs. This would be okay except the bulk of that space is devoted to discount movies and TV on DVD – rows and rows of Warner Bros. properties, for example. So if I wanted several hundred copies of One Tree Hill, I’d be heaven, but I wanted season six of JAG.

JAG was not the most ground breaking series ever made, but it did run for 10 seasons, was created and produced by TV vet Donald Bellisario (Magnum, NCIS) and was released through CBS / Paramount, a major entertainment company. My point being I wasn’t on the hunt for some rare foreign film.

Not only did the store not have season six, which recently came out, but it did not have any seasons of the series at all.

I realize it’s impossible to stock every DVD every released, but as I say, I was looking for something rather mainstream at a large chain and came away empty-handed.