Alliances

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Alliances)

It only took being stuck in a Lucian Alliance ship that's collided with Homeworld Command and contains a massive bomb that's set to go off at any time for Greer and Camille to talk to each other! At first look this story didn't exactly stand out, especially after the high concept drama of the previous episode, but it really grew on me and reaches high stakes before the end. The highest stakes are for a couple of guest characters who come to Destiny to... What? Are they really there to evaluate whether this mission is worth 'funding'? What can they do, other than turn off the communication stones and say, 'you're on your own now'? Budgeting issues and viability, and whether this special message Rush discovered that prove someone existed at the start of creation are all well and good, but there isn't a lot to get your teeth into, for the daily grind, the nuts and bolts of living on this ship, it isn't going to make a blind bit of difference, so the authoritative VIPs come across as an unnecessary formality. It helps they have prior connections aboard: the senator is close to Chloe's Mother and the science guy worked with Rush in the past. What they didn't bargain for was their little routine mission becoming life and death for them. Mainly death.

It's not that they get caught up in some Destiny trouble, no, the issue comes back home on planet Earth when Homeworld Command (which I can't get used to calling it, Stargate Command was a lot less arrogant in assuming 'command' of the entire planet, effectively!), the base itself, gets attacked by a Lucian Alliance ship, Camille and Greer in their bodies take a lethal dose of radiation just by being there, and the brave senator goes back to defuse the weapon thanks to specific instructions from Varo - that's when it got good. It was all very well all this confusion and a fairly low-budget attack (they duck into an office so we only have an office ceiling caving in rather than anything more spectacular), but that's fine, it doesn't need to be feature film levels of carnage to sell it. The point is, it was the urgency and immediacy of the plan to send the vital defusing knowledge to the pair back home which really impressed. Unfortunately they don't know how to finish the job. Camille especially came across as very brave, the one who decides they're going for the bomb rather than getting to another exit, the one to thrust her arms into the holographic outer casing, and ultimately the one who realises they can't just try to defuse it without knowing exactly how to, because they need to give those outside as much time as possible to evacuate the area, so can't risk triggering the bomb earlier than it will go off anyway. It's a huge self-sacrifice, made worse because not only will they kill themselves, but the two guests on Destiny.

It all played out well as this moral quandary, even in spite of the fact the bodies they're in are the walking dead due to radiation exposure. Of course the senator is the one to step up and finish the job, while science man (Covel?), is the snivelling coward who'd rather take the small chance of Greer's body surviving the cut-off of the stones in order to save his own life. My question is regarding the holographic screen: if Camille could put her hands in there, why not crouch down and dunk her face in, too, then she could at least see what it all looked like. Not that it would have really changed anything - if you don't know what to do, you don't know what to do. It's a shame we never got full resolution, it's almost like they simply ran out of time and had to at least squeeze in a scene between Camille and Greer talking about those back home, rather than confirm the bomb was successfully defused. I think we can assume it was, otherwise that'd be the end of Homeworld Command. Wherever that is, it's clearly not the Cheyenne Mountain Complex - I wonder if they lost the ability to film there, or more likely took down the old 'SG-1' sets so had to move things somewhere more conventional. It was pushing it a bit to have hardened soldier Greer get mildly emotional when talking about his Mother, I wasn't too keen on the idea that he's 'finally' overcome his feelings so that he can talk about personal things, but at least it wasn't 'Discovery' level emotionalism on display and I generally liked that two characters that couldn't stand each other before found some common ground through their experience. Maybe other characters could have been better used, for example I feel Brody and Volker could be a terrific double-act if they were given more, but the series didn't have time to develop everything to the desired level before its time was cut short. At the moment I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

***

Ashes To Ashes (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Ashes To Ashes) (2)

For a story based around a character we never knew, this was actually quite affecting, and not just because we obviously care about the Voyager crew and their interaction with a former crew-member, returned from the dead. Lyndsay Ballard herself was a very likeable, personable, blunt type, and seeing someone like that go through a personal trauma, like she was accepting a terminal illness or something, is somehow more stark since she comes across as someone who can accept things quite easily, she's not one to sit in a corner moping, feel sorry for herself, or get angry at the universe. She's shown to be resourceful in her escape from the Kobali, a race that procreate by reanimating dead matter and turning it to their own uses, and by all evidence was the ideal personality for such a process, other than the fact she still feels tied to Voyager. 'Never go back' is probably the lesson of the episode - even if you return to where you felt safe or whole, or whatever, things will have changed there, and if not there then within oneself. It's a tragic reality of life and I felt a lot of sympathy for her plight, especially so because she doesn't even realise it. She's held onto hope for so long deep inside, believing she can take up the reins of an old life again, not understanding she's no longer who she was and can never fit into that old life, the one to which she'd died. But like a fantasy of someone returning from Heaven to see their Earthly family and friends again, she comes to realise it's not about losing them again, or they her, but the chance she didn't have before to say goodbye.

In that way it's a surprisingly touching story, even sandwiched in with a much different B-story involving Seven finding it difficult to control the Borg children under her charge. This is the very essence of Nineties Trek, two stories focusing on a character each, even though technically it's not part of that era since it was broadcast in 2000, but it's lovely to be in that very recognisable format for Trek when so much of current stuff is uncomfortable and alien... much like Lyndsay (though in reverse), if you know this old Trek you can't go back to the new stuff and find you fit in with it! I don't know what I was expecting from this, I didn't remember it as one I was fond of, rather of the inconsequential strain of stories that showed up late-'Voyager' as failing to achieve what 'DS9' did and build on what came before rather than merely continuing to do the same small stories on a specific plane that had worked in the early part of the series as they built the characters. And this could in fact be from an early season quite comfortably, there's little to mark it out in the characters' situations or changes to the series. If it weren't for the reference to the Hirogen it could have taken place any time in the series' history! There are a few plot conveniences that, while not bringing the story down, it's good enough that you don't worry about that sort of thing, do all the same show they weren't thinking hard enough about internal reality.

To begin with, and this is only a very minor one, wouldn't the Kobali have a word for 'voyager' since that describes a state of being of a person boldly travelling somewhere, rather than being a specific metaphor ('Temba, his arms wide'!). Yet when we hear Lyndsay talking in the teaser, before she speaks in Federation Standard (English), in order to contact Voyager, she mentions the ship's name and it's in English. But that's why it's a convenience, they need to make the audience understand she's trying to make contact with the ship, and I suppose they either didn't like using subtitles much in those days, or it would have taken away from the alienness of the scene if we understood every word - then the reveal of her suddenly speaking perfect English is more of a surprise. The other thing with the language is harder to get past because at points in the episode she falls into Kobali which the crew don't understand. But wouldn't the Universal Translator automatically translate it so they could understand? Again, the reason behind it is to show she doesn't quite fit in any more, and gradual realisation across various incidents that make you feel for her plight. It's also rather strange that her communication doesn't come through to the Bridge, but is only picked up by Mezoti on a console she can access (I think it was in Astrometrics). It neatly ties in the two stories, or I should say, introduces the B-story with Seven unable to perceive that children need to have some level of autonomy in order to develop independent thought.

The time issue can easily be fudged - at first it sounds like it's only two years ago since they met the Hirogen in Season 4, and that's how she died, but she actually says three years later on. That can be explained as either she hadn't kept strict track of time (unlikely in one sense since she was so intent on getting back to her old life, while possible in another since she may not have known how long it took to go through the Kobali treatment), or more time has passed than the episodes might suggest - it usually follows that each season takes place within one year, but it doesn't necessarily have to be so. The real convenience is that this is a brand new character. That may be because they couldn't find anyone suitable that had been killed off, someone that had personality and was memorable, since usually the ones to die are 'redshirts' (even though they wear gold these days), only there to provide a shock death and show how dangerous a mission is, therefore they might not have many, or any, lines, and aren't designed to stand out since the focus is on the main cast. I can't help thinking that if 'DS9' had done the same story they'd have found someone we'd known (but then they were generally better at fleshing out even guest characters). It could have shown up the premise of the episode as weak if not for the fact they managed to get such a lively performance from the guest actress, who does really well. I wonder if it might have become a classic if we'd had a prior connection to her, though.

The other big plot clunker that made no sense to me was that Harry has known this woman as far back as the Academy and has always been 'crazy about her,' and it's like they completely forgot he had a girlfriend, Libby, whom we actually saw in an episode! The series was often not that good at maintaining its own continuity (comparatively - it was solid gold standard compared to some modern Trek!), and while this anomaly can be explained away (Harry is the Geordi of Voyager, as I mentioned in the previous episode!), as he's always eager to please the latest woman he meets, the history there was a bit much. The running joke of Harry's misadventures is literally a running joke now as Tom lists his previous failures (holo-character, which could refer to either the one in 'Alter Ego,' or Maggie in preceding episode 'Spirit Folk'; a Borg (Seven); then there's the wrong Delaney twin; and now the 'dearly departed' - that's quite a roster!), which you could say was unkind, but it does show the friendship the pair have that he can get away with such ribbing, and the other thing is, it's true. Perhaps two such events happening in concurrent episodes was a bit much. But it is nice to see Harry have an episode, even if it's once again a bit of a cliché (I think of 'The Disease' in Season 5, and it's almost like they can't think of anything else for him to do these days), and yet at the same time the A and B-stories are almost equal in screen time, and with Seven getting the lion's share of that one perhaps we are seeing the Janeway/Doc/Seven creep finally becoming more evident?

It does seem a little hard to believe that the thing keeping Lyndsay going was her wish to see Harry again. As much as I like him they must have been best friends for her to feel that as such a motivation, and the evidence just isn't there since if they were that close she should have been his buddy rather than Tom, and in multiple episodes! But perhaps her admission how much she wanted to see Harry again (she came back from the dead for him?), was the first sign that she doesn't quite know what she needs in her new life - she longs for the familiar, but it's no longer what it was to her, and no more is this evident than in her awkward dinner with the Captain. It was typical of Janeway to reach out and try to take her back under her wing, but there was something Lyndsay said that really hit the nail on the head, being surprised Janeway ever noticed her - it was like a little nod to the audience that they know she never appeared before, she wasn't that noticeable, a small concession to the overall story of the episode relying on her being a much-loved ex-member of the crew. There's something else she says so aptly as she rushes out: "I shouldn't have come." She's referring to the private meal, but it could just as easily represent her whole return to Voyager. It's ultimately disproved, as I mentioned before she recognises that though she can't stay, it was worth coming back to be able to say goodbye (and if she hadn't they'd never have known what happened to her and there would have been no episode, or the Borg children's activities would have dominated!).

We're given some insight into what the aftermath of losing a crew-member is like from a practical point of view. We know from other episodes that they're given a sendoff in the traditional Starfleet way with a memorial service (and in her case, the old Torpedo tube exit), like when Janeway saw her own one after she'd apparently died in 'Coda,' but there are other considerations to be dealt with, too. Such as whether to keep a person's belongings, or as Tuvok so logically suggested (as he would), they should be recycled, which we can assume is a case of dematerialising them back into the Replicator so the energy can be used again. Except Kim couldn't bear to part with her things - and to be fair, they apparently do have the space if the guest Quarters she's assigned to are anything to go by! They were huge, how could Voyager justify having such a large area that no one's using, it's not like they have regular diplomatic dealings with the need of space for guests! We have seen some people die over the years, but we've also had new people come aboard. And yet the Borg kiddies are restricted to a cold, empty Cargo Bay? It's positively inhumane!

Actually, the Cargo Bay living Quarters is probably Seven's idea since that's what suited her (in the same way as Worf liked to have his Quarters aboard the Defiant rather than the station!), but as she learns in this episode, what suited her isn't always what was best for children. As much as I didn't like the Borg children from memory, so far I've enjoyed their interactions. In fact, I was surprised they didn't make more of Naomi playing with them. It didn't have to be the first time they'd met, but it certainly seemed like it since she complimented Mezoti on her hair braid, and you'd think she would have been one of the first to be around them, if for nothing else than her natural curiosity and desire to meet those her own age. They really needed a scene in a previous episode where she's told she needs to leave them alone for a few days or weeks as they adjust to losing their Borg technology and structure, but they didn't often think about little details like that. As it stood, I was interested to see more of her potential friendship with them, and I usually can't stand little girl stuff like that seen in the 'Short Treks' episode ('Children of Mars')! It's entertaining that Seven schedules every waking moment with no space for spontaneity, and prefers quantity rather than quality when it comes to activities, rigid and unbending. It's also fun that it's the people you'd least expect who have scenes with her about her wardship: Tuvok, though we know he has his own children and has been shown to be good with them in the past, but is the sort you'd expect to appreciate her strict schedule, and Chakotay, who isn't a family man, but does understand someone wanting to back out of a duty they've taken on: he's being a good First Officer again, and I like seeing that.

Another aspect of the episode that worked really well was the Kobali makeup itself - Lyndsay looks like the reanimated corpse she is, both very different to human physiology, but also her humanity shines through in her mannerisms and manner of speech. Nowadays, pretty much all the aliens in Trek move and speak like they're human, perhaps out of some misguided belief that it would be somehow 'racist' to 'reduce' them to represent a particular aspect of humanity, which can then be used to make fascinating commentary or exploration of our nature. But it's just as likely it's because the humans are all so casual in their manner and speech that they'd stand out even more if they weren't also casual and always speaking colloquially in dialogue that would fit right in on 21st Century Earth. Anyway, Lyndsay is exactly like that, but it makes sense because she is human and her humanity is shining through the outer shell. It's more apparent when her unhappy Father shows up to reclaim her and is very much more restrained. He looks a lot less corpse-like, perhaps because he's older and has had much longer to bed into this life (I liked the portrayal, he reminded me a bit of James Sloyan and I wished he could have played the part - he'd already been in 'Voyager' as Jetrel, but that was way back in Season 1). I also liked that he doesn't show up right away with an armada, he's peaceful, comes in wanting to talk in the same way I could imagine Janeway doing if the roles were reversed. Only when he's rebuffed, despite the fact they know nothing of how his people are designed to live, does he threaten to come back with force.

Maybe that's the only part that doesn't do the episode justice, in the way that force is necessary, as it could have been a more powerful way to end if Lyndsay had come to the decision to leave on her own. I believe she does, but it's couched within a situation where she could easily be willing to sacrifice herself to save Voyager and returns reluctantly to her new life. Once again, the line about coming back to have a chance to say goodbye is what saves the whole thing and makes it meaningful rather than mere action for action's sake, and it certainly is dramatic with the sparks going off on the Bridge as she staggers on, I just wonder if a quieter dawning realisation might have been as dramatic as a battle from a character point of view. But she was a fun character with a bit of Ensign Robin Lefler from 'TNG' in her - rather than Lefler's Laws, she had a list (Lyndsay's List?), of things she'd planned to do if she ever made it back to Voyager. I did wonder if, like the ogreish Klingons redesigned in 'DSC' (and then carefully, if partially, un-redesigned to include hair in response to the backlash), she still had the big bump underneath her hair which was cleverly designed to look like a mound of hair? After all, she still has a six-lobed brain and I found it believable the Doctor could so easily remould her outer physiology with treatment of that era, while mentioning he couldn't change her actual anatomy on the inside, selling it even more.

When she was eating some grey mush alone in the Mess Hall at first I really thought it was clay left over from the Borg children's art lesson (I hope they didn't spill any on the floor, they should have been doing it in the Cargo Bay, but then I suppose that would be like learning in your bedroom!), and that it would be the final indication she was truly alien within, however human she appeared on the outside, but it turned out to only be the Kobali gruel she'd longed to escape for so long (wonder how they were able to replicate or acquire it?). Perhaps after Janeway's disastrous pot roast (and I do wonder how you can burn something in a Replicator - it doesn't make any sense!), or maybe 'dinner' consisting of peanut butter and jam sandwiches? One of my favourite foods, I must say, but not really a dinner, is it, why not replicate something else, it only takes seconds! It was great to see a dress uniform in that scene, not something 'Voyager' uses very much (was it 'Course: Oblivion' last time?), as they don't have a lot of call for diplomatic functions. In such a touching and personable episode I was especially happy with the way they end it with a little bow by showing the two stories were loosely connected by Mezoti being given Lyndsay's hairbrush and Kim finally finding a partner in mischief to go and mess up Tuvok's holoprogram - more importantly demonstrating that he's going to be okay.

***

Spirit Folk (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Spirit Folk) (2)

I knew there was one of the pair of Irish Holodeck stories I wasn't so keen on, and I was thinking it was this one since I hadn't minded 'Fair Haven' much and this was fairly daft right from the beginning. The idea of seeing the Holodeck from the perspective of the holo-characters was a great one, but I was thinking this wasn't the one to do it right. But it won me over, and I was surprised to find this was the good episode, not the previous one, and it ends on a real high of goodwill and happiness. Yes, it is inconsequential, has no real bearing on anything, and throws up a few questions (could the Doctor really be hypnotised by a holo-character dangling a spoon? I know he was merged with the program and potentially susceptible to its flaws...), but a good Trek story, even a good story in general, isn't based on the size of the stakes, otherwise it would be galactic threats all the time (oh, ah, yes, modern Trek does rather prove that theory correct since it doesn't have as many small stories, nor does it have many good ones, either!). Often the most intimate little two-person dramas are the most powerful. But this isn't one of those, it's no 'Duet,' has no strong moral message (despite the sermonising of the Doctor in his Father Mulligan role that comes across more like the ravings of an old windbag than the pertinent reminder of grace and charity to fellow man, but then he was dealing with a herd of ill-mannered rustics so perhaps that was the most effective address he could come up with?), it's merely a fun muck-about in the Holodeck. With the safeties off.

How a gunshot could damage an open diagnostics console within the Holodeck and disable the safety protocols is another of those questionable moments, but I can reconcile it by the fact the program was malfunctioning, in which case perhaps the safeties themselves weren't a hundred percent reliable, or we could go with the console, unless it had a forcefield around it, once opened was susceptible to whatever physical effects happened in the Holodeck (be it flood, fire or shotgun), thus it was possible to damage the safeties from an unsafe source. That's when things get relatively worrying since it's mob rule and a mob will do anything it sees necessary when it's threatened, so being burned at the stake of lampposts or hung from them wasn't out of the question - Seamus the instigator, for all his charm isn't much of a role model, quick to put all he's seen together and rally the townsfolk behind his emotional, fear-led revolt against the 'spirit folk.' As much fun as it all is, it's also rather creepy that it's true to life and people can be so easily riled up into acts of aggression. Only Michael Sullivan (a return for my 'BUGS' connection of Fintan McKeown playing the barkeep again), the rational voice that doesn't want to give in to the rampant emotionalism around him even while accused of being on the other side and despite seeing strange things he can't explain ("Superstition is the religion of fools," was my favourite quote of the episode).

His accent wasn't as reliable this time, and in fact I felt the accents generally were variable, perhaps due to handing over so many scenes to these guest actors. That's one reason I wasn't so keen on it at first because it rarely works well to take time away from the main cast in Trek and give it to guest stars unless they're of an exceptionally high quality. Not that there was anything wrong with these ones, but perhaps because of the accents I sensed a slight air of them being in over their heads, taking too much of the limelight and having the weight of the episode upon them. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, and it does get a lot better by the end. The writing was the strength, and it's a Bryan Fuller credit so you can see him weave in the series' history quite comfortably if there's a reason to do so - the most obvious being the Doctor's lack of a name, cleverly brought in when he's hypnotised and they think knowing the name of something gives them power over it! Or someone saying Neelix looks like a leprechaun. But also the way the story progresses, and any cracks filled in (Michael says the crew never used machines to hurt us, and someone else brings up Maggie being turned into a cow), where we see a reverse of 'Fair Haven': Janeway travelled into Michael's world, here he travels into hers.

It's far from the first time holo-characters have escaped their confines - the first Holodeck story, 'The Big Goodbye' (on my mind recently since its writer, Tracy Tormé died the other week), did just that, and we've had so many instances of characters leaving the Holodeck or becoming aware of their reality since then that it's not a revolution. What it is, is good storytelling because you want to see Michael, the calm, rational one, thrown into the world we know so well to see how he reacts. Of course he reacts calmly and accepts it. They never did a sequel, but I could see them going down the Moriarty route (another person in mind having recently seen his return of sorts in 'Picard' Season 3, though that was a bit of a wasted opportunity), since though they tell them some things in order to pacify them, Janeway doesn't let on the whole truth. So they're spacemen from the future rather than the creators of a fantasy environment, and I can imagine some of them might not take kindly to this omission of their true identity and cause trouble. But that wasn't really the style of this holoprogram, although Seamus got a mob going they were shown to be pretty foolish with their superstitions and cobbled together half-stories, they weren't 'an opponent to challenge Data' as the creation of Moriarty was. Equally, unlike Vic Fontaine they might not have taken to the reality of their situation with as much ease since he was deliberately created with that knowledge part of his program and had enough on his plate to worry about with his career, pally! I'm not sure how much I'd want a sequel, I never loved the characters as I loved Vic, for example, and while they could have written an even better story, as this was an improvement on their debut, it would be easy to simply have the Irish clichés for the sake of it since Americans tend to love that stuff.

An oddity about the episode is that it appears to go against the usual Trek attitude to fantasy lives, best summed up in 'Generations' where the message is that real life is more rewarding than living in a fantasy, because nothing really matters there. In this, Janeway admits the characters aren't real, but their feelings for them are, which is exactly how fans view this series they're watching, and doesn't want to delete their experiences and knowledge. In this case it's a little different in that Voyager is stuck out away from home without those comforts, although is a life in Starfleet supposed to be comfortable? That's another issue, that comfort doesn't bring reward, only softens a person, but again in this case the crew do need something to take their minds off the regular dangers they face and it's something communal they can all take part in. I wasn't sure at first why the program was malfunctioning, were they keeping it on all the time? It seems they were as Tom Paris had instituted an open door policy, but surely they know what happens when a program is allowed to have free rein as we saw with the Doctor, despite him being a special case, but they should've known about Moriarty as essential recent history of the technology, so there was a likelihood for things to go wrong! B'Elanna, who increasingly comes across as a killjoy whenever we see her these days, points out that they pushed the limits of holo-technology, and it pushed back, which was fair comment!

I was really expecting, and hoping, that when they took Michael out to try and determine the problem (interestingly using Holodeck 2 as a lab in which to fix things as the program was kept running in Holodeck 1 - although a bit inconvenient if someone on the crew had no interest in Irish culture and wanted to play in their own program!), they'd discover the malfunctions stemmed from Janeway's own tinkering with his program to change him more to her tastes, as we saw in 'Fair Haven.' Sadly we can't put it down to that as all the characters are affected, but it would have been a fun twist, and perhaps a little bit of a jab at her for wanting things to be just right for her! There is a bit of that romantic side to it again, but actually it's the scenes where she's showing Michael her ship that mean the most. As for Harry Kim, you'd think he'd have learned his lesson in 'Alter Ego'! I know, in that she turned out to be an alien posing as a holo-character, but even so, will Kim ever learn? He's the Geordi La Forge of 'Voyager' in that respect - maybe in a few years' time they'll ask him back to reprise the role and he'll demand Kim has a family with children as recompense for how he was 'treated' on the series...

It's sort of a Harry and Tom episode, but actually it's a bit closer to an ensemble, although because the Irish characters are given a sizeable portion of scenes it serves to make the lesser used main cast appear to have been more involved than they were because they aren't being shown up by the focus on other characters quite as much - Tuvok, Chakotay, Neelix, Seven and B'Elanna are rarely seen, but even the featured ones, Tom, Harry, Janeway and the Doctor, aren't in it as much as they would normally be. It's good that Seven takes a back seat, but at the same time we're still getting a lot of Janeway and the Doctor, which is how the series would tend to go, and of course they do steal scenes, based either on their sheer presence (Janeway, even in her period dress (and the return of the hair bun!), exudes authority in Engineering, which just goes to show, for those with real strength of will, it doesn't matter what they're wearing, clothes maketh not the man... Or starship Captain!), or exuberant performance (the Doctor sinks his teeth into the part of spiritual leader with gusto as only the Doctor would, although it does tend to exacerbate the stereotype of the church leader in a negative way, which is unfortunate, but then it is a story all about stereotypes so we can't complain too much! When Seamus claims a Father isn't going to listen to talk of the supernatural he seems to be forgetting that's the thing which a Father is going to talk about most, there isn't the distinction between good supernatural, as in that from God, and that forbidden by God, which isn't great commentary, but that's what you get when it's written by heathens!).

It's just tough that the other cast don't have the unique characteristics to compete, or that the writers found it as easy to gravitate towards, and I'd say B'Elanna in particular has suffered this season, with perhaps Neelix second, though as I've stated a few times, in general I've been surprised how much more balanced the season has been. I wouldn't say I enjoy this episode as much as I used to, perhaps some of that can be attributed to my disinterest in the program - I never liked it in the way I did the Paxau Resort or Sandrine's, or even the Burleigh stuff early Janeway got involved in, and a big part of that is that those others always had some memorable episode in which this already established setting was used to the full ('Alter Ego' and 'Persistence of Vision' come readily to mind as great examples, and 'Twisted' might go in that category, too). If they had brought the scenario back, and there was no reason why they couldn't, I could see it being a recurring locale, but because it was full of very specific characters that had specific interactions with certain crew-members, it would be harder to justify crew just having a social occasion there without wondering where the progression of the holo-characters had gone. It's also entirely possible they felt they'd done as much as they could with it - so annoying there's no detailed companion book that goes into these production decisions as the 'DS9' one was so good at doing for every single episode. But this was fun, and I'm sure all involved saw it as a chance to freshen things up, be it the Composer, the Director, or anyone else involved. That doesn't always translate into a good experience for viewers, but in this case it did. Other than some characters returning to their roles from the first episode, the only names of note are Richard Riehle in his last 'Voyager' role (he'd be back for 'Enterprise'), and Ian Abercrombie (Milo), who was the Abbot in 'Someone to Watch Over Me.'

***

Twin Destinies

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Twin Destinies)

Just about everything you could want from this series, and while it could be faulted for ending so pat and conveniently, getting there was a rollercoaster! Before anything, and this isn't usually that much of a priority for me, especially when compared with story and character, but in this case both of those are fully covered so I will remark on the technical qualities: you really know you're watching a good one when you notice the effects work despite how good the story is. This just complimented the quality all round with some beautiful shots of Destiny (the other one), framed by the seething flames of a star as the ship hangs there in the balance like a butterfly caught in a lightning strike, the flash seeming longer than the split second it would take to annihilate such an insignificant, fragile little creature. But it doesn't take place in a split second in reality, there's time for a desperate salvage mission, or more precisely, a strip mine it and run (literally), as members of the crew pour onto this doomed and empty hulk (shades of 'Empok Nor' from 'DS9' - once again demonstrating you can reuse existing sets and still create compelling drama), which contains all that is necessary for the original Destiny to carry on. It's fraught, exciting, superbly lit with an apocalyptic red burning that fills the halls with the hellish light of impending death. You see how poetic this episode made me! I was inspired by it, moved, excited, and not merely from the ultimate dash and grab mission.

Right from the opening where we have all the main characters in a room together discussing their situation, all systems at critical status after the previous episode's encounter with the enemies that had all but crippled them. They need spare parts, they can't build them, they can't fix them, there seems no other option than to try a plan Eli and Gin had come up with to create a stable wormhole in a star and get back to Earth through the Stargate (remember it's called 'Stargate'?). It's a huge wrench, but not one most people are going to mind, they just want to get home, waiting in anticipation in the main room, quietly expectant, hungry for home, a major personal moment in all their lives as much as when they first came aboard. All except Rush who's intent on carrying out Destiny's mission to the extent he's willing to stay behind if twelve just men (or girlies), will stay behind with him. I'm not sure what he was going to do for spare parts, it sounded like everyone who agreed to remain would be likely signing their own death warrant since the ship is just about holding together! But that's beside the point - before anything can happen another Rush contacts them. From the future...

Back to the technical achievement of this episode: it's not just the visuals, nor the well choreographed moments where people career down hallways in one last desperate effort to escape (or in puppyish exuberance in Brody's case - he runs excitedly to the Bridge before someone points out he could have simply used a radio!), it's the ability to have two of Rush on screen at the same time, and sometimes in moving shots, the camera swaying as they seem to like it to, but knowing that had to be motion-captured, or at least I assume it did, maybe they didn't even have to do that by the point this was made (almost fifteen years ago, gulp! Where did the time go?), but however it was done, it's flawless, there's no question how far effects had advanced, and for once 'Stargate' does something better than Trek had been able to do (and they did a lot of doubles over the years!). Even Rush doesn't entirely trust Rush (loved that when he storms off after his wish to continue Destiny's mission is refused and you just know he's going to lock them out or make it impossible for them to try Eli's plan some other way, but Young has Greer and his men stationed to prevent that - good thinking!), as someone pointed out during the episode, I think it was Telford. Speaking of whom, I forgot there was another version of him from the original timeline a little in the future who'd made it back to Earth. If that was the case why didn't he contact Destiny? Or he did, but it was a Destiny in the future of our Destiny, wasn't it? It does fry the brain a bit.

I will say the image of him as the man Rush switched with through the use of the communication stones, in Rush's clothes, looking bewildered and horrified as he charges to the 'gate room amid that apocalyptic colour palette, was fantastic. But how can he be on Earth of our Destiny's time, again I ask? Best not to think of it. More to the point, why would other Rush jump in the Ancient chair? Did he think because he'd accidentally killed Telford, who was really getting in his face and was as much to blame for his demise as he was, he couldn't go back? So he went all in and tried to get the knowledge of the Ancients before the ship blew up? That's why it was so pat, we got rid of the two duplicates and it would have been much more dramatic to keep them (as they did on 'Farscape' which I've been watching recently). But the other Destiny was a perfect store of necessary supplies. There is rather a lot of dashing around madly, when cool heads should have prevailed, but it was much more about coordinated pillaging than madcap panic-grabbing, in fairness. Even when they first see this alternate ship coming into view there was a haunting quality to it, knowing how a version of every one of those witnessing it had died, and making it some kind of crypt to their memory, or perhaps a tombstone hanging over the surviving crew. Again, such a strong sense of the poetic in this one!

It had it all, too. There was the action and split second escapes, there was the horror of death, but there was also the trademark wry humour that hasn't been as evident in this iteration of 'Stargate,' and a comfortable knowing of the characters so well: Brody with his embarrassment over calling Eli the cleverest man he'd ever known, or being so excited as to run to the Bridge, or Greer reacting to Telford's aggressive threat that he might have to force everyone to leave the ship, by retorting 'good luck with that,' and Telford clearly seeing his bluff's been called - even that bit where Brody talks them through what they need to salvage and calls the items 'things to make it go,' which I do hope was a deliberate, if obscure reference to a Trek race, the Pakleds, who said something very similar in 'TNG.' It was even quite affecting as we see flashbacks to how the plan first played out and most of the main characters backed Rush up, if sometimes reluctantly, and showed that if they had a choice they would choose to continue the mission. It really cemented their friendships in my eyes, that even with a chance of going home we now know many of them would choose the unknown with each other.

I would just say it was surprising to see the remaining Lucian Alliance people allowed to take part in the salvage because if there were any other secret dissenters they could have gained weapons and all sorts. Of course with Simeon gone we know there isn't a threat, but it gave me pause for thought. I was also surprised with how collaborative Young was, taking suggestions from people, going along with what they wished, even surprising Rush by showing he was willing to stay aboard if they found ten other people - I'm not sure if Rush was so happy about that, I'm sure he'd have liked to have been the main man, or whether it was merely relief and surprise that he was getting what he wanted, but it showed a dedication between characters that was heartening to see. I also liked the idea that some of them would want to meet up regularly if they had gone back to Earth, and they even threw in references to Dr. Jackson, Colonel Carter and McKay, just more nice little spices to a simmering, bubbling pot of highly nutritious story stew! And I almost forgot a very brief, but fun cameo for Dr. Lee in Eli's outfit - funny. If they keep this level up for the remainder of the season not only am I going to miss this series, I'm really going to miss it!

***

Deliverance

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Deliverance)

An exciting opening and conclusion, with a happy ending isn't enough to disguise a confused narrative. It was like a 'Voyager' story except without the structure. There are three groups other than Destiny and I wasn't sure exactly what the relation was to each other - we have the Ursini, which I was under the impression got us into this mess; the drones, which are the mess we're in; and the aliens from the previous galaxy whom have somehow found their way to this one and are on the way to... help? I mean what was the point of all that stuff with them desperate to retrieve Chloe after what they'd done to her to make her change into, presumably, one of them? They make a deal with Destiny to take on the drones until they're both sufficiently restored to escape, and the price is that we let them take Chloe, but then they'll give her back as good as new? Where did that all come from? It was such a muddle! Then the Ursini themselves who I thought were the double-crossing bad guys in all of this turn out to be self-sacrificial enough to go on a suicide run in order that Destiny will survive because they feel bad for getting them into the scrape in the first place? I don't know about all this...

The B-story is all about putting an idea from Eli into practice where they capture one of the dormant drones and try to find its weakness. That made sense although at first I wasn't sure why Dr. Parke shows up for the mission with Scott and Greer simply because it's 'her turn' when surely she'd have been better used elsewhere, like, I don't know, helping them get the all-important shields back online so they can go to FTL and get out of there! But then I thought if the others are handling it, it makes sense they have a scientist along in the retrieval process although I'm not sure her expertise ever came into play as she was merely there to direct the shuttle into picking up the drone. Handy they were able to find one that was tiny enough to fit in the back of the shuttle, eh? They're successful in programming the drone to turn the other drones (that's not these drones, this is another group of drones, so I suppose there was a fourth party in the story - see what I mean about confusing?), into enemies, and then the second drones fight the first drones and Destiny can escape (it would have been very beneficial to have hoovered up as many of these reprogrammed drones as possible to use in future, but they hardly had the time for that as they barely escaped as it was). In the meantime the aliens with no name, or Other-Galaxy aliens as we could call them (as opposed to the Ursini, who are conveniently completely wiped out by the drone enemy so we don't have to ever think of them again!), also escape the drones, but there's the impression the truce was only temporary and they still want Destiny. Okay.

For all the confused messing about, the characters were all nicely played - we get people like Brody and Volker doing their thing with the shields, and Lieutenant James gets put in the pilot seat, or some such important position, even though she'd had a mere hour's training, but it was nice to see her doing something. Parke, as I mentioned, has plenty, but it was Chloe who really stood out as this accepting soul, allowing Young to do with her as he will, not holding any grudge and either stoically sitting in her prison cell or bravely going over to the Other-Galaxy aliens for who knows what surgical procedure that could just as easily have made her worse or killed her for all she knew. So it was a very good episode for her, her nature really shines through and it was especially nice at the end when Rush pays her a visit and shows concern about her throughout. Of course with him you never know if it's genuine concern or a pragmatic, self-seeking big picture view that believes she still has untold depths of alien knowledge within that will assist in his motive of learning more about the secret of the Destiny's mission, and succeeding at it. You can never quite trust him again. But the crew all being friends, there being no simmering tension, everything reset back to normal, or as normal as it can be, makes it a relatively positive instalment. Who knows what the last half season will bring, I didn't even remember the Other-Galaxy aliens showed up again. Still such a tragedy the series didn't last longer.

**

Collective (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Collective) (2)

Fresh from watching the third season of 'Picard' in a relatively short period I can only assume I reacted so positively to this episode in reaction to that, because I've never liked the Borg children, thought it was a bad idea to introduce them, especially as they hadn't used the existing people groups they'd been presented with in the past very well (the Maquis crew-members we'd met, almost never seen again; the recent addition of the Equinox remnants, never seen again...), and they didn't seem interested in developing any recurring characters to any great degree! 'Picard,' for all its joy of giving us one last roundup of the 'TNG' crew, together again (even Data, [sniff!]), reminded me how many bad Borg stories there were, how many silly ideas they threw at them on 'Voyager,' but even as far back as 'TNG' (I didn't used to like Hugh in 'I, Borg' though I've come round to him, but 'Descent' was certainly the weakest story), so to see a Borg story 'out of the norm' (which isn't really true because those kinds of stories became the norm over the typical and superior 'Borg are an impossible threat to handle' types, as in 'Q Who,' 'The Best of Both Worlds,' 'Scorpion,' 'Dark Frontier,' 'Regeneration'), but which was actually displaying the best natures of our characters really struck home, and while I still wouldn't rate it a classic I was surprised at how strong it was!

It's lovely coming home again and seeing Seven of Nine when she was portrayed as a fascinating, repressed, strident, flawed but learning character compared with how Jeri Ryan played her in 'Picard.' So many things about this episode were a clear and obvious antidote to the still generally negative impression of even the best of modern Treks, and again, while I'd say 'Picard' Season 3 is the best of that series and even the best live action stuff they've done in the current era, it still fell quite short of even the standard level of old Trek. This is far from perfect, admittedly: I was all up for an adventure starring Chakotay, Neelix, Tom and Harry, but after a strong start the former disappear from the story, literally! We see them a bit later as hostages, but in gradual increase of the criticism of the last couple of seasons (which hasn't played out yet to any large degree), it switches to being a Seven of Nine story with Janeway prominent. If this had been now-Trek they could have had space for a few extra scenes with the running time bumped up to over fifty minutes if need be, but while 'Picard' often squandered its comfortable running time with too much reiteration and repetitiveness, then-Trek was so tight and economical with its running time, though as in this case it could be to the detriment sometimes: we could have done with a much-needed scene where Torres meets Paris after the ordeal to show her concern (she spends any time in the episode covering Harry's station and could just as easily have been played by a guest extra); Neelix meeting the Borg children, considering how good he is with youngsters (though they may have been saving that); an ending with Chakotay discussing the events of the episode with his Captain; and Harry, well he gets to play partially assimilated and almost saves the day, so he was accounted for.

Other than the shift into a typical Seven story I have few complaints. Sure, that whole teaser with the four previously mentioned playing poker had its issues (would Chakotay sanction gambling, especially over the 'real stakes' of a morning off for whoever wins - in the past he always seemed quite disciplinarian about such things, perhaps he's mellowed a bit now he's well established as First Officer and the crew have all settled down. Even so, if other members of the crew heard about it they might think it unfair...), not least being that they have no warning of a gigantic Borg Cube bearing down on the little Delta Flyer until they notice it through the porthole! Shouldn't the computer give warning? In the episode's favour they do explain the ship masked its approach to sensors, but even then, once in visual range the ship should be throwing every alarm its got into a frenzy. But then we wouldn't have had the excitement of them reacting to such a shocking appearance in the middle of a fun moment of relaxation, and it was certainly a very effective way to kick off the episode. What is fascinating about the story is how the Borg don't follow the predetermined route they always do - we'd expect captives' immediate assimilation (I never wondered before, but why do they have assimilation chambers since all they need do is inject victims with nanoprobes and that does the rest - maybe it's for observation or more invasive procedures?), they're willing to negotiate with Voyager when they come a-calling, and behave erratically - it all adds up to a deliciously unexpected encounter and because Trek schooled us so well and so closely on exactly what to expect with each race it makes a much greater contrast.

Nowadays, when most Trek aliens sound and act like humans with makeup on a lot of the time because the human characters are so overly emotional, you lose the ability to tell this kind of story and revel in the differences to expectations, and it really speaks to the Trek style up until the modern age that they were able to take advantage of having everything so carefully tied down to specific behaviour and motivations. All the characters are true to how they should behave: Janeway is willing to consider all alternatives when it comes to the safety of her crew, not shutting down the idea of a pathogen that would 'neutralise' the surviving Borg that Tuvok, in his role as Security, advises. It's a shocking thought that they could kill children, even children totally assimilated by the Borg, but if they'd all been like First, aggressive, refusing to listen to any alternative viewpoint because it goes against their very nature (sounds like a lot of people today!), then perhaps they'd have been forced to go to it as a last resort. But that's not (wasn't then, anyway), the Trek way: they use intelligence and cunning, feel out the situation, talk where they can with their enemies. Seven even makes gestures of good faith simply because it's the right thing to do: when they introduced Icheb with a malfunction in his vocal processor you think it's just there to sound 'cool,' because why not, it emphasises the alienness of Borg? Yet it becomes a plot point with Seven able to show the nature of Starfleet, fixing him for no other reward than because she can help. The same with the Borg baby where she demonstrates to the whole clan the same ethics. And even at the end when First is fatally electrocuted, she rushes over to see if she can help him and when all she can do is comfort him as he dies, she does that!

It's inspiring and rewarding, the way Trek should be, leaving you with positive feelings rather than reliant on whatever the next terrible thing is to leave us with a cliffhanger so we come back for the next part of the serial. It is wrapped up rather too quickly and easily, again I say it's not perfect - it would have been better to show some of the transition of the Borg gang from Borgified to practically normal, full heads of hair, etc, as we see them at the end, because you lose the impression of the scope of the invasive and all-pervasive intrusiveness of Borg technology infesting an organic body and how hard it is to overcome and recover from it. So it does have the effect of belittling the conversion they had to go through. But I can see why they wouldn't want to give over too much time to this little group, they might not even have planned them being as big a part of the series as they became and so they needed to wrap up the story, I suppose. At least it ends on a well-judged, sensitive note as Seven wishes them goodnight as they all step into the regeneration chambers in her Cargo Bay (handy there are four, but what happens if she needs to regenerate, too?), taking one last look back at them as if to remember the similarities with her own history, then the door closing on her, closing out the episode effectively and beautifully with a deft touch.

The Doctor doesn't have a lot of exposure, but I like that the moral issue at hand of whether they should deal with these children as they would any other Borg, is placed firmly at his door - he's the one that develops the pathogen for use, but he orchestrates an environment in which to present it to his Captain in the most contrasting way possible: getting her to hold the Borg baby, saying she just wanted to be held, and only then producing the deadly vial by the baby's side. Janeway isn't to be swayed so easily, it's not that she's cold or heartless, I don't believe she has any intention of using the pathogen unless there is no other option, but the Doctor wants to put his point of view across and does it with great care and planning. I like that we're seeing different points of view, but the Doctor isn't refusing to follow orders or expressing how he feels about the ethics of the situation, blowing up at his Captain, it's all very well worked out and is about as far from how the conflicts, both in Trek and the real world, are portrayed now, as can be. In this case both have a valid argument, not that Janeway is arguing for the murder of children, but even the possibility she could use such a weapon is a silent assent for a drastic course of action, exactly the kind of dilemma Trek was (was!), so good at. It's not even a big part of the story, but far from taking a backseat to unnecessary action scenes, the core of the story is in Seven's attempts to gain the trust of the children, or maybe not even that, to simply show that they are in the wrong.

I was struck by the parallel of the guys playing poker at the start and the situation between Voyager and the Cube - it's the same, they're both playing poker, not really knowing what the other's hand holds and that cat and mouse, give and take was compelling as we see how a starship Captain has to deal with an opponent without quite knowing what the result will be in any eventuality. Janeway is great in this, but Chakotay was too, in the brief screen time he was given - I like that when they're captured he's the one who still has hope when Paris basically panics and thinks it's all over, there's no chance of escaping assimilation, and the First Officer gives them a task to do, to escape from the chamber. It's a shame Neelix was so muted, and even in the poker game when they suspect he's kidding them when being so simple about the game I was expecting his old shrewdness to come to the fore and he really was leading them on - when you think what he was like when we first met him and in the early scenes, by comparison he has become a little too soft. I did feel for Harry Kim who has to traverse the inside of the Cube (all Borg ships are graveyards, but this really was one), to help Voyager help him, though he ultimately fails (great sense of scale to the internal shots). When he was so nervous and Tuvok asks if he's thinking of a previous time on a Cube I was expecting him to talk about the horrors he experienced in 'Scorpion,' but he doesn't. Otherwise the episode was good at using backstory, such as Seven talking about her own assimilation.

It didn't make much sense Harry leaving a trail of playing cards in case he needed to find his way back since Janeway had already specifically told him he'd only have to make the journey TO the shield generator, and if I'm being pedantic it was too dark to be able to see those little cards anyway, especially if he had to find his way back in a hurry! I suppose the little girl, Mezoti, was supposed to be playing the usual trope of creepy child when she comes upon him having gathered the cards, but either from the performance itself or the directing of the scene, I didn't get an undertone of threat from it, especially when she picks out the Queen card and says she prefers this one. I liked that it wasn't what you'd expect, nothing to do with the Borg Queen, but because the likeness reminds her of Seven! So it came across as more cutesy than anything until you think back to it in retrospect when we later find Harry was partially assimilated. It's all left to the imagination, and while modern Trek would undoubtedly have had a scene where the girl comes over to him and digs her tubules in as he screams, brutality wouldn't have fitted with the story, especially from her as we're supposed to be sympathetic to the younger ones who are being bullied by First. Still, it does make you wonder whether she attacked Harry or was merely a diversion so First could come up behind him. Overall I really liked the performances of the gang. The twins have nothing to say and are only there to make up the numbers, but the gradual shift away from First as protector and leader, to Seven, was beautifully done.

The only note of concern is the baby. Did they use a real baby because if not it looked very lifelike - not when it was in the maturation chamber, but when Janeway or Seven hold it, it was so realistic and yet they usually have strict rules about what can be put on a baby, as we saw previously with the very basic horns on baby Naomi. My concern is what happened to the little tyke? They mention the four children at the end, but nothing is said of the baby. I can see why they wouldn't want to be saddled with a baby from a production standpoint because it's difficult to include one, and equally I can see why they wouldn't have wanted a pall over the ending by suggesting it had died as that would have been a very sad way to finish out the episode, but at the same time you need to say something, you can't just ignore it! Unfortunately, that's how the series often went, not giving plots or characters the development or wrap-up they needed. It would also have been good for the series to have babies be a central part of it since for all they knew it would take more than one generation to return home and they should have been birthing replacements, but that's just one of the underlying flaws of a series that was generally so good, but could also miss major details of importance.

In this episode's case I was impressed with how it laid everything out logically, believably, providing a realistic and grounded base upon which to build the story, in complete opposition to the way modern Trek does it, first creating a story full of mysteries and suspense, but not having a good base to lay it on, reliant on shock or narrative devices rather than good storytelling and depth of character. The Borg in this episode are an excellent example: they behave as adolescents would, and though it's something of a familiar theme of children running their own little world ('Lord of The Flies'), and something covered in Trek before ('And The Children Shall Lead,' etc), it was done very well here. Tuvok calls attention to their contemptuousness toward authority, conviction of their own superiority and that this is typical adolescent behaviour for any species (though I wished he'd excepted Vulcans, though this was yet another reminder of the diminishing of the race in the Berman era's latter years). When they don't get their way they try to rip Voyager's Deflector right off its hull with a Tractor beam, and when Seven breaks the news the Borg don't want them any more (which struck a false note since we know they come back even for their dead, as far as I remember, to harvest the tech, so it didn't make sense that any being would be considered expendable - to the Borg they're just resources, so why waste them, and especially the Cube itself which could have been repaired, I'm sure!), First rebels against reality saying they'll prove themselves worthy by assimilating more races, failing to understand the nature of the Borg, that it's impossible to win their approval.

It's actually a very tragic story of abandoned children, tied up in the Trek world with all the alien trimmings, but that's what it is at heart and in that respect it's not really different to any other story of children in that position who have built something of a society based on mistakes or lack of mature understanding simply to survive ('Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome' came to mind). Perhaps the moment when I had the most sympathy was Icheb not even understanding what the term childhood means and tying it in to Seven's own being cut short makes it ever more poignant. I never really liked Icheb that much originally because I always wanted the Borg to be tough, unstoppable and impossible to deal with in any way, just the name should strike terror. But that image and ability was worn down through so many episodes, particularly of 'Voyager,' and one big reason why I felt the series didn't reach its full potential overall, but over the years I came to like him more as I accepted what the series became and you just enjoy what's there rather than anticipating what might be (and he certainly didn't deserve the horrific treatment given to him in 'Picard'). Perhaps in the same way I'll come to appreciate modern Trek more in that light, though I doubt it because it simply doesn't have the positive values and quality of writing and characterisation of the original 60s-2000s run. Maybe once they say there's not going to be any more it'll have more meaning, but not much - the truth is I'll always go back to 'Voyager' and its contemporaries because they knew how to tell Trek. There had been plenty of atypical Borg stories by this time (I think of 'Survival Instinct' earlier this very season!), but that's why this one holds up: they found a new angle and they made it work. A lesson for modern writers everywhere (but especially those writing Trek!).

***

Retrogaming Review of The Year 2023

 Retrogaming Review of The Year 2023

Gaming Archeology
After several years of wanting to bring it down from the loft, this was The Year of The Amiga at last! The 1500 came down and I experienced so much. Disappointments ('Batman: The Movie' wouldn't load beyond the first level), frustration ('The Kristal'), joys ('Flashback,' 'Lotus 2'), challenges ('Aunt Arctic Adventure'), but most interesting of all something hit me when I was testing 'Fire and Ice' - most games didn't save high scores to the game disk, but this one did and as I looked at them I suddenly realised the guy we got the game from (and gave us our first Amiga, the 500 - if you're out there John Farwell, good on yer, mate!), his initials were in the table. After almost thirty years something still existed of another time (even sweeter, my own scores were above his!). That's why I don't like deleting old saved games, or in this case, high scores: because they represent history. Artificial, fantasy as they are, games held a place in life that is part of that life and personal history and when so much is ephemeral and passing it's great to go back and play with so many Amiga memories that have stuck in my mind for decades. And so many games still to replay!

Visual Splendour
That wasn't the end of the delights however, as on bringing the N64 down for both my Christmas 'Zelda' and multiplayer, I stumbled upon a way to vastly improve the visuals: I was already splitting the VGA lead through which I play N64 on my Dell FP2007 monitor, partly to reduce the over-brightness, but also to connect my Amiga Scandoubler so I didn't have to keep switching between VGA connectors. I found if I plugged the splitter to the Scandoubler into the other port the N64 picture was basically as good as when I used Amiga monitors up until a few years ago. I wish I'd discovered that long ago!

Awards:
Surprise of The Year: Lotus 2
Disappointment of The Year: The Kristal

[Ratings reflect total, historical experience, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them this time.]


January - March: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011, Wii) - The tradition of the Christmas 'Zelda' reached as far into the series as I own with this Wii entry (only followed by two on the Switch since, I believe). It wasn't the most comfortable to play with Wii controls rather than a traditional Controller, but I still have happy memories, even if it took a long time to get through. I appreciate certain things about it in retrospect thanks to playing the original 3D 'Zelda' this last Christmas: the ability to run at top speed for one, and speed through text quickly without skipping it all! ***

January - December: WSC Real 08 (2008, Wii) - I had a go at an exhibition without any aids whatsoever and was completely and utterly humbled by the game. Snooker is a Very Tough Game. On the positives, I finally made it to number one in the world, beating out Ronnie O'Sullivan. If I continue next year (and no reason why I wouldn't since this is my second favourite game on the console!), should I stick with it, basking in my status and continuing to sweep up all (or most), trophies before me, or switch to a Pool career? ****

January - December: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - The old stalwart keeps on going. Nothing new to report, other than in game time I've made it to 2016! I did see if I could play it on the 1500, but I seem to remember it didn't work on that machine. *****

February - December: Wii Sports (2006, Wii) - Along with 'WSCR' and 'UFO' this is my third game I keep going back to year after year, week after week. Well, probably month after month as I only generally get in a couple of sessions in a month dependent on work shifts and snooker on TV, that kind of thing. Yo-yoing in the boxing mode where I'd build my points up over the 2100 level, then get knocked down in one match and lose tens of points and have to build back up again. Still good exercise, however, and I continue to enjoy the target golf, tennis against a wall, and hitting home runs. ***

March - April: Splinter Cell (2002, GameCube) - 'Rick Dangerous' was the game which came to mind playing this: an Indiana Jones-type exploring underground environments where every few seconds you'd be killed by a trap and have to restart, a test of memory in order to survive each level. 'Splinter Cell' isn't that bad, but you often find yourself failing out of the blue because a strategy didn't work in a situation, or you thought you couldn't be seen, but you could. That was a big annoyance, not being clear on exactly which areas were dark enough to hide in - I heard back in the day the Xbox version had the best graphics, perhaps that would have made a difference. It wouldn't have solved the awkward controls and insistence on linearity, two aspects that drag the gameplay down, mainly because you're constantly in situations requiring precise, timely action, and with myriad controls, varied gadgets and weapons, and somewhat of a counterintuitive style, it could be irritating: my biggest complaint is no customisable controls, so you have to go without inverted sight or aiming. Push up to look... up? It doesn't make sense for those weaned on 'Goldeneye' and suchlike! Another game similar in style was 'Hitman 2,' also on 'Cube, but while that had the same control annoyances, it also had wide open levels where you could approach many missions as you saw fit rather than being directed down a predetermined path. There's also the usual gaming insistence on inconsistency: you can climb some things, but not others, you have all these moves, but no ability to lie flat on the ground or crawl... For all its faults, I still found it a fairly enjoyable diversion, though I'm undecided whether I'd play the many sequels. I'd probably go back to this game in a decade or so to complete on the hardest skill level, but it's not a priority. **

May - July: Perfect Dark (2000, N64) - What needs to be said? Simply the most technically accomplished game on the system, options coming at you like machine gun bullets, and a vast array of challenge on offer. I greatly enjoyed returning to one of my favourite games of all time and it didn't matter I hadn't worked out how to get the best picture for N64 games since this is one of the titles that has a high enough resolution to be played through the RCA lead that comes as standard with an N64, so I've never needed to go the VGA route with this. I achieved everything I had previously, as well as unlocking any cheats I hadn't originally, and what I'm most proud of: beating all thirty Combat Simulator Challenges, something I'd never quite achieved before, and which was a real tough course in the last couple. Best of all, I played it in the year (in fact even the month!), it's set in, the reason I'd held it in abeyance for so long. The only sad thing is it's almost the last great N64 game I hadn't revisited! *****

July - August: Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 (1991, Amiga 1500) - Why only three stars while giving it the accolade of Biggest Surprise of The Year? Simply because I wasn't expecting much from this and it surpassed expectations by proving to be just as enjoyable (and tough!), a racing game as most other titles I've played on N64, 'Cube and Wii. I was disappointed my 'Lotus III' disks weren't working any more as this made me want to play more 'Lotus,' but while it wasn't amazing, it did everything well and had so many details I appreciated. A game from so long ago in a genre that tends to rely on graphics and technical sophistication could have been at a major disadvantage, but it had great pick-up-and-play appeal, a strong difficulty curve and a certain beauty to its simplicity that took me back to the Old Days wonderfully and helped to justify me finally getting the 1500 down after many years of wanting to do so. It started the adventure off in a way that made me want to revisit as many old classics as I can and in that respect was the ideal first game to go back to. ***

August: Aunt Arctic Adventure (1988, Amiga 1500) -
- Not necessarily a game I could recommend, though as a tough, but achievable 2D platform game that I'd never got far on in the Nineties, I was thrilled to gradually build up to completing it. It's easy in the sense that you have infinite attempts at success, so then it's a matter of whether you have five or six hours to spare to work your way around each of the fifty levels' environments. The graphics were sparse, the sound effects and music limited. But nevertheless this had a charm from its simplicity that I appreciated. It took more than one day off (playing morning and afternoon), to finally beat it thanks to a cruel streak that saw you get irrevocably trapped in a couple of later levels with no way to die, no way to restart except from the beginning, but if the game laughed at me I had the last laugh and there probably wasn't a greater feeling of satisfaction I had in gaming this year. ***

August: The Kristal (1989, Amiga 1500) - Oh dear. Not all old games welcome with open arms and this was the one that truly frustrated and upset me. It's just too obscure in its sequence of events and you're left too open to narrow down what you have to do since you can type anything to speak to characters, yet need to say the right thing. I can feel somewhat superior to modern gamers sometimes when I think how easy games became, all encouraging, so many ways to make playing more comfortable with saved games, ergonomic controls, logical developments, etc, and I can take on plenty of toughness in the wilderness of older games (see the previous two above), but this must be where my particular generation bows to the previous one since I would not be able to stand text adventures. This was disguised with lovely graphics and animation, but at heart this is like one of those unforgiving text-based games that taxes even my patience. I know it's a black mark against me that I couldn't take it, but I couldn't, and there are far too many games to play to sit puzzling over what to do for hours, and I couldn't go down the walkthrough route of looking up what to do as that isn't playing a game in my book. Would I ever go back to it? I don't know, there are so many Amiga games to play, let alone on other systems and I'm not getting any younger! *

August - September: APB (1989, Amiga 1500) - Very much a conversion of a coin-op, so no saving, but it had an addictive quality. You choose one of the first eight days to begin on, which decides your quotas, either ramming offenders or driving into people that need help or are hitch-hiking (doesn't sound quite right!). The animations were fun, though graphics in general very basic. It did provide a sense of freedom as you can drive down any road, even if the town all looks similar and you couldn't really plan that well - pickups in the form of money bags were random, so you might return to a spot that previously gave you an instant quota fulfilment and it may well be a booby trap. There was no way to remove demerits (other than rare pickups that took one away), and once at twelve it was game over. The controls were the real issue, awkward because the single fire button was used to keep your siren on - it may as well have been on all the time since without it you're much more vulnerable to collisions - even if other cars drive into you, you get a demerit! You push forward to go faster, pull back to slow, and turn with left and right, but this made it harder to control than it should've been, another of those games hard on the hands thanks to the necessity of gripping the Joystick hard and keeping the button depressed. The side objective was to capture certain criminals on specific days, and on returning to HQ you'd interrogate them by wiggling the 'stick as hard as possible before the boss enters the room! It was fun, but also very limited and I could barely get past Day 10 as you're suddenly given so little time to achieve your quota. Like many Eighties games it felt unfair, takes more effort than is rewarded, but also paved the way for top-down free-roaming car games after it. Knockabout fun for a few hours, but eventually palls. "Reorayreorayreoray,thanguverymuchwelldone." **

September: Flashback (1992, Amiga 1500) - If 'Aunt Arctic' wasn't a game I'd necessarily recommend, this is one that is fixed in my mind as one of my most revolutionary gaming experiences ever, up there with my first 'Zelda' ('Link's Awakening'), my first 3D 'Zelda' ('Ocarina of Time'), and many other BIG games that have meant the most to me over the years ('Settlers,' 'UFO,' 'Dune II,' 'Age of Empires'... the list goes on). It couldn't possibly live up to the memories inextricably linked with the late-Nineties; playing it at Easter; one of the few games I could actually complete; the impression of an entire world in a game thanks to the large second level with its various tasks... Of course that art style which is as beautiful as ever, perhaps the greatest example of the pixel genre. There wasn't as much music as I remembered and it was used fleetingly. The cutscenes are no longer a revolution in themselves, and... but no, the controls remained superb, the animation wondrous - again, it's simplicity that works so well. I can't honestly say I loved it as I loved it back then, but I've been waiting many years for the chance to replay it, in fact the main reason for getting the 1500 down was for this game, and I was so glad to be able to revisit it at last, an absolute classic and a sign of the cinematic direction that would come after it. *****

September - October: Nitro (1990, Amiga 1500) - Good, fun plan-view racer set in a 'Mad Max'-type post-apocalyptic future world with cyborg people, but importantly you can collect money, fuel and other things to bolster your racing quality so it was a bit like a simple roleplaying game where you can level up, plus three different types of vehicle. The only reason I didn't play it more was because it was a bit glitchy and would too often crash or freeze. Maybe it needed to be played on an Amiga 500, but I'll always have a soft spot for it (my main memory of it is that it had an extremely rare three-player option and when we had a French exchange student staying with us we played it with her!). I'd love to play it properly and get to know it because it had a certain verve and immediacy. You can't go too wrong with a top-down racer (or almost any racer for that matter), and I'm giving it a relatively high mark more for its potential and that I wish I could have had a proper go at it than for the actual enjoyment gleaned due to the instability of the disk. ***

October: The Chaos Engine (1992, Amiga 1500/1200) - I'm amazed I never played this on my 1200 before, I felt like it hadn't worked previously. Either way, this time I was able to and quite enjoyed it. Never having been much of a shoot'em-up guy I nevertheless appreciated the graphics and sound and found it somewhat easier than the similar 'Alien Breed II' which I'd played a lot in the past (and completed in the last decade or so). I had no prior connection to this game other than seeing it on lists of the best Amiga games in the many magazines I read over the years so I certainly felt it warranted exploration. In no way anything special to me, though I suppose the various options to upgrade your character give it more depth than some games. It showed the development of AI since you have a computer player accompanying you all the time and he does acquit himself pretty well most of the time. It was really designed to be a two-player experience, something difficult for me to arrange as who would play old Amiga games these days, but as a single-player adventure I was pleased to conquer it, though it was much smaller than I expected. Started it on 1500, but found it easier to stay on 1200 so I didn't have to switch between machines for this and 'UFO.' ***

October - December: Metroid Prime (2003, GameCube) - Dingy, backtracking as a way of life, enemies continually regenerating... I can come up with plenty of negatives, but that's because the game's punching down from above. It was a technical achievement for its machine and began a series that ended on the successor. Always one I'd wanted to replay, though I didn't realise how long ago I'd first played it! It's a sprawling shooting adventure that took me a good number of hours to beat, not least because I was playing on Hard Mode and really trying to get every scan and achieve 100%. Sadly it was not to be for me on this occasion, I don't know how possible that even is as I scratched around in every nook and cranny and still didn't even find everything there was to find. I certainly enjoyed it, though not perhaps as much as I'd expected - I really thought I'd be giving it four stars having that number in mind for its sequels. I expect if you'd never played a 'Metroid' before this would come across better, it is basically a 'Zelda' game that all takes place in one huge dungeon of various sectors and environments, without the character interaction, trading or any other sub-quests, plus added combat within the mix of exploration and scanning. It did make me want to revisit the first sequel, but as that's one of the few games which is 60hz only, and my monitor doesn't seem to like that, I'd have to find a way to connect a Wii to VGA, which so far hasn't been successful. ***

December: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, N64) - Truly a legend, 'PD' wasn't the last top title on the system I hadn't revisited, this is literally the only great I had yet to return to, and to keep up my Christmas tradition started in 2019 (or 2018 if you count playing 'Wind Waker' into December!). The only remaining 3D entry in the series (that I own), I hadn't gone back to, though also the one I've revisited the most overall since I played it a couple of times originally in '99 and the early 2000s, first on N64, then on 'Cube, and watched or helped other family members - I'd have preferred the harder 'Master Quest' version which I've never played, but it'd have required getting down the last remaining Amiga monitor (like 'Metroid Prime 2' it only plays in 60hz), which is not in the best condition and it also gave me the excuse to bring the N64 downstairs for post-Christmas fun which I haven't done in many years, so going back to the roots, though the graphics are relatively muddied, it takes me to student days of yore. Not the first 'Zelda' I ever played, but certainly one of the most enduring, whether playing or watching relatives. Fortunately I found one of the three files was started by a cousin (calling himself 'LINK' - original!), who'd only reached the second dungeon and a mere five Golden Skulltulas, so I had fewer qualms about deleting gaming history on this occasion! As it was I only managed to fit in the first five dungeons, reaching the Ice Cavern, pre-Water Temple by the end of the year, so roughly halfway, maybe a little more. It's benefited from the enhanced connection I discovered (wish I'd found that out for 'Majora's Mask'!), and has been lovely to revisit. Yes, it looks smaller, more basic with minor annoyances like taking time to get places or accidentally skipping text because you want it to appear quicker, but I've never got stuck because I know the types of puzzles so well. And in many ways it's been superseded by subsequent iterations, but there's still that spark of originality and cinematic portrayal of this land and its peoples that shows they didn't merely advance from 2D to 3D, but also brought the storytelling to a new and vibrant level. I'm paying particular attention to finding all the Heart Pieces and Golden Skulltulas this time since I didn't get every one, and I expect it to last a few more weeks yet... *****

Honourable mentions: 'Burnout 2' for traditional Christmas leftovers multiplayer (*****, Jan), and the same for 'MarioKart: Double Dash (*****, Jan), 'Star Wars: Rogue Squadron' a brief play in July that I wasn't encouraged to pursue (***), partly because there were no free files and I didn't want to delete one, 'Batman,' the Amiga platformer based on the 1989 film (**), which wouldn't load the second level, this Christmas' multiplayer fun with 'WWF Wrestlemania 2000 (****), 'The World Is Not Enough' (*****), Perfect Dark (***** - I rose to Elite:4 ranking!), Snowboard Kids (*****), Mario Kart 64 (*****), and 'Top Gear Rally 2' (**** - not for the multiplayer, but for the game overall).


Next Year - I've played so many of the great games or the ones I really wanted to replay, succeeded in 'PD,' 'Metroid,' 'Splinter Cell' and of course the Amiga 1500, not to mention getting back into reading NGamer Magazine as I found pdfs online for issues I didn't have, which in turn gives me more perspective on the Wii, but still in 2024 I'd like to:

- Get the Amiga down...  no, hang on I've done that already: plenty more Amiga games to complete, most likely 'Fire & Ice,' and 'Soccer Kid,' maybe 'Desert Strike,' and 'Simulcra'

- Seeing N64 games the way they should be seen means my hunger to get into that system, too, has increased and with purchases last year of 'Wipeout 64,' 'Blast Corps,' 'Operation Winback' and 'Lylat Wars,' I have a good selection of new experiences to choose from

- Don't want to forget the Wii, specifically longer games like 'Pirates' or 'Bully,' plus another 'Need For Speed'

- Ought to allow time for one, at least, of another title on 'Cube ('Starsky & Hutch' in honour of David Soul's recent death, perhaps?)

- 'Age of Empires III'? As the only version I can still play and my Father playing it so much in 2023 made me think about it again

- Christmas 'Zelda' will have to be either 'Link's Awakening' or 'Oracle of Ages,' or both (unless I get a Switch or 'Minish Cap' for GBA), or unless I can find a way to play 'Metroid Prime 2' since that's very similar...

Happy New Year!