Favorite Episodes of “THE FLASH” Season Two (2015-2016)

Below is a list of my favorite episodes from Season Two of “THE FLASH”, the CW adaptation of the D.C. Comics hero, the Flash. Created by Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns, and Andrew Kreisberg; the series stars Grant Gustin as Barry Allen aka the Flash:

FAVORITE EPISODES OF “THE FLASH” SEASON TWO (2015-2016)

1. (2.11) “The Reverse-Flash Returns” – When Earth-2’s Dr. Harrison “Harry” Wells learns how to induce Cisco Ramon’s new ability, they discover that Eobard Thawne, last year’s Big Bad, is still alive. Iris West says good-bye to her dying mother. And Patty Spivot, the new girlfriend of Barry Allen aka the Flash and Joe West’s new partner, discovers Barry’s secret.

2. (2.22) “Invincible” – This season’s Big Bad, Zoom, unleashes an army of evil Earth-2 meta-humans, who are lead by Laurel Lance aka Black Canary’s Earth-2 doppelganger, Black Siren.

3. (2.14) “Escape From Earth-2” – On Earth-2, Team Flash asks for help from an unexpected source to find Zoom’s lair. And on Earth-1, Caitlin Snow, the team’s bio engineer, tries to perfect the Velocity-9 formula so Earth-2’s Flash aka Jay Garrick can stop the Geomancer.

4. (2.04) “The Fury of Firestorm” – Months after the death of Ronnie Raymond, Dr. Martin Stein’s body begins to destabilize and Team Flash helps him find a new partner with whom he can merge into Firestorm.

5. (2.23) “The Race of His Life” – With Zoom’s true plans revealed, Team Flash fears Barry’s resolve to do whatever it takes to stop the villain on the heels of a personal tragedy.

Honorable Mention: (2.21) “The Runaway Dinosaur” – On the heels of Harry’s experiment to restore Barry’s speed, the latter finds himself in the Speed Force and tries to return to his old life.

Starfleet Uniforms in “STAR TREK: PICARD”

 

STARFLEET UNIFORMS IN “STAR TREK: PICARD”

Recently, I have come across a good number of articles on the Internet about the the upcoming CBS All Access series and recent addition to the STAR TREK franchise, “STAR TREK: PICARD”. I admit that my curiosity about the new series has led to some kind of anticipation for it during the past several months. There is one aspect of my curiosity that has been settled – namely the costume designs for the Starfleet uniforms to be featured in the new series.

According to the publicity surrounding “PICARD”, it is supposed to be set at least twenty years after the events of the 2002 film, “STAR TREK NEMESIS” . . . roughly around 2399. This period – namely the end of the 24th century and the early years of the 25th century – in Federation/Starfleet history has already been featured in television shows like “STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE” and “STAR TREK VOYAGER”. Because of my memories of the Starfleet uniform designs featured in those episodes, I realized that it did not jibe with the new uniform designs for “PICARD”, as shown in the image below:

It had occurred to me that this new uniform design for “PICARD” reminded me of the Starfleet uniforms worn between Seasons One and early Season Five on “DEEP SPACE NINE” and throughout “STAR TREK VOYAGER” (which was set in the Delta Quadrant), as shown in the images below:

 

I found this rather odd, considering that the time period for “DEEP SPACE NINE” and “VOYAGER” stretched from 2369 to 2377-78. Had the uniforms for Starfleet changed so little during the 20-30 years period? Not quite. Starting in 2373, Starfleet officers and crewmen wore new uniforms shown not only in Seasons Five to Seven of “DEEP SPACE NINE”, but also in various STAR TREK movies, beginning with the 1996 film, “STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT”:

So what happened? Did Christine Bieselin Clark, the costume designer for “PICARD” had decided to create a new twist on the uniforms featured in “VOYAGER” and the earlier seasons for “DEEP SPACE NINE”? Or had she forgotten those uniforms featured in at least two STAR TREK uniforms set in the future? What am I referring to?

There was an episode that aired in early Season Four of “DEEP SPACE NINE” called (4.03) “The Visitor” in which Captain Benjamin Sisko had disappeared due to an inversion of the Bajoran Wormhole. The episode featured how his son Jake Sisko’s life would have eventually unfolded over the years. The episode included a scene set 25 to 30 years later in which two of Captain Sisko’s officers – Julian Bashir and Jadzia Dax had visited Jake, wearing Starfleet uniforms:

One could dismiss this as a possible future uniform for Starfleet personnel. And yet; in the series finale for “VOYAGER” called (7.25-7.26) “Endgame”, which began in 2404 and featured an elderly Admiral Kathryn Janeway plotting a trip to the past to change the future for the crew of U.S.S. Voyager.; the same uniform design was featured:

Had Clark, along with creator Alex Kurtzman, and the other producers of “PICARD”, simply decided to forgo those future uniforms featured in both “DEEP SPACE NINE” and “VOYAGER”? Had Clark even seen those episodes? Or did she decided to create new Starfleet uniforms that were similar to the more familiar uniform featured in the STAR TREK television shows set during the 2370s for the sake of nostalgia? Regardless of the answer, I can only feel that this is a step down for the new series.

 

 

 

Top Ten Most Depressing “STAR TREK VOYAGER” Episodes

Below is a list of what I believe to be the top ten (10) most depressing or darkest ”STAR TREK VOYAGER” episodes:

 

 

TOP TEN MOST DEPRESSING “STAR TREK VOYAGER” EPISODES

1. ”Memorial” – Chakotay, Tom Paris, Harry Kim, and Neelix begin to experience strange visions after an away mission. Voyager’s crew discover that the four had earlier encounter a war memorial that convey memories of a past military massacre. (Season 6)

 

 

 

2. ”Course: Oblivion” – After B’Elanna Torres and Tom Paris get married, subspace radiation causes the crew and their ship to disintegrate. (Season 5)

 

 

 

3. ”Tuvix” – A transporter accident merges Tuvok and Neelix into a new person. (Season 2)

 

 

 

4. ”Deadlock” – A duplicate Voyager is created after it passes through a spatial scission, after the original ship tries to evade a Vidian ship. (Season 2)

 

 

 

5. ”Prey” – Voyager rescues a Hirogen survivor who tells them a new kind of prey is on the loose – namely a stranded Species 8472 trying to return home. (Season 4)

 

 

 

6. ”Hunters” – A transmission from Starfleet Command gets held at a Hirogen relay station and Janeway sets course to retrieve it, along with letters from home for the crew. (Season 4)

 

 

 

7. ”Extreme Risk” – B’Elanna Torres purposely puts herself into increasingly more dangerous situations, in order to deal with her survivor’s guilt over the destruction of the Maquis. Meanwhile the crew decides to build a new shuttlecraft, the Delta Flyer. (Season 5)

 

 

 

8. ”Friendship One” – The crew is sent on its first mission by Starfleet in years: to find a lost probe from Earth’s past that has endangered a planet in the Delta Quadrant. (Season 7)

 

 

 

9. ”Thirty Days” – Tom Paris disregards orders by helping an aquatic world and pays the price for his actions. (Season 5)

 

 

 

10. ”Mortal Coil” – Neelix dies in an attempt to sample proto-matter from a nebula. Seven-of-Nine revives him using Borg nanoprobes, but Neelix finds it hard to adjust to resurrection, especially since he has no memory of an afterlife of any kind. (Season 4)

What are your choices?