"The Immortal Loom" Official Review Thread, SPOILER WARNING! Options

[Rob_C]

With "The Immortal Loom" in limited release, here's the place to review it!

Wide release will be later this week/weekend.

Enjoy!

Rob

[TheUSSRowling]

After what seems like an eternity, we are back into the Andromeda Galaxy following the USS Odyssey.

This was a great treat to come home to tonight after a long day of classes.

Nothing bad that I can see upon my first view, with amazing performances from Julia, Adam and Natalie. Snow effects were amazing, and I'm glad to see Matt again

Although, I do wonder what

Spoiler (highlight to view):

Vito and the Grand Majan's cameo

is going to do in 2.03.

Also... the Seram/Dagad sex scene, creepy. The words Grand Majan Seram...creepier...

[TheWriter]

Okay, now I'm going to be bluntly honest here - if the grading scale allowed for plus or minus grades, I would've given this a B-Plus. Why?

A major character not quite in character: I'm referring mainly to General Morrigu. John Whiting delivers a fine performance, and he has nothing to apologize for - but the writing of his scene with Melantko has him appearing to enjoy threatening the Kelvan with torture or death - not quite the intellectual officer we knew in Season 1, who sought to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

That was the only (I hesitate to use the word 'flaw', because it's too harsh. Let us say 'anomaly') in this otherwise outstanding episode!

Matthew Montgomery looked very strange with his new clean-shaven look in this episode. I kinda liked the scruffy look on him. That aside, he also delivered his usual stellar performance as newly released Dr. Vaughan.

Those are my only gripes - now onto the good stuff!

The story flows extremely well, especially concerning Stadi and Caecus's characters. Kudos to the props department for rigging a cool VISOR for our Archein guide. To be frank, Julia Morizawa was amazing in the climax scene! I was totally wowed by her anguished performance, feeling her personal agony! WAY TO GO JULIA!!! (She's why I rate this an 'A' instead of 'B')

Brandon's monologue about Ro's hatred of Betras, and his abandoning her to her death is the first time we've seen his own feeling of guilt, and man, it adds depth to this already complex character, one of my top faves in the entire HF-verse.

As for Grand Majan Seram - DAMN! I thought she was scary before! Now she answers to no one! A maniac like Seram without someone to impede her is a terrifying thought! And her bedroom scene with Dagad - it seemed like Beau was struggling not to laugh, which added to it, imho. But still, it seems like Seram really does have a thing for 'young males'. Dagad is the next youngest one we've seen, aside from Caecus, so . . . eeeep!

I also must extend compliments to Gareth Ortiz-Timson for a wonderful musical score - in particular, for Caecus and Stadi's scene in his quarters where they discuss the Great Ones.

Simon Fraser's small appearance as Lipinski was a nice bit of continuity with the audio series "Star Trek: Diplomatic Relations". Somebody better let Alex Matthews know that Lipinski's a few million light-years away now! LOL

Also, did Basha's Great Ones domain seem a little familiar? :-)

So, aside from those tiny issues I mentioned at the beginning, this was an outstanding episode, and I am eager for more!!

(Oh, and something I can't help mentioning - in the bloopers reel, Michelle messed up the name Basha Riista and called her Brista - a name I used in a fan-fic as General Morrigu's ex-wife! Ahh, the comedy that is life!)

This post has been edited by TheWriter: Aug 24 2009, 05:11 PM

[Mynna]

I quite liked this episode and found it well worth the wait. The acting of everyone was superb. I was blown away. Brandon's speech about Betras and what happened on the sphere made me ache.

Poor Stadi. She can't seem to get a break. I find her budding friendship/relationship with Caceus adorable and refreshing and wish to see more of it. All in all, great job guys! Can't wait for more.

[Thalek]

Don't blame the writers, Writer: that was my interpretation. I wondered if it was the right thing to do, and apparently, it may not have been.

[enterprise_1701e]

I thought the episode was good on the whole, and it shows some more depth to the characters. Although it does raise the questions of how Seram became so cruel, unforgiving, and personality development.

Also, it seems a few more pieces of the puzzle may be falling into place, although it is still a little fuzzy.

I wonder what's going on in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants atm though, with the new Archein developments.

[New Homelands]

All in all a good episode. I especially liked the snow planet (A nice change from the usual wooded forest). CGI was great as well as the acting; with that being said the only thing that I didn’t like about the episode was the doctor. Oh the acting was first rate, but I was startled to see him without the beard. Personally I prefer the scruffy look.

Seeing as that’s my only complaint I think it’s safe to say that you’ve made another great episode.

[dmagiclight]

I Thought this was one of the best episodes so far,the acting was stellar and I love the plot.
personally i am waiting for a scene with Aster & Ro

[Chroniton]

Stadi centric Good
F/F kiss Good
Archein feeling regret over the Kelvin massacre Good
Rotation of crew to find their best department Good
Basha Good
Stadi/Basha fight Good
The idea the Great ones are the same species as the wormhole aliens, (Prophets) Good

Score: B/C.

Generally though I think this episode didn't match 2x01 for me. The first reason was the seeming lack of any anger from T'lorra against Caecus despite the fact he was the,'partner', (and son according to the wiki) of Majan Sarem that ordered the attcks on Romulan territory. The entire fake questioning to cover up her delievery of the visor felt like watching an ambarassed girl give her boyfriend a present. I've nothing against the idea of Caecus/T'Lorra relationship but why would she would trust him an ex-senior member of, "people whow would gladly see my home burn". The second is the whole Basha part of the story felt rushed. She was supoosedly a clever thinker but never thought to cover her tracks when using her fellow scientists as test subjects or were some oe all of them willing volunteers? We don't get any real explainiation from her as to why she believes and how her, 'ascendation' technology worked just, "I can make it all better". To see an element of doubt appear in her beliefs after kissing Stadi would have made some sense too. Thirdly Acting Cheif Engineer Gillen appears to have turned Cadfeal like as he goes on about the entry wounds, reading the translations, and so forth, it's that what the Doctor and first officer,(Subcommander) should be saying? This coupled with the fact in series 1 Ro was able to stop a core breach simply by pressing a few LCARS buttons while Gillen panicked as he scanned the warpcore makes me think he should have been a security or medical ensign instead. The fourth reason is that Stadi wasn't punished for killing Basha, on Voyager Suder the Betazoid killer was at least locked in his quarters.

This post has been edited by Chroniton: Aug 31 2009, 03:22 PM

[sffilk]

B here as well.

One thing I did see which I'm not sure I was supposed to is when Caecus first puts on the VISOR, you can still see the pretty LED's blinking on the side of his head because the VISOR was put on above them. Later on, you don't see the LED's - were they not on him then (as in due to makeup)?

I was also wondering if

Spoiler (highlight to view):

the Great Ones are the same or similar to the Celestial Prophets.

.

[Captain Serek]

I enjoyed this episode immensely. Acting and all the elements were superb.

[Chroniton]

I was also wondering if

Spoiler (highlight to view):

the Great Ones are the same or similar to the Celestial Prophets.

.

Either that or they used the white background as the tradional Trek, 'religious place' shots like in TNG: Tapestry, and in DS9: the Celestrial temple in the wormhole.

[DAHstra]

I found myself really wanting it to continue. But alas, I know it will be a while.

[manamar]

I found myself really wanting it to continue. But alas, I know it will be a while.

Ah! Not just me then! I know the phrase "always leave them wanting more" is often applied, but rarely so well. Loved the final scene between Stadi and Ro.

Eric

[Lonewriter]

This is one of my favorite episodes yet. Well done everyone. I do have a technical nitpick, during some of the scenes, the sound was off, like a hissing sound. I want to really give a special shout out to the actors, you guys should be on TV or the movies! My favorite scene was between Stadi and Basha, I might have a guess what the gateway Basha was talking about. I also loved the scene between Stadi and Caecus, it reminded me of the scenes between Kes and Tuvok on Voyager. Keep up the good work everyone. I can't wait for the next episode.

[TheRealArtim]

it seemed like Beau was struggling not to laugh

I was actually going for the whole "i just made it with the grand majan." feeling. You know....elated....feeling on top of the world. If that was not properly delivered, I apologize, it seems I have more work to do on my craft.

[DAHstra]

That "elated" feeling is what I got from your performance. I can see how on the edge of laughter that might have seemed, because there would have been those internal "YAHOOS!" going on inside your character's head.

But, I have to be the first to say, they should have had more of you shown!

This post has been edited by DAHstra: Sep 1 2009, 11:13 PM

[sabarwolf]

Very well done episode. More later, I hope.

[DHillMSP]

I was actually going for the whole "i just made it with the grand majan." feeling. You know....elated....feeling on top of the world. If that was not properly delivered, I apologize, it seems I have more work to do on my craft.

I thought you pulled off that feeling fairly well, personally. Plus I do seem to recall from the bloopers that there was a certain cat that wanted a go at making it a threesome, so I'm sure that was a more challenging scene than usual....

I did also notice the sound issue that has been referred to (and it was mentioned by a few other viewers I've chatted with recently). From my POV, it sounded like maybe the air conditioner was on high or something....

[Rob_C]

Definitely on *high*, though what you are hearing is probably the fans that were also fairly high. It's just been too hot to film this summer, so we'll bear that in mind this time next year. I think this episode bore the brunt of that issue (at least I hope).

Rob