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The X Files: Fight Club (2000)
Awful writing, pointless stupidity
This episode was possibly the worst the show ever had. There were so many contrived coincidences and moronic scenes that it boggles the mind to learn that Chris Carter wrote this. It was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, but it was just plain stupid and boring. The 7th season was horrible, with this turkey airing right after "Hollywood AD," another abomination that deserves to be buried and never aired again."First Person Shooter" was another horrendous 7th season travesty, as was "The Amazing Maleeni," "The Goldberg Variation" and "X Cops" and the insufferable and pretentious "Closure," which made a mockery out of the suffering of those who have lost young children with this cheesy feel-good story about murdered children all going away to a better place. Canceling what was once perhaps the best show on TV at this point would have been a mercy killing.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Elementary, Dear Data (1988)
Another boring holodeck melodrama
With all the problems they have with the holodeck, Starfleet would either have had them removed or installed with easily accessible escape keys. This melodramatic plot device is used too often (more than once is too often) because the show didn't have enough ideas. It's a weak excuse to provide cheesy stories and this is a prime example. They couldn't come up with enough original stories, so they use the plot device of a Sherlock Holmes mystery.
The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985)
Worst anthology I've ever seen!
With great anticipation I bought the entire series on DVD. Knowing Ray Bradbury's reputation, I expected outstanding stories on a par with Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone. To call this series a disappointment would be a gross understatement. After viewing over 50 of the series 65 episodes and finding only about 5 that were decent, I'm convinced this is the worst anthology I've ever seen. Most of the episodes are just plain dumb. Many episodes have major logic gaps. Story problems are simply ignored in most episodes. Many of these come off as first draft stories written by a child. Bradbury wrote all or almost all of them based on original stories of his own. I am simply dumbfounded by how poor the writing is. In many instances the dialogue does not ring true as to the way people really talk, which is just another flaw in this truly horrible series. I just had the displeasure of watching two ridiculous and pointless Season 6 episodes: "The Happiness Machine" and "The Anthem Sprinter," both about as enjoyable as a root canal. Bradbury also shows his fixation on Mars, with several episodes centered there without the characters required to wear suits. This series was produced in the mid-1980's, well after the fact that Mars did not contain an atmosphere that would support human life. Bradbury either didn't know or didn't care. Such laziness is unacceptable. Based on this I would never read anything written by him again. The only conclusion one can come to after watching this monstrosity is that Ray Bradbury is staggeringly overrated.
SeaQuest DSV: SeaWest (1993)
Stupid western plot
This episode was abominable. Western cliches, bad writing and sub-par acting combined to make a lousy episode. The first season of this show was really well done, but this episode was a real stinker.
The Prisoner: The Girl Who Was Death (1968)
Waste of time watching
A moronic romp through a ridiculous story. The idiotic, "Wild Wild West" type stunts and traps were insultingly stupid and tiresome. The writing was so bad it was painful watching this episode. It hurt to see this fine show, which began with such great promise, producing such garbage as this and the previous episode. The people behind this had run out of ideas and they didn't deserve to hold onto their jobs. Embarrassing.
The Prisoner: Living in Harmony (1967)
Pointless and stupid
This episode is a pointless excuse to force a western plot into "The Prisoner," and it fails in every way. It is unbelievable, poorly written, poorly directed and stuffed with every western cliche you could imagine. A useless waste of a precious episode in this short-lived series that seemed to suggest that the producers had run out of ideas. David Tomblin did some fine work, but this was an embarrassment.
Bonanza: Square Deal Sam (1964)
Absolute trash
SPOILER ALERT: Review contains spoilers. This is one of the worst episodes of any TV show I've ever seen. The main stars and recurring characters all act like gullible, naive fools. The story is completely illogical and utterly unbelievable. Apparently attempted to be humorous, the script is absolute garbage. Hoss invites two strangers he's known for two minutes to come and stay at the Ponderosa as if it were a hotel. Sam Washburn swindles the Cartwrights, their cook, a local gambler and half of the townspeople by selling his worthless land to them that he claims has a rich copper mine on it. Even though he swindled the four Cartwrights and Hop Sing, they prop him up and let him keep the money he swindled from them to buy and run the general store, where he can swindle the whole town. A local gambler wins Hop Sing's 10% of the land, and without checking as to whether or not it has value, tries to buy the whole property. The fact that Sam is running a general store while supposedly owning the valuable copper mine isn't questioned by the gambler. Without any logical reason, he just accepts that the land is valuable. They why would Sam sell all of it? After the truth comes out, Sam tells another lie regarding his intention to use the money to build an orphanage. So naturally the gambler and rest of the people Sam swindled all vote to let Sam keep the money and run the orphanage. He swindled the Cartwrights twice and the rest of the town once and was on the verge of running with the money when the deputy caught him, but they trust him with the over $2,000 collected to build the orphanage. And Sam's wife talks about how Sam always bungles, yet he successfully swindles everyone. He doesn't bungle, he's just too immobile to make good his escape. Jessica Benson wrote "Enter Thomas Bowers," a fine episode of Bonanza. This makes me assume that co-writer Murray Golden turned this into the trash that it was. His co-writer credit for this episode is his only writing credit, and it's no wonder.
The Tall Man: Three for All (1962)
Blatant ripoff of Rifleman episode by same writer!
My rating is based on the fact that this is not an original script, but a blatant ripoff of "The Rifleman" episode "Bloodlines," written by the same person who wrote this episode. This episode is nothing special anyway, but the fact that it's not original work makes it worse. Disappointing that so many writers would re-purpose their own stuff for different shows. The show pays for an original episode, and they get a ripoff. I like both of these shows a lot, so this bothers me. And Hollywood has always made it difficult for new writers to break in. They'd rather give jobs to people who do things like this. The Rifleman episode in question is located at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0686597/
Space: 1999: End of Eternity (1975)
Excellent episode, great guest acting by Peter Bowles
Spoiler alert! Some plot points revealed, but not any major one's and not the resolution. Excellent episode. A play on the story of the Archangel Lucifer, branded Satan (literally "the Adversary") being cast into a pit for rebellion. John Koenig and his team release this version of the Devil from his pit, and predictably, all hell breaks loose on Moonbase Alpha. Atmospheric and moody, this episode places John Koenig and the Alphans in the dilemma of either accepting the path chosen by this immortal being, or fighting him without any known way of killing him. The episode builds slowly, but is infused with a wonderful fight scene without sound (except for excellent music) which adds to the unusual feel. The fight scene seems to be more from the alien Balor's POV as we see strangers accosting him, making him seem almost sympathetic when he pleads for a stop to the attack on him. Slowly but surely they realize that he is dangerously insane and bent on ruling through terror and that he enjoys the giving of pain, which is what he believes brings meaning to life. Koenig finally comes up with a plan to defeat him, but it's a dangerous plan that may get him killed.
Overland Trail: Sour Annie (1960)
Ripoff of the Wagon Train episode "The Cliff Grundy Story"
This episode is almost a complete ripoff of "The Cliff Grundy Story," which was written by Aaron Spelling. See my review of "The Overland Trail" episode "The Baron Comes Back," another ripoff of a Wagon Train episode by this same "writer," B.L. James. Other than the ripoffs, I like "The Overland Trail" TV series. If you watch the Wagon Train episode and this episode back-to-back, you will be amazed and disgusted by the brazen ripoff of dialogue, plot, and even scenes and sequences. The character names are changed, of course, as are references that wouldn't make sense since Kelly and Flip don't run a wagon train. But the episode is such a blatant ripoff that it completely ruins my viewing pleasure. It's despicable that this hack B.L. James was able to commit what I consider to be fraud by taking money for these scripts that were ripped off from another series.
Overland Trail: The Baron Comes Back (1960)
Episode ripoff of Wagon Train's "The Riley Gratton Story"
This episode is almost a complete ripoff of "The Riley Gratton Story" episode of Wagon Train, written by William Fay from a story by Dwight Newton. The "writer" of "The Baron Comes Back," if you can call this fraud B.L. James a writer, follows the plot incident-by-incident, with almost exact dialogue, too. The Wagon Train episode aired in 1957. B.L. James, also wrote "Sour Annie," which was a ripoff of the Wagon Train episode "The Cliff Grundy Story," which was written by Aaron Spelling. To me, this is out-and-out theft. The "writer" is paid for original work and rips off an episode of another series almost verbatim, changing only a few things and some things necessary because it's a different show. What a colossal fraud this so-called writer B.L. James is. James should have been sued for plagiarism. Overall, I like "The Overland Trail," but this fraud disgusts me. It's difficult for new writers to break into the industry, and crooks like this practically steal money and still were able to get work.
Lost in Space: Space Beauty (1968)
Voice of Fire Ruler of "strange, shadowy planet"
The voice actor wasn't credited, but his voice sounded like actor Gary Raymond to me. Raymond played Moffatt in "The Rat Patrol" and guest-starred as Colonel John Grey in "The Man Who Came Back" episode of the British Science Fiction TV Series, "UFO." This episode was pretty bad and relied on comedy, which was better in episodes with weak plots and bad writing like this one. There is at least one unanswered question in this episode, too. Did Don West see the aliens who knocked him out when they entered the Jupiter-2 late at night? Also, this episode hints at an almost demonic possession of Farnum, whose soul has been sold by his agent. The idea that a being consisting of fire would find a human female beautiful and attractive is ludicrous, but fantasy and science fiction hack writers often resort to this moronic plot device. Farnum actually mention how absurd it is for a being to find a being of another species attractive in his conversation with Will Robinson, but the writer still manages to ignore his own lesson and make this the plot device that comprises the final conflict. Farnum was an outrageous, absurd character, but this series was at its best in the beginning when it was serious science fiction.