The Muppets Take Manhattan

Data
Title: The Muppets Take Manhattan
Year: 1984
Length: 94 minutes
Director: Frank Oz
Writers: Frank Oz, Tom Patchett & Jay Tarses; story by Patchett & Tarses
Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz
With: Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, Juliana Donald, Lonny Price, Louis Zorich
Music: Ralph Burns (score); Jeff Moss (songs)
Cinematography: Robert Paynter
Editing: Evan A. Lottman
Oscars: nominated for Best Song Score
I saw it: on video many times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Synopsis: the Muppets try to open a musical on Broadway

My reaction
Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). Frogs and dogs and bears and chickens and things. The plot is dumb and cliche, but never in a way that stops the movie from working.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.9/4 3.0/4 (Good)

The Great Muppet Caper

Data
Title: The Great Muppet Caper
Year: 1981
Length: 95 minutes
Director: Jim Henson
Writers: Tom Patchett, Jay Tarses, Jerry Juhl & Jack Rose
Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz
With: Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Charles Grodin, Diana Rigg
Music: Joe Raposo
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Editing: Ralph Kemplen
Oscars: nominated for Best Song ("The First Time It Happens")
I saw it: on video many times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Synopsis: incompetent journalists try to catch a jewel thief

My reaction
Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good). Most of the songs are very good, but a couple are horribly tedious.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). The worst of the original Muppet trilogy, but that's not much of an insult. The identical twins jokes and the John Cleese bit are enough to make up for the several un-Muppet-y musical numbers.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.8/4 2.9/4 (Good)

Robin and Marian

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 12 of 13



Data
Title: Robin and Marian
Year: 1976
Length: 106 minutes
Director: Richard Lester
Writer: James Goldman
Starring: Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn
With: Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Nicol Williamson, Denholm Elliott, Kenneth Haigh, Ronnie Barker, Ian Holm
Music: John Barry
Cinematography: David Watkin
Editing: John Victor-Smith
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: Robin Hood, twenty years later

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent). What is that ending? What is that even?
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). Hooray for historical accuracy and realism!
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Connery is surprisingly entertaining. Richard Harris is great. Middle-Aged Audrey seems out of place, like she's not aware of her age or how to use it.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). It has a lot of strong parts, but doesn't work particularly well overall.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.6/4 (Good)

Contagion

Data
Title: Contagion
Year: 2011
Length: 106 minutes
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Scott Z. Burns
Starring: Matt Damon
With: Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anna Jacoby-Heron, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, Enrico Colantoni, Bryan Cranston, Griffin Kane, Sanaa Lathan, Demetri Martin, Elliott Gould, Chin Han, John Hawkes
Music: Cliff Martinez
Cinematography: Steven Soderbergh
Editing: Stephen Mirrione
I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Synopsis: a deadly virus spreads around the world

My reaction
Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad).
Characters: 1/4 (Bad). They could have been a lot worse, considering how little time is given to any character. That said, it would have been a much worse movie if any more time had been spent with any of these characters.
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Novel, but forgettable. There's no reason to care about anything in it, unless you're the sort to be scared by the plausibility.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.2/4 (Okay)

The Muppet Movie

Data
Title: The Muppet Movie
Year: 1979
Length: 95 minutes
Director: James Frawley
Writers: Jack Burns & Jerry Juhl
Starring: Jim Henson
With: Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Charles Durning, Austin Pendleton
Music: Paul Williams (score); Williams & Kenny Ascher (songs)
Cinematography: Isidore Mankofsky
Editing: Christopher Greenbury
Oscars: nominated for Best Adapted Score and Best Song ("Rainbow Connection")
I saw it: on video many times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Synopsis: a frog makes friends on his cross-country trip to Hollywood

My reaction
Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 4/4 (Great). It might not contain the most compelling of character developments, but I can't not give full points for the Muppets.
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). Kind of like the character category, it's not really fair to give 4/4 since the bulk of the design work was done for the TV show, not for the movie. Oh well.
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). My favorite movie.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.5/4 (Very good) 3.6/4 (Great)

The Tree of Life

Data
Title: The Tree of Life
Year: 2011
Length: 139 minutes
Director: Terrence Malick
Writer: Terrence Malick
Starring: Hunter McCracken
With: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Laramie Eppler, Tye Sheridan
Music: Alexandre Desplat (mostly non-original music)
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Editing: Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: the childhood formation of a man's personal relation to God

My reaction
Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible). Not that kind of movie.
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 4/4 (Great)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). I could have done without the CG dinosaurs, though.
Acting: 4/4 (Great)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Most of it is crazy great, but the ending ruined it for me. What better way to follow up an awe-inspiring death of the universe than with 15 minutes of people hugging on a beach? Bah.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.0/4 (Good)

Star Trek: The Animated Series: Season One (wrap-up)

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: Season One
Year: 1973-1974
etc: see individual episode posts (linked below)

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good). The concept of the show as a whole is good, although the episode-by-episode concepts only average out to about 2.4/4.
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent). Rounded up from an average of about 1.6/4.
Characters: 1/4 (Bad). Average: about 1.4/4.
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent). Average: about 1.8/4.
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent). Average: about 2.2/4.
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent). Average: 2.0/4.
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good). Average: about 3.2/4.
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). Average: about 1.7/4.
Music: 4/4 (Great). Average: about 3.9/4.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Average: about 5.9/10. The few great episodes are balanced out and then some by half-assed Saturday Morning crap.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

The episodes
sorted by subjective rating (objective rating in parentheses)
9/10
- "Beyond the Farthest Star" (3.0/4)
8/10
- "One of Our Planets Is Missing" (2.9/4)
7/10
- "The Survivor" (2.6/4)
- "The Time Trap" (2.7/4)
- "Yesteryear" (2.6/4)
- "More Tribbles, More Troubles" (2.6/4)
- "The Lorelei Signal" (2.2/4)
6/10
- "The Eye of the Beholder" (2.5/4)
- "The Slaver Weapon" (2.4/4)
- "The Terratin Incident" (2.3/4)
- "The Infinite Vulcan" (2.0/4)
5/10
- "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" (1.8/4)
4/10
- "Once Upon a Planet" (1.8/4)
- "Mudd's Passion" (1.9/4)
- "The Ambergris Element" (1.8/4)
2/10
- "Jihad" (1.0/4)

Star Trek: "The Jihad"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Jihad"
Year: 1974
Network: NBC
Episode: the last (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy
With: Majel Barrett, James Doohan, David Gerrold
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: Kirk and Spock explore Planet Plot Hole with a handful of weirdos

My reaction
Concept: 0/4 (Terrible)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent). It's the exact same music used in every other episode of the series, and yet somehow it's crappy here, while it was great everywhere else.
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible, 0/4). It's not as painful as "The Omega Glory," but it's a runner-up for the Worst Thing In The Star Trek Franchise prize.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.0/4 (Bad)

Firefly

Data
Title: Firefly: The Complete Series
Year: 2002
Network: Fox
Episodes: 14; 1 at about 90 minutes, 13 at about 45 minutes
Creator: Joss Whedon
Directors: Joss Whedon (3 episodes), Vern Gillum (2), Tim Minear (2), James A. Contner (1), Vondie Curtis-Hall (1), Marita Grabiak (1), Michael Grossman (1), Allan Kroeker (1), David Solomon (1), Thomas J. Wright (1)
Writers: Joss Whedon (5 episodes), Tim Minear (4), Ben Edlund (2), Jose Molina (2), Cheryl Cain (1), Jane Espenson (1), Drew Z. Greenberg (1), Brett Matthews (1)
Starring: Nathan Fillion
With: Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Richard Brooks, Michael Fairman, Christina Hendricks, Mark Sheppard
Music: Greg Edmonson
Cinematography: David Boyd
Editing: Sunny Hodge, Lisa Lassek, John Peter Bernardo
I saw it: on video many times, most recently over the past week (have on DVD)
Synopsis: space cowboys on the run from the law

My reaction
Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 4/4 (Great). Of course, it doesn't have an ending (apart from the crappy movie, Serenity), but I'm fine with that - it doesn't really need one.
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). So much fun to watch.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.5/4 (Very good) 3.6/4 (Great)

Wait until Dark

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 11 of 13



Data
Title: Wait until Dark
Year: 1967
Length: 108 minutes
Director: Terence Young
Writer: Robert Carrington & Jane-Howard Carrington, based on a play by Frederick Knott
Starring: Audrey Hepburn
With: Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jack Weston, Samantha Jones, Julie Herrod
Music: Henry Mancini
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Editing: Gene Milford
Oscars: nominated for Best Actress (Hepburn)
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a few days ago
Synopsis: a murderer hires con men to rob a blind woman

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 4/4 (Great)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Hepburn and Arkin are excellent. The rest of the cast is mediocre.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). Scary and exciting. It got under my skin.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.3/4 (Very good)

Star Trek: "The Eye of the Beholder"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Eye of the Beholder"
Year: 1974
Network: NBC
Episode: the fifteenth (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: David P. Harmon
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
With: Majel Barrett, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Synopsis: alien snuffle-monsters keep humans in a zoo

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good). "The Cage" minus the god-like powers.
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). Unoriginal, but otherwise it doesn't have any glaring faults.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.5/4 (Okay)

Sesame Street: Old School, Volume One

Data
Title: Sesame Street: Old School, Volume One
Years: 1969-1974
Network: PBS
Episodes: five (the first episode of each of the first five seasons), at about 1 hour each, plus about 2 hours of other sketches
Creator: Joan Ganz Cooney
Writers: Jeff Moss, Bruce Hart, Carol Hart, Jerry Juhl, Emily Perl Kaplin, Bob Oskner, Ray Sipherd, Norman Stiles, Jon Stone, Dan Wilcox
With: The Muppets (Fran Brill, Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson, Caroll Spinney, Frank Oz), Northern J. Calloway, Emilio Delgado, Will Lee, Loretta Long, Sonia Manzano, Bob McGrath, Harold Miller, Matt Robinson
Music: Joe Raposo, Jeffrey Moss, Bruce Hart, Jon Stone
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently over the past week (have on DVD)
Synopsis: some people and monsters really love the alphabet

My reaction
Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 0/4 (Terrible). Hey, don't get me wrong. I love the alphabet as much as the next guy. But let's be honest, it doesn't make for much of a narrative.
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). Good from the Muppets, bad from the humans.
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). It's annoying that it's only three discs - more than 600 episodes cut down to less than seven hours. But, whatever.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.8/4 2.9/4 (Good)

Star Trek: "The Slaver Weapon"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Slaver Weapon"
Year: 1973
Network: NBC
Episode: the fourteenth (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Larry Niven, based on his story
Starring: Leonard Nimoy
With: George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: rogue aliens have an ancient weapon that they don't know how to use

My reaction
Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad). "Wait, hold on, let me explain things for ten minutes."
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It would have been a good episode, if it was an episode of a different show. Niven forces his own universe into the Star Trek universe, and it doesn't fit. There's just too much history and mythology to explain that has no connection to anything in the show.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4/4 (Okay)

Star Trek: "The Ambergris Element"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Ambergris Element"
Year: 1973
Network: NBC
Episode: the thirteenth (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Margaret Armen
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
With: George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently a couple days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: Kirk and Spock are turned into merfolk

My reaction
Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). Crap.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.8/4 (Eh)

Labyrinth

Data
Title: Labyrinth
Year: 1986
Length: 101 minutes
Director: Jim Henson
Writer: Terry Jones; story by Dennis Lee & Jim Henson
Starring: David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly
With: Brian Henson, Ron Mueck, David Shaughnessy, Percy Edwards, Timothy Bateson, Michael Hordern, Denise Bryer (voices); Shari Weiser, Rob Mills, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Kevin Clash, Karen Prell, Frank Oz (performers)
Music: Trevor Jones (score); David Bowie (songs)
Cinematography: Alex Thomson
Editing: John Grover
I saw it: on video many times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Synopsis: a teenager must rescue her baby brother from a fantasy world

My reaction
Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 4/4 (Great)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites, 4/4 5/4). When I was a kid, whenever we'd rent movies from the library, this was the only one I ever wanted to get.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.4/4 3.5/4 (Very good)

Dawn of the Dead

Data
Title: Dawn of the Dead
Year: 1978 (Italy); 1979 (US)
Length: 126 minutes
Director: George A. Romero
Writer: George A. Romero
Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross
Music: Dario Argento & The Goblins
Cinematography: Michael Gornick
Editing: George A. Romero
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: zombie apocalypse survivors camp out in a mall

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent). Doesn't really have an ending - some people die, some don't, and that's it.
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good). It's much too long and drags a lot in a few places, but the majority of the movie is excellently paced.
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). It's no Night of the Living Dead, but it's engrossing and fun. More an action movie than horror.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.2/4 (Okay)

Mad Men: Season Two

Data
Title: Mad Men: Season Two
Year: 2008
Network: AMC
Episodes: 13, at about 47 minutes each
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Directors: Andrew Bernstein (3 episodes), Tim Hunter (2), Lesli Linka Glatter (2), Phil Abraham (2), Jennifer Getzinger (1), Alan Taylor (1), Michael Uppendahl (1), Matthew Weiner (1)
Writers: Matthew Weiner (11 episodes), André Jacquemetton (3), Maria Jacquemetton (3), Robin Veith (3), Lisa Albert (2), Rick Cleveland (1), Jane Anderson (1), Marti Noxon (1), Kater Gordon (1)
Starring: Jon Hamm
With: Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, Bryan Batt, Michael Gladis, Aaron Staton, Rich Sommer, John Slattery, Robert Morse, Mark Moses
Music: David Carbonara (and non-original music)
Cinematography: Chris Manley
Editing: Malcolm Jamieson, Cindy Mollo, Christopher Nelson, Tom Wilson
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past month
Synopsis: people in a 1960 advertising office drink a lot and have a lot of sex

My reaction
Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad). A sprawling, aimless mess.
Characters: 4/4 (Great)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). In the first season, I didn't care about the story, but at least there was a story to not care about. This feels more like an enormous epilogue to season one than a series of its own.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.5/4 (Okay)

Star Trek: "The Time Trap"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Time Trap"
Year: 1973
Network: NBC
Episodes: the twelfth (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Joyce Perry
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
With: George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently a few days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: many ships are trapped in an utopian pocket universe

My reaction
Concept: 4/4 (Great)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). It starts out very strong; at first I expected it to be one of the best episodes of the series. Sadly, it turns into an unmistakably made-for-children story about cooperation.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.7/4 (Good)

Star Trek: "The Terratin Incident"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Terratin Incident"
Year: 1973
Network: NBC
Episodes: the eleventh (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Paul Schneider
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
With: George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently a few days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: the incredible shrinking starship crew

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). There's some well-thought-out pseudo science, which is nice, but it doesn't extend far enough into finding a solution to the problem. Besides that, the ending of the episode feels somehow forced and awkward.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

Star Trek: "Mudd's Passion"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "Mudd's Passion"
Year: 1973
Network: NBC
Episodes: the tenth (of sixteen) from season one; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
With: Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, James Doohan, Roger C. Carmel
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently a few days ago (have on DVD)
Synopsis: a fugitive with a love potion tries to escape

My reaction
Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh, 2/4). A dull episode, in which every character behaves like an idiot.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)