[6.7/10] Eh, Dingo was never a character I was clamoring to see get a spotlight episode. Him teaming up with the gargoyles to fight a sentient pile of nanobot goo through stereotypical vision quest magic isn’t the best setup either. While I continue to like the idea of this Avalon travelogue, the actual installments of it continue to be hit or miss.
There is something cool about getting to meet Fox’s mother, who turns out to be a scientist running the usual groundbreaking experiments. (Part of my excitement may just be that she’s voiced by Kate Mulgrew, another Star Trek alum to appear on the show, after we got Colm Meaney last week!) There’s some solid worldbuilding there, seeing the Renards family connections extend out a bit further and advancing the timeframe via Fox’s pregnancy.
But there’s just not much of interest to Goliath and Dingo using a local shaman’s vision quest magic to commune with a generic A.I. that’s obsessed with “order.” It’s a grab bag of tired sci-fi ideas that were, perhaps, less tired in 1995, but still don't have much in the way of original angles or wrinkles to make this especially interesting.
I suppose it’s a little neat to watch Goliath and Dingo be able to create anything their minds can imagine, Green Lantern-style, int e dream space. But the resolution being that GOliath manages to speechify the Nanobot Matrix into submission is pretty tepid stuff. Likewise, it feels like we’re setting up a rushed backdoor pilot for Dingo the Australian Hero going around and saving the day in the outback with his sentient goo armor/buddy, and thank god that never got off the ground.
Overall, I can see what the show’s trying to do here, but between the misguided effort to recognize aboriginal spiritual practices and the strange combination of a fairly dull sci-fi story, this one is a cut below.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-08-01T19:17:21Z
[6.7/10] Eh, Dingo was never a character I was clamoring to see get a spotlight episode. Him teaming up with the gargoyles to fight a sentient pile of nanobot goo through stereotypical vision quest magic isn’t the best setup either. While I continue to like the idea of this Avalon travelogue, the actual installments of it continue to be hit or miss.
There is something cool about getting to meet Fox’s mother, who turns out to be a scientist running the usual groundbreaking experiments. (Part of my excitement may just be that she’s voiced by Kate Mulgrew, another Star Trek alum to appear on the show, after we got Colm Meaney last week!) There’s some solid worldbuilding there, seeing the Renards family connections extend out a bit further and advancing the timeframe via Fox’s pregnancy.
But there’s just not much of interest to Goliath and Dingo using a local shaman’s vision quest magic to commune with a generic A.I. that’s obsessed with “order.” It’s a grab bag of tired sci-fi ideas that were, perhaps, less tired in 1995, but still don't have much in the way of original angles or wrinkles to make this especially interesting.
I suppose it’s a little neat to watch Goliath and Dingo be able to create anything their minds can imagine, Green Lantern-style, int e dream space. But the resolution being that GOliath manages to speechify the Nanobot Matrix into submission is pretty tepid stuff. Likewise, it feels like we’re setting up a rushed backdoor pilot for Dingo the Australian Hero going around and saving the day in the outback with his sentient goo armor/buddy, and thank god that never got off the ground.
Overall, I can see what the show’s trying to do here, but between the misguided effort to recognize aboriginal spiritual practices and the strange combination of a fairly dull sci-fi story, this one is a cut below.