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Espresso Reviews


Reviews of films, genre television, books & contemporary classical music by the Espresso Addict

Latest reviews: tv: Doctor Who 'The Girl in the Fireplace'; DS9 S5 'In the Cards', 'Call to Arms', S6 'A Time to Stand'

> Doctor Who 1.01: Rose (2005) ***

The Doctor rescues a shop assistant, and plastic shop dummies take over London


> Doctor Who 1.02: The End of the World (2005) ***1/2

The Doctor takes Rose five billion years into the future


> Doctor Who 1.03: The Unquiet Dead (2005) **

Rose & the Doctor visit Cardiff in 1869


> Doctor Who 1.04,05: Aliens of London, WW3 (2005) **

An alien spaceship crashes into the Thames


> Doctor Who 1.06: Dalek (2005) ****

The Tardis is drawn to a museum of alien artefacts


> Doctor Who 1.07: The Long Game (2005) *1/2

With new companion Adam, the team visit a news satellite in the Fourth Earth Empire


> Doctor Who 1.08: Father's Day (2005) ***1/2

Rose travels back in time to meet her father


> Doctor Who 1.09: The Empty Child (2005) ****

The Tardis follows a time-travelling ship to London during the Blitz


> Doctor Who 1.10: The Doctor Dances (2005) ***1/2

Zombies, bombs & the battle of the sonic devices…


> Doctor Who 1.11: Boom Town (2005) ***

Alien of Cardiff…


> Doctor Who 1.12: Bad Wolf (2005) ***

The Doctor meets reality tv


> Doctor Who 1.13: The Parting of the Ways (2005) **1/2

The Daleks are back


> Doctor Who 2.01: New Earth (2006) **

The Doctor is called to a far-future hospital


> Doctor Who 2.02: Tooth and Claw (2006) ***

Meet Queen Victoria…


> Doctor Who 2.04: The Girl in the Fireplace (2006) ***1/2

Clockwork monsters & 18th C Versailles…


> DS9 S4 01,02: The Way of the Warrior (1995) ***

Worf is posted to DS9 as Federation relations with the Klingons decline


> DS9 S4 03: The Visitor (1995) ***1/2

Sisko is killed in an accident, Jake has a visitor


> DS9 S4 04: Hippocratic Oath (1995) ***1/2

O'Brien & Bashir are captured by the Jem'Hadar


> DS9 S4 05: Indiscretion (1995) **1/2

Kira teams with Dukat to investigate a lost Cardassian ship


> DS9 S4 06: Rejoined (1995) **

Dax is reunited with a former spouse


> DS9 S4 07: Little Green Men (1995) ***1/2

Quark, Rom & Nog visit 1947 Earth


> DS9 S4 08: Starship Down (1995) ***

The Defiant is crippled by a Jem'Hadar attack


> DS9 S4 09: The Sword of Kahless (1995) *1/2

Dax & Worf go on a Klingon quest


> DS9 S4 10: Our Man Bashir (1995) ****

It's Bashir, Julian Bashir…


> DS9 S4 11: Homefront (1996) ****

Earth is under threat from Changeling infiltration (part 1)


> DS9 S4 12: Paradise Lost (1996) ***

Earth is under threat from Changeling infiltration (part 2)


> DS9 S4 13: Crossfire (1996) ***

Shakaar visits the station


> DS9 S4 14: Return to Grace (1996) ***

Kira must work with a disgraced Dukat


> DS9 S4 15: Sons of Mogh (1996) ****

Worf's brother asks Worf to perform a ritual


> DS9 S4 16: Bar Association (1996) **1/2

Quark's employees form a union


> DS9 S4 17: Accession (1996) ****

A man emerges from the wormhole after 300 years


> DS9 S4 18: Rules of Engagement (1996) **

Worf is put on trial


> DS9 S4 19: Hard Times (1996) ****

O'Brien is imprisoned by aliens


> DS9 S4 20: Shattered Mirror (1996) **1/2

Jake is kidnapped to the mirror universe


> DS9 S4 21: The Muse (1996) *

An alien acts as Jake's muse


> DS9 S4 22: For the Cause (1996) ***

Kasidy is suspected of being a Maquis spy


> DS9 S4 23: To the Death (1996) ***1/2

Renegade Jem'Hadar attack the station


> DS9 S4 24: The Quickening (1996) ****

A planet is infected with an incurable disease by the Dominion


> DS9 S4 25: Body Parts (1996) ***

Quark has a terminal illness


> DS9 S4 26: Broken Link (1996) ***

Odo's molecular structure begins to disintegrate


> DS9 S5 01: Apocalypse Rising (1996) **

Sisko et al. go undercover on the Klingon homeworld


> DS9 S5 02: The Ship (1996) ***

Sisko attempts to salvage a crashed Jem'Hadar warship


> DS9 S5 03: Looking for Par'mach in All the Wrong Places (1996) ***

Quark's Klingon ex-wife visits the station


> DS9 S5 04: Nor the Battle to the Strong (1996) ****

Jake's trapped on a colony under Klingon attack


> DS9 S5 05: The Assignment (1996) ***

Keiko's taken hostage


> DS9 S5 06: Trials and Tribble-ations (1996) ****

The Defiant crew meet the Enterprise


> DS9 S5 07: Let He Who is Without Sin… (1996) *

The crew vacation on Risa


> DS9 S5 08: Things Past (1996) ***1/2

Sisko, Odo, Dax & Garak find themselves on occupied Terok Nor


> DS9 S5 09: The Ascent (1996) **

Odo & Quark crashland on a planet


> DS9 S5 10: Rapture (1996) ****

Sisko experiences visions


> DS9 S5 11: The Darkness and the Light (1997) ***

Kira's old friends are being murdered


> DS9 S5 12: The Begotten (1997) ***

Odo is given a baby Changeling


> DS9 S5 13: For the Uniform (1997) **

Sisko hunts the Maquis leader


> DS9 S5 14,15: In Purgatory's Shadow, By Inferno's Light (1997) ***1/2

A coded message is received from the Gamma quadrant


> DS9 S5 16: Doctor Bashir, I Presume (1997) **

Bashir is chosen as the template for a medical hologram


> DS9 S5 17: A Simple Investigation (1997) **

Odo has 'bedroom eyes'


> DS9 S5 18: Business As Usual (1997) ***

Quark becomes an arms dealer


> DS9 S5 19: Ties of Blood and Water (1997) ***

Kira's Cardassian surrogate father comes to the station


> DS9 S5 20: Ferengi Love Songs (1997) *

Quark goes to visit his mother to find love is in the air


> DS9 S5 21: Soldiers of the Empire (1997) *1/2

General Martok commands a Klingon ship for the first time since his capture


> DS9 S5 22: Children of Time (1997) ***

The Defiant encounters a time paradox


> DS9 S5 23: Blaze of Glory (1997) ***1/2

An intercepted message about Maquis missiles forces Sisko to seek help


> DS9 S5 24: Empok Nor (1997) **1/2

A salvage operation on an abandoned station doesn't go to plan


> DS9 S5 25: In the Cards (1997) ****

Jake enlists Nog to try to cheer up his father as the Dominion shadow darkens


> DS9 S5 26: Call to Arms (1997) ***

Sisko decides to stop Dominion ships arriving by mining the wormhole


> DS9 S6 1: A Time to Stand (1997) ***

The war's not going well, and tensions are mounting on the station




> Click to visit review, after picking a medium from the menu on the left. Reviews open in a new window & may contain plot spoilers
***** Superb, highly recommended
**** Recommended, significantly better than average of its type
*** A reasonably enjoyable 1 or 2 hours, but nothing special
** Some good moments, but overall not recommended
* If your taste is like mine, go out of your way to avoid



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