[[Website/SFDebris Main Page]] | '''Tropes A to F''' | SFDebris/TropesGToL | SFDebris/TropesMToR | SFDebris/TropesSToZ | [[YMMV/SFDebris YMMV]] | [[Characters/SFDebris SFDebris's Character Interpretations]] | [[RunningGag/SFDebris Running Gags]] | [[ShoutOut/SFDebris Shout Outs]]

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* AbortedArc: Hates how most Trek two-part series cliffhangers aren't written at the same time (several are the season finale and next season premiere), leading to them simply forgetting or not resolving plot-threads put forward in the first part.
** Notes how in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E26S7E1UnimatrixZero}} Unimatrix Zero]]" the Borg Queen makes a cryptic comment that she'll be seeing Harry Kim ''very'' soon, is ''never'' brought up or mentioned again.
** He specifically gives credit to part two of a [=DS9=] two parter: "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E20ImprobableCause}} Improbable Cause]]/[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E21TheDieIsCast}} The Die Is Cast]]". He notes that despite the second part being written by a different team of writers, it manages to maintain and build upon the plot of the first. And further adds how "Improbable Cause" was meant to be a stand alone episode which was transformed into a two-part story and still maintained the plot of the first.
* AccentuateTheNegative: Even the most positively reviewed episodes focus more on the negatives than the positives, which can make the score at the end seem like whiplash given how little good was often noted.
** This is particularly noticeable in his ''[[Film/StarTrekFirstContact First Contact]]'' review, which is almost entirely pointing out plot holes and snarking, yet ends with a score of 8/10.
*** He then did more or less ecactly the same thing to the Voyager episode [[https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v850.php Future's End]]. He ragged on the villain for being basically cartoonishly evil and incompetent, criticised the constant regional stereotyping, bemoaned how the story had to be cut short (as it was supposed to be a 3-parter) in such a clumsy way and pointed out all the plot holes that the reckless use of time travel by the writers introduced, and then scored it 8/10.
** He gave 8/10 to the ''Voyager'' episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E23Relativity}} Relativity]]" too, even after pointing out how utterly stupid its plot was and asserting that the major theme of the episode was "I don't give a shit". In the end he said he found it enjoyable and fun in spite of (or because of?) it's stupidity. It's also worth noting that that score is relative to an average ''Voyager'' episode, which is a pretty low standard to pass.
** And also in the ''Voyager'' 30th Trek anniversary episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E2Flashback}} Flashback]]". He repeatedly points out, while tearing bits of it to shreds that it's ''not'' actually a bad episode, it's actually a really ''good'' episode of ''Voyager'', compared to the others and it ''does'' do its job to entertain the ''Voyager'' fans. But he makes a point that even Brannon Braga, the writer of said episode, agreed that it was a poor contest when compared to ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'''s 30th Trek anniversary episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".
** He addresses this tendency when he reviews the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]] episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E13TheConscienceOfTheKing}} The Conscience of the King]]"; ironically, despite affirming his "nothing is sacred" attitude and insisting that it applies even to TOS, he then goes on to give it a glowing review.
** All of the scores are relative to the series, so things like displaying badly dated values don't affect the score.
** One way he likes to do this is to review an episode of something else that addresses similar themes, only much better before reviewing the target of his ire itself. For example he reviewed the [=DS9=] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E14Whispers Whispers]]" and its explorations of the implications of cloning a sentient being just before reviewing the TNG episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E18UpTheLongLadder}} Up The Long Ladder]]" mainly so he could use what was discussed previously purely to mock how that episode dealt with a similar issue.
*** He did a similar thing in the post-episode coda of "[[{{Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E13DearDoctor}} Dear Doctor]]", showing Sisko's tearful confession of his crimes from "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E19InThePaleMoonlight}} In the Pale Moonlight]]", which wound up ''saving'' billions, and then having ''that'' scene be back-to-back with Doctor Phlox from "Dear Doctor," talking about how ''proud'' he was that Archer took his advice and did not interfere with the Valakians or the Menk, winding up ''killing'' billions!
* AccidentalInnuendo:
** Invoked during "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E6TheGame}} The Game]]", where he jokes that before we discover they're ''actually'' talking about the titular game, the conversation sounds more like Crusher and Troi laughing at the latest STD Riker picked up on Risa.
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E7Rascals}} Rascals]]", whilst talking about some of the difficulties that occur whenever doing a show involving child actors, Chuck mentions his own growth spurt during puberty;
--->'''Chuck:''' Between the ages of 12 and 14, I grew 11 inches... ''taller!''
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E5RememberMe}} Remember Me]]", Chuck puts the audio of the Traveler instructing Wesley on how to save his mother over a still shot of [[AutoErotica a shuttlecraft]]. Suddenly, everything the Traveler says comes off a lot creepier:
--->'''The Traveler:''' There's "your warp bubble", Wesley.
** He couldn't talk about Harry Kim's musical hobbies without running into these. Finally he just gave up:
--->'''Chuck:''' ''[{{beat}}]'' Harry has a clarinet.
** Has an entire montage of them in part seven of his ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' review collected from Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes.
** Gwen unzipping her flight suit in front of some guards to finish them off-- "I mean, kill them!" (''Film/GalaxyQuest'')
* AccidentalMisnaming: Co-Executive Producer Brandon Braga!
-->"It's, uh, ''Brannon.'' We've worked together for nine years. I..thought you'd have remembered that."
* AcronymConfusion: POTC: ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'' or ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''?
** He '''''really''''' wanted to see [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny Jesus battling a Kraken.]]
* ActingForTwo:[[invoked]] Comments on this a few times where Creator/RobertPicardo is concerned: he liked "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E24LifeLine Life Line]]" for having twice as much Picardo as usual (since Picardo plays both the Doctor and Lewis Zimmerman), and in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS7E18AuthorAuthor}} Author, Author]]", he facetiously suggests that maybe the reason that Zimmerman doesn't appear is that they couldn't get the actor on short notice.
** Gives kudos to Creator/BrentSpiner for his work in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E12Datalore}} Datalore]]" and "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E3Brothers}} Brothers]]" (''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]''), managing to play several believably-distinct characters in the same scene.
** Also comments on how well Roxann Dawson did with playing Klingon Torres and Human Torres during "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E13Faces Faces]]" (''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager VOY]]''), with both characters being sufficiently distinct from the original "half-and-half" Torres.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: He admitted that Jack pretending to be Rex's boyfriend and Rex flipping him off in ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' was pretty funny.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: This bit from his "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E3WhereNoManHasGoneBefore Where No Man Has Gone Before]]" review:
-->"Soon, Doctor Piper pops a peck of pasty pills, and Kirk is awakened. He prevents Piper's plan to prescribe his pal a pill, postponing the prescription to pursue the potent people to prevent their perverse plan to propagate such portentous progeny, then pass the pasty pill that Piper picks."
** And this selection from "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E15ByInfernosLight By Inferno's Light]]", when Dukat is trying to convince Sisko to convince the Federation to join the Dominion:
--->"Considering the strategic significance should Sisko's station surrender, Sisko suggests shitting off. Sure, Sisko's station suffering some surprise sortie certainly signifies Starfleet's strategic softness, but surrender signifies Starfleet's slump, stagnation: a slippery slope signaling systems should ship out should some sovereign suggest cessesion. Such steps Sisko surely shan't sanction. I'm sorry. I can't read anymore. I seem to have spit all over the script."
** There is a great moment (apparently unscripted) in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E14InPurgatorysShadow In Purgatory's Shadow]]" where Chuck trips over his tongue while trying to enunciate, "Bashir asserts such a search." He then criticizes his own writing as well as his Creator/AndySerkis-like pronunciation of it.
* AesopAmnesia: Discussed in the review of "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E25InTheCards In the Cards]]" (''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine [=DS9=]]]''), mentioning that in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E07QLess Q-Less]]", Quark was mocked for spending his hard-earned money to buy superfluous junk, whereas in this episode Jake will go to great lengths to spend Nog's hard-earned money on superfluous junk.
* AgentMulder: Discussed in review of "[[Recap/TheXFilesS02E15FreshBones Fresh Bones]]" from ''Series/TheXFiles'' -- one of the problems with doing a paranormal show like ''X-Files'' is that Mulder, the believer on the team, must believe in everything and what's worse, ''everything'' must be true. Related to that is FridgeLogic question: now when people know that voodoo is real and that it works, what prevents people to use it on hostile aliens invading the Earth, huh?
* AlienNonInterferenceClause: The Prime Directive has been torn apart piece by piece for what it turned into as ''Franchise/StarTrek'' progressed, pointing out that it was conceived as a guideline put in place to prevent undeveloped civilizations from being taken advantage of, but from TNG onward, it was morphed into an institutionalized BystanderSyndrome. In a few of the episodes he covers, it was basically treated as an all-knowing, unquestionable entity in itself that was almost only ever used to justify ''genocide'' through deliberate inaction.
** In ''Voyager'''s pilot, he points out that the one time Janeway has no trouble ignoring the Prime Directive to actually ''prevent'' genocide, it's to save the Ocampa, a civilization whose people live lives only barely more enviable (or longer) than that of goldfish, which causes him to wonder what makes them so special.
** In his review of the Prime Directive overall, he compares it to watching a child burn to death while trapped in a car, hearing it screaming for someone, ''anyone'' to help... and then calling yourself a hero for letting that child die.
* AlmightyJanitor: Chuck complains during his ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' review that ''no one else in the entire '''galaxy''''' except for Revan seems capable of doing... absolutely anything without him.
--> There's no "I" in "Team," but there ''is'' one in "Fix my problems, Revan."
* AllForNothing: At the end of his "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E11Macrocosm}} Macrocosm]]" review, he made a point to explain that he would be taking a break for [[SeriousBusiness various reasons]]. Many fans didn't watch till the end of video and flooded the comments section asking where he was.
** When he said he was taking requests for other series via his donation system, and posted a link to the instructions on how to make a request via donations, fans ignored the bit where they have to give money and flooded the comments with demands for reviews without reading that they need to pay first.
** Chuck seems very exasperated in later reviews when he has to continuously remind viewers how the rating system works by comparing it to episodes of the same series, and not the franchise as a whole.
* AllMythsAreTrue: In his abbreviated history of the Nazi party, the key players in World War II included Slim Pickens, the Red Skull, Forrest Gump and Christian Bale. ("[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E17TheKillingGame}} The Killing Game (Part 2)]]")
-->'''Franklin D. Roosevelt:''' The only thing we have to fear is Batman.
* AllOfThem: The Annoying Character award for "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E12TheBegotten The Begotten]]" went to everyone involved in the childbirth B-Plot. ''Everyone.''
** Ditto for "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E24MenageATroi}} Ménage à Troi]]", featuring an event horizon of Wesley Crusher, Lwaxana Troi, and multiple Ferengi. End episode caption: "''[[SarcasmFailure I give up.]]''" Strangely enough, Wesley's actions during that episode were among the redeeming points, leaving Lwaxana and the Ferengi to be truly annoying.
** Nobody in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E23ProfitAndLace}} Profit and Lace]]" got out alive. Even Bashir, who directed the damn thing.
** At the end of the ''Deep Space 9'' episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E07LetHeWhoIsWithoutSin}} Let He Who Is Without Sin...]]", Chuck declares, "The annoying character goes to every single person we see this entire episode. Nobody is without excuse, no one escapes with their dignity intact." The Annoying Character caption: "Let he who is in this episode kiss my ass."
* AllThereInTheManual: He's really not a fan:
** When it turned out he was a teacher, this makes even more sense; teachers can't in good faith give students credit for things not actually in their report.
** Also shows up when he discusses the infamous reams of supplemental material for the film ''Film/{{Sunshine}}''.
** He has referenced the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' tech manual however.
** In his review of ''Film/StarTrek2009,'' though, he references all the backstory materials for Captain Nero and laments that if any of that had made it into the movie proper, Nero would have gone from "random bald emo Romulan" to "possibly the strongest villain the franchise has ever seen since Khan."
--->''"You don't get credit for stuff you don't put in the movie because, now try to follow this because it's a pretty big leap, you didn't put it in the movie. I shouldn't have to wait months and watch all your deleted scenes to say 'Oh, this finally makes sense!' or pore through some non-canon books to say 'Oh, so this isn't a pile of nonsensical horseshit after all!'"''
* AlwaysWantedToSayThat: Now it's time for...'''''[[VideoGame/YarsRevenge YAR'S REVENGE!]]''''' ("[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E3CodeOfHonor Code of Honor]]")
-->"I have waited a quarter of a century for that joke to come naturally, and it was ''so'' worth it."
** When the VOY crew undergoes hypersleep in "One", Harry chimes to Tom to come to bed. Harry then squees that he's been practicing that line for ages before the cryo-pod slams shut on him.
* AmbiguousSyntax: When discussing Music/IggyPop's guest appearance as Yelgrun in the ''Deep Space 9'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E10TheMagnificentFerengi The Magnificent Ferengi]]":
-->"Iggy Pop was not inexperienced in acting before this. His Website/IMDb page lists all of [[BitCharacter his numerous previous roles]], such as '[[Film/SidAndNancy Prospective Guest]]', '[[Film/TheColorOfMoney Skinny Player on Road]]', and--coming off of his most recent success--'[[Film/TheBrave Man Eating Bird Leg]]!' (No hyphen, so I assume he is a man eating a bird leg, but I cannot rule out that he was a bird leg that STALKED AND KILLED HUMANS.)"
* AnachronismStew: Sometimes some of the "Conversations" between characters can come off as this, thanks to the screenshots being taken at different times. For example, in his review of "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E08TheSiegeOfAR558}} The Siege of AR-558]]," there is a fake conversation between Ben Sisko and a TNG-era redshirt. Why is this strange? Well, the redshirt has the uniform used in most of ''The Next Generation'' (primarily one color with black shoulders), while Sisko is wearing the grey uniforms used in later parts of [=DS9=] and the TNG movies. While we could get this in Star Trek itself (Voyager being a prime example- due to being in the Delta Quadrant, they continued to use the black-uniforms-with-colored-shoulders that had been long abandoned by the rest of Starfleet in favor of the aforementioned grey ones), it didn't happen often.
* AndStarring: Used the "And Introducing" variety (probably deliberately) in the Website/YouTube teaser for his upcoming ''Series/DoctorWho'' "Lost In Time: Found!" videos.
* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe: A theory put forth in his review of the ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'' storyline is that it's possible that Cipher Twelve, whose memory Eckhard Lokin toasts every year, is in fact Lokin himself. He wanted out of the game, but still keeps his skills from those days sharp--just in case. It would certainly explain how a simple Fixer, who are supposed to just scientists, techs, and the like, would have dozens of safe houses across the galaxy--and why he seems to embody the real-world US Army Field Manual's ideal traits of an interrogator: self-motivated, alert, patient, self-controlled, has initiative, and an aura of professionalism.
* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: The prospect of bad things happening to Neelix makes Chuck very happy. In " [[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E4Phage}} Phage]]" his reaction to Neelix being incompatible for a transplant is that he's so heartbroken he can barely continue dancing.
* AngstWhatAngst: In-universe, wonders why in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E11Waltz}} Waltz]]" Dukat barely reacts to the hallucination of Damar showing up, considering that Damar both ''killed his daughter'' and is responsible for driving Dukat so insane, he's the reason ''why'' he's hallucinating?!
** In his review of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime The End of Time]]", notes that after the Doctor declared himself "[[AGodAmI The Timelord Victorious]]" and briefly turning into a terrifying reflection of Master... Chuck is completely perplexed how the next time we see him, he's joking about locking the TARDIS like a car and looks like he's just been to a luau. It's clear that the Doctor's been dossing about for a while (the episode itself clarifies that it's been many decades), but he seems to have [[ButForMeItWasTuesday completely forgotten about the event]].
*** He gives the episode props later when in a conversation with Wilf, the Doctor tearfully alludes to what happened in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars]]", admitting that when he traveled alone for a while, he tried to save everyone, but "[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it all went wrong]]".
* AntiHumor: Chuck at one point of his ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' playthrough/review threatens a character with having Sten tell jokes at him. His demonstration of what this would be like most definitely qualifies as anti-humor:
-->'''Chuck (as Sten):''' ''(completely deadpan)'' A horse walks into a bar. The bartender asks, "Why the long face?" The horse says nothing. Horses cannot speak. The bartender is a fool. Remember to tip your waitress.
* AnythingButThat: Part 2 of the VOY premiere. "Now, where were we?"
-->''[cue banjo-playing hoedown]''\\
"No, no, '''no'''! It's wasn't ''that'' painful!"\\
''[cut to Harry shrieking as a spike impales his chest]''\\
"Ahhh, much better. [[LovesTheSoundOfScreaming Like the crash of waves and the call of seagulls]]..."
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters Love & Monsters]]", Victor Kennedy's evil plan is either to take over the world, or even worse, continuing the episode.
* AprilFoolsDay: On April Fools Day, of 2016, he posts a video claiming to be a review of three episodes of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. He even spends the first minute or so of the video [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial insisting that these are genuine reviews]]. [[spoiler:[[AvertedTrope They are.]]]]
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Points out that Superman has no problem with the idea that he can travel faster-than-light using only his mind and that his vast array of powers will protect him as he crosses the vastness of space, carrying the shrunken bottled City of Kandor in tow; but considers the notion that he's biologically compatible enough with Lois Lane to conceive children, as the height of madness itself!
* ArmchairMilitary: Chuck is unashamed to remind viewers that, despite his in-depth analysis of military operations and geopolitics, he has no military training or experience.
-->''["[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E10ChainOfCommand}} Chain of Command]]" review]'' Now, I don't have any military experience, but I ''do'' own a Russian military ushanka hat that I found in a thrift store.\\
''["Siege of AR-558" review]'' The closest thing I have to tactical training is beating VideoGame/MassEffect2 on [[HarderThanHard Insanity]].
* ArmourPiercingQuestion: From Hogan in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E14Alliances}} Alliances]]", painting him as one of the few sane people on ''Voyager''.
-->'''Hogan:''' Is holding onto our technology really worth dying for?
* ArousedByTheirVoice:
** This, despite summing his show up as "a guy with bad sinus congestion" complaining for thirty minutes at a time. He recorded this in "The Begotten", perhaps inspired by the following recap ("Profit and Lace") where he mentions the emails he's received from [[EvenTheGuysWantHim gay men]] complimenting his "sexy" voice.
** And on the receiving end, in the review of the ''Farscape'' pilot episode he described Creator/ClaudiaBlack as "a hottie with a voice that can cause a man's fly to open by itself".
** Also, in the review of "His Way", he said that Sisko's singing voice once caused a pair of panties to spontaneously combust.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Captain Kirk being demoted for stealing ''Enterprise'' from drydock, along with Federation President Creator/TerryPratchett's hat. (''IV'')
** From the "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E18DeathWish}} Death Wish]]" review, Q orates about Quinn's achievements. Specifically: advancing science and mathematics, preventing the conquest of worlds by [[TheVirus the Borg]], and... Woodstock.
** And after the long rant about evolution in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E15Threshold}} Threshold]]", he finishes it with:
--->("What the hell kind of name is [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude Brannon]] anyway? Sounds like a high-fiber yogurt.")
** He goes one further to say that the sequence could have been better if the Woodstock incident coincided with Quinn fixing the same microphone glitch at the Lincoln Memorial right before Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream!" speech.
* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Brought up in his review of ''Film/TheThing1982'', where he notes that base camps in the film are in Antarctica and with how far inland they're supposed to be, we shouldn't have transitions from day to night like in the rest of the world.
* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Brought up in his review of "[[{{Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E14SleepingDogs}} Sleeping Dogs]]". Hoshi breaks just about every single rule about gun safety when she points a deadly weapon at Reed's chest while handing it back to him. Chuck snarks that "gun safety is tomorrow's lesson!"
** Brought up in force for "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E24EmpokNor Empok Nor]]", when a Starfleet officer has her phaser rifle pointed at a colleague and tells him, out loud, that the safety's on. He brings up how the NRA and the flipping gun industry itself list these as definite "no-no's."
** "Past Tense" introduced a new award category: "Unsafety First", for when characters dangerously handle their firearms. In that case, it was an officer using a loaded firearm to wake up a homeless man.
* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' and VOY's "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E24HopeAndFear Hope and Fear]]" feature this retort from Chuck when they take liberties on language.
-->'''[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Morbo]]:''' LANGUAGE DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!!!
* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Brought up in his review of "Fair Haven." One of the {{Oireland}} characters tells the Doctor (who's playing a priest) that "[he's] broken the Fifth Commandment again!" The Doctor replies "Say ten 'Our Fathers' and call me in the morning." From the Irish setting, the Doctor's outfit, and the usage of "Our Father," the Doctor is playing a Catholic, and the Catholic Fifth Commandment is "Thou Shalt Not Kill."
** He even has a pic of Pope Benedict XVI doing a face palm.
* AsHimself: In his review of the finale of ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', Chuck states a belief that the nameless, powerless Spider-Man, an actor from "the real world" who plays Spider-Man and still had Spider-Man's voice, was actually supposed to be Spider-Man's voice actor himself, Creator/ChristopherDanielBarnes.
* AssimilationBackfire: In the review of "Unimatrix Zero", the Borg Queen begins to blow up her own ships, in an insanely ineffective way to stop Janeway. Chuck is of the opinion that Janeway, who he [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation interprets as a sociopath]], is ''taking over the Borg''.
-->'''Borg Queen:''' Destroying my own people to further my own ends? I have no idea where this thought came from.\\
'''Janeway:''' Your mistake was assimilating ME!
* AtrociousAlias: He reflects on this in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E06TrialsAndTribbleations}} Trials and Tribble-ations]]", given that Arne Darvin apparently ''chose'' the name "Barry Waddle" to live under for decades.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: In order to set the plot of "The Killing Game" in motion, ''Voyager'' first had to cover the whole ship in the Doctor's emitters, given the holodeck control over living people, deliberately turned off all the safeties, and then ''blown a hole'' in the side of it. Chuck muses they're lucky that a 50-foot tall Seska isn't stomping around the ship.
* AuthorAppeal: The man likes his Creator/TerryPratchett, Music/LoreenaMcKennitt and Music/{{ACDC}}.
* AuthorCatchphrase: He has a very distinctive way of saying "No no no no" and "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis Fucking. Stupid.]]", among others.
** "I'm [[SimpleCountryLawyer just a viewer with an opinion]]."
** "...y'know, {{for science}}!"
** He (somewhat derisively) refers to the aggressive values-exporting of Trek's heroes as "Spreading the Starfleet Gospel." On two occasions, namely, "Unity" and "Unimatrix Zero", we see ''Voyager''[='s=] enemies "Spreading [[WeCanRuleTogether the Borg Gospel.]]" Iden in "Flesh and Blood" tries his hand at "Spreading the Hologram Gospel"--[[CargoCult literally]] this time.
** When a character does something particularly insipid, Chuck groans and calls them [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture McFly]].
** Initially it was "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the idiocy that is ''Voyager'' / ''Enterprise''." This was changed when he started doing reviews of the other three ''Star Trek'' TV shows, which he considers far better than ''Voyager'' or ''Enterprise''. He also adds in the updated review of "The 37's" that the original catchphrase made it sound like the purpose of his reviews was [[Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike Complaining About Shows Chuck Doesn't Like]], rather than a balanced (albeit humorous) analysis of its strengths and flaws.
** "[[IntentionalEngrishForFunny KOMEDY!]]", in response to limp VOY "jokes."
** His earlier reviews heavily used "Too good for 'em, I say!" (when something bad happens to the crews of ''Voyager'' or ''Enterprise'') but he hasn't used this for a while.
** "[Character]...is dead". Started out in his ''Franchise/MassEffect'' review, but has carried over to others.
** He has a tendency to end reviews of particularly stupid episodes with "[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere let's just get out of here]]."
** "Calibrate the [[BlahBlahBlah Blah blah of the bullshit bullshit!]]", when summarizing Trek technobabble.
*** Now replaced by "tech tech."
** PhraseCatcher: The character of Harry Kim spawned a few.
*** "Poor, dumb Harry" (which he's accidentally applied to other characters when they do something dumb)
*** "(insert sexual longing or fantasy implied to be Tom Paris here)... for Libby! Because dammit, [[TransparentCloset there's nothing gay about this!]]"
** Another phrase has appeared a few times so far, where Chuck presents two options to why a stupid scene might've been written that way, but then concedes that in fact all options might be correct simultaneously. It generally goes like this:
--->'''Chuck:''' I'm having a hard time deciding if the writer's a hack, or if Cutler's just a moron. But I suppose... [[BaitAndSwitch it could be both]]. ("Dear Doctor", ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise ENT]]'')
** He's had to remind viewers how the rating system works often enough for that to probably count too.
--->'''Chuck:''' Final score for [x] is, and ''bear in mind that this score is relative to the series, not some nebulous measure of good'' is...
* AuthorFilibuster: Multi-part video reviews are usually reserved for the films and for the series' worst episodes[[note]](although they are also used for multi-part episodes, or when he's doing long arcs)[[/note]], like "[[{{Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E05ANightInSickbay}} A Night In Sickbay]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E3CodeOfHonor Code of Honor]]", and the infamous "Fair Haven" (and of course, multi-part episodes). For more colorful examples, see "'The Reason You Suck' Speech".
** Certain characters voted "most annoying" also get filibusters against them, such as [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Okona, Lwaxana Troi and Lutan]].
** In several reviews he launches into lengthy speeches about concepts which annoy him, such as upholding the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]] even when it leads to certain death of an entire intelligent species, ''Star Trek'''s tendency towards PlanetOfHats and presenting a [[SpaceAmish simplistic]] [[ScienceIsBad "technology is bad"]] view. An instance of the first in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E13DearDoctor}} Dear Doctor]]" led to an entire separate written essay about the subject in that episode.
* AuthorTract: The Opinionated Guide takes a more libertarian stance toward ''Trek'' then most other reviews, often placing the franchise in the position of too extreme on both ends.
** TNG and ENT get hit the hardest, the former being overrun with glib, touchy-feely 80's nonsense (dolphins in the navigation room!), and the latter making [[Series/TwentyFour Jack Bauer]] look like [[Series/TheAndyGriffithShow Andy Griffith]]. It comes as no surprise, then, that [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Kirk]] and [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Sisko]] are his personal sweet spots.
--->'''Kirk:''' Why don't you go back and make a nice, lacy card to thank Soran for the gentle anal sex he gave you? You look like a scrapbooker, am I right?\\
'''Picard:''' ''[shrinking in his presence]'' [[BadLiar Of... of course not!]]
** He took aim at [=DS9's=] "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E16BarAssociation}} Bar Association]]", an episode which is slanted heavily on the side of a labor unions and collective bargaining. Chuck's quibble is not with Rom organizing a strike as such (although he doesn't approve of it, either), but rather the strawmanning of Quark and the enforcers who are brought in to end the strike.
** VOY is too harebrained to take seriously as a political or social work -- Though Chuck finds the creepy, [[StepfordSuburbia Stepford-like]] conformity of the crew troubling ("Future's End", "The Good Shephard").
* AvengersAssemble: In the case of really serious threats, Sisko calls forth "League of Starship Captains." ("The Visitor", "Unimatrix Zero", "In a Mirror, Darkly") Oddly enough, Janeway (depraved as ever) [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer still has the highest success rate]] out of anyone sitting at the table.
** In the Mirror Universe, Janeway is shown wearing a beard and serving up pot brownies, having been downgraded to a flower child. Archer has taken Sisko's place at the head of the table, and [[AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome Grand Marshal Troi]] is running the entire Federation.
** In "The Visitor", Shatner loses patience with Creator/ChrisPine's Kirk and [[PretenderDiss decks him.]]
** In "Shattered", Chuck announces, "TIME AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" during the fourth-dimensional battle between Seska and VOY crewmen of past, present and future (while poking fun at Neelix for conveniently not appearing in the segment of the episode--in fact, he's the only main character who can appear[[note]](The Doctor not having his mobile emitter yet, Jennifer Lien having left the series, and Tuvok having temporarily died)[[/note]] but doesn't).
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Qalta Blade from ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', which can be fired as a gun, but requires holding the blade to steady it. Chuck theorizes that the reason D'argo wears gloves all the time is to prevent the recoil from severing his fingers.
* [[SimpleYetAwesome Awesome Yet Practical]]: Believes the TR-116 Rifle, a futuristic sniper rifle that uses transporters to beam a projectile through solid walls, with a visor that can see through them, was abandoned by the Federation simply because ''it worked''.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Bruce Maddox. Chuck laments that such an awesome name is wasted on a douchebag like him who doesn't deserve it.
* AwesomenessIsVolatile: Assumes this about ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'':
-->"Ceti Alpha VI just blew up one day. I really have no idea how that just happened. Best guess, Khan took his shirt off, and his genetically enhanced [[LatinLover Latin body]] was just too much for it to take."
** When Sisko, Spock and Kirk are on the screen at the same time, his computer shut down for *ahem* ...personal, reasons...
--->"My computer -- [[ICallItVera Ruby]] -- shutdown, and I noticed a wet spot under her processor."
* AwfulTruth: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in his description of [[spoiler:Kyubey's]] [[TheReveal reveal]] in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. In-universe, it's an [[BreakThemByTalking intentionally brutal]] exposition by the [[BigBad antagonist]], so of course he describes it as a "truth enema". [[spoiler:The result is, in his words, "[[BreakTheCutie not very pretty]]" ]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:B]]
* BackhandedCompliment:
** In "Minefield", he congratulated Berman & Braga for an sprouting an entire cottage industry based around plugging up their {{plot hole}}s. (The expanded universe novels.)
** Combined with BaitAndSwitch in the "Endgame" review. Chuck salutes that B & B on proving him wrong about Voyager's short [[TheTeaser teasers]] being their most effective ones. The episode proves to him that they just as liable of falling completely flat.
* TheBackwardsR: In "The Naked Now", after Wesley states he doesn't understand.
-->'''Chuck:''' Spaz! S-P-A-[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ze_%28Cyrillic%29 3]]!
** At the start of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', Chuck sees the stylized backwards "r" in the title, and says he must have gotten a bootlegged copy with Russian subtitles by mistake.
* BackstoryOfTheDay: Spoofing Chakotay having differing interests.
-->'''Chuck:''' Because ''this'' week, Chakotay has always been into... ''(dice roll)'' ANTHROPOLOGY!
* BadBadActing: Notes that ''everyone'' in "Encounter At Farpoint" has shades of this. Though it's possible they were simply trying to find their feet, he suspects it also had something to do with the direction given by Corey "[[MemeticMutation He Controls The Sky!]]" Allen.
* BadassBoast: Janeway's parting shot at the Borg ("Unimatrix Zero").
-->"Because you may be bigger, smarter, stronger, faster, but you will '''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis never! Ever! Be]] [[CrazyIsCool crazier]]'''....[- Than ''meeeeeeeeeee''.-]"
* BadassDecay: One of the major problems he has in-universe with "Q and the Grey", and to a slightly lesser extent "Q2", is how the Q were subjected to this.
** He also examined this phenomena with the treatment of the Borg between ''TNG'' and ''Voyager''.
** Likewise, in order to maintain continuity in "Regeneration", the Borg's [[BadassCreed standard hail]] is drastically shortened as not to identify themselves.
--->'''Chuck:''' Everything the Borg do is supposed to be because it's ''logical''. They say what they say so that you realise that resistance really ''is'' futile, because "We are the Borg. We ''don't'' lose". By not identifying themselves, by just giving the play-by-play, it's pointless. Archer is not filled with dread or fear, he's ''confused!''
** In "Unimatrix Zero Part 1", points out how ludicrous it is that ''Voyager'' can stand up to a Class 4 Tactical Cube, a more powerful vessel than those deployed to assimilate the entire Federation (twice) and responsible for annihilating an entire ''armada'' at Wolf 359.
---> '''Chuck''': Now this ship is the one that Borg employs when they decided that "this shit just got real!" This is the ship that the Borg send when they are ''deadly serious'' about fighting!\\
'''Janeway''': Meet me in engineering, [[SuicidalOverconfidence we're going to find a way in!]]\\
'''Chuck''': Oh, for god's sakes!
* BaitAndSwitch: Occurs here and there, and in many forms. (see also the next two tropes)
** In the ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' review:
--->'''Chuck:''' The year is 1986, and Creator/LeonardNimoy will be bringing a much-known character -- or rather, a re-born version of that character -- back into the light in a popular science-fiction franchise, while attempting to deal with [[Creator/WilliamShatner his over-weight and egotistical co-star]].\\
'''[[WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie Galvatron]]:''' I will rip open Ultra Magnus and every other Autobot until the Matrix has been destroyed!\\
'''Chuck''' But lets spend some time talking about ''Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home''.
** In the review for "Where No One Has Gone Before" (''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]''):
--->'''Chuck:''' Troi provides us with her usual insight.\\
'''Troi:''' ''[speaking about Kosinski]'' Also, he's arrogant, overbearing, self-important, and very sure of himself and his ability.\\
'''Chuck:''' Yeah, we know about Riker, what about Kosinski?" [[[{{Rimshot}} ba-dum-ching]]]
* BaitAndSwitchComment: He has one complaint about Picard confronting Sarek, which is that it makes him want to see them have more scenes together.
* BaitAndSwitchComparison: From the review for "''[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E10Counterpoint Counterpoint]]''", between Janeway and Inspector Kashyk:
-->'''Chuck:''' One is a jackbooted oppressor sowing fear and hopelessness everywhere... and the other's an inspector. Thank you joke formula number 97!
** Mentioning that Barclay become smarter in "''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E19TheNthDegree The Nth Degree]]''" mirrors the plot of a certain [[{{Literature/FlowersForAlgernon}} science fiction]] work... [[BaitAndSwitchComment a Japanese TV show]]:
--->'''Chuck:''' As seen on the Series/{{Spectreman}} two-parter, "Billy Don't Be A Monster" and "Genius Monster Norman", [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer I swear I'm not making this up]].
* BemoaningTheNewBody: During Chuck's review of ''Film/{{The Thing|1982}}'', he jokingly poses a scenario in which the two Things that have assimilated Norris and Palmer [[VillainsOutShopping have a friendly chat]] about how stressful the situation's got, during which Norris-Thing grumbles over having the rotten luck to accurately shapeshift into a man with a ''heart condition,'' and remarks "I'm just gonna have the fucking heart attack and [[OneWingedAngel get it over with]]."
* BerserkButton:
** He ''hates'' television [[SurpriseParty surprise parties]].
** [[JugglingLoadedGuns Lax gun safety]] drives him up the wall.
** The [[FakeStatic broken radio]] gag occurs frequently enough that he became sick of it by the time of "Damage" (ENT).
** Has no love for [[NewAgeRetroHippie hippies]] or, for that matter, anyone who preaches against capitalistic society. This is less of a berserk button than a general dislike.
** He REALLY hates Pulaski, due to her smug condescending nature and callous treatment towards Data.
** Out of the ''Star Trek'' universe, he reserves special hatred for early ''TNG'' writer Maurice Hurley, whom he considers not only the worst writer[[note]](Or at least the worst long-term writer, since the third season of TOS and the first two seasons of TNG had a lot of writers who showed up, churned out one really awful script, and then were never heard from again)[[/note]] ever to have worked on ''Trek'', but a loathsome human being as well[[note]](Due to the misogynistic overtones in several of his scripts, plus his alleged conduct toward Gates [=McFadden=])[[/note]]. Although plenty of other writers have drawn his ire over the years (Rick Berman and Kenneth Biller for their generally very poor track records, Brannon Braga for his science abuse, Jeri Taylor for her Janeway worship, and even Creator/GeneRoddenberry himself for a number of reasons), he says that Hurley is the only one he truly detests.
** He admits to really hating the character of Lwaxana Troi, who in his opinion is nothing more than an insufferable, egotistical bully, who treats everyone around her like garbage, thinks the [[ItsAllAboutMe entire universe centres around her]] and who ''never'' knows when to shut the hell up.
** Being a [[PapaWolf family man]], his anger is prevalent in the VOY episode "Real Life" during the clumsy use of a dying child as a plot device, as he himself lived through the pain of not knowing whether his prematurely-born twin sons would survive the night or not. (They did, but the possibility that they might not left a profound effect on him).
** Likewise, he has a low tolerance for 'zany' scenes of childbirth.
** He tends to reserve some of his most animated hatred for Luddites. Not because he disagrees with the concept, but because they're often portrayed as being one of two extremes: either they're perfect and the viewer is supposed to agree with them, or they're evil. In either case, he's quick to note they're hypocrites because they define "technology" arbitrarily, and such episodes tend to downplay the obvious societal problems they would suffer for their rejection of it. Alixus, from the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E15Paradise Paradise]]", earns a particularly angry rant for being an utterly reprehensible human being, torturing, procuring, killing and allowing her people to die from diseases in order to keep her power going, justifying her villainy thanks to the complete corruption of the GoodOldWays aesops. Basically, we got a community getting its collective face booted by a despot over a flawed ideology, making any reason to keep getting along with the tyranny and not trampling Alixus' power and face moot the second they knew she manipulated them. [[EnragedByIdiocy But instead, they thank her...]] His fanfic Fanfic/TheUnitySaga was published long before he reviewed the episode, making it quite fun to revisit his portrayal of her in it.
*** The Bak'u from Star Trek Insurrection are an example at the opposite end of the scale. They appear to live in bucolic splendour, but as Chuck points out, it's simply ridiculous that they can live like that, given that their crops would need constant attention and irrigation, the metal objects they have had to have come from somewhere, etc. As he points out, when humans actually did live like that, their lives were an endless chore from sunrise to sunset, children were put to work as soon as they were old enough to hold a tool, people died young from disease and overwork and so on. The Bak'u society is literally impossible. Throw in an arbitrary definition of what constitutes "technology" (What do you think the iron smelting forge and the irrigation system are?") and you've just got a really irritating preachy example of a strawman.
** Treating the audience like idiots, contrived coincidences, and [[InformedAttribute people being "experts" but not acting like it]] also seem to fall under this, ''especially'' if they're all in play at the same time as his absolutely vitriolic review of Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark shows.
** The treatment of the Prime Directive during the TNG era has driven him to rant angrily about the difference between the Prime Directive as an enlightened philosophy and the Prime Directive as an amoral religious dogma. Needless to say, he utterly loathes the latter, describing it as utterly cowardly and that anybody who adheres to it so dogmatically has no business even being an explorer. See his review of ''The Masterpiece Society'' for a prime example of such a rant.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** [[{{inuniverse}} Thinks]] that it'd have been hilarious if Worf went back to the smooth forehead of the TOS Klingons once in the past, only to have ridges again in the ''Deep Space Nine'' future, and have no-one comment on it at all.
** His "Ashes to Ashes" review has him take a mental break from recalling "Innocence" by... watching a puppet show about a turtle.
* BilingualBonus:
** In keeping with the theme in "Darmok" of overcoming language barriers, the opening credits appropriately is the original German version of "99 Luftballons".
** In making a point about the phrase "Alter Ego," a Latin phrase using English words, Chuck shows a picture of a box that says "Hat Gift." To an English-speaker, this is innocuous enough, but to a German-speaker, it means the box contains poison.
* BizarreAlienBiology: Often makes fun of this when it gets really out of hand. Of note is "Elogium", in which he spends a lot of time pointing out how ridiculous, contrived, and utterly contradictory to basic survival Ocampan reproduction is, and that by all rights, the entire species should have gone extinct a long time ago.
** The biggest is that, at maximum possible birthrate, seeing how they only have ''one'' child in their entire life, their numbers would halve every generation. Combined with the fact that they give birth standing up (to a child gestated on their ''back''), achieve sexual maturity in less then a year, are excessively difficult to impregnate in the first place, and look youthful until the last few months before their death, Chuck thinks it's more likely that the Ocampa were created as sex slaves or toys by some evil race (which he mentions in ''Before & After'').
** The Kobali in "Ashes to Ashes" reproduce by taking the corpses of other species, altering their DNA and bringing them BackFromTheDead. While this is even less plausibly a naturally-evolved form of reproduction than the Ocampa way, Chuck notes that it does represent a great solution to a ZombieApocalypse.
--->'''Chuck:''' Let's see how ''you'' like it!
** The aliens encountered in ''Unexpected'' are even odder. They reproduce by having the male and female put their hands in pebbles which lets them read each others thoughts, the males grow nipples to feed the child (despite the females having breasts), and the child only has DNA from the mother. It's like Berman and Braga ''deliberately'' set out to make the most implausible and unrealistic species possible.
** The aliens from "Macrocosm" who have a ridge running from the forehead, down their nose that then separated from their face over their mouth before reconnecting back to their chin; meaning that evolution gave them something that actually ''hinders'' the simple act of eating. As Chuck points out, the only way this species exists is "to prove God likes fucking with Atheists."
** In "Workforce", Janeway's love interest is a man(?) apparently from a species without fathers. Since Chuck knows that there is ''no'' way that the ''Trek'' people would put Janeway into a relationship with a genderless, hermaphroditic or (*gasp*) ''lesbian'' entity of any species, we are left wondering why a species that does not require males to reproduce ''has'' males at all!
* BizarroUniverse: Suggests this is the reason [[Series/WonderWoman2011Pilot Wonder Woman]] is able to do everything she does and gets the full backing of law enforcement.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: While this comes up a lot, he notes that the ''Voyager'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E8NothingHuman Nothing Human]]" stands out as actually ''reversing'' this. The major conflict in the episode revolves around whether to use the medical knowledge gathered by Cardassian doctor Crell Moset, who was supposedly inspired by Nazi Doctor Mengele. However, Crell's actions are, while still horrible, not nearly as bad as those of the real Mengele, and Crell's experiments actually produced useful scientific data, as opposed to Mengele, who simply tortured for the sake of morbid curiosity. This, as Chuck points out, actually takes a black and white situation and gives it varying, perfectly defensible viewpoints.
** Another example of this sort of subversion comes from "Tsunkatse," where the crew have perfectly frank discussions about boxing without the episode leaning one way or the other in someone's favor, listing how some people are for it and others are against it.
** For episode "The High Ground" on ''The Next Generation'' Chuck notes that it is generally disliked by the writers yet audiences overall have a positive opinion on it. The writers considered it "a message show without a message" in that it tackles a complex important issue, in this case violent terrorist rebellion against a regime which refuses to respond to any attempts in peaceful negotiations, but it doesn't give a clear opinion about the subject. Chuck considers this lack of final message a strength since it results in portraying the issue with realistic complexity where neither side is clearly in the wrong or in the right.
** However, it's usually played straight in ''Trek'', which he complains about- they tend to take an issue that is very complex in the present (the death penalty, for example), and make it so utterly one-sided that you feel foolish for having sided against them.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Discussed and turned into a running gag in the review of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'': "Where Silence Has Lease".
-->"...And naturally there'd be no shortage of volunteers [From red-shirted black men for bridge positions]. People who've seen Science Fiction know the black dude dies first. And people who've seen the original series know the guy who beams down in a red shirt dies. So, black dude plus red shirt equals get a bridge job as fast as you can and hope an alien doesn't show up on the view screen [[TemptingFate looking to kill people for no reason]]."
** Later on he does the voices of the various cast members to summarize the scene:
--->'''Nagilum:''' Now would be a good time to learn about death by killing one of you.\\
'''Riker:''' Oh, no!\\
'''Picard:''' Oh, no!\\
'''Troi:''' Oh, no!\\
'''Data:''' Oh, no!\\
'''Black RedShirt:''' MOTHER FUCKER! ''(dies)''\\
'''Picard:''' Send another red-shirted black fellow to the bridge!\\
'''Geordi:''' ''([[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leaves in a hurry]])''
** Lampshaded in "The End of the World", where the ''blue'' guy died first.
** Inverted in "Skin of Evil", where Chuck spends quite a bit of time pointing out that despite the episode containing a black RedShirt, who is send out alone in a shuttle numbered ''13'' to boot, it's the ''attractive white blonde female main cast member'' who dies!
* BlackHoleSue: [[{{inuniverse}} Often points out]] that most of [[WriterOnBoard Jeri Taylor's]] episodes are dedicated to how amazing and infallible Captain Janeway is, and how much ''everyone'' loves her.
-->"Oh come on, it's a Jeri Taylor script. You know that even in an episode where Janeway's been going nuts, she's gonna have the strongest will there is, don't be silly."
* BlahBlahBlah: Invoked in [=TNG=]'s "Disaster" when Troi is in charge of the bridge. Chuck puts this over O'Brien's and Ro's dialogues to indicate Troi's inability to understand their technobabble.
* BlindIdiotTranslation: Deliberately invokes this for humor in "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" review by running the lyrics of ''La donna è mobile'' through Babylon online translation. The rice is false, indeed.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Discussed in length how a machine would have a very different morality to a human.
* BrainBleach: Kate Mulgrew {{fanservice}} has Chuck reaching for the ammonia. ("Damn my eyes!") A well-wishing fan emailed him some nude Janeway photoshops just to see his reaction.
** Neelix can do "some [[UnfortunateImplications wonderful things]] with vegetables!" ("[[CaptionHumor Do not want]].")
** Post-op transsexual Quark. Half of the audience has now reenacted ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing'', but for those still with us, let's move on... ("Profit and Lace")
--->"YOU ARE A NIGHTMARE MADE FLESH!"
** Oswald Dane's final moments caused him great distress as a father. (''Miracle Day'') He pledged not to return until he'd hot showered himself to a lobster-red hue.
* BondVillainStupidity: In "Maneuvers", wonders what was the point of Seska torturing Chakotay for information to plan the Kazon's next snatch and grab of Federation technology, when they could simply rip the transporters and replicators from the shuttle that Chakotay was captured in, which they ''already'' have?
-->'''Chuck:''' And of course you don't, because you're [[TookALevelInDumbass just as stupid]] as the rest of them!
** Henry Starling in "Future's End", who repeatedly does unnecessarily villainous acts, despite them being detrimental to his overall plan. Such as hacking the Doctor enough to make him feel pain so he can torture him, when he could have simply made him compliant, allowing him to make a fortune from his knowledge of future medicine. And why killing Rain [[HeKnowsTooMuch to silence her]] actually would make her information leak be taken ''more'' seriously!
--->'''Chuck:''' You know, for a man who became master of a technological empire... ''you're an idiot''!
* BreadEggsBreadedEggs:
** In ''[[Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla Godzilla 1985]]'', Godzilla destroys Super-X and thus the heroes have few options left.
--->"We have Steve Martin at the Pentagon, we have bird calls...we have Creator/SteveMartin [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qXM0nZq0RA making bird calls]]..."
** In ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' review, we have monsters who might be aliens, commies or alien commies.
* BreadEggsMilkSquick: "Human Error":
-->"You might be saying, 'Y'know, you may pretend you're fair, Chuck, but how come you'll bend over backwards trying to justify that stupid "Darmok" shish-koom-bah language, but you never turn out that kind of thinking to defend VOY. ''Why'' is that, and ''why'' is there blood on your clothes?'"
** The Blacksmith from "Thine Own Self" earns the Most Annoying Character award for his horrible business practices of changing prices after something's been sold and stabbing customers through the torso.
* BrickJoke: His signature technique. Almost happens often enough to be OnceAnEpisode. Early on, he'll make an offhand joke or aside about some minor story element, and later on he'll make another joke that ties into it.
** The best example of this probably occurred in his "In Purgatory's Shadow" review where he stumbles over an AddedAlliterativeAppeal, only to have the following review of "In Inferno's Light" feature an insanely long alliterative discourse detailing the backstory of the events up to this point.
** Yet another great one: In his redone review of "[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Caretaker]]", he makes a throw away joke at the fact that Janeway supposedly had plans on Earth while picking up Tom Paris which included "screwing with the replicators" and "installing [a] computer virus". Cut to Part 2 of his review of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis 3'' weeks later(!) where Picard is contacted by Janeway. Chuck proceeds to parody the scene by having Janeway explain that the events in the movie were all a part of her plan to take over the galaxy. Among the steps of her plan are to screw with the replicators on the Enterprise-E so that Picard's Earl Grey would be drugged, and creating a program that would make it so that whenever Picard was up for promotion, it would get rerouted to Janeway's file.
** Points out that ''Blade Runner'' operates in the realm of, as the French say, mise-en-scène. Likewise, Deckard's rathole apartment speaks of a man who is, as the French say, "no-geev-è-crap."
** The League of Captains and the Mindbomb during the Dominion war arc.
** Also from the Dominion War arc, Sisko manages to curry the support of Starfleet admirals in by [[Film/BlazingSaddles invoking the name of Randolph Scott]]. And at the end of Sacrifice of Angels, the end theme of Blazing Saddles plays over the crew's return to the station.
** The "Turnip of Mass Destruction" in the ''Insurrection'' review.
** Calls back to "Unimatrix Zero" in his review of "Ensign Ro" where Picard can't get involved in helping the Bajoran rebellion. Janeway pops up and claims that they should have called it a ''resistance''.
** Jokes in "Dark Frontier" that Dr. Phlox's notes on the Borg are incomplete due to having been gunned down by Breen assassins, referring to his theory that the Valakians from "Dear Doctor" eventually evolved into them and were ''not'' happy when they discovered that Phlox and Archer conspired to keep the cure for their plague from them, dooming their race to extinction.
** The perfume scene from "Angel One" is met with cries of "Oh, for the love of God! Five, there are five lights! ''Five!''", calling back to the torture scene from "Chain of Command".
** In the review of the Series/DoctorWho episode "Inferno", the Doctor starts singing "The Woman is Furniture" (see BlindIdiotTranslation, above).
** In the review of ''The Matrix'', Chuck off-handedly mentions that he is currently drunk. A week later, we learn why: he was playing the ''Game Of Thrones'' drinking game, and he mixes up his notes regarding philosophy.
** During the review of "In the Pale Moonlight", Chuck makes a complicated metaphor about how deep Sisko gets himself in that episode, comparing it to showing up hungover at a funeral, and singing "Old [=MacDonald=]" to the tune of "Amazing Grace". Flash-forward to the ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' review, and Chuck mentions Scotty playing Spock of to the traditional funeral fare, "Old [=MacDonald=]".
** In the review for "Up the Long Ladder" when it is mentioned that a solar flare threatens to destroy the colony, Chuck talks about the last time a solar flare hit Earth... which was a month ago. At the end of the review his video suddenly cuts off and then shows disaster footage. Guess another solar flare hit.
** Near the beginning of the review for "Bliss" (''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager VOY]]''), Chuck ponders if Naomi Wildman is being deliberately mis-educated (due to an off-hand and mind-bogglingly-stupid remark from Paris about deuterium), and is taught among other things that dolphins are not fish, but ''apples''. Later on in the same review, Naomi uses the phrase "The dolphin never falls far from the tree".
** In the review for ''Farscape'''s "Crackers Don't Matter", Chuck says that the only way the day could get worse for Crichton is if T'raltixx's cloaking device was powered by punching Crichton in the dick. When Chiana actually punches Crichton in the dick later in the episode, breaking Crichton's resistance to T'raltixx's paranoia-inducing light, Chuck remarks that that was not what he meant.
** In the review for Justice League Unlimited's "The Doomsday Sanction", Chuck makes fun of the use of the euphemism "delivering the package" for firing a nuke by showing a clip of a mailman delivering a package to a woman. Chuck then quips that it took forever to find a usable mail man clip [[ExactWords that wasn't from gay porn.]] At the end of the review, Chuck shows another scene from the mail man clip that makes it clear that it is from porn.
* BringMyBrownPants: Invoked in his introduction of Scorpius in one of his ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' reviews.
-->"As you can imagine, such a being is either going to be a half-mad animal, or [[MagnificentBastard the most disciplined and calculating mind in the Uncharted Territories]], on a [[TooKinkyToTorture first-name basis with pain]], and [[TheUnfettered the will to travel from A to B in a straight line, no matter how many unfortunate people might be standing in that path]]. And guess what, Crichton? You now have his undivided attention. Under the circumstances, bladder release is permissible and, indeed, encouraged."
* BrokeTheRatingScale: He uses a one-to-ten rating scale, and has deliberately chosen to only reward a score of zero to one episode per series: "Threshold" for ''Voyager'', "A Night in Sickbay" for ''Enterprise'', "Code of Honor" for ''TNG'', "And The Children Shall Lead" for ''TOS'', and "Profit and Lace" for ''[=DS9=]''. 0s are supposedly reserved for episodes that make the entire franchise worse by association; indeed, he did not even assign a "0" score to any of the movies, instead giving two "1" scores (though he admitted he was strongly tempted to give a "0" to ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', and would probably have done so if not for the flashback involving [=McCoy=]'s father). On the other hand we have the ''TNG'' episode "Family" which no score was given on account of being too different from the series as a whole (the episode wasn't bad, just not Star Trek-y).
** Due to time travel shenanigans and deaths of VOY's crew spanning across 15 years, "Timeless" ''should'' have cleaned up at the Lazarus of the Week, Unsafe at Any Speed, You CAN Go Home Again and Burn, Baby Burn awards. But Chuck came down with a severe {{Timey Wimey|Ball}} allergy and skipped straight to credits. The same thing happened in "Children of Time".
--->''(I have no idea if any of this actually happened, so let's call it a draw.)''
** After noting that during his review of ''Voyager''[='=]s "Unimatrix Zero" the real Captain Janeway and his cartoonish parody of her were both acting in more or less the same manner, for "Latent Image" he came up with "My Way or Janeway" - he measures how his own Parody!Janeway would handle each scene, then sees how the real Janeway measures up. He gives up within four minutes after the real Captain's actions[[note]][[UnPerson hunting down and deleting all the Doctor's memories of a patient who died under his watch]], while also outright stating at one point that [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman she considers him no more human than the replicator that she uses to make her coffee each morning]][[/note]] are ''more extreme than her parody's''[[note]]simply claiming the patient was already dead when she arrived in sickbay and deleting one recording that suggested otherwise[[/note]].
** He has so far refused to assign a score to two Voyager episodes:
*** ''Mortal Coil'' didn't receive a rating because Chuck's [[TheScrappy complete and utter loathing for Neelix]][[invoked]] had reached a point where he felt unable to be able to fairly score it, so he basically recused himself from assigning any score (the impression he gives is he probably would have given it a fairly decent score had it been focused on any other character).
*** ''11:59'' was not scored for the same reason as ''Family'' from TNG wasn't scored. He says it's a pretty decent episode, and praised Mulgrew's performance as Shannon O'Donnell because it gave her the chance to play a character that wasn't encumbered by the writer's tendency to not allow Janeway to show any kind of weakness or vulnerability. He also praised how the writing didn't automatically side with Jason Janeway for his obsession with the GoodOldWays, or demonise the people who wanted to build the Millennium Gate as CorruptCorporateExecutive types, but in the end he decided it wasn't "Star-Treky" enough to warrant a fair score.
** The episode ''Believers'' from Babylon 5 also wasn't given a rating[[note]]Instead of a 1-10 scale Chuck rates B5 episodes on their watchability ("recommended", "fine", "avoid", etc) and their importance to the overall story arc (ranging from "unimportant" to "must-see")[[/note]] because it hit too close to home. He both lauded and condemned it for being challenging and a difficult watch.
---> What I dislike about this episode so much is... is that it's doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing, that it's challenging me instead of giving me the easy feel-good third way out.
** The same rating system used for Babylon 5 is also used for Stargate franchise shows, so they're also rated on importance and quality. The episode ''38 Minutes'' from Series/StargateAtlantis gets an importance rating of "slightly important", and a quality rating of... "Death Star Reactor Port". This was Chuck's way of saying one horrible flaw ruined what would have otherwise been a fairly decent episode.
** He also refused to assign a rating to the ''Lower Decks'' episode "Crisis Point", as he found the central concept so disturbing -- Mariner, as a form of "therapy", constructs a holodeck scenario in which she ''brutally murders all her colleagues'' -- that he just didn't want to think about it any more.
* BrokenAesop: Hope you girls have learned something between "The Way We Weren't" and "In a Mirror, Darkly":
-->"You ''can'' seize the moment and make whatever dreams you have come true, whether it is flying a fighter starship or crowning yourself the head of an empire! ...So long as you [[FemmeFatale sleep with the right man]], first."
** The Q arc in ''Voyager'' where the Q learn the value of freedom and individuality... [[AesopAmnesia for all of five minutes.]]
--->'''Chuck:''' The whole point of "Death Wish" was that the Q had become stagnant, that Q was being mischievous out of boredom, and ironically became an agent to enforce the Q's status quo, even though he inspired the rebellious antics of Quinn that lead to him being sentenced to eternal imprisonment in unpleasant conditions. Then we had that idiotic Civil War where Q's side of '''freedom''' and '''individuality''' wins! And the result of this uprising? Is that Q is ''once again'' an Agent enforcing the status quo on his rebellious son and prepared to sentence to him to eternal imprisonment in unpleasant conditions!
** [[invoked]]''The Bonding'' (TNG) gives us an interesting example that may be a form of WriterRevolt. The original draft of the story was about a boy who loses his Starfleet mother in an accident and tries to cope with a hologram copy of her. Gene Rodenberry flatly declared "humans in the 24th century do not grieve! Not even the children!" So it was modified, but the end result was subversive: a boy loses his mother and does his best to not grieve, but it's shown as being emotionally unhealthy and just plain wrong to not feel bad about losing someone and cover it up.
*** Wesley actually clarifies on this when talking about his experience when learning about the death of his father: He was indeed torn up inside but didn't show it to anyone because, "That's how he was expected to act."
** In "Alliances", jokes that the end speech by Janeway is clearly meant to show us that Federation principles are sacred and should never be ignored, simply because it's easy option, Prime Directive, yadda, yadda, yadda...
--->'''Chuck:''' Really? I thought the message was "''you suck at making friends''"...
** In "Memorial", by repairing the Memorial and allowing it to continue to MindRape passers-by for centuries to come, the moral of the story is that the only tragedies that ''matter'' are the ones that we experience ourselves!
** "Tattoo":
--->So here's ''Star Trek'''s message: "We have a great respect for the cultures of the Native Americans... and we convey that by showing that they were backwards, languageless cavemen until they were touched by mystical white people from outer space." You're welcome.
** A Broken GreenAesop, which could also double as a FantasticAesop, in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'':
--->'''Chuck:''' We get the oddest message here: "Don't bother being eco-friendly, because even if you do, it won't matter because some species being dead will cause aliens to screw [Earth] worse than we ever have."
** Mentions how, in '''''Star Trek''''', despite preaching tolerance and how people should be included in all things, how we are free of racism, that for some insane reason keeps ''also'' preaching the message that individuals should "Stick with their own kind." ("Faces")
* BuffySpeak: Uses the term "Native American-y" to describe Chakotay's medicine bundle, which includes the requisite bird feathers.
** Referring to a specific medical device (known in canon as a "cortical monitor") as a "neck thingy".
--->"Because by God, nobody comes into Sick bay and leaves without a neck thingy!"
*** And then there's the Forehead Thingy, for situations where a neck thingy just won't do!
** The [[InsistentTerminology medicalticians]] in ''Film/NightOfTheComet'':
--->"Quick, bring me the thingy! No, the other thingy! What med school did you go to?"
** Even the Xenomorph's ''mouth'' has a mouth. "THAT'S how mouthy it is!"
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When you're Janeway, it's important to ask all passerby, "Have we offended you in some way?" ("Year of Hell")
-->''(going down the list)'' "Did I help the Borg assimilate your people, uh, did Vidians I let escape murder your loved ones... or should I just mark this one down as miscellaneous?"
* ButThouMust: An occasional complaint leveled at ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'':
-->'''[[LargeHam Heskal]]:''' ''Choiiiice'' is an ''illusion!''
* ButtMonkey:
** Harry Kim, of course. Chuck points out he's been killed, tortured, made the ChewToy of the series and is seemingly horrified of being in an actual relationship. (For comedic emphasis, he showed Harry Kim having a dream about being aggressively smooched by Seven and waking up screaming. Sure, he omitted the part where Kim turns his head and suddenly sees an alien watching them, but ''everyone else'' in that episode was having nightmares, so that implies he's still terribly uncomfortable around Seven.) In fact, he's such a ButtMonkey, that at one point during the review of the Farscape episode "Premiere," that when the main character (John Crichton) has had a (characteristic) run of bad luck, he has to catch himself so that he doesn't say "Poor Dumb Harry," and replaces it with "Crichton."
*** In "Repression" (''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager VOY]]''), Tuvok discovers that he's unknowingly been committing assaults against the ship's crew. He then points a phaser at Harry and Janeway.
----> '''Chuck:''' This is familiar territory for both of them, though. [...] About 30% of the times that [Harry]'s been shot has been by members of ''Voyager's'' crew. In fact, statistically speaking, Harry's due to be shot by a member of the crew any day now!\\
[Skip forward just a few scenes: Chakotay walks onto the bridge, pulls out a phaser, and shoots Harry in the chest.]\\
'''Chuck:''' I knew it! I knew it! He was just ''way'' overdue. The only surprise is that he didn't get it in the face or in the junk.
** According to SF Debris, the various incarnations of the USS ''Saratoga'' serve strictly as Starfleet's bitch.
*** In fact, almost any ship named ''Saratoga'' in almost any franchise you can name is the fleet bitch!
** Archer seems to have demoted Hoshi to be the ''Enterprise'''s delivery girl for the jobs that the others can't be arsed to do. Moments after launching a Subspace Communications Amplifier, which needed to be checked was working properly so that ''Enterprise'' could maintain their link to Earth, he asked Hoshi to find out Reed's favorite food for his birthday, choosing her over any other random crewman, and told her to make it her ''top priority''. It's not as though Hoshi is the damned ''Communications Officer''!
--->"Is there a medication for what you're on, Archer?"
** John Crichton and the crew of Moya have no luck whatsoever, as Chuck explores in the ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode reviews- "Premier" and "Nerve" being the most obvious examples.
--->"To say our heroes are cursed would be underselling it- at least curses usually have a chance of being ''lifted'' in some way."
* BuxomBeautyStandard:
** His two-part review of "The Outrageous Okona" is interspersed with (mostly comedic) references to breasts, including [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment a point when he stops the review cold]] to conduct a "Battle of the Wikis" between Memory Alpha and Wookiepedia as regards the topic of breasts. He revisits it for the Blip reupload in May 2011. In both cases, Wookieepedia is the clear winner. In fact, he gives the ''Star Wars'' wiki higher marks the second time around, noting the addition of ''George Lucas-approved'' art in which a popular ExpandedUniverse character bares her breast.
--->'''Chuck:''' Ball's in your court, CBS!
** Chuck appears to be a definite breast man, given the approving remarks he has made about Creator/ChristinaHendricks, Creator/KatDennings and Suranne Jones in that department, not the mention the FreudianSlipperySlope regarding [[Series/DoctorWho Donna Noble]]/Creator/CatherineTate.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* CalculatorSpelling: In his review of "Blood" from ''Series/TheXFiles'', Chuck jokes that the guy is freaked because his calculators spells "BLOOD". Normally it only spells "BOOBIES".
* CalculusIsArcaneKnowledge: Points out a particularly ridiculous employment of this trope in "Shuttlepod One". Apparently the writers think that Trip Tucker, who is the chief engineer in charge of the single most advanced star ship humans have ever had at the time, wouldn't be smart enough (or wouldn't have to be smart enough) to understand basic math problems.
* CallBack: TheStinger for "Bounty" (''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise ENT]]'') is T'Pol saying to Phlox: "You have the cure. It's unethical for you to withhold it, doctor". This is presented as an obvious Call Back to "Dear Doctor", where Phlox withheld a cure for a plague that annihilated an entire species, and was presented by the writers as having done the ''right'' thing.
** In his Gargoyles Review of; Thrill Of The Hunt, he refers to Inspector Gadget as his nemesis. This is a call back to the Battle Geek Plus' Bidding war for Capcom against other Channel Awesome producers, where Chuck used images of Dr. Claw?
* CaptainObvious: Or rather, "Lieutenant Commander No Shit!"
* CareBearStare: In the review of "Threshold", he latches onto the technobabble phrase 'multi-spectral subspace engine design'. The only way 'multi-spectral' can fit into that phrase is, in chuck's own words, the ship is powered by rainbows, which gives him the mental image of shovelfuls of Care Bears being thrown kicking and screaming into Janeway's blast furnace.
* CatchPhrase: Admiral Ross' go-to defense: "I don't have to explain myself to you captain."
** Everytime Picard gets into a fight, "Argh! Not the face!"
** Mayweather constantly reminding everyone, "Hey, did you know I've been in space!"
*** As of his reviews of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', "Bunny Cat is a dick!"
* CausticCritic: Though he is quite happy to point out when the shows he's watching do something right, he still tears bad points of everything, even with episodes he likes.
* CelebrityResemblance: "Federation President Creator/TerryPratchett" in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''.
* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: At exactly [[EstablishingCharacterMoment 18 minutes and 45 seconds]] into the pilot episode, the ''French'' Captain declares;
-->'''Picard:''' Commander, signal the following in all languages and on all frequencies -- ''"We surrender."''\\
'''Chuck:''' Make of that what you will.
** Throughout the first series, Picard seems intent to seek out new life... and ''surrender'' to it.
** From "The Killing Game", the Nazis "had large armies, irresistible tanks, superior air power, and the other side... well, is France."
** In "Out of their Minds", is amused that the crew of ''Moya'' are completely [[GenreSavvy aware of this]] and that it's even lampshaded in the episode, when Crichton asks D'Argo if they've sent their standard "Don't shoot at us, we're pathetic!" transmission and D'Argo replies that it was the ''first'' thing they tried.
* ChewBubblegum: "I'm here to measure soil toxicity and kick ass! '''And I'm all out of samples!'''" (ENT: "Regeneration")
* ChristmasEveryDay: "You Better Watch Out" inflicts this on a criminal as punishment, doomed to take up the role of Santa Claus and deliver presents to everyone on Earth for eternity.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Everyone in the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' depiction of the Mirror Universe is so keen on betraying everyone else to get ahead that Chuck has to wonder how the Terran Empire hasn't collapsed upon itself yet.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Surmises that the writers of ''Voyager'' somehow got it into their heads that they had killed off Lt. Carey, because after Series One, he simply disappeared from the show and from then on only ever showed up again in episodes set in the past. Then when the writers realised that Carey was in fact ''still alive'', they were forced to bring him back for "Friendship One" in Series Seven, in order to ''actually'' make sure they'd [[KilledOffForReal killed him off]] this time.
* ClarkKenting: Points out that the use of it in the failed [[Series/WonderWoman2011Pilot Wonder Woman pilot]] is even more idiotic than the trope namer. She used just a pair of glasses, not even slouched or acting in anyway different, and had her name be "Diana Prince." Not only is she a constantly photographed Superhero, she is as an owner of a mega-corporation that publicly states that she is Wonder Woman. The only reason it can possibly work is that she only uses it to shirk responsibilities, watch chick flicks and pet her cat.
* ClicheStorm: Mocked and invoked in his review of "Twisted", which he considers this.
-->"At this point the turbolift opens, revealing [[CowboyCop a cop-on-the-edge who doesn't play by the rules]], [[CorruptCorporateExecutive a greedy corporate big-wig looking to get rich]] by poisoning the water supply, and [[UncleTomFoolery a skinny black guy]] whose job it is [[JiveTurkey to say "Dayymn!" and refer to "My black ass!"]]"
** Additionally, in "Our Man Bashir," he notes that it starts off as a combination of a shuttle/runabout accident, transporter malfunction with a holodeck malfunction, so the episode was not only delving into every James Bond cliché, but every Star Trek cliché. He warns the [[{{Redshirt}} goldshirt]] to change his uniform because "he's playing with fire!"
** It happens again in his review of "The Royale," which was ''supposed'' to be a ClicheStorm: SufficientlyAdvancedAliens have recreated a hack novel about gangsters in a casino. However the episode itself features so many Star Trek clichés that, as Chuck puts it, it's a perfect case of irony. [[invoked]]
* CloneAngst: Points out the great tragedy in "Whispers" is that Clone!O'Brien is ultimately a victim. He was duplicated so perfectly that he really ''is'' Miles O'Brien, never even suspecting that he was a ManchurianAgent. But the people he calls his friends, treat him as [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman not even a person at all]], not being able to see past the weapon. Thus when he dies, no-one does anything to try to save him, and worse, no-one even seems to ''[[YouMonster care]]''.
* CloseOnTitle:
** The ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'' review starts with no "SF Debris Presents" or thanks for the donor, saving those for the end with a mashup of Huey Long's "I Want A New Drug" and Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters."
** The review of ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'' also ends on the title, played over "A Whole New World" by Regina Belle and Peabo Bryson.
* TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight: Kamina has an uncanny ability to stumble onto the right answer despite the insane leaps in logic.
-->'''Chuck:''' Kamina has been known to be right despite all reason. He's very much like a man who decides he's going to get to the moon by digging a tunnel to get there... only to wind up falling into a cave containing a perfectly functioning alien spaceship. The journey may have been deeply flawed, but you can't argue with the results... no matter how much you want to.
* ClownCar: Compares the Maquis vessel in the VOY premiere to one of these. As we'll soon discover, they've got room for fifty additional people back there, ''plus'' Chakotay's medicine wheel.
* CluelessMystery: Chuck admits that despite how good the film is, ''[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]'' is a Clueless Mystery. He explores several of the scenes we see where the characters interact with the Thing, and points out how those scenes leave no way to deduce who is infected in later scenes. He cites some simple changes that could have been made, without making the Thing's identity being too obvious.
* ColdOpen: Of sorts. Many reviews begin with a short scene or moment from later in the episode/movie - no context is given. Then Chuck chimes in with a comment or joke that culminates with his CatchPhrase. Often [[ViewersAreGeniuses the viewer is expected]] to already know the context of the scene anyway.
** The "Genesis" TNG review starts like this:
--->'''Data:''' ''[to Picard]'' I believe you will also de-evolve, into an earlier form of primate. Possibly similar to a Lemur, or Pygmy Marmoset.\\
'''Chuck:''' Poor guy. Not only is he turning into an animal, he's turning into one that sucks. But then, I'm no special breed either, [[CatchPhrase I'm just a viewer with an opinion]].
* CommutingOnABus: Believes that the reason Alexander would disappear for long stretches at a time on TNG, is because Worf kept hocking his son as collateral during poker night, then had to spend several episodes attempting to win him back.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: In "Tuvix", he believes it's Neelix's influence that causes Tuvix to understand the order to "Remain still" instead to mean;
--->'''Chuck:''' Gesticulate and turn around as much as possible. Then get up out of the chair and walk around.
* ContentWarnings: Opens the review of "Elogim" (VOY):
-->'''Chuck:''' Warning: Opinionated Voyager Episode Guide is normally recorded at a level of decency found in a low-end PG-13 film. However, the episode being reviewed, "Elogim", is an episode with three plots: Sex, sex, and sex. As a result, any discussion of this episode requires discussion of sex. Therefore, this review contains adult themes.\\
''[Caption: "WARNING: Contains adult themes"]''\\
'''Chuck:''' It has also resulted in this review containing adult language...\\
''[Caption: "WARNING: Contains adult language"]''\\
'''Chuck:'''...not only because of the theme, but because '''''this is one SHITTY episode!'''''\\
''[Caption: "WARNING: This episode is crap"]''\\
'''Chuck:''' You have been warned! If only someone had had the decency to warn ''me'' before I watched this episode!\\
''[Caption: "WARNING: Why God? Why?!!"]''
* ContinuityLockout: In "The End of Time" review, he notes that one of the problems with the episode is the sheer volume of references to past episodes being thrown in, meaning that casual viewers would be completely lost to understand what's going on.
* ContinuityNod: Gives [=DS9=]'s "Defiant" props that a Maquis character from TNG's "Preemptive Strike", where Ro Laren joined the Maquis cause, was probably the same person that recruited Tom Riker into the Maquis.
* ContinuitySnarl: Invoked when the Doctor claims Seven had her first dream in "Unimatrix Zero".
-->'''Seven:''' What about that those aliens who made us all have that collective dream?\\
'''Doctor:''' That doesn't count, because that was an alien influence.\\
'''Seven:''' Ok, what about when everyone was in stasis and I dreamed I was all alone, with no alien influence whatsoever?\\
'''Doctor:''' That doesn't count either, because that would be ''continuity...''
** When the crew is stranded on the planet in "Basics", Chuck mentions how absurd their one hope of getting off is (the idea that Tom and his shuttle didn't actually blow up, which was all but confirmed for them). He says that another farflung hope is that this has some hidden tech from the aliens who kidnapped Amelia Earhart, and even that's relying on...continuity.
** "Continuity" is a major point for Chuck that either makes or breaks an episode.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Pointed out in "Basics", where he jokes that Chakotay must be using some kind of "Indian magic firewalking trick" to protect himself from the super-heated steam and poisonous gas that should have instantly killed him.
** Also notes in "The Thing" that the usage of flamethrowers should have some visible effect on the people using them due to the amount of heat.
** Praises ''The Boiling Rock'' when reviewing Avatar: The Last Airbender for averting this trope, he's really impressed that somebody on the production realised that a hot air balloon would cease functioning if the air outside was equally hot. He did have to retroactively dock ''The Day Of Black Sun'' points though, for playing the trope straight when Aang used his glider to get over molten lava.
* CoolVsAwesome: Chuck speculates that the Telepathic Pitcher Plant in "Bliss," didn't always eat starships- it's over two hundred thousand years old, after all- but instead consumed other large spacegoing life forms (which have been seen multiple times in Trek before). He then asks for a fight between the Telepathic Pitcher Plant and the Crystaline Entity.
* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: In "The Visitor", Jake looks to the Captain's Room for help in disproving his father's death. Bad idea.
-->'''Archer:''' ''(raving)'' Me, too! [[ConspiracyTheorist He was killed by the Vulcans!]] They crept out from under his bed and choked him to death with a heart attack!\\
'''Janeway:''' My father died, too, and I [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial totally had an alibi]] and everything.
* CoughSnarkCough: Subverted in the review for "Repentance" (''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager VOY]]''), when discussing the death penalty:
--> '''Chuck:''' If you rule out countries where executions of political enemies take place, in despotic areas like China, or just leaders who are willing to execute people outside of the law... *cough*Putin*cough*Putin*cough*. Sorry, I've got a little cold. I was trying to say '''Putin'''.
* CountryMatters: This is the ''only'' word that Chuck censors, usually with a LastSecondWordSwap and even a bleep in "In A Mirror Darkly."
* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: Invoked by name in the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' review. (He was just kidding)
** The [=SFDebris=] title card depicts our sun when viewed through a certain spectrum. Giving the subject matter of Chuck's reviews, it's only natural that people confuse it for Sha Ka Ree, the luminous blue planet in ''Film/{{Star Trek V|The Final Frontier}}''.
* CrackPairing: [[invoked]]When Deckard has the "unicorn vision" in the director's cut of ''Film/BladeRunner'', Chuck says that Deckard has a thing for [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rarity]].
** Invoked in his review of "One Small Step" where Seven and Chakotay are continually at loggerheads over his stupid command decisions and his irritation at her attitude.
--->'''Chuck:''' Seven's extremely upset that this idiotic human showed such disregard for their lives for a piece of obsolete junk... and obviously she's considering one day humping his brains out.
** Suggests one in "A Look at Reg Barclay" which came out the same day as his review of "Human Error", noting several plausible reasons why, out of everyone in Star Trek, ''Reg Barclay'' is the person Seven would probably be the most compatible with.
--->'''Chuck:''' Both are creative, intelligent, problem solvers, take pleasure in solitude, are interested in self-aware holograms and by alien influence, had experiences, though different, of a larger kind of consciousness integrated with technology, that they eventually had to give up. I think they'd gel quite well.
* CrazyPrepared: Given what happens in ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', Chuck jokingly wonders if some of Donald Trump's weird choices as president (attempts to build a wall, form a space force, buy Greenland) are because he's from a future where the alien-induced zombie apocalypse happened.
* CreatorsPet: [[invoked]] Discussed when he points out the multiple reasons why it's ''obvious'' that Wesley Crusher and Janeway were created to serve as an AuthorAvatar for Creator/GeneRoddenberry and Jeri Taylor, hence why they were always presented as infallible geniuses who were beloved by the crew.
** Also discussed with Neelix, especially in "The Gift" when the show has to drop a character and Neelix stays despite being hated by the viewers, he doesn't just take it as a sign that the show's creators don't care what the viewers think, he takes it as a sign that they hate the viewers.
** In "Fair Haven", he brings up the point that Janeway allowing Tom to run the titular program in all of the holodecks, ''all of the time'', smacks heavily of this in-universe. Hope the Voyager crew didn't have anything else they wanted to do with their holodeck time!
** He also discusses it with ''Doctor Who''[='s=] "Face the Raven" episode. Previously, he just found Clara rather bland as a character; as he puts it: "she's okay, but not [his] favorite." But the prominent focus the finale trilogy of the season places on her, makes the character become rather annoying in his eyes.
--->'''Chuck:''' Few things turn my stomach like [[CharacterShilling everyone obsessing over how undeniably "wonderful" someone is]], who seems to me like they are not that great.
* CreditsGag: Swapping out the usual Opinionated ''Next Gen'' Review intro song, "99 Red Balloons", for its original German version ("99 Luftballoons") for his review of "Darmok", which is an episode about language.
** Done again in his review of "In A Mirror, Darkly" where the opening "Kryptonite" is played in reverse.
* CreepySouvenir: There is a severed head for some lucky fan! From "Winter Is Coming" of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
* CureYourGays: Mentions how the thing that stuck out most in Creator/LRonHubbard's book, ''Literature/MissionEarth'', was how the viewpoint alien got a new and improved penis, which he used to rape two lesbians who had previously tortured him straight.
* CurseCutShort / CountryMatters: The introduction of Dr. Pulaski. "YOU'RE A COMPLETE CUN--!! [-..temptible person.-]"
** Does it again with the Space Amish leader in "Paradise" ([=DS9=]). "The most important resource we have is ingenuity."
--->"[[{{Angrish}} GABLUH???]] The ''application'' of human ''ingenuity'' is called '''technology'''! YOU STUPID CUN--!! [-..try doctor-].
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: A RealLife example, courtesy a LoonyFan (or a FanHater, take your pick): According to Chuck, one lunatic ''Trek'' fan threatened him with a toy bat'leth. He refuses to mention other incidents for fear of people trying to one-up them.
** In "Unimatrix Zero", Janeway offers to detach Borg Queen's head to make her ass easier to kiss. She later threatens Chakotay with "a jar of centipedes and a funnel." ("Shattered")
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* DamnedByFaintPraise: ''ST: Insurrection'' does have one distinct advantage over the other TNG films.
-->"It's the '''shortest'''."
** "Human Error" proved an improvement over "Unimatrix Zero." ("But then, so's a test pattern.")
** "Granted (Phlox) is not Dr. [=McCoy=], or Dr. Bashir, or Dr. Crusher....well, he's not Creator/DrSeuss! Probably." ("A Night in Sickbay")
** Did you know that "Haven" was nominated for [[TwoDecadesBehind Outstanding Hair Styling]]?
** From the video description for "Family": ''Plus, Wesley's backstory is fleshed out to the utter joy of his fan.''
** "Non Sequitur", possible the most apt-titled episode in the history of TV.
** "Tsunkatse" is definitely the most successful Trek adaptation of a Music/SimonAndGarfunkel song.
** "Our Man Bashir", featuring the kind of high-caliber acting you expect from adult films.
** Re: Riker and Troi's HostileShowTakeover of "These Are the Voyages..." Chuck does concede that -- in [=B&B=]'s defense -- there were probably ''many'' times on ENT when having some other, more interesting people strolling onto the set would have been welcome.
* DeadpanSnarker: Anyone who can say 'blowing up the ship with Janeway Pie' without even a hint of laughter has to be a master at this.
** Namedropped directly in his review of VOY: Bride of Chaotica, as he states he is one and he respects a way Robert Duncan [=McNeill=] delivered a line as one.
* DeathIsCheap: In ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', regarding Optimus Prime's many deaths and resurrections: "[[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] is shaking his head at this guy!"
* DebateAndSwitch: Chuck can see this coming a mile away, and he repeatedly states this is a regular feature of ''Voyager.'' Taking the easy way out of a moral dilemma either due to chance or technobabble is something he finds irksome, so he tends to praise its absence, such as in ''The Thaw,'' where the crew has to decide whether or not it's okay to prioritize the lives of some victims over the sentient simulation watching over them that will be destroyed when they're freed. They of course decide to save the hostages, but weaker Voyager episodes would probably have Janeway try to save the evil clown too.
** He commends the ''Voyager'' episode "Equinox" for providing a moral dilemma with only two bad solutions and no third happy way out, even if it may have been unintended by the writers: Do you commit mass murder of potentially intelligent lifeforms to gain fuel for your fancy supertech engine which would allow you to get home quickly, or uphold your principles while consigning your crew and yourself to living hell for the rest of their lives, limping home through hostile territory?
* DeconstructorFleet: Chuck loves unpacking Roddenberry's utopia to expose the inherent problems therein. This makes for a more serious mood. On the lighter side of things, he will frequently take the fundamental tropes of serialized sci-fi and turns it against franchise. Examples: ProtagonistCenteredMorality as proof that the Federation is based on xenophobic attitudes; TheMainCharactersDoEverything as signs of rampant bureaucracy and mismanagement; and its StockAesops as the dogmas of an Orwellian state.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: According to Chuck, Jeri Taylor scripts have two purposes: "To prove how awesome Janeway is, and to prove how awesome Janeway is".
* DescriptionCut: From the review of ''Farscape'''s "Crackers Don't Matter":
-->'''Chuck:''' The point though is that they're past the pulsars and they're all still acting nuts. Well, of course, all of them but T'raltixx.\\
'''T'raltixx:''' [[ChewingTheScenery I AM MAAAAAGNIIIIFICEEEENT!!!]]\\
'''Chuck:''' ...relatively speaking.
* DesignatedHero: [[invoked]] In the ''Wonder Woman'' review, he comments about his incompetent RPG superhero whose powers set included immunity to bad press. He could violate safety protocols, destroy a factory, horribly mutate someone in the process, declare this poor soul a supervillain, and beat the crap out of this guy, and the media would laud him for dealing with the unsafe factory and the newly-created supervillain. He contrasts this character with Wonder Woman, who unlike him, ''isn't'' supposed to be a [[RefugeInAudacity comic relief character]]. He also pointed out that the ''villain'' broke fewer laws than Wonder Woman did.
* DidNotThinkThisThrough: Notes this about Damon Tog in "Menage a Trois", since in his [[SarcasmMode infinite wisdom]], he decides to that instead of kidnapping just Lwaxana, an older woman, who's known for frivolous flights of fancy and is so annoying ''no-one'' is going to miss her; Tog will kidnap Deanna and Riker as well... two Starfleet officers who's disappearance will be quickly noticed.
* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Or at least it's inferior to [[{{Pirate}} real piracy]], due to how great they look in puffy shirts.
* DiminishingVillainThreat: One of his big complaints about the Borg in "Unimatrix Zero," which shows two much smaller and weaker ships attacking an upgraded Borg Cube.
-->"Now let me put this in perspective. This is a souped-up version of the ship that nearly assimilated the entire Federation. In straight-up combat, ''that'' ship, a ''regular'' cube, was only defeated thanks to an armada, and unique insight into its vulnerabilities on a moment-by-moment basis. Now THIS ship (shows picture of Super Cube), is the one that the Borg deploys when they decide that This Shit Just Got Real. THIS is when the Borg get deadly serious about fighting. (Janeway says that they're going to infiltrate the ship) Oh for god's sakes."
* DirtyMindReading: Kirk's mind meld in ''Star Trek III''. ...And Captain Pike's fantasies in "The Menagerie." ...And Dr. Bashir's coma in "Distant Voices." Seems that what the future ''really'' needs is a nice sex dungeon.
-->"You're a findom, trapped in a system where money doesn't exist! Tragic."
* DisneyVillainDeath: In his "[[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} City of Stone]]" review, Chuck accuses gravity of being the real villain of the story, given how commonly this trope is used.
* DisobeyThisMessage: Discussed thoroughly in "The Neutral Zone" (''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]''), where Picard extolls on the virtues of the Federation's money-free economy... while anyone wanting to buy a DVD containing this episode would need to pay through the nose for it.
** Similarly invoked in "Dark Frontier", where the enlightened Federation crew of ''Voyager'' willingly embrace the virtues of piracy... while the DVD the episode comes on features a [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil digital piracy warning label]].
* DistractedByTheSexy: Happens to Chuck while he reviews "A Night in Sickbay" as Archer is talking with T'Pol [[MaleGaze as she jogs on a treadmill in a skimpy tank-top]].
-->"Archer, ''I'm'' a human, and all I can understand about you is that you're an idiot, insane, or both, and why do I have a sudden craving for milkshakes?!"
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** Speculates that Worf actually has named his balls "Honour" and his dick "Courage", which other Klingons then copied. Cue one hilarious montage...
** A cyclops in a pinstriped suit with waggling face-dicks, "like it was ripped from the nightmares of Betty Friedan." ("Daleks of Manhattan")
** In "Remember Me", Chuck puts the audio of the Traveler instructing Wesley on how to save his mother over a still shot of [[AutoErotica a shuttlecraft]]. Suddenly, everything the Traveler says comes off a lot creepier:
--->'''The Traveler:''' There's your warp bubble, Wesley.
* DontExplainTheJoke: You wouldn't think Whoopi Goldberg would need this advice. But then, "The Outrageous Okona", an episode where Data attempts to learn humor, "is where jokes go to die".
** A RealLife example: Chuck referred to Twilight Sparkle as "Sparkle, Twilight" throughout his ''My Little Pony'' review, but failed to indicate that this was a reference to FilmNoir protagonists (he had to insert subtitles explaining this, [[SelfDeprecation even admitting that the joke was lame]]). It didn't help that the 'comma' was silent, making it sound like he was calling her 'Sparkle Twilight', instead of 'Sparkle, Twilight'. Needless to say, especially given the show's notoriously passionate fanbase, it all went over like a lead balloon.
* DoubleEntendre: An absolute ''master'' of this, often utilizing either Star Trek jargon, {{Catchphrase}}s, or {{Call Back}}s.
-->He needs to, oh, find the nearest Chief Engineer and "tap her warp core".\\
That time every seven years when Tuvok needs to... [[TranslationTrainWreck "taste his wife's false rice"]].\\
Picard bending Beverly over his desk to [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration "make it so"]].\\
He wants to, y'know, [[MsFanservice "service the Collective"]].\\
Incidentally, we see Dukat playing more and more with Sisko's ball. ({{ahem}})\\
If you feel Rainbow Dash likes other girls to....y'know, 'taste the rainbow?' Knock yourselves out.\\
Riker blissfully watching a hologram of two women playing with their harps.\\
We see Crichton with Aeryn, and figure that he really, really wants to bond with ''her'' naturally.\\
Keiko offering Miles ''his favorite thing to eat!'' ....Favorite meal!\\
Climb on that exam table, 'cause Bajor's getting occupied again tonight! (*''[[BowChickaWowWow bow chicka wow wow]]*)''\\
Riker "kissing Brenna's blarney stone."\\
Sha're has never "kissed the Staff of Ra."\\
Probe the collective. ({{ahem}})\\
As Geordi would put it - "tickle her nacelles"\\
"Well, Beverly, it's time to....''engage''. And ''make it so''." ''(cue mood music)''\\
"''There's'' your warp bubble Wesley!"\\
DON'T SPARE THE WHIP!\\
"I'll have to put this in your mouth, I call it a [[HospitalHottie tongue impressor]]."\\
Torres demanding that Paris "give her a diagnostic."
** Neelix just can't stop talking about Seven's curtains. ("Human Error")
--->'''Neelix:''' But we have to make sure they '''match the carpet!'''\\
'''Chuck:''' A dozen ways to phrase that, and you had to go with ''that'' one.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale[=/=]BlackComedyRape: When ''Enterprise''s "Unexpected" pulls these two tropes with the 'Trip Tucker is now pregnant' routine, this is probably the '''only''' time so far in which Chuck [[BerserkButton loses his usual]] ''[[BerserkButton sang froid]]''.
** Invoked in ''[=DS9=]'' after the characters cite the Eugenics War, and [[ContinuitySnarl gets the date wrong by two centuries]].
--->'''Sisko:''' Yes, the Admiral has a speech impediment. He [[HandWave says "two" whenever he means "four."]]\\
'''Daddy Bashir:''' [crestfallen] So, my prison sentence is ''four'' years?\\
'''Sisko:''' ...Yes. And "minimum security" means "pound me in the ass."
* DracoInLeatherPants: A DiscussedTrope in his ''[[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' review. where Chuck argues that Azula doesn’t deserve the level of sympathy that many fans give her. He feels that although [[FreudianExcuse her upbringing explains some of her violent and anti-social tendencies]], it doesn't excuse them either. Unlike other characters with similar or worse upbringings who work to overcome their flaws, she does nothing to get over hers.
* DrinkingGame: "[[Series/GameOfThrones Severed head! Take a drink.]]"
** Also from ''Series/GameOfThrones'', "Naked girl! Take a drink."
** He suggests one in his review of "Spock's Brain": Drink for every TitleDrop. He is even courteous enough to inform us how many times it happens.[[note]](Fifteen, if you were wondering.)[[/note]]
** Takes a drink every time Brannon Braga deems something "ancient." ("The 37s")
--->"It's not a drinking game, though, it's a.... [[INeedAFreakingDrink coping mechanism]]."
* [[DrivenToSuicide Driven To Phaser The Warp Core]]:
** Suggests that given the treatment the Maquis crewmen receive in "Learning Curve" for not following Starfleet rules, considering they never wanted to be part of Starfleet in the first place, would drive anyone to pull a phaser and shoot the Warp Core in frustration. Particularly given how Dolby noticed a problem with the gel-packs, went to fix it and was disciplined for not getting proper authorisation first. Then when the rest of the crew realise the problem has spread to more gel-packs (possibly because Dolby was stopped from trying to find the problem), Dolby is then immediately ordered to go fix them.
** In "Timeless", during a hypothetical DealWithTheDevil scene with the Borg Queen, Harry agrees to change history after the Queen tells him that doing so will RetGone him.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Invoked in his review of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' as a reason Troi is kept around;
-->'''Picard:''' Well what exactly are you capable of doing?\\
'''Troi:''' [[Film/StarTrekGenerations I know how smash the ship into things...]]\\
'''Picard:''' Yeah, I figured that when they were [[TrashTheSet pulling a pine-tree off the Enterprise-D bridge]]. Still, if there's ''ever'' a time when your sole ability, smacking my ship into something else, is needed, I'll let you know!
** Not that Picard is any better, considering his love of callously violating the Prime Directive whilst driving a Dune-Buggy.
* DudeNotFunny:
** [[{{Inuniverse}} His reaction]] to the ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' episode "Unexpected", where Tucker became impregnated by an alien who told him that her species reproductive process was ''a game''. He's completely pissed off at the episode and Berman and Braga for [[BlackComedyRape playing this up as comedy]] because they seem to think DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale[=/=]DoubleStandardRapeSciFi.
** This was also his reaction to the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "Duet", in which [=McKay=] winds up with a female soldier's mind (Cadman) in his head and HilarityEnsues. Or at least... that's what the writers intended to happen, but as he points out, the PuppeteerParasite trope (which Cadman had become, though admittedly not by her own choice) has always been played as a FateWorseThanDeath in ''Stargate'', and yet now the writers seemed to be trying to make a comedy out of that situation, which he felt crossed a line. He is aware that many fans found that episode genuinely hilarious and that he is in the minority opinion on this.
** In another ''Atlantis'' episode, "Irresistible", a character named Lucius has pheromones that make everyone like him. Harmless enough and food for comedy right? Except that among the things Lucius has done with this pheromone is get married to six different women, who were explicitly said to have hated him beforehand. Chuck is anything but amused that they are playing the fact that Lucius has raped six women using mind control for laughs (with every intention of Weir being next).
* DullSurprise: Chuck jokes often that you can tell that Chakotay has been taken over/influenced by an alien or is a simulation by the fact that he's too lifelike and is being played by an actor who gives a shit.
* DumbassHasAPoint: As much as he generally despises Neelix, he is quick to point out when Neelix has a point. In the cold open of "The Cloud", Neelix accuses Janeway of not caring about her crew. Chuck quickly agrees with this assessment.
* DyingDream: Invoked as an alternative to the fan hypothesis that Picard never leaves the Nexus in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', and all the remaining TNG films are his fantasies. It's pointed out that if you want to go down that route, it would actually make far more sense for the ending of ''Generations'' (and the subsequent three films) to be hallucinations induced by a mixture of sunstroke and concussion, which Picard experiences during the fifteen minutes it would actually take until Veridian III is obliterated by the explosion of its sun. Though, as he points out elsewhere, ''neither'' theory makes any real sense because it would mean the ''Enterprise''-D crew died in that film, making Worf's joining of the [=DS9=] crew along with Troi and Barclay's ''Voyager'' appearances impossible.
** Brings this up in ''Film/BattlefieldEarth''. Midway through the film, Johnny loses his breathing tube and is left to die in the Psychlo dome. Chuck says that the rest of the film can be interpreted as "Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge," which would completely eliminate all the stupidity and plot holes.
* DysfunctionJunction: His interpretation of the Voyager crew.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
* EndOfAnEra: With the "Hunters" review of ''Voyager'' on December 25th, 2022, all of the Voyager episodes have been reviewed. To cap off this final review Chuck closed out the episode with Riders in The Sky, Voyager's original intro song before he used an all-encompassing intro for anything Star Trek.
* EnsembleDarkHorse: In-universe, Robert Picardo as the Doctor.
** Also Tom Paris, the most competent man on Voyager.
** Reed, practically the OnlySaneMan aboard the NX-01, inventor of the forcefield, supercharging phase-cannons, and possibly the original "Reed-Alert"... (though the name needs work).
** Harrin from Voyager's episode "Good Shepherd", a one-shot Lower Decks character, who is unafraid to tell Janeway what a goddamn idiot she's been half the time, especially that it's taken seven years to notice, "On a ship meant to explore the wonders of the universe, you've put Creator/CarlSagan in charge of ''shoveling coal''".
** Reg Barclay. His imagination, personality flaws and fallibility set him apart from most characters in Trek who often are presented as perfect, enlightened individuals. Chuck posits this as one of the reasons why he became a recurring character in ''TNG'', was so easily transplanted to ''Voyager'' and even showed up in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', as well as have his work even mentioned in "The Best of Both Worlds", in which he ''didn't actually appear''.
* TheEveryman: Lister from Series/RedDwarf. Chuck points out that over time Lister's progression from someone who's concerned with his own imminent horror in the early episodes, to eventually stepping up and actually giving a damn, is actually a more hopeful version of Star Trek's message that anyone in such a difficult circumstance could rise to become a better person.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: "The Killing Game Pt.1"
-->'''Hirogen:''' ''(gruffly)'' Y'know, I might kill for no reason other than someone's in killing distance, but at least I'm not a Nazi.
** While reviewing "Latent Image," Chuck keeps track of how his parody Janeway would act in every situation compared to how Janeway actually acts in the episode...and is shocked to discover that canon Janeway actually has a ''more'' evil way of dealing with the episode's central conflict.
* EvenNerdsHaveStandards: A few reviews, like the "[=QPid=]" episode. There, he mispronounces [[GreatGazoo Mxyzptlk's]] name, but then says "Okay, before anyone gets ready to correct my pronunciation, I'd like to point out, this is a Website/YouTube review of a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' episode, based on ''Myth/RobinHood'', that is now referring to a ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' villain. Let's just leave Mr. Mxyzptlk's name alone, before [[AwesomenessIsVolatile we hit nerd critical mass and blow up the internet]], okay? Sometimes you gotta ratchet down the dork for the sake of the straights."
** "Wes, I gave a fifteen minute lecture on the nuances of the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]], and even ''I'' think you're a spaz..."
*** "...S-P-A-[[TheBackwardsR 3]], spaz."
** Looking up how self-replicating mines work from the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, he says he offset the nerdiness by [[TestosteronePoisoning challenging a bear to a knife fight.]]
** "Speaking as a professional Star Trek critic, [[WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire Milo]] is a ''dork''."
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** He's not a feminist, and still gets offended as extremely sexist parts of some episodes. He is also not a hypocrite. So he cannot just dismiss people who have an argument against his own view. He will give it a fair weighing and measure.
** He's not fond of Rei, Asuka, and Mari, who are 14, being used for {{fanservice}} in the ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' films and is disturbed by Shikijo's fantasies in ''Manga/{{Mahoromatic}}''. ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'' also offended him.
** He's mentioned that he uses himself as a litmus test because of this. The theory being, if ''he'' thinks that something is racist or sexist, the problem must have reached truly intolerable levels.
* EvilerThanThou: His take on the Janeway and Borg Queen dynamic in a nutshell.
* EvilIsCool: Invoked in his review of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers'' at the sight of the [[WarElephants Mumakil]], humorously bringing up that the trilogy's villains get all the cool stuff.
* EvilLaugh: [[WhenThePlanetsAlign When the stars align with the Moon]], it allows Nightmare Moon to usurp and take over, and well, do what all villains must do -- give an evil laugh. It's good for the blood pressure.
* EvilLawyerJoke: While discussing the trademark issues surrounding Creator/JamesCameron's ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' in his review of ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise'':
-->"I'd ask a lawyer, but I don't feel like drawing another pentagram in my basement."
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Chuck notes in his review of "The Swarm" that season 3 ''Voyager'' titles are extremely direct. "The Chute" is about a chute, "Flashback" is about a flashback, "Sacred Ground" is about some sacred ground and "Warlord" is about a warlord.
** "Twisted", too, but it's a different sort of honesty.
--->"I'm looking forward to more future episodes like this, like uh, "More Shit", "We've Long Stopped Caring", and "Of COURSE We Don't Respect You"!"
** "Fury" refers to the mood of the audience after peeing all over Kes' touching sendoff.
** [[invoked]] "Persistence of Vision", which, despite having nothing to do with the episode, is nevertheless an accurate description of what awaits us: [[{{Padding}} a series of rapid images giving the illusion of movement]].
** He also calls ''Non-Sequiter'' the most honest episode title in Voyager.
* ExactWords: The audience's sentiment that "Kirk should die on TheBridge!" is met with a hearty "[[DroppedABridgeOnHim No problem!]]"
* [[invoked]] ExecutiveMeddling: He's made fun of ExecutiveMeddling many times, but in ''Insurrection's'' review, he points out that the executives actually sent a memo pointing out the many plot holes in the script and wondering why they weren't better addressed.
-->'''Executive Memo:''' We would like to better establish why the future of six hundred Ba'ku is so important. Currently it is unclear why Picard is so passionate about the future of this particular race. The "blood feud" between a few hundred Son'a and six hundred Ba'ku seems like nothing more than a gang fight. Numerous civilisations have been eliminated by previous Star Trek megalomaniacs, so what makes the Ba'ku so special? To be blunt, with only six hundred people in the gene pool, the Ba'ku would inbreed themselves into extinction within a few generations.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: "The Thaw": Janeway comes into confrontation with the embodiment of fear, and it is '''fear''' who is terrified.
-->'''Clown:''' How are you? I'm [[AbstractApotheosis fear incarnate, the living embodiment of terror stretching back over a billion years, the most base of all emotions]]!\\
'''Janeway:''' Heh! I thought you'd be taller.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F]]
* FacePalm: Picard's 'reaction' to Archer addressing T'Pol ("I'm doing the breast--'''best!'''-- I can.") Riker joins in when the joke [[FreudianSlipperySlope drags on for too long]].
** "Yeah...sorry, I couldn't find a ''Farscape'' facepalm, so you'll just have to settle for [[Series/SesameStreet another Henson employee.]]"
* TheFaceless: As Chuck mentioned in his ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' cameo, the reason he doesn't show his face is because cameras steal your soul.
* FailsafeFailure: Really tore into this in "Learning Curve", when a manual override was still shut out by broken systems, which would defeat the purpose of being a manual override.
* FanonDiscontinuity: Has this with regards to Star Trek V and even notes that in the overarching story of the movies from 2,3, 4, and 6, that the plot holes it creates mean it makes the most sense to pretend that it didn't happen.[[invoked]]
** Chuck insists that "All Our Yesterdays" is the actual climax to Star Trek: The Original Series, and not "Turnabout Intruder", which Chuck feels is best forgotten anyway.
** [[invoked]] Jokes that ''Enterprise'' only [[ContinuitySnarl maintains continuity]] with the rest of the series if you imagine that the later generations of Starfleet were so ashamed of Archer and his crew, they created a blanket-ban forbidding anyone [[UnPerson from referring to them]].
* FantasticSlur: Discussed in "Empok Nor". He argued that "Cardy" wasn't a slur, just military jargon, like how the Germans were called "Jerries" in World War II. Spoon-head, on the other hand, is a slur because it's only ever used in a derogatory manner.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: In reviewing ''Star Trek VI'' he calls TNG-era Klingons space vikings, while the klingons in the film come across more like space samurai: intelligent, cultured, but no less dangerous.
* FatalAttractor: Chuck points out that whenever Harry does have a relationship, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Plus we've seen at least once that actually making out with Seven is something that causes him to have screaming nightmares.
* FateWorseThanDeath: In his review of ''Film/TheDayAfter'', Chuck noted that one of the characters should have just "sat on the hole in the ground and gotten it over with," rather than the slow, painful death of radiation sickness.
* FauxHorrific: Eating red meat is a Vulcan's worst nightmare, according to "Carbon Creek". Returns as a BrickJoke when the crew becomes stranded in "The Void"; when considering worst case scenarios, the first one that springs to Tuvok's mind is the possibly of killing a deer.
* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Janeway preparing to [[PistolWhipping pistol whip]] Harry for the crimes of being both within sight...and being Harry Kim.
** He dislikes Neelix so much that even the mere sight of him is annoying, culminating in this Stupid Neelix Moment:
--->"Neelix walked into a room and handed the Doctor a pad. This offended me."
** This culminated in an incident where he acknowledged that 7 of 9 had been the annoying character in a scene, yet still gave the award to Neelix because, by standing next to her in a ridiculous shirt, the blame arced into him like lightning traveling between two clouds.
** Okana was voted Most Annoying Character in "The Game", an episode which neither featured nor even ''mentioned'' him. However, Wesley was introduced as, "Wesley Wesley Crusher" and the memories just came flooding back.
* FictionalGenevaConventions: In the "Chain Of Command" review, Chuck points out that the "Space Geneva Convention" doesn't protect Picard when he's disavowed by Starfleet.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: in his review of "Second Chances," he shows how it doesn't necessarily have to take an absurdly long time for someone to fall into this, like Riker and Thomas Riker. Thomas was only on the planet for eight years, out of circulation from the rest of the Federation. Chuck points out that eight years before he aired the episode, Bush was president, the Marvel Cinematic Universe hadn't started yet, and Chuck was still agonizing about reviewing things that weren't Voyager episodes.
* {{Flanderization}}: A few character traits for running jokes, like Picard's dislike of children, Troi's bad driving, Janeway's recklessness and love of coffee, Sisko's anger management issues, etc.
** This applies not just to canon Janeway, but ''Chuck's own alternate take'', as well. As the reviews go on Janeway becomes more and more maniacal, culminating in the ''Nemesis'' review where she reveals her master plan to take over the Alpha Quadrant, which will result in the deaths of about half of its inhabitants. But oh well, eggs and omelets.
** Taken to even more extreme heights now that he is redoing the old reviews. Whole sections of former jokes have been completely rewritten to accommodate an "Evil Janeway" or (even more pronounced) a "Picard Can't Fight" gag.
--->''[[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Janeway, Captain Janeway! / I'm the best Captain in history! / Stranding all my people / Their lives are filled with grief and misery!]]'' ♪
** This has since spread to other ''Trek'' reviews as well. Kirk and Sisko used to be the most down-to-earth, practical Captains in Starfleet. While still a force to be reckoned with, Kirk has devolved into an oversexed jock who belittles his crewmen and bangs all their girlfriends; meanwhile, Sisko considers the station's battleship to be his "[[WhyAreYouNotMySon real]]" son.
** Chuck's improvied lines for Picard's brother Robert in "Family" ("Where you going? I was getting my best curse words ready, ya baldy skidmark!"), directly comparing him to both the Banjo kid from Deliverance and Jason Voorhees in terms of people skills ("I had an orgasm once. I didn't care for it").
--->"I think Robert missed his true calling [[DastardlyWhiplash running an orphanage]] in a Charles Dickens novel."
** [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Colonel Tigh]] is ''constantly'' shitfaced drunk in his reviews.
* FollowTheLeader: Linkara's "History of Power Rangers" series has a very similar tone, with the montage in "Power Rangers in Space" almost exactly like SF's in "All Good Things" (which Linkara did get permission).
** Averted that Chuck won't be doing the Star Wars prequels, following in the vein of WebVideo/ConfusedMatthew or WebVideo/RedLetterMedia, simply because of the redundancy. "Its been done, there's nothing left to be said".
** WebVideo/DiamandaHagan says that her [[Series/DoctorWho Twatty Who]] reviews follows SF Debris' style in her review of "Fear Her", albeit more caustic.
* FollowUpFailure: "Unimatrix Zero" is accused of being a pretty major example of this next to the show's first two Borg two-parters, "Scorpion" and "Dark Frontier." Those two stories are both given the top score of 10, while "Unimatrix Zero" ends up with just 1.[[invoked]]
* FlatCharacter: He refers to Chang Lee in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The TV Movie]]" as a pure cardboard character.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In his re-release of the "Caretaker" review, he mentions that rumors are that Janeway was on Earth for other reasons that just recruiting Tom, mentioning a computer virus and tampered replicators. Cut to his ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' review, and as part of an Evil Janeway comedic segment he reveals how those are part of Janeway's plan to take over the Federation and the Romulan empire through masterminding the events of Nemesis.
** Chuck's response to the Doctor's "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E4Inferno But I don't exist in your world!]]" line? "That's... [[ChekhovsGun a line I'm going to leave alone]] [[http://blip.tv/sf-debris-opinionated-reviews/tng-yesterday-s-enterprise-review-6513776 for today]]."
** In his review of the third episode of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Chuck keeps making comments concerning [[spoiler:[[OffWithHerHead losing one's head]]]].
** Chuck names the player character in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' as "[[SignificantAnagram Traevan Rhad]]."
* ForTheEvulz: He alludes in his ''Stargate'' review that Ra suffers from this, attacking the villagers at seemingly random.
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: Always calls out ''Franchise/StarTrek'' for completely forgetting about the ship's shuttles if the transporter goes down. On the other hand, there's this, from the review of the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Out of Gas":
-->'''Chuck:''' ''[as Mal is talking to the crew outside the infirmary about their situation]'' ...and of course, they're going to completely forget about the shuttles.\\
'''Mal:''' So instead of talking about what we don't got, let's talk about what we do, and what we got are two shuttles. Both short-range, won't go far, but they each got heat, and they each got air. Last longer than what's left on ''Serenity''.\\
'''Chuck:''' ''[pauses the clip]'' They cancel ''this'', and let ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' run for four seasons?
* FormulaBreakingEpisode: His review of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. The first time he ever reviewed a video game (it was actually [[LetsPlay a full-length annotated playthrough]], followed by his usual detailed analysis).
* FourPointScale: Utterly averted. Rather than using an arbitrary rating system, he gives every episode a grade from 1-10 relative to all other episodes in the same series, and not in any other. He'll give a "10" to the best the series had to offer; due to the bell-curve rating system, there are only a few per series (when giving a "9", he'll often lament that, while it was very good, it just wasn't the best of the best). [[BrokeTheRatingScale He gives out one "0" per series]], always to the episode that is most damaging to the reputation of the franchise as a whole, not just the particular series, and deserves the CanonDiscontinuity treatment. (This actually ''did'' happen to "Threshold"). He does have opinions about the relative quality of each series to all the others, and they become obvious if you watch enough reviews: An ''Enterprise'' "5", for example, is clearly an inferior episode to a ''Deep Space Nine'' "5", as the Enterprise "5" is generic schlock, while the Deep Space Nine "5" may be a simple but enjoyable episode.
** Chuck himself admits he was indulging in this trope a bit with his early ''Deep Space Nine'' reviews, pegging "7" instead of "5" as an average (using the 7.5 he originally gave "Our Man Bashir" as a specific example, downgrading it to a "4" when he re-uploaded it). Without a doubt, his more recent [=DS9=] reviews, such as "Indiscretion" and "Return to Grace", strongly avert this trope; he praises them profusely and offers no substantial criticism, but still only gives them a "5" and a "6" respectively because, as noted above, the bar for [=DS9=] is set so high.
** For his non-''Franchise/StarTrek'' reviews, he gives descriptive recommendations instead of numerical ratings; he might rate a ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode as "Watchable" or "Must-See". This not only covers how good the episode is, but also (for arc-heavy series like ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'') how important it is to understanding the overall story of the series.
* FranchiseZombie: On ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' during the infamous "A Night In Sickbay," Chuck temporarily loses it and says "And yet it's still coming! It won't stop! '''How do you kill a ''Star Trek'' show that's already dead?!'''"
** "Profit and Lace" is compared to a heroic boxer who's down for the count. Those final twitches could be [[UnderdogsNeverLose the final moments of defiance]], or the throes of the dying. We'll never know.
-->"[[OverUsedRunningGag ACTING grand Nagus Brunt!]]"\\
'''Chuck:''' Oh God, no! We ''forgot to shoot it in the head!!''
* FrankenX: Chuck uses the X-Stein variant in his ''Film/DarkCity'' review. He tells the story of Daniel Schreber, a German writer who suffered mental illness and was hospitalized at an asylum called "Sonnenstein".
-->'''Chuck:''' ''Sonnenstein'' also being the name of the monster I brought to life in a lightning storm.
* FreudianExcuse: Deconstructed at length in his discussion of [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Azula]], with Chuck ultimately concluding that "there is no reason the straightforward explanation the show provides isn't the truth: that her gifts made her arrogant to the point of being a monster."
** [[SubvertedTrope Ironically]], WordOfGod in a supplementary interview confirmed that the straightforward explanation ''wasn't'' the full truth, and that while that explanation is the basic gist of it, the actual issue with Azula's psyche runs deeper than that.
** Much hay is made of Janeway's comically abusive childhood, from being [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunted down by her rifle-wielding dad]] on Father's Day, to dodging thrown beer bottles until he finally passed out drunk, to being thrown into a pit on her birthday (with a birthday gift offered as reward for climbing out alive). Admiral Janeway got his just desserts though, as hinted by Katheryn who offhandedly mentions murdering him (and smothering her stepmom for good measure). Yet again, WordOfSaintPaul says this has a kernel of truth: Kate Mulgrew rationalized her schizo characterization by playing her as a bipolar, nervous wreck.
** (And yes, Garrett Wang was an early proponent of the "[[http://trekmovie.com/2011/06/22/garrett-wang-talks-clashes-with-brannon-braga-rick-berman-lost-opportunity-for-star-trek-voyager-movie/ Harry's a closet gay]]" theory, chasing after unattainable women to avoid his love for Tom.)
* FreudianSlipperySlope: "[[Creator/CatherineTate Catherine Tit--]] ''Tate!''" "[[Series/DoctorWho Donna Nipple]]-- ''Noble''!" "Substantial shift in [[OverlyLongGag boobies!]]--''dynamic.''"
** Repeatedly tries to avoid this (without success) in a scene with Tom and Harry from "Parturition":
--->"Tom's impressed, quickly taking hold of Harry's instrument - er, I mean, complimenting Harry on his...showing his appreciation of...''[[PorkyPigPronunciation Tom has a clarinet]]''. Tom gives it back and wants to hear something. Harry's a little hesitant, but Tom insists that Harry slip that instrument between his lips-- ''(beat)'' ...Use proper tongue technique-- ''(beat)''... supplemented by careful finger manipulation along the long shaft of hard wood-- ''(beat)'' ...to make beautiful music-- (''beat'') ...I give up. I award this scene the '''Congressional Medal of Gay'''".
** Repeated with relish in "Non Sequitur". Sure, Harry's left his hot horny fiancée behind to go grab a stick and play with Tom, "but dammit there's nothing gay about it!"
--->"A-and sure, there was that one episode where women were beating him large phallic objects, but there's ''nothing gay about it.'' And yeah, we went into Harry's mind and saw a log cut in half by a large pink guillotine while a man dressed all in leather with a bare chest stood nearby and-- okay, [[RuleOfThree that's kind of gay]], I'll grant you that. But, look, that's not what it's about, okay? Harry's just trying to convince Tom to come back with him to [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco San Francisc]]--! ''(beat)'' ...Harry wants Tom in the pilot's sea--! ''(beat)'' Harry knows that Tom is good with his han--! ''shit.''"
* FreudWasRight: Invoked very much in his review of ''{{Film/Alien}}'':
-->"Rest assured that every elongated object in this film has been called a penis and every opening was called a vagina by someone, somewhere."
* FromBadToWorse: Optimus Primal seeing that the aliens they were so concerned about all season turning out to be Unicron is like being prepared to receive news that you have cancer, only to find out it's a strain of an infectious form of super cancer. The only saving grace is that the aliens use [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith A Form You Are Familiar With]], so it's not [[GodOfEvil Unicron]], it's just destructive super-aliens who will destroy the entire planet to get rid of the guys mucking up their experiments.
* FunTShirt: [[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Wolf 359 was an inside job ]]
("The Killing Game" Pt. 1)
* FunWithSubtitles: [[/folder]]

[[folder: "Threshold" story and concept ]]
'''CRAPPED OUT BY''' [[/folder]]

[[folder: Brannon Braga ]]

** The "translations" of the whale songs in his review of ''Star Trek IV'' are by far his funniest use of this trope.
** His coda to "Tuvix" gives us this gem:
--->'''Janeway:''' [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Make it so]], dickhead!
** ''Astromech Spy'' subtitles R2-D2's dialogue from ''Film/ANewHope''.
** See also TranslationTrainWreck.
** When Creator/SethMacFarlane appears in the opening credits of "The Forgotten": "Yes, that Seth [=MacFarlane=]."
[[/folder]]