Thursday, July 21, 2011

The Plinkett Reviews: Probably The Funniest Star Wars & Star Trek Video Reviews On The Web

star trek online reviews
Lumping Star Wars and Star Trek fans together in the same sentence (let alone article) is a risky tactic. When the uniting factor just so happens to be critical comedy however, I think it’s safe to say we can put our differences aside and all enjoy a good laugh at some of the most expensive bad films of all time.

By now you’ve probably gathered I’m not talking about the original Star Wars trilogy nor am I referring to the classic televised episodic crusades of Captain James Tiberius Kirk and Crew aboard the USS Enterprise. The Plinkett Reviews instead highlight the errors of fairly recent big-budget Hollywood releases that, in Mr Plinkett’s opinion, got it wrong. If you’ve never watched a review that’s as long as a whole film before, then you’ve probably never seen a Plinkett review!

Star Wars: Episode I, II & III

It’s OK, you’re amongst friends. We’re not going to pretend that George Lucas’ green screen trilogy constitutes “good cinema” nor are we accepting that they’re worthy of the original trilogy. If you share this belief then you will be thoroughly entertained for hours and hours as Mr Plinkett patiently dismembers each film like a cheap knock-off Jar Jar Binks doll.

star trek online reviews

The Episode I review is a good place to start if you’ve never seen a Plinkett Review before. Not only is it a great introduction to Plinkett and his style but also a hilarious walkthrough of the convoluted and inaccessible plot (because there’s no shame in forgetting exactly what was going on, especially if you were young at the time) and poorly written, wooden characters.

The remaining two films provide a continuation of Mr Plinkett’s utter disgust at this mismatched, poorly acted, overly complicated and quite honestly embarrassing follow-up trilogy to one of the greatest stories of intergalactic conflict ever told.

Star Trek (The Films)

There are actually more Star Trek Plinkett reviews than there are Star Wars editions, probably because there are more bad Star Trek films to poke fun at. Most of these reviews are only around half an hour each, and as ever bring the ridiculous and hilarious together under the guise of critique.

star trek video review

In total there are five reviews: Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis and the 2009 vaguely titled “Star Trek” movie. Even if you’ve enjoyed the films featured here, you’ll probably still find Plinkett’s humour, editing and attention to detail entertaining and at times surprisingly enlightening. He is quite observant, you know…

Other Films

So it turns out that the two biggest sci-fi franchises ever aren’t the only targets in Mr Plinkett’s sights. A few other movies you might have heard of also make an appearance here, including Avatar, Baby’s Day Out (!) and Cop Dog (!!).

star trek video review

That’s certainly a strange arrangement of films, and Avatar is probably the most “watchable” of the bunch in a critical and interesting manner with the other two providing heaps of entertainment value rather than the disassembly of blockbuster “hit”.

star trek online reviews

The Avatar review is worth watching especially if you’re fond of the film (don’t worry, Mr Plinkett didn’t hate it either) and have been wondering why.

Downloads & Mobile

As the Plinkett Reviews resemble lengthy episodes or films and generally aren’t short reviews, a number of you will probably appreciate the ability to download and enjoy at your leisure. As the videos are hosted on blip.tv, a downloader such as Orbit Downloader for Windows will enable you to download and watch the video on your TV, console or mobile device.

Red Letter Media, the site that features the Plinkett Reviews also has a mobile app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad which enables you to watch Plinkett on the go, for the one-off payment of $1.99.

Conclusion

The Plinkett Reviews at first might seem a bit ridiculous, very in-depth and heavily tinged with the reviewer’s own style of comedy (so much so that we often cut away from the feature presentation for some random odd-tasting humour). That shouldn’t stop your enjoyment though – Mr Plinkett has done an absolutely stellar job of standing up to poor film-making and spelling out the flaws in plain English.

The fact that he makes it hilarious at the same time is an added bonus, especially if you were genuinely disappointed with the release in question.

Have you seen the Plinkett Reviews? Any particular favourites? Do you agree with the reviewer? Get it out in the open by adding a comment below.

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