TheGodBen Revisits Deep Space Nine

[Seven of Five]

Hooray! *Gets coffee and gets comfy*

Looking foward to this one.

[Thor Damar]

I to would like to express my gratitude at the tireless efforts of the esteemed Niner The GodBen and his noble endeavor to express the one true glory that is that most wonderful of space operas; Deep Space Nine. Who else could capture the subtle elegance of this piece of science fiction in art form, the sheer talent of the actors and the joy that we, as proud upstanding Niners get every time that our eyes alight upon the majestic station and the powerful theme rings thought our blessed souls. Truly this is an event for the ages.

Consider the children and...

(Loki Entak strides off, monologuing furiously.)

[Ln X]

TheGodBen wrote:

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And by that I assume you mean foul-mouthed.

Definitely looking forward to this! You should check out Red Letter Media and Plinket's Reviews, as they have some colourful language!

[TheGodBen]

Gary Sever wrote:

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Out of curiosity, something I've wanted to know for some time--what exactly is a "GodBen"? Your avatar looks like something out of a video game... is it related to your chosen nickname? Thanks.

It's Irish for "sexy beast". Sadly, in Irish the word "beast" is the same as "cow" (gód), and there's no word for "sexy" as we're a repressed Catholic nation, so that directly translates into "attractive" (ben). So my name pretty much reads "The attractive cow".

The name is a projection of my teenage self's ego that eventually became a sort of branding that I use across every site I join. As for the avatar, it's just an alien I made in Spore, and I use it as my avatar because it's unique.

Sykonee wrote:

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Seeing as how Shatnertage brought it up but refused to implement a counter for it, I demand a "'What The Hell!?' Hair" counter!

I'm not good at judging hair, and if you knew me as a teenager you'd agree. Besides, any time I see Avery Brooks with hair I think it's weird.

JustKate wrote:

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As for things to count...how about threats to the wormhole? There were a whoppin' wad of those, if I am remembering correctly. Or - ooh, this is better! - how about things that Odo can perfectly mimic even though a lifelike Bajoran isn't one of them? That might be kind of fun.

Okay, those makes sense, I guess I could do something with them.

Biffette wrote:

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Will you use the "TNG-lite rule" when you decide to re-watch TNG?

No, and here's my strained reasoning for that: TNG was about exploring the galaxy and meeting all kinds of weird aliens and having random adventures. DS9, Voyager and Enterprise should be been about different things in order to justify their existence as separate shows. That doesn't mean that they can't do adventure-of-the-week episodes, just that those episodes should have some sort of grounding in the setting or the characters that are unique to that show.

Admiral Shran wrote:

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For those of you not familiar with TheGodBen's reviews, prepare yourselves for things like pictures of Avery Brooks in his underware (most likely involving bras and panties )

Why did I make that picture again? I remember that the body is actually Daniel Craig, because I couldn't find any pictures of a black man wearing a bra and it was easier to adjust the colours of a picture I found of Daniel Craig wearing a bra to make him look black than to actually 'shop a bra onto Avery's body... but I can't remember why I made it.

Loki Entak wrote:

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I to would like to express my gratitude at the tireless efforts of the esteemed Niner The GodBen and his noble endeavor to express the one true glory that is that most wonderful of space operas; Deep Space Nine. Who else could capture the subtle elegance of this piece of science fiction in art form, the sheer talent of the actors and the joy that we, as proud upstanding Niners get every time that our eyes alight upon the majestic station and the powerful theme rings thought our blessed souls. Truly this is an event for the ages.

Emissary (****)

The moment I saw that blue comet, I knew I was home.

Emissary probably isn't a great introductory episode if you're a first-timer, the first half is a little chaotic and the second half gets quite weird. But when you know of all the directions the show will take, the paths these characters will go down over the next seven years, this episode acquires a whole new level of appreciation. Sisko's relationship with the Prophets, the Cardassian threat, the looming civil war on Bajor, Odo's origin... All of these seeds, and more, are planted in this episode to be expanded upon later. It has been said it before but it bears repeating, DS9's strength wasn't in that the writers planned things out in advance, but that they were very good at taking threads from previous episodes and tying them into future plots.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's go back to the beginning. As I said, the first half of the episode is a bit chaotic as it consists almost entirely of Sisko going from place to place meeting new people. It may be disorienting for new viewers, but I like the feeling as it matches the state of the station, which is a complete mess. All of these characters come from completely different backgrounds and have taken different roads, some against their will, to live and work in the place. This isn't the flagship of the fleet, a place where every officer would be proud to serve, this is a wreck in space that only fools would want to serve on. (I'm not naming names, but you all know who I'm talking about.)

It surprised me how early into the episode Sisko's relationship with the Prophets is introduced, it's right there in the first scene after the teaser. It's a short scene but it's absolutely dripping with subtext that probably wasn't even intended to be there. The Prophets, removing all their religious elements, are one of the most interesting aliens in all of Star Trek because they are truly alien. They're not humans with weird foreheads and anger issues, or giant space amoebas, they're beings that barely even fit within our comprehension. They're a fascinating sci-fi concept and the way that they use their unique perception of reality to help Sisko finally come to terms with the loss of Jennifer was a masterstroke.

There are some problems with the episode, my main one being the portrayal of the Cardassians. I know the Cardassians are a nuanced race but, other than Dukat, the Cardassians in this episode almost seem like Klingons. They're somewhat brutish and quick to attack the station without looking at the evidence. Some of this can be explained as the Cardassians bullying the Bajorans because that's what they're used to, but openly attacking a station commanded by Starfleet officers seems like a stretch for them. Another issue with the episode is the technobabble. There's not too much of it, but there was probably as much in this one episode as there was in the entire B5 canon, so I'm not used to hearing it. It didn't help that Colm Meaney sounded bored each time he had to say something technical.

For my money, this is the best opening episode of any Trek series. Caretaker is probably a better self-contained story, but the fact that Emissary feels like the true start to a saga helps it edge just slightly ahead. It's a bit rough around the edges, some of the sets, costumes and prosthetics are noticeably different from the way they look in the rest of the show, but it sets up the show nicely. It's a pity that the rest of the season largely ignores the possibilities presented by this episode, instead opting to run around like a chicken with half a brain.

Form of... a satchel: 1

[Skywalker]

I fully agree that "Emissary" is probably the best of all the Trek pilots. I thought Sisko's interaction with the Prophets was brilliant, and as a baseball fan I enjoyed the way he used that game to explain the concept of linear time to the Prophets. There were definitely a lot of promising seeds planted in this episode, but like you I was a little annoyed that Season One kind of ignored a lot of them and went on a "TNG in a space station" track instead.

As for counters, what about some sort of "O'Brien Abuse" counter? I'm going through the show right now and I've noticed the writers seemed to love making O'Brien's life suck at every possible opportunity.

[Nerys Ghemor]

As far as the TNG-lite rule goes, I would say that'll be more relevant early in the show. But even then, I personally feel like the constant tidbits we get about the characters in those episodes, which add up to far more substance later on down the line, do something to set DS9 apart from the other series, sometimes even elevating a bad episode to at least...worthwhile for something, and a meh episode to something OK.

Regarding Cardassian nuance...you see more of that later. The Guard does have its share of undisciplined idiots like Jasad though--who clearly had some severe anger management problems.

[Admiral Shran]

TheGodBen wrote:

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Why did I make that picture again? I remember that the body is actually Daniel Craig, because I couldn't find any pictures of a black man wearing a bra and it was easier to adjust the colours of a picture I found of Daniel Craig wearing a bra to make him look black than to actually 'shop a bra onto Avery's body... but I can't remember why I made it.

It was in star's ill-fated DS9 review thread. You said that one day you would do this thread and I implored you not to show us pictures of Brooks in his underware like you did with Scott Bakula. In response, you not only put him in his underware, you put him in a bra.

You're either truly twisted or an absolute genius. The jury is still out.

Emissary (****)

The moment I saw that blue comet, I knew I was home.

There's no place like home.

It surprised me how early into the episode Sisko's relationship with the Prophets is introduced, it's right there in the first scene after the teaser. It's a short scene but it's absolutely dripping with subtext that probably wasn't even intended to be there. The Prophets, removing all their religious elements, are one of the most interesting aliens in all of Star Trek because they are truly alien. They're not humans with weird foreheads and anger issues, or giant space amoebas, they're beings that barely even fit within our comprehension. They're a fascinating sci-fi concept and the way that they use their unique perception of reality to help Sisko finally come to terms with the loss of Jennifer was a masterstroke.

Indeed. The Prophets are among my favorite Trek races as well. And their religious elements (especially the more fantasy based ones of the later seasons) are really appealing to me as well.

[Cyke101]

One of my favorite WTF moments in all of Trek is a Prophet not just taking the form of Jean-Luc Picard (though that's neat to see and something of an honor that a non-DS9 character gets that treatment), but seeing a Prophet take the form of LOCUTUS HIMSELF. Along with the mystical white-light ambiance and the philosophical discussions that soon follow, how could that image not be freaky at all?

[Gary7]

TheGodBen wrote:

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It's Irish for "sexy beast". Sadly, in Irish the word "beast" is the same as "cow" (gód), and there's no word for "sexy" as we're a repressed Catholic nation, so that directly translates into "attractive" (ben). So my name pretty much reads "The attractive cow".

Thanks for letting me know. Interesting, how you crafted the name. And, sorry about the repression bit... at least you have a choice of languages in which to express yourself.

Lastly, thanks for all of the work you put into your reviews. Clearly, you put a significant amount of time and effort... and from what I can see, often supplying a lot of interesting things to consider that might go missed otherwise.

[Nerys Ghemor]

Funny...I had always thought that name was a reference to Sisko's ascension to be one of the Prophets.

[TheGodBen]

I wish it was something that smart, but it's just pure ego as I used to joke with my friends as a teenager that in the future I would be revered as a god. One day I was at a friend's house, he had just gotten the internet and he was setting up an account for me on some website and he asked me what name I wanted, so I said "God Ben". It was taken. Apparently, there's a lot of egotistical Bens out there because that name is already taken on a number of sites. Eventually I got fed up and decided to stick it to all those GodBens by putting a The in front of it and declaring myself the The GodBen.

But I prefer the fake story that my name is actually Godfrey Benn. There's also a slight possibility that it's the truth.

Admiral Shran wrote:

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It was in star's ill-fated DS9 review thread. You said that one day you would do this thread and I implored you not to show us pictures of Brooks in his underware like you did with Scott Bakula. In response, you not only put him in his underware, you put him in a bra.

Wow, I have absolutely no memory of that. It must have been during one of my meth phases. I remember the process of making the picture, but not when, where or why. And I have a bad feeling that the picture may be the reason why that thread was "ill-fated".

[Jeff O'Connor]

Tagging this like an endangered animal.

[Jeff O'Connor]

Oh yeah, and I hope you grabbed enough Gul Dukatcorn to last you quite a few episodes. There are no refills for a while yet.

[Admiral Shran]

^ Indeed very sad. But it only makes you appreciate the character more when he does return.

[TheGodBen]

There wasn't much to grab, he was only in two scenes. Still, it was nice to see him in the first episode, even if his role was minor, considering he becomes the primary antagonist for the show. I wonder did the writers intend for him to be recurring or if they just put him in this episode to flesh out the history of the occupation and they liked Alaimo's performance so much that they brought him back for more?