TheGodBen Revisits Deep Space Nine

[Ln X]

If you've never seen James Bond you will not understand Our Man Bashir. It's really cheesy in a good way and Sisko makes one bad-ass OTT villain! Plus Kira in that dress, Dax all pouty and stuff... Good old action romp slash chick flick!

[DS9 Gal AZ]

I didn't mind the silly technobabble we had to use to get them on the holodeck. I was just glad they got them there. I can forgive a lot of implausible premises if the end result is actually enjoyable. It was fun for both the viewers and the actors. I'm sure as actor, it's just great fun to take on these deliciously campy roles and just ham it up. Nana Visitor and Avery Brooks were particularly enjoyable.

And seriously, if you don't like an episode that includes Garak, there's something wrong with you.

[Seven of Five]

Yeah I quite like Our Man Bashir too. I'm not a big Bond fan, but I've seen enough to get some of the references throughout. Avery Brooks was hilarious, chewing up the set with his megalomania. And I enjoyed Bashir ending the world to get more time at the end of it all.

I can't understand how the holodeck exists in the Star Trek universe. Something that can create sentient beings quite easily, or kill whoever is inside whilst the ship has a convenient problem, just shouldn't exist in the first place. Or shouldn't allow the safety functions to ever be turned off. But then I suppose that would have deprived Trek writers the chance to have these stories so often.

In a lot of cases that probably would have been a good thing though.

[TheGodBen]

Homefront (****)

New flash from Earth: On a planet of roughly 9 billion people, 27 were killed in a terrorist bombing. People are panicking and the government is upping security, including invasive blood tests on civilians and phaser beams being shot into everyone's living rooms. President Jaresh-Inyo says he was convinced these measures were necessary following a brief 2-minute conversation where he completely changed his position on the issue. Head of Starfleet Security, General Hague, says that these measures were long-needed and denied all rumours that his advocacy for these measures is related to his stock-holding in a company that manufactures wall-mounted phaser-sweep devices. The Acting-Head of Earth Security, Captain Cisco, says that if members of the Federation Council don't stop objecting to these reasonable measures then he will take the proportional response of poisoning the entire planet.

The night before my tenth birthday I was watching TV when a news-flash popped up stating that the IRA had broken their ceasefire and bombed Canary Wharf in London. Two years later I remember being on holiday in Galway when a news report on the radio announced the Omagh bombing. To me, terrorism is just a thing that has always been a part of my life. But it's a small part of my life, even in a region of the world with active terrorist groups the most I have ever been put out is by terrorism is being unable to find a bin at a British railway station. I hate minor annoyances like that, because I seriously doubt that someone that's demented enough to want to blow up a relatively minor train station is going to be put off by the lack of bins. I'm not saying that terrorism should be ignored, but there's a hysteria about it that's out of proportion, and many of the security measures brought in to combat it only give a veneer of real security.

So I like what this episode does, it shows us that sometimes a good man like Sisko can get so caught up with a potential threat that they lose sight of what's really going on. He's willing to sacrifice his principles to implement security procedures that have never actually been proven to work. He even goes so far as to temporarily suspect his own father of being a Changeling just because he doesn't want to have his blood tested. Speaking of which, I really enjoyed that angle of the episode, seeing the three Siskos united for the first time on screen and their relationships with one another. I also liked seeing Nog in the academy.

I could say more, but I think I'll hold off until the next part otherwise I might not have much to say tomorrow.

Form of... a briefcase: 21
Form of... a potted plant: 22
Form of... a seagull: 23

[Ln X]

TheGodBen wrote:

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I'm not saying that terrorism should be ignored, but there's a hysteria about it that's out of proportion, and many of the security measures brought in to combat it only give a veneer of real security.

Aye men to that, we don't need additional security when MI5 does that job without all these 9/11 counterterrorism measures. Bringing the three Siskos together was an inspired move, and Josephs speech about changeling infiltration was great. Hell why worry about Section 31 when you have certain burnt out Starfleet admirals taking matters into their own hands?

[Lindley]

One of my favorite outtakes.

[Satyrquaze]

Lindley wrote:

---

One of my favorite outtakes.

iirc, Robert Foxworth never worked as General Hague again as a direct result of that 'double booking'.

[Seven of Five]

I love Homefront/Paradise Lost - another good DS9 two-parter. They do a good job showing just how dangerous it is to allow whichever power-hungry person or organisation are around, to take as much control as they can by using whatever the latest bad news is, in order to twist the population into panic.

It's such a powerful political tool, and I appreciated that it was bought up in a way that DS9 does so well. I'd have them both as five star episodes myself, I like them more than Way of the Warrior, for example.

[Ln X]

Seven of Five wrote:

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It's such a powerful political tool, and I appreciated that it was bought up in a way that DS9 does so well. I'd have them both as five star episodes myself, I like them more than Way of the Warrior, for example.

Not taking anything from the Way of the Warrior but Homefront and Paradise Lost were more subtle and intriguing. Great food for thought...

[flemm]

Ln X wrote:

---

Not taking anything from the Way of the Warrior but Homefront and Paradise Lost were more subtle and intriguing. Great food for thought...

Yeah, I really like these episodes. There's some excellent writing here.

Apparently the budget was stretched so thin at this point that Paradise Lost ended up being much less impressive than they had originally intended, as far as what they were able to show during the military takeover on earth. Would have been cool to see what they had in mind.

[TheGodBen]

Paradise Lost (***½)

Jaresh-Inyo is the worst President ever. Admittedly, we've only ever seen three Federation Presidents (excluding Archer), and one of those Presidents was the immortal Terry Pratchett so the bar is set pretty high, but Jaresh-Inyo is pretty bad. In the previous episode Sisko managed to convince him to completely change his opinion in a brief scene, in this episode Sisko does it again. Then, even though he's suspicious of Leighton and his security measures, he completely falls for the false blood-test that incriminates Sisko. I'm not saying that the guy should steadfastly hold to his convictions in spite of opposing evidence, but the speed at which he goes from one extreme to another without even an inkling of the political games that are being played under the surface makes him look rather foolish.

My main problem with this episode is that it gives the game away too quickly in the beginning of the episode and then is forced to repeat itself in the second half to fill time. Rather than riding out some of the suspense that had built up in the first part, the very first scene of this episode reveals that all is not what it seems and that there's a conspiracy within Starfleet. Sisko figures out what's up too early in the episode so what's left are drawn out scenes of him agonising over having to turn in his friends and numerous scenes between Sisko and Leighton where both of them repeat the same points of view over and over again. It doesn't help that the episode didn't have the budget it needed to tell the story properly. This is a seminal moment in the Federation's history, a moment which could easily have led to civil war, but being forced to contain the action on a couple of small sets with only two of three actors at a time doesn't convey just how big a deal it is.

I like what this episode tries to do, it's an interesting story where everyone is well-intentioned but some can't see the dangers in their actions, but the subject matter deserves better than the execution. This should have been one of the show's greatest moments, right up there with Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast, but it ends up being an enjoyable episode and little more, at least to me. It's not a bad episode, but it's a pity that it's not a great one.

Form of... some equipment: 24
Stupid French Things: 3

[free2131]

*taps screen*

Hello? Anyone still here?

[TheGodBen]

Sorry for the hold up but... um... my grandmother is ill... and she wasn't able to do her regular volunteer work at the local soup kitchen... and there's a homeless guy there that's only a few months away from finding a cure for cancer. So as you can see, this little break is entirely altruistic and the fact that it coincides with the release of Mass Effect 3 is a complete coincidence.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to kick some Reaper ass... by which I mean feeding homeless people.

[Seven of Five]

What an odd coincidence.






















(I checked back here yesterday for the first time in a while. I've been otherwise pre-occupied by, erm, feeding the homeless too. )

[DS9 Gal AZ]

Now honestly, TheGodBen, how am I supposed to keep putting off the two papers I have to write if I don't have your lovely review to occupy me?