Relayer man! Which contains Yes' most epic track; Gates of Delirium! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI9ZGTO9eVc As for Relayer1's avatar, that is some of Roger Dean's artistic talent shining through
I hope you guys haven't missed out on the Italian scene of progressive rock. My personal favorite band remain New Trolls but I guess that's because they do more symphonic than the others. Both Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso and Van Der Graaf Generator are however somewhat more famous internationally.
But aren't VDGG British? In terms of Italian prog, Premiata Forneria Marconi is notable as well. Anyway, regarding DS9, it's been years since I've seen it, but my recollection is they'd devote whole episodes to things like holosuite baseball games in the middle of an arc regarding the war. It sort of undercut the drama, which to me is less satisfying than the straightforward episodic nature of TNG.
Last year I went to a convention and saw Avery Brooks. The convention organizers half finance these things by hawking merchandise and they had brought along a baseball which they auctioned off with an Avery Brooks autograph included. Autographs were 40.00 and you could get him to sign anything you liked.. and this stupid baseball went for over a hundred bucks. So during lunch the organizers sprinted to the nearest sporting goods store and bought all the baseballs they could (not a whole lot in a non-baseball country). They auctioned them all off for ridiculous sums. People are idiots, they could have gone on the lunch break and bought their own baseballs. All of which is to say THIS IS AMERICA DO NOT DISPARAGE THE BASEBALL. Now, Vic Fontaine wants you to enjoy yourself tonight in Vegas so lets have a drink and listen to the old crooner.
Oh yeah, I found Vic Fontaine tedious as well. His appearances would have been improved if he used the wormhole as a time tunnel, however.
Yes, but they remind more of Italian progressive rock, which some of us consider to have some small, but factual distinctions from the British scene. Yes, that's what I like much more about TNG and TOS as well. I think that the conceptual strengths of different DS9 episodes tends to be overshadowed by its more character-driven and continuous nature. I much prefer the more anthological format of TNG. Plot-driven is not necessarily a bad thing and the prevalence of both is not an antinomy. On many places, especially on boards focusing more on TV series than movies, I see the two terms are treated as antonyms which they are not.