TheGodBen Revisits Deep Space Nine

[Canadave]

You_Will_Fail wrote:

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Oh and Siddig's acting was always horrible to me, the guy could NOT act in DS9 or anything after it.

IMO, Siddig is quite possibly the best regular actor in the franchise, once you remove Sir Patrick from the equation.

[Admiral Shran]

Severed Fingers wrote:

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Wow. I thought he was brilliant by the end of DS9, and I very much enjoyed seeing him in Syriana and 24 in partiular.

I'll grant that he did a pretty good job in Syriana. However, even there I thought he was off in certain scenes. It's been a long time since I saw it, but I remember one scene between him and Matt Damon where his character was supposed to be barely containing his anger and frustration but it seemed like he was bored instead.

[Kestrel]

Lord Vader wrote:

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He was pretty good in Kingdom of Heaven, too.

[defiantfan]

Canadave wrote:

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IMO, Siddig is quite possibly the best regular actor in the franchise, once you remove Sir Patrick from the equation.

I also recommend seeing "Cairo Time" and possibly "Miral" if you don't mind the controversy. I had a major crush on him when DS9 first came out and then recently I saw his performance on MI-5 which is called Spooks in the UK. I was mesmerized by his skill and its quite possibly the reason I came back to watching DS9 and later the movies which I just mentioned.

Also remember he started when he was 26 years old on DS9 and willingly agreed to be a disliked character from the start. I love that they didn't make Bashir the pretty boy who knew everything, but a genuine human with flaws, bad luck with girls, and trying hard to fit in.
Siddig is an awesome actor

[TheGodBen]

The Nagus (**)

Ah, here we go, the first Ferengi comedy episode. The problem with this episode, and it's a problem with quite a few of the Ferengi episodes, is that it's just not all that funny. The Ferengi characters can be funny, but it's usually when they're interacting with non-Ferengi, and the problem with Ferengi comedy episodes is that it's usually about the Ferengi interacting with one another. The Ferengi by themselves aren't inherently funny, they need a straight man to work against (such as Odo), but there's no straight man to be had here, so you get repetitive jokes about profit and greed for an hour.

One noticeable problem with this episode when rewatching it is how out of character Rom is. I suppose you could make the argument that Rom evolved over time due to his interactions with Starfleet types, but it still seems like a stretch that Rom would be willing to kill Quark when such an integral part of his character later on is how important family is to him. Another issue is that Quark and the others are willing to let Rom off the hook at the end. Even if you buy into the notion that Quark forgives Rom because he's proud of the initiative he has taken, that still doesn't explain why Odo lets him get away with setting off a bomb on the promenade. It's a lazy resolution that makes this episode feel less than satisfying.

What rescues this episode is the b-story. Once again, it focuses on the Sisko/Jake relationship in a touching, realistic way, the relationship with his son is the key thing that makes Sisko stand out from Picard at this point. They're also doing a good job of keeping Jake from falling into the same pitfall that Wesley did, he's just a normal kid that more interested in being a good friend than in whatever mess the senior staff are involved in. But the best thing about this episode is the development of Nog, he's not just a stereotypical Ferengi troublemaker, he's eager to learn and improve himself. I've said it before, Nog undergoes the most impressive character transformation in Trek, and this is the first step on his journey.

Also, the first mention of Bajor's Fire Caverns. It's great how the writers took a throwaway reference like that and made it into a major location later in the show.

[Ln X]

Disagree big time there with that review. The Ferengi episodes are brilliant and like OTT soaps episodes (you know parodies of cruddy soaps). The humour is in how much they act like us, and how crazy/stupid they get in their pursuit of wealth and maintaining the status quo (i.e. profit for men, no clothes for females, that sort of thing).

The Jake/Benjamin b-side detracted from the story. Sure this ain't quite the best Ferengi episode, but this episode is one of the highlights of season one. I love Zek's whiny voice, it's amazing! But maybe people don't have any funny bones...

[Harvey]

I do appreciate that long pull-back when The Nagus is first introduced that is an obvious reference to the opening of The Godfather. Other than that, I'm hard-pressed to remember the episode.

[Seven of Five]

Yeah, the Godfather reference was well received.

The rest if the episode was a bit by the numbers. It was better than some of the later annual Ferengi episodes, though to be fair that's not that hard.

[Admiral Shran]

To be honest, the only two scenes I remember from this episode are the ones with Jake teaching Nog to read and Quark sitting at a desk while stroking a pet with shades on the window behind him (another obvious reference to The Godfather).

The Ferengi comedy episodes are hit and miss for me. I love some (The Magnificent Ferengi and The House of Quark) and hate some (Profit and Lace and Family Business). Then some are just forgettable. The Nagus is one of the forgettable ones. There's nothing really great about it and nothing really horrible about it.

[Shatnertage]

"The House of Quark" was one of my favorite season 3 episodes. The other two Ferengi episodes are on my "Do Not Watch" list.

So I, too, find them of varying quality. When they go for the OTT gross-out yuk-yuks (ear hair! eating worms!) it kind of kills it for me.

It's worth saying that, by the end of "Profit and Loss," I was totally buying Quark as a romantic lead in the Bogie vein, simply because they stayed away from the "humor" and because of Armin Shimerman's delivery.

I'll agree with TheGodBen that Jake teaching Nog to read was the stand-out moment of the episode.

[The Dominion]

Episodic Ferengi saturation was something to be wary of in those stories.

[TheGodBen]

Ln X wrote:

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But maybe people don't have any funny bones...

I resent that accusation, so here's an image from a passing thought I had; Fruit Space Nine. It's a show about various fruits that live and work on a space station in the 24th century.

[Skywalker]

So what sort of apple will Sisko turn into in Season Four to make himself look more badass?

[TheGodBen]

He'll remove his stalk.

[You_Will_Fail]

LOL I'm sorry but Siddig is JUST awful.
Its always very obvious that its him playing another person, you never really feel he's the character. Its as if you can see the cogs working behind his eyes.
His performance in Doomsday was dreadful.

Oh and he's just completely incapable of expressing anger without sounding fake and stupid. Him and Garret Wang are in the same boat there.

Oh and I love pretty much every Ferengi episode.