TheGodBen Revisits Deep Space Nine

[OldManDax]

Just watched through most of Season 1.

I preferred the "B" plot in "The Storyteller", more than the "A" plot, which was clunky and a bit all over the place. I actually believed that Bajoran girl had the weight of the world, so to speak, on her shoulders, and the actress who portrayed her projected that sense of post-Occupation intensity very well, especially in that scene where she confronts Commander Sisko.

"Progress" had an interesting premise, but was not especially well-executed, IMO. And, like others have stated, Mullibok was not especially likable. In fact, I always use Joseph Sisko in The "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" two-parter as a comparison. Like Mullibok, he's an extremely stubborn, set in his ways old guy who has no intention of making any "adjustments". But Brock Peters was able to communicte that so much more succinctly, and I actually felt for Captain Sisko as he tried to get his father to accept the blood screenings.

[Seven of Five]

TheGodBen wrote:

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But Seven of Five says otherwise, so I'll bow to his superior knowledge as he's definitively not a ladies' man.

I wouldn't call it superior knowledge. I wouldn't call anything from that period of my life superior anything. Luckily all of that is way in the past!

Anyway...

I liked Lwaxana Troi in this episode. No, really! Along with Cost of Living and Dark Page on TNG, this was goood use of her, even if her schtick with Picard has been simply transferred to Odo. What's good is that she helps Odo when he's feeling vulnerable, by making herself vulnerable too. When is she ever like that? She's almost a real person!

The rest of the episode is more average tech plotting. Next episode!

[Admiral Shran]

Shatnertage wrote:

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Just to backtrack for a moment, I'd like to know precisely why a leprechaun would have been so much worse than Rumplestiltskin. I've got my own ideas why (given what we got in "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk") But I'd be curious to hear more.

I'm willing to accept that a leprechaun would have pushed us into new levels of awful, but Rumplestiltskin himself was pretty bad.

That's something I'd like to know as well. Maybe I'm showing my complete cultural ignorance, but I don't see how Rumplestiltskin is less offensive.

As for The Forsaken - I agree that the Odo-Troi storyline and Bashir getting some comeuppance are the only things buoying this episode up. Otherwise, a fairly average Season One offering. Certainly nothing to write home about.

[TheGodBen]

Modern leprechauns are largely just a bunch of Irish stereotypes, a lot of which were borne out of anti-Irish sentiment that existed in the British establishment in the 19th century to make the Irish appear uncivilised. Rumpelstiltskin is race-neutral, which means we can all hate him equally.

[Admiral Shran]

^ Ah, okay then. At least we can all agree that Rumpelstiltskin was a freakin' joke.

As for the R2 DVDs, the cases look a hell of a lot better than the R1s I got....

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Deep...0725365&sr=1-3

Flimsy as all hell and easily breakable.

[Seven of Five]

Eep. The TOS/TNG/DS9 ones I have are all clamshell ones. I think they were built like that in case a zombie epidemic sweeps the globe.

[TheGodBen]

I have the TNG clamshells too, I got six of them (1, 3-7) second hand for €150, which was an absolute steal back then, and I bought season 2 new from Amazon. While I don't believe that there will be a zombie apocalypse during my lifetime, the DVDs should survive the oncoming nuclear war quite well. When the dust settles, we Europeans will control the world's supply of Star Trek and will be able to sell them back to the US for great profit.

[Seven of Five]

My friend thought that they'd also double for lunchboxes. I can just imagine about 20 years ago if I'd gone to school with one of these tucked under my arm.

[Saxman1]

Here in the States, we got the flimsy, CHEAP, clear plastic coverings over the disc cases that crack after a few removals and replacements. However, I paid something like $15.99 USD used for most of the season sets when FYE was dumping them to make room for more Blu Ray disc sets/movies about 3-4 years ago.

[TheGodBen]

Dramatis Personae (*½)

This episode starts out promising as Sisko and Kira are potentially set up for a conflict over a Valerian freighter and the possibility that they're supplying weapons to the Cardassians. Actually, we haven't even seen any Cardassians since Past Prologue, which is weird considering they were set up as the show's main villains in Emissary, so this episode will finally return to them and their devious schemes, yes?

No! Because some Klingons show up and screw everything up, which is so like them. They bring some sort of telepathic virus that makes everyone act weird, as if they were characters from some sort of ancient alien play. Sisko obsesses about building a clock, Kira becomes all sexualised, and Jadzia keeps telling old stories about her past, like that one time she got to second base with a librarian in a library and didn't get caught by her boss or anything (hey, I'm getting better at telling stories). Whatever happened to the days when viruses gave you a sore throat and caused mucus to come out of your nose? Anyway, Odo doesn't have a real nose or throat, so he's immune to the virus and has to figure everything out before people start dying. Although not soon enough to save Jadzia from the most powerful backhand known to man. Nobody can slap a woman as well as the Irish can.

I don't know, for most of this episode I may as well have been watching the adventures of the USS Walt Whitman (it so too is a starship). Sisko isn't Sisko, Kira isn't Kira, and all the stuff about the conflict between the Federation and the Bajorans is just window dressing. The only people that are themselves are Odo and Quark, and there's not enough of them to hold the episode together. Ultimately, none of this means anything. It could have had the main characters contract a virus that forces them to relive A Charlie Brown Christmas and it would be the same basic plot.

[Seven of Five]

Another crap episode, unfortunately. Thankfully, however, the best is yet to come.

[Distorted Humor]

That is a nice backhand. TWACK!

[Admiral Shran]

TheGodBen wrote:

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It could have had the main characters contract a virus that forces them to relive A Charlie Brown Christmas and it would be the same basic plot.

I doubt A Charlie Brown Christmas would have them engage in multiple mutinies and literally trying to backstab each other.

While not a great episode, I think it's fairly average. I've always seen the virus as bringing out the already pre-existing tensions between the characters. And, while If Wishes Were Horses gave us the ballball, this one gives us Sisko's clock. But, seriously, why was he so obsessed with it?

[Distorted Humor]

Admiral Shran wrote:

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I doubt A Charlie Brown Christmas would have them engage in multiple mutinies and literally trying to backstab each other.

While not a great episode, I think it's fairly average. I've always seen the virus as bringing out the already pre-existing tensions between the characters. And, while If Wishes Were Horses gave us the ballball, this one gives us Sisko's clock. But, seriously, why was he so obsessed with it?

Well it is one awesome piece of clockwork...

[Sykonee]

Admiral Shran wrote:

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I doubt A Charlie Brown Christmas would have them engage in multiple mutinies and literally trying to backstab each other.

Then you've yet to see Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin King's Revenge in all it's glory. I mean, I knew Lucy was a bitch, but not to that extent!