TheGodBen Revisits Deep Space Nine

[Seven of Five]

Hope everyone had a brill Christmas/other denomonational holiday!

The Jem'Hadar is excellent at building up the tension. We're slowly introduced to what they are and how bad they are, and then the rug is pulled from under us with Eris at the end. I sort of miss her VORTA SUPERPOWERS!, but it's fine that they didn't go down that route. Was it too comic book-y, perhaps? Which would be odd considering some of places the show would later go to.

I loved how Sisko and Quark had to spend time together too. Sure it a lot of it was enforced, but the pair came to have more respect for each other by the episode's end. Jake and Nog together is always fun, and it's these great character moments that help to give the episode life beyond the incessant portents of Dominion doom.

At the time I watched I knew that big things were in store. I was sort of getting used to the idea of TNG and the Ent-D. For those who can't remember, or don't care enough to remember, I was only just into new (for the time!) Trek. By now I'd watched most of season two of DS9, most of season seven of TNG, which had then returned to season one. I dutifully watched it, as back then I was watching anything Trek related.

I was into Trek just enough to know that when the Jemmies downed a Galaxy class ship, I was very shocked. They really meant business. It was a great end to the season, and the end of an impressive run of very good episodes. I was pretty excited for the next season!

[Admiral Shran]

Seven Swans a Swimming wrote:

---

I was into Trek just enough to know that when the Jemmies downed a Galaxy class ship, I was very shocked.

Indeed. I remember watching the preview when the episode first aired and honestly thinking that the Odyssey might have been the Enterprise. Remember, All Good Things... had just aired a few weeks before this and the commercial didn't say which ship it was. It definitely hooked me and I made sure to see the episode the moment it hit the airwaves.

[Lindley]

Ln X wrote:

---

And what was the American alphabet originally? British!

And what was the British alphabet originally? A slight variation on Latin!

[Admiral Shran]

^ Which itself emerged from Old Italic!

[TheGodBen]

Ln X wrote:

---

Woot! Just watched the three-part discovery of the Dominion story arc! Great stuff, and I'm just waiting for TheGodBen to start reviewing The Search parts 1 and 2.

It'll be a while, I'm currently distracted by shiny things.

defiantfan wrote:

---

I love that you "inflate" your score on feelings. Keep up the awesome reviews.

I also deflate them based on feelings, especially if that feeling is that I'm wasting my life. Such as what happened with Second Sight.

Admiral Shran wrote:

---

^ Which itself emerged from Old Italic!

Which was a fine European alphabet.

[Gotham Central]

the beauty of the "The Jem"Hadar" was that at the time it served as a significant turning point for DS9 overall. The destruction of the Odyssey was important in that it rather loudly proclaimed that TNG is over, and that this show would no longer be following in its mold. So much of the chaff in the first two seasons of DS9 happened because they were trying to have the series follow the format started by TOS and then perfected by TNG. This marked the end of the line for that way of doing things on this show. this episode really marked the end of an era. All good things had just aired thus TNG would no longer be on the air. Soon afterward the Enterprise would be lying in ruins on Veridian III.

[Paper Moon]

Seven Swans a Swimming wrote:

---

I sort of miss her VORTA SUPERPOWERS!, but it's fine that they didn't go down that route. Was it too comic book-y, perhaps? Which would be odd considering some of places the show would later go to.

I've always wondered if maybe Eris was a member of a "sub-species," as it were, of Vorta, specifically engineered to have fantastic powers? In Weyoun's case, I think Vorta superpowers would have undermined his mission, since it would have undermined his ability to convince Dukat/Sisko/Kira that he was "just like them" and that they were "all on the same side."

So many things left to explore...

By the way, I too agree with what appears to be the consensus: "The Jem'Hadar" = awesome.

[Admiral Shran]

Paper Moon wrote:

---

I've always wondered if maybe Eris was a member of a "sub-species," as it were, of Vorta, specifically engineered to have fantastic powers? In Weyoun's case, I think Vorta superpowers would have undermined his mission, since it would have undermined his ability to convince Dukat/Sisko/Kira that he was "just like them" and that they were "all on the same side."

That seems to be the general consensus - that Eris was specifically engineered to have those power for the mission, but maybe not as a full-fledged sub-species.

[DS9 Gal AZ]

^ Yeah, I always got the feeling that the Founders would genetically tinker with the Vorta as needed. Eris could have been one of several Vorta given such abilities for a specific purpose, or she could have been the only Vorta - or heck, the only Vorta clone - to have such powers. For all we know, "Kurrill Prime" was actually a world the Founders conquered, and the people there really did have telekinetic powers, and they just had Eris pose as a Kurrillian rather than go to the trouble of inventing a fictional race.

Eris was a good character. Shame we never saw her again.

Edited to add:
[COLOR=#006cb0]Ronald D. Moore[/COLOR] stated: "Our internal rationale has been that Eris was given this ability for a specific purpose by the Founders (and maybe several other Vorta along with her) and that it is not a normal part of the Vorta "recipe" in the Dominion." ([COLOR=#006cb0]AOL chat[/COLOR], [COLOR=#006cb0]1998[/COLOR])
From Memory Alpha.

[Skywalker]

Or maybe all the Vorta were originally supposed to be like that, but then the writers either forgot about it or changed their minds. Shocking, I know.

[DonIago]

That's crazy talk!!!

[Worf'sParmach]

TheGodBen wrote:

---

How well does this episode work as an introduction for the Dominion? I honestly can't say because I missed it when it first aired and by the time I saw it I already knew a whole bunch about the Dominion.

I did watch it first run and it kind of had an "alien of the week" feel to it, but I'd just come off of watching TNG for years where every alien was "of the week." Trek hadn't done any kind of long term arc, nothing more than a two-parter and since this was the season finale, that's what I was expecting out of it.

This was the first episode of DS9 that I'd ever seen. TNG was ending and I needed a Trek fix. My mom had been watching DS9 from the begining, but I thought the whole "no ship, no Captain" thing was stupid. After watching this episode I was hooked (and in the upcoming seasons DS9 would get both a ship and a Captain).

[Admiral Shran]

Hanukkah Solo wrote:

---

Or maybe all the Vorta were originally supposed to be like that, but then the writers either forgot about it or changed their minds. Shocking, I know.

Blasphemy!

[Worf'sParmach]

Gotham Central wrote:

---

the beauty of the "The Jem"Hadar" was that at the time it served as a significant turning point for DS9 overall. The destruction of the Odyssey was important in that it rather loudly proclaimed that TNG is over, and that this show would no longer be following in its mold. So much of the chaff in the first two seasons of DS9 happened because they were trying to have the series follow the format started by TOS and then perfected by TNG. This marked the end of the line for that way of doing things on this show. this episode really marked the end of an era. All good things had just aired thus TNG would no longer be on the air. Soon afterward the Enterprise would be lying in ruins on Veridian III.

Great analysis. I never thought about it like that, but I definitely agree with you.

[Admiral Shran]

Echo.... echo.