I don't know. As Sisko will say later in the series, "Nothing like a healthy fear of death to stimulate the neurons..." or something to that effect...
First time watching DS9
- Thread starter Rahul
- Start date
I don't know. As Sisko will say later in the series, "Nothing like a healthy fear of death to stimulate the neurons..." or something to that effect...
In regards to the Cardassians supplying the weapons and the loss of support this causes when it is revealed. Sure some members of The Circle are fantaics but no doubt there are shades to how fanatical some are. But being fanatical doesn't mean you are stupid, many of them no doubt spend years fighting the Cardassians to liberate their world, and I doubt they would want to be complicant in events which allow the Cardassians back. And what about the general population had the circle succeded in overthrowing the Government with weapons supplied by the Cardassians had that knowledge become public how would they react? It's one thing to gain power it's another thing to hold on to it.
I agree some episodes from the first season of DS9 maybe so so but I think the focus for the writing team was to distance themselves from the Classic Trek and TNG. I can only say to some who rather DS9 blasting and killing than exploring new space to have an open mind to what the producers were trying to do. I find their approach ground breaking and I admire those episodes for taking risks. It was exactly what I wanted to separate itself from the rest and if it bothered some or all the people who loved the WAR ARC I think it did it's job. Sisko said it best that humans are explorers and DS9 in it's first three seasons did just that. Explore social commentary knowing they couldn't just run off. They had to be brilliant and choose their battles wisely. The show was bold back then.
Hey guys! Finally had the time to watch a few new episodes. Here comes the first review!
Invasive Procedures
Synopsis
Weird Trill takes over DS9 to get the Dax symbiont for himself. Tuvok from Voyager somehow was a klingon before.
Review
I actually saw this episode a few years ago. I remember not liking it at the time, because the plot was really the usual alien take-over plot, without anything original or a new twist. But as I watched it now I quite enjoyed the episode. Now that I know the characters of DS9 a bit better, it was easy to enjoy the many nice character moments in this episode. So this episode might not be the best to get newbies to watch DS9, but for someone who already is a fan it's an hour of pleasant entertainment.
Pros/Cons
I have decided to shake up things a little bit this time. Instead of two different sections this will be a bit like a short recap ("+" means I liked something, "-" I didn't like it and "~" for stuff I noticed but have no opinion about)
- There is no follow-up to the events of the previous episodes. Is Jarro(?) still the prime minister of Bajor after leading the coup? Have there been re-elections? Apparently the provisional gouvernement still exists (and so Starfleet on DS9), but I really would have liked to know what happened to the antagonists of the previous story arc.
- DS9 is evacuated. Again. This time it's because of a plasma storm. But really, it seems way to soon after the take-over in the previous episode. I actually want to see a 'recap' episode, where we watch a year in the life of Morn. Where he get's infected with an aphasia virus, is placed under quarantine, his imagination comes to life and the whole star system where he lives is threatened, where he has to escape the station under pressure because of a coup d'Etat, then right after that because of a plasma storm... I mean, DS9 seems like a pretty dangerous place to live and trade on...
+ On the other hand: The effect shots of the station in the storm were quite nice
-- Quark lets the bad guys in. Who immediately try to kill someone (Dax). Again. Quark has a really shitty quote of betraying our main cast for really dangerous criminals. Seriously, Neelix once threatened his whole ship with his cheese, but at least he didn't do it on purpose!
~ Apparently, before Tuvok (Tim Russ) infiltrated the Maquis, he was undercover as a klingon rogue.
+ Something I liked: The evil male Trill had the same points on his neck like Jadzia. But his female compagnion looked a bit like the Trill over on TNG. I don't know if that was intended, but I quite like the idea of the Trill being so alien, they have members with a couple of completely different body shapes who still belong to the same species.
-- Okay: Verad (the male Trill who wants to steal Dax) is a booooring bad guy. His motivation is weak and comes across very theoretical and not emotional. Also, his speaking pattern before he joins with Dax is very, very weird.
+ On the other hand: Him shooting O'Brian, without warning and just to prove a point, was very brutal and effective. I liked that!
- The operation where Bashir puts Dax from Jadzia to Verad looked hell'a stupid. Shouldn't an operation on two(!) open bodies be, I don't know, sterile?
+ On the other hand: Julians blue gloves during the operation gave me nice Firefly-flashbacks. I'm gonna count that as a positive.
~ Verad got quite the confidence-boost after he joined with Dax, so Dax seems to have a real great attitude that affects those who join with him. But I never got the feeling of Jadzia Dax as very self-assured person before. So what the hell was her emotional state before she joined with Dax?!?
+ The writers of DS9 finally seemed to have the Trill fleshed out a bit more: When a symbiont and a host are merged the new person becomes a 'blend' between the host and the memories of all previous hosts, a process described as a rebirth. It's not too clever, I personally would have preferred something where the symbiont has more of a character on it's own, but I'm happy they finally figured something out that makes sense and doesn't contradict what little we previously knew about the Trills.
++ Julian bickering with his klingon hostage-taker was my personal highlight of the episode! How he verbally fought with him to help him to save Jadzia's life in the infirmary, and later using him as his 'nurse' when treating Quark (and overpowering him) was great to watch. (Also the part where Julian tells the klingon to hold the medical thingy above Quarks ear, and how the klingon immediatly slams the device into Quark). It's awesome! DS9 seems to be the only Trek series to figure out how to write individual klingons. Except from the original series, everywhere else they often feel like illiterate space vikings, and not a proud warrior race that builds warships that travel the galaxy!
+ Jadzia feels "alone" after the Dax symbiont is removed. This was a surprisingly touching scene, and farely well handled by Terry Farrell.
+ Sisko and Verad Dax talking about their friendship (Sisko and Dax's) felt totally real and authentic. And Verad seemed to be genuinely sad about their friendship ending (even though he just 'inherited' it)
+ Nice subtle thing: When our heroes try to overpower their hijackers and fail, Sisko still beats up a klingon hand to hand. Sisko is a badass.
-- Sisko playing Verads (girl-)friend against him (and succeeding!) is totally clichéd and kills all suspense at this point.
~ Apparently, a phaser on stun setting could still kill a Trill symbiont (and thereby the Trill shortly after). Interesting. Does anybody know if Jadzia is stunned with phasers in the future? Seems like a bold choice by the writers if we remember how much Trek writers love to shoot and stun their main cast.
- The sudden ending was a bit weird and anti-climatic. What happened to the bad guys in the end? Do they all go to jail? Also: Quark. There's no way to explain why he isn't locked up in a cell the next episode. The writers seem to hope we just forget that it was all his fault until the next episode and don't question why he never has to stand trial for his many and serious crimes.
Final words
All in all, this episode has a mediocre plot (the standard Trek take-over by evil aliens) with a very weak villain with a very, very weak illustrated motivation. But the many great character scenes (and the klingon rogues!) manage to make this episode very enjoyable and lift it above average!
Grade
6/10
An enjoyable episode.
Dr. Evil-Award
Quark: For betraying the stations crew and being an accomplice in intended murder. (I mean, yeah, he didn't knew the plans of the bad guys and that the procedure would kill Jadzia. And he helped to defeat the bad guys. But still: Letting a big group of ruthless and armed criminals on your own, mostly evacuated station to overpower the left behind skeleton crew is still a serious case of complicity. Only by chance no one got killed.)
The O'Brian suffering-Award
The bad guy chooses to make an example with a cruel act of violence against one of our main characters. Whom does he choose? The only one wearing a goldshirt...
My reviews for the next two episodes are coming up soon. They will be a lot shorter, but I just had so many little thoughts about this episode. What are your opinions about 'Invasive procedures'?
Invasive Procedures
Synopsis
Weird Trill takes over DS9 to get the Dax symbiont for himself. Tuvok from Voyager somehow was a klingon before.
Review
I actually saw this episode a few years ago. I remember not liking it at the time, because the plot was really the usual alien take-over plot, without anything original or a new twist. But as I watched it now I quite enjoyed the episode. Now that I know the characters of DS9 a bit better, it was easy to enjoy the many nice character moments in this episode. So this episode might not be the best to get newbies to watch DS9, but for someone who already is a fan it's an hour of pleasant entertainment.
Pros/Cons
I have decided to shake up things a little bit this time. Instead of two different sections this will be a bit like a short recap ("+" means I liked something, "-" I didn't like it and "~" for stuff I noticed but have no opinion about)
- There is no follow-up to the events of the previous episodes. Is Jarro(?) still the prime minister of Bajor after leading the coup? Have there been re-elections? Apparently the provisional gouvernement still exists (and so Starfleet on DS9), but I really would have liked to know what happened to the antagonists of the previous story arc.
- DS9 is evacuated. Again. This time it's because of a plasma storm. But really, it seems way to soon after the take-over in the previous episode. I actually want to see a 'recap' episode, where we watch a year in the life of Morn. Where he get's infected with an aphasia virus, is placed under quarantine, his imagination comes to life and the whole star system where he lives is threatened, where he has to escape the station under pressure because of a coup d'Etat, then right after that because of a plasma storm... I mean, DS9 seems like a pretty dangerous place to live and trade on...
+ On the other hand: The effect shots of the station in the storm were quite nice
-- Quark lets the bad guys in. Who immediately try to kill someone (Dax). Again. Quark has a really shitty quote of betraying our main cast for really dangerous criminals. Seriously, Neelix once threatened his whole ship with his cheese, but at least he didn't do it on purpose!
~ Apparently, before Tuvok (Tim Russ) infiltrated the Maquis, he was undercover as a klingon rogue.
+ Something I liked: The evil male Trill had the same points on his neck like Jadzia. But his female compagnion looked a bit like the Trill over on TNG. I don't know if that was intended, but I quite like the idea of the Trill being so alien, they have members with a couple of completely different body shapes who still belong to the same species.
-- Okay: Verad (the male Trill who wants to steal Dax) is a booooring bad guy. His motivation is weak and comes across very theoretical and not emotional. Also, his speaking pattern before he joins with Dax is very, very weird.
+ On the other hand: Him shooting O'Brian, without warning and just to prove a point, was very brutal and effective. I liked that!
- The operation where Bashir puts Dax from Jadzia to Verad looked hell'a stupid. Shouldn't an operation on two(!) open bodies be, I don't know, sterile?
+ On the other hand: Julians blue gloves during the operation gave me nice Firefly-flashbacks. I'm gonna count that as a positive.
~ Verad got quite the confidence-boost after he joined with Dax, so Dax seems to have a real great attitude that affects those who join with him. But I never got the feeling of Jadzia Dax as very self-assured person before. So what the hell was her emotional state before she joined with Dax?!?
+ The writers of DS9 finally seemed to have the Trill fleshed out a bit more: When a symbiont and a host are merged the new person becomes a 'blend' between the host and the memories of all previous hosts, a process described as a rebirth. It's not too clever, I personally would have preferred something where the symbiont has more of a character on it's own, but I'm happy they finally figured something out that makes sense and doesn't contradict what little we previously knew about the Trills.
++ Julian bickering with his klingon hostage-taker was my personal highlight of the episode! How he verbally fought with him to help him to save Jadzia's life in the infirmary, and later using him as his 'nurse' when treating Quark (and overpowering him) was great to watch. (Also the part where Julian tells the klingon to hold the medical thingy above Quarks ear, and how the klingon immediatly slams the device into Quark
). It's awesome! DS9 seems to be the only Trek series to figure out how to write individual klingons. Except from the original series, everywhere else they often feel like illiterate space vikings, and not a proud warrior race that builds warships that travel the galaxy!+ Jadzia feels "alone" after the Dax symbiont is removed. This was a surprisingly touching scene, and farely well handled by Terry Farrell.
+ Sisko and Verad Dax talking about their friendship (Sisko and Dax's) felt totally real and authentic. And Verad seemed to be genuinely sad about their friendship ending (even though he just 'inherited' it)
+ Nice subtle thing: When our heroes try to overpower their hijackers and fail, Sisko still beats up a klingon hand to hand. Sisko is a badass.
-- Sisko playing Verads (girl-)friend against him (and succeeding!) is totally clichéd and kills all suspense at this point.
~ Apparently, a phaser on stun setting could still kill a Trill symbiont (and thereby the Trill shortly after). Interesting. Does anybody know if Jadzia is stunned with phasers in the future? Seems like a bold choice by the writers if we remember how much Trek writers love to shoot and stun their main cast.
- The sudden ending was a bit weird and anti-climatic. What happened to the bad guys in the end? Do they all go to jail? Also: Quark. There's no way to explain why he isn't locked up in a cell the next episode. The writers seem to hope we just forget that it was all his fault until the next episode and don't question why he never has to stand trial for his many and serious crimes.
Final words
All in all, this episode has a mediocre plot (the standard Trek take-over by evil aliens) with a very weak villain with a very, very weak illustrated motivation. But the many great character scenes (and the klingon rogues!) manage to make this episode very enjoyable and lift it above average!
Grade
6/10
An enjoyable episode.
Dr. Evil-Award
Quark: For betraying the stations crew and being an accomplice in intended murder. (I mean, yeah, he didn't knew the plans of the bad guys and that the procedure would kill Jadzia. And he helped to defeat the bad guys. But still: Letting a big group of ruthless and armed criminals on your own, mostly evacuated station to overpower the left behind skeleton crew is still a serious case of complicity. Only by chance no one got killed.)
The O'Brian suffering-Award
The bad guy chooses to make an example with a cruel act of violence against one of our main characters. Whom does he choose? The only one wearing a goldshirt...
My reviews for the next two episodes are coming up soon. They will be a lot shorter, but I just had so many little thoughts about this episode. What are your opinions about 'Invasive procedures'?
I've assumed that the moment of joining brings euphoria, which is also what we see in the pilot. Perhaps there is some physical excitement produced by joining because the worm itself is out of danger. If that is true, the better judgement of the worm could be overwhelmed by strong physical sensations.
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Getting Odo out of his container was the thing they needed to do to retake the station.
I liked how Quark faked his ear injury but I think Julian was a little slow on the uptake and nearly blew the thing, considering his enhanced abilities that's rather surprising.
I liked how Quark faked his ear injury but I think Julian was a little slow on the uptake and nearly blew the thing, considering his enhanced abilities that's rather surprising.
@MacLeod:
Haha, yes, I read the DVD-booklet in advance (shouldn't have done that, the short episode descriptions are already a bit spoiler-y), but it looked like a few upcoming episodes will be centered around O'Brien being infected, trialed or conspired against, and a friend of mine told me he got a bit of Harry Kim's luck in this regard. So I chose to add this new award, gonna' see how all of this turns out.
@Bad Thoughts:
Sounds reasonable enough. I'm gonna' go with this explanation
@Kobayashi Maru:
I thought Julian did very well. Of course the gestures of the characters were a bit over the top, but it was meant for a small tv-screen, so that the viewers know what's up. (And the klingon was in his back) Also, it was very funny. What kind of enhanced abilities?
Yeah, Odo in the container! Forgot to mention this, this was a really smart device (although it bears the question how the Trill knew so perfectly how to take over a military base and how he knew there was a plasma storm coming [Jadzia said they were rare and unpredictable, so he must have had this plan up his sleeves und waited so long until the situation allowed it? Best not to think too hard about this...])
Haha, yes, I read the DVD-booklet in advance (shouldn't have done that, the short episode descriptions are already a bit spoiler-y), but it looked like a few upcoming episodes will be centered around O'Brien being infected, trialed or conspired against, and a friend of mine told me he got a bit of Harry Kim's luck in this regard. So I chose to add this new award, gonna' see how all of this turns out.
@Bad Thoughts:
Sounds reasonable enough. I'm gonna' go with this explanation
@Kobayashi Maru:
I thought Julian did very well. Of course the gestures of the characters were a bit over the top, but it was meant for a small tv-screen, so that the viewers know what's up. (And the klingon was in his back) Also, it was very funny. What kind of enhanced abilities?
Yeah, Odo in the container! Forgot to mention this, this was a really smart device (although it bears the question how the Trill knew so perfectly how to take over a military base and how he knew there was a plasma storm coming [Jadzia said they were rare and unpredictable, so he must have had this plan up his sleeves und waited so long until the situation allowed it? Best not to think too hard about this...])
Well, unless you insist, I don't want to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say that there is more to Julian than meets the eye.
Argh! I don't want to know! Get out of my brain, get out of my brain.... I hate spoilers. (Which is quite complicated when you watch a 20 year old series...)
Cardassians
Synopsis
Cardassian boy who is adopted by Bajorans bites Garak in the hand. The issue of war orphans are adressed. Gul Dukat visits the station. Hilarity ensues.
Review
This was a very nice and quiet episode. War orphans is already a complicated matter, especially for a tv show (with child actors and all that...). But it was handled quite well, and in the end the episode wasn't really about the general situation of the orphans, but the intrigues and political schemes surrounding this one (Rugal). What I liked most about the episode was the Bashir-and-Garak-uncovering-the-truth part. And the worldbuilding in this episode was phenomenal! It all seemed like a real, rich and complicated world with a ton of backstory, affecting the lives of thousands of people all over different worlds. It all seemed so authentic. What I didn't like was the resolution, the political conspiracy on Cardassia (by Gul Dukat) really wasn't that interesting or surprising.
Pros
+ Garak! He is awesome. A little schemer on it's own. Is he a Cardassian spy? Clues are dropped (and many of them!), but his allegiance doesn't seem to lie with the Cardassian military (or Gul Dukat). Also, I've got the feeling he wasn't working for the Cardassian civil gouvernment either, it looked more like he acted out of spite against Gul Dukat. Interesting.
+ This episode had a LOT of different characters all over the galaxy, from simple, war-torn families, Cardassian leaders, potential spies to caretakers of Bajoran orphanages. And all of them seemed very credible.
+ This is the first time since the pilot we saw Gul Dukat in the flesh, and really the first time we get to know his character a little better. He's immoral. And apparently he was in charge during the evauation of Bajor, and has his own secret agenda for Cardassian politics.
+ Sisko chewing out Julian Bashir for bursting into his conversation with Gul Dukat. Damn. You really don't want to get Sisko angry at you!
+ Bajor looked really nice! A great matte painting and good sets amounted to a really beautiful (but tragic) world, and the travel to Bajor and the visitation from Cardassians to the station all flow natural in the story.
+ Garak interrogating the Bajoran woman from the orphanage was both cruel and fun to watch!
+ The orphanage. The poor little Cardassian and Bajoran children. That was heartbreaking and realistic.
+ In the end, Siskos decision regarding the parental rights to Ragul was the right one. Yes, his adoptive family cared for him, but in the end he belongs to his biological family (you would want your own child back if you learn he wasn't dead as you were taught). In a perfect world, he would stay in close contact with his former foster family, but war and colonization makes all this a complicated matter...
Cons
- They really should take small shuttles for travelling to Bajor, and not the big runabouts. It kind of diminishes the runabouts as bigger spacecrafts. On the other hand this implies the station DS9 is far away from Bajor (and only in Bajoran territory), which goes against what was established in the pilot, but what I would like actually more.
- They really rushed through the matters. Adoptive hearings can take up for years, with psychological reports and everything. But I'm okay with it as a stand-alone episode.
- The biggest flaw of the episode: The resolution. The reasons for this conspiracy were really vague, and we don't know nor care anything about Cardassian politics at this points (since we don't know the agenda of any of the sides), so in the end it was all pretty meaningless for us. What stays is the great worldbuilding and the knowledge that Gul Dukat is a bastard and Garak way more complicated than we knew before.
Others
~ The Cardassians care all about the family, it's all their pride and affects their social status. This fits very well with militaristic and less individual societies.
~ All in all, this episode was not that much about 'Cardassians' as the title suggests, and more about the personal aftermaths of the occupation.
Favourite line:
"I believe in coincidences. Coincidences happen every day. But I don't trust coincidences!"
~ Garak
Final Grade
7/10
A good episode!
Synopsis
Cardassian boy who is adopted by Bajorans bites Garak in the hand. The issue of war orphans are adressed. Gul Dukat visits the station. Hilarity ensues.
Review
This was a very nice and quiet episode. War orphans is already a complicated matter, especially for a tv show (with child actors and all that...). But it was handled quite well, and in the end the episode wasn't really about the general situation of the orphans, but the intrigues and political schemes surrounding this one (Rugal). What I liked most about the episode was the Bashir-and-Garak-uncovering-the-truth part. And the worldbuilding in this episode was phenomenal! It all seemed like a real, rich and complicated world with a ton of backstory, affecting the lives of thousands of people all over different worlds. It all seemed so authentic. What I didn't like was the resolution, the political conspiracy on Cardassia (by Gul Dukat) really wasn't that interesting or surprising.
Pros
+ Garak! He is awesome. A little schemer on it's own. Is he a Cardassian spy? Clues are dropped (and many of them!), but his allegiance doesn't seem to lie with the Cardassian military (or Gul Dukat). Also, I've got the feeling he wasn't working for the Cardassian civil gouvernment either, it looked more like he acted out of spite against Gul Dukat. Interesting.
+ This episode had a LOT of different characters all over the galaxy, from simple, war-torn families, Cardassian leaders, potential spies to caretakers of Bajoran orphanages. And all of them seemed very credible.
+ This is the first time since the pilot we saw Gul Dukat in the flesh, and really the first time we get to know his character a little better. He's immoral. And apparently he was in charge during the evauation of Bajor, and has his own secret agenda for Cardassian politics.
+ Sisko chewing out Julian Bashir for bursting into his conversation with Gul Dukat. Damn. You really don't want to get Sisko angry at you!
+ Bajor looked really nice! A great matte painting and good sets amounted to a really beautiful (but tragic) world, and the travel to Bajor and the visitation from Cardassians to the station all flow natural in the story.
+ Garak interrogating the Bajoran woman from the orphanage was both cruel and fun to watch!
+ The orphanage. The poor little Cardassian and Bajoran children. That was heartbreaking and realistic.
+ In the end, Siskos decision regarding the parental rights to Ragul was the right one. Yes, his adoptive family cared for him, but in the end he belongs to his biological family (you would want your own child back if you learn he wasn't dead as you were taught). In a perfect world, he would stay in close contact with his former foster family, but war and colonization makes all this a complicated matter...
Cons
- They really should take small shuttles for travelling to Bajor, and not the big runabouts. It kind of diminishes the runabouts as bigger spacecrafts. On the other hand this implies the station DS9 is far away from Bajor (and only in Bajoran territory), which goes against what was established in the pilot, but what I would like actually more.
- They really rushed through the matters. Adoptive hearings can take up for years, with psychological reports and everything. But I'm okay with it as a stand-alone episode.
- The biggest flaw of the episode: The resolution. The reasons for this conspiracy were really vague, and we don't know nor care anything about Cardassian politics at this points (since we don't know the agenda of any of the sides), so in the end it was all pretty meaningless for us. What stays is the great worldbuilding and the knowledge that Gul Dukat is a bastard and Garak way more complicated than we knew before.
Others
~ The Cardassians care all about the family, it's all their pride and affects their social status. This fits very well with militaristic and less individual societies.
~ All in all, this episode was not that much about 'Cardassians' as the title suggests, and more about the personal aftermaths of the occupation.
Favourite line:
"I believe in coincidences. Coincidences happen every day. But I don't trust coincidences!"
~ Garak
Final Grade
7/10
A good episode!
I believe it is called "Cardassians" because we are introduced to Cardassians mores and internal politics. It's true though that they could have done a better job of it as we don't know what the hell Dukat was trying to accomplish here.
Basically, Bashir is a poster child for how intelligent people lack social skills.
You really believe that, don't you?
Besides, Bashir is not that bad, he's gonna get Leeta in the sack faster than you can say jamaharon...
I am trying to be very oblique out of respect for the OP, but there have been significant writing about how social intelligence can be independent of other intellectual and cognitive properties.
Okay, seriously, could you pleeeeaase tone down with the spoilers? o_O
I'll make this rule: Don't talk about stuff that happens after the latest reviewed episode. Just don't. Okay?
Otherwise I'll just stop reviewing my experience here at all. I like to talk about it, but honestly, it's more important to me to not know what happens in advance.
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Well, I hope it's not a Sheldon Cooper-thingy. But at this point he seems both very intelligent and skilled as a doctor, but very naive and inexperienced, especially with woman (Seriously, this guy hits on everything that walks, ant not remotely subtle).
Okay. I didn't think it was that big of a spoiler.
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