People thought he was boring for the most part.
Deep Space Nine Rewatch
- Thread starter tomalak301
- Start date
People thought he was boring for the most part.
Heart of Stone
This episode is interesting, in that the Nog storyline is the best part of it while the Odo storyline is merely ok. I know hindsight is 20/20, but Nog wanting to join starfleet set up one of the biggest character development arcs on the series and shows why DS9 was such a well written show. I actually was able to talk to Aron Eisenberg in Las Vegas and we talked about this arc quite a bit, because it transformed Nog from a menace to a really well written and well developed character. As for the Odo story, it was good and we got some good stuff between Odo and Kira. It turned into a self reflection of Odo and I was fine with that, and we got to see the Female shapeshifter again. Overall it was a good episode.
Destiny
Here's one of the most underrated episodes of the series. I just loved how this one came together as Trekor's destiny provided a backdrop to the theme of misinterpretation and not understanding the words. I also loved that Lochley (Babylon 5) was a Cardassian and kind of hit on O'Brian. Also, this episode ends with the beginning of Trekor's 4th prophecy, and as we saw throughout the series, we could probably think that came true too. I always love those episodes where Sisko struggles with the title of Emissary, and in this episode he actually starts to believe he is and slowly accept the fact that the Bajorans see that he is.
This episode is interesting, in that the Nog storyline is the best part of it while the Odo storyline is merely ok. I know hindsight is 20/20, but Nog wanting to join starfleet set up one of the biggest character development arcs on the series and shows why DS9 was such a well written show. I actually was able to talk to Aron Eisenberg in Las Vegas and we talked about this arc quite a bit, because it transformed Nog from a menace to a really well written and well developed character. As for the Odo story, it was good and we got some good stuff between Odo and Kira. It turned into a self reflection of Odo and I was fine with that, and we got to see the Female shapeshifter again. Overall it was a good episode.
Destiny
Here's one of the most underrated episodes of the series. I just loved how this one came together as Trekor's destiny provided a backdrop to the theme of misinterpretation and not understanding the words. I also loved that Lochley (Babylon 5) was a Cardassian and kind of hit on O'Brian. Also, this episode ends with the beginning of Trekor's 4th prophecy, and as we saw throughout the series, we could probably think that came true too. I always love those episodes where Sisko struggles with the title of Emissary, and in this episode he actually starts to believe he is and slowly accept the fact that the Bajorans see that he is.
Improbable Cause/Die is Cast
If anyone who was reading this noticed, I'm not talking about every episode anymore. This thread is not active and I was like, I just want to watch the series. It wasn't worth writing about anymore, but I might bring this thread up from time to time on some of the great and what I feel are underrated episodes of the series.
Improbable Cause and Die is Cast fall in the great category for me. This was Garak at his very best, and I would say Improbable Cause is the most quotable episode of the series. You've got the lack of imagination line, the boy in cried wolf line, and my favorite, Garak's line about the finance ministry coming after him for refusing to pay taxes.
Then we have Odo's story, and considering the journey Odo has taken this season about finding his people and refusing to join them, this episode carries that arc on from Heart of Stone explaining why he won't go back. He also shows how awesome of an investigator he is, and his "You Blew Up Your Own Shop Garak" line was quite a bombshell.
If Improbable Cause was the most quotable, Die is Cast might have been the most personal and action oriented and still a great follow up. We have the combined Obsidian Order/Tal'Shiar mission to the founders homeworld, Garak rejoining Tain, the powerful Garak/Odo scenes which is right up there with the Madrid/Picard scenes from Chain of Command as some of the best and most emotional torture scenes you will ever see on any show. Garak cares about Odo a lot, and his "Lie if you have to" shows that.
We also get the Defiant kicking ass, and I think this was the episode where I fell in love with that ship. It's small, but it packs quite a punch, and what she carries as phasers is so much cooler than the straight line beams. Maybe they were going for a Mellinium Falcon look, but it suited the Defiant well. I just wish we could have gotten more exterior shots of the battle sequence. It's also why I'm glad they went bigger and bolder for Call to Arms and Sacrifice of Angels.
These two episodes are some of the best DS9 had to offer. It also carried on the Arc from Defiant and we will pick it up in another favorite two parter in season 5, In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light.
Anyway, like I said I'm probably not going to post much in this thread anymore. It is a shame someone from these forums isn't also doing a DS9 rewatch. Would love to compare notes.
If anyone who was reading this noticed, I'm not talking about every episode anymore. This thread is not active and I was like, I just want to watch the series. It wasn't worth writing about anymore, but I might bring this thread up from time to time on some of the great and what I feel are underrated episodes of the series.
Improbable Cause and Die is Cast fall in the great category for me. This was Garak at his very best, and I would say Improbable Cause is the most quotable episode of the series. You've got the lack of imagination line, the boy in cried wolf line, and my favorite, Garak's line about the finance ministry coming after him for refusing to pay taxes.
Then we have Odo's story, and considering the journey Odo has taken this season about finding his people and refusing to join them, this episode carries that arc on from Heart of Stone explaining why he won't go back. He also shows how awesome of an investigator he is, and his "You Blew Up Your Own Shop Garak" line was quite a bombshell.
If Improbable Cause was the most quotable, Die is Cast might have been the most personal and action oriented and still a great follow up. We have the combined Obsidian Order/Tal'Shiar mission to the founders homeworld, Garak rejoining Tain, the powerful Garak/Odo scenes which is right up there with the Madrid/Picard scenes from Chain of Command as some of the best and most emotional torture scenes you will ever see on any show. Garak cares about Odo a lot, and his "Lie if you have to" shows that.
We also get the Defiant kicking ass, and I think this was the episode where I fell in love with that ship. It's small, but it packs quite a punch, and what she carries as phasers is so much cooler than the straight line beams. Maybe they were going for a Mellinium Falcon look, but it suited the Defiant well. I just wish we could have gotten more exterior shots of the battle sequence. It's also why I'm glad they went bigger and bolder for Call to Arms and Sacrifice of Angels.
These two episodes are some of the best DS9 had to offer. It also carried on the Arc from Defiant and we will pick it up in another favorite two parter in season 5, In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light.
Anyway, like I said I'm probably not going to post much in this thread anymore. It is a shame someone from these forums isn't also doing a DS9 rewatch. Would love to compare notes.
Especially in retrospect, I love that "Improbable Cause" also features the first appearance of Mila, about whom we will learn much more in time.
I'd still very much like to know just who Odo's Cardassian contact was, though. My pet theory is that he might have been Thrax.
I'd still very much like to know just who Odo's Cardassian contact was, though. My pet theory is that he might have been Thrax.
I was wondering about him and why we never saw him again. He could have been an interesting fellow, especially during the Dominion War
I think that's part of what made that scene so intriguing. 
And given the events of the Terok Nor novels, I think it would make some sense if his contact was Thrax, though there are other options. I guess I just like the idea that the new security chief would have kept in touch with the old one.
And given the events of the Terok Nor novels, I think it would make some sense if his contact was Thrax, though there are other options. I guess I just like the idea that the new security chief would have kept in touch with the old one.
Way of the Warrior
I've started Season 4 of my rewatch with this great premiere episode tonight and I have a question. DS9 was armed to the teeth, but didn't it seem like they wasted Torpedoes more than they should? Maybe Torpedoes with guidance systems was too expensive at the time but I'm watching the battle sequence and I've seeing like 20 torpedoes basically being shot into space. Ok, 20 out of 5000 isn't a big deal, but it seemed like if the Station was going to defend against a Jem'Hadar fleet, you want to make the most use out of the Torpedoes. I think I mentioned this after Jem'Hadar, but I wasn't really a fan of how less intimidating the Jem'Hadar ships were after that episode.
Anyway I love this episode of course. I love that battle sequence, I love the music that went with that sequence, and I love Worf being brought in. This was like a relaunch of the series, but it made sense if you caught that one line of a dialog from Die is Cast.
By the way, Season 4 is my second favorite season of the show, so I'm really excited to be revisiting it again.
I've started Season 4 of my rewatch with this great premiere episode tonight and I have a question. DS9 was armed to the teeth, but didn't it seem like they wasted Torpedoes more than they should? Maybe Torpedoes with guidance systems was too expensive at the time but I'm watching the battle sequence and I've seeing like 20 torpedoes basically being shot into space. Ok, 20 out of 5000 isn't a big deal, but it seemed like if the Station was going to defend against a Jem'Hadar fleet, you want to make the most use out of the Torpedoes. I think I mentioned this after Jem'Hadar, but I wasn't really a fan of how less intimidating the Jem'Hadar ships were after that episode.
Anyway I love this episode of course. I love that battle sequence, I love the music that went with that sequence, and I love Worf being brought in. This was like a relaunch of the series, but it made sense if you caught that one line of a dialog from Die is Cast.
By the way, Season 4 is my second favorite season of the show, so I'm really excited to be revisiting it again.
I started a rewatch on Netflix with Season 2 it just seems like a better place to start
Well, I'm back! Been away on vacation and then had a ton of other stuff happening IRL, which postponed my return here. I'm a bit behind on tomalak301 but will try and catch up, if possible. I'll just pick up where I left.
3-06 The Abandoned
The Abandoned was rather good, if a bit predictable regarding who the infant alien really was. It reminded me a bit about the TNG episodes with a young Borg, although here the writers sensibly decided that it would not have a happy Trek ending, with the Jem'Hadar boy learning to live a civilized life. Instead we see how futile such an attempt can be. Which brings up a small gripe I had with the story? If the Jem'Hadar boy is non-redeemable and pretty much pre-disposed to become a fierce warrior for the Dominion, why let him go in the first place? They have taken down Jem'Hadar before, albeit with some difficulty. He was cornered off at a place where he couldn't do any harm to innocent bystanders. Oh, well…
The b-story was rather funny and I really liked Jake's Dabo girlfriend. Damn, I wish I had had such a girlfriend at sixteen. Hell, I wish I had one like that now! But I might have preferred Quark's purple-haired squeeze, who made a brief return here.
I found the additional insights to the Jem'Hadar interesting. Being bio-engineered fighters with a pre-programmed desire to kill and serve the changelings makes them a formidable enemy. And it only makes sense, from a Dominion standpoint, for them to be designed to be addicted to a certain enzyme drug.
I'll give The Abandoned a grade of 7+.
3-07 Civil Defense
I feel like I have seen Civil Defense before, and I probably have. The station/ship in jeopardy has been done all too many times before, as has the counting clock to destruction. Thus one never got any real sense of suspense. All the new hurdles that kept popping up became more annoying than exciting. The various solutions, including the final one when Sisko saves the day, are also filled with too much technobabble (even if I must admit that DS9 generally has decreased the amount of technobabble lately).
I thought Dukat was acting rather weird, speaking in an unnaturally stilted manner, especially since they were all in jeopardy. But I did enjoy the fact that he too became a victim of his own over-cleverness. The mutual hatred between him and Garak was also a nice touch. One thing I didn't like was the sudden, out of left field, revelation that he is attracted to Kira. That's just icky, considering who he is and who he was.
Since Dukat conveniently just happened to be in the area, I first thought that this had been a deliberate ploy by him to get a new presence on the station. Alas, it was not so. That would've been more interesting. I also found it unbelievable that Starfleet personnel wouldn't have purged the old computer systems before installing their own.
A just below average grade of 4+ goes to Civil Defense.
3-08 Meridian
My God, Meridian bored me to tears. It had an insipid Romance of the Week™ plot with two characters that had no chemistry and it just kept plodding along. Truly dreadful. I couldn't care less about Jadzia's new love interest or the Brigadoon-esque plight of his people. It was a foregone conclusion that Dax wouldn't be phased out for 60 years, or that they'd introduce an addition to the cast, so why should we care?
The b-plot about Quark trying to create a holo-Kira was meant to be funny but really wasn't. Even Jeff Combs as the Kira-obsessed customer couldn't save this.
I haven't seen a DS9 episode this bad since Move Along Home. Consequently I give Meridian a grade of 1+.
3-09 Defiant
A disclaimer before I go any further with reviewing this episode. I really don't like Riker - I never have and that was long before the character took over the centre seat in that abomination that was supposed to be the ENT finale. Granted it's not William Riker, but his Transporter Twin (TNG's Second Chances) Thomas Riker who makes an appearance in Defiant, but that's just a detail. He may have become a Maquis trying to escape from the shadow of Will, but essentially he is Riker.
That means I hated the first part when he impersonated his twin and put all those smarmy moves on Kira (who should know better) and Jadzia. I really don't get what it is that is supposed to be so appealing with this obnoxious guy!
Otherwise I enjoyed the plot quite a bit. We had some good action scenes and interactions between Sisko and Dukat in the Cardassian war room. I wish they'd shown the visuals of the hijacked Defiant's initial manoeuvring instead of just on a computer graphics display. I liked the Obsidian Order lady too - very much like a KGB or Party zampolit! She put fear into Gul Dukat himself. The revelation that the Order was building their own warships, outside the control of Central Command, should prove a very interesting development.
I didn't like how Sisko initially agreed to share the secrets of the Defiant's technology to the Cardassians. We've seen how the Cardassians cannot be trusted and that war is almost inevitable. That's a situation where you don't want to give away your secrets. The Feds should've sent in an entire fleet to chase the ship instead. But they lucked out in the end and all the Cardassians got was the sensor logs from the Defiant.
Defiant gets a grade of 7. One point deducted for the mere presence of Riker.
3-06 The Abandoned
The Abandoned was rather good, if a bit predictable regarding who the infant alien really was. It reminded me a bit about the TNG episodes with a young Borg, although here the writers sensibly decided that it would not have a happy Trek ending, with the Jem'Hadar boy learning to live a civilized life. Instead we see how futile such an attempt can be. Which brings up a small gripe I had with the story? If the Jem'Hadar boy is non-redeemable and pretty much pre-disposed to become a fierce warrior for the Dominion, why let him go in the first place? They have taken down Jem'Hadar before, albeit with some difficulty. He was cornered off at a place where he couldn't do any harm to innocent bystanders. Oh, well…
The b-story was rather funny and I really liked Jake's Dabo girlfriend. Damn, I wish I had had such a girlfriend at sixteen. Hell, I wish I had one like that now! But I might have preferred Quark's purple-haired squeeze, who made a brief return here.
I found the additional insights to the Jem'Hadar interesting. Being bio-engineered fighters with a pre-programmed desire to kill and serve the changelings makes them a formidable enemy. And it only makes sense, from a Dominion standpoint, for them to be designed to be addicted to a certain enzyme drug.
I'll give The Abandoned a grade of 7+.
3-07 Civil Defense
I feel like I have seen Civil Defense before, and I probably have. The station/ship in jeopardy has been done all too many times before, as has the counting clock to destruction. Thus one never got any real sense of suspense. All the new hurdles that kept popping up became more annoying than exciting. The various solutions, including the final one when Sisko saves the day, are also filled with too much technobabble (even if I must admit that DS9 generally has decreased the amount of technobabble lately).
I thought Dukat was acting rather weird, speaking in an unnaturally stilted manner, especially since they were all in jeopardy. But I did enjoy the fact that he too became a victim of his own over-cleverness. The mutual hatred between him and Garak was also a nice touch. One thing I didn't like was the sudden, out of left field, revelation that he is attracted to Kira. That's just icky, considering who he is and who he was.
Since Dukat conveniently just happened to be in the area, I first thought that this had been a deliberate ploy by him to get a new presence on the station. Alas, it was not so. That would've been more interesting. I also found it unbelievable that Starfleet personnel wouldn't have purged the old computer systems before installing their own.
A just below average grade of 4+ goes to Civil Defense.
3-08 Meridian
My God, Meridian bored me to tears. It had an insipid Romance of the Week™ plot with two characters that had no chemistry and it just kept plodding along. Truly dreadful. I couldn't care less about Jadzia's new love interest or the Brigadoon-esque plight of his people. It was a foregone conclusion that Dax wouldn't be phased out for 60 years, or that they'd introduce an addition to the cast, so why should we care?
The b-plot about Quark trying to create a holo-Kira was meant to be funny but really wasn't. Even Jeff Combs as the Kira-obsessed customer couldn't save this.
I haven't seen a DS9 episode this bad since Move Along Home. Consequently I give Meridian a grade of 1+.
3-09 Defiant
A disclaimer before I go any further with reviewing this episode. I really don't like Riker - I never have and that was long before the character took over the centre seat in that abomination that was supposed to be the ENT finale. Granted it's not William Riker, but his Transporter Twin (TNG's Second Chances) Thomas Riker who makes an appearance in Defiant, but that's just a detail. He may have become a Maquis trying to escape from the shadow of Will, but essentially he is Riker.
That means I hated the first part when he impersonated his twin and put all those smarmy moves on Kira (who should know better) and Jadzia. I really don't get what it is that is supposed to be so appealing with this obnoxious guy!
Otherwise I enjoyed the plot quite a bit. We had some good action scenes and interactions between Sisko and Dukat in the Cardassian war room. I wish they'd shown the visuals of the hijacked Defiant's initial manoeuvring instead of just on a computer graphics display. I liked the Obsidian Order lady too - very much like a KGB or Party zampolit! She put fear into Gul Dukat himself. The revelation that the Order was building their own warships, outside the control of Central Command, should prove a very interesting development.
I didn't like how Sisko initially agreed to share the secrets of the Defiant's technology to the Cardassians. We've seen how the Cardassians cannot be trusted and that war is almost inevitable. That's a situation where you don't want to give away your secrets. The Feds should've sent in an entire fleet to chase the ship instead. But they lucked out in the end and all the Cardassians got was the sensor logs from the Defiant.
Defiant gets a grade of 7. One point deducted for the mere presence of Riker.
Moving on....
3-10 Fascination
Oh my God, I don't know where to begin, but this episode was absolutely dreadful. Coming so soon after Meridian one would think they'd try real hard at avoiding making another really bad episode. Fascination has the ignoble distinction of being DS9's worst episode so far - worse even than Move Along Home. I wasn't just bored with it; I hated it and cringed my way through it. Ugh!
And of course it had to be a Lwaxana Troi episode. Figures! One would think that she'd be banned from all Federation installations by now, because she always seems to wreak havoc wherever she goes.
I don't see how the writers thought that having (almost) everyone acting so out of character would be even remotely funny. And the Miles/Keiko scenes were just nasty - a curious mix of soap opera and far too realistic domestic quarrels.
This one gets a big fat 1-. I would give it a zero if it hadn't been for the fact that I haven't seen all of DS9 yet and want to save that grade for something that might possibly be even worse than this. I reserve the right to come back and give it that zero once I'm done with the series.
3-11-12 Past Tense, Part 1-2
For the most part, the Past Tense two-parter was a good instalment and gave us some view into the past of the Trekverse. I liked the twist, even if I saw it coming from a mile away, that Sisko would turn out to be the historical figure of Gabriel Bell. Perhaps this is really what was supposed to happen. The real Bell might not have been this hero character. For one thing he didn't have Jadzia to convince some infatuated media tycoon to broadcast the plight of the Sanctuary people over the net.
The story did come off as a bit too preachy for my tastes, as if some magical "federal employment act" could give all these people jobs. Newsflash: government don't create jobs, successful business enterprises do, and what the government can do is allow these enterprises to flourish. But this is a show run by the usual leftist Hollywood types, so they're not going to sing the virtues of free enterprise when they consistently berate the capitalistic Ferengis. It's far more likely that too much state intervention has caused jobs in the private sector to be lost.
I also found the way they got into the past much too contrived and filled with the usual amount of annoying technobabble (chroniton particles my foot). The crew left on the Defiant were also conveniently protected from the changes in the timeline by being in a subspace bubble thingy.
I did like Sisko in this story. He certainly rose to the challenge and took it upon himself to play the part of the ill-fated Gabriel Bell to the bitter end (that turned out to be non-lethal, although history would learn otherwise).
The part with Dax and that rich media guy wasn't that exciting, and served more to hammer down the message of class differences. But I liked the fashion - semi-futuristic combined with 19th century vibes. I suppose fashion styles revert to a more late 20th century look by ENT's time.
Overall I liked part one a little better since I thought that part two dragged a bit with the extended hostage scenes. I'd give the first part a grade of 7+ and the second part 7-. Combined Part Tense gets a grade of 7 on my 10-graded scale.
3-13 Life Support
Life Support was a fairly good episode and I didn't mind them killing off Bareil. I recognize that he was a decent and honest man, but I always thought he was rather boring and I never saw much chemistry between him and Kira. Given who he was this was a fitting end to him, putting duty and the welfare of Bajor first. This may come off as a bit mean, but when he got half his brain replaced with a mechanical device, and lost a lot of the "spark" that made him a soulful being, he didn't seem all that different. To me he never felt that animated to begin with.
The episode did raise some interesting questions about life though. What is life and when does someone cease to be alive in a true sense? How much can be replaced before you lose your humanity (or Bajoranity in this case)? Here Star Trek seems to side with the non-mechanical world view, which is a bit surprising given how issues like these are normally treated. But I found it a refreshing change anyhow. And I liked Bashir in this episode. He was a strong man who took his responsibilities as a doctor first. His showdown with Kai Winn was great.
I remain a bit confused about Winn. Here she was a much softer and insecure character that now relied heavily on her former antagonist. I wonder if this is a permanent change or if it was just as Bashir thought, that she used Bareil's knowledge and expertise to her own ends. I also wondered why a religious leader would be allowed to conduct peace talks. Doesn't the Bajoran government have a say in things of this magnitude?
The b-plot with Jake and Nog felt really inappropriate in the context of such a serious episode. Even taken separately I didn't like it much. It just felt too nasty and Nog seemed to have regressed. He should know that you don't treat females that way and he never did with that Bajoran princess in The Storyteller. But Jake's date was really, really cute!
I'll give Life Support an above average grade of 6+.
3-14 Heart of Stone
They did a real cop-out with Heart of Stone. Here Odo finally admits to Kira that he loves her and then it turns out it wasn't to Kira at all, but the Founder lady who had been impersonating the Major all along, thus nullifying all that transpired before. Whatever poignancy that came out of the story just evaporated and we got back to square one. Granted I'm a bit daft and never got much of the Odo-loves-Kira vibes before, so in this regard the episode was helpful, but still it was mostly a big waste. Another variation of the dreaded Reset Button™.
I have to wonder just how the female changeling was able to impersonate Kira as well as she did. I could even buy that the real Kira would lie to Odo about loving him back, but Odo is smarter. Also, when you think about it, it was a very contrived way that they put Odo and the Kira fake together. The Founder lady must have gotten the Maquis ship and then waited for the opportune moment when Kira and Odo were off on a Runabout together.
I was much more impressed with the b-plot about Nog trying to convince Sisko that he is Starfleet material. That had some real poignancy, especially when Nog desperately tells Sisko that he doesn't want to end up like his father, that he wants to be his own man. Despite Nog's stupid behaviour in the episode before, I kind of like the guy and think he will make a fine officer one day. It was also touching to see Rom standing up for his son's choice with Quark.
Heart of Stone gets a grade of 6- on my 10-graded scale, and that's mostly because of the Nog sub-plot.
3-15 Destiny
I liked Destiny very much. It made a real clever use of Bajoran beliefs to make a compelling story that doesn't invalidate the prophesy in the end. For each new plot development one realizes that these prophesies does contain some truth, and I like that. It shows respect even if they can be plausibly explained in a non-religious fashion.
I also liked the two female Cardassian scientists. They showed once again that there are good Cardassians out there. And the misunderstanding by one of them into thinking O'Brien was interested in her was quite funny.
But I have to question the "wisdom" of letting these Cardassians onboard the Defiant, where they could roam free and look for secrets. And lo and behold, one of them was an Obsidian order operative that sabotaged the phasers. Memo to Starfleet and Sisko: Never ever allow Cardies onboard again.
Destiny gets a grade of 7- from me.
3-10 Fascination
Oh my God, I don't know where to begin, but this episode was absolutely dreadful. Coming so soon after Meridian one would think they'd try real hard at avoiding making another really bad episode. Fascination has the ignoble distinction of being DS9's worst episode so far - worse even than Move Along Home. I wasn't just bored with it; I hated it and cringed my way through it. Ugh!
And of course it had to be a Lwaxana Troi episode. Figures! One would think that she'd be banned from all Federation installations by now, because she always seems to wreak havoc wherever she goes.
I don't see how the writers thought that having (almost) everyone acting so out of character would be even remotely funny. And the Miles/Keiko scenes were just nasty - a curious mix of soap opera and far too realistic domestic quarrels.
This one gets a big fat 1-. I would give it a zero if it hadn't been for the fact that I haven't seen all of DS9 yet and want to save that grade for something that might possibly be even worse than this. I reserve the right to come back and give it that zero once I'm done with the series.
3-11-12 Past Tense, Part 1-2
For the most part, the Past Tense two-parter was a good instalment and gave us some view into the past of the Trekverse. I liked the twist, even if I saw it coming from a mile away, that Sisko would turn out to be the historical figure of Gabriel Bell. Perhaps this is really what was supposed to happen. The real Bell might not have been this hero character. For one thing he didn't have Jadzia to convince some infatuated media tycoon to broadcast the plight of the Sanctuary people over the net.
The story did come off as a bit too preachy for my tastes, as if some magical "federal employment act" could give all these people jobs. Newsflash: government don't create jobs, successful business enterprises do, and what the government can do is allow these enterprises to flourish. But this is a show run by the usual leftist Hollywood types, so they're not going to sing the virtues of free enterprise when they consistently berate the capitalistic Ferengis. It's far more likely that too much state intervention has caused jobs in the private sector to be lost.
I also found the way they got into the past much too contrived and filled with the usual amount of annoying technobabble (chroniton particles my foot). The crew left on the Defiant were also conveniently protected from the changes in the timeline by being in a subspace bubble thingy.
I did like Sisko in this story. He certainly rose to the challenge and took it upon himself to play the part of the ill-fated Gabriel Bell to the bitter end (that turned out to be non-lethal, although history would learn otherwise).
The part with Dax and that rich media guy wasn't that exciting, and served more to hammer down the message of class differences. But I liked the fashion - semi-futuristic combined with 19th century vibes. I suppose fashion styles revert to a more late 20th century look by ENT's time.
Overall I liked part one a little better since I thought that part two dragged a bit with the extended hostage scenes. I'd give the first part a grade of 7+ and the second part 7-. Combined Part Tense gets a grade of 7 on my 10-graded scale.
3-13 Life Support
Life Support was a fairly good episode and I didn't mind them killing off Bareil. I recognize that he was a decent and honest man, but I always thought he was rather boring and I never saw much chemistry between him and Kira. Given who he was this was a fitting end to him, putting duty and the welfare of Bajor first. This may come off as a bit mean, but when he got half his brain replaced with a mechanical device, and lost a lot of the "spark" that made him a soulful being, he didn't seem all that different. To me he never felt that animated to begin with.
The episode did raise some interesting questions about life though. What is life and when does someone cease to be alive in a true sense? How much can be replaced before you lose your humanity (or Bajoranity in this case)? Here Star Trek seems to side with the non-mechanical world view, which is a bit surprising given how issues like these are normally treated. But I found it a refreshing change anyhow. And I liked Bashir in this episode. He was a strong man who took his responsibilities as a doctor first. His showdown with Kai Winn was great.
I remain a bit confused about Winn. Here she was a much softer and insecure character that now relied heavily on her former antagonist. I wonder if this is a permanent change or if it was just as Bashir thought, that she used Bareil's knowledge and expertise to her own ends. I also wondered why a religious leader would be allowed to conduct peace talks. Doesn't the Bajoran government have a say in things of this magnitude?
The b-plot with Jake and Nog felt really inappropriate in the context of such a serious episode. Even taken separately I didn't like it much. It just felt too nasty and Nog seemed to have regressed. He should know that you don't treat females that way and he never did with that Bajoran princess in The Storyteller. But Jake's date was really, really cute!
I'll give Life Support an above average grade of 6+.
3-14 Heart of Stone
They did a real cop-out with Heart of Stone. Here Odo finally admits to Kira that he loves her and then it turns out it wasn't to Kira at all, but the Founder lady who had been impersonating the Major all along, thus nullifying all that transpired before. Whatever poignancy that came out of the story just evaporated and we got back to square one. Granted I'm a bit daft and never got much of the Odo-loves-Kira vibes before, so in this regard the episode was helpful, but still it was mostly a big waste. Another variation of the dreaded Reset Button™.
I have to wonder just how the female changeling was able to impersonate Kira as well as she did. I could even buy that the real Kira would lie to Odo about loving him back, but Odo is smarter. Also, when you think about it, it was a very contrived way that they put Odo and the Kira fake together. The Founder lady must have gotten the Maquis ship and then waited for the opportune moment when Kira and Odo were off on a Runabout together.
I was much more impressed with the b-plot about Nog trying to convince Sisko that he is Starfleet material. That had some real poignancy, especially when Nog desperately tells Sisko that he doesn't want to end up like his father, that he wants to be his own man. Despite Nog's stupid behaviour in the episode before, I kind of like the guy and think he will make a fine officer one day. It was also touching to see Rom standing up for his son's choice with Quark.
Heart of Stone gets a grade of 6- on my 10-graded scale, and that's mostly because of the Nog sub-plot.
3-15 Destiny
I liked Destiny very much. It made a real clever use of Bajoran beliefs to make a compelling story that doesn't invalidate the prophesy in the end. For each new plot development one realizes that these prophesies does contain some truth, and I like that. It shows respect even if they can be plausibly explained in a non-religious fashion.
I also liked the two female Cardassian scientists. They showed once again that there are good Cardassians out there. And the misunderstanding by one of them into thinking O'Brien was interested in her was quite funny.
But I have to question the "wisdom" of letting these Cardassians onboard the Defiant, where they could roam free and look for secrets. And lo and behold, one of them was an Obsidian order operative that sabotaged the phasers. Memo to Starfleet and Sisko: Never ever allow Cardies onboard again.
Destiny gets a grade of 7- from me.
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And a few more...
3-16 Prophet Motive
Wow, season three really has some stinkers, doesn't it? And Prophet Motive sure fits that bill! I absolutely hate this moronic caricature of capitalism that takes form in the Ferengi. For people in Hollywood, who on some level must know about what profit actually means (creating successful TV shows and movies), it is really incomprehensible that they continue to make this kind of drivel. I cannot assume anything other than it's the same kind of (unconscious?) self-loathing that most left-leaning rich celebrities constantly exhibit. There is another word for it: hypocrisy.
The only redeeming thing about Prophet Motive was Quark's quite convincing speech to the wormhole aliens - and I don't mean him telling them that no Ferengi would bother them again, but the true observation about what drives people: challenges and overcoming them (or in Ferengese: greed). Surprisingly insightful for coming from Hollyweird.
The Bashir award nomination b-plot was uninteresting and came off as mere filler. Nice dart scene between Bashir and O'Brien though.
Prophet Motive gives another grade of 1 to season three.
3-17 Visionary
Visionary was a rather enjoyable episode. It was kind of nifty to see O'Brien timeshift a couple of hours into the future, and to see how he used this knowledge when he got back. I especially liked when O'Brien interacted with himself. But I was appalled at the amount of technobabble that it took to explain it.
Sometimes I wonder why characters must be so daft. Here there are Romulans on the station, expressing worry about the threat from the Dominion. Then they learn of a quantum singularity orbiting the station. It shouldn't take a genius to figure out that it was a cloaked Romulan ship (since it's established that they power their ships with quantum singularities) and that they'd in all likelihood try and close the wormhole (It's the only way to be sure). I figured it out almost immediately, but it took O'Brien's final trip to the future for them to realize the plot. Oh, well…
I'll give Visionary a grade of 6- on my 10-graded scale.
3-18 Distant Voices
What was the point of Distant Voices? It was obvious from the start that it was all in Bashir's mind and I couldn't get interested in the non-events that transpired there and got really bored pretty quickly. I suppose it was thought of as giving us an insight into Bashir's mind, but like ENT's Vanishing Point did with Hoshi it didn't give us much and I didn't care. Perhaps I should credit the episode for being clever with different characters representing different personality traits of Bashir's psyche, but it lacked subtlety. There was no need to actually spell it out like they did, and that hurt the story.
But essentially nothing much happened. Bashir got thrown into a coma and then woke up. End of story. I liked the first and the final, and real, scenes between him and Garak though.
A big yawn and a grade of 2- on for Distant Voices.
3-19 Through the Looking Glass
This second mirror universe episode on DS9 wasn't as satisfying as the first one, Crossover. To be perfectly honest I'm not all as enamoured with the mirror universe as most other Trek fans seems to be. I have a nagging feeling that if they do this too much (and I believe they're going to make quite a few on this show) it will quite soon run out of steam. Sure it can be a fun romp but it often borders too close to parody.
With the flimsiest of excuses (although we're probably best without the technobabble required for it to make some semblance of sense) our Sisko is kidnapped into the mirror universe to impersonate his dead mirror counterpart. Sisko managed surprisingly easy to get into the part even if he did came off as a bit too wooden at times. He must try and recruit his mirror wife (Jennifer lived in this universe) to the Terran rebellion. Unfortunately their scenes didn't have a lot of spark and Jennifer came off as even more wooden.
Mirror Jadzia being his mistress and them doing the… well, you know, was just icky. I mean Dax is also Curzon, and it would be like doing it with your old friend. Bleach! But she did look good with the shorter hair.
While looking good as the Intendant, I find it hard to enjoy Mirror Kira. She is just so over the top that she's already become a caricature, much like Mirror Archer was, and I didn't care for him either.
I noticed a brief appearance of a Mirror Tuvok (VOY), so I suppose that in the mirror universe Voyager doesn't get lost in the Delta Quadrant. But given the state of Earth here that's not surprising. This also make you wonder what fate Picard and his crew had here.
Overall I felt that Through the Looking Glass was a bit disappointing. I'll give it an average grade of 5+.
3-16 Prophet Motive
Wow, season three really has some stinkers, doesn't it? And Prophet Motive sure fits that bill! I absolutely hate this moronic caricature of capitalism that takes form in the Ferengi. For people in Hollywood, who on some level must know about what profit actually means (creating successful TV shows and movies), it is really incomprehensible that they continue to make this kind of drivel. I cannot assume anything other than it's the same kind of (unconscious?) self-loathing that most left-leaning rich celebrities constantly exhibit. There is another word for it: hypocrisy.
The only redeeming thing about Prophet Motive was Quark's quite convincing speech to the wormhole aliens - and I don't mean him telling them that no Ferengi would bother them again, but the true observation about what drives people: challenges and overcoming them (or in Ferengese: greed). Surprisingly insightful for coming from Hollyweird.
The Bashir award nomination b-plot was uninteresting and came off as mere filler. Nice dart scene between Bashir and O'Brien though.
Prophet Motive gives another grade of 1 to season three.
3-17 Visionary
Visionary was a rather enjoyable episode. It was kind of nifty to see O'Brien timeshift a couple of hours into the future, and to see how he used this knowledge when he got back. I especially liked when O'Brien interacted with himself. But I was appalled at the amount of technobabble that it took to explain it.
Sometimes I wonder why characters must be so daft. Here there are Romulans on the station, expressing worry about the threat from the Dominion. Then they learn of a quantum singularity orbiting the station. It shouldn't take a genius to figure out that it was a cloaked Romulan ship (since it's established that they power their ships with quantum singularities) and that they'd in all likelihood try and close the wormhole (It's the only way to be sure). I figured it out almost immediately, but it took O'Brien's final trip to the future for them to realize the plot. Oh, well…
I'll give Visionary a grade of 6- on my 10-graded scale.
3-18 Distant Voices
What was the point of Distant Voices? It was obvious from the start that it was all in Bashir's mind and I couldn't get interested in the non-events that transpired there and got really bored pretty quickly. I suppose it was thought of as giving us an insight into Bashir's mind, but like ENT's Vanishing Point did with Hoshi it didn't give us much and I didn't care. Perhaps I should credit the episode for being clever with different characters representing different personality traits of Bashir's psyche, but it lacked subtlety. There was no need to actually spell it out like they did, and that hurt the story.
But essentially nothing much happened. Bashir got thrown into a coma and then woke up. End of story. I liked the first and the final, and real, scenes between him and Garak though.
A big yawn and a grade of 2- on for Distant Voices.
3-19 Through the Looking Glass
This second mirror universe episode on DS9 wasn't as satisfying as the first one, Crossover. To be perfectly honest I'm not all as enamoured with the mirror universe as most other Trek fans seems to be. I have a nagging feeling that if they do this too much (and I believe they're going to make quite a few on this show) it will quite soon run out of steam. Sure it can be a fun romp but it often borders too close to parody.
With the flimsiest of excuses (although we're probably best without the technobabble required for it to make some semblance of sense) our Sisko is kidnapped into the mirror universe to impersonate his dead mirror counterpart. Sisko managed surprisingly easy to get into the part even if he did came off as a bit too wooden at times. He must try and recruit his mirror wife (Jennifer lived in this universe) to the Terran rebellion. Unfortunately their scenes didn't have a lot of spark and Jennifer came off as even more wooden.
Mirror Jadzia being his mistress and them doing the… well, you know, was just icky. I mean Dax is also Curzon, and it would be like doing it with your old friend. Bleach! But she did look good with the shorter hair.
While looking good as the Intendant, I find it hard to enjoy Mirror Kira. She is just so over the top that she's already become a caricature, much like Mirror Archer was, and I didn't care for him either.
I noticed a brief appearance of a Mirror Tuvok (VOY), so I suppose that in the mirror universe Voyager doesn't get lost in the Delta Quadrant. But given the state of Earth here that's not surprising. This also make you wonder what fate Picard and his crew had here.
Overall I felt that Through the Looking Glass was a bit disappointing. I'll give it an average grade of 5+.
Sisko did call her Dax though.
The Visitor
I don't think there is any other episode in Trek that gets me more emotional than this one. I'm watching it and already in the first few minutes I'm already tearing up. There is no other TV show that did a father son relationship as good as DS9, and the fact that they perfected it here is one of the things that made DS9 the special show that it was. Everyone main player in this episode did an outstanding job, from Cirroc Loften to Avery Brooks, to one of the great character actors of our time, Tony Todd. I also loved Melony, played by Andrew Robinson's daughter, as the inspiring writer, even though I really hope history is played out that she wasn't erased. She's way too normal and cool to be erased from history.
I watched up to Indiscretion tonight, but The Visitor was one I really wanted to talk about the most. Probably top 3 episode of Star Trek ever.
I don't think there is any other episode in Trek that gets me more emotional than this one. I'm watching it and already in the first few minutes I'm already tearing up. There is no other TV show that did a father son relationship as good as DS9, and the fact that they perfected it here is one of the things that made DS9 the special show that it was. Everyone main player in this episode did an outstanding job, from Cirroc Loften to Avery Brooks, to one of the great character actors of our time, Tony Todd. I also loved Melony, played by Andrew Robinson's daughter, as the inspiring writer, even though I really hope history is played out that she wasn't erased. She's way too normal and cool to be erased from history.
I watched up to Indiscretion tonight, but The Visitor was one I really wanted to talk about the most. Probably top 3 episode of Star Trek ever.
