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Re-Watching DS9

I'm glad you liked Chrysalis, because this is Babylon 5 (finally) firing on all cylinders and it would've really sucked if it wasn't on your wavelength.

The impression I got was that Garibaldi's informant was aware of the plot for the same reason Garibaldi found out: he got curious, popped open a box. The other lurkers just knew where he'd been working.

The JFK assassination was definitely being referenced here, with the clip of President Clark taking the oath of office mirroring Lyndon B. Johnson's inauguration. Battlestar did it too!

I think Santiago wasn't naive exactly, it was more that he was one of the directions on the crossroads, the one that led to better relations with alien governments. Now that road is blocked off.

Also, you already know that unavoidable casting changes led to the D plot being a bit of a dead end, but that thread does get continued in the canonical novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows (and then the comic book). Unfortunately because of the framing story you're not allowed to read it until after season 3. Sorry.
 
Let's see where I can watch Brigadoon... Looks like it's on Amazon Prime. 1 hour, 48 minutes. Hmmm.... I'll watch it tomorrow morning when I get up and buy some popcorn to go with it!

I wasn't expecting it to take over two hours to write my review for "Chrysalis", but I should've. It was a lot to take in and process. I had to color-code all my notes before finding a way to make it all sound cohesive.

After Brigadoon, it's going to be "Defiant", a re-review of "The Gathering", and then it's back to Disco Land before Section 31.

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During the Inauguration, I'll do something more productive with my time and watch "Fascination".
 
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"Brigadoon" (1954)

Special thanks to @Laura Cynthia Chambers for recommending Brigadoon, the movie that served as the inspiration for DS9's "Meridian". Two Americans, Tommy and Jeff, travel to Scotland and stumble upon a hidden village, Brigadoon, that appears every 100 years. The people of Brigadoon were from 1754. They spend one day in the century they're in. Then the next day, they're 100 years in the future, and this keeps repeating every day. Two days ago they were in 1754, yesterday they were in 1854, today they're in 1954, and tomorrow they'll be in 2054. Tommy falls in love with a woman named Fiona. He never felt like he fit in where he's from, he can't fall in love with anyone else, and now he's found where he truly belongs. If anyone who lives in the village leaves, everyone in the village dies. So, anyone who lives in Brigadoon has to stay in Brigadoon. Even if that weren't the case, if they were to leave on a different day, they'd end up in a vastly different time. Tommy chooses to stay with Fiona, the love of his life. There's no other life for him.

I like Brigadoon's execution of this story better than in "Meridian". However quickly it happened, the love between Tommy and Fiona feels deeper than the love between Dax and Deral. I buy Tommy wanting to give everything up in his life for her more easily than Dax wanting to do the same as well, because it really does seem like Tommy has nothing for him in 1950s New York. And, of course, the biggest difference: Dax can't stay on Meridian because unlike in this movie, DS9 is an ongoing series where she's a main character! Can't have her leaving the show! Not here, anyway!

I've got to be honest, though, I think I'd like living in Brigadoon better myself. It seems so much more fun and fanciful. And the fantastic is why I'm a science-fiction fan in the first place, even though it's the future instead of the past. Either way, Present Day is boring! Although I'm only saying that because it's my day-to-day. Back to the film.

Like I said in my previous post, I love how everything came together in this movie. It's mostly wide shots, so you can take in the scenery. The village of Brigadoon itself looks like it's part location shooting and part matte backgrounds and props. I can tell where one ends and the other begins. It looks me like it was both: they shot outside and they stood up gigantic matte paintings for the background, to give a sense of how large the village is supposed to be. Having Brigadoon look half real and half like a set adds to the feeling that it feels both like a real place and a fantasy at the same time.

I love the camera work. Even though Brigadoon is a movie, it looks like a grand stage play. The wide shots because when you're seeing a play, all you're seeing is wide. And the camera movements. The camera moves gracefully with the actors, panning and tilting where it needs to be to follow the actors and zooming in and out where necessary. That takes a lot of skill. It's harder than you think to make it look so smooth.

The dancing and the singing was fun to watch as well. Some very talented performers in this cast! And the costuming is what I expect to see in a play. All that was missing were the colored stage lights! I used to be a lighting technician for a theater company, so that stood out to me, but I don't expect most people to think about that. The sets and the village look like a place that I'd really want to visit.

When this movie was made, films began to be shot in CinemaScope, VistaVision, and the like. They really took advantage of the wide screen. Televisions were becoming more popular and this was a great way to show the types of visuals cinema could offer that television couldn't. The movie looks like art. Large scale movies made today should take note because to me they don't look like art. They look like technology.
 
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^Considering it's a musical, and I'm a fan of musicals, I feel as though I should know at least one song from it, and yet I have nothing from it in my library nor am I readily aware of any songs from it.
 
Can't sleep. Let's see how Babylon 5's first season stacked up for me. I haven't done a binge re-watch yet, but this is how the season shakes out before I do that. I'm changing ratings I no longer agree with.

Babylon 5 Season 1
"The Gathering" (counts twice for double-length) --> Original Rating: 8, Changed Rating: 7
"Midnight on the Firing Line" --> 7
"Soul Hunter" --> 6
"Born to the Purple" --> 9
"Infection" --> Original Rating: 6 (what the Hell was I thinking?), Changed Rating: 5
"The Parliament of Dreams" --> 9
"Mind War" --> 10
"The War Prayer" --> 7
"And the Sky Full of Stars" --> 8
"Deathwalker" --> 5
"Believers" --> 10
"Survivors" --> 9
"By Any Means Necessary" --> 8
"Signs and Portents" --> 8
"TKO" --> 7
"Grail" --> 7
"Eyes" --> 10
"Legacies" --> 8
"A Voice in the Wilderness" (two-parters count twice) --> 6
"Babylon Squared" --> 7
"The Quality of Mercy" --> 8
"Chrysalis" --> 10

Season Average: 7.67

I gave the first season of DS9 a 7.95 and the second season of DS9 an 8.40.

Turns out that while I like Babylon 5, at this stage I prefer Deep Space Nine. We'll see if this holds.
 
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Lord Garth said:
Can't sleep. Let's see how Babylon 5's first season stacked up for me. I haven't done a binge re-watch yet, but this how the season shakes out before I do that. I'm changing ratings I no longer agree with.

Babylon 5 Season 1
"The Gathering" (counts twice for double-length) --> Original Rating: 8, Changed Rating: 7
"Midnight on the Firing Line" --> 7
"Soul Hunter" --> 6
"Born to the People" --> 9
"Infection" --> Original Rating: 6 (what the Hell was I thinking?), Changed Rating: 5
"The Parliament of Dreams" --> 9
"Mind War" --> 10
"The War Prayer" --> 7
"And the Sky Full of Stars" --> 8
"Deathwalker" --> 5
"Believers" --> 10
"Survivors" --> 9
"By Any Means Necessary" --> 8
"Signs and Portents" --> 8
"TKO" --> 7
"Grail" --> 7
"Eyes" --> 10
"Legacies" --> 8
"A Voice in the Wilderness" (two-parters count twice) --> 6
"Babylon Squared" --> 7
"The Quality of Mercy" --> 8
"Chrysalis" --> 10

Season Average: 7.67

I gave the first season of DS9 a 7.95 and the second season of DS9 an 8.40.

Turns out that while I like Babylon 5, at this stage I prefer Deep Space Nine. We'll see if this holds.
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"BORN TO THE PURPLE", not people. Just wanted to make sure you had accurate episode titles for the future.
 
Aww, poor Deathwalker didn't get a last minute upgrade!

You ratings don't really line up with typical scores I've seen, though part of that is because you're kinder than most fans. Episodes like Born to the Purple are not well loved and I've never seen anyone give Eyes such a high rating. Putting Chrysalis at #1 and Infection at #22 is not a controversial ranking though.

I also watched B5 and DS9 alongside each other a few years back and I really didn't like DS9 season 1 by comparison. I felt like it was wasting my time, while B5 s1 was setting up mysteries and building a world. But I'm a huge DS9 fan overall, I think it's one of the best series I've ever seen, and the fact that you're even putting B5 in the same ballpark is a very good sign.
 
Farscape One said:
"BORN TO THE PURPLE", not people. Just wanted to make sure you had accurate episode titles for the future.
Click to expand...
Fixed it!
Ray Hardgrit said:
Aww, poor Deathwalker didn't get a last minute upgrade!

You ratings don't really line up with typical scores I've seen, though part of that is because you're kinder than most fans. Episodes like Born to the Purple are not well loved and I've never seen anyone give Eyes such a high rating. Putting Chrysalis at #1 and Infection at #22 is not a controversial ranking though.

I also watched B5 and DS9 alongside each other a few years back and I really didn't like DS9 season 1 by comparison. I felt like it was wasting my time, while B5 s1 was setting up mysteries and building a world. But I'm a huge DS9 fan overall, I think it's one of the best series I've ever seen, and the fact that you're even putting B5 in the same ballpark is a very good sign.
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This is my "before" post, before I run through the season again. ;)

I have to remember "Deathwalker" better before I re-rate it or not. But "Infection", I remember giving it one extra point because there was a line I liked. In retrospect, that's stupid. So, I took off that point.
 
"Defiant"

Kira being frustrated and having it up to here with people. I know that feeling. I get fed up with people have it up to here with them too. Then Bashir orders Kira to go on leave and wants her to enjoy herself... then Riker shows up, and she finally does have a good time. Just what the Doctor ordered. Except it's not Will Riker, it's Tom Riker! In the days before I had the Internet, and there were no spoilers, it caught me totally by surprise! But as soon as they revealed it, I thought to myself at the time, "I should've known!"

Still talking about back in 1994, my thought when Riker told O'Brien, "I have nothing to say to you! I think you know why," it threw me for a bit of a loop. I thought to myself, "I don't remember any animosity between them in TNG!" I agree with the idea that Tom Riker wanted to get him out of there as quickly as possible. Tom could fake his way through with everyone else, but not with someone who actually served with Will.

I'm not critical of Kira being kind-of/sort-of-but-not interested in Riker, she can't be because of Bariel, but that doesn't mean there's no interest there. If Kira were single and Tom Riker wasn't in the Maquis and had been upfront with her about who he is, I could've seen a romantic relationship developing between them. I feel like I shouldn't buy it, but for some reason I do. Riker, at his core, is everything Kira's not, personality-wise, and I think it would've been a case of Opposites Attract. But it wasn't meant to be, so moving right along...

I don't know how many of you have seen Better Call Saul, but I think the relationship between Tom and Will Riker is in some ways similar to the relationship between Jimmy and Chuck McGill. Chuck has the career, the reputation, the prestige. Before he became Saul, all Jimmy was known for was being "Chuck's loser brother." Jimmy could never be the lawyer Chuck was, so he stopped trying and didn't just become a criminal lawyer, he became a criminal lawyer. All Tom Riker would've been known for was being "the other Riker". So he stopped trying, found a growing cause he could be come part of, and joined the Maquis. Will Riker plays it safe, Tom Riker doesn't. Will has the Starfleet career Tom will never have. But as a Maquis, that finally completely separates him from Will. When Kira tells him this, and he denies it, I think he's denying it because he knows it's true.

The Maquis following Tom Riker really look up to him. It's Tom using that magnetic energy to get people to follow him. Especially if his goal is their goal. And by stealing the Defiant, in a way he can fantasize that he has his own Starfleet ship with his own crew. Having his own ship is something Will Riker still doesn't have at this point, even though he's been offered several times. I think Tom Riker thinks he has a lot more initiative than Will. If he does think that, then I think he'd be right. Will Riker is comfortable where he is and Tom Riker isn't, so that's what pushes Tom. It's what drives him.

Another thing I liked about this episode was finally getting to the power struggle between Cardassian Miliary and the Obsidian Order. They don't communicate with each other; the Obsidian Order is doing things they shouldn't. And while Sisko is aiding the Cardassians in Central Command to locate Riker and the Defiant, Korinas praises Sisko over Dukat in large part to get underneath Dukat's skin.

When Sisko and the Cardassians finally have Tom Riker outmaneuvered and he has to go to Cardassian prison, I think it's probably another moment where normally I'd say something but in this case I don't. He kisses Kira before handing himself over. He's about to go to Cardassian Prison, and Riker's always been a romantic, so, okay. Kira promises she'll get him out of there. I wish DS9 followed up on this. DS9. If it had been PIC, then it would've been 30 years too late, and I'd hate to think Tom Riker spent three decades in a Cardassian labor camp. I know there have been comics and novels about Tom Riker. I used to have a comic from DS9's Mailbu run in the mid-'90s that followed up on Tom Riker. Though I've completely forgotten the specifics of the story after this much time.

Overall, I give this episode a 9.

I forgot to mention this. It was interesting to see Kira's perspective on fighting the Cardassians vs. Tom Riker's. Tom wants to be a hero and Kira tells him flat-out that terrorists don't get to be heroes. I think the biggest difference between Tom and Kira is that Tom wants glory and he wants his own identity. Kira didn't want glory, she just wanted the Cardassians gone. And she didn't feel the need to make herself different from someone else.
 
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I love "Defiant" for the Riker twist and the Cardassian worldbuilding and some well-executed combat scenes.

It boggles my mind that, to this day, people continue to be confused by the Riker-O'Brien interaction, as even on a first viewing (once I knew what was really going on), it was absolutely clear to me. Tom needed O'Brien gone as quickly as possible so he couldn't blow Tom's identity.

I haven't seen all of Better Call Saul, nor have I seen it recently, but I saw enough to remember that things don't end well for Chuck. :\ I think the show kind of got too sad for me to keep watching it in the headspace I was in at the time. I guess if you've seen or are at least aware of Breaking Bad you know the trajectory Jimmy's on, but it was still painful for me to watch.

Something I find interesting about Kira's relations with Tom here and with Kai Winn late in the series are that, unlike so many of Our Trek Heroes, Kira isn't a diplomat and isn't good at it. Less so here than with Winn, she doesn't necessarily say the things she should say in the ways she should say them to ensure a positive outcome...and of course, nothing in her history would lead us to expect otherwise from her.

I, too, kind of wish DS9 had revisited Tom...and now I had the hilarious thought that at some point he disappeared Will and that in PIC it's Tom that we're seeing the whole time. :p
 
Laura Cynthia Chambers said:
@Lord Garth what was your favorite song from the movie?
Click to expand...
I checked the soundtrack on YouTube and spot-checked each song before listening to my favorite four in full. Then I narrowed it down to two.

It came down to a choice between "Almost Like Being In Love" and "Heather on the Hill". I'm going to go with "Heather on the Hill". The singing feels in complete harmony with the instruments. Hearing that song really brings out how much Tommy and Fiona are in love with each other and makes you get behind Tommy wanting to stay.

An honorable mention goes to "The Wedding Dance", but I can't count it since there's no singing. But I remember the dancing during it very vividly. So I'd say that's my favorite "stage" performance. But "Heather on the Hill" is my favorite song.

I've known about Singing In the Rain but haven't seen it. I'll give that a watch too.
 
"Fascination" -- Part of It!

Right. So, I started putting on this episode. Kira's waiting for Bariel. O'Brien's waiting for Keiko. Luaxana Troi is arriving for Odo unbeknownst to Odo. Luaxana Troi's spreading some weird bug that no one knows about yet but I know because I saw this episode 30 years ago. They've got the Bajoran equivalent of Thanksgiving going on...

... Jake and Marta have broken up, Jake asks Kira for advice about an older woman, Kira thinks it's Marta... and then Jake tells Kira IT'S HER!!!!!!!

AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

I literally actually screamed that out loud when I saw that!

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I'm too afraid to watch anymore!
:guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw::guffaw:

But I'm doing it anyway. Tomorrow. I don't know. I think we might be heading into territory where I might be giving it below a 5. Guess we'll find out when I pick this up again!

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW. Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-Channel!
 
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I was too afraid to get back into "Fascination" tonight. If you're wondering what happened, that's what happened. :p

So, instead, I've done a bunch of capsule reviews for Michelle Yeoh's early films. I started with 1985, last month, and just finished 1994.
 
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