The AV club is now reviewing "Deep Space Nine"!!

[You_Will_Fail]

I don't know if many of you use this site but its one of my favorite media sites www.avclub.com

The reviewer Zack Handeln previously went through every episode of TNG http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/tvshow/star-trek-the-next-generation,102/ and now he's going through all of DS9 except this time its a first watch http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/tvshow/star-trek-deep-space-9,323/

Should be good!

 

[Destructor]

I agree! I was a big fan of the TNG reviews and it's nice to see DS9 get some love. The cool thing is he hasn't watched DS9 before so he's no idea the AWESOMENESS that awaits him! I can't wait to watch him fall in love before my very eyes...

 

[Eric Cheung]

I'm glad there's a thread of this! I was going to put one up if there wasn't. I think Zack Handlen is a really good critic who gets Star Trek. I'm really looking forward to spending the next year-and-a-half/two years reading his reviews and checking out the gimmick posters like TNG's fake Frakes, Sirtis, and Berman.

 

[TheGodBen]

This review reinforces my belief that Emissary is an episode that works best when rewatching the show and it's not as effective when you're a newbie. For example, he criticised the bits with Sisko in the wormhole as they got in the way of the action on the station, but when I rewatched Emissary recently I had the opposite reaction. I preferred watching Sisko's interactions with the Prophets because I knew where that relationship would eventually end up, and Sisko relating life to that of a game of baseball is something that continues to play a part in his interactions with the Prophets throughout the show.

I'm not familiar with this guy's reviews of TNG, but I'll probably follow his DS9 reviews. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Canadave]

Zach Handlen of the AV Club is reviewing DS9

I loved his TNG reviews, and it's cool seeing a first-time viewer through the lens of a professional writer. He's only done up to "A Man Alone" so far, so if you want to get in on a ground floor, here's the link to the reviews.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Re: Zach Handlen of the AV Club is reviewing DS9

I loved his TNG reviews, and it's cool seeing a first-time viewer through the lens of a professional writer. He's only done up to "A Man Alone" so far, so if you want to get in on a ground floor, here's the link to the reviews.

Wow! Fabulous!!! That's really cool! Hope he likes the show! I'll have to catch up and see what he thinks.

 

[Eric Cheung]

The new review is up. One of the neat things about the AV Club reviews is of course the comments section. On TNG they had gimmick posters posting as Frakes, Sirtis, and Berman. So far here they have gimmick posters as J. Michael Strasinski, Benny Russell, and Garak.

The TNG fake posters told behind the scenes tales of hedonism and political machinations. Even in parodic fakery DS9 is slightly more cerebral. But funny nonetheless.

 

[Canadave]

My apologies for opening a second thread on this. Traffic in here is usually slow enough that a quick scan of the first page will reveal if there's already a topic... guess I was wrong.

 

[MacLeod]

Well I would tend to agree with him that "Past Prologue" was a stronger episode than "A Man Alone"

 

[Eric Cheung]

My apologies for opening a second thread on this. Traffic in here is usually slow enough that a quick scan of the first page will reveal if there's already a topic... guess I was wrong.

I deliberately bumped this thread up today knowing that there was a new review up. I was the one do didn't do a scan of the first page today.

Maybe these threads should be merged and used to follow the AV Club's analysis throughout?

 

[aht8orange]

Great news! I love the AV Club's reviews and reading a newbie's perspective on DS9 will be very cool to read.

 

[TheGodBen]

The line that struck me about the most recent review:

We could get an explanation for [Odo's origins] later (I actually suspect we will, and it probably has something to do with those pesky wormhole aliens)

He doesn't know the truth! Pretty much all the first-timers on this site know about the Changelings and many of the other major plot events through osmosis, but this guy doesn't. Here's hoping he remains unspoiled about these things.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Its definitely very refreshing to have such a DS9 noob review it, I was quite surprised when I read that line too.

 

[Super55]

These reviews are going on hiatus for the summer after next week... I'm super bummed, I look forward to them all week!

 

[Eric Cheung]

Since he's going to stop at The Jem'Hadar, he'll certainly be left wanting more.

It'll be interesting to read his take on Monty Python's Flying Circus in the meantime.

 

[SchwEnt]

I followed all his past reviews from TOS and TNG. Fairly good reviews, continuing on thru DS9.

I like that he's impressed with the characters and depth and story risks in DS9, and he's only in seasons one and two (which many people find "eh").

I agree... if he finds DS9 this good so far, wait until he gets to the later seasons...

 

[Harvey]

If you want something to entertain you over the summer, the AV Club just started doing reviews of Babylon 5, which have struck me as rather fair so far.

 

[Eric Cheung]

As someone who's only watched parts of episodes of B5 I find the format of the reviews curious. It's heavily qualified as a guide for newbies, suggesting a lot of episodes are quite unnecessary. I guess that would make me quite skeptical of the series, as it suggests that the show is wildly inconsistent.

RE: DS9. I'm pleased that Dax and Bashir have grown on him. That was one spot where I think I disagreed with him, but that could have been colored by my own experience with the characters over the past 19 years, and the fact that I was less critical when the shows first aired, being in middle school and all.

 

[Sindatur]

As someone who's only watched parts of episodes of B5 I find the format of the reviews curious. It's heavily qualified as a guide for newbies, suggesting a lot of episodes are quite unnecessary. I guess that would make me quite skeptical of the series, as it suggests that the show is wildly inconsistent.

RE: DS9. I'm pleased that Dax and Bashir have grown on him. That was one spot where I think I disagreed with him, but that could have been colored by my own experience with the characters over the past 19 years, and the fact that I was less critical when the shows first aired, being in middle school and all.

Babylon 5, to the new viewer, very well could appear to them as having many stand alone, unecessary episodes, because there are things in S1, that don't play out until S3 or later. Once you have seen it all, and do a rewatch, you discover there is at least some plot point running through just about all the episodes. Very few episodes could be stripped out without taking something away from foreshadowing or removing a "Chekov's Gun" from the wall or removing some detail flushing out something to come later, or that was mentioned in passing. Even the 3 or 4 famously harped on "worst episodes" have very good and important "B" stories in them.

 

[Sykonee]

From the recent review of Tribunal:

I’ve heard that some fans dismiss Deep Space Nine as overly grim, but while the show deals in serious subjects without blinking, I’ve never found it depressing. It’s honest, that’s all. Before this series, the franchise was about the pure utopia of the journey, of constant motion, of seeking and never being entirely satisfied. With DS9, the franchise creates a home, and then sets to establishing the cost of defending it.

Sweet! He gets it in only S2.