Don't get "The Visitor'?

[TheLobes]

I dont get why everyone loves that episode. I watched it and thought it was okay, a friend watched it and thought it was bad, parents watched it and thought it was bad.

I guess the idea is good, but somehow I just felt it didnt work. A big part of that was old man Jake telling the obnoxious fan of his all about it. I think I might have enjoyed it more if they didnt have that framework, if it just started on the Defiant and went from there. I also didnt totally feel that it suited Jake's character.

 

[94253]

I really liked that episode. It showed what Jake might have gone through losing his father, and I was glad he was able to move on to get a wife and focus on his writing. I was sad when he again shifted his focus toward saving his father. I wasn't sure how things would turn out once the cord was cut, but I was very excited to see the title Anslem reappear in The Muse!

 

[Tosk]

Guess what, if it ain't real, I don't care.

None of it is real. But you knew that.

If it helps at all, it's not as though the whole episode was erased. It was all real for Ben, he remembers all the parts that happened to him...and isn't that all any of us have in real life?

Is the Inner Light a "none of it was real" episode? Picard live an entire life with those people. How can you argue against that?

Is "Far Beyond the Stars" not worth counting? How about "Hard Time"?

Is the entire series of St. Elsewhere (or Newhart) dead to you? (If you even watched them in the first place.)

 

[JayOwl]

Guess what, if it ain't real, I don't care.

None of it is real. But you knew that.

If it helps at all, it's not as though the whole episode was erased. It was all real for Ben, he remembers all the parts that happened to him...and isn't that all any of us have in real life?

Is the Inner Light a "none of it was real" episode? Picard live an entire life with those people. How can you argue against that?

Is "Far Beyond the Stars" not worth counting? How about "Hard Time"?

Is the entire series of St. Elsewhere (or Newhart) dead to you? (If you even watched them in the first place.)

Agreed. To put it another way, if none of it's real in our universe who cares? It's part of the franchise.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I loved this one, I always will. I think a person's level of enjoyment is based on the emotional connection, either to the characters or to a similar event in their own lives. For example, I saw this shortly after my own father died. We were extremely close and he was too young (67). At that point, all I wanted to a few more minutes with him, to hear his voice, smell his cologne, or absorb one of his bear hugs. When I saw this episode, I was on the couch crying like a 3 year old because if I had the tech, I'd have done what Jake did. The love he had for his dad was strong enough for him to sacrifice his own life to prevent Ben's "death" (or the absence of Ben from his life). Now, many years later, I still tear up because my dad will always be attached to this episode. I don't watch it often because of that, but also because of that it remains my favorite episode.

 

[indranee]

I dont get why everyone loves that episode. I watched it and thought it was okay, a friend watched it and thought it was bad, parents watched it and thought it was bad.

I guess the idea is good, but somehow I just felt it didnt work. A big part of that was old man Jake telling the obnoxious fan of his all about it. I think I might have enjoyed it more if they didnt have that framework, if it just started on the Defiant and went from there. I also didnt totally feel that it suited Jake's character.

How was she "obnoxious"?

 

[sonak]

the framing device was key to the episode, especially the ending, which wouldn't have worked as well without it.

 

[Captain Atkin]

My favorite episode of DS9.

 

[Trilliam]

Frankly, I never understood what's the fuss about "The Visitor." It's yet another of those "let's change everything, but without any consequences" filler episodes I grew to hate so much about modern Trek.

It's still the same over and over again: - "It was a dream." - "It was an illusion." - "It was an alternate timeline." - "It was an alien test." -"It was a holodeck failure." Guess what, if it ain't real, I don't care. If the story isn't good enough to be a permanent part of the lore, then there isn't any point in telling it.

Yep, good call.