DS9 Versus: A viewing experient

[Sykonee]

Sorry for delay. Aside from the holiday break, I've also been busy setting up a new music blog, which I hope to have up and running in the New Year. Just a continuation of what I've already been doing with the other website, but going it solo since, er, I've pretty much been doing so anyway. At least this way I'll have total control. Anyhow, enough shameless promotion for my other projects.

Week 23: (Ending 03.03.96)
B5 - Point Of No Return (Airdate 02.29.96)

This aired on a Feb. 29th! Does this mean it wouldn't exist if they'd tried to air it on a non-leap year? Nah, just crazy coincidence.

So anyway, major events once again. Big focus on Earth's problems, with new twists developed for Londo and G'Kar. Perhaps the Big Twist in solving the Nightwatch problem was a little clunkyly handled but it's not a big deal. In the end, PoNR delivers. It's easily on par with anything Trek's ever done, and an easy front-runner for Best Of This Season, though WotW still holds strong in the lead. Nah, B5's gonna have to do something really epic to top that one. This one was mostly wrapped up tidily, with a good dose of ominous foreshadow to get you to tune into the next episode. Sadly, it's a bit of a wait for that to happen, as now B5 goes into re-runs.

Which means VOY's gonna have March all to its lonesome self. Hm, not sure what that means, as that show hasn't had the best runs of Solo time this season.

Weekly Winner
B5

Next:
VOY - Investigations

 

[Seven of Five]

Hee. Majel Barret and Vaughn Armstrong both appear in this ep, so Star Trek ties are maintained without any Trek on the air this week.

Fab episode again for B5. Whenever I've watched this particular part of the arc though on DVD I always watch three or four in a row as all of the events are pretty epic.

How long does B5 go into reruns for, because waiting for Severed Dreams might just have toppled me over the edge?

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Messages from Earth was excellent, but Point of No Return is truly outstanding. Even after all the episodes leading up towards this, it was still astonishing to see everything falling apart like this. And of course, because of those episodes, and indeed the series so far as a whole, all this stuff means a lot and has a great emotional impact. I'd never seen anything quite like this on a sci-fi show before. For me, this is a strong candidate for the title of B5's best episode yet, and I think it's better than anything the two Star Trek shows running at this point had come up with by this stage.

 

[mattyhugh]

As this thread goes on, the more I want to rewatch my B5 DVDS.

 

[Sykonee]

Week 24: (Ending 03.17.96)
VOY - Investigations (Airdate 03.13.96)

Well, that was pointless.

Yeah, yeah, that's what everyone says about this Jonas Arc, but really, what else is there to say? The set-up throughout February was practically nil -a throw-away scene here or there, coupled with the odd throw-away scene of Tom being insubordinate. Very little of it related to whatever plot was currently going on, though at least Lifesigns treated it as a proper B-plot.

However, when we finally do get the payoff here, we're hardly invested in it. Tom's leaving the ship because he's disgruntled? Heck, that could have all been established in this episode and it would have the same impact. Tuvok and Janeway suspect there's a spy on board? Same thing. Chakotay is played for the sucker again? Well, at least they've kept that arc consistent since the beginning of the show.

And, oh man, the problems with the episode itself. It's perhaps a cute idea to Neelix, of all people, be the one to 'save the ship', but... Neelix? Meh, it might have worked if the episode wasn't so lazily paced and filled with ultra-contrivances.

Compared to what B5's been doing with series arcs lately, this is amateur hour. VOY still gets a win because no one else is around; maybe I should give that Space: Above & Beyond show a token win instead. That show is still around, isn't it?

Weekly Winner
VOY

Next:
VOY - Deadlock

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Hmm... Investigations. It's not that bad, but it ought to have been a hell of a lot better. I guess the show deserves some credit for trying to use an extended storyline, but Voyager didn't do arc based storytelling very well, certainly not as well as B5 could already do it and DS9 would later learn to do it. Why did they end the Jonas thing here anyway, rather than having it tie into Basics? The "A Briefing with Neelix" thing rubbed me up the wrong way as well - maybe it was meant to be annoying, but seriously, can you imagine living on this ship without going insane?

 

[DevilEyes]

Compared to what B5's been doing with series arcs lately, this is amateur hour. VOY still gets a win because no one else is around; maybe I should give that Space: Above & Beyond show a token win instead. That show is still around, isn't it?

Weekly Winner
VOY

Next:
VOY - Deadlock

Now you've made me go to Wikipedia to check the dates. Most SAAB episodes I remember (I missed the first few) were better than Investigations (and if it was Who Monitors the Birds? or The Angriest Angel, it would easily beat a lot of other VOY episodes)... Luckily for VOY, it seems that there was no SAAB episode that week (there was a break between Dear Earth on 3rd March and Pearly on 24th), so you'll have to give the default victory to VOY.

 

[Sykonee]

Now you've made me go to Wikipedia to check the dates. Most SAAB episodes I remember (I missed the first few) were better than Investigations (and if it was Who Monitors the Birds? or The Angriest Angel, it would easily beat a lot of other VOY episodes)... Luckily for VOY, it seems that there was no SAAB episode that week (there was a break between Dear Earth on 3rd March and Pearly on 24th), so you'll have to give the default victory to VOY.

Curses! VOY scouted that week good.

 

[Seven of Five]

Ha! Investigations was a very poor end to the Jonas arc, which was poor to begin with anyway. 'A Briefing With Neelix' was a very sickly idea, just like many of the stupid things they had Neelix doing. Much better episode next week.

 

[Kai Winn]

the voyager haters are having a great time again? investigations is still better than most ds9 episodes, let alone b5's. i've got lots of ideas of how to improve those two shows. ten more weeks till the end of shadow war, and then it's course oblivion for b5. pity deadlock has no competition this week, that's a very good one.

 

[Eyes]

I expected more from Investigations, considering it was wrapping up an arc. On its own, it might have been a good episode, but it couldn't hold the story together and we got 45 minutes of Neelix pretending (and failing) to be Sherlock Holmes.

A pity Deadlock has no competition next week, that's one of my favourite Voyager episodes.

 

[TheGodBen]

the voyager haters are having a great time again? investigations is still better than most ds9 episodes, let alone b5's.

In my opinion Investigations is far closer to Threshold than it is to In The Pale Moonlight. It was supposed to wrap up the Jonas arc but it was written by someone who reportedly didn't believe in arc-based television (Jeri Taylor), she based it around the most disliked character on the show, and it ended by Jonas being thrown off a balcony into a magically appearing plasma rupture in engineering. But the worst part of it all is that Neelix has just killed a man AND THEN HE MAKES A JOKE!!

In my review thread I suggested that Jeri Taylor sabotaged the episode in order to prove her belief that arcs don't work on Star Trek, and even though I was joking the more I think about it the more I think it might be true on a subconscious level.

 

[Kegg]

In my review thread I suggested that Jeri Taylor sabotaged the episode in order to prove her belief that arcs don't work on Star Trek, and even though I was joking the more I think about it the more I think it might be true on a subconscious level.

That interpretation has automatically become the most interesting thing about the episode.

the voyager haters are having a great time again? investigations is still better than most ds9 episodes, let alone b5's.

If it is VOY hating to suggest that a subpar episode of Voyager is subpar, then you've cast your 'Voy hating' net perilously broad. Let's restrict it for people who have a bilious dislike of the show or who would rather watch "Profit and Lace" and "TKO" back to back then see "Living Witness" and "Counterpoint".

 

[Seven of Five]

the voyager haters are having a great time again? investigations is still better than most ds9 episodes, let alone b5's.

The episode isn't a very strong one - there are far better VOY episodes out there. And I'm not a VOY hater either. I grew up with the show and own it all on DVD. It has that special place in my heart even though I know it isn't on par with TNG, DS9 or B5.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

If it is VOY hating to suggest that a subpar episode of Voyager is subpar, then you've cast your 'Voy hating' net perilously broad. Let's restrict it for people who have a bilious dislike of the show or who would rather watch "Profit and Lace" and "TKO" back to back then see "Living Witness" and "Counterpoint".

Here's the bit where I admit that I probably enjoyed TKO more than Counterpoint...

 

[Kegg]

Here's the bit where I admit that I probably enjoyed TKO more than Counterpoint...

That is going to be one interesting versus, if we get that far (I think Counterpoint aired prior to DS9's finale, don't remember).

 

[Pemmer Harge]

/\ I think it probably aired about the same time as DS9 was doing its closing arc. I don't think it's a bad episode, I just don't like it as much as most people seem to. There are Voyager episodes I like a lot more. And I don't think TKO is a great episode, just not one of B5's worst (I'd pick Infection as my default example of a bad B5 episode). Ultimately you enjoy what you enjoy I guess - I probably derived more entertainment from Fascination than from some of DS9's event episodes.

 

[Kegg]

Well, "Counterpoint" is my favourite VOY episode ever, so it'll have to go up against some heavy competition for me to take it being defeated rather nicely.

And yeah, taste is subjective. I am one of three people who like "The Alternative Factor".

 

[Sykonee]

Week 25: (Ending 03.24.96)
VOY - Deadlock (Airdate 03.18.96)

Now that's an interesting take on the ol' Disaster Episode!

Yeah, I haven't a clue how the science is supposed to work -as far as I can tell, it's loosely based on the theory that quantum particles can simultaneously exist at two points in space-time? Whatever the case, it makes for a strong outing, especially for the first couple acts where it's nothing but the ship getting increasingly thrashed. The scene transition from the bridge being demolished to the other bridge, where everything's calm and quiet, is great.

Of course there's quibbles to be had, the too-fast ship repair being the obvious one, but it's forgivable since this is clearly a stand-alone. We'll just assume it's been a month or two until the next episode or something. Hey, it seems to have worked here; after all, wasn't Voyager's warp drive severely damaged less than a week ago.

Weekly Winner
VOY

Next:
B5 - Severed Dreams

 

[Sykonee]

Week 26: (Ending 04.07.96)
B5 - Severed Dreams (Airdate 04.04.96)

Now here's a funny thing. It would appear that the Treks are now back to airing on Mondays rather than Sundays. That effectively skips DS9's and VOY's Spring returns into next week, leaving this week all to B5. Seems like an odd thing to do. You'd almost think they didn't want to offer up any competition this week or something.

Oh, wait, that's why. Severed Dreams.

Treks, you're on notice. The bar has been raised again. Yes, even above what we had back in the Fall when there was The Way Of The Warrior and The Long, Twilight Struggle airing two weeks apart. I'd go into it more but folks who've seen Severed Dreams know what I'm talking about, and those who haven't... well, they'll perhaps find out one day.

Weekly Winner
B5

Next:
DS9 - Rules Of Engagement
VOY - Innocence
B5 - Ceremonies Of Light And Dark