yes, quite a step from the yugoslavian softcore movies miss furlan starred in before, always far mellower. the problem with b5 is that they couldn't keep the pace, it used up all its energies, and burned out. crusade made a grand total of 12 episodes. b5 is dead, star trek alive.
To be fair, Trek has been declared dead a number of times too. But yeah, B5's story was so bloody epic that it consequently made any subsequent spin-offs appear smaller in scale as a result, and unfortunately only generates interest for hardcore fans of that particular universe. It's something that tends to affect a lot of similar Grand Epic stories, like
Lord Of The Rings. Heck, even Trek suffered from it occasionally too. General consensus has been that TNG was never as good again as it was after the epic
Best Of Both Worlds, and had pretty much burned out by its seventh season.
Week 27: (Ending 04.14.96)
DS9 -
Rules Of Engagement (Airdate 04.08.96)
VOY -
Innocence (Airdate 04.08.96)
B5 -
Ceremonies Of Light And Dark (Airdate 04.11.96)
The two Treks are fairly standard plotwise, but they're interesting in contrast to one another in the way they show just how different DS9 and VOY are at this point.
Rules may be a typical courtroom drama, but it's presented in a fairly fresh way. Not only do you have the 'breaking of the fourth wall' interviews (wonderful idea!), but also the fact much of the episode is centered around Worf, and he barely has any lines. Now, I know this wasn't exactly intentional, and some may feel hinders the plot, but I find it provides more mystery to his crimes. Sure, we may know Worf from seeing him in previous episodes, but do we really
know him? By remaining silent in that characteristically brooding manner of his as evidence upon evidence is thrown against his innocence, it only escalates the viewer's doubt.
And then there's the final scene between him in Sisko. I find this to be one of Sisko's best 'Captain' moments yet. We've seen him large and in charge, being the hero, and all that; here, it's nothing more than a superior officer talking to someone under his command, firmly pointing out the mistakes and teaching him something in the process to grow as a capable officer himself. It's a great character moment, for both Sisko and Worf.
Innocence, on the other hand, doesn't do enough to shake up its standard plotline, in fact going so far as to keep things pedestrian and dully safe. In this case, it's the ol' 'Stick In The Mud Must Look After Children' bit, which leads to a couple nice Tuvok moments but is filled with so much dull filler (is an extended 'short' shuttle launch sequence scene
really necessary?) that it makes such a chore to sit through. My God, man, after what B5 did less than a week ago with
Severed Dreams, VOY's offering here is downright depressing. We went from that epic Event Episode, to an agreeably fresh take on the courtroom drama with DS9 ...to this. I'm not expecting the same level of grand scale, but at least do something unique with this story. Even the reverse aging twist felt tame.
Anyhow, B5 has its Denouement Episode this week, which after something like
Severed Dreams is absolutely necessary. You really couldn't do anything
that big without a proper introspective follow-up. Thus, it's more of a Character Episode, focusing on several characters' moods and feelings about where they currently stand after all the events of the past year. They do manage to work in a fairly good jeopardy plot too, as it helps tie into the overall arc: left-over Nightwatch causing havoc, Sheriden and Delenn's growing relationship. Oh, and where does B5 do its 'psycho casting'? Boy, do they ever find some good ones!
It's B5's week here. You get the emotional payoff from
Severed Dreams, plus continued evolution of the series as the characters move forward -now with spiffy new uniforms! DS9 gave a good effort though, showing it has some clever tricks up its sleeve. VOY... decides to go into re-runs to lick its wounds.
Weekly Winner
B5
Next:
DS9 -
Hard Time
B5 -
Sic Transit Vir
