Re-Watching DS9

[Lord Garth]

There's one thing that trips me up. The Cardassian Civilian Government, at this point, reports to the Cardassian Military? So how can Pedar be the one who decided to have the Cardassians withdraw from Bajor, being that he's a politician? Or am I misunderstanding this?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

There's one thing that trips me up. The Cardassian Civilian Government, at this point, reports to the Cardassian Military? So how can Pedar be the one who decided to have the Cardassians withdraw from Bajor, being that he's a politician? Or am I misunderstanding this?

The supremacy of the military might not be constitutional, such as in the former Soviet Union, where the constitutional governments followed the directions of the Communist Party, but sometimes could do things by their or initiative. Or it could have been a situation like Prussia, where the military staff had influence over affairs throughout the German Empire, but lost support by the public and politicians as defeat became inevitable in 1918.

 

[Commander Troi]

I had forgotten this episode. IIRC, it reminded me of where Native American kids had been taken and raised by white parents (and Vietnam orphans too). Where's the line between political reasons and humanitarian ones?

 

[Lord Garth]

I did some math, and based on the pace I'm going through these, my re-watch of DS9 and first-watch of B5 is going to take two or three years. Since there's no further New Trek I'm invested in, except the S31 TV Movie, this works for me. No need to rush through it.

On the side, once I finish my VOY Re-Watch (two seasons left!), I'm moving on to The Expanse! No reviews for that. DS9/B5 are enough.

 

[DonIago]

The supremacy of the military might not be constitutional, such as in the former Soviet Union, where the constitutional governments followed the directions of the Communist Party, but sometimes could do things by their or initiative. Or it could have been a situation like Prussia, where the military staff had influence over affairs throughout the German Empire, but lost support by the public and politicians as defeat became inevitable in 1918.

I have the sense that until the Dominion enters the picture, the power dynamics between Central Command, the Detapa Council, and the Obsidian Order are in constant flux, with CC and the OO in particular taking on authority and engaging in actions that they don't lawfully have, but that the rest of the government is too weak or otherwise disinclined to push back against.

As an example, with the withdrawal from Bajor, I think the idea of doing so initiated within the Detapa Council (perhaps with influence from the others), but for obvious reasons couldn't have been executed if the military had expressed significant opposition.

 

[Lord Garth]

Looking at Season 2 so far:

Episodes 1-3: Continued Expansion on the Bajorans in one HUGE burst.
Episode 4: Spiritual follow-up to "Dax" and how different symbiont/host combinations create different people.
Episode 5: Expansion on the Cardassians. Major development for Dukat and especially Garak.

All of these episodes developed things touched upon in DS9's strongest first season episodes. Will the next episode continue the pattern? Let's find out!

"Melora"

A-Story: The jumping off point for the A-story of "Melora" is two-pronged: fix what was wrong with Bashir's character in the first season AND addressing something that's been taken for granted in the rest of Star Trek.

I'll go in reverse order and address what's been taken for granted first: As far back as "The Cage", Day One of Star Trek, when it was established that Talos IV's gravity was "0.9 of Earth", it's been assumed that all the planets have similar gravity to Earth and the humanoid aliens we encounter are used to said gravity. Then comes Melora. She comes from a low-gravity planet, and "normal" gravity for her is so heavy that she has to be confined to a wheelchair in environments where there's nothing else that can accommodate her needs... such as DS9. This episode is an obvious allegory to the handicapped. She's defensive and doesn't want to be patronized or feel like she's a burden.

The other component is Bashir. He spent the first season pining over Jadzia. I'm saying Jadzia and not Dax because to quote Sisko in "Emissary", "I wonder if he would've found you as interesting the last time I saw you?", and Dax said, "Probably not." After "If Wishes Were Horses", I think this storyline was put to bed once and for all. Here, Bashir and Jadzia are completely professional and platonic. What's more, Melora is someone he's genuinely interested in. In stark contrast to the first season where it looked he was trying shallowly hook up with any woman he found attractive.

Bashir wants to help Melora with physical therapy that will allow her to get used to "normal" gravity. She wants it at first, but then slowly realizes bit-by-bit that she's losing a part of herself. Dax serves a character who Melora can talk to about this besides Bashir, who's obviously biased. I liked that Dax compares Melora to Ariel in The Little Mermaid. In "Melora", zero-gravity is like the sea in The Little Mermaid.

When Melora lets Bashir experience zero-gravity it was an amazing scene. But one that also had me wondering: "How did they pull this off?!" It looks so real. Given when this was made, it had to be a practical effect. It's the same thing I wonder about with in Star Trek VI when the Klingons were floating. Can the actors be held up by strings that are so strong they won't break? This is my wondering purely from a technical standpoint. I enjoyed the scene and loved that Melora let Bashir into her world. A world she ultimately decides she doesn't want to give up.

B-Story: This is the weaker part of the episode but still not bad. I think it's used to set up the end, but we'll go to that when we get to it. Anyway... Some Forehead Alien who was arrested six years ago wants revenge on Quark and says outright he's going to kill him. Odo tells Quark he'll keep an eye on this Forehead Alien but he can't arrest him for not having done or attempted anything yet. But he will protect Quark. "I'll do my job... Unfortunately."

The aliens-of-the-week don't look too good in this episode. The makeup budget must've come up short.

Eventually the Forehead Alien takes Quark hostage, takes Dax and Melora hostage, and steals a Runabout.

When the A-Story and B-Story Collide: The Forehead Alien shoots Melora, leaving her for dead. He writes her off. Then, to everyone's surprise, she managed to survive, turns off the gravity, and is able to stop the Forehead Alien in her own element while everyone else is out of theirs. Melora's "handicap" saves the day. Which solidifies her decision to stay the way she is.

Of Other Note: I love the Klingon Restaurant!

Summing Up: The A-story is an 8. The B-story is a 7. When the A-story and B-story collide, it comes back up to an 8. All things considered, I'm going to round up and give this episode an 8.

 

[Farscape One]

Looking at Season 2 so far:

Episodes 1-3: Continued Expansion on the Bajorans in one HUGE burst.
Episode 4: Spiritual follow-up to "Dax" and how different symbiont/host combinations create different people.
Episode 5: Expansion on the Cardassians. Major development for Dukat and especially Garak.

All of these episodes developed things touched upon in DS9's strongest first season episodes. Will the next episode continue the pattern? Let's find out!

"Melora"

A-Story: The jumping off point for the A-story of "Melora" is two-pronged: fix what was wrong with Bashir's character in the first season AND addressing something that's been taken for granted in the rest of Star Trek.

I'll go in reverse order and address what's been taken for granted first: As far back as "The Cage", Day One of Star Trek, when it was established that Talos IV's gravity was "0.9 of Earth", it's been assumed that all the planets have similar gravity to Earth and the humanoid aliens we encounter are used to said gravity. Then comes Melora. She comes from a low-gravity planet, and "normal" gravity for her is so heavy that she has to be confined to a wheelchair in environments where there's nothing else that can accommodate her needs... such as DS9. This episode is an obvious allegory to the handicapped. She's defensive and doesn't want to be patronized or feel like she's a burden.

The other component is Bashir. He spent the first season pining over Jadzia. I'm saying Jadzia and not Dax because to quote Sisko in "Emissary", "I wonder if he would've found you as interesting the last time I saw you?", and Dax said, "Probably not." After "If Wishes Were Horses", I think this storyline was put to bed once and for all. Here, Bashir and Jadzia are completely professional and platonic. What's more, Melora is someone he's genuinely interested in. In stark contrast to the first season where it looked he was trying shallowly hook up with any woman he found attractive.

Bashir wants to help Melora with physical therapy that will allow her to get used to "normal" gravity. She wants it at first, but then slowly realizes bit-by-bit that she's losing a part of herself. Dax serves a character who Melora can talk to about this besides Bashir, who's obviously biased. I liked that Dax compares Melora to Ariel in The Little Mermaid. In "Melora", zero-gravity is like the sea in The Little Mermaid.

When Melora lets Bashir experience zero-gravity it was an amazing scene. But one that also had me wondering: "How did they pull this off?!" It looks so real. Given when this was made, it had to be a practical effect. It's the same thing I wonder about with in Star Trek VI when the Klingons were floating. Can the actors be held up by strings that are so strong they won't break? This is my wondering purely from a technical standpoint. I enjoyed the scene and loved that Melora let Bashir into her world. A world she ultimately decides she doesn't want to give up.

B-Story: This is the weaker part of the episode but still not bad. I think it's used to set up the end, but we'll go to that when we get to it. Anyway... Some Forehead Alien who was arrested six years ago wants revenge on Quark and says outright he's going to kill him. Odo tells Quark he'll keep an eye on this Forehead Alien but he can't arrest him for not having done or attempted anything yet. But he will protect Quark. "I'll do my job... Unfortunately."

The aliens-of-the-week don't look too good in this episode. The makeup budget must've come up short.

Eventually the Forehead Alien takes Quark hostage, takes Dax and Melora hostage, and steals a Runabout.

When the A-Story and B-Story Collide: The Forehead Alien shoots Melora, leaving her for dead. He writes her off. Then, to everyone's surprise, she managed to survive, turns off the gravity, and is able to stop the Forehead Alien in her own element while everyone else is out of theirs. Melora's "handicap" saves the day. Which solidifies her decision to stay the way she is.

Of Other Note: I love the Klingon Restaurant!

Summing Up: The A-story is an 8. The B-story is a 7. When the A-story and B-story collide, it comes back up to an 8. All things considered, I'm going to round up and give this episode an 8.

You rate this one better than I do, to be honest... I'd probably give it a 5, at best. I think Quark's plot is actually the better of the two, at least in terms of execution and enjoyment. The Melora plot was a better idea, but just wasn't enjoyable. For two reasons.

1. 'Romance of the Week' rarely works in the franchise, and it's partly because it really is dependant on the guest actor/actress and their chemistry with the STAR TREK lead. I didn't like Melora because she came across as so unlikeable and unnecessarily defensive with her constant 'shots across the bow' to everyone. She was frankly annoying with her constant attacks at people who weren't actually making a thing about her and the chair. I get what the writers were going for, and Evan Carlos Somers (story and co-teleplay credit) was wheelchair-bound, so he was likely writing about at least some of what he went through... but Melora just did not come across as someone you wanted to root for.

2. Bashir getting it on with his patient. This is my only real issue with him. (He's my favorite CMO in the franchise.) I can somewhat excuse this instance because he is still pretty new to the job (barely a year as CMO) and not as mature as he later becomes. But him doing it again in season 7's "CHRYSALIS" really hurts him a lot in this regard.



I do agree with you about the Klingon restaurant. An honorable addition to the Promenade!

 

[DonIago]

^I think you just cited the two things I most immediately remember about this episode.

Sadly, one of those things is not the Klingon restaurant.

 

[Lord Garth]

Looking at the past six episodes and what's coming up next, I can now say why DS9 Season 2 is better than TNG Season 7: it's better structured. DS9 S2 knew exactly what it wanted to do and what it wanted to build upon. Whereas with TNG S7, even though there were good episodes, a lot of it felt like, "We're just killing time until the movie!," or "We're just killing time until Voyager!"

 

[DonIago]

You're implying a degree of planning that I'm not sure really existed, but I don't know for sure either way.

 

[Lord Garth]

You're implying a degree of planning that I'm not sure really existed, but I don't know for sure either way.

I'm not implying. I'm saying it outright. I'll go into more detail later. I want to get through the next batch of episodes first.

 

[kkt]

Turning off the gravity reminds me a lot of the Hitchcock movie "Wait Until Dark" in which a character's physical limitation becomes an advantage.

Bashir should at least have gotten a stern talking-to from Sisko about not dating his patients! That was unacceptable in the 1990s just as it is now.

 

[Lord Garth]

Posting this much earlier in the day than usual because tonight I expect to be focused on the Trump vs. Harris Debate.

"Rules of Acquisition"

It's amazing that in the six years since the Ferengi had been introduced, we never saw a Ferengi woman up until this point. This episode takes a hard look at the misogyny in Ferengi society. Kira says the Ferengi are misogynistic trolls, and Dax says that she agrees but once you get past that, they're a lot of fun. I don't see it, but I guess I'll take her word for it. So, we have Dax playing Tango "with the guys" while they talk as if they're on some rowdy talk radio show. Then there's Pel. The first Ferengi woman we've ever seen on-screen, even though she makes herself look like a man and tries to fool everyone. Dax can tell something is different about Pel, but Quark can't. Quark, thinking Pel is a man, thinks that Pel is a valuable business assistant he can use while negotiating with the Dosi, who I'll get to.

Grand Nagus Zek wants Quark (and Pel) to negotiate with the Dosi so they can market Tulaberry Wine in the Gamma Quadrant. This is following up on "The Nagus" from last season, where Zek sees the Gamma Quadrant as one great, big business opportunity. Zek, how shall I put this? He's extremely sexist, tries to make the moves on Kira, has all kinds of nasty habits, and he reminds me of someone from my grandparents' generation if they'd have gotten carried away with all their vices. We get to see more of him in this episode than last time, but he comes off looking bad. But I won't hold that against the episode because he's supposed to look bad if he's the top Ferengi.

Rom is someone else who comes off looking bad. He says he prefers women submissive, believes every Ferengi thing he was ever thought, looks for any way to find something on Pel, then takes delight when he finds out that Pel is really a woman, and can't wait to tell Quark! Hard to believe that by the end of the series, he'll be shepherding Ferengi reform, but that's getting ahead of myself. Back to Season 2. To top it all off, Rom also tries to say that it's really Curzon who's beating them at Tongo, not Jadzia, when Dax is beating them. Then she puts him back in his place and says she's a better Tongo player than Curzon ever was.

I like the Dosi. They're fierce and exactly the type of people who would make it in a Gamma Quadrant. Between the aliens who hunted Tosk last season and the Dosi, they make the aliens in the Gamma Quadrant look distinctive. The Dosi have tall, muscular builds, even the women. The face paint they have on makes them look like rabid Football Fans, adding even further to the tough image.

They made the Dosi sets seem alien without having to break the budget. A lot of cloth, drapes, and making as much use of a small area as possible. It reminded me of TOS alien set designs.

Having one of the two main Dosi be a woman shows the contrast between the Ferengi and the Dosi. The Ferengi would never allow for their women to be like that. The Ferengi want their women to be unclothed, unseen, and submissive. To quote Dax, "Is that really how you prefer your women?" You'd think exposure to other societies would open up the Ferengis' minds, but I guess not. At least not publicly. After Rom exposes Pel to Quark, he doesn't want Rom to let the Grand Nagus know AT ALL. It's like his entire life flashed before his eyes. Then Pel exposes herself to the Nagus anyway.

Pel and Quark have feelings for each other, but Quark can't ever acknowledge that because he can't risk being accused of taking advice from a woman or having a woman be a participant in business negotiations. I think Quark is more open-minded than he lets on.

One of my favorite scenes was when Quark wants to go to bed and Pel is horrified. She's worried she's going to be found out! Then, she puts aside her fears and jumps on Quark and tries to make out with him. Then the Dosi woman comes in and asks, "Am I interrupting anything?"

All of this before I get to a major key turning point for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The Dosi can't meet the demands the Ferengi have for trade, so they instead tell them that if they want to do business in the Gamma Quadrant, they have to do business with the Dominion. First mention of the Dominion in the series! And the reason why I talked about how aggressive Gamma Quadrant species seem to be. If they have to submit to the Dominion, then -- if you read between the lines -- it makes the Dominion sound even worse. This is probably only something you can pick up on after the fact. So, now the Ferengi will be selling Tulaberry Wine through the Karemma, who are a member of the Dominion.

"Rules of Acquisition" stands well on its own while also setting up what's to come. I give it an 8.

 

[DonIago]

My absolutely favorite scene of the episode because of how low-key it is, is when Pel is talking with Dax and confesses her feelings for Quark. Dax is completely unfazed by the idea that Pel, who she believes to be a man, would have feelings for Quark, but is caught by surprise when Pel tells Dax she's a female. It was such a wonderful way of establishing that Dax had no issue with same-sex relationships without calling attention to it.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm changing how I'm overlapping B5 with DS9. Once we get to DS9's "Armageddon Game", I'm starting B5 Season 1 and then I'm going straight through to the end with B5 and DS9 side-by-side. No gaps for DS9 or B5. By the time I get to the end of B5, it'll only be roughly half a season off from where DS9 was at during the time B5 ended. I can live that. Not airdate order anymore, but close enough.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I'm changing how I'm overlapping B5 with DS9. Once we get to DS9's "Armageddon Game", I'm starting B5 Season 1 and then I'm going straight through to the end. No gaps for DS9 or B5. By the time I get to the end of B5, it'll only be roughly half a season off from where DS9 was at during the time B5 ended. I can live that. Not airdate order anymore, but close enough.

That'll definitely simplify things. You can still compare the two shows as they evolve, you'll just be doing it in season-long blocks. Also it means that you can fix the viewing order by flipping a few of the episodes around. The Lurker's Guide Master List can be trusted to steer you right... except for when it comes to the films. Do not under any circumstances watch the "In the Beginning" movie until after season 4!

 

[Lord Garth]

Do not under any circumstances watch the "In the Beginning" movie until after season 4!

Thanks for the head's up. So, I take it "In the Beginning" for Babylon 5 is like "The Plan" for Battlestar Galactica. "The Plan" looked back at the early seasons of BSG knowing what we knew by the end.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Thanks for the head's up. So, I take it "In the Beginning" for Babylon 5 is like "The Plan" for Battlestar Galactica. "The Plan" looked back at the early seasons of BSG knowing what we knew by the end.

That's a great comparison.

 

[Lord Garth]

It's not DS9, but it's a '90s show: they have Roc on in the break room at work. I haven't seen that in a LONG time! It was pretty good show, it was socially relevant, Charles S. Dutton was great... and I'm showing my age!

Charles S. Dutton would've been good to have on DS9.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

It's not DS9, but it's a '90s show: they have Roc on in the break room at work. I haven't seen that in a LONG time! It was pretty good show, it was socially relevant, Charles S. Dutton was great... and I'm showing my age!

Charles S. Dutton would've been good to have on DS9.

I wish they had used him better on Threshold. Every scene was an info dump.