Re-Watching DS9

[Lord Garth]

Last year I was Gene Simmons from KISS for Halloween, but this year I was a Pirate. Aaarrrr!!!!! So, I changed my avatar to a picture of me in full costume. Everyone I saw liked it. I got a couple of people say, "It's Captain Jack!" Some people asked, "Where's your eye patch?!" What can I say? I like using both my eyes! But anyway...

I'm finally getting around to putting on "Bar Association". After this episode, I'll have reviewed exactly half of DS9. 16 months later, and we're finally at the half-way mark. On the one hand, this is probably one of the slowest re-watches ever. On the other hand, the time has flown by. At least for me. I can't believe I'm already half-way through.

"Bar Association"

Quark would be right at home in the Gilded Age on Earth. Imagine him running a bar in the late-1800s, his employees working 14-hour shifts. No benefits, no vacation, no minimum wages. He'd love it. Rom wouldn't love it, then Bashir and O'Brien put the idea in his head that he should start a Union. He can't even utter the word at first when he's urging his co-workers to go on strike. At first, I thought it was weird when he couldn't say the word "Union" and it took him three tries to work up the courage to say it, but it makes sense. It's that much of a taboo.

Good on Bashir and O'Brien encouraging people not to patron Quark's while the strike is going on. Not so much when Bashir and O'Brien go after Worf when he enters the bar. That's Bashir and O'Brien getting a little too into the strike. It's an amusing scene later on when Worf, Bashir, and O'Brien are all in the brig and Sisko ends with the line that Odo can let them out "in the morning". But I'm with Sisko. I can't believe three of his senior staff would get into a brawl like this.

Which brings me to Worf. He's still adjusting to Deep Space Nine, even though we're about two-thirds of the way through the season, give or take. Though I can understand, especially after someone just broke into his quarters. When Odo says there's only so much, he can do, Worf isn't satisfied with that answer. So, what does he do? He moves to the Defiant. On the one hand, it looks like running away from the problem of getting used to Deep Space Nine. On the other hand, it's Worf taking the initiative and solving the problem himself, so he knows no one will break into his quarters if he's on the Defiant.

Back to the strike. No surprise that Brunt would want to end it. Period. Also, no surprise that he chooses Quark to make an example of to Rom. Someone Rom cares about and someone who Brunt doesn't like. From Brunt's perspective, it works for him in two ways. Unfortunately for Quark. "But I'm on your side!" "Ironic, isn't it?"

Even though Quark agrees to settle the strike with Rom behind Brunt and the FCA's back, there's no way he doesn't know that'll eventually catch up with him. Maybe he thinks he's clever enough that he can stay ahead of the FCA?

Good on Rom for deciding to quit Quark's and become a junior engineer for the station. Nice to see him pursuing what he's good at instead of being under Quark's thumb.

If I don't bring up Odo's calling Worf out on complaining about how much "better" things were on the Enterprise, someone will say, "I'm surprised you didn't mention that!" Well, I'm mentioning it. Funny exchange, and Odo does admit those break-ins on the Enterprise were the exception instead of the rule. But the comparison to the Enterprise that I like is when O'Brien is telling Worf how much he prefers Deep Space Nine. He used to get bored waiting around for something to fix on the Enterprise, whereas on DS9, he's needed and always has a challenge. Never a dull moment. So, the comparison isn't Deep Space Nine versus the Enterprise-D. I think the real comparison is looking at how O'Brien adjusted to Deep Space Nine versus how Worf does. O'Brien feels at home on DS9. Worf moved his home (meaning his quarters) off DS9 and said the station would also have to adjust to him. Interesting to see all the different perspectives.

Overall, a good look at Rom and what he can do when he's motivated. A good look at how ingrained Quark is into the system even though he tries to negotiate everything. A good look at how Worf copes with problems on DS9 that he normally didn't have to on the Enterprise. And a shout out to Leeta, who gets more to do. I give it an 8.

And speaking as someone who likes to get into all kinds of costumes, nice to see Bashir and O'Brien in their getups while fighting historical battles on the holosuite.

 

[kkt]

Yay for Rom! And Yay for Leeta for encouraging him! Can you imagine telling her during this episode that weak Rom would end up as Grand Nagus and she would be the first lady?

 

[Lord Garth]

"Ceremonies of Light and Dark" (B5 S3E11)

Spoiler

This episode shows the aftermath of what happened during the last two episodes and shows where everything is now that the dust has settled. During the episode, the crew is gathered for the funeral of all the fallen crew who died in "Severed Dreams". The casualties aren't forgotten by the crew, Sheridan gives a great eulogy, and it's a reminder that their victory against Clark came at a price.

The A-Plot
Most of Nightwatch is gone, except for those in hiding. One of them has a clear shot a Sheridan when Sheridan walks around the station without exit. Sheridan would be an easy target, but the would-be assassin listens to his superior and doesn't shoot. It reminds me of when a British soldier had a clear shot of George Washington during a battle in the Revolutionary War but didn't take it, so that Washington wouldn't become a martyr.

The Nightwatch Leftovers have a good strategy, but they feel like over-the-top cartoon villains in the way they act. They might as well be screaming, "We're the Bad Guys!" From their point of view, they should think of themselves as the heroes stopping Sheridan who broke away. Then we have this one guy talking about how much loved killing a Minbari slowly and chopping off his limbs one-by-one. Where's the maniacal laugh after he says that? But the Leader has a tactically sound idea (from their position): kill Delenn and make it look like Sheridan's doing. That solves their problem for them. "Once and for all!!!!!," he might as well have said, "HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!!!" One of the stooges, who I'll call The Stooge, starts singing, "The toe bone's connected to the foot bone... " or whatever bone. Come on, JMS. You're not writing '80s cartoons anymore. Anyway...

The B-Plot
Delenn tries to put together a Rebirth Ceremony to bring everyone on Babylon 5 together. Everyone confesses something and gives up something important. Londo, who's at the top of the invite list, doesn't want to go. Marcus doesn't want to go. G'Kar makes an empty promise that he'll try to show up at the end. Delenn has a hard time trying to get anyone to want to go.

Then Marcus finally tells Delenn the real reason he doesn't want to go. He doesn't have anything left to give. He lost everything in the fight against the Shadows. His family, everyone he knew. Then Delenn says he needs to give up the pain and guilt.

The A-Plot meets the B-Plot
Then, after that adult conversation between Marcus and Delenn, the Nightwatch Cartoon Villains show up and kidnap Delenn. "Come with us or die." Then the Leader sends a message to Sheridan, telling him who they've kidnapped. The Leader says to either return Babylon 5 to Earth control or he'll start killing the hostages. And he kills one just to show he's serious. He might as well have said, "And now to show that my intentions are sincere, I shall kill one of the prisoners." Except Kruge pulled that off a lot better.

Delenn tells The Stooge she feels sorry for him that there's no one to save his soul. He goes apeshit, wants to kill her right then and there, then The Leader has to hold him back. Yup. We've got the stereotypical situation where The Stooge is too impulsive and could unintentionally ruin The Leader's plans. Can't be a Cartoon Villain without Incompetent Henchmen.

Marcus tries to find Delenn on his own, gets into a barfight, then Lennier shows up. That's the strangest place ever for Lennier to give a confession, as his part of the Rebirth Ceremony, but he tells Marcus he loves Delenn, non-romantically. While I believe him, this also feels like guilt-tripping Marcus into attending the Rebirth Ceremony. And speaking of confession, one of the bar patrons finally tells Marcus the section Delenn is being held in. A great line from Marcus when one of the bar patrons wakes up and tells Marcus what he wants to know. "You can get more with a kind word and a two-by-four than just a kind-word."

What's brilliant is the way everyone pieces together what Delenn's exact location is. Ivanova isolates the background noise where Delenn and the other hostages are being held. In film, we call it "room tone". Garibaldi immediately recognizes that sound and figures out the section Delenn's being held in, but not the exact location. Then Marcus shows up and tells them the level Delenn is on. Between the section and the level, Ivanova is able to narrow it down to one exact spot.

Then it comes down to outsmarting the Nightwatch Leftovers. Sheridan's plan of making it look like the Minbari are surrendering and backing away from Babylon 5 is a stroke of genius. Then there's a gunfight, the crew saves Delenn and the other hostages, and Sheridan beats the crap out of The Stooge, giving him his just desserts. The shoot-out played out well in that everything happened so fast. The way a shoot-out really would happen, if it were in Real Life.

The C-Plot
Londo knows that Lord Refa has been in cahoots with Morden and now has the Centauri waging 12 different wars at the same time. Londo tells Refa he's spreading the Centauri too thin and that he should break away from Morden. Refa doesn't listen to either of those things, so Londo half-poisons him and tells him to do what he says or he'll make sure he gets the other half of the poison. Is this the start of a Londo Redemption Arc?

The D-Plot
Sheridan, Ivanova, and Garibaldi change their security codes and has the Babylon 5 computer change all passwords before going back online, to keep Earth gaining control of Babylon 5 and shutting them out. Great non-verbal acting when Sheridan and Ivanova react to Garibaldi's password. I just knew Ivanova would say something about it!

When the three of them are gathered together, it reminds me of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock when Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov gave the self-destruct command to the Enterprise and had to each give their passwords. And yes, I know TSFS got it from "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". But I'm Generation X, I saw TSFS first, I've seen it a ton more times (probably hundreds of more times, not an exaggeration) than "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", so TSFS is what I think of by default.

After the computer comes back on, Garibaldi thinks they're in the car, but then the computer sounds stereotypically like an Italian from New York who's either a Taxi Driver or a Gangster. I'm not even going to try to type out the accent.

The best part of this subplot is when Garibaldi shoots the speaker in the elevator, just so he doesn't have to listen to the computer's Artificial Personality before they finally have it removed. Good riddance!

The Rebirth Ceremony
Delenn was injured when she was rescued, but she's making full recovery in Medlab. Sheridan decides to bring the Rebirth Ceremony to her. He says he had to give up his uniform, which meant a lot to him, and he confessed how much he cares about Delenn. Garilaldi, Ivanova, and Fraklin give up their uniforms as well and give confessions of their own. Then Delenn gives them all new uniforms. I clapped when I saw Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, and Franklin in their new uniforms. Then Sheridan says, "We're open for business," which is a callback to "The Gathering". Babylon 5 has been reborn.

What I like about this uniform change is how meaningful it is. In Star Trek, the uniforms change all the time. We have fan theories about some of the changes. Going from the TWOK to TNG Uniforms, Starfleet wanted to shed its more militaristic image. Switching to the FC Uniforms represented the more hostile times Starfleet was entering. But the change in the uniforms on Babylon 5 comes down to the characters. Babylon 5 is independent now, they can't wear their old uniforms while Clark is President, so the new uniforms represent their independence and it represents a uniform they can wear with a conscience. When Sheridan and his senior crew first appear in them, it's a real turning point. It's not just because, "We wanted to update the look!" which is what happens a lot of the time in Star Trek. And I'm glad Sheridan is wearing a uniform he can be proud of again.

Overall
A lot of moving parts in this episode. There's no way it could've kept up how amped up everything was in the previous two episodes. A lot of good character moments peppered in. Unfortunately, the Bad Guys were too over-the-top and that drags this down a bit. It should be an 8, but I give it a 7.5.

Half-way done with Babylon 5 now as well!

So, as promised, I'll start up a thread soon where I'll do a mid-series comparison of Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5. I'm not sure exactly when, but it'll be some time this upcoming week.

 

[Captrek]

At first, I thought it was weird when he couldn't say the word "Union" and it took him three tries to work up the courage to say it, but it makes sense. Them saying "union" would be like us saying the four-letter c-word that rhymes with hunt.

The c-word is offensive. The u-word is illegal. When Rom said that word he wasn’t just violating a taboo, he was breaking Ferengi law. He basically quit being Ferengi. And still ends up Grand Nagus because his mother is f-word’ing the current one.

 

[Lord Garth]

The c-word is offensive. The u-word is illegal.

For us, yes. But something tells me the Ferengi find the word "union" offensive as well. Offensive to their sensibilities if nothing else. The way they didn't want to even utter the word. It takes Rom three tries before he can even say it. And that wasn't just because of his usual stuttering.

 

[Captrek]

For us, yes. But something tells me the Ferengi find the word "union" offensive as well. Offensive to their sensibilities if nothing else. The way they didn't want to even utter the word. It even takes Rom three tries before he can even say it. And that wasn't just because of his usual stuttering.

Of course they do. It’s both offensive and illegal. I’m just saying that what Rom did in saying the u-word is a bigger deal than one of us using the c-word.

 

[Captrek]

Actually, what’s curious to me is the reaction of the other Ferengi. They say they can get in trouble just for hearing the word, but they don’t do anything about it besides protest. I would think Ferengi law would require them to leave the room immediately, unless they’re staying to give Rom a beating. They complain about suddenly finding themselves at a union meeting, but they stay.

 

[no2catsuitKira]

Last year I was Gene Simmons from KISS for Halloween, but this year I was a Pirate. Aaarrrr!!!!! So, I changed my avatar to a picture of me in full costume. Everyone I saw liked it. I got a couple of people say, "It's Captain Jack!" Some people asked, "Where's your eye patch?!" What can I say? I like using both my eyes! But anyway...

I'm finally getting around to putting on "Bar Association". After this episode, I'll have reviewed exactly half of DS9. 16 months later, and we're finally at the half-way mark. On the one hand, this is probably one of the slowest re-watches ever. On the other hand, the time has flown by. At least for me. I can't believe I'm already half-way through.

"Bar Association"

Quark would be right at home in the Gilded Age on Earth. Imagine him running a bar in the late-1800s, his employees working 14-hour shifts. No benefits, no vacation, no minimum wages. He'd love it. Rom wouldn't love it, then Bashir and O'Brien put the idea in his head that he should start a Union. He can't even utter the word at first when he's urging his co-workers to go on strike. At first, I thought it was weird when he couldn't say the word "Union" and it took him three tries to work up the courage to say it, but it makes sense. Them saying "union" would be like us saying the four-letter c-word that rhymes with hunt.

Good on Bashir and O'Brien encouraging people not to patron Quark's while the strike is going on. Not so much when Bashir and O'Brien go after Worf when he enters the bar. That's Bashir and O'Brien getting a little too into the strike. It's an amusing scene later on when Worf, Bashir, and O'Brien are all in the brig and Sisko ends with the line that Odo can let them out "in the morning". But I'm with Sisko. I can't believe three of his senior staff would get into a brawl like this.

Which brings me to Worf. He's still adjusting to Deep Space Nine, even though we're about two-thirds of the way through the season, give or take. Though I can understand, especially after someone just broke into his quarters. When Odo says there's only so much, he can do, Worf isn't satisfied with that answer. So, what does he do? He moves to the Defiant. On the one hand, it looks like running away from the problem of getting used to Deep Space Nine. On the other hand, it's Worf taking the initiative and solving the problem himself, so he knows no one will break into his quarters if he's on the Defiant.

Back to the strike. No surprise that Brunt would want to end it. Period. Also, no surprise that he chooses Quark to make an example of to Rom. Someone Rom cares about and someone who Brunt doesn't like. From Brunt's perspective, it works for him in two ways. Unfortunately for Quark. "But I'm on your side!" "Ironic, isn't it?"

Even though Quark agrees to settle the strike with Rom behind Brunt and the FCA's back, there's no way he doesn't know that'll eventually catch up with him. Maybe he thinks he's clever enough that he can stay ahead of the FCA?

Good on Rom for deciding to quit Quark's and become a junior engineer for the station. Nice to see him pursuing what he's good at instead of being under Quark's thumb.

If I don't bring up Odo's calling Worf out on complaining about how much "better" things were on the Enterprise, someone will say, "I'm surprised you didn't mention that!" Well, I'm mentioning it. Funny exchange, and Odo does admit those break-ins on the Enterprise were the exception instead of the rule. But the comparison to the Enterprise that I like is when O'Brien is telling Worf how much he prefers Deep Space Nine. He used to get bored waiting around for something to fix on the Enterprise, whereas on DS9, he's needed and always has a challenge. Never a dull moment. So, the comparison isn't Deep Space Nine versus the Enterprise-D. I think the real comparison is looking at how O'Brien adjusted to Deep Space Nine versus how Worf does. O'Brien feels at home on DS9. Worf moved his home (meaning his quarters) off DS9 and said the station would also have to adjust to him. Interesting to see all the different perspectives.

Overall, a good look at Rom and what he can do when he's motivated. A good look at how ingrained Quark is into the system even though he tries to negotiate everything. A good look at how Worf copes with problems on DS9 that he normally didn't have to on the Enterprise. And a shout out to Leeta, who gets more to do. I give it an 8.

And speaking as someone who likes to get into all kinds of costumes, nice to see Bashir and O'Brien in their getups while fighting historical battles on the holosuite.

No. Appalling analogy. Stopped reading right away.

 

[Lord Garth]

I've just changed the end of the paragraph to say, "It's that much of a taboo" instead.