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Re-Watching DS9

William Forward played Refa, and Turhan Bey played the Emperor.

Fun fact: the Prime Minister and Emperor were later both named as the actors who portrayed them... Prime Minister Malachi and Emperor Turhan.
That happened a few more times, in the season 1 episode "Grail" Aldous Gajic was looking for the Holy Grail. He was named for Mira Furlan's husband, Goran Gajic.
 
Up until The Die is Cast, Garak's prowess is either legend or propaganda. Certainly, we get confirmation that his views of morality are so flexible, he could do anything. That said, I think we understand he was also ruthless. I think this perspective is solidified in Broken Link and Empok Nor. Where it best shows is in In The Pale Moonlight: the actor playing Grathon Tolar fully sells the dread that comes from being associated with Garak, and it is paid off dramatically with his assassination. The interrogation is an exception, a discontinuity: Garak turns on a machine and waits, acting with desperation when Odo does not heed.
I think the big difference between these incidents is that it's definitely supposed to show Garak going soft in terms of torture. Sabotage of the ship is one thing, being under a pyschotropic drug is another thing as well, but in The Die is Cast, Garak has nothing to gain from torturing Odo, and he likes him to an extent. If there was a legitimate reason other than Tain's approval, he might have gone for it, but there isn't. Garak is not the same man as he was, despite how he likes to project to other people. He takes no joy in torture. He has gone soft. And he doesn't want anyone to know, hence the mystique. This is also exemplified in Empok Nor, with his quiet shame at the end of the episode. Or perhaps embarrassment in his own realisation that he's not who he used to be.

Either way, those episodes you named are some of my favourties because we really see why Garak was Tain's right hand.
 
"Explorers"

I'm making progress! Sisko has a goatee, Jake got a fellowship, Leeta's first appearance, O'Brien "doesn't hate" Bashir ("now I don't... not hate you!"), and Jake tries to hook his father up with Kassidy Yates. "A freighter Captain?!" We've also begun the phase in the series where they tried to make Dukat seem not-so-bad. And yes, I first came online about a year after this episode aired, and people were actually thinking maybe he wasn't so bad. Little did they know... but that's getting ahead of myself!

The A-Story: The Ancient Bajoran Ship. I liked seeing Sisko build it. I liked Jake deciding to go along even though he didn't really want to. I wouldn't have minded knowing more about Jake's story. And good on them proving it was possible for the Bajorans to achieve interstellar travel the way they did. I don't know how believable it is, but I don't care.

The B-Story: Watching Bashir and O'Brien get drunk was great fun. Bashir finally meeting up with the Valedictorian of his class at Starfleet Medical went how I would've expected. And nice to see that Bashir ended up getting the better assignment on Deep Space Nine.

To quote Jake, "What better place to gain experience than Deep Space Nine?" I give it a 9.

Highlight of the Episode:
When Jake had his father going for a split-second about joining the Maquis. :devil:
 
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I don't see how anyone could have thought Dukat isn't so bad. He was prefect of Terok Nor during the Bajoran Occupation. Thousands of Bajorans died under his watch. It's scary to me that people can confuse political expediency and diplomacy with 'not such a bad guy.'

Otherwise, yes, "Explorers" is a fun episode. I'm surprised you didn't mention, "Hammock time!" :p
 
I'm surprised you didn't mention, "Hammock time!" :p
It was late when I typed that review! And now it's early. Didn't sleep at all.

But yes. As soon as I heard "Hammock Time!", the first thing I thought of was Hammer Time! "Can't touch this!" Took me back to when I was in sixth grade.

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"Explorers"

I'm making progress! Sisko has a goatee, Jake got a fellowship, Leeta's first appearance, O'Brien "doesn't hate" Bashir ("now I don't... not hate you!"), and Jake tries to hook his father up with Kassidy Yates. "A freighter Captain?!" We've also begun the phase in the series where they tried to make Dukat seem not-so-bad. And yes, I first came online about a year after this episode aired, and people were actually thinking maybe he wasn't so bad. Little did they know... but that's getting ahead of myself!

The A-Story: The Ancient Bajoran Ship. I liked seeing Sisko build it. I liked Jake deciding to go along even though he didn't really want to. I wouldn't have minded knowing more about Jake's story. And good on them proving it was possible for the Bajorans to achieve interstellar travel the way they did. I don't know how believable it is, but I don't care.

The B-Story: Watching Bashir and O'Brien get drunk was great fun. Bashir finally meeting up with the Valedictorian of his class at Starfleet Medical went how I would've expected. And nice to see that Bashir ended up getting the better assignment on Deep Space Nine.

To quote Jake, "What better place to gain experience than Deep Space Nine?" I give it a 9.

Highlight of the Episode:
When Jake had his father going for a split-second about joining the Maquis. :devil:
I absolutely love this one! Great story and you hit on so many of the points.

I would also give it a 9... but it's a 10 for me because of the fireworks at the end. (It always brings back memories of my grandfather taking me to see the 4th of July fireworks as a kid. He knew a great spot where there were no other cars and had the best view of it all. That area was more or less just a field... now it's full of homes. I'll never be able to see them that way again, but this ending always triggers those memories. And I truly value those memories because that's how I keep him alive.)
 
I forgot to mention this earlier:

The Ancient Bajoran Ship, it had a steampunk quality to it. Almost feels kind of like Jules Verne, but not.

When Sisko is in his civilian clothes, you combine that with the ship, and Sisko's new goatee that was strapped on while Avery Brooks' real one grew in, he looks like a pirate at sea. In space. I like it!
 
I forgot to mention this earlier:

The Ancient Bajoran Ship, it had a steampunk quality to it. Almost feels kind of like Jules Verne, but not.

When Sisko is in his civilian clothes, you combine that with the ship, and Sisko's new goatee that was strapped on while Avery Brooks' real one grew in, he looks like a pirate at sea. In space. I like it!
(Sisko as a pirate.)
"I am the EmissAAAAAAARRRRRRRRy!"
 
I'm going to binge-watch every early DS9 episode I gave a 10, except "Duet" and "In the Hands of the Prophets". In retrospect, I think some of them could be bumped down to 9s or maybe even 8s in some cases. I have a better feel for the show now again than I did at the beginning of this re-watch.
 
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I'm going to binge-watch every early DS9 episode I gave a 10, except "Duet" and "In the Hands of the Prophets". In retrospect, I think some of them could be bumped down to 9s or maybe even 8s in some cases. I have a better feel for the show now again than I did at the beginning of this re-watch.
I think I've mentioned this before, but I do think you're far kinder in your ratings than I'd be, overall. I tend to agree with a lot of your text, it's just the numeric scores that give me pause. :)
 
I think I've mentioned this before, but I do think you're far kinder in your ratings than I'd be, overall. I tend to agree with a lot of your text, it's just the numeric scores that give me pause. :)
However I do it, I just want to make sure I'm consistent across the entire series. So that when I rank all the seasons at the end, the ratings will match the rankings.

I ended up ranking the seasons of Discovery as 1, 4, 5, 2, 3, and it matched with the way I rated them. I ended up ranking the seasons of Picard as 3, 1, 2, and the ratings I gave matched there as well.

And I can't wait to see how the numbers shake out for Deep Space Nine vs. Babylon 5. That'll be fun! :devil:
 
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