Re-Watching DS9

[Lord Garth]

Just finished the ride home after seeing "Amok Time" and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Not doing a review of them because there's no DS9 or VOY connection. I went to see it with my brother. And I can now say I've seen every Star Trek movie in the theater. I, II, and IV all had Special Screenings but III didn't have one in the US until now. So, I'm glad to have that gap finally plugged.

They showed "Amok Time" first. For this particular movie, I'm especially glad they did that, since Leonard Nimoy isn't in TSFS until the end. So, it was a good way to get to see more of Spock.

For the TOS-R version of "Amok Time", they did a really good job of matching the establishing shots on Vulcan with the way it looked in TSFS. So good job there.

Then they jumped right into Star Trek III.

I never realized this until literally today, but I think it was a masterstroke that Kruge didn't tell Kirk his name. So, when Kruge kills David, Kirk doesn't have a name he can pin down. He can't say "Kruge killed my son!" All he's left with is "The Klingons killed my son!" and that really pays off in Star Trek VI.

This upcoming week, it's Season Finale Week for me. "Call to Arms", "Scorpion, Part I", and (finally) finishing B5's "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars". Even though I think of "Rising Star" as the real Season Finale.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Just got back from the ride home seeing "Amok Time" and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Not doing a review of them because there's no DS9 or VOY connection.

Revisit "Blood Fever" maybe?

 

[Lord Garth]

Revisit "Blood Fever" maybe?

That's a good idea!

 

[Farscape One]

"In the Cards"

"Do you want to die?" Nope. Not really. Not now, not in 40 years when I'm 80-something. So, I have to admit, Geiger's Cellular Entertainment Chamber has me interested. Your cells get bored and the Cellular Entertainment Chamber keeps them from getting bored. I like it. And it sounds anything but boring. It also sounds totally crazy!

Geiger's not the only one who's crazy. So is Jake. With him, it's the lengths he's willing to go to get a baseball card for his father. Some of isn't bad. Helping out O'Brien with inventory. Helping Kira with a speech. Fixing the audio in Worf's music. All well and good. But Nog going into Leeta's quarters to take Bashir's teddy bear Kukalaka? Jake going up to the Kai and levelling wild accusations? Those are some of the times when I said out loud, "Oh, God... "

At the beginning of the episode everything feels tense. The impending dread of upcoming War. I get more out of that now than I did in 1997. Back then we were in that Post-Cold War & Pre-9/11 bubble where I didn't view war as a serious concern. Now we're always at the mercy of whatever stupid thing Trump does or says. But anyway, as silly as it was, Jake trying to find the baseball card and the lengths he was willing to go to was tension breaker. The last one this series is going to get for a little while.

Kai Winn visits the station and for once, she and Sisko are on the same page. Stall for time. Winn's normally the type who wants to be decisive but thankfully she sees the wisdom in keeping Bajor's options open when it comes to signing a non-aggression pact with the Dominion.

At one point, Weyoun tells Winn that they're very much alike. Winn says they're not at all alike. I have to agree with her. Yes, it's true, Weyoun and Winn are both antagonists on DS9 but they're very different types of antagonists. Weyoun serves the Founders while Winn serves herself. Winn wants power. Weyoun has no wants. Weyoun is willing to indulge in different things. Including the Cellular Entertainment Chamber. Winn wouldn't be caught dead trying to indulge in anything. Can't look sinful!

After Weyoun captures Geiger and Jake & Nog, Jake's elaborate second story after Weyoun didn't believe what was really going on was a hoot. Good thing Weyoun has enough wisdom to realize Jake was telling the truth. "I believe you. Your first story, that is."

And in the end, Jake gets the baseball card to give to his father. Was it worth it? Sisko's log entry and everything we see while he's making his long entry shows that yes it was.

Have to mention one more thing: Jake quoting Picard from First Contact about why Earth stopped using currency, "We work to better ourselves and the rest of Humanity!" I'm dead certain Picard believes this. But Jake? Nog calls him on it. "What does that even mean?" "It means... it means we're going to get my father that baseball card!" Changing the subject right away.

Like I said, a few things made me cringe, but otherwise very good. The calm before the storm. I give it a 9.

I absolutely love this one! It's the most simple story possible: a young man wants to get his dad a gift. It's beautiful in its simplicity. And it has a great message of how little acts of kindness can snowball into a lot of acts being done around. And I think I've said this before, but Ronald D. Moore (on paper) is probably the funniest writer in the franchise. This episode is proof. Cellular regeneration and entertainment chamber. Soulless minions of orthodoxy. Lions, gigers, bears... oh, my.

And that hug at the end... I felt like I was getting hugged. Just a superb and quiet episode, and a 10 for me.

 

[Lord Garth]

"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" (B5 S4E22)

Spoiler

This is a weird one. It starts off looking like a regular episode. Sheridan and Delenn are married. Then it goes into some huge disorientation.

It's 2262, when the fifth season takes place. It's disorienting because I feel like I've been randomly thrown right into the middle of it. Lochley is Captain of Babylon 5 but we don't see her, she's only mentioned. And it sounds like President Sheridan has to make tough decision regarding something. I don't want to know. I'll find out really soon anyway. And there are some talking heads arguing with each other about their own spins on Sheridan. It reminds me of Crossfire. I can't stand Crossfire. They don't talk to each other; they talk past each other. One loudmouth who tries to pretend he isn't a loudmouth won't even give Sheridan a chance. Screw that guy. He must've loved Clark.

After that, it jumps to 2362. We have some academics debating Sheridan, Delenn, and the others and being deconstructionist about it. "Yeah, but were they really as great as people say?" Doubt everything, question everything, be a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian. "How can Delenn even still be alive?" The real surprise was when she showed up. Which was great. Even better was Delenn putting one of them in his place.

Then it jumps to 2762. Earth was to break away from the Interstellar Alliance, and a Civil War is forming. Historical Revisionists want to use holographic versions of Sheridan, Delenn, Franklin, and Garibaldi doing whatever these Revisionists want them to do in order to make Sheridan and company look bad. My immediate takeaway from this is that one day, propagandists IRL will try to use holograms to record fraudulent historical events. This might even happen during my lifetime. So that's very concerning. My other takeaway is that Evil Sheridan, after he's reprogrammed, reminds me of Evil Janeway in "Living Witness" (VOY). But the real highlight was Holo-Garibaldi leaking Earth's intentions to the Alliance before he's able be reprogrammed. Then war starts and...

... it jumps to 3262. After the Burn. Right so, in these threads I said I'd keep my talking about New Trek to a minimum (besides Picard), but this time I just have to make an exception! The Burn. And yes, I think Babylon 5 handled it way better than Discovery. I have to call it like it is. First off, great actually realizing what Albert Einstein once said, "I don't know how World War III will be fought but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Earth is just beginning to recover from a new version of the Dark Ages. They think they can make an automobile! That's where they are! I'm so glad another war is depicted as being as disastrous as it should always be thought of as. Way better than a fucking child's scream. More importantly, Earth will recover but it will take a long time. Longer than three years! *caugh*Discovery*caugh*

Then we see Humanity's Ultimate Fate as the episode jumps to a million years into the future. Everyone leaves for New Earth before Earth becomes uninhabitable. Which is the ultimate purpose of Space Travel. Exploration is a purpose, but allowing us to survive Earth is the purpose. I share JMS's opinion about this. Something I like to bring up whenever I have a friend occasionally tell me that space travel is a waste of money.

The button on the episode is Sheridan and Delenn talking about if they'll even be remembered after they're gone. The End. They could've ended the episode a million years in the future but bringing it back to the series' present is a good way to bring us back to where the series really is, as it moves into the fifth season.

Was this episode necessary? Yes and No. In terms of the fourth season, it looks like the add-on it is. In terms of the Bigger Picture, on the other hand, it's good to know where things ultimately end up. Not my favorite episode, but it did bring a lot to the table, and I appreciate the glimpses into what's ahead. Short-term, long-term, and insanely long-term. I give it an 8.

 

[Farscape One]

"The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" (B5 S4E22)

Spoiler

This is a weird one. It starts off looking like a regular episode. Sheridan and Delenn are married. Then it goes into some huge disorientation.

It's 2262, when the fifth season takes place. It's disorienting because I feel like I've been randomly thrown right into the middle of it. Lochley is Captain of Babylon 5 but we don't see her, she's only mentioned. And it sounds like President Sheridan has to make tough decision regarding something. I don't want to know. I'll find out really soon anyway. And there are some talking heads arguing with each other about their own spins on Sheridan. It reminds me of Crossfire. I can't stand Crossfire. They don't talk to each other; they talk past each other. One loudmouth who tries to pretend he isn't a loudmouth won't even give Sheridan a chance. Screw that guy. He must've loved Clark.

After that, it jumps to 2362. We have some academics debating Sheridan, Delenn, and the others and being deconstructionist about it. "Yeah, but were they really as great as people say?" Doubt everything, question everything, be a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian. "How can Delenn even still be alive?" The real surprise was when she showed up. Which was great. Even better was Delenn putting one of them in his place.

Then it jumps to 2762. Earth was to break away from the Interstellar Alliance, and a Civil War is forming. Historical Revisionists want to use holographic versions of Sheridan, Delenn, Franklin, and Garibaldi doing whatever these Revisionists want them to do in order to make Sheridan and company look bad. My immediate takeaway from this is that one day, propagandists IRL will try to use holograms to record fraudulent historical events. This might even happen during my lifetime. So that's very concerning. My other takeaway is that Evil Sheridan, after he's reprogrammed, reminds me of Evil Janeway in "Living Witness" (VOY). But the real highlight was Holo-Garibaldi leaking Earth's intentions to the Alliance before he's able be reprogrammed. Then war starts and...

... it jumps to 3262. After the Burn. Right so, in these threads I said I'd keep my talking about New Trek to a minimum (besides Picard), but this time I just have to make an exception! The Burn. And yes, I think Babylon 5 handled it way better than Discovery. I have to call it like it is. First off, great actually realizing what Albert Einstein once said, "I don't know how World War III will be fought but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Earth is just beginning to recover from a new version of the Dark Ages. They think they can make an automobile! That's where they are! I'm so glad another war is depicted as being as disastrous as it should always be thought of as. Way better than a fucking child's scream. More importantly, Earth will recover but it will take a long time. Longer than three years! *caugh*Discovery*caugh*

Then we see Humanity's Ultimate Fate as the episode jumps to a million years into the future. Everyone leaves for New Earth before Earth becomes uninhabitable. Which is the ultimate purpose of Space Travel. Exploration is a purpose, but allowing us to survive Earth is the purpose. I share JMS's opinion about this. Something I like to bring up whenever I have a friend occasionally tell me that space travel is a waste of money.

The button on the episode is Sheridan and Delenn talking about if they'll even be remembered after they're gone. The End. They could've ended the episode a million years in the future but bringing it back to the series' present is a good way to bring us back to where the series really is, as it moves into the fifth season.

Was this episode necessary? Yes and No. In terms of the fourth season, it looks like the add-on it is. In terms of the Bigger Picture, on the other hand, it's good to know where things ultimately end up. Not my favorite episode, but it did bring a lot to the table, and I appreciate the glimpses into what's ahead. Short-term, long-term, and insanely long-term. I give it an 8.

Something important to remember about this episode.

Spoiler: "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars"...

This was actually the first produced episode of season 5, which is why Sheridan has the goatee.

The last episode filmed in season 4 is actually the series finale, "Sleeping in Light". Remember how several of us said JMS really wasn't sure until the last minute that he'd get a season 5? Well, it's pretty literal. Which is why he already had his series finale filmed. However, when he got that last minute renewal and move to TNT, he had to come up with something else to be used in place of what he filmed so he can save it for the actual end of the show, so he came up with this. It's also why barely half the cast appear in it, and in such a small amount of the episode.

The way B5 originally aired actually worked in his favor for this... the final 4 episodes of a season were always shown months later, and directly before the new season premiered. (At least, for seasons 2-5... I don't recall if that occured with season 1.)

I also agree with you about the believability of the Burn and the time to recover... FAR better than what DISCO did. And I do like the message about how easy it is to create a revisionist history.

And Delenn is just excellent at putting people in their place.

 

[Lord Garth]

Now I can finally run through the numbers for Babylon 5 Season 4 to figure out if this is my favorite season so far. I think it is, but let's see what the calculator says!

Babylon 5 Season 4
1. "The Hour of the Wolf" - 8
2. "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?" - 8
3. "The Summoning" - 10
4. "Falling Toward Apotheosis" - 10
5. "The Long Night" - 10
6. "Into the Fire" - 10
7. "Epiphanies" - 8
8. "The Illusion of Truth" - 10
9. "Atonement" - 9
10. "Racing Mars" - 9
11. "Lines of Communication" - 9
12. "Conflicts of Interest" - 7
13. "Rumors, Bargains, and Lies" - 9
14. "Moments of Transition" - 10
15. "No Surrender, No Retreat" - 10
16. "The Exercise of Vital Powers" - 8
17. "The Face of the Enemy" - 10
18. "Intersections in Real Time" - 8
19. "Between the Darkness and the Light" - 10
20. "Endgame" - 9
21. "Rising Star" - 10
22. "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars" - 8

Average: 9.09 --> 9.1

Yup! It's official: I think this is the best season I've reviewed so far. Not just of B5, but across the board in these threads with DS9, VOY, and B5. The fourth season of Babylon 5 has beaten out the fourth season of DS9, which I "only" gave an 8.9.

When I do the average for DS9 Season 5, I'll have two averages. The real one I'll give and the one I would've given if "Let He Who Is Within Sin" hadn't screwed things up!

Here's how the other seasons of Babylon 5 compared to this one:

Season 1 --> 7.92
Season 2 --> 8.07
Season 3 --> 8.27
Season 4 --> 9.09

I like every season, but it's not even close. Season 4 is far and away the best.

 

[Farscape One]

In truth, if not for "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN...", I might put DS9 season 5 as better than season 4. Tied, certainly. That damned episode really hurt the score, but only 1 bad episode out of 52 (both seasons combined)? That's pretty stellar in my book for any series.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

People say that B5 season 4 is too rushed, as JMS thought they were cancelled and had to race to an ending, but looking at the results I'm not even sure that's a bad thing. What he ended up with is 22 episodes of serialised television that never drags, never makes you wish they'd just get to the ending already, and if writers could figure out the secret to pulling that off modern TV would be in a much better place.

Also yeah, I agree. Season 4 is the best season so far, and considering what we got in season 3 that's saying something.

 

[tomalak301]

In truth, if not for "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN...", I might put DS9 season 5 as better than season 4. Tied, certainly. That damned episode really hurt the score, but only 1 bad episode out of 52 (both seasons combined)? That's pretty stellar in my book for any series.

I think Season 5 is way above Season 4. I liked Season 4, but they didn't really reach the full potential of the Klingon situation that they could have. With Season 5, everything was leading towards the Dominion finally getting a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant and yes Let He Who Is Without Sin (An episode I don't think is god awful) is bad, episodes like In Purgatory's Shadow and By Inferno's Light make up for it.

 

[Farscape One]

I think Season 5 is way above Season 4. I liked Season 4, but they didn't really reach the full potential of the Klingon situation that they could have. With Season 5, everything was leading towards the Dominion finally getting a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant and yes Let He Who Is Without Sin (An episode I don't think is god awful) is bad, episodes like In Purgatory's Shadow and By Inferno's Light make up for it.

Season 5 certainly is excellent. And I can't be really sad if that is the season that is considered greater.

It's like trying to choose between FOREST GUMP and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION for winning the Oscar... only one can win, but it's so close you truly wish they can both grab the trophy.

 

[tomalak301]

Season 5 certainly is excellent. And I can't be really sad if that is the season that is considered greater.

It's like trying to choose between FOREST GUMP and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION for winning the Oscar... only one can win, but it's so close you truly wish they can both grab the trophy.

Over the years I've slowly come around to thinking Shawshank should have won that year. I think it was still one of the strongest best picture categories I can remember, because don't forget Pulp Fiction was also nominated.

 

[Farscape One]

Over the years I've slowly come around to thinking Shawshank should have won that year. I think it was still one of the strongest best picture categories I can remember, because don't forget Pulp Fiction was also nominated.

I personally also think SHAWSHANK is better, but I can totally see why many view GUMP as better.

That was a great year.

 

[Lord Garth]

My favorite movie from '94 was Pulp Fiction. I really like Speed and True Lies. I had a mixed opinion of Star Trek: Generations at the time, but it's grown on me. The Shawshank Redemption is good, but I'm not into it. My favorite prison movie is Escape from Alcatraz. I'm not saying it's better, but I really like Clinton Eastwood's character undermining the sadistic warden.

Confession Time: I've never seen Forrest Gump.

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All the hype about it actually made me want to avoid it!