Reviewing DS9

[Sarahjs]

@Kobayshi Maru - I totally agree that Weyoun is the best Vorta! Was a good plan to invent the cloning to bring him back!

@kkt - Yes, Kilana from The Ship is cool too - couldn't remember her name before you reminded me. But she wasn't as awesome as Weyoun in my opinion!!

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The Search Part 1

Sisko brings the Defiant to the station. The crew goes to search for the Founders. I think this is the first episode Eddington appears in - well, if he appeared before, I didn't notice. Also, it's nice to see the Federation and the Romulans working together in a joint endeavour. It sort of follows on from the Romulan Centric episodes on TNG, like Timescape, where the Enterprise helped the Romulans and The Chase, where there was a hint of the Romulans being reasonable. There is more tension between Odo and Starfleet security, which is always good, luckily Kira sort of hit him over the head and stopped him from being silly. Also, Sisko manipulates Quark into coming along on the search. Great scene right there, perhaps the best in the entire episode. Anyway, Odo is overly grumpy in this episode and it gets quite annoying after a while, though, there is a reason for it, so I am inclined to forgive it to a degree. Also Quark's negotiation with the annoying aliens is quite dull. It's a good episode. Oh, and when I first watched this episode, I did not know anything about the Dominion, but I figured out instantly that Odo's people were the Founders. Was quite obvious, well to me at least.

7/10

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The Search Part 2

Odo gets to know his people, who are, at the same time, giving an elaborate vision to Miles, Jadzia, Sisko and Julian, and he further explores his shape-shifting abilities. I think this episode should have been called something else. I believe they completed the search in the previous episode. This shows a serious lack of imagination, which is very rare on DS9. On my first time watching, I doubted for a few minutes my assertion from the previous episode that the changelings were the Founders, but I soon realized there was something dreadfully odd about the station story and that it was somehow fake. Poor Odo, I feel so sorry for him. He is so disappointed in the end. *sigh* I like this episode more than the previous one. Garak is amusing, as always, though he was a Fake!Garak.

8/10

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The House of Quark

Quark accidentally kills a drunk Klingon. Chaos ensues. I love, love, love this episode. It is so funny! I also like that the events of the previous two episodes have had an effect on the station. Quarks bar is empty, as is Keiko's school. Also, Keiko is in a bad mood, as she is bored, but this is not the most exciting story ever, and not as good as the Quark/Klingon story. However, Miles is very sweet to Keiko and this is quite a pleasing thing to see. Oh, Gowron is back, which is cool, but he does not have a super exciting role here, though it is good to see the continuity from TNG. He was also extremely likeable in this episode, usually Gowron creeps me out, but he was cool here. Ah, Quark is awesome, he is such a pragmatist. The Klingons are all like "let's fight!" And Quark just solves the problem in his own little Ferengi way. An excellent comedy episode, one of the best Star Trek has done so far. "Respect is good, but latinum's better."

9/10

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Equilibrium

Sisko cooks and weird things happen to Dax. A disappointing and a bit of a meh episode at times, especially considering the run of good episodes we have just had, it might have got a higher score, had the preceding episodes not been quite so impressive. I found it quite dull for the most part. I suppose the concept was interesting and we do learn a bit more about Trills and the process of choosing hosts. I liked the guardian guy, the guardians seem to be quite interesting based on that. I was wondering if symbionts are able to reproduce, while they swim around in that pool of mud thing. I guess not, since there are so few of them, but maybe I am mistaken. Does anyone know? If they reproduce, why are there not more symbionts?

5/10

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[Bad Thoughts]

I think you are being too generous with regard to Equilibrium. IMO, it is the nadir of the development of the Dax character. Some of the politics of Trill joining selection is very interesting, and may have paid dividends down the road had this episode been more compelling. At its root, Equilibrium is an episode about recovered memory. I'd even say it borrows too much from Spellbound. Apart from the strange symbolism and probable discontinuity with "Dax" (the episode), it dances too much around Terry Farrell's acting shortcomings. In an episode about her character, she is barely the protagonist. Indeed, she seems to be confined to reacting to her deteriorization while other characters are taking up the action. And as I have remarked too often, Terry Farrell's acting during the denouement could only have been more of a snore had she actually been snoring. It betrays how little confidence the writers had in her acting.

What really punctuates this problem is that I think DS9 did medical episodes better than the other Treks. Don't get me wrong, Kelly and Picardo created far more compelling doctors. Episodes like The Wire put emphasis on the patient and the relationship with the physician. Generally I felt they were the better Bashir episodes because of the relationship. None of that comes through in Equilibrium.

 

[Sarahjs]

I think you are being too generous with regard to Equilibrium. IMO, it is the nadir of the development of the Dax character. Some of the politics of Trill joining selection is very interesting, and may have paid dividends down the road had this episode been more compelling. At its root, Equilibrium is an episode about recovered memory. I'd even say it borrows too much from Spellbound. Apart from the strange symbolism and probable discontinuity with "Dax" (the episode), it dances too much around Terry Farrell's acting shortcomings. In an episode about her character, she is barely the protagonist. Indeed, she seems to be confined to reacting to her deteriorization while other characters are taking up the action. And as I have remarked too often, Terry Farrell's acting during the denouement could only have been more of a snore had she actually been snoring. It betrays how little confidence the writers had in her acting.

What really punctuates this problem is that I think DS9 did medical episodes better than the other Treks. Don't get me wrong, Kelly and Picardo created far more compelling doctors. Episodes like The Wire put emphasis on the patient and the relationship with the physician. Generally I felt they were the better Bashir episodes because of the relationship. None of that comes through in Equilibrium.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!

Generosity is a virtue!

I'm starting to think that I might be the only person around who likes Jadzia Dax.

But yes, as you say the episode does have it's faults and is far from perfect, so that's why it received a perfectly average grade from me.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I think you are being too generous with regard to Equilibrium. IMO, it is the nadir of the development of the Dax character. Some of the politics of Trill joining selection is very interesting, and may have paid dividends down the road had this episode been more compelling. At its root, Equilibrium is an episode about recovered memory. I'd even say it borrows too much from Spellbound. Apart from the strange symbolism and probable discontinuity with "Dax" (the episode), it dances too much around Terry Farrell's acting shortcomings. In an episode about her character, she is barely the protagonist. Indeed, she seems to be confined to reacting to her deteriorization while other characters are taking up the action. And as I have remarked too often, Terry Farrell's acting during the denouement could only have been more of a snore had she actually been snoring. It betrays how little confidence the writers had in her acting.

What really punctuates this problem is that I think DS9 did medical episodes better than the other Treks. Don't get me wrong, Kelly and Picardo created far more compelling doctors. Episodes like The Wire put emphasis on the patient and the relationship with the physician. Generally I felt they were the better Bashir episodes because of the relationship. None of that comes through in Equilibrium.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!!

Generosity is a virtue!

I'm starting to think that I might be the only person around who likes Jadzia Dax.

But yes, as you say the episode does have it's faults and is far from perfect, so that's why it received a perfectly average grade from me.

Well, it's not that I hate Jadzia as much as I was disappointed. Strong female character behind an African American and another strong woman, the heir to the Spock/Data role, Dax should have been an extraordinary character. And in truth, some Dax episodes are excellent. However, it is always in spite of Terry Farrell rather than because of her. The character works better in the latter seasons when Farrell can be a foil for other actors' performances. She was excellent in In The Pale Moonlight, but she was not a central part of the plot.

 

[Dobian]

I know you have a very strong negative opinion about Terry Farrell's acting ability, but I don't see it that way. I've always found her very engaging on the show in an almost effortless way, and does a great job of fitting in as "one of the guys", which makes sense as Dax's previous host was a man. Sure she's no Meryl Streep and isn't the greatest at super heavy dramatic acting, but I haven't seen an episode where I've said, wow, she was just awful in that. But I've seen plenty of episodes where I thought she did a fine job.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I know you have a very strong negative opinion about Terry Farrell's acting ability, but I don't see it that way. I've always found her very engaging on the show in an almost effortless way, and does a great job of fitting in as "one of the guys", which makes sense as Dax's previous host was a man. Sure she's no Meryl Streep and isn't the greatest at super heavy dramatic acting, but I haven't seen an episode where I've said, wow, she was just awful in that. But I've seen plenty of episodes where I thought she did a fine job.

Rewatch Nor the Battle To The Strong.

ETA: In fairness, I watched several episodes of Becker to see if I was missing something about Farrell's performance that wasn't coming through in DS9. I found her less engaging and more wooden, a cut rate Kirstie Alley to Ted Danson. And given that Alley was herself decent in a similar role in Trek, I think the comparison is damming.

 

[Dobian]

Kirstie Alley was "okay" in Wrath of Khan. (to me she was just the sexy Vulcan chick) Her character was very different from Dax though. But she was really good on Cheers. I think doing a 30 minute sitcom in front of a live audience is very different than a drama filmed on a set. There's a lot of timing and exaggerations in words and gestures to get big laughs. I never watched a lot of Becker, and maybe Farrell wasn't the best at that, I can't say. I did find her very natural though on DS9.

 

[Sarahjs]

Ooooh. A discussion about Terry Farrell! Interesting read - personally, I quite like the actress and the Jadzia character (Haven't seen her in anything else), but I have been told I am easily pleased.

Happy New Year to all! I watched a few episodes last night, but internet was down, so am putting my mini-reviews up this morning!!

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Second Skin

The Obsidian Order uses a surgically altered Cardassian!Kira as an unwitting trap for exposing a member of the Cardassian underground, who is high up in the Central Command. Cardassian plots are among my favourite things in the world, well, the imaginary Star-Trek world at any rate, especially if they involve Garak, as this one does. Ghemor, like Marritza, is one of the few extremely sympathetic and sweet Cardassians we meet and the actor who plays him in this episode was wonderful. He is very sweet, getting Kira some hasperat. "Personally, I think Cardassia could use a few more artists." True words if I ever heard any! I'm just confused why Garak's super secret Obsidian Order codes and whatnot still work, seemingly they have something to do with the friends he still supposedly have on Cardassia. "Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder." A great line. Also, we are left wondering about Garak's true motives. Personally, having watched the whole series, I think he is on the side of the dissidents, but because of who he used to be, Ghemor does not trust him and neither do the other dissidents probably. I was going to give this episode an eight, but because I found the ending so powerful, the score was knocked up a bit.

9/10

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The Abandoned

We meet Jake's Dabo girlfriend, who is really pretty and has a lovely smile, Odo gets some new quarters and Quark buys a Jem'Hadar baby by accident. The story with Jake and his girlfriend is not too interesting, but quite watchable. The Jem'Hadar story is very interesting, probably because to me, it established The Founders as being real bad guys. They completely control the Jem'Hadar through genetic engineering and drug addiction to a blue crystalline type substance. Oh, wait, it is a white liquid substance. I am starting to mix up TV shows in my head. Anyway, the point I am aiming to make, is in the episode, The Search, the Founders seemed somehow gentle and redeemable, probably because most of their interactions were with Odo. Here, I got a bigger understanding of how they react and manipulate other species, who they consider to be lesser ones. Quite despicable. Well, as a result, we learn more about the Jem'Hadar and begin to understand why they are such formidable soldiers and a formidable enemy. Poor Odo, he really does try his best to teach the Jem'Hadar to be more than his genetic programming, but ultimately, the influence of the Founders is too strong. What a terrible thing to do to a species. I suppose it is a really contrived way to teach us about the Jem'Hadar, but I still enjoyed the episode thoroughly.

8/10

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Civil Defence

An evil Cardassian file takes over the station's systems and threatens to kill everyone. Well, to be more accurate, a Cardassian counter insurgency program is accidentally activated and threatens to kill everyone. Seems I just repeated the same thing twice. This episode has a lot of things I like, for instance, Garak, Dukat and their awesome and mysterious feud. However, not the greatest episode I have ever seen, I got a tiny bit bored of Dukat's voice narrating each step, however it was thoroughly enjoyable, when his program was turned against him. Ah, poor Dukat, he tried to take advantage of the situation that DS9 found itself in, and it turned out to be a huge mistake. I have seen this episode compared to TNG's Disaster by some, but Disaster was much better, IMO. I think mainly because Disaster focused more on the characters - there was a straight forward problem and a straight forward solution to it, it was just a matter of doing it and the characters working together to do it. Here, they kept trying to find a solution and this detracted from the character stories for me, and really, the only reason to do an episode like this is for the character stories - sticking people in a room together, adding pressure and having them react in an appropriate fashion. Anything else is quite superfluous and unnecessary. Then, to finally fix the problem, Sisko crawls through fire and pushes some buttons with a few seconds to spare. *yawn* Why did they not just push these buttons or whatever in the first place.

7/10

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Meridian

Jadzia randomly falls in love with some guy, whose planet disappears for 60 years or something. This whole story makes very little sense to me. I can't see anyone falling in love in such short a time to that extent that they want to give up their entire lives for sixty years... Wait, that is what marriage is. Nevermind... Just kidding, just kidding, don't get mad. It's totally different to marriage, because Jadzia would never see her friends again. Well, not until they old and grey anyway. Also, is this not a bit of a risk for the symbiont, Dax, should this not be the first thing Jadzia considers before anything else? On the bright side, this episode has Jeffrey Combs, doing his amazing thing, i.e. acting. The substory with Mr. Combs, a.k.a. weird, pervy orange-haired alien, is quite amusing. Also, Quark in a dress. I suppose the concept of the planet intersecting within two dimensions is quite interesting, though the execution is dull and nonsensical. So, 1 point for the concept, 1 point for the substory and 1 point for Jeffrey Combs. Perhaps an overly generous score, but I am in a bit of a generous mood today. Also, this episode is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be... If you can ignore the Jadzia love story that is. :/

3/10

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[Rahul]

Aw, man. I would love to read your thoughts, but you got way ahead of me! And I don't want to get spoiled...

I will comment as soon as I have seen a bit more of season 2!

 

[Sarahjs]

Aw, man. I would love to read your thoughts, but you got way ahead of me! And I don't want to get spoiled...

I will comment as soon as I have seen a bit more of season 2!

I always watch too fast. Three or four episodes at a time! Don't want you to get spoiled either, so best don't read ahead !!

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Civil Defense is one of my guilty pleasures. The basic story is stupid, and without the dialogue would have been nothing but an episode full of technobabble. However, many little tropes of sci-fi are exploded during the episode. Shooting at things doesn't make things better, it make them worse. The same is true trying to program or trick one's way out of the problem. The main villain is at war with his impulses (his current self versus his recorded self), and is exposed as being conflicted between his paranoia and his lust for his victims. "Attention Bajoran workers!," is a catch phrase in my house, whenever it is time to get some hard cleaning done. I laugh may way through the entire episode until the last scenes, which reminds me of the episodes thin foundations.

 

[Sarahjs]

Civil Defense is one of my guilty pleasures. The basic story is stupid, and without the dialogue would have been nothing but an episode full of technobabble. However, many little tropes of sci-fi are exploded during the episode. Shooting at things doesn't make things better, it make them worse. The same is true trying to program or trick one's way out of the problem. The main villain is at war with his impulses (his current self versus his recorded self), and is exposed as being conflicted between his paranoia and his lust for his victims. "Attention Bajoran workers!," is a catch phrase in my house, whenever it is time to get some hard cleaning done. I laugh may way through the entire episode until the last scenes, which reminds me of the episodes thin foundations.

Attention Bajoran Workers! It is now time to get out those vacuum cleaners and start vacuuming. You have 5 minutes to do so, or the room will be filled with poisonous gas.

It's certainly an entertaining episode despite it's weaknesses in my opinion, which, at the end of the day, is all I can ask from my entertainment!

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Kirstie Alley was "okay" in Wrath of Khan. (to me she was just the sexy Vulcan chick) Her character was very different from Dax though. But she was really good on Cheers. I think doing a 30 minute sitcom in front of a live audience is very different than a drama filmed on a set. There's a lot of timing and exaggerations in words and gestures to get big laughs. I never watched a lot of Becker, and maybe Farrell wasn't the best at that, I can't say. I did find her very natural though on DS9.

Kirstie Alley was way better than the stiff they replaced her with in the next movie...

 

[kkt]

I agree about Meridian. It's a DS9 retelling of Brigadoon, only without the songs that musical-lovers like. As a musical, Brigadoon's plot wasn't expected to make much sense, but I expect more from DS9. Yes, the one thing we're supposed to know about trills is that the health and succession of their symbiont is the most important thing for them, yet she's going where there are no other trills and therefore no possibility of trill babies to whom to pass the Dax symbiont? And no doctor who knows how to perform the transplant even if they had a new host trill?

 

[Dobian]

Kirstie Alley was way better than the stiff they replaced her with in the next movie...

I have to agree with you there. She was cuter too.

I also agree about Meridian. It was one of the weakest episodes of DS9 I've seen, a sappy and unbelievable love story in a style very reminiscent of some of the bad early episodes of TNG. Dax transforming from her usual cool tomboyish self into some kind of Stepford wife in training. Thankfully, this show rose above this kind of drek in the vast majority of its episodes.

 

[SebastianDT]

Civil Defense is one of my guilty pleasures. The basic story is stupid, and without the dialogue would have been nothing but an episode full of technobabble. However, many little tropes of sci-fi are exploded during the episode. Shooting at things doesn't make things better, it make them worse. The same is true trying to program or trick one's way out of the problem. The main villain is at war with his impulses (his current self versus his recorded self), and is exposed as being conflicted between his paranoia and his lust for his victims. "Attention Bajoran workers!," is a catch phrase in my house, whenever it is time to get some hard cleaning done. I laugh may way through the entire episode until the last scenes, which reminds me of the episodes thin foundations.

Same here. Dukat's face when he can't leave because the Central Command didn't trust him even then is priceless (and give us the hint that Terok Nor wasn't a important posting within the Cardassian hierarchy back in the Occupation days).

 

[Sarahjs]

Good to see I'm not alone in my dislike of the Jadzia story in Meridian!

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Defiant

Thomas Riker comes to DS9 and steals the Defiant for the Maquis. Since Thomas Riker is played by Jonathan Frakes, as is William Riker, unsurprisingly everyone on the station is confused and mistakes him for the latter. It also tricked me the first time I watched this episode, for a while, until he was rude to O'Brien, then I knew something was wrong, though I could not put my finger on the exact problem. Of course, I knew for certain when he shot Kira. Also, Julian insists that Kira has some rest and relaxation. Anyway, Thomas Riker is a much more interesting person than Vedek Bareil, so maybe Kira should start a relationship with him. For real. At least it would be better than seeing His Boringness again. I would not say that this episode is a continuation of the TNG episode with the two Rikers, but I would say that this episode makes good use of that episode to tell its story. Quite clever really. I guess all the Sisko/Dukat interactions are very interesting. I think I just realized it in this viewing, but this episode is a prelude to the Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast two parter, i.e., the ships of the Obsidian Order. Quite clever, a Dominion arc episode disguised as a Maquis arc episode. Fascinating. Or, if one prefers, a subtle intersection of the two arcs, though I believe my first analysis is more correct, it's more about the Obsidian Order ships, than it is about the Maquis. It is more about Thomas Riker than it is about the Maquis as well.

8/10

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Fascination

This episode is not as fascinating as it's name suggests. Quite a ludicrous one, actually. It's a bit funny, but too ridiculous to give a too high score. Lwaxana is enjoyable as usual and Bareil is dull as usual. These two sort of cancel each other out. What I liked, is that Miles and Keiko weren't affected by Lwaxana's strange disease. It was sweet. And their marital problems were realistic and quite interesting.

4/10

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Past Tense Part 1

A time travel accident occurs via transporter and our friendly crew is thrown back into the year 2024. I guess it was inevitable that DS9 would do a time travel episode eventually, it is Sci-Fi after all. What's up with people in the past thinking that Starfleet uniforms are pyjamas? It also happened with Data in Time's Arrow. I guess I kind of like this, as a time travel episode, simply because it is not about any past that we know, but about our future, but the Trek people's past, if that makes sense. So basically, what I am trying to say, is that this is one of my favourite Trek time travel two parters. Hey, that was awesome alliteration! It also deals with political issues of the this past, which is interesting. There is a lot of interaction between Sisko and Julian here, which has not happened overmuch in the past, and this is great. Julian keeps on wanting to help people, the doctor that he is, and Sisko is all like "no, we can't interfere in time." Ironic, as in the end, Sisko needed to interfere in order to maintain the integrity of the timeline. Oh, it is nonsensical that the future changed around the shuttlecraft the second Gabriel Bell was killed. Why would it have happened at that moment, it's not like the future is aware of the exact moment Bell died as the future timeline and the past timeline cannot be running at parallel to each other. No idea if I am explaining myself properly here, time travel just baffles me. Also, it should not have changed at all. The death of Bell, should have, in theory, created a parallel, alternate universe and not affected the future that they know. I am not a scientist, but I think this is the current theory on such things, I could be wrong, feel free to correct me if I am. It makes sense though to me, because something that already exists can't just disappear. Ugh, I need to stop overthinking time travel. In fact, I need to stop thinking about time travel altogether, it gives me a headache.

7/10

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Past Tense Part 2

The situation in Sanctuary District A continues, Sisko impersonates Gabriel Bell and Miles and Kira search for their friends through time. I enjoy watching this situation unfold, it's interesting. Unfortunately, I have said most of what I would want to say in the comments for the first part of this episode, so I find myself somehow short of words. Good thing I watched both parts together and can put both reviews into one post. Oh, also Sisko is quite a badass here.

7/10

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[STEPhon IT]

Kirstie Alley was "okay" in Wrath of Khan. (to me she was just the sexy Vulcan chick) Her character was very different from Dax though. But she was really good on Cheers. I think doing a 30 minute sitcom in front of a live audience is very different than a drama filmed on a set. There's a lot of timing and exaggerations in words and gestures to get big laughs. I never watched a lot of Becker, and maybe Farrell wasn't the best at that, I can't say. I did find her very natural though on DS9.

Kirstie Alley was way better than the stiff they replaced her with in the next movie...

I agree Alley was brilliant in that role because she supposed to be ROMULAN in the film, and challenged Kirk about the test and goated him to reveal something about him. It lead to a touching climax when Spock died. Kirk truly understanding the concept of the NO WIN SCENARIO.

INTO DARKNESS failed miserably in recapturing that moment.
Still not angry

But Leonard Nimoy opted to make the replacement a vulcan whore in Star Trek III.

 

[Sarahjs]

Kirstie Alley was "okay" in Wrath of Khan. (to me she was just the sexy Vulcan chick) Her character was very different from Dax though. But she was really good on Cheers. I think doing a 30 minute sitcom in front of a live audience is very different than a drama filmed on a set. There's a lot of timing and exaggerations in words and gestures to get big laughs. I never watched a lot of Becker, and maybe Farrell wasn't the best at that, I can't say. I did find her very natural though on DS9.

Kirstie Alley was way better than the stiff they replaced her with in the next movie...

I agree Alley was brilliant in that role because she supposed to be ROMULAN in the film, and challenged Kirk about the test and goated him to reveal something about him. It lead to a touching climax when Spock died. Kirk truly understanding the concept of the NO WIN SCENARIO.

INTO DARKNESS failed miserably in recapturing that moment.
Still not angry

But Leonard Nimoy opted to make the replacement a vulcan whore in Star Trek III.

I am starting to suspect that I am the only person that was relatively unoffended by Robin Curtis, Kristie Alley's replacement in Star Trek III.

Personally, I felt that Curtis looked more like a Romulan than Alley did, and I would not go so far as to call her a whore. Furthermore, I don't think it was Nimoy's choice, from what I heard, Alley opted out due to another job - but I could be wrong, I always have difficutly telling rumours from facts.

Anyway, I have been trying to keep out of the Alley/Curtis discussion, due to this thread being in the DS9 forum, but just adding my two cents now, for what it's worth - may as well, as this seems to be a topic of some contention and interest. It's really cool that everyone has a different perspective to me though. It makes for an interesting read!!

 

[USS Firefly]

I thought that Alley wanted more money for Star trek 3, and that's the reason they went for Curtis who did it not bad in my opinion