Just another episode that grabbed my attention for being both great and so un-Treklike. Dark, gritty, unsentimental, unforgiving, completely devoid of the kind of cliches you usually see in these kind of television episodes. Instead of a soundtrack before the big assault we hear the music that they hear which Quark played to calm people down. It felt like Saving Private Ryan with phaser rifles. Well done. Another example of when DS9 surpassed other Trek shows.
The Siege of AR-558
- Thread starter Dobian
- Start date
I agree wholeheartedly, one of my favorites!
Fantastic episode!
Indeed it is a great episode!
However when you think about Trek Tech. The siege was a lot messier and uglier than it had to be.
As SFDebris pointed out in his reviews, why not set the phasers on wide setting during the fight?
Or mass produce the TR-116 rifles. Which come with eye pieces/scopes that can see through solid matter. Include the modifications made by Chu'lak, which include a micro-transporter. Which allow a person to shoot and kill a person, despite physical objects impeding the bullet's line of fire. In a cave siege this would be invaluable to the Starfleet officers and non-coms.
And finally those nifty phaser proof barrels we see Blaze of Glory, that the Jem'Hadar couldn't shoot through. Chuck/SFDebris pointed out if he was a Starfleet Engineer, he'd try to make body armor out of the stuff.
Listening to his reviews clued me in to a lot of things I missed before in my previous watch through of Trek episodes.
When you factor in ALL of Trek tech. It certainly skews perceptions of Starfleet's plight during the war. Like they didn't have to be in such dire straights if they utilized all technology at their disposal.
However when you think about Trek Tech. The siege was a lot messier and uglier than it had to be.
As SFDebris pointed out in his reviews, why not set the phasers on wide setting during the fight?
Or mass produce the TR-116 rifles. Which come with eye pieces/scopes that can see through solid matter. Include the modifications made by Chu'lak, which include a micro-transporter. Which allow a person to shoot and kill a person, despite physical objects impeding the bullet's line of fire. In a cave siege this would be invaluable to the Starfleet officers and non-coms.
And finally those nifty phaser proof barrels we see Blaze of Glory, that the Jem'Hadar couldn't shoot through. Chuck/SFDebris pointed out if he was a Starfleet Engineer, he'd try to make body armor out of the stuff.
Listening to his reviews clued me in to a lot of things I missed before in my previous watch through of Trek episodes.
When you factor in ALL of Trek tech. It certainly skews perceptions of Starfleet's plight during the war. Like they didn't have to be in such dire straights if they utilized all technology at their disposal.
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I love AR-558.
It is most definitelty a 'war' episode that shows just how brutal it can be. I love Quark's examination of humans, Nog's youthful admiration of the hardened soldiers, Dax having to draw upon all her previous lives to help out and get through (whilst also being the first time for Ezri), and the conviction Sisko has to people he only just met. The last scene with him and Kira is also very touching. He is no stranger to fighting, but he looks haunted by what happened at the outpost and the reminder of just how bad others have it.
Wish we'd seen Reese again, whilst Larkin and Vargas were both likeable/sympathetic characters, which made their deaths feel like a needless loss.
It is most definitelty a 'war' episode that shows just how brutal it can be. I love Quark's examination of humans, Nog's youthful admiration of the hardened soldiers, Dax having to draw upon all her previous lives to help out and get through (whilst also being the first time for Ezri), and the conviction Sisko has to people he only just met. The last scene with him and Kira is also very touching. He is no stranger to fighting, but he looks haunted by what happened at the outpost and the reminder of just how bad others have it.
Wish we'd seen Reese again, whilst Larkin and Vargas were both likeable/sympathetic characters, which made their deaths feel like a needless loss.
I think that was deliberate. At this point in DS9, the writers appear to be looking at the Trek universe with more of a cynical eye (about time too) Quarks speech and Nog's response to it tell us quite a lot
QUARK: Let me tell you something about humans, nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time, and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes. You know I'm right, don't you? Well? Aren't you going to say something?
NOG: I feel sorry for the Jem'Hadar.
And what Quark says is literally true here: pretty much everything has been taken away from these people.
A sight that could see through Jem'Hadar cloaks might be useful. But those cloaks are supposedly psychic anyway, so technology wouldn't make much of a difference.
Which is amazingly logical and consistent. When phasers hit a target at full strength, the vaporizing effect propagates in the victim but stops when it hits the victim/air or victim/floor phase border. It seems the beam can be tuned to vaporize flesh and flesh-like materials, in which case it doesn't vaporize air or steel - or to vaporize steel, in which case it doesn't vaporize flesh (as seen in ST6 when Valeris wants to make a point).
Sure, the fighting in "AR-558" was dumbed down as much as the writers dared, to make it relatable to the audiences. But it's still pretty much within the limits of what's plausible for TNG technology, once you figure in the fact that these folks are stranded and starved of resources.
Timo Saloniemi
Because it consumes too much energy, and these poor sods have too little left? For the same reason, the guns aren't set to "make the enemy disappear" but only to "make the internal organs of the enemy disappear"...
But these people can't produce anything.
Whether the standard sights of the standard rifles can do that or not is a question that goes unanswered specifically because there is no need to see through solid matter in the episode.
A sight that could see through Jem'Hadar cloaks might be useful. But those cloaks are supposedly psychic anyway, so technology wouldn't make much of a difference.
If you have a bullet transporter, you can leave the rifle home. Just transport the bullet into the enemy - or a bullet-sized bit of the enemy heart into your pocket. Which may be exactly what a phaser beam does.
The actual fight was out in the open, though.
Even random decorative paintings at SFHQ are phaser-proof (see "Conspiracy").
Which is amazingly logical and consistent. When phasers hit a target at full strength, the vaporizing effect propagates in the victim but stops when it hits the victim/air or victim/floor phase border. It seems the beam can be tuned to vaporize flesh and flesh-like materials, in which case it doesn't vaporize air or steel - or to vaporize steel, in which case it doesn't vaporize flesh (as seen in ST6 when Valeris wants to make a point).
Sure, the fighting in "AR-558" was dumbed down as much as the writers dared, to make it relatable to the audiences. But it's still pretty much within the limits of what's plausible for TNG technology, once you figure in the fact that these folks are stranded and starved of resources.
Timo Saloniemi
I think SFDebris makes the mistake of assuming that more sophisticated weapons, which may make an impact in certain situations, would make the difference in combat during warfare. OK, so you decide to transport "bullets" into the Jemhadar. First, you would have to ignore that something called "transporter scramblers" exist in the DS9 universe. Second, you would have to deal with numbers. The general strategy of the Dominion, not unlike the Soviet Union during WWII, is to use the numbers of motivated infantrymen to overwhelm the enemy. You don't care if they die en masse, just that they keep moving. At some point, the Jemhadar would be upon the Starfleet soldiers, and targeting would be very messy. (Anyone have a new host for Dax.)
With regard to most of those technologies, as some point the Jemhadar's numbers would be an advantage, and the Starfleet weapons would need to be simple. They couldn't spend the time adjusting settings or recharging/reloading in the midst of close quarters fighting.
...Now, if they only could have afforded a bit more lighting!
It's too darn difficult to try and identify uniform patterns, rank markings or equipment detail, which takes away half the fun. At times, it's too difficult to even identify faces, which takes away the rest.
Sure, darkness is moody. But DS9 might have done well to introduce mood via bright light plus colorful filters, preempting that TV cliche a decade early.
Timo Saloniemi
It's too darn difficult to try and identify uniform patterns, rank markings or equipment detail, which takes away half the fun. At times, it's too difficult to even identify faces, which takes away the rest.
Sure, darkness is moody. But DS9 might have done well to introduce mood via bright light plus colorful filters, preempting that TV cliche a decade early.
Timo Saloniemi
an oft-visited storyline of a group of people placed in an extremely dangerous, untenable situation (most often based in a war/fight scenario) in which they feel unsupported, ill-prepared, the severity of their plight underappreciated and all for no good reason they can see, as well as what that situation does to them ... some lose their mind, some their humanity, others lose hope and faith some lose their timidness while others lose life or limb.
And I believe that familiar, old even, plot was told nicely here.
Would have loved to have seen Reese a bit more like Animal Mother (although not quite as totally over the edge), even down to giving him a larger weapon, a 24th Century version of a squad automatic weapon, like the M60 or M249
I thought the dim and obscure lighting enhanced the episode, which I think was done purposefully to convey the confusion of a close-in firefight.
And I believe that familiar, old even, plot was told nicely here.
Would have loved to have seen Reese a bit more like Animal Mother (although not quite as totally over the edge), even down to giving him a larger weapon, a 24th Century version of a squad automatic weapon, like the M60 or M249
I thought the dim and obscure lighting enhanced the episode, which I think was done purposefully to convey the confusion of a close-in firefight.
...Now, if they only could have afforded a bit more lighting!
It's too darn difficult to try and identify uniform patterns, rank markings or equipment detail, which takes away half the fun. At times, it's too difficult to even identify faces, which takes away the rest.
Sure, darkness is moody. But DS9 might have done well to introduce mood via bright light plus colorful filters, preempting that TV cliche a decade early.
Timo Saloniemi
The DVD quality is quite bad; one of the many reasons for a DS9 remastering.
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