The Visitor is Pure Magic

[tomalak301]

"Magic" is not a word I use to associate to television on most occasions. I mean you can have epics, masterpieces, piles of dawg, just ok episodes, but there really isn't anything I've seen on TV over the years that reaches the stage of just being magical.

This episode, which I just saw tonight again, does just that. Each and every time I watch this episode, it has a greater impact on me than it did before. One of DS9's greatest strengths was the relationship between Ben and Jake. This episode is probably the most perfect example of that. It shows how deep this relationship is, and you don't need to be a fan of Star Trek to understand this episode. It touches on family life, that special bond between Father and Son, and just everything about it makes it one of the few really big highlights on TV I've ever seen. I really wish this episode had won a Hugo, and Tony Todd had won the emmy. There is not a performence like his I've seen ever.

It's interesting that Father's day is coming up. I always associate this episode was the best Father's Day episode any series has ever produced. I don't know about anyone else, but this episode had such an emotional impact on me (I love my father, always have) that I was pretty much bawling during the final scene. Like I said, you don't need to be a fan of any Star Trek for it to have an impact on you.

Whenever I'm asked the question what's your favorite episode of Star Trek ever, it's always hard to answer because I found out that with everything all said and done, it's 23 days worth of Star Trek. However, this episode is without a doubt the best and my favorite episode of Star Trek, movie or TV, I have ever seen. It truly is pure magic.

 

[Anwar]

Funny thing is, this episode's scientific reasoning for its events is the usual nonsensical technobabble Trek is derided for. But the character story told is so touching that you realize it doesn't matter.

 

[tomalak301]

I've always looked past the technobabble aspects of everything. Even in Voyager it didn't bother me. It's something that makes Trek what it is.

 

[Jono]

It is in my top five Trek episodes. I really enjoy the episode.

 

[nx1701g]

I honestly belive that The Visitor is my favorite episode of all Trek.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I'm sorry to be the persnickety pain-in-the-ass here, but I just can't take time travel episodes seriously. All I kept thinking about was the fact that when that girl walked out of Jake's house the entire course of her life may be altered because of what Jake Sisko was doing. Jake doesn't become the J.D Salinger of the 225th century so she doesn't get inspired by his work and visit him and doesn't get to keep the book and...I'm sorry I have just had it with time travel stories.

 

[Jono]

I'm sorry to be the persnickety pain-in-the-ass here, but I just can't take time travel episodes seriously. All I kept thinking about was the fact that when that girl walked out of Jake's house the entire course of her life may be altered because of what Jake Sisko was doing. Jake doesn't become the J.D Salinger of the 225th century so she doesn't get inspired by his work and visit him and doesn't get to keep the book and...I'm sorry I have just had it with time travel stories.

Or you take the STXI view and she keeps living on as Sisko goes back in time and creates an alternate timeline.

 

[RyuRoots]

"The Visitor" is one of those episodes that's praised as one of Star Trek's greatest high points, but I don't really think so. It was a good episode, I thought, but only 'good'.

 

[Mendon]

I saw this episode for the first time yesterday. I had watched Parallels just before it, also for the first time. Parallels had me cracking up; Worf's consternation throughout the episode was just hilarious. But talk about a 180 with The Visitor. It left me absolutely shattered, in a way that only maybe The Inner Light had previously managed to do.

If ever anybody doubted the versatility, accessibility, or quality of this franchise, a double shot like this should serve to clear the air.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I keep feeling like I shouldn't like this episode because it's so sentimental with all the crying and as usual Avery Brooks gets a little hammy when he tries to play big emotions, but this episode gets me every time. I have problems with most of the episodes that the majority here seems to consider one of the best ("Duet" and "Far Beyond the Stars", for example), but this is one with a bandwagon I can't resist jumping on.

I think it truly is the "Inner Light" of the series...the one with the most emotional impact and the most focused and thoughtful quiet character study. "Duet" similarly had a great guest performance and "Far Beyond the Stars" similarly had an uplifting message about the power of the written word, but this one didn't get dragged down by dull plot machinations or over-the-top acting like those did. It has just the right amount of operatic melodrama without coming across as too maudlin and a lean enough plot (even with the admittedly silly technobabble) to not let the plot twists keep people from being moved by how much heart it has.

A lot of credit has to go to Tony Todd for this episode working as well as it does. The vulnerability and conviction he brings to his performance goes a long way towards giving it resonance. It manages to be uplifting despite all the sorrow and cruelty invoved in the story (Jake seeing his father re-appear and the disappear so many times is absolutely devastating), so the episode is quite the harrowing experience. I think this is one best saved for special occasions - one of the most bittersweet and melancholy of all Star Trek episodes. Like "The Inner Light", it's something I'd recommend watching when you're in a really reflective mood and feel up to watch something that is heart-wreching while you watch it, but life-affirming in the end.

 

[Photon]

The Visitor is something I can't watch on a whim. Its just too powerful. I always cry, find little boy (who's not so little anymore) and hug him and kiss him and wish I could do the same w/my departed father)

 

[JohanKoch]

Fantastic episode, and probably the best example of using a wacky high-concept sci-fi premise to tell a powerful story.

Trek had lots of wacky sci-fi episodes (particularly anything from Brannon Braga), but all too often the point of the episode was the wackiness itself. Those could sometimes be good, but Trek really shines when they use sci-fi to tell creative stories that could only be told on a science fiction show. What other show could tell the powerful story of a relationship between father and son using time travel in such a creative way?

Interesting to note that this is one of the few Trek episodes where a significant amount of the story is told by guest stars, and the regular cast fade into the background somewhat.

 

[Myasishchev]

Funny thing is, this episode's scientific reasoning for its events is the usual nonsensical technobabble Trek is derided for. But the character story told is so touching that you realize it doesn't matter.

Yep. Same reason I was able to enjoy AGT.

Then again, Trek's derided more for using technobabble to magic away a problem. In the Visitor, at least, it made some sense, and it was ultimately Old Jake's sacrifice that saved Sisko. It might have been couched in [tech] basic nonsense, but so was Spock's death, and it works.

 

[tomalak301]

Interesting to note that this is one of the few Trek episodes where a significant amount of the story is told by guest stars, and the regular cast fade into the background somewhat.

It's something you hardly notice. Todds performance was Jake Sisko, or how I would think an old Jake Sisko would look like. I think if they messed up on the casting, this might not have been that great of an episode but what makes it work is Mrs. Robinson, Todd, and Brooks. It's just that special special instance on TV we never see enough of and in this era of special effects and action sequences, I'm afraid we may never see it again.

 

[Gorn Captain]

See, I'm not up on my DS9 and thought from the thread title that maybe "The Visitor" was the fan nickname for Nana.

 

[flemm]

It manages to be uplifting despite all the sorrow and cruelty invoved in the story (Jake seeing his father re-appear and the disappear so many times is absolutely devastating), so the episode is quite the harrowing experience.

The sci-fi premise of this episode is so horrible and painful that it almost seemed gratuitous to me the first time I watched it. I understand it was supposed to be uplifting in the end, but I felt this was a case were the horror of the experience overshadowed the resolution.

I can't rank this up there with the best episodes, but I respect its ambition, and I agree the performances were very good.

 

[Myasishchev]

See, I'm not up on my DS9 and thought from the thread title that maybe "The Visitor" was the fan nickname for Nana.

 

[Nightdiamond]

The scene where Sisko begs Jake to stop pursuing him and live his life is particularly touching.

 

[jamestyler]

I love this episode. I thought it was good when I first saw it, but as I've rewatched over the years it just gets better.

Gotta agree that its DS9's Inner Light, it's a nice soft story and very touching. The only part I don't like about it is that the scene with Jake staring through a window mirrors the last shot of the series - which makes me wonder if Jake will become depressed/obsessed again once Sisko joins the Prophets.

 

[Anwar]

I don't know, when it happened with the Prophets Jake KNEW what had happened and his dad didn't keep appearing at random times like a phantom. So there would be no mystery for Jake.