The Visitor is Pure Magic

[Too Much Fun]

Hey, if you guys like this episode so much, how about voting for it? .

 

[Eddie Roth]

The Visitor is my favorite DS9 episode bar none, and among my favorites of all Trek. The story is so emotionally powerful, I have never seen this one without sobbing like a baby. I can't recall any other show that has ever had a more touching father-son relationship than what is shown here.

Oh, and that score... Just beautiful.

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

This is 1 of my fsvourite ds9 and one of my favourite trek episodes,everytime i watch this episode i can feel the tears coming.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

The Visitor is a good episode, but I just can't quite jump on the bandwagon with it. It might just be the fact that it's about a father and son's love for each other, while I never had a relationship with my father before he died, so my own issues hold me back from connecting with the major emotional thread of the episode, I don't know.

I don't disagree that it is a very well written and acted episode, and I do like the message it's sending, but... the message just doesn't speak to me like it does to others.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

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?

^ This.

I just saw this episode for the very first time tonight. After having ignored DS9 for so many years, I'm slowly working my way through the series episode-by-episode and this one hit me like a ton of bricks -- the same exact way "The Inner Light" hit me. I think, ultimately, I prefer the "life within a life" story of "The Inner Light" to the "father-son" story of "The Visitor" ... but that in no way diminishes the power and profound impact of this episode.

And JohanKoch is right, this is one of the best examples of using a wacky sci-fi premise to tell a story about character and human emotion in the entire Trek franchise.

Pure magic? Sounds about right to me.

 

[Kelso]

Yup. Damn good episode.

Season Four was pretty good all the way through, though.

 

[bbailey861]

^ Yes, I really started to get interested in season 4. I was happy that Worf was brought in and that some of the focus was brought back on to the Klingons. It made the Dominion story that much better as it went along.

 

[Anwar]

And before anyone says that the Klingon War arc didn't fit in DS9 and took away from the Dominion, remember what Lovok said in "The Die is Cast". He said that after the Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order, the only threats left were the Feds and Klingons.

What happens in S4? A war between the two that weakens both. It fits PERFECTLY with what Lovok said and the greater Dominion Arc.

 

[bbailey861]

That set things up very nicely because I think he mentioned that they (Klingons and Federation) wouldn't be a threat much longer, giving us lots to wonder about. Loved, loved, loved the whole Dominion war arc.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Well I'm not the biggest fan of season 4 - pound for pound it's strong, but apart from The Way of the Warrior, Return to Grace and Broken Link (where it was only a sub-plot), I wasn't impressed with the Klingon stuff (Season 5 did it better). However, the first four episodes constitute one of the strongest stretches in any TV show I've seen and the power of The Visitor is pretty hard to deny. It does suffer the same problems as any time travel episode, but the story is so affecting that it's hard to care. Off the top of my head I can't think of a better DS9 guest appearance than Tony Todd's role in this episode (which made it very odd when I saw him on the X-Files the next day playing a psychopathic Vietnam veteran...).

 

[Greylock Crescent]

^ Or considering Tony Todd's is role as Kurn ... who was invoked in the previous episode.

Still, I think you're right when you say, "It does suffer the same problems as any time travel episode, but the story is so affecting that it's hard to care." Compare it to, say, "Visionary," which came a season before. Whereas "Visionary" was all about the time travel itself, "The Visitor" was about how time travel can not only inform, but evolve the characters.

I rarely give unadulterated praise to a show or episode ... but I think this is one is deserving.

 

[Tiberius]

I love how they were able to make a great episode with such a cliched beginning.

It was a dark and stormy night...

 

[Greylock Crescent]

^ Heh ... I hadn't thought of that, but you're right.