"Tribunal"- a failure?

[ClayHefner]

I can't help thinking what a strong, memorable episode this could have been

+ The Cardassia mattes were awesome. The scenes that show Cardassian streets with huge screens showing propaganda was spot on.

+ The scenes between when Miles was caught until the trial actually began had great potential that was somewhat tapped in the dialog with the "lawyer" guy. They clearly had something like "The Trial" in mind, but somehow didn't go fully through with it


- The court was ridiculous imo. It didn't seem menacing or anything. The courtroom was also too small. They way Odo could so easily make the Cardassians look stupid was annoying.
The cardassian justice system didn't come over as efficient or menacing.
Of course it all so happened because Odo didn't play along.

But since Miles was found guilty and rescued anyway, why not show Miles getting deeper and deeper into shit and have him make a teary confession at the end, maybe even make him convinced he's guilty?

A simplistic cop out didn't totally kill "Rules of Engagement" because the trial itself was interesting. Not the one in Tribunal imo.

- The whole Cardassian facility wasn't as convincing as it could have been. Miles is imprisoned in a simple redesign of Odo's cell? Why not show an array of thousands of cells for example, a "justice factory"? They had enough resources to make those cool Hideki FX in the teaser.

- Of course, the whole thing with framing Miles and the big cop out in the end. Using this farmer dude to record Miles' voice was stupid. The fact they allowed the man to be found again is even more stupid
DS9 has a history with cheap endings to "courtroom" episodes, but Sisko arriving at the last minute with him was especially cheap.
really disappointing.

- Keiko/Miles scene in the teaser was awkward. "miles, MILES!", later we see a proud, defiant Keiko fighting for her husband. Come on...
They didn't expect the episode to work as a "poor guy is screwed over by a fascist government" episode? Well they probably did.
Big wasted chance. I wish they had saved this script for season four and reworked it. It had potential.

Maybe it could have worked better as a Bashir ep?

 

[Captrek]

I didn’t particularly care for Tribunal when it first aired, but then the real world caught up to it and it now looks chillingly prescient.

 

[Sykonee]

In allowing the writers and set-designers to indulge themselves with more aspects of Cardassian culture, I think it succeeded. The plot used to do it, however, was unfortunately over-complicated and exposition heavy.

 

[Navaros]

I found the trial in Tribunal both interesting and menancing the first time I saw it.

However, I agree that it's a failure, and that is because there are no consequences from this episode in other episodes, as with all the other torture O'Brien episodes where there should have been major consquences in future episodes (ie: Hard Time).

I agree that how they tack-on cop-out endings at the last minute in these types of episodes is lame.

I agree Keiko's scenes are awkward, but that is by no means limited to Tribunal. Every single scene Keiko is in in the whole series is awkward and annoying.

 

[PSGarak]

I agree Keiko's scenes are awkward, but that is by no means limited to Tribunal. Every single scene Keiko is in in the whole series is awkward and annoying.

Unfortunately, I have to agree, and I hate to agree with this because I really like and respect Rosalind Chao's acting. Keiko was a very difficult character for me to like or to respect. I never got the feeling that she and Miles had a good marriage. I didn't care for how she treated him on the whole, and I never could see what he saw in her that compelled him to want to get married in the first place. It was the case of a good actress being thrown a terrible part and having to make the best of it.

As for their kid Molly, cutesy kids don't do much for me. I could've taken or left any "family" scene involving the O'Brien clan.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I was disappointed by Tribunal. In principle I don't mind them going for a Kafka style plot, but this episode just reminded me that Kafka did it better! The Cardassians were great in DS9 (and TNG) but the show didn't always get the Cardassian episodes right. They kind of went back to some of this stuff a few episodes later in Second Skin, but that time they made it work.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I found the episode blackly comical in places, and with plenty of knowing winks about the ridiculous Cardassian system of justice - sometimes, very obviously so.

Interestingly, it has just been shown on Virgin 1 this afternoon. O'Brien's speech to Odo about his loyalty to the Federation was very well performed.

 

[Thor Damar]

Agreed, and I did enjoy the Archon's performance in particular the abrupt 180 turn in order to save the Central Command from embarrassment.
(I hope that no-one though it was an Obsidian Order operation? They would never be so careless...)

Speaking of the CC I thought that Richard Poe's understated Gul Evek was a welcome addition to this episode and I think that it saved having to have Dukat as Gul-in-residence of DS9.

Kovat was a useless fool and proof positive that Cardassians should never be used as comic relief.

All in all it was a fairly solid episode but it was not the strongest Cardassian plot.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Indeed. For something that billed itself initially as a dark and harrowing time for O'Brien, I found it quite hilarious, actually.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I agree Keiko's scenes are awkward, but that is by no means limited to Tribunal. Every single scene Keiko is in in the whole series is awkward and annoying.

Unfortunately, I have to agree, and I hate to agree with this because I really like and respect Rosalind Chao's acting. Keiko was a very difficult character for me to like or to respect. I never got the feeling that she and Miles had a good marriage. I didn't care for how she treated him on the whole, and I never could see what he saw in her that compelled him to want to get married in the first place. It was the case of a good actress being thrown a terrible part and having to make the best of it.

Ugh, the way Keiko treated Miles--seriously, I found myself wanting him to get a divorce because she was not very respectful of him, in my opinion, and a marriage needs to be founded on respect. She KNEW she was marrying a Starfleet crewmember, and she knew he wasn't going to leave Starfleet...so if she knew he was that immovable on that subject, then I think she shouldn't have married him. Either that, or if he decided his relationship trumped Starfleet, he should have sought a line of work. SOMEBODY needed to compromise and it didn't happen. Better that than Keiko marry him and bitch at him the whole way.

 

[Myasishchev]

I agree Keiko's scenes are awkward, but that is by no means limited to Tribunal. Every single scene Keiko is in in the whole series is awkward and annoying.

Unfortunately, I have to agree, and I hate to agree with this because I really like and respect Rosalind Chao's acting. Keiko was a very difficult character for me to like or to respect. I never got the feeling that she and Miles had a good marriage. I didn't care for how she treated him on the whole, and I never could see what he saw in her that compelled him to want to get married in the first place. It was the case of a good actress being thrown a terrible part and having to make the best of it.

As for their kid Molly, cutesy kids don't do much for me. I could've taken or left any "family" scene involving the O'Brien clan.

Keiko was pretty cool in The Assignment, I thought. Although maybe it should've taken Miles a little longer to realize that she'd been possessed.

I generally liked the character, however.

Indeed. For something that billed itself initially as a dark and harrowing time for O'Brien, I found it quite hilarious, actually.

Torture? Imprisonment? The potential for endless misery bounded only by the dubious solace of a painful death? Just another day for Miles "Hitler In a Previous Life" O'Brien!