Deep Space Nine: For the Fans (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

I’ve enjoyed the Kurtzman-produced shows, especially Picard, so if something with DS9 is in the cards, I’d look forward to it. That said, I agree that this may be much ado about nothing.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Last night I watched:

• 4x11 - "Homefront": Sisko's father looms so large in his life that it was nice to finally meet him. I was a bit thrown, however, to see Brock Peters in the role since he had such a prominent role in the TOS movies as Fleet Admiral Cartwright. That being said, I kind of understand the casting: The pool of actors who had Peters's cinematic stature, who would be plausible as Sisko's father, and who would be willing to work for what a first-run syndicated show could afford to pay guest stars had to be pretty darn small. He does a good job in the role, even though the writing isn't always there to support him. The politics of this one were fascinating, mainly for what they said about the organizational structure of this society. I always thought the Federation was like the United States under the Articles of Confederation: an alliance of sovereign states, largely autonomous in domestic affairs, that pool resources for defense, exploration, diplomacy, and scientific research. But under that understanding, it would have been the leadership of Earth's government that Starfleet would have been trying to convince, not the President of Starfleet. Given that Earth's government had no role in the discussions about Earth's security, I guess we can assume that the Federation is a lot more top-down and centralized than I had thought.

Tonight I watched:

• 4x12 - "Paradise Lost": The Seven Days in May-style plot was interesting in the way that it grappled with post-9/11 questions of liberty versus security despite being written, filmed, and televised pre-9/11. The most effective thing about the episode, for me, was just how lightly the Changelings were threaded into the story; the idea that the fear of them would ultimately be far more dangerous than the actual threat of them -- that only four of them could panic an entire planet and put it at the brink of a civil war -- made the threat posed by the Dominion a lot more urgent. With Sisko in the Kirk Douglas role and Admiral Leyton in the Burt Lancaster role, there's a nice escalation of the conflict, with Leyton wanting Sisko contained but not harmed and Sisko seizing upon Leyton's reticence to wiggle past each obstacle put in his way. There were two main issues with this one for me:
  1. The show never really developed the backstory between Sisko and Leyton before this two-parter. In "Emissary", Sisko was the XO of the USS Saratoga, and his captain was a Vulcan who was killed during the Battle of Wolf 359, so as far as I know, the previous episode was the first time the show has mentioned Sisko serving under Leyton on the USS Okinawa. If that relationship had been touched upon earlier in the season or series, the conflict between Sisko and Leyton would have had more heft.
  2. Telling a story where martial law is imposed on all of Planet Earth is a really big story, and yet the whole thing seems to only take place in a couple Starfleet conference rooms and a Creole restaurant. A story with this scope needed the budget to be told with the proper scale, and it just seemed to me that the dollars weren't there.

 

[Nelson Au]

I wrapped up the 4th season last week with Broken Link. I’ll be non-spoilery as Adam is moving along with the episodes. A lot of good stuff happened in the final episodes of the season. I remembered the events with Kira in the previous episode to Broken Link. But I keep thinking these things happen later.

I just started the 5th season with Apocalypse Rising. That was a really good episode I remember seeing back in the day. Some good lines between Kira and Bashir too.

 

[Sam Favate]

Watched Our Man Bashir last night, which is one of my favorites, because I'm a big James Bond fan. It was just a coincidence that I watched it so soon after Sean Connery died.

The premise is a little silly in the episode, with the crew's transporter patterns being stuck in the computers throughout the ship. But you just have to go with it. The episode gives Bashir's character more depth, as we learn what he likes to do for fun. And it goes a ways to explaining why he is fascinated with Garak. (Discovery could learn a thing or two about letting their characters have some fun.)

But the feel of the episode, including the music and sets, is perfect for a spy homage. I don't think Peter Allan Fields was still working on the show at this point (although he does write a few more later on), which is a shame, since he had worked on The Man From UNCLE, from which this show drew inspiration too.

 

[Josh Dial]

Watched Our Man Bashir last night, which is one of my favorites, because I'm a big James Bond fan. It was just a coincidence that I watched it so soon after Sean Connery died.

The premise is a little silly in the episode, with the crew's transporter patterns being stuck in the computers throughout the ship. But you just have to go with it. The episode gives Bashir's character more depth, as we learn what he likes to do for fun. And it goes a ways to explaining why he is fascinated with Garak. (Discovery could learn a thing or two about letting their characters have some fun.)

But the feel of the episode, including the music and sets, is perfect for a spy homage. I don't think Peter Allan Fields was still working on the show at this point (although he does write a few more later on), which is a shame, since he had worked on The Man From UNCLE, from which this show drew inspiration too.

I really like this episode, too. Although it once again supports my point (and I apologize for harping on this--I really do like the show for what it is!) that too many of the best DS9 episodes have the characters not playing themselves and/or are set in a place other than DS9. The show has great actors that seem to thrive when somewhat distanced from the core premise of the show. The best of the "traditional Starfleet/Federation" episodes are set in wartime, and frequently bump up against the traditional Roddenberry values.

Basically, I'm saying DS9 is the most "un-Trek" show in the franchise (and it's all the better for it!).

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m looking ahead at the upcoming episodes and one includes Trials and Tribble-ations. I’d forgotten that the TOS blu ray set has this episode upscaled. When I get to this episode, I’ll have to watch that version.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I compared both the upscaled version on the TOS Blu-ray, and the actual standard def DVD version upscaled via my Oppo, and I was hard pressed to see a difference. I wish I did but I don’t think it matters much which you pick. I did rip both to my HTPC and one day I’ll A/B them to see if the Plex/AppleTV upscaling makes a difference.

 

[Nelson Au]

Ha, ha! Thanks Josh, I was going to pull my TOS disc out to make an MKV file of Trials and Tribble-ations. I just got done doing the entire DS9 5th season DVD. If I get it done, I’ll do an A/B test too.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

and frequently bump up against the traditional Roddenberry values.

If the franchise would have stuck to that then it would have died after TNG Season 2.

 

[Josh Dial]

If the franchise would have stuck to that then it would have died after TNG Season 2.

I completely agree.

 

[Nelson Au]

The next episode of DS9 in my re-watch is Trials and Tribble ations.

I was in a great mood today for some happy Star Trek. I did make MKV files for Star Trek DS9’s Trials and Tribble ations from both the DS9 DVD and the TOS blu ray. It was pretty cool to see that I was given the choice in Infuse for play either version. I played a few minutes of the teaser of the upscaled version. What I noticed most was the color boost. But then I realized, I have to stop and go back and watch The Trouble with Tribbles. That was fun because I haven’t seen it in a while. ( Coincidentally, what was also kind of interesting was earlier in the day I watched a Get Smart episode with William Schallert as a guest playing Admiral Hargreaves. )

it’s interesting to see now in light of all the Star Trek series that have come after. The Klingons have been developed so much since this episode was made. They are not the urbane type like Koloth. Though Korax’s meanness is very Klingon in the sense of the later Ron Moore shows. So now in the period of Discovery, seeing how Ash Tyler came about, it gives new light to how Arne Darvin could have been made into a human. What an edge that gave The Trouble with Tribbles. The Trouble with Tribbles was a light comedy. And for me it now has a another layer to it.

So next, I’ll be looking forward to Trials and Tribbles ations.

 

[Sam Favate]

I've been moving along through season 4, and watched Crossfire and Return to Grace recently. I liked them both, with some caveats. Crossfire is a nice character episode for Odo, although writing him as a sad, lovesick man is overdone at times. We already knew Odo was lonely from the beginning of the series, being the only one of his kind, and later, when we find his people, being separate from them. Also, the scene between Odo and Shakaar is a bit cringe-worthy, especially when Shakaar asks if Kira has ever said anything about him. Shakaar is the prime minister of his planet; he would not discuss romantic relationships with a stranger, especially if, as we learn in the next episode, he had relations with all the women in his resistance cell.

Return to Grace nicely sets up Dukat's next story arc, which establishes his ambition and will carry him through the end of the series. It's a nice two-person play between Dukat and Kira. The photography on this episode stands out, with the backlit displays on the two ships providing an abundance of color, which is a nice backdrop to the main action, which is the ongoing dialogue between Kira and Dukat. It's great that the writers still have her hating him, which is natural given her past and his. Nana Visitor had really grown as an actress by this point, and the restraint she shows in some scenes is very effective and some of her best work.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Today I watched:

• 4x13 - "Crossfire": This episode is basically a character piece, as Odo's unrequited feelings for Major Kira come to a head as she begins a relationship with First Minister Shakaar. I thought this story thread had been well handled up to this point, but I didn't quite buy Odo turning into such a mess. I also think the love triangle undermined Shakaar's character a bit; when he was introduced, he was a man taciturn man who spoke with his actions more than his words. They made him a bit too much like Kira's last love interest here, Vedek Bareil. I just didn't buy that Shakaar, this feared terrorist and badass of the Bajoran Resistance would be hemming and hawing to Odo about his schoolboy crush. The only thing that really redeemed it a little for me was Quark's concern for his longtime frenemy.
  
  
• 4x14 - "Return to Grace": This episode picks up where "Indiscretion" left off; as Kira is reunited with Dukat we learn that he has paid a steep price for publicly acknowledging Tora Ziyal as his daughter -- demoted from one of Cardassia's top military leaders to a freighter captain, abandoned by the rest of his family, and forced to stand by while a young upstart plows his wife. It's the second episode in a row center around an unrequited crush on Major Kira, but this one worked a bit better for me, because there were other things going on. Perhaps the most important is the way that the paths of Kira and Dukat have diverged since the end of the occupation; Kira has grown into her role as a civilization administrator aboard Deep Space Nine, while Dukat is unable or unwilling to move beyond his identity as a soldier. As the conflict between Cardassia and the Klingon Empire evolves, he is forced to become more like the person Kira used to be, while Kira can see how far she's come from being that person. The bigger consequence that Kira has taken responsibility for Tora Ziyal as her ward, placing a person whose very existence poses a challenge to both Bajor and Cardassia on board a station that is at the nexus of so many regional conflicts.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thought I’d chime in on my viewing of Trials and Tribble ations. This is an episode I’ve seen several times and it’s always a fun watch. They did a great job and their love of TOS shows. Again, in the age of Discovery, my thinking of how Arne Darvin came about is now altered.

I’ll be interested in how Adam reacts to the episode. I just wanted to say that this was the first time I watched the blu ray version of Trials. What I noticed the most was the bump in color. In the opening credits, the DS9 space station shots during the opening credits looks very purple. You can see the color of the model much more then before! Live action I didn’t notice that much of an improvement. The effects shots do have shimmering from the aliasing. But it was watchable!

 

[Sam Favate]

I recently watched Sons of Mohg and Bar Association, two very good episodes from the fourth season.

I always liked Tony Todd as Kurn. I wish we'd seen more of that character in the shows. This was a typically thoughtful Ron Moore script about Worf's actions impacting more than just him. I always thought Kurn deserved better than he got, and I always hoped they'd bring him back and correct what happened to him (it wasn't for nothing that Bashir said reversing the process was "almost impossible").

Bar Association was another good one about brothers. I loved how they introduced the concept of the union to Ferengi society, where it would be hated. This, and the recent episode focusing on Dukat, is really where DS9 started to craft entire episodes on the supporting cast. By the end of the series, the show will have the most well-developed supporting cast of any Star Trek, before or since. DS9 is rich with characters in a way that the other shows aren't. Rom's journey really begins here, and it's nice to see his connection to Leeta is there from the beginning.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I've always said that I prefer the secondary characters of DS9 to the main ones on VOY.

 

[Sam Favate]

I've been moving through the fourth season, and saw The Quickening last night. It's long been one of my favorites, and it's about the best Bashir episode in the series. Bashir has always been a little arrogant, and this episode lets him see the dangers in that. The exchange he has with Dax about his arrogance is great, and harkens back to the Spock-McCoy discussions. And what a brilliant move to take this story, which could be seen as a common Star Trek tale, and make it part of the Dominion storyline. What's more, the opening segment, where Quark is called on for his intrusive advertising is one of the funniest in the series. I woke up with the jingle in my head ("Come to Quark's/ Quark's is fun/ Come to Quark's/ Don't walk, RUN!").

Several of the last few episodes are among my favorites: To The Death, which lets us see both sides of the Jem'Hadar and gives our cast a chance to engage with them; For the Uniform, which greatly expands the Maquis problem more than Voyager ever did, and gives Sisko another headache, not to mention a very personal stake in apprehending the Maquis. (And Kassidy has to go jail!) Hard Time was a great annual "torture O'Brien" episode, so much so that it's unlikely he could adjust to going back to work so fast. What he went through was traumatic, along the lines of Picard's experience with the Borg and in The Inner Light. Accession is another one I liked, since it showed Sisko's unease at being the Emissary and showed growth for him in accepting it, plus it has the great Richard Libertini. Rules of Engagement is another good one, with great performances from everyone, including Ron Canada, even if the script is a little predictable in the end. I even enjoyed The Muse, which is one that gets overlooked, as the final appearance of Lwaxana and a nice Jake story that helps his character grow. The writers were on fire in season four and they only get better.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m one episode away from finishing the 5th season. I won’t go over each episode as Adam is doing a great job at it. .

There has been several really good ones this season, the whole season has been very good. I also noticed it was interesting that Avery Brooks doesn’t appear in all the episodes, or he just has one scene with one or two lines of dialogue. last night I saw the episode, In The Cards. I remembered that episode very well as it was good fun, and the episode before, Empok Nor is a really good Alien kind of episode.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’ve moved onto the forrh episode of the 6th season, Behind the Lines. Good stuff. I was thinking it was sort of like By Any Other Name from TOS.

It has one of my favorite

Spoiler: Lines.

I drank kanar with Damar.

 

[Sam Favate]

I finished season 4 last week. Still one of the best seasons of Star Trek. Taking a break before beginning season 5 to watch another show, but we plan to finish DS9 in the new year.