Synopsis/Review, "Emissary"
From: ckeroack@hamp.hampshire.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current,rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: DSN: *Spoilers* Synopsis/Review, "Emissary"
Date: 7 Jan 93 15:05:40 EDT
Organization: Hampshire College
Message-ID: <1993Jan7.150540.1@hamp.hampshire.edu>
Lines: 550
Note: I apologize for any misspellings. The only ones I know of are Kai Opaka
and the fact that I never gave Major Kira a last (excuse me, all you
Bajorans... *first* ;) ) name: Nerys. Other than that... deal. I worked damned
hard on this. =)
As my friend put it (heavily paraphrasing):
Space, the final frontier. Only way on the edge of it.
These are the voyages of something which, when operating within
safety parameters, shouldn't go too fast.
It's continuing mission:
To be able to make a decent cup of coffee without a
systems failure;
To wait for New Life (tm) and New Civilizations (tm) to
come by and try to stake claim to the quadrant;
To boldly STAY.... RIGHT.... HERE!!!
Well. As if I have to put spoiler protection on this at all, considering
that our local Fox station is and has always been rather slow between the time
of satellite uplink and the airdate (I just saw it for the first time on Tuesday
night, and the regular series for the Boston/Hartford area doesn't start until
the 16th)....
*Spoilers like crazy for the premiere of Deep Space Nine*
*Moderately detailed synopsis and review below*
Emissary, Episode #741 (hereafter broadcast as episodes #401 and #402)
Opening crawl:
On Stardate 43997, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Fedaration Starship
Enterprise was kidnapped for six days by an invading force known as the
Borg. Surgically altered, he was forced to lead an assault on Starfleet
at Wolf 359.
Locutus (Jean-Luc's altered identity) is shown giving
instructions to the fleet to power down their weapons and escort the
Borg to sector 001 (Earth).
The starship Saratoga joins the battle at Wolf 359 as other
ships rush in to try desperately to intercept the Borg craft. The
Saratoga is having about as much success as the rest of the fleet, which
is to say that their shields are failing, they've got a warp core breach
and suddenly there's an explosion on the bridge. Only the bridge's first
officer and an engineering lieutenant survive the explosion, and the
first officer immediately calls for everyone to get to emergency escape
pods. The first officer stumbles through the wreckage, asking people
"Have you seen Jennifer?". He goes into what appears to have recently
been his family's quarters; as we see the devastation outside, he picks
through the rubble and finds his son, Jake, miraculously still alive.
The engineering officer takes the first officer's son and instructs
someone else to get him to an escape pod, while the first officer comes
across his wife under some fallen support beams. The lieutenant quickly
comes by and does a scan with his tricorder; she's dead. He drags the
first officer away, who's screaming "No! We can't just leave her
here..." and eventually he gets to the escape pods with his son just
barely in time, watching the Saratoga get completely destroyed not even a
minute after they escape.
Stardate 46379.1, 3 years later. Commander Benjamin Sisko is now
going to be taking over Starfleet operation of an abandoned space
station in orbit of the planet Bajor, which is recovering from a long,
bloody war with the Caradassians. On a holodeck fishing program he
catches up with his son, Jake, and reassures him that life on the
station will be "just like shore leave".
The Fedaration has been following the situation closely and
wants to follow up the recent Cardassian retreat out of Bajoran
territories with a symbol of their presence in the sector. That presence
is to be Deep Space Nine, this sprawling space station which was looted
for all it was worth before the Cardassians left, leaving the station
barely operational and its former trade center and crew without a
livlihood or in some cases a home, as Sisko finds out when touring the
station with the person who is to be his chief of operations, Chief
O'Brien, formerly of the Starship Enterprise. During the tour Sisko is
approached by a mysterious man in Bajoran ceremonial robes who greets
Sisko with "Welcome... the Prophets await you...". "Another time,
perhaps", he replies. Sisko ignores a request to meet with Captain
Picard and proceeds with his inspection of the station.
He has his first encounter with Major Kira, a Bajoran national
specifically requested because Sisko wanted a Bajoran first officer to able to
have a better handle on the local politics. He tells her, amicably
enough, that he planned to stop by her office (which was formerly that
of the Cardassian prefect, and designed to be looked up at in awe) and
introduce himself ("...and *then* take the office.") She tells him in no
uncertain terms that she doesn't want the Fedaration getting involved, that
the Bajor had been fighting for decades to get the Cardassians out and now a
great many people would like to go against the wishes of the provisional
government and have the system to themselves with no outside influence,
since the Fedaration's claim of wanting to only be present to
administrate is the same thing the Cardassians said 60 years ago.
Their conversation is interrupted by a security breach. Major Kira
immediately informs the local security officer, Odo, about it, who
replies that he had no clue of such a thing since his own security grid
was down for 2 hours. Sisko, Kira and Odo converge on the sight of the
break-in where a Ferengi youth and his companion are stealing ore
samples. The Ferengi's friend tries to brain Odo with a spiked mace, but
Odo is a shapeshifter, and is able to distort his head in such a way as
to let the object pass through him harmlessly. The boys try to escape
and Odo subdues one, Kira and Sisko stopping the other while Sisko fires
his phaser close to the boy that Odo has. Odo immediately bristles,
announcing that there are to be no weapons on the Promenade. Another
Ferengi comes in and introduces himself as Quark, a person who recently
ran the local gambling establishments and who claims the Ferengi youth,
Nog, to be "...my brother's boy." He tries to smooth-talk the boy away from
Sisko, who promptly has Odo lock Nog up in the brig. Picard hails the station
for the second time, and Sisko excuses himself, muttering that "...this
won't take long."
Onboard the Enterprise, Picard greets Sisko, who responds with
"It's been a long time." "Have we met before, Commander?" "Yes, sir. In
battle. At Wolf 3. 5. 9." The rest of the conversation is awkward, with
Picard being reluctant but willing to get in touch with Starfleet
Command about finding a replacement for Sisko, who doesn't care for the
assignment and would be even willing to retire into civil service as
long as he can find a way to raise his son. Picard reminds him that one
doesn't always get an ideal assignment. Sisko notes the Bajor are very
resistant to the idea of the Fedaration presence here and that perhaps
they just aren't ready to be admitted in. Picard, a strong proponent of
Bajoran entry into the Fedaration, states that short of violating the
Prime directive and in spite of the locals' opinion about the Fedaration,
Sisko's job is to make the station a good way of revitalizing the Bajoran
economy. Sisko replies that even though he's unhappy with the
assignment, in the interim he will do the job that he was sent to do to
the best of his ability, letting his pride in himself and his hatred for
Picard show very clearly in his tone of voice and face.
Later, on DSN, Sisko uses Nog as a bargaining tool to get Quark
to stay and be a "community leader", citing Quark's popularity and
potential to get the Promenade going again as a center of commerce.
Quark laughs this off, saying that the provisional government is *too*
provisional for his liking and that his kind is "... the first to be
lined up and shot" if the gov't should fall. Sisko reassures him that
as long as Quark runs an honest game (which Odo clearly doubts will
happen, as he's had many problems with Quark for the past 4 years or
so), then everything will be fine.
Sisko runs into Major Kira later, who is helping with the
cleanup effort since most other personnel are busy trying to get things
working. He starts to assist her and she informs him, (in between comments
about how most Fedaration officers don't like getting their hands dirty
in these situations), that the Bajor are teetering on the edge of civil
war with things being the way that they are and that religion is the
only things holding the place together. The best chance for keeping the peace
on Bajor is to have the influence of the Bajoran spiritual leader, Kai Aupaka.
Kai Aupaka lives in seclusion from normal society but if she calls for unity
amongst the Bajor, then they'll unite, which is better than the Fedaration
could ever do since Kira is certain that they'll be gone within a week.
Sisko is summoned to a Bajoran temple, where he meets with Kai
Aupaka. She speaks to him in riddles and philosophies, asking if he's
explored his "pa", or spiritual center of courage, and tells him to
"look for courage from within". He asks about the Bajoran situation and
how she can help him, and she replies that "I cannot give you give you
what you deny yourself". She shows him a mystic religious relic, The
Tier of The Prophet, and as Sisko stares into this orb he is
transported into his memories, where he interacts with the memory of the
first time he met his wife, Jennifer, when he was a junior officer. He
is brought back and informed that over the past 10000 years, 9 such orbs
have appeared to the Bajor, with this orb being the only one in their
possession, the other 8 being held by the Cardassians. Sisko is
predestined to use the orb to find the Celestial Temple and a way of
keeping the Cardassians from destroying the temple and/or stripping the orbs
of their powers.
Sisko returns to DSN with the orb, visits his son in a wave of
nostalgia over Jennifer, and accompanies Kira to the Promenade, where
Quark has made it come alive with music, drinking and gambling. Sisko is
very obviously pleased with Quark's decision to stay and help.
Stardate 46930.1: The Enterprise takes off for another system,
but not before offloading 3 Runabout class vessels, sort of shuttles
with attitudes. The Medical and Science officers are loaded on, and
Sisko catches up with an "old friend": Lt. Jadzia Dax, a 300-year-old
Trill who resides in the body of a beautiful young woman as his host
creature. Dax and Sisko talk amiably, Sisko remarking about how the last
body that Dax had was that of an old man, so this will take some getting
used to on his part... and has she/he told the new doctor on board about
the facts of life for a Trill? Dax informs him that yes, she/he has told
Doctor Bashir and that the doctor finds it fascinating, implying that
the two are, at the very least, very good friends.
Doctor Bashir is wide-eyed and full of wonder in his new
quarters, this being his first assignment. Kira, whose has shown him
here, wonders at his sanity, to which the self-assured young man replies
that he could have had any job in Starfleet but he wanted to be "on the
frontier", not in some stuffy starship or on a research grant. He sees
this "wilderness" as the place "where heroes are made". Kira promptly
reminds him that this "wilderness" is her homeland and takes great
offense at him, requesting: "Why don't you go and bring your Fedaration
medecine to the natives. You'll find them a friendly, simple folk.." and
storming off.
While Sisko does some library research on the Orb, Dax starts
using the computer to do the same and has contact with Orb much like
Sisko did, flashback-ing to her joining with the Trill.
O'Brien takes one last longing look at the bridge of the
Enterprise, then heads for his favorite transporter room, Number 3.
Picard comes by, noting that the other day he had absent-mindedly called
for O'Brien out of habit and that the ship wouldn't be quite the same
without him. He beams O'Brien over and the Enterprise clears its docking
latches.
The former Cardassian prefect, Gul Ducat, comes by to greet
Sisko, stating that the station has rather poor defenses and that their
"Cardassian neighbors" will be very quick to respond to any "problems".
He inquires about the orb, suggesting perhaps an exchange of information
about it since they thought that they had all of them. Sisko promptly
feigns ignorance about the orb, and invites Gul Ducat to stop by
whenever he feels like seeing his old office again. Ducat asks if
there's any problem with his men enjoying themselves in the Promenade,
and Sisko indicates there's no problem.
Dax's research uncovers a pattern of orb appearances in the
Denores Belt, a charged plasma field a short ways from DSN. 5 orbs were
discovered in this region, and a former Kai of the Bajor had a vision in
which 'the heavens opened up and nearly swallowed the ship'.
Investigation of the area would be a bad idea considering the
Cardassians are right there, so Kira closes down the Promenade for a
while, forcing the Cardassians to take their winnings home... and their
winnings bag turns out to be none other than Odo, who shifts back into
humanoid form and sneaks about disabling the ship's computers, shields
and sensors. O'Brien is not all that familiar with Cardassian
transporters, but a swift kick to the console and Odo is transported
back in good time as Dax and Sisko take a Runabout to the Denores
belt... and promptly disappear from DSN's sensor array.
Dax and Sisko find themselves next to the Edron system, in Gamma
Quadrant, nearly 70000 light years from the Bajoran system. They
postulate that they encountered a wormhole, though it put out none of
the usual signals of such... this, couple with some more dedcutive
reasoning about the wormhole's emissions and a theory that the orbs came
through the wormhole leads them to believe that they have actually
discovered the first *stable* wormhole, since by their estimates tit had
to have been there for at least 10000 years. They plot a course to go
back through, and on the return trip their ship mysteriously slows, then
lands on a surface capable of supporting life.
Sisko steps out and sees a barren, rocky ledge with lightning
storms all around. Dax, however, steps out to a lush, green field and a
clear blue sky. Even though they see different environments, they do
have 2 sights in common: each other and an approaching orb, which probes
them both. Sisko greets it and they are promptly struck by intense
energy beams. Dax disappears and the universe literally crumbles and
falls away from Sisko until all that is left is himself and the sound of
his own heartbeat.
On DSN, the wormhole pops out an orb, which transports Dax back
to the station. They postulate that the Cardassians probably also saw
this, since they've had time to recover from the sabotage...
Sisko is cycling through all sorts of images: Jennifer, Picard,
his son, Kai Aupaka. These images are used to communicate with him as
Sisko has first contact with an utterly alien being: they are
unaccustomed to corporeal form, visual/auditory stimuli, linguistic
communication, and most peculiarly of all, have no knowledge of linear
time.
On DSN, Dax thinks that the orb maker is also the wormhole
maker, prompting an investigation into the wormhole. She, Bashir, Kira
and Odo (who was discovered near the Denores belt and has no knowledge
of who or what he is and must try to find out) take a Runabout there
after Kira and O'Brien come up with a theory to lighten the station
enough to maneuver it towards the wormhole site in order to claim it
(grudgingly, Kira has decided that Starfleet's presence would
significantly help Bajor claim the wormhole).
In the wormhole, humanity is accused of being an aggressive
people who come to destroy. Sisko defends his race by stating that all
of humanity respects life above all else and that he is the sum of his
experiences, the events from his past, and if the wormhole entity is
judging him on those then it should look more closely. Being a species
not used to linear time, this only confuses them even more...
O'Brien, after some verbal sparring with and a manual override
of the computer, manages to establish a partial field which makes moving
the station easier for the engines. Meanwhile, the Cardassians are also
heading for the wormhole despite the Runabout crew's attempt to dissuade
them....
Sisko tries to explain the concept of loss to the entity,
touring first the day that he proposed a family to Jennifer, then the
day that he lost her, and the entity ask him why he exists there (there
= the burning Saratoga)...
The Cardassian ship enters the wormhole and the wormhole
collapses right before the Runabout can get to it...
The entity is extremely miffed now, since another ship has
entered it and the linear nature of the humans and the Cardassians is
inherently disruptive to it. It asks how Sisko can claim responsibility
for his experiences and Sisko replies that people make their best guess
as to how things will go based on past experience, and in this way take
responsibility for whatever happens in the uncertain future. He finally
is inspired to use a baseball game as a metaphor for linear time: all
life is a series of best guesses, with the past preparing one for the
future and the entire pattern unclear until the end. Competition and the
unknown are the meat and drink of humans, and Sisko further explains
that they are there to coexist, not to conquer with words or ideas. The
entity seems satisfied now, but has only one more question: why, then,
does Sisko exist 'here' (here being the burning wreck of the Saratoga
again)?.....
3 Cardassian warships catch up with DSN at the wormhole site and
ask where Ducat is. Kira tries to explain about the wormhole but since
it doesn't read as a wormhole normally would, they don't buy it and
begin jamming DSN's communications and powering phasers. Kira promptly
reacts: "Red alert, shields up!" O'Brien replies: "What shields?"
Kira asks for a day to prepare for "surrender". The Cardassian commander
gives them an hour. O'Brien establishes a partial force field, but the
central docking ring is still their Achilles' heel. The Enterprise is
still 20 hours away and surrender is not an option, considering what
Cardassians do to prisoners....
Sisko states that the entity brought them to the Saratoga. The
entity insists that he did it himself; he exists there. Sisko asks for
the power to exist elsewhere, to which the form of Kai Aupaka replies:
"Look for solutions from within.. I cannot give you what you deny
yourself." He explains death to them, which they see as the termination
of his linear existence. He realizes that he still grieves for Jennifer, sees
her constantly, misses her immensely. He doesn't know how to live
without her, and does indeed exist still on the Saratoga in a fashion,
coming to the conclusion that in a way time is not linear...
Time runs out for DSN and Kira defiantly states that as a
Bajoran she's very used to fighting losing battles and promptly fires a
warning shot of 6 photorps across the lead ship's bow. They're all the
photorps that they have, but O'Brien has set up a field which fools the
Cardassians into scanning 5000 photorps and many many more phaser arrays
than the station actually has. The Cardassian commander and his second
officer bicker on the point, and come to the conclusion that yes, it's
probably a ruse, and yes, the Cardassian 7th Order could be there in a
day if necessary... but then, so could the Fedaration. They might as
well try and strike now while they can, which they do, causing heavy
damage to the docking area of DSN. Bashir goes to tend to the sick with
a moderately squeamish Odo, and Kira is almost about to surrender when
the wormhole opens and Sisko's Runabout comes out... towing the
Cardassian ship behind them. The Cardassians disarm and leave.
Stardate 46393.1; The Enterprise returns and the wormhole-makers
agree to allow passage to the Gamma Quadrant. Picard meets with Sisko,
remarking that they've 'put Bajor on the map', since the wormhole will
be a reason for scientific study and the station will soon be culturally
and strategically important. Sisko is more amicable towards Picard now
and decides to stay on DSN, shaking hands with Picard and returning to
start repairs. Bashir wanders by on DSN with Odo, asking where one can
get in a little phaser practice; Quark hits on Kira significantly; Sisko
and O'Brien and Dax walk through talking about future repairs and with a
final view of the damaged Promenade, the series premiere ends.
*exhale significantly*
I ****sincerely**** hope that EVERY week's episode won't take me
4-5 hours to do a synopsis like this...
Please excuse anything I've missed, or any spelling errors; I
didn't have access to official Paramount spellings and hey, this is my
first time doing this. The only other time I've ever taken notes like
that was for research for a script I'm submitting...
Now. Impressions.
This is a ***very*** strong start. The direction was what struck
me most of all; it's the most "honest, ol'-fashioned" sci-fi I've seen
on Star Trek in quite some time, and a lot of it had to do with the
direction. The opening flashback to Wolf 359 was everything I had hoped
it would be, showing some of the best space battle sequences since BoBW
or the opening sequence to "Redemption II". The shot of the escape pod
blasting away from the Saratoga and the shots of Sisko in the window and
the Saratoga exploding simply had me open-mouthed with wonder. The
"2001" feeling of the Sisko-in-the-wormhole sequence was nice, too; why
can't we have direction like this regularly? Hmm?
The music actually fit the show very well, I thought; I didn't
find it irritating or flat like a lot of people seemed to. The theme
music was actually very very catchy on the second viewing, and it had a
quiet kind of majesty to it that was perectly appropriate. A TNG-style
triumphant-horns theme just wouldn't have worked. The music helped
communicate to me what I think will be the show's strongest point: The
action comes to it. Everything has to go there, rather than gallavanting
all over the place to look for trouble. =)
There's a feeling here, much more so than with Encounter at Farpoint
(which the show is and should inevitably be compared to just to get an idea of
how to guess the series' direction and scope), that the world, situation,
station and characters all had a past history and would continue on just fine
without us. All the characterization and development and world parameter
defining of the first 2-3 seasons of TNG brought TNG's characters right
about to the level of these DSN folk; it feels like it will be more a
process of discovery of character rather than invention of it as the
series goes on.
The plot itself was fair-to-middling, reasonable for a series
premiere. I could have done without the long exposition into Bajoran
mysticism, and had it not tied in so well with the wormhole encounter
and the way that the religion developed from the artifacts and their
powers, I think it seriously would have bogged things down. And had they
made any more jokes about how run down the station was on the order of
'What shields?' and 'What do you mean there's no food synthesizer?' then
it would've gotten annoying. But I think they pushed the limit without
overdoing it, and it made for some wonderful moments. My absolute
favorite being O'Brien kicking the transporter to get it to work.
Subconsciously, I've ****always**** wanted to see that. =)
So I guess all that's left to talk about are the characters
themselves:
Ben Sisko: Avery Brooks sounded like he'd be an excellent choice, and he
more than exceeded my expectations. Just plain riveting. A wonderfully
expressive bass voice (though this Shakesperian-actor kick of theirs
should stop ;) ) and an impressive presence. The tension between him and
Picard at the beginning was all that I hoped for,too, though I really
wish that they had left that open as a plot point for later episodes.
I'd *love* to see Sisko's reaction if he ever has to deal with a) the
Borg, b) Picard's future experience with the Borg or c) Picard
completely flipping out like I've been expecting him to for about a
season or so now. (Idle prediction: wouldn't it be a moderately neat way
to write out a character to have him go insane? By all rights,
considering now after events in Chain of Command, Picard *should* be a
few carrots short of a garden, if you catch my drift...)
Major Kira: Eh. I *really* don't see what all the big deal is. Her
character screams "Ensign Ro ripoff" to me. It would have felt a lot
better to me to have Michelle Forbes in there, somehow... I could tell
that right down to the mannerism and the white shirt under the uniform
and even the particular *way* the nose ridges are made that it should've
been Ro. I can see Visitor's character getting whiny and irritating
*real* fast. Which may be, in a limited sense, one of the reasons she's
in there to stir things up a bit... *shrug*. For what she was given, she
did well; I was cheering during the "we're just a bunch of friendly
local natives" speech to Bashir. =)
Lt. Jadzia Dax: Another eh. But not quite such a glaring eh. I can see
that this is all going to be made or broken by the episode "Dax" about a
month from now; Terry Farrell is quite able at projecting the image of a
300-yr-old-trapped-in-a-28-yr-old's-body. But if they (they = writers)
force it rather than let this image be projected by Farrell's acting,
then it's Troi all over again. I'm definitely interested to know more
about the character, particularly about Dax and Sisko (if they can get
the same old man for flashbacks =)).
Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, if any of the writers
are listening:
YOU SHOWED US IN "THE HOST", 4TH SEASON TNG, THAT
TRILLS
CAN'T
TRANSPORT
OR THE SLUG PORTION BUYS IT.
If I rememeber right. 'Nuff said. Get her her own
shuttle. =)
Chief O'Brien: YES. *That's* what O'Brien can do, *that's* who he is.
I'm glad Colm Meaney's in a position to really work with the character;
he does well as the engineer-asked-for-the-impossible-due-yesterday.
However.
He's another one that I'll have to wait and see on,
because I've never been overly impressed with Keiko. If the writers give
him and Keiko decent, moderately predictable but not overly cliched
interaction and conflict, then all will be well. Otherwise, 'keiko' will
become a dirty word on this show sort of like 'alexander' is on TNG.
Quark: Finally! A calculating, scheming, INTELLIGENT, semi-charming
Ferengi! A credit to the species. *This* is how a successful quasi-legal
capitalist works... equal parts charm, business sense, gambler's
intuition and downright scungy capitalist pig. Armin Shimmerman did
wonderfully with him. And though the 'i love a woman in uniform' line
was inconsistent with Ferengi culture it floored me. I thought it fit
perfectly. (I'd love to see him more actively pursue Kira. They have the
potential for a perverse kind of chemistry between them.)
Dr. Bahsir: Cute guy. =) He managed to do the idealistic kid routine
without overkill, which is impressive considering that the lines he had
had the potential to really grate on the nerves. But I think he has a
good chance to show his stuff as the token innocent (with a bit of
backbone... I'd like them to explain Odo's seeming squeamishness a bit
more). And please, please, please... make a definite stand as far as he
and Dax go, guys. Don't just make a paltry semi-romance subplot and drop
it like a certain pair on TNG we know and love. And I really want to
know how he honestly felt about the Trill being in a guy before. There's
the potential here to discuss a past 'hot topic' in Trek, if pulled off
right (Dax meets a former friend/lover of his, only Dax is in a woman's
body and the other one is *also* in a woman's body...?).
Odo: Lovable little curmudgeon. The morphing was tastefully done without
overkill. I really think that Rene Auberjonois (i'm only spelling it out
fully once =) ) has a comfortable part and can do well with it. I like
his past history with Quark; this was one of the main things which made
me feel like I was stumbling onto something in progress rather than
something was created *for* me. And my rationalization for why he could
be a duffel bag which doesn't look to have to same mass as his humanoid
form: his humanoid form is probably hollow. Or oddly distributed. Notice
when he tackles the young thief, and when he's in the Cardassian ship:
he has very fluid movements to him. Nicely done.
Jake Cisco: A normal kid on Trek! Yay! And this child actor is *really*
good; during the wormhole sequences he pulled off being the voice of the
entity really well. In some interviews, Avery Brooks has said that the 2
Siskos' relationship is more of friends than father and son; I could see
that, but I could also see that both of them responded to each other as
close relatives. It was believable.
The Cardassians: Ok. Nothing to write home about. Though I'd love to see
the former Prefect come visit; he could make for some good tension.
Particularly if he hasn't completely moved out of his "old office". ;)
*Phew!* Like I said, I hope it doesn't take me this long *every
week* to do this; I've put it about 6 hours on this thing, between
re-watching the episode and writing all this in 2 somewhat coherent
bursts. Hope it helps. =)
Da numbers:
Plot: 7. Good for a series premiere, kinda there for an episode of Trek.
Direction: 10. Yow. If this is their standard, then I'm impressed
already.
Characterization: 8. Not 10 only because I didn't see enough of the
doctor or the kid to make a good call and because Nana Visitor was
wholly unimpressive.
FX and sets: 10! May the next Borg episode have *nearly* that level of effects.
And the set design is just un-TNG enough to keep my interest; the
circular design of the station should free up directors for months to
come.
Which works out to about 8.something, which I will call 9. =)
Next Week:
I have no clue. Honestly. The local station talked over it, so
while I saw what looked to be a rousing terrorist episode, all I heard
about were Connecticut child molesters. *shrug*
Questions or complaints to:
ckeroack@hamp.hampshire.edu
--
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Submissions (w/SASE)| <--------- UpComing, The Magazine of Speculative Fiction
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Hampshire College, |} "How can anybody be enlightened/
Amherst,MA.,01002. |} Truth is, after all, so poorly lit"
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{|} -Rush, "Turn The Page", from 'Hold Your Fire'
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current,rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: DSN: *Spoilers* Synopsis/Review, "Emissary"
Date: 7 Jan 93 15:05:40 EDT
Organization: Hampshire College
Message-ID: <1993Jan7.150540.1@hamp.hampshire.edu>
Lines: 550
Note: I apologize for any misspellings. The only ones I know of are Kai Opaka
and the fact that I never gave Major Kira a last (excuse me, all you
Bajorans... *first* ;) ) name: Nerys. Other than that... deal. I worked damned
hard on this. =)
As my friend put it (heavily paraphrasing):
Space, the final frontier. Only way on the edge of it.
These are the voyages of something which, when operating within
safety parameters, shouldn't go too fast.
It's continuing mission:
To be able to make a decent cup of coffee without a
systems failure;
To wait for New Life (tm) and New Civilizations (tm) to
come by and try to stake claim to the quadrant;
To boldly STAY.... RIGHT.... HERE!!!
Well. As if I have to put spoiler protection on this at all, considering
that our local Fox station is and has always been rather slow between the time
of satellite uplink and the airdate (I just saw it for the first time on Tuesday
night, and the regular series for the Boston/Hartford area doesn't start until
the 16th)....
*Spoilers like crazy for the premiere of Deep Space Nine*
*Moderately detailed synopsis and review below*
Emissary, Episode #741 (hereafter broadcast as episodes #401 and #402)
Opening crawl:
On Stardate 43997, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Fedaration Starship
Enterprise was kidnapped for six days by an invading force known as the
Borg. Surgically altered, he was forced to lead an assault on Starfleet
at Wolf 359.
Locutus (Jean-Luc's altered identity) is shown giving
instructions to the fleet to power down their weapons and escort the
Borg to sector 001 (Earth).
The starship Saratoga joins the battle at Wolf 359 as other
ships rush in to try desperately to intercept the Borg craft. The
Saratoga is having about as much success as the rest of the fleet, which
is to say that their shields are failing, they've got a warp core breach
and suddenly there's an explosion on the bridge. Only the bridge's first
officer and an engineering lieutenant survive the explosion, and the
first officer immediately calls for everyone to get to emergency escape
pods. The first officer stumbles through the wreckage, asking people
"Have you seen Jennifer?". He goes into what appears to have recently
been his family's quarters; as we see the devastation outside, he picks
through the rubble and finds his son, Jake, miraculously still alive.
The engineering officer takes the first officer's son and instructs
someone else to get him to an escape pod, while the first officer comes
across his wife under some fallen support beams. The lieutenant quickly
comes by and does a scan with his tricorder; she's dead. He drags the
first officer away, who's screaming "No! We can't just leave her
here..." and eventually he gets to the escape pods with his son just
barely in time, watching the Saratoga get completely destroyed not even a
minute after they escape.
Stardate 46379.1, 3 years later. Commander Benjamin Sisko is now
going to be taking over Starfleet operation of an abandoned space
station in orbit of the planet Bajor, which is recovering from a long,
bloody war with the Caradassians. On a holodeck fishing program he
catches up with his son, Jake, and reassures him that life on the
station will be "just like shore leave".
The Fedaration has been following the situation closely and
wants to follow up the recent Cardassian retreat out of Bajoran
territories with a symbol of their presence in the sector. That presence
is to be Deep Space Nine, this sprawling space station which was looted
for all it was worth before the Cardassians left, leaving the station
barely operational and its former trade center and crew without a
livlihood or in some cases a home, as Sisko finds out when touring the
station with the person who is to be his chief of operations, Chief
O'Brien, formerly of the Starship Enterprise. During the tour Sisko is
approached by a mysterious man in Bajoran ceremonial robes who greets
Sisko with "Welcome... the Prophets await you...". "Another time,
perhaps", he replies. Sisko ignores a request to meet with Captain
Picard and proceeds with his inspection of the station.
He has his first encounter with Major Kira, a Bajoran national
specifically requested because Sisko wanted a Bajoran first officer to able to
have a better handle on the local politics. He tells her, amicably
enough, that he planned to stop by her office (which was formerly that
of the Cardassian prefect, and designed to be looked up at in awe) and
introduce himself ("...and *then* take the office.") She tells him in no
uncertain terms that she doesn't want the Fedaration getting involved, that
the Bajor had been fighting for decades to get the Cardassians out and now a
great many people would like to go against the wishes of the provisional
government and have the system to themselves with no outside influence,
since the Fedaration's claim of wanting to only be present to
administrate is the same thing the Cardassians said 60 years ago.
Their conversation is interrupted by a security breach. Major Kira
immediately informs the local security officer, Odo, about it, who
replies that he had no clue of such a thing since his own security grid
was down for 2 hours. Sisko, Kira and Odo converge on the sight of the
break-in where a Ferengi youth and his companion are stealing ore
samples. The Ferengi's friend tries to brain Odo with a spiked mace, but
Odo is a shapeshifter, and is able to distort his head in such a way as
to let the object pass through him harmlessly. The boys try to escape
and Odo subdues one, Kira and Sisko stopping the other while Sisko fires
his phaser close to the boy that Odo has. Odo immediately bristles,
announcing that there are to be no weapons on the Promenade. Another
Ferengi comes in and introduces himself as Quark, a person who recently
ran the local gambling establishments and who claims the Ferengi youth,
Nog, to be "...my brother's boy." He tries to smooth-talk the boy away from
Sisko, who promptly has Odo lock Nog up in the brig. Picard hails the station
for the second time, and Sisko excuses himself, muttering that "...this
won't take long."
Onboard the Enterprise, Picard greets Sisko, who responds with
"It's been a long time." "Have we met before, Commander?" "Yes, sir. In
battle. At Wolf 3. 5. 9." The rest of the conversation is awkward, with
Picard being reluctant but willing to get in touch with Starfleet
Command about finding a replacement for Sisko, who doesn't care for the
assignment and would be even willing to retire into civil service as
long as he can find a way to raise his son. Picard reminds him that one
doesn't always get an ideal assignment. Sisko notes the Bajor are very
resistant to the idea of the Fedaration presence here and that perhaps
they just aren't ready to be admitted in. Picard, a strong proponent of
Bajoran entry into the Fedaration, states that short of violating the
Prime directive and in spite of the locals' opinion about the Fedaration,
Sisko's job is to make the station a good way of revitalizing the Bajoran
economy. Sisko replies that even though he's unhappy with the
assignment, in the interim he will do the job that he was sent to do to
the best of his ability, letting his pride in himself and his hatred for
Picard show very clearly in his tone of voice and face.
Later, on DSN, Sisko uses Nog as a bargaining tool to get Quark
to stay and be a "community leader", citing Quark's popularity and
potential to get the Promenade going again as a center of commerce.
Quark laughs this off, saying that the provisional government is *too*
provisional for his liking and that his kind is "... the first to be
lined up and shot" if the gov't should fall. Sisko reassures him that
as long as Quark runs an honest game (which Odo clearly doubts will
happen, as he's had many problems with Quark for the past 4 years or
so), then everything will be fine.
Sisko runs into Major Kira later, who is helping with the
cleanup effort since most other personnel are busy trying to get things
working. He starts to assist her and she informs him, (in between comments
about how most Fedaration officers don't like getting their hands dirty
in these situations), that the Bajor are teetering on the edge of civil
war with things being the way that they are and that religion is the
only things holding the place together. The best chance for keeping the peace
on Bajor is to have the influence of the Bajoran spiritual leader, Kai Aupaka.
Kai Aupaka lives in seclusion from normal society but if she calls for unity
amongst the Bajor, then they'll unite, which is better than the Fedaration
could ever do since Kira is certain that they'll be gone within a week.
Sisko is summoned to a Bajoran temple, where he meets with Kai
Aupaka. She speaks to him in riddles and philosophies, asking if he's
explored his "pa", or spiritual center of courage, and tells him to
"look for courage from within". He asks about the Bajoran situation and
how she can help him, and she replies that "I cannot give you give you
what you deny yourself". She shows him a mystic religious relic, The
Tier of The Prophet, and as Sisko stares into this orb he is
transported into his memories, where he interacts with the memory of the
first time he met his wife, Jennifer, when he was a junior officer. He
is brought back and informed that over the past 10000 years, 9 such orbs
have appeared to the Bajor, with this orb being the only one in their
possession, the other 8 being held by the Cardassians. Sisko is
predestined to use the orb to find the Celestial Temple and a way of
keeping the Cardassians from destroying the temple and/or stripping the orbs
of their powers.
Sisko returns to DSN with the orb, visits his son in a wave of
nostalgia over Jennifer, and accompanies Kira to the Promenade, where
Quark has made it come alive with music, drinking and gambling. Sisko is
very obviously pleased with Quark's decision to stay and help.
Stardate 46930.1: The Enterprise takes off for another system,
but not before offloading 3 Runabout class vessels, sort of shuttles
with attitudes. The Medical and Science officers are loaded on, and
Sisko catches up with an "old friend": Lt. Jadzia Dax, a 300-year-old
Trill who resides in the body of a beautiful young woman as his host
creature. Dax and Sisko talk amiably, Sisko remarking about how the last
body that Dax had was that of an old man, so this will take some getting
used to on his part... and has she/he told the new doctor on board about
the facts of life for a Trill? Dax informs him that yes, she/he has told
Doctor Bashir and that the doctor finds it fascinating, implying that
the two are, at the very least, very good friends.
Doctor Bashir is wide-eyed and full of wonder in his new
quarters, this being his first assignment. Kira, whose has shown him
here, wonders at his sanity, to which the self-assured young man replies
that he could have had any job in Starfleet but he wanted to be "on the
frontier", not in some stuffy starship or on a research grant. He sees
this "wilderness" as the place "where heroes are made". Kira promptly
reminds him that this "wilderness" is her homeland and takes great
offense at him, requesting: "Why don't you go and bring your Fedaration
medecine to the natives. You'll find them a friendly, simple folk.." and
storming off.
While Sisko does some library research on the Orb, Dax starts
using the computer to do the same and has contact with Orb much like
Sisko did, flashback-ing to her joining with the Trill.
O'Brien takes one last longing look at the bridge of the
Enterprise, then heads for his favorite transporter room, Number 3.
Picard comes by, noting that the other day he had absent-mindedly called
for O'Brien out of habit and that the ship wouldn't be quite the same
without him. He beams O'Brien over and the Enterprise clears its docking
latches.
The former Cardassian prefect, Gul Ducat, comes by to greet
Sisko, stating that the station has rather poor defenses and that their
"Cardassian neighbors" will be very quick to respond to any "problems".
He inquires about the orb, suggesting perhaps an exchange of information
about it since they thought that they had all of them. Sisko promptly
feigns ignorance about the orb, and invites Gul Ducat to stop by
whenever he feels like seeing his old office again. Ducat asks if
there's any problem with his men enjoying themselves in the Promenade,
and Sisko indicates there's no problem.
Dax's research uncovers a pattern of orb appearances in the
Denores Belt, a charged plasma field a short ways from DSN. 5 orbs were
discovered in this region, and a former Kai of the Bajor had a vision in
which 'the heavens opened up and nearly swallowed the ship'.
Investigation of the area would be a bad idea considering the
Cardassians are right there, so Kira closes down the Promenade for a
while, forcing the Cardassians to take their winnings home... and their
winnings bag turns out to be none other than Odo, who shifts back into
humanoid form and sneaks about disabling the ship's computers, shields
and sensors. O'Brien is not all that familiar with Cardassian
transporters, but a swift kick to the console and Odo is transported
back in good time as Dax and Sisko take a Runabout to the Denores
belt... and promptly disappear from DSN's sensor array.
Dax and Sisko find themselves next to the Edron system, in Gamma
Quadrant, nearly 70000 light years from the Bajoran system. They
postulate that they encountered a wormhole, though it put out none of
the usual signals of such... this, couple with some more dedcutive
reasoning about the wormhole's emissions and a theory that the orbs came
through the wormhole leads them to believe that they have actually
discovered the first *stable* wormhole, since by their estimates tit had
to have been there for at least 10000 years. They plot a course to go
back through, and on the return trip their ship mysteriously slows, then
lands on a surface capable of supporting life.
Sisko steps out and sees a barren, rocky ledge with lightning
storms all around. Dax, however, steps out to a lush, green field and a
clear blue sky. Even though they see different environments, they do
have 2 sights in common: each other and an approaching orb, which probes
them both. Sisko greets it and they are promptly struck by intense
energy beams. Dax disappears and the universe literally crumbles and
falls away from Sisko until all that is left is himself and the sound of
his own heartbeat.
On DSN, the wormhole pops out an orb, which transports Dax back
to the station. They postulate that the Cardassians probably also saw
this, since they've had time to recover from the sabotage...
Sisko is cycling through all sorts of images: Jennifer, Picard,
his son, Kai Aupaka. These images are used to communicate with him as
Sisko has first contact with an utterly alien being: they are
unaccustomed to corporeal form, visual/auditory stimuli, linguistic
communication, and most peculiarly of all, have no knowledge of linear
time.
On DSN, Dax thinks that the orb maker is also the wormhole
maker, prompting an investigation into the wormhole. She, Bashir, Kira
and Odo (who was discovered near the Denores belt and has no knowledge
of who or what he is and must try to find out) take a Runabout there
after Kira and O'Brien come up with a theory to lighten the station
enough to maneuver it towards the wormhole site in order to claim it
(grudgingly, Kira has decided that Starfleet's presence would
significantly help Bajor claim the wormhole).
In the wormhole, humanity is accused of being an aggressive
people who come to destroy. Sisko defends his race by stating that all
of humanity respects life above all else and that he is the sum of his
experiences, the events from his past, and if the wormhole entity is
judging him on those then it should look more closely. Being a species
not used to linear time, this only confuses them even more...
O'Brien, after some verbal sparring with and a manual override
of the computer, manages to establish a partial field which makes moving
the station easier for the engines. Meanwhile, the Cardassians are also
heading for the wormhole despite the Runabout crew's attempt to dissuade
them....
Sisko tries to explain the concept of loss to the entity,
touring first the day that he proposed a family to Jennifer, then the
day that he lost her, and the entity ask him why he exists there (there
= the burning Saratoga)...
The Cardassian ship enters the wormhole and the wormhole
collapses right before the Runabout can get to it...
The entity is extremely miffed now, since another ship has
entered it and the linear nature of the humans and the Cardassians is
inherently disruptive to it. It asks how Sisko can claim responsibility
for his experiences and Sisko replies that people make their best guess
as to how things will go based on past experience, and in this way take
responsibility for whatever happens in the uncertain future. He finally
is inspired to use a baseball game as a metaphor for linear time: all
life is a series of best guesses, with the past preparing one for the
future and the entire pattern unclear until the end. Competition and the
unknown are the meat and drink of humans, and Sisko further explains
that they are there to coexist, not to conquer with words or ideas. The
entity seems satisfied now, but has only one more question: why, then,
does Sisko exist 'here' (here being the burning wreck of the Saratoga
again)?.....
3 Cardassian warships catch up with DSN at the wormhole site and
ask where Ducat is. Kira tries to explain about the wormhole but since
it doesn't read as a wormhole normally would, they don't buy it and
begin jamming DSN's communications and powering phasers. Kira promptly
reacts: "Red alert, shields up!" O'Brien replies: "What shields?"
Kira asks for a day to prepare for "surrender". The Cardassian commander
gives them an hour. O'Brien establishes a partial force field, but the
central docking ring is still their Achilles' heel. The Enterprise is
still 20 hours away and surrender is not an option, considering what
Cardassians do to prisoners....
Sisko states that the entity brought them to the Saratoga. The
entity insists that he did it himself; he exists there. Sisko asks for
the power to exist elsewhere, to which the form of Kai Aupaka replies:
"Look for solutions from within.. I cannot give you what you deny
yourself." He explains death to them, which they see as the termination
of his linear existence. He realizes that he still grieves for Jennifer, sees
her constantly, misses her immensely. He doesn't know how to live
without her, and does indeed exist still on the Saratoga in a fashion,
coming to the conclusion that in a way time is not linear...
Time runs out for DSN and Kira defiantly states that as a
Bajoran she's very used to fighting losing battles and promptly fires a
warning shot of 6 photorps across the lead ship's bow. They're all the
photorps that they have, but O'Brien has set up a field which fools the
Cardassians into scanning 5000 photorps and many many more phaser arrays
than the station actually has. The Cardassian commander and his second
officer bicker on the point, and come to the conclusion that yes, it's
probably a ruse, and yes, the Cardassian 7th Order could be there in a
day if necessary... but then, so could the Fedaration. They might as
well try and strike now while they can, which they do, causing heavy
damage to the docking area of DSN. Bashir goes to tend to the sick with
a moderately squeamish Odo, and Kira is almost about to surrender when
the wormhole opens and Sisko's Runabout comes out... towing the
Cardassian ship behind them. The Cardassians disarm and leave.
Stardate 46393.1; The Enterprise returns and the wormhole-makers
agree to allow passage to the Gamma Quadrant. Picard meets with Sisko,
remarking that they've 'put Bajor on the map', since the wormhole will
be a reason for scientific study and the station will soon be culturally
and strategically important. Sisko is more amicable towards Picard now
and decides to stay on DSN, shaking hands with Picard and returning to
start repairs. Bashir wanders by on DSN with Odo, asking where one can
get in a little phaser practice; Quark hits on Kira significantly; Sisko
and O'Brien and Dax walk through talking about future repairs and with a
final view of the damaged Promenade, the series premiere ends.
*exhale significantly*
I ****sincerely**** hope that EVERY week's episode won't take me
4-5 hours to do a synopsis like this...
Please excuse anything I've missed, or any spelling errors; I
didn't have access to official Paramount spellings and hey, this is my
first time doing this. The only other time I've ever taken notes like
that was for research for a script I'm submitting...
Now. Impressions.
This is a ***very*** strong start. The direction was what struck
me most of all; it's the most "honest, ol'-fashioned" sci-fi I've seen
on Star Trek in quite some time, and a lot of it had to do with the
direction. The opening flashback to Wolf 359 was everything I had hoped
it would be, showing some of the best space battle sequences since BoBW
or the opening sequence to "Redemption II". The shot of the escape pod
blasting away from the Saratoga and the shots of Sisko in the window and
the Saratoga exploding simply had me open-mouthed with wonder. The
"2001" feeling of the Sisko-in-the-wormhole sequence was nice, too; why
can't we have direction like this regularly? Hmm?
The music actually fit the show very well, I thought; I didn't
find it irritating or flat like a lot of people seemed to. The theme
music was actually very very catchy on the second viewing, and it had a
quiet kind of majesty to it that was perectly appropriate. A TNG-style
triumphant-horns theme just wouldn't have worked. The music helped
communicate to me what I think will be the show's strongest point: The
action comes to it. Everything has to go there, rather than gallavanting
all over the place to look for trouble. =)
There's a feeling here, much more so than with Encounter at Farpoint
(which the show is and should inevitably be compared to just to get an idea of
how to guess the series' direction and scope), that the world, situation,
station and characters all had a past history and would continue on just fine
without us. All the characterization and development and world parameter
defining of the first 2-3 seasons of TNG brought TNG's characters right
about to the level of these DSN folk; it feels like it will be more a
process of discovery of character rather than invention of it as the
series goes on.
The plot itself was fair-to-middling, reasonable for a series
premiere. I could have done without the long exposition into Bajoran
mysticism, and had it not tied in so well with the wormhole encounter
and the way that the religion developed from the artifacts and their
powers, I think it seriously would have bogged things down. And had they
made any more jokes about how run down the station was on the order of
'What shields?' and 'What do you mean there's no food synthesizer?' then
it would've gotten annoying. But I think they pushed the limit without
overdoing it, and it made for some wonderful moments. My absolute
favorite being O'Brien kicking the transporter to get it to work.
Subconsciously, I've ****always**** wanted to see that. =)
So I guess all that's left to talk about are the characters
themselves:
Ben Sisko: Avery Brooks sounded like he'd be an excellent choice, and he
more than exceeded my expectations. Just plain riveting. A wonderfully
expressive bass voice (though this Shakesperian-actor kick of theirs
should stop ;) ) and an impressive presence. The tension between him and
Picard at the beginning was all that I hoped for,too, though I really
wish that they had left that open as a plot point for later episodes.
I'd *love* to see Sisko's reaction if he ever has to deal with a) the
Borg, b) Picard's future experience with the Borg or c) Picard
completely flipping out like I've been expecting him to for about a
season or so now. (Idle prediction: wouldn't it be a moderately neat way
to write out a character to have him go insane? By all rights,
considering now after events in Chain of Command, Picard *should* be a
few carrots short of a garden, if you catch my drift...)
Major Kira: Eh. I *really* don't see what all the big deal is. Her
character screams "Ensign Ro ripoff" to me. It would have felt a lot
better to me to have Michelle Forbes in there, somehow... I could tell
that right down to the mannerism and the white shirt under the uniform
and even the particular *way* the nose ridges are made that it should've
been Ro. I can see Visitor's character getting whiny and irritating
*real* fast. Which may be, in a limited sense, one of the reasons she's
in there to stir things up a bit... *shrug*. For what she was given, she
did well; I was cheering during the "we're just a bunch of friendly
local natives" speech to Bashir. =)
Lt. Jadzia Dax: Another eh. But not quite such a glaring eh. I can see
that this is all going to be made or broken by the episode "Dax" about a
month from now; Terry Farrell is quite able at projecting the image of a
300-yr-old-trapped-in-a-28-yr-old's-body. But if they (they = writers)
force it rather than let this image be projected by Farrell's acting,
then it's Troi all over again. I'm definitely interested to know more
about the character, particularly about Dax and Sisko (if they can get
the same old man for flashbacks =)).
Oh, and while I'm thinking of it, if any of the writers
are listening:
YOU SHOWED US IN "THE HOST", 4TH SEASON TNG, THAT
TRILLS
CAN'T
TRANSPORT
OR THE SLUG PORTION BUYS IT.
If I rememeber right. 'Nuff said. Get her her own
shuttle. =)
Chief O'Brien: YES. *That's* what O'Brien can do, *that's* who he is.
I'm glad Colm Meaney's in a position to really work with the character;
he does well as the engineer-asked-for-the-impossible-due-yesterday.
However.
He's another one that I'll have to wait and see on,
because I've never been overly impressed with Keiko. If the writers give
him and Keiko decent, moderately predictable but not overly cliched
interaction and conflict, then all will be well. Otherwise, 'keiko' will
become a dirty word on this show sort of like 'alexander' is on TNG.
Quark: Finally! A calculating, scheming, INTELLIGENT, semi-charming
Ferengi! A credit to the species. *This* is how a successful quasi-legal
capitalist works... equal parts charm, business sense, gambler's
intuition and downright scungy capitalist pig. Armin Shimmerman did
wonderfully with him. And though the 'i love a woman in uniform' line
was inconsistent with Ferengi culture it floored me. I thought it fit
perfectly. (I'd love to see him more actively pursue Kira. They have the
potential for a perverse kind of chemistry between them.)
Dr. Bahsir: Cute guy. =) He managed to do the idealistic kid routine
without overkill, which is impressive considering that the lines he had
had the potential to really grate on the nerves. But I think he has a
good chance to show his stuff as the token innocent (with a bit of
backbone... I'd like them to explain Odo's seeming squeamishness a bit
more). And please, please, please... make a definite stand as far as he
and Dax go, guys. Don't just make a paltry semi-romance subplot and drop
it like a certain pair on TNG we know and love. And I really want to
know how he honestly felt about the Trill being in a guy before. There's
the potential here to discuss a past 'hot topic' in Trek, if pulled off
right (Dax meets a former friend/lover of his, only Dax is in a woman's
body and the other one is *also* in a woman's body...?).
Odo: Lovable little curmudgeon. The morphing was tastefully done without
overkill. I really think that Rene Auberjonois (i'm only spelling it out
fully once =) ) has a comfortable part and can do well with it. I like
his past history with Quark; this was one of the main things which made
me feel like I was stumbling onto something in progress rather than
something was created *for* me. And my rationalization for why he could
be a duffel bag which doesn't look to have to same mass as his humanoid
form: his humanoid form is probably hollow. Or oddly distributed. Notice
when he tackles the young thief, and when he's in the Cardassian ship:
he has very fluid movements to him. Nicely done.
Jake Cisco: A normal kid on Trek! Yay! And this child actor is *really*
good; during the wormhole sequences he pulled off being the voice of the
entity really well. In some interviews, Avery Brooks has said that the 2
Siskos' relationship is more of friends than father and son; I could see
that, but I could also see that both of them responded to each other as
close relatives. It was believable.
The Cardassians: Ok. Nothing to write home about. Though I'd love to see
the former Prefect come visit; he could make for some good tension.
Particularly if he hasn't completely moved out of his "old office". ;)
*Phew!* Like I said, I hope it doesn't take me this long *every
week* to do this; I've put it about 6 hours on this thing, between
re-watching the episode and writing all this in 2 somewhat coherent
bursts. Hope it helps. =)
Da numbers:
Plot: 7. Good for a series premiere, kinda there for an episode of Trek.
Direction: 10. Yow. If this is their standard, then I'm impressed
already.
Characterization: 8. Not 10 only because I didn't see enough of the
doctor or the kid to make a good call and because Nana Visitor was
wholly unimpressive.
FX and sets: 10! May the next Borg episode have *nearly* that level of effects.
And the set design is just un-TNG enough to keep my interest; the
circular design of the station should free up directors for months to
come.
Which works out to about 8.something, which I will call 9. =)
Next Week:
I have no clue. Honestly. The local station talked over it, so
while I saw what looked to be a rousing terrorist episode, all I heard
about were Connecticut child molesters. *shrug*
Questions or complaints to:
ckeroack@hamp.hampshire.edu
--
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