OK, I cannot tell a lie. This is both a Kira and a Mirror Universe episode. I can't justify spending my time on this.
The nutshell: Kira gets to roll in the hay with Mirror Universe Bareil. I don't care about either of these characters ever and the only thing I'm really happy about is that this one is the last of the Mirror Universe episodes. Kira's poor decisions continue at a staggering pace, and shockingly, she is shocked when they bite her in the ass I'm so over her.
NEXT!!!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Deep Space Nine 607 "You Are Cordially Invited"
Well, in the wake of the six episode arc of our heroes being kicked off the station and all the intensity therein, we could use a lighter, "breather" type episode with plenty if comic relief and lower stakes. Is one basically succeeds, warts and all.
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| Jeez, they're already fighting. I give 'em till the end of the season. Tops. |
There's not a great deal of character development in this one apart from the obvious marriage between Worf and Dax. Worf is still fussy and relentlessly pursues what he thinks is a proper Klingon lifestyle (a thing he is often famously wrong about), Dax is still flighty and headstrong. To be honest, Dax's defiance of her prospective mother in-law is completely in character, and something you identify with. You REALLY want to see Dax smash Sirella across the face. And when she does, we are right with her.
Worf has his fellas join them for the "Path to Kalhiya" which is purported to be a Klingon bachelor party, but seems to more resemble the less pleasurable elements of a bachelor party put on by an ultra long-winded Mormon pain freak. Good on the boys for joining him, but I can see why thy later run to quarks for a gut buster meal when the whole thing goes pear shaped.
Dax throws a great Tiki party, which Sirella attempts to poop, but the aforementioned face-smashing occurs. They also use this occasion to provide a denouement to the "the poor decisions of Kira and Odo" character thread. There's very little to it, but I'm glad they at least put a button on it. Going back to business as usual without at least saying something would not have been a great move.
The most touching episode element is Martok's speech about his wife. It rings true and any guy who's ever known the trials and tribulations of a long term relationship with a lady that he loves who drives him crazy.
There are a few other hurdles to get over, but nothing really that we didn't see coming. It's just an excuse to let "the Worf family" stretch it's legs a bit. It's all good because there's really no true antagonist here. Even Sirella is won over by the power of love in the end.
We end with a Klingon wedding (exactly what you'd expect... They kill their own gods!) and Bashir and O'Brien giving word his comeuppance by beating higher crap out of him with sticks. All is well. Ahhhh. The breather episode.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Deep Space Nine 606 "The Sacrifice of Angels"
"Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred."
- Dr. Julian Bashir and Chief Miles Edward O'Brien quoting from Tennyson before valiantly charging into battle.
This. This is what we have been waiting for, nerds. Greeted with Ben Sisko's gravitas-laden resolve against the backdrop of Federation fighters (FIGHTERS?!?) swarming about the fleet, as Julian and Miles open in a pa de deux of quotation from the third stanza of "Charge of the Light Brigade." Our heroes have come to the devil's doorstep, swinging a diminutive bat, but yea they charge onward into the mouth of hell to the clanging toll of Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko's enormous brass cajones.
This day the hopes of freedom from tyranny and blood at the hands of a ravening oppressor shall be decided in this world of ideas we all share. This day we shall know victory or a hundred generations of servitude to a faceless alien throne. This day we shall know deliverance or oblivion!
...okay, I might be getting a little carried away. What I did do was have a nice little bit of scotch (Laphroaig 10 for those keeping track) and actually just read the entire Tennyson poem that the boys were quoting from. I encourage you, my friends, to do the same. The poem can be found here: http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html
Go on, I'll wait.
There! Now are you fired up? Good. Lets get it on...
After the cold open, we get wind of Sisko's strategy of attempting to divide the Dominion forces by attacking only the Cardassian ships, and thus provoking an emotional reaction which will divide their fleet. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Dukat is wise to Sisko's plan, and explains to his loyal lieutenant, Glin Exposition, that he intends to give them an opening and then surround them. Dukat may be a preening Narcicistic asshat, bit he sure knows how to take a page out of the Greek playbook from the Battle of Marathon.
Sisko, not one easily hoodwinked, sees that it's a trap, but goes for it anyway. And The Federation fleet is charging forward, in what looks for all the world like a phalanx. We are then treated to what concentrated phaser fire from an entire wing of Galaxy-class starships can do to a Cardassian frigate. The poor bastards.
Back at deep space nine, the poor decisions crew is having a meeting in a conspicuous public place while discussing how to to disrupt the Dominion's very imminent plans to take down the minefield (at this point, I'm willing to believe their strategy involves getting caught). And of course, they get arrested and thrown in the can for the duration. But who's left? That's right. Our man Quark. The Federation's greatest undercover hero. Why he didn't get a medal for this, I'll never know. This is buttoned by more sparring between Dukat and Weyoun, including a bit of business validating last episode's concerns from the Starfleet Admiral about the safety of Earth. And also to reinforce Dukat's megalomania. He's rolling deep, now. I would note that Sisko's not-so-subtly metaphoric ball is standing prominently in the foreground.
Cut to Poor Decisions Odo. He's stressing about his friends at risk in battle, and the Gross Female Changeling consoles him by telling him that she's going to execute his girlfriend. Maybe poor decisions run in the changeling family, as she's more or less guaranteed that he will now turn on her. Silly.
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| The crew of the USS Warp Core Breach and the USS Redshirt suddenly reconsider their career choices. |
Of course they do. Personally I think they were just off waiting for a dramatically appropriate entrance opportunity. I can just see Martok on the bridge of the IKS Rotarran, chewing on some bit of awful Klingon food, warding off Worf's protestations, "No, Worf, let them work for it. Don't you want to make a good entrance?"
Quark, unsung hero to the cause of all that is good and right in the world, then uses a combination of subterfuge, and cold-blooded murder to bust out his brother. Good ol' Quark! Rom then escapes into a tube to sabotage the station. After a brief firefight on the way to their objective, Odo rescues them from,the Jem'Hadar. You gotta love a guy who can stick to his guns whenever it suits him and at no other time!
But Rom is too late. The Dominion forces aboard the station destroy the minefield JUST before our guy disables the stations weapons, and all appears lost.
This is when Sisko puts his hat into the ring for the greatest literal Deus Ex Machina ending ever. He basically flies into the wormhole, stops halfway, and puts the Prophets on the spot to intervene on his behalf. They let it slip that they will not allow Sisko to sacrifice himself to win the war, as they need him to fulfill a destiny. And his appeal works.
In the midst of the hole in space, the godlike prophets vacuum up the Dominion fleet as though it was so many dust bunnies.
Our heroes, in full battle-boner mode, return to the station with NO enemy ships in pursuit and proceed to beat the crap out of the station itself. Damar announces 200 enemy ships breaking through the lines, and Weyoun announces gleefully that it's time to start packing!
What follows is one of the greatest frustrated psychotic breakdowns ever from Gul Dukat. Determined to save his ego in a last ditch effort to get validation form his daughter (whom he once tried to kill, and then later abandoned, btw), he attempts to persuade her to evacuate with him. She then confesses to him that she sold him out, and then is promptly shot by Damar, as punishment for treason. Dukat, for all intents and purposes, loses his mind at that moment.
We then get Sisko's amazing triumphant return, and the crew reuniting. It's not all smiles, due to Ziyal's death, but it's not exactly a Pyrrhic victory. Our heroes are home, the arch villain is a prisoner (appropriately handing him his ball back. Have you noticed the ball is a metaphor?), and the bad guys are retreating. I call that a win.
I should note here that since Sisko now KNOWS that he has a predestined fate, can he not just legally take all the crazy risks he wants because his time to go is set in stone?!? I would.
So there we have it. We have won the battle, beaten the bad guys, and done good. It feels great.
I'm just gonna bask in this for a while, as its awesome. Fortune DOES favor the bold!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Deep Space Nine 605 "Favor the Bold"
"There's an old saying... 'fortune favors the bold'. Well, I guess we're about to find out."
-Benjamin Sisko
OK, kids. Dust off your ablative armor, charge up your phasers, and get a clean set of underwear on. It's about to get real up in here. We are about to charge into battle to the unmistakable ring of Captain Benjamin Sisko's enormous balls clanging together. Forward!
We start with a shark attack. The Defiant playing possum while the Rotarran pounces. And the troops are restless. This gives way to a pointer scene, wherein Sisko unveils his plans to retake DS9. We pause for drama while the admirals do... I don't know, a cost benefit analysis, I guess.
Cut to the station, and Kira's decision making skills have not gotten any better. Will simply asking Odo to release Rom work? No. No it will not. It will not even get you in the door, to be frank. This mainly be due to the fact that on the other side of that door Odo and the Founder are screwing each other. Yeah. Try unseeing that mental image for the rest of your life. They're shown in the aftermath of the act, awkwardly facing away from each other on the bed, with all the shame and guilt associated with a drunken hookup (from Odo, anyway), and the Founder lets it slip that Odo has let three whole days go by without even noticing. The brainwashing references are obvious. I should say for a side note, that every time I picture what these two are doing, I picture them doing it wrong. The wrong amount of genitalia, or doing it in the ear or something. Silly, yes, but Odo clearly knows nothing about women, and would be too proud to ask if he was doing it right. Picturing Odo in ridiculous situations makes it possible to cope with watching him. It's difficult.
Rom sits in jail, and Quark comes to plan to get him out of this. Now I'm about to express a really unpopular opinion... I like Quark. He's like a hideously ugly Han Solo. He never wants you to think he cares about anything but money, but in truth, he's a big hearted guy, who will ALWAYS have your back when the going gets rough, and can usually, through dumb luck, pull off something daring. He's a gambler, he's a scoundrel. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, fellow nerds. Quark and Han Solo. So very similar. You're welcome.
Kira continues her tradition of great ideas by recruiting Ziyal to go talk to Gul Dukat about freeing Rom. Yeah, that didn't work out so well. So why not get a drink? Sure. It brings us to the bar, and Quark, using subtlety, and a bit of chicanery (and free booze, alcoholics love free booze) loosens Damar's tongue enough to divulge that the minefield is coming down.
Back at starbase Not-The-One-From-Star-Trek-II-We-Swear, we see Sisko making his case to Martok and Worf to take it to Gowron to commit some ships to the operation. They say they're gonna try, but no promises. Hey, not for spoilers or nuthin', but when do you figure the Klingons will later show up? If it's any other time than the nick, I want to tell you about an exciting business opportunity selling herbal supplements to friends and family.
With the deactivation of the minefield imminent, Dukat reveals that he's as bad at people skills as Kira is, by actually sending Damar (himself lacking in people skills almost completely) to drag Ziyal back to Dukat's quarters to share his great victory, but... yeah Kira is there. She sucks at making logical or thoughtful decisions, but she sure can beat the crap out of someone. Sorry, Damar, you had it coming, man.
This leads us back to the starbase where there's this quiet little conversation between Ben Sisko and Admiral Ross. Sisko starts talking reverently about his love and appreciation for Bajor. He has this quiet serenity about him, talking about his plans to build a house there and "when (he) goes home, going home to Bajor." This is such a turnaround in his character from the pilot of the series, the guy who didn't want to be there in the first place. Now THAT is the guy I want leading a full-frontal assault on a fortified position. A man that loves the land his objective is on. The Fleet sets out, and we are committed. There will be blood.
We are left with the imminent clash of the fleets, and things inexorably sliding towards this arc's end. I don't mind this much setup when the payoff next episode is so great.
NEXT UP: Things come to a heroic head in Sacrifice of Angels! But at what cost?!?
Episode character-candy: I really did enjoy Weyoun asking Kira about what it's like to have a sense of aesthetics. It was a cute little bit of texture.
-Benjamin Sisko
OK, kids. Dust off your ablative armor, charge up your phasers, and get a clean set of underwear on. It's about to get real up in here. We are about to charge into battle to the unmistakable ring of Captain Benjamin Sisko's enormous balls clanging together. Forward!
We start with a shark attack. The Defiant playing possum while the Rotarran pounces. And the troops are restless. This gives way to a pointer scene, wherein Sisko unveils his plans to retake DS9. We pause for drama while the admirals do... I don't know, a cost benefit analysis, I guess.
Cut to the station, and Kira's decision making skills have not gotten any better. Will simply asking Odo to release Rom work? No. No it will not. It will not even get you in the door, to be frank. This mainly be due to the fact that on the other side of that door Odo and the Founder are screwing each other. Yeah. Try unseeing that mental image for the rest of your life. They're shown in the aftermath of the act, awkwardly facing away from each other on the bed, with all the shame and guilt associated with a drunken hookup (from Odo, anyway), and the Founder lets it slip that Odo has let three whole days go by without even noticing. The brainwashing references are obvious. I should say for a side note, that every time I picture what these two are doing, I picture them doing it wrong. The wrong amount of genitalia, or doing it in the ear or something. Silly, yes, but Odo clearly knows nothing about women, and would be too proud to ask if he was doing it right. Picturing Odo in ridiculous situations makes it possible to cope with watching him. It's difficult.
Rom sits in jail, and Quark comes to plan to get him out of this. Now I'm about to express a really unpopular opinion... I like Quark. He's like a hideously ugly Han Solo. He never wants you to think he cares about anything but money, but in truth, he's a big hearted guy, who will ALWAYS have your back when the going gets rough, and can usually, through dumb luck, pull off something daring. He's a gambler, he's a scoundrel. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, fellow nerds. Quark and Han Solo. So very similar. You're welcome.
Kira continues her tradition of great ideas by recruiting Ziyal to go talk to Gul Dukat about freeing Rom. Yeah, that didn't work out so well. So why not get a drink? Sure. It brings us to the bar, and Quark, using subtlety, and a bit of chicanery (and free booze, alcoholics love free booze) loosens Damar's tongue enough to divulge that the minefield is coming down.
Back at starbase Not-The-One-From-Star-Trek-II-We-Swear, we see Sisko making his case to Martok and Worf to take it to Gowron to commit some ships to the operation. They say they're gonna try, but no promises. Hey, not for spoilers or nuthin', but when do you figure the Klingons will later show up? If it's any other time than the nick, I want to tell you about an exciting business opportunity selling herbal supplements to friends and family.
With the deactivation of the minefield imminent, Dukat reveals that he's as bad at people skills as Kira is, by actually sending Damar (himself lacking in people skills almost completely) to drag Ziyal back to Dukat's quarters to share his great victory, but... yeah Kira is there. She sucks at making logical or thoughtful decisions, but she sure can beat the crap out of someone. Sorry, Damar, you had it coming, man.
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| Did someone at this table order a can of whoop-ass? OK, how about 300 of them? |
We are left with the imminent clash of the fleets, and things inexorably sliding towards this arc's end. I don't mind this much setup when the payoff next episode is so great.
NEXT UP: Things come to a heroic head in Sacrifice of Angels! But at what cost?!?
Episode character-candy: I really did enjoy Weyoun asking Kira about what it's like to have a sense of aesthetics. It was a cute little bit of texture.
Deep Space Nine 604 "Behind the Lines"
I am admitting this freely. I dreaded writing this one. Mainly because it focuses on Kira and Odo, and if there's one thing that bores me to tears even more than musical theater, it's Deep Space Nine episodes featuring Odo and Kira, the Odd Couple of interstellar sexual frustration. That said, let's make the best of it...
We kick off with Ben Sisko giving a little speech over the spent casing of a phaser coil's power cell. I did like this not because it was particularly inspiring, but because it seemed to be the progenitor of the whole "So Say We All" thing in Battlestar Galactica. I know Ron Moore didn't work on this one, but still.
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| This looks like an exciting mission, right? Hope it's enough for you, cos this is all you get. Sucker. |
We then get to Sisko planning a daring raid on a Dominion listening post, navigating through some dangerous environmental obstacles, and destroying what is sure to be a heavily guarded installation. He gets the green light! What a great mission this is going to be to watch play out, right? Wrong. Not only does Sisko have to pilot a desk back at the starbase from Wrath of Khan, but we see nothing of the actual operation. Dax takes the ship, we are later told that the mission is a smashing success, and it's all huzzah for the good guys. An no, you will never get a look at it. The best they can do is show you the powerpoint. I suppose the budget for effects got shot on Sacrifice of Angels (two eps from now), but STILL!
Soooo, yeah. Back on the station, Poor Decisions Odo gets a visitor in the form of the old and somewhat gross female changeling. She then wastes very little time going all Svengali on Odo, pulling what is nothing short of a big, deliberate mind-screw on him. Why the Major Kira did not note the Founder's presence on the station and Odo's odd behavior since her arrival a GIANT red flag to get him the hell out of the loop in her little resistance cell, I shall never know. Oh, wait, I do know. It's because Kira is the only one on the station with worse decision making skills than Odo. Ugh, the whole thing is just... I give up.
I should note that the female changeling's Hannibal Lecter-like influence over Odo is creepy, but probably in a way not intended by the show's producers. Or maybe it was. I don't know. All I know is that Odo turns into a blithering idiot whenever she shows up, and it just seems... odd. I mean sure, there's the whole great link thing, which is I guess like a combination of sex, telepathy and the best back rub you've ever had. But I really am very confused as to why Kira, veteran of being a clever terrorist during the Cardassian occupation, did not catch on to the fact that her old pal was acting weird and admitted that he was linking with the enemy, and she relied on him anyway. I wanna smack the earrings off her.
The best part of the episode is between Quark and Damar. Damar's swagger over having gotten one over on everyone else, and ordering off the top shelf intrigues Quark, and Quark's utter stressed-to-the-point-of-drinking-to-cope explanation of Damar's plan to take down the minefield is cute. I enjoyed the character business.
So of course the little resistance on the station hatches a plan to disable the equipment that's going to take down the minefield, but because Kira is clueless, she actually relies on Odo for an integral part of her plan. Shockingly, she is shocked when Odo completely fails her due to being changeling-brainwashed.
I hate these two.
Next up, this episode is redeemed by bringing on the huge effing fight...
So of course the little resistance on the station hatches a plan to disable the equipment that's going to take down the minefield, but because Kira is clueless, she actually relies on Odo for an integral part of her plan. Shockingly, she is shocked when Odo completely fails her due to being changeling-brainwashed.
I hate these two.
Next up, this episode is redeemed by bringing on the huge effing fight...
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Deep Space Nine 603 "Sons and Daughters"
We all love Klingon-centric episodes. What's not to love? Especially when an episode cold-opens with Dax and Worf getting it on, and then cuts to Bashir and O'Brien bitching about the Klingons and their ship which rescued them from being, you know, marooned in the previous episode. You know what, O'Brien, you're a tool. You deserve to suffer.
The cold open ends with the IKS Rotarran receiving its replacements for recent casualties in the war, and ain't fate a son of a bitch... because young Alexander Rozhenko has been stationed on the very Bird of Prey that his father is XO on. Yes, this was probably orchestrated by Alexander himself somehow, and this is, of course, testament to the fact that being a total obstinate cock about everything runs on the male side of the Mogh bloodline.
So, Worf is, as we know a fine warrior and a man of honor. However he is as good of a parent as he is a fun guy to go on vacations with. So when Martok casually asks why the hell Worf didn't let him know why he didn't have a son (although with all the vetting that apparently goes on for admission to Klingon houses, I find it bizarre how this subject could possibly have not come up), Worf says it's a touchy subject and that he wants to handle it his own way. But to nobody's surprise, Worf's way is to act like an asshole to his only son. Which, I guess is sort of fine because the apple did not fall far from the tree. Lots of father vs. son chest beating, and the kid slinks off.
What follows is one of my favorite Klingon-centric scenes in the whole of Star Trek. Young Alexander goes to the mess hall to chow down on some brekit lung (yum.) and another Klingon officer decides to apply lessons he learned watching high school movies from 1980s earth by pouring a large amount of gravy on his lung dish. Scandalous... but from the laughs he's getting from his entourage, you'd think it was made of his own urine. The last straw is when the taunting bridge officer offers to swap out his blood wine for "an Earth beverage. A glass of root beer... with a lump of ice cream? Mmmmm!" (One of my favorite lines ever uttered by a Klingon). So after Alexander catches on that he's being made fun of, the kid starts a knife fight by throwing his food at the taunting bridge officer hard enough in the face to physically knock him out of his chair. Anyway, Worf probably heard people laughing and immediately got on his way to put an end to it, because he shows up and stops the fight. Klingons think fighting is a form of recreation, and they enjoy it. That's why Worf put an end to it. Because Worf is the fun police.
What I will say about Worf is that he's almost always very competent at what he does, making it all the more embarrassing for him that his kid is a complete screw-up in all things military. It's a shame, really. Although I do recall Alexander-themed episodes of The Next Generation displayed his total ineptitude with fighting, and playing well with others for that matter. So it's gotta be a constant reminder of Worf having done something wrong (the general sad shape of his son), and it being a constant reminder of failure. And let's face it, Worf already had a few abandonment/daddy issues. All the weirder that he kept sending his child away to go live in Minsk with his adoptive grandparents. It's unlike Worf to run from a fight or confrontation of any kind, but his avoidance of parental duties is running of the worst kind.
One thing I love about Martok is that he was the guy who actually taught Worf social skills, and how to begin to behave like a Klingon, the people Worf always tried so hard to identify with.
There's an exchange between Alexander and Worf where Alexander is accusing him of being a crappy parent and an abandoner, and he is exactly right. Worf's gotta face the truth at last because it's staring him in the face and he can't run from it anymore.
The Jem'Hadar show up and there's some shooting, and some ship trouble involving Alexander locking himself in a storage compartment, but the fact that he (sort of) starts sticking up for his son does bode some dynamism for Worf. It's all summed up in the end when Worf basically admits that he's been a crap parent by offering to teach Alexander what he'll need to be a warrior in exchange for Alexander teaching Worf what he'll need to be a father.
Then they all have a ceremony with Martok where they light bowls of their own blood on fire and Alexander is rewarded with a badge that looks like the Wu Tang Clan logo. Welcome to the house of Martok, Alexander, son of Worf!
Oh, and in the runner, Jake Sisko cons his way into the resistance cell they're starting up on the occupied station. How he managed to not get himself pushed out an airlock by Odo's poor decision making is beyond me. Also Kira, through a bit of soul searching, realizes that it is probably not a great idea to accept gifts of evening dresses from a guy who committed genocide on a fair portion of her own Bajoran people. I think there's something in the water on the station. Maybe it's the thin atmosphere. I don't know...
The cold open ends with the IKS Rotarran receiving its replacements for recent casualties in the war, and ain't fate a son of a bitch... because young Alexander Rozhenko has been stationed on the very Bird of Prey that his father is XO on. Yes, this was probably orchestrated by Alexander himself somehow, and this is, of course, testament to the fact that being a total obstinate cock about everything runs on the male side of the Mogh bloodline.
So, Worf is, as we know a fine warrior and a man of honor. However he is as good of a parent as he is a fun guy to go on vacations with. So when Martok casually asks why the hell Worf didn't let him know why he didn't have a son (although with all the vetting that apparently goes on for admission to Klingon houses, I find it bizarre how this subject could possibly have not come up), Worf says it's a touchy subject and that he wants to handle it his own way. But to nobody's surprise, Worf's way is to act like an asshole to his only son. Which, I guess is sort of fine because the apple did not fall far from the tree. Lots of father vs. son chest beating, and the kid slinks off.
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| The Kid may suck at knife fighting, but he can knock you out in a food fight. |
What I will say about Worf is that he's almost always very competent at what he does, making it all the more embarrassing for him that his kid is a complete screw-up in all things military. It's a shame, really. Although I do recall Alexander-themed episodes of The Next Generation displayed his total ineptitude with fighting, and playing well with others for that matter. So it's gotta be a constant reminder of Worf having done something wrong (the general sad shape of his son), and it being a constant reminder of failure. And let's face it, Worf already had a few abandonment/daddy issues. All the weirder that he kept sending his child away to go live in Minsk with his adoptive grandparents. It's unlike Worf to run from a fight or confrontation of any kind, but his avoidance of parental duties is running of the worst kind.
One thing I love about Martok is that he was the guy who actually taught Worf social skills, and how to begin to behave like a Klingon, the people Worf always tried so hard to identify with.
There's an exchange between Alexander and Worf where Alexander is accusing him of being a crappy parent and an abandoner, and he is exactly right. Worf's gotta face the truth at last because it's staring him in the face and he can't run from it anymore.
The Jem'Hadar show up and there's some shooting, and some ship trouble involving Alexander locking himself in a storage compartment, but the fact that he (sort of) starts sticking up for his son does bode some dynamism for Worf. It's all summed up in the end when Worf basically admits that he's been a crap parent by offering to teach Alexander what he'll need to be a warrior in exchange for Alexander teaching Worf what he'll need to be a father.
Then they all have a ceremony with Martok where they light bowls of their own blood on fire and Alexander is rewarded with a badge that looks like the Wu Tang Clan logo. Welcome to the house of Martok, Alexander, son of Worf!
Oh, and in the runner, Jake Sisko cons his way into the resistance cell they're starting up on the occupied station. How he managed to not get himself pushed out an airlock by Odo's poor decision making is beyond me. Also Kira, through a bit of soul searching, realizes that it is probably not a great idea to accept gifts of evening dresses from a guy who committed genocide on a fair portion of her own Bajoran people. I think there's something in the water on the station. Maybe it's the thin atmosphere. I don't know...
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Deep Space Nine 602 "Rocks and Shoals"
Let me lead with the statement that I love this episode. It's in my top ten of the series. LOTS of great stuff about Trek in play here, all the things that make it a great series of shows, and a great universe to play in. Ethics, action, high stakes drama... My favorite stuff.
So we open with something of a "shark attack" in the form of our heroes having the crap beaten out of their new ride and crash landing on a planet inside of a "dark matter nebula" after encountering a "gravitational spike". Trek is usually good about backing up their scientific technobabble, but this was kind spoof a silly bit of 1950's-esque tomfoolery.
But forget all that, because the upshot of it is because they wind up crashing on a planet inside said dark matter nebula (again, dark matter was kind of new to the scientific conversation at this point and I think they were just using the term because they thought it sounded cool), and they're REALLY in trouble because O'Brien has torn his pants, on top of everything. Little do our heroes know that there is a similarly marooned gang of Dominion thugs on this little desert island planet as well. And they are suffering from space-cocaine withdrawal.
You know, weirdly enough, they never explained why the Dominion crew were marooned ere as well. We're they in pursuit, or were these jerks just guilty of bumbling into this nebula the same way Our Heroes did? I welcome any theories.
So yeah, the interesting members of the crew are camping out in a cave until the Jem'Hadar get all attitudinal with them on account of their not having enough space-coke to go around, and after one thing leading to another, Sisko and Dr. Bashir are fixing up a wounded Vorta.
Now here's where it gets good. The Vorta, upon waking, informs the Captain that he's nearly out of Jem'Hadar smack-treats (ketrecel white for the purists out there) and that once he's done, the Jem'Hadar will throw the ultimate temper tantrum. The Deadliest Tantrum of Death. AHA, but what is he going to do? Nothing short of order the Jem'Hadar to attack Our Heroes position BUT not after divulging their attack plan to Our Heroes. Then the Vorta will spend the rest of the war playing tiddly-winks in Federation Space Jail (hey! Say HI to Julian's dad! He's having seminars on architectural landscaping!). It's a pretty sweet deal for him, if you think about it.
So what do they do? Well, as Sisko pointed out, there WAS no choice. Due to the way things were, it was just destined to go down only one way. The Jem'Hadar get wasted, The Vorta goes to Space Jail, and our heroes live to fight another day. Sisko, to his credit, DOES try and do the right thing, but to no avail. These Jem'Hadar are determined to obey orders without question, and that gets them killed. I do believe there is something to think about there. Especially since as we have seen, not all Jem'Hadar are quite so fanatically devoted.
I am forced to wonder what would've happened if it had been a Klingon crew that crashed instead of the Federation.
And the runner in this one had Kira resolving to start the new Bajoran resistance after a high priest hangs herself to make a point, and she can no longer look at herself in a mirror. Good thing she let Odo in on it. He always does what's best for everyone.
NEXT UP, a great episode of Silver Spoons in Space when we realize that crappy parenting and teenage kids with bad attitudes transcend time, space, and all humanoid species.
So we open with something of a "shark attack" in the form of our heroes having the crap beaten out of their new ride and crash landing on a planet inside of a "dark matter nebula" after encountering a "gravitational spike". Trek is usually good about backing up their scientific technobabble, but this was kind spoof a silly bit of 1950's-esque tomfoolery.
But forget all that, because the upshot of it is because they wind up crashing on a planet inside said dark matter nebula (again, dark matter was kind of new to the scientific conversation at this point and I think they were just using the term because they thought it sounded cool), and they're REALLY in trouble because O'Brien has torn his pants, on top of everything. Little do our heroes know that there is a similarly marooned gang of Dominion thugs on this little desert island planet as well. And they are suffering from space-cocaine withdrawal.
You know, weirdly enough, they never explained why the Dominion crew were marooned ere as well. We're they in pursuit, or were these jerks just guilty of bumbling into this nebula the same way Our Heroes did? I welcome any theories.
So yeah, the interesting members of the crew are camping out in a cave until the Jem'Hadar get all attitudinal with them on account of their not having enough space-coke to go around, and after one thing leading to another, Sisko and Dr. Bashir are fixing up a wounded Vorta.
Now here's where it gets good. The Vorta, upon waking, informs the Captain that he's nearly out of Jem'Hadar smack-treats (ketrecel white for the purists out there) and that once he's done, the Jem'Hadar will throw the ultimate temper tantrum. The Deadliest Tantrum of Death. AHA, but what is he going to do? Nothing short of order the Jem'Hadar to attack Our Heroes position BUT not after divulging their attack plan to Our Heroes. Then the Vorta will spend the rest of the war playing tiddly-winks in Federation Space Jail (hey! Say HI to Julian's dad! He's having seminars on architectural landscaping!). It's a pretty sweet deal for him, if you think about it.
So what do they do? Well, as Sisko pointed out, there WAS no choice. Due to the way things were, it was just destined to go down only one way. The Jem'Hadar get wasted, The Vorta goes to Space Jail, and our heroes live to fight another day. Sisko, to his credit, DOES try and do the right thing, but to no avail. These Jem'Hadar are determined to obey orders without question, and that gets them killed. I do believe there is something to think about there. Especially since as we have seen, not all Jem'Hadar are quite so fanatically devoted.
I am forced to wonder what would've happened if it had been a Klingon crew that crashed instead of the Federation.
And the runner in this one had Kira resolving to start the new Bajoran resistance after a high priest hangs herself to make a point, and she can no longer look at herself in a mirror. Good thing she let Odo in on it. He always does what's best for everyone.
NEXT UP, a great episode of Silver Spoons in Space when we realize that crappy parenting and teenage kids with bad attitudes transcend time, space, and all humanoid species.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Deep Space Nine 601 "A Time to Stand"
Hey everyone, today is the 20th anniversary of the first airing of Deep Space Nine! I had no idea really! It's fortuitous because now we have come to THE GOOD BIT!...
Season six, episode one - "A Time To Stand". Kicking off a new season and jockeying for new viewership, as shows will do, they give you a decent recap before the cold open. But then again, the entirety of the cold open is spent on expository recaps that are kind of obvious. When Garak is Getting treated by Dr. Bashir for a superficial injury, and begins recounting the doctor's genetically enhanceitude, Garak stops just short of turning to the camera and saying "Everybody got that? He's got some enhancements!" Sisko and Dax tackling about going back to the front lines (Dax's uniform has been made noticeably tighter. Again.) and then enter Martok and Worf to complain about Worf becoming whatever the Klingon equivalent of a bridezilla is. More on that in about six episodes.
Then Sisko gets a Skype from his dad (have you noticed that "to Skype" is now a verb?), and has to explain to him why he left his only son onboard the enemy occupied station. For my part, it would've been funnier if he'd said, "well, I left my lucky baseball, too!" Also, I should mention here that Brock Peters, the actor who plays Sisko's dad was not only inducted into the Trek-verse by playing Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country, but ALSO had the dubious honor of playing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars Radio Dramas. It's a small world, nerds.
Anyway, Ben gets himself a new ride in the form of the Dominion fighter they captured last season, and a cool headset to go with it. The crew engages in amusing banter about their desire for viewscreens, chairs, and sandwiches aboard the Dominion fighter (or is it a destroyer? The small ships, anyway).
Back on Terak Nor, Gul Dukat is busy turning the heat up and forbidding under pain of death anyone to touch the thermostat. He's also doing his best Hannibal Lector impression on Kira. Who for some reason stayed on the station. I know, I know. I think she did it just so she could get legally snippy with Dukat.
Meanwhile, the interesting members of the crew are tooling around on their Jem'Hadar fighter, get into a tickle fight with a federation frigate, and complete their mission to blow up a Jem'Hadar cocaine factory. But not before blowing up their own warp drive in the process. Cliffhanger!
All in all, probably the weakest in the arc that I'm currently in, but even when I first watched this air, it felt like they were setting you up with big stuff. And they were! I should also note parenthetically this is actually where I started watching the series regularly on a weekly basis back in the 90's. Modern television owes a LOT to the serial nature the show had taken on at this point. I could never miss an episode.
Stay tuned, geeks. Next up is a doozy.
Season six, episode one - "A Time To Stand". Kicking off a new season and jockeying for new viewership, as shows will do, they give you a decent recap before the cold open. But then again, the entirety of the cold open is spent on expository recaps that are kind of obvious. When Garak is Getting treated by Dr. Bashir for a superficial injury, and begins recounting the doctor's genetically enhanceitude, Garak stops just short of turning to the camera and saying "Everybody got that? He's got some enhancements!" Sisko and Dax tackling about going back to the front lines (Dax's uniform has been made noticeably tighter. Again.) and then enter Martok and Worf to complain about Worf becoming whatever the Klingon equivalent of a bridezilla is. More on that in about six episodes.
Then Sisko gets a Skype from his dad (have you noticed that "to Skype" is now a verb?), and has to explain to him why he left his only son onboard the enemy occupied station. For my part, it would've been funnier if he'd said, "well, I left my lucky baseball, too!" Also, I should mention here that Brock Peters, the actor who plays Sisko's dad was not only inducted into the Trek-verse by playing Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek VI, The Undiscovered Country, but ALSO had the dubious honor of playing the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars Radio Dramas. It's a small world, nerds.
Anyway, Ben gets himself a new ride in the form of the Dominion fighter they captured last season, and a cool headset to go with it. The crew engages in amusing banter about their desire for viewscreens, chairs, and sandwiches aboard the Dominion fighter (or is it a destroyer? The small ships, anyway).
Back on Terak Nor, Gul Dukat is busy turning the heat up and forbidding under pain of death anyone to touch the thermostat. He's also doing his best Hannibal Lector impression on Kira. Who for some reason stayed on the station. I know, I know. I think she did it just so she could get legally snippy with Dukat.
Meanwhile, the interesting members of the crew are tooling around on their Jem'Hadar fighter, get into a tickle fight with a federation frigate, and complete their mission to blow up a Jem'Hadar cocaine factory. But not before blowing up their own warp drive in the process. Cliffhanger!
All in all, probably the weakest in the arc that I'm currently in, but even when I first watched this air, it felt like they were setting you up with big stuff. And they were! I should also note parenthetically this is actually where I started watching the series regularly on a weekly basis back in the 90's. Modern television owes a LOT to the serial nature the show had taken on at this point. I could never miss an episode.
Stay tuned, geeks. Next up is a doozy.
Deep Space Nine 526 "A Call to Arms"
OK, so I've been out doing the holiday partying thing for a while, but fear not my faithful public, for the great all-consuming Deep Space Nine rewatch continues apace.
I'd also like to qualify this by saying that I've gone through this particular seven-episode arc about four times in its entirety before I've made comment about it here, but that said, it is THE most important arc of the entire show, with some of the best (while not THE best) episodes of the series.
First... Season Five's finale, "A Call to Arms".
OK, so we know the Dominion has been building up for a while after Dukat has shown his true rat-bastard qualities by volunteering Cardasia to become a sort of Vichy France to the dominion's Nazi Germany (the comparison isn't perfect, I know, just go with it). Then Sisko, whose balls clang together when he walks, decides to mine the wormhole. Rom and O'Brien come up with the idea of cloaked and self replicating mines (a great area denial weapon, but if I do say so, something very UN-Federationlike. You'd think this would've been something they could have just ordered out of the Romulan catalog...), and they just flat-out shut down the wormhole.
Watching the game of false-diplomacy brinkmanship between Weyoun and Sisko was cute. Seeing Dax command the defiant in what is to become a recurring theme is very very awesome. The whole "the storm is coming" vibe of the first four acts of the show are a great tension builder. The battle over the station was a great deal of eye candy. Sisko's rounsing and somewhat Dickensian speech (shades of Carton in A Tale of Two Cities) as he leaves the station with the rest of the Federation crew was rousing, but I REALLY would have liked to have seen something of the Fed/Klingon fleet wrecking the Dominion shipyards at Taurus 3. Watching Sisko's slash and burn tactics with the station gave me a smirk, as well as watching the Rotarran and the Defiant fleeing away, taking an odd pot shot, and then cloaking. Federation ships cloaking. I still can't get over it.
Watching the Defiant and the Rotarran swinging around to join the freaking massive combined Federation/Klingon fleet (presumably the one that had been tasked to destroy the aforementioned shipyards) was certainly rousing. So this is it. The war is here. All ambiguity is gone (for now) as to who's wearing a black hat and who's wearing a white one. Cry havoc. Except for Kira and Odo, who are in for a marathon session of bad decision making. Speaking of poor decisions, Jake Sisko has apparently not had enough of being terrified in war zones. Oops.
Oh, also Rom and Leeta get married, reaffirming ugly, annoying, socially awkward men's hopes that they can land an extremely hot lady if they just have a great big heart.
Quote of the episode:
Sisko: "We're losing the peace. Which means a war might be our only hope..."
I'd also like to qualify this by saying that I've gone through this particular seven-episode arc about four times in its entirety before I've made comment about it here, but that said, it is THE most important arc of the entire show, with some of the best (while not THE best) episodes of the series.
First... Season Five's finale, "A Call to Arms".
OK, so we know the Dominion has been building up for a while after Dukat has shown his true rat-bastard qualities by volunteering Cardasia to become a sort of Vichy France to the dominion's Nazi Germany (the comparison isn't perfect, I know, just go with it). Then Sisko, whose balls clang together when he walks, decides to mine the wormhole. Rom and O'Brien come up with the idea of cloaked and self replicating mines (a great area denial weapon, but if I do say so, something very UN-Federationlike. You'd think this would've been something they could have just ordered out of the Romulan catalog...), and they just flat-out shut down the wormhole.
Watching the game of false-diplomacy brinkmanship between Weyoun and Sisko was cute. Seeing Dax command the defiant in what is to become a recurring theme is very very awesome. The whole "the storm is coming" vibe of the first four acts of the show are a great tension builder. The battle over the station was a great deal of eye candy. Sisko's rounsing and somewhat Dickensian speech (shades of Carton in A Tale of Two Cities) as he leaves the station with the rest of the Federation crew was rousing, but I REALLY would have liked to have seen something of the Fed/Klingon fleet wrecking the Dominion shipyards at Taurus 3. Watching Sisko's slash and burn tactics with the station gave me a smirk, as well as watching the Rotarran and the Defiant fleeing away, taking an odd pot shot, and then cloaking. Federation ships cloaking. I still can't get over it.
Watching the Defiant and the Rotarran swinging around to join the freaking massive combined Federation/Klingon fleet (presumably the one that had been tasked to destroy the aforementioned shipyards) was certainly rousing. So this is it. The war is here. All ambiguity is gone (for now) as to who's wearing a black hat and who's wearing a white one. Cry havoc. Except for Kira and Odo, who are in for a marathon session of bad decision making. Speaking of poor decisions, Jake Sisko has apparently not had enough of being terrified in war zones. Oops.
Oh, also Rom and Leeta get married, reaffirming ugly, annoying, socially awkward men's hopes that they can land an extremely hot lady if they just have a great big heart.
Quote of the episode:
Sisko: "We're losing the peace. Which means a war might be our only hope..."
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