First posted on MI6Forums and BondandBeyond from Jan 29 2011 to Apr 18 2011
"Initiations"
So this episode obviously has two intentions: One is to develop Chakotay, who was woefully underdeveloped in Season 1 after the pilot. The other is to develop the Kazon, for whom the same can be said. On the Kazon end, the episode succeeds, despite making a few mistakes. On the other, its a complete failure. The biggest problem with Chakotay in Season 1 was that for an angry Maquis terrorist leader and contrarian, he was too passive. The writers decided to put too much emphasis on the whole wise Native New Age mystic crap. And they make that same mistake here. Chakotay spends the whole episode being tolerant and accepting and New Age-y. Meanwhile Aron Eisenberg and the other Kazon actors in this episode really sell the race in a way Season 1 episodes didn't, but the emphasis on honour in battle (and the make-up) makes the Kazon come across way too much as watered down Klingons -- although the whole sects/gang/youth thing are really cool. All in all, this is a good VOY episode for focussing on developing characters and the Delta Quadrant, and for having fairly dark themes, as opposed to a high concept sci-fi technoadventure. Also -- Neelix gets to do something important! Wow, its amazing how unannoying Ethan Phillips is when he's not written stupidly.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 9
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 248 days (8 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,538.8 lightyears
"Non Sequitur"
Having given Chakotay and the Kazon some love, Season 2's second episode pays some attention to Harry Kim, who has done NOTHING essentially since the pilot. This is great! The whole episode is a really cool mystery, a fun look back at Earth and the Alpha Quadrant, and a fun "what if" scenario for Kim and Paris. Also -- holy ****, it's the Admiral who dies later in First Contact! So its a fairly fun and interesting VOY episode that succeeds in developing Kim, although I think its the most development he ever gets, ever. Am I mistaken?
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 8
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 250 days (8 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,536.7 lightyears
2 shuttles destroyed in back-to-back episodes -- not good, USS Voyager, not good.
"Parturition"
In the Alpha Quadrant, the Klingons and the Federation have ended 79 years of peace and the Klingons and Cardassians are at war, while the Dominion looks on, ominiously.
Meanwhile, in the DQ, Paris and Neelix settle their differences by caring for an animatronic puppet dinosaur in the cave set. And that's the A-Plot!
Also, Janeway tries a new hairdo (her third) and we're three for three this season on shuttle crashes. Way to conserve, guys!
But really, I don't mind reconciling Neelix and Paris and closing that whole storyline, but it should've been a B plot in a better episode -- like the Kazons attack and Seska's trying to kill Chakotay and Neelix and Paris are trapped in a cargo bay and have to work together to survive sorta thing -- but instead we get a full episode with the two of them in the cave set with the puppet.
In a show frontloaded with conflict (Voy vs the DQ, Starfleet vs Maquis, Paris vs Everyone) its annoying that the only conflict developed regularly has been this petty jealousy between Paris and Neelix.
Anyways, this episode bored me to tears and was awful.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 271 days (8.7 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,516.2 lightyears
A note about my shuttle count: It's not TECHNICALLY accurate. Voyager is supposed to have 3 type 6 shuttles, 3 type 8 shuttles, 2 shuttlepods and 2 work EVAs, but for my purposes I decided to EXTREMELY generous and say that they had 10 shuttles period, of any type. Strictly speaking, as of this episode, we are already out of type 8 shuttles.
Also -- this week's plot was initiated because we were down to 30% of food stores, so we stopped at the planet of the week because we thought there was food there. There wasn't, actually, but then the "plot" started and by the end of the episode we completely forgot that the crew is starving.
"Persistance of Vision"
Yet another "strange events on the Voyager mess with the crew's heads" high concept trip, but this one gets a pass from me because it is in the interests of CHARACTER. We return to issues of Janeway, Paris, Torres etc as PEOPLE which have not been dealt with in some time. For that it gets a passing grade. I even love the villain, a very ominous and threatening character who SHOULD have appeared again if they hadn't given his species the complete and utter rip off name of BOTHAN. But a fairly good episode.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 282 days (9.1 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,504.4 lightyears
"Tattoo"
Chakotay gets character development. As much as I like and respect what they were trying to do here, I find major elements of this episode insulting and offensive. Insulting to my intelligence because I'm supposed to believe that there was a Native American sect on Earth that had **** Klingon foreheads and NO ONE NOTICED THIS or considered it something worth FREAKING OUT ABOUT even though its as obvious as ****, and that Chakotay's people are descended from them but don't have the same foreheads. That makes no sense. Offensive because its yet another bit of science fiction that insists that the Mayans must have had help from Aliens, which is just ludicrous White Supremist nonsense. So there's no way that Egyptians or Mayans could have built pyramids all by themselves, but Western civilization of course achieved all its glories on its own? What a crock of ****. If aliens had helped the Mayans, why where they so incredibly LESS advanced than us, the group without alien assistance, when we showed up??
The other stupid thing about this episode is it has yet ANOTHER alien race be responsible for the god myths of a primitive culture when "Who Mourns for Adonais?" [TOS], "The Paradise Syndrome" [TOS] and "Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth" [TAS] had already done so -- and two of those three involved Native American/Mayan cultures!! Yeesh, ancient Earth sure was a popular stop for Aliens!
But yes, it was good character development for Chakotay.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 293 days (9.5 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,473.6 lightyears
"Cold Fire"
This is an absolutely great VOYAGER episode until the very final moments. Developing Kes, the Ocampa, and the Nacene races introduced in the pilot, furthering along the core VOYAGER story arc, and featuring some great moments from Jennifer Lien and Tim Russ, the whole episode crackles with a dramatic energy the show has lacked for a while. Its biggest failure comes with how it deals with Suspiria. The episode sets up a mysterious, powerful and ruthless enemy, and when she appears there's that great scene of the little girl with the old voice inflicting pain and suffering on Janeway, Tuvok and Torres. Its all immensely effective until Suspiria is convinced, out of nowhere, that in fact Janeway was truthful about not being responsible for the Caretaker's death, and then just goes away, no problem, no questions asked. Yet! Even though Suspiria KNEW Janeway wanted to be spent home, and HAD the ability to do so, and was no longer Janeway's enemy -- she doesn't. For no reason. Then Janeway decides to keep on a course for Earth, hoping maybe they might bump into Suspiria again someday. Maybe? Bump into? You JUST DID BUMP INTO. She was RIGHT THERE! You KNOW she's still gonna hang out in the same area because there's an Array RIGHT THERE and a bunch of Ocampa she actively interacts with! Just hang around the Array until she comes back! Hell, you don't even need her! All the tech you need to go home is ON THAT ARRAY!!
ARRRRGH! Frakkin' Janeway!! I would've SO mutinied by now.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 305 days (9.8 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,450 lightyears
"Maneuvers"
This was another pretty good VOYAGER episode dealing with the series premise and running series villains the Kazon. To be honest, its kind've ridiculous that after so many months we'd encounter the same sect and Maj as in "State of Flux" last season? Are we not making any progress? Also, what was Seska waiting around for before making her move? Her Cardassianess to come back? Anyways, aside from these questions its a great episode with a lot of good dramatic tension and action.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 321 days (10.4 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,207.2 lightyears
"Resistance"
This episode really tried to be dramatic, dark and emotionally involving. At times it was like VOY trying really hard to be DS9 (first or second season DS9, but still). But it all falls totally flat. Because I don't care. The episode asks us to become emotionally involved in a resistance movement against a totalitarian dictatorship but the only reason it gives is because the bad guys are bad. We don't know the history -- we don't know why this planet is like it is, why there's a dictatorship, who the resistance is or what they're fighting for. Its just heroes and villains but it still wants us to care. And I still don't because I also know that none of this matters because I will never see this planet or these people ever again -- there are no consequences. Whereas when DS9 looks at terrorism and rebellion and war, whether it be the Bajorans or the Maquis or whoever, I know there is an ongoing significance.
But, one thing this episode does have going for it is showing a kind of situation Voyager should be getting into more often: desperate for vital supplies, Janeway is clandestinely trading with the resistance fighters against the knowledge of the government. This is interesting, this is central to the series premise but... WHERE DID THIS COME FROM? It would mean more if we had any sense before this episode that Voyager was running low on fuel. It would also make more sense if we had gotten any build up in Janeway's character to explain this sudden about face in her personal beliefs: given that this action goes against her hard stance in "Prime Factors" back in first season. Its not that the change itself is bad, but that its sudden, unexplained, and unremarked upon. The Captain suddenly has completely different values just to serve the plot of an episode. Its something I could never conceive of seeing in the handling of Kirk, Picard or Sisko's characterization.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 332 days (10.7 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,024.8 lightyears
This is why I'm watching VOY and DS9 at the same time. It makes VOY more bearable (even if it actually acentuates how terrible it is at the same time). Its interesting the difference, for example, between how a VOY episode tries to be exciting, while a DS9 episode is genuinely exciting. Let's compare:
In a VOY episode, the ship might get attacked by an alien vessel with far superior armaments, with a chance the crew might all be killed. That seems exciting, but it really isn't, because
a) We know the main characters won't die, cause then there's no series and
b) Even if they did, what does it matter? Anything could happen to Voyager and it has no consequences or repercussions anywhere else.
Whereas on DS9, the Romulan/Cardassian Alliance has sent a fleet into the Gamma Quadrant on a pre-emptive strike against the Dominion and it's genuinely exciting because
a) We have no idea if they will succeed or fail and
b) Either way it will have massive repercussions for the galaxy and for the series.
Anyways,
"Prototype"
Despite a lot of cliches and a plot that will never impact this series again, this was a pretty good episode. I liked the moral conundrum, I liked the twist on the moral conundrum. For once, a "Prime Directive Episode" shows us why the Prime Directive is a GOOD thing. Usually we run up against the Prime Directive, have a discussion, and violate it anyways because its more interesting and then everything turns out better than expected (see: TOS). This episode showed us WHY the Prime Directive is there -- we violate it, and tip the balance in a Robot War. So that was great. I also liked that the robots ended up being coldhearted merciless killing machines -- that's a fun and unexpected twist for Trek, which usually makes everyone nice and understandable at heart. Finally, I loved the robots themselves -- I loved that instead of trying to look like detailed, complex, believeable 90s style robots, they were unabashedly tin men in suits, simple, basic, primal, 50s style robots -- robots with a capital R. So an enjoyable episode overall.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 343 days (11 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,857.6 lightyears
"Death Wish"
An episode after Janeway WON'T let Torres CREATE life because it MIGHT have unexpected consequences for a REGION of space, Janeway is perfectly willing to END life which WILL have unexpected consequences on the INFINITY of SPACE/TIME. Lol, inconsistent characterization indeed.
But I digress, this is a great episode of Voyager. Probably one of the all time, classic, must-see top ten for sures. Its also the only one of the Voyager "Q" episodes that's any good. (A good rule of thumb for Q episodes is "is the title a pun?" If no, episode is good.) This is a great episode that really examines the issues of life vs. death, individual vs. the state, chaos vs. order, etc etc. Of course, it has a courtroom structure -- Trek courtroom episodes RARELY fail. Thumbs up all around on this one.
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 355 days (11.5 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,856.3 lightyears
"Alliances"
Now this was a good episode of VOYAGER. Not just a good episode of STAR TREK, like "Death Wish" was, but specifically Voyager. It dealt with the major themes of the series -- lost in an unknown part of the galaxy, no support, no allies, beset by enemies on all sides, torn between the values of Starfleet and the pragmatism of the Maquis. The episode explores these themes not only with intelligence, but with drama and excitement -- although to be honest it gets points just for exploring them at all, since VOY ignores its own premise so often. My only real complaints are that the extremely severe damage Voyager sustains in Act One is easily repaired between commercial breaks -- and that Janeway's solution to the problem is anti-climatic. Here was an episode that seemed like its whole point was to finally shake the crew into realizing they were going to have to change and adapt to their new situation, that this would have lasting repurcussions on the series -- but the writers manipulate the situation into giving Janeway a justification to declare that, in fact, they must be truer to their ideals than every -- in other words, that nothing will change, so that the reset button is pushed and its all the same by the next episode.
# of Crew: 149 Total -- 131 Starfleet, 16 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 34
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 370 days (11.9 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,854.9 lightyears
"Threshold"
And WHAT a next episode! What I can I say about "Threshold" that hasn't already been said? Nothing here is worthwhile. The whole thing can be unequivocably shoved out the airlock. Achieving warp 10 is absurd, achieving warp 10 with the limited resources of this ship is more absurd, achieving warp 10 in a shuttle is even more absurd -- and may I point out that this is the first appearance of the type 9 shuttle, a kind of shuttle Voyager wasn't even stocked with when they left (we had type 6s and type 8s and we've destroyed all the type 8s even though we keep seeing them anyway). They NEVER in the episode explain why going warp 10 causes Paris to mutate, or how warp 10 knows what course human evolution is going to take (since evolution is influenced by environmental factors, even if Paris' individual evolution was hyperstimulated, wouldn't he just evolve into a lifeform supersuited to life on a starship, not a salamander puppet?). And if Paris is evolving, how can evolution take him from being mammalian to reptillian? Then there's the mating with Janeway thing. Why JANEWAY? Why not Kes, someone who the show has already established that Paris has repressed romantic feelings for her? Also, the show has tiptoed around giving Janeway ANY romantic entanglements because it was feared doing so would diminish her position as Captain, and the first time they do it is to her conn officer and they have 3 mutant salamander kids and the only reason its done is for the LULZ??
Finally, the reason warp 10 tech is supposedly abandoned is implied to be this crazy mutation stuff. But the doctor MAGICALLY restored the captain and Paris from salamander puppets to COMPLETELY NORMAL almost INSTANTLY, so can't we just warp 10 to Earth and when we all mutate the Doc will just magically restore us all?
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
(Meanwhile, Crewman Jonas is engaging in under the table communications with the Kazon, continuing a subplot from "Alliances". Continuing storylines on Voyager?? OMG!!)
# of Crew: 149 Total -- 131 Starfleet, 16 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 34
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 379 days (12.2 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,899.5 lightyears
"Meld"
Now here, on the other hand, was an episode I like. I like Tuvok, I like criminal investigations, and I like psychopaths, so I think the idea of putting a Vulcan against a random psycho killer with no rational motivation was a great idea on the writers part and produced a fantastic episode. Brad Dourif is great as Suder and honestly I like him wherever he shows up (he's a bright spot in Alien: Resurrection). Russ gives a great performance as well. This is a thumbs up episode.
# of Crew: 148 Total -- 130 Starfleet, 16 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 34
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 393 days (12.7 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,686.7 lightyears
I must note that after tiptoeing around killing crewmembers for a whole season (after the pilot we only lost one in all of season one) we finally started killing some people off. DUN DUN DUN.
On a different note -- it annnoys me that the stock shots of Voyager that the producer's use for establishing shots or over Captain's Logs are almost always shots of the ship at IMPULSE, even if we aren't stopping or engaging within a planetary system or anything. For example, we never went anywhere specific in either "Death Wish" or "Meld", we were just moving the whole time, yet the effects shots create the impression we were cruising at impulse. Why?? Are the crew in NO hurry to get to Earth?? At full impulse it would take 294,746 years to get home!!! Show the ship at warp!!
"Dreadnought"
Now here was a good, exciting episode, with some legitimate dramatic tension. I was especially impressed with Roxann Dawson's performance -- she's effectively having to act all by herself, then come in and ADR the other half of the scene playing against her earlier performance, and make the two sides convincingly similar, yet completely different. It turns out great. Its a little incredulous that the Dreadnought was ALSO pulled into the Delta Quadrant and that two years later Voyager runs into it when Voyager is bee-lining to Earth while Dreadnought is following a random course -- but honestly the episode is good enough to overlook it.
Also -- Voyager has the easiest self destruct mechanism to arm ever, no confirmation needed, just Janeway.
But yeah, good, fun episode, with B'Elanna's terrorist past coming back to haunt her -- sort've a good exploration of who she was versus who she is now.
# of Crew: 148 Total -- 130 Starfleet, 16 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 27
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 406 days (13 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,480.3 lightyears
"Lifesigns"
This is a nice, quiet, enjoyable episode. I think this is the first really important "Doctor" episode for me -- "Heroes and Demons" took him out of sickbay and "Projections" questioned his nature, but this is the first time where we don't just look at the Doctor as more than a hologram -- we look at him as more than a Doctor. The scenes between Denara and "Dr. Shmullus" (as she dubs him) have genuine chemistry and really work. Then there's the continuing storylines (on Voyager! GASP!) of Jonas the Traitor and Unruly Paris. The weirdest part of all is that Denara lives through the episode and we end without the standard "and then their romance was tragically ruined" ending. In fact, they don't even give a reason as to why the Doc wouldn't just keep using Shmullus as a name...
# of Crew: 148 Total -- 130 Starfleet, 16 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 27
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 420 days (13.5 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,412.2 lightyears
"Investigations"
And so this subplot that has run through the series for six episodes comes to a head here -- in a Neelix episode. This episode is trying, but it's just not worth all the build up to this point. Neelix reaches an all time high for annoyance levels so far in this episode, Jonas dies by falling into a hole that opens up from nowhere in Engineering, and the whole thing just isn't as good as it should have been. It's not that the episode is bad, it's pretty entertaining most of the way, it's just not up to potential. Sort've VOYAGER in a microcosm, I guess.
# of Crew: 147 Total -- 130 Starfleet, 15 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 27
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 427 days (13.8 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,409 lightyears
"Deadlock"
I think, taken on its own, it's a fairly strong episode. It even AVOIDs a reset button plot by having the Voyager that survives of the two duplicates be the horrifically damaged one. Two things ruin the episode. One is that we are meant to believe that a force of 347 Vidiians board Voyager, outnumbering the crew and taking over the ship -- which is undermined when we only see about two or three of them walking around mostly empty corridors at any one time. The other is the infamous "damage" issue -- the USS Voyager, a ship without access to starbases, spacedock, or any normal forms of supply or support is left at the end of this episode with a destroyed bridge, destroyed warp coils, a hull breach on decks 14-16, and microfractures throughout the hull. And then at the start of the next episode EVERYTHING IS FINE. I mean, if the Producers didn't want to follow up on the issue of all this damage, then they should've made the duplicate Voyager with no damage be the one that survives. Instead they leave us like this, and then everything is magically repaired between episodes. One would think it would be easier for production to just leave things all scorched and broken for another week, mention that repairs are underway or something, perhaps with the help of the planet of the week aliens, and then be back to normal for the week after that. However, its hard to fault "Deadlock" itself for this, but rather the Producers as a whole and the next episode in particular.
# of Crew: 148 Total -- 130 Starfleet, 15 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 27
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman was pregnant: 444 days (14.3 months) -- also, her half-human half-Ktarian baby looks nothing like a Ktarian.
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,401.3 lightyears
"Innocence"
Unless its DS9, Star Trek and children just does not mix. Also, this episode's entire premise is based on the fact that the aliens conveniently neglect to mention a very obvious fact, and the whole thing is really stupid in retrospect. Like THE SIXTH SENSE.
# of Crew: 147 Total -- 129 Starfleet, 15 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 27
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,401.3 lightyears
"The Thaw"
This was actually a really cool, interesting episode from Joe "Weird as Fuck" Menosky. Reminded me of a TOS episode.
# of Crew: 147 Total -- 129 Starfleet, 15 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 27
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,356.4 lightyears
"Tuvix"
As much as I like Tuvok, I much prefer the option of Tuvix to the option of Tuvok and Neelix. Tuvix seems like a super legit guy from what we see here.
I would like to declare this as officially the point where I lost all sympathy with this crew, except for Dr. Schmullus (the EMH). Seriously, not ONE person stood up for Tuvix? They just stood by while Janeway killed him? Fuck that. Also, I declare this episode the official beginning of sociopath Janeway. Not even kidding this time. She actually demonstrates mental disorder IN THIS SOLE EPISODE. She goes from sympathy and friendship to cold determined murder within a single shot. Look at the last shot of the episode. She walks out of the room with this look on her face like she's privately ashamed/sorry for what she's done, but then her face morphs into a solid state of hatred and evil and she marchs down the hall. Fuck Janeway. Sociopath with a crew of sheep. Except the Doc, who refused to perform the operation, respecting the patient's right over his own body.
# of Crew: 147 Total -- 129 Starfleet, 15 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 27
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,320 lightyears
"Resolutions"
Aka Jeri Taylor teases all the Janeway/Chakotay shippers.
The entire planetside story is a massive yawn, and worthless because all of the great near-romantic bonding the pair do is clearly forgotten and tossed aside at the end of the episode. The shipside storyline with Tuvok in command was good, and all of the continuity tosses back to previous Vidiian storylines were very appreciated, but for the most part this episode is a real time waster. Seriously. Takes place over 97 days. 97 days where no progress is made getting back home.
# of Crew: 147 Total -- 129 Starfleet, 15 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 24
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,304.6 lightyears
"Basics, Part I"
Okay, so I gotta admit that this was a great, dramatic cliffhanger episode from Michael Piller. Certainly no "Best of Both Worlds", but it made a great use of a lot of elements from earlier in the season, from Suder to the Kazons, to help give a feel as if Season 2 was a cohesive whole, building on itself and leading up to this. Which was appreciated. Not exactly DS9 levels of good serial style writing, but at least appreciated. The cliffhanger itself isn't so much "omg will they survive?" but "omg how will they survive?" and I think the episode does a reasonably good job of being dramatic and exciting and leaving the audience excited for the conclusion.
# of Crew: 147 Total -- 129 Starfleet, 15 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 7
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 18 (I point out we now have less than half of our original torpedo complement, and haven't even run into the Borg yet)
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 73,267.1 lightyears
Monday, March 14, 2011
Star Trek: Voyager Season 1 Review
Originally published on the MI6 Forums from Nov 29 2010 to Jan 26 2011
Star Trek: Voyager
# of Crew: 141 (Starfleet)
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 40
Distance to Earth: 52 lightyears (from DS9)
"Caretaker"
It's not a bad pilot. I think it does a great job of setting up the series and its premise and conflicts. Although Janeway's speech at the end was ridiculous in how overtly it stated the overall premise of the show. It was surprising to see how much energy all the actors are putting into their roles and how distinctly all the characters are written at this point -- they all become so homogenous later on. Also -- Torres' eyebrows: weird. The biggest problem with this episode is the ending -- Janeway's reasoning for destroying the Array is flawed and ill-defined. Why not set the self-destruct for say, a half an hour, and then use it to get home confident it will blow up later? The ending of the episode feels rushed and Chakotay's sudden capitulation and agreement with Janeway's decision to destroy the Array over B'Elanna's quite reasonable objections provides the first sign that the Maquis/Starfleet "conflict" won't be taken very seriously or last very long. Still, as it stands, the pilot promises a show with a lot of potential, a lot of intriguing differences from the Star Trek norm, a lot of interesting conflicts and problems, and yet a firm grasp on the themes of the Roddenberry vision. So, y'know, we'll see how long that lasts.
Also, Janeway states it would take 75 years to get home at Maximum Warp. While that would be true if Voyager's max speed was Warp 8, Stadi clearly states it can go warp 9.975, in which case at Max Warp it would be home in a little over 13 years, which is really no big deal.
# of Crew: 136 Starfleet, >2 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Earth: 75,000 lightyears
Parallax
First regular episode and we've already hit a space anomaly?
Other than that, I actually really like this episode. Yet again, I see potential gone to waste. It's so weird seeing Robert Bertran putting effort into playing Chakotay. Everyone has so much energy. I don't feel the desperation of being lost in the Delta Quadrant, but I do feel the strain on resources beginning, even if its just lip service, and I definitely feel the inter-cast conflict. The show should've built on the things we see here. I remember Python saying that "Deadlock" was the point where he felt the show abandoned the last shreds of its premise. I'll see if I concur. So far I think its moving along fine for what it was supposed to be, considering who was making it and when (I don't really expect a mid 90s network show to have the intensity of BSG after all).
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,919.2 lightyears
"Time and Again"
It's so annoying that this is the fourth episode. It doesn't utilize the Voyager premise at all, except for two comic scenes. It's an episode that could've easily been done on TNG.
As for the story itself, it's another Brannon Braga time bender, coming right on the heels of a Brannon Braga time bender. So, you know, great timing.
Also, it's an episode that's basically an anti-nuclear energy allegory. Because if there's one thing Trek should be it's anti-progress!
There's some okay ethical dilemmas, but it's weighed down by the COMPLETELY HUMAN Delta Quadrant aliens (not even a weird hairdo or odd nose!) and the awful child actor.
The episode's clearly meant as a Janeway/Paris developer, but the two characters who come across best are actually Tuvok and the EMH -- Picardo hasn't had much to do in the show so far, and very little interaction with the rest of the cast, but he's already stolen the series. Every little bit with him is great. Tuvok, Trek's only real major Vulcan character (Spock - Half Human, Saavik - Half Romulan, Valeris - Half Klingon, T'Pol - Half Romulan), is a great voice of reason and logic, used to effectively counterbalance Kes' Jedi powers.
This episode is also **** for developing what kind of captain Janeway is. In the pilot, she screws over everyone in her crew by breaking Starfleet's highest law for the sake of aliens she's basically never met and knows next to nothing about, on the premise that "they are already involved". Here she starts the episode giving strict lectures about the Prime Directive and berates Paris for belittling it, but then spontaneously decides to break it again halfway through the show. It's a long history of the writers having no **** clue who Janeway is. Kirk is the cowboy, Picard is the explorer, Sisko is the builder, Janeway is... ?
Finally, after everything, this episode is a LITERAL reset button plot, with the time travel negating all of its events so that for all intents and purposes the episode NEVER happened.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,879.7 lightyears
Nitpick time: Janeway is apparently devoted to getting her crew home. Her ship has a SUSTAINABLE max warp of 9.975. Yet from the end of the first episode to the start of this one (third) they've been consistently travelling warp 7, and at the end of this episode she orders them to resume course at warp 6. Thanks, Janeway. So far they've managed to travel about 120 light years, and if they'd travelled for this long at max warp they could've covered around 1020. So, y'know, a big frakkin' difference. Why are they leisuring around? Which parts of the ship were sacrificed to make the technogadget they used this episode? How's coverting the mess into a kitchen (mentioned in episode 2) going? Is everyone starving off replicator rations? When the ship is cruising at warp 6 and Paris is trying to convince Harry to double date the Delaney sisters, I don't exactly get the impression of "lost in space, stuck with people who hate us"
"Phage"
Now here was an interesting episode that was genuinely exciting and threatening. Was it necessarily a VOYAGER episode? Not really, but it was good. There was a sense of necessity and danger. I was really surprised by Neelix in this episode -- he was believable and multi-faceted. At what point did he become a one-dimensional annoyance? The Vidians are a great villain species in their ambiguity. Although Janeway is again all over the place emotionally here -- sympathising with the Vidians one moment and threatening to kill them the next. Psycho Captain indeed. But a very good episode.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,866.8 lightyears
"The Cloud"
An exceptionally dull episode for the most part whose plot is completely superfluous, uninteresting and drab. The vast majority of the show is devoted to filler that purports to develop the characters. Janeway, the secular humanist Federation science geek, getting in touch with her Indian animal spirit guide. Paris and his holodeck bar. Etc, etc. Neelix is right in this episode: what the frak are we doing stopping every two seconds to investigate everything in the damn quadrant?
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,804.8 lightyears
"Eye of the Needle"
A pretty good episode for addressing emotional themes, though I think it comes too early in the series. Also -- Romulans? In the Alpha Quadrant? In 2351? No wonder he didn't want to be found by Starfleet! There's no way a Romulan vessel could be in the Alpha Quadrant without going through Federation space, and in that year the Romulans were supposedly under an isolationist policy and hadn't seen/talked to the Feds since 2311. But anyways, it's otherwise a well put together show and involving for the entire crew. Well played so far.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,622.4 lightyears
There are three comments I'd like to make on the show so far.
One is that Janeway is incensed about Neelix turning the mess hall into a galley in "The Cloud" and insists she never gave him authorization. Actually, he did indeed ask for permission to do so in "Parallax" and she gave it. So, y'know, Psycho Captain.
Another is that the tension between Maquis and Starfleet has not been examined since "Parallax". Everyone seems to be buddy buddy and Janeway seems to have Chakotay completely domesticated. He's NEVER shown ANYONE his medicine bundle or talked to ANYONE about his spirit animal and now he's discussing it with this Starfleet captain who was sent to arrest him and whose command he's stuck under for the next however many years.
The final one is a good point: Robert Picardo has stolen this show. His scenes are the most interesting ones in the series so far, and what's more amazing is that he's had an amazingly consistent character arc so far. In all three of these episodes there was continuous, incremental, and realistic development in the Doctor's character, his relations with the crew, the captain, his attitudes about himself, his friendship with Kes, etc etc etc. All extremely well executed, as if the Doctor's sections were being written by a completely different staff and inserted into the main episodes at appropriate moments.
"Ex Post Facto"
A rip-off of "A Matter of Perspective" [TNG] which was a rip-off of Rashomon. Although this episode comes across as less Kurosawa and more Columbo. Still, I like Tuvok in the role of investigator. I like seeing his rationality, his unwavering attitude, I like having a Vulcan, a real Vulcan, in the cast.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet), >4 (Maquis)
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,531.2 lightyears
"Emanations"
A high-concept Brannon Braga piece that actually goes somewhere and says something. I like the exploration of reality vs. religion, what happens when you lose that safety net and have to face the cold hard fact of death. I like the subtle euthanasia angle, and I liked the idea of giving Kim an experience that allows him to grow. There were two problems: one was not enough conflict. I think that would've been solved if the priests on the planet had known that their afterlife was a fraud, so that they would want to kill Kim to keep the truth from spreading. That would give Kim an impetus to escape, fight, etc. The other was I disliked the pat ending where Janeway suggested that the aliens neural energy lives on as radiation, and perhaps they do become a higher state of blah blah blah. That's too much like trying to have your cake and eat it too.
# of Crew: 134 (Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,364 lightyears
"Prime Factors"
Probably the first episode since "Parallax" that utilizes the core premises of the show well. It starts slow, but once the mutiny in Engineering starts boiling it really picks up, and involving Tuvok was a brilliant stroke, realizing that as a logical being of course he would try to get Voyager that much closer to home. This one was well written, superbly acted, with fine execution. A stand-out of the first season thus far.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,351.4 lightyears
"State of Flux"
This is another great episode that deals with the series premise, and builds on elements already present: Seska, the Maquis on the ship, the Kazon, etc. And it ends up setting up many storylines down the road, especially second season. So its a good episode, with great twists and fun turns and good chances for development for Chakotay. If anything, I think its only weakness is coming right after "Prime Factors", which dealt with a lot of the same issues. There should've been some space between the two. But other than that, another great episode. At this point, you could have some hope for how this series will go.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,340.6 lightyears
This week on Deep Space Nine, the Romulans and Cardassians joined forces to defeat the Founders, and were ambushed and wiped out by the Jem'Hadar. Meanwhile, on Voyager...
"Heroes and Demons"
The Doctor has an adventure on the malfunctioning holodeck.
Actually, this is a pretty fun episode, with a lot of character growth for Dr. Schweitzer (lol, anyone else kinda wish the Doc HAD picked a permanent name eventually?) but its let down by a disappointingly standard Star Trek ending: the misunderstood alien cliche. I mean, communication and peaceful understanding is great, but kind've a weak third act after Vikings and Monsters.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,337 lightyears
"Cathexis"
This episode was a huge boring turd. I figured out that it was Chakotay's spirit floating around possessing the crew and not an evil alien in the first act and the rest of the episode was sort've silly nonsense. I liked the darker moments of paranoia, but I wish they had arisen from the fact that a tenth of the crew are wanted terrorists and not some silly space alien plot. In the end its kind've ridiculous. As a side note, its in this episode that Tuvok, Paris, and Torres all suddenly get demoted one step in rank, without comment. A fan theory is that Tuvok and Torres were demoted for their actions in "Prime Factors", but there's no reason Paris should be, other than to keep Tuvok as outranking him.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,332.8 lightyears
"Faces"
This is a pretty standard first season kind've episode for a show to do. It's a good sci-fi way to develop Torres and her tortured personality and reminds me of the sort've thing TOS would've done with Spock. It ends up being pretty effective, but I think it would've been more believeable if the crew had used the Vidian technology to get Torres back together than the Doctor somehow being able to do it. But I liked this one.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,282.3 lightyears
"Jetrel"
This is a great episode. An absolute Voyager stand-out. Was Neelix ever given this much depth ever again? Its very similar to "Duet" [DS9] but the analogy here is American and Japanese after the Hiroshima bombing, rather than German and Jew after the Holocaust. In any case, it works great, and I wish we would've seen more of this side of Ethan Phillips' acting as the show went on.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,237.4 lightyears
"Learning Curve"
Here's a great example of Starfleet/Maquis friction to go with "Parallax", "Prime Factors" and "State of Flux". Frankly, an episode like this, with rebellious Maquis crewmen being made to undergo a crash course in Starfleet operations, should've come much earlier in the series. And these characters should've recurred more often afterwards (I remember Chell, but did any of the others reappear? In a ship of 150 people more of these background players should've been recurring). All in all, a good episode, though its examination of Tuvok leaves a bit to be desired -- here he's inflexible about breaking protocol, but a few episodes back in "State of Flux" he was willing to break protocol when it was logical to do so. Also, he taught at the Academy for 16 years and he's only a lieutenant?
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >8 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,226.2 lightyears
Another great moment in "Learning Curve" that I forgot to mention was Chakotay decking one of his Maquis crewmen. Its glorious. I mean, guy was a terrorist leader after all -- far cry from the cardboard stand-in Beltran becomes later.
"Projections"
Basically a more complicated version of TNG's "Ship in a Bottle" (we must go deeper). The two greatest things about this episode are the guest appearance from Barclay, and the existential conundrum presented to the Doctor, where he is given a choice between reality and fantasy and the choice is given real weight. A superbly put together show, even if the last five minutes is kind've a final "WTF" for the audience before ending up exactly where we were fine minutes ago.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >8 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,181.3 lightyears
"Elogium"
This episode has good ideas. Jennifer Lien really plays the whole "uncertain pregnant teen" angle well. I like Neelix's soul searching about being a father. But ultimately it falls flat due to the reset button ending: not only does Kes choose not to have a child, but it turns out her Elogium was false, so she can still have one later if she chooses. Meanwhile, the B-plot with the swarm out in space was DUUUUUULL.
On another note, Ensign Wildman finds out she's pregnant. Her husband is a Ktarian who runs a shop on the Deep Space Nine promanade. If we assume they had sex the night before Voyager left, that still means Wildman has been pregnant for SEVEN MONTHS without realizing it. I guess we'll chalk that up to the baby's half alien nature???
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >9 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 215 days (7.25 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,150.5 lightyears
"Twisted"
This episode was TERRIBLE. I don't know if I've ever been so BORED watching Star Trek. Characters wander around for an hour, then defeat the problem by doing NOTHING. Then, despite the whole hour telling us we've been fighting a subspace anomaly, at the last minute we decide its a Misunderstood Life Form Just Trying to Communicate -- which VOY already did earlier this season in "The Cloud". There are two good moments in this episode -- one is Chakotay talking to Neelix about his jealousy, hopefully resolving this issue that has been present every time Neelix shares a scene with Paris. Another good moment is Chakotay and Tuvok finally burying the hatchet after being at odds most of the season.
But don't mistake me, this episode was AWFUL.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >9 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 226 days (7.3 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,119.7 lightyears
"The 37's"
A much better finale to season 1 than a premiere of season 2, that's for sure. This episode is basically "The Neutral Zone" [TNG] minus Romulans plus Amelia Earhart. It amuses me that TNG was so anal about NOT copying TOS in its first year but VOY had no issues at all with copying TNG during its first year. The biggest problem with this episode is that we never SEE the beautiful human civilization that our heroes are being tempted with. We blew the whole effects budget on the ship landing. It'd be like never actually going to Jurassic Park in Jurassic Park -- just seeing Grant come back and saying "well, those WERE some pretty spectacular dinosaurs!"
Anyways, the episode ends with a pretty satisfying theme of the crew devoted themselves, uniformly, to the journey home -- a sense that the crew has bonded over this mission, with the Starfleet/Maquis rift basically healed. One thing that annoys me, however, is how this episode and many others equate home with Earth, even though the Maquis for sure equate home with the DMZ, given that their whole raison d'etre was loving those homes in the DMZ so much they were willing to become terrorists to keep them. But anyways...
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians (meaning there was 18 Maquis originally on the Val Jean!)
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 237 days (7.6 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,550.6 lightyears
Season 1 Character Thoughts.
I think the characters who came out of Season 1 the worse were Janeway, Chakotay, and Kim. Janeway is inconsistent and something of an enigma. Besides her devotion to science and reason, I find her ethics hard to figure out. Also, she alternates between too hard and too soft with the crew. Chakotay has had a couple of good moments throughout the series, usually the best when he's interacting with other Maquis. But for the most part, he was pretty instantly domesticated -- the writers are more interested in the calm, passive, wise Indian stereotype than developing the conflicted, angry, terrorist character described in the writer's bible. As for Kim -- I don't think this guy gets any more development in the next 6 years than he's got already. Oh, and actually Paris, other than his pool playing, hasn't really gotten anything since the pilot. Tuvok, the Doctor, Kes, Neelix, and Torres have all gotten pretty good development episodes however.
Star Trek: Voyager
# of Crew: 141 (Starfleet)
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 40
Distance to Earth: 52 lightyears (from DS9)
"Caretaker"
It's not a bad pilot. I think it does a great job of setting up the series and its premise and conflicts. Although Janeway's speech at the end was ridiculous in how overtly it stated the overall premise of the show. It was surprising to see how much energy all the actors are putting into their roles and how distinctly all the characters are written at this point -- they all become so homogenous later on. Also -- Torres' eyebrows: weird. The biggest problem with this episode is the ending -- Janeway's reasoning for destroying the Array is flawed and ill-defined. Why not set the self-destruct for say, a half an hour, and then use it to get home confident it will blow up later? The ending of the episode feels rushed and Chakotay's sudden capitulation and agreement with Janeway's decision to destroy the Array over B'Elanna's quite reasonable objections provides the first sign that the Maquis/Starfleet "conflict" won't be taken very seriously or last very long. Still, as it stands, the pilot promises a show with a lot of potential, a lot of intriguing differences from the Star Trek norm, a lot of interesting conflicts and problems, and yet a firm grasp on the themes of the Roddenberry vision. So, y'know, we'll see how long that lasts.
Also, Janeway states it would take 75 years to get home at Maximum Warp. While that would be true if Voyager's max speed was Warp 8, Stadi clearly states it can go warp 9.975, in which case at Max Warp it would be home in a little over 13 years, which is really no big deal.
# of Crew: 136 Starfleet, >2 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Earth: 75,000 lightyears
Parallax
First regular episode and we've already hit a space anomaly?
Other than that, I actually really like this episode. Yet again, I see potential gone to waste. It's so weird seeing Robert Bertran putting effort into playing Chakotay. Everyone has so much energy. I don't feel the desperation of being lost in the Delta Quadrant, but I do feel the strain on resources beginning, even if its just lip service, and I definitely feel the inter-cast conflict. The show should've built on the things we see here. I remember Python saying that "Deadlock" was the point where he felt the show abandoned the last shreds of its premise. I'll see if I concur. So far I think its moving along fine for what it was supposed to be, considering who was making it and when (I don't really expect a mid 90s network show to have the intensity of BSG after all).
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,919.2 lightyears
"Time and Again"
It's so annoying that this is the fourth episode. It doesn't utilize the Voyager premise at all, except for two comic scenes. It's an episode that could've easily been done on TNG.
As for the story itself, it's another Brannon Braga time bender, coming right on the heels of a Brannon Braga time bender. So, you know, great timing.
Also, it's an episode that's basically an anti-nuclear energy allegory. Because if there's one thing Trek should be it's anti-progress!
There's some okay ethical dilemmas, but it's weighed down by the COMPLETELY HUMAN Delta Quadrant aliens (not even a weird hairdo or odd nose!) and the awful child actor.
The episode's clearly meant as a Janeway/Paris developer, but the two characters who come across best are actually Tuvok and the EMH -- Picardo hasn't had much to do in the show so far, and very little interaction with the rest of the cast, but he's already stolen the series. Every little bit with him is great. Tuvok, Trek's only real major Vulcan character (Spock - Half Human, Saavik - Half Romulan, Valeris - Half Klingon, T'Pol - Half Romulan), is a great voice of reason and logic, used to effectively counterbalance Kes' Jedi powers.
This episode is also **** for developing what kind of captain Janeway is. In the pilot, she screws over everyone in her crew by breaking Starfleet's highest law for the sake of aliens she's basically never met and knows next to nothing about, on the premise that "they are already involved". Here she starts the episode giving strict lectures about the Prime Directive and berates Paris for belittling it, but then spontaneously decides to break it again halfway through the show. It's a long history of the writers having no **** clue who Janeway is. Kirk is the cowboy, Picard is the explorer, Sisko is the builder, Janeway is... ?
Finally, after everything, this episode is a LITERAL reset button plot, with the time travel negating all of its events so that for all intents and purposes the episode NEVER happened.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,879.7 lightyears
Nitpick time: Janeway is apparently devoted to getting her crew home. Her ship has a SUSTAINABLE max warp of 9.975. Yet from the end of the first episode to the start of this one (third) they've been consistently travelling warp 7, and at the end of this episode she orders them to resume course at warp 6. Thanks, Janeway. So far they've managed to travel about 120 light years, and if they'd travelled for this long at max warp they could've covered around 1020. So, y'know, a big frakkin' difference. Why are they leisuring around? Which parts of the ship were sacrificed to make the technogadget they used this episode? How's coverting the mess into a kitchen (mentioned in episode 2) going? Is everyone starving off replicator rations? When the ship is cruising at warp 6 and Paris is trying to convince Harry to double date the Delaney sisters, I don't exactly get the impression of "lost in space, stuck with people who hate us"
"Phage"
Now here was an interesting episode that was genuinely exciting and threatening. Was it necessarily a VOYAGER episode? Not really, but it was good. There was a sense of necessity and danger. I was really surprised by Neelix in this episode -- he was believable and multi-faceted. At what point did he become a one-dimensional annoyance? The Vidians are a great villain species in their ambiguity. Although Janeway is again all over the place emotionally here -- sympathising with the Vidians one moment and threatening to kill them the next. Psycho Captain indeed. But a very good episode.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 38
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,866.8 lightyears
"The Cloud"
An exceptionally dull episode for the most part whose plot is completely superfluous, uninteresting and drab. The vast majority of the show is devoted to filler that purports to develop the characters. Janeway, the secular humanist Federation science geek, getting in touch with her Indian animal spirit guide. Paris and his holodeck bar. Etc, etc. Neelix is right in this episode: what the frak are we doing stopping every two seconds to investigate everything in the damn quadrant?
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,804.8 lightyears
"Eye of the Needle"
A pretty good episode for addressing emotional themes, though I think it comes too early in the series. Also -- Romulans? In the Alpha Quadrant? In 2351? No wonder he didn't want to be found by Starfleet! There's no way a Romulan vessel could be in the Alpha Quadrant without going through Federation space, and in that year the Romulans were supposedly under an isolationist policy and hadn't seen/talked to the Feds since 2311. But anyways, it's otherwise a well put together show and involving for the entire crew. Well played so far.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,622.4 lightyears
There are three comments I'd like to make on the show so far.
One is that Janeway is incensed about Neelix turning the mess hall into a galley in "The Cloud" and insists she never gave him authorization. Actually, he did indeed ask for permission to do so in "Parallax" and she gave it. So, y'know, Psycho Captain.
Another is that the tension between Maquis and Starfleet has not been examined since "Parallax". Everyone seems to be buddy buddy and Janeway seems to have Chakotay completely domesticated. He's NEVER shown ANYONE his medicine bundle or talked to ANYONE about his spirit animal and now he's discussing it with this Starfleet captain who was sent to arrest him and whose command he's stuck under for the next however many years.
The final one is a good point: Robert Picardo has stolen this show. His scenes are the most interesting ones in the series so far, and what's more amazing is that he's had an amazingly consistent character arc so far. In all three of these episodes there was continuous, incremental, and realistic development in the Doctor's character, his relations with the crew, the captain, his attitudes about himself, his friendship with Kes, etc etc etc. All extremely well executed, as if the Doctor's sections were being written by a completely different staff and inserted into the main episodes at appropriate moments.
"Ex Post Facto"
A rip-off of "A Matter of Perspective" [TNG] which was a rip-off of Rashomon. Although this episode comes across as less Kurosawa and more Columbo. Still, I like Tuvok in the role of investigator. I like seeing his rationality, his unwavering attitude, I like having a Vulcan, a real Vulcan, in the cast.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet), >4 (Maquis)
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,531.2 lightyears
"Emanations"
A high-concept Brannon Braga piece that actually goes somewhere and says something. I like the exploration of reality vs. religion, what happens when you lose that safety net and have to face the cold hard fact of death. I like the subtle euthanasia angle, and I liked the idea of giving Kim an experience that allows him to grow. There were two problems: one was not enough conflict. I think that would've been solved if the priests on the planet had known that their afterlife was a fraud, so that they would want to kill Kim to keep the truth from spreading. That would give Kim an impetus to escape, fight, etc. The other was I disliked the pat ending where Janeway suggested that the aliens neural energy lives on as radiation, and perhaps they do become a higher state of blah blah blah. That's too much like trying to have your cake and eat it too.
# of Crew: 134 (Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,364 lightyears
"Prime Factors"
Probably the first episode since "Parallax" that utilizes the core premises of the show well. It starts slow, but once the mutiny in Engineering starts boiling it really picks up, and involving Tuvok was a brilliant stroke, realizing that as a logical being of course he would try to get Voyager that much closer to home. This one was well written, superbly acted, with fine execution. A stand-out of the first season thus far.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,351.4 lightyears
"State of Flux"
This is another great episode that deals with the series premise, and builds on elements already present: Seska, the Maquis on the ship, the Kazon, etc. And it ends up setting up many storylines down the road, especially second season. So its a good episode, with great twists and fun turns and good chances for development for Chakotay. If anything, I think its only weakness is coming right after "Prime Factors", which dealt with a lot of the same issues. There should've been some space between the two. But other than that, another great episode. At this point, you could have some hope for how this series will go.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,340.6 lightyears
This week on Deep Space Nine, the Romulans and Cardassians joined forces to defeat the Founders, and were ambushed and wiped out by the Jem'Hadar. Meanwhile, on Voyager...
"Heroes and Demons"
The Doctor has an adventure on the malfunctioning holodeck.
Actually, this is a pretty fun episode, with a lot of character growth for Dr. Schweitzer (lol, anyone else kinda wish the Doc HAD picked a permanent name eventually?) but its let down by a disappointingly standard Star Trek ending: the misunderstood alien cliche. I mean, communication and peaceful understanding is great, but kind've a weak third act after Vikings and Monsters.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,337 lightyears
"Cathexis"
This episode was a huge boring turd. I figured out that it was Chakotay's spirit floating around possessing the crew and not an evil alien in the first act and the rest of the episode was sort've silly nonsense. I liked the darker moments of paranoia, but I wish they had arisen from the fact that a tenth of the crew are wanted terrorists and not some silly space alien plot. In the end its kind've ridiculous. As a side note, its in this episode that Tuvok, Paris, and Torres all suddenly get demoted one step in rank, without comment. A fan theory is that Tuvok and Torres were demoted for their actions in "Prime Factors", but there's no reason Paris should be, other than to keep Tuvok as outranking him.
# of Crew: 134 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,332.8 lightyears
"Faces"
This is a pretty standard first season kind've episode for a show to do. It's a good sci-fi way to develop Torres and her tortured personality and reminds me of the sort've thing TOS would've done with Spock. It ends up being pretty effective, but I think it would've been more believeable if the crew had used the Vidian technology to get Torres back together than the Doctor somehow being able to do it. But I liked this one.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >3 Maquis, 2 Civillians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,282.3 lightyears
"Jetrel"
This is a great episode. An absolute Voyager stand-out. Was Neelix ever given this much depth ever again? Its very similar to "Duet" [DS9] but the analogy here is American and Japanese after the Hiroshima bombing, rather than German and Jew after the Holocaust. In any case, it works great, and I wish we would've seen more of this side of Ethan Phillips' acting as the show went on.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >4 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,237.4 lightyears
"Learning Curve"
Here's a great example of Starfleet/Maquis friction to go with "Parallax", "Prime Factors" and "State of Flux". Frankly, an episode like this, with rebellious Maquis crewmen being made to undergo a crash course in Starfleet operations, should've come much earlier in the series. And these characters should've recurred more often afterwards (I remember Chell, but did any of the others reappear? In a ship of 150 people more of these background players should've been recurring). All in all, a good episode, though its examination of Tuvok leaves a bit to be desired -- here he's inflexible about breaking protocol, but a few episodes back in "State of Flux" he was willing to break protocol when it was logical to do so. Also, he taught at the Academy for 16 years and he's only a lieutenant?
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >8 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,226.2 lightyears
Another great moment in "Learning Curve" that I forgot to mention was Chakotay decking one of his Maquis crewmen. Its glorious. I mean, guy was a terrorist leader after all -- far cry from the cardboard stand-in Beltran becomes later.
"Projections"
Basically a more complicated version of TNG's "Ship in a Bottle" (we must go deeper). The two greatest things about this episode are the guest appearance from Barclay, and the existential conundrum presented to the Doctor, where he is given a choice between reality and fantasy and the choice is given real weight. A superbly put together show, even if the last five minutes is kind've a final "WTF" for the audience before ending up exactly where we were fine minutes ago.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >8 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,181.3 lightyears
"Elogium"
This episode has good ideas. Jennifer Lien really plays the whole "uncertain pregnant teen" angle well. I like Neelix's soul searching about being a father. But ultimately it falls flat due to the reset button ending: not only does Kes choose not to have a child, but it turns out her Elogium was false, so she can still have one later if she chooses. Meanwhile, the B-plot with the swarm out in space was DUUUUUULL.
On another note, Ensign Wildman finds out she's pregnant. Her husband is a Ktarian who runs a shop on the Deep Space Nine promanade. If we assume they had sex the night before Voyager left, that still means Wildman has been pregnant for SEVEN MONTHS without realizing it. I guess we'll chalk that up to the baby's half alien nature???
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >9 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 215 days (7.25 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,150.5 lightyears
"Twisted"
This episode was TERRIBLE. I don't know if I've ever been so BORED watching Star Trek. Characters wander around for an hour, then defeat the problem by doing NOTHING. Then, despite the whole hour telling us we've been fighting a subspace anomaly, at the last minute we decide its a Misunderstood Life Form Just Trying to Communicate -- which VOY already did earlier this season in "The Cloud". There are two good moments in this episode -- one is Chakotay talking to Neelix about his jealousy, hopefully resolving this issue that has been present every time Neelix shares a scene with Paris. Another good moment is Chakotay and Tuvok finally burying the hatchet after being at odds most of the season.
But don't mistake me, this episode was AWFUL.
# of Crew: 133 Starfleet, >9 Maquis, 2 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 226 days (7.3 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,119.7 lightyears
"The 37's"
A much better finale to season 1 than a premiere of season 2, that's for sure. This episode is basically "The Neutral Zone" [TNG] minus Romulans plus Amelia Earhart. It amuses me that TNG was so anal about NOT copying TOS in its first year but VOY had no issues at all with copying TNG during its first year. The biggest problem with this episode is that we never SEE the beautiful human civilization that our heroes are being tempted with. We blew the whole effects budget on the ship landing. It'd be like never actually going to Jurassic Park in Jurassic Park -- just seeing Grant come back and saying "well, those WERE some pretty spectacular dinosaurs!"
Anyways, the episode ends with a pretty satisfying theme of the crew devoted themselves, uniformly, to the journey home -- a sense that the crew has bonded over this mission, with the Starfleet/Maquis rift basically healed. One thing that annoys me, however, is how this episode and many others equate home with Earth, even though the Maquis for sure equate home with the DMZ, given that their whole raison d'etre was loving those homes in the DMZ so much they were willing to become terrorists to keep them. But anyways...
# of Crew: 152 Total -- 133 Starfleet, 17 Maquis, 2 Civilians (meaning there was 18 Maquis originally on the Val Jean!)
# of Shuttles: 10
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 37
# of Gel Packs: 47
Time Ens. Wildman has been pregnant: 237 days (7.6 months)
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 74,550.6 lightyears
Season 1 Character Thoughts.
I think the characters who came out of Season 1 the worse were Janeway, Chakotay, and Kim. Janeway is inconsistent and something of an enigma. Besides her devotion to science and reason, I find her ethics hard to figure out. Also, she alternates between too hard and too soft with the crew. Chakotay has had a couple of good moments throughout the series, usually the best when he's interacting with other Maquis. But for the most part, he was pretty instantly domesticated -- the writers are more interested in the calm, passive, wise Indian stereotype than developing the conflicted, angry, terrorist character described in the writer's bible. As for Kim -- I don't think this guy gets any more development in the next 6 years than he's got already. Oh, and actually Paris, other than his pool playing, hasn't really gotten anything since the pilot. Tuvok, the Doctor, Kes, Neelix, and Torres have all gotten pretty good development episodes however.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4 Review
First posted on MI6Forums and BondandBeyond from Feb 2 2011 to Apr 28 2011
"The Way of the Warrior"
Now THAT'S how you open a season! Within 90 minutes, DS9 changes everything -- 79 years of peace between the UFP and the Klingons ended, two decades of peace between the Cardassians and Klingons over, Worf added to the cast -- and tons of great action and excitement! And in the midst of all the battles and pyrotechnics, still time for great character moments, especially the root beer scene between Quark and Garak, but also the disruptor scene between Quark and Odo. Just a fantastic episode!
"The Visitor"
It's a sci-fi time travel subspace reset button plot -- and it's one of the best Star Trek episodes of all time. Really using science fiction to tell a moving and engaging story worth telling. I admit it, I teared up at the end. I love Jake and Ben as characters and episodes that explore their relationships, and this is the ultimate one.
"Hippocratic Oath"
And the fourth season of DS9 is three for three with this brilliant episode that explores Worf's settling in on the station in the B plot, and does a take on Bridge on the River Kwai and manages to explore, develop and drive a wedge between Bashir and O'Brien for the A plot. It's a great show that also makes the Jem'Hadar legitimate again. Classic Deep Space Nine.
"Indiscretion"
Here begins a long journey for Dukat that doesn't really end until the finale. And we FINALLY see the Breen! Well, kinda. Also, the b-plot continues the so-far great development of the Sisko/Kassidy relationship. And the episode is a triumph for not killing Ziyal at the end and hitting reset -- instead, there are major consequences. My only beef is that the b-plot was comic relief enough, we didn't need the ridiculous "thorn in Dukat's bum lololol" scene in the a-plot.
"Rejoined"
The most brilliant thing about this episode is no one ever even mentions the fact that the two lovers are women. It's a show about lesbianism without being a show about lesbianism. It's all allegory, it's all metaphor, and to the characters in the show its not even part of the issue, but to a modern viewer its all they see. It's very clever, it's the perfect way to do an allegory show (ie, not be in your face about it) and it's the sort of thing Star Trek is meant to do: talk about current day social problems in the context of an entertaining sci-fi story.
"Starship Down"
This is kind've like "Civil Defense" fourth season style, but it spends so much time trying to be a character piece for everyone (Quark, Julian, Kira, Worf) that it forgets how to be exciting and dramatic and ends up falling quite flat.
"Little Green Men"
This was just fun! A hilarious Trek tribute to the B-movies of the fifties, and an excellent comedy vehicle for the station's Ferengi family. Could not have enjoyed it more.
"The Sword of Kahless"
Everything about this episode works except one thing: the budget. Running around the same cave set for 70% of the screentime really dilutes all of the excitement and drama. Other than that, a fine first effort for the first real Worf episode of the season.
"Our Man Bashir"
What can I say about this episode that hasn't already been said? Pure gold.
"Homefront" and "Paradise Lost"
Everything about these episodes works great. They are a classic pair of Deep Space Nine shows. But after seeing them so many times, I think the only thing against them is that even by this point in Trek lore, the Admiral goes rogue concept isn't new or surprising. They try to blindside you with the Changeling threat so you don't see it coming, but this whole thing would mean a lot more if every Starfleet officer who wasn't in the main cast of a series wasn't always pulling this sorta thing. I mean, granted, Leyton goes farther than any rogue Admiral before, trying to take over the Federation and having Starfleet ships firing on each other -- but we'd already had an old friend of Sisko's betray him in "The Maquis" and then there were plenty of rogue Admirals on TNG, and of course everyone Kirk went to the Academy with turned insane and evil eventually.
But still, good episodes, and great to see Brock Peters as senior Sisko after three and a half years of hearing about him.
"Crossfire"
This is one of my favourite episodes of Deep Space Nine. It really shows how devoted this show is to its characters that we can have an episode like this. Picking up on the strands left by several season 3 episodes, it weaves Odo, Kira and Shakaar through a series of events that aren't standard or predictable, but are insightfully written and subtly plotted. Its all great -- but the stand out scene is of course the one with Odo and Quark in Odo's quarters: the unspoken friendship between them. There's nothing to dislike here; its a great exploration of one-sided love and its a feeling I think we're all familiar with. Even the little things, like the scene between Kira and Odo that opens the episode, or the scene between Worf and Odo about how you should never be hospitable to visitors (that only encourages further visits), they're all golden. Its just a great show. Ah, DS9.
"Return to Grace"
The actions of "Indiscretion" have their consequences here: For bringing his half-Bajoran daughter home, we see Dukat at his lowest point in the series -- without rank or position, divorced, hauling freight, not even worth shooting at. But the turnaround in this episode is great -- by the end Dukat has his own Bird of Prey and is ready to wage a one man war on the Klingon Empire. This episode is good, but what makes it great is how it connects to earlier episodes and clearly sets up later episodes, with Ziyal moving to DS9, Dukat preparing his comeback, and the introduction of Damar in a role as innocuous as "random Cardie crewmember". My only complaint would be that I think the writers lay the "Dukat has a crush on Kira" thing on too thick.
"Sons of Mogh"
The actions of "Way of the Warrior" have their consequences here: For opposing Gowron, Worf has disgraced his house and his family -- his brother visits the station for ritual suicide. I may point out this is the second suicide related episode Trek did that year, after VOY's "Death Wish". The best thing about this episode is that Worf actually plunges the dagger in -- its Bashir who saves Kurn later. This episode also has a great exploration of Worf's motives -- why he is who he is. Finally, Kurn's memory is wiped in Bashir's House of Horrors -- the Infirmary. This is a stellar, dramatic episode.
"Bar Association"
This is a pretty low pulse episode. Nothing really makes me sit up and pay attention except maybe a couple of the Quark/Rom scenes. But it's a fun episode and it's a good episode for the development it gives Rom. I'm a sucker for stories where the shy, underappreciated, kinda incompetent guy stands up and becomes more than he was. I had hoped TWIN PEAKS would do something like that with Andy, but he only got stupider.
It's funny how even in a minor DS9 episode, there's permanent change and development -- Rom's now a station engineer, and Worf's living on the Defiant.
"Accession"
A great Sisko episode, where he basically accepts being the Emissary. Best Prophets scene in a long time, very clever. A great Kira subplot, a great Miles/Julian subplot, and I found the bit where the priest murders the guy to be really shocking. A solid episode.
"Rules of Engagement"
Apparently the writing staff considers this episode a failure, but I quite liked it. Great performances, direction, style and story -- frankly, I love courtroom drama, and military courtroom drama even more -- and I like it when they remember that Starfleet is the military. My only real complaint is that Sisko never really wins the case and Worf never really proves the prosecutor wrong, in fact he basically proves him right -- Worf is only saved by a deus ex machina, which is weak. What makes up for it is Sisko's great "dressing-down" scene afterwards -- Sisko dresses down officers like no other. In actuality, Sisko feels like a real commanding officer much more to me than any of the others. Picard acted like being in the military was an annoying hobby and most of the time he was here to "see what's out there" and Kirk acted like being a Captain was basically for his own personal amusement. But I'm off track, great episode, great Worf episode especially.
"Hard Time"
Okay, having watched all of STAR TREK up to this point in chronological order, (excluding ENT), I can safely say this is the darkest episode of STAR TREK so far. I mean, despite the hopeful ending, I can really feel the DNA of BSG in this one. I mean, a regular character puts a phaser to his head and seriously considers suicide. And in a realistic, psychologically depressed manner, not bold heroism or exaggerated melodramatics. This episode is dark. I felt, while I was watching it, particularly while I was listening to O'Brien's "Roddenberry's dream is bullshit" speech, I felt a paradigm shift. I'm gonna call this episode as the point where this show stopped being STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine and became Star Trek: DEEP SPACE NINE.
"Shattered Mirror"
DS9 does ROTJ. Great fun, great effects, love the mirror universe.
"The Muse"
Not great, but not terrible either. Seems like two unrelated B-stories from other episodes that they didn't have time for shmushed together. Both are nice and have good character sentiments, but both needed to be paired with a stronger plot backbone to work.
"For the Cause"
A fucking EXCELLENT episode. Zoddamn I love the writing on this show!! This is why I watch DS9! Eddington, Sisko, Kassidy, Garak, Ziyal, drama, crackling good dialogue, great scenes with subtext and foreshadowing, plots that develop over time, and constant status quo shift! This episode is dynamite.
"To the Death"
A great, exciting, action adventure episode of DS9. First we've seen of the Jem'Hadar in a while, and we really get into their heads in this one, far more than in "Hipprocratic Oath" or "The Abandoned". We really get a feel for how dangerous these guys really are -- unlike episodes like "Day of the Dove" (TOS) or "I, Borg" (TNG), we find that when you get to know the Jem'Hadar, they're still scary bastards who want nothing but to kill you. Also, this episode has a great longterm continuity throwback, to second season TNG and the Iconian Gateways, and of course the debut of the wonderful, fantastic character of Weyoun.
"The Quickening"
Aside from being a great Julian episode, and who doesn't like Julian?, the best thing about this episode is the way it completely turns the standard Star Trek formula on its head in a way that hasn't really been done since "A Private Little War" (the darkest episode of TOS by far). The fact that this episode just rejects the whole notion of showing up at a random planet, solving whatever huge problem they've been dealing with for generations in the space of a week, and taking off without it being a big deal -- which is essentially the episodic premise of both TOS and TNG. It's a great, dark, episode of DS9, with a very important lesson: Don't fuck with the Dominion.
"Body Parts"
This is a really slam dunk episode, with a darkly comic Quark A-story that makes the Ferengi the third regular DS9 character to be an outcast from his people (Odo, Worf), and a great B-story for Kira and the O'Briens that intelligently worked Nana Visitor's pregnancy into the show.
"Broken Link"
Honestly, this is a good Odo character story, but a good season finale? Not really. The whole Gowron aspect feels really tacked on, like it would've gone in whatever story the season finale ended up being. This is a great episode, don't get me wrong, but when I also know that the Gowron reveal will be undone in the season 5 opener, it just becomes "another Odo episode" instead of a great season finale. Best parts of the episode were with Garak, btw.
"The Way of the Warrior"
Now THAT'S how you open a season! Within 90 minutes, DS9 changes everything -- 79 years of peace between the UFP and the Klingons ended, two decades of peace between the Cardassians and Klingons over, Worf added to the cast -- and tons of great action and excitement! And in the midst of all the battles and pyrotechnics, still time for great character moments, especially the root beer scene between Quark and Garak, but also the disruptor scene between Quark and Odo. Just a fantastic episode!
"The Visitor"
It's a sci-fi time travel subspace reset button plot -- and it's one of the best Star Trek episodes of all time. Really using science fiction to tell a moving and engaging story worth telling. I admit it, I teared up at the end. I love Jake and Ben as characters and episodes that explore their relationships, and this is the ultimate one.
"Hippocratic Oath"
And the fourth season of DS9 is three for three with this brilliant episode that explores Worf's settling in on the station in the B plot, and does a take on Bridge on the River Kwai and manages to explore, develop and drive a wedge between Bashir and O'Brien for the A plot. It's a great show that also makes the Jem'Hadar legitimate again. Classic Deep Space Nine.
"Indiscretion"
Here begins a long journey for Dukat that doesn't really end until the finale. And we FINALLY see the Breen! Well, kinda. Also, the b-plot continues the so-far great development of the Sisko/Kassidy relationship. And the episode is a triumph for not killing Ziyal at the end and hitting reset -- instead, there are major consequences. My only beef is that the b-plot was comic relief enough, we didn't need the ridiculous "thorn in Dukat's bum lololol" scene in the a-plot.
"Rejoined"
The most brilliant thing about this episode is no one ever even mentions the fact that the two lovers are women. It's a show about lesbianism without being a show about lesbianism. It's all allegory, it's all metaphor, and to the characters in the show its not even part of the issue, but to a modern viewer its all they see. It's very clever, it's the perfect way to do an allegory show (ie, not be in your face about it) and it's the sort of thing Star Trek is meant to do: talk about current day social problems in the context of an entertaining sci-fi story.
"Starship Down"
This is kind've like "Civil Defense" fourth season style, but it spends so much time trying to be a character piece for everyone (Quark, Julian, Kira, Worf) that it forgets how to be exciting and dramatic and ends up falling quite flat.
"Little Green Men"
This was just fun! A hilarious Trek tribute to the B-movies of the fifties, and an excellent comedy vehicle for the station's Ferengi family. Could not have enjoyed it more.
"The Sword of Kahless"
Everything about this episode works except one thing: the budget. Running around the same cave set for 70% of the screentime really dilutes all of the excitement and drama. Other than that, a fine first effort for the first real Worf episode of the season.
"Our Man Bashir"
What can I say about this episode that hasn't already been said? Pure gold.
"Homefront" and "Paradise Lost"
Everything about these episodes works great. They are a classic pair of Deep Space Nine shows. But after seeing them so many times, I think the only thing against them is that even by this point in Trek lore, the Admiral goes rogue concept isn't new or surprising. They try to blindside you with the Changeling threat so you don't see it coming, but this whole thing would mean a lot more if every Starfleet officer who wasn't in the main cast of a series wasn't always pulling this sorta thing. I mean, granted, Leyton goes farther than any rogue Admiral before, trying to take over the Federation and having Starfleet ships firing on each other -- but we'd already had an old friend of Sisko's betray him in "The Maquis" and then there were plenty of rogue Admirals on TNG, and of course everyone Kirk went to the Academy with turned insane and evil eventually.
But still, good episodes, and great to see Brock Peters as senior Sisko after three and a half years of hearing about him.
"Crossfire"
This is one of my favourite episodes of Deep Space Nine. It really shows how devoted this show is to its characters that we can have an episode like this. Picking up on the strands left by several season 3 episodes, it weaves Odo, Kira and Shakaar through a series of events that aren't standard or predictable, but are insightfully written and subtly plotted. Its all great -- but the stand out scene is of course the one with Odo and Quark in Odo's quarters: the unspoken friendship between them. There's nothing to dislike here; its a great exploration of one-sided love and its a feeling I think we're all familiar with. Even the little things, like the scene between Kira and Odo that opens the episode, or the scene between Worf and Odo about how you should never be hospitable to visitors (that only encourages further visits), they're all golden. Its just a great show. Ah, DS9.
"Return to Grace"
The actions of "Indiscretion" have their consequences here: For bringing his half-Bajoran daughter home, we see Dukat at his lowest point in the series -- without rank or position, divorced, hauling freight, not even worth shooting at. But the turnaround in this episode is great -- by the end Dukat has his own Bird of Prey and is ready to wage a one man war on the Klingon Empire. This episode is good, but what makes it great is how it connects to earlier episodes and clearly sets up later episodes, with Ziyal moving to DS9, Dukat preparing his comeback, and the introduction of Damar in a role as innocuous as "random Cardie crewmember". My only complaint would be that I think the writers lay the "Dukat has a crush on Kira" thing on too thick.
"Sons of Mogh"
The actions of "Way of the Warrior" have their consequences here: For opposing Gowron, Worf has disgraced his house and his family -- his brother visits the station for ritual suicide. I may point out this is the second suicide related episode Trek did that year, after VOY's "Death Wish". The best thing about this episode is that Worf actually plunges the dagger in -- its Bashir who saves Kurn later. This episode also has a great exploration of Worf's motives -- why he is who he is. Finally, Kurn's memory is wiped in Bashir's House of Horrors -- the Infirmary. This is a stellar, dramatic episode.
"Bar Association"
This is a pretty low pulse episode. Nothing really makes me sit up and pay attention except maybe a couple of the Quark/Rom scenes. But it's a fun episode and it's a good episode for the development it gives Rom. I'm a sucker for stories where the shy, underappreciated, kinda incompetent guy stands up and becomes more than he was. I had hoped TWIN PEAKS would do something like that with Andy, but he only got stupider.
It's funny how even in a minor DS9 episode, there's permanent change and development -- Rom's now a station engineer, and Worf's living on the Defiant.
"Accession"
A great Sisko episode, where he basically accepts being the Emissary. Best Prophets scene in a long time, very clever. A great Kira subplot, a great Miles/Julian subplot, and I found the bit where the priest murders the guy to be really shocking. A solid episode.
"Rules of Engagement"
Apparently the writing staff considers this episode a failure, but I quite liked it. Great performances, direction, style and story -- frankly, I love courtroom drama, and military courtroom drama even more -- and I like it when they remember that Starfleet is the military. My only real complaint is that Sisko never really wins the case and Worf never really proves the prosecutor wrong, in fact he basically proves him right -- Worf is only saved by a deus ex machina, which is weak. What makes up for it is Sisko's great "dressing-down" scene afterwards -- Sisko dresses down officers like no other. In actuality, Sisko feels like a real commanding officer much more to me than any of the others. Picard acted like being in the military was an annoying hobby and most of the time he was here to "see what's out there" and Kirk acted like being a Captain was basically for his own personal amusement. But I'm off track, great episode, great Worf episode especially.
"Hard Time"
Okay, having watched all of STAR TREK up to this point in chronological order, (excluding ENT), I can safely say this is the darkest episode of STAR TREK so far. I mean, despite the hopeful ending, I can really feel the DNA of BSG in this one. I mean, a regular character puts a phaser to his head and seriously considers suicide. And in a realistic, psychologically depressed manner, not bold heroism or exaggerated melodramatics. This episode is dark. I felt, while I was watching it, particularly while I was listening to O'Brien's "Roddenberry's dream is bullshit" speech, I felt a paradigm shift. I'm gonna call this episode as the point where this show stopped being STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine and became Star Trek: DEEP SPACE NINE.
"Shattered Mirror"
DS9 does ROTJ. Great fun, great effects, love the mirror universe.
"The Muse"
Not great, but not terrible either. Seems like two unrelated B-stories from other episodes that they didn't have time for shmushed together. Both are nice and have good character sentiments, but both needed to be paired with a stronger plot backbone to work.
"For the Cause"
A fucking EXCELLENT episode. Zoddamn I love the writing on this show!! This is why I watch DS9! Eddington, Sisko, Kassidy, Garak, Ziyal, drama, crackling good dialogue, great scenes with subtext and foreshadowing, plots that develop over time, and constant status quo shift! This episode is dynamite.
"To the Death"
A great, exciting, action adventure episode of DS9. First we've seen of the Jem'Hadar in a while, and we really get into their heads in this one, far more than in "Hipprocratic Oath" or "The Abandoned". We really get a feel for how dangerous these guys really are -- unlike episodes like "Day of the Dove" (TOS) or "I, Borg" (TNG), we find that when you get to know the Jem'Hadar, they're still scary bastards who want nothing but to kill you. Also, this episode has a great longterm continuity throwback, to second season TNG and the Iconian Gateways, and of course the debut of the wonderful, fantastic character of Weyoun.
"The Quickening"
Aside from being a great Julian episode, and who doesn't like Julian?, the best thing about this episode is the way it completely turns the standard Star Trek formula on its head in a way that hasn't really been done since "A Private Little War" (the darkest episode of TOS by far). The fact that this episode just rejects the whole notion of showing up at a random planet, solving whatever huge problem they've been dealing with for generations in the space of a week, and taking off without it being a big deal -- which is essentially the episodic premise of both TOS and TNG. It's a great, dark, episode of DS9, with a very important lesson: Don't fuck with the Dominion.
"Body Parts"
This is a really slam dunk episode, with a darkly comic Quark A-story that makes the Ferengi the third regular DS9 character to be an outcast from his people (Odo, Worf), and a great B-story for Kira and the O'Briens that intelligently worked Nana Visitor's pregnancy into the show.
"Broken Link"
Honestly, this is a good Odo character story, but a good season finale? Not really. The whole Gowron aspect feels really tacked on, like it would've gone in whatever story the season finale ended up being. This is a great episode, don't get me wrong, but when I also know that the Gowron reveal will be undone in the season 5 opener, it just becomes "another Odo episode" instead of a great season finale. Best parts of the episode were with Garak, btw.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 3 Review
Originally posted on the MI6 Forums from Nov 18 2010 to Jan 27 2011
"The Search, Part I"
Enter the Defiant. 170m of warp 9.982 phaser cannon, torpedo blasting awesome. Also enter Eddington, who will be a great recurring character, and T'Rul, who will never appear again after Part II. Also new combadges, Odo gets a collar, and the show gets Ron Moore. Odo finds his people. Battle scenes with the Jem'Hadar. The show is taking chances and getting messy. I like it.
"The Search, Part II"
Am I the only one who thinks the "it was all a simulation" ending WASN'T a cop-out? I mean, come on, it was the only possible answer. No way things would move that fast in reality. And Necheyev isn't THAT big a *****. I love that they made Odo's people the Founders. That's drama. That's good writing. This show is great.
"The House of Quark"
I like how Quark's Ferengi values mix with the Klingon honour schtick. It ends up being a really great parody of the kind of Klingon episodes Ron Moore used to write on TNG. Great fun. The subplot with the O'Briens is fantastic, I really respect how DS9 wrote those two as a REALISTIC married couple, instead of the way that most writers seem to think the only way to make marriages dramatic or interesting is constant fighting or lying. Another fine episode. Can DS9 do no wrong?
Equilibrium
This is a great Jadzia episode that builds on what we learned in "Invasive Procedures", and works best because of the emphasis on character. IIt not only explores more of Dax and what it means to have all these past lives, but we also explore more of the characters who mean a lot to Jadzia, namely Ben and Julian. And I'm always a fan of stories that reveal some big hidden truth that threatens to destroy a society. A great example of a Sisko/Picard difference is that Sisko has no desire to reveal the truth and thereby destroy Trill society -- it's not even an issue for him. He just wants Jadzia to be safe. Its a much more human reaction to the situation.
"Second Skin"
Now THIS is just a fantastic episode. A kind of insane nightmare for Kira, and a great action/adventure story for Odo/Sisko/Garak. I love that the "reset button" at the end is actually logical and enhances the story rather than undermines it. This episode truly shows the frightening extremes the Obsidian Order will go to. And I love Ghemor's line about Garak -- reminding our cast that even if he's helping you, to never fully trust him. This is just a superb episode.
"The Abandoned"
A great episode not only to learn more about the Jem'Hadar, but also about Odo and many of our other characters. I liked that the writers finally followed up on Jake's dabo girl romance and the dinner scene is a hoot. The actor playing the young Jem'Hadar boy was very engaging -- does this character ever show up again? All in all a superb effort.
"Civil Defense"
I'm not sure if I've ever had this much fun watching Star Trek! It seems like its been a while anyway. It's a great play on the disaster movie, as each thing that solves a problem simply opens another. Bringing Garak and Gul Dukat into play was inspired as well, you can never really go wrong with them. A stand-out episode.
"Meridian"
A steaming pile of crap. The drama on the planet with Jadzia was totally hollow and meaningless and impossible to get involved with, and the b-plot on the station said nothing we didn't already know (Quark's a slimeball.) Meanwhile -- first appearance of Jeffrey Combs on Star Trek as Random Alien Guy Who Faps to Kira Porn. I prefer Weyoun. Or Shran.
"Defiant"
Too cool. I love that they brought Tom Riker back. That was just brilliant. And throwing him with the Maquis? Brillianter. And putting Sisko and Dukat in Fail-Safe? Brilliantest. Every moment of this episode is better than the last. Just too well done. And the Obsidian Order military build-up? Long term storytelling FTW. Could not be more pleased with this episode.
"Fascination"
Again -- I love that DS9 is not afraid of doing all out comedic romps, like TOS did. This is a fun episode that allows everyone to just go nuts. And the b-plot with the O'Briens was another example of great, heartfelt and realistic writing that is all too rare with depictions of marriages in media.
"Past Tense, Parts I & II"
Now THAT'S Star Trek! A great episode, with great action and themes and allegory and a spectacular showcase for Sisko and Bashir. Bashir really grows here, and wow is Sisko capable of some intense stuff when not bound by Starfleet regs. As someone who works in a homeless shelter/detox centre, this episode really speaks to me. Full marks, stand-out episode, true Trekkian brilliance all the way.
"Life Support"
A mismatched A and B plot if ever there was one. Both are great, but don't necessarily belong together -- the peace treaty between Bajor and Cardassia marred by the death of major supporting character Bareil; and Nog and Jake on a double date.
Mismatched plots aside, this was a ballsy move for the DS9 writers. There's a real sense of "wait, what just happened?" when the episode ends and Bareil is dead and not only did the technobabble fail to save him by the end of the hour but in fact was most of the reason he died. It's a strong statement, and while it's clearly supposed to be a Kira/Bareil storyline, the strongest characters coming out of it were Winn and Bashir: Winn, who shows that she's growing into the responsibility of being Kai, and Bashir -- who, contrary to the greenhorn he was in Season 1, has evolved into a man with the balls to tell the Kai of Bajor to get out of his Infirmary or he'll throw her out; and mean it.
A superb episode.
"Heart of Stone"
Another mismatched A and B plot, but somehow a lot better this time. The return of the Female Founder marks another tragic point in Odo's life -- he finally admits his love for Kira at the same time as he realizes the fact that she will never love him. Meanwhile, Nog applies for Starfleet Academy. And in another great move for DS9 writers, this is another thread that is not magically undone by the end of the episode.
Of all the kids in modern Trek: Wesley, Alexander, Jake, Nog, Icheb, I think Nog is the most interesting one to send to the Academy. While some great stories were done with Cadet Crusher, I agree with Ron Moore that Wesley was mainly going to satisfy people's expectations. It was a statement when Jake told his father he wasn't interested, making him a writer was a great move and provided Trek a great opportunity to have a real Federation civillian character on a show as a regular and show what that's like. Icheb was interested in Starfleet because VOY was written by a bunch of hacks who couldn't think of anything more interesting for him to be. But Nog? By sending Nog you're really exploring things about Ferengi, about Starfleet, about people working to improve themselves -- which is really what Star Trek is all about.
"Destiny"
And then we continue the thread of the Bajor/Cardassian treaty through its third episode (OMG! Serial storytelling??) with a great story about faith vs reason, and Sisko's coming to terms with his role as the Emissary. Another superb show, really coming back to the themes of DS9: politics, religion, and people.
"Prophet Motive"
A pretty ho-hum episode. There are some foreshadowings with Rom and Zek here of what is to come, but for the most part the A plot hits the reset button. The B plot goes nowhere and does nothing as well. The best part is re-introducing the Prophets to the show for the first time since the pilot.
"Visionary"
I like the follow-up to the Romulan involvement with the Defiant stuff that was brought up in the season opener, and O'Brien episodes are always fun, but the time travel isn't very consistent in its rules and is occasionally confusing. It's like a TNG episode, but it feels a lot better than a TNG episode because ultimately it's not about the tech mystery, but about using the tech/time travel stuff to solve the real problem, ie the Romulans.
Also -- dart board. Excellent.
"Distant Voices"
Another crazy Joe Menosky story, this one is best for the examination of Bashir's character right at the very end. It builds entirely on information already established, but asks the question "why, with all his talent, does Bashir constantly hold himself back?" We won't get the answer until Season 5!
"Through the Looking Glass"
We return to the mirror universe for some fun and games, and Sisko's character is all the better for it. I always love it when they take Sisko out of his responsibilities to Starfleet -- I love it when he's able to let loose (see "Past Tense"). And here he gets to make it with mirror universe Jadzia (somehow way hotter than ours, I think its the short hair) and mirror universe Kira. Pretty sure its the first time he's gotten any since his wife died, and its with alternate universe versions of his crew. Awesome. These episodes are always fun.
"Improbable Cause"
And then **** got officially real.
"The Die is Cast"
Absolutely glorious.
So... Michael Piller left to concentrate on VOY, Ira Behr took over, and things got instantaneously awesome??
"Explorers"
A fun, light, character based episode to follow up the plot heavy two-parter. I really like the relationship between Jake and his dad -- it feels real. What also feels real? Drunken singing with Miles and Julian. An everlasting friendship is born. Also -- Sisko begins rockin' the beard.
"Family Business"
Not the most substantial of episodes, but I like the added depth it gives to Quark and Rom.
"Shakaar"
This episode's greatest strength is Shakaar, and his realtionship with Kira. For letting us see these people we've heard about for three years, now in action. It's biggest mistake is that it finally crosses the line with Kai Winn. There was always a subtlety before that maybe she wasn't strictly evil and self-serving, but actually, in her own way, believed herself a selfless servant of Bajor. This episode is unable to balance that subtlety and for the first time she comes across as rather one-dimensionally power hungry. The episode's biggest failure is the GNDN subplot about O'Brien's winning streak at Quark's. It's a great set-up and idea for a subplot, but it ends up being a non-starter. I thought they were gonna say that O'Brien faked his injury (its so obviously overacted!) in order to throw the game so Quark would stop bugging him, but then they never brought it up. I suppose you could still read it that way, but then you're reading WAY between the lines. But still, Shakaar himself, good.
"Facets"
This is another successful DS9 character study, this time of the series (up to this point) least developed character - Dax. By this point I think Jadzia has fully become the Jadzia we all know and love, but the series hasn't had enough opportunities to show it. Season 4 will come with plenty. I enjoyed every element, especially Joran/Sisko and Curzon/Odo, and the subplot with Nog studying for the entrance exams to the Academy (prep program) was much appreciated follow-up to his story arc. A fine episode all around.
"The Adversary"
So, compared to "In the Hands of the Prophets" and "The Jem'Hadar", this is kinda weak. Except for the last line, nothing about it screams SEASON FINALE. That being said, on its own terms its a pretty good episode. Its at its best when its doing THE THING, the paranoia on the Defiant with no one knowing who to trust. And Sisko being promoted to Captain is also rad. That being said, there's not much else to say -- the importance of this episode is less in itself and more in how it sets up season 4 and seasons beyond that.
Season 3 Thoughts?
The most improved character of DS9 Season 3 was definitely Sisko. Little by little, episode by episode, Sisko became a far more dynamic, involved, and complex character than he had been in the first two seasons (and he was already pretty great). Also, while it happened quietly in the background, Dax has finally stepped out of her shell as well.
That being said, its possible Season 3 blew its load early with the "Improbable Cause"/"Die is Cast" two-parter.
"The Search, Part I"
Enter the Defiant. 170m of warp 9.982 phaser cannon, torpedo blasting awesome. Also enter Eddington, who will be a great recurring character, and T'Rul, who will never appear again after Part II. Also new combadges, Odo gets a collar, and the show gets Ron Moore. Odo finds his people. Battle scenes with the Jem'Hadar. The show is taking chances and getting messy. I like it.
"The Search, Part II"
Am I the only one who thinks the "it was all a simulation" ending WASN'T a cop-out? I mean, come on, it was the only possible answer. No way things would move that fast in reality. And Necheyev isn't THAT big a *****. I love that they made Odo's people the Founders. That's drama. That's good writing. This show is great.
"The House of Quark"
I like how Quark's Ferengi values mix with the Klingon honour schtick. It ends up being a really great parody of the kind of Klingon episodes Ron Moore used to write on TNG. Great fun. The subplot with the O'Briens is fantastic, I really respect how DS9 wrote those two as a REALISTIC married couple, instead of the way that most writers seem to think the only way to make marriages dramatic or interesting is constant fighting or lying. Another fine episode. Can DS9 do no wrong?
Equilibrium
This is a great Jadzia episode that builds on what we learned in "Invasive Procedures", and works best because of the emphasis on character. IIt not only explores more of Dax and what it means to have all these past lives, but we also explore more of the characters who mean a lot to Jadzia, namely Ben and Julian. And I'm always a fan of stories that reveal some big hidden truth that threatens to destroy a society. A great example of a Sisko/Picard difference is that Sisko has no desire to reveal the truth and thereby destroy Trill society -- it's not even an issue for him. He just wants Jadzia to be safe. Its a much more human reaction to the situation.
"Second Skin"
Now THIS is just a fantastic episode. A kind of insane nightmare for Kira, and a great action/adventure story for Odo/Sisko/Garak. I love that the "reset button" at the end is actually logical and enhances the story rather than undermines it. This episode truly shows the frightening extremes the Obsidian Order will go to. And I love Ghemor's line about Garak -- reminding our cast that even if he's helping you, to never fully trust him. This is just a superb episode.
"The Abandoned"
A great episode not only to learn more about the Jem'Hadar, but also about Odo and many of our other characters. I liked that the writers finally followed up on Jake's dabo girl romance and the dinner scene is a hoot. The actor playing the young Jem'Hadar boy was very engaging -- does this character ever show up again? All in all a superb effort.
"Civil Defense"
I'm not sure if I've ever had this much fun watching Star Trek! It seems like its been a while anyway. It's a great play on the disaster movie, as each thing that solves a problem simply opens another. Bringing Garak and Gul Dukat into play was inspired as well, you can never really go wrong with them. A stand-out episode.
"Meridian"
A steaming pile of crap. The drama on the planet with Jadzia was totally hollow and meaningless and impossible to get involved with, and the b-plot on the station said nothing we didn't already know (Quark's a slimeball.) Meanwhile -- first appearance of Jeffrey Combs on Star Trek as Random Alien Guy Who Faps to Kira Porn. I prefer Weyoun. Or Shran.
"Defiant"
Too cool. I love that they brought Tom Riker back. That was just brilliant. And throwing him with the Maquis? Brillianter. And putting Sisko and Dukat in Fail-Safe? Brilliantest. Every moment of this episode is better than the last. Just too well done. And the Obsidian Order military build-up? Long term storytelling FTW. Could not be more pleased with this episode.
"Fascination"
Again -- I love that DS9 is not afraid of doing all out comedic romps, like TOS did. This is a fun episode that allows everyone to just go nuts. And the b-plot with the O'Briens was another example of great, heartfelt and realistic writing that is all too rare with depictions of marriages in media.
"Past Tense, Parts I & II"
Now THAT'S Star Trek! A great episode, with great action and themes and allegory and a spectacular showcase for Sisko and Bashir. Bashir really grows here, and wow is Sisko capable of some intense stuff when not bound by Starfleet regs. As someone who works in a homeless shelter/detox centre, this episode really speaks to me. Full marks, stand-out episode, true Trekkian brilliance all the way.
"Life Support"
A mismatched A and B plot if ever there was one. Both are great, but don't necessarily belong together -- the peace treaty between Bajor and Cardassia marred by the death of major supporting character Bareil; and Nog and Jake on a double date.
Mismatched plots aside, this was a ballsy move for the DS9 writers. There's a real sense of "wait, what just happened?" when the episode ends and Bareil is dead and not only did the technobabble fail to save him by the end of the hour but in fact was most of the reason he died. It's a strong statement, and while it's clearly supposed to be a Kira/Bareil storyline, the strongest characters coming out of it were Winn and Bashir: Winn, who shows that she's growing into the responsibility of being Kai, and Bashir -- who, contrary to the greenhorn he was in Season 1, has evolved into a man with the balls to tell the Kai of Bajor to get out of his Infirmary or he'll throw her out; and mean it.
A superb episode.
"Heart of Stone"
Another mismatched A and B plot, but somehow a lot better this time. The return of the Female Founder marks another tragic point in Odo's life -- he finally admits his love for Kira at the same time as he realizes the fact that she will never love him. Meanwhile, Nog applies for Starfleet Academy. And in another great move for DS9 writers, this is another thread that is not magically undone by the end of the episode.
Of all the kids in modern Trek: Wesley, Alexander, Jake, Nog, Icheb, I think Nog is the most interesting one to send to the Academy. While some great stories were done with Cadet Crusher, I agree with Ron Moore that Wesley was mainly going to satisfy people's expectations. It was a statement when Jake told his father he wasn't interested, making him a writer was a great move and provided Trek a great opportunity to have a real Federation civillian character on a show as a regular and show what that's like. Icheb was interested in Starfleet because VOY was written by a bunch of hacks who couldn't think of anything more interesting for him to be. But Nog? By sending Nog you're really exploring things about Ferengi, about Starfleet, about people working to improve themselves -- which is really what Star Trek is all about.
"Destiny"
And then we continue the thread of the Bajor/Cardassian treaty through its third episode (OMG! Serial storytelling??) with a great story about faith vs reason, and Sisko's coming to terms with his role as the Emissary. Another superb show, really coming back to the themes of DS9: politics, religion, and people.
"Prophet Motive"
A pretty ho-hum episode. There are some foreshadowings with Rom and Zek here of what is to come, but for the most part the A plot hits the reset button. The B plot goes nowhere and does nothing as well. The best part is re-introducing the Prophets to the show for the first time since the pilot.
"Visionary"
I like the follow-up to the Romulan involvement with the Defiant stuff that was brought up in the season opener, and O'Brien episodes are always fun, but the time travel isn't very consistent in its rules and is occasionally confusing. It's like a TNG episode, but it feels a lot better than a TNG episode because ultimately it's not about the tech mystery, but about using the tech/time travel stuff to solve the real problem, ie the Romulans.
Also -- dart board. Excellent.
"Distant Voices"
Another crazy Joe Menosky story, this one is best for the examination of Bashir's character right at the very end. It builds entirely on information already established, but asks the question "why, with all his talent, does Bashir constantly hold himself back?" We won't get the answer until Season 5!
"Through the Looking Glass"
We return to the mirror universe for some fun and games, and Sisko's character is all the better for it. I always love it when they take Sisko out of his responsibilities to Starfleet -- I love it when he's able to let loose (see "Past Tense"). And here he gets to make it with mirror universe Jadzia (somehow way hotter than ours, I think its the short hair) and mirror universe Kira. Pretty sure its the first time he's gotten any since his wife died, and its with alternate universe versions of his crew. Awesome. These episodes are always fun.
"Improbable Cause"
And then **** got officially real.
"The Die is Cast"
Absolutely glorious.
So... Michael Piller left to concentrate on VOY, Ira Behr took over, and things got instantaneously awesome??
"Explorers"
A fun, light, character based episode to follow up the plot heavy two-parter. I really like the relationship between Jake and his dad -- it feels real. What also feels real? Drunken singing with Miles and Julian. An everlasting friendship is born. Also -- Sisko begins rockin' the beard.
"Family Business"
Not the most substantial of episodes, but I like the added depth it gives to Quark and Rom.
"Shakaar"
This episode's greatest strength is Shakaar, and his realtionship with Kira. For letting us see these people we've heard about for three years, now in action. It's biggest mistake is that it finally crosses the line with Kai Winn. There was always a subtlety before that maybe she wasn't strictly evil and self-serving, but actually, in her own way, believed herself a selfless servant of Bajor. This episode is unable to balance that subtlety and for the first time she comes across as rather one-dimensionally power hungry. The episode's biggest failure is the GNDN subplot about O'Brien's winning streak at Quark's. It's a great set-up and idea for a subplot, but it ends up being a non-starter. I thought they were gonna say that O'Brien faked his injury (its so obviously overacted!) in order to throw the game so Quark would stop bugging him, but then they never brought it up. I suppose you could still read it that way, but then you're reading WAY between the lines. But still, Shakaar himself, good.
"Facets"
This is another successful DS9 character study, this time of the series (up to this point) least developed character - Dax. By this point I think Jadzia has fully become the Jadzia we all know and love, but the series hasn't had enough opportunities to show it. Season 4 will come with plenty. I enjoyed every element, especially Joran/Sisko and Curzon/Odo, and the subplot with Nog studying for the entrance exams to the Academy (prep program) was much appreciated follow-up to his story arc. A fine episode all around.
"The Adversary"
So, compared to "In the Hands of the Prophets" and "The Jem'Hadar", this is kinda weak. Except for the last line, nothing about it screams SEASON FINALE. That being said, on its own terms its a pretty good episode. Its at its best when its doing THE THING, the paranoia on the Defiant with no one knowing who to trust. And Sisko being promoted to Captain is also rad. That being said, there's not much else to say -- the importance of this episode is less in itself and more in how it sets up season 4 and seasons beyond that.
Season 3 Thoughts?
The most improved character of DS9 Season 3 was definitely Sisko. Little by little, episode by episode, Sisko became a far more dynamic, involved, and complex character than he had been in the first two seasons (and he was already pretty great). Also, while it happened quietly in the background, Dax has finally stepped out of her shell as well.
That being said, its possible Season 3 blew its load early with the "Improbable Cause"/"Die is Cast" two-parter.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Why James Bond is Not a Rational Target for Feminism
On this, International Women's Day, an ad was released by EON Productions, makers of the James Bond films, who have not produced any Bond material since 2008 and will not produce any more until 2012 or 2013.
This is the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkp4t5NYzVM
Pretty clever, yeah? Using James Bond, long a symbol of misogynistic (not to mention imperialist) power, as a toll to argue for feminist equality. Bringing him down to size by making him wear drag, which humiliates him.
Except it isn't really. The problems with this ad are so many, so legion, that I'm compelled to devote a patented longwinded Rowerowefightthepower rant against them.
First, I would argue that the biggest complaint against the feminist movement is the notion that it is combative, vindictive, and anti-men -- that it seeks to surplant a male dominated society with a female dominated society as revenge. This fear has led many men to dismiss, ignore or even fight the feminist movement. This is clearly not the intent of this ad, which is obviously to promote EQUALITY between the sexes. I agree that this is a good intent. But the content of the ad does not support this intent. One important distinction to note is that this is not an ad featuring Daniel Craig and Judi Dench, it is explicitly an ad featuring James Bond and his superior M (the head of the British Secret Service). So we have a woman in a superior position berating a man (who is her employee) and placing blame on his gender for the misfortunes of her own gender, and forcing him to wear women's clothing in the full knowledge that this places him in a humiliating position. The ad intends to show a humourous juxtaposition -- instead the message comes across as angry, bitter and vindictive, especially in the strong, forceful tone of voice Dench uses in her performance. I have nothing against Dench being strong, but I think that the image of Dench as M alone, as strong woman in a position of power, does more for the movement than the humiliation of one of her operatives (by her). Lead by example and inspiration, not shame and the fostering of ill-will. Imagine if the ad were just Dench, sitting in a chair, as the camera zooms in on her slowly, making the same statements, but bereft of their connnection to Bond. I argue that this is more effective, and confuses the issue less. A woman in a position of power dressing down a man under her does not do much to argue the idea that women are still opressed.
My second issue with the ad is the way it presents its satistics. I will not argue the validity of the numbers themselves, that is outside my field of expertise or ability to prove or disprove. But I do argue about the way they are presented. Bond is the only figure shown to us, the camera zooming in on him as M lists off how many women wordlwide do not have an education, are sexually assaulted, are murdered, and so on and so forth. M mentions that 70 million girls worldwide are deprived of education, as the camera shows us Bond. The implication is that Bond (or what he represents) is to blame for this state of affairs. So what does Bond represent? Bond is an agent of MI6, Britain's external intelligence agency, he represents western, male, authoritarian power. But the millions of girls not getting schooling are not in the UK or the US or any of their allies -- they are in the third world nations (where, surprise surprise, millions of BOYS also do not receive an education) or in the Muslim states were women are oppressed as a matter of accepted social tradition. Speaking of those Muslim nations, they are largely responsible for the massive worldwide statistics of female oppression -- and these states, their regimes, and their policies are the exact targets of the organization Bond works for. So blaming Bond is misrepresentative, unfair and inaccurate.
Finally, I must make a general point about the use of Bond that speaks less to feminism and its message, and more to the James Bond character himself and his legacy. This ad is not a third party construction using Bond as a target in general -- its a specific ad featuring specifically the real actors currently playing James Bond and M and produced with the full knowledge and participation of the company which makes his films. Now, it is well known that Bond is not a feminist character, nor was his creator Ian Fleming much of a women's libber. Bond was a creation of the fifties, so he is a hard drinking, heavy smoking, womanizer -- the fiftie's man's man. These aspects have been toned down over time to fit modern sensibilities but it is clear that as he was created Bond does not represent feminism. While this makes him a good ironic target for a feminist ad, we must realize this was all done by the rights holders of the character -- who must know he represents misogyny because that's the ad's point and therefore know the ad is against the principles of the character and yet knowingly let the character be used against his own principles. This does not bode well, showing as it does that the current owners of Bond do not agree with his values or support them, explaining perhaps why the Bond films have not held their former luster for sometime. Its like al-Qaeda agreeing to do a video supporting religious diversity -- you know that the values of the organization have been compromised and no longer stand for what they once did. And even if they do want to change Bond into something that fights for feminism, then that's exactly what they should do -- show him fighting for feminism, not as a target of it. Have Bond address the audience with the stats, even acknowledging that the character himself hasn't exactly covered himself in glory in the way he's treated some women in the past, before making a hardened case to all of the men out there who mistreat women that there's nothing masculine about doing such a cruel thing. That way, there's no side issue, all we come away thinking about are the words Craig has spoken as James Bond. This is your hero and ours, he is sold to us on the basis that he is a hero -- show him as a hero, not as the villain.
I agree that a woman working the same job as a man should earn as much as a man. I agree that she should not be fired as punitive action against becoming pregnant. I agree she has the right to her own body and her own use of that body. But I believe these ideals can be promoted through positive, strong (and strongly feminine) portrayals of women, to role model for young girls everywhere, NOT by humiliating masculine symbols, fermenting resentment between men and women, and placing blame for the opression of women on those who are not responsible for it.
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