DS9 S02E13 & S02E14

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, July 27th)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E13 - "Armageddon Game"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E14 - "Whispers"

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"Armageddon Game"

• The T'Lani cruiser seen next to the much smaller Danube-class runabout (which we later find out is the USS Ganges) is one of many redresses of the studio model originally built as a Talarian observation craft for the TNG episode "Suddenly Human".
  
  
  
  (Left: Tamarian observation craft, TNG "Suddenly Human"; Right: T'Lani cruiser, DS9 "Armageddon Game")
• The episode opens with Dr. Bashir's chief medical officer's log, which he describes his and Chief O'Brien's mission to help two alien species (the T'Lani and the Kelleruns) destroy their stockpiles of a deadly bio-weapon:  "Harvesters", nanobots capable of disrupting the genetic structure of their victims.
  
  Seems like a pretty standard mission, to me.  What could go wrong?
• It's a trap!  More importantly, it's a trap where the Kelleruns are using energy weapons that will eventually be adapted into the rifle carried by Jem'Hadar soldiers ;)
  
  
  
  (image from The Art of Star Trek, courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)
• We've established two things:
• Chief O'Brien's love for combat rations is particular--he likes Federation combat rations, dontchaknow?
• If you're going to get marooned on a planet devastated by war and have to find a way to survive, there are worse people with whom to form your post-apocalyptic survival team than a genetically-engineered genius doctor and scientist, and a combination engineering guru and grizzled combat veteran.  BASHIR/O'BRIEN 2016.
  
• Aww, I think this is the episode where Bashir and O'Brien become besties.
• "It's no secret that your assignment to the Station hasn't been conducive to your marriage."
  
  "SAY THAT AGAIN?!?"
  
  "Why don't we just forget it?"
  
  "That's the first intelligent thing you've said since we got here."
  
  Smooth move, Bashir.
• See?  This is what happens when you help a bunch of jerk-hole aliens destroy their stupid biological weapons:  Your best dude gets infected with nano-bugs.  I think we all saw this coming.
• This episode is pretty much the only time I'm even slightly sympathetic to Keiko.  She may be pretty much the worst person in the history of people, but it's always a bummer when you've gotta tell someone that their significant other got vaporized by a radiation pulse.
• Sharing your college diaries with a woman you're relentless chasing to help her "understand you better?"  How is it that, even in an episode where everyone thinks he's dead and is all sad about it, Bashir still comes off as creepy?  :P
• "To our dear, departed comrades.  We may have had our differences, but I'll say this for them--and it's the highest praise I can offer:  They were good customers.  They always paid their bar bill on time."
• The 57th Rule of Acquisition:  "Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them."
• Chief O'Brien never drinks coffee late in the afternoon.  It keeps him up at night.
  
  Duh, guys.  Duh.
• "It's not enough to destroy the Harvesters.  We must ensure no one can ever recreate them."
  
  "The only way to do that was to eliminate everyone who possessed such knowledge."
  
  Well, that's not an incorrect statement.  A little cold-blooded, perhaps.  But not incorrect.
• So long, USS Ganges.  We hardly knew you.  But don't worry, your old pal USS Yangtzee Kiang is waiting for you in Runabout Heaven.  And you'll have plenty more company soon enough.
  
  Because seriously.  You guys are just gonna drop like flies.  LIKE FLIES.
  
  
  
  USS Ganges
  2369(?) - 2370
  RIP
• "You know, Mrs. O'Brien, they say that when two people face death together, it creates a bond that cannot be broken."
  
  Translation:  "Me and your husband are going to be best friends forever, whether he likes it or not.  Be prepared to be jealous of our friendship here in a couple of seasons."
• "Miles, you never drink coffee in the afternoon."
  
  "Well sure I do!"
  
  "You do?!?"

---

 "Whispers"

• Ooh, two O'Brien-centric episodes in a row!  I know not everyone likes him as much as I do, but he's my favorite character on DS9 and probably one of my favorite Trek characters overall.  I enjoy any chance they give him for extra screen time, even if it's in (what I remember being) a mediocre Season 2 episode :)
• Our runabout of the week for this episode is the USS Rio Grande, the only one of Deep Space 9's original three runabouts (the other two being the Yangtzee Kiang and the Ganges) to still be with us at this point in what is only the show's second season.
  
  
  
  USS Rio Grande:  Lone survivor of DS9's original pack of runabouts
  
  If my memory serves (which it often does not), I believe the Rio Grande actually survives the entire series.  I think it does crash at one point though, but I think they also use it in the final season at least once.  If I were a less lazy man, I would simply read the Memory-Alpha article that I literally linked just up in the previous paragraph.
  
  I guess I'll just be surprised.  NO SPOILERS ABOUT WHICH RUNABOUTS CRASH, PEOPLE.
  
  ;D
• It's always a little strange to me that there are ever this little side missions where a single crew-member will take a shuttlecraft or a runabout off by themselves to go do something. It makes narrative sense, as it gives them a chance to get that character off by themselves and to have interesting things happen to them. 
  
  But from an in-universe perspective it makes absolutely no sense to ever send anyone anywhere without at least one other person.  And usually they do send two-person teams (or larger) on the shuttle/runabout "side quests"...but there's more than one time (on TNG and DS9 especially, and I'm sure they did it at least once or twice on VOY and ENT) that someone's just going off on their own in a little spaceship and just rolling the dice that they don't run into trouble.
• "I've got to try and set the record straight about the last 52 hours..."
  
  Oh, a flashback episode.  These are always either awesome or really terrible.
• "Coffee, Jamaican blend.  Double-strong, double-sweet."
  
  Chief O'Brien seems to be one of the only DS9 characters that doesn't favor raktajino, the Klingon coffee popular with so many of his comrades.
• "Did you have sweet dreams, darlin'?"
  
  "Go away!"
  
  "Don't I get my morning kiss?"
  
  "No!"
  
  Molly O'Brien sucks almost as bad as her mom.
  
  It's okay, Chief.  I'll keep rooting for your family to be killed in a shuttle crash on one of their frequent jaunts back-and-forth between the station and Bajor or Earth.
• Everybody is kind of being a d*ck to O'Brien.  I mean...moreso than usual.  That's no fun (or a lot of fun, depending on your perspective).
• The Paradans stink when they get mad?  Got it.
• "You're sense of humor seems normal enough."
  
  "I don't have a sense of humor."
  
  "How's the sex life?"
  
  "I don't have a sense of humor."
• See?  She doesn't even like fricandeau stew.  WHAT A MONSTER.
• I think it's kind of adorable that they thought they could hide computer files from Miles Edward O'Brien, super-engineer.
• "I'm glad your back, Odo."
  
  "We'll get to the bottom of this."
  
  Sure.  Sure we will.
• The 194th Rule of Acquisition:  "It's always good business to know about new customers before they walk in your door."
• O'Brien's still got a few tricks up his sleeve.  SMOKE BOMB!
  
  
• "It'll be okay.  Just surrender to them and you'll be fine."
  
  Pfft.  Like Miles Edward O'Brien ever surrenders, kid.
• "If you check your systems, you'll see that the mooring clamps are already unlocked and your tractor beams are offline.  O'BRIEN OUT."
  
  /drops mic EJ-7 interlock
• The beam weapons fired by Deep Space 9 on the fleeing Rio Grande are green--what we're used to seeing with disruptors rather than phasers. 
  
  
  
  Well, that's not a phaser beam.
  
  One might think that perhaps this early in the Federation's stay aboard the station, they might not have had time to replace any existing Cardassian armaments with their own, but there are two problems with that hypothesis:
  
  
  1. Because the Cardassians were handing Deep Space 9 (then Terok Nor) over to a hated enemey who had just defeated them by way of a grueling guerrilla war, I think it's highly unlikely that they left any functional Cardassian weapons systems on the station.  I think it's safe to assume that they either dismantled them and took them with them, or disabled them.
  2. The principle Cardassian warships shown in Trek (the Galor class and its rarer cousin, the Keldon class) are usually shown using similar weaponry to Starfleet ships (e.g. phasers and photon torpedoes), so it's safe to assume that their space stations would do likewise.
  
  In either case, it's the most minor of nitpicks. Even familiar Starfleet ships are shown through the various Trek series firing their weapons from incorrect positions on the hulls (such as sensor domes or deflector dishes), and sometimes firing beam or projectile weapons of differing (i.e. incorrect) colors.  So the fact that they threw some green ray-gun blasts shooting out of DS9--especially early in the series when they were still establish their own internal canon?  Not surprising at all.
  
  Edit:  I've just checked, and although Cardassians definitely use both phasers and photon torpedoes, the officially-listed primary armament for the Galor class is a "spiral wave disruptor".  But either way, it shoots red crap and not green crap.  That was my point :P
  
• What a second...two O'Briens?  This episode just got even better!
• The decision to call the copy of O'Brien made by the Paradan government a "replicant" was apparently an intentional homage to the film Blade Runner.
  

DS9 S02E11 & S02E12

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, July 20th)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E11 - "Rivals"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E12 - "The Alternate"

---

"Rivals"

• Martus Mazur, the dashing con artist listening to the careless widow explain all about her plans for her retirement money (before Constable Odo steps in) is an El-Aurian.
  
  One of only three members of the species that we ever seen in Star Trek*, they're permanent refugees since the Borg overran their native star system.  Martus takes advantage of being from this "race of listeners" to run cons on unsuspecting marks--like the monied window he's setting up for a scam in Quark's prior to Odo's arrival.
  
  (* - The others being Guinan and Dr. Tolian Soran.)
  
  Martus is played by Chris Sarandon, the first husband of actress Susan Sarandon and--yes--better known to us all as Prince Humperdinck in the film adaptation of The Princess Bride.
  
  
  
• "We were just talking!"
  
  "You were talking, madam.  He was listening."
• Chief O'Brien and Dr. Bashir play in their first of many games of racquetball in this episode, which is yet another chapter in the story of "O'Brien is annoyed with Bashir for a really long time, but eventually Bashir wears him down and they become besties" narrative. 
  
  I'd be bored, but their friendship winds up being really enjoyable to watch in the later seasons--so I'll put up with the somewhat silly "Bashir pesters O'Brien like an overly-eager puppy" routine for a couple of seasons.
• Dude.  That Tamagotchi killed that guy.
• If you're looking for some shirtless Colm Meaney action, this is apparently the episode.
  
  
  
• The 47th Rule of Acquisition:  "Don't trust a man wearing a better suit your own."
• You know, for a (we alter find out) genetically-engineered genius, Julian is frigging awful at letting someone win a game without being totally obvious about it.
• "Club Martus" sounds like someplace you'd take your spouse for a naughty weekend--sort of like The Sybaris (or as I call it "The Syphalis").
  
  (Note:  The link to the Sybaris hotels' website is totally safe for work.  And I didn't link to the Wikipedia article on syphilis because there are totally pictures.  YOU'RE WELCOME.)
• "I have a contract, for which I paid considerably.  All gambling at DS9 happens at Quark's..or it doesn't happen!"
  
  "A few bribes to the Cardassians when they ran this place does not constitute a contract, not in the eyes of the Federation."
  
  "He's a con artist!  A crook!"
  
  "One more won't make much difference."
  
  
  
  Commander Trollface
• I'm really hoping that Alsia, the "poor widow" that Martus was trying to con at the beginning of the episode, is actually conning him.  I don't recall if that's how episode turns out, but her sob story about not having enough money to complete her investment (but promising rich profits to anyone who helps her!) just reeks of a con job.
• And apparently you propose to a Bajoran woman with a special engagement earring.
• Don't feel bad about Bashir always kicking your butt, Chief.  Not only is he several years your junior, but--as we find out later in the series--he's totally genetically-engineered.  In fact, I think O'Brien even brings that up when they find out :)
• Quark trying to be a better listener than Martus is pretty funny.
  
  "Tell me your problems, all of them!"
• "Miles 'The Mechanic' O'Brien" vs. 'Julian "The Doctor" Bashir' are two pretty great--if not terribly creative--nicknames.
• Also?  The Bajoran Fund for Orphans is pretty much everyone's favorite charity on this show.  I guess it makes sense:  50 years of oppression probably left behind a crapload of orphans.
• "I understand how you feel.  But...think of the children.  The monks have already made a down-payment on blankets for the winter.  Oh, well.  I'm sure the little ones can...huddle together for warmth."
  
  
  
• "I always had smaller lobes than the rest of the boys.  They would tease me about it.  Quark was the worst.  He told everyone I was adopted.  On my naming day, Quark substituted old vegetables for my presents, then sold the presents for more than our father had paid for them."
• Apparently 10,000 isiks is approximately "one small-ish box filled with bars of gold-pressed latinum".
• The Karate Kid look works well for O'Brien.
• And I love that Quark tries to rig the match by drugging Dr. Bashir.
• Oh, it's all about the neutrinos!  That totally makes sense!
• "Quark, I'm cutting the transmission."
  
  "What?  You can't!"
  
  "Watch me."
• Something that actually has the ability to alter the laws of probability?  That seems impossible improbable.
• The 109th Rule of Acquisition:  "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack."

---

"The Alternate"

• Dr. Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who spent many years "studying" Odo after his discovery in the Denorios Belt, is played by veteran Trek actor James Sloyan.
  
  
  
  The many faces of James Sloyan
  
  Among other roles, Mr. Sloyan played Romulan Admiral Jarok in one of my favorite TNG episodes ("The Defector"), and the future version of Alexander Rozhenko who went by the alias "K'mtar" in the TNG episode "Firstborn".
• A little travel trivia in this opening scene:  Odo is baffled as to why Dr. Mora didn't inform him that he was visiting.  When Dr. Mora says that it was a "last minute arrangement", Odo states that the trip from Bajor to Deep Space 9 takes five hours (presumably suggesting that the doctor would've had plenty of time to send him a subspace transmission informing him of his impending arrival at the station).
  
  This is presuming that one is traveling through the Bajoran System at sub-light speeds, which is going to be the case in all but the most dire emergencies.  Warp travel within star systems is sometimes depicted as permissible, but more often is described as ill-advised.  Most of the time, a starship will drop to impulse velocities as it approaches a star system--especially an inhabited one.
• They establish early on that Odo has difficulty perfectly mimicking humanoid faces (especially ears), even though he has no problems mimicking other detailed objects--like chairs, satchels, wheeled carts and even animals. 
  
  I've always thought that was kind of unusual, but it serves two important purposes:
  
  
  1. It gives Odo a distinctive look, rather than him just looking like a human (or a Bajoran, or whatever).
  2. It's a clumsy (but effective!) metaphor for his alienation from his humanoid colleagues and friends, and his continual efforts (whether he admits it or not) to become more like them.
• The story of Odo's formative years in Dr. Mora's laboratory is actually a pretty interesting insight into how humanoid lifeforms like ourselves (or Bajorans and Cardassians, in this case) would handle a first encounter with a non-humanoid sentient lifeform.
• The planet that Constable Odo, Lt. Dax, Dr. Mora and Dr. Weld visit in the Gamma Quadrant is designated "L-S VI".  It's not the Founders' Homeworld(s) that we'll see later in the series (those both lie much farther form the Bajoran Wormhole), but it's presumed to have been an outpost of their species at some time in the distant past.
• When he's trying to relate to Odo's feelings about the injured Dr. Mora (who is being continually mistaken as some sort of father figure to Odo), Cmdr. Sisko tells him about how helpless he felt when his own father became ill.  He uses phrases like "in the end", which clearly imply that his father died.
  
  Of course, they don't explicitly state that Sisko's father died...and we see him many times later in the series as Joseph Sisko, proud (although often concerned) father and grandfather, and proprietor of "Sisko's Creole Kitchen" in New Orleans.
• "I appreciate your thoughts, Commander.  But Doctor Mora is not my father."
• "Doctor Bashir gave you permission to be up and about?"
  
  "Doctor Bashir wouldn't listen to me, and hid my clothes so I wouldn't leave.  I had to sneak out to my quarters in a hospital gown that wouldn't close in the back."
• "Feel like getting a raktajino before calling it a night?"
  
  "My replicator or yours?"
  
  "I was thinking more of the Promenade."
  
  Dude, Julian.  Give it up.
• There's all of the stuff with Odo's daddy issues and whatnot, but there's also almost a horror movie quality to this episode:  An unknown (at first, at least) creature, skulking through corridors and conduits, attacking people with its menacing amorphous bulk...sort of like Star Trek meets Alien meets The Thing.
• You're the skulking blog monster, Odo.  Sorry.
• "I was in my pail during both attacks."
  
  Now there's an alibi you don't hear every day.
• Dr. Mora is very good at playing on Odo's fears of being alienated, quarantined, confined, exiled or studied.  So, you know.  An abusive father.  What a d*ck bag.
• Yeah, the whole "lure the monster out with human(oid) bait and into our trap" scheme at the end is very horror movie.  Although I guess in most horror movies, they don't try to make sure they stun the monster instead of killing it :)
• "I've done it to you again, haven't I, Odo?  Made you a prisoner?  Dear God, what have I done?"
  
  Don't you mean "Dear Prophets"?  O_o
• "I'm not going to try and explain what happened to you, Odo.  Because I haven't got the vaguest idea.  I can tell you that with Doctor Mora's help, we've managed to eliminate all traces of the gas from your cellular structure.  I prescribe rest--because it's hard for a doctor to go wrong with that one.  Otherwise, there's not much more I can do for you."
• By the end of this episode, Dr. Mora understands why how he treated Odo was wrong and the two of them mend fences a bit.  I believe he shows up in at least one other episode, a bit further into the series.

DS9 S02E09 & S02E10

In this installment:
(viewed Saturday, July 19th)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E09 - "Second Sight"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E10 - "Sanctuary"

---

"Second Sight"

• This episode begins four years (and one day) after the Battle of Wolf 359, in which Jennifer Sisko was killed.  Neither her husband nor her son can sleep :(
• The woman that Cmdr. Sisko runs into during his late-night stroll on the Promenade introduces herself as "Fenna".
  
  She's played by Salli Richardson-Whitefield, who's done a lot of other television work (but no other Trek appearances).  I recognize her first and foremost as having played Allison Blake on Eureka.
• "Good morning, Chief! 
  
  "Morning, Commander."
  
  "Is this maintenance or repair?"
  
  "Right now, it's maintenance.  Five'll get you ten it'll be a repair by the time I'm through."
  
  "Admit it, Chief.  If you were on a station where everything worked, you'd be miserable."
  
  "You may be right, sir.  But I'd be willing to give it a try."
• The ship that Starfleet has assigned to assist Professor Seyetik on his mission to reignite the dead star Epsilon 119 is the USS Prometheus (NCC-71201).
  
  
  
  
  It's a Nebula-class starship, and obvious is retired from service at some point between this episode (which takes place in 2370) and the commissioning of the prototype USS Prometheus (NX-74913) (which is seen in the VOY episode "Message In A Bottle", which takes place in 2374).
• "It's because I'm a woman now, isn't it?"
  
  "Don't be ridiculous!"
  
  "No, I understand.  It's hard to talk man-to-man with a woman."
• Professor Seyetik's plan to reigniate Epsilon 119 involves injecting its core with protomatter, the same dangerous, unstable material used by Dr. David Marcus in the construction of the Genesis Device (Star Trek III:  The Search For Spock).
  
  I guess it's not as important that it's unstable if you intend to use it to ignite a massive fusion reaction anyway :)
• Of course Dr. Bashir finds Professor Seyetik "remarkably entertaining".  They share the same sense of self-importance :)
• Fenna is Nidell, Nidell is Fenna.
  
  
  "Now, we have something to talk about."
  
• "With the exception of Professor Seyetik, no one has left the Prometheus the entire time it's been at the station."
  
  {cue creepy music}
• Quark's offering to counsel Cmdr. Sisko in matters of the heart is one of the more amusing moments of the second season to this point.
• The crew of the Prometheus, including its commanding officer Lt. Cmdr. Piersall*, are still wearing the "Type B" TNG-style uniforms. 
  
  
  
  Lt. Cmdr. Piersall
  
  As I've mentioned before, it's clear that the production staff intended the uniforms worn aboard Deep Space 9 to be standard for personnel aboard space stations and starbases and for Starfleet personnel aboard starships to continue wearing the other style. 
  
  Of course, the real-world reason for this is probably just because they wanted the two shows to have slightly different looks while they were on the air together.  Eventually, starting with the movie Generations and on VOY, all Starfleet personnel would wear the same jumpsuit-style uniforms worn on DS9 (and even later, everyone except the stranded crew of the Voyager would transition to the grey-topped jumpsuits of the mid-to-late 2370s).
  
  * - Piersall is "only" a lieutenant commander, so it's unlikely that he's the permanently-installed commander of a ship as significant as the Prometheus.  The show doesn't state specifically, but we should assume that he's either temporarily in command while the ship conducts this particular mission with Professor Seyetik, or that he's the first officer or second officer and that the captain simply never makes an appearance.
• "I'm not reading any cellular structure; no DNA patterns."
  
  THIS LADY ISN'T REAL, BEN.
• So Halanans are "psychoprojective telepaths".  That sounds...dangerous.
• "I'm as real as you are."
  
  Except you totally, totally aren't.
• You're a megalomaniacal scientist whose wives all end up hating you, except you pulled a total d*ck move and married a woman from a species who mates for life.  So what do you do?  You ride a shuttle pod into a star.
  
  Classy move, sir.
• "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
  
  Okay, slightly less classy move.

---

"Sanctuary"

• The tune being played by Bajoran musician Varani in Quark's (much to the Ferengi's dismay), is actually a contemplative, mellow variation of the main theme from the show itself.
• This is one of the few episodes in the entire Star Trek franchise where the universal translator isn't able to translate the spoken language of a newly-encountered alien species (at least at first).  Chief O'Brien and Commander Sisko explain that the universal translator had difficulty developing a "translation matrix" for the Skrreea because their syntax and grammar were completely unlike anything in the program's existing database.
• One of the Skrreea, called "Gai", is played by Leland Orser. 
  
  Mr. Orser will play a few other roles on DS9, VOY and ENT and has been in many other films and television series.  I recognize him best as "Larry Purvis", one of the unwitting victims of intentional alien impregnation in the movie Alien Resurrection.
  
  You know, this guy.
  
  
  
• "Three million of my people are on the other side.  We must bring them through the Eye.  We must bring them here."
  
  Eh, the Deep Space 9 is a big place...but it ain't that big.
• The Skrreea are a matriarchal society.  Haneek says that they don't involve the men in the decision making process within their communities because they are "too emotional".  I'm sure the writers intended this to be a quite pointed reference to the fact that the same ridiculous excuse was used (and is still tried to be used) to exclude real-life human women from positions of power on real-life Earth.
• The Skrreea call the Bajoran Wormhole the "Eye of the Universe" and believe it's the path to a mythical homeworld called Kentanna.  The Bajorans, of course, believe that the wormhole is the "Celestial Temple".  Pretty much only Starfleet and the friggin' Cardassians just call it "the wormhole".
• Constable Odo explicitly states that Deep Space 9 can only hold 7,000 people.  We don't know if this is how many people it's designed to accommodate (i.e. with living quarters, food replicators, waste treatment, etc.) or whether that's literally how many people you could cram into the physical spaces within the station if absolutely necessary.  Either way, it's a lot less than 3,000,000.
• Haneek explains that the Skrreea were conquered and enslaved by the T-Rogoran several hundred years prior to this episode, and the T-Rogoran were in turn recently conquered by the Dominion--at which time the Skrreea took the opportunity to flee captivity in search of Kentanna.
• You thought she liked the dress, she bought you the dress, she actually hated the dress, you hate the dress too...IT'S LIKE A GORRAM SITCOM UP IN HERE.
• And now Jake's datin' a Dabo girl?  Yep, a sitcom.  Except for the dark part with all of the refugees.
• Incidentally, that Dabo girl?  Her name is "Mardah" and we do actually get to meet her.  And the actress who plays her is only two years older than Cirroc Lofton.  When I saw this show for the first time, I always got the impression she was a lot older.  That's probably because they talked about her all the time and Sisko was all disapproving and stuff...and we only got to see her in one episode (I think).
• "What is 'entymology'?"
  
  "The study of bugs."
  
  "Oh, you mean she wants to be a chef!"
• The Skrreea have a natural property to their skin that causes it to flake.  So, that's gross.
• I think Varani is the only Bajoran I've ever seen who didn't wear an earring.
• Draylon II sounds like a nice place.  No?  You'd rather settle on Bajor?  Okay, let's talk about that...
• One of the many models re-used as a Skrreea ship is that of the Promellian battle cruiser from the TNG episode "Booby Trap".
  
  
  
  (image courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)
  
  The same model will be repainted and used as an unknown Klingon ship class in the fourth season episode "Sons Of Mogh".
• The Bajoran Provisional Government's rejection of the Skrreea request to settle on Bajor is based mostly on the already-precarious situation of the Bajorans themselves after the damage done to their planet and their society by the Cardassian Occupation.
• Tumak, the young Skrreea who takes a ship and heads for Bajor, is played by Andrew Koenig, son of Walter Koenig.
  
  
  
  
  And yes, he played "Boner" on Growing Pains.
  
  Very sadly, he took his own life in 2010 :(
• Tumak's ship is unfortunately destroyed in a brief skirmish with at least two Bajoran interceptors.
  
  
  
• "I think you've made a terrible mistake, all of you.  Maybe we could've helped you.  Maybe we could've helped each other.  The Skreeans are farmers, Kira.  You have a famine on your planet.  Perhaps we could've made that peninsula bloom again.  We'll never know, will we?  Fifty years of Cardassian rule have made you all frightened and suspicious.  I feel sorry for you.  You were right.  Bajor is not Kentanna."
• Aside from the sadness of an actor who's passed away playing a teenage character who's tragically killed, this episode's edgy and dark ending is typical of the tone of DS9 and is a pretty good example of why it remains my favorite series.  I tend to like dark drama in general, and DS9 gave us that in spades.  It's not as prominent or as well-defined in the first couple of seasons as it is later on, but it's there if you know where to look for it.

DS9 S02E08

In this installment:
(viewed Friday & Saturday, July 18-19)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E08 - "Necessary Evil"

---

"Necessary Evil"

• Not that it's an especially interesting bit of trivia, but I do believe this is the only time that Quark personally visits Bajor during the course of the entire series.
• As Odo is recording his first official station security log, he scoffs at the human need to keep records and lists and so forth.  As an anal-retentive do-gooder (who, I guess, actually has no anus), you'd think he'd appreciate the value of meticulous record-keeping.
• While Quark and Rom attempt to break into Vaatrik Pallra's former shop on the Promenade to retrieve the strongbox for which she contracted with Quark, we get a glimpse of exactly how clever Rom is (much to the dismay of his brother):  He picks the super-special space lock in around 10 seconds, and has all of the tools they need to get the job done...thanks largely to how often Quark forgets to leave him access to the various locked doors and compartments at Quark's, and Rom has to break into those in order to serve customers.
• Compressed tetryon beam weapon?  That sounds nasty.
• 139th Rule of Acquisition:  "Wives serve, brothers inherit."
• "I've had my eye on you for a long time, Rom.  You're not as stupid as you look."
  
  "I am too!"
• This is the first of several flashback episodes that give us a glimpse of what Deep Space 9 (then called "Terok Nor") was like during the Carassian occupation of Bajor.
• This is also the first mention of Odo being coerced into performing the "Cardassian neck trick" by his handlers during his early years as a test subject after he was discovered floating in the Denorios Belt.  We'll never see Odo actually perform this "trick" during the run of the series.
• During their flashback conversation, Gul Dukat refers to the Cardassian state as the "Cardassian Empire".  Although the two terms are used interchangeably, the state is later and more frequently referred to by its correct name--the Cardassian Union.
  
  
  
  Emblem of the Cardassian Union
• The method Gul Dukat uses to convince Odo to assist him with the investigation of Vaatrik's murder is the same employed by real-life despots to convince people who are otherwise contemptuous of their brutal methods:  Remind them that their usual way of dealing with a problem is extreme violence (in this case, rounding up Bajorans at random and executing them to punish the whole group for the murder), and that if they help out they can save lives.  It's how many an otherwise-good person has been slowly morphed into a collaborator.
• When past Kira finishes her conversation with past Odo, she calls him "constable"--what was probably initially meant as a sideways insult eventually morphs into his unofficial title.
• Apparently in the 24th Century, you can still have your lights turned off if you don't pay your bills...at least on Bajor, that is.  I doubt that's a problem in the money-free, utopian Federation.
• "The Ferengi holds onto life like it's gold-pressed latinum."
• We learn in this episode that the currency of Bajor is called the "lita".
• Kira didn't kill the dude, she's a saboteur!  Dun dun DUNNNNN!
• How useless is that Bajoran security guy? 
  
  "Oh hey, just put these flowers in water."
  
  "Totally!  I'm absolutely a candystriper and not a friggin' security guard."
• Although I grow to like the character in time, I never get over my loathing for Rom's high-pitched distress scream.
• Or Kira totally did kill the dude.  Because nobody likes collaborators.
• "What you think of me...matters a lot."
  
  This episode is kind of the beginning of the "special relationship" between Odo and Kira, which will be the great "will they or won't they" romance of DS9.
  
  (Spoiler alert:  They totally do...eventually.  But don't hold your breath.)

Mini-Review: ENTERPRISE (REFIT) & KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY models by Eaglemoss

Mini-Review

USS ENTERPRISE (Refit) & KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY

 (Klingon Bird-of-Prey and the USS Enterprise (refit) from Eaglemoss)

Today I received the next two installments of "Star Trek:  The Official Starships Collection" from Eaglemoss:  The refit USS Enterprise from ST1-ST3 and the ubiquitous Klingon Bird-of-Prey. 

I previously reviewed Issue 1 (the Enterprise-D), which I found to be nicely detailed and well-made  These two ships in Issues 2 and 3 both feature in my top five favorite Star Trek starship designs, so I was quite excited to receive them both.  I like the Galaxy class just fine, but I like these two designs much more.

Like the first issue, both models came with a glossy collector's magazine that includes lots of cool information about the ships.  They're neat to flip through, but as I said with the previous edition--it's nothing you can't find online.  I won't really discuss those.

This shipment also came with my first "subscriber gift", a binder for holding all of those nice magazines.  Here's a wide shot of all of my Eaglemoss schwag to date:

I'm going to do my mini-review for these one at a time, but I'll again link you to the two video reviews that YouTube user "IrishTrekkie" did of these models.  He covers them more in-depth, and includes coverage of the magazines and so forth.

"IrishTrekkie" video review of Issue 2 (Enterprise Refit)

"IrishTrekkie" video review of Issue 3 (Klingon Bird-of-Prey)

But now on with my own mini-review(s) and photos...

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USS Enterprise (refit)

Issue 2 of the subscription is the refit version of the original USS Enterprise, first seen in Star Trek:  The Motion Picture and subsequently appearing in Star Trek II:  The Wrath Of Khan before being destroyed in Star Trek III:  The Search For Spock.  

The Enterprise-A was a nearly-identical ship (the refit Constitution class), but this model is specifically the original Enterprise (post-2265).  This is the ship that explored V'Ger and battled Khan.

I was very, very disappointed with the Hot Wheels version of this ship (almost no die cast, warped plastic, very little detail), so I was really hoping that the level of detail and build quality that I saw on the Enterprise-D would carry over.  The results were...mixed.  

As I mentioned in my review of the Enterprise-D model, one of my biggest complaints about "die cast" models is how little of them turn out to actually be metal.  With that model, I was pleasantly surprised.  While there was still a good bit of plastic, the bulk of the ship's sizable primary hull was solid die cast metal.

A similar approach is taken with the refit Enterprise.  The entirety of the primary hull (the saucer section) is die cast, while the secondary hull, neck, pylons and nacelles are all plastic.  However, because the Constitution class' primary hull is much less of its overall bulk than the Galaxy class, much more of this model's overall mass is plastic than metal.  I'd had hopes that both the primary and secondary hulls would be all or mostly metal, with the pylons and nacelles perhaps being plastic.  The larger percentage of plastic in this model is a bit of a disappointment.

That being said, the parts that are plastic are still pretty well done.  They're obviously less hefty (and thus less-satisfying to hold) than the metal saucer section, but they're rigid (no warped plastic), mostly straight (there's some barely-perceptible crookedness) and the paint and details are just as good as on the metal primary hull.

 

The level of detail is good--especially for a model of this size (I'd guess that this is somewhere smaller than 1:2500 scale).  That being said, the detailing on the Enterprise-D was much better.  That was a much larger ship scaled down into a not-that-much-bigger model, and they managed to put all kinds of great "aztec" patterning and window detail on that model.  I know that there wasn't as much of that stuff on the refit Enterprise's filming model (which Eaglemoss claims to use as the baseline for all of their models), but I think they could've done a little better with the detail.  It's not bad, but it could've used more.

It's worlds better than the unbelievably crappy level of detail on the Hot Wheels version though.  So it's got that going for it :)

 (alongside its much-maligned Hot Wheels counterpart, which is larger but both poorer

in build quality and lower in detail)

Overall, I'm happy with the model.  It's not perfect, but it's better than any other commercial attempt I've seen at a pre-painted die cast model of this particular ship at this small a scale.

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Klingon Bird-of-Prey

Issue 3 of the subscription is the ever-popular Klingon Bird-of-Prey, first introduced in Star Trek III:  The Search For Spock and featured in nearly every film and series since then.  

One of the franchise's most recognizable "villain" starships (although the Klingons weren't always villains, of course), the ship was scaled up and down by the effects department as needed.  Variously referred to on-screen as the "B'rel", "K'Vort", "D12" or just "scout" class, the ship has been depicted as everything from a small 12-man escort or raiding vessel to a much larger cruiser-type ship.  

It's popular in fandom to consider the "B'rel" classification to be the smaller scout-type iteration of the ship (and the oldest type), and the "K'Vort" classification to refer to the larger cruiser-type iteration.  But the truth is that they've thrown around different terminology and scaled the ship up and down so much that none of the names can really be definitively tied to any one size or type.  So technically, it's simply the "Klingon Bird-of-Prey".

If you're a turbo-nerd like me, you can check out the excellent article that Ex Astris Scientia has on the Bird-of-Prey scaling issue (which I've posted in other blog entries when discussing this ship).

In any case, it's an awesome design.  The folks at ILM did a bang-up job when they built it for ST3, and it's just one of my absolute favorites.  Were Eaglemoss to deliver a disappointing execution of this ship, it'd really be a bummer.

Fortunately, I don't have to worry about that.  This model is awesome.

For starters, it's almost entirely metal.  Yes, even the frickin' wings.

 

The model has great weight to it and feels sturdy as hell in the hand.  Now, the one thing that I know everyone wants to know is "Do the wings articulate?"  Sadly, they do not.

 (No, the wings don't move.)

That being said, I understand why they don't.  Making a BoP model with moving wings that isn't mostly plastic and prone to hinges that wear out after a while is hard.  Trust me, I've owned a lot of BoP models.  So I'd rather have one that's mostly die cast but doesn't articulate.

I have the Hot Wheels version of this ship as well, which does have movable wings and is generally a pretty high-quality model itself.  But it's also mostly-plastic and its hinges are starting to wear out.  I suppose they wouldn't if I didn't play with it so much.  However, buying starship models and not playing with them from time to time just isn't something I'm prepared to do :P

(The Eaglemoss BoP (top) and Hot Wheels BoP (bottom)

The Eaglemoss BoP is smaller than the Hot Wheels BoP, although it has nearly as wide a wingspan.  Given Eaglemoss' devotion to replicating the filming models as closely as possible, I tend to think their proportions are probably more accurate than Hot Wheels' (and that's not to bag on HW--I like their BoP model...I even gave it a custom paint job).

The Eaglemoss BoP is also better-detailed overall than its Hot Wheels counterpart.  In fact, it's the best-detailed BoP model I've ever seen that wasn't a large 1:1200 scale model build and painted by a modeler.

There's also some cool weathering to the paint job that gives it the feeling of a used warship.  It's present all over the model, but especially around the forward command module and torpedo tube.  I tried to capture it well in a photograph, but I'm afraid my iPhone wasn't up to the task of focusing in on the detail very well.  You can see some of it in the picture above of the front of the ship and the position of the wings.  But trust me, in person it looks crazy, awesome, wicked sick good.

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Conclusion & Photos

In summary, I'm pleased with both of these models.  The refit Enterprise could definitely be better, but it's satisfactory.  The Bird-of-Prey is completely awesome.  If I had to rank the ships I've received so far from this collection, it'd go something like:

1. Klingon Bird-of-Prey
2. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
3. USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (refit)

 (Yes, I realize these aren't in the order in which I ranked them above.)

I believe the next two I should receive are the Enterprise (NX-01) and the Romulan D'deridex.  I'm very excited for the warbird, as the Romulans are my favorite Trek aliens and the D'deridex is also in my "top five".  The warbird is also one of the biggest Trek ships (although depicted as equivalent in size because of the big void in the middle, it's actually almost twice as long as the Galaxy class), so seeing how they do detail on something so huge will be interesting.  Hopefully the execution is good.

And while it's no secret that I'm not a big fan of Enterprise as a series, I think the design of the NX-class itself is fine (I'm not blown away by it, but it's okay).  And it's a relatively small ship but from a relatively recent production, so the original filming model was very detailed.  I look forward to seeing how that translates to the model.

Here are the remainder of the photos that I took, but didn't end up using in the individual reviews above.  These are all relatively small because I didn't want this blog post to take forever to load, but you can view high-res photos in these two directories on my webhost:

http://samtrek.lab1663.net/02_enterprise_refit/
http://samtrek.lab1663.net/03_klingon_bird-of-prey/