ALL THE STAR TREK

Sunday, July 12, 2015

DS9 S04E06 & S04E07

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, July 12th)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S04E06 -- "Starship Down"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S04E07 -- "Little Green Men"

"Starship Down"

Hanok, the Karemma trade representative featured in this show, is yet another guest appearance by the very talented James Cromwell (perhaps best-known in Trek circles for having portrayed Zefram Cochrane himself in Star Trek: First Contact).

The many Trek faces of James Cromwell:
Prime Minister Nayrok and Jaglom Shrek (both on TNG), Hanok (DS9) and Zefram Cochrane (STFC)
Listen, Kira: If Captain Sisko isn't comfortable being the Emissary, he's probably super-uncomfortable with there being a feast day in his honor. I think we can all understand that. Take it down a notch, weirdo.
"Two ships have just entered sensor range. They're Jem'Hadar warships."

Yeah...that's never good.
There's nothing you can't do with a good tetryon pulse.
Can you put the warhead from a quantum torpedo into an atmospheric probe? Sure. That doesn't mean it's a good idea.
This episode follows in the proud Trek tradition of taking a classic submarine fight and putting them into space: Low visibility, slow maneuvering through the depths of the ~~ocean~~ ~~nebula~~ atmosphere of a gas giant, and the specter of sacrificing one or more crew-members when the integrity of the ship is compromised.

This was most famously done, of course, with the Battle of the Mutara Nebula in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan.
But of course Bashir seals himself in with Dax! Why wouldn't he?
Ah, this is the episode where almost everybody dies. And not all at once, because the ship is in danger (although that happens, too), but each of them individually, in different parts of the ship.
And while everyone else is almost dying, Quark and the Karemma representative are having a philosophical discussion about business practices.
Also: Worf is cranky (err...crankier than usual). I love O'Brien's "Hey, they're engineers. Be nice to 'em and give 'em a problem to solve!" speech.
Kira, did I not just say to take it down an notch? HE'S NOT THE SPACE POPE.
I'll just come right out and say it: The Bajoran language sounds like freakin' baby talk.
And everybody's friends now! Quark and Hanok are gambling, Bashir and Dax are playin' Darts, and Sisko invites Kira to a baseball game. Huzzah!

"Little Green Men"

While I thought it was silly at first, Nog's trip to Starfleet Academy (and back) is one of the most interesting and unexpected character arcs in the entire show.
Quark's new shuttle, which he dubs Quark's Treasure, is of a type that we've seen previously and will see again: Weird, squat little Ferengi shuttles that look like crabs or whatever.
"All I ask is a tall ship...and a load of contraband to fill her with."
"Doesn't this Gabriel Bell look just like Captain Sisko?"

"All hyoo-mans look alike."
This episode is Trek's tongue-in-cheek attempt to explain the so-called "Roswell Incident", in which some people believe that the U.S military recovered a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft (and perhaps even recovered its extraterrestrial pilot(s)).

It's one of the most well-known fables in American UFO lore, but most actual evidence points to the debris involved in the "incident" as having been wreckage from a highly-modified, high-altitude balloon which was being tested to see if we could detect Soviet nuclear tests (these tests were known as Project Mogul).

The highly secretive nature of this project probably led the U.S. Air Force to simply allow the public to believe the UFO story for decades, rather than declassify the Mogul program.
The Divine Treasury sounds pretty hilarious.
I enjoy any Trek episode that shows us what life would be like in the diverse Federation would be like without the universal translator. This is also one of the few (or maybe only?) times the UT is shown as actually being implanted in the head...or at least it is for Quark, Rom and Nog.
Nuclear testing, smoking...humans did some pretty goofy stuff in the 1940s.
Ha! I had completely forgotten that Odo went with them.
Part of Quark's plan to alter the future includes selling their shuttle to the present-day (1947) Ferengi, allowing them to have warp drive before other Alpha Quadrant / Beta Quadrant powers, including the Klingons and the Vulcans. However, from what we know, the Vulcans were an interstellar power sometime before the 9000 BCE and Klingons around 900 CE.

Then again, it's not like Quark is a history expert.
Apparently Ferengi are immune to sodium thiopental.
"Don't you people have laws against this kind of thing?"

"Not when it comes to national security!"

Oh, if only that weren't true :(
Quark's Treasure is being held in Hangar 18, which is a reference the facility at what is now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where wreckage from the alleged Roswell UFO was supposed to have been taken.

It's also the name of a killer Megadeth song.
"Stand back, or I'll disintegrate this hostage."

"With your finger?"

"With my death ray."

"Looks a lot like a finger to me."
"What do we do now, General?"

"About what, Captain? All we ever found was a crashed weather balloon."

Friday, February 27, 2015

Forgive the hiatus in posting commentary as I make my way through my re-watch of every Star Trek episode and film. That project is still very much alive, but work and life and so forth have gotten in the way. Look for additional posts in that direction in the near future.

But I felt like, hiatus or no, today was an appropriate day to open hailing frequencies. We lost a man who was arguably the face of Trek today. Below are my thoughts about that. It's not special or more significant than what any other fan is feeling right now, but it's what I'm feeling.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

DS9 S04E04 & S04E05

In this installment:
(viewed Thursday, January 1st)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S04E04 - "Indiscretion"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S04E05 - "Rejoined"

"Indiscretion"

DS9 episodes that involve a story element from Kira's past and the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor in general are generally pretty good. If I remember this one correctly, it's no exception.
I love that Odo expresses his support and well-wishes for Kira's search for survivors from the Ravinok, even though he doesn't think her efforts have a particularly high probability of success. It's one of the small ways that the writers both deepened the bond between Odo and Kira, and also displayed Odo's incrementally-improving understanding of how the "solids" feel and act.
"You can't go try to rescue your friends without taking a Cardassian chaperone. Sorry."
Also: Kassidy Yates and Captain Sisko are totally still dating. We just want to put that in this episode so that no one forgets about her. She's important later.
Oh, that Cardassian chaperone? It's kind of our worst enemy. Surprise!
"Stop me if you've heard this one: A former Bajoran resistance fighter and the former Cardassian administrator of the brutal occupation of Bajor are in a runabout..."
"Ah, the infamous Shakaar resistance cell. We never could quite eliminate that little group of yours. And it was not from lack of trying, let me assure you. I hope you don't take this the wrong way Major, but I've always admired you."

Say what now?
"I know you find this hard to accept, but I believe that in some ways the Occupation actually helped Bajor."

"Which part, the massacres or the strip-mining?"

SNAP.
Quark's School of Playful Misogyny.
General rule of thumb: If you're about to test DNA to identify bodies and someone suddenly doesn't want you to help them, they have something to hide.
This episode is the beginning of a widening of the scope of Dukat's backstory, as it's revealed that he had a Bajoran lover during the occupation.
In which Dukat gets an ouchie on his tushy...
"Tell me something...who's Tora Ziyal?"

Well, that's going to be a whole thing.
"Now I know why you're in such hurry to find the survivors. You're hoping your daughter's still alive, and you can rescue her."

"Not quite. You see, if my daughter is still alive...I'll have no choice but to kill her."

Okay, yeah. That sounds like a Dukat solution to a Dukat problem.
Interplay between Kira and Dukat is always some of my favorite dialog on DS9 (perhaps second only to any scene featuring Garak). They're two of my favorite characters on the show, and they were played very well by their respective actors.
While they've been mentioned many, many times before on Star Trek, I do believe this is the first time that we actually see the Breen (who will of course become major players later on in the Dominion War).

Emblem of the Breen Confederacy

It's also the first mention of their homeworld being a "frozen wasteland".
And yes, the Breen outfits do look suspiciously like the Ubese bounty hunter Boushh from the Star Wars universe (aka Princess Leia's diguise when she shows up to rescue Han from Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi).
In Ziyal's first couple of appearances, she's played by Cyia Batten. Two other actresses will play her throughout the course of the series.
And this would be the episode where we learn that the devil in our little play, Dukat, has a bit of a heart after all. Not much of one, but he has one.
Oh, and back to Ben and Kassidy. Yay.

(I actually like Kassidy a lot, this particular "B" plot just seems weird and out-of-place in this episode.)

"Rejoined"

"Sure you can do a same-sex kiss in this episode. But we're talking two hot ladies, right?
Not like...two ugly Klingon dudes?"

Seriously, what kind of Trill would you be if you hadn't figured out how to do magic at some point during your bazillion lifetimes? You almost have to assume that every joined Trill knows magic tricks.
"So, there's a Trill science team coming here to use our stuff. And the leader of the team is one of your ex-wives. Err, one of your former host's ex-wives. Or whatever. My point is that you should probably take a vacation so it won't be weird."
Like the TNG episode "The Outcast" before it, this episode (and the Trill taboo against "Reassociation") is a clear--but effective and welcome--allegory for taboos and discrimination in our own societies when it comes to gender and sexual orientation.

Just like TOS using the mirrored make-up of the aliens Lokai and Bele in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" to talk about a sensitive subject in the 1960s (racial discrimination), TNG and DS9 used alien cultural taboos to talk about sensitive subjects in the 1990s (sexual and gender discrimination).
"I don't understand how two people who have fallen in love and made a life together can be forced to just walk away from each other because of a taboo."

We don't understand it either, Kira. Thankfully, it's a little bit better now in 2015 than it was in 1995 (although there's a ways to go yet).
"What do Klingons dream about?"

"Things that would send cold chills down your spine, and wake you in the middle of the night. It is better that you do not know."

Intense much?
Oh hey, it's Lt. Cmdr. Eddington. Yep, he's still a thing.
"Our chaperone has left. Let's trade earrings and hold hands."
Aside from its value as social commentary (which is significant), this episode is a bit on the dry side for my tastes.
By the 1990s, it was becoming more and more acceptable to feature same-sex couples on television programs. From science fiction shows like DS9 to sitcoms like Friends, gay and lesbian couples were frequently secondary characters and sometimes even main characters. Subjects important to that community were starting to be talked about in public.

But if you wanted to do a same-sex kiss on your show, I'm sure it was still a little easier to sell if it was two attractive actresses and not to big, fat ugly dudes :P
"But if you're sure, if this is what you really want...I will back you all the way."

"I've lived seven lifetimes, and I have never had a friend quite like you."
"I'm reading a massive plasma leak in the engine room."

Well, that's never good.
Walking on a plasma leak? Way more impressive than walking on water, if you ask me.
"And if you leave on that transport tomorrow, I think we both know you're never coming back again."Of course she's not. Steamy kiss or no steamy kiss, we need you to marry a Klingon in a couple of seasons.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

DS9 S04E02, S04E03

In this installment:
(viewed Saturday, December 6th)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S04E02 - "The Visitor"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S04E03 - "Hippocratic Oath"

"The Visitor"

This episode is widely regarded as one of DS9's finest, akin to TNG's "Inner Light". While my personal favorite won't arrive until the sixth season, there's no denying that "The Visitor" is an amazing piece of Trek history--a brilliant story, brilliantly acted.
And yes, the actor who plays old Jake is none other than Tony Todd--best known to Trekkies as Kurn, and best known to non-Trekkies as either Candyman or one of the mercenaries in The Rock.

He also plays Starfleet admiral (and eventual Commander-in-Chief) Ramirez in the upcoming fan film Star Trek: Axanar, the preview for which ("Prelude to Axanar", which includes a stirring wartime speech by Todd-as-Ramirez) is available on YouTube. I highly recommend checking it out. This ain't like other fan films, folks (not that there aren't some good ones out there, but Axanar looks like it's set to be the best of the bunch).
The young author who comes looking for Jake, Melanie, is played by Rachel Robinson--daughter of actor Andrew Robinson (Garak).
A subspace inversion? That seems totally safe.
"Sisko to engineering...engineering, report!"

How is "let's take the Defiant to the Gamma Quadrant to watch the wormhole do something weird" the one time you don't take Chief O'Brien with you?
"Dax, better stand by to eject the core."

"We can't, the ejection system's offline."

The ejections system is always offline. ALWAYS.
"So I'm seeing my dead father in my quarters."

"Yeah, we'll...uh, scan your quarters. Go back to sleep."
The Bajorans and the Cardassians in a mutual defense pact? That seems like an odd choice.
Temporal signatures are such finicky bastards.
"Look at me...I need to know you're going to be alright."

Excuse me. I've got something in my eye.
I enjoy that adult Jake Sisko is played by Tony Todd, and adult Nog is still played by teeny, tiny Aaron Eisenberg.
"At the age of 37, I went back to school and studied subspace mechanics."
That's a hell of a gear change.
Although some ships are shown to be in service for decades, the Defiant--the most modern of starships at its launching--is apparently in "mothballs" 50 years after Sisko's accident.
The future uniforms show in this episode are the same shown in TNG's finale, "All Good Things...".
"Read the dedication."

"'To my father, who's coming home'."
Damned dust in my eye...
"Jake, you didn't have to do this. Not for me."

"For you, and for the boy that I was. He needs you more than you know. Don't you see? We're going to get...a second chance."

Okay, now I'm just crying.
It's kind of interesting watching this episode after having seen Interstellar. I won't go into a huge amount of detail, but the theme of "parents are ghosts for their children" is as present in this episode as it is in the newer film.

"Hippocratic Oath"

Worf is cranky because Odo has thrown Quark in prison. News at 11.
And Chief O'Brien and Dr. Bashir on a mission together in a runabout? That always ends so well.
"Why can't she be more like..."

"More like?"

"...a man. More like a man."

"So, you wish...Keiko was a man?"

"I wish I was on this trip with someone else. That's what I wish."

The banter between O'Brien and Bashir (at least once their friendship evolved beyond its early "Bashir always annoys O'Brien" stage) is one of my favorite things about DS9. It doesn't quite rival the banter of the classic Kirk-Spock-McCoy troika, but it comes close at times for both depth of humanity and humor.
"Do not move. You are prisoners of the Jem'Hadar."

That's never a good way to start your crash landing survival adventure :-\
O'Brien's rank is identified in this episode as chief petty officer.
...in which the Jem'Hadar enlist Dr. Bashir to cook dope for them.
"The Klingons have also attacked three more outposts along the Romulan border. In short, they're reasserting themselves all over the quadrant."

Klingons on the move. KLINGONS ON THE MOVE.
Would you leave Odo alone and let him do his job, dude. Sheesh.
"I have fought against races who believe in mythical beings who guided their destinies and await them after death. They call them...'gods'. The Founders are like gods to the Jem'Hadar, but they don't talk to us. And they don't await us after death. They only want us to fight for them, and to die for them."

This episode fleshes out the "culture" (if you can call it that) of the Jem'Hadar, including their relationship with the Founders. And it broaches the age-old moral question about a culture designed for warfare: Are they nothing but killers, or can they become more than that?
Odo's the bag, Worf. Odo is always the bag.
Chief O'Brien's escape into the forest and evasion from the Jem'Hadar soldiers is basically like John Rambo's kiting sheriff's deputies through the woods in First Blood.
"You are a soldier?"

"I have been."

"Then you explain."
"Let's just say that DS9 has more shades of grey. And Quark...is definitely grey."
"Tonight's supposed to be our weekly darts game."

"Don't worry, I don't feel much like playing either."

"Maybe in a few days."

Sunday, October 12, 2014

DS9 S03E23, S03E24, S03E25, S03E26, S04E01

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, October 12th)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E23 - "Family Business"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E24 - "Shakaar"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E25 - "Facets"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E26 - "The Adversary"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S04E01-02 - "The Way Of The Warrior" (Parts 1 & 2)

"Family Business"

New rule: No more episodes that start with Sisko cooking in his quarters and singing to himself. No more.
"You only cook Hungarian food when you're in a really good mood."

Okay, that's not a real thing that anyone would do.
This is the second mention of Captain Kasidy Yates, Cmdr. Sisko's eventual wife, prior to her actual appearance.
Hey kids, it's liquidator Brunt! And yes, that's Jeffrey Combs underneath that makeup. We'll grow to love him first as Weyoun on DS9 and later as Shran on ENT.
"Your mom is totally turning a profit. We can't have any of that. You're under arrest."
In this episode, Kira and Sisko discuss the assignment of a new runabout to the station, which Sisko says he would like to name Rubicon.

Kira jokes that it's a good thing that Earth has so many rivers, given how quickly the station goes through runabouts. This is one of those cases where the Trek writers give us a little wink-wink, nudge-nudge to the inescapable fact that they're burning through something (e.g. "redshirts", shuttlecraft, etc.) at an astonishing rate.
This episode is the first time we actually get to see Ferenginar, the homeworld of the Ferengi species and the capital of the Ferengi Alliance. It's...not a pleasant place.
This is also the first time we see Ishka, mother to Quark and Rom.
"Your mother...is wearing clothes."

"Mother! Get undressed this instant!"
O'Brien and Bashir breaking into Quark's so they can get their dartboard back? Priceless.
Sisko: "Exactly how many people has Jake told about this woman?"

O'Brien: "...everyone."

{O'Brien swiftly turns around and goes back to work.}
The entire concept of Ferengi women being traditionally forbidden to wear clothing is never more creepily brought to our attention than when Rom tells his mother that he would be more comfortable if she were naked, and she takes her clothes off to make him feel better.

I get it: It's their culture, it's not a sexual thing, etc. Still, even just beyond the overt sexism...gross.
Oh, I stand corrected! We do finally get to meet Captain Yates in this episode. And she's kind of awesome. Her brother even plays baseball!
"Do you know what this means?"

"It means Moogie's got the lobes for business."
Although sometimes the Ferengi story-lines bore me, I like pretty much any episode where Rom proves that he's smarter, more capable and more ethical than anyone (especially Quark) will ever publicly acknowledge.

Seriously. I <3 Rom.
The little "tip jar"-type containers everywhere on Ferenginar (and fees from things like taking the elevator, sitting in a chair in the waiting room, etc.) are a bit slapstick, but amusing.
In a bit of idle chatter during their first "date", Yates tells Sisko that her brother is a colonist on Cestus III, and Sisko comments that it's "on the other side of the Federation". Yates says that because of the distance, it takes two weeks for a subspace transmission from the colony to arrive in the vicinity of Deep Space 9. It doesn't give us any really hard numbers, but it supports the idea of a Federation that takes (at least) several weeks to traverse even at high warp.

If "Cestus III" sounds familiar to you, it's because it's also the planet where Captain Kirk fought the Gorn captain in the TOS episode "Arena". At the time of that episode, the planet was the site of a Federation research outpost.
"I sincerely hope I never see any of you again."

"The feeling is mutual."

Don't bet on it, fellas.

"Shakaar"

Two things, really quick:

It's hard to beat Miles O'Brien at darts (unless you're genetically engineered, like some people).
No way would Captain Picard play darts with Chief O'Brien. Commander Sisko is much more the "I'm your commanding officer...and your pal!" type than Picard ever was.

Hang on, a second. So the First Minister of the Bajoran Provisional Government dies...and they appoint Kai Winn--a religious leader--to fill the post (in addition to her religious duties)? Yeah, that's going to work out really well. I'll talk to you guys again in about four seasons, and you can let me know if you still think that was a good idea.
"It has been my observation that the problem with giving people the freedom of choice is that sometimes, they make the wrong choice."
Bajoran politics aside, this entire episode basically boils down a dispute over farming equipment.

"So, we need to save our CGI budget for this war we've got coming up. Any ideas on what we can do in the meantime?"

"Uh...farming episode?"

"Let's do it."
One of Kira's old resistance pals, Furel, is played by none other than William Lucking. He may be a relatively minor star of the small screen to most of you, but to me he's quite the celebrity. For four seasons, he played Piermont "Piney" Winston on Sons Of Anarchy, one of my favorite television programs of all time.

William Lucking as Furel (left) and Piney Winston (right)
"I'm not sure this is a fight you can win."

"That's what the Cardassians used to say."
If I may make an observation, "By any means necessary..." is a great turn of phrase for a radical but it's not really the kind of thing you want to hear out of the mouth of your civil leaders.
Forcing Kai Winn to bow out of the election or you'll expose her idiotic handling of the farm equipment fiasco? Ouch. She's going to remember that.
Farm equipment and darts. The whole episode...farm equipment and darts.

"Facets"

I'll get right to the point: This is the episode where we spend some time with Dax's previous hosts, because we're stalling for time before the Dominion War scripts are ready.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to borrow your bodies for a few hours."

Kinky.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but did Quark just agree to embody one of your female hosts?"

"Yes, he did."
Although there's some quality drama that arises from the main plot of this episode (Dax's zhian'tara), the "b-plot" about Nog nervously trying to prepare himself for Starfleet Academy is also pretty interesting. I liked Nog once they moved him past "immature, two-dimensional adolescent Ferengi", and I like any story-line that exposes the inner workings of the Federation, Starfleet, future societies, etc.
Although it's a little dull for us as an audience*, this episode must've been a lot of fun for the actors--the chance to literally play totally different people.

(* - It's a finely-crafted episode, but if you're someone like me--who enjoys the dark, militaristic story arc that the show takes in its later seasons--and you know that there's a lot of that kind of stuff comnig up soon...it's kind of like "Oh, okay. I have to watch this Dax episode first. Yawn.")
"Tobin, I don't think Chief O'Brien would appreciate you biting his nails."
"Don't worry, Constable. Joran won't be able to hurt anyone from inside a holding cell."

"There's just one problem, Commander. You're going to be in there with him."
It seems appropriate that they picked bat-crap insane Avery Brooks to play the crazy host :P
Okay, I get that they would have Odo embody Dax's most recent--and arguably most important--host, Curzon. They wanted to be able to have a scene where he actually changes his appearance, and to make him more expressive.

But...how could they even be certain that the same telepathic process that allows the transference of the old hosts' memories into a new body would even work with a Changeling? I mean, they don't even have brains (or they have millions of tiny brains, or whatever).

Oh, or I could watch a few more minutes of the episode--and how they explain that Odo's shape-shifting nature blended the two personalities so we get, like...Curzodo, or something.
"Curzodo" (yes, I'm sticking with it) orders two tranyas from Quark's. This is the same beverage that the weirdo child-alien drinks in the TOS episode "The Corbomite Maneuver".
Curzodo is just...so much cooler than Tuvix.
This episode is another good moment for Rom, standing up to Quark when he finds out that his brother tampered with the pre-Academy spatial orientation test.
Wait. Curzon washed you out of the Trill initiate program because he had the hots for you? That's kind of...gross.
"It just occurred to me: As soon as that kid graduates from the Academy, I'm going to have to call him 'sir'."
"What can I get you, Nog?"

"A root beer."

"The Adversary"

This is it! This is the episode where our fearless leader officially becomes Captain Benjamin Sisko, and gets that fourth pip for his collar. It only seems appropriate for the dude who's in charge of one of the most important installations in the quadrant.
Oh, and hey. It's Eddington :-\
"Here's the newest, and best, captain in Starfleet."
Somewhere, Jean-Luc Picard's ears are burning.
This episode is the first mention of the Tzenkethi, a space-faring race of some considerable strength that occupies space bordering the Federation. While we'll never see them on-screen, the brief bit of background given in this episode implies that there have been a series of border skirmishes between the Tzenkethi and the Federation--some of them quite serious.
"You're gettin' jumpy in your old age, O'Brien."

Psst. Hey, Chief. Don't look, but I think there might be something behind you.
In this third season (the first one where they had the ship), they only got a chance to take the Defiant out and stretch its legs a few times. So it's always exciting when they do.
One of the most clever things the writers on DS9 did with the Dominion--the main protagonists for most of the series--is to make the Founders shape-shifters.

Not only did it let them give a lot of dept to Odo's character, but during long, slow burn that led up to the actual Dominion War, they got to do a lot of paranoid, almost thriller-like "The Founders could be among us!" story-lines.

These are some of the best ones in the middle pat of the series, in my opinion.
Eugh. How much do we hate Eddington? Even before we found out that he was a traitor to Starfleet and working for the Maquis, I never really liked him. He's such a by-the-book teacher's pet.
"Which means...someone aboard this ship is a saboteur."

Dun dun DUUUUUNNNN!
The scene were Lt. Dax is scanning the senior staff for tetryon particles to see if they're the saboteur? It (and so many other "Hey, which one of us is the Changeling" scenes on DS9) is very evocative of a similar seen in one of my favorite horror films, the 1982 John Carpenter remake of The Thing.

Warning: Mildly gross...
"It's a Changeling!"

Really? Ya think?
"He is one of your people. Can't you put yourself in his position, try to anticipate his next move?"

"I've thought it. But the truth is, I don't understand my people all that well."

"That's too bad."

"Yes, it is."
This Bolian kid is kind of an a-hole.
Tricksy shape-shifter is tricksy.
It's a little funny that Dr. Bashir is one of the crew members "replaced" by the Changeling, given that they Founders actually do replace him with one of their infiltrators for quite a long time later in the series (somewhere starting in the fifth season, I believe).

That's one Bashir too many, thank you very much.
This is one of a handful of times that the full auto-destruct sequence for a Federation starship is shown on-screen (it happens at least once in TNG that I recall and of course in Star Trek III; I don't recall if it happens again on DS9 or on VOY/ENT...it probably does).

In this version, aboard the Defiant, it requires the authorization of only the commanding officer and the first officer. In other iterations, sometimes a third officer (e.g. the second officer or chief engineer) is also required.
"Sisko to O'Brien."

"O'Brien here."

"I could use some good news right now, Chief."

"How about this? I think I may be able to shut down the Changeling's force-fields and gain access to the sabotaged systems. The only problem is that we may lose our force-fields, too."

"AUTO-DESTRUCT IN SEVEN MINUTES."

"Just tell me how long it will take."

"Well, I guess it'll have to be less than seven minutes, won't it?"

"That'd be my suggestion. Sisko out."
Two Bashirs and now two Odos? That is such a d**k move, Changeling.
"Look, I have more important things to do than play 'Choose the Changeling'."
So Odo kills this Changeling, totally out of self-defense, and the Founders--being totally swell people--tracking him down in another episode ("Broken Link") and taking away his shape-shiftiness. Swell folks, those Founders.
"Captain, there's something you need to know. The Changeling--before he died, he whispered something to me."

"Go on..."

"He said, 'You're too late. We're everywhere."

{cue ominous music and the end of Season 3}

"The Way Of The Warrior" (Parts 1 & 2)

Although this episode aired as a two-parter to open DS9's fourth season, it's a single 93-minute episode on Netflix and it has a single Memory-Alpha entry. I'm having the vaguest memory of being so exasperated that I had to wait a week in between the first and second halves of this story.

To be honest, I powered through the last four episodes of the third season today just so I could watch this two-parter tonight. Not that those last four episodes are bad (a couple of them are quite good; excellent, in fact), but this was the prize in the cereal box for me today.

Intrigue, drunk Klingons (the best kind of Klingons), a fleet of warships attacking the station and we finally get our other transplanted TNG character (who will go on to be so, so much better on DS9 than he was on TNG)?

This is a good, good episode. It's probably one of my favorites of the entire series.
Oh, and the opening of the fourth season sees now-Captain Sisko sporting the shaved head! He grew the goatee towards the end of the third season, and the grey-topped uniforms are coming in (I believe) the fifth season. We're two-thirds of the way to Sisko's final, total, 100% badass incarnation.
Nothing to boost morale like horrible performance during a life-or-death training drill.
See? Kasidy likes the shaved head too, Ben. Good call.
How in the world do Tholians make silk? Aren't they like...made of rocks and magma and stuff?
"My brother says if you're ever on Cestus III, he'll get you seats in the dugout."

"How far is Cestus III?"

"Eight weeks at maximum warp."

"To see a real baseball game? It might be worth the trip."
This episode is the first real appearance of the Klingon Negh'Var-class warship. Bigger and more powerful than the already-formidable Vor-cha class attack cruiser, the ship that shows up unexpectedly on Deep Space 9's doorstep (at the head of a massive Klingon fleet) is the "new Klingon flagship".

(original image from Star Trek Fact Files by way of Ex Astris Scientia, composited by me)

The model was first used (in a very slightly different configuration) as an unnamed future Klingon warship in the TNG finale "All Good Things..." a little over a year before this episode aired.
Hey kids, it's General Martok! (or is it...)
The Klingon fleet that decloaks at Deep Space 9 is led by the new Negh'Var class, but it's composed of every conceivable ship type known to serve in the Klingon Defense Force during the 24th Century: The aforementioned Vor'cha-class attack cruiser, the ubiquitous Bird-of-Prey and even the aging K't'inga-class battlecruiser. All of them are present in large numbers.
I believe the fourth season's premiere is also the premiere of an updated title sequence for the show, that includes more ships and small craft shown docking at and departing the station and a slightly more fleshed-out theme song. The Defiant is shown undocking and entering the wormhole as well, although I don't recall if they added that bit in the third season or not.
"Calm down, Quark. The Klingons are our allies."

"They might be your allies, but they're not mine."
So, spoiler alert: This "General Martok" is actually a Changeling, although we won't find out about it until the fifth season premiere. It's unclear whether Martok's ability to pass the "cut your hand and see if you bleed" test in this episode is simply a continuity error (i.e. the writers didn't know they were going to have Martok be a Changeling originally), or if it's implied that this Changeling was clever enough to find a way to fake the test.

I think it's obvious that it's really just a minor continuity hole, but there's certainly know reason why the Founders wouldn't know that the solids would perform blood tests and make sure their infiltrators had ways to bypass them.
Major Kira is super not comfortable with the sensual holosuite massages, Lt. Dax. Let it go.
"Didn't you play make-believe as a child?"

"Yeah, I used to make believe that the Cardassians would stop killing the Bajorans and just go away."
And today, Odo will perform...drinking!
"Actually, I'm not sure Constable Odo has a mother."
"They broke seven of your transverse ribs and fractured your clavicle."

"Ah, but I got off several cutting remarks who no doubt did considerable damage to their egos."

After a brief break, it's nice to have some more Garak in the show again :)
This episode is the first on-screen appearance of Captain Yates' ship, an older Antares-class freighter called the Xhosa.
Yeah, if you're a Klingon commander and you screw up on the job...they will totally, totally kill you and take your knife.
"Curzon told me once that in the long run, the only people who can really handle the Klingons...are the Klingons."
Hey kids, it's Worf! I was seriously so happy to see him on DS9. I never felt that he got a chance to shine on TNG. It's hard to be the toughest and the strongest when one of your crew-mates is a freaking android.
"Let me guess, Klingon bloodwine?"

"Prune juice, chilled."
Drex, son of Martok, is named after long-time Trek product and effects dude (who's since worked on all kinds of stuff, including Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica reboot) Doug Drexler.
MARTOK AND WORF: SHOUT-FEST 2372!!!
It's stated in this episode that Worf's brother, Kurn, sits on the Klingon High Council.
"Cardassia? Why would the Klingons want to invade Cardassia?"

Uh...have you ever met Klingons? Invading is kind of their thing.
This episode is one of the handful of times that the Cardassian Union is referred to as the Cardassian "empire".
"What did the Federation Council say?"

"They've decided to condemn the Klingon invasion. In response, Gowron has expelled all Federation citizens from the Klingon empire and recalled his ambassadors from the Federation."

"You're saying he cut off diplomatic relations?"

"He's done more than that. The Klingons have withdrawn from the Khitomer Accords. The pace treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire has ended."
Hey kids, it's Gowron! He's pretty much at his craziest in this episode, when he greets Worf on the bridge of his ship.

"Worf! Woooooooorf!!! Hahahahahaha!"

(image spoilered for profanity)
Gowron just...really does not like being told "no". He will take all your toys away, kick your brother off the High Council and then go invade Cardassia. He's that kind of crazy.
"Chief, do you remember the time we rescued Captain Picard from the Borg?"

Uh, yeah. We kind of all remember that, dude.
Sisko and the Defiant head off to rescue Gul Dukat and key members of the Detapa Council, the civilian government of the Cardassian Union (which, until the unrest on Cardassia Prime, served primarily as a rubber stamp to the Central Command and the Obsidian Order).
"Sir, I hate to bring this up...but our agreement with the Romulans expressly forbids the use fo the cloaking device in the Alpha Quadrant."

"You're right, it does. But there are hundreds of Klingon ships between us and Dukat, and I intended to make that rendezvous in one piece."

"Well, I won't tell the Romulans if you don't."
This episode is one of the rare occasions when the scales of ships involved in a scene are shown correctly. The three Klingon Birds-of-Prey attacking Dukat's ship are shown relatively small compared the larger Galor-class ship, and the Defiant is similarly show to be a smaller ship as well (although both she and the BoPs certainly have teeth). The Vor'cha that comes into the fight toward the end is displayed at a similar size to the Cardassian ship (which is accurate).
"The Klingons have closed to point-blank range."

That's pretty much never good news.
This episode is the source of perhaps one of the best exchanges of dialog in Star Trek history, and both an amusing and insightful look at how non-Federation citizens might view the Federation. I will both quote it and link a YouTube video, because I'm a nice guy like that.

"And the worst part of it is...my only hope of salvation is the Federation."

"I know precisely how you feel."

"I want you to try something for me. Take a sip of this."

"What is it?"

"A human drink. It's called 'root beer'."

"I don't know..."

"Come on. Aren't you just a little bit curious?"

{Garak drinks the root beer and grimaces.}

"What do you think?"

"It's vile."

"I know. It's so bubbly and cloying...and happy."

"Just like the Federation."

"But do you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it."

"It's insidious."

"Just like the Federation."

"You think they'll be able to save us?"

"I hope so."
This is also the episode where the station gets a chance to show off its new hardware: Upgraded phasers, shields and a buttload of photon torpedoes in cool automatic launcher things.
"Dear Quark,

I used parts of your disruptor to repair the replicators. Will return them soon.

- Rom"
Dukat and Garak side-by-side is a pretty amusing picture as well.
"Right now I've got 5,000 photon torpedoes, armed and ready to launch."

That...seems like a lot. Maybe he's talking about micro-torpedoes? I don't doubt that you could physically fit 5,000 photon torpedoes into the internal volume of a station the size of Deep Space 9, but having them all slotted into their automatic launchers and armed and stuff at one time seems far-fetched to me.
"He said 'Today is a good day to die.'"

Really? How original of him.
The so-called First Battle of Deep Space 9 is one of the most exciting action sequences in Star Trek to this point in the franchise. It was one of the first times that a large fleet action had been shown (in this case, a Klingon fleet of "several dozen" ships attacking the station), and was really thrilling to see. It's even more impressive, considering that they were still doing everything with physical models.

It heavily foreshadows the kind of massive starship combat that we'll see during the Dominion War.

It also featured a lot of live-action sequence with both ranged and hand-to-hand combat as the Klingons board the station.
I think I kind of honestly thought, when this episode first aired, that they were going to kill off Kira after she got stabbed by a Klingon. I guess I thought that they added a major character (Worf), so they'd probably get rid of one (Kira) to balance it out. I'm glad I was wrong.
The lead ship of the Starfleet relief force is the USS Venture, a Galaxy-class starship. She is accompanied by at least two Excelsior-class starships and a Miranda-class starship.
"But let your people know: The Klingon Empire will remember what has happened here. You have sided against us in battle. And this, we do not forgive...OR FORGET."

Okay, Chancellor Crazy-pants.
"You look good in red."
"It looks like the Klingons are here to stay."

"Maybe they are. But so are we."

Sunday, October 5, 2014

DS9 S03E19, S03E20, S03E21, S03E22

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, October 5th)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E19 - "Through The Looking Glass"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E20 - "Improbable Cause"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E21 - "The Die Is Cast"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E22 - "Explorers"

"Through The Looking Glass"

This is the second DS9 episode to take place in the now-infamous "Mirror Universe", first introduced in the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror". DS9 will play in this sandbox more than any other series, with a total of five (!) episodes involving it. By comparison, TOS only did the one (albeit the grand-daddy of them all) and ENT will do two.
Dude, Quark. Odo already told you: No vole fights on the Promenade.
"Poor Morn. This is going to break his hearts."
Mirror Universe O'Brien is my second-favorite O'Brien.
When kidnapping Ben Sisko, it's important to be super careful.
The idea that Sisko would happen to marry Jennifer in both universes does strain credibility a little bit, but no moreso than all of the other main characters ending up in the same place (just as very different people, in some cases).
Mirror Universe Kira is my second-favorite Kira.
Hey kids, it's Tim Russ! Before he was Tuvok on VOY, he was many things in Star Trek: Including a human bridge officer on board the Enterprise-B (Star Trek: Generations) and a Vulcan member of the resistance against the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance in the mirror universe in this episode.

Correction: Apparently this is actually Mirror Universe Tuvok (I didn't realize that this episode actually aired a few months after VOY premiered in 1995), who just happens to pop up on this DS9 episode. So that's pretty rad. I was never that big a fan of VOY, but I liked Tuvok okay and I'e always liked Tim Russ (he's a Trekkie in his own right, and has been very generous with the fan community; he's even worked on several fan productions).
I enjoy that Mirror Universe Bashir and Mirror Universe Rom are vengeful militants (with good reason, given their treatment by the Alliance). It's so contrary to their counterparts' personalities :)
Mirror Universe Dax is my first-favorite Dax.
Mirror Universe Garak is my least-favorite Garak.
I kind of forgot that Mirror Universe Rom is totally a back-stabbing snake.
"The only reason I can think of to keep you alive is to infuriate Garak."

"What better reason do you need?"
"This isn't over, Benjamin. I'll hunt you down. I swear it."

"You're welcome to try."
It's a little funny that Mirror Universe Sisko was such an jerk that Mirror Universe Jennifer can easily tell that real Sisko isn't him.

"Improbable Cause"

I'm with Garak: Shakespeare is overrated :P
"Fear of starvation amid plenty: It points to some dark secret hidden in the human soul. A gnawing hunger. Perhaps someone should do a study."
"Garak's Clothiers: Our shop is literally exploding with savings and quality!"
"Have you ever heard the story about the boy who cried 'wolf'?"

"No."

"It's a children's story about a young shepherd boy who gets lonely while tending his flock. So he cries out to the villagers that a wolf is attacking the sheep. The people come running, but of course there's no wolf. He claims that it ran away, and the villagers praise him for his vigilance."

"Clever lad! Charming story."

"I'm not finished. The next day, the boy does it again. And the next, too. And the fourth day, a wolf really does come and the boy cries out at the top of his lungs. But the villagers ignore him, and the boy and his flock are gobbled up."

"Well...that's a little graphic for children, wouldn't you say?"

"The point is: If you lie all the time, nobody's going to believe you--even when you're telling the truth."

"Are you sure that's the point, Doctor?"

"Of course. What else could it be?"

"That you should never tell the same lie twice."
Garak and Odo on a runabout together? It's like a paranoia and suspicion double-header.
Romulans: They'll straight up blow you to pieces if you're wanted for a capital offense.
"The question remains: Why would the Romulans want to have Garak killed?"

"I don't know. Considering those uniforms of theirs, you think they'd appreciate a good tailor."
Meeting in a shadow cave is the DS9 equivalent of meeting in a dark parking garage.
"You blew up your own shop, Gark! Well...I don't think I've ever seen that particular look on your face. Is that surprise?"
For fans of Mr. Garak (me included), this episode (and its second half) is a real treat. There are a number of particularly great exchanges between him and Odo that are among some of the finest dialogue in the series.
Any time you're in a small craft and a Romulan warbird de-cloaks right above you, you're having a bad day.
Hey kids, it's Enabran Tain!
The plan between the Romulan Tal Shiar and the Cardassian Obsidian Order that Tain references includes a "fleet of ships in the Orias system". This is the same fleet that we glimpsed when Thomas Riker took the Defiant deep into Cardassian territory in the episode "Defiant".

The story arc for this scheme (which includes the aforementioned "Defiant", this episode and the one to follow it), which involves the intelligence agencies of the Romulan Star Empire and Cardassian Union without the knowledge of their respective governments and could initiate an interstellar war with the Dominion, is one of the more exciting plots we see on the show right up until the actual Dominion War breaks out.
"So...do you want to go back to your shop and hem pants, or shall we pick up where we left off?"

"Garak, this is the man who put you into exile. This is the man who, just two days ago, tried to have you killed."

"Yes, he is. But it doesn't matter. I'm back."

"The Die Is Cast"

Chief O'Brien is a fantastic guy, but lunch with him just isn't the same as lunch with Garak.
"My mother told me 'If you try to combine talking and eating, you'll end up doing neither very well'."
This episode marks the second appearance of the Cardassian Keldon-class starship, an uprated version of the much more numerous Galor class.
"Oh, there are a number of people I intended to 'look up' when we get back. For instance, do you remember a gul named Dukat?"

"Dukat? Oh yes, the business with the arms merchant. I take it you'd like to have him eliminated?"

"The thought had crossed my mind."
Colonel Lovok, the Tal Shiar commander of the Romulan half of the joint Romulan-Cardassian fleet, is played by Leland Orser. This isn't his first trip to DS9; he previously played Gai in the episode "Sanctuary". He'll also go on to have guest roles on VOY and ENT.

But as I mentioned during the commentary for "Sanctuary", I know him best as this dude from Alien: Resurrection.
Hey kids, it's Lt. Cmdr. Eddington!
In the long tradition of our hero captains ignoring orders and pretending they didn't hear them, this one is one of my favorites: "Listen, I know they said to stay at the station in case the Jem'Hadar strike back after the Cardassians and the Romulans wipe out the Founders' homeworld...but let's go charging into the wormhole and find Odo. What? They're saying 'don't go'? That's not what I'm hearing. Sounds pretty garbled to me."

:D
The device that the Obsidian Order has developed to prevent Changelings from modifying their molecular structure is put to very grim use in this episode (to torture Odo), but one wonders if the Federation Alliance ever developed anything similar. I can see it being useful as an area-denial weapon for ultra-secure installations and so forth--to prevent (or at least impede) infiltration by a Changeling.
Eww. Changelings are always a little gross, but they're really gross when they can't revert to their liquid form.
"So much for the Dominion...OPEN FIRE."
Yeah. How's that going to work out for you?
"Why are you doing this?"

"Because no Changeling has ever harmed another."

Womp womp. Fake Romulan, bro.
"After today, the only real threat to us in the Alpha Quadrant are the Klingons and the Federation. And I doubt that either of them will be a threat for much longer."

Well...that's ominous.
I do believe this is the first taste the Defiant gets of a scrap against the Jem'Hadar, taking out at least five enemy fighters at my count.
"Garak, I was thinking that you and I ought to have breakfast together sometime."

"Why Constable, I thought you didn't eat?"

"I don't."

"Explorers"

"So, uh...that last episode was pretty dark. What do we do this time?"

"Ben and Jake go on a family sailing vacation?"

"Sounds good to me."
This episode is the first appearance of Leeta, a Bajoran dabo girl at Quark's who will eventually become a major character (and a love interest for Rom, of all people). Leeta was played by the weapons-grade adorable Chase Masterson.

In this case, Dr. Bashir is doing what he does best (at least in the early seasons, before he got interesting): Hitting on the pretty lady. At least until Lt. Dax shows up and gets in the way.

I need to get this app for my iPad.
This episode marks an extremely important milestone for DS9: Cmdr. Sisko grows his goatee. He just needs the shaved head and the new grey uniform, and his transformation into the badass we will grow to know and love during the Dominion War will be complete.
Build a Bajoran lightship? Yeah, that seems like a pretty logical thing to do in the wake of a massive battle in the Gamma Quadrant and the constant fear of a Dominion invasion hanging over your head.
Oh, Kira. Don't tell O'Brien that he sounds just like a Cardassian.
If there were a Cardassian Ministry for the Refutation of Bajoran Fairytales, Gul Dukat would be the worst guy to run it. You know, given all the business later with the Pah Wraiths and whatnot.
The "b plot" for this episode, Dr. Bashir confronting his old medical school rival, is...well, uninteresting.

It does, however, give us the only scene in any Star Trek series or movie with which I can personally identify.
"Let's take a break and set up the hammock. Hammock time!"

"Yo!"

Okay, writers. Fess up. Who was responsible for that?
Oh, tachyons. Is there anything you can't do?
We won't meet her until the next episode ("Family Business"), but this episode is the first reference to the freighter captain who will eventually marry Sisko: Kasidy Yates.
They made Dukat read an official statement celebrating the ingenuity of the ancient Bajoran astronauts, and set off fireworks for the? That had to smart his pride a little bit.