ALL THE STAR TREK

Sunday, September 28, 2014

DS9 S03E17 & S03E18

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, September 28th)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E17 - "Visionary"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E18 - "Distant Voices"

"Visionary"

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this probably isn't the first time that Chief O'Brien has woken up on the floor of Ops with a "mild" case of radiation poisoning from a blown plasma conduit.
Drunk Klingons are the best Klingons. They're also the only Klingons.
Romulans and Klingons on the station at the same time? No way that goes badly.
"We are not interested in your accommodations, Commander. We are here for your intelligence briefing, nothing else."

So...Ruwon seems like a happy-go-lucky kinda Romulan.
"You do have one problem. If all you can hallucinate about is Quark's maintenance problems, you have a sadly deficient fantasy life."
Ruwon states in this episode that "...the Dominion represents the greatest threat to the Alpha Quadrant in centuries", despite the fact that his home--the Romulan Star Empire--isn't actually located in the Alpha Quadrant. In fact, of the major powers that eventually end up in the Federation Alliance during the Dominion War, only the Federation itself is located within the Alpha Quadrant (and even it spills over into the Beta Quadrant, where the Romulan and Klingon territories are located).

During the course of this show and others, "the Alpha Quadrant" became convenient short-hand to represent the parts of the Milky Way Galaxy that were occupied by familiar peoples...but in reality, those peoples are spread pretty evenly across both the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

(map courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)

The Federation, the Cardassian Union, the Breen Confederacy and the Ferengi Alliance are among the major powers located wholly or mostly within the Alpha Quadrant (and Bajor and the Bajoran Wormhole are also located within the Alpha Quadrant).

The two major antagonist powers in Star Trek--the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire--are both located entirely within the Beta Quadrant. And of course the Borg dominate the Delta Quadrant (spilling into the Beta Quadrant) and the Dominion is the major power in the Gamma Quadrant.

First Edit: After reviewing some material, I'm reminded that exactly which planets/governments are located where is a matter of some uncertainty in the Star Trek universe. Almost all apocryphal sources (such as many novels and the Star Trek Online computer game) place the Klingon and Romulan empires entirely within the Beta Quadrant. But the on-screen evidence is mixed, and there are some references to both Romulus and Qo'noS being in the Alpha Quadrant. And even if the homeworlds themselves--and even all or most of their territories--are located within the Beta Quadrant, it could probably be said that the Klingons and Romulans could be included in any list of "Alpha Quadrant powers" due to the political and military influence they exert and their relationships with major Alpha Quadrant governments like the Federation and Cardassia.
It may seem odd to people watching this show in 1990s America, where we're supposed to be offended that someone would assume that all members of a race were complicit in actions of any large group of people of that same race.

So the Romulan delegation's assumption that Odo would be able to tell them anything about the Founders' plans because he happens to be a Changeling is a little off-putting.

However, it's important to remember that Romulan society is not like human society. They seem to be fairly homogenous, and are probably quite accustomed to drawing broad assumptions about entire groups of people based on superficial characteristics like race.

That doesn't make it okay, but it makes it easier to understand.
MILES O'BRIEN CAN SEE THE FUTURE.
"And Major, when you're with the Romulans...try to be diplomatic."

"I'm always diplomatic."

Queue next scene, wherein Kira is yelling at the Romulans.
What's better than one O'Brien in a fight? Two O'Briens in a fight!
OH HAI I MOVED THE ROMULANS TO THE QUARTERS WERE O'BRIEN GOT LASER-ZAPPED.
"You think Quark had something to do with this?"

"I always investigate Quark."
People who see the future pretty much always see the ship or space station where everybody lives and stuff blown up. Every time.
"We might be able to calibrate the decay constant of the isotope we inject you with to match the frequency of the singularity. And with a few minor adjustments, we can control how far you jump into the future."

Or, you know, some other magical bullsh*t. We'll figure it out.
"Julian, there's a message in my quarters for Keiko if, uh..."

"...it pretty much just says 'I never loved you and you ruined my life. Regards, Miles.'"
{past O'Brien looks at future O'Brien}

"But if you feel bad and you're the past me, shouldn't I feel bad too?"

{in unison}

"I HATE TEMPORAL MECHANICS."
Sneaky Romulans and their sneaky singularity-driven Warbirds.
Everybody wants to collapse the damned wormhole. EVERYBODY.
"Quark? 'Dabo'."

"Distant Voices"

"I thought you liked mystery stories?"

"I do...human mystery stories. The problem with Cardassian 'enigma tales' is that they all end the same way: The suspect is always guilty."
Letheans have taser hands? That's kind of a bummer.
We learn in this episode that Cardassian hearing is not as keen as human hearing.
We also learn that Deep Space 9 is creepy as hell at night.
They really love to do a "Hey guys, we're in someone's mind for this whole episode!" episodes every once in a while. It's a little dull, to be frank.
He's fallen down, and he can't get up.
I wonder whose idea it was to make Garak sing "Happy Birthday"?
They did do pretty good old-guy makeup on Alexander Siddig for this episode, and he played it up pretty well. I'll give them that.
"Remember, Doctor. I am inside your head. I know all about you."

"You know, except for that little secret about you being genetically engineered. Apparently I didn't pick that one up."
And apparently the great sorrow of Dr. Bashir's life is being a doctor instead of playing tennis.
"And what I find interesting is how your mind ended up casting me in the role of the villain."

"Oh...I wouldn't read too much into that, Garak."

"How can I not? To think, after all this time, all of our lunches together...you still don't trust me. There's hope for you yet, Doctor."

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Mini-Reivew: USS VOYAGER & KLINGON BATTLECRUISER models by Eaglemoss

Mini-Review

USS VOYAGER & KLINGON K'T'INGA-CLASS BATTLECRUISER

(The USS Voyager and Klingon K't'inga-class battlecuiser in their packaging and with their collectible magazines)

I had a little pinkish-orange slip in my mailbox yesterday, informing me that the USPS office nearest to me was holding a package for me. That meant one thing, and one thing only (because I usually have things shipped via UPS to my parents' house): Time for another dual installment of my subscription to Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection!

To recap...this is a series of models featuring many of the most iconic ships from our beloved sci-fi franchise, distributed by the UK collectibles company Eaglemoss. They were introduced as a subscription model, in which each installment includes a "die cast" (i.e. some die cast metal but also a good chunk of plastic, in most cases) model and a high-gloss, collectible magazine. They've been out in Europe for a while and the folks who signed up for the subscription early on are much further along in the series. But I wanted to do things old-school, so I opted for the subscription too instead of picking them up one-by-one via eBay, etc.

In my case, this gets me a monthly shipment of two "issues" (a model and magazine). As always, I'm not reviewing the magazines. They're pretty, but none of the information or graphics in them is anything you can't see in a million other places.

My latest issues (bringing my total to seven) are the eponymous USS Voyager (ST:VOY) and the distinctive K't'inga-class battlecruiser (ST:TMP).

My previous reviews include:

As before, there's a user on YouTube named "IrishTrekkie" who does great video reviews for all of these models. He includes a brief overview of the magazine and shows the models from many more angles than I can obviously do with a handful of still photographs and a written description.

"IrishTrekkie" review of issue 6 (USS Voyager)
"IrishTrekkie" review of issue 7 (Klingon K't'inga-class Battlecruiser)

And now, on with the ~~body count~~ review!

USS Voyager (NCC-74656)

The sixth issue of this subscription is the much-maligned (by me) "upside-down spoon" ship: The Interepid-class USS Voyager (NCC-74656) from the television series Star Trek: Voyager.

As with my review of the Enterprise (NX-01) model (see link above), I find that a model from a series about which I wasn't all that crazy is one of the better models in the series. I suspect this has mostly to do with both ships being relatively small "in real life" (225m for the NX class, 344m for the Intrepid class) and fairly compact, and also with these models containing a larger percentage of die cast than many of the others. The other ship whose model I've received that fits those criteria is the Klingon Bird-of-Prey, and it was also an absolutely phenomenal model.

The design of the Intrepid class itself isn't bad. I like the primary hull (aka the "saucer section") and the compactness of the secondary hull (its direct connection to the primary hull without any kind of neck foreshadows the Sovereign class). It's actually a pretty solid overall design...right up until they decided to cripple it with those teeny little warp nacelles.

There was a conceptual design produced during pre-production for VOY that looked similar, but included a much more substantial aft section with longer nacelles. I've posted it before, but to refresh your memory here it is.

Note: This is not the model I'm reviewing. Although they do have a sketch of this design in the magazine that came with the real model.

See how much insanely, crazily better that would have been? :P

Anyway, my exceptions to the final design notwithstanding...this is a pretty good model. Although the detail on the ventral side could be better, it's not bad. It's not as good as we saw on NX-01, but it's easily equal to or better than detailing on any of the other models in the series. It's also worth noting that the filming model of Voyager (and its CGI successors) didn't include a lot of "aztec" pattern on the hull. So I can't really fault the modelers for not including it (even though I think it makes pretty much everything look better).

Oh, and sorry...just like the Bird-of-Prey, the moving parts of the (in this case its variable geometry nacelle pylons) do not move. It's less of a bummer than with the BoP though, for obvious reasons.

Somewhat curiously, although the detail isn't bad on dorsal of the ship (for a model of this size, at least), it's better on the ventral. This is a trend I've seen in some of the other models (like NX-01 and the Enterprise-D, although it's more pronounced on the Enterprise-D and Voyager than it is on the NX-01 model), and I think it has to do with it being easier to get details more sharply molded in plastic than cast in metal (in each of the referenced models, the topside of the primary hull is die cast and the underside is plastic).

Still though, even on the metal sections the detail's not bad. I'd be picking nits to complain, really. Overall it's a good addition to the series. And speaking of die cast versus plastic...

So to summarize, as I said above--very solid model overall, even if it represents the hero ship of my least-favorite Trek series that was not ENT ;)

Holding the model in your hand does really accentuate--for me at least--how imbalanced the design is with those little vestigial nacelles. But that's not Eaglemoss' fault, obviously.

If you're buying these individually, this definitely gets a "BUY" vote from me.

Klingon K't'inga-class Battle Cruiser

The seventh issue is one of my favorite starship designs in all of Star Trek (not quite enough to make my top five, although it does get an honorable mention): The iconic Klingon K't'inga-class battlecruiser.

First introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the design was clearly intended to be an updated version of the equally-iconic D-7 class from TOS (a newly-detailed Klingon ship to go with the newly-detailed refit Enterprise). It retains the overall shape of its predecessor, but has a more slender neck and obviously much more detail.

The design would go on to be used in one more original-cast film (when it got a new paint job and served as Kronos One, the Klingon Chancellor's flagship). It would appear in, I believe, every other Trek series produced afterward. It was seen in very large numbers (with a greenish paint scheme replacing its TMP-era grey colors) as part of the Klingon fleet during the Dominion War on DS9.

This model is meant to represent the ship's initial appearance in TMP, so it has the gunmetal grey paint scheme and lacks Klingon Defense Force insignia.

Sadly, the model of this fantastic ship is almost exactly as surprisingly disappointing as the model of Voyager was surprisingly good. For starters, my particular model's warp nacelles are entirely mis-aligned. If you view the ship from a dorsal or ventral view, they splay outward at the back. If you view the ship in profile, the nacelles are cocked at an odd angle to the main hull.

In viewing other examples of this model online (including the one from IrishTrekkie's review on YouTube), it appears that the angle mis-alignment rom the top-down view is consistent and just a flawed part of the model's designed. I personally think this is probably due to one of the model designers paying a little too much attention to this particular screenshot from the scene of the three battlecruisers (led by IKS Amar) facing off against the V'ger cloud in TMP. The angle does make it look like the nacelles angle out a bit front-to-back when viewed from the dorsal or ventral angles.

Unfortunately, that's just a trick of the camera angle. The actual studio model has nacelles that are perfectly parallel to the main hull, as seen here in this photograph from the Christie's auction in 2006 (although this model has been repainted for its scenes on DS9, it's the same filming model from TMP).

So, that's a bummer. But it does seem to be consistent across every example of the model that I've seen, and just a flaw in the design of the model. And I can kind of see how the mistake happened, given that their primary source material appears to have been the sequences from the beginning of TMP.

The skewed nacelle angle in the profile view, however, appears to be a defect in my particular model. Other examples I've seen online don't display this issue, so if this is a deal-breaker for you then know that you may or may not receive a model with this problem. I have no idea how prominent it is, but it doesn't appear to be a flaw with the design of the actual model, as with the top-down nacelle angle issue. I don't know if it will be worth contacting Eaglemoss about it to see if I can get a replacement or not. If this were a ship I didn't care much about I might try, but I'm awfully fond of the K't'inga to have its gorgeous aesthetic marred.

The angle issues aren't the model's only problems. It has a disappointingly large amount of plastic construction, including the fragile neck (I was seriously afraid I would break it taking it out of the box). I was hoping that it would follow the precedent set by the Bird-of-Prey, for which much of the command section and neck and the entirety of the top half of the main hull and "wings" was die cast.

As you can see, the top half of the main hull and "wings" is die cast, but that's about it. Even the shuttle bay / impulse drive / aft weapons pod is plastic :(

The angle issues with the nacelles and the lack of actual metal in the model is especially disappointing considering that they did beautifully with the paint and detail.

So that's one for two on the Klingon ships so far, with the Bird-of-Prey being fantastic and the K't'inga being kind of a dud. The Vor'cha is also in this series (I don't recall if the Negh'Var is or not), and the videos I've seen give me hope that it will be an improvement over this issue.

And that's issues six and seven! Kind of a mixed bag, sadly. With seven models under my belt, I did do a video overview of my feelings about the series to date.

And as always, you can hit up my webhost to see the full-res (whatever the default resolution for the main camera iPhone 5S is..."a helluva a lot" is the technical term, I think):

Full-Res Photos: USS Voyager
Full-Res Photos: Klingon K't'inga-class

The next two issues should be the Excelsior and the Defiant, both very cool ships in their own right--and the Excelsior class is my favorite Trek design of all time. So I'm definitely looking forward to those. If the Excelsior is a bummer like the K't'inga, I will cry.

Finally, a couple of shots of my collection to date!

Saturday, September 20, 2014

DS9 S03E15 & S03E16

In this installment:
(viewed Saturday, September 20th)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E15 - "Destiny"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E16 - "Prophet Motive"

"Destiny"

The 34th Rule of Acquisition: "War is good for business."
The 35th Rule of Acquisition: "Peace is good for business."
"There'll be no live vole fights on the Promenade, Quark."
Another day, another crazy Bajoran vedek bearing a "warning from the Prophets".
Constable Odo states the obvious: Cmdr. Sisko is suuuuuper uncomfortable with the fact that (most) Bajorans consider him to the be Emissary of the Prophets.
Three Cardassian scientists come to the station. What are the odds that one of them is working for the Obsidian Order? Pretty much 100%.
Although Dejar seems to like it just fine, Ulani and Gilora apparently don't care for Cardassian cuisine.
Apparently Starfleet "code" requires that all systems aboard a space station (and presumably a starship) include a primary, a back-up and a secondary back-up.
One person's rogue comet is another person's "Sword of Stars".
"Do you really believe that I'm the Emissary?"

"I guess I always have. I never wanted to admit it to myself. It's hard to work for someone who's a religious icon."

"I hope I don't offend your beliefs, but I don't see myself as an icon--religious or otherwise. I'm a Starfleet officer."
It's cool, O'Brien. She doesn't think you're a crappy engineer because your a human. She thinks you're a crappy engineer because you're a dude.
The "wormhole relay station" model is a reuse of (most) of the miniature used for the Amargosa Observatory from Star Trek: Generations.

(images from Ex Astris Scientia & Memory-Alpha)
"Something's wrong. I'm picking up a neutrino surge from the Wormhole."

That's never good.
"You have very steady hands."

"They...uh, get the job done I guess."

Apparently being a hyper-competent engineer and a bit of a jerk is a serious turn-on for (some) Cardassian women. Seems like O'Brien married into the wrong race :P
"You're married?!?"

"Yes, happily!"

"Happily?" That's the word you're going with? Ehhh...
Yeah, you totally didn't screw up your modifications dude. One of the Cardassians is...an Obsidian Order operative.

Raise your hand if you're surprised.

No one? I didn't think so.
"A shuttlepod could maneuver between them, and its warp drive should be able to generate a large enough subspace field."

Another scrap of on-screen evidence that even the smallest shuttlecraft (and the Defiant's tiny Type 18 shuttlepods are certainly among the smallest in service) are warp-capable, despite other on-screen evidence to the contrary.
And the morale of our story? Even if you're the sort to be influenced by prophecy, be very careful. Because you're totally, totally going to misinterpret them.
The whole storyline with O'Brien and Gilora is insignificant, but somewhat interesting given the Chief's established prejudice against Cardassians. It would appear that, as the character grew and developed, the writers allowed that aspect of his personality to recede a bit.

"Prophet Motive"

Oo-mox: Never not-creepy.
Self-sealing stem bolts: Nobody will ever know what they do. Aside from sealing themselves, that is.
"What does Zek what with me?"

"It looks like he's moving in with you, brother."
Dr. Bashir finds out that he's nominated for a Carrington Award, which is a sort of lifetime achievement award in the field of medicine, handed out by the Federation Medical Council.
Ah, this is the episode where Zek goes bonkers and re-writes the Rules of Acquisition.

Some of Zek's new/altered rules, published in The Rules Of Acquisition: Revised for the Modern Ferengi...

"If they want their money back, give it to them."
"Greed is dead."
"Never place profit before friendship."
"Latinum tarnishes, but family is forever."
"Money can never replace dignity."
"A good dead is its own reward."

"IF...NEVER...KEEP...PROFIT...A...GOOD...SMILE...HONESTY."
"Actually, I've lost my taste for beetle snuff. It may be fun for you and me, but it's no fun for the beetles!"
"Rom, what's all this?"

"You're looking at the sector headquarters for the Ferengi Benevolent Association."
Oh, goodie. An orb. And the Prophets. Yawn.
The entire sub-plot with Dr. Bashir and the Carrington Award is a fairly amusing distraction, but when the main plot of the episode (Zek's Excellent Adventure) is also somewhat amusing...the whole episode comes off a little goofy. It's not a bad episode, but it lacks weight.
That being said, it's pretty funny when they stuff the Nagus in a sack and he's still humming and laughing :)
Oh, I guess there is one bit of canon knowledge picked up here: At some point in the distant past, the Ferengi were not as aggressively capitalistic as they are now.
And no Carrington Award for you this year, Julian :P
"You embezzled money...from the Nagus?"

"Surprise!"

"Father would be proud..."

DS9 S03E13 & S03E14

In this installment:
(viewed Friday & Saturday, September 19-20)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E13 - "Life Support"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E14 - "Heart Of Stone"

"Life Support"

Now that Jake's dated a dabo girl, his confidence is through the roof. An old friend shows up at the station? KLINGON RESTAURANT DATE.
Constable Odo, Chief O'Brien, two Bajoran deputies and a Starfleet security guy come sprinting out of the security office, yelling at everyone to get out of the way?

That's probably not good.
An accident aboard a Bajoran transport and Kai Winn escapes pretty much unscathed but Vedek Bareil is mortally wounded? Not terrifically interested in karmic justice, these Prophets of theirs :P

That being said, I never cared for Bareil. His measured speaking tone somehow managed to be both boring and irritating at the same time. Plus, if he never kicks the bucket then Major Kira never gets a chance to hook up with Odo.

Sorry pal, but it had to be done for the narrative ;)
OR HE'S TOTALLY NOT ALL THE WAY DEAD YET.
Jake and Nog go on a double-date? Cue sitcom laugh track.
Legate Turrel: Another Cardassian officer that we'll never see again.
"I can't do this without Bareil. If he dies, then peace with Cardassia dies with him."

Okay, listen: We all know that you're an absolutely crap leader. But shouldn't you think you're good at doing leader stuff?
Teaching a young Ferengi boy all of that awful cultural sexism and then letting him date non-Ferengi girls just seems kind of mean. Funny, but mean.
Oh, holy cow. This just hit me...

Jake's friend and date on his disastrous outing with Nog, Leanne, is played by Lark Voorhies.

Lark Voorhies played Lisa Turtle, the object of Samuel "Screech" Powers' adorable crush and/or creepy obsessive behavior on the show that most of our little sisters really, really liked in the 1990s...Saved By The Bell.

That's it, folks. I've found the Star Trek-to-Saved By The Bell connection. Game over.
One of the things I liked about Dr. Bashir from the very beginning (and it only gets more pronounced as the character matures) is how willing he is to speak bluntly with people, regardless of their position.

Spiritual leader of the Bajoran people? He gives zero craps.
Gah. HOW MUCH DO WE HATE KAI WINN?!?
"...and Doctor? I won't forget what you said here."

"Neither will I."
Ugh. I didn't like the casual tolerance of Ferengi sexism when I watched these episodes for the first time as a young person, and now that I've grown into a bit of a feminist in my old age I like it even less. It's a fictional show, and there are other things about the Ferengi that I like...but how other characters tolerate that aspect of their culture (at least right up until late in the series, when Quark's mother and other Ferengi women start openly challenging the status quo) bothers me.
"Odo, I'd like you to do me a favor. I'd like to be arrested."

I like that Odo actually helps Jake with his little ruse to re-befriend Nog. It's one of the hundred little things they do with his character that make him seem like less of a robot and more of a real personality :)
"Bareil..."

"Yes, Major?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Awake. Everything's...different."

Yeah, we totally replaced most of your brain. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.
"In traditional Ferengi homes, the females soften the food with their teeth before they give it to the males."
I forgot until this episode that the Cardassian Union and the Bajoran Provisional Government actually sign a formal peace treaty in between the end of the Occupation and the outbreak of the Dominion War. It was totally there, just really, really short-lived.
Oh, okay. NOW HE'S DEAD, GUYS.

"Heart Of Stone"

Early in this episode, when Major Kira and Constable Odo receive a distress call from a Lissepian freighter under attack by a Maquis interceptor, Odo describes the interceptor as a "modified Peregrine-class courier". This is the only time that name is used, and it connects in Trek canon the type of ship most frequently used by the Maquis to the Federation attack fighter that we'll see in heavy use during the Dominion War.

(image from Ex Astris Scientia)
Haha! Nog choosing to purchase the apprenticeship required to complete the Ferengi Attainment Ceremony, and deciding that he wants to be the first Ferengi in Starfleet?

Not only is he kind of an adorable little troll when he's hatching a scheme, but this turns out--as we all know--to be a major turning point for his character. This seemed a little ludicrous when we first saw this episode, but it didn't seem so ludicrous when he was a Starfleet officer and a combat veteran with a prosthetic leg.
We learn in this episode that persons who are not citizens of the Federation must obtain a letter of recommendation from a command-level officer before they're permitted to take the entrance exam for Starfleet Academy.
"So, Kira's boyfriend died in the last episode. And we're not quite ready to jump off with the Dominion yet. What do you think we want to do this episode?"

"Kira gets her foot stuck in a crystalline landmine?"

"Yeah, that works."
"Of course it's your fault. Everything that goes wrong here is your fault. It says so in your contract."
Oh boy, it's a good thing they packed their covariant oscillator aboard the Mekong.
"He sings?"

"He says it's necessary to establish a proper paddling pattern."

"This gets better and better. What does he sing?"

"Ancient human sea shanties, for the most part. He's particularly fond of one called 'Louie Louie'."
You know, I don't buy into the old-fashioned notion that one person has to "earn" the love of another person...but literally shielding someone with your awesome, shape-shifting body is pretty good.
This is the episode in which Odo's name is an abbreviation of the Cardassian word odo'ital, which means "nothing".
"You have to get out of here."

"Don't you understand? I can't!"

"You have to. Odo, please."

"No. I won't leave you."

"Why?"

"Because! Because...I'm in love with you. So...now you know."

"Odo...I'm in love with you, too."

Well, that just got weird. Nice going, you two.
The 18th Rule of Acquisition: "A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all."
Nog's recognition of how Rom's lack of opportunities led to him living an empty life chasing profit instead of being able to live a fulfilling life as--for example--an engineer is one of the pivotal moments when the writers started to flesh the Ferengi racial personality out significantly. Nog started the series as a little twerp and a buddy for Jake, and he turns into a major developmental instrument for an entire fictional species.
Whoah. Fake Kira, bro.
Whoah. Female Changling, bro.
"No Changeling has ever harmed another."

"There's always a first time."

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

DS9 S03E10 & S03E11-12

In this installment:
(viewed Wednesday, September 3rd)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E10 - "Fascination"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, S03E11-12 - "Past Tense" (Parts 1 & 2)

"Fascination"

Warning: This episode features both a Bajoran religious festival and Lwaxana Troi. Prepare to be annoyed.
I guess Cmdr. Sisko's concerns about Jake dating a 20-year-old dabo girl kind of sorted themselves out.
...and we get a short interruption in our lovely vacation from Keiko and the rug-rat. This episode gets better and better :-\
"See you at the festival later?"

"Totally, I can't wait to see you. Just look for me, I'll be with my boyfriend."

:womp:
"Oh, you poor dear. I should never have given you all that candy!"
"I usually make it a point to drop by Quark's three or four times a day at random, just to let him know I'm thinking about him."

And people say that Odo doesn't have a sense of humor :)
There are few thing sillier than the Bajoran religion. The Bajoran language is one of them.
"You're telling me you're going to be on Bajor for another seven months?"

THAT'S FANTASTIC NEWS!
"You humans. You let your women go out in public, hold jobs, wearing clothing...and you wonder why your marriages fall apart."

Clearly Quark doesn't know all humans :P
Renewal scrolls or not, all of these open flames all over the Promenade can't be safe.
So, let's get this straight:

Jake is horny for Kira
Bareil is horny for Jadzia
Jadzia is horny for Sisko
Kira and Bashir are horny for each other
Quark is horny for Keiko
the O'briens hate each other

Pretty much all of the "comedy" in this episode is sexual harassment.
Okay, Sisko's reaction when Bareil punches him (basically as though it's only a minor annoyance) is pretty funny. Or when Dax throws in, too. That's pretty good.

Pro-tip, bathrobe-and-earring guy: If you're going to punch someone, make sure it's not a decorated combat veteran twice your size.

Or, for that matter, a decorated combat veteran with seven lifetimes of experience.
"Zanthi fever? That only effects older Betazoids."

"Past Tense (Part 1 & Part 2)"

We find out in this episode that Cmdr. Sisko's sister lives in Portland.
All of the senior staff has to beam down to Earth for an official Starfleet soiree, but neither of our two non-human crew members nor the genius engineer are going along? Sounds like a perfect opportunity for some hinky time-travel!
The 111th Rule of Acquisition: "Treat people in your debt like family--exploit them."
The 217th Rule of Acquisition: "You can't free a fish from water."
How is it that Sisko and Bashir beam down, get scrambled and they wind up on 21st Century Earth...but their comm badges and rank pips don't seem to make the trip with them? Not that they would do them much good (except maybe as barter; if I recall correctly, the comm badges contain some small amount of gold), but still...
Oh, Dax still has hers. I guess the others were stolen by street bums while they were passed out or something?
...and that thing I said earlier about the two non-human crew members conveniently staying behind? I totally forgot that Dax is not, in fact, a human being. Although with her hair down, she's arguably less conspicuous than either Kira or Odo.

(Edit: Or she could just tell people they're tattoos. Duh.)
Interface terminal? Stationary in his office? THAT'S ADORABLE.
So apparently "chroniton particles" are a byproduct of cloaking technology. It was nice of the Romulans to warn them about that. Then again, O'Brien says that they got stuck in the Defiant's "ablative armor matrix"; maybe Romulan ships have no such "matrix", so it's never been a problem for them.
Cmdr. Sisko explains to Dr. Bashir that by the 2020s, every major city in the United States had a "Sanctuary District": A ghetto or slum where the poor were isolated from the rest of the population. He describes it as one of the "ugly mistakes" of Earth's 21st Century history.
At least Dax had the good fortune to run into Chris Brynner, who is basically a dashing, handsome version of Bill Gates (which is not to suggest that Mr. Gates is neither dashing nor handsome)...and also seems to be a bit smitten with our lieutenant.
Computer interfaces in Star Trek--even those intended to be from the 23rd or 24th Centuries--often look quite dated to us, given how much farther computer technology has come between the 1990s and the 2010s (much farther than even most sci-fi authors predicated).

This is never more apparent than when one of the series does a time-travel episode to Earth's past (our near-future). The computers in the processing center of the Sanctuary District, for example, are laughably ancient-looking...even though the episode is supposed to take place approximately a decade from now.
In related news, holy crap, this episode is only set a decade from right now @_@
I super don't want to bring my politics (or anyone's politics) into this blog. But the description of the Bell Riots shocks Dr. Bashir and was clearly meant to shock audiences who saw this show in the 1990s.

As a resident of America in the 2010s, it seems completely possible to me given the state of our poor and the militarization of our police. Not likely perhaps (at least not on the "hundreds of civilians were killed" scale; maybe smaller), but absolutely possible.
"Causing people to suffer because you hate them? That's terrible. But causing people to suffer because you've forgotten how to care? That's really hard to understand."
It's cool. Chief O'Brien can totally figure out how to do some ad hoc time travel.
In the course of all of their not-interfering, Sisko and Bashir accidentally get the dude killed who's going to start the social movement that alters the course of human history?

And now the only subspace radio chatter O'Brien is picking is from some Romulans hanging out around Alpha Centauri?

Whoops.
"When you've accidentally caused the death of an important historic figure, it's very important that you take their place and perform the historic act(s) for which they're known."

I'm pretty sure that's lesson number one in Starfleet Academy's course on temporal ethics.
"Didn't you say that Bell died when the police stormed the building?"

"But I'm not Bell."

"Right, but we're the only ones who know that."
The O'Brien & Kira Time-Travel World Tour, Stop 1: The Roaring Twenties!
Detective Preston, the police officer who negotiates with B.C., Michael Webb and Sisko-as-Gabriel-Bell, is played by 1980s/1990s television staple Deborah Van Valkenburgh. I remember her best as playing one of the college-aged daughters in the 1980s sitcom Too Close For Comfort.
The O'Brien & Kira Time-Travel World Tour, Stop 2: 1960s Counterculture!
Hey kids, it's Clint Howard!
Detective Preston's "mobile phone". ROFL.
"What the hell. It's probably raining in Tasmania anyway."
"How could we have let this happen?"

"The question is: How can we stop it from happening again?"

Mini-Review: ENTERPRISE NX-01 & ROMULAN WARBIRD models by Eaglemoss

Mini-Review

ENTERPRISE NX-01 & ROMULAN WARBIRD

(Enterprise NX-01 and the Romulan Warbird from Eaglemoss)

This is the third installment of my reviews of models from the "Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection" line from UK collectibles house Eaglemoss. This review will cover the fourth and fifth installments in the series: The titular Enterprise (NX-01) from the series Star Trek: Enterprise, and the Romulan D'deridex-class warbird (featured in TNG/DS9/VOY).

My previous reviews included:

As before, I'm not going to cover the high-gloss "magazine" that came with each ship. They contain lots of cool pictures and background information on the design and filming of the models, etc.--but nothing that any Trekkie hasn't already read on Ex Astris Scientia or Memory-Alpha.

Also as before, there's an excellent gentleman on YouTube who goes by the name "IrishTrekkie" who has done really thorough video reviews for the models in this series. If you'd like video, a little more detail and coverage of the aforementioned magazines, he's your guy.

"IrishTrekkie" video review of issue 4 (Enterpise NX-01)
"IrishTrekkie" video review of issue 5 (Romulan Warbird)

But now for my own mini-reviews and photographs...

Enterprise (NX-01)

Issue 4 of the subscription is the experimental vessel that (retroactively) started it all: The NX-class starship Enterprise from the television series of the same name.

Now, it's no secret that I wasn't ENT's biggest fan. But those criticisms can wait until I re-watch the series as part of the "All the Star Trek" blog.

The ship itself--while somewhat derivative--is perfectly fine. It doesn't rank among my favorite starship designs by a long shot, but there's nothing inherently wrong with it.

So setting aside my dislike of the series on which it appeared and my lukewarm feelings about the ship's design itself, how's the model? That's what's important.

I'm happy--and somewhat surprised--to report that the model is absolutely fantastic.

It has a really incredible amount of detail. This shouldn't be a surprise, since they're working with a much smaller vessel so they don't have to cram as much detail into the same physical space on the model (unlike the larger Enterprise-D or Romulan Warbird models). But even with that advantage, they did a wonderful job with the details and overall paint job on this model. It's easily the best of the series so far (although the Klingon Bird-of-Prey is a close second).

(Enteprise ventral)

(Enterprise dorsal)

As you can see, every little detail--from the "aztec" pattern of the hull plating to the RCS thrusters, the docking ports, the shuttpod doors, etc.--it all looks fantastic. I was very, very impressed.

The overall quality of the model is also very, very high. Now again--it's a fairly simple model of a fairly simple ship. There aren't a lot of bits and pieces to be malformed or warped in the manufacture process. But still, even considering that they've done a really fine job.

A lot of that build quality can be attributed to the best thing about this model after its crazy-good level of detail: It's almost entirely die cast metal. Only the warp nacelles are made of plastic. Even the pylons from the hull to the nacelles are sturdy, fairly-thick die cast metal.

I really don't have any complaints about this model whatsoever. And believe me, you know I wouldn't be shy if there was something about it that I didn't like. It almost makes me wish they'd come up with a better television show for this ship :P

Romulan Warbird

Our fifth issue is another ship in my top five, the immense and menacing Romulan D'deridex-class warbird, first seen on TNG and also appearing heavily on DS9 and even in a couple of VOY episodes.

The D'deridex is a gigantic ship. To scale, it's more than twice as long as the Galaxy class (1353m vs. 642m, respectively)--although it was frequently filmed in TNG to appear to be roughly equivalent in size to the Enterprise-D. Obviously they had to work with that scale for the model...so although the model itself is actually ever-so-slightly smaller than the Enterprise-D model, they've had to cram in almost twice as much surface detail.

One would expect that this would render Eaglemoss' version of the warbird a flat, vaguely-painted mess. Happily, it doesn't do any such thing. While there's not a great deal of paneling and whatnot, there is a satisfyingly large number of yellow windows added to the model to give it a sense of scale.

(fore and aft views show a multitude of tiny, yellow windows)

As for the paint job itself, it's not bad. There's only so much you can do with a Klingon or Romulan ship; how many shades of green do you have? But this paint job is well done, and includes some of the "weathering" effects seen on the Klingon Bird-of-Prey. They give you the sense of a warship that's been in space a while, perhaps silently plying the space along the Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone for years with watchful and suspicious Romulan eyes on their sensors at all times--just waiting for a Starfleet attack :)

(ventral view shows some of the "weathering" in the paint job)

Fit and finish is pretty good on this model. Where the upper and lower hulls join at the nacelles, the seams are a bit large and obvious...but that's not really any big deal on a model this small (and this inexpensive).

(Seams where the nacelles join the null? Not great, but not a deal-breaker.)

Finally, we'll talk briefly about one of my most important criteria for one of these models: Plastic vs. die cast.

As you can see, the upper half of the hull and the forward-facing section of the command module are all metal. The underside of the hull and neck, the "inner" portion of the command module and the nacelles are all plastic. That seems like a lot of plastic, but it's about the 50/50 ration that I've come to expect. It's all pretty solid, and the plastic bits are well made--so while it's not as impressive as the Klingon Bird-of-Prey or the NX-01's much greater metal-to-plastic ratios, it's not bad.

Overall, the Romulan Warbird is a good model and a solid entry into the series. I would've loved for it to be bigger, but there's only so much you can do and still have it fit in the same packaging, shipping containers, etc. as the rest of the models in the series. If I had one real complaint, it'd be the stand. The ship mounts at the rear (see my first image up above) like the Bird-of-Prey. But where the BoP's connectors fit into a little slot at the back, the arm that holds the warbird just kind of hooks over the back of the bottom portion of the hull. It'll stay on there, but it's easily the most wobbly of the ships so far. I anticipate having to put it back on its stand pretty frequently. Still, if that's the biggest complaint you've got about a model then you're doing okay.

These models were both pretty great. It looks like Issues 6 and 7 are the USS Voyager and the Klingon
K't'inga class. I'm a big fan of one of these designs and not so much the other, but as I've learned with the Enterprise NX-01...sometimes a design I'm not all that excited about still makes for a really great model.

Lastly, here's a quick shot of the entire "family" so far:

P.S.: As always, the images in this blog post have been kept fairly small so it doesn't take forever to load. If you'd like to see relatively high-resolution photographs (including one or two that didn't get included in this review), I've got them all up on my webhost.

http://samtrek.lab1663.net/04_enterprise_nx-01/
http://samtrek.lab1663.net/05_romulan_warbird/