After last nights disappointment I was extremely happy to run into this episode. I am sure I have seen it before, but I didn't remember any of the details so it was super fun to see it play out. Having grown up with James Bond movies as one of my favorite forms of entertainment I found the clash between Bonshir and Garak to be especially entertaining. And yes, Garak did join the wrong intelligence service. I also feel like we are getting a lot closer to the reveal that Bashir is more than meets the eye.
The episode opens with pane of frosted glass being shattered by the body of a man with an eye patch. In a garishly decorated 60's apartment we see tuxedo clad Julian Bashir take a bottle of champagne from a beautiful woman in a red dress. Bashir sees the reflection of the man in the eye patch in the bottle and pops the cork hitting him in the head knocking him out. Just as he is about to enjoy the champagne with his companion Garak walks in also in tuxedo (it bothered me a bit that he claims to not have known what the program was so how did he know how to dress, but he is Garak, maybe he saw how Julian went in to the holosuite one day and went with it). He explains that he has wondered what this new program that Bashir was so interested in was and after some convincing Bashir lets him stay. The woman in the red dress leaves as Bashir explains to a somewhat horrified Bashir that this is a program about being a spy.
Eddington is at Ops preparing for the arrival of Sisko, Dax, Kira, Worf and O'Brien. Just before they arrive their warp core overloads and destroys the shuttle. Their patterns get into the buffer but can't materialize. Eddington scrambles to save them before the patterns degrade and wipes any and all station computers to make room. The lights go out around the station and the hunt is on to figure out where the patterns were stored. But we find out first as Bashir's bar transforms into a bed with a silk dress clad Kira, but she is only Kira in appearance, she is actually Colonel Anastasia Komananov of the KGB. They are to investigate a series of artificial earthquakes together and track down a kidnapped scientist. When Bashir sees the file he sees that the scientist is Dax. They talk to Eddington at Ops and learn that he physical patterns of the missing crew are being stored in the holosuite and if they are killed there or the holosuite is disrupted in any way the actual person will be lost.
They make there way to a club where Julian talks his way into a card game with the bad guys lead henchman, Worf. He wins what he needs to get to Noah, the main baddy and Worf knocks them out with a poisoned cigar. Bashir, Garak and Kira/Ana awaken in Noah's mansion on Mount Everest. Noah explains his plan to destroy the entire surface of the earth other than Mount Everest with lasers hidden around the globe. The eye patch wearing Falcon (who I forgot to mention earlier is now O'Brien) shows up with a gun and ties Bashir and Garak to one of the lasers. Bashir flirts with Dax/Dr. Honey Bare and she gives him the handcuff key he needs to escape. He and Garak rush into the mansion but are stopped at gunpoint. Eddington lets Bashir know they are almost ready to get them out of there so Bashir destroys the planet to stall for time and just before he is about to be shot all the crew are beamed to the Defiant safely.
Review: A super fun episode with lots of action and some great humor. Garak and Julian are great together as usual and letting the rest of the cast play different roles is great when the writing is this good.
8 out of 10
Monday, February 29, 2016
Sunday, February 28, 2016
DS9: The Sword of Kahless
I suppose it is too much to ask for a show to have no bad episodes. This episode is at least 50% Klingons arguing in poorly lit caves and in the end they decide for some reason to beam the object of their affections into space. They seem somehow horrified that this sword could turn Klingons against each other which seems to show very little understanding of how Klingon politics works. Even Kahless himself spent most of his time fighting other Klingons, why should his sword lead to an era of anything different?
The episode begins with Kor telling the story of a battle he fought in with Kang and Koloth at Quarks. After he finishes Dax introduces him to Worf who is a bit star struck, but very excited at the prospect of joining him on the search for the sword of Kahless. That night Kor gets his mind read by a Lethean but we don't see anything else about this until the most obvious moment. Sisko agrees to let the three of them take a runabout to find it and they set off. They arrive at the planet where the Vulcan's found signs of it and Kor tells them it is behind a forcefield which upsets them for about 10 seconds since he didn't mention it earlier. But of course they easily defeat it but find the archive behind it ransacked (by who they don't seem to care about). Dax discovers another forcefield behind a holographic projection and manages to get through and they find the sword of Kahless. After some excited picking up and holding of the sword they leave but are confronted by Toral, some soldiers and the Lethean. And despite the soldiers holding disruptors they are totally ineffective and are easily defeated in hand to hand combat.
They escape and seal Toral and company behind the first forcefield but because it would be too short otherwise their communications are blocked so they can't beam up. Worf and Kor spend the next 20 minutes or so of the episode in poorly lit caves arguing about which of them should get to decide what happens to the sword but they both eventually let Dax have it. They find Toral again and kill his soldiers and Lethean and then he apparently lets them use their comms again and they get back to the runabout. And for some reason the best solution is to just beam the thing into space and let some other Klingon discover it later which is dumb, won't Toral just find it?
Review: An episode without much going on and which a dumb ending. Far from DS9 at its best, possibly the worst episode of the series so far.
3 out of 10
The episode begins with Kor telling the story of a battle he fought in with Kang and Koloth at Quarks. After he finishes Dax introduces him to Worf who is a bit star struck, but very excited at the prospect of joining him on the search for the sword of Kahless. That night Kor gets his mind read by a Lethean but we don't see anything else about this until the most obvious moment. Sisko agrees to let the three of them take a runabout to find it and they set off. They arrive at the planet where the Vulcan's found signs of it and Kor tells them it is behind a forcefield which upsets them for about 10 seconds since he didn't mention it earlier. But of course they easily defeat it but find the archive behind it ransacked (by who they don't seem to care about). Dax discovers another forcefield behind a holographic projection and manages to get through and they find the sword of Kahless. After some excited picking up and holding of the sword they leave but are confronted by Toral, some soldiers and the Lethean. And despite the soldiers holding disruptors they are totally ineffective and are easily defeated in hand to hand combat.
They escape and seal Toral and company behind the first forcefield but because it would be too short otherwise their communications are blocked so they can't beam up. Worf and Kor spend the next 20 minutes or so of the episode in poorly lit caves arguing about which of them should get to decide what happens to the sword but they both eventually let Dax have it. They find Toral again and kill his soldiers and Lethean and then he apparently lets them use their comms again and they get back to the runabout. And for some reason the best solution is to just beam the thing into space and let some other Klingon discover it later which is dumb, won't Toral just find it?
Review: An episode without much going on and which a dumb ending. Far from DS9 at its best, possibly the worst episode of the series so far.
3 out of 10
Saturday, February 27, 2016
DS9: Little Green Men
I was looking forward to this episode all day and when I finally watched it I wasn't disappointed. At the same time it didn't quite hit the perfect 10 score that I was expecting based on my memories, but it is easily a top 25 episode from all of Trek so hardly a bad one. Quark continues to emerge as possibly my favorite character on DS9 with his plans to destroy the timeline we know and love and replace them with one dominated by a highly profitable Ferengi trade empire. I also appreciated how only Nog was able to actually figure out how to manipulate these paranoid humans while Quark keeps trying to negotiate a deal. There are a few good Odo ex machina moments in this one that make me wish they had the budget to have Odo transform every episode.
We begin with Rom organizing a traditional auction of Nog's childhood possessions before he leaves for the academy. Worf shows up and buys a tooth sharpener and Dax buys Julian a Ferengi erotic holosuite program. Quark interrupts to tell Rom that his ship has arrived, Rom naturally asks what ship and Quark explains their cousin has owed him a shuttle for ten years and finally delivered. Rom checks it over and it seems to be in good shape so Quark volunteers to take Nog to Earth, but of course plans to do some profitable smuggling along the way. Something goes wrong with their hazardous cargo though and they are transported back to 1947 and crash in Roswell New Mexico.
Their universal translators malfunctioning at first the humans are unable to understand them at all and assume they are hostile martians. Rom manages to get them working again though and Quark starts trying to destroy the future by offering to trade advance tech while at the same time plotting to take the shuttle back to the Ferengi homeworld and give them the tech to be a leading power in the galaxy. His plans are somewhat wrecked with Odo shows up having suspected the smuggling and sneaking aboard the shuttle. With the help of two scientists and some good old fashioned paranoia they manage to escape and use the power of an atomic bomb to get back to their own time.
Review: My summary above doesn't do this justice, go watch it yourself! Quark, Rom and Nog are all great as is Odo. The humans are a bit one note, but this is still a really fun episode.
9 out of 10
We begin with Rom organizing a traditional auction of Nog's childhood possessions before he leaves for the academy. Worf shows up and buys a tooth sharpener and Dax buys Julian a Ferengi erotic holosuite program. Quark interrupts to tell Rom that his ship has arrived, Rom naturally asks what ship and Quark explains their cousin has owed him a shuttle for ten years and finally delivered. Rom checks it over and it seems to be in good shape so Quark volunteers to take Nog to Earth, but of course plans to do some profitable smuggling along the way. Something goes wrong with their hazardous cargo though and they are transported back to 1947 and crash in Roswell New Mexico.
Their universal translators malfunctioning at first the humans are unable to understand them at all and assume they are hostile martians. Rom manages to get them working again though and Quark starts trying to destroy the future by offering to trade advance tech while at the same time plotting to take the shuttle back to the Ferengi homeworld and give them the tech to be a leading power in the galaxy. His plans are somewhat wrecked with Odo shows up having suspected the smuggling and sneaking aboard the shuttle. With the help of two scientists and some good old fashioned paranoia they manage to escape and use the power of an atomic bomb to get back to their own time.
Review: My summary above doesn't do this justice, go watch it yourself! Quark, Rom and Nog are all great as is Odo. The humans are a bit one note, but this is still a really fun episode.
9 out of 10
Friday, February 26, 2016
DS9: Starship Down
This episode fairly closely resembles Disaster from TNG but without Picard stuck in the turbolift with some children which isn't a bad thing. The basic idea is that the crew get split up in various parts of a crippled Defiant and have to figure out how to survive various parallel crises and learn something about themselves at the same time. From lamest to coolest: Julian and Jadzia get stuck in a compartment that is cold and have to hug for warmth, Kira and Sisko are on the bridge and Sisko has a brain hemorrhage so Kira has to try and keep him awake, Worf and O'Brien lead the remaining crew in engineering trying to save the ship and destroy the Jem'Hadar, and finally Quark has to teach an honest alien trader the value of greed and the joy of risks while disarming a live photon torpedo lodged into the hull. So yeah, quite an episode. But for all that, this is the actual opening of the episode:
Sisko has been sent to a distant part of the gamma quadrant to mediate a trade dispute. But this menace is no phantom, Quark has been adding his own fees to increase his personal profit and Sisko isn't having it. They are interrupted by the Jem'Hadar arriving but rather than going after the Defiant they attack the Karemma vessel there to negotiate. The Karemma flee into the atmosphere of a gas giant and the Defiant pursues all three ships but sensors are useless in the gas. They rig up some tetryon sonar but which attracts the Jem'Hadar causing massive damage. They get to work modifying a probe to act as a torpedo but before it is ready they are hit again. Bashir loses a crew member in sickbay but manages to drag Dax into a turbolift where they remain trapped huddling for warmth the rest of the episode.
The probe is ready but as soon as they fire the Jem'Hadar appear and start attacking in earnest. Just before the Defiant is destroyed the probe hits and destroys one of the Jem'Hadar vessels. Sisko is badly hurt on the bridge with Kira and all communications are out so Worf assumes command from engineering. Quark and the Karemma negotiator are stuck in a small room together with a torpedo impinging from the outside and humming like it will go off. The negotiator is horrified at the Ferengi greed but Quark shows him the value of taking risks by defusing the torpedo with him (the writing in these scenes is amazing, watch this one just for this if nothing else). Worf has been very hard on the remaining crew and O'Brien convinces him to use a lighter touch and immediately he starts getting better results.
Kira is stuck with what appears to be a dying Sisko which she is extra upset about since he is an important figure in her religion. She has to come to terms with him also being a mortal man and how uncomfortable she has been around him the whole time. Worf meanwhile has come up with a plan and uses his newly invigorated crew to rig up the remaining atmospheric probe to act as a decoy and the deflector dish to act as a phaser emitter. The plan works and they destroy the remaining Jem'Hadar vessel and rescue the remaining crew. It is clear that after all this things won't be the same between everybody on the crew.
Review: A great ensemble piece that gives all the crew different challenges to overcome both personal and military. Worf is starting to feel like a real member of the crew and that is definitely a good thing!
8 out of 10
Sisko has been sent to a distant part of the gamma quadrant to mediate a trade dispute. But this menace is no phantom, Quark has been adding his own fees to increase his personal profit and Sisko isn't having it. They are interrupted by the Jem'Hadar arriving but rather than going after the Defiant they attack the Karemma vessel there to negotiate. The Karemma flee into the atmosphere of a gas giant and the Defiant pursues all three ships but sensors are useless in the gas. They rig up some tetryon sonar but which attracts the Jem'Hadar causing massive damage. They get to work modifying a probe to act as a torpedo but before it is ready they are hit again. Bashir loses a crew member in sickbay but manages to drag Dax into a turbolift where they remain trapped huddling for warmth the rest of the episode.
The probe is ready but as soon as they fire the Jem'Hadar appear and start attacking in earnest. Just before the Defiant is destroyed the probe hits and destroys one of the Jem'Hadar vessels. Sisko is badly hurt on the bridge with Kira and all communications are out so Worf assumes command from engineering. Quark and the Karemma negotiator are stuck in a small room together with a torpedo impinging from the outside and humming like it will go off. The negotiator is horrified at the Ferengi greed but Quark shows him the value of taking risks by defusing the torpedo with him (the writing in these scenes is amazing, watch this one just for this if nothing else). Worf has been very hard on the remaining crew and O'Brien convinces him to use a lighter touch and immediately he starts getting better results.
Kira is stuck with what appears to be a dying Sisko which she is extra upset about since he is an important figure in her religion. She has to come to terms with him also being a mortal man and how uncomfortable she has been around him the whole time. Worf meanwhile has come up with a plan and uses his newly invigorated crew to rig up the remaining atmospheric probe to act as a decoy and the deflector dish to act as a phaser emitter. The plan works and they destroy the remaining Jem'Hadar vessel and rescue the remaining crew. It is clear that after all this things won't be the same between everybody on the crew.
Review: A great ensemble piece that gives all the crew different challenges to overcome both personal and military. Worf is starting to feel like a real member of the crew and that is definitely a good thing!
8 out of 10
Thursday, February 25, 2016
DS9: Rejoined
I think I may understand even more now why high school me was so into Dax. Seeing her make out with her hot former wife wasn't not entertaining now, but I am quite certain high school me was totally blown away by it. But other than that this is a kinda bland episode. The B story about making an artificial wormhole is extremely weak and the A story about Dax falling in love with a Trill who has a symbiote which was in a person the Dax symbiote was married to is alright, but the tacked on, "forbidden love," angle just felt a little weak.
Unfortunately the episode opens with the highlight, Dax showing off her magic tricks to Quark who can't figure them out at all. She gets called away by Sisko for what seems pretty boring news, a Trill science team will be taking the Defiant try and open an artificial wormhole. The "shocking" news is that Lenara Kahn will be on the mission, but we aren't told why this is shocking. Kira, Worf and Dax greet the science team including Kahn who Dax admits to Kira was once her wife (I am going to just call her a former wife rather than jumping through hoops about how this is true via symbiotes.) It turns out it is a big taboo for former partners to associate and that it results in them being banished and therefore unable to pass on their symbiotes which also seems kinda counter productive since symbiotes are pretty rare relatively. Also it seems like there are a ton of rejected Trill hosts and it isn't like there is some magic procedure to do the transfer, Bashir has done it at least twice already.
They go on the mission to open the fake wormhole but it doesn't work. They do however agree to go to dinner and Dax drags Bashir along to make it look less like a date, but it is clearly a date and he bails as soon as possible. They eventually kiss in Dax's quarters and Kahn's brother see them holding hands which is a problem. Dax talks about it with Sisko and he agrees that if it is how she really feels she should ignore the taboo and go for it. They go on a second mission and the wormhole plan fails again and almost destroy the Defiant. Dax saves Kahn from a plasma fire but back on the station Kahn isn't willing to go forward with the relationship. Dax is devastated and watches from the upper promenade level as Kahn leaves on a transport ship.
Review: Not a terrible episode, but not a very interesting one either. Definitely below average for DS9, but just average for Trek as a whole so far.
5 out of 10
Unfortunately the episode opens with the highlight, Dax showing off her magic tricks to Quark who can't figure them out at all. She gets called away by Sisko for what seems pretty boring news, a Trill science team will be taking the Defiant try and open an artificial wormhole. The "shocking" news is that Lenara Kahn will be on the mission, but we aren't told why this is shocking. Kira, Worf and Dax greet the science team including Kahn who Dax admits to Kira was once her wife (I am going to just call her a former wife rather than jumping through hoops about how this is true via symbiotes.) It turns out it is a big taboo for former partners to associate and that it results in them being banished and therefore unable to pass on their symbiotes which also seems kinda counter productive since symbiotes are pretty rare relatively. Also it seems like there are a ton of rejected Trill hosts and it isn't like there is some magic procedure to do the transfer, Bashir has done it at least twice already.
They go on the mission to open the fake wormhole but it doesn't work. They do however agree to go to dinner and Dax drags Bashir along to make it look less like a date, but it is clearly a date and he bails as soon as possible. They eventually kiss in Dax's quarters and Kahn's brother see them holding hands which is a problem. Dax talks about it with Sisko and he agrees that if it is how she really feels she should ignore the taboo and go for it. They go on a second mission and the wormhole plan fails again and almost destroy the Defiant. Dax saves Kahn from a plasma fire but back on the station Kahn isn't willing to go forward with the relationship. Dax is devastated and watches from the upper promenade level as Kahn leaves on a transport ship.
Review: Not a terrible episode, but not a very interesting one either. Definitely below average for DS9, but just average for Trek as a whole so far.
5 out of 10
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
DS9: Indiscretion
Another episode with some very personal stories. Also the first appearance of the Breen, I am pretty sure they were mentioned at some point in TNG, but this is their first actual appearance on screen. It is also another episode that deepens the character of one of the shows ongoing villains, Gul Dukat. We see that despite the political problem of him having a half Bajoran daughter that after some prodding from Kira he takes her home with him to Cardassia. If there is one thing the Cardassians care about more than anything else it is their families and it is good to see this in action rather than just in their words.
For once we begin with the A story as Kira is contacted by an old friend from her days in the resistance. He has some salvage from a Cardassian ship that went missing with the man who recruited Kira into the resistance and she is eager to follow up on the lead. As she prepares to leave to begin the search Sisko drops by and tells her the Cardassians are sending someone to go with her on the expedition, she agrees to wait two days, but if they aren't there by then she is leaving on her own. Sisko runs into Kasidy and is overwhelmed by the news that she is taking up a job with the Bajoran's and that she may even be moving onto the station. He heads to Ops and is in for another surprise when the Cardassian representative arrives, Gul Dukat.
Kira and Dukat set off and contact her old friend with the salvage. He isn't pumped to be helping a Cardassian, but can't say no to Kira. The two follow the lead to a seemingly empty planet. Back on the station Kasidy is over for dinner with Sisko and tells him she got the job and he can only reply that it is a, "big step," which causes her to accuse him of being afraid of commitment and storm out. The next day Sisko talks with Bashir and Dax about it and they are supportive, but not particularly helpful. Back with Kira and Dukat they have found the planet, a desert world with significant ionic interference making sensors useless. They locate the wrecked ship and while Kira finds no evidence of her old colleague Dukat finds the bracelet of his former lover, a Bajoran woman. Kira quickly figured out that he had a daughter with her and he admits that he is going to have to kill his daughter if he finds her since it might ruin him if her existence was known on Cardassia which obviously outrages Kira.
There is a trace of radioactive material left by a resistance fighter that Kira and Dukat are able to follow to what turns out to be a Breen prison work camp staffed by both Cardassians and Bajorans. Dukat spots his daughter and refuses to wait for help. Him and Kira storm the prison and manage to kill enough guards to arm the rest of the prisoners. The Bajorans are shocked to be rescued by a Cardassian and Bajoran working together but the news that the occupation is over makes them all pretty happy. Dukat finds his daughter and is about to shoot her when Kira stops him. His daughter Tora pleads with him and eventually tells him that she would rather die if she can't live with him now which is too much and he drops his weapon and embraces her. Back on the station Sisko apologizes to Kasidy and the two of them seem to be on the right track again. Dukat stops Kira and tells her Tora is headed back to Cardassia and he seems willing to put up with whatever political problems she will cause for him.
Review: Despite being a very emotional episode this one fell just a bit flat for me. Not bad and actually above average for Trek overall, but a little weak for DS9. The scene with Dukat getting a thorn in the butt is clearly gold though.
7 out of 10
For once we begin with the A story as Kira is contacted by an old friend from her days in the resistance. He has some salvage from a Cardassian ship that went missing with the man who recruited Kira into the resistance and she is eager to follow up on the lead. As she prepares to leave to begin the search Sisko drops by and tells her the Cardassians are sending someone to go with her on the expedition, she agrees to wait two days, but if they aren't there by then she is leaving on her own. Sisko runs into Kasidy and is overwhelmed by the news that she is taking up a job with the Bajoran's and that she may even be moving onto the station. He heads to Ops and is in for another surprise when the Cardassian representative arrives, Gul Dukat.
Kira and Dukat set off and contact her old friend with the salvage. He isn't pumped to be helping a Cardassian, but can't say no to Kira. The two follow the lead to a seemingly empty planet. Back on the station Kasidy is over for dinner with Sisko and tells him she got the job and he can only reply that it is a, "big step," which causes her to accuse him of being afraid of commitment and storm out. The next day Sisko talks with Bashir and Dax about it and they are supportive, but not particularly helpful. Back with Kira and Dukat they have found the planet, a desert world with significant ionic interference making sensors useless. They locate the wrecked ship and while Kira finds no evidence of her old colleague Dukat finds the bracelet of his former lover, a Bajoran woman. Kira quickly figured out that he had a daughter with her and he admits that he is going to have to kill his daughter if he finds her since it might ruin him if her existence was known on Cardassia which obviously outrages Kira.
There is a trace of radioactive material left by a resistance fighter that Kira and Dukat are able to follow to what turns out to be a Breen prison work camp staffed by both Cardassians and Bajorans. Dukat spots his daughter and refuses to wait for help. Him and Kira storm the prison and manage to kill enough guards to arm the rest of the prisoners. The Bajorans are shocked to be rescued by a Cardassian and Bajoran working together but the news that the occupation is over makes them all pretty happy. Dukat finds his daughter and is about to shoot her when Kira stops him. His daughter Tora pleads with him and eventually tells him that she would rather die if she can't live with him now which is too much and he drops his weapon and embraces her. Back on the station Sisko apologizes to Kasidy and the two of them seem to be on the right track again. Dukat stops Kira and tells her Tora is headed back to Cardassia and he seems willing to put up with whatever political problems she will cause for him.
Review: Despite being a very emotional episode this one fell just a bit flat for me. Not bad and actually above average for Trek overall, but a little weak for DS9. The scene with Dukat getting a thorn in the butt is clearly gold though.
7 out of 10
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
DS9: Hippocratic Oath
"Remember your hippopotamus oath!" Yup, I started this one with a Simpsons quote. But really this is actually a rather good episode. The ethical dilemma faced by Bashir and O'Brien really tests their friendship, but I am glad it survived. When I first watched this episode I could only really see Bashir's perspective that he had to save these Jem'Hadar from their horrible drug addicted lives. But looking back I can see O'Brien's perspective too, they have been kidnapped and are constantly being faced with death. And to be honest he may well have been right that if Bashir did come up with a cure for the addiction they would likely still be killed. These are exactly the kinds of ethical dilemmas that make Trek interesting.
The episode opens with the B story, Worf is moping in Quark's watching a known smuggler conspire with Quark. Kira tries to reassure him that Odo is on top of things but Worf isn't buying it. Cut to the A story and Bashir is doing a survey in the gamma quadrant with O'Brien. This actually makes basically no sense since the Dominion is clearly keeping an eye on the wormhole and doing surveys like this in a runabout seems like it is asking for trouble. After some bromance time they crash on a planet and are quickly apprehended by the Jem'Hadar. But something is strange, they aren't killed and are both taken prisoner. Their leader takes Julian out of the holding area and explains that he is trying to cure his men of their addiction to ketracel white, the drug the founders engineered them to require to live. He is not addicted any believes it is because of something that happened when he was marooned on this planet sometime in the past. Julian agrees to help but tells the leader that he will require O'Briens help.
On the station Worf can't stop poking into the Quark smuggling thing. He confronts Odo about it but gets told that Odo doesn't report to him and to mind his own business. O'Brien meanwhile is determined not to help and begins constructing rudimentary weapons to try and escape. His plan is discovered and he cripples one of the soldiers, but the leader insists that Miles' life be spared along with the crippled soldier which shocks his men. O'Brien eventually escapes using the transporter and the Jem'Hadar start fighting each other over whether to kill him. Only the leader wants to save him and Julian convinces him that he won't try to escape if he saves Miles. Back on DS9 Worf barges into the smuggling deal and tries to arrest the smuggler, but is surprised when the payment changes into Odo, he was going to sneak onto the guys ship and break up the whole ring.
Miles gets to Bashir before the Jem'Hadar and destroys his work before starting to escape. But the leader shows up and sees what happened. He takes both of them to the runabout and tells them to get out of there. He tells Julian he is going to kill all his men since they are going to die from withdrawal anyway. Bashir is horrified both at what has happened and at O'Brien for causing it. Back on the station Worf has a long converstationw with Sisko about how ashamed he is to have messed up Odo's investigation. He agrees it will take some time to adjust to not living and working on a starship.
Review: The A story is a solid and interesting, but the B story felt both more bland and more like something they felt they just had to do. It does have a good conclusion though. The Bashir/O'Brien relationship is starting to enter a new phase and it keeps getting more interesting just like the show.
8 out of 10
The episode opens with the B story, Worf is moping in Quark's watching a known smuggler conspire with Quark. Kira tries to reassure him that Odo is on top of things but Worf isn't buying it. Cut to the A story and Bashir is doing a survey in the gamma quadrant with O'Brien. This actually makes basically no sense since the Dominion is clearly keeping an eye on the wormhole and doing surveys like this in a runabout seems like it is asking for trouble. After some bromance time they crash on a planet and are quickly apprehended by the Jem'Hadar. But something is strange, they aren't killed and are both taken prisoner. Their leader takes Julian out of the holding area and explains that he is trying to cure his men of their addiction to ketracel white, the drug the founders engineered them to require to live. He is not addicted any believes it is because of something that happened when he was marooned on this planet sometime in the past. Julian agrees to help but tells the leader that he will require O'Briens help.
On the station Worf can't stop poking into the Quark smuggling thing. He confronts Odo about it but gets told that Odo doesn't report to him and to mind his own business. O'Brien meanwhile is determined not to help and begins constructing rudimentary weapons to try and escape. His plan is discovered and he cripples one of the soldiers, but the leader insists that Miles' life be spared along with the crippled soldier which shocks his men. O'Brien eventually escapes using the transporter and the Jem'Hadar start fighting each other over whether to kill him. Only the leader wants to save him and Julian convinces him that he won't try to escape if he saves Miles. Back on DS9 Worf barges into the smuggling deal and tries to arrest the smuggler, but is surprised when the payment changes into Odo, he was going to sneak onto the guys ship and break up the whole ring.
Miles gets to Bashir before the Jem'Hadar and destroys his work before starting to escape. But the leader shows up and sees what happened. He takes both of them to the runabout and tells them to get out of there. He tells Julian he is going to kill all his men since they are going to die from withdrawal anyway. Bashir is horrified both at what has happened and at O'Brien for causing it. Back on the station Worf has a long converstationw with Sisko about how ashamed he is to have messed up Odo's investigation. He agrees it will take some time to adjust to not living and working on a starship.
Review: The A story is a solid and interesting, but the B story felt both more bland and more like something they felt they just had to do. It does have a good conclusion though. The Bashir/O'Brien relationship is starting to enter a new phase and it keeps getting more interesting just like the show.
8 out of 10
Monday, February 22, 2016
DS9: The Visitor
I had forgotten that DS9 had some straight up alternate future timeline episodes, and I am really impressed with this one. It starts off in what we soon learn is the future but tells most of its story through flashbacks to events that are still in the future relative to where the story is now. It also early on sets up the idea that Sisko was killed in what is currently the present of the show and that this had a ripple effect not just on Jake but on the fate of Starfleet. By ending with the erasing of the events of the story it also avoids any problems with events in the future of the show and other series not lining up with how we remember then.
The episode opens on a stormy evening in the bayou. A now aged Jake takes some sort of injection and is surprised by a knock on his door. It is a young fan of his writing and she wants to know why he stopped writing after his first novel and collection of short stories. He explains that any other time he wouldn't tell her the story, but today is the right time for it. In a flashback we see Jake getting talked into a trip to the gamma quadrant with his father on the Defiant. He is busy writing and doesn't want to leave his quarters. Ben comes to his quarters and convinces him to come to the bridge but before he can something happens in engineering. Ignoring his fathers instructions Jake follows him to engineering where the warp core is about to explode. They stop it just in time but there is a discharge from the engine that seems to kill Jake's father right before his eyes. But he isn't dead and starts appearing every few weeks to months around the station.
Jake refused to leave the station but things got so bad the Klingons took over and he was forced to leave for earth. He became a writer and got married but his father appeared again and it drove him to find a way to save him. He sacrificed his marriage and most of his life working on a plan but everything he tried never worked. He would get to spend a few minutes with his father who wasn't aging but then he would be gone. Eventually Jake figured out the only way to save him was to die while they were together which is what was happening in the very beginning of the episode. The young writer leaves and Ben appears and can't believe Jake would kill himself to save him. But it works and Ben dodges the discharge and we are back to the present with both Sisko's alive and well.
Review: A very touching episode about father and son and the lengths they will go to for each other. A standalone episode that tells a lot about the characters of both Jake and his father.
8 out of 10
The episode opens on a stormy evening in the bayou. A now aged Jake takes some sort of injection and is surprised by a knock on his door. It is a young fan of his writing and she wants to know why he stopped writing after his first novel and collection of short stories. He explains that any other time he wouldn't tell her the story, but today is the right time for it. In a flashback we see Jake getting talked into a trip to the gamma quadrant with his father on the Defiant. He is busy writing and doesn't want to leave his quarters. Ben comes to his quarters and convinces him to come to the bridge but before he can something happens in engineering. Ignoring his fathers instructions Jake follows him to engineering where the warp core is about to explode. They stop it just in time but there is a discharge from the engine that seems to kill Jake's father right before his eyes. But he isn't dead and starts appearing every few weeks to months around the station.
Jake refused to leave the station but things got so bad the Klingons took over and he was forced to leave for earth. He became a writer and got married but his father appeared again and it drove him to find a way to save him. He sacrificed his marriage and most of his life working on a plan but everything he tried never worked. He would get to spend a few minutes with his father who wasn't aging but then he would be gone. Eventually Jake figured out the only way to save him was to die while they were together which is what was happening in the very beginning of the episode. The young writer leaves and Ben appears and can't believe Jake would kill himself to save him. But it works and Ben dodges the discharge and we are back to the present with both Sisko's alive and well.
Review: A very touching episode about father and son and the lengths they will go to for each other. A standalone episode that tells a lot about the characters of both Jake and his father.
8 out of 10
Sunday, February 21, 2016
DS9: The Way of the Warrior
As soon as I saw the title of this episode I was sure it was the one where Worf joined the crew and I was correct. And what an episode! I think this has more action in it than any pair of episodes anywhere else in all of Trek to this point. The Dominion war gets serious too, but not for a few more seasons. I had completely forgotten that the episode with the Defiant standing up to several minutes of weapons fire with its shields down was the same one that debuted the new badass defense systems of DS9. I admit I had been looking towards Worf's return with a bit of dread since I knew it was also the point in the show where the main story slows down a bit, but in hindsight he is a good enough addition to the series to more than make up for it.
We begin with the crew fanned out across the station searching for a changeling with guns drawn. But as was apparent from it being a cold opening chase it is actually a training and Odo is the one they are looking for. Afterwards Sisko has dinner with Kasidy but she can't stay long, her ship leaves the next day. Before they can enjoy each others company too much the Klingon flagship decloaks right next to the station and requests to be allowed to shore leave. Sisko agrees, but something is going on. The Klingons head to Quarks, but aren't their usual boisterous selves. General Martok meets with Sisko but requires a blood sample first from both Sisko and Kira. He claims to be there to help defend against the Dominion, but as Sisko points out, there have been no indications of an imminent invasion. At the replimat Garak and Bashir are having their usual lunch when they are interrupted by some Klingons lead by Drex. They try to start something the Garak but aren't willing to do it in public. That night they show up in his shop and break a bunch of his ribs.
Garak isn't willing to press charges, but then they get a call from Kasidy's ship. Sisko jumps into the Defiant to investigate and finds her ship being held by Klingons. He fires a shot off their bow and they let her go, but it isn't over. General Martok walks into Sisko's office and hands him the captains dagger signifying that he was executed for failing to search the ship. Sisko puts out a call to Starfleet asking for some assistance with the situation so they send Worf. Worf has been hanging out in a Klingon monastery and tells Sisko he is thinking of leaving Starfleet and Sisko tries to talk him into staying but pointing out how close he came to leaving after his wife's death. Worf confronts Martok trying to get an answer out of him about what is really going on, but gets called a traitor for his trouble. Dax finds him in the holosuite using her Klingon combat program and at first he refuses to accept that she is a competent fighter, but they spar and he wins, but she puts up a good fight.
At Dax's suggestion Worf calls one of his friends on a Klingon ship over and asks him what is going on implying that it would be a huge favor to his family. He tells them that the Klingons have discovered that a coup has taken place on Cardassia and think the Dominion is behind it. And they plan to invade. Sisko confronts Martok, but he refuses to stop the invasion and sets it into motion as soon as he gets off DS9. To try and save some lives Sisko calls Garak in "for some measurements" as they openly discuss the invasion and Garak takes the hint and calls Dukat as soon as he is out. Gowron shows up to try and convince Worf to join the invasion, but Worf is unwilling to give up his promise to Starfleet.
Sisko contacts the new Cardassian government and gets through to Dukat who has switched sides. He offers to get the government to safety and Dukat agrees. They all jump into the Defiant and cloak before heading in at top warp. When they arrive they find Dukat's ship in bad shape with three Klingon ships attacking. They decloak and start attacking first shooting out engines, but that isn't cutting it so they start shooting to kill. It will take two minutes to beam Dukat and the council off the Cardassian ship but the Defiant apparently has super armor that, along with some disruptor disrupting by Worf, buys them the time they need. The cloak is damaged though so they are pursued as they head back to the station. They make it but a Klingon fleet arrives as well. There is a totally badass battle between the station and Klingons with boarding parties trying to take the station directly but Federation reinforcements are close enough the Gowron is forced to withdraw his fleet. After all that Worf still seems to want to leave Starfleet so Sisko shows up in his quarters to give Worf a long talk about how running away from your problems tends to not help in the long run and Worf agrees to stay as a tactical officer moving from yellow shirt to red.
Review: What a crazy episode. Not just a lot of action, although it has a ton of that as well, but a lot of character. Garak and Dukat are great and actually spend some quality time together fighting Klingons. Worf and Dax seem to be hitting it off nicely and Quark is busy being Quark. We see that Bashir cares about Odo and Sisko seems to be getting along with Kasidy very well. Also, did I mention space battles???
9 out of 10
We begin with the crew fanned out across the station searching for a changeling with guns drawn. But as was apparent from it being a cold opening chase it is actually a training and Odo is the one they are looking for. Afterwards Sisko has dinner with Kasidy but she can't stay long, her ship leaves the next day. Before they can enjoy each others company too much the Klingon flagship decloaks right next to the station and requests to be allowed to shore leave. Sisko agrees, but something is going on. The Klingons head to Quarks, but aren't their usual boisterous selves. General Martok meets with Sisko but requires a blood sample first from both Sisko and Kira. He claims to be there to help defend against the Dominion, but as Sisko points out, there have been no indications of an imminent invasion. At the replimat Garak and Bashir are having their usual lunch when they are interrupted by some Klingons lead by Drex. They try to start something the Garak but aren't willing to do it in public. That night they show up in his shop and break a bunch of his ribs.
Garak isn't willing to press charges, but then they get a call from Kasidy's ship. Sisko jumps into the Defiant to investigate and finds her ship being held by Klingons. He fires a shot off their bow and they let her go, but it isn't over. General Martok walks into Sisko's office and hands him the captains dagger signifying that he was executed for failing to search the ship. Sisko puts out a call to Starfleet asking for some assistance with the situation so they send Worf. Worf has been hanging out in a Klingon monastery and tells Sisko he is thinking of leaving Starfleet and Sisko tries to talk him into staying but pointing out how close he came to leaving after his wife's death. Worf confronts Martok trying to get an answer out of him about what is really going on, but gets called a traitor for his trouble. Dax finds him in the holosuite using her Klingon combat program and at first he refuses to accept that she is a competent fighter, but they spar and he wins, but she puts up a good fight.
At Dax's suggestion Worf calls one of his friends on a Klingon ship over and asks him what is going on implying that it would be a huge favor to his family. He tells them that the Klingons have discovered that a coup has taken place on Cardassia and think the Dominion is behind it. And they plan to invade. Sisko confronts Martok, but he refuses to stop the invasion and sets it into motion as soon as he gets off DS9. To try and save some lives Sisko calls Garak in "for some measurements" as they openly discuss the invasion and Garak takes the hint and calls Dukat as soon as he is out. Gowron shows up to try and convince Worf to join the invasion, but Worf is unwilling to give up his promise to Starfleet.
Sisko contacts the new Cardassian government and gets through to Dukat who has switched sides. He offers to get the government to safety and Dukat agrees. They all jump into the Defiant and cloak before heading in at top warp. When they arrive they find Dukat's ship in bad shape with three Klingon ships attacking. They decloak and start attacking first shooting out engines, but that isn't cutting it so they start shooting to kill. It will take two minutes to beam Dukat and the council off the Cardassian ship but the Defiant apparently has super armor that, along with some disruptor disrupting by Worf, buys them the time they need. The cloak is damaged though so they are pursued as they head back to the station. They make it but a Klingon fleet arrives as well. There is a totally badass battle between the station and Klingons with boarding parties trying to take the station directly but Federation reinforcements are close enough the Gowron is forced to withdraw his fleet. After all that Worf still seems to want to leave Starfleet so Sisko shows up in his quarters to give Worf a long talk about how running away from your problems tends to not help in the long run and Worf agrees to stay as a tactical officer moving from yellow shirt to red.
Review: What a crazy episode. Not just a lot of action, although it has a ton of that as well, but a lot of character. Garak and Dukat are great and actually spend some quality time together fighting Klingons. Worf and Dax seem to be hitting it off nicely and Quark is busy being Quark. We see that Bashir cares about Odo and Sisko seems to be getting along with Kasidy very well. Also, did I mention space battles???
9 out of 10
Saturday, February 20, 2016
DS9: The Adversary
I really like the fake out at the beginning of the episode with Sisko entering his final Commanders log implying that maybe he is leaving. But of course he isn't, he has been promoted to captain which I have to say I can't understand why this didn't happen earlier. The rest of the episode is mostly a take on The Thing which I feel like was done before, but I can't find it right now. This episode even includes the classic blood draw scene which is probably the most memorable part of The Thing. The real reason this episode exists though is clearly to show just how serious about destabilizing the alpha quadrant the Dominion really is.
We begin with Sisko getting his promotion to captain and right after it is done he is pulled aside by a visiting ambassador. The neighboring Tzenkethi may be getting ready for war with the Federation and the Defiant is to head to the border to make sure things stay under control. Before they go the only side story in the episode is Dax asking Sisko about Kasidy and he admits to having been on three dates, but that she won't be back to the station for a month. Sisko tells O'Brien to get the Defiant ready for a fight and after he leaves Miles thinks her hears someone on the ship, but doesn't see anybody there when he looks. The ship departs but in jefferies tube O'Brien again hears something and calls out, eventually Bashir crawls up and says he is installing the power relays for a medical diagnostic device which seems a little odd to Miles.
As they get close to the border they get a distress call from a planet close to the Tzenkethi. Sisko tells Odo to notify Starfleet, but he finds communications are down. O'Brien goes to fix the problem and finds a series of moving tubes inside the panel that don't belong there along with a forcefield. The tubes are all over the ship and O'Brien assures Sisko they weren't there when they left the station which means the traitor is on the ship. They devise a tetryon scanner to detect who sabotaged the ship and when they scan the ambassador he melts into a Changeling and flees. They learn then that the ship is flying out of their control into Tzenkethi territory with weapons armed. They then start searching the ship in pairs to with modified phasers.
The Changeling kills a security officer and separates the main crew. They all head to sickbay to have blood drawn to see who is a traitor and it looks like Eddington is the Changeling, but as they take him to the brig a second Bashir bursts out and the other Bashir melts and flees. To prevent a war Sisko starts the autodestruct and O'Brien works in engineering to shut down the forcefields. Two Odo's show up but one reveals itself to be the fake Odo and struggles with Odo. To save the ship Odo throws him against the unshielded warp core fatally wounding the other Changeling. Before he dies he whispers to Odo that it is too late. The war has been stopped, but it is clear the Dominion isn't done.
Review: This is a really tense episode with some solid references to the classic The Thing. A good season finale that both resolves a few of the things I was wondering about while setting up an even broader conflict next season.
8 out of 10
We begin with Sisko getting his promotion to captain and right after it is done he is pulled aside by a visiting ambassador. The neighboring Tzenkethi may be getting ready for war with the Federation and the Defiant is to head to the border to make sure things stay under control. Before they go the only side story in the episode is Dax asking Sisko about Kasidy and he admits to having been on three dates, but that she won't be back to the station for a month. Sisko tells O'Brien to get the Defiant ready for a fight and after he leaves Miles thinks her hears someone on the ship, but doesn't see anybody there when he looks. The ship departs but in jefferies tube O'Brien again hears something and calls out, eventually Bashir crawls up and says he is installing the power relays for a medical diagnostic device which seems a little odd to Miles.
As they get close to the border they get a distress call from a planet close to the Tzenkethi. Sisko tells Odo to notify Starfleet, but he finds communications are down. O'Brien goes to fix the problem and finds a series of moving tubes inside the panel that don't belong there along with a forcefield. The tubes are all over the ship and O'Brien assures Sisko they weren't there when they left the station which means the traitor is on the ship. They devise a tetryon scanner to detect who sabotaged the ship and when they scan the ambassador he melts into a Changeling and flees. They learn then that the ship is flying out of their control into Tzenkethi territory with weapons armed. They then start searching the ship in pairs to with modified phasers.
The Changeling kills a security officer and separates the main crew. They all head to sickbay to have blood drawn to see who is a traitor and it looks like Eddington is the Changeling, but as they take him to the brig a second Bashir bursts out and the other Bashir melts and flees. To prevent a war Sisko starts the autodestruct and O'Brien works in engineering to shut down the forcefields. Two Odo's show up but one reveals itself to be the fake Odo and struggles with Odo. To save the ship Odo throws him against the unshielded warp core fatally wounding the other Changeling. Before he dies he whispers to Odo that it is too late. The war has been stopped, but it is clear the Dominion isn't done.
Review: This is a really tense episode with some solid references to the classic The Thing. A good season finale that both resolves a few of the things I was wondering about while setting up an even broader conflict next season.
8 out of 10
Friday, February 19, 2016
DS9: Facets
While rewatching through DS9 I have come to the realization that Jadzia isn't quite as interesting a character as I though the first time through. I can confirm I had a huge crush on her while watching the original airing and this may have effected my judgement on episodes in which she was the central character. And don't get me wrong, she still has a much richer character than over half the main TNG crew, but she just doesn't quite stand up to the rest of DS9. This episode is a great example of that, it literally breaks out different parts of her into other characters and seeing how the other characters play the roles is more interesting that the story of Jadzia having to confront Kurzon about her own doubts. The most memorable part of this episode is Quark embodying a female host and that only takes maybe 30 seconds.
As is becoming the standard the episode opens with it's B story, Nog is maneuvering a runabout to evade a Cardassian ship but we figure it is a simulation when Jake walks in and says hi through the windshield. He is practicing to apply to the Academy. Quark tries again to talk him out of it, but Nog isn't listening. The A story kicks off with Jadzia calling a meeting with Bashir, Leeta (who is now a main character apparently despite only appearing once before), O'Brien, Kira, Dax and Sisko. She is going to have her trill memory ceremony and has asked each of them to embody one of her previous hosts. They all agree except Quark, but she talks him into it despite it being a female host he will embody which should probably offend a super sexist Ferengi like him, but maybe he is more open minded than he lets people know. The trill psychic shows up to transfer the memories and montage style we go through all but two hosts. Kira starts off embodying a politician named Lela. O'Brien is the brilliant but nervous mathematician Tobin. Leeta embodies the gymnast Emony and Quark the motherly Audrid. Bashir embodies Torias who's only not worthy characteristic is that he liked to eat apparently.
Sisko gets the tougher job of embodying the murderer Joran. They are worried he will try to hurt Sisko or somebody else so he gets put in a holding cell. Joran turns out to be a pretty generic psychopath and first bashes Sisko's head against the field until Dax turns it off and then tries to choke her. He seems a lot more one note (hah) that the previous look we got at him. Eventually Sisko takes over again and I thought it was going to turn out to be about whether he was actually gone again, but no, nothing that interesting. Before we get to the final form we see Nog taking the initial test in the holosuite with O'Brien. He is super disappointed to not pass. The final embodiment is Curzon who merges with Odo and the two share a bond more direct than any of the others as Odo takes on many parts of Curzon's appearance.
Curzodo announces to everyone that he isn't going to give back Curzon's memories, the two of them are happier as one person. This annoys Jadzia, but she confronts him and he makes her feel bad about being kicked out of the program to get her to not argue with him about it too much. Jadzia talks to Sisko and he tells her to confront him and she does. He admits the reason he kicked her out was that he was in love with her and that he let her in because he realized it wasn't fair to deprive her of her life's ambition because he felt guilty for loving her. At some point earlier Rom learned Quark had rigged the test and made sure Nog failed and confronts him about it. After a second test we learn Nog has been admitted to the Academy.
Review: Not a super great episode. The focus on Curzon probably seemed like a much better idea in the writing room that it felt on screen. He is much more interesting as a mystery we don't know much about rather than as a person we get to meet.
4 out of 10
As is becoming the standard the episode opens with it's B story, Nog is maneuvering a runabout to evade a Cardassian ship but we figure it is a simulation when Jake walks in and says hi through the windshield. He is practicing to apply to the Academy. Quark tries again to talk him out of it, but Nog isn't listening. The A story kicks off with Jadzia calling a meeting with Bashir, Leeta (who is now a main character apparently despite only appearing once before), O'Brien, Kira, Dax and Sisko. She is going to have her trill memory ceremony and has asked each of them to embody one of her previous hosts. They all agree except Quark, but she talks him into it despite it being a female host he will embody which should probably offend a super sexist Ferengi like him, but maybe he is more open minded than he lets people know. The trill psychic shows up to transfer the memories and montage style we go through all but two hosts. Kira starts off embodying a politician named Lela. O'Brien is the brilliant but nervous mathematician Tobin. Leeta embodies the gymnast Emony and Quark the motherly Audrid. Bashir embodies Torias who's only not worthy characteristic is that he liked to eat apparently.
Sisko gets the tougher job of embodying the murderer Joran. They are worried he will try to hurt Sisko or somebody else so he gets put in a holding cell. Joran turns out to be a pretty generic psychopath and first bashes Sisko's head against the field until Dax turns it off and then tries to choke her. He seems a lot more one note (hah) that the previous look we got at him. Eventually Sisko takes over again and I thought it was going to turn out to be about whether he was actually gone again, but no, nothing that interesting. Before we get to the final form we see Nog taking the initial test in the holosuite with O'Brien. He is super disappointed to not pass. The final embodiment is Curzon who merges with Odo and the two share a bond more direct than any of the others as Odo takes on many parts of Curzon's appearance.
Curzodo announces to everyone that he isn't going to give back Curzon's memories, the two of them are happier as one person. This annoys Jadzia, but she confronts him and he makes her feel bad about being kicked out of the program to get her to not argue with him about it too much. Jadzia talks to Sisko and he tells her to confront him and she does. He admits the reason he kicked her out was that he was in love with her and that he let her in because he realized it wasn't fair to deprive her of her life's ambition because he felt guilty for loving her. At some point earlier Rom learned Quark had rigged the test and made sure Nog failed and confronts him about it. After a second test we learn Nog has been admitted to the Academy.
Review: Not a super great episode. The focus on Curzon probably seemed like a much better idea in the writing room that it felt on screen. He is much more interesting as a mystery we don't know much about rather than as a person we get to meet.
4 out of 10
Thursday, February 18, 2016
DS9: Shakaar
Bajor would be in real trouble if Kai Winn was actually an experienced politician, fortunately she seems to be still learning the ropes. Any time she sees an opportunity she rushes in rather than carefully planning how to best take advantage. I know this isn't the last we will hear from Winn, but it is at least nice to see her suffer a few setbacks on her path to really messing things up for the Bajorans. The B story tonight focuses in O'Brien and Bashir's growing friendship plus a nice comic bit about Quark letting is greed getting the best of him.
We open with the B story about O'Brien being in the zone when it comes to darts. Sisko is pretty happy to get out of the game when he gets a call about an urgent message from Bajor. After getting the message Sisko heads straight to Kira's quarters and finds her praying. The news isn't good, the First Minister has died and Kai Winn is running unopposed to replace him. After the intro Kira is praying again and is interrupted once more, this time it is Kai Winn herself. The Bajorans have a limited number of soil reclamation machines and since she has already taken over power before the election she has decided to use the machines to make some quick cash by producing cash crops. Kira is confused why this concerns her until Winn tells her a group led by Kira's old resistance leader Shakaar have refused to give up their soil reclamation machines and she wants Kira to negotiate their return. Kira of course resists doing anything for Winn, but eventually agrees.
Kira beams down but Shakaar doesn't want to talk about the reclamation machines, instead he wants to hang out with Kira and talk about old times. He also doesn't care if the government wants to make a quick buck, they agreed to let him have the machines for a year and it has been less than half that long. He does agree to meet with Kai Winn though as a favor to Kira. On the station Quark has noticed O'Brien's hot streak and has started taking bets. Kira contacts Winn and she agrees to negotiate, but when Kira returns to Shakaar soldiers arrive to arrest him. He and Kira fight back and along with their fellow resistance fighters flee into the hills like old times.
On the station things are going well for Quark until O'Brien throws his shoulder out during a match against a Vulcan and is forced to forfeit. Winn talks to Sisko about the situation and he tells her how bad an idea he thinks it is to send the military in against Shakaar, but her only response is to request Federation troops instead but he wisely refuses. Kira and Shakaar have outsmarted the soldiers pursuing them but rather than massacre their own people the come down to negotiate. Things are tense but they eventually come to a compromise with the colonel in charge of the operation, Shakaar will run for first minister. They show up in Winn's office with the news and she is pissed, but they point out if she runs against Shakaar they will tell everybody she tried to start a civil war over some farming equipment.
Review: Bajoran political episodes aren't really my favorite, but at least Kai Winn didn't succeed this time. A little weak by DS9 standards, but pretty decent compared to most of the rest of Trek.
5 out of 10
We open with the B story about O'Brien being in the zone when it comes to darts. Sisko is pretty happy to get out of the game when he gets a call about an urgent message from Bajor. After getting the message Sisko heads straight to Kira's quarters and finds her praying. The news isn't good, the First Minister has died and Kai Winn is running unopposed to replace him. After the intro Kira is praying again and is interrupted once more, this time it is Kai Winn herself. The Bajorans have a limited number of soil reclamation machines and since she has already taken over power before the election she has decided to use the machines to make some quick cash by producing cash crops. Kira is confused why this concerns her until Winn tells her a group led by Kira's old resistance leader Shakaar have refused to give up their soil reclamation machines and she wants Kira to negotiate their return. Kira of course resists doing anything for Winn, but eventually agrees.
Kira beams down but Shakaar doesn't want to talk about the reclamation machines, instead he wants to hang out with Kira and talk about old times. He also doesn't care if the government wants to make a quick buck, they agreed to let him have the machines for a year and it has been less than half that long. He does agree to meet with Kai Winn though as a favor to Kira. On the station Quark has noticed O'Brien's hot streak and has started taking bets. Kira contacts Winn and she agrees to negotiate, but when Kira returns to Shakaar soldiers arrive to arrest him. He and Kira fight back and along with their fellow resistance fighters flee into the hills like old times.
On the station things are going well for Quark until O'Brien throws his shoulder out during a match against a Vulcan and is forced to forfeit. Winn talks to Sisko about the situation and he tells her how bad an idea he thinks it is to send the military in against Shakaar, but her only response is to request Federation troops instead but he wisely refuses. Kira and Shakaar have outsmarted the soldiers pursuing them but rather than massacre their own people the come down to negotiate. Things are tense but they eventually come to a compromise with the colonel in charge of the operation, Shakaar will run for first minister. They show up in Winn's office with the news and she is pissed, but they point out if she runs against Shakaar they will tell everybody she tried to start a civil war over some farming equipment.
Review: Bajoran political episodes aren't really my favorite, but at least Kai Winn didn't succeed this time. A little weak by DS9 standards, but pretty decent compared to most of the rest of Trek.
5 out of 10
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
DS9: Family Business
Went on a killer hike today, so it may be a little short. I am pumped to have found the Greatest Generation podcast which I got most of the way caught up on during the hike today. Two guys watching through TNG and podcasting episode by episode. If you ever catch me referring to someone as a "Drunk Shimoda" they are the reason. This episode is the first appearance of Ishka, Brunt, and Kasidy which makes it a pretty important episode. I wonder if the TNG writers would have done more episodes like this with long term set ups if they felt confident the show would be on long enough to pay them off.
We begin with Jake again trying to talk his father into going on a day with Kasidy Yates, the freighter captain he keeps trying to introduce to him. Then we see Quark is barley keeping up with his busy bar when suddenly Brunt walks in puts a notice on the door which Quark reacts to by closing the bar. Brunt is with the Ferengi Commerce Authority, kinda like a super IRS and they are investigating Quark and he has to pay to find out why. Finally he gets Brunt to tell him that his mother is accused of making profit, a serious crime since she is a woman, and as the head of the household he has three days to get her to confess or she will be sold into indentured servitude and Quark will have to pay back her profits. He rushes to get a ship lined up to get him home but Rom insists on coming too. Quark isn't happy about it but he agrees.
Quark, Rom and Brunt arrive at their family home and are shocked to find Ishka clothed, a serious violation of traditional Ferengi gender roles. Brunt leaves in disgust and we see some quality Ferengi family time. Well, actually we see Quark being outraged the Rom is preparing the meal and his mother isn't chewing it for him. Quark learns that his mother has only made three bars of profit so presses her to confess and end this whole thing, but she refuses. On the station Sisko keeps getting hassled by everyone he meets about Kasidy so eventually he stops by to introduce himself. They are both pretty awkward about it, but agree to go out for coffee. Back with the Ferengi Quark is in full freak out mode, he has discovered his mother has built an entire financial empire and it was only a small venture that was discovered.
Quark decides to take this to the commerce authorities but Rom fights him to get him to stop. Finally there mother steps in and tells Rom to let him go. But before he can turn her in Rom shows up and tells him Ishka has agreed to a 50/50 profit split which Quark decides is worth it. But of course Rom was lying, but he tells them both to act like adults and storms out so they finally sit down and talk. Sisko and Kasidy's date isn't going great, she is distracted by something, but when he learns it is because she is supposed to be listening to a baseball game he gets giddy like a school boy and the two head off to listen together. Quark and his mother discuss life and how her husband was always bad at business and eventually Quark gets her to agree to confess, but in the very end we learn she only confessed to a third of her actual profits.
Review: Another solid character episode as this season gets ready to end. It seems the writers have a pretty good idea where they are going with the stories and this episode starts a few new threads.
6 out of 10
We begin with Jake again trying to talk his father into going on a day with Kasidy Yates, the freighter captain he keeps trying to introduce to him. Then we see Quark is barley keeping up with his busy bar when suddenly Brunt walks in puts a notice on the door which Quark reacts to by closing the bar. Brunt is with the Ferengi Commerce Authority, kinda like a super IRS and they are investigating Quark and he has to pay to find out why. Finally he gets Brunt to tell him that his mother is accused of making profit, a serious crime since she is a woman, and as the head of the household he has three days to get her to confess or she will be sold into indentured servitude and Quark will have to pay back her profits. He rushes to get a ship lined up to get him home but Rom insists on coming too. Quark isn't happy about it but he agrees.
Quark, Rom and Brunt arrive at their family home and are shocked to find Ishka clothed, a serious violation of traditional Ferengi gender roles. Brunt leaves in disgust and we see some quality Ferengi family time. Well, actually we see Quark being outraged the Rom is preparing the meal and his mother isn't chewing it for him. Quark learns that his mother has only made three bars of profit so presses her to confess and end this whole thing, but she refuses. On the station Sisko keeps getting hassled by everyone he meets about Kasidy so eventually he stops by to introduce himself. They are both pretty awkward about it, but agree to go out for coffee. Back with the Ferengi Quark is in full freak out mode, he has discovered his mother has built an entire financial empire and it was only a small venture that was discovered.
Quark decides to take this to the commerce authorities but Rom fights him to get him to stop. Finally there mother steps in and tells Rom to let him go. But before he can turn her in Rom shows up and tells him Ishka has agreed to a 50/50 profit split which Quark decides is worth it. But of course Rom was lying, but he tells them both to act like adults and storms out so they finally sit down and talk. Sisko and Kasidy's date isn't going great, she is distracted by something, but when he learns it is because she is supposed to be listening to a baseball game he gets giddy like a school boy and the two head off to listen together. Quark and his mother discuss life and how her husband was always bad at business and eventually Quark gets her to agree to confess, but in the very end we learn she only confessed to a third of her actual profits.
Review: Another solid character episode as this season gets ready to end. It seems the writers have a pretty good idea where they are going with the stories and this episode starts a few new threads.
6 out of 10
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
DS9: Explorers
After the last few episodes being main plot drivers I guess they felt the need to make a more personal episode, and while it isn't as exciting as the previous two, it does move things forward for Jake and Sisko. I don't recall Bashir's medical school colleague showing up again, but we do meet Leeta, Rom's future wife. Probably most importantly we meet Sisko's new facial hair that he keeps through the rest of the series. At this point he still has hair, but that won't stick around very long.
The episode opens with Leeta trying to convince Bashir she has a cough the needs taking care of, well, mostly she just seems to want him to take care of her. Dax stops by with the news that the Lexington is stopping but the station in a few weeks which throws Julian into hysterics. It seems his medical school rival and possibly romance interest is the chief medical officer on the Lexington and he hasn't seen her since medical school. Sisko returns from a trip from Bajor and can't wait to tell Jake about a Bajoran light sail ship he learned about and is determined to reconstruct. Jake is interested, but there is a girl coming to the station so he declines to go with his father on the trip. Sisko is building the ship with no updates from what the Bajorans a few hundred years ago would have had, other than adding artificial gravity because budgets. Gul Dukat contacts Sisko to express his concern that it may be a dangerous journey, but Sisko is convinced he just doesn't want to admit it is possible ancient Bajorans could have made it to Cardassia.
Jake gets a message from New Zealand which we don't see and decides he does want to join his father. Meanwhile Bashir runs around like a mad man trying to have everything in the best shape he can. Morn and Quark even have a bet going on how well things will go between him and his rival. Sisko and Jake set out on their journey and the ship runs well. Jake then pulls out a story he wrote and gets his dad to read it. They discuss the writing and Jake admits part of the reason he wanted to go on the trip was to discuss that he has been admitted to a writing college in New Zealand after Keiko submitted some of his stories. We also learn he doesn't want to go yet, he is determined to get his father back in the dating game first.
O'Brien and Bashir are drinking in Quarks while his classmate drinks on the far side of the bar. She gets up to walk out and walks right by Bashir without even seeing him apparently. Miles and Julian then head to Julian's quarters and get super drunk and Julian decides he needs to confront her, but Miles convinces him to at least wait until the next day. On the light ship things take a turn for the worse. One of the sails buckles and they are forced to jettison it. They head to bed for the night but are awoken by the ship suddenly rocking and moving violently, it seems they have gone to warp speed which is odd since they don't even have an engine. When they come to a stop they find that they are out of communication range with the station. The next day in Quarks Julian finally talks to her and she admits she thought he was an Andorian, she was so nervous before her valedictorian speech she totally missed his and never saw him. The two head to the infirmary and Quark wins his bet. On the light ship they are startled by the arrival of Cardassian ships, and are even more surprised to get a call from Dukat, they have made it all the way to the Cardassian system and are congratulated. Dukat even tells them that a "recently discovered" crash site seems to be from a similar ship to the one they flew.
Review: A good character episode, but after the big stories lately it seemed like a little bit of a let down. Still better than a lot of the crap in other series.
6 out of 10
The episode opens with Leeta trying to convince Bashir she has a cough the needs taking care of, well, mostly she just seems to want him to take care of her. Dax stops by with the news that the Lexington is stopping but the station in a few weeks which throws Julian into hysterics. It seems his medical school rival and possibly romance interest is the chief medical officer on the Lexington and he hasn't seen her since medical school. Sisko returns from a trip from Bajor and can't wait to tell Jake about a Bajoran light sail ship he learned about and is determined to reconstruct. Jake is interested, but there is a girl coming to the station so he declines to go with his father on the trip. Sisko is building the ship with no updates from what the Bajorans a few hundred years ago would have had, other than adding artificial gravity because budgets. Gul Dukat contacts Sisko to express his concern that it may be a dangerous journey, but Sisko is convinced he just doesn't want to admit it is possible ancient Bajorans could have made it to Cardassia.
Jake gets a message from New Zealand which we don't see and decides he does want to join his father. Meanwhile Bashir runs around like a mad man trying to have everything in the best shape he can. Morn and Quark even have a bet going on how well things will go between him and his rival. Sisko and Jake set out on their journey and the ship runs well. Jake then pulls out a story he wrote and gets his dad to read it. They discuss the writing and Jake admits part of the reason he wanted to go on the trip was to discuss that he has been admitted to a writing college in New Zealand after Keiko submitted some of his stories. We also learn he doesn't want to go yet, he is determined to get his father back in the dating game first.
O'Brien and Bashir are drinking in Quarks while his classmate drinks on the far side of the bar. She gets up to walk out and walks right by Bashir without even seeing him apparently. Miles and Julian then head to Julian's quarters and get super drunk and Julian decides he needs to confront her, but Miles convinces him to at least wait until the next day. On the light ship things take a turn for the worse. One of the sails buckles and they are forced to jettison it. They head to bed for the night but are awoken by the ship suddenly rocking and moving violently, it seems they have gone to warp speed which is odd since they don't even have an engine. When they come to a stop they find that they are out of communication range with the station. The next day in Quarks Julian finally talks to her and she admits she thought he was an Andorian, she was so nervous before her valedictorian speech she totally missed his and never saw him. The two head to the infirmary and Quark wins his bet. On the light ship they are startled by the arrival of Cardassian ships, and are even more surprised to get a call from Dukat, they have made it all the way to the Cardassian system and are congratulated. Dukat even tells them that a "recently discovered" crash site seems to be from a similar ship to the one they flew.
Review: A good character episode, but after the big stories lately it seemed like a little bit of a let down. Still better than a lot of the crap in other series.
6 out of 10
Monday, February 15, 2016
DS9: The Die is Cast
What an intense episode! If the combined Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order fleets can't stop the Dominion, can anyone? Also we learn that other Changelings are capable of appearing as perfect replicas of other species, not just the soft eared solids like Odo. I also really appreciate that Sisko is reprimanded for taking the Defiant out after Odo defying a direct order but that like the saboteur on his ship, Sisko himself is forgiven since it all turned out already in the end. Also it seems strange, but it is pretty much in line for both characters that the thing that gets Odo and Garak to finally start talking is Garak torturing Odo, but then not giving away what he found to the Federation.
The episode opens with Bashir having lunch with O'Brien who is clearly no replacement to Garak as a conversation partner. In Ops they are startled when Romulan, then Cardassian ships start decloaking and going through the wormhole. Starfleet contacts, them, they intercepted a transmission from Tain to the Cardassia telling them the plan. Thinking there might be a chance they will succeed Starfleet orders Sisko to stay where he is and not pursue Odo into the gamma quadrant. On the Romulan flagship Tain orders Garak to extract any information Odo may have on the founders from him. Garak is resistant but agrees when he learned that Tain has developed a device that might actually do the job and offers it to the Romulans. We see the device getting set up but then cut to the Defiant. They are in the gamma quadrant headed at near top speed to intercept the Romulan-Cardassian fleet when suddenly the cloak fails. Security Chief Eddington admits he did it on a direct order from the Admiral to stop Sisko from losing the Defiant. Sisko orders O'Brien to fix the damage, but keeps Eddington at tactical for being honest about what happened.
Garak's device keeps Odo from changing shape which becomes torture as he nears the time where he needs to become liquid to regenerate. Odo starts falling apart and is clearly in a lot of pain. Finally he admits to Garak that he drawn to join the great link more strongly than he has admitted to anyone and Garak realizes this is all the information he is going to get out of Odo and turns off the device. Garak lies to Tain and the Romulans and tells them Odo never broke. They have arrived at the founders world and prepare to attack. The Defiant is up and running again and Sisko sets out at maximum warp. The bombardment of the planet begins and seems to be going well, but they notice no change in the lifeform count. Something is wrong, and it becomes more wrong when hundreds of Jem'Hadar ships decloak and start attacking. The fleet is overwhelmed and Garak flees to rescue Odo and get out of there. They are stopped by the Romulan Colonel in charge who gives them what they need to escape and Garak asks why. Tovok admits to being a Changeling and then beams out. Garak tries to rescue Tain, but he refuses to leave the bridge. Odo knocks Garak out with a punch and takes him to the runabout. The two are about to be destroyed when the Defiant appears and rescues them before fleeing back to the alpha quadrant. Sisko debriefs the admiral in charge who tells him he is forgiven for now, but do it again and he will either get court marshaled or promoted. Odo stops by Garak's shop and thanks him for not telling the Federation his secret and they both agree to let go of what happened and meet for breakfast some time.
Review: What a crazy episode, things are starting to accelerate in pace, too bad it all slows down with Worf joins the show next season. A solid episode with lots of action and character moments to really be above average.
8 out of 10
The episode opens with Bashir having lunch with O'Brien who is clearly no replacement to Garak as a conversation partner. In Ops they are startled when Romulan, then Cardassian ships start decloaking and going through the wormhole. Starfleet contacts, them, they intercepted a transmission from Tain to the Cardassia telling them the plan. Thinking there might be a chance they will succeed Starfleet orders Sisko to stay where he is and not pursue Odo into the gamma quadrant. On the Romulan flagship Tain orders Garak to extract any information Odo may have on the founders from him. Garak is resistant but agrees when he learned that Tain has developed a device that might actually do the job and offers it to the Romulans. We see the device getting set up but then cut to the Defiant. They are in the gamma quadrant headed at near top speed to intercept the Romulan-Cardassian fleet when suddenly the cloak fails. Security Chief Eddington admits he did it on a direct order from the Admiral to stop Sisko from losing the Defiant. Sisko orders O'Brien to fix the damage, but keeps Eddington at tactical for being honest about what happened.
Garak's device keeps Odo from changing shape which becomes torture as he nears the time where he needs to become liquid to regenerate. Odo starts falling apart and is clearly in a lot of pain. Finally he admits to Garak that he drawn to join the great link more strongly than he has admitted to anyone and Garak realizes this is all the information he is going to get out of Odo and turns off the device. Garak lies to Tain and the Romulans and tells them Odo never broke. They have arrived at the founders world and prepare to attack. The Defiant is up and running again and Sisko sets out at maximum warp. The bombardment of the planet begins and seems to be going well, but they notice no change in the lifeform count. Something is wrong, and it becomes more wrong when hundreds of Jem'Hadar ships decloak and start attacking. The fleet is overwhelmed and Garak flees to rescue Odo and get out of there. They are stopped by the Romulan Colonel in charge who gives them what they need to escape and Garak asks why. Tovok admits to being a Changeling and then beams out. Garak tries to rescue Tain, but he refuses to leave the bridge. Odo knocks Garak out with a punch and takes him to the runabout. The two are about to be destroyed when the Defiant appears and rescues them before fleeing back to the alpha quadrant. Sisko debriefs the admiral in charge who tells him he is forgiven for now, but do it again and he will either get court marshaled or promoted. Odo stops by Garak's shop and thanks him for not telling the Federation his secret and they both agree to let go of what happened and meet for breakfast some time.
Review: What a crazy episode, things are starting to accelerate in pace, too bad it all slows down with Worf joins the show next season. A solid episode with lots of action and character moments to really be above average.
8 out of 10
Sunday, February 14, 2016
DS9: Improbable Cause
DS9 more than any other Trek is in love with multi-part episodes. So much so that they largely do away with the convention of describing them as Part I and II. This is solid example of that, and one that works especially well since it actually feels like a complete episode that is going to lead directly into something else. It also pays off on the secret in the Orias for early this season by explaining that he secret fleet being assembled there is a joint Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar plan to strike at the heart of the Dominion. And as much as they maybe shouldn't be hiding it from their governments it does seem like somebody should do something about the aggressive and advanced star empire on the other side of the wormhole.
We begin with Garak and Bashir having their usual lunch but Julian seems distracted and says he has to leave. Garak also leaves with his plate still full of food. As Bashir makes his way along the upper promenade level the station is shaken by an explosion, and it came from Garak's shop. Bashir rushes in and finds Garak injured by not critically. O'Brien and Odo start investigating the explosion and find traces of a micro-explosive on the energy relay behind the way. Garak of course refuses to give any useful information but they do discover that the remains of a device that detonates the explosives only in the presence of specific races, a device usually used by Flaxian assassins. There is a Flaxian on board so Odo brings him in for questioning and discovers his perfume trade is a cover for a set of carefully concealed toxins. O'Brien plants a tracker on the Flaxian ship and Odo prepares to follow but is surprised to find Garak also on his runabout. The two follow the Flaxian ship but it explodes as soon as it goes to warp.
The Flaxian ship appears to have been sabotaged by Romulans so they contact the Romulan government who claim the Flaxian was a convicted criminal in the Romulan Empire and the execution was legal. This only raises further questions so Odo contacts someone he knew from the Cardassian occupation who informs him of the untimely deaths of 5 other Obsidian Order operatives that same day. When he returns Garak is actually shocked by this information which is when Odo drops the bomb that he knows Garak bombed his own shop to get Odo on the case. Garak realizes if his colleagues have been killed his former boss Enabran Tain is in trouble so he convinces Odo to let him borrow a runabout to go try and save him. When they arrive at the Cardassian planet though a Romulan bird of prey decloaks above them and brings them in with a tractor beam. Tain is there and tells them he is behind all this, they are preparing to strike against the Dominion and after much back and forth Tain offers Garak a position in the Obsidian Order and Garak agrees.
Review: Why this is such a successful first part is that it tells its' own complete story while also setting up mysteries for the next episode. DS9 succeeds where the other shows fail I think partly because the whole series is in some ways one long story rather than a bunch of standalone episodes. Also I suspect VOY isn't going to be as satisfying either.
7 out of 10
We begin with Garak and Bashir having their usual lunch but Julian seems distracted and says he has to leave. Garak also leaves with his plate still full of food. As Bashir makes his way along the upper promenade level the station is shaken by an explosion, and it came from Garak's shop. Bashir rushes in and finds Garak injured by not critically. O'Brien and Odo start investigating the explosion and find traces of a micro-explosive on the energy relay behind the way. Garak of course refuses to give any useful information but they do discover that the remains of a device that detonates the explosives only in the presence of specific races, a device usually used by Flaxian assassins. There is a Flaxian on board so Odo brings him in for questioning and discovers his perfume trade is a cover for a set of carefully concealed toxins. O'Brien plants a tracker on the Flaxian ship and Odo prepares to follow but is surprised to find Garak also on his runabout. The two follow the Flaxian ship but it explodes as soon as it goes to warp.
The Flaxian ship appears to have been sabotaged by Romulans so they contact the Romulan government who claim the Flaxian was a convicted criminal in the Romulan Empire and the execution was legal. This only raises further questions so Odo contacts someone he knew from the Cardassian occupation who informs him of the untimely deaths of 5 other Obsidian Order operatives that same day. When he returns Garak is actually shocked by this information which is when Odo drops the bomb that he knows Garak bombed his own shop to get Odo on the case. Garak realizes if his colleagues have been killed his former boss Enabran Tain is in trouble so he convinces Odo to let him borrow a runabout to go try and save him. When they arrive at the Cardassian planet though a Romulan bird of prey decloaks above them and brings them in with a tractor beam. Tain is there and tells them he is behind all this, they are preparing to strike against the Dominion and after much back and forth Tain offers Garak a position in the Obsidian Order and Garak agrees.
Review: Why this is such a successful first part is that it tells its' own complete story while also setting up mysteries for the next episode. DS9 succeeds where the other shows fail I think partly because the whole series is in some ways one long story rather than a bunch of standalone episodes. Also I suspect VOY isn't going to be as satisfying either.
7 out of 10
Saturday, February 13, 2016
DS9: Through the Looking Glass
I really disliked these episodes on my original watching because of how the deviated from the main story, but on my second watching I have been enjoying them for how they show us things about characters by either how the react to this alternate universe and how they mirror themselves. O'Brien is the only character who seems to be close to the came person in both universe so I guess it makes sense he would be the one to drag Sisko into this episode. Intendant Kira is a little weak in this episode, especially when she so easily gives up in the end, but is overall excellent as usual.
The episode opens with Sisko and Odo blowing up Quark and Morns illegal Cardassian vole fighting operation but before he can enjoy his small victory Sisko is kidnapped by Smiley O'Brien and taken to the mirror universe. Smiley explain that their Sisko, who was also leading the Terran rebellion, was killed and they need him to get his wife Jennifer from Terok Nor before she can construct a sensor array that could easily detect the rebel bases. If he can't bring her back they will have to kill her and that is more than he can bear so he agrees. But this will involve him fooling everybody into thinking he is the devious and kinda evil Sisko they all know. He gets off to a good start punching Bashir for wanting to kill his wife and they come up with a plan for him and Smiley to get onto Terok Nor so he can convince Jennifer to flee with him.
They get on the station no problem and get caught immediately. Smiley gets taken to ore processing and against Garak's wishes Sisko gets taken to the Intendant's quarters. Garak shows up with Jennifer (I actually am not sure why he does this since he clearly hates Sisko, maybe I missed a line where they explained it) and after some fighting she can tell this isn't the same Sisko she knew and reluctantly agrees to go with him. Sisko uses a subdermal communicator to call Smiley and get the plan rolling. Smiley knocks out the security system and Sisko defeats two Klingon guards and gets their weapons. They link up along with a bunch of freed Terran slaves but Kira is one step ahead of them, she tortured the plan out of Rom and is there with soldiers. Sisko outsmarts her and sets the station on autodestruct. She lets them go without much of a fight. Alone Jennifer tells Sisko she knows he isn't the same person as her husband but he won't tell her what happened. Smiley gets him home and that is the end.
Review: A fairly straightforward story but it got a bit confusing in parts and it seems like some of the explanation bits got cut or something. Still a solid Sisko episode where we again see that he is a master of dealing with whatever circumstances give him and making the best of it. Also he will join any good rebellion ever except the Maquis. Also Tuvok is in this for no reason.
7 out of 10
The episode opens with Sisko and Odo blowing up Quark and Morns illegal Cardassian vole fighting operation but before he can enjoy his small victory Sisko is kidnapped by Smiley O'Brien and taken to the mirror universe. Smiley explain that their Sisko, who was also leading the Terran rebellion, was killed and they need him to get his wife Jennifer from Terok Nor before she can construct a sensor array that could easily detect the rebel bases. If he can't bring her back they will have to kill her and that is more than he can bear so he agrees. But this will involve him fooling everybody into thinking he is the devious and kinda evil Sisko they all know. He gets off to a good start punching Bashir for wanting to kill his wife and they come up with a plan for him and Smiley to get onto Terok Nor so he can convince Jennifer to flee with him.
They get on the station no problem and get caught immediately. Smiley gets taken to ore processing and against Garak's wishes Sisko gets taken to the Intendant's quarters. Garak shows up with Jennifer (I actually am not sure why he does this since he clearly hates Sisko, maybe I missed a line where they explained it) and after some fighting she can tell this isn't the same Sisko she knew and reluctantly agrees to go with him. Sisko uses a subdermal communicator to call Smiley and get the plan rolling. Smiley knocks out the security system and Sisko defeats two Klingon guards and gets their weapons. They link up along with a bunch of freed Terran slaves but Kira is one step ahead of them, she tortured the plan out of Rom and is there with soldiers. Sisko outsmarts her and sets the station on autodestruct. She lets them go without much of a fight. Alone Jennifer tells Sisko she knows he isn't the same person as her husband but he won't tell her what happened. Smiley gets him home and that is the end.
Review: A fairly straightforward story but it got a bit confusing in parts and it seems like some of the explanation bits got cut or something. Still a solid Sisko episode where we again see that he is a master of dealing with whatever circumstances give him and making the best of it. Also he will join any good rebellion ever except the Maquis. Also Tuvok is in this for no reason.
7 out of 10
Friday, February 12, 2016
DS9: Distant Voices
This is a really clever episode that unfortunately drags a bit in the middle. The set up about Julian being worried about aging and getting put into a coma hallucination is great. Him figuring out that the station in the hallucination is actually him, fantastic. Him wandering around trying to get various parts of his mind to help him fix the "station," that part kinda dragged. The ending is well done and the wrap up with Garak is really good. I also really like how this episode continues to foreshadow Julian's status as an augmented person, it would have been nice if they could have worked this out earlier, but at least it didn't just happen in the episode where it is revealed.
We begin with Garak and Bashir having lunch together and discussing Julian's upcoming 30th birthday. Garak doesn't understand why he isn't excited to be aging as age is a sign of dignity and power among Cardassians. Quark and a Lethean approach and Quark tells Bashir the Lethian is looking to get bio-mimetic gel, but Julian refuses to help. Later Bashir finds the Lethian in his office, when they see each other the Lethian grabs him by the head and blasts his brain with psychic electricity or something. Bashir wakes up in the infirmary with the lights flicker. Communications are out, the computer is out, and he suddenly has gray hair. He makes his way onto the promenade and it is also dark. Quark is cowering in his bar and something is throwing chairs. He heads to security and runs into Garak. He notices he is hearing voices in the distance, but Garak doesn't seem to hear them. They agree to split up and search for survivors. Julian heads into the core but the lights start going off and he is trapped by a forcefield as the Lethian charges at him. He escapes into a turbo lift and makes it to the wardroom where Dax, Kira, Odo and O'Brien are planning.
The four of them aren't themselves, but they agree to start working on repairing the computer. The rest look on as Miles works on the communication. He detects a signal but it is Dax talking about Bashir being in a coma and he realizes the truth, he is the only real one there, the rest are part of his mind. Dax gets grabbed by the Lethian and suddenly Julian is playing tennis on the promenade with Garak. Then he is in the infirmary with Sisko but he also gets grabbed by the Lethian. Bashir is aging more and more rapidly and runs into Quark taking bets on which organ will fail first and kill him. Garak is then having a birthday party for Julian and he realizes that Garak is actually the Lethian. He also realizes he is safe from him, but has to complete the repairs. They head to the infirmary and the Lethian can now only try to taunt him into thinking he will fail. Julian fixes the computer, puts the Lethian in a quarantine and orders the computer to sterilize him. He wakes up in the actual infirmary. Back at lunch Garak first hassles Bashir for not trusting him, but ends with, "there's hope for you yet."
Review: An episode with pronounced highs and a few not so great lows, but overall a good one. I am going to add a point for the subtle setup to the augment storyline, not sure how long the wait will be until it arrives.
7 out of 10
We begin with Garak and Bashir having lunch together and discussing Julian's upcoming 30th birthday. Garak doesn't understand why he isn't excited to be aging as age is a sign of dignity and power among Cardassians. Quark and a Lethean approach and Quark tells Bashir the Lethian is looking to get bio-mimetic gel, but Julian refuses to help. Later Bashir finds the Lethian in his office, when they see each other the Lethian grabs him by the head and blasts his brain with psychic electricity or something. Bashir wakes up in the infirmary with the lights flicker. Communications are out, the computer is out, and he suddenly has gray hair. He makes his way onto the promenade and it is also dark. Quark is cowering in his bar and something is throwing chairs. He heads to security and runs into Garak. He notices he is hearing voices in the distance, but Garak doesn't seem to hear them. They agree to split up and search for survivors. Julian heads into the core but the lights start going off and he is trapped by a forcefield as the Lethian charges at him. He escapes into a turbo lift and makes it to the wardroom where Dax, Kira, Odo and O'Brien are planning.
The four of them aren't themselves, but they agree to start working on repairing the computer. The rest look on as Miles works on the communication. He detects a signal but it is Dax talking about Bashir being in a coma and he realizes the truth, he is the only real one there, the rest are part of his mind. Dax gets grabbed by the Lethian and suddenly Julian is playing tennis on the promenade with Garak. Then he is in the infirmary with Sisko but he also gets grabbed by the Lethian. Bashir is aging more and more rapidly and runs into Quark taking bets on which organ will fail first and kill him. Garak is then having a birthday party for Julian and he realizes that Garak is actually the Lethian. He also realizes he is safe from him, but has to complete the repairs. They head to the infirmary and the Lethian can now only try to taunt him into thinking he will fail. Julian fixes the computer, puts the Lethian in a quarantine and orders the computer to sterilize him. He wakes up in the actual infirmary. Back at lunch Garak first hassles Bashir for not trusting him, but ends with, "there's hope for you yet."
Review: An episode with pronounced highs and a few not so great lows, but overall a good one. I am going to add a point for the subtle setup to the augment storyline, not sure how long the wait will be until it arrives.
7 out of 10
Thursday, February 11, 2016
DS9: Visionary
I had completely forgotten that the Miles O'Brien who exists for most of DS9 is actually from a different timeline than the one from TNG and early DS9. I don't think it ever comes up again, but the fact that he is a radiation free version of himself from a future that didn't happen is crazy. This series clearly enjoys playing with time travel and it hasn't even gotten to my two favorite episodes! Visionary isn't really a conventional time travel story, but it does get there in the end so I guess that makes up for the time shifting stuff in the beginning.
The episode opens with O'Brien waking up on the floor in Ops. He was hit with a burst of plasma and is being treated by Dr. Bashir for radiation poisoning. He is clearly shaken by it as he agrees to take the rest of the day off from work. Kira and Sisko head to meet a delegation of Romulans here for a briefing about the Dominion when they run into some drunken Klingons stuck on the station while their ship is repaired. The Romulans aren't interested in small talk or quarters, they just want their briefing so they all head straight to the wardroom to begin. In Quarks O'Brien has talked Quark into putting up a dart board but the first time Quark gives it a try he throws all of hits darts and once and hits Morn in the vest. As O'Brien goes to throw he suddenly finds himself on the Promenade watching himself talk to Quark about a holosuite the Klingons broke. Then he is back in Quarks where he falls to the ground.
Bashir tells O'Brien that he knows why Miles passed out, but O'Brien isn't buying his ignoring of the vision. The Romulan B story crawls along with them not trusting Sisko because of Odo and they demand to talk to everybody on the mission but mostly just make Kira mad. While walking on the promenade O'Brien runs into Quark who starts telling him about the Klingons breaking a holosuite when O'Brien realizes this was his vision and looks over to see himself watching and then suddenly disappear. Dax detects two temporal distortions confirming it was a real experience. Some sort of radioactive particle he was flooded with is interacting with quantum singularity that is apparently near the station, at which point I was practically screaming at my screen: "IT IS THE ROMULAN'S YOU IDIOTS! DON'T YOU ALL KNOW THAT IS WHAT THEY USE INSTEAD OF DILITHIUM???" but of course they didn't respond.
O'Brien keeps having visions of the future including one where he dies from a sabotage device hidden in a panel. He checks it along with Sisko and Odo but there is no problem. It is in an empty corridor but it starts making sense when the Romulans take up quarters there. They figure out it was the Klingons but this time O'Brien finds himself dead, Julian didn't detect some other sort of particle in him, but he is able to stop get saved with his future knowledge. Then the station is exploding as he gets away in a shuttle but he can't find out why. They also figure out the quantum singularity is orbiting the station but not the obvious Romulan connection. Julian figures out a way to flood O'Brien with radiation so he can travel forward at will and when he gets there he finds himself asleep. The time travelling O'Brien isn't feeling great from the radiation but both of them head to Ops. A Romulan ship uncloaks and attacks which is what he needed to know, so past sick O'Brien sends future healthy O'Brien back in time to warn everybody and replace him. They talk the Romulans into leaving without an attack and O'Brien is stuck with doppelganger dread.
Review: I am a sucker for time travel and this is one of the most interesting takes on it I have ever seen. Not the funniest, those ones are still ahead, but a very entertaining episode with a solid O'Brien centered A story.
8 out of 10
The episode opens with O'Brien waking up on the floor in Ops. He was hit with a burst of plasma and is being treated by Dr. Bashir for radiation poisoning. He is clearly shaken by it as he agrees to take the rest of the day off from work. Kira and Sisko head to meet a delegation of Romulans here for a briefing about the Dominion when they run into some drunken Klingons stuck on the station while their ship is repaired. The Romulans aren't interested in small talk or quarters, they just want their briefing so they all head straight to the wardroom to begin. In Quarks O'Brien has talked Quark into putting up a dart board but the first time Quark gives it a try he throws all of hits darts and once and hits Morn in the vest. As O'Brien goes to throw he suddenly finds himself on the Promenade watching himself talk to Quark about a holosuite the Klingons broke. Then he is back in Quarks where he falls to the ground.
Bashir tells O'Brien that he knows why Miles passed out, but O'Brien isn't buying his ignoring of the vision. The Romulan B story crawls along with them not trusting Sisko because of Odo and they demand to talk to everybody on the mission but mostly just make Kira mad. While walking on the promenade O'Brien runs into Quark who starts telling him about the Klingons breaking a holosuite when O'Brien realizes this was his vision and looks over to see himself watching and then suddenly disappear. Dax detects two temporal distortions confirming it was a real experience. Some sort of radioactive particle he was flooded with is interacting with quantum singularity that is apparently near the station, at which point I was practically screaming at my screen: "IT IS THE ROMULAN'S YOU IDIOTS! DON'T YOU ALL KNOW THAT IS WHAT THEY USE INSTEAD OF DILITHIUM???" but of course they didn't respond.
O'Brien keeps having visions of the future including one where he dies from a sabotage device hidden in a panel. He checks it along with Sisko and Odo but there is no problem. It is in an empty corridor but it starts making sense when the Romulans take up quarters there. They figure out it was the Klingons but this time O'Brien finds himself dead, Julian didn't detect some other sort of particle in him, but he is able to stop get saved with his future knowledge. Then the station is exploding as he gets away in a shuttle but he can't find out why. They also figure out the quantum singularity is orbiting the station but not the obvious Romulan connection. Julian figures out a way to flood O'Brien with radiation so he can travel forward at will and when he gets there he finds himself asleep. The time travelling O'Brien isn't feeling great from the radiation but both of them head to Ops. A Romulan ship uncloaks and attacks which is what he needed to know, so past sick O'Brien sends future healthy O'Brien back in time to warn everybody and replace him. They talk the Romulans into leaving without an attack and O'Brien is stuck with doppelganger dread.
Review: I am a sucker for time travel and this is one of the most interesting takes on it I have ever seen. Not the funniest, those ones are still ahead, but a very entertaining episode with a solid O'Brien centered A story.
8 out of 10
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
DS9: Prophet Motive
Any episode with such a blatant pun title as this is ok by me. Getting to see an episode play with what it means to be a Ferengi like this is really cool, and having it all be the wormhole aliens/prophets actually makes it make some sense. The B story about Bashir being nominated for a prestigious medical award I think may be the writers starting to get us ready for the idea that Bashir is more than he appears. Specifically he has been genetically engineered to be smarter than a normal person, but I am not sure when they actually decided this was the case.
The episode opens with Quark getting his lobes rubbed by a woman he is also negotiating a business deal with. She is surprised he is more interested in getting his lobes rubbed than in making a profit, but he explains he isn't just any Ferengi. They are interrupted by Rom bursting in, Quark tries to get rid of him, but he is with the Nagus! Grand Nagus Zek has arrived on the station and takes over Quark's quarters for his new mission. Bashir is working away in the infirmary when he is called to the wardroom, it is full of his friends who hand him a glass of champagne before telling him he has been nominated for the most prestigious medical award in starfleet. Not only that, he is the youngest person ever nominated. This is too much for him and he rushes back to the infirmary.
Quark can't stand living with Rom and the two decide to visit the Nagus to figure out what he is up to. He welcomes them in and Quark is shocked to find all his furniture gone. The Nagus give them his big project, a new rules of acquisition. But something is wrong, the rules are now all about helping people and respecting your family, not rules for making the most profit. The Nagus' assistant doesn't know what to say, he is as shocked as the rest of them. The middle part of the episode is all Quark freaking out about the new rules, Rom getting a job working for the new Ferengi benevolent society, and Julian being excited and also worried about his nomination.
Quark eventually learns that the Nagus has a gift for the people of Bajor and this is too much for him. He and Rom try to break into the Nagus' ship, but are caught by his assistant. Luckily the assistant is as upset as they are and lets them in. They find that the gift the Nagus plans to give is a one of the Bajoran orbs. They accidently open the Orb and Quark has an experience that shows him the Nagus' outlook is a "gift" from the prophets. The three of them kidnap the Nagus and head for the wormhole. Back on the station Julian learns he didn't win the prize. Quark is luckier though, he manages to get some time with the wormhole aliens by opening the orb inside the wormhole. They tell him that they changed the Nagus since his incessant drive for profit is dangerous. Quark tries to tell them how important profit is, but they won't listen. However they do listen when he explains that lots of Ferengi will keep coming to the wormhole the figure out what happened to the Nagus unless they fix what they did. Quark wakes up and finds the Nagus back to his old self.
Review: I really like what DS9 did with the Ferengi, they are probably my favorite race from the series. This episode isn't the most remarkable episode, but having it be about Ferengi gives it at least one extra point.
7 out of 10
The episode opens with Quark getting his lobes rubbed by a woman he is also negotiating a business deal with. She is surprised he is more interested in getting his lobes rubbed than in making a profit, but he explains he isn't just any Ferengi. They are interrupted by Rom bursting in, Quark tries to get rid of him, but he is with the Nagus! Grand Nagus Zek has arrived on the station and takes over Quark's quarters for his new mission. Bashir is working away in the infirmary when he is called to the wardroom, it is full of his friends who hand him a glass of champagne before telling him he has been nominated for the most prestigious medical award in starfleet. Not only that, he is the youngest person ever nominated. This is too much for him and he rushes back to the infirmary.
Quark can't stand living with Rom and the two decide to visit the Nagus to figure out what he is up to. He welcomes them in and Quark is shocked to find all his furniture gone. The Nagus give them his big project, a new rules of acquisition. But something is wrong, the rules are now all about helping people and respecting your family, not rules for making the most profit. The Nagus' assistant doesn't know what to say, he is as shocked as the rest of them. The middle part of the episode is all Quark freaking out about the new rules, Rom getting a job working for the new Ferengi benevolent society, and Julian being excited and also worried about his nomination.
Quark eventually learns that the Nagus has a gift for the people of Bajor and this is too much for him. He and Rom try to break into the Nagus' ship, but are caught by his assistant. Luckily the assistant is as upset as they are and lets them in. They find that the gift the Nagus plans to give is a one of the Bajoran orbs. They accidently open the Orb and Quark has an experience that shows him the Nagus' outlook is a "gift" from the prophets. The three of them kidnap the Nagus and head for the wormhole. Back on the station Julian learns he didn't win the prize. Quark is luckier though, he manages to get some time with the wormhole aliens by opening the orb inside the wormhole. They tell him that they changed the Nagus since his incessant drive for profit is dangerous. Quark tries to tell them how important profit is, but they won't listen. However they do listen when he explains that lots of Ferengi will keep coming to the wormhole the figure out what happened to the Nagus unless they fix what they did. Quark wakes up and finds the Nagus back to his old self.
Review: I really like what DS9 did with the Ferengi, they are probably my favorite race from the series. This episode isn't the most remarkable episode, but having it be about Ferengi gives it at least one extra point.
7 out of 10
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
DS9: Destiny
A pretty straight forward episode that continues Sisko on his path to accepting his status as Emissary and that establishes direct communications with the gamma quadrant. It introduces direct prophesies to the story in a way they hadn't really been present before and makes Sisko decide if he should change course based on them or risk ruining everything by listening to them. Also I honestly don't get why they are so offended Quark is trying to welcome the Cardassians back to the station, don't they believe in the peace treaty? Shouldn't they want their new friends to feel welcome?
The episode opens with Sisko and Odo planning security arrangements for a pair of visiting Cardassian scientists. They have been working on a subspace relay to send signals through the wormhole. Quark tries to drop off some Cardassian booze to welcome them but gets kicked out by Sisko. Right after that Vedek Yarka shows up to warn Sisko that a prophesy has predicted that events are in place that will lead to the permanent closure of the wormhole. Specifically that three "vipers" and a "sword of the stars" will open and then burn the gates to the celestial temple and somehow the Emissary is tied in as well. Since there are only two Cardassians and he doesn't think he is the Emissary Sisko ignore the warning. Sisko also learns Yarka has been stripped of his titles for being a pain in the ass on Bajor but Kira isn't convinced and meets with him. After she and Sisko meet with the two Cardassians to come up with a plan and it is then that she learns that a third Cardassian is on the way.
The two scientists seem to be fitting in fine although one can't stop fighting with O'Brien who she clearly thinks is incompetent. Dax has no problem getting along though as she is apparently a fan of Cardassian literature. They get things ready though and head through the wormhole to deploy the relay. They find a comet near the entrance on the gamma quadrant with high levels of silithium and Kira gets worried this is the sword of the stars but Sisko tells her to not talk about it in front of the Cardassians. They turn the relay on but something goes wrong and the wormhole increase in gravity enough to start sucking the comet in before they can turn things off. The silithium in the comet will destroy the wormhole apparently so that is the new crisis. O'Brien comes up with a plan to modify the phasers to blast the whole thing at once and gets to work with the Cardassian he has been working with. She gets romantic and it turns of acting annoyed with one another is how Cardassians flirt so she is upset when she learns he is married.
Things seem to be going well until the time comes to blast the comet. The modifications don't work and the phasers array explodes. O'Brien starts blaming himself but the Cardassian he was working with reveals their colleague is a member of the Obsidian Order and sabotaged the system. They still have the problem of the comet though which is now in three pieces. Kira and Sisko fly a shuttle along with the comet fragments through the wormhole. It leaks a little silitium as it goes which is just enough to let the signal through. Sisko realizes they have fulfilled the prophesy only it was a good thing, not a bad thing. The episode ends with Vedek Yarka telling him that the next prophesy about the Emissary calls for a fiery trial...
Review: A very Trek episode with a science fiction plot mixed with Cardassian politics, religious prophesy and solid character development like only DS9 can accomplish. Not top ten of all time or anything, but a good episode.
7 out of 10
The episode opens with Sisko and Odo planning security arrangements for a pair of visiting Cardassian scientists. They have been working on a subspace relay to send signals through the wormhole. Quark tries to drop off some Cardassian booze to welcome them but gets kicked out by Sisko. Right after that Vedek Yarka shows up to warn Sisko that a prophesy has predicted that events are in place that will lead to the permanent closure of the wormhole. Specifically that three "vipers" and a "sword of the stars" will open and then burn the gates to the celestial temple and somehow the Emissary is tied in as well. Since there are only two Cardassians and he doesn't think he is the Emissary Sisko ignore the warning. Sisko also learns Yarka has been stripped of his titles for being a pain in the ass on Bajor but Kira isn't convinced and meets with him. After she and Sisko meet with the two Cardassians to come up with a plan and it is then that she learns that a third Cardassian is on the way.
The two scientists seem to be fitting in fine although one can't stop fighting with O'Brien who she clearly thinks is incompetent. Dax has no problem getting along though as she is apparently a fan of Cardassian literature. They get things ready though and head through the wormhole to deploy the relay. They find a comet near the entrance on the gamma quadrant with high levels of silithium and Kira gets worried this is the sword of the stars but Sisko tells her to not talk about it in front of the Cardassians. They turn the relay on but something goes wrong and the wormhole increase in gravity enough to start sucking the comet in before they can turn things off. The silithium in the comet will destroy the wormhole apparently so that is the new crisis. O'Brien comes up with a plan to modify the phasers to blast the whole thing at once and gets to work with the Cardassian he has been working with. She gets romantic and it turns of acting annoyed with one another is how Cardassians flirt so she is upset when she learns he is married.
Things seem to be going well until the time comes to blast the comet. The modifications don't work and the phasers array explodes. O'Brien starts blaming himself but the Cardassian he was working with reveals their colleague is a member of the Obsidian Order and sabotaged the system. They still have the problem of the comet though which is now in three pieces. Kira and Sisko fly a shuttle along with the comet fragments through the wormhole. It leaks a little silitium as it goes which is just enough to let the signal through. Sisko realizes they have fulfilled the prophesy only it was a good thing, not a bad thing. The episode ends with Vedek Yarka telling him that the next prophesy about the Emissary calls for a fiery trial...
Review: A very Trek episode with a science fiction plot mixed with Cardassian politics, religious prophesy and solid character development like only DS9 can accomplish. Not top ten of all time or anything, but a good episode.
7 out of 10
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