Amph "You are of Bajor" A 'Trek' to 'Deep Space Nine'

I don't know about that- I'm only 4 seasons done so far, but I think DS9 really found it's groove in the 4th season and the writing quality has been pretty good.

While the broader strokes of the series aren't that original when compared to B5, it's managed to explore some unique storylines and themes that B5 didn't (mostly since B5 was set in a "real world" future as opposed to a idealistic utopia, so the "easy to be a saint in paradise" angles were much more impactful and easier to explore than in B5's universe) and, unlike Voyager, it's been willing to take chances and make ongoing changes (even if standalones tend to rely on the reset button more often than not).

It hasn't been perfect, but as far as my rating scale goes, as Marine pointed out, DS9's "essential" scale are greatly increased as it has progressed. But, moreso than Voyager and Enterprise (which both kinda flailed around without purpose throughout their runs), you can tell they had an idea of what the show was going to be/supposed to be, and stuck to that.

In fact, though I'll go into specifics after the season finale when I review the season as a whole, DS9 Season 4 is, so far, the best performing season of the entire franchise, so far as my scale is concerned.

 

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DS9 426: Broken Link (SEASON FINALE)
-Premise: Odo is plagued by an unknown ailment that threatens to kill him. Meanwhile, the Federation and the Klingon Empire move closer to war.

-T2Q Comments: Garrak, huzzah!

"What's wrong?" "I've been bluescreened!"

Ah, we return to Gowron and his baby blues and the Klingon plot that started the season. Maybe the pregnancy sneezes are a consequence of those nose ridges, ha. This purple haired chick... I think they were trying too hard (though apparenly she's shown up before, just never named until now).

"Someone is requesting permission to come onboard."
"Who is it?"
"...Garrak."
"Tell him the ship is off limits to Cardassian spys."

Offsetting shot of the Defiant surrounded by so many Jem'Hadar ships. The female Changeling looks different this time around. That warp flight shot of the Defiant being escorted by the Jem'Hadar ships is quite lovely- it's not the type of shot we've really had in Trek before, and is more B5-esque than anything else.

That's... a lot of Changelings. you know, i actually remember this scene too, so i must have tuned in for this one. The stone skipping moment is great, ha!

"Sabotage, assaulting a Federation officer, attempting to incite war between the Federation and the Dominion.."
"Yes- but my heart was in the right place."

I don''t remember the ending though, so it's an interesting chunk of memory at play here. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Chalan Aroya was originally written to be a recurring character as a love interest for Odo for the 5th season but the producers felt she wasn't right for Odo and so abandoned that notion.


Up next: DS9 501: Apocalypse Rising & DS9 502: The Ship.


The Babylon Project Log:

-Space stations ending with a numerical designation that are of commerce ports in nature (prominently featuring a casino area), near a giant swirling blue vortex passageway (wormhole/jumpgate) used for travel and a location of advanced creation (prophet temple/Great Machine).
-Hard-edged female second in command, pessimistic, sarcastic security chief. somewhat ethnic doctor.
-Characters named Dukat/Dukhat
-A spiritual race recently coming free of occupation by a more militaristic civilization, the conflict of which led the spiritual race to become more militant themselves.
-Gambler conman (Quark/Londo) has somewhat fluctuating antagonistic friendship with hard-edged chief of security (Odo/Garabaldi).
-Characters played by Julie Caitlin Brown have a long-standing grudge against a notorious murderer who has prolonged their life at the expense of others through scientific experimentation (Rao Vantika/Jha'dur "Deathwalker").
-The term "Changeling" has significance in relation to early parts of both series (the B5 pilot "the Gathering" and DS9's "Vortex" & beyond), though applied to different elements (technology versus a species).
-A main character slowly constructs a device (chrysalis/clock) piece of piece in their quarters while conversing with a subordinate .
-A main character often referred to as Chief (Miles/Garibaldi) has a recurring assistant (Neela/garibaldi's Aide) who is a plant by another faction that attempts to bring about political change by assassinating a prominent rival leader (Bariel/Santiago) in the first season finale so that one of their faction may replace him (Adami/Clark). Their plot is uncovered by the Chief character.
-The Circle/Homeguard Bajoran for Bajorans, vandalism with a symbol; subdues and brands an alien on the middle of the forehead with their logo
-Second Season opens with a command officer (Sinclair/Kira) being reassigned from the station to be among the religious order of a species heavily involved with the operation of the station, partly due to prophecy
-A near-human alien race has their hair up in a fan-style to represent social status.
-A character played by Julia Nickson (Catherine/Cassandra) romances (or attempts to romance) the commander of the stat

 

Yeah, this is about to get interesting, as we're entering into what is arguably the peak of the Star Trek franchise: DS9 is hitting the Dominion War (with the much-advertised 30th anniversary Tribbles episode thrown in for good measure), the film franchise is about to release First Contact (bringing Trek it's most mainstream audience popularity/awareness) and Voyager is about to pick up where First Contact leaves off and bring a focus onto the Borg (which will pretty much become the show's most notable element) and have it's 30th anniversary Sulu/Eclesior episode.

This was the franchise firing on all cylinders. I think the closest it ever came to that was 90/91's BOBW/ST6 combo.

 

I agree- that window is definitely Trek's glory years, as you suggest, I'm saying this coming year in the review is the peak of those glory years. After this, things plateau for a bit (Voyager's Borg episodes and 7 of 9 keep the spotlight on the franchise for awhile) but then start to decline.

Then franchise killer Insurrection shows up and expends much of Trek's goodwill in the mainstream audience (in a year when it needed to stand up to the returning onslaught of Star Wars and show people what Trek could offer that SW couldn't- and it's not like SW didn't make it easy for Insurrection, given the quality/perception of TPM), furthered by Voyager petering out and Enterprise's early missteps (combined with the evolving and less forgiving model for network TV no longer affording the franchise's "we'll forget about the first 2 or 3 seasons" crutch).



Anyways, before we head on to Season 5...


DS9 Season 4 Breakdown:

Since so many episodes in this season are Definitely Essential, it's easier to just list the ones that aren't...

Potentially Essential, But Not Necessarily Good:
410: Our Man Bashir
416: Bar Association
425: Body Parts

Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential:
406: Rejoined
417: Accession
418: Rules of Engagement
419: Hard Time

Average:
421: The Muse

There's not a lot to say, really- this season was great. Way of the Warrior is officially one of the best Trek "movies" and we just got some badass episodes from this season, as well as some great quiet ones like The Quickening. And Dukat and Garrak stuff is always welcome.

The Homefront two parter may not have been entirely successful, though- but it still had some great components and really started to clearly present the series "it's easy to be a saint in paradise" thesis as it starts to take apart Roddenberry's utopia and really look at the realties involved with it, while still holding up the ideals it represents.

 

Well, I can only comment on what I've seen so far (I can't reply to any specifics you cite as I'm skipping past the later season spoilers so didn't read most of that paragraph)- perhaps you are correct and the series loses focus later on, however my analysis isn't that inaccurate at this point- and seeing as Koohli has seen less of the series than I have at this point, I think it's a fair rebuttal. But, if his analysis ends up being correct in the long run, I'll certainly keep an eye open for it.

 

Didn't stall, but I finally caught up on my reviews vs where I was in the viewing order. I do have the next three episodes viewed (Apocalypse Rising & The Ship for DS9, The Chute for VOY), I just need to convert my notes and code the post(s). That generally takes about 45 min to an hour to do (sometimes longer if it's all VOY episodes, since Memory Alpha is so much more extensive in it's background/production notes for VOY than it is for DS9), depending on how extensive the notes are, and how many image links I need to extract from Memory Alpha .

However, I have spring break starting Mon, so I probably will be able to squeak it in before the move happens . And, hopefully, get a few more episodes under my belt.

 

As promised...

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DS9 501: Apocalypse Rising
-Premise: Sisko leads a commando team into Klingon headquarters in an attempt to expose the Changeling impersonating Gowron. (Season Premiere)

-T2Q Comments: Doesn't seem like a good move to open the recap AND the teaser proper with the same shot of the station.

"I hate prototypes."

Dukat returns, along with his stolen Bird of Prey. As amusing as it is, I'm not too hot on the dressing-actors as-other-races approach... it sometimes tends to break the illusion except with similar species like Vulcan/Romulans, etc.

New shot of the station as the BOP departs... CGI station?

"This is still your fault" a bit of a meta joke referencing the realworld origin of the baby subplot I suppose?

And, ya know, they can do the cosmetic surgery to make Odo look like a Klingon... can't they humanize his face? Gowron and his baby blues returns again.

"Glory to you..." ::eyes widen beyond human capacity:: "..and your house." Yeah that's a Gowron thing right there.

Ah, at least they bring up the implications of Starfleet cosmetic surgery for Odo. So, it begins to resolve the Klingon conflict, plus has Gowron and Changelings, so we'll go with Definitely Essential.

Trivia: The primary goal of Season 5 in general, and Apocalypse Rising in particular, was to get the show back on track towards the Dominion War plotline that Season 3 had been building to before Paramount had them shake things up with the Klingon conflict plotline in Season 4. At the same time they wanted to tie the Klingon conflict into the Dominion War so as not to give the impression that Season 4 was a pointless interlude- they wanted people to know that they didn't switch horses midstream.

The decision to make Martok a Changeling instead of Gowron was done o as not to upset TNG fans- but the producers were so pleased with the actor's performance here that they decided to bring back the real Martok later on. This episode was originally concieved to be a two-parter, with the first part on Dukat's BOP and the second on the planet. Dukat's daughter was to appear in this episode, but only had one line, so it was felt there was no point filming the scene with her and Dukat.

Despite Dax's knowledge of Klingon culture, she was not part of the mission because Terry Farrell was allergic to the excessive Klngon make-up. Michael Dorn enjyed seeing his co-stars undergo the same heavy makeup that he was forced to endure for several years. Colm Meaney was so uncomfortable and complained so much that Dorn asked the producers to never put him in maeup again. On the flipside, Rene found the Klingon makeup much easier than Odo's usual makeup since it covered less of his face. Rene previously played a non-Klingon disguised as a Klingon in ST6 as Colonel West.


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DS9 502: The Ship
-Premise: Sisko fights to keep the wreckage of a crashed Jem'Hadar fighter.

-T2Q Comments: This Benzite's makeup work seems a tad sloppy- you can clearly see the mask circles around the eyes. VR interface... yep, this is definitely mid 90's sci-fi .

This actress is either familiar or is like a white Sherry Palmer...very similar mannerisms. She does a good job of being of that offsettingly friendly disposition. The dying crewmember subplot seems to be focused on a bit too much for my taste, but Sisko's snapping commands to get everyone in order is pretty good (though I'm hoping it's not the object they're seeking on the ship that is causing them to act this way, otherwise that'd be a bit too cliche and sort of a repeat of the Sword of Kahless's misdirection).

This next-to-last scene with Sisko is rather fantastic, however (it's only shortcoming being the prior non-recurring nature of the de

 

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DS9 503: Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
-Premise: Worf helps Quark woo Grilka, his Klingon ex-wife.

-T2Q Comments: Mouthful of a title, ha. We return to The House of Quark ex-wife of Quark's. An actor credit came up for "Phil Morris"...oof, tough luck on that name.

"War- what is it good for? If you ask me, absolutely nothing."

On the upside they summarize The House of Quark, which makes seeing that episode less essential. I rather like this one panning shot of the Defiant's bridge, lights dimmed as the opera music plays. Odo's snarky tone is a bit over the top.

"You are an interesting man."
"I always thought so."

It actually would have been better if this "right of proclaimation" was a real thing- Quark asserting his ways instead of buying time by making up such a right as an excuse. Not sure how I feel about the Miles/Kira thing... it's kinda played for laughs slightly, but at least they're able to break it up.

"What happened to you two?"
"Well, um, if you must know..."

Well, a curious episode on three relationships there... the Quark thing is kinda amusing though nothing special, the Miles/Kira thing is awkward (though to it's credit (or, at least, to the credit of my unawareness of how this plot turns out) I found myself going "don't do it don't do it don't do it" ) but the Dax/Worf thing works.

I'm guessing the introduction of the Worf/Dax thing here elevates this to DefinitelY Essential (or, at the very least, Potentially Essential).

Trivia: First episode directed by Andrew Robinson (Garak- huzzah!). The original idea of doing a DS9 episode based on Cyrano de Bergerac was Dorn's. The episode's title is the second longest in Trek history (surpassed only by TOS's "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky"). The title comes from a line in a Johnny Lee song from the 80's, with the Klingon word for "love" inserted. This is the only time a Klingon word appears in an episode title.

Despite Quark's line, the 24th Rile of Acquisition is "War is good for business". The actor Phil Morris I alluded to earlier played Thopek here- he previously appeared as a child in TOS: Miri, a cadet in ST3 and would later appear on DS9 and VOY as other characters. He also auditioned for the role of Sisko but was turned down because he was too young.


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DS9 504: Nor the Battle to the Strong
-Premise: After diverting to the Federation hospital on Ajilon Prime looking for an interesting story, Jake believes himself to be a coward when repeated Klingon attacks awaken him to the reality of war and force him to abandon Dr. Bashir and run for cover.

-T2Q Comments: Haven't much to say on the ep so far- it's quite good, but even here, at the halfway mark, I don't think Jake's voiceover is working in tone (but I do like that they are trying experimental things with style like talking to the camera, etc in recent episodes).

The brief encounter with the gruff, wounded starfleet officer is an effective scene and a little grimmer than is typical for Trek.

"I was hoping you'd say that because if this story had an unhappy ending, I would never have forgiven you."

So, to sum up these two scenes, this kid basically says "You should go visit him." then, 2 sentences of exchange later, he comes in and goes "Ok, that's enough".

"...will always be remembered as a pointless skirmish" kinda sums up the only major flaw to this story: this breaking of the cease fire should be something that can't be reset-buttoned away so easily at the end of the episode... it makes me suspect that this was meant to be a Season 4 episode that got postponed past the resolution of the Klingon conflict.

That said, it's otherwise a very solid episode and you have to admit that the Jake actor did a tremendou

 

I do have a good backlog, though not as much as I would have liked (beginning the process of moving, so the last couple months have been pretty cataloging and packing up everything to put into storage until the house sells). I believe I left off finishing with Unity on Voyager and the Purgatory/Inferno DS9 2-parter, with that span of episodes also covering First Contact.

I'll start posting updates hopefully in the next few days- though, now that we're all one big happy family, I think I'll be posting all future updates in the original Amph thread that I started the project in and leave this thread for discussion of the series as a whole as it originally was. It's easier to format things once based on my viewing order and without having to break things up by series, and avoids redundant cross posting the same content across multiple threads- plus, that thread is where all this started, so it should be where it ends.

Glad to have you guys back along for the ride though.

EDIT- also, you may notice some of my longer updates were clipped in the move- as I understand it, thats a temporary thing from the move that they're working on.