Amph To Boldly Trek Where Many Geeks Have Gone Before- VOY: Drive, Repression & Imperfection

Kapla!

 

Well, it is the trope-namer for Growing the Beard, after all

 

Apparently it was very difficult to get one of those actors to reprise the role (because he was an extra or something) for the Voyager follow up so they had to recast.

 

I've got a few "in the can", so to speak. Just gotta get them formatted and posted. I'll try to get an update this week.

 

So, Sunday was the 47th Anniversary of Star Trek, marking the airing of The Man Trap (amusing to note that that was one of the two episodes I was unable to finish when I first started this project). On top of the requests here, it seems only fitting that I get at least one update posted this week .


DS9 524: Empok Nor
-Premise: Scavenging an abandoned Cardassian space station identical to DS9 for equipment, O'Brien's team discovers that the station may not be completely abandoned.



-T2Q Comments: Sister station to DS9 a neat idea (though likely one introduced just so that they could reuse station sets). It can be creative and frugal at the same time. Garak! Huzzah!

Dr Chambers from Crusade as Engineer. Discussion on O'Brien's past service in battle against the Cardassians. Garak seems to be pronouncing Bashir's name slightly differentlly, "BASH-sheer" instead of the usual "Buh-Sheer".

Powering up the derelict station is kinda neat, though it seems a bit too easy/quick. The ambush is legitimiately startling. This episode has made a greater than usual attempt to develop it's "red shirts". I think it'd be nice if they had maanged to do this more often (or even set them up over a couple episodes, though Voyager has done this to a lesser degree).

So, I'd like to go with Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential, though there is apparently an offhand reference to the events of this episode in a later episode and they do come back here a couple more times, so we'll have to upgrade it to Potentially Essential.

I'm not sure I entirely liked what they did with Garrak here- it's hard to walk him back from killing someone like that, even he wasn't himself. Then again it's hard to walk a character back from devolving into a lizard or spider-man, so, hey, maybe murder isn't so difficult by comparison.

Trivia: The original pitch for this episode paired Garrak with Worf aboard a Runabout that comes upon a derelict ship beloning to the Obsidian order before Garrak turns against Worf.

The "spoonhead" racial slur uttered by Amaro was unscripted and unapproved by the producers as it was created in the ADR looping stage and wasn't meant to be very audible, as such the episode was somewhat controversial as it seemingly violated Roddenberry's tenet of there not being any racism in Starfleet.

The environmental suit from First Contact appears here, as well as the Type 3 phaser from that movie, which makes it's only DS9 appearance here.



DS9 525: In the Cards
-Premise: Jake and Nog get into trouble while trying to cheer up Sisko by acquiring a mint-condition 1951 Willie Mays rookie baseball card; the Dominion offers to sign a nonaggression pact with Bajor.



-T2Q Comments: Somehow I suspect that the notion people will still care about baseball cards 300 years from now will end up seeming more dated than anything else on the show, heh.

The Jake/Nog scene about money is quite amusing, especially given the inconsistencies on the issue in the franchise. I forget if we've seen this shot of a Dominion cruiser docked at DS9 but man, they do look sharp and big.

"I'm not crazy...I'm just a little obsessed"

"Lions, Gigers, Bears."
"Oh my."

"The entire future of the galaxy may depend on us tracking down Willie Mays and stopping him."

It's a little odd that the happy ending montage involves Lyta getting screwed over. Cute episode- it threatened to get corny towards the end but it managed to right itself quick enough. Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential- however, depending on how the whole Bajor/Dominion thing plays out, there could be some relevenace here so I'll go with Potentially Essential for now.

Trivia: Concieved as a bottle show and funny episode prior to the more serious events of the season finale. The original story has Giger trying to genetically resserect his dead wife using just her ear, however they found it conflicted with how he was not meant to be taken seriously and using the dead wife storyline makes you want him to succeed, so they eventually came to the "sounds plausible at first, then crazy" approach to immortality.

Re: Jake's quoting of Picard's dialogue from First Contact on money, Moore commented "I take great glee at mocking my own work.".

Morn can be seen leaving the bar with the painting from the auction, it will appear again down the road. When Nog says "You calibrate, I'll scan" he actually hands a tricorder to Jake by accident. First episode of Star Trek to be directed by Michael Dorn.

One bar of Latinum is supposed to be equal to twenty strips, but Quark raises the price at the auction to 1 bar and 25 strips, which is then "outbid" by an offer of 2 bars, which would be actually less than the previous bid.



DS9 526: Call to Arms
-Premise: Sisko attempts to prevent more Dominion ships from entering the Alpha Quadrant by mining the wormhole; Gul Dukat responds by launching a massive assault fleet against the station.



-T2Q Comments: Garrak- huzzah! I like how the Dominion convoy doesn't exit the wormhole slow and gracefully like most ships have almost always done, but rather come out like a spread of bullets.

Romulans, Tholians and others going non-aggressive against Dominion. Guess we won't be seeing an all-Alpha teamup battle afterall.

"One things for certain: We're losing the peace, which means a war might be our only hope."

This episode has an unusual amount of close-ups of coffee mugs.

They need more time to deploy the minefield- surely they could spare a runabout or two to help accelerate the process, especially if thats the primary objective?

"You don't think Starfleet could be persuaded to send us a few more ships- say, fifty?"

Curious about these shoulder targeting things on Dukat and the Vorta- they look less functional and cool than I think they were intended to.

Garrak and Dukat's daughter get a nice moment here

"And the moral of the story, my dear, is to never underestimate my gift for survival."

"I promised the Federation news service a first hand account of the battle."
"You'll get it. Just remember: 'Bashir' is spelled with an 'i'."

"You'd shoot a man in the back?"
"Well, it's the safest way, isn't it?"

First part of the battle has some nice fireworks. Not quite a Fleet Junkie tango but certainly a Fleet Junkie cha-cha-cha.

The two ships cloaking side by side as they make a run for it is a neat shot.

"He's letting me know- he'll be back."

The baseball is a nice bit of symbolism to end the season onnnnOHMYGODFLEETGASM!!!!



Guess Dukat seems to have forgotten the second half of StarFLEET- it's in the name, beotch! That has to be the most ships seen on screen at once so far...

Station back under Dukat's control, Starfleet regrouping big time, a couple marriages being performed or proposed, Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Historical parallels discussed during the development of this story include the events of War and Peace, the fall of the Phillippines to Japan and the evacuation of Dunkirk by the British.

The idea to leave behind Sisko's baseball was Moore's. Last episode of the series to be co-written by departing writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who cameos as an injured Starfleet officer boarding the Defiant.

With the final shot, the effects team had gone beyond what was intended with the scene, by implying a marshalling of forces for a new attack instead of just a rejoining with the fleet. As such, the opening to Season 6 had to be changed entirely to accomodate the effects work done in that scene, as the original opening didn't work with the raised expectations resulting from the effects team's work.

The fleet scene was also one the last to use physical models in scenes of this nature.

The Defiant-class, Bird of Prey, Galaxy-class, Saber-class, Steamrunner-class and Akira-class were done in CGI (the latter three making their first appearance since First Contact, with the models from ILM handed over for remapping- a transfer process that supposedly claimed the model of the Norway-class).

Excelsior-class, Miranda-class, K'T'inga-class and Cor'cha-class were physical models (the latter three being either AMT/Ertl model kits or Playmates Toys).

The fleet scene is also the first indication that the Defiant-class had entered production, as two other Defiant-class ships can be seen (the first of three times more than one Defiant-class ship appears on screen at the same time), they are however, not either of the two named or seen later in the series.

This was one of Behr's favorite DS9 episodes and Moore's favorite season finale of any Star Trek show, Best of Both Worlds included.

Sisko's line "These are the times that try men's souls." quotes Thomas Paine's The American Crisis- which was also quoted in the original V miniseries. Rom's farewell speech to Leeta is paraphrasing Bogart's final speech to Bergman in Casablanca (hmm, interesting that Rom would have a connection to that movie, given that Quark had a Casablanca Bogart-like homage/role in an earlier episode).


Up next: VOY 326 & 401: Scorpion, Parts I & II.

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 station (Sinclair/Sisko).
-Characters have discussion of higher and lower lifeforms awareness of each other to that of ants (Odo & Kira/G'Kar & Catherine Sakai).
-3rd Season Premiere introduces a new prototype warship for use by the station's crew using technology from other races (Vorlon/Romulan), in response to the appearance of a powerful new enemy race (Shadows/ Dominion)
-Image of female commanding officer of station used (or attempted to be used) in an erotic hologram program against her knowledge/wishes.
-Shady Political Organization develops it's own fleet of ships in secret without knowledge of the military (Obsidian Order/Psi Corps)
-A redheaded female character named Leeta/Lyta becomes a recurring character on the show in 1995, played by somewhat similar looking actresses.
-During a time travel story in the 3rd season, the Commander of the station becomes/takes on the identity of a key historical figure.
-An alien brings (or is speculated to have brought) knowledge of the future to the past that is passed on by others as religious prophecy amongst a spiritual people.
-A main character uncontrollably flashes forward in time and attempts to use those visions to change future events (Miles/Several)
-The Doctor must, through strength of will, fight his way through a potentially fatal wound inflicted by a one-shot criminal, guided by vision(s) of a familiar face(s) representing a different facet of his mind. (Bashir/Franklin)
-The opening title sequence involves people in spacesuits doing external repairs to the station to convey a sense of scale
-Weapon systems of the station are upgraded for a coming battle
-Weapon systems on the station of similar design emerge from hidden ports
-The station, after harboring political/military refugees/fugitives, must defend itself in battle (both against ships and boarding parties) against former allies. Re-enforcements to the attacking forces are known to arrive just as allied re-enforcements do so, forcing the resolution to the battle to make the attacking forces standdown.
-A warrior of alien traditions joins the main cast about midway through the series.
-A main character is involved in a "lesbian" relationship in an episode that aired in October 1995.
-The main character (Sheridan/Sisko) serves under a high ranking Earth military officer played by Robert Foxworth (Hague/Leyton), who is attempting a coup against the Earth's government.
-A guest character undergoes a mindwipe/death of personality. (chronological viewing also results in this episode being back to back with the VOY episode that features Brad Douriff, who plays the guest character on B5)
-Labor disputes attempted to be resolved "by any means necessary" via enforcers.
-A main alien character becomes more human through a drastic physical change.
-The main enemy of the series (Shadows/Dominion) attempt to destabilize opposing forces by inciting war between factions by controlling/manipulating/allying with the rulers of one (or both) sides.
-The advanced alien race worshipped as holy figures have a cast-off (or opposing) faction/race villified by the same races (Vorlons/Shadows; Minbari, Narns, etc).
-A character has a vision of being on a planet and looking up to see enemy forces blot out the sun (Londo/Sisko)
-The station Captain has fragmented visions of events to come. (Sheridan/Sisko)
-A character initiates an area spread of a attack with a weapon to reveal and kill two cloaked enemies they only suspected were there.
-The characters visit a derelict sister station. (B4/Empok Nor)



As that wraps up Season 5, we can look back to it in review now- though, as one would expect, with the increase of serialistic plotlines and overall quality boosts, there's not much to skip:

Definitely Essential:
501: Apocalypse Rising
502: The Ship
503: Looking For par'Mach in All the Wrong
505/506: Trials and Tribble-ations
506/505: The Assignment
508: Things Past
510: Rapture
512: The Begotten
513: For the Uniform
514: In Purgatory's Shadow
515: By Inferno's Light
516: Doctor Bashir, I Presume
521: Soldiers of the Empire
523: Blaze of Glory
526: Call to Arms

Potentially Essential, But Not Necessarily Good:
519: Ties of Blood and Water
520: Ferengi Love Songs
522: Children of Time
524: Empok Nor
525: In the Cards

Good Episodes, But Not Necessarily Essential:
504: Nor the Battle to the Strong
511: The Darkness and the Light
517: A Simple Investigation
518: Business as Usual

Average:
507: Let He Who Is Without Sin...
509: The Ascent

(and no "OK" or "Forgettable" episodes!)

 

Pretty much correct- but that wasn't made clear until after the scene my snarky comment was made in response to- these things are chronological reading .

Always kinda felt bad for Jake due to the baseball thing- it's great that he and his dad could bond over it, but with it being a dead sport, he's not only geeking out over something people aren't that familiar with, he's actually geeking out over stuff people on the station (being mostly nonhumans) haven't even heard of- and then reacts with a "you've never heard of the greatest short stop to ever play for the Martian Rockhounds?" attitude.

Random thought now- I think I missed another B5 connection with Sheridan playing baseball, hmm...