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

Well, if what you are implying is true, then I'm glad they didn't double the melodrama with two father/son issues

 

I understand your reasoning- if the series hasn't been your thing to this point, it makes sense for you not to continue it as a series. I only suggested WOTW since it's mostly stand-alone (or, Worf-wise, cold be seen as a minor bridge between Generations and First Contact) and, since I believe you've mentioned enjoying other Trek, that you might enjoy on that basis as a TV movie of sorts, not as an enticement to continue watching the series.

 

Ha, I hadn't thought of that observation (I think I was distracted by 3 others from WOTW ). I'll add it to my list

 

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DS9 401/402: The Way of the Warrior
-Premise: When a Klingon fleet under General Martok arrives at the station ostensibly to protect the Alpha Quadrant from the Dominion, Sisko recruits Lt. Commander Worf to discover the Klingons' true intentions. (Season Premiere)

-T2Q Comments: Did not realize this was a two-parter/feature-length episode going into it- a pleasant surprise. I guess it kinda makes this a 2nd pilot in a way. New theme, new cast, new-looking Captain, new momentum forward.

This Changeling sweep drill is a neat follow-up to the events of The Adversary. Quark looks different here- I think they did something with his nose or eyebrow region differently. Sherri Palmer returns- don't trust her Sisko- even if she doesn't turn out to be a Changeling, she's worse!

Wooooooooahhhh! Even though we had that Romulan/Cardassian fleet shot last seaosn, this reveal of the Klingon fleet still has a big impact.

New theme song rendition...I like the war drums addition to the start, but I'm not as sold on the synth-sounding beat underneath the rest...combined with the quicker horns, it actually makes the real instruments sound a little faker...as if it were a high quality MIDI file. Not terrible (certainly adds a B5 vibe to things), but I still liked the more majestic nature of the original.

The addition of the ships coming and going are a nice improvement though (but one or two feel shoe-horned in), making DS9 feel like a busy place and not just a model alone by itself. The subtle improvement to the background starfield is also welcome. The Defiant's presence is also welcome. The "guys in spacesuits do repairs" thing adds a nice scale but one can't help but draw a comparison to B5's opening titles for it's first two seasons. Slightly different font and letter coloring too. A shame they spoil Dorn's addition to the cast here though.

Garek! Huzzah!

"I didn't know you spoke Klingon."
"Oh, you';d be surprised at the things you learn from doing alterations."

Klingons keep cloaking and decloaking to deter people from getting an accurate count of how many ships they have there, heh- that tactic never occurred to me before but that's a good one...at the very least it's almost the cloaking technology equivalent of flipping the bird... of prey (sorry, couldn't resist ).

Even though it violates Bajoran space..what the Klingons are doing is pretty much what should probably start being done by everyone, really- at least in areas of high risk to filter out possible Changeling infiltrations.

Nice touch that it's Miles that greets Worf. Also interesting that Worf is once again meeting a bald Captain.

First reference to the loss of the Enterprise-D.

I forget if I mentioned this awhile back or not, but I tried prune juice for the first time a few months ago- ack! that crap tastes like raisin juice. Now, I like raisins, don't get me wrong...but not in liquid form, yelch!

Another nice background touch with Morn leaving his bar stool when the Klingon that harassed him arrives.

Skeletor returns! Callbacks to Dax's klingon history, as well as "Emperor Kahless". Dukat's makeup looks different here too- i wonder went on between seasons?

Disbanding of the Federation/Klingon treaty as Gowron and his baby blues returns.

"There was nothing we could not do."
"Except keep the holodecks working right."


"I know how much you miss the Enterprise- but I'm sure they'll be building a new one soon."
"It will not be the same. The Enterprise I knew is gone. Those were good years."

Lyta! Wonder if she's the same character who got tossed around on the Enterprise, or if she's here to help steal the Defiant..

"never been on a Federation ship with a cloaking device" well, technically you had the Pegasus phase cloak that one time on the Enterprise...

Arm quantum torpedos..is this the first time they've been ment

 

Yeah- apparently there was some debate about that scene's portrayal, as the director wanted to play it for laughs while the actors wanted to play the obvious subtext. Behr eventually decided it for the subtext as it was never meant to be a joke.

 

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DS9 403: The Visitor
-Premise: After a freak accident in the engine room of the Defiant apparently claims the life of Benjamin Sisko, Jake lives out his life in an endless quest to locate his father.

-T2Q Comments: Tony Todd as Old Man Jake Sisko. Another core ejection system is offline- holy crap, that's the second worst piece of technology in the future after the holodeck. The "I'm dying" cliffhanger resolution is such a cheap trick! (at least at first).

A nice coincidence that DS9 runs an episode about a (presumably) alternate timeline near to one on Voyager- I like that thematic synchronicity. However, one minor problem about showing as one possible future is that it does take away from some storylines like Nog getting into Starfleet, since we're sort of spoiled the impact of seeing him in the uniform for the first time (not to mention, knowing the uniforms to come, it's technically the wrong uniform ).

Also I know it's the actor's height, but having a shorter man play a teenage alien works better than trying to have him pass as an adult- what lets him pass as a younger Ferengi doesn't translate with just the makeup, since there's no indication to suggest Nog is small for a Ferengi.

In the scene where Sisko appears to adult Jake, Todd does a great job of incorporating some of Jake's acting ticks, it's actually kinda eerie. Future uniforms reused from All Good Things but kinda feel like TOS uniforms more than they did there.

The old age makeup on Dax is actually quite good. Getting pulled into subspace looks a lot like a place Q hangs out in on occasion when offering It's a Wonderful Life journeys.

"Thank you for everything"... including that last bit that you mentioned which involves erasing my existence from the timeline and causing a major war that is otherwise seemingly averted. She ain't much of a survivalist, folks.

An interesting what if scenario, though it kinda makes Jake a little pathetic (though that could be the result of the recurring nature of the trauma- he seems to do ok after he gets past it initially). But, still, an excellent episode. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: A 1996 issue of TV Guide, this episode was voted the best Star Trek episode ever. Brooks, Lofton, Behr and director David Livingston also rank this among their favorite episodes.

This was originally going to be directed by Rene but a last minute switch the production schedule to accommodate Colm's film schedule swapped the episodes that Rene and Livingston worked on.

The design of Jake's house is based on the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. The concept of a fan visiting a reclusive writer who hasn't published in years is based on a 1980 interview with JF Salinger to a high school student tat showed up at his door. In the alternate timeline of this episode, the Dominion War did not happen (as of the 2390s).

The shot of Jake and Kira in the upper pylon apparently predicts the final shot of the series (erg, minor spoilrs). Kira debuts a new uniform in this episode, though one that wasn't popular with the fans, who feared they were trying to turn Kira into a Baywatch Babe. This episode was nominated for a Huge Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to Babylon 5.



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DS9 404: Hippocratic Oath
-Premise: Bashir tries to help members of a Jem'Hadar unit free themselves of their addiction to the drug the Founders use to control them.

-T2Q Comments: Kinda strange for them to be doing a survey aboard a runabout in the Gamma Quadrant- you'd think they'd be using the Defiant's cloak for any operations since the Jem'Hadar don't seem to discrimin

 

Star Trek Online's Winning Entry For the Enterprise-F

I'll reserve judgement until a better rendering is made, but while I don't dislike it, I'm not blown away either- it seems to reverse the trend of the ships getting sleeker/fatter (with the Enterprise-J being the end of that evolution) but popping the neck up and bringing the front belly down again.

 

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DS9 405: Indescretion
-Premise: Kira and Dukat search for the six-year-old crash site of a Cardassian freighter that was carrying Bajoran prisoners.

-T2Q Comments: "She's serious." Seems like they're setting up a Dukat/Kira buddy ep, should be amusing despite the implausibility of Dukat being sent. I know we're already about halfway through the episode, but I can't help but feel they find the ship too early- like the search should have lasted longer. Seems to be a lot of effort to "humanize" Dukat here- but I don't mind, as that's something the actor has often managed to achieve in the past without a plot to fully support it.

The sunset shot is rather lovely. The whole gag over Dukat's injured butt is...funny, yes, but it kinda borders slapstick towards the end and kinda takes me out of the character's reality.

Breen... ya tay, ya tay, yo-toe.
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Dukat's dilemma seems to be resolved too easily. Rhe Sisko subplot is ok, and not as distracting or cheesy as other relationship subplots tend to be. Seems to be relatively important in the development of Kira/Dukat's interactions as well as Dukat, so we'll go with Definitely Essential.

Trivia: The series of changes on Cardassia were modelled after the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union. First appearance of the Breen after numerous references on TNG. Their voices were inspired by guitar feedback on the Lou Reed album Metal Machine Music. Directed by Levar Burton .


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DS9 406: Rejoined
-Premise: Dax is reunited with the Kahn symbiont, a wife of one of her previous hosts, and must decide whether or not to ignore Trill taboo and continue their relationship.

-T2Q Comments: Never let your past lives interfere with your job? Wouldn't that whole Klingon revenge assassination thing qualify? This whole anti-reassociation rule seems odd when we've seen Dax meet up with, work with or fight alongside people from past lives such as Sisko or the Klingons.

Be nice if they would have maybe namedropped a Voyager connection to the development of this artifical wormhole...but I guess Voyager hasn't made contact yet to let them know where they are so that wouldn't make sense at this point.

"What do Klingons dream about?"
"Things that would send cold chills down your spine, and wake you in the middle of the night. No, it is better that you do not know. Excuse me."
"I can never tell when he's joking."

A little creepy with the dude watching them right over their shoulder, ha. A significant kiss for the time.

Wormhole plotline feels like a distraction from the main story- one of those obligatory "we need to make the episode more sci-fi-y" subplots.

The thing with making the story be (at least partially) a parable/analogy to homosexuality is the behavior of the characters who have to be against reassociation come across as not just homophobic but an odd investigative homophobia (what with the "he saw you holding hands" "how long were you in her quarters?" type questions and even the "what about the consequences?" comments from Sisko) that makes the episode not age well, even if the kiss itself is sign

 

Maybe I came across too harsh in the episode- but it's just that that slapstick element of the humor in the cave scene broke the reality of the character as it made him do stuff I don't think the makeup and costume were ever meant to do.

Unlike the rest of the series, suddenly it's visibly a guy in a costume and makeup, not Dukat.

So, minus that and the quick resolution to Dukat's moral dilemma (or, I guess, just all the scenes in caves ) it's a pretty decent episode.

 

The interesting thing about the B5 scenario was that it only ended up being implied because of Andrea Thompson's departure from the show. It was originally supposed to be a bigger story arc (IIRC, there was an anecdote in the script books about how JMS proposed the subplot to the actresses, being shy about the subject. They in turn started kissing each other passionately, knowing it would turn JMS bright red.).

 

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DS9 407: Starship Down
-Premise: Sisko defends a Karemma ship when it is attacked by the Jem'Hadar. Meanwhile, Quark and the Karemma trade minister argue about the value of dishonesty in trading.

-T2Q Comments: Followup on Ferengi trade in Gamma Quadrant. Looks like they're going for a submarine-type story here.

"If we don't seal that deck off now we'll lose the ship" well good thing you can do that and still use transporters to get people out of there. Now I'm trying to remember- is this guy played by Rene or Cromwell? (it's Cromwell). Their little debate over commerce philosophies is kinda neat actually, since it's playing off Quark's passion with it's antithesis. Juluan/Dax.

Engineer #1: "We'll worry about the mess tommorow."
Engineer #2: "That's easy to say, it's your day off"
O'Brien: "Don't count on it."

I do enjoy the image of Kira and Sisko wearing baseball caps, ha. Submarine stories are something Trek tends to do well- I don't think you absolutely need to see this one but I think it's very good nonetheless so I'll upgrade it to Definitely Essential- all the various mini subplots work well here, from Worf's command style to Julian/Dax, etc.

Trivia: Inspired by submarine thrillers, particularly Das Boot. The original concept for this episode was more inspired by The Poseidon Adventure and had the Defiant sinking into the sea of an alien planet with the crew trying to escape before the ship is crushed under water. Odo would dive into the water and seep into the ship through damaged hull areas to help. This idea was abandoned for budgetary reasons. The switch from water to gas was not seen as fully successful by the production staff, as scenes like shuttinga hatch against a rush of water became less effective when replaced with gas.

In the TNG episode Disaster, which has some similarities to the A plot of this episode, Riker says everyone on the bridge is likely dead, but Miles is among few survivors on the bridge. In this episode, it's Miles who says the bridge crew is likely dead. Last credited appearance by Cromwell on a Trek show (his next appearance would be in First Contact, and his cameos on Enterprise were uncredited).



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DS9 408: Little Green Men
-Premise: A malfunction on Quark's new ship causes Quark, Rom, and Nog to crash in the year 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico.

-T2Q Comments: Nog on his way to Starfleet, Quark has his own ship now (at least, for now). Connection to the Sisko/Bell Riots. Rom spouting off a whole buncha technobabble is pretty funny, though not in a bad way.

The reference to the Bell Riots kinda tipped off the nature of the episode, but, still, timetravel episode- hurray!

So is this episode where Fry ends up having sex with his Grandma?

Working in the "exploring new worlds and new civilizations" line is a bit much (worse than "on some kind of Star Trek", which I've always kinda liked) but I can't blame them, really.

(regarding tobacco)
"If they'll buy poison, they'll buy anything. I think I'm gonna like it here."

I kinda want to see the alternate universe where Quark's plan worked.

I know it's not an exact thing but I get the impressio