A Mathematically Perfect Redemption

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (A Mathematically Perfect Redemption)

Mathematically perfect name? I don't think so, and the title's as ironic as her name because this is no redemption story, but instead a typically cynical reminder of the negative, depressing sludge that infests the modern view of Trek, far from the inspiring, genuine and refreshing attitudes shown in the old stuff. But aside from the crudeness of Peanut Hamper's language and superior, unkind attitude, and the 'adult' innuendoes, I was wondering why I hadn't liked this episode at all, originally rating it as the worst of the series so far, lower even than the worst examples of Season 1. I knew there was an unpleasant twist at the end where Peanut Hamper reveals she was shamming all along, having got in contact with the Drookmani scavengers for a way off the planet she crashed on, but otherwise it wasn't as bad as I recalled, and that's probably because there actually was a genuine redemption story for her in Season 4 (the only truly good episode of that season for me). Expectations always play a part and as this had gone down as the worst I kept seeing things to enjoy, such as the beautiful scenery and music, or the alternate opening titles. None of it's enough to redeem the irredeemable, but even the battle at the end with those Cerritos Phaser Arrays lancing out beams as the Drookmani cause devastation, was actually quite a visual treat, especially rare to see a battle in low orbit atmosphere rather than space. And it's always good to see a villain get her comeuppance, permanently caged in Self-Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage at Daystrom on Earth (as seen in 'Picard').

Right next to the evil Agimus! I did enjoy Jeffrey Combs' brief cameo, as I did J.G. Hertzler's return as the eye-patched Drookmani Captain (his second role of the season after playing a Ferengi knock-off of Martok, it's just a shame both actors have appeared in some of the worst instalments of this series!), but how can you have two 'DS9' greats in an episode and not have them meet? A wasted opportunity, and again, it can't heal the deep wounds etched in Trek by episodes like this. Yet those wounds have been healed by the Season 4 episode so it doesn't seem quite so bad as it did, but I think the biggest problem is that I don't like seeing horrible, unsympathetic characters (especially ones who are supposed to represent the best of Starfleet), used as a joke: the punchline is that you trusted this 'person' and she double-crossed everyone for her own selfish ends. Ho, ho, ho, isn't that amusing? No, it's not. It's simply a sad indictment on how Trek is run these days. And not only to focus on a guest character (never a good idea in almost any Trek, Nog notwithstanding), but one of the worst New Trek has come up with, almost at the level of Mirror Georgiou and Michael Burnham, both characters deserving of the title worst-written and acted in all of Trek...

Bad judgement is what it is, and I like a series to experiment and try something different from time to time. If it'd been an episode all about Agimus I'd have been much happier: for one, Combs is one of the best things in Trek, whatever he does, and secondly, he's not meant to stand for good, he doesn't represent Federation values so there isn't that 'hilarious' poking at the 'goodness' of the organisation to the level that it could be argued the galaxy would have been done a favour if Starfleet and the Federation had both been wiped from existence (maybe it's a commentary on Western culture which is in the process of degenerating beyond repair, but if so I'm pretty sure it was entirely unintentional and blind, just a reality they didn't notice, but nor is it in any way aspirational or inspirational!), since we've seen them commit such evil and too many terrible choices and directions. Not that they were ever really perfect in old Trek, but there were usually mitigating circumstances: a misguided Admiral, an unsanctioned division, a Captain gone insane, not the calculated, precise evil we see far too much represented in Starfleet or Federation actions. But this episode is only a symptom of all that, not the cause or the end result so that's enough about that.

There are other things I can admit to liking about this one, for a start being able to see the events of the end of Season 1's finale from Peanut Hamper's perspective, since that was the best stuff in a weak season. And her line about the bird people being the poor man's Aurelians is a fun Trekference to 'TAS,' always appreciated. We even get a rare Trekference to modern Trek, when she talks to Rawda about how she'd wanted to run away to Freecloud - unfortunately it's also a reference to another of the worst episodes in 'Picard,' so I suppose it fits... And that's about all I can say in the positive. I suppose it shows engagement if I'm actively noticing inconsistencies or nitpicks. Doesn't it? But about those opening titles where Peanut Hamper floats pitifully about in a junk field, left behind after the battle where the Titan (the good-looking version of the ship, unlike the Titan-A, which 'Picard' really should have brought into live action except for their need to turn it into the Enterprise-G at the end of Season 3), saves the Cerritos: why can't she simply propel herself out of there? Maybe she needed to recharge, however that works, that could be the reasoning as she does take time to recover when first on Areolus. But once she's cobbled together a warp-capable one-man ship, shouldn't she drop out of warp immediately the warp engine flew off, and yet she seems to coast in warp for a bit longer?

The other thing that didn't make sense to me was how can she have a Father? Aren't Exocomps built? Weren't they even built by Starfleet? I don't remember the actual backstory of the little robots that could, although I do remember they don't communicate through human speech, which would have been a much more daring and challenging way for the writers to create Peanut Hamper, but also would have made her less 'relatable' - but they failed on that count even with human speech! And then they couldn't have her swearing and badmouthing everyone, which is so funny... isn't it? Having an Exocomp character, as I'm sure I wrote in my review for 'No Small Parts,' could have been a terrific idea, I'd have loved to have learned more about the little guys. Sadly, as is so often the case, we don't really see any race develop, it's quite strange how much has been dropped when such things were part of the fascination and nuance of Trek. What do we even know about Drookmani, for example? Even races created for this series, which tends to be the relatively closest to being truly Trekky, aren't afforded the necessary work of fleshing them out, and that's sad.

One minor point of interest regarded the Prime Directive and whether Peanut Hamper had actually broken it - we discover the Areore were once warp travellers themselves until technology tore their society apart and they rejected machines, so there was no danger there, although that brings up the issue of if a people have turned away from technology to the extent that they've forgotten how they lived, would that require them to rediscover warp before the Federation would contact them? That isn't the case here, since the Areore are still able to use the technology, as demonstrated by Rawda who pilots a big ship to defeat the Drookmani, nor have they forgotten their past, it's just a point I'd never considered before. But even if they hadn't had a technological past, I don't think Peanut Hamper had broken the Prime Directive anyway since they seemed unsurprised that there could be other races beyond their planet and they knew about machines (before we knew they'd been a warp capable species), although it's all academic and we know Peanut Hamper would have happily broken any and all directives if it suited her selfish purposes - it's just sad that we see her helping the 'primitive' people, maybe even regretting her past, only for it all to be shown up as a plan to deceive everyone into letting her back into Starfleet. "What about the needs of the 'me'" is one of her lines, in defiance of the famous Vulcan proverb, paralleling modern thinking.

You would have thought, much like Mirror Georgiou, she was beyond redemption, but you'd be forgetting that sometimes this particular branch of this Trek generation sometimes gets it right, even if they left it for another season before they chose to. I'd have been happy if they never brought her back at all, but it turned out to be the high point, which is quite radical, although knowing the cynicism of the writers I can well believe they bring her back again in Season 5 in order to undo her redemption, but I sincerely hope not (and that we never see her again). The character, and this episode, was an almost completely wasted opportunity for the sake of some cheap jokes that weren't even witty or funny - waste a valuable episode on a crotchety, objectionable monster (even the reference to the Tom Hanks film, 'Castaway' where she creates her own mock-up of a n Exocomp to have someone to talk to, shows her character when she's quick to discard it in her bid to escape), all framed in the kind of wondrous alien planet with what could have been a fascinating bird culture but is really only there to laugh at innocence, earnestness and the 'stupidity' of inferior races, and play out villager cliches (because knowing science makes us so 'great'), of more kiddie fare. Bad tone, bad taste, bad waste.

**

Sleepwalker

 Amiga 1200, Sleepwalker (1993) game

Playing with old technology is always a risky business as I was reminded again with this game - I'd got a good chunk of the way in and then Disk 2 corrupted, but fortunately I knew I had another original copy and was able to track it down, although I don't know if my version had been compressed down to three disks since this other version was spread across four. That solved the problem and I was able to keep going, although I wouldn't have rated it any differently had I not reached the last couple of levels, it was all pretty set for me before then. 'Sleepwalker' was another one of few I've not gone back to in recent years which covered both bases of being something I never got anywhere with as a younger gamer, and also works on the 1200, so I'd had my eye on it as potential Amiga material for this year in the same slot I played 'Impossible Mission' and its sequel last year. In the past I liked the opening title sequence where a Comic Relief tomato splats on the Ocean sign with the dialogue "Comic Relief, or some'in,'" with a nice scene-setting animation. It was always exciting to hear actual speech in games back then! As for the gameplay itself I never got off the first level, I seem to remember not quite being able to understand the telephone wires - if you or your charge are standing on one and one or the other bounces, that drops the other one through the wire, and I just didn't have the patience to work out the timings and actions needed across the level.

I'm surprised I never had the interest to give it more time and effort, but at least it remained one of those I had a connection to and have wanted to complete with superior adult skills and resilience, but in my younger self's defence we had many games to play and anything you had to complete in one sitting didn't tend to go down as well as those where progress could be saved or passwords earned. This is very much in the old-school of no saves of any kind, the only exception to that is once you reach a new level you'll only go back to the start of that one if you lose all your attempts. I think the manual also made it look more complicated than it actually was, with all these pickups with various results, when in reality most of the time if there was something required to progress, a custard pie to create a bridge for example (typical 90s non-logic: it's a comedy game so custard pies can do that!), it would be found along the path you needed to travel. The closest analogy I can think of is 'Lemmings,' except in this case you only have one lemming, the sleepwalker of the title, Lee, and rather than giving him abilities you play his dog, Ralph, who runs around like a lunatic bashing enemies, countering traps and generally trying to make each environment safe in order for Lee to pass on his oblivious way until he reaches the end of the level safely.

Now I do like the amusing animations, as while Lee is susceptible to everything out there, decreasing his sleep meter up to the point he awakes and presumably dies from shock, the dog is invulnerable and it's quite fun to see the many ways he can get burned up, electrocuted and various other animal tortures that nowadays seems somehow incongruous for a game that's a tie-in to a charity! But in the same way it was fun to see lemmings meet their end in imaginative ways, Ralph has comical animations for every trap, and it's okay, he always survives so don't worry! What I wasn't as keen on, and is a major negative, as is often the case for me, are the controls - you have fairly good and varied options in that regard, he can whack things with a cosh, jump and manipulate Lee by pushing him or holding him back, and kicking him around (and most usefully, switch places), the more momentum gained the further he can be propelled. This physics-based aspect works well and you do get a sense of weight and speed, but where things become a little more frustrating is in Ralph's jump and movement: the longer you push a direction, the faster he'll run, skidding to a halt if you push the opposite way, but I'm not sure it was precise enough, so you might prefer to lope along at a moderate pace, but it's hard to prevent yourself from getting faster. But the real issue was the jumping, which, while you could control direction in midair (ignoring the physics in that case), it was easy to jump too far in a direction and then you find yourself overshooting or maybe not going far enough.

Perhaps the most annoying move was the one where after you've walked off an edge Ralph will do that classic cartoon pause in midair with time to look down at the ground and only after that drop to his doom. And when everything is so time based it was a common frustration that you just wanted to drop to a lower platform and this routine kicks in. There was a way to shorten it by pressing down, cutting out the animation, but it remained an annoyance, being less intuitive than it should have been. Then you also have the difference between large gaps where you'd drop and small gaps where Ralph would spread his arms as a bridge, dangling across for Lee to walk right over. The levels sometimes seemed to be designed to frustrate, too, with you having to do this or that and then pivot to another action to be able to get Lee through certain areas, and that's where the skill comes in, I know, but it was very much a game of constriction, be that the time limit of the sleep meter, or the strict route through that Lee needed to be encouraged along. It was no 'Flashback,' let's put it that way, the yardstick by which I measure all 2D platform games. And yet the challenge also made me want to beat it and I wouldn't say it was exactly an unfair game - you do have these little safe areas where you can leave young Lee to walk back and forth between enclosed points while you go off and explore the level and deal with traps and other environmental issues, preparing the way for him in advance.

To some extent that gave the game a tactical side as you decide whether to scout ahead and work out the future puzzles or take a risk and keep Lee along with you as much as possible because although leaving him alone is useful, he'll still lose sleep from his meter every time he bumps into a wall, so it's not a long-term solution. Plus, while you don't have save points as such, getting to certain parts of the levels would allow you sufficient progress that you'd be rewarded by being replaced there if you lost an attempt, rather than at the start of the level (until you'd used up all your attempts, in which case it would be back to the start of that level - as in 'Aunt Arctic Adventure' you have infinite continues as long as you have the time to play, since once the computer's switched off it's right back to the first level again!). To assist, you have a map of the current level, though it only shows the parts you've already traversed, which isn't much help (unless, as I say, you scout ahead to reveal more), unless you can find a dunce cap which unlocks the whole map for you. The levels are reasonably large, but not so big as to get lost, it really is quite a linear game. I found the six environments to be fairly different, preferring the second level, Zoo, as most attractive with all those greens and yellows, plants and animals (the sound effects are quite fun and break up the silence a little, since one glaring omission is any in-game music, a real shame since the title piece was quite fun and I'd have liked to have heard more in that vein), and Kipsville Returns. In difficulty I'd put that at the top for its high-rise Lee control, closely followed by Factory, Construction Works, Grave Yard, Zoo, then Kipsville much the easiest.

While the levels are linear there is another layer of depth to proceedings as you have the added challenge of collecting the five letters that make up the word C-O-M-I-C, just to remind you there is a real world connection. Unfortunately, and this is where we come to another big issue, the program was glitchy and when I went to the trouble of collecting all the letters in the first level, Kipsville rooftops, I was taken to the bonus level where you're supposed to collect balloons, twenty of which add an extra attempt to your tally, but the main purpose is to collect pictures which form a word game, more on which in a moment. All great fun, and then you can see an animation of Lee meeting with a horrible accident in Ralph's imagination (again, strange subject matter for a charity-related product, but it's meant to allow the poor dog to let off steam for all the troubles his master has put him through, and it's only 'imagined'), but after that the game would crash, so in subsequent runs I didn't bother collecting the extras, which does make the game a little easier, but you feel like you're missing out on the full experience. I didn't try it with the second set of disks so maybe it would've worked, but by then I was intent on simply getting to the end since it is a bit of a commitment as it can take several hours to complete (though I got it down to under an hour once I knew what I was doing). I liked the idea of the word games: you'd have a picture of a lamp, followed by a '+,' then a postbox, a '-' and a box, '=.' That obviously makes lamppost, which in the animation Lee walks into, I think. There are many of these combinations to find, adding some intelligence to proceedings and greatly extending the game's lifespan.

Also adding value is the score at the end of each level, and ultimately the final score at the end of the game, which they cheekily suggest you take a photo of in the days before digital cameras made it all easy and you had to get the lighting just right to be able to get a good image of a screen (I know from the N64 era when I was photographing my times from 'The World Is Not Enough' to send to N64 Magazine's best times lists!). That would certainly increase the chances of a game being replayed after completion, especially if you had someone else to compete with over who had the best score, but I never did and so never liked high score-based gameplay, but it's nice that it's there, even if the actual scoring is impenetrable - you score for time left over, but it just gives a number so you don't know what that equates to, nor is it clear how to increase your comedy percentage. Presumably by going through traps and that sort of thing, but I never came to understand the correlation. Also adding value are two difficulty options, Easy and Hard (I completed on Easy, that was tough enough!), and the practice level, just a simple addition with directions on what to do, but I'd never tried it out before (and didn't until I'd actually finished the game, incongruently!), so it was good to see a bit more of such an old game I had a connection to from the past.

Mind you, I'd never seen almost any of the game before so it was all a learning experience, and I can say I quite enjoyed it, didn't find it a chore to play, and yet at the same time it could make my blood boil on occasion (the last level, Kipsville Returns, where you have to get Lee high into the trees and rooftops and it's easy to make a mistake and have him plunge all the way back to ground level, comes to mind...), and the glitches I mentioned meant I did feel a little on edge as if hours of progress could be ruined at a moment's notice, and I certainly felt the ticking time as I'd have hated to lose the game before I'd had a chance to finish it - I know, I should have backed up, but the original set came up as NDOS on Workbench, which I think means it's not a DOS disk and can't be copied. I didn't check the other set of disks. But I was relieved to finally get to the end and it wasn't a bad time spent, even if it is a basic platform puzzler where you have to repeat the same actions over and over until you do it right, which isn't always the most fun way to play, to say the least, but as a challenge it was fairly rewarding as you work out each section and plan out what to do, the occasional item puzzle included, or interaction with the environment, such as being turned into a bat by a vampire to reach a higher platform, or sucking on helium to make yourself into a balloon (don't try this at home, kids!), although that reminds me of another glitch...

I'd reached the fifth and penultimate level, the Factory, turned into a balloon, and then risen to the top of the screen, but somehow carried on into the ceiling which I assumed was a secret passage (there are a few here and there), but whether it was or not, I couldn't seem to go anywhere and then the game appeared to freeze, so all that progress was lost and I had to reset the machine and begin at the beginning again! For reasons like that (and the map would sometimes come up all glitchy and scrambled, making it useless, though once again we're dealing with disks over thirty years old!), I couldn't award it the accolade of being a good game. It was okay, more of a challenge to be beaten and achieved than a game of fun and potential, even while I enjoyed its charm and style, good chunky artwork, the physics, and the character of it all. Not sure there are many other Amiga titles for me to conquer now, and even less on the 1200... I have the feeling the game may even have been sold as a special Amiga 1200 Comic Relief pack so you'd buy the machine itself with 'Sleepwalker' art on the box. I don't think I imagined that. Unless I was sleepwalking myself.

**

Hear All, Trust Nothing

 DVD, Lower Decks S3 (Hear All, Trust Nothing)

Modern Trek had overwritten 'TOS,' both visual and narrative canon, they'd made an entire continuation of 'TNG' (having already ruined some of its characters), and 'Voyager' had also been given much attention (having already ruined one of its characters!), but 'DS9' had largely remained untouched by the sticky fingers of the current players in the Trekky sandpit, and that was A Good Thing. At the same time, seeing Worf in 'Picard' (which came after this), or getting those little hints of Quarks being turned into a franchise across the Quadrant, or O'Brien being considered the most important member of Starfleet by the far future, did make me wish for more, even though I'm always worried they're going to turn once great characters into walking disasters (just like Jean-Luc or Seven...). At least with 'LD' they're quite small-scale in the sense that episodes are short (how much damage could be done in 25 minutes? Actually, this particular episode, as if in deference to Bajor's day/night period, was 26 full minutes!), and effectively being in Starfleet's 'secondary' fleet, what they do doesn't tend to have far-reaching consequences (although tell that to the Pakleds and Vice Admiral Buenamigo...). I was just thrilled we were going to get some 'DS9' characters voiced by the original actors at last, so I awaited this episode with great anticipation, and while I wouldn't rate it as one of the absolute top entries in the series (such as some of the season finales), it was pretty good.

Surprisingly, it's the non-'DS9' plot material that worked best for me: Boimler's mini-story of success at the Dabo table was functional, if slight (who could resist those cries of "Dabo!" ringing out again after all these years!), but it was Tendi's personal issues with her pirating heritage that really struck a chord through a guest character, Mesk, an Orion with a big mouth who's constantly, and excruciatingly, loud and proud about a culture that is clearly not one to be celebrated since it's all about preying on the weak, thievery and general bad space manners. But in true 'DS9' tradition, while commenting on issues, it also turns things around and we see Tendi explode in a revelation of pirating prowess the likes of which we'd never have suspected, in aid of a good cause - namely a kidnapping and escape to the Gamma Quadrant. She really excelled in this, showing her full greenness, and we'd really only had that one Orion episode ('We'll Always Have Tom Paris'), with her and Mariner at an Orion colony in Season 2, to show the nefarious qualities her sunny personality was hiding as she's always been embarrassed about her skills. Mesk was a fun character, the proper shade of green you'd expect when we've tendi-ed, sorry tended, to see lighter shades (though the less said about the 'TAS' variety, the better!), when a rich, darker green was the one most associated with the race in old Trek (specifically 'Enterprise,' but also 'TOS' which birthed them). Through him we get to see someone who uses their culture as a shield or to make themselves feel emboldened and you feel for the guy.

In some ways he reminds me of Worf in the early years, when he was the only Klingon among humans and so was the most Klingon Klingon you were ever likely to meet as if to compensate for his human upbringing, until later (especially on 'DS9'), he became much more comfortable with his unique status and identity as a man who'd found a way to have a foot in each world. The difference is he was never a fraud, in fact took his own culture more seriously than most Klingons would have. I don't know if this was a deliberate callback to Worf, probably not, since modern Trek has rarely been accomplished at being subtle. Indeed, I'd say there's often a disconnect there in the way things would flow best (as seen so often and apparently effortlessly, but as we now know, actually very skilled, in old Trek), and one example here is the failure to include Mariner, the old DS9 hand, in the main story. I can see why they didn't because it would be difficult for Tendi to shine with Mariner there bossing them about, although I could see it happening - but when your lead actress has to ask McMahan to change the ending to an episode so she can actually go on 'DS9' because of the character's connection and past there, it makes you think the writing isn't firing on all warp drives.

Instead we get what is really the weakest part of the episode where Mariner is trying to get in with her mate Jennifer the Andorian's friends in, ewwww, the most girly plot by far in an episode celebrating the most manly and masculine-appealing Trek series ever made! To that extent it is funny to see her having to be in that intensely uncomfortable feminine environment of 'sharing feelings,' making candles and 'expressing' themselves, all sat around on beanbags like a girls' sleepover. It's excruciating, but also for Mariner, which is why it is quite amusing, especially the solution, where she has to Phaser everyone into unconsciousness to preserve air... Because somehow the Karemma device turns off all life support on the station and every ship connected to it... Hmm, I think that might be giving the Gamma Quadrant traders rather too much power, they were never known for their technological prowess but for being a key part in the trading arm of the Dominion - or was it that they were trading with the Dominion, I can't remember, but I'm pretty sure they were a part of it, though not one that was really expanded upon after 'Starship Down' in Season 4 of 'DS9' when Quark and James Cromwell (in his last new TV character on Trek), as a member of the species are trapped in a room with a live torpedo and learn from each other. Apparently Quark isn't exactly enamoured with the Karemma these days, but we don't know if it's true or he was just being defensive to cover his stealing of their technology for his fancy new Replicator (in much the same way as Tom Riker baffled O'Brien by refusing to speak to him in 'Defiant').

The Quark 2000 was another part of the episode that didn't chime particularly well and showed it's not easy coming up with a good scheme for Quark (one reason he had much less to do in the latter part of the series when it was more concerned with war and Quadrant-wide consequences than the Ferengi's latest get-rich-quick plan). Why would the Karemma have superior Replicator tech, in what way was it superior, and how did Quark get his hands on it? The questions aren't important to the plot, it was simply a means to an end. But of course it was great to have my favourite character in all of Trek return, even in voice only, along with Kira, and they really achieved a strong impression of those characters and the kind of interaction they'd have - at the end of the episode when Mariner threatens the barkeep with a copy of the hologram of Quark's head on Kira's body which is a highly amusing and obscure reference back to 'Meridian' (though I suspect she was bluffing him and the chip was empty!), then Kira gets suspicious when he's promised to clear Mariner's tab 'for old times' sake,' he eats the chip and she chases him round the bar. Yes, it's more cartoony, in keeping with the format, but it had that essential antagonism from the series.

I will complain to some extent that, much like 'LD' in totality where the world feels more like 'TNG' days even though aesthetics, uniforms, etc have all moved on from that time, as seen in development through 'DS9,' 'Voyager' and the 'TNG' films, this visit to the station could have been from Season 3 of the series, albeit an episode where Sisko's gone off on the Defiant with most of the main cast. But Kira being in charge isn't strange (when Sisko wasn't there), and Quark being in his bar is perfectly normal, and all is perfectly preserved in amber. Look, I'm glad they didn't do something radical like in the post-'DS9' novel series ('Season 8,' as they liked to call it at the time), where I hear the station was destroyed and replaced with a new purpose-built facility - I like to think of Trek's ships or stations lasting long after the series they served. I just think a little development would have been appropriate. For example, Kira's there, but she mainly still talks about the Occupation, largely as a consequence of meeting up with our Shaxs again, whom we learn served with her in the Resistance (I wish he'd talked about Furel, Lupaza or Shakaar to give it more believability, because otherwise would there be any evidence at all - I can't see Furel getting on well with another big, bold Bajoran guy, either), and while it is fun to hear them bicker about who saved who more (and in reversal of the usual pride, they're each trying to make out they owe the other!), I wanted more depth.

Depth is something I really shouldn't be expecting from a short animated version of Trek, I understand, but we've seen it done (I always think of the Season 2 finale as being the best episode modern Trek has produced), and while I also understand this episode wasn't an opportunity (don't forget, as Quark says when he takes the last line: "Opportunity plus instinct equals profit," I'm just not sure sure about the writers' instincts on this series), to fill in all the details on where the station is in terms of its personnel, what happened to the other characters, or what the political situation is post-war. All these things were examples of what's too often been missing from Trek these days as if they don't want to fill in too much in case some other writer or show-runner is doing something and it doesn't match up. But if they can use minor characters like Okona and ensure he has an eyepatch to create consistency surely they can do other things with more depth and explanation. It's an attitude that goes back to the old days of Trek where they would fill in so much, yet wisely leave some things to the imagination or to some future writer to give them leeway to explore and develop a piece of lore. But as I've noted elsewhere before, that also leaves the door open for inferior creators to co-opt the gaps to their own will for negative purposes (not that many of the modern writers even need that excuse since they'll just change things as they see fit - see 'SNW').

My point is that we'd waited more than twenty years for more 'DS9,' and though we don't need more 'DS9' because it was very nicely wrapped up, and unless they were really going to do a 'Picard' Season 3 on it, it'd never be enough, I really felt more could have been done with this episode. Maybe if they'd cut out the whole Jennifer subplot and instead had Mariner taking her own personal nostalgia tour of the station, flicking back into memory in a way they could bring back any character (though budget reasons would prevent that, unless all her memories were of Morn!). This wasn't the first time we'd seen DS9 on the series, lest we forget they did a flashback before, but this was the real deal: the current station in the current time ('LD' current time anyway), and it looks fabulous, but we don't get to hear much about station life, it all looks as it did, except Kira's gone back to wearing her short-cropped hair again when she'd gone for a more decorative design by the end of the series to suit her higher rank and position. This is only a few years later, and I'm not saying she couldn't change hairstyle, it was just one little thing that suggested they didn't understand why she changed her hair after six years of having it be the same, there was a rationale behind it, but equally it could be they were trying to restore things visually to how the casual viewer might remember. It's not like the station itself would have changed much, and it was lovely to be able to revisit the place again, long my favourite location in Trek, and my favourite series that will never be bettered.

In reality I wanted more, and more like what they did with Tendi, learning about her, something meaningful. It was a bit of a stunt to revisit the station, but the series had always had slightly more 'DS9' connection than any other, simply because it was Trekferencing all the series', packing them in, but also it's a bit more of an outlier (sometimes for good reason since it's humour and tone can be well outside the suitability for Trek), and perhaps for those reasons it has had the strongest links with a series that tends to be less in evidence, even though it often seems to be most popular with those who've enjoyed all of Trek over many years and appreciate it for being the hub of connectivity for all the series' around at that time, not to mention the superior level of writing. That's perhaps the biggest reason it's been left alone, either consciously or unconsciously it's recognised as being so well written and it'd be hard to match today. That's just my 'DS9' bias coming out, but when you look at modern Trek you do see a lessening in ability to write strong, characterful pieces, exploration and development. There's still an unwillingness to examine the post-war situation of the Alpha Quadrant, other than connective dots like Romulus being destroyed, but never to really delve into what that means, other than a surface level, as if Trek viewers can't cope with anything more than comic book action and melodrama.

But enough about my complaints of the state of Trek today, I did enjoy the gags and fun they had with this visit - right from the start when they slowly circle the pylons to the 'DS9' theme (and it did look great, both inside and out, really top animation!), making a comment on the series' stately opening titles. Actually I was surprised there weren't many more Trekferences and little surprises. Not that it was necessary, but they could have happily chucked in detail after detail and I'd have lapped it up in this case. No Jeffrey Combs, even though he'd already made his 'LD' debut in the previous season (and would return in Season 4), no mention of the Emissary (although I may have been reading too much into it, but Kira did gaze pensively at the Wormhole when it opened and I wondered if she was thinking of Sisko in the Celestial Temple), or updates on what other characters might be up to these days. It was funny for being true that our first reaction to the wonder of seeing the station is Shaxs bursting our love balloon with his disgust at a Cardassian monstrosity, although it does throw up a more serious point that he seems unable to move on and forgive Cardassians, an important point in 'DS9' that not all Cardassians are the same. Perhaps it was too much to make his Bajoranness be expressed by hatred of Cardassians, even if there is precedent for it by Chief O'Brien's own prejudices from having gone through a former war with them.

Why was the Federation making trade negotiations with the Karemma at this particular time, I wonder? There was no indication of the changes to the Dominion since Odo went back, we simply don't know anything about anything really. Are the Karemma a more powerful trade force now, and is that because they gathered up Dominion assets? Or do they still count as some connection to the Dominion? Has DS9 upgraded its Tractor Beam range since it seems very unlikely it could have reached as far as the Wormhole? And anyway, wouldn't the Wormhole disrupt a beam like that - maybe not, I seem to remember 'Emissary' ended with Sisko tractoring a Cardassian ship out of the Wormhole. Ransom isn't in it much, but had a couple of good moments, the first being the order to keep circling, then later when the Karemma ship is stopped dead at the mouth of the Wormhole he has the line: "They were as good as Gamma-ed," which I liked. There were a couple of other good lines, too, one from Mesk about Tendi: "Someone got all human-ed up at the Academy," and then when she suddenly shows her true colours (or true greens!), and he expresses surprise that her family were pirates, she replies, "Yep, Syndicate and all!" as she dashes impressively down the corridor. Good stuff! It was also great to hear Mesk sing part of a presumably phoney Orion pirate shanty, and also thanks to him we learn not all female Orions have the aggressive pheromones that enable them to control their men - he mentions it and Tendi puts him straight (makes me wonder if it's only the darker green-tinged Orion women that have this ability).

It was also interesting to hear that at this time, only a few short years after 'DS9,' Quark now has twenty-one franchises across the Alpha Quadrant (the first we ever heard about was in 'Picard' Season 1 when we were given our first name-check and confirmation Quark was still operating, or at least the name was), although at the end of the episode he's forced to go into business with the Karemma so they won't arrest him (surely he'd need to be extradited anyway since this is a Bajoran station - but modern Trek doesn't tend to go into things that make sense that much!), and they'll get 76% of all franchise profits. I feel Quark should have somehow come out on top and we'd have seen that secretly he's going to be doing much better than that, but again, subtlety and invention isn't modern Trek's forte, shall we say... I even found the little detail about Mesk winning a 'religious exemption' to wear his Orion 'multi-key' over his uniform to be a fun little Trekference to other examples, such as Worf's baldric or Bajoran earrings (Starfleet seemingly had a change of policy over the years since Ro wasn't allowed to wear it at first). We find out in blink-and-you'll-miss-it dialogue that it was actually just a wine-opener, but Tendi knew how to operate it so maybe it was more than that after all, or she could have just been doing a bit of Jason Bourne and improvising, though you'd think she'd have called out Mesk if she knew it wasn't an actual Orion tool.

It is disappointing (and not just for Tawny Newsome who plays Mariner), that Mariner wasn't interested in even going aboard DS9 at first and she almost didn't even mention her time there except when she's trying to get out of the girlie party she suggests being a tour guide for her friends because otherwise they'd get lost without her (they have maps - on multiple PADDs again!), but at least it came right in the end and she had her interaction with Quark at his bar. I must say you can tell Nana Visitor and Armin Shimerman hadn't played their characters for many years. You can't disguise they do sound older, and even though I'd heard their voices in recent times in podcasts, it's somewhat sad that they weren't quite right. Part of that has to be the strange and different setup of recording lines in a booth rather than being on the famous sets with their costars, and also to jump right back into it as if practically no time had gone by, and I'm not saying they don't sound or act at all like Kira and Quark, of course they do, but age does change a voice, however slightly. I'm very glad they did come back for it, two of Trek's greatest characters, and I do wish we could have (could still??), have them in live action Trek again. But I'd be worried they'd alter them too much from what they were. When this episode came out in 2022 it seemed like the floodgates were opening and that any and all possibilities for returning characters and new series' were on the table, but in a short couple of years we turned right around to where it seems unlikely almost anything is going to see the light of day. So I'm glad we got one last trip back to the station, and if this is the last time we ever see the old place or those characters, I won't say I'm satisfied, but it is at least a consolation - not an opportunity missed, but not fully profited by.

***

Reflections

DVD, Lower Decks S3 (Reflections)

Was I watching Trek or 'Smallville'? Is Mike McMahan a secret fan of the young Superman series? Look at the evidence: Rutherford, the boy scout of Starfleet turns into an evil, cooler version of himself, complete with red eye and proceeds to mess around with Rutherford's life, pushing Tendi over and upsetting Barnes. Then at the end we have Mariner with a computer visual showing her choice whether to delete the 'contact' with a new character, yes or no. Okay, so that's about it for 'Smallville,' but the central theme was very like Clark Kent's descent into Kal in certain episodes of that series. Not that it's uncommon in sci-fi/fantasy, and even red being the colour of evil is standard stuff. Actually, the episode had more in common with the seventh season 'Voyager' episode 'Drive,' which in turn was seemingly inspired by the pod-race in 'Star Wars Episode I,' so everything feeds on everything else, I suppose. It was nice to see the Delta Flyer return, even if it was only in Rutherford's mind, and when he and his friends were all wearing the white-shouldered racing uniform (as ridiculous as it was even on 'Voyager'), and working together to beat evil Rutherford, there was a part of me that warmed to it all. But only a part because I didn't find this to be a particularly appealing episode.

The Rutherford who's ten years younger than the one we know was just some nasty, unpleasant rebel, I didn't understand how someone like that could get into Starfleet, or was it meant to be when he was at the Academy - even then I don't believe someone like that would get in, or even exist in the 24th Century world where there's no lack of anything. Why would he be so rebellious, it makes no sense? He talked in typically annoying yoof speak and was all angry and bitter. Are they saying Rutherford only became Rutherford due to an implant which changed his personality? I know this plays into the series' arc, so that gives it a slight lift of importance, and continues the mystery of his flashbacks, but it's a bit messy. I didn't feel there was a particularly strong theme, nor really any connection between the two storylines, unless you count seeing Boimler acting rebelliously, enraged by the criticism of, and insults towards Starfleet, finally blowing his top when his prized pip is tossed away like nothing. I wonder if McMahan had a bet to prove he could get the most swearwords in a single episode, because it was full of it, albeit mostly bleeped out, but when the guy in charge of a series wants to write it that way you have to wonder at Trek's place now and whether it has a shred of itself left any more.

It'd been a few weeks since I last watched a modern Trek episode (other than the child-friendly 'Prodigy'), so maybe I forgot what the content was like, but it did seem excessive even for what we've seen in recent years. Other than that, content was fine, a bit of blood (young Rutherford dying in our Rutherford's arms, bloody and bruised was a reflection of Badgey in Season 1), we see Rutherford's accident (in memory, so how can he see himself?! I preferred it when they kept the flashback scenes to his POV), skin all scarred and burned, but there wasn't any grossness or gore, for which I am thankful. Of course if the story had been stronger it would have taken my thoughts away from content anyway. This time they don't have the draw of a returning character/actor to divert attention (unless you count Palor Toff of the Collector's Guild, but it wasn't the same actor so I can't count that), but they certainly filled the screen chockablock with mainly visual callbacks and Trekferences, too many to keep track of. I enjoyed the dialogue mentions more, such as Boimler ranting at the Wadi booth for trapping people in games (before they'd bring them back for that in Season 4!), during his violent tantrum - that happened to me once: at work a colleague, out of the blue, got so irritated by me he ripped by name badge off and threw it on the floor. Fortunately I didn't react like Boimler and calmly picked it up, but it was funny!

The brief argument between non-Starfleet personnel about whether the organisation is or isn't military was fun, as was the reference to them changing their uniforms so much (the outpost scientist even holds up two PADDs, one with the original 'TNG' outfit complete with 'speed' stripe, and the other featuring a dress uniform of the kind Picard would wear - again, it's fun he has a separate PADD for each image!). Boimler even begins to give us some information on the current state of the uniform, saying the style worn on the Cerritos aren't across the whole fleet, as we know, since the grey-shouldered 'DS9' variety are still in use, but he's cut off before he can go into any more depth, which is a shame! Then there are the aliens questioning what happened to Sisko, something many people want to know about ever since 'Picard' brought back that era's characters in live action (though it will either never be resolved as Trek turns more towards teen-pleasing varieties of itself, or not until Avery Brooks is dead and gone - I can certainly imagine them recasting the character then, but I'd hate that), so McMahan certainly knows his audience in that respect (even mentioning the parasite aliens from 'Conspiracy' as a conspiracy!). Not sure how well he knows the wider universe, though, as young Rutherford claims he 'funded' the building of racers by winning races, which suggests he needed money, which the Federation doesn't use.

Too often modern Trek wants to get in on the detail and flesh out specifics, not seeming to realise there was a reason certain things were left vague (such as the bit with Stamets brushing his teeth in 'DSC' - the link to this episode being he sees an alternate version of himself in the mirror, the same way Rutherford sees his real self in a reflection of the viewing port). It's too difficult to plan out how they'd work, and the economics of the future is something to avoid or else you just make it like now and you're trampling established canon. I never much cared for space races (the pod-race was terrific, but that was on land - in space it's difficult to create a sense of speed and distance travelled since the vastness of emptiness is so all-engulfing), and a race without even reality outside of someone's brain has even less meaning. If they could imagine whatever they wanted then why even have a fair race anyway? Who imagined the Romulan Warbird? For that matter evil Rutherford was just as likely to cheat, or maybe the whole thing was an elaborate trick to get his older self to rescue him. Maybe he's not even dead. I don't think the intent was to suggest anything of the sort, but when you're dealing with bad guys you can never be sure. The other thing is, even though it's all happening in Rutherford's head, his younger self's racer doesn't look anywhere near as sleek and attractive as the Flyer! Couldn't they come up with anything better?

The "Remember..." moment was good, cleverly advancing the flashback arc, but I can't say this was one of my favourite episodes and I'm really struggling to remember why I thought so highly of the season unless the second half is all top-notch stuff! But I always find some things to like, and in this case little details like Ransom's threatening attitude to Mariner's bad attitude to manning the Starfleet recruitment booth was appreciated (especially when he calls Starbase 80, 'SB80,' the same naming convention as DS9!), the plant with the mind control pollen from Omicron Ceti III (as seen on 'TOS' in 'This Side of Paradise'), even the detail that Rutherford transferred aboard the Cerritos from Douglas Station (although I thought that was a previously established location from old Trek, but apparently not), but at the same time it falls into the trap of thinking all Trek is equal and the same. For example, as much as I love Kirk and Spock, I don't believe a 24th Century recruitment booth would feature a silly camera-posing standup where you put your head in the hole over the famous officers' bodies - they're even wearing the 2260s uniforms rather than the later, film-era versions! It's purely aimed at fans rather than thinking what the reality would be. I suppose it's a bit late to be complaining about such things two-and-a-half seasons in, but the series is at its best when it brings that sense of reality back into modern Trek. For which modern Trek is in dire need.

**

Super Mario Galaxy 2

 Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) game

I didn't expect to be playing this game for four months, especially as it was my Christmas replacement for 'Zelda,' but it seems to exist purely to counter the claims that Wii titles were too short and simple. It's really two games in one: complete the standard 120 stars of a Mario adventure and then you're 'rewarded' by having another 122 stars to add to your collection before you can call it completed! I use quotes around 'rewarded' because I was pleased to have finished the game at 120 stars and ready to move onto something new, but felt obligated to beat this whole new challenge the game plopped in my lap. It was simultaneously gratifying to find such an intense game extension, while also being a massive chore heaped on my shoulders just when I'd reached the top of the mountain. What didn't help is that I got the wrong end of the stick on the very first green star, the opening level, Sky Station Galaxy, where you're supposed to follow Luigi who will lead you around the level - I wasn't sure if it was a race to the finish, merely leading you along, or something else. The something else was assuming I had to duplicate everything Mario's brother did, and since he ends up floating above a rotating platform near the end of the level I thought I had to get up there myself and spent far too many hours trying to master the triple jump in restricted space on the platform to reach him. I even succeeded, but nothing happened so I thought I was doing something wrong and eventually moved on to other stars (although the second in that Galaxy was the same 'follow Luigi' jaunt!), leaving these initial challenges to come back to.

I did come back, but not till the end, once I'd picked up almost all the other green stars and had learned the game's language and tone. In the case of those first two stars it was as simple as looking out for them along the route Luigi leads you on, nothing more complicated than that, yet not realising that caused me so much early frustration it made me want to leave the game (more than the annoyance it wasn't finished when I thought it was). My fault, of course, but it suggests the game isn't entirely obvious in how it plays. I soon realised these new stars weren't going to be ridiculously tough puzzles to solve or would require hours of practice to hone the necessary movement skills, even if a number of them were tricky enough challenges of hunting through the levels, or in other cases, performing daring leaps and precise moves in order to succeed. This is where the game could feel unfair, sometimes like you were actively fighting the controls and camera - the usual complaints about Wii control were there for me: not having that immediacy of a digital button press in exchange for the fuzzy lack of precision in analogue movements that don't do the hands and wrists any favours, especially in long play sessions. It shows the Wii was more suited to short, minigame experiences rather than the epic adventures of yore, or the use of a conventional controller, thus negating the system's USP in the first place!

The camera was the other obstacle to precision and control, often denying you the freedom to look where you wanted or position the camera out far enough. This meant sometimes a requirement to leap into the unknown, never a recommended course of action in my eyes as it's leaving too much to chance rather than skill, especially when searching for those more difficult green stars - you had to rely on the twinkling sounds that gave a clue to their nearness, or the rays sparkling off it. But the overriding feeling was of unfairness. It was a challenge, I'll give it that, and if you dedicate yourself to tracking down and winning every star of the 242 in the game, it is a great achievement - in that sense it's particularly old-school compared to the average Wii game, and I do like a challenge. If you want that, it's there in spades: if you collected every yellow star, including the ones unlocked by Comet Medals, and every green star, including the special World, you then get one final Galaxy within it, with two runs: first just to get to the end, then to do the same sequences with the caveat you only have one piece of life, so one mistake and you're right back to the beginning again, the most old-fashioned style you can get, reminding you how hard games used to be. 2D platformers were never that big a draw to me, being so restrictive and requiring leaps of faith, pixel-perfect jumps, all those cardinal sins of the past. 3D platforming gave us huge worlds of exploration, still retaining the need for expertise in movement, but not all the time. The 'Galaxy' games have relied too much on the old 2D aesthetic for my taste, as much fun as they can often be, instant plummets to death all over the place reducing the sense of freedom.

Indeed, some levels or parts of levels were unashamedly 2D travels from left to right, up and down, and while the idea of levels being obstacle courses to get through is one approach, I've always preferred the scope and encouragement to explore a world where you're not in danger of plummeting to those instant deaths every few moments. If you take the game on its own terms, deal with its draconian camera, and ignore the fact that the language of galaxies and worlds suggests something much grander than what you actually experience, there's a lot of satisfaction to be had. But it remains something where you're generally meant to get through it as quickly as possible rather than interacting with the environment or building a connection with the inhabitants. There wasn't even the usual coin tally for each level (there are coins, but they're there to recover health and be spent on Luma shops), which would have provided much more replayability - not that the game doesn't use repeated visits to its levels, the idea of the Comet Medals and then the green stars was exactly that: creating reasons for you to redo levels in your search, or challenging you in a new way within the familiar. And there are some levels which are more traditional, such as Starshine Beach Galaxy, or the lovingly included Throwback Galaxy which brings in one of the ancient levels of 'Super Mario 64.' That also reminds you why those older levels were more enjoyable in a lot of cases: less obstacle course and more celebration of freedom of movement and experimentation, even while often being compact.

The central premise of the series, the movement around levels unhindered by gravity, is a bit of a gimmick. It doesn't make the experience all that different, but I can see why they would try and add something that looks quite dramatic. It's just that you don't really have that sense of planets, systems and galaxies, they tend to be little rocks to bounce from one to the other, then the main chunks of level, some of which can be traversed spherically, others not. What I was less keen on is the changing configuration of the controls as you move to different planes as it can get confusing, and again, you don't always feel in control as you have to adjust your thinking and convert movements into actual direction - you may be running left, but the perspective changes and now you're running upwards, and it only adds to the sense of punishment as you battle for control of Mario. The failure in the controls to always do exactly as you attempt is even worse when it comes to parts where you point directly at the screen, either as Yoshi tongue-grappling his way between flowers, or Mario grabbing the gravity 'Pull Stars' to float around in space where there is no gravity - if there's any flaw with the connection between Wii and Remote it can cost you your life!

Different transformations in the Mario tradition create other control issues. For example, Spring Mario can leap high into the air, but he's an absolute pain to control. Again, it's challenge created by being forced to deal with uncomfortable or erratic movement in order to progress. Maybe it's my problem for looking at the game through the lens of 'traditional' 3D platforming and if I accepted the game on its own terms I'd be happier with it, but taste is subjective and it simply isn't as much to my taste, I've always preferred perfect precision in control of a character, be it a racing car, a first-person shooter or a third-person adventure so having to battle the system itself to progress rather than issues within the game world always bring me back to that inherent unfairness and discomfort! I will say I did enjoy most of the transformations, my favourite being Cloud Mario with his white overalls and floppy cap, a mix of chef's hat and Mr. Whippy ice cream. Partly it was the jauntiness of the getup, but also it was the addition of a safety net since you have three clouds who follow you around and when the Remote is shaken, become temporary floating platforms, so it appealed on all levels! Rock Mario's good fun rolling around as a boulder and smashing into things (and there were certainly plenty of innovative uses for these disguises, such as a series of skittles alleys or tricky runs through narrow platforms), and Bee Mario for the ability to fly short distances, but others, such as Fire Mario were too hard on the wrist - you have to shake the Remote each time you want to launch a fireball.

Though I say the game was a huge challenge in the best tradition of such things, there were plenty of handholding assistances, whether that be videos showing how to use the necessary techniques, or, most shameful of all, when the Force Ghost version of Princess Rosalina appears after you've mucked up a sequence so many times the game decides you need to be shown how to do it! How embarrassing... Having Yoshi along for the ride in a lot of levels gave things a new spin, and he does at least have a backup with his Flutter Jump, but even there, you're confined by physics to travelling in one direction, you can't turn midair as you'd expect to in most games - another unfairness. It's also awkward having to control Yoshi with the Nunchuk in 3D space, while also aiming the Remote at the screen to grab things with his tongue, shoot out enemies or lick up fruit and once again doesn't impress thanks to the controls. As much as I like having Yoshi along! I don't want to sound too critical as much of the game is very enjoyable, the physics I complain about can also be impressive (take the levels where Mario perches atop a 'Star Ball' like some giant ball-bearing/log rolling stunt, where it becomes very 'Super Monkey Ball,' except with the 'monkey' on the outside, even if it'd been copied over from the first 'SMG'), and there are a host of varied tasks and approaches - I certainly wouldn't suggest this isn't a good game, but it didn't do enough to rise higher than that. I probably want something more akin to 'Zelda' which has that deeper connection to the world - popping in and out of so many little environments doesn't have the same pleasure.

When first sitting down to play it, it almost immediately reminded me why I was relatively cool on the original 'SMG,' being mostly A-to-B obstacle courses, too much linear progression and repetition - even the admittedly pleasing World Map, a recreation of the old 2D game maps (I think of 'Super Mario Land 2' on the Game Boy, for example). The levels don't really stand out very strongly in the memory - I couldn't tell you what my favourite was, they were all a little too samey, too bitty, and while the music wasn't bad, even the standout music from 'Gusty Garden Galaxy' in 'SMG,' which was so terrific, they felt they had to keep reusing in various places throughout, nor was there anything equivalent to the greatness of that piece. If a game was judged by value for money then this would score very highly, but taken as a whole I find it's a cruel game that frustrates as much as it rewards, once again in large part due to the level of responsiveness from the controls.

Still, after the toughie of the first star in Stone Cyclone Galaxy I went on to clear the rest of 'World S' ('S' for Special, I assume), but still had five previously abandoned stars to go back for in other galaxies: the one where you're flying Fluzzard over the rocket, Fleet Glide Galaxy, was easy enough to find with a fresh perspective, then the spooky swamp of Boo Moon Galaxy was as simple as following Luigi to the end and it was just off to the left. As I said, the big surprise was how easy the first two green stars in the game actually were, as would make sense for that point in the game. Going back to them I'd since learned the game's 'language,' its expectations, and understood what I was meant to be looking or listening out for. That left the 'final' star on the cliff face of Yoshi Star Galaxy where Yoshi can't quite get enough height even using the tongue flowers to propel upwards, but I realised Mario could leap off his back in midair and was relieved to have solved every puzzle without resorting to the coward's way (internet help), but it was a hard taskmaster of a game, no more so than that final Grandmaster Galaxy. If this had been 'Super Mario 64' and I was granted leave to go back for another 122 stars after the main game was finished I'd have been thrilled, but this game did somewhat outstay its welcome, though I would concede that it's better to be too long a game than too short. It represents the Wii well, both in its flaws and its imaginative delights, and since Mario is Nintendo's mascot, that's only fitting (and yes, if there'd been a 'Super Mario Galaxy 3' of course I'd have eventually played that, too!).

***