The Darkness and The Light

DVD, DS9 S5 (The Darkness and The Light)

How can something so important have slipped my mind? Even though there are so many episodes, I'm amazed how completely I'd forgotten the origin of Kira's earring! So it was a very pleasant surprise to be reminded in this episode that it was her friend Lupaza that made it for her after her first mission with the Shakaar resistance cell, from the metal of the Cardassian skimmer they attacked! It's such a nice retcon of something that had been inconspicuously in our faces ever since Kira first appeared in 'Emissary,' but it's given new meaning here. I'm really pleased by the inclusive return of Bajoran stories regularly again, after Season 3 became more about the other characters, going off exploring in the Defiant, and the Dominion, then Season 4, the Klingons, but this is at least the third Bajoran-themed episode this season, after 'The Assignment' and 'Rapture.' Something else that took me back to 'Emissary' was Lupaza herself and the way she shows Kira in her current light: someone who doesn't just run off and seek revenge, someone who's gained a maturity since her time on DS9. Lupaza actually reminds me of the Kira from the pilot: fiery, flame-haired, belligerent, rule-flouter, but it's Kira who now advises care and thought. Until her dear friends are murdered which reverts her to the rebellious state she used to exist in.

When Lupaza and Furel are killed offscreen we have a greater investment in what's happening to Kira's associates. Not that we don't care before, but the first death is unexpected and initially unexplained, with the second we get to know the woman a little so that when she dies in a 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' Transporter agony we're already forming an interest in her because of her terrible fear and complete trust in Kira. I wonder how clear a plan Silarin Prin had? Did he always assume Lupaza and Furel would come to protect Kira or was that serendipity for him? Maybe he planned to kill off more people and only Kira's arrival at his hideaway on a planet near the DMZ prevented him from carrying out more murders? For all the talk of Kira's old friends it's somewhat surprising that Shakaar doesn't figure in the story. He's mentioned, and would be in the following story, but doesn't show up in this one. I suppose his presence would have been too calming for the escalating tension, Kira would have felt much safer, plus, being the First Minister he would have had high levels of security, making more attacks difficult. The last thing you want to do in a horror story is turn the lights on and brighten all the dark corners. And the story works much better with Kira facing things alone.

She's not alone, of course, she has all her station friends there, but there is an impression of isolation, I don't know whether it's seeing her solitary in her quarters, or little eerie moments like hearing one of the death count messages on the Promenade (which I always think is going to appear on a screen in a pillar, but was actually on a padd which should have been delivered to Kira and which Quark's broken into to hear something of value), but she does seem more vulnerable than usual. The pregnancy is one of the main reasons, I think. For much of the time she's carried the O'Brien's baby boy she's been kept from getting involved, working in Ops or whatever, nothing much outside of pregnancy-related issues to deal with, so to have a killer going around offing her friends, and to have her stuck taking medicine and not holding herself back adds greatly to a feeling of restriction, where normally the Major would be out there, confidently strutting around, doing whatever she could to hunt down the assassin. Carrying a baby also gave the episode two of its greatest story points - not content with just using Kira during her pregnancy, they also make it a logical and brilliant part of the story: Prin won't outright kill her because he doesn't believe in hurting the 'innocent,' only the 'guilty' shall perish, providing a reason Kira isn't summarily executed early in the story. The other twist is the medicine Kira has to take making her almost immune to sedatives, giving her a way to trick Prin into lowering his guard and the full-body forcefield!

The restraining field over the chair was a nice touch, since it isn't something we see used in that way much, and emphasises Prin's technical ability. I would have loved to see the hunter probe that carries out the attacks, the closest we get is seeing the monk get blasted head-over-heels across the room by a device in front of him. I imagined something like that scene in 'Star Wars Episode II' with the hovering drone that drops a killer centipede thing into the Queen's room as an assassination attempt, though Kira was in no shape to leap out the window and take a hanging ride on the probe, Obi-Wan style! She does show her determination by beating her way through Starfleet and Bajoran security to reach the O'Briens' quarters, but it was fortunate that overdoing it made her collapse before she could open the door or she and others might have been sucked into space.

Not seeing the explosion (the station doesn't even rock from it, being fairly small in relation to the size of the structure), the attack gains the imagination of the viewer - we've already seen one grisly scene in the burnt out corpse of Trentin Fala on the Runabout pad, so not showing us what happened to Furel and Lupaza is very effective, and that handheld action scene of Kira  stomping resolutely to the O'Briens' tells the story better than a CGI visual ever could. Apart from the danger, it was fortunate Keiko and Molly were away, as a big-haired pushy Bajoran woman and a large, one-armed Bajoran man beaming into their bedroom might not have gone down too well with the O'Briens! Miles is suspicious enough when they're just standing in his living room! There's an example of Kira not thinking straight, or it could be one of the necessity's of directing: where she foolishly walks in front of the lighted windows in the O'Brien quarters when the lights are out, her silhouette visible thanks to the stars behind. Surely something she would never normally do, though it may be that the environment is 'supposed' to be darker than we're seeing it, as they rarely do proper blackness on TV.

If that was a minor directing flaw, then it was absolutely an anomaly, because something that stood out in this episode was the quality of the directing. Apparently Mike Vejar hadn't done a Trek since 'TNG' Season 1 ('Coming of Age,' another great episode), and from this evidence they missed a trick not using him more often, as he shows great craftsmanship in his style. Often with an episode there'll be a memorable shot that stands out, but there were many this time: the circle of monks with the camera lifting over them to view from above, like the Prophets looking down at this perfect circle, which is then broken by the blast, is easy to notice, but my favourite is the scene with Kira telling Odo about her first raid with the resistance, seen from far out, the horizontal biobed in front, Odo standing behind, together making a stark cross shape, with the camera gently moving in. It's the kind of quality you wouldn't expect from most of the Trek series', both in the writing, the direction and the acting, and all combine to create a terribly sad monologue scene. I also liked the shot towards the end, after Kira's gone vigilante, and Sisko's giving orders in his office - his profile violently pushes into frame, his swift anger evident, the focus shifting between whoever's talking, and then panning quickly as he strides across the room. Also in Sisko's office, a shot earlier, with him and Odo talking by the window at the side of the door, we can see Kira, Dax and Nog behind in Ops before the scene cuts to them.

Nog didn't need to be in this episode at all. They could easily have stinted on him and had Dax decode and show that it's Kira's voice speaking the death count message, but they went the extra mile and used the young Ferengi in the most fitting way: Dax knows never to argue with a person's lobes! I was confused early in the episode when they're trying to work out who's contacting the station anonymously (again, you're immediately kept off-balance and then it turns out to be this woman who's a friend of Kira's), and there's Sisko working away at a console and I'm wondering where Dax is, and why she isn't doing her job? Not for long, as we're soon in a Runabout with her and Worf returning from Starbase 63. I didn't catch why they were there, except to play (and lose), at Tongo. This scene reminded me of a later one (possibly 'Change of Heart'?), where Worf admits to understanding a joke she's made and there's a bit of banter, only this time it's about whether he's smirking or not. They work so well together, and the fact they are two of the best Starfleet officers around somehow makes Fala's death more awful. If Worf and Dax can be beaten, what can this killer accomplish?

It continues to irritate me, if only in a small way, that the Runabouts have lost their personality by not being given clear names. I wanted them to say which ship they were on, and when Kira's making her log she could have recorded the name of her Runabout, but this season they mostly zip around without letting us know which is which. I don't remember a Runabout having a full-on mini Transporter room at the rear of the cockpit, so that narrows it down, but even so… One equally minor detail I did enjoy was seeing the inside of the Runabout docking bay, which is a very rare sight indeed. It wasn't until I noticed the window wasn't displaying the starfield of space, but grey, metallic shapes that I realised where the craft was!

The creation of Prin's bunker on the planet was well-designed, both as a miniature (loved the way the camera pans down from the light-giving star to this foggy, dingy facility, then we actually see Kira's beam in through the window), and the full-sized set, so dark and confined and full of technology. Prin's isolated way of talking, describing 'the plight of the creature' and such, made him some kind of fairytale character, hunched in the shadows. Randy Oglesby in his second (or third if you count the Miradorn twins as two), role on the series, is excellent, much better than his most famous character, the Xindi Degra in 'Enterprise.' They could have pushed the horror of Prin’s disfigurement, which does look too much of a prosthetic - if they'd used a whited out eye, it would have helped. The true physical horror of what he’s about to do is however, vivid, from the suppressed violence of the laser scalpel. But Oglesby gives this deformed servant a degree of sympathy in his insistence he only punishes the guilty. Kira's outcry that all Cardassians were fair game and the enemy is creepily reminiscent of Dukat's later statement that he hates all Bajorans and they all should have died, and could be seen as a backward step for her character after the devastating events of 'Duet' back in Season 1. It would be, but for the fact that she's frustrated, dealing with someone who's probably insane, and that she's desperately angry for putting the baby at risk, for the deaths of her friends, how she hasn't slept in three days (some of this comes out in an outburst at Odo), so she's not fully herself, and there may be a degree of guilt in what she says, too. We've certainly seen much healing of her wounds from dealing with Aamin Marritza or Tekeny Ghemor.

It all leads to her sitting morosely on a box when the others find her, she having shot and killed Prin, since the weapon was set to kill and she didn't have time to change the setting. She spouts a couple of morals and it's a strange moment as if the writers felt there had to be some kind of resolution or lesson to be learned after such a horrible event for her. She says something like light only shines in darkness and innocence is sometimes an excuse for the guilty, but like Picard in 'First Contact' where he's saying how humans have evolved beyond wanting gain and stuff, and he's saying it in this voice as if he doesn't quite believe it (though it's really because he's preoccupied with looking out for Borg), Kira speaks in a tired, halfhearted way. I agreed with the second statement about innocence sometimes being used as a shield or excuse for those that have done wrong, as if they didn't know better, but I couldn't disagree more with the light only shining in darkness - if light, as it seems in this case, is being regarded as good, Kira's basically saying that good can only exist with evil. I could agree that evil (or darkness) shows up the strength of good (or light) much more, but it would be wrong to say goodness can only 'shine' with evil there! Maybe I'm reading too much into it, and if she'd said light shines brighter in darkness I might have had less of a problem with it, but it was an odd moment in the episode, needing to be addressed.

The final shot with the Defiant gliding over the camera with the orange-brown planet in the background was a beautiful visual to end with, and as a whole, the ending was another great Season 5 conclusion to what was a mix of genres, being an investigative mystery and a kind of horror story. There's a question as to how much Kira had planned in advance. We see she has a special beam-out code that gets her to a Runabout, but is that something she's always had ready in case of emergency, or, as is more likely, a plan of action she'd initiated since the deaths began to occur? Either way she should have known better than to leave Odo's chair in a different position to where she found it, as of all people, Odo's going to notice a little detail like that (don't get him started on people moving his furniture!), even now that he's a solid. Perhaps Kira deliberately left that tiny clue, or she just didn't care, intent on getting to the criminal before anyone could reason with her. She knew Odo would soon realise his list of suspects had been deleted and that would mean the Defiant would be coming after her, and perhaps subconsciously she wanted them to back her up eventually, after she'd dealt with the problem herself.

****

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

cinema, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) film

I remember going to see 'The Fellowship of The Ring' and coming out irritated at many of the changes, but I still enjoyed it as a really good film, and wanted to see it again. I, as someone that has never been a regular cinema-goer did return for another screening in which I was able to sit back and allow all the problems I had with it wash over me, and enjoy it as a film. My experience with 'The Hobbit' was similar, but also very, very different. There will be no second viewing for me to come to a detente with the wrongheaded alterations because I have no desire to see it again, and that is because, aside from the points I don't see eye to eye with Peter Jackson about, I didn't enjoy it on the most basic level: as a film. It's the opposite of my experience with 'Star Trek XI,' in which I cared so much about the characters and universe that I was so annoyed with the utter divergence from what had gone before, yet I still came out of it enjoying the experience, wanting to see it again (I also saw that twice at the cinema and bought the DVD) - it was a good (if flawed), film.

It's not like I can even cite the reason for disliking 'The Hobbit' so strongly as tearing up my childhood or some other such sentimental, hotheaded phrase, because as much as I love the book, and I always have, I didn't go into the cinema worrying about the details, whether I'd accept this or that, or if it could live up to the grand 'The Lord of The Rings.' That was always high above its precursor so I expected this to be a different proposition, a more child-friendly, simpler story, but I at least expected it to be inventive from a directorial standpoint. Having seen Jackson's other fare since 'LOTR,' I shouldn't have even had that minor anticipation - 'King Kong' was long and boring, and 'The Lovely Bones' was average to okay, a reasonable watch. Has Jackson not become a better filmmaker since overseeing the biggest film trilogy ever attempted? From the evidence I would say not, and even returning to Middle-Earth has not rejuvenated his powers, which makes me wonder if 'LOTR' was a fluke, massive, on a vast scale. If there hadn't been so many familiar names in the credits, I would have suspected the fault, or some of it, might lie with new people, unfamiliar with the world, but there was a goodly number of production staff that went on that first adventure, so they were experienced.

I ought to say something positive, and while I did have a growing negativity as the film went on, coming out with a feeling of hatred at some of it, there were parts I liked. It opened reasonably well (except I was thinking 'my, that Arkenstone looks puny!'), and it made sense to recapture some feeling of the Prologue of 'LOTR,' to get a sense of history. It's somewhat strange to get right to the location of the end of the adventure immediately, but this is a film, not a book, so it suits the format. What made me think I was going to go along with the film was seeing Ian Holm back as the old Bilbo, wonderfully set just before the party to celebrate his eleventy-first birthday. He's writing down his tale and Frodo's there - he even puts up the 'No Admittance - Except on Party Business' sign on the gate and skips off to meet Gandalf. Brilliant prequel stuff and Elijah Wood doesn't look a day older than when he last played Frodo Baggins! Amazingly, neither does Holm (and I'm not even saying that in an ironic way, considering the last time we see Bilbo in 'LOTR' he's extremely aged!), but could have stepped right off the set of 'Fellowship'!

Sadly, while you can disguise people's looks, you can't completely hide their age, and ten years can make a lot of changes to a person. The de-ageing was incredible, but I felt so sad for Holm as I heard his thick, quavery voice, struggling to talk like Bilbo used to, but sounding so very old and tired. I would be surprised to hear he wasn't all for the project, but his lines came out as if he didn't want to be there. I'm not pointing the finger at him, people do age, and I wouldn't have had it any other way than to get Holm back for Bilbo, but it was just so sad when the voice and mannerisms couldn't match what he achieved before. The same could be said for Christopher Lee as Saruman: though they did an amazing job on him (as well as Galadriel and Elrond, a real plus point for me), you couldn't hide the fact that he could barely move and his voice had little of the timbre and dignity he portrayed so wonderfully in 'Fellowship' (I always felt he wasn't as strong in the other two films). Again, it's so wonderful to have him involved, even for just the one scene, and I'm glad he's lived to be part of it. This was the real reason I was interested in seeing the film: how were they going to incorporate the 'LOTR' appendices and the wealth of information held therein.

Though Radagast the Brown was straying into Narnian territory, I rather enjoyed Sylvester McCoy's slightly potty performance - he would have made a good older Bilbo if Holm wasn't available, I think. Radagast was mentioned in the book, and came briefly into 'LOTR,' though was absent from the films, so it was about time he got some screen time, even if Gandalf is rather bemused or derogatory towards him (I was always interested in the Istari, the five wizards sent to Middle-Earth, and so I enjoyed Gandalf's reference to the two blue wizards that he couldn't remember the name of - I don't think Tolkien ever revealed the names!). Mind you, I was as bemused as Gandalf by his sleigh rides through the woods and hills, drawn by rabbits or hares. That was where I began to feel as if this was not for me, but I went with it because who's to say the wizard didn't have such a contraption and it had obviously been put in for the children, to make the 3D experience worthwhile. I should say I saw this in 2D, having no interest in 3D films, because it should be the story and character that appeals, not the quality of the fairground ride. Radagast even got his own brief mission to Dol Guldur where he has a half-hearted sword fight with the ghost of the Witch-King of Angmar for some reason (oh yes, I remember, it was so Gandalf could give the sword as proof - why not simply have Radagast find it at the fortress?).

Sad to say it, it was as early as the Trolls scene that the film began to lose me. The point of that in the book was that Bilbo was sent into a dangerous situation by the dwarves, his first moment of forced courage. He's partly to blame and partly the hero for his fellow travellers ending up in sacks, but, I suppose because they'd built up Thorin and his kin as more noble, these versions wouldn't have sent Bilbo off alone, he's barely referred to as a burglar, and the central idea that Bilbo is there to make up the fourteenth member, because the Dwarves are suspicious and don't want to go on an adventure with thirteen isn't, mentioned once! Fair enough, I can understand the desire to try and bring the story up to the grand and sweeping style of 'LOTR' from what is a children's story, so they have him end up in the troll camp in a different way. Fine. What I objected to was Gandalf, though he rescues them by splitting a rock apart and letting the dawn shine through, never showed his cunning (it's back to the bumbling, harumphing portrayal Ian McKellen so favoured from 'LOTR,' instead of the shrewd, sharp-tongued old man of the books), in recreating the trolls' voices and getting them to argue with each other until light breaks through. So that takes away the cleverness of the scene, but most importantly it was a loss for Bilbo to be so in control (they didn't even do the burra-hobbit line justice - now he's a burglar-hobbit!).

What irritated me was that though throughout the film the makers evoked 'LOTR,' specifically 'Fellowship,' they messed up simple things that had been set down in that film: in the Special Extended version of 'Fellowship' they locate the trolls and mention Bilbo's adventure, and we see the trolls twisted into forms that look caught in argument with one troll pointing down at something as if it's a dwarf, or Bilbo, but for some reason they went out of their way to alter what you'd expect, so that the trolls are seizing up and that's how they end up in those positions, thus meaning that the book version of the trolls being caught out is taken out and this version where a rock is snapped open, prevails. So they were undoing some of the good of the earlier films' attempt to put back some of the book narrative.

The attempt to sit the film with 'LOTR' had to be done in some way, as it's what's expected and it's part of the same world, but it means the film doesn't have its own voice enough - there wasn't the inventiveness of shots, such as the slide down Orthanc in 'Fellowship' - we have some similar shots following the dwarves as they fall through the crack to the goblin kingdom, but it has none of the panache and so many times it felt like mere padding, these mindless action moments, with orcs or goblins versus dwarves. Examples of visual or thematic ties are: the dwarves running from orcs, a shot meant to tribute Arwen's escape of the Black Riders across the plain, in what was an invented, yet superb visualisation of that scene in 'Fellowship,' but this has none of that power and makes you think of better things; there's also Thorin ridiculously rushing back to attack Azog when caught on the treetops - aside from his foolishness he's thrown around and the Gandalf falling to his doom evocation is strong and un-called for; there's an enemy to be avoided and fought, just like the film-created character of Lurtz, with a final showdown at the end, which isn't resolved so, ooh, look forward to the rematch next time (not). They don't even bother to work in the story point of the goblins gathering to make war on the woodmen, which seems like an obvious film story way to go - maybe it will be addressed in the sequel, but it should have come here.

One of my biggest problems was an actual disappointment. As I said, I didn't really have any expectations, but when I learned Howard Shore had either patched up his differences with Jackson, or they'd found a way to get round it, I was thrilled to think of a whole new soundtrack in the 'LOTR' style. Such a wonder team couldn't go wrong, could they? Films are fitted with a temp track during editing to get an idea of the mood needed for the music and pacing of it all. I felt like they'd just used the themes from 'LOTR' and then decided to leave them there for the completed film, because the only new one that stood out to me was the main dwarvish trumpet theme, heroic and most satisfactory, well suited to them. All the rest seemed so unoriginal, and it's something sequels have had to contend with forever: how do you make the same, but different. You'd think 'LOTR' having come out a decade ago, and the sequels having introduced striking new themes each time, that this wouldn't have been a problem and Shore would have done something different, though in the same world of music.

I will concede that the dwarf singing was one of the best and truest moments to the book and I was so pleased the washing up song or the dwarves singing about their gold, etc, was successfully brought in, even if the end credits song was a nothing and in no way came close to equalling 'May It Be' or 'Into The West.' But this story didn't have the same mythical impact as it's big brother. It's a simple adventure tale. So what I can't understand is how difficult they made it to be able to tell the story, how many needless changes they made that actually, really did make the story have less impact. Look at the famous riddle sequence. Yes, they had the riddles, they didn't skirt over it as they might have if they were only concerned with action, and for that I should be grateful, but how badly can you miss chances for dramatic tension and visual mood with a story so clear-cut and so well told? Instead of having his nightmare about the back of the cave wall opening up, we have Bilbo deciding to head back to Rivendell. For one thing the real Bilbo wouldn't have had the forethought to do something so bold (not at this stage in the story anyway), and they could have done something really creepy with a sequence that is suddenly revealed to be reality. Instead, the cave floor cracks open and the dwarves fall down, not into tunnels, but rope-bridge strung cavernous spaces.

The king of the goblins was awfully played, with another stereotypical posh English voice. The big event of his head being cut off never happened, with Gandalf tapping off some other minion's head with the merest touch of his sword. It was all to showcase another pointless action scene for 3D to 'wow' the audience as people slide or drop or jump from bridge to bridge. It bored me - action for action's sake, with none of the character of the dwarves pursued into the depths of the mountain and Bilbo finding the ring. Such an iconic moment! Messed up so entirely! They did it better in a Prologue scene in 'Fellowship' which was truer to the printed word than this achieved. And I know what some people will say: this is all Bilbo's explanation so he could have (and did, originally), embellish the details. We know that inconsistencies were explained away between the books of 'The Hobbit' and 'LOTR' by Tolkien saying that Bilbo didn't tell the whole truth initially, and that's a great explanation for things appearing differently in this, but it wouldn't endear me to the film at all, and by this point I was beginning to hate it.

I realised, perhaps for the first time, with a clear insight that I hate Andy Serkis' (or Jackson's, or the conglomeration of everyone making decisions in that area) version of Gollum. I wanted to laugh aloud ironically as I heard people around me chuckling at the sweet little Gollum and his 'antics'. I never liked what they did with Gollum in 'LOTR,' but there was so much talk about the technical triumph of the creation and the love between the cast, and the universal praise, that it's taken many years to come to this understanding. They thought they were doing something brilliantly creative by having him play two halves of a split personality, but it takes away the relationship with the ring. It wasn't himself, but the ring he always spoke to. As for those gorgeous blue eyes, it makes me want to retch (just as Gollum always does with coughing splutter of his name, instead of what should have been: a gulping sound), and it was never his cute looks that gave Bilbo pity on him, but his wretchedness. It takes these well-crafted passages and empties them of all tension in exchange for basic humour.

I have nothing against laughing, there were even some moments I snorted at in this film, but I am totally fed up with the loss of reverence or seriousness in the face of adversity, and so the loss of tension, in so many films of the modern era. It happened in 'Mission: Impossible 4,' 'Star Trek XI,' so many superhero films… Just be serious at a dangerous moment, please! Make your character look worried, don't be taking the mickey at every opportunity because it doesn't make for heroic moments! I've not mentioned the much talked of 48 frames per second thing yet, because, whether it was the inferior visual quality of my local Vue (most likely, as I believe you has to see it in IMAX for the effect to work), or the fact that adding extra pictures doesn't actually do anything for a film that you can notice, it didn't ever become apparent. Except perhaps Gollum's lair. I didn't like the set for a start, all cramped and looking like a set - again Gollum's presence is lost to cutesy wittle half-hobbitses, precious, and even his big emotional moment of crying out in pain and fear at the loss of his ring, done well in 'Fellowship,' was ruined. He doesn't go back to his island to find the ring, nor does he have the presence you'd expect from a pitiful, treacherous creature existing so long in darkness and pain. The Gollum from 'The Hobbit' is a different proposition than in 'LOTR' - he's less amenable, nastier, grimmer. But because people know and 'love' the cute version, that's all we see. Bilbo isn't even shown finding the ring as he is, correctly, in 'LOTR,' it just bounces out of Gollum's, um, rag, and Bilbo grabs it. No drama.

I didn't see why it was necessary to give the dwarves an ongoing adversary in the form of old foe Azog, except the need to drag the tale out. If you can get 'LOTR' into three films, losing so much, and changing things to fit, how can you use the same excuse to fill out a far tinier book into the same amount of space. This should have been no more than two films, and maybe even condensed into one, and this is coming from someone who was excited at the prospect of more than two. I was pleased and happy, I thought they were going to do it right, and even though I didn't have expectations to be met, I felt sure of a good ride even if I didn't agree with 'creative' decisions. In fact it was the film itself being either pointless or ridiculously lessened by choices that made no sense to me, and simply not being an enjoyable film to watch. It wasn't like it even dragged on, but I was finding myself hoping it would end soon because I was seeing only things that didn't make sense or had no meaning for me. It was all artificially building up to an ending because they'd foolishly split up the story into three parts and needed an arc to end. So it became about Bilbo proving himself to Thorin, but instead of using his Hobbit abilities of carefulness and his wise old head, he becomes Action Baggins, 'saving' Thorin from Azog and the Wargs. I always hated the hyena-like Wargs in 'LOTR,' and at least these were more wolflike, but by then I wasn't taking anything in a positive light, I just wanted to finish and not return.

So I will not be paying to see the next film, that's the conclusion. On aggregate I can't say I hated the film, because there were things to like, but the storm of a failed narrative that made me feel dead inside was the overriding impression from the experience and made me even less interested in going to the cinema (and paying the exorbitant prices) in future.

A few last minute thoughts to round off this missive of woe: why was Gandalf's fire not blue as it was supposed to be? Why not even the slightest mention of the dwarves' superstitiousness? How is it that Gandalf can send a moth and it will fly at supersonic speeds in time to bring the eagles rushing every time, like an ancient 999 call? At least the orcs and goblins were differentiated, as that was a point I was wondering about. Why create an inflated action sequence with the company leaping from stone giant to stone giant in the storm? Not longer are the giants out to have fun, they're belting each other into tiny pieces, more like a wrestling match than the oblivious play of a huge race! Why? For action's sake I spit my last dwarf at you! And it said at the end that no animals were harmed in the making of this film, but what about snails? Only joking, but even that last shot with the sound of the thrush knocking a snail against the mountainside and the sound penetrating right into the deep, was silly. Surprisingly I didn't mind the dwarves too much, which was something I was suspecting I might find irritating, so a plus point there, but no compromising, this was a painfully average film, only fit for those that don't care about the book or those that can still be impressed by simpleton action scenes: should have been called 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Travesty.'

**

Rapture

DVD, DS9 S5 (Rapture)

Of the many changes heralded in this, it is the one that was barely more than skin deep that sticks out like a sore tailor's thumb, and makes the biggest visual change to the series in a long while. I weave around the subject of the uniforms, of course! Eighth film 'First Contact' did a lot of good things for Trek, much like 'Wrath of Khan,' and one thing they have in common are new uniforms that would define an era and strike a new thread in costume design. It was fitting then that this filmic next stage in the Starfleet uniform should be adopted by 'DS9,' and it was only to my disappointment that 'Voyager' never took them on, the weak argument that they weren't in contact with home to prevent it, and when they were, it would take up too much replicator power or something - the real reason was that the series wanted a distinct look away from 'DS9' if it could, even though 'DS9' had progressed to more textured, contrasting, richer cloth, and 'Voyager' stuck with the old bind in a manner of speaking. Kind of sums up the style of both series', though I will say that the brighter colours suited the later series better than the dark station environs. For one thing, their beefier shoulders, piped and subdued, improved the contrast on the actors' faces - just look at Jadzia and the way her markings stand out even more in this episode!

It wasn't only a practical consideration to gain new uniforms, it was like a statement of intent. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon word, everyone's favourite lazy description, 'dark,' but 'contrasting' I would go along with. Serious, tough, none of this Day-Glo happy brightness taken down through the ages from 'TOS' - not to say the series couldn't be a jolly place, it could, but it was also of a more pivotal, Quadrant-wide import than the jet set of starships, hopping about like kangaroos from one planet to the next. 'DS9' needed these uniforms, and in my eyes they were the finest designs ever created in the pantheon, despite their simplicity (and, in this case, Sisko wearing his badge up on the shoulder piping, which was a break in the uniform code, or even good taste, if ever I saw one!). If these new uniforms weren't enough to sate the Starfleet fashion appetite, we also have a gaggle of Admirals, spearheaded by Whatley, and even an old 'TNG' uniform gets dug up in B'hala - maybe Whatley's aide really had just been dug up from the ruins, his clothing was old enough!

Enough about the frivolous outer garments, for this is a deeply personal, inner journey, all about faith, mystery and misunderstanding. Oh, well let's just dip back into those uniforms one last time and point out that it was a subtle poke at the new garb when Bashir asks Sisko if his uniform looks a little brighter after the Captain's accident in Quark's rickety old Holosuite - I was with Sisko, expecting rapturous visions any moment since the quality of the episode was so sharp and bright to my eyes! It's been a while since I'd watched an episode on DVD and it made me wonder if we really need a high-definition version after all? Intermission over, back to the inner journey: this was a very important episode, that slings in new developments like there's no tomorrow. And there wouldn't have been one for Bajor if it had joined the Federation. What's that? You mean to say the very mission that Sisko took on all those years ago at the beginning of the series, the main arc of the series, no matter how little it may have been thought about after 'Emissary,' is completed and then undone in the space of one episode? It's crazy, but true, and now you wonder why there wasn't at least some buildup to the Bajorans' signing their lives away, a few episodes where it was discussed, preparations made, Kai Winn making trouble, but no, it all begins and ends here, and it is Sisko himself who brings it crashing down!

With hindsight, or future sight about what's going to happen, this episode shines proudly as the moment Sisko put Bajor before his Starfleet career. That doesn't sound that magnanimous and heroic when put that way, but this is a man that found new direction with his posting and to have it taken away, well, it would be more of a blow to Starfleet, than Ben. At this stage I could see him leaving to build his house on Bajor (though I don't think he's yet sounded as attached to the planet as that, so far), so when he makes a personal plea to 'Charlie,' Admiral Whatley, breaking down all barriers of command because the visions he's experiencing mean so much to him, it tugs on the uniform strings, sorry, heartstrings, and makes even the sceptical, standard, scientific Admiral, who wasn't too bad for one of his kind (Admirals are practically another race in the Trek universe, and a notably villainous one), is taken aback by Sisko's seriousness. There's also that wonderful, Messiah-like walk down the Promenade where Ben shows himself more the Emissary than any other time, prophesying and reassuring, instructing and guiding the Bajorans, even showing insight into the Admiral's personal life.

Again, I would have liked Whatley to have been introduced prior to this story so the impression of being a personal friend to Sisko carried more weight and when he's being strict about all the superstitious mumbo-jumbo, which you can see in his eyes he wants to call it, it would have been more of a betrayal. But there's a moral question at the heart of it all, quite apart from the important progress being made and seeds planted, even apart from the tug of war between 'traditional' Starfleet rational thought and values, and simple faith, and that is whether Sisko should have been allowed to continue having the visions at the risk of his life if they were giving him such insight. It seems somehow selfish that Kasidy and Jake want him to be cured so they can know he'll be safe, and there for them, but that's because we're seeing the wonder and joy in his eyes. Whatley might have felt a little differently about the situation if Sisko had been seeing information Starfleet would be interested in, such as what the Dominion's doing, what Cardassia or Romulus are planning. That might have been an interesting avenue to explore, but it wasn't what the story was about. It all seems unfair for Sisko to give up his amazing clarity of thought, described so incredibly well and poetically when he talks about seeing Jake as a baby, and being able to look into the scrunched up face and see the path of his life spread out before him, and that now it's like he's holding the universe's baby. Wow, some writing there!

It's all a bit fuzzy until Kai Winn gets involved. I couldn't help but be reminded of Vedek Bareil's end in Season 3, struggling on at Winn's encouragement, so that she was partly to blame for his death. It looked like the same could be happening here, with Winn getting Sisko an Orb (I can imagine her phoning down to the planet to order one up, explaining that the Emissary requires it), so he can pursue his visions further. If this was the old Winn I'd say her motives were pure. Purely ambitious, and evil, that is. But this Winn is different, she's taken on massive responsibilities since being elected Kai, and though it was what she wanted it has meant she's had to work hard and with her enemies too. I don't believe we'd seen Winn since the latter part of the third season, in 'Shakaar,' so it's regrettable that we haven't been able to see much of the change the position has clearly wrought in her. Even Kira is expecting the old biting, sarcastic Winn when she greets her on arrival, and the Kai says she looks sweet (being pregnant). It's so strange to see Winn interacting peacefully with Kira and Sisko, caught up in the Emissary's, for want of better, rapture. She sees the Prophets doing something with him and finding the lost city of B'hala is what changes her mind that, yes, he is the Emissary and must be followed!

All this without an actual word from the Prophets themselves. This time we only see Sisko gazing into space until, brought back from reverie, he describes what he saw. It gives those sequences a poetic and imaginative bent that might not have been so strong, had they relied on CGI to show us. Sisko's words evoke emotions and memories and give us a greater mythic sense of what he saw than any recreation could. This is another episode to show the Avery Brooks doubters that he can in fact act, possibly better than any other Trek actor (he even does jiggling about in a brain meltdown better than anyone - he'd already had experience of that in 'Starship Down'). One person impressed by his character's attitude is Kasidy Yates, returning from her six month prison sentence for aiding the Maquis terrorists. She's brought in in as simple and uncomplicated a way imaginable, just showing up (if Sisko wasn't having visions and being so introspective he might have begun to get annoyed at the apparent constant interruptions to his Holosuite program - I counted at least three people bursting in on him!). Kasidy's so relieved to receive a warm welcome that she overlooks his odd obsessive behaviour, only slowly showing signs of bewilderment as things progress.

It was an admirable way to reintroduce the character to us, one that could easily have been written out permanently, and it showed that there was more than a mild bond between the two, that she would come back after all that had happened. I thought Penny Johnson did such a good job as this persuasive, if uncomprehending figure, fighting for Jake in Sisko's eyes, reminding him of his duty to his family. But Sisko from this point on could often be said to have the Prophets and Bajor as top priority, perhaps rightly considering the price he paid for disobedience at the end of Season 6. But in this you can see that if the choice was up to him, both his loyalty to Starfleet and duty to his family would fall by the wayside because of the importance of what he was going through. And it was very important - not so much finding B'hala, as that was only instrumental in causing his popularity to skyrocket with the Bajorans. No, the real acid test was going against the grain and stopping Bajor from joining the Federation and not becoming embroiled with the coming war with the Dominion.

Wow, that was a bit of a clanger, wasn't it: Sisko slips in the detail that there's going to be a war with the Dominion. I don't think it seemed inevitable before this, because the Dominion always worked in the shadows to destabilise, not challenge openly. But it's practically a throwaway line to Kira in the Holosuite. Her response? Something like, 'you can see the future?' Not, 'the Dominion's coming to destroy us?'! The image of locusts was a powerful one, giving the story some Biblical depth and gravity, and also setting up the question of why these 'locusts' passed over Bajor and headed for Cardassia. All very intriguing to someone who hasn't seen what happens, and all very satisfying for those that have. Some might question how, if Sisko could work out the location of the lost city just by noticing the reflection of the Bantaca spire in the painting of the city, others hadn't done the same, but it makes sense that the Bajorans wouldn't have looked at it in the same way. They have computers and technology, but I imagine they wouldn't have thought to scan in such an artefact and examine it in minute detail, and instead would have revered it as a sacred relic. It's also more of a clue that initiates his musing, and he uses maps and his visions to complete the work, so it wasn't so easy when you realise that.

One thing not so easy to see past is Dax' slip of the tongue, when, in Quark's bar as preparations are made for the admittance of Bajor into the Federation, she says she wishes a new member could join every week. But she doesn't say the Federation, she says Starfleet! Okay, there is talk of absorbing the Bajoran Militia into Starfleet later, but I don't think that's what Jadzia meant… Something else that may or may not have been noticed was the excellent redress of the old faithful cave set. This time it has a lower roof with roots straggling down out of it, giving it a completely new look. It was also very dramatic, like the opening of an ancient tomb or some Indiana Jones location, when they enter the lost city (the phasering away of the underground wall brought 'Chain of Command' to mind, in which Picard does a similar thing). I would have preferred inky blackness with only the torchlight for illumination, which was the general impression, and it was quite well done, though I had the idea there were other light sources too.

The timing of this episode is something of a question mark. Does it come before or after 'First Contact,' because the new uniforms could have been introduced gradually, and even though the station is a facility on the edge of space, presumably all Starfleet needs to do would be to fax over the design and have Replicators do the work. Then again, the captured Bashir later in the series is wearing an old style of uniform, but that's an issue to be discussed when we reach it. Watching in continuity I would see the film before this as that was what happened in real life. Whenever the story is supposed to be set, you can't hide the relatively brave assertions about faith in this episode. There's a wonderful scene in Ops between O'Brien and Dax, espousing the usual belief in science and medicine, and Worf and Kira standing up for faith - Kira even replies that faith is what it's all about, or words to that effect, not something that would have happened in 'TNG' or pretty much any of the other series' either. Not to say 'DS9' doesn't have its share of the atheist worldview, but it's encouraging to see the other side presented in such a positive light.

Kai Winn was also presented in a somewhat more positive light, giving Kira a dressing down for assuming it was only the rebels and fighters that came up against the Cardassians. Like Dukat before her, the writers had successfully managed to get us to think more sympathetically about what was once a terrible, conniving person, and could still be. But then, that's the point. The saga is left open and uncertain. Views have changed, Starfleet had its warning shot off the bow concerning Sisko's dedication to an alien religion; Kira has professed her loyalty and belief in Sisko as the Emissary; even more unbelievably Winn has done so too, admitting openly to Kira that she was wrong! [Jaw hits floor]. Winn isn't sure where she stands, though Sisko is whom she'll follow, she claims; the Federation isn't sure where the Bajorans are; the Bajorans are only sure not to go with the Federation yet; Sisko's not sure why; talk of locusts; words of mystery… It's not all resolved in an easy climax, but there's hope - Whatley probably went back to Starfleet HQ and stood up for Ben after his last definite statement about Bajor joining eventually, a straw of hope to a non-believing organisation.

Other things to look out for are a good mixture of familiar aliens (a Yridian in Quark's bar, Vulcan and Bolian Admirals), and the disdainful look Winn's sniffy bodyguard monk gives the Starfleet and Bajoran security officers about to follow her - one even looks to the other with a raised eyebrow: so much detail going on, even in the background, like a real, breathing world! On the Jones-Watch front, the guy can be seen clearly when he assists Sisko upon the Captain's staggering entry into the Wardroom for the dramatic declaration that Bajor must stand alone. Not only was Brooks really good, but his TV son Cirroc Lofton continues to be given proper acting scenes, perhaps because he's now older (eighteen according to the episode), and again, proves himself to those that were disparaging of his ability. When I first saw the episode, I was ill and it was an enclosed station-bound episode that didn't much appeal, and maybe I couldn't take all the details in so well, but on repeated viewings the episode has improved, and seen in context of the wider series it's another great for Season 5, even ending on a beautifully symbolic, wordless gesture of Kasidy bringing Jake and Ben's hands together, and Sisko putting her hand on top in a show of solidarity.

****

Arctic

DVD, Smallville S7 (Arctic)

A new year, and the ending of an old season. If I'd realised this was to be the finale of Season 7 I'd have squeezed it in before the end of last year, while the ongoing events remained fresh in my mind, but I thought I had a few more episodes to go, at least two or three. So what happened, did they run out of budget? Was the series losing popularity and so they cut the episode count to twenty? Compared with the usual high production values of previous year-enders, this didn't appear to be in the same league, with no real set-pieces (and the usual suspects of reused sets, namely the Ace of Clubs and the ever-ready plane internal), unless you count the Fortress of Solitude collapsing, in all its half-baked CGI-ness. It wasn't that I felt let down by the story, I rarely build up enough steam with this series to let expectations begin to creep up, but even in a post-Christmas, not-seen-it-for-a-few-weeks-so-nice-to-be-back mood, the impact of Lex and Clark finally, inevitably reaching that much longed-for meeting in which Lex reveals that he knows Clark's secret, the linchpin that made the series so edge-of-the-seat in the early days, and even remained a last-ditch glimmer of something dramatic that would be built to subsequently, was minimal - a puff of air; a polite nothing. Maybe the drama had all been squeezed out over the years, but there was always that faint possibility that Lex still didn't know. I suppose now we'll never know if Fake Kara/Brainiac told him, or whether he did already know for certain. If so, then why not capture Clark?

That wasn't the only strange decision Lex made. He calls in Jimmy's favour from 'Sleeper' to get Lois off his back so he can… go to the arctic without her knowing? What? And then there's Jimmy, who I know is supposed to be a bit green, but would he really ever think it was one good turn and we're all done? This is Lex he was dealing with! Why didn't Lex just have Lois bumped off or removed? Maybe because she's main character, and one that was designed to stay around. I don't know, watching this I didn't long for the day when the facades of Lex were dropped - as I've noted in many reviews, the does he/doesn't he know merry-go-round was the writers' second favourite pastime after Lana and Clark's soap opera carryings-on, but I still believed that moment we all waited for would come to more than Lex dropping his bauble of Kryptonian doom on the Fortress' crystal control panel (built conveniently to hold it!), after a short, mechanical conversation between the nemeses with all the dramatic tension of Jimmy taking a photo at a high school prom. The only surprise is Lex not degenerating into a mouth-frothing Senator Palpatine-versus-Yoda figure, gnashing his teeth and cursing the farm boy for his deception. It appears there wasn't much surprise for Lex or the fulfilment of a long-guessed mystery - he's mildly apologetic for killing Clark in the name of humanity, his 'brother,' and then foolishly gets caught in the ensuing avalanche of CG crystals.

I liked that there was at least a reference to the old friendship between the two, brought up by Lois, and in Michael Rosenbaum's defence, I will point to his performance in this episode being much more mature, restrained and aloof, serious, as if he knew this was the last time he'd be playing the character, which I believe it was. If only he'd put that dignity into the man more often, but it was the writers that messed with the character, took him in circles (like most of the others, actually), and generally stripped him of the fascinating dynamic he possessed in Season 1 and 2. I am a little confused, knowing a few scanty details picked up over the years I kept expecting Lex clones to be coming out of the woodwork. I expected Lana to be revealed as a clone - indeed, I really expected the nurse to tell Clark she'd died, and I certainly feel that would have been a better ending to her character (whom I believe also bowed out with this season), than a hastily recorded video message (which she was able to quickly record onto DVD and pass on to a nurse!), declaring her selfless love, how she's holding Clark back from his destiny and is now going. What was the point of bringing her back this season at all, since she's basically done exactly what she did at the end of Season 6: vanished to live her life away from friends and enemies. Granted, she could return easily at any time, but I was convinced she was to be a clone and the real Lana had died previously.

Still, the future's set up, as it usually is in the cliffhanger ending. They'll need to sort out a role for Chloe who remains booted from the Daily Planet, and Clark's been given an offer from Lois (who was summarily promoted to Chloe's lowly position, and appears not to have told her cousin at any time in the episode), to join the paper. Now that Lex is gone I can see both of them working there under Lois, and of course we still have the unresolved lying of Jimmy to be worked through. But I really have no idea what to expect from Season 8, unlike the little half-knowledge I had of Season 7. Hopefully Kara will stay trapped in the Phantom Zone, the best place for her, though again, I'm confused, because it seemed that she was Kara, with Brainiac inside her in previous episodes, and I thought she'd somehow overcome the machine controlling her. When Kara goes to take Lex' weapon pod and can't pick it up, why didn't she/he rip the whole safe out of the wall if it was't possible to carry it, since Brainiac had enhanced strength too, didn't he/it? A shame that Brainiac's destruction means James Marsters excellent villainous turn is seemingly over. So it was really that easy to destroy Brainiac all along? Just course enough electricity through him and he'll explode? We can read Chloe's power as being the true culprit, weakening him enough to be vulnerable, but it was another anticlimax to add to the list.

Chloe's defence with her beautiful pink power of healing (I half expected love hearts to float out like some kind of Princess Peach move in 'Mario Kart'!), was one of the few unexpected twists in the story - makes sense as her mutation comes from Kryptonite so it would counteract a Kryptonian machine. At last, her mutant ability has more effect than bringing back a necessary character to life! Good to see Brainiac surprised at something simple not going to plan for him. Chloe going into a coma was completely irrelevant - she's out for a bit with the misty eyes a la Lana, then a few minutes later she's fine. The same could be said for Lana, except her message came across as something tacked on, as if they'd given Kristin Kreuk the boot a few episodes ago (and I never realised that scene with Clark at her side would be the last they'd share), and had her record this to stick in, in case anyone wondered what had happened to one of the main cast members and needed some kind of resolution! The biggest new danger I can see is Chloe having been arrested by the government (or the prospect of marriage to Jimmy), but, just as we've seen Clark visit someone in hospital so many, many times, we've also seen people locked up and then escaping. Even Robert Picardo, thrust briefly into the opening for Edward Teague to be killed off (wow, he didn't last long!), didn't do any favours to plot or sense. Either way, there should have been more oomph to the cliffhanger. If you know Lex isn't coming back, that negates that story, leaving loose ends, yes, but not terrifying, brink of disaster, write-yourself-out-of-that-one excitement.

Not that I've often loved the season opener's, rarely living up to the cliffhangers. On the whole I wouldn't say this was a bad season, as I've heard it described. It had it's patches of goodness, the Veritas saga, and other bits and pieces here and there that haven't lingered in the memory. It didn't have as good an arc as Season 6, but then it barely featured the best new character (Green Arrow), so what can you expect? Kara was neither revelation of awfulness, nor angel of brilliance, she was tossed around in the usual haphazard manner, even dispensed with for a while, but you come to expect that from these writers, who don't know the meaning of the word 'consistency.' In some ways they've gone back to the dawn of cinematic sci-fi storytelling, with nonsensical plots, serialised to keep viewers watching, think 'Flash Gordon'! Cheesy, bright, silly, undemanding (except for a reviewer trying to keep track of the ins and outs of each new plot device), I resigned myself to getting to the end of the series a good while ago, and with that resolution you find new enjoyment, realising it's just ephemeral, something to look forward to catching up with once a week. So that's how I feel at this stage after Season 7. Whether the series can find any of the Season 6 gravity or some of the mystery of the better episodes this season, I will wait to discover.

**