Tuesday, 22 January 2013
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.
****
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment