Enemy Mine

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S7 (Enemy Mine)

The first fully Daniel-focused episode since he returned from the dead, and it's a good one. My first thought on seeing the soldier watched, then attacked and dragged off through the undergrowth was 'Unas!' I was pleased to be right, as they've always proved to make for strong episodes when these creatures are part of the story, another of those recurring races that appear once a season or so. This time it's all about Daniel's ability to walk the tightrope of diplomacy with two opposing forces, two ballistic missiles aimed at each other in the form of the Unas and Colonel Edwards, not to mention the Pentagon's pressure to get more naqadah for making a new ship since the Prometheus was lost (I'd completely forgotten that happened until they mentioned it). It becomes much more dicey a prospect the more we find out, and as usual Dr. Jackson arrives and immediately starts to call foul on the military minds behind this latest mission. I was surprised that no tracks were made since we see the soldier get dragged off, his hands clawing at the ground, but Teal'c did note that the undergrowth had been disturbed. This sets off a chain of events that leads Daniel to enlist the aid of Chaka, the friendly Unas from another planet where the race were treated as slaves ('Beast of Burden'). No idea if it was the same actor, difficult to know with the prosthetics, but I wouldn't be surprised, knowing the vagaries of production - they'd prefer to get the same head back in a mask simply because it would have been designed for that person, and therefore cheaper than creating a new body suit, and they were already making enough for the episode!

With the growing magic of CGI, or perhaps more specifically, split-screening of multiple characters to make there appear more in a given scene, gave this episode its suitably grand finale - I was thinking, as the howls of the approaching tribes of Unas rose over the camp, how good this would have looked if it had been in a 'Stargate' film (not that any of the new films are likely to deal with anything remotely as complex as diplomacy with alien races, they'll much more likely be explosion-fests and running gun battles between human and Goa'uld, as that's what the general population seems to respond to, sadly), but actually I was impressed with what they did, and it felt a lot like the end of 'Zulu' in which hordes of warriors surround the little British encampment. Only this ended more happily. In fact, it ended wonderfully, with Colonel Edwards seeing the light and overcoming his hatred and ingrained training to submit to defusing the situation, prompted by Daniel. Their problems with each other is what makes this episode, for me.

The Unas are impressive, and even though you sometimes think this is a little too much into 'bad' sci-fi, with aliens grunting and making weird, over-the-top gestures, you're completely drawn into the hard work of communication and understanding between vastly different cultures. Daniel would make an excellent Starfleet officer, because he puts all his efforts into avoiding bloodshed when that's so often the military's first choice. I have to admit I was shocked that the Pentagon would summarily decide to relocate these proven intelligent, sentient lifeforms in order to benefit from the planet's resources. You could say they're as bad as the Goa'uld, not subjugating a population and forcing slavery upon them, granted, but wilfully removing them from their home, and all for the 'greater good.' That's one of the themes I got from this episode, something the series doesn't always achieve, or even try to do: analogy, a moral component, a difficult decision. What could be more difficult than facing the fate of your own existence as opposed to another's? The fact that these are noble savages, with their own culture and wish to fight the Goa'uld, only makes it more compelling. The analogy of Native Americans and what was done to them is strong, and who knows but if another threat had banded the white man and the indian together, perhaps there would have been more progress. I suppose in the history there are instances of this happening (I don't know enough about it to be able to draw examples), but it's not the overriding impression we have of that time.

The conflict boils down to anthropology versus military, and Daniel, whether from latent skills from his time as an Ascended being, or, more likely, the skills he's always had, merged with experience of dealing with O'Neill (something he and Jack actually mention), he's able to prevent all-out war. It was great to see the hard veneer of Edwards humbled as he saw what was best. It's not like he was a bad guy, we've seen plenty of them in the series who were human, but out for themselves or too stuck into obeying orders to be able to think, but hatred was easy for him, as was his instinct to take down a threat. It's all about not appearing weak, escalating a conflict so it turns into damage on both sides: nobody wins. But if things can be calmed, if both sides talk with respect and honour, good things come to all. A good life lesson, there! An episode like this is inspiring, and while the entirety may not have been as compelling as the talky bits (soldiers creeping through the woods has been done and done on this series!), the strong themes and superb ending make it one of the best so far this season.

It's quite rare to get an episode this far into the series that is almost completely based around one of the main cast instead of using several of them, but O'Neill breaks his arm in the Unas attack so he's out (also setting up more drama because, naturally, he's been 'broken in' by Daniel, as Jackson puts it, and has a more rounded view of things now, thanks to so much experience, so Edwards is the one Daniel must deal with), Carter's busy with diagnostics on the 'gate, and Teal'c's just there to provide backup. I was shocked that General Hammond seemed so apparently at ease with the Pentagon's decision, but it's easy to forget this isn't 'Star Trek,' it's not set several hundred years into the future, it's now, with a very real threat to Earth, and you can believe if the American government did have access to other planets and technology they probably would go all out for it. If the threat to Earth felt a little more immediate or imminent it would give them more sympathy, and I could also suggest the episode would have had greater power if the soldier who was killed by the Unas had been especially important to Edwards, like his son or something, then his choice to follow Daniel's lead, and go against instinct and training would have been even more powerful, but in any event it was pretty affecting as it stood. And I love the created dialogue of the Unas, the fact that Chaka was brought back, and an injured Siler being shown in the background of the Infirmary again, perhaps a running joke? Best of all, it was an Unas story I'd never seen before!

***

Bound

DVD, Enterprise S4 (Bound)

I'm glad the Orions got another episode before the series ended, so they weren't seen as a one-story race, but it's hard to believe that this was a Manny Coto-written, Allan Kroeker-directed episode because it falls pretty flat. There are small consolations in both writing (the true facts about the Orion species, and some good little Trek references), and direction (the action's well shot), but as a whole this is most definitely the weakest instalment of the season. It's kind of nice to see a little of the old idealism return in Archer's captaining style, with the coming of the starbase to Starfleet's plans, and perhaps it was this that made him more open and optimistic - he wants Starfleet to be friendly with the Orion Syndicate, a laudable goal, but an impossible one, knowing what we do about this criminal network. But Archer must not know enough about them to realise this, so it's fair for him to want to build bridges, probably fed up with burning them or all-out destroying them, so it's more like the exploration and desire to establish peaceful relations with new species that he used to do. It's exciting as a viewer to witness (or at least imagine, since we don't see any actual starbases under construction yet), the beginnings of the Federation's expansion into the galaxy, and it wouldn't have harmed to have seen a mock-up or schematic on a screen of what these earliest of starbases would look like - they had to leave some things for future seasons, though, as at this time they still weren't aware of impending cancellation, news of which came during filming of the following two-parter.

The Orions are one of the most old-fashioned of species, dating back as they do to the exotic first pilot, the green girl going down in history (technically not seen until 'The Menagerie' which used the then-untransmitted pilot as a flashback), and because of that long lineage and striking imagery it's gone down as one of the elements of Trek that people know. Kirk, Spock, "beam me up," the Enterprise, perhaps Klingons, and the green girl. So it's surprising that they only appeared in two episodes of 'TOS,' and bypassed all the modern series' except for 'Enterprise,' and then not until the final season. It was only mentions of the Orion Syndicate in 'DS9' that meant the race weren't completely forgotten in 24th Century circles, though we sadly never got a sighting of any actual Orions, just criminals of other races. About the only clever thing in the episode is the turning of that old-fashioned notion of the slave dancer on its head, and speak a truth at the same time, for we learn that contrary to what seemed to be the case, it is actually the males of the species that are kept subjugated to the will of the females who have powerfully intoxicating pheromones. This could be a comment on society in general, or upon pornography, but if so it's only the most cursory of metaphors, on the surface if you want to read it, but not explored in any depth. Again, if the series had continued we'd surely have got more details of Orion society.

The slave dancing is still old-fashioned, but I suppose they were trying to evoke memories of 'TOS,' it's just slightly jazzed up for modern audiences, though it makes them look like a girl band gone mad! Something else that's just plain weird is that the main Orion is played by Cyia Batten, who was the originator of the prim and proper daughter of Dukat, Tora Ziyal, playing her for two episodes. I wonder if she felt happy to come back to Trek having been replaced on 'DS9,' considering these were mainly the same people who gave her the chop in what could have been a lucrative recurring role (though she'd already returned in 'Voyager' as another doomed girlfriend of Harry's in 'Drive'). Since she was willing to come back it would seem so. It's still a bit odd to see her in such a role, even though we know actors play many parts. One other actor returning to Trek, though he doesn't play as big a part in this episode, is William Lucking, one of the stalwart faces of 'DS9' (and plenty of other TV shows), and was never less than great, known for being Kira's friend, Furel in three episodes. Harrad-Sar could be an interesting character, pretty much the first proper male Orion, since others didn't have more than background roles for the most part, but it's not the juiciest of roles, just as Casey Biggs' foray into 'Enterprise' in Season 3 came in a largely unexplored role that was no match for his best known character on 'DS9'.

Sar's talk with Archer and Reed was very much a 'TOS' thing, it could have been in a tent on an alien planet, as he attempts to give hospitality to his guests, even dropping in a reference to the Gorn Hegemony, which would please anyone in the know - and not before time, as the Gorn would become more important in the next story. Deltans are another race mentioned, this time by Travis, getting into his role as seasoned traveller of the space lanes, which had been all but forgotten. It was also good to see the gym again, which rarely features. One part of the ship I was initially confused about was the decon chamber where the Orions are locked up, as I thought it was the brig with another makeover and extension! A good idea to put them in the airtight location. Really, that's all there was in the episode, just a standard Sirens-in-space story (done countless times on Trek, and just last season with 'Rajiin'), members of the crew acting out of character, and even a 'TOS' ending where some of the main cast joke around together at the Vulcan's expense, though it was followed with a soapier scene where Trip admits he's requested a transfer back to the NX-01 after forcing T'Pol to admit she wants him to return.

This late in a season I imagine the pressure must have been immense, so there had to be some stories that didn't quite make the grade. It wasn't boring, and certain things, such as having Commander Kelby's difficult working relationship with Trip boil to the surface, were seeds of something more watchable, but that weren't quite finished or furthered enough to make it worthwhile. While I'm complaining, the Orion ship design was kind of ugly; a lumpen, chubby mess, a bit like Harrad-Sar himself, and not one of the better ideas they've done. And the Tactical Alert which Archer requested fell totally flat, with only a minor adjustment in the lighting, barely noticeable, with no alarm or lights or anything to make the moment exciting. I thought there was usually a bit more to it than that, even though it was never going to be as dramatic as, say, 'Voyager,' since it was still in its early days. And was that a new carpet on the bridge of the Enterprise, as I've never noticed it to be so blue before! The title could either refer to the state of Orion society, or specifically to the connection between T'Pol and Trip which makes him immune from the Orions' pheromones, and that's as deep as I can get on this story!

**

His Way

DVD, DS9 S6 (His Way) (2)

Having been away from the station for many months, almost a year, it could have been difficult to jump right back in during the middle of the Dominion War, but this proved to be the perfect jumping-in point, a triumph of the standalone format that so often gets criticised nowadays as something that couldn't possibly work today when you need to be a continuing story and you can't waste time on so-called 'filler' episodes, and if a new Trek series came out now it wouldn't be doing this kind of thing… I sincerely hope a new Trek series would make time for this kind of thing, because while I'd agree that you need driving story arcs, and that simply travelling place to place, week to week isn't enough in itself, it's essential for us to care about the characters and see into their lives, which is exactly what this gem does, 'DS9' the perfect recipe of continuing and self-contained varieties of storytelling. There's no B-story to speak of, in fact there are no other stories at all - you could easily have seen them turn Bashir's late-night boredom and design to go and wake up O'Brien for a game of Tongo (I guess they're still enjoying the game after getting so caught up on beating Quark; and it shows what life's like without the Chief's family around); or Kira's visit to First Minister Shakaar; or even Quark's interests in keeping Odo busy with romantic problems and solutions (I thought this was the one in which Odo turns a blind eye to one of Quark's schemes in gratefulness for his part in helping the Changeling, Quark thinking he's finally got one over on his nemesis, but it wasn't), as potential plot lines, but none of them are picked up and instead we're given maximum enjoyment from Bashir's new holoprogram.

His mate Felix, the guy who was referenced several times in the series as an absolute genius of a holo-programmer is like Dr. Phlox' friend Dr. Jeremy Lucas, or Doc Zimmerman - someone we hear about as an important part in someone's life, and eventually meet, though Felix is the odd one out, never appearing. No doubt if Season 8 had happened… But once again he comes up trumps with an original idea: why not have your sixties lounge singer be self-aware? Why not/why? I don't know, it was just another one of the 'DS9' writers' wacky ideas, and yet another they pulled off with aplomb thanks to expert casting, getting someone who was actually part of that scene as a youngster, who knew those people, so that when Vic's talking about spending time with Frank and Dean, it's as much the actor reminiscing about the period, as the character! Not only does Vic know what he is, but he sees it in period terms, so he knows, but doesn't fully understand, or maybe he knows and fully understands (which is why he can reprogram the computer and knows his way around the station's systems), and is also able to keep to the mores and manner of his period, just as he's perceptive enough not to step on Odo and Kira's toes when he's showing his skill at reading people. He may be a lightbulb, but he's one that's switched on! That's the key moment for me, when you realise that not only is this guy intelligent, he's also the soul of discretion and has the discernment to keep things under his hat. And you like him all the more for that.

They could have made Vic an obnoxious character prying into people's personal lives, showing off around the room, and having the knowledge of what he is make him superior, but quite the opposite, he knows he's only a 'lightbulb' and he's okay with that. You might even call him humble, in a way, though he has the ability to bring out the best in Odo. It was essential he was likeable, because in any other episode, a holographic character that understands the limits of his existence, can jump into other programs unannounced (as he does to Kira's), is devious enough to lie to two high-ranking officers in order to lure them into the Holosuite, can use the intercom to converse at will with anyone on the outside, as well as deactivate his own program, would be seen as a grave threat to the security of the station (so it's ironic that Odo, the Chief of Security, trusts him so much!). I love to see the development of the Trek universe, and the fact that it was overseen by the same people for so many years meant they were able to develop it, having detailed and specific knowledge of what had gone before, always trying to keep within the established canon while also pushing the envelope and not letting things get stale. Holographic characters could have stayed as tools or playthings to be interacted with, without the need to make them anything more than training aids or entertainment, as we saw on 'TNG,' but with 'Voyager' they chose to move deeper into the ideas of artificial life, so that by this time the EMH was a well-established personality who was finding out about his rights as well as responsibilities.

To go a step further and have an entertainment hologram be aware of his existence was a great idea, and because Vic's so easygoing and doesn't seem to want anything more than the life he experiences, he has no threatening characteristics and is a safe guy to be around, making him easier for people to confide in. He's not the sort of personality to be questioning his identity and wishing he was more than he is. The Doctor was different, he was designed to grow and learn, so it was natural for him to see himself as a legitimate life form, but Vic doesn't have those frames of reference. You could perhaps suggest it's cruel to make Vic so perceptive and yet keep him locked in a box (when he disappears, retaining the memories of his existence, does he exist in a purgatorial void as I seem to remember the EMH once describing it?), and you might have a case, since he has the potential to suffer, unlike the other characters in his program, who don't have understanding, but as long as he's happy, we're happy, pally! This is getting off-topic a bit, but it's good to set these ideas in motion and not just take everything for granted as was so often the case on 'TNG' (and look what that got them: Cyrus Redblock and Moriarty!).

Vic Fontaine isn't the only voice on Odo's side in this episode - we get one of those little scenes between him and Quark that we always wish could build to more complete episodes (like 'The Ascent'), as they do have a friendship, despite closeting it in bickering. Odo's only doing that halfheartedly this time as his mind dwells on his problem, and even allows Quark to give him advice (let's not forget that even with all his flaws, Quark can be quite a charmer sometimes - see the Cardassian Natima Lang, or the Klingon Grilka, for examples). Quark also doesn't hold back on the truth, telling him that he's cold, rigid and remote, especially for someone whose natural state is a liquid. But Odo is embarrassed to be seen having fun and being uninhibited, his dignity very important to him. Worf's much the same, but he has the outlet of his Klingon heritage and all the traditional action and violence that entails, a channel in which to let these things out. Odo has his work, and until recent years that was always enough, but now he wants more than that, and being among these Starfleet people has helped to change him. One of the main reasons I thought this was the episode where Quark gets up to his schemes while Odo's in the Holosuite was because of the sly grin on his face when he hands Odo the program - it's likely this was the moment plans began to light up in his mind for what to do when Odo was busy with Kira in future… Also I assumed the smuggling ring Odo talks to Sisko about was going to be Quark-related.

Trek always does musical numbers well, and whether it was Vic rattling off songs from his set, Odo and Sisko's impromptu, murmured duet, or 'Lola' with the main draw, it's all natural and believable - can you imagine Tuvok humming a tune while in Janeway's Ready Room, or Worf grunting out some opera while with Picard, Reed whistling in the presence of Archer, or Chekov singing a Russian ballad while Kirk reads his security report? No, not really, but then it would be hard to visualise what happens with Sisko and Odo in his office until we actually see it, which is what makes this episode so great: it's full of unexpected little character moments, and it's all so pleasant and as far from the worries of war as can be. It helps that this was a time when they were willing to spend a bit of money on Trek to get it right, which is why we have these classic songs. And because they're so integrated into the story they still exist in the episode on the DVD, unlike, say, a song playing on the radio in 'Voyager' episode 'Lifesigns,' which was changed on DVD because they didn't want to pay for the rights (or so I believe), or the TV series '7 Days' which apparently had a lot of contemporary music, and so was never deemed cost effective enough to release on the format (a real shame as I remember that as being a really good TV series!).

Rene Auberjonois is so good at selling Odo as someone usually so contained, and serious, and gruff, who then gets into the spirit of the music and of playacting on the ivories, his head bobbing along in the reflection on the piano. Odo loses himself in the moment, and after being so tentative and uncertain it's a lovely moment when we see him get into the swing of it. The same can be said of his dinner with Kira, though in reverse. To begin with he's confident and charming, like the older version of himself in 'Children of Time' who first revealed his younger self's secret to her, but when he realises he's been duped, and this is the real Kira, not a training program, he turns around completely. Again, I thought this led to Kira or him storming out and having their chat on the Promenade in full view of everyone, but in fact that came later, maybe the next day or so. It's a good job Kira wasn't horrified by the thought of Odo using her image in a holoprogram, but perhaps she'd already been surprised once by Vic when he raided her meditation cave program, plus she'd had the shock of such an invasion of privacy way back in Season 3's 'Meridian' when Jeffrey Combs first made an appearance and demanded a holo-Kira from Quark. Not to mention the whole James Bond scenario in 'Our Man Bashir,' which is where Vic apparently retrieved the template from (you'd think they'd have all been deleted!). But she's preoccupied by seeing Odo at his best, and she was probably thinking along those lines having just visited former boyfriend Shakaar, in a purely business capacity.

This could have been the series' one foray into a sixties lounge act, just as 'Our Man Bashir' was its one (main), foray into Bond-type spy drama, after all, the series didn't need a regular location to hang out in as it had the Promenade (and perhaps other places on the station too - Kira claims to know some out of the way restaurants she could take Odo to, but I'm not sure where else they'd be on the station!), and of course, Quark's Bar, but the atmosphere and style of Vic's was such a perfect fit for the characters and series, and Vic himself such a revelation as a character both new and old, that it's no surprise he became yet another recurring character - how great it is that they were still so full of creativity and brimming with ideas they wanted to do before the end that they were able to come up with a new spin on a holographic character! The only downside is that Vic's became the go-to celebration venue of choice, so much so that even to the end of the series it was the place for everyone to gather, to the detriment of Quark's - while the bar was an ideal location for smugglers conspiring in dark corners, the occasional altercation, or noisy fun and games, it was a more confining space due to its multilevel structure and uneven floor. At Vic's you could get a huge crowd together naturally, so this was another of the strings in Quark's bow to snap, with him also not being a Starfleet hero in time of war - Shimerman joked that all he did in the last season or so was serve drinks. This time he served up a Warp Core Breach, which was a beverage made for real at 'Star Trek: The Experience,' I believe.

Yet Vic's was an ideal environment for the group, and very true to Trek's style of placing the lives of our futuristic, technology-heavy Starfleet people with old-fashioned, anachronistic, but long-lasting connections to the world we know today. Shakespeare, classic books so why not classic music too? When I first saw episodes with Vic Fontaine I felt nostalgic for the period without even knowing about that time, there was just something reassuring and almost magical about the whole setup, the subdued lighting, muted colours, and rich musical tones, all wrapped up in an easygoing, relaxed atmosphere that made a perfect counterpoint to the danger and adventure of these war years. At the same time you can imagine Julian Bashir, secret agent, paying a visit, and having a stop-off at Vic's during a mission, something they would get close to by pulling the heist in 'Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang' the following season. This episode, though, feels like Christmas, full of bright lights and warm smiles, a joyful experience with meaning, a bit like 'Carols From Kings' on Christmas Eve. It's not a cold, hard adventure, where heroes are thrust into bleak dangers on an ongoing basis, arcs are plotted and the ongoing story rumbles on. This is taking time out, but is no less important, and in fact has history to it stretching back to Season 2 (when Odo first showed signs of love), and Season 4 (when they first thought of the idea of a sixties singer in the Holosuite).

About the only thing that didn't ring true was the effect of Odo morphing into his tuxedo, which looked phoney, and is the sort of thing I wouldn't mind them 'fixing' if they do release the series in High Definition (though they should keep Odo's general morphing as it was, since it has its own unique style, which never lost its reality because of that). Oh, and Dax is a little irritating, letting the cat out of the bag in various ways, though I'm not sure if she did it on purpose or without thinking - the short discussion on clarity between her and Kira gave me pause, as she used to seem to have that so strongly in the first few episodes of the series (when she was doing that Altonian brain teaser in 'A Man Alone,' is one moment that always sticks in my head). But it's easy to forget that we need to make the most of any time we have with her, and it males you wish she had more to do in these last few episodes. Any problems with Vic's ability to perform tasks outside the norm of holo-characters can be easily explained away, however: if he can reprogram the Russian Kira template, then he can do anything. I think Felix wants to take over the galaxy, myself - it's 'The Game' all over again… A very enjoyable episode, worth its position in a great season, continuing a story without stopping this episode from being self-contained, full of character, and a joy to watch.

****

Lifeboat

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S7 (Lifeboat)

A comfortable episode to watch in the same way that 'TNG' is kind of cosy and gentle to watch, nothing surprising, nothing jolting, just a pleasant way to while away some time. A little flat in story terms, though an excuse for Michael Shanks to have some fun. I wouldn't say it was a showcase performance, as it's difficult to shift between personalities realistically without it sometimes coming out as hammy, but he certainly did a good job, especially as the young boy which he absolutely nailed. In fact I wouldn't say there was anything wrong with his performance at all, it's just that he wasn't given much juicy stuff to go at and I'd already seen the superior Brent Spiner and Jeri Ryan do exactly the same thing (in 'Masks' and 'Infinite Regress'), not to mention a masterful example by Patrick Stewart in 'Sarek.' It's a shame to be comparing the series to 'Star Trek' again, but the two franchises are just so similar in tone and style that I can't help it. As I said, it was a nice experience, not boring, just predictable and a little slow and steady, with about the only surprise being that Dr. Fraiser actually lost her cool at one point, which she's always so good at keeping.

I didn't quite understand the resolution, either - they got a new power source for the crashed ship which would wake up all the passengers? Or was it just those that had not been transferred into Daniel and Ferren? Ferren seemed so sad about it that I wondered if he was condemning his son to death (in which case the episode may as well have been called 'Deathboat,' as it would be ironic if the only people that didn't make it were the ones Ferren tried to save by putting them in Daniel), but if they're all living in his mind then surely that's fine, although it wouldn't be much of a life. 'Better than the alternative' was the message, and if there was a theme it could be said to be the idea of living beyond natural life, whether that be defeating old age or coming back from a fatal accident. I'm not sure what side of the message was preferred, whether they were for extending life at all costs or not (the SG-1 team didn't find it acceptable to have other consciousnesses transferred into them, so I suppose not), but it was as close to some kind of commentary or purpose in the story that I could locate. It is a good idea, whenever the cast of a sci-fi series are called to play other characters or variations of themselves, and it's not something 'SG-1' has ever shied away from. I was expecting all four of the cast to be exhibiting the same tendency towards multiple personalities as Daniel, and I don't think their role was essential when they didn't. It was nice to see Teal'c and Jack taking turns sitting with Daniel behind the two-way mirror for friendship's sake, and Carter was necessary to come up with a way to save the people, but none of them really featured that much in terms of moving the story along.

It wasn't made clear what Siler was doing in the Infirmary with a bleeding nose, but I think it would be safe to infer that the haughty sovereign personality in Daniel had attacked him, since he was shown to be violent and it's always Siler that gets the knocks (helped by the fact that Dan Shea who played him was also Stunt Coordinator!). I was also imagining how Teal'c must have got SG-1 back to the 'gate, which Fraiser said he did before her team of medics took them home - I can just see Teal'c trudging back and forth each time with one of the team slung over his back! There were some touching moments as Ferren's son talked to either Janet or Ferren, but it was another episode I didn't like as much as I did when I originally saw it, and probably for the same reason I mentioned in my last review: that back then I wasn't very interested in the ongoing story-lines and preferred the standalone episodes, but now, watching it all in order from the start I like the continuing stories, and as much as this was a reasonable sci-fi story I've seen it done better. James Parks was a recognisable face to me, having been in both 'Voyager' and 'Enterprise.'

**

Retrogaming Review of The Year 2014

Retrogaming Review of The Year 2014

2014 was a good year for me, gaming-wise. I cut back a bit on writing reviews for my blog which gave me more time, made specific parts of the week regular gaming periods, and got back into playing, having rediscovered some of the joy. One of the biggest motivators for me was finally working out how to play get DOSBox to work, the free platform that enables you to play old games that are out of copyright and can be downloaded straight to your computer. Months previous I'd had a go, but couldn't get past the coding interface, but I'd always wanted to play the original 'Settlers' on my MacBook, and this year it became possible! Not only that, but many games were suddenly available to me, and it was like I was back in the 90s when we first got our Amigas and suddenly had copious games to go through to see what was worth playing, what worked, what didn't… There were a lot that wouldn't play for whatever reason, or the controls weren't adequate to make it an enjoyable experience, but there were enough to be getting on with. And so I rediscovered some old classics and tried out some new, even buying a SNES USB controller to be able to play some of the platform titles (though it never consistently worked properly, which was a disappointment). It was good to get back into gaming properly for the first time since around 2009/2010.

[Ratings reflect total, historical experience, not just the enjoyment level I got out of them this time.]


January - April: Age of Empires II (2001, MacBook Pro/Powerbook) - Just some multiplayer games, nothing serious, like, say, doing the campaigns again… *****

January - December: UFO: Enemy Unknown (1993, Amiga 1200) - Apparently in this world February has thirty-one days! Regardless, I ploughed on with this game which I'm pretty sure I began in 2005, meaning 2015 will mark ten years of playing the same game file (not to mention the previous file I began around 2002!), though in game time it was coming to the end of 2008. Regularity is the key, and it helps this is one of the best games ever made. In October I attended my 1500th crash site, just to give an idea of how many of those missions I've done in that time… *****

February - July: Need For Speed Underground (2003, GameCube) - I wanted another racer, I got another racer. While not in the same league as 'Burnout 2,' it was good to be able to roar round streets again, though I wish it was daylight racing as it's really bad for my eyes doing it at night with neon lights all over the place! Mind you, it wouldn't be called Underground if it was done in the daytime, I suppose. I will certainly have to play more of these, not because they're amazingly good, just because there's not much choice on the system. ***

May - June: The Settlers (1993, Amiga 1200) - First time since probably 2011 that I played this, though the disk file got corrupted for a game I was playing, so I had to start a new one. But these are the perils of using old technology. Why didn't I jump right into the DOSBox version as soon as I'd figured out how to make it work? I wanted to finish the game I'd started, and by the time I'd done that I'd had my fill of the game for a few months. I discovered a funny little glitch - I'd somehow connected one of my roads with the enemy, perhaps because they were both right next to the boundary, so there were people going back and forth, claiming asylum as I liked to think, and then one of my builders was trying to build something for him! Even knights came over, but when I sent them to attack they switched sides on me and went for my men or entered the enemy buildings rather than attacking it! Ultimately it led to a more serious glitch where my men would stand on a road not moving as if waiting for someone to pass, and worse, they did it outside my castle so I couldn't get anything out, though I'd practically won anyway: I had 75% of all but the knights and as it was impossible to make more since the stores weren't being used, there was no option but to abandon the game. *****

June - July: Frontier: Elite II (1993, DOSBox) - with David Braben back in the news with a new all-singing version of the game for modern machines, it seems fitting that this was also the year I went back to playing this classic of the Amiga age. I'd originally played it back in 2010, I believe, when I had a Hard Drive fitted to my Amiga. After clocking up a number of hours, disaster struck and the HD died! I didn't have the appetite to try again as I'd started with nothing and spent many hours transporting small cargoes in order to eventually upgrade to better ships, so it was too soul-destroying to go back to the bottom. However, with the immediacy of having it on my MacBook, start again I did, and quite enjoyed beginning from scratch once again as enough time had passed. It wasn't as exciting as when I first discovered it, but I persevered, making cargo runs while waiting for matches to start during the World Cup. There were false starts (I thought I could make a quick buck collecting rubbish and then dumping it, but you get attacked by the police for that!), realising the best way was to trade in my ship for an inferior one, dumping my atmospheric shielding to make room for twice the profit potential, though it meant no trips to Earth, and clawed a tiny profit for ages. Unfortunately the monotony of hundreds of short trips took its toll and I lost interest, though I'll admit it was my own fault deciding to play like that - even though I got to the stage where I had a quality ship it had become too much like a job to enjoy! I'm sure I'll go back eventually, though. **

July - August: Curse of Enchantia (1993, DOSBox) - Not such a great experience, this point-and-click adventure, but one I was glad to be able to do, as like last year's replay of 'Elf,' I was able to complete something I'd got stuck on years ago, which was satisfying, even if the game logic often made no sense and could be a right old chore to play. I wrote more about it in my review, suffice to say it was the worst game I played to completion this year, but it sure do look nice! **

August - November: CyClones (1994, DOSBox) - Another game I reviewed (I certainly upped my review quotient this year), but I will say that it was worth playing even though it could be a bit of a slog, and I had to get used to a different control method to what I've always been used to. A first person shooter, basic in many ways, but not bad, and worth a… shot. ***

September - October: Banjo-Kazooie (1998, N64) - Having packed my N64 away a couple of years ago, it was a guy at work that got me interested in it again when he was talking about old games on the system and said he was playing this game on his XBox (Rare were bought by Microsoft back in the early days of the GameCube, so some of their back catalogue is downloadable on that system). He was enjoying it so much, and I was enjoying discussing it that it inspired me to go back and play it again, even though I'd gone through it numerous times years ago trying to improve my time. I was not disappointed, it remains in my Top 10 games of all time, and is certainly the best 3D platformer I've played. *****

November - December: The Settlers (1993, DOSBox) - For the first time ever I started a size 8 world, something I'd always wanted to do, and I'm still playing it on an off, it's so big! I'd got close to it back around 2010 when the Hard Drive was fitted to my Amiga, but I never got around to playing the maximum world before the thing malfunctioned and I was back to disk-based play again! While the DOSBox version doesn't have the bells and whistles of the Amiga's, the music terrible in comparison and the graphics notably less polished, the gameplay shines through, and as most of the sound effects are the same, that's all you need to kick back, relax, and get hypnotised by the little men carrying things in and out of your castle or storerooms. Beautiful, and time-consuming. *****

December: Banjo-Tooie (2000, N64) - I'll have to do a proper review of this, so I won't say much here, except I at first remembered why I hadn't enjoyed this as much as the first one, but eventually I quite enjoyed it, in spite of the irritating flaws in gameplay. ***


There were a number of games on DOSBox I dipped into just to try, and these are the ones worth an honourable mention: 'Civilization' (I just couldn't get going on it, though I tried), 'Crazy Cars III' (only ever had a demo of this on the Amiga, but again, I never really got into it), 'Dalek Attack' (I was curious, but the controls weren't good enough to enjoy it), 'Desert Strike' (that would be a commitment to play properly, but fun to see it running on my Mac), 'Elf' (I'd completed it on Amiga last year, so just had a go to see what this version looked like - inferior), 'Flashback' (again, control issues), 'GODS' (controls!), 'Grand Monster Slam' (difficult to get into), 'The Lion King' (another demo I'd had on Amiga, another game I couldn't settle into), 'Lotus III' (back in the day this was my favourite racing game!), 'Micro Machines' (controls), 'Pang' (fun for a bit), 'Paper Boy 2' (likewise), 'Prince of Persia' (controls), 'Super Karts' (not bad, might have to play it properly), and 'Zool' (colourful, I'll give it that!). There were also days when I wasted a lot of time fruitlessly trying to get games to work, so it wasn't all rose petals when it came to DOSBox, but I can't really complain: it's free and plenty of games did work. Some worked on Boxer, a different frontend, but mainly I used the standard DOSBox setup.


Next Year - My goals have become more numerous than before as I've returned to the joy of playing so much. In terms of last year's goals I only achieved one of them, which was to play another racing game, and still haven't taken on the 'Age of Empires II' campaigns on harder difficulty, nor did I get an XBox 360. However, in 2015 I'd like to:

- Play more 'Cube games…

- Particularly another racing game, and as I'm running out of choices it will have to be another 'Need For Speed.'

- Finish 'Banjo-Tooie' on N64 which I've almost done anyway.

- I'm enjoying the games so much I'd also like to get the only other 'Banjo-Kazooie' game they ever made (as far as I know), 'Grunty's Revenge' on Game Boy Advance.

- Definitely have to play more DOSBox games.

- I'm still tempted to get an XBox 360, but it's a question of time, with so many other games suddenly open to me, so that's not a high priority.

Divergence

DVD, Enterprise S4 (Divergence)

I wouldn't say this second part was quite as accomplished in story terms as part one, but the pace was maintained sufficiently to continue the rip-roaring adventure feel. A few things are ironed out and made clear, perhaps that's one reason why it's not quite as fascinating: explanations can lessen the imaginative speculation. I do think it was wise to spell out just why the Klingons lost their ridges, and it's nice that they also made it clear how affected Klingons could be 'cured' later, or why there would be some with and some without ridges. And that it would be a long-lasting, generational problem. It still doesn't explain how all the Klingons were apparently cured by the late 24th Century, since no one then seemed to know of the flathead variety and the Klingons themselves had swept it under the carpet, presumably for shame. We can assume that all were eventually made well, even if it was just cosmetic. I imagine the 'Enterprise' writers could have had great fun with and used this as a well of new stories had the series continued, and I'd have loved to see political shenanigans of castes and foreheads battling it out for supremacy, as, though the Klingons seen here all seemed pretty accepting of what had happened, ordinary Klingons would no doubt have been up in arms - if Antaak's Father found it so dishonourable of him to become a healer when his family was of the warrior caste, just imagine what he'd make of his son losing the stately ridges that were his birthright!

Other things go mostly unsaid, with the Trip/T'Pol situation only hinted at now that Mr. Tucker's properly integrated into the Columbia's crew. We have a useful sequence of events to get him to stay aboard the NX-01 for a bit longer (Kelby must have been wondering whether this guy would ever leave and let him get on with his new job!), but hopefully this means we'll be seeing more of the NX-02 as Hernandez keeps badgering Archer for her Chief Engineer back - wonder how the ship works without one aboard… Something else unexpected for me was that General K'Vagh didn't show disgust at his son's feeble capture - I was half expecting him to blow him away as soon as he walked in the door, but I suppose there was some complexity there between a Father's pride in his son, and in his family honour, I just would have liked the quandary to have been verbalised as it seemed he was just pleased to see the son he'd thought was lost. But there wasn't a lot of time for such discussions with a Klingon force on the way to purge Qu'Vat colony. Dr. Phlox really took charge, and I liked the ethical dilemma he was put in, of executing three to save millions from the plague, though it could have been dealt with slightly better. It might have carried more weight if Antaak had died, or at the very least, Phlox couldn't save the other two participants, and had to confront the fact that he'd killed in order to save the greater number. Instead it all works out a little too neatly with everyone saved, and all jolly good mates.

Something else that was cleared up was Reed's involvement in Section 31, which began when he was an Ensign - he states he hadn't had contact with the organisation since before coming aboard Enterprise and thought his association had ended. They could always have twisted things around if they'd wanted to do a 'frame' story like they did with Bashir where we look back over the series and put together all these seemingly questionable decisions and choices he's made, and that this could actually have been another lie from Reed, and he had done a few things for 31. But we never got past this season, which makes the premature end even more hard to bear with all these promising seeds being planted for the future. You can say that it was partly the series' own fault for not planting enough good seeds in the first couple of seasons, and just coasting along assuming they had all the time in the world, but that's just one of the faults of the series and we have to accept it's one that will never be rectified, as sad as that is. I'm just grateful that we got to see the series return to strength and doing what it should do, playing in the sandbox instead of mostly ignoring it.

I didn't recognise the name of the Director, but I have to give him credit for a strong style that kept things moving nicely, with some inspired shots and a feeling of emotion in the way it was handled. I liked the low down shots in corridors looking up at people as they storm furiously around (mainly Archer), and the final shot of Reed reading on his bed, the camera panning out of the light of his lamp. But it was the magnificent view of the NX-01 and NX-02 racing toward camera, with our viewpoint travelling right into the Columbia's bridge and straight towards the Captain that really impressed. That's the kind of shot that's so much easier to do now that CGI rules the day, and if we had a new series I'm sure we'd get all kinds of inventive views in and out of the ship, but it somehow stands out even more when you consider this was done over a decade ago, and shows they weren't afraid to try new things.

Columbia and Enterprise's first joint mission may have been a little dodgy in the science department, as I'm not sure if it would even hold up theoretically for a tether to be lowered between ships at warp and a person slide along it - surely the cable would be whipped off as soon as it exited the ship? They were going with the theory of the warp bubble being far enough outside the ship's range that everything in it would be travelling at the same speed, I suppose, and it did look good, if a little hard to comprehend. Not that it really mattered, and it was certainly something that stuck in my mind from this season! Something I didn't remember was Archer going Klingon, perhaps because he doesn't go the whole Targ, just gets a little forehead magic (unlike Sisko in 'Apocalypse Rising' and Janeway in 'The Killing Game' who both went the whole Targ yards!), but as usual it's good to see the Captain ready and willing to risk all for the greater good (and having to be held down by a huge Klingon for his own protection!). It was almost 'Star Trek VI' all over again with Starfleet and Klingon forces secretly working together, though this time it was to maintain a peace rather than a cold war.

This was one story point that puzzled me as I couldn't work out why the Klingons would need the help of Harris in the first place? Maybe I missed something, but Harris looked a little weak when Krell double-crossed him. Or was that part of his expectations and plan? He didn't have the charisma or power of Sloan, and it didn't help that in this episode we only ever see him on monitors which adds to the impression of remoteness and lack of power, but I did feel Section 31 was pretty well worked in, and really set up a good conflict for the future now that Reed has resigned from something he can never leave behind. Wayne Grace was good as the haughty Klingon Krell in charge of the purification fleet of three ships. He was another name to add to the roster of returning folks, and like John Schuck, had previously played a Klingon and a Cardassian (in 'TNG' and 'DS9' respectively). According to Memory Alpha the Klingon he played was from a ship called the IKS Qu'Vat, too strong a coincidence not to have been done deliberately, especially as this was written by the Reeves-Stevens who knew their details to the say the least!

There were things in the story that felt a little ignored (I'm not going to start on about the usual members of the main cast, as both Reed and Phlox were integral to this two-parter), such as there being more interaction between Archer and Hernandez who previously made good sparring partners (I wonder if Ada Maris was told or thought if she played her cards right she might get her own spinoff?), or the dialogue in the brig between Reed and captured Klingon Marab never going anywhere. I'm not sure what I expected to happen, but perhaps a little more than did, but at least we got a reference to Kahless! One odd thing that stood out to me was when Reed was being transported by the two MACOs one of them was smiling at Reed's attitude and things he said, while the other looked deadly serious in line with the music, so the guy smiling didn't fit the mood of the scene. Not that it was jarring, but it was noticeable, as if they weren't quite sure how the scene was supposed to be perceived. At the same time it would make sense that some of the MACOs would like Reed as he would be the main liaison between them and the Captain as Chief of Security. I'd have liked a little more shown of what such conflict of interest might be like, perhaps a scene in the MACO barracks where they discuss what's going on. But the MACOs were just the expendable redshirts of the day and never got the development they would have had if this was 'DS9.' In spite of minor details like this these made for a cracking two-parter, a fitting final Klingon story.

***