Star Trek 2017 TV Series - Bryan Fuller & Nicholas Meyer
I'm starting to get excited again at the prospect of the new series. At first announcement it was purely the anticipation of possibilities, but with the caveat that a prominent member of the Abrams films was in charge, it was a bit of a blow to hopes that the original universe, its history and characters would be respected and expanded upon. While we still don't know if it will be 'Prime,' Abramsverse, or some third strand (things could get really confusing, and we don't need that), maybe a combination of time- and universe-hopping that would be completely different to everything that's gone before, hopes have been restored somewhat by recent pronouncements that Bryan Fuller, Trek expert and former 'DS9' and 'Voyager' writer has been made the show-runner. In itself that wasn't enough to get me posting my thoughts, but while that wasn't the most unexpected development (since he was one of the names in the hat that have been kicking around with ideas for a new series, or the avowed wish to get involved, for a few years), another addition to the producing and writing staff has been a total out-of-the-blue shock: Nicholas Meyer!
The man on the street won't know the name, but they'll have felt the impact since he was responsible (not single-handedly, but in large part), of keeping Trek profitable thanks to the small budget and big success of 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,' then again with 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,' and 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,' three of the most critically and popularly acclaimed of all current twelve films in existence (soon to be thirteen when 'Star Trek Beyond' is released this year). It's crazy, it's mad, and it's happening, and unless there's a case of creative differences, we could be seeing Meyer's name on a TV episode of Trek next year! This isn't the first time his name has been bandied about - he may have been in the running at one time to direct what became 'Generations,' perhaps 'Nemesis,' and even projects beyond that, though those were all rumour: this is fact. It seems ridiculous to be living in a world where such things are possible, but it's not April, so it isn't an April Fool. Where do I stand on all this? I'm broadly in favour, although my favourite of 'The Original Series' Trek films are actually not the 'expected' ones - I like 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier' for its character work, 'Star Trek III: The Search For Spock' for its wonder, and yes, 'VI' for its intrigue, though in general I prefer the 24th Century Treks, both the films and TV. I can see what he did to improve the formula after a slow start with 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture,' which I admire, is impressive, but is also not that thrilling. He added a dash of colour, verve and reality to the characters that had existed in 'TOS,' but had been drained away for the first feature film.
On the other hand I do feel some concern. Because Meyer notoriously didn't care too much for the canon, changing a lot of things that had existed for Trek's entirety, making it much more militaristic, adding anachronisms such as Kirk's reading glasses. But the ageing of the characters also added so much to the flavour of the film, and is something Trek needs in order to appeal to a wide age group, something that all the series' had, bar 'Enterprise' which stripped things back to basics and became a much-simplified entry in the ongoing lore. The canon and the history is very important to those of us who have followed every series and film, and I for one hope that such things are not ignored (or bypassed as was done with the Abrams films), but incorporated and built upon. That's where Fuller could be an asset as he's on record as nominating 'DS9' his favourite series, which also happens to be mine. The fact that he wrote for both that and my other favourite, 'Voyager,' could bode well that the style and content of those two pinnacles of Trek entertainment might be adhered to. But again, there are reservations as he's said he wants to go back to a colourful, more 'TOS' type of series which could also mean more simplistic planet of the week exploration. This may be in the spirit of how the concept was originally conceived, but I prefer more depth, exploring select cultures and expanding upon what has been already laid down. The new premise sounds like it may ditch past races and characters, which while creatively easier for new writers, wouldn't be as satisfying for me.
Yet Fuller has written some great episodes of Trek, both his 'DS9' stories are particular favourites of mine ('The Darkness and The Light' and 'Empok Nor'), emphasising the eeriness and danger in the shadows, the lack of control characters experience and the way they react to such situations, which would appear to be at odds with the bright, sunny outlook I get the impression is what they want for this new series. It's also unfortunate that he rose to his most prominent position during the latter years of 'Voyager,' which I think of as the declining years after the boom of the mid-nineties, when the series was not reaching its full potential, happy to trundle along as it had before, rather than taking the reins as 'DS9' went off the air. Even so, I count 'The Raven,' 'Mortal Coil,' 'Bride of Chaotica!,' 'Course: Oblivion,' 'Juggernaut,' 'Relativity,' 'Fury,' and 'Flesh and Blood' as some of the top episodes from their respective seasons, so his style of writing must appeal to my tastes. But again, Trek in those days was in control of those above, so how much was his own voice, and how much were the constraints placed upon him responsible for the quality of the output, and would having free rein to create whatever he wanted actually undermine his creativity rather than support it? It's a difficult question to answer and one that is impossible to know until we experience the new series.
On the whole my hope for the new series has risen a good few notches, and I like the idea that someone from the nineties TV shows that I like best, someone from the successful eighties (and early nineties), film series, and someone from the contemporary film series (but not so much!), have come together to craft the sixth 'Star Trek' TV series, because it shows that those in control of the money, unlike Paramount with the new films, are showing a shrewd understanding of those concerned about the small print, who've followed the various productions over the years and want creatives that have a history with the franchise, not completely new unknowns that just want their vision turned into reality with the Trek name slapped on top (à la Abramsverse). Either that or they're throwing whatever popular names they can think of at a wall and hoping something will stick! But I prefer to take the more optimistic view (as the Trek universe tends to do), that this will be a good thing, and that Meyer's character skill and life experience will temper Fuller's knowledge of wider Trek and ambition to return to its roots. Still, for me, the most important questions are yet to be answered: the time period and the universe it will be set in, as the history and chronology are very important to me (I don't have 'The Star Trek Chronology' book sitting on my shelf for nothing!), and while it wouldn't end all possibility of the new series fitting into the rest of the canon, it would be a sour note to begin proceedings. But so far, so tentatively good.
One last thing: Meyer has mentioned that his own 'Star Trek VI' is "…a real sort of taking off point, or touchstone for how I guess he’s thinking about the direction of the new show." This makes me wonder in exactly what way?
- It could be a direct continuation following on from the events of that film (unlikely),
- He may be referring to the style of political intrigue at the heart of it (very likely),
- Or it could be that the situation of a once great enemy of the Federation experiences a major crippling event that forces them to seek peace with their longtime enemy (possible…). My hope is in option three, as this could mean that the events of 'Star Trek XI' will be addressed. Ever since that film threw in the comment about Romulus being destroyed I was intensely frustrated, thinking we'd never get to see the fallout of such a major shift in the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant. Could it be that this is the central idea that will form the backdrop? Think about it: they have Alex Kurtzman who cowrote that apocalyptic change into the Prime universe, and when Meyer talks of 'VI' being an influence it could well be in the same vein as Praxis' destruction, and what would be a better way to please longterm viewers and new film followers alike than to explore an event that both camps have a common interest in? On the other hand it could be about a completely new race with the same kind of situation, but I'd be very interested to see the buildup and aftermath to Romulus' annihilation.
Anticipation Rating: ****
Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Scorpion, Part II
DVD, Voyager S4 (Scorpion, Part II)
Every Trek series had a change in cast somewhere along the way, or would have done. Strangely, both 'DS9' and 'Voyager' implemented it at the beginning of their fourth seasons ('TOS' lost Janice Rand during Season 1, and gained Chekov for Season 2; 'TNG' lost Tasha Yar in Season 1, Dr. Crusher for Season 2 and Wesley Crusher in Season 4, gaining Dr. Pulaski for Season 2 and regaining Dr. Crusher in 3; and 'Enterprise' lost Trip Tucker in Season 4 and would have gained Shran if Season 5 had come about), so there was some clear symmetry to their productions beyond airing at the same time. They wanted to shake things up, twist the formula again, and if anyone claims that those series were staid and stale, and that 24th Century Trek was slow and boring, this is a great example of the kind of episode that was more common than would be expected from some of the currently popular historical viewpoints people are expressing about nineties Trek: it's fast, has a swift story without the preponderance of technobabble, plenty of conflict both internal and external, and most certainly far reaching implications for the ongoing series - it was not a serial, but the fourth Trek show had tried from Season 1 to be a continuing story, and in that regard it could be seen as the most serialised of the lot, simply because the ongoing journey home forced areas of space and races to be discovered, experienced, then moved on from.
One race they weren't going to be moving on from after this point were the Borg. With the inclusion of a Borg drone as main cast member, the makers of Trek had just about ticked every major race's box for being a main character that could be fully explored. We'd had Klingons, Vulcans, Ferengi, Bajoran, artificial life… what was left (apart from a Romulan, obviously, a tricky proposition given that race's secretive, uncooperative nature)? It was a thrilling and daring masterstroke to make one of, if not the ultimate of Trek's enemies into a forced friend through circumstance. It was almost mind-boggling in its audacity for the time, just as if a Jem'Hadar had joined the cast of 'DS9,' or 'Enterprise' had taken in a Suliban or a Xindi (actually that might not have been a bad idea…), and Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One ("But you may call me Seven of Nine"), made an immediate impact. It wasn't only a risky proposition in-universe, but to be introducing a whole new actress and character into such an established series which had become a family, was throwing the cat among the pigeons. Quite apart from the radical and blatant ratings-grabbing tactic of a silver catsuit that poor Jeri Ryan had to put up with through much of this season (though it didn't debut in this episode and may have been a relief after the claustrophobic, all-engulfing Borg costume!), she was joining a group of people that had developed a good working relationship and had succeeded in, if not capturing lightning in a bottle for a fourth consecutive instance, at least keeping the Trek machine powered up and bringing in viewers, not to mention expanding the ever-growing universe.
It must have been a challenge, but the character's almost all there right from the off. If you think about it, she's not special in any way - Janeway demands an individual with which to communicate, citing Jean-Luc Picard's position as mouthpiece for precedent, the Borg tacitly agreeing to her demands. You get the impression it's as easy as nanoprobe pie for them to almost disconnect a drone and have it autonomously interact with individuals, that anyone could have been picked at random for the role. Except later we learn that the Borg Queen herself put Seven up for this, and far from being a ridiculous suggestion, it actually makes this episode much easier to swallow and rescues Seven from being an obscure drone without meaning. The question of the Queen's low-profile after her destruction in the second 'TNG' film remained unexplored, perhaps so as not to take away from Seven's contribution. For now she's just a drone, except Ryan imbues her with the arrogance, forthrightness and combativeness more in evidence in the Borg splinter group led by Lore in 'Descent' (was the mine with a nanoprobe yield deliberately a callback to the asymmetrical ship from that episode? It seems impossible to be anything else!), or the Queen herself, than the powerful, but robotic mindlessness of the average Joe drone, seen in the blunt, impersonal force used upon Janeway and Tuvok as they're shoved along corridors or made to kneel for a compulsory operation to fit neural transceivers to their necks without even the thought of consent from their temporary allies. She makes an immediate impact, every question answered with "We are Borg," as if that explains everything, and there's nothing they can't do.
Knowing how things between her and Chakotay ended up, it's very far from love at first sight (mind you, her skin wasn't at its healthiest!), and she has a presence that exudes through all that Borg technology, almost as if her human side is desperately in denial, that she is proud and has complete confidence in her 'race' to hide the fact that deep down she knows she's been violated. All this would be mere speculation except for these kinds of feelings rising to the surface in subsequent seasons as we got to know the woman beneath the strangling pipes and tubes of Borg domination. But even things like the fact that during the attack on Voyager by 8472 bioships, everyone on the bridge is decked in the racking explosions of battle, yet Seven keeps her feet, gripping onto the rail behind the command position. It makes her more formidable and you have a certain respect for her that you might not have got from a lesser performer: they really struck gold when they unearthed Jeri Ryan! We didn't know just how important a character she would become, and just how great an actress she was, but even in this first appearance you can see she's going the whole hog for this role, just as Alice Krige did in 'First Contact.' I'd have loved to have seen the EVA on the hull from that film replicated so we could have seen how the Borg modifications were constructed, but you can't have everything on a TV budget and short running time.
There's a bit of a 'First Contact' moment of "Uh-oh," when, spectacular fashion, not least because of its computer-like precision and decision-making, rather than self-sacrificial heroism, the Borg ship intercepts 8472's imminent attack on Voyager, literally colliding with the enemy to protect their ally. From any other species this would have been a noble act of courage in the face of adversity, a sacrifice for the greater good of an alliance, but the chilling reality is that none of the Borg on that ship mean anything, they're mere vessels for the greater Borg consciousness, and Seven herself might well have been destroyed without a moment's indecision. It is, visually and emotionally a momentous few seconds, with Seven, a few other drones, and Janeway and Tuvok, beamed across to Voyager before the Cube erupts - we know the injuries are serious because the Captain will have to be put into a coma to survive long enough for the Doctor to repair her neural damage, and Tuvok's bleeding (green blood - attention to detail, that's what I like to see!). You go from awe that a Borg Cube has just sacrificed itself for Voyager, a Federation starship (because the Borg don't save, they assimilate - "You will be saved," doesn't have the same menace as their usual greeting), to concern over the Captain's condition, to that feeling of horror when you realise that, just as happened with the Enterprise-E, Borg have infiltrated the ship! It wouldn't take much for them to insert themselves into the vessel's systems and begin assimilation if they chose to, and that's what you expect.
And it does indeed happen: when Chakotay's given the great commission, charged with getting the crew home from a downed Janeway about to be induced into a coma, he defies her previous request to work with the Borg when Seven demands they rendezvous with another Cube deeper in Borg space. I didn't get the sense that he was actually disobeying the Captain as I don't remember Janeway giving him a direct order to work with the Borg at all costs and go along with whatever they say - in fact she warned him he was going to have to be strong to counter their bullying, she just wouldn't have expected him to so quickly go in the opposite direction of her wishes. Of course it as the Borg's fault for taking advantage of Janeway's absence to push for their ways, and who knows what would have happened if Chakotay had gone along with the plan? As we saw, the Borg choose to take control when their demands are not met, they don't take 'no' for an answer, forcing the drones to be sucked out into space when Chakotay orders the decompression of the Cargo Bay (possibly the only time we see the Bay's exit and place on the hull, with an interesting circular design, just like that of a Borg sphere exiting a Cube perhaps?). If Seven could hold on, you'd think the Borg would have been able to clamp themselves to Voyager's infrastructure, unless you go back to the Queen's grand plan and realise they were probably instructed to accept exit in that way and she knew that somehow Seven would have the wherewithal to remain aboard (she was the only one in a Jefferies Tube, to be fair).
Whatever happened to the security officers we see guarding the drones at one point with phaser rifles drawn? Those rifles do look good, especially as we so rarely got to see them used, Trek not being about big guns and shooting things, but just to have them in evidence showed how seriously the crew took the threat posed by the Borg. Ironically, only a hand phaser was ever used, and that by Tom Paris against Seven when she moves to take the helm and the old transparent shield effect buzzes in front of her just like the very first Borg episode, 'Q Who.' Were the security guards only accompanying Chakotay while he visited the Cargo Bay? I got the impression they were overseeing the work going on, but what could they do if a Borg approached them, shoot it if it came too close? The security situation isn't the only thing you could pick holes in the episode - it does show a lack of thought in order to get the drama where it needs to be: Harry Kim, whose life appeared to be in the balance at the end of Part I, is quickly cured by the EMH, as is Janeway's neural damage later on. A weapon that can defeat this otherworldly (or otheruniversely), nemesis is promptly invented, and yet the Borg weren't able to come up with it when they're the ones with all the nanoprobes and advanced technology? I don't really even understand why they wouldn't simply take over the ship in the first instance if there was anything its crew had that they wanted.
These issues can be dealt with and quietly put to one side, or even ignored thanks to the pace and atmosphere of the story which nicely rattles along. It's only when you think about it that it doesn't add up quite to the numbers you think it should. Okay, so Garrett Wang was potentially going to be killed off until he was shown to be a popular Asian in some magazine, so Kes was the one selected for the chop, though the only evidence in this episode is that she's sadly demoted to an 'Also Starring' credit (it's a joy to see Jeri Ryan's name in the opening credits, but I will always maintain they could and should have kept Kes along for the ride because she still had so much potential and Jennifer Lien gets better the more you watch her), leaving it for the next episode to deal with her, though at least she became the mouthpiece for 8472 and proved invaluable, not to mention really assisting the image of this terrifying race of creatures that want only destruction for those in our galaxy. So Kim had to be cured, and it did have a purpose in providing evidence the Doc's nanoprobes were the solution. Janeway out of action was meant to expedite the conflict with the Borg, get Seven to take them into fluidic space, and for her to reach a rapprochement with her First Officer after the deep division in Part I where he was fully against allying with the Borg. It is their friendship that comes through, though, and while it's not a Maquis/Federation conflict these days, it is a personal fight for what's right in the command structure, proving what Seven said about individuality being their downfall, wrong.
For me, that was the theme of the episode. Though it looked really good (especially after having such a long break from the series and watching other series' from that decade, you notice just how accomplished the set design, lighting, and visual effects really are, and it was a real credit to the production that it still stands out so well today), and had exciting ship battles and personal danger, it's what the characters learn and how they react to the challenges that inspire and impress in Trek, and also what sets it apart from other sci-fi (as well as good character moments such as the callback to Harry and B'Elanna's friendship, which dates back to the pilot, when she teases him upon his return to Ops that she'd been covering; or Tuvok's concern for his former pupil, Kes' visions). Even asides, such as the Doctor being prepared to commit suicide if it comes to a point where the Borg try to take his research, tells a story beyond what we see - that this artificial life form is willing to give everything up for his comrades if it came to it, just as Janeway is willing to destroy the ship rather than relinquish it to the Borg. The biggest question is why the Borg don't simply take what they need, as they always do, but I think the key here is that they knew their existence was on a knife edge, dealing with an enemy unsusceptible to their power, losing swathes of their forces, a situation they'd never experienced before (as far as we know, though they'd never admit it!) - having dealings with humanity before, they knew it had some intangible quality that meant some spark of an advantage that couldn't necessarily be taken by force, but had to be allowed to grow in freedom. And then taken.
On the other hand, what is all this fluidic space and these creatures? Wouldn't it leak out if a ship can go through into that realm? How do they exist, what is their society like? We get some small answers later in the series when a kind of peace is declared between our galaxy and 8472 (which Voyager really should have given a designation, since it's odd that they just take the Borg's numerical system, even if it does sound more alien and threatening, but also dehumanising if you can use that term about an alien - they don't have any of the understandable human qualities that most Trek races share). They were much more nasty at this stage because of that incalculability. The only thing we could understand was their aggression, and even better when it's revealed that it was the Borg that transgressed, poking into holes that they shouldn't have and riling up hornets that could have spelt the end of the Milky Way galaxy (if Trek hadn't been so profitable!). It was truly going where no one had gone before, something that 'Voyager' did every week due to its nature of being in the distant Delta Quadrant with no quick-fix route home, and something people often complain about, forgetting that new life and new civilisations was exactly what the USS Voyager encountered practically every week! Still, the McGuffin of nanoprobes, a cure-all mystery technology, was too easy in its solution and would become overused subsequently, so it was a far from perfect narrative that needed such a device, and you can't help feeling 'DS9' would have found a more logical or satisfying way out of the situation.
At the same time I was in favour of using the link Chakotay had from 'Unity' with the group of ex-Borg he encountered, a logical use of something developed prior to the episode, not for it, using the pieces of the ongoing story in a new way. It could be said to be derivative of the 'Best of Both Worlds' solution to Borg incursion, but knowing how much Chakotay hated it (though that should have been shown clearly here, making his choice to use it a sacrifice for him), it was a bold strategy and strengthened Janeway's ties with her First Officer (even if the Scorpion reference was better in Part I - here it's just the signal for Chakotay to begin distracting Seven). In any case, it starts off a season I've always remembered as being one of the best, with a bang, some great character moments, a promise of new conflict to turn grit into a pearl in the oyster of Voyager, and especially the many questions we're left with about this new passenger. How will she fit in, or will she be a prisoner? I'd completely forgotten that we saw a flashback to Annika as a young girl, and even her parents (though played by uncredited actors who were likely both different to those that would take the roles in later appearances), providing hope that there is a real person still trapped in there. Janeway wonders what's beneath all that Borg technology, voicing the audience's own thoughts, and it's no surprise that the episode ends on a lingering shot of the Borg drone lying in sickbay, as if to reinforce your questions. Tune in next week and every week for the next four years to find out!
****
Every Trek series had a change in cast somewhere along the way, or would have done. Strangely, both 'DS9' and 'Voyager' implemented it at the beginning of their fourth seasons ('TOS' lost Janice Rand during Season 1, and gained Chekov for Season 2; 'TNG' lost Tasha Yar in Season 1, Dr. Crusher for Season 2 and Wesley Crusher in Season 4, gaining Dr. Pulaski for Season 2 and regaining Dr. Crusher in 3; and 'Enterprise' lost Trip Tucker in Season 4 and would have gained Shran if Season 5 had come about), so there was some clear symmetry to their productions beyond airing at the same time. They wanted to shake things up, twist the formula again, and if anyone claims that those series were staid and stale, and that 24th Century Trek was slow and boring, this is a great example of the kind of episode that was more common than would be expected from some of the currently popular historical viewpoints people are expressing about nineties Trek: it's fast, has a swift story without the preponderance of technobabble, plenty of conflict both internal and external, and most certainly far reaching implications for the ongoing series - it was not a serial, but the fourth Trek show had tried from Season 1 to be a continuing story, and in that regard it could be seen as the most serialised of the lot, simply because the ongoing journey home forced areas of space and races to be discovered, experienced, then moved on from.
One race they weren't going to be moving on from after this point were the Borg. With the inclusion of a Borg drone as main cast member, the makers of Trek had just about ticked every major race's box for being a main character that could be fully explored. We'd had Klingons, Vulcans, Ferengi, Bajoran, artificial life… what was left (apart from a Romulan, obviously, a tricky proposition given that race's secretive, uncooperative nature)? It was a thrilling and daring masterstroke to make one of, if not the ultimate of Trek's enemies into a forced friend through circumstance. It was almost mind-boggling in its audacity for the time, just as if a Jem'Hadar had joined the cast of 'DS9,' or 'Enterprise' had taken in a Suliban or a Xindi (actually that might not have been a bad idea…), and Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One ("But you may call me Seven of Nine"), made an immediate impact. It wasn't only a risky proposition in-universe, but to be introducing a whole new actress and character into such an established series which had become a family, was throwing the cat among the pigeons. Quite apart from the radical and blatant ratings-grabbing tactic of a silver catsuit that poor Jeri Ryan had to put up with through much of this season (though it didn't debut in this episode and may have been a relief after the claustrophobic, all-engulfing Borg costume!), she was joining a group of people that had developed a good working relationship and had succeeded in, if not capturing lightning in a bottle for a fourth consecutive instance, at least keeping the Trek machine powered up and bringing in viewers, not to mention expanding the ever-growing universe.
It must have been a challenge, but the character's almost all there right from the off. If you think about it, she's not special in any way - Janeway demands an individual with which to communicate, citing Jean-Luc Picard's position as mouthpiece for precedent, the Borg tacitly agreeing to her demands. You get the impression it's as easy as nanoprobe pie for them to almost disconnect a drone and have it autonomously interact with individuals, that anyone could have been picked at random for the role. Except later we learn that the Borg Queen herself put Seven up for this, and far from being a ridiculous suggestion, it actually makes this episode much easier to swallow and rescues Seven from being an obscure drone without meaning. The question of the Queen's low-profile after her destruction in the second 'TNG' film remained unexplored, perhaps so as not to take away from Seven's contribution. For now she's just a drone, except Ryan imbues her with the arrogance, forthrightness and combativeness more in evidence in the Borg splinter group led by Lore in 'Descent' (was the mine with a nanoprobe yield deliberately a callback to the asymmetrical ship from that episode? It seems impossible to be anything else!), or the Queen herself, than the powerful, but robotic mindlessness of the average Joe drone, seen in the blunt, impersonal force used upon Janeway and Tuvok as they're shoved along corridors or made to kneel for a compulsory operation to fit neural transceivers to their necks without even the thought of consent from their temporary allies. She makes an immediate impact, every question answered with "We are Borg," as if that explains everything, and there's nothing they can't do.
Knowing how things between her and Chakotay ended up, it's very far from love at first sight (mind you, her skin wasn't at its healthiest!), and she has a presence that exudes through all that Borg technology, almost as if her human side is desperately in denial, that she is proud and has complete confidence in her 'race' to hide the fact that deep down she knows she's been violated. All this would be mere speculation except for these kinds of feelings rising to the surface in subsequent seasons as we got to know the woman beneath the strangling pipes and tubes of Borg domination. But even things like the fact that during the attack on Voyager by 8472 bioships, everyone on the bridge is decked in the racking explosions of battle, yet Seven keeps her feet, gripping onto the rail behind the command position. It makes her more formidable and you have a certain respect for her that you might not have got from a lesser performer: they really struck gold when they unearthed Jeri Ryan! We didn't know just how important a character she would become, and just how great an actress she was, but even in this first appearance you can see she's going the whole hog for this role, just as Alice Krige did in 'First Contact.' I'd have loved to have seen the EVA on the hull from that film replicated so we could have seen how the Borg modifications were constructed, but you can't have everything on a TV budget and short running time.
There's a bit of a 'First Contact' moment of "Uh-oh," when, spectacular fashion, not least because of its computer-like precision and decision-making, rather than self-sacrificial heroism, the Borg ship intercepts 8472's imminent attack on Voyager, literally colliding with the enemy to protect their ally. From any other species this would have been a noble act of courage in the face of adversity, a sacrifice for the greater good of an alliance, but the chilling reality is that none of the Borg on that ship mean anything, they're mere vessels for the greater Borg consciousness, and Seven herself might well have been destroyed without a moment's indecision. It is, visually and emotionally a momentous few seconds, with Seven, a few other drones, and Janeway and Tuvok, beamed across to Voyager before the Cube erupts - we know the injuries are serious because the Captain will have to be put into a coma to survive long enough for the Doctor to repair her neural damage, and Tuvok's bleeding (green blood - attention to detail, that's what I like to see!). You go from awe that a Borg Cube has just sacrificed itself for Voyager, a Federation starship (because the Borg don't save, they assimilate - "You will be saved," doesn't have the same menace as their usual greeting), to concern over the Captain's condition, to that feeling of horror when you realise that, just as happened with the Enterprise-E, Borg have infiltrated the ship! It wouldn't take much for them to insert themselves into the vessel's systems and begin assimilation if they chose to, and that's what you expect.
And it does indeed happen: when Chakotay's given the great commission, charged with getting the crew home from a downed Janeway about to be induced into a coma, he defies her previous request to work with the Borg when Seven demands they rendezvous with another Cube deeper in Borg space. I didn't get the sense that he was actually disobeying the Captain as I don't remember Janeway giving him a direct order to work with the Borg at all costs and go along with whatever they say - in fact she warned him he was going to have to be strong to counter their bullying, she just wouldn't have expected him to so quickly go in the opposite direction of her wishes. Of course it as the Borg's fault for taking advantage of Janeway's absence to push for their ways, and who knows what would have happened if Chakotay had gone along with the plan? As we saw, the Borg choose to take control when their demands are not met, they don't take 'no' for an answer, forcing the drones to be sucked out into space when Chakotay orders the decompression of the Cargo Bay (possibly the only time we see the Bay's exit and place on the hull, with an interesting circular design, just like that of a Borg sphere exiting a Cube perhaps?). If Seven could hold on, you'd think the Borg would have been able to clamp themselves to Voyager's infrastructure, unless you go back to the Queen's grand plan and realise they were probably instructed to accept exit in that way and she knew that somehow Seven would have the wherewithal to remain aboard (she was the only one in a Jefferies Tube, to be fair).
Whatever happened to the security officers we see guarding the drones at one point with phaser rifles drawn? Those rifles do look good, especially as we so rarely got to see them used, Trek not being about big guns and shooting things, but just to have them in evidence showed how seriously the crew took the threat posed by the Borg. Ironically, only a hand phaser was ever used, and that by Tom Paris against Seven when she moves to take the helm and the old transparent shield effect buzzes in front of her just like the very first Borg episode, 'Q Who.' Were the security guards only accompanying Chakotay while he visited the Cargo Bay? I got the impression they were overseeing the work going on, but what could they do if a Borg approached them, shoot it if it came too close? The security situation isn't the only thing you could pick holes in the episode - it does show a lack of thought in order to get the drama where it needs to be: Harry Kim, whose life appeared to be in the balance at the end of Part I, is quickly cured by the EMH, as is Janeway's neural damage later on. A weapon that can defeat this otherworldly (or otheruniversely), nemesis is promptly invented, and yet the Borg weren't able to come up with it when they're the ones with all the nanoprobes and advanced technology? I don't really even understand why they wouldn't simply take over the ship in the first instance if there was anything its crew had that they wanted.
These issues can be dealt with and quietly put to one side, or even ignored thanks to the pace and atmosphere of the story which nicely rattles along. It's only when you think about it that it doesn't add up quite to the numbers you think it should. Okay, so Garrett Wang was potentially going to be killed off until he was shown to be a popular Asian in some magazine, so Kes was the one selected for the chop, though the only evidence in this episode is that she's sadly demoted to an 'Also Starring' credit (it's a joy to see Jeri Ryan's name in the opening credits, but I will always maintain they could and should have kept Kes along for the ride because she still had so much potential and Jennifer Lien gets better the more you watch her), leaving it for the next episode to deal with her, though at least she became the mouthpiece for 8472 and proved invaluable, not to mention really assisting the image of this terrifying race of creatures that want only destruction for those in our galaxy. So Kim had to be cured, and it did have a purpose in providing evidence the Doc's nanoprobes were the solution. Janeway out of action was meant to expedite the conflict with the Borg, get Seven to take them into fluidic space, and for her to reach a rapprochement with her First Officer after the deep division in Part I where he was fully against allying with the Borg. It is their friendship that comes through, though, and while it's not a Maquis/Federation conflict these days, it is a personal fight for what's right in the command structure, proving what Seven said about individuality being their downfall, wrong.
For me, that was the theme of the episode. Though it looked really good (especially after having such a long break from the series and watching other series' from that decade, you notice just how accomplished the set design, lighting, and visual effects really are, and it was a real credit to the production that it still stands out so well today), and had exciting ship battles and personal danger, it's what the characters learn and how they react to the challenges that inspire and impress in Trek, and also what sets it apart from other sci-fi (as well as good character moments such as the callback to Harry and B'Elanna's friendship, which dates back to the pilot, when she teases him upon his return to Ops that she'd been covering; or Tuvok's concern for his former pupil, Kes' visions). Even asides, such as the Doctor being prepared to commit suicide if it comes to a point where the Borg try to take his research, tells a story beyond what we see - that this artificial life form is willing to give everything up for his comrades if it came to it, just as Janeway is willing to destroy the ship rather than relinquish it to the Borg. The biggest question is why the Borg don't simply take what they need, as they always do, but I think the key here is that they knew their existence was on a knife edge, dealing with an enemy unsusceptible to their power, losing swathes of their forces, a situation they'd never experienced before (as far as we know, though they'd never admit it!) - having dealings with humanity before, they knew it had some intangible quality that meant some spark of an advantage that couldn't necessarily be taken by force, but had to be allowed to grow in freedom. And then taken.
On the other hand, what is all this fluidic space and these creatures? Wouldn't it leak out if a ship can go through into that realm? How do they exist, what is their society like? We get some small answers later in the series when a kind of peace is declared between our galaxy and 8472 (which Voyager really should have given a designation, since it's odd that they just take the Borg's numerical system, even if it does sound more alien and threatening, but also dehumanising if you can use that term about an alien - they don't have any of the understandable human qualities that most Trek races share). They were much more nasty at this stage because of that incalculability. The only thing we could understand was their aggression, and even better when it's revealed that it was the Borg that transgressed, poking into holes that they shouldn't have and riling up hornets that could have spelt the end of the Milky Way galaxy (if Trek hadn't been so profitable!). It was truly going where no one had gone before, something that 'Voyager' did every week due to its nature of being in the distant Delta Quadrant with no quick-fix route home, and something people often complain about, forgetting that new life and new civilisations was exactly what the USS Voyager encountered practically every week! Still, the McGuffin of nanoprobes, a cure-all mystery technology, was too easy in its solution and would become overused subsequently, so it was a far from perfect narrative that needed such a device, and you can't help feeling 'DS9' would have found a more logical or satisfying way out of the situation.
At the same time I was in favour of using the link Chakotay had from 'Unity' with the group of ex-Borg he encountered, a logical use of something developed prior to the episode, not for it, using the pieces of the ongoing story in a new way. It could be said to be derivative of the 'Best of Both Worlds' solution to Borg incursion, but knowing how much Chakotay hated it (though that should have been shown clearly here, making his choice to use it a sacrifice for him), it was a bold strategy and strengthened Janeway's ties with her First Officer (even if the Scorpion reference was better in Part I - here it's just the signal for Chakotay to begin distracting Seven). In any case, it starts off a season I've always remembered as being one of the best, with a bang, some great character moments, a promise of new conflict to turn grit into a pearl in the oyster of Voyager, and especially the many questions we're left with about this new passenger. How will she fit in, or will she be a prisoner? I'd completely forgotten that we saw a flashback to Annika as a young girl, and even her parents (though played by uncredited actors who were likely both different to those that would take the roles in later appearances), providing hope that there is a real person still trapped in there. Janeway wonders what's beneath all that Borg technology, voicing the audience's own thoughts, and it's no surprise that the episode ends on a lingering shot of the Borg drone lying in sickbay, as if to reinforce your questions. Tune in next week and every week for the next four years to find out!
****
Tuesday, 1 March 2016
Hostage
DVD, Smallville S9 (Hostage)
I tend to have lowered expectations for opening and closing episodes in a 'Smallville' season as they take time to get going, always having to clear up the mess left behind by the previous season's cliffhanger, or at the other end of the spectrum, going all out to create a new mess for next season. So it was with some delight that this penultimate episode provided some much needed warmth and solace from the Kandorian problem that's been boiling over in recent episodes, and was a partial return to what this season has done best: Clark and Lois. It's ironic, but just at the time that poor Clark is waist deep in Kandorian troubles, Zod's plans coming to fruition, Lois' minor life issues (being unemployed and feeling like she's going nowhere, doing nothing of value with her life), make her question his commitment to their cause - while she's concerned that he doesn't take things seriously enough, or whatever, at the same time she's pining to make a difference in the exact moment he's dealing with potentially world-changing events to come. It's a tough position to be in, but he's already played the card of deciding not to tell Lois his true identity, and he has to stick to it. Doesn't mean to say we don't wonder if he'll go back on that and tell her anyway, especially when he leaves a card at the end from The Blur saying they have to meet.
The age-old question of 'tell or don't tell' isn't the only tantalising thread to dangle in front of us - we also have Martha Kent returning after a three season break (I think it was Season 6 when she last appeared), and this time she's got old favourite Perry White in tow (played by old favourite Michael McKean). Straight away I'm putting two and two together to make 'Editor,' as that would be so wonderful if they could draw some of those disparate pieces of the Superman mythos together and get people to where they're supposed to be, even though the series long ago stopped being even close to how Supes' story was 'supposed' to play out, preferring to be free from canon, if there is such a definitive version of his early life. You could say it was always supposed to be some alternate version, since Lex and Clark were friends, but that tension between how we know things are supposed to end up and how they were is what carried much of the potential in the early seasons. Something else those early seasons carried was a real sense of the world that Clark and his friends lived in, with real adult characters that were, well, real. Of course Clark and friends grew up and became adults in their own right, losing the dynamic of the cast that worked so well to begin with, nevertheless, having strong acting talent like Annette O'Toole and John Schneider remained a boon, though later they were criminally underused, and when a story could be found for the old folks it was generally something ridiculous, like them performing some crazy feat or whatever, losing the reality that the home life of Clark began with.
This episode managed to recreate the dichotomy of the warm, solace of the Kent farm and family, with the chilling, blood-curdling danger that existed outside of it, though in reality it was just a mental ploy on Tess to get her to reveal the location of The Book of Rao, with Maxwell Lord back for some mental games to create an internal reality where Tess and Oliver are prisoners in the Mansion. Another episode where Tess is trapped with someone which could have become an event in itself, but is actually over pretty quickly and doesn't amount to much except to get her moving. In keeping with the poor or outlandish use of adult characters previously, the big question (alongside why is Martha with Perry!), is that of who The Red Queen is, this third party unconnected with Checkmate, yet not on the side of the Kandorians or Clark. It was getting complicated, but I should have guessed it would be Mrs. Kent as soon as her approaching cameo was spoiled for me by the DVD having a picture of her on the episode menu - it would have been a wonderful surprise for her to simply appear out of the blue, but I was pleased when I saw the picture and even more so when she walked into the Kent house again after so long away. It made sense that she couldn't face up to the memories after Jonathan's tragic death, so many memories (both happy and sad!), at the Kent family farm. I say I should have guessed, but I did at the point that Chloe tells Clark that Tess was in A&E during Red's latest appearance, and then it was that I pretty much knew.
I never thought it was Tess, even she's not that good an actor, and what good would it have done her? Then I was edging more towards Chloe, as her twisted Big Brother-ish attitudes and approach made her create an alternate identity in which she could get involved, but it was a bit of a stretch and it was most likely a new character. But then it clicked: of course they weren't simply going to bring back Martha to present a home-cooked meal (as nice as it was to see her with the apron, busying herself in the kitchen - I hope she was impressed with how clean Clark had kept the place, although I wonder what happened to Shelby the dog, as you'd think it would have come bounding up to her!), she was bound to play some kind of significant role, and at first thoughts you'd expect it to be political in nature, perhaps the combined efforts of Perry and Martha would get Clark and Lois reconstituted as part of the Daily Planet again? But no, she had to be The Red Queen, and strangely, though it was in parallel with many other bizarre stretching of characters over the years, I didn't find it too out of character. As she admitted to Clark, with all he was dealing with she was worried about what would happen to him, not least, as she admits, if The Book of Rao is indeed used to send the Kandorians off to another plane of existence, it will suck up every Kryptonian off the planet, too!
I liked the logic of the Mother, and we got to have some meaningful scenes, such as those between Lois and Martha when she talks of the past and doing something with her life: they successfully managed to show that Martha Kent was an intelligent, career woman over the years, not just a simple farmer's wife, but that she enjoyed caring for the land and the people in that small community, her love for Jonathan driving her on. So it all fell into place for me, and we also had that little moment when Perry's about to enter the kitchen carrying some logs, and like Martha, you could be forgiven for thinking it was Jonathan back from the dead in those same old jeans and jacket - because I don't believe we've seen the last of Mr. Kent, or at least I hope not, even if it's some kind of flashback they need to bring John Schneider back in the final season. I have a lot of hopes for that final season to come, although some of them have been reduced after appearing in this very episode: I really hoped, upon seeing Perry again (who hadn't been in the series since way back in Season 3, and even then only one episode), that this was going to open the door to putting things in their rightful places, with Clark and Lois as reporters working for Perry White as Editor. But he scurries off to chase a false lead on The Red Queen in Africa by episode's end. It could still happen that next season he returns to become a regular, but the chances appear to have dropped with the way he was written out here.
As Clark himself said, I just wanted things to be back to how they were for an episode, and in large part they were, but at the same time they weren't, because once a time has come and gone, you can recreate it, you can try and relive it, but it will never come again. There is a time for everything under the sun… And so it was with this, a sense of the past, a pleasant ray of remembrance, even the bittersweet of sad memories, but by the end things were back to current times. I think Lois should have been unemployed for longer, one of those things the series briefly skips over because it doesn't see the dramatic potential of such real world situations, but that's the way the series went, and one reason why it never lived up to its full potential. I'm just grateful that we got a positive episode before the end of the season: the Kent farm took on a glowier glow than we've seen for a long time, the music was quirky and funny, then we're frozen into the horror of Tess trapped in her room, threatened by a gun. It worked. As always there were things I had a problem with, such as Watchtower, though mangled, still doing its thing with Chloe at the helm (though her observation that having all the information isn't the same as having all the answers was another fascinating thought that could easily have been more fully explored), and there's no way Lois would have been able to lift the heft of Perry when he gets stuck climbing up the building (Martha must be on good shape to get up there, too!), as much as I enjoyed that sequence!
I sense Chloe is preparing for her exit, being pretty sure she left after Season 9, and now her saying she's had enough of the virtual world and wants a real life with Oliver, it makes me wonder how those characters will play out. Will there be a death, or a simple exit, like Pete did in Season 2? Though I don't hold out much hope that the end of the season will be that great, not having much interest in the Kandorians' affairs, and expecting Zod to be out of the series, I am at least given hope for Season 10. Will Clark tell Lois his secret? Will Chloe renounce her crime-fighting (what else would she do, they can hardly write her out to be shunted off to some safe house of Oliver's in some distant country where she can do the same thing as she was doing with Watchtower)? Will Perry marry Martha, and will they return to being a part of the series again? To repeat what Chloe said, having the information isn't the same as having the answers, but at least this episode made me want to learn the answers, not just be given the information. And while I'm not sure how much I'd miss the character as she is now, she does tend to get some good references: this time throwing in references to both 'Donkey Kong' and 'Alien Nation' in the same conversation!
***
I tend to have lowered expectations for opening and closing episodes in a 'Smallville' season as they take time to get going, always having to clear up the mess left behind by the previous season's cliffhanger, or at the other end of the spectrum, going all out to create a new mess for next season. So it was with some delight that this penultimate episode provided some much needed warmth and solace from the Kandorian problem that's been boiling over in recent episodes, and was a partial return to what this season has done best: Clark and Lois. It's ironic, but just at the time that poor Clark is waist deep in Kandorian troubles, Zod's plans coming to fruition, Lois' minor life issues (being unemployed and feeling like she's going nowhere, doing nothing of value with her life), make her question his commitment to their cause - while she's concerned that he doesn't take things seriously enough, or whatever, at the same time she's pining to make a difference in the exact moment he's dealing with potentially world-changing events to come. It's a tough position to be in, but he's already played the card of deciding not to tell Lois his true identity, and he has to stick to it. Doesn't mean to say we don't wonder if he'll go back on that and tell her anyway, especially when he leaves a card at the end from The Blur saying they have to meet.
The age-old question of 'tell or don't tell' isn't the only tantalising thread to dangle in front of us - we also have Martha Kent returning after a three season break (I think it was Season 6 when she last appeared), and this time she's got old favourite Perry White in tow (played by old favourite Michael McKean). Straight away I'm putting two and two together to make 'Editor,' as that would be so wonderful if they could draw some of those disparate pieces of the Superman mythos together and get people to where they're supposed to be, even though the series long ago stopped being even close to how Supes' story was 'supposed' to play out, preferring to be free from canon, if there is such a definitive version of his early life. You could say it was always supposed to be some alternate version, since Lex and Clark were friends, but that tension between how we know things are supposed to end up and how they were is what carried much of the potential in the early seasons. Something else those early seasons carried was a real sense of the world that Clark and his friends lived in, with real adult characters that were, well, real. Of course Clark and friends grew up and became adults in their own right, losing the dynamic of the cast that worked so well to begin with, nevertheless, having strong acting talent like Annette O'Toole and John Schneider remained a boon, though later they were criminally underused, and when a story could be found for the old folks it was generally something ridiculous, like them performing some crazy feat or whatever, losing the reality that the home life of Clark began with.
This episode managed to recreate the dichotomy of the warm, solace of the Kent farm and family, with the chilling, blood-curdling danger that existed outside of it, though in reality it was just a mental ploy on Tess to get her to reveal the location of The Book of Rao, with Maxwell Lord back for some mental games to create an internal reality where Tess and Oliver are prisoners in the Mansion. Another episode where Tess is trapped with someone which could have become an event in itself, but is actually over pretty quickly and doesn't amount to much except to get her moving. In keeping with the poor or outlandish use of adult characters previously, the big question (alongside why is Martha with Perry!), is that of who The Red Queen is, this third party unconnected with Checkmate, yet not on the side of the Kandorians or Clark. It was getting complicated, but I should have guessed it would be Mrs. Kent as soon as her approaching cameo was spoiled for me by the DVD having a picture of her on the episode menu - it would have been a wonderful surprise for her to simply appear out of the blue, but I was pleased when I saw the picture and even more so when she walked into the Kent house again after so long away. It made sense that she couldn't face up to the memories after Jonathan's tragic death, so many memories (both happy and sad!), at the Kent family farm. I say I should have guessed, but I did at the point that Chloe tells Clark that Tess was in A&E during Red's latest appearance, and then it was that I pretty much knew.
I never thought it was Tess, even she's not that good an actor, and what good would it have done her? Then I was edging more towards Chloe, as her twisted Big Brother-ish attitudes and approach made her create an alternate identity in which she could get involved, but it was a bit of a stretch and it was most likely a new character. But then it clicked: of course they weren't simply going to bring back Martha to present a home-cooked meal (as nice as it was to see her with the apron, busying herself in the kitchen - I hope she was impressed with how clean Clark had kept the place, although I wonder what happened to Shelby the dog, as you'd think it would have come bounding up to her!), she was bound to play some kind of significant role, and at first thoughts you'd expect it to be political in nature, perhaps the combined efforts of Perry and Martha would get Clark and Lois reconstituted as part of the Daily Planet again? But no, she had to be The Red Queen, and strangely, though it was in parallel with many other bizarre stretching of characters over the years, I didn't find it too out of character. As she admitted to Clark, with all he was dealing with she was worried about what would happen to him, not least, as she admits, if The Book of Rao is indeed used to send the Kandorians off to another plane of existence, it will suck up every Kryptonian off the planet, too!
I liked the logic of the Mother, and we got to have some meaningful scenes, such as those between Lois and Martha when she talks of the past and doing something with her life: they successfully managed to show that Martha Kent was an intelligent, career woman over the years, not just a simple farmer's wife, but that she enjoyed caring for the land and the people in that small community, her love for Jonathan driving her on. So it all fell into place for me, and we also had that little moment when Perry's about to enter the kitchen carrying some logs, and like Martha, you could be forgiven for thinking it was Jonathan back from the dead in those same old jeans and jacket - because I don't believe we've seen the last of Mr. Kent, or at least I hope not, even if it's some kind of flashback they need to bring John Schneider back in the final season. I have a lot of hopes for that final season to come, although some of them have been reduced after appearing in this very episode: I really hoped, upon seeing Perry again (who hadn't been in the series since way back in Season 3, and even then only one episode), that this was going to open the door to putting things in their rightful places, with Clark and Lois as reporters working for Perry White as Editor. But he scurries off to chase a false lead on The Red Queen in Africa by episode's end. It could still happen that next season he returns to become a regular, but the chances appear to have dropped with the way he was written out here.
As Clark himself said, I just wanted things to be back to how they were for an episode, and in large part they were, but at the same time they weren't, because once a time has come and gone, you can recreate it, you can try and relive it, but it will never come again. There is a time for everything under the sun… And so it was with this, a sense of the past, a pleasant ray of remembrance, even the bittersweet of sad memories, but by the end things were back to current times. I think Lois should have been unemployed for longer, one of those things the series briefly skips over because it doesn't see the dramatic potential of such real world situations, but that's the way the series went, and one reason why it never lived up to its full potential. I'm just grateful that we got a positive episode before the end of the season: the Kent farm took on a glowier glow than we've seen for a long time, the music was quirky and funny, then we're frozen into the horror of Tess trapped in her room, threatened by a gun. It worked. As always there were things I had a problem with, such as Watchtower, though mangled, still doing its thing with Chloe at the helm (though her observation that having all the information isn't the same as having all the answers was another fascinating thought that could easily have been more fully explored), and there's no way Lois would have been able to lift the heft of Perry when he gets stuck climbing up the building (Martha must be on good shape to get up there, too!), as much as I enjoyed that sequence!
I sense Chloe is preparing for her exit, being pretty sure she left after Season 9, and now her saying she's had enough of the virtual world and wants a real life with Oliver, it makes me wonder how those characters will play out. Will there be a death, or a simple exit, like Pete did in Season 2? Though I don't hold out much hope that the end of the season will be that great, not having much interest in the Kandorians' affairs, and expecting Zod to be out of the series, I am at least given hope for Season 10. Will Clark tell Lois his secret? Will Chloe renounce her crime-fighting (what else would she do, they can hardly write her out to be shunted off to some safe house of Oliver's in some distant country where she can do the same thing as she was doing with Watchtower)? Will Perry marry Martha, and will they return to being a part of the series again? To repeat what Chloe said, having the information isn't the same as having the answers, but at least this episode made me want to learn the answers, not just be given the information. And while I'm not sure how much I'd miss the character as she is now, she does tend to get some good references: this time throwing in references to both 'Donkey Kong' and 'Alien Nation' in the same conversation!
***
Sacrifice
DVD, Smallville S9 (Sacrifice)
The kind of episode that's fun to write about, but not so enjoyable to watch, both because of its stupid inconsistencies, annoying irritations and ridiculous developments! We haven't had one that's been so chock full of idiocy for a while, and generally has been a lot less in evidence this season, but at the same time it's pretty stylish and barrels along, most of the time (aside from weird cultish Kryptonian rituals involving putting a flower in a bowl of water to mark pregnancy…). It's a shame that this is Justin Hartley's debut as ideas man and writer, not content to play Oliver Queen he wants in on the narrative control, but then a lot of actors do, though it's usually through the directing line. It should come as no surprise then, that his character, Queen, comes up against Zod, and in the episode is the only one to best him! Is it an actor's thing that they must give themselves something special? It was ludicrous that Zod, the powered-up version who has all the abilities of Clark, and more, inexplicably being able to fly when Clark never can, was unable to sidestep an arrow which would be slower than a speeding bullet! We can put it down to arrogance that he assumed it wouldn't hurt him, and it is a good moment of triumph when he suddenly collapses, the arrow revealed to harbour the green venom of Kryptonite juice inside it. It's a victory for Green Arrow, though again, how could he possibly have survived a battering ram punch to the chest from Zod that sent him into the opposite wall, and just be concerned about some scratches to his back?
It's not just Green Arrow that survives against the odds, the Queen of Checkmate, Agent Waller, gets thrown several metres to smash her head into a car windscreen, again by Zod, cracking the windscreen in the process. Yet we see her shortly after, walking around as if nothing had happened and it's perfectly ordinary for a woman of her age to experience a heavy collision - she has a small cut to the forehead, and a worried nurse looks on, and that's the extent of evidence of having been in such a fight, then she's dashing down a corridor fleeing from Zod moments later! It's laughable, even if you assume it was a few hours later. Maybe I'm being too hard on the episode to single it out, the series has often played very loosely with reality, people are always being flung around with little damage to show for it, or recuperation required, but it's just that she's clearly advanced in years. Queen could have armour plating or some shock absorbing material underneath his outfit that lessened the frontal blow somewhat, but she was just wearing an ordinary suit.
It also seemed especially violent this time, as if they hadn't had enough shock value in the last few episodes and chose to cram it all into this: you get the closeup of a dead body that Zod's burned half the face off, Chloe digs into Tess' back with a scalpel to remove the Checkmate bug crawling around in there, and later electrocutes her, then brings her back by stabbing adrenaline or some other drug right into her heart, not to mention the bloody mess of guards Zod leaves strewn in the corridor at Checkmate HQ. I don't mind a bit of nastiness in the series to shock, but it didn't feel in keeping with the rest of the story, or maybe, as I said, I've become used to less shock value than they've usually gone for this season. We also see Zod strangle Faora to death, before stupidly realising she was carrying his child by the remains of some flower she was holding, and that she's clutching her belly, then he goes on to lie that humans caused her death to cement his followers, including her sister, to his side, so it even ends in an annoyingly unjust way. Clearly they had to reset the enmity between Clark and the Kandorians, or humanity and the Kandorians, so there can be a big battle at the end of the season, a lacklustre taste of which we got when Clark flings him into the side of a building to stop him murdering Waller. Is that what we have to look forward to: Zod and Clark throwing each other into walls?
If you feel hard done by in the fighting stakes then we do get another of the series' favourite tropes with a girl fight, this time (again), between Tess, who's sneaked her way into Watchtower, and Chloe. The episode, as can often happen, started promisingly, with Chloe going about her daily business of saving the world from itself as she heads up to her secret base like some kind of superhero without any powers (except that one about coming back to life, or healing people, but I think they established she wouldn't be able to do that again, or at least there'd be serious consequences), like Bruce Wayne heading to the Batcave. Then it turns into 'Civil Defence' from 'DS9' where the computer causes a lockdown because Tess got in with the bug inside her, and Checkmate hunt out all the files on the Kandorians. I was hoping there was going to be more to it than Tess and Chloe locked in Watchtower, and actually that came and went pretty quickly, though she had to make a 'sacrifice' by removing the computer's cooling system in order to blast their way out before the air ran down. Firstly, what's the point of a lockdown system that locks in the owner of it, even apart from Chloe saying she was supposed to be nowhere near it if someone did break in? Secondly, this high tech security system let Tess in posing as Chloe because of some device she had, but didn't then get suspicious when the real Chloe arrived? How intelligent is this system supposed to be, and yet it hasn't even got the facility to warn Chloe that she had already logged into the building?
It was also convenient that Clark happens to be saying that Watchtower needs to not fall into enemy hands because of the weapon it is, but none of this has been apparent before. The computer has never really been shown to be a self-operating creation, but now it's suddenly got a personality, welcoming Chloe and she talks to it, and it's all very 'Star Trek,' but there's been no introduction to the concept before, Watchtower was always Chloe and her amazing technical dream web. In truth, this was all going through my mind, but it then became apparent that this wasn't what the story was about, in fact it's almost irrelevant, except that it gives Chloe and Tess a moment to have a heart to heart, before they show up at the Smallville Medical Centre to make a 'heartrending' decision. Something tells me security would be tighter at that place than we ever see, so many things have gone wrong there, and yet they break into some cupboard, get the requisite drug syringe, waltz into a room to use the shock treatment, and no one notices them, not one. The staff must be imbeciles! But not only that, they don't even glance at men running round with guns (Tess' former goon, Campbell, with an eye patch over one of his glasses, now working for Checkmate). In the grand tradition of 'Smallville,' it's all such a glorious mess, ping-ponging between various stories to camouflage the silliness. It almost works, because it is pacy and looks good, but there's very little reality in it and nothing much develops, we just go back to where we were at the start of the season with Clark versus Zod and his Kandorians.
Watchtower being a threat doesn't come to fruition, except for the fact the Kandorians' whereabouts become government property and they all get rounded up for execution, saved by Clark, then still join Zod anyway. Clark's still blindly talking about resolving things peacefully right up until the end where he appeals to Faora's sister, there's no Lois because this is all way over her head, and I'm not sure where it leaves Chloe and Tess, one of whom loses all her files and the Watchtower system (because she's never heard of backing things up, apparently, and because they had to take out that one coolant tank in order to escape the locked room, and that caused the computer to implode, or something), and the other who is in debt since Chloe brings her back after electrocuting her to destroy the Checkmate bug (had they been watching 'Mission: Impossible III' by any chance?), against her better judgement. Chloe threatens Tess that next time she won't save her if she hinders her or her friends, or whatever, and quite rightly, Tess says she'll have to trust her then. All a bit barmy and reminds me of the bad old days of Lana getting het up, then being forgiving, getting powers, losing powers, the long cycle of awfulness that many seasons went through. Granted, this time we've seen the potential destruction that would happen if Clark and Zod went to war, and the season was all about avoiding that if at all possible, but we also knew that it would happen anyway, or something similar, and the idea of integrating the Kandorians was just a stall. It could easily have been played out in a two hour film rather than being dragged across a season.
**
The kind of episode that's fun to write about, but not so enjoyable to watch, both because of its stupid inconsistencies, annoying irritations and ridiculous developments! We haven't had one that's been so chock full of idiocy for a while, and generally has been a lot less in evidence this season, but at the same time it's pretty stylish and barrels along, most of the time (aside from weird cultish Kryptonian rituals involving putting a flower in a bowl of water to mark pregnancy…). It's a shame that this is Justin Hartley's debut as ideas man and writer, not content to play Oliver Queen he wants in on the narrative control, but then a lot of actors do, though it's usually through the directing line. It should come as no surprise then, that his character, Queen, comes up against Zod, and in the episode is the only one to best him! Is it an actor's thing that they must give themselves something special? It was ludicrous that Zod, the powered-up version who has all the abilities of Clark, and more, inexplicably being able to fly when Clark never can, was unable to sidestep an arrow which would be slower than a speeding bullet! We can put it down to arrogance that he assumed it wouldn't hurt him, and it is a good moment of triumph when he suddenly collapses, the arrow revealed to harbour the green venom of Kryptonite juice inside it. It's a victory for Green Arrow, though again, how could he possibly have survived a battering ram punch to the chest from Zod that sent him into the opposite wall, and just be concerned about some scratches to his back?
It's not just Green Arrow that survives against the odds, the Queen of Checkmate, Agent Waller, gets thrown several metres to smash her head into a car windscreen, again by Zod, cracking the windscreen in the process. Yet we see her shortly after, walking around as if nothing had happened and it's perfectly ordinary for a woman of her age to experience a heavy collision - she has a small cut to the forehead, and a worried nurse looks on, and that's the extent of evidence of having been in such a fight, then she's dashing down a corridor fleeing from Zod moments later! It's laughable, even if you assume it was a few hours later. Maybe I'm being too hard on the episode to single it out, the series has often played very loosely with reality, people are always being flung around with little damage to show for it, or recuperation required, but it's just that she's clearly advanced in years. Queen could have armour plating or some shock absorbing material underneath his outfit that lessened the frontal blow somewhat, but she was just wearing an ordinary suit.
It also seemed especially violent this time, as if they hadn't had enough shock value in the last few episodes and chose to cram it all into this: you get the closeup of a dead body that Zod's burned half the face off, Chloe digs into Tess' back with a scalpel to remove the Checkmate bug crawling around in there, and later electrocutes her, then brings her back by stabbing adrenaline or some other drug right into her heart, not to mention the bloody mess of guards Zod leaves strewn in the corridor at Checkmate HQ. I don't mind a bit of nastiness in the series to shock, but it didn't feel in keeping with the rest of the story, or maybe, as I said, I've become used to less shock value than they've usually gone for this season. We also see Zod strangle Faora to death, before stupidly realising she was carrying his child by the remains of some flower she was holding, and that she's clutching her belly, then he goes on to lie that humans caused her death to cement his followers, including her sister, to his side, so it even ends in an annoyingly unjust way. Clearly they had to reset the enmity between Clark and the Kandorians, or humanity and the Kandorians, so there can be a big battle at the end of the season, a lacklustre taste of which we got when Clark flings him into the side of a building to stop him murdering Waller. Is that what we have to look forward to: Zod and Clark throwing each other into walls?
If you feel hard done by in the fighting stakes then we do get another of the series' favourite tropes with a girl fight, this time (again), between Tess, who's sneaked her way into Watchtower, and Chloe. The episode, as can often happen, started promisingly, with Chloe going about her daily business of saving the world from itself as she heads up to her secret base like some kind of superhero without any powers (except that one about coming back to life, or healing people, but I think they established she wouldn't be able to do that again, or at least there'd be serious consequences), like Bruce Wayne heading to the Batcave. Then it turns into 'Civil Defence' from 'DS9' where the computer causes a lockdown because Tess got in with the bug inside her, and Checkmate hunt out all the files on the Kandorians. I was hoping there was going to be more to it than Tess and Chloe locked in Watchtower, and actually that came and went pretty quickly, though she had to make a 'sacrifice' by removing the computer's cooling system in order to blast their way out before the air ran down. Firstly, what's the point of a lockdown system that locks in the owner of it, even apart from Chloe saying she was supposed to be nowhere near it if someone did break in? Secondly, this high tech security system let Tess in posing as Chloe because of some device she had, but didn't then get suspicious when the real Chloe arrived? How intelligent is this system supposed to be, and yet it hasn't even got the facility to warn Chloe that she had already logged into the building?
It was also convenient that Clark happens to be saying that Watchtower needs to not fall into enemy hands because of the weapon it is, but none of this has been apparent before. The computer has never really been shown to be a self-operating creation, but now it's suddenly got a personality, welcoming Chloe and she talks to it, and it's all very 'Star Trek,' but there's been no introduction to the concept before, Watchtower was always Chloe and her amazing technical dream web. In truth, this was all going through my mind, but it then became apparent that this wasn't what the story was about, in fact it's almost irrelevant, except that it gives Chloe and Tess a moment to have a heart to heart, before they show up at the Smallville Medical Centre to make a 'heartrending' decision. Something tells me security would be tighter at that place than we ever see, so many things have gone wrong there, and yet they break into some cupboard, get the requisite drug syringe, waltz into a room to use the shock treatment, and no one notices them, not one. The staff must be imbeciles! But not only that, they don't even glance at men running round with guns (Tess' former goon, Campbell, with an eye patch over one of his glasses, now working for Checkmate). In the grand tradition of 'Smallville,' it's all such a glorious mess, ping-ponging between various stories to camouflage the silliness. It almost works, because it is pacy and looks good, but there's very little reality in it and nothing much develops, we just go back to where we were at the start of the season with Clark versus Zod and his Kandorians.
Watchtower being a threat doesn't come to fruition, except for the fact the Kandorians' whereabouts become government property and they all get rounded up for execution, saved by Clark, then still join Zod anyway. Clark's still blindly talking about resolving things peacefully right up until the end where he appeals to Faora's sister, there's no Lois because this is all way over her head, and I'm not sure where it leaves Chloe and Tess, one of whom loses all her files and the Watchtower system (because she's never heard of backing things up, apparently, and because they had to take out that one coolant tank in order to escape the locked room, and that caused the computer to implode, or something), and the other who is in debt since Chloe brings her back after electrocuting her to destroy the Checkmate bug (had they been watching 'Mission: Impossible III' by any chance?), against her better judgement. Chloe threatens Tess that next time she won't save her if she hinders her or her friends, or whatever, and quite rightly, Tess says she'll have to trust her then. All a bit barmy and reminds me of the bad old days of Lana getting het up, then being forgiving, getting powers, losing powers, the long cycle of awfulness that many seasons went through. Granted, this time we've seen the potential destruction that would happen if Clark and Zod went to war, and the season was all about avoiding that if at all possible, but we also knew that it would happen anyway, or something similar, and the idea of integrating the Kandorians was just a stall. It could easily have been played out in a two hour film rather than being dragged across a season.
**
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