DVD, Star Trek: The Animated Series S1 (Yesteryear)
The most famous of all 'TAS' episodes, written by D.C. Fontana, continuing her exploration of Vulcan culture begun in 'TOS,' and I had high hopes this would be the one to stand out. But it's early days and I haven't yet got into the series, the one Trek show I don't know back to front, and side to side. It was another functional story, one I did vaguely remember, though it's the most talked about, too, so that's no guarantee of anything.
Interest comes from the timeline changing thanks to… I can't remember, but they were fiddling about with the old Guardian of Forever, an odd-looking survey team, whom I assume isn't Starfleet, or at least a separate division from starship operations since they don't wear Starfleet uniforms (but then, according to 'Discovery,' uniforms varied in this sort of era), and one is a giant bird, slightly reminiscent of one of the fantastical aliens kept by the Talosians. We get an Andorian First Officer, who replaced Spock in the altered time stream, though he's grey for some unknown reason!
Kirk notes that the 'wardrobe section' will sort out Spock's necessary accoutrements for travelling into the past to set things right, so I guess 'DSC' adds legitimacy to 'TAS' not being canon since Burnham was able to magically synthesise her uniform, no problem, with no need for a department to be consulted. Personally I prefer that they had stores of this kind, as it makes the period different to the later, and more advanced 'TNG' time, so for once I wouldn't mind if this was canon (though I think such things may have been mentioned on 'TOS' anyway).
Lovely to see and hear Sarek, voiced again by Mark Lenard, and not the last time he was to provide voice only for the character as we see a younger version on 'Star Trek V' whose line was spoken by Lenard, though Majel Barrett's distinctive voice fills in for Amanda on this occasion. 'Enterprise' took a few things from this episode when making it's Vulcan trilogy in Season 4, and as always, I'm happy for other branches to canonise certain aspects of what is on show in 'TAS,' when it makes sense.
But there are still things that feel out of place, like the tiger creature that attacks I-Chaya, mortally wounding it: it looks more like something out of 'He-Man' than Trek, though I can imagine the Abrams films taking this as guidance for when they went in for creating ridiculous chase sequences against monster beasts.
The main story becomes more about whether the boy Spock can condone euthanasia for his pet, than take the taunts from his peers, so things take a different turn than I expected. I don't think it's suggesting that human euthanasia is acceptable, I do think it was about animal suffering, which makes sense as they can't decide things for themselves and only understand the immediate sensation of pain, so it was a courageous thing for young Spock to let his much-loved pet go.
I wonder what the science lovers made of Spock senior claiming the reason for his visit was to pay homage to the family shrine of their gods! I don't think Vulcan mysticism had been explored on the series, at least not in these terms, though of course the films would delve into such things much more.
So one for Spock, mainly - I wonder how he got back from his time trip, was he in direct communion with the Guardian and could tell it when he was ready to return?
**
Tuesday, 27 August 2019
Strange Bedfellows (2)
DVD, DS9 S7 (Strange Bedfellows) (2)
The best in this opening trilogy within the nine-ology, or whatever it's called, probably because it brings some much needed actual resolution. I don't know if the first two parts could have been condensed down, or even gone unseen, but both gave me the impression of pacing back and forth, or round and round, taking their sweet time to go anywhere, to the extent that they were almost (but not), a drudgery to drag our characters ploddingly to the resolve we see by the end of this episode, which wouldn't have been as believable unless they'd gone through all the soul-searching and baring all first. The title couldn't be more apt, as this one is all about the oddments of bonds between a variety of characters that you could, in Martok's vein, call the battle of the bonds: he brings up Sisko's marriage to Kasidy as the beginning of a war, 'til death do us part, and this warring between two people is observed at different stages between Worf and Ezri (threat of execution finally makes them honest and realistic), Damar and Weyoun (the Cardassian sees that the only option for survival is divorce), and Dukat and Winn (she struggles with an unholy alliance before coming to an understanding of herself). Could we have done without Dukat's honeyed words and slow winning over of the Kai to the nefarious Pah-Wraiths? Could Ezri and Worf's soapy imprisonment have been cut short while still moving them into position on the game board? Did we need to see every putdown of Weyoun's that gradually pushed Damar off the deep end? I think the answer is yes, yes, and no.
That's my issue with complete serialisation: it doesn't cut to the heart of the matter, it juggles and fools around and, especially in modern drama, arranges itself to reach a plot twist, twisting itself into shapes to keep a coherent narrative running, and that isn't the best way for Trek to work. It can't be either plot or character, it needs to blend these things, while speculating about the future world we visit, the structure ideal for overarching stories as background to a structured message or examination of a subject or point of view. That said, this episode is the best of the ongoing story so far, and not just because it finally takes people to a position of understanding who they are and what they need to do. The story-lines are generally more enjoyable at this stage, perhaps barring Worf and Ezri's continued enforced pairing to examine their motivations and situation. The best is Damar and Weyoun's strand, as the Breen's preferential treatment by the Founders finally gets Damar's goat enough that he makes a traitorous bid against his allies. With good reason, too, as Weyoun has been stringing him along for far too long. I like that the characters are reverting back to how they used to be when things were more equal, and it makes me wonder what a fully cognisant Dukat would have done in Damar's place. Weyoun is once again trying to point out the good things, while Damar gets to laugh at him a little, Worf turning things around (as in Weyoun's head, while still attached to its neck), to execute the executor, something Damar runs with for the rest of the episode.
It's not enough to cover Damar's shame at his own weak behaviour - whenever he's shown dissatisfaction with the shabby way his Dominion allies have dealt with Cardassian forces, he's always faltered, well aware of the mass of deadly Jem'Hadar soldiers at his back just waiting for the order to snap his neck. He's become nothing more than a political figurehead for Weyoun to manipulate, and now even those manipulations aren't even directed his way as the Breen become the popular ones, the Dominion's new toy. But no longer. I don't know if Worf's neck-snapping antics were the final straw to help Damar realise which side he should be on, it gave him so much enjoyment to see his 'master' treated in such a way, or whether it's his own internal conscience rising to the conscious surface (good shot with the Kanar at the mirror, by the way!), but he switches allegiance and rescues Worf and Ezri - I do wonder how that was explained away. Maybe they don't have logs for things like who was on the detail to escort the prisoners, and maybe no one saw him, but he kills two Jem'Hadar guards (and I have to assume he killed them as otherwise they'd tattle tales), and they're not known for being easy to outmanoeuvre. Weyoun probably put it down to the resourcefulness of the Starfleet captives.
The story is directly mirrored in Kai Winn's own, but while Damar overcomes his secret fears and failures, she finally and irrevocably gives in to hers. I don't think Damar ever sought power, it was just thrust upon him as being in the 'right' place when the time came, so although he has other failings, a cruelty and harshness, he also, at heart is a patriot that cares deeply for his people and culture (just as caring so much for Dukat motivated him to murder Ziyal). Winn cares deeply for herself and her own self-image, and what the Prophets won't provide she'll take from any quarter, even the evil Pah-Wraiths. It's sad to see, but at the same time, like Damar and Weyoun, it's good to get back to the core of these characters and the familiar way they behave, and seeing Winn in the last couple of episodes, and perhaps even last season's role, it's clear she lost the bite that made her such an enjoyable character to watch. I want to see her sarcasm and nasty wit, it's just not the same when she's doubting herself, and the same for Dukat. He's still not going to be the full version he used to be, but leading someone astray and getting angry with her, flinging harsh words in her face, instead of pretending to be a simple, humble man, is right for him. These are back to being who we know and that's comforting, in a way.
I noticed there appeared to be a Bajoran Security Officer just visible at the edge of the doorway into what must be a corridor outside Winn's Quarters, which would make sense as her Eminence is so important as to require a personal guard, but it makes me wonder how tight-lipped Bajorans are, especially regarding such delicate matters, as this Bajoran must have heard the shouting coming from inside, and especially when Dukat stands on the threshold with the door wide open, snarling about Winn crawling back to the Prophets to beg forgiveness, forever living in Sisko's shadow (that's what it's really all about, an outsider taking pride of place, something that was true for Dukat, too, since Sisko took over his posting on DS9, his office, even his chair!). They must be accustomed to delicacy as a people, there wasn't even any backlash for Sisko's quick and non-religious wedding, they just want Kasidy to take her rightful place next to her husband. There may have been some elements on the planet that thought badly of the Emissary for his actions, but it probably helped that the Kai was staying on the station at the time as this might have meant that she was assumed to have been involved. Ordinarily she'd have been the voice of reproach, visiting the Emissary to tell him off for his rash decision to marry in the way he did, but she's far too wrapped up in her own affairs (or Dukat's arms - so strange to see the ex-leader of the Cardassians gagging the Bajoran Kai's mouth with his hand, not the sort of thing you could ever have foreseen happening!).
Winn is at her most honest in this episode, truthful, in agony over her complete loss of direction and it's shocking to see this once proud matriarch reduced to indecision and despair in front of Kira, whom she requested to come to her because she knows Kira understands the ways of the Prophets better than her, the Colonel's simple faith devoid of the clutches of power and ambition. But she was too far gone to be rescued: for most of the episode we see her wearing white because she truly believes she's been selected by the Prophets to bring Bajor's regeneration and it fits with her own story of being someone important in their plans. But the truth is she's just religious, she doesn't have a real connection to the Prophets she claims to serve, and it's more about her reaction to the face of the 'gods' being revealed as devils. She's obviously been taught to fear the Pah-Wraiths, but what she really fears is not having the control she's been given by the people, manipulated as they were to put her in this position. She doesn't seem to grasp the simplicities of faith, and when reaching out to Kira she appears willing to do anything to get right with the Prophets. All but stand down as Kai, and lose all that she's gained. She pleads in front of the impassive Ark of the Orb of Prophecy, but the Prophets remain silent. She equates feelings with beliefs, and because she didn't feel what she expected to feel, both in the past and now, takes this as a sign of abandonment. She hardens herself against Kira's wise advice, but it was inevitable from her mindset as shown by the fact that when Kira visits she's back in her fully lavish robes again.
She's been deconstructed by her horror, experiences remorse, then when even more personal horror strikes (the suggestion she should step down), she finds resolve, but for evil. She can't see that she's the blind leading the blind, she doesn't even know how someone who's left the path of the Prophets can be redeemed, something you'd expect the leader of the spiritual wellbeing of the people to know all about. But what she really knows all about is the manipulation of politics, even openly acknowledging that that is what motivated her, but she still feels she's got the chance to make right again - we've seen on occasion how she can work for Bajor's good and cooperate with Sisko and Kira at various junctures along the way (the farm machinery in Season 3, the Emissary's guidance about not joining the Federation in Season 5), so she does have a kind of patriotism, but it's secondary to her own ambition and position, and Dukat promises that power and the adoration of the people she so craves will be given to her by the Pah-Wraiths. After deconstruction she's reconstructed as a servant of evil, her path set for destruction, and a chilling end to the episode as her hatred of the Federation and its Vedek 'puppets,' and the false Prophets and their Sisko are to be swept away like dead leaves according to her bitter speech. Both Damar and Winn confront their destiny, both have a strong patriotism, but while the former can overcome his inner self, perhaps from the discipline of being a soldier, Winn cannot overcome herself and is doomed.
I was surprised to find this wasn't the final 'DS9' episode to be directed by one of the actors, as both Michael Dorn and Avery Brooks have one more in them. But it was Rene Auberjonois' last as Director, and it fit quite well for him as he only appeared in the episode as one of the Pah-Wraiths in Winn's vision (although he hadn't been given much to do at all in either of the first two episodes). I thought it was a well-directed instalment, not flashy or daring, but dealing with everything smoothly with occasional touches of brilliance. I particularly appreciated the intelligent use of mirrors: there was the obvious one with Damar chucking the contents of his glass at it in disgust, but the really subtle moment was when we see Winn and Dukat reflected in theirs, their earrings hanging off the opposite ear in the mirror image, denoting followers of the Pah-Wraiths. There's another nice visual hint at the direction Winn's heading when in the Pah-Wraith vision the lighting makes her eyes look as if they're glowing red, just like the denizens of the Fire Caves themselves. Another shot I was drawn to was the beautiful sunset over Cardassia - sure, it's just the same old matte painting we know and love, but it made me want to go there. Though stories are supposed to show, not tell, sometimes just hinting at things is enough for the imagination to fill in the blanks, and though we don't see much of Cardassia, it's enough to make it a real place in the mind. And while they couldn't show the massive battle of half a million Cardassian soldiers being routed by Klingon forces on Septimus III, hearing about such large scale operations puts the war into context (unlike the useless portrayal of it in 'Discovery'), not to mention tantalising hints of other places like the Unroth System or Thot Gor
The Breen are finally brought into the story properly with the first named character introduced. They can't really be told apart as far as I can see, so Thot Gor may have been just as visible in the previous two episodes, but because the actor playing him was just considered a non-speaking role and is never seen under the suit, he's not credited at any time and it's only thanks to Weyoun we find out his name at all. The Breen Confederacy are given the full run of Cardassian facilities, access to their classified strategic information and Damar ordered to sign off on territorial concessions as part of the deal to welcome these new additions into the Dominion, much to his disgust. He still has pride in Cardassia, saying no planet is minor in the Cardassian Union, where Dukat might have been more willing to let a few unimportant locations be cast off to the Breen if it served (for what purpose, why do they want these planets? - it all adds to their mystery, and sadly one that would never be revealed). One point that was minor, but no less fascinating was the issue with the Universal Translators: Damar can't understand what Thot Gor says at first, Weyoun offhandedly repeating the Breen had said he should have his UT adjusted. He replies that he would have if he'd known they'd be meeting the Breen. Another layer of intrigue surrounding the race, as the point of the UT is that it instantly decodes and translates any alien language, so what is it about theirs that requires some sort of recalibration? It's also noteworthy that the Female Changeling can understand him, so do her race have a UT embedded in themselves somewhere, or a natural ability to comprehend?
If the first two episodes felt too much like the same story rehashed over and over, at least they get somewhere with this one: Worf not holding any malice toward Ezri and Bashir (even though that came out of nowhere, Bashir expressing dreamy sadness at Ezri's loss during Quark's only scene where, yes, he serves another drink - this time he's being uncharacteristically sentimental, setting out Ezri's favourite drink every day, though I suspect he pours it back in the bottle at the end and pours out the same again each time!), and the reassuring prospect that we won't have any more scenes where they babble about their feelings in cells; and changes in relations all round, with Damar going from working with Weyoun 7 (the replacement for the 'defective' 6 who tried to gain asylum from Odo, who was the replacement of 5, who was the replacement of 4, the first version we saw killed back in Season 4! Good to keep track of these things), to becoming an undercover operative against Weyoun 8 and joking about Weyoun 9 being a very real possibility if the Female Changeling doesn't like the news of Worf and Ezri's prison break (which reminded me of Lorca and Tyler's similar actions in 'DSC,' only it's so much better with the cool Cardassian hand Phasers and Rifles blasting beams), and even Kasidy taking 'first blood' by Martok's analogy, in the battle of marriage, refusing to act as the Emissary's wife (I do wish the deleted scenes mention in the 'DS9 Companion' could have been included on the DVD), and noticing how her Bajoran crew-mates are reacting differently to her now.
There's a ton of detail woven into the story, too, and this may be because Ron Moore was writing it, but I loved all the stuff about Martok's pet Targ and how his wife left the door open so it ran off into the forest (they lived next to a forest!), even though it appears that that most Klingon part of the episode wasn't even written by Moore, which is strange! Weyoun's flippant comment about finding watching interspecies mating rituals fascinating reminded me of Dr. Phlox. And Damar warning Worf and Ezri about their coming Cardassian tribunal was a nice recall of us having been shown one, way back in Season 2's 'Tribunal,' unsurprisingly. And one other point: the Command Centre on Cardassia is pretty poky for the brains of such a big war, isn't it? No matter, the characters are getting back into gear, the story's picking up, and the battle lines have been drawn, even if there are plenty of people that don't know about it yet (Kasidy for Sisko; Weyoun for Damar; Sisko for Winn).
***
The best in this opening trilogy within the nine-ology, or whatever it's called, probably because it brings some much needed actual resolution. I don't know if the first two parts could have been condensed down, or even gone unseen, but both gave me the impression of pacing back and forth, or round and round, taking their sweet time to go anywhere, to the extent that they were almost (but not), a drudgery to drag our characters ploddingly to the resolve we see by the end of this episode, which wouldn't have been as believable unless they'd gone through all the soul-searching and baring all first. The title couldn't be more apt, as this one is all about the oddments of bonds between a variety of characters that you could, in Martok's vein, call the battle of the bonds: he brings up Sisko's marriage to Kasidy as the beginning of a war, 'til death do us part, and this warring between two people is observed at different stages between Worf and Ezri (threat of execution finally makes them honest and realistic), Damar and Weyoun (the Cardassian sees that the only option for survival is divorce), and Dukat and Winn (she struggles with an unholy alliance before coming to an understanding of herself). Could we have done without Dukat's honeyed words and slow winning over of the Kai to the nefarious Pah-Wraiths? Could Ezri and Worf's soapy imprisonment have been cut short while still moving them into position on the game board? Did we need to see every putdown of Weyoun's that gradually pushed Damar off the deep end? I think the answer is yes, yes, and no.
That's my issue with complete serialisation: it doesn't cut to the heart of the matter, it juggles and fools around and, especially in modern drama, arranges itself to reach a plot twist, twisting itself into shapes to keep a coherent narrative running, and that isn't the best way for Trek to work. It can't be either plot or character, it needs to blend these things, while speculating about the future world we visit, the structure ideal for overarching stories as background to a structured message or examination of a subject or point of view. That said, this episode is the best of the ongoing story so far, and not just because it finally takes people to a position of understanding who they are and what they need to do. The story-lines are generally more enjoyable at this stage, perhaps barring Worf and Ezri's continued enforced pairing to examine their motivations and situation. The best is Damar and Weyoun's strand, as the Breen's preferential treatment by the Founders finally gets Damar's goat enough that he makes a traitorous bid against his allies. With good reason, too, as Weyoun has been stringing him along for far too long. I like that the characters are reverting back to how they used to be when things were more equal, and it makes me wonder what a fully cognisant Dukat would have done in Damar's place. Weyoun is once again trying to point out the good things, while Damar gets to laugh at him a little, Worf turning things around (as in Weyoun's head, while still attached to its neck), to execute the executor, something Damar runs with for the rest of the episode.
It's not enough to cover Damar's shame at his own weak behaviour - whenever he's shown dissatisfaction with the shabby way his Dominion allies have dealt with Cardassian forces, he's always faltered, well aware of the mass of deadly Jem'Hadar soldiers at his back just waiting for the order to snap his neck. He's become nothing more than a political figurehead for Weyoun to manipulate, and now even those manipulations aren't even directed his way as the Breen become the popular ones, the Dominion's new toy. But no longer. I don't know if Worf's neck-snapping antics were the final straw to help Damar realise which side he should be on, it gave him so much enjoyment to see his 'master' treated in such a way, or whether it's his own internal conscience rising to the conscious surface (good shot with the Kanar at the mirror, by the way!), but he switches allegiance and rescues Worf and Ezri - I do wonder how that was explained away. Maybe they don't have logs for things like who was on the detail to escort the prisoners, and maybe no one saw him, but he kills two Jem'Hadar guards (and I have to assume he killed them as otherwise they'd tattle tales), and they're not known for being easy to outmanoeuvre. Weyoun probably put it down to the resourcefulness of the Starfleet captives.
The story is directly mirrored in Kai Winn's own, but while Damar overcomes his secret fears and failures, she finally and irrevocably gives in to hers. I don't think Damar ever sought power, it was just thrust upon him as being in the 'right' place when the time came, so although he has other failings, a cruelty and harshness, he also, at heart is a patriot that cares deeply for his people and culture (just as caring so much for Dukat motivated him to murder Ziyal). Winn cares deeply for herself and her own self-image, and what the Prophets won't provide she'll take from any quarter, even the evil Pah-Wraiths. It's sad to see, but at the same time, like Damar and Weyoun, it's good to get back to the core of these characters and the familiar way they behave, and seeing Winn in the last couple of episodes, and perhaps even last season's role, it's clear she lost the bite that made her such an enjoyable character to watch. I want to see her sarcasm and nasty wit, it's just not the same when she's doubting herself, and the same for Dukat. He's still not going to be the full version he used to be, but leading someone astray and getting angry with her, flinging harsh words in her face, instead of pretending to be a simple, humble man, is right for him. These are back to being who we know and that's comforting, in a way.
I noticed there appeared to be a Bajoran Security Officer just visible at the edge of the doorway into what must be a corridor outside Winn's Quarters, which would make sense as her Eminence is so important as to require a personal guard, but it makes me wonder how tight-lipped Bajorans are, especially regarding such delicate matters, as this Bajoran must have heard the shouting coming from inside, and especially when Dukat stands on the threshold with the door wide open, snarling about Winn crawling back to the Prophets to beg forgiveness, forever living in Sisko's shadow (that's what it's really all about, an outsider taking pride of place, something that was true for Dukat, too, since Sisko took over his posting on DS9, his office, even his chair!). They must be accustomed to delicacy as a people, there wasn't even any backlash for Sisko's quick and non-religious wedding, they just want Kasidy to take her rightful place next to her husband. There may have been some elements on the planet that thought badly of the Emissary for his actions, but it probably helped that the Kai was staying on the station at the time as this might have meant that she was assumed to have been involved. Ordinarily she'd have been the voice of reproach, visiting the Emissary to tell him off for his rash decision to marry in the way he did, but she's far too wrapped up in her own affairs (or Dukat's arms - so strange to see the ex-leader of the Cardassians gagging the Bajoran Kai's mouth with his hand, not the sort of thing you could ever have foreseen happening!).
Winn is at her most honest in this episode, truthful, in agony over her complete loss of direction and it's shocking to see this once proud matriarch reduced to indecision and despair in front of Kira, whom she requested to come to her because she knows Kira understands the ways of the Prophets better than her, the Colonel's simple faith devoid of the clutches of power and ambition. But she was too far gone to be rescued: for most of the episode we see her wearing white because she truly believes she's been selected by the Prophets to bring Bajor's regeneration and it fits with her own story of being someone important in their plans. But the truth is she's just religious, she doesn't have a real connection to the Prophets she claims to serve, and it's more about her reaction to the face of the 'gods' being revealed as devils. She's obviously been taught to fear the Pah-Wraiths, but what she really fears is not having the control she's been given by the people, manipulated as they were to put her in this position. She doesn't seem to grasp the simplicities of faith, and when reaching out to Kira she appears willing to do anything to get right with the Prophets. All but stand down as Kai, and lose all that she's gained. She pleads in front of the impassive Ark of the Orb of Prophecy, but the Prophets remain silent. She equates feelings with beliefs, and because she didn't feel what she expected to feel, both in the past and now, takes this as a sign of abandonment. She hardens herself against Kira's wise advice, but it was inevitable from her mindset as shown by the fact that when Kira visits she's back in her fully lavish robes again.
She's been deconstructed by her horror, experiences remorse, then when even more personal horror strikes (the suggestion she should step down), she finds resolve, but for evil. She can't see that she's the blind leading the blind, she doesn't even know how someone who's left the path of the Prophets can be redeemed, something you'd expect the leader of the spiritual wellbeing of the people to know all about. But what she really knows all about is the manipulation of politics, even openly acknowledging that that is what motivated her, but she still feels she's got the chance to make right again - we've seen on occasion how she can work for Bajor's good and cooperate with Sisko and Kira at various junctures along the way (the farm machinery in Season 3, the Emissary's guidance about not joining the Federation in Season 5), so she does have a kind of patriotism, but it's secondary to her own ambition and position, and Dukat promises that power and the adoration of the people she so craves will be given to her by the Pah-Wraiths. After deconstruction she's reconstructed as a servant of evil, her path set for destruction, and a chilling end to the episode as her hatred of the Federation and its Vedek 'puppets,' and the false Prophets and their Sisko are to be swept away like dead leaves according to her bitter speech. Both Damar and Winn confront their destiny, both have a strong patriotism, but while the former can overcome his inner self, perhaps from the discipline of being a soldier, Winn cannot overcome herself and is doomed.
I was surprised to find this wasn't the final 'DS9' episode to be directed by one of the actors, as both Michael Dorn and Avery Brooks have one more in them. But it was Rene Auberjonois' last as Director, and it fit quite well for him as he only appeared in the episode as one of the Pah-Wraiths in Winn's vision (although he hadn't been given much to do at all in either of the first two episodes). I thought it was a well-directed instalment, not flashy or daring, but dealing with everything smoothly with occasional touches of brilliance. I particularly appreciated the intelligent use of mirrors: there was the obvious one with Damar chucking the contents of his glass at it in disgust, but the really subtle moment was when we see Winn and Dukat reflected in theirs, their earrings hanging off the opposite ear in the mirror image, denoting followers of the Pah-Wraiths. There's another nice visual hint at the direction Winn's heading when in the Pah-Wraith vision the lighting makes her eyes look as if they're glowing red, just like the denizens of the Fire Caves themselves. Another shot I was drawn to was the beautiful sunset over Cardassia - sure, it's just the same old matte painting we know and love, but it made me want to go there. Though stories are supposed to show, not tell, sometimes just hinting at things is enough for the imagination to fill in the blanks, and though we don't see much of Cardassia, it's enough to make it a real place in the mind. And while they couldn't show the massive battle of half a million Cardassian soldiers being routed by Klingon forces on Septimus III, hearing about such large scale operations puts the war into context (unlike the useless portrayal of it in 'Discovery'), not to mention tantalising hints of other places like the Unroth System or Thot Gor
The Breen are finally brought into the story properly with the first named character introduced. They can't really be told apart as far as I can see, so Thot Gor may have been just as visible in the previous two episodes, but because the actor playing him was just considered a non-speaking role and is never seen under the suit, he's not credited at any time and it's only thanks to Weyoun we find out his name at all. The Breen Confederacy are given the full run of Cardassian facilities, access to their classified strategic information and Damar ordered to sign off on territorial concessions as part of the deal to welcome these new additions into the Dominion, much to his disgust. He still has pride in Cardassia, saying no planet is minor in the Cardassian Union, where Dukat might have been more willing to let a few unimportant locations be cast off to the Breen if it served (for what purpose, why do they want these planets? - it all adds to their mystery, and sadly one that would never be revealed). One point that was minor, but no less fascinating was the issue with the Universal Translators: Damar can't understand what Thot Gor says at first, Weyoun offhandedly repeating the Breen had said he should have his UT adjusted. He replies that he would have if he'd known they'd be meeting the Breen. Another layer of intrigue surrounding the race, as the point of the UT is that it instantly decodes and translates any alien language, so what is it about theirs that requires some sort of recalibration? It's also noteworthy that the Female Changeling can understand him, so do her race have a UT embedded in themselves somewhere, or a natural ability to comprehend?
If the first two episodes felt too much like the same story rehashed over and over, at least they get somewhere with this one: Worf not holding any malice toward Ezri and Bashir (even though that came out of nowhere, Bashir expressing dreamy sadness at Ezri's loss during Quark's only scene where, yes, he serves another drink - this time he's being uncharacteristically sentimental, setting out Ezri's favourite drink every day, though I suspect he pours it back in the bottle at the end and pours out the same again each time!), and the reassuring prospect that we won't have any more scenes where they babble about their feelings in cells; and changes in relations all round, with Damar going from working with Weyoun 7 (the replacement for the 'defective' 6 who tried to gain asylum from Odo, who was the replacement of 5, who was the replacement of 4, the first version we saw killed back in Season 4! Good to keep track of these things), to becoming an undercover operative against Weyoun 8 and joking about Weyoun 9 being a very real possibility if the Female Changeling doesn't like the news of Worf and Ezri's prison break (which reminded me of Lorca and Tyler's similar actions in 'DSC,' only it's so much better with the cool Cardassian hand Phasers and Rifles blasting beams), and even Kasidy taking 'first blood' by Martok's analogy, in the battle of marriage, refusing to act as the Emissary's wife (I do wish the deleted scenes mention in the 'DS9 Companion' could have been included on the DVD), and noticing how her Bajoran crew-mates are reacting differently to her now.
There's a ton of detail woven into the story, too, and this may be because Ron Moore was writing it, but I loved all the stuff about Martok's pet Targ and how his wife left the door open so it ran off into the forest (they lived next to a forest!), even though it appears that that most Klingon part of the episode wasn't even written by Moore, which is strange! Weyoun's flippant comment about finding watching interspecies mating rituals fascinating reminded me of Dr. Phlox. And Damar warning Worf and Ezri about their coming Cardassian tribunal was a nice recall of us having been shown one, way back in Season 2's 'Tribunal,' unsurprisingly. And one other point: the Command Centre on Cardassia is pretty poky for the brains of such a big war, isn't it? No matter, the characters are getting back into gear, the story's picking up, and the battle lines have been drawn, even if there are plenty of people that don't know about it yet (Kasidy for Sisko; Weyoun for Damar; Sisko for Winn).
***
Need For Speed Carbon
Wii, Need For Speed Carbon (2006) game
High expectations were set for the fourth version of 'Need For Speed' that I played from the GameCube era (fifth released), by the greatness of 'Most Wanted' with its huge city, racing in full day, and intense police pursuits, a marked jump forward from 'Underground 2,' which was again an improvement on the original 'Underground' for first introducing the ability to cruise the streets of a city: the first game was difficult to see with its shiny road surfaces peppered with neon lights, all races taking place at night, with a lot less integration through the interface where you chose each race from a menu. '2' added dawn and sunset races which improved visibility, and gave you your first city to explore. 'Most Wanted' took everything a stage further, with supremely intense battles against the police forces, so what could 'Carbon' add to the mix? In most ways this edition was a backwards step: back to the complete night racing (albeit without the rain-soaked mirror-surfaced streets that so hindered visibility), no reward for having files from previous 'NFS' games on your memory card, and what appeared to be both a smaller city and a smaller game. I so much preferred racing in daylight as night racing really strains the eyes, and the city itself seemed less integrated an experience - though the cop car chases were still part of it, they were much less involved, with less incentive for taking on a steadily increasing opposition. For the most part they were irritations you had to avoid or defeat as quickly as possible.
That's one reason why the game may have been so short: that I wasn't getting as deeply into it as I did with 'Most Wanted.' But after playing that for months last year and really enjoying it, it's harder to accept going back to slower cars, bottom of the rung stuff once again. That's the nature of a game like this, but I couldn't help feeling that it should have followed directly on from 'MW' - I even became a little confused about whether the story was connected because in this it's said you left the city and have just come back, and in the previous game it ends with you leaving a city. They're different cities, but it wasn't immediately apparent that this was a self-contained narrative. It's not all bad things I have to say, because the story added a little something, which the previous narrative was lacking somehow. The visual style of photorealistic action with an almost comic book smoothing of reality gave it some appeal (although it would have been a method used to compress the data on the disc), as did casting real life actors I actually knew (Helo from 'Battlestar Galactica' and Emmanuelle Vaugier from 'Smallville,' as well as noticing Judi Durand's voice in the credits, she of 'DS9' computer voice fame)! Unfortunately, it did end a bit weakly and the story didn't justify the talent on show.
I was pleased to see the 'Drift' courses back, having been abandoned in 'MW,' presumably for AI issues with the police maybe having difficulty with such things, and both variations are there: stadium and downhill. I was also happy to see the back of the 'Drag' races. The big new race type this time is the 'Canyon Duel,' a fairly tough two-part challenge that sees you following as closely as possible behind an opponent on a treacherous mountain course in order to rack up as many point as possible, awarded for the closeness you achieve, as well as how long you stay close for. Then in the second part you replay the same stretch, only this time the opponent follows you and you have to reach the end without your points tally being eaten away to zero by his proximity. It made for some tough races, and my only annoyance was that if you made one mistake in the second half, or crashed through a barrier you couldn't restart from the second race, you had to go right back to the first again. Irritation like this was dotted here and there in the game, not to the detriment of enjoyment, but certainly noticeable in a series that, by now, you'd think would have been utterly smoothed out of all wrinkles. There were some really poor design choices like having 'A' be Accept, as in leave a race when you've failed, and 'X' be to retry it, because you automatically think of 'A' to get back into it, so if you're in a multi-race setup and you win one, then fail and want to retry, you accidentally press 'A' and leave.
This wouldn't be such a hardship if it was just the annoyance of having to redo a race or two, but then your territory might get attacked, prompting you into having to accept the challenge to race it again, or lose it, then in that race perhaps the police come after you, so you end up massively getting away from what you wanted to do, which was simply to retry a race! All this from one mistaken button press. The territory thing is a good example of the flaws in the game: it's good to see your chosen symbol flying over a section on the map, like in 'Dune II,' where after each mission the balance of power shifts and changes, represented by altering the colour of the regions. However, you're too often tasked by rivals for supremacy of areas you've already beaten, the game cynically extended by this replaying. This was another reason the game seemed much shorter than before. There are a number of Challenges to do, as in 'MW,' but again, they seemed a lot fewer than before. There are 'Reward Cards' to collect for achieving various minor or major landmarks, and that's another way of extending the lifespan, though after the exhaustiveness of 'MW' I didn't have the desire to check off every little thing this time.
The biggest addition is having a crew of people you can hire, one of which you choose to be a wingman, which does add a new tactical element to some races, but could also be said to make things too easy sometimes. It's good that they continued to try and innovate with the series instead of banging out another version with a different city layout and nothing else, but maybe more depth was in order in areas such as this where you don't really have to think about paying your crew or the day to day things like that, just pay to hire them once and that's it. If you want depth, then there's a wealth of features to customise your cars, as always, but I never bothered with that, not being interested in the finer details of modding, other than performance where it pays to equip the best and most powerful parts for your ride. In that respect I'm not the ideal target audience as I don't really care what the car is or what it looks like, as long as it's as fast as possible! It always takes time getting used to new additions, especially in a racing genre where everything is largely the same: it's about racing. But once I got the hang of what a wingman could do, it gave me a feeling of not being alone out there, the comments they shout out over the radio, usually encouraging, if sometimes mistaken, as computers often do (for example, you crash and your mate expresses how much he's impressed with your driving!).
I had hoped that as the game progressed I'd be able to play at least sometimes in light, but no, it was always pitch black. I also found issue with the control setup. Although you have plenty of choices to choose from (my favourite was option 4), the one I required had the 'Z' button replace you back on the track after a crash, whereas in the previous game (I think, certainly in 'Burnout 2' which I've played the most), it was for looking behind, so my right index finger was very itchy to press it, the rearview mirror terrible in order to see what's coming up behind. Due to the darkness I found myself reading the map as much as I was looking ahead, which reduces the experience to looking at a corner of the screen and flipping the stick left or right, or braking. When taking everything into account I'd have to mark this down as the worst in the series that I've played, not that it's badly done, but it seemed like a half-lazy update that hadn't had the love and attention of 'MW' lavished upon it. Maybe coming so late in the console's run, that is true, but they'd pushed things so far with 'MW' that you can't help but wonder how they would top it, and they were unable to do so, in spite of a little innovative thinking. The storyline just petering out, the shortness of the overall game, and the insistence on perpetual night racing all registered as backward steps, but in its defence it's still as fun to race within as the other games and it does have the opportunity of playing the main game again in a different car class, so it might be one to revisit again someday. That is if I haven't gone all out on the inevitable continuation of the series on Wii!
***
High expectations were set for the fourth version of 'Need For Speed' that I played from the GameCube era (fifth released), by the greatness of 'Most Wanted' with its huge city, racing in full day, and intense police pursuits, a marked jump forward from 'Underground 2,' which was again an improvement on the original 'Underground' for first introducing the ability to cruise the streets of a city: the first game was difficult to see with its shiny road surfaces peppered with neon lights, all races taking place at night, with a lot less integration through the interface where you chose each race from a menu. '2' added dawn and sunset races which improved visibility, and gave you your first city to explore. 'Most Wanted' took everything a stage further, with supremely intense battles against the police forces, so what could 'Carbon' add to the mix? In most ways this edition was a backwards step: back to the complete night racing (albeit without the rain-soaked mirror-surfaced streets that so hindered visibility), no reward for having files from previous 'NFS' games on your memory card, and what appeared to be both a smaller city and a smaller game. I so much preferred racing in daylight as night racing really strains the eyes, and the city itself seemed less integrated an experience - though the cop car chases were still part of it, they were much less involved, with less incentive for taking on a steadily increasing opposition. For the most part they were irritations you had to avoid or defeat as quickly as possible.
That's one reason why the game may have been so short: that I wasn't getting as deeply into it as I did with 'Most Wanted.' But after playing that for months last year and really enjoying it, it's harder to accept going back to slower cars, bottom of the rung stuff once again. That's the nature of a game like this, but I couldn't help feeling that it should have followed directly on from 'MW' - I even became a little confused about whether the story was connected because in this it's said you left the city and have just come back, and in the previous game it ends with you leaving a city. They're different cities, but it wasn't immediately apparent that this was a self-contained narrative. It's not all bad things I have to say, because the story added a little something, which the previous narrative was lacking somehow. The visual style of photorealistic action with an almost comic book smoothing of reality gave it some appeal (although it would have been a method used to compress the data on the disc), as did casting real life actors I actually knew (Helo from 'Battlestar Galactica' and Emmanuelle Vaugier from 'Smallville,' as well as noticing Judi Durand's voice in the credits, she of 'DS9' computer voice fame)! Unfortunately, it did end a bit weakly and the story didn't justify the talent on show.
I was pleased to see the 'Drift' courses back, having been abandoned in 'MW,' presumably for AI issues with the police maybe having difficulty with such things, and both variations are there: stadium and downhill. I was also happy to see the back of the 'Drag' races. The big new race type this time is the 'Canyon Duel,' a fairly tough two-part challenge that sees you following as closely as possible behind an opponent on a treacherous mountain course in order to rack up as many point as possible, awarded for the closeness you achieve, as well as how long you stay close for. Then in the second part you replay the same stretch, only this time the opponent follows you and you have to reach the end without your points tally being eaten away to zero by his proximity. It made for some tough races, and my only annoyance was that if you made one mistake in the second half, or crashed through a barrier you couldn't restart from the second race, you had to go right back to the first again. Irritation like this was dotted here and there in the game, not to the detriment of enjoyment, but certainly noticeable in a series that, by now, you'd think would have been utterly smoothed out of all wrinkles. There were some really poor design choices like having 'A' be Accept, as in leave a race when you've failed, and 'X' be to retry it, because you automatically think of 'A' to get back into it, so if you're in a multi-race setup and you win one, then fail and want to retry, you accidentally press 'A' and leave.
This wouldn't be such a hardship if it was just the annoyance of having to redo a race or two, but then your territory might get attacked, prompting you into having to accept the challenge to race it again, or lose it, then in that race perhaps the police come after you, so you end up massively getting away from what you wanted to do, which was simply to retry a race! All this from one mistaken button press. The territory thing is a good example of the flaws in the game: it's good to see your chosen symbol flying over a section on the map, like in 'Dune II,' where after each mission the balance of power shifts and changes, represented by altering the colour of the regions. However, you're too often tasked by rivals for supremacy of areas you've already beaten, the game cynically extended by this replaying. This was another reason the game seemed much shorter than before. There are a number of Challenges to do, as in 'MW,' but again, they seemed a lot fewer than before. There are 'Reward Cards' to collect for achieving various minor or major landmarks, and that's another way of extending the lifespan, though after the exhaustiveness of 'MW' I didn't have the desire to check off every little thing this time.
The biggest addition is having a crew of people you can hire, one of which you choose to be a wingman, which does add a new tactical element to some races, but could also be said to make things too easy sometimes. It's good that they continued to try and innovate with the series instead of banging out another version with a different city layout and nothing else, but maybe more depth was in order in areas such as this where you don't really have to think about paying your crew or the day to day things like that, just pay to hire them once and that's it. If you want depth, then there's a wealth of features to customise your cars, as always, but I never bothered with that, not being interested in the finer details of modding, other than performance where it pays to equip the best and most powerful parts for your ride. In that respect I'm not the ideal target audience as I don't really care what the car is or what it looks like, as long as it's as fast as possible! It always takes time getting used to new additions, especially in a racing genre where everything is largely the same: it's about racing. But once I got the hang of what a wingman could do, it gave me a feeling of not being alone out there, the comments they shout out over the radio, usually encouraging, if sometimes mistaken, as computers often do (for example, you crash and your mate expresses how much he's impressed with your driving!).
I had hoped that as the game progressed I'd be able to play at least sometimes in light, but no, it was always pitch black. I also found issue with the control setup. Although you have plenty of choices to choose from (my favourite was option 4), the one I required had the 'Z' button replace you back on the track after a crash, whereas in the previous game (I think, certainly in 'Burnout 2' which I've played the most), it was for looking behind, so my right index finger was very itchy to press it, the rearview mirror terrible in order to see what's coming up behind. Due to the darkness I found myself reading the map as much as I was looking ahead, which reduces the experience to looking at a corner of the screen and flipping the stick left or right, or braking. When taking everything into account I'd have to mark this down as the worst in the series that I've played, not that it's badly done, but it seemed like a half-lazy update that hadn't had the love and attention of 'MW' lavished upon it. Maybe coming so late in the console's run, that is true, but they'd pushed things so far with 'MW' that you can't help but wonder how they would top it, and they were unable to do so, in spite of a little innovative thinking. The storyline just petering out, the shortness of the overall game, and the insistence on perpetual night racing all registered as backward steps, but in its defence it's still as fun to race within as the other games and it does have the opportunity of playing the main game again in a different car class, so it might be one to revisit again someday. That is if I haven't gone all out on the inevitable continuation of the series on Wii!
***
Tuesday, 13 August 2019
Allies
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (Allies)
Alliances can be deceiving, and going into one with The Wraith seems to be obvious cause for concern. But things go smoothly enough to begin with and seemed to lull them into a sense of comfort with what was happening. The big, scary threat of 'at least one' Wraith ship on the way since 'Michael,' turns out to be Michael, and a gang of other Wraith intent on making a deal: either our people give them Dr. Beckett's virus so they can attack their own kind, to turn them into humans ripe for feeding on, or they let every Wraith ship out there in on the location of Atlantis. For one thing, wouldn't they know where Atlantis was - I didn't get that it actually changed location when it pretended to be destroyed, but maybe it did? Either way, Wraith will know Atlantis is still there. I have the feeling Michael might not be in on the treachery that the Queen of this Hive exhibits. Not that he's a nice guy all of a sudden, but he was at least honest about trying to feed on Teyla, and that when it comes to survival he'll do what's necessary, pointing out the similarity with the humans in that regard. There was room to explore this avenue much more, but they prefer to go into military plans of action and that sort of thing rather than philosophical questions or sci-fi speculation. But we don't see Michael again and the reason for bringing in a new face for the alliance suggests she's a baddie that can be killed without thought, where Michael is more complicated.
For an end of season cliffhanger I felt this was relatively small fry. There were some indisputably accomplished space scenes, that I must to point out, but the Daedalus only comes up against a couple of Hive ships when the alliance is ended on the side of The Wraith. I don't know what possessed Sheppard to go out in a fighter to try and take out the enemy's drive system, but they were trying to buy time for McKay and Ronon (as his bodyguard), to activate their emergency beam-outs on one of the Hives. It ends with them captive and Sheppard missing, but the most important thing is these Wraith now know the location of Earth. I was thinking Earth being in another galaxy was so far away it couldn't be under threat from these aliens, but then I remembered the Daedalus is constantly zipping between galaxies all the time, making it seem like little more than a short hop. This makes Wraith claims that they might run out of humans in this galaxy a little suspect, which was the supposed rationale of why they were wanting to turn their own brethren, albeit members on the opposite side of a civil war, into a source of food. But how much can we take of anything they said as truth? I suppose Earth being at threat was an inevitability as you can't up the stakes more than the Atlantis base in this galaxy, so Earth would be the ideal target for that. It's just that Earth is already under threat from The Ori at this time - maybe Ori and Wraith will meet up and turn on each other, wiping each other out? It would be fun to have a proper crossover event.
There were other issues with the plans, too, such as Wraith not being able to build a suitable transmission system for the aerosolised virus so it could deploy quickly enough that the other Hive ship wouldn't be aware. Surely they would have the ability to come up with better stuff than mere humans. But there's the position they're in, only being awake for a couple of years and mainly going round doing their vampirism stuff, so maybe they don't bother learning, creating or engineering things until they've been up and about for a few decades? McKay did all the hard work for them, with assistance from Asgard Hermiod, the only being in his vicinity to be genuinely more intelligent than him, and makes him remember it, which is fun to see - McKay so rarely gets a taste of his own medicine. But most of the episode is about this uneasy cooperation, which is novel, but isn't the smash ending you might expect. Not that I was expecting all out war, and I was wondering how they were going to do something more dramatic than Atlantis under attack, so at least it was different. I felt Michael was largely unimportant, and since Connor Trinneer went to all that trouble to wear such makeup you'd think they'd have given him something more substantial to do!
You can never truly trust a Wraith, and once again Ronon's instincts prove correct, except even he had his guard down when he and McKay are 'caught napping' and easily made prisoners. The part of the story that had most potential was in the moral quandary of allowing Wraith to turn other Wraith into human-like versions so they can be food, even though it was only a stopgap measure for a few decades (the Queen says they won't run out till after Sheppard's lifetime), until they have to go back to real human populations. Teyla voices concerns, and Beckett, too, but as usual it's the military-minded that conquer all and there's very little soul-searching. Survival is the most important thing, after all, but it's still unpalatable to see a Wraith turned into a human in Atlantis, then the Queen feeding on him to test if this idea will work. Our people don't like it either, but it's part of the deal. I wonder if the guy was a volunteer or had been selected with no choice of his own? The real goal should have been to defeat the instinct and need of Wraith for flesh, but then if that were done we'd have less drama. Unless they were made weak and became victims of other Wraith. Either way, the crack to be aiming at is that between Wraith of different persuasions in this civil war which we've seen evidence of throughout the season, and that will no doubt be Season 3's story, I would imagine.
It's been nice to return to Atlantis and get back into that world, and I think the season was fairly successful in what it did with the shifting around of the cast, losing bland Lieutenant Ford, gaining aggressive Ronon, and continuing to feature the recurring characters. Daedalus' presence has ended an impression of isolation, there's always a helping hand not far away, but I wouldn't say it's been overplayed and that ship and crew (what we see of them), has worked reasonably well. I'm still not as attached to the series as I should be, they still haven't really got going. The Wraith aren't quite as unsubtle and simplistic as the Goa'uld at their worst, but there's still little to latch onto and they remain largely monsters to be afeared of and needing to be taken down. But there have been patches of consistently good storytelling which suggests hope for the future, and I do hope that each season will learn from itself and go up a notch. At the moment I'm still much more intent on getting back to 'SG-1' than another season of this, but with only one more of that venerable series, it's understandable, since I have three more of this one.
**
Alliances can be deceiving, and going into one with The Wraith seems to be obvious cause for concern. But things go smoothly enough to begin with and seemed to lull them into a sense of comfort with what was happening. The big, scary threat of 'at least one' Wraith ship on the way since 'Michael,' turns out to be Michael, and a gang of other Wraith intent on making a deal: either our people give them Dr. Beckett's virus so they can attack their own kind, to turn them into humans ripe for feeding on, or they let every Wraith ship out there in on the location of Atlantis. For one thing, wouldn't they know where Atlantis was - I didn't get that it actually changed location when it pretended to be destroyed, but maybe it did? Either way, Wraith will know Atlantis is still there. I have the feeling Michael might not be in on the treachery that the Queen of this Hive exhibits. Not that he's a nice guy all of a sudden, but he was at least honest about trying to feed on Teyla, and that when it comes to survival he'll do what's necessary, pointing out the similarity with the humans in that regard. There was room to explore this avenue much more, but they prefer to go into military plans of action and that sort of thing rather than philosophical questions or sci-fi speculation. But we don't see Michael again and the reason for bringing in a new face for the alliance suggests she's a baddie that can be killed without thought, where Michael is more complicated.
For an end of season cliffhanger I felt this was relatively small fry. There were some indisputably accomplished space scenes, that I must to point out, but the Daedalus only comes up against a couple of Hive ships when the alliance is ended on the side of The Wraith. I don't know what possessed Sheppard to go out in a fighter to try and take out the enemy's drive system, but they were trying to buy time for McKay and Ronon (as his bodyguard), to activate their emergency beam-outs on one of the Hives. It ends with them captive and Sheppard missing, but the most important thing is these Wraith now know the location of Earth. I was thinking Earth being in another galaxy was so far away it couldn't be under threat from these aliens, but then I remembered the Daedalus is constantly zipping between galaxies all the time, making it seem like little more than a short hop. This makes Wraith claims that they might run out of humans in this galaxy a little suspect, which was the supposed rationale of why they were wanting to turn their own brethren, albeit members on the opposite side of a civil war, into a source of food. But how much can we take of anything they said as truth? I suppose Earth being at threat was an inevitability as you can't up the stakes more than the Atlantis base in this galaxy, so Earth would be the ideal target for that. It's just that Earth is already under threat from The Ori at this time - maybe Ori and Wraith will meet up and turn on each other, wiping each other out? It would be fun to have a proper crossover event.
There were other issues with the plans, too, such as Wraith not being able to build a suitable transmission system for the aerosolised virus so it could deploy quickly enough that the other Hive ship wouldn't be aware. Surely they would have the ability to come up with better stuff than mere humans. But there's the position they're in, only being awake for a couple of years and mainly going round doing their vampirism stuff, so maybe they don't bother learning, creating or engineering things until they've been up and about for a few decades? McKay did all the hard work for them, with assistance from Asgard Hermiod, the only being in his vicinity to be genuinely more intelligent than him, and makes him remember it, which is fun to see - McKay so rarely gets a taste of his own medicine. But most of the episode is about this uneasy cooperation, which is novel, but isn't the smash ending you might expect. Not that I was expecting all out war, and I was wondering how they were going to do something more dramatic than Atlantis under attack, so at least it was different. I felt Michael was largely unimportant, and since Connor Trinneer went to all that trouble to wear such makeup you'd think they'd have given him something more substantial to do!
You can never truly trust a Wraith, and once again Ronon's instincts prove correct, except even he had his guard down when he and McKay are 'caught napping' and easily made prisoners. The part of the story that had most potential was in the moral quandary of allowing Wraith to turn other Wraith into human-like versions so they can be food, even though it was only a stopgap measure for a few decades (the Queen says they won't run out till after Sheppard's lifetime), until they have to go back to real human populations. Teyla voices concerns, and Beckett, too, but as usual it's the military-minded that conquer all and there's very little soul-searching. Survival is the most important thing, after all, but it's still unpalatable to see a Wraith turned into a human in Atlantis, then the Queen feeding on him to test if this idea will work. Our people don't like it either, but it's part of the deal. I wonder if the guy was a volunteer or had been selected with no choice of his own? The real goal should have been to defeat the instinct and need of Wraith for flesh, but then if that were done we'd have less drama. Unless they were made weak and became victims of other Wraith. Either way, the crack to be aiming at is that between Wraith of different persuasions in this civil war which we've seen evidence of throughout the season, and that will no doubt be Season 3's story, I would imagine.
It's been nice to return to Atlantis and get back into that world, and I think the season was fairly successful in what it did with the shifting around of the cast, losing bland Lieutenant Ford, gaining aggressive Ronon, and continuing to feature the recurring characters. Daedalus' presence has ended an impression of isolation, there's always a helping hand not far away, but I wouldn't say it's been overplayed and that ship and crew (what we see of them), has worked reasonably well. I'm still not as attached to the series as I should be, they still haven't really got going. The Wraith aren't quite as unsubtle and simplistic as the Goa'uld at their worst, but there's still little to latch onto and they remain largely monsters to be afeared of and needing to be taken down. But there have been patches of consistently good storytelling which suggests hope for the future, and I do hope that each season will learn from itself and go up a notch. At the moment I'm still much more intent on getting back to 'SG-1' than another season of this, but with only one more of that venerable series, it's understandable, since I have three more of this one.
**
The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies
DVD, The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies (2014) film
I was going to be snarky and subtitle this 'The Battle of Five Hours,' but I was pleasantly surprised to find the expected epic three-hours or more was much shorter than I expected: a mere two hours, twenty. And even then it was padded and bloated beyond the confines of the original book, but that can be said about all three of these films. It could probably have kept faithful to the text and still been condensed into one film, at the most two, but they went about adapting the trilogy the wrong way. For a start, unlike 'The Lord of The Rings,' which although written as one great volume, was released in three parts across a couple of years, 'The Hobbit' was a relatively slim book. One, average-sized children's story. But that wasn't enough for the money men: they saw their opportunity for gold and they expanded it into a three-Christmas run to try and make a smash hit in the same way the original 'LOTR' trilogy had been. One can't help but feel the irony of a story, and this film in particular, that shows the danger of going after gold, and yet this was a film too far, designed for money-making purposes! I'm sure I'm not the first to point this out, but then I'm probably the last interested party to finally watch the final part.
That in itself is enough to demonstrate, to me at least, that the films were nowhere near good enough. If good is the right word. I don't doubt Peter Jackson and his dedicated team poured their lives and souls into these as they did with 'LOTR,' but that elusive something that makes things either work or not, was missing this time around. I've related my experience with the other films in my other reviews, and I never for a moment planned to see this third entry at the cinema, but to put it into perspective I wasn't even planning to buy the DVD. Not only that, but even when given the disc as a present, it's taken me about two years to get around to taking it off the shelf, sliding it into the drive, and keeping my eyes and ears open for its run time. If I'm that ambivalent about a film, then that must say something about the others that preceded it. It's me as well, I know that: I've grown older and far more discerning. Simplistic stories and characterisations aren't enough, nor are vast CGI epics that are all about the looks, because to me, the visuals are one of the least important ingredients in the recipe for appeal.
I love the book, and have very happy memories of both hearing it read to me, and of reading it to others, so I'm very attached to it. I learned from the first two films how far Jackson and his cohorts could stray from the source, so coming to this one I had no question it would follow the same pattern, and felt no surprise when it did. I can't say I disliked it, it was just an average watch, more something for me to look out for the familiar parts of the story amid all the added baggage. I was hoping they wouldn't botch the emotive Thorin death scene that brings a tear to the eye reading it to this day, and while it wasn't awful, neither was it moving. Rather like the film in its entirety. There were a lot of fights, even Saruman, Elrond and Galadriel get in on the action at one point as they banish Sauron and his Nine off into the East. I suppose it's no worse than Gandalf beating Denethor to the ground with his staff in 'The Return of The King,' but it never sits right that these wizened old men use physical force as the power they wield, rather than otherworldly magic. They're more like Jedi from 'Star Wars,' as are the Elves (and even the large mountain rams Thorin and some others use to nimbly bound up ridiculously steep slopes!), most notably portrayed by Legolas who gets more of a starring role this time.
That's the main thing I took away from the film: its jumping back and forth for more cartoonish action sequences, as if that was the most integral part of the book. I noticed it first in the opening chapter of the trilogy, how it felt more like watching a pretty computer game than being involved with the story, but then these films were designed for 3D, back when that was still a popular novelty. I can't believe it's been almost five years since the film came out, but time rattles along unceasingly, much like the many fights and skirmishes that abound. When the film hews closer to the book, such as Bilbo sneaking off to deliver the Arkenstone (a rather small, and poor approximation of the one in my imaginings), or a line of dialogue that I recognise is uttered, it's not bad. I don't see why they couldn't have followed the original story more closely as I've said so many times: it was a very visual book, all it needed was translation into the visual medium. But creatives want to put their mark on something, not be pure about it. Being pure seemed far from their minds as the nobility and goodness of the story were spoiled by such things as swearing. It was only Dain, but it still stood out like a sore nose on a Dwarf - I don't think there had been any in the other films, and I hope this doesn't represent the direction taken by the upcoming mega-expensive 'LOTR' TV series.
Not a lot about it sticks in the mind, but then I wasn't engaged enough to be noting things down for future reference or desiring to compare and contrast this adaptation with the book. It was certainly beautiful in parts, the glowing fire in the opening attack on Lake Town, the sky over the Lonely Mountain… but these things have lost some of their lustre, just as the gold lost its iron grip on Thorin as he remembered his Grandfather - I remembered the previous trilogy, and while I'd probably be more critical of it watching today, so many more things came together to make it special than drove it apart. I can't really speak to each of the characters, and how well I felt they worked, because they're all a bit of a jumble, what with invented characters mixing with established ones, and the caricatures of Dwarves we get from this band of treasure hunters. I think perhaps the story just isn't suited for films aimed at an audience with a modern mindset, reared on things like the internet and mobile phones. It was written in a different time, and has been commandeered to be squeezed into a contemporary shape that ill suits it. I'm sorry for that, but even then I don't hate it, it's a competent piece of filmmaking. I expect I might even be positive toward it in some small way if I'd never heard of the book. There were moments that worked for me, like the Elves joining the battle by leaping over the heads of the Dwarves, Thorin and the others running out from the Mountain, and the coming of a common enemy that changes things.
That said, it never reached beyond the very average, and even the music was almost flat, the familiar refrains of old themes creeping in here and there to remind us that the wishy-washy flow of music for this film could be bettered. The faces of both the real actors and the CG creations looked a bit plastic, and the lighting didn't help make what we see to be real. In this age of recreating 'The Lion King' as lifelike animation, it looked as if it were almost all animated, didn't have the reality and grounded solidity of surface and life that made it seem like a live-action film, and coupled with the unrealistic camera moves it loses all sense of reality. Again, I'm not having a go at it, it just failed to engage me. Before watching it I'd wanted to go back and re-watch the first two, and I've even been getting antsy to see the first trilogy again as it's been a good decade since I last saw them. But in the event, I couldn't stir myself to sit through two three-hour films in order to get to this one, even though that's about the only motivation I had to view them again. Even worse, it drains me of the wish to see 'LOTR,' and I have to hope the TV series is completely different to the approach they used here. It would be lovely if they tried to be as true to the mythology as possible and create the compelling drama and beauty and nobility that came from Tolkien's writings, because this trilogy has failed in my eyes. I don't even know if I'll ever watch the films again, because there's so much more to see, so why waste time on things that don't draw you in and satisfy?
**
I was going to be snarky and subtitle this 'The Battle of Five Hours,' but I was pleasantly surprised to find the expected epic three-hours or more was much shorter than I expected: a mere two hours, twenty. And even then it was padded and bloated beyond the confines of the original book, but that can be said about all three of these films. It could probably have kept faithful to the text and still been condensed into one film, at the most two, but they went about adapting the trilogy the wrong way. For a start, unlike 'The Lord of The Rings,' which although written as one great volume, was released in three parts across a couple of years, 'The Hobbit' was a relatively slim book. One, average-sized children's story. But that wasn't enough for the money men: they saw their opportunity for gold and they expanded it into a three-Christmas run to try and make a smash hit in the same way the original 'LOTR' trilogy had been. One can't help but feel the irony of a story, and this film in particular, that shows the danger of going after gold, and yet this was a film too far, designed for money-making purposes! I'm sure I'm not the first to point this out, but then I'm probably the last interested party to finally watch the final part.
That in itself is enough to demonstrate, to me at least, that the films were nowhere near good enough. If good is the right word. I don't doubt Peter Jackson and his dedicated team poured their lives and souls into these as they did with 'LOTR,' but that elusive something that makes things either work or not, was missing this time around. I've related my experience with the other films in my other reviews, and I never for a moment planned to see this third entry at the cinema, but to put it into perspective I wasn't even planning to buy the DVD. Not only that, but even when given the disc as a present, it's taken me about two years to get around to taking it off the shelf, sliding it into the drive, and keeping my eyes and ears open for its run time. If I'm that ambivalent about a film, then that must say something about the others that preceded it. It's me as well, I know that: I've grown older and far more discerning. Simplistic stories and characterisations aren't enough, nor are vast CGI epics that are all about the looks, because to me, the visuals are one of the least important ingredients in the recipe for appeal.
I love the book, and have very happy memories of both hearing it read to me, and of reading it to others, so I'm very attached to it. I learned from the first two films how far Jackson and his cohorts could stray from the source, so coming to this one I had no question it would follow the same pattern, and felt no surprise when it did. I can't say I disliked it, it was just an average watch, more something for me to look out for the familiar parts of the story amid all the added baggage. I was hoping they wouldn't botch the emotive Thorin death scene that brings a tear to the eye reading it to this day, and while it wasn't awful, neither was it moving. Rather like the film in its entirety. There were a lot of fights, even Saruman, Elrond and Galadriel get in on the action at one point as they banish Sauron and his Nine off into the East. I suppose it's no worse than Gandalf beating Denethor to the ground with his staff in 'The Return of The King,' but it never sits right that these wizened old men use physical force as the power they wield, rather than otherworldly magic. They're more like Jedi from 'Star Wars,' as are the Elves (and even the large mountain rams Thorin and some others use to nimbly bound up ridiculously steep slopes!), most notably portrayed by Legolas who gets more of a starring role this time.
That's the main thing I took away from the film: its jumping back and forth for more cartoonish action sequences, as if that was the most integral part of the book. I noticed it first in the opening chapter of the trilogy, how it felt more like watching a pretty computer game than being involved with the story, but then these films were designed for 3D, back when that was still a popular novelty. I can't believe it's been almost five years since the film came out, but time rattles along unceasingly, much like the many fights and skirmishes that abound. When the film hews closer to the book, such as Bilbo sneaking off to deliver the Arkenstone (a rather small, and poor approximation of the one in my imaginings), or a line of dialogue that I recognise is uttered, it's not bad. I don't see why they couldn't have followed the original story more closely as I've said so many times: it was a very visual book, all it needed was translation into the visual medium. But creatives want to put their mark on something, not be pure about it. Being pure seemed far from their minds as the nobility and goodness of the story were spoiled by such things as swearing. It was only Dain, but it still stood out like a sore nose on a Dwarf - I don't think there had been any in the other films, and I hope this doesn't represent the direction taken by the upcoming mega-expensive 'LOTR' TV series.
Not a lot about it sticks in the mind, but then I wasn't engaged enough to be noting things down for future reference or desiring to compare and contrast this adaptation with the book. It was certainly beautiful in parts, the glowing fire in the opening attack on Lake Town, the sky over the Lonely Mountain… but these things have lost some of their lustre, just as the gold lost its iron grip on Thorin as he remembered his Grandfather - I remembered the previous trilogy, and while I'd probably be more critical of it watching today, so many more things came together to make it special than drove it apart. I can't really speak to each of the characters, and how well I felt they worked, because they're all a bit of a jumble, what with invented characters mixing with established ones, and the caricatures of Dwarves we get from this band of treasure hunters. I think perhaps the story just isn't suited for films aimed at an audience with a modern mindset, reared on things like the internet and mobile phones. It was written in a different time, and has been commandeered to be squeezed into a contemporary shape that ill suits it. I'm sorry for that, but even then I don't hate it, it's a competent piece of filmmaking. I expect I might even be positive toward it in some small way if I'd never heard of the book. There were moments that worked for me, like the Elves joining the battle by leaping over the heads of the Dwarves, Thorin and the others running out from the Mountain, and the coming of a common enemy that changes things.
That said, it never reached beyond the very average, and even the music was almost flat, the familiar refrains of old themes creeping in here and there to remind us that the wishy-washy flow of music for this film could be bettered. The faces of both the real actors and the CG creations looked a bit plastic, and the lighting didn't help make what we see to be real. In this age of recreating 'The Lion King' as lifelike animation, it looked as if it were almost all animated, didn't have the reality and grounded solidity of surface and life that made it seem like a live-action film, and coupled with the unrealistic camera moves it loses all sense of reality. Again, I'm not having a go at it, it just failed to engage me. Before watching it I'd wanted to go back and re-watch the first two, and I've even been getting antsy to see the first trilogy again as it's been a good decade since I last saw them. But in the event, I couldn't stir myself to sit through two three-hour films in order to get to this one, even though that's about the only motivation I had to view them again. Even worse, it drains me of the wish to see 'LOTR,' and I have to hope the TV series is completely different to the approach they used here. It would be lovely if they tried to be as true to the mythology as possible and create the compelling drama and beauty and nobility that came from Tolkien's writings, because this trilogy has failed in my eyes. I don't even know if I'll ever watch the films again, because there's so much more to see, so why waste time on things that don't draw you in and satisfy?
**
'Til Death Do Us Part (2)
DVD, DS9 S7 ('Til Death Do Us Part) (2)
Not a lot really happens, other than rather soapy plot elements: Sisko calls off the wedding in obedience to the will of the Prophets, Dukat inveigles himself into Winn's inner sanctum and makes advances on her, while Worf and Ezri discuss dreams and who she really fancies. It's all a bit 'ugh' really, but there are good things among this Deep Soap Nine episode that bring it up a level above all this, and it's not like every strand is unsympathetic: for example, Sisko's uncharacteristic dithering over his decision displays his change of mind organically, and in fact you realise he was always going to marry Kasidy no matter what, unless perhaps the Prophets gave him something tangible to chew over, and rather than do that, his Mum, Sarah, just feels sorry for what he's going to come up against and is sad she can't do anything to change it. It begins with Jake being shocked at his Father's attitude, but I notice there's never a moment when anyone mentions the last time he went against the Prophets' warnings, the closure of the Wormhole and the death of Jadzia, not even Colonel Kira when she shows concern about his change of heart. When he talks to her he's almost convincing himself he should go through with it after all, but it's Quark who adds that last little touch to the balance, delivering the ordered ring that pulls Sisko out of his depression and decides him to do what he wants to do, fate of the Alpha Quadrant or not. This episode was originally going to be called 'Umbra,' the darkest part of the shadows - we're definitely out of the penumbra, but there's no dawn in the offing any time soon.
Things may be dark and dismal, but there are flashes of the good times. Strangely enough, the moment I was drawn into most was Dukat and Damar's farewell. I can't remember if they ever saw each other again, but it feels like this was the end, and it was really quite touching the way they each see things in the other, Damar's old superior and mentor reminding him Cardassia needs him to be a strong leader, while in turn Damar suggests it's not too late for Dukat to take up that mantle once again. They meet briefly at the crossroads, each about to go off on their own paths, both leading to death, but one will be a bold martyr and the other an evil nemesis. We can never fully forget Dukat's insanity from the way he has so embraced the evil entities of the Pah-Wraiths, and his personal mission has become a personal vendetta against Sisko, the white-shining Emissary of the beings he follows' enemies. He only spares a fleeting thought for Cardassia, confident in Damar's abilities to pull himself together. He talks of their fighting the entire Klingon Empire with a single ship, and it takes you back to those golden days of the middle of the series when Dukat was a pirate, only just feeling the positives of locating and bonding with his lost daughter - there's a slight corner of plot that was never disturbed, but it would have been great fun to see Dukat pop up to kill some Breen in revenge for holding his daughter a captive all that time ago, but he's singleminded, bent on the will of the Pah-Wraiths. Still, his assertion that 'those days might be gone, but the man I served with isn't,' was a lovely sign of the friendship that had been between he and Damar.
Elsewhere, things continue to go badly for the Cardassian leader-in-name, Weyoun actually standing over his bed in his Quarters, even his privacy a gift to be rescinded at the Vorta's whim, waking him up because they're going somewhere, and then not even deigning to tell him where! He continues to be treated like a dog, and when he marches onto the Bridge of the Jem'Hadar ship and demands to know where it is they're actually going, you notice he throws a slightly nervous glance at the Jem'Hadar flying the ship as if he's concerned he might be attacked for daring to be so bold. But again, Weyoun twists around and becomes all sweetness and light, knowing just when to pour on the charm and soothe Damar's broken spirit. It struck me that the leader of the free Cardassia should have at least a couple of trusted Cardassian soldiers guarding him, but while that might have been the case earlier in the alliance, you don't see him with Cardassians now, and that tells a story in itself. He seems isolated, surrounded by Jem'Hadar, and if he puts a foot wrong he'll likely be disposed of. But he almost turns a corner in this episode - he feels awful and is about to drink as soon as he gets up, only he sees himself in the mirror and it gives him pause. It's a wonderful moment of self-realisation, but he hasn't yet made a resolve, and instead turns his back on the image before he can down his Kanar.
The other enjoyable scene is the marriage itself. Avoiding all the Bajoran pomp and ceremony, Sisko didn't really want all that anyway, he goes back to the Captain we know and makes a snap decision to hold it in the Wardroom and have Admiral Ross perform the ceremony (was the Admiral visiting that day?). With the Prophets refusing to give their blessing it would have been a hollow celebration on Bajor, and once again the needle on his gauge is pointing back more to the Starfleet side, despite all the warnings and apparently seeing sense earlier in the episode. What I liked about it was the way all these people suddenly appear at the event, and remind me why these first few episodes of the final arc don't feel as enjoyable as the average episode of the season: it's because the focus has been on a small, select group, and I miss spending time with Miles and Julian, seeing Nog about his business, Quark, Odo and Kira about theirs. This is just a little taste of what the series should be, but couldn't because they were spending so much time on setting out the stall and planting the quick-growing seeds. It would all change as time went on and the other characters would get their dues, but especially at this time of diminishing opportunities to see these characters ever again, it's a little depressing that so much screen time is given over to Worf's extremes (he goes from not being able to stand the sight of Ezri, to expecting many years together!), and Ezri's exploration of her feelings.
It's weird how every 24th Century series (and every one that lasted seven years), joined an odd couple together that came out of nowhere: on 'TNG' it was Worf and Troi, 'Voyager' was Seven and Chakotay, and now it's going to be Ezri and Julian! It's like they felt the need to do something out of the blue, as if everything else going on wasn't enough, and I don't know where it comes from other than a realisation that this is the last they'll be able to write for these characters and so why not do something outrageous or dramatic? We could have done without a lot of the scenes of Worf and Ezri as it's slow going, trying to get their previous experiences resolved, but there was no need. It was enough that she rescued him in the preceding episode, but maybe they couldn't think of where to take Worf after this other than into battle as a Klingon warrior. It doesn't suit his character to be caged like an animal, especially stuck with a self-reflective counsellor intent on analysing her dreams, and the only good parts of this enforced stay on a Breen ship are hearing a sliver of Klingon history (about the Second Empire), Worf speaking Alexander's name for possibly the last ever time, and the fact that whenever the Breen appear, the violence of their entrance and movements is palpable and adds so much to what is otherwise a slow and, I have to say it, dull part of the story. It's like being locked in a holding cell, because that's exactly what it is (although I did enjoy the glib references to the usual escape cliches, none of which have worked!).
The one thing they discuss that I did enjoy was the speculation on the Breen themselves. Ezri wonders if they're furry as their planet is supposed to be very cold and in her dream they had claws, and Worf says they don't have claws, so Ezri responds how does he know - he even admits no one has seen a Breen and lived. It does bring up the adventures of Kira and Dukat in 'Indiscretion' when they actually dressed up in Breen outfits, though it was never revealed if these were just empty spare uniforms or if they actually stripped the aliens. Neither Dukat nor Kira ever mention it on camera, but maybe they never knew the significance of their actions in light of the mysterious reputation of the creatures! Ezri even has a dream of being chased by one and when it takes its mask off it turns out to be Dr. Bashir, to which Worf concludes it means Julian is a Breen - well, if there was one character who I could thoroughly believe as turning out to be one of them, it would be he: he was a Changeling, after all, not to mention his secret genetic enhancements kept quiet for most of his life, so anything's possible at this point! One alien race that gets a mention are the Terellians (as opposed to the Terrelians of the Delta Quadrant, or the Tarellians of 'TNG' - they must have been having a laugh!), as Sisko's ring features a large Terellian diamond. I think the Terellians were the four-armed race that were seen once in the bar Riker walks into in 'Gambit,' and if they like diamonds, fine. It's better than it being just any old Earth diamond or from some alien race we'd never heard of before. I suppose. The bigger question is how Sisko paid for it, just as in the previous episode when he bought land on Bajor!
The real shocker of the episode concerns Kai Winn. No, it's not that the Prophets have finally spoken to her after all these years of 'faithful' (self-) service, nor that she finishes out the episode by laying a smacker on Gul Dukat himself, as weird as those things were. No, it's that she shows up to visit Sisko, just as she always does, when things look like they couldn't get any worse, and… she's actually kindly and pleasant to her Emissary! Whoah, what is going on?! She wants to perform the official wedding ceremony, and okay, it's probably for political reasons and to be associated with the great Emissary who is key in the fight against the Dominion, but even so, you'd think she'd be advocating for him to marry a Bajoran woman and further strengthen the ties between him and Bajor. Actually, I'm surprised they didn't come up with that as an idea rather than having the Prophets opposed, make it about the Bajoran people. Or both, make Sisko fall into disrepute for his actions, which drives him more towards his Starfleet side than ever. Perhaps he could have been plagued by the Bajorans continually sending him eligible women and he keeps having to turn them away at odd moments in episodes, that would have been both amusing and uncomfortable! But he goes through with a quick Starfleet wedding, a bit like the one Kirk officiated in 'Balance of Terror,' and just like that one, Sisko's assertion that he could never be happy without Kasidy is going to be the point of the Prophets' warning, because he will be without Kasidy Danielle Yates by the end.
I wonder why none of Captain Yates' crew attended the ceremony? You'd expect to see at least a representative of the Xhosa as she must be fairly close to her crew since she's been captaining the vessel for a few years at least, and yet not one shows up! There's a mention of Kilby in the scene where she's hurriedly getting ready to exit port, and this is one of the few times we ever hear of someone from her crew - for a ship that was minor, yet a recurring presence thanks to Kasidy's status with Sisko, we don't hear enough about it or its crew, and that's a shame. It shows that even the mighty 'DS9' couldn't pull on every story thread they ever invented. I don't believe we even heard the ship's name in dialogue this episode and I'd have preferred a bit more of the world-building lost from the series due to its need to wrap up across multiple episodes. On the other hand we hadn't heard much about the Xhosa in the last year or so because the war made it difficult for small ships to trade as normal, but things must have settled down a bit now since Kasidy's on a cargo run. Therein lies the rub: I reckon the ship was on a tight schedule which Kasidy had taken on in response to her rejection by Sisko, and so she was desperate to get off the station. Having entered into a contract she couldn't pull out of it at the last moment, so the ship went off without her under her experienced crew while she had special dispensation to take a holiday for her wedding. There, problem solved!
I wonder why Winn stayed on DS9 throughout the episode. Was it to save money so they didn't have to build a Bajoran dwelling in which Dukat, in the guise of Anjohl Tennan, could manipulate her? I wish we could have had a beautiful orange glow of the Bajoran sun as we so often had on the planet, but I do grant that Dukat's devious machinations were suited to the dingy confines of the DS9 Quarters (you'd think the Prophets would have warned Sisko that his nemesis was aboard, but then they aren't omniscient). It could also be that while she's on the station she's more isolated from Bajor and it would have been harder to check up on Anjohl's story. Otherwise she'd quickly find out everything he said was fabricated and designed to draw her in. I would have thought her suspicious Ranjen, Solbor, who clearly looked down on this interloper of her Eminence's inner sanctum, would have investigated him, seeing what Winn does not, but I have the feeling that's exactly what he does in the subsequent episodes and pays for it with his life. It's interesting to see someone as callously manipulative as Winn so easily played at her own game, but there are mitigating circumstances: you sense from her pleasantness with Sisko and her general demeanour that she's pretty settled, even comfortable. We haven't had any major disaster stories about Bajor this season, or for a while, and once the pact was signed with the Dominion, there wasn't much to do with the planet. She's also giddy with thinking the Prophets have spoken to her, not being discerning enough to realise it was the Pah-Wraiths, though we wouldn't have known except that what they say is in opposition to the usual ways of the Prophets, and the capper is sending their evil Emissary as a guide.
Dukat's honeyed words, humble attitude of supplication and clever use of history and the land to fulfil her expectations also adds up to a compelling reason to trust him, while she also seems to be attracted to him for more reasons than merely basking in the glow of the Prophets. Their shared suspicion about the Emissary and discussion of how he's an outsider who never shared the pain of the Occupation, as well as his joy and wonder at spending time in her august presence, always complimenting her, appeals greatly to her own inflated sense of self-importance. She hears what she wants to, and while we've seen occasional glimpses of her truly wanting good for Bajor and not just the glory it reflects on her position, her journey within her religion has largely been self-seeking. If she has been pious it was for gain, and while she sometimes showed doubt in herself or wished for the kind of simple, selfless faith exhibited by Kira, her pride always conquered any regrets or suggestion of failure on her part. Which is why she's the ideal servant for the Pah-Wraiths, because although she does recoil in the coming episodes, she also realises her 'walk with the Prophets' never really got her what she wanted, and it was all her own ambition and drive that took her to the top. One thing's for sure, we've never seen her in her off hours before, out of those rich robes and fancy hat. It's strange, but it also signifies that we're seeing a new Winn Adami (for that is revealed to be her given name), one that is about to discover her true self and seal her end.
The last significant part of the episode is when Weyoun meets with the Breen contingent who present Worf and Ezri as gifts, the alliance between them and the Dominion confirmed. Weyoun smugly muses it changes everything, doesn't it, but does it? The Breen were never positioned as a powerful force in the Quadrant, not like the Romulans who have sadly taken a back seat for most of the season. In common with them, the Breen were secretive and mysterious, dangerous, yes, but a power-shifting addition to Dominion forces? It's like saying the Remans are joining them and that changes everything! I could have done with better integration of the Breen into the series, the bit parts they played weren't enough to justify such a sudden change in the dynamic. Yet, at the same time it does make a kind of sense that the writers would want to throw in a surprise that would alter the balance and they are an undeveloped race ripe for inclusion. They also look and sound really cool (can't remember if we'd heard the machine-like voices before, or not), but they never were developed, they were merely heavies added to artificially throw a wrench in the works, and again, I feel the completely serialised approach did cause the stories to suffer a little as if serialisation demands more outlandish or less organic developments in order to get where they want to go, something heavily noticeable in 'DSC,' and even in 'Enterprise' S3. It may be that the best approach to Trek's mode of telling stories and fleshing out a fascinating universe was best suited to small segments which were only partially connected and allowed for exploration of details on a more micro level.
***
Not a lot really happens, other than rather soapy plot elements: Sisko calls off the wedding in obedience to the will of the Prophets, Dukat inveigles himself into Winn's inner sanctum and makes advances on her, while Worf and Ezri discuss dreams and who she really fancies. It's all a bit 'ugh' really, but there are good things among this Deep Soap Nine episode that bring it up a level above all this, and it's not like every strand is unsympathetic: for example, Sisko's uncharacteristic dithering over his decision displays his change of mind organically, and in fact you realise he was always going to marry Kasidy no matter what, unless perhaps the Prophets gave him something tangible to chew over, and rather than do that, his Mum, Sarah, just feels sorry for what he's going to come up against and is sad she can't do anything to change it. It begins with Jake being shocked at his Father's attitude, but I notice there's never a moment when anyone mentions the last time he went against the Prophets' warnings, the closure of the Wormhole and the death of Jadzia, not even Colonel Kira when she shows concern about his change of heart. When he talks to her he's almost convincing himself he should go through with it after all, but it's Quark who adds that last little touch to the balance, delivering the ordered ring that pulls Sisko out of his depression and decides him to do what he wants to do, fate of the Alpha Quadrant or not. This episode was originally going to be called 'Umbra,' the darkest part of the shadows - we're definitely out of the penumbra, but there's no dawn in the offing any time soon.
Things may be dark and dismal, but there are flashes of the good times. Strangely enough, the moment I was drawn into most was Dukat and Damar's farewell. I can't remember if they ever saw each other again, but it feels like this was the end, and it was really quite touching the way they each see things in the other, Damar's old superior and mentor reminding him Cardassia needs him to be a strong leader, while in turn Damar suggests it's not too late for Dukat to take up that mantle once again. They meet briefly at the crossroads, each about to go off on their own paths, both leading to death, but one will be a bold martyr and the other an evil nemesis. We can never fully forget Dukat's insanity from the way he has so embraced the evil entities of the Pah-Wraiths, and his personal mission has become a personal vendetta against Sisko, the white-shining Emissary of the beings he follows' enemies. He only spares a fleeting thought for Cardassia, confident in Damar's abilities to pull himself together. He talks of their fighting the entire Klingon Empire with a single ship, and it takes you back to those golden days of the middle of the series when Dukat was a pirate, only just feeling the positives of locating and bonding with his lost daughter - there's a slight corner of plot that was never disturbed, but it would have been great fun to see Dukat pop up to kill some Breen in revenge for holding his daughter a captive all that time ago, but he's singleminded, bent on the will of the Pah-Wraiths. Still, his assertion that 'those days might be gone, but the man I served with isn't,' was a lovely sign of the friendship that had been between he and Damar.
Elsewhere, things continue to go badly for the Cardassian leader-in-name, Weyoun actually standing over his bed in his Quarters, even his privacy a gift to be rescinded at the Vorta's whim, waking him up because they're going somewhere, and then not even deigning to tell him where! He continues to be treated like a dog, and when he marches onto the Bridge of the Jem'Hadar ship and demands to know where it is they're actually going, you notice he throws a slightly nervous glance at the Jem'Hadar flying the ship as if he's concerned he might be attacked for daring to be so bold. But again, Weyoun twists around and becomes all sweetness and light, knowing just when to pour on the charm and soothe Damar's broken spirit. It struck me that the leader of the free Cardassia should have at least a couple of trusted Cardassian soldiers guarding him, but while that might have been the case earlier in the alliance, you don't see him with Cardassians now, and that tells a story in itself. He seems isolated, surrounded by Jem'Hadar, and if he puts a foot wrong he'll likely be disposed of. But he almost turns a corner in this episode - he feels awful and is about to drink as soon as he gets up, only he sees himself in the mirror and it gives him pause. It's a wonderful moment of self-realisation, but he hasn't yet made a resolve, and instead turns his back on the image before he can down his Kanar.
The other enjoyable scene is the marriage itself. Avoiding all the Bajoran pomp and ceremony, Sisko didn't really want all that anyway, he goes back to the Captain we know and makes a snap decision to hold it in the Wardroom and have Admiral Ross perform the ceremony (was the Admiral visiting that day?). With the Prophets refusing to give their blessing it would have been a hollow celebration on Bajor, and once again the needle on his gauge is pointing back more to the Starfleet side, despite all the warnings and apparently seeing sense earlier in the episode. What I liked about it was the way all these people suddenly appear at the event, and remind me why these first few episodes of the final arc don't feel as enjoyable as the average episode of the season: it's because the focus has been on a small, select group, and I miss spending time with Miles and Julian, seeing Nog about his business, Quark, Odo and Kira about theirs. This is just a little taste of what the series should be, but couldn't because they were spending so much time on setting out the stall and planting the quick-growing seeds. It would all change as time went on and the other characters would get their dues, but especially at this time of diminishing opportunities to see these characters ever again, it's a little depressing that so much screen time is given over to Worf's extremes (he goes from not being able to stand the sight of Ezri, to expecting many years together!), and Ezri's exploration of her feelings.
It's weird how every 24th Century series (and every one that lasted seven years), joined an odd couple together that came out of nowhere: on 'TNG' it was Worf and Troi, 'Voyager' was Seven and Chakotay, and now it's going to be Ezri and Julian! It's like they felt the need to do something out of the blue, as if everything else going on wasn't enough, and I don't know where it comes from other than a realisation that this is the last they'll be able to write for these characters and so why not do something outrageous or dramatic? We could have done without a lot of the scenes of Worf and Ezri as it's slow going, trying to get their previous experiences resolved, but there was no need. It was enough that she rescued him in the preceding episode, but maybe they couldn't think of where to take Worf after this other than into battle as a Klingon warrior. It doesn't suit his character to be caged like an animal, especially stuck with a self-reflective counsellor intent on analysing her dreams, and the only good parts of this enforced stay on a Breen ship are hearing a sliver of Klingon history (about the Second Empire), Worf speaking Alexander's name for possibly the last ever time, and the fact that whenever the Breen appear, the violence of their entrance and movements is palpable and adds so much to what is otherwise a slow and, I have to say it, dull part of the story. It's like being locked in a holding cell, because that's exactly what it is (although I did enjoy the glib references to the usual escape cliches, none of which have worked!).
The one thing they discuss that I did enjoy was the speculation on the Breen themselves. Ezri wonders if they're furry as their planet is supposed to be very cold and in her dream they had claws, and Worf says they don't have claws, so Ezri responds how does he know - he even admits no one has seen a Breen and lived. It does bring up the adventures of Kira and Dukat in 'Indiscretion' when they actually dressed up in Breen outfits, though it was never revealed if these were just empty spare uniforms or if they actually stripped the aliens. Neither Dukat nor Kira ever mention it on camera, but maybe they never knew the significance of their actions in light of the mysterious reputation of the creatures! Ezri even has a dream of being chased by one and when it takes its mask off it turns out to be Dr. Bashir, to which Worf concludes it means Julian is a Breen - well, if there was one character who I could thoroughly believe as turning out to be one of them, it would be he: he was a Changeling, after all, not to mention his secret genetic enhancements kept quiet for most of his life, so anything's possible at this point! One alien race that gets a mention are the Terellians (as opposed to the Terrelians of the Delta Quadrant, or the Tarellians of 'TNG' - they must have been having a laugh!), as Sisko's ring features a large Terellian diamond. I think the Terellians were the four-armed race that were seen once in the bar Riker walks into in 'Gambit,' and if they like diamonds, fine. It's better than it being just any old Earth diamond or from some alien race we'd never heard of before. I suppose. The bigger question is how Sisko paid for it, just as in the previous episode when he bought land on Bajor!
The real shocker of the episode concerns Kai Winn. No, it's not that the Prophets have finally spoken to her after all these years of 'faithful' (self-) service, nor that she finishes out the episode by laying a smacker on Gul Dukat himself, as weird as those things were. No, it's that she shows up to visit Sisko, just as she always does, when things look like they couldn't get any worse, and… she's actually kindly and pleasant to her Emissary! Whoah, what is going on?! She wants to perform the official wedding ceremony, and okay, it's probably for political reasons and to be associated with the great Emissary who is key in the fight against the Dominion, but even so, you'd think she'd be advocating for him to marry a Bajoran woman and further strengthen the ties between him and Bajor. Actually, I'm surprised they didn't come up with that as an idea rather than having the Prophets opposed, make it about the Bajoran people. Or both, make Sisko fall into disrepute for his actions, which drives him more towards his Starfleet side than ever. Perhaps he could have been plagued by the Bajorans continually sending him eligible women and he keeps having to turn them away at odd moments in episodes, that would have been both amusing and uncomfortable! But he goes through with a quick Starfleet wedding, a bit like the one Kirk officiated in 'Balance of Terror,' and just like that one, Sisko's assertion that he could never be happy without Kasidy is going to be the point of the Prophets' warning, because he will be without Kasidy Danielle Yates by the end.
I wonder why none of Captain Yates' crew attended the ceremony? You'd expect to see at least a representative of the Xhosa as she must be fairly close to her crew since she's been captaining the vessel for a few years at least, and yet not one shows up! There's a mention of Kilby in the scene where she's hurriedly getting ready to exit port, and this is one of the few times we ever hear of someone from her crew - for a ship that was minor, yet a recurring presence thanks to Kasidy's status with Sisko, we don't hear enough about it or its crew, and that's a shame. It shows that even the mighty 'DS9' couldn't pull on every story thread they ever invented. I don't believe we even heard the ship's name in dialogue this episode and I'd have preferred a bit more of the world-building lost from the series due to its need to wrap up across multiple episodes. On the other hand we hadn't heard much about the Xhosa in the last year or so because the war made it difficult for small ships to trade as normal, but things must have settled down a bit now since Kasidy's on a cargo run. Therein lies the rub: I reckon the ship was on a tight schedule which Kasidy had taken on in response to her rejection by Sisko, and so she was desperate to get off the station. Having entered into a contract she couldn't pull out of it at the last moment, so the ship went off without her under her experienced crew while she had special dispensation to take a holiday for her wedding. There, problem solved!
I wonder why Winn stayed on DS9 throughout the episode. Was it to save money so they didn't have to build a Bajoran dwelling in which Dukat, in the guise of Anjohl Tennan, could manipulate her? I wish we could have had a beautiful orange glow of the Bajoran sun as we so often had on the planet, but I do grant that Dukat's devious machinations were suited to the dingy confines of the DS9 Quarters (you'd think the Prophets would have warned Sisko that his nemesis was aboard, but then they aren't omniscient). It could also be that while she's on the station she's more isolated from Bajor and it would have been harder to check up on Anjohl's story. Otherwise she'd quickly find out everything he said was fabricated and designed to draw her in. I would have thought her suspicious Ranjen, Solbor, who clearly looked down on this interloper of her Eminence's inner sanctum, would have investigated him, seeing what Winn does not, but I have the feeling that's exactly what he does in the subsequent episodes and pays for it with his life. It's interesting to see someone as callously manipulative as Winn so easily played at her own game, but there are mitigating circumstances: you sense from her pleasantness with Sisko and her general demeanour that she's pretty settled, even comfortable. We haven't had any major disaster stories about Bajor this season, or for a while, and once the pact was signed with the Dominion, there wasn't much to do with the planet. She's also giddy with thinking the Prophets have spoken to her, not being discerning enough to realise it was the Pah-Wraiths, though we wouldn't have known except that what they say is in opposition to the usual ways of the Prophets, and the capper is sending their evil Emissary as a guide.
Dukat's honeyed words, humble attitude of supplication and clever use of history and the land to fulfil her expectations also adds up to a compelling reason to trust him, while she also seems to be attracted to him for more reasons than merely basking in the glow of the Prophets. Their shared suspicion about the Emissary and discussion of how he's an outsider who never shared the pain of the Occupation, as well as his joy and wonder at spending time in her august presence, always complimenting her, appeals greatly to her own inflated sense of self-importance. She hears what she wants to, and while we've seen occasional glimpses of her truly wanting good for Bajor and not just the glory it reflects on her position, her journey within her religion has largely been self-seeking. If she has been pious it was for gain, and while she sometimes showed doubt in herself or wished for the kind of simple, selfless faith exhibited by Kira, her pride always conquered any regrets or suggestion of failure on her part. Which is why she's the ideal servant for the Pah-Wraiths, because although she does recoil in the coming episodes, she also realises her 'walk with the Prophets' never really got her what she wanted, and it was all her own ambition and drive that took her to the top. One thing's for sure, we've never seen her in her off hours before, out of those rich robes and fancy hat. It's strange, but it also signifies that we're seeing a new Winn Adami (for that is revealed to be her given name), one that is about to discover her true self and seal her end.
The last significant part of the episode is when Weyoun meets with the Breen contingent who present Worf and Ezri as gifts, the alliance between them and the Dominion confirmed. Weyoun smugly muses it changes everything, doesn't it, but does it? The Breen were never positioned as a powerful force in the Quadrant, not like the Romulans who have sadly taken a back seat for most of the season. In common with them, the Breen were secretive and mysterious, dangerous, yes, but a power-shifting addition to Dominion forces? It's like saying the Remans are joining them and that changes everything! I could have done with better integration of the Breen into the series, the bit parts they played weren't enough to justify such a sudden change in the dynamic. Yet, at the same time it does make a kind of sense that the writers would want to throw in a surprise that would alter the balance and they are an undeveloped race ripe for inclusion. They also look and sound really cool (can't remember if we'd heard the machine-like voices before, or not), but they never were developed, they were merely heavies added to artificially throw a wrench in the works, and again, I feel the completely serialised approach did cause the stories to suffer a little as if serialisation demands more outlandish or less organic developments in order to get where they want to go, something heavily noticeable in 'DSC,' and even in 'Enterprise' S3. It may be that the best approach to Trek's mode of telling stories and fleshing out a fascinating universe was best suited to small segments which were only partially connected and allowed for exploration of details on a more micro level.
***
Tuesday, 6 August 2019
Inferno
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (Inferno)
This had 'two-parter' written all over it, and I was expecting it to end on a cliffhanger with everyone trapped in different places, their fates uncertain: Teyla and Ronon with a last, small group of the Taranins, Sheppard trapped in the base, unable to get to the Orion, and McKay and Beckett stuck on that ship with engines that needed fixing! I'm glad it did conclude properly as it leaves the finale episode to deal with the one Wraith ship that's on the way, likely to check up on the truth of Atlantis' existence. But back to this episode, and a good one it was, dealing with the rising tension well, playing off the various settings and options to generate a fast, but accessible plot that once again demonstrates Rodney's genius as his fixing skills are on the level of Starfleet's finest legendary Engineers (there's even a couple of fun Trek references - McKay mentions long range scanners and Sheppard explains it's a reference to an old TV show, then preemptively tells him he can't name the ship they eventually monicker as Orion, the Enterprise!). Even better, the story is on par with some of those old Trek episodes where evacuation of an entire planet is necessary because of an extinction level event due to happen shortly.
Right from early in the episode when the team realise that the Taranins have sealed their own fate by using the shield on their Ancient facility to maximum for a year, things escalate quickly and there's a real sense of danger and panic just on the edge - the addition of Chancellor Lycus (played by a familiar face from 'SG-1' - he'd played at least a couple of other roles, I'm sure), who is suspicious of Weir's motives, adds further discord since they have to convince him that this is a genuine emergency and not an effort to take advantage of the Ancient ship they have, a sister vessel to the Aurora we saw earlier in the season. He goes along with the evacuation because it seems as if there's no other option, but for a moment it looked as if he might be a 'climate change' denier and command them to leave. That would have made for a short mission, so he does agree, only the next catastrophe is the Stargate being flooded by magma from this mega-volcano, ending the ensuing evacuation abruptly. If I was Lycus I'd be equally suspicious that suddenly not all his people are able to get to Atlantis, but as time goes on and he witnesses the efforts of Weir's people, he comes around and is no threat. I felt he should have been there for the final scene where they're standing around having a conference, as he was important to the episode.
The other guest character is a Taranin scientist called Norina whom Rodney takes a shine to (what a surprise). She actually isn't that useful and mostly stands around for decoration (they wouldn't allow it now), and I did feel she should have been allowed to be of more assistance to McKay than boosting his ego! Not that that ego needed boosting, but there's fun to be had with Sheppard knowing just how to manipulate the genius into a corner so he has to explode his brain with a daring plan to save everyone, and even he's surprised when it works! His character really does well, spewing out technobabble and worriedly realising new dimensions of terror, the weight of everyone's survival balanced on top of him, but it makes him come up with these ideas, only if he doesn't get a quieter job I don't think he's going to live into old age. The addition of Caldwell, once again coming to the rescue with his ship of safety, is also of benefit to the story - it keeps hope alive, though only a slim one as the Daedalus can't take everyone at once, so multiple, long trips are the only choice, and when things go from bad to worse later, all they can do is stand and watch. I love that we have an Asgard character on the ship, and I'm sure I've said it before, but they should have made a Daedalus spinoff series for this crew.
The solution is well thought out, a short, but massive drain on the Orion's shields when the eruption finally occurs, then a quick warp away to safety. It relied on the ship being ejected at the right attitude and not sunk, but it was a cool escape and well shown. I can't say the same for some of the other effects on the planet, which sometimes didn't look so realistic, like the 'gate dropping into the lava, but the sets and acting sell the story more than anything else. It could also be argued that it's a bit convenient the city should lay its hands on a brand new ship with which to fend of the approaching Wraith at so fortuitous a time, but this is fiction, and if truth is stranger than fiction, then maybe fiction can use that sometimes if it needs to. Otherwise it's all believable, solid and a good disaster story. Hopefully the final episode of the season can live up to the drama - as ever, the choice people make in this situation can decide whether they live or die, and the other village of people that came seeking refuge, then decided to go it alone, against advice, by running to a river, were never heard from in the episode again. I felt maybe Ronon should have stood up to the ringleader and punched him out just to silence him, as it could have saved more lives, but it's interesting to see Ronon having to be in a situation where greater strength or fighting ability is no use. Teyla and Beckett, as always, are the caring ones, and Sheppard does a good job organising his team. It'll be a shame to have to break from these characters to go back to other things, but I've enjoyed the times I've had with them this season.
***
This had 'two-parter' written all over it, and I was expecting it to end on a cliffhanger with everyone trapped in different places, their fates uncertain: Teyla and Ronon with a last, small group of the Taranins, Sheppard trapped in the base, unable to get to the Orion, and McKay and Beckett stuck on that ship with engines that needed fixing! I'm glad it did conclude properly as it leaves the finale episode to deal with the one Wraith ship that's on the way, likely to check up on the truth of Atlantis' existence. But back to this episode, and a good one it was, dealing with the rising tension well, playing off the various settings and options to generate a fast, but accessible plot that once again demonstrates Rodney's genius as his fixing skills are on the level of Starfleet's finest legendary Engineers (there's even a couple of fun Trek references - McKay mentions long range scanners and Sheppard explains it's a reference to an old TV show, then preemptively tells him he can't name the ship they eventually monicker as Orion, the Enterprise!). Even better, the story is on par with some of those old Trek episodes where evacuation of an entire planet is necessary because of an extinction level event due to happen shortly.
Right from early in the episode when the team realise that the Taranins have sealed their own fate by using the shield on their Ancient facility to maximum for a year, things escalate quickly and there's a real sense of danger and panic just on the edge - the addition of Chancellor Lycus (played by a familiar face from 'SG-1' - he'd played at least a couple of other roles, I'm sure), who is suspicious of Weir's motives, adds further discord since they have to convince him that this is a genuine emergency and not an effort to take advantage of the Ancient ship they have, a sister vessel to the Aurora we saw earlier in the season. He goes along with the evacuation because it seems as if there's no other option, but for a moment it looked as if he might be a 'climate change' denier and command them to leave. That would have made for a short mission, so he does agree, only the next catastrophe is the Stargate being flooded by magma from this mega-volcano, ending the ensuing evacuation abruptly. If I was Lycus I'd be equally suspicious that suddenly not all his people are able to get to Atlantis, but as time goes on and he witnesses the efforts of Weir's people, he comes around and is no threat. I felt he should have been there for the final scene where they're standing around having a conference, as he was important to the episode.
The other guest character is a Taranin scientist called Norina whom Rodney takes a shine to (what a surprise). She actually isn't that useful and mostly stands around for decoration (they wouldn't allow it now), and I did feel she should have been allowed to be of more assistance to McKay than boosting his ego! Not that that ego needed boosting, but there's fun to be had with Sheppard knowing just how to manipulate the genius into a corner so he has to explode his brain with a daring plan to save everyone, and even he's surprised when it works! His character really does well, spewing out technobabble and worriedly realising new dimensions of terror, the weight of everyone's survival balanced on top of him, but it makes him come up with these ideas, only if he doesn't get a quieter job I don't think he's going to live into old age. The addition of Caldwell, once again coming to the rescue with his ship of safety, is also of benefit to the story - it keeps hope alive, though only a slim one as the Daedalus can't take everyone at once, so multiple, long trips are the only choice, and when things go from bad to worse later, all they can do is stand and watch. I love that we have an Asgard character on the ship, and I'm sure I've said it before, but they should have made a Daedalus spinoff series for this crew.
The solution is well thought out, a short, but massive drain on the Orion's shields when the eruption finally occurs, then a quick warp away to safety. It relied on the ship being ejected at the right attitude and not sunk, but it was a cool escape and well shown. I can't say the same for some of the other effects on the planet, which sometimes didn't look so realistic, like the 'gate dropping into the lava, but the sets and acting sell the story more than anything else. It could also be argued that it's a bit convenient the city should lay its hands on a brand new ship with which to fend of the approaching Wraith at so fortuitous a time, but this is fiction, and if truth is stranger than fiction, then maybe fiction can use that sometimes if it needs to. Otherwise it's all believable, solid and a good disaster story. Hopefully the final episode of the season can live up to the drama - as ever, the choice people make in this situation can decide whether they live or die, and the other village of people that came seeking refuge, then decided to go it alone, against advice, by running to a river, were never heard from in the episode again. I felt maybe Ronon should have stood up to the ringleader and punched him out just to silence him, as it could have saved more lives, but it's interesting to see Ronon having to be in a situation where greater strength or fighting ability is no use. Teyla and Beckett, as always, are the caring ones, and Sheppard does a good job organising his team. It'll be a shame to have to break from these characters to go back to other things, but I've enjoyed the times I've had with them this season.
***
Michael
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S2 (Michael)
Not the greatest of the season, despite featuring a famous Trek face, and I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it's because we're on the outside with 'Lieutenant Michael Kenmore,' a recently rescued member of Sheppard's team who had been captured by The Wraith, but lost his memory. Okay, they fooled me that he wasn't actually human, but a Wraith that was the first recipient of Dr. Beckett's wonder virus that can turn chickens into cows and all that sort of thing. Well, it's supposed to turn Wraith into humans, at least, removing the whatever-bug in its DNA to leave the human code behind. He should go into the snake oil business! It works well enough on a cosmetic level, which is how they fool the audience that this guy is human, but it doesn't entirely quell the nasty Wraith tendencies to violence and the desire to feed on live flesh. It was a good idea, but I can't see them using it as a biological weapon to transform all the Wraith into humans, and even if it did, they'd still be unsociable tyrants because it's not just your genetic makeup that determines your actions. Perhaps the failure of this experiment is part of the reason the episode falls flat, but it never helps to concentrate on a guest star, even one I have fondness for.
Connor Trinneer is best known for playing Charles 'Trip' Tucker III, the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise NX-01 on 'Enterprise,' and I knew he was going to show his face at some time, the next in a long line of Trek actors to appear in the franchise that took much of its inspiration from there. When Dr. Heightmeyer was interviewing 'Michael,' it was like a forgotten episode of Trek itself, since Claire Rankin had also guest-starred on 'Voyager'! But leaving aside the Trek connections the episode is pretty basic fare - inevitably we learn that something's amiss, and that something is Michael isn't Michael, and he's not happy about it. I don't entirely understand the team's reaction to him: on the one end of the scale Ronon is bursting with rage and wants to kill him, while at the other Teyla has compassion and wants him to be who they're saying he is. I wasn't sure why she was so kind and generous, it makes her seem a better person, while Ronon is just angry, but he turns out to be right, sadly. Teyla ends up being used by Michael's mental powers of suggestion to let him go and becomes his hostage until he can escape to a planet where there are more of his kind, her kindness in vain. The small crumb of comfort is that this Wraith, though he admits to wanting to feed on her, doesn't, and even when he's stretching out his hand I got the impression he didn't want to do it, which suggests some sort of positive feelings within.
In any case, he gets rescued by The Wraith, and back at base they discuss the ramifications of what happened: that they're probably already on the way, assuming Michael told them about the existence of Atlantis. But were they assuming too much? Could it be that he'll actually see sense and realise that being human was a far better life than being Wraith, chained to the need to feed on people? It would seem a stretch that they'd bring in someone as relatively high profile in sci-fi circles as Trinneer, only for one episode, and they pointedly have a Wraith remark that he's still alive, so why do that unless he's designed to become a recurring character, perhaps another weird renegade oddball like Ford, to spice up the galaxy. I can't say the character was that interesting beyond who played him, but if they could do something with him then it could work. And Beckett's virus is the only weapon they have so far, so it would seem tough for that to be completely abandoned. But the episode comes across as stopgap filler, setup for the future, presumably for the last two episodes, though it's not that great an idea to make a cliffhanger of The Wraith coming to attack Atlantis once again, and after a strong middle period the season has dropped back into mediocrity in its storytelling.
**
Not the greatest of the season, despite featuring a famous Trek face, and I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it's because we're on the outside with 'Lieutenant Michael Kenmore,' a recently rescued member of Sheppard's team who had been captured by The Wraith, but lost his memory. Okay, they fooled me that he wasn't actually human, but a Wraith that was the first recipient of Dr. Beckett's wonder virus that can turn chickens into cows and all that sort of thing. Well, it's supposed to turn Wraith into humans, at least, removing the whatever-bug in its DNA to leave the human code behind. He should go into the snake oil business! It works well enough on a cosmetic level, which is how they fool the audience that this guy is human, but it doesn't entirely quell the nasty Wraith tendencies to violence and the desire to feed on live flesh. It was a good idea, but I can't see them using it as a biological weapon to transform all the Wraith into humans, and even if it did, they'd still be unsociable tyrants because it's not just your genetic makeup that determines your actions. Perhaps the failure of this experiment is part of the reason the episode falls flat, but it never helps to concentrate on a guest star, even one I have fondness for.
Connor Trinneer is best known for playing Charles 'Trip' Tucker III, the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise NX-01 on 'Enterprise,' and I knew he was going to show his face at some time, the next in a long line of Trek actors to appear in the franchise that took much of its inspiration from there. When Dr. Heightmeyer was interviewing 'Michael,' it was like a forgotten episode of Trek itself, since Claire Rankin had also guest-starred on 'Voyager'! But leaving aside the Trek connections the episode is pretty basic fare - inevitably we learn that something's amiss, and that something is Michael isn't Michael, and he's not happy about it. I don't entirely understand the team's reaction to him: on the one end of the scale Ronon is bursting with rage and wants to kill him, while at the other Teyla has compassion and wants him to be who they're saying he is. I wasn't sure why she was so kind and generous, it makes her seem a better person, while Ronon is just angry, but he turns out to be right, sadly. Teyla ends up being used by Michael's mental powers of suggestion to let him go and becomes his hostage until he can escape to a planet where there are more of his kind, her kindness in vain. The small crumb of comfort is that this Wraith, though he admits to wanting to feed on her, doesn't, and even when he's stretching out his hand I got the impression he didn't want to do it, which suggests some sort of positive feelings within.
In any case, he gets rescued by The Wraith, and back at base they discuss the ramifications of what happened: that they're probably already on the way, assuming Michael told them about the existence of Atlantis. But were they assuming too much? Could it be that he'll actually see sense and realise that being human was a far better life than being Wraith, chained to the need to feed on people? It would seem a stretch that they'd bring in someone as relatively high profile in sci-fi circles as Trinneer, only for one episode, and they pointedly have a Wraith remark that he's still alive, so why do that unless he's designed to become a recurring character, perhaps another weird renegade oddball like Ford, to spice up the galaxy. I can't say the character was that interesting beyond who played him, but if they could do something with him then it could work. And Beckett's virus is the only weapon they have so far, so it would seem tough for that to be completely abandoned. But the episode comes across as stopgap filler, setup for the future, presumably for the last two episodes, though it's not that great an idea to make a cliffhanger of The Wraith coming to attack Atlantis once again, and after a strong middle period the season has dropped back into mediocrity in its storytelling.
**
Penumbra (2)
DVD, DS9 S7 (Penumbra) (2)
Having the series tie up with a nine-episode serial (technically ten if you count the two-part finale), was more than poetic: it was necessary. While 'TNG' had left pretty much everything for its two-part finale to conclude, hopping straight into a new beginning with the film series, and 'Voyager' would narrow it down to the last few seconds, just to be different, 'DS9' required hours to bring all those threads of plot and character (sounds like an episode title in itself!), to a conclusion. Because they wouldn't have the luxury of continuing into films, a sad oversight, but unsurprising given the fragmented nature of the Trek brand by this time, sprouting spinoffs and all media and merchandise. It may have been disappointing to know we weren't going to see (most of), the characters again, but it also afforded the writers the great luxury of making things final. They'd had experience with serialisation before: first with the convention-breaking three-parter at the opening of Season 2, and then the even more impressive six-parter (or eight if you count the Season 5 finale and the celebratory seventh episode of Season 6 in which all the cares of the war fall away to gather everyone for the wedding of Worf and Dax). The last two seasons had featured increasingly interwoven connectivity, too, but for this last third of the last season they chose to make a 'ten-hour film' (as Patrick Stewart would put it now), long before serialised TV, and especially serialised Trek became standard.
I remember being mildly disappointed on original viewing back in summer 2001 when BBC2 finally got to these episodes. Partly it was that summer isn't the natural time to be watching space drama with all its dark exteriors, and even more 'DS9' with its dark interiors (and yes, I know I'm writing this in summer, but I'm talking about first impressions), but also it was holiday time, not the moment to be invested in a TV show. I always loved the level that 'DS9' worked at on an ongoing basis - that of having continual resonance for the characters and an overarching view of the station and beyond, but occurring as a backdrop or a foreground to the story of the week. That was truly the best of both worlds as you had development and callbacks that meant something for those that watched in sequence, but also an immediate development and closure for that story, allowing for many more stories to be told and many more viewpoints to be explored than telling one continuously, even one that was made up of multiple plots. I still feel that way to this day, that 'DS9' had the perfect mix of singular and continuous drama, but I concede that it made sense for such a vast number of threads to be tied up with this mini-arc in the season rather than continuing to knock out individual stories as they had for most of the year. But controversially I feel that means we got a few episodes of lesser quality because in order to wrap up, they also had to craft one big story, and it may have been too wide.
Take this first entry in the saga: it's not a bad episode, and has a number of special moments, but when viewed as a separate entity it doesn't have the satisfaction level you'd expect from the series for its last few seasons. It's gone back to more of a Season 1 or 2 style where the main story is less significant. I don't mean it's not important, but Ezri feeling bound to go off and rescue Worf is a relatively small scale in the general scope of proceedings. Not that it's unimportant or doesn't take the characters further, but both this and the B-story of Sisko and Kasidy deciding to get married exist in a somewhat detached atmosphere. The reason is that the majority of this one is setup, planting the seeds that will eventually pay off in a big way. That's to the glory of the latter episodes in the run, but to the detriment of these first few, which took a bit of time to migrate into the stunning behemoth of storytelling that, for example, the Season 6 arc was able to jump right into. At that time they had the pieces all set up with the Season 5 finale, so it was a different case. Here, we're right in the middle of a season and it's like they're scrabbling around grasping at the various pieces they need to reel this thing in, and perhaps some characters slip through their fingers at this early stage. Well, many of them do, to be honest: Bashir, O'Brien, Kira, Odo, Quark, and most of the recurring characters barely feature. Perhaps this is one source of the detachment, hence my comparison with the early seasons where they would methodically take a couple of characters and get to know them.
We already know these people, and know them well, except for Ezri, whom, no matter how many episodes she had focused upon her character this season, was never going to catch up to the level of development that six years had given to the other main cast members. That's why some of her episodes proved to be among the less strong instalments. It was a natural result of the situation of having to bring in a new character in a final season, and I don't resent her for taking so much of the limelight, it's just that it does 'slow down' the season, for want of better words. I think it's also the fact that she's off alone in a Runabout until she finds Worf, and that dynamic of having one or two characters out in a Runabout somewhere was something less common during the latter seasons as war made the little ships more vulnerable and the Defiant had come into its own. Saying all that, it's paradoxically pleasant to have an episode like this that reminds me so much of the old half of the series, I just don't find enough compelling drama and the kind of excellent dialogue that became the series' norm. It may just be the chemistry of the characters they put together: Worf is typically gruff and a man of few words, and while chatty Ezri makes up for that, she's not Jadzia (well, not entirely, anyway, but more on that anon). And both Sisko and Kasidy are quite quiet and reserved in their scenes. It's definitely a more introspective story, and perhaps having two plots that are very similar (two people coming to a new understanding of each other), in tone and style, maybe makes the episode lack drive and variety, and Sisko having a nice time with Kasidy, musing on their future and not appearing worried about Worf after he's had to abandon the search, rings falsely to me.
The same can be said for the third strand, which is between Weyoun and Damar - Dukat was such a forceful personality, so manipulative and fascinating, and seeing him and Weyoun dance around the status of The Founders as gods, or the goodwill between the Dominion and the Cardassians, held great drama and nuance. There's still nuance between Weyoun and Damar, but it's a far different dynamic that well represents the position of Cardassia to the Dominion at this late stage. Weyoun looks down on Damar, is very firm, almost threatening, treating him like a dog that must obey. Damar doesn't have the ability to hide his displeasure of how things are going now, nor does he avoid questioning Weyoun's masters. But where he used to snipe across Dukat's head, and that man would smooth the diplomatic waters, and it was then in Weyoun's interest to maintain a sensation of equitability, things are much more one-sided now, so there isn't the same tension there was. It's more direct and clear. For a moment the old element returns in the form of Dukat, the last we see of him as a Cardassian, except for his final seconds at the end of the season, and he's almost like the old Dukat, the one before he was driven mad. He has the ability to get into the Dominion compound to ask Damar's help, without being seen by them, which is pretty cool - I almost wish we'd seen him going down hidden passages and such, but it's probably more effective for him to suddenly waltz (!) in and surprise his former subordinate.
Dukat going Bajoran makes perfect sense, and was a clever twist in the tale, but it was never one of the better parts of this arc. I missed the old Dukat, but we could never return to that because the fun was in seeing this fundamentally evil, pompous, arrogant man, delude himself into thinking he's the complete opposite. Though he talks of the 'love' of the Pah-Wraiths, and genuinely believes it, it's another sign of his delusion, but it's less interesting when it's a delusion played on him by other beings rather than his own contorted mind. But they had to find a way to bring him back in as Sisko's personal adversary, and they'd written themselves into a corner by taking him out of the main war picture, so I suppose it had to be this way. His devotion to these mythical beings is something else that acts as a detachment for us, however, because Damar doesn't truly connect with him any more, he doesn't respect him, and Dukat is intent only on his one goal now. It's one of many seeds planted in this episode - granted, Damar's dissatisfaction leading to excessive drinking, and now carousing, had already been happening across the season, but this is the first we hear of the illness affecting The Great Link, I believe. Typically, Damar is irreverent in his mention of the Female Changeling looking unwell, and 'hoping she's not ill,' and we get that carried through quite quickly, seeing her and having her talk to Weyoun about its effects. Her callous nature returns as she orders the Vorta doctors working on the cure to be executed and brought back as clones to encourage fresh perspectives!
I think one of things missing from the episode is a strong central theme. There are several there, mainly with the new understanding between two people I mentioned, but the closest I felt we came to something more specific was in Damar's talk about the losses of war, and how both Starfleet and Cardassians have lost people, while the Jem'Hadar are just born in hatcheries and are expendable. It's the first sign of the cracks we know are happening in the alliance rising to the surface when he's almost making an identification with the enemy and suggesting Cardassians are being used as cannon fodder, something confirmed to the audience in the Female Changeling's attitude to them. But again, it's more setup for the future rather than being a theme taken to its conclusion, something that's hard to do when you're making a serial. At the same time there's so much garnishing that you can almost forget that the main meal isn't going down quite right: the details are myriad, from Worf's son Alexander getting a mention as becoming weapons officer of the Ya'Vang, to some lovely ties back to previous episodes about Jadzia and Worf, including Captain Boday (the transparent-skulled Gallamite we'd never see), working as the grit in the Worf oyster, a return to the fiery beauty of the Badlands, as well as a strong connection to the film, 'Insurrection' that had come out a few months previous.
A little throwaway line from Weyoun about the Son'a was balm to my ears as I love it when they try to tie the disparate pieces of Trek together. We hear that they're in the war effort on the side of the Dominion, which shouldn't be a surprise (just like we'd hear a cool mention that Shinzon and the Remans fought the Dominion, in the next film, 'Nemesis'), since they were so corrupt. But it gives us new information on this race that were all but dying out, their quest for the fountain of youth Ba'ku planet a last hope that was crushed by Picard and crew, though some came back into the fold. It shows that enough of the Son'a rejected the offer of redemption with their Ba'ku relatives and now their bitterness has driven them to the wrong side in the war. They didn't need to throw in that reference, but through it we can extrapolate all this, making it so much more delightful than if they'd mentioned some new race. And it fits with their character. The only disappointment is that we never saw any Son'a characters on the series (apart from one of the races they'd subjugated). Another previously created race does make an appearance: the Breen. These masked menaces of mystery were an intriguing addition to the final arc because they'd really been fleetingly used - I think it was just a couple of stories, the one where Dukat and Kira rescue his daughter, Tora Ziyal, from their clutches in Season 4, and a lone Breen prisoner in the Dominion prison camp of Season 5. They were an unexplored piece of Trek lore.
Somehow I should have felt more excited at seeing their reemergence onto the stage, and especially for having a first sighting of one of their strangely asymmetrical ships, but I don't feel that they were ever really developed in the arc, another example of one of the pieces that wasn't quite put in place correctly, something of a rarity for the series, but added to the sense of disquiet about the nine-parter. It may be that it was just too much for them to take on at the time, and that stories aren't best served when they're so spread out. Six may be the best number for a multi-part story? But what of those elements that did work, and did work specifically for this episode? For one, I liked Quark's own unique logic about how Worf wasn't dead, when he comforts Ezri: he doesn't believe the Klingon would go to Sto-Vo-Kor owing his bar bill because he couldn't enjoy the afterlife knowing Quark had something on him! It's typical of the Ferengi, and I wish he had more to do, but that's yet another thing about the serial that lessened by enjoyment of it, because my favourite character wasn't given enough screen time. It was an issue throughout the war seasons, and became a joke with the actor wondering what drink he was going to serve each episode as that's what he was reduced to. A small detail that shows how much attention these writers gave to the production was having the little Bajoran girl, Sahgi, who had been in the Season 6 finale, 'Tears of The Prophets,' asking the Emissary to find The Prophets, return to shed light on how far-reaching Sisko and Kasidy's decision to marry would be.
It seems Sisko was able to wriggle out of a great fanfare and procession after all, as this was young Michelle Horn's last appearance as Sahgi, the only new-ish character in a long list of recurring ones (Dukat, Damar, Weyoun, Female Changeling, Kasidy Yates, Sarah Sisko), but I can't remember exactly how the wedding played out, it's been so long since I've watched these episodes. Without the blessing of The Prophets I suppose Sisko wouldn't have felt right giving in to the Bajoran people's demand for a mass celebration. The vision in which he meets his 'Mother,' the Prophet Sarah, was one of the best scenes of the episode because it's such a key moment for him to talk with the Mother he never knew, and yet it's also a harsh meeting because she denies him the one thing he really wants, warning of sorrow and that his greatest trial is yet to come. With hindsight we can see that the sorrow is being parted from his new family, including an unborn child, as The Prophets recall him to be with them, but it's vague enough here, and portentous, that you're left pondering the words. You'd think after the events of 'Tears of The Prophets' when he went against The Prophets' wishes, leading to the death of Jadzia and the closing of the Wormhole, that he'd be quicker to respond to their warnings now, but he feels too strongly that his decision for a permanent commitment to Yates is right.
There's similar resolve in Ezri Dax' mind when she visits Worf's Quarters and we hear her memories of the lovely times of old regarding Worf babysitting Kirayoshi O'Brien in 'Time's Orphan,' or his and Jadzia's goodbyes when they're separated by war assignments ('Sacrifice of Angels' or was it 'Call To Arms'?), his talk of battling Kelvans twice his size (love that 'TOS' reference!), plus the actual marriage in 'You Are Cordially Invited' which prompts Ezri into action. But as we know, in times of war, the laws fall silent, and she goes off as a renegade to rescue Worf against Sisko's orders (I feel like a character pretending to have difficulty with the comm system had been used before), whom she'd vowed to protect. Except it wasn't her, it was Jadzia, and she's still getting mixed up in her past lives, probably brought on by the strong emotion of the time. It's something she does again when she's talking to Worf in the Runabout, forgetting to place her own and Jadzia's identities separately and further aggravating the Klingon's displeasure. I don't know why he didn't go and hang out at the back of the vessel as we know from 'TNG' there's a large room back there, but probably no insignificant tasks to keep him occupied. It's great to have another Runabout, this time the USS Gander, for one episode only. There's some controversy over the name because in the latest 'Star Trek Encyclopedia' they have it as USS Ganda, while the 'DS9 Companion' and Memory Alpha have it as Gander. The second would make more sense as it continued the naming convention of Earth rivers, while the former was a name for the Bantu people, but in the 'Companion' we learn that it was originally to have been Ganges, which had long ago been destroyed and the name had to be re-dubbed, but the model, according to 'The Encyclopedia' was labelled Ganda! It does admit that it could go either way, though!
Another little continuity note is that Worf got to be in command of the Koraga, but we know from 'Change of Heart' that he was unlikely to become a Captain because of the permanent mark on his record from the events of that episode. It can be explained away as being a Klingon ship (K'Vort-class Bird of Prey according to the graphic), and a Captain's rank and being in command of a ship are two different things, so no harm done, and I'm sure he's taken command of the Defiant since that time, but it stood out as something of interest. Another one of those is how Sisko was able to purchase the twelve hecapates of land in Kendra Province since he doesn't use money. That's always a tricky proposition, but it may be that he had Bajorans that wanted to buy him something as a gift for being the Emissary (though in that case you'd think he'd have said the land was a gift from the people). It's very fitting that Sisko the Builder, as he's always been, not to mention a man who loves physical projects (as early as Season 1 he built that alien clock, and in 'Explorers' he recreated a Bajoran solar sailing vessel - another connection to that episode was Ezri letting go of the steering to allow her Runabout to drift in the natural currents of the Badlands in order to replicate the journey taken by Worf's Klingon escape pod, just as Sisko allowed the eddies to take his ship to Cardassia!), should have plans to build a house on the planet he's come to love, but it's also a sign of the direction the series is going: plans for a future, but by the end of the episode that future is in doubt with a warning.
Destiny doesn't usually fit with Trek's view of things - the Kelvin Timeline films gloss over practicalities and good sense by spouting out about the 'Universe' wanting things to be a certain way, to cover a multitude of writing plot-holes, and I've felt a similar thing with 'Discovery,' but for once destiny does make sense for Sisko because we've had the revelations about his Prophet-based parentage, and we know he was planned to be where he is, in spite of his love of Bajor not being part of a master plan, as he puts it (wrongly). He's drawn there and wants to settle down, and as Kasidy said, when your Mum's part Prophet these words take on new meaning. It's both happy and sad that so much time has passed since this was made, but even in the relatively short time since I watched the previous episode, just over a year ago, major developments have occurred. The biggest thing must be that I've finally been able to see what modern, serialised Trek looks like, and I wasn't best pleased, though it wasn't the serialisation as such that got to me. Then the other major, momentous development has been 'Star Trek: Picard' and the words from Patrick Stewart that rather than it being a sequel to 'TNG,' it's a sequel to that era of Trek. Which means for the first time since 'Nemesis' there's the chance we haven't seen the end of the story for some of these characters. That's incredible and puts a new spin on what had become a 'dead' period of Trek since everything filmed post-'Nemesis' had been in the 22nd or 23rd Centuries, and now what is the end doesn't necessarily have to be absolute, something more poignant to watching these final episodes that spelt a conclusive finish to the series.
***
Having the series tie up with a nine-episode serial (technically ten if you count the two-part finale), was more than poetic: it was necessary. While 'TNG' had left pretty much everything for its two-part finale to conclude, hopping straight into a new beginning with the film series, and 'Voyager' would narrow it down to the last few seconds, just to be different, 'DS9' required hours to bring all those threads of plot and character (sounds like an episode title in itself!), to a conclusion. Because they wouldn't have the luxury of continuing into films, a sad oversight, but unsurprising given the fragmented nature of the Trek brand by this time, sprouting spinoffs and all media and merchandise. It may have been disappointing to know we weren't going to see (most of), the characters again, but it also afforded the writers the great luxury of making things final. They'd had experience with serialisation before: first with the convention-breaking three-parter at the opening of Season 2, and then the even more impressive six-parter (or eight if you count the Season 5 finale and the celebratory seventh episode of Season 6 in which all the cares of the war fall away to gather everyone for the wedding of Worf and Dax). The last two seasons had featured increasingly interwoven connectivity, too, but for this last third of the last season they chose to make a 'ten-hour film' (as Patrick Stewart would put it now), long before serialised TV, and especially serialised Trek became standard.
I remember being mildly disappointed on original viewing back in summer 2001 when BBC2 finally got to these episodes. Partly it was that summer isn't the natural time to be watching space drama with all its dark exteriors, and even more 'DS9' with its dark interiors (and yes, I know I'm writing this in summer, but I'm talking about first impressions), but also it was holiday time, not the moment to be invested in a TV show. I always loved the level that 'DS9' worked at on an ongoing basis - that of having continual resonance for the characters and an overarching view of the station and beyond, but occurring as a backdrop or a foreground to the story of the week. That was truly the best of both worlds as you had development and callbacks that meant something for those that watched in sequence, but also an immediate development and closure for that story, allowing for many more stories to be told and many more viewpoints to be explored than telling one continuously, even one that was made up of multiple plots. I still feel that way to this day, that 'DS9' had the perfect mix of singular and continuous drama, but I concede that it made sense for such a vast number of threads to be tied up with this mini-arc in the season rather than continuing to knock out individual stories as they had for most of the year. But controversially I feel that means we got a few episodes of lesser quality because in order to wrap up, they also had to craft one big story, and it may have been too wide.
Take this first entry in the saga: it's not a bad episode, and has a number of special moments, but when viewed as a separate entity it doesn't have the satisfaction level you'd expect from the series for its last few seasons. It's gone back to more of a Season 1 or 2 style where the main story is less significant. I don't mean it's not important, but Ezri feeling bound to go off and rescue Worf is a relatively small scale in the general scope of proceedings. Not that it's unimportant or doesn't take the characters further, but both this and the B-story of Sisko and Kasidy deciding to get married exist in a somewhat detached atmosphere. The reason is that the majority of this one is setup, planting the seeds that will eventually pay off in a big way. That's to the glory of the latter episodes in the run, but to the detriment of these first few, which took a bit of time to migrate into the stunning behemoth of storytelling that, for example, the Season 6 arc was able to jump right into. At that time they had the pieces all set up with the Season 5 finale, so it was a different case. Here, we're right in the middle of a season and it's like they're scrabbling around grasping at the various pieces they need to reel this thing in, and perhaps some characters slip through their fingers at this early stage. Well, many of them do, to be honest: Bashir, O'Brien, Kira, Odo, Quark, and most of the recurring characters barely feature. Perhaps this is one source of the detachment, hence my comparison with the early seasons where they would methodically take a couple of characters and get to know them.
We already know these people, and know them well, except for Ezri, whom, no matter how many episodes she had focused upon her character this season, was never going to catch up to the level of development that six years had given to the other main cast members. That's why some of her episodes proved to be among the less strong instalments. It was a natural result of the situation of having to bring in a new character in a final season, and I don't resent her for taking so much of the limelight, it's just that it does 'slow down' the season, for want of better words. I think it's also the fact that she's off alone in a Runabout until she finds Worf, and that dynamic of having one or two characters out in a Runabout somewhere was something less common during the latter seasons as war made the little ships more vulnerable and the Defiant had come into its own. Saying all that, it's paradoxically pleasant to have an episode like this that reminds me so much of the old half of the series, I just don't find enough compelling drama and the kind of excellent dialogue that became the series' norm. It may just be the chemistry of the characters they put together: Worf is typically gruff and a man of few words, and while chatty Ezri makes up for that, she's not Jadzia (well, not entirely, anyway, but more on that anon). And both Sisko and Kasidy are quite quiet and reserved in their scenes. It's definitely a more introspective story, and perhaps having two plots that are very similar (two people coming to a new understanding of each other), in tone and style, maybe makes the episode lack drive and variety, and Sisko having a nice time with Kasidy, musing on their future and not appearing worried about Worf after he's had to abandon the search, rings falsely to me.
The same can be said for the third strand, which is between Weyoun and Damar - Dukat was such a forceful personality, so manipulative and fascinating, and seeing him and Weyoun dance around the status of The Founders as gods, or the goodwill between the Dominion and the Cardassians, held great drama and nuance. There's still nuance between Weyoun and Damar, but it's a far different dynamic that well represents the position of Cardassia to the Dominion at this late stage. Weyoun looks down on Damar, is very firm, almost threatening, treating him like a dog that must obey. Damar doesn't have the ability to hide his displeasure of how things are going now, nor does he avoid questioning Weyoun's masters. But where he used to snipe across Dukat's head, and that man would smooth the diplomatic waters, and it was then in Weyoun's interest to maintain a sensation of equitability, things are much more one-sided now, so there isn't the same tension there was. It's more direct and clear. For a moment the old element returns in the form of Dukat, the last we see of him as a Cardassian, except for his final seconds at the end of the season, and he's almost like the old Dukat, the one before he was driven mad. He has the ability to get into the Dominion compound to ask Damar's help, without being seen by them, which is pretty cool - I almost wish we'd seen him going down hidden passages and such, but it's probably more effective for him to suddenly waltz (!) in and surprise his former subordinate.
Dukat going Bajoran makes perfect sense, and was a clever twist in the tale, but it was never one of the better parts of this arc. I missed the old Dukat, but we could never return to that because the fun was in seeing this fundamentally evil, pompous, arrogant man, delude himself into thinking he's the complete opposite. Though he talks of the 'love' of the Pah-Wraiths, and genuinely believes it, it's another sign of his delusion, but it's less interesting when it's a delusion played on him by other beings rather than his own contorted mind. But they had to find a way to bring him back in as Sisko's personal adversary, and they'd written themselves into a corner by taking him out of the main war picture, so I suppose it had to be this way. His devotion to these mythical beings is something else that acts as a detachment for us, however, because Damar doesn't truly connect with him any more, he doesn't respect him, and Dukat is intent only on his one goal now. It's one of many seeds planted in this episode - granted, Damar's dissatisfaction leading to excessive drinking, and now carousing, had already been happening across the season, but this is the first we hear of the illness affecting The Great Link, I believe. Typically, Damar is irreverent in his mention of the Female Changeling looking unwell, and 'hoping she's not ill,' and we get that carried through quite quickly, seeing her and having her talk to Weyoun about its effects. Her callous nature returns as she orders the Vorta doctors working on the cure to be executed and brought back as clones to encourage fresh perspectives!
I think one of things missing from the episode is a strong central theme. There are several there, mainly with the new understanding between two people I mentioned, but the closest I felt we came to something more specific was in Damar's talk about the losses of war, and how both Starfleet and Cardassians have lost people, while the Jem'Hadar are just born in hatcheries and are expendable. It's the first sign of the cracks we know are happening in the alliance rising to the surface when he's almost making an identification with the enemy and suggesting Cardassians are being used as cannon fodder, something confirmed to the audience in the Female Changeling's attitude to them. But again, it's more setup for the future rather than being a theme taken to its conclusion, something that's hard to do when you're making a serial. At the same time there's so much garnishing that you can almost forget that the main meal isn't going down quite right: the details are myriad, from Worf's son Alexander getting a mention as becoming weapons officer of the Ya'Vang, to some lovely ties back to previous episodes about Jadzia and Worf, including Captain Boday (the transparent-skulled Gallamite we'd never see), working as the grit in the Worf oyster, a return to the fiery beauty of the Badlands, as well as a strong connection to the film, 'Insurrection' that had come out a few months previous.
A little throwaway line from Weyoun about the Son'a was balm to my ears as I love it when they try to tie the disparate pieces of Trek together. We hear that they're in the war effort on the side of the Dominion, which shouldn't be a surprise (just like we'd hear a cool mention that Shinzon and the Remans fought the Dominion, in the next film, 'Nemesis'), since they were so corrupt. But it gives us new information on this race that were all but dying out, their quest for the fountain of youth Ba'ku planet a last hope that was crushed by Picard and crew, though some came back into the fold. It shows that enough of the Son'a rejected the offer of redemption with their Ba'ku relatives and now their bitterness has driven them to the wrong side in the war. They didn't need to throw in that reference, but through it we can extrapolate all this, making it so much more delightful than if they'd mentioned some new race. And it fits with their character. The only disappointment is that we never saw any Son'a characters on the series (apart from one of the races they'd subjugated). Another previously created race does make an appearance: the Breen. These masked menaces of mystery were an intriguing addition to the final arc because they'd really been fleetingly used - I think it was just a couple of stories, the one where Dukat and Kira rescue his daughter, Tora Ziyal, from their clutches in Season 4, and a lone Breen prisoner in the Dominion prison camp of Season 5. They were an unexplored piece of Trek lore.
Somehow I should have felt more excited at seeing their reemergence onto the stage, and especially for having a first sighting of one of their strangely asymmetrical ships, but I don't feel that they were ever really developed in the arc, another example of one of the pieces that wasn't quite put in place correctly, something of a rarity for the series, but added to the sense of disquiet about the nine-parter. It may be that it was just too much for them to take on at the time, and that stories aren't best served when they're so spread out. Six may be the best number for a multi-part story? But what of those elements that did work, and did work specifically for this episode? For one, I liked Quark's own unique logic about how Worf wasn't dead, when he comforts Ezri: he doesn't believe the Klingon would go to Sto-Vo-Kor owing his bar bill because he couldn't enjoy the afterlife knowing Quark had something on him! It's typical of the Ferengi, and I wish he had more to do, but that's yet another thing about the serial that lessened by enjoyment of it, because my favourite character wasn't given enough screen time. It was an issue throughout the war seasons, and became a joke with the actor wondering what drink he was going to serve each episode as that's what he was reduced to. A small detail that shows how much attention these writers gave to the production was having the little Bajoran girl, Sahgi, who had been in the Season 6 finale, 'Tears of The Prophets,' asking the Emissary to find The Prophets, return to shed light on how far-reaching Sisko and Kasidy's decision to marry would be.
It seems Sisko was able to wriggle out of a great fanfare and procession after all, as this was young Michelle Horn's last appearance as Sahgi, the only new-ish character in a long list of recurring ones (Dukat, Damar, Weyoun, Female Changeling, Kasidy Yates, Sarah Sisko), but I can't remember exactly how the wedding played out, it's been so long since I've watched these episodes. Without the blessing of The Prophets I suppose Sisko wouldn't have felt right giving in to the Bajoran people's demand for a mass celebration. The vision in which he meets his 'Mother,' the Prophet Sarah, was one of the best scenes of the episode because it's such a key moment for him to talk with the Mother he never knew, and yet it's also a harsh meeting because she denies him the one thing he really wants, warning of sorrow and that his greatest trial is yet to come. With hindsight we can see that the sorrow is being parted from his new family, including an unborn child, as The Prophets recall him to be with them, but it's vague enough here, and portentous, that you're left pondering the words. You'd think after the events of 'Tears of The Prophets' when he went against The Prophets' wishes, leading to the death of Jadzia and the closing of the Wormhole, that he'd be quicker to respond to their warnings now, but he feels too strongly that his decision for a permanent commitment to Yates is right.
There's similar resolve in Ezri Dax' mind when she visits Worf's Quarters and we hear her memories of the lovely times of old regarding Worf babysitting Kirayoshi O'Brien in 'Time's Orphan,' or his and Jadzia's goodbyes when they're separated by war assignments ('Sacrifice of Angels' or was it 'Call To Arms'?), his talk of battling Kelvans twice his size (love that 'TOS' reference!), plus the actual marriage in 'You Are Cordially Invited' which prompts Ezri into action. But as we know, in times of war, the laws fall silent, and she goes off as a renegade to rescue Worf against Sisko's orders (I feel like a character pretending to have difficulty with the comm system had been used before), whom she'd vowed to protect. Except it wasn't her, it was Jadzia, and she's still getting mixed up in her past lives, probably brought on by the strong emotion of the time. It's something she does again when she's talking to Worf in the Runabout, forgetting to place her own and Jadzia's identities separately and further aggravating the Klingon's displeasure. I don't know why he didn't go and hang out at the back of the vessel as we know from 'TNG' there's a large room back there, but probably no insignificant tasks to keep him occupied. It's great to have another Runabout, this time the USS Gander, for one episode only. There's some controversy over the name because in the latest 'Star Trek Encyclopedia' they have it as USS Ganda, while the 'DS9 Companion' and Memory Alpha have it as Gander. The second would make more sense as it continued the naming convention of Earth rivers, while the former was a name for the Bantu people, but in the 'Companion' we learn that it was originally to have been Ganges, which had long ago been destroyed and the name had to be re-dubbed, but the model, according to 'The Encyclopedia' was labelled Ganda! It does admit that it could go either way, though!
Another little continuity note is that Worf got to be in command of the Koraga, but we know from 'Change of Heart' that he was unlikely to become a Captain because of the permanent mark on his record from the events of that episode. It can be explained away as being a Klingon ship (K'Vort-class Bird of Prey according to the graphic), and a Captain's rank and being in command of a ship are two different things, so no harm done, and I'm sure he's taken command of the Defiant since that time, but it stood out as something of interest. Another one of those is how Sisko was able to purchase the twelve hecapates of land in Kendra Province since he doesn't use money. That's always a tricky proposition, but it may be that he had Bajorans that wanted to buy him something as a gift for being the Emissary (though in that case you'd think he'd have said the land was a gift from the people). It's very fitting that Sisko the Builder, as he's always been, not to mention a man who loves physical projects (as early as Season 1 he built that alien clock, and in 'Explorers' he recreated a Bajoran solar sailing vessel - another connection to that episode was Ezri letting go of the steering to allow her Runabout to drift in the natural currents of the Badlands in order to replicate the journey taken by Worf's Klingon escape pod, just as Sisko allowed the eddies to take his ship to Cardassia!), should have plans to build a house on the planet he's come to love, but it's also a sign of the direction the series is going: plans for a future, but by the end of the episode that future is in doubt with a warning.
Destiny doesn't usually fit with Trek's view of things - the Kelvin Timeline films gloss over practicalities and good sense by spouting out about the 'Universe' wanting things to be a certain way, to cover a multitude of writing plot-holes, and I've felt a similar thing with 'Discovery,' but for once destiny does make sense for Sisko because we've had the revelations about his Prophet-based parentage, and we know he was planned to be where he is, in spite of his love of Bajor not being part of a master plan, as he puts it (wrongly). He's drawn there and wants to settle down, and as Kasidy said, when your Mum's part Prophet these words take on new meaning. It's both happy and sad that so much time has passed since this was made, but even in the relatively short time since I watched the previous episode, just over a year ago, major developments have occurred. The biggest thing must be that I've finally been able to see what modern, serialised Trek looks like, and I wasn't best pleased, though it wasn't the serialisation as such that got to me. Then the other major, momentous development has been 'Star Trek: Picard' and the words from Patrick Stewart that rather than it being a sequel to 'TNG,' it's a sequel to that era of Trek. Which means for the first time since 'Nemesis' there's the chance we haven't seen the end of the story for some of these characters. That's incredible and puts a new spin on what had become a 'dead' period of Trek since everything filmed post-'Nemesis' had been in the 22nd or 23rd Centuries, and now what is the end doesn't necessarily have to be absolute, something more poignant to watching these final episodes that spelt a conclusive finish to the series.
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