Heroes and Demons

DVD, Voyager S1 (Heroes and Demons)

A standout episode in that it gave the Doctor his first chance to do something away from sickbay, and so it's special for that, although perhaps it doesn't quite deliver on the Beowulf story. It is fun, but the phony beards detract a little (although Michael Keenan does a great turn as King Hrothgar, long before he had the role of Patrick on DS9), and I was a little disappointed that the great horror of Grendel was a bigger version of what they'd captured by transporter.

There was a good shot I noticed. Near the end, Paris is in the background doing something at a console, and in the foreground is the mini photonic lifeform in it's forcefield. They do one of those pretty common devices on Voyager, where the camera stays in the same position, but the focus is on the foreground, then changes so the foreground is blurry and we see Paris clearly. Normally that would be an unremarkable shot, but since the alien isn't real it becomes a clever effect that fits the illusion into the scene even better than elaborate effects. Clever.

I was quite taken by surprise at Freya's death as I'd forgotten that, and it was a good reason for the Doc not to keep his name of Schweitzer (in case the name itself wasn't reason enough!). I love the way Kes always teases information out of him by simply standing there and gazing into him - she should have been a counselor! Kim's mentioned a lot, but what seems like what may be another Kim episode turns into the Doc's. No Neelix, but some different pairings, such as Torres and Paris, and Tuvok and Chakotay... and Janeway and her new hairstyle! Does that count?

I have a feeling she had a similar style to this in some early work on the pilot, but then had to reshoot when the bun was preferred. So I'm not sure why they're doing it here, maybe they wanted to play around a bit in case there was something better. I don't think this one quite suited, it made her look like Colonel Kira! The first Holodeck malfunction story, although the setting is only that, and it's the outside problems that affect things. The best scene is probably the Doc eating a massive joint of meat as he tells of his great warrior prowess at... curing an epidemic.

***

It's Only A Paper Moon

DVD, DS9 S7 (It's Only A Paper Moon)

Deep. That's the way it went. How far has a series come when it can give an entire episode over to two recurring characters, one of which has only been in the thing for a few episodes! The series has broken new ground again. You can equate this with the long ago TNG episode 'Hollow Pursuits' which also has a character living a different life in the Holodeck; you can bring up the EMH from Voyager. But Vic has had more development in the short time he's been around than most seasons of Voyager gave to the EMH!

The story was fitting for the ongoing story, in that it focuses on the reality of war and how people cope with injury, but also puts a Trek spin onto the old topic of people trying to live in fantasy worlds, whether they be books, games, roleplaying, films, or, yes, TV series'. Just as the Holosuite is a world within a world, the episode has a message within a message, and breaks the fourth wall. I'm not sure if that's the right phrase, but what it does is comment on itself, just as Vic has always done, and in a humourous and touching way too. The thing is, you can't live in a fantasy world, you gotta take what life throws at ya. And thanks to friends like Vic, and the station crew being understanding, Nog learns the lesson, and goes back to taking on the challenges of real life.

I love the character of Vic, and they gave him a chance to shine, sing a few songs and now he gets to be on all the time, which was the best gift Nog could give. And there're clips from the film 'Shane', so what more could you want, pally? What more could you want? How about the best performance Aron Eisenberg ever did as Nog, providing moments of joy and anger, fear and bravery, just as the Nog we've known has learned to display. He's the little person with big heart, and should be an example to us all!

****

Covenant

DVD, DS9 S7 (Covenant)

I couldn't remember if the followers survived or not, so that added a tragic kind of tension to proceedings. But for the big comeback episode of Dukat I felt it was lacking. It had moments, such as Dukat's total belief, or the business with Mika and the child, and I always loved Empok Nor as a setting. Somehow the setting wasn't creepy any more - in the past we've had Dominion prisoner exchanges and murdering Cardassian assassins hunting people through the halls, and I can see what they were trying to do in making this the cult's base... The only creepiness was in those Bajorans believing Dukat so totally and without question, and the fact that, as cult leaders do, he only wanted to destroy them as he felt that was what he was supposed to do.

Cults are creepy and nasty, and I suppose it's logical, as the series heads towards the ultimate conclusion, that the battle between Prophets and Pah-wraiths would spread into the physical realm. It's the perfect end collision course for Dukat to be the exact opposite to Sisko, as the supposed emissary for the Pah-wraiths. It's unclear whether they really had done all this, or whether this was all Dukat's desperate attempt to be used by them, so he goes to all this trouble to organise the cult into a segment that follows him. Or whether it was all the writer's desperate attempt to use Dukat! You can sympathise a bit, because it must be hard to get a madman, an insane murderer, who killed off one of the main characters, into a story and have him play an important role that makes sense. Being mad, he is driven, but that wouldn't necessarily leave him driven into the kinds of story you would expect on the series.

So they probably did the only thing they could think of, and progressed his fascination and involvement with the Pah-wraiths in this manner. But as a story it's not the best, mainly because it's hard to accept the way these people have turned to the enemies of their former gods, and yet aren't vengeful. They happily go about preaching peace and love, and painting pictures, and they don't explain why they stopped being on the side of the Prophets. It's all a jolly little time with Dukat as the leader... until he goes against the very rules he's laid down, and so ends up deciding to kill them all! The same with Fala - Kira never finds out about what drove him to abandon his faith for this.

For an episode that tries to be complex, it takes a long time not to get very far into the issues. At first it seems to be one of those, 'things are not as they seem, and the character [Kira] learns to understand the opposing view', but it couldn't do that because the cult and Dukat are evil. It was obvious that wasn't going to happen. It also seemed a bit hard to swallow that Kira could be beamed such a distance away with the aid of a tiny transponder! If that was so, then why aren't changelings infiltrating all the top positions and simply slapping a transponder onto people like Sisko or Ross, so they can capture them?

And Dukat being mad, you're never fully sure about his purposes. Did he want to recreate life on DS9 when he was Prefect of Bajor? Did he want to get the Pah-wraith's attention simply in an effort to oppose Sisko? Did he have no plan and was just carrying out a perceived instruction from the Pah-wraiths? As I said, you can see that they were trying to do a creepy cult story, get Dukat back into the storyline, and throw up some questions about faith, but in the end it feels like a muddled mess with only the answers that we knew from the beginning: cults are a Very Bad Thing.

**

The Big Goodbye

DVD, TNG S1 (The Big Goodbye)

I always think Whalen is going to die! This was the first in a long line of Holodeck stories, which single-handedly created a sub-genre in Trek. The ever-reliable Holodeck Malfunction! Some people felt they were over-used and they were an undeniable cliche, but they were also almost without exception, great fun, with danger, laughs and classic fish-out-of-water experiences. I would also go so far as to call this episode the first of this season where everything is working to its maximum, with good little scenes for most of the characters and some brilliant moments in the Holodeck.

As well as being a good story it also throws up some questions about the technology, and inconsistencies with later encounters with it. Most can be put down to an early version of this tech, as it has clearly not been experienced by Picard before, at least not in a recreational sense. The idea was originally planned for as early as the original series, and used in the animated version (and in timeline terms was first seen in 'Enterprise' created by an alien race), but it only really came into its own on TNG.

There was no talk of safeties and other tech speak that became familiar, but it still fits together. The Holodeck characters quickly jump to awareness of the 'other world' they see from inside the Holodeck, whereas later versions tended to have such things invisible to them, as part of their programming. They would also see characters as different than they might look, whereas in this one Data's unique appearance is noticed (and explained away in a most amusing manner).

The biggest and hardest problem to fathom, is with items going out of the Holodeck. Lipstick is still on Picard's face, and most obvious of all Sirus Redblock and his goon leave the Holodeck which should be impossible. They then vanish before their own eyes. Perhaps that can be explained by saying that things in the program can be real, and although people aren't, perhaps the technology has a bleed-off area to account for people or things needing to have that extra boundary. After they enter the bleed-off area their patterns begin to degrade. At least that's how I'd get around the massive inconsistencies, in what is otherwise a hilarious episode, and one that contains some great lines and danger.

When Whalen is shot it brings home the life-threatening situation they're now in, where before they were all grinning as they put their arms up! Dick Miller makes his first appearance in the Trek universe as a newsvendor - he'd later play another character from history (in Trek time) in the early 21st Century on DS9's 'Past Tense'.

****

Shockwave

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Shockwave)

Shocking way to end a first season! This is the first time a first season finished with a cliffhanger, as well as the first time someone from Starfleet has gone this far into the near future. The 31st Century. Who'd have thought a 22nd Century-based series would have given us that? But that was the series' spice, its zest, what made it different. And though later seasons never used the storyline to full potential I think you could say it got reasonable coverage in Season One. Though I would have preferred a few more episodes on the subject of the Temporal Cold War, I must admit, this was a thoroughly effective way of bringing that side of it back.

The sad destruction of a colony of over three thousand was quite a hard thing to take, and was played well by the cast. It isn't often the series gets into more emotional or psychological problems, being more action based than previous Treks, but Archer's disappointment and guilt was strong. Action was represented by the daring and thrilling raid on a cloaked Suliban cruiser, with some great moments of phaser battles and quick, precise planning. Even the camera shots were higher quality and put you right in the moment.

As the mystery unravels, with input from 'dead' pseudo-crewman Daniels, and the Suliban's plot is uncovered, the tying into all the threads of the pilot and 'Cold Front' come up to haunt Archer. It's great having the two temporal titans of Daniels and Silik in a tug of war over the fate of Enterprise, and yet they don't even know the full details of what is happening, simply obeying orders. Certainly the cliffhanger leaves you wondering how they can resolve the story, with Archer trapped in the future and the NX-01 about to be destroyed! Unfortunately part two didn't live up as I recall, but you can't blame the set up for that. It closes out what has been a strong start for the series on a relative high.

One disappointment for me was in the very brief temporal echo room scene. We don't have time to see that amazing effect used so well (the pilot set very high standards!), and Future Guy, whom Silik receives orders from doesn't look as good in that bright room. The atmospheric scene from the pilot was probably using more money, but I felt simple things such as lower lighting could have made this approximation better.

As a season the first has had its ups and downs. I would say definitely more ups, than downs, with the strongest opening barrage of episodes than any opening season has boasted before it. But inertia slipped in I feel, to some degree, or maybe they didn't have so many solid ideas of what to do after the first half, and it seemed that it became a bit more patchy as the season drew closer to the end, with less satisfying integration of characters and less vibrant storytelling. In fairness they were doing 26 episodes when usually they only do around 20 in the first season, so perhaps fatigue set in.

I'm not talking about the actors who put all they could into their characters and created a bond of family even in a short time. Perhaps they grew too comfortable, too quickly, and that may have been a problem, but it's up to the writers to play the ideals for the characters to live up to, and not enough was done so that only Archer and T'Pol feel truly developed. But the production standards were rarely less than excellent, and the series' zest, or uniqueness, as I mentioned earlier, created some new kinds of episodes and a different feel to recent Trek's. Perhaps they weren't quite as bold as that opening set of episodes, which loses the momentum a bit, but in general a sterling performance.

It has been greatly enjoyable to see T'Pol grow to care for her comrades and feel part of the mission. Hoshi has gained her space legs (though I miss that neuroticism), Trip has proved a good friend to Archer, Mayweather hasn't changed much, Reed has done his business and Phlox has been a little forgotten. Archer has certainly been the one to learn so much from his many mistakes, his good humoured nature always rising to the surface for a Captain you like even more than you respect. It would be churlish to hope for much more from a debut series.

***

The Grapes of Wrath

DVD, The Grapes of Wrath (1940) film

Simple, yet profound. I think that's the best way to sum up this film. It's a story of such troubles and hardship and sadness, but in all the troubles it shows the family sticking together. They go through so much badness, no one wants them around, they're exploited, they live in squalor, always hungry. But a lot of the time they seem more happy than they have a right to be, especially the children who experience it as one long adventure because they don't know anything else.

When so much depression happens, it is such a relief to come to the civilised camp, fronted by a kind of miniature Roosevelt figure. At last there is a place to live, not fenced in and hungry, but free and with amenities. But for Tom Joad, his sins, forced into the guilt even though he was, catch up with him. He has killed, and can never rest. But he still has grand ideas, that even he doesn't understand. Perhaps that was what the American Dream came from. For, as bad as these events are, they are a picture of history.

I only saw this film once before. It would have been back in 1998, I believe, for GCSE History, but I always hoped to see it again. Not because it's a fun film and something that you can enjoy, but more because it's a hard story, based in fact, and it was fascinating. I didn't remember much from it, since a decade had passed, and there isn't much to distinguish one part of the story from the next - it's mostly one long, depressing journey. I did remember the time when they had to leave, all bundled on a truck like that.

It's aged well, helped immensely by John Ford's legendary direction. It may be black and white, but this seems right for such a tale of faded life. And there are some nice shots. But it's the speeches, the observations on human life that make it starkly as much about the modern world as about the American dust bowl. Life, death, and survival in between. That's what it's all about.

***

The Siege of AR-558

DVD, DS9 S7 (The Siege of AR-558)

The brutal realities of war are the focus of this unique tale. It's as relevant today for it's reminder that the troops who go into battle against the enemy are real people, not just a load of names to be forgotten. The harsh conditions of physical, one-to-one warfare are brought home, but not just for the humans. This being 'DS9' we get the Ferengi perspective too. Quark ends up sounding like Neville Chamberlain. He's just an old-fashioned Ferengi and it's funny how so much social change happens around him, even to him, perhaps partly thanks to that little family of Quark, Rom and Nog all learning from the humans and other races they lived with.

Rom turns out to be a progressive member of the greed-loving race (though he only gets a cameo in this episode, alongside Vic), and Nog long ago chose to make history as the first Ferengi in Starfleet. Once again the unique qualities of his people prove useful, as he becomes the only 'sensor' to the sound of the Jem'Hadar approach. He is wholeheartedly a Starfleet officer, yet retains his Ferengi heritage, which is a positive message in itself! Quark is really just worried for his nephew's safety, which proves to be a fair concern when the young man loses his leg in a shock moment.

The series loves to stretch its characters, put them in new situations and this episode would score on both counts. About the only thing missing is Worf, to take on the Jem'Hadar, but 'DS9' isn't in the habit of too much repetition and we've already seen everyone's favourite Klingon take on the Gamma Quadrant warriors plenty of times. This was more about the faceless masses of Starfleet forces, the ones we hear about, on the front lines. In a way it is 'Star Trek's tribute to the real soldiers who have to do the dirty work. It proves that war is not all clean phaser disintegration and long-range torpedoes, even in the 24th Century.

The cave set just keeps on giving. It works as the rather fancy communications device (complete with Dominion shield ring as seen since the Jem'Hadar were introduced), which is the prize these people are holding, as well as the vantage point for Nog's reconnaissance. The colourful characters may be cliches of war film (the jittery one, the one that collects trophies of his kills, etc), but they aren't the kind of people we see in Trek very often, if at all. The waves of enemy attacking is well shot, but I was expecting the music to take over the sound, but it does actually still have the noise of battle. Still, they did that kind of thing very movingly before in 'Rocks and Shoals' so they obviously didn't want to be unoriginal. We see the futility and the purpose of war, all wrapped up in a bundle of nerves and redemption, courage and craziness. I don't think you could compare this episode to any other episode of any Trek.

****