Rapture

DVD, DS9 S5 (Rapture)

Of the many changes heralded in this, it is the one that was barely more than skin deep that sticks out like a sore tailor's thumb, and makes the biggest visual change to the series in a long while. I weave around the subject of the uniforms, of course! Eighth film 'First Contact' did a lot of good things for Trek, much like 'Wrath of Khan,' and one thing they have in common are new uniforms that would define an era and strike a new thread in costume design. It was fitting then that this filmic next stage in the Starfleet uniform should be adopted by 'DS9,' and it was only to my disappointment that 'Voyager' never took them on, the weak argument that they weren't in contact with home to prevent it, and when they were, it would take up too much replicator power or something - the real reason was that the series wanted a distinct look away from 'DS9' if it could, even though 'DS9' had progressed to more textured, contrasting, richer cloth, and 'Voyager' stuck with the old bind in a manner of speaking. Kind of sums up the style of both series', though I will say that the brighter colours suited the later series better than the dark station environs. For one thing, their beefier shoulders, piped and subdued, improved the contrast on the actors' faces - just look at Jadzia and the way her markings stand out even more in this episode!

It wasn't only a practical consideration to gain new uniforms, it was like a statement of intent. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon word, everyone's favourite lazy description, 'dark,' but 'contrasting' I would go along with. Serious, tough, none of this Day-Glo happy brightness taken down through the ages from 'TOS' - not to say the series couldn't be a jolly place, it could, but it was also of a more pivotal, Quadrant-wide import than the jet set of starships, hopping about like kangaroos from one planet to the next. 'DS9' needed these uniforms, and in my eyes they were the finest designs ever created in the pantheon, despite their simplicity (and, in this case, Sisko wearing his badge up on the shoulder piping, which was a break in the uniform code, or even good taste, if ever I saw one!). If these new uniforms weren't enough to sate the Starfleet fashion appetite, we also have a gaggle of Admirals, spearheaded by Whatley, and even an old 'TNG' uniform gets dug up in B'hala - maybe Whatley's aide really had just been dug up from the ruins, his clothing was old enough!

Enough about the frivolous outer garments, for this is a deeply personal, inner journey, all about faith, mystery and misunderstanding. Oh, well let's just dip back into those uniforms one last time and point out that it was a subtle poke at the new garb when Bashir asks Sisko if his uniform looks a little brighter after the Captain's accident in Quark's rickety old Holosuite - I was with Sisko, expecting rapturous visions any moment since the quality of the episode was so sharp and bright to my eyes! It's been a while since I'd watched an episode on DVD and it made me wonder if we really need a high-definition version after all? Intermission over, back to the inner journey: this was a very important episode, that slings in new developments like there's no tomorrow. And there wouldn't have been one for Bajor if it had joined the Federation. What's that? You mean to say the very mission that Sisko took on all those years ago at the beginning of the series, the main arc of the series, no matter how little it may have been thought about after 'Emissary,' is completed and then undone in the space of one episode? It's crazy, but true, and now you wonder why there wasn't at least some buildup to the Bajorans' signing their lives away, a few episodes where it was discussed, preparations made, Kai Winn making trouble, but no, it all begins and ends here, and it is Sisko himself who brings it crashing down!

With hindsight, or future sight about what's going to happen, this episode shines proudly as the moment Sisko put Bajor before his Starfleet career. That doesn't sound that magnanimous and heroic when put that way, but this is a man that found new direction with his posting and to have it taken away, well, it would be more of a blow to Starfleet, than Ben. At this stage I could see him leaving to build his house on Bajor (though I don't think he's yet sounded as attached to the planet as that, so far), so when he makes a personal plea to 'Charlie,' Admiral Whatley, breaking down all barriers of command because the visions he's experiencing mean so much to him, it tugs on the uniform strings, sorry, heartstrings, and makes even the sceptical, standard, scientific Admiral, who wasn't too bad for one of his kind (Admirals are practically another race in the Trek universe, and a notably villainous one), is taken aback by Sisko's seriousness. There's also that wonderful, Messiah-like walk down the Promenade where Ben shows himself more the Emissary than any other time, prophesying and reassuring, instructing and guiding the Bajorans, even showing insight into the Admiral's personal life.

Again, I would have liked Whatley to have been introduced prior to this story so the impression of being a personal friend to Sisko carried more weight and when he's being strict about all the superstitious mumbo-jumbo, which you can see in his eyes he wants to call it, it would have been more of a betrayal. But there's a moral question at the heart of it all, quite apart from the important progress being made and seeds planted, even apart from the tug of war between 'traditional' Starfleet rational thought and values, and simple faith, and that is whether Sisko should have been allowed to continue having the visions at the risk of his life if they were giving him such insight. It seems somehow selfish that Kasidy and Jake want him to be cured so they can know he'll be safe, and there for them, but that's because we're seeing the wonder and joy in his eyes. Whatley might have felt a little differently about the situation if Sisko had been seeing information Starfleet would be interested in, such as what the Dominion's doing, what Cardassia or Romulus are planning. That might have been an interesting avenue to explore, but it wasn't what the story was about. It all seems unfair for Sisko to give up his amazing clarity of thought, described so incredibly well and poetically when he talks about seeing Jake as a baby, and being able to look into the scrunched up face and see the path of his life spread out before him, and that now it's like he's holding the universe's baby. Wow, some writing there!

It's all a bit fuzzy until Kai Winn gets involved. I couldn't help but be reminded of Vedek Bareil's end in Season 3, struggling on at Winn's encouragement, so that she was partly to blame for his death. It looked like the same could be happening here, with Winn getting Sisko an Orb (I can imagine her phoning down to the planet to order one up, explaining that the Emissary requires it), so he can pursue his visions further. If this was the old Winn I'd say her motives were pure. Purely ambitious, and evil, that is. But this Winn is different, she's taken on massive responsibilities since being elected Kai, and though it was what she wanted it has meant she's had to work hard and with her enemies too. I don't believe we'd seen Winn since the latter part of the third season, in 'Shakaar,' so it's regrettable that we haven't been able to see much of the change the position has clearly wrought in her. Even Kira is expecting the old biting, sarcastic Winn when she greets her on arrival, and the Kai says she looks sweet (being pregnant). It's so strange to see Winn interacting peacefully with Kira and Sisko, caught up in the Emissary's, for want of better, rapture. She sees the Prophets doing something with him and finding the lost city of B'hala is what changes her mind that, yes, he is the Emissary and must be followed!

All this without an actual word from the Prophets themselves. This time we only see Sisko gazing into space until, brought back from reverie, he describes what he saw. It gives those sequences a poetic and imaginative bent that might not have been so strong, had they relied on CGI to show us. Sisko's words evoke emotions and memories and give us a greater mythic sense of what he saw than any recreation could. This is another episode to show the Avery Brooks doubters that he can in fact act, possibly better than any other Trek actor (he even does jiggling about in a brain meltdown better than anyone - he'd already had experience of that in 'Starship Down'). One person impressed by his character's attitude is Kasidy Yates, returning from her six month prison sentence for aiding the Maquis terrorists. She's brought in in as simple and uncomplicated a way imaginable, just showing up (if Sisko wasn't having visions and being so introspective he might have begun to get annoyed at the apparent constant interruptions to his Holosuite program - I counted at least three people bursting in on him!). Kasidy's so relieved to receive a warm welcome that she overlooks his odd obsessive behaviour, only slowly showing signs of bewilderment as things progress.

It was an admirable way to reintroduce the character to us, one that could easily have been written out permanently, and it showed that there was more than a mild bond between the two, that she would come back after all that had happened. I thought Penny Johnson did such a good job as this persuasive, if uncomprehending figure, fighting for Jake in Sisko's eyes, reminding him of his duty to his family. But Sisko from this point on could often be said to have the Prophets and Bajor as top priority, perhaps rightly considering the price he paid for disobedience at the end of Season 6. But in this you can see that if the choice was up to him, both his loyalty to Starfleet and duty to his family would fall by the wayside because of the importance of what he was going through. And it was very important - not so much finding B'hala, as that was only instrumental in causing his popularity to skyrocket with the Bajorans. No, the real acid test was going against the grain and stopping Bajor from joining the Federation and not becoming embroiled with the coming war with the Dominion.

Wow, that was a bit of a clanger, wasn't it: Sisko slips in the detail that there's going to be a war with the Dominion. I don't think it seemed inevitable before this, because the Dominion always worked in the shadows to destabilise, not challenge openly. But it's practically a throwaway line to Kira in the Holosuite. Her response? Something like, 'you can see the future?' Not, 'the Dominion's coming to destroy us?'! The image of locusts was a powerful one, giving the story some Biblical depth and gravity, and also setting up the question of why these 'locusts' passed over Bajor and headed for Cardassia. All very intriguing to someone who hasn't seen what happens, and all very satisfying for those that have. Some might question how, if Sisko could work out the location of the lost city just by noticing the reflection of the Bantaca spire in the painting of the city, others hadn't done the same, but it makes sense that the Bajorans wouldn't have looked at it in the same way. They have computers and technology, but I imagine they wouldn't have thought to scan in such an artefact and examine it in minute detail, and instead would have revered it as a sacred relic. It's also more of a clue that initiates his musing, and he uses maps and his visions to complete the work, so it wasn't so easy when you realise that.

One thing not so easy to see past is Dax' slip of the tongue, when, in Quark's bar as preparations are made for the admittance of Bajor into the Federation, she says she wishes a new member could join every week. But she doesn't say the Federation, she says Starfleet! Okay, there is talk of absorbing the Bajoran Militia into Starfleet later, but I don't think that's what Jadzia meant… Something else that may or may not have been noticed was the excellent redress of the old faithful cave set. This time it has a lower roof with roots straggling down out of it, giving it a completely new look. It was also very dramatic, like the opening of an ancient tomb or some Indiana Jones location, when they enter the lost city (the phasering away of the underground wall brought 'Chain of Command' to mind, in which Picard does a similar thing). I would have preferred inky blackness with only the torchlight for illumination, which was the general impression, and it was quite well done, though I had the idea there were other light sources too.

The timing of this episode is something of a question mark. Does it come before or after 'First Contact,' because the new uniforms could have been introduced gradually, and even though the station is a facility on the edge of space, presumably all Starfleet needs to do would be to fax over the design and have Replicators do the work. Then again, the captured Bashir later in the series is wearing an old style of uniform, but that's an issue to be discussed when we reach it. Watching in continuity I would see the film before this as that was what happened in real life. Whenever the story is supposed to be set, you can't hide the relatively brave assertions about faith in this episode. There's a wonderful scene in Ops between O'Brien and Dax, espousing the usual belief in science and medicine, and Worf and Kira standing up for faith - Kira even replies that faith is what it's all about, or words to that effect, not something that would have happened in 'TNG' or pretty much any of the other series' either. Not to say 'DS9' doesn't have its share of the atheist worldview, but it's encouraging to see the other side presented in such a positive light.

Kai Winn was also presented in a somewhat more positive light, giving Kira a dressing down for assuming it was only the rebels and fighters that came up against the Cardassians. Like Dukat before her, the writers had successfully managed to get us to think more sympathetically about what was once a terrible, conniving person, and could still be. But then, that's the point. The saga is left open and uncertain. Views have changed, Starfleet had its warning shot off the bow concerning Sisko's dedication to an alien religion; Kira has professed her loyalty and belief in Sisko as the Emissary; even more unbelievably Winn has done so too, admitting openly to Kira that she was wrong! [Jaw hits floor]. Winn isn't sure where she stands, though Sisko is whom she'll follow, she claims; the Federation isn't sure where the Bajorans are; the Bajorans are only sure not to go with the Federation yet; Sisko's not sure why; talk of locusts; words of mystery… It's not all resolved in an easy climax, but there's hope - Whatley probably went back to Starfleet HQ and stood up for Ben after his last definite statement about Bajor joining eventually, a straw of hope to a non-believing organisation.

Other things to look out for are a good mixture of familiar aliens (a Yridian in Quark's bar, Vulcan and Bolian Admirals), and the disdainful look Winn's sniffy bodyguard monk gives the Starfleet and Bajoran security officers about to follow her - one even looks to the other with a raised eyebrow: so much detail going on, even in the background, like a real, breathing world! On the Jones-Watch front, the guy can be seen clearly when he assists Sisko upon the Captain's staggering entry into the Wardroom for the dramatic declaration that Bajor must stand alone. Not only was Brooks really good, but his TV son Cirroc Lofton continues to be given proper acting scenes, perhaps because he's now older (eighteen according to the episode), and again, proves himself to those that were disparaging of his ability. When I first saw the episode, I was ill and it was an enclosed station-bound episode that didn't much appeal, and maybe I couldn't take all the details in so well, but on repeated viewings the episode has improved, and seen in context of the wider series it's another great for Season 5, even ending on a beautifully symbolic, wordless gesture of Kasidy bringing Jake and Ben's hands together, and Sisko putting her hand on top in a show of solidarity.

****

Arctic

DVD, Smallville S7 (Arctic)

A new year, and the ending of an old season. If I'd realised this was to be the finale of Season 7 I'd have squeezed it in before the end of last year, while the ongoing events remained fresh in my mind, but I thought I had a few more episodes to go, at least two or three. So what happened, did they run out of budget? Was the series losing popularity and so they cut the episode count to twenty? Compared with the usual high production values of previous year-enders, this didn't appear to be in the same league, with no real set-pieces (and the usual suspects of reused sets, namely the Ace of Clubs and the ever-ready plane internal), unless you count the Fortress of Solitude collapsing, in all its half-baked CGI-ness. It wasn't that I felt let down by the story, I rarely build up enough steam with this series to let expectations begin to creep up, but even in a post-Christmas, not-seen-it-for-a-few-weeks-so-nice-to-be-back mood, the impact of Lex and Clark finally, inevitably reaching that much longed-for meeting in which Lex reveals that he knows Clark's secret, the linchpin that made the series so edge-of-the-seat in the early days, and even remained a last-ditch glimmer of something dramatic that would be built to subsequently, was minimal - a puff of air; a polite nothing. Maybe the drama had all been squeezed out over the years, but there was always that faint possibility that Lex still didn't know. I suppose now we'll never know if Fake Kara/Brainiac told him, or whether he did already know for certain. If so, then why not capture Clark?

That wasn't the only strange decision Lex made. He calls in Jimmy's favour from 'Sleeper' to get Lois off his back so he can… go to the arctic without her knowing? What? And then there's Jimmy, who I know is supposed to be a bit green, but would he really ever think it was one good turn and we're all done? This is Lex he was dealing with! Why didn't Lex just have Lois bumped off or removed? Maybe because she's main character, and one that was designed to stay around. I don't know, watching this I didn't long for the day when the facades of Lex were dropped - as I've noted in many reviews, the does he/doesn't he know merry-go-round was the writers' second favourite pastime after Lana and Clark's soap opera carryings-on, but I still believed that moment we all waited for would come to more than Lex dropping his bauble of Kryptonian doom on the Fortress' crystal control panel (built conveniently to hold it!), after a short, mechanical conversation between the nemeses with all the dramatic tension of Jimmy taking a photo at a high school prom. The only surprise is Lex not degenerating into a mouth-frothing Senator Palpatine-versus-Yoda figure, gnashing his teeth and cursing the farm boy for his deception. It appears there wasn't much surprise for Lex or the fulfilment of a long-guessed mystery - he's mildly apologetic for killing Clark in the name of humanity, his 'brother,' and then foolishly gets caught in the ensuing avalanche of CG crystals.

I liked that there was at least a reference to the old friendship between the two, brought up by Lois, and in Michael Rosenbaum's defence, I will point to his performance in this episode being much more mature, restrained and aloof, serious, as if he knew this was the last time he'd be playing the character, which I believe it was. If only he'd put that dignity into the man more often, but it was the writers that messed with the character, took him in circles (like most of the others, actually), and generally stripped him of the fascinating dynamic he possessed in Season 1 and 2. I am a little confused, knowing a few scanty details picked up over the years I kept expecting Lex clones to be coming out of the woodwork. I expected Lana to be revealed as a clone - indeed, I really expected the nurse to tell Clark she'd died, and I certainly feel that would have been a better ending to her character (whom I believe also bowed out with this season), than a hastily recorded video message (which she was able to quickly record onto DVD and pass on to a nurse!), declaring her selfless love, how she's holding Clark back from his destiny and is now going. What was the point of bringing her back this season at all, since she's basically done exactly what she did at the end of Season 6: vanished to live her life away from friends and enemies. Granted, she could return easily at any time, but I was convinced she was to be a clone and the real Lana had died previously.

Still, the future's set up, as it usually is in the cliffhanger ending. They'll need to sort out a role for Chloe who remains booted from the Daily Planet, and Clark's been given an offer from Lois (who was summarily promoted to Chloe's lowly position, and appears not to have told her cousin at any time in the episode), to join the paper. Now that Lex is gone I can see both of them working there under Lois, and of course we still have the unresolved lying of Jimmy to be worked through. But I really have no idea what to expect from Season 8, unlike the little half-knowledge I had of Season 7. Hopefully Kara will stay trapped in the Phantom Zone, the best place for her, though again, I'm confused, because it seemed that she was Kara, with Brainiac inside her in previous episodes, and I thought she'd somehow overcome the machine controlling her. When Kara goes to take Lex' weapon pod and can't pick it up, why didn't she/he rip the whole safe out of the wall if it was't possible to carry it, since Brainiac had enhanced strength too, didn't he/it? A shame that Brainiac's destruction means James Marsters excellent villainous turn is seemingly over. So it was really that easy to destroy Brainiac all along? Just course enough electricity through him and he'll explode? We can read Chloe's power as being the true culprit, weakening him enough to be vulnerable, but it was another anticlimax to add to the list.

Chloe's defence with her beautiful pink power of healing (I half expected love hearts to float out like some kind of Princess Peach move in 'Mario Kart'!), was one of the few unexpected twists in the story - makes sense as her mutation comes from Kryptonite so it would counteract a Kryptonian machine. At last, her mutant ability has more effect than bringing back a necessary character to life! Good to see Brainiac surprised at something simple not going to plan for him. Chloe going into a coma was completely irrelevant - she's out for a bit with the misty eyes a la Lana, then a few minutes later she's fine. The same could be said for Lana, except her message came across as something tacked on, as if they'd given Kristin Kreuk the boot a few episodes ago (and I never realised that scene with Clark at her side would be the last they'd share), and had her record this to stick in, in case anyone wondered what had happened to one of the main cast members and needed some kind of resolution! The biggest new danger I can see is Chloe having been arrested by the government (or the prospect of marriage to Jimmy), but, just as we've seen Clark visit someone in hospital so many, many times, we've also seen people locked up and then escaping. Even Robert Picardo, thrust briefly into the opening for Edward Teague to be killed off (wow, he didn't last long!), didn't do any favours to plot or sense. Either way, there should have been more oomph to the cliffhanger. If you know Lex isn't coming back, that negates that story, leaving loose ends, yes, but not terrifying, brink of disaster, write-yourself-out-of-that-one excitement.

Not that I've often loved the season opener's, rarely living up to the cliffhangers. On the whole I wouldn't say this was a bad season, as I've heard it described. It had it's patches of goodness, the Veritas saga, and other bits and pieces here and there that haven't lingered in the memory. It didn't have as good an arc as Season 6, but then it barely featured the best new character (Green Arrow), so what can you expect? Kara was neither revelation of awfulness, nor angel of brilliance, she was tossed around in the usual haphazard manner, even dispensed with for a while, but you come to expect that from these writers, who don't know the meaning of the word 'consistency.' In some ways they've gone back to the dawn of cinematic sci-fi storytelling, with nonsensical plots, serialised to keep viewers watching, think 'Flash Gordon'! Cheesy, bright, silly, undemanding (except for a reviewer trying to keep track of the ins and outs of each new plot device), I resigned myself to getting to the end of the series a good while ago, and with that resolution you find new enjoyment, realising it's just ephemeral, something to look forward to catching up with once a week. So that's how I feel at this stage after Season 7. Whether the series can find any of the Season 6 gravity or some of the mystery of the better episodes this season, I will wait to discover.

**

Quest

DVD, Smallville S7 (Quest)

Grisly is one word to describe the opening in which Lex' chest is sliced up by an old guy, later said to be the one at the Swiss bank, some kind of superhero if he can track down Lex, do a Zorro trick on his torso and then leave unmolested. You see, it was to send Clark a clue so he'd know where to go and he could meet Edward Teague and, well, that's when the story falters. The quick, surprise fight in the mansion at the beginning wasn't bad, and of course you want to know more about the thing which can control Clark, but I was most excited by seeing Robert Picardo's name in the opening guest credits, one of the best actors on 'Star Trek: Voyager.' It might have had something to do with the episode being directed by Kenneth Biller, who was also a high-up on that series, so it's a bit of an old Trek reunion. If only the results had been worth it. Because what this is, is a jumble of mumbo jumbo mythology, heavily retconning, even more than had been done before: every action Lionel ever took was towards securing the Traveller? He had the Scottish castle removed brick by brick to Smallville (this we knew from early in the series), because he knew there was something hidden in it that could control the Traveller? Edward Teague has been waiting in hiding as a mad monk all these years to eventually meet the Traveller and has gone half-crazy in venerating this 'messiah' of a pedestal vision, so much so that he'll kill the guy if he doesn't immediately show proper willing when it comes to killing his enemies? The Kawatche caves again?

Retcon mumbo jumbo overkill salad! This really is too, too much. I was rarely more happy than when the caves and their wall paintings (first introduced in Season 2), and the myth of the great Naman, were left behind as the series changed into something else (witches and vampires very much aside!), so to have all that tie in was not my favourite way of resolving the latest quest for the latest artefact, not even a reference to Clark writing a paper on the caves in high school ameliorated me. Why, it's another Kryptonian key thing that when added to a multifaceted bauble gives Lex what looks like the location of the Fortress of Solitude. Big wooh. Okay, so if that symbol in the mantle of the fireplace has always been there and they were observant enough to be able to incorporate it into this latest arc, then they are clever. What they aren't so clever about is actually writing the hackneyed thing. It's another (yet another and another, will I never learn?), making-it-up-as-we-go-along story, rich in prophetic language, Christ- or God-like thematic material and morals (should Clark kill Lex if that will save humanity?), but it's all so full of holes.

Early part of the episode? No problem, it's sudden attacks and moody meetings in the back of limos, rain dashing down and making beautifully alien patterns on people's skin, a tonne of atmosphere. But the real torrent comes in all the 'research' various parties are flinging together. Least expected is that Jimmy, out of the blue, is writing and sells his first story (did Lex allow him to? Is there a case of double standards here?), which could easily lead to information on Clark ending up on Lex' desk. Such concerns are academic now if Lex really has discovered the location of Clark's special hidey-hole, but that too could be academic if the 'prophecies' comes true of an ultimate battle between good and evil (that old chestnut!), in which one should emerge the victor. Guessing it's not Lex, since the series carried on for another three seasons…

Let's get down to the nitty-gritty, though: Robert Picardo plays the presumed dead Edward Teague who claims that his son and wife both died for the sake of the Traveller. Now I can't remember exactly why they died, but I'm pretty sure it was their own greed or desire for power that motivated them. Not that Eddy is talking too coherently - Clark shows up at the grand church in Montreal (didn't they shoot the series in Canada? Handy!), and the guy wants to bow down before him. Lex must die, because, well, he just has to, because, well, he's bad, right? It's all rather vague and nonsensical, but Mr. Teague sees Clark isn't going to take over from the President right there on the spot and this means Clark must die. Riiiiiiight. So he uses his handy Kryptonite-handled cane to subdue the Traveller whom he's been waiting much of his life to meet (notice they don't bother with the old green vein effect any more - when did they stop doing that? Without that effect it makes Clark look merely a bit queasy instead of fighting for his life), then straps him down on a sacrificial slab he prepared earlier, you know, just in case he had to kill his hero, fills the surround with liquid Kryptonite and carves a tasty symbol on Clark's chest. Mmm, grisly, we're back to that again.

Meanwhile Lex has done his own investigations, despite almost having died in the teaser he's running around searching the globe for the fabled clock - amazing what a few stitches can do for you! Yes, you read that right, a 'special clock' that Veritas built to hide part of the device which could control the Traveller. How convoluted did they need all this to be? It ends with a confrontation in which Lex and Ed have a stick fight, Clark rushes in to save Teague for some reason, the clock gets smashed and Lex finds the key thing. It seems likely he has no idea that Clark is the Traveller, the way he appears to be so awed by his proximity to the being, knowing that was whom stopped the fight. So now we have Mr. Teague to look forward to again (and as much as I love Picardo, as a mad monk I can take him or leave him), and Lex with the device fully formed. How exciting, not.

I'm so glad we didn't have the continuation of Kara as Brainiac, comatose Lana, or Lois shoehorned into this as well, as it was already far too overblown and slopping over the sides of the sacred chalice of Krypton. There's some bizarre religious cult impression to be taken from Teague's ramblings and all his lore of Krypton (apparently he was a student of Swann's, not just part of the secret society), but it's all way over the top ridiculous. Even minor niggles like Chloe and Clark waving an A4 colour photo of Lex' injury around in the Smallville Medical Centre (why was Lex not seen by a specialist doctor, he usually has his medical attention that way?), where they would surely be noticed and arrested for breaching patient confidentiality, or at the least questioned over how they got that image, gets forgotten in the bigger, more crazy, picture. Lex is happy to have every millimetre of his mansion searched by a crowd of people to find the artefact, but wouldn't he be worried that someone could find some other secret of his? Or does he no longer have any other secrets, which takes away from the character? I will give credit to a couple of sequences: the dash to save Edward with Clark superspeeding in was good to see, even if it remains a trifle muddled, but the CGI of the internal mechanics of the 'special clock' were artistically done, both visually and aurally, a moment of finesse in a torn up tapestry of a story.

**

Skyfall

 cinema, Skyfall (2012) film

As I watched, for a while into the film I began to think I'd have nothing to write a review about. It wasn't that it was bad, it was fine, just fine. At the end I easily summed it up as 'good in parts, disposable entertainment,' but at least I had found much more to write about by that time. To write a review you need things to think about, and much of the plot was the usual brand of 'seen it all before' action fare. After the film there's little to cogitate over, but enough to remember, that I'll do my best to get across my feelings on this, the third Daniel Craig Bond film. But there it is: when your first film is the best Bond it's difficult to drive an upward curve. In a way, 'Quantum of Solace' had an easy time of it, since any weakness in story or character were instantly attributed to its troubled writing period or the fact that it couldn't be improved during shooting due to the strikes in the industry. So I went into 'Quantum' with low expectations and came out thinking it was alright and wondering what all the fuss was about. A second viewing made me realise that it was a very average film, whereas repeated viewings of 'Royale' made me want to rate it higher.

After 'Quantum' I was no longer bothered about the next Bond film, and with the extended time it took to arrive I didn't have any lingering inertia from 'Royale' to make alter my feelings one way or the other. Before 'Royale' I'd never even considered going to the cinema to see a Bond, so I'd slipped back into that pre-'Royale' apathy over it. But then there was all the talk of it celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the first in the series, 'Dr. No,' back in 1962, and it was talked up as being a really good instalment, bringing in elements of the history of the man and having a much improved villain to oppose, all combining to pique my interest. Having been disappointed on many occasions when others have lauded a new film, only for me to watch it and find it okay, nothing more, I kept a level expectation, neither high nor low, but it did make me want to at least see the film in the cinema. So I did, and it turned out to be nothing more, nothing less than expected: a suitably watchable film that was certainly not a disappointment (like 'The Bourne Legacy'), more like an average to above average blockbuster (like 'Mission: Impossible 4'), and certainly not on a par with my film of the year, 'The Dark Knight Rises.'

I will say this for it, it had a much more memorable adversary than 'Quantum' - can you remember him? If you haven't seen it recently, I'll warrant you can't. Silva was a defined personality, an old-fashioned Bond enemy (somewhat making up for the lack of Oddjob, a classic baddie I'd heard rumours about a few years ago, and which was at the back of my mind, causing me to wonder whether he was one of the 'bodyguards' of the French girl, who gets eaten by CGI Komodo dragons!), he made an impact with his opening monologue about rats, had the mad hair and delightfully simple physical disfigurement (like Le Chiffre and the classic Bond villains of old), one that had been indirectly caused by M, in a way. Because, at the risk of citing many films in this genre, it's another one about a former operative gone bad. He had reason to, after being tortured and attempting to use his cyanide pill to escape the agony only to find it ate up his insides, but left him alive enough to want revenge on his former boss. Presumably he went a little bit mad thanks to this episode, which is why he goes about things in the usual superfluous super-villain way - why just hire someone to kill M when you can do it yourself in a convoluted and fiendishly clever way? Why blow up a house with a gunship's missiles when you can lob little grenades in and chase her across the barren Scottish countryside? Mind you, he had help from the complete ineptness of the British police who can't protect high-ranking members of the government from three bad guys with guns! Not sure the Metropolitan Force will feel quite so patriotic about this films as others do...

The biggest pointer to Silva's deranged nature was that when it came to it he couldn't kill her, and instead wanted her to pull the trigger and send a bullet through both their brain's at the same time! Which leads me to the biggest (you could say only, but for a minor sleight of hand flourish at the end. Oh alright, the dark-skinned agent who helps or hinders Bond through the film turns out to be Miss Moneypenny), surprise: Judi Dench's M is killed. Wow! That I did not see coming, and it's a credit to my ability to avoid spoilers that I never even sensed a whiff of such a twist. You think the main 'iconic' characters are safe, and the only deaths are of agents we meet in the film we're watching at the time or mindless goons for Bond to dispatch dispassionately, but not M… I can see why they did that, Dench ageing, as they all are - if a theme can be taken from the story it is age, years and history, the right kind of sentiment considering this is a franchise that began in the early 1960s. I didn't buy Bond suddenly becoming a weaker agent just because he got shot and fell in some water (so he can drink in a bar with a scorpion for a friend - must admit I never noticed the product placement this time, whereas n 'Royale' it jumped out at you). Suddenly he's a lesser man, but that particular theme didn't play out strongly enough, as if they weren't happy to go the whole hog and make him a truly vulnerable person physically as they made him emotionally in 'Casino Royale.'

Dench and Craig have aged, and there was a sadness in seeing the departure of the M of the modern era, the only actor I associate with the part, since I'm not heavily into the history of the films - I've seen most of them, but Dench was the one of my lifetime, or that part of my lifetime when I began to be aware of Bond, whether through people talking about the Brosnan films or playing the seminal 'Goldeneye 007' on the Nintendo 64, and later, 'The World Is Not Enough' on the same. I like her from other things and I remember her, so to have an era come to an end with her passing the mantle onto Ralph Fiennes was a sentimental moment for me. It was one of the things that worked so well about 'Royale,' that, even though they were rebooting and going for a new cast and realistic style, they retained the Brosnan M. It was something to provide continuity despite being a new world. It wasn't even that she had a glorious death, went out in a bang or saved someone, she just got hit during the firefight attack on Bond's ancestral home, and is too pigheaded to tell anyone until it's too late, dying in Bond's arms. I liked that he was allowed to shed a tear over her, as she's the main influence on his Bond (aside from Vesper), just as I was glad when he showed concern for a fellow agent at the beginning, wanting to save that man's life rather than fulfil his mission and follow the baddies (though why a hard drive would have all the names of all the undercover agents in one place is a plot contrivance you have to politely ignore).

When they do that, they add depth to the character. No more so than with the delving into his backstory, something I did know was going to happen. We find out his parents names, see their graves, visit his family home (the Skyfall of the title - neither an impressive reveal or a crushing disappointment), meet the old gamekeeper that looked after him (shades of Alfred, Bruce Wayne's butler?), with Albert Finney muscling in on another action hero franchise, arriving in the third film as the guy who was there when it all began, a similar situation to 'The Bourne Ultimatum,' only that time you could tell which accent he was going for. This time I thought he was playing it American, then English, then Scottish, and I'd have thought better of such an accomplished performer as he, unless it were simply my ears playing up. The old Aston Martin makes its comeback, proving useful, in a 'the bad guys better stand right in front of it or it won't be able to shoot them' kind of way, but as I say, I'm not steeped in Bond lore, I was quite happy for them to reboot the series in 2006 as, though I'd seen most of the films, I wasn't attached to them as some people are.

That stretches to people such as Q or Moneypenny being reintroduced into this new version, and actually it took me out of the film a little because I had forgotten this is an updated Bond, so that what went before didn't happen in this 'universe.' Not that I minded those characters, they were fine, and actually, in the previous two films I enjoyed Felix Leiter's appearances, so technically I'm all for people of the old-school showing up (still I wait with bated breath for Jaws!). They even joke about the changes compared with old Bond, with Q wittily pointing to the fact that this one doesn't have the luxury of gadgets, just simple tools, nothing elaborate. It kind of makes you wonder what the point of having Q in this, was, but he had to be the brain which Silva manipulated with the computer wizardry, though again, it could have been any MI6 technician and made as much sense. But they were going for a deliberate referencing of old Bond, there were probably so many references in there that only an aficionado would spot them all (I got Silva's wine was from 1962!).

There were things to like (none more so than the fact that you could actually see what was going on, with a distinct recoil away from shaky-cam dramatics) - the bike chase over the rooftops, part of the opening gambit; the attack on the house at the end, Silva's wild hair flying in the hot wind blasted by the inferno behind him; the desperate ramble through the Scottish countryside, evoking some old Sherlock Holmes tale (I half expected it to be the equivalent of the Grimpen Mire, Silva being sucked in as he chases revenge, except it played out on an ice); some of the artistic direction; the short chase through the London Underground… But I was never left wowed, never felt I'd seen something I never had before, rarely empathised with the characters or felt I knew them (the women's parts certainly harked back to the 60s considering the amount they got to do - a surprise for me was how quickly the French girl gets killed off, though M had more involvement than ever before, so there's an argument that that balanced it out). I've seen a hero and villain atop a speeding train ('Mission: Impossible'), I've seen a train fall, crashing through walls ('Batman Begins'), countless times the main bad guy has been locked in a transparent cell ('Avengers Assemble' as the most recent), telling his tragic story and smugly observing his captors before cunningly escaping to wreak revenge. When I saw the chase in the Underground I was hoping it was going to try and top the incredible parkour sequence from 'Royale' which, more than any other scene told you who Bond was, or who this Bond is. But it petered out, and I can understand why they wouldn't try to top such a stunning cinematic stunt.

The good thing about the villain is that he isn't a physical match for Bond, he's an intellectual superior that plays MI6, but he's a little too Joker-ish in his lack of real longterm motives. This does prevent a conventional fistfight between him and Bond in the final minutes, which is how so many action films end, to varying degrees of success. Bond got his fighty stuff in with Patrice, the hitman/terrorist/whatever he was. I actually thought he was going to be the bad guy! Until he slipped out of Bond's clutches and fell from a skyscraper. There were things about Silva I didn't appreciate, an attempt to take Bond down an entirely different and unexplored route which I can imagine will one day become the norm, but which I do not consider suitable for either the character or the films. But that's another issue, and it didn't prevent me from accepting the film, for the most part, as a reasonable continuation of the famous secret agent. It was a minor improvement on 'Quantum,' but almost imperceptibly so, and I remain indifferent at either Q or Moneypenny joining the 'cast.' I will say that I approved of Fiennes as Mallory, a character you're obliged to feel well disposed to so his promotion to the new M feels right. But I can't agree with the general mood that this is the best Bond ever, that Craig is undeniably the best actor to play the role, or that it can only get better from here on.

Well, maybe I can agree that it can only be on the up, but more from the standpoint that it was different to 'Casino Royale' and would have benefitted from being more like it. The theme song was fine, but again, cannot eclipse the epic 'You Know My Name' from you-know-what, but at least there was an impression of more invention in the title sequence, compared with the usual female bodies sliding across the screen - I wanted more of that illustrated visual style, as best depicted in, well, the film I keep mentioning. The Bond theme didn't ring out as strongly as it does in… that film, I almost never felt the nostalgia they were talking about coming through, and so I think I've returned to that level of take-it-or-leave-it sentiment that I used to think of when I thought of Bond. Despite all that, thinking and writing about it has made me appreciate those things that stuck in the mind, and while it doesn't leave a lasting impression, and it is just another samey Bond film, I would consider seeing the next one. And that's more than I can say about Bourne.

**

Apocalypse

DVD, Smallville S7 (Apocalypse)

Utterly flawed, but with enough potential that it stays the right side of the watchability line, this is another alternate world story, and yes, it was all a dream. Again. The only lesson Clark learns is that we can't change the past, only the future (even if our Fortress has the sudden ability to send us back in time, and to another planet!), rather than what we knew he should do, which was go and… save the past. Protect the past, to preserve the future, and all its mistakes and wrongs, because for all he knows he could make things worse, just as Evil Kara was suggesting they should go back and fix all Krypton's problems at the end. By doing what, becoming President of that planet? Of course she's been taken over by Brainiac, a 'twist' I saw coming by the dismissive way she told Clark he was defeated and gone. Gone, just gone? No, Clark didn't give it much thought, he was too busy cooing over his own baby self. But wouldn't meeting himself bring some ultimate apocalyptic annihilation in the space/time continuum? In a word, no.

Clark isn't at his best, he's too upset over Lana's permanent coma (she only gets in as a photograph this time), believing Earth would have been a better place without him. You can tell he's not thinking straight when he calls up Chloe so she rushes round so that he can tell her the important news that… he's not going to do anything. That's when he gets sucked into a world where things are not as they should be, in incrementally small ways. They couldn't have afforded to set an episode on Krypton so they made it all about Clark coming to the decision that he should have made in the first place: to go there and stop Brainiac's scheme (which took an inordinate amount of time considering he's been there for several episodes - maybe it took all that time just to get there. Wonder what he and Kara talked about on the way?).

The whole point of an alternate reality is to make things as radically altered as alternately alternating possible. Alternatively, if you have a small budget you just use the same sets and very slight variations on the people you know, to sell the setting. I'm not getting at this episode, I like it, but there's a strong impression that this is all being done with money heavily in mind. We're given some exciting prospects to anticipate, but then they fall through: the biggest had to be the chance to see Jonathan and Martha Kent alive and well together, two driving forces that had left the series, this the ideal way to bring them back. I know it would likely have been written the same way as charisma-less alternate Clark, them questioning who he was, and it wouldn't have had any point except for bringing back the Kents, but there we have it, it would cost more money. Instead, it only costs 'in world' money to send them off on a birthday cruise (I can't imagine Jonathan ever going on one of those, he'd be too busy with the farm and he'd consider it a waste of money and time), and we can say this Clark is designed to be drab and ordinary.

That's fine, but they did bother to bring back another person from the past, Sheriff Nancy Adams (for no reason at all, except for us to go: "Hey, look, it's Sheriff Adams, back from the dead!"), who inexplicably goes from a law enforcer in the real history to an undercover informant on none other than the President of the United States of America! The money-saving ethos is high on the list with the setting of The Ace of Clubs, where Jimmy broke into recently, but anything wrong with any aspect of this story you can fix by pulling out the 'it was all a dream' card, and even if it had been for 'real,' this world still wouldn't have mattered - I mean, look at the way Clark has absolutely no qualms about showing his powers. He doesn't hide from Lois, whisking her off her feet and out of the clutches of the security me (she assumes he's a meteor freak, then an android, then doesn't even flinch when he explains his mission - maybe that's how real Lois would react?), and he lifts up Jimmy and slams him against the wall (after thoroughly pleasing the lad by pretending to be a fan of his photography!). It gives the world little reality, because if Clark's that cavalier and careless why should we worry about anything here. And yet, there were enough fun quirks that I liked it for the most part.

Things fall apart once President Lex is introduced (the old white suit gets another run out of the series' wardrobe store - please, why does he have one black glove?). It's not that seeing him as the leader of the free world is hard to swallow, we've seen these echoes of the future before, the problem lies in the credibility of the President still hanging out in Smallville, launching nuclear strikes across the globe from the old Luthor Mansion (man, you really need to get underground, fast!), and his James Bond villain plot to kill off the population for the sake of starting again with better people, safely in bunkers. Yeah, but where are they going to get their food from? How many centuries will it be before they can emerge into the devastated planet's surface once radiation has dissipated or whatever radiation does? Who cares, it's all a dream! But it isn't supposed to be a dream without a purpose, that's the point. Jor-El is doing the 'It's A Wonderful Life' thing, showing Clark a world without him. Yes, Chloe's about to be married and Lana's already happily married with children, and Lois and Jimmy are doing well at the Daily Planet, but Lex is in charge, and that's bad. Trouble is, there's not enough setting up of that lesson, Clark tumbleweeds along, or perhaps more aptly, pinballs around the machine of Smallville and Metropolis until he goes undercover and gets shot.

That's right, Clark got shot. By a gun. But, wait for it, it shoots Kryptonite bullets! So that makes Clark's reactions slower, how? Why can he not dodge them as he always has done? Yes, it's a dream. Don't forget it's a dream. It's Jor-El, he's making it up as he goes along - thinking about it, he'd have made an excellent member of the writing staff on this series, and would have been welcomed with open arms: "You're just like us! Join us…" Sorry, I'm getting into complaining territory again, when, as I said, I liked this one. When Lois gets Clark to dress in a suit and tie (for no real reason - ostensibly it was to get near the Prez as part of the press, but he could have used superspeed to do that), I was thinking, "Do the glasses, do the glasses!" And they did the glasses, even the little poke up the bridge of the nose action (but why does he need to take them off to use superhearing?). Real Lois later calls him a mild-mannered reporter and there are good meetings - alternate Clark is a nobody, but it's a 'what if?' Baby Clark is just a baby, but it's a connection to his own youth (the spaceship again!). Chloe doesn't know him, but she's happy to chat to him as an old school friend she doesn't recall.

There's even a surprise meet up between Lex and Clark back in the real world, at the end, in which Lex offers an olive branch in the way he wants to help Lana. Okay, looking at it pragmatically, he's after the answers, and if he ever finds out, he'll be holding the fact that Clark didn't even tell him when Lana's life was at stake, over his head forever. But I didn't expect Lex to be seen in the sun-bathed barn talking to Clark ever again. I liked the shot where Clark's on the left, out of focus and Lex is close up on the right in profile, and when you know that Tom Welling directed, that has to take the production as a whole, up a notch in estimation, because he's in it a lot, he had to direct himself, he had to do all the Krypton stuff and plenty of weird story moments, learn the lines, and bring in an episode on time and on budget. It's the first he directed, but considering how front and centre he was as the character I applaud him for the work. It's not a spectacular episode, and there are so many duff lines of both dialogue and reasoning, but it's a script of the usual 'quality' of the series when at its most plot-twist-button or plot-twist-artefact crazy.

Adams believes everything Clark says, a guy who just shows up, and although he persuades her by showing how fast he could move, why would that make her trust him? Coming from the whacko-land of Smallville, her first inclination would be that he's a meteor freak. Big things happen in such a small way - nuclear detonation set off from a briefcase in the mansion; Lois is in on this huge presidential secret yet she's just chatting about it as she sits at her computer; Kara's 'astounded' Clark knows her true name and trusts him because he gives her the pained 'Trust Me' look; Clark invites Chloe round to tell her about his inaction (why was that such an emergency - so she could say her bit about them needing him, of her needing him, in that bad line that only works in the least because of Allison Mack's abilities? I thought she shoved some Kryptonite into his hand and was going to drag him to the Fortress and throw him into a vortex so he was forced to save himself, but it was the Kryptonian disk thing). Jimmy lets him hang out in the Planet's basement to use the database, unsupervised, and is absent - is he upstairs writing a story? The main conceit that Clark could fade away any moment, doesn't make sense either - if Brainiac killed him as a baby he wouldn't be there, so it couldn't have happened.

One of the biggies is that the fate of Clark's life is solved in a little chamber that's an obvious redress of the Fortress. All we have is a short fight, if you can call a couple of people being thrown a few metres (I really should get around to defining what 'fight' means in the terminology of this TV series), and Brainiac being stabbed, and thus, history is righted. I thought he was liquid metal. So… no heart? But then I think of the wonderful explosion as the ship with little baby Clark aboard shoots into camera, like something out of the first Superman film, or the effect of Clark in a refracted glass tube, similar to the way Jor-El showed himself in that film, and lots of these touches enamour it to me. Not in a big way, we've certainly had the end of that several-episode-spanning patch of goodness that 'Smallville' seasons usually have. But alternate reality is fun. They didn't push the story far enough, they didn't play with the themes as deftly as they might, and whoever generates the dialogue is a computer program (Maybe Brainiac wrote it - nah, it would have been a classic then, as James Marsters is as good as he could be with the limited role), but for all that I simply liked this one. Nothing stronger than that.

***

Terror in Times Square

DVD, The Incredible Hulk (Terror in Times Square)

New York, New York… Whether it's the Big Apple or not, this is back to form as the series goes, and makes for a better viewing experience than the last two. By the end, when David resumes his long walk to the next lonely port of call it has more meaning than usual. He can't be too sad when he moves on because he always knows he'll effortlessly make new friends wherever he goes - maybe I don't give him enough credit and he puts a lot of effort into finding people to stay with and work for, but I think the effort comes in helping people. He may be on a quest for personal peace, but he's found a measure of it in the good deeds he's done, the lives he's mended and the wrongs put right. Maybe that's the theme of The Incredible Hulk, or this version of the famous comic character - solace is found as a result of making the best of the hardships he deals with, and in a strange way that makes the burden lighter. Not easier, but he finds purpose beyond his life's mission to learn about and cure his problem.

Someone with his own problem is Jack McGee, or 'Newspaper Man' as I'd like to call him - his is not physical, but a mental obsession, something that gets referred to by a friend or colleague of his. We don't get to visit his paper, as the guy he chats to talks about the paper in a detached way so doesn't belong to it, but he does highlight the fact that McGee's been chasing the green creature for six months! It's useful to know how long the series has been progressing in real time, but I don't think his character has been given enough development to make him fully part of the series. He's more like a recurring menace at the back of the action. Case in point: when he starts to run after Hulk in downtown New York, it's another level of events conspiring to put us on the edge of our seats as Hulk races to get to where Norman and Leo, the associates of crime boss Jason, are set to attempt to kill him, amping up the drama as everything converges, but we don't see any more of Jack, except for another scene with his mate right at the end, saying how he was proved right.

The reason Hulk does what Banner and the audience want him to do is probably more like a subconscious urge left over from Banner's (or David Blake's, this week), own urgency - it's like going to sleep worrying about something, then dreaming about it. Because, as we've observed, Hulk has very simple, driving tendencies - he knows when he's threatened or challenged, hungry or sad, not the directions to get to a specific place for a specific reason. For the first time we see Hulk actually get injured, when a forklift's fork is rammed into his leg behind the knee. It's such an injury that it's sustained even when Banner wakes up, something he's usually seen to be immune from. Usually the worst he experiences from a Hulk hangover is the freezing cold thanks to his clothes falling away in the Hulk-out. It shows that Hulk would be vulnerable to extreme damage, such as bullets from a machine gun or a weight falling on him, so he's not as invincible from danger as he might appear.

We're down to two Hulk-outs this time, the average number for an 'hour' episode. The first has the aforementioned intrigue of damage to the giant, but the second is much more striking. It's the imagery of The Incredible Hulk storming through New York as if we're in the comics (I noticed he appears to have soles to his feet so it's a bit easier on Lou Ferrigno, running for so long on concrete 'sidewalks' and roads), that proves so powerful and memorable, far removed from dull country houses or identikit city streets. I half expected him to run into Spiderman, that being the web-slinger's stomping ground, but instead he only meets Clayface, except that's the wrong universe: villainous Jason's thrown into an unset bed of wet mix concrete for ultimate indignity. I wonder if an actor of the calibre he seemed to be was happy to be rubbed face first in grey mud? That's what made this episode superior - I didn't know any of the actors, but all provoked stronger reactions than most of the recent guest roles. Carol was loveable and naive, not seeing what was really going on between her Father; Norman, and 'Uncle' Jason, the local protection racket boss. It makes her trust in David more pronounced when he charges in with a cock and bull story about her Father and his friend Leo going off to murder Jason, but she gets there with the police anyway.

Norman was excellently played, an avuncular old man with a twinkle in his eye, but fear and trembling in his hands. He wants the best for his daughter, but it has become at the expense of his own manhood, the threat of her being mistreated or killed is more than enough to keep him toeing the line. It's Leo who stirs him up, surprisingly, because the man wasn't the strongest or most charismatic of rallying men, he'd just had enough of the bullying tactics of Jason and his cronies and was ready to stand up for himself. When the two of them go off together on their suicidal plan to take Jason on at his own game it's so effective in making us care - the way he talks to his daughter without her realising this is probably the last time he'll see her, the words about paying for what you love, and the solemn grasping of the hands as the two old men prepare to carry out their plan is all so much more subtle and thematic than this series has been so far.

The evil Jason is another old guy to have a sparkle in his eye, but his is a cold glint of malice. Even the hired heavy Banner talks to, the man that blackmails him to come and talk to Jason, had more personality to him than most of the goons we usually see, and one line really struck home when he tells David Banner, of all people, that David doesn't want to make him angry. That gets Banner's attention alright, he steps back like a tiger into the shot, his eyes pronouncing that this guy doesn't know what he's saying, and you sense the electricity of the moment. But he goes along with what he must, he doesn't go out of his way to get into a rage, it's the beating he suffers at the hands of Jason's men, and then later, the intensity of frustration he feels at being stuck in traffic - that's another excellent image when we see the green Hulk smash the door off and leap out of a bright yellow taxi cab!

David fits right in with honest people that see the good in his eyes, this time he's fixing machines at Wizard's Arcade. An example of a deeper level to the writing comes early on with the scene in which he meets up with Carol. We've seen her from the teaser, so we know she's going to be part of it (though this time I was pleased to find there was very little given away about the story, and actually it was played up as more about McGee tracking down Hulk in New York than anything else, something that barely featured), but it's written in a way that you don't quite get at first that they know each other, or how, or why. Is she a doctor from his past that he's helped? But no, that wouldn't make sense as she'd know of Banner's official demise, but it's a charming way to introduce the setup this time. I even felt the makeup in between transitions had improved, though the actual blurring into each stage still doesn't cut it for today's effects. As an all round improvement on the last couple of stories I'd say this is close to being my favourite now, but can the quality keep getting better?

***

The Ascent

DVD, DS9 S5 (The Ascent)

Jake and Nog, Quark and Odo - two of the best pairings in the history of the series, being chalk and cheese chappies that bounced off each other like racquetball or springball. There should be no surprise, then, at how good this would make an episode, but I feel this is an unsung hero of the series, a serious consideration for top ten of all time. Not because it's an exciting adventure, avoiding Jem'Hadar soldiers or Klingon warriors, not because it's a convoluted spying game, or a personal conundrum, a mystery or a time-travelling paradox - it is none of those things, but the simplest of tales, and made with these actors it becomes so much more. It's one of those that you watch and you truly don't know where to start: just praise it for all it does in any order, think carefully about the underlying meanings or point to the many, franchise-wide connections. Applaud the director and cinematographer, the composer, the writing… There is no place to begin discussing such a seminal work, except that I did have one teeny-tiny nitpick about one small aspect of it: the bomb.

I ought to get my one reservation out of the way first, and it is only a minor one, but then, and this is the point, so was the explosion. I remembered the sequence as the beam-out attempt failing and that activating the mechanism's countdown, but in fact that causes an immediate detonation and they funnel the main force of the blast into the Transporter buffers, so it's not even that I claim it doesn't make sense that such a small explosion should make the Runabout uninhabitable. I think it's Quark being so close to the blast radius, his head thrust towards it, when he should have taken cover. Granted, he gets thrown off his feet, but it was the one visual moment of the whole thing that made me question something. It does make sense, the transference of the energy sends ripples of explosions throughout the rest of the ship, so it stands to reason that most supplies and equipment, including the life support systems would be damaged beyond the repair capabilities of a crook and a crook-catcher.

Don't forget, these aren't Starfleet officers, a fact that makes their struggles even more heroic on the planet. O'Brien could have fixed the Runabout up in no time; Worf would have lopped branches off trees and made burning torches; Dax would have got a Tricorder working to find the best route, and piloted them down safely in the first place; Bashir would have found a way to boost their body heat; and Sisko would have planned out what to do better and pushed on in discipline for all he was worth. One character that was less help than usual was the Runabout itself - so often this season the little ships haven't been named so we don't know which is which, but this time, looking at the nosecone sticking up after the crash-landing, it appeared to be the Rio Grande. On one hand that was probably what saved them from being obliterated in a spatial explosion, since the Rio is the only true survivor of the complement over the years, but on the other, you'd expect the galaxy's safest Runabout not to have crashed. Put it down to Odo's piloting skills not being as strong as his detective ability (note how Quark grabs his own head with both arms, just like in 'Babel' when the two of them had to save the station!). Or maybe it had something to do with the new central console column at the back, something I don't recall being there before?

Even Odo's detective skills fail him this time, Quark rubbing it in with glee: Odo was mistaken about the Ferengi being wanted, he'd actually been summoned as a witness against the Orion Syndicate! There are a couple of points to make here: Quark shows untold bravery in what he's agreed to (maybe he didn't have much choice, but he must have told someone he was a witness), and he's excellent at keeping secrets, because all the while he doesn't correct Odo's assumption that he's to be put on trial (even though Quark's style is to avoid the 'big boys' and violent crime - as played out later in 'Business As Usual'), making him look forward to seeing Odo's face when they release him!

The other point about all this is that it's the first ever mention of the shady and powerful organisation that is the Orion Syndicate, and it's talked up so well that even without seeing a green-skinned member of the race (something they should have gotten around to on the series, and another item, like the Klingon forehead debate, to be dealt with on 'Enterprise,' another reason I connect that series to this in so many ways, along with Jeffrey Combs and Section 31), you get a feel for the magnitude of this organisation and that its crime is on a vast interstellar level, a totally different enemy to the Dominion. That would have been a story! If the Syndicate had had to get involved in the fight against the Dominion to protect their interests in the Quadrant it would have been like a gang war. The Federation was willing to accept help from the dodgy Romulans and it would have been just as compelling to see Starfleet forced to team up with a criminal organisation in an effort to oppose their greatest enemy yet, and it would have made a good moral story about accepting help at any cost (like 'Nothing Human' and the Nazi-type Cardassian Doctor on 'Voyager'). The Orion Syndicate would go on to feature on and off, mainly as background references, but notably in one of the 'torture O'Brien' episodes of Season 6 ('Honour Among Thieves').

No surprise this is a Behr and Wolfe script. They brought together two people for the best antagonistic friendship ever, even more than Spock and McCoy, upon which, it can be suggested, it was based. It works even better than that did because these are not two people at the opposite end of the spectrum, not even in the same organisation. McCoy and Spock had the emotional/dispassionate divide, but because Odo (the Spock archetype), isn't restricted by emotionlessness, he can dig in and jab at Quark, the petty thief with a heart of gold (even if it is Latinum-plated!), and get as irritated and frustrated as Quark can, which makes it a more level playing field, and a ping-pong effect of insult and snide observation. Quark claims Odo's ten-year attempt at catching a 'nobody' makes him the bigger loser, but in 'Things Past' they established Odo's predecessor, Thrax, was in command nine years ago. Just an observation - Quark was probably exaggerating in the heat of the moment. The lip-smacking/buzzing scene has to be one of the funniest in Trek, but I noticed throughout this episode, even while they were getting laughs or smirks from me, it worked on more than just a humorous level because they're true to their alien cultures. Quark would complain about the tiniest of noises in the Runabout because his ears are so sensitive (just as he could stand outside O'Brien's quarters and fill the eavesdropping Bashir in on what was being said in 'Looking for Par'Mach'), and when he's worried about losing his hearing in one ear, he would say that a one-eared Ferengi's only half a man!

Odo never missed an opportunity to annoy Quark, always getting so much satisfaction out of it in the series, but in this one it's those little niggling scenes or petty arguments on overdrive, the scale of an entire episode for it to run gloriously rampant - every little expression or impression Odo does now and again comes out in this one - the self-satisfied smile or that head-wobbling sarcastic way of talking as he nettles his opponent, the gravelly growling and personal insights, they're all there. He's perfectly serious when he needs to be, since he's basically the commanding officer of the journey, and that makes Quark rise up and take responsibility in answer, to spite him when the need arises, whereas you can imagine he'd just keep complaining if one of the others were in charge. Quark's strongest motivation, what gives him a final boost of strength, is knowing how all his Ferengi-ness will be for nothing if he dies on that planet: Rom will get the bar, Nog will be completely 'corrupted' by Starfleet (interesting, so the inference is he thinks there's still time to show Nog how wrong hew-mons are, and get him to return to his people's ways! And don't forget he's the one who comes with a tray of root beer to welcome his nephew home, despite how much he despises, or claims to despise, Starfleet, there's still a big part of him that cares about Nog - that scene again recalled 'The Circle' and Kira's packing scene to me!), and worst indignity of all, his bones will lie unsold.

It's a sign of Odo's great affection that he says in his final log (even though it's in a world-weary, somewhat offhand manner), that Quark would want to have his remains auctioned off - it shows that he's thinking of his friend even though he's typically dismissive of Quark's seemingly failed attempt to save them. This leads to his half-joking shame when Dax lets him know Quark saved his life, but more tellingly, and this is what I got from the final scene on the biobeds (I thought we'd never see a sickbay on the Defiant, but I think that's where they are at the end, though I always used to think it was at DS9 - it's also a pleasure to get a good look at the Defiant's Transporter room, so rarely glimpsed), is that Quark is saying 'you don't owe me anything' in his repeat of how he hates Odo, and Odo's saying the same in turn. It's an unspoken friendship, and will always be that way because that's how they want it. They aren't mushy or sentimental, they distrust and often revile each other (Quark says earlier he's so glad that when he sits on a chair he knows it's not Odo now that he can't shape-shift), but they have a core of warmth for each other.

Quark will give Odo advice, like in 'Crossfire' when he's in full frustration at Kira and Shakaar, and Odo lets Quark have a break now and again (in 'His Way' when he allows him to get away with some smuggling deal as a private thank you for what he did in getting him and Kira together, though he'd never confirm it). Now that they're alone with no other ears around, they're remarkably open (just like the others in 'Let He Who…') - Quark's one of those who knows all about Kira, and gets at Odo for being such a stick in the mud when he's got what he always wanted: he's a solid, like everyone else, but he can't be happy because that's his nature, or so Quark claims in his capacity as 'counsellor'! But he doesn't know Odo's deepest core, maybe Odo doesn't fully know himself, yet, but when he gives final directions for what to do with his remains, it is to send his ashes back through the Wormhole in his bucket. He may as well end up where he began, he says, but we know from later in the series that it's more than that. It's another sign of his unspoken wish to return and be accepted by his people again.

Jake and Nog, then. They were the main source of each other's stories, and since Nog left for Starfleet Academy, it did impact the amount Jake had to do. I can imagine at the time people would have been upset when Nog was apparently shunted off the series, but as in most things they should have trusted the writers to know what they were doing (he was even in at least four episodes of Season 4, his 'off season,' so you can tell they really wanted to use him!). Just as they began the series with unfinished characters like Bashir, who learned and was tempered by his experiences to become the kind of person you'd expect on a Trek series, so they took the long view of what they could accomplish, and Nog is one of the most famous of those seeds that was planted. I like the way characters were brought in or taken out for a while, like Kasidy Yates, Commander Eddington or Kai Winn, because it showed they weren't relying so much on who they had as much as they were keeping them back, ready for when they could make the most impact. Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say, and that was true of Jake and Nog.

To begin with, that is. Jake discovers his short friend has taken on a whole new bearing, his Ferengi tenacity channelled into extreme levels of discipline and self-improvement. He's gone off to a military school and returned with a new regimen of training. In short, he isn't the same Nog that nervously went off to the Academy in 'Little Green Men,' and Jake isn't the only one to see that. I like to think Rom was influenced by his son's decision to do something new and unexpected, inspired to stand up to Quark and become his own man, join O'Brien's work crew as a junior engineer, just as Nog was inspired by his Father's lack of prospects, so they've both inspired each other in different ways, but to the same result: greater confidence and meaning in their lives.

Despite this, Rom's so taken aback at Nog's new personality (including putting his Dad on report for an untidy toolkit!), he confides in Sisko that his son may be a Changeling! It's a very Rom way of thinking for him to come to such a conclusion, but Sisko puts him right, and in a bright mirror of their attitudes in the early seasons, they both discuss the good their opposite number's son is doing for theirs. Think back to those distant episodes when Sisko was uncomfortable with his son hanging out with a Ferengi, Rom equally scolding Nog for following hew-mon ways, but he's changed so much himself, swigging that very human drink, root beer (how I wanted some reference to Quark and Garak's double-meaning 'cloying' conversation about it from 'The Way of The Warrior'!), and trying out their food, too. It's a lovely moment when Rom joins Sisko at his meal - the highest-ranked man on the station finding common ground with just about the lowest.

I did think they were going to come up with a way of sticking Nog and Jake together to make them realise they needed each other, but instead it's put much more bluntly: the Captain comes to turf Jake out of his quarters threatening his newfound independence, then pretty much orders Nog as his commanding officer, and Jake as his Father, to settle their differences. It's a prompt way to get the situation sorted without going into the usual territory of trapping them in a lift or giving them a task to complete. Perhaps if they'd been the A-story that might have been the route taken, but they were the B-story, and one that, despite humour, didn't clash with the life or death struggle going on for Quark and Odo. Both stories are a reflection of the other, about two very different people getting along and working together to a successful outcome, and that's as much a morality play as any other, more obvious, Treks.

So it has everything - the essence of what makes Trek, Trek in it's ideals and style. It uses the races it created and those that populate it to craft a relatively simple tale, and even though it's not an action adventure, in the mould of defeating an enemy, the difficulty comes from within (their own frailties), and without (the challenge of the environment). And I haven't even lauded the look and sound of the production. It's complimented by a stirring soundtrack, that even has the subtlest of details - on the Defiant's arrival, the Klingon opera tag plays a few bars, perhaps signalling Worf's command. Attention to detail in the extreme. And they went to a REAL mountain! It looks incredible, Allan Kroeker, in what was, if not his first, one of his earliest episodes as Director, a man that would go on to helm some of the best of this series and 'Voyager,' makes some beautiful observational shots in the open air. We see water trickling towards camera; vast peaks of the mountain bathed in a crisp, blue sky; cold trees and rocks, pointing to the cold, frosty faces of Quark and Odo, bruised and frozen, struggling on through the elements. There are some incredibly evocative images, mainly of Quark pulling Odo along on a stretcher while also heaving the transmitter over his back, like Frodo and Sam in 'The Lord of The Rings,' he struggles onward until he can't go any further. Then Odo's gritty determination fires him as the former Changeling with a broken leg, crawls agonisingly along the ground, pushing the transmitter as he goes, his stubborn disposition refusing to give up, leading Quark to take up the burden again with his last buried strength, creating the most affecting image of all: the lone Ferengi, half-dead, slowly pulling the bulky transmitter along the rocky ground as wind and storm whips into him.

Odo's broken leg is the most dramatic physical effect that he's had to go through since becoming a solid. He's certainly allowed his passions to take more control this season, and now we see the culmination of years of frustration and anger, not just at Quark, but directed at him because he's there. In the same way, Quark gives as good as he gets, insulting and challenging, they both spit out epithets like bullets until they come to blows. This isn't something that could have been done in earlier seasons, it's a situation developed from the way Odo is now, and that Quark is now, being a man that lost all his race's pride in himself, lost his possessions and only had the bar left to keep him going. So they've both lost the essential parts of their lives, both outcast from their people, and they know exactly the rawest nerve to stab. Add hunger, cold and hopelessness, and their ragged anger is totally believable, and another thing that, had they been Starfleet, wouldn't have happened (though it came close in 'The Ship' between Worf and O'Brien - another link to that episode is when Quark removes the transmitter from the Runabout's bulkhead, Odo querying his action, just as Worf ripped a console from the wall of the Jem'Hadar warship, much to Jadzia's disgust!).

Anyone that claimed 'DS9' was a station-locked series should check out this season before opening their mouths again: in the first nine episodes only three have actually been set on the station, and one of those was Terok Nor, the station of the past. This ninth episode features a subplot aboard DS9, but the majority of it takes place on an alien world, so it's been a wholly refreshing mix of stories and locations, and makes the series look terribly expensive - this episode on its own had the feel of a feature film, and if it had been made in cinema screen ratio would easily have passed muster. But it's also excelled in the small details - I kept making observations about little things and links to other episodes, like familiar extra Ensign Jones in the background (I think it's he that walks between Nog and O'Brien in the corridor where the pair chat about Nog's duties, Nog making light of the laborious or mundane tasks he has to do - everyone gets a little screen time, another reason why it feels so complete); Sisko's baseball's used once again as a visual metaphor (he rolls it to Nog across his desk to when speaking as a friend rather than a commanding officer, taking it back when formality returns); Fizzbin, the game Captain Kirk made up on the spot to fool gangsters in 'A Piece of The Action,' has since become a widely exported (presumably, since Quark's playing it), genuine card game; the supercool silver weather suits debut (later seen in 'Timeless' on 'Voyager'); Jake's story is called 'Past Prologue' (did it feature a renegade Bajoran terrorist, I wonder?); the list is almost endless.

This would have been the perfect time to have shown the back room of the Runabout, as seen on 'TNG' ('Timescape') - Quark complains about the cramped accommodations, but according to that series, he could have had a full-sized Tongo wheel in the back there, with room to cartwheel round it! Either the Rio Grande is built differently and the aft section is used for cargo or whatever, or Quark's just enjoying any opportunity to irritate Odo. Don't forget, this was a voyage of several days, so even a big room would seem smaller the longer you were confined to it. Maybe. To Nog, even the cockpit would have been a huge space - if you watch when he visits Sisko's office there's a small tumpty or footrest, a solid stool thing for him to sit on at just the right height. Did Sisko place it there specially, knowing the cadet would visit? It makes him look funny, his head at the same level as the table, Sisko leaning back above him in a relaxed, but commanding position. I reckon the Captain bought it for him as a 'welcome back' present, since you can see the very same piece of furniture in Nog and Jake's quarters later on! The whole scene in the Captain's office reminded me of when Nog came to make an official bribe, the thing that started off his whole adventure in going to the Academy, a nice return to that time in the style of the meeting.

You could probably count the number of episodes focusing on Quark and Odo on one hand. Judging by the superbly executed, wholly satisfying display of both their alienness and their strengths that are played up there weren’t enough, and this episode is probably the best argument to support that. It gave them a chance to let their hair down, (literally for Odo, only this time the producers couldn't complain that Auberjonois had done something out of character as he did in 'Crossfire' to evoke some kind of Japanese painting, or something!), to use these people in ways that they'd done before, but not to this extent, and to take advantage of the vast scaffolding of friendships and traits to blow it out of the park - thoughts, feelings, idiosyncrasies, all blended into an engrossing mixture with so many truthful moments. If Quark’s heroic status is ever doubted, this shows what he's made of. If it had been anyone else urging Quark on he might not have summoned the Ferengi tenacity that saves them in the end, even though verbally he's given up. It's the best elements of Seasons 1-4, enmeshed together to create the best material possible. Odo and Quark's antagonism; Jake and Nog's unconventional friendship; a 'Generations' crash onto a tree-lined planet. Yes, 'Generations' is the closest analogy I can get to explaining how I feel watching this episode. It has what that film had, condensed into half the time. A true beauty, a jewel, I wish all could be this amazing - just as 'Descent' proved to be a drop in quality and one of the weaker two-parters of 'TNG,' 'The Ascent' lived up to its name, and soared.

*****