Rigil's Reflections from a DS9 Newb...

[JadziaKathryn]

My problem isn't that, though. My complaint stems around the fact that each one of them that I've seen thus far (Cardassian, Klingon, or Trill) all have the exact same basic plan and exact same angle of the shot.

Oh, I get it. Saving money on effects was taken too far.

[Rigil Kent]

I think it was, as CX theorized elsewhere, that they got the same person to do all of the mattes, so as a result, there's a big similarity between them...

[evcake]

"So, and now, please, forgive me if I am wrong, but, what part of the Trek universe do you like?
Totally curious, and no offense at all." Enterprikayak

I've been wanting to ask that one for a while now.


Gumdrops forever!

Are the Boomers mentioned in DS9? I can't remember. They seem to have been hauling thier families around with them for a while.

[Rigil Kent]

"So, and now, please, forgive me if I am wrong, but, what part of the Trek universe do you like?
Totally curious, and no offense at all." Enterprikayak

I've been wanting to ask that one for a while now.

Yeah. God forbid I should actually call a steaming pile of excrement what it is. God forbid I should refuse to gush over crap because it has a Trek label attached to it. God forbid I should actually have an opinion.

[evcake]

Kill them all! God will know his own. Pesky Cathars!

Corripe Cervisiam!
Vescere bracis meis!
Illegitimi non carborundum!
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris!



(Mihi ignosce. Cum homine de cane debeo congredi)

[Rigil Kent]

Moving on...

Next up was a fairly mediocre installment called Second Skin. While I thought Kira looked kind of cool as a Cardassian, the rest of the episode was pretty predictable. I think I suggested that the Obsidian Order was trying to play the legate almost immediately after they introduced the guy. I also have to assume that the drugs Kira was on were responsible for her breaking as quickly as she seemed to, 'cause I'd like to think that she was made of sterner stuff. It was pretty good seeing Garak, though.

The Abandoned was ... interesting. My very thoughts during the teaser was "Way to go, Jake!" Marta is pretty hot. Also liked seeing that purple-haired alien captain, although the minute that Bashir said "incredibly fast metabolic rate" I knew that it would be a super rapid growth episode. I'm not entirely sure what kind of moral this episode was trying to say: was it don't try to change? At any rate, it had some interesting insights into the Jem'Hadar. The drug addiction was quite interesting, actually, and from a purely control standpoint makes a lot of sense.

So since both were partially interesting, I'll go 1 for 2 ('cause .5 + .5 = 1).

[Rigil Kent]

Next up is Civil Defense. This was a surprisingly tolerable episode based on the staple of "ship/station/whatever in danger" and is, I believe, the first actual instance of the station itself being in danger of blowing up. I'm not talking about being destroyed by an outside agent, but rather blown up from the inside. There was some pretty decent directing in a couple of shots, including one where both Siskos were standing in an identical hands on waist shot that I liked. How close is the DMZ anyway? Dukat got to DS9 pretty damned quickly. And his expression when he realized that he couldn't beam out was priceless. Not sure I really cared for the implication that Dukat was attracted to Kira though. That seemed to come out of nowhere. Apart from that, a mildly diverting episode.

The same really can't be said for Meridan though. Even the presence of Jeff Combs (who was instantly recognizable due to his voice) couldn't make this episode enjoyable for me. Even as far back as TOS I've never really liked the Love Interest of the Week, since it seems like all someone has to do is smile or wink at one of these Starfleeters and they're instantly in love. Thus, seeing Dax suddenly swoon over this guy (oh yeah, paint their temples ... that makes 'em real alien-looking ) was just ridiculous. The fact that only the Named Crew got to go down to the planet also caused me to roll my eyes; I can just imagine the regular crew grumbling about having to stay on the ship. The Quark/Kira subplot ... bothered me. If anyone should have been the subject of Kira & Odo's ire, it should have been the Jeff Combs character. So, this was a big old goose egg of an episode.

1 for 2.

[JadziaKathryn]

Even as far back as TOS I've never really liked the Love Interest of the Week, since it seems like all someone has to do is smile or wink at one of these Starfleeters and they're instantly in love.

That's always bothered me too. I think Trek writers bandy love around too freely, when at most the characters might share attraction or lust.

[enterprikayak]

Yeah and then they never follow through with a damn thing; or if they do, it's 15 years too late, and Riker's all fat and whatnot.

I mean come on!*


* a la Gob Bluth

[blacknblue]

Hollywood. That is their honest perception of what love is like.

[Rigil Kent]

Heh. How true...

[Reanok]

So True well said.

[Rigil Kent]

Another 1 for 2 night. I'm finding this season as hit and miss as the previous one...

It wasn't until the title ship in Defiant was stolen that this episode stopped being boring. I must admit that I still have sour feelings toward the Riker character, due in no small part to that travesty of an Enterprise finale. Yes, I know it's not his fault, but consider it transference if you will. It was pretty obvious from the get-go that this wasn't the normal Riker - can I assume that his terse interactions with O'Brien would have made sense if I remembered the episode were he was split? (Honestly, the only reason I did remember that happening is 'cause Elessar referenced it in his Vulcan for Intimate fic. Riker's "tough little ship" line caused a chuckle, and I have to salute the continuity guys working on First Contact for reusing that line. I rather liked the Dukat/Sisko interactions and am again amazed at how good Dukat's Cardassian make-up looks compared to the others. Some interesting insight into the machinations of the Cardassian empire that started off really slow but ended up pretty good.

Unfortunately, Fascination bored me senseless. It was so patently obvious what the problem was that I found myself rolling my eyes when the so-called best and brightest of Starfleet didn't pick up on it. And please tell me that this is the last time I have to sit through a Troi episode. Gah. I swear, if I hadn't sworn to watch the show all the way through, I'd have fast-forwarded it or just skipped this episode entirely. Most assuredly a 0.

1 for 2.

[Rigil Kent]

My God ... a modern Trek episode involving time travel that I like...

Past Tense, Part 1 and Part 2 are both quite good episodes, although there's just a bit too much technobabble in the first part and a tad bit too much preachiness throughout. Throw in the fact that its the same basic plot as the Guardian of Forever episode with Kirk, and you have a recipe for the episode being lame and derivative. Fortunately, it's anything but.

Sisko once more proved to me that he's a good Trek "captain" (even if he's only a commander ... hmmm ... I liked Commander Tucker better as the captain than Archer. Maybe its the rank?) and Siddig was also quite good. The only real misstep, IMO, was the Dax bit with the media guy, but it was easily overlooked in favor of the other strong points of the episode. There were a couple of things that leaped out to me that caused questions:

• Sisko said that the Earth they knew was more than a century away, with the implication that it was just barely a century away, yet they're from the 2370s, right? 2370-2024=246 years, not a century.
• First Contact took place in 2063 ... so that means this is pre-WWIII?

Favorite line in the two episodes comes from the second one: "You get on my nerves and I don't like your hat!"

2 for 2.

[CX]

It's either pre-WWIII, or as I theorize it's during the war, but during one of the pauses in fighting.