Rigil's Reflections from a DS9 Newb...

[Rigil Kent]

Watched two more episodes today.

It was clear from the get-go that The Visitor was a magic reset button episode. People who know me and my opinions know how much I hate that device. I find it to generally be one of the laziest tools in the writer's arsenal - "Let's radically change everything and the return to the status quo by the end of the episode!" Since the MRB is undone at the end of the episode, the characters never learn anything, so the entire episode is ultimately pointless. I reference the ridiculously overrated Twilight in ENT as a prime example.

To my surprise, however, this episode was not that bad. It dealt with loss in a believable and realistic manner, and never once resorted to making one or more of the characters incompetent to exalt another (something that cannot be said of Twilight where T'Pol was flat out incompetent to advance the latest Super!Archer tripe.) Admittedly, this episode has more of an emotional impact on me due to the subject matter of someone losing a parent and never really getting over it; I lost my dad in '91 to emphysema and have never really gotten over that loss. As the episode unfolded, I found myself revisiting a lot of those same emotions that Jake was going through.

The visual of Jake looking out the "window" at the receding DS9 was absolutely spectacular, and did a very nice job of linking his emotions to Benjamin's reaction to Jennifer's death in the pilot episode. I also thought it amusing (but not surprising) that Adult!Jake married a Bajoran woman. And I was astounded at how short Nog actually is and how butt ugly those "future" Starfleet uniforms were. The fact that both Tony Todd & Avery Brooks did a superb job with their scenes together hammered home the emotional impact of this episode and actually made it watchable (something else that cannot be said for Twilight - I can't watch that drivel for longer than a minute), and the fact that Sisko retained his memories made this a small subset of MRBs that weren't complete wastes of time.

Hippocratic Oath was also pretty decent, which bodes well for the fourth season of DS9. I found myself agreeing with Worf about Quark, and even at the conclusion of the episode, I didn't see why Odo didn't throw the Ferengi in jail. Yeah, I know that he's a central character and all, but it again makes Odo seem incompetent or simply unwilling to arrest Quark. Is this the first time that O'Brien was wearing the new NCO pin? I don't think I've noticed it before ... although I thought he was a Senior Chief, not just a CPO. And I really liked the Jem'Hadar commander: he was harsh, uncompromising, yet principled. It's too bad we'll never see him again (or do we?) And finally, there was a nice bit of continuity with the clock thingy that Sisko built back in Dramatis Personae.

[Rigil Kent]

I really hate days like this where there's nothing on televions, I have nothing pressing to accomplish, and I'm not motivated to do any writing. It leads me to watching more episodes...

Indiscretion was slightly above average, although that was mostly predicated on some good character interactions. I loved seeing Sisko so ... uncomfortable when facing the fact that his relationship with Yates was moving faster than he expected it to. Watching Bashir & Dax give him crap was absolutely hilarious. It was also interesting to see Gul Dukat and Major Kira having to work together on their little away mission, although I can't help but to notice some amazing similarities between the Breen armor and the Boushh outfit that Leia wore in Return of the Jedi. Kira did look pretty neat in that outfit though. And the humorous scene that took place between Dukat & Kira (the sliver scene) was hysterical. It was also quite neat that they gave this Ziyal chick the Bajoran nose.

Unfortunately, Rejoined bored me to tears. It probably doesn't help that I find the Trill fairly uninteresting, but this entire episode seemed geared toward the female/female kiss that took place between Dax & that other Trill; frankly, the whole think reeked of a ratings gimmick to me, but I could be biased since, as I stated, the Trill don't interest me much. I actually felt like Bashir as he struggled to remain again and focused on what was going on during the dinner scene. So, this is the first real stinker of season four.

[JadziaKathryn]

there was a nice bit of continuity with the clock thingy that Sisko built back in Dramatis Personae.

Continuity in Trek does exist! Hurray!

[Rigil Kent]

In DS9 ... not so sure about the other stuff. They were atrociously bad about continuity in ENT and I've blocked most of the memories for TNG/VOY ...

[Rigil Kent]

One and a half episodes today. The disc was a little wonky for the final episode (which, frankly, didn't bother me in the slightest.)

Starship Down was slightly above average, but had some amazing cliches present throughout the episode. For starters, by opening fire on the Federation ship, the Jem'Hadar have basically declared war, and by destroying them like the Defiant did, the Federation did the same. Unfortunately, we won't see a hint of this for some time, I'm sure. Cromwell was instantly recognizable due to his voice, and I really liked that Sisko didn't hesitate or angst over it when it came to either returning fire or sealing off the section that might lead to Dax's death. Speaking of Dax, I really liked her interactions with Bashir, and if I didn't already know that she marries Worf, I'd consider shipping for the two. When it comes to Worf, I had some minor problems with him seeming to not know how to lead men, although I did like that he leaned on his senior NCO (like a good officer). The Kira/Sisko stuff wasn't bad either. I also noticed that there have been some serious Bab5 scene closers of late, with a ship LOOMING toward the screen right before the act ends.

As I said, the disc was starting to freeze up a little bit during Little Green Men, but honestly, I was happy with that. I loath these Ferengi episodes, and this one was no different. If an episode fails to capture my attention by act 2 (like this one failed to), then it is a waste of time. Therefore, I can't give an official Rigil vote for this episode (as I didn't watch it all the way through), but I can say that, by act 3, I was still bored. The Bell Riots reference was amusing though.

[Jedikatie]

^
So you missed the part where Odo was the guard dog, then? He'd hidden himself on the ship Quark's cousin Galen had given him to keep an eye on Quark, if I remember correctly.

[JadziaKathryn]

It's been a while, but I liked "Little Green Men." It amused me greatly. No, it wasn't a deep episode, but it was fun and that's worth something.

[Rigil Kent]

Well, it bored me, so I wasn't too sad when it cut out as act 3 began. Different strokes, I guess.

[Reanok]

Little Green men is a fun episode.

[Linda]

Uh, do I detect a gender gap here? I too found Little Green Men funny. And I think they did the period hair styles well. I don't remember whether my husband or I found anything wrong with the military uniforms, it's been awhile since we watched it. But I remember him also thinking it was funny - well there goes my gender gap theory. The part about Rom whinning for his mother was hilarious. That would be about the last thing a Human of that time period would think an alien was saying, right?

Just saw a Roswell documentary last night where they were saying "Yes, it was a cover up". It was not a weather balloon, but a balloon spying project to try to see what the Soviets were up to at the time. THAT, to me, has more of the ring of truth than either the weather balloon story or aliens.

[Rigil Kent]

Well, I'm not going to apologize for not liking it. I thought it was boring and not terribly funny. I can barely stomach Quark in small slices, but an entire episode with him? Ugh.

[Linda]

No apology necessary, Rigil! Just give us your honest opinion, which is as good as anyone's. Your views are always interesting even if some people don't agree with them. And many times you pick up on things which make me say "Yeah, he's right. I never thought of that. What a delicious and devious mind he has! What will he come up with next?"

[CX]

I liked it too, but I didn't take it that seriously at the time. As I rememebr it, I recognize that it really isn't very good or make all that much sense, but I still kinda like it. The Ferengi episodes are all pretty much meant to be light, and as disappointed as I am that the Ferengi were reduced from something kinda scary (have a reputation for eating their business partners ) to comedy relief, I guess I've mostly rolled with it because of my like for DS9 as a whole. There's really only a couple Ferengi episodes that truely grate me.

[Rigil Kent]

The best part about The Sword of Kahless is that it features the return of Kor. I really liked Worf's initial hero worship of the older Klingon (especially the bit of Trek continuity with the reference to Kor's "confrontation" with Kirk). And once again, I seriously appreciate that this isn't ENT; if had been, Archer would have accompanied the team, and we'd have annoying scenes of him lecturing Worf on what it's like to be a Klingon, or perhaps displaying a better ability with a bat'leth than either Klingon. But, I digress. I liked the really old look of Kahless' bat'leth (though why they kept calling it a sword confused me - it is very obviously not a sword). This had some references to an Emperor, specifically a "clone" of Kahless - I guess that's from TNG, since I thought Gowron was in charge. I also had to roll my eyes at the ease in which they shut down the forcefield that they said Vulcans could not penetrate. And, maybe it's just me, but I kept expecting either Kor or Worf to said that the bat'leth of Kahless was precious to them. So, this was slightly above average.

To my surprise, I also enjoyed Our Man Bashir, despite the fact that it merged both the transporter accident cliche with the malfunctioning holodeck cliche. I think my enjoyment stems mostly from the old Bond cliches through this ep that they were making fun of, as well as Garak's presence. Avery Brooks was hysterical with his over-the-top Bond villain delivery, and I think it's pretty sad that this ep was a better Bond movie than most of the Pierce Brosnan ones. (Not Casino Royale, though. The new Bond kicked everybody's ass.) The Bashir/Garak interaction is mostly what sold this episode, and made it amusing. And, to my surprise, there wasn't a lot of technobabble in this ep! So, surprisingly, a holodeck/transporter accident episode that I enjoyed.

Two for two.

[JadziaKathryn]

And once again, I seriously appreciate that this isn't ENT; if had been, Archer would have accompanied the team, and we'd have annoying scenes of him lecturing Worf on what it's like to be a Klingon