All posts by Paul

1997, 2374, Cardassian, Deep Space Nine, Dominion, Klingon

“Sons and Daughters”

September 8, 2015 Paul

asdfasdf — “Well, Ron and Ira wanted us to look at more resumes for actors who could play Ziyal, so … “

After rescuing Sisko and Co., Worf and Martok (on board Martok’s Bird of Prey) take on a mission to defend a convoy, with five new crew members, including Worf’s estranged son Alexander (Marc Worden) who’s a substandard warrior, to say the least. Meanwhile, as Kira starts planning her new resistance, Dukat brings his daughter Ziyal back to DS9 from Bajor, where she’d been since “Call to Arms”. Alexander struggles to adapt to life as a warrior, but eventually wins over the crew and becomes, like Worf, part of the House of Martok. Kira, again, feels herself getting too close to accepting Dukat — this time, by trying to be involved in Ziyal’s life — and eventually pulls back, saddening Ziyal.

Why it’s important

This one just barely made the tapestry. It’s by far the weakest of the six-episode arc, but the return of Ziyal is really, really important going forward (as we’ll discuss in further reviews). To a much lesser extent, the continued bond between Worf and Martok is important, too. But then there’s the Alexander matter …

asdfa — “I’m the fourth actor to play Alexander — but I can pull off whiny with the best of them!”

What doesn’t hold up

Alexander, of course, is one of Trek’s least popular characters. As a child in TNG, he rarely contributed much and too often was not present when he should have been (shouldn’t there have been two crazy “de-evolved” dinosaurs running around the Enterprise in “Genesis”?). The character was mentioned in passing (and seen in a photo) when Worf joined the DS9 crew, but he was explained away as being happier with Worf’s adopted parents on Earth. And, really, the creators should have left it there. Bringing him back here just makes no sense.

For one thing, how is Alexander old enough to serve in the Klingon Defense Force? He was apparently the result of Worf and K’Ehleyr knocking boots back in “The Emissary”, which occurred in 2365, and we first met him in “Reunion” in 2367. This episode takes place in 2374, so, at most, he would be 8. The creators apparently explained this away by saying Klingons age faster. While I find that highly, highly questionable, I probably could shrug it off if the payoff here was worth it.

There’s also the really goofy idea that the commander and first officer on a Klingon ship wouldn’t know the names of the crew replacements before they showed up on the ship. Keep in mind that Martok’s ship and the Klingon cruiser carrying the replacements were flying in formation for early in the episode. Wouldn’t the cruiser send the names over — thus negating the “reveal” of Alexander?

And, frankly, how could the Klingon Defense Force send someone so unqualified to serve in the military? A mistake by Alexander could have easily resulted in the death of fellow soldiers or defeat to the Dominion. I know the idea is that the Federation and the Klingons are somewhat desperate, but they wouldn’t have been THAT desperate.

Finally, the episode ends in a laughable way, considering what we see of Alexander going forward. Worf agrees to make him a warrior and Martok brings him into his house. And, then, Alexander goes back to Alexander land, showing up only once more and being mentioned in passing another time. As was typical of so many Worf/Alexander shows on TNG, the verbal commitment made by the two of them here results in nothing.

So, I ask again, what the hell was the point of bringing the character back?

Final thoughts

The stuff on the station is much stronger in this episode. It cements the idea that Dukat takes so much of his own self-worth from the approval of others (notably Kira) while also being an amazing opportunist. His move to give Ziyal the dress Kira had returned was almost too perfect.

That leaves Ziyal, who’s really an interesting character in that she routinely takes me to the edge of what I can take. She seems far too accepting — she’s willing to forgive Dukat for nearly killing her back in “By Inferno’s Light” — while also believably conveying the idea that she’s very much alone, aside from Dukat and Kira. Melanie Smith occasionally goes overboard with the “happy Ziyal” stuff (see above) but she does a good job of portraying the character.

Lastly, we see Kira, Odo, Jake and Quark discussing the new resistance in a public place at the beginning of this episode. It’s really the first sign of the ridiculousness of Kira’s new resistance and it’s lack of proper discretion.

Coming next week …

Odo’s loyalties are tested. Again.

1997, 2374, Cardassian, Deep Space Nine, Dominion

“Rocks and Shoals”

September 6, 2015 Paul

Sisko and Co., chased by Jem’Hadar ships after the events of the previous episode, crash land on an uncharted planet with little hope of rescue. Meanwhile, Kira and Odo are adjusting — too well — to life aboard occupied DS9. After a vedek publicly hangs herself to protest the Dominion sending Vorta facilitators to Bajor, Kira decides to form a new resistance. Back on the planet, Sisko and Co. encounter a group of Jem’Hadar led by an injured Vorta, Keevan (Christopher Shea). The Vorta, who has run out of ketracel white to feed the Jem’Hadar, manipulates Sisko into killing the Jem’Hadar — who know they’re walking into a trap but accept it as part of blind loyalty to the Dominion. Kevan surrenders himself afterward and provides a transmitter our heroes can likely repair and use to escape.

Why it’s important

The events on the planet, while compelling, really aren’t that tapestry worthy. They show how bad and ugly the war is and can get, but we saw a lot of that in “A Time to Stand”.

Events on the station are more important, as Kira’s decision to oppose the Dominion — despite Sisko’s advice in “Call to Arms” — is a key domino going forward. There’s some goofiness with the resistance, as noted below. But the decision to create a resistance cell is significant.

What doesn’t hold up

The big conceit, of course, is that Sisko’s crew would just happen to crash on an uncharted world so close to a Dominion team that did the same thing. Keep in mind that the Jem’Hadar seen here aren’t the ones who were chasing Sisko to start the episode. This was totally random — which is hard to swallow.

Beyond that, it’s weird that the only Bajoran we see consulting Kira here or going forward is the random vedek. Where’s Kai Winn? Where’s First Minister Shakaar? This actually ties into my biggest complaint about the otherwise stellar six-episode arc, so now’s as good as time as any to bring it up …

After Kira forms her resistance cell, it’s made up of Odo, Rom, Leeta and Jake (and Quark, to a point). It makes sense that all of them would be involved — but where the hell are the other Bajorans? It’s just inexplicable that none of the other adult Bajorans on the station — all of whom would have remembered the first Cardassian occupation, which was going on six years prior to this episode — would have opposed a new Cardassian occupation, even if it was kinder and gentler and even if their government was OK with it. By this point in DS9, Bajorans other than Kira, Leeta (sort of) and (later) Kai Winn essentially become red shirts. It’s really a shame, because so much time was used (mostly successfully) early in the series establishing the species.

Final thoughts

This is probably as down and dirty as DS9 got with actual combat episodes, other than “The Siege of AR-558” in the seventh season. It might be Avery Brooks’ best showing as Sisko, as he really does a great job conveying Sisko’s struggle with a very difficult decision. Brooks was probably the most inconsistent actor who played a captain in Star Trek, but he also achieved some of the highest highs, as he did here. For a low, watch his breakdown in the totally overrated “Far Beyond the Stars” or his over-the-top performance in “For the Uniform”.

Nana Visitor also excels in this episode, and the two shots of her looking in the mirror are quite effective. It’s believable that Kira would have adhered to Sisko’s advice up until this point and that she would break with it. Visitor, one of Trek’s most underrated actors, nails it as Kira in this one.

Oh, and faithful readers might wonder if we’re planning to review the entire DS9 war arc that starts the sixth season. The answer, after much thought, is yes. DS9 gets into more episodic fair again soon, but these six episodes are all very significant.

Coming later this week …

Worf continues his work as the galaxy’s worst father.

1997, 2374, Cardassian, Deep Space Nine, Dominion

“A Time to Stand”

September 2, 2015 Paul

The war is going very badly for the Federation and Dukat is walking on air back at re-christened Terok Nor, even though the minefield around the wormhole is preventing reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. The Dominion is keeping the Cardassians from making things too rough on the station and Weyoun gets Odo to take a seat on the station’s ruling council — much to Kira’s worry. Meanwhile, Sisko and Co. are sent on a mission to destroy a Dominion facility that stores the Jem’Hadar’s food (ketracel white) using the Jem’Hadar attack ship Sisko captured back in “The Ship”. They’re successful, but their vessel is badly damaged in the process, and the crew’s ability to return to friendly space is in question as the episode ends.

Why it’s important

As the first episode in the arc that begins DS9’s sixth season, this episode sets a lot in motion, including Sisko’s rise to prominence in Starfleet and his association with Admiral Ross (Barry Jenner), who shows up here for the first time and becomes a recurring character for the rest of the series. The dynamics back on DS9 are more interesting, though, as the feeling clearly is that the Federation is doomed, that Dukat is becoming a major player in interstellar affairs and that Odo’s loyalties will be tested.

That said, it’s interesting that the destruction of the ketracel white facility seems to have such little effect going forward.

What doesn’t hold up

The issue of scope in DS9’s final seasons shows up again. Here, it appears that the entire Dominion/Cardassian war effort is being led by three guys on DS9 (Dukat, Damar, Weyoun). Given that we’re talking about two extremely large space empires, shouldn’t there be more people involved — even a few stray Vorta or Cardassians in meetings? I know the Founders leave the day -to-day to the Vorta, but still.

In early DS9, the stakes were so much smaller that you could kind of buy that a handful of people (usually, the DS9 staff) would be operating independently. But as DS9 took on heavier and more galaxy-shaking topics, it became harder to buy that more people wouldn’t be involved. Really, the creators did the best job with the Klingons on this point — Martok and later Gowron always seemed to have Klingon staff members around — but the Federation and especially the Dominion and the Cardassians seem to be run by so few people. Just wait until we see the Dominion headquarters on Cardassia Prime in a few reviews. Basically, Weyoun and Damar operate out of what barely surpasses a small closet.

Otherwise, it’s odd that it takes Sisko’s staff so long to learn how to run the Jem’Hadar ship. Sisko seemed to know how to operate it when he tried to get it off the planet in “The Ship” and a team led by Kira in the seventh season doesn’t have much trouble operating one without any training. And don’t even get me started on the idea that only two members of a Jem’Hadar ship crew can see what’s going on outside the ship. Please.

Final thoughts

As noted in our last review, the Dukat/Weyoun/Damar scenes really strengthen the mini-arc that begins here. But the Odo/Kira stuff is really strong, too. Given where those two characters have been, what they go through mostly makes sense for where they eventually end up. More on that later.

Coming next week …

Things get really bad. O’Brien tears his pants.

1997, 2373, Cardassian, Deep Space Nine, Dominion, Klingon

“Call to Arms”

August 30, 2015 Paul

As the Dominion continues to gain footing in the Alpha Quadrant, Sisko puts his foot down. The crew start placing mines around the wormhole to prevent more Dominion ships from entering the Alpha Quadrant and fortifying Cardassia. The Dominion responds and sends Vorta ambassador Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) to DS9. Weyoun tells Sisko that unless the Federation removes the mines, the Dominion will take the station. Sisko refuses, leading to a battle at the station. The minefield is completed just in the nick of time, but Starfleet is forced to abandon DS9, which is taken over by Dukat, Weyoun and the Dominion — with Kira, Odo and Quark left behind. Then, Sisko, on board the Defiant (and Martok and Worf, on a Klingon ship) join a massive fleet of Federation and Klingon vessels, armed for war.

When Shelby said they'd have the fleet up and running within a year, she wasn't kidding. — When Shelby said they’d have the fleet up and running within a year, she wasn’t kidding.

Why it’s important

This is another instance in which the summary pretty much explains the episode’s importance. The long-simmering hostilities between the Federation and the Dominion finally boil over and war begins. While extended conflicts involving the Federation had occurred in the past, they had only been covered in dialog. With this episode, the DS9 creators set a course for two seasons of war that would really define DS9 and its contribution to Star Trek (aside from perhaps the spiritual stuff).

There’s also the quick bit about the Romulans signing a non-aggression pact with the Dominion, the Alpha Quadrant foothold that finally pushes Sisko over the edge. Of course, the Romulans’ place in the war is a huge, huge domino going forward …

What doesn’t hold up

The big conceit of the episode is that Starfleet wouldn’t do more to fortify DS9, described by Sisko next season as “the key to the Alpha Quadrant”. In this episode, Starfleet’s resources are used on another mission. Hmmm.

Beyond that, I find it somewhat hard to believe that O’Brien, Dax and Rom are the only people who work to figure out a way to mine the entrance to the wormhole. It paints Starfleet, generally, as having a pretty weak bench and really lacking in foresight. Hell, why not bring in more engineers from the DS9 staff, even? Given that Rom’s considered an engineering genius at this point, I guess it’s OK that he’s there …

I’m also unclear as to how DS9 can just be taken over by the Dominion. A big part of this episode involves Sisko getting the Bajorans to sign a non-aggression pact with the Dominion, as Sisko doesn’t think he can protect Bajor in a war. That’s all well and good, but does signing a non-aggression pact allow the Dominion to take over Bajor’s only space station? Keep in mind that Sisko’s instructions didn’t — as far as we know — tell the Bajorans to let the Dominion do whatever it wanted. Starfleet was on the station at Bajor’s invitation. Was such an invitation offered to the Dominion?

There’s also the matter of Garak leaving with the Defiant at the end of the episode. While he would have almost certainly been put to death by Dukat had he stayed on the station, shouldn’t Garak have asked Sisko to join the crew before the absolute last moment? What if Sisko had remembered how Garak tried to use the Defiant to commit genocide back in “Broken Link” and simply kicked him off the ship? And, actually, who approved Garak coming on board before Sisko? I suppose it could have been Bashir, but it likely wouldn’t have been O’Brien or even Dax.

Oh, and finally, this episode, once and for all, shows that Starfleet consists of a LOT more vessels than was implied in TNG (where the loss of 40 ships was seen as a huge blow) or even early DS9. The fleet the Defiant joins at the end of the episode is MASSIVE. Keep in mind that this is the same year in which Starfleet lost a lot of ships to the Borg (in “Star Trek: First Contact”) and at least some to the Klingons. One possible explanation is that in preparation for the war and all the other conflicts, Starfleet recalled a bunch of vessels in deep space. But that’s just a theory that’s not backed by any dialog. And we know it takes YEARS to build individual starships. Maybe Starfleet pulled a bunch of ships from moth balls — which would explain why we see a lot of Miranda- and Excelsior-class vessels in the next two seasons. Again, though, that’s never actually stated.

Last, last point: Did Sisko leave the runabouts on the station? It’s interesting that the runabouts were deployed in anticipation of the Dominion attack (which never happened) in “By Inferno’s Light”. They might have come in handy in this episode — and it certainly would have made sense to not leave them behind. But during the attack, and when the Defiant and Martok’s ship leave, we see no runabouts.

Final thoughts

One character we finally get to talk about is Weyoun, who showed up in a few episodes before this but none that we considered tapestry worthy. Jeffrey Combs playing opposite of Marc Alaimo‘s Dukat (along with Casey Biggs‘ Damar) into next season is one of DS9’s high points, as they have great chemistry. Combs, of course, played a ton of different roles in Trek, but Weyoun was his most memorable.

There’s also the matter of Jake’s decision to stay on DS9. Jake was DS9’s most underused character, despite some good stuff here and there in episodes like “Nor the Battle to the Strong”, “In the Cards” and (though Cirroc Lofton is only in part of it) “The Visitor”, which is DS9’s best episode. Making Jake a journalist and having him decide to stay on the station, without telling his father, was an interesting choice, but the results were mostly underwhelming, as we’ll discuss.

Frankly, it’s kind of amazing there are so many plot threads in this episode, many of which we’re not even mentioning here. “A Call to Arms” is extremely plot heavy, but it’s one of DS9’s finest hours. Definitely worth a watch for any fan.

Coming later this week …

The war, well, it’s not going well for our heroes.

1997, 2373, Deep Space Nine, Dominion, Maquis

“Blaze of Glory”

August 26, 2015 Paul

Sisko gets some intel that the last remnants of the Maquis — most of whom were wiped out when Cardassia joined the Dominion — plan to launch some missiles with cloaking devices (acquired from the Klingons) at Cardassian targets that would likely start a war. Sisko enlists the help of our old buddy Eddington (Kenneth Marshall) who’s been imprisoned since Sisko caught him a few months back. Eddington blames Sisko for what happened to the Maquis, but reluctantly takes him to a planet in the Badlands. Turns out the Jem’Hadar beat them there and have the last of the Maquis, including Eddington’s wife Rebecca (Gretchen German) imprisoned there ready to transport back to Cardassia. There never actually were any missiles, as it was a plan put into place by Eddington before he was arrested. Sisko gets the Maquis members out while Eddington stays behind and dies to save them.

Why it’s important

This episode was right on the bubble, but we reviewed it for two reasons. It essentially ended the Maquis, despite the Chakotay-led group on Voyager that’s unaware of the Dominion and all other goings-on in the Alpha Quadrant. And it also is very emblematic of the very strong run up to the end of the fifth season, in which the threat of a war with the Dominion is more real than ever before.

The back and forth between Eddington and Sisko on the runabout — in which its explained that the instability brought on by the Maquis was partly why the Cardassians turned to the Dominion — put this episode over the edge and made it tapestry worthy.

blazeofglory_269 — Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, I think he even kind of looks like me!

What doesn’t hold up

Eddington’s plan is, shall we say, ridiculous. Apparently, before he was captured, Eddington told the Maquis that, at some point, they should send a message directed at his first name (Michael) that they plan to fire missiles at Cardassia. The idea being that doing so would prompt someone to get Eddington out of jail and take him to the alleged “missile site” where he could save the remaining Maquis. And it turned out to be enough for Sisko, who knew Eddington well, to take the bait.

But what if Sisko had been otherwise occupied — or what if the Klingons hadn’t decided to share the message they intercepted and shared the knowledge that they provided the Maquis with cloaking devices? Remember that when Eddington was imprisoned, the Federation and the Klingons weren’t allies. Or, hell, what if Sisko had decided he couldn’t trust Eddington enough to enlist his help?

blazeofglory_223 — “Is it that the loaf of bread I stole for supper?” “I punched Q in his face, if you don’t stop it with this Les Miz thing…”

Final thoughts

Logical goofiness aside, this episode is a favorite of mine. The banter between Eddington and Sisko is strong, better than the uneven showing in “For the Uniform”, the episode in which Eddington was captured. Part of that is the stronger showing here by Avery Brooks but also the angrier Eddington we see.

Not that it’s a flaw, but it is too bad that we never see Rebecca or the handful of Maquis again or even learn what happened to them. My guess is they were imprisoned, but that’s not made clear. There’s a line in Voyager about the former Alpha Quadrant Maquis being in prison, FWIW.

Coming next week …

War! Huh! Good god, y’all. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

What if a site focused on the really important Star Trek episodes, explained how they were important and how they tied together — while tossing in a healthy dose of snark?