According to their own propaganda at least, they are paranoid about the solids reïnflicting their prejudiced persecution upon them (the irony is apparently, totally lost upon the entire link).
Paul York - Thu, May 17, 2012, 12:11pm (USA Central)
I liked the arc because of the characterizations, esp. Dukat, who is pictured as not totally evil, but as someone 1) wants the adulation of his victims, which turns out to be a tactical weakness because it means he refuses to kill them, and 2) loves his daughter deeply and is driven to madness by losing her and the station ... his character was very well-written and played.
Odo as well: here is a character who torn by emotions, including his desire for "paradise", his love for Kira (which led him essentially to mass murder in Children of Time), and his duty to his friends, and to justice. He is a very complex character, not entirely good or evil.
Also, Rom and Quark both exhibited a very un-Ferengi bravey and altruism that was compelling. Kira's mirror scenes and her fear of becoming complicit are powerful as well, as is the way that Dukat's daughter is torn by her love for her father and her loyalty to her friends. All in all I found these internal conflicts and transformations very compelling. Dukat's loss was very moving; though he is an evil man, I really felt for him.
Also the duty of the Jem Hadar to their masters, despite knowing they were being betrayed by them ... the Founder came across as the only totally evil character with no redeeming features. Can anyone explain why shape-shifters feel it necessary to gain political and military power in the galaxy? They have "paradise" on their planet already -- why the powerlust?
Amazing episode. Definetely worth the 4 stars. The destruction of the Defiant even affected me emotionally. I don't know why. Maybe it was Sisko's reaction. Maybe the ship in and of itself had become a character of its own. Maybe I'm just wierd.
The whole time I was watching this, I was waiting for One to meet his "father". One's biological component is based on a *member of Voyager's crew*. That could have serviced the story and One's character development in so many ways.
The writers could have brought Voyager home a few episodes before the finale and still had the actual story of how they got home saved for a big massive last episode.
I doubt there was a person alive watching the program that didn't know they would get home in the end.
So why not, 4 episodes before the end have an episode that starts with the subtitle - A few years from now! And then an episode that deals with some emotional issues of their return. There are so many ways a decent writer could tell this story and the only spoiler would be the fact that that character survived. Which most of us expected them all to do anyway.
Destructor - Wed, May 16, 2012, 12:23am (USA Central)
I love this episode- it has so many great elements:
1. The 'slapping of Spock' scene- hilarious!
2. A great 'Trekkian dilemma' with no 'good choice' at the end.
3. A heartfelt and reasonable explanation of the Price Directive from Kirk.
4. A sexy lady.
5. An awesome alien monster- plus two fight scenes with said monster!
6. The classic fight music and a big brawl.
7. McCoy saying: "She's dead."
Now reading some more of the comments and I agree that more time should have spent expanding the final chapter of the series. But if they had docked only one ep in favor of said expansion...would anyone really miss Emporers New Cloak over Badda Bing? I know I wouldn't. Though I did find the former a little more entertaing than Jammer but not by much. It was pretty mindless and ill-conceived. Maybe one and half stars.
As for expanding the war arc wasn't DS9 supposed to run for 8 seasons? I know that TNG was supposed to run for 8 but was cut short at 7 because the studio wanted TNG movies. DS9 could have not only expanded the arc but also dealt with the aftermath. Like rogue Dominion, rebuilding of Cardassia, keeping shaky wartime alliances intact, Bajors admittance into UFP...etc.
This ep was super cute! Now I know its 7th season and all that and theres been a few fluff pieces plus a clunker in the middle few eps but rewatching this again I don't have that apprehension of "getting back into the swing of things".
I really thought it was highly entertaining especially compared to most holodeck eps. Had a grin through most of it even if I agree a few scenes were stretched a bit thin.
It seems it mostly accomplished what it set out to do despite its unfortunate placement among other lightweight outings in the final stretch. Three stars from me.
And oh yeah Ezri holy hell she was smoking hot.
Paul York - Tue, May 15, 2012, 3:31pm (USA Central)
The crew of the Defiant - and in particular Kira - are choosing to make a utilitarian decision: to trade one life for 8,000. There is a major difference between it being chosen for her and choosing it herself. She chooses it herself and in that choice there is moral worth. She sacrifices her life for others. However, future Odo's choice is selfish: he is trading away the lives of 8,000 for the benefit of his past self, and also negating Kira's moral choice. He comes across as a monster. I appreciated this episode for the ethical dilemma it portrayed -- a dilemma that is often faced by human beings in the present in different ways (e.g. every time we choose to consume something that is unsustainable we are doing so at the expense of future generations). This was good as an exploration of what is called "intergenerational ethics."
p.s. correction: in The Day the Earth Stood Still, the alien threatens to kill humanity but doesn't.
On another matter, Jammer is right -- this episode is much like Momento and Year of Hell Pt. II. Well, at least it does it well. The image of the last humans in existence living as refugees on a distant planet, constantly under attack, was quite compelling.
Paul York - Mon, May 14, 2012, 11:29pm (USA Central)
What the Xindi are trying to do the human species in this fictional story - wipe them from existence - humans themselves do to about 200 species in real life everyday. But in this fiction the Xindi - who all appear to be similar to Earth animals (marine, insect, reptile) - not only kill the humans but also all life from Earth, non-human as well. For the lab rats and factory farms animals that is probably a mercy, however. Wouldn't it be far easier to engineer a virus that kills only humans and leaves everything else intact - including the Xindi's distant cousins? Even Men in Black explored this humourously (the cockroaches) - why does ST lack the imagination to do so? The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still is another good example: humans destroyed but all the non-human flora and fauna left intact.
Paul York - Mon, May 14, 2012, 9:31pm (USA Central)
The aliens suffering a virus in Dear Doctor could easily have made the same speech to Archer that he makes to the incorporeal beings here. Anyway good to see that he learned what it's like to be on the other side, and that the incorporeal aliens learned to exercise some compassion for once. Growing morally is what life is all about -- too bad Archer didn't figure that out in Dear Doctor.
Paul York - Mon, May 14, 2012, 9:27pm (USA Central)
This trilogy was great; it redeemed my like of Enterprise -- to properly represent the value of ST. Morality is everything in this series. It stands for something. In this case it stands for reforming corruption in the Vulcan gvmt and opposing war.
Jadzia Dax is and always will be my favorite character in the series. This is a very sad episode. I wish she hadn't die but hey it's a sci-fi series involving time travel and parallel universes, no ones really dead in sci-fi.
Paul York - Mon, May 14, 2012, 9:55am (USA Central)
I agree with the above comment, that torture is "anti-Trek." The entire point of ST is that humanity has evolved from barbarism to enlightenment, past poverty, war, and presumably torture. But here we see Archer using torture and thus degrading himself and all of humanity in the process. Would it not have been easier to use a mind meld, as Spock did countless times, to extract information humanely? They have a Vulcan on board after all. I am really disappointed in this show, for its blatant sexploitation (T'Pol massages), for its species prejudice, and for portraying torture as acceptable. These are very poor messages -- the contrary of the ideals that ST usually stands for. Granted Star Fleet is in its infancy, but surely the writers of Enterprise can do better than this.
I still remember when I heard about this series in 2003. At the time, I decided I'd skip it, since I didn't care for the original BSG.
But a friend asked some of us over for a movie night, to watch this Miniseries shortly after it aired. He was really well-versed in good sci-fi, so we trusted him. Boy am I glad I took him up on the offer! BSG nights at his house, and those friendships, became some of my fondest memories of the decade.
A friend of mine knew Jammer in college and introduced me to these reviews. The reviews became a companion-piece as I watches the series. They deepened my appreciation for the best episodes and (usually) confirmed my own suspicions about the weaker ones when they (rarely) came along! Jammer is insightful, and nearly always spot-on in my opinion (my biggest disagreement might be "Final Cut," which I really liked).
Now it's 2012 and I just finished re-watching the series, re-reading Jammer's reviews too. The second time through, I found it even more satisfying and profound than the first. Without that voracious week-to-week appetite for pure plot I get during a good series' run, it was easier to sit back and absorb the larger story arcs, mythological elements, and great acting. Also, amusingly, the occasional slips where its Canadian-ness shows through (typically an oddly pronounced "o" here or there). So charming!
And with the series still fresh in my mind, tonight I came back to the Miniseries, just to compare. It's truly cinematic in scope, doesn't play at all like television. I'm not sure any other miniseries/pilot ever made as compelling of a case for a full series run than this Miniseries.
If I could compare my 3rd watching of the Miniseries to anything, it might be light hearing the opening heartbeat and "Breathe, breathe in the air" of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I hear that, and I know that (no matter how many times I've heard it) I'm about to be in for a great experience.
I guess this was more of a testimonial than a review. So it goes. Thanks for the fantastic website, Jamal!
Paul York - Sun, May 13, 2012, 11:51pm (USA Central)
I have to agree with Jammer - the T'Pol shirtless scene was an insult to our intelligence. Ditto with the T'Pol bodysuit - as well as the 7 of 9 bodysuit and high heels. Honestly, how pathetic.
As for the inter-species cooperation of the Xindi -- I wish humans could be so cooperative with the other intelligent species on Earth. Imagine developing a working relationship with whales and dolphins and chimpanzees for example -- they could teach us a lot about the necessity of protecting eco-systems - which we rely on as much as they do.
The alternative is an Earth that looks like that Mordor-like mining slave camp. I have to agree with the above statement that the Xindi are just doing a pre-emptive strike to protect themselves - from the sound of it - but wouldn't it be easier to simply talk with Earth folks and work it out beforehand? Clearly they don't trust us, and perhaps not without good reason: after all, look at what we have done to our marine mammals, insects, and reptiles.
Anyway, the whole scenario is totally implausible: temporal wars, stupid test weapons of mass destruction (why not just introduce a pathogen that would kill the humans and leave the flora and fauna intact?), a Delphic expanse where Vulcans go mad and Klingons get turned inside out ... Enterprise seems to oscillate between hard SF and fantasy; these segments are more on the fantasy side of it, but I have to admit, it is entertaining nonetheless.
@Paul :
According to their own propaganda at least, they are paranoid about the solids reïnflicting their prejudiced persecution upon them (the irony is apparently, totally lost upon the entire link).
I liked the arc because of the characterizations, esp. Dukat, who is pictured as not totally evil, but as someone 1) wants the adulation of his victims, which turns out to be a tactical weakness because it means he refuses to kill them, and 2) loves his daughter deeply and is driven to madness by losing her and the station ... his character was very well-written and played.
Odo as well: here is a character who torn by emotions, including his desire for "paradise", his love for Kira (which led him essentially to mass murder in Children of Time), and his duty to his friends, and to justice. He is a very complex character, not entirely good or evil.
Also, Rom and Quark both exhibited a very un-Ferengi bravey and altruism that was compelling. Kira's mirror scenes and her fear of becoming complicit are powerful as well, as is the way that Dukat's daughter is torn by her love for her father and her loyalty to her friends. All in all I found these internal conflicts and transformations very compelling. Dukat's loss was very moving; though he is an evil man, I really felt for him.
Also the duty of the Jem Hadar to their masters, despite knowing they were being betrayed by them ... the Founder came across as the only totally evil character with no redeeming features. Can anyone explain why shape-shifters feel it necessary to gain political and military power in the galaxy? They have "paradise" on their planet already -- why the powerlust?
Amazing episode. Definetely worth the 4 stars. The destruction of the Defiant even affected me emotionally. I don't know why. Maybe it was Sisko's reaction. Maybe the ship in and of itself had become a character of its own. Maybe I'm just wierd.
The whole time I was watching this, I was waiting for One to meet his "father". One's biological component is based on a *member of Voyager's crew*. That could have serviced the story and One's character development in so many ways.
I didn't believe Satee's meltdown at the end either, but hey, the episode had to end dramatically somehow.
"Zero stars"? This one is going on my "must watch" list! >:D
The Jews returning to Palestine comes to mind ... and the dangerous consequences of bullying
The writers could have brought Voyager home a few episodes before the finale and still had the actual story of how they got home saved for a big massive last episode.
I doubt there was a person alive watching the program that didn't know they would get home in the end.
So why not, 4 episodes before the end have an episode that starts with the subtitle - A few years from now! And then an episode that deals with some emotional issues of their return. There are so many ways a decent writer could tell this story and the only spoiler would be the fact that that character survived. Which most of us expected them all to do anyway.
I love this episode- it has so many great elements:
1. The 'slapping of Spock' scene- hilarious!
2. A great 'Trekkian dilemma' with no 'good choice' at the end.
3. A heartfelt and reasonable explanation of the Price Directive from Kirk.
4. A sexy lady.
5. An awesome alien monster- plus two fight scenes with said monster!
6. The classic fight music and a big brawl.
7. McCoy saying: "She's dead."
I really loved this episode.
Now reading some more of the comments and I agree that more time should have spent expanding the final chapter of the series. But if they had docked only one ep in favor of said expansion...would anyone really miss Emporers New Cloak over Badda Bing? I know I wouldn't. Though I did find the former a little more entertaing than Jammer but not by much. It was pretty mindless and ill-conceived. Maybe one and half stars.
As for expanding the war arc wasn't DS9 supposed to run for 8 seasons? I know that TNG was supposed to run for 8 but was cut short at 7 because the studio wanted TNG movies. DS9 could have not only expanded the arc but also dealt with the aftermath. Like rogue Dominion, rebuilding of Cardassia, keeping shaky wartime alliances intact, Bajors admittance into UFP...etc.
This ep was super cute! Now I know its 7th season and all that and theres been a few fluff pieces plus a clunker in the middle few eps but rewatching this again I don't have that apprehension of "getting back into the swing of things".
I really thought it was highly entertaining especially compared to most holodeck eps. Had a grin through most of it even if I agree a few scenes were stretched a bit thin.
It seems it mostly accomplished what it set out to do despite its unfortunate placement among other lightweight outings in the final stretch. Three stars from me.
And oh yeah Ezri holy hell she was smoking hot.
The crew of the Defiant - and in particular Kira - are choosing to make a utilitarian decision: to trade one life for 8,000. There is a major difference between it being chosen for her and choosing it herself. She chooses it herself and in that choice there is moral worth. She sacrifices her life for others. However, future Odo's choice is selfish: he is trading away the lives of 8,000 for the benefit of his past self, and also negating Kira's moral choice. He comes across as a monster. I appreciated this episode for the ethical dilemma it portrayed -- a dilemma that is often faced by human beings in the present in different ways (e.g. every time we choose to consume something that is unsustainable we are doing so at the expense of future generations). This was good as an exploration of what is called "intergenerational ethics."
The Worf and Jadzia subplot was brilliant, the 'O Briens plot not so good. 2.5 stars overall.
The best season of Star Trek, nearly flawless 5/5 stars!
Another boring Ezri episode. I never cared for her, she's a crap character
p.s. correction: in The Day the Earth Stood Still, the alien threatens to kill humanity but doesn't.
On another matter, Jammer is right -- this episode is much like Momento and Year of Hell Pt. II. Well, at least it does it well. The image of the last humans in existence living as refugees on a distant planet, constantly under attack, was quite compelling.
What the Xindi are trying to do the human species in this fictional story - wipe them from existence - humans themselves do to about 200 species in real life everyday. But in this fiction the Xindi - who all appear to be similar to Earth animals (marine, insect, reptile) - not only kill the humans but also all life from Earth, non-human as well. For the lab rats and factory farms animals that is probably a mercy, however. Wouldn't it be far easier to engineer a virus that kills only humans and leaves everything else intact - including the Xindi's distant cousins? Even Men in Black explored this humourously (the cockroaches) - why does ST lack the imagination to do so? The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still is another good example: humans destroyed but all the non-human flora and fauna left intact.
The aliens suffering a virus in Dear Doctor could easily have made the same speech to Archer that he makes to the incorporeal beings here. Anyway good to see that he learned what it's like to be on the other side, and that the incorporeal aliens learned to exercise some compassion for once. Growing morally is what life is all about -- too bad Archer didn't figure that out in Dear Doctor.
This trilogy was great; it redeemed my like of Enterprise -- to properly represent the value of ST. Morality is everything in this series. It stands for something. In this case it stands for reforming corruption in the Vulcan gvmt and opposing war.
I Really enjoyed this episode as well. O'Brien looking after Bilby's cat was a nice little tribute to him.
A Time to Stand / Sacrifice of Angels is my favorite arc in the series.
Jadzia Dax is and always will be my favorite character in the series. This is a very sad episode. I wish she hadn't die but hey it's a sci-fi series involving time travel and parallel universes, no ones really dead in sci-fi.
I agree with the above comment, that torture is "anti-Trek." The entire point of ST is that humanity has evolved from barbarism to enlightenment, past poverty, war, and presumably torture. But here we see Archer using torture and thus degrading himself and all of humanity in the process. Would it not have been easier to use a mind meld, as Spock did countless times, to extract information humanely? They have a Vulcan on board after all. I am really disappointed in this show, for its blatant sexploitation (T'Pol massages), for its species prejudice, and for portraying torture as acceptable. These are very poor messages -- the contrary of the ideals that ST usually stands for. Granted Star Fleet is in its infancy, but surely the writers of Enterprise can do better than this.
I still remember when I heard about this series in 2003. At the time, I decided I'd skip it, since I didn't care for the original BSG.
But a friend asked some of us over for a movie night, to watch this Miniseries shortly after it aired. He was really well-versed in good sci-fi, so we trusted him. Boy am I glad I took him up on the offer! BSG nights at his house, and those friendships, became some of my fondest memories of the decade.
A friend of mine knew Jammer in college and introduced me to these reviews. The reviews became a companion-piece as I watches the series. They deepened my appreciation for the best episodes and (usually) confirmed my own suspicions about the weaker ones when they (rarely) came along! Jammer is insightful, and nearly always spot-on in my opinion (my biggest disagreement might be "Final Cut," which I really liked).
Now it's 2012 and I just finished re-watching the series, re-reading Jammer's reviews too. The second time through, I found it even more satisfying and profound than the first. Without that voracious week-to-week appetite for pure plot I get during a good series' run, it was easier to sit back and absorb the larger story arcs, mythological elements, and great acting. Also, amusingly, the occasional slips where its Canadian-ness shows through (typically an oddly pronounced "o" here or there). So charming!
And with the series still fresh in my mind, tonight I came back to the Miniseries, just to compare. It's truly cinematic in scope, doesn't play at all like television. I'm not sure any other miniseries/pilot ever made as compelling of a case for a full series run than this Miniseries.
If I could compare my 3rd watching of the Miniseries to anything, it might be light hearing the opening heartbeat and "Breathe, breathe in the air" of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I hear that, and I know that (no matter how many times I've heard it) I'm about to be in for a great experience.
I guess this was more of a testimonial than a review. So it goes. Thanks for the fantastic website, Jamal!
I have to agree with Jammer - the T'Pol shirtless scene was an insult to our intelligence. Ditto with the T'Pol bodysuit - as well as the 7 of 9 bodysuit and high heels. Honestly, how pathetic.
As for the inter-species cooperation of the Xindi -- I wish humans could be so cooperative with the other intelligent species on Earth. Imagine developing a working relationship with whales and dolphins and chimpanzees for example -- they could teach us a lot about the necessity of protecting eco-systems - which we rely on as much as they do.
The alternative is an Earth that looks like that Mordor-like mining slave camp. I have to agree with the above statement that the Xindi are just doing a pre-emptive strike to protect themselves - from the sound of it - but wouldn't it be easier to simply talk with Earth folks and work it out beforehand? Clearly they don't trust us, and perhaps not without good reason: after all, look at what we have done to our marine mammals, insects, and reptiles.
Anyway, the whole scenario is totally implausible: temporal wars, stupid test weapons of mass destruction (why not just introduce a pathogen that would kill the humans and leave the flora and fauna intact?), a Delphic expanse where Vulcans go mad and Klingons get turned inside out ... Enterprise seems to oscillate between hard SF and fantasy; these segments are more on the fantasy side of it, but I have to admit, it is entertaining nonetheless.