Comment Stream

Re: DS9 S7: Chimera

I liked this episode and find Laas convincing. He is difference from Odo and the Founders, who have been characterised by their desire for ‘order’ above almost everything. His indifference for humanoid societies, manners or rules is understandable considering how long he has lived. It raises the question about the Changelings sense of time. Given that the Great Link presumably existed for thousands if not millions of years and they aren’t constrained by our sense of a lifetime, one would think they can be more patient.

I think the episode says less about European imperialism and cultural appropriation than it does about what it means to live as a minority under the expectation to conform. Even if you exclude the more aggressive forms of racism and homophobia, you are expected to act, dress and speak in a certain way, to assimilate into the dominant culture of where you live. That is why you get phrases like the ‘model minority’.

Like Odo, as much as you try to fit in, sometimes you are reminded that you are not white, or you are different in some way. You are reminded of the culture that you have given up or denied by being born outside of it. Sometimes even if you are in a loving relationship, it pains you that there is always going to be a part yourself you cannot share with your partner because of different languages or background.

Re: DS9 S7: Field of Fire

I think there a few decent aspects to this episode, but it was a strange choice to bring them together.

The actual idea of the rifle and the final shootout is great. When I first caught this episode in 2000 or so, I also enjoyed playing Perfect Dark on N64 with a rifle called Farsight that can shoot through walls. I can remember having these 'Enemy at the gates' kind of sniper duo encounters playing with friends and they were brilliant.

I also like Esri and de Boer's chirpy portrayal of a different Dax who is young and inexperienced. She would done well in more comedic, lighter episodes with Jake and Nog in earlier seasons, and could have had decent character growth. I just don't know why they kept throwing her these stories with murders. It doesn't make sense for a counsellor to be doing anything more than advicing Odo. Esri always gets the benefit of the doubt because Sisko likes Dax, but in a way, her not having alibi and talking to a murderous version of herself and almost killing someone should have made her a suspect in the end too.

I liked O'Brien's breakthrough and the melon demonstration the most. For me, this rifle murder plot should have been an O'Brien/Bashir & Section 31 plot. The weapon and seemingly random murders suits that world of conspiracy and fear.

Re: DS9 S7: It's Only a Paper Moon

@Rahul: I read that a Strange New Worlds story suggested that "The Pup" from season 1's "The Forsaken" had merged with Vic's program and made him "alive." It doesn’t make complete sense but I thought that was a nice way to look at it.

@Jason R. I agree that the theme has been played out with the Doctor, Data and others and didn’t need to be rehashed in DS9. I do find it interesting that many people find the Doctor to be more of a sentient being than Vic. I mean, where is the line drawn between Vic being just a programme and the Doctor exceeding it? Vic is sentient and self aware, but if you say that he is there to serve a purpose and don’t go outside of that, then the same can be said of all Dominion subjects. The Vorta and Jem’Hedar, unless they are ‘defextive’ stay within the programming of their ‘gods’. I guess a parallel can be drawn there as well.

For a while in this episode, I did wonder if Vic was helping Nog out of self interest and kept him there because he gets to live a full life and if Esri was callin him out on it.

Re: DS9 S7: It's Only a Paper Moon

@ Rahul: not sure if you meant if you want Vic to be a real person rather than a hologram or a real character like the Doc on Voyager.

I liked this episode but this could have been even more interesting if there were some development in Vic as well and draw some parallel between Nog’s escape to the holosuite and Vic being trapped in it. I mean, by this time in the series’ first run, The Doctor on Voyager already had the most character growth on that show and had episodes like “Real Life”. The difference between Vic and the Doctor is how docile Vic is, accepting of his place and let others talk down to him for being a ‘hologram’. This feels strange given what see on the other show that ran in parallel.

With as much screen time as Vic had, he was probably like Esrinin being introduced too late in the series. Vic would have been DS9’s counsellor if he was allowed a role at the station, and probably could have been the best one Trek has seen. Unlike the doctors, I always thought the counsellors on the series were tough roles to love. That problem goes for Esri too obviously, a few more details could have gave her development in the episode some weight too. She would have been better being an Ensign longer, she is young and look more comfortable to me with the likes of Jake and Nog rather than being hit on by Nog’s uncle. Sisko’s promoting her just felt selfish and wrong; he needed Dax but Esri wasn’t ready and it screams of more nepotism in Starfleet.

Re: DS9 S1: Progress

I do agree with the others that as good as the episode was a character piece for Kira, the premise could have done with more thought. Forcing someone off their property feels off and as the B story argues, land is more can be more valuable than most commodities, particularly picturesque ones like where the old man's cottage is.

Re: DSC S1: Lethe

I enjoyed this one. It wasn't great but serveable nonetheless. Considering how rough a start TNG had, this is doing pretty well in my opinion. If I wanted TNG again, I can always go back and watch the old episodes. I am liking where they are taking Lorca, it will be interesting if they give him multiple seasons to develop. but as much as I like Jasan Issacs, they don't have anyone with quite the charisma as Patrick Stewart, who was a big reason why that show worked. I'm happy there are plenty of people outside of here who are enjoying this. It deserves the time to find its feet properly.

Re: DS9 S7: Chrysalis

This episode was really about the work of the hair and make up department on Faith Salie, the subtle difference between the no make up make up to being catatonic.

Re: DS9 S6: In the Pale Moonlight

After the previous episode, we see that Sisko has kept Garak as his own personal Section 31. My main gripe with Sisko is less with his moral compass, but with him essentially putting the fate of the galaxy into his own hands and not mitigating the risk of failure. Once he has decided there are no 'half measures' as they say, but he relied entirely on Garak doing his own thing. If Sisko didn't anticipate Garak doing what he did, then he was irresponsible. He had no idea if the forgery would work and he would have put The Federation into a hopeless situation.

Re: DS9 S5: Children of Time

^ yeah, Odo did it to save Kira, but if you love someone would you really actually tell them that? It would make her feel guilty if anything,

Re: DS9 S5: Children of Time

I can't see it as a 1 vs 8000 argument. It's one set of possibilities vs another and you can say that we all make an infinite amount of these choices with every action we make. Maybe if I don't leave my house now, I won't make my wife and none of that line of descendants would've both etc. I mean, if they did go back 200 years, O'brien would HAVE to shack up with that Ensign after ten years at the exact same time to produce the right offsprings? I guess it is the time paradox about knowledge of the future, if it's destiny then you can't change, if you can change it then what you see as the future must be something else.

It's just how you frame it. I mean, we forget that this timeline only exists since Jake brought Sisko back in the Visitor. Jake wasn't presented with the choice, but the Dominion war didn't happen in his timeline, how many lives was that worth? But here we don't see odo's pov. I did think he was a bit of an idiot to tell Kira it was all about her though, that can haunt people for the rest of their life if there wasn't a reset at the end of the episode.

I did like that it took Odo two hundred years and time travel to get out of the friend zone though.

Re: DS9 S4: Our Man Bashir

Looks like this was fun for the actors, especially playing the villains. Kira looks great as a Bond girl too. A shame Sisko didn't put on a stronger hammy accent.

I did love how nonchalant everyone was on that shuttle during the set up about their possible death 'in 10 seconds.'

Re: VOY S4: Vis A Vis

My main pleasure from this episode was recognising the alien as Bulldog in Frasier.

Re: VOY S1: Prime Factors

Oh poor Harry, that Sikarian was really cute and was throwing herself at him.

But really, i don't think the story works since if the Sikarian are so much more advanced technologically, wouldn't they quite easily chase Voyager down and outgun them in everyway? They could easily invade the Federation if it gave them 'pleasure'.