Our outfits are magnificent, k?
I’ve completed my re-watch of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Now it’s time to start Deep Space Nine! I am much less familiar with this show, though I’m pretty sure I’ve seen about 80-90% of the episodes. It’s been so long that I’m sure it will all feel brand new. My wife has never seen the show. She and I will go through, review every episode, and give commentary and a grade from A-F. There are SPOILERS for each episode below. Without further adieu, here’s:
“Babel”
Synopsis
Chief O’Brien continues to try to catch up on all the work that needs to be done to get Deep Space Nine back in working condition. As he does so, however, people start getting sick, and it looks like there is a booby trap that was left on the station. Odo and others try to solve the problem as people continue to lose their capacity to speak and understand communication. Finally, Major Kira uses some unorthodox methods to convince the one possible link to tell them how to cure the virus. All is saved!
Commentary
The main thing I want to say here is that I found the episode kinda boring. It was hard to take seriously a threat to the entire space station this early in the show. Of course they’re not going to let so many main characters be unable to talk with each other for the rest of the series. There was almost no suspense here. The plot itself wasn’t a bad one–it definitely makes you wonder whether there are a lot more traps scattered around the station. Heck, with the Cardassians you expect that to happen! It just felt predictable and “ho hum” throughout. Kira’s saving everything with her probably illegal kidnapping of a doctor was the only thing that spiced it up.
Grade: C- “It was a bit boring, despite attempts to make it suspenseful.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: B+ “It was good and fairly creative, but the suspension of the disbelief was a bit much.”
“Captive Pursuit”
Synopsis
A man arrives at Deep Space Nine through the wormhole, and appears to be in great fear, wanting to arm himself and flee at the earliest opportunity. He is locked up for trying to break into a weapons cache. Meanwhile, an aggressive ship shows up and beams intruders on board the station finally ending their attack when they discover the man who’d come earlier. Turns out that that man’s function in their culture is to flee to the best of the ability, and provide a good hunt. Disgusted at his capture, they consign him to humiliation back home. O’Brien, however, has other plans, and busts him out of prison, releasing him back to his ship to keep the hunt going.
Commentary
First, let me say that this was the episode that really hammered home that costumes on DS9 are really well done. The costumes for the people from the Gamma Quadrant were pretty spectacular. A little bit campy sci-fi, a touch of old Trek, and a bunch of flair. I enjoyed them very much.
Anyway, the plot isn’t what drives this episode, and that’s good because it’s pretty bare-bones. There’s a guy running from lots of people chasing him. But wait, turns out he is supposed to be chased in their society so that’s okay, right? Well O’Brien doesn’t think so, and he worked with the “Tosk” to help him keep running. It’s straightforward, but it is also action-packed and intense, with a touch of silliness mixed in. The hardest part of the episode to swallow, to be honest, was O’Brien just throwing the Prime Directive out the window. Of course, his twisted logic actually makes some kind of sense, so maybe that’s okay too. It’s good to see DS9 execute this kind of “fun” mixer episode so early in the series.
Grade: B+ “It’s enjoyable, but apparently O’Brien also discards Starfleet regulations at the drop of a hat as well.”
Wife’s Grade and Comment: A- “Chief O’Brien clearly takes Riker for his role model instead of Picard in his pursuit of the Prime Directive.”
Links
J.W. Wartick- Always Have a Reason– Check out my “main site” which talks about philosophy of religion, theology, and Christian apologetics (among other random topics). I love science fiction so that comes up integrated with theology fairly frequently as well. I’d love to have you follow there, too!
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Star Trek: DS9- For more episode reviews, follow this site and also click this link to read more (scroll down as needed)! Drop me a comment to let me know what you thought!
SDG.
Eclectic Theist 