Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Season 1 “The Nagus” and “Vortex”

Well… he’s not _that_ heavy!

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:

“The Nagus”

Synopsis

Grand Nagus Zek, leader of the Ferengi business empire, visits Quark’s and asks to convene a meeting of the Ferengi higher ups. As the meeting goes on to discuss ways to exploit the Gamma Quadrant, Sisko fights with Jake over the influence Nog is having on him. Jake resolves to remain friends with Nog despite the difficulties their friendship faces, and Sisko, discovering that Jake is teaching Nog to read, realizes what a good influence they’re having on each other and relents. Meanwhile, Zek names Quark the future Grand Nagus, just before his own apparent death. As Quark takes on the role of leading the Ferengi, a plot to take the position of Grand Nagus is exposed, and Zek shows himself just as Quark is about to be killed by Quark’s brother, Rom and Krax, Zek’s son. He notes that Krax still has much to learn, but Quark commends Rom for his nefarious plot and makes a new role at the bar for his brother to fill.

Commentary

I think this is a great example of how to make an episode fun. There was character development for Quark even as he stuck to his role. There was a great deal of humor without ever taking away from the seriousness of the plot–difficult to do. Most importantly, it made the Ferengi much less of a joke than they have been so far in the Star Trek universe. This was a pretty fascinating episode, even if some aspects of it were hard sells.

Quark’s role came to the forefront and it is made clear here that his character alone is capable of carrying an episode. That’s an important thing for a show like DS9 to learn early and to succeed at- realizing that individual characters are perhaps just as important as the overarching narrative. Here, the show succeeded dramatically in a funny, breakthrough episode for one of the stars. Making it a clear reference to The Godfather in many ways–including the hilarious scene where Quark mimics Don Corleone from the movie–was an added touch that really sold the whole concept.

Grade: A- “A vastly entertaining episode that is maybe just a little too hard to buy.”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: A- “It was just so fun to see the Ferengi culture. It was also hilarious.”

“Vortex”

Synopsis

When Croden, a newly arrived alien on DS9, gets in a fight with two Maradorns and kills one of them in the ensuing firefight, he is taken into custody by Odo pending trial. However, when Sisko and Kira make first contact with Croden’s homeworld, they demand his immediate return and basically say to leave them alone. Sisko orders Odo to return Croden to his home, where he will certainly be executed. Meanwhile, Croden has been telling Odo he knows more about changelings, giving a name to Odo and hope of the existence of more like him that heretofore he knew nothing about. As Odo transports Croden back home, they are attacked by Ah-Kel, the surviving Maradorn. To escape, Croden takes the controls, ladning them inside the vortex that he hinted Odo might find more of his people. However, there are no more changelings, just Croden’s daughter who had been hidden away in stasis after his family was killed for his alleged crimes. Odo is hurt as they try to flee, but Croden gets him back to the runabout. They manage to destroy Ah-Kel’s ship in the vortex, and are hailed by a Vulcan vessel, to whom Odo gives Croden and his daughter as refugees he found in the vortex.

Commentary

Odo’s character got a ton of development here, and it is the first episode that shows how much potential his character has for the rest of the series. What are changelings? Are there more like Odo? How did he get separated from them? Will they be friendly? These are just a few of the questions that come up in this episode that it would have been difficult to even formulate earlier in the season, because there wasn’t enough that we knew about Odo to ask these questions.

To be fair, there are some real stretches here–how can Odo make himself into a glass that gets broken apart (presumably light enough to carry on a tray) and then have Croden complain about how heavy he is? Where does all that mass go? Answer: don’t ask questions! But I don’t mind those stretches as much when they’re fairly superfluous to the plot.

The plot is the star here, too. Odo is shown to be more than just a hardhearted mean policeman on the station. He has feelings about right and wrong, and a strong sense of justice that transcends laws even among species. Croden’s people are an intriguing aside, but according to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion by Terry J. Erdmann with Paula M. Block, they never show up again. Oh well. By the way, get that book if you want some really cool facts about the show as we go along.

With “Vortex,” we get hints of how interesting DS9 could shape up to be. Will it pay out dividends or just sink under expectations? We’ll have to keep watching!

Grade: A “Hey, Odo is a character!”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: A “It was really impressive character development for Odo along with an interesting plot to keep things moving.”

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!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

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.

Reading Through the [Alleged] Best 100 Science Fiction Books- #6-10 scores and comments

I’m a huge science fiction fan, but realize I haven’t read a lot of those works considered classics or greats. I decided to remedy that, and found a list online of the Top 100 Science Fiction Books. The list is determined by vote from sci-fi fans online, so it may change over time. I am going off the order of the list as it was when I first saw it. Each book will receive a grade between F and A+ as well as very brief comments. I’m interested to read what you think about these books as well. There will be very minor spoilers in some of these.

6. 1984 by George Orwell A
“We live in an age of dystopias, but Orwell’s remains head and shoulders above the rest. It is chilling in ways that few books manage to approach. People of varied political backgrounds continue to point to it as a warning, and than in itself is a kind of fulfillment of Orwell’s vision of the future. An excellent work.”

7. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Grade: B-
“There’s almost no character development, and there is way too much inner dialogue vs. action. It was a solid premise, and I definitely understand how it received its status as a classic. I just felt it was a little unfulfilling.”

8. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke Grade: B
“I actually liked the first half a lot more than the second half. Watching the development of human thought and technology over time was more interesting than reading about some guy going on an acid trip by means of alien encounter. It got too weird.”

9. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick Grade: A
“It bears little resemblance to the film ‘Blade Runner,’ but that wasn’t a bad thing. It’s surreal, entertaining, and befuddling all at once. One of the few novels to balance well a combination of suspense and humor. It has its share of action and surprises. I loved it. Also, it spawned a whole lot of cool book covers.”

10. Neuromancer by William Gibson Grade: A-
“Gibson predicted much of the future and coined a number of terms and ideas in his prophetic novel. However, the dialogue-to-action ratio is too high and the world and characters feel somewhat empty and lifeless. It’s well-worth the read, though I think other books in the cyberpunk genre are better, even though they do rely on Gibson for inspiration.”

What do you think? Which are your favorites? Are you surprised at any of the scores or what is on the list? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

Reading through the [Alleged] Best 100 Science Fiction Books- Check out more posts in this series as I continue.

SDG.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Season 1 “The Passenger” and “Move Along Home”

All of my rhymes, forever will be
Ever forever, stuck with thee

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:

“The Passenger”

Synopsis

Kira and Bashir pick up Kobliad distress signal and go to help There, they discover Ty Kajada, and her prisoner Rao Vantika. Vantika has sabotaged the ship. As Bashir tries to stabilize Vantika, the man grabs his neck threateningly and seemingly dies. Back on DS9, a starfleet officer, Primmin, has been assigned to help establish security for a shipment of rare material. Things start going wrong, and Kajada blames Vantika, despite it seeming clear he is dead. However, Vantika’s belongings show he has been researching brains and how to transfer consciousness. It seems Kajada might be the carrier, but instead it turns out Bashir has been taken over. He takes over the ship with the rare material, threatening to kill the crew. Kira manages to figure out a way to disrupt Vantika’s psychic control over Bashir, and htey trap his conscious self in a small data disc. That disc is given to Kajada, who summarily executes Vantika’s consciousness.

Commentary

Whew. That was a lot to summarize. This is one of those episodes where you will enjoy it best by simply ignoring everything that makes no sense whatsoever and just letting the explanations stand as they are given. Even a cursory examination of how things work in the universe seems to throw discredit on the notion that Vantika could take over Bashir’s brain (different species, mind you) just because he studied human brains (why did he do so? was he expecting to take over humans instead of those of his own species?) and had some goop under his nails. But really, the core of the episode is quite good. It’s one of those Indiana-Jones like episodes of rip-roaring adventure that you expect more from The Original Series or TNG if you let Riker stay in charge for too long.

In other words, this episode was pretty fun. I didn’t guess Bashir as the Vantika-slave until very close to it being revealed, and when I did guess it, it made a lot of sense. They used all kinds of space magic to make the episode work, but when it came to the mystery itself, enough seeds were planted that you could figure it out on your own if you paid attention. That’s what sold me on this one. Yes, it’s full of holes, but yes, it’s also fun.

Grade: B+ “They kept me guessing with the rabbit trails, but there were too many holes to take it as seriously as needed.”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: A- “They made good use of the characters and a few epic red herrings. Overall, highly enjoyable.”

“Move Along Home”

Synopsis

Sisko and crew prepare for first contact with the Wadi, a group of people from the Gamma Quandrant. Turns out they just want to play games, though. After trying to stay up all night partying with the Wadi, Sisko and others give up, leaving Quark to entertain. Bad idea, as Quark almost immediately cheats them. He gets caught, and they challenge him to a “fair” game called chula. This game features four units and random challenges with increasing prizes. Quark likes it, but even he loses some gusto for the game when he discovers the player pieces are really Sisko, Bashir, Kira, and Dax facing challenges that are quite dangerous. He manages to lose (!) in the end, but turns out it really was just a game and the “players” are unhurt.

Commentary

Apparently this is one of the more hated episodes of the early seasons of DS9, but I found it pretty enjoyable. That dang kid’s rhyme has been stuck in my head for days, though. In fact, searching that rhyme on Bing yielded the following in the top results: “Allamaraine, in your head, allamaraine, until you’re dead.” Yep.

This is also the first episode of DS9 to feature a game as a central feature, a theme that recurs throughout Star Trek. Games = nefarious in some way. It’s not quite 3D chess in that I actually want to go get it and play it, but it is kind of a cool concept, even if it is completely nonsensical and the rules are never explained at all. Wait, that makes it sound kind of terrible. Also, the whole thing appeared like just decided to make the movie Labyrinth into an episode of DS9. But Labyrinth is a cool movie, so…

The idea of first contact with a species that pretty much doesn’t take anything seriously… except games. I mean, at some point you gotta figure the Federation would realize they have no clue what they’re going to run into and shouldn’t even bother with a playbook. Moreover, the ending was pretty satisfying. Turns out sometimes games are just games! I liked this one, even if Allamaraine will forever haunt the corners of my subconscious.

Grade: B+ “It’s like they decided to make ‘Labyrinth’ into a DS9 Episode. Great ending.”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: B+ “It was enjoyable, but nothing extraordinary.”

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!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

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.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Season 1 “Q-Less” and “Dax”

We’re in the wrong series!

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:

“Q-Less”

Synopsis

Vash, the archaeologist friend/lover of Captain Picard, arrives at Deep Space Nine amidst some difficult circumstances. Almost immediately, things on the station start going haywire as power outages to various systems break out. Chief O’Brien thinks he has it figured out when Q shows up on station as well, but Q taunts Sisko and others for thinking it is him. Meanwhile, Vash is trying to sell a bunch of artifacts and partners with Quark to set up an auction. During the auction, the station gets in even more peril, and it turns out it is coming from one of the artifacts Vash has stolen. They beam it off station just before it explodes.

Commentary

I really like the character Vash, and I’m pretty lukewarm about Q. So I expected this to be overall a decent episode when both of them showed up, and it was. But the difficulty is that this was a story that seems to only exist for the sake of having these crossover characters show up. It’s like a big ad: “Hey everybody, you liked TNG? Check out DS9, because we bring TNG people over!” Meanwhile, O’Brien has been developed into a regular (and great) character. That’s how to cross characters from one series to a next. Don’t inundate–develop.

Oh well. The episode is kind of silly all around, and making Q try to have the same dynamics with Sisko as he had with Picard seemed forced. The mystery over what’s happening at the station–once it clearly became not Q–was very predictable. And, again, stop me if you’ve heard this before: Q gets blamed for something but makes other people figure out the real thing that’s happening. Oh yeah, TNG did that too.

Grade: B- “It was a little overdone, but I enjoyed the crossover characters from The Next Generation.”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: B- “It mostly just felt like they were rehashing The Next Generation storylines in a different setting.”

“Dax”

Synopsis

Police (?) from Klaestron IV come onto Deep Space Nine and capture Jadzia Dax to try to take her back home for trial for murder committed by Curzon Dax. However, Sisko and crew manage to stop them in time to use some political loopholes to force a hearing governed by Bajor over whether Dax will be extradited to Klaestron. At the hearing, the senior officers of Deep Space Nine endeavor to prove that Jadzia Dax is not the same as Curzon Dax and so cannot be responsible for the alleged crimes of the latter. Meanwhile, Odo is dispatched to Klaestron to investigate there. Dax is oddly reticent about defending her(?)self but Odo discovers this is because Curzon Dax had an affair with a woman back on Klaestron and is trying to protect that woman’s reputation. The trial seems to show that the two Daxs are the same, but with the evidence of Curzon’s alibi, the case falls through.

Commentary

The second episode in a row that seems to have major plot stolen from The Next Generation, “Dax” manages to pull it off with much better results. Yes, this is basically just “The Measure of a Man” retold with different characters, but because that inspiration was itself so good, this episode can’t be all bad. And it isn’t–it’s pretty good.

Another aspect of this episode is that it turns its inspiration around. Rather than trying to prove Jadzia Dax is something, the crew [or whatever I should call the main characters on a space station–the cadre?] is trying to prove she is not something (one). That’s enough of a twist to keep this episode from feeling entirely like it has been done before, and the added dimension of Odo going and doing some serious investigating ups the ante.

Overall, the episode builds Dax as a character more than has been done so far, and shows how complex her past is. Hopefully that theme continues through the series.

Grade: B+ “The plot has been done before, and on Star Trek, but it was still an enjoyable episode.”

Wife’s Grade and Comment: B+ “It was an interesting idea, and there were good plot twists.”

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!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

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.

Star Wars: Expanded Universe Read Through: “Tales of the Bounty Hunters” edited by Kevin J. Anderson

I have embarked on a quest to read through the Star Wars Expanded Universe once more. Be sure to check the linked text there to see other posts in this series. Here, we look at Tales of the Bounty Hunters, a collection of stories about the bounty hunters that show up in some way or another in The Empire Strikes Back. There will be SPOILERS in what follows. Please do not SPOIL later books in the comments.

Tales of the Bounty Hunters

First, what is inside this book? It’s a collection of stories from each of the bounty hunters that shows up to get assigned by Darth Vader to hunt down Han Solo, basically providing background for each of them. The tales are, “Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88” by Kevin J. Anderson (IG-88 is an assassin droid, not pictured); “Payback: The Tale of Dengar” by Dave Wolverton (Dengar is the older looking man); “The Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk” by Kathy Tyers (Bossk is the reptilian… thing on the front); “Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM” by M. Shayne Bell (they are the insectoid looking thing and droid); and “The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett” by Daniel Keys Moran (it’s Boba Fett, come on). I adored this book when I first read it when it came out. I was maybe 10 years old. 11? Anyway… how was it on the re-read?

The quality of the stories is variable, with some being particularly good and others being middling or below average. Let’s just go over them. IG-88’s story is full of action and has a massive scope, as is typical of Kevin J. Anderson adaptations (see his Dune books, which I frankly enjoyed quite a bit… deal with it). It also has major plot holes and difficulties that are too easily resolved, a problem that surfaced in his Jedi Academy trilogy as well. It’s not a bad story, but the sheer speed by which the droids manage to take over is surprising, as well as the immediate galaxy-threatening intensity. The tie-in to the movie by having IG-88 in one form take over the Second Death Star without anyone realizing it was a stretch.

Dengar’s story was neat and provided some background for how Boba Fett could survive, so it wins major extra credit points in my book, because I love Boba Fett. It also has some cool look at the insidious nature of the Empire, which is appreciated. Kathy Tyers’ look at Bossk… wow! That was a lot darker than I expected to find in a Star Wars book. Tyers is an ultra-talented writer who penned the fabulous Firebird series (see my reviews). This story really showed her range as she wrote about a somewhat disturbing reptile whose goal is to skin a Wookie and wear its pelt. Yucky. Very well done story, though.

The tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM was also pretty neat. I liked the idea of a kind of transcendental meditation idea crossing over into Star Wars (which has, in the EU, explored a lot about religion, even if it does so obliquely). It has a bit of Dune influence as well. The tale of Boba Fett… well… I wanted to love it. I remember as a kid being blown away by it. But there’s not really that much there. It was kind of a let down, and I think that was in part because I had some huge and kind of unrealistic expectations for it. It wasn’t bad… it just didn’t match up to what I’d remembered it as, which turns out to largely be a lot of imagined additional fanfic in my head that I assigned to that short story.

So we have a somewhat uneven but overall good collection of stories here. I think the Zuckus+4-LOM/Bossk ones are worth the price of entry on their own. IG-88 was fun but way overdone. The other two were decent but not great. The best part was how they all tied back into the films in one way or another, but this also lead to some unnecessarily open-ended conclusions that didn’t so much leave me wanting more as it did leave me disappointed.

Tales of the Bounty Hunters is a good read. I look forward to reading the other “Tales of…” collections.

The Good

+Good background for each bounty hunter
+Darker tone shows depth of Star Wars possibilities

The Bad

-Unresolved storylines at points
-Too ambitious/easily resolved plots in some

Best Droid Moment

IG-88’s utter self-confidence getting wrecked at the end of his story as we know the Death Star blows up.

Grade: C+ “A somewhat inconsistent quality level of stories mars a good collection of rather dark (for Star Wars) stories.”

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!

Reading through Star Wars: Expanded Universe– Here you can read other posts in this series (reviews of other EU books) and make suggestions about what I should include in my reviews.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for discussion of posts, links to other pages of interest, random talk about theology/philosophy/apologetics/movies/scifi/sports and more!

There are other posts on science fiction books to be found! Read them here.

SDG.