|
|
|
|
Ben Sisko - Avery Brooks Kira Nerys - Nana Visitor Jadzia Dax - Tarry Farrell Odo - Rene Auberjonois Julian Bashir - Siddig El Fadil Quark - Armin Shimerman Jake Sisko - Cirroc Lofton Worf - Michael Dorn 
OTHER SEASONS Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 7 OTHER STAR TREK SHOWS Star Trek The Next Generation Voyager Enterprise OTHER TREKS THROUGH SPACE Babylon 5 The new Battlestar Galactica 
|
A Time to StandIt's two months since the Dominion and Cardassian forces pushed the Federation out of Bajoran space and off Deep Space Nine. In that time, the Federation has suffered a string of defeats at the hands of the Jem'Hadar, but the Dominion can't get reinforcements through the wormhole because of the minefield and the supply of the drug that controls the Jem'Hadar won't last forever. Sisko and the Defiant crew are ordered aboard a captured Jem'Hadar warship with the main storage facility of the controlling drug as their target. After the apocalyptic ending to Season 5, this is an establishing episode, laying out the position of the forces on the battlefield and where all our favourite characters are and what they are doing. The Starfleet officers are fighting, of course, but Odo, Kira, Jake and Quark are all aboard the lost space station trying to figure out what to do next. It's an intriguing set up and we can't help but be fascinated as to where it's going to take us. TopRocks and ShoalsDamaged in the fighting of A Time to Stand, the Jem'Hadar ship under Federation control has to seek shelter in a dark matter nebula and crashes onto a planet. The crew, however, are not alone as a detachment of Jem'Hadar with their injured Vorta are also there. Sisko attempts to strike an understanding with the Jem'Hadar leader, but finds that he is going to have make an unholy alliance with the duplicitous Vorta instead. On the station, the shocking protest of Vedek spurs Kira into action against the Dominion occupation. It has been shown a few times already that the Jem'Hadar are really noble creatures standing and living and dying by their code of honour, something that actually keeps them in line under Dominion control far more than the drug they must take to survive and this is just another underlining of that. The Vorta, their political masters, will do whatever it takes to survive, including wiping out their own troops, without a second thought. For Sisko, this is one of those situations where the only right decision is the decision that he least wants to make. Kira's situation on the station is equally difficult. Convinced that she is acting in the best interests of Bajor, she is shaken out of her complacency by a single, shocking act of defiance (and how we did not see that coming) and takes a good, long look at herself. It's a change that is a little facile and far too abrupt, but this is as grown up as personal stories in the STAR TREK universe get. TopSons and DaughtersWorf is not pleased when his son Alexander shows up on his command, trying to be a warrior, something that he rejected a long time ago. He is even less pleased when the boy turns out to be particularly ill-suited to that role. On the station, Gul Dukat tries to use Major Kira's affection for his daughter to make some headway with her. Family feuds aren't a lot of fun in real life, but at least they're yours. Family feuds in DEEP SPACE NINE are no more fun and you don't even have the familial connection to fall back on. This makes for dull drama. Worf as a character is the least capable of surprising the audience and he goes through all the usual stages that you might expect without deviating from the path once. The Dukat/Kira story is equally dull as the flirting/rejection game that they are playing is neither new, nor interesting. TopBehind the LinesThe resistance cell on the station manages to cause a rift between the Jem'Hadar and the Cardassians, but then learn that the mine blockade of the wormhole is under threat. A desperate attempt to save it fails when Odo links in with one of his own kind and changes his allegiance. Ben Sisko, though, gets a promotion to head of tactics for the fleet and has to send the Defiant out on a vital mission for the first time without him. The stories based around the Dominion Wars are the most interesting and effective ones that the show is coming up with and this one makes up for the utter dullness that was Sons and Daughters. Whilst watching Sisko battle with the feelings of losing his command and going behind a desk is somewhat lacking in excitement and the Defiant's mission takes place off-screen, wathching Odo slip ever more deeply under the influence of the other changeling is a frustrating experience - frustrating because you can see it happening and he can't. The regular audience has invested enough time in these characters for this to be important. Of course, the episode will mean very little to anyone joining at this point. TopFavor the BoldThe war with the Dominion is not going well. Morale is at an all time low. The Federation needs a victory and Sisko has determined what that victory will be - the retaking of Deep Space Nine. He has a plan and only needs to gather his forces. Unfortunately, time is not on his side. The Dominion-Cardassian alliance have discovered the means to destroy the minefield blocking the wormhole and will take it down in just three days allowing the Dominion reinforcements to come flooding through. The time to go is now, ready or not, and the Federation fleet is faced with Dominion forces that outnumber them quite significantly. DEEP SPACE NINE is really setting out its stall in the early stages of this season. There are giant fleets all over the place, the future of the Alpha Quadrant is at stake, Quark's brother Rom is awaiting execution and Odo is under the spell of the Founders. This is a set up episode, but that doesn't stop it from being a truly excellent set up episode. A knowledge of the situation and what has gone before is advisable in order to get the most out of it, but for the regular watcher this is amongst the tensest and most exciting times that have ever been in the STAR TREK universe. TopSacrifice of AngelsTwo giant fleets clash in full out epic battle, a single ship gets through the line, but arrives too late to stop the final defences crumble. Sisko takes his ship into the wormhole and stands alone in front of more than two thousand enemy vessels, ready to die. Rarely is there an episode of any science fiction show, let alone a STAR TREK episode that lives up to its promise as this one does. The promise was made in Favor the Bold and every strand of that story is delivered on. Of course Odo finds where his loyalties truly lie just in time, of course the Klingons come riding into battle at just the right moment (coming out of the sun yet) and of course, the Federation lose....What? Well almost. The minefield is destroyed, the Dominion are coming through and there is no way that Sisko can win. Ah, but then rich is a man who has friends. Despite being jammed with giant space fleets exploding all over the sky, classic war action and exciting, daring escapes from prison, what really impresses is the sleight-of-hand by which the story pulls a sucker punch that takes victory and, in a single death, makes it seem like the greatest tragedy ever told. In defeat Gul Dukat is taken from arrogant despot to broken mind in completely believable fashion. It's not perfect, of course, with its moments of clunky dialogue and acting, but it is as close as this particular franchise has ever come. TopYou Are Cordially InvitedIt's Worf and Jadzia's wedding, but the female head of the household arrives to test whether Jadzia is worthy whilst Worf and his male friends have a bachelor party that aims to test the very levels of their endurance. Family storylines have always been one of the things about the STAR TREK franchise that has never worked very well and this is another of those occasions. The internal squabblings of a family needs to be a lot better written than this if it is to make compelling drama. It's not even light enough to provide a few laughs and following on from the stunning Sacrifice of Angels it is hugely disappointing. This is one invitation to 'regretfully' decline. TopResurrectionThe mirror universe equivalent of Major Kira's lover Vedek Bariel comes onto the station, asking for sanctuary. He is a thief and on the run. Major Kira falls under his spell, especially as he starts to show an affinity for the religion that was his counterpart's life. It takes Quark to see that there is more going on than meets the eye. We've pretty much been here before. As Commander Sisko says himself we did most of this when he met his wife's mirror counterpart in Shattered Mirror. The subplot involving Bariel's real reason for coming to the station and the arrival of Major Kira's always fun mirror counterpart come too late to save the episode. TopStatistical ProbabilitiesDoctor Bashir starts to work with a group of people who were genetically engineered as he was, but whose procedures have led to various behavioural problems such as paranoia, weeping fits and nymphomania. The group are all brilliant, however, and use film of a peace negotiation with the Dominion to provide Starfleet with intelligence predictions that the whole service couldn't have come up with in six months of work. When the next predictions show that the Federation will lose the war with the loss of billions of lives, however, the team decide that the way to save those people is to sell out Star Fleet and the whole Federation. A bunch of mentally unstable people talking about statistical analyses? You have got to be kidding. Well, we should be thankful that someone was because this is one of the most interesting and original stories for quite a while. That's because it's all about character and it's all about big questions. Which is more important, lives or freedom? Who gets to make decisions that affect us all? Can you ever predict an outcome accurately where humans are concerned? What are the threats posed by genetically enhanced people? Is it right to limit what people can do because of what they might do or because of what others like them have done? Nothing actually happens in the whole of this episode, but it still manages to be one of the most compelling and thoughtful that the show has produced. TopThe Magnificent FerengiWhen the Dominion capture Quark's mother, he gets together a motley band of Ferengi misfits and mounts a rescue mission. Being Ferengi, this mission relies more on bargaining skills that marksmanship, but it is still a dangerous proposition. The Ferengi are the comedy race of the STAR TREK universe and having Quark as a major character has offered the chance to deepen the understanding of a race that has created an empire, but runs on different principles than anyone else. Unfortunately, they are mainly used to be incompetent and funny and somehow come out on top at the end despite themselves and that is precisely what happens here. The MAGNIFICENT SEVEN pastiche is amusing enough and the sudden hitch in their plans when their bargaining chip is suddenly unavailable is very funny, but sometimes we wish that we could see a bit more of the Ferengi is a serious light. Frothy, fun, forgettable. TopWaltzEx Gul Dukat is being transported to a hearing that will see him locked up until the end of the war with the Dominion so that he can then stand trial for his crimes. When some passing Cardassian ships attack, Sisko and Dukat are stranded on an inhospitable planet. Sisko is not only faced with a fight for survival, but with the actions of an increasingly deranged mind. Gul Dukat has always been an interesting villain, never quite slipping over the line into moustache twirling, cape swirling pantomime, but always a very bad man. Now he has lost his reason, but not his cunning nor his hatred and that makes him very dangerous indeed. Which is just as well because there is nothing else happening in this episode at all. If the descent into madness of the Cardassian weren't so interesting then this could have been deadly dull. Still, the Gul's back and this time it's going to be personal. TopWho Mourns for Morn?Morn, a regular in Quark's bar, turns up dead and leaves Quark his entire fortune. There must be a fortune because Morn's ex-wife shows up looking for it, followed by two disreputable looking 'business' colleagues and an agent of the royal family to which Morn belonged. They all want the money and they aren't too worried about how badly they're going to have to hurt Quark to get it. Another Ferengi episode, which means another light, frothy and finally inconsequential tale of con men, swindlers and missing latinum. It's silly, it's fun and you probably won't remember it 20 minutes after you've watched it. TopFar Beyond The StarsFollowing a couple of visions, Sisko collapses and finds himself in the body of a writer for a science fiction pulp magazine in the 1950s. Could it be that this is the reality and that the events of the show are really just all in the head of one frustrated negro writer, oppressed by his times? Well now, this is a downer. Race rarely is a question that raises its head in the STAR TREK franchise because the Federation has moved beyond that kind of petty thinking, but by shifting the story back to a period of rampant discrimination, the series is able to tackle the subject head on and it presents a hero who fails to surmount the insurmountable. Not only does he get beaten up, but he doesn't get his stories published when they have a coloured hero and he ends up being carted off to the funny farm. Fortunately, the show doesn't wimp out on that and leaves it all on an ambiguous note as to what really just happened. The evocation of the period is very nicely done with only one use of painfully obvious stock footage and it is fun to see all of the regulars in different personas and without their makeup, but making sure that everyone gets a spot in the story means that a whole load of characters are shoehorned in where it would have breathed better with a bit more space and a bit less cast. The set up isn't quite followed through by the plotting which fails to really capitalise on the idea, but it is a fascinating attempt anyway. TopOne Little ShipOn a mission to research a potential manner of tracking transwarp signatures, one of the runabouts and her crew are shrunk to the size of a child's toy. Defiant is attacked and taken over by the Jem'Hadar with Sisko ordered to repair it in order that it can be returned as a prize to Dominion space. He plays on the rift between Jem'Hadar bred in the alpha and gamma quadrants whilst the shrunken runabout crew try to find a way to help regain control of the ship. FANTASTIC VOYAGE done STAR TREK fashion, this is a frivolous, fun episode that takes a central idea and just has a laugh with it. There is amusement to be had with a tiny runabout dealing with the suddenly oversized world and points like the fact that the air is now even too large for them to be able to breathe properly. It falls apart a bit when Miles O'Brien and Dr Bashir go wandering around a huge circuit board that just happens to have lovely hose-like connections that they can move about (but then again this is the far future and perhaps circuit boards will look this way), but recovers itself for the final shootout. TopHonor Among ThievesMiles O'Brien is working undercover for Starfleet Intelligence, trying to discover the identity of a Starfleet officer who has been compromised by the Orion Syndicate crime organisation. He makes firm friends with one of the organisation's lieutenants, Bilby, and works his way only to find that the Orion Syndicate is working with the Dominion and planning an assassination that will destroy the alliance with the Klingons. For the good of the Federation, O'Brien is going to have to sacrifice his new friend. This is a tired old story that has been told dozens of times over in crime films and tv shows - the undercover cop gets friendly with the criminal to the extent that he starts to question who's right and wrong any more. It's usually a potent recipe for strong drama, but this doesn't have the time to develop things properly enough to convince. Nick Tate (SPACE:1999) never makes for a convincing villain, either soppy about his family one minute (were he to say 'it's the most important thing' just one more time the audience might kill him themselves) and then cold-blooded killer the next. He is caught between the two and never really convinces as either. That he would trust a newcomer so quickly and so completely is also utterly unbelievable. All of which means that the power of the final betrayal is greatly diminished, although the episode does have the bottle to go to its unpalatable conclusion. TopChange of HeartA Cardassian warrior contacts Starfleet with information on the whereabouts of every Founder in the Alpha Quadrant. He promises to hand over that information in return for being extracted from Cardassian space - immediately. Worf and Jadzia, still in the throes of post-wedding romance head off to carry out the mission, but when Jadzia is mortally injured, Worf is left with a most terrible decision to make. Is the life of the woman you love worth the potential lives of millions, if not billions? Fans of the show will find it a lot of fun watching Worf unwind and the two lovebirds teasing each other about their natures. First time viewers will be put off immediately as it only works if you know the characters well. The subplot with Dr Bashir taking on Quark in a Ferengi game at which he is unbeaten is a pointless sidebar. Competent, but nothing more. TopWrongs Darker Than Death Or NightIt is the birthday of Major Kira's mother and the Major celebrates her lost mother in the usual way. A message from Gul Dukat taunting her about what her mother really did during the war sends her in search of a very unpalatable truth. Collaboration. It's a nasty word for a nasty thing, but it's not a subject that is black and white. Those that collaborate for profit or prestige are to be hated and punished, but what of the women who are forced into near prostitution with the threat of their husbands and families' lives hanging over them? Do they have a choice? Are they to be hated and punished, or are they to be pitied? This is a nice subject to be tackled and one that is tackled well in true STAR TREK fashion. It also manages to cast Gul Dukat back into his previous evil light without ever diminishing the depth that the show has managed to put into its main villain. TopInquisitionFederation Internal Affairs come aboard the station with the disturbing news that someone is leaking information to the Dominion from among the senior staff. They take a particular interest in Dr Bashir, but is this a real investigation or a witch hunt by a man who lost his son in a battle with the Jem Hadar? Or could it be even darker than that? What starts off as a simple story very reminiscent of The Drumhead from STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION suddenly twists itself off in a couple of new directions. The first is double bluff that has been used too often in the franchise to really fool anyone and the second introduces a shadowy organisation for reasons unknown that will surely be made apparent in time, but seems superfluous here as there is more than enough going on with the Dominion war to make a new enemy unnecessary. Even the presence of the reliable William Sandler as the investigator fails to raise this above its overly talky script. TopIn The Pale MoonlightA Dominion offensive has taken the planet of Betazed and things aren't going well for the Federation. The only hope would seem to be the Romulans entering the war on the side of the Federation, but that seems unlikely. Unlikely, that is, until Sisko gets together with Garak and comes up with a plan. We've said it before and we'll say it again, we love Garak as a character. His naked amorality makes him a perfect foil for the hopelessly idealistic Starfleet officers. Andrew Robinson's fine portrayal makes both the character and his scheming utterly believable. When Sisko reaches the point where his morality brings him to a stop, Garak keeps going and begs neither congratulations nor condemnation. He is, in his own way, a hero. The story is told in a quite unnecessary flashback format, breaking for Avery Brooks to deliver straight to camera interludes. The plot really doesn't need it, but at least he does it well enough that it doesn't become worse that merely intrusive. TopHis WayWhen Kira heads to Bajor to meet with the First Minister of the planet, a jealous Odo starts visiting the holosuite to take advice from a cocktail lounge crooner on how to win her heart. James Darren plays Vic Fontaine, the lounge singer and ladies' man who tutors Odo in the art of love and whether or not you warm to him is going to decide whether or not you warm to this episode. He can come across as a smarmy git for whom the phrase 'computer end program' could have been written, but if you find himt o be a charming smoothie with a heart of gold then you will be charmed with this story of an old casanova teaching the arts of love to a younger, less sure man. Yes, it's a familiar story that has been told in various forms throughout the franchise, but there is an undeniable frisson between the characters that makes you want them to get together thanks to the performances by Rene Auberjonois and Nana Visitor and the fear that it's all going to go wrong. So it's a case of goofy grins or gritted teeth and we're edging towards the former. TopThe ReckoningAn ancient relic found on Bajor warns Sisko as the Emissary that a Reckoning is coming and that it will be fought on the station. Testing his faith in the Prophets to the limit, the captain is forced to risk losing both his son and his first officer to the elemental battle. The religious aspects of DEEP SPACE NINE have been both the more interesting and the more dull. For once, the story manages to move with respectable speed and entertainment value whilst still having something to say about faith and sacrifice. It's a bit worthy, yes, and it brings back Louise Fletcher's Kai Winn, possibly the show's most annoying character, but it also has a full on energy battle between two being possessed with the energy of Bajoran Gods. TopValiantJake and Nog set off for a visit to Ferenginar, but get chased by a Jem'Hadar ship. Just at the point of destruction, they are saved by the Valiant, a Federation warship commanded and crewed by cadets. With Nog's engineering help, they repair their ship enough to complete their mission, but then decide to take on a huge warship alone. Thoughts of heroism and glory have no place in war. War is about killing and surviving. Trying to gain a glorious reputation is a quick way to end up dead. That's the moral of the story and the story is built specifically to make the point. That said, it works well enough after a shaky start. Nog and Jake are caught up in the wing of Jem'Hadar ships almost the moment they leave the Starbase and minutes later are lost somewhere deep in Dominion territory in a warship that wasn't able to make it home? The plot is obvious, the characters thin and the outcome inevitable, although at least it has the courage to go through with it. TopProfit and LaceThe Ferengi leader comes to the station with the news that he has been deposed as Grand Nagus having enacted a law that allows Ferengi females to wear clothes whenever and wherever they wish. His only chance to gain back the position from the challenger is to prove that females are as adept at business matters as males, but when Quark's mother falls ill, it is necessary for her son to take her place for the meeting. The Ferengi have always supplied the comedy episodes in DEEP SPACE NINE and the comedy has been broad at times, but dragging up Quark to pretend to be a female is really unforgiveable. This is really low farce, predictable and unfunny. It's hard to see how the character can come back from this as anything other than a joke. TopTime's OrphanMiles O'Brien's daughter falls into a time vortex and an 18 year old version comes out. Following a decade alone on a hostile world, she is feral and attempts to recapture the Molly that she was seem destined to end with her in a medical centre where she might even die. This brings the Chief to make a hard decision. Hardly an original story, mixing the meeting an older version of your child with trying to bring a primitive into the civilised world this adds nothing to either strand. Adding the frankly poor subplot of Worf not being able to cope with babysitting Molly's younger brother to this doesn't help and just when it looks like the episode is going to end on a surprisingly hard note, it wimps out completely. TopThe Sound of Her VoiceReturning from a mission, the Defiant picks up a signal from a captain whose ship has crashed on a remote planet leaving her stranded. Sisko orders a change in course, but even so they are days away. The crew take shifts in talking to the woman to keep her alert and awake. DEEP SPACE NINE has never suffered excessively from overdoses of sentimentality, but this story flirts with it dangerously. Fortunately, it manages to stay on the right side of the line throughout. The conversations with the crew are sufficiently varied to keep boredom away and the stranded captain (voiced wonderfully by Debra Wilson) certainly sounds like a character who could make captain and who could positively benefit the crew of the station. The finale,however, is something of an inevitability and shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. TopTears of the ProphetsThe Federation decides that it is time to go on the offensive and chooses Sisko to plan the opening moves. He finds a weak spot, but the window of opportunity is slim as automated weapons platforms are about to go on line. The Prophets warn Sisko that to go will have consequences. As the battle rages, Gul Dukat sneaks onto the station and attacks the Prophets, collapsing the wormhole and leaving Jadzia Dax critically wounded. It's not been an easy ride for the crew of DEEP SPACE NINE and everyone seems to have lost someone dear to them in the Dominion War, but the loss that is suffered in this season finale is possibly the one that could affect the most of them. It's not as powerful as a death of this magnitude ought to be, but it is at least one from which there is no coming back. Except, of course, that anything is possible. This is STAR TREK after all. The episode does ramble about a bit in getting to its final destination. In wanting to show the characters in their normal lives just before battle, it loses focus and momentum. When the assault begins, however, it's a veritable feast of exploding starships and fast action. The cliffhanger, though, is a decidedly downbeat. Top |
|
|
|
If this page was useful to you please sign our 
