Deep Space Nine - Season 3 reviews - Part II

14) Improbable Cause: Odo investigates an attempt on Garak's life, which uncovers a web of political intrigue. This is the first part of a two part episode (Die is Cast is Part II) and just as good. Featuring Garak and Odo. Rating ***1/2

15) The Die is Cast – Plot: Garak and Odo, captured by a renegade Romulan-Cardassian force, find themselves in the middle of an assault to destroy the Founders of the Dominion. This is DS9 at its best. The acting and writing are excellent, And for once, the guest stars (Paul Dooley and Ken Marshall) deliver the goods and Garal and Odo have never been better. Rating ***1/2

16) Adversary - On patrol of the Tzenkethe border, the Defiant is taken over by a Changeling spy who intends to start a war between the Tzenkethe and the Federation by launching an offensive on their territory.  Slick paranoid thriller, with an excellent Character moment for Odo. One of Avery Brooks better outings, playing the Captain and barking out orders.  Given the lack of a cliffhanger its an odd choice to end the Season.  Rating **1/2

17) Life Support - This episode has two strikes against it. A large Jake subplot. And a Medical drama over someone I don’t care about -Vedak Bareil,  But it saved frm total failure by good execution, and some excellent acting by all involved.  But thankfully we won’t see Bareil again, except as a Ghost. Rating **

18) Visionary This is another “something bad happens to O’Brien” episode– this time he’s been poisoned with radiation and constantly flash-forwarding two hours into the future. During one flash forward, he uncovers a plot to destroy the Space station, and Odo and Sisko investigate. A good concept (the radiation is caused by a clocked Romulan warship) and I loved the Romulans being told off at the end. However, the story is repetitive and often lackluster. We needed more Sisko/Odo investigation and fewer O’Brien flash-forwards and trips to sick bay. Rating ** ½

19) Distant Voices - an attack on Bashir leaves him dying in a coma, and the only way he can survive is to confront himself within his own mind. Starts out strong as we enter a surreal world where Bashir and Quark are the only ones on DS9. But Like Visionary it soon becomes repetitive. The acting is uneven, with Alexander Siddig having to carry the whole episode – and not quite succeeding. The is a low budget “puzzle episode” and once you solve “the puzzle”, there’s not much left. Rating **

20) Heart of Stone -  On a deserted planet, Odo tries to save Kira when crystal that begins growing around and enclosing her body.  An uneven espisode with good and bad in equal measure.  The good? The interaction between Kira and Odo througout the espisode and the brief scene between the founder and Odo. The Bad?  An extremely dull subplot related to Nog joining Starfleet, and the annoying "scratchy" voice adopted by Kira as the Crystal grows around her body.  Also the episode was much better the first time round. On rewatch, the filler scenes are blatantly obvious.  Love to rate it  higher, but so much dullness can't overcome a very good 10 minutes. Rating **

21) Shakaar – A rather pointless Bajorian Political story - Kira goes back to Bajor to help a rebel populist called Shakaar.  Frankly, with the Dominion on the march, and the Federation problems with the Cardassians/Romulans, Bajor seems like very small beer.  Even worse is O'brien-Darts subplot.  The Kira-Kai Winn scenes are quite good but those are only 10 minutes of 40.  .And the mediocre guest “star” doesn’t help. Very forgettable. Rating **

22) Family Business – Quark must return home to rein in his mother Ishka—who has illegally earned profit. Another one- joke Ferengi episode that’s drawn out far too long. The Ferengi “guest star” is incredibly annoying. The Subplot with Dr. Bashir is no better. Rating *

23) Explorer. An endless Jake-Sisko episode – its excruciatingly bad. Sisko builds an ancient Bajoran sail-spaceship and travels to Cardassia.  Why? To prove that the Bajorans were able to travel to Cardassia 800 years ago. Given the endless wars & space piracy on DS9, it’s not clear why Sisko/Jake would venture into hostile space with a ship that can neither fight nor run away - but whatever. There’s also a subplot which was so meaningless I can’t remember it. Rating– Zero stars

24) Looking Glass – Some mindless fun as Sisko is kidnapped and taken to the “mirror universe” to help the Resistance.  On the plus side “evil Kira” is a hoot. and Nog is allowed to be a triple agent. However the episode pales in comparison to previous M/U story. The attraction of “Crossover” was our Kira playing against “Evil Kira”. Here, we get way too much of boring Sisko and his dull Jennifer.

Sadly,  the other main characters are given little to do.  And once again the producers show their contempt for Dax. She could have easily been the M/U scientist who must be “turned”. Instead she’s reduced to being Sisko’s M/U sex toy. Evil Kira also beds Sisko and  has several black sex slaves. Some rather odd sexual obsessions on display. Note: This one really suffered on rewatch. Rating *

25) Facets – Dax undergoes her Trill Rite of Closure, in which the previous hosts of her symbiont borrow the bodies of her friends and offer insights into her own personality. Another mediocre Dax Episode. Even worse is the Quark-Jake-Nog Subplot. The only highlight is Rene Auberjonois as Curzon. Rating *

26) Destiny – Sisko's role of Emissary is tested when a Bajoran cleric forsees a Cardassian-Bajorian  Science Mission will end in disaster.   A well-written, well-acted episode let down by a predictable ending, the small stakes involved, and usual awkwardness in handling religion. Further, Sisko "The Emissary" has never made any sense or interested me. Side note:  All three Cardassian scientists are women since Engineering/Science is considered a female speciality on Cardassia. "Men just don't have a head for science" snarks a Cardissian science babe to O'Brien.  Rating **

Deep Space Nine - Season 3 Reviews

1) The Search Part I -  Starts slow as Sisko "gets the band back together" for Defiant Space mission to contact the Dominion. As usual Odo and Quark have the best lines. The episode reaches its peak at the end, with Odo returning home and finding the changelings and the Dominion are the same.  I'd give the episode a higher rating but there's a lot of filler and exposition and not enough Odo, Garak and the Dominion.  Rating  **1/2

2) The Search Part II -  When the episode focuses on Odo and the Founders its very good indeed.  And that's a large part of the episode.  However, the rest of the episode fails on rewatch, "it was all a dream", makes everything seem pointless. Rating **1/2

3) Second Skin - Kira at her best. High drama with the Cardassians. Reminicent of other SF stories, Kira is taken prisoner and told she's really a Cardassian spy. Excellent writing and acting. Rating ***1/2

4) The House of Quark - A Ferengi episode that's actually funny. Quark 's interactions with the physically agressive Klingons is quite a hoot. Suffers on rewatch. Rating **

5) Equilibrium - Another unwatchable Dax episode. Rating *

6) Civil Defense. Basically, a plot driven "Find the bomb and defuse it" episode, only this time its a computer self-destruct program what will blow-up DS9. Well executed mostly. Dukat and Garak are the highlight, along with the Quark and Odo zingers. The Jake-Sisko-Obrien scenes are better than expected. Rating **1/2

7) The Abandoned -  The was an excellent Odo episode dragged down by a truly awful "Jake subplot". A Jem'hdar baby is found and when he grows quickly into a Teen-ager, Odo takes an interest and tries to lead it to seek peace/freedom instead of becoming a Killing machine. Its a good story, primarily due to Odo. Unfortunately, Odo doesn't appear till 15 minutes in, and Jake's story with Dabo girl is the worst.  Interestly, enough, the Dabo girl is not shown as a space alien, but as a white Bajoran.  Were the producers trying to push back against a percieved inter-racial taboo? Anway, 3.5 stars for Odo,  1.5 stars for everything else.  Rating **

8) Meridian - Another bad Dax Episode. Worse the usual.  Rating *

9) Defiant -  Riker returns as a "Tom" a Marquis fighter who's Riker's identical twin.   A suprisingly sluggish, dull episode, let down by mediocre acting, bad casting, and dull dialogue.  Frakes seems bored and has zero chemistry with Kira, while Dukat and Sisko go through a paint-by-the-numbers teaming to recapture the stolen Defiant.  I never thought I'd say it: but Dukat is boring!  Even the clash between Dukat and the "Order"  is spoiled  by casting an annoyng, medicore actress as Dukat's rival.  Who knew that the authoritarian, empire-building Cardassian's are feminists and believers  in "You Go Girl" affirmative action?  Rating **

10) Fascination - This was supposed to a light-hearted romp,  a sort of DS9's Midsummer's Nights Dream.  Plot? An undected virus  makes everyone feel amorous.  And so, Lwaxana wants Odo,  Quark hits on Kieko, Bareil chases after Dax and Sisko in turn is chased by Dax. 

I suppose it could have been funny with better execution.  But its mostly boring, with lots of things to put on FF: Kieko/Obrien's domestic problems, anything Jake, Kira's love affairs, and Dax/Sisko. The only funny parts was Lwaxana-Odo and Quark. The old cliche is "dying is easy, comedy is hard" and DS9's cast finds it very hard indeed.   Rating ** 

11) Past Tense -  Has a good first half as Dax, Sisko, and Bashir are transported to 2024 San Francisco. We wonder where they are, and   how they will survive.  Dax finally gets a good role as she blends in with the "Rich and Famous" while Sisko and Bashir are walled-off with the lower classes in a "Sanctuary Zone".  Things go bad at the midpoint.  It becomes clear that Sisko/Bashir are in no real danger, and the whole episode is a political comment on the 1990s Homeless problem.  Even worse, the Obrien-Kira search for the missing crewmen lacks energy and is very standard. At the end, we get a cliffhanger hostage crisis, but its still Dullsville.  Guest actors are very mediocre. Rating **

12) Past Tense II -  Worse than Part I, as we get a padded out "hostage crisis" complete with over-the-top acting by everyone.  Hambone "Crazy guy with a gun"  is finally subdued by Sisko and everything ends as expected. Kira and O'brien show show up in 1920s and 1960s San Francisco and do nothing of interest. This episode is so dragged out, and so predictable, its sad.  Very bad.  The high IMDB rating must be political in nature.  Rating * 

13) Prophet Motive -  Tedious, unfunny Ferengi espisode with annoying "Johnny one note" Wallace Shawn. Rating *  

Deep Space Nine - Trials and Tribble-ations

Plot: In a Forest Gump type manner, the DS9 cast go back to in time to keep a Klingon spy (Darvin from the TOS episode the Trouble with Tribbles) from changing history by planting a bomb in a tribble.

A fun and clever episode that dresses the DS9 gang in TOS Star Fleet uniforms, and intergrates them with footage from the TOS episode. For example. during the TOS bar-fight with Scottie and Checkov, Worf,  O'Brien and Bashir all get involved, and end up  standing among the line of officers Kirk questions.

Funniest Moment:  Worf tries to explain why TOS Klingons look nothing like DS9 Klingons:  "We do not discuss that with outsiders" 

Summary: The only thing wrong with the episode is its absurdly high rating (9.2).  Its a fun and nostalgic - but nothing more then that.  "Fan Service" to the extreme.  Further, it highlights the lack of charisma in the DS9 actors.  Sisko, Dax, Bashir, and O'brien - in particular - look bad in comparison to Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scottie.  

Deep Space Nine - The Assignment

Plot: An alien entity possesses Keiko's body and holds it hostage until O'Brien completes a given assignment.

This is a 2.5 star episode that could have been a 4 star except for three things:

• The annoying "Rom" is given the main supporting role and absurdly saves the day.
• The tense drama is constantly undercut by mild and sometimes lame humor
• Rosalind Chao is very pretty but she's a limited actress and so is Colm Meaney

However, the episode has its moments. And I give Chao credit for acting like an "alien who is pretending to be Kieko".  She gives just enough difference in her normal performance as Kieko. Creepy but not overdoing it. 

Deep Space Nine - The Visitor

Plot Melanie, an aspiring writer, wants to know why Jake Sisko stopped writing at 40. Jake tells how his father died in an accident and then suddenly reappeared.

Suprisingly, this is one of the hightest rated DS9 episodes. I had high expectations and was very disappointed. I found static, badly acted, and very wordy. Remember the cliche: Show, don't tell? This episode has almost no Show - its all tell. At least 1/2 episode is "Old Jake" talking about what happened. That's the first problem. The second, is DS9's constant weakness, bad/mediocre acting. Both Melanie and "Old Jake" are mediocre actors. Throw in Jake, and Avery Brooks and you have some truly awful acting. Brooks, as usual, is incapable of expressing any deep emotion, and Jake is just as bad.

So why is it so highly rated?  Well, most DS9 fans don't really care about good acting, assuming they can even recognize it.  Further, there's a lot of crying in the episode and lots of sentiment.  It shows the love between Father and Son. And the grief you experience over the loss of a parent.  It must have touched a nerve.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the bad acting, and bad writing.  Good intentions aren't enough.  In TV,  "Its the thought that counts" isn't true.  You need good execution 

Deep Space Nine - Season 2

 To be update later. 

Topsy-Turvey (1999)

Plot: The legendary musical writers Gilbert and Sullivan almost split up, before they turn it all around and write The Mikado.

I like G&S mostly. I like their songs, and like Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore in their entirety. But this movie never justifies its 2.5 hour run time. There's some mild humor, some good acting, and some historically accurate set design. But frankly I didn't really care that much. There wasn't enough humor/drama to make up for the snail's pace and paper thin plot. And while the musical numbers were fine, I kept thinking "Why not just go watch The Mikado?"