#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 23, “To the Death”

February 19, 2016 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

DS9, Season 4, Ep. 23, "To The Death"

Very bad things. DS9, Season 4, Ep. 23, “To The Death”

Here’s an episode that’s very consequential, not just in Deep Space Nine‘s canon, but also for the career of one of its lead actors.

It’s easy to see why. “To the Death” gives us a solid (if somewhat unbelievable) hook and then drops into it a mixed bag of characters completely uncomfortable together. That’s a setup common to many of Trek’s finer episodes. Ultimately this is less about a throwaway gimic (rogue Jem’Hadar have access to an interstellar gateway) and more about the Dominion’s many barely-subdued power struggles. A happy polygamous marriage between multiple species, this is not. Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 12, “Paradise Lost”

January 19, 2014 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Twitter hastag: #DS91sttimeTalk about missed chances. If you hadn’t told me this episode concluded a midseason two-parter, I would have thought it was one of Trek’s many botched wrap-around season opener/cliffhanger duos. It left a taste in my mouth like that of “Time’s Arrow, Part II”, from The Next Generation. “Homefront” was intriguing, the sense of dread steadily escalated, but “Paradise Lost” just couldn’t stick the landing.

As might be suspected from “Homeworld”, “Paradise Lost” further explores Sisko’s hunch that something just isn’t right with the recent acts that have been perpetrated against Earth, in particular the sabotage of the entire planet’s power grid (which, kids, I’m still struggling to see as possible in the 21st century, to say nothing of DS9’s setting). Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 11, “Homefront”

December 21, 2013 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Joseph Sisko and son, from Season Four, Ep 11, "Homefront"

Joseph Sisko and son, from Season Four, Ep 11, “Homefront”

Well, that didn’t take long. Just when I’d started complaining about this season spending too much time away from the core Dominion plot arc, we’re thrown into a terrorist attack taking place on Earth itself in “Homefront”. This gives us a strong episode, and one that resonates with a post-9/11 audience even more than it must have back in the late 90’s. More on that in a moment.

The episode opens to Dax and Sisko observing the wormhole’s odd activity–it’s been opening and closing like a revolving door at a busy downtown office, but there’s no sign of any ships leaving it. That should have screamed “get a perimeter around it, and start scanning”, but it’s basically shrugged off by Sisko, while the Bajorans on board see it as a possible sign from the prophets. Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 7, “Starship Down”

October 16, 2013 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

Worf and enlisted men = challenges. DS9, Season Four, Ep 7: "Starship Down"

Worf and enlisted men = challenges. DS9, Season Four, Ep 7: “Starship Down”

Every show has them: episodes that ignite neither passion, nor derision. They usually have a few nice moments, but on the whole, there is nothing extraordinary to be seen. Ladies and gents, I give you “Starship Down”, a nice episode, with nice character development, and nice special effects, and a nice guest star turn by James Cromwell (albeit in alien makeup, so only his voice and stature give him away). It’s…nice. Read the rest of this entry →

#DS91sttime: Season 4, Episode 5, “Indiscretion”

September 13, 2013 in #DS91sttime, General Topics

There are some actors and actresses that can pull your attention completely to the screen and hold it there. Mark Alaimo is one such actor, and in my book is not just one of the best performers in Deep Space Nine, but across the entire Trek universe as well. It’s the range of emotion he gives his character; the sense that Dukat is forever in conflict with the society he’s a part of–at once a willing participant and a victim of its savage power struggles and strange mores. He is a man of duplicity, as human as any of us beneath his alien skin. Read the rest of this entry →