(no subject)
Feb. 2nd, 2014 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI've finally gotten DS9 icons to use when I do these posts! That's how you know things are getting real.
7. Civil Defense
THIS WAS SUCH A GREAT EPISODE. So this is the one where Jake and O'Brien accidentally trigger the station to go into Cardassian Revolt Lockdown, and then everyone spends the next forty minutes playing Die Hard In a Spaceship while Dukat's pre-recorded voice booms down dire warnings from the rafters.
Things that are great about this episode:
- QUARK AND ODO LOCKED FUTILELY IN SECURITY FOR FORTY MINUTES
- Garak turning up to show off by helping out and then being hilariously useless
- Dukat beaming in to gloat and then getting himself HILARIOUSLY STUCK
- Dukat and Garak snipping at each other like kindergarteners while everyone else just kind of looks away awkwardly like "I am so embarrassed for you both right now"
- "STOP FLIRTING WITH MAJOR KIRA, SHE'S NOT IMPRESSED." Are you twelve. ARE YOU TWELVE.
- the fact that at some point, Cardassian protocol officers SAT DUKAT DOWN in a recording studio for a day to film a bunch of "DIRE CONSEQUENCES WILL RAIN DOWN" warnings to cover all contingencies. "All right, in this one, sound a little sterner and more disappointed! No, we're gonna have to do another take. Okay, now in this one, you're already dead, so sound really sad and resigned, okay?" I WANT FANFIC ABOUT THIS DAY.
8. Meridian
. . . and this episode was about as pointless as the previous one was great. Jadzia has a thing with a guy on an alien planet who spends 90% of his time as a ball of ether? She also decides to throw it all away to become a ball of ether? I ... OK? I think we all, including the cast, just decided to tactfully pretend this didn't happen.
9. Defiant
So in this episode Clone Riker shows up, flirts with Kira, and steals the Defiant, which should teach EVERYONE IN STAR TREK a VERY IMPORTANT LESSON about randomly cloning people without considering the consequences!
Meanwhile, Sisko goes on another life-changing field trip with Dukat to get the runabout back, except it's also a Life-Changing Field Trip with Cardassian High Command, who like Sisko WAY BETTER than they like Dukat. This causes Dukat to get snippy and attempt to sabotage Sisko with Dad Feelings, leading to this conversation:
SISKO: Dukat, are you listening to me?
DUKAT: Oh, I’m sorry, Commander, I was thinking about my son’s birthday.
SISKO: …Really?
DUKAT: Yes, today is his eleventh birthday —
SISKO: omg do you have dad feels I have SO MANY dad feels did you know Jake writes poetry and is dating a dabo girl I mean CAN YOU EVEN gosh children are the greatest gift and the worst trial wow Dukat I’ve never felt closer to you SCREW THE DEFIANT AND THE IMMINENT THREAT OF WAR LET’S TALK ABOUT PARENTING.
I now have a desperate and powerful desire for an episode in which Sisko and Dukat have to take care of a baby together.
Aside from Dad Feelings, the other best thing about this episode is the reveal that Bashir can just declare people to be on mandatory medical leave whenever he likes. This seems like a REALLY DANGEROUS POWER for Bashir to have. Like, "O'Brien! Let's play tennis!" "I can't, I'm on duty --" "BAM! Medical leave! I DECLARE TENNIS TO BE IMPORTANT FOR YOUR PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH." Like, I am sorry, I just do not trust Bashir to be responsible with this. Or with anything.
. . . and the other other best thing is Riker's EVIL GOATEE.
10. Fascination
This is the one where Lwaxana Troi shows up and accidentally spreads love-at-first-sight hormones all around the station, which could have been COMIC GOLD and instead was just sort of awkward and uncomfortable for everyone concerned.
BECCA: It could have been so good! I mean, we laughed, but it was ... horrified and appalled laughter ...
DEBI: Yes, it could have been, like, Something Blue!
BECCA: .. and now I can't stop thinking about how much better that episode would have been if it was just Sisko and Dukat being accidentally empath-love-spelled to fall madly in love with each other.
NO BUT THINK ABOUT IT. The whole episode would just consist of them gleefully planning their MAJOR DIPLOMATIC COUP OF A WEDDING while everybody else in the cast makes INCREASINGLY HORRIFIED WALRUS FACES. They have a lot of earnest conversations about how this will really form the Cardassian-Federation alliance into a more perfect union, although they are a little concerned with how their sons will take it, but, like, they'll bond, right? Jake's always wanted a brother! IT WILL BE GREAT.
Then in the end it wears off and they are more horrified with themselves than anybody else, but also secretly a little bit disappointed they don't get to have the major diplomatic coup wedding.
11. Past Tense, Part I
TIME TRAVEL EPISODE! Sisko, Bashir and Jadzia all accidentally end up in the year 2024 due to timey-wimey technobabble gobbledygook, which is a ... really unnervingly plausible economic dystopia for ten years from now. Economic depression, increase in homelessness, bureaucratic inefficiency, decrease in social services ...
On the bright side, if this is an accurate prediction of the future, at least we have Star Trek's amazing prediction of 2024 fashion to look forward to:
BRING IT, 2024 FASHIONS. I'm so ready.
Anyway, Sisko is of course a twenty-first century history buff, and he spends a lot of time talking about one of his personal heroes from this time period, who led riots but ensured no one was hurt and generally took a principled stand --
-- and then of course they find the guy dead, and at this point Debi and I both shrieked out "TERRY PRATCHETT YOU PLAGIARIST!" because this is the exact plot of Night Watch except without a younger Sisko running around to be naive in the mid of it. I guess maybe Bashir is here playing the role of Young Sisko.
12. Past Tense, Part 2
This plot continues to be great, but did not feature ENOUGH of Kira and O'Brien awkwardly time-traveling into various Wacky Periods of Earth History. However, it continues to be uncanny in predicting a highly plausible future -- Cowboy Hat Douchebro who's hanging out in the rebellion with Sisko is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT the next-stage evolution of the patented Fedora Douchebro of today.
By the way, there an established trope of "person time travels into the past and takes over the histori,cal role played by their personal hero?" I feel like this is a thing that more people have done besides Vimes and Sisko, but I could be wrong.
13. Life Support
As soon as this episode began, Debi and I stared at each other in dawning hope.
BECCA: Is this the episode where Bareil dies?
DEBI: I think it's the episode where he dies!
BECCA: ... I feel a little guilty for being so happy. Usually I feel bad for hoping that characters will die! BUT I REALLY WANT HIM TO DIE.
DEBI: His face is JUST SO BLAND.
Indeed it is the episode in which Bareil dies, although it takes him forty minutes to do it, drawn out by Bashir making one VERY POOR MEDICAL DECISION at the beginning of the episode ("sure! let's use this wacky experimental technique to bring him back from the dead! can't hurt!") and then spending the rest of the episode getting on an ill-advised high horse.
BAREIL: I have made an informed decision not to go into medical stasis, because I feel my contribution as an alive person is important at this time.
BASHIR: Kai Winn! I want you to lie to Bareil so he will change his mind about going into stasis!
KAI WINN: ... no ... I appreciate his priorities and choose to respect his decision ...
BASHIR: UGH, you're SO UNETHICAL.
THANKS, MR. "CLONE A MURDERER FOR THE HECK OF IT" AND "PERFORM MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND," we'll sure take your opinion into account!
However, for all its flaws, this is STILL the episode in which Bareil dies, so, you know. REDEEMING QUALITIES.
14. Heart of Stone
This episode begins with Odo and Kira having the most married bickering I've EVER HEARD. "Next time we're invited to dinner, you can be the one who says whether we go or not!"
BECCA: Do ... you think Kira knows they're married already?
DEBI: Bareil died last week. LAST WEEK he died.
Then Kira spends the rest of the episode trapped in a giant rock, while Odo agonizes and finally confesses his love, except of course it's not really Kira in the rock, it's a shapeshifter trying to lure him back to shapeshifterland. ODO PINING RAMPS UP TO TEN MILLION.
The saddest thing in this episode is that Odo has this whole conversation with fake!Kira about going kayaking with O'Brien while O'Brien sings sea shanties, and Kira is so delighted to find this out, and then it turns out that real Kira will NEVER KNOW about Odo and O'Brien's kayaking parties. There is a part of Real Kira that's really sad and doesn't know why.
In the B-plot, Nog wants to join Starfleet, and Sisko is sort of hesitant, and Debi and I spent all our time shouting at the screen, "WRITE HIM A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION! BE A GOOD DAD TO YOUR SON'S FRIEND!" Last time I was home my parents were complaining about having to write my little brother's wacky screwup high school friend med school recommendations. BUT THEY DID IT. You can do this, Sisko!
7. Civil Defense
THIS WAS SUCH A GREAT EPISODE. So this is the one where Jake and O'Brien accidentally trigger the station to go into Cardassian Revolt Lockdown, and then everyone spends the next forty minutes playing Die Hard In a Spaceship while Dukat's pre-recorded voice booms down dire warnings from the rafters.
Things that are great about this episode:
- QUARK AND ODO LOCKED FUTILELY IN SECURITY FOR FORTY MINUTES
- Garak turning up to show off by helping out and then being hilariously useless
- Dukat beaming in to gloat and then getting himself HILARIOUSLY STUCK
- Dukat and Garak snipping at each other like kindergarteners while everyone else just kind of looks away awkwardly like "I am so embarrassed for you both right now"
- "STOP FLIRTING WITH MAJOR KIRA, SHE'S NOT IMPRESSED." Are you twelve. ARE YOU TWELVE.
- the fact that at some point, Cardassian protocol officers SAT DUKAT DOWN in a recording studio for a day to film a bunch of "DIRE CONSEQUENCES WILL RAIN DOWN" warnings to cover all contingencies. "All right, in this one, sound a little sterner and more disappointed! No, we're gonna have to do another take. Okay, now in this one, you're already dead, so sound really sad and resigned, okay?" I WANT FANFIC ABOUT THIS DAY.
8. Meridian
. . . and this episode was about as pointless as the previous one was great. Jadzia has a thing with a guy on an alien planet who spends 90% of his time as a ball of ether? She also decides to throw it all away to become a ball of ether? I ... OK? I think we all, including the cast, just decided to tactfully pretend this didn't happen.
9. Defiant
So in this episode Clone Riker shows up, flirts with Kira, and steals the Defiant, which should teach EVERYONE IN STAR TREK a VERY IMPORTANT LESSON about randomly cloning people without considering the consequences!
Meanwhile, Sisko goes on another life-changing field trip with Dukat to get the runabout back, except it's also a Life-Changing Field Trip with Cardassian High Command, who like Sisko WAY BETTER than they like Dukat. This causes Dukat to get snippy and attempt to sabotage Sisko with Dad Feelings, leading to this conversation:
SISKO: Dukat, are you listening to me?
DUKAT: Oh, I’m sorry, Commander, I was thinking about my son’s birthday.
SISKO: …Really?
DUKAT: Yes, today is his eleventh birthday —
SISKO: omg do you have dad feels I have SO MANY dad feels did you know Jake writes poetry and is dating a dabo girl I mean CAN YOU EVEN gosh children are the greatest gift and the worst trial wow Dukat I’ve never felt closer to you SCREW THE DEFIANT AND THE IMMINENT THREAT OF WAR LET’S TALK ABOUT PARENTING.
I now have a desperate and powerful desire for an episode in which Sisko and Dukat have to take care of a baby together.
Aside from Dad Feelings, the other best thing about this episode is the reveal that Bashir can just declare people to be on mandatory medical leave whenever he likes. This seems like a REALLY DANGEROUS POWER for Bashir to have. Like, "O'Brien! Let's play tennis!" "I can't, I'm on duty --" "BAM! Medical leave! I DECLARE TENNIS TO BE IMPORTANT FOR YOUR PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH." Like, I am sorry, I just do not trust Bashir to be responsible with this. Or with anything.
. . . and the other other best thing is Riker's EVIL GOATEE.
10. Fascination
This is the one where Lwaxana Troi shows up and accidentally spreads love-at-first-sight hormones all around the station, which could have been COMIC GOLD and instead was just sort of awkward and uncomfortable for everyone concerned.
BECCA: It could have been so good! I mean, we laughed, but it was ... horrified and appalled laughter ...
DEBI: Yes, it could have been, like, Something Blue!
BECCA: .. and now I can't stop thinking about how much better that episode would have been if it was just Sisko and Dukat being accidentally empath-love-spelled to fall madly in love with each other.
NO BUT THINK ABOUT IT. The whole episode would just consist of them gleefully planning their MAJOR DIPLOMATIC COUP OF A WEDDING while everybody else in the cast makes INCREASINGLY HORRIFIED WALRUS FACES. They have a lot of earnest conversations about how this will really form the Cardassian-Federation alliance into a more perfect union, although they are a little concerned with how their sons will take it, but, like, they'll bond, right? Jake's always wanted a brother! IT WILL BE GREAT.
Then in the end it wears off and they are more horrified with themselves than anybody else, but also secretly a little bit disappointed they don't get to have the major diplomatic coup wedding.
11. Past Tense, Part I
TIME TRAVEL EPISODE! Sisko, Bashir and Jadzia all accidentally end up in the year 2024 due to timey-wimey technobabble gobbledygook, which is a ... really unnervingly plausible economic dystopia for ten years from now. Economic depression, increase in homelessness, bureaucratic inefficiency, decrease in social services ...
On the bright side, if this is an accurate prediction of the future, at least we have Star Trek's amazing prediction of 2024 fashion to look forward to:
BRING IT, 2024 FASHIONS. I'm so ready.
Anyway, Sisko is of course a twenty-first century history buff, and he spends a lot of time talking about one of his personal heroes from this time period, who led riots but ensured no one was hurt and generally took a principled stand --
-- and then of course they find the guy dead, and at this point Debi and I both shrieked out "TERRY PRATCHETT YOU PLAGIARIST!" because this is the exact plot of Night Watch except without a younger Sisko running around to be naive in the mid of it. I guess maybe Bashir is here playing the role of Young Sisko.
12. Past Tense, Part 2
This plot continues to be great, but did not feature ENOUGH of Kira and O'Brien awkwardly time-traveling into various Wacky Periods of Earth History. However, it continues to be uncanny in predicting a highly plausible future -- Cowboy Hat Douchebro who's hanging out in the rebellion with Sisko is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT the next-stage evolution of the patented Fedora Douchebro of today.
By the way, there an established trope of "person time travels into the past and takes over the histori,cal role played by their personal hero?" I feel like this is a thing that more people have done besides Vimes and Sisko, but I could be wrong.
13. Life Support
As soon as this episode began, Debi and I stared at each other in dawning hope.
BECCA: Is this the episode where Bareil dies?
DEBI: I think it's the episode where he dies!
BECCA: ... I feel a little guilty for being so happy. Usually I feel bad for hoping that characters will die! BUT I REALLY WANT HIM TO DIE.
DEBI: His face is JUST SO BLAND.
Indeed it is the episode in which Bareil dies, although it takes him forty minutes to do it, drawn out by Bashir making one VERY POOR MEDICAL DECISION at the beginning of the episode ("sure! let's use this wacky experimental technique to bring him back from the dead! can't hurt!") and then spending the rest of the episode getting on an ill-advised high horse.
BAREIL: I have made an informed decision not to go into medical stasis, because I feel my contribution as an alive person is important at this time.
BASHIR: Kai Winn! I want you to lie to Bareil so he will change his mind about going into stasis!
KAI WINN: ... no ... I appreciate his priorities and choose to respect his decision ...
BASHIR: UGH, you're SO UNETHICAL.
THANKS, MR. "CLONE A MURDERER FOR THE HECK OF IT" AND "PERFORM MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND," we'll sure take your opinion into account!
However, for all its flaws, this is STILL the episode in which Bareil dies, so, you know. REDEEMING QUALITIES.
14. Heart of Stone
This episode begins with Odo and Kira having the most married bickering I've EVER HEARD. "Next time we're invited to dinner, you can be the one who says whether we go or not!"
BECCA: Do ... you think Kira knows they're married already?
DEBI: Bareil died last week. LAST WEEK he died.
Then Kira spends the rest of the episode trapped in a giant rock, while Odo agonizes and finally confesses his love, except of course it's not really Kira in the rock, it's a shapeshifter trying to lure him back to shapeshifterland. ODO PINING RAMPS UP TO TEN MILLION.
The saddest thing in this episode is that Odo has this whole conversation with fake!Kira about going kayaking with O'Brien while O'Brien sings sea shanties, and Kira is so delighted to find this out, and then it turns out that real Kira will NEVER KNOW about Odo and O'Brien's kayaking parties. There is a part of Real Kira that's really sad and doesn't know why.
In the B-plot, Nog wants to join Starfleet, and Sisko is sort of hesitant, and Debi and I spent all our time shouting at the screen, "WRITE HIM A LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION! BE A GOOD DAD TO YOUR SON'S FRIEND!" Last time I was home my parents were complaining about having to write my little brother's wacky screwup high school friend med school recommendations. BUT THEY DID IT. You can do this, Sisko!
no subject
Date: 2014-02-02 09:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-02 11:44 pm (UTC)....oh, Heroes.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-02 10:27 pm (UTC)Until "Second Chances" nobody knew Riker had been duplicated. (Transporter dupe, not clone, incidentally.) They actually did a good job of helping Tom Riker settle back into life, though his eight years of isolation may have helped him decide to defect to the Maquis...
no subject
Date: 2014-02-02 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 07:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 10:58 am (UTC)And and and I actually think that the bland relationship with Vedik Boring was not actually bad for Kira? Like, she's angry and complicated and has things to work out, and he's down to earth, and sensible and she really liked him. It was a good relationship!
But I hated how they got together, and I hated his bland bland face, so I was excited knowing that eventually he would die.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 03:17 am (UTC)Also, that's a good point! He was good for her! He was just. SO. BORING.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 03:18 am (UTC)I also may have accidentally connected him to Father Mulcahy in my head, and I feel VERY STRONGLY about Father Mulcahy where I don't really feel at all strongly about Vedik Boring at all because he is intensely boring. So part of my tears might have been "NOOOO FATHER MULCAHY NOOOO" when Father Mulcahy was actually in no way endangered.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-02-03 05:28 pm (UTC)I was vaguely sad about Bareil's death for Kira's sake (I mean, come on, she's had enough people die on her!), but they just... never seemed to have any chemistry at all, and he'd disappear for months on end and I'd always be vaguely surprised when he showed up again...
AHAHAHAHA Kira/Odo bickering in "Heart of Stone," THEY ARE SO MARRIED.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 03:16 am (UTC)The worst thing about Bareil too was that he was always ruining otherwise perfectly good storylines about Bajoran politics. Like, it would just be getting interesting, and then, BAM! Blanded!
THEY ARE THE MOST MARRIED OF ALL.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-04 05:23 pm (UTC)Meridian... I will admit exists only long enough to clip the Jadzia/Benjamin hugs and get the hell out of there.
Defiant, Fascination - Consider yourself hired as scriptwriter of the version of DS9 that exists only in my mind.
Past Tense - That screencap says it all. It didn't need to be a two-parter; I would have been happy to have the entire episode just be that screencap. Maybe with some slow jazz in the background.
Life Support - Wait, isn't this the episode where Bashir says it's only okay to make people into certain kinds of cyborg, because otherwise their ~soul~ is destroyed? How many skeevy medical decisions can he fit into one episode?!
Heart of Stone - Noooog! In my heart this is the A-plot of the episode and Odo talking to a fake rock about love and kayaking is the B-plot.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-05 04:27 am (UTC)and hilariously awful sexual tensionall the time, you mean?ALSO OMG SO MANY SKEEVY MEDICAL DECISIONS HE MADE THAT EPISODE. SO MANY. Bashir, where is your special ethics officer! BECAUSE YOU NEED ONE.