Deep Space 9 Superior

[the Fifth Race]

Dude, that's like... the best combo ever. You couldn't do more better then that.

LOL, indeed brother Alan.

BTW: I love the "I'm not a merry man" Worf avatar from Q's Sherwood forest.

[the Fifth Race]

Bar Association - Let it be said, "Bar Association" is far more entertaining and humorous than most Ferengi shows. It has a certain zip and pleasantness that was painfully absent in "Prophet Motive" and "Family Business." But, nevertheless, "Bar" is still just another Ferengi Comedy Episode--fairly diverting and occasionally worth chuckling at, but thin and generally devoid of any real substance. I'll rank a tad below "Little Green Men."

While Bar Association is easily one of the weakest episodes from season IV, it still isn't that bad. I can tolerate the problems here, because they're not nearly as in-your-face annoying as they were in season's past, and the episode makes up for it with some fairly original comic ideas.

The B-story? Something to do with Worf moving his quarters to on board the Defiant over his inability to adapt to the tone of the station. The results are sometimes amusing, though, like the rest of the show, not exactly pressing. However, I somehow doubt that Worf, being the Klingon warrior he is, would really have such a problem integrating into DS9. Like I said, we're not exactly looking at deep character material here.

Still, there is at least one lasting consequence from all this. As a result of his experience and strike victory, Rom decides to quit working for his brother and take a job as a station electronic technician. This was a long time coming, and I, for one, am sincerely glad it finally happened. Quark's constant exploitation of Rom has long since been exhausted, and has even longer since not been amusing. I guess the creators finally figured that out and acted on it.

[Weyoun]

Bar Association

In a nut-shell; Worf loves the Defiant and hates the station, Quark's employees have unionized and are demanding better treatment. The FCA shows up and haves Quark beat up. Quark solves the problem by secretly giving into his workers' demands so long as the union is "officially" dissolved. Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but a good show and a decent watch.

I did enjoy the scene with Odo listing all the security breaches on the Enterprise to rub it in Worf's face that Worf isn't a perfect security officer. I also enjoyed the scene with Worf lamenting about the station's constant breakdowns while O'Brien revels in it because he likes fixing things. I like how he complains about how boring sitting in the transporter room was.

[jelgate]

Rules of Engagement

Its funny how entertaining bottle episodes can be. Because that is what this episode is. Its a bottle episode with no major new characters and all the normal standing sets. But that is what the episode is. But like a certain episode called Duet, this episode also excells as it shows through the characters of trial. If you had lesser actors like Avery Brooks, Micheal Dorn and whoever plays Ch'Pok. Its the way they hold their lines together give a sense of emotion that makes this episode excell. Lesser actors would just read these lines of intense dialouge and just make it seem dull. What also helps is the showing of us reenacting scene of the thing in question as the Defiant attacks the "transport".

As said before what sells this episode is the character but a special mention has to go to Ch'Pok who is a rather strange and rather interesting Klingion. The way he presents his arguement and and twists people testimony is rather lawyer of him. I almost found myself rooting for him. That is how interesting of a character he is. Also worth mentioning is how Sisko gives a huge lecture to Worf at the end about wearing a command uniform. It was something I wasn't expecting and I liked it. It shows that even know Worf won he made some bad mistakes.

Just a special note if you count Emissary, Way of the Warrior, and What You Leave Behind as two episodes each this episode marks that I am halfway done.

Hard Time.

Ah another "O'Brien must suffer" episode. The episode has a few good moments like Miles threatening Quark (yeah I found that funny), his conversation with Sisko and then yelling at Julian, and his attempt at suicide with Bashir getting him to calm down but overall its just dull. And that is not a criticism of Colm Meaney. I know he is an excellent actor. But this episode really has no point to it. Their is not plot arc being fufillied and it seems pointless for the character. Yes being inprisioned in your mind for 20 years is terrible but in the long one it doesn't change him. He just acts a little different for awhile but then goes back to normal. It just seems pointless. And I find the scenes in the prisone with his friend pointless and boring as well. I just can't get interested in this episode with an exception of a few scenes I mentioned above. The notable exception of course is the fantastic scene between Miles and Julian at the end of the episode.

Shattered Mirror

Its a Mirror episode. What else is there to say? Its fun to see the characters play different kinds of people and see the what ifs but the thing about mirror episodes is that they are mindless action. Thier isn't a whole ton of real emotion to them. You don't get the sense of feeling for these characters after different things happen. I don't really care that mirror Nog got shot in the back. None the less its fun to see the Defiant take out the Regent's ship not to mention that the Regent is Worf and he has Garak on a collar. Good old funny stuff and while I can't call it a bad episode thier is nothing ground breaking. Its just a mindless action episode much like a lot of Enterprise

[Starbase]

Bar Association

What saved this episode for me, ironically, were the jibes taken at Picard's Enterprise - and, by extension, at TNG. While I have fond memories of that series, they had a lot of dud episodes. But I loved listening to O'Brien and Worf compare DS9 to the Enterprise, but my favorite moment was Odo running down the Enterprise's security. People accuse Sisko and Janeway of being incompetent because their crews let stupid things happen under their command, but Picard certainly had his share of lapses as well, and he was in charge of the flagship of the Fleet!

I've never been completely sure of the point of having Ferengi on DS9, other than to provide comic relief. Are we to understand that Ferengi living among humans will become hopelessly corrupted by them, resorting to reading Marx and Lenin when the Rules of Acquisition fail them? It does not say much for Sisko's respect for the Ferengi right to autonomy when he fails to intervene in what is largely a Ferengi power struggle. Yes, there are Bajorans working for Quark, but the Dabo girls in this episode served as little more than cheerleaders for Rom, so it was hard to take them seriously as full-fledged members of the strike.

I'm not sure what the point of the Worf subplot was either, except to remind us (as if we needed reminding) that Worf is having trouble fitting in on DS9, and that Dax - apparently willing to compete with Kira for the role of most charming athletic partner and comforter to Important Guys - wants to help him by any means necessary.

I enjoyed seeing O'Brien looking like he was having a good time, though it sure seems out of character for him to be happy, I sure would have thought he was bored on the Enterprise, but he never said so before! I'm glad they gave us a peek into his Irish-American heritage; it figures they'd make him descended from Brian Boru, a popular Irish claim, but his relations to labor leaders and coal strike martyrs was interesting and relevant to the episode.

[the Fifth Race]

Accession

"Accession" is an episode that has a lot to say about Bajor's religious side and where Sisko stands in the eyes of the Bajoran people. It's a story with numerous messages which sometimes prove difficult to discern, and with a number of subtexts that a viewer may or may not see. It has dialogue, particularly near the end, which is open to a great deal of interpretation.

This is very good in some important ways. It's fresh and provocative, and it treats the audience with a respect for their intelligence. It's also a sort of throwback to the "old-school DS9" - that being analysis of religious, intra-political Bajoran/Federation issues which were the primary focus of seasons one and two; rather than the action-centered, inter-political Federation/Dominion and Federation/Klingon issues common to seasons three and four. At the same time, I defy anyone to tell me exactly what this episode boils down to in terms of series or character development after only one viewing. It took me two viewings to reflect on what the episode was trying to say. And after this reflection I still wasn't sure that the episode was as broad and consequential as it should have been.

The show is thoroughly riveting for its first four acts. It effectively sets up an uneasy situation and foreshadows the consequences of changing political administrations where the incoming and outgoing parties have two distinctly different views. Everything surrounding this set-up feels right, from Kai Winn supporting Akorem's radical initiative, to the powerful early scene where Akorem gives his promenade speech while a subtle trace of concern develops on Sisko's face as he listens to what is being said. Even Kira, whose faith couldn't be much more devoted, obviously has second thoughts about where Akorem is bound to take Bajor with his reforms.

This clash of old beliefs and new world culminates with an incident where Vedek Porta kills another Bajoran simply because of the man's "unclean" d'jarra-intolerable murder justified by Porta's religious extremism. This, in combination with Sisko's vision where Kai Opaka appears to offer ambiguous words hiding apparent advice, finally makes Sisko realize that the d'jarras are not going to do anything but erase all the progress he has worked for. He decides he must ensure the d'jarras are not re-instituted.

The story's conclusion, however, does not feel quite right. Sisko doesn't want to challenge Akorem's claim, as that would divide Bajor and cause chaos. Instead, Sisko and Akorem go into the wormhole to ask the Prophets who is really the Emissary, and if they intended Akorem to bring the d'jarras back. The wormhole aliens answer the question with a variety of intriguing but ultimately incomprehensible riddles (it boils down to "no"), and they are able to send Akorem back to the century he came from.

[the Fifth Race]

Rules of Engagement -- Hard Time -- Shattered Mirror

Please hold off anymore reviews for at least a few days brother jelgate. I got the da boyz coming over tonight to re-watch all 3 of the above mentioned episodes. Thanx!

What did ya think of Haven?. I thought it was pretty ridiculous but decent none-the-less. It sure was nice seeing Ezri Dax. Look's like Nicole de Boer is going to be a regular in the series.

[jelgate]

Please hold off anymore reviews for at least a few days brother jelgate. I got the da boyz coming over tonight to re-watch all 3 of the above mentioned episodes. Thanx!

What did ya think of Haven?. I thought it was pretty ridiculous but decent none-the-less. It sure was nice seeing Ezri Dax. Look's like Nicole de Boer is going to be a regular in the series.

If you haven't noticed before I watch a lot of episodes on Saturday night because well Saturday is boring. Also if it hasn't been apparent I don't tend to watch much DS9 the first half of the week mainly due to the weekly release Hulu and other legal sites has to some of their shows. Not to mention some of the shows in miss in TV broadcast and watch on the Internet. After Sunday night (which is usually one episode) I don't tend to watch any DS9 until Thursday sometimes later. However this is far from normal as I am leaving town iThursday thru Sunday. I will have seen a lot when I come back from vacaton Think that time I watched The Search-Meridian.

As for Haven it felt like a cross between Eureka and Sanctuary. I hated Eureka from day one and gave up on it years ago and Sanctuary disappointed me last season I was unimpressed with Haven. But pilots are notorious for being bad so I'll give it a few weeks

[Alan Wake]

If you haven't noticed before I watch a lot of episodes on Saturday night because well Saturday is boring. Also if it hasn't been apparent I don't tend to watch much DS9 the first half of the week mainly due to the weekly release Hulu and other legal sites has to some of their shows. Not to mention some of the shows in miss in TV broadcast and watch on the Internet. After Sunday night (which is usually one episode) I don't tend to watch any DS9 until Thursday sometimes later. However this is far from normal as I am leaving town iThursday thru Sunday. I will have seen a lot when I come back from vacaton Think that time I watched The Search-Meridian.

As for Haven it felt like a cross between Eureka and Sanctuary. I hated Eureka from day one and gave up on it years ago and Sanctuary disappointed me last season I was unimpressed with Haven. But pilots are notorious for being bad so I'll give it a few weeks

Somehow, and somewhere... I think that was a crack at me.

[jelgate]

Somehow, and somewhere... I think that was a crack at me.

How do you figure?

[Alan Wake]

i don't really see as just the pilot as giving the show the chance. Shows change dramatically after the pilot because the pilot has that huge task of introducing the characters and story. So your defense is rejected due to insufficent evidence. Interesting enough i can't stand the x-files but i went farther then the pilot

[jelgate]

My point is still the same. Piilots are still quite different from the show after the characters and story are established. And yes you are still wrong

[the Fifth Race]

If you haven't noticed before I watch a lot of episodes on Saturday night because well Saturday is boring. Also if it hasn't been apparent I don't tend to watch much DS9 the first half of the week mainly due to the weekly release Hulu and other legal sites has to some of their shows. Not to mention some of the shows in miss in TV broadcast and watch on the Internet. After Sunday night (which is usually one episode) I don't tend to watch any DS9 until Thursday sometimes later. However this is far from normal as I am leaving town iThursday thru Sunday. I will have seen a lot when I come back from vacaton Think that time I watched The Search-Meridian.

Understood. I do appreciate the fact that you have slowed down the reviews since brother Starbase and myself complained about it earlier.

As for Haven it felt like a cross between Eureka and Sanctuary. I hated Eureka from day one and gave up on it years ago and Sanctuary disappointed me last season I was unimpressed with Haven. But pilots are notorious for being bad so I'll give it a few weeks

Haven definietly had that made by the syfy channel feel to it (not all together suky, but no where near great either). I actually enjoyed Eureka and Sanctuary up until last year where both shows IMHO seemed to have jumped the perverbial shark (especially Sanctuary). As far as Warehouse 13 goes - that show is like a guilty pleasure for me personally - Again, not the greatest of shows, but there is something about it that I really enjoy.

I agree with you about "Pilot Episodes" - Most of the time they are a poor indication of how a series will turn out or in some cases how good or bad a show might be. I have watched many pilot's coming away thinking 'that was pretty kewl' only to be completely dissappointed a few weeks later. And then in more cases - there are the shows that stink it up during there pilot (and even there entire 1rst season), only to come back and be a great show.

[jelgate]

Understood. I do appreciate the fact that you have slowed down the reviews since brother Starbase and myself complained about it earlier.

Honestly you guys asking me to slow down had very little to do with it. Other issues arose that made me slow down.

Haven definietly had that made by the syfy channel feel to it (not all together suky, but no where near great either). I actually enjoyed Eureka and Sanctuary up until last year where both shows IMHO seemed to have jumped the perverbial shark (especially Sanctuary). As far as Warehouse 13 goes - that show is like a guilty pleasure for me personally - Again, not the greatest of shows, but there is something about it that I really enjoy.

Its Artie. Saul Rubinek is awesome as an actor. Unless certain characters decide to take a ride on the zip line.

[USS Defiant]

Haven definietly had that made by the syfy channel feel to it (not all together suky, but no where near great either). I actually enjoyed Eureka and Sanctuary up until last year where both shows IMHO seemed to have jumped the perverbial shark (especially Sanctuary). As far as Warehouse 13 goes - that show is like a guilty pleasure for me personally - Again, not the greatest of shows, but there is something about it that I really enjoy.

I think Haven has potential simply because of the cast of characters we were introduced to. I'm not sure about the premise quite yet (I don't read spoilers), but I did enjoy the female FBI agent and the goofy young police officer who feels no pain. I also liked the quirky fisherman childhood friend. I can't say I hated seeing Nicole de Boer as well. As for Eureka and Sanctuary I agree brother Fifth - both were good up until last season. Warehouse 13 is alright, I did like the season 2 premiere though.

I agree with you about "Pilot Episodes" - Most of the time they are a poor indication of how a series will turn out or in some cases how good or bad a show might be. I have watched many pilot's coming away thinking 'that was pretty kewl' only to be completely dissappointed a few weeks later. And then in more cases - there are the shows that stink it up during there pilot (and even there entire 1rst season), only to come back and be a great show.

Agreed!