Friday, February 27, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 140 - Change of Heart

"When Jadzia Dax is critically injured on an away mission, Worf must choose between saving his wife and completing their assignment."

I really hate the entire Dax and Worf thing, but I sort liked this episode. Dax and Worf are sent to smuggle a Dominion defector out of the Badlands. Before they meet up with him they are attacked by the Jem'Hadar and Dax is shot. The mission must be completed so Worf has no choice but to leave her behind. Half way through his journey, he realized "what the hell am I doing!" and turns back to save Dax. Back at DS9 Sisko rips Worf a new one and tells him that never again will he go on a mission with Dax. He also said that in the same situation he would also try to save his wife.

In sad news, I just heard that Leonard Nimoy died today. He always seemed like a decent guy who was always up for a cameo appearance. A legend.

140 down and 36 to go

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 139 - Honor Among Thieves

"Starfleet Intelligence recruits Chief O'Brien to infiltrate the Orion Syndicate to find a Starfleet informant."


What is up with Starfleet sending random people into dangerous situations. They never use security people to do this stuff, it's always an Engineer or Doctor. So in this one O'Brien goes under cover to infiltrate the space mob. Now I have seen a handful of Biographies about FBI undercover agents and actually this one plays out rather realistically. O'Brien slowly gains the trust of the Boss and then they become good "pals". O'Brien uncovers a plot to kill Gowron, which he reports to Starfleet. He also discovers that the mob boss will soon be killed, he actually feels bad for the guy so he reveals everything to him. The mob boss still decides to walk into his own death, but before that he gives Miles his cat to take care of. In the end Miles feels bad about the entire ordeal.

139 down and 37 to go

Friday, February 20, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 138 - One Little Ship

This may have been a good episode (although I doubt it), it's just that after that last episode everything else seems subpar so to follow it up with a Fantastic Voyage homage is just so disappointing. First of all, there is a space anomaly that has been causing probes to shrink down to miniscule size. So naturally Sisko sends the Runabout into the anomaly with Bashir, O'Brien and Dax aboard...because that makes perfect sense. Obviously they get shrunken. Meanwhile the Jem'Hadar take over the Defiant. Basically the mini Runabout sneaks aboard the Defiant and saves the day. So how does everyone get back to normal size? Well they reenter the anomaly and everything is reversed. Of course. I guess it was a fun episode but I would rather watch Honey I Shrunk the Kids if I wanted some fun shrinkage.

138 down and 38 to go

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 137 - Far Beyond the Stars

Not only does the episode that follows "Who Mourns for Morn?" not suck, it may possibly be the best episode of a TV show ever. The premise is simple and in fact rather standard DS9 faire. Sisko has a vision, goes unconscious and gets thrown into Earths past. Now here is where this episode goes from Science Fiction to something much much more. There was the episode in which Sisko goes back in time to "become" the man that saves Earth from totalitarian take over. Although that episode was full of a lot of deep rooted meaning apart from the Sci-Fi element, it was still heavily "Star Trek". This episode however, turns into 100% not Sci-Fi nor Star Trek.

A great aspect of "Far Beyond the Stars" is that all of the main characters play totally human roles. This allows them to show their range as actors and they are all incredible. It is great to see Michael Dorn and Armin Shimerman not playing hideous monsters.

The premise is that Sisko goes back to 1950's New York. He is trying to make a name for himself as a Sci-Fi writer. He is working for a Sci-Fi Magazine. His stories are loved by everyone in the office but they will not publish it because of the potential backlash of having a black author. Finally they figure out a way to get one of his stories into the magazine, it is approved by the editor (the somewhat closeted racist Mr. Pabst/Odo) and sent off to print. But, the results are incredibly heartbreaking.

There is a scene at the end in which Benjamin finally has had enough with the racism, the oppression and being treated like garbage. He just snaps and has a complete mental breakdown. What a fucking performance by Avery Brooks. I actually got choked up. Which shocked the shit out of me because not only is this Star Trek, but I always assumed I was the least sympathetic person on the planet...evidently this is not true! That is why this episode is so damn good, it nearly got me to cry! So bizarre. Anyway, I suggest everyone watch this episode now, if only for the fantastic acting.

137 down and 39 to go

Friday, February 13, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 136 - Who Mourns for Morn?

"Morn is killed in an ion storm and Sisko informs Quark that Morn left his entire estate to him. But Quark has a little competition."

What a weird friggin episode. Morn dies leaving everything to Quark. Quark ends up in a Indiana Jones/Amazing Race situation in which him, Morn's Ex-Wife and two of Morn's business associates end up in a scavenger hunt for Morn's hidden retirement fund. They are soon joined another individual who said that he is some kind of private detective. Anyway, Quark and the others end up back at the bar where Odo arrests the two associates, the ex-wife and the P.I. Also.....Morn is still alive! It was all a trap to lore those four people (all of whom are bank robbers) out of hiding so that Odo can arrest them. Sounds dumb? Well it was!

136 down and 40 to go

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 135 - Waltz

This is a significant episode I believe in the upcoming plot arc. Regardless, it was sort of boring. Sisko is transporting Dukat (who is now a war criminal and also insane over his daughters death) to a Federation prison. Their ship is attacked, Dukat saves Sisko and they make it down to a planet. Now marooned together, Sisko notices that Dukat is unstable and hallucinating. They begin to argue and fight each other. Dukat manages to escape in a shuttle and vows to destroy Bajor. The Defiant comes to rescue Sisko. I must say that I never enjoyed the character of Dukat, so I'm not looking forward to these upcoming Sisko vs Dukat episodes. In fact I have not enjoyed one villain in this entire series.

135 down and 41 to go

Monday, February 09, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 134 - The Magnificent Ferengi

"Quark mounts a rescue mission when his mother, Ishka, is captured by the Dominion and Grand Nagus Zek offers a reward for her return."

Quark leads a crack team of Ferengi "commandos". Mainly Rom, Brunt and a few others. They run simulations of the rescue and it shows very poor results. In general a Ferengi "army" is a bad idea because they are all so self absorbed that working as a team is nearly impossible. Even though they just want to rescue Ishka for the money, they eventually bond together and do a very good job with the rescue. In fact, Quark and Rom seem more happy with saving their mother than receiving any money. It was a rare showing for Ferengi. I enjoyed this episode. Also, fucking Iggy Pop is in it!?!?!

134 down and 42 to go

Saturday, February 07, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 133 - Statistical Probabilities

"Bashir attempts to reintegrate genetically-engineered misfits into society, but they are asked by Starfleet to become a think tank when they provide insightful analysis of upcoming Dominion peace talks."

To say that these people are misfits is an understatement, they are down right insane. They had received the same illegal modifications that Bashir had received as a child but theirs had gone awry. They are still super intelligent, but also complete mental patients. While Bashir works with the wackos, Strafleet decides to use them during the Dominion negotiation. They come up with the surprising conclusion that the Federation will be destroyed if they negotiate. They are contemplating the think tanks conclusion when Bashir discovers that one of the fruitcakes sabotaged the data, the conclusion was wrong. So crisis was averted. The screwballs go back to the nuthouse, but they promise to work on a solution to dealing with the Dominion.

This episode was directed by Anson Williams?!?!?!


133 down and 43 to go

Thursday, February 05, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 132 - Resurrection

"The mirror universe counterpart of Kira's dead love, Vedek Bareil, takes her hostage on Deep Space Nine as he is running from the evil Alliance of his universe."

So mirror universe Vedek goes to real world DS9 to steal the Prophetic Orb and bring to mirror Kira. In the end, he connects with real world Kira and changes his mind.

They need to end this Mirror Universe crap. It was fun for a while but now it is just dumb. It doesn't make sense that everyone can just so easily jump between alternate universes. It seems like this should be an issue of high concern for the Federation. Nobody seems to care. Also, LeVar Burton always does a great job directing Star Trek episodes, but I'm telling you he always ends up with the shittiest scripts.

132 down and 44 to go

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Star Trek DS9 Episode 131 - You Are Cordially Invited...

This is the Worf and Dax get married episode. I still do not get what she sees in him, he is ugly and has no personality...in fact he is violent. Also, I guess Dax is sort of a man??? I don't know. Also, I'm pretty sure that this is the last we see of Alexander. I'm grateful for this because he sucks.

So most of the episode is them going back and forth cancelling the wedding and then saying it's back on. Dax needs to get accepted into the House of Martok but Martok's wife is a huuuuuge bitch. Worf has a bachelor party and consists of him and his friends basically playing Survivor (not the Eye of the Tiger album, but the TV show...just to clarify). Dax has a party also and this one is like a crazy Roman orgy. Like really...I swear they allude to her having a threesome with a Hawaiian Guy and Morn??? Anyway, they get married in the end. That's all.

131 down and 45 to go