Long before sci-fi shows created their visuals with computer-generated images, sfx crews filmed detailed models against a plain. Wide-angle close-up lenses, softly glowing internal lights, and slow camera motion give the impression of great size. The large 11-foot model of the original Star Trek’s U.S.S. Enterprise is on display in the gift shop at the …
Rewatching ST:DS9 In the Defiant mess hall, Dax and Bashir give O’Brien friendly advice about parenting, and Dax and O’Brien warn Bashir not to sit in Worf’s favorite seat. A Jem-Haddar sneak attack on DS9 has fragmented a docking pylon, and during the hectic scene that follows, the camera leaves Kira’s in-progress tactical report so…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Sisko and Kassidy playfully tease each other about balancing duty and their relationship. After she leaves, Sisko blissfully smells her pillow. Eddington briefs the staff about protecting a shipment of industrial replicators from the Maquis (former Federation citizens whose colonies were ceded to the Cardassians against their will). Sisko sends Worf to patrol…
Rewatching ST:DS9 From his spot on the upper level, Jake watches new arrivals, taking notes for his stories. An alien woman, perhaps drawn by something, looks up at him. Odo finds someone waiting in his office — it is a weeping and very pregnant Lwaxana Troi, who has left her possessive husband. Odo is attentive…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Lonely Jake frumps in the Promenade people-watching spot where he and Nog used to hang out, and Odo and Quark try to offer him comfort in their own faux-antisocial way. At home, Jake is shocked to find a visitor — Jennifer Sisko from the mirror universe. Though he knows this is not actually…
Rewatching ST:DS9 A haggard O’Brien, with a scraggly beard, is released from an alien prison. He seems disoriented… “I can’t leave. Where would I go to?” A concerned Kira watches as smug aliens infodump that they punish offenders by inserting extended memories of incarceration — twenty years, in O’Brien’s case. Sisko explains to Keiko that…
Rewatching ST:DS9 After a nightmare featuring dead Klingon children, Worf wakes up in Odo’s security cell. He’s clearly in trouble. A Vulcan admiral convenes a Federation hearing called to explore allegations that, while commanding The Defiant, Worf destroyed a Klingon civilian transport. A Klingon prosecutor, Ch’pok, intends to prove Worf’s negligence, thereby stoking sympathy for…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Bashir reluctantly helps O’Brien clean up before Keiko is due to return after an extended absence. At the family reunion, little Molly points to her mother’s belly and announces she has a little brother. At the request of Kira and her mentor Porta, Sisko blesses a young couple. He’s not thrilled with his…
Rewatching ST:DS9 As The Defiant returns from an uneventful jaunt in the Gamma Quadrant, Dax teases that Worf is in love… with The Defiant. Bashir and O’Brien, dressed as medieval Irish warriors, prepare for a holosuite adventure. Rom, exhausted and overworked, collapses at the bar. Leeta is concerned, but Quark is just annoyed. Bashir confirms…
Jaw-dropping. So creative and joyful.
Rewatching ST:DS9 Worf wins a furious sparring match with Dax, but she discombobulates his composure, first by accusing him of trying to flirt with her, and then by actually flirting with him. A drunken Klingon arrives on the station, calling for Worf. It’s his brother Kurn, come to ask for a ritual death due to…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Played for laughs, Kira gets many inoculations as she prepares for a diplomatic mission to a Cardassisan outpost. Her pilot is none other than Dukat, who has been demoted and ostracized after acknowledging his half-Bajoran daughter, Ziyal, who now lives on his clunky freighter. Dukat smugly flirts with Kira at dinner, clearly enjoying…
Though I always preferred a different franchise, I loved the first Star Wars trilogy. The other trilogies? Not so much. And I haven’t followed any of the Star Wars TV shows, but the Shakespeare reference in this review of Ahsoka really caught my eye. Ouch! More pressingly, it’s just exhausting to sit through yet another…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Odo meticulously arranges his office in preparation for a routine meeting with Kira. For her, it’s an enjoyable part of her workday, but Odo looks like he’s nervously preparing for a date. Quark complains that Odo makes too much noise shape-shifting into various creatures in the quarters above his. First Minister Shakaar arrives…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Continuing from Part 1 (s4e11 “Homefront“), Sisko and Odo puzzle over Starfleet’s reports on the planetwide power outage, noting that the elite cadet group Red Squad was first recalled, then assigned to unspecified field duty. Though the streets are empty except for the security guards, Joseph Sisko opens his restaurant, seeing the guards…
Rewatching ST:DS9 The wormhole is opening and closing for no apparent reasons. The Bajorans think it’s a sign from the Prophets; Sisko is convinced there’s a scientific explanation. Dax has been pranking Odo — breaking into his quarters while’s regenerating in his liquid state and slightly rearranging his furniture. A security video reveals that a…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Plot contrivance particles somehow force Bashir to live out his superspy holodeck fantasy. I know this episode has its fans, and I have to admit Garak’s outsider commentary almost saves it from Facepalm Planet, but coming so soon after the s4e9 “Little Green Men” homage to sci-fi B movies and the s4e8 “The…
Rewatching ST:DS9 Kor (the charismatic and brilliantly campy John Colicos) recounts the battle from s2e19 “Blood Oath.” He’s stretching the truth quite a bit. “Yeah, but who cares?” asks O’Brien. “He tells it well.” A starstruck Worf is sensitive about his outsider status, but Kor not only accepts him, but recruits him on a quest…