From: mss1@cornell.edu (Michael S. Shappe)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: DS9 Editorial: So far, so good
Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Date: 28 Jan 1993 20:20:18 GMT
Organization: Cornell University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: uncle-mikey.cit.cornell.edu

Rather than add yet another per-episode review series to the fray I've
decided to start doing a series of overall critique pieces, a sort of
progress report, of which this is the first.

There are spoilers here, up through DS9:"Babel", so now would be a
good time to skip to the next message. If you don't know how, now
would be a good time to learn :-)




















=======================================================================
Deep Space Nine Progress Report One: So far, So good
by Michael Shappe <mss1@cornell.edu>

Stories and plots
=================

Star Trek:Deep Space Nine premiered with something of a bang (as
opposed to ST:TNG, which, frankly, premiered with a whimper), and
since then, it's been the talk of Trek fen everywhere. Many of the
people who have been saying nasty things about TNG of late have
brightened noticably upon seeing the potential for this new series;
and many who have always been staunch TNG defenders are also intrigued
by the new show's promise. Paramount's (wise) decision to run the
first episodes of DS9 during a normal hiatus in new TNG episodes left
Trekkers able to concentrate on getting to know these new characters
and the new situation without distraction.

So where are we, now that a total of five hours of this new series
have hit our screens? Is DS9 living up to it's potential?

So far, I think it is. The characters are multi-dimensional and solid,
with better-than-adequate actors behind them. Conflicts between the
characters have added a level of interest that was always present in
the original series, but almost never in TNG. And, so far, at least,
the production crew are managing to balance well the passive role of a
space station with the active role which Trek has always to its
characters.

That isn't to say that DS9 is has achieved nirvana. Not by a long
shot. DS9 is still Star Trek, and that means that it still relies
overly-much on what I've come to call 'gratuitous magic' and
treknobabble, rather than anything resembling science to solve its
problems. Sometimes this is blatant, such as the 'Tear of the Prophet'
or 'orb' from the pilot story, "Emissary". Other times, it's more
subtle, like the complete failure to worry about conservation of mass
with respect to Odo's shape-shifting.

Star Trek has always had these sorts of problems, from the first
moment in TOS - "The Cage" when they introduced Warp Drive and
Transporters. This was acceptable in 1960s network television, when
the production and writing staff had to bow to budgets and network
sensibilities. No one really expected 'real' Science Fiction from
telelvision, anyway.

But this is 1993, and I, at least, expect better; particularly when a
the production staff 'rival' program (and I use the term loosely,
because I believe they can coexist peacefully), Babylon 5, has as one
of it's key elements a desire to AVOID gratuitous magic. They're
setting out to prove that you CAN do REAL Science Fiction on
television, and not resort to an abundance of handwaving.

When all is said and done, DS9 is going to have to either find good
people-plots that avoid 'science', or else get themselves a real
scientific advisor and crack down on 'gratuitous magic'. It's their
biggest plot weakness right now, and one that may seriously damage
them as time goes on.

Characters
==========

When all is said and done, however, Star Trek is a character play, and
any Star Trek story must be judged primarily by how well its
characters work. So, as part of our progress report, let's look at
how the main characters of DS9 are faring...

Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks)
---------------------------------------
The Character:
	Sisko is shaping up to be every bit as intersting as Picard,
perhaps even more so. There are some very exciting (yes, exciting)
contrasts between the two that show that the Staff are thinking.

Picard, for example, is cool as a cucumber, all the way down to his
core. Cool enough to lend control to a Vulcan who has lost it. Cool
enough to come out of being absorbed by the Borg and tortured by the
Cardassians and still stand on the bridge without a quiver in his
voice. 

Sisko, however, is much different. He's cool, alright...on the
outside. Even in "Emissary", when we knew what kind of hell he'd been
through, he seemed cool and collected. But inside, he's on fire. In
"Emissary", it was the fire of self-immolation, burning him up for his
perceived failure to be able to save his wife, Jennifer. Now that he's
come to terms with that, and, one can speculate, before the Battle of
Wolf-359, the fire is one of ambition. The same energy he had been
using to flog himself and torture himself is now turned outward to
making this station, HIS station, successful as the hub of the Bajoran
renaissance, for his own sake as well as theirs and the Federation's.

The Actor:
	One thing the Trek Staff excel at is casting for their major
characters. Avery Brooks is no exception. His face is just impassive
enough to pull off Sisko's cool exterior; and just expressive enough
to show hints of Sisko's inner fire. 

Like Patrick Stewart (and unlike William Shatner), he plays his
commanding officer as a man in control -- of himself; of his station;
perhaps even, in some a limited way, of his destiny. Where Shatner's
Kirk has always been a creature ruled by his emotions, Brooks' Sisko
is a man ruled by cooler persuasions -- ethics, reason, facts, logic
and compassion.

Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor)
-------------------------------
The Character:
	In marked contrast to her commanding officer, Major Kira has
not yet discovered the self-control to keep her face still while her
mind churns. Clearly younger than one would expect a Major to be, Kira
shows the signs of having spent her youth angry and thus having now to
remember that anger is not the only song in the world. 

And yet, somewhere underneath this fiery exterior, there is a cooler
Kira, more compassionate and less passionate, waiting for the right
moment to come out, I think. This is a character waiting for an
epiphany, a moment of transition where she can leave her past behind
and start fresh -- the same sort of epiphany that Sisko had in
"Emissary". We see signs of it start to peek through the cracks as she
starts to loosen up and trust -- even rely on -- her Starfleet
compatriots. In "Babel", her concern for O'Brien's fatigue is an
example. It will take the right script, or perhaps the right set of
scripts, but I think we'll see at least one, perhaps several different
Kira's emerge over the next few years.

Such a transition is not without precedent in Trek. We've seen, for
example, at least five different Spocks: 1] The young officer in "The
Cage" and early 1st season TOS, still trying to assert his authority
(where he has it) over humans without reminding them too much that he
is an alien among them; 2] The slightly more sure of himself Spock of
most of the rest of TOS, certain of his scientific and administrative
abilities, less certain of his command abilities or his abilities to
control what is alien within himself; 3] The near-Kohlinar Spock of
ST:TMP, devoid of emotion and humanity; 4] The post-V'Ger Spock,
beginning to choose his own path, neither wholly Vulcan or wholly
Human; 5] the self-actualized Spock of late Trek V and VI and
"Unification II", finally, as Diane Duane has Dr. McCoy call him in
one of her novels, "One whole being -- a Spock!".

The Actress:
	Nana Visitor is also a good casting choice, but is rougher
around the edges than Brooks. Her protrayal of Kira in a full fury
tends to be too shrill (not unbelievably so, but certainly gratingly
so). Her face, however, is the right sort of expressive to pull off
Kira's complex mood swings and show us some of the inner battle going
on inside. I think that, over time, the rough edges will smooth out,
though. She's already toning down somewhat (though some of that is the
character learning to trust these aliens she's forced to work with).
This actress' progress should be interesting to watch...

Doctor Julian Bashir (Siddig el Fadil)
--------------------------------------
The Character:
	This young whippersnapper fresh out of Starfleet Medical was
easily the most annoying character for the first 90 minutes or so of
"Emissary". Then, he got something to do with his talents, and we saw
fairly quickly that he wasn't bragging when he said he could have any
post he'd wanted. In the minute it took him to get from Ops to the
Promenade when Odo called for medical assistance, he went from
impressionable puppy to fully professional doctor, complete with
impeccable bedside manner and a way of motivating others to do what
the can to help him.

And so, like Kira and Sisko, the main thing that makes this character
interesting is his duality. Filled with all the fire of idealistic
youth, he is able, when needed, to channel that fire toward his
profession. When he's being Bashir the Puppy, he's comic relief. When
he's being Bashir the Doctor, he's all business, but no less
enthusiastic.

So far, Bashir's shining moments have all been as the Doctor,
particularly in "Babel", where his professional skills were put to
there first really crucial test in trying to find a cure for the
aphasia virus. There are depths to this character that will take time
to dig into. Hopefully, the Staff will take that time.

There is one nagging, niggling sore point on Bashir's character that
will need to be addressed directly, and soon... his conduct toward Dax
borders on harrassment! So far, his advances have been, from what
we've seen, while off duty, but he's still treading on dangerous
ground. This character is going to have to learn to comprehend 'no'.
If he doesn't, and the Staff don't deal with it in some way, then the
Staff will have failed one crucial test of Trek -- the ability to hold
a mirror to their era.

The Actor:
	Siddig el Fadil is doing a first-rate job with a very
difficult and complex character. He manages somehow to almost
literally glow with enthusiasm, whatever he's doing. If he can avoid
being typecast by his time on Trek, this actor will have quite a
career ahead of him, I think.

Lietenant Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell)
------------------------------------
The Character:
	I'm still not sure WHAT to make of this one, partially because
I've never seen the TNG episode "The Host", which introduced the
concept of the Trill. There is a lot of untapped potential here, I
think, but it has yet to be sufficiently used to any degree. For the
most part, the character has been a catalyst for other characters --
Sisko and Bashir, in particular. She has yet to have any really
shining moments of her own.

Still, there's time yet. The Original Series took forever to develop
any of the potential of Scotty, for example (and I still think that
his crowning moment was, ironicly enough, not in TOS at all, but in
TNG's "Relics"!). The Staff have proven that they're better than that,
and have demonstrated a desire to develop ALL of their major
characters, so I expect some of my complaints will be answered ere
long.

Again, most of Dax' potential lies in her duality, although hers
manifested physically as well as psychologically -- outside, an
attractive humanoid woman, young enough to be feeling the rush of
hormones still; inside a 300+ year old slug with no hormonal drives to
speak of. This relationship needs to be explored more deeply, however,
if this character is going to have sustaining interest.


The Actress:
	Terry Farrell has arguably the toughest role of the cast. She
has to play a character who is, in one sense, a single entity; in
another, two; and in yet another, at least six, since a being is the
sum of its memories. 

So far, she's managing, but it's clearly something of a strain, both
on her and on the writers. While competant, of all of the cast, she's
the one who has impressed me the least. On the other hand, I'm not
sure who I might have cast instead, so I'm just throwing rocks from my
see-through abode...

Chief Petty Officer Miles Edward O'Brien (Colm Meany)
-----------------------------------------------------
The Character:
	Chief O'Brien is one of the few characters whose main charm is
NOT duality. O'Brien makes no pretenses, no attempt to hide his
feelings. He's brutally honest about everything, and if someone's toes
get stepped on, they'd best wear thicker boots next time.

Still, it's fairly clear they're not quite sure what to DO with him,
either. They wanted to carry someone over from TNG, and fans have been
wanting to see more of the character, anyway, but even if the
character has been included in the plans from DS9 from the start, it's
clear that he's not really part of the mindset the Staff wove for this
group of characters.

Which isn't to say the man doesn't have potential. Quite the contrary.
His past experience with the Cardassians will make things very
interesting if they start showing up more often, for example. Also,
the man is clearly very technically savvy, yet is still an enlisted
man. This should be dealt with at some point.

The Actor:
	Colm Meany is a lot of fun to watch, particularly since he so
clearly enjoys his part. While not in danger of bringing home any
'best acting' awards, he nevertheless manages to pull off a believable
character.

It will be intersting to see how he develops. To my knowledge, this is
his Big Break, his first major starring role. How he handles it,
therefore, is likely to make or break his career.

Constable Odo (Rene Abergenois (sp?))
------------------------------------
The Character:
	Here, too, is a character driven by duality. He spends his
days pretending to be something he is not. He is also the bigest
mystery character on the show, since neither he nor anyone else seems
to have the slightest clue from where he came -- only that he was
found as young blob somewhere in the Denorias Belt. 

This fact -- one of two things we definitely KNOW about the character
(the other being that he must revert to his gelatinous state every 18
hours ["To be honest, I was in a pail in the back of my office..."  is
possibly one of the best deadpan lines yet in the series]) leaves a
strong possibility that we will, at some point, encounter more
shape-shifters on the other side of the Wormhole.

Other than that, we're only beginning to get a sense of what to expect
from Odo. He seems to know a great deal about the habits of other life
forms in the galaxy (probably as a result of having searched
exploration records for some hint of his own origins), but is not
really an intellectual. He has an innate sense of 'justice' that
trancends human concepts of law and even compassion. He may not like
all his fellow crew, but his job is to insure their safety and the
safety of the station and to that end he will go to any length he
must.

This character, much like Data, will be most interesting in his search
for himself -- who and what he really is (if 'he' is even really a
valid designation!), where he came from, and why he was seemingly
abandoned in the Denorias belt.

The Actor:
	Rene A. (I'm not going to mangle his last name twice in one
article) manages at least as good a deadpan as Leonard Nimoy or Brent
Spiner, but has a much tougher job ahead of him. Nimoy's Spock is
supposed to suppress all emotion; Spiner's Data isn't supposed to have
any by nature. Odo, however, DOES have emotions -- fairly strong ones.
Yet Rene must avoid facially expressing these behind a mask of latex,
to add to the impression that Odo hasn't mastered the humanoid face yet
(we have yet to see what else of the humanoid body he may be having
trouble with :-). We've never seen him really smile, or really frown,
for that matter... yet the character has had to express a wide range
of moods.

Rene manages to pull all of this off. We have no real difficulty
telling what mood Odo is in -- partially because, like O'Brien, the
character has no compunction about speaking his mind, but also because
Mr. A's voice is so versitile. He must convey with his voice what many
actors can convey with their face, and he manages this very well.

It will be intersting to see how this actor handles the gradual
self-discovery aspects of Odo's personality...

Quark (Aaron Shimerman (sp?))
------------------------------
The Character:
	This is the first time a Ferengi has been featured, of course,
so we're bound to see a different side of them than we have. But Quark
is different in other ways, too. Most of the Ferengi we've seen to
date have been members of the Ferengi Fleet, usually DaiMons. Quark,
on the other hand, is an independent businessman, and thus, his
personality is bound to be somewhat different.

The real challenge facing the Staff with respect to this character was
making him likable while still leaving all the traditional hallmarks
of a Ferengi. So far, they've managed. Too many Ferengi in the past
have been whining jokes, completely impossible to take seriously.
Quark is a Ferengi the way they ought to be -- humourous, perhaps, but
not laughable.

Now that the character is established, however, the challenge is
different -- keeping the character from sliding into
two-dimensionality. Quark must be given things to do that we wouldnt'
expect, and show unexpected quirks of character that are nevertheless
believable. The Staff seem to realize this -- witness his brief stint
in Ops in "Babel". Let's hope the continue to do so.

The Actor:
	More perhaps than any other character on Deep Space Nine,
Quark's success will rely more on the actor than the writers. If Mr.
Shimerman can continue to keep Quark from descending into the usual
snivelling we see Ferengi doing, then Quark may become one of the best
supporting characters in Trek history. Even given awful material,
Shimerman can keep Quark interesting...but it won't be easy.

Fortunately, I think this actor is well suited to the task. Certainly,
his performance to date shows that he is. Time will tell...

The Others
----------
It's too early to really even begin to talk about the minor supporting
roles, like Jake Sisko, Nog and Keiko. So I won't :-)

Conclusion
==========
Four stories into its life-span, Deep Space Nine shows a great deal of
potential and promise. All is not perfect -- in fact, they have yet to
achieve a single 10, in my book. But all of the material is there.
They have a solid group of characters, played by actors who range from
competant-and-promising to outstanding.

If DS9 falls flat, it will not be the fault of either the actors or
the characters, but of the writers and producers. They simply must get
out of the habit of handwaving things away assuming that no one will
notice or care. Explanations must make sense, at least internally, and
magic should not be substituted for science, no matter how good a
people story it is. Even TNG's "Inner Light", one of the best
character stories ever done for Star Trek of any sub-genre, now loses
points in my view because the plot device used to pull off Picard's
'second life' is merely handwaved away.

Actually, "Inner Light" is a good example of another pitfall that the
Staff MUST get away from. TNG has a bad habit of ignoring events that
should cause major psychological changes in their characters, with the
result that their credibility is starting to suffer. For example,
Picard should show far more after-effects of having essentially lived
an entire lifespan as someone else! He should be far more affected by
his time as a Borg! And he certainly should not be back on the bridge
mere hours after days being tortured! This is unrealistic and naive,
and I find it somewhat insulting that the Staff seem to think that no
one in their audience will NOTICE!

Deep Space Nine has an opportunity to move away from these chronic
problems. Let's hope they don't blow it!



Uncle Mikey