From: spork@camelot.bradley.edu (Richard Izzo)
Subject: Re: Comments on DS9 "Emissary" **SPOILERS**
Organization: Bradley University
Distribution: na
Date:  5 Jan 93 16:56:26 GMT

In <C0E1E1.HHs.1@cs.cmu.edu> mwgertz+@cs.cmu.edu (Matthew Gertz) writes:

>A discussion of the excellent DS9 premiere follow this control-L and
>blank space:
>




















>Cdr. Sisko is an excellent character, and a joy to watch and hear.  It's 
>the little things that make the difference between a two dimensional
>and three dimensional character, and these things are well incorporated 
>into this character.  Although the first thing we see in DS9 is the
>tragedy the haunts Sisko, we soon see that his character extends beyond 
>this incident.  We weren't hit over the head with his character all at
>once; rather, dribbles and drabbles of his personality were revealed
>to us over the entire episode in flashes as quick as his smile.  Sisko
>isn't Kirk, and he isn't Picard (Picard would've been reading a book on
>the beach, and, while Kirk would have been flirting with the women, he
>would have been a little less, uh, sincere). 

The striking theme of the first episode is that most of the characters 
seemed already three-dimensional.  "The Emissary" did for DS9 what TNG
took nearly two seasons to do.  Sisko, especially, was a character whose
persona is mostly well-established.  As for the others, we now know some-
thing about them, enough to be acquainted with them.  
	
>The Tritt (Dax?):  Using the orb to reveal her past was a clever way
>to show those who hadn't seen "The Host" what a Tritt was without
>Dax having to go into "sermon mode"  as other characters have done
>in premieres to describe what drives them (most notably Tasha Yar and
>Data in "EaF," and Odo in this episode).  I am not thrilled with the 
>actress portraying the Tritt -- she sounds as if she's reading her
>lines from cue cards -- but perhaps this will get better as she gets
>used to the character.  

I believe that's "Trill." 
 
>Rene Auberjonois doesn't have job security, either, but I like Odo,
>and was pleasantly surprised by his character (I guess I had pictured
>him as being rather like Data in temperment).  

	I wasn't.  At some points, he almost reminded me of Clayton 
Endicott  from "Benson."  I wonder why...?  =-)

>O'Brien belongs here.  Colm Meany has a lot of fun in this episode and,
>while his character seemed out of place to me on the Enterprise once
>they tried to "develop" him, I think he'll fit right in here, and become
>one of my favorites.  Keiko is another matter; I wonder why she wasn't
>in this episode?

	O'Brien looked perfect in this episode, and I was pleasantly 
surprised with his performance.  Meany must have realized he hit the
"big time" and took full advantage of it.  The scene with him kicking
the teleport controls to beam aboard Odo was particularly hilarious.
As for Keiko, she was only a bit character in TNG; I doubt that will
change on DS9.

>Major Kira:  Her portrayer has a tendency to overact, but I was surprised
>to find that I didn't care!  I guess I expected a lot of dark emotions
>based on Ensign Ro.  I don't have a lot to say about her, except that
>I like her -- it's nice to see a strong female lead character.

	It IS nice.  And I agree; she did overplay the part a bit, as with
the battle scene, but I let that pass; I mean, she was a Bajoran freedom 
fighter against the Cardassians; overacting her hatred was understandable.

>Julian Bashar:  Glad to see he wasn't a total goof.  Not much to say
>about his character, since he was barely featured.  If we have another
>first officer/doctor conflict between Kira and Bashar (as in TOS, but
>with different motivations), he could be a lot of fun.

	One thing for sure; he'll have a different attitude towards Dax
than McCoy's towards Spock.  =-)

>The mood on the show, in general, was excellent.  These characters
>were a breath of fresh air, and for the most part beleiveable and
>three-dimensional.  I'll be looking forward to further episodes of
>Deep Space Nine, and I give this premiere episode a nice 9.5 out of 10 --
>as a first episode, it worked much better than "EaF."  Looking at "EaF"
>and seeing how much the characters changed over the first season, I am
>very interested to see how these characters will evolve over the
>course of the year.

It worked a thousand times better than "Encounter at Farpoint."  "EaF" 
showed us cardboard cutouts of characters; "Emissary" showed us enfleshed,
feeling characters.  This was expected, of course.  DS9 is supposed to
be more emotionally charged, for one thing, and the writers probably 
worked on the script for months.  Also, Berman and Pillar (that's their
names?) can base the structure of TNG for DS9; TNG did not have that
advantage.

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[]  rich.				     Bradley University   []
[]  spork@camelot.bradley.edu		     Peoria, IL	 	  []
[]  "Cute rots the intellect." -Garfield			  [] 
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