From: ccoprdj@prism.gatech.EDU (Jorge Diaz)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Re: Deep Review 9: "The Emissary" (SPOILERS)
Date: 7 Jan 93 13:42:34 GMT
Distribution: world,local
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <1993Jan6.214546.25648@cci632.cci.com> tvf@cci632.cci.com (Tom Frauenhofer) writes:

>Spoilers follow, so beware...


>The morphing effect for Odo was good, just like in Terminator 2.  I liked the
>scene where the guy throws the knife at Odo's head and it "splashed" through.

Yeah, but couldn't this have hurt someone behind him?  Wouldn't it have been
better to "catch" the knife with his face? :-)

About Odo, some people have questioned why he looks like he does (one person
even asked why he doesn't look like Patrick Stewart!).  Maybe that's just
his "natural" form?  Ie, the form that takes him the least amount of enery
to maintain (maybe no energy)?  If Odo were knocked out, what shape would he
take?  Would he melt?

>Avery Brooks is great.  I loved him in "Spenser: For Hire" and
>was very happy to hear that he was to start in DS9.  He didn't disappoint
>me.  The initial confrontation with Picard after assuming command of the
>station was well done on his part, but I'm glad that the Sisko character was
>able to overcome this.

Yes, but did it have to happen so *soon*?  This is typical of the "episode
in a bottle" problem that we've seen before in TNG.  Everything is wrapped
up nicely in a single episode.  Why not make friends with Picard in *another*
episode, two or three weeks from now?

>Patrick Stewart did a good job as Picard.  I'm a Stewart fan, I admit it,
>and I think he did a good job modulating his character, particularly in the
>confrontation scene.  The O'Brien goodbye scene was also well done.

Modulating his character?  What modulating?  I didn't find the performance
all that great.  Nothing wrong with it, mind you, just nothing spectacular.

>Rene Auberjonios (spelling?) was another actor I was looking forward to.
>The jury's still out here, just because he was hardly given anything to do,
>minimal lines to say.  What he did do was okay (although I was waiting for
>him to sing "Le Poisson" but that's another story...).  He did get the good
>bits (the knife bit, and the bag scene aboard the Cardassian ship.)

Yeah, but that wasn't him, that was the special effects crew.  What did
*he* get to do?  Not much, other than that one scene where he explains to
the major why he *will* be going with them in the shuttle.

BTW, I liked the fact that they used a major.  Nice to see some non-navy
ranks.  Not a big deal, but it shows an attention to the little details.

>Nana Visitor as Major Kira (spelling?) was a find - better than I expected.
>I do think she overacted a little bit in the confrontation with the
>Cardassians, but some over-the-top acting might be appropriate for an
>ex-terrorist who has "come in from the cold" (so to speak).

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this:  Kira was ready to sacrifice
the entire space station to fight the Cardassians.  Now, I realize that
surrender was not an option, and they only had 6 photon torpedoes, but she
acted like she wanted to "die the glorious death" in battle against the
oppressors of her people.  That's all well and good, but not with all those
Federation officers in a Federation space station.  That just didn't seem
right.  While the battle was occurring, I thought "She's responsible for
every death on that ship."  Then, later, we'll told that there were no
deaths.  How convenient!  Especially seeing that beam fall on that one
guy.  I thought for sure he'd be dead.  I don't know.  That scene just didn't
work for me.  She seemed just a little to selfish.

>Colm Meany as O'Brien doing a LaForge/Scotty schtick was okay.  He really
>didn't have any memorable lines.  He's got the hardest job here - taking a
>somewhat established character and re-defining him in a new surrounding.

Oh, I don't know.  I kinda liked the "Computer, we have *really* got to
have a talk!" scene. :-)

>Armin Shimerman as Quark was better than most Ferengi, but I'm still leery.
>The Star Trek people still haven't figured out that being greedy and
>intelligent CAN go together in a believable character (this "greedy=stupid"
>way the Ferengi have been played in the past is pretty tiresome now).

I don't think he was played stupidly at all.  As another poster mentioned,
I liked his line "When governments fall, people like me are lined up and
shot."

>The spacestation is pretty interesting.

But what a waste!!!  Who's the designer of that thing?  It uses a lot of
material to encompass very little volume.  Not a very sensible design,
although it looks good.

>THE GOOD

>- Sisko used Baseball to explain how linear time works!  I wondered what the
>  baseball player was doing in some of the intercuts when he's talking to
>  the aliens.  I had heard he was a baseball fan, it's just nice to see it
>  used here, constructively.

Who are you talking about?  Who is a baseball fan?  And what would the baseball
player be saying to the aliens?  You lost me here.

>- Having the big, bad Cardassian ship "towed" out of the wormhole by the
>  lowly Federation shuttlecraft.  Some Cardassian Crow had to be eaten
>  there.

Watching that scene, the big, bad, Cardassian ship seemed to be only 2-3
times larger than the Runabout.  Either those Runabouts are bigger than I
thought, or there's nothing *big* about the big, bad Cardassian ships.

>THE BAD

>- The "move the spacestation" scene.  Pretty hokey.

I didn't have a problem with it.  I just wish that they writers would let
us use our imagination some of the time.  Do you actually think that the
shields around the space station are going to form a visible bubble?  Not
me.

>- The aliens "closing" the wormhole at that point?  I think their dramatic
>  license should be suspended, possibly revoked.

Why?  They made the wormhole, why shouldn't they be able to close it?

>- How come the Borg didn't go after the escape pods?

How come the Borg destroyed the ships?  Isn't their purpose to assimilate
the Feds?  Destroying the ships won't leave a whole lot for them to
assimilate.

>- O'Brien kicks the transporter and it works?  My, we must have been in
>  Super-Originality mode that day.  Give me a break!  Would have worked
>  better if O'Brien kicked it, had the Major show him how it should work
>  and then chew out this Federation no-mind.  Would have worked better for
>  me.

Yeah.  I thought that was pretty pathetic.  I'll give Meany points for
acting surprised when it worked.  No one in our living room was.

>2) WAS THERE MORE CONFLICT?  Not a lot more than TNG or TOS, really, but a
>lot more potential for conflict.

I have to disagree.  There was about as much as in the first series:  something
TNG has been sorely lacking.  Kira seemed to dislike the doctor, and, at
first, both her and Odo disliked Sisko.  There's at least *some* tension
there, which is better than T-"group hug"-NG.  And of course, there was the
conflict with the Borg.  I loved that scene where half a ship's saucer
section was destroyed. :-)  Which of course begs the question what the
hell was the saucer section doing there in the first place?

>3) DOES IT HAVE POTENTIAL?  Yes.  A lot more that I thought it would, to be
>honest.  I'm not sure how many seasons they can pull out of the concept, but
>we'll see.

I think I'm ready to give up on TNG just to watch this.  This show has a
lot of potential, IMO, and TNG is just too far gone.

>Acting: 	 8 (Due to Brooks and Stewart.  The rest need more fleshing-out)

Brooks and *Stewart*?  C'mon, he had less air-time than most of the characters
you said we didn't get to see (eg Odo and Dax).  I realize you're a Stewart
fan, but c'mon, the man just didn't *do* anything.

>Next Week:

>Bajoran terrorists threaten life, liberty, and the whole premise for the
>series.  Who side is Major Kira on?  Tune in and find out...

Yes, that's what I want to know.

-- 
Jorge Diaz                       | "I want you to remember, Clark... in all
Georgia Institute of Technology  |  the years to come, in your most private
Office of Information Technology |  moments...my hand at your throat.  I want
ccoprdj@prism.gatech.edu         |  you to remember the one man who beat you."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current,talk.bizarre