From: Michael Scott Shappe <mss1@cornell.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Shappe's Deep Spoiler Review: DS9 -- Emissary
Date: 6 Jan 1993 23:26:54 GMT
Organization: Cornell University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: uncle-mikey.cit.cornell.edu
X-UserAgent: Nuntius v1.1.1d16
X-XXMessage-ID: <A770D4E1EA0345AD@uncle-mikey.cit.cornell.edu>
X-XXDate: Wed, 6 Jan 93 22:26:41 GMT

Yes, kids, it's that time again....

Shappe's Deep Spoiler Reivew
_Star Trek: Deep Space Nine_
"The Emissary", by Michael Piller and Richard Berman

Warning: Spoilers and thinly substantiated opinion abound below. Minimal
plot details.
If you want a synopsis, start collecting a fund and talk to Tim :-)
25 lines of blanks space will just have to do until someone teaches my
silly Mac newsreader about CNTL-L

























Well, there's good news, and there's bad news.

The good news is that this baby has potential. Lots of it.

When TNG started 5.5 years ago, I was hoping for something that would
somehow
manage to be really *different*, yet still be Star Trek; something that
would make
a real break from the old series the way Star Trek Classic made a break
from anything
that had ever gone before.

Instead, it started as a rehash; new faces, yes, but more or less the
same balance
of races and gender and many same problems; worse, sometimes the same
damned 
PLOTS.

Deep Space Nine shows signs of being able to do from the outset what TNG
took 
three seasons do that. Break away and *build* on it's past instead of
having to
*live* in it. (Ironic, given one of the plots of the story! I wonder if
that was
deliberate....naaaaaah)

To start with, the lead characters are a major departure. In the past,
humans 
have dominated Star Trek's characters; most often white humans, and quite 
often male. Women have been written as weak (with some striking
exceptions), 
aliens as silly (again,with exceptions). Only in recent seasons has TNG
started
to break away from the trend.

Now, enter Deep Space Nine. Aliens outnumber humans amongst the regulars
and 
throughout the station as a whole. The CO is a black male; the XO a
strong-willed
alien woman; the science officer a 300-year-old slug in the body of a 20
year 
old woman, and what's more, her last body was an old man; the Chief Medic
is
appears to be of Arab or Hindi descent; the security chief isn't sure
*what* he is
(and I would imagine that even applying the concept 'he' to him is more
an affectation
for our and his convenience than a description of gender); only the Chief
of
Operations would make a 1960's Network Executive happy, and he's not an
officer,
but an enlisted man! Not only is the cast full of the sort of things that
would have
made NBC just *itch* 25 years ago, the only one they'd *like* is
outranked by
all the ones they wouldn't!

Hee hee!

 Anyway, let's talk about the details for a moment.

Avery Brooks' portrayal of Commander Benjamin Sisko was spot on. Outside,
he's 
cool as a cucumber until you touch the sore spot; then cold and brooding. 
But somewhere underneath, he's burning up. I was expecting Sisko to be
even darker;
but in the end, Berman and Piller are staying true to Roddenberry's
vision, and
that vision includes Starfleet officers who are trained to be above
pettiness. So
Sisko had to come to terms with himself more quickly than I probably
would have
liked (OK, so I'm a sadist :-), but it still worked fairly well for his
character.

Of course, one of the reasons Berman and Pillar have introduced so many
aliens,
including several non-Starfleet people, into the regular cast is that
Roddenberry's
vision said *nothing* about conflict with and among *them* or *their*
abilities
to adjust. Nana Visitor carries off the part of the bitter but determined
Major Kira
beautifully, and may have been the strongest and most consistent
character in
the pilot. She's going to be *fun*.

And then, there's this Trill, Jadzia Dax, played by Terry Farrell. I
wasn't sure
*what* to expect, either from the actress or from the character (I've
never seen
TNG:'The Host', so I had no basis for anticipation). There's some
interesting depths
here that will also be fun to watch. Farrell carries off the youth of her
character's
host very well. What remains to be seen is whether she'll be able to
carry off the
age of her slug well :-)  What should be even *more* fun to watch,
though, is
the interaction between Sisko (who knew Dax when hir host was an elderly
man)
and Dax' new young host...heh heh heh. Farrell has quite a challenge
ahead of her, but I *think* she's up to it.

The Medic, whose name (both character and actor) escapes me now, was not
seen
much. I think the *character* was written a little over the top, for my
tastes,
going a little to far with his gung-ho spirit. The *actor*, on the other
hand, was
*perfect* for the way the charcter was written. In the end, though, this
character
may also be more interesting for the interactions he generates,
particularly with
Kira, than in and of himself.

Constable Odo, played by Rene AsomethingorotherIcanneverremember (sorry),
I'm
reserving judgement on. The morphing effects were very nice, but morphing
effects
do not make a character. I'm not pleased with the way the socked us in
the jaw
with Odo's angst about his past (or lack of it). On the other hand, the
character seems
to the tough, no nonsense sort that Worf *should* have been and Yar *was*!

And then, there's Colm Meany's Chief Miles Edward O'Brien. Marvelous!
Simply
marvelous. I always knew that somewhere, hiding under the bad writing good
supernumaries always seem to get, was a character worth exploiting, and
that if
Colm Meany were ever given a window of lines big enough to show it, he'd
shine.
I was not disappointed. Granted, they need to resist the tendency to make
him too
'Scotty'-like; but on the other hand, TNG:'Relics' made me realize that I
far prefer
Scotty's brand of hands-on engineering, which was artistry, to LaForge's
highly-
competent but often uninspired button pushing, which is science. O'Brien
promises
to be more the artist than the scientist, and I *like* that. They also
have a number
of interesting opportunities they can exploit with this character -- the
fact that he's
not Academy trained, but an enlisted man means that he won't be so damned
cool and collected; the fact that he's never come to terms with his
hatred of 
"what [he] became because" of the Cardassians will be loads of fun when
the
Cardassians come knocking on the door (and they *will*).

That takes care of the 'crew' of this new station. That leaves the
'second tier', as it
were -- the regular and recurring characters who are important but not
central
to the story. I don't remember any of the actors' names, unfortunately,
but I can talk
the characters...

To start with, we have Sisko's son, Jake (again, I don't recall the
actor's name). My stars and garters, it's a *good* child actor! Will
wonders never
cease? Jake was a believable character, well played; even the emotional
bits.

Next comes Quark. Ferengi to the core. More importantly, Ferengi the way 
Ferengi should be played. Not over the top, as they all to often are, for
comic
value; but as a serious adversary, even when he's ostensibly on your
side. A man who will happily take the shirt off your back :-)

We don't see much of Quark's young nephew, Naag, so there's nothing
really to say
except that he exists and, if rumours are to be believed, should be
watched for.

Then, there's The Kai, the spiritual leader of Bajor. I'm not sure what
to make of her.
I'm not thrilled that Trek is bringing in so heavy a 'spiritual' theme,
in the
religious sense. I'm particularly not thrilled about YAEGM (Yet Another
Example of
Gratuitous Magic), represented by the Orbs. But I'm willing to wait and
see.

Finally, there's Gul Ducat. Ooooooo, but he's NASTY. I've been looking
forward to
a further development of the Cardassians, and it looks like we're going
to get
one. About time. This is not a man to turn your back on...

Ok, so now let's talk about plot.

Here's where some of the bad news starts. The story was, by far, an
improvement on
TNG's pilot, 'Encounter at Farpoint'. None of these characters made the
sort
of immediate and irrevocable bad first impression that Troi and Wesley
did; none
were as melodramatic as Yar; and no one actually surrendered anything :-)
More importantly, many of the characters did make *good* first
impressions, whereas
the best of my initial impressions of the TNG crew was mixed, and that
was for Picard.

Oddly enough, this plot seemed to suffer from the reverse of most modern
Trek 
stories. TNG's greatest weakness is attempting to do too much in 42
minutes of
air time. DS9:'The Emissary' almost goes to the other extreme -- not
trying to do
*enough* in 84 minutes. They *almost* found a happy medium, but there were
places where they could have, and, IMHO, should have trimmed down, and
other bits
that should have been expanded upon. In fact, as I think about it, the
problem is not
so much how much they tried to do in a given amount of time, but what
choices
they made when editing -- for there are holes that are simply too big to
have been
accidental omissions; rather, I believe that some of the parts where the
plot
feels 'jumpy' were probably scripted, perhaps even filmed, but cut later.
Hopefully,
there will be a novelisation to fill in the holes.

On the other hand, this story was what all of the best Trek stories are
supposed to
be -- a good people story. Star Trek is, when it comes down to it, *not*
Science
Fiction, but character play in a future setting. And there, this episode
did right.
Rather than try to give equal time to all the characters, as
TNG:'Encounter at Farpoint'
did, DS9 treated this like any other story -- focus on one or two
characters,
colour in two or three more; sketch the rest. Sisko and Kira got the
focus, really,
although we got some good color on Dax, O'Brien, and Odo. Jake, the Kai,
Quark
and the medic were just sketched and Naag, Quark's nephew, was really just
a scribble :-)

Ok. Now for more general thoughts.

I came into this story feeling very 'down' on Trek. Trek had not really
been thrilling
me lately. In point of fact, I haven't even *seen* most of this season,
and I don't
feel like I've missed anything. I was beginning to think that Trek was
finally losing it.

Deep Space Nine's pilot has renewed my faith in the strength of the Trek
universe to
renew itself. I'm still on my guard, and I'm *still* not sure I'm going
to watch
TNG any more than I have been..but I'll be watching Deep Space Nine every
week until
July, at least.

There's lot's more I could say, but this is stupidly long already. Call
it a 9, awaiting
further evidence to the contrary.

Uncle Mikey
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current