From: gwangung@carson.u.washington.edu (Roger Tang)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: PERFORMANCE PROGNOSIS: DSN - EMISSARY
Date: 5 Jan 1993 08:37:48 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: carson.u.washington.edu




















OVERALL GRADE: 		2.0 (of a possible 4.0)


	Well......this has potential.....

	With a spare Monday night not spent fundraising or chasing nubile
young (or not quite young) starlets, I was able to catch the premiere of
DEEP SPACE NINE.

	First off, this was a two-hour premiere with about 70 to 90
minutes worth of story. Padding was not OVERLY evident, but was a tad
conspicuous from the rather loose pacing of the first half. The lack of
conflict (and hence, story) was all too evident in the travelouge nature
of the first half, plodding from plot point to plot point without any real
snap or tension.

	Even with the discovery of the wormhole, things did not pick up
much. Scenes played on far too long past their effective point. The rapid
scene changing within the wormhole, while nice, could have been REALLY
disorienting and hence, far more effective.

	To a certain extent, I can forgive the travelouge nature of the
episode, but EMISSARY betrayed far too many of the storytelling flaws that
have plague TNG over the last two-three years.

	The saving grace of the show was the characters, sketchy as they
may have been. I was surprised at the inconsistency of Avery Brooks as Ben
Sisko; I expected more of the tension and supressed vitality in the
Sisko/Picard scene early in the show, as opposed to the lackluster and
colorless scenes with the Ferengi. However, I appreciated the intelligence
Sisko showed within the wormhole, adapting to the disjointed temporal
sequences. And I really appreciated his far-too-much-delayed internal
confrontation and resolution of his tramaQthe real meat and drama of the
episode. I think this worked better as a character show than a lot of
previous Trek shows.

	Rene Auberjois did a competent job as Odo-nothing special; Quark
appears to be a potential source of interest as a Ferengi who COULD
fulfill both his mercernary nature and role as pillar of the business
community (why not? most Earth capitalists manage to do it....). And I
am afraid Terry Farrell needs a little work on her acting as Lt. Jax; she
betrays far too much of her days as a clothes mannequin (a less charitable
person would use the word airhead or bimbo....).

	But the REAL find of this show is Nan Visitor as Major Kira. If
she manages to keep the spark she displayed during this show, we could find
a real gutsy hero with some depth beneath her. Personally, sheUs got more
balls than Riker (and could mop the floor with him at poker) and is a real
match for Picard. I find that she is UNLIKE most of the TNG crew in that
Visitor SHOWS us her character and doesnt TELL us about her.

	So, bottom line, mediocre beginning...but some potential for good
characters, more so than the TNG crew....

-- 
Roger Tang, gwangung@u.washington.edu
Producer Emeritus, Asian Theatre at the UW, Uncle Bonsai Memorial Fan Club
	"The definition of balls is for a non-singer to go karaoke singing
with the cast of a musical revue."