The end of the semester just happened, I just had my 23rd birthday, got a Nintendo DS for my birthday, started a new project, and my beautiful girlfriend Courtney is going to be here tomorrow.
I've actually watched a lot more episodes than I've reviewed, but I plan to get to them! Next up, the delightful "Trials and Tribble-ations!"
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
DS9 Reviews: "The Assignment"
Ok, so I've been toiling away with a couple of my very favorite phylogenetics programs for hours now, and when I put in a command, it takes them a good few minutes to process. It's been very start-and-stop, a frustrating way to work. If I were better at multi-tasking I'd be reading papers, but I will try this instead. So this review itself may come out a little disjointed, but no one will grade me for it (let alone read it).
So...according to the excellent Star Trek Wiki "Memory Alpha," about once a year the writers liked to do an "O'Brien Must Suffer" episode. This is the entry for season 5. The basic story of the episode is that a malign presence has taken over O'Brien's wife, Keiko, and is coercing O'Brien into doing its bidding under the threat of murdering Keiko.
I think Star Trek badly overuses fantasy cliches (overlaid with obnoxious technobabble) like possession. Hell, there was already an episode back in NextGen where O'Brien was possessed but Keiko wasn't! Nonetheless, this episode somehow manages to transcend its premise to become perhaps the most solid episode of this early part of season 5.
So anyway, the episode picks up as Keiko returns from a trip to Bajor and her apologetic husband has killed her precious bonsai trees out of semi-comical ineptitude. Keiko, a botanist, uncharacteristically brushes it off with "They're just plants, Miles." She then very matter-of-factly states that she's actually an incorporeal being, possessing his wife, and that she can kill her in a split second. O'Brien isn't quite sure how to take this, but as he finds out, treating it like a joke was not the best idea. In this setting, that's just a dangerous lack of genre savvy.
So the possessing creature (later revealed as a "Pah-wraith," so henceforth, "the wraith") gets this close to killing Keiko, stands back up, and thus establishes the rules. This scene is very creepy and it works because Colm Meaney and Rosalind Chao had been playing husband and wife for over six years at this point, even if only semi-frequently. Chao really seems to relish getting to order Meaney around in, not in a "comically nagging wife" way, but a life or death kind of way. She, as the wraith, also plays the part of Keiko perfectly when anyone else is around, even throwing the awkwardest birthday party ever for Miles. "It would arouse suspicion if we canceled it, dear." She even insists that they share the bed, though this being Star Trek that's as far as it goes (and it's quite creepy enough!) She tells him to make a large number of seemingly minor modifications to the station, with a strict time limit, and to do so without arousing suspicion.
The wraith is a brutally effective villain because there's seemingly no stopping it. O'Brien runs down a list with the computer of ways he could render her unconscious, but none of them are faster than the split second it would take the wraith to burst a blood vessel in his wife's head. The wraith has relatively little to lose, since it won't be harmed by this...if O'Brien forces the issue, the wraith gets a setback but O'Brien loses his wife. She can also threaten their young daughter Molly. The deadline she has him working under is too harsh for him to get much time to consider alternatives. When he does try to get help from the other crew members on the Promenade, the wraith has Keiko jump off the balcony--she knows everything Keiko knows and can predict his movements. Sure that part's a little contrived, but it certainly keeps the tension boiling.
This episode also does some very neat dovetailing of it's A- and B-plots. When last we saw Rom (Quark's brother and Nog's father), he had lent his considerable engineering talents to the service of the station, quitting his job at Quark's and working as a maintenance technician. We see in this episode that he's not very popular initially, both because he's a Ferengi and because he's a bit of an idiot savant, with absolutely no sense of social graces. Sometimes Rom is painful to watch, but in this episode he's more entertaining, joyfully trying to fit in by eating Earth-style breakfasts as his disgusted brother looks on.
Rom's position as a social pariah on the night shift, his dedicated work ethic, and his incredible engineering skills make him the perfect tool for O'Brien as he frantically tries to complete the modifications. It's a little sad how he takes advantage of Rom, telling him that he's on a secret Starfleet mission and not to say anything to the senior staff even if he is asked (as they are testing his loyalty, see). This even extends to setting him up for the fall when the senior officers notice the modifications and catch Rom in the act. This is an awfully shitty thing for a guy to do, and yet...who among us would not, for the sake of their wife or husband? The characters have been married in the show for so long that there's no "establishing" how much O'Brien cares for her, it just IS.
By now O'Brien has only a few hours to go, and he's almost finished when Odo, having a devil of a time wringing any answers out of the guy, drags O'Brien down to talk with him.
Rom's character development since the early days is evident here. He keeps the chief's secret but reveals that he knows it's not a secret Starfleet operation, and he's also figured out the purpose of the modifications where O'Brien has not--the station is now set to flood the wormhole with "chroniton" particles, killing the aliens who live in it...the Bajoran Prophets.
Just to remind you all (and because I'll be dealing with them at great length in later episodes), the Prophets are the gods of Bajor, discovered to be non-corporeal aliens living in the wormhole by Sisko back in the pilot episode. Now, the reason that they are "Prophets," supposedly, is that they experience time in a "non-linear" fashion.
This is a really cool idea that makes alarmingly little sense. See, the Prophets talk to our characters from time to time (as they must, for them to have any relevance in the show) and yet they respond to them in an unmistakably "linear" fashion (i.e. the characters give them information, convince them of things, negotiate with them, etc. Heck, in "Emissary" they are surprised to meet Sisko). One can imagine that they experience the future and yet are doomed to continue to act it out, a la "Dr. Manhattan" from Watchmen (who doesn't really make sense either). Yet, they themselves rarely do interact with the physical plane and alter the course of events for seemingly arbitrary reasons. How can they experience the future even as they are causing it to change?
The wraith's nefarious plot revealed, it pays lip service to these creatures' "non-linearity" even as it highlights their "linearity." See, "chroniton particles" are Star Trek's magic time travel voodoo (See Star Trek First Contact) and the idea is that they will kill off the Prophets by "forcing them to interact with time" or something. Yet if they were not interacting with time already, it seems very strange how a plot to assassinate them could possibly be executed.
"Non-linear beings" are probably nonsensical. But from a scriptwriting point of view? They are REALLY nonsensical.
It gets better. So the Pah-wraiths turn out to be basically evil, exiled Prophets that were stuck on Bajor (in the "Fire Caves", where Keiko visited. Woops.)...so guess who's vulnerable to "chroniton particles" too?
The ending of this episode could be seen coming, but it is no less satisfying. O'Brien, on the run from the station personnel who have finally figured out his game, convinces the wraith that he's still willing to help by saying "I know what you're up to but I don't care about your damn incorporeal war. I just want my wife back." Which, frankly...wouldn't be too out of character for him. Why does he give a shit? He's never met a Prophet. So they board a runabout, open the wormhole, trigger the station's new Prophet-killing beam, but OOPS, O'Brien targeted the runabout instead. And apparently THAT kills the wraith faster than it can kill Keiko. Hell yeah!
And thus, O'Brien outfoxes the wraith, gets his wife back, avoids any consequences by simply explaining to everyone what was going on, and promotes Rom to the day shift. Which means this IS an unusual "Screw over O'Brien" episode...usually he gets insanity downloaded directly into his brain, or maimed, or copied and forced to kill himself, or something else insane like that. This one actually has a pretty happy ending!
One reason why this show is interesting is that it was clearly written to be a stand-alone show, like every other "O'Brien's Life Sucks" and "Random Ghost-Alien Possession" episode. Shows like this that use only standing sets and have cast members randomly being mean to each other are, essentially, cheap filler programs, and DS9 did plenty of 'em in the early seasons that never were referenced again.
And yet...this becomes one of the most important episodes of the show, in retrospect. Years later, the thread of the Prophets' enemies, the Pah-wraiths, is picked up and becomes key to the show. In this episode, the precise motivations and nature of the being that takes over Keiko is somewhat important to the plot, but is ultimately secondary...one could easily imagine that the relative handful of lines dealing with it were simply added at the last minute because some smart guys (according to the wiki, Rene Echevarria and Robert Wolfe) realized the potential future storyline.
This is the kind of planting and payoff that Babylon 5 excelled in, right from the pilot. It took Star Trek a good, long while to catch up to the idea. :P
So...according to the excellent Star Trek Wiki "Memory Alpha," about once a year the writers liked to do an "O'Brien Must Suffer" episode. This is the entry for season 5. The basic story of the episode is that a malign presence has taken over O'Brien's wife, Keiko, and is coercing O'Brien into doing its bidding under the threat of murdering Keiko.
I think Star Trek badly overuses fantasy cliches (overlaid with obnoxious technobabble) like possession. Hell, there was already an episode back in NextGen where O'Brien was possessed but Keiko wasn't! Nonetheless, this episode somehow manages to transcend its premise to become perhaps the most solid episode of this early part of season 5.
So anyway, the episode picks up as Keiko returns from a trip to Bajor and her apologetic husband has killed her precious bonsai trees out of semi-comical ineptitude. Keiko, a botanist, uncharacteristically brushes it off with "They're just plants, Miles." She then very matter-of-factly states that she's actually an incorporeal being, possessing his wife, and that she can kill her in a split second. O'Brien isn't quite sure how to take this, but as he finds out, treating it like a joke was not the best idea. In this setting, that's just a dangerous lack of genre savvy.
So the possessing creature (later revealed as a "Pah-wraith," so henceforth, "the wraith") gets this close to killing Keiko, stands back up, and thus establishes the rules. This scene is very creepy and it works because Colm Meaney and Rosalind Chao had been playing husband and wife for over six years at this point, even if only semi-frequently. Chao really seems to relish getting to order Meaney around in, not in a "comically nagging wife" way, but a life or death kind of way. She, as the wraith, also plays the part of Keiko perfectly when anyone else is around, even throwing the awkwardest birthday party ever for Miles. "It would arouse suspicion if we canceled it, dear." She even insists that they share the bed, though this being Star Trek that's as far as it goes (and it's quite creepy enough!) She tells him to make a large number of seemingly minor modifications to the station, with a strict time limit, and to do so without arousing suspicion.
The wraith is a brutally effective villain because there's seemingly no stopping it. O'Brien runs down a list with the computer of ways he could render her unconscious, but none of them are faster than the split second it would take the wraith to burst a blood vessel in his wife's head. The wraith has relatively little to lose, since it won't be harmed by this...if O'Brien forces the issue, the wraith gets a setback but O'Brien loses his wife. She can also threaten their young daughter Molly. The deadline she has him working under is too harsh for him to get much time to consider alternatives. When he does try to get help from the other crew members on the Promenade, the wraith has Keiko jump off the balcony--she knows everything Keiko knows and can predict his movements. Sure that part's a little contrived, but it certainly keeps the tension boiling.
This episode also does some very neat dovetailing of it's A- and B-plots. When last we saw Rom (Quark's brother and Nog's father), he had lent his considerable engineering talents to the service of the station, quitting his job at Quark's and working as a maintenance technician. We see in this episode that he's not very popular initially, both because he's a Ferengi and because he's a bit of an idiot savant, with absolutely no sense of social graces. Sometimes Rom is painful to watch, but in this episode he's more entertaining, joyfully trying to fit in by eating Earth-style breakfasts as his disgusted brother looks on.
Rom's position as a social pariah on the night shift, his dedicated work ethic, and his incredible engineering skills make him the perfect tool for O'Brien as he frantically tries to complete the modifications. It's a little sad how he takes advantage of Rom, telling him that he's on a secret Starfleet mission and not to say anything to the senior staff even if he is asked (as they are testing his loyalty, see). This even extends to setting him up for the fall when the senior officers notice the modifications and catch Rom in the act. This is an awfully shitty thing for a guy to do, and yet...who among us would not, for the sake of their wife or husband? The characters have been married in the show for so long that there's no "establishing" how much O'Brien cares for her, it just IS.
By now O'Brien has only a few hours to go, and he's almost finished when Odo, having a devil of a time wringing any answers out of the guy, drags O'Brien down to talk with him.
Rom's character development since the early days is evident here. He keeps the chief's secret but reveals that he knows it's not a secret Starfleet operation, and he's also figured out the purpose of the modifications where O'Brien has not--the station is now set to flood the wormhole with "chroniton" particles, killing the aliens who live in it...the Bajoran Prophets.
Just to remind you all (and because I'll be dealing with them at great length in later episodes), the Prophets are the gods of Bajor, discovered to be non-corporeal aliens living in the wormhole by Sisko back in the pilot episode. Now, the reason that they are "Prophets," supposedly, is that they experience time in a "non-linear" fashion.
This is a really cool idea that makes alarmingly little sense. See, the Prophets talk to our characters from time to time (as they must, for them to have any relevance in the show) and yet they respond to them in an unmistakably "linear" fashion (i.e. the characters give them information, convince them of things, negotiate with them, etc. Heck, in "Emissary" they are surprised to meet Sisko). One can imagine that they experience the future and yet are doomed to continue to act it out, a la "Dr. Manhattan" from Watchmen (who doesn't really make sense either). Yet, they themselves rarely do interact with the physical plane and alter the course of events for seemingly arbitrary reasons. How can they experience the future even as they are causing it to change?
The wraith's nefarious plot revealed, it pays lip service to these creatures' "non-linearity" even as it highlights their "linearity." See, "chroniton particles" are Star Trek's magic time travel voodoo (See Star Trek First Contact) and the idea is that they will kill off the Prophets by "forcing them to interact with time" or something. Yet if they were not interacting with time already, it seems very strange how a plot to assassinate them could possibly be executed.
"Non-linear beings" are probably nonsensical. But from a scriptwriting point of view? They are REALLY nonsensical.
It gets better. So the Pah-wraiths turn out to be basically evil, exiled Prophets that were stuck on Bajor (in the "Fire Caves", where Keiko visited. Woops.)...so guess who's vulnerable to "chroniton particles" too?
The ending of this episode could be seen coming, but it is no less satisfying. O'Brien, on the run from the station personnel who have finally figured out his game, convinces the wraith that he's still willing to help by saying "I know what you're up to but I don't care about your damn incorporeal war. I just want my wife back." Which, frankly...wouldn't be too out of character for him. Why does he give a shit? He's never met a Prophet. So they board a runabout, open the wormhole, trigger the station's new Prophet-killing beam, but OOPS, O'Brien targeted the runabout instead. And apparently THAT kills the wraith faster than it can kill Keiko. Hell yeah!
And thus, O'Brien outfoxes the wraith, gets his wife back, avoids any consequences by simply explaining to everyone what was going on, and promotes Rom to the day shift. Which means this IS an unusual "Screw over O'Brien" episode...usually he gets insanity downloaded directly into his brain, or maimed, or copied and forced to kill himself, or something else insane like that. This one actually has a pretty happy ending!
One reason why this show is interesting is that it was clearly written to be a stand-alone show, like every other "O'Brien's Life Sucks" and "Random Ghost-Alien Possession" episode. Shows like this that use only standing sets and have cast members randomly being mean to each other are, essentially, cheap filler programs, and DS9 did plenty of 'em in the early seasons that never were referenced again.
And yet...this becomes one of the most important episodes of the show, in retrospect. Years later, the thread of the Prophets' enemies, the Pah-wraiths, is picked up and becomes key to the show. In this episode, the precise motivations and nature of the being that takes over Keiko is somewhat important to the plot, but is ultimately secondary...one could easily imagine that the relative handful of lines dealing with it were simply added at the last minute because some smart guys (according to the wiki, Rene Echevarria and Robert Wolfe) realized the potential future storyline.
This is the kind of planting and payoff that Babylon 5 excelled in, right from the pilot. It took Star Trek a good, long while to catch up to the idea. :P
Monday, April 19, 2010
DS9 Reviews: "Nor the Battle to the Strong"
It's taken me awhile to get around to this review. Partly because I'm busy; partly because I'm lazy; but largely because it's a relatively hard episode to watch, at least in the context of Star Trek. There's not really any sense of fun or adventure, it's just a very dark character study.
The context is important...this episode's content is extremely mild by the standards of any decent war movie. But in the Star Trek universe thus far, the worst thing that had ever happened to any of our characters on the screen was Picard getting Borgified for an episode and a half. You'll see why this episode is a slight adjustment.
So the episode starts as Jake, the captain's son who is just settling into his great ambition: writing. A brief aside on Jake: he's technically a lead character, but he's one of those characters who the writers often just can't figure out what to do with. The easy thing to do would have been to have him go into Starfleet when the character grew old enough, but to the writers' credit they don't do so, giving this role to Jake's former delinquent friend, Nog. They finally hit on a role for Jake to play in the impending chaos by making him into a journalist, which finally gets him into some unique situations.
Here, he's writing a cover story on the station's doctor, Bashir, and so the two of them are on a runabout flying back to DS9 from a medical conference (a frequent plot device with Bashir, but to be fair, scientists do this stuff all the time). However, Jake is, quite obnoxiously, bored to tears by Bashir's earnest "medicobabble." They get a distress call from a Federation system that's under attack by the Klingons. Wait, what?
See, despite the events of "Apocalypse Rising," the Klingons are still mindlessly attacking the Federation. Worse, this takes place right after the lighthearted fuckery of "Looking for par'mach..." What has been done is to follow a lighthearted, jokey Klingon episode with a "grim'n'gritty" episode in which the Klingons are basically bloodthirsty Orcs. Despite the fact that each episode stands up well by itself, their juxtaposition is ridiculous. This episode might have benefited from coming much later in the season and starring the Jem'Hadar, although open war doesn't quite break out until the very end of the season so it would have taken some creative writing.
Anyway, Jake cajoles Bashir into flying in and helping the besieged doctors. As his voiceover tells us, he does this so that he can write a "real story" about battlefield medicine.
Jake, you're an idiot. But that's the whole point.
So they land on the planet and go into the Generic Star Trek Cave Set, to be confronted with a few doctors and nurses scattering around dealing with redshirts (actually some sort of black military uniform in this ep) who haven't quite died yet. The first person Bashir runs across to treat has a burned foot that he claims was caused by a Klingon gun, but the tricorder says different...he shot himself in the foot with his own phaser.
Star Trek's never shown us that side of war before. Of course, the subtext is that the Federation isn't prepared for war, not having fought one in years. But even though they are relatively soft and spoiled right now, this poor schmo can still kiss his career good bye thanks to one moment of weakness.
Anyway, the medics don't let Jake sit around writing on his iPADD. They put his ass to work hauling bodies out of the OR. The roots of later scenes in Battlestar Galactica (which employed many DS9 writers) are here. There is obviously a limit on what they can show, so none of the screaming, thrashing, and brutal calculus of triage that was depicted in BSG. But seeing the captain's son haul bodies around and get covered in blood is pretty jarring. All the while, the medics talk about how bad the Klingons are. Most of this stuff is either silly or inconsistent, though.
"When the Klingons are really on the offensive, they pull out their bat'leths (like swords, but impractical), charge at us, and that's why we see all these horrible wounds."
YOU'RE IN THE 24TH CENTURY AND THEY ARE CHARGING YOU WITH SWORDS? Fuck me, you guys should be cheering when that happens cause it means you can kill them all with your phasers.
"When the Klingons get to the wounded, they kill them to give them an honorable death."
What? The Klingons are many things, but killing the defenseless is usually a sure way for them to lose their "honor." If this custom had ever been referenced before (or after!) it might be put into some kind of context, but this just makes them into mad dogs. They know damn well that the Feds have awesome medical technology because they've been allies for years and years.
Pop quiz: after this episode, in which the Klingons are basically the Imperial Japanese Army, will we have many future episodes in which their culture is presented as intrinsically admirable, or even amusing?
You bet your ass!
So anyway, the Klingon artillery starts making some noise and power goes out, which will cause a lot of the patients to, uh, die. So Bashir and Jake volunteer to bolt for their landed runabout and grab its generator.
This scene is notable for two reasons, one of which is an important event in the plot and in characterization, and the other of which is fail. So Bashir and Jake are running across the surface of the planet and shells are bursting all around them...like, right next to them, or between them when they are only running a few feet apart. The Klingon "mortars" are just horrible little smoke bombs that could probably be purchased legally in all fifty states (and in Florida you'd get a free stick of dynamite). For reference, real life mortars are designed to cut you in half with shrapnel from fifty feet away. Jake is terrified out of his wits by these...mortars, and sees Bashir get knocked down (!) by one and call out for Jake. Jake, however, just runs.
This scene had great potential. Countless people have broken and run under shelling. It brings the character to a place he's never experienced before. But the awful smoke bombs, the locked-off camera, and the "generic Star Trek danger music" leech a lot of the drama away.
We do get to some of the real meat of the episode here though. Jake stumbles into a crater with a mortally wounded human soldier. He provides companionship during the soldier's last moments. "Turn me over. If I'm going out, I want to be looking at the sky!" It comes out that this man sacrificed himself, willingly staying behind to provide covering fire as his unit boarded a ship and flew to safety. Jake is ashamed by this and starts babbling about how if he can bring this man back to the doctors and save him, it will make up for leaving Bashir to die. The soldier dies with the sardonic words, "That's not how it works, kid..."
Jake returns, only to see that Bashir not only survived, but saved everybody's lives, bringing back the generator from the wreckage of the runabout. And this whole time, he's just been worried and guilty that Jake was in danger! Jake, no longer the boy of early seasons but a young man, seethes with self-hatred and loathing. Concealing his shame, he lashes out at the doctors. He meets the guy with the self-inflicted wound again and they bond in mutual understanding..."You're the only one here who treats me like a person," says the "coward." Jake urges him to fight his probable court-martial, but the man will have none of it...he knows what he did and that the service is not for him.
The Klingons close in on the caves and everyone pitches in to frantically evacuate the wounded. A gun battle ensues in the OR and Jake finds himself the last man between the wounded and the Klingons. He snatches up a phaser rifle and fires wildly in the air, causing them to hesitate as well as the ceiling to collapse. Jake is KOed, but the Klingon advance stops long enough for the Defiant to swoop in and rescue everybody. Jake is hailed as a hero.
In his own account, however, he is truthful, which earns the admiration of his father all the same. "Sometimes, the line between heroism and cowardice is a lot thinner than any of us would like to admit."
This episode isn't flawless, but as I described, it is remarkable in many ways. Like "The Ship," it set the tone of the remainder of the series, and prepared us to explore the theme: "If a utopia must go to war to defend itself against evil, can it still remain a utopia?"
Runabout tally: One destroyed off screen by Klingon smoke bombs. Those dastardly Klingons! They can destroy a small Federation ship if it's not moving or shooting back!
The context is important...this episode's content is extremely mild by the standards of any decent war movie. But in the Star Trek universe thus far, the worst thing that had ever happened to any of our characters on the screen was Picard getting Borgified for an episode and a half. You'll see why this episode is a slight adjustment.
So the episode starts as Jake, the captain's son who is just settling into his great ambition: writing. A brief aside on Jake: he's technically a lead character, but he's one of those characters who the writers often just can't figure out what to do with. The easy thing to do would have been to have him go into Starfleet when the character grew old enough, but to the writers' credit they don't do so, giving this role to Jake's former delinquent friend, Nog. They finally hit on a role for Jake to play in the impending chaos by making him into a journalist, which finally gets him into some unique situations.
Here, he's writing a cover story on the station's doctor, Bashir, and so the two of them are on a runabout flying back to DS9 from a medical conference (a frequent plot device with Bashir, but to be fair, scientists do this stuff all the time). However, Jake is, quite obnoxiously, bored to tears by Bashir's earnest "medicobabble." They get a distress call from a Federation system that's under attack by the Klingons. Wait, what?
See, despite the events of "Apocalypse Rising," the Klingons are still mindlessly attacking the Federation. Worse, this takes place right after the lighthearted fuckery of "Looking for par'mach..." What has been done is to follow a lighthearted, jokey Klingon episode with a "grim'n'gritty" episode in which the Klingons are basically bloodthirsty Orcs. Despite the fact that each episode stands up well by itself, their juxtaposition is ridiculous. This episode might have benefited from coming much later in the season and starring the Jem'Hadar, although open war doesn't quite break out until the very end of the season so it would have taken some creative writing.
Anyway, Jake cajoles Bashir into flying in and helping the besieged doctors. As his voiceover tells us, he does this so that he can write a "real story" about battlefield medicine.
Jake, you're an idiot. But that's the whole point.
So they land on the planet and go into the Generic Star Trek Cave Set, to be confronted with a few doctors and nurses scattering around dealing with redshirts (actually some sort of black military uniform in this ep) who haven't quite died yet. The first person Bashir runs across to treat has a burned foot that he claims was caused by a Klingon gun, but the tricorder says different...he shot himself in the foot with his own phaser.
Star Trek's never shown us that side of war before. Of course, the subtext is that the Federation isn't prepared for war, not having fought one in years. But even though they are relatively soft and spoiled right now, this poor schmo can still kiss his career good bye thanks to one moment of weakness.
Anyway, the medics don't let Jake sit around writing on his iPADD. They put his ass to work hauling bodies out of the OR. The roots of later scenes in Battlestar Galactica (which employed many DS9 writers) are here. There is obviously a limit on what they can show, so none of the screaming, thrashing, and brutal calculus of triage that was depicted in BSG. But seeing the captain's son haul bodies around and get covered in blood is pretty jarring. All the while, the medics talk about how bad the Klingons are. Most of this stuff is either silly or inconsistent, though.
"When the Klingons are really on the offensive, they pull out their bat'leths (like swords, but impractical), charge at us, and that's why we see all these horrible wounds."
YOU'RE IN THE 24TH CENTURY AND THEY ARE CHARGING YOU WITH SWORDS? Fuck me, you guys should be cheering when that happens cause it means you can kill them all with your phasers.
"When the Klingons get to the wounded, they kill them to give them an honorable death."
What? The Klingons are many things, but killing the defenseless is usually a sure way for them to lose their "honor." If this custom had ever been referenced before (or after!) it might be put into some kind of context, but this just makes them into mad dogs. They know damn well that the Feds have awesome medical technology because they've been allies for years and years.
Pop quiz: after this episode, in which the Klingons are basically the Imperial Japanese Army, will we have many future episodes in which their culture is presented as intrinsically admirable, or even amusing?
You bet your ass!
So anyway, the Klingon artillery starts making some noise and power goes out, which will cause a lot of the patients to, uh, die. So Bashir and Jake volunteer to bolt for their landed runabout and grab its generator.
This scene is notable for two reasons, one of which is an important event in the plot and in characterization, and the other of which is fail. So Bashir and Jake are running across the surface of the planet and shells are bursting all around them...like, right next to them, or between them when they are only running a few feet apart. The Klingon "mortars" are just horrible little smoke bombs that could probably be purchased legally in all fifty states (and in Florida you'd get a free stick of dynamite). For reference, real life mortars are designed to cut you in half with shrapnel from fifty feet away. Jake is terrified out of his wits by these...mortars, and sees Bashir get knocked down (!) by one and call out for Jake. Jake, however, just runs.
This scene had great potential. Countless people have broken and run under shelling. It brings the character to a place he's never experienced before. But the awful smoke bombs, the locked-off camera, and the "generic Star Trek danger music" leech a lot of the drama away.
We do get to some of the real meat of the episode here though. Jake stumbles into a crater with a mortally wounded human soldier. He provides companionship during the soldier's last moments. "Turn me over. If I'm going out, I want to be looking at the sky!" It comes out that this man sacrificed himself, willingly staying behind to provide covering fire as his unit boarded a ship and flew to safety. Jake is ashamed by this and starts babbling about how if he can bring this man back to the doctors and save him, it will make up for leaving Bashir to die. The soldier dies with the sardonic words, "That's not how it works, kid..."
Jake returns, only to see that Bashir not only survived, but saved everybody's lives, bringing back the generator from the wreckage of the runabout. And this whole time, he's just been worried and guilty that Jake was in danger! Jake, no longer the boy of early seasons but a young man, seethes with self-hatred and loathing. Concealing his shame, he lashes out at the doctors. He meets the guy with the self-inflicted wound again and they bond in mutual understanding..."You're the only one here who treats me like a person," says the "coward." Jake urges him to fight his probable court-martial, but the man will have none of it...he knows what he did and that the service is not for him.
The Klingons close in on the caves and everyone pitches in to frantically evacuate the wounded. A gun battle ensues in the OR and Jake finds himself the last man between the wounded and the Klingons. He snatches up a phaser rifle and fires wildly in the air, causing them to hesitate as well as the ceiling to collapse. Jake is KOed, but the Klingon advance stops long enough for the Defiant to swoop in and rescue everybody. Jake is hailed as a hero.
In his own account, however, he is truthful, which earns the admiration of his father all the same. "Sometimes, the line between heroism and cowardice is a lot thinner than any of us would like to admit."
This episode isn't flawless, but as I described, it is remarkable in many ways. Like "The Ship," it set the tone of the remainder of the series, and prepared us to explore the theme: "If a utopia must go to war to defend itself against evil, can it still remain a utopia?"
Runabout tally: One destroyed off screen by Klingon smoke bombs. Those dastardly Klingons! They can destroy a small Federation ship if it's not moving or shooting back!
Monday, April 12, 2010
DS9 Reviews: "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places"
It's that time again...the dreaded Komedy Episode. DS9, and Star Trek in general, have a very mixed record on these. When they work, they are hysterical. When they don't they are awful. Same goes for romance episodes...and this is both!
Worse still, this episode is sandwiched smack in the middle of four very dark (or at least momentous) episodes. So if you're watching them all in a row (like I was) then you will get some serious mood whiplash (as well as another inconsistency that I will address).
However, it's a very charming episode and I can actually offer mostly unqualified praise for it. "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" is a very important development for the characters of Dax and Worf, and a charming enough sequel to the events of "House of Quark" in season 3.
"House of Quark" was a positively brilliant season 3 episode in which Quark took credit for killing a drunken Klingon who fell on his knife. He winds up married to the guy's widow, Grilka, at knifepoint. It seems that Grilka needed to marry the killer of her husband in order to prevent his rival from taking over their house with financial chicanery. Quark, naturally, is better equipped than any of the Klingons about to expose the fraudster, and proves him without honor when the guy tries to kill his helpless self. Grilka then grants Quark a loving divorce.
So in this episode Grilka comes to the station, ostensibly to get Quark's financial advice, but it is clearly a thinly disguised social visit. This sits ill with Grilka's bodyguard. Worf sees Grilka and is instantly smitten. When he sees her embracing Quark and Dax explains that she's his ex-wife, Michael Dorn does a great job showing us the murder wheels turning in his head, just for a moment.
As far as continuity goes, Grilka's casual visit seems very strange. The whole past season they were fighting the Klingons, and in the very next episode they are going to be fighting Klingons. Dax tosses off a line like "Oh, the treaty negotiations must be going well." Sure, and in the next episode it will be going badly. Treaties don't change all that much about how difficult it is to fly past borders, etc. until they are ratified. Of course, it is actually possible that these Klingons took a passenger vessel, but you'd think coming aboard one of the Federation's most important outposts would raise a few eyebrows.
But anyway, Worf decides to try and go after Grilka anyway. It turns out that the Klingon mating ritual is to loudly be a dick to other people in the vicinity. I'm not even joking. So after a few innocents are harmed, Grilka's advisor (not her bodyguard) shoots Worf down on her behalf, reminding him that he's never even been part of Klingon culture to an extent that he has ever courted a Klingon lady before. It's a nice little moment for Worf. And to his credit, he backs off.
However, Quark does a little plot-thickening when he comes to Worf, insecure about his ability to court Grilka. And Worf decides to not be a dick for once and help the guy out, Cyrano-style. Dread Continuity raises its ugly head again because in all future episodes Worf is back to hating Quark with apparent sincerity. But here, he ropes Dax into giving Quark some bat'leth practice and all the Klingon knowledge he has. Meanwhile, Dax is stepping up her flirting with Worf, which she's been doing since she met the guy, even harder, but Worf just keeps staring at Grilka.
"par'Mach," as you no doubt have gathered, is Klingon for "love."
Speaking of thickening and meanwhiles, I've been neglecting the B-story. Several episodes back, O'Brien and his wife conceived their second child, but Keiko was injured in a runabout (seriously, why would anyone get on one of those deathtraps?). As a result of that emergency, the fetus was beamed (!) into the womb of Major Kira. The production reason for this was that Nana Visitor (Kira) was getting quite noticeably pregnant, thanks to Siddig El Fadil (Bashir). However, it was a cool little plotline that added a vulnerable dimension to Kira's hard-bitten ex-Resistance fighter. The various complications of putting a human child in a Bajoran womb are handwaved away, naturally, but whatever. They got awesome medicine in Star Trek, we can dig it.
Anyway, Kira has actually moved in with the O'Briens at this point so they can take care of her and, well, their kid. So O'Brien is massaging Kira, and their conversation is starting to get just a little too casual/friendly/flirty. They both realize they've gone over the line juuuust as Keiko walks in all cheery. "Don't stop on my account!" As if the scene weren't awkward enough, when Kira suggests that she take a vacation on Bajor, Keiko INSISTS that O'Brien go along to watch her.
This is a rare case where the rampant prudery (perhaps rather, its weird attempts to seem sexually liberated whilst actually being one of the most unsexual shows on TV) of Star Trek actually works in its favor. One can only imagine how overplayed this would have been on a typical drama, or even something like The Office. The fact that nothing actually happens (and nothing will) makes the situation feel very real and not sensationalist. In most episodes of Star trek, since, y'know, this plot has nothing to do with Trekking, this would seem superfluous, but in this episode it dovetails nicely with the rest of the romantic proceedings.
Back to the A-story. Quark is doing very well in his courting, so well that Grilka's bodyguard, revolted, knocks him down and challenges him to a battle to the death. Oops. Quark asks Worf and Dax if his "throw down the sword" trick from "House of Quark" would work again here, the answer is basically "Not if you want to live."
But, Worf and Dax have a smart plan, you see.
No, it's not informing Sisko or Odo about the death threat that has been made against Quark.
No, it's not telling Quark to back down, neither his pride nor his dick being worth a battle to the death with a 6'5'' lunatic.
It is, however, strapping weird devices to Worf's and Quark's heads, so that as Quark fights this guy in one holosuite, Worf can control his actions from the other.
I hear that will be an iPhone app any day now.
Anyway, Worf-as-Quark starts utterly schooling his guy, and I must say I am impressed with Armin Shimerman's physical acting in this scene as I have never been before. However, Worf is "showing off" too much for Grilka and somehow breaks the little doohickey. As Dax struggles to fix it for 2 minutes, Quark invokes Ferengi custom and distracts the Klingons with a little ad-libbed speech/plea for Grilka's love. Then as soon as he's cheating again, he schools the Klingon. Then Quark actually tries to kill the guy, but Worf makes him just pick up the other dude's bat'leth and jerkily present the weapons to Grilka.
Either Grilka doesn't realize that Quark's cheating, or she doesn't give a rip, because Quark is IN. Well, he was basically already in, but now he's IN. And out. And...I'll shut up. (I watch episodes about interspecies sex so you don't have to! Actually, all of the couples in this ep are interspecies, which is to say at least one of them is wearing between an ounce and a pound of latex on their heads.)
Worf starts moping about Grilka again, so Dax conjures a holo-bat'leth and starts trying to kick HIS ass. Again, we see that violence is Klingon foreplay. As well as the deed itself. After a tasteful fade to black, both happy couples stagger into the infirmary covered in bruises (well, Grilka isn't too bad off). In an amusing touch, Dax is wearing Worf's sash. In another amusing touch, Siddig El Fadil as Dr. Bashir plays "restrained horror" EXTREMELY well.
In the final analysis, Quark risked his life for a one night stand with his ex-wife, but it was fun seeing that character again, especially since she's less of a judgmental thug than most Klingons. Of course, she's also attracted to Quark, which should make anyone wonder. Worf and Dax, on the other hand, they are pretty much together from here on out, and it's great for both characters ("Let He Who Is Without Sin..." notwithstanding). Kira and O'Brien have one last cute/awkward scene as they are preparing to leave wherein they decide that they will NOT spend five days alone in a resort on Bajor because they wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other. So with a "what might have been..." O'Brien figures out an excuse and begs off. (The guy's so busy I don't understand how he was gonna take time off anyway.) The implications of their non-relationship do show up in Nana Visitor's performance later, as she tends to call him "Miles" instead of "Chief," etc, but this show not being "Battlestar Galactica," they are over and done with.
Runabout Tally: None destroyed, but I bet that one's duotronic phase relays were short-circuited by the awkward sexual tension between Kira and O'Brien. (I ship O'Brien/Bashir myself. Or hell, get them, Keiko, and Garak together in a foursome.)
Worse still, this episode is sandwiched smack in the middle of four very dark (or at least momentous) episodes. So if you're watching them all in a row (like I was) then you will get some serious mood whiplash (as well as another inconsistency that I will address).
However, it's a very charming episode and I can actually offer mostly unqualified praise for it. "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places" is a very important development for the characters of Dax and Worf, and a charming enough sequel to the events of "House of Quark" in season 3.
"House of Quark" was a positively brilliant season 3 episode in which Quark took credit for killing a drunken Klingon who fell on his knife. He winds up married to the guy's widow, Grilka, at knifepoint. It seems that Grilka needed to marry the killer of her husband in order to prevent his rival from taking over their house with financial chicanery. Quark, naturally, is better equipped than any of the Klingons about to expose the fraudster, and proves him without honor when the guy tries to kill his helpless self. Grilka then grants Quark a loving divorce.
So in this episode Grilka comes to the station, ostensibly to get Quark's financial advice, but it is clearly a thinly disguised social visit. This sits ill with Grilka's bodyguard. Worf sees Grilka and is instantly smitten. When he sees her embracing Quark and Dax explains that she's his ex-wife, Michael Dorn does a great job showing us the murder wheels turning in his head, just for a moment.
As far as continuity goes, Grilka's casual visit seems very strange. The whole past season they were fighting the Klingons, and in the very next episode they are going to be fighting Klingons. Dax tosses off a line like "Oh, the treaty negotiations must be going well." Sure, and in the next episode it will be going badly. Treaties don't change all that much about how difficult it is to fly past borders, etc. until they are ratified. Of course, it is actually possible that these Klingons took a passenger vessel, but you'd think coming aboard one of the Federation's most important outposts would raise a few eyebrows.
But anyway, Worf decides to try and go after Grilka anyway. It turns out that the Klingon mating ritual is to loudly be a dick to other people in the vicinity. I'm not even joking. So after a few innocents are harmed, Grilka's advisor (not her bodyguard) shoots Worf down on her behalf, reminding him that he's never even been part of Klingon culture to an extent that he has ever courted a Klingon lady before. It's a nice little moment for Worf. And to his credit, he backs off.
However, Quark does a little plot-thickening when he comes to Worf, insecure about his ability to court Grilka. And Worf decides to not be a dick for once and help the guy out, Cyrano-style. Dread Continuity raises its ugly head again because in all future episodes Worf is back to hating Quark with apparent sincerity. But here, he ropes Dax into giving Quark some bat'leth practice and all the Klingon knowledge he has. Meanwhile, Dax is stepping up her flirting with Worf, which she's been doing since she met the guy, even harder, but Worf just keeps staring at Grilka.
"par'Mach," as you no doubt have gathered, is Klingon for "love."
Speaking of thickening and meanwhiles, I've been neglecting the B-story. Several episodes back, O'Brien and his wife conceived their second child, but Keiko was injured in a runabout (seriously, why would anyone get on one of those deathtraps?). As a result of that emergency, the fetus was beamed (!) into the womb of Major Kira. The production reason for this was that Nana Visitor (Kira) was getting quite noticeably pregnant, thanks to Siddig El Fadil (Bashir). However, it was a cool little plotline that added a vulnerable dimension to Kira's hard-bitten ex-Resistance fighter. The various complications of putting a human child in a Bajoran womb are handwaved away, naturally, but whatever. They got awesome medicine in Star Trek, we can dig it.
Anyway, Kira has actually moved in with the O'Briens at this point so they can take care of her and, well, their kid. So O'Brien is massaging Kira, and their conversation is starting to get just a little too casual/friendly/flirty. They both realize they've gone over the line juuuust as Keiko walks in all cheery. "Don't stop on my account!" As if the scene weren't awkward enough, when Kira suggests that she take a vacation on Bajor, Keiko INSISTS that O'Brien go along to watch her.
This is a rare case where the rampant prudery (perhaps rather, its weird attempts to seem sexually liberated whilst actually being one of the most unsexual shows on TV) of Star Trek actually works in its favor. One can only imagine how overplayed this would have been on a typical drama, or even something like The Office. The fact that nothing actually happens (and nothing will) makes the situation feel very real and not sensationalist. In most episodes of Star trek, since, y'know, this plot has nothing to do with Trekking, this would seem superfluous, but in this episode it dovetails nicely with the rest of the romantic proceedings.
Back to the A-story. Quark is doing very well in his courting, so well that Grilka's bodyguard, revolted, knocks him down and challenges him to a battle to the death. Oops. Quark asks Worf and Dax if his "throw down the sword" trick from "House of Quark" would work again here, the answer is basically "Not if you want to live."
But, Worf and Dax have a smart plan, you see.
No, it's not informing Sisko or Odo about the death threat that has been made against Quark.
No, it's not telling Quark to back down, neither his pride nor his dick being worth a battle to the death with a 6'5'' lunatic.
It is, however, strapping weird devices to Worf's and Quark's heads, so that as Quark fights this guy in one holosuite, Worf can control his actions from the other.
I hear that will be an iPhone app any day now.
Anyway, Worf-as-Quark starts utterly schooling his guy, and I must say I am impressed with Armin Shimerman's physical acting in this scene as I have never been before. However, Worf is "showing off" too much for Grilka and somehow breaks the little doohickey. As Dax struggles to fix it for 2 minutes, Quark invokes Ferengi custom and distracts the Klingons with a little ad-libbed speech/plea for Grilka's love. Then as soon as he's cheating again, he schools the Klingon. Then Quark actually tries to kill the guy, but Worf makes him just pick up the other dude's bat'leth and jerkily present the weapons to Grilka.
Either Grilka doesn't realize that Quark's cheating, or she doesn't give a rip, because Quark is IN. Well, he was basically already in, but now he's IN. And out. And...I'll shut up. (I watch episodes about interspecies sex so you don't have to! Actually, all of the couples in this ep are interspecies, which is to say at least one of them is wearing between an ounce and a pound of latex on their heads.)
Worf starts moping about Grilka again, so Dax conjures a holo-bat'leth and starts trying to kick HIS ass. Again, we see that violence is Klingon foreplay. As well as the deed itself. After a tasteful fade to black, both happy couples stagger into the infirmary covered in bruises (well, Grilka isn't too bad off). In an amusing touch, Dax is wearing Worf's sash. In another amusing touch, Siddig El Fadil as Dr. Bashir plays "restrained horror" EXTREMELY well.
In the final analysis, Quark risked his life for a one night stand with his ex-wife, but it was fun seeing that character again, especially since she's less of a judgmental thug than most Klingons. Of course, she's also attracted to Quark, which should make anyone wonder. Worf and Dax, on the other hand, they are pretty much together from here on out, and it's great for both characters ("Let He Who Is Without Sin..." notwithstanding). Kira and O'Brien have one last cute/awkward scene as they are preparing to leave wherein they decide that they will NOT spend five days alone in a resort on Bajor because they wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other. So with a "what might have been..." O'Brien figures out an excuse and begs off. (The guy's so busy I don't understand how he was gonna take time off anyway.) The implications of their non-relationship do show up in Nana Visitor's performance later, as she tends to call him "Miles" instead of "Chief," etc, but this show not being "Battlestar Galactica," they are over and done with.
Runabout Tally: None destroyed, but I bet that one's duotronic phase relays were short-circuited by the awkward sexual tension between Kira and O'Brien. (I ship O'Brien/Bashir myself. Or hell, get them, Keiko, and Garak together in a foursome.)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
DS9 Reviews: "The Ship"
I guess I'll start all of these by commenting on the title. Very straightforward. Accurate, yet mysterious. Certainly less actively misleading than the previous one.
So anyway, once again the whole senior staff is flying into danger, aka the Gamma Quadrant, aka "the area of space that is an openly declared shooting gallery." And this time, they don't even take the Defiant, their cloakable ass-kicker ship. They take a runabout. Wonder if that will bite them.
So O'Brien plays amateur geologist with his buddy Muniz while Sisko walks around importantly, nods, and says that the Federation should start mining this planet for all its worth, despite the fact that "establishing a supply line will be difficult." Dude, you're in enemy territory on the other side of a wormhole, which is a tiny little chokepoint. This would be like Winston Churchill drilling for oil in Munich.
Suddenly, the runabout orbiting the planet (which is piloted exclusively by people we've never met before...bad sign) picks up an unidentified, damaged ship flying into the planet. By frankly amazing coincidence, Sisko and the others look up and see its contrail as it hits the atmosphere. At least he has the runabout beam them to the crash site...in Stargate it probably would have happened to crash within walking distance.
Anyway, the crashed ship is a series of unidentifiable gray boxes buried in a ridge. However, we are supposed to instantly identify it as a Jem'Hadar fighter! Shock! Awe! (Thankfully, Sisko breathlessly identifies it for us. But damn, was this a failure of the Art Department.)
The crew cautiously climbs aboard the wreck and finds everyone--the Jem'Hadar soldier-goons and their Vorta captain--dead.
BASHIR: Looks like he's suffered total osteonecrosis.
SISKO: Bwa?
BASHIR: All his bones are shattered.
Now I'm not a doctor, but "osteonecrosis" sounds like all of your bones have died, not *been pulverized.* In fact we soon find out that the crew has died of inertial dampener failure.
For the non-Trekheads in the audience, "inertial dampeners" are the magic boxes that allow the ship to accelerate from any speed to any other arbitrary speed without the crew feeling any G-forces. They started getting mentioned in scripts when a fan pointed out to the Next Generation production team that the crew should be "crushed into chunky salsa" every time the Enterprise executes a typical maneuver.
Usually, they "fail" to just enough of an extent to slam the crew around, dramatically but non-fatally, during action scenes. Really, the slightest hiccup should kill everyone. This is a rare case of a fatal malfunction in Star Trek. They don't show most of the bodies--that one Jem'Hadar is a little too intact, but hey, it's a prime time show.
So the idea of this ship being struck by dampener failure is interesting, but unfortunately it leaves the impression that these ships are REALLY unreliable, since it was apparently JUST a malfunction.
Anyway, digression over. Point is, they've lucked into an incredible find. The Dominion has all kinds of awesome tech they've been kicking the Feds around with, and now they've got a chance to crack it. Now personally, I'd have preferred that some redshirts discover the ship and then call in Sisko, as the contrivance is still pretty nuts. But then they'd have to explain why Sisko didn't just bring the Defiant.
But now is when things go wrong. Another fighter shows up and destroys the runabout in two shots. Then a bunch of screaming Jem'Hadar run towards our heroes as they retreat towards the wreck to take cover. One more redshirt is killed outright, and Muniz takes a glancing hit in the midsection, but they make it, and the attack stops.
Now, remember when I mentioned the crappy phaser effects in the last episode? I don't think it's memory playing tricks on me, they are AWFUL. Sisko doesn't hit a damn thing and the Jem'Hadar blasts look and sound incredibly cheesy. This scene is supposed to be unnerving and brutal and it's utterly ruined.
Anyway, Sisko occupies O'Brien with trying to make the ship flyable, as the Defiant won't be there for days. He's very determined to hold the ship as he's figured out that there has got to be a very compelling reason why the Dominion hasn't just blown them all to hell. A Vorta sends them a transmission asking to meet Sisko outside. She (and she's a cutie pie!) tenders him the extremely reasonable offer of removing all of his people and transporting them unharmed to DS9.
Sisko rather curtly rejects the offer, which is pretty generous considering that these two powers are basically fighting an undeclared war and, as the Vorta points out, he clearly has no claim to the ship. But from his perspective, he has no reason to trust the Vorta to keep her word, and he's figured out that there is something on this seemingly unremarkable ship that the Dominion are desperate enough to NOT kill them for.
Still, I would have liked to see O'Brien question Sisko's zealotry, considering that his friend is actually badly wounded.
Anyway, Ms. Vorta is not trustworthy after all. She's beamed a Jem'Hadar aboard the wreck, who turns invisible (they can do that) and stalks the crew. He attacks O'Brien and Dax with a knife. This seems rather dumb at first...first, cause he brought a knife to a gun fight, and second that he didn't manage to kill one despite being invisible. Of course, Muniz promptly shoots him dead with a phaser.
The soldier's lack of a rifle makes everyone even more suspicious, and sure that there is something awesome aboard the ship that they are afraid of damaging. O'Brien finds some minor alterations and irregularities from the standard Jem'Hadar fighter design, but this turns out to go nowhere. Then Muniz distracts everyone by starting to die in agony. Apparently Jem'Hadar energy weapons "leave an anticoagulant" in the wounds they cause. This line makes it sound like they are shooting rat poison beams, and really needed to be rephrased. However, the fact that a wounded crewman is bleeding out on the floor is so dark for Star Trek that it does make an impact. He raves, hallucinates...it is tough stuff to watch.
Sadly, this leads to an awful plotline for Worf as he assholes it up, telling O'Brien that Muniz is a goner and needs to be told cause of honor or something. The humans, being rather human, are doing the standard sort of "you're gonna make it" bedside manner thing, which goes as far as Sisko ordering him to stay alive. Of course Muniz is not an idiot and can tell he's a goner. So Worf is just an asshole for the sake of ramping up the tension. As if they didn't have enough to deal with.
The Vorta tries to negotiate again, apologizing (!) for beaming in her knife-wielding maniac and extending Sisko another sweetheart offer. He cuts her off again, and she beams up and suddenly these big white things start exploding in the atmosphere as Sisko hustles back.
The crew almost instantly figures out that these explosives would kill them instantly if the enemy fighter was actually trying to hit them, and that "they're just trying to rattle us." They proceed to get rattled. They try and fail to fly the ship off the planet. Oh, and Muniz dies during a shouting match. Go team.
However, the real reason for the Dominion's interest in the ship is shortly revealed. A console suddenly collapses into a pile of goo, which then solidifies into a pile of ash. A Founder just became a dead Founder. Its death cry is heard by the Vorta and her troops through an open vent in the side of the ship (yes kids, this spaceship HAS A SCREEN DOOR). I guess dampener failure kills goo-creatures too, just slower.
Sisko and the Vorta negotiate one more time. This is very close to being a good scene, but it's ruined by one line of dialogue. The Vorta's troops have all killed themselves for failing to save one of their gods. This is a logical and chilling extension of the Founders' genetically engineering both races for their needs. The Vorta is a bit smarter and less zealous, but she's still clearly shattered. She tells Sisko that her offer was genuine, and she didn't tell him about the Founder because they would have tortured it. Sisko says no, they would have let the Founder go because all they wanted was the ship. The Vorta says that they didn't care about the ship with the Founder's life in danger.
So we get the message; these two cultures have completely misjudged each other, leading to unnecessary death on both sides. But Sisko spells it out for the slow kids: "If only we'd been able to TRUST each other!"
Hello Sisko! This is an enemy power that killed your people. Of course you didn't trust her, what with all the lying she did. Gah, makes my skin crawl.
Anyway, they let her take some of the changeling's remains and book it. Personally, I would have stunned her and taken her to a nice cell on Earth. All her troops are dead and the Defiant is somehow going to get there before any Dominion aid. But whatever.
The scene that makes this episode truly great is after all the fireworks, back on DS9. Sisko is trying to write the families of the five crewmembers who died. Dax sits with him and the two of them reminisce about the lost...not just Muniz but the ones flying the runabout and the lineless extra cut down by the Jem'Hadar (who was apparently a great trumpet player). They actually sit down and talk about the five redshirts who bit the dust forty minutes ago. Dax tells Sisko that the successful retrieval of the Jem'Hadar ship was worth the five lives because it's likely to save five thousand, or five million. Then Worf joins O'Brien in a vigil for Muniz.
This episode isn't the best of DS9, but it shows off some of the things that made it really cool and unique. It's mostly just an action episode with some dark twists, but the mutual cultural incomprehension of the Feds and the Dominion soldiers was very interesting, and the general theme of presenting the nastier side of the typically-antiseptic conflicts the Federation gets into is really starting to come out. It is much more fully explored in "Nor the Battle to the Strong," a couple episodes down the line, but this episode really drives home the fact that the Dominion are coming for blood. And of course, the retrieval of the enemy ship is an important plot element in the series as a whole.
Runabout Tally: One destroyed by a Jem'Hadar fighter.
So anyway, once again the whole senior staff is flying into danger, aka the Gamma Quadrant, aka "the area of space that is an openly declared shooting gallery." And this time, they don't even take the Defiant, their cloakable ass-kicker ship. They take a runabout. Wonder if that will bite them.
So O'Brien plays amateur geologist with his buddy Muniz while Sisko walks around importantly, nods, and says that the Federation should start mining this planet for all its worth, despite the fact that "establishing a supply line will be difficult." Dude, you're in enemy territory on the other side of a wormhole, which is a tiny little chokepoint. This would be like Winston Churchill drilling for oil in Munich.
Suddenly, the runabout orbiting the planet (which is piloted exclusively by people we've never met before...bad sign) picks up an unidentified, damaged ship flying into the planet. By frankly amazing coincidence, Sisko and the others look up and see its contrail as it hits the atmosphere. At least he has the runabout beam them to the crash site...in Stargate it probably would have happened to crash within walking distance.
Anyway, the crashed ship is a series of unidentifiable gray boxes buried in a ridge. However, we are supposed to instantly identify it as a Jem'Hadar fighter! Shock! Awe! (Thankfully, Sisko breathlessly identifies it for us. But damn, was this a failure of the Art Department.)
The crew cautiously climbs aboard the wreck and finds everyone--the Jem'Hadar soldier-goons and their Vorta captain--dead.
BASHIR: Looks like he's suffered total osteonecrosis.
SISKO: Bwa?
BASHIR: All his bones are shattered.
Now I'm not a doctor, but "osteonecrosis" sounds like all of your bones have died, not *been pulverized.* In fact we soon find out that the crew has died of inertial dampener failure.
For the non-Trekheads in the audience, "inertial dampeners" are the magic boxes that allow the ship to accelerate from any speed to any other arbitrary speed without the crew feeling any G-forces. They started getting mentioned in scripts when a fan pointed out to the Next Generation production team that the crew should be "crushed into chunky salsa" every time the Enterprise executes a typical maneuver.
Usually, they "fail" to just enough of an extent to slam the crew around, dramatically but non-fatally, during action scenes. Really, the slightest hiccup should kill everyone. This is a rare case of a fatal malfunction in Star Trek. They don't show most of the bodies--that one Jem'Hadar is a little too intact, but hey, it's a prime time show.
So the idea of this ship being struck by dampener failure is interesting, but unfortunately it leaves the impression that these ships are REALLY unreliable, since it was apparently JUST a malfunction.
Anyway, digression over. Point is, they've lucked into an incredible find. The Dominion has all kinds of awesome tech they've been kicking the Feds around with, and now they've got a chance to crack it. Now personally, I'd have preferred that some redshirts discover the ship and then call in Sisko, as the contrivance is still pretty nuts. But then they'd have to explain why Sisko didn't just bring the Defiant.
But now is when things go wrong. Another fighter shows up and destroys the runabout in two shots. Then a bunch of screaming Jem'Hadar run towards our heroes as they retreat towards the wreck to take cover. One more redshirt is killed outright, and Muniz takes a glancing hit in the midsection, but they make it, and the attack stops.
Now, remember when I mentioned the crappy phaser effects in the last episode? I don't think it's memory playing tricks on me, they are AWFUL. Sisko doesn't hit a damn thing and the Jem'Hadar blasts look and sound incredibly cheesy. This scene is supposed to be unnerving and brutal and it's utterly ruined.
Anyway, Sisko occupies O'Brien with trying to make the ship flyable, as the Defiant won't be there for days. He's very determined to hold the ship as he's figured out that there has got to be a very compelling reason why the Dominion hasn't just blown them all to hell. A Vorta sends them a transmission asking to meet Sisko outside. She (and she's a cutie pie!) tenders him the extremely reasonable offer of removing all of his people and transporting them unharmed to DS9.
Sisko rather curtly rejects the offer, which is pretty generous considering that these two powers are basically fighting an undeclared war and, as the Vorta points out, he clearly has no claim to the ship. But from his perspective, he has no reason to trust the Vorta to keep her word, and he's figured out that there is something on this seemingly unremarkable ship that the Dominion are desperate enough to NOT kill them for.
Still, I would have liked to see O'Brien question Sisko's zealotry, considering that his friend is actually badly wounded.
Anyway, Ms. Vorta is not trustworthy after all. She's beamed a Jem'Hadar aboard the wreck, who turns invisible (they can do that) and stalks the crew. He attacks O'Brien and Dax with a knife. This seems rather dumb at first...first, cause he brought a knife to a gun fight, and second that he didn't manage to kill one despite being invisible. Of course, Muniz promptly shoots him dead with a phaser.
The soldier's lack of a rifle makes everyone even more suspicious, and sure that there is something awesome aboard the ship that they are afraid of damaging. O'Brien finds some minor alterations and irregularities from the standard Jem'Hadar fighter design, but this turns out to go nowhere. Then Muniz distracts everyone by starting to die in agony. Apparently Jem'Hadar energy weapons "leave an anticoagulant" in the wounds they cause. This line makes it sound like they are shooting rat poison beams, and really needed to be rephrased. However, the fact that a wounded crewman is bleeding out on the floor is so dark for Star Trek that it does make an impact. He raves, hallucinates...it is tough stuff to watch.
Sadly, this leads to an awful plotline for Worf as he assholes it up, telling O'Brien that Muniz is a goner and needs to be told cause of honor or something. The humans, being rather human, are doing the standard sort of "you're gonna make it" bedside manner thing, which goes as far as Sisko ordering him to stay alive. Of course Muniz is not an idiot and can tell he's a goner. So Worf is just an asshole for the sake of ramping up the tension. As if they didn't have enough to deal with.
The Vorta tries to negotiate again, apologizing (!) for beaming in her knife-wielding maniac and extending Sisko another sweetheart offer. He cuts her off again, and she beams up and suddenly these big white things start exploding in the atmosphere as Sisko hustles back.
The crew almost instantly figures out that these explosives would kill them instantly if the enemy fighter was actually trying to hit them, and that "they're just trying to rattle us." They proceed to get rattled. They try and fail to fly the ship off the planet. Oh, and Muniz dies during a shouting match. Go team.
However, the real reason for the Dominion's interest in the ship is shortly revealed. A console suddenly collapses into a pile of goo, which then solidifies into a pile of ash. A Founder just became a dead Founder. Its death cry is heard by the Vorta and her troops through an open vent in the side of the ship (yes kids, this spaceship HAS A SCREEN DOOR). I guess dampener failure kills goo-creatures too, just slower.
Sisko and the Vorta negotiate one more time. This is very close to being a good scene, but it's ruined by one line of dialogue. The Vorta's troops have all killed themselves for failing to save one of their gods. This is a logical and chilling extension of the Founders' genetically engineering both races for their needs. The Vorta is a bit smarter and less zealous, but she's still clearly shattered. She tells Sisko that her offer was genuine, and she didn't tell him about the Founder because they would have tortured it. Sisko says no, they would have let the Founder go because all they wanted was the ship. The Vorta says that they didn't care about the ship with the Founder's life in danger.
So we get the message; these two cultures have completely misjudged each other, leading to unnecessary death on both sides. But Sisko spells it out for the slow kids: "If only we'd been able to TRUST each other!"
Hello Sisko! This is an enemy power that killed your people. Of course you didn't trust her, what with all the lying she did. Gah, makes my skin crawl.
Anyway, they let her take some of the changeling's remains and book it. Personally, I would have stunned her and taken her to a nice cell on Earth. All her troops are dead and the Defiant is somehow going to get there before any Dominion aid. But whatever.
The scene that makes this episode truly great is after all the fireworks, back on DS9. Sisko is trying to write the families of the five crewmembers who died. Dax sits with him and the two of them reminisce about the lost...not just Muniz but the ones flying the runabout and the lineless extra cut down by the Jem'Hadar (who was apparently a great trumpet player). They actually sit down and talk about the five redshirts who bit the dust forty minutes ago. Dax tells Sisko that the successful retrieval of the Jem'Hadar ship was worth the five lives because it's likely to save five thousand, or five million. Then Worf joins O'Brien in a vigil for Muniz.
This episode isn't the best of DS9, but it shows off some of the things that made it really cool and unique. It's mostly just an action episode with some dark twists, but the mutual cultural incomprehension of the Feds and the Dominion soldiers was very interesting, and the general theme of presenting the nastier side of the typically-antiseptic conflicts the Federation gets into is really starting to come out. It is much more fully explored in "Nor the Battle to the Strong," a couple episodes down the line, but this episode really drives home the fact that the Dominion are coming for blood. And of course, the retrieval of the enemy ship is an important plot element in the series as a whole.
Runabout Tally: One destroyed by a Jem'Hadar fighter.
DS9 Reviews: "Apocalypse Rising"
That's an awfully dramatic title, isn't it? Saw this episode as a kid and I remember thinking it was pretty much the most intense episode ever.
It's really...not. But it's not bad either. Basically, this episode exists to bridge the "Klingons making a ruckus" storyline that was imposed on the writers during season 4 and the "Dominion War" storyline that the writers actually wanted to do and had been setting up since season 2. Now I have to assume some basic familiarity with the characters and situations for these reviews to make any sense, so forgive me. But the short version of the story events leading up to this episode is that, after Odo was punished for killing one of his own people, the Founders/Changelings, by being (somehow?) forced into a human form (a detestable "solid" to them), he remembered from their thoughts that Gowron, the head of the Klingon Empire, was a Changeling infiltrator. This was intense stuff...Gowron had been a recurring character for years, across two Star Trek series. I had his action figure. And now the T-1000 had stuffed him into a closet somewhere and he was creating this whole "Klingons are bad again" thing? Fuck him!
So Starfleet orders Captain Sisko to personally expose Fake Gowron. This is a terrible idea. He's a goddamn Starfleet captain and you're sending him on like a plausible deniability Black Ops kind of deal. Jake and Kira talk about it later and Jake mentions the reason for it as being that "he's the best." Huh? Sisko was assigned to DS9 in the first place when it was a backwater and he was a wholly unremarkable officer. Since then he's certainly proven himself, but in two arenas: diplomacy, and shooting things up with starships. Putting him in this situation is dementedly nonsensical. And since they can't shut up about how suicidal this mission is, they all clearly know what a waste of resources this could be.
But anyway, this is a general issue with Star Trek (television in general?). The leads have to do everything, even when it makes no sense. It's just especially egregious in this ep. So Sisko dresses up like a Klingon and takes along the following:
Worf: Would be very logical except for how recognizable he is. Bashir changes his forehead and hair and he still looks...exactly like Worf.
O'Brien: Best technician in the sector. Knowledge of Klingons/black ops = nil
Odo: Going through an identity crisis, also knows nothing about Klingons and since he is moping about how useless he is now that he can't shapeshift, he's probably worse at sneaking around than like a normal person would be.
Gul Dukat flies up in his Klingon Bird of Prey to take them to TyGokor, where Gowron is presiding over what is essentially a graduation ceremony where a bunch of Klingons get a B.A. in Badass. Dukat is one of the best villains of all time, even (rather, especially) when he's an ally. Still, this is in the middle of a weird period for him, when he's stripped of all political power and flying a BoP that he captured when he was serving as a freighter pilot. He's basically a snarky plot device in this episode, but he gets a hardcore moment that I'll get into below.
There's a bit here that reminds me of what TERRIBLE dialogue that Star Trek can have. I don't envy the writers, who have to deliver volumes of exposition reminding casual viewers how the technology of the setting works in the same hour time slot that all dramatic shows get. They often get away with it by just adopting a style in which all of the dialogue is somewhat stilted and free of slang. But sometimes is just sounds really unnatural. Dukat's flunky Damar (PAY ATTENTION TO HIM, even though he's a glorified extra at the moment) bitches and moans that they shouldn't be trying to expose Gowron and prevent war, but just drop a photon torpedo on him instead. Sisko rather reasonably points out that there are 30 fucking Klingon warships, space stations, planetary forcefields that would "stop a dozen torpedoes," and Damar just whines back that they are all a bunch of wusses.
HUH? Not gonna wind up head of the Cardassian Empire like that, Damar.
So their trip in the Dukat BoP (which somehow never got reported stolen or destroyed or anything) runs into trouble when another BoP shows up and queries them. Dukat brags for a moment how he's got this holofilter that lets him make visual contact with the Klingons, but it abruptly stops working. It looks like we are going to get a cute moment, very much in Star Trek tradition, where Dukat and his Cardassians clear the bridge and the disguised Starfleet guys have to save the day.
Instead, Dukat hits a button and BLOWS THE KLINGONS OUT OF SPACE.
Sisko and Worf complain and Dukat calls them fools (well he should have, the dialogue was more stilted than that).
The scene is a nice turnaround and builds Dukat's evil cred back up a little bit, but in my opinion the Cardassians are actually in the right here and Sisko is being dense. The Klingons are at war with the Federation and the Cardassians at the moment, and we'll find out in a few episodes that their idea of prisoners is "living bat'leth practice dummy." Blasting them with their shields down was indeed preferable to trusting the Starfleet guys, who at this point in the episode are being hastily trained by Worf to actually act like semi-credible Klingons for a few hours.
Speaking of which, that scene is cute as well but it really drives home what a bad idea this is. Sisko for some reason is an awesome Klingon despite having almost no knowledge of them. This is because it turns out that acting like a Klingon is literally just acting like a bellicose moron. O'Brien and Odo find this tricky.
So anyway, Dukat flies down the throat of the Klingon fleet and quite reasonably tells Sisko that he's getting the fuck out of there once he beams them down, seeing as how his holofilter is busted. This is a contrivance, of course, but I can forgive it. Dukat at this point in the series will stick his neck out a little for Sisko, but certainly no farther than this. He also points out that if they succeed, they'll be heroes to the Klingons, and if they don't, they're dead. Of course, there is another possible outcome (equipment failure) but no one brings this up.
Anyway, the Starfleet guys beam down among a few dozen frat boys...er, Klingons who are participating in a "ceremony" in which they have to drink bloodwine all night and still be awake for Gowron to pin medals on them in the morning. There are the requisite shenanigans and close calls as the Starfleet guys try to plant all four of their technobabble Changeling-exposer-balls. There is also a surprisingly dark moment where a Klingon brags about beaming aboard a Starfleet vessel and slaughtering the crew, including a friend of Sisko's. This is foreshadowing of the "war is hell" theme that will characterize the rest of the show, for better or worse. It's also a good look at the dark side (which is really, uh, the whole side) of those funny old Klingons. This was the best part of making them enemies again, it reminds us that they are really a bunch of vicious thugs. Sadly, this recurring motif of the middle of the series run largely fades when the Klingons become allies again, and they never stop wanking to how great Klingon "honor" is. Anyway, Sisko gets away with beating the guy up because that's just what Klingons do.
General Martok, who once attacked the station, shows up and finds the Starfleet agents very familiar-looking. Uh-oh. Bizarrely, he focuses on O'Brien, a man who he's never met, as opposed to Worf who he knows just fine and who doesn't even look any different. What.
Anyway, Gowron shows up! When he starts to pin a medal on Sisko, Martok's memory bells go off and he knocks Sisko down. Recognizing Sisko at least makes sense cause he's dealt with the guy, but still...Worf's right there! After the commercial break, all of the crew are sitting in a cell. Yes, this bunch of secret agents apparently just surrendered after the captain was exposed as opposed to dispersing into the crowd, or triggering their changeling trap which was already set up.
Gowron continues with the ceremony after locking up the enemy agents in a cell about 30 feet from the hall. Martok comes in and after a bit of posturing says that he too believes Gowron to be a changeling. Worf suggests that he challenge Gowron to a duel and kill him, thus exposing him. Martok brushes that off and says that he'll free them and they'll all go over and kill the son of a bitch right now. Well, isn't that SUSPICIOUSLY convenient?
This time, everyone carries the Idiot Ball except Odo. As the others charge into the room, Odo confronts Martok and basically calls HIM out as being the changeling because "A Klingon would have challenged Gowron. You're just trying to get us all to kill each other and leave you in charge, ergo, changeling." Keep in mind that Martok is HOLDING A GUN on Odo when he says this. All he has to do is shoot Odo and blame it on one of the other hundred armed Klingons around. Or, say "I'm not a changeling, just an asshole." Then shoot Odo.
But instead, the camera cuts away. The three "Klingons" (except Worf is a Klingon...shut up!) run into the room full of Klingons and Gowron actually tells his bodyguard to shut up and sit down while he fights Worf himself. He's a moron...ergo, Klingon. (Actually Gowron is usually rather slimy by Klingon standards, but he does have a serious grudge against Worf at this point.)
And at his point, Odo and Martok come staggering out of the hall wrestling. Where did Martok's gun go? Did Odo call him a changeling and THEN grab for his weapon and SUCCEED? Anyway, Martok throws Odo to the ground and Odo yells that Martok's a changeling.
Then Martok, rather than saying "Nuh-uh," decides to inexplicably, in full view, grow a tentacle and start throttling Odo.
BRILLIANT! That'll shut him up! Oh, wait, Klingons.
Sisko shoots the Changeling, and then so does EVERY KLINGON IN THE ROOM, causing the Changeling to writhe around getting shot for a few seconds and then explode with a whimper.
So Gowron has them flown back home, owing them something of a debt. But he still hates Worf, telling him that he should have killed him (that can't be foreshadowing can it?) and won't call off the war against the Feds completely without concessions (which might be the most realistic thing to happen in this show so far).
So to sum up, this episode had a lot of neat ideas, but really had a lot of stupid in it in order to make it's plot work. The idea of Odo being misled into offing the REAL Klingon leader, and having the Changeling be Martok, was a very nice one. It's just that the execution was very mediocre.
Oh, and for some reason the optical effects of the handheld weaponry are all awful and cheap looking. This will continue through for at least the next several episodes and really hurts the "War is Hell" thing that they are trying to go for.
Runabout Tally: The Rio Grande is damaged by Klingons off-screen when Sisko is flying it back to DS9 in the teaser. They never destroy this runabout, partly as an in-joke and partly so they can keep using stock footage of it, I expect. However, its mysterious invincible forcefields would be the only logical reason for Sisko to be able to fight off a Klingon attack in that thing and live.
It's really...not. But it's not bad either. Basically, this episode exists to bridge the "Klingons making a ruckus" storyline that was imposed on the writers during season 4 and the "Dominion War" storyline that the writers actually wanted to do and had been setting up since season 2. Now I have to assume some basic familiarity with the characters and situations for these reviews to make any sense, so forgive me. But the short version of the story events leading up to this episode is that, after Odo was punished for killing one of his own people, the Founders/Changelings, by being (somehow?) forced into a human form (a detestable "solid" to them), he remembered from their thoughts that Gowron, the head of the Klingon Empire, was a Changeling infiltrator. This was intense stuff...Gowron had been a recurring character for years, across two Star Trek series. I had his action figure. And now the T-1000 had stuffed him into a closet somewhere and he was creating this whole "Klingons are bad again" thing? Fuck him!
So Starfleet orders Captain Sisko to personally expose Fake Gowron. This is a terrible idea. He's a goddamn Starfleet captain and you're sending him on like a plausible deniability Black Ops kind of deal. Jake and Kira talk about it later and Jake mentions the reason for it as being that "he's the best." Huh? Sisko was assigned to DS9 in the first place when it was a backwater and he was a wholly unremarkable officer. Since then he's certainly proven himself, but in two arenas: diplomacy, and shooting things up with starships. Putting him in this situation is dementedly nonsensical. And since they can't shut up about how suicidal this mission is, they all clearly know what a waste of resources this could be.
But anyway, this is a general issue with Star Trek (television in general?). The leads have to do everything, even when it makes no sense. It's just especially egregious in this ep. So Sisko dresses up like a Klingon and takes along the following:
Worf: Would be very logical except for how recognizable he is. Bashir changes his forehead and hair and he still looks...exactly like Worf.
O'Brien: Best technician in the sector. Knowledge of Klingons/black ops = nil
Odo: Going through an identity crisis, also knows nothing about Klingons and since he is moping about how useless he is now that he can't shapeshift, he's probably worse at sneaking around than like a normal person would be.
Gul Dukat flies up in his Klingon Bird of Prey to take them to TyGokor, where Gowron is presiding over what is essentially a graduation ceremony where a bunch of Klingons get a B.A. in Badass. Dukat is one of the best villains of all time, even (rather, especially) when he's an ally. Still, this is in the middle of a weird period for him, when he's stripped of all political power and flying a BoP that he captured when he was serving as a freighter pilot. He's basically a snarky plot device in this episode, but he gets a hardcore moment that I'll get into below.
There's a bit here that reminds me of what TERRIBLE dialogue that Star Trek can have. I don't envy the writers, who have to deliver volumes of exposition reminding casual viewers how the technology of the setting works in the same hour time slot that all dramatic shows get. They often get away with it by just adopting a style in which all of the dialogue is somewhat stilted and free of slang. But sometimes is just sounds really unnatural. Dukat's flunky Damar (PAY ATTENTION TO HIM, even though he's a glorified extra at the moment) bitches and moans that they shouldn't be trying to expose Gowron and prevent war, but just drop a photon torpedo on him instead. Sisko rather reasonably points out that there are 30 fucking Klingon warships, space stations, planetary forcefields that would "stop a dozen torpedoes," and Damar just whines back that they are all a bunch of wusses.
HUH? Not gonna wind up head of the Cardassian Empire like that, Damar.
So their trip in the Dukat BoP (which somehow never got reported stolen or destroyed or anything) runs into trouble when another BoP shows up and queries them. Dukat brags for a moment how he's got this holofilter that lets him make visual contact with the Klingons, but it abruptly stops working. It looks like we are going to get a cute moment, very much in Star Trek tradition, where Dukat and his Cardassians clear the bridge and the disguised Starfleet guys have to save the day.
Instead, Dukat hits a button and BLOWS THE KLINGONS OUT OF SPACE.
Sisko and Worf complain and Dukat calls them fools (well he should have, the dialogue was more stilted than that).
The scene is a nice turnaround and builds Dukat's evil cred back up a little bit, but in my opinion the Cardassians are actually in the right here and Sisko is being dense. The Klingons are at war with the Federation and the Cardassians at the moment, and we'll find out in a few episodes that their idea of prisoners is "living bat'leth practice dummy." Blasting them with their shields down was indeed preferable to trusting the Starfleet guys, who at this point in the episode are being hastily trained by Worf to actually act like semi-credible Klingons for a few hours.
Speaking of which, that scene is cute as well but it really drives home what a bad idea this is. Sisko for some reason is an awesome Klingon despite having almost no knowledge of them. This is because it turns out that acting like a Klingon is literally just acting like a bellicose moron. O'Brien and Odo find this tricky.
So anyway, Dukat flies down the throat of the Klingon fleet and quite reasonably tells Sisko that he's getting the fuck out of there once he beams them down, seeing as how his holofilter is busted. This is a contrivance, of course, but I can forgive it. Dukat at this point in the series will stick his neck out a little for Sisko, but certainly no farther than this. He also points out that if they succeed, they'll be heroes to the Klingons, and if they don't, they're dead. Of course, there is another possible outcome (equipment failure) but no one brings this up.
Anyway, the Starfleet guys beam down among a few dozen frat boys...er, Klingons who are participating in a "ceremony" in which they have to drink bloodwine all night and still be awake for Gowron to pin medals on them in the morning. There are the requisite shenanigans and close calls as the Starfleet guys try to plant all four of their technobabble Changeling-exposer-balls. There is also a surprisingly dark moment where a Klingon brags about beaming aboard a Starfleet vessel and slaughtering the crew, including a friend of Sisko's. This is foreshadowing of the "war is hell" theme that will characterize the rest of the show, for better or worse. It's also a good look at the dark side (which is really, uh, the whole side) of those funny old Klingons. This was the best part of making them enemies again, it reminds us that they are really a bunch of vicious thugs. Sadly, this recurring motif of the middle of the series run largely fades when the Klingons become allies again, and they never stop wanking to how great Klingon "honor" is. Anyway, Sisko gets away with beating the guy up because that's just what Klingons do.
General Martok, who once attacked the station, shows up and finds the Starfleet agents very familiar-looking. Uh-oh. Bizarrely, he focuses on O'Brien, a man who he's never met, as opposed to Worf who he knows just fine and who doesn't even look any different. What.
Anyway, Gowron shows up! When he starts to pin a medal on Sisko, Martok's memory bells go off and he knocks Sisko down. Recognizing Sisko at least makes sense cause he's dealt with the guy, but still...Worf's right there! After the commercial break, all of the crew are sitting in a cell. Yes, this bunch of secret agents apparently just surrendered after the captain was exposed as opposed to dispersing into the crowd, or triggering their changeling trap which was already set up.
Gowron continues with the ceremony after locking up the enemy agents in a cell about 30 feet from the hall. Martok comes in and after a bit of posturing says that he too believes Gowron to be a changeling. Worf suggests that he challenge Gowron to a duel and kill him, thus exposing him. Martok brushes that off and says that he'll free them and they'll all go over and kill the son of a bitch right now. Well, isn't that SUSPICIOUSLY convenient?
This time, everyone carries the Idiot Ball except Odo. As the others charge into the room, Odo confronts Martok and basically calls HIM out as being the changeling because "A Klingon would have challenged Gowron. You're just trying to get us all to kill each other and leave you in charge, ergo, changeling." Keep in mind that Martok is HOLDING A GUN on Odo when he says this. All he has to do is shoot Odo and blame it on one of the other hundred armed Klingons around. Or, say "I'm not a changeling, just an asshole." Then shoot Odo.
But instead, the camera cuts away. The three "Klingons" (except Worf is a Klingon...shut up!) run into the room full of Klingons and Gowron actually tells his bodyguard to shut up and sit down while he fights Worf himself. He's a moron...ergo, Klingon. (Actually Gowron is usually rather slimy by Klingon standards, but he does have a serious grudge against Worf at this point.)
And at his point, Odo and Martok come staggering out of the hall wrestling. Where did Martok's gun go? Did Odo call him a changeling and THEN grab for his weapon and SUCCEED? Anyway, Martok throws Odo to the ground and Odo yells that Martok's a changeling.
Then Martok, rather than saying "Nuh-uh," decides to inexplicably, in full view, grow a tentacle and start throttling Odo.
BRILLIANT! That'll shut him up! Oh, wait, Klingons.
Sisko shoots the Changeling, and then so does EVERY KLINGON IN THE ROOM, causing the Changeling to writhe around getting shot for a few seconds and then explode with a whimper.
So Gowron has them flown back home, owing them something of a debt. But he still hates Worf, telling him that he should have killed him (that can't be foreshadowing can it?) and won't call off the war against the Feds completely without concessions (which might be the most realistic thing to happen in this show so far).
So to sum up, this episode had a lot of neat ideas, but really had a lot of stupid in it in order to make it's plot work. The idea of Odo being misled into offing the REAL Klingon leader, and having the Changeling be Martok, was a very nice one. It's just that the execution was very mediocre.
Oh, and for some reason the optical effects of the handheld weaponry are all awful and cheap looking. This will continue through for at least the next several episodes and really hurts the "War is Hell" thing that they are trying to go for.
Runabout Tally: The Rio Grande is damaged by Klingons off-screen when Sisko is flying it back to DS9 in the teaser. They never destroy this runabout, partly as an in-joke and partly so they can keep using stock footage of it, I expect. However, its mysterious invincible forcefields would be the only logical reason for Sisko to be able to fight off a Klingon attack in that thing and live.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Been awhile, sorry!
Where to begin! Well, the steel cage match clearly went nowhere. And for the past three weeks I've been with Courtney...first in MD, then here in Austin.
I'm going to be quite busy for the next...forever. But, I do need to unwind, and I'm trying to explore a couple ways to involve this blog (and my semi-existent readership).
I am considering a couple things, and I'm intending to try my hand at original fiction. More on that later, I'm just throwing down the gauntlet to myself.
For now though, I'm indulging a whim to revisit some old Star Trek episodes. I'm intending to review some and keep going if I'm having fun with it. Specifically, I'm giving season 5 of Deep Space Nine a try.
Some background: my family watched Star Trek every night a new episode aired since I was born. However, around about the time my brother was born, we gave up. Naturally part of it was that my brother was born and that wound up taking a bit of time. But, my parents were getting displeased with the direction Star Trek was going. DS9 was shifting to a serial format based around a story of impending war between the Federation and another power they discovered called the Dominion. They didn't want to see a "Star Trek" show turn into a "war story," and at the time I agreed. As for the other show playing concurrently, Voyager, well that just sucked on toast.
My other beef with DS9 is that it largely aped the format of another show that was on at the same time, Babylon 5. Paramount rather callously heard JMS' pitch for B5, tossed him out, and then took the same pitch to the Star Trek producers. In fact, the existence of a Star Trek show competing for the same viewers as a brand new sci-fi show almost murdered B5 in its crib. And B5 is one of my favorite shows, so...
But, the writers and the actors had nothing to do with those shenanigans, and DS9 did take on its own identity. So I'm picking up where I left off (I know the first four seasons of the show fairly well).
Hopefully I will entertain you even if you don't know (or care) much about Star Trek. :P
I'm going to be quite busy for the next...forever. But, I do need to unwind, and I'm trying to explore a couple ways to involve this blog (and my semi-existent readership).
I am considering a couple things, and I'm intending to try my hand at original fiction. More on that later, I'm just throwing down the gauntlet to myself.
For now though, I'm indulging a whim to revisit some old Star Trek episodes. I'm intending to review some and keep going if I'm having fun with it. Specifically, I'm giving season 5 of Deep Space Nine a try.
Some background: my family watched Star Trek every night a new episode aired since I was born. However, around about the time my brother was born, we gave up. Naturally part of it was that my brother was born and that wound up taking a bit of time. But, my parents were getting displeased with the direction Star Trek was going. DS9 was shifting to a serial format based around a story of impending war between the Federation and another power they discovered called the Dominion. They didn't want to see a "Star Trek" show turn into a "war story," and at the time I agreed. As for the other show playing concurrently, Voyager, well that just sucked on toast.
My other beef with DS9 is that it largely aped the format of another show that was on at the same time, Babylon 5. Paramount rather callously heard JMS' pitch for B5, tossed him out, and then took the same pitch to the Star Trek producers. In fact, the existence of a Star Trek show competing for the same viewers as a brand new sci-fi show almost murdered B5 in its crib. And B5 is one of my favorite shows, so...
But, the writers and the actors had nothing to do with those shenanigans, and DS9 did take on its own identity. So I'm picking up where I left off (I know the first four seasons of the show fairly well).
Hopefully I will entertain you even if you don't know (or care) much about Star Trek. :P
Saturday, February 27, 2010
STUART VS. DEVON: STEEL CAGE MATCH OVER HEALTH CARE!
I'll let them elaborate.
Background: if you click over to my Facebook profile here, you'll see that the fourth-most-recent item that I posted has sparked a rather lengthy discussion. I've offered this as a more appropriate forum.
As for my own opinion, I will no doubt write more but for now, it is worth saying that I am in two majorities; those who want health care reform, and those who disapprove of the current bill. I support its passage only because it remains better than nothing at all.
"To be sure, Americans seem close to evenly divided on the question of whether the proposal goes too far or not far enough. But the latter category outnumbers the former, suggesting that the desire that reform be more ambitious is a key factor driving dissatisfaction with Obama — even though that possibility is rarely discussed by the big news orgs or by top-shelf pundits."
-from here
Background: if you click over to my Facebook profile here, you'll see that the fourth-most-recent item that I posted has sparked a rather lengthy discussion. I've offered this as a more appropriate forum.
As for my own opinion, I will no doubt write more but for now, it is worth saying that I am in two majorities; those who want health care reform, and those who disapprove of the current bill. I support its passage only because it remains better than nothing at all.
"To be sure, Americans seem close to evenly divided on the question of whether the proposal goes too far or not far enough. But the latter category outnumbers the former, suggesting that the desire that reform be more ambitious is a key factor driving dissatisfaction with Obama — even though that possibility is rarely discussed by the big news orgs or by top-shelf pundits."
-from here
Friday, February 19, 2010
Review of Watchmen: the Ultimate Cut
Review of Watchmen Ultimate Cut
It's difficult to overstate the impact that Watchmen had on the comics industry. Written as a deconstruction of the entire superhero genre, using slightly altered versions of classic Charlton Comics characters, the book has won a Hugo and been named one of the best 100 novels of the 20th century by Time magazine. It led to a period of "dark and edgy" in superhero comics that, 25 years later, shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
The book starts as a simple mystery story and ends up tying together the histories and deepest secrets of at least a dozen characters, who populate a bizarre version of 1980s America. A costumed hero "fad" has given way to an era of stupefied terror as the emergence of an American godlike superhero sends the Cold War careening towards turning hot and nuclear. There are dozens of plotlines, most of which interweave and comment on each other through the narrative so densely that virtually every panel caption has two meanings, if not more.
It was insanity to make a movie out of it. It's mind-boggling that it's a good movie.
Fortunately, after years of development hell (scripts would periodically leak on the Internet to howls of justified rage) Warner Brothers found their man: Zach Snyder. The only other major motion picture credit to Snyder's name is 300, another graphic novel adaptation and a film that I found fairly dreadful. However, virtually all of what was wrong with it was the original writer's fault.
When I heard the news, I knew Snyder was the right man for the job. With 300, he showed the following traits:
1. A real knack for finding the right balance of adaptation: keeping the look and feel and words of the comic while changing and adding what was needed.
2. A talent for action scenes that borders on the hypnotic: brutality as poetry. In these days of post-Matrix backlash, Snyder is one of the few directors unapologetically using slow-motion, which, while agonizing if overused, does work for certain things. Namely, capturing the look and dynamism of a comics panel.
3. Extreme attention to detail.
What I learned about Snyder in the coming months is that he's also got brass balls...he took his one successful movie and told the studio that he alone was going to make Watchmen, and do it his way--set in the 1980s, chock full of historical references, with the novel's brutal ending, and NO SEQUEL HOOKS--or he would take a hike and they'd be left with the rubbish scripts they'd started with.
They gave him a big pile of money and stood back.
As adaptation, this work exceeds the standard set by Peter Jackson in The Lord of the Rings. Every main character's arc is present and faithful, and the look of the movie is just surpassingly so. Considering that this is a Hollywood comic book movie, anything else is nitpicking, right from square one.
However, I'm a geek, reviewing a geek movie, so I'm obliged.
As noted in the title, I'm actually reviewing the three-hour cut of the movie that was released on DVD. This version of the film includes the comic-within-a-comic that paralleled the main narrative in Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter. This element of the work was the FIRST thing cut out of every adaptation, including this one that made it to the big screen. However, Snyder went and made it anyway, as a hand-drawn animation of very good quality. It was sold as a DVD companion piece and now is incorporated into the film, with connecting segments. The extra scenes from the first "Director's Cut" of the film are also included, but as I have not seen that version I can only compare this version with the one I saw in the theater.
The theatrical cut is probably slightly superior to this cut as a movie. The odd structure of the film (it is actually patterned closer to the novel's 12-issue structure than to the typical film's three-act structure) means that audiences are especially susceptible to feeling that the movie is too long and awkwardly paced. As a result, and of necessity, the theatrical experience is more focused. Snyder slips under the three hour mark by moving from scene to scene with almost cutthroat efficiency. This is an admirable achievement, especially considering all of the material he did successfully include verbatim from the novel. However, it is essentially the opposite of what the experience of reading Watchmen is like.
The actual plot of the movie and the book are actually extremely simple, if memorable. It's the motivations, revealed through the backstories, of all the characters that truly elevate the work. And so, in general, the scenes in the Ultimate Cut fulfill their purpose of creating a still truer adaptation of the book.
I did say in general. Some are more successful than others.
-The first added scene is a short bit where Rorschach beats up two cops, and Dan and Hollis hear about it on the news. This was apparently to establish that Rorschach isn't on the cops' side per se, but sees them as fellow travelers and won't kill them. It also establishes that Rorschach is the last active hero. If you've seen the theatrical cut, you know that this establishes nothing that we didn't find out later. It's not from the book, it's not needed in the movie, so it shouldn't be in. It's fat.
-The other "creative" added scene is one where Laurie feuds with government agents after Manhattan's departure. It captures a bit of the feel of a similar scene in the novel without slavishly adhering to it. Unfortunately, it both resolves a major plot hole...and adds a new one!
See, at the climax of the film, Laurie shoots Adrian. In the comic, Chekhov's Gun is established earlier in the same issue, when she takes it from a dead police officer. This had multiple meanings--she takes a weapon from one of Adrian's victims to use against him, and she is becoming more like her recently-revealed, gunslinging father, the Comedian.
In the theatrical cut, she pulls the gun out of nowhere. This is the biggest plot hole in the movie.
In this cut, she takes the gun from a government agent who's trying to detain her. The problem? Well, it makes little sense that she doesn't use it in a later scene when she is fighting for her life from muggers (this scene is particularly brutal in Snyder's interpretation, so...why not pull the gun?). It stays with her through a costume change (not a costume where you can conceal much, by the by). And, the gun she takes from the agent is an autoloader, while the one she uses at the end is a novel-accurate revolver.
So...yeah. Didn't help us much, wasn't necessary, nothing to see here.
-Scene with Laurie and the Comedian. The movie just barely got away with cutting this out in the first place. I think it's essential and am glad to see it back.
-The best added scene is the death of Hollis Mason. Being non-essential to the plot, it was a hated casualty of the editing process, despite being one of the most powerful and traumatic scenes of the book. There's nothing I can really say about the adaptation of this scene...it's beautiful, and it's back where it belongs. It also leads to a brilliant followup scene where Dan must be restrained from killing a suspect of the crime by Rorschach of all people. "Not in front of the civilians."
-I'll talk about Tales of the Black Freighter and the attendant connective tissue in one chunk. Tales is a comic in the universe of Watchmen, which saw a fall in interest in superhero comics once heroes became "real." Therefore, comics about other subjects, like pirates, became popular. The first cut to the Black Freighter world is very jarring, but in the rest of the scenes, as in the novel, it segues in and out with scenes at a New York newsstand. The story itself parallels many things in the main narrative, most notably Adrian's descent into blood-soaked guilt.
The animation and voice work is really cool. It feels very much like the B-17 segment of Heavy Metal, which is certainly an appropriate (and horrific) homage for the time period. Gerard Butler spends the whole time talking to himself, but he sells the difficult task of making very overwrought text of a spin into madness come alive without being hokey.
The only disappointment is that the central conceit of the Tale--that the entire attack was orchestrated to cause the main character to slip into madness and join the demon pirate crew--is less than clear, thanks to certain wording rearrangements and omissions in the last scene. It almost looks like they're going to kill the poor bastard instead. Also, the "MORE BLOOD" chant of the pirates comes off as silly.
The other thing is that because it's inserted into a movie that essentially already exists, it can't interact with the main story quite as extensively as it does in the book. I'm fine with this, as rapid intercutting would have been obnoxious and destroyed the flow of the story. However, it does weaken the connection of the comic to the main narrative, and some viewers might then deem it pointless.
The connecting scenes are great though because we see the bond between the newsstand guy and the comics-loving kid. It's even got another little twist in this version because the kid is bullied. This adds a much more personal punch in the gut when New York is destroyed right under these two characters' feet. We also get foreshadowing of Rorschach's love of the "New Frontiersman" magazine. These little touches were sorely missed in the theatrical cut, which had to sacrifice emotional impact and clarity for time.
Final verdict on the DVD set: buy it if you're a fan. It's worth $40 to have absolutely everything that was released for this film except for the Director's Cut, which IMO is pointless between the concise cut and the most complete cut. It's a five disc set, but two of them are just the "motion comic" which I don't particularly care about. Still, one of the other discs has "Under the Hood," which is a fake "60 Minutes"-style TV news report that is a great way to adapt the Hollis Mason autobiography segments that were part of the original novel. The complicated relationships of the original heroes are simplified slightly, and an odd romantic dimension is added between Hollis and Sally, but it's still great to watch and very fun to see the old heroes in action. If you liked the opening sequence of the movie (which is hands-down beautiful) then you should like this.
Some brief thoughts on the movie in general (these apply equally to both cuts):
-The change in the ending: fine. And you can tell, because it's debated whether it's a better ending PERIOD, not a better ending for the film. It's the ONLY ending for the film, and it's less of an intellectual "you'll never see THIS coming" exercise. It does not one tiny bit of damage to Adrian or his motives, and the mechanism for the people of Earth's continued compliance with peace is much more believable.
-Laurie. In some ways, 25 more years of feminism has made her a stronger character in demeanor. She fights just as hard as Dan and she doesn't carry a FUCKING PURSE around. However, she suffered the most of any character as far as cut scenes (see above) and her utter hatred of the Comedian and Rorschach is virtually absent. This inevitably weakens the big reveal later, which should be a MASSIVE moment. It's not really as believable in the film that this brings her whole world crashing down, and since it's a pivotal scene...yeah. We could have used a few more minutes of Laurie.
-Matthew Goode, you were a great Adrian. Stop kicking yourself. I'm not sure he needed to be so obviously gay, as his sexuality is totally ambiguous in the book, but that's certainly Snyder's decision instead of yours. You can decide for yourself the implications of having the gay guy be the smartest and strongest man in the world, who is also a bazillionaire, who is also a liberal, who is also a mass-murderer and opportunist.
It's difficult to overstate the impact that Watchmen had on the comics industry. Written as a deconstruction of the entire superhero genre, using slightly altered versions of classic Charlton Comics characters, the book has won a Hugo and been named one of the best 100 novels of the 20th century by Time magazine. It led to a period of "dark and edgy" in superhero comics that, 25 years later, shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.
The book starts as a simple mystery story and ends up tying together the histories and deepest secrets of at least a dozen characters, who populate a bizarre version of 1980s America. A costumed hero "fad" has given way to an era of stupefied terror as the emergence of an American godlike superhero sends the Cold War careening towards turning hot and nuclear. There are dozens of plotlines, most of which interweave and comment on each other through the narrative so densely that virtually every panel caption has two meanings, if not more.
It was insanity to make a movie out of it. It's mind-boggling that it's a good movie.
Fortunately, after years of development hell (scripts would periodically leak on the Internet to howls of justified rage) Warner Brothers found their man: Zach Snyder. The only other major motion picture credit to Snyder's name is 300, another graphic novel adaptation and a film that I found fairly dreadful. However, virtually all of what was wrong with it was the original writer's fault.
When I heard the news, I knew Snyder was the right man for the job. With 300, he showed the following traits:
1. A real knack for finding the right balance of adaptation: keeping the look and feel and words of the comic while changing and adding what was needed.
2. A talent for action scenes that borders on the hypnotic: brutality as poetry. In these days of post-Matrix backlash, Snyder is one of the few directors unapologetically using slow-motion, which, while agonizing if overused, does work for certain things. Namely, capturing the look and dynamism of a comics panel.
3. Extreme attention to detail.
What I learned about Snyder in the coming months is that he's also got brass balls...he took his one successful movie and told the studio that he alone was going to make Watchmen, and do it his way--set in the 1980s, chock full of historical references, with the novel's brutal ending, and NO SEQUEL HOOKS--or he would take a hike and they'd be left with the rubbish scripts they'd started with.
They gave him a big pile of money and stood back.
As adaptation, this work exceeds the standard set by Peter Jackson in The Lord of the Rings. Every main character's arc is present and faithful, and the look of the movie is just surpassingly so. Considering that this is a Hollywood comic book movie, anything else is nitpicking, right from square one.
However, I'm a geek, reviewing a geek movie, so I'm obliged.
As noted in the title, I'm actually reviewing the three-hour cut of the movie that was released on DVD. This version of the film includes the comic-within-a-comic that paralleled the main narrative in Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter. This element of the work was the FIRST thing cut out of every adaptation, including this one that made it to the big screen. However, Snyder went and made it anyway, as a hand-drawn animation of very good quality. It was sold as a DVD companion piece and now is incorporated into the film, with connecting segments. The extra scenes from the first "Director's Cut" of the film are also included, but as I have not seen that version I can only compare this version with the one I saw in the theater.
The theatrical cut is probably slightly superior to this cut as a movie. The odd structure of the film (it is actually patterned closer to the novel's 12-issue structure than to the typical film's three-act structure) means that audiences are especially susceptible to feeling that the movie is too long and awkwardly paced. As a result, and of necessity, the theatrical experience is more focused. Snyder slips under the three hour mark by moving from scene to scene with almost cutthroat efficiency. This is an admirable achievement, especially considering all of the material he did successfully include verbatim from the novel. However, it is essentially the opposite of what the experience of reading Watchmen is like.
The actual plot of the movie and the book are actually extremely simple, if memorable. It's the motivations, revealed through the backstories, of all the characters that truly elevate the work. And so, in general, the scenes in the Ultimate Cut fulfill their purpose of creating a still truer adaptation of the book.
I did say in general. Some are more successful than others.
-The first added scene is a short bit where Rorschach beats up two cops, and Dan and Hollis hear about it on the news. This was apparently to establish that Rorschach isn't on the cops' side per se, but sees them as fellow travelers and won't kill them. It also establishes that Rorschach is the last active hero. If you've seen the theatrical cut, you know that this establishes nothing that we didn't find out later. It's not from the book, it's not needed in the movie, so it shouldn't be in. It's fat.
-The other "creative" added scene is one where Laurie feuds with government agents after Manhattan's departure. It captures a bit of the feel of a similar scene in the novel without slavishly adhering to it. Unfortunately, it both resolves a major plot hole...and adds a new one!
See, at the climax of the film, Laurie shoots Adrian. In the comic, Chekhov's Gun is established earlier in the same issue, when she takes it from a dead police officer. This had multiple meanings--she takes a weapon from one of Adrian's victims to use against him, and she is becoming more like her recently-revealed, gunslinging father, the Comedian.
In the theatrical cut, she pulls the gun out of nowhere. This is the biggest plot hole in the movie.
In this cut, she takes the gun from a government agent who's trying to detain her. The problem? Well, it makes little sense that she doesn't use it in a later scene when she is fighting for her life from muggers (this scene is particularly brutal in Snyder's interpretation, so...why not pull the gun?). It stays with her through a costume change (not a costume where you can conceal much, by the by). And, the gun she takes from the agent is an autoloader, while the one she uses at the end is a novel-accurate revolver.
So...yeah. Didn't help us much, wasn't necessary, nothing to see here.
-Scene with Laurie and the Comedian. The movie just barely got away with cutting this out in the first place. I think it's essential and am glad to see it back.
-The best added scene is the death of Hollis Mason. Being non-essential to the plot, it was a hated casualty of the editing process, despite being one of the most powerful and traumatic scenes of the book. There's nothing I can really say about the adaptation of this scene...it's beautiful, and it's back where it belongs. It also leads to a brilliant followup scene where Dan must be restrained from killing a suspect of the crime by Rorschach of all people. "Not in front of the civilians."
-I'll talk about Tales of the Black Freighter and the attendant connective tissue in one chunk. Tales is a comic in the universe of Watchmen, which saw a fall in interest in superhero comics once heroes became "real." Therefore, comics about other subjects, like pirates, became popular. The first cut to the Black Freighter world is very jarring, but in the rest of the scenes, as in the novel, it segues in and out with scenes at a New York newsstand. The story itself parallels many things in the main narrative, most notably Adrian's descent into blood-soaked guilt.
The animation and voice work is really cool. It feels very much like the B-17 segment of Heavy Metal, which is certainly an appropriate (and horrific) homage for the time period. Gerard Butler spends the whole time talking to himself, but he sells the difficult task of making very overwrought text of a spin into madness come alive without being hokey.
The only disappointment is that the central conceit of the Tale--that the entire attack was orchestrated to cause the main character to slip into madness and join the demon pirate crew--is less than clear, thanks to certain wording rearrangements and omissions in the last scene. It almost looks like they're going to kill the poor bastard instead. Also, the "MORE BLOOD" chant of the pirates comes off as silly.
The other thing is that because it's inserted into a movie that essentially already exists, it can't interact with the main story quite as extensively as it does in the book. I'm fine with this, as rapid intercutting would have been obnoxious and destroyed the flow of the story. However, it does weaken the connection of the comic to the main narrative, and some viewers might then deem it pointless.
The connecting scenes are great though because we see the bond between the newsstand guy and the comics-loving kid. It's even got another little twist in this version because the kid is bullied. This adds a much more personal punch in the gut when New York is destroyed right under these two characters' feet. We also get foreshadowing of Rorschach's love of the "New Frontiersman" magazine. These little touches were sorely missed in the theatrical cut, which had to sacrifice emotional impact and clarity for time.
Final verdict on the DVD set: buy it if you're a fan. It's worth $40 to have absolutely everything that was released for this film except for the Director's Cut, which IMO is pointless between the concise cut and the most complete cut. It's a five disc set, but two of them are just the "motion comic" which I don't particularly care about. Still, one of the other discs has "Under the Hood," which is a fake "60 Minutes"-style TV news report that is a great way to adapt the Hollis Mason autobiography segments that were part of the original novel. The complicated relationships of the original heroes are simplified slightly, and an odd romantic dimension is added between Hollis and Sally, but it's still great to watch and very fun to see the old heroes in action. If you liked the opening sequence of the movie (which is hands-down beautiful) then you should like this.
Some brief thoughts on the movie in general (these apply equally to both cuts):
-The change in the ending: fine. And you can tell, because it's debated whether it's a better ending PERIOD, not a better ending for the film. It's the ONLY ending for the film, and it's less of an intellectual "you'll never see THIS coming" exercise. It does not one tiny bit of damage to Adrian or his motives, and the mechanism for the people of Earth's continued compliance with peace is much more believable.
-Laurie. In some ways, 25 more years of feminism has made her a stronger character in demeanor. She fights just as hard as Dan and she doesn't carry a FUCKING PURSE around. However, she suffered the most of any character as far as cut scenes (see above) and her utter hatred of the Comedian and Rorschach is virtually absent. This inevitably weakens the big reveal later, which should be a MASSIVE moment. It's not really as believable in the film that this brings her whole world crashing down, and since it's a pivotal scene...yeah. We could have used a few more minutes of Laurie.
-Matthew Goode, you were a great Adrian. Stop kicking yourself. I'm not sure he needed to be so obviously gay, as his sexuality is totally ambiguous in the book, but that's certainly Snyder's decision instead of yours. You can decide for yourself the implications of having the gay guy be the smartest and strongest man in the world, who is also a bazillionaire, who is also a liberal, who is also a mass-murderer and opportunist.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Some Thoughts on Valentine's Day
Unlike many of you, I don't hate Valentine's Day.
I don't have a particularly burning reason to like it, either. I don't believe in saints, for one, and Mr. Valentine did nothing particularly notable either. The cynicism and commercialism with which this holiday was created do nothing to endear me to it, either.
Certainly, I would further agree that one needs no excuse to make your partner's day as special as you can.
And yes, some couples are really annoying on Valentine's Day, especially when one is single.
However...
As an atheist, I don't celebrate any holidays for religious reasons. Though, I do celebrate some religious holidays for secular reasons. I.e., I don't believe they are "holy days." However, I see no burning reason to sacrifice my cultural background on the altar of rationality either. Like it or not, I grew up with Valentine's Day as a special day, so I'll always remember it.
And yes, it can have meaning for you and your partner. That doesn't mean that you somehow leech romance out of other days and "save it up" for Valentine's Day. You don't use up an allotment of love during the year. However, you can't be buying flowers and doing special things on every last day, either, once you and your partner settle into a routine. They aren't "special" things if you are trying to top yourself 24/7.
I think many people benefit from having a few more-or-less arbitrary days during the year to reflect on their relationship, and break out of their routine. Like anniversaries, birthdays, celebrations of a loved one's accomplishments, and why not, throw in Valentine's Day. Just as Mother's Day and Father's Day inspire us to remember our parents, Valentine's Day is set aside for lovers, or friends, or whoever you decide your Valentines are.
Saying that Valentine's Day cheapens love is like saying that Christmas cheapens giving.
It's just an arbitrary THING humans do. We like our yearly cycles. Recognize whichever ones you prefer. It's certainly fair to think they are commercial and crass...but just be nice to people who disagree.
Anyway, me and my Valentine are passing our first Feb. 14 quietly, connected by the magic of the Internet. I sent a card, which was eaten by the snowstorm (it will get there eventually!). Since she's awesomer then me, she sent me a teddy bear, hot chocolate, Zombieland, and a wonderful card. But we don't love each other any more, or any less, on this day. It's just a day.
A GOOD day.
I don't have a particularly burning reason to like it, either. I don't believe in saints, for one, and Mr. Valentine did nothing particularly notable either. The cynicism and commercialism with which this holiday was created do nothing to endear me to it, either.
Certainly, I would further agree that one needs no excuse to make your partner's day as special as you can.
And yes, some couples are really annoying on Valentine's Day, especially when one is single.
However...
As an atheist, I don't celebrate any holidays for religious reasons. Though, I do celebrate some religious holidays for secular reasons. I.e., I don't believe they are "holy days." However, I see no burning reason to sacrifice my cultural background on the altar of rationality either. Like it or not, I grew up with Valentine's Day as a special day, so I'll always remember it.
And yes, it can have meaning for you and your partner. That doesn't mean that you somehow leech romance out of other days and "save it up" for Valentine's Day. You don't use up an allotment of love during the year. However, you can't be buying flowers and doing special things on every last day, either, once you and your partner settle into a routine. They aren't "special" things if you are trying to top yourself 24/7.
I think many people benefit from having a few more-or-less arbitrary days during the year to reflect on their relationship, and break out of their routine. Like anniversaries, birthdays, celebrations of a loved one's accomplishments, and why not, throw in Valentine's Day. Just as Mother's Day and Father's Day inspire us to remember our parents, Valentine's Day is set aside for lovers, or friends, or whoever you decide your Valentines are.
Saying that Valentine's Day cheapens love is like saying that Christmas cheapens giving.
It's just an arbitrary THING humans do. We like our yearly cycles. Recognize whichever ones you prefer. It's certainly fair to think they are commercial and crass...but just be nice to people who disagree.
Anyway, me and my Valentine are passing our first Feb. 14 quietly, connected by the magic of the Internet. I sent a card, which was eaten by the snowstorm (it will get there eventually!). Since she's awesomer then me, she sent me a teddy bear, hot chocolate, Zombieland, and a wonderful card. But we don't love each other any more, or any less, on this day. It's just a day.
A GOOD day.
Friday, January 29, 2010
James Cameron wins at life
Top-grossing films worldwide:
1. Avatar
2. Titanic
Top-grossing films in US and Canada
1. Titanic
2. The Dark Knight
3. Avatar
Titanic and Avatar are the only two theatrical films the guy has made in 12 years.
This man can now do ANYTHING HE WANTS in Hollywood. Period. I can't even comprehend that amount of casual winnage.
"Fuck, I don't even make a movie if it's not going to be the most popular thing in the world. Why even bother?"
1. Avatar
2. Titanic
Top-grossing films in US and Canada
1. Titanic
2. The Dark Knight
3. Avatar
Titanic and Avatar are the only two theatrical films the guy has made in 12 years.
This man can now do ANYTHING HE WANTS in Hollywood. Period. I can't even comprehend that amount of casual winnage.
"Fuck, I don't even make a movie if it's not going to be the most popular thing in the world. Why even bother?"
Monday, January 25, 2010
Self-reflection
So I'm watching Spectacular Spider-Man on YouTube and I'm wondering why I'm rooting so hard for Gwen Stacy to wind up with Peter. In Ultimate Spider-Man I vastly prefer Mary Jane, and I like MJ better in the movie series too.
Then it hits me: I always go for the nerdier one. Never fails.
Good thing I found a nerdy one myself. :D
Then it hits me: I always go for the nerdier one. Never fails.
Good thing I found a nerdy one myself. :D
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Double Feature Review: The Fifth Element and Mars Attacks
Just saw a couple movies at the Paramount Theater here in Austin that I didn't really appreciate when they came out. This time, however, I greatly enjoyed them and would recommend them to anyone for at least a rent, though they are still hardly masterpieces.
Waaaay back in 1997, my favorite movies were The Lost World, Independence Day, and Batman Forever. Shudder. I even liked Batman & Robin and Godzilla (1998) when they came out, two movies that I now loathe beyond all others. What can I say, I was a stupid little kid. Two movies that I didn't like so much, because they weren't as flashy, weren't as conventional, and the humor was marginally more sophisticated, were The Fifth Element and Mars Attacks! And those were the movies that I decided to give another chance to last night.
The Fifth Element is a Bruce Willis sci-fi/action flick that is really a weird beast. It's probably most remembered for its depiction of New York in 2214, a crazy city of towers and beat-up hovercars that was influenced by Blade Runner and Heavy Metal and in turn influenced Attack of the Clones and other sci-fi movies. If you're male, however, you might remember it for nearly-naked Milla Jovovich and some of the most over-the-top small arms in sci-fi.
The plot is bizarre, and that helped turn me off to the movie way back when...it's sort of a Dungeons and Dragons plot stuck into sci-fi (there are even space orcs). Stones representing the four classical elements (!) plus a "perfect life form" (Jovovich) representing the "Fifth Element, life" all have to be gathered in one place every five thousand years to defeat Evil, which for some reason is a big flaming planet that appears out of nowhere whenever three other planets are "in alignment." I remember being bothered by exactly how little the nature and motives of Evil are ever discussed...in fact, its hardly *in* the movie except for the beginning and the end. We only see his henchman, Zorg (Gary Oldman), who despite having no motive that makes sense is extremely watchable. Oh, and Evil can make people bleed from the forehead for some reason. Yeah.
So that part of the movie isn't any better than I remembered, but I do appreciate several "elements" that flew way over my head as a kid. First off, there are a few scenes (notably in the opera) where the use of music to enhance the action is extraordinary. Second, despite having an extremely simple germ of a plot, Besson (the director) somehow executes it in the most twisted and darkly amusing of ways. For instance, the main character Korben Dallas (Willis) is a badass ex-special forces major who the government wants to travel to some planet and retrieve the four stones. So they rig a contest so that he is made the winner, so that he has a berth on the ship that's going there. However, as the military is showing up to brief him on this mission, the "perfect being" shows up with a priest in tow, who also wants the elements. The police also shows up to arrest Dallas on behalf of some of the villains, who are feuding with Zorg. Dallas tricks the police into taking the wrong guy, gets KOed by the priest who takes his ticket, then accepts the military mission. One frozen general, disguised alien, and exploding guy later, no fewer than FOUR "Korben Dallases" try to board that plane.
I'm still not sure I understand why the movie is as popular as it is, as it's not very good, but it's better than I remembered, mostly for the madcap second act (the first and third are weak). It's also got a good mix of humor and action, and a knack for surprising you.
Mars Attacks! is nothing but black humor, which I didn't always appreciate as a kid. It's also quite slow at times, until the Martians really start attacking in earnest. Still, I found myself laughing quite a bit, because the film excels in setting up worthless, imbecilic characters who are then killed by Martians in amusing and outrageous ways. Especially these days, watching Martians blow up Congress--to raucous laughter from one of the characters--is nothing short of therapeutic. And the visual effects are of a sort that you don't often see anymore: rejecting realism in favor of just looking cool and fascinating (and funny!).
I'm not the biggest Tim Burton fan, but this is one of my favorite of his films, now that I appreciate it more. And the ending takes the piss out of The War of the Worlds so hard that I'm amazed Spielberg remade it a few years later. (It's actually a more direct reference to Godzilla vs. Monster Zero.) Again, far from the greatest flick but well worth watching once if you want to see a bunch of movie stars acting like assholes and getting blown away, not to mention some loving homages to old-school alien and disaster movies.
Waaaay back in 1997, my favorite movies were The Lost World, Independence Day, and Batman Forever. Shudder. I even liked Batman & Robin and Godzilla (1998) when they came out, two movies that I now loathe beyond all others. What can I say, I was a stupid little kid. Two movies that I didn't like so much, because they weren't as flashy, weren't as conventional, and the humor was marginally more sophisticated, were The Fifth Element and Mars Attacks! And those were the movies that I decided to give another chance to last night.
The Fifth Element is a Bruce Willis sci-fi/action flick that is really a weird beast. It's probably most remembered for its depiction of New York in 2214, a crazy city of towers and beat-up hovercars that was influenced by Blade Runner and Heavy Metal and in turn influenced Attack of the Clones and other sci-fi movies. If you're male, however, you might remember it for nearly-naked Milla Jovovich and some of the most over-the-top small arms in sci-fi.
The plot is bizarre, and that helped turn me off to the movie way back when...it's sort of a Dungeons and Dragons plot stuck into sci-fi (there are even space orcs). Stones representing the four classical elements (!) plus a "perfect life form" (Jovovich) representing the "Fifth Element, life" all have to be gathered in one place every five thousand years to defeat Evil, which for some reason is a big flaming planet that appears out of nowhere whenever three other planets are "in alignment." I remember being bothered by exactly how little the nature and motives of Evil are ever discussed...in fact, its hardly *in* the movie except for the beginning and the end. We only see his henchman, Zorg (Gary Oldman), who despite having no motive that makes sense is extremely watchable. Oh, and Evil can make people bleed from the forehead for some reason. Yeah.
So that part of the movie isn't any better than I remembered, but I do appreciate several "elements" that flew way over my head as a kid. First off, there are a few scenes (notably in the opera) where the use of music to enhance the action is extraordinary. Second, despite having an extremely simple germ of a plot, Besson (the director) somehow executes it in the most twisted and darkly amusing of ways. For instance, the main character Korben Dallas (Willis) is a badass ex-special forces major who the government wants to travel to some planet and retrieve the four stones. So they rig a contest so that he is made the winner, so that he has a berth on the ship that's going there. However, as the military is showing up to brief him on this mission, the "perfect being" shows up with a priest in tow, who also wants the elements. The police also shows up to arrest Dallas on behalf of some of the villains, who are feuding with Zorg. Dallas tricks the police into taking the wrong guy, gets KOed by the priest who takes his ticket, then accepts the military mission. One frozen general, disguised alien, and exploding guy later, no fewer than FOUR "Korben Dallases" try to board that plane.
I'm still not sure I understand why the movie is as popular as it is, as it's not very good, but it's better than I remembered, mostly for the madcap second act (the first and third are weak). It's also got a good mix of humor and action, and a knack for surprising you.
Mars Attacks! is nothing but black humor, which I didn't always appreciate as a kid. It's also quite slow at times, until the Martians really start attacking in earnest. Still, I found myself laughing quite a bit, because the film excels in setting up worthless, imbecilic characters who are then killed by Martians in amusing and outrageous ways. Especially these days, watching Martians blow up Congress--to raucous laughter from one of the characters--is nothing short of therapeutic. And the visual effects are of a sort that you don't often see anymore: rejecting realism in favor of just looking cool and fascinating (and funny!).
I'm not the biggest Tim Burton fan, but this is one of my favorite of his films, now that I appreciate it more. And the ending takes the piss out of The War of the Worlds so hard that I'm amazed Spielberg remade it a few years later. (It's actually a more direct reference to Godzilla vs. Monster Zero.) Again, far from the greatest flick but well worth watching once if you want to see a bunch of movie stars acting like assholes and getting blown away, not to mention some loving homages to old-school alien and disaster movies.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
I think I just added myself as a follower, and I can't figure out how to take myself off. It's not that I'm so egotistical that I'm following myself, it's that I'm an idiot.
Anyway, as long as I'm procrastinating here I wanted to post some gems from my core course notebook. A few were recorded today, while others are from last semester:
Dr. Ryan: You can't just take a human baby and eat it and see if it gives you cancer. (The best part about this one is it actually made sense in context.)
(While taking a quiz)
Chad: I'll just grade this myself...zeeeeero.
(General laughter)
(Several minutes of scribbling pass)
Ammon: (loudly) Hey, I found a dollar!
(General hilarity)
Dr. Liebold (pointing at a graph): So, you could put a predator smiley over here, and a prey...sad face, over here.
Also Dr. Liebold: Think of mathematicians as a tool. Like a computer. Just check 'em out from somewhere if you need one. Ok, ok, you might have to buy 'em beer.
From my notes, written in the margin next to the phrase "Evolution stabilizing force?": "Good name for band."
Woo, grad school, just a barrel of laughs right?
Anyway, as long as I'm procrastinating here I wanted to post some gems from my core course notebook. A few were recorded today, while others are from last semester:
Dr. Ryan: You can't just take a human baby and eat it and see if it gives you cancer. (The best part about this one is it actually made sense in context.)
(While taking a quiz)
Chad: I'll just grade this myself...zeeeeero.
(General laughter)
(Several minutes of scribbling pass)
Ammon: (loudly) Hey, I found a dollar!
(General hilarity)
Dr. Liebold (pointing at a graph): So, you could put a predator smiley over here, and a prey...sad face, over here.
Also Dr. Liebold: Think of mathematicians as a tool. Like a computer. Just check 'em out from somewhere if you need one. Ok, ok, you might have to buy 'em beer.
From my notes, written in the margin next to the phrase "Evolution stabilizing force?": "Good name for band."
Woo, grad school, just a barrel of laughs right?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
My Character Sheet
Patrick Stinson
Player Name: Patrick
Character Name: Patrick
Height: 5'11'' (The metric system is not used on character sheets!)
Weight: 158 lbs
Alignment: Lawful Good (with a touch of Frustrated)
Allegiances: Progressive politics, gay rights, SCIENCE, speculative fiction, Hasbro
Fandoms: Star Wars, Star Trek, Godzilla, Lord of the Rings, D&D (no kidding), Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, Transformers
God: None
Strength 9
Constitution 13
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 16
Wisdom 7
Charisma 12
Attack Bonus -2 (flail [not the kind with the ball and chain])
+5 (logical argument [90% of opponents ignore this attack])
Defenses 10 AC 11 Fortitude (+5 against all disease other than rhinovirus)
9 Reflex 14 Will (-5 against buying Transformers and helping folks move)
Spells Known:
Conjure Adventure: The caster can throw together a decent, you know, not-half-bad sort of adventure for game night. Casting time 1 hr/satisfied player.
EPIC Smackdown/Fail: The caster rolls opposed Intelligence and Charisma checks against an online adversary. If one succeeds, all present agree that the caster has pwned this n00b. If both fail, the caster is banished in shame.
Charm Lady: The caster rolls a d20. If he rolls a critical success, he has charmed the lady. If he rolls above a 15, the lady will continue to be his friend. If he rolls above 10, the lady will continue to speak to him. Special note: all results will be treated as 20 if the caster already has a girlfriend with the exception of the girlfriend's sister, who treats all such rolls as a "1."
Skills: Seminar Discussion +5, Experimental Design +4, Logic +6, Creating D&D Characters +8, Game Mastering +7, Video Games +3, Speed-Reading +9, Snarkery +7, Hap Ki Do -2, Archery -3, Skiing +3, Knowledge (biology) +10 Knowledge (Fandoms) +10
Feats:
Inside Joke
Where Does He Put It?
Katana Umbrella Proficiency
Moral Indignation
Flaws:
Teetotaler
Toy Collector
Oooh Something Shiny
Addiction (Diet Coke)
Addiction (pizza)
Addiction (Transformers Wiki)
Achievements:
Got into grad school!
Leveled several towns and killed several dragons (for the lulz) with La'Chiym the drow mage.
Allies
My parents
My beloved girlfriend, Courtney
My friends from home
My cohort and lab group
Player Name: Patrick
Character Name: Patrick
Height: 5'11'' (The metric system is not used on character sheets!)
Weight: 158 lbs
Alignment: Lawful Good (with a touch of Frustrated)
Allegiances: Progressive politics, gay rights, SCIENCE, speculative fiction, Hasbro
Fandoms: Star Wars, Star Trek, Godzilla, Lord of the Rings, D&D (no kidding), Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, Transformers
God: None
Strength 9
Constitution 13
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 16
Wisdom 7
Charisma 12
Attack Bonus -2 (flail [not the kind with the ball and chain])
+5 (logical argument [90% of opponents ignore this attack])
Defenses 10 AC 11 Fortitude (+5 against all disease other than rhinovirus)
9 Reflex 14 Will (-5 against buying Transformers and helping folks move)
Spells Known:
Conjure Adventure: The caster can throw together a decent, you know, not-half-bad sort of adventure for game night. Casting time 1 hr/satisfied player.
EPIC Smackdown/Fail: The caster rolls opposed Intelligence and Charisma checks against an online adversary. If one succeeds, all present agree that the caster has pwned this n00b. If both fail, the caster is banished in shame.
Charm Lady: The caster rolls a d20. If he rolls a critical success, he has charmed the lady. If he rolls above a 15, the lady will continue to be his friend. If he rolls above 10, the lady will continue to speak to him. Special note: all results will be treated as 20 if the caster already has a girlfriend with the exception of the girlfriend's sister, who treats all such rolls as a "1."
Skills: Seminar Discussion +5, Experimental Design +4, Logic +6, Creating D&D Characters +8, Game Mastering +7, Video Games +3, Speed-Reading +9, Snarkery +7, Hap Ki Do -2, Archery -3, Skiing +3, Knowledge (biology) +10 Knowledge (Fandoms) +10
Feats:
Inside Joke
Where Does He Put It?
Katana Umbrella Proficiency
Moral Indignation
Flaws:
Teetotaler
Toy Collector
Oooh Something Shiny
Addiction (Diet Coke)
Addiction (pizza)
Addiction (Transformers Wiki)
Achievements:
Got into grad school!
Leveled several towns and killed several dragons (for the lulz) with La'Chiym the drow mage.
Allies
My parents
My beloved girlfriend, Courtney
My friends from home
My cohort and lab group
First post, thirst most, cursed toast, pursed coast
Hello!
I'm Patrick Stinson. And I'm biased, but I think I'm a little bit interesting.
Probably, if you're actually reading this, you know quite a bit about me already. But just in case, I'm a 22 year old graduate student living in Austin, Texas and attending UT. I study biology, and am particularly interested in the adaptation of animals (specifically anurans right now, aka frogs and toads) to urbanization.
I'm also a huge geek.
I intend to fill this space with the crazy thoughts in my head that I don't usually do anything with. I can't get motivated to write in a journal, and I'm not skilled enough to create much in the way of art. However, what I really want right now is a forum where I can get feedback on my writing (hopefully there will be fiction and nonfiction) and set my own hours (but hopefully there will be at least something every day.
So to start us off, my next post will give you an intimate introduction to the deepest recesses of my soul.
I'm Patrick Stinson. And I'm biased, but I think I'm a little bit interesting.
Probably, if you're actually reading this, you know quite a bit about me already. But just in case, I'm a 22 year old graduate student living in Austin, Texas and attending UT. I study biology, and am particularly interested in the adaptation of animals (specifically anurans right now, aka frogs and toads) to urbanization.
I'm also a huge geek.
I intend to fill this space with the crazy thoughts in my head that I don't usually do anything with. I can't get motivated to write in a journal, and I'm not skilled enough to create much in the way of art. However, what I really want right now is a forum where I can get feedback on my writing (hopefully there will be fiction and nonfiction) and set my own hours (but hopefully there will be at least something every day.
So to start us off, my next post will give you an intimate introduction to the deepest recesses of my soul.
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