More DS9

[meddow]

I've finished watching series two of DS9 and...and...they blew up the Enterprise! Okay, so it wasn't the actual Enterprise, it was actually the Odyssey, but it was exactly the same kind of ship, so point made. That is one hell of a way to end a season and introduce the new villains. Viewers must have been on tenterhooks during the hiatus back when it originally aired.

The Dominion = awesome villains.

The casual build up was quite fantastic, especially when I realised that the first mention of the Dominion was in a Ferengi humour episode.

Generally, I loved how the show would take small things and carry them over into the next episode, things like Sisko asking O'Brien to give Jake a job, and Jake's job, or friendships. The attention to detail is really appreciated.

I started to like Sisko a lot more towards the end of the season. He actually seemed to do things, which was nice. His rant in The Marquis Part II has got to be my favourite in the whole of Trek:

"On Earth, there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see Paradise. Well, it's easy to be a saint in Paradise, but the Maquis do not live in Paradise. Out there in the demilitarized zone, all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints — just people. Angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not!"

I'm starting to get now how he's the same guy as the guy in In the Pale Moonlight. (Of course, he said this to Kira, talk about preaching to the converted. Would have been more awesome if he told it to the Admiralty).

Sometimes I feel like a bad Star Trek fan because I want Star Trek to be darker, and I want deconstructions of the Federation and what it is and if it's really as brilliant as it's made out to be. And I'm loving DS9 for being dark, and presenting valid counter arguments to the Federation. Of course, Star Trek was envisioned as a utopia, and so I feel like I'm missing the point, which is: 'bright shiny future!' But then, I can't believe a utopia exists, and then I think about that and I feel sad for myself because I've obviously I've become very cynical. And I also like my science fiction as running a commentary on today, and not a 'ha ha, look at how awful humanity used to be' commentary (which I feel TOS does, and one of the reasons I don't like TOS that much is for that reason), but by providing parallels to modern day situations, which DS9 does wonderfully. The Marquis storyline to me is really about Israeli Settlements in the West Bank. So I want my science fiction to be dark, because I want it to reflect the world I read about in the paper.

Basically, most of me thinks screw Gene Roddenberry's vision. If Star Trek is to be good, it should not be about the wonders of Utopia. But then, I just said screw Gene Roddenberry's vision, making me a terrible Star Trek fan. So, my point is: I'm conflicted.

Going back to discussing characters - Dax also became a lot more of an interesting character as well in season two. It seems that the writers figured out what they were doing with her. I like how having so many lives gives her more of an appreciation of other cultures and a general zest for life. Makes a change from other hundreds-of-years old character who tend to be miserable. I've really started to appreciate her as the character who brings out different sides of all of the other characters, particularly Sisko and Kira who both confide in her in ways that they don't do with other characters.

Speaking of Dax and Kira, I love that the writers have made them good friends and I adore their friendship. Even in shows with a lot of complex female character, female friendships are not all that common (I'm looking at you, BSG). They've got a great dynamic, what with Dax being the liberal life affirming one, contrasted with the more conservative, cynical and mature Kira. And it's the broad spectrum of a friendship, from frivolous discussions about face cream to a deep discussion about the effect murder has upon a person.

The finale episode was as good for discussing the Ferengi and making Quark something more than just a comic foil to all the other characters. His skills are often generally helpful, but its good to see them in use outside of his bar, and his little rant to Sisko about how the Ferengi remind humans of who they were, but the Ferengi are never as bad, was spot on.

The mirror universe was cool. Really loved the idea that Kirk's messing with the mirror universe ended up with all humans slaves to the Cardassians and Klingons. Also loved that Kira had no clue who Kirk was (hey, I love anything in which Kirk isn't some heroic god, and I'd hate to have the show try to say that the Bajorians had nothing better to do than idolise Federation heroes). I know there's a lot more mirror episodes to come, so I was slightly worried by the body count, as there's no more Mirror!Odo and no more Mirror!Quark.

Didn't so much like the ending of the Odo's 'dad'/assigned scientist comes to visit episode. The thought of Odo being made to perform for others breaks my heart and makes me angry on Odo's behalf, so I didn't like the slight reconciliation. I want to be pissed at the guy. And no wonder poor Odo ended up as closed off as he is.

The Marquis two parter made me all nostalgic for Voyager. I loved the set up actually, with the Badlands being mentioned (and ships being mentioned as having disappeared there). I really should track down the TNG Marquis episode as well.

I was really happy that Kira's boring boyfriend became a bit less boring toward the end of the season. It's a problem I notice that often shows with awesome and complex female character don't seem to give them love interests that they deserve, as in the love interests are not nearly as awesome or complex and you have to wonder what they are doing with this guy. But at least he became slightly less dull.

I also noticed the beginnings of Kira/Odo. I love both characters and having seen the way it ends, I love the way it ends. I'm yet to be convinced that the execution is going to work for me. But so far, I like it, and I want to like it. The idea of two of the most grumpy and damaged characters in Star Trek finding happiness with each other really appeals to me.

Finally, the villains got a lot more development, which I liked. Winn's now in the position of power I know she will hold in the final episode. I love her interactions with Sisko and Kira. She's wonderfully two-faced and Sisko plays along, while Kira who probably hasn't got a diplomatic bone in her body shows open contempt. Plus, Winn has the exact same way of speaking and even tone of voice as someone in my RL that I couldn't stand, and oddly, happened to be a priest as well. Meanwhile Dukat wonderfully became a bit more grey in the Marquis two parter.

Favourite episodes had to be Necessary Evil (the one in which Odo opens up a five year old murder case in which Kira is the prime suspect), and Crossover (the mirror verse episode. I do love AU shenanigans and I really loved how it tied into TOS).

Oh, and somebody put Kira and Dax's mission in The Siege on YouTube, in which Kira and Dax find, fix up and fly a busted old Bajoran space craft and get into a dogfight over Bajor in order to save they day, while bantering the whole time. It's wonderful for so many reasons.

Comments

[laverinth.livejournal.com]

You make me want to go back and watch the whole series.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

You should XD.

[eponymous-rose.livejournal.com]

...okay, I am going to keep pouncing on these DS9 posts, because getting into a new show years after everyone else is so lonely sometimes!

I am so with you when it comes to sometimes feeling like a bad Trek fan for loving the moral ambiguities in DS9. I'm still a TNG fan, and I'm totally fascinated by the notion that you can build up a utopia and pretend there really aren't any holes in it and make it all a very clear-cut good-vs.-evil thing, but I think DS9 is kinda what I was always waiting for them to do in TNG - break that down, put our heroes in the wrong when they're so absolutely convinced that what they're doing is right, and see what happens next. Season two of DS9 really feels like the point where they realized, hey, they could actually do that sort of thing. And it just seems like a natural progression to me.

I have a hard time coming up with too many grey-area villains in TNG, too, whereas in DS9 I can't think of a single counterexample. I really, really like that about a series. I'm not sure if it's that I like my sci-fi dark so much as... real? Plausible in a real-life sort of way? Anyway.

Dax also became a lot more of an interesting character as well in season two. It seems that the writers figured out what they were doing with her.

I just read an interview somewhere that said just that! Apparently they'd originally envisioned her as more of a Spockish type, sort of the wise old man, but thankfully they seem to have realized that you don't have to check your sense of humour at the door after living several hundred years.

I think Dax is possibly my favourite character (okay, I say that about everyone... but dangit, show, too much awesome), so it's always kind of odd to go back to the earlier episodes where she's mostly in the background. Her friendship with Kira is one of my very favourite relationships on the show, too! (And that clip from "The Siege" = ♥. Every time someone links to it, I have to watch it all over again.)

[meddow.livejournal.com]

I sort of hoping that I can convince a few others to watch the show by posting about it. It is lonely though, since the fandom seems to have moved on over a decade ago. There really needs to be a revival. But there seems to be a bunch of people on my flist that have been into the show in the past, which is wonderful.

I'm not sure if it's that I like my sci-fi dark so much as... real? Plausible in a real-life sort of way?

That's probably a better way to put it. I don't like horrible thing happening just for the sake of shocking the audience. But when it's more realistic for things to be more morally ambiguous and for depressing thing to happen, I like it that way.

And it just seems like a natural progression to me.

It does actually work quite nicely. TOS established the idea, TNG ran with it for seven years, embellishing and expanding upon it in the process, and finally DS9 decided an analyse it and turn it on its head.

I'm so glad they decided against going down the Spock route (or Data route for that matter) with Dax. She didn't really fit in all that well in the first series. She seemed to be all technobabble and no personality. Now she's great. Plus, if they went further down the Spock route for characterisation, I don't thing a logical voice of reason would really fit in with this crew.

[hibernate.livejournal.com]

So many people on my f-list are discovering DS9 right now! I did too, a couple of months ago. Is there something in the water? :)

Much agreement on most of this. I fell hard for Kira first of all too. It took a little longer with Dax and Sisko, but I'm totally on board now. The friendship between Kira and Dax is one of my favourite things with the show.

I love that DS9 is morally ambiguous. I also love the Trekian Utopian vision of the future , and no, I don't think they're mutually exclusive! I think, even though we do see a darker side of the Star Trek vision in DS9, it's still a "bright, shiny future". It's just not perfect. And why would it be? It's still populated by people and no matter how far humans have come, they're never going to be flawless.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm really glad it's getting more attention. Maybe the big post-XI resurgence in interest in Trek is starting to benefit other areas of the franchise than TOS. Certainly, I wouldn't be watching it if XI hadn't renewed my interest in Star Trek.

I felt Kira was the most well formed character right off the bat, even getting that awesome showdown with the Cardassians in the pilot. A lot of the time I need a good character to hook me into a show, and she was that for me. The other seem to be catching up now.

I suppose they may not be mutually exclusive, as you say. That bright shiny future is happening in other parts of the galaxy, most obviously Earth, it's just on the edges of the Federation where it's not. Still, I feel it's not a true utopia unless everyone is enjoying the benefits.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I don't think loving the shades of grey and loving the utopian version of Star Trek is mutually exclusive. (Also, this is why it drives me crazy when ignorant journalists pretend Star Trek never ever did shades of grey, continuity or no easy solutions - they apparantly missed out the entirety of DS9 AND some TNG episodes. (TNG, for all that it was generally a very optimistic show, also introduced the Bajorans and the Cardassians, and the Maquis. It was a TNG episode, not a DS9 episode, where for the first time a recurrent and well liked Starfleet character chose the Maquis over the Federation, it was TNG which introduced O'Brien's past with the Cardassians and gave us a great episode like The Wounded - with Marc Aleima as a pre-Dukat Cardassian, btw - where neither Federation or Cardassian characters are solely good or solely evil. And of course TNG was the first Trek show to put its lead through a hellish experience he didn't recover from in his next episode but had to deal with for the rest of his life, to wit, Picard and the Borg.)

Quark and Dax are two of my favourite characters, so I'm glad you like them, and approve of the direction the writers took Dax in s2. One of the things I adora about her is that she really, genuinenly enjoys not jut her life (lives) but other cultures. And not just the "cool" ones like Vulcans or Klingons. When she's hanging out with Ferengi, she does because she enjoys it, without condescension (of which the others are quite capable).

Winn is a marvellous Renaissance cardinal type of villain, and I'm quite fond of her, not in a love-to-hate type of thing but genuinenly fond. (Though I wouldn't want to be near her in real life.) The show usually plays her as an antagonist but every now and then as an ally, plus she sometimes gets to score, as in one scene with Kira in The Rapture which is the one and only time when she leaves Kira speechless (and not in indignation):


"Those of you who were in the Resistance, you're all the same. You think you're the only ones who fought the Cardassians, that you saved Bajor single-handedly. Perhaps you forget, Major, the Cardassians arrested any Bajoran found to be teaching the word of the Prophets. I was in a Cardassian prison camp for five years, and I can remember each and every beating I suffered. And while you had your weapons to protect you, all I had was my faith... and my courage. Walk with the Prophets child... I know I will"

[meddow.livejournal.com]

Lately I've just been happy when journalists recognise that TNG, DS9 (and Voyager and Enterprise for that matter) exist. (Being a person raised on TNG, and not liking Kirk at all, my pet peeve is TOS being treated as the be all and end all of Star Trek). I really do need to track down the Cardassian, Bajoran and Marquis episodes of TNG. I watched Chain of Command and Ensign Ro last year, but really should catch up on the other relevant episodes as well.

I love Dax hanging out with the Ferengi, and even calling Kira out on her distaste for the species (and also later calling Kira out on not approving of another species just because their brains are visible). The writers did a really brilliant job in the second series of making the Ferengi less a comedy species, to one that while may seem funny, have a view on life which is just as valid as any others species. Especially since it was a slow build up and done through the eyes of the other characters and not just a very special episode sort of deal.

I can't wait to see a bit more of Kai Winn, and see the context of that awesome speech. Her acting as an ally is really something to look forward too.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That's my pet peeve as well. And don't get me started on all those reviews for SX XI which went on about how that film at last brought back "balls" to the ST universe and a man's man as Captain, as opposed to those wimps of later shows, etc., etc..

I liked that film, but not for those reasons, and it inspired me to rewatch, not TOS, but TNG and DS9. The Star Trek universe: so much richer than stupid journalists make it sound like.