Prequel Mirror: “In A Mirror, Darkly” Retcons The Mirror Universe!

The Good: Good acting, Decent effects/costumes, Wonderful continuity/concept
The Bad: Poor make-up for Trip, Predictable character reversals.
The Basics: The history of the Mirror Universe is fleshed out well with “In A Mirror, Darkly,” which not only introduces the Mirror Universe to Star Trek: Enterprise, but ties up a loose end from Star Trek.


As the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise wound down, the show had a tendency to try to make the show match the original Star Trek more and more. As a result, fans were thrilled by arcs that included Klingons, genetically-engineered humans, and Vulcan katras; the Mirror Universe was a natural subject of an episode and “In A Mirror, Darkly” leapt right into it. For those unfamiliar with it, the Mirror Universe was an alternate universe in the Star Trek franchise that was introduced in the episode “Mirror, Mirror” (reviewed here!) where the benevolent Federation had developed instead into a merciless Empire. The franchise revisited the Mirror Universe in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and now it retconned the Mirror Universe with “In A Mirror, Darkly.”

While “In A Mirror, Darkly” is not overly dependent upon “Mirror, Mirror” to truly understand the episode, the episode is enriched entirely by viewers having seen Star Trek: First Contact (reviewed here!) and the episode “The Tholian Web” (reviewed here!). One of the lingering continuity mysteries of the Star Trek franchise could have been what happened to the U.S.S. Defiant in “The Tholian Web” . . . if only people believed that Star Trek had been developed with a real sense of continuity instead of being bottle episodes.

Opening with First Contact in the Mirror Universe, Zephram Cochrane kills the Vulcan visitors. Decades later, the I.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain Forrest is working to keep rebellion in the Empire down. While the sadistic Dr. Phlox works with Reed to develop the Agony Booth, Archer finds Forrest’s inability to invade Tholian space to get technology that will help them win the war frustrating. Archer stages a coup, deposing Forrest and orders the reluctant T’Pol to get a Suliban cloaking device to Engineering to have Tucker install it so they can invade Tholian territory.

Approaching a specific warp signature, the Enterprise finds and attacks a Tholian ship. After capturing the Tholian pilot and finding the location of a ship lost in Tholian territory, the Enterprise heads to find the ship under Archer’s tenuous command. With the cloaking device sabotaged, the Enterprise is exposed in enemy territory. As Archer’s suspicions of his entire crew rise, he finds himself working to watch his own back. T’Pol and the Vulcans aboard the Enterprise break Forrest out of the brig. Her attempt to take over the Enterprise with Forrest is successful, largely because of a mindmeld she had with Tucker. But Archer is not so easily defeated; his mission was to find a ship from the future and an alternate universe which is being held by the Tholians and explored. When the Enterprise arrives at the Tholian spacedock, Archer works to take the U.S.S. Defiant to bring an end to the war and put himself in a more powerful position within the Empire.

“In A Mirror, Darkly” is a somewhat familiar episode for fans of the Star Trek franchise. While “Mirror, Mirror” was audacious, return trips to the Mirror Universe are largely about how twisted the familiar characters in each series can be. In that way, “In A Mirror, Darkly” completely lives up. All of the characters from Star Trek: Enterprise are altered for their Mirror Universe personas; Archer is more volatile, Reed and Mayweather are M.A.C.O.S., Tucker’s face is scarred, and T’Pol and Sato wear outfits that show off a bit more skin.

While the Mirror Universe episodes usually afford the performers a lot of lot of opportunities to perform in different ways, “In A Mirror, Darkly” is a lot more tame in that regard. Jolene Blalock has never been a very successful emotionless Vulcan, so the passionate and devious version of T’Pol is hardly audacious. Similarly, Tucker and Archer have both been played angry plenty of times by Connor Trinneer and Scott Bakula, respectively. The only real actors who benefit in “In A Mirror, Darkly” are Linda Park, who has a good number more scenes as Sato in the episode and John Billingsley who plays Phlox as utterly psychotic.

“In A Mirror, Darkly” is the first of two parts and while other episodes of Star Trek are not essential for understanding the episode, they do enrich the episode. The payoff with the Defiant and the Tholians is an interesting one that is well-executed in the episode. But because the episode happens entirely in the Mirror Universe without any crossover from our universe, the lack of menace is palpable. It is hard for the viewer to get truly invested in the events of “In A Mirror, Darkly” because no matter what happens in this – and its follow-up – episode, it will have no effect on the characters viewer know and (presumably) love. As a result, this is a fun episode, nothing more.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the final season here!
Thanks!]

6/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, put in order from best to worst, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Consciously And Unconsciously Against Everything Star Trek, “Damage” Is A Broken Episode.

The Good: Moments of moralization, Pacing, Special effects
The Bad: Very stiff acting, B-plot is a huge problem
The Basics: Archer consciously crosses an ethical line while the writers of Star Trek: Enterprise unconsciously create a messy plotline for T’Pol in “Damage.”


There’s a good rule for a franchise that all future writers for the Star Trek franchise should heed: if you’re going to steal from somewhere for your ideas and plots, steal from somewhere other than your own franchise. Star Trek: Enterprise severely “borrowed” from the Star Trek franchise when it ended with the ship virtually destroyed in one episode and opened with the damaged ship virtually incapacitated and surrounded by enemies, much like in “A Time To Stand” (reviewed here!) and “Rocks And Shoals” (reviewed here!).

That said, “Damage,” which follows directly after “Azati Prime” (reviewed here!), is a fairly grim and realistic episode that finally reveals the Sphere Builders to the audience. Unfortunately, the b-plot, which involves T’Pol degrading fairly consistently, makes little sense in the internal continuity of the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise. In “Impulse” (reviewed here!), Trellium-D – which is used to protect the starships from the effects of the Expanse – is determined to be the cause of the Vulcans going crazy within the Expanse (in protecting their ships, they inadvertently poisoned themselves). The resolution to “Impulse” has Archer deciding not to fortify the ship in order to protect T’Pol and T’Pol is advised not to go near the ship’s store of Trellium-D. So, there is no good reason given that T’Pol would be degrading the way she is in “Damage” (and “Azati Prime”).

Opening with the Enterprise without warp drive, Degra, Jannar, and the leader of the Xindi-Primates demand that Dolim release Archer. Unwilling to trust the Xindi Reptile leader, the Xindi Aquatics take custody of Archer. With E-Deck virtually destroyed, T’Pol prioritizes restoring the deck so Tucker can try to repair the warp drive. When the Aquatics send a shuttle with Archer back to the Enterprise, the Captain is revived and learns that fourteen of the crew are dead with three more still missing. Shortly after T’Pol finds herself unable to control her limbs and emotions, the Enterprise gets a distress call from a nearby ship, an Illyrian vessel.

The Illyrian Captain is eager to trade with Archer, but he is unwilling to strand his own vessel in the expanse by trading away a warp coil that the Enterprise desperately needs to get the warp drive working again. After the Illyrian ship leaves, T’Pol has a nightmare and recovers some of the Trellian D, which she injects herself with. Sato realizes that the Xindi Aquatics are about to take Degra’s children hostage in order to insure he completes work on the weapon and Archer makes the decision to violate his own set of ethics to save Earth and the Enterprise. Ordering Reed to assemble an armed boarding party, Archer is ready to pirate the warp coil the Enterprise needs. When the Sphere Builder is called by the three members of the Xindi Council sympathetic to Archer, she reveals that she has aided the Xindi Reptiles and Insectoids without the rest of the Council knowing. Degra, however, has been swayed by the fact that Archer has provided proof for his story whereas the Sphere Builders remain enigmatic and out for their own agenda. With T’Pol advocating an ethical stance against Archer’s plan of attack, she and Archer come into conflict as Archer steps over the line to board the Illyrian ship and steal their warp coil.

“Damage” is a troubling step back for the character of T’Pol. The retcon concept of T’Pol “medicating” herself with Trellium-D makes no sense whatsoever. While sloppily writing off her entire character arc with Tucker as a drug addition, the fundamental problem with the concept remains tied to what came before. The Vulcans in “Impulse” went much crazier through much less direct exposure to the Trellium-D. Given the sloppy way in which T’Pol has been “self-medicating,” it seems like she would have poisoned herself much worse far before she ever became addicted and the result would have been much more potentially catastrophic before this ever happened. As well, T’Pol has been in Sickbay several times since she started poisoning herself with Trellium-D. And if she wanted to experience emotions, she didn’t need a drug, just to lower her conscious control. And in “Twilight” (reviewed here!), she either would have been dead, much more emotional, or prone to admitting her addiction to the future version of Archer because she had no reason to keep it secret. In other words, the T’Pol plotline with Trellium-D is just an absolute mess.

The exchange between Scott Bakula and Casey Biggs is packed with technobabble. As Archer tries to get a warp coil from the Illyrian Captain, the two actors exchange lines with a stiffness that is difficult to watch. The lack of emotion and realism – the disconnect between the words and the sense that the actors saying them fully understand them – makes the scene flop entirely and the viewer is left feeling like neither actor truly landed it.

Similarly, for all of the problems with the T’Pol plotline, one of the bigger issues is that Jolene Blalock does not truly sell the concept. Blalock does not make T’Pol an emotional junkie and she fails to sell the idea that T’Pol would have started down the path for the emotional exploration that the episode retroactively creates. Blalock is not extreme enough in her character’s degredation, nor subtle enough to make the viewer convinced that the character had such ambitions.

Despite that, the emotional journey of Archer is good. It calls to mind the difficulty faced by Sisko in “In The Pale Moonlight” (reviewed here!) and the idea of how far Archer will go to save humanity is a compelling one. “Damage” presents that, and the physical destruction to the Enterprise, well-enough, but not enough to make the episode worth watching for anything other than its place in the heavily-serialized arc.

The three biggest gaffes in “Damage:”
3. The T’Pol plotline completely undermines the internal strength of Vulcans and their lack of emotionalism, making it unrealistic that the cultural conceit of Vulcans lacking emotions would endure for hundreds of years,
2. The Sphere Builder looks like the entity that is the genetic basis for all life in the Milky Way galaxy, revealed in “The Chase” (reviewed here!). However, the Sphere Builders come from an entirely different dimension, so there is absolutely no reason they ought to bear such a similarity to the base entity,
1. Mayweather notes that the Xindi Aquatic language sounds like music and that allows Hoshi to start translating the language. Xindi Aquatic sounds quite a bit like whalesong; Hoshi’s ability to translate the language ought to have made is a much quicker leap for Spock and the Federation to evaluate the whalesong from the probe in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (reviewed here!).

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Third Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the penultimate season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with Rick Worthy, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Heroes - Seasons 3 & 4
Duplicity
“Proving Ground” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“Rajiin” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“The Xindi” - Star Trek: Enterprise
“Equinox, Part 2” - Star Trek: Voyager
“Equinox, Part 1” - Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - “Soldiers Of The Empire”
Star Trek: Insurrection
“Prototype” - Star Trek: Voyager

4/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Nearing The End Of The First Phase Of Enterprise Shows A Lack Of “Judgment!”

The Good: Cool special effects, Moments of performance
The Bad: Entirely derivative, Lack of genuine social commentary, While there is some character reflection, there is no real development.
The Basics: “Judgment” is yet another episode of Enterprise that might be fine on its own, but has a distinctly dungy appearance after so much other Star Trek . . . which it shits on.


Enterprise was a conceptually-plagued television show that, arguably, went through three iterations. The first, Enterprise was an attempted prequel to Star Trek that exhibited a distinct lack of regard for the decades of works that came before it. The second phase was the third season, which was a self-contained, heavily-serialized adventure in a pocket universe that was entirely ironic in that it had absolutely no connection to the rest of the Star Trek universe, but was the first season to be called Star Trek: Enterprise. The final phase of the show was the fourth season, which was written by people who actually gave a damn about the franchise and spent a year trying to connect the crap that came before with all of the beloved Star Trek works that followed (at least in terms of in-universe chronology). As the writers and producers of Enterprise labored near the end of the second season, there was a certain irony to their direction. Even as viewers continued to abandon the series, the writing progressed with more stories that seemed to be a big “fuck you!” to the loyal fans who made the Star Trek franchise into multi-billion dollar enterprise it was.

One of the big “f-u” episodes near the end of the second season was “Judgment.” In addition to completely undermining Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (reviewed here!), “Judgment” is a particularly cheap rip off of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes “Tribunal” (reviewed here!) and “Rules Of Engagement” (reviewed here!). The narrative technique is essentially stolen from “Rules Of Engagement” and the concept is largely a cheap rehash of “Tribunal.”

Opening with Archer imprisoned on a Klingon world, under suspicion of conspiracy, Archer finds himself waiting for his trial. Archer meets with the defense attorney, Kolos, who lets him know that the charges will be given at the trial. There, Archer and Kolos discover that Archer’s recent rescue of colonists who are subjects of the Klingon Empire, which resulted in an attack by Captain Duras and his ship the Bortas. Archer defended against the Bortas and in rescuing the colonists, he manages to raise the ire of the Klingons.

Kolos defends Archer only after Archer pushes him to actually do his job. Kolos recalls better times for the Klingon Empire and he pushes to have Archer regarded as a nuisance instead of a criminal against the Empire. Despite Kolos’s advocacy, Archer is condemned to life on Rura Penthe.

If virtually everything in “Judgment” had not been previously done in other incarnations of Star Trek. “Judgment” is a fine Klingon episode that fleshes out the idea of Klingon culture very nicely, however, it presents several of the same concepts as “Tribunal” without the larger social commentaries relevant to human society today. This is somewhat insulting as Enterprise had a forum to attack current social problems under the Bush Administration under the guise of the bloated and problematic Klingon Empire. Instead, “Judgment” just focuses on the plot-based ideas of the issues that plagued the Klingon Empire.

Kolos having his moral awakening is way too thin an allegory for standing up against the injustices of the Bush Administration.

Instead, “Judgment” – at the same time it is spitting on the Star Trek history that makes things like a jailbreak from Rura Penthe utterly inconceivable – makes some very clever prequel references to the Star Trek franchise. “Judgment” is basically a heady prequel to the Klingon arc on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Klingon arc on Star Trek: The Next Generation features the Duras family, which was a dishonorable Klingon family that allied itself with the Romulans. “Judgment” makes some fun references to “Redemption” (reviewed here!) and “Sins Of The Father” (reviewed here!) in that the Klingon captain (turned weapon’s officer) Duras is the son of Toral (it was the opposite way in “Redemption”) and his ship was the Bortas, which was the Klingon flagship introduced in “Redemption!”

The resolution to “Judgment” is insulting beyond belief. Without spoiling the episode entirely, the lack of sophistication to the jailbreak from the tightest jail in the galaxy is ridiculous.

“Judgment” features the sole Enterprise appearance by Star Trek franchise veteran J.G. Hertzler. Hertzler plays Kolos and he makes for a perfectly credible litigator. Hertzler speaks with passion about the Klingon Empire in a way that makes it seem like Kolos deeply cares about the fate of the Empire and its past glory. It is almost like Hertzler is emoting the disappointment of the fans in seeing how the franchise has been degraded by Enterprise. Regardless of the subtext, Hertzler plays Kolos with a strength and dignity that he is known for and he performs the one-shot role exceptionally well.

Also making his final appearance in the franchise is John Vickery, who plays the Klingon prosecutor Orak. Vickery is good in the role, though he is not given much opportunity or freedom to actually perform beyond playing the part of a generic antagonist.

One of the things “Judgment” does have going for it are the special effects. The brief space battle in “Judgment” is impressive and makes the episode initially engaging. As well, John Billingsley’s brief role in the episode’s early scene is one of his more engaging ones. It characterizes Phlox as somewhat smarter and more devious than Archer and Billingsley sells it.

Unfortunately, it is not enough to save “Judgment.” “Judgment” lacks depth, sophistication, and originality that fans of the Star Trek franchise want and expect. Those who only watch Enterprise might enjoy it, but those who have been fans of all the Trek that came before are much more likely to be insulted by the lowbrow nature of this episode.

The three biggest gaffes in “Judgment:”
3. Archer’s Klingon food is served to him cooked, not alive or freshly killed,
2. If Captain Archer had been tried in a Klingon court, the novelty of the sense of Klingon jurisprudence would not have endured for the next hundred years,
1. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country no one had ever escaped from Rura Penthe.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete Second Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the sophmore season here!
Thanks!]

For other works with John Vickery, please check out my reviews of:
“Tacking Into The Wind” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“When It Rains . . .” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“The Changing Face Of Evil” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Babylon 5
“Night Terrors” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

4/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Opening Big, Bold, And Blah, “Broken Bow” Starts Enterprise In A Mediocre Fashion

The Good: Interesting adversaries, Decent initial characterizations, Some initially competent performances
The Bad: Jolene Blalock’s acting, Stupidly salacious directing, Lousy characterization for the Vulcans, Fairly pointless flashbacks, Ridiculous medical regression.
The Basics: “Broken Bow” presents a revision of Star Trek history when Brannon Braga takes the reins and rewrites the origins of the franchise in his image.


At the outset of my review of Enterprise, I have decided to get my biggest gripes out of the way. They might bear repeating with each new episode, but rather than get monotonous, I shall dispense with it here. Enterprise is a big kick in the groin to Star Trek fans. Brannon Braga, one of the two executive producers and co-creators of Enterprise was quoted many times before the inception of the show saying he was not a fan of the original Star Trek and that Enterprise would attempt to create a new generation of fans, as opposed to catering to the loyal fanbase that made Star Trek a billion dollar phenomenon for decades. Well, Brannon Braga said “fuck you” to the fans, so – as a fan – it seems only fitting to open my review of Brannon Braga’s shittastic prequel to Star Trek by saying “Fuck you, Brannon Braga.” And, while we’re at it, “Fuck you Rick Berman and fuck you CBS/Paramount.” I mean, really, what kind of morons think it’s a good idea to put a prequel in the hands of guys who openly admit they hate the source material that the prequel will be building up to?!

So, from the outset of Enterprise (it takes two seasons before the producers admitted it was a huge tactical mistake to mortgage the fans and the show becomes Star Trek: Enterprise), Brannon Braga is using Gene Roddenberry’s universe to tell his own stories, continuity (and sensibility) be damned. It is also worth noting here, at the outset, that my reviews of Enterprise are not “pure.” Enterprise is the fifth series in the Star Trek franchise and it is masquerading as the first. But, as with any prequel, I look at how the work stands on its own and how it fits into the context of the franchise as a whole. Because I generally loathe Enterprise for the way it sloppily tells stories, retells stories told in other Star Trek series’, and has no problem saying “to hell with continuity!”, each of my Enterprise reviews will include what I consider the three biggest continuity gaffes. This will prevent my Enterprise reviews from being taken up entirely with long lists of bitchings about such things.

“Broken Bow” starts Enterprise and it might be mediocre television – it is legitimately tough to do a pilot episode that does not rise above “average,” especially the longer the series goes on and the writers/producers/actors all find things that work for the characters and stories that were not evident at the beginning – but it is pretty lousy Star Trek. “Broken Bow,” however, gives viewers a pretty good idea of what to expect episode after episode by including a lot of action, a sizable amount of t&a and conflict so forced, one might think the writers were all angsty teenagers (with a nod toward Star Trek whenever the show does something original for the first time, like meeting the Klingons, breaking a new warp speed, or teleporting a human being).

Thirty years after Jonathan Archer and his father build model warp engines together, a Klingon crashes in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Pursued by two lizard-like aliens, the Klingon destroys a silo with the aliens before getting shot by a human. When the Vulcan Ambassador resists giving the humans too much information on the Klingons, Admiral Forrest decides that returning the Klingon to Kronos will be the first mission of the new starship Enterprise, which should be able to get up to speeds of Warp 5. Archer assembles his command staff – including the first officer/chief engineer who has only been off Earth a few times and a translator who is nervous about everything – and is forced to take on a Vulcan science officer as an observer. En route to returning Klaang, the Enterprise is boarded by invaders from a cloaked ship. They steal Klaang’s body.

Reviewing their logs, Hoshi and T’Pol deduce that Klaang’s last stop, the port of Rigel X might be where the invaders took Klaang. The invaders are Suliban, a very minor race that has never posed a threat. The Suliban who invaded Enterprise, however, are genetically modified in several ways that allow them to be shapeshifters, see beyond the normal visual spectrum, and stick to surfaces (like moving along ceilings!). On Rigel X, Archer meets a Suliban who has left the cabal that is rushing their races evolution. She reveals that the cabal is taking orders from forces from the future, who are part of a “Temporal Cold War” and they are trying to destabilize the Klingon Empire in the past. By returning Klaang, Archer hopes to promote goodwill with the Klingons and stop the mysterious forces from the future. After Archer is wounded on Rigel X, T’Pol takes command and Tucker convinces her to follow the Suliban ship that abducted Klaang. When Archer is healed by Phlox’s eel therapy, the Enterprise tracks the Suliban to a gas giant where they confront their new enemy and their space station!

It is hard to ignore how “Broken Bow” regresses the franchise and humanity. Gone are technologies readily available now – like air-propelled injections – to be replaced by eels (essentially leeches) and salves. “Broken Bow” does not make it at all believable that the citizens of Earth would have taken such a dramatic step backward in the years between Star Trek: First Contact (reviewed here!) and the beginning of this series.

Captain Archer is presented as a remarkably bland StarFleet Captain. He bursts into a sterile medical environment for no particular reason other than to get answers about Klaang’s medical status when he should have been able to see the medical diagnostic equipment to confirm what he wanted to know (that Klaang was not, in fact, dead, as the Vulcans asserted). The episode also features entirely pointless flashbacks throughout the episode to Archer as a child with his father, who worked to develop the technologies used on the new NX-01 Enterprise. Unfortunately, these flashbacks serve only to confuse the issues; how is it Henry Archer has a tractor beam around the house for making a model with his son, but thirty years later, the starship has to use physical grappling technology?!

The other characters are given a decent amount of time to provide initial characterization, save Reed (who is the security chief, who is prepared to use the new phase pistols, yet idiotically mistakes alien weapons fire in a snowstorm for lightning?!). The helmsman, Travis Mayweather, has travelled quite a bit and is technically adept (he also likes sitting on the ceiling in the gravitational anomaly all starships have). Hoshi Sato is an adept translator, but is afraid of everything. Charles “Trip” Tucker III has a friendly relationship with Archer and knows his personal history and desires and wants to help the Captain succeed. The most adventurous of the bunch is Dr. Phlox, an alien who was part of a medical exchange program on Earth and who leaps at the opportunity to join the crew for his own sense of personal growth.

Then there is T’Pol. T’Pol is a Vulcan science officer whose Vulcan rank makes her believe that she can take command in Archer’s absence. T’Pol is played by Jolene Blalock, who smirks her way through almost all of her scenes, instantly earning her the notation of “worst Vulcan actor/actress” yet. But, her performance is not the real reason Blalock was hired. Instead, “Broken Bow” wastes no time getting her down to underwear and a tank top while the camera luridly washes over her as she and co-star Connor Trinneer wipe lotion over one another. And, to illustrate how different Enterprise will be from Star Trek: Voyager, viewers are treated in the first episode to the perky nipples of the series’s sex symbol poking out to eliminate any doubt as to why she is on the show. But, for those who want substance, the substance of Blalock’s performance is utterly terrible; she speaks of logic and not being emotional, yet emotes through her eyes and at the corners of her mouth in a way that is clearly emotional.

Blalock’s performance is not the only piss poor Vulcan and, oddly, the writers of the episode even knew what they were doing! Gary Graham’s Vulcan Ambassador Soval raises his voice in anger and Archer calls him out on it . . . but that does not change the lousy rendition of the Vulcan characters.

The special effects in “Broken Bow” are wonderful and the Suliban are intriguing adversaries, but the idea of the Temporal Cold War is instantly distasteful. It seems intellectually lazy to market the series as the history of the Star Trek Universe, but start altering it in the very first episode. But, that is (sadly) par for the course for Enterprise; at least we know it from the outset.

The three biggest gaffes in “Broken Bow:”
3. In “First Contact” (reviewed here!), Picard references the first contact with the Klingons as “tragic.” “Broken Bow” has no tragic consequences with the Klingons. In fact, given how the episode is resolved, with humans helping to prevent a Klingon Civil War, the contact is anything but tragic,
2. The Vulcans are not unemotional or logical in “Broken Bow;” they are just jerks. Especially considering how the Vulcans seemed ready to welcome humans into the spacefaring universe in Star Trek: First Contact, their keeping humans stunted and controlled for a hundred years makes no sense. As important, the presence of a Vulcan on a StarFleet ship decades before Pike and Kirk makes it seem entirely ridiculous that so little would be known about the Vulcans (medically, culturally, etc.) in Kirk’s time,
1. The introduction of the Suliban, an entirely new race never before seen in the Star Trek pantheon, makes no sense for a prequel. Given that the Suliban are at least on par with humans technologically, they either need to be wiped out entirely by the end of the series or their lack of an important presence in the franchise – when the other nearest planets (Vulcan, Tellar, Andoria, etc.) are ALL members of the Federation – is utterly ridiculous.

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Enterprise - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the premiere season here!
Thanks!]

For other Star Trek pilot episodes, be sure to visit my reviews of:
“The Cage” - Star Trek
“Where No Man Has Gone Before” - Star Trek
“Encounter At Farpoint” - Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Emissary” - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Caretaker” - Star Trek: Voyager

4/10

For other Star Trek episode and movie reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Journey Worth Avoiding Is Star Trek: Voyager's "Innocence."

The Good: Tim Russ keeps a straight face throughout the episode
The Bad: Acting, Plot, Lack of real character development, Pacing, Everything
The Basics: When Tuvok crashes on an alien moon, he finds whiny children there and the audience finds boredom.


There is an unfortunate tendency, in the experiences one does not enjoy, to rush through reviewing them because when something is truly terrible, analyzing it in too profound a depth begins to feel like kicking something weak when it is down. So it is with "Innocence," one of the last episodes in the second season of Star Trek: Voyager and one of those episodes of television that makes the strong argument for the idea that there's nothing new under the sun, certainly not in the Star Trek pantheon.

As the U.S.S. Voyager continues to amble home without any real sense of purpose or direction, Janeway opens up negotiations with the leader of the Drayans, an alien race that seems to be defined solely by the wearing of a veil. The negotiations are almost instantly complicated when a shuttlecraft carrying Lieutenant Tuvok crashes on one of the moons of Draya II. Unfortunately for Tuvok, it's a sacred place and the Drayans are pretty much furious that he is there.

Tuvok is not alone, though. He soon finds himself in the company of three children. The children, who have tattoos on their foreheads, fear for their lives, telling Tuvok that they, too, crashed on the moon. Tuvok seeks to protect them and assuage them of their fears of a monster in the woods (and in a nearby cave), which Tuvok cannot seem to find. Tuvok begins to protect them, without understanding quite what he is protecting them from.

Until the end. And the payoff is terrible and dull and it certainly does not justify the forty minutes that precede it. Yes, the Drayan sacred moon is there for a reason and when the children exhibit nothing but fear for the place, it would have helped the mood if 1. there were a credible sense of threat and 2. the children could act. Because there is neither, "Innocence" stagnates as a colossal waste of time wherein Tuvok finds himself lecturing to calm down and behave and I'm just about falling asleep writing about it.

It's only in the episode's first few moments that the show seems like it might have a purpose or a real direction, but ultimately "Innocence" plays out like a one-line pitch that sold an episode. "What if Voyager went to a planet where the people . . .?" "Sure, that sounds neat. Write it, we'll buy it!" Hmmm . . . . now I have to make that into a 43 minute episode, I have no idea how that's going to work. That's what "Innocence" feels like; one line about the "alien of the week" stretched (poorly) out for almost an hour until the viewer finally finds out how that sentence ends.

Sadly, the art department seems to take a similarly lazy approach to the episode. The adult Drayans, who Janeway and the crew of Voyager deal with, are characterized by charcoal gray outfits and veils that barely cover their faces. They have faint tattoos on their foreheads. The children that Tuvok deals with wear colorful outfits, but are only separated from being human by the tattoo that makes a widow's peak into their forehead. It's easily one of the dullest alien concepts to ever grace any of the Star Trek franchises.

That lack of creativity and vision that the script and effects suffer from is continued into the tone and the acting. The tone of the episode is dull. The viewer doesn't believe, care or even wonder about the presence of a monster in the woods. Unlike something like the creature in the woods on Lost (reviewed here!), there is no genuine suggestion of a menace outside the children's fears and they just seem . . . well, childish. In that way, the threat they suggest is vague, whiny and unreal. And for those watching a program intended for adults, this is just boring and a waste of time.

This entire problem is not helped at all by the child actors who perform the roles of the three Drayan children. There's a famous quote in show business about not working with children or animals if one wants to have a successful shoot and I suspect that the producers of Star Trek: Voyager never quite learned that lesson (there will later be a monkey to ruin an otherwise perfect episode and in later seasons, there are many more children on the ship). "Innocence" is the first nail in that coffin. None of the three children light the world on fire with their acting. In fact, none of the three amaze the viewer with anything even remotely belaying competence.

Sadly, this is not Tim Russ's finest hour either. Russ plays Tuvok the Vulcan security chief and "Innocence" attempts to remind the viewer that Tuvok has a wife and children back home that we might want to care about on some level. Russ portrays Tuvok with his usual emotional detachment, but there is nothing genuinely new in his performance in this episode to recommend him. Instead, his performance around the clunky children seems stiff and dull rather than passionless and insightful.

The ultimate result is that "Innocence" becomes one of the most forgettable episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and, indeed, one of the poorest examples of what Star Trek can do in the entire pantheon. Much of the episode is Tuvok and the children sitting around waiting while Tuvok tries to calm them down and the children whine about how scared they are. It's worth avoiding, and this is simply one of a hundred similar products not worth your time or attention.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete Second Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the sophomore season here!
Thanks!]

1.5/10

For other Star Trek franchise episode and movie reviews, be sure to check out my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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“Apocalypse Rising:” The Mission To Save The Empire

The Good: Excellent make-up, Great acting, Clever character work, Decent reversal
The Bad: Somewhat simple plot
The Basics: When Sisko leads a mission to reveal the nature of Gowron, he takes a disgruntled and depressed team deep into the Klingon Empire.


At the end of the fourth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the crew of the space station was the closest it ever had been. The station was a crew of outcasts thrust together with no one but each other: Sisko's girlfriend had betrayed him and was in prison, Kira was pregnant through no fault of her own with the O'Brien's baby, Worf was cast out from the Klingon Empire, Odo was made human in judgment for his crimes against the Founders, Quark was pushed out by the Ferengi Commerce Authority. Indeed, Bashir and Dax seem the two most well-adjusted, but they have nowhere else they would rather be than on DS9 or near Sisko, respectively.

When Odo revealed that Gowron, leader of the Klingon High Council, was a Changeling, it became fairly obvious that he would need to be stopped right away in the new season. Sisko, determined to reveal Gowron as a Changeling, assembles a team to infiltrate one of the most heavily guarded Klingon installations: Ty Gokor. Sisko is surgically altered to appear Klingon, as are Odo and O'Brien. Worf then gives them tips on "being" Klingon and the quartet journey's with Gul Dukat into the heart of the Empire. Once there, Sisko learns things may be more complicated and revealing the Changeling infiltrator may well cost him, and his team, his life.

This is a great piece of character work and it manages to be both intriguing, clever and funny all at the same time. Usually, comedies suffer upon rewatching because the viewer knows where the jokes are coming and what they will be. While Odo and O'Brien attempt to learn posture and voice for being a Klingon, the result is funny. More than that, it fits their respective characters. Neither one is a forceful, loud person and that is part of being an essential Klingon.

Beyond the attempts to portray Klingons, "Apocalypse Rising" does a truly great job of representing the consequences of Odo being made human. He is depressed in his new role and his fascination with all of the things he once neglected, taste for example, is quite realistic and clever to see.

A large portion of the believability of Odo's plight is put in the hands of Rene Auberjonois and he easily lives up to the potential. Auberjonois uses his eyes, especially, to captivate Odo's sense of wonder over all that is new. Add to that, he does a great job at keeping his posture broken and that creates the element of depression in Odo almost as well as his voice. It's a powerful transformation that has come over the usually rigid Constable and it is very easy to watch this episode and see the differences in the two characters.

But Auberjonois' acting is not the only great acting in "Apocalypse Rising." Both Avery Brooks, who instantly gets into Sisko playing a Klingon, and Colm Meany, who plays O'Brien as even more soft-spoken after his Klingon transformation, give wonderful and memorable performances. Instead of seeming like actors acting in a new way, the pair plays it like their characters trying to act and it works out very well, coming across perfectly as Sisko and O'Brien trying their hands at acting. And that, I believe, is the essence of truly great acting.

Each season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seems to have a different flavor and season five could have been titled, "A Shift In the Balance of Power." It begins with a bang here in "Apocalypse Rising" and it is remarkably accessible to those who are not fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Instead of being terribly isolating, despite being a rather deep plot line, "Apocalypse Rising" may be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys a good political thriller.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Fifth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the perfect season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

8.5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my specialized index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2012, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Betrayal At Home Is All “For The Cause”

The Good: Character, Acting, Plot, Surprise
The Bad: Timing in the series, Abruptness
The Basics: When Sisko's romantic interest appears to have betrayed him to the Maquis, paranoia ensues and the viewer gets a tight episode.


By the end of the fourth season, one of the plots in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that seemed quite dead was the Maquis plot. The Maquis were a group of renegade Federation citizens living in the Federation/Cardassian demilitarized zone who rebelled against the establishments and created violence and mayhem. The Maquis remain vital on Star Trek Voyager but seem dead on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

In "For The Cause" the Maquis resurface and close to home. In the a-plot, it is brought to Sisko's attention that Kassidy Yates is the prime suspect in running supplies to the Maquis. Sisko, in love with Kassidy, must face this possibility that she is betraying him at the deepest levels. Odo and StarFleet security chief Michael Eddington work to keep Sisko from being hurt, but he takes charge of the situataion. While Sisko investigates, Ziyal finds herself lonely and she attempts to befriend the only other Cardassian on the station: Garak.

Ziyal has been recast; she is played by Tracy Mittendorf in "For The Cause." Mittendorf plays Ziyal fine, though she is obviously older than the last person to play Ziyal (Cyia Batten). Ziyal has a very reasonable desire to be around anyone who reminds her of familiar people and Garak is an intriguing character to have her meet. The dynamic of Garak, Kira and Ziyal created in this episode is a good one. It makes a lot of sense that Kira would be upset over Ziyal and Garak meeting, knowing that Garak has a shady past.

Kassidy and Benjamin Sisko have a real sense of conflict to them in this episode and that works quite well. After all, things had been going to well for them. The suspicion that Odo and Eddington raise with their accusation in the teaser instantly causes an effect on Sisko and how it develops through the episode makes a compelling conflict. Anyone can relate to the suspicions in a relationship and "For The Cause" does it with intelligence in an adult fashion.

A lot of what the episode does right is in the acting. Nana Visitor and Andrew Robinson breathe life into the b-plot as Major Kira and Garak. Visitor has a great nurturing quality to her that is finally able to be expressed through her character and she infuses it in Kira with a reasonable portion, making it completely believable. Similarly, Robinson keeps Garak ethereal, just on the edge of being menacing in a way that makes his loneliness even more profound. Keeping his character emotionally distant even from Ziyal, Robinson creates a tension between the two characters that works quite well.

Similarly, the tension between Kassidy and Sisko could not have been maintained or created even if it was not for the talents of Penny Johnson and Avery Brooks. Johnson has natural chemistry with Brooks and in "For The Cause," her denials feel very much like a woman hiding something and she does it well. Brooks does a great job playing Sisko brooding over the potential betrayal. When the truths come out, Brooks plays Sisko with a believable amount of disappointment and frustration as well as ambiguity.

"For The Cause" is ideal for fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because it works on the premise one understands the importance of the relationships Sisko has. Without knowing how long it has taken Sisko to open up to Kassidy, her potential betrayal seems so much larger an issue. Still, both plots appeal to basic human desires and needs and it is fairly accessible to all.

Part of the essential Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the important relationship issues that arise.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the turnaround season by clicking here!
Thanks!]


7.5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my Star Trek Index Page!

© 2012, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Rebellion Takes On The Alliance In The Alternate Universe In "Shattered Mirror!"

The Good: Excellent acting, Tone, Character development
The Bad: Undertone of repetitiveness
The Basics: When the alternate universe Jennifer abducts Jake, Sisko is extorted to helping the Rebellion build a Defiant to overthrow the Alliance.


One of the best and most ambitious subplots Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had was the alternate universe. In the Mirror Universe, everything is slightly twisted: humans and Vulcans live as slaves to the Alliance of Klingons and Cardassians. The Bajorans seem to have an uneasy place in the Alliance and when last seen, the Terran Rebellion against the Alliance had escaped certain death on Terok Nor, the alternate universe version of Deep Space Nine.

In "Shattered Mirror," the mirror universe Jennifer Sisko appears to Captain Sisko to reveal that the Terrans have won a major battle; they have taken Terok Nor. Jennifer meets Jake, the son she never had in the alternate universe and when Sisko is called away, they begin spending time together. Sisko returns to his quarters to find them gone and he follows the pair into the alternate universe via a device Jennifer left behind. On Terok Nor, Smiley - the alternate universe counterpart to O'Brien - reveals that Jake is a hostage: Sisko will help the Rebellion finish their Defiant before Regent Worf arrives to retake the station or Jake will die. Interspersed with Security Chief Garak being tormented by the Regent and Intendant Kira being interrogated by Bashir, Sisko grudgingly agrees to help the Rebellion one last time.

The one reason "Shattered Mirror" does not achieve perfection is that, in some ways, we've done this before. While there is a definite progression in the storyline in the alternate universe, there is the feeling that the episode is attempting to repeat the successes of the twists and turns of "Crossover" and "Through The Looking Glass." This is especially true with the introduction of the alternate universe Nog and Regent Worf. Nog is simply the latest Ferengi in the chain of alternate universe Ferengi to step forward. As a result, his fate is not a surprise.

Regent Worf, however, is at the least intriguing. It's another interesting twist on one of our usual characters; unlike our Worf, the Regent is loud, outwardly violent and so forceful as to be almost clumsy. He lacks Worf's subtlety and cunning. Seeing Worf is a pleasant twist and adapting the mirror universe to include him is great. Unfortunately, there is still no sign of a mirror Dukat.

What this episode manages to do that the prior two did not is explore one of our main characters more completely. While Kira's experience in "Crossover" enlightens her to an entirely different reality, how she plays off the Intendant is more to illuminate the Intendant than actually grow her own character. Here, Sisko and especially Jake have a chance to grow. Sisko gets the chance to be himself as opposed to posing as his counterpart (unlike "Through The Looking Glass"). And while Jake initially reflects the wonder the viewer feels at seeing the twists in the characters we know, soon he begins to grow as a boy seeing his long lost mother. Jake's part in "Shattered Mirror" is rather impressive. Dr. Sisko, Jennifer, relates to Jake and Jake latches on to her with a desperation that reads as very real and very true.

What sells the episode is the acting. All of the actors manage to quite convincingly play their alternates remarkably with almost no hint of their primary character intact. While Alexander Siddig plays Captain Bashir as a hothead, full of anger and cunning, Terry Farrell makes Jadzia a quick, dangerous woman who is almost entirely lacking in the humor she has in the regular universe.

Add to them, Aron Eisenberg does a magnificent job at making Nog twisted and outright mean, two traits he never had in our universe. Eisenberg delivers his clever and humorous lines with a complete deadpan and he is fun to watch in "Shattered Mirror." And, as always Colm Meany steps up to give an original performance of Smiley, making him desperate and intelligent in a way that the usually laid-back O'Brien does not seem.

But the three actors playing their pure characters work best. Avery Brooks makes Sisko begrudging, though willing. He manages his facial expressions in a way that expresses his knowledge that he is beaten, but not unsympathetic to the plight of the Rebellion. Similarly, Felicia Bell's portrayal of Jennifer Sisko is impressive for the range and enthusiasm she is able to reveal. Not before on the series has she been used so well.

The actor who steps forward the most is Cirroc Lofton. Lofton is given a unique chance to play Jake in a way that he could not otherwise do. While usually Jake is trying to set Captain Sisko up with Kassidy Yates, here he has the chance to experience the fantasy of having his mother and father together and Lofton plays that up with eagerness and enthusiasm that transport his character to a much younger age. This makes a lot of sense and Lofton uses impressive discretion while playing Jake in this fashion.

"Shattered Mirror" marks one of the few times that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine relied on computer-generated special effects for a space battle. Given the sizes of the models, it became impossible for the Defiant and Regency One to have a battle any other way. While the battle is spectacular, it does not take much of a trained eye to see that this one is done by a computer.

"Shattered Mirror" is great for anyone who likes decent science fiction stories. It's actually the ideal episode for those who are Star Wars fans, but who dislike Star Trek. In the alternate universe, we see a truly oppressive government and a sensibly understaffed, underpowered Rebellion desperately fighting it. Unlike Star Wars, where there is little to no evidence of Imperial brutality, save in retribution to the terrorist acts of the Rebels, in "Shattered Mirror" and the mirror universe subplot of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there are genuine consequences to rebelling: failure means slavery, stepping up is putting one's neck out for death. The mirror universe episodes tend to be bloodbaths and "Shattered Mirror" is no exception. It's enough to remind a viewer why adults like science fiction for adults.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the turnaround season by clicking here!
Thanks!]


8.5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Roswell: Solved At Last! "Little Green Men" Is Fun Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!

The Good: Great idea, funny, nice acting, character development
The Bad: Somewhat silly resolution to the episode
The Basics: When Quark, Rom and Nog end up on Earth in 1947, human history has the potential to be irrevocably changed.


In 1947, rumors abounded in Roswell, New Mexico that a UFO had crashed and been recovered by the US Military. That's common knowledge. In Star Trek lore, this accident is finally explained: it was the Ferengi! In "Little Green Men," this is fully explored.

When Nog needs to report to Earth to begin his training at StarFleet Academy, Quark decides to transport him there in his new shuttle, compliments of Cousin Gaila. The gift seems too good to be true to Quark and it actually is: when the Quark's Treasure tries to come out of warp (slow down), the system fails and it appears the ship will crash. Rom, along for the ride, manages to save the ship, but in the process, the Ferengi lose consciousness. They awaken on Earth in 1947 where it seems they are doomed. As soon as Quark is able to get his universal translator back on-line, he becomes convinced that the destructive nature of humans of the time can be exploited and he decides to stay on Earth and do just that.

"Little Green Men" is, in the end, a comedy and it's well executed as such. The Ferengi usually get the episodes that are intended to be humorous and this episode is no exception. Almost from the beginning, we know this episode will be funny, with Nog noting that Captain Sisko looks an awful lot like Gabriel Bell (believe me, it's funny if you've seen "Past Tense, Part I and II). It gets even better when the Ferengi arrive in the past and they interact with the humans who are so different from themselves.

This episode was a good idea and it is executed rather well. It manages to keep the characters central to the events. More than simply a "let's put the Ferengi in Roswell in 1947" episode, this becomes "If it were the Ferengi, what would they have done and why?" episode. And that works quite well. Quark's natural greed and cunning come into play and are sensibly used.

In fact, much of the episode hinges on Quark's character. His ambition and desire to exploit make his place in "Little Green Men" essential. It also means that his failure to complete his desired task must, by necessity be the result of an external force and it's refreshing that it does come from someone other than himself. Here Quark is most true to himself and his own capitalist ideals and it's refreshing to see that unbridled here.

Armin Shimerman makes this episode fly. Shimerman has the opportunity to explore the unbridled greed of Quark. Armin has had the chance to play Quark as devious but never as openly vicious and exploitative as here. Shimerman rises to the occasion infusing Quark with great facial expressions and a professional sense of comic timing.

Even if one has never seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there is a lot to enjoy in this episode. It's basically a comedy and for anyone who knows the mythos of the Roswell Incident will find this take on it funny. It has a great sense of how people in the late 40s acted and spoke and as a result the contrast with the 24th Century Ferengi is hilarious. While the Ferengi subplot is a major one, this is not an essential episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the turnaround season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

7.5/10

For other Star Trek episode, movie and DVD set reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2011, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Necessary Perfection: "Necessary Evil" Is Incredible!

The Good: Plot, Characters, Acting
The Bad: None
The Basics: A perfect episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, "Necessary Evil" is accessible to anyone!


When Star Trek Deep Space Nine does something right, it has a tendency to do it completely right. "Necessary Evil" is the perfect example of that. This episode is the perfect murder mystery.

When Quark is gunned down in his bar, Odo begins his investigation only to find that Quark's assassination may be the closure to an unsolved mystery in Odo's past. As Odo pieces together the pieces of the murder attempt on Quark, he finds himself in contact with leads from the unsolved murder years ago, when the Cardassians ran Deep Space Nine.

The episode is a flashback episode; as Odo follows leads to Quark's attempted killer, he reflects on circumstances some fifteen years before. The case then was the murder of a Bajoran shopkeeper and the suspects include Kira, the Bajoran first officer of Deep Space Nine. The episode is a wonderful collection of events, featuring Terok Nor (Deep Space Nine during the Occupation) with ghetto fences, Gul Dukat, Kira with long hair, Odo in a quasi-Cardassian uniform and the first meeting between Quark and Odo.

It's a rare thing when a series can do a strong character episode that fills in backstory while still maintaining continuity. In this case, the story is strong on Odo and explicitly illustrates the fine line he walked during the Occupation. Odo's character has always been an outsider and in "Necessary Evil," we are treated to his past in such a way that illustrates his value as an outsider, as well as the isolation he faces as a result of it.

The acting here is wonderful. From the creepy superiority of Gul Dukat (played masterfully by Marc Alaimo) impressing the surprisingly introverted Odo to the expression on Quark's face when he knows he's about to be shot, everyone is giving their best in this episode. Marc Alaimo (Dukat), Armin Shimerman (Quark) and Rene Auberjonois are all given the difficult task of acting with expressive and deep emotions outside heavy prosthetics and they pull it off wonderfully. Shimerman is great at expressing with his eyes, Alaimo with his voice and Auberjoinis is amazing with the depth of expression in his body language here.

Nana Visitor (Kira) and Rene Auberjonois play off each other perfectly and when the episode resolves itself, it's a perfect and dark moment.

"Necessary Evil" is beautifully shot on top of everything else. It's a very complete story and everything needed to understand it is in the actual episode. Revealing more of the plot - especially what makes this such an intense and perfect character episode -does a disservice to the viewer. Going in underprepared is better here, though as I stated, this episode is remarkably thorough in answering all questions, making it great for someone who has never seen the show before.

This is an essential episode but there is so very much for everyone to appreciate here that it's recommended strongly for anyone who loves character-driven works! And even better, like "Duet" (reviewed here!) this episode stands up after multiple viewings, even after one knows the end!

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Second Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the sophomore season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

10/10

For other Star Trek episode, movie and DVD set reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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The Most Perfect Hour Of Television . . . EVER! Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Duet."

The Good: Plot, Characters, Acting, Make-up, Social commentary, EVERYTHING!
The Bad: Not a single one!
The Basics: With sharp characters, a twisted plot and incredible acting, you don't get better television than "Duet;" it is the absolute best "hour" of television. EVER.


The name of the episode is "Duet" and it is, without a doubt the finest hour of television ever. I don't simply mean of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, I don't mean of just the Star Trek franchise, or best science fiction show, I mean this is the best hour of television in the history of television.

The plot is anything but simple, but it begins with Cardassian filing clerk Amon Marritza (played masterfully by Harris Yulin) being brought to the station suffering from a disease called Kalla-Nohra. This instantly piques Major Kira's (Nana Visitor) attention as the only people she knows who suffer from this disease are Bajoran laborers from an especially brutal Cardassian camp called Gallitepp. Kira has Marritza arrested and as she begins to interrogate him and discover his place in the Occupation, she discovers all is not as it seems.

If you've never seen Star Trek Deep Space Nine the backstory is surprisingly simple for the purpose of watching this episode. The Cardassians occupied the planet Bajor for approximately fifty years, enslaving the Bajorans and strip mining their planet. Hey . . . that almost sounds like . . . yes, the Cardassians are analogous to the Nazi regime in Germany during World War 2, the Bajorans are analogous to the Jews that were enslaved in concentration camps. Never are the allusions so thinly veiled as in this episode.

"Duet" is the search for the truth, coupled with the exploration of the motivations for seeking the truth. The episode masterfully explores the nature of "human" cruelty to one another, the nature of war and the atrocities that ensue as a result, it is the ultimate societal exploration of the need to punish the criminals. The episode is remarkably evenhanded. It presents both sides of Empire and enslaved. Harris Yulin's acting in Marritza's darkest moments is truly chilling.

The characters are brilliant - Marritza is portrayed not simply as a villain; one of the greatest moments of the episode is when Major Kira says, "You're insane!" and Marritza responds with an ultra-rational response that says, "you can't write me off that easily." It's a sharp moment and the episode is filled with moments like that where suddenly everything turns a corner and we're left looking at an entirely new perspective.

There are a lot of surprises in this episode, but it holds up exceptionally well over multiple viewings. I, personally, have seen the episode 30+ times and I still sit down and watch it with excitement when I can. It is that good. It is the best.

My advice is to see this, it's an experience that is brilliantly acted, amazingly written with bold, deep, multifaceted characters in a very twisted plot.

Furthermore, I advise the following: if you do watch this, don't read the back of the video and if at all possible, don't even look at the back. The front has the Cardassian Amon Marritza holding a plate and fork, standing up. Reading the back ruins the first major surprise and looking at the pictures on it ruins the final scene. Whoever made the packaging should be shot, they were that insensitive to the work inside.

"Duet" is the perfect catharsis for all hate and it is the hands-down best episode of all television ever. There is nothing finer and if you don't watch it simply because it contains people who look different and is set in a mythical future, it's your loss; it's all about who we are as humans right now.

This is part of the essential Star Trek Deep Space Nine and marks the return of Gul Dukat.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete First Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the first season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

10/10

For other Star Trek episode and film reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Riker's Insanity Is A "Framed" Perfect Episode: "Frame Of Mind!"

The Good: Plot, Character, Acting, Mood!
The Bad: Nothing.
The Basics: When Riker begins to lose his mind, he finds himself inexplicably moving between an asylum and the Enterprise in a thrilling hour of television.


Anyone who is a fan of my reviews or who listens to me talk about the Star Trek franchise knows that I think the institution went wrong in Brannon Braga. He saved Star Trek The Next Generation from being too insular and slow, but he's a one-trick pony with only three or four unique ideas. His work on Star Trek Voyager and Enterprise has been completely derivative of his episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation. "Frame Of Mind" is the best Braga ever got and it remains his sterling Star Trek The Next Generation outing.

When Riker is preparing for a play set in an insane asylum, he begins to find himself unnerved. As he plans for an undercover mission to a world undergoing a political revolution, he finds himself tired and his attention wandering. It does not take long for him to discover why; he is actually in an insane asylum on Tilonus IV. He has suffered a psychotic break after killing a civilian in a riot and Riker is frustrated to find his plight mirroring the play he was in on the Enterprise. Soon, Riker is finding his sense of reality seriously warped as he shifts between the ship and the asylum. When the realities link when a rescue operation from the Enterprise is mounted, Riker faces a full mental collapse.

This is probably the best performance Jonathan Frakes ever pulled off. "Frame Of Mind" is a tight episode with a lot of tension and so much of it comes down to the performance of Frakes. Frakes has excellent facial articulation and control over his body. There's not a moment that Riker's confusion could be mistaken for Frakes being uncertain. No, it's clear that Frakes is performing up to his highest caliber, as is evident in the very first scene where there is a break between Riker acting and reverting to his normal character and Frakes never comes through as Frakes, it's always Riker. That type of layered acting is an expert technique and cannot be pulled off by just anyone.

Riker is a character that has been underused since the second season and this piece brings him back in full force with all of the potential that existed before Worf and Data began to get more airtime than him. As an added irony, it is those two characters that attempt the rescue attempt in the asylum when Riker turns on them. Perhaps Brannon Braga has a sense of humor about the series after all. But Riker here is vibrant and intriguing to watch.

Riker's unsettled lack of presence in either "reality" is enough to keep the viewer intrigued and waiting to see what happens. His uncertain place in the world is phenomenal to watch and as he attempts to piece together the truth of what happened and how he got where he is, the viewer is drawn more and more inside. This is a tight episode and it stands up to rewatching quite well. The episode moves quickly and is quite tense.

Add to the mood and plot, the entire acting staff is great here. As well as Jonathan Frakes, the guest actors are phenomenal. David Selberg is amazing as the calm and compassionate Dr. Syrus. Syrus is Riker's ally in the mental institution and Selberg plays him with realistic compassion. In direct contrast to Syrus is the villainous Suna. Suna is a menacing agent within the asylum. Andrew Prine is great as this adversary. Even better Prine makes Suna dramatically different from his villain on V: The Final Battle (reviewed here!).

"Frame Of Mind" is a clever character drama that explores the effects of a man losing his sense of reality. Better than most anything on television, this episode is entertaining and may be enjoyed by anyone who wants to watch a psychological thriller. In the end, there is almost no science fiction here; it's a study of the descent into madness. Sometimes the best thing science fiction may do is explore the human condition and "Frame Of Mind" does that with insight and expert vision.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Sixth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the penultimate season by clicking here!
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10/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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