DS9 Stories/News: DS9 Stories/ News: Odo & Kira Relationship Review (8)

 

“The Abandoned”

Review originally printed in ORACLE

Newsletter July 2011

____________________________________

 

Review written by Mary Shaver

ODO:

 

Is that all you can think about?

Killing?  Isn’t there anything else

that you care about?

 

JEM’HADAR TEENAGER:

 

I… I don’t think so.

 

ODO:

 

But there’s so much more to life

than that… there’s so much for you

to discover… to experience…

 

EPISODE OVERVIEW:

 

Odo learns that not everyone can expand beyond the limitations of their natures.

 

EPISODE SUMMARY:

 

An abandoned baby, discovered in some cargo salvage, turns out to be a Jem’Hadar whose genetic engineering accelerates his growth.  Within a day he is an adolescent and Odo agrees to take the teenager under his wing in an effort to help the youngster grow beyond his warrior nature.  

 

EPISODE ANALYSIS:

 

 

Quark purchases some salvage from a Boslian trader and is surprised to discover a baby of unknown origin hidden in the wreckage. Bashir’s examination of the baby turns up a number of unusual readings, most significantly that the child has an abnormally high metabolic rate. Within hours the baby has grown into a child of 8 or 10 years. Not only is this mysterious child growing at an alarming rate; he also seems to have remarkable cognitive abilities. Without any external stimuli, he has learned language, speech and  has the capacity for reasoning and understanding.  Bashir concludes that this child is the product of genetic engineering that is far advanced beyond anything seen in the Federation. To add to the mystery, the child is missing a key enzyme and without a synthetic substitute, he will die. A culture that is capable of this level of technology surely wouldn’t have overlooked something so basic; it must have been a deliberate omission. Bashir is stymied.

 

“The Abandoned” is the first Odo-centric episode since the devastating events of “The Search.”  Despite whatever internal conflicts he might be experiencing after finding his people and learning that they are the Founders of the Dominion, Odo is soldering on in the humanoid world. And while he finds no common ground with his people as to their philosophy of the universe, Odo did take away some positive things from his encounter with the Great Link, and is beginning to embrace his Changeling heritage.

 

While Dr. Bashir is searching to understand the anatomy of the orphaned child in the Infirmary, Odo, searching for a better understanding of himself, is beginning a journey of self-discovery. The first step in this journey is his decision to move out of the stifling little closet at the back of his Security office that has been his make-shift home since the days of Terek Nor, and take regular crew quarters.

 

We learn this as Kira arrives with a gift for his new quarters – a houseplant. Odo answers the door chime and very deliberately chooses to greet her outside his quarters in the corridor. Unabashedly interested about the configuration of his quarters, Kira at first peers over Odo’s shoulder, trying to get a peek inside the room, and when he closes and locks the door she confesses her curiosity  – and she apparently isn’t alone. According to her, “everyone” is curious to see his quarters. For a painful moment Odo seems to be reliving the sort of curiosity he used to excite while a lab specimen. Kira is blissfully ignorant that her words and actions have caused the Constable some consternation, but Odo quickly recovers and invites Kira in. She looks in wonder at the strange collection of items that populate the room and seem to be scattered everywhere. Somewhat apologetically, Odo explains that he hasn’t finished organizing everything. From his expression Odo appears to be looking for her approval. When he then goes on to clarify the purpose for the objects – to practice and explore his shapeshifting gifts – Odo is acknowledging the next step in his journey. Shapeshifting is no longer something he does simply as part of his job when the need calls for it. His reluctance until now to change shapes arguably has its roots in the things he was forced to do when confined to Mora’s lab and when he was taken out ‘on parade’ for the entertainment of the Cardassians. Meeting his people and learning at the feet of the Female Changeling has altered his thinking and now Odo is beginning to understand what it means to be a shapeshifter. He has discovered that the ability to mimic various shapes, forms, textures and surfaces can be a joyful and pleasurable experience. For a man who has seen so little joy in his life, this has to be something of an epiphany to Odo.

DS9 Stories/News: Of Trek and War (1)

Source: http://www.goth.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14138&f=20

This is based on an idea from DarklyInclined, who was wondering how I might rate the rather protracted Dominion War featured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine versus the one-season Xindi conflict (a subset of the much larger Temporal Cold War) as shown in Star Trek: Enterprise. I thought I’d also open the topic up to other wars in Trek, since those two weren’t quite the only wars shown in all of the series.

This will be a lengthy post. I’ve been working on it for a while now. I tend to write essays instead of simple replies; apologies in advance. Non-Trekkies who don’t really give a shit might want to head for another thread. For those Trekkies not well-versed in the subject matter, I will include links to pertinent data where applicable. Those who do choose read this, please bear with me.

You could make it more fun by taking a shot of your favorite alcoholic beverage anytime I bash Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (two of Trek’s longtime writers/producers, both of whom were blamed for Star Trek’s demise and the early cancellation of Enterprise, if not the near-total downfall of UPN itself) or anytime I mention Ronald D. Moore and Ira Steven Behr (two longtime Trek scribes who later moved on to Battlestar Galactica on SyFy) in a positive light. You’ll be happily plastered by post’s end.

Which did you think was done best: the Dominion War from DS9 or the Xindi conflict from Enterprise (or a different conflict featured in one of the other series, like the Klingon/Federation Cold War from TOS or the brief war against the Klingons in DS9 that served as a prelude to the Dominion War)?

Or, for a much more broad, open-ended question (if it suits you): do you think Star Trek handles a mature subject such as war well or poorly?

Dominion War

If you really don’t care about my lengthy diatribe on the Dominion War vs. the Xindi conflict (maybe because you didn’t live your entire life in your parents’ basement and you actually did have a social life), just skip past this and post your response already. Otherwise, feel free to keep reading.

Eh..?

I’ll open the discussion with my response…

…

I think Deep Space Nine handled the Dominion War fairly well. They didn’t just rush into it head-on. The writers gave it a great build-up, slowly tip-toeing into it, mentioning the Dominion here and there throughout Season Two (the Dominion were first mentioned in “Rules of Acquisition“, a Ferengi episode, no less!) before introducing us to their foot soldiers, the genetically-grown Jem’Hadar, in the Season 2 finale. Even after that, the Dominion didn’t quite take center stage yet, opting instead for a Cold War against the Alpha Quadrant powers, during which they covertly started two wars involving the Klingons – a war between the Klingons and the Cardassians (which the Maquis would get involved in) and renewed hostilities between the Klingons and the Federation. After destabilizing the Alpha Quadrant’s major powers, the Dominion finally invaded. Brilliant tactic! By then, the Federation was so shell-shocked from having to deal with wars on all borders (save the Romulan Neutral Zone) that they barely had the resources to fight the Dominion, a nigh-unstoppable force compared to the Federation.

Jem’Hadar

The Dominion seemed militarily superior in all respects: non-stop construction of warships while the Federation was still trying to convert aging exploration vessels into battleships; they could grow Jem’Hadar at an exponential rate (and even tailor-make them for warfare in that part of the galaxy) while Starfleet couldn’t recruit new officers fast enough; the Dominion were united while Starfleet was divided between the pacifists and the war-mongers (usually represented by a shadowy “rogue” group of Starfleet Intelligence called Section 31, a sort of Starfleet “Men in Black” that utilized very dirty tactics like assassinations, cover-ups and even genocide to preserve the Federation; this was the series’ attempt at exploring a darker side of Starfleet that I, for one, appreciated). Good mix of drama, tension and action all around, plus it was an interesting examination of the Federation through darker lenses than we’re used to.

Section 31

While Deep Space Nine’s executive producer, Rick Berman (Roddenberry’s hand-picked successor), wanted the Dominion War to last only three or four episodes tops, DS9′s lead writers – Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore (themselves chosen by Berman for their outstanding work on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, both of whom would later helm the Battlestar Galactica reboot and create its prequel series Caprica) – conned him into allowing the Dominion War to play out until its “natural” end, which came during the final episode of the series. Say what you will about the Dominion War as a storyline and how it diverges from Roddenberry’s utopian vision of the future or about Deep Space Nine as a series, I think the Dominion War worked successfully (mostly), given its purpose as a method of deconstructing Roddenberry’s notions of the Federation as a utopian society. Ira Steven Behr re-imagined Deep Space Nine as a darker, grittier version of Roddenberry’s vision, and given how the series was written before that (set aboard a Cardassian space station by Michael Pillar – the brain behind some of the best TNG episodes ever, including “The Best of Both Worlds” – who imagined the series as a “frontier town in space” filled with broken individuals, former terrorist “freedom fighters”, orphaned aliens and unscrupulous bartender/merchants), the series worked well as such. The Dominion War, while I admit it was rather protracted (and ultimately weakened the hell out of Season 7, when the writers had to figure out a quick way to end the war in only one season after building the story arc to be a lengthy epic), worked overall as the ultimate test of Roddenberry’s dream.

When such a dream – the notion of humankind striving to better itself through peace and cooperation – is threatened by outside forces, what will humanity endure to protect it? The approach to this was very realistic, from the major portions of the story (“Operation Return“, the re-taking of DS9 after it was taken over by the Dominion) to the humdrum day-to-day stuff (Sisko’s grim ritual of posting casualty reports from the war every Friday). Ultimately, the war took a bitter toll on everyone involved, especially Captain Sisko; he would later commit acts that many Trek fans consider cardinal sins against Roddenberry’s lofty ideals – specifically helping a former Cardassian spy murder a Romulan senator in cold blood and blame the Dominion for it in the masterpiece episode “In the Pale Moonlight” – just to bring a quicker resolution to the war by bringing the Romulans into it. By the series’ end, the Federation is saved, and all the major goals of the series – bringing an end to the Cardassian threat and putting Bajor on the fast-track to membership in the Federation – have been met, along with the added bonus of creating a tentative peace between the Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans. Additionally, Ira Steven Behr was able to inject a bit of Judaism into the story through the Bajorans and their Emissary (messiah figure), Benjamin Sisko, whose story arc Behr based loosely on Moses.

DS9 Stories/News: Birthday Alert – Colm Meaney’s 3 Day Birthday Special

Cont.

Julian Bashir/Miles O’Brien

http://ship-manifesto.dreamwidth.org/19822.html

“The relationship between Bashir and O’Brien is the best relationship… the best friendship in the history of the franchise.”
Ira Steven Behr, Season Six dvd set, Crew Dossier: Julian Bashir

In the beginning, Bashir and O’Brien seem to be very different men, but over the course of the series, their friendship builds similarity upon similarity. This relationship is one that deepens moment by moment, a relationship that’s about building up trust and hope, about turning a somewhat faltering beginning into one of the deepest and strongest relationships that we ever get to see on Trek.

A. The Guys:

To know Miles O’Brien, you have to start with basics. He’s a good guy, a family man, someone who couldn’t possibly have any deep, dark secrets. But he’s much more than he seems on first glance (a common theme in DS9). He’s a soldier as well as an engineer. He’s done what he’s had to do, and he’s made himself content with what he has in his life. Miles has been through many dark nights of the soul, but his strength of will and his heart have carried him through it all.

Julian Bashir seems simple in the beginning, too — he’s the brash young doctor with too many brains and not enough sense. But as the years pass, his bravado is shown to be true bravery, and his arrogance to be as much façade as truth. He chose to be a doctor, chose to make saving lives his life’s work. He chose to work not in the heart of the Federation, but on what he thought would be on the outskirts, what he assumed would be an unimportant space station. To help and to hide, those were the twin goals of Julian’s life, and as time passed, they became more and more irreconcilable.

What I love about Bashir and O’Brien is that their closeness grows out of the characters and the story. We’re there for every important step of that relationship. Interestingly, even from the very first, long before they played war games together in the holodecks, their relationship is defined by war — their first exchange is O’Brien asking Bashir if he knows his history of the Border Wars and of the massacre of Selik III. We learn at some point that O’Brien was the ‘hero of Setlik III’, and this may be the moment when Bashir connected that O’Brien to this one and got his hero worship trigger tripped.

Another thing that probably should be mentioned is the sexual orientation question, i.e. Miles is married and Julian clearly likes the ladies. What’s up with the gayness, yo? To start with the easiest one first, Julian is the most-slashed character in DS9, mostly with Garak, but also with… interesting intra-Trek crossovers. This may be in part because Julian comes across as open to anyone who’ll listen to him talk. That sounded nicer in my head. He clearly has a normality thing, but since there’s no big “Gosh, Gay People, they’re so weird” episode, I’m going to take it as a given that people have grown past the current prejudices. In order to make room for new ones, I’m sure, but still. So, Julian isn’t really a problem.

Miles, on the hand, is married with kid(s) for his entire run on DS9, and leaves DS9 (and Julian, as the show itself presents it) on his wife, Keiko’s, urging. In fact, much of her on-screen time is taken up with how she doesn’t fit and doesn’t really belong on DS9. Eventually, a choice had to be made, and considering the O’Brien character, the choice could not be other than it was — it was to Keiko and his children that his first loyalties must and should lie. Despite the seeming inevitability of his choice, the show itself does, at times, clearly set up a comparison between Julian and Keiko.

Part of the problem is that we rarely get to see the sympathetic side of Keiko — both Miles and Julian are main characters, so the show spends quite a bit more time on them and on their friendship and their growth. And while we often get to see Miles say that he loves Keiko, it’s much rarer to hear Keiko’s side of things — most of time when she’s on the show, it’s because the writers are highlighting a problem or issue, so we see the O’Briens more on the outs than the ins.

And while, at first, Julian and Miles seem at first to be as different as oranges and eggs, over the years, though the banter stays, their closeness grows stronger and stronger. In the end, we can see that they are more alike then they are different, both of them caretakers first, yet fighters, too, when necessary. Each of them willing to fight for something that they believe in, two friends who can stand back to back against the any enemy. I love Bashir and O’Brien for the same reasons that I love most of my fic couples — they tease and fight and stubbornly refuse to admit how much they care while showing their affection by their actions. They have a solid friendship with sparks of possibility. They can trust each other and lean on each other.

B. Subtext:

As you might imagine, seven years gives these guys quite a bit of subtext (and some actual text) to sift through. Because of the volume involved, I’m just going to point out some of the more obvious examples from each season.

Storyteller, a first season episode, is the first time that we get to have Bashir and O’Brien thrown alone together. While O’Brien tries to weasel out of it, Julian is thrilled (I wonder if Julian actually requested that Miles take him, it seems to play that way). Julian is, after all, very honest and open about liking Miles. He likes him from the first episode and goes right on liking him until the last episode.

Julian is so… almost desperate for affection at places in this episode. He asks Miles if he annoys him. In this episode, Julian asks Miles to call him Julian, because he’d ‘simply prefer it’ if Miles would call him by his first name. At the end of the episode, he relents, seeing that Miles isn’t comfortable with it (yet). Julian acts near starved for attention, especially first season, possibly because he feels that he can’t trust any attention that he does get, because it isn’t for the real him. The real him wasn’t good enough. And even now, he’s constantly afraid that even this ‘better’ him isn’t good enough.

Even apart from that, he’s just so fascinated by people within people — he wants to know all about Dax, not just Jadzia. He’s curious about ‘plain, simple’ Garak, the spy-tailor.

And Miles O’Brien, who appears to be ‘just’ an engineer, was also the ‘hero of Setlik III’. He wants to know all about them (as opposed to the women that he dates, wherein he’s all about telling them about him).

 

At the beginning of the episode:
Bashir: “I’m really looking forward to this mission.”
O’Brien: “And why is that?”
Bashir: “Well, I see it as a wonderful opportunity for us to get to know each other.”

On the subject of Bashir’s annoyingness:
Bashir: “The only reason I’m asking is because your opinion means a lot to me and I’m aware I have a tendency to run off at the mouth sometimes.”

In Armageddon Game, in the second season, Julian and Miles are thrown alone together by an ‘accident’. They spend most of the episode with just each other’s company and Julian saves O’Brien’s life. We also see the continuation of Julian sharing his life with Miles when he tells the story of the ballerina Palis, whom he almost chose over Starfleet.

Bashir:From near the end of the episode:

 ”I want you to know, I really appreciated what you said back on T’Lani Three.”
O’Brien: “What did I say?”
Bashir: “That it was an honor serving with me.”
O’Brien: “Oh… right.”
Bashir: “I’d like to return the compliment, Chief — it’s been an honor to serve with you, too.”

DS9 Stories/News: So You Want To Watch Star Trek: DS9? – Season 1

Source: http://directgeek.com/2011/11/so-you-want-to-watch-star-trek-ds9-season-1/

So You Want To Watch Star Trek: DS9? – Season 1

Gabby Nicasio 11/03/2011 5

It’s come to my attention that there are several people in the world, a not-insignificant number of people, a handful of lonely, sad, socially isolated people, who have never seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

I’m here to help.

The plan is this: this post will serve as a primer on the series. I’ll then follow up with one post per each of the seven seasons, and these will detail which episodes are essential viewing. Any not listed can, in theory, be skipped. If you’re a jerk who doesn’t care enough.

You may ask what will constitute “essential viewing”. The answer is: my completely biased opinion. This post should also serve as a primer for what my particular biases are. Believe me, it’ll become very, very clear.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a show in which everyone makes horrible decisions, and then tons of people die. It is my favorite show. The series takes place in and around the space station Deep Space Nine. (Hey! That’s the name of the show! ) The station is Cardassian-built, Bajoran-owned, and Federation-run, and if that sounds like a mess, then you’re already following along quite nicely.

This fixed location for the series allows the show to delve immediately and deeply into the local politics of the region. There are three main players in local politics. Guess who they are. Go, on, I’ll wait. Okay here:

The Cardassian Union

Also and more accurately known as the Cardassian Empire. Cardassians are Space Russians. They have crocodilian scales, slicked-back hair, and are given swagger lessons in grade school. At the time when the first season begins, they’ve long been living under a fiercely-enforced military leadership. Their civilian government employs a brutal and crafty intelligence service, the Obsidian Order, who make it their business to know what you ate for dinner three Tuesdays ago. They keep a file on your bowel movements. They have read your fanfiction, and they’re not impressed.

Cardassians are passionate about durable fabrics, pointy architecture, saunas, and oppression. They are the best. They are the absolute best.

At the start of the series, the Cardassians have just pulled out of their 60-year-long occupation of Bajor.

Bajor

A pool filled entirely with Bajoran tears.

Is a lovely planet filled with sad people who look a lot like Ensign Ro.

During the Cardassian occupation, Bajor was strip-mined, its people forced into slave labor, and upwards of 10 million of its citizens were killed.  Which explains the sadness. The Bajoran Resistance used guerrilla warfare tactics to oppose the occupation, and eventually the pressure was too much. The Cardassian civilian government called for a military withdrawal.

Bajorans love earrings, religion, armed rebellion, and shoulder pads.

At the start of the series, Bajor has a wobbly provisional government and a militia that is largely made up of former Resistance members. Because of their tenuous political and agricultural situation, they’ve accepted some help from the Federation.

The United Federation of Planets

If you don’t know who these people are, then I’m not sure what you’re doing here. For the purposes of watching DS9, just think of them as NATO. Think of them as Space NATO.

The Federation is very fond of paperwork, jumpsuits, ignoring its own Prime Directive, and maintaining an enduring, naive sense of smug superiority. But mainly jumpsuits. They just cannot get enough of jumpsuits.

Here is one of Jake Sisko’s least garish jumpsuits.

Characters

In this space I was going to talk about all the main characters, of whom there are many. But then I remembered I was supposed to let my bias run free, so instead this will just be about Garak.

Elim Garak

Dat ass.

Is a tailor. Although word on the Promenade is that he used to be a spy. Or is still a spy. Word in Garak’s shop of tailored fineries is that he used to be a gardener. Then again, maybe he’s a political exile. Or a political refugee. Or an exiled spy. Or an exiled gardener? Maybe he’s with the Fashion Police. Maybe he’s a Romulan Princess. These are all distinct possibilities.

Garak is the only remaining resident Cardassian aboard DS9. He is the best. Cardassians are the best and Garak is the best Cardassian, so he is extra best. This is very important. You should write this down. There is not an un-fabulous scale on Garak’s grayscale body.

Let’s look at him again, shall we?

Oh yeah and there’s a wormhole.

This will cause no trouble whatsoever.

It connects one side of the galaxy to the other. No big deal. You shouldn’t be worried about that old thing at all.

So! To sum up! If you like:

• Genocide
• Russians
• Guerrilla tactics
• NATO
• and interspecies romance

…then you should watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. And I, dear reader, will help you along.

In the next post: unmissable episodes from DS9 season 1.

DS9 Stories/News: Learning to Love Star Trek, Part 42: “Babel”

Source: http://scifiblock.com/features/blog/learning-to-love-star-trek-part-42-babel.htm

By Robert Ring, Tue, 10/26/2010 – 10:02

“Learning to Love Star Trek” is a weekly blog series by Sci-Fi Block Editor in Chief Robert Ring, begun January 1, 2010. In this series of blog posts, Robert is endeavoring to determine whether he can make a Star Trek fan out of himself through an exposure to a combination of episodes from Star Trek the Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation (Update: TNG has now been replaced with Deep Space Nine). Click here to read his introduction to the experiment.

“Babel” marks the first Deep Space Nine episode that I don’t care for. Whereas the previous episodes have been character-oriented, this one goes back to a technique that I have seen too much in The Original Series and The Next Generation: presenting a problem with no goal other than trying to convince people the characters face a true threat, and then finding a way to pull those characters out safely in the end. There is some character development here, but the vast majority of the episode is concerned with its fake-out scare. Everyone on Deep Space Nine is at risk of dying from a disease. Will they make it out alive? It’s the fourth episode of the series, what do you think?

While running himself ragged trying to fix all of DS9’s many faulty contraptions, Miles O’Brien suddenly finds himself unable to form sentences. As Julian Bashir soon discovers, O’Brien accidentally triggered a hidden device that let loose a manmade aphasia-inducing virus. Before long, everyone is infected, the station is put on lockdown, Kira Nerys abducts the one man who might be able to find a cure, and Quark and Odo, showing immunity to the virus, are left to try to handle things on their own until everyone gets better — or, as the writers probably wanted us to think, if everyone gets better. Oooooh.

There’s really not a lot to say about this aspect of the episode, which is its bulk. The first half is spent trying to figure what’s happening, and the second half is spent trying to fix the problem. There’s no tension because we know everyone’s going to be okay. I find little artistic merit in this plot. I’m sure people will make the argument that this is a story about viral warfare and the consequences of using weapons that can affect innocents years after they were meant to be used, like a landmine story set in future space world. But if that is the case, the message is trite: Weapons that can harm innocents are bad. Or, equally as simplistic, viral warfare is bad. It doesn’t give us any new understanding of the issues at hand.

I do like the little bit of development given to Odo and Quark, however. They’re like enemies that like each other, or friends with an inexorable competitive streak. They’re both always trying to best the other, but they have an unwavering respect for each other at the same time. We see this first when Odo shows some amusement at the prospect of Quark having to shut down his bar but no less than a minute later stands up for the guy when a customer force feeds Quark some soup to prove how bad it tastes. In the end, Quark and Odo are the only people on DS9 capable of running its systems while everyone else has been infected by the virus, and they work together quite happily. Quark even shows genuine concern for Odo’s wellbeing. It’s nice to see two “enemies” that act more like overly competitive brothers than adversaries that simply hate each other under every circumstance.

This is a brief post, but that’s all there is to say about this episode. For the most part, it just isn’t effective. Even plots like this can occasionally work if you use them for something other than trying to manufacture tension, but the premise here is flat all around. The redeeming qualities are tangential and few.