DS9 Stories/News: The Federation Leaders In the Dominion War (2)

Cont.

Constable Odo

One of the hundred Founders sent out to collect data on the rest of the galaxy before returning to the Great Link, Odo was taken in, held captive, abused, and generally emotionally and psychologically battered by the Bajoran people. Left only dimly aware of his extraordinary potential, Odo spent many years wasting his talents as security chief of Terok Nor/DS9. After learning of his true heritage, Odo attempted on several occasions to fulfill his destiny by rejoining the Link but was thwarted by fiendish emotional manipulations perpetrated against him by the crew of DS9, most notably the reviled Colonel Kira. Odo at one time stood accused and convicted of killing another Founder and was punished for this transgression by being transformed into a solid. However, he serendipitously recovered his abilities by merging with an infant Founder and was permitted to keep them as the gift of providence. Following the Dominion’s strategic withdrawal from Cardassia Prime, Odo at last escaped Colonel Kira’s fiendish grasp and returned to the Great Link, bringing with him the cure to a minor ailment which had been troubling the Founders.

Garak

Notorious criminal, wanted for crimes against the Romulans, Cardassians, and Dominion, Garak is a cruel and unfeeling individual who has been cast out by his own people, the Cardassians, for high crimes against the state. Garak played a pivotal role in the failed Tal Shiar/Obsidian Order strike against the Founder’s home world and at that time, further distinguished himself in the annals of infamy by torturing Odo to whom he had formerly pretended friendship. Rumors also suggest that Garak may have played a part in convincing the Romulans to abandon their non-aggression pact with the Dominion, though, reports concerning this operation are sketchy. Garak is most recently placed on Cardassia Prime in the company of Colonel Kira and the traitor, Damar.

Chief O’Brien

Former Chief Petty Officer aboard the USS Enterprise and later Chief of Operations aboard DS9, Miles O’Brien’s technical acumen is much vaunted throughout the Federation. This reputation not withstanding, the Chief is a dogged, plodding, uninspired thinker, well suited for his latest post as an instructor at Starfleet academy.

Dr. Julian Bashir

Chief Medical Officer aboard DS9, the otherwise insignificant Bashir is credited with obtaining the cure for a Federation engineered disease with which the Founders were infected. Though of little consequence to the invincible Founders, Bashir is respected within the Dominion for this small service and is considered a possible ally within the Federation. Formerly held captive at a Dominion internment camp while replaced at DS9 by a Founder, Bashir may have learned to feel the proper awe and respect for the Dominion during this time.

DS9 Stories/News: So You Want To Watch Star Trek: DS9? – Season 4

Source: http://directgeek.com/2012/01/so-you-want-to-watch-star-trek-ds9-season-4/

Previously: A primer on the series, season 1, season 2, and season 3.

Every season will now come with a “don’t listen to me, just watch it all” disclaimer. These are my personal favorites among a season of favorites.  Seriously, by the time we get to season 7 the whole post is just going to be a video of me sobbing and hugging myself.

And pressing my cheek to this image lovingly.

4×01-2: Way of the Warrior parts 1&2:

These episodes are killer. The tone and drive of the back half of the series sharpens to a knife-point. We learn so much in these episodes, we see so much set up, so much is twisted and turned around.

We learn that “sand peas” are almost definitely watermelon Jelly Bellies. We learn that the spots do go all the way down. That Garak doesn’t bother to fold his tucked napkin when having lunch with Odo. (Perhaps the whole torture thing means those social niceties are beneath them now?)

We learn that, if you have begrudgingly made your home among aliens, if you’re isolated and plodding on through bitterness and regret in a place besieged at every side, if your friends are your enemies, and your hardscrabble pride is your dearest enemy-friend, if you are drunk and afraid, then take heart. The only time you should really start to worry is the moment you begin to like the taste of root beer.

But, most importantly: Worf. Worf Worf Worf. Worf.

WOOOOOOORF.

4×03: The Visitor:

Do you enjoy weeping freely? Has it been too long since you’ve had a good, long, snotty, blotchy, call-everyone-you-love-at-an-inappropriate-hour cry? Well, here you go, buddy. Leave those embarrassing voicemails as the credits roll.

4×05: Rejoined:

Oh, and just go ahead and keep right on weeping. Just segue straight from tragic family story into tragic love story.

See, in addition to questionable psychiatric practices, the majority of Trill society believes it’s taboo-level improper for the new hosts of symbionts who once knew each other to “re-associate”. I’m gonna just translate that to “make out and be in love forever omg”. This is supposedly for the good of the symbiont so that it can have new and various experiences in its ages-long slug life.

Like many people would when confronted with the gorgeous new host of their ex-wife, Jadzia Dax calls bullshit on that.

Oh, does she ever.

And from this we get what’s arguably Star Trek’s most direct treatment of queer relationships. Some argue that the outcome of this episode precludes it from being pro-LGBT. For me, it only made the story hit closer to home. Trill’s taboo against re-association is as dehumanizing and insulting as any modern law that drives people in love apart, that bleeds into society and diminishes the character of any person enforcing or affirming that law. It isn’t Trek as utopia, but it is absolutely Trek as worthwhile and passionate social commentary.

4×06: Starship Down:

Like many geeks, I’m a person who loves stories about teams, about constructed families. Unlikely alliances and unexpected friendships that end up being so, so rewarding. This episode deals with that beautifully. Worf gets his in to begin really gelling with the crew, Jadzia and Julian laugh together at the expense of early-seasons-Julian, Quark makes friends with James Cromwell, and Kira and Sisko are the best.

Kira’s “holy crap I am friends with the Emissary” grin is also the best.

In addition to all these Feelings, this is just a really great spaceship episode in classic submarine storytelling style.

4×07: Little Green Men:

Look at this.

Look at it.

Good, now go watch the episode.

4×10: Our Man Bashir:

It should be clear by now that I’m a woman of offbeat tastes. I’ve always wanted to meet a nice lady with a tapeworm so that I could date someone like Jadzia. I somehow found it in my heart to love early-seasons-Bashir. Bedazzled skintight jumpsuits, disproportionately long limbs, anime eyes and all. But do you want to know what really gets my engine revving?

Oh. Hello, there.

O-o-oh. Oh, I see.

Oh God, what are these feelings inside of me? What witchcraft are you working on me, Star Trek?

OMG now he’s bleeding he’s in a tuxedo and he’s bleeding this is the most amazing thing to ever happen to me in my life what do I do with my hands how do I go on living when this is over OMGOMGOMG

I’m told that some other things happen in this episode, but frankly I never noticed.

4×16: Bar Association:

Rom: labor union organizer.

4×20: Shattered Mirror:

Subtitle: Jake Sisko goes on the Best Vacation Ever! The trend of excellent space-therapy continues as Jake spends the weekend with the body-double of his dead mom. Captain Sisko isn’t entirely convinced of the wisdom of this.

Jake and dead mom double, however, are sure that nothing could possibly go wrong.

In other news, Regent Worf got the cream of the crop from the SPCA.

I’ve had this dream so many times.

There is some subtextual evidence in the dialogue that implies Regent Worf is not a leader of well-considered opinions:

GARAK: The Intendant was bad enough. She was irrational, accusatory, unappreciative. But at least…
WORF: At least what?
GARAK: At least I was able to please her now and then.
WORF: You are not my type.

Worf, how are you even in charge of anything ,what is wrong with you, ye gods.

4×22: For the Cause:

Up until this episode, my opinion of the Maquis was “pfft, boring, they’re humans”. But then this hits and it’s like whaaaat.

Kasidy’s Maquis??! Whaaaat.

And then you’re like okay, okay I can deal with that. The Sisko will persevere. Jake will add this onto the pile of mommy issues and move on. But then!

Whoa whoa wait but Odo totally liked you what whaaaaaaaaat.

The shit: it is real. Oh, and Garak goes on a date with a teenager. To be fair, she’s pretty great.

4×24: The Quickening:

I have had this song stuck in my head since 1996.

This is the episode where I can begin to feel okay about liking Doctor Bashir in all his colonialist glory.  In an apt follow-up to Eddington’s Federation-as-homogenization tirade, Bashir finds himself neck-deep in his beloved ~frontier medicine in a place we’ll call The Planet of the Lepers.

I get the impression that Julian Bashir’s internal monologue sounds a lot like the content of a long series of pulp novels with racy covers and titles like Doctor Bashir And The Girl With Five Breasts, or Doctor Bashir Investigates: Where Are My Socks?, and in this particular instance Doctor Bashir– Among the Lepers! The great thing about our little ball of Starfleet-spiffy sunshine, though, is that he’s not that guy anywhere outside the holosuites. He doesn’t get the girl, and for the moment he’s no master of espionage. Heck, he can’t even cure one measly planet full of lepers. No matter how much he’s sure that he can.

“My bad, lepers.”

There’s a wonderful moment in act four where Bashir comes face-to-face with his own recklessly optimistic arrogance. It’s beautiful stuff.

4×26: Broken Link:

My notes for this episode were just “Worf totally ruins a perfectly good plan to commit genocide.” I stand by that. Another note could be that it’s clear from this that the universe runs on a currency of charm, and Garak is a goddamn billionaire.

No, for real. Why is Garak even on this mission in the first place? There’s every reason to disallow it. But all it takes is Garak reminding Sisko how great he is. The scene goes like this:

“Check it: I’m great.”

“Damn. He’s got a point.”

Season four ends with Garak in the clink, Odo in a meatbody, the Federation and Klingon Empire kinda-sorta tapdancing around open war, Emperor Gowron a suspected pudding-person, and the death of all Cardassia foretold by the Founders.

In the next post: Wacky Emissary hijinks! An episode about Keiko that’s actually fun! The spots go all the way down! Klingons, Klingons, Klingons! Even more genocide! Doctor Bashir becomes an unwilling expert in treating injuries associated with particularly rough interspecies sex!

Plus everything is beautiful and nothing hurts.

DS9 Stories/News: Deep Space Comics & Fan Art (5)

#1 is a comic book published by Wildstorm & released on 8//2000

Plot Summary

This comic picks up right after the last episode of the television series.  Nog is promoted to to Security Officer and finds the station has been sabotage and Miles O’Brien is responsible.  O’Brien is quickly arrested.  Meanwhile Quark has gone mad and stared giving all his money away in unsecured loans.  When he regains himself he quickly gets some money back from someone he loaned the money too.  The only problem is the person was murdered to get it.  This revolves around a Romulan Mos Senay who has built a lab on the station with the backing of Starfleet and he knows what is going on but Kira Nerys the station Commander won’t listen.

Miles O’Brien is in custody for sabotage and taken from Earth back to Deep Space Nine before he is even able to unpack.  Julian Bashir is determined to prove him innocent witch gets him in trouble with Tiris Jast and draws the interest of Mos Senay.  Meanwhile Quark falls into the plot deep than he ever wanted but knows no more than any of the officers.

Deep Space Nine has been turned upside down by an alien that can shape-shift and even recreate an evil Deep Space Nine space station.

The crew of Deep Space Nine have to rescue Quark from an evil version of their own space station.

#1 – Crossfire is a comic book published by Wildstorm & released on 7//2001

Plot Summary

Trill Officer on Enterprise

Things don’t look good for the Trill homeworld as a rebellion has devastated their society.  A small group of terrorists are attacking joined trills and there full intention seems to be killing everyone of them.  Odan a great ambassador and friend to many of the U.S.S. Enterprise E Crew has been attacked and Lenara Kahna renowned scientist and an old lover and wife of Dax is kidnapped and possibly murdered.Unknown about Khan’s situation Ezri Dax jumps into action to save her in a ransom demand.  What Ezri also doesn’t know is she is a target and the leader behind all this trouble is her old enemy.

Star Trek Timeframe

This comic takes place after the last episode of Deep Space Nine (DS9) and the Next Generation film Star Trek: Insurrection but before the Next Generation film Star Trek: Nemesis.  This is determined because Benjamin Sisko is no longer on the DS9 station and Data, William Riker, and Deanna Troi are still apart of the Enterprise crew.

Kareel Odan

The crossover between The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine continues. The search for the missing Ezri Dax gets some unexpected assistance from the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise E. But that aid may be too little too late, since Ezri’s kidnapping proves to be only one part of a worldwide conspiracy of genocide against all joined Trill.Meanwhile, Beverly Crusher, unaware of the plot, brings the Odan symbiont to the Caves of Mak’ala, which should be a healing place but, in fact, is a place where the Trill terrorists have set a bomb that could lead to the death of all Trill.  This issue ends in a perfect cliff hanger

#2 – No Quarter is a comic book published by Wildstorm & released on 8//2001

 Verad on Trill

The exciting crossover between Star Trek: The Next Generation® and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine® continues!  The truth about Verad Kalon‘s plot against joined Trill is revealed, and Ezri Dax turns out to be one of Verad’s first targets.  With a highly communicable airborne virus racing across the Trill world, Verad has infected himself and is spreading the disease all over the planet.  Then kills himself to keep the cure a secret.  Ezri is down for the count and the crew of U.S.S. Enterprise D has to come up with a solution before the Trill population is decimated?

#3 – All Fall Down is a comic book published by Wildstorm & released on 9//2001

#4 – United We Stand is a comic book published by Wildstorm & released on 10//2001

Geordi tries to save a Trill

The crossover between Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine concludes. Moving uninfected Trill into quarantine is a big, dangerous job.  Especially when it turns out that the quarantine locations just might be the most dangerous spots on the planet! That is because of the kamikaze ships crashing down on the planet targeting joined Trill.  Beverly Crusher comes up with a unique, and risky way to discover a cure for the retrovirus by joining with the symbiont Odan who is also a past lover.  This is done in order to save Ezri Dax and the rest of her people.

#1 – is a comic book published by IDW Publishing & released on 12//2009

One of the greatest and by far the most popular warrior in the Klingon Empire, Martok is a great warrior who rallies the vote of the people. He allowed Worf and Jadzia to join the house of Martok. Just before the end of the Dominion War, he became chancellor of the Klingon Council.

Quark runs a bar on Deep Space Nine. He is always looking for ways to make a profit.

Quark by Nightwing

DS9 Stories/News: Deep Space Nine Celebrity Guest Pictures (10)

   Hilary Shepard Turner has made three appearances in the Deep Space Nine

Ensign Hoya was a female Benzite who served on Deep Space 9 in the early 2370s. Her wedding ceremony had been performed by Benjamin Sisko.

She died in 2373, during a mission to the Gamma Quadrant planet Torga IV, when the runabout she was in was destroyed by the Jem’Hadar. (DS9: “The Ship“)

Courtesy of Memory Alpha.org

Hoya was played by actress Hilary Shepard. She is the only female Benzite seen in Star Trek.

Hilary Shepard Turner appeared on the science fiction drama “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” While Shepard’s first two Trek appearances s focused on her character of Lauren, Turner actually appeared first on the series as an alien officer named Hoya. Appearing under heavy prostethics, Turner appeared in a few scenes of the fifth season episode “The Ship.” While the actress’s appearance could go unnoticed, she has several lines in her recognizable voice. Hoya is killed when her ship comes under enemy attack and is destroyed.

…as Lauren, a genetically-engineered Human (1997, 1998)

Lauren was a genetically-engineered Human. Lauren’s parents took her as a child to undergo an illegal procedure called accelerated critical neural pathway formation, which dramatically increased her intelligence beyond what Humans would call genius level. This left her, however, with an overly amorous personality. She was prone to believing that many different men, including some she had never met, were in love with her. Lauren’s delusions did not extend, however, to Jack. This was ironic as Jack often appeared to be the only man who held any kind of attraction towards her.

Lauren was taken into psychiatric care and lived with others like herself. In 2374, after it was revealed that Doctor Julian Bashir had undergone the same procedure, Doctor Karen Loews – the psychiatrist in charge of Lauren’s case – took Lauren, along with Patrick, Jack and Sarina Douglas to Deep Space 9. Dr. Loews believed that meeting someone like them who had managed to fit in to normal society would be helpful to them.

Along with the others, Lauren studied Gul Damar‘s speech calling for peace talks between the Dominion and the Federation. Together, just by watching the speech, they were able to determine the entire saga of Damar’s rise to power without ever having heard any of it before. Bashir was very impressed, and encouraged their thirst for knowledge about the Dominion. They asked to watch the holographic recordings of the peace talks, and determined that the Dominion was stalling for time to solve their shortages of ketracel-white. Had the Federation signed the peace treaty, they would have almost certainly lost the war.

Grateful to them, Starfleet provided Jack and the others with classified reports and war plans. They quickly determined that the Dominion was certain to win the war and that the only way to prevent the loss of billions of lives was to surrender immediately. Unsurprisingly, Captain Benjamin Sisko rejected this immediately. Jack, Patrick and Lauren attempted to take Starfleet’s classified information directly to the Dominion, knocking Bashir out and leaving him in Sarina’s custody, so they could win the war more quickly, thus saving lives. Jack miscalculated, however, as Sarina released Bashir who then stopped him from meeting with Weyoun. Starfleet, however, remained willing to listen to any ideas they had on how to win the war. (DS9: “Statistical Probabilities“)

In 2375, Jack and the others escaped the institute upon hearing Bashir was working on a procedure that would cure Sarina of her inability to properly communicate with others. With Patrick posing as a Starfleet admiral, and Lauren posing as a science division officer, they took her to Deep Space 9 where Bashir was able to perform the procedure successfully. During this second visit to Deep Space 9, Lauren became infatuated with Ensign Nog. (DS9: “Chrysalis“)

Lauren was portrayed by Hilary Shepard Turner.

Jack, Lauren, Patrick, and Sarina were known as the “Jack Pack” in the Star Trek Customizable Card Game.

Courtesy of Memory Alpha.org

 

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.