DS9 Stories/News: Some ‘Deep’ Talk with Alexander Siddig (3)

Cont.

Cairo Time

Jordan Hoffman: So let’s talk about the new movie Cairo Time, which I think is the first time you’ve played a romantic lead, is that correct?

Alexander Siddig: It is indeed, it is. Since I was at school, that’s the first time I’ve played a romantic.

Jordan Hoffman: How much fun is it to woo the hearts of audiences like that? To lay on the charm thick for the sake of the audience?

Alexander Siddig: It’s pretty great. It wasn’t so much, I have to confess I wasn’t really thinking of the audience when I was in Cairo but I – to gaze into that lady’s eyes [Patricia Clarkson] is quite thrilling.

Jordan Hoffman: Your character sort of welcomes this woman into the Egyptian culture and the city of Cairo; how much familiarity did you have with Cairo prior to making the film?

Alexander Siddig: Well, you know it’s one of the places that’s sort of been in my reference library all my life in the sense that I was born in the Sudan which is the neighboring country and up until – I mean forever we’ve had a treaty with Egypt and immigrants come and go; my whole family lived in Cairo for years. And so it was a familiar place and I’d been there in the 80’s as a kid really, so I knew my way around and I felt very comfortable and relaxed there. So it was easy to make the little leap from a Sudanese man to and Egyptian man which I had no problem doing.

Jordan Hoffman: So you didn’t have to think it too much.

Alexander Siddig: No, I really didn’t. It’s a really honest city for all its evils. It can be quite filthy – that’s not exactly an evil is it by world standards. But it lays itself out to you as a tourist. London for example, is an impossible city. You need to know people in London to find out where things are and what’s going on and you can’t make friends here unless you were kind of born here. So, Cairo is much more friendly and available to people.

Jordan Hoffman: So when you were shooting this film, it was a Canadian production, but it’s still a large western production and there isn’t too much of that on the streets of Cairo. How were you treated by the general population?

Alexander Siddig: They were completely puzzled by us. They were like, ‘what the Hell is that?’ they just couldn’t quite make out what weirdness we were doing. This was bigger than an ordinary video camera, we weren’t just saying hi in front of a landmark we were doing scenes, so when they could they would sort of jostle into the frame to get involved. Which was fine on some levels, but as soon as they started looking into the camera and stuff it was a total nightmare.

Jordan Hoffman: So that shot of nearly getting hit by a motorcycle, was that actual?

Alexander Siddig: We really did – well it was a stunt, but the interesting thing was that the stunt guy had never done a stunt in his life – was not a stunt man. He literally tried to run her over. And I must have buried my nails deep into her arm to get her out of the way she was absolutely – she was shaking afterwards. She wasn’t used to that.

Jordan Hoffman: Was it all Egyptian crew? Or was it Canadian crew?

Alexander Siddig: It was a beautiful mix actually. It was a whole jumble of different people. The Egyptians were brilliant, I mean really brilliant; and kind of cool and cosmopolitan and wanted to take us all out to cool places to hang out in the evenings. Egyptians – thank God you know Cairo is not a dry city and is not massively fundamentalist.  It’s got fundamentalist aspects, but you can still have a really swingin’ time.

Bashir and O’Brien

Jordan Hoffman: Who from the old days that you don’t get to see do you like to hang out with the most at conventions?

Alexander Siddig: You know I love hanging out with Nicky deBoer.

Jordan Hoffman: I see.

Alexander Siddig:  She is just hilarious; great, great girl. And um if I see Colm Meaney we’ll have a drink and bitch at each other. That’s all we do. I realize looking back at my history with him, I went out with him twice a week every week for seven years – drinking. Boy, he can pack em away.

Jordan Hoffman: I would imagine.

Alexander Siddig:  And all we did was fight. And I guess that’s what they did on the show too. But we fought in real life all the time. He would set me up, he’d take me to Irish bars where they hated English people. I would think they were being racist about the fact that I’m black and they weren’t. The just hated the English people, they would just hear my accent and they’d – and he just laughed his head off.

Jordan Hoffman: Did you ever actually play darts, though, is the real question.

Alexander Siddig:  No. No. That would be very weird.

Jordan Hoffman: There needs to be a separation between art and life.

Alexander Siddig:  Yes, because that was the only separation, the dart game.

DS9 Stories/News: Of Trek and War (2)

Cont.

While the story arc itself had its problems and the series as a whole did have its flaws (overuse of the Ferengi as comic relief, a very weak seventh season with a rushed finish, poor to non-existent exit strategy for the Dominion War story arc, etc), I think the Dominion War worked overall and helped define Deep Space Nine as a series, for better or worse.

Dominion War

By contrast, the Xindi storyline in Enterprise was a good idea that was not as well executed as the Dominion War… but that describes many of the ideas Berman & Braga have come up with over the years. To begin with, the concept itself was really a clone of the Dominion War done to drive up Enterprise’s lackluster Nielson ratings. Created as a prequel by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (both of whom had lost their touch by then, in my not-so-humble opinion), Enterprise wasn’t doing very well as a series. This was largely due to poor stories that either lacked internal continuity (on an episode-by-episode basis) or pissed all over established continuity for either the series or the franchise (by either introducing certain concepts from TNG way too soon in the timeline or by introducing potentially major threats to Earth in one episode, then completely ignoring them and the story-telling opportunities they could have raised in later episodes by never mentioning them again and zooming off to some other would-be threat). Remembering the brief viewer increase caused by the Dominion War in DS9, Berman & Braga decided to bring their own war into Enterprise with the Xindi.

Xindi Weird Stuff

Xindi Weird Stuff

While that might have been a good idea, the concept suffered problems from the start. To begin with, the entire Xindi arc wasn’t its own story; rather, it was just one season-long subset of a larger conflict that was shown, but never explained in the series: namely, the Temporal Cold War. No real details were ever given as to what the nature of the Temporal Cold War really was (a cold war across time itself, we assume?) or who first started it. We know some of the factions, but not all, nor do we truly understand their motives, beyond the old “Saturday morning cartoon villain” m.o. of “destroy the Federation!” that gets so cliché. Like many concepts from Berman & Braga, it was a great concept poorly executed and given little true depth. We saw precious little of this concept in Enterprise (aside from the occasional Suliban episode or the odd appearance by either “Future Guy” or Daniels, none of whom give nearly enough exposition), and what we did see was rather lackluster. Originally, this concept was expressed through a rather poorly-conceived race called the Suliban (which, guessing by their name, I assume were supposed to be some sort of heavily veiled parody of the Taliban?), though that didn’t quite pan out the way Berman & Braga hoped. With more viewers slipping away, they rushed the Xindi storyline into production.

Again, it began with a great concept: some faction in the Temporal Cold War called the Sphere Builders (really, you couldn’t give them a better name than that?) attempted an invasion of the Federation in the 26th Century, but the Federation repelled them. Instead of retaliating in that era, the Sphere Builders attempted to prevent the founding of the Federation. (As time travel expert M.J. Young would attest to on his website about temporal anomalies, such a notion has its own problems, but Star Trek has always played rather fast and loose with the concept of time travel, anyway.) To do this, they provided the Xindi with trumped-up evidence that the Federation would one day cause the destruction of their homeworld. (So, they’re fighting a war over something that hasn’t happened yet based on evidence “from the future” that could easily be manufactured? We can manufacture war photos using Photoshop right now. What kind of photo/video/hologram-doctoring technology would they have in the 22nd Century? Surely the Xindi thought of that!) This managed to get the Xindi moving in high gear, and they initiated a conflict against humanity – the Federation’s major founding member – by attacking Earth in “The Expanse“, Enterprise’s Season 3 opener. Enterprise gets recalled from its mission of exploration (which, I’m sorry to say, really hadn’t been going very well, as the crew of Enterprise either nearly got their ship destroyed each episode or spent as much time as they could pissing off the Vulcans, who – for whatever reason – were written to be colossal uptight assholes during the series) and assigned to head for a massive area of space called the Delphic Expanse in search of the Xindi’s homeworld. Once there, they would either parlay with the Xindi’s leaders and try for peace, or kick their asses and come back home victorious.

This war lasted all of one season (when has an actual war ever lasted only one year? Hell, Voyager took seven damn years to cross the Delta Quadrant – a feat they only barely accomplished by cheating several times via numerous space/time “shortcuts” – and the NX-01 Enterprise, which is technologically inferior to even the [/i]shuttlecraft[/i] of Kirk’s day, was able to cross this vast expanse of space in one year and return home in less time than that??). Some of the Xindi sided with our heroes; the others said, “Fuck it!” and launched a superweapon at Earth, which our heroes then had to stop in the Season 3 finale “Zero Hour“. Since the producers weren’t quite certain if Enterprise would return for Season 4 or not, they tried to bring all the major plot threads they had woven into the series (what few plot threads they actually bothered with, like the switch from a potential Archer/T’Pol pairing to a much more intriguing T’Pol/Tucker match)… Then they completely threw a giant WTF into it by ending the episode on a shot of an alien in a Nazi uniform. (I kid you not! Click the damn link and see for yourselves already!)

To be honest, Enterprise as a series bored me to tears (except for the occasionally interesting or even good episode, like “Regeneration“), and the Xindi storyline – while offering a few intriguing tidbits here and there (like “E²“) – was something I was rather blasé about altogether. To start with, I had grown weary of the emotional highs and lows of the Dominion War, so another war in an entirely different Trek series – especially when that war wasn’t the Earth-Romulan War we had been promised so many times – just didn’t hold as much appeal to me. I had just come to terms with the ending of Voyager (good or bad), and I wasn’t quite ready to commit to Enterprise the same way I had for TNG, DS9 and Voyager. Moreover, I had just started watching a different Roddenberry-based series – Andromeda – and had grown quite fond of it. The episodes I had seen of the Xindi war were very reminiscent of both the good and bad aspects of the Dominion War with a few interesting (and many not so interesting) twists. The writing, unfortunately, was still done by Berman & Braga (way past their prime, if you ask me) and the characters were still as… well, dull as they had been since series launch.

In Season 4, they left it to new Enterprise scribe Manny Coto – Brannon’s & Braga’s replacement, as they were refraining from writing duties (yay!) – to finish out the faux cliffhanger they created with the silly Season 3 finale “space Nazi” end scene. This he did in the two-part “Storm Front“, which explained how aliens had gone back in time and aided Nazi Germany, changing the timeline and enslaving America, and how our heroes had wound up back in the 1940s and blah blah blah… Normally, I enjoy alternate histories, but these two episodes stretched the concept beyond credibility.

After this horrid start, Manny Coto gave us a kick-ass final season of Enterprise, as (unlike Berman & Braga) he actually had a little something called talent. By then, however, the damage to the series had been done by Berman & Braga, and not even the Xindi conflict or the talented Manny Coto’s intriguing fan-wank scripts loaded with awesome original series references could save it. Enterprise was cancelled. The Earth-Romulan War plot they kept promising us and building up to? Never happened. As interesting as portions of the Xindi conflict were, maybe they could have focused on the Earth-Romulan War instead? *sigh*

To sum: Dominion War good, Xindi War so-so.

Anyway, that’s my two cents on the issue. Apologies for both the length of the post and the time which I posted it. (I hadn’t gotten to see my sister on her birthday, so I was taking her around town last night to make up for it.) What’s your take on the whole mess?

DS9 Stories/News: Deep Space Nine Celebrity Guest Pictures (18)

Martha Hackett as T’Rul in two Deep Space Nine Episodes “The Search Parts 1 & 2″

Martha Hackett (born 21 February 1961; age 51) is an actress from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for her role of Seska on thirteen episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. She also appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a Romulan, portrayed a character in a deleted scene of the Star Trek: The Next Generation finale and provided her voice in five Star Trek video games.

Her entry into the Star Trek universe came when she auditioned for the role of Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Although she didn’t end up getting the part, which went to Terry Farrell, the producers did like something about her and she was called back to play the Terrellian pilot Androna in the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “All Good Things…” Unfortunately, her storyline was cut from the final production. An image of her was printed in the Star Trek Monthly issue 26 and her costume from this appearance was sold off on the It’s A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay.

Courtesy of Memory Alpha.org

A few months later she was called in to play Subcommander T’Rul, a Romulan on Deep Space Nine, in the episodes “The Search, Part I” and “The Search, Part II“. It was then a director called her, saying they wanted her for a role coming up later that season, on the new Trek series Star Trek: Voyager.

Subcommander T’Rul was a Romulan officer temporarily assigned to the USS Defiant, in 2371, to operate and guard a cloaking device her government had loaned to the Federation for covert exploration of the Gamma Quadrant.

Upon being introduced by Benjamin Sisko to the senior staff of Deep Space 9 she bluntly told him that she “was not here to make friends”.

T’Rul was the first Romulan character to appear in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is unknown what happened to T’Rul after the Defiant returned to Deep Space 9, as she is not mentioned or seen again after “The Search, Part II“, nor is it made clear why the notoriously secretive Romulans no longer had an operative to guard the cloaking device.

…

Annette Helde appeared as the Romulan Karina in DS9 Ep “Visionary” as well as a guest role in DS9 Ep. “The Siege of AR-558″ as Lieutenant Nadia Larkin

Karina was a Romulan diplomat in the Romulan Star Empire in the late 24th century.

In 2371, she and Ruwon traveled to Deep Space 9 to receive Starfleet‘s intelligence on the Dominion. The sharing of this data was part of the deal that had been agreed upon earlier that year. The Romulans had installed a cloaking device on the USS Defiant to help the ship to penetrate Dominion space and make First Contact with the Founders. Secretly, a Romulan warbird was also sent, under cloak, to the station.

Courtesy of Memory Alpha.org

Karina was played by Star Trek regular Annette Helde.

Annette Helde (born 14 November 1956; age 55) is an actress who appeared in two Star Trek spin-off series and in Star Trek: First Contact. In addition she voiced a character in the 1996 video game Star Trek: Klingon.

Lieutenant Nadia Larkin
DS9: “The Siege of AR-558“
DS9: “It’s Only a Paper Moon“

DS9 Stories/News: Deep Space Nine Celebrity Guest Pictures (16)

Korinas was an operative of the Cardassian intelligence body, the Obsidian Order. In 2371, she represented the Order during Benjamin Sisko and Gul Dukat‘s search for the USS Defiant, which had been captured by the Maquis. She was unsuccessful in concealing the secret Keldon-class warships that the Order had constructed illegally in the Orias system. (DS9: “Defiant“)

Korinas was played by Tricia O’Neil.

Tricia O’Neil (born 11 March 1945; age 67) is an actress from Shreveport, Louisiana, who portrayed three Star Trek characters in the early 1990s. Perhaps her most notable role was that of Captain Rachel Garrett, the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise-C, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation third season episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise“. She went on to make a second appearance on The Next Generation as the Klingon scientist Kurak in the sixth season episode “Suspicions” and also appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Cardassian operative Korinas in the third season episode “Defiant“.

Courtesy of Memory Alpha.org

O’Neil began her career in show business as a model and magazine cover girl before she pursued acting, first in television commercials. Performing since the 1960s, she made her Broadway debut in the original musical Two by Two in 1970. For her performance as O’Neill in this production, O’Neil won a 1971 Theatre World Award. The following year, she appeared in her first motion picture, a blaxploitation western called The Legend of Nigger Charley, with TOS guest actor Fred Williamson portraying the title role. She was subsequently cast as a regular on the NBC soap opera How to Survive a Marriage, which ran from January 1974 through March 1975. Among her co-stars on this series was F. Murray Abraham, with whom she worked again in 1976 when she was a stand-by on the Broadway play Legend. O’Neil’s second film was The Gumball Rally, the popular 1976 racing comedy starring Michael Sarrazin.

DS9 Stories/News: Deep Space Nine Celebrity Guest Pictures (15)

Mary Crosby as Natima Lang In Deep Space Nine Episode “Profit and Loss”

Natima Lang was a professor of political ethics and a member of the Cardassian dissident movement.

In 2363 she was working as a correspondent with the Cardassian Information Service on Terok Nor. During her stay, she became romantically involved with Quark, owner of Quark’s, the station’s gambling establishment. She ended the relationship when he used her access codes to steal money from the Cardassian government. However, she still harbored feelings for him as late as 2370. She also showed sympathy to the Bajoran inhabitants of the station.

Courtesy of Memory Alpha.org

In 2370, she was a working as a professor, teaching political ethics, while functioning as a member of the Cardassian dissident movement, along with her students Hogue and Rekelen. She encountered Quark again at Deep Space 9 while fleeing the Cardassian Central Command. The two wound up expressing their feelings for each other. Ultimately, however, Professor Lang was more dedicated to her students and the Cardassian Underground.

She obtained a small cloaking device from Quark that facilitated their escape from a Cardassian warship sent to DS9 to capture her and her students. (DS9: “Profit and Loss“)

Natima Lang was played by Mary Crosby.

Mary Frances Crosby (born 14 September 1959; age 52), usually credited as Mary Crosby, is the American actress who played Natima Lang in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Profit and Loss“. She is the daughter of legendary singer Bing Crosby and actress Kathryn Crosby. She is also the aunt of Star Trek: The Next Generation actress Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar).

Crosby was born in Los Angeles, California. She began acting when she was six years old, appearing in a Bay Area stage production of Peter Pan with her mother. She made her television debut when she was eight years old, appearing with her father and Joan Collins in an episode of The Danny Thomas Hour. She continued appearing with her father and other family members on a number of Christmas television specials throughout the 1970s.

Crosby is perhaps best remembered for playing the scheming Kristin Shepard on the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas. She joined the series in 1979 and remained through 1981. It was her character who shot J.R. Ewing in the cliffhanger ending of the 1979-1980 season; this revelation came in the November 1980 episode “Who Done It?”, which was the highest-rated program in television history at the time and remains the second most-watched television episode in the United States.

She was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of the singer and actor Bing Crosby, from his second marriage to the actress Kathryn Grant. She graduated from high school at 15. She then entered the University of Texas at Austin where she became a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority, but dropped out of the University before graduating. She is fluent in Spanish.