DS9 Stories/News: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Crossroads of Time (Genesis/Mega Drive) (3)

Shit! I’m not liking this inventory. I have to hold down the A button to bring it up and assign an item to my hand, and tap it to switch between assigned items. There’s two problems with this:

  1. I can’t quick draw my phaser and gun down my enemies if I’ve forgotten to assign it to a hand.
  2. I have to hold down A to use the lifts too. So half the time when I’m trying to move a lift around, I end up bringing my items up instead. And I can’t make a quick escape when my inventory screen’s open.

And every time I get killed I’m thrown back to the password screen and have to reassign my items.

Seven seconds left. Damn, I’m really cutting it close on some of these grenades. Plus I’ll probably have to spend three seconds trying to line him up with the ejection tube correctly so he’ll flush the thing.

Still, I’m just glad I found the damn tube for once. Half the time I end up totally lost and get blown up by the bomb in my hand.

On the next section they start throwing these tricorder jammers in too. I can’t tell where nearby bombs are on my radar until I find and break the jammers.

Yeah, the inventory popping up when I’m on a lift isn’t getting any less annoying. I’ve got a time limit here!

Okay I admit, it’s my fault. If I was properly centered on the lift the menu wouldn’t come up. But I don’t have time to properly center myself on every lift, I’ve got a time limit here!

I’ve finally reached the third section of the level, and it’s getting very Prince of Persia now. There’s no lift to ride here, so I have to jump from ledge to ledge to reach the bombs. Then back down again to flush them.

And every time I miss a ledge and fall I’m put all the way back at the start of the level again. Crap.

A FEW DEATHS LATER.

I don’t actually mind jumping between a maze of ledges over a fatal drop. I don’t even mind the time limit. The thing that’s really starting to annoy me though, is that I have to replay this huge level every time I fuck up. That’s two entire sections of bomb disposal I have to repeat, over and over and over.

I should probably quit now, but I can’t help being implausibly curious about what’s on the next level. It can’t all be bomb disposal to the end, right?

TWO AND A HALF SECTIONS OF BOMB DISPOSAL LATER.

Okay, made a jump. So far so good. I’ll have to keep throwing myself at ledges like this until I find the next bomb, and even a single missed jump is likely to get Sisko killed.

And then when I find the bomb I’ve got seconds to jump all the way back down again.

The SNES version’s still pretty similar, and no less annoying. Well I guess it doesn’t have the inventory/lift button problem, so it has that going for it.

The hero sprite seems a bit invisible in these shots, but he shows up pretty well in game thanks to the parallax scrolling background. These lift rails look way too much like platforms I can stand on though.

THREE MILLION MISSED JUMPS LATER.

I… don’t believe I actually did it. Hah!

Level complete and I NEVER HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN.

BUT THEN…

DS9 Stories/News: DS9 Stories/ News: Odo & Kira Relationship Review (10)

“The Abandoned”

Review originally printed in ORACLE

Newsletter July 2011

____________________________________

 

Review written by Mary Shaver

Once the boy has been identified as a Jem’Hadar, Star Fleet is extremely eager to get their hands on him. Sisko announces to the Senior Staff assembled in the wardroom that Star Fleet is sending a ship to DS9 to transfer him to Star Base 201, where he will be turned over to a team of specialists. Odo, standing apart from the rest of the staff who are seated at the table, is already looking troubled. When Sisko details Star Fleet’s plan for the boy, he inquires  in a tone of voice that hints of suspicion, exactly what type of ‘specialists.’ Odo is pretty sure he already knows the answer to his question and Sisko confirms that a group of scientists have been assembled who intend to ‘study’ the boy. Direct and blunt as always, Odo cuts to the chase – “So he’ll be studied  . . . like a laboratory specimen?” Sisko’s weak retort that he will be well-treated earns him a sarcastic “So . . . he’ll be a well-treated specimen.” When Bashir agrees with Odo that the Jem’Hadar is a sentient being and not a biological sample a spirited discussion ensues. Dax argues that while sentient, the Founders might well have removed the Jem’Hadar’s free will, leaving only a genetically programmed killing machine. Kira chimes in and agrees with Dax. He is dangerous and she doesn’t want him on the station.

 

Recognizing what the Jem’Hadar will have to look forward to if Star Fleet takes possession of him, Odo speaks up and volunteers to work with the boy to get the answers everyone is seeking. Odo assures Sisko that the genetically implanted deference the boy shows towards Odo will allow him to keep the boy from harming anyone.

 

A concerned Sikso dismisses the rest of the staff in order to talk to Odo alone. He wants to understand what has motivated Odo to make this offer, but guesses that Odo is seeking to atone for what the Founders have done to the Jem’Hadar.

 

Sisko’s speculation is completely in keeping with Odo’s character. Yes, intellectually Odo knows he is not personally responsible for the reprehensible actions of his people. That doesn’t stop him from feeling an obligation to try and undo the damage they’ve done, at least with this one Jem’Hadar.

 

Add to that the fact that Odo has firsthand knowledge of exactly what it’s like to be a lab specimen. Even now, years after fleeing the clutches of Dr. Mora, Odo continues to harbor a deep and abiding resentment and bitterness over his treatment by the Bajoran scientist. Understandable then that he would be distressed by the probability that this Jem’Hadar will undergo the same sort of treatment and would want to save the boy from that fate.

 

Odo’s impassioned plea to Sisko – to let him find out if the Jem’Hadar will be forever chained by his genetic programming, or if he can grow beyond his nature – is a reflection of Odo’s own recent revelation about himself. Having begun to push back the boundaries in his own life, Odo is uniquely qualified to encourage and assist the Jem’Hadar to do the same.

 

Sisko has reservations, but agrees to Odo’s plan, and assures Odo that he will find a way to delay Star Fleet.

DS9 Stories/News: Key Odo & Kira Moments Part III

Source: http://www.freewebs.com/laurelgirl120/keyodokiramoments.htm

The following scenes are pivotal in depicting the evolution of the relationship between Odo and Kira, as their friendship deepens, survives crises, hits rocky patches and generally follows the path many of us are familiar with as they find their way eventually to love.

It is, IMO, the most intelligently written, natural and believable relationship, not only in the world of Star Trek, but in television. The fact that their friendship and romance captivates us, 15+ years after the debut of DS9, is a testament to the enduring nature of their love.

Enjoy The

Journey!

    

You are Cordially Invited…

 

Notable for what we *don’t* get to see. After the events of the Dominion Occupation of DS9 and Odo’s temporary defection to the Founders, the question of how – or even if – our friends can find a way to repair the enormous damage to their relationship is clumsily handled off-camera in Jadzia Daxs’ bedroom closet. This enormous gaffe by the DS9 writers left Odo/Kira fans in the dark about their relationship for a dozen episodes, until events finally resolved themselves.

 His Way

After six long, frustrating years, Odo and Kira FINALLY become a couple. After years of blind obliviousness, the scales finally fall from Kira’s eyes during their holosuite dance, as she is struck by a “moment of clarity. . .”

       

. . . Which is followed up the next day by what has become known simply as . . . The Kiss. . .

Perhaps the most passionate, intensely romantic moment in all of Star Trek.

 

 Chimera

 

TPTB kept their promise to Odo/Kira fans. They wrote their romance as mature, adult and serious. Which is saying a lot, given Star Trek’s dismal track record when it came to couples. Either one of them was killed off in the classic “one episode wonder” romance, or the couple, once together, was ignored from that point on, or the relationship was used for comic relief.

While Odo and Kira weren’t the central characters in many episodes following the landmark “His Way,” they did get ”Chimera,” one of the most beautiful, powerful and emotionally satisfying stories in the series. Odo and Kira finally tear away the last barrier between them, allowing them to consumate their love in the way nature intended, with Odo as “himself.” A wonderful, rich story full of the deep love and passion between these two.

 Tacking into the Wind

 

Viewers were seldom privileged to see into Kira’s mind when it came to her feelings about Odo. One of the rare exceptions was in this episode. Odo, Kira and Garek have been sent to Cardassia to assist the fledgling Resistance effort there. But Odo has contracted the deadly Founders disease. When Garek confronts Kira about the extent of Odo’s illness, Kira’s reply leaves the viewer with no question about the depth of her love for and her complete understanding of Odo. She tells Garek that of course she knows how sick he is, but because he wants to spare her feelings and she wants to preserve his dignity, she will pretend up to the bitter end that he isn’t sick. It’s a heartwrenching, emotional scene that shows us so much about Kira. Her strength, her compassion and her love.

 Extreme Measures

 

The death-bed farewell (we thought, anyway), that again reveals so much about how well these two people know each other. Odo wants Kira to leave because she witnessed Bareil, a previous lover, die in the same room, and he knows how much that’s haunted her. His not wanting his last memory to be pain in Kira’s eyes. Kira’s assertion that she can hide her feelings and Odo’s simple “Not from me, Nerys.” In the end she agrees to leave as they proclaim their love for each other, for the last time (so we’re led to believe). Powerful and touching.

 What You Leave Behind

 

The heartbreaking farewell, a subtle mixture of pathos and tenderness. As depicted so often in their relationship, there’s a poignancy in their farewell that reveals the depth of the love between these two people.

Deep Space Nine ends it’s seven year run with Odo leaving Kira and the station to rejoin his people in the Great Link, heal them of the deadly Founder’s disease, and teach them about living in harmony with humanoids. While some can argue that it is the right way for things to end, to many Odo/Kira fans, the idea of our two lovers forever separated was devastating.

 

Is this ‘goodbye’ forever? The series canon would have us say yes. . .

. . .Fanfic authors beg to differ!

DS9 Stories/News: The Finest Geek TV Marriage Proposals

Source: http://www.denofgeek.com/television/1260700/the_finest_geek_tv_marriage_proposals.html

Louisa Mellor and Caroline Preece

From Battlestar to Buffy, it’s not only rom-coms that love a marriage proposal, plenty of sci-fi and fantasy TV characters have popped the question too…

Published on Feb 26, 2012

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Jadzia Dax and Worf

Some years after Worf proposed to and was rejected by former mate K’Ehleyr in The Next Generation, he finally gets a yes from Deep Space Nine’s Dax. Well, all those missions and bat’leth training sessions in the holosuites had to be leading somewhere…

Worf and Dax’s wedding was a theatrical affair, full of fire, ceremonial drums and stage fighting. It certainly outdoes Will and Deanna’s ceremony in Nemesis, even if Whoopi Goldberg was on the guest list for that one and Data sang a song.

Yay or nay? She had a wobble just before, but those two hearts were destined to beat as one.

DS9 Stories/News: The Bestest Captain Week (5)

Captain’s Log – Benjamin Sisko

The son of Joseph and Sarah Sisko, what was Benjamin’s middle name?

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Captains-Log—Benjamin-Sisko-339280.html

Lafayette. Benjamin’s middle name is Lafayette, with the other options being made up. In the episode “Homefront”, Ben was trying to persuade his father to undertake a blood screening. Whilst arguing about this, Joseph cut his finger, therefore inadvertently providing the required blood sample. Whilst Joseph ran his finger under a tap, Ben inspected the sample. When Joseph noticed, he used Ben’s full name.

Benjamin Sisko was born was raised in a city in the southern United States where his father continued to live after Benjamin joined Starfleet. What city was it?

New Orleans, Louisiana. Benjamin’s father owned and operated a restaurant in New Orleans, appropriately named Sisko’s. Benjamin learned to cook at an early age, but even with those skills, he still opted to beam back home every evening for family dinners during the first few weeks of Starfleet Academy training.

Captain Benjamin Sisko was a single parent to son Jake. What happened to his wife, Jennifer?

She was killed in the Battle of Wolf 359, in a fight with the Borg.. We found out what happened to Sisko’s wife during flashbacks he had in the pilot episode “Emissary.” Sisko was serving on board the USS Saratoga as First Officer when it was attacked by a Borg cube during the Battle of Wolf 359. His wife Jennifer and son Jake lived on the starship with him. The damage was so severe it caused a warp core breach and the Saratoga had to be abandoned. Jennifer died in the direct hit when their quarters were demolished. Jake, though unconscious survived. Sisko, completely overcome with emotion, did not want to leave the trapped body of his wife and had to be dragged out by another crew member. They made it to an escape pod before the ship exploded.

When meeting with Captain Picard, of the Enterprise, after Sisko’s arrival on Deep Space 9, he expressed enthusiasm for the challenge of running Deep Space 9 and helping to secure Bajor’s membership into the Federation.

false. In fact quite the opposite. Picard told Sisko he was aware of his objections to Starfleet of his posting on Deep Space 9. Sisko did not feel the space station was the right environment in which to raise his son. He even talks about leaving Starfleet to raise his son on Earth. Captain Picard said he would look into Starfleet finding a replacement for Sisko. Due to extraordinary events that occurred during this episode, including discovery of the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant and an encounter with the “wormhole aliens,” Sisko had a change of heart and asked to stay. Sisko had a lot of hostility built up in him towards Captain Picard due to the Battle of Wolf 359 which resulted in the death of his wife. He held Picard responsible because at that time Picard had been assimilated by the Borg and his knowledge was used during the battle which destroyed nearly 40 starships and thousands of lives. This was the first thing Sisko brought up in the meeting with Picard and you could hear the barely restrained emotion in his voice when he talked with him.

What did Sisko do that Picard never did?

Hit Q. Q only appeared in one episode of “Deep Space Nine” and challenged Sisko to a boxing match. His next comment was “You hit me, Picard never hit me!”. To which Sisko replied “I’m not Picard”. In respect of the wrong answers, Picard played the Ressikan flute, used a recreation of the sailing ship when promoting Worf and Sisko played the piano in his father’s restaurant, visited Vic’s Bar in the holosuite and read a book in the episode “Paradise”.

Benjamin Sisko was very close to his father, Joseph. Which of the following is not true about his father?

He owned an Italian restaurant called Sisko’s Tuscany Bistro and Grill.. Joseph Sisko had appeared in several episodes of “DS9″ and his restaurant and cooking had been mentioned many times throughout the series. Benjamin and Jake visited Joseph at his restaurant in New Orleans in different episodes. You may not know the name of his restaurant but the one thing you would have known by watching the episodes was his restaurant in New Orleans specialized in creole cooking. Dishes such as gumbo, shrimp creole, jambalaya, and crawfish etouffee had been discussed. I am not sure the name of his restaurant was actually stated (though a sign was briefly shown)in episodes of “DS9″ but according to “Memory Alpha, The Star Trek Wiki” article “Joseph Sisko,” it was called Sisko’s Creole Kitchen or Sisko’s for short.

Benjamin Sisko mentioned to Dax his father used to use his children as taste testers in order to try out new recipes (“A Man Alone”). He passed along his cooking skills to his sons. Benjamin was shown cooking in a few episodes. When Nog went to Starfleet Academy he would go to Sisko’s for fresh tube grubs which Joseph had on hand just for him. Joseph’s health problems were a cause for concern for his son Benjamin (“The Alternate”, “Homefront”) and Joseph joked that in a couple years he may not have any of his own organs left due to the transplants he has had to have. Joseph also had a mild stroke in one of the episodes (“Homefront”). Another “Memory Alpha” article “Brock Peters,” which is about the actor who played Joseph Sisko indicates he had also played Admiral Cartwright in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.”

Benjamin Sisko’s rank was captain when he was put in charge of Deep Space 9.

His rank was commander when he first came to Deep Space 9. He achieved the rank of captain after three years on Deep Space 9. We see this event in the third season episode “The Adversary” when his son, Jake, puts the extra pip on his collar during a gathering of friends.

When Ben Sisko boarded DS9, Major Kira stated that the Kai, the spiritual leader of Bajor, was a recluse and was rarely seen by anybody. However, she met with Sisko almost immediately. What was the name of the Kai who declared that Sisko was the Emissary

Opaka & Kai Opaka. At their meeting, Opaka squeezed Sisko’s left ear to measure his pagh (or life-force), which Bajorans believed was replenished by the Prophets. After doing so she declared “Ironic, one who does not wish to be among us is to be the Emissary”. Sisko was very uncomfortable with his new status as religious icon, however he came to accept it as time passed.

Benjamin Sisko assumed various alter egos. Which of the following was not played by Avery Brooks?

Douglas Pabst. Sisko assumed the identity of Gabriel Bell in the two-part episode “Past Tense” when the real Gabriel Bell was killed. When a runabout exploded whilst the crew was being transported back to DS9, the computer used Sisko’s image in Doctor Bashir’s holosuite programme as Hippocrates Noah. At the beginning of “DS9′s” fifth season, Sisko travels to try and expose Gowron as a changeling infiltrator. He had been surgically altered by Doctor Bashir to appear as a Klingon and he takes the assumed name of Jodmos. Gul Dukat entered this name into the Klingon database as a recipient of the Order of the Bat’leth as Gowron was due to conduct the induction ceremony. Douglas Pabst was the magazine editor to whom Benny Russell reported in the episode “Far Beyond The Stars”.

Kai Winn and Ben Sisko never really saw eye to eye. In the episode “Rapture”, what two things did Sisko do that started to convince her the Prophets did have a specific role for him.

Found B’hala and stopped Bajor joining the Federation. Kai Winn was unhappy at the end of this episode. As she commented to Major Kira, previously, she knew who her enemies were. After Sisko found B’hala (which only someone touched by the prophets could do) and advised Bajor against joining the Federation (something she opposed), Winn realised that Sisko did have Bajor’s best interests at heart. Admiral Whateley was unhappy at Sisko’s actions, however he couldn’t risk changing his assignment for fear of alienating the Bajorans entirely. Sisko was able to reassure him that Bajor would accept Federation membership in the future.

Benny Russell’s submitted story to match the picture of the space station, became the story of DS9. The staff read it and loved it, yet ultimately it would not be published, why?

The Captain of the Space Station was a Negro. The whole writing Staff read the story and loved it – including the woman with the worm in her stomach (Dax), and the strong woman Major (Kira). However the editor (Odo) told Benny that their white audience would never accept a Negro as Captain, if he changed Sisko to a white man, they would write it. Benny refused, finally the staff suggested to have the story turn out to be a dream of a someone like a “Negro Shoeshine Boy”. The Editor decided to print it, however the publisher didn’t like it and cancelled the whole months issue. By that time Benny was on an obsession, writing volume after volume of the DS9 story. Was the Benny Russell a dream by Ben Sisko sent by the prophets, or was DS9 actually a moving story written by Benny Russell?

Avery Brooks also played a African-American Science Fiction Writer in the 1950′s named Benny Russell. He and the rest of the station cast all played Science Fiction Writers for a magazine called “Incredible Tales”. When the magazine decided to put a group picture of the writers, Russell was told he was not to be in the picture. Why?

He was a Negro. The editor felt that the white readers in the 1950′s America would not read his magazine if the readers knew that Benny Russell (who was a popular writer) was a Negro. In all fairness this also included and fellow writer Kay Eaton (who used the name K.C. Hunter) because she was a woman. K.C. Hunter may have been a tribute to “TOS” story editor Dorothy Fontana, who went by the name D.C. Fontana so as not be judged as a woman. “DS9″ had a few series that reminded post-”TOS” viewers the circumstances in America that caused the creation of the original “Star Trek” in the first place.

What was unusual about Benjamin Sisko’s birth mother?

Sarah was human but at one time had been possessed by an alien lifeform.. This story from “Deep Space Nine” gets a little confusing but Sarah was Benjamin’s birth mother and the first wife of Joseph Sisko. What was very unusual was that though she was a human her body was taken over by one of the Bajoran Prophets (“wormhole aliens”) so she would marry Joseph Sisko and give birth to Benjamin who became a very important person in Bajoran religion-The Emissary. Shortly after he turned one year old, Sarah left Joseph and Benjamin and it was thought this was because the Prophet had left Sarah who never really chose to marry Joseph.

Joseph searched for her for a long time but by the time he found out she had been living in Australia, she had died. Benjamin never knew his father had been married before and thought the woman who raised him, Joseph’s second wife, was his birth mother. He only found out about Sarah through a vision sent by the Prophets and an old photograph Jake found though Joseph at first was very reluctant to tell him anything about her (“Images in the Sand”, “Shadows and Symbols”). Benjamin met the “Sarah” Prophet in a vision he had after searching for and finally finding the Orb of the Emissary on the desert planet Tyree. This orb contained the “Sarah” Prophet, and when he opened it, she was able to go back to the Bajoran wormhole and defeat the Pah-wraith (“Shadows and Symbols”).

When Sisko began his term as the commander of Deep Space Nine, he was a single parent. Did he ever remarry?

Yes. Benjamin was introduced to Kasidy Yates in the year 2371 by his son Jake. They soon began dating. It took four years before they became engaged, and they married even with a warning given by the Prophets that they were not destined to walk the same path.

After his seven years in command of DS9, what was the fate of Benjamin Sisko?

He joined the Prophets in the Celestial Temple for eternity.. Sisko sacrificed himself to defeat the emissary of the Pah-wraith (in the form of Gul Dukat), knocking Dukat, the Book of the Kosst Amojan, and himself into the firepit within Bajor’s Fire Caves. Even though his physical body was destroyed, Sisko continued to exist in non-corporeal form as the Prophets’ Emissary. As such, he was able to pay one last visit to Kasidy so that she would know his fate.