Star Trek 290: Past Prologue

290. Past Prologue

FORMULA: Redemption + Ensign Ro

WHY WE LIKE IT: Plain, simple Garak! The Sisters of Duras.

WHY WE DON'T: They still don't address this Emissary business.

REVIEW: Right out of the gate, the creators have given us the template for all DS9 episodes. It's a story with plenty of double dealing at the center of which is essentially a moral dilemma. Politics play a big part, and ending is downbeat and gone is the usual epilogue full of platitudes. If not the model for all of DS9, certainly the model for Kira stories.

I think it's especially fitting then that the episode starts right out with the introduction of Garak, one of the series' best characters (a great thing about not moving around on this show is that we get to know the neighborhood quite well, and your favorite guest-star may just become a recurring character). He's immensely charming and ambiguous, always speaks from both sides of his mouth at the same time, and begins a relationship with Bashir here that will become a fixture in the series. Bashir's a bit on the silly side - and if there's an episode that disproves he was a mutant all along, it's this one - but is fun as the junior officer in way over his head. Is Garak friend or foe?

Another ambiguous character is the terrorist Tahna Los, an old friend of Kira's who hasn't stopped fighting the Cardassians. Has he really left his extremist cell? Or is he duping her? Where does Kira's loyalty lie? With a provisional government she doesn't agree with? Or with "her own people"? There's a great scene between her and Odo that shows Kira's capable of more than anger, a touching vulnerability, and Odo playing psychologist. When he decides she's made her choice, he calls on Sisko. Brilliant. A quick note on Kira's new haicut: Apparently, it was Nana Visitor who decided Kira would be too practical to get her hair styled, so she cut it off without producer approval. I tend to agree with the character choice, and it's not yet as severe as it'll become, thankfully.

Odo's no-nonsense manner leads to another great moment when the Sisters of Duras come aboard the station. A great entrance, with a security officer already on the floor, and Odo requesting that Klingon or not, they leave their weapons at the door or they will be thrown off the station. Who the hell is he anyway? "I'm the one giving you the choice." I didn't think using TNG characters as guest stars already, especially when any old mercenaries could have played the role, was a good idea, but this scene more than makes up for the creators' insecurities.

The plot is strangely devoid of any religious connotations - no mention of the Emissary and Tahna thinks nothing of closing the Temple Gates. You wouldn't expect him to know what's probably being debated in the Vedek Assembly at this point anyway. No, the plot's fine as it is, and the many character touches makes it rise above the norm: Sisko using bureaucracy to his advantage, O'Brien siding with Kira because he knows what Cardassians do with their prisoners... these are characters with opinions, they don't necessarily toe the party line.

LESSON: Andy Robinson is DA MAN!

REWATCHABILITY - High: Behind the odd title and the stunt guest stars lies the kind of story we now associate with DS9. They had the formula right there. Unfortunately, I don't think the creators were aware of it, so we'll suffer through some TNG plots through much of the first season.

This Week in Geek (17-23/09/07)

Buys

So I went to the store the minute I heard the Doctor 13 story from Tales of the Unexpected was out in trade, more on that below. And on the premise that buying two DC/Marvel trades got me a third one free, I opted for Marvel Visionaries: Walt Simonson's Thor volume 1, which I'd had an eye on for a while. With the Canadian dollar achieving parity with the US' this week, they were kind enough to knock 10$ off the cover price too, without my asking. Third book? The Showcase Presents I said I wouldn't buy : Batman and the Outsiders. Way I look at it: It's got Batman drawn by Jim Aparo, bad comics make good blog fodder, and it was free.

And since I'm the blogosphere's bitch, I threw in the Nightly News trade paperback in there. I've heard good things.

"Accomplishments"

So ok, Doctor 13: Architecture and Mortality. Wow, I haven't read this good a postmodern comic in years, especially one not written by Grant Morrison (though he is a character in the story). Basically, Doc 13 and some other "forgotten heroes" challenge the "Architects" of the universe (the guys who write the big crossovers) for their very existence. It's full of inside jokes, creepy sexual subtext, philosophy and comics blogging. Certainly, the story makes me want to reevaluate Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets, of which I only own the first trade. And the art by Cliff Chiang? Top notch. Really, this thing rereads itself. Well, with my help. And you know what? I actually left the book open on the last page for an inordinate amount of time. I really did.

In RPG news, played a game of Planescape today, and I'd like to keep that bi-weekly momentum going as much as possible. The story revolved around a quest for three yule logs in Asgard, with the daughters of Thor and some very drunk Vikings as guest-stars. With only half my players able to show up, I thought the scenario (as outlined somewhat in the Planes of Chaos boxed set) was going to be too hard on the characters, but I was sincerely impressed by their negotiating the challenges with wit, cleverness and charm (with some brute force thrown in when need be). Good job guys.

Wish I could have done more this week, but I was real burnt out from work, and had technical problems besides. The latter kept me from making Doctor Who cards yesterday, and the former kept me from everything else. I'm also working on a comic project, but I don't want to discuss it until actual pages are ready. So that's it for me this week, see you... well, tomorrow.

Star Trek 289: Emissary

289. Emissary

FORMULA: The Best of Both Worlds + Ensign Ro + The Wounded + Encounter at Farpoint + retroactively All Good Things with elements from The Final Frontier, The Host, The Last Outpost and The Corbomite Maneuver

WHY WE LIKE IT: The best Trek ever starts... NOW!

WHY WE DON'T: Fighting cast members.

REVIEW: With over 5 years of experience under their belts, the Modern Trek folks pull off a more confident and assured series premiere than TNG's in Emissary, a show promises to be very different from Next Gen. Too different? For one thing, it takes place at a stationary base with no big iconic ship in sight. But I think Sisko makes a good point to the Prophets in the climax: "We're explorers, we explore our lives day by day..." Though there's a new quadrant a stone's throw away, DS9 will be about exploring one environment. As an audience, we'll be exploring these characters and their neighbors, the local culture, and their roles in it. With hindsight, we might say that other Treks changed locales every week, but on DS9, it's the characters and their situation that changed.

Another different is the look. The smooth reflective pastel surfaces of the Federation are relegated to a couple runabouts (basically just pimped out shuttles named after rivers), and we're into Cardassian architecture instead. Elegant yet creepy curves and impressive two-storied sets, lots of shadows and negative spaces. The station itself is presented in the opening sequence as a strange jewel in the sky. I think it's really cool, and the music is the first new theme Trek's gotten in years. It's melancholy yet uplifting, much like the show.

And then there's the tone. Roddenberry's "everyone gets along in the future" policy is subverted by populating the cast with non-Starfleet characters. These people have different agendas and opinions, they don't see eye to eye and may not be happy to work together. Cumulatively, I seem to remember the first season as the one where they always fight, but in practice, that's hardly the case. The characters don't have an immediate and implicit trust between them, and that's a lot more realistic. We're watching them grow, and are invited to give them a chance. Because the creators are pretty bold in daring us to like these guys...

For one thing, by the time this came out (and certainly now in the way I've scheduled these reviews), we're well in love with the TNG cast, so comparisons become second nature. Sisko is a commander, not a captain, which means we automatically think less of him, and though his anger at Picard for the Wolf 359 incident is understandable, our new hero is starting out at an antagonist to the captain we do know and like. Despite all that, Sisko is a complex character, at once amused and disconsolate over his situation, depending on the moment. He's a man who's been asked to build a community and he's quite able to make the rules up as he goes along. I'll admit that Avery Brooks has an unusual acting style, with strange mouth and head movements, but he feels real enough. And he's got a young son who, thankfully, isn't the new Wesley. Jake isn't some wunderkin boy genius, he's just a kid, and the father-son relationship here is one of the best things about Sisko.

What we have to forgive Major Kira is that she isn't Ro Laren, which is hardly her fault. Her anger is more out there than Ro's, and yes, she can be a bit strident, but her bluffing the Cardassians out by wasting all her torpedoes is just the kind of dramatic maneuver I like to see. She's really not that irritating and has her heart in the right place. Odo is another gruff character that you're meant to like only because he has a cool "power", but his no-nonsense attitude is there right from the start, and he comes out aces. His foil will be Quark, a Ferengi (oh that most ridiculous and hated race), and again, another surprising hit. Armin Shimmerman was one of the first Ferengi and he's come a long way in portraying the diminutive merchants. Quark is incredibly charming right from the start, which is tough to do given the make-up and reputation. In the background are Morn and Rom, who haven't yet even gotten names, and Nog, Quark's no good nephew.

On the Starfleet side, O'Brien is our identification figure, not just because he's the only character we already know, but because he's so down to earth. He gets right in there, kicking consoles, cursing the bloody Cardies and basically acting as the resident miracle worker. Which doesn't help Bashir whom O'Brien immediately takes a disliking to. The enthusiastic young doctor is the polar opposite of the practical career man engineer after all. Julian spends most of the pilot with his foot in his mouth, but it's great fun (especially the frontier medicine business). The science officer is Dax, a joined Trill in a brand new body who has been Sisko's mentor in an earlier life. Interesting dynamic only hinted at here, and aren't we glad they switched the Trill make-up to Kamala's? Really, you better forget everything you knew about the Trill from The Host (from the look to the transporter weakness), because only the concept and name truly remain.

Off-station, we have the Cardassians, represented most ably by the very first actor to portray the slimy race, Marc Alaimo AKA Gul Dukat. Dukat says one thing and means another, setting the tone for all that is to come. Part of Sisko's job is maneuvering in this political environment, and the Cardassians will certainly prove to be interesting "politicians" in the Romulan mold. Bajor's also part of this, a world torn between spirituality and terrorism, rebuilding but on the cusp of civil war. Kai Opaka is our introduction to the spiritual side (Kira to the other), and to Sisko's destiny (though it will take a number of episodes before this Emissary business is mentioned again). There's definitely something going on here, especially with that creepy priest stalking Sisko at opportune moments.

That destiny, in it most secular terms, is the discovery of the Wormhole and the Prophets that live within. I've put a lot of thought into how the "timeline" works in relation to the Prophets over the years, and I think the best way to think about them is this: They are timeless, and live outside time as we know it. They are aware of their entire existence simultaneously. Whenever we access them, or they access us, it may be at any point in their existence (Sisko accessed them "first"). Whenever they are accessed, it disrupts their existence and changes it, with all consequences simultaneous. This explains how they feel a destructive disruption when someone goes through the Wormhole. It changes EVERYTHING. And it's also how Sisko can teach them about linear existence when, after all, he should already be among them... or is it just going through the motions?

In any case, what a great way to explore the Sisko character! The Prophets allow us to visit different points in his life, how his loss of Jennifer has impacted him ("You exist here."), uses baseball in a useful way and not just as Michael Piller's fetish, and all in all, produces an incredibly emotional series premiere. The creators could have been content with a simple Wormhole discovery, opening up a new quadrant for exploration, but giving it a personal and mystical resonance, linking it closely with Bajor, that signals a greater plan at work.

Some props to the effects department: The Wormhole is beautiful, looking almost like the opening hand of God. The opening sequence at Wolf 359 is incredible, with amazing model ship work and an eye-popping escape pod release (great idea to start this series in the middle of the best TNG episode ever). The opening sequence with our entering the tail of a comet is beautiful. And though very simple, I love how ships start arriving to DS9 at the very end of the episode, now a hub of activity.

LESSON: Bajoran women wear the pants in the family.

REWATCHABILITY - High: I've made no secret of my preference for this series over all others, but I can confidently say that it's objectively a far more mature premiere than any we've had before. There's a different ethos at work, Ira Steven Behr's, and it's more modern and implicitly dramatic than what went before.

Star Trek 288: Nemesis

288. Nemesis

FORMULA: Unification + The Wrath of Khan + Generations + Redemption

WHY WE LIKE IT: Effects and stunts, mostly, though many small moments as well.

WHY WE DON'T: Data's pointless death.

REVIEW: Finally the Romulans are given their due and are made the villains of a major motion picture. Well, almost. The Rommies are basically just dupes of Picard's evil clone and the Remans, Nosferatu lookalikes from that other planet in the bird's talons. I'm really happy to see Remus, don't get me wrong, but once again the second most-classic race in Star Trek gets the shaft. They're really rather friendly in their plaid phase.

But an evil clone? It's a strange proposition at this point, and if the theme is about the road not taken, well, wasn't that what Generations was for? Shinzon turns out to be a fearsome opponent, but with muddled objectives. He wants to take over the Star Empire, destroy Earth, suck DNA out of Picard to heal his degenerative disease, maybe mindrape Troi a little... And to do all that he's secretly built a giant ship with a massive death ray on it, taken control of the Senate overnight, scattered pieces of a previously unknown Soong-type android on a planet that the Enterprise would hopefully detect... It's all a little convoluted.

Data also gets an evil clone, but B-4 isn't really evil, just programmed to be bad, not that he understands what he's doing. Gives Brent Spiner one last dual role to play, and it seems to give creators an out if they ever want to bring Data back. Cuz, yeah, see, Data dies in this movie. And that's a major problem with it. If it'd done well, it might not have been the last TNG movie, but to be on the safe side, with the franchise losing a lot of steam around this time, it's written to be a last hurray. Crew members gets shuffled off here and there by movie's end, but the most drastic move is Data's death, and it seems to come out of nowhere. There's no foreshadowing (a deleted scene might have hinted at it - and had the Ressikan flute in it, damn it), and no actual last words. Check out other important deaths (like Spock's and Kirk's): They always get dealt a fatal blow, and then can have one last scene, speak some final words, create something that resonates. Not Data. He makes a choice to sacrifice himself, says goodbye to the empty air, and blows up. That's it. There's no big funeral either. Just his friends in an awkward silence, apparently as shocked as we are. Riker finally starts to tell the story of his first meeting with Data (and ours), but he can't remember the song the android was trying to whistle. Well, guess what, we all can. It was Pop Goes the Weasel. It would have been a great moment if B-4 had started whistling that instead of singing the wedding song from the start of the movie. But better to loop the film than 20 years of New Trek, I guess. None of those continuity references non-Trekkies apparently hate so much.

But there are lots here, and many that don't make sense. The wedding, for example, manages to avoid Lwaxana (there's a separate ceremony on Betazed), but still features cameos by Guinan and Wesley... in a Starfleet uniform. So what's the untold story there? The one that puts my teeth on edge, however, is Admiral Janeway. After 7 years of Trek creators trying to convince me that Janeway was hot stuff, they're still at it. Ok on the promotion, I guess they were impressed with her destroying the Borg, and we all know Admirals in Trek are often incompetent bullies, but having her refer to Picard as Jean-Luc while he has to stick to her title was just disrespectful. A better reference is a USS Archer listed on the Neutral Zone task force. Nice to see Enterprise get a little love. And a cameo I knew about but didn't think you could see IS visible at 1:23:25, and that's X-Men director Bryan Singer on the bridge of the ship.

As the big goodbye, Nemesis should probably have been more of an ensemble picture. Troi gets a good role, at least getting revenge on the Viceroy for his mental invasion with her psychic targeting trick. I'd have liked to see more of that on the show. And Riker gets a little action on a rickety ladder, alas. At least he finally makes captain. Geordi and Bev get the short end of the stick once again. If the chief engineer didn't have to play sidekick to Data, he'd be as useless as the doctor. Worf, for is part, gets some action but is still being humiliated. Screaming like a little girl when an android arm grabs his leg and his prudish refusal to go naked at Deanna's wedding is ridiculously out of character.

I seem pretty down on the film, but there are some good points. The acting, of course, is at its usual level, as are the stunts and effects. There are some fun action sequences, from a dune buggy chase in a barren desert to a Scorpion escape through the corridors of the Scimitar. A blind dogfight in a nebula tries to be The Wrath of Khan, but after the major ship battles of First Contact and Deep Space 9, a couple of Romulan ships (and I do like the sleeker warbirds) doesn't excite much. But the final battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar is certainly up to standards. The ramming maneuver threatened in Insurrection here finally happens, and the damage is major. Data jumping from ship to ship, all of that. Not sure about the physics, but it's certainly epic, and I've always said the Enterprise-E looked as sharp as a blade.

LESSON: My clone would probably be evil. Unless I'm evil, them my clone is good.

REWATCHABILITY - Medium: What can I say? Good seeing these characters one last time, I just wish the story was a little more relevant. Shinzon makes for another forgettable villain and the Romulans' potential is again wasted, but it looks good. Repeat viewings cushion the blow of Data's death, but don't make it feel any less futile.

In Medias Res

Ever started a role-playing game in medias res ("in the middle of things")? You should. It makes for a refreshing change. The idea is to start a session off with an action set-piece or in the middle of a big twist, ignoring any kind of slow-paced introduction or set-up in favor of waking the players up right from the get go. It might not work for every campaign - some keep track of every waking moment and wouldn't allow for such a narrative jump - but here are a few examples:

In an espionage game, or any game that relies on "missions", go the James Bond route and start things off with a big stunt. It could be the end of the previous (untold) adventure, segueing into the new scenario. It might be the start of the mission, but with a dull mission briefing played via an envelope full of documents or a quick flashback after the action is over.

In epic poetry, in medias res is usually prelude to a long flashback as we go back to the beginning, and only then followed by the rest of the story. Games need never flash back at all - especially in cases where it would deflate the tension to know everyone was alive and well in the middle of the story - but you could fiendishly describe how things have changed, and force the players not only to play their characters through the various obstacles and twists of your story, but also to set themselves up for that "middle". Who is that dead body on the floor? Where's the team's van? Just how did your cyberdecker get painted blue? Players know they'll survive until the discovery of the dead body, but they must make sure to lose the van and drop a bucket of paint on a guy. So destiny dictates.

One version of this that works well, but is a bit of a cheat, is what I call "in amnesia res". In this scenario, you set up a middle situation as above, but the characters come into in not remembering how they got there. There is no flashback, only an investigation leading to their putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The space marines wake up from cryosleep to an empty ship and there's something there with them... or they've been surgically altered. That kind of thing. Memory loss spells, temporal distortions, etc.

One fair warning: While you're designing the middle situation for your players, make sure you never make a decision for any of them that they would never have taken themselves. A gambling addict might have to start a game naked in an alley, that's fine (and a good way to play up "disadvantages" the players took), but you can't start a game with a character on the run from the police because he just killed his wife (unless there's a major twist or you're playing something incredibly f***ed-up like Unknown Armies or Over the Edge). Maybe give the player a veto over any such thing, but that depends on how improvised or prepared your sessions are.

Where the adventure starts doesn't have to be at the start... Anyone else go by such a credo?

Star Trek 287: Insurrection

287. Insurrection

FORMULA: The Pegasus + Homeward + The Naked Now + Ship in a Bottle

WHY WE LIKE IT: Picard's speeches. Riker's tactics (and not just to get back together with Troi). Data back as a naive android.

WHY WE DON'T: Gilbert & Sullivan save the day. The joystick. Anthony Zerbe. "Lock and load."

REVIEW: With that low tech opening and pastoral music, we're in for something different to be sure. But to call this a light-hearted "episode" doesn't really do it justice. There's some real drama here and certainly a scale and production value that places it well above the television norm. It's in no way as dark as First Contact, but about as light-hearted when it chooses to be.

The scenes on Earth in FC were rather humorous without ever going over the top, and it's the kind of humor that works well here. Data having left his emotion chip at home is free to be the Data we all grew to love in the tv series, and here he explores what being a child means (since emotions are now within his reach). Troi and Riker's rekindled romance is also quite fun, especially when she exclaims "yuck" after kissing him with a beard for the first time (so no behind-the-scenes hanky panky during the series). Picard's sweet romance is also light, but with more weight thanks to Partick Stewart's always superlative performance, here accompanied by Donna Murphy as Anij. I find her to be a delight, beautiful, graceful and wise. A good match for our "young" captain.

Where the humor does not work is when it gets too broad. The reception of the Fish People at the beginning of the film has some good moments (like Worf's non-explanation for being there), but devolves into sushi jokes and Picard wearing a silly hat. This is followed by a sequence where Picard and Worf have to befuddle a rogue Data by singing some Gilbert & Sullivan. Cheesy and stupid. I also don't like where they're taking Worf in the films. Used to be Worf's deadpan deliveries were a major source of comedy. Perhaps taking root in the previous film's space sickness moment, the Worf comedy now seems more about humiliating him. In Insurrection, he has to go through puberty again (I don't see anyone getting acne or a breaking voice, do you?) as other characters snicker around him.

These forced attempts at comedy are more jarring for the rather gross villains our heroes have to contend with. Madcap comedy and gore just don't mix well. The Son'a don't quite make it into the villain hall of fame here, being very much tied to this one story despite attempts to connect them to the Dominion War. F. Murray Abraham as their leader Ru'afo is a bit over the top at times and does little to carve himself a place in the same pantheon as Khan, Kruge, Chang or the Borg Queen. The "bad" Starfleet Admiral Dougherty, played by Anthony Zerbe, lacks luster in the much same way. Dealing with these guys makes for a somewhat dull climax and my attention tends to wander in the last 20 minutes.

Despite the Saturday matinée villains and comic moments, there's a real drama at the heart of Insurrection, and Picard, as usual, excels at making all the right points. He's got a great "how many people does it take" speech, and ably convinces Gallatin to betray his own people. Meanwhile in space (more or less flipping the roles of the characters in First Contact), Riker does what Riker does best: Win spaceship battles. The sequences are pretty to look at, and the maneuvers as desperate as they are innovative.

On the characters that don't get much play: Geordi works well as Riker's #1, and his sunrise moment manages to be touching. Note the return of the beard as well. Now that the VISOR's gone, it's not like he has too much stuff on his face. It's Beverly who comes out as the loser once again. Aside from a boobie joke, she gets even less to do than in the last film. The special effects are pretty and almost painterly, the location shooting is gorgeous, and the ship designs interesting (hey, the captain's yacht!). One might have an objection to the "slow time" scenes, clearly in the science fantasy mold I don't like very much, but they're at least thematic.

LESSON: Where to put the apostrophe in Son'a.

REWATCHABILITY - Medium-High: Though some of the comedy is a bit grating, and the bad guys are less than memorable, Insurrection made a surprisingly strong showing. It's well made, well acted, and has some weight, both comic and dramatic. You could do a lot worse with two hours' leisure.

Supergirl of Two More Worlds

Siskoid's Crisis continues, and the body count piles up. The good news is, only Supergirls have turned up dead at this point, so all the other heroes are safe. The bad news is, the Animated Universe's Supergirl has been counted among the dead. But wait! Isn't there a white-shirted Supergirl on Earth-1 now?The Monitors have decided that there can only be one, and it has to be the Supergirl of Earth-Skank.

Truly, there is no God in the Multiverse.