20 from Generations

All Good Things... had come to an end and the eighth season of The Next Generation was not to be.  

The TV adventures of the Enterprise-D were over but Berman,  Moore and Braga went from the show straight into production of the first of four movies for Picard and the crew. The wide variance in quality of these four instalments is always up for debate but let's not stray from the fact that Generations also marked a generation's final journey to steal the tag line from Nemesis.

Kirk, Scotty and Chekov returned for one last hurrah (because Nimoy and Kelley wouldn't)  in an epic that spanned the two ground-breaking shows. Now if you've been paying attention you'll recall that this year marked 20 years since All Good Things... which in turn means it's 20 years since Kirk wound up in the Nexus. That's right. November 18th 2014 marks two decades since the theatrical release of the seventh feature length Trek to the stars. 

So what has been Generations legacy after two decades? What has it given to the franchise?  It gave Worf something of a reason to jump ship after the destruction of the Enterprise but there has to be more than that seeing as the film wouldn't have been better or worse if that hadn't happened.

At least it allowed Shatner to bow out with some style and maybe there's something poetic about the notion of him returning to that role two decades later for Star Trek 3 and the 50th Anniversary in 2016. At least on screen Kirk didn't get resurrected although Shatner did pen The Return and a number of sequels to keep the character alive. Some characters need and deserve to stay dead to ensure their legacy survives in tact and here, with Kirk, that is essential. Here we have a launchpad to a new beginning that would not have to worry about looking over it's shoulder at all that had gone before. The Next Generation had grown up - this was it's maturing moment and the point where everything subsequent would have to take note.

Generations is the only decent gap-filler between The Original Series and The Next Generation we ever got by seeing Kirk's successor and the Excelsior Class Enterprise-B confirm the lineage through to Garrett and on to Picard. Again in the non-canon literature we are afforded an expanded narrative but Generations gives us the notion that the galaxy will still keep on being saved for the next 78 years even if Kirk isn't around to do it. I for one think this is one of Shatner's best performances as Kirk in particularly un-Kirk-like surroundings only to realise just who he is when the odds are against him and the situation is grim. 

However, while that classic era section is a wonderful little swansong, it's The Next Generation section which features more prominently with the investigation at Amargosa and the mystery of the Nexus. The events of Generations never directly impact another episode although there is that link to The Way of the Warrior although it did cement the Berman/Moore/Braga era for several years to come. Importantly it also marked a point of progress. While the original crew had very little development from The Motion Picture to The Undiscovered Country (with the obvious exception of Spock), the crew of Picard's Enterprise began to change from the characters we knew from the TV show. Here Data's emotion chip loomed large once more to be featured again in First Contact before being totally forgotten for Insurrection and Nemesis. 

Killing off Picard's relations here was a bold move but again it was one of the early signs that things did not need to be stagnant for fans and causal viewers to "get" the movie. These were people who could be moulded a bit more and the tweaks that might have happened on the series could now be experimented with and explored in a larger setting - Geordi's sight and the Riker/Troi relationship would be the two most obvious points explored in the subsequent movies but in Generations there are the first indications that we would find corrections and changes occurring more often than we may have expected on the series.Destroying the Enterprise on the other hand isn't that big a thing. After the monumental obliteration of the original Constitution Class starship in The Search for Spock the expectation of a bigger and better, all singing and dancing replacement was expected before the saucer had even entered the atmosphere, backed up by Picard's knowing and satirical comment that this would not be the last ship to bear the name Enterprise (add in his reference to letters of the alphabet in First Contact too please).

Generations hits the life/death theme straight on with each of the three main characters battling that element of reality from numerous different angles. Kirk has died and has nothing left to prove, he's out there to enjoy himself with no responsibilities and a whole universe of his imagination to explore. Picard faces the bleak truth that life isn't always fair with the deaths of his brother and his Generations  nephew off-screen. Then there's Soran and his wish to cheat reality and the mortal struggle without a care for the impact it can have on anything in his way. McDowell does a fairly good job with the character although he admitted that he didn't get it and preferred his part in Tank Girl which was also around at the same time. His motivations are fairly realistic and as baddies go, he's one of the better ones, providing that spark of insanity right alongside apparent logical reasoning and desperation. Without a doubt McDowell has certainly left his legacy on the franchise if only for being the Kirk killer - and then only in the original version.

At the core the legacy of is simply the passing of that torch from one crew to another. The final tie cutting which meant that The Next Generation could flourish on the big screen and surpass the expectations of its predecessor - but the reality is that the spark was bright and short-lived as fans are more than vocal that both Insurrection and Nemesis are far from up to scratch. Easily the best of the four, Generations slides well into a comfortable second and for me it's definitely a decent movie which allowed Kirk to pull out one last fistfight interspersed with more of his more classic moves from The Original Series than you can shake a tribble at and on location no less.

At the time Generations was highly anticipated; I'd read the book including that skydiving scene and the original shot-in-the-back ending which rubbed preview audiences the wrong way. The Next Generation had been a ratings winner and the expectation on the big screen was no less. The shame of it was that there was an overconfidence and maybe over familiarity that let The Next Generation down. There was no gap, no decade of mulling over possibilities, no additional maturing of the cast and no chance to spread their wings elsewhere first to shed the type-casting. One day they were shooting an episode and the next it was filming a movie. Could it be that we didn't wait long enough for The Next Generation to deserve their own movie series?

Only 11 years after Generations aired it was all over for the Berman era in 2005 as Enterprise was cancelled and the show faded for a few years. Generations was a movie of the time, oppulent with its high level guest star, self-indulgent with its references to its past and existing at a pivotal moment in franchise history where three series would exist within a 12 month period at the Paramount Studios.

The Next Generation legacy fizzled and burned in just seven short years in the cinema compared to the 13 years of the original crew. So much promise perhaps handled badly at the peak of Star Trek's success? Was it the beginning of the slpppery slope? Was attempting that lightning strike twice on the big screen tempting fate? Were we all just bored? Maybe, maybe not but for the time, this union of Star Trek's two captains was the thing to see and today, seeing Kirk and Picard side by side to save the galaxy is still worth every second.

What do you think the franchise owes to Generations? Anything? Nothing? WHy not let us know here!

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Deep Space Nine: Season Three: Step Away from the Changeling

For me the third season of Deep Space Nine is the turning point in quality.

I enjoy watching seasons one and two but with the third year the show came into its own whether by chance, design or because it knew it had to with The Next Generation finishing the previous year. Deep Space Nine was now the flag-bearer for Star Trek on the small screen and expectation was high. Very high. After all Sisko had declared at the close of The Jem'Hadar that the station would need to be ready for any attack from the Gamma Quadrant...

The overall quality of the show is much steadier and there is a tighter focus and a clearer sense of direction. While season two had dropped in references to the Dominion with infrequent irregularity that viewers easily blinked and missed, this year stepped the reveals through the 26 episodes. This made for much easier viewing, not having to wait a full season for the payoff that you might or might not have remembered and allowed for a steady buildup to The Adversary. I much prefer the way that the producers phased season three, giving us milestones to reach which acted as pieces to the larger "puzzle" of the year.

The Search started that trend immediately, announcing Odo's people as the Founders of the Dominion and killed two birds with one stone - we knew where he was from and got the brains behind the whole operation in one. Opening the year with another multi-part story as with The Homecoming, The Circle and The Siege was a masterstroke to beef up the series and introduce some key new features. I missed this on it's UK VHS launch day and spotted it randomly in a local shop a week or so after it came out. I'd not seen The Jem'Hadar by that point either so ended up watching them out of sequence - my next purchase was that aforementioned season finale!

Aside from the new briefing room we also gained a new Starfleet security chief and a Romulan. One of those managed to become a decent recurring guest cast member while the other faded into obscurity as a character. It's only when you watch this episode back that you recall they had someone specifically to look after the cloaking device who vanished after only a pair of episodic appearances. Dropping the Defiant off at the station to defend the sector allowed better storytelling that couldn't be achieved on those suped up shuttlecraft, the runabouts and providing her with a new phaser effect truly stuck the mid-digit up at the established laws of Star Trek. Watching those shots of phaser fire slam into the Jem'Hadar ships gave me literal jaw-drop. It's the moment that changed my views on this show and the whole franchise. Hooked for life.

But season three isn't just about that. The characters seem more real, Sisko has become a stronger, determined (and angrier) leader and less of a builder; it's as if everyone woke up on the right side of the bed for the first time in two years, smelt the raktajino and decided it was time to make a difference and do what this show was supposed to have done from Emissary - be unique and challenge the Roddenberry philosophy. There's a different feel here and even Odo seems to have become grumpier for the season kick-off. Luckily that only lasted until the second part of The Search or it would have been one very long, annoying year.

Season two had managed to pull the threat/hint of the Dominion out for a full 26 episodes and there was no chance of repeating that kind of temptation without fans going up the wall so instead it's a season of dangled carrots with sooner payoffs. Defiant is the prime example to hold in case here. The fleet being built in the Orias system and Riker's target would eventually be revealed as a secret armada constructed as part of a Romulan/Cardassian intelligence service alliance to destroy the Founders homeworld in The Die is Cast. That Romulan presence which we have on the Defiant at the season opener is revisited during the intelligence debriefing that happens during Visionary and again leads into the events of the two-parter Improbable Cause opens a few stories later. Those in turn spiral into The Adversary and by circumstance into The Way of the Warrior and then Homefront.

The budget was splashed out for The Die is Cast, making it the most strategic episode of the year although the limited battle scenes in the second half are nothing in comparison to the events in the following fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh seasons. I recall there being a lot made of those sequences as they took six months (reportedly) to film using miniatures. Odo's torture was one of the most uncomfortable moments of the show's whole run but was incredibly watchable since it pushed the dark aspects of Deep Space Nine even further. It would have been beyond any of our thoughts in The Next Generation for one of the recurring cast to be as multi-faceted as Elim Garak, truly one of the greats of the franchise and pairing him with the constable provides an uneasy, distrustful duo.

One thing that The Search, Heart of Stone, The Die is Cast  and The Adversary all have in common which threads the season through is the "No Changeling Has Ever Harmed Another" line. From the start of the year you just know that it won't take long for this one to be broken and with the sporadic mentions akin to the name-dropping of "the Dominion" in season two it hits a crescendo with the season finale. It never got that good a press back in the 90's but I really loved it then and do just as much now. The fallout from that would rear it's head in the fourth season closer, Broken Link illustrating the importance of Odo within the main plotline. It's most definitely the tag of the year but in comparison to the subtlety of the Dominion references in season two this one is made a lot more transparent.

That said, I don't think this year is overpowered with Dominion stories and that's an intelligent move as many would have expected the opposite after the doom-and-gloom foreboding that closed The Jem'Hadar. It also establishes the Dominion up as more calculating, political and devious than the Borg or the Klingons sets them up as a very different kind of foe. But the not-so-Dominion-dominated season allows for some diversions into the cast, gearing them up for the darker upcoming events while also closing off some lose threads.

The average Equilibrium gets a payoff in the same year with the later and better role-changing Facets revisiting the buried Trill host personality of Joran Dax among others. To that point, it's one of Avery Brooks' best and most sinister performances although it's all over and done in a matter of four minutes. Maybe these were hints at the darker tones of the Sisko character he would draw out in seasons five and six.  Facets is a mix of light-heartedness and personal revelation for Dax and is a better shot than the Equilibrium mystery.

For the captain though the beard arrival in Explorers did move the character forward and I couldn't imagine that scene in the holding cell possessed by Joran without it.  Originally Explorers bored me to tears but on my recent run through it does have it's moments - perhaps it's that I'm now in the father role now myself that it struck a chord but not as much as The Visitor. The CGI ship is a wonder and I only sat and watched Explorers shortly after I'd received the model from the Eaglemoss collection. It's a rare, lighter story for the pair and when you look back it's amazing how much more hopeful this year is.

Aside from the The Search, The Abandoned, the two-part obliteration of the Tal-Shiar and Obsidian Order and the brilliant season finale, The Adversary, (recently covered in its own post), this year does allow us to explore the build up to war and the behind the scenes machinations much more than we got to with the expected arrival of the Borg in The Next Generation. While the preparations for that happened off-screen, it seems that here on Deep Space Nine we get to see it warts and all. Beside that we do get some momentous character segments into the pot too.

Maybe the biggest losers this year are the Cardassians and the Bajorans with only three episodes from the season highlighting the former's existence in the franchise; Civil Defence, Second Skin and Destiny and Life Support, Explorers and Shakaar for the latter. Of those six it's Second Skin the easy standout with another superb performance from Nana Visitor and some sublime dialogue between Sisko and Garak as they head to Cardassia to rescue her. This is one of those great moments I mentioned just a paragraph ago and one I had totally forgotten about until recently. In fact I love it so much I'm reprinting it here.

SISKO

We'll be travelling under false transit documents prepared by Starfleet Intelligence. Mister O'Brien's reconfigured the shield harmonics of the Defiant so that, on long-range sensors, it'll appear to be a Kobheerian freighter. We leave in three hours. 

 Garak weighs his options, then reluctantly takes the dataclip from the desk.

GARAK

Fine. I'll go along on your little fool's errand. But I want one thing to be perfectly clear... I have no intention of sacrificing my life to save yours. If it looks like we're in danger of being captured... if there are any signs of trouble at all... you're on your own. 

SISKO

Mister Garak, I believe that's the first completely honest thing you've ever said to me. 

GARAK

How perceptive of you, Commander. 

It might seem like a knock-off version of Face of the Enemy from The Next Generation but this does make a more compelling story and frankly I never found Troi a convincing officer to kidnap given her position on Enterprise.

On a second watch through Destiny was a little more interesting and I've been finding the Bajoran elements easier to follow and comprehend (the benefit of middle age I guess!) but there are lows to the year. It's still 44 minutes that isn't up to the bar; nor is the slushy political/romance Life Support which does at least see the exit of Phillip Anglium as Bareil. I was never a fan, he was way too mediocre a character and his mirror version killed Resurrection in season six dead. For one of the few times in Star Trek I didn't mind that he was being written out. Anyway, Louise Fletcher's Kai was always going to win and this one does act as a reminder as to why Starfleet is hanging around in the first place. We'd have to wait until Rapture in season five though for Federation admission to be pulled from stasis.

Actually, while I'm droning on about poor episodes, what was the crack with Meridian?!

Giving column inches to that one, directed by Jonathan Frakes and penned for the screen by Mark Gehred-O'Connell (who also wrote Who Mourns for Morn?) is sacrilege in itself. One thing Deep Space Nine seemed to do badly at this stage was romance. Whether they got any better is also a debate for another time, but the drippiness of both Meridian and soon after the kissy-kissy-fest that was Fascination were again low marks for the series. I know for sure that Meridian is an episode I would shelve alongside Voyager's Threshold and The Next Generation's Justice. Shoddy, poor and we know Dax will never leave the crew (at least not at this stage and for this guy...).

Talking of second watchings, there are a ton of great moments and stories here before you think I'm season-bashing. Defiant was class and made up for Frakes having to direct the trashy Meridian (which has more mentions in this post than any other ep oddly).  I do chastise the writers for not showing the USS Defiant taking on the Cardassians onscreen and instead placing us in a command station with Sisko and Dukat but this episode is much more about seeing Tom Riker back, stripping those beard pieces off and going hunting. I must've watched this one more than a dozen times over the years and it still holds it's own. Why Tom Riker never got a third outing is criminal but here the relationship he has with Kira makes you want to see more of Frakes' slightly different transporter twin.

Fascination which followed it was an OK Lwaxana episode (and I'm far from a Troi fan at the best of times) and her last but one if memory serves. Comedy never seemed to fit with this show which is why I never took to the Ferengi shows (see below) and felt Lwaxana was a bit out of place on the station. For note the Bajoran festival of gratitude would also show up in Tears of the Prophets. 

Moving swiftly along though we have one of the great unexpected classics of the show in Past Tense. Set on Earth rather than the station which in itself is more than a little unusual, it gave Avery Brooks a real chance to spread his wings and channel a little of his inner demon in 21st Century San Francisco. Again, one of my earlier Deep Space Nine VHS purchases (UK volume 3.6 for the record), Past Tense was a revelation and showed just how far the show could go and that Star Trek hadn't lost it's abilities to touch on issues - and closer to home than usual in some respects. The story was helped by a great guest cast especially during the claustrophobic siege in the concluding part and those little aside comedy scenes as Kira and O'Brien try to locate the missing Sisko, Bashir and Dax (who's wardrobe is exceptionally bizarre). Avery Brooks is magnificent here as the replacement Gabriel Bell and commands Past Tense from start to finish. Brilliantly realised, Deep Space Nine could hit where it hurt.

And what of the others? The House of Quark, Distant Voices, Prophet Motive and Family Business? Average again I'm afraid. I recall seeing promos for the Bashir 30th birthday episode which saw him delve into his inner psyche thanks to an attack from a Lethian but the actual story didn't work as well as I hoped. Nice makeup, great chance for Siddig to spread his wings but not a patch on some of his later work in Our Man, Bashir, Dr Bashir, I Presume or Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges. But it's a start and a few levels above his shadowy (read shaky) performance in The Passenger.

Then there's those three Ferengi shows. I could just leave it there but they are worth a couple of lines. Quark-Ferengi stories were my least anticipated. I found the humour forced and weak and the aspects they explored cringeworthy. Have my thoughts changed? No. Grand Nagus Zek is a quirky character once or twice but after that I preferred scraping my nails on a blackboard - and equally as dubious was the introduction of Quark and Rom's Moogie. Total gagh. That's all I can say. I really, really tried but these kind of stories were rock bottom for Deep Space Nine and fortunately they were few and far between, moreso with the oncoming war. Saying that I did enjoy The House of Quark both in the '90's and now. It's an unusual mix of Ferengi and Klingon but seeing Gowron attempting to understand Quark's financial records and just being utterly confused is priceless.

I love Shimerman and Grodenchik as actors and their roles in other episodes are brilliant especially where they act as the audience onscreen, passing judgement and opinion on the events unfolding but the Ferengi dominated stories tend to be the weak links. I would suspect this is because it usually comes down to greed and strained humour , the latter of which Star Trek generally never excelled. Shimerman and his Ferengi co-stars would get some better material in season four with Little Green Men but it would only be a small break from the norm.

Twenty years on, the 1994-1995 season has stood the test of time well and I'm certain it's better than I remember it. Heart of Stone, Destiny and Explorers were definitely stronger than I thought they were but I was really itching for the later part of the year and more than that, season four. The stand out pieces were Past Tense and The Search for me but I would be hard-pushed to pick a standout single-length story. Even writing this I'm debating how high up I would place Visionary with its clever little time travelling twist that rivalled the one in Voyager's Deadlock. Character-wise, Garak was a show stealer on more than one occasion as he would be every year but also kudos go to Nana Visitor particularly for Second Skin and Rene Auberjonois for all the work as Odo coming to terms with the fact that his people are the Dominion's Founders - and when he harms another, boy does he do it well.

Whatever you say, season three is still a mark up in quality and placed all the key players for the advent of war. Just a minor issue of some Klingons to sort out first though I believe....

What are your memories of the third season? Was it a turning point or are we just spouting gagh? Why not drop a line below...

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Get to the Escape Pod!

As you might have gathered by now I do like to discuss Star Trek.

Usually it's through the forum of Some Kind of Star Trek but occasionally I've been known to stray from the written word into other formats and last week was one of those opportunities. 

Back in April 2013 we reviewed the 18th and 19th episodes of the Starfleet Escape Podcast and immediately struck up a great relationship with the team behind the production, +Aaron Gallo +Marty Hogan and +Eric Berry . I've been an avid listener and question-answering contributor ever since and on many, many email conversations there has been the suggestion that at some point I could join the crew and lend my voice to their discussion.

Well, after more than a couple of failed attempts (more due to me than anything) we managed it - even though I had to stay up well past my bedtime to link in with the Boston-based segment who are about seven hours behind the UK and it was worth it. 

Sadly I was only able to talk Trek with Aaron but it was still a fantastic experience and one I hope they will allow me to repeat in the not too distant future. If you're not familiar with the show, here's a brief summary - the team run through the latest Star Trek news, voicing their opinions on a range of topics which this time included Phase II, medical tricorders and Jonathan Frakes continued directing career as well as a featured product which this time were The Original Series ceramic shot glasses.

After that we got into the nitty gritty of All Good Things... since we've recently marked it's 20th anniversary. You might recall that I dropped a piece on the blog about that finale a few weeks ago but this conversation took it to a whole different level and even managed to divert off into tangents of Red Dwarf, cult movies and Doctor Who which were totally unplanned but meant it was a great free-flowing conversation from start to finish. No question we left a lot of stuff untouched but we still managed to get into a lot of areas of All Good Things..., pass an opinion or two and reveal some of our real thoughts on The Next Generation's final TV story. It was great to have a chat with someone whom I've been emailing or messaging in some form for a good year and a bit and it's strange to think that when All Good Things... was originally aired, a Google+ Hangout conversation was a thing of dreams and we'd have had to make do with snail mail. A podcast certainly wouldn't have been possible.

From all the threads and diversions we managed to pull out an hour and three quarters on the news and main topic. Rounding it out were listeners opinions on whether they would use time travel or not and Aaron's grumble - or as it's better known, the Quantum State of Flux. It was a shame I didn't get to bounce our thoughts off Marty and Eric this time which does give me some leverage to go back for a second attempt but we'll leave the fans and the Podcast team to decide if that's such a good idea. I loved every second of the show as you'll be able to tell from a touch of over-exuberance and have to thank the team for letting me into their audio lifeboat this time round.

In the mean time I can 100% recommend that you get yourselves over to the Starfleet Escape Podcast website and download the latest installment as well as have a run through their back catalogue of both main episodes (totalling 41 now) and supplemental slots. I guarantee you won't be disappointed with the rich variety of topics and opinions which have acted as a companion for many a long road journey. A lot of work has gone into the show and when I found out that the recording is only a fraction of the work behind the scenes I was even more impressed (especially since I could go to bed!!!)

Keep up the great work guys - looking forward to the next installment.

Take a trip right now over to the site and check out the team's work TODAY!

You can also find the Starfleet Escape Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and Risa. No excuses.

Deep Space Nine: Season Two: Creation of the Legend

If the first season of Deep Space Nine introduced us to the characters and setting, the second year was nothing like we expected.

Season two (from 1993/94) stepped up the game. The standalone nature of the majority of the first season was almost swept aside in favour of utilising the stationary nature of Deep Space Nine and building a story around the setting. Indeed, a lot of the stories here would be continued and expanded through the following five years of the show although we wouldn't appreciate that at the time and there would even be a few that got unexpected sequels. Already we've touched on the Dominion's influence on this season so let's take a look at what else was going on out on the edge of the final frontier.

To some degree there was a degree of continuation from season one in the opening - and rule-breaking three-part story focusing on the Bajorans. It would take until season six for there to be another multi-part story but The Homecoming, The Circle and The Siege set the tone for the year; darker, treacherous and providing a greater prominence to the characters of Bareil and Winn who would become recurring characters to different levels of success. The opener with the arrival of former-terrorist-come-legend Li Nalas has some wonderful outdoor location filming during the prison break however easy it might seem to free him.

As openers go it's strong - something that every season of Deep Space Nine managed right through to Image in the Sand and truly emphasises the precarious nature of the Federation's relationship with the Bajoran populace. In true form there's no total happy ending - and no finite ending at all as the story of the vedeks would be a string to follow through the year. The middle part does get a little stale and that's more than likely due to inexperience in writing three-episode arcs but the overall result is still one of the best in the first couple of years. Everyone has at least something to do here and Kira's displacement at this point in the season does jar you a bit - had Visitor not intended to come back for another 26 episodes?!

The shame is that after evacuating the station for The Siege and having a wonderful game of cat and mouse through the access tubes, what bugs me is that they do it all over again in Invasive Procedures. Featuring John Glover and future Tuvok, Tim Russ, it's not bad, just average and from the off you know that the symbiont will be back inside Jadzia by the fifth act. It's more an exploration of Trill science and character than anything else but it's not a story I was thrilled by. Guess they must have needed a bottle show to recoup some of the cost from the episodes that kicked off the season.

Season two is full of peaks and troughs, making it the most uneven season of any of the series in my opinion. There are also times when we get "doubles" shoved together but I'll cover that as we go through the year. The highs are galactic while the lows leave a lot to be desired however considering this is the only Star Trek show set in one place and on a space station there was always going to be a lot of experimentation going on. Indeed, Necessary Evil is a prime example of just that.

The first time I saw a still from Necessary Evil I was instantly enthralled. Focusing on Odo and Kira - easily two of the most watchable characters in the show, it's almost a noir thriller. Shame the sequel, Things Past was nowhere near as strong. Just seeing Deep Space Nine in the Terok Nor days makes this a key segment in the series, visualising the much-talked about Occupation for the first time since it's introduction back in Ensign Ro from The Next Generation. The story itself is great all the way, unusually placing a main character in a less than favourable light which marked the show out against it's sister which was in its final year at this time. 

Deep Space Nine's cast were nowhere near the elite that we saw on the Enterprise with Picard. This wasn't exactly the plumb assignment in the fleet and in this year both this episode and the later Blood Oath certainly painted darker sides to these complex characters. In fact, looking further into the future none of the crew were even greyer than grey which made it even more essential Star Trek viewing for me.

The next high point took a while to come but it's one I remember because my Technology teacher at school found it rather fascinating - Armageddon Game. Coupling an engineered virus with the rocky O'Brien/Bashir relationship was always going to be a winner. I find myself more drawn to their conflict and predicament than the plot that puts them into the situation in the first place. Siddig and Meaney were a great double-team when they were placed together. The fact that this story is followed by the equally excellent Whispers only strengthens that relationship since we see the hostility that O'Brien receives when he returns to the station during the flashbacks. Whispers is a great piece of drama and highlights just why Meaney always ends up with these heavy stories to deal with as the Chief of Operations. The paranoia here is almost at a level where you can taste it. Once again Deep Space Nine proved it could take a fairly well-known story concept and then manage to turn it all inside out just when you thought you had seen everything.

Season Two also focused on Star Trek heritage more than The Next Generation ever attempted with not one but two episodes drawing on the past in Blood Oath and shortly thereafter Crossover. Both of which act to start off story arcs that would last through to the final year of Deep Space Nine but would be the strongest installments of their respective strands. For Blood Oath the fact that this would be the only time the three most prominent Klingons from The Original Series would be together makes it even more remarkable and memorable. Terry Farrell manages to hold her own with the three veteran actors but this is much more their episode than hers and it's evident from the opening scene with Kor. Dax's involvement is a little stretched and her return to the station with no reprimand and only a few hard stares doesn't stand up but as with all the best homage episodes it's all about seeing the pieces and characters come together to give a nod to the classics. 

Unusually - and something very noticable - is the action-heavy content of the episode after the half-way point. It's not gory, perhaps a little brutal but not something that The Next Generation would have handled. If they had a battle it was over distance with phasers; more often than not in Deep Space Nine it's hand-to-hand (The Search, Part I, The Way of the Warrior, To the Death...). Perhaps not what Gene would have liked but another piece that stands the series away from it's predecessors and successors.

In fact Crossover manages that with it's heritage firmly entrenched in The Original Series' Mirror Mirror but the creation of the alternative characters here is a master stroke. Garak becomes the cold, calculating military man we suspect lurks beneath the guise of a tailor in "our" universe while Kira transforms into one of Deep Space Nine's most memorable villains, overtly sexual, playful in her terrorising of Terrans and certainly not to be crossed in any way. She would be one of the few mirror universe characters to make it through the four episodes that continued the story. Crossover though is the best of the batch, echoing the feel of Terek Nor that we saw back in the Occupation during Necessary Evil's flashbacks but with a much nastier sense of oppression. I'd have liked to see a second appearance from the sadistic phaser-toting shapeshifter security chief but his existence was cut abruptly short thanks to Bashir. This is also my Dad's favourite second season episode - whether it's a Kira Thing or a homage to The Original Series Thing I'm not sure but I have to agree that it's one of the year's best and the first episode I bought on VHS. Everything about this episode is right; it's a lot of fun but dark and unsettling all in one go. None of the other Mirror Universe shows in Deep Space Nine did it as good.

Sandwiched somewhere between these two is the season's two-parter, The Maquis. Cal Hudson could well have been a recurring character within the Federation terrorist group (something Eddington later took up) however he only gets to step out here. As a side point note that both Hudson and Eddington had personal links to Sisko which makes their treachery even more hurtful. Could this have indicated that Hudson was slated to return and Eddington was subbed in season three?

I found this to be a great story and equally balanced across both parts but as with any Maquis episodes pre-1995 it all screams set-up for Voyager and once that happened, it got a lot more consistent and made much more sense. This was also one of my few early Deep Space Nine VHS purchases (straddling two tapes) and was watched very regularly. While there's not much action here, the story is solid and certainly better quality than the poor Journey's End from The Next Generation.

The Wire also manages to sneak in before Crossover and provides the first decent examination of exactly who Garak is or was. If you come away from watching this the first time without a headache you've done well. Twenty years on I loved this one - there are so many layers, lies, truths and suggestions that you have zero idea what to believe. After watching everything that follows, The Wire gives you a chunk of background that you never fully appreciate until years later. Most of the character bio that's established here would be the basis of the tailor for another five years. It works really well again after a few years of not seeing it as Andrew Robinson's portrayal of the tailor/spy just gets better and better.

Rounding off the year is the superb The Jem'Hadar and while I've talked over the Dominion's arrival before it still has to be noted. Great episode, great effects and a jaw-dropper of an ending that you would never expect although after some of the events from the year we've covered maybe we all should have seen it coming?!

But what of the rest I hear you cry? It's a funny old lot when we pick through it. Season Two has more peaks and troughs than any other year I can think of from any generation. Indeed, it goes from amazingly brilliant and engaging to the other end of the scale week on week with no consistency or sign of fluid improvement. The change in format from going anywhere must have taken quite a toll on the writers and watching these early show back can feel like arduous going at times.

For example, Cardassians and Melora are good ideas which tie more detail into the Occupation of Bajor (as well as revealing the station's former name) and recycle a main cast idea from the show's development in Daphne Ashbrook's gravity-restricted Ensign Pazlar. Nor am I a fan of lame Ferengi episodes especially Rules of Acquisition. After a Bashir love story we get a Quark one. Seems block ideas were common in 1993! I won't dwell on these as they do seem to give more background on the cast than the more popular installments. They just pace very slowly and let down the rhythm of the show. Over the following years the Ferengi shows would be my lower points of the year and usually indicated a really good episode would be following to make up for the squabbling and custard pie throwing.

Nor did I care much for the mediocrity of Second Sight, Sanctuary, Rivals or The Alternate. Actually, no I take that back - Rivals is truly a bad episode and even now it's just too cheesy for me. The whole betting premise leaves me wanting the end credits too quickly and Martus is annoying from the off. I know the writers want us to be siding with Quark and I do immediately. The change of allegiance of Rom however doesn't flow with the character nor how he develops 

Aside from the appearance of a Nebula Class starship, a mention of the Dominion or Odo's dad dropping by to mark them out in the history books they were all nice filler character stuff. It's not that I torridly hate these episodes but when you compare them to anything from season three and beyond the quality isn't quite there; Deep Space Nine was still taking baby steps and not able to walk on it's own. Having season three as a time when this show was truly on it's own for a time seems to have forced the hand a little with that year producing top drawer drama from the off. Even those Ferengi episodes were near-bearable and I include Family Business there but not Profit and Lace. 

Even the second half of the season has some uneven footing. Paradise is much better a few years later and the conflict between Sisko and Alixus is some of the best at this early stage in the show's development with the commander's continued resistance to accepting their fate being an incredibly powerful part of the story.  Shadowplay too had it's cool twist but this repeat viewing does highlight that it doesn't carry as much weight and ends up as a nice cute story about Odo and a child. The concept here is good but, while an episode like Future Imperfect delivers cool tweaks throughout that can be enjoyed on repeat, Shadowplay relies on you not knowing the outcome.

The weakest point of the year is probably the duo of Playing God and Profit and Loss which left me cold all over again. Very average stories focusing on Trill initiates and Cardassian scientists. Neither of which have any influence on the rest of the show but do act to flesh out Jadzia and Quark. If these episodes had been part of the previous year they would have been head and shoulders above but such a large step was taken from that year to this that they get swallowed up by all the other outstanding contributions. The same could well go for The Collaborator and Tribunal which suffer from being sandwiched right between some of the best shows of the second season in Crossover and The Jem'Hadar season finale.

I've documented my feelings on Bareil before. He straight bores me and his removal from the supporting cast mid-way through the third season was, for me, a breath of fresh air. I never believed the character and Philip Anglium never held my attention as the vedek seemed something of a wet lettuce. It's a nice whodunnit but its placement does make it suffer. Likewise Tribunal doesn't match up to the earlier O'Brien Hell story, Whispers. Colm Meaney does a good job but the conclusion still feels rushed after 20 years and we know it'll all work out. Getting to see the Cardassian judicial system in operation is fun and a distraction but it does come across as a late season filler before all the end of year explosions and exposition for season three.

Having watched the first two seasons back in full for the first time in nearly two decades I get restless to watch the remainder of Deep Space Nine knowing that the weaker shows are now behind me. There was a lot of work still to be done when The Homecoming aired but the series was a different beast by the end of the year. It had matured, implanted the threat of the Dominion and given every character the chance to be explored at least once. I enjoyed season two originally and watching it back now reminded me of how much those later season episodes hooked me in for the next five years. For me this is the year that finally got me obsessed with Star Trek and into serious fandom territory. The second season steadied the ship and started to add the depth to recurring plot threads but it would remain a stepping stone from the era of The Next Generation as that show ended. Season Three faced the challenge of going solo with no USS Enterprise-based show as backup.

The quality had to be there from the first episode and a couple of little, teeny tiny changes would make that happen...

You can read our first season rewatch review Part One and Part Two as well as our discussion regarding Emissary by clicking the links!

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