Yesterday's and Tomorrow's Today - The Official Starships Collection Issues 46 and 47

This may be my favourite pairing since O'Brien and Bashir in Armageddon Game.

I kid not here Starship Collection fans, because May 2015 brings us both the unforgettable USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C and Gowron's Klingon huge flagship,  the Negh'Var.

Let's kick off with fan favourite, the Enterprise-C. Famed for her singular appearance in the classic Yesterday's Enterprise from The Next Generation's third season, this hybrid design, taking in elements from the Constitution and Galaxy classes may well be one of the best produced models of the entire collection.

A couple of clangers have been dropped mind as I've seen on the Facebook page - one with both nacelles the wrong way round and one poor subscriber who managed to get two Enterprise models and no Negh'Var but we have to sidestep these anecdotal pieces to get right to the ship herself. As we shall see though, delivery clangers are the least of our concerns.

Mounted onto the stand at the rear of the saucer, the Enterprise-C is very close to scale with her predecessor which we saw back in issue 40. Her poise is elegant and Eaglemoss have wasted nothing on this one to be certain. The earlier photos of the model had shown her in a slightly different colour which was blamed on lighting but now we get to be up close it's clear that the hull is a grey/white with sections of the hull - mainly on the saucer - picked out in a duck egg blue. which links the colour schemes of the ships named Enterprise together most firmly in one respect.

The upper saucer only is made out of metal here with the underside of the primary hull, the connecting neck piece, the secondary hull and the two warp nacelles all out of plastic. The metal saucer section gives Eaglemoss a lot to play with here so there's a good deal of focus on the multiple lifeboat hatches, the window lights, the panel lines and importantly the pennants which adorn both the sides of the engineering hull and the warp engines. 

Both sides of the secondary hull bear the full and correct text if you squint and get close enough (so no refit movie Enterprise issue here). In fact there's quite a bit of decalling on the hull and on the engines which is worth checking out. The registry at the rear of the nacelles is quite tight but at least they're on straight. The underside of the saucer registry however is very, very tight against the forward phaser bank but good news is that the decal is clean and there's no tacky print bleed anywhere to be seen.

There's no flashy aztec paint scheme on the Enterprise-C with the surface bearing a blocked blue/grey colouring and extensive window details across both hulls and the connecting neck section. The joint lines between metal and plastic on the saucer as indistinguishable (mine had a slight separation but not a worry) however the join connecting the secondary hull to the engine struts is a little more obvious and not as clean. 

Looking at the warp engines mine do have a slight lean out of perfect alignment which isn't even a concern on my radar since the nacelles have a good, clean finish featuring our favourite transparent blue and red sections for collectors and exhausts. Note too that the deflector dish is in blue transparent plastic and the fit is very good indeed with no flash or evidence of sprue attachment. There's not even a slightly gluey edge but the dish is missing the grey trim which does make it look like an after thought to some degree.

But. And there's a big but coming, that's not the worst thing here and what we're going to discuss will give many fans a nervous twitch. On the Facebook Starships Collection page I lauded praise on the C, saying how it was one of the best produced, top ten material etc but on closer inspection I have to retract my statements because there's one huge omission that will get fans talking and some others which make it fairly incorrect dependant on which ship it's preporting to be. 

Number one - there's no impulse engine unit at the rear of the neck section. Seriously - check out any pics of the Ambassador Class you can find and there's an impulse engine block slap bang in the middle and that's applicable for all the variations that followed the original C model too. It's not that there's a painted blob missing, there's a whole damn impulse block gone AWOL. Once you notice that, there's also the fact that the top of the secondary hull does seem a little devoid of detail with that darker grey strip looking very out of place especially when I started comparing it to model shots that are easy to find through the miracle of Google (or other search engines). But, dear reader, hold your thoughts because I then decided to do some comparisons even further.

The lower sensor platform (the bit in the middle of the saucer underneath) and some of the lifeboat details on the upper saucer are also incorrect to the Enterprise-C but correct to the later Yamaguchi but then the taller pylons and the narrower stern/shuttlebay are right to the named ship we're supposed to have here. It's a total mix and match on this one which, once you get past the excitement of receiving the fabled Enterprise-C, is a huge disappointment because of the inaccuracies. At least the nacelles, underside of the secondary hull and deflector dish do appear to be correct to the fourth USS Enterprise. It might have been better to produce a second variant of this one later with the shorter pylons, more advanced sensor platform and revised bridge module detail. How this has come to pass is anyone's guess however it does appear to be a big blunder. I still think she's a gorgeous model and one I'm pleased to have even with the errors.

Issue 46 of the magazine could only go one way and that was to discuss the Narendra III incident and the classic Yesterday's Enterprise from The Next Generation.  All the CGI images within the magazine carry the errors that are on the model and are clear to see when compared to the photos from the episode. As a one story ship there are a lot of pics from that single appearance but we also get to see the original version as imagined by Andy Probert. This version, which sits more comfortably as the mid-point between Excelsior and Galaxy Class ships, is markedly different to the filmed ship which is closer to a Constitution/Galaxy combo. The magazine this time gives us the story of that vision and of the one that Rick Sternbach developed for the show. 

Rounding off the issue is a good couple of pages covering the making of Yesterday's Enterprise which was more of a mix and match than the model itself but covers the twists and turns of its evolution effectively. While a recognised classic now, the build up to filming certainly suggested it was going to be anything but a brilliant episode due to the number of individuals who had a hand in its writing.

So now over to the second entry for May 2015 and we have the Negh'Var. This model is based on the refitted, beefed up version we saw in Deep Space Nine rather than the "future" version we experienced in All Good Things. We get more pods, less front proboscis and a darker overcoat but at the core it's still the ship that destroyed the Pasteur. 

OK - down to business here. Scale-wise she's way off with the Enterprise-C being about 160 metres longer "in reality" to start with.  Good point straight away is that about 80% of her is in metal with the upper bridge module, the daughtercraft, warp engines and weapons pods glued on to the main lump. As we've just said, the colouring and detail is taken from The Way of the Warrior but comparing it to the TV appearances is a bit of a nightmare since shots of it are pretty dark so, we'll have to rely on the old model images instead.

Going at the detail, the hull is well painted with all the various radiators, fleet markings and some indications of weathering at the edges which does make it one of the more emblazoned models we've had. The underside is also marked out in full but getting close ups on this is a rarity so kudos to Eaglemoss for tracking down source material here.

I suppose with the Negh'Var I have two gripes which make it just less than perfect. For one the daughtercraft which sits at the rear is just slightly off-centre on my model and secondly - and one that is oddly exactly the same omission that we saw on the Enterprise-C - there are no impulse engines marked out on the backside of the hull. 

To say I was shocked was about right. On both ships from this month we're missing detail and I find it hard to believe that this is because of ease of including these parts since there have been more intricate details and decals included on other vessels right from the Enterprise-D in issue one. Also I might be mistaken but the protrusions on the forward swept wings also look a bit longer and thicker than was applicable for the Negh'Var. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is just a mere blip in the running of the series and that next month's issues of Ablative Voyager and ECS Fortunate will be comprehensively correct. 

By accident I compared this Negh'Var to the smaller and less detailed Attack Wing miniature and the difference in quality is,  unsurprisingly,  staggering. Eaglemoss have attempted a meticulous 360 degree recreation of the ship which we never clearly go to see on screen. Actually the underside is even more heavily decalled than the top with a variety of panel lines, raised grids and those two underslung weapons pods which are very unusual on any Star Trek ship.  But hold on - compare the plan views in the magazine to the underside and the detail of the yellow sections and the impulse engine blocks towards the front of the wing just don't match up. Nor are the grilles along the leading edge of the wing anywhere to be seen. I might let this go however since that edge is pretty slim. The issue with the impulse pods though it's good since they don't extend down from the hull enough. The views do tend to highlight the intakes in all their fiery glory which doesn't translate to the model. 

In relation to build quality, she is pretty solid given the substantial metal to plastic ratio. However be careful taking her out of the plastic tray around the nose as it's firmly gripped. The fitting of the plastic to metal sections is pretty good too although on mine I did notice that the underside piece on the front bridge module was not totally flush and had a little bit of give. Overall it's a decent result and, incredibly the fifth Klingon entry into the series with, I think, only the original TV series D-7 to go.

What the next step of Klingon ship evolution on TV or film would have been we may never know of since the Negh'Var was the last forward advancement of the Empire's designs. After its appearance we would be heading into Enterprise with the recently reviewed Raptor and the reworked retro Bird of Prey. 

The magazine covers the usual back-story of the ship from its arrival in The Way of the Warrior to its subsequent appearance in By Inferno's Light as well as paying service to All Good Things..., a fleeting turn in Endgame from Voyager and a larger presence (literally) in the Mirror Universe as Regent Worf's flagship.

Damage to the original miniature meant that the ship got a revamp between its appearance in The Next Generation finale and Deep Space Nine's fourth season premiere which is represented here in metal and plastic and it's incredible to discover how much of the older Vor'Cha cruiser was used to create it's larger successor - that neck section looks vaguely familiar don't you think...?

A nice addition in this issue is the article talking to Robert O'Reilly around his time as Chancellor Gowron from first appearance in Reunion through to Tacking into the Wind which brought the character's story to a very finite conclusion. O'Reilly's thoughts on the character are very interesting especially in the way he saw Gowron's portrayal originally in The Next Generation to his darker, more power-corrupted self in Deep Space Nine. One point - that picture on page 12 at the bottom isn't Gowron. O'Reilly yes, but the forehead is all wrong so it might be from the VHS board game...!

The designing section here contains some superb photos of the filming model in it's various guises and with parts chopped, extended or painted in a variety of shades of green. Shame that the screenshots from episodes don't allow too much comparison as noted due to their fairly dark nature. The CGI images created for the mag are as usual top standard with an odd pose of the rear end - highlighting that lack of impulse engine detail - emblazoned across the cover.

It's a month of mixed feelings therefore. Back in April I was very excited to be looking forward to the upcoming Enterprise and Negh'Var models but the errors which have been raised do put a dampener on the package. I am pleased with them but I know there are inaccuracies that will bug given the extraordinary level of attention to detail that Ben Robinson and the Eaglemoss team have delivered across 47 issues and four specials on a consistent basis. I'm certain that this will only be a minor setback confidently overcome by next month's two winners.

What did you think about this month's starships? Am I being too harsh here? Let us know below! Want to subscribe? Follow the link in our sidebar to begin your collection today!

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For Every Warrior There's a Way: Worf's Initial Influence on Deep Space Nine

"Just what the station needs - more Klingons."

Quark's words as a certain Lieutenant Commander set foot on Deep Space Nine for the second time couldn't have been more correct. It was precisely what the station - and the show - needed.

The Way of the Warrior is not just a high-point of the show but of the franchise as allies became foes and the paranoia and preparations for war slipped up a notch. You could tell it was getting serious because Sisko shaved his head, Kira got a new uniform (in The Visitor) and even Bashir and Dax got promotions. Def Con One, people.

There were even new, less casual titles with ships and workbees buzzing around the station - we even saw the Defiant docked which was nice and amalgamated with the thumping undertones of the remixed theme, everything pointed to a new beginning.

The double-length season premiere did punch out a new era for the show. The board and the pieces had all been laid out over the course of the first three seasons - and then we took a huge left turn and went to war with the Klingons. Like we all saw that coming after The Adversary...

It made perfect sense in hindsight for the Dominion to kick back and let the two remaining Alpha Quadrant superpowers duke it out and then take on whoever was left standing but we were all ready for huge battles and - oh, hang on...that's what we got.

Bringing Worf over from The Next Generation might have been a plot device to draw in some of that show's viewers who hadn't migrated to the Bajoran Wormhole but his appearance did change the dynamic of the show. The grit was there as ever but now there was more heart; Avery Brooks stepped up his game, Dax got frisky and made Kira play Guinevere at Camelot, Bashir became more cynical, Odo tried to forget killing one of his own and got slapped down for it and O'Brien took more of a beating from the writers and his wife to boot. To be fair to the chief, this was pretty much business as usual for him until Keiko got pregnant.

While that didn't all happen in The Way of the Warrior it is a key turning point, one of the significant game-changers in the history of the show alongside Call to Arms and In the Pale Moonlight at the very least. J G Hertzler and Robert O'Reilly bring a lot of fight and honour to the roles of Martok and Gowron here as their return to the Old Ways take hold and that's only multiplied with the first appearance of the mammoth Negh'Var.

The series opener is bleaker, there's less musical scoring and Quark has taken to much darker observations which conversing with Garak can only magnify. Not only does the former spy take a pummelling from some Klingon opportunists, but we even see the tailor taking up arms alongside long-time adversary Gul Dukat to save the Cardassian civilian government. It's a great moment that seethes with tension and hatred but also a begrudged admiration between the pair. It's a change - not only in the way our core of characters have had to mature and evolve but also in the very geography of the galaxy. The Cardassians are the ones in need of help (enter Dukat) and worth risking life and limb for while avoiding Klingon disruptor fire. It's a blaring contrast to Emissary where we were firmly told these guys were not to be trusted and that Deep Space Nine was only significant for the fact it was close to Bajor who wanted in on the Federation's act ASAP. That pilot is a lot calmer in comparison and to some degree closes a lot more optimistically.

How times have changed. The once six-torpedo defended station is now bristling with armaments that would make a weapons dealer blush and has a captain who chews out Klingons for breakfast (wait til we get to season five's Apocalypse Rising...). I for one was in fan heaven back in 1995 when I cracked open the VHS case and slotted the tape in for the first time. They'd even changed the cover art for volume 4.1 going for the full on war effect, tilting the station and sticking a ton of Klingon ships around Deep Space Nine. Another tick on the Impressed List.

Worf has lost none of his gruffness and seems to fit much better here in the darker, less "perfect" environment of Deep Space Nine. Dorn's arrival might have been a shoehorn in for ratings at the time but he kicks more butt in this episode than he managed in a couple of seasons on board the Enterprise. Once he stops moping around and gets into command red it's all plain sailing. I love The Way of the Warrior just as much now as I did back on the first run and to this point it was my favourite episode of the show. As the script suggested, Worf did indeed have a purpose again although he effectively became a galactic traffic warden as Strategic Operations Officer and while it wasn't security it allowed the role to grow and Dorn to explore the Klingon a lot more. The station suited his ways but we wouldn't get many indications of that for some time as the producers chose to move Worf-centric episodes to later in the year so as not to ignore the rest of the ensemble.

Over on Voyager at the start of their fourth year we saw the introduction of Seven of Nine to do a similar thing and reboot the show. That meant the exit of Jennifer Lien's Kes and a focus on the character from day one. Seven provided the much-needed human observer role that the show had lacked from Caretaker. Both the former Borg and the ex-communicated Klingon changed the feel of the show, leading them both into a darker period where their main adversary would rear its head but in Seven's case her appearance put a new character at the forefront of the show and a lot of the stories - there was a lot that could be done with the character.

But let's stick with Worf in this fourth season because he becomes much more a part of the wheel rather than the axle if you forgive the analogy. His appearance is a big hit in The Way of the Warrior and brings the Klingons closer into the story for the first time, perhaps obviously developing the bond to the seven year voyage of The Next Generation further by having two of its former cast among the crew. Placing Worf alongside Kor in the Klingon-heavy The Sword of Kahless allows for more exploration of the culture but it doesn't do much to back the reasons for bringing him on board but Sons of Mogh and Rules of Engagement do add some layers to the character but again there's not much keeping him around in these Worf-driven stories.

The bigger influence he has comes when placed in conflict with the established senior staff or when put into a military command position. Here he truly flourishes during the year and I would highlight Starship Down and Paradise Lost to see these moments in action. In fact To the Death works because of his inclusion among the crew and adds true edge to the story which is one of Deep Space Nine's more violent episodes. Having the Jem'Hadar relishing a fight with a Klingon here paves the way for By Inferno's Light in season five as well as making the relationship with Gowron even more delicate when he turns up from time to time and of course we would get the semi-regular full-blooded General Martok to bounce against Worf in the future.

Seven in comparison has to be at the core of an episode to make her character work but Worf is a team player through and through even if he doesn't agree with everything that happens.While Worf wants to be accepted by the culture he left, she wants the exact opposite - to leave the Collective behind and never return even though it's offered on a plate several times.

Worf isn't a revelation to the show but instead reinforces it's darker, more hard-edged tendencies and almost drags the show towards the inevitable war with the Dominion. His attitude towards the Klingon Empire might not sit too well initially but the role of the outcast is perfect with the withdrawal from the Khitomer Accords and, absolutely, the Dominion's desires to spread discontent in the Alpha Quadrant ahead of their invasion. While glory might await on Cardassia according to one Klingon Chancellor, Worf's true virtues hold out when he, as we all knew he would, picks the Federation over his people.

And while Worf has influence on the direction of the show, the show likewise has designs on him. This is initially a troubled and lost Worf doing his duty by the numbers than because he wants to be in Starfleet but season four allows him a great deal more openness and perhaps closer,  more emotional relationships than he experienced on the hi-tech Galaxy Class USS Enterprise. It would take perhaps another year for Worf to fully integrate and maybe the arrival of an occularly challenged general might have further effect on his development but with The Way of the Warrior leading the season it was easy to see that Worf was one of the team and we were in for a change of pace like never before.


Was The Way of the Warrior such a key moment in the history of Deep Space Nine? Let's talk below...

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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Lots of Birthdays!

It's a Bumper Birthday two weeks ahead with a whole host of names who have appeared or been involved with Star Trek celebrating another year ahead.

In fact there are a few very notable names - two Klingons, a Q, an engineer, an empath, a Vulcan, the only man to beat the No Win Scenario, a legendary writer and the man responsible for creating the look of many an alien over the past few decades. (DC Fontana 25th March 1939 and Michael Westmore 22nd March 1938 not pictured above!)

So where am I heading with this? Well, while a lot of sites will, of course, go loopy over the birthdays of The Shat and Mr Nimoy on the 22nd and 26th respectively yet I want to just take a break from the norm and celebrate the work of two of these figures from the franchise in the form of J G Hertzler and Michael Westmore.

Yep, an unusual combination but then we're not known for keeping to the norm are we?! That's not to say that any of the others are lesser mortals or ever less worthy of birthday shout-outs but I have to admit to being something of a Martok fan. J G Hertzler also has the claim to be in the first scene of Deep Space Nine, acting in the role of the Vulcan captain of Sisko's ship, USS Saratoga  as well as Roy Ritterhouse in Far Beyond the Stars, the shapeshifter Laas in Chimera and the Hirogen champion in Voyager's Tsunkatse. Also he'll soon be seen in the fan production Star Trek: Axanar as Captain Samuel Travis. While all worthy of a mention none come close to his brilliance as Martok (changeling or not!).

While we first saw the general in The Way of the Warrior it wasn't until season five's BIn Purgatory's Shadow that we met him properly. For me he was one of the key secondary cast of Deep Space Nine from that moment. Martok was the archetypal Klingon, believing in the glory, the honour and certainly the thrill of battle as well as proving to be a valuable asset and ally to Sisko during the later years of the series. More of a thinker and a planner than other Klingons we had met, there was always a glint in that eye that betrayed something more - a man of many layers and definitely a great counter to both Worf and Gowron. This of course gives me a blatant excuse to round out three of his greatest moments.

Becomes Chancellor

With just a touch of help from Worf, Martok takes the reins of the Empire from the apparently glory-hunting Gowron. Well-deserved there and it's, for me, one of the best episodes of the final ten (Tacking into the Wind) if only for the epic hand to hand fight that has been brewing since the mid-point of The Next Generation let alone The Way of the Warrior. Martok's relunctance to accept the mantle of leadership is absolutely in keeping with the character who has always wanted to be a warrior in the ranks rather than giving the orders - something even alluded to in his choice of a Bird-of-Prey as his flagship.

Vs Worf

While Sons of the Empire isn't going to make your top ten, it's a good solid Klingon episode that sees Worf assist Martok in gaining the respect of his crew on the Rotarran and return to the warrior form that had eluded him since escaping from the Jem'Hadar prison camp. It's a significant turning point in the character and sets him up well for the events of the next two years. It also leads Martok to welcome Worf into his family's house since the House of Mogh no longer exists.

Drinking Blood Wine on Cardassia Prime

Now a controversial one. While Sisko and Admiral Ross might not have approved it's a good nod from the writers back to a reference in season six that the three of them will be drinking together on Cardassia when it falls to them. Just to see Martok savouring victory is worth the admission price alone. One of the things Deep Space Nine always managed successfully was their ability to drop hints in early and then bring them to reality a year or so later when you least expected it. Or had just damn well forgotten.

We could also have included his first appearance fighting the Jem'Hadar or perhaps his reluctance to command the Ninth Fleet but for me, these are three of the strongest memories I have of Hertzler's character. Honestly this doesn't do it justice and I'll be putting a larger piece together soon.

Then there's Michael Westmore. The face of the 24th Century you could say. Responsible for the look of many a creature from The Next Generation through to Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise and the later four classic movies we'd like to pay homage to his top three creations.

Cardassians

Those classy spoonheads appeared back in The Next Generation before becoming the staple baddie of Deep Space Nine for a few years as well as providing that show with a ton of backstory. Reptilian in look it's instantly recognisable and incredibly intricate when you start to really examine the structure of the neck and how it's actually very, very skeletal on the outside. It's not just one piece though as each section around the eyes, ears and chin are all separate bits that combine to create the finished look. Think about doing one and then consider that there were a lot of these guys walking around for seven years.

Odo

One that went through a heck of a lot of changes over the course of Deep Space Nine - in fact even over the course of a season as Auberjonois' features were blended more and more into the smooth face with those three distinct worry lines on the forehead. Perhaps the even more challenging part of Odo's creation was his disintegrating states we saw in The Die is Cast, Broken Link and later as part of the virus spread to the Great Link in the final ten part arc. It's one thing to create a great character makeup but another to destroy it and still make it look good....

The Trill Spots

It's the classic, the one that gets quoted over and over again but you know what? It's brilliant. Every episode and for every day the Trill spots were hand painted onto Terry Farrell to portray Jadzia Dax. We all know that each set was numbered but it's just one of those things that shows how dedicated to his art Michael Westmore was during his time with Star Trek. To think that every set was different and to have the patience to do that for six years!

So Happy Birthday this week and next to this host of Star Trek stars! Perhaps you have a favourite moment we haven't highlighted or one from the others who are celebrating. If you do, why not drop it in the comments below!

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