Star Trek

Well there is a reason for this... but to elaborate further on Bashir, I'd really have to wait until a future episode with his name in it.

No problema Logan.  It all comes down to hours in the day.  Married.  Two kids.  President of a company...and there always seems to be something to fix around the house.

Yesterday I had to fix one of my cabinets.  Repair a light.  Wash the dog.  Work on a presentation I am giving Tuesday.

Besides, I think one thing that has worked against me in watching DS9 and VOY is the fast pace I am watching them.  I saw this issue when watching VOY and told myself to slow down.  However, I am a hard-core goal-oriented person.  Finishing my viewing and reviewing of DS9 is always in the back of my mind.  I think it is good to have reflection time after each episode.

BTW everyone.  I officialy elect Dat Logan the "Manny Coto" of these boards.  I think he should be a writer on the next series.  he should at least be the continuity director.  Kidding aside, is there a line of communication into the people that matter at Star Trek...maybe a forum of power viewers like us to consult?  Logan can Chair the committee.

Jim

At the beginning of Purgatory it said, "In memory of Derek Garth".  WHo is that?

Jim

Jim,

He was one of the series crew (camera crew, I think) that perished in an auto accident prior to the filming of that episode. (or sometime in between), and he was well liked, so they dedicated the episode to him.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Derek_Garth

BY INFERNO'S LIGHT: Very Good to almost Great

This was an excellent episode.  It is mostly about Worf and Garak dealing with serious difficulties in the Dominion prison while the Changeling continues to cause problems for DS9 and the Dominion drives the Klingon forces from Cardassia space.

In the prison (my favorite aspect of this episode), the Jem Hadar keep fighting Worf and he keeps winning...5, 6 and even 7 fights a day.  He keeps winning but he keeps getting more and more injured. Worf is up to the task skill-wise as he keeps winning but he is also persistent in fighting despite the beatings he is taking while winning.  In his final battle he keeps fighting even though he clearly has nothing left.

These battles buy time for Garak to reprogram the life-support system to tell the runabout to beam them out.  He has to do it in cramped spaces and he is claustrophobic.  Both Martok and Worf recognize how he keeps going back in despite his problem and it is hot.  They respect him for it.

The local Vorta is ticked that the last Jem Hadar refuses to kill Worf so he orders them both killed.  Garak gets everyone beamed out just in time and they get away.  There is a terrific moment when they beam back on the runabout where Worf and Garak recognize how well each other did in the face of great obstacles.

Back at DS9 the changeling tries to destroy the Bajoran star with a trilithiun explosive (Star Trek: Generations) but is thwarted.  Sisko works with Gowron to reinstate the Khitomer accords and even the Romulans join them at DS9 to prepare for a Dominion attack.  It doesn't come.

I realize that is a summation but it pretty much hits my highpoints for the episode.  The Dominion has been brilliant with their divide and conquer strategy.

I like it when Kira says the next time she sees Dukat she will kill him.  She recognizes him as a traitor to his people and a war criminal who would kill his own daughter and billions of people.  His fate is sealed (sooner or later). 

What is to prevent another Dominion ship from launching a trilithium weapon?

One final question, if Garak could barely fit behind the wall then how did Tain do it given he is very overweight?

Jim

Episodes like these reaffirm my belief that Deep Space Nine was the most courageous of the Star Trek series. The writers actually had Cardassia join the Dominion! Up to this point, I don't think there had ever been a more history-shattering event in the entire franchise. And, if you think about, it all makes perfect sense and builds seamlessly off of previously established continuity. For the past several seasons, we have seen the Cardassian Union descend into disarray.  Starting with the formation of the Maquis, then the fall of the Obsidian Order, and finally the devastating war with the Klingons, Cardassia had been reduced to a shadow of its former self.  Now the Dominion comes and promises to make all there problems go away and crown them rulers of the Alpha Quadrant!  It seems like an offer they—especially Dukat—can’t refuse.

While The Next Generation teased viewers with promises of galaxy-changing events, they rarely followed through.  For example, the fifth season TNG two-parter “Unification, I&II” indicated that Romulan reunification with Vulcan was near, only to be forgotten the next episode.  Deep Space Nine, however, isn’t afraid to radically change things… and have them stay that way for longer than forty-five minutes.

In typical Deep Space Nine fashion, this episode resolves some old plotlines while leaving others unfinished and even creating some new ones.  The reinstatement of the Khitomer Accords has finally completed the wandering detour that was the “Klingon-Federation conflict” storyline.  Now we can return our attention to the Dominion!

I’m curious as to what your reasons were that held “By Inferno’s Light” from being a “Great” episode.  Aside from the Jem’Hadar stupidly leaving the runabout in orbit of the prison camp, I couldn’t find anything wrong with this thrilling installment.

This was a great episode and really set the tone for the inevitable conflicts to come. The Cardassians have always been one of my favorite races in Star Trek. Not only do they produce such memorable characters such as Garak and Dukat, but they're tragic to the point you can almost sympathize with them.

As "Chains of Command" explained, the Cardassians were once a deeply free and culturally rich society, but mass starvation and diseases plagued the population. This made the military take over, start many wars, conquer planets for their resources, but they fed the people and there was no more illness.

Naturally there's a dissident movement over military rule, and the new variety of deaths occupations and wars bring, and the moment they finally overthrow the Central Command and set up a democratic government... "they must be changelings let's kill them!" and the Klingons invade, dealing them a blow that sends them all the way back to where they started.

Even a minor terrorist group like the Maquis is given free hand, just because they don't have the resources to deal with it. The situation gets so bad that even their former enemies, the Federation, take pity on them and send humanitarian aid... only to have it intercepted by those minor terrorists. Insult and injury to a proud race. It's almost understandable what Dukat does. The Dominion promises him they can make Cardassia great again, instead of the second rate power it's become. So far they are delivering, they kick the Klingons butts, and it seems only a matter of time before the Maquis get theirs and the Federation is dealt with. Even this comes with a cost. Instead of being in a dictatorship of their own military, they now owe their alliegence to a foreign military. No matter how benevolently the Dominion snake smiles, you know the tongue is forked and there are fangs in that mouth. They Dominion may be helping Cardassia with it's problems, but that's only because doing so gave them what they really wanted, a foothold in the Alpha Quadrant.

The conflict in this episode was great, really the political intrigue I just described was the B plot in the episode, even though it set up the rest of the series. Garak and Worf confronting their fears and hopeless odds for freedom was the main plot. I too like the grudging respect Worf gave Garak, even though it's quite obvious he doesn't like him.

This also introduces us to Martok as a regular fixture too. He's around for the rest of the series, and gives a great aspect to the Klingons. Just a soldier in the trenches, who knows what makes Klingons tick, even if it's not always the by the book honor that Worf expresses. He'll get his own story later on this season.

Dukat definitely will be back, and he won't be alone. All of seasons three, four and five(up until now), you're almost wondering if he's slowly becoming one of the good guys. Now he's pretty much shown us what he really is, he saw an oppurtunity for power and he grabbed it. Though it's only a matter of time before his Dominion masters start yanking his chain.

As for your trilithium question, all I can say is one those weapons seem rather rare. Probably very expensive or hard to manufacture. Two, their main target was the combined Federation/Klingon/Romulan fleets and DS9 more than Bajor. A mere planet would have just been collateral damage. Says a lot about the Dominion(and Dukat, as his daughter would have been one of the casualties). Perfectly reasonable that all sides pull their fleets away from the system where they can be easily destroyed. Fleet-in-being naval doctorine after all.

As for Tain? Well.. because of plot devices he can fit. Really it was very nice of the Dominion to leave everything they need to build a comm system in their prison cell and leave their runabout in transporter range where they can beam out. Someone might even say, the Dominion let them go.

I reserve "Great" for those episodes when it all comes together...story, epic outcomes, action, music, character development but also the emotional impact to the viewer.  The ending left me a little flat given the Jam Hadar didn't attack. 

Also, I find the trilithium strategy a writing problem.  A changeling could do that to Earth at any time and it would cripple the Federation.  It is sort of like Year of Hell from VOY.  It was very entertaining but hitting the time reset button at the end was deflating.

Jim

Really the Dominion Fleet not attacking, instead trying the trilithium bit is in character for them. The science and tactics behind it are a bit sketchy, but a lot of technobabble is by nature. As long as it's not too overt, you just kinda have to overlook it.

Sending a ton of ships and soldiers to attack will result in a lot of casualties, even if they win. Their plan almost wiped out their fleet with but a single casualty.

Which gives the Dominion their chance to continue their political intrigue and diplomatic manipulations among the powers of the Alpha Quadrant.

Take Me Out To The Holosuite ---- GREAT

An old rival from Sisko's past challenges him to one final showdown-- Sisko's favorite game: Baseball.

The characters of DS9 start a baseball team in an epic game against a team full of Vulcans.

Why is the above post here?  Did you just randomly post that?  Jim may not want to see that.

Steve

Maybe janeway just thought it was a general DS9 episode summary thread intead of Jim's spoiler free walkthrough.

Really though, that's more of a synopsis of the episode rather than a spoiler so no harm done. That was one of my favorite episodes too.

Probably so,   And yes, that is a classic episode.  I too am watching the epsidoes right along with jim, so I am fresh for his reviews, even though I have seen the series many times.  Can you even watch DS9 too many times, I think not.