Star Trek: Deep Space Nine “Too Long A Sacrifice” review

rating: **

the story: A rash of violence aboard the station leads Odo on a troubling investigation.

review: This is an IDW comic book, the first time the company has produced a Deep Space Nine spotlight in a decade. It attempts to closely match the flavor of the TV series in art and storytelling. It doesn’t entirely succeed but it’s worth the effort.

Part of the problem is that it’s set in the sixth season. The Dominion War is raging, Jadzia Dax is alive, and yet the premise feels like it would much more easily fit in a prior period. A reference is even made to Garak bombing his own shop (“Improbable Cause,” third season), but it’s one of many details suggesting the writers (IDW veterans Scott & David Tipton) were far more diligent picking up the feel rather than the flavor of the source material.

Without giving too much away, this is first/second season material. 

All the familiar characters are here, with Odo as the nominal lead, but no real effort is made to make any of them feel authentic. They’re all just going through the motions. Odo, for instance, is once again in the position of Starfleet assigning one of its own to facilitate matters, but unlike in the show he barely bats an eye at it. Considering, as fans would know, the last time this happened the guy turned out to be a Maquis double agent (the highly underrated Eddington), this is a tough one to swallow.

But nostalgia is nostalgia, and it is great to see new material that at least superficially matches the old. One has the sense, though, that the goal is perhaps to entice the uninitiated, which is to say, this would be a great way to introduce someone to the show.

criteria analysis:

>franchise - General fans should be able to use it as a springboard.

>series - Longtime fans will be able to appreciate it.

>character - Characterization is thin.

>essential - It is not.