rating: ****
the story: Worf discovers a colony where Klingons and Romulans live side-by-side.
similar to: "The Enemy" (Next Generation), "Chimera" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: I have long struggled over this episode, and yet now I am recommending it as a Star Trek classic. So let me explain...
What used to make me so uncomfortable is how fallible Worf comes off, and how unwinnable a situation he comes across in the strange village housing both his people, the Klingons, and their frenemies the Romulans. "The Enemy" had already demonstrated the depth of his enmity toward Romulans (refusing to help save the life of one), and later in Deep Space Nine's "Change of Heart," his refusal to see the greater picture (which would have sacrificed Dax in the process), all of this amounts to a unique franchise character, one who doesn't conform to the perfect standards Gene Roddenberry envisioned for the future. It's not that he's Klingon and therefore absolved from the human vision, but that, as perhaps best depicted in "Birthright, Part 2," he has a hard time overcoming the prejudices and attitudes he has formed over a lifetime, and yes, inherited, too.
Which makes him unique, a continuing character study of everything Star Trek sought to demonstrate as having been overcome in the future. This doesn't mean Worf, ultimately, is a villain. Far from it. His struggles make him, if anything, more heroic. "Birthright, Part 2," again, is where it all comes together.
Lured on the promise of reuniting with his dead father, Worf instead comes face-to-face with something his people won't overcome, despite Klingons finally having made peace with one implacable foe, the Federation, with Worf himself being the living embodiment of that progress. That doesn't make confronting his shortcomings any less ugly or uncomfortable to watch. To him, his actions are all about Klingon pride, but the underpinning is his basic intolerance of Romulans, and his unwillingness to reconsider his views. He may, with every justification, question Romulan motives (Deep Space Nine did a similar story, "Cardassians," about a war orphan forced to choose where to pledge his loyalties, which itself was similar to Next Generation's own "Suddenly Human"), but that doesn't excuse his disgust as he finds out his lovely Klingon beauty also has Romulan blood in her.
Again, there's a Deep Space Nine episode ("Chimera") where Odo is forced once and all to decide where he stands on the matter of prejudice against his kind (changelings), and this matter can't be discussed without bringing up Data ("The Measure of a Man") or The Doctor (Voyager's "Latent Image"), but just as with the bigotry even Spock faced ("Balance of Terror," for instance) and Enterprise's xenophobes ("Demons"/"Terra Prime"), this is a matter very much relevant to the real world, and Star Trek's exploration of it, in all its forms (Deep Space Nine's "Far Beyond the Stars"), ultimately tends to let the good guys off. Not this time. And this is very, very important, because it acknowledges how unsettling this problem really is. Because it's not just something that happens to the other guy.
"Birthright, Part 1" featured Data daydreaming, which was a metaphoric acknowledgement that the android needed to continue growing. I think "Birthright, Part 2" is about Worf struggling to understand that, too. Something to think about, anyway.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Alan Scarfe
Jennifer Gatti
Richard Herd
Cristine Rose
James Cromwell
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Showing posts with label Jennifer Gatti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jennifer Gatti. Show all posts
Friday, July 15, 2016
Thursday, July 14, 2016
The Next Generation 6x16 "Birthright, Part 1"
rating: ***
the story: Data triggers a dream subroutine as Dr. Bashir examines him, while Worf discovers that his father may still be alive.
similar to: "Projections," "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (Voyager)
my thoughts: For the longest time, I found it hard to appreciate Deep Space Nine's appearance in "Birthright." That may be because for the longest time, I didn't appreciate Deep Space Nine's first season, having become a fan during its second and only discovering the first later. Bashir started out as a brash young upstart, whose enthusiasm usually got him into trouble. (He matured relatively quickly, rest assured!) It's equally strange, too, because when I did begin exploring that first season, I had no problem with the frequent Next Generation tie-in, the appearances from the Duras Sisters, Q, and even Lwaxana Troi (who would go on to become a Deep Space Nine staple, and arguably make her best appearances in that series). No, my problem was Bashir, because he was entirely out of place in Next Generation. His kind, young Wesley Crusher, had long been absent when he appeared.
But you know what, in hindsight this is an almost magical moment. There were so many crossover appearances in Star Trek over the years, most of them, originally, characters from the original series, until it became possible to do something else. Picard made an appearance in Deep Space Nine's first episode. This was an age, remember, before multiple series running concurrently in a franchise was a thing, before it was even possible, really. Star Trek got the ball started. (Never you mind Detective Munch!) "Birthright, Part 1" is actually historic, when you think about it, without really calling any attention to it, I mean the fans, in the more than twenty years since it first aired.
And Worf visits Deep Space Nine for the first time! Later, he'd become a regular in Deep Space Nine, and "Birthright, Part 1" marks the first time he ever goes there, before anyone could guess what his future would hold.
Okay, enough geeking out. In that nonchalant franchise guest-starring act, "Birthright" has that in common with Voyager's "Projections," which was the first time Barclay shows up in that series, with no one particularly pointing out how awesome and serendipitous that is, when he later becomes a recurring character in the series.
Ah! I said enough with the geeking! The actual story features Data dreaming, a subtle build on his character (later revisited in "Phantasms," featuring the famous Troi cake), and one of the niftier appearances of his creator Dr. Soong. (Daydreaming got Voyager's Doctor in a whole lot more trouble in "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy," alas!) And it features Worf getting the oddly unsettling news that his father Mogh may actually still be alive. The whole of these parts is less than it should be. Given that the second part of this story focuses exclusively on Worf, one wonders why Data's was even in the first, but perhaps it's some subtle metaphor I hadn't really considered previously, given how traumatic the second part turns out to be (more in that review), for all involved.
The embarrassment of riches in guest-stars is incredible to look at, and is enough for me to want to watch the episode all over again, not just for Bashir, but to see James Cromwell (buried in alien makeup this time), Cristine Rose (long before she becomes Mama Petrelli in Heroes), Richard Herd (before he becomes Tom Paris's father in Voyager), and even Jennifer Gatti (who later appears in more attractive form as Harry Kim's girlfriend, also in Voyager).
The story continues...
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character -essential
notable guest-stars:
Alexander Siddig (Bashir)
James Cromwell
Cristine Rose
Richard Herd
Jennifer Gatti
the story: Data triggers a dream subroutine as Dr. Bashir examines him, while Worf discovers that his father may still be alive.
similar to: "Projections," "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (Voyager)
my thoughts: For the longest time, I found it hard to appreciate Deep Space Nine's appearance in "Birthright." That may be because for the longest time, I didn't appreciate Deep Space Nine's first season, having become a fan during its second and only discovering the first later. Bashir started out as a brash young upstart, whose enthusiasm usually got him into trouble. (He matured relatively quickly, rest assured!) It's equally strange, too, because when I did begin exploring that first season, I had no problem with the frequent Next Generation tie-in, the appearances from the Duras Sisters, Q, and even Lwaxana Troi (who would go on to become a Deep Space Nine staple, and arguably make her best appearances in that series). No, my problem was Bashir, because he was entirely out of place in Next Generation. His kind, young Wesley Crusher, had long been absent when he appeared.
But you know what, in hindsight this is an almost magical moment. There were so many crossover appearances in Star Trek over the years, most of them, originally, characters from the original series, until it became possible to do something else. Picard made an appearance in Deep Space Nine's first episode. This was an age, remember, before multiple series running concurrently in a franchise was a thing, before it was even possible, really. Star Trek got the ball started. (Never you mind Detective Munch!) "Birthright, Part 1" is actually historic, when you think about it, without really calling any attention to it, I mean the fans, in the more than twenty years since it first aired.
And Worf visits Deep Space Nine for the first time! Later, he'd become a regular in Deep Space Nine, and "Birthright, Part 1" marks the first time he ever goes there, before anyone could guess what his future would hold.
Okay, enough geeking out. In that nonchalant franchise guest-starring act, "Birthright" has that in common with Voyager's "Projections," which was the first time Barclay shows up in that series, with no one particularly pointing out how awesome and serendipitous that is, when he later becomes a recurring character in the series.
Ah! I said enough with the geeking! The actual story features Data dreaming, a subtle build on his character (later revisited in "Phantasms," featuring the famous Troi cake), and one of the niftier appearances of his creator Dr. Soong. (Daydreaming got Voyager's Doctor in a whole lot more trouble in "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy," alas!) And it features Worf getting the oddly unsettling news that his father Mogh may actually still be alive. The whole of these parts is less than it should be. Given that the second part of this story focuses exclusively on Worf, one wonders why Data's was even in the first, but perhaps it's some subtle metaphor I hadn't really considered previously, given how traumatic the second part turns out to be (more in that review), for all involved.
The embarrassment of riches in guest-stars is incredible to look at, and is enough for me to want to watch the episode all over again, not just for Bashir, but to see James Cromwell (buried in alien makeup this time), Cristine Rose (long before she becomes Mama Petrelli in Heroes), Richard Herd (before he becomes Tom Paris's father in Voyager), and even Jennifer Gatti (who later appears in more attractive form as Harry Kim's girlfriend, also in Voyager).
The story continues...
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character -
notable guest-stars:
Alexander Siddig (Bashir)
James Cromwell
Cristine Rose
Richard Herd
Jennifer Gatti
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Voyager 2x5 "Non Sequitur"
****
Sometimes when a series last for a long time, it becomes easier to forget some of the notable episodes from the early seasons. It's worse for a Star Trek, because it's assumed that because Next Generation and Deep Space Nine took a while to discover their sea legs, it was common for all of the series. It's worse than you imagine because Voyager pretty much stayed the same throughout its seven seasons, which by some reasoning means it never improved and therefore was never worth watching. (Enterprise changed drastically in its third and fourth seasons, but was always worth the ride. The original series, meanwhile, achieved iconic status in spite of its third season.)
All of this is to say that "Non Sequitur" deserves to be remembered as one of the finest episodes in the franchise, not just the series. One of the sad ironies here is that Harry Kim's best moment outside of "Timeless" has essentially been lost all these years, meaning that just like Chakotay, his legacy has been obscured by an assumption that really needs to be put to bed at this point. This is a prime example of how creatively potent the second season of the series really was.
The basic outline is that Harry has been pushed into an alternate timeline, and so this is pretty much a reset episode, so that at the end, none of it really matters. Except most of the franchise reset episodes that fans casually deride (except for their personal favorites) are actually some of the best episodes of the franchise (one of the movies, even is a reset episode, The Voyage Home, and until 2009 that was the one that grossed the most and was the most popular, at least in pop culture terms, because most fans still stubbornly cling to Wrath of Khan).
What do we learn here? We learn what life would have been like for Harry had he not gotten the Voyager assignment. He would have been a desk jockey, just another brilliant engineer Starfleet usually sticks on starships to work on the problem of getting warp engines to behave. Except, just as Reginal Barclay would later prove, these desk jockeys can sometimes come up with unexpected innovations. (Starfleet is remarkably complacent most of the time, as best evidenced by its foolish decision to give up cloaking technology because of an agreement with Romulans, and so when it finally does have some of it at hand, it can't figure the durn stuff out on its own, whether onboard the Pegasus or Defiant.)
Harry's primary interests, however, are figuring out how he got here and hanging out with his fiancee, who's a certifiable hottie. Why does he want to leave this behind again? Because he realizes that things are actually better for him, especially since Tom Paris is also here, in his proper timeline. Paris never got his shot at redemption, and is now a bum who's slumming it just as much with freedom as he did on a penal colony. He's directionless, and Harry discovers that he is, too, without the context, the meaning of helping a lost crew get home, no matter how small his contributions.
Anyway, half the treat is the rare visit to Starfleet HQ in San Francisco, which at some point should have popped into a franchise executive producer's head as a brilliant place to set a whole series. This is probably one of the best opportunities to see what that might actually be like (alongside "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" and a few of those later Barclay appearances I was alluding to earlier, not to mention "The First Duty," where we see Robert Duncan McNeill in a Starfleet uniform for the first time).
"Non Sequitur" is appropriately named for so many reasons, but more importantly, needs to be rediscovered for the just as many reasons why it's relevant as a reason to love Voyager, despite everything you've heard.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Sometimes when a series last for a long time, it becomes easier to forget some of the notable episodes from the early seasons. It's worse for a Star Trek, because it's assumed that because Next Generation and Deep Space Nine took a while to discover their sea legs, it was common for all of the series. It's worse than you imagine because Voyager pretty much stayed the same throughout its seven seasons, which by some reasoning means it never improved and therefore was never worth watching. (Enterprise changed drastically in its third and fourth seasons, but was always worth the ride. The original series, meanwhile, achieved iconic status in spite of its third season.)
All of this is to say that "Non Sequitur" deserves to be remembered as one of the finest episodes in the franchise, not just the series. One of the sad ironies here is that Harry Kim's best moment outside of "Timeless" has essentially been lost all these years, meaning that just like Chakotay, his legacy has been obscured by an assumption that really needs to be put to bed at this point. This is a prime example of how creatively potent the second season of the series really was.
The basic outline is that Harry has been pushed into an alternate timeline, and so this is pretty much a reset episode, so that at the end, none of it really matters. Except most of the franchise reset episodes that fans casually deride (except for their personal favorites) are actually some of the best episodes of the franchise (one of the movies, even is a reset episode, The Voyage Home, and until 2009 that was the one that grossed the most and was the most popular, at least in pop culture terms, because most fans still stubbornly cling to Wrath of Khan).
What do we learn here? We learn what life would have been like for Harry had he not gotten the Voyager assignment. He would have been a desk jockey, just another brilliant engineer Starfleet usually sticks on starships to work on the problem of getting warp engines to behave. Except, just as Reginal Barclay would later prove, these desk jockeys can sometimes come up with unexpected innovations. (Starfleet is remarkably complacent most of the time, as best evidenced by its foolish decision to give up cloaking technology because of an agreement with Romulans, and so when it finally does have some of it at hand, it can't figure the durn stuff out on its own, whether onboard the Pegasus or Defiant.)
Harry's primary interests, however, are figuring out how he got here and hanging out with his fiancee, who's a certifiable hottie. Why does he want to leave this behind again? Because he realizes that things are actually better for him, especially since Tom Paris is also here, in his proper timeline. Paris never got his shot at redemption, and is now a bum who's slumming it just as much with freedom as he did on a penal colony. He's directionless, and Harry discovers that he is, too, without the context, the meaning of helping a lost crew get home, no matter how small his contributions.
Anyway, half the treat is the rare visit to Starfleet HQ in San Francisco, which at some point should have popped into a franchise executive producer's head as a brilliant place to set a whole series. This is probably one of the best opportunities to see what that might actually be like (alongside "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" and a few of those later Barclay appearances I was alluding to earlier, not to mention "The First Duty," where we see Robert Duncan McNeill in a Starfleet uniform for the first time).
"Non Sequitur" is appropriately named for so many reasons, but more importantly, needs to be rediscovered for the just as many reasons why it's relevant as a reason to love Voyager, despite everything you've heard.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
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