{"id":1958,"date":"2021-03-19T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assend.net\/?p=1958"},"modified":"2021-03-19T19:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T00:21:51","slug":"deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-5-captive-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/2021\/03\/19\/deep-space-9-watchparty-phil-season-1-episode-5-captive-pursuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Space 9 WatchParty (Phil) – Season 1, Episode 5 – Captive Pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Captive Pursuit starts with a bang. One of Quark\u2019s call-girls is unhappy about her employment contract, and she is complaining about it to Commander Sisko. Apparently, in the fine print that she didn\u2019t read, her contract requires her to \u201centertain\u201d Quark \u201cphysically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We never get to find out what happens with that, however, as the primary plot arrives immediately, and the entire discussion is dropped without reference again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Primary Plot<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
This episode mainly follows Chief O\u2019Brien. A strange ship with a new alien species shows up through the wormhole. The alien ship is heavily damaged and the being inside seems rather distrusting. Since DS9 is on the fringes of the known, worth-while galaxy, normal protocols, regulations, and laws apparently don\u2019t apply. Out there, they just kinda wing it. Dax recommends skipping first contact procedures just on a whim and Commander Sisko, apparently liking the cut of her jib, immediately approves the idea. He follows that brilliant decision up by putting Chief O\u2019Brien as the main diplomatic contact for the unknown being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O’Brien with Tosk<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
I suppose there are worse ideas than sending an engineer to conduct diplomatic relations. They could have sent Quark, after all. Engineers are generally straight shooters, and O\u2019Brien was going to be trying to fix the guy\u2019s ship anyway, so two birds\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The alien is reticent to talk about who he is, where he comes from, or why he\u2019s there. He mainly responds to questions stating that he is \u201cTosk.\u201d Chief O\u2019Brien rapidly finds a soft spot for Tosk and proceeds to explain to him all about everything pertinent while repairing Tosk\u2019s ship. O\u2019Brien also discovers and reveals that someone has done a reasonably thorough job of shooting up Task\u2019s ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For his part, Tosk makes it a point to act suspiciously and strangely, being an unknown alien. At one point he gets caught trying to break into the weapons stores. Odo stops him, bringing some Trek beefcake muscle. It is the first time that I can recall seeing someone who looks like they can physically fight on Trek, outside of Klingons. Stone Cold Steve Austin they aren\u2019t, but they do look a little more capable than, say, Tasha Yar, to pick a name at random.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tosk is arrested and makes a big deal about being allowed to die with honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, some other aliens show up. They scan DS9 without permission, beam aboard DS9 without permission, and the DS9 crew has decided they\u2019ve had enough. They break out the phasers, but these new aliens are crafty. They have phaser-proof armor on the fringes of their forearms!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lots of standing around and posing ensues, presumably so there are nice still frames for the effects guys to draw in the not-laser\/not-blaster phaser fire in. It needs to look continuous like a laser, even though it isn\u2019t, \u2018cause this is real science-y stuff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aliens hold their own for a while and are adept at convincing Federation folk to shoot at their forearms. One does wonder, however, if they are capable of making such great armor, why one doesn\u2019t employ it in a few more places. The head and chest areas might possibly be an area to explore, for instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Missed that block.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, Sisko gets fed up with the whole affair, and orders the phasers turned up to LEVEL 6!!!1!! This apparently still isn\u2019t lethal, but like the strongly worded letter from Hans Brix, Sisko needs to show he\u2019s serious and bust some baahhs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Odo figures out, with no exposition what-so-ever, that these guys must be after Tosk. Kira-the-Needlessly-Defiant immediately retorts, \u201cMaybe they have a right to him!\u201d She then continues shooting at the invaders, ignoring her own hypothesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seriously, this episode is hilarious. I\u2019m certain it wasn\u2019t written as a comedy, but if you watch it and attempt to take it seriously at all, I guarantee you will laugh. There is great, silly theater here. I have no idea who the writers are for this season, and I\u2019m not going to look. However, they are terrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, and we find out that Odo, chief of security, does not and has never used a weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aliens blow a hole into the brig and capture Tosk. They then stop shooting, as does the DS9 personnel. We get a whole song and dance about how all cultures are equal and valid and noble and worthwhile, as the aliens are revealed to be hunting Tosk for sport and his only purpose in life is to die with honor, slain for entertainment for his people. The aliens breed Tosk for blood sport. They believe it is honorable to breed them, and train them, and hunt them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sisko actually says, \u201cI can\u2019t judge what is right or wrong on your world, but on this station\u2026\u201d giving the lie to all of it. He can, and has, judged what is right and wrong about their culture and will not allow depravity on his station. However, he immediately reneges, citing the legalities of the Prime Directive, Star Trek\u2019s highest code of non-morality. Again, as long as it is done legally\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Brien comes up with a way to fix things after having a discussion with Quark. Quark starts off insulting O\u2019Brien and insinuating he\u2019s not taking care of his little woman. He\u2019s also unhappy that the aliens aren\u2019t spending in his bar or on his entertainment. O\u2019Brien expresses his dissatisfaction with the stupidity of the Prime Directive and the alien\u2019s culture. Quark starts to say something profound about rules being open to certain amounts of interpretation, and O\u2019Brien latches on that he needs to change the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meeting of the minds on DS9<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Brien gives a very nice song-and-dance about establishing good relations with other cultures, being respectful, etc., and therefore is required to personally escort and transport Tosk off the station. He ditches his communicator, physically assaults (and bests) the alien, frees Tosk, and gets him onto his ship. Tosk gets away, and hopefully lives to fight another day, or at the very least keep the chase going for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Brien gets a surprisingly forceful and thorough chewing out by Sisko for breaking all the rules. He assaulted the new aliens during first contact, violated the Prime Directive, lied and gave false orders to Odo, ditched his communicator so he couldn\u2019t be ordered to cease and desist, and generally took the law and matters into his own hands. Sisko threatens him with removal from the station. It is almost like sending an intelligent and straightforward engineer may not have been the best option for this first contact mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Brien takes it all in stride. He\u2019s not apologetic; nor is he confrontational. He nonchalantly asks a question why Sisko and Odo didn\u2019t lock them down with a forcefield when they figured out what was happening and found where they were, and Sisko is forced to back down and swallow hard, lying that they never thought of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, O\u2019Brien is the true hero of DS9. He\u2019s the one with balls. He makes the hard decisions, and he\u2019s the one that makes things work. He\u2019s the hero we need, but not the one we deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m very curious about the interplay between Quark\u2019s business establishments and members of the Federation. One presumes that Bajorans have some sort of currency or valuables that Quark would be interested in. However, the Federation has no currency. They are a post-monetary society. I distinctly remember several episodes and references to that in other series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quark is motivated primarily by profit. Presumably Sisko, O\u2019Brien, the doctor, Dax, and everyone else have no moolah. They have nothing to trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m sure Quark would make and accept arrangements for power and influence in lieu of taking coin or other physical currency, but I wonder how frequently such trades could be made. How much does the crew of DS9 really have to barter with in that regard, and how long will they hold Quark\u2019s attention? O\u2019Brien appears to frequent Quark\u2019s bar for beverages, at least. Just what is the trade here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is also revealed in this episode that Quark and O\u2019Brien are the two main thinkers on DS9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
O\u2019Brien exhibits entirely too much testosterone and toxic white male masculinity. He doesn\u2019t seem to care for any of Starfleet\u2019s and UFP\u2019s tyrannical oppression. He\u2019s a good man, a common man, with a decent head on his shoulders. He\u2019s exactly the kind of guy I\u2019d want to have as a friend in the Star Trek universe, and he\u2019s possibly a great role model for how to get along and thrive under a \u201cbenevolent\u201d tyranny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
What is the deal with Star Trek and shootout\/gun battle scenes? Seriously, Hollywood has been making exciting shootout scenes since the early 1940s. It is a common staple of almost every single action movie ever, and it is a regular occurrence on most cop shows. There have been tens of thousands of shootouts put to film by the time this show aired in 1993, and probably literally hundreds of thousands of cast and crew members that have worked on exciting gunplay scenes in Hollywood at that time. So why do none of them ever work on any Star Trek show ever?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, we get the slow-paced \u201cposing\u201d fights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEveryone stand still, hold your arm out, lock your knee, hip to one side, and \u2018FREEZE!\u2019 Hold, one, two, three, four, OK, we got it. Next, return fire, pose, hold, one, two, three, four! Great, thanks everyone!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mean, who thought that this was a good idea? How did no one on the set, acting or directing, think that this looked good?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Awesome, great, looks fantastic! Very exciting! Very dramatic! That’s a wrap!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Why does internet culture have this as a salute?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
o7<\/code><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It is anatomically terrible and uses the wrong hand, assuming the figure is facing the reader. Why isn\u2019t something like this used as the proper salute?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<o<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The correct arm is used. It is bent at the proper angles in the proper locations. It should be the obvious choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Final Grade: C<\/strong>+<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I feel like I\u2019m starting to rant during these reviews. However, it is justified. This is a terrible episode. I did enjoy it a lot, but that doesn\u2019t change the fact that it is terrible. It is just a mess from start to finish. O\u2019Brien is great, O\u2019Brien is fantastic, and O\u2019Brien saved it. Quark has limited screen time in it as well, but what he\u2019s got he uses fantastically. Whatever the actual situation, both of those actors are underpaid on this show and everyone else is fantastically overpaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From now on, O\u2019Brien shall be referred to as \u201cHero O\u2019Brien.\u201d My wife named Major Kira \u201cKira the Needlessly Defiant,\u201d and that fits like a glove. She shall be referred as such from now on as well. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Captive Pursuit starts with a bang. One of Quark\u2019s call-girls is unhappy about her employment contract, and she is complaining about it to Commander Sisko. Apparently, in the fine print that she…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26017,"featured_media":1946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,2,21,33,20],"tags":[28,27,24,29,32,31,30],"class_list":["post-1958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deep-space-9","category-reviews","category-sci-fi","category-star-trek","category-tv","tag-deep-space-9","tag-ds9","tag-reviews","tag-sci-fi","tag-star-trek","tag-television","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26017"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1958"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2213,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1958\/revisions\/2213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/assend.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-Obrien-and-Tosk.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-Trek-Beefcake.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-Phaser-Arm.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-Phaser-Pose.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-Phaser-hit.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-Meeting-of-the-minds.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-Hero-OBrien.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assend.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/S01E05-good-idea.png\")