SFDebris: Emissary

[Captain Seafort]

YouTube

Decent start, although I don't think I can put my finger on whether or not this is going to be one of Chuck's really good reviews or merely a decent one until we get the second part.

[Captain Seafort]

Part 2

Yup - definitely one of the good ones, and an interesting comparison with "Farpoint".

[Deepcrush]

Agreed, and I even think a 7/10 is fair. Truth is that a 7/10 in DS9 is often better then an 8 or even 9 in TNG or VOY. Considering that its the very first episode its my opinion they did a great job with building the characters from the word go.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I also agree with the rating. And with what Deep said about how a 7 for DSN is equivalent to an 8 or 9 in another series.

[Graham Kennedy]

I enjoyed the DS9 pilot more than almost any other, as I recall. Sisko's journey through the episode really hit home with me; the way he went to such lengths to explain how humans live in linear time, moving forward - and the aliens constant return to the Saratoga with the question "then why do you exist here?" Just something about his eventual realisation that despite everything he'd claimed he WASN'T living a "linear" existence... that he was in fact mired in the past... I thought that was a superb way to take the standard "human teaches the aliens a lesson" storyline of Trek and add a really tragic human spin on it.

[SolkaTruesilver]

I thought that was a superb way to take the standard "human teaches the aliens a lesson" storyline of Trek and add a really tragic human spin on it.

I don't know. I've been watching a marathon of TNG lately, and I am surprised about how freaking arrogant the people of the Enterprise might be sometime about "Their Ways" being the best by default. I mean, they just meet a new culture (or they open contact with them) and they claim their own way of running things is the best.

"Half a Life", while a touching episode, with a SUPERB performance of Winchester's actor, mostly came out as "Luxana Troi spits in the face of an entire race's tradition and view of mortality 'cause she wants to bang a guy".

Specially since the specie was depicted as already culturally xenophobic and REALLY wary of mingling with aliens, Luxana, "Ambassador of the Federation and her c**t", probably made sure that there would never, ever, ever be another such opening from that specie with the Federation, as everybody will always think the Federation morally corrupts and wants to throw a society into chaos.

[Mikey]

Agreed with GK. At the time, when I saw the Starfleet character being assigned an un-asked-for religious prominence by the "unwashed natives" - plus, a ready-made, standard-order character flaw - I thought, "Oh, shit, here we go..." But I was happily surprised by the way things turned.

To Solka: I'm normally the most cynical person I know, PLUS I tended to hate the Lwaxana eps. However, I saw her failure/refusal to accept the alien's ways in "Half a Life" as more poignant/pathos than you - here was an experienced and patently open-minded Federation ambassador who, through the mechanisms of love, couldn't get her head around something so foreign to her.

The man's name is David Ogden Stiers, BTW.

[SolkaTruesilver]

The man's name is David Ogden Stiers, BTW.

Yhea, I know. I just can't bring to call him anything else than "Winchester" for now, tho. M*A*S*H is just too early for me

But ultimately, remember this: She was still in her "uber-sexual phase" where she was anything but completely sex-crazed harassing Picard. I am glad women get to become such notorious professions in the 24th century, and become Ambassadors! So they can abuse it and sexually harass the Flagship's captain.

I never liked that character. I really wonder what went through Roddenbury's head when he created it. I always thought it was... just a sexist character overall. It's a character that is defined entirely through her sexdrive and conquests.

[Tsukiyumi]

...a character that is defined entirely through her sexdrive and conquests.

Yeah. At least Kirk got to beat people up.

[SolkaTruesilver]

...a character that is defined entirely through her sexdrive and conquests.

Yeah. At least Kirk got to beat people up.

Point. But Kirk, at least, was more than just a quick kisser. He was a fighter, a captain, a soldier, and the frakking hero.

What is Luxana? Comic relief.