Looking to "help" against the Dominion, the Klingons bring an uninvited armada into Federation space. With invasive and belligerent practices, they're soon threatening civilian ships, spoiling for a fight at every opportunity, and plotting to invade Cardassia. Worf is brought to the station to give insight on his people, but it may be too late -- an end to the Klingon treaty with the Federation seems inevitable.
Hollywood is littered with tales of bad executive interference in movies and television shows. But here's a case of an executive doing it right. The ratings for season three of Deep Space Nine had gone down, so the Paramount executives directed the show to do something to shake things up. No specific mandate; that was left up to the creative team. The writers considered options, ultimately focused on the cryptic changeling brag from "The Die Is Cast" (that the Federation and the Klingons wouldn't be trouble for the Dominion much longer), and decided a good shake-up would be to make Klingons villains again. Show runner Ira Steven Behr pitched this to executive producer Rick Berman, who "yes and"ed the premise by suggesting that Worf, from The Next Generation, be added to the series as a main character.
The writers were careful, not wanting Worf to swoop in and take over the show. (Much of the existing cast had the same concern, with Nana Visitor in particular concerned that another warrior type on the series might be bad for her character. But she later commented that Kira was so much more a "loose cannon" than Worf that that never happened.) They wanted Worf to fit into the established mix, and as one of the less polished, more conflicted characters of The Next Generation, it seemed like he would.
Much of this two-hour episode is spent showing exactly how Worf will fit in, putting him in interesting scenes with various established Deep Space Nine characters. O'Brien tries to make him feel at home by inviting him to a dart game (his powerhouse throwing technique making for a good laugh). He's eager to meet the new host of the "honored" Curzon Dax, and Jadzia gets to display her understanding of Klingons by drawing him out of his shell (and just maybe already expressing some romantic interest). He's put on notice by Odo, who makes a point of telling Worf that nothing escapes his notice -- but also that he understands what it's like not to fit in with your people. And Worf also has meaningful conversations with Sisko about his loss of home and purpose, and how Sisko too once considered resigning from Starfleet.
It's not just about how Worf fits in on Deep Space Nine, though -- there's plenty of red meat thrown to The Next Generation fans too. From the moment he appears (in a dramatic boot-to-head camera move), he's playing all the hits. He drinks prune juice, makes short and pithy quips (to Kira, of her holosuite princess outfit: "nice hat"), drinks and sings, fights with his established holo-goons, reminisces about past successes (battling the Borg), mentions his son (back on Earth again, it seems), and chooses his personal code of honor over what would be more expedient. That's our Worf!
Yet just as the writers wanted, Worf doesn't "take over." Plenty of other characters get great moments in the time this two-hour episode allows. We see the advancement of Sisko and Kasidy Yates' relationship. Dax and Kira share a moment of relaxation with a steamy holosuite program (featuring Speedo-clad Trills) and get in their shots in hand-to-hand combat with Klingon invaders. Odo comes before the battle to warn Bashir to be careful, but it's Bashir who saves Odo's life later in a key moment.
There's fantastic use of recurring characters too. Dukat is, as always, both opportunistic (switching allegiance to the new civilian government of Cardassia) and whiny (indignant at his rescuers' precaution against changeling infiltration). Gowron is back, flashing those distinctive crazy eyes, and positively giddy and the prospect of war. And then there's Garak: sharing drinks with Odo and backing the constable up in a Klingon dust-up on the promenade (and paying for it later), bantering with Bashir about his own likability, and being used by our heroes to secretly funnel classified information.
Garak's best scene in this episode was a late addition. Director James L. Conway had been maintaining such a fast pace during filming that the episode was going to come in short, so the writers created a new scene: Quark and Garak commiserate over being stuck with the Federation as their savior -- using root beer as a metaphor. Actors Armin Shimerman and Andrew Robinson reportedly fought with the director over how much to play the scene for laughs vs. subtext, having to call down the writers to back up their instincts. They did, and the result is a brilliantly coy and knowing scene for both characters, one of the more memorable of the season.
But if Conway maybe almost missed this great moment, rest assured that he captured many others. There's lots of fantastic staging and camera moves, including multiple uses of a split diopter (a lens trick that allows two objects at different distances to be in focus at the same time). The combat and stunts in the big finale where the station is boarded are exceptional. And we get the largest Star Trek space battle yet, with a juiced-up station and Klingon ships of every style yet created in the franchise. (This scope was achieved by using commercial model kits and even Hallmark Christmas tree ornaments for the far background!)
Other observations:
- At last, Sisko settles into his final look. The producers were reportedly ready to wrestle Paramount supervisors into allowing Avery Brooks to shave his head, but it turned out all they had to do was ask and they got the yes. (Sisko's off-duty clothing evolves here too, reflecting a brighter and bolder personality.)
- The new opening credits sequence features more ship activity around the station, a more up-tempo take on the theme (with more prominent percussive elements), and cast changes -- besides the addition of Michael Dorn as Worf, Siddig el Fadil opted to change his "stage name" to Alexander Siddig.
- Martok is introduced here, though not originally intended as a recurring character. He does make an impression, though, with his acute paranoia and pushing Klingon customs to the extreme.
- There's a great exchange about the possibility of a changeling-influenced revolution on Cardassia, with both Odo and Kira weighing in with the perspective of their experiences: Odo agrees that's exactly how his people would topple the planet, while Kira notes that a civilian uprising on Cardassia would never have worked with the Obsidian Order around.
- When Martok dismisses as fake the sensor readings indicating Deep Space Nine's upgraded weaponry, his choice of words exactly mirrors the first episode of the series, when such readings had been faked.
- Illustrator John Eaves designed a number of new Klingon ships to potentially use in this episode, but construction of new models was ultimately deemed too expensive. His concepts sat around until, years later, one was developed as a 22nd-century Klingon ship for the series Enterprise.
No comments:
Post a Comment