"I'm Not a Little Lady!" (DS9 1-14 "The Storyteller")

This is what happens when you let the Ozymandias Gambit run too long.

May 2, 1993

(Synopsis on Memory Alpha)

Here's the thing.  This is an episode I shouldn't like, and indeed it isn't one of my favorites by any means.  Nevertheless, "The Storyteller" is a very reasonable example of what you an do with the one and done structure but still have some impact on future episodes.

Allow me to explain.  "The Storyteller" has completely divided A- and B-Plots.  O'Brien and Bashir leave the station in the first scene and come back in the last, never having spent any of the interim time anywhere near the rest of the cast.  Indeed, we never even see the two of them mention the events to anyone else, and while it is reasonable to assume that they wrote reports or something, the actual events of the story are never mentioned again on the show.

Funnily enough, the events here do become a key element in the post-DS9 novels where everyone Bashir and O'Brien met in this episode gets massacred and the little orb bit gets stolen to become the MacGuffin for a trilogy of novels.  But Trek novels, unlike their B5 counterparts, are of dubious canonical value.  We'll get to the odd thing that is the Star Trek novel later between Seasons One and Two.

It's a Buddy Cop piece with actual cops!

The A-Plot does have some long term consequences, however, in the teaming up of O'Brien and Bashir for the first time.  These two will eventually become a recognizable team, with the two of them getting their own plot arc, the Section 31 episodes, and appearing together at Quark's and other places as off-duty friends.  Ira Stephen Behr is the one who suggested the pairing, and it was his rewrites of "The Storyteller" that established the basis for their relationship.

It's a cannily chosen pairing, really.  Bashir brings the upper class academic approach to the way things should be done, while O'Brien has the get your hands dirty working ethos.  O'Brien's practicality serves to tone down Bashir's excesses, while Bashir's enthusiasm helps O'Brien recognize new possibilities.  Over time they'll have some very good episodes together, and that trend starts here where their dynamic has its birth. Season Two's "Armageddon Game" is an example of this dynamic at work, so we'll discuss it more then.

Busted!

The other half of the episode, with Jake and Nog hanging out with a teenage Bajoran who turns out to be more than she seems, is less successful.  Partly it's because, as we've discussed before, Lofton and Eisenberg are still adaptingto playing Jake and Nog, plus the writing for Nog in particular is pretty one note.  There is a thematic link with the A-Plot, about a young leader growing into his or her responsibilities in a crisis, but you really have to look to see it.  Mostly it's just Jake, Nog, and hi-jinks.

Still, there are some effective moments, particularly when Odo gets involved.  It's nice to see a show willing to show its cop character do more than just homicide investigations.  Odo gets some local cop duties mixed in with the usual crime drama, including in this case riding herd on a couple of rambunctious teenagers.

That's something that you don't see Garibaldi do much over on Babylon 5, because his job is on a completely different scale than Odo's.  Odo gets called "constable" by Sisko a lot, and the title is apt because there are only a couple thousand civilians aboard Deep Space Nine.  The rest are around two hundred or so Starfleet officers and crew who all report to Sisko instead.  That means that Odo's in charge of security for the equivalent of a very small village or maybe a precinct of a mid-sized town, which in turn means that while he's responsible for dealing with any serious crime that comes up, he also has to handle minor stuff like vandalism, public drunkenness, and yes, teenage pranks.  By comparison, Michael Garibaldi is the head of a security force that's trying to impose order on "a quarter million humans and aliens, all alone in the night."  That's being the police chief of Madison, Wisconsin or Nottingham in England, or Hiroshima in Japan.  It's not on the scale of being in charge of all the cops in Chicago, London, or Tokyo, say, but it's still a much bigger deal than overseeing a couple thousand people, 10% of whom are military personnel not under your jurisdiction anyway.

I did think it was cute that the A-Plot revolves around an Ozymandias Gambit that's been played out too long.  The gambit I'm referring to is from Watchmen, the awesome comic books and decent movie where a character named Ozymandias fakes a crisis to avert a war by giving the opposing sides a mutual enemy to fight against.  In "The Storyteller" we get a situation where the crisis was averted hundreds of years ago but the keepers of the gambit and their descendants have been forced to sustain the fake threat once a year for centuries because they fear the results if their deception were ever revealed.  Amusingly, unlike what would have almost certainly happened on Star Trek or The Next Generation, the Starfleet representatives, O'Brien and Bashir, don't do the big reveal at the end of the episode to bring the light of truth to the people.  Rather, they just shrug and go along with maintaining the ruse, figuring it's not really their problem, it's the newly installed Sirah's.  Just one more step away from the Roddenberry traditions here, and it's one I doubt most people even noticed.

I'll conclude by noting that the final tracking shot of the episode was well done.  It starts with Sisko escorting Varis to her crucial meeting then over to Odo dragging Nog and Jake off for their punishment, then to O'Brien and Bashir returning from Bajor, and back they way it came as those two walk right past the security office and conference room, never knowing or caring about the plots being resolved in them.  It was the first time that I can recall Deep Space Nine using such a complex single take, and as such, it should be noted for being nicely shot.

Next episode, we have another look at Bajor and its politics, and the consequences of "Progress."  I'll see you there.

"When you cease to fear death, the rules of war change" (DS9-13 "Battle Lines")

A legacy of pain

April 25, 1993

(Synopsis on Memory Alpha)

"Battle Lines" is a surprisingly gutsy episode.  For one thing they re-introduce then eliminate Kai Opaka, the Bajoran spiritual leader from "The Emissary".  That's an action that has consequences throughout the rest of the season as the question of who will be the new Kai comes to the fore in later episodes this season.  The episode is also willing to let the heroes fail.  Kai Opaka is not rescued.  The conflict between the Ennis and Nol-Ennis is left unresolved.  About the only thing the main characters manage to do is escape with their lives, which isn't winning, just surviving.

We should also consider the courage in the scene depicted above where Kira, taking what turns out to be her last chance to speak with Opaka alone, unburdens herself about the violence she's seen and the violence she's committed during her time in the Bajoran Resistance.  Its a powerful and uncomfortable scene, since we're already used to seeing Kira in control and yelling at people, the sudden change to racked with guilt and weeping is startling.  Indeed, it's a bit too uncomfortable for my tastes, but reasonably well done regardless.

You can't cross those lines, Ben.  They won't let you.

Kira strongly resembles G'kar from Babylon 5, in fact.  Both fought for their world's independence from a conquering power, both were scarred by the experience, and both ended up in positions of power on a human run space station with a chip on their shoulders.

Likewise the fact that even when offered a chance to escape from their hell neither faction is willing to set aside their hatred is telling.  Unlike a lot of other Trek episodes, old and new, in this case it turns out that Starfleet can't just swoop in and deliver a solution on a silver platter.  Hatred this deep requires years of work and sacrifice to resolve, and it may well take the eternity that Opaka gained from her resurrection to bring it into being.  There's another parallel to B5 here, with the hatred between the Narn and Centauri mirroring that of the Ennis and Nol-Ennis.

Of course one could also equate the Narn to the Bajorans and the Cardassians to the Centauri, but that analogy can only take you so far, because while the Cardassians to Centauri comparison works in many ways, the Narn and Bajoran situation is pretty different.  In particular, the Bajorans are never a major power in the galaxy, even with the wormhole in their system, while the Narns are.  The difference in power between them ends up working out for the Bajorans who are able to shelter behind the Federation and Starfleet in a way that the Narn are not.

Runabout down.  The first of many.

As far as the rest of the episode goes, it was pretty decent.  There's a bit too much technobabble in the rescue for my tastes, with O'Brien literally inventing a new type of sensor on the spot to track the lost runabout.  Speaking of which, this is the first runabout destroyed in the series.  It would not be the last.  DS9 would go through runabouts like they were kids eating candy, to the point that it gets downright silly after a while.  That's not really the fault of this episode, of course, but the trend toward disposable warp-capable ships starts here.

All told, "Battle Lines" is the second episode in a row for Deep Space Nine that would have significant impact towards the rest of the series.  That's a trend I can applaud, and even if it wasn't significant in that way, the episode is well enough done as to keep the interest up.  Well done.

Can DS9 keep up the quality and significance when we see "The Storyteller" next?  Come on back to find out.

One Week Off

I hadn't planned to take a week off, but between some family stuff, the holidays, and a trip out of tow for the weekend, it's become clear that this week is a no go.  We'll be back next Monday with "Battle Lines".

Have a good weekend!