[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Babel"
Timothy W. Lynch
episode. Those wishing to comprehend the episode unencumbered by advance
foreknowledge should avoid this message.
"Johnny's cold is getting worse, he's got a fever, and he wouldn't *touch*
his dinosaur this afternoon..."
The above line's from the New Twilight Zone story, "Wordplay", in which a man
slowly finds the world around him making less and less sense, with new words
being replaced by ones that, though familiar, make no sense in that context.
("Dinosaur" above, for example, is supposed to be "lunch" -- but by this
time, "lunch" is apparently a word meaning a lightish red color.) It bears
an interesting similarity to the *premise* of "Babel", but since it was a
Twilight Zone story, no explanation was suggested or required.
(I recommend "Wordplay", by the way. Good stuff.)
Anyway, onwards to "Babel", which is nothing else was a hell of a step up
from "A Man Alone". Here we once again saw a fair amount of Odo (among other
people), but this time it worked. More on him and other character bits
later. (This may be an even more disjointed review than usual, incidentally,
given that I *also* am writing one for "Ship in a Bottle" today. Yeep.)
Plot points first. Aside from a few points which mostly concern the ending,
I very much liked both the idea of the aphasia virus and the way it was
handled. The rationale for its existence made sense (although if you're a
terrorist trying to wipe out your oppressors, this virus seems a bit _slow_
for your task), and the method of its spreading was nicely done.
I do have two problems with the resolution, however. The first is that the
"cure" for the virus seemed way too magical. Given the explanation given for
the virus's methods (scrambling synaptic connections, if memory serves), then
an antidote could well prevent further scrambling -- but once the connections
are gone, I see *no* way to simply reestablish them without relearning
everything. Now, the latter is very possible in DS9's era -- hell, we saw a
version of it back in TOS with "The Changeling" and Uhura -- but it's implied
that everybody gets the antidote and poof! is back to normal. It's something
of a minor point, given that at least the explanation of the virus *itself*
made sense (and it's not like Trek in all its forms hasn't had scientific
cock-ups that are orders of magnitude worse), but it's there.
A second objection is more character-based. While the final scene with
O'Brien healed and back at work lent a certain "closing of the circle" sense
to the show, and was clearly meant to show "look, O'Brien was worst off and
*he's* back", I would very much have preferred to see, for instance, some
post-virus interaction between Sisko and Jake. As it is, Jake was only a
plot point strengthening Sisko's resolve rather than a character, and that's
a little annoying. Again, that's not a huge point, but it's there.
Something which I do *not* consider a problem is the ease with which Kira
managed to abduct Surmak Ren from Bajor. Others have voiced that complaint
to me, but given that Bajor has been a *conquered world* for half a century,
I think it makes sense that they may not be that good at their own defenses
yet, particularly against Fed transporters. Now, if this had happened on
Romulus or Earth or Cardassia, then yes, it'd be a problem -- but not here.
Onwards to characterization:
One of the difficulties about a story such as this is that it's
probably rather difficult for the *actors* to play their characters straight
while spouting deliberate gibberish. Somehow, they all managed it. (Of
course, in some cases like O'Brien and Bashir, they spout a lot of
technobabble *anyway*, so it's not much of a leap. :-) ) The reactions in
the very preliminary stages of O'Brien's infection seemed perfectly on track,
being a mixture of slight concern and slight amusement on everyone else's
part, and strong concern on O'Brien's part. In contrast, the reactions
everyone had once the virus became a known and serious problem were far more
despairing, and again made sense. (For my part, while I anticipated
characters succumbing at the start of the scenes where they did so, both
actors and director did a good enough job that my reaction was not so much
"here we go again" as "UH-oh......", particularly in Bashir's case.
As is becoming commonplace on DS9, some of the strongest elements of "Babel"
involved Odo, Quark, or both. Making Quark unintentionally responsible for
the initial spread of the virus was, perhaps, expected, but it was also
logical -- and there could be FAR worse choices. (Picture, if you will, Jake
and Nog somehow being responsible for it.) Having Odo and Quark be the two
characters immune was expected owing to their physiologies, but led to some
excellent work on both characters' parts, particularly Odo.
Quark's segments contained most of the humor of the show, and it's nice to
see the humor flowing *from* the characters rather than *at* the characters.
(It's particularly nice given that Ira Steven Behr, who has co-story credit
here, was also responsible for "Qpid", which in my opinion is one of the
*worst* examples of a show laughing at its characters.) For example, Quark's
sequence in the "hospital" is something that might well have been insulting
if written or performed slightly differently, but that flowed well here.
("Nobody would be that devious [to fake aphasia to avoid paying Quark],
Quark." "I would.")
As an aside, the Odo/Quark scene when Quark is caught also led to one of the
funniest lines I've seen in a while, and I'm not sure why it caught me so
well. As a reminder:
"You said to me that Rom had fixed your replicators."
"And?"
"Rom's an *idiot*. He couldn't fix a straw if it were bent."
I don't know why that hit me so well, but it certainly did. :-)
Odo, while having some good grimly comic lines of his own (see above), also
had the most definition added to him by the show. The possibility of
Odo-as-plot-device in the ending was all too real: picture, for example, Odo
having to shapeshift to save the station from Jaheel's ship. (Gee, wouldn't
*that* have been a lucky break?) Instead, what we got was more of a
demonstration of Odo's insecurity when out of his element. We saw it with
Bashir in "Emissary", when Odo was uncomfortable helping the wounded, and we
saw it even more here, when Odo the Unflappable became downright *panicky* in
the final seconds of his task, and almost paralyzed with shock just after
their narrow escape. That sequence was well scripted, acted, and directed;
kudos all around.
In other, lesser concerns:
-- The "poor, overworked O'Brien" scene in the teaser went on a bit too long,
in my view, but is at least starting to flesh out O'Brien a bit more. It
does make me wonder where his *staff* is, though. Even Bashir's got a nurse,
after all.
-- Bashir is starting to come into his own. He was very little the naive
(and slightly annoying) wunderkind here, and very much a concerned doctor
desperately unable to help his patients. My only regret here is that
Bashir's succumbing to the virus suggested for an instant that the virus had
spread to the computer -- and once suggested, it would have been great to
allow that illusion to play itself out for a little longer.
-- Dax was barely used, and thus not worth much comment. As for Kira ...
well, again I'm not entirely sure. Her stridency again seemed just
*slightly* off key in her shuttle scenes -- everything felt right but sounded
a little wrong. (Her "and now you're infected, too" was the biggest example
of that; something about it just registered wrong with me.) Since I saw Odo,
Quark, and Bashir as the focuses, here that was no more than a side issue,
but even so it's a little worrying. Kira has the potential to be a great
character, but I think Nana Visitor has to fine-tune the edge she's giving
Kira first.
-- A hearty "welcome back!" to Sally Caves, who had co-story credit here. As
you may recall, she wrote "Hollow Pursuits", the TNG episode premiering
everyone's favorite neurotic, Lt. Reg Barclay. It was a very pleasant
surprise to see her name appearing here; I don't know whether her long
absence or her return from it surprises me more.
-- Although the concept of the virus was terrific, the very idea of so much
nonsense being spoken opened itself up to lots of jokes. Several "Bloom
County" strips came to mind while I was watching, as did at least two
separate "Monty Python's Flying Circus" episodes. See my .sig for one
particular instance. :-)
That's about it, I think. "Babel" was a very strong offering from DS9, and I
recommend it. So, the numbers:
Plot: 8. Fix the resolution and this is great.
Plot Handling: 10. Even the scenes I didn't care for seemed very vibrant
and alive. *Great* direction.
Characterization: 9. Kira was a bit off, but everything else was quite
solid.
TOTAL: 9, up to a 9.5 because I *hadn't* called Odo's shapeshifting in
advance this time. :-) Nice job.
NEXT WEEK:
O'Brien gets caught up in an alien game. I haven't been able to properly
judge a DS9 show from its preview yet, so I'm not even going to try.
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"My Hovercraft is full of eels."
--"Monty Python's Flying Circus"
--
Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Michael Rawdon
>WARNING: This article contains spoilers for "Babel", this week's DS9
>episode. Those wishing to comprehend the episode unencumbered by advance
>foreknowledge should avoid this message.
>I very much liked both the idea of the aphasia virus and the way it was
>handled. The rationale for its existence made sense (although if you're a
>terrorist trying to wipe out your oppressors, this virus seems a bit _slow_
>for your task), and the method of its spreading was nicely done.
Possibly, though the Bajorans might also have been hoping that a couple of
Cardassian ships would have panicked and left after the virus began, and
carried it back to Cardassian space. Who knows.
I did like how it drove home the point made by Berman and/or Piller months
ago: That the crew doesn't know WHAT might be sitting around this station
waiting for them. Maybe there are a few more "surprises" (hopefully of a
different nature) that they can eke some episodes out of...
>I do have two problems with the resolution, however. The first is that the
>"cure" for the virus seemed way too magical. Given the explanation given for
>the virus's methods (scrambling synaptic connections, if memory serves), then
>an antidote could well prevent further scrambling -- but once the connections
>are gone, I see *no* way to simply reestablish them without relearning
>everything. Now, the latter is very possible in DS9's era -- hell, we saw a
>version of it back in TOS with "The Changeling" and Uhura -- but it's implied
>that everybody gets the antidote and poof! is back to normal. It's something
>of a minor point, given that at least the explanation of the virus *itself*
>made sense (and it's not like Trek in all its forms hasn't had scientific
>cock-ups that are orders of magnitude worse), but it's there.
My understanding was that the virus itself was what caused the scrambling, and
that once it was gotten rid of there was no more scrambling. I.e., that there
was scrambling because the virus was *constantly* working at producing the
effect. It wasn't just a "tinker with this synapse and it's screwed for good"
deal.
Or not?
>A second objection is more character-based. While the final scene with
>O'Brien healed and back at work lent a certain "closing of the circle" sense
>to the show, and was clearly meant to show "look, O'Brien was worst off and
>*he's* back", I would very much have preferred to see, for instance, some
>post-virus interaction between Sisko and Jake. As it is, Jake was only a
>plot point strengthening Sisko's resolve rather than a character, and that's
>a little annoying. Again, that's not a huge point, but it's there.
I actually prefer seeing development of the lesser characters put aside while
the major ones are worked on for a while. TNG has shown that it's all too
easy for the writers to try to juggle too many characters at once and to get
confused, and then the quality of the stories plummet.
Besides, I don't think that Jake is going to work as much more than a
second-string character who is defined in terms of his father, anyway.
>Something which I do *not* consider a problem is the ease with which Kira
>managed to abduct Surmak Ren from Bajor. Others have voiced that complaint
>to me, but given that Bajor has been a *conquered world* for half a century,
>I think it makes sense that they may not be that good at their own defenses
>yet, particularly against Fed transporters. Now, if this had happened on
>Romulus or Earth or Cardassia, then yes, it'd be a problem -- but not here.
I agree. Especially since there probably aren't many general-purpose
transporters around in the Bajoran system. The main source of them are on
DS9, which is presumably considered trustworthy at this juncture.
> Having Odo and Quark be the two
>characters immune was expected owing to their physiologies, but led to some
>excellent work on both characters' parts, particularly Odo.
One bit I liked about the immunity was that the fact that Odo was immune was
never explicitly pointed out - it was merely assumed. Whereas of course it
made sense for Quark to trumpet his own immunity, being the little tin
dictator-wannabe that he is. :-)
>Odo, while having some good grimly comic lines of his own (see above), also
>had the most definition added to him by the show. The possibility of
>Odo-as-plot-device in the ending was all too real: picture, for example, Odo
>having to shapeshift to save the station from Jaheel's ship. (Gee, wouldn't
>*that* have been a lucky break?) Instead, what we got was more of a
>demonstration of Odo's insecurity when out of his element. We saw it with
>Bashir in "Emissary", when Odo was uncomfortable helping the wounded, and we
>saw it even more here, when Odo the Unflappable became downright *panicky* in
>the final seconds of his task, and almost paralyzed with shock just after
>their narrow escape. That sequence was well scripted, acted, and directed;
>kudos all around.
Odo is at once the most entertaining and the most fascinating character on the
show. One more reason I'd rather see less of Jake, Dax and Bashir: So I can
see more of Odo! :-)
>-- Bashir is starting to come into his own. He was very little the naive
>(and slightly annoying) wunderkind here, and very much a concerned doctor
>desperately unable to help his patients. My only regret here is that
>Bashir's succumbing to the virus suggested for an instant that the virus had
>spread to the computer -- and once suggested, it would have been great to
>allow that illusion to play itself out for a little longer.
I didn't get that sensation at all. (And if I had, I probably would have been
annoyed by it; "Now why is the virus spreading to an *electronic device*?)
Rather, I thought the scene pointed up just HOW MUCH we rely on our language,
and this is even more true in the 24th century where so much is
voice-computer-controlled. This meant that as soon as someone got sick, they
were instantly and completely rendered helpless - quite a change from the
virii in "The Deadly Years" and the two "Naked Time" episodes, where
functionality degrades slowly.
(One wonders if a more symbolic interface to the computer might have left
Bashir still able to interact with the computer on some level. Hmm.)
>-- Dax was barely used, and thus not worth much comment. As for Kira ...
>well, again I'm not entirely sure. Her stridency again seemed just
>*slightly* off key in her shuttle scenes -- everything felt right but sounded
>a little wrong. (Her "and now you're infected, too" was the biggest example
>of that; something about it just registered wrong with me.)
I thought it rang true 100%. Like I said in my review, Kira's still a rebel
soldier at heart, for a while anyway, and will do whatever it takes to get the
job done. Hence, she heads off to Bajor and infects someone else in order to
help the station.
>Since I saw Odo,
>Quark, and Bashir as the focuses, here that was no more than a side issue,
>but even so it's a little worrying. Kira has the potential to be a great
>character, but I think Nana Visitor has to fine-tune the edge she's giving
>Kira first.
Hmm... I saw the focuses as being entirely elsewhere: Sisko, Odo and Kira
(with Quark spicing up Odo's time in the spotlight). I certainly didn't feel
that Dr. Bashir was at all one of the principals.
--
Michael Rawdon raw...@colby.cs.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department, Madison, WI
"What about you, Captain?" Krill asked. "Do you seek death, or do you
run away from it?
"Neither," Kiroth answered. "Death seeks me. It will find me in time.
To run is simply a waste of energy. To embrace death is sheer madness. I
await death. When it comes, I will be ready."
"To fight, or to flee?"
Kiroth looked at his XO with barely contained horror. "To die."
- "Escape From The Holdfast", by Jim Hart; Captain's Log #8
Brian Rauchfuss
> Plot points first. Aside from a few points which mostly concern the ending,
> I very much liked both the idea of the aphasia virus and the way it was
> handled. The rationale for its existence made sense (although if you're a
> terrorist trying to wipe out your oppressors, this virus seems a bit _slow_
> for your task), and the method of its spreading was nicely done.
One thing that suprised me was Kira becoming sick. I assumed that when one is
attempting biological warefare against another species, it would be obvious to
make your own species immune.
> Something which I do *not* consider a problem is the ease with which Kira
> managed to abduct Surmak Ren from Bajor. Others have voiced that complaint
> to me, but given that Bajor has been a *conquered world* for half a century,
> I think it makes sense that they may not be that good at their own defenses
> yet, particularly against Fed transporters. Now, if this had happened on
> Romulus or Earth or Cardassia, then yes, it'd be a problem -- but not here.
I have never heard hints of planetary wide force fields to prevent transporter
kidnapping. Important installations and political figures would be protected
like this, but a hospital? I suspect that even on earth, every building would
not have a force field, but that transporter activity would be monitored so
that the kidnappers could be traced.
BDR