[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Captive Pursuit"
Timothy W. Lynch
your area at a rapid pace. Those not wishing to be hunted by them should
remain set apart from this.
Lose *one* small thing and you've got a great show on your hands. With it,
it's still a pretty nice one.
That one thing of course, is Tosk managing to find out about weapons storage
so easily, particularly given Quark's *difficulty* in finding out about
something far less dangerous (crew replicators) only last week in "Babel".
That is a cheat that's a slap in the face to the professionalism of both
DS9's writers and Odo's security system, and both should be offended. :-)
Apart from that, I was for the most part quite impressed with "Captive
Pursuit". Like most of DS9's plotlines so far, the plot *itself* was
something we'd probably all seen variants of in the past, but it was well
pace and handled with a good eye for the key characters -- and that, after
all, is usually what "makes" a show.
For starters, O'Brien had a key, meaty role in a show for the first time
since, possibly, "The Wounded" -- and both the character and Colm Meaney were
up to the job. O'Brien was a good counterpoint to Tosk; Tosk was a very
convincing alien (more on that in a moment), and O'Brien is rapidly turning
into the most down-to-earth human being on the station. (Truth be told, he's
starting to remind me more and more of a cousin by marriage of mine who is,
yes, an Irish cop. :-) ) O'Brien's patter about how he couldn't rush things
for fear of having a bad rep all over the Gamma Quadrant really *did* feel to
me like it was second nature to him, which is a pleasant feeling to have
about a character who's been a bit of a cipher in DS9 so far.
O'Brien seems to me to be very quick and talkative, and always ready with a
comment -- but in ways very unlike Odo, the other source of "commentary" on
the show. Odo makes acerbic comments to get his observations across or to
let off steam; it looks to me like O'Brien's commentary is just part of his
connection with the world, and is there almost to fill space, because *not*
having a comment seems to be lacking somehow. Having some of those
tendencies myself, I can well understand that.
As I've mentioned, O'Brien made a nice counterpoint to Tosk, who was one of
the most convincing aliens Trek has seen since "Darmok". Although the
problem of basic communication was not in evidence (a slight problem, since
you'd think it would take a little while to have the translators figure out a
new species), the differing mindsets very clearly were, and this was made
clear in several ways. Chief among them would be the way Tosk stepped right
up to people and examined them from a few centimeters' distance, rather than
the normal distance most people consider their personal space. (Visually, of
course, Tosk also worked well as an alien, but that's the least of the issues
so far as I'm concerned.)
The idea of Tosk being bred specifically for the purposes of the hunt is an
old one (one more amusing variant would be Douglas Adams' Dish of the Day
:-) ), and worked primarily because of two bits of handling: Tosk's oath of
silence concerning his purpose, and the hunter's absolute lack of
understanding the Federation's reaction. In the hunter's point of view,
declaring the wormhole out of bounds really *is* an ideal solution to all
parties, and should satisfy even those who, due to "ignorance", oppose the
very idea of the Tosk and the hunt. This wasn't so much a problem with basic
communication as it was a problem with both sides talking right past each
other.
The final major element of the story would have to be that, for the first
time in a *very* long while, we've seen conflict *between Starfleet members*.
Up until now, even in the "grittier" DS9, all the personality conflicts have
been between Starfleeters and non-Starfleeters: Sisko/Kira, etc. Here, we
saw the beginnings of something more. Sisko's harsh reaction to O'Brien at
the show's close is an example, though merely a stronger version of what we
saw in "Reunion" when Picard chastised Worf. Another, subtler example,
though, would be the way O'Brien essentially ignored and ran right over
Bashir's suggestion about Tosk "talking to his doctor". Now, the suggestion
was naive enough that he may have been right to dismiss it, but O'Brien
seemed distinctly annoyed by it. We shall see, but it's an intriguing sight.
(And, of course, the point that Sisko upbraided O'Brien for his actions while
allowing them to reach their conclusion unhindered is a time-honored
tradition in Trek lore, I think -- and it worked.)
Some smaller points, then:
-- The opening scene in the teaser would have been very pedestrian were it
not for one thing: that Quark's sexual advances really *were* part of the
contract. Trust a Ferengi to use the legal niceties to his advantage. :-)
-- Odo is slowly being revealed as quite the technophobe. I've mentioned
bits of it earlier, but here we saw two more points. One, he doesn't use
weapons himself, which probably explains why he doesn't allow them on the
Promenade. Second, however, he asks O'Brien to check on what Tosk did to the
*security* grid, which is something I'd normally expect a security chief to
know backwards and forwards. There's a clear pattern developing here, and
it's decidedly interesting. I want an explanation for it sometime, though.
(One that's been suggested to me -- sorry, I've forgotten who -- is that Odo
has decided that since science hasn't been able to explain *him* or his
origins, it's useless for his purposes. I like this idea very much.)
-- This time, O'Brien had all the good one-liners. I particularly liked
"Glass jaw -- now I know why you wear a helmet."
-- A reminder for future episodes: Based on O'Brien's actions here, I expect
to see Odo *very* pissed off at O'Brien for a while. I imagine he'll be
professional about it, but next time there's a prisoner transfer Odo should
probably object to keeping O'Brien anywhere near.
-- Another reminder of "Reunion", of course, was O'Brien neatly leaving his
combadge behind. Smoothly done -- and I almost got the feeling that he did
it on instinct.
-- O'Brien's and Tosk's ease in communicating during the repair work made me
realize that music isn't the universal language -- *technobabble* is. :-)
That's about it. Tosk's ease in finding the weapons was silly, but apart
from that we're in very good shape here. Keep up the good work!
So, the numbers:
Plot: 8. A little unoriginality and one major gaffe, but solid.
Plot Handling: 10. Well paced and smartly done.
Characterization: 10. Flawless.
TOTAL: 9, up to 9.5 for some rare convincing alien makeup. Good job.
NEXT WEEK:
Q won't have *nearly* as much fun without Picard to tweak...
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"What took you so long?"
"Traffic was a bitch."
-- "The Player"
--
Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Timothy W. Lynch
>WARNING: Spoilers for "Captive Pursuit", DS9's latest offering, are entering
>your area at a rapid pace. Those not wishing to be hunted by them should
>remain set apart from this.
[on Odo as a technophobe]
>(One that's been suggested to me -- sorry, I've forgotten who -- is that Odo
>has decided that since science hasn't been able to explain *him* or his
>origins, it's useless for his purposes. I like this idea very much.)
I've now been reminded. This idea came to me from Andrew Hackard; thanks
much, Andrew.
Tim Lynch
Jeffrey C Spencer
[I this only contains minor spoilers for the pilot, but still...]
>One problem with continuity.. in the pilot, Odo *does* use a hand
>phaser, to restore order on the Promenade.
No, that was Commander Sisko. And Odo was pretty upset that he used
it.
--
jspe...@world.std.com * Jeffrey Spencer, Dartmouth '91
You might be a king or a little street-sweeper.
But sooner or later YOU dance with the reaper.
Geoff Bronner
SPOILERS...
>That one thing of course, is Tosk managing to find out about weapons storage
>so easily, particularly given Quark's *difficulty* in finding out about
>something far less dangerous (crew replicators) only last week in "Babel".
>That is a cheat that's a slap in the face to the professionalism of both
>DS9's writers and Odo's security system, and both should be offended. :-)
There were actually two things that bothered me. The computer being so
helpful AND Odo waiting for Tosk in the hallway near the weapons locker.
The computer was kind of consistent. In 'Babel' it would tell Quark where
the replicators were, but not which ones were fixed. In 'Captive Pursuit'
it would tell Tosk where the weapons were but (one would hope) not how to
get to them.
Now... if the computer passed on the inquiry to Odo, that would be cool.
-Geoff
--
geo...@Dartmouth.EDU - Computing Support Consultant, Tuck School of Business
"My heros don't appear on no stamps."
-Public Enemy
James P. Callison
>In <1l3gts...@gap.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>
>SPOILERS...
>
>
>>That one thing of course, is Tosk managing to find out about weapons storage
>>so easily, particularly given Quark's *difficulty* in finding out about
>>something far less dangerous (crew replicators) only last week in "Babel".
>>That is a cheat that's a slap in the face to the professionalism of both
>>DS9's writers and Odo's security system, and both should be offended. :-)
>
>There were actually two things that bothered me. The computer being so
>helpful AND Odo waiting for Tosk in the hallway near the weapons locker.
>
>The computer was kind of consistent. In 'Babel' it would tell Quark where
>the replicators were, but not which ones were fixed. In 'Captive Pursuit'
>it would tell Tosk where the weapons were but (one would hope) not how to
>get to them.
>Now... if the computer passed on the inquiry to Odo, that would be cool.
Somehow, I expect that any such request would get passed on to Odo; perhaps
it was a trap--we've seen Odo's opinions of Federation regs (his
statement of how things were simpler under Cardassian rule, etc.), so
maybe he's not above a little entrapment. It would certainly explain
how Tosk could so easily find out where the weapons locker was, and
why Odo was waiting for him. It would also explain why the weapons
locker was in such an unsecure area (I mean, really, in a wall in
a corridor? At least put it in an alcove!). Maybe it wasn't the
real weapons locker.
Of course, it could be that the comm panels in the crew quarters
have a higher security clearance than the public terminals, or it
could also be that the computer's not functioning entirely properly...
James
James P. Callison Microcomputer Coordinator, U of Oklahoma Law Center
Call...@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu /\ Call...@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu
DISCLAIMER: I'm not an engineer, but I play one at work...
"God didn't make men and women equal. Colonel Colt did."
--Maggie Zombro, "Reasonable Doubts"
Thomas A Stewart
> WARNING: Spoilers for "Captive Pursuit", DS9's latest offering, are entering
> your area at a rapid pace. Those not wishing to be hunted by them should
> remain set apart from this.
>
> Lose *one* small thing and you've got a great show on your hands. With it,
> it's still a pretty nice one.
>
> That one thing of course, is Tosk managing to find out about weapons storage
> so easily, particularly given Quark's *difficulty* in finding out about
> something far less dangerous (crew replicators) only last week in "Babel".
> That is a cheat that's a slap in the face to the professionalism of both
> DS9's writers and Odo's security system, and both should be offended. :-)
>
storage" is a room, with a room number, comm panel, etc. The crew replicators
are a piece of machinery, sort of like saying "Computer, where's the plumbing
for joe's toilet go?"
I think it's *probably* acceptable to tell people where the weapons locker(s)
are: it's easy enough to walk up to a National Guard Armory today, and touch
the weapons locker--it's harder to swipe something from it.
I'm not sure I'd know where to go in a cruise ship and look for the delivery
elevator (it's probably near the waterline, but beyond that???)
> [...lots of commentary deleted...]
> -- O'Brien's and Tosk's ease in communicating during the repair work made me
> realize that music isn't the universal language -- *technobabble* is. :-)
>
I thought one of the last couple of episodes was cool...can't remember if it
was TNG or DS9 (oh yeah.. it was Q) but somebody mentioned "technobabble", and
was clearly put off by the complicated description of the technology concerned.
> That's about it. Tosk's ease in finding the weapons was silly, but apart
> from that we're in very good shape here. Keep up the good work!
>
Good work, and I don't think so silly at all.
> So, the numbers:
>
> Plot: 8. A little unoriginality and one major gaffe, but solid.
9. No flaw, just a little too easy for foreign transport onto the
station. (Who else thinks the shields on DS9 are worthless?)
> Plot Handling: 10. Well paced and smartly done.
10
> Characterization: 10. Flawless.
10
>
> TOTAL: 9, up to 9.5 for some rare convincing alien makeup. Good job.
9.5 for me... ...i thought the armored aliens were awful small
looking, and had extremely glassy jaws for "hunters".
>
> NEXT WEEK:
>
> Q won't have *nearly* as much fun without Picard to tweak...
>
> Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
> BITNET: tlynch@citjulie
> INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
> UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
> "What took you so long?"
> "Traffic was a bitch."
> -- "The Player"
> --
> Copyright 1993, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to
ask...
((((gee Tim, you're getting *so* slow with these. it makes me wonder if you've
backslid all the way to "tape delay"! :-))))
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Stewart - Pencom Software - we know AIX personally
"Sir, I must protest! I *AM NOT* a merry man!" ---- Lt. Worf, ST-TNG
George George
in the corridor. Tosk was nowhere near the hardware yet.
... gng
Glenn Host
>WARNING: Spoilers for "Captive Pursuit", DS9's latest offering, are entering
>your area at a rapid pace. Those not wishing to be hunted by them should
>remain set apart from this.
>That one thing of course, is Tosk managing to find out about weapons storage
>so easily, particularly given Quark's *difficulty* in finding out about
>something far less dangerous (crew replicators) only last week in "Babel".
>That is a cheat that's a slap in the face to the professionalism of both
>DS9's writers and Odo's security system, and both should be offended. :-)
I assumed that he got access so easily because he is 'Tosk' and he
was born to look for holes no one thought of. I saw this as an example
of his skill not a fault with the computers but the scene did not have
enough time devoted to it to determine exactly what he did.
The best episode so far; I think it is no accident that it featured
promently O'Brian and Odo, the best characters in the series.
--
Glenn E. Host - Reston, VA
Very grateful guest of Openage - the best SCO service shop in the area
************* my views represent no one - not even myself. ****************