[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "One Little Ship"
Timothy W. Lynch
WARNING: "One Little Ship" is all that stands between you and
DS9 spoilers. (Well, not really, but it reads well...)
In brief: Some bad thinking, but entertaining work with a particularly
goofy premise.
======
Written by: David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by: Allan Kroeker
Brief summary: When the Defiant is taken over by the Jem'Hadar,
Sisko's only hope lies in an unexpectedly miniaturized runabout.
======
Star Trek, in its many forms, has often fallen prey to the Hollywood
High-Concept syndrome: doing an episode which can be summed up
in a single sentence, preferably containing words of few syllables. In
the original series, one can easily picture writers saying, "Okay, get
this: Planet Rome!" or similar statements. More modern Trek has
done it occasionally: "robot wars" was apparently the entirety of the
pitch for Voyager's "Prototype", and TNG certainly had some,
"devolving crew" being an obvious example.
Now it's DS9's turn. While DS9 hasn't been totally immune to this
syndrome in the past (consider season 3's "Meridian", basically
summed up as "Planet Brigadoon"), they've generally stayed away
from it. "One Little Ship", however, might as well be named "The
Incredible Shrinking Runabout", as that's pretty much the whole
premise right there.
However, the team of Weddle & Thompson has once again managed
to take an iffy premise (such as "The Assignment" or "Business as
Usual" last season) and turn it into an entertaining hour. There were
definitely moments where the show floundered to a halt, but much of
the time you'd pretty much be able to sit back, turn your brain off, and
enjoy.
Just to start with, the visuals were terrific. One reason (of many) that
most Incredible Shrinking Whatever stories have rarely worked on
screen is that it's difficult to make a person surrounded by giant
household items seem realistic: it always looks like an overgrown set
or a bad bluescreen effect (usually because, well, it *is* an overgrown
set or a bad bluescreen effect!). Since the only time we saw the small
characters out of the runabout was inside a circuit housing, however,
the only thing which had to seem miniature most of the time was the
runabout itself. Since a small runabout *can* be made and filmed (or
done with CGI, since I'm not sure which way was used here), things
can seem more convincing. That led to some nice altered-perspective
shots (such as shots from near the floor of the bridge, or of the
runabout hiding near the ceiling of the engine room), and shots from
places we never otherwise see (such as the runabout's whole trip into
the bowels of the Defiant, which was both visually nice and quite
suspenseful).
The other primary advantage the show had was that it didn't take the
premise too seriously, at least sometimes. Having Kira crack up over
the idea of shrinking O'Brien, Bashir, and Dax down to the size of a
coffee cup (or "much smaller, actually") was a nice way to begin; it
acknowledged that the idea was fairly goofy and said to the viewer
"just accept it; we know it's dumb." That sort of tacit admission of a
no-brain plot makes it a lot easier to suspend disbelief, and as such the
journeys of the runabout were far more entertaining than they might
have been otherwise. (Even the fact that they tried to explain a fantasy
trope with technobabble was less annoying than usual, since they
didn't harp on it.)
The characters' reactions to *being* shrunk were also well taken.
Although I'm often annoyed when characters don't end up particularly
upset by ill fortune, this time the premise was so ludicrous that a bit of
good-natured rage on O'Brien's part was all I really needed to see.
His annoyance ("are you telling me I'm gonna be this bloody tall for
the rest of my life?") was vintage O'Brien, and I rather enjoyed
Bashir's "*this* bloody tall, actually" response. Even the bad puns
("I'm sorry; it was very small of me") were entertaining this time
around.
If you're expecting a "but", you're right. The flip side of the story is
that in order for the story to work, lots of people had to be
uncharacteristically stupid. I'm perfectly willing to suspend disbelief
for a premise at times, but character behavior is a much harder
argument to make. For instance:
-- The designers of the runabouts desperately need a pay cut. The
discussion about letting O'Brien breathe outside the runabout was all
well and good, but haven't these people ever heard of *spacesuits*?
-- Similarly, Dax wasn't thinking too clearly herself in that
conversation. The idea of beaming in an air bubble to the circuit
housing might be okay, but if it means O'Brien and Bashir only get
limited time for their mission, what about beaming in, oh, two or three
of them?
-- Picture this: you're an embittered and suspicious Jem'Hadar with
lots of combat experience and a great distrust of Sisko. So, naturally,
if you see him walking around and having low-voiced conversations
with all of his senior staff, you're going to ... ignore it? Excuse me?
It would not have been insubordinate to require that all Federation
communications about repairs be conducted within earshot of a
Jem'Hadar -- and if that had happened, the plot would have fallen
apart.
-- Don't the Jem'Hadar have tractor beams? Would it have been so
difficult to tow the Defiant elsewhere rather than waiting for restored
warp capability? (If not, how about a coded message requesting
reinforcements?)
-- This isn't idiocy ... but did it strike anyone else that the Jem'Hadar
suddenly became *very* poor shots during the final firefight?
There are undoubtedly other stupid character tricks, but those are
certainly enough to make a point. Weddle & Thompson decided not
to take the premise very seriously, which was a boon -- but some of
the ideas needed modification to make even basic sense.
The other main difficulty I had with "One Little Ship" is that it got
bogged down in, of all things, Jem'Hadar politics. We've been
seeing Jem'Hadar now for over three years; in all that time, I can
count the interesting ones on the knuckles of one finger. Setting up
two separate races of Jem'Hadar jockeying for Founder favor is not
doing this viewer any favors; while those aspects of the show weren't
wrong per se, they bogged the episode down all too often.
In the end, though, the show managed to conclude on a high note.
The Worf/Dax "poem" scene did absolutely nothing for me (and Dax's
laugh sounded horribly forced), but Odo and Quark conspiring to
make O'Brien and Bashir think they hadn't returned to normal size
was an absolute scream. I wasn't sure what to think when Odo
started commenting on their lack of a few centimeters, but Quark's
"and they say you don't have a sense of humor" had me absolutely
rolling. A nice, pleasantly silly way to end what was mostly a
pleasantly silly episode.
Other notes:
-- The Vorta working with these Jem'Hadar mentioned that they were
heading for the dilithium mines on Coridan next. Since I believe that
same Vorta showed up in the preview for next week's episode, we
might actually see this oft-mentioned planet then.
-- Having O'Brien and Dax tell Bashir what Sisko and company were
plotting was a mess of exposition, but at least a reasonably clever way
of going about it.
-- The Jem'Hadar political situation was a waste this time around, but
this might be laying groundwork for something interesting later.
We'll have to see.
-- Dax's reaction to the sight of a Jem'Hadar's face was, to say the
least, understated. "That's not good."
All in all, then, "One Little Ship" works well if you're in the right
frame of mind for it. Don't think about the ideas or the characters too
hard, and you'll be fine -- think of it as a summer movie, with all the
attendant flaws and bonuses.
Summing up:
Writing: Cute execution of a silly concept; ten out of ten for style, but
minus several million for good thinking in spots (to paraphrase
Zaphod Beeblebrox).
Directing: Nice work on the visuals, and Kroeker got a lot out of the
regular cast as well.
Acting: The Jem'Hadar were nothing special, but the regulars were
their usual strong selves.
OVERALL: Call it a 7 for now.
NEXT WEEK:
O'Brien goes undercover.
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
tly...@alumni.caltech.edu <*>
"This conduit's filthy, Chief; don't you ever clean up in here?"
"All right, all right, let's not badger the Chief."
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry. It was very small of me."
-- Bashir, Dax, and O'Brien
--
Copyright 1998, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net
compilation without due attribution and *express written consent of the
author*. Walnut Creek and other CD-ROM distributors, take note.
Boo Radley
You think *Dax*'s laughter was forced? How about Kira's
in that opening scene? That was some of Visitor's worst
acting ever, and that's saying something.
Other than that, a great review--although I liked all the
bad guy squabbling. Alpha and Gamma versions seem like
a logical and interesting idea.
Greg
Shawn Hill
Timothy W. Lynch (tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu) wrote:
: -- The designers of the runabouts desperately need a pay cut. The
: discussion about letting O'Brien breathe outside the runabout was all
: well and good, but haven't these people ever heard of *spacesuits*?
Hey, good call! Even Voyager is better at remembering the StarFleet SpaceSuits
than this.
: -- Similarly, Dax wasn't thinking too clearly herself in that
: conversation. The idea of beaming in an air bubble to the circuit
: housing might be okay, but if it means O'Brien and Bashir only get
: limited time for their mission, what about beaming in, oh, two or three
: of them?
Maybe they had a limited supply in the shuttle?
: The other main difficulty I had with "One Little Ship" is that it got
: bogged down in, of all things, Jem'Hadar politics. We've been
: seeing Jem'Hadar now for over three years; in all that time, I can
: count the interesting ones on the knuckles of one finger. Setting up
: two separate races of Jem'Hadar jockeying for Founder favor is not
: doing this viewer any favors; while those aspects of the show weren't
: wrong per se, they bogged the episode down all too often.
Well, I'm sure the writers are very relieved they didn't make a mistake in your
eyes, but I actually think they did far more: the further elaborated on the
implications of these very non-Federation species, who practice genetic
manipulation and cloning with impunity. Just as when we saw that there can be
many Weyouns, now we see the implications of breeding (hatching? cloning?
engineering?) your army at the site of the battle. The Alpha Edition of the
Jem-Haddar was a logical extension of the Founders' single-minded vision for that
race, a race they've warped into simple-minded lackeys, with even less authority
than the Vorta. And why should the Alpha's not feel superior to the Gamma's, as
they are the newer, shinier model? This was not "bogging down"; this was the
extension of basic sci-fi premises, and it enriched the show, however awkwardly
(at times) it was handled.
: Directing: Nice work on the visuals, and Kroeker got a lot out of the
: regular cast as well.
: Acting: The Jem'Hadar were nothing special, but the regulars were
: their usual strong selves.
I thought the Second was quite distinctive, truly struggling between his need to
follow authority and his knowledge that the system was not working for him or
even the First this time out.
: OVERALL: Call it a 7 for now.
I called it a 9.4. Most fun I've had with DS9 in many moons.
Shawn
*********************shawn hill********************************
Sidney: "She has this thing on her wrist."
Michael: "You mean a monitor?"
Sidney: "I don't know. I think she uses it to beam up to
the mother ship."
***************************sh...@fas.harvard.edu***************
David B. Mears
Timothy W. Lynch <tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu> wrote:
>WARNING: "One Little Ship" is all that stands between you and
>DS9 spoilers. (Well, not really, but it reads well...)
>discussion about letting O'Brien breathe outside the runabout was all
>well and good, but haven't these people ever heard of *spacesuits*?
I'm a little surprised you weren't miffed at some of the implied
design issues with the Defient itself. The runabout excapes from the
inferno of the impulse engine's intermix chamber into the comfort of
the living space of the ship via a *swinging door*? Excuse me? And
*that* didn't strain your disbelief sensors any?
David B. Mears
Hewlett-Packard
Cupertino CA
me...@cup.hp.com