Having grown up with Star Trek as a child I was used to the Gene Roddenberry's vision of humanity having perfected itself. A fine vision indeed and a noble one.
But what happens if the Federation goes head to head with an implacable foe. No I am not talking about the Borg although they are scary enough. How would they be able to fight an enemy that can shape shift and infiltrate entire worlds?
Deep Space Nine gives you the answer and it is not necessarily a pretty one either.
The Dominion are probably among the best Star Trek villains ever devised and the are really put to good use here. Rick Berman and Ira Steven Behr are pretty much responsible for the direction that Deep Space None took. It is much darker in tone than either of it's predecessors and the stories were a lot deeper in nature.
In The Pale Moonlight was probably the darkest and definitely the best.
It starts out with Captain Sisko reciting into his personal log about previous events that worry him. After posting yet another Friday casualty list he decides to try and bring the Romulans who have taken a neutral stance into the war.
After speaking to Garak the Cardassian tailor and spy, they devise a plan that will work. The plan includes obtaining a Cardassian data rod, someone to forge false information onto it and tricking a Romulan Senator into believing it's real.
But thing become messy indeed resulting in, aiding a criminal, bribing Guark, obtaining bio metric gel for unknown and quite probably illegal purposes and the assassination of a Romulan senator and the murder of the forger.
A small price to pay as Garak points out and in the end, through all his misgivings and doubt, Sisko is forced to agree. A small price to pay indeed.
The plan ultimately works and even though Sisko has had to do some morally ambiguous things, as he says, knowing that it would help win the war, he could live with it.
A perfect episode with the most impressive acting I have ever seen. This was quite possibly Avery Brooks finest moment, his acting was spot on. Andrew Robinson as Garak was as usual superb and Stephen McHattie as Vreenak was excellent.
Victor Lobl directing was nothing short of brilliant as he managed to catch the truly desperate air of a Federation fighting and slowly losing to a dangerous enemy and of an honorable man being forced by necessity to do very dishonorable things.
In The Pale Moonlight was a standout episode along with Way Of The Warrior, The Visitor, Apocalypse Rising and Nor the Battle to the Strong just to name a few.
Deep Space Nine was always known as the Star Trek series that people that didn't like Star Trek watched. Here in Sydney, when it was first coming out on video, there was a waiting list to rent it and it had a huge following and even though the series is finished, there is still remains fans of the show.
Sadly though Gene Roddenberry would not have liked this episode simply because it was not in keeping with his vision of a perfect society. But Deep Space Nine shows what happens to that perfect society when put into real peril. It shows people having to sometimes compromise their ideas for the greater good.
Yes, this is indeed Star Trek for grownups.
But what happens if the Federation goes head to head with an implacable foe. No I am not talking about the Borg although they are scary enough. How would they be able to fight an enemy that can shape shift and infiltrate entire worlds?
Deep Space Nine gives you the answer and it is not necessarily a pretty one either.
The Dominion are probably among the best Star Trek villains ever devised and the are really put to good use here. Rick Berman and Ira Steven Behr are pretty much responsible for the direction that Deep Space None took. It is much darker in tone than either of it's predecessors and the stories were a lot deeper in nature.
In The Pale Moonlight was probably the darkest and definitely the best.
It starts out with Captain Sisko reciting into his personal log about previous events that worry him. After posting yet another Friday casualty list he decides to try and bring the Romulans who have taken a neutral stance into the war.
After speaking to Garak the Cardassian tailor and spy, they devise a plan that will work. The plan includes obtaining a Cardassian data rod, someone to forge false information onto it and tricking a Romulan Senator into believing it's real.
But thing become messy indeed resulting in, aiding a criminal, bribing Guark, obtaining bio metric gel for unknown and quite probably illegal purposes and the assassination of a Romulan senator and the murder of the forger.
A small price to pay as Garak points out and in the end, through all his misgivings and doubt, Sisko is forced to agree. A small price to pay indeed.
The plan ultimately works and even though Sisko has had to do some morally ambiguous things, as he says, knowing that it would help win the war, he could live with it.
A perfect episode with the most impressive acting I have ever seen. This was quite possibly Avery Brooks finest moment, his acting was spot on. Andrew Robinson as Garak was as usual superb and Stephen McHattie as Vreenak was excellent.
Victor Lobl directing was nothing short of brilliant as he managed to catch the truly desperate air of a Federation fighting and slowly losing to a dangerous enemy and of an honorable man being forced by necessity to do very dishonorable things.
In The Pale Moonlight was a standout episode along with Way Of The Warrior, The Visitor, Apocalypse Rising and Nor the Battle to the Strong just to name a few.
Deep Space Nine was always known as the Star Trek series that people that didn't like Star Trek watched. Here in Sydney, when it was first coming out on video, there was a waiting list to rent it and it had a huge following and even though the series is finished, there is still remains fans of the show.
Sadly though Gene Roddenberry would not have liked this episode simply because it was not in keeping with his vision of a perfect society. But Deep Space Nine shows what happens to that perfect society when put into real peril. It shows people having to sometimes compromise their ideas for the greater good.
Yes, this is indeed Star Trek for grownups.