Emissary, Part I Production 401 1/3/93 Stardate 46379.1

- 30-second episode preview (AVI, 2Mb)
- Sisko discusses the move to Deep Space Nine with his son, Jake.
- Sisko demonstrates baseball to the wormhole aliens.

Synopsis:

On a distant outpost at the edge of the final frontier, an untested crew embarks on an unprecedented journey.

For six days in Stardate 43997, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise was held captive by a sinister race called the Borg. The Borg altered the captain's appearance and mind and forced him to lead an attack against the Federation, during which the U.S.S. Saratoga was all but destroyed. One of the Saratoga's officers, Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Sisko, managed to escape with his young son Jake. Unfortunately, his wife did not survive.

Three years later, a reluctant Sisko and his even more reluctant son are transferred to the space station Deep Space Nine in Bajoran territory. Now a Commander, Sisko has been ordered to oversee the repair of the giant space station, which was heavily damaged during a period of Cardassian military occupation.

After his arrival, Sisko begins to meet his crew. He first encounters Chief Operations Officer Miles O'Brien, who has been transferred from the Enterprise, and Kira Nerys, a Bajoran who helped lead her people's painful fight against the Cardassians. Kira agrees to act as Sisko's first officer, but has reservations about the Federation's presence on the Bajoran space station. Soon afterward, he meets Odo, a shape shifter and security officer who exhibits his chameleon-like talents while apprehending a Ferengi thief. Quark, the Ferengi owner of the local watering hole and gambling establishment, arrives to bail out the thief -- his young nephew, Nog. Sisko agrees to free Nog only if Quark will remain aboard and continue to operate his recreation center for the station's residents and visitors.

The Enterprise docks at Deep Space Nine, and Sisko has a tense meeting with Picard, whom he blames for the death of his wife. Picard tersely informs Sisko that his mission aboard the space station is to assure the Bajora enter the Federation. Sisko indicates that while he will do his job as long as he is there, he may resign his post. The two part on less-than-friendly terms. Sisko looks to Kira for insight into the Bajora, and she tells that his only chance for success is for the Bajora, a somewhat diverse group, to find reason to unite. She suggests that he seek out Kai Opaka, the Bajoran spiritual leader, and Sisko immediately sets out to find her. Kai Opaka reveals that Sisko's arrival has a deep spiritual purpose, but is unable to reveal exactly what it is. She entrusts Sisko with a powerful and mystical orb, telling him his destiny is to reclaim eight other orbs stolen by the Cardassians. To demonstrate the orb's power, Kai Opaka uses it to transport Sisko to the beach where he first met his wife.

Back on Deep Space Nine, Sisko greets his new crew of medical and science officers, including Dr. Julian Bashir, a cocky and ambitious young doctor, and Jadzia Dax, a beautiful Trill. Sisko's relationship with Dax is complicated by the fact that, as a Trill, she lives by inhabiting different host bodies. She and Sisko were close friends while she inhabited her previous body -- that of an old man. In the laboratory, Sisko shows Dax the orb and explains they must find the eight others. When Sisko leaves, Dax experiences the orb's immense power when it takes her back to an earlier time, just as it did with Sisko.

Before long, the Enterprise disembarks and a Cardassian warship arrives at the station. The Cardassian leader, Gul Dukat, immediately tries to convince Sisko to relinquish the orb, but Sisko denies knowing anything about it or the other orbs. Later, Dax researches the orbs' history and informs Sisko that they may come from the nearby Denorios belt.

Dax and Sisko set out for the Denorios belt in a runabout pod. Without warning they are propelled through a giant tear in the fabric of space -- a wormhole. After a spectacular light show, the pod slips out of the wormhole and into another corner of space -- seventy-thousand light years from Bajor. Realizing this may be the venue the orbs entered their system, Sisko and Dax re-enter the wormhole to return home and study the implications. However, they land on a remote planet where an orb captures Dax and transports her back to Deep Space Nine. Dax immediately informs the others of her journey, exciting all of them with the possibilities the discovery presents. Kira demands that they transport Deep Space Nine to the mouth of the wormhole so the Bajorans may claim and operate the wormhole and gain power over the Cardassians. But Odo, who was discovered in the Denorios belt and does not know of his origins, has mixed feelings about the wormhole and the link it may provide to his past.

Left alone on the strange planet, Sisko communicates with the awesome force behind the orbs, who first perceive him as a threat. The force does not understand linear time, and presents Sisko with a barrage of images from his life, including the day he met his wife, Jennifer, and the battle where she was killed. Sisko is able to communicate with the alien images of Jake and his late wife. Soon after, Sisko and the force begin to understand each other.

O'Brien begins the task of maneuvering the space station into the mouth of the wormhole, but a Cardassian ship reaches it first. However, the mouth of the wormhole collapses around the alien ship, stranding it in a remote part of the galaxy. The alien force detects the Cardassian ship's presence and informs Sisko that they are no longer alone. However, the force continues to communicate with Sisko, indicating that he is trapped at the moment in time when his wife was killed aboard the Saratoga. Realizing his pain has been holding him back, Sisko allows the force to guide him through the circumstances leading up to his wife's death and helps him to finally grieve for his loss.

Aboard Deep Space Nine, Kira is contacted by Cardassian leader Gul Jasad, who accuses the station crew of destroying the lost Cardassian ship. The crew denies the accusation, but Jasad declares war, prompting Kira to launch an attack against the enemy. The battle escalates and the space station is damaged, but the wormhole suddenly reappears. Sisko's runabout is seen towing the Cardassian ship out of danger, and the fighting ceases.

Later, a changed Sisko speaks with Picard about the events of the past few days. He decides to keep his post on Deep Space Nine, and Picard agrees. Later, he speaks with Kai Opaka, who informs Sisko that this is not the last time he will work with the Bajoran prophets to secure the future of the space station inhabitants.

Timothy Lynch Review:

WARNING:  This post contains spoilers for the premiere of "Star Trek:  Deep
Space Nine", titled "Emissary".  Those not wishing to see said spoiler
information are advised to avoid reading the article.

Sur-PRISE! :-)

No, I wasn't lying to you when I said I wasn't planning to do DS9 reviews.  I
wasn't.

However, something funny happened while I watched "Emissary".  I discovered
that about half or more of the commentary part of my review sprang to mind
unbidden.  So, I took the hint.  (That, and...well, let's be blunt.  The
number of very fervent requests I got, including some from intriguing
locations, also muddied the issue further in my mind.  :-) )

These reviews will be somewhat different from my TNG reviews, however.  For
starters, there will *not* be a synopsis.  While I'm going to be daft enough
to spare time to write commentary on DS9 for the time being, the synopses
take a lot longer, and will not happen.  (I will write them...eventually; but
not in a timely manner.)  They're also going to be far less "guaranteed" than
the TNG reviews; if I find that the little time I'm sparing for commentary
here doesn't show up, or if I find that DS9 doesn't regularly inspire me to
write, they'll stop. 

(I'm also not likely to see many (if indeed any) follow-ups to this, so if you
have a comment you want to make directly to me, e-mail it.)

Well, now that I've wasted a good 30+ lines talking about me rather than the
show, onwards to the review.  Spoilers after another Ctrl-L.

The best one-word review I could give would be "promising".  There are a lot
of interesting elements being put into play here, and it's way too early to
tell whether they'll be dealt with well (as TNG has done on many occasions),
or fumbled entirely (as, unfortunately, TNG has *also* done on many
occasions).  Obviously, I have high hopes for the former.

I'll start by taking a look at the various characters.

Comm. Sisko:  I definitely like him.  He's being written, I think, as a very
down-to-earth Picard:  intelligent and concerned with Starfleet's ideals, but
far less reserved and distant than Picard usually is.  (That's clear enough
from, among other things, the first Sisko/Picard scene.)  Sisko has a very
quirky streak in him that I haven't quite gotten a handle on yet (those sudden
full grins being chief among those quirks), but that may still be both the
writers and Avery Brooks working a few bugs out of the character.  So far, so
good here.

(Besides, I have to confess:  I'd never seen Avery Brooks before, and that
voice of his is definitely one that can carry scenes.  He was a good choice.)

Odo:  I can't tell yet.  I very much like the way the character carried
himself through most of his scenes, particularly his nonverbal response to
Kira's congratulating him on his success in the sabotage.  However, the scene
where we got his backstory (i.e. he's the last of his kind, maybe his race is
in or trough the wormhole, etc.) tried way too hard, and nobody could save
it.  (It reminded me of Tasha Yar's strident speech to Q in "Encounter at
Farpoint", and was about as convincing.)  But his abilities have been put to
good use so far -- I have to admit, the bit with the "money pouch" actually
hadn't occurred to me in that specific form -- and if we can avoid scenes
like the one I mentioned, there'll be good stuff ahead here.  (The big
Odo/Quark/Sisko scene was *priceless*.)

Major Kira Nerys:  Great when she's using black humor to make her points, a
lot less great when she's trying to be anything other than flip.  One of her
best scenes was her richly deserved comeuppance to Dr. Bashir; if we can get
more of those, I'll be pleased.  Some of her exchanges with Gul Jasad worked
reasonably well, too.  But the ultra-strident "I have been fighting a
hopeless cause all my life, so I'm much more honest than you" attitude is
going to get old *real* fast unless something more interesting is done with
it.  Adding some subtlety will work wonders.

Quark:  The second Ferengi in Trek history that I've actually *liked* (the
first being DaiMon Bok from "The Battle").  The plea-bargaining scene, as
I've said, was fantastic, and the followups to it worked equally well.  (His
point about "when governments fall, people like me are lined up...and shot"
was about the most concise I've ever seen a Ferengi.)  He'll add some good
old-fashioned dishonesty (a la Silk in Eddings's _Belgariad_ and _Malloreon_
series), and it'll probably help. 

[In all honesty, however, I'll confess to a very mild bias here.  The actor
who plays Quark is a very good friend of a colleague of mine in the science
department, so I went in very much hoping to enjoy his work.]

[Digression #2:  Anybody else suddenly look around the screen for a Richard
Benjamin cameo when Quark's name was first mentioned?  ;-) ]

Miles O'Brien:  Let's hope he's given a lot more to do in the future.  I
can't tell yet.  Once his duties and domestic situation are more fully
established, we'll see, but for now he's as much a cipher as he's been for
the last year-plus on TNG.  (Lots of the interest of the character seemed to
die out once he got a first name.  Sigh.)

Dr. Bashir:  Should be a lot of fun, as long as he's not a perpetually
running gag.  Having been somewhat wet-behind-the-ears myself upon entering
my current career only four months ago, I can readily sympathize with his
attitude; I just hope he doesn't cause himself irreparable harm by exchanging
feet in his mouth so *often* in the future.  :-)

Jadzia Dax:  Very intriguing so far, but I don't have much to go on yet.  I
really like the idea of a Trill regular character; if it's used well, I
think Dax will be among the more interesting people to watch on the show.  If
it's not, it'll turn cliché.  Here's hoping.

Jake Sisko:  Hmm.  He'll hopefully be more interesting when he gets something
more to do (and has more of an effect on his father), but for now I found him
a bit on the whiny side.  The fishing scene didn't work a bit for me, and the
initial arrival on DS9 only worked because Brooks managed to carry the scene
for them both.  Jake needs the most work.

On the whole, there are a lot of interesting figures sketched out on the
canvas; now they have to start moving a little more.  There are signs of
several very interesting relationships and dialogues forming (Sisko/Kira,
Odo/Quark, Kira/Quark, Sisko/Dax, Bashir/Dax, Bashir/Kira, etc.), so we'll
see what comes of them in times to come.

Character-wise, I also got the feeling that there may be a bit more of a
(dare I say it?  Dare, dare) *serialized* feeling to these folks than there's
been on TNG.  Lots of tension (for good and ill) has already been established
in one way or another on this station; maybe, with luck, something will
evolve there.  I realize that the economic argument puts the odds against any
heavy serialization, but I'm not looking for soap-opera twists where
characters pair off with different people every four shows; I'm looking for
characters that respond to important stimuli for longer than it takes the VCR
to rewind the tape I'm putting the show on.  (And unfortunately, with a few
exceptions only, TNG doesn't do that.  It's my biggest complaint.)

Getting away from characters and onto the story that set them up, I think
it'd make sense to compare this to "Encounter at Farpoint", which had to
serve the same purpose in introducing us to a set of characters.  EaF managed
to give us a very reasonable introduction to all the regulars (perhaps
excepting Worf, who got short shrift), but had an absolutely sledgehammer-
heavy story that moved at a snail's pace and beat us over the head with a
Moral Theme-o-the-Week. 

"Emissary" gave us at least as good an introduction to the characters, and,
wonder of wonders, managed to establish some important ongoing plot points
while *also* giving us a story that moved at a decent clip.  (Not that it was
perfect, mind you...but I'll get to that.)  Going through the show piece by
piece, here are certain bits that stood out one way or the other:

The flashback prologue on the Saratoga was in-bloody-credible.  Although the
camerawork got a little *too* shaky for me at times, and the Saratoga seemed
to take a far longer time to be destroyed than the several other casualties
we saw, the scene packed quite a wallop.  (Its ending, with a very pissed
Sisko staring out into the starfield, was a great image.)  It provided the
backdrop for Sisko's anger at Picard much more than simply alluding to the
incident ever could. 

The fishing scene, as I said, did nothing for me, and the initial
"devastation" aboard DS9 had some good bits but was a little overdone for my
taste.  One good bit there was the initial mention of Picard wanting to see
Sisko.  "Oh, he does?" -- and Sisko moves right on to another topic. 
Understated -- nice.

The first Sisko/Kira scene worked mostly because of clashing personality
types and some snappy dialogue; the scene it set was a little routine,
though. 

The Picard/Sisko scene was one of two or three masterstrokes during the first
hour.  Others have accused Picard of being a very humorless and dry person,
and in general I strongly disagree.  However, given that this was all from
Sisko's perspective, Picard *should* have seemed a lot more distant than he
usually does, and both Stewart and director David Carson did a good job of
showing it.  The necessary exposition to set up the story was there, but was
secondary, which was a good move; any scene where that was the primary goal
would have been deathly dull.  *Very* good.  (It also had a great line that
shows the different approach the show will take:  "Unfortunately, Starfleet
officers do not always have the luxury to serve in an _ideal_ environment." 
Given the cushy digs we always see on the TNG Enterprise, there had certainly
been some question of that.)

I've already mentioned the "Quark plea-bargaining" scene, which was great --
particularly Odo's final line.  The Sisko/Kira "getting one's hands dirty"
scene did nothing, though; routine conflict that didn't do much beyond
advance the plot. 

The bits with Opaka were stilted early on, then better once they got
underground to the "orb" [anybody want to tell me why they're calling
something that's hourglass-shaped an orb?].  The flashback was again superb. 
Felecia Bell was okay as Jennifer, but the scene really owed most of its
strength to Brooks.  The post-flashback bits with Opaka get a little *too*
mystical for my taste, but did a fairly good job of setting up the "real"
plot of the show.

Bashir and Dax's arrival was nice, along with the subsequent scenes.  I'm
very curious to hear a lot more about Sisko and Dax's past experiences
together.  Dax's flashback looked incomprehensible to those who hadn't seen
"The Host", and didn't seem to serve a whole lot of purpose for those who
had, so I'm skeptical there. 

The O'Brien-leaving-the-Enterprise scene was a direct parallel, I think, to
the Data/McCoy bits in "Encounter at Farpoint", and is one of the rare things
that suffers greatly by comparison.  Nothing about it felt right; not the
utter lack of regulars on the bridge [which would have been fine *if we'd
ever seen it before*; hint, hint], and not Picard's stilted farewell, which
rang false given that they've never seemed to know each other that well.  I
got more of a "passing the torch" sense from the Enterprise turning tail and
leaving right afterwards.

The Cardassian arrival worked well, mostly because Marc Alaimo plays a great
Cardassian.  (I wish they'd acknowledged that he played the very first one we
saw, though, and actually made this guy Gul Macet.)  The actual threats made
and points exchanged were very routine, but Alaimo and Brooks played off each
other so well that it didn't cause much of a problem. 

Dax's "discovery" of the wormhole's location was *way* too easy, even given
Dax's experience.  I'm sorry, but I have difficulty believing that Dax could
do in a few hours what nobody else had been able to do in months or years. 
It led into the extended sabotage setup, though, which was great.  (Shades of
"Casablanca" when Kira closed Quark down; I expected her to be vocally
"shocked, SHOCKED!" at the gambling.  :-) )  The end of that extended bit,
with O'Brien kicking the transporter to beam back Odo, was cute *once*; it
shouldn't be a habit.

After that, we hit the wormhole.  The scenes in it, with Brooks talking to
the aliens, were very strange, and very talky, and thus very risky to do in a
pilot like this.  Me -- I think it paid off; they're among my favorite scenes
of the show.  The point that humanity's "linearity" is all about the search
for "new questions"is one that's been made before, but one that in my view is
one that needs to be made a lot *more* than it is.  And while the eventual
point the aliens make to him ("don't live in the past") isn't particularly
tough to spot, it's played and developed very well.  I'm extremely satisfied
with this whole section. 

(On that, I think I've also figured out an answer to a question that was
bugging me.  Lisa and I tried to figure out while watching why they might
have wanted Sisko and not Dax; what we eventually came up with was that
Sisko, living physically and mentally in two different times at the moment,
was the closest analogue to themselves they could find.  Ideas?)

The technobabble surrounding the wormhole and the station moving to its edge
didn't do very much for me, and the bits with linear time had some
inconsistencies.  (The line, "It must be destroyed, *before* it destroys us,"
for instance, doesn't make any sense coming from the aliens, unless they have
at least a rudimentary sense of linear time.  They clearly do, based on other
things they say, but that gets a bit muddled.)

The Cardassian threat after Dukat's ship vanishes is no big deal, mostly
because Gul Jasad is among the least interesting Cardassians I've ever seen,
including nonspeaking roles.  :-)  The actor looked like he'd be more at home
playing a Chicago thug in "The Untouchables"; get him out of that snarling
idiot mode.  It didn't help that it set up a long speech from Kira that only
partially worked, too.

Finally, the resolution is nice, except that I'd expect Sisko to still have
at least a *bit* of residual hostility left towards Picard, even after his
experiences in the wormhole.  It was almost fine, but rankled just slightly.

That's a bit more piecemeal a commentary than I'd planned, but so be it. 
Most of the problems I saw above are ones I'd more or less expected; nothing
is perfect when it first comes out of the gate.  I'm sure the show will
change as this season progresses; if it changes in the "right" ways, we've
got a nice piece of work on our hands.

Some short takes:

-- I didn't see a listing on who composed the opening theme anywhere, but I
want to know.  I'm not thrilled with the DS9 music I've heard so far, and the
theme doesn't inspire one to greatness.  It's adequate, but no more.

-- Quark:  "I love a woman in uniform."  Lisa:  "Uh-oh, we've got a very
*kinky* Ferengi on our hands..."  ;-)

-- The FX budget is clearly very large.  I wonder how often they're going to
be able to use Odo's shapeshifting ability.  My hunch is not very often; with
luck, that means they'll arrange very few situations where it'd make sense to
use, rather than spontaneously forgetting he's on board or conveniently
arranging a power loss with some form of "Odonite".

That's it.  On the whole, this was a very promising beginning.  If things
develop well, this look at the "downtrodden side" of the Federation and
Starfleet (a la _The Renegades of Pern_, perhaps) could be very interesting. 
The characters and situations are there; now let's see what they can do.

So, the numbers:

Plot:  8.  Some bits of strained credulity, but not many; and in a situation
like this, the plot has to be arranged to introduce the characters
anyway.
Plot Handling:  8.  A few slow bits, but mostly snappy in pace.
Characterization:  8.  Kira's a *little* too annoying, and Jake needs work;
the rest look good.

TOTAL:  8.  A promising start.  Let's see where it goes.

Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
BITNET:  tlynch@citjulie
INTERNET:  tlynch@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP:  ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.caltech.edu@hamlet.caltech.edu
"You know, I didn't think I was going to like him..."
-- Odo, on Sisko
--
Copyright 1993, 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.

Related Links:

Where to Watch - Local channels and airtimes.
VHS, Laserdisc and DVD availability.

Cast:

Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko™
Rene Auberjonois as Odo™
Terry Farrell as Jadzia Dax™
Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko™
Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien™
Armin Shimerman as Quark™
Siddig El Fadil as Dr. Julian Bashir™
Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys™

Guest Cast:

Patrick Stewart as Locutus
Camille Saviola as Kai Opaka
Felecia Bell as Jennifer Sisko
Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat
Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Creative staff:

Director: David Carson
Story By: Michael Piller & Rick Berman
Teleplay By: Michael Piller