Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 2-11: Rivals

Episode:

31

|

Writer:

Joe Menosky

|

Air Date:

02-Jan-1994

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm finally writing some thoughts about Deep Space Nine's Rivals. Not Relics or Rascals or whatever else my brain keeps telling me to type.

I'm not getting back into writing about 26 DS9 episodes a year, because that turned out to be work, but I hope to throw in the occasional episode every now and then. Rivals is perhaps not the DS9 episode most people would pick to write about if they could only choose one, but I promised I'd get around to it eventually so I feel like I owe it to you. Even though I promised it way back in January 2018.

Another reason I picked this one to write about is because it's the next episode after Sanctuary, so it means I haven't skipped any yet. By the way the intro to my Sanctuary review has gotten hilarious wrong in the meantime, and it's getting a little more wrong all the time:

"There will never be more episodes of Trek airing in a year ever again. Unless Discovery gets three spin-offs and they're all released simultaneously."

2019 won't be breaking 1993's 55 episode record, but with Discovery, Short Treks, Picard and Lower Decks in production, plus the other cartoon, the Section 31 spin-off, and a possible Starfleet Academy series on the horizon, it seems possible we'll soon be getting more Trek episodes a year than ever before.

Rivals was the first Star Trek episode to air in 1994 by the way. 1994 was an important time for Deep Space Nine as it was the year that Star Trek: The Next Generation ended, leaving DS9 to represent the franchise entirely on its own... for a dozen episodes or so. Then Voyager started up and got all the attention. DS9 also got its very own nemesis that year, as Babylon 5's first season started airing a few weeks after this episode. (At least that's how it worked out in the US. For folks watching Trek on BBC 2 in the UK, Babylon 5 beat DS9 to television by over a year.)

Anyway there'll be SPOILERS for the whole damn episode below, and I'll probably end up spoiling something from an earlier episode of Star Trek as well. I mean an episode that aired earlier, not an episode from one of the prequels. No Discovery or Enterprise spoilers here.

Babylon 5 2-07: Soul Mates

Episode:

29

|

Writer:

Peter David

|

Air Date:

14-Dec-1994

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching episodes out of DVD order again, as I've left Soul Mates until after A Race Through Dark Places. They aired the other way around in the US, as the network wanted to move an episode to an earlier air date and Race's VFX shots wouldn't have been finished in time, but this is their correct production and story order.

Why does it matter to you what order I'm watching the episodes in? Well it affects the SPOILERS you're going to be getting, as I avoid spoiling things that happen in later episodes, for the sake of people who haven't seen the rest of the series yet (or have forgotten it all), but as far as I'm concerned Race Through Dark Places has already been and gone, and is now fair game. Also, I'm going to recap this whole episode as I give my thoughts about it, so I'll be spoiling the hell out of it too.

Babylon 5 2-06: Spider in the Web

Episode:

28

|

Writer:

Lawrence DiTillio

|

Air Date:

07-12-1994

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'll be figuratively talking all over Babylon 5 episode Spider in the Web (or A Spider in the Web according to the DVD box). I wouldn't worry about seeing any actual spiders turn up though judging by the current run of episode titles, as A Distant Star had nothing to do with stars, distant or otherwise, The Long Dark only lasted 42 minutes, and The Geometry of Shadows had a disappointing absence of... geometry.

This is the first episode of season two to be written by executive story editor Larry DiTillio and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. The guy's episodes were all over the place on my entirely subjective season one rankings, as I placed Eyes up near the top, and TKO and Born to the Purple way way down at the bottom. But only one person wrote more Babylon 5 episodes than DiTillio and that's creator JMS himself, though after this I've only got two more stories of his left to watch before his boss took ever entirely.

It's also the first episode of any season to be directed by Kevin G. Cremin and I'm not sure if that's a good thing either. Though after scrolling through the episode list and checking out the other four stories he directed I'm thinking that signs are promising.

I'll be writing commentary under screencaps from the DVD, so there'll be SPOILERS here for this whole episode and probably a few of the ones that lead up to it. That's as far as the spoilers go though, I'll not give away anything that happens afterwards.

Babylon 5 2-05: The Long Dark

Episode:

27

|

Writer:

Scott Frost

|

Air Date:

30-Nov-1994

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures it's episode 27 of Babylon 5! I'm going to watch it, take some screencaps and write stuff underneath them, same as usual. Well rewatch it really, as I've seen this whole series before.

The Long Dark is both the first and last Babylon 5 episode written by a guy called Scott Frost who I know nothing about. Wikipedia tells me he wrote two episodes of Twin Peaks, which may be a good sign, and two episodes from the last seasons of Andromeda, which probably isn't. It's also the first episode directed by Mario Di Leo, who didn't do a whole lot of B5 either.

There will be SPOILERS past this point for this episode and earlier ones, but I won't spoil anything that comes after it. Though I might spoil a tiny bit about the movie Aliens.

Babylon 5 2-04: A Distant Star

Episode:

26

|

Writer:

D.C. Fontana

|

Air Date:

23-Nov-1994

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm continuing my descent into season 2 of Babylon 5 with the fourth episode: A Distant Star.

This is the first episode this season written by someone other than creator J. Michael Straczynski and the last B5 script from OG Star Trek veteran D.C. Fontana. There'll be a lot of 'last script's coming up over the next few months, as the series became too serialised for outside writers to produce standalone stories any more. That seems like a strange situation seeing as modern serialised TV series are written by multiple writers just fine, but I guess most of them haven't got an elaborate five year arc planned out in advance.

Okay what I'll be doing here is taking a few screencaps from the episode and then writing my commentary underneath, so this will include SPOILERS for the entire episode. I'll also be talking about the episodes leading up to it, so there'll be spoilers for them too. But as far as I'm concerned it's November 1994 right now so I can't say anything about what's coming next.

Babylon 5 2-03: The Geometry of Shadows

Episode:

25

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

16-Nov-1994

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm ankle deep into the second season of cult sci-fi epic Babylon 5, watching the third episode: The Geometry of Shadows.

The title makes it seem like it should be a big episode in the overall arc, seeing as the season is called The Coming of Shadows, but I don't think that's the case. In fact I've got a strong feeling that this is the one with the wizards and the eternal conflict of green vs. purple. Either way I'm sure it'll be watchable as it's the first episode to be directed by Mike Vejar, who became one of the series' top tier directors. I'm expecting interesting shots this time and I'll be disappointed if I don't get them.

This is yet another episode written by series creator J. Michael Straczynski, but he took a break after this one to let other writers like D.C. Fontana and Peter David have a turn. They came a time where he went entirely insane and decided to write all 22 episodes each year by himself, but at this point he was only writing half of them, like in season one. So he was only half crazy.

Alright I'm going to take screencaps and write my commentary underneath, so expect SPOILERS for everything up to and including this episode. Speaking of spoilers and commentary, this is one of the few episodes to actually get a DVD commentary track, by actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle and Claudia Christian (the full command staff). It pretty good if you want to hear three people joking around and enjoying themselves for 40 minutes while saying very little about what they're watching, but they do mention a few things about later episodes, so you should probably stay well clear if you haven't seen the entire five years yet.

Babylon 5 2-02: Revelations

Episode:

24

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

09-Nov-1994

---

This week on Sci-Fi Adventures I thought I'd go crazy and watch an episode of Babylon 5 for a change.

Revelations is the second episode of the second season, it's written by creator J. Michael Straczynski, uh... Jim Johnston's the director, he's done some decent episodes. Hmm, not sure what else to write here. I hope it's good!

I'll be going through the whole episode in DVD screencaps and writing my commentary as I go, so this is going to have massive SPOILERS for both this story and earlier ones. Anything that happens afterwards is off-limits though, I won't even hint at where things are going from here.

Babylon 5 2-01: Points of Departure

Episode:

23

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

02-Nov-1994

---

I've decided that Sci-Fi Adventures needs more variety, so this year I'm planning to feature more TV series and cover less episodes of them. I can't watch entire 26 episode seasons of multiple series and fit them all into 12 months, there aren't enough hours and I write too slowly.

But I can watch 22 episodes of one series, so right now I'm committing myself to giving you reviews of Babylon 5 season two in its entirety, starting with Points of Departure!

I usually mention here that I'll be writing SPOILERS for this episode and earlier ones, but I should also point out that the DVD box art, the DVD menu, the DVD episode list and the region 1 DVD opening credits all spoil Delenn's condition after the events of the season one finale (I'm being as vague as I can here). So if you haven't see the series yet, you should probably wear a blindfold while purchasing, handling and watching season two DVDs, at least for the first couple of episodes.

Oh and stay way clear of the commentary tracks until you've seen the entire series, all five seasons of it.

Stargate: Director's Cut

Written by:

Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin

|

Directed by:

Roland Emmerich

|

Release Date:

1994

---

Welcome to Ray Hardgrit's Sci-Fi Adventures, review number, uh, 70 I think. Wow, that's a lot higher than I thought it'd be, seeing as I took the last 6 weeks off. I should apologise for that by the way... but I won't. Because vanishing for months after a season finale is the most sci-fi thing in the world.

It's April 1st by the way, unless you're reading this in the future, which means that my little science fiction blog is a year old today! So this is basically the start of Sci-Fi Adventures Season Two, where the writing gets more confident, the ideas get less dumb, and the protagonist (me) grows a beard. Or maybe the production values will go to shit, the gimmicks will get more desperate, it'll end on clip show and then get cancelled.

I was trying to think of something special to watch for my season premiere, but then I remembered that I already announced my next review back in February, so instead I'm stuck watching the original 1994 Stargate movie! I'm saying it's the 'original' movie because it kicked the franchise off, and because I'm worried that someday Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin are finally going to get their sequel off the ground and we shall all bear witness to what the Stargate equivalent of Independence Day: Resurgence looks like. I'm not hyped.

I've only seen this film the once, back when it existed on its own without even a single spin-off series, and I don't remember being impressed. I don't remember disliking it either though. In fact I barely remember it at all, so I'm curious to rediscover what actually happens in this movie. Unfortunately I don't have the Blu-ray version, so I can't offer you the greatest of screencaps to go along with my commentary, but on the plus side I do have a cardboard DVD box that folds out into a pyramid! I'd show you a photo, but that means bending the flaps to slot it together and I don't really want to.

The following text will contain epic SPOILERS for the entirety of this movie, but I'm considering the TV series to be off-limits. Well I might mention some characters and drop terms like 'Jaffa' but nothing worse than that.

Babylon 5 1-22: Chrysalis

Episode:

22

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

03-Oct-1994

---

This is it. When I wrote about Babylon 5's pilot movie The Gathering back in April last year I also committed to rewatching all 22 episodes from season one along with it, but this is the last of them. Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching Babylon 5's first season finale, Chrysalis!

That's the same establishing shot of the station that Midnight on the Firing Line used under its title as well by the way, which kind of works as they bookend the season. Speaking of titles, this seems to be the only episode of Babylon 5 that shares a title with a Deep Space Nine episode (though B5's Between the Darkness and the Light and DS9's The Darkness and the Light come really close). B5's Chrysalis came first if you're wondering.

I'll be recapping the story and sharing my thoughts as I go so this'll have SPOILERS for Chrysalis and likely other first season episodes too, but I'll spoil nothing about what comes after so this'll be safe if you're on your first viewing. Though I wouldn't recommend listening to the DVD commentary on your first time through.

Babylon 5 1-17: Legacies

Episode:

17

|

Writer:

D. C. Fontana

|

Air Date:

20-Jul-1994

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm recapping and reviewing episode 17 of Babylon 5's first season, Legacies! I should be up to episode 21, but I already watched that one a while back because the internet told me to. The Lurker's Guide Master List page to be specific.

So this is where I'm at:

20 - Babylon Squared
21 - The Quality of Mercy
14 - TKO
17 - Legacies
22 - Chrysalis

I'm telling you this because I'll likely be throwing out SPOILERS for the earlier episodes as well, and when you move an episode right to the end of a season, everything becomes an earlier episode. But I'll not spoil a thing about the season finale Chrysalis or anything that comes after it, no matter how much I want to.

Babylon 5 1-14: TKO

Episode:

14

|

Writer:

Larry DiTillio

|

Air Date:

25-May-1994

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They've finally chosen something more interesting than a stock space station shot to show the title over!

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm watching TKO, which is either the 14th or the 20th episode of Babylon 5's first season, depending on whether you're going off the US airing/DVD order or the Master List order found on the Lurker's Guide website.

Or you could follow the original UK airing order I suppose. TKO was considered to be too violent for Channel 4's usual 6pm slot, so it was delayed until 10.30pm... three months after the season finale. It aired so late that it was basically leading into season 2, as a trial to make sure only the truly faithful would stick around to witness B5's ascent to greatness.

Personally I've been following the Master List, which jumbles up the episode numbers like so:

20 - Babylon Squared
21 - The Quality of Mercy
14 - TKO
17 - Legacies
22 - Chrysalis

You might be wondering why you should care, considering that you can read my posts in any order you feel like. Well, when I recap and review an episode I don't just spoil the hell out of it, I also throw in SPOILERS for the episodes that came before it. If an episode gets pushed forward that means there's more behind it to potentially get spoiled.

Babylon 5 1-21: The Quality of Mercy

Episode:

21

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

17-Aug-1994

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm rewatching The Quality of Mercy, the penultimate episode of Babylon 5 season one! But the Lurker's Guide Master List claims that it fits better before TKO and Legacies as they have more of a connection to the season finale, and I'm willing to go with that.

So this is how the end of season one looks to me:

20 - Babylon Squared
21 - The Quality of Mercy
14 - TKO
17 - Legacies
22 - Chrysalis

I'm tempted to change my mind and put it back to the airing order so that I don't have to watch TKO at all... but TKO aired after Chrysalis in the UK so either way I can't escape it!

I'll be recapping the whole episode and throwing in my comments along the way, but I'll also be throwing in SPOILERS for earlier episodes so be warned. Everything that comes after it is safe though, even TKO, not that it's really possible to spoil that any worse that it already is.

Babylon 5 1-20: Babylon Squared

Episode:

20

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

10-Aug-1994

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm sharing my thoughts on Babylon Squared, the 20th episode of Babylon 5's first season.

Babylon Squared is notable for a number of reasons: the name kind of looks like 'Babylon 5' if you take the 'QUARED' bit off, it's one of only three episodes in the whole five year run with a 'Q' in it, and it's really really important for the ongoing arc. This is one of the big episodes in the first year that puts the foundations down for later seasons to build on. Doesn't mean that it's going to be good mind you, but I don't remember disliking it. In fact I'm optimistic.

In a shocking adherence to tradition, I'm going to show a bunch of screencaps from the episode, write a bit of text explaining what's happening and make some snarky comments. This means there's going to be SPOILERS all over the place, even for episodes that aired earlier, though I won't even hint at anything that happens after it.

Babylon 5 1-19: A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 2

Episode:

19

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

03-Aug-1994

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm rewatching part two of Babylon 5's A Voice in the Wilderness. It seems weird to split the episodes into two separate posts, but I split up all of Doctor Who's two-parters so it's only fair. Plus watching this as its own episode means I get to put that picture of a spaceship up there and feel like I'm reviewing a lost Babylon 5 video game.

In Greek mythology Hyperion was one of the twelve kids of Gaia and Uranus, so it'd make sense to find them in space. But the ship's actually named after hyperion.com, the original home of the Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. The Hyperion might look kind of basic compared to modern TV CGI and the textures are a bit fuzzy, but I assure you it was cutting edge for 1994 technology. I mean it's got eight USB ports down the side!

Okay, I'm going to be recapping and commenting on the whole episode, which means SPOILERS under every screencap, but I'll only be spoiling the episodes that came before, not ones that come after.

Babylon 5 1-18: A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 1

Episode:

18

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

27-Jul-1994

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I'm rewatching the first half of A Voice in the Wilderness, Babylon 5's first two-parter! This is a rare event, as there's only two of these in the entire five year run. I guess after War Without End the series had gotten so serialised that labelling multi-part stories seemed redundant. That's another thing B5 has in common with DS9 if you're keeping count: no numbered two parters after season 3.

I remember this one being a highlight of the first season, but it's been ages since I've seen the series, so I could always be wrong. I was way off with Eyes the other day for instance, which was much better than I expected. Maybe I'm due for a let down.

You might be wondering why I skipped over episode 17, Legacies. I will get around to it, but I'm following the Lurker's Guide Master List instead of the order they aired in, so I plan to watch it right before the season finale.

18 - A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 1
19 - A Voice in the Wilderness, Part 2
20 - Babylon Squared
21 - The Quality of Mercy
14 - TKO
17 - Legacies

I'm going to be recapping the whole of AVitW,P1 with screencaps and SPOILERS so don't be surprised if I mention things that happened in earlier episodes. Everything that comes after will remain unspoiled though, including the second half of this two-parter.

Babylon 5 1-16: Eyes

Episode:

16

|

Writer:

Lawrence DiTillio

|

Air Date:

13-Jul-1994

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm rewatching Eyes, the 16th episode aired in Babylon 5's first season, but the last one filmed. It's right where it needs to be though, continuity-wise.

I don't remember what I thought about this first time around, but the clues seem to be suggesting that it wasn't one of my favourites. It's not a J. Michael Straczynski episode, I don't think it has much impact on any of the story arcs, and I don't remember it. Plus it's by Jim Johnston, the director of Soul Hunter... though to be fair he also did Parliament of Dreams and By Any Means Necessary, both of which I liked.

I'm going to recap the whole story and there may be SPOILERS for earlier episodes as well, but I won't say a word about anything that comes after.

Babylon 5 1-15: Grail

Episode:

15

|

Writer:

Christy Marx

|

Air Date:

06-Jul-1994

---

Today on Super Adventures, I'm going to rewatch Grail, the 15th episode of Babylon 5 season 1! Or maybe the 14th, if you're going off the Lurker's Guide Master List like I am.

The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5 has been around since ancient times collecting information on the series, such as posts made by creator JMS to Usenet, and analysing episodes as they aired. They also put together an alternate viewing order called the Master List to fix some continuity weirdness caused by delayed episodes that's been carried across to the DVD releases too. The changes seem to make sense to me and JMS has given the new ordering for the first couple of seasons his blessing, so I don't see any reason to stick with the airing order on my rewatch.

So here's where Grail fits in the list:

12 - By Any Means Necessary
13 - Signs and Portents
15 - Grail
16 - Eyes
18 - A Voice in the Wilderness (Part 1)

Basically the Master List has taken TKO out and kicked it down to later in the season. So this'll make absolutely no difference to the SPOILERS I'll be giving out in this particular episode recap... but things are going to get more complicated later in the series.

Babylon 5 1-13: Signs and Portents

Episode:

13

|

Writer:

J. Michael Straczynski

|

Air Date:

18-May-1994

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Today on Sci-Fi Adventures, I've reached a important milestone in my epic Babylon 5 rewatch: the start of disc four! There's only two discs left after this in my season one box set and then I'm through with it.

Speaking of the box set, there's some interesting (and relevant) text at the bottom of the cover. You see every season of Babylon 5 has its own overall title, named after an especially important and game changing episode from that year, and the title printed on season one's box is...  

It's been a long while since I've seen this though so I'll try to keep my hype down to boring levels. It'd better be good though. It'd better be really good, or else I'm... throwing disc four out the window. In fact I've just checked what other episodes are on it and that's starting to seem like a good idea either way. Grail and TKO on the same disc? Damn.

The DVD also features a commentary for this episode by writer JMS and if you haven't seen the entire series before I'd recommend staying way clear of it until you have. They forgot to mention on the box that it's filled with spoilers for later episodes.

Speaking of SPOILERS, I'm going to be going through the episode scene by scene, so turn back now if you haven't seen it yet and care about such things. I'll also be spoiling some earlier episodes, but later episodes are strictly off limits.

Babylon 5 1-12: By Any Means Necessary

Episode:

12

|

Writer:

Kathryn M. Drennan

|

Air Date:

11-May-1994

---

Today on Sci-Fi Adventures I'm rewatching By Any Means Necessary, the first episode of the second half of Babylon 5 season one! My long nightmare is halfway over.

Actually to be honest it hasn't been a great hardship getting this far and even the bad episodes have been more watchable than I remembered. Definitely not the worst sci-fi season one I've seen. I guess it helps that I know all the characters, the setting and where the story's going this time around, but the same's true of Deep Space Nine and what I've been watching of that seems really aimless by comparison. B5's not been particularly heavy on the continuity either to be fair, but DS9 season one seems to have forgotten everything set up in its pilot besides 'we're on a space station with a swirly thing outside'.

The following text will contain SPOILERS for this and previous episodes, so proceed with caution.