Star Trek: Dax

Episode: "Dax"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 1, Episode 8

Original Air Date: February 13, 1993

via Memory Alpha

Jadzia Dax is put on trial for crimes Curzon Dax is accused of committing 30 years before.  This is the first important Dax episode, exploring the long-term responsibilities of a symbiotic life form: is the host responsible for the previous actions of the symbiont?  While this could be dismissed as in-universe morality, the story raises questions about our own penal system.  Do we punish merely as a vehicle for vengeance or a need to place blame?  Is reform even a consideration?

With "Dax," you can feel DS9 beginning to find its way.  Star Trek, more than most pop culture enterprises, is defined by its moral landscape, staked out by principles for how we confront the other.  DS9 invites new questions for when "the other" becomes "our own."  Picard still maintains an emotional detachment in considering the marginalization of Data, Worf or Troi.  And there's still an uncomfortable presumption within NextGen that however much tolerance we have learned, humanness is still the ideal.

Deep Space Nine challenges all of that.  It begins with Sisko, a far more openly emotional leader than Picard.  His inclination to protect Dax is motivated more by personal loyalty - indeed, love - than professional responsibility.  And whatever inconvenience it has brought her in the moment, Dax's pride in being a Trill is never called into question.  In fact, it's celebrated.

The tenderness between Dax and Erina Tandro, a former lover of Curzon's, is genuinely touching, and provides a preview of a more important episode still to come.

Acting Notes

via Lostpedia

Fionnula Flanagan played the role of Erina Tandro, widow of Curzon's supposed murder victim.  Flanagan was born December 10, 1941 in Dublin.  She trained at the Abbey Theatre.

Flanagan is one of Ireland's most celebrated actors, having won the Irish Film & Television Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Maureen O'Hara Award.  She is best known for her roles in James Joyce's Women and The Others, for which she won a Saturn Award.  She won an Emmy for her performance in 1976's Rich Man, Poor Man.  She has one other Emmy nomination and two Tony nominations.

"Dax" is Flanagan's first of three Trek appearances on three different series as three different characters.

On the Coffee Table: Copper

Title: Copper

Writer and Artist: Kazu Kibuishi

via Goodreads

Copper is a web comic by Kazu Kibuishi, the creator of the Amulet series and other projects.  Each story is a Sunday newspaper-style comic strip.  Homages to the classics are clearly evident.  Copper's relationship with his dog Fred is highly reminiscent of that between Calvin and Hobbes, though Copper's older and mellower than Calvin and Fred's more pessimistic than Hobbes.  The jagged black strip against yellow of Charlie Brown's traditional garb is a frequent visual motif.  Fred is sort of the anti-Snoopy.  

Some of the strips are set in the "real world" but many inhabit trippy dreamscapes: a first-person shooter game (where Copper gets too caught up in admiring the scenery), a world of mushrooms, surreal abstraction.  In a couple of stories, they go surfing.  My two favorite strips are "Waterfall" and "Good Life," both CalvinHobbesesque tramps through the woods.  Kizuishi shares a love of funky flying contraptions with Hayao Miyazaki and I sense some artistic influence as well.

I would describe the driving philosophy as happy fatalism which I learned of years ago from John Irving's Hotel New Hampshire.  According to Irving: "The way the world worked was not cause for some sort of blanket cynicism or sophomoric despair... the way the world worked – which was badly – was just a strong incentive to live purposefully, and to be determined about living well."

Kibuishi closes with an artistic process section, material I always enjoy.  

Overall, Copper is a fun, quick, rewarding read.

On the Coffee Table: The Valley of Fear

Title: The Valley of Fear

Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

via Wikipedia

The Valley of Fear was the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel.  It was originally serialized in the Strand Magazine from 1914-15, then published in book form in 1915.  Holmes and his faithful Watson investigate the murder of Mr. John Douglas of Birlstone.

As with the first two Holmes novels, the mystery's resolution involves a lengthy, multi-chapter backstory.  It is because of these segues that I generally don't care for Holmes in long form.  This time, Doyle takes us to Pennsylvania coal country to witness the exploits of the dreaded Scowrers, a union terrorist group based on the real-life Molly Maguires.  (I'm guessing Sir Arthur wasn't pro-labor.)  The Pennsylvania story isn't exactly bad.  If anything, it's more interesting than the main tale and its twist more satisfying.  It's just not what I want out of the Holmes experience.  However, I find it interesting that the Scotsman Doyle, as responsible as any for fueling the anglophilia of millions, had his own romantic fascination with the rough American backcountry.  

Allusions to Moriarty are also rather clumsily tacked on to the narrative.  Overall, I'll be glad to get back to what I hope is the tidier work of the last two Holmes short story collections.  

Squid Cooks: Pierogies and Kielbasa

Pierogies and Kielbasa, two Polish classics, better together.  For those who don't know, a pierogi is a stuffed dumpling, stuffed in our case with potato and cheese.  Kielbasa is a broad category of Polish sausages, though typified in the United States by a standard U shape.   I followed Jennifer's recipe at Plowing Through Life, which also includes sautéed onions and heaps of butter.  It was easy to make and tasty, too.

My question for the blogosphere for next time: any tips for keeping the frozen pierogies from falling apart when separating?  I lost a few in the thawing.

Star Trek: Face of the Enemy

Episode: "Face of the Enemy"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 6, Episode 14

Original Air Date: February 8, 1993

via Memory Alpha

Deanna Troi is kidnapped by N'Vek, a member of Spock's underground Romulan resistance organization. She has been surgically altered to appear Romulan and finds herself aboard a Romulan warbird, purpose unclear even as N'Vek barks instructions at her.  She is forced to aid a plot to smuggle defectors.  

This is a highly contrived concept, even by Star Trek standards.  The explanation for why Troi, in particular, is required for the mission requires too much.  Also, I've read enough spy novels to see that putting someone in a situation like this unwillingly with no briefing or training has inevitable disaster written all over it.

Yet, somehow, "Face of the Enemy" works.  If it's not the best Troi episode, it's on an awfully short list.  She gets to be a badass!  She sorts out her cover on the fly as she is confronted by Toreth (Carolyn Seymour), the commander on the Romulan ship.  We see Troi's discomfort in the role of ruthless intelligence officer and we cheer her on as she finds her footing.  The viewer can't help wondering how they might handle the situation in her shoes.

Seymour is wonderful as Toreth, though there was briefly another plan for the character.  Teleplay writer Naren Shankar suggested inviting Joanne Linville to reprise her role from TOS's best third-season episode, "The Enterprise Incident."  Linville was unavailable.  Seymour got the job.  Fortunately there's room enough in the galaxy for more than one awesome female Romulan commander.

Acting Notes

via Dexter Wiki

Scott MacDonald (N'Vek) was born October 24, 1959 in Libby, Montana.  He received a Bachelor's degree from Washington State University and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.  "Face of the Enemy" is his second of twelve Trek appearances as five different characters in four different series.  Most significantly, he played Commander Dolim for eight episodes on Enterprise.  

Other television work includes Threshold, Carnivàle and Dexter.  His highest-profile big screen role was the title character in Jack Frost.  

Squid Cooks: Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs

Wife is out of town and daughter has an intense summer job which leaves me 100% in charge of the kitchen for the week.  What to do, what to do...  It's time to break out Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything: The Basics.

Bittman's recipe for Peanutty Chicken Kebabs won't do as I am allergic to peanuts.  His Mediterranean Chicken Kebabs variation, on the other hand, sounded delightful.  It's probably best I made my first attempt at such a dish with my wife and her Lebanese sensibilities out of the house anyway.

I made an early mistake.  The recipe calls for "boneless, skinless chicken thighs."  I got boneless but not skinless which made cutting it up more of a pain.  I definitely did not achieve proper cubes.

Fortunately, the end result was fine.  Some things for next time, beyond getting the right chicken cut:

• Marinate for longer.  I need to get in a better habit with that across the board.  Today, I was trying to do the shopping and cooking in one day.  The smarter thing would have been to shop one day, then do the marinade in the morning of the next.
• Grilling would have been better than broiling.  I already knew that but I was better equipped for broiling.  Plus, it rained all afternoon so grilling would have been out anyway.
• Broiling would have worked better if I had set the rack higher in the oven - and therefore closer to the heat - from the beginning.  I moved it up for the last five minutes but probably should have done it sooner.

Even so, it was a serviceable meal.  Definitely worth trying again and better some time.

Star Trek: Q-Less

Episode: "Q-Less"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 1, Episode 7

Original Air Date: February 6, 1993

via Memory Alpha

Our old friends Vash and Q show up after archaeological adventures in the Gamma Quadrant.  Vash schemes with Quark to sell off her plunder while Q taunts Sisko.  Meanwhile, the station is falling apart.  The crew blame Q, though the omnipotent one denies all responsibility.

Not my favorite so far.  I don't exactly like either Vash or Q.  However, "Q-Less" is a good Quark episode as he and Vash play off one another brilliantly.  Furthermore, even harsh critics agree that the story's undeniably satisfying highlight is Sisko decking Q in a bare-knuckle boxing match.  

Seriously, why couldn't they have found a less cumbersome term for the standard currency than gold-pressed latinum?

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Nana Visitor (Kira) was born Nana Tucker, July 26, 1957 in New York City.  She is the niece of Cyd Charisse.  Prior to DS9, she made several guest appearances on high-profile television series, including Night Court, Matlock and Thirtysomething.

Visitor has been married three times, her second marriage to DS9 co-star Alexander Siddig.  She has two children, one by each of her first two husbands.  More on that story to come...