Comments on: Retro Review: Armageddon Game

By: Robert Clements

Robert Clements — Thu, 31 May 2012 07:23:00 +0000

The problem is: DS9 becomes the series hardcore Niners love in season 3, though there are certainly fore-shadowings (Duet, Necessary Evil, etc). From other comments, i suspect that Michelle is as much a Niner as i am; but that she’s struggling with these early, TNG-style episodes. They can be frustrating if you’ve fallen in love with DS9 eventually became

(Of course for non-Niners, these more traditional episodes are the good stuff)

For the record, i have more time for Armageddon Game than Michelle does. It’s an obvious narrative with obvious holes but the writers found a way to force O’Brien & Bashir together here. It works ok without being earth-shattering & sets up better stories in the future

By: Groov99

Groov99 — Tue, 29 May 2012 13:15:00 +0000

I liked the Airplane reference. But you forgot that at the end of the episode O”Brien drinks coffee at the exact time that he would have been in the recording. So the whole reason for the trip back was worthless.

By: hostile_17

hostile_17 — Sun, 27 May 2012 22:46:00 +0000

She probably doesn’t like the episodes that aren’t very good.

A strange concept of course.

By: ASM

ASM — Sun, 27 May 2012 22:32:00 +0000

I get the feeling you don’t really like DS9 at all

By: AirElephant

AirElephant — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:48:00 +0000

I agree with the assessment, in that it was a fairly weak episode, but you have to also give the writers a bit of wiggle-room. This was still early in the series’ run (Season Two) and I think they were still figuring out what to do with the Bashir character. I think many would agree that Bashir was a pretty unpleasant fellow in the first season, where his arrogance and amorous pursuit of Dax were somewhat off-putting.

I think this was the point at which they started experimenting with the Bashir/O’Brien relationship in an attempt to soften Bashir’s image and humanize him more. (It took a long time for me to really ‘like’ the Bashir character.) Having O’Brien, who really disliked Bashir, gradually warm to him after some of these personal revelations was a fairly subtle way to help the audience accept Bashir better than they had up to this point. To be fair, it’d still be awhile before Bashir was warm and likable, but I think they eventually got there.

The one character that you mention, though, that I always felt was thinly written was Keiko. This is a rare episode that allowed the actress to show that she really cared for, and understood, her husband. The recognition of her husband’s habit of drinking Raktajino (or was it coffee?) at a specific time of day struck me as something that only a woman who truly cared for her husband would remember. I found that in most episodes, Keiko was more of a harridan who focused too often on O’Brien’s negative traits, so this was a welcome opportunity to see their affection for one another. (I really did dislike the Keiko character, though. O’Brien may have been a man-child at times, but he was an incredibly loyal, devoted, and hard-working husband and too often Keiko would just shred him with biting comments. Ugh.)