Plot Summary: A Klingon vessel comes through the wormhole and explodes just as one of its officers beams himself to Deep Space Nine, proclaims victory, and dies of his injuries. Sisko, who is already perturbed because of Kira’s protests that Valerian ships should not be allowed to dock at the station until Bajor can investigate whether the Valerians are providing weapons material to the Cardassians, orders Dax and O’Brien to find out what happened to the Klingons. Quark tells Odo he heard that the Klingon scientists had discovered something to make enemies of the Empire tremble, but before Odo can report on this, his head appears to split in two and he screams in pain. Bashir is able to revive him but Odo finds that the doctor has suddenly become obsessed with tensions between Starfleet officers and Bajorans, particularly between Sisko and Kira. Meanwhile, O’Brien tells a distracted, nostalgic Dax that she had better remember her loyalties to Starfleet. They find the Klingon log recordings, which suggest that there was a mutiny aboard the ship. Meanwhile Kira approaches first Odo, then Dax, behaving in an unusually seductive manner, telling them she expects their support when she displaces Sisko over the Valerian situation. Quark overhears and, despite Kira’s threats, goes to warn Odo, who in turn seeks out Sisko. But the commander is hiding in his quarters, building a clock. Kira prevents the Valerian ship from leaving the station and cuts off all contact with Starfleet; O’Brien in turn cuts off contact with Bajor and sets out to sabotage Kira’s plans. In the Klingon logs, Odo learns that an ancient telepathic race left energy spheres discovered by the now-destroyed ship. He asks Bashir for help controlling the energy from the spheres brought to the station by the dead Klingon, convincing Bashir that this is the key to dominating whoever wins the station’s power struggle. Kira launches her plan against Sisko but Odo helps him and O’Brien to escape, convincing Kira all the while that they are heading into a trap. When he has the entire command crew in a cargo bay, Odo activates Bashir’s field to drive out the telepathic energy, restoring the crew to normal. Sisko agrees to overlook Kira’s attempted mutiny.

Analysis: I’ve never been much of a fan of “aliens alter the crew’s brains” episodes unless they’re played for humor – you know, the sort like “The Naked Now” where everyone wants to have sex with everybody else, which every sci-fi series does at least once, a cliche so memorable that it gets parodied in Galaxy Quest. Sadly, “Dramatis Personae” is not only deadly earnest, it’s also painfully reminiscent of The Next Generation‘s “Power Play.” (Is O’Brien always such a crankypants when he gets possessed? Couldn’t he be more like flirty Kira or dreamy Dax?) Yet again we see a story that could have happened on any Star Trek series – indeed, that has happened on other Star Trek series – and since it’s so early in the show’s run, it looks like the writers have so little confidence in the personalities they’ve created for the main cast that they’re already looking for excuses to warp them. We’ve already suffered through the aphasia virus with the crew, another instance in which Odo had to save the station. Admittedly “Dramatis Personae” is more fun than “Babel” because personality upheavals are more entertaining to watch than communication failures, but it feels like cheap, unoriginal gimmickry in place of storytelling and parodies of characters instead of characterization. Flaky Sisko, angry O’Brien, ditzy Dax, and let-me-try-your-drink-lieutenant Kira might be a refreshing break two seasons in, not when we’re getting to know the real things.

What’s fun about watching “Dramatis Personae” after the series’ run is the realization that the writers became so infatuated with some of these characters, they created an entire alternate universe for them. The ambitious Bashir and emotional Dax who will turn up over there make appearances here, and we see shades of the Intendant – a woman not afraid to use her charm and sexuality to get what she wants – in mutineer Kira. I love how she tests her charm on Odo, whom she already considers an ally, before prancing into the Promenade and hitting on Dax. There’s really no other word for it: she swipes a sip of Dax’s drink, finds excuses to touch Dax, gives Dax personal reasons for supporting her rebellion even as Dax is saying she thinks of Sisko as a son or a nephew or some other close relative, and only then does Kira get around to making threats. (Apparently it works, since Dax calls to warn Kira from Ops when Sisko is attacked and plans to kill Kira in retaliation.) It’s curious that Dax indeed is so easily swayed by Kira given that long history with Sisko, much less surprising that O’Brien becomes a jingoistic Starfleet defender through and through, and Bashir’s calculated refusal to commit until he can see which side will win makes me think he’s been studying Garak quite closely already.

It’s no surprise whatsoever that Odo can convince Kira she’s won him over even as he’s manipulating her and Sisko so he can remove the alien influence. When I first saw this episode, I was writing occasional reviews for Nana Visitor’s fan club newsletter, and I noted that I thought Odo had a bit of a crush on Kira. That turned out to be the understatement of the decade, but at the time I had little hope that the DS9 writers would do any better with potential series relationships than had TNG’s writers. Who knew that by the finale there would be four committed couples among the major crewmembers? It’s a pity we’re led to believe that the personality changes are random, rather than emphasizing either polar opposites in everyone or consistently bringing out traits that people have tried to suppress. I have no trouble believing that Dax could spend hours wallowing in nostalgia for her past lives and that Sisko wishes he could chuck all his responsibility and go build a clock while someone else runs the station (he keeps the clock, it appears throughout the rest of the series). But we’re not supposed to believe that Kira really wants violent insurrection, even though the source of her anger at Sisko exists before the Klingon arrives and apparently other Bajorans on the station are affected by the same concerns.

Kira’s personality changes the most dramatically, apparently to clue us in to the fact that while the source of the conflict may be the same, this is not the Kira we know. But how much more interesting if it were the Kira we know, just without filters! What if the writers had had the courage not to split her into Good Kira and Bad Kira the Intendant, but to let her embody all those elements as a single person. And what a cop-out that the Klingons are absolved of all responsibility since they supposedly found the telepathic energy spheres by accident, even though Quark has heard rumors that they tracked down and intend to use a powerful weapon. If this had been a test of the Klingon discovery – or better yet, if the Cardassians had found the spheres – it would add a far more interesting layer of conflict to what ends up being a meaningless crisis from a Gamma Quadrant species we will never get to know. On a first viewing I thought they’d be connected somehow to the Valerians and the weapons trade with the Cardassians, a situation that it never resolved, which I suppose means Sisko gets his way and Kira does not get to bring up the Bajoran concerns even though we get evidence that the aliens truly are providing materials for Cardassian weapons. The fun of watching Sisko call for Kira’s head and Kira hit on Dax can’t make up for the weaknesses in the story.

Paramount and video game maker Namco Bandai have announced a deal to co-publish and distribute a Star Trek video game for all major home consoles and the PC in the first quarter of next year.

“With our Namco Bandai partners leading the distribution effort, we are confident that we will meet an overwhelming demand to get this exciting console experience into the hands of gamers and Star Trek fans worldwide,” said LeeAnne Stables, Paramount’s executive vice president of worldwide marketing partnerships and head of the studio’s video game unit.”

The Star Trek video game is “based on a stand-alone storyline that continues the adventure of iconic characters Kirk and Spock as they work together to stop a legendary enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy.”

“The positive response from our initial unveiling at E3 [Electronic Entertainment Exposition] last year was unprecedented,” said Stables, “and we are fortunate to have the highest level of production and creative talent on our team that will bring this incredible game out to market next year.”

The Star Trek video game was seen in “pre-alpha phase” at 2011′s E3 and won much praise at the event.

The story for the Star Trek video game is being written by Marianne Krawczyk (God of War) in collaboration with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

For fans of both the Star Trek and the Doctor Who franchises, the news from IDW Publishing regarding a crossover comic series should make them happy.

In May, a Doctor Who/Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover comic series will be released.

The series will feature The Doctor, Rory, Amy, Captain Picard, Will Riker, Data, Geordie LaForge, Worf, Deanna Troi and more.

This will be the first officially sanctioned crossover for the Doctor Who universe. Star Trek has had crossovers with X-Men and the Legion of Superheroes, the latter of which is still in progress.

Star Trek 2‘s Chris Pine is happy to have Benedict Cumberbatch aboard for the J.J. Abrams sequel.

Pine was filled with praise for Cumberbatch. “Benedict is fantastic,” he said. “He’s just so good, He’s super talented, and we are more than grateful to have him onboard.”

“Benedict has got this intensity about him, and he’s obviously extremely intelligent and articulate,” said Pine. “His vocal quality is something else. He obviously is, unlike many of us, like, an actually trained actor. He actually studied for it.

“[You'll love] everything. He’s really talented. I think it’s all going to be love, a mad amount of love.”

Another Star Trek 2 newcomer, Alice Eve, is also thrilled to be working with Cumberbatch. “I’m very excited to work with him again,” she said. “He’s so very funny, Ben. I don’t know if you remember his character in Starter for 10, but he was so funny. Like King of the Geeks, but he did it so well, and I found a lot of that hard to get through because he was so funny. I like him very much.”

A third line of Hasbro’s Kre-O toys has been launched, and this line will be of interest to Star Trek fans.

Hasbro, Inc. has “entered into an agreement with CBS Consumer Products to manufacture and globally market a variety of products based on the Star Trek property beginning in 2013. The toy line will launch in support of the Star Trek movie sequel from Paramount Pictures, which will open May 17, 2013.”

“Leading the product offering from Hasbro will be a line of premium Kre-O Star Trek building sets featuring fantastical spaceships and legendary characters from the franchise. The Kre-O Star Trek sets will offer high-quality Kre-O bricks as well as new Kreon figures in the likeness of popular characters. Among its additional new play experiences, Hasbro will also offer robust line of roleplay toys for kids and fans to act out the intergalactic saga as well as select new figures.

“‘Hasbro and Star Trek have always been known as innovative brands,’ said Liz Kalodner, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Consumer Products. ‘Bringing them together in this new toy line will give fans of the entire Star Trek franchise new ways to experience the final frontier, including the first complete construction program.’”

More details regarding Hasbro’s Star Trek product offerings will be announced later.

A new episode of Star Trek Online will be released on Saturday, titled The 2800.

In The 2800, “the powers of the Alpha Quadrant gather at Deep Space Nine to plan a defense against the Borg when an unexpected guest arrives.”

That guest turns out to be the Jem’Hadar, the Dominion fleet of genetically engineered “super-soldiers.”

The next four episodes of the fourth season will then be released, on the next four Saturdays after the release of The 2800. The titles for those episodes are: Of Bajor, Operation Gamma, Facility 4028, and Boldly They Rode.

A preview video for The 2800 can be seen here.

Next week, the fifth issue in the Star Trek/Legion Of Superheroes comic series will be released.

In Star Trek/Legion Of Superheroes #5, “one team of Starfleet officers and Legionnaires in the distant past, where they encounter the force that erased both their timelines from existence.”

In an altered 23rd century though, “another team of Starfleet officers and Legionnaires comes face to face with the latter-day version of that same powerful force. Fully aware of how history was changed, both teams must confront the question of whether or not anything can be done to set things right.”

Star Trek/Legion Of Superheroes #5 was written by Chris Roberson, with art by Jeffrey and Philip Moy. Cover art was done by Phil Jiminez and Mike Allred. The issue is thirty-two pages in length and will cost $3.99.

Click on the thumbnails for larger images.

Sir Patrick Stewart may be seventy one years old, but he’s not even close to slowing down when it comes to acting or to living an active life.

Part of why he can keep going is his good health. Stewart is in better shape than many men much younger. “I remember years and years ago, working in rep in Sheffield or Liverpool, I heard an interview with Olivier, where he said that if you’re serious about acting Shakespeare, you’ve got to be as fit as an athlete,” said Stewart. “That really made an impression on me. I’d like to go on doing what I’m doing for as long as possible, and all the great roles, well, they’re marathons, not sprints.”

Although in good shape, Stewart realizes that time is marching on for him. The actor has coronary heart disease, diagnosed six years ago. “I’ve got to that point now,” he said, “where people say things like ‘This conjunction of the planets won’t be seen for another forty-five years,’ and I think, ‘hmm, there’s every chance that I won’t be around for that.’

“But the kind of wake-up call I got puts you in the frame of mind where you don’t want to waste a moment. And being an actor is like spending your life in the world’s most expensive nursery, especially when you’re doing something like X-Men. I can honestly say that I’m having more fun these days than I’ve ever had. A lot of it is to do with the work that I do, and a lot is to do with having got things sorted out better.”

Stewart is still living young, dating a woman in her thirties, and trying new physical activities one wouldn’t normally associate with a man in his seventies. “Two years ago I put on skis for the first time,” he said. “I’ve done it eight times now, and the last time I skied all the way down a … mountain. Going really fast. At seventy-one.”

Stewart will be appearing at the Young Vic in London in a revival of Edward Bond‘s 1973 play Bingo, in which he plays a depressed and drunken Shakespeare in semi-retirement in Warwickshire. Bingo runs from February 16 through March 31.

Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s LeVar Burton will be a guest judge on Syfy’s Face Off.

On Face Off, special effects make-up artists compete to collect $100,000.

Burton will guest judge the episode airing February 22, when the artists will “design aliens based on the work of series judge Patrick Tatopoulos.”

Face Off has been renewed for a ten-episode third season.

A new Star Trek-themed statue, this time another Captain Kirk one, is being offered later this year by Hollywood Collectibles Group.

The Captain Kirk 1:4 scale statue is the “authentic likeness of William Shatner.” It stands nineteen inches tall, is made of hand-painted, heavyweight polystone.

Previous statues in the Trek series include a 1:6 scale Captain Kirk (seated in his command chair), the Gorn and Mr. Spock 1:6 scale statues.

Only seven hundred-and-fifty pieces of the Captain Kirk 1:4 scale will be made. Those who pre-order now will be able to obtain lower serial numbers (from one to one hundred). The Captain Kirk 1:4 scale statue will sell for $279.95 and can be reserved by heading to the link located here.