In the sixteenth episode of the third season of Deep Space Nine, I tried, y’all. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.Â
What the hell did I just watch?
I suspect that I was to find “Prophet Motive” riotous and amusing, and here I sit, utterly confused. There’s a point during the video for this episode where I vocalized a very necessary question: How on earth did the writers plan to sustain this flimsy story for a full forty-five minutes? Unfortunately, I had no idea that the story itself – about the Grand Nagus’s sudden change of heart regarding Ferengi culture – would collapse so ridiculously.
Which sucks because the idea behind the climactic scene is SO FUCKING FUNNY. Y’all, the wormhole aliens reverse their de-evolution of Zek because Quark is too annoying. It’s such a bogus ending that I should find it funnier than I do, but the problem is that I didn’t need a forty-minute set-up to this punchline. I don’t need a story that promises some sort of change to the Ferengi characters, only to completely destroy that chance in the end. Why can’t Quark and Rom get the development that we’ve seen from other characters? I don’t think they need to abandon or radically change their culture, but they’re frustratingly static at times.
I suppose I wouldn’t even care that much if such an absurd scenario hadn’t been given to me from the beginning. I couldn’t even believe that the writers would stick to what they’d done at the start, and unfortunately, even another visit from the wormhole aliens OR the appearance of an Orb could bring about something interesting in this story. Y’all, what happened to the Orb? Where did it go? Did Quark or Zek return it to the Bajorans or did they just forget about it just like the writers?
Let’s make this worse. WHY IS JULIAN’S STORY EVEN IN THIS EPISODE? While it was funny to watch the other crew members tease Julian about not caring for that medical award nomination, I could not understand the point of this plot. At all. It’s like I’m missing a huge chunk of the story here, and the writers have no intent on sharing the other pieces with me. Did these characters know something about the award that Julian didn’t? Why were they all so invested in Julian’s theories on who would actually win? What the hell am I missing?
I honestly don’t know how to fill up this review. Normally, if I don’t like an episode, I have A LOT TO SAY. That’s not the case this time, and I blame that on the fact that writers don’t really develop anything here. Aside from making Zek act as the polar opposite from his normal personality, everyone else is the same. We don’t learn much about any of the characters, despite that there’s potential for it in the early scenes. I’m referring mostly to the fact that we actually get a single scene where Rom and Quark discuss their childhood together. It lasts all of thirty seconds, if that, and it’s probably the most interesting thing here!
Oh, well. I’m glad so much of Deep Space Nine is as good as it is, or else this episode might have annoyed me even more. I’ll just be happy to forget it.
The video for “Prophet Motive” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– I am now on Patreon!!! MANY SURPRISES ARE IN STORE FOR YOU IF YOU SUPPORT ME.
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– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be Death Note and Neon Genesis Evangelion. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series will replace the Emelan books.
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