In the tenth episode of the sixth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, Quark is tasked with rescuing his mother from the Dominion, and it is exactly the kind of disaster you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d expect. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Look, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever be fully excited by a Ferengi episode, but I at\u00c2\u00a0least<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0found this story to be amusing. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a trainwreck, and sometimes, watching a mess unfold can be entertaining. And what a mess this is, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect anything less, of course. The Ferengi are not experts in warfare. Or strategic fighting. Or being commandos. Or in\u00c2\u00a0anything<\/i>, really, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to do with gaining profit.<\/p>\n
So I knew that Quark and company would royally mess up everything as soon as he decided to take up the Grand Negus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offer to rescue Ishka. The episode works as a loving parody of movies like\u00c2\u00a0The Magnificent Seven<\/i>, or any action film involving a large cast set on achieving a single goal. In a sense, you can view each of the team members for this mission through that lens, too. Quark is the reluctant leader; Nog is the super serious strategist and the most accomplished member of the team; Rom is the man looking for glory and redemption; Leck is the uncaring member who just wants to be violent; Gaila is the bumbling fool with a chip on his shoulder; and Brunt is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the one with the getaway vehicle, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very important. Necessary! Integral!<\/p>\n
And yet, despite\u00c2\u00a0largely<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0having all the pieces, this is still a disaster. Look no further than the Holosuite training sequence, in which not one Ferengi \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not even Leck! – manages to shoot a single Jem\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Hadar soldier. (Leck does shoot Ishka\u00c2\u00a0perfectly<\/i>, which is so goddamn hilarious to me that I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deal with it. HOW CAN HE HIT HER SQUARE IN THE CHEST, YET HE DOESN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN GRAZE A SINGLE JEM\u00e2\u20ac\u2122HADAR.) Once the group makes it to the abandoned Cardassian station,\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0ramps up the absurdity of this episode by having the Ferengi be SUPER HORRIBLE at LITERALLY EVERYTHING. Well, Nog\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty competent, but he tries\u00c2\u00a0so<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0hard, and his nerves are affected by the\u00c2\u00a0constant panic that exists around him.<\/i><\/p>\n
AND THEN IGGY POP SHOWS UP AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SUPER WEIRD BECAUSE HE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S PRACTICALLY UNRECOGNIZABLE. Though his droning monotone voice\u00c2\u00a0isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0unrecognizable? And then part of me realizes how perfect that casting was because Yelgrun\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to be uncaring and bored and annoyed with the Ferengi, and Iggy Pop feels\u00c2\u00a0perfect<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for that role. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right here, as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m writing this review, that I can fully comprehend how weird this episode is. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s silly, disastrous, absurd, and features Iggy Pop as a disinterested hostage negotiator. Oh, and then it turns into\u00c2\u00a0Weekend at Bernie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0at the very end??? HOW IS THIS EPISODE REAL?<\/p>\n
It just\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>. Yet I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a value here besides the humor. Over the course of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine<\/i>, Quark has felt like a staple, a constant amidst a frequently-changing batch of characters. Yet\u00c2\u00a0his<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0growth has been happening, albeit much slower. Yes, he is motivated by profit throughout this episode, but I think it would be silly to ignore that he\u00c2\u00a0also<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0wants to save his mother. As the prisoner trade becomes more and more complicated, Quark is able to lead the group towards that ridiculous ending. And when he does, Rom asks him an important question: How does it feel to be a hero? Heroism is not something the Ferengi know well, nor do they really care about it. Indeed, Quark has often criticized the members of Starfleet for giving the concept any validity. Who cares about heroes when you can make profit?<\/p>\n
However, at the end of this episode, he realizes that it feels\u00c2\u00a0good<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to do good things, that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an emotional value in actions that lead to a positive end that has very little to do with profit or money. Is this part of a revelation? Maybe, and I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a vital part of how season six has\u00c2\u00a0specifically<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0addressed Quark\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization. At the end of this, though, I mostly saw this as a chance to have fun.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Magnificent Ferengi\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the tenth episode of the sixth season of\u00c2\u00a0Deep Space Nine, Quark is tasked with rescuing his mother from the Dominion, and it is exactly the kind of disaster you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d expect. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640,614],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-5997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-space-nine","category-star-trek","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"