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 EPISODE REVIEWS | ||
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Take Me Out to the Holosuite Airdate: Week of October 19, 1998 Written by: Ronald D. Moore Directed by: Chip Chalmers File Photo || File Photo 2 || File Photo || Mission Log || Opinion Poll Short Take: Almost as exciting as this year's World Series Brief Summary: Sisko trains his crew to play baseball, since after all the war is way out there Review:At first I thought I'd like "Take Me Out" more because I was a baseball fan. Then I realized that, as a baseball fan, I'd be more irritated by any silliness it would use to portray my beloved game. Particularly since, I figured, the silliness would be the similar schlock usually used to show "fun" baseball - people missing strikes wildly, a ball dropping between outfielders, and so forth. Alas, I figured right. "Take Me Out" was not a terribly funny episode IMHO. The only thing that made me laugh out loud was Worf saying "Death to the opposition!" instead of "Hey, batter, batter." That, I suppose, and the scene where everyone makes funny of the stuffy ol' grump of a Vulcan at the end, pointing out where he's hiding all of his emotions. I *did* get a chuckle out of that. That to me was what made the episode interesting - a look at a little ethnic tension in Starfleet, with a nice little Trek message underneath. None of this is to say that "Take Me Out" wasn't fun just because it wasn't funny. It was nice to see baseball on the one Trek show which would do it, and it was nice to see the crew struggle with the game. Seeing them in those uniforms, tossing the ball around as a team, was a great sight. At the same time, that's not enough to carry an hour in the show's final season. I'm sorry, but seeing our DS9 characters doing wacky things will only work so far. It was painful to watch Rom bat because you'd knew that he'd either a)mess up bad or b)be unnaturally good. Comedy by exaggeration has never been a fave of mine - see my reviews of Ferengi episodes. "Take Me Out" was mostly that, taking these crazy aliens and putting them in a weird world of sacrifice flies and Fancy Dans. I by no means hated this episode, but nothing was there to truly endear me to it. In other words, the show had no relevance, and it didn't quite have the charm of a "His Way" to make up for it. Why not, for example, tie the Emissary into this? Heck, I'd take anything. It was as if the episode existed in a time warp, where the war didn't matter. Meeting at 0730 to discuss baseball? Sisko even had the gall to say the Vulcan that DS9 has seen "plenty of action." Bull@#$%. With as much criticism as fans have levied against the writers for doing nonsense and especially irrelevant nonsense, you'd think that they would try to cover up *some* nitpicks (Folks, if I was really irritable, I'd point out that the Vulcan who missed home was out the minute he went into the dugout.). Hell, I'd take an episode where all the DS9ers were holoimages, improved upon the real crewmembers so that they could beat the Vulcans, over an episode that suggests that our crazy aliens have two weeks to play ball while everyone else is dying for their freedom. Now that that's off my chest, I'll rush to the episode's defense and say that it did have one point. Vulcans are smug and arrogant and need to be taken down a notch, especially when they get all ethnocentric. The revelation about such tensions coming from at least a few Vulcans suprised me. I'm glad they had it. And I'm glad they used it to give the game a point. The humans were crushed, yes, but they had fun. And that was the best way to show him up. Furthemrore, it didn't make it all "Nah, nah, humans are better," either. Sisko blowing his top at Ump Odo is a case in point. But, in the end, he got more out of it simply because he learned to love Rom and thus be a happy person. That's why, you see, Star Trek is right: we all have our flaws, so can't we all just get along? That's what redeemed it for me. It was *fun* even if it wasn't funny, simply because I am human and can smirk at how those pesky Vulcans take everything too seriously. It was certainly a pleasant departure from most Bad News Bear situations were the underdog wins, though Rom coming through with a fluke hit was projected a mile away. It was great to see Sisko, for example, arguing calls with Odo the ump, even if none of what they said was humorous. Well, that line "but you'll have to do it in the stands" was nice. :) "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" could have been a bomb, and I don't mean one to deep right field. Lord knows that as lukewarm as this season is been (Not hot or cold, I am want to simply spit it out) we're due for one. But we made it past this hurdle. Now we have to survive Julian in luv. As with most Trek loves, it lasts an episode. Some short takes: -I'm glad that the "Sisko takes winning too seriously" plot was dropped. It would have been only the 234th time the coach wanted to win so bad that he started cutting everyone... - With The Larry Sanders show done, Penny Johnson evidently has a lot of time on her hands, if Kasidy can "swing" by DS9 for this... - The direction was great, because it showed a lot of throwing without showing where the throws were coming from. I have a hunch that deBoer can't do a flip off the outfield wall. - Jake sorta looked like El Duque out there... - Boy that was a lot of extras in the stands. - Was that the Federation national anthem they played? Nice and DRONING... sorta like the bland Federation itself. The music for the episode itself, however, was pretty darn good. I hope Berman is completely off his incidental music kick. - Sisko as manager wasn't bad, at least in terms of where he put everyone. I would have put Kasidy instead of Kira at short though. Rating: B- Season rankings so far: 1)Shadows and Symbols B+ 2)Image in the Sand B 3)Afterimage B- 4)Take Me Out to the Holosuite B- Next week: Geez, they bring back the mutants cuz Julian is a loser | |
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