Haunt the Future

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L.I. Underhill is a media critic and historian specializing in pop culture, with a focus on science fiction (especially Star Trek) and video games. Their projects include a critical history of Star Trek told through the narrative of a war in time, a “heretical” history of The Legend of Zelda series and a literary postmodern reading of Jim Davis' Garfield.

6 Comments

  1. Sean Dillon
    December 7, 2015 @ 3:29 am

    Well, it's a week late but bravo on the obvious reference. Especially with the brief talk about the Ferengi in this article.

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  2. Froborr
    December 7, 2015 @ 7:14 am

    Huh?

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  3. David Faggiani
    December 7, 2015 @ 8:47 am

    Hah!

    Reply

  4. K. Jones
    December 7, 2015 @ 9:05 am

    The 'death rites' versus vacuum desiccation was the first thing I thought of as well.

    Anyway, with Suspicions we got a step back into that "What might have been" unlived-up-to potential that I used to talk about a heck of a lot more on TNG in seasons past. There is nothing strictly wrong with a Noir narrative in a flashback framing device which then opens up into real-time for the final act.

    There's nothing wrong with Beverly being the focus of that, other than that maybe it's not the most elegant place for her character to go. There's nothing wrong with the actors' workings of the script. Nothing wrong with a freaky alien murderer. In fact, there are a lot of small elements that I really like: Beverly in full on science officer mode (though she effectively pulls double duty and does a lot of chief medical stuff here, too). Beverly having a friendship with Guinan I don't think we've really delved too deep into yet. Guinan herself being present in an episode that has narrative (chronal) trickery.

    It just doesn't come together to form a great whole. But individual bits are quite fun. And I suppose as mediocre episodes go, in a season that's been batting a pretty high average, if this is some of the low stuff, we've come a long way.

    But it struck me, because well, and you mentioned Odo but even beyond that, it just feels SO Deep Space Nine in terms of roles being played. Even this early in DS9 we've already seen Julian has a knack for these kind of investigative science mysteries. He works great as the medical examiner in a crime story. We've seen how effective Odo is in these sorts of stories and will see a lot more of it. This would've been a pretty okay Bashir/Odo pairing.

    I should talk more about the ignominy of this being Guinan's last episode. Her journey with the Enterprise came full circle already and appearances afterward were gravy but there is certainly subtextual and deep core narrative reasons for why her being there longer could've helped. But if she was only there long enough to pluck the cosmic strings and set them on the right path, metatextually, her job is assuredly done, thank you space witch, we'll see you in the Nexus and then at the wedding.

    Because after all … her story isn't done. And while it's not time for it yet, Generations is the film that feels the most like a sort of 2 hour bonus episode of the series itself, not a separate "movie entry". And that's hot on the heels of a Q Incident, and takes place well within the Season 6 / 7 and Early DS9 phase. Or essentially, "Before the purple uniform period".

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  5. Sean Dillon
    December 7, 2015 @ 10:11 am

    I really need to watch Princess Bride at some point, but I do know Wallace Shaun has that ending line.

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  6. Daru
    December 22, 2015 @ 12:18 am

    Gates McFadden is certainly a highlight of this story along with any moment from Goldberg. I had no idea that this was the story she left the series on, not a great one to go out on.

    Reply

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