DS9: Season 2

I have just finished watching the second season of DS9. This one is certainly different from the first. In the extras the people behind the scenes as well as the actors talk about how this is the season that DS9 finally comes into it's own. I can certainly see why they would think that. Ds9 was always going to be different from the others as it was the only series based on a stationary community. In the first season the episodes are a little all over the place. A few really stand out as a way of allowing the viewer to get to know the background of the Bajorans and the Cardassians and the relationship with each other and with the federeation. The rest were really character episodes. Nothing wrong with that but it would be a little boring if that was all DS9 turned out to be. In the second season though the Gamma Quadrant is brought more into the picture. We hear about a group called the Dominion early on although they don't really have a big part at that point. The hint is there and in hindsight we know that the majority of the show was soon based on the Dominion war. We also learn a lot more about Bajoran politics as well as Cardassian politics which again also has a larger role in the show later on. What we are really getting is small chunks of a story that later becomes very interesting and interconnected.

Another interesting thing that was mentioned during the extras was that the show was originally seen by the producers as a Western show. We already can guess this from season 1. Especially when we have Dr Bashir talking about his having any choice of placement in the fleet but he wanted to practice "frontier medicine". Really looking into it though you can see more hints of it as the extras mentioned with Quark as your barkeep and Odo as the Sheriff. While I think that there was some success at this obviously they still wanted it to look like a Star Trek show. The only sci fi series that I think has been successful at the whole Western theme is "Firefly".

Getting away from the extras I do have some favourite episodes. While season 1 was missing those double part episodes this one had them in abundance (almost as much as TNG season6). The first three episodes; The Homecoming, The Circle and The Siege, are all linked and are amongst my favourite. Here we see the return of Vedek Winn (brilliantly played by Louise Fletcher) in a bid to become Kai and getting rid of the Federation once and for all. Of course she is only behind the scenes of this plan and allows others to take more risks. A role she continues with throughout the DS9 series. Other favourites include, Armageddon Game, Whispers, Paradise, The Maquis 1&2 (used to help set up the background to Voyager), Crossover, Tribunal and of course The Jem'Hadar.

Big Thank You To Lili

It was my birthday last week and the lovely Lili sent me some lovely gifts. First of all she sent me some items from sew and so. A lovely frog pin and a dragon chart. I am looking forward to working on both. I am thinking of stitching some of those dragons individually. She later sent me the items I photographed above. The card which has been stitched using variegated thread and the David Tennant design. Both of which are beautifully stitched. She also sent me the most beautiful linen with little frogs stamped on it. I am going to keep that for something special. Thank you so much Lili, you really did spoil me.

Booking Through Thursday

Statistics August 30, 2007
Filed under: Wordpress — --Deb @ 1:59 am

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

Not being American none of my friends fall into it. However, at school I was the only one amongst my friends who was an avid reader. A few of them did read occasionally but most of them only read when they had to for school. At school it was sort of considered uncool to be a reader. Not that I cared. I never hid the fact that I read and most of my friends accepted it. I did have one friend who read just as much as I did. However, she had been bringing back a book I had loaned to her and when someone asked her if she had actually read it she made some sort of sarcastic comment. It wasn't directed at me since no one really ever made fun of the fact that I was a reader. But she didn't want to be known as one and so scoffed to hide it. I remember being upset with her. Simply because she was one of the most intelligent girls in the school and was well known for being intelligent. Yet she decided she would rather hide it just because she was worried about what one person thought. I think I was more disappointed with her than anything else. I guess she just didn't like her whole persona of being the good girl who always studied. I met her a few years after we had all left school and we had both moved on to different Universities. After saying hello she told myself and the friend I was with that she was supposed to be in class right now and that she was going to be late with an assignment but had went shopping instead. After telling us this she said something about how she bet we would never have thought she had done something like that at school. Mind you she must have changed her mind about that image as she is now doing very well for herself.

Now most of my friends are readers. I still read more than a lot of them but most of them always have a book on the go like myself. We all really love talking about books and swapping them. I really missed that growing up (unless of course you count my parents). We all have at least one type of book that we like in common so we always have something to talk about when it comes to books. It's hard to describe to the non reader the excitement you feel when you find friends like that.

Monty & Mr Sparkles In Amsterdam

View from the hotel

Waiting for the Canal Boat

Still waiting

Finally on the boat tour

At Vondelpark

Outside the Rijksmuseum.

At the Heineken Experience.

Booking Through Thursday

Indoctrination August 23, 2007
Filed under: Wordpress — --Deb @ 1:35 am

Using a suggestion from Erin today:
When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)

I think that I have probably answered this question or something like it somewhere before. So I am not going to do a big long post on this. The straight answer is yes I did grow up in a family that shared a love of books. My mum used to talk to me all the time about the books she read when she was little and all her trips to the library. My dad on the other hand didn't begin reading much until he went to college. Funnily that was round the time he started dating my mum so maybe she influenced him a little. When I was little going to the library was a family event. Even my sister who reads sporadically loved going. We would all come away with handfuls of books and the rest of the evening we would all be quietly reading together in the living room. My dad doesn't read quite as much now so it's mainly my mum and I who share a love of books despite our widely differing tastes.

DS9: Season 1

I have made a start on watching Deep Space 9 from the beginning. Unlike TNG I was fairly confident that I would remember all the episodes. I was older when they were first screened and my parents bought the videos almost right from the start. Also I watched them fanatically having a teen crush on one Dr Julian Bashir. So I was more than a little surprised when there were one or two episodes I only vaguely remembered and yet the rest were very familiar. The main episode I couldn't remember was "Vortex" which is the first hint that there are more changelings in the Gamma Quadrant. It also hints that the changelings keep to themselves after being mistrusted by non shape shifting beings. A hint of things to come maybe.

Favourite episodes in the include "Progress" and "Duet" both of which I found very sad especially Duet. A Cardassian pretends to be the once leader of a Bajoran labour camp in order to receive the punishment he believes is deserved. Surprisingly both those episodes were mainly about Kira and she wasn't one of my favourite characters. Normally (especially at that age) I would have looked up to strong female characters. However, I found her to be just too much. Her character did mellow with time as characters usually do and I didn't mind her so much.

This series seemed to end very abruptly. I got to the last episode and was surprised that there was no more. This series was made during TNG season 6 (which might explain TNG's poorer story lines during that season) which was filled with two part episodes. This one had none and didn't even end on a cliffhanger. Something that changes later on though. The last episode is linked to a bigger story line though (the whole Winn/Boriel story) and maybe that was what they wanted. To end it with something a little more open. I have tried to find out if there was any other reason but have came up with nothing.

The one thing the other series of Star Trek has been notorious for is the carry on of the crew. While watching the extras on TNG it was always mentioned that when the whole senior crew got together to film it was a nightmare because there was always some practical joke or other. It sounded like everyone had fun and they always involved their guest stars . DS9 was notorious for being serious and this was mentioned on the extras here. Actress Nana Visitor put it down to the fact that most of them were stage actors originally (although a lot of TNG actors also came from the stage. Patric Stewart being the most famous and the most famous for his practical jokes). From what I have heard actor Avery Brooks wouldn't allow any carry on and the rest of the actors seemed to revere him. Sounded to me a little like Brooks took himself way too seriously. I think it is surprising because there was so much more chance for comic value within the stories themselves. You have the Quark/Odo duo and later the O'Brian/Bashir duo. I guess when you see them being funny on screen you expect the same off.

The one thing this series has over the others is that they have to have more aliens which was also talked about during the extras. They had to have lots of Cardassians, Bajorans and Ferengi as well as a sprinkling of others in the background to make it look like it really is a space station. I did enjoy hearing about their ideas for the station itself. Originally they had wanted to create a large sprawling station which had been built apon again and again over the years. They wanted it to be a station that was centuries old and had changed hands many times. That possibly no one really knew who built it in the first place. I think they were limited though by the size of the set which is why they gave up on that idea. Also due to limitations the promenade only had one level during the first season. They did things to make it look as though there was another level but it didn't actually make an official appearance until later in the show.

Some Monkey Pics

Nothing new to report but I do have some sock monkey pics.

Mr Sparkles preparing to go and see Monty.

Mr Sparkles on the train.

Mr Sparkles and Monty are reunited.

They hang out.

Enjoy the view

Order some food.

And then to bed.

Two days later Mr Sparkles gets a letter

And a photo.

Crazee4books, I do recommend Tamora Pierce. It's basically teen fantasy where the lead characters are all female. Definitely worth reading but you should start from the beginning, the Lioness Quartet.