2.12 "The Alternate"
The scientist who studied Odo when he was first found, Dr. Mora, comes aboard the station and reveals that a life form similar to Odo has been detected in the Gamma Quadrant. They go there together, but a natural disaster on the planet they investigate leads to Mora's life and Odo's identity being threatened.
Odo origin eps are always rich in potential, but this one has a lot of sloppy writing/directing/editing that keeps it down. Overall yet another average-ish ep in a stretch of such eps. Not the most solid run for the show currently, though it could be worse.
THE GOOD
-Lots of Odo is always a positive. Auberjonois is a phenomenal actor and Odo is one of the best characters on DS9.
-Going through the wormhole. It was starting to become more common, but then we hit a run of claustrophobic eps and this is the first time in five episodes we have seen the Gamma Quadrant, which is a refreshing change.
-For those of us who have seen the show before, any Odo origin eps have extra potential since we know how important his species is. This ep doesn't really deliver in the writing department, and I'm fairly confident that the showrunners didn't have the Founders arc even conceptualized yet, so this ep falls short on most of its potential, unfortunately. That said, the changeling-like lifeform they find is tantalizing even if unrealized in its potential.
THE BAD
-Poor writing causes the episode to fall flat.
-Really nothing is explained in this ep. Major fail on the 'science' half of 'science fiction.'
-Mora's actions aren't consistent and don't make sense. Makes it impossible to get a handle on the character.
-Random crap takes up runtime, like the obelisk, and then never plays a role in the story. Again, sloppy writing or possibly bad directing or editing.
THE UGLY
-Hollywood writers have serious daddy issues. This isn't limited to Trek (Sarek, Riker's dad, Worf); crappy fathers are pretty universal to television and movies. Ironically, DS9 does a ton to buck this trend. All of the main characters are actually excellent fathers on this show (the Siskos, Rom, O'Brien), which is quite refreshing. However, this ep does not follow the good dads theme of the rest of the show.
-There is a strong implication that Sisko's father is deceased, but he plays a major role later in the show so obviously that is a bit of inconsistency that is partially saved by the slight vagueness of Sisko's word choices.
-Odo shapeshift count: 3 times in this ep as the "gas creature." I guess that counts. These are his first on-screen shifts since "Invasive Procedures," eight episodes previously, and he only does them while "possessed." My memory of him shifting rarely on-screen is starting to be reinforced. He would be so powerful if he shifted frequently, but I can only assume that the effects for showing his shifts were impractically expensive for the time, hence the rarity of the on-screen effects and also how low quality many of them end up looking (like in this ep). 17 total on-screen shifts for the series.
The scientist who studied Odo when he was first found, Dr. Mora, comes aboard the station and reveals that a life form similar to Odo has been detected in the Gamma Quadrant. They go there together, but a natural disaster on the planet they investigate leads to Mora's life and Odo's identity being threatened.
Odo origin eps are always rich in potential, but this one has a lot of sloppy writing/directing/editing that keeps it down. Overall yet another average-ish ep in a stretch of such eps. Not the most solid run for the show currently, though it could be worse.
THE GOOD
-Lots of Odo is always a positive. Auberjonois is a phenomenal actor and Odo is one of the best characters on DS9.
-Going through the wormhole. It was starting to become more common, but then we hit a run of claustrophobic eps and this is the first time in five episodes we have seen the Gamma Quadrant, which is a refreshing change.
-For those of us who have seen the show before, any Odo origin eps have extra potential since we know how important his species is. This ep doesn't really deliver in the writing department, and I'm fairly confident that the showrunners didn't have the Founders arc even conceptualized yet, so this ep falls short on most of its potential, unfortunately. That said, the changeling-like lifeform they find is tantalizing even if unrealized in its potential.
THE BAD
-Poor writing causes the episode to fall flat.
-Really nothing is explained in this ep. Major fail on the 'science' half of 'science fiction.'
-Mora's actions aren't consistent and don't make sense. Makes it impossible to get a handle on the character.
-Random crap takes up runtime, like the obelisk, and then never plays a role in the story. Again, sloppy writing or possibly bad directing or editing.
THE UGLY
-Hollywood writers have serious daddy issues. This isn't limited to Trek (Sarek, Riker's dad, Worf); crappy fathers are pretty universal to television and movies. Ironically, DS9 does a ton to buck this trend. All of the main characters are actually excellent fathers on this show (the Siskos, Rom, O'Brien), which is quite refreshing. However, this ep does not follow the good dads theme of the rest of the show.
-There is a strong implication that Sisko's father is deceased, but he plays a major role later in the show so obviously that is a bit of inconsistency that is partially saved by the slight vagueness of Sisko's word choices.
-Odo shapeshift count: 3 times in this ep as the "gas creature." I guess that counts. These are his first on-screen shifts since "Invasive Procedures," eight episodes previously, and he only does them while "possessed." My memory of him shifting rarely on-screen is starting to be reinforced. He would be so powerful if he shifted frequently, but I can only assume that the effects for showing his shifts were impractically expensive for the time, hence the rarity of the on-screen effects and also how low quality many of them end up looking (like in this ep). 17 total on-screen shifts for the series.