Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season One Episode One - 'Day of the Dumpster'
Plot Summary: On another planet within our solar system a pair of astronauts discover a strange metal object, similar to a dumpster. When the astronauts accidentally open the object they're knocked to the ground as strange magical energies are released from within.
The evil aliens Goldar, Finster, Squat, and Baboo are freed from their prison, shortly followed by their leader, the evil space sorceress Rita Repulsa. The astronauts are chased away by Rita's magic before she announces her plan to conquer Earth after her 10,000 year imprisonment.
In the city of Angel Grove five teenagers are hanging out at their local youth centre, Jason, Zack, Trini, Kimberly, and Billy. When Rita launches her attack on Angel Grove from her new palace on the moon the youth centre is hit by an earthquake. Before the five teens can make their way to safety they're swept up in beam of light and teleported away.
They find themselves within the Command Centre of Zordon, an ancient intergalactic warrior trapped in a time warp, and his robotic assistant Alpha-5. Zordon reveals to the teens the existence of Rita, and her plans to conquer the Earth. He tells the group that they have been chosen to become the planets defenders, the Power Rangers.
Zordon gives them their power morphers, devices that will allow them to access enhanced powers and abilities. Unfortunately, the group aren't convinced by Zord and leave the command centre.
Whilst making their way through the desert to Angel Grove the group are attacked by the Putties, Rita's footsoldiers. Despite trying their best to defeat the Putties they're soon overwhelmed and use their power mophers to transform themselves into the Power Rangers for the first time.
After mophing the Rangers are able to overcome the Putties thanks to their enhanced speed, strength, and armoured costumes. Their victory is short lived as they're teleported back to Angel Grove where Rita's lieutenant Goldar is attacking the city with more Putties.
The Rangers defeat the Putties and are about to fight Goldar when Rita uses her magic to make him grow to gigantic proportions. The Rangers summon their Zords to help them fight the now gigantic foe, five robotic vehicles based upon a Tyrannosaurus, a Pterodactyl, a Triceratops, a Sabretooth Tiger, and a Mastodon.
The powerful Zords combine together to form the mighty Mega-Zord, allowing the Rangers to overpower Goldar. Goldar flees the battlefield before the Rangers are able to destroy him. With Angel Grove safe the Rangers return to the Command Centre, where they accept their mission to protect the Earth as the Power Rangers.
Analysis: Power Rangers is definitely a strange show at the beginning of its life, with much of that being evident even here in the first of over 150 episodes. Much of this comes from the mashing together of Japanese and American footage, and whilst in the future this does work a lot better, it's really obvious in this pilot episode where these two meet. The plot suffers as a result of this, and will do for much of the first season, yet still strangely works to provide an effective first episode.
The first episode manages to set up the basics of the characters in its short runtime. It shows us that Jason is the brave leader of the group, that Zach is the joker, Kimberly is the typical 90's valley-girl, Trini is the caring heart of the group, and Billy is the nerdy outcast.
Whilst the characters do go on to have growth and develop as time goes on 'Day of the Dumpster' establishes a strong foundation for them all.
It also establishes Goldar as the intimidating right hand to Rita that will go on to torment the Rangers for years to come. Yes, he runs away at the end of the fight (which he will do a lot), but he's easily the most intimidating of Rita's forces.
Yes, the dialogue is cheesy, the combination of footage shoddy at times and the leaps in logic and plot are all over the place, but there's a massive sense of fun to the show that makes it easy to look past these flaws and see them as something that adds to the charm of the show.
'Day of the Dumpster' is a good introduction to the show, one that sets up a strong foundation for a franchise that is still going strong over two decades later.
Plot Summary: Still stranded on Earth by the Time Lords, the Doctor is working with U.N.I.T. at a project nicknamed 'Inferno', where a group of scientists are working towards penetrating the Earth's crust in order to tap into pockets of Stahlman's Gas, which they believe can provide boundless cheap energy,
Whilst the Doctor is not an active participant on the project, partly due to his confrontational interactions with Professor Stahlman the project director, he is using the surplus power from the project's nuclear reactor to work on the Tardis console, trying to repair it and allow himself to travel through space and time once again.
Whilst repairing a part of the drilling equipment one of the workers comes into contact with a strange green ooze that goes on to mutate him into a subhuman primordial creature who attacks several other members of the project. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Professor Stahlman is also infected.
Soon after they subdue the mutated workman the Doctor is working on the Tardis when a power surge activates the console and he vanishes in front of Liz and the Brigadier. Instead of travelling through time or space the Doctor finds himself transported to a parallel universe.
The Doctor discovers that this new Earth is a much darker counterpart of the one he knows, where Great Britain is a Republic fascist regime, the Royal Family having been executed years before. On this new Earth the Inferno project is still ongoing, though is much further along than the one on his Earth.
When he is captured by this universe's version of U.N.I.T., the British Republican Security Forces, he discovers the alternate versions of his friends. In this universe the Brigadier is the vicious one eyed 'Brigade Leader', Liz Shaw is a member of the military and is a 'Section Leader' along with 'Platoon Under Leader' Benton.
The Doctor finds out that this universe, whilst very different from his own, has had several of the same events happen, including the mutated worker. In this universe Professor Stahlman has also been infected and is beginning to act bizarrely as the effects begin to take hold. Convinced that something bad will happen he breaks out of his cell and attempts to sabotage the drilling. Unfortunately he is too late and the drill breaches the Earth's crust.
The whole facility is rocked by massive tremors and many of the scientists and staff flee. Stahlman locks himself and several scientists in the drilling room and begins to expose them to the green slime. Because of the intense heat he and all of the others mutate into Primords, bestial creatures that are more monster than man.
Discovering that the tremors are not just isolated to the facility, but are tearing the whole planet apart, the Doctor manages to convince the others to help him return to his world in order to prevent the same thing from happening there, promising to take them all with him. The group fight their way across the facility to where the Tardis is located, keeping the Primords at bay with fire extinguishers, having discovered that the cold CO2 inside them makes the creatures vulnerable.
Massive explosions hit the facility as the Doctor is readying the Tardis to travel back to his own world and the Brigade Leader pulls a gun on the Doctor, demanding that he save them all. The Doctor tries to tell him that despite his earlier promise he can't bring any of them to his dimension. The Brigade Leader goes to shoot the Doctor, but is killed by Section Leader Shaw. The Doctor activates the Tardis and disappears as a wall of lava envelops the building and the others.
Arriving back in his own dimension the Doctor falls into a coma. Awakening hours later the Doctor rushes to the drill and begins to destroy equipment in an attempt to stop them from breaching the Earth's crust. The Doctor is detained by U.N.I.T. soldier, who believe he has lost his mind.
Inside the drill Stahlman exposes himself to the green ooze and mutates fully into a Primord. The Doctor manages to kill the Primord Stahlman with a fire extinguisher and shuts down the drill before they breach the Earth's crust and cause complete global destruction.
Analysis: 'Inferno' is the final episode of Jon Pertwee's first season as the Doctor, and the first year where the show was located purely on Earth. Being limited to only telling stories in one place and time meant that the writers had to get increasingly creative when it came to coming up with new scenarios to put the Doctor in. 'Inferno' marks possibly the best attempt at this in one of the best episodes of the Classic Doctor Who era.
At the time 'Inferno' was one of the darkest episodes the series had produced, featuring a bleak story that allowed them to kill several of their main characters, albeit in the form of their parallel world counterparts.
The idea to create a story around a parallel Earth came from the series having ran out of budget at the latter half of the season, and as such the writers came up with the idea so that they could use the same sets and characters in more than one way. It might have been a decision based purely on a production and cost level, but the writers managed to craft a story that worked incredibly well, and one that never felt cheap or easy.
Subtle differences to the second Earth, such as a slight difference in fashion and the Republic propaganda posters meant that very little effort was needed to create the new Earth, yet kept the two distinct and different enough in their looks that you're never confused as to which Earth we are watching.
One of the best things about the story, though, is getting to see some of our familiar and beloved characters playing 'evil' versions of themselves. Despite being a military woman Liz is not too far removed from her other Earth self, and even saves the Doctor at the end knowing that she had no hope of living herself. The Brigadier and Benton are a completely different matter though, as the two of them are just thoroughly nasty pieces of work.
Benton becomes a Primord, so we never get a chance to see how this version of his character would play out in the final scenario, but much like the Brigade Leader he seems completely set in his devotion to the Republic and even enjoys his role.
The evil counterpart to the Brigadier is by far the best of the three of them though, with the Doctor's best friend transformed into a fascist military leader who gives orders to murder people without a second thought a stark contrast to one of the series' most beloved characters. He's visually stunning too, with the massive facial scar and eye patch means that he will certainly stick in the mind long after the episode has finished. It's a shame that he didn't somehow manage to come across to the main universe as it would have been great to have him in more than one story.
Despite a heavy presence in the story the Primords are not really the main villains or even the biggest threat, but more of an obstacle for the characters to deal with. Instead it's time that proves to be the biggest enemy here, with the countdown to the destruction of both Earths being the biggest threat. This is another factor that gives the story a unique feel, as the big monster is reduced to a minor part of the story rather than being the main focus.
The only downside of the story is that it marked the final appearance of Caroline John as Liz Shaw, who left the show before it returned for season 8 to have her child. As it is Liz never gets a goodbye scene with the Doctor, and despite only being in the show for one season she deserved more than that. As someone who is closer to be an equal to the Doctor than many of his other companions over the years her departure is definitely something that should have been given some thought and screen time.
'Inferno' has a look and a feel totally unique to itself that makes it one of the more entertaining, effective and engaging stories in the classic era of Doctor Who and a story that is still fresh and enjoyable to watch 46 years later.
Plot Summary: A group of strangers are travelling on a train from London to Sheffield with only one of them, a scientist called Harriet Ambrose, aware that a meteorite is on a collision course with Earth. On her way to Sheffield to reach the safety of a government bunker before the impact Harriet is shocked to discover that the calculations were incorrect and the meteor hits early. As the meteor hits the train is passing through a tunnel where it is thrown off the tracks and the passengers injured. Harriet takes a canister from inside her bag and releases a cryogenic gas that 'freezes' the occupants of the train carriage.
Upon waking the passengers are unaware that they were frozen, believing instead that they were just unconscious for a short amount of time. They manage to climb their way out of the tunnel and find the world completely changed, with subtropical vegetation growing amongst the ruins of Sheffield.
Several members of the group split off and search through the city. Smooth talking criminal, Mick Sizer, finds the skeletal remains of his friend and girlfriend in his old hideout. He collects tools and supplies and repairs his van, providing the group with transport. Elsewhere, another group are attacked by a group of wild dogs, with several of them being killed.
The remaining survivors gather together and search through the city for the bunker that Harriet was heading to. They manage to find the bunker, but instead of providing them with shelter the facility is deserted and stripped of valuable supplies.
Harriet discovers what she believes to be the remains of her boyfriend, one of the head scientists at the facility, and a cryptic message left by him encouraging her to travel to a shelter in Scotland called 'Arc'. Harriet manages to convince the rest of the group that they were frozen for a lot longer than they first thought, and that their best hope for survival is to travel north to Arc.
At the same time that Harriet is convincing the rest of the group that they need to take the perilous journey across the country, Anita, the youngest member of the group, discovers a wild looking young woman called Hild, who brings a new set of problems for the survivors as she's being hunted by another group who want her unborn baby.
The survivors begin their journey towards Arc, struggling to stay ahead of the vicious group following them whilst trying to find enough food and water to survive in the apocalypse ravaged wilderness.
Analysis: 'The Last Train' was a six part post-apocalypse television drama produced by ITV and aired over five weeks between April and May 1999. The series was written by Matthew Graham, who at the time was best known for brief stints working on 'Eastenders' and 'This Life', but would later go on to work on 'Doctor Who', as well as create both 'Life on Mars' and it's spin-off series 'Ashes to Ashes'.
'The Last Train' is a perfect example of television trying to capture some of the science centric fears that captured the public imagination at the time, specifically the idea of an object impacting with earth and wiping out civilisation. With both 'Armageddon' and 'Deep Impact' released the year before 'The Last Train' proved to be a much smaller budget version of those stories, but one with a huge difference, civilisation doesn't survive.
Perhaps it's something inherently British, but it seems that where American media depicts people coming together and winning out over the outside threat, whether it be an asteroid, alien invaders or a deadly virus, Britain tends to create stories that show the aftermath of these kind of events, such as 'Survivors' in the 1970's, which 'The Last Train' takes quite a few ques from.
Another feature of British television present in the series is the relatively short, with only six episodes to tell its story. The first two episodes very much feel like one, both of them being set in and around Sheffield and basically establishing the characters and their upcoming journey. After that each episode deals with separate parts of the journey, episode three has the group trying to find supplies and running afoul of a big cat (no, really, they get hunted by panther), episode four gives us the first real confrontation with Hild's group and the loss of one of the survivors, episode five focuses on a walled community they find that seems too good to be true, and episode six finishes the story as the survivors reach Arc.
I can't help but feel that if this were an American show that the series would be closer to twenty episodes, filled with flashbacks to before the apocalypse to help build characters pasts. Instead we only get brief introductions to the characters, with much of their back story being told in brief snatches of dialogue between characters over the course of the series. Instead of being shown more than we'd want to know about these people we get to know them over the course of their journey in the same way that the other characters do.
Despite not using flashbacks and a short episode run most of the characters get given the room to grow and develop, forming new relationships and evolving to survive in the new environment. For me, the standout character of the show is the criminal Mick Sizer, who begins very much out for himself and even wants to abandon the group in the very first episode. By the end of the series he's become one of the groups leaders and is even willing to sacrifice himself for the safety of the group, even allowing himself to be crucified by the 'others' instead of helping them get into Arc.
My biggest criticism of the show is the final ten minutes. The story reaches a conclusion and ends at a point where it feels somewhat unfinished. The survivors have reached Arc, discovered that the inhabitants woke up 40 years before, and that their descendants are the people hunting them. The two groups come together and join as one inside Arc as Hild gives birth to her baby.
That's all well and good, the show got the survivors to Arc, which is the end of the story, but we're left not knowing if the two groups are going to become one group. We don't know if Mick and Austin have survived their crucifixion. We don't know what's going to happen next.
Perhaps this is part of British storytelling, where quite often these kinds of short lived stories are left intentionally vague or open ended for people t make up their own minds. But here I think that it's an ending that leaves you feeling a little deflated. By the close of episode six I'd become invested in these characters and their survival, and finding Arc doesn't feel like the end of their story, but the beginning of the next chapter.
If the show had returned for a second series of six episodes I'm sure that a lot of these questions about what was going to happen to them next would have been answered, we'd see how the group goes on to survive in the new world, but that really wasn't the point of the series. It wasn't about the long term lives of these people, it was seeing several strangers, some of whom hated each other, come together as friends and a family in a journey for survival. On that end it succeeds, it tells a good, strong story with interesting characters.
The setting works brilliantly well too, with the British countryside giving us a very different post-apocalypse landscape than ones we're used to from American television and film. It's cold and wet, with a landscape that's unforgiving and dreary. It's shocking how easily England can be made to look like the end of the world with very little effort made.
One of the things that struck me when watching the series again was just how similar it is in a lot of ways to 'Lost', it's got a central group who survive a crash in a large vehicle who have been thrown together by circumstances outside of their control to survive while a group of unknown, almost nomadic assailants stalk them. A lot of the characters are similar too, with the group having a doctor, a police officer, one a criminal, a lone parent, a pregnant woman, it's easy to draw similarities with the survivors of Lost. Add into the mix mysterious underground bunkers, wild animals in habitats not their own, help from a female member of the 'others' and children being highly valued by the other group and it starts becoming unclear which show you might be describing.
If you like shows like 'Lost' or 'The Walking Dead' then 'The Last Train' is going to appeal. Yes, it's old, and it definitely feels like a product of the 90's, but as someone who grew up in 90's Britain it just fills me with nostalgia, from the world before the apocalypse to the occasional mention of 90's boy bands it's hard to escape that 90's feel.
'The Last Train' takes a very British approach to a genre it rarely tackles, and succeeds in making an interesting addition to post-apocalypse drama that is definitely worth the watch.
This year marked the 20th anniversary of the release of the original Pokemon games (Red and Green) in Japan, and to celebrate Nintendo re-released the Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow to download via the Nintendo eShop.
The beauty of Pokemon Red and Blue (slightly improved versions of the original Red and Green that were released outside of Japan) are that their sheer simplicity and streamlined version of the franchise that fans have become used to over the last twenty years is so well put together that it still hold up today as an engaging and entertaining gaming experience.
For those not in the know, Pokemon is a game that lets you take on the role of a young, first time Pokemon trainer. You are tasked with picking your first Pokemon, one of the original three starters, Squritle, Charmander and Bulbasaur, before setting out on a journey to collect every single Pokemon and become the greatest trainer in the land.
From here you're free to tackle the adventure in relative freedom. You can capture new Pokemon after battling them and add them to your team of six monsters. With 151 Pokemon available there are plenty of combinations you can build your team around, with each Pokemon having their own type, move set and statistics that give each Pokemon their own advantages and disadvantages.
Where future games in the series have altered the stats for the creatures, introduced new monsters, abilities, natures and special statistics called IV's and EV's, generation one keeps things simple, and you can see where the groundwork for many of these future innovations came from.
It's not just the gameplay that's a simplified version, but the graphics also. Being two decades old and made for the original Game Boy the graphics are basic at best, and a lot of the time many Pokemon struggle to look like the creatures we're used to, with a few brilliant exceptions.
The gameplay is simple, and in a few places buggy, and the graphics take a little suspension of disbelief that what you're seeing really is the Pokemon the text says it is, but the core gameplay that has created the second highest selling game series of all time (yes, it's a better selling series than Call of Duty or GTA) is still here and means that a game two decades old is still engaging enough to keep you playing for hours and hours.
The main criticisms would come more from a place of having played the newer games and missing some of the features introduced later in the series. Without the experience share it takes much longer to train up and evolve your Pokemon, having to do so one at a time. Certain moves aren't typed the way we're used to, such as Gust not being a flying move.
Whilst these might make parts of the game a little more frustrating, it's only because we've become used to the way the series has progressed. Taken on it's own Pokemon Red and Blue are still solid games, with strong gameplay and a fun open world adventure.
The transfer of the original titles to the download store means that many fans of the franchise who never had the opportunity to play the games when they were first released can experience the games that started it all for the first time, as well as giving those who remember the original the opportunity to go back and relive a massive part of their childhood.
'Can't even shout, can't even cry, the Gentlemen are coming by. Looking in windows, knocking on doors, they need seven and they might take yours. Can't call to mom, can't say a word, you're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard.' Plot Summary: The episode begins with Buffy asleep in her college lecture. In her dream she and Riley kiss, before the two of them are interrupted by a young girl, holding a distinctive wooden box and singing a creepy nursery rhyme about 'The Gentlemen.' Buffy is broken from her dream by a frightening white faced man with an evil grin and metal teeth. After class Buffy and Riley speak and are close to kissing, but neither are able to stop their awkward talking.
Buffy calls Giles to tell him of her dream, worried that it might be one of her prophetic dreams. Xander and Anya argue about their relationship as Anya tries to get Xander to tell her what she means to him, with him unable to put his feelings into words. At college Willow attends a Wicca group, hoping to meet other witches, but is instead disappointed to find that she is the only witch, and gets chastised for the stereotype of witches performing magic. A shy woman in the group, Tara, begins to speak up for Willow, but falls silent when attention turns to her.
That night white wisps of smoke like substance leaves the mouths of every resident of Sunnydale as they sleep, making their way through the town to an old belfry where they are collected into the box seen in Buffy's dream by skeletal white men with grins and metal teeth, the Gentlemen.
The next day the residents of Sunnydale discover that none of them can speak, leading to large scale panic and depression. That night both Buffy and Riley are patrolling the streets, trying to keep residents calm. The two of them meet, not knowing that the other is doing the same, and share their first kiss.
Elsewhere in town the Gentlemen leave their belfry, accompanied by their Footmen, and float their way through the streets, searching. The gentlemen eventually find what they are looking for and knock on the door of one of the college students. When he opens the door he is grabbed by a pair of Footmen and held down, unable to scream as the Gentlemen cut out his heart with a scalpel.
The next morning, with the aid of the local newspaper reports and a drawing made by his girlfriend Olivia, who saw one of the Gentlemen, Giles is able to piece together the mystery and uncover the creatures identities. Using an overhead projector Giles is able to brief Buffy and the gang, telling them that the Gentlemen steal all the voices in a town so that no one can scream whilst they gather the seven hearts that they need, as only a real human scream can kill them.
That night, whilst at Giles' home Spike is drinking from a mug of blood whilst Anya is asleep on the sofa. When he bends down to pick up a dropped book Xander enters and thinks that Spike is drinking from Anya and attacks him. Anya stops him and the two kiss passionately, before Anya indicates that they should go home and have sex.
At the college Tara has found a spell to get the own their voices back and goes to show Willow. On the way to Willow's dorm she finds the Gentlemen, and they begin to chase after her. Tara manages to find Willow and the two of them flee from the Gentlemen, locking themselves in a laundry room. They try to barricade the door with a vending machine, but it is too heavy for them. Willow tries to use her magic to move the machine but it fails, having seen what Willow was trying, Tara clasps her hand, their eyes meet for a moment, then the two of them send the machine hurtling across the room to block the door.
On patrol, Riley sees something suspicious in the belfry and enters to investigate. Outside, Buffy finds two of the Footmen and fights them, she manages to kill one, but chases the other into the belfry. Inside the belfry Riley is fighting against the Footmen when Buffy crashes through the window. The two are shocked to find the other in the belfry, but fight side-by-side against the Gentlemen and the Footmen. Buffy sees the box from her dream and gets Riley to destroy it, returning her voice and allowing her to scream, blowing up the Gentlemen's heads.
The next day Tara tells Willow that she is special and has more power than she realises. Riley and Buffy meet to discuss the events of the previous night, but find themselves unable to say anything.
Analysis: 'Hush' is without a doubt the best stand alone monster of the week episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a simple story, frightening monster and amazingly executed gimmick that make it a truly stand out piece of television.
The central idea of this episode, of no one being able to speak, came from series creator Joss Whedon being told on multiple occasions that the primary reason for the show's success was due to the dialogue. Whilst most writers and directors would take that as a compliment, Whedon saw it as a bit of an insult. He stated in interviews that he felt he was becoming stagnant as a director and wanted to avoid falling into the trap of creating only formulaic episodes. Thus 'Hush' was born.
The episode stripped away all of the dialogue that the series was being praised for, and aimed to not only tell a compelling and well crafted episode well, but also drive the characters forward and allow them to develop.
Whilst most shows would have done a straightforward episode without dialogue where the heroes overcome the foe and that's it, Buffy allows its characters to grow without dialogue. Before the Gentlemen even arrive on screen there is conflict in this episode, a foe to beat, and it's language. It might sound crazy, but it's people using language that are causing so many of the characters problems at the start of the episode.
Buffy and Riley can't admit that to each other that they are attracted to each other because they can't stop talking long enough for something to happen. Xander and Anya are having problems in their relationship because Xander can't speak out his feelings and Anya, who is still getting used to human interaction, often says the wrong thing and comes across as blunt or rude.
Without language to get in their way Buffy and Riley are able to act on their feelings and kiss for the first time, Xander is able to show how he feels for Anya, confirming that despite her fears their relationship is clearly based on more than just sex. It even allows growth in the same episode that introduces Tara. Whilst she is incredibly shy and quiet when first introduced, being unable to speak allows her to find the courage to reach out and touch Willow, an act that not only gives them both the strength to survive, but goes on to be the start of the shows most important same sex relationship (sorry Kennedy, but the fans just don't love you as much as Tara).
It says a lot for a show that had thus far been praised so highly for its dialogue is able to deliver real character development and lasting changes that would carry on for seasons without relying on dialogue for 27 minutes of the episode.
It feels impossible to talk about 'Hush' without mentioning the Gentlemen, possibly the most frightening villain to ever feature on Buffy. Whedon references Pinhead, Nosferatu and even Mr Burns as the inspiration for the visual design, and it's clear to see where each other these played a part in the creation of the monsters.
Whilst many of the creatures in both Buffy and Angel are large, monstrous foes that have a real physical threat to them, the Gentlemen are one of the rare exceptions to this rule, skeletal and corpselike, with slow and elegant movement that takes away from physical intimidation, but adds so much to the fear factor.
Even after fifteen years the scene where Olivia is looking out of Giles' window and one of the Gentlemen suddenly comes floating past, smiling at her, gives me the creeps in a way that no other Buffy creature ever has. It's appropriate that Whedon received the inspiration for the creatures from a childhood nightmare, as many of the scenes with them feels like a nightmare scenario.
The scenes with the Gentlemen are beautifully added to by the direction and use of haunting musical score. The almost fairytale like music, mixed with haunting vocals makes every moment with them scarier and heightens the tension as they glide through Sunnydale, searching for their next victims.
The fact that the Gentlemen glide rather than walk is a great choice for them as characters, increasing the creep factor and the nightmare like feel, but also means that they have to be shot a certain way as to hide either the wires holding them up or the dollies that move them around. Certain angles and shots we're used to seeing are changed ever so slightly to hide these technical pieces, and makes things feel ever so slightly wrong and out of the norm.
Despite being one of the creepiest episodes in the history of Buffy 'Hush' is not without its light moments, providing some laugh out loud jokes, once again without the need for dialogue. The episode uses the lack of dialogue for some great visual gags, the way Xander and Buffy's faces simultaneously fall when they try to talk to each other on the phone, or the way Forrest waves a pad with 'come on come one' written on it as Riley tries to override The Initiative's voiceprint security (it's the second come on that really makes it funny).
The most brilliantly funny part of the episode has to go to the scene where Giles is using an overhead projector to brief the scooby gang. Yes, his childish (and at one point disturbing) drawings give the scene a visual comedy, but there's so much comedy in the scene that comes down to characterisation and misunderstanding. Anya's blatant indifference to the whole thing as she eats popcorn. Xander being stuck thinking about sex, thinking that the Gentlemen want 'boobies'. Everyone's reaction to Buffy making a staking gesture whilst sitting down that makes it looks like she's suggesting masturbation. Buffy's protest of Giles' drawing of her. It's all stuff that feels real to all of the characters and works to create one of the best laugh out loud scenes of the show.
With fantastic visual storytelling, great comedy, wonderful dialogue (for as little as the episode has it) and the creepiest Buffy villains that will stick in your nightmares, 'Hush' is a near perfect example of what makes Buffy The Vampire Slayer an enduring classic piece of television and a must watch.
Plot Summary: Captain Sisko takes a small team aboard the Defiant to bring supplies and medical aid to the planet of AR 558. Sisko is accompanied by Worf, Dax, Bashir, Nog and Quark, who has been sent along by the Grand Nagus on a fact-finding mission on the war for the Ferengi government. When the senior team (minus Worf) beam down onto the surface of AR 558 they find a group of starfleet officers who have been under siege from Jem'Hadar for five months as they try to maintain control of a potentially important Dominion communications array.
Bashir treats a number of the wounded and tells Sisko that both the physical and mental state of the soldiers is precarious. The troops, first numbering 150 but now down to less than 50, have seen their captain and commander killed, were supposed to have been taken off the planet two months before and are under constant threat of attack from both enemy troops and subspace mines that can appear at any time.
When a Jem'Hadar ship attacks Sisko orders Worf to take the Defiant out of orbit to safety. The Dominion lands ground troops, forcing Sisko to take command of the situation on the planet and engage with the Jem'Hadar troops.
Sisko sends Nog on a recon mission with two of the personnel stationed on AR 558, but when the group is attacked one of the team loses their life and Nog is injured, resulting in Bashir having to amputate his leg. Meanwhile Dax is able to make the subspace mines visible and is able to reprogramme them to be used against the Jem'Hadar, who are approaching their position.
The mines manage to kill many of the Dominion troops, but dozens still make it through to the Starfleet camp, resulting in a bloody battle that costs many lives on the Starfleet side. Sisko manages to lead his troops to victory and they hold out until reinforcements arrive, but it leaves Sisko, and several others, wondering if the victory was worth the price they payed.
Analysis: 'The Siege of AR 558' has been called one of the best episodes of Deep Space 9, and one of the best episodes of Star Trek ever, but it's divided many fans, as some feel that it's too dark in tone and shows the horrors of war in a way that is far removed from Gene Roddenberry's optimistic and peace loving vision of the future.
Deep Space 9 took a brave approach to the Star Trek franchise, it gave us a space station instead of a ship, meaning that events unfolded over the course of multiple episodes and seasons and decisions had lasting consequences, rather than the shows usual adventure of the week format. They also took the incredibly risky step of showing a darker side of the Star Trek universe, one that dealt with oppression, terrorism and war.
The Dominion War was one of the most impactful story lines in the Star Trek universe, and no other episode in the whole Star Trek catalogue goes as far to show the horrors of war than 'The Siege of AR 558'.
In the episodes leading up to this point we'd seen huge space battles, secret missions behind enemy lines and even prisoner of war camps, but we hadn't seen the reality of the ground troops during the Dominion War. For a television show of the time when DS9 was made to put their main cast in genuine risk and actually kill them off was virtually unheard of, so this kind of episode couldn't be done with just the main cast, which is one of the main reasons for the introduction of the troops on AR 558. It gives the episode disposable characters to kill.
Despite being made purely for this episode, and made to be expendable, the four main characters found on the surface of AR 558 are all surprisingly well rounded and represent different effects of war on soldiers. Larkin is the junior officer forced to step up to command responsibility when her commanding officers are all killed. Reese is the hardened veteran who takes trophies from dead Jem'Hadar, yet turns out to have surprising depth and compassion. Kellin is the quiet and almost peaceful engineer working in an impossible situation. Vargas is the damages soldier who has seen too much war and is close to breaking point.
They're all stereotypes and tropes we've seen before, but the way they are used is fantastically effective. From the first time we see him Vargas is made out to be an antagonist. He's angry, he's quick to violence and he resents the crew of the Defiant because they get to leave. When Doctor Bashir treats him though that we get to see why he's the way he is as he breaks down telling Bashir how a man he hated patched him up and saved his life moments before he was killed in front of him. We see the conflicting emotions of that moment for Vargas, the relief that a guy who annoyed him by constantly talking finally shut up, the anger at himself for not feeling sorry for the loss of a fellow soldier, the pain of having someone save you but not being able to save them, but above all you see that this man is seeing horrors every single day and doesn't know when they will end. It's a shocking moment, and has impact because you never expected something like that to come from the most closed off and aggressive person.
As much as you grow to like the four characters in a relatively short space of time they were created to be killed off, and three of them do die, with each death serving a purpose. Larkin is killed in an ambush, the same one that costs Nog his leg, but because Reese is so busy trying to save himself and the injured Nog there's no time to make anything of it. It happens and then it's moved on from before you can even register it. It shows that in war death isn't always a big, dramatic or emotional scene, it just happens. It comes out of nowhere and there's nothing others can do except pick themselves up and carry on the fight.
Vargas and Kellin both die during the final battle with the Jem'Hadar. Kellin dies in a moment where he protects Dax's life, but it leaves him open to attack from behind and it costs him his own life. Whilst his death was possibly the most predictable, the fact that the last time you see both him and Dax on screen in this episode is with her cradling his body leaves a lasting impression. Vargas is killed in one of the bloodiest moments of the episode, being stabbed in the back by his enemy. His body hits the ground with the blood covered blade still sticking out of his back. It's one of the more openly violent and bloody moments in any Star Trek episode, and shows the level of bravery that this episode took in pushing the boundaries of what was normally acceptable for the franchise in order to tell a truer and impactful story.
Whilst the troops on AR 558 were the only ones to die, the DS9 crew didn't come out of the episode unscathed. As stated before, Nog ends up losing his leg in this episode, and it's something that the show would go on to explore in subsequent episodes as we see the physical and psychological impact that the loss of a limb had on the young man.
What's not as obvious at first glance though is the mental effect that this episode, and the war in general, has on a number of our main characters. During the course of the episode Bashir talks about how he joined Starfleet to save lives, whilst field stripping and readying his phaser rifle without having to even look at it. Ezri Dax opens up about how she has the memories of battle from her previous lives, but hasn't any firsthand experience on the battlefield herself. The episode shows her with a strange mix of confidence and level headedness that we've come to expect from the previous Dax, yet a timidness and fear of someone who is still fairly inexperienced. Dax is definitely forced to mature during the course of the episode, with the trauma of the battle clear on her face at the end.
Most surprisingly it's Quark who has the most to say about war during the episode, as he continually questions everything. It's not unusual for Quark to be at odds with most of the other characters, and in most situations he's used as an opposing voice to just about anyone, even if it's right or wrong. In this episode though all his views have weight to them and come from a very valid place, and not one of selfishness or a quest for wealth.
Quark raises criticism of the choices Sisko makes that he sees as putting Nog in more danger than some of the other soldiers, and he constantly questions Nogs unquestioned love of soldiering and the admiration he feels towards the veterans.
The questions Quark raises, about the sense of going to war over trying to negotiate, of people fighting without questioning the reasons why or the effect it could have, they're all valid points to raise, and none of them are completely right or completely wrong. There's no one view in this episode that's right or wrong. It's not a pro-war or anti-war, it raises arguments on both sides of the debate without saying whether they're right or wrong. It leaves those decisions open.
Quark also raises a point about humanity in this episode that Star Trek rarely likes to highlight, that despite how civilised and progressive humanity is every single human has the capacity to perform terrible deeds. This fact is highlighted in this episode when Sisko has the option to turn the subspace mines against the Jem'Hadar. A weapon that up until that point they all said were horrible and evil to use suddenly becomes acceptable when it can be used to their benefit.
War forces people into positions where they have to make impossible choices, where people have to chose whether or not they will compromise their morals and their ethics in order to survive horrors. Sisko has to make that very choice himself, and whilst he may dislike using the very same technology that killed so many Federation troops, he has to weigh that option against losing even more troops.
No one is immune to these tough choices and having to cross lines that they wouldn't normally, even Quark who is so against the war and against fighting is forced to draw his weapon and kill a Jem'Hadar soldier in order to protect his nephew. It's the first, and only, time Quark kills during the entire seven season run. He doesn't want to kill, he doesn't want to be a part of the war, but he crosses that line to save his family.
There's an air of sadness and strain hanging in the air throughout the episode, there's pain and anger and no time to process any of it. There's no glory in any of the fighting, there's nothing in this episode to take away as being enjoyable. It's just grim and dark in a way that Star Trek has been unable to capture in their other episodes.
Perhaps part of this is down to the director, the late Winrich Kolbe, who himself lived through the horrors of the Vietnam war. Once you find out that the director lived through war himself suddenly the episode begins to make a lot more sense. The ambiguity as to whether war is right or not, the different effects it has on soldiers, crossing lines you don't want to. This might be fiction, but it's using sci-fi to tell a very real story.
I can see why some people will turn around and say that the episode goes against the vision of the future that Roddenberry created, and you can't argue with the fact that no other episode is so much a polar opposite to the original series than this one, but I believe that it tells a very important story for the Star Trek universe that makes a statement on real war. No matter how enlightened a society we have, no matter how much we advocate peace and cooperation there is always a capacity for war amongst any civilisation.
'The Siege of AR 558' is not only a great episode of television, but an example of just how amazing Star Trek can be.
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