Star Trek has spawned many a TV show in both the realms of animation and live action and while it's prime was no doubt really in the sixties. The franchise started to become really popular again around the nineties with there being three live action shows airing during the decade with only two of them ever airing at the exact same time at different points in the nineties and so then join me I review the episode that saw Deep Space Nine launch with the episode in question being called simply just "Emissary" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is Commander Benjamin Sisko is told that he is destined to discover an ancient home world by going through a wormhole and must discover it before a race of aliens called The Cardassian's find it and use it's power for evil. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good as the plot of the episode is a good example of just how good this franchise was and still could be when it's at it's best with the plot of the episode doing a very good of setting up all of the characters in a way that feels organic and giving at least one of them a really interesting character arc for the episode with the plot of the episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko , Rene Auberjonois as Odo and Siddig El Fadil as Doctor Bashir. Also starring in this episode is Terry Farrell as Lieutenant Dax , Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko , Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien , Armin Shimerman as Quark , Nana Visitor as Major Kira , Camille Saviola as Kai Opaka , Felecia M. Bell as Jennifer Sisko / Jennifer Alien , Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat , Joel Swetow as Gul Jasad , Aron Eisenberg as Nog , Stephen Davies as A Tactical Officer , Frank Owen Smith as Curzon , Lynnda Ferguson as Doran and Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard / Locutus Of Borg.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With alot of the episodes cast turning in some really solid performances but on the flip of side is the fact that we do get alot of really bad performances in this episodes which is understandable as this is the only the first episode of the show but with that being said you always want to start of with your best foot forward and that is something that this episode is very severely lacking acting wise as while we do get good performances from the likes of Avery Brooks , Colm Meaney and Nana Visitor for example however we also get some really bad performances from the likes of Cirroc Lofton who comes across as being more really annoying then cute and Marc Alaimo for example who really is just over the top but not in a charming way with the acting in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all the episodes cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help the overall quality of the acting that's in this episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Rhythm & Hues Studios and VisionArt. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented t us in this very episode well the in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good with the episodes CGI having aged really well as alot of the time it really is hard to tell what was done in a computer and what was done as miniature which does go to show you just how good the CGI in this episode really was with the episodes CGI being alot better then what it really had any right to be alot of the time as while we do get some dodgy looking CGI effects those are very few and far between with the episode having alot more good looking CGI effects in it then it does have some really bad looking CGI effects in it as well.
For those of you that don't know both this show and Star Trek: Voyager are set in the exact same continuity as both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. With this episode having a few characters from the The Next Generation either be a guest character or join the show as apart of it's main cast with Sir Patrick Stewart guest starring in this episode and Colm Meaney joining the main cast and while having this connection does indeed make sense as The Next Generation was a big success when this show was being made it also doesn't work in this episodes favor as all it does is remind you that you could be watching a much more better show and while this episode does set up it's new characters really well it does nothing to introduce the guest characters which does make sense but again at the same time there will be alot of mainstream audiences that don't know these characters and won't want to watch several seasons of a TV show and a few movies just to get a decent understanding of who these characters when the episode could tell us who these characters and explain to us why these characters are actually really important characters.
To this episodes credit it does delve into some rather adult themes with the episode dealing with the themes of death and how hard it is to move on when you've lost someone that you love. This was a rather mature theme to take on as not alot of TV's would take on this theme and even fewer would tackle it in the way that this episode does by having what can only be described as not really time travel as Commander Sisko interacts with a being that doesn't understand linear time and as a result of that is the fact that he has to come to terms with the death of his wife and in doing so tech the being that humans and aliens deserve to live and deserve a second chance of life which is something that does work really well as it ties into his character arc of learning to come to terms with the death of his wife and learning to forgive the person the person that he deems responsible for her death that being none other than Captain Jean-Luc Picard which also gives him a really interesting character arc for this episode and while that arc would have worked better if it was stretched out over the course of the series the way that it was handled in this episode works really well as well.
While the episode does go into some details on the characters backstory not alot of the characters get alot of character development. With the character that gets the most character development being quite easily Commander Sisko who goes from wanting to leave Starfleet and hating pretty much everything that they do to someone who is willing to forgive Captain Jean-Luc Picard for something that he had no control over and couldn't help doing and while it is understandable that he would get alot of the character development in this episode it also would have helped the episode out quite alot if some of the other characters not only got some character development but also became alot more fleshed out then what Commander Sisko is as this is an ensemble franchise it always has been and when only one of the ensemble gets character development and gets to become more of a fully fleshed out character then the whole show start to suffer because of it as the us the audience now have no other reason to watch the rest of the rest of the show as none of the characters get the chance to come across as being interesting characters.
Now then this episode has / has an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty minuets and forty nine seconds. With this episode originally airing as a two hour premier episode before being split up into a two part episode when in syndication with the episode really having alot there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of running and the episode itself having enough story to justify being a two part story as it does have alot of things to set up like the location of the show the shows characters and what there relationships to each other will be in the series moving and it has to do all of that and still tell a good story and t wouldn't be able to do all of that and as a result of that is the fact that by giving in an extra forty five minuets it gives the episode that needs to do all of that and then some and while yes yes the episode could have used that extra running tie to fully flesh out alot of it's characters the episode does make the best of it's longer running time but I will admit that the episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So ow then as this is an action show that really does mean that I ave to actually talk about the actual action thats actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad by Star Trek TV standards. As Star Trek TV shows have never really had the best action in them at least in the early nineties as alot of them just had ships firing at each other and the characters reacting to it and that's also the case here but at the same time tho we also get to how thew action in this episode deeply effects one of the characters which does make it oddly engaging but at the same time tho we the audience do expect there to be alot more fun and creative action scenes in them and that's something that Star Trek was very sadly lacking at this point in time as alot of the action in this episode just felt very samey and not really all that new and creative at all in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall while this wasn't a good episode it wasn't necessarily a bad one either as it does good job of setting up all of the things that need to bet set up like the characters and the location of the series for example but at the same time this episode isn't the strongest episode to start out on either as the acting is really weak and the plot really take a while for it to really get going as well which does harm the episode as a whole in my freaking opinions anyways / least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Star Trek fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website that I personally preferred to use to get the images that I personally used in this very review being the wonderful Google Images since all of the images that are currently up and and featured / presented to us on Google Images are all fairly high in quality and as well as being fairly freaking high in definition.