Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 43: Crossover [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought this episode was a nice follow-up to the original series episode Mirror, Mirror. The alternate versions of the DS9 characters and the roles they had in the mirror universe were all portrayed very well: The powerful yet vulnerable Kira, the opportunistic Sisko, the orderly taskmaster Odo, the Terran sympathizer Quark, and especially the resigned yet hopeful O'Brien (aka Smiley). O'Brien's speech to Kira is probably the most noteworthy scene. If you are a DS9 fan, or if you just want to see what happened to the mirror universe after the TOS episode Mirror, Mirror, this would probably be a good episode to add to your collection.

This episode is, in some ways, better than it's source: "Mirror, Mirror." Of course, it doesn't have Kirk, Spock, or McCoy, but the DS9 cast is an excellant substitute. "Crossover," did accomplish what "Mirror, Mirror," didn't do. It showed the darkness of the mirror universe, and it made your hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Great performances by everyone. This is an episode that belongs in a collection

...but Kira wasn't prepared for this, not one bit. En route back to the Alpha Quadrant, Kira & Bashir are in a runabout and they realize they have a leak in their starboard nacelle as they enter the wormhole. They try in vain to disengage the warp engines but are unable to do so. When they come out of the wormhole, DS9 isn't there - it should be right there, right outside the wormhole - but nothing. Kira finds it on short-range sensors - DS9 is orbiting Bajor. Now why this is news to me, I'm not sure. I thought the only way to keep the station from drifting was to keep it in orbit of Bajor, but I guess if it was orbiting, it wouldn't always be right outside the wormhole. Hmmm.

As they're trying to figure out what happened, they're boarded by 2 Klingons who then "escort" them back to the station. Nothing is as it seems. Humans are processing ore on the station - much like the Bajorans were forced to under the Cardassian occupation. Familiar faces, but no one seems "right."

Then - Kira sees herself - but not really herself - her "counter" self - in a rubber body suit. Being Bajoran, Kira wasn't familiar with the story about Captain Kirk and the alternate/parallel universe, but Bashir learned about it in his Academy classes and Kira's counterpart, referred to as Intendent, is also well-versed in the story of Kirk.

Bashir's "other self" is not on the station, nor do the inhabitants recognize him - so his counterpart may be dead or in another part of the galaxy. Odo is there, but he is a rat bastard - supervising the cruel conditions that the humans (called Terrans by the station inhabitants) are in while processing ore. Garak is there - more cunning than usual. Quark is there, but less concerned with Latinum and more concerned with liberating the Terrans. This is a world upside-down and they don't see a way out.

Bashir is sent to the mining decks to labor while the Intendent visits with Kira. She is visibly enraptured by her own visage. Her estrogen levels are in high gear and she makes it evident that she wants to do the hokey-pokey with her double. Kira is freaked out by seeing her double behave in such a way. There is definitely a connection between them, but Kira is repulsed in the cavalier way in which the Intendent dispenses "justice" to the station inhabitants. The Intendent wants to court and romance Kira, and makes it clear that Kira will never leave the station. Kira doesn't want the mental and emotional baggage of having slept with herself, so she keeps the Intendent at bay, conspiring with Bashir to break out of the station.

Bashir befriends Smiley - Chief O'Brien's counterpart in the parallel universe and they work together to try to find a way off the station. This is not just an alternate universe - it's a depressing, twisted universe where no one is truly happy. One day there will make you grateful for your own existence in your own universe. Not quite Hell, but close. An intriguing storyline and a setup for a future episode when visitors from the alternate universe come to visit DS9.

The first, and best, of the four DS9 episodes inspired by the classic "Mirror, Mirror", allows several of the principal players in the series a chance to "step out of character" as their counterparts in a parallel universe. Avery Brooks ("Sisko") gets to "cut loose" and be a bit less formal as his alter ego is truly his opposite. Nana Visitor ("Major Kira") has the opportunity to examine her more alluring side, as her "alternate" is a somewhat sex-obsessed "intendant" of an oppressive regime. "Odo", played by Rene Auberjonois, gets the ruthless overseer treatment and "O'Brien", Colm Meaney's series role, becomes a drone to do the bidding of the Intendant and her minions.

The only character that seems no different than the one in "our" world is the mysterious "Garek", as played by occasional guest Andrew Robinson. The "tailor" on DS9 always had an air of mystery about him, belying a hidden sinister past.

A major highlight of this first-year installment is the MILK BATH.

It is to die for.

I thought that this episode really tied in with the old Star Trek with the mentioning of the mirror universe transporter accident Kirk and his landing party had in "Mirror Mirror". Yet, it also was great on its own, with the counterparts of Kira, Garak, Sisko, and Quark being totally different from the real characters. The man that steals the show is the O'Brien counterpart! Watch it and see why.

A good episode, one of the better Alternate Universe series' ones. Its interesting to see the characters seem completely different, except for Quark, who dies in this episode. Oh well ;)

"Crossover" is the sequel to the Original Series episode, "Mirror, Mirror." Watch Kira's mirror universe double wear a lavender dress at a party for Kira. Watch as Odo's double, when he pulls out a phaser, Bashir shoots him, and he explodes into a million pieces, it looks gross for the first couple of times you watch it, and if you're an young adult or a teenager, it might even scare you. It certainly scared me! Also, watch as Sisko makes a belly laugh at Kira, and watch as Bashir does serious labor for the boss of ore processing. I tell you, it is just when the Cardassians made slaves of Bajorans in the ore processing center. Watch for what I mean when you watch "Civil Defense." My summary ends.

If they had done a few things differently this episode could have been very good, but the way it actually was written was a total sham. The enslavement of humans and Vulcans in "Crossover" should have been established as having come about because their aggressive empire overextended itself and left itself vulnerable. Two of the episodes strongest scenes are where the Intendant relates how Bajor became part of the Alliance and O'Brien's comment that he couldn't help wondering how things would have been if history had been "a little different." But this would have carried much more impact if mirror-Spock had been portrayed as having tried to warn the Terrans that this sort of fate would happen if they didn't reform their empire, as would the subsequent mirror episodes.