Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 45: Tribunal [VHS]

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

 

 

What is it with Miles O'Brien? He is the unluckiest man in the Alpha Quadrant -- having survived countless abductions, set ups, and other bouts with bad luck. Then again, he could just as well be the luckiest man in the Alpha Quadrant!! He always seems to be saved in time for the ending credits... Go Miles, Go!

In this episode, O'Brien winds up framed and facing execution by our favorite villians, the Cardassians, for some made up charges, involving the Maquis, smuggled photon warheads, and some other assorted and well executed plot lines. The episode ends, if you couldn't guess, with the Federation cavalry saving the day, to the rescue, with Odo leading the way.

Honestly, all of that really didn't interest me. What I found fascinating was the portrayal of the Cardassian judicial system, and by extension, what we learn about their society. The accused are apparently "Guilty until proven Guilty." That's convenient, since it is easily an evil mirror image of an over idealized and idyllic version of Federation jurisprudence. After all, if you are going to construct villians, why not position the Federation (and thus ourselves?) as angelic in the process!?

All in all, this was a neat little episode, but certainly not for the faint of heart. After all, it's not everyone who can easily sit through the scenes of O'Brien undergoing some rather brutal processing in a Cardassian prison, where he is... well, I'll leave that unmentioned.

But he does get some free "dental work" done...

O'Brien, I think it's time you started looking for a new line of work...

This episode has O'Brien captured by the Cardasians and arrested for being part of the Marque (sp). This episode provides an interesting look at life on Cardasia and the Cardasian system of justice. Very interesting.

Episode title: "Tribunal"

Written by: Bill Dial

Directed by: Avery Brooks

"Tribunal" is an episode that deals with the bigger aspects of what DS9 had to offer at that point of it's run.

Being one of the very last episodes of the second season, it tries to chrystalize the Maquis-Cardassian tension we got to witness at the latter half of the season with a story that begins with Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien going to a vacation with his wife Keiko. But, as always with Star Trek, shore leave turns into a nightmare as O'Brien is taken prisoner by the Cardassians, who accuse him of collaborating with the Maquis.

So begins a courtroom drama that gives us a peek into the Cardassian legal system, where the sentence is declared before a fake trial is held, wich is ment only to serve as an entertainment of the common people of Cardassia.

The story has potential, but never really get's off, as well written but pointless courtroom scenes follow each other, while the plot advances at small and predictable steps back at the station.

The episode doesn't leave the wiever with anything, as the story resettes itself at the end. "Tribunal" is all about using the big-picture arch elements to create an individual, stand-alone story, that, at the end, doesn't have anything to do with those bigger elements it draws from.

SECOND BEST EPISODE OF DEEP SPACE NINE. THIS SHOW HAS WONDOROUS CAPABILITIES. SETS AN EXAMPLE FOR TREK AND ALL THINGS SCI FI. NO WONDER BABYLON 5 COPIED THEM.