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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Visitor: Deep Space Nine's Best?, June 29, 2000
This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 76: The Visitor [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Through three seasons, Deep Space Nine had struggled to find it's footing. Season one was uneven and mostly uneventful. Season two was, surprisingly, strong. In season three, the producers and writers almost dropped the ball -- it was a difficult year, to say the least. With season four, Deep Space Nine had found itself. With the fourth season premiere, "The Way of the Warrior", DS9 had re-introduced us to Worf and dropped intriguing bombshell after bombshell into the faithful viewers' collective laps. DS9 fans were eagerly awaiting the season opener's promise of Klingon politics and station intrigue. Instead, without warning, we get "The Visitor", an episode that strayed from the interstellar war and galactic conflict that the premiere had hinted at. We weren't expecting "The Visitor" and had no idea that this episode would not only become the most popular DS9 episode ever but one of the most popular episodes of any Trek series. "The Visitor" gives us a glimpse at an alternate future where Jake Sisko had lost his father to a mishap right after the events of "The Way of the Warrior". We discover through an old Jake that his father wasn't dead but was "suspended out of time", never aging, never dying yet forever alone. Jake, obsessed with rescuing his father, sacrifices his marriage, his career as a successful writer and, ultimately, his very life all to save his father, Ben Sisko. This episode is powerful and tragic. We understand Jake's sacrifice but at what cost? In the end, we see a lonely old man, who could never move on, attempt to alter the past so he can be with his dad again. I challenge anyone to NOT cry at the ending. This episode is an emotional triumph, DS9's best indeed.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Probably THE BEST episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, November 10, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 76: The Visitor [VHS] (VHS Tape)
If I could, I would rate this episode as 6 stars out of 5, because it's so good. The episode "The Visitor" deals with the relationship between Jake Sisko and his father, Captain Benjamin Sisko. What happens is Jake, who is an old man who's about 80, tells the story of his father's death to a young, aspiring, and attractive woman named Melanie (played by Andrew J. "Garak" Robinson's lovely daughter Rachel). In the end, when the musical suite plays, we see Ben Sisko, sitting in front of his elderly, napping son, who shows him a draft of a book he dedicated "To my father, whose coming home", which he won't be able to publish, but he reveals to his father what he realized, and why he has taken the path he has. If you're interested, and haven't seen this episode, I won't ruin it for you. But if you either have it, or have seen it, you understand why I would rate this a 6 out of 5.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A science-fiction cliché turned into good drama, April 2, 2002
This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 76: The Visitor [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Episode title: The Visitor Written by: Michael Piller Directed by: David Livingston A retarted writer, Jake Sisko, gets a visitor to his home on Earth. He desides to tell to that visitor a story of his life never told, a story that has hunted him throughout that long life, a story he wishes yet to change... At the age of seventeen Jake Sisko was a witness as his father was lost in an accident that involved a lot of technobabble. He was hunted by that accident by random hallucinations about his father who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, disappearing as suddenly. As more time passed, Jake learned the trutht behind these appearances and began a fanatic quest to change history to the way it was before his father left him alone... Sounds like the biggest Star Trek cliché turned into a predictable episode to increase the ratings? That's exactly what "The Visitor" seems to be at first glance, but it turns out to be also something else. It's a story about the character of Jake Sisko, the hugely ignored character who always behaves immaturely for his age and is only given horrible sub-plots that are taken straight from Sweet Valley High. But this time, Michael Piller has created a story that reveals him to us in a way never seen before. As Jake journeys through the years, first interpered by the not so talented Cirroc Lofton and later the strong and insightfull acting performance of Tony Todd, the character resieves new depht and dimension. The pacing of the story is exellent and David Livingston's directing brings the story to life with amazing color and freshness, resulting into a truly mature and emotional combination of exellent drama and insightfull plotting. "The Visitor" is surprisingly good considering the unoriginality of the story, and offers forty minutes of TNG style drama that gives new insights and approaches to the whole show, even if it's as calculated as it can only be.
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