CAPTIVE PURSUIT


In a word: Disappointing.

I had been hoping that we'd see some decidedly interesting things come out of
the wormhole, but Tosk proved to be Just Another Star Trek Alien.  Sure, he
was kind of cute in his innocence, but he just wasn't very thought-provoking.

The place where the story really went wrong was in turning the episode into a
"Can we judge another culture, even when they're in our domain?" story, which
has been truly done to death on The Next Generation.  Ultimately, any
emotional punch the story might have had was lost, and it became a simple
adventure with moral handwaving in the background.  (Though I don't know what
sort of punch the story might have had, given that its plot was based on the
fox-hunt premise.)

What we were given was a collection of innocuous but unimaginative characters
and situations, ranging from the hunt premise, to Tosk's shy charm, to O'Brien
(who remains a truly generic character), to the blustery hunters.  These are
fine elements of a '50s B movie, and can provide a harmless diversion for an
hour, but it's not exactly anything you'd want to watch twice.

The scene with Quark and O'Brien was a nice idea and, if they'd really gone
through with Quark's "counseling" and focused on O'Brien's loathing of him
more closely, could have worked out really well.  Unfortunately, they pulled
back from delineating O'Brien's character any further and we still don't
really know what makes him tick.

As usual, it was Odo (and to some degree Sisko) who stole the show when there
was a show to steal.  His snide comments ("I am Tosk."  "Yeah, I'll bet you
are.") were up to the usual standards, and his confrontation with Tosk was
excellent:  Two alien beings staring each other down as if wondering, "Who the
hell is this guy?"  Plus, we learn that Odo never uses phasers and that he
doesn't seem to be terribly strong, as he's knocked down by a hunter.

We also see an all-too-rare confrontation between Starfleet officers - Sisko
and O'Brien - at the end.  It's nice to see someone actually getting chewed
out for doing something his superiors might not care for (unlike Picard's
constant acts of forgiveness on TNG).  It was a little annoying to see the
Prime Directive invoked in this context, though, since Tosk and his hunters
certainly did not seem like a primitive species.

People have been slamming TNG's recent episode, "Aquiel".  I felt that that
episode was an instance of style triumphing over substance (which I think is
perhaps TNG's greatest strength:  It's got plenty of style or atmosphere when
it puts its mind to it, but is often short on real meat), and I certainly
liked it better than "Captive Pursuit", which was just Business As Usual.  A
tidy little adventure, yes, and a few good scenes, but on the whole lacking in
imagination or excitement or, for that matter, style.


Grade: C

DS9 SEASON ONE AT A GLANCE:
Emissary: C-
Past Prologue: A
A Man Alone: B
Babel: A
Captive Pursuit: C
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Total Points: 14 2/3
Season Average: 2.933 (B)
(Fall of 0.234 from previous episode)