It's now obvious to me that the creators and writers of Voyager so desperately wanted their own Gul Dukat as De Longis portrayal of Maje Culluh has a lot of similarities and the writers were trying to make him as animated and as formidable. The big difference between the two characters is depth. Gul Dukat has depth. He is a character. Culluh is a wooden block of a character. He is just another bad guy on the screen who is as dumb as they need him to be so the crew of Voyager can beat him. When the crew for DS9 beats Dukat, it's real. It really does seem Dukat always has the upper hand. A lesson worth exploring for Voyager.
Basics II follows three subplots, and tries very hard to cram them into a single show. The result is this should have been a two parter. What is happening on the ship is far more interesting than what is happening on the planet. Suder's subplot of him finally getting his mind back and able to cope and live with his past comes back to haunt him when he is asked and tasked with the very job he not longer wants. Dourif does an excellent job but Suder's talents are not given the screen time necessary, because apparently we need to know that Voyager is learning to have diplomatic relations with an alien species. There is also another alien on this planet that takes a few officers as dinner. One of which made me incredibly angry because the officer is someone whom we've following for some time now and I was really beginning to like the character. Hopefully it was the actor who wanted to leave and not the writers writing the character off. It was a rather unfitting end for a very fitting character.
Voyager has been a show that consistently foregoes the obvious plot element for the less enjoyable one. I feel like they want to shoehorn an episode into a situation rather than let the situation call to a character or perhaps focus on a character and ask yourself what should this person learn today? This episode felt it more necessary to focus on diplomatic relations with neanderthal people over the psychological pressures of being an assassin and the toll it can take on the human psyche. It made Basics Part II a rather forgettable follow up to a situation that asked for a lot more.
Basics II follows three subplots, and tries very hard to cram them into a single show. The result is this should have been a two parter. What is happening on the ship is far more interesting than what is happening on the planet. Suder's subplot of him finally getting his mind back and able to cope and live with his past comes back to haunt him when he is asked and tasked with the very job he not longer wants. Dourif does an excellent job but Suder's talents are not given the screen time necessary, because apparently we need to know that Voyager is learning to have diplomatic relations with an alien species. There is also another alien on this planet that takes a few officers as dinner. One of which made me incredibly angry because the officer is someone whom we've following for some time now and I was really beginning to like the character. Hopefully it was the actor who wanted to leave and not the writers writing the character off. It was a rather unfitting end for a very fitting character.
Voyager has been a show that consistently foregoes the obvious plot element for the less enjoyable one. I feel like they want to shoehorn an episode into a situation rather than let the situation call to a character or perhaps focus on a character and ask yourself what should this person learn today? This episode felt it more necessary to focus on diplomatic relations with neanderthal people over the psychological pressures of being an assassin and the toll it can take on the human psyche. It made Basics Part II a rather forgettable follow up to a situation that asked for a lot more.