Crossover

First, I want to state that I feel Deep Space Nine is the best series of the franchise. The threaded storytelling is wonderfully complex, the characters evolved in interesting ways, and the showrunners were not afraid to take risks. As such the show was amazing, with many fantastic episodes. Nevertheless, Crossover was not one of the finer moments of the series, and it paled in comparison to its predecessor from TOS. Mirror, Mirror remains one of the legendary episodes of TOS, unfortunately the same cannot be said about DS9's attempt to recapture that same status.

I'm not just bashing the episode for nothing, there are reasons. In Mirror, Mirror, Jerome Bixby flipped the established norm on its proverbial head, resulting in an episode that was not only unique and brilliant, but one that was extremely engaging, amusing, innovative and quite simply, extremely fun. To discuss DS9's attempt, one must compare it to what made the original episode so great.

In Mirror, Mirror the ISS Enterprise was shown orbiting the planet in the opposite direction, a great metaphor for what was to come in the episode. Bixby's ideas were very original, and the ISS Enterprise crew was so starkly different that Kirk Prime was nauseated when he could only stomach listening to the first two incidents from his counterpart's command history. The entire crew of the ISS Enterprise was twisted as well, as a viewer it was impossible to keep your eyes off them. To say Bixby's characters chewed the scenery is an understatement. So how did the Crossover's characters compare? Well, quite frankly there was a near complete lack of originality in Crossover.

To begin, the Klingons have not changed in the Mirror universe at all. In relation to character they remain essentially the same as Klingons have throughout the franchise. Nothing new here.

Second, although Garak acts ruthless in contrast to his normal character on DS9, the Cardassians have not changed in the Mirror universe as one can detect...their use of torture during prisoner interrogations has been well documented in multiple episodes. Furthermore, in the episode "The Wire" it was revealed that Garak was a member of the Obsidian Order, and he stated "even the Guls feared us". Garak himself admitted he was extremely ruthless in his role as an operative for the Order, so his ruthlessness in this episode represents no major change of his character. Nothing new here as well, aside from the fact that he was still a member in good standing of the Cardassian military ranks.

Viewers may have also noticed that the Intendant had a Vulcan servant, but this servant acted nothing comparable to Spock in the original. DS9's Vulcans were slaves. This one point is HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT in relation to Jerome Bixby's original makeup of the Mirror Universe. In Bixby's story, the Empire is an analogue of the Federation, with multiple worlds making up the Mirror Empire the same as in the Prime Universe Federation. This is confirmed easily, as Mirror Spock receives orders from Mirror Star Fleet to murder Kirk and proceed as the new captain of the Enterprise. It wasn't Mirror Sulu that was ordered to take command, it was Mirror Spock. In fact, Mirror Star Fleet doesn't even bother to notify Mirror Sulu about Mirror Spock's orders.

Crossover changes that, the Vulcans are slaves. None of the innate coolness of Bixby's Vulcans from his original version of the Mirror universe remains. It's all gone. Bixby's Spock was a TOTAL BADASS. He was ruthless, merciless, and valued profit. It was also implied that in Bixby's Mirror Universe, Vulcans were to be feared...one merely needs to recall the look of terror on Security Chief Sulu's face when Spock reminded him that "my operatives will avenge my death, and some of them are Vulcans." All of this is gone after Crossover, and the Empire becomes the "Terran" Empire while the Vulcans are diminished severely. What a tragedy.

Later series (Enterprise, Discovery) would expand on the Terran Empire angle, and forget completely the badassed Mirror Vulcans Jerome Bixby created. TRAGEDY.

On to Major Kira, let's first look at what we know about the Bajorans in general. Are the Bajorans in the Prime Universe - in general - similar to the Intendant? Some most definitely are. It's been shown that Vedek/Kai Wynn is sociopathic and not above manipulation and cold blooded murder to obtain her ends. Other Bajorans have shown this as well. For example, in the episode Past Prologue, Tahna Los of the terrorist group the Kon Ma had no problems attempting to destroy DS9 and everyone aboard it to further his agenda. And although Kira acted extremely mild in comparison to the Intendant, it was established that Kira was no stranger to murder in her role as a member of the Bajoran underground. I can't say the Intendant was Kira "flipped over completely", although she was extremely arrogant. But as it's been said, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In addition, I found her advanced knowledge of the details related to the characters from the original episode a real stretch, even for an episode within a series where the viewer must, in both cases, suspend one's disbelief.

Moving on, one of the most important aspects of the source episode was the dialogue. Mirror, Mirror was laced with what many fans agree was the most iconic dialogue of the entire franchise. TOS was overall certainly a quotable series, but this episode set an extremely high standard for the spoken word with line after line of dialogue that was nothing short of BRILLIANT. The original cast obviously enjoyed it as well, as TOS cast members themselves have lauded the episode throughout the years. For example, when I saw George Takei speak to a small audience at a convention in the late 80s, he said Mirror, Mirror was the some of the most fun he had working on the entire series, and one reason was the dialogue. To be honest, Crossover's dialogue doesn't hold a candle to the original, there is no comparison.

Not much else needs to be said, thus my rating is 5/10 and that's being extremely generous.