S07.E04: Take Me Out To The Holosuite

[iMonrey]

Can we just agree this was the dumbest episode in the entire series? If not, then at the very least, one of the five worst? I had long considered "Move Along Home" (S01.E10) the dumbest but I honestly think this one surpasses it for sheer idiocy. I mean, clearly someone on this show loved baseball, but writing a whole episode pitting the DS9 crew against a Vulcan crew in a baseball grudge match has to be the most inappropriate, contrived and silly thing any Star Trek show indulged in. Good Grief!

[readster]

49 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Can we just agree this was the dumbest episode in the entire series? If not, then at the very least, one of the five worst? I had long considered "Move Along Home" (S01.E10) the dumbest but I honestly think this one surpasses it for sheer idiocy. I mean, clearly someone on this show loved baseball, but writing a whole episode pitting the DS9 crew against a Vulcan crew in a baseball grudge match has to be the most inappropriate, contrived and silly thing any Star Trek show indulged in. Good Grief!

Especially during war time. I mean there is shore leave and if you look at the days of WW II and Vietnam soldiers were out at bars enjoying themselves and then going back to battle the next day. However, this in my opinion was where both Rick Berman and Micahel Piller's distaste for the Vulcans started. More evident in Enterprise a few years later. However, even in the original series we didn't get this kind of arrogance. Plus, even if you look at the reboot with the young Spock being bullied by the other Vulcan boys. At least it made sense and was JJ Abrams trying to establish more why Spock embraced his Vulcan side to avoid feeling like an outcast. Let unless you were Spock or Tuvok or the Vulcan nurse I can't remember from TNG you were an asshole. 

[Melgaypet]

*shrugs*

I like this episode just fine. Is it filler? Yes, but it's welcome filler in between all the grim and heavy war stuff and it's fun. More fun, IMO, than "Badda-Bing Badda-Bang," which was similarly meant to be a breather episode. But then, I've always liked Sisko's love of baseball, and found a that a very little of Vic Fontaine goes a long way.

As for the Vulcans, well...to be blunt, most Vulcans are assholes. Even characters I love, like Spock and Sarek, had plenty of moments were they were arrogant, superior pricks. It always struck me as strange that IDIC was meant to be a Vulcan philosophy, since it's certainly not one any seem to practice. So that part didn't bother me either.

[John Potts]

Glad I'm not the only one that dislikes this episode. It has all the usual "Entire senior staff take a week off to indulge in the random activity of the week" (lucky the Jem'Hadar didn't attack while they were all goofing off - though I might have welcomed the distraction if they had!) combined with character assassination of the Vulcans and ending with one of the most hypocritical celebrations. If Sisko "never expected to win" how come he said exactly the opposite only 10 minutes (screen time) earlier? He was either lying or retroactively redefining what "victory" meant, which is the sort of thing I find exceedingly annoying IRL and don't expect heroes to indulge in.

This is one of the few episodes I will skip when it comes up. It's not even "So Bad it's Good" (YMMV, but I'd put Move Along Home in that category), it's just bad.

[iMonrey]

Quote

 It has all the usual "Entire senior staff take a week off to indulge in the random activity of the week" 

Two weeks! They took two weeks to get the team "into shape." Because nobody had anything better to do while they were at war. 

[blueray]

I never minded this episode, even though it is a filler. It has funny moments like Odo getting to throw people out of the game and I love when they are discussing the rules of baseball. Maybe because I don't like baseball, so the rules never made much sense to me lol. That being said, I think this should have been in a earlier season as at this point the show is really serious and telling the war story and a filler like this kind of stands out.

[John Potts]

11 hours ago, blueray said:

I love when they are discussing the rules of baseball. Maybe because I don't like baseball, so the rules never made much sense to me

That scene was another one that bugged me - nobody learns a sport by reading the rule book. You start by going, "The pitcher throws the ball and you get three chances to hit it onto the field - when he does, he has to reach the base before the fielders can throw it there*. Wanna try?" Then you start introducing the complications of what constitutes a Ball and the Infield Fly Rule (I've actually had that explained to me and even understood it, but I didn't retain it).

Whether I'd enjoy the episode more if it was about (say) cricket is hard to say, but it was mostly just "Folks who should know better doing something I don't care about".

* Not an afficianado of baseball, but I think that's right

[rmontro]

On 8/14/2017 at 4:59 PM, Melgaypet said:

I like this episode just fine. Is it filler? Yes, but it's welcome filler in between all the grim and heavy war stuff and it's fun.

I liked it too, in fact I quite enjoyed it.  I thought it was a refreshing change of pace from all the other heavy episodes they'd been showing.  Yes, it's kind of dumb, especially the ending with the "moral victory".   I'm not even sure what the moral of the story is supposed to be - I guess it's that you should have fun instead of being so wrapped up in winning and losing?  Doesn't sit well with the war going on.  Still, a nice change of pace, even down to seeing the characters in baseball uniforms.  And I agree with blueray, Odo playing umpire and happily throwing people out was fun.  Of course, I'm old enough to remember when baseball was still considered the "national pastime". 

Also funny was Ezri's gymnastic Fancy Dan circus catch.  Ezri seems fascinated with the gymnastic abilities of one of Dax's former hosts (can't remember the name).  Jazdia never seemed that interested in them.  But it makes sense that different Trills would gravitate more toward some previous personalities than others.  Jadzia seemed to embrace a lot of Curzon, for instance.  Seeing a new Dax allows for a nice demonstration of that.  Ezri also has a lower center of gravity than Jadzia, which probably helps.

[Maverick]

Emony Dax was the gymnast.  And I believe the one that got busy with McCoy. 

[vibeology]

I know this is a polarizing episode but I always loved it. It's one of the few times I think Trek actually did a good job with comedy. O'Brien with his Scotch infused gum. Odo practicing his umpire moves. No one actually understanding the ridiculous rules of baseball. Always loved it. But frankly it could have been 44 minutes worth of static as long as I got this one moment: