DS9 - The Passenger

[MerelyAFan]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/d409.php

There's always a bit of awkwardness to these season 1 DS9 episodes; they're not quite TNG retreads like Voyager or Enterprise leaned into, but there is a clear grafting of Next Gen style stories in a DS9 that ultimately doesn't really play to either show's strengths. Its also probably the weakest performance Siddig gives in the series, he's not going over the top and is a bit distinct as Vantika, but never feels terribly engaging as him either.

[clearspira]

I would say the main problem with this episode is that Voyager's ''Warlord'' is the same plot but better. One is Jennifer Lien's best performance, the other is Siddig going full ham as a comic book villain.

Body Theft episodes are a real mixed bag in general because there really is only two plots you can pull off with them: Comedy and Living Nightmare. The problem with Comedy however is that, as Chuck noted over on Atlantis: Duet, having someone steal your body would ALWAYS be a Living Nightmare which is why the Goa'uld and the Borg are so feared. The fact that they are getting into all sorts of ''funny scrapes'' (normally involving copious amounts of sexual assault and gluttony) changes nothing. Comedy only works in these situations if its mutual.

I did like the ending of this one though with the female alien security guard just pulling out her phaser and blowing Vantika away. This clearly the best approach to dealing with a threat like this, even Jadzia and Sisko didn't look all that bothered.

[TGLS]

The fact that they are getting into all sorts of ''funny scrapes'' (normally involving copious amounts of sexual assault and gluttony) changes nothing. Comedy only works in these situations if its mutual.

Well you could probably make it funnier if it was like a robot brain stuck in the wrong body or something. "Well my usual body needs to be reconditioned, so I got this organic substitute for now. It's got all these weird features..."

[LordFeagans]

I did like the ending of this one though with the female alien security guard just pulling out her phaser and blowing Vantika away. This clearly the best approach to dealing with a threat like this, even Jadzia and Sisko didn't look all that bothered.

Well, he was dead. His body was confirmed dead by a licensed doctor and I'm sure the security guard told her government that his body was dead, so did she kill Vantika, or did she just destroy a machine?

[Fianna]

You're overlooking a third option: Living Nightmare for the character, Comedy for the audience who laughs at their suffering.

[clearspira]

There is only two films I can think of that has managed to get this right:

Freaky: Where the comedy is derived from the fact that it is a living nightmare. It doesn't shy away from it, it embraces it.

Freaky Friday (Lindsay Lohan version): Where both the mother and the daughter are as bad as each other and both get their metaphorical licks in. The original Jodie Foster version was too much a product of its time in that the only problem seemed to be that Foster wanted to enjoy her life and not be stuck indoors like her housewife mum.

I guess I just don't ''get'' this genre enough to enjoy it. It mostly seems to be a fetish anyway.

[Fianna]

I think a lot of it's simply, "We're used to seeing this person act a certain way, so seeing them act a completely different way would be funny."

Same reason shirtless Sulu with the rapier is funny.

[Riedquat]

I did like the ending of this one though with the female alien security guard just pulling out her phaser and blowing Vantika away. This clearly the best approach to dealing with a threat like this, even Jadzia and Sisko didn't look all that bothered.

Well, he was dead. His body was confirmed dead by a licensed doctor and I'm sure the security guard told her government that his body was dead, so did she kill Vantika, or did she just destroy a machine?

Have you killed someone if you destroy the transporter whilst they're still in the buffer and haven't yet re-materialised? No body, just a machine...

[Madner Kami]

Have you killed someone, if you run them over while you sit in your car? That is not a question that has multiple answers...

[TGLS]

Have you killed someone, if you run them over while you sit in your car? That is not a question that has multiple answers...

Were they dead before you ran them over? Did they die during or after after you ran them over?