"Distant Voices"
If there was ever a "middle of the season" episode, it's this one. Bashir turns 30 and he says, "30 marks the end of youth and the slow march into middle-age." I'm not going to fault Bashir here, I felt the same way, but... trust me Doctor: it's not 30 you have to look out for, it's 40! Now this is the part where someone tells me "It's not 40 you have to look out for, it's 50!"
Anyway, a Lithian attacks Bashir and enters his mind, Bashir is unconscious for nearly the rest of the episode and everything we see is in his mind. All the different characters on DS9 represent different facets of Bashir's personality. It reminds me of a show from the early-'90s called Herman's Head. Anyone remember that show? The only one who doesn't remind Bashir of any part of his personality is Garak, who turns out to be a representation of the Lithian.
The best part of the episode is when the Lithian asks Bashir the probing questions. Why didn't he pursue a career in Tennis? Why didn't he pursue Jadzia as a girlfriend? Why wasn't he Valedictorian? Bashir hits back with answers for all of those once he's in his own turf: The Infirmary, then he vanquishes the Lithian from his mind.
Seeing Bashir get older and older and older and older was crazy to see. The "Happy Birthday" followed by the "and many more!" was twisted. And yeah. That's what old really looks like. Down to the hip-breaking. "After experiencing life at a 100-plus, turning 30 doesn't seem so bad anymore!" See? Lesson learned!
There were a few highlights, like what I mentioned above, but for the most part it was killing time and there was more than one instance where my mind started wandering. I give it a 6.
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When I turned 30, it felt like a milestone, but I celebrated it. Just like I want to turn every decade-turning birthday into a celebration. No dread, worry, or fear here.
Here's what I did for every birthday ending in zero:
10 --> I went to see Honey, I Shrunk the Kid in the theater!
20 --> I didn't actually do anything. To be fair, 20 is overshadowed by 18 and 21. When I turned 18, I went hiking in New Hampshire. I forget which mountain. But, at one point, we ended up in the clouds. It was that high. When I turned 21, I went to a bar. Though, when I got up, the first thing I did was buy a beer at the store. Only because I could. In retrospect, I'd say 18 was the better birthday.
30 --> When I was a kid, I went to a restaurant called Top of the Hub. It was in Boston and it had a restaurant at the top of a skyscraper on the 52nd Floor. The elevator ride was something else. For my 30th Birthday, I wanted to go back there. Only I found out the restaurant was no longer open. But, what was open was a place on the 50th Floor where I could view the entire cityscape through binoculars. It was interesting. Not quite what I planned but it still worked out.
40 --> Since I was hitting my 40s, I decided to make my birthday party 1940s-themed! I played '40s music on my computer, we watched '40s cartoons, some '40s news reels, and then, for the Feature Presentation, we watched The Maltese Falcon.
If there was ever a "middle of the season" episode, it's this one. Bashir turns 30 and he says, "30 marks the end of youth and the slow march into middle-age." I'm not going to fault Bashir here, I felt the same way, but... trust me Doctor: it's not 30 you have to look out for, it's 40! Now this is the part where someone tells me "It's not 40 you have to look out for, it's 50!"
Anyway, a Lithian attacks Bashir and enters his mind, Bashir is unconscious for nearly the rest of the episode and everything we see is in his mind. All the different characters on DS9 represent different facets of Bashir's personality. It reminds me of a show from the early-'90s called Herman's Head. Anyone remember that show? The only one who doesn't remind Bashir of any part of his personality is Garak, who turns out to be a representation of the Lithian.
The best part of the episode is when the Lithian asks Bashir the probing questions. Why didn't he pursue a career in Tennis? Why didn't he pursue Jadzia as a girlfriend? Why wasn't he Valedictorian? Bashir hits back with answers for all of those once he's in his own turf: The Infirmary, then he vanquishes the Lithian from his mind.
Seeing Bashir get older and older and older and older was crazy to see. The "Happy Birthday" followed by the "and many more!" was twisted. And yeah. That's what old really looks like. Down to the hip-breaking. "After experiencing life at a 100-plus, turning 30 doesn't seem so bad anymore!" See? Lesson learned!
There were a few highlights, like what I mentioned above, but for the most part it was killing time and there was more than one instance where my mind started wandering. I give it a 6.
.
.
.
When I turned 30, it felt like a milestone, but I celebrated it. Just like I want to turn every decade-turning birthday into a celebration. No dread, worry, or fear here.
Here's what I did for every birthday ending in zero:
10 --> I went to see Honey, I Shrunk the Kid in the theater!
20 --> I didn't actually do anything. To be fair, 20 is overshadowed by 18 and 21. When I turned 18, I went hiking in New Hampshire. I forget which mountain. But, at one point, we ended up in the clouds. It was that high. When I turned 21, I went to a bar. Though, when I got up, the first thing I did was buy a beer at the store. Only because I could. In retrospect, I'd say 18 was the better birthday.
30 --> When I was a kid, I went to a restaurant called Top of the Hub. It was in Boston and it had a restaurant at the top of a skyscraper on the 52nd Floor. The elevator ride was something else. For my 30th Birthday, I wanted to go back there. Only I found out the restaurant was no longer open. But, what was open was a place on the 50th Floor where I could view the entire cityscape through binoculars. It was interesting. Not quite what I planned but it still worked out.
40 --> Since I was hitting my 40s, I decided to make my birthday party 1940s-themed! I played '40s music on my computer, we watched '40s cartoons, some '40s news reels, and then, for the Feature Presentation, we watched The Maltese Falcon.
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