Star Trek Deep Space Nine (Season 6a)

Season 5c  Season 6b

Season Six of Deep Space Nine starts out less of a typical Trek “stand alone episode” format and (counting the season finale from season 5) goes on a seven episode arc. It is more in keeping with the way TV is done now, but it also makes for a difficult time trying to pick lessons and truths from individual episodes.

There are some fun themes running through this portion of the season.

Sisko is given more responsibility and say in the war effort; something that fulfills him to some degree, but he notes the loss of camaraderie he had on the front lines.

Back on the station, we get to see the various political and interpersonal aspects of the resistance.

Of particular interest in this arc is the way Odo is played by the other Founder on the station. The way his loyalties are tested and the draw that his own kind poses is a strange thing to behold. All at once we understand the struggle he is going through, but we also almost hate him for the weakness he exhibits.

This whole portion of the series is some of the highest entertainment Trek has ever offered—certainly this series anyway. At the same time, it also shows how this type of television—the soap opera style—is more of a struggle for writers wanting to offer up analogies and lessons in the classical science fiction vein.

Episode 7 “You Are Cordially Invited…” offers up some mildly interesting cultural clashes and ends up being (surprisingly and refreshingly) a story about marriage being more than simply about a couple in love, but the joining of families and an adoption of each other’s values.

Episode 8 “Resurrection” is another episode involving the parallel universe (annoying) but is one of the more directly religious episodes. It is an interesting look at faith and mystical experience affecting a person deeply. As a stand-alone, however, it does not do much to explore this issue very deeply. In the end, we need the parallel universe characters gone by the end of the episode, so things end rather abruptly.

The Complete Implications of Optical Illusions

There is a site out there that has become a bit of a meme. It is simply an age old optical illusion, albeit done in a way that really dazzles more than earlier versions have. (In fact, there are a couple more on the site that are very good: a video of the same shades of grey effect and one that has you convinced that one shade of color is both blue and green. See here.)


The creator of the site likes to use this effect as an illustration of the untrustworthiness of our perspective (a very postmodern approach to reality) but also to argue in favor of a purely scientific approach to seeing the world. (That is a modern stance.)

“They show us in no uncertain terms that what we see is not what we get. It’s extremely easy to fool our eyes and brain, and we should never simply trust that what we see, what we think is going on, is a fair and accurate representation of reality. This is why we have science. Richard Feynman called it (with characteristic simplistic brilliance) ‘a way of not fooling ourselves’.”

He has a point. He has a good point. Faith, as truly Biblical Christians understand it, is never about pure mysticism, nor does it argue for adopting the views of a select, religious, leadership. In fact the Bible argues against both extremes.

"The Secret World of Arrietty" (2010)

Studio Ghibli achieves, in the opinion of this writer (as well as most aesthetically sensible people, wink, wink), some of the most beautiful, astonishing animation ever put to film. If I were tasked with introducing someone to animation who was completely ignorant with the art-form, it is highly likely I would turn to Ghibli. Disney in its heyday, and certainly Pixar until recently, have better examples of story-telling, but no one tops the sheer visual artistry of Miyazaki and company. Where I run into problems—be it due to cultural distance or the fault of the filmmakers I leave for others to decide—is in the stories themselves.

However, with 2010s “Arrietty” there is no such problem. Some may find it boring or disappointing that there are no flourishes of the fantastic or strange twists and turns to this story. Instead, it is in the simple, straightforward adaptation of the classic children’s book that we are permitted to be astounded with the visuals. And as often as this story has been put on screen using special effects and camera trickery, it is only in the medium of animation that the premise of “The Borrowers” can truly come to life. Even better, the way Hiromasa Yonebayashi employs the photorealistic style makes the story at once beautiful and believable.

And that is where the true heart of this story lies. Never mind that half the characters are mere inches tall and live a fantastic existence of another perspective that every child at some point tries to imagine. This is a story of real emotion and connection with which everyone can identify.

Who is this Man? (Mark 6:1-6)

We read here that Jesus’ home town did not believe in Him. But this is not quite as simple a statement as you might think. The people in Jesus’ region WERE astonished with Jesus. They saw great wisdom in His teaching. They witnesses miracles performed by Him. The big hang-up they could not overcome was that they knew Him as a person that they had seen growing up and doing “normal” things like go to school and work. They saw Him as a great teacher and miracle worker; they just couldn’t accept Him as Messiah or Lord. He was not Savior or God in their eyes.

Truth be told, even amongst “Christians” today, we have the same sort of problem. A plurality of people who go by His name see Jesus as anything but who He is. Some see a prophet, a role-model, an example to follow. Others see a baby in an inspiring story or a martyr who changed western culture for the better. Some see a good luck charm, or a god to whom they go for assistance in their own plans and desires; a magic man.

If we do not want to be like the people of Nazareth, we need to see Jesus for who He really is. He is Messiah, Savior, Lord and King. He is the person we surrender to, follow and obey. He is God. If He is anything less in your life, you may have a problem.

Medical Musings

Recently, I have lived through two completely unnecessary medical dramas. A coworker, and then a family member—in the span of a month—both got the word from their doctor that they had to rush to the hospital to be tested for cancer. In both cases they had symptoms that had them thinking they were sick with something non-life-threatening, and in both cases their own suspicions/self-diagnoses were accurate. It was the doctors who were wrong.

Now this is the sort of experience that can have terribly damaging repercussions. It is what leads people to investigate their symptoms online and hazard a guess instead of trusting the experts, but it is the experts that are causing the problem by (a) not doing a good job reading the problem and (b) causing a panic by using the “C” word before they have a good reason to do so.

And really, it is high time we adjusted our expectations and approaches to health issues in the information age we live in. If someone has a modicum of education and reputable places to go for information online, we should add our own judgment into our medical evaluation. I cannot count the amount of times when I have had to make a choice whether to take a kid to a doctor or wait out what appeared to be an untreatable sickness that simply had to run its course. In most cases I waited and was right; in others things seemed so bad I erred on the side of caution and merely got a confirmation of what I already knew in my gut.

Or, maybe I have simply been blessed with healthy kids.

But I have had more than one doctor complain to me in confidence that many parents are too quick to rush to the professional. Some simply because their kid won’t stop crying.

In any case, things are not helped when we encounter so much incompetence in the profession all around the world. It probably all amounts to a case of false expectations. We don’t see doctors as merely another set of professionals. We think of them as infallible sources of magical knowledge.