Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) The Alternate (1994) User Reviews

Had potential but ultimately confusing

[Hughmanity · 6/10 · 2 August 2020]

The premise of Odo's "Dad" scientist coming on board and them exploring a potential link to Odo's roots has a lot of promise. Unfortunately some seemingly poor writing got in the way and turned this into a mediocre episode.

Many things confused me in this episode:

• Why does Dax so nonchalantly rip sacred statues from the planet? Federation doesn't care about heritage site looting?
• What purpose did the statue serve anyway? They learned nothing from it. I hope it plays a role in future episodes (I'm watching in order) otherwise that was a total waste of time and plot
• Why does Odo alternately care about Dr Mora and then want to attack him via his poison gas alter ego? Does he like him or hate him? Why the focus on him?
• What happened to the original organic material, and since alter-Odo freed it in order to "rescue" it, why did it die?

This could have been such a better set up story for Odo finding his people, the Dominion, etc. instead it was just wonky and confusing.

A possible home world for Odo

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 16 March 2010]

When Dr. Mora, the scientist, who discovered Odo turns up on DS9 he is more pleased to see Odo than Odo is to see him although when he says a planet has been discovered in the Gamma Quadrant which scans indicate may have a life form similar to him he is keen to help investigate. On the planet they find a life form although preliminary scans suggest it isn't the same as Odo. Before they have been there long there is an Earthquake which releases a gas which has a negative effect on the Bajoran scientists and to a lesser expect Dax; it appears that Odo is unaffected as unlike the others he doesn't breath. The sample of the life form evolves at an amazing rate but disappears over night; either it escaped or somebody released it from the lab, either way the lab is heavily damaged. As they search the station it appears that Chief O'Brien has found it but what he has found is dead. When Dr, Bashir is attacked by a large shape-shifting creature it is clear that whatever destroyed the lab isn't dead. At this point Dr. Mora comes up with a shocking theory about what the dangerous creature is.

This was a decent episode with some nicely humorous moments and a good mystery although the CGI looked somewhat dated by todays standards. The interaction between Odo and Dr. Mora was interesting, they clearly had very different opinions of their time together but by the end of the episode understood each other's positions better.

Odo Again Needs to Find His Heritage

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 6 October 2018]

The man who found Odo on Bajor is filled with giddiness over the possibility that there is another such creature in the Gamma Quadrant. After an away team is assaulted by something, they barely make it back to the station. What happens next is the introduction of a threatening, amorphous thing that tests Odo. While the scientist is almost obsessed there are lessons to be learned. Decent episode.

"Let's rip this historical monument outta the ground and take it with us."

[txriverotter · 6/10 · 5 May 2023]

This was the biggest miss for me in this entire episode. With all of the holo-technology they have available, all they needed to do was take a holo-image then they could've recreated the obelisk back at DS9.

Instead, Dax casually suggests they rip it out of the ground and take it along. Seriously? What if some random scientist came along Stonehenge and decided to just "take a couple of stones" to study?

It's so crass and.irreverent. Very un-Starfleet.

Not only that, but immediately after they beam the obelisk off the planet, some sort of eruption or earthquake starts, and not one of them thought to beam the obelisk back to the planet. I would think that'd be the first thing that crossed their minds, but of course it's never mentioned in the episode at all. Just that some gasses escaped and were more harmful to the Bajorans than anyone else. Except some really weird stuff starts happening with Odo.

And that's where the episode continues. We see some cool CGI of the day, and great acting, as always, by Rene Auberjonois, but nothing more of his origins, which it seemed like that was where the épisode was going when it began.

Instead we learn more about Odo's recent history, when he was discovered by the Bajorans and began being studied by Dr. Mora. And we learn a lot about their history, and Odo's love/hate relationship with Mora. It is quite like a father/son episode where they work thru their grievances.

It wasn't a bad episode, just not great. Some inconsistent writing, really great acting, but for me the biggest miss was the scene with the obelisk. I just can't see that being something they would do. It's one thing to bring Bajoran monuments or Orbs onto the Station, because Sisko is the Prophet and they're working with Bajor, in most épisodes. But that wasn't the case here, and it seems a big oversight by the writers.

Search your Feelings Odo! I'm Your Father!

[dand1010 · 7/10 · 3 September 2021]

1- A One Sentence Synopsis Of The Episode............. *A very influential person from Odo's (Rene Auberjonois) past arrives on DS9 and reignites old feelings, long since suppressed, in the shape shifter.

2- VIEWERS CHECK THIS OUT....................

*WHO'S YOUR DADDY?

I didn't notice until the end of the episode that Odo fashions his hairstyle, color, facial shape, body type and even style of dress after Dr. Mora (James Sloyan).

*PRIME DIRECTIVE ANYONE?

At approximately 14:00, while exploring a planet in the gamma quadrant for the possible origin of Odo, Dax proposes taking an obelisk carved out of rock from the planet back to DS9 for examination. Why does this seem like some kind of violation of the ethics of Starfleet?

*GROWLING WITH NO VOCAL CHORDS?

The shape shifter creature invades the medical area (26:00) and attacks Dr. Bashir. The creature emits a low sounding growl squeal. How does the creature create noise with no perceivable vocal chords or mouth?

*SHOOT TO KILL At 39:40 Sisko gives an extremely controversial order to Major Kira regarding phaser settings. He gives the order in such a cool, nonchalant way as to almost be out-of-character. I am still forming an opinion of this scene and Sisko's reaction as of the writing of this review. I'm taken aback and, frankly, not sure what to think.

*THE THING As the creature appears in the final act, I am left with two impressions: A- The special effects capabilities in the early 1990s was not as bad as some reviews are suggesting.

B- As the creature begins to take form, I made the visual connection with "the thing" from the fantastic four!

3- Final Reflective Analysis and Final Grade.............. *Good episode. Very emotional and passionate acting by Rene Auberjonois.

Final Grade: B+

Daddy don'tcare

[Nominahorn · 6/10 · 22 February 2023]

2.12 "The Alternate"

The scientist who studied Odo when he was first found, Dr. Mora, comes aboard the station and reveals that a life form similar to Odo has been detected in the Gamma Quadrant. They go there together, but a natural disaster on the planet they investigate leads to Mora's life and Odo's identity being threatened.

Odo origin eps are always rich in potential, but this one has a lot of sloppy writing/directing/editing that keeps it down. Overall yet another average-ish ep in a stretch of such eps. Not the most solid run for the show currently, though it could be worse.

THE GOOD

-Lots of Odo is always a positive. Auberjonois is a phenomenal actor and Odo is one of the best characters on DS9.

-Going through the wormhole. It was starting to become more common, but then we hit a run of claustrophobic eps and this is the first time in five episodes we have seen the Gamma Quadrant, which is a refreshing change.

-For those of us who have seen the show before, any Odo origin eps have extra potential since we know how important his species is. This ep doesn't really deliver in the writing department, and I'm fairly confident that the showrunners didn't have the Founders arc even conceptualized yet, so this ep falls short on most of its potential, unfortunately. That said, the changeling-like lifeform they find is tantalizing even if unrealized in its potential.

THE BAD

-Poor writing causes the episode to fall flat.

-Really nothing is explained in this ep. Major fail on the 'science' half of 'science fiction.'

-Mora's actions aren't consistent and don't make sense. Makes it impossible to get a handle on the character.

-Random crap takes up runtime, like the obelisk, and then never plays a role in the story. Again, sloppy writing or possibly bad directing or editing.

THE UGLY

-Hollywood writers have serious daddy issues. This isn't limited to Trek (Sarek, Riker's dad, Worf); crappy fathers are pretty universal to television and movies. Ironically, DS9 does a ton to buck this trend. All of the main characters are actually excellent fathers on this show (the Siskos, Rom, O'Brien), which is quite refreshing. However, this ep does not follow the good dads theme of the rest of the show.

-There is a strong implication that Sisko's father is deceased, but he plays a major role later in the show so obviously that is a bit of inconsistency that is partially saved by the slight vagueness of Sisko's word choices.

-Odo shapeshift count: 3 times in this ep as the "gas creature." I guess that counts. These are his first on-screen shifts since "Invasive Procedures," eight episodes previously, and he only does them while "possessed." My memory of him shifting rarely on-screen is starting to be reinforced. He would be so powerful if he shifted frequently, but I can only assume that the effects for showing his shifts were impractically expensive for the time, hence the rarity of the on-screen effects and also how low quality many of them end up looking (like in this ep). 17 total on-screen shifts for the series.

Fairly good Odo episode

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 24 February 2022]

Odo's researcher/father figure arrives on DS9 with a request so search for more of Odo's species.

This is a decent episode that gives some interesting backstory and has an enjoyable monster b-movie subplot.

It is a good one for Odo fans as he has plenty of screen time that focuses on his past and sets the character up for more development. Rene Auberjonois and James Sloyan do excellent work with average dialogue.

I mostly enjoyed the monster mystery aspect of the story but the sci-fi technobabble does get a bit flat in certain scenes.

There is an amusing continuity moment in Sisko's dialogue relating to his father who is implied to be dead. DS9 obviously did a u-turn on this idea at later point and hoped nobody would question it too much.

Good start, bad ending

[cfefnir · 6/10 · 17 August 2023]

It stars quite good, with a good premise: we are gonna learn something about Odo's past and where he comes from.

Then some strange things happen: first Dax decides to rip off the floor some ancient relic. What was the purpose of this relic and why it was necessary to the plot, is a mystery.

Another mistery is what the alien lifeform was, and what happened to it. We learn that Odo is having a personality disorder and attacking the station, but is quite vaguely explained and the premise is not actually developed in a manner that matters.

The episode ends in a strange family reunion where we finally don't learn the motives or the causes behind Odo's strange conduct. Just that "it was the gas"

Overall, good premise, but suffers from the lack of developing the argument in a way that matters and keeping the clues cohesive.

Who's your daddy?

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 December 2014]

This episode begins with Dr. Mora Pol arriving on the station. It turns out that he was in charge of working with Odo after he was first discovered*. The Doctor seems a bit of a know it all and insists that Odo shouldn't have gone off on his own--though through the course of the show it clearly appears Odo was right after all. Regardless, the guy is on the station because Bajoran scientists think they've discovered something just like Odo in the Gamma Quadrant and he plans on leading an expedition to retrieve and study this goo. Throughout all this, folks keep referring to Dr. Pol as Odo's 'Dad' though this really makes no sense and Odo clearly resents it. Can Odo and the Doctor somehow work together and forge a more mature relationship while they investigate this seemingly intelligent goo?

This is an okay episode but not especially exciting or outstanding. Mildly interesting but nothing memorable.

NO Klingon opera !

[Filmreader · 6/10 · 12 April 2020]

No Sisko ! Your kid does NOT need to learn the bloody Klingon Opera that will NEVER hear in his life !

A promise of Odo backstory, but then nothing is revealed.

[beanslegit · 5/10 · 7 October 2021]

This episode kinda frustrated me. Now I'm a fan of Odo and Rene's acting is generally very good. He's one of my favourite characters in DS9 so anything pertaining to his backstory is always intriguing and this episode starts off promising to deliver on that front.

Buuutttt! And that's a big stinky hairy buttt mind, in the end nothing is revealed about Odo that we don't already know. There's no explanation about the Pillar which they outright robbed from the ancient ruins, like why was there an earthquake the moment they removed it??? It never enters the story again or is ever mentioned in any following episodes so what was the point???? What was the lifeform they found on the planet???? Never explained either... It feels like each segment was written by a different person who hadn't read the script for the previous part.

This episode could have been amazing if someone competent had written it, but unfortunately its just a bit pointless and frustrating.

The origins of Odo

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 8 December 2019]

At first Rene Auberjonois is glad to see Dr. James Sloyan the Bajoran scientist who discovered and discovered that a lump of goop in a bucket was a sentient being. Odo asks Commander Sisko for a runabout to explore the Gamma quadrant to research Odo's origins.

They go there and Sloyan, Terry Farrell and Auberjonois are injured in some degree when they inhale some poisonous gas on a planet they land. And when they return it's possible that some matter from the planet came back with them and is making a home on the station.

We learn a bit more of Odo's origins and an insight on how he had to deal with being a one and only. Auberjonois dominates this DS9 story.

Family reunion.

[thevacinstaller · 5/10 · 18 May 2021]

In this episode Ben Sisko pretends to have a fractured relationship with his dead (not really) dad in an effort to bond with Odo.

This episode is designed to be all about the resentment Odo's feels towards Dr. Mora. That resentment causes Odo to lose his memory (?) and roam about the station looking for revenge (?). I put question marks because I am not really sure what the hell is going on in this episode.

I don't know what become of the polyform lifeform in the delta quadrant but I swear that they mentioned it was a part of Odo (?). It remains completely unexplained why Odo went on a rage rampage and why he has no memory of doing so. Reading between the lines, I assume that it was an emotional response to Dr. Mora's presence.

This episode is a bit a bummer for me because the writing is sloppy and the character motivations are confusing. I truly enjoy the actor who play's Dr. Mora but even his presence is not enough to overcome the non sensical plot and execution of this episode.