I agree that the obelisk and sort-of-Odo life form fail within the confines on this particular episode. However, within the larger story I think they work mainly as a way to show that a) Odo is almost certainly from the gamma quadrant and b) shape shifters are or were kind of a big deal over there.  Between those…

(SPOILERS obviously)

@avclub-c254eaf30893f49706260c2d22fe6148:disqus it's kind of a thorney philosophical question actually - remember the episode where Riker gets accidentally duplicated during a transporter malfunction? From any external observer's perspective, 2nd Riker-stuck-on-the-planet  = 1st Riker-who-got-away. But definitely not…

Personally I find no other way to interpret that Q/Guinan interaction than that Q finds it secretly hilarious to humor Guinan's pretensions at being anything but a bartender with bad taste in hats. Seriously, claw hands vs. omnipotence?  If she'd caught him on a worse day she'd be a giant pile of shit 
a la Weird…

Do they though ? I admit that I don't think I've seen it since the original run, but wasn't there an episode where a shape-shifter shows up on DS9 and basically makes fun of Odo's lack of abilities in the shape-shifting arena? (I seem to remember him turning himself into a fog and covering the promenade,…

I always imagined it was something like "The Prestige" - SPOILER ALERT - where every time someone transported the person leaving the pad died a horrible death but the person forming at the other end had no memory of it. So from the latter  person's perspective, they're the "same person" because they have identical…

Forget how the hookers feel - imagine whoever has to clean the holodecks!  Sure, the virtual hookers are all photons and force fields, but what's left over afterwards sure as hell isn't.

It was an epic battle and while I would vote for RJS to come out ahead, you put up a hell of a fight.

Despite a great guest star appearance and an entertaining Bashir / O'Brien subplot, I think it may be the single worst episode in at least DS9 or TNG history for purposes of stupid, hand-wavy "science" as a plot device.

@avclub-749a8e6c231831ef7756db230b4359c8:disqus That man will forever and always be known as Prince Humperdinck.  I could think of nothing else while rewatching that episode. It's kind of unfortunate for him I suppose, but if you're going to be immortalized there are far worse vehicles for it than The Princess Bride.

Exactly.  I also remember thinking the John Bender character was a huge badass when I watched it as a kid.  When I watch it now, I just think he's an insecure loser.

I was thinking the same thing. I'm not exactly excited about the prospect of rebooting, say, Spiderman because I think (the first 2) films essentially realized the potential of the story.  Nothing more to do there.  On the other hand, Van Helsing at least has a promising storyline but was executed so poorly the first…

As long as they're dancing to the tune of "Playing with the Boys" I think we'll all be satisfied.

If they're playing on TNT (and there's an approximately 40% chance that this is true on any given Saturday afternoon) I will watch them. You're not signing up for a great movie, but they are indeed fun.

That entire album should be on every jukebox.  As well as "The Blarney Stone."

This battle may well be the best thing the internet has ever produced.

How will they understand it if they aren't sentient?

Of course, problems arise with the connect-with-facebook style comments when everyone in the thread knows that your actual name is Hitler.  It tends to be a real online conversation-stopper.

@avclub-1beee9fdd7f132dc2f36c09ae265122c:disqus Yeah that's actually in Book 1 - Catelyn negotiates with Walder Frey to allow the Stark army to cross the trident at the twins (which is sort of essential for their winning their first battle), and as part of the deal she promises Robb will marry a Frey daughter of his…

I googled OTP, and found this: 
Guggenheim Ocean Tomo Patent ETF.  Not very actively traded, I think I'll pass, thanks.