DS9 S01E11 & S01E12

In this installment:
(viewed Tuesday, July 1st)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S01E11 - "Vortex"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S01E12 - "Battle Lines"

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"Vortex"

• "The usual, Odo?"
  
  "Nothing."
  
  "...the usual."
• "For my next trick, I will be a drinking glass!"
  
  It's like the ne'er-do-wells on this station still haven't figured out that Odo can change shapes.
• The alien Croden is played by Cliff DeYoung, who right up until this very second I thought was totally in a bunch of other Star Trek episodes.  Which he was not.
• The whole twins thing with the Miradorn seems pretty inconvenient.
• Croden is from Rakhar, a planet in the Gamma Quadrant.  He hints to Odo that he's seen or heard of other "Changlings" where he's from. 
  
  We don't know it yet, but these will of course morph (pun intended) into the terrifying Founders of the Dominion as the show's rich story develops over the course of its seven seasons.
• The Miradorn "raider" is actually the first appearance of a model that will later be used as Arctus Baran's mercenary vessel in the TNG S7 two-parter "Gambit".
  
  
  
  
  It's described as a Theta-class ship, although we don't know if it's a design built and used by multiple species or if its a Miradorn design used by civilian and mercenary groups.  The runabout's computer's description suggests it's a Miradorn ship class
• You know, all-in-all this isn't a bad episode--one of the better ones of the first season, I would say.  It's got a pretty interesting story, gives us some hints of the Gamma Quadrant and explores Odo's character.
• Aww, his kid's in stasis :(
• When in doubt, hide in a nebula.  It's the Star Trek way!
• "Toh-maire"?  Turns out it's a lot more dangerous than the cuddly-sounding name would suggest.
• "I have a full array of Starfleet weapons trained on you, Ah-Kel.  Frankly, I don't know much about them.  But I understand they equipped this little vessel with some pretty powerful stuff, so I suggest you withdraw while you still can."
  
  Nice bluff, Odo. 
• Odo is a stand-up dude, but I'm not sure he's your best bet for the legal guardian of your kid.
• We don't see the T'Vran's exterior or ever find out its class or size, but it makes sense that some of the most prominent Alpha Quadrant scientists to go through the Bajoran Wormhole to survey the Gamma Quadrant would be the Vulcans.
• "Don't thank me.  I already regret it."

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"Battle Lines"

• The Cardassians planted files about Kira in the station's computer?  SHOCKING.
• "'A minor operative who's activities are limited to running errands for the terrorist leaders'?!?"
• Hey kids, it's Space Pope!
• Is taking the Space Pope into the wormhole the best idea, really?
• Poor Yangtzee Kiang...you're the first runabout fatality on DS9, but far, far from the last :P
  
  
  
• Interestingly (depending upon your definition of "interesting", I suppose), the warp nacelle show with the wreckage of the Yangtzee Kiang is incorrect.  It's one of the hexagonal nacelles common to smaller shuttles like the Type 6, rather than the longer, flatter nacelles of the Danube-class runabout.
  
  
  
• A lot like their religion, the Bajoran language is one of the sillier-sounding ones in the Trek universe.
• Golin Shel-la, head of the Ennis faction on the penal moon where Sisko, Bashir and Kira find themselves stranded, picks up a Starfleet Type 2 phaser and quips that their enemies--the Nol-Ennis--had stopped using energy weapons because they weren't "damaging enough".
  
  However, when the Nol-Ennis attack, both sides appear to be using energy weapons of some sort.
• UNDEAD SPACE POPE.
• A penal system wherein the condemned are doomed to fight forever, dying and being resurrected over and over again?
  
  
• "I've never heard of a differential magnetometer.  How does it work?"
  
  "I'll let you know as soon as I finish making one."
  
  Chief Miles Edward O'Brien:  Certified Starfleet Engineering Badass™
• "I don't need you to interpret the Prime Directive for me, Doctor."
• So...they leave the Kai on this planet.  And then pretty much never mention it again?  For some reason, I remembered actually dying and staying dead.  I forgot that she stayed behind.