DS9 S03E07, S03E08, S03E09

In this installment:
(viewed Monday & Tuesday, September 1-2)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E07 - "Civil Defense"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E08 - "Meridian"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E09 - "Defiant"

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"Civil Defense"

• While describing to Jake Sisko the horrible conditions in which Bajoran slave laborers worked in one of the (now-decommissioned) ore-processing centers aboard Deep Space 9 (ex-Terok Nor) during the Occupation, Chief O'Brien says that he's heard that the temperatures could reach 55° Celsius.
  
  In related news...by the time I was 15, I had to pretty much figure out how to do at least a rough conversion between Celsius and Fahrenheit in my head, because Starfleet used the metric system like civilized people and I was watching a lot of Star Trek at that point.
• "WARNING:  WORKER REVOLT IN PROGRESS IN ORE PROCESSING UNIT FIVE. SECURITY COUNTER-MEASURES INITIATED."
  
  Well, that's not good.
• Hey kids, it's (a recording of) Gul Dukat!
  
  
  
• Send Jake up the chute.  SEND JAKE UP THE CHUTE.
• This is why you do a clean format-and-reinstall when you buy a used space station, Starfleet.
• ...in which every member of the senior staff wishes they'd watched more MacGuyver.
• "Ironic, isn't it?  The only place in the galaxy that still recognizes my access codes is a Bajoran space station."
• The 75th Rule of Acquisition: "Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of latinum."
• "Let me guess:  Someone tried to duplicate my access code, hmm?"
• Hey kids, it's (actually) Gul Dukat!
  
  
  
• So, apparently Garak--presumably as part of his duties with the Obsidian Order--was responsible for something unfortunate befalling Dukat's father.  I guess that kind of explains why they hate each other.
• "Dukat!  If you are seeing this message, it means you tried to abandon your post while the self-destruct sequence was activated."
  
  Bwahahahahaha!
• Oh, man.  There are some fantastic Dukat v. Garak moments in this episode.  The scene where Garak accuses Dukat of trying to impress Major Kira, and Dukat gets all flustered?  PRICELESS.
• Crawling through a maintenance conduit filled with a plasma fire?  WHAT COULD GO WRONG?!?
• Disabling any computer in the 24th Century involves rearranging a dizzying array of isolinear chips and/or isolinear rods.
  
• "Two hours ago, you told me I was the most devious Ferengi you ever met."
  
  "I thought we were going to die.  I was trying to be nice."
  
  "Name one Ferengi who's more devious than I am."
  
  "The Grand Nagus."
  
  "Alright, name another."
  
  "DaiMon Tye."
  
  "...one you personally personally know!"
  
  "Your brother Rom."
  
  "My brother?!?"
  
  "Your uncle Frin."
  
  "Frin?"
  
  "Your cousin Gaila."
  
  "The one with the moon?"

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"Meridian"

• This isn't information that I intentionally seek out for every Trek episode I'm re-watching, but I happened to notice that this episode was directed by TNG's own Jonathan Frakes.
  
  This episode aired just four days before Star Trek:  Generations was released (November 1994).  He didn't direct that movie, but he did direct its sequel--Star Trek:  First Contact (released two years later).
  
  Perhaps he was getting in some behind-the-camera practice :)
  
  (He also did, of course, direct a total of eight episodes of TNG itself--starting as early as S3's "The Offspring".  He also went on to direct several episodes of TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT, as did many other cast members.)
• During their discussion in the Replimat, Constable Odo confides in Major Kira that he did "try eating" one time, but it was both unsatisfying (due to his lack of taste buds) and messy (presumably due to his lack of a digestive system as we would recognize it).
• Tiron, the alien who approaches Kira in the Replimat, is played by none other than Jeffrey Combs.  I don't know if this is his first Trek role or not, but it most certainly isn't his last.
  
  Most of us will more readily recognize him for his later roles as Weyoun on DS9 and Shran on ENT (and he's awesome in both--Weyoun is a highlight of DS9 and Shran is one of the few bright spots in ENT's casting).
• "This is Tiron, a business associate of Quark's.  This is Odo...my lover."
  
  Well, now you're just putting ideas into his head.
• Take the Defiant back in to explore the Gamma Quadrant, despite the danger from the Dominion?
  
  Yeah, that seems totally safe.
• "The gravimetric distortions are intensifying, but they don't seem to be coming from the star itself."
  
  "Where else could they be coming from?  There aren't any planets in this system."
  
  I guess they don't cover dark matter at Starfleet engineering school.
• SURPRISE PLANET!
• "I was admiring your markings.  Are they decorative?"
  
  "No.  Are yours?"
• Extra-dimensional space hippies.  Awesome.
• Hahahaha!  Tiron (Jeffrey Combs' character) orders Andorian ale from the bar :)
• So Quark negotiates with Tiron to create a custom holosuite program featuring a holographic representation of Major Kira.
  
  Now, I know that Deep Space 9 isn't under Federation jurisdiction so this wouldn't matter anyway:  But I'm once again struck by the fact that there don't seem to be any laws in the 24th Century about using someone's image in a holographic simulation without their consent.  Not that a law would stop Quark anyway, but still...
  
  (I call this missing-but-much-needed regulation "Barclay's Law".)
• "The things I do for money..."
• "Crew member falls for space hippie" is one of my least-favorite Star Trek tropes.  They do it on every series, usually a couple of times.  And it's boring and it sucks every time.
• "...and then we'll go back to your room and count each other's spots."
  
  Ugh.  At this point, I'm actually rooting for the Jem'Hadar to show up.
• And the "funny" B-story to this episode is basically Quark trying to commit a sex crime.
• Crying Sisko too?  Why?  WHY?!?
• You mean your crazy plan to jack around with Lt. Dax's "quantum matrix" so she can go to a different dimension with her new boyfriend didn't work?  I NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED THAT WOULD HAVE GONE WRONG.

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"Defiant"

• I was only going to watch two episodes tonight, but that last one was so bad that I had to wash the taste of it out of my mouth.
• And strangely, this episode is totally not directed by Jonathan Frakes.
• Major Kira does not care about colonists.  And Dr. Bashir cannot have a runabout.  You got a problem with that?!?
  
  
  
• The ability of the chief medical officer to relieve other senior staff of their duties for medical reasons is pretty much the closest thing to totalitarianism that exists in Starfleet.  But boy, they love using it as a plot device.  And I bet the CMOs love getting to do that.
• Also?  My doctor pretty much never prescribes alcohol, dessert, video games and gambling for me when I'm stressed out :(
• Thomas Riker is better at pretending to be William Riker than William Riker is at pretending to be William Riker.
• Why didn't Starfleet come up with some way to alter Thomas Riker's handprint, retinal scan, voice print, etc. or somehow make William Riker's unique?  Given the available technology and the inherent dangers in letting someone run around with the biometic credentials of a high-ranking bridge officer on their flagship (even if it's someone they don't think will betray them), you'd think they would've figured that out pretty quickly.
• "There's nothing to say to you, O'Brien.  I think you know why."
  
  Uh, actually not at all.  No idea.
• "We have reason to believe that Thomas Riker is a member of the Maquis."
  
  Huh.  That's not good.
• The Obsidian Order found out that the Defiant was equipped with a Romulan-provided cloaking device, and opted not to share that information with the Cardassian Central Command.  Whoops.
• There's some weirdly uncomfortable bonding that happens between Gul Dukat and Cmdr Sisko over the raising of boys.
• Thomas Riker tells Kira about rumors the Maquis have heard about a secret military build-up by the Cardassians in the Orias System--a build-up that even the Central Command doesn't know about.
  
  This rumor is not only true, it eventually turns out to be part of the joint plan between the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar to invade the Gamma Quadrant and destroy the Founders' Homeworld.
• This episode is the first appearance of the Cardassian Keldon-class warship.  It's basically an upgraded version of the familiar Galor-class.
  
  
  
  
  Galor class (top) and Keldon class (bottom)
• And thus ends the saga of Thomas Riker:  Captured, tried and convicted by the Cardassian government, and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Lazon II labor camp.