DS9 S02E24, S02E25, S02E26

In this installment:
(viewed Saturday, August 9th)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E24 - "The Collaborator"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E25 - "Tribunal"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S02E26 - "The Jem'Hadar"

---

"The Collaborator"

• Any episode that starts at the Bajoran temple is pretty much guaranteed to be a snoozer...
• And Vedek Bareil always kind of bothered me.
  
  His...speech...was..always...very...measured...and...quit.
• A vision of your own death probably isn't top of the list for what you want to get out of an Orb experience.
• The only thing less interesting that Bajoran spiritualism is Bajoran politics.
• Vedek Winn...this lady.  Gah.
• "Secretary Kubus...last I heard, you were living on Cardassia."
  
  "I decided it was time to come home."
  
  "Welcome back.  You're under arrest."
• Dude, Bareil.  Lay off the Orb, brother.
• Constable Odo is getting pretty self-righteous with Kubus for a guy who also worked for the Cardassians during the Occupation.  I mean, I have no doubt that Kubus' betrayal of the Bajorans was broader and more severe than Odo's.  But still.
  
  Then again, Kubus did go back with them when the Cardassians withdrew and "lived with the enemy" on Cardassia for a number of years.  I guess returning home from his sentence of exile is his crime?
• Every time Vedek Winn (later Kai Winn) calls Cmdr. Sisko "Emissary", it sounds like she's spitting out of her mouth like it has a bad taste to it.  I hate that character, but Louise Fletcher did a great job with the role.  In some ways, she's almost as wonderful a villain as Gul Dukat.  Almost ;)
• I may find Bajoran spiritualism and Bajoran politics dull, but Bajoran history--especially that of the Cardassian Occupation of 2319-2369--is pretty fascinating to me.  That's probably because it's generally a very well-detailed story, and reminds me of human history.
  
  So to my bad memory's surprise, this episode has a lot of stuff in it about the Occupation, and the elements of Bajoran politics are all colored by events that took place during the Occupation.
  
  That certainly makes it less dull.
• Vedek Bareil, responsible for the Kendra Valley Massacre?
  
  THAT'S NOT TRUE.  THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!
• "Oh, and one more thing child:  I know you're under a great deal of strain, but if you're wise you will never speak to me with such disrespect again."
  
  Yeah, that sort of tone always goes over so well with Major Kira.  I don't foresee that causing lasting problems at all.
• "I love him, Odo."
  
  "Really?  Well...I, uh..."
  
  AWKWARD.
• "You want something from me."
  
  "How did you guess?"
  
  "It's simple:  We've been here more than a minute and we haven't insulted him, threatened him or arrested him."
  
  "Exactly."
• The 285th Rule of Acquisition:  "No good deed ever goes unpunished."
• "The one thing I've learned about humanoids is that in extreme situations, even the best of you are capable of doing terrible things."
• "Stabbed to death by your girlfriend" is probably also not a very popular request for Orb experiences.
• ...and this is the episode where Winn Adami becomes Kai Winn.  The good news is that it totally won't have disastrous consequences.
• Kai Opaka was the real collaborator, although she did it in order to save over a thousand innocent Bajorans.  That's a bummer.

---

"Tribunal"

• This is one of those "crew member goes on vacation, with terrible consequences" episode.  Our victim this time?  Poor Senior Chief Petty Officer Miles Edward O'Brien, Chief of Operations for Deep Space 9.
  
  
  
• O'Brien runs into one of his old colleagues named Raymond Boone.  He and Boone served together aboard USS Rutledge during the Federation-Cardassian War.  This is the same ship on which O'Brien served with Captain Benjamin Maxwell, who had a mental breakdown and attacked Cardassian ships after the signing of the Federation-Cardassian Treaty in the TNG episode "The Wounded".  After leaving Starfleet, Boone settled on Volan III--a colony that would eventually wind up on the Cardassian side of the Demilitarized Zone.
  
  
  
  "Boone"
  
  Although it's never seen on-screen, non-canon sources describe the Rutledge as a New Orleans-class vessel.  A different ship of this type was seen (briefly, and badly damaged) in the wreckage of Wolf 359.  Ex Astris Scientia did a pretty good reconstruction, and gave us a good idea of what ships of this class (including the Rutledge) would've looked like.
  
  
  
  (The New Orleans class; courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)
• "Do these chairs recline?"
  
  "I wish they did."
  
  "You're an engineer, do something about it.  I'll make it worth your while."
  
  EWW.
• Oh, it's another one of those pesky Hideki-class patrol ships.  Actually, I think this is the first time they're given that name.  Not good news for a lone Danube-class runabout, at any rate.
• Gul Evek is never good news, either.
• This episode is a scary, scary exploration of the Cardassian judicial system, as described by Gul Dukat in an earlier episode.
• In response to Chief O'Brien's "arrest", Starfleet orders three starships to the Cardassian border:  The Enterprise-D, the Prokofiev and the Valdemar. 
• "Mr. O'Brien is being treated with great care and respect."
  
  "Good.  Because if he is not, I will hold you personally responsible.  And if that sounds like a threat, it is."
• Oh, and look who's still technically an officer of the Cardassian court system?  That's right, Constable Odo.
• "Commander, Chief O'Brien's attitude towards the Cardassians is hardly a secret.  What if he has actually done something?"
  
  "Then we need to know that too, don't we?"
• "Being accused of a crime is not a disgrace.  Some of the great figures of history have shared the honor with you."
  
  "I didn't figure on dying a martyr."
• Yeah, Odo makes a good point.  Why does either the Federation or the Bajoran Provisional Government not insist on O'Brien's extradition, given that the alleged theft of photon warheads was a theft of Federation property and took place on a Bajoran space station?
• "I regret that I have no teeth to offer your Bureau of Identification."
• "Including the war, how many Cardassians have you killed?"
  
  "I'm...not sure."
  
  "That many, eh?"
• Chief Archon Makbar's sudden willingness to set aside O'Brien's death sentence "in the the interest of furthering Federation-Cardassian relations" echos the willingness of the Klingon court to commute the death sentence of Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy during their equally-farcical trial for allegedly assassinating Chancellor Gorkon in 2293 ("...in the interest of fostering amity for the forthcoming peace talks...").
• The fact that Makbar only has to see "Boone" enter the courtroom with Cmdr. Sisko tells us that she new of the set-up all along, or was at least tipped off about it.
  
  Scummy Cardassian government.  I can't wait for them to sell their souls to the Dominion and then get raked over the fricking coals :P
  
  (not the Cardassian people, mind you--just their government)
• The real Raymond Boone was captured at Setlik III and died in detention.  That's not a happy story :(
• And in the end, O'Brien was just a pawn in a plan to discredit Federation claims that they're not arming their colonies in the DMZ so that the Cardassians can demand that they be dismantled.
  
  What a bunch of bastards.
• And apparently being a Starfleet commander, the CO of one of the quadrant's most important installations and the Emissary to the Bajoran Prophets is just barely enough influence to extend someone's vacation?  That seems wonky :P

---

"The Jem'Hadar"

• Ooh, this is it!  This is the episode I've been eagerly anticipating for two seasons. 
  
  While we're still a couple of seasons away from the commencement of open hostilities between the Dominion and the Federation Alliance, this episode--with the appearance of the Dominion's formidable Jem'Hadar soldiers--marks the emergence of the Dominion as the antagonists that will be the major threat to our heroes for the remainder of the series.
  
  The "cold war" simmers for a couple of seasons, but even that is fodder for some really great episodes.  And once hostilities actually break out?  Whoo boy.
  
  I'M SO EXCITED.  This is my favorite Star Trek, basically.
• So, Jake gets to go to the Gamma Quadrant and do a planetary survey.  Don't you think that might put him at a slight advantage over other students, whose parents don't happen to be the commanding officer of Deep Space 9? :P
• "So I invited Nog to come with us to the Gamma Quadrant..."
  
  Uh oh.
• "Maybe it's because he doesn't like you."
  
  "Don't be ridiculous.  Major Kira's the one who doesn't like me.  Sisko..."
  
  "...doesn't like you either."
• The 102nd Rule of Acquisition:  "Nature decays, but latinum is forever."
• If Sisko allows him to use the station's monitors to sell merchandise, Quark promises to donate 2% of his net profits to everyone's favorite charity:  The Bajoran Fund for Orphans.
• "I thought the Ferengi liked eating bugs?"
  
  "Only certain bugs.  Ferengi bugs."
• The stranger who comes out of the forest and zaps Quark and Sisko with her weird chest light is Eris, who is clearly a Vorta...although we don't yet know what a Vorta is (and neither do Quark or Sisko).  I don't believe any other Vorta ever exhibit the same ability to project a force weapon from their bodies, either.  That may either be an ability specially-engineered into Eris to aid her in her role as a spy, or it may be something that all Vorta can do and we just never see it.  Or it may be something that the writers put into this episode and then forgot about ;)
• When the Jem'Hadar surround the camp, the exhibit an ability that I don't believe we see in the Jem'Hadar when the war really gets going later in the series (although maybe we do see it once or twice between now and then; I don't recall):  Personal cloaking devices.
• "Maybe they were attacked by a wild animal."
  
  "You heard my dad.  There are no animals:  Just insects and plants."
  
  "Maybe they were attacked by a vicious tree."
  
  {INSERT GROOT JOKE HERE}
• "How did you know that the security barrier was lethal?"
  
  "Because everything about the Jem'Hadar is lethal."
• The Jem'Hadar know as "Talak'Talan", the first we see on-screen and the leader of the Jem'Hadar who capture Sisko and Quark, is also the first character to mention the Founders by name (although of course we don't know anything about them yet).
• "A Ferengi and a human.  I was hoping the first race I'd meet from the other side of the anomaly would be the Klingons."
• Back on the station, Dax and Kira are in Ops awaiting the arrival of USS Odyssey, a Galaxy-class starship.  Instead, the get a visit from Talak'Talan aboard one of the Jem'Hadar attack ships that will become very familiar to everyone in Starfleet over the next few years.
  
  
  
  (from Star Trek Fact Files, courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)
• Talak'Talan flat-out informs the crew of Deep Space 9 that the Dominion will no longer tolerate ships from the Alpha Quadrant passing through "the anomaly" and into their space.  He warns them "stay on your side of the galaxy", and presents them with a list of ships that the Jem'Hadar have destroyed for allegedly violating Dominion territorial sovereignty.
• "Where'd you get this data PADD?"
  
  "From the Bajoran colony on our side of the anomaly.  You should be proud.  I hear they fought well, for a spiritual people."
• Captain Keogh:  Kind of a jerk, but he's not wrong.
• And of course O'Brien already started retrofitting the runabouts with extra weapons.  Of course he did :D
• The Jem'Hadar attack ships use a phased polaron beam as their primary weapon, which is capable of penetrating standard Starfleet deflector shields of this period.  Eventually the Federation will update its deflector technology, but this gave the Jem'Hadar a significant advantage during early skirmishes with the Federation.
• The ill-fated Odyssey is, to our knowledge, the first full-fledged Starfleet starship to be lost to the Dominion.  We don't know if any of the ships on Talak'Talan's list were Federation or Starfleet, but presumably if a capital vessel had been lost they would've noticed.
  
  
  
• "You have no idea what's begun here."
• "If the Dominion comes through the wormhole, the first battle will be fought here.  And I intend to be ready for them."