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"

---

"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?"

---

"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.

---

"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.

DS9 S03E05 & S03E06

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, August 31st)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E05 - "Second Skin"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E06 - "The Abandoned"

---

"Second Skin"

• I was apparently so excited about the Defiant's appearance in the DS9 S3 opener "The Search" that I neglected to notice that S3 is when they make the switch from the TNG-style comm badge to the VOY-style one that will be used for the remainder of DS9 and all of the TNG films (and of course for all of VOY).
  
  
  
  (original art from Star Trek Encyclopedia III, taken from Ex Astris Scientia and edited/captioned)
• See sad Dax.  See sad Dax drink by herself in the Replimat.
• We've got a genuine mystery on our hands.  Time to send a senior staffer off by themselves!
• "Space is dangerous, Doctor.  You never know what might happen."
• Holy moly, do Cardassians love to kidnap people.  I think that you really can't consider yourself a real character on DS9 until the Cardassians (or later, their Dominion buddies) kidnap and imprison, torture or otherwise torment you physically and psychologically.  What a bunch of jerks.
• As the scene zooms in to Kira surveying her surroundings and sizing up her chances of escaping, we get a good look at what is presumably the capital city on Cardassia Prime. 
  
  On a large public view screen, a Cardassian military official speaks in a monotone voice about the importance of Cardassian children to the future.  It's one of the moments when the intention of the writers to draw parallels between the Cardassian Union and totalitarian societies on Earth (especially Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union) is very clear. 
  
  Of course, as DS9 progresses and the Cardassians as a race are fleshed out, it becomes clear that although their government is oppressive and certainly a large number of Cardassians support it, there's more to their civilization than blind obedience.  Eventually we meet (and have already met, in fact) scientists, artists, academics and even members of the military who display dissident qualities.
• "Oh yeah, not only are you actually a Cardassian spy--your dad is totally a legate, too."
• "Commander, this is extortion."
  
  "Mmm...yes it is."
• I get that it's an exciting plot element, and there probably isn't a better way to rescue Kira anyway.  But it's a little surprising to me that Starfleet would allow, let a lone assist, Sisko's plan to take the Defiant (with "modified shield harmonics" to disguise it), himself, the station's head of security (who works for the Bajoran Provisional Government) and a Cardassian tailor into Cardassian space on a rescue mission...all without even having tried diplomatic overtures to the Cardassian government.
• "Mister Garak, I'm impressed."
  
  "It's just something I overheard while I was hemming someone's trousers."
• Oh, she smashed the mirror?  I think we all kind of saw that one coming.
• "The Obsidian Order and the Central Command have been given too much power over our lives.  We're going to change that."
  
  Oh, there some of that dissent right in this episode.  Right on.
• "Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder."

---

"The Abandoned"

• This is one of the few times we actually see Jake's much-discussed Bajoran girlfriend, Mardah--a "dabo girl" at Quark's...who is just like, seriously way too old for him.
• It's the oldest sales promotion in the book:  Buy one cargo bay full of salvaged ship parts, get a free Jem'Hadar infant!
• Being baby-crazy is a really weird character trait for an otherwise-grizzled Starfleet officer like Benjamin Sisko.
• "He's an example of some very advanced genetic engineering."
  
  Takes one to know one, Doctor ;)
• "Sixteen years old and dating a dabo girl...godspeed, Jake."
  
  Miles Edward O'Brien, dirty old man :D
• This is the episode where Odo upgrades from his bucket to a full-fledged set of quarters, complete with a variety of shapes and structures for him to emulate when he reverts to his liquid state.
  
  His first visitor is, as you would expect, Kira.  And she totally brings him flowers, which he then puts in his bucket.
  
  It's so cute you'll want to rip your face off with a garden trowel.
  
  
  
• While discussing the young Jem'Hadar's (although they don't yet know that's what he is) physiology, Dr. Bashir and Lt. Dax describe a (seemingly purposefully-engineered) enzymatic flaw.  This flaw causes the boy to be unable to produce a key isogenic enzyme, without which he would suffer circulatory failure (among other very painful and debilitating symptoms).
  
  Later on, of course, we'll discover that this flaw was placed into their genetic code by the Founders to keep them loyal--through the strictly-controlled disbursement of the drug Ketracel-white (which contains not only this crucial enzyme, but all other nutrients required by the Jem'Hadar.
  
  It's basically the space equivalent of how the geneticists of Jurassic Park engineered all of the dinosaurs so that they couldn't produce lysine, pretty much.
• When trying to control an adolescent killing machine, it helps if they've been genetically-engineered to think you're a god.
• This episode has so many creepy smiling Odo moments...
  
  
  
• It's a little bit difficult to hate your son's girlfriend when her life story includes her parents being killed during the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor.
• Jake's a poet and his dad didn't even know it.
• "Seems a pretty cold-blooded thing to do."
  
  "My people don't have blood, Chief."
• So, Odo.  Let's chat about this.
  
  The kid already thinks that he's better than everyone else on the station (except you)...and he's already expressed an intense desire to fight.  So maybe showing him log footage of Jem'Hadar soldiers fighting and killing (which will clearly impress rather than horrify him), and then turning him loose in the holosuite with a combat program is maybe not the best thing? 
  
  I know you're trying, but I don't think he's got the right ethical context for any of this just yet.
• Ha!  Yeah, and then Kira walks in on that and says pretty much the same thing.
• "Is that all you think about...killing?  Isn't there anything else you care about?"
  
  "I don't think so."
• Starfleet sends the USS Constellation (NCC-55817) to pick up the Jem'Hadar boy from Deep Space 9 and deliver him to Starbase 201.  The Constellation is never seen on screen, nor is her class ever stated (although she was mentioned in a very early TNG episode, "Conspiracy").
• Oh, yeah.  I guess we all forgot that the Jem'Hadar can totally cloak (err, "shroud").  Probably should've thought of that.
• "Major...about the boy:  You were right."  :(

DS9 S03E03 & S03E04

In this installment:
(watched Sunday, August 24th)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E03 - "The House Of Quark"
Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E04 - "Equilibrium"

---

"The House Of Quark"

• (fake) 286th Rule of Acquisition:  "When Morn leaves, it's all over."
• Really, Quark's tactics are spot-on here.  If you have to fight a Klingon, your best bet is really just hoping that he's so drunk that he falls on his own d'k tahg.
• ...subsequently lying and saying that you fought a daring hand-to-hand combat with him, ultimately killing him yourself?  Maybe not such a good idea.
• Keiko O'Brien has to close her school in this episode, as the station's population dwindles due to fears of a Dominion attack.  After the last of the Bajoran students' families relocate back to Bajor, her only remaining students are Jake Sisko and Nog.
  
  If I didn't hate Keiko so much, I'd almost feel bad for her.
• "I'm not just some venal Ferengi trying to take their money.  I'm Quark!  Slayer of Klingons!  I've struck a blow for Ferengi everywhere."
  
  "But what about Kozak's family?  What if they come here looking for revenge?"
  
  "If that happens?  I'll stand up, look them straight in the eye...and offer them a bribe."
• "I can't believe you've forgotten!  It's 'I'm Married to the Most Wonderful Woman in the Galaxy' Day!  I marked it in your calendar!"
  
  Okay, listen up.  I don't think a spouse trying to make their partner happy is stupid.  I'm not one of those Neanderthals that thinks that a husband who does things just because he loves his wife is a sap, or is "whipped".
  
  But the romantic side of Chief O'Brien is easily one of my least-favorite things about DS9. 
  
  Puuuuuuuuuke.
• "Where am I?"
  
  "You are on Qo'noS."
  
  "Qo'noS?  The Klingon homeworld?"
• Give that Keiko an arboretum.  Keikos love arboretums.
• Hey kids, it's Gowron!
  
  (image spoilered for profanity)
  
  
  
  
  
• "The House of Kozak is gone.  For the time being, it will be known as the House...as the House of...?"
  
  "Quark."
  
  "Quirk."
  
  "Quark!"
  
  "THE HOUSE OF QUARK!"
• "You mean D'Ghor has been scheming and plotting like..."
  
  "...like a Ferengi."
• Rom!  You stupid bastard.
• I believe this is the first me that we hear the name of Quark's father:  Keldar.
• Some day I want to get a bunch of people together and do the whole "Klingons cross their arms and turn their backs on someone" routine.
  
  
  
  (this is from TNG's "Sins Of The Father", but the same
  thing happens to D'Ghor in "The House Of Quark")
• "Qapla' Quark, son of Keldar."
  
  "Qapla' to you, too."
• Hooray!  We're getting rid of Keiko and Molly for six months!
• "Brother, I haven't had the chance to tell you...but in the Great Hall, when you stood there in front of D'Ghor?  You were magnificent."
  
  "I was lucky.  If it didn't work, I didn't have another card to play...business is dropping off again!"
  
  "Money isn't everything."
  
  "If father were alive, he'd wash your mouth out with galcor."
  
  "You can't buy respect, brother.  And that's what you have now!  Respect!  After all, that's what you wanted isn't it?"
  
  "Respect is good.  Latinum is better."
  
  "Tell the story again--about how you stood there in front of D'Ghor, not knowing if you were going to live to see another day."
  
  "Everyone's tired of hearing it, Rom.  It's not going to boost business anymore."
  
  "No, I mean...tell me.  I want to hear it again."

---

"Equilibrium"

• Commander Sisko preparing a whole Creole-style meal for his senior staff?  It's a little eccentric.  I wish he'd hurry up and grow that goatee and start killing Jem'Hadar already.
• "You don't like beets, Doctor?"
  
  "Well...they're not exactly a persona favorite of mine, no."
• Aww, Kira just called Odo "cute".  All hands, brace for impact.  Incoming seasons-long, plot-destroying school-boy/girl rush incoming!
• "So guys, we've keyed up tensions with the Dominion.  What next?"
  
  "What about an episode where Dax gets a song stuck in here head?"
  
  "Yeah, that sounds about right."
• "Curzon always suspected you were a cheat."
  
  "Is this some kind of a joke?"
  
  "Don't play innocent with me, Benjamin.  We both know you're trying to cheat me here, so why don't you just admit it?"
  
  {SMASH THE GAME}
  
  Uh, okay...
  
  /me backs away slowly
• So, these guys are freaky...
  
  
  
• I know that when my isoboramine levels start to drop, I like to eat a banana.  I find that it helps.
• I'm not sure why they would take the Defiant on their little jaunt to Trill, given that its primary purpose is to help defend the station from the Dominion.
  
  I guess maybe speed was of the essence, and a runabout would be to slow?  Maybe?
• Julian finally gets his sleep-over with Dax!  Kind of...
• This is the first episode where we really see much of the Defiant beyond the bridge and crew quarters.  They did a good job with the corridors and such, conveying just how cramped the vicious little ship is on the inside.
• So apparently they keep their un-joined symbionts in mud puddles.
• I bet the inhabitants of every world within the Federation's sphere of influence screen their calls to avoid random, uninvited video chats with curious Starfleet officers.
• FAKE HOST, BRO.
• So instead of 1-in-1,000 Trill be suitable for hosting symbionts, we learn that "nearly half" of the entire Trill population is potentially compatible.  Sisko threatens to expose this fact, throwing the entirety of Trill society into chaos, unless they help to save Jadzia.
  
  It's a noble cause, for sure.  I'm not sure a Starfleet officer could get away with making that kind of threat against the governing body of a Federation member world, however.

DS9 S03E01-02

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, August 10th)

Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine, S03E01 & S03E02 - "The Search" (Part 1 & Part 2)

---

"The Search" (Part 1 & Part 2)

• "We're in trouble, people.  We've run seven simulations and they all come out the same: The Jem'Hadar overwhelm our defenses and board the station within two hours."
• "It's definitely a Federation ship, but I've never seen that design before."
  
  "A Federation ship...with a cloaking device?"
  
  C'mon Chief O'Brien, you were on board the Enterprise-D during the Pegasus retrieval.  You know it's possible, just super, super illegal (TNG, "The Pegasus").
• The ship in question is, of course...
  
  (drumroll please)
  
  The USS Defiant (NX-74205):  The lead ship of an experimental new class of pure combat vessels, originally designed to counter the threat from the Borg.  It's very small compared to other Starfleet capital ships (around the same size and crew compliment as the smaller iterations of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey; i.e. technically classified as a "scout" or "escort"), but it packs a punch equal to just about any of its larger cousins.
  
  
  

  (images courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)
  
  
  
  (images pulled from Star Trek Fact Files via Ex Astris Scientia;
  specs pulled from multiple sources, including EAS and Memory-Alpha)
• Although this episode introduces the Defiant, it still uses the original (well, post-pilot) title sequence in which a runabout departs the station and enters the wormhole.  Eventually (I don't recall when), that end sequence of the credits will be changed to show the Defiant undocking from the station and entering the wormhole.
• "Five years ago, Starfleet began exploring the possibility of creating a new class of ship.  This ship would have no families, no science labs, no luxuries of any kind.  It was designed for one purpose only:  To fight and defeat the Borg."
• This episode is also the first appearance Lt. Cmdr. Michael Eddington, a Starfleet security officer posted to the station along with the new Defiant.
• Along with Eddington, we also get Romulan Subcommander T'Rul, on loan from the Romulan Star Empire (along with the Defiant's cloaking device).  T'Rul is played by Martha Hackett, who will later play Seska on VOY.
• Constable Odo?  Not super-pleased the the new security arrangements.
• Sorry, Major Kira.  You really, really can't pull one over on Odo.
• "I'm a little confused, Commander.  You want me to go with you?  To the Gamma Quadrant?  To help you locate the Founders?"
  
  "See?  It's not so confusing after all."
  
  "You're joking with me, aren't you?  Havin' a little fun with Quark?"
• "Now, there's no way you can legally force me to do this."
  
  
   
• "Besides, I think we would all feel better with someone here to watch over Quark."
  
  "I take that as a personal insult, Doctor."
  
  "You should."
• The Karemma are especially sniveling and irritating.
  
  "All I know is that the Vorta say to do something, and you do it."
  
  "Why?"
  
  "Because if you do not, they send in the Jem'Hadar.  And then you die."
• The Omarion Nebula:  If your shapeshifter buddy is suddenly drawn to a mysterious region of a distant quadrant of the galaxy, you should probably take note of it.
• Leaving behind Dax and O'Brien at the relay station is very much not like Sisko.  He's usually all about disobeying orders when it's The Right Thing to Do™.  I think it demonstrates his determination to complete this particular mission.
• Three Jem'Hadar attack ships?  Okay, maybe.  We'll blow one up real good and the others will back off a little.
  
  Oh, three more?  Yeah, we should go...
• Although they'll show reverence for him later on, the Jem'Hadar who board the Defiant (apparently) do not immediately recognize Odo as a Founder.
• The Defiant will carry a couple of types of "embarked craft" (a term covering shuttlecraft, shuttlepods, captain's yachts, etc.), and a couple of them are of unusual design.
  
  The shuttle in which Odo and Kira escape is a Type 18 shuttlepod, an oddball little craft.  I think it's clear that the effects department intended the shuttlepod to mirror its parent ship's appearance--with the tucked-in nacelles and overall compact shape.
  
  
  
  (image from Star Trek Fact Files, courtesy EAS)
• "Where are we?"
  
  "We're approaching...the Omarion Nebula."
  
  "You should've taken us back to the wormhole!"
  
  "You didn't object at the time."
  
  "I was unconscious."
• A rogue planet in the middle of a mysterious nebula, deep in the heart of Dominion space and tens of thousands of light years from friendly space?  What could possible go wrong?
• As Odo looks upon the Great Link (although he doesn't know what it is at the time), we see one of the Founders and leaders of the Dominion (known to us only as "the female changeling") emerge from the Link and bid Odo "Welcome home." 
  
  
  
  
  She'll become a major antagonist for the remainder of the series.
  
  She's played by Salome Jens, who also played the ancient humanoid in the TNG episode "The Chase".
• In the second half of this episode, Odo finally gets (most of) the answers he's been seeking for his entire life:  Where he came from, if there are others like him, etc.
  
  I really feel bad for the guy when his people turn out to be interstellar despots :(
• Cmdr. Sisko and Dr. Bashir have abandoned the Defiant in another Type 18 shuttlepod, although Sisko questions its ability to get them back to the wormhole.  The shuttlepod taken by Odo and Kira didn't seem to have any trouble reaching the Omarion Nebula, even though these smaller shuttlepods typically do not have warp capability.  It may be that the wormhole is within the operational range of Sisko's shuttlepod, but it took some damage escaping from the besieged Defiant.
• This episode features the first use of the Founders' pejorative "solids" to refer to lifeforms that cannot change their shape (i.e. "monoforms").
• If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times:  Admiral Nechayev is never good news.
• The Vorta masquerading as a Founder is called "Borath", and he's not nearly as entertaining as the other Vorta with whom we'll spend most of our time later in the series :)
• "There's an old saying on Cardassia:  'Enemies make dangerous friends.'"
• "I'm really glad you made it home, Odo.  I know everything is going to work out just fine."
  
  Or totally, totally not :-\
• "I have a dream that one day, all peoples--human, Ferengi, Cardassian, Jem'Hadar--will stand together in peace...around my dabo tables."
• In the, uh, "scenario" that includes the peace talks between the Dominion and the Federation, Lt. Dax is transferred to the USS Lexington as their new science officer.
• ...and Starfleet pulls out of the Bajoran Sector, ceding it to the Dominion.
• Hey look, Odo figured out how to do birdies!
• In this scenario, the Bajorans and the Romulans--both finding themselves left out of the peace negotiations--forge a pact to fight the Jem'Hadar (and their Federation and Cardassian allies).  It's not the massive, interstellar war that we finally do get on DS9...but it's a pretty scary prospect nonetheless.
• "If it means anything Commander, I happen to share your feelings about this Dominion treaty.  I've thought about it a great deal, and the only explanation I can find is that our leaders have simply gone insane."
• Subcommander T'Rul is shot by the Jem'Hadar (and presumably killed by them, as their weapons notoriously do not have stun settings) in this simulation, but for all we know she's actually killed by the Dominion in reality too.  We never see her again after this episode, and Starfleet operates the cloaking device on the Defiant without Romulan supervision (although I believe they do reference the requirement of only operating it in the Gamma Quadrant once or twice more, before giving up on that premise as well).
  
  Correction:  T'Rul is shown briefly on one of the stretchers along with the rest of the crew of the Defiant when Kira and Odo find the subterranean cavern where the simulation is being run.  But she's not seen after that at all.
• If you need to bust someone out of jail and make an escape?  You could do worse than Garak.
• This isn't the first or last time that the choice to collapse the Bajoran wormhole--stranding the Dominion forces in the Gamma Quadrant--is considered.
• "Well, I guess this means the end of our Starfleet careers."
  
  "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Doctor."
  
  "That's easy for you to say."
  
  "You misunderstand me, Lieutenant.  I meant that it's a little foolish to worry about your careers at a time like this, when there's a good chance that we're all about to be killed."
• "I'm glad to see the plan is going well."
  
  "What plan?"
  
  "You mean no one told you?  You see...I pretend to be their friend, and then...I shoot you."
  
  <3 Garak
• Aww, simulated Garak goes to the great tailor's shop in the sky :(
• "You belong to the Dominion, don't you?"
  
  "Major, the changelings are the Dominion."
  
  "You're the Founders..."
• "I admit this 'Link' of yours is appealing.  But you see, I already have a link--with these people."

DS9 S1-S2 Wrap-Up Video

Wherein I ramble about my impressions upon re-watching the first and second seasons of Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine.

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."