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Wanna Try Star Trek? 3 - The Joy of Jeffrey Combs

John Startrek here, reporting in for our third entry in this beginner friendly series of Star Trek episode summaries, designed to help show all you curious tumblr users just how fun this silly little franchise can be. Conveniently enough, the Great Wheel of Trek has selected for us today a third new show for us to look at, Star Trek Enterprise. So whether you’re new to Trek, or an old hand, replicate yourself a raktajino and settle in.

Star Trek Enterprise, known simply as Enterprise in its first two seasons, is a prequel to the rest of the franchise. It’s set in the early years of human interstellar exploration, back before the formation of the United Federation of Planets to which Earth will one day belong. Our Captain this time around is Johnathan Archer, played by Scott Bakula. There’s no manual for how to handle all those Trek-y situations yet, so Archer’s figuring this stuff out as he goes.

Enterprise had an even more rough production history that Voyager did, and has never really had the best reputation. But as the years roll by, the show is being increasingly reevaluated in a positive light. This was only my second time watching this episode and yeah, it’s definitely better than I gave it credit for at the time.

So let’s get started on season 1 episode 14 Shadows of P’Jem.

We open with Soval, the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth, having a rather tense discussion with Admiral Forrest over the events of a previous episode, The Andorian Incident, in which Archer made an unscheduled visit to a Vulcan monastery and uncovered a secret spy station. It was being used by the Vulcans to keep tabs on Andorians, with whom they’re currently in a state of cold war.

Soval makes a fair point that Archer is having a destabilising effect on the region after only six months, and implies that he should be removed from his post as captain of the Enterprise. Forrest responds by pointing out that the Vulcans are actually guilty of the spying the Andorians were accusing them of. He further asserts that Vulcans do not appoint Starfleet personnel, and Soval leaves to go back to Vulcan in a huff.

Science Officer’s Note: Vulcans are one of the most important and popular alien races in Star Trek, and you probably know them from the deeply logical and deeply gay Spock. In order to suppress their powerful emotions, Vulcans practice a philosophy of strict logic and emotional suppression. In Enterprise, they’re trying to act as stuffy den mothers to humanity, who by and large are not fond of the mollycoddling.

On Enterprise, Archer is having a nice dinner in his quarters with his Chief Engineer, Charles “Trip” Tucker III, a good old Florida boy. He’s talking about their next destination, an inhabited planet called Coridan. He ribs Trip that he’s not going to take him along, leaving Trip to have the most kicked puppy look on his face.

But things can’t stay happy forever, and they’re interrupted by a call from Admiral Forrest, who tells Archer what happened at his meeting with Soval. Apparently the monastery at P’Jem was bombed by the Andorians shortly after Enterprise left.

Science Officer’s Note: The Andorians are blue and have antennae, which made many of the people working on Trek to think they were too silly to be brought back after the original series until they finally showed up again in an important role on Enterprise. In contrast to the stoic and logical Vulcans, Andorians revel in their fiery tempers. Also, their antennae move like a cat’s tail to symoblise their mood thanks to an impressive blend of prosthetics and remote control work.

There’s some additional bad news, which Archer decides to deliver to T’Pol in person. T’Pol, a Vulcan who was assigned to Enterprise as the Science Officer and second in command, is being recalled to Vulcan to be reassigned. Now, Archer doesn’t like Vulcans very much, to the point of bigotry. But over the course of this season he’s grown attached to the frosty Vulcan. For her part, T’Pol doesn’t let her mask of Vulcan stoicness falter, though she does admit to feeling like the destruction of P’Jem was her fault.

After a short scene of Archer telling Trip he can’t go to Coridan for real this time so he can take T’Pol with him, we arrive at the mess hall where the ship’s Doctor Phlox tries to coax T’Pol into fighting her transfer. T’Pol remains unmoved.

In a shuttle ride to the planet, Archer tries to start up some small talk but T’Pol’s not the chattiest. She does, however, ask why she was chosen for this mission. Archer makes a decent point, that Vulcans do business with this planet but they’ve never met humans before, so a Vulcan is well suited to introduce the two peoples. He also says that if she really doesn’t want to go, they can always turn around.

T’Pol’s excuse for staying on mission to spend some time with Archer is that it would be illogical to waste fuel by turning back now. The nice moment is broken by somebody shooting at them, which isn’t very nice. They try to fight back, but get shot down and captured.

We go right into Archer and T’Pol tied up in a cell, where they banter about Houdini until their captors show up to interrogate them. Their leader claims they’re a rebel faction, acting against a corrupt regime held in power by the Vulcans.

He asks about their sidearms, which Archer replies are called phase pistols. When questioned about the Enterprise, Archer gives them some lip and gets smacked across the face for it. T’Pol claims that Archer is the ship’s cook, and they’re here to cook a banquet for the planet’s chancellor. The captors assume she, therefore, is the captain.

Speaking of the chancellor, Trip is third in the chain of command and so has assumed command of Enterprise while Archer and T’Pol are away. He’s on a call with Coridan’s chancellor, who doesn’t take kindly to Trip’s assertions that they should have been warned about the rebels and that the Coridans have failed to protect a pair of diplomatic envoys. He gets cut off for his troubles, and the crew look into ways to track Archer and T’Pol.

Ship Counsellor’s Note: This is followed up by a scene of Archer & T’Pol trying to escape that isn’t really worth going over in detail, except to talk about the sexualisation of female characters in Star Trek. See, in this scene, they do the whole guy falling over and ending up with his face in a woman’s boobs gag.

While the original 60’s show was actually pretty progressive for including the miniskirt, a symbol of women’s liberation at the time, and TNG/DS9/VOY had been pretty good about this stuff, they weren’t perfect. Deanna Troy famously spent most of her screentime in low cut dresses despite being a Starfleet officer, and Seven of Nine was explicitly added to the show to look good in tight catsuits. Enterprise is the nadir of the franchise in this respect, with T’Pol not only donning her own set of catsuits, but the show contriving a lot of excuses to see its two female stars in various states of undress over and over.

Back to the plot, Malcolm Reed, Enterprise’s Security Officer, thinks he’s located the shuttle in a shanty town just a few kilometres from the planet’s capital. He wants to take an armed team in to investigate, but Trip tells him to hold fire. Just then, the rebels called Enterprise to demand 40 phase pistols or they’ll kill their hostages. Not two minutes after they hang up on him, a Vulcan ship hails Enterprise to say they’re here to pick up T’Pol. Trip gets annoyed at them too, and the captain, Sopek, gets all haughty and says they’ll take over the investigation.

Cut to later on the Enterprise, with Sopek on board, where the Vulcan captain insists on storming the compound. Trip accuses him of not caring about the safety of Archer & T’Pol, and conveniently forgets to tell Spoke their location when asked. He then tells Reed to fire up the shuttle to go rescue them themselves.

A guard brings food for Archer & T’Pol, and because of the way they’re bound, Archer is forced into a degrading position to eat anything. T’Pol refuses to follow suit until Archer orders her to do so. I know what the Counsellor said earlier about sexualisation in the show, but this isn’t really an example of that. The reason we’re talking about this scene is that Archer finds a doodad in his meal with a blinking light. Looks like somebody’s on their side.

The ship’s Communications Officer, Hoshi Sato, is on Enterprise for the customary “sorry my parents aren’t home” call when Sopek realises another shuttle has left Enterprise, and cuts him off with static.

In the shanty town, Trip & Reed have barely gone twenty feet from the shuttle when they themselves get captured. It’s not the rebels though, it’s Commander Shran, the Andorian from the incident in The Andorian Incident. He says they’re there to aid the rebels in overthrowing the Vulcan-backed government but after P’Jem, he owes Archer a debt and is planning to rescue him. Trip & Reed insist on coming along.

Ship Counsellor’s Note: Jeffrey Combs is something of a Star Trek legend. As an actor, he’s been in many projects over the years, but Trekkies love him for his two recurring roles on DS9 as Weyoun and Liquidator Brunt. He’s a very charismatic actor who commits hard to the role, and Shran is one of the highlights of the show.

The glowing doodad is a communication device, which lets Trip explain the plan to Archer & T’Pol. While the rescue is pretty successful, they’re interrupted by the Vulcan raid. Shran tells Archer hsi debt is repaid, but on their way out the Vulcans and Andorians run into each other and enter into a standoff. It’s resolved when a wounded rebel tries to shoot Sopek, only for T’Pol to jump in front of the shot.

Back on Enterprise, everyone’s crowded around T’Pol’s bed in sickbay. Sopek is clearly concerned about her, and Phlox says that her prognosis is not good. Archer tries to commiserate with him, and asks him to put in a good word for T’Pol at Vulcan High Command so she can stay on Enterprise. Sopek can’t take T’Pol with him while she’s wounded, but he does have a meeting with the High Command soon, and might have time to bring it up with them.

When a shaken Sopek leaves, Phlox revives T’Pol from her induced coma and tells her she’s not to leave sickbay for 24 hours. When Archer tells her he thinks he’s managed to sort out that whole T’Pol being transferred issue, T’Pol said he shouldn’t have interfered. Archer says she’s free to go chase down Sopek if she really wants to tell him not to. T’Pol chooses her excuse this time to be that she can’t, as that would be disobeying doctor’s orders.

This is not as good an episode as our previous two. It is one of the better ones in Enterprise’s first season, which is not really a great season of television. Something you might have noticed from this summary is a number of times when a scene transitions from one part of a discussion, to that same discussion happening at a different time or location. Take Sopek’s call to Enterprise, for example. What was really accomplished by Sopek coming aboard that couldn’t have been done over the video call?

It’s also not entirely clear whether Archer & T’Pol’s scenes or Trip’s scene really constitute the a-plot of the episode. Both have scenes that don’t really need to be there, like Hoshi’s call with Sopek, or the boobs-in-face scene. The potentially intense and complex political situation of the Vulcans and Andorians fighting a proxy war via Coridan is something DS9 could have handled in its sleep, but Enterprise passes over the opportunity.

So is this a bad episode of television? No, it’s just a bit of an underdeveloped one. Like much of Enterprise, it’s a bunch of unrealised potential with some moments of undeniable charm.

Speak to me, oh Great Wheel of Trek. Please, grant unto us some TNG. so we can go four for four on this.

Well, would you look at that. Ask and you’ll receive I guess.Now tell me, oh Great Wheel of Trek, should I buy a lottery ticket next week?

#star trek #enterprise #jeffrey combs #wanna try star trek

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heymrsandman · 4 days

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Well would you look at that, I recently wrote up a newcomer friendly summary of a fun Voyager episode for those curious about trying out Trek

90's era Star Trek is WILD because one episode will be like "the ship got hit be a space thing and now we're all in different time periods! We need to trick a bunch of villains into letting us put science goo in different parts of the computer!" and then the next episode is about a mixed-race woman having a breakdown about the idea of her unborn child facing the same racism she has and BOTH are quintessentially Star Trek

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heymrsandman · 4 days

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So I just got my hands on some of the letters written to writers pitching stories for Star Trek: DS9 and it’s pretty cool…

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heymrsandman · 6 days

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star trek voyager is just like. insane. what do you mean you baited the gays, lesbians and the straights

#it's called equality

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heymrsandman · 6 days

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Wanna Try Star Trek? 2 - Kate Mulgrew and Explosions

Hello again Tumblr, it’s me, John Startrek, back to recap another episode of Star Trek in a newcomer friendly way so that I can help show just how fun and wild these shows are to watch. If you’re boldly going into this franchise for the first time, or an old hand, welcome!

The Great Trek Wheel has selected a doozy for us today, in the form of the episode Deadlock, from episode 21 of season 2 of Star Trek: Voyager. So let’s talk about Voyager.

Voyager aired for seven seasons between 1995 - 2001, launching as the flagship series for the then brand new UPN channel. The basic premise is that a fresh off the factory starship, under the command of the recently promoted Captain Kathryn Janeway, are sent out on a short mission to capture members of a terrorist group called the Maquis. During the mission, both Voyager and the Maquis ship found themselves flung to the far side of the galaxy and the two crews have to unite and travel back the long way round. Yes, this is the salamander sex show you’ve seen trekkie tumblrinas get so excited over.

With no Starfleet and no support, Voyager must make it on her own, with only the grit and gumption of her crew to protect her. She’s going to explode a lot this episode.

Before we get started, I do want to throw out a quick content warning: this episode contains the death of a small child.

We open on a charming little domestic scene. The ship’s cook, Neelix (a Delta Quadrant native Voyager had recruited back in the pilot) is asking recurring character Samantha Wildman to check on a few technical difficulties he’s been having. Samantha, despite being heavily pregnant, is only too happy to agree.

Medical Officer’s Note: Samantha Wildman’s actually been pregnant since the show started, her child having been conceived before Voyager disappeared. Given that Trek adheres to the general rule that one season is about one year in the show, this means that her baby might seem slightly overdue. However, the father is a Ktarian, and this is apparently quite normal.

Samantha goes into labour and Neelix rushes her to the medical bay, where the ship’s doctor sets about delivering little baby Wildman. By the by, the Doctor is a hologram (Voyager’s doctor having died during the events that stranded Voyager) called the Doctor. The nurse is another Delta Quadrant native named Kes.

We cut to the bridge, where everyone’s on the edge of their seats while they wait for news. Again, it’s cute, getting to see the daily lives and mundane concerns of the crew. I dunno, it makes me happy. The usually reserved Tuvok even shares that his wife once spent 96 hours in labour. The idea that Tuvok recognises the consternation of his colleagues and, instead of preaching about logic as Vulcans are wont to do, chooses to soothe their nerves instead is just the kind of charisma that Voyager’s detractors tend to overlook.

It’s not all smiles and storytimes, however, as a Vidiian ship shows up on sensors. Janeway never met an emergency she didn’t want to mud wrestle into oblivion, so she soon orders the ship to hide in a nearby plasma drift on the advice of one of her officers. There’s a pretty shot of Voyager doing just that.

Science Officer’s Note: One of the reasons for Voyager being set on the far side of the galaxy was the opportunity to create new aliens to serve as recurring antagonists. The Vidiians were one of those races. They don’t get to do a lot here, but when they do get focus they tend to be quite creepy. The entire species is dying from an incurable disease called the Phage, and they travel the stars harvesting the organs of other races to prolong their own lives.

Remember what our medical officer said about the baby being half Ktarian? That means that that little baby Wildman has horns on their forehead, which have gotten caught in the uterine wall. Yeah, I winced at that too. The safest solution is to use the ship’s transporters to teleport the baby into a nearby bed, apparently. Gotta wonder why they weren’t doing that in the first place, to be honest. I know I’d prefer it.

It’s a girl! Samantha doesn’t have a name prepared, but with the mystical powers of having watched this show before, I can inform you that her name’s Naomi. We’ll be using that going forward, cause it’s gonna come up. Due to the transporter, there’s a slight issue with young Naomi that the Doctor is going to treat with something called osmotic pressure therapy.

Just then, main power cuts out and the engines stall. Janeway called the Chief Engineer, B’Elanna Torres, and establish that the ship is rapidly running out of antimatter, basically their source of fuel. The two technobabble back and forth until they have a solution, setting off proton bursts that’ll basically keep the remaining antimatter from using itself up. Seeing as everything’s now safely in hand, it’d sure be a shame if the ship suddenly started exploding.

Anyway, the ship starts exploding.

Chief Engineer’s Note: Whenever the ship is under attack, hitting turbulence, what have you, they aren’t actually blowing up the set, of course. Instead, the cameras are rocked about and the actors are told to just play pretend. This makes it all the more impressive that Kate Mulgew throws herself quite so violently out of the captain’s chair during this episode.

See, the proton bursts are firing, but without any of the safety procedures in place it’s doing massive damage. Torres swears she didn’t start the procedure. In fact, one of the damaged systems is the very one they’d use to fire the bursts in the first place! Casualties are flooding in from all over the ship. Explosions are wracking the bridge, throwing our characters around violently. It’s all very tense.

There’s a rupture in the ship’s hull, down on Deck 15. Ensign Harry Kim tells Janeway he thinks he can seal it, and gets sent off to do so with the help of B’Elanna and somebody who’s not a main character. Three guesses who’s gonna die.

The Doctor’s trying his best to keep up with triage, but baby Naomi is struggling. With more bursts hitting the ship, the Doctor is temporarily knocked offline at a crucial moment. Back on the bridge, they’ve still no idea how to stop the bursts, but think they can minimise the effects with technobabble.

Lt Hogan, the non-main character, is hurt badly by an exploding panel, but Kim & B’Elanna can’t go back and help him. The big hole in the floor that leads into the yawning void of space is slightly more pressing.

This is where Naomi doesn’t make it. Even in the midst of triage, the Doctor takes a moment to comfort Samantha. But it’s not long before duty calls again, with Hogan requesting medical aid. Kes rushes off to save him.

Things aren’t going any better on Deck 15. Another burst rocks the ship and Kim falls through the breach and B’Elanna can’t save him. He’s flushed into space, dead and gone. With no time to mourn, B’Elanna turns back to help Hogan, only to see Kes run down the corridor and vanish into thin air.

And you thought Hogan was gonna die.

Despite all the tragedy around her, B’Elanna’s almost as tenacious with a problem that presents itself as Janeway. She waves a tricorder at the space where Kes disappeared and detects a spatial rift that leads to somewhere with a breathable atmosphere, which she reports in. There’s no time to explore, however, so she and Hogan evacuate the deck.

With the blasts minimised for the moment, Janeway gets a truly devastating damage report from Tuvok, including the death of Naomi. But a crisis is where Janeway thrives. With barely a moment’s pause, she starts ordering triage of their biggest problems.

Another burst rocks the ship, causing a hull breach on the bridge and knocking out the technobabble that they’d just spent all that time setting up to minimise the proton bursts. Janeway orders a full evacuation as fires rage around her. Well, full except for her, as she stays behind to try and seal the breach.

Chakotay, the first officer, yells at her to hurry up and leave dammit. She does acquiesce, but on her way she sees a ghostly image of the crew in their seats on an unexploded bridge. The ghostly Janeway notices her too. Spooky.

Turns out there’s a whole other Voyager, which hasn’t had any explosions tearing it apart, where Janeway has been going completely unenriched and is all about figuring out her momentary hallucination. Kim, alive and well on this Voyager, tells her that there was a momentary spatial rift, for all of a millisecond. Sadly, they can’t tell any more with all the proton bursts they’re doing to save their fuel. So Janeway orders them sped up. Uh oh.

At least Naomi is safe and healthy in this version, the therapy having worked perfectly. Also in this nice clean sickbay is a second Kes, who mysteriously appeared on Deck 15.

Ship Counsellor’s Note: With two Voyagers and two crews, things could get a little complicated. From here on out, we’ll be referring to Janeway et al from the explosion dimension as Janeway 1, Voyager 1, etc. and everything from the non-exploding Voyager will be Janeway 2 etc

Kes 1 explains what happened to her ship to Janeway 2, and is eager to get back and help Voyager 1. Janeway 2 and B’Elanna 2 pretty quickly work out that somehow the plasma drift duplicated Voyager and all the matter aboard, but not the antimatter. With two ships drawing from the same fuel source, it’s no wonder the stuff was draining so fast. Janeway 2 orders the proton bursts stopped, but that means the antimatter starts draining again.

Together, Janeway 2 & B’Elanna 2 manage to figure out a way to talk to Voyager 1, where they manage to speak with Janeway 1 who has had to set up shop in the Engineering department.

Most of this conversation happens offscreen, and afterwards the crew of Voyager 1 are torn on whether or not to trust Janeway 2. Janeway 1 says she knows enough information about the situation and her own history that she’s willing to believe it and enact Janeway 2’s plan that was not explodey enough to let us listen in on.

The plan to merge the two Voyagers doesn’t work, and instead causes more explosions. The antimatter is now haemorrhaging, the com link is lost and there’s 30 minutes of power left, if that.

Two Janeways up against a strict time limit, with the deaths of hundreds of people on the line? The universe doesn’t stand a chance.

To wit, Voyager 2 has figured out a way to send Kes 1 back to her ship, and Janeway 2’s going with her. The two Janeways talk about how to fix their mutual problem in a really tight shot that makes it look like she’s about to pin herself against the bulkhead and make out sloppy style. That’s one for AO3, I guess.

Janeway 2 recommends another technobabble solution, and Janeway 1’s already ruled it out with her B’Elanna. She counters with the suggestion to move the crew of Voyager 1 to Voyager 2, but B’Elanna 2 has already figured out that that’d make everything explode, so another no go.

There’s only one thing for it, Janeway 1 is gonna self destruct her Voyager. Janeway 2 tries to argue it with her, but not even Janeway can defeat Janeway. Janeway 1 does agree to a 15 minute reprieve, in case of any last minute genius ideas.

With Janeway 2 back on her pristine bridge, she calls up Janeway 2 and begins to describe a plan to her counterpart. I say begins, because hey, remember the Vidiians? That hostile alien race that kickstarted this plot? Well, they’ve found Voyager and neither version of the ship is able to raise shields or engage weapons thanks to the power drain.

The Vidiians fire on Voyager but only Voyager 2 seems to be affected. And when they board Voyager, it’s only Voyager 2 that gets boarded. Outnumbered two to one and being swiftly overrun, Janeway 2 decides it’s her turn to have some explosions and announces to Janeway 1 that she’s going to self-destruct her ship so Voyager 1 can escape. What’s more, she’s going to send Kim 2 along with Naomi 2 to replace their dead counterparts on Voyager 1.

The Vidiians take out Tuvok 2 and Paris 2 easily, and the Doctor 2 tries desperately to hide Naomi 2 after sickbay is breached. Kim 2 enters, does a cool stunt, and takes out the Vidiians. Explaining that their Voyager is doomed and that he’s going over to Voyager 1, the Doctor wastes no time mourning his demise and hands over Naomi 2, along with a message about her health for the Doctor 1.

Up on the bridge of Voyager 2, Janeway 2 has just enough time to icily welcome the Vidiians to the bridge before the ship blows up. Kim 2 just makes it through the spatial rift, emerging on Deck 15 of Voyager 1 in time.

With Voyager 2 and the Vidiians destroyed, Voyager 1 is hurt but alive. Luckily, there were no further fatalities and nothing was irreparably damaged. Chakotay comforts Janeway, who bemoans but acknowledges the necessity of the other Voyager’s demise. Samantha, for her part, is just happy to have her daughter back safe and sound. Kim is a little more confused about whether he’s the same Kim as the one they lost, and whether this is the same ship as the one he woke up on that morning. Janeway tells him that they’re Starfleet: weird is just part of the job.

Often, Star Trek is a morality play. A thoughtful and nuanced discussion of ethics and philosophy. Sometimes, it’s explosions and Kate Mulgrew with a face of blood and soot, daring the universe to say that to her face. People will often bemoan when Trek turns towards action, but when it’s done well it’s a treat to watch.

The decision to focus on the two Janeways is smart in both streamlining a potentially confusing story, but also letting Kate Mulgrew really strut her stuff. She’s on record as saying that this episode was very technically challenging for her, but also very rewarding.

The character of Janeway has gotten some guff over the years, as has Voyager the show, for not always being the most consistently written. Frankly, with a performance this good, I find it hard to care.

If this was your first Star Trek episode, would you get a good feel for the world, the characters, the inquisitive mind of Trek? No, but you’d have a hell of a good time. I can heartily recommend Deadlock.

If you've seen the episode before, or decide to give this one a try, please let me know somewhere here on our beloved hellsite.

So what’s next? Where will the Great Wheel of Trek take us? What strange new worlds await?

Ho boy, time to hit up Enterprise.

#star trek #voyager #star trek voyager #captain janeway #kate mulgrew #wanna try star trek #please share and interact!

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heymrsandman · 7 days

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why does Janeway look like she's about to take herself roughly against a bulkhead

#captain janeway #voyager #star trek

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heymrsandman · 7 days

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#bong luc picard

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heymrsandman · 9 days

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Wanna Try Star Trek?

Hi tumblr! I love Star Trek, as do many of you, but it can seem intimidating to folks who are interested but don’t really how to approach such a large franchise. The thing is, Trek’s “golden age” lived in that delicious sweet spot where tv shows outside of soap operas were only just starting to learn about serialisation. These shows were built for drop in, drop out viewing. So I’m gonna write some beginner friendly summary/reviews of various episodes and you can see if it strikes your fancy. If you decide to watch an episode I talk about, please, feel free to talk to me about it!

Also, I made a big spinner wheel of all the TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT episodes and I needed something to do with it.

Today’s random pick is Deep Space Nine’s “Indiscretion”, episode 5 of season 4.

So real quick, Deep Space Nine aired between 1993-1999 and was set aboard the titular space station. It’s still the only Star Trek show not to be based on a ship. The long and short of the premise is that, after a long and gruelling occupation by the Cardassian Union, the planet of Bajor wins its freedom. Having no means of defending themselves from something like this happening again, Bajor reaches out to the Federation (the post-scarcity multi species utopia that humanity is part of) for protection. They send a Starfleet detachment to administer the space station the Cardassians left behind, commanded by one Benjamin Sisko, who has to manage the delicate political situation. This show is by far the most serialised of this era, but nowhere near the extent of modern shows.

First Officer’s Note: Starfleet is an all-in-one exploratory, scientific, defense and diplomatic service, and most of the shows and movies revolve around the various adventures of Starfleet crews.

Our episode today opens with DS9’s First Officer, Major Kira Nerys, receiving a call from an old friend named Razka Karn. He tells her that he’s found a lead on a ship she’s been searching for called the Ravinok. He won’t share the information over a video call, so she’ll have to come to him.

Ship Counsellor’s Note: Kira is a Bajoran, and was previously a member of the Bajoran resistance against the Occupation. Bringing in “one of Kira’s old resistance buddies” is one of the writer’s favourite ways to start up a plot for her.

The station’s security officer Odo shows up for a scene where he’s giving Kira a security report, but her mind’s clearly elsewhere. Odo asks her what’s wrong, and Kira asks whether he thinks she should go after the Ravinok. He tells her it doesn’t matter, as he knows she’s going to go anyway, so all he’ll say is “good luck”.

Usually, there’s some hand wringing over whether or not Sisko will send one of his officers on these personal missions, but here we skip right to Kira packing for her trip, only for Sisko to give her the unpleasant news that the Cardassian government wants in on the search too. See, the Ravinok was a Cardassian ship transporting Bajoran prisoners when it was mysteriously lost.

Kira’s come a long way in her feelings towards Cardassians since the start of the show, so she does (huffily) agree to delay her departure by 52 hours to allow a Cardassian delegate to join her.

Science Officer’s Note: Bajor, and by extension DS9, has a 26 hour day. This is one of those little writerly worldbuilding details that stays consistent, and really helps sell the idea of Bajor being its own place. Take note, aspiring writers!

It’s b-plot time! Sisko has been dating a freighter captain by the name of Kasidy Yates. Jadzia Dax, the Science officer, teases Sikso that things are getting serious, which Sisko denies. Kasidy then shows up to say she’s got an interview to sign up as a freighter captain for the Bajoran government. She’d be around all the time, she could even have quarters on the station! Sisko is clearly scared by the idea, but Jadzia is having way too much fun encouraging Kasidy to care. She’s a cad.

Back at Ops (the command centre), the Cardassian delegate arrives - it’s Dukat! Dun dun dun! Ad break!

Tactical Officer’s Note: Dukat (whose first name is never confirmed in the show, but some of the novels name him Skrain) is a major recurring character on the show. Sometimes an ally, often an opponent, but never liked by the crew. He was the officer in charge of the Occupation of Bajor during its final stages, with the rank of Gul. At this point in the show, he’s recently been promoted to Legate.

On their way to rendezvous with Razka, Dukat, galaxy brained individual that he is, decides to debate Kira on the merits of the Cardassian Occupation. When Kira pushes back on this, he says “I have to desire to debate the merits of the Occupation with you”. Charming guy.

We do get Kira’s motivation here, which is that the Ravinok was transporting a prisoner by the name of Lorit Akrem. He was the man who inducted Kira into the resistance, and one of the many friends and mentors she gained during that time.

Back on the station, Kasidy is telling Sisko over dinner that she got the job and how excited she is. All he can say is “it’s a big step”, and before long Kasidy gets sick of this and storms out.

Razka’s come through though, in his new role as a scrap metal merchant. He’s gotten his hands on a piece of the Ravinok’s hull. Kira and Dukat are able to use it to track the Ravinok to the Dozaria system, which conveniently has one (1) habitable planet.

Arriving at the planet, the pair are unable to determine much more than the wreckage’s rough location and decide to land their ship and explore on foot.

Chief Engineer’s Note: Star Trek is famous for its “technobabble”, made up science-y sounding phrases designed to create and solve problems. Due to the “ionic interference”, neither scanning for lifesigns or using their transporters to beam directly to the surface are possible. Ionic interference is a favourite of the writers, great for when you want to make sure a problem can’t be solved too quickly or easily.

Sisko is busy commiserating the situation with Jadzia and the station’s Chief Medical Officer Julian Bashir. They’re no help as Julian is also having entirely too much fun with this. Quark, the owner of the local bar, which is basically a space Dave & Busters, pipes in with his own two cents. Given that Quark is a Ferengi, and Ferengi culture is so misogynistic they make your average MRA look like a feminist ally, it’s not much help.

The Ravinok is found in short order, along with a series of 13 graves. Dukat sets about identifying the remains, and refuses to let Kira help. He claims that Cardassian funeral rites are very strict, and non-Cardassians must not view the remains. Hell, he even quotes a Bajoran religious leader to justify why she shouldn’t concern herself with the bodies of her fellow Bajorans. Luckily, Bajorans all wear earrings unique to their family line, so Kira can identify the bodies from those after Dukat excavates them.

Medical Officer’s Note: they’ve landed in a scorching desert, which Dukat loves. Cardassians are lizard-like and prefer hot environments. This was a major plot point in the season 2 episode The Wire. The desert shots were filmed in Soledad Canyon, California!

A little while later, Kira emerges from the ship’s wreckage with a passenger manifest to discover Dukat lost in thought as he stares at a piece of jewellery that she identifies as a Bajoran pledge bracelet. Dukat admits that he had an ulterior motive for coming on this trip, as he hoped to find a Bajoran woman by the name of Tora Naprem. She was his mistress, and he claims that the two were in love.

Not buying that last part. Also, Dukat absolutely has a thing for Bajoran women. It keeps showing up throughout the show. He even hits on Kira every now and then.

Anyway, Kira’s able to use an old resistance trick to track the survivors.

Later that night, as they make camp in a cave, Dukat manages to get a giant stone spike impaled in his ass. The sight of him hopping around in pain as he rubs a medical doohickey of the wound prompts Kira to burst out laughing, and Dukat even joins in. It’s not really a bonding moment, but there is a certain energy to it. An abatement of hostility, perhaps.

Whatever it is, it gives Kira the courage to ask about Tora Ziyal, the name of a civilian she found on the ship’s manifest. Dukat admits the truth, Ziyal is his and Naprem’s daughter. Dukat’ sensing the Occupation was coming to an end, planned to quietly ship them off to a neutral planet to live out their lives in peace, as neither Cardassia or Bajor would accept them. Kira, naturally, assumes he’s come to rescue Ziyal. Dukat says he’s come to kill her. Dramatic music sting. Ad break.

First Officer’s Note: Bajoran names follow Eastern naming order, meaning that Kira and Tora are family names. Also, Star Trek loves doing things in caves because they can build a new set out of the same few prop walls they have. It’s a fun detail to notice as you watch these shows.

The next day, Kira & Dukat are arguing as they pick up the trail. Dukat claims that he has too many political enemies, and a bastard child, let alone a half-Bajoran one, would give them ammunition to go after him. Kira accuses him of just being out for himself, but Dukat insists that he can only protect his family if he remains in power.

Are you getting a good feel for the kind of bastard Dukat is by this point?

This is all a bit much, how about another comic relief break in the b-plot? Sisko and his son Jake are having breakfast, and Jake mentions that he (and his friend Nog) spoke to Kasidy. As Sisko’s getting ready to give Jake a talk about the hard facts of life, Jake (having talked things through with his friend Nog) correctly diagnoses the problem as a fear of commitment. Sikso’s a widow, see, and it was his career that got Jennifer killed.

Sisko is rather bemused by this, but he can’t deny that Jake’s spot on. He asks if Jake said any of this to Kasidy. Jake says that he (and his friend Nog) considered it, but ultimately decided that Sisko should speak to Kasidy himself.

But now, at long last, we find the survivors. They’ve been taken captive by a mysterious alien race called the Breen, and are being forced to mine Dilithium ore from the planet. Presumably, it’s quite easy to do, as there’s only a few dozen survivors and no signs of heavy industry. There’s a young girl there too, presumably Ziyal.

Kira tells Dukat to go back to DS9 for reinforcements. Dukat refuses, and Kira’s obviously not going to leave Dukat with a chance to kill his daughter. Instead, they decided to mount a two person raid on the mines, which goes out without a hitch.

Well, except for the fact that Lorit died two years ago and a brief firefight gives Dukat a chance to slip away and find Ziyal. She instantly guesses who he is, having held out hope for the last six years that he’d come rescue her. Kira catches up to Dukat and threatens him at gunpoint to drop his rifle.

It’s ultimately Ziyal’s words that sway him, and Dukat can’t find it within himself to mow down his own child in cold blood.

Back on DS9, Sisko apologises to Kasidy, who accepts, and Dukat says he’s going to take Ziyal back to Cardassia to live with him. Aww, maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all.

First Officer’s Note: Yes, he is.

This is a pretty great episode. It was directed by LeVar Burton, who had been a main cast member on The Next Generation, and is remembered by many as the long running host of Reading Rainbow. He did especially well with the location shoots, making the narrow Soledad Canyon look like an expansive desert. Marc Alaimo as Dukat shows yet again why the writers kept bringing him back. He’s smarmy, oozy, hypocritical, but still retains a certain charm.

Though he only gets two short scenes, Roy Brocksmith does great as Kira’s old friend Razka. He was a jobbing character actor in the 80’s-90’s and if you’ve seen American tv from that era, chances are you’ve seen him in something.

The b-plot is a needed reprieve from the heavy nature of the main plot, but smartly it’s not played for broad comedy. Instead it’s more subdued, more grounded and relatable. Luckily, Kasidy sticks around and has a sweet relationship with Sisko, built on a genuine chemistry between the two actors.

Would I recommend this as your first Star Trek episode? Conventional wisdom would say no, it’s too steeped in the lore of DS9 and the relationships of these characters, it’s the start or mid point of so many character journeys. Sod that for a game of soldiers, I say. This is a great little story, and even without context for everything you can pick up what’s going on well enough to understand the emotional stakes. That’s far more important than knowing all the lore and linking plot points.

So, what’s next? Time to spin the wheel, I guess!

Oh boy, we're doing Voyager!

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