Phasers Set To Stun: Top 10 Episodes from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Five

On Phasers Set To Stun, we recognize the popularity of all things Star Trek, with a look at the television shows, animation, movies, and much more!

Our popular "Starter Treks" mini-series is back with a look at Deep Space Nine! Our crew is leaving the bridge and settling in at the Promenade to share the ten episodes you need to see from season five, if you aren't ready to watch all 26 episodes!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Space the Final Frontier. Join us for a bold conversation
our prime directive to recap our favorite Star Trek shows,
both new and old, to engage in debate about all

(00:23):
things Trek. Prepare to energize with Phasers Set to Stunt.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Hello, and welcome back to Phasers Set to Stun. In
this ongoing series from a film by a podcast, we
focus on every quadrant of the expanding universe of Trek
by covering television, animation, movies, directors, and more. Plotting the course,
as always is your core Trek Crew.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
I'm Scott Aften, I'm daa Burn, and I'm Wayne Whited.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
And in this episode, like we have been for the
past couple of episodes, we're continuing with starter tracks, a
spoiler free curated episode list of the top ten episodes
you can watch as a great way to get into
each series. And just to be clear, we're talking about
the ten episodes to watch an order of appearance, not
really an order of preference. Crew, let's talk about Deep

(01:20):
Space nine season five. Continuing the marathons of this one, David,
it's safe to say it's getting tougher to choose our
top ten. There's a lot of contin new.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Oh yeah, right, it's getting harder and harder. I was
even looking ahead at season six and like, oh my god,
how are we going to do this.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
We'll figure it out, but so much to cover.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
We were talking about, you know when we first started
the series. You know, the later you get into this,
it just gets the episodes get really good and it
becomes that story arc that just goes on throughout the seasons.
And I mean these last few seasons Deep Space nine
are just insane.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, So it's tough to skip around. It's also tough
to void spoilers.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
So we're gonna get it.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
We're gonna check each other that but you know, it
might make some descriptions a little bit shorter than others,
So if it's super short, just know it's super important
and a lot of big reveals.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
We will do our best, we promise.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
All right, Well, Wayne, why don't you start us off
with Apocalypse Rising?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yes? And this is written by Iras, Stephen Bear and
Robert Hewlett Wolf, directed by James o'cnway. Cisco assembles a
covert away team after Odo's fragmented memories indicate that Klingon
Chancellor Gowron may be a chainsling threatening to destabilize the
entire quadrant. Disguised as Klingon warriors, Cisco, O'Brien and Bashir,

(02:40):
along with Odo, traveled deep into enemy territory to infiltrate
a ceremony where they hope to expose the Impostor. As
suspicions mount and their cover begins to slip, the team
struggles to activate a device that will force any shape
shift or present to reveal its true form. But the
answer to who the Impostor is is shocks even Cisco

(03:02):
and his team. Yeah, after you know, we spent the
last the entire fourth season dealing with the Klingon War
that you know, Paramount insisted that they do. This episode
finally brings things back on track and if you know,
bringing the dominion back into into play and ending the
Klingon War. But they didn't just you know, drop the

(03:22):
Klingons and move on, you know, so they had to
connect the two stories. So you know, I can't reveal
what happens in here, and it's really hard to get
around there, but you just just go watch this and
and find out yourself. You know, it's and and you
know another change here that we really didn't mention in
our top ten season four podcasts. Is that you have

(03:43):
and you really need to know this here is pregnant.
We didn't even bring that up last season. You know,
how how did this happen? You might ask? You know, well,
it's it's not actually her baby, it's it's the O'Brien's.
Keiko announced that she was pregnant last season in the
episode Ascension, but then in the episode body Parts, there
was an accident on one of the runabouts and Keiko

(04:05):
is injured, so Basher was forced to transfer the baby
to Major Kira to complete the pregnancy. You know, this
was written because man a visitor was pregnant and who
by the way, the father happened to be Alexander Sadig.
They just didn't want to do another situation where they
had to hide her behind tables and or come up

(04:25):
with excuses to get her out of the storyline, like
they had to do with the Next Generation when Gates
McFadden got pregnant. So this is this was their their solution.
I like the episode. It's a it's a great season opener,
a lot of nice neat twists and surprises. It's a
good start for what is going to be a very

(04:46):
powerful and action filled season.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Dave, who do you think is having the most fun
on that quingon ship actor and character?

Speaker 4 (04:56):
Uh? Wow, that's that's a tough call. I mean, you
can't say war if that's a cop out, I'm going
to probably have to say. I think Renee for Odo,
even though he was struggling a little bit at first,
but when he comes through, he really comes through, you know.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, Well interesting at that moment because Odo doesn't have
the shape shifting ability anymore exactly, and so to see
him kind of like stuck and frustrated and he's like, great,
this is the role I was born to play and
I can't.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Also interesting to see that callback to a discovered.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Country, yes, yeah statue yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
But also Renee and the Klingon makeup.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
Right, Oh, that's right, he was in that film.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
I forget about that. He was.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
I was forgetting was he pretending to be a Kleon
there or was he an actual cleon?

Speaker 3 (05:53):
No, he was pretending. Yeah, I see most of his
scenes got cut and nic That's why I forgot about it.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah. I feel like Cisco was he was pretty cool
chewing the serial like he was having a great time,
and I know that comes up a little bit later
when he gets into there's another episode where he really
gets into claningon culture. But yeah, he was, he was
eating it up. I think Wharf was was probably thinking, like,
turn it down, just a little pit.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
I think it's funny. It's interesting that the line that
Kirie gives to Bisher, this is still your fault about
her pregnancy. I think it's fun because it really was,
you know, the actors baby. So it's it's funny that
they actually wrote that in there, like that Odo's obsession
with bubbles, which I think was absolutely hysterical. Yeah. But

(06:42):
then I tell you, man, I know we've mentioned this
so many times. We mentioned in the Next Generation, we've
mentioned it, I think a season ago. Galleran, I tell you, man,
he just stays stairs through your soul.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
He does.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
You can't help it. Every time I see him I screen, I'm.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Like, man, you kind of tilt to the left a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
You do.

Speaker 4 (07:00):
Yeah, yeah, I know, I think it wasn't. Dak supposed
to be a klingon, but she was allergic. The actress
was allergic. Terry Fair was allergic to the make up.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
I think that's right.

Speaker 4 (07:10):
She can be a Klingon, so they had to change
roles for her.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, so I think I think they discovered that back
when they were doing the pilot because she was supposed
to have prosthetics, and yeah, caused problems. That's why they
changed it, because.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
I mean, she's the Klingon expert. It's war of course,
but I mean it would have made sense that she
was with them, so but hey, it still worked out.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Something that I think confused me and I would think
would kind of irritate Wharf is that he wasn't recognized.
Like there's the scene where somebody says like, yeah, very
I think it's Martox says you have a very familiar
face in reference to O'Brien, and Wharf is probably like
anything like, really, I mean this big hall and nobody

(07:55):
recognizes me, Well, I feel really left out.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
And Cisco got recognized, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Right, if like you know at that point, you know,
the the reveal happens. If I was Warf, I would
just toss down in battle with and I would be like,
nobody in this hall recognized me. It's a bit fine.
Forget you, guys, Forget you. It's right anyway, speaking of

(08:21):
Wharf We've got another one. The next one in is
mine uh Looking for Parmak in All the Wrong Places,
written by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Garrick himself
Andrew Robinson. In an episode we didn't cover, Quark accidentally
killed a Klingon, which resulted in him becoming the head
of a Klingon house, being married to a Cleon named Grillka,

(08:42):
and divorced all in the same episode. I forget which
season it was, but it's a doozy that's an important
part of this episode when Grilka arrives and is instantly
crushed on by Wharf, resulting in one of the oddest
love triangles I've ever seen on Deep Space nine a
wharf once Grilka da Wharf, who is totally dimmed her flirtations,

(09:03):
and Quark just wants some Grocu sexy time. So Dax
has to coach these dim wits on the matter of
kling On romance, while Quark tries to help settle Grocu's
finances without getting killed. Meanwhile, in a storyline that feels
a little too creepy and how to talk about, oh,
Brian and Kira start getting too familiar with each other
while she's carrying Keiko's baby. It's a little dizzy the

(09:24):
way they've described it, although I feel like it's a
totally accurate description, but worth watching. For the Wharf Quark
Dax dynamic. It feels like this is Cyrano de Bergerac
with stub ubles and fight coordinators. Yeah right, I don't know.
It was an interesting dynamic. It's a it's a standout
Quark episode, I think, because I don't know of any

(09:47):
other Feengi that could probably navigate this whole relationship that
he has to do with Groca and everybody surrounding Groca.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
But I just can't believe how just utterly dim Wharf
is to all these flirtations. If you had Das flirting
with you, I'm sorry, I'm gonna be like, okay, yes please.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
There's a continuity problem in this episode for all of
star Trek for Wharf because he says, I've never been
I never have never courted a klingon woman, You liar,
you have to yeah, right, that's a bunch of lies.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
Uh huh.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
And she shows up, she's gonna be like you forgot
about me too, all right. That's why they'll don't recognize
you in the Klingon Hall.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
In his defense, if it was he didn't really court Klar,
he she kind of went after.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
Him so with a relationship with her.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
Well yeah, he was, You're right, So I.

Speaker 4 (10:41):
Mean, yeah, I mean, I guess there is as it's
a fine line right there.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Way, yeah, very fine.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
But still what he said that, I was like, wait, wait,
what what did you say? But the biggest question in
this episode is Quirk brings up war. What is it
good for? If you ask meolutely nothing.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
He should have taken his advice as an advice later
in this season, but we won't talk about that.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
We won't talk about that.

Speaker 3 (11:09):
You know, well, you know this this is definitely a
breather episode. It's very lighthearted before all the war stories begins.
But I I know, everybody finds the other the BT
story creepy, but I actually think that's the highlight of
this this episode. This isn't one of my top favorite
episodes of the season, but I think the storyline with
with Kiera and O'Brien are actually actually the highlight. It's

(11:31):
it's very real for those characters, the way they're acting.
I mean, if you really think about it, So Brian
you know, he's worried about the baby, and he's asking
you know, Kira to take it easy, which you know
she's offended by. You know that that makes sense. You
know he got you know what. Shakar is there and
he's very he's acting very awkward because he's not sure
how to deal with with Kira's pregnancy. You know, it

(11:53):
does bring a lot of depth to these characters. Despite
it's it's it is a little creepy because you can
definitely tell there's some remani tension between Kier and O'Brien.
You know, it's not mentioned, it's just kind of hinted.
But fortunately that really doesn't go anywhere.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, fortunate, goodness, very yeah, yeah, I love I love
the kling On opera that Worf is listening to, you know,
very interesting and I find it funny Worf when he
realizes that she is, well he doesn't know who she
is just yet, the cling on female and tell his
friends to Quark and say she's a friend of the

(12:30):
far Ringy. You know, he doesn't like to call him Cork.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Oh yeah, yep, yep.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
I absolutely love that.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
I love the scene where Dax is trying to coach
Quark through some relationships and some you know, sexy times
there that's just kind of like, this is so awkward
and Warf has to just be fuming on the side
like he's you know, yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
Mean it was a fun episode, but man, there were
some awkward scenes. Yeah, yeah, best it was fun.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Speaking of fun episodes, wanted to tell us about.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
The next one.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
First off, thank you for letting me have this one. Uh,
this is such a treat for this season. It's a
tree for all of the Deeps based on Anybody who Loves
Star Trek So Trials and Tribulations written by ronaldy Moore
and Renee at Saveria, directed by Jonathan West. The Department
of Temporal Investigation arrive on the station. They are there
to get the truth from Benjamin Cisco about an incident

(13:28):
on the Defiant. Benjamin explained that they received an ORB
from Brajor that they were taking back to the station
when something goes wrong and the crew of the Defiant
found themselves transported back in time. It has learned that
a Klingon spy, Darvin, had caused the ORB to send
them back to the time of the USS Enterprise under
the command of Captain James D. Kirk. They blend in

(13:48):
with the crew right in the midst of one of
the most memorable episodes of the original show, to stop
Darvin from changing the events of history. You know, I
believe they stated this was the most expensive episode of
Star Trek to.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
That date ever. Looks like it because they had to.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
Recreate the sets to make it look like the original
enterprise from the sixties.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
They had to build new models, build the models they
didn't have the originals. Yep.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
And then on top of that, which I loved, and
the director went out of his way to make sure
he was using the style of lenses from the sixties
to give it that look, blighting techniques to and he
used a stock of film from the sixties to give
it that grain, which I think is why it looks
so good that it matters. It blends so well some

(14:38):
of those scenes, Man, I tell you, you almost can't
tell no because they did such a fantastic job of
blending them together. I just thought it was It's a
very impressive episode. For anyone who's never seen this episode before,
you are in for an amazing treat. You really are.
And whenever I remember when they were advertising this, I
was like, WHOA, how the hell they're gonna pull this

(14:58):
one off? And man, did they pull this off brilliantly, I.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
Might well, specifically the fight scene, Yeah, I think to
be able to cut that together with so much quick
action going on, really really well written.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
I love the integration of the time cops yep.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
And they were funny.

Speaker 4 (15:19):
That's what I liked about it. They're pretty humorous.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yes, yeah, for sure. I've never expected to get so
much there, to see so much being made out of
the tribles like from the original series. It seems like
that would have been like it's one and done, but
it's been used to great effect. I think with a
lot of things that we've seen. We talked about the
what was it the short track?

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
I think I think this one was hilarious. It's interesting
that nobody gives Odo a second look.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
Nobody.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yeah, they're just like, oh, yeah, that's a guy. Yeah,
you've never seen a changeling before, but it's a guy.

Speaker 4 (15:58):
The discussion of we'll them looking to warf of like
what happened to the Klingon? They're like, wharf, what happened?
I loved, I loved that conversation that went on. But
I love the fact too that Warf was like petrified, trible. Yeah,
he was angry at the Trouble Is because what happened
at the end of that epithiode.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
So yeah, you know, this was If anyone doesn't know,
this is the thirtieth anniversary episode, because it was, you know,
in nineteen ninety six, this one in Voyder. We're all
doing a big thirtieth anniversary special. I think this is
the They're both fantastic, but this is definitely the highlight
of the two. It took a while for them to
decide they were going to do this episode. Their original

(16:41):
idea was to actually use the episode Charlie X because
the original actor is still alive. But then they thought, well,
let's do an episode based on a piece of the
action where they go back to the planet and find
out that the civilization's now imitating Kirkins back and the Enterprise.
But then for Scump came out and that is that

(17:03):
was the thing that that really made this episode happen.
They saw that film, they decided, hey, we can do that,
and that's why they chose the Trouble Turtles, which is
I mean, it really it had to be that episode.
That's probably the one of the most popular episodes of
the original series. It's definitely one of the most remembered.
It's just it's amazing what they did. It's it's mind

(17:27):
blowing what they did to recreate everything. I mean, you know,
everything had to be done by from scratch, and they
got even got back one of the original actors, which
I think is actually the you know, the the icing
on the cake here, you know, Charlie Brill. He was
the perfect person to return for this just makes this
episode even more fantastic.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
When when they donned the original uniforms, that that right there, think,
oh man, we are this is gonna be a lot
of fun. It really is. And of course Dat looking
incredi incredibly attractive in her uniform. I'm not gonna argue that.
But man, there's just so many good things about this
that's just I just love watching this episode. I've seen
this episode quite a few times because I love to

(18:08):
go back to revisit this one because it's just so
much fun and it's it's just the way they put
it together and edited was just brilliant, especially when Kirk
had everybody lined up wanting to know what happened, and
they blended the actors in lely with that. Yes, and
then another thing, if you know somebody behind the scenes
when they filmed the original tripled episode when all the
triples come out and pile up on Kirk, they had

(18:30):
production assistants back there throwing tribles out to hit him.
How cool was it that they actually had Thelm in
this episode doing that, throwing the triplesting him. It was perfect.

Speaker 3 (18:46):
It was perfect that one that hit him in the
top of the head. You know they had jud z
It through it. It's just show. It's amazing how they
they integrated everything so perfect into that episode. So believable.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Well, way in the next one is yours tell us
about Rapture.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
A Rapture was written by L. J. Strom. The teleplay
was by Hans Bremler directed by Jonathan West. After discovering
an ancient Pajoran artifact, Captain Cisco experiences powerful visions that
deepen his connection to the prophets and reveal long lost
Pajoran history. As the visions intensify, he becomes obsessed with

(19:24):
deciphering their meaning, even as the strain begins to threaten
his health. Cisco ultimately warns Baijor against joining the Federation,
believing that doing so would lead to a catastrophe, but
the visions began to take a physical and mental toll
on Benjamin Cisco, and Jake is forced to make a
decision that would end the visions but save his father's life. Now,

(19:45):
I fought for this episode to be in there because this,
in my opinion, this is a turning point. This is
a serious turning point in the series. Well, first off,
anyone who's watching this episode is going to nose one
big change in the series, and that's the of course,
because this is the episode where Deep Space nine switches
from wearing to wearing the new Starfleet uniforms that we

(20:08):
see in Star Trek First Contact. And it's quite a
shock at first, but I gotta say they look pretty
good in with cast.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
You know.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
But you know, this isn't it's a turning point for
the series, but it's more of a warning of what's
to come. It's a very detailed, important episode deals with
the show's religious mysticism, it's politics, personal sacrifice for Cisco,
you know. It just it just forces every character to
confront the implications of Cisco's spiritual authority with the Prophet,

(20:38):
or as the prophet excuse me, Starfleet's worried about his
mentals instability, and kai Win envies his connection to the profits,
and Kira just has faith in him and accepts them.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
You know.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
It just it's it's something that the series has been
avoiding for the past five seasons, and it needed to
be addressed because it's it's it's very important because it
made me re evaluate the character of Juve and Cisco
in his mission on Beajor. You know, remember back in
the pilot when we've when he was first assigned to

(21:13):
d S nine and Captain Pickaarr told him that he
was to do everything short of violating the Prime Directive,
you know, to get Baijor to join the Federation. Well,
Cisco went and basically made himself a god to the Beajor,
which is probably you know, the first thing that's uh
listed in the Prime Directive handbook, not what to do
you shouldn't do this. Yeah, they probably teach that first

(21:34):
day at Starfleet Academy. But right here in this episode,
he's directly influencing the development of the planet Beaijor. It
it's may not be the most interesting episode of the season,
but it's it's a really really important character part and
and it makes you consider and think about this. It's
also a big turning point for kai Win as well.

(21:58):
You know, you got to think think of that. Five
years she's doubted that Cisco is the true emissary and
she's plotted against him. But now here she's finally accepted it.
She has to you know, that he's the emissary. But
you know, her character changes now. You know, now that
she's accepted, she's got to start to begin to resent
him and become jealous from it.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
And there's a wretch that has finally turned the corner. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
am I the only one that does not like Yates?

Speaker 2 (22:28):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (22:28):
I like her? I guess so? I mean I I
think she's a great addition to the cast. You know,
she's not she doesn't know over to stay or welcome.
But it's nice to see a romantic relationship that that
takes a long time to develop. That's not something we
really see toomuch much on Star Trek.

Speaker 4 (22:46):
She's not a fan of that character.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
I'm sorry, Well, what don't you like about her? I'm curious.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
I don't know. She just gets on my nerves. She
there's just something about her that I just don't like.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
I'm jealous. No, she's taken Captain Cisco.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
I don't know, not at all. I'm not at all.

Speaker 3 (23:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
It just it just feels like it's fake, the relationship.
I know it's not, but it just it just it
just feels weird and strange.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Well, Wayne, I'm glad you lobbied for it because I think,
you know, thinking of people who are rewatching this series,
this is you know, for those who know what happens
at the end of the series. This is one where
it's going to help to connect the dots a lot more.
Let's take a quick break, and when we come back,
I'll take you into the next one. All right, we're

(23:29):
back in the next one is mine. This is called
The Begotten, written by Renee Ecaveria and directed by Jesus
Salvador Tevignil. It's more baby drama in this episode, but
this time it revolves around the uh Kira and O'Brien dynamic,
as well as Odo to sum up the former Kiras

(23:50):
in labor and the clueless Miles O'Brien and Shakhar can't
keep from getting in the way of each other. Meanwhile,
Quirk sells something interesting to Odo. He has a trinket
that seems to contain a dead changeling, which is odd
in itself, but Odo buys it because he recognizes it's
not dead. It's actually a baby changeling and one that
needs his help. He helps to nurse it back to

(24:12):
health and sees it as another chance to get things right,
correcting for all the mistakes that Doctor Mora made in
raising Odo. However, Odo finds himself needing Doctor morris help
as they work together to help coax this baby through
the essential steps needed for a changeling to start thriving.
It's a massively important episode for Odo and one of
Renee's best performances in my opinion in this role. He

(24:34):
has so much emotional range in this one, which goes
from you fascination to joy in some moments. It still
stretchs me as odd sometimes to see Odo smile, which
is such a weird desision, but.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
It is just seeing the joy on his face in
this episode is just priceless. It really feels you with warmth.
It does, but I'm chilling the scene where he is
talking to it, and it's like a long, long piece
where he's like, you know, trying to you know, you know,
get get something out of it, where it's reactions and

(25:10):
stuff like that. Yeah, there's a piece of music that
goes along with that. The score is absolutely beautiful as
he is performing this, you know, but I agree with you, Scott,
this is probably Renee's best performance in the entire Deep
Space nine and Odo's best scenes because getting to see
him almost be like a father because he knows he

(25:32):
doesn't get an uppert he won't get an opportunity to
do that, and getting to see him doing that here
is just gold. And getting his reactions again, we can't
give anything away of what happens at the end at
the end of this episode, but wow, what a performance
and what a wonderful episode.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
I want to shout out to James Sloyan, who plays
doctor Mora on that note. On that note, Dave specifically,
because as a as a father of you know, older kids,
and you know you've been through you know, you get
to the turn where it's like you're talking to your
you know, somebody who you've raised as an adult and

(26:12):
when they're kind of looking back on you know, on
how to raise someone, on how they have been raised,
and things like that. It's it's interesting that to kind
of relate to both those aspects of it. You can
see doctor Morris saying, like, you know, I understand the
things that I did, and I regret those things, knowing
that he you know, should have taken made other decisions obviously,

(26:37):
but then you know, odo at that moment of trying
to feel like as a new father kind of like
my first responsibility is to get things right that went
wrong with me.

Speaker 3 (26:48):
Yep, right, you're right. The highlight of this episode is
definitely the Auto story, but in terms of the continuity
of d Spaceline, you can't miss this because of the
b storyline. This is the episode where Kira gives birth
to Kiria Yoshi O'Brien, which is what they named the baby. Yeah,

(27:09):
it's it's important for that and and good old Miles
of Brian he got to be there for the birth.
I'm so glad he what he was. He didn't get
to be there for for when Molly was born. But
another thing too, This is the final appearance of doctor
Mora and it's also the final appearance of Shakar on
the series, and I was surprised to see this because

(27:32):
we still got to you know, two and a half
years left to go on the show. But this is
the third of the last appearance of Keiko. She only
makes two more appearances in the series. And I guess
the actress actually saw this coming because, uh, you know,
we well for two things. One now there's two kids
to deal with, you know, and she's pretty much when

(27:53):
she appears, it's going to be the kids and the
whole thing with you know, getting children to work you
know with in Hollywood and have to work around schedules
some times and schools and stuff makes it really really
difficult to do scenes. Plus she knew that the war
stories were coming the really we're we're going to be
getting into the heart of the war that's coming, and
she's going to be taking a sidelines. So you know,

(28:17):
I've always loved the character of Keiko ever since her
first appearance back on the Next Generation. I'm glad that
she came over with Cole Mieni to Deep Space nine,
and I'll be sad to see her go, but I'm
glad that she was able to be on the series
and appear what she did because I think it's nice
to have a married couple on Star Trek for a change, Dave.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Next one is Yours for the.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
Uniform, written by Peter Allenfield and David Weddell, directed by
Victor Louis. Benjamin is on a mission to rendezvous with
a friend to find a way to capture the trader Eddington.
He would do whatever it takes to capture and bring
him to justice. When his friend doesn't show, Benjamin and
Crewe take the Defiant to track Edington down, but they
find themselves in trouble, tricked by the man they seek,

(29:01):
and they're fine is rendered almost useless. Eighteen months, Benjamin
has been doing his best to track the man down
and has failed at every turn, which now leads the
Federation to make a drastic decision. But will that stop
the commander of Deep Space nine is yet to be seen.
Some really great scenes in this one. One of the
things that I'd love to see that we're getting to

(29:22):
see that Benjamin losing his temper, out of control, losing
his temper, and it's starting to affect him a little
bit in his command. Not much, but yeah, he just
is gone over the edge of revenge, of going after
Eddington and you really see that. I mean, even the
crumb of the crew are like kind of taking a

(29:43):
step back to like, uh what and he know what
he does in this episode, and even Wharf hesitates, like
do I really need to do that? And I mean
he basically crosses that line in this episode. Benjamin does,
and you it's hard to side with him. But when

(30:03):
you think about it, with what Eddington was doing and
everything that was going on, what else could have Cisco
done in this situation? To be honest with you, he
was put in a corner. Maybe he put himself in
that corner, yeah, but he couldn't get out of it
any other way. And the fact that not only him,
but the Federation just could not get anything no matter
how close they got, he was always three steps ahead.

(30:27):
And Benjamin didn't have a choice. And that's one of
those decisions that you don't see in Star Trek much
of what he does. And you know, I hate to
be like to think about it, but I probably would
have done the same thing, to be honest with you,
because you have to do something drastic in order to
catch that guy, and he had to pull it, so

(30:49):
he did. But I thought this was an incredible episode,
and I felt like it was a strong Benjamin episode.
And we've had a lot of great performances from him
from Avery Brooks, but this one made and I tell you,
it's just wow. Just seeing him on a whole new level.
It's just a whole new experience.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Yeah, it's it's definitely a turn, not necessarily a one eighty,
but it's definitely a turn in a specific direction for
the Star Trek franchise. Through this series and the storyline, like,
you get glimpses of the kind of places they have
to go, and it's getting deeper than simply exploration or

(31:32):
observation or connecting to new life. It's some of what
happens with that in certain situations. I think it's it's
a it's a brave move to go where they had
gone in the writing of this series and in the
you know, the character's decisions. It's it's definitely not one

(31:52):
to miss because you get a sense for the tone
of where this is going.

Speaker 4 (31:56):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
You also start to get the tone of what he
has to kind of with the decisions they.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
Have to make.

Speaker 4 (32:03):
We we talked about quite a few times actually over
the last few episodes. For the previous seasons of the
show that it's going to get darker. This is this
series is gonna get darker and darker, and this episode
proves that point that it gets darker. You don't usually
see that in Star Trek like this. You know, I
know we talked about like best of both worlds. How
you get that dreaded feeling deep down? You know, it's

(32:24):
it's the same thing that what Benjamin had to do
in this episode, and you know there's more to come,
and it's just it where it's kind of like a
place that you never imagined the writers of Star Trek
to go, and they are finally going that way because
they wanted to Deep Space nine needed to separate itself
from the rest of Star Trek, and in order to

(32:46):
do that you had to start pulling different cards, and
the rest of the other series have done and this
one did it.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, I'm with you with that. You know, Cisco's actions
in this episode are debatable. I guess it could be
a good way to put it to you know, it
really really shows that Cisco's you know, he's willing to
step away from his Starfleet ethics do whatever is necessary
to win, even if it goes against everything that his
uniform stands for. You know, he's become obsessed really with

(33:15):
capturing Edington Eddington and do anything to get get him.
I don't want to spoil the episode, but it really
shows the difference between what Cisco would do compared to like, say,
the Card, because the Card would never have done this. No,
Kirk maybe, but the Card never. And it kind of

(33:35):
shows that that really Cisco and Eddington are are just
the different size of the same coin. It's just the
cause that they're fighting for is.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
Different one that can't be invested for sure.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
Let's not forget about the individual they use for communicating
with Engineering in this episode. Nog Oh yeah, oh yeah, Yes,
that's a good youth of his character, and I'm so
glad that he's involved. They did and just write him
off to go to Starfleet, say up, we're done with
that character whenever we're not bringing him back. I'm so
glad Nog is there in getting to experience some of this.

(34:08):
I thought that was a great way to use his character.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Well, he does such a great job of holding his
own Oh yeah, he does. And it's an interesting like
there's more of a militaristic feel in some of these episodes,
and this is definitely one of them where you have
people that are like, you know, shouting to different It's
like watching people on a submarine.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
I think it's one of the things that makes this.
I know there's debates about, you know, taking Star Trek
in this kind of direction. I thought it was thrilling.
I thought it was refreshing to see it a different
kind of direction, even if I don't always agree with
the decisions that are made.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
But I don't know.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
I think it's a fascinating part of.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
The series with interesting you talk about summary because the
writers did in amange to run silent, run deep in
this episode.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Yeah so yeah, Well, Wayne, I think you've got a
two parter.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
In Purgatory Shadow and By Inferno's Light, written by Robert
Hewitt Wolfe and ear Stephen Bear. Part one is directed
by Gabrielle Beaumont and part two is directed by Leslandau.
When Garrick receives a mysterious Cardassian distress signal from the
Gamma quadrant, he and Warf travel through the wormhole and

(35:18):
discover a Dominion prison, pulling in a brand Tan and
several key Alpha Quadrant captives, including the real General Martak
and one of their own back on Deep Space nine.
Their capture coincides with the Dominion's massive invasion plan. As
a fleet prepares to enter the Alpha Quadrant under the
guise of a peace mission. Warfander's beautal combat in the

(35:40):
Jimadar Arena, while Gerrick attempts to desperate escape even as
he confronts Tane's final, complicated confession of paternal affection. Meanwhile,
the Changeling, posing as a familiar face, sabotages DS nine
and tries to destroy Bejor's son. I'll admit I completely
forgot about this story. When we were recording last podcast.

(36:00):
I stated that Deep Space Line didn't have any more
two parters, and I was wrong. Here it is, and
it's such an important two parter, and that it really
talk really changes the political climate for the series. The
first episode excels at building tension for the story, from

(36:21):
the discovery of the Dominion prison camp to the shocking
reveal that one of the main characters has been replaced
by the Changeling. Every twist that this story has really
heightens that sense that the Alpha Quadrant is the break
of disaster. Really, I have to point out Andrew Robinson's
Garrek in this two parter. His performance is phenomenal. You know,

(36:41):
with Garrek having to confront that Anna Britain has is
still alive, which if you remember in the last season's
finale Broken Link, the Founder had told him that everyone
had been killed. So it comes as a shock that
you know, he's he was lied to and he's still alive.
But on top of another shock, reb which is a
big spoiler and I won't reveal it. I also want

(37:04):
to out point out how much of a trooper Andrew
Robinson was because when he filmed his scenes in that
crawl space, not only does suffer from claustrophobia, but he
had a really really bad flu that day that they
filmed them.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Ood really yeah wow.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
And the second part, you know, delivers the punch ending
for the story, which it has some damn good fight scenes,
especially that scene with war fighting the Jimidhara. I love that.
It's really hard to talk about the second part because
it's it's one spoiler after another, but just let me
say this, the stakes are really high and the ending
is the number one major turning point to the series

(37:39):
and sets the story for pretty much the remaining two
and a half years left come.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
This episode is crap hits the fan.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Yes, yes, that's a good way to put it.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
That's exactly what this is interesting enough. You know I
put in put in boat on here, edge of your
seat tension, because that's exactly what the ending of this was.
It was on the edge of your seat, because you know,
we don't get a a lot of these endings like this,
with a few of them we have, but this one
is really starting to set what's going to happen, and
you know, we know it's gonna happen at the end
of this season. We're going to get to that here shortly.

(38:10):
But the next two seasons are just hold tight because
there's a lot to come and it's gonna get crazy.
But my question is when did Princess LEAs bouch come
to star trek Oh.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
I see that every time. It's hard to have to
see boush there. Yeah, you can't help it every time,
and I'm like, I don't know I had that. Well,
my sister gotta give props. So Laura had that. Figures.
It's such a cool design. I love that they don't
try to adorn it with a lot of things to
try to hide it. But yeah, it's hard not to see.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
Yeah it is.

Speaker 6 (38:44):
It is.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
But when you're right about the reveals and we're not
gonna give one away, because when they do reveal that,
you're like what no, yeah, you tricky people.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
Yeah, and it makes you go back and think about it, like, well,
you know, you know, what did he do? You know,
back in those episodes, when did it happen? What was
going on? Yep?

Speaker 2 (39:05):
Exactly, absolutely essential watching rewatchers, very important to get back
into in a reason that I'll that'll remind you why
a lot of people love this series.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Wayne.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I got to commend you for doing a great job
of dancing through spoilers. There there's not it could have
been like these are really good, you should watch them,
all right, move on to the next one.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
That stok a few couple times of rewriting to change
some things. Yeah, yeah, And there's two points I do
want to bring out. Also during the episode, it's mentioned
the Borg attack, which is this is the first reference
to the events of Star Trek First Contact. Although this
there's a little bit of a continuity problem with that
because the Star dates stated for this episode which is

(39:49):
five oh five six four actually take place before the
star dates that are mentioned in First Contact five eight
nine threes, which doesn't make any sense. When the producers
were asked about they said just just ignore it, okay, okay.
And also, you know they this episode is dedicated to

(40:11):
Derrick Garth. If you don't know, this is he was
a FIRS behind the scenes person that he died in
a car accident while he was on his way to
work on this on the series for this episode, so
this episode is dedicated to him.

Speaker 4 (40:26):
I'm can I can I put in my uh my
usual Babylon five thing here? Yeah, I still as much
as I love it, don't hate me Trek fans, I
still have the field. Babylon five villains are.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Creepier, Yes they are. Shall stand with that. I'll stand
with that.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
They were much more of a threat in my opinion
than the Gym Hdar. But that's my sign up for
Bablon five gets to get back to Star Trek.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
Sorry, buddy, I'll keep that in mind when you guys
walk me through Babel of five.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
Yes, but both shows are running at the same time,
so that's why you know the two shows about two
different space stations. You know, come on, you guys, see
the similarities and stuff between the two shows at times,
and there's nothing wrong, and you great sci fi show
is running at once.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Let's see at this time, we'll see we're now getting
into the Dominion War and Babylon five was getting into
the Shadow War. Correct, Yeah, you couldn't help but compare
the two.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
No, not at all, you can't. But I just I
just I like the Shadow War. Just that was just creepy.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
It Coke pepsi.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
Oh wait a minute, this is good comparison for Wayne
Coke pepsi. Which one's coke? Which one's pepsi?

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Interesting, pepsi is Babylon five.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
Okay, we better move on. Let's move on and take
that as you will.

Speaker 2 (41:44):
All right, I'll quickly get it.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
Just into the next one.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
All right, Well, I'm gonna take a turn with our
next one. A little bit of a lighter fare, but
still important for reasons, very important, Doctor Basher, I presume
it's our next one. Written by Jimmy Diggs and Ronald More,
directed by David Livingston. This is a great episode for
Voyager fans and fans of Robert Piccardo, which I assume

(42:07):
is everyone who's ever seen him in anything ever. In
this episode, he plays doctor Lewis Zimmerman, the inventor and
life model for the emergency medical hologram that we know
and love from Star Trek Voyager. He's here with an
offer for doctor Basheer that Julian has been chosen for
as the life model for the long term medical hologram

(42:28):
that's gearing up for launch. This puts Julian under a
very uncomfortable microscope as he's examined and self examined thoroughly
to capture every element for an accurate recreation doctor. Doctor
Basheer agrees on one condition that his parents are left
out of the investigation. Of course, doctor Zimmerman ignores this,
and he uncovers secrets that doctor Bashir desperately wants to hide.

(42:51):
On another note, we also see doctor Zimmerman crush on Leda,
who just wants Rom to finally admit that he has
feelings for her. So the relationships on the station would
benefit so much if people would just talk. I mean,
it's a little bit like Three's company communication.

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Please it helps. Come on, I know, Ron, what are
you doing, buddy?

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Yeah? Great performances here a lot of depth about doctor
Bashir and kind of an interesting look at a character
I think has changed quite a bit from early episodes
like you know, move along Home to what he is now.
It's also an interesting change how others perceive him. And

(43:36):
Robert Riccardo standout performance here, always entertaining, always fascinating to see,
like the aspects of his emh character in Voyager compared
to the person that kind of created that. It almost
seems like there's parallels with Brent Spiner doing Doctor Sung

(43:58):
and Lower Right, just different aspects of the same kind
of love this episode.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
One of my favorite scenes in this episode is Beshar's
outpouring to O'Brien. Really, it really reminds me of the
scene remember when the two got drunk and they were
talking about, you know, being friends and stuff. I think
it was last season that we talked about that episode,
but it really reminded me of without the alcohol and
getting drunk, but because it was a lot more serious
this time, just O'Brien trying to you know, calm beshear down. Obviously,

(44:29):
we have to be careful what we say here because
we don't want to get anything because there's another big
reveal in this episode for crying out loud. But the
relationship between these two characters, again, just like Beshear has
come a long way, these two characters relationship has come
since a long way too, and even even playing darts
together just as simple as that, getting to see them

(44:50):
being the friends, but everything they have been through. Remember
the episode last season you know where you know O'Brien
was telling Bashir not to do the things he was
doing for the Jimidar, remember on that planet? Yep, yep,
you know, and they kind of got into it, got
into a fight about in an argument, but they were
still such good friends that they were still able to

(45:11):
put that behind them and continue on. And you see
that here and in that scene between the two of them,
you really see how much they have developed with one another.

Speaker 2 (45:21):
Yeah, there's a lot of mutual respect there and interesting
to see in a moment where one friend is really
depending on the other but putting it all on the
table and saying, I don't know what to do about
this and I desperately need your help.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
Another thing, also, I wanted to bring up a little
bit about continuity. You know how I love continuity. O'Brien's
comments about Starfleet having not ever dealt with a genetically
engineered officer in one hundred years actually fits pretty good.
The writers would never have known about this, okay back
in nineteen ninety seven. But you can actually say that

(46:00):
this is a reference to the trial of on Star
Trek Strange New Worlds placed just a little bit over one.

Speaker 4 (46:07):
Hundred I am likely you are giving away some spoilers
here for what.

Speaker 2 (46:14):
Oh I love the look at the realization, like, oh.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
I didn't realize we were that was okay? Well, yeah,
that is a pretty big spoiler.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
You're right, all right, Please, I see where you're going
with it, though, Yes, you can definitely see the connections
and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Yeah, I love it when when continuity works together everybody else.
Since you didn't hear that because the phaser just you know,
burnt right through me, go back and watch this episode
and then watch that Strange New World's episode. It was
the second season or second episode of the second season.

Speaker 6 (46:47):
You'll see the connection, ye, But I don't forget this
is the first time we've heard about Nog's mother, yes,
and we've never heard about her at all until.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
Now, so we get some of that in here. I
think He gets mentioned again later on in another I
don't know if we're going to cover it or not,
but yeah, the first time we've got to hear that story.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
And along those lades. Shout out to Chase Masterson and
Max Gridonchick for their roles in this.

Speaker 4 (47:16):
It's a b story.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
It's a relationship story, but an important one, I think
in their development. I love their relationship and I think
both their performances are stand out in this one. I
love their characters and I'm glad to see where they
start to go. Absolutely all right, let's take a quick break,
and when we come back, I think Wayne, it's your turn.

(47:40):
We're back, Wayne, You're up next with Blaze of Glory.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
Written by Robert Hewitt Wolf and Iris Steven Bear and
directed by Kim Friedman. When Starfleet intercepts what appears to
be a launch of Jimmadar equipped Makey missiles aimed at Kardaska,
Cisco reluctantly frees Michael Eddington from prison to help track
them down. Editing used the mission to manipulate Cisco into

(48:04):
aiding a group of surviving Makey refugees, revealing how thoroughly
the Dominion has destroyed the movement. As they close in
on the supposed missile base, it becomes clear that Eddington
has tricked them to force Cisco into helping the survivors escape.
Now we've included this episode on the list because of
its importance in the closure of the McKee storyline, which

(48:27):
has been going on since season two. We get the
return of Michael Edington played by Ken Marshall one last time.
The producers wanted to end the McKee's story now before
they got into the heart of the Dominion war next season,
because they didn't want too many loose threads left for
the series. And because of this, it kind of tore
the fandom in half. Some were satisfied with this ending,

(48:50):
some were left to disappointed with the closure. But besides
all that, Avery Brooks and Kenneth Marshall, they deliver really
superb performances in this episod, so in my opinion, you know,
the character of Eddington started off strong and very promising
back in the at the beginning of season three, but
you know, as time went on, a lot of people

(49:10):
found him irritating, underused, and then Wharf was brought on
board and the character kind of lost any sort of
purpose that he had, and so they made him an enemy,
you know, which is a great idea, but I don't
think it worked out the way that they had hoped.
But here in this episode is the best they've ever
written for Eddington, and it really gives Marshall something to
act with and show his character's strength, and which leads me.

(49:34):
I'm going to rant now, okay, in my opinion, and
I'm gonna have state that the whole m key idea
and storyline was badly handled by the producers and writers.
And I'm not just talking d Space nine. I'm including
Voyager in that statement. It's a fantastic idea and it
was well handled back during the second season in the

(49:55):
two parter McKey and the Next Generation's Preemptive Strike. But
then Deep Space nine introduced the Dominion and we had
that war, and then we had the Klingon War, and
suddenly Deep Space nine's trying to juggle way too many things,
too many storylines, and the McKee's story kind of fell
off to the side. The writers just got bored with
it because there were new wars to write about. And

(50:16):
over on Voyager it's even worse because you know, you
have this major conflict between Starfleet and the McKee and
the Pilot Caretaker, which showed so much promise, you know,
so many things they could do that with that, and
by the second episode it's just practically forgotten about except
for maybe, you know, like one time, I'm per season,
I'll get more into that when we start talking about

(50:37):
Voyager and we're in for a long discussion there. But
that's just that's my opinion on the McKee. It's it's
a great idea that they just just went poop poo with.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
What do you think so awkward silent?

Speaker 2 (50:54):
I think it's interesting as somebody who hasn't really gotten
into Voyager as much, but I can see what you're
saying with that. I can see why they had to
go off in a different direction. But it seems like
it's unmined territory that could be fodder for you know,
I'm sure if there isn't novelization or comics out there

(51:16):
that have pursued it, that there could be. I think
it's an interesting thing to start to pursue, maybe from
the McKee's point of view, because you don't get much
of that. I do think it's interesting the glimpse that
we do get into that and the the role of
desperation that they kind of have in this one. All right,
well let's round it up, Dave, You've got the next

(51:38):
one called Arms.

Speaker 4 (51:39):
Remember Robert Hewitt, Wolf and David Weddell, directed by Alan Crooker.
The Jym Header continues to infiltrate the Alpha Quadrant, preparing
for war as they watch more and more ships come through.
Benjamin Cisco decides to place mines near the wormhole to
stop the invasion, which forces a confrontation with the Dominion.
Benjamin and crew prepared themselves for the inevitable well at

(51:59):
the same time, I'm watching allies that the Federation began
to leave. All of this leads up to a season
ending cliffhanger that Deep Space nine hasn't seen and will
lead into the oncoming war of Wars that the Federation
hasn't seen in years. All I've got to say for
this is it is one hell of a finale, because
this is probably the best finale I have seen for

(52:20):
Star Trek, and that's all of the next generation up
to this point. Incredible. This is exactly what I want
from Star Trek. That we've not seen tons of ships
on screen fighting. You know that that dog fighting thing
that you see. This is one thing that Star Trek
has kind of missed out on that Star Wars nailed

(52:41):
and I'm Baplon five nailed it too, by the way,
but I add that. But Star Trek finally nails it
here with this finale. And may I tell you it
may not say to be continued in this, but it
is to be continued because there is a lot on
the horizon that's going to happen. So there's this so
much and the stuff that I would love to talk about,

(53:01):
but I really can't because it's going to give away
too much. One of the things that I absolutely loved
was the fact that Benjamin left his baseball just for
the mere fact it didn't come out to be said.
And I can't say who found the ball, but it's
almost like, let's play ball. It's basically what Benjamin was

(53:22):
saying right there.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
A message.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
It was a message yep. And I love that.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Interesting you bring up Star Wars because I feel like
this is almost like the Empire strikes back.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
Yeah it is nine yep.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
In terms of the story arc, it definitely feels like
that kend of it. Feel it's almost impossible to talk
about anything in this episode without spoiling, right, but absolutely
critical aside from the fact that it, you know, if
it's the last one of the seasons, so I feel
like we typically cite those as ones you have to watch.
But it's done so well that I think it's it's

(53:55):
absolutely essential watching it. I would say, you know, it's
something that a Star Trek fan should should look at
when they're looking for, you know, what are some reasons
that I should care about watching the Deep Space nine
does want to proves it?

Speaker 4 (54:07):
Yeah, and I think doesn't this start the seven episode arc?

Speaker 3 (54:12):
Yes, it does.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
We'll just pick the first SIPs and just saying, look,
here are the things that happened.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
This isn't just the season finale. This is also very
important for in one aspect, and this we're saying goodbye
to one of the most important elements of Star Trek
up to this point, physical starship models. It's cgi all
the way from now on. This is the last episode
they actually used models.

Speaker 4 (54:40):
Yeah, I mean it was time for them to move
on to that. It's same, I love models, but I get.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
It was that it was there at that point where
they can use analia. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Absolutely, and then they start using it as a great effect.

Speaker 4 (54:50):
Yeah, some great things there between Ram and Leda obviously. Yeah,
and you know, the youth of Benjamin in a certain situation.
But yeah, so much happens in this episode that it's crazy,
and it just so much goes on inside the station,
outside the station. It's just there's just it's amazing they

(55:10):
were able to fit this in in that what forty
five minute time frame? It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Well, let's go to the other side of the coin.
We've mentioned a lot of great ones. Let's do a
round robin, quick round of dishonorable mention that episode the
week are the episodes that we feel we can skip
because they're just not quite up to par with the
rest of them. Wayne, why don't you start with your pick?

Speaker 3 (55:35):
Well, there are a few mediocre episodes of season, but
the only one that I could say that I really
didn't like was let He Who Is Without Sin? The
Risa episode where Wharf and Jesia goes from Risa thinking
it will help with their relationship. Then Julian and Leita
and Corko with them, and Wharf gets involved with an
organization that's protesting the comference and sexual freedoms that Risa offers,

(55:56):
I think the thing that I dislike the most is
how they show Wharf in this episode. He's so jealous
and insecure because, you know, he learns a former lover
of Kurzon Dax runs the Planets, which played by Vanessa Williams,
and so he joins this this moralistic, anti pleasure extremist group.
But I'm sorry, that's not the Wharf that we've been

(56:18):
watching for like ten years at this point. It's awkward,
and it just really throws the chemistry off between Michael
dor and Terry Ferrell. It's it's what's even more frustrating
is that there's some really good ideas in this episode,
but they're written so wrong. It just makes the whole
episode unwatchable. It's a pity.

Speaker 2 (56:34):
Hey, I assume you agree?

Speaker 6 (56:35):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (56:35):
Absolutely, I agree. There was no doubt this was immediately
going to my least favorite.

Speaker 3 (56:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
I knew it was gonna be our least favorite like
ten minutes into watching it, But I got to get
through that gag reflex. I mean, the absolute joyless Wharf,
who wouldn't know happiness if it sat on his face,
That goes from grumpy to weaponized killjoy. I'm surprised that

(57:02):
the relationship between Jaxon Warf continues this episode, Buddy, what's
wrong with you? No kidding bout getting back to a
positive note. We always put the spotlight on one standout character,
and this time it's Quark. Dave, whytn't you tell some
some reasons why Quark stood out of such a spotlight

(57:23):
character for this season?

Speaker 4 (57:24):
Well, there was quite a few scenes that I really
enjoyed him with. Obviously, I talked a little bit about
the There was a scene between Odo and Quark in
the episode you know where he had the little the
little kid, I should say, but I actually chose a
scene that we didn't even talk about a scene an
episode We even talk about the ascent.

Speaker 2 (57:42):
Yes, I love that.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
I love that episode because it is probably the best
episode between Quark and Odo. And it's a shame it
didn't make it to our top ten because we really
couldn't because there's just so many things going on and
it's gonna get worth the next two seasons. But how
much those two characters go through on this planet that
it's a frozen planet, that they have to get to

(58:06):
the top of this mountain to you know, get a
signal out while they both hate each other with a passion,
but yet they find a way to get along with
one another and just Cork and himself being himself. He
one thing I like about Cork is he always is
true to his character. Always, from the very first episode

(58:26):
to the last episode. Cork is Quirk. Even though he
may lay a little bit, tiny bit of you know,
friendship pull through, but he's still Cork and he's going
to do something about it. I love the way it ends,
with the how they meant every word. They hated each
other almost in a way that they showed how much
they love one another, if that makes sense. But it's

(58:47):
true that's the way that those two were reacted to
each other through this entire episode. They had to help
each other obviously to get out of it, but they
still do not like one another at all in a
way they still.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
Like pile on that. I'll pile on that because I agree.
I love that episode, and I think it's one of
the things that shows, you know, they have a mutual
respect of a certain degree although they despise each other. Yeah,
or they always feel like I'm right on the cusp
of getting this person caught, and but I can't imagine

(59:20):
turning this person into something that I don't know that
I know that they would never be. Quark has a
lot of growth. Quarks a great representation of why the
Ferengi are worth another look beyond the fur codes and
the whips from the early Nice Generation episodes. And I
like what you said, Dave about how he stays true
to himself. He's not always the you know, best example

(59:45):
that you want to follow, but you can see the
the genuine moments come through, And yeah, I think it's
a great big Wayne. What about you?

Speaker 3 (59:55):
Yeah, I agree. The Assent is actually the strongest Quirk
episode this season. But I chose a specific scene from
the season finale called to Arms. It's a scene where
Cork and Rahm are together and Rama is working on
the sabotage work with the minds and he goes, you know,
he asks why Cork is staying, and you know, he says, well,

(01:00:18):
I have to look out for my bar and Rom says,
and I'm staying because I have to look out for you.
You're my brother. Whatever happens, we belong together. And Cork
returns and says, well, you know, like I said, you're
an idiot. But then he kisses him on the back
of the head. It's you know, it's like an unspoken encouragement.
Shows really shows how far this character has grown from
that purely self interested farringy barkeep from the earlier seasons.

(01:00:41):
He shows that you know, he's he's he has the
same feeling everybody has staying when Starfleet leaves the station,
he's he's anxious because customers are leaving the bar, but
he's accepting the chaos that's coming, and his decision to
stay on the station under dominion occupation shows that Quark's
just he's not all profits agreed, that there really is

(01:01:01):
a hero that's kind of underlying all that, And I
just love that little scene.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
As always, listeners, thank you for joining us, and gentlemen,
thank you both for being here. I need another. It
feels like a long way to go on Deep Space nine,
but it's it's worth It's well worth it to see
you both. It is. As always, thanks to our listeners
for joining us. Hailing frequencies are always open for you
to share your thoughts, comments and questions. You can email

(01:01:30):
us at a Film by Podcast at gmail dot com,
or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and other media platforms.
Let us know what you thought of the episode, and
you might get mentioned on an upcoming show. You can
also find all the Phaser said to Sudden episodes online
at a Film by podcast dot com. Wayne, I think
you've got some extra content coming our way.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
That's right, listeners said. You should check out the latest
articles on a Film by Podcasts website, where a new
regular feature has been again phasers set to Stun's book reviews.
Currently there's over one hundred and fifty Star Trek novels
and release and I'm going back to the beginning and
reading them for you, giving you the lowdown on which
books to pick up and which ones should stay on

(01:02:12):
the shelf. You can find them on our website at www.
A Film by podcast dot com and click on the
articles tab at the top of the page. I hope
you check them out and happy reading, Wayne.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
I love that you're doing that, Abby too. What are
my favorite authors you know? Growing up during the Peter
David run on Incredible Hulk. I love what he had
done with some of the Trek novels, but that's only
just a taste of it. So I love that you're
diving into that. Thanks for thanks for taking that indeed dive,
I'm looking forward. Thank you digging into that event, and

(01:02:47):
if you're looking for more exclusive content and swag, send
some Latinum R away your Patreon. See you next time
for another episode of Phaser, Set to stun

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
And