Son of... Whatever

I like Quark, and "The House of Quark" (3x03) is a good episode for him.

Quark takes credit for killing a Klingon who tried to kill him, but the Klingon was so drunk he ended up falling on his own knife. The story of the heroic Quark killing the Klingon brings more business to his bar, but the story comes back to get him in some trouble. Not surprisingly, he ends up having to face a Klingon in hand-to-hand combat after basically accusing him of scheming and plotting... like a Ferengi.

I love the what-the-fuck expressions on the Klingon's faces and how Gowron gives his PADD a subtle toss. Later, when Quark decides to go face D'Ghor, he makes a great introduction.

Odo and Lwaxana

There are several really good scenes between Odo and Lwaxana in "The Foresaken" (1x17), so it was hard to choose one. But I went with this, a scene where Odo tries to escape the chatty Lwaxana (can we blame him?).

After that, they both end up trapped in the turbolift. Odo contacts Ops to find out what is wrong with the turbolift and is warned he shouldn't try to shape shift out because there are exposed multi-phase alternating currents. Lwaxana tries talking to Odo but he just states that he would "rather pass the time quietly." After a while, Lwaxana ends up talking nonstop anyway and something catches Odo's eye. Lwaxana asks what he's looking at, and Odo says, "Oh, nothing, I was just wondering how many volts are in that exposed circuit."

Poor, poor Odo.

Not an In Between Kind of Guy

I've always thought the friendship between Miles O'Brien and Julian Bashir was great. But it wasn't always that way. Initially, O'Brien hated Bashir, but the two kept ending up together and finally, in "Armageddon Game" (2x13), faced death together (which, according to Bashir, creates an unbreakable bond between two people).

In "Explorers" (3x22), Bashir gets anxious about meeting the woman who beat him and ranked top of the class at medical school (though I say he threw the final test to help hide his genetic status). Shortly after she arrives on the station, he sees her at Quark's walking toward him. So he stands up and smiles, and she walks right past him. He gets a little depressed and then he and O'Brien go get wasted and try to "rationalize" what happened. What happens next is just a fun scene between the two.

"And that is from the heart! I really do... not hate you anymore." Haha.

Because They Were Clean

I would have to say "Duet" (1x19) was the best episode of season one, and definitely one of the best episodes of the series.

According to the Companion Guide, this was what they referred to as a "bottle show", or a show produced with a low budget because they had already spent a lot of money for the season. There aren't a lot of special effects in this episode, but there is a lot of talk.

This scene gives me chills, but not so much when taken out of context like this. In the episode, a Cardassian is trying to make his people acknowledge their guilt over the occupation of Bajor by pretending to be the butcher of Gallitep, getting caught, bragging about everything that went on there, and then put on what would be a very public trial.

The episode did have its bad parts, though. A terrible actor playing a drunk Bajoran has a few lines, "Am I still drunk? Or am I in jail with a Cardassian?" Blah. But there is plenty of great exchange between Kira and Marritza that the bad parts hide in the shadows.

Death to the Opposition

This little clip, from "Take me Out to the Holosuite" (7x04), involves the crew of DS9 getting in to a baseball match against a crew of all Vulcans whose captain happens to be an old rival of Sisko's since the academy days. Since Sisko's specialty is baseball (and smashin' through Dominion ships), he's confident he can beat the Vulcans. At the start of the game, Sisko says, "All right, Niners, let's hear some chatter!" Worf's response is classic:

He loosens up a bit (for Worf) and lets the chatter fly: "Death to the opposition." Hahaha. OK, so non-Trekkie's may not laugh, but any Trekkie or Niner that knows Worf will.

Time to Be Honest

I'm reposting this here from an old blog since it's relevant here.

I can no longer lie to myself. I've been struggling with something for a long time, but I finally realized what I always suspected to be true, even though it's very difficult for me to admit, especially since I feel like I'm betraying my childhood. But I was young, and I couldn't fully understand some things, so it's understandable. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has officially replaced Star Trek: The Next Generation as my favorite Star Trek series.

DS9 is much more complex than TNG, and it feels more real, too. The characters have flaws, and DS9 goes where no Star Trek before it would go. It's darker, it deals with politics, the impact of war, death, religion, equal rights, racism, and much more. Episodes like "In the Pale Moonlight", "Duet", and "The Visitor" bring forth emotions that TNG never could. The more DS9 I watch, the more I find myself wanting to be like Benjamin Sisko with a little bit of Elim Garak thrown in. I can't recall ever really wanting to be like anyone in TNG.

Long live DS9.