DS9 – One Little Ship

Plot – Sisko basically admits in the pre-titles sequence that this is going to be a break from the Dominion war arc and your regular Star Trek weird science episode instead. Unfortunately, the Jem H’adar have other things in mind and decide to crash the party anyway, and high jinks ensue. The look on Sisko’s face when they attack is pure ‘why won’t you fuckers just let us have a normal Star Trek episode!’

Character – ‘I do not see what is so humorous about being small’ ‘Neither do I’ Poor Nog, subject to tiny man jokes.

‘Is it my imagination or did the kid just cover for him?’

‘Are you telling me I’m going to be this bloody tall for the rest of my life?’ – I could quote dialogue from this episode until the cows come home.

Shrinking a runabout to the size of a coffee cup is one thing, but as I seem to keep saying the characters on this show are so well defined by this point that there are gorgeous little moments between them all throughout. Especially the three stuck on the runabout, the dialogue between them is packed with gems (‘Oh I’m sorry, that was very small of me.’). The final exchange between Odo and Quark is beautifully done. It’s sparkling moments like that that really sell this show.

What a well-oiled machine the DS9 crew is by now. Watch as Dax explains what everybody is doing to fool the Jem H’adar and how they can help. Everybody is running rings around them and there is no need for anyone to explain to anyone else what they need to be doing. They just know.

Production – How cute are all of the scenes featuring the little runabout? It’s a shame that they couldn’t utilise this somehow in the future because this would be a brilliant surveillance tool. Regardless, the shots of the tiny ship nudging out of conduits and sneaking around rooms made me want to reach into the screen and stroke it like a dog. They save the best for last however with the absurd but quite brilliant sequence of the runabout flying at a Jem H’adar and letting rip a tiny torpedo right in his chest!

The giant isolinear rod set is impressive to behold, but is perhaps about as imaginative as Star Trek is prepared to go in a Fantastic Voyage homage. I used to this that this was a lack of creativity but in Star Trek terms this is the equivalent of being inside the belly of the beast.

Best moment – I love the fact that Kira bursts into laughter at the absurdity of the premise about five seconds into the episode, and Sisko joins her. Everybody knows this is just about the most ridiculous idea DS9 could be playing about with right now (except perhaps Quark turning into a woman) and everybody is going to make it as fun as possible.

I wish they hadn’t done that – The factions of Jem H’adar warring with each other. This is a race that has always been defined by their loyalty to the Founders and their hatred of the Vorta who feed their addiction of white. There has never (well, rarely) been dissention in the ranks. They have always been a powerful unit, a frightening fighting force. But here they are portrayed as a bunch of bitchy, sniping cheerleaders who are all about one-upmanship and proving they are the better fighter. It’s an odd take, and one that could only work within the confines of this episode where we need the Jem H’adar to be stupid enough to be defeated by a tiny runabout. It’s an anomaly because I like how the crew get the better of them and how Sisko uses their tension to his advantage but for one episode only it does weaken the Jem H’adar’s image. They don’t really regain that strength until Valiant where they murder a whole bunch of irritating cadets and The Siege of AR-558 where they are a truly formidable force again.

What does work, however, is the instincts of the Gammas who have the wisdom and knowledge of ‘age’ to be able to tell that Sisko is up to no good. Whereas the arrogant, prideful Alphas think they are too shrewd to be tricked. The arrogance of youth.

A reason to watch this episode again – This is a hybrid between one of those really goofy TOS episodes and a truly hard-hitting episode of DS9. Pulling between the two shouldn’t work but somewhere along the line the writers and actors decided to go for the fun jugular and the result is a really entertaining piece. Or put it another way this is essentially a Voyager episode with the added benefit of the DS9 crew and the Dominion influence. Whatever, it is an enjoyable ride with a truly daft premise and a delightful action scene where the tiny runabout starts letting off mini torpedoes into the chest of a Jem H’adar.

**** out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode: