DS9 Flashback: The Ship

Because Star Trek: Deep Space Nine made more episodes per season than the typical show (even more than broadcast networks), its 100th episode -- a landmark for a long-running show -- fell at an odd time: the second episode of season five. With the premiere just aired, and a big episode just around the corner to celebrate Star Trek's 30th anniversary, "The Ship" was essentially "just another episode."

Our heroes are exploring a planet in the Gamma Quadrant when a Jem'Hadar warship crashes nearby. They're on the scene immediately, hoping to salvage the ship for the secrets it might reveal about the Dominion. But soon more Jem'Hadar arrive, destroying the orbiting runabout and pinning down the handful of survivors inside the very ship they'd hoped to salvage. Can they hold out long enough for the Defiant to come to their rescue? And what secret about this particular ship is the Vorta Kilana hiding from Sisko?

You might expect Deep Space Nine to save money here following the season premiere, but "The Ship" puts a lot of production value on the screen. There's a variety of alien makeups from Vorta to Jem'Hadar to alien Starfleet officers. Many scenes are filmed outdoors, at a location that reportedly got to a stifling 100+ degrees every day. There are also a number of new sets, as this is the first time we ever see the interior of a Jem'Hadar ship. It's a clever and different environment without chairs or a viewscreen -- and with the added twist that it's all upside down. Consoles and corpses hang like stalactites, as light shines up from the floor to cast horror movie shadows on our heroes.

Horror movies also feel like the touchstone in an extended early sequence without dialogue as they first board the ship. But then the vibe gives way to submarine film, as the survivors take shelter inside the ship and get "depth charged" by the enemy. Dutch angles and moody closeups throughout the episode connect the two tones.

But the real meat of the episode is character drama. A recurring minor character, Muniz, is seriously wounded in the initial Jem'Hadar attack. In a neat trick, we're made to care about the demise of one of Star Trek's "redshirts." This is achieved largely through the conflict his death creates between O'Brien, arguing for hope, and Worf, who argues for realism. Strictly speaking, this sort of interpersonal conflict between 24th-century Starfleet characters was a no-no in Gene Roddenberry's book, but I think this episode makes a good case for breaking that rule. The deep personal investment of our main characters, informed by their different cultural backgrounds, makes for solid drama. Dax tries to mediate, and Sisko has to lay down the law to all of them.

The strongest scenes conclude the episode, as Dax and Sisko talk about the cost in lives to capture this enemy ship -- and how, sadly, it's worth it. It's a scene that plays notably without music, and effectively makes the point that redshirts are people too. It's followed up with a great reconciliation between Worf and O'Brien, effective even if Worf's attitudes toward the dead don't quite seem to fit with Klingon customs established in previous Star Trek.

Behind the scenes, though, the writers felt this episode didn't push far enough. Show runner Ira Steven Behr felt they didn't capture enough of "the Alamo thing," the hopelessness in the face of overwhelming odds. Staff writer Hans Beimler felt in retrospect that they relieved too much tension to let Sisko out of the ship for negotiations with the other side. I think they're shortchanging the elements that work... perhaps because some of their original plans were thwarted before the cameras ever rolled.

The original concept for this episode was to bring back the one female Vorta shown previous to this: Eris, the first Vorta we ever met. When actress Molly Hagan was (for the second time!) unavailable to reprise the character, they created this new one, Kilana, in a similar con game image. She lies about this being her first mission, affecting a somewhat flirtatious, somewhat naive demeanor to try to disarm Sisko. It sounds intriguing on paper, but isn't as indelible as the slick polish Jeffrey Combs put on Weyoun. Eventually, they'd quit trying to make the next Weyoun happen, and bring back the original. (Well, a clone. Not the original. But anyway...)

Other observations:

• Of course, the Defiant needs to not be on scene at the beginning of the episode to make any of the story work. Still... why are they exploring enemy space in a runabout?

• As Muniz deteriorates and approaches death, he begins to speak in his native Spanish. With a sense of drama, the universal translator helpfully does not translate it.

• As cool as the location filming is, the piece of the crashed Jem'Hadar ship we see sticking out of the rock face doesn't actually look anything like the ship we see being towed by the Defiant at the end of the episode.

Perhaps the writers are correct, and this episode might have been better still. But it's pretty good as is. I give "The Ship" a B+.