Day 52: DS9, Civil Defense

Show: Star Trek; Deep Space Nine

Episode Particulars: S3EP7, “Civil Defense”

 Summary: While Jake and O’Brien are purging Cardassian files from the ore processing section of the station, they run into an odd program that refuses to be deleted. When O’Brien starts technobabbling at it, it triggers a security defense system implemented in case the Bajoran workers started a revolt, trapping Jake, O’Brien, and Sisko (who had come to check on them) in the processing plant. Further attempts to shut things down wind up increasing the security threat, locking most of the crew in Ops (except for Quark and Odo, who get stuck in the security office) and leading to more and more life-threatening situations. Even the assistance of Garak (and eventually Gul Dukat himself) isn’t enough to fix the problem. But despite the mounting disaster, everybody stays relatively calm, suggesting that they’ll find a way to make it through this. Somehow.

Standalone Thoughts: The thought that kept running through my head while watching this episode was “MacGyver in space”. I’ve never actually seen an episode of MacGyver, but its reputation for improvising solutions on the fly is part of pop culture, and there’s a lot of that on display in this episode. Sure, a lot of it comes in the form of technobabble, but it’s tempered by explanations in layman’s terms so we can follow what’s going on. Therefore, as a result of being able to understand both the problem and the various solutions put forward (plus some factors I’ll discuss below), the episode’s a lot of fun.

This could be seen as a problem, because the entertainment factor might get in the way of feeling like the characters are in any real danger. I don’t think the danger was the point, though; after all, we’re never really worried when characters get grievously injured in other episodes. I think the point was to show the crew’s ingenuity, so it’s more about the characters than the actual situation. Plus it’s not like the characters aren’t reacting to the increasing threat of death, so just sit back and enjoy the characters bouncing off each other.

And oh boy, do they bounce off each other. You’ve got Jake, Sisko, and O’Brien mostly being serious, Odo and Quark mostly being comedic, and then everybody else in Ops doing a mixture of both. A lot of this is aided and abetted by Garak and Dukat, who may bring out the worst in each other but can lead to some great interactions or lines when paired with others. I think the scenes with them are probably the best parts of the episode, managing to be both serious and humorous at the same time thanks to the way the lines are delivered. To make another pop culture comparison, this episode is like a James Bond movie; action with humor mixed in, or a fun romp that’s here to entertain. From my point of view, they succeeded admirably.

How it Relates to the Whole: There’s not a lot of follow up from this, but we do get the first indication that Dukat is attracted to Kira, which is going to become a running theme for a while. Slim pickings, but this episode’s got more than enough to make up for that.

Other: *Nitpickers will probably have a field day with the inaccurate countdowns in this episode, but as I’ve said before, I generally don’t go in for that. I will, however, mention one of them because it amuses me. Right as everything starts to go wrong, the computer warns O’Brien that he has five seconds to input the right code. However, it takes the computer four seconds to say this. If you want to argue that those five seconds starts after it stops speaking, you might be backed up by that (the doors start closing at the six second mark), but in practice, that means that you get nine seconds, not five. Something about this just strikes me as inefficient.

*Bashir is just randomly hanging out in Ops again. It makes a certain amount of sense from a story perspective (though he doesn’t actually do much besides help press buttons, pull levers, and treat a grand total of one injury), but there’s no reason for him to be there in the first place, unless Sisko had scheduled a staff meeting right after he went to check on Jake and O’Brien. You’ve been willing to leave characters out of episodes before; much as it pains me to say it, maybe you should have this time too.

*If there’s one downside to an episode like this, it’s that there will be moments when the audience comes up with solutions that aren’t even considered by the script. For example, Garak, being a Cardassian, can negate the forcefields around the doors, but only for as long as it takes him to step through the door. My immediate thought; why doesn’t he stand with one foot on either side of the door? Maybe that way, people can move past him and get out. Later, the Ops crew is trying to figure out how to get control of the computer, and I wondered if there was some way they could activate that “pet” computer program from “The Forsaken” to help them out. Neither of these options is ever mentioned. I guess I can’t blame the script—what we actually get is great—but they do feel somewhat like missed opportunities.

Best Line/Exchange: There are a lot of fun exchanges in this episode, so it’s hard to pick one. Therefore, when in doubt, go with Garak;

Dukat: I set up this program, and I assure you, Major, I will find a way to defeat it. There is no dilemma that cannot be solved by a disciplined Cardassian mind.

Garak: It’s not going to work, you know.

Dukat: What are you babbling on about now?

Garak: I’m talking about Major Kira.

Kira: What about her?

Garak: She’s much too busy trying to save this station to be impressed with your incessant posturing.

Dukat (indignant): Garak!

Garak: And even if she weren’t, she has much better taste than to be attracted to you. (Kira straightens up in disgust while Dukat stares at her) You, a married man!

Dukat (pointing at Garak angrily): I should have executed you years ago.

Garak: Oh you tried, remember?

Let’s see…some setup for the later Dukat/Kira interactions, more hints of Garak’s backstory, a mixture of humor and darkness, and great performances by Alaimo and Robinson. Yep, we have a winner.