Star Trek DS9 - Season 1 - Episode 06
Star Trek DS9 - 1x06 - Captive Pursuit
Originally Aired: 1993-1-31
Synopsis:
Through a new friendship with a bizarre alien, O'Brien and the rest of the officers of Deep Space Nine learn that other beings do not respect life as much as they do. [DVD]
Filler Quotient:
2, filler, but an enjoyable episode nevertheless. You can skip this one, but you'd miss out on some fun.
- There's no essential plot or exposition in this episode that renders it unskippable, but it's a decent episode, even though it could have been better.
Problems
None
Factoids
- The "Ferengi Print" at the beginning of this episode is a nod to the Earthly expression "Fine Print" with regards to contracts.
Remarkable Scenes
- Sisko discussing Miss Sadra's grievance with her.
- Tosk's funny accent and behavior.
- Odo refusing to use a phaser.
- Tosk to Quark: "I live the greatest adventure one could ever desire."
- The hunter's opening lines belittling Tosk.
- Tosk to O'Brien: "I am Tosk. The hunted. I live to outwit the hunters for another day. To survive until I die with honor."
- Quark to O'Brien: "More trouble with the little woman?" A reference to DS9: A Man Alone when Quark overheard his conversation with Keiko.
- O'Brien regarding the hunter: "Glass jaw. Now I know why you wear a helment."
- Sisko "officially" chastising O'Brien for his conduct, but secretly admiring him.
- Morn appearances; 1. Quark's Bar as O'Brien and Tosk stop at the entrance; 2. Quark's Bar, can be seen in the background with his back to the camera when Quark tries to cheer up O'Brien.
My Review
Our first look at life on the other side of the wormhole depicts a xenophobic and arrogant gamma quadrant. Some highlights: Odo's handling of Tosk's minor crime aboard the station was great. Odo isn't always the "ill tempered old crosspatch" Quark would have us believe. More interesting is O'Brien's role in the story. First O'Brien makes friends with Tosk, then he tries stick up for Tosk to Sisko, then he feels responsible for him, then he helps him escape. Notable as well is Sisko's subtle hint to O'Brien that he completely respects the judgment call he made, even though he officially chewed him out. Finally, Tosk himself was a great character who was played wonderfully by the actor. The accent was especially pleasing.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
While I like the idea of the hunt, I don't like the hunter aliens. I find it hard to believe that Sisko would tolerate them tearing up his station in pursuit of their quarry.
What I do like about this episode is O'brien's growing dislike for Bashir. Notice how he completely cuts off Julian's speech in Ops? DS9 is better at continuing character development and plot threads in filler episodes and alien-of-the-week episodes than TNG ever was, and that's one of it's strengths.
The review above wondered whether these races are part of the Dominion. Tosk certainly is reminiscent of the Jem Hadar to come....
Strongest episode since the pilot. Tosk is magnificently portrayed too aswell as providing a good outing for the Chief.
I love the way Sisko reacts to O'Brien's subterfuge, gives him a blasting but he agrees with him.
Sounds like I'm copying the review above ... but I found it to be spot on. Solid 6.
Additional factoids:
At the time of this episode, about 300 people live on Deep Space 9.
At this point in time, DS9 has traffic of about 5 or 6 ships per week.
Man, those universal translators are magic! First contact with a brand new species, and they understand and are understood completely!