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Star Trek DS9 - Season 1 - Episode 05

Star Trek DS9 - 1x05 - Babel

Originally Aired: 1993-1-24

Synopsis:
A mysterious epidemic sweeps over Deep Space Nine, and Kira must find an antidote. [DVD]

My Rating - 6

Fan Rating Average - 4.32

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 42 1 6 4 13 16 31 19 12 6 4

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
- Quark mentions that the Ferengi immune system is stronger than most humanoids.
- Odo mentions the station was built 18 years before this episode.

Remarkable Scenes
- The chief's bad day; feeling overwhelmed by people's demands.
- Sisko: "Chief! I thought you were going to fix the replicator!" O'Brien: "You're absolutely right sir, I knew I'd forgotten something. Can't have the operations chief sitting around daydreaming when there's work to be done, can we? Hohohoho... I'll get right on it!"
- Odo picking on Quark.
- O'Brien starting to talk funny.
- Dax: "I'd forgotten what it was like." Kira: "What what was like." Dax: "Being female. I haven't been one in over 80 years."
- O'Brien speaking jibberish.
- Dax talking jibberish.
- Random crewmembers speaking jibberish.
- Odo discovering Quark was making unauthorized use of crew quarters replicators. Quark: "How did did you figure it out?" Odo: "You claimed Rom fixed your replicator. Rom's an idiot. He couldn't fix a straw if it were bent." Completely untrue, as we later learn Rom is somewhat autistic. But Odo's hunch had merit.
- Jake talking jibberish.
- Bashir succumbing to the disease.
- Kira kidnapping the good doctor and infecting him.
- Sisko talking jibberish.
- Quark coming to Odo's aid and teasing him.
- Sisko's coffee in the end burning him again.
- Morn appearances; 1. In Quark's Bar when Quark talks to Dax and Kira; 2. in Quark's Bar when Odo goes in to ask Quark about the the quarantine.

My Review
While a fatal-virus-infects-the-crew episode seems a bit abrupt this early in the show, it nevertheless makes for some entertaining viewing. Everybody speaking jibberiish is great. See if you can repeat a few of those lines to some of your friends mid conversation, it will get you some funny looks. Horseback green undertow in the backwater. Sun rising crest between two ducks. Appalling nature exacts vast insurgency. Oh what fun. Who doesn't like a good word salad?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Bernard on 2009-11-20 at 8:53pm:
    I thought this was a fairly drab outing, with a quick fix ending. Lots of cliches and a very poor effort at injecting the suspense needed toward the end of the episode in the shape of the captain trying to escape the station.

    Chances at character development largely missed out on because they were talking jibberish!

    On the bright side, it's watchable and it's not the worst outing of the season....
  • From AW on 2015-11-26 at 2:55am:
    You have to consider the scene in which - Sisko tells Odo "There's no hurry" and then Odo proceeds to walk super casually to the turbo lift - a remarkable scene.

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