Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 1x14 — The Storyteller

Aired 1993-05-02

SpaceOpera.com rating:2

Average reader rating:3.92

Synopsis

Against his will, O'Brien becomes spiritual leader of a Bajoran village and the only one who can save them from a destructive energy force.

Filler rating: bad filler

There's no essential plot or exposition in this episode that renders it unskippable and while the story has a few charming moments, it's mostly terrible.

Remarkable scenes

O'Brien trying to avoid Bashir in the teaser.
Bashir trying to be friendly with O'Brien.
Quark offending yet another woman.
Odo taking pleasure in ordering the kids to stop dangling over the Promenade.
Rules of Acquisition; 9. Opportunity + Instinct = Profit!
Morn Appearances; 1. Quark is talking to him as Kira enters his bar. 2. Crosses the Promenade with a jumja stick, as Jake and Nog walk by.

Review

Another weak DS9 episode. The only thing I like about it is the interplay between Bashir and O'Brien. The major problem with this episode is the sheer ridiculousness of a single village of Bajorans who must fight off a monster every so often. The idea that it was needed to create unity at one time is convincing, but the idea that it must be done routinely to maintain unity is just lunacy.

3 reader comments

Two moments of sheer genius in this episode, otherwise it is atrocious.
The first is Nog's practical joke involving the bucket…
The second is the knife fight involving Bashir, O'Brien and the bajoran! Watch it again, it's like something from Naked Gun!
What I love about the relationship between Bashir and O'Brien at this point in the series is that they are written to be idiots. O'Brien is outrageously rude to Bashir in this episode whilst Bashir is so self important up to this point. That's where DS9 is such an improvement on TNG, the characters are flawed and therefore seem more real and you can relate to them.
by Bernard | 12/03/2009 at 10:28 pm

One question kept nagging at me the whole time I was watching this episode: How can the Bajorans possibly have a 10,000-year-old, warp-capable civilization when their people are this stupid?
Sadly, we will see numerous other instances of stupid, easily-led Bajorans throughout the series, so this aspect of the show never really improves.
by John DC | 12/06/2011 at 2:26 pm

This one was pretty absurd. The idea of inventing a monster to fight every so often - which only one person knows is not actually a real monster - in order to bring people together is …. questionable. If nothing else, surely the townspeople would figure out it was all a hoax at some point??
by Abigail Chappell | 08/29/2019 at 10:27 pm