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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reviews — season 4

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 4x08 — Little Green Men

Synopsis

A mishap sends Quark, Rom, and Nog back in time to Earth of 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, where military forces mistake them for alien invaders.

Filler rating: not filler

Nog formally enters Starfleet Academy in this episode.

Remarkable scenes

  • Worf's behavior at Nog's going away party. I especially like his interest in the tooth sharpener.
  • Nog: "But think about it uncle. That means they went from being savages with a simple barter system to leaders of a vast inter stellar federation in only 5,000 years! It took us twice as long to establish the Ferengi Alliance and we had to buy warp technology from the-" Quark, interrupting: "5,000, 10,000, what's the difference? The speed of technological advancement isn't nearly as important as short term quarterly gains."
  • Nog asking Rom why the Gabriel Bell photo from Earth looks like Sisko. A very nice reference to DS9: Past Tense. I like Quark's response: "All hew-mons look alike."
  • The scene where Quark, Nog, and Rom are discussing the "Divine Treasury" and the "Vault of Eternal Destitution." Perfect heaven and hell for Ferengi. :)
  • The universal translator failure and the resulting head banging.
  • The general calling Quark a bad car salesman. :)
  • Quark calling the general an Australian.
  • Quark's "free advice" telling the general that his people should stop poisoning their bodies with tobacco and atom bombs.
  • Quark: "My people have been watching your world for years. We know all about you. Baseball. Root beer. Darts. Atom bombs."
  • Nog having Nurse Garland give him oomax.
  • Odo's appearance.
  • The interrogation.
  • Morn Appearances; 1. In the first scene when Nog is selling his possessions. 2. Quark leaves the bar in his hand before his trip to Earth.
  • Rules of Acquisition; 203. New customers are like razor-toothed greeworms. They can be succulent, but sometimes they bite back.

Review

Quark's procured a ship of his own. Scary. Thankfully he loses it in this episode. We don't need Quark running around with a ship, now do we? ;) This episode is an instant classic and is probably the best humor episode so far, maybe one of the best humor episodes Star Trek has ever done. So many things about this episode were done just right. The reference to the Roswell alien weather balloon fiasco was great. The Ferengi are our crashed aliens! The universal translator failure and the resulting headbanging is a fantastic scene, but my favorite detail of this episode was incessant smoking and Quark's reaction to it. Indeed, Quark puts on the best performance in this episode. I love his constant disgust with 1940s Earth. Nurse Garland was pretty cool too, with her overly accurate dreamy "the future will be so amazing" type lines. Overall, a fantastic episode.