Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 5x02 — The Ship

Aired 1996-10-07

SpaceOpera.com rating:8

Average reader rating:6.06

Synopsis

While exploring a Gamma Quadrant world, Sisko, Dax, Worf, O'Brien, and Muniz -- one of O'Brien's men -- watch as a Jem'Hadar warship crashes into the planet's surface.

Filler rating: not filler

Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.

Remarkable scenes

The crew all baffled at the technology and layout on the Jem'Hadar ship.
The Vorta commander contacting Sisko and their subsequent first in-person meeting.
Worf and O'Brien arguing about how everyone is treating injured Muniz.
Jadzia, speculating what the Vorta is looking for aboard the ship: "Maybe she lost an earring."
Worf: "Commander." Dax: "What is it?" Worf: "It may have been the Vorta's computer console. I found it in one of the upper compartments. But the power grid is offline in that part of the ship." Dax: "So you ripped it out of the wall. Very nice! So what do we do with it now, use it for a doorstop?"
The Vorta and Sisko's meeting again after the founder died.
Worf and O'Brien honoring Muniz together in the end.

Review

A Jem'Hadar ship crashes before Sisko's eyes. A fantastic opportunity to explore the Dominion from within; used well in this episode. Muniz was a great temporary character; I really loved his interactions with O'Brien. He does, of course, suffer from redshirt syndrome, but the coolness of the episode kind of offsets that. The female Vorta is a very cool character, I absolutely loved her. I wish we could have seen more of her. The sad ending is nicely done; the two sides have become so distrusting of one another that cooperating is now impossible. Episodes like DS9: To The Death will apparently never happen again. Sad, but also very cool, Starfleet has scored a Jem'Hadar warship! Awesome!

4 reader comments

cool episode to watch, but what about the final revelation, a shapeshifter, just sitting there waiting to die? No attempt to shapeshift his way outta there, as an insect, or an impersonation? or at least fight?
by onlinebroker | 11/10/2009 at 4:55 am

On a first watching, this episode is brilliant. The trouble comes when you watch it again.
Why did the Jem'Hadar not beam around as they have done in previous episodes? Why did the Founder not attack from within?
The ending is very good, and managed to offset Worf being a bit of an insensitive idiot during the main plot - he MUST have been more sensitive towards humans after his spell on the Enterprise, surely?
All in all I give it an 8.
by Rob Herbert | 07/31/2010 at 11:17 pm

In my opinion, this is one of the better DS9 episodes. First, it has a twist that is hard to spot. Everything leads you to believe the Dominion wants this ship back because of something about the ship itself: some new piece of equipment, or perhaps some kind of special cargo. The female Vorta gives no real clues about why they want the ship back, and you can only sense the frustration of the DS9 crew trying to find the "item" having absolutely no clue what to look for.
The character interactions are well written and well acted. O'Brien and Muniz, of course…the good-natured ribbing, the camaraderie, all of it is very pleasant to watch. For having never seen Muniz before, I was very convinced that he and O'Brien were good friends with great respect for each other. The interactions between Sisko and the female Vorta…they show the essence of diplomacy: trying to get something you want without giving up too much or revealing too much to the other side. And I loved the moment when Sisko lays it down to his crew, telling O'Brien and Worf to quit their fighting and putting a lid on Dax's unhelpful wisecracks. That was a great moment because it was one of the few times when it seemed Dax's "special friendship" with Sisko did not make him/her exempt from the chain of command or Starfleet duty. The interaction between O'Brien and Worf: true, Worf's insensitivity was a little hard to swallow, but I wasn't too bothered by it since it was believable. But their conflicting views on Muniz, and especially their bonding at the end as they "guard" his body, were a nice dimension.
Initially, I was a bit perplexed about the crew's ability to get past the death of the runabout crew and the science officer who beamed down with them, but all of this is resolved at the end when Sisko is clearly shaken to the core by all the deaths on this mission. Avery Brooks did awesome here; the emotion in his voice was very convincing.
The "bombardment" of the surface by the Jem'Hadar, and its shaking up of the crew, was interesting. Shell shock is very real, and the fraying of nerves that accompanies random, continuous, and extremely loud and shaky bombing was a nice battle fatigue element that is typically missing from Star Trek fight scenes.
Overall, a favorite of mine.
by MJ | 01/21/2011 at 7:53 pm

I found that this episode really strained my suspension of disbelief, trying to make myself believe that the Jem’Hadar, with all their warrior training and superior technology, were unable to come up with any effective attack plan at all to handle the tiny handful of humans and just chose to let the changeling die. If I get past this, though, I thought it was a decent episode, with a good sense of being under siege, and a good twist ending to the mystery.
by Christopher Alexander | 11/24/2020 at 5:54 am