Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — 6x14 — One Little Ship

Aired 1998-02-18

SpaceOpera.com rating:9

Average reader rating:7.15

Synopsis

In order to investigate a rare subspace phenomenon, Dax, O'Brien, and Bashir board the Runabout, U.S.S. Rubicon, that is shrunken to four inches long.

Filler rating: good filler

There is nothing significant here from a continuity standpoint. But I strongly recommend watching the episode anyway simply due to how hysterically entertaining it is.

Remarkable scenes

The Defiant being taken over by the Jem'Hadar.
The revelation that the Rubicon is still small. I like the panning shot outside the Rubicon and the Defiant.
O'Brien suggesting that they take the Rubicon inside the Defiant. Dax' reaction: "I love it. Let's go."
Dax and O'Brien navigating the impulse exhaust tubes to board the Defiant.
Dax and O'Brien analyzing Sisko's escape plan.
Dax flying through the ship stealthily.
Little O'Brien and little Bashir bypassing huge circuits in the Defiant's computer.
The little Rubicon firing on Jem'Hadar.
Odo and Quark picking on Bashir and O'Brien, making them think they're shorter than they actually are by standing on things to make them taller.
Morn Appearances; 1. Listens to O'Brien and Bashir tell their story.

Review

An interesting episode. It justifies the shrinking by claiming that the space between their atomic structure is actually decreasing. I was equally impressed with Bashir's claim that the oxygen molecules outside would be too large for a one centimeter man to breathe. So this episode is in the tradition of TAS: The Terratin Incident in more ways that one. First, we have crew shrinkage, and second, we have exceptionally good science for it which is very pleasing. The rivalry between the gamma quadrant and alpha quadrant Jem'Hadar was not pleasing though. I found it all quite annoying. But it was a necessary plot device to create a way for Sisko and crew to escape with the Defiant. In the end, it does little to spoil the awesome ride. This episode takes full advantage of the visual effects that Star Trek is now capable of and features several very impressive external shots of the Rubicon, the Defiant, and the Rubicon within the Defiant. Another fantastic showing for a great season.

2 reader comments

This episode has the classic shrinking problem shared with Honey I Shrunk The Kids and Inner Space. If you simply remove some of the empty space between atoms to decrease volume, the mass will remain the same and the density will increase. So even though the runabout is six inches long, it weighs the same as a normal sized runabout. O'Brien and Bashir walking around in the circuitry would have destroyed it, ramming the control panel would have destroyed it, and there would have been no need to fire torpedos at the Jem'Hadar - ramming them alone would have been more than sufficient.
This leads to all kinds of physics abuses, like building a excessively large ship, shrinking it to normal size, and noticing that the ablative armor is almost completely immune to conventional weaponry due to sheer density…
by GDorn | 10/16/2011 at 11:53 pm

Even with the point about increased density, I think Dax would've found firing a torpedo at the Jem'Hadar far less risky than ramming into him. It seems like having the Rubicon ram its way out of the plasma vent when they first entered the engine room was tricky enough.
I also don't know that O'Brien and Bashir simply walking around the circuit would've destroyed it, but the mass/volume/density relationship would've probably allowed them to much more easily lift everything. That's hard to show on TV, however. I agree with the original review that getting the air molecule thing right is pretty impressive.
Anyway, I enjoyed this one. It had some good action and an interesting story. I also prefer the episodes of DS9 where the Jem'Hadar are shown to be more than mindless hordes of soldiers.
by Mike L. Jackson | 10/28/2016 at 6:21 pm