The Siege of AR-558

DVD, DS9 S7 (The Siege of AR-558)

The brutal realities of war are the focus of this unique tale. It's as relevant today for it's reminder that the troops who go into battle against the enemy are real people, not just a load of names to be forgotten. The harsh conditions of physical, one-to-one warfare are brought home, but not just for the humans. This being 'DS9' we get the Ferengi perspective too. Quark ends up sounding like Neville Chamberlain. He's just an old-fashioned Ferengi and it's funny how so much social change happens around him, even to him, perhaps partly thanks to that little family of Quark, Rom and Nog all learning from the humans and other races they lived with.

Rom turns out to be a progressive member of the greed-loving race (though he only gets a cameo in this episode, alongside Vic), and Nog long ago chose to make history as the first Ferengi in Starfleet. Once again the unique qualities of his people prove useful, as he becomes the only 'sensor' to the sound of the Jem'Hadar approach. He is wholeheartedly a Starfleet officer, yet retains his Ferengi heritage, which is a positive message in itself! Quark is really just worried for his nephew's safety, which proves to be a fair concern when the young man loses his leg in a shock moment.

The series loves to stretch its characters, put them in new situations and this episode would score on both counts. About the only thing missing is Worf, to take on the Jem'Hadar, but 'DS9' isn't in the habit of too much repetition and we've already seen everyone's favourite Klingon take on the Gamma Quadrant warriors plenty of times. This was more about the faceless masses of Starfleet forces, the ones we hear about, on the front lines. In a way it is 'Star Trek's tribute to the real soldiers who have to do the dirty work. It proves that war is not all clean phaser disintegration and long-range torpedoes, even in the 24th Century.

The cave set just keeps on giving. It works as the rather fancy communications device (complete with Dominion shield ring as seen since the Jem'Hadar were introduced), which is the prize these people are holding, as well as the vantage point for Nog's reconnaissance. The colourful characters may be cliches of war film (the jittery one, the one that collects trophies of his kills, etc), but they aren't the kind of people we see in Trek very often, if at all. The waves of enemy attacking is well shot, but I was expecting the music to take over the sound, but it does actually still have the noise of battle. Still, they did that kind of thing very movingly before in 'Rocks and Shoals' so they obviously didn't want to be unoriginal. We see the futility and the purpose of war, all wrapped up in a bundle of nerves and redemption, courage and craziness. I don't think you could compare this episode to any other episode of any Trek.

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