One of the best decisions ever made in all of Trek was Worf's addition to the station crew. It wasn't a well-kept secret, but the character had such power that it worked and still does, regardless of foreknowledge. The set-up throughout the episode, if you didn't know better, makes Worf appear to be just passing through, a drifter who's 'wagon train' (the Enterprise) has been wrecked and he's looking for purpose and direction. At the same time the 'frontier town' of DS9 has suddenly developed a need for a 'half-Indian' to mix with the 'Indians' (the Klingons) who are on the warpath. Maybe I'm using too much of a western analogy, but it works. And so did Worf's introduction. The writers may have groused a bit about the studio dictating a change in direction for the series, away from build-up of the Dominion's interest in the Alpha Quadrant, but far from harming the series it gave it an exciting detour that made us relish the Klingons and their friendship even more once things had gone back to a semblance of normality. This diversion may have helped the series last an extra year as it forced the arc to be looked at differently and deferred the inevitable war by a season. If the Klingon sidestep had never happened I wonder if overt aggression with the Dominion would have panned out more quickly and the story might have been over by Season 6?
Speculate all you want! But don't stand between me and the story! Okay, wrong season opener, but you get the idea. If you think about it, Worf was the best choice of a character that could and should continue. Who didn't like his Spock-ian position of a man caught between duties to two cultures. More to the point, I can't really see Geordi or Deanna moving over to 'DS9,' and Data just wouldn't fit in. Any of the cast might have made the leap (barring Picard and Riker of course, there'd be no need for a captain or first officer), but Worf was the only realistic choice. The actor had already linked into 'TOS' continuity playing Worf's Grandad in 'Star Trek VI' so it wasn't unprecedented for him to cross over. He had become one of the iconic characters and he was afforded an importance to this story worthy of him, so it's no wonder Michael Dorn signed on the dotted forehead for another few years.
The first change apparent in the episode is Sisko's bald head. A seemingly small alteration, it was to relax and unleash Avery Brooks' already powerful presence in the season, though he stays pretty much the same character in this episode. The same goes for Kira's uniform. Although in the cast publicity photos she's wearing her new, sleeker suit, in this episode she continued to wear the old 'shoulder-pad' design, which looks a little odd with her new, less militaristic hairstyle. The episode was certainly one of transition, beyond the normal returning to duty of the cast and crew, perhaps most visibly represented by Worf's uniform: throughout, he wears the 'TNG' design, and only at the end does he don the 'DS9' version with his role changed to the command track as Strategic Operations Officer. Shades of the Navarch (see 'The Homecoming')? Not really, because whatever made up title they've given him it's with the express purpose of keeping him on side in Starfleet as an expert on Klingons, and with his contacts he's invaluable to what could turn into a war effort.
The opening scenes of a simulated changeling attack were a great kick off, immediately addressing the ending of last season, while the episode as a whole has little to do with the Founders themselves, their influence felt only in Klingon paranoia and their insistence the new Cardassian government is a changeling takeover. It's ironic that the dissident movement's success should have led to such a negative result for their race as their goal was a more peaceful Cardassia. One man who refuses to see events as a defeat, a character trait that would become all to apparent as time wore on, is Dukat, who seizes the opportunity to switch sides. Regardless of his selfish motives he remains a good soldier, almost a hero (no doubt due to the way Marc Alaimo played him), proving his dedication by the risks he takes to ensure the Detapa Council's safety, even defending them personally from Klingon blades. His U-turn from the dastardly Dukat capped a steady growth towards sympathy for the character, perhaps beginning with his assistance (though forced) in 'Civil Defence,' to his understanding with Sisko over their commonalities of having children in 'Defiant.' No one could have predicted the twists and turns his complicated persona would take…
Much of the episode is a slow building of tensions, and because it has the luxury of the timespan of two episodes (every season should start with a feature-length episode!), it allows for so many enjoyable scenes between characters, whether relaxing, investigating or preparing for battle. Garak's presence is very welcome and it's nice to see some follow-up to his and Odo's experiences together last season, sharing a meal at the Replimat. In the background we get Morn being stopped by Drex and his cronies and it sounds like the Klingon names Morn's species, saying something like "I haven't seen a Gyjarute so far from the Hyundite Nebula," it clearly wasn't 'Lurian,' but it may have been a Klingon word. Drex' position as son of Martok, who at this stage is an unknown Klingon general is fascinating when you realise his Dad was a changeling at this point. As far as we know he doesn't notice anything strange so Drex may also have been a changeling - maybe he should have bounced when Worf biffed him! Even though he's not really anyone special at this point, there's still something about Martok, with a scar on his left cheek and his proud cragginess, that makes you want to see him again.
If you want Klingons you couldn't look much further than this one for a range of the warrior race. On top of Martok and bullying son Drex, there's Commander Kaybok, the most Musketeer-like example I've ever seen - I half expected him to call Sisko 'Richelieu.' Then there's Worf's old family friend Huraga, a scraggly old space dog, and we have the return of Gowron to the series (a shame he didn't pop into the bar to say hello to 'Quirk'), his wide, staring eyes, wider and starier than ever and his toothy smile a harbinger of doom for Worf: it's basically back to square one as everything he had returned to him for helping Gowron get into power on 'TNG' is stripped away. Whenever the Starfleet man has dealings with the duplicitous leader he always comes off badly, even when helping him. I think that's because Gowron's concept of honour is quite different to Worf's, who has a purity of vision that ambitious warriors like Gowron consider naive. They're willing to bend the rules to grasp power, whereas Worf walks a lonelier, but nobler path with only himself to satisfy (a bit like Gregory Peck's character in 'The Big Country'). Once you get to know him you realise what measure of a man he is, but until then he comes across as gruff and conflicted.
This is how Odo finds him after Worf has learned the truth about the Klingon's plans. Their characters share marked similarities (in some ways, Garak can be counted in that, too - he's a patriot, but in someone else's backyard), both opposed to niceties with strong devotion to the cause of right. Plus they don't make friends easily. Odo sees Worf's problem and wants him to reach the right decision quickly. Worf assumes Odo's being friendly and bridles at his observations and Odo hits back - he's not interested in Worf, just the information, setting up some antagonism between them (that actually went somewhere, unlike Chakotay and Tuvok's, which didn't), that was already likely since they've both served in the same role of security, and Odo never accepts Starfleet trying to influence his job because it shows they don't trust him completely, and he could see Worf as another Federation 'solution.' It's only Sisko's trust in Odo that's kept him in the job, something that played out over the first three years. Eddington, another character in that mould, wasn't played as much as the thorn in the Constable's side as I thought he was, featuring very sporadically.
It's fascinating to see Worf's early interactions with the established characters. One that was always going to connect with him was Dax as she has links to the Klingons and prior to Worf's arrival was the strongest source of stories with the warrior race. Every interaction with Worf is great fun, smiling at him over the embarrassment of Kira when Worf meets her for the first time and she's wearing a holosuite costume, then showing her understanding for how he feels by approaching him in the holosuite to give him something to blow off steam against. Dax is a great fighter, but I'm glad they didn't have her beat Worf in the bat'leth duel. Worf's just about the toughest fighter we've ever seen, and it would have seemed like 'DS9' was showing how tough it was compared to 'TNG,' but it's not actually a metaphor for anything, it's purely a character moment for Worf and a very good one.
An example of the detail that went into the series is when the Skull fighter (from 'TNG') that Worf fights first, is knocked to the floor and when he vanishes leaves behind imprints on the sandy floor from his ribbed suit! Another detail is the mek'leth weapon, which I think debuted here. You can actually see the blade is bent when it's braced against the enemy's weapon which shows how much force was being used in the fight. Indeed, this was one time when stunt coordinator Dennis Madalone was injured, suffering a blow to the eye bad enough that another stuntman had to take over.
Sometimes the details escaped attention. While these 'mistakes' wouldn't be noticed unless you were really paying attention, they were apparent to me: the guy I know as Ensign Jones, the one with the nondescript face and slight quiff, is Dukat's guard on the Defiant, but then when they cut to the bar back on DS9 a short time later, he walks in front of camera! At first I thought the Defiant must have returned, but after this we go to Ops and they're talking about the ship being on the way back. The real reason for two Jones' must be he's a changeling. Who knows how many of them are wandering around the station, I've already laid suspicion on three, and that's just what the Founders want. One guy who isn't a changeling, but a cowardly Starfleet officer, is one of Bashir's medical team. An older man with gaunt face and dark hair is seen in the doctor's briefing looking worried, then the next scene we see Odo herding civilians off the promenade and the same guy is among them disguised in civilian clothing - maybe he'd had second thoughts after all that talk of laceration!
I didn't realise until recently that the idea of Kasidy being a changeling was toyed with, which is why she probes a little into Sisko's plans, but it never went further which was probably wise. You can make things too complicated sometimes. It's nice to see her and get these character scenes, but it was also not necessary to feature every single character: Jake, Rom and Nog are among the missing, but again, there's only so much you can fit into even a feature-length episode and it meant there were plenty of things the audience could anticipate. How will Worf react to Rom, for example? He'd already found out that Quark was no Guinan after the Ferengi fails to make him feel at home. One man that does his best to integrate Worf is O'Brien, his old crewmate from the Enterprise. One of my favourite lines is when the two of them privately reminisce about their time on the ship in the upper level of the bar. Worf speaks about how he never doubted their success as they were like warriors from the ancient sagas, there was nothing they could not do. It's interesting to hear such a personal opinion of the Enterprise's mission from someone who tends to be so private.
The conversation is one scene of many that makes reference to specific events or people, continuing to interweave the tapestry of the universe which is a real place where these historical moments mean something to the inhabitants. The incident with the Borg has been referred to many times on this series, the place Sisko began his new life without Jennifer, but we don't often hear other people's views of it. The Obsidian Order's destruction, the dissident movement, the Tholians, Cestus III from 'TOS' (and a baseball team named after Captain Pike), even Quark's cousin Gaila (yes, the one with the moon), are honoured with mentions. 'TNG' especially is recalled fondly, as much the writers commenting on the loss of the series as it is the characters on the loss of the ship.
As good as the interactions, references and set-up are, what we're really here for is the honking great battle at the end. Unlike 'The Two Towers' it doesn't take a large chunk out of the running time, but it's worth the wait with some of the best action scenes in all of Trek and the first time the station has come under attack from a battle fleet. There are panning shots across the station following the flight of Birds of Prey squadrons, there are new weapons activating chunkily from DS9 itself, there are torpedoes chucked all over the place, phaser beams ripping into Klingon hulls, but even better is the ground assault when troops beam onto the station and have hand to hand or pitched phaser battles with station personnel, both Bajoran security and Starfleet officers. If there's one thing missing from the story it's Bajor's reactions to all these threats. The closest we come to getting their point of view is when Kira backs up Sisko aboard the Defiant when they stop Kaybok from searching Kasidy's ship (that scene would have had more resonance if Kasidy had turned out to be a shapeshifter!).
The individual fight scenes are really hard and fast. I don't think we've ever seen Odo laying into Klingons as he does outside the Bajoran Temple, and Sisko continues his bear-like force in Ops much like last season's opener when he went crazy with the Jem'Hadar in their attack on the Defiant. He doesn't look as wild here as there's more space, he's responsible for more lives and it isn't a last-ditch attempt at fending off the enemy after a surprise attack, but a long planned-for defence, albeit against former allies instead of the expected enemy. Dax looks cool as she proves again her skill with a bat'leth, but I think it was important that Kira got hurt. It showed the damage that could be done, that it wasn't all glory and grunting, though O'Brien's little eyebrow cut is a common injury in these situations, a token mark to show they've been injured, without messing with their looks too much. It was good that Worf was the one to save his life, just as Bashir did for Odo. Dax looked cool, but Worf came across even better. He'd already showed how tough he was when he beats Drex in the bar, stands up to Martok and now he gets into the real action demonstrating his fighting skill like we've seen so rarely before, taking on multiple Klingons, even killing one by slicing behind without even looking! Any doubts about whether they would be able to make a 'TNG' character their own were chopped to shreds by the end of the episode.
As a piece of entertainment the series didn't often get as good as this until the latter seasons, and as a reintroduction to the characters and to Worf it couldn't be better. Everyone looks their best, Terry Farrell's eyes seem brighter and bluer than ever before, Sisko's baldness fits the mood of the series and the Klingons are back as villains. The story's full of great lines, detail and strong presences, even using Sisko's own journey to inspire Worf and prevent him running away from the duty he cares about. Setting off the new season with a bang, it left many threads to be picked up and had almost become a new series, relaunching with busier opening credits and a more buoyant version of the theme music. Maybe they should have kept Michael Dorn's name out of the credits for this one episode to preserve the surprise for anyone that didn't know he was joining the cast, but it's difficult to complain about an episode that did so much and set the series on its new road. There would still be the occasional episode which didn't work as well as it should, but they were becoming few and far between in this golden age of 'Star Trek.'
*****
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