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UNCUT - Civil Defense (DS9 S3E7) | Star Trek Journey 335 (Patreon)

Published:
2026-01-21 18:52:30
Edited:
2026-01-22 16:21:22
Imported:
2026-09
Tags:
stj

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Craig Jacobs

Been waiting for this! Literally, just clicking refresh

Actuarial Lurker

Attention Bajoran Workers- this is another banger...

Zenlike Creature

A super episode! Season three gets off to a very strong start, overall. As stated on the trailer, this has one of the most meme-able lines. Great to see Dukat back, and I'm always thrilled for Garak to make an appearance, too. Have I told you he's my favourite character? (Yes, I have, every time he shows up) ;) Look forward to hearing your thoughts on the episode. You're always far more detailed in your appraisals than I am.

Matchstick Jose

This wasn’t really a concept at the time, but nowadays, I wonder (even as funny as it is imagining Dukat spending hours recording all this, which he would definitely do) if the Dukat we hear could just be an A.I. version programmed to deliver messages based on whatever the revolting Bajoran workers are doing next.

Vina

This is an episode where if you hear the premise you might think it'd be an episode like one of the weaker ones from S1, but the characterization really is just fantastic Also great little teaser clip for the Generations react. It hurt my heart when they crashed the Enterprise D 😭

Collin Freeman

Director Reza Badiyi had quite a long and fairly prolific career working in television from the 1960's into the early 2000's. To us old guys, one of his first directing jobs was the opening title sequence to the original Hawaii Five-O in 1968.

Darren

Oh the Dukat stuff alone is worth watching this episode. Throw in some of the Garak banter too and it just gets better.

Preaching to the Horse's Mouth

Our main crew was trying to get the station evacuated in case Sisko's plan to shut down the self destruct failed. They mentioned it quickly once communications had been restored, but we never did see them again as the the ep closed out.

Scott Woodward

I do have to give Dukat credit here. He knows that Starfleet is renowned for finding out of the box solutions to every problem of the week they encounter, so he designed a program specifically designed to have escalating levels of 'get fucked' the more you weasel your way out of the problems it hands you.

Duncan McDonald

Really enjoyed this one - there's always a fear that the story being set entirely around 1 premise, in one place could be dull but, aside from taking a little too long to get going it scales up really nicely. Some nice moments with Odo and Quark providing some light relief during the more tense moments. Dukat and Garak in the same room is always a bonus and some nice teasing back story between them.

Terminaldogma01

To be fair, getting roasted by RLM is a great honor

xadg

Gaila? The one with the moon?

alyssagynepuppy

Dukat and Garak were in the same room for a brief moment in the episode with the Cardassian child where Garak proved Dukat was lying. Also i think Kira just shooting the console and her general behaviour in the episode shows that she immediately went back into Bajoran terrorist mode when they were under threat from the Cardassian program.

JordanK1991

*NEW MEMES UNLOCKED* Definitely an A-tier episode for me. Also, love the ending with Quark and Odo.

Matchstick Jose

I think the reason that the overwhelming consensus seems to be “This is fun!” is because there aren’t really any emotional stakes for any of the characters. No one is going through any inner turmoil or making any big decisions that affect their future. Everybody is just dealing with the plot and trying not to die (sorry, death-by-replicator guy), but doing so in character in an entertaining manner.

Phenomenon (Doo - Dooo - Dah - Doo - Doo)

That wasn't a gas in the access tunnel. It was a plasma fire. You saw it in "Disaster" on TNG when Crusher and LaForge were stuck in the cargo bay. It's not only hot, it emits radiation too

Ryan

I love that you called DS9 an experiment, because that’s exactly what it is. It’s the weird indie brother who spends Thanksgiving saying things like, “You were studying to be a commander? That’s cool. I was creating a duplicate O’Brien and marrying Klingons for money.” And I can’t get enough.

Elizabeth N

Great reaction! I particularly love Dukat's face when Garak told him off for flirting with Kira. Like a kid at school whose friend just revealed who he had a crush on to the rest of the class 😂

Fedora The Explorar

Okay I'm sorry but this song during the Generations edit at the beginning made my ears bleed

Keith S

A good bit is Dukat's reaction to finding out that central command didn't trust him. Caught in his own mouse trap. I wouldn't put it bast him that he actually would try to escape if this was really happening.

Worf and Riker Ride Again

Guys don't worry about the sync issues, the worst I've had was a couple of seconds. It's no biggie, it's all part of the fun trying to line it up!

Shortskirtsandexplosions

I suppose parasocial relationships *do* work both ways. I can abide cynicism and I can abide critical thinking. I guess I allow myself to look too deeply into perceived "negativity" when I see certain Patron takes. Or, perhaps, opinion has been "tilted" in anticipation of the worst possible reactions from y'all. Who knows. I continue to find the days that you two put up reactions to be some of the best high points of my week, and I'm glad to be a small part of the journey, even if just in digispace. Granted, I *do* tend to like it more when y'all are fully impressed by an episode. But something that makes Target Audience so special is that you seem to enjoy the ride even in spite of the bumps and your discussions have put new thoughtful spins on a franchise that I have loved and respect my entire life. So thanks for reinvigorating the whole lot of us~

Trekkie74205

The last thing I saw from a credible source is that Paramount had taken several bids to remaster DS9 last year. The approximate expected cost was $20 million. The project never went any further after the Skydance purchase of Paramount closed in August 2025.

temsik28

Dukat probably just having fun in his office messing around with the newest AI build to make all those videos.

Sir, This is A Quark's.

I am probably parroting something you already know, but TNG's DISASTER was written as a DS9 template. They wrote it to promote O'Brien, Ro, and Keiko with character development and tell a stationary story. I like both of the episodes. Between the two, "You may now give birth." - Worf ... has occured in my life as a sentence to which I was furiously judged. 🖖😇

tyranusfan

Underrated Quark line: "It's a small moon, but it's enough to live on."

Vina

I didn't get to watch the later parts of your post-reaction until this evening, but you were asking about you hope there was a whiteboard or something to keep things like the Rules of Acquisition etc tracked. I'm not sure if there was a whiteboard but probably the show leads compiled books, binders, etc with canonical events other writers could refer back to. Also there were writers room sessions and other things to keep stories consistent as best they could. Ira Steven Behr compiled the actual Rules of Acquisition for writers, and you can buy a copy of the version released for the public from Amazon etc too! (There might be spoilers in it though)

Joe Concepts

Something unique to DS9 is a great cast of recurring characters. It's a side effect of having it NOT set on a starship. To have people come visit the Enterprise, when it's out exploring the galaxy, it's a little less reasonable to have someone visit them. With the station, it's always there, so it's a destination. Having watched nearly all of Trek, I still say DS9 has the best recurring cast.

Target Audience

Wait, really? Damn, had no idea they were thinking about DS9 that early on. Ro literally just arrived lol

Sir, This is A Quark's.

A year from now, I'll tell you fellas about the Voyager foreshadowing you've watched. Keep up the good work, buds.

Sleeper

I actually really enjoy this video. But the bit about the Life Support being shot, I just imagine Kira welcoming Chief back and having to admit she shot the computer and he will have to fix all the computers... again

Ryan

DS9's recurring/secondary cast is almost a second main cast. They all get developed so well.

Jonathon Tsagris

I’m imagining Jake showing up to work in one of his freaky shirts and Chief having absolutely none of it.

Jonathon Tsagris

So, this isn't offical cannon; so I don't consider it a spoiler, but something similar to your Starfleet IT idea was explored in the various Star Trek Novels - there was a series of novels about an organisation called Starfleet Core of Engineers; which is basically an elite group of engineers that goes around fixing shit and solving problems; founded and run by Scotty after the events of Relics.

Some Guy

Oh my god, those were some of my favorites in middle school

Some Guy

The Chief can build a bomb in a cave! With a box of scraps!

Philbot

Dukat’s reaction to Garak calling him out is kinda so like “Bro code! Dude You broke Bro code..

Philbot

Steve shive’s always does comedy videos where he’s like the obscure Starfleet division explaining his job like “ Thats not how JAG works! A commander can’t just do my job.”

Scott Woodward

Had scheduling worked out, the scenes dealing with the random Ferengi in the random bar from Chain of Command part 1 would have 100% been Deep Space Nine in Quark's bar. Scheduling conflicts forced them to postpone their crossover for Data learning what dreams are like.

Sir, This is A Quark's.

And Bashir appearing in BIRTHRIGHT part 1 happened because of that delayed crossover. Birthright Part 1 was filmed with DS9's Move Along Home. That's why Bashir "dies" half way through the episode so he could go film across the lot on TNG's set.

Philbot

You kinda know that a replicator could do something like that? But leave to the devious Cardassians to exploit it. 💥🛎️

Sam Langanke

That shows the example of Quark alone. He has brother Rom and nephew Nog. We learned in House of Quark his late father's name was Keldar. And now we know he has a rich cousin named Gaila who owns a moon.

Numinous2019

OMG...that Hawai 5-0 opening credits is legendary (camerawork, editing and music).

Collin Freeman

Indeed. It's worth a look on YouTube just for that sequence alone.

Numinous2019

I really think Kira (or O'Brien) being revealed as an actual Cardassian (and a deep cover agent) would have been both ridiculous and a complete dead end for the characters. That would be the end of their service in either Starfleet or for the Bajoran government. They wouldn't even be allowed to remain on DS9 working in Quark's bar for security reasons.

Collin Freeman

So, is not getting roasted by them a slam?

Scarpad’s Domain

Disaster was Picard overcoming his fear of kids, it ws good this was better

Ca$hWednesday

This episode is pretty C-tier until Dukat shows up. So this episode is half good.

Scarpad’s Domain

the ops storyline was done, i think ending n odo and quark was great

Scarpad’s Domain

Sisko is gonna come into his office and ask who was fucking with my damn baseball !

Forbidden Donut

The episode sync was perfect with this method, by the way. 👍

Deliximus

You can buy the Book of Acquisitions

Naglfarius

For a "oh no, the Ship/Station is about to explode!" Episode, it was really Good. A- for me.

Numinous2019

I took a chance on watching two young guys watching TOS. My immediate reaction was these two guys are great. After 100's of hours of genuinely interesting reactions and discussions, mixed in with great irreverent humour and a mixture of sharp analysis and intuition......yes, Josh & Alex, I can't imagine anyone covering ST in a more professional and engaging way.

Back Flip Bet

New Stargate show coming to Amazon with same creators as original. If you start now you can almost get through the 17 seasons by the time it drops

Ian Westcott

This episode makes absolutely no sense. It would have made the perfect Season 1 story. But you're telling me that after three years, there are still computers on the station running unknown Cardassian code? There are still hidden caches of fatal gas located on this station? I know Starfleet is not ... always hyper competent, but this is ridiculous. That said.. it's still an A. Sometimes silly plots can be executed well enough to be really fun, and this episode is one of those.

Forbidden Donut

All they need to do is set up an equivalent to a GoFundMe, name the cost, and let fans fund it. They can be clear that they retain all rights, et cetera. I wouldn't be shocked at all if the fans raises the cash. Especially if given several months to do it.

NotlobParrot

The Podcast "The Delta Flyers" is hosted by cast members from DS9 and Voyager. It's a delightful rewatch podcast with crazy-awesome guests. Their episode about 3x07 is great because it appreciates the great stuff about this episode while still being brutally honest about its faults. (SIDE NOTE: I highly recommend this podcast. It's a wonderful companion piece to Trek.)

Doug

That Generations trailer at the start blew my eardrums out

Back Flip Bet

Lol @35 minutes "Yeah we like our containment fields to be non lethal" classic Carddies 😭😂🤣😩

Back Flip Bet

Unfortunately they talk about acting and directing 95% and don't even remember any of the treknobable stuff lol

Erik L Jerks

Back in the occupation days, no Cardassian would ever betray bro code.

Erik L Jerks

There's a bloody off-switch, major.

Back Flip Bet

Hidden codes make sense. And then the virus replicates toxic gas ?

Forbidden Donut

I'm torn on those points because I see what you mean, and at the same time I can imagine the Cardassians being clever enough to hide something in the computer systems, and I think in prior episodes we've learned that Chief works with the Cardassian computers even though he wishes he had the time to replace them with Federation ones. As to the gas, on the surface I completely agree, but I did think about how they say the gas was tied in with life support, so perhaps it would make sense if it's a manipulation of the system itself to produce the gas on command, as opposed to the gas just sitting in tanks and not being detected?

Ian Westcott

I really don't like the idea of pairing Kira and Dukat. It's like pairing Anne Frank with Adolph Hitler (if they survived WWII..)

Ian Westcott

If they don't talk about Treknobabble, are they even able to discuss Voyager episodes??

Ian Westcott

I think it makes no sense for there to even be Cardassian computers on board. Starfleet security would NEVER merely just trust that the Cardassians wouldn't leave a code bomb in there.

Back Flip Bet

Yeah the guy is still thinking in 21st century brain mode and hasn't gone full trek nerd head Canon brain. There isn't hidden caches of toxic gas, the hidden virus program in a back up of a back up in a sub domain. Reprogrammed the life support from producing a healthy hydrogen and oxygen mix into making CCl3NO2 toxic gas.

Rangsk

This is the first time I noticed that Odo and Quark were completely useless to the plot. Odo tries to do something and fails and doesn't even let Quark try to help. Then they just talk to each other the rest of the time. He can't even help evacuate the station.

Back Flip Bet

They just talk about acting and directing. They barely remember the episodes and repeatedly get confused why things happened. I went to my first start trek convention and person after person walked up and asked nerd questions like "in episode ____ why were those aliens _____" or in episode _____ why did the warp core ______." And question after question the actors kept saying oh that's a question for denis or Micheal Okuda. Oh that is a question for Rick berman. After a few hours I was like why are we even talking to these loser actors that don't remember any of the episodes why don't we get the creators of Star Trek on this panel to answer our nerd questions about delithium crystals!

jon bolton

I'm glad you guys compared it with Disaster, if you hadn't have mentioned it, i would have. This is actually the second time we see Garak and Dukat together, we previously saw them in the episode, Cardassians. This gets a high S from me.

Dark Kronis

i always love the awkwardness to Gukat when his old boss appears on the screen and removes his access,ruining his plan and making him look a fool

Callum Roberts

Just on the shooting out life support thing. Dukat says life support is over there as he finishes his thought but kira has been the second in command of the station for 3 years. She already knew where it was and what it did which is why she just fired on it. Now of course the idea that destroying the life support control computer just shuts life support off is silly but star trek pretty much always treats that as a way of doing it.

Forbidden Donut

I think the reason they stuck with Cardassian computers is supposedly they're so integrated into the station that a full retrofit was not practical or would take years or something like that. I can partially buy it as a watcher but I could also imagine developing the replacement anyway, using the old stuff in the meantime, and then when it's all ready to install, take X weeks and just replace it all. At some point, it may not make sense.

Loot Narsbaar

You do have to bench Odo in order to make the plot work

JoeMama47

Dukat is truly a fair and compassionate supervisor. Just ask him. His desire to appear magnanimous is one of his most entertaining traits.

Back Flip Bet

Idk does it? We need to go into a navy nuclear submarine and shoot one of the control systems with a gun and see if you can still stear the ship or launch torpedoes after doing it.

Carsten Tassilo Gräbe

I'm surprised it didn't get an A+. Now I'm even more curious to see how you'll rate a certain other episode from the season. PS: Your comments are gold. (not directed at this video in particular)

Matchstick Jose

Definitely something you should check out, but not until after you've finished Voyager. They just talk about too many spoilers for both series no matter what episode they’re talking about. Given who they are and who they know, their guests are crazy good, though. Lots of directors, actors, some writers. Recent guests were Rosalind Chao and Jonathan West. You’ll also appreciate their analysis/criticism, even though it sometimes rubs fans the wrong way when they go very negative. (Must sound familiar.) They hate some favorites and love some ones fans hate.

Ken R

I can safely say you do not impact my assessments!

Back Flip Bet

Data gets benched in over 10 episodes 😭

Mara

Attention bajoran workers! Your engagement for the algorithm is required.

Doctor Pulaski

Chain of Command is the quintessential Cardassian TNG episode you guys were reaching for... Great reaction, great episode. I'm glad you guys are enjoying Season 3. (Also probably not a coincidence that Chain of Command came right before DS9 Pilot)

Doctor Pulaski

On TNG they specifically said once that replicators can't make weapons without a high level of clearance or something. This episode makes you realize how OP replicator technology really can be in the wrong hands...

Utterlee

LOL at both Alex and Josh appearing to have an absolute ball and love every second then - B.

River Acheron

I have to disagree that knowing the station won't blow up makes the episode any less enjoyable or lowers the overall score. The fun at least for me, is seeing HOW they get out of it. Also, I disagree about a small downside being the way Kira destroyed Life Support. The way she did it by shooting the entire console and not paying attention to the guys manning the station too much is SO Kira lol. It fits her character and it's funny. That's the thing about this episode; while the stakes were high, I almost view this as a comedy-adjacent episode or at least, tongue in cheek. This is my favorite episode of the season and I def rank it as S+. You know, it's just a fun wild ride. Just nit picks of course. I know you liked this episode as a whole. :) I'm not what you would call a critical viewer so maybe I don't notice the little things. I focus on my enjoyment only. :)

Utterlee

Agree entirely, it's just a lot of fun seeing the situation get worse and worse and then how they get out of it, with all the bickering and character interactions. There are no deep and meaningful themes but I don't think absolutely every story needs them, when you have 20+ episodes a season there is room for some straight up sci-fi fun.

TC Green

I was expecting a big pop when Dukat beamed aboard. Was not disappointed.

EnigmaticPenguin

Marc Alaimo's body language as Dukat is so great. The guy just oozes around the scene.

TC Green

For me it is fun at times and I enjoy it. B+ is about how I’d rate it.

BN13

This one is a S for me for the type of episode that it is. Red Letter Media said it best when they talk about Star Trek having a wide variety of different types of episodes. You have things like best serious drama episodes, best character episodes, and best story arc episodes. But then you have ones like this that are best self-contained story episodes that you never get tired of watching, just like TNG's Disaster. Is it in the same category as something like Duet, or The Wire? No, but for what it is, this, and another episode this season are my absolute favorites for that type of episode. I also like this episode for a lot more than just it being funny. I mainly love how Cardassian it all is, and all of the lore drops. I think all of my all time favorite episodes of DS9, in any category, feature Cardassians in some way.

BN13

Back in the season 2 episode "Cardassians" you questioned why on earth Gul Dukat would go through the effort of such a convoluted plan just to take out a rival Cardassian just in case? You now know that the answer is "because Cardassians." As a further example that they are all like this with 50 fail safes on each other at all times just in case, I love how Garak's main insult to Gul Dukat was that his program was still "short sighted" because it didn't go far enough in order forsee blocking Garak too.

Target Audience

The station blowing up thing is just a preference. Some people enjoy that type of plot. We enjoy more character focused plots. Neither is better or worse on the whole, it all comes down to execution of the individual episode, and this one executed a plot we wouldn’t typically care about rather well.

paultardspambot .

The weapon Kira had is a Bajoran Phaser. The green flames were plasma flames. The station and starships don't use electricty for primary power transfer, they use the much mor energetic charged plasma which then is locally converged to electric. When you see a console explode it isn't a power surge, they could clearly break that. It's a plasma conduit explosing which totally overloads the system. KInd of surprised you guys liked this one because its literally all plot from the beginning. This is a good example of how they have figured this show out. This could easily have been a season 1/season 2 plot, the station is in danger of exploding but we know it won't. But they just executed it far better and made it interesting.

Matchstick Jose

I mean, the best episodes are incredibly informative. They go through every episode scene by scene (they did all of Voyager and now are watching all of DS9, which the Voyager actors have not seen – they are in early DS9 season 5 right now) and will sometimes have the directors/actors/writers join them for the full podcast and break down every scene along with them. (I won't name the Voyager actors since you haven't started it yet, but Armin Shimerman and Terry Farrell alternate appearing on the podcast, so they each do about half the episodes.) It’s really catnip if you’re a fan, as long as you can handle criticism of shows you love. (Which, of course, everyone can with no issue whatever!)

paultardspambot .

In terms of the ending, Dukat would have just beamed back to his ship. I think the reason we didn't get any follow up there is once communications were restored, Dukat would have just called his ship (which is clearly nearby but we don't see it) and gotten out of there and gotten his ship away from the impending explosion, surely not offering any help in evacuating the station. It was up to our guys to redirect the explosion energy towards the shelds and save the day. One thing that really isn't answered, while we saw that they prevented the self destruct, it's not clear how they terminated the counter insurgency program and regained control of the station. I guess it doesn't really matter, but it was so seemingly impossible just before the station was about to self destruct, I wonder what they did. I suppose Chief could have gotten to the Defiant and used its computer to somehow hack the DS9 computer and abort the program, or maybe they got in touch with higher ups at Central Command and got a code to deactivate it. It's not super important, but it is one of those plot details where, even if there wasn't time for it, I wish they would have just made a small note of what happened in the next episode, which I'm pretty sure they don't.

paultardspambot .

"Mike Crone" sounds like the setup or punchline to a joke. There were these dumbass kids in shop class in high school who had this one joke. "Yo, do you know Mike?" Me: It's a big school, it's possible." "So you do know Mike?" Me: "I know a few people named Mike." "Oh man, you gotta know Mike. Everybody knows Mike." Me- "I feel like this is a setup to a joke where you want me to ask- Mike who?" That was what he was waiting for. "MY DICK!" They thought this was HILLARIOUS and they would do versions of to everyone in the class. Even after they had already got some one. My friend Alex was like "Dude, you've done it before. I know the puncline. It's not that funny." "But you gotta know MIke!" "Yeah, I'm telling you. I've heard this ome before. It's "My Dick". Hilarious. "So you DO know Mike." "Would you just leave me alone?" "So you know MIke?" "Jesus Christ. What do you want? What is going to make you shut up?" "Just tell me if you know Mike." "Fine. Goddamnit. You guys are morons. If it's the only way to get you to shut up- fine. Mike who?" "MY DICK!" They NEVER got tired of this.

River Acheron

Oh I totally get it. Everyone watches with different preferences in mind. I had to retrain my brian. We're close to the same age-range and I grew up with shows like The Walking Dead etc where you're always on the edge of your seat not knowing who can die. Maybe even Rick! Or all the slasher horror movies, where sometimes the "Final Girl" isn't safe. Watching these older shows kinda forced me to not always focus on the stakes. I like high stakes as well, but I got to a point where I don't care anymore. lol. It's very tough for me with 90's television (until OZ and Sopranos where anyone can die) unless I rewire my brain on how to enjoy. Thats just me ofc. The one thing I CANT train my brain for is formulaic TV. I can't watch something like Columbo not because we know who the killer is, I'm fine with that, but rather every episode follows the EXACT same formula! Think of shows like The live action Incredible Hulk or the Law and Order shows, or even Tales From the Crypt...they all follow the same formula episode by episode. (hence why I prefer Tales from the Darkside which really changes things up episode by episode or The Twilight Zone or X-Files etc. We get something new and different every episode. But yeah...Formulaic TV is something I can never ever get into. I tried.

paultardspambot .

In terms of Garak being hated, I think what we have seen being setup is there's a bit of a rivalry/power struggle between Central Command and the Obsidian Order with the civilian government being a distant third. It's heavily implied Garak was a major deal in the Obisidian Order as he was the protege of Enabran Tain, it's former head. Garak clearly has a dislike for many Cardassians, feeling their ambition outstrips their loyalty to Cardassia, and in some sense he feels like he represents "true" loyalty to Cardassia but thinks that arrogant, ambitious officers have corrupted (in a sense different from how we view the term) the Cardassian Union. As a prominent member of the Order who no doubt persecuted many Cardassians, it's not surprised he's feared and hated, especially as hes disgraced, for whatever reason he was and that certainly likely goes into his feelings. It's been established he and Dukat hated each other, and here we get the suggestion of a reason. Garak was apparently involved in the trial of Dukat's father (family is everything to Cardassians so no doubt this was also a stain on Dukat) and we get Garak saying his father's ambition outstripped his loyalty. He also thinks Dukat is an arrogant blowhard. But the "good" Cardassians like the Legate in "Second Skin" who was apparently a major figure in the underground strongl dislike and dsitrust the order, which would be no surprise as they are apparently the Cardassian secret police. These sorts of rivalries and distrust. between the intelligence apparatus/secret police and regular military are not uncommon in totalitarian states. The Nazis had all kinds of personal rivalries and power struggles as did the Soviets. The outward image of them being united is an important show, but behind the scenes there are diferent factions vying for power and the different sides understand that if one faction gets too much power, they will exterminate their rivals, as happened in Nazi Germany and the USSR. The only exception is the dictator at the center, but quietly there are always factions trying to overthrow them, and this makes for an extreme sense of internal distrust and paranoia (there were something like 46 assasination attempts against Hitler and it's still unknown as to whether Beria might have been involved in Stalin's death, but prior to that they worked together with an understanding it was a powerful alliance for their mutual benefit but eventually one of them would kill the other. You keep people below you paranoid of both people below them and above them, and as the dictator you play these rivalries to your advantage, with frequent internal purges. Cardassia doesnt seem to have one sole dictator, but clearly Enabran Tain was a powerful and feated man during his day./

paultardspambot .

I'm getting the sense that Josh probably like DS9 a bit more then Alex who is still missing TNG and not thrilled that this is what they are doing and where star trek is going now. Or at least, Josh is more open to it and Alex is starting from a more critical starting point. Could be wrong, just my impression, but it actually makes for an interesting dynamic and how things will go as we continue with DS9 and how they will react to Voyager which is definitely more "TNG-like" although an inferior copy in my opinion.

Matchstick Jose

"Chief, I need you to install a motherfucking force field around my baseball. Now!"

SetsunaYuki

I wonder if that guy on screen is supposed to be Dukat's father?

Sunny

I’ve assumed that the triumph for Cardassians is not just in taking someone down, it’s in showing just how much smarter and more foresight you had than your victim

Dr. Paul Stubbs

I was saying out loud Chain of Command, Lower Decks... hey, they got one of them!

sword bard

Dukat's body language when the other guy's recording finishes is glorious. He's outraged, embarrassed, and oh-shit-I'm-going-to-die all at the same time and Alaimo puts it across without a single line spoken.

Skye Maidstone

An S from me. Damn fun episode and I love disaster movies so this was right up my maintenance shaft. Garak and Dukat were excellent as always and it was nice that all the characters got something to do.

Doctor Pulaski

It is really funny that Kira’s solution was to pull out a phaser and shoot her problems, MORE THAN ONCE. She’s kind of reckless and a little trigger happy

Sunny

It’s actually relaxing due to the impending-but-not-really self destruct

Sunny

I wondered if it was to avoid adding a bunch more extras into an evacuation shot

Jason Aud

"That's not good" but that was the plan lol, discharging the energy into the shields. I always liked this episode and like you say, Dukat! I was thinking the same thing in referenced to "Disaster". Don't remember if they "interact" necessarily but there is a pause/stare down exchange between them in "Cardassians" when Garak helps uncover what Dukat was up to. Looking forward to "Generations" this weekend!

Loot Narsbaar

Starfleet doesn't need IT. Their computers almost never fuck up. Has there ever been a episode where Picard's laptop won't connect to the wifi, his communicator calls the wrong crewmember, or Starfleet wikipedia is down? This lack of experience is why it took an entire episode for Geordi to figure out to run a system restore and restart the computer back in Contagion.

Anthony Hernandez

They took spec scripts from fans in those days, so some of these writers who have no other credits on IMDB could be fans. The writers room would take the idea and then tweak it however they wanted, but the fan still got credit for writing the episode. On the other hand, this didn’t have any other names in the credits, and no separate teleplay credit, so I’m not sure on this one.

reactive1

This is the ultimate “bottle” episode. TNG had these too where the entire episode took place on the ship. They did them to save money for more expensive episodes. “Disaster” was TNG’s best episode in my opinion.

paultardspambot .

A book came out when DS9 was on that was the official Rules of Acquisition, so yes, they are keeping track of them.

reactive1

The set up for DS9 started in TNG season 4 with “The Wounded” establishing the Cardassians and then accelerated in Season 5 with “Ensign Ro” establishing the Bajorans the connection with the Cardassians.

Laura Thornley

The memes this episode generated are legendary.

Laura Thornley

And YES to DS9 remaster. I get that the TNG remaster was very expensive and lost Paramount money, but... screw it, do it anyway.

Paul

I'd guess Josh is closer to A, which makes total sense to me. For Alex, I think it had the potential for A, but the ending not reconnecting with the Ops crew and Dukat / Garak was a bit of a downer, fair enough.

Greg Quinn

Dukat: "listen, we really need to secure Iceland...I mean Greenland...I mean DS9."

Laura Thornley

I do love this episode, though part of me wonders if they originally planned making this a two parter but decided to edit it down into one episode.

Mark Wood

Mike Krohn did the first draft of his pitch. But wasn't able to work further on it. So several staffers took turns doing passes on it. Writers thought his first pass was a solid effort, and since no single other writer was responsible, they decided to award full credit to the Krohn.

paultardspambot .

yeah, the "Attetion Bajoran Workers" thing is heavily memed

Utterlee

Yes, I think they just ran out of time. Would be interesting to know if the script had more scenes at the end.

Tim Nikiforovs

Dukat knows how to make him aggressive and adversarial

HeatheЯ

Since you mentioned we occasionally piss you off and you guys occasionally piss us off, I guess that means we are family. Star Trek family :)

Tim Nikiforovs

Yeah, I think B+ is about right for this one. Dukat and Garak back, and feuding with each other, is a plus. And yeah, Dukat's expression as the program turned on him was priceless. That said, I also love the scenario of the station trying to kill them and I think most of the cast got their moments to shine. It's true that Odo's shapeshifting and Quark's level 7 access didn't amount to much, but it's a good showcase of Odo has become more fond of Quark over the past 2+ seasons. We of course saw a bit of that in The Jem'Hadar when he said someone should look out for Quark. Yeah, they're still "frenemies", and Odo is obviously always going to keep an eye on Quark and be ready if he ever crosses the line, but he doesn't despise him like it sometimes appeared early on. I do also appreciate the "escape room" aspect of the Jake/Sisko/O'Brien story, and how their storyline seemed completely isolated and just about their own safety until they end up saving the station at the end. I just don't buy the scene where they blow open the door though. If they packed like 50 sandbags on top of the ore to contain the explosion maybe, but just sitting there uncontained, any explosion to break through that pretty solid metal door would have catapulted that mining cart back so hard they all would have been turned into paste. Just a small nitpick. Bashir and Dax don't really get much to do in this one, but I do love how Kira just resorts to shooting everything. Some may say it's her reverting to resistance fighter, and partly I'm sure that's true. However I think a large part of it is Kira has had to work on this "Cardassian monstrosity" for 2 years, a place that was used to enslave Bajorans, many of whom died, and on top of that it's been plagued by technical issues all that time, and now the station is literally trying to kill them. I think there's a good bit of "fuck you station" in Kira's choice to shoot everything. Shame she didn't take the moment while Dukat was getting tea to shoot the replicator. Last question I have is, what was the defiant doing while all this was going down? Is there not some crew onboard at all times? Were they unable to beam anyone off DS9? Also if Garak can only move about the station by himself, why not have him make his way to a runabout and try beaming Kira or someone else aboard? If the Defiant was unmanned, I could understand not trusting Garak onboard by himself, but under the circumstances giving him access to a runabout seems like an acceptable risk. It's unclear if the program interfered with transporters(preventing Dukat from beaming back) or if it merely cut off communication with his ship. Anyway, good episode.

Drake

as i as most people watch on paramount i was so happy it sync better and now you tell me you try hard to make it worse again 😂

Jason Aud

I collected the initial DVD releases from Best Buy which each season of all the series had an additional bonus disc, for one season it was the Rules of Acquisition in order with segments from the show. I'm figured it was part of the series bible they did to keep track of those kinds of things. Didn't want to include the DS9 one since you are still on that journey but here the TNG Series Bible. https://tvwriting.co.uk/tv_scripts/Collections/Drama/Star_Trek/2_The_Next_Generation/Star_Trek_-_The_Next_Generation_Bible.pdf

Miranda

This is a pretty good episode which is elevated by Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat. As you say, it is similar to "Disaster". I do like that they use the setting - the Cardassian space station - against the characters. That was a fun idea. But really, the episode is completely stolen by Marc Alaimo. I love his preening and bragging. By far, the best moment is when Dukat tries to leave, and the computer program turns on him. That is a sublime level of instant karma. I'd say B+ is fair.

GreenCauldron08

I'm so glad to hear I wasn't the only one having sync issues recently! I just assumed it was a me problem. And this time it synced quite well. Thanks a bunch.

Back Flip Bet

I think they keep the cardie food replicators but might have installed federation industrial ones in the cargo bays

BeefNugs

Star Trek has always been a warm blanket during hard times for me. and 2024 was a VERY hard year for me, however, you two have really helped keep my sanity. i don't post often if at all but i feel after discovering you both on youtube, and jumping aboard here, that i must say Thank You from the depths of my being for doing what you guys do. agree or disagree you two have the best reacts and it has been an absolute pleasure last year and into this one to keep on traveling the stars in the Trek universe and all the others. you guys deserve your flowers for all the hard work, the amazing editing, the hilarious skits, and the badass trailers. Again, Thank You Josh and Alex, you two are doing great things, and i am here for the adventure.

Summer

Feels very classic Trek

TC Green

“Riker to show up on the monitor in the hook of the episode.” Man we were all biting our tongues on that one!!

Billy T. Riker

I'm fighting to catch up with TA's UNCUT reactions, this is a fun episode with a lot going for it but It's still a B for me too, writing with Odo & Quark is just *chef's kiss* (ok, maybe a B+ for Dukat's banter)

clone1138

I agree. It's one of my favorite episodes from Season 3 and endlessly rewatchable. "Attention, Bajoran workers...."

Prof Moff

DS9 sex scoreboard catch up version No scores that I saw (remember I am only catching up with the short versions) The sex score board Quark 5 Jadzia 2 Chief 1 Keiko 1 Odo 1 Kira 1 Bashir 1 Jake 1

ryler05

I will never forgive RLM for trashing the prequels. Thy owe every Star Wars Fan an apology!