Opinionated DS9 Episode Guide sees a desperate Quark become an arms merchant. As in weapons, not replacement limbs, that would be a lot less controversial.
I have to admit, I do find it a bit amusing how, on the flagship of Starfleet, a shootout in a docking bay might warrant one or two goldshirts at best, while here, under Odo's watch, that same situation warrants at least a dozen Starfleet and Bajoran security personnel rushing to the scene at once.
I always wondered, though, given that spot-to-spot transport beaming is possible in TNG/DS9 era, why there isn't a Red Alert protocol that beams security personnel to the armory and then directly to a safe (!) location in the vicinity of whereever the security breach is, instead of requiring them to sprint through corridors. Or simply beam the weapons out of the hands of the fighters! Chalk it up to "DS9 is an old Cardassian mining station and doesnt have this tech... except when the plot requires it"? It has been established that on starships like TNG Enterprise, it is possible to remotely activate forcefields that can separate parts of corridors from each other to box people in, and to activate shielding for walls so invaders or fugitives can't use bombs or phasers to blast their way through bulkheads. That emergency forcefields exist in case of an outer hull breach to the vacuum of space. And that the artificial gravity can be remotely altered in specific locations, either cutting it entirely so people float through the room, or dialing it up so people can't move anymore. And then script writers totally forget about it. Yeah, sure, such hightech would make certain plot pointless. But so does the transporter. "Oh no, our away team fell into a canyon/is being threatened by unfriendly natives/a volcano erupting/a stampede of giant hamsters, whatever can we do!?" - "Just beam them up to safety, dummy." And yet no-one asks to remove transporter technology from Star Trek stories. Hightech is part of Scifi, so writers should write the stories with that technology options in mind... otherwise we could watch a Western.
I love the twist with The whole 'selling weapons to the Bajorans' gave Quark and co a free pass to sell weapons. It IS still a Bajoran station, and they still call the shots. Hagath played a very long game, and somewhat risky considering what the Cardassians would do if they caught him, but he got some very powerful Bajorans in his pocket. And its good how this one and Ferengi Love Songs bring the Quark financial story arc full circle. Now his debts are paid, although he has to pay for the damage to the cargo bay.
This is, in my opinion, the best Quark episode of all. Not a caricature but a real, multidimensional person who finally has to face the consequences of his actions. I love some of the humorous ferrengi episodes (excepting the excretia that is Profit and Lace) but this is Quark the way he was meant to be.
I do like how the boss was human, but greedier and more ruthless than the Farangi. Especially for DS9 it really snubs it nose at the evolved human ideal.
Eh, not all humans are part of the Federation. There are enough smugglers and space pirates and other criminals out there, lost colony worlds outside of the Federation, ships full of frozen _Homo superior_ ("KHAAAAN!") Crime still exists in Star Trek, even though there's a lot less of it. And while TNG era medicine advanced beyond TOS era and can presumably cure most mind-affecting brain infections and parasites and neurological illnesses like schizophrenia, paranoia, psychosis, and at least treat psychopathy, we've seen on _Voyager_ with the case of the homicidal Betazoid telepath that people with neurological issues and traumata still exist which can make them go off the rails. And whole new areas of problems open up with the existence of psionic powers, mind-control devices, disembodied aliens who can take over people's bodies, etc...
This might sound stupid, but do we know for sure he was human? We've seen enough planets with human-like aliens that are treated as separate species that he could very well be from the Roman Empire planet or that one planet the Federation and Klingons gave muskets to.
@@mikegates8993 no, we weren't definitively told he was human. However DS9 tended to make non-human characters look a bit different. But across the Trek universe there were human traders, miners, colonists on non-federation worlds who engaged in less than civil behaviors.
It may be considered a bit heavy handed especially with Quark's nightmare, but I really loved this one. Probably my 2nd favorite Quark story after House of Quark.
Quark’s dreams have always been ham fisted. Remember that time he fell asleep and thought his brother Rom was Grand Nagus? Who could possibly conjure up something so ridiculous? 😁
Leave it to the guy who played Adolf Hitler and a Bond villain ( General Orlov, 1983 ) to be as completely intimidating even when he is cheerful and relaxed .
Moral dilemmas like this are one of the reasons DS9 works as well as it does. The characters are usually at their best when they're outside their comfort zones. 🖖😎👍
Something that's always popped into my mind at the 6:24 mark on this review: "Leave me out of this."--Swindler (Autobot G1 Micromaster, Race Car Patrol)
New headcanon: Swindle made a huge profit supplying the weapons for the Dominion War…unfortunately he took it from the Decepticon armory and Megatron just noticed the missing inventory…
Being an average episode of Deep Space Nine is a pretty good place to be, given the series is one of the consistently better Trek series. It's also interesting seeing Quark in action, especially when it's giving a character more depth.
I absolutely love Berkoff's performance as Hagath! Anything else would just be woeful underacting ... I think this is one of the better examples of a "Monster" or "Drama of the Week" episode in the series. And DS9 is almost always at least watchable - and very often good or even great!
On the Third Man clip at the end, firstly the cuckoo clock wasn't a Swiss invention, it was Swabian and secondly the Swiss were involved in pretty much every war between the Hundred Years War and the War of the Second Coalition (the French Republic with Napoleon as CiC against everybody). They were the preeminent mercenaries for over four hundred years and any prince who could hired them.
An episode I never skip. Honestly, I'd love to see a follow up comedy mini-series where Quark had to deal with a vengeful Hagath (assuming he is still with us). Call it Star Trek: Quark's Nemisis.
Hagath is smart enough that he likely wouldn't bother going after Quark... but he might shoot Quark's family member who got Quark in the business instead, then send his ashes to Quark. He's all about the money, and revenge is a fool's game, so Quark gets to live while only having to pay for the cargo bay repairs and some dings to his conscience.
Sisko: Quark we want you off the station. Your crimes are too far for us, your selling of weapons… disgusting. Quark: Didn’t you gas a whole planet to wipe out a whole species? Sisko: … Okay so make sure your customers aren’t too bad about things. Kira: How could you?! Quark, you’re off the station, NOW! Quark: Didn’t you blow up pregnant women who were simple sex slaves to Cardassians? Kira: I hope your guests have a wonderful Time here. Odo: Well you two may be compromised, but not me! My morals are like iron! Quark, I’m going too… Quark: Didn’t you… Odo: Don’t worry, I’m as blind as a bat.
Sisko displaced a colony of Maqius after the Maqius did the same to the Cardassians, but also doubled down on it by shooting down the escapees. Really not a fair comparison, sorry. That Kira episode is awful and absolutely deserves to be mocked though.
What did we learn from this episode ?: If you sell armaments , do not sell your wares to someone who actively tells you they will use it on a Civilian Population
My only question I always had about this was, how trustworthy would you consider a weapons demonstration when both the weapon and the target aren't even real? 'Behold, with this rubber band, you can destroy an entire tank column. Trust me, everything's simulated, including the customer satisfaction.'
I guess it's the kind of thing that could only work if the dealer either has a really strong reputation or is someone the client has bought from before. They'd need that established reason to trust them, whether it's personal experience or impeccable word of mouth.
Actually I could think of one buyer that would have actually liked his sniper rifle to out with a little flag For so long at the end of the that the little flag would still fire off and pierce into the erson's head and the flag says the word bang right mister J
This is one of the times I'm 100% on Quark's side. The law says he can't sell weapons on the station. Fair enough. So he doesn't. He signs a contract containing an agreement to sell weapons on the station, then he steps off the station to actually sell them. It sounds like a mere technicality and a stupid loophole, but it isn't. The weapons cannot come onto the station this way, which is the whole point of the rule. Quark isn't just "technically" abiding by it, he is literally abiding by its spirit and whole point. If the station also wants to stop whatever Quark is doing, then it should update its rules. It's not fair to punish him for breaking a rule that didn't exist yet. That's an _ex post facto_ law. EDIT: To be clear, I don't just support Quark legally. Obviously if he obeys the law, then he obeys the law. I support him _morally._ I think what he did was morally fine, not just to "prove a point" or whatever, but because as far as he knew, this was an acceptable venue for that kind of deal. All arms deals in the Star Trek universe take place in questionable locales, and this is the least-questionable one I have ever seen, where the law literally and precisely protects him.
Like I said of Fred Johnson offering harbor to the newly Rechristened Rocinante, when you're on the float and the only hand reaching out to you is caked in blood, what do you do?
It's easy to spit on distasteful acts when you're the strongest superpower in the galaxy. It's decidedly harder when you're an oppressed minority. Which is why I really love how Bajor backed up Quark this episode: They know exactly what lengths one may be forced to go for the sake of survival.
Liberal politicians in a nutshell. They're protected by heavily-armed bodyguards, police, and soldiers, but say that we common peasants shouldn't even be allowed to own a pistol to defend ourselves with.
It's funny how, in Star Trek, arms dealers are like venture-capitalist drug-dealers that will see whole worlds burn for mere numbers going up in an account. If this were made today, this story would be closer to 'an aggressive husk-of-a-former-empire has invaded a neighbor under false pretenses, and everyone is caught flat-footed unable to send the weapons needed for that sovereign world's self-defense- and if multiplanetary governments can't respond fast enough, where are all the arms dealers we'need now?' [que an intragalactic easter egg hunt for weapons along the lines of 'It's a Mad Mad (x3) World' and a dose of _"we need weapons, WON'T SOMEONE TAKE OUR CREDITS!!!"_ ]
I realize the original post date for the video was in 2019. Sadly, defending one's home with deadly force has become commonplace. It is sadder still that many times the would-be intruders are merely youngsters directed to the wrong address. It's just another example of how yesterday's absurd is today's normal. Thanks for the reviews.
What are you going on about? A) home/self defense with a weapon was not invented in 2019 so I don't know why you're acting like it's some alien concept B) As awful as swatting is, it has nothing to do with either this episode's plot or chuck's comments
I love how hypocritical the crew are sisco literally used biological weapons on a planet and the fact that there hands are all soaked in blood because of the war or the genocide of the founders there all zealots
I have to admit, I do find it a bit amusing how, on the flagship of Starfleet, a shootout in a docking bay might warrant one or two goldshirts at best, while here, under Odo's watch, that same situation warrants at least a dozen Starfleet and Bajoran security personnel rushing to the scene at once.
Odo runs a tighter ship. That's why Starfleet doesn't like him.
Odo may be a fascist-sympathizing cop, but at least he takes station security very seriously.
I always wondered, though, given that spot-to-spot transport beaming is possible in TNG/DS9 era, why there isn't a Red Alert protocol that beams security personnel to the armory and then directly to a safe (!) location in the vicinity of whereever the security breach is, instead of requiring them to sprint through corridors. Or simply beam the weapons out of the hands of the fighters! Chalk it up to "DS9 is an old Cardassian mining station and doesnt have this tech... except when the plot requires it"?
It has been established that on starships like TNG Enterprise, it is possible to remotely activate forcefields that can separate parts of corridors from each other to box people in, and to activate shielding for walls so invaders or fugitives can't use bombs or phasers to blast their way through bulkheads. That emergency forcefields exist in case of an outer hull breach to the vacuum of space. And that the artificial gravity can be remotely altered in specific locations, either cutting it entirely so people float through the room, or dialing it up so people can't move anymore. And then script writers totally forget about it.
Yeah, sure, such hightech would make certain plot pointless. But so does the transporter. "Oh no, our away team fell into a canyon/is being threatened by unfriendly natives/a volcano erupting/a stampede of giant hamsters, whatever can we do!?" - "Just beam them up to safety, dummy." And yet no-one asks to remove transporter technology from Star Trek stories. Hightech is part of Scifi, so writers should write the stories with that technology options in mind... otherwise we could watch a Western.
@@KianaWolfsympathizing?
He has a lot more people to protect and much less control of coming and going than a starship. He probably has a lot more personnel as a result.
A Ferengi paraphrasing Orson Welles sounds ridiculous....but they somehow made it work.
What was the original OW quote?
I love the twist with The whole 'selling weapons to the Bajorans' gave Quark and co a free pass to sell weapons. It IS still a Bajoran station, and they still call the shots. Hagath played a very long game, and somewhat risky considering what the Cardassians would do if they caught him, but he got some very powerful Bajorans in his pocket.
And its good how this one and Ferengi Love Songs bring the Quark financial story arc full circle. Now his debts are paid, although he has to pay for the damage to the cargo bay.
This is, in my opinion, the best Quark episode of all. Not a caricature but a real, multidimensional person who finally has to face the consequences of his actions. I love some of the humorous ferrengi episodes (excepting the excretia that is Profit and Lace) but this is Quark the way he was meant to be.
I do like how the boss was human, but greedier and more ruthless than the Farangi. Especially for DS9 it really snubs it nose at the evolved human ideal.
Eh, not all humans are part of the Federation. There are enough smugglers and space pirates and other criminals out there, lost colony worlds outside of the Federation, ships full of frozen _Homo superior_ ("KHAAAAN!")
Crime still exists in Star Trek, even though there's a lot less of it. And while TNG era medicine advanced beyond TOS era and can presumably cure most mind-affecting brain infections and parasites and neurological illnesses like schizophrenia, paranoia, psychosis, and at least treat psychopathy, we've seen on _Voyager_ with the case of the homicidal Betazoid telepath that people with neurological issues and traumata still exist which can make them go off the rails.
And whole new areas of problems open up with the existence of psionic powers, mind-control devices, disembodied aliens who can take over people's bodies, etc...
This might sound stupid, but do we know for sure he was human? We've seen enough planets with human-like aliens that are treated as separate species that he could very well be from the Roman Empire planet or that one planet the Federation and Klingons gave muskets to.
@@mikegates8993 no, we weren't definitively told he was human. However DS9 tended to make non-human characters look a bit different. But across the Trek universe there were human traders, miners, colonists on non-federation worlds who engaged in less than civil behaviors.
It may be considered a bit heavy handed especially with Quark's nightmare, but I really loved this one. Probably my 2nd favorite Quark story after House of Quark.
Quark’s dreams have always been ham fisted. Remember that time he fell asleep and thought his brother Rom was Grand Nagus? Who could possibly conjure up something so ridiculous? 😁
Grand Nagus Rom, could you imagine it? He'd sell Ferenginar for a handful of magic beans!
For Steven Berkoff, that was by no means "over the top".
Leave it to the guy who played Adolf Hitler and a Bond villain ( General Orlov, 1983 ) to be as completely intimidating even when he is cheerful and relaxed .
Moral dilemmas like this are one of the reasons DS9 works as well as it does. The characters are usually at their best when they're outside their comfort zones. 🖖😎👍
Greed. Like any sin, comes in levels and you never quite know when your moral lines will sneak up on you
Psycho Janeway on good terms with Swindle? Makes sense
Especially if you take the crossover comic into consideration.
You think she's friends with Galvatron? I feel like their mutual crazy would balance each other out somehow.
@@mikegates8993 Galvatron's too logical for Psycho Janeway.
Only wish that Chuck used a screencap of Transformers Animated Swindle.
Something that's always popped into my mind at the 6:24 mark on this review: "Leave me out of this."--Swindler (Autobot G1 Micromaster, Race Car Patrol)
Just imagine if Janeway had a Moopsy
Well, that's a nightmare.
Imagine a moopsy cross-breeded with a tribble… now THAT’S a terrifying thought
New headcanon: Swindle made a huge profit supplying the weapons for the Dominion War…unfortunately he took it from the Decepticon armory and Megatron just noticed the missing inventory…
Even post-stroke, Crazy Lawrence Tierney knocks it out of the park.
A top tier Quark episode.
Being an average episode of Deep Space Nine is a pretty good place to be, given the series is one of the consistently better Trek series.
It's also interesting seeing Quark in action, especially when it's giving a character more depth.
I absolutely love Berkoff's performance as Hagath! Anything else would just be woeful underacting ... I think this is one of the better examples of a "Monster" or "Drama of the Week" episode in the series. And DS9 is almost always at least watchable - and very often good or even great!
On the Third Man clip at the end, firstly the cuckoo clock wasn't a Swiss invention, it was Swabian and secondly the Swiss were involved in pretty much every war between the Hundred Years War and the War of the Second Coalition (the French Republic with Napoleon as CiC against everybody). They were the preeminent mercenaries for over four hundred years and any prince who could hired them.
One can assune the character was embellishing for his own benefit.
9:43 Love this homage to The Third Man.
An episode I never skip.
Honestly, I'd love to see a follow up comedy mini-series where Quark had to deal with a vengeful Hagath (assuming he is still with us). Call it Star Trek: Quark's Nemisis.
Hagath is smart enough that he likely wouldn't bother going after Quark... but he might shoot Quark's family member who got Quark in the business instead, then send his ashes to Quark.
He's all about the money, and revenge is a fool's game, so Quark gets to live while only having to pay for the cargo bay repairs and some dings to his conscience.
The human arms dealer gives Quark just a taste of Oomox when he's manipulating him at one point. Very nice touch there.
"Who would engage with arms dealers?!"
Me: ....cue Janeway!
Sisko: Quark we want you off the station. Your crimes are too far for us, your selling of weapons… disgusting.
Quark: Didn’t you gas a whole planet to wipe out a whole species?
Sisko: … Okay so make sure your customers aren’t too bad about things.
Kira: How could you?! Quark, you’re off the station, NOW!
Quark: Didn’t you blow up pregnant women who were simple sex slaves to Cardassians?
Kira: I hope your guests have a wonderful Time here.
Odo: Well you two may be compromised, but not me! My morals are like iron! Quark, I’m going too…
Quark: Didn’t you…
Odo: Don’t worry, I’m as blind as a bat.
Sisko displaced a colony of Maqius after the Maqius did the same to the Cardassians, but also doubled down on it by shooting down the escapees. Really not a fair comparison, sorry.
That Kira episode is awful and absolutely deserves to be mocked though.
@@Jokie155 Just cause Sisko had reason doesn't mean he still didn't gas a whole planet. Their's context, but also... he still did.
Kira didn't actually blow up anyone in "Wrongs Darker than Death or Night" did she? Or is this a different episode?
@@starwarsnerd100 She was a terrorist/revolutionary, so she DID kill people.
@@starwarsnerd100 Different episode plot. The one where we find out she blew up pregnant women and workers of Cardassians for.... being there.
What did we learn from this episode ?: If you sell armaments , do not sell your wares to someone who actively tells you they will use it on a Civilian Population
My only question I always had about this was, how trustworthy would you consider a weapons demonstration when both the weapon and the target aren't even real?
'Behold, with this rubber band, you can destroy an entire tank column. Trust me, everything's simulated, including the customer satisfaction.'
I guess it's the kind of thing that could only work if the dealer either has a really strong reputation or is someone the client has bought from before. They'd need that established reason to trust them, whether it's personal experience or impeccable word of mouth.
@@wendyheatherwood ...But he's a Ferengi. That's putting the most stereotyped untrustworthy salesmen in the most easily faked presentation.
Actually I could think of one buyer that would have actually liked his sniper rifle to out with a little flag For so long at the end of the that the little flag would still fire off and pierce into the erson's head and the flag says the word bang right mister J
This is one of the times I'm 100% on Quark's side. The law says he can't sell weapons on the station. Fair enough. So he doesn't. He signs a contract containing an agreement to sell weapons on the station, then he steps off the station to actually sell them.
It sounds like a mere technicality and a stupid loophole, but it isn't. The weapons cannot come onto the station this way, which is the whole point of the rule. Quark isn't just "technically" abiding by it, he is literally abiding by its spirit and whole point. If the station also wants to stop whatever Quark is doing, then it should update its rules. It's not fair to punish him for breaking a rule that didn't exist yet. That's an _ex post facto_ law.
EDIT: To be clear, I don't just support Quark legally. Obviously if he obeys the law, then he obeys the law. I support him _morally._ I think what he did was morally fine, not just to "prove a point" or whatever, but because as far as he knew, this was an acceptable venue for that kind of deal. All arms deals in the Star Trek universe take place in questionable locales, and this is the least-questionable one I have ever seen, where the law literally and precisely protects him.
15:31 I disagree. That is the look of a man who knows he isn’t making off that station alive. He knows some how some way his number is up…
5:55 Ey, Swindle, what you got for sale today? I've got some gear that I think your fellow combaticons might want to trade for!
The ending of this is cute. I like the other episode where Quark learns that friends are more important then money.
Like I said of Fred Johnson offering harbor to the newly Rechristened Rocinante, when you're on the float and the only hand reaching out to you is caked in blood, what do you do?
6:20 sounds a lot like itsagundam.
This is a good Quark episode. Not perfect, but good
Arms for me but not for thee - The Federation, probably.
It's easy to spit on distasteful acts when you're the strongest superpower in the galaxy. It's decidedly harder when you're an oppressed minority. Which is why I really love how Bajor backed up Quark this episode: They know exactly what lengths one may be forced to go for the sake of survival.
That would explain why trafficking biomimetic gel was pretty much a war crime on DS9 but A-okay on Voyager.
The ending of Lord of War comes to mind.
Liberal politicians in a nutshell. They're protected by heavily-armed bodyguards, police, and soldiers, but say that we common peasants shouldn't even be allowed to own a pistol to defend ourselves with.
Enterprise Archer as the sane one? That's not good.😮
I'm guessing that the Archer from the canceled season 5.
@@mikegates8993 Probably.
Bar not making profit paid off debt
Is that bone-eating bacteria called "Clostridium moopsylinum", by chance?
It's funny how, in Star Trek, arms dealers are like venture-capitalist drug-dealers that will see whole worlds burn for mere numbers going up in an account.
If this were made today, this story would be closer to 'an aggressive husk-of-a-former-empire has invaded a neighbor under false pretenses, and everyone is caught flat-footed unable to send the weapons needed for that sovereign world's self-defense- and if multiplanetary governments can't respond fast enough, where are all the arms dealers we'need now?'
[que an intragalactic easter egg hunt for weapons along the lines of 'It's a Mad Mad (x3) World' and a dose of _"we need weapons, WON'T SOMEONE TAKE OUR CREDITS!!!"_ ]
Love this species viewers on females 👍
I realize the original post date for the video was in 2019. Sadly, defending one's home with deadly force has become commonplace. It is sadder still that many times the would-be intruders are merely youngsters directed to the wrong address. It's just another example of how yesterday's absurd is today's normal. Thanks for the reviews.
What are you going on about? A) home/self defense with a weapon was not invented in 2019 so I don't know why you're acting like it's some alien concept B) As awful as swatting is, it has nothing to do with either this episode's plot or chuck's comments
I love how hypocritical the crew are sisco literally used biological weapons on a planet and the fact that there hands are all soaked in blood because of the war or the genocide of the founders there all zealots