Title :
The Ship
Series :
Rating :
Overall Ep :
99
First Aired :
7 Oct 1996
Stardate :
50049.3
Director :
Year :
Writers :
Season Ep :
YATI :
When we see the bridge, all the Jem'Hadar are hanging dead from their chairs. Yet in "A Time To Stand", this exact same ship is used by Sisko and his officers on a raid, and they all complain that there are no chairs aboard because the Jem'Hadar never need to sit down.
Worf's description of keeping vigil over the body of a dead man to keep predators away is at odds with TNG's "Heart of Glory", in which it was said that the Klingons regard a corpse as "a worthless shell" to be disposed of. Still, we have seen before that different Klingon houses have different customs, and perhaps this particular one is only practiced by some. Consider it in comparison to the tradition of a wake, or sitting shiva, for instance. Some people practice it, but many don't.
We see that the Dominion have transporters that can beam people onto the ship. So... why don't they just scan it for lifeforms and beam all the Starfleet officers out into space? Then they can walk in and rescue the Changeling.
Great Moment :
The scene where Sisko laments the loss of five people on the mission, and discusses with Dax whether the loss was worth the ship they recovered. It's a clear victory for 'our' people, and Dax is absolutely right when she says that those five deaths were worth it because they might wind up saving millions of lives - which they almost certainly did, because it was almost certainly studying this ship that allowed the Federation to improve their shield technology to resist Dominion weaponry. Yet at the same time, for once we see just how heavily the loss weighs on Sisko, and the fact that he takes time to talk to Dax about the people he lost and how he related to them in life really sells this point. It's a great scene.
Body Count :
Five Starfleet officers - three on the Runabout plus Muniz and T'Lor. Plus all of the Jem'Hadar and one Founder.
Factoid :
Whilst it's a fan favourite, some of the producers were not that happy with how the episode turned out. It was felt that the level of tension was never quite high enough - Hans Beimler blamed the fact that they kept cutting away from the ship to have Sisko go outside and talk to the Vorta.
The exterior scenes were filmed at Soledad Canyon in North Los Angeles, the same location used for Cardassia IV in "The Homecoming". As on that occasion, the heat on the day of filming was extreme, reaching 51 C (124 F).
Ensign Hoya is a Benzite, the first female of the species seen and the first one who does not wear the usual breathing apparatus. Mike Okuda blames this on advances in Benzite technology. Though perhaps it's that the females don't require the apparatus?
The scene where Muñiz teases O'Brien about Ireland having no mountains is probably a reference to the movie "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain", which starred Colm Meaney. In the movie, Ireland's only official mountain is reclassified as a hill when a survey discovers that it it slightly less than 1,000 feet tall. The locals respond by taking dirt up to the top of the mountain by hand and building a mound on the summit that allowed it to just top the required height.
Plotline
Exploring a planet on the edge of Dominion space, Sisko and crew discover a crashed Jem'Hadar warship. Determined to claim the ship and score the intelligence coup of the decade, Sisko must deal with a Dominion force who seemingly care little for the vessel itself but are determined to retrieve something from inside at any cost.
