Funny scene in DS9: Starship Down

I am thinking about watching DS9 from beginning again, I only watched it once from first to last episode. But before I do that I picked a few episodes on random to watch. One of them was Starship Down (4x07). The scene where Hanok and Quark are trying to deactivate a torpedo:

Hanok: "We sell these torpedoes to the Jem'Hadar."
Quark: "I thought you said you'd never sold substandard merchandise... It was supposed to explode on impact, wasn't it?"
Hakon: "Maybe I should offer them a refund!"

Then both burst into a laughter.
I don't know why was that so funny to me, but I haven't laughed that hard in a while while watching a show. And it's a good episode, you might want to watch it. I completely forgot about that one.

 

Great scene. The humor works because there's a lot of tension to break.

 

Hot dogs?

 

I like Quark's whole part of the episode. Explaining the thrill of the economic hunt to a fiscal determinist.

 

It's a great ensemble episode with all the characters having great storylines.

 

Rewatching right now. What a great episode. Everyone seperated and figuring out how to survive on their own, creativity and desperation, and a nice appearance by Zephram Cochrane in makeup.

 

I found it kind of silly that first Worf is all tough and orders people around, later after some advice from Miles, he relaxes a bit and the engineers immediately come up with solutions...

 

He was barking orders, not asking for solutions.

 

Commanding officer needs to get what he wants, no matter how the crew might react to the orders.

 

You have to remember that Star Fleet personnel are all from either the upper ranks of Federation society or the exception of those like Miles who were drawn from the fairly small tradesman class below them. Most grew up highly privileged elite children of elite families.

People forget that most people under the thumb of the Federation live in relative misery in mining, minding remote automated stations, and personal care when they can find employment at all outside the Sanctuary Districts they've been warehoused in. That's why they called them "Gimmies" as in "give me a job, please." After the 21st Century they were all relocated off Earth to extra-terrestrial Districts to permit gentrification of the planet for the elite.

 

But he wasn't getting what he wanted, so he learned to get the right response by changing his approach. A good commander is cognizant of the need to adapt to get results.

 

Depends on the commanding officer.
Some might not notice the need to change their style.

In the end, commanding officer is in charge and does what he wants.
If the crew can't follow orders, they should resign.

 

I think you are confusing soldiers with robots. Officers in the military men study leadership skills extensively. They know that they will have some men and women who are indifferent, dispirited, afraid and desperate.

 

I like this episode. I always smile at the end when KIra puts on her baseball hat. I wish Muniz had been used a little bit more for his future death in "The Ship."


Jason

 

That's pretty much the whole point of the subplot.

When did they not follow orders?

 

Lol. Not sure if resignation was an option when the ship was about to be crushed in the atmosphere of a gas giant. Though that might have been the result had Worf not been flexible in his approach and willing to accept advice.

 

I didn't see the crewmen disobeying Worf's orders. They were just following them in a way he didn't like. Instead of correcting them with a gentle style he went straight towards being rigid and a hard ass. His orders weren't wrong only his ability to communicate them in a effective way or to let them know what he wanted out of them. Also if I recall it was mentioned that none of them were academy graduates. They are like O'Brien and are non-com's and I am guessing lacking much experience compared to Worf and O'Brien so it makes since that they might not be all up in Starfleet procedure in how to do things.

Jason

 

If Worf doesn't know how to get the very best out of his people, maybe he should quit.

 

Worf was also still fairly new to the station and its crew at the time, so they might not have know what his style was or how to handle him (or figure out exactly what the command structure was on the Defiant). Had he stayed on the bridge with Sisko (seeing as how he did have emergency medical training at the Academy) and Kira taken charge of the ship, then the engineers may have figured out a solution a lot faster.

 

Eventually he did, first he killed the leader of the Klingon high council, named his replacement and left DS9 with him.

 

Well, that was a theme as early as TNG's Conundrum: Worf did not have the tools to lead a broad, complex organization. That theme was picked up and developed in this episode, Hippocratic Oath and in Rules of Engagement.