Is there any love here for The Assent?

[Photon]

A very cool and different DS9, that's why I like it. And great lines from Odo and Quark
"Well, I guess you're not as successful a businessman as you think you are."
"Which means you spent the last ten years of your life trying to catch a nobody – with little success, I might add. So you tell me, which one of us is the bigger failure?"
- Odo and Quark
"We're going to clean every day?"
"No, Jake, just the odd- and even-numbered ones."
- Jake and Nog
"This whole runabout is alive with annoying little noises."
- Quark, paraphrasing The Sound of Music.
"All we have to do is haul this transmitter to higher ground, more altitude less atmosphere. Go high enough and we just might get a signal out."
"How much higher do we have to go?"
"Carry the seven, take the square root, times pi... I'd say ah... that high."

- Quark and Odo
"You're nothing but a petty thief!"
"And you're an arrogant prude!"
"Lecher!"
"Freak!"
"Fraud!"
"Fascist!"
"Failure!"
- Odo and Quark
"Don't you get it? I'm not trying to save you. I'm taking you along as emergency rations. If you die, I'm gonna eat you."
"You're joking."
"Waste not, want not."
- Quark and Odo
"Now, I know the two of you are very different people, but you're still friends, and somehow, some way, you'll make this work."
"I don't know..."
"Neither do I."
"Well I do. (to Nog) And I'm your captain. (to Jake) And your father. And what I say goes. Good day, gentlemen."
- Sisko, Nog, and Jake
"If it wasn't for his signal, we never would have found you. Looks like he saved both your lives."
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
- Dax and Odo, about Quark http://memory-alpha.org/en/index.php?title=The_Ascent_(episode)&action=edit&section=3

 

[RyuRoots]

"The Ascent" is one of my favorite DS9 episodes, and one of the best Quark episodes (and certainly a good one for Odo) of the show, I think. Those two have always had a rather unique relationship to one another and it was fascinating to watch them in a situation like this. The Jake and Nog B-story was pretty well-handled too, I thought.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

This a decent episode. I wouldn't say it was in my top 20 or anything, but when it comes to DS9, there is pretty heavy competition for top 20, so that is not a slight.

The Quark/Odo match-up is always interesting and entertaining to watch.

 

[Sykonee]

Considering the two displayed a natural chemistry that made for some great scenes right from the get-go (both actors and characters), it's quite amazing that it took until the fifth season for them to do a show like this.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

I enjoy it. Not the greatest episode, but a nice solid episode always worth watching.

 

[Jono]

Quite an enjoyable episode.

 

[Wally]

Yep. One of my favorite moments is Odo smacking Quark in the head to wake him up, fearing that he had died- and Quark then accusing him of attacking him. Oh, and my favorite quotes:

Quark: "I'm just gonna lay here and die!"

 

[Tachyon]

One of my fav DS9 episodes without a doubt.

 

[TheGodBen]

It's fun, probably the ultimate Quark/Odo episode. I'm still a little upset that we didn't get Ira Behr's original idea though; a full episode of Odo and Quark bickering while waiting for Sisko to pick them up in a runabout. But I guess they felt they needed a story, and this story is good enough.

 

[Bisz]

One of my favorites for sure, so yes, lots of love for The Ascent.

 

[Tachyon]

It's fun, probably the ultimate Quark/Odo episode. I'm still a little upset that we didn't get Ira Behr's original idea though; a full episode of Odo and Quark bickering while waiting for Sisko to pick them up in a runabout. But I guess they felt they needed a story, and this story is good enough.

Not feeling the original plot idea, to be honest. Sisko was not needed in this episode at all.

 

[TheGodBen]

^ Sisko wasn't in the original plot either, the idea was that the two would be stuck together while waiting for him. It was to be a riff on Waiting for Godot and Godot never did show up in that play.

 

[Navaros]

I love the original idea. I'd never heard about it before seeing it in this thread.

I guess the original idea would have taken too much balls to do. A TV episode of just two characters talking, whilst utterly brilliant, is too hardcore for most people with not-so-good attention spans to take. Especially if they removed the B-plot, which they should have. IMO a lot of the audience not being able to take that is probably a large part of why they didn't do it.

On the other hand, they did do something similar in Treachery, Faith, and the Great River to very great effect with it mostly being Weyoun/Odo talking. But of course that has the B-plot distracting from it as well.

Waiting for Godot is also an aburdist style play...that also would have been great to see DS9 imitating that aspect of it as well (would have been a truly different episode than anything Trek has ever done), but that would have taken colossally-sized balls to try.

In any case, what they produced is still an excellent episode.

 

[Too Much Fun]

What proves to me what a great episode it was is the fact that it's mostly my two least favourite characters on DS9 stuck together interacting the whole time, and yet I didn't hate it. When I saw that it was going to be a Quark and Odo story, I was sure it would be a real slog to get through, but it was very nicely written. It takes a lot for me to enjoy an episode all about Odo or Quark, so putting them together sounds like a recipe for disaster and how well this episode turned out was one of the nicest surprises in all my DS9 watching.

 

[SomniumRabidum]

I really enjoyed the episode.

I'm going through seasons 5-7 right now actually, and just watched this one a few days ago. I never finished DS9, I just couldn't stay hooked, but I'm giving it a real shot this time.

I thought the episode was pretty damn good, in spite of the fact that I can't stand Jake, and Odo regularly annoys me. Great writing, and hilarious chemistry between Odo and Quark.

 

[Jaespol]

I loved the AsCent, it was a truly hilarious episode.
The highlight for me was definitely the bickering in the runabout, especially the argument about Odo smacking his soup