Star Trek: The Ship

Episode: "The Ship"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 2

Original Air Date: October 6, 1996

via Memory Alpha

During a planetary survey, the away team (including Sisko, Dax, O'Brien and Worf) observe a Jem'Hadar ship crash-landing on the surface.  They move quickly to investigate, eager to learn about its technology.  Not surprisingly, a Vorta arrives soon after with her own Jem'Hadar detail.  Tensions mount quickly.  The Jem'Hadar clearly have the upper hand yet they are unwilling to simply destroy the ship and its current Starfleet occupants, the obvious tactical move.  Clearly, there is something aboard of great value.  But what?

Hot damn, is this one good!  

As ever, both writing and acting are outstanding.  The tension that builds between the principals is 100% believable.  The plot twist, while not Keyser Soze-level, is dazzlingly executed.  There are wonderful Trekkie treats.  Kilana (the Vorta) is one of many narrative descendants of Joanne Linville's Romulan Commander character in TOS's "The Enterprise Incident."  My favorite part is the character Crewman Muniz, introduced as a buddy to O'Brien only to be killed off.  He's a "red shirt" with a name.  In the denouement, Sisko mourns all of the crew members lost on the mission - by name.  Some of the writers felt they could have - should have - made more of the Muniz tale.  Maybe they're right.  But even as it is, it's a big deal and it signals an important shift, leading Star Trek boldly into new territory.

"The Ship" is one of many stories in DS9's run that sit with the realities of war in a way Trek never had before.  The pattern had always been to fix an "alien" world's problems, then run away to next week's episode.  Because DS9 "stays in one place," our heroes have to sit in the stew.  The writers make them.  Pain, death, hopelessness: they're all real.  The episodes embracing this theme are some of the most important and memorable of the series.

Watching DS9 and Voyager simultaneously is revealing.  I usually write of the comparisons from Voyager's perspective but this is an important place to view from DS9's.  The Voyager episode I had watched most recently before this one was "Flashback," considered by many to be one of that series's strongest.  It's a mess.  Sure, there are fun moments, especially the original series cameos.  But important plot details are clumsily discarded by the end.

Meanwhile, everything in "The Ship" matters - every relationship, every line of dialogue, every camera shot, every detail.  What's funny is that neither my child nor I even properly remembered it from our first family binge during COVID lockdown.  There are no important long-term reveals.  It's just rock solid storytelling.  By Season 5, we've come to expect nothing less.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Kaitlin Hopkins (Kilana) was born February 1, 1964 in New York City.  "The Ship" is her first of two Trek appearances.  Both of her parents were very successful in show business.  Mother Shirley Knight was a Tony- and Emmy-winning actress.  Father Gene Persson co-produced and co-created You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and its 1999 revival, winning two Tonys himself.  

Hopkins attended Carnegie Mellon University.  Beyond Trek, she had a regular role on Another World and guest appearances on Beverly Hills, 90210, Murder, She Wrote and The Practice among others.  Presently, she is the Head of Musical Theatre at Texas State University.