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Old 06-21-2021, 01:24 AM
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January 28th, 1991, "The Wounded"

I have to say it, I hate the Cardassian uniforms in this episode. Furthermore it's just silly that Cardassians wear armor at all times. You gotta pity poor Marc Alaimo, especially when he had to stagger around a desert in that thing.

Fiver (by Marc)

The Episode

Captain's log, stardate 44429.6. We are on a mapping survey near the Cardassian sector. It has been nearly a year since a peace treaty ended the long conflict between the Federation and Cardassia.

Really? Then why didn't the Federation ask the Cardassians for help during the Borg invasion?

This has to be the clumsiest introduction of a new galactic power ever. Furthermore, why did it take TWO YEARS for Cardassia to leave Bajor?

PICARD: Last time I was in this sector, I was on the Stargazer, running at warp speed ahead of a Cardassian warship.
TROI: Running, Captain? You? That's hard to believe.
PICARD: Believe it. I'd been sent to make preliminary overtures to a truce. I'd lowered my shields as a gesture of good will. But the Cardassians were not impressed. They had taken out most of my weapons and damaged the impulse engines before I could regroup and run.

What an idiot. Both for lowering the shields and waiting for that much damage to happen before leaving.

And as a meaningless aside, the Constellation-class model in his ready room isn't the Stargazer. The model is NCC-7100, the Stargazer was NCC-2893. We are explicitly told that the only two ships he's ever commanded were the Stargazer and the E-D, so what was the NCC-2893? Another Constellation-class that he served on before the Stargazer?

WORF: The Cardassians have no honour. I do not trust them.
TROI: They're our allies now, Mister Worf. We have to trust them.
WORF: Trust is earned, not given away.

I have to agree with Worf here. It's also funny to think about how much more experience he'll have with Cardassians in the future.

O'BRIEN: What is it?
KEIKO: Kelp buds, plankton loaf and sea berries.
O'BRIEN: Sweetheart, I'm not a fish.
KEIKO: It's very healthy. I had this every morning when I was growing up.

Is Keiko a vegetarian? And incidentally, they've been married two weeks, they haven't had to deal with their tastes in breakfast until now?

Also, the stuff on the plate isn't kelp buds, plankton loaf, and sea berries. It's boiled taro (a root vegetable), pickled cucumber, and seaweed with sesame seeds.

O'BRIEN: What? No muffins or oatmeal, or corned beef and eggs?
KEIKO: For breakfast?
...
O'BRIEN: Scalloped potatoes, mutton shanks, oxtails and cabbage.
KEIKO: Kind of heavy.

You have to admit that Keiko is diplomatic. She sounds like a pescatarian, and that kind of food would sound disgusting to me if I was a pescatarian.

O'BRIEN: Oh, you'll love it, I promise. I can still remember the aromas when my mother was cooking.
KEIKO: She cooked?
O'BRIEN: She didn't believe in a replicator. She thought real food was more nutritious.
KEIKO: She handled real meat? She touched it and cut it?

Ugh. There's a whole other issue here. We've seen plenty of people who prefer making food from scratch if possible, but most people in this era seem to be replicator-only.

So Keiko has never touched real meat? She's only eaten replicated fish? I thought her family was a bit more traditional than that.

PICARD: Why have you fired on us?
MACET [on viewscreen]: A curious question, Captain. In war, one attacks one's enemies.
PICARD: There is a treaty between our peoples.
MACET [on viewscreen]: Perhaps that fact was unknown to the Federation starship which destroyed our space station in the Cuellar System two days ago.

Um, if you intend to restart the war, you have to let the other side know about it. Picard didn't know that you considered yourself at war again.

HADEN [on monitor]: They've granted you safe passage. We've agreed that you'll take along a delegation of observers as a show of good faith. Jean-Luc, I don't have to tell you the Federation is not prepared for a new sustained conflict. You must preserve the peace, no matter what the cost. Haden out.

I really hate it when the "good guys" say "whatever the cost." That's just inviting fate to make sure that the cost is larger than you think.

PICARD: Counsellor, I want you to stay as close to the crew as possible. Some of them may feel uncomfortable with Cardassians on board. I don't want any incidents.

I thought prejudice didn't exist anymore!

PICARD: Mister Data, is there anyone else on board who served previously with Captain Benjamin Maxwell?
DATA: Accessing. Chief O'Brien served under his command aboard the Rutledge, sir.

You'd think this would've been in the mission briefing Hayden sent.

RIKER: Welcome to the Enterprise. I'm First Officer William Riker, Counsellor Deanna Troi.
MACET: I am Gul Macet. My aides, Glinn Daro, Glinn Telle.

The usage of "Glinn" for "Commander" doesn't happen very often. I have to wonder if they have an equivalent of "Lieutenant Commander" that is also appreviated to "Glinn".

LAFORGE: And with long range sensors, we've been scanning a radius of ten light years. We can effectively scan one sector in a day.

A sector is twenty light-years to a side. So that's twenty-seven positions that the Enterprise has to occupy. It takes almost an hour to find anything large enough to be a ship within sensor range?

This is why you never give real numbers in situations like me, it invites twits like me to Do The Math.

MACET: Captain Picard, you can understand that we are sceptical. Do you expect us to believe that you are using every means at your disposal to track down one of your own?

You shouldn't, because Picard is obviously prolonging this process. Either that or the writers have no sense of scale and the Okudas never corrected them.

DARO: In the meantime, we're going to your Ten Forward. Will you join us?
O'BRIEN: If my Commander tells me to discuss the Transporter with you, I will. If Captain Picard orders me to tell you everything I know about Ben Maxwell, I will. But who I choose to spend my free time with, that's my business.

Well, that's just rude. I get that Miles is uncomfortable, but I expect better of him.

MACET: We have a number of ships in sector twenty one five oh five. If you will give us more precise coordinates and the ship's coded transponder frequency, we would be able to intercept Maxwell far more quickly than you.
PICARD: I'm sure that's true. However, given the circumstances, I would prefer to make the initial contact myself.

I'm with Macet on this one. He's not asking for the full specs on Starfleet weapons, he's asking for a way to locate one rogue ship. Picard is just making himself look like one of those "on this mission I'm not doing one little bit more than I've been ordered to do" types. Kirk asking the Klingons over for dinner in Undiscovered Country comes to mind immediately.

O'BRIEN: (sings) The minstrel boy to the war has gone...

The Minstrel-Boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him;
His father's sword he has girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him.
"Land of song!" said the warrior-bard,
"Tho' all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!"

The Minstrel fell!—but the foeman's chain
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he lov'd ne'er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder;
And said, "No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and bravery!
Thy songs were made for the pure and free,
They shall never sound in slavery.


Incidentally, in DS9 the tune became a leitmotif for O'Brien.
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