Our Man Bashir
"Our Man Bashir" | |
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode | |
Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 10 |
Directed by | Winrich Kolbe |
Story by | Robert Gillan |
Teleplay by | Ronald D. Moore |
Featured music | Jay Chattaway |
Production code | 482 |
Original air date | November 27, 1995 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Our Man Bashir" is the 82nd
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on
The production team had deliberately avoided episodes centering on holodeck malfunctions as they felt they had been overused on
Plot
Dr.
In the game, a Russian spy, Anastasia Komananov, appears with Major Kira's likeness. Komananov explains that a mad scientist, Dr. Noah, is kidnapping elite scientists; Bashir's orders are to rescue Professor Honey Bare (Jadzia Dax). After escaping the assassin Falcon (Miles O'Brien), Bashir, Garak and Komananov go to a casino to speak to Noah's associate Duchamps (Worf). After a game of baccarat, Duchamps drugs the trio, knocking them out.
They awaken in Dr. Noah's lair on Mount Everest. Noah (Captain Sisko) explains his plan to flood the rest of the world, wiping out the human race except for his kidnapped scientists. He has Bashir and Garak handcuffed to an underground laser that will flood the chamber with lava in five minutes. As the time ticks down, Bashir flirts with Prof. Bare, and she slips him a key. Bashir frees himself and Garak, who protests that continuing the simulation is too dangerous. Garak is about to close the program, potentially killing the other crew members, when Bashir shoots him, grazing him with a bullet. Garak is shocked, but impressed, and agrees to continue.
They burst into Noah's study, and Eddington tells them he will attempt to rescue Sisko and the others in two minutes. To gain time, Bashir hits the button to activate Noah's plan, flooding the Earth. As he had not expected to actually win, the shocked Dr. Noah is still about to shoot Bashir, but before he can pull the trigger, Eddington beams the crew's patterns out of the holosuite. Bashir and Garak end the program with relief, Garak commenting that Bashir "saved the day by destroying the world".
Production
Story editor
The story was initially pitched to Echevarria by Robert Gillan, who was on the staff of Deep Space Nine as Assistant Script Coordinator. Echevarria was immediately convinced, and told Behr about the story who was equally as enthusiastic. In Gillan's original pitch, there wasn't a specific setting clearly set out, but Behr and Echevarria were sold on the idea that nothing went wrong with the holosuites — it was simply where the computer decided to store the information following a transporter accident. Producer Ronald D. Moore came up with the 1960s setting, as he felt it was appropriate since Garak was a spy for the Cardassian Obsidian Order.[1] He wrote the teleplay, and based it on a variety of sources including James Bond, Our Man Flint, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Wild Wild West. He later explained that he "loved all of them as a kid. They had a certain panache. I loved writing that episode."[2]
Some of the elements were suggested by other staff members, with Robert Wolfe naming Colonel Anastasia Komananov and Behr changing Suzie Luvsitt to Mona Luvsitt. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was later not pleased with the James Bond-style approach, and when Bashir's spy program appeared in the later episode "A Simple Investigation", the references were more generic.[2] Dennis Madalone managed to save some time during the production as one of the shots involved Bashir seeing Falcon approach him from behind by seeing his reflection in a bottle of champagne. After time was already scheduled to attempt the shot, Madalone explained to the director that he could take the filmed sequence and digitally manipulate it onto the bottle. Madalone was also responsible for firing a cork from a bottle at Colm Meaney's head from off screen to make it appear as if Bashir did it, and managed to do it on the first take.[2]
"Our Man Bashir" was the longest shoot of any single episode of Deep Space Nine, taking nine days to film instead of the normal seven. The episode required a great deal of stunt work and special equipment, such as stuntmen going through
Reception
"Our Man Bashir" was first broadcast on November 27, 1995, in
Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club compared "Our Man Bashir" to "Little Green Men" from earlier in the season, saying that this episode was "better paced". Another comparison made was to The Next Generation's "Hollow Pursuits", saying that "instead of [Reginald] Barclay using the holodeck to enact his fantasies with people he can't bear to deal with in real life, Bashir is forced to keep his made up world going if he wants to save the lives of his friends".[5] Handlen also praised the relationship between Bashir and Garak in the episode, and said "Our Man Bashir" demonstrates their characterisation.[5] In Michelle Erica Green's review for TrekNation, she criticised the role of women in the episode, saying that they fared better in the James Bond movies. She also thought that taking the out-of-character element of the episode repeated elements seen in several episodes during the previous season, but praised the acting on the part of Avery Brooks and that Garak was "born to play a Bond sidekick".[6]
Keith DeCandido, writing for Tor.com, said that it was obvious that the actors enjoyed their new parts in this episode and said of the episode, "holy crap is it fun".[7] In particular, he praised both Avery Brooks and Nana Visitor in their Bond-esque roles, saying that Brooks made a villain on par with those played by Donald Pleasence, Christopher Lee, and Javier Bardem. DeCandido gave "Our Man Bashir" a rating of nine out of ten.[7] In a list of the top 100 episodes of the Star Trek franchise, "Our Man Bashir" was placed in 77th place by Charlie Jane Anders at io9.[8] She noted it as being one of goofiest Deep Space Nine episodes.
In 2012, Den of Geek ranked this the seventh best episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.[9]
A 2015 binge-watching guide for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by WIRED recommended not skipping this essential episode.[10]
In 2016,
In 2016, The Hollywood Reporter rated "Our Man Bashir" the 87th best episode of all Star Trek episodes.[12]
In 2020, Io9 said this was one of the "must watch" episodes from the series.[13]
Awards
The episode was nominated for two
Home media release
The first home media release of "Our Man Bashir" was as a two-episode VHS cassette alongside "The Sword of Kahless" in the United Kingdom on June 13, 1996,[15] followed in the United States and Canada by a single-episode release on October 3, 2000.[16] It was later released on DVD as part of the season four box set on August 5, 2003.[17]
Footnotes
- ^ a b Erdmann; Block (2000): p. 294
- ^ a b c d Erdmann; Block (2000): p. 295
- ^ a b Erdmann; Block (2000): p. 296
- ^ a b "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4 Ratings". TrekNation. Archived from the original on October 3, 2000. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
- ^ a b Handlen, Zack (January 24, 2013). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Our Man Bashir"/"Homefront"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
- ^ Green, Michelle Erica (January 14, 2003). "Our Man Bashir". TrekNation. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
- ^ a b DeCandido, Keith (February 25, 2014). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "Our Man Bashir"". Tor.com. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
- ^ Anders, Charlie Jane (October 2, 2014). "The Top 100 Star Trek Episodes Of All Time!". io9. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
- ^ "Top 10 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes". Den of Geek. 2012-11-11. Archived from the original on 2021-06-20. Retrieved 2021-03-18.
- ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
- ^ "The 50 best Star Trek episodes ever". Empire. 2016-07-27. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
- ^ Hollywood Reporter 'Star Trek': 100 Greatest Episodes
- ^ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Must-Watch Episodes". Gizmodo. 22 April 2020. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
- ^ "DS9's "Our Man Bashir," 21 Years Later". StarTrek.com. November 16, 2016.
- ^ "Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Volume 4.5 [VHS] [1995]". Amazon UK. 13 May 1996. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
- ^ "Star Trek – Deep Space Nine, Episode 81: The Sword of Kahless [VHS] (1993)". Amazon. 3 October 2000. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
- ^ Ordway, Holly E. (August 12, 2003). "Star Trek Deep Space Nine – Season 4". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
References
- Erdmann, Terry J.; Block, Paula M. (2000). Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 9780671501068.
External links
- "Our Man Bashir" at IMDb
- "Our Man Bashir" at Memory Alpha
- "Our Man Bashir" at Wayback Machine (archived from the original at StarTrek.com)