“Starship Down,” like TNG’s “Disaster,” is an homage to the ‘70’s disaster genre of films like Earthquake, The Poseidon Adventure, and The Towering Inferno. Both “Disaster” and “Starship Down” are character driven, but as is the usual case, DS9 does a better job with its more well-rounded characters. Where “Disaster” occasionally played ordeals for laughs, such as Picard trapped in an elevator with children and Riker removing data’s head, and forcing unlikable characters--Troi and Ro--to the forefront, “Starship Down” does a much more serious job, with lasting implications.The crew defends a Gamma Quadrant alien ship from a devastating Dominion attack and wind up cut off from each other while stuck in perilous situations. Sisko is severely wounded with a head injury. Kira has to keep him awake until help arrives. Worf has to step up and take command for the first time. Quark has to disarm a warhead stuck in the hull before it explodes.
It is the Sisko/Kira dynamic that makes the episode for me. Up until this point, I have never bought into the idea the two are friends. Her saying so at his eulogy in ’The Visitor” was played to have some serious emotional impact, but it did not. Weare told they had a deep friendship and that is it. Frankly, their relationship seemed more strained than anything else. It is because of Sisko’s status as emissary. Kira’s a traditionalist when it comes to her religious beliefs. Maybe she is just too much on her toes trying to please him, yet conflicted when he does not meet her expectations. Whatever her deal was, it was good to see them bond here. Rather odd she is so ecstatic to watch a baseball game, but I will calk that up to her eagerness to please.
Worf’s story continues his transition from security to command just like he did in ‘Hippocratic Oath.” I appreciate the slow going process of building him up from a conflicted, one-dimensional character in TNG--the dumb alien humans are always showing the right way of conducting himself--to someone more like the many Klingons we have met over the years. His development on DS9, excluding the peculiar romance with Dax, makes him a much more appealing, multi-dimensional character than the lunk head who got beaten up y the alien of the week in between destroying everything he did not understand on TNG.
Quark gets his moment to shine as well. Heroically, too, as he disarms the warhead to save them all while engaging in a debate with an alien, played by James Cromwell in his only DS9 appearance, over the wisdom of cheating customers. The debate counts as the B-story. As far as they go, it is the first in a long time to comfortably fit in with the main plot because it proves Quark does have a code of ethics. A twisted code, but a code nevertheless.
As much as I try to just episodes relative to the series, I cannot help but compare “Starship Down” to “Disaster.” It surpasses in every way, particularly in lasting impact on the characters. It is a good episode all around within the context of DS9. Definitely in the upper tier.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
