Reason #20 Why I Love DS9 – Our Man Bashir

  • Title: Star Trek Deep Space Nine – Our Man Bashir
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There are many reasons why I love Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and why it remains my favorite of the Star Trek franchise.

Reason #20: “Our Man Bashir”

Unlike Star Trek: The Next Generation who seemed to have a couple “something goes wrong on the Holodeck” episodes every season, for the most part DS9 characters stayed out of the Holodecks, at least while on-camera. “Our Man Bashir” is one of the only episodes of the series built around the Holodeck, and as a longtime James Bond fan it remains one of my favorites.

The episode begins with Garak (Andrew Robinson) interrupting Dr. Julian Bashir’s (Alexander Siddig) new Holoprogram where he plays a British spy during the height of the Cold War. Things get serious why a transporter accident stores the patterns of several crew members inside the Holodeck (transfomring them into characters in the program) forcing Bashir and Garak to play out the scenario.

Avery Brooks is terrific hamming it up as the typical Bond villain, Nana Visitor has all kinds of fun as Russian spy Col. Anastasia Komananov (complete with bad Russian accent), and Terry Farrell has a terrific moment as the mousy Dr. Honey Bare finding her sexuality thanks to our hero just in time to help him save the day – by destroying the world!

Great fun all around, especially for fans of Bond. And for fans of the show this is another episode further cementing one of my favorite relationships, that of Bashir and Garak.