UNCUT - Past Prologue (DS9 S1E3) | Star Trek Journey 246

DS9 sex scoreboard catch up version Well one of the Duras sisters (the hot one) said she was going to bite off Garak’s tongue. I am assuming that means initiating a mating ritual but does not seem it happened. So no new Klingcumin or anyone else. The sex score board Chief/Keiko 1

In the opening credits for this episode notice that the wormhole appears, whereas in the pilot it was missing, since it hadn't been found yet, and to keep it a surprise.

One change in TNG from "Encounter at Farpoint" to the rest of S1 is Troi wore the mindless "Sciences" uniform at Farpoint rather than her bodysuit thing.

The standing sets of this show are amazing. Permanent sets that allow the directors to get some cool shots.

Oh Garak, one of the best Star Trek characters ever! Just a very humble tailor. Nothing more. Or so he always says!

If you want some historical precedence/context, you might want to read into Abba Kovner. I'm pretty sure he's the historical inspiration for Tahna Los. He was a Jew who plotted the get revenge on Germans after the Holocaust by murdering six million Germans.

Surprised you guys didn't mention that Odo actually uses security cameras! Starfleet security has nothing on Constable Odo.

So this is a comment I forgot to post on the pilot. One scene there the guys didnt talk about was the scene with Sisko and Kai Opaka where she announces him as "The Emmissary" which was the name of the episode. "Emmissary means "person sent out on a special mission, a special representative." They didn't react to that and I wonder what they thought about and the more spiritual elements that were part of the pilot. Historically trek looked down on religion buton but Kira says Kai Opaka is a key to uniting the divided Bajoran people. But she was more interested in Sisko and the Celestial Temple then Bajoran politics.

So since they asked, the "Bridge" on DS9 is called Ops, shot for Operations Center. Which is probably what the Cardassians who built it called it.

Wasn't there another episode? Netflx has another as episode as the second one. And this was three. Was it not in the box set?

There's so much in the rest of this series that I can't wait for you guys to get to. When I was in college and this was on, it was epic TV viewing. Long journey, but you'll see that it's worth it!

Aside from the politics and gray-ness of things on this series, you'll also see them make better use of recurring characters than TNG did. The Duras' are good examples, but there are others you'll meet. I think it's a strength of the "single location" of the same station.

I'm waiting for a garak/bashir gay response or comment since a long time ago, and nothing hahah 😂

For clarification Kira wasn't IN the kot'mahal or whatever but she was a resistance fighter who fought along side them, which makes her distinct from RO who didn't stay on Bajor, which if you'll recall was a reason the Bajorans she met in her first episode were giving her shit, "we stayed and fought, you ran" Kira was fighting the cardassians her whole life, Ro got off Bajor as soon as she could (most Bajorans didnt have the option) In the TNG episode, they were referring to "The Bajora" the diaspora of refugees, vs "The Bajorans" who stayed on the planet during the brutal Cardassian occupation.

There seemed to be some confusion, the bajoran terrorist didn't come from the wormhole, the wormhole leads to the other side of the galaxy. Anything coming through the wormhole, unless its coming back from having gone in on the alpha quadrant side, is by definition something the federation hasnt encountered before.

So I FINALLY had time to sit down and watch the AMA (im late, I know). One question that I don't think was asked, how do you guys feel about a Star Trek show that literally has no captain by rank running the show? Jarring? Or are you getting used to it?

So wormhole takes to other side of the galaxy. It takes travel time by maximun warp speed about 65-70 years.

Thanks for the upload, guys. Nice discussion.

Garak is my favorite character in all of Star Trek. :)

This episode always makes me wonder, if we were invaded by aliens, and let's say they're fairly humanlike aliens to make the parallels stronger, how would I behave? Would I become a terrorist, a "resistance fighter"? How far would I be willing to go? It's a question about oneself that you can never answer until you're in that situation, and I hope no one ever is put in it. I want to say I'd just be a fighter engaged in carefully planned strikes against military targets and nothing else. But I might feel different if I see those aliens' massacre all of my friends and family, annihilate my home, cities, culture, planet... As the wise Yoda once said, hatred is the path to the dark side. But hatred can often be understandable.

Re: Kira's haircut, I think watching this show as a teenager is the reason I find women with short hair so attractive

I'm curious as to what you guys think of the new shuttles they call Runabouts? I know you haven't really seen them too well yet, but first impressions?

I won't be at all specific, but I think it is worth noting that the comment which was by far the most frequently called a spoiler in the original unscreened patron takes of this episode is something that the guys deduced just from watching it and essentially said themselves.

Oh shoot, this episode was written by the same writer as Code of Honor. Who also wrote the third dpisode of Stargate SG-1 (which has a reputation similar to Code of Honor) Weird how she's written the 3rd episode for all these series. Is that her specialty, coming in and writing early episodes for shows?

"Will someone who Dax knows come through the wormhole?"......Um I still don't think they quite get what the wormhole is or where it goes lol. Did they forget the scene from the pilot already?

Head's up to everybody: Netflix has the episodes in production order, TA Crew are watching things in the ordered they aired, for the most part these are the same, but for the case of episodes 2 and 3 Netflix and production order are flipped.

The Ferengi scene in Chain of Command might make a bit more sense now. The place they were originally supposed to go to for transport to the Cardassian moon was originally supposed to be DS9 for some crossover, and the Ferengi was supposed to be Quark. But DS9 hadn't aired yet by the time the episode went into production, so they changed it to some random outpost.

This is my third 'uncut reaction watchalong' and I was really confused how to sync with your stream until i noticed that netflix (germany) has misplaced episode 4 as episode 3 but labeled as episode 2 ;) I can't remember how I felt about this one on first watch in the 90s but I loved this episode on rewatches. Your reactions are as entertaining as always! Keep it up!

Chaps, a request, for those of us using streaming services would you mind putting the episode name, rather than just the number, in the title, I've just spent 10 minutes trying to work out why your episode 3 is entirely different in those first few seconds you show for sync to mine, only to find that Netflix has them out of order, and it's episode 3 is Man Alone, not past prologues, which you are watching. (I understand now that you are right, this was the first aired, and that netflix is dumb and has them in record date rather than air date, it's not your fault at all, but would make it easier to know whats what with the Ep name in the title) Anyways, enjoying your reactions to all things trek, cheers!

Edit: NVM Column Meany already explained verbatim my explanation about where the Wormhole goes and why Bajor thinks it's important below. Dang TD tiers, sniping all the good points. 😜

A lot say tng explores the galaxy and ds9 stays in one place buts it's BS. There are a ton of episodes of tng just floating in space with a bottle episode where they go nowhere.

It’s worth noting that Odo didn’t, I believe at least, make the choice FOR Kira. He recognized that she had already made the choice on her own, even though she hadn’t realized it yet. Like “Yeah, she’s going to make the right choice, even if she doesn’t know it. Let’s get the process started.” And I think that’s even better.

Man…I went to play the episode on Prime, and for some reason, despite the last episode I played being the pilot, it defaulted to trying to play 2x26. I saw the title before the episode number, and went “Wow, they sure did THAT earlier than I remember! What the hell, how does that even WORK?” 🤣

Watched this episode with you guys for probably the first time in 25 years. I’m surprised how well formed early DS9 is. Bringing in the Duras sisters early was a nice bridge to Redemption II.

Nana Visitor- the actress who plays Kira- is the NIECE of Cyd Charisse the 1950s classic movie star known for her S-Tier dancing in musicals

I've Looke at the entire upcoming first season, and while everyone always says it has to find its footing, these upcoming episodes are damn solid

It can be handy to have a Constable who can turn into a rat and spy on criminals loitering on the station...

Yes... Kira wants to speak to Sisko's Manager...glad they ended this episode by not having her be a "Space Karen"

I forgot how strong this one was for a second episode. And that we meet Garak in the second episode.

Brand new Patron here...have been following you guys for a few weeks skimming through your TOS and TNG reactions. Had to join for DS9! Fun fact: Andrew Robinson the actor who plays Cardassian Tailor Garak was the serial killer in the classic 1971 Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry....

I love Garak...The vibe from the start is "film noir" from the 1940s and 1950s

BY using the Ops center as "the Bridge" and the various warp capable shuttle craft as "Ships"- this series has the ability to COMBINE formats-

Since I barreled through this series for the first time just a few months ago, I'm having a great time going through my second watch-through with you guys! Forgot how solid this one was.

Ah, Julian. He's one of my favorite characters, but he really is a bit of a twerp. 🤣 Glad you guys are having fun with the series so far; we've been very much looking forward to sharing this part of your Trek journey!

Yet another thing that ruins my immersion is how they handle scars in Trek. Sometimes people have all sorts of wounds and surgery without a mark on them (even Picard’s face after his borg implants) and some characters have skin that looks like a map of the London Underground whenever the plot needs it.

I dont see the Kira/Odo scene as him forcing her hand. It reads to me more like he knows her well enough to know that she's decided to tell Sisko before she even says it.

You mentioned having a favourite character focused scene in DS9 inthat QnA and I wonder if you were talking about the Kira and Odo scene because it is quite good. Although it does make Odos plot dump about not knowing who he is to her in the previous episode even dumber because this episode establish they're close friends.

I absolutely love hearing your thoughts on characters and what their roles might be! Great review!

ehh I caved and bought this for $5. You guys deserve it anyway lol. I have never been more sure of anything in my life than I am of you guys naming this your favorite trek show by the end of it. I'd be willing to bet my life

The world of DS9 is just so wonderfully different. You definitely would never see security pretending to be a rat to eavesdrop or an alien tailor hiding a star fleet officer in his fitting room so he can gather Intel on TNG.

already on the trac-erm trek-to enjoyment... this pleases me *insert evil laughter here*

Leaps and bounds, night and day. Although, they aren't all like that from what I've seen so far.

Regarding spoilers and spoiler-y comments: On another reaction channel, when we want to get into a discussion in the comments that could be too revealing, we use the rot13 cipher. You just go to any rot13 site online (I use cryptii.com/pipes/rot13-decoder) and type in your message, and it creates an unreadable coded message that you can then post in the comments. Anyone who wants to read it can copy and paste it on the rot13 site, and it will decode it. The process really allows us to get into great discussions about the shows without ruining anything for the reactors.

Not a spoiler because I haven’t seen DS9 but I think the point of the space station is so they can’t warp to a new location every episode maybe they will have to do deal with some of the consequences of their actions in later episodes.

Ahhh, Saturday afternoon watching Star Trek. So much fun! Garak is my favorite character on DS9 but there are some other delicious character performances upcoming as well.

I don't remember having particularly strong feelings on this one initially. It was just kid of there. I think a common complaint was that the inclusion of the Duras sisters felt like the show was leaning on TNG cameos instead of standing on it's own. They're a minor enough part that it doesn't really matter in the end, and I appreciate now that the episode is a good vehicle to develop Kira and examine where her loyalties lie. Plus Odo gets some great scenes as well. Garak is.......strange, and intriguing. They clearly want to keep the audience guessing about him. Would a "simple tailor" be arranging the capture of a terrorist? Maybe, if he stood to profit from it. Would a spy be letting starfleet in on all that intel? Again, maybe, if it benefitted Cardassia in some way. It's all very ambiguous right now. I'm also going to guess Tahna isn't very religious if he's willing to blow up the "celestial temple". Lastly, it's been a while, but Vaughn Armstrong played Gul Danar. He was last seen all the way back in TNG S1 in Heart of Glory as Korris.

We've seen a rat in space before, in Wrath of Khan, when Kirk and crew are searching the space station for survivors of Khan's visit.

man i’m like 3 season behind and can’t catch up

I gotta say, I'm loving the DS9 aesthetic you're adding to the videos. It's pretty awesome.

This isn't a spoiler, but DS9 finds its footing a LOT sooner than TNG.

Great reaction guys! Love your takes on the characters, especially Kira. This episode is a great example of what DS9 can do: have a story centered around one of our characters, but without some sci-fi mystery-plot to solve. By the way, the wormhole connects Bajor to the Gamma Quadrant which is on the other side of the galaxy. The galaxy is divided into four quadrants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta (as we saw in “The Price”. In that episode, the Barzon Wormhole, which was unstable, connected to the Delta Quadrant, which is also unexplored. Keep in mind that in the time of TNG, they had only explored 19% of the galaxy, which leaves a lot of space to find other races. It would take many years to travel to the Gamma or Delta quadrants, which is why these wormholes are so valuable: you can literally travel across the galaxy in seconds. This is why the Bajoran wormhole is so valuable (and to Bajorans like Tahna Los, so dangerous) because it can potentially bring in people from all corners of the known Star Trek universe to go explore places unknown, and bring unknowns into the part of the galaxy our show takes place.

You skipped an episode. A man alone. What you were watching is episode 4, not 3.

I would have guessed, you two Intro aficionados would notice, that unlike the pilot, this time the wormhole was shown in the intro.

U guys forgot to mention the theme of maladaptiveness! Yeah, main villain of the episode is stuck in the past and episode is about kira learning to move forward but odo expressed how he would rather do stuff like he used to as well. And if u r willing to reach, bashir being always one step behind while talking to garak could be considered "maladaptive" too.

I dig it. Nothing wrong with a little back story and questioning who is loyal to who.

Congratulations, Josh and Alex…you’ve just met Garak, my absolute favorite character of DS9!! Andrew Robinson is pure gold as an actor, coming from such humble beginnings as the serial killer Scorpio who gives Clint Eastwood a run for his money in “Dirty Harry”! Only Constable Odo comes in a close second for me! 🖖😎

Ah the first episode aired (but not produced, that’s the next one) after the pilot is a good one despite a weak guest star. Nana Visitor is such a strong presence right off the bat in DS9

Every time they said the name Tanna I would think of my aunts, the German word for aunt is tante and I refered to my aunts that way growing up. Pretty close in pronunciation so it sort of stuck in my head.

In an interview with Andrew Robinson (and I'm paraphrasing here) he said he is claustrophobic and having to put on the make up for Garak freaked him out. When he looked in a mirror once they were done. His fears disappeared and he thought I've got to play this character. On a side note, Armin Shimmerman said there were about three or four actors who couldn't do the make up and quit during the course of the series.

One change from the TNG pilot to later episodes is Deanna Troi did not wear a uniform again until season 6, Chain of Command.

Andrew Robinson knocks it out of the park as Garak in this one. He said this in an interview about his approach to playing Garak: "I’ve often thought of that too. Because besides the fact that that they were looking for a relationship for Dr. Bashir—and that worked out great, because Sid and I really got on and are still friends to this day. I think that was the main thing, that Sid and I got on. But then there was the ambiguity about Garak that they had written in. Who is this guy, he is a mystery and so forth. What I added to that in that first episode was a sexual ambiguity about Garak. In that very first scene when he meets Dr. Bashir it’s clear as a bell— and this was my choice—that he was sexually attracted to this good-looking young Starfleet doctor. And although they didn’t follow that up with an explicitly gay character, that ambiguity about Garak remained. And it was appropriate for what they had written about his ambiguity, is he a tailor, a spy, what is he?" A bold choice and I think it paid off.

My recollection of this episode was that I didn't love it, mainly because I think the guest actor was not great, but I enjoyed it a lot more on this rewatch, for whatever reason.

I know people have said over and over, "It gets good after the first couple of seasons, Star Trek always takes time to find its footing." But this is proof that DS9 really is solid right out of the gate.

The change in hairstyle was Nana Visitor's idea - she argued that someone like Kira would never have a fussy hairstyle that required lots of time to do up in the morning.

The bit that I think you guys didn't quite get from the pilot is that the wormhole leads to basically the other side of the galaxy - it would take decades for a ship to travel there normally, so it's completely unexplored. So the value of the wormhole is that it gives access to a whole new part of the galaxy for exploration, science and commerce, and it's in Bajoran territory. That makes Bajor super valuable when it would otherwise be an impoverished backwater. Tana was hoping that by destroying it, Bajor would go back to being a worthless backwater and everyone would leave it alone.

"Kira got a haircut, by the way". LOL

forgot Garrick was introduced in the 3rd ep. You might recognize him as the dad from the first Hellraiser movie.