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June 12, 2026

UNCUT - Our Man Bashir (DS9 S4E10) | Star Trek Journey 389

Comments (122)

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MJBull · July 24, 2026

This episode came out around the time the Pierce Brosnan Bond movie "Goldeneye" released, which had Famke Janssen ("The Perfect Mate") as Xenia Onatopp, a Russian agent with a...memorable fight scene. This mostly channels "Dr. No", the original Bond film. with perhaps a dash of "The Spy Who Loved Me", & "Moonraker".

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ShadySands · June 19, 2026

As a IT person I imagine the memory problem on the station that they wiped out the "RAM" memory but all the important things are stored on the hard drives :D.

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Dr. Paul Stubbs · June 16, 2026

You should watch Goldeneye at some point to feel out the '90s-era James Bond vibe. It's a good movie and it will be a little familiar due to cultural osmosis from the N64 game.

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David Combe · June 15, 2026

The complete lack of any form of reaction to Noah's "HA!" is fucking criminal.

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Richard Finch · June 15, 2026

I always thought that Alexander Siddig could carry a Bond film.

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Drake · June 15, 2026

the long villain monologue is a must in james bond

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Ca$hWednesday · June 15, 2026

One of the few things I love as much as Star Trek is James Bond. As you can imagine, I LOVE this episode. It brings me so much joy. All the stuff on the station where the crew is explaining what is going on is the flip side of the Bond villain explaining his master plan even though he doesn't have to. It's lovely.

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Admiral Paxillus · June 15, 2026

Ooh. Chaps, chaps, chaps. In this instance, explaining what’s going on is part of the classic Bond charm don’t you know! Actually. It would be cool to see you react to some classic James Bond films. Maybe on one of your individual channels, if not here? Perhaps one film from each Bond actors era. Hmm. Maybe two from each as the tone can shift a bit. It would be a great laugh to watch you watching all the same.

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Greg Quinn · June 14, 2026

59:50 i strongly disagree that one could do this episode without once mentioning that it's on the holodeck/sweet. Maybe you could avoid mentioning up until the other characters come in, but not after that. They couldnt just ignore the aspect of why they can't end the program. Also Garek pointing out the differences between this and being a real spy is independently entertaining.

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Jonathan Llyr · June 14, 2026

This is probably my favourite holodeck/suite goes awry episode. And I honestly can’t believe you haven’t seen the original Bond films and I would be first in line to watch you guys react to them all in order!

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Boggle · June 14, 2026

It's a dumb, fun episode. Cheesy and pointless, but it's hard not to smile while watching it.

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Philbot · June 14, 2026

Did Paramount get in trouble from the broccoli about doing a bond parody?

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Rom Paris · June 14, 2026

The producers got an angry letter from MGM.

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Ken R · June 14, 2026

You two need to watch "Goldfinger", and then that is the equivalent of four years at James Bond school.

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Ca$hWednesday · June 15, 2026

As much as I personally prefer 'From Russia With Love' over 'Goldfinger', I'd agree with you in this case if they can only watch one Connery Bond film.

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GamingHour2018 · June 14, 2026

this entire episode is a James Bond styled episode yall need to check out the Entire James Bond Collection from start to finish

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Cranky Grandma · June 13, 2026

Ron Moore had said they’d would have loved to do more of these but they were warned about rights. They got away with this but could not do it again. They were too close to the actual James Bond mark.

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Scarpad’s Domain · June 13, 2026

Yeah withought seeing any bond movies you really can’t relate to the dialog.

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Scarpad’s Domain · June 13, 2026

And James Bond will return is always in the credits

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Cranky Grandma · June 13, 2026

Eddington and Rom should have a spin off. Called Eddington and Rom. Sit Com?

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Mark Simonson · June 13, 2026

re: data storage in the future... It's never going to be enough. As someone who's used computers since 90K floppies were a thing, you never have enough. The more you have, the more you use. It'll be the same story centuries from now. That said, I assume they had a backup of all the stuff they wiped or they wouldn't have done it.

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Sunny · June 13, 2026

Casino royale with Daniel Craig is a reboot. The originals with Roger Moore, Sean Connery and others were old school and more like what Star Trek paid homage to.

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MJBull · July 24, 2026

Yes, Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton and Brosnan are all in the same continuity playing the same character. Craig's Bond is and alternate universe version, essentially. The odd thingbeing Judi Dench playing the M's successor for the OG Bond and playing Craig's M even before his Bond becomes 007.

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Tim Nikiforovs · June 13, 2026

Can't give this one less than a A. It's just too much fun. I understand the argument of wanting to see our characters and not just the actors play a different role, but every once in a while it's great to see the actors really get to act unrestrained and just throw themselves into an entirely different role. I had seen the classic Bond films as a kid, so I got a lot of the references here. I can understand it may not land as well for someone not familiar with that franchise, and I'm not going to be one of those people saying you need to watch all the Bond movies(I realize you only have so much time), but I do think this episode is a wonderful homage/parody of the Bond movies. And of course, it's great to see another side of Bashir. Dorn and Meaney were good in their respective roles, but it really seemed to be Brooks and Visitor that had the most fun. Brooks delivered one of the hammiest performances in Trek and I love every minute of it. Highly entertaining episode. Easily one of the best holodeck stories.

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Philbot · June 13, 2026

This episode kind of breaks all metaphysics? Because they’re so worried about their physical patterns, but their consciousness’s would seem to be the more important thing? You would think that with transporter technology they would have their patterns stored in the transporter buffer and you could recreate them if necessary. Which they never seem to do aside from doubling Riker or making Pulaski younger. Maybe it’s just simpler to re pair then whip up new bodies.

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Kt B · June 18, 2026

My head cannon here is that the people who would really understand how to solve this problem were not Odo and Eddington. Chief would have had a better plan, but he wasn’t around, so they had to muddle through with a snap judgement and no real plan. Rom really came in clutch - if he had been off the station, they would have been out of luck because they really didn’t have a plan. Also, they mentioned the station’s transporter being damaged when some of the explosion from the runabout came over at the same time. I think they were trying to say that killed the normal backups built into transporter technology.

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MartyMc · June 13, 2026

The 1962 Bond movie is titled Dr. No. Sisko character is Dr. Noah.

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Edweirdo · June 13, 2026

How do you pee in the holosuites?

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International Man of Leisure · June 13, 2026

There's a lot that happens in DS9 this season and maybe you can consider this episode a pallette cleanser for upcoming episodes. As far as commenting on the episode, I get why Garak might be annoyed with Julian's cosplaying a world Garak takes so seriously. It annoys me sometimes when I see people cosplay the military. I sometimes grumble "the fuck do you know about it?", but then I snap out of it and have a good laugh over it. But I totally get it.

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Loot Narsbaar · June 13, 2026

Yes but here we have his closest friend doing so

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Mara · June 13, 2026

An overly dramatic villain talking about "lasers" is just perfect. Honestly, would've been a good not-bond movie in its own right.

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Collin Freeman · June 13, 2026

I imagine the Bridge Crew will be lining up recommendations for James Bond films for you to watch. As is custom with Target Audience, I would watch them in order, starting with the Sean Connery Dr. No film. Having read all of the Ian Fleming novels and seen all of the films, I think the Sean Connery and Daniel Craig films are the best, for different reasons. As for me - loved it! A rating.

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TinMan_7B9 · June 13, 2026

Guys, wiping the station's entire memory should be no problem. I'm sure the Federation has a very good off-site backup plan negotiated with Bajor. Hopefully they got something faster than a dial-up connection for restoring the previous backup.

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Sic Coyote · June 13, 2026

Call it Avery's acting but I was totally bought in with this whole plan even though it's all a fake world.

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DarthFunkNinja · June 13, 2026

Laying it on thick was an absolute necessity at this time for most of TV shows back then. As a TV show, you could not expect everyone of your viewers to turn on the TV at the very beginning of the show and be there start to end. It was an unfortunate requirement to also grab people flipping through the channels. If this has been addressed and the commentary is how the show sits today compared to a series released in the streaming era: 100% fair. Love the content.

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MartyMc · June 13, 2026

If you guys want jaw dropping stunts watch vintage James Bond. I remember one where Bond is falling from sky without a parachute, so he dive bombs himself into an enemy henchmen and steals his. No special effects!

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#MaxwellDidNothingWrong · June 13, 2026

Eddington gets no respect! Saves the day, the whole bridge crew, still gets dunked on. Even ODO got along and worked well alongside him.

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V G (Zay) · June 13, 2026

1 of 2 DS9 eps I remember watching and like :)

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Joe J · June 13, 2026

Just a filler episode IMO.

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Bert · June 13, 2026

I disagree. Its hard to say why here but I think this is useful for Bashir's character arc. Its shows him in the process of getting where he's going.

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Scott Woodward · June 13, 2026

This is one of my favorite holodeck episodes for a lot of reasons. By default any episode with Garak earns a tier upgrades- he’s just a treat to watch chewing the scenery. The real heart of the episode is the back and forth between him and Bashir, where Garak half-lectures and half-mentors Bashir on the art of being a stone cold espionage agent. The character moments at the end are great for that reason- it allows for some nice development in the relationship in what is often a throw away one off scenario. And as you guys say the cast was clearly having a great time doing these over the top characters.

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Naglfarius · June 13, 2026

Bashir. His Mouth tangled. Shaka when the Hair fell.

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Numinous2019 · June 13, 2026

Any copyright / intellectual property legal issues wouldn't apply since Siddig could be playing Bond, or Napoleon Solo, or Derek Flynt, or Matt Helm, etc. It's a pastiche of that kind of movie/TV show without any direct references to any particular one. Also, APOLOGISE to Eddington, Alex.

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MJBull · July 24, 2026

Unfortunately, the owners of the James Bond rights did not see things that way.

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Michael Mannisto · June 13, 2026

You guys should watch all the Bond movies for the Patreon/YT! :D

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Joe J · June 13, 2026

Please no!

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Bob smith · June 13, 2026

The whole "erase the memory" thing is just that the station is basically powerless and defenseless because all the programs that run everything were gone. I think they even mention that life support was down. Other then that, they don't really bring it up probably because most of the data can be replaced/repaired, as you would expect. Love this episode, great reaction!

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Loot Narsbaar · June 13, 2026

Yeah, I bet you a nickel they have System Restore in the future

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Mark Wood · June 13, 2026

Holds the record for longest time to shoot single episode of DS9 at an unheard of 9 days, and thus also significantly above the approved budget. Brass was not happy at all. Unlike something like Way of the Warrior where the studio did approve extra money above and beyond what the season was supposed to get, and part of that was longer shooting time. This was not. There were some pushing to make sure production didn't hire Kolbe again on the DS9.

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Mark Wood · June 13, 2026

Yeah as so many have stated the writing issues you mention that don't have a reason, do in fact have a reason, they are homaging a writing style that you guys just aren't familiar with. And in fairness, it's not just 60's Bond, but a host of 60's spy tv shows as well, things like Man From UNCLE, Wild Wild West, Our Man Flint, ect, but even being familiar with some of it, I wish it wasn't there to such a degree, but also would understand it would be less of a direct homage if they did modernize the written style It really helps show what specific era its working from. And like so many others have also mentioned, Trek's production ability really can't even attempt the "Action" set piece that even very early bond did, this plays far closer to the 60's TV spy shows, than Bond Set Pieces.

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paultardspambot . · June 13, 2026

Bond movies have a lot more action.

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David Jevón · June 14, 2026

The classic ones weren't, ESPECIALLY "Dr. No."

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paultardspambot . · June 13, 2026

if it was just a holoprogram the ending wouldn't have worked

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paultardspambot . · June 13, 2026

This is definitely a parody thus references fall under the "fair use" doctrine. A show doesn't have to be exclusively comedic to use parodies under the rules.

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paultardspambot . · June 13, 2026

they should have backed up the DS9 memory with the Defiant's computer

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paultardspambot . · June 13, 2026

So I guess the "puppy" in the computer is gone

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Tim Nikiforovs · June 13, 2026

I didn't even think of that. Poor cyber doggo

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tyranusfan · June 12, 2026

Re: computer memory, Josh is right, it's because it was a Cardassian station. This wouldn't have happened on the Enterprise. WAY back in 11001001, the Enterprise's computer was used by the Bynars to backup their *entire planet's* computer system and their cybernetic inhabitants, and it was still flying around at warp speed, no problem.

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David Jevón · June 14, 2026

Even if it was a FED station to the core, would it equal the computing power of the flagship? I think if the station was that far off from FED standards, they would've switched it out

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Oberhauser-Blofeld · June 12, 2026

This is a fun parody, before Austin Powers, of James Bond lore. Slightly over the top acting with play on words exposition and names like we had for 4 decades up to that point of James Bond movie history. It was fun seeing millennials trying to process the writing not knowing it was spot on for the genre/parody that it was intended to be. A Boomer and Gen X delight of an episode.

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Gabriel · June 12, 2026

I loved the Sword of Kahless

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Matthew Ganz · June 12, 2026

Much of the over exposition, campy lines and such are direct references to Bond movies. Without having seen them, I fear your comment about missing deep cuts was correct. 95% of this episode is a spoof of the 60s and 70s bond movies -- right down to the corny suggestive names for the women, russian femme fatale, over expositional lines and wonky over the top gadgets. Definetly recommend watching some of the old bond movies for sure!

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MJBull · July 24, 2026

They had those suggestive names on the 90s as well. "Xenia Onatopp" & "Christmas Jones".

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Duncan McDonald · June 12, 2026

Love it. Ridiculous. The End.

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Troubled Tribble · June 12, 2026

I watch with subtitles, her name is Honey Bare

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David Jevón · June 14, 2026

Now that's valuable information. 🤌🏾

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James H · June 12, 2026

I like the part where Alex is coughing and we hear Josh’s thoughts.

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misti-step · June 12, 2026

i would actually prefer if the show doesnt go out of its way to justify the cast doing a whole james bond episode, id be fine just watching the entire cast just have fun, no questions asked.

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David Jevón · June 14, 2026

Still fun

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Summer · June 12, 2026

I liked it not having watched Bond and the bits of Bond I knew I didn’t care for. Not my favorite but good

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Scribe31oz · June 12, 2026

Dr No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me....you gotta watch at least one of these!

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Ryan · June 12, 2026

You guys really appreciated this episode for never having seen a classic Bond film, so thumbs up for that. With that said, add me to the chorus of people saying you *need* to watch a '60s Bond film now. Goldfinger would be perfect for this. Some of the stuff you dragged in this episode (especially the abundance of expository dialogue) is just a parody of the way those Bond films worked, where *everyone* explained *everything* multiple times. This episode also ripped on the shameless sexism of those films -- I loved the "take off your glasses" scene because Garak got to be the '90s voice pointing out how gross it was. Just great stuff all around. Now, you can argue no one should have to see a '60s Bond film to appreciate a '90s Star Trek episode, and you're right. But as a one-off, it's a great Easter egg for the audience they assumed they had at the time.

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Trekkie74205 · June 12, 2026

Goldfinger is my favorite old Bond movie. Good choice.

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Jonathon Tsagris · June 12, 2026

So just to be clear, they didn't like... wipe the operating system/hard drives of the station. They filled up all the ram basically which prevented pretty much anything else from being able to work properly.

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Kt B · June 18, 2026

Thank you for clarifying that. I was as confused as they were.

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Jonathon Tsagris · June 12, 2026

This is DS9's 'Fun' arc

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Jonathon Tsagris · June 12, 2026

"Kiss the girl, get the key...They didn't teach me that in the Obsidian Order" has to be one of Garak's best lines in this show.

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River Acheron · June 12, 2026

A Season 4 episode that I didn't love. It had its moments but it assumes the audience knows anything about James Bond. I have never seen any of the movies, but I know some tropes that were parodied or made fun of. It's not a BAD episode and the comedy was on point and Garak in a tux is worth the price of admission. C+ which is SLIGHTLY above "mid"

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Joe Concepts · June 12, 2026

The thing with parodying something like the Bond/spy genre is, a lot of them don't have the greatest scripts. I do agree they maybe needed one other fun action scene to really lean into those films.

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Sam Langanke · June 12, 2026

If you haven‘t seen the Connery Bond movies it is IMPOSSIBLE to understand this episode and Moore‘s writing.

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Collin Freeman · June 13, 2026

Yes, at least the first 4.

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Deep Red · June 12, 2026

God, I love Avery being an unhinged weirdo in this episode. You've got to remember, this was made during the Cold War

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Collin Freeman · June 13, 2026

Not entirely. The Wall came down in 1990, this was 1995.

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Joe Concepts · June 12, 2026

Not that many specific, direct, references to James Bond beyond the known tropes and themes of those movies and their genre. I know you guys want an all holodeck all the time episode, but this is pretty close. And yes, they could have had even LESS technobabble scenes, but as usual they want some reason for this to have some stakes. I'm not sure even a series now would do a "all a fantasy, nothing matters" episodes. But regular broadcast network TV still thinks about the person randomly turning on their show, no matter how far streaming has come.

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Bert · June 12, 2026

Hot Take, they didn't pay enough heed to the risk of compromising Deep Space Nine. Its a space station that we just saw has a ginormous complement of phaser canons and photon torpedos. Taking all of that offline creates windows of opportunity especially since the Federation just reentered conflict with the Klingons. Eddington works in security, I question that call.

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Mark Magana · June 12, 2026

This episode is fun and now I really want to see Michael Dorn as a Bond bad guy henchman! If you have seen the Sean Connery Bond films from the 60s, this episode is hilarious! And they did it BEFORE Austin Powers! LOL

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KevinH · June 12, 2026

It's missing a big stunt scene. It needed to end with Bashir and Sisko fighting on the roof of a building or on the top of Mount Everest.

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Patric Flück · June 12, 2026

Watching you guys suddenly realize that the episode was going to stay on the holodeck was delightful. Also I have the sneaking suspicion that you are going to see some Bond movies in the requests going forward. Never seen a classic Bond film... Inconceivable!

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Prof Moff · June 12, 2026

DS9 sex scoreboard Bashir scores a holo-babe The sex score board Jadzia 5 a wish but not Quark 5 Bashir 4 +1 new Sisko 3 Kira 2 Worf 2 Jake 2 Chief 1 Odo 1 GUEST: Mona Luvsitt +1 new DETAILS: There is NO WAY Bashir didn’t somehow find a moment and find a moment Takin’ the log to the beaver. WOW what a hot holo babe. And can I say Bashir was lookin’ good. We thought we might get many scores. The holo-blond, Kira, even Jadzia was an almost. We are making a stretch to give Bashir a score but how could we not. If you disagree make you argument in the replies.

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Prof Moff · June 12, 2026

off the sex score board. I think Avery did a great job here acting like Dr. No from bond movie. I just watched it recently and Avery nailed it.

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Jon Miller · June 12, 2026

The end line is a nod to how every James Bond film ends with a caption 'James Bond Will Return'

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Trekkie74205 · June 12, 2026

Josh was on the right track. MGM thought Deep Space Nine was too "on the nose" with this episode. They sent Paramount a Cease-and-Desist letter, for infringement of MGM's James Bond intellectual property. Another example. Never doubt the genius of Rom. Did you boys get the new mic's ordered yet? They are needed.

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Target Audience · June 12, 2026

Delivered yesterday

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Rom Paris · June 12, 2026

I was shocked that this aired so close to Little Green Men. I used to prefer LGM but on this full series rewatch I found myself enjoying Our Man Bashir way more. I think it's a combination of rewatching LGM a lot more over the years, appreciating Our Man Bashir's sets much more, squeezing just about everything you could out of "Star Trek parody of 007" whereas I feel LGM could've done way more with the B-movie tropes, and Our Man Bashir doubling as a 90s Star Trek parody (shuttle accident + transporter accident + holo malfunction). Also, how fortuitous was it that their British character had the initials "J.B."? Either that or the visual of Garak in a tuxedo must've been the catalyst for this episode. Since you love ranking things at the end, after you finish Berman era Trek you should rank every holodeck/holosuite episode.

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Loot Narsbaar · June 12, 2026

A Bond movie was dropping. They had to strike while the iron was hot.

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Matthew McKinnon-Gray · June 12, 2026

Julian mentions Garak “breaking in” to the Holo Suite so Quark apparently does have locks on his holosuite.

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Collin Freeman · June 13, 2026

Now I wonder how he would've been able to do that...

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Worf and Riker Ride Again · June 12, 2026

Just looked at the release date and this episode came out about 2 weeks after Goldeneye, which was (and still technically is) the longest hiatus between Bond films. I remember there being a lot of hype around the release of Goldeneye, so I'm guessing DS9 wanted to cash in / pay homage to the Bond franchise. Apparently MGM did file a complaint to the studio though. Also just read that a 2022 novel set in the world of Bond features an agent called 'Sid Bashir', and the author confirmed it's a direct reference to DS9.

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paultardspambot . · June 15, 2026

It funny, I feel like the legacy of the videogame is much greater then the legacy of the movie

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Zenlike Creature · June 12, 2026

Super episode and a great romp through a 60's spy story. Plenty of little nods to the 60's Bond films (Dr. No (first film) - Dr Noah), villain exposition, and names that are full of innuendo and tongue in cheek. It also has a bit of fun developing Bashir's and Garak's relationship. Arguably, the best Holodeck episode in Trek.

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Paul · June 12, 2026

The level of campy over the top absurd acting in this episode was even better than I remember. My face muscles are so tense from having a grin almost the whole way through, and Sisko pushed it so over the edge it's unreal HAHAHA. Ultra S-tier comedy episode for me, Fucking brilliant.

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Sam Langanke · June 12, 2026

They are really not very much into comedy.

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Paul · June 12, 2026

Josh certainly did this time, and Alex the last time. Comedy might be the most subjective genre of them all. (Maybe romance?)

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Summer · June 12, 2026

Good Trek, not the best but very good

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Sykonee · June 12, 2026

Kolbe: "So, Avery, I know this is the Big Villain role, but how 'ham' do you want to play it?" Brooks: "ALL... the, Way. With lots... and LOTS of MOOVE-ment." Kolbe: "Hoo boy..."

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Philbot · June 14, 2026

His movements are average? I think the best is when he swings that pistol round.!

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Phenomenon (Doo - Dooo - Dah - Doo - Doo) · June 12, 2026

You guys REALLY need to see some of the Bond movies, especially the 60s and 70s ones. The over-elaborate traps, the gadgets, the rampant misogyny and women with double-entendres for names, the corny one-liners, the world-conquering villains explaining their wild and unnecessarily complicated dastardly plots..... all classic Bond tropes. The recent Daniel Craig films did away with all the old-school Bond shenanigans after the Austin Powers movies so thoroughly skewered them, but the Sean Connery & Roger Moore volumes are just magnificent popcorn films

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paultardspambot . · June 13, 2026

I think "misogyny" is a little strong. Bond doesn't hate women. "Sexism" might be better. Although the idea for a Bond Parody with Bond as a bitter incel has potential

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Altariel · June 12, 2026

As for the station being fucked up: they have deleted lots of stuff to store the patterns, but they have backups (including a secondary backup, as per Starfleet protocol). Obviously they cannot restore the backup until they have solved the pattern issue, but once the patterns are out of the station's storage, it shouldn't be too difficult to restore most of the data to the primary system.

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Tim Nikiforovs · June 13, 2026

Most of the unique stuff like personal logs and such would be pretty far down the list just because of how little space they take up. The federation database, replicator patterns, holosuite programs not stored on data rods, that's going to be the bulk of the memory. Even if they don't have a backup on the station, most of that could just be re-downloaded from federation archives.

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TalynOne · June 12, 2026

It's not about not "having the balls" not to mention it's the holodeck, and it has nothing to do with the 90s. It's that they're not complete unaware how television works. Imagine being a regular TV viewer and switching channels, oh a bond thing is on, there would be some wtf is going on complaints. It would be considered a bonehead move even in 2026.

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paultardspambot . · June 15, 2026

yeah, shows nowadays understand audeinces arent necessarily stupid. This was not the case back then. Its kind of ironic because while TA seems to dislike serialized televison, non-serialized televsion where every show had to end with a rest buttong really wasnt as great as the novely they are affording it. of course there was serialized stuff like JR, but literally the argument for why Voyager should always be reset button was syndication. And indeed, DS9 had trouble retainign fans who didnt know what was going on if they ahd missed a season. Serialized drama is just better on average because you can tell complex stories with consequences and not everything has to be a self contained adventure with no risk to the characters. Its ironic that many appreiciate DS9 for taking trek in a more serialized direction which I think TA dislieks. The introduction of the Dominion as major "OP" villian which was not a one off was a huge thing. The guys now see that as "cliche" but it absolutely raised the stakes at the time and its a shame they cant really enjoy it "as it was" because stuff from later on influences their perception (plus the totally bad take on the jemhadar). I loved the idea of the Dominion when it was first introduced because here was something that was a threat that was not going to be resolved in a single episode but a major long term threat to the federation which transformed the station from a backwater post mad significant becayuse of the wormhole to one of the most important posyts in starfleet with all the relevant locl politics. DS9 much more so then any previous trek takes the universe they built and depcts it as a place that matters, not just something for a ship to go to a palent and fly away. the relations between the major powers matter. For me, I loved the "world" star trek ceated, whereas that seems to be an aspect TSA isnt into. They dont get the spiritual/idealistic stuff even thought they loved how the entierprise was originally protaryed. Like when they were surprised Earth was a utopia. This is very much about that utopian future civilization exisitng realistically a sone nation among many who encounters a much bigger, older, and more poweful hostile civilization that actualy thinks long term an strategically. Its just kind of a shame because I love this show for its many layers, and it sees TA has kind of a relativelt narrow vision of what they want Trek to be. I feel like if there was a star trek show where it was say a "second contact" ship- where the ship went to planets that had already been contacted to arrange the next details of contatc and relations, and it was abotu the characters and those planets, they would love it even if there wasnt much in the way of covnentional danger. heck, i wouldn't mind seeing a show using the world set outside of starfleet where a group of friends in their early 20s get a small ship or runabout and decide to tae a tour of the federation and viusit various planets and have adventures. There is so much you can do with this franchise, and i think for me DS9 remains the peak, and its just a shame thata t times they hate "plot" or "stakes." I totally get hating the "plot" when its "enterprise has to have a b story problem that is not what we care about" but that is not at all what the plot os here. I care about the Dominon because I care about the federation which is what our chaarcters are about. I know I get redundant on this point... I don't know, its just somethjing that bugs me when they totally miss the point of an episode like Past Tense and reduce it to "poverty is bad" when its about the core themes of trek and this show especially, resisting apathy and despair and fighting cor a better future and Sisko's spiritual progress as the emissary. i think there is confusion about that because they see it as "ugh, relgion" and while it is the bajoran religion there is more to it in terms of Sisko's journey from a man stuck in thr past to the man who is becoming the emmisary of yhe prophets who in this are beings we cant comprehend who lovie outside time. I see it as "mystical" intead of "religious". I worry that some of my favorite epiodes that deal with this or with the Dominion will be hated. I loved Kira haveing to reconcile her feelings about Sisko as her captain with ehr faith in him as the emmisary, i thought that was incredibly well done but I feel TA has this very reductionist attitude towards religion where they are seeing it int erms of organzied dogmatioc religion as opposed to the mystical spiritual stuff that people can connect with that doesnt contradict materialism. I feel like it may have to be one of those things you have experienced to really grok. And again,. I'm sorry for the redundancy, I just feel very strongly about this as this is one of my all time favortie shows and I love the elements they dont like. And I dont think they get how mcuh lesser of a show it would be without those elements. They may wind up preferring Voyager which as I ahve aid, thiough it has good sci fi storeis, fails for me the same reaosn it fails for Moore- it dosent feel real and theres no consistency to the charscetrs or anything else, the charcters just act however the plot of the week reuires them to act and other then the Doctor and maybe one other charcter we never get an real dvelopm,ent. Ok, maybe Janeway graduall;y has a mental breakdown and Mulgrew suggested herself in terms of her laer atiitudes. but its just not comparable to the caharcter development in DS9 and the individual stories can be as good as you want but if you dont buy into the characters you arent invested. personally, I prefe Enterprise to Voyager

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Ashley Sigmon · June 12, 2026

The Spy Who Loved Me vs. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. Nice.

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sword bard · June 13, 2026

This is one of my favorite aspects of this episode which might go unnoticed by people who don't know about the Ian Fleming vs John Le Carre literary beef. Fleming wrote sexy playboy action spies, Le Carre wrote nondescript middle-aged spies with ordinary jobs (including tailors) and apparently he HATED Ian Fleming's Bond books. Garak is openly a Le Carre based character so putting him into a Bond plot and letting him bitch about it is amazing for those of us who like both authors. I think Le Carre might have been aware of Garak, as his last book, Silverlight, has a character who's SO Garak it just can't be a coincidence, including the fact that he regularly has lunch to tell tall stories to a naive younger man named Julian.

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Matchstick Jose · June 12, 2026

I'm guessing part of the reason they aired Little Green Men before Starship Down in the U.S. was to put a little more space between LGM and this one, so you didn't have two light/comedic episodes just a couple weeks apart.

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Laura Thornley · June 12, 2026

Also, never seen any of the classic Bonds? I think you'd both dig them. They can be quite (edit from quiet, sleepyhead brain) dialogue heavy in places, but great character moments and ridiculous plots. Just have to remember the era they were filmed in, because they are not exactly what I'd consider 'woke' by modern sensibilities.

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Laura Thornley · June 12, 2026

I do like this episode. Good little diversion that gives the Garak-Bashir bromance some air.

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Back Flip Bet · June 12, 2026

Let's fucking go!!!

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Coach Mac · June 12, 2026

Damn. I’ve been out drinking after playing some puck. And I have a 7am appointment tomorrow. But damn it I’m doing this! Let’s go!!’

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Coach Mac · June 12, 2026

Totally worth it. Totally

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Keith S · June 12, 2026

Well, it looks like will be going to bed a little later than expected.

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Thicketdweller🦊 · June 12, 2026

Q, the James Bond Music Bamba boom boom boom