Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Captive Pursuit Rewatch

May 10, 2015 2:29 PM - Season 1, Episode 6

The first visitor from the Gamma Quadrant causes consternation among the crew.
posted by Solomon (12 comments total)

I liked this one because it's an O'Brien episode that doesn't revolve around him being randomly tortured by some aliens (only to be completely back to normal by the next episode) or fighting with Keiko in some very poorly-written arguments. I wish there were more O'Brien episodes like these in the course of the show. The "O'Brien must suffer" tactic did not get me more emotionally involved. Instead, I found it to be a distancing tactic because it made O'Brien seem less like a living, breathing person and more like an object the writers manipulated for their own purposes.

The guest star who played Tosk did a great job of seeming a bit weird and un-nerving but still sympathetic. A lot of guest stars seem to feel that playing an alien gives them a license to either phone in their performance or to completely chew the scenery; it's nice to see some nuanced work here.

The computer not being able to track O'Brien once he takes his combadge off seems pretty silly given 24th century technology, but it's a plot device that they really wanted to use, (and did many times afterwards), so I'll live with it.
posted by creepygirl at 10:16 PM on May 10, 2015 [2 favorites]

This was one of my favourites from when the show was first on the air. But watching it again— Well, O'Brien is kind of a dick in the first act. He acts without waiting for Tosk to consent, like opening up the engine, or flat out ignores Tosk's explicit requests. By the end of the act, Tosk has said that he barely needs to sleep and would much rather be back on his ship. So O'Brien leaves him in guest quarters to... be bored out of his mind?

But then I did like how O'Brien just plowed right on past Bashir's offer to help.
posted by Banknote of the year at 11:37 PM on May 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

A repeated motif is that the station is kinda knackered though.
It's old an unmaintained and a bunch of stuff doesn't work. So maybe the enterprise can track people without their combadge (Although they didn't really do a great job either) but Terok Nor just doesn't have the same budget.

Especially early on, before O'Brien has fixed everything.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:24 AM on May 11, 2015

I love that Tosk feels he is living the greatest adventure of all. Apparently they released a Tosk action figure, available for less than $10 on Amazon.

I watched this episode a couple weeks ago, but reading the synopsis it occurs to me - did they completely forget about the dabo girl story line in this episode? I don't recall any resolution to it.

The makeup department was nominated for an Emmy for Tosk. Somehow all the scaly, reptilian aliens seem very similar to me. Tosk. The Jem'Hadar. The Hirogen on Voyager. (Who, incidentally, are the hunters rather than the prey.)
posted by 2ht at 8:23 AM on May 11, 2015

"I am Tosk" versus "I am Groot"
posted by vibratory manner of working at 12:57 PM on May 11, 2015

I find the dialogue on DS9 such a refreshing change of pace from other Trek. I love TNG, but the conversation is always very...academic/professorial. Things on DS9 are much more relaxed and there's so much less pretense.
posted by dry white toast at 2:12 PM on May 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Basically It's Old Yeller In Space
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:26 PM on May 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

"I have no use for fantasy adventure."
posted by drezdn at 8:09 AM on May 12, 2015

There's a race of hunters in Voyager called the Hirogen, who, weirdly enough look a bit like Tosk.
posted by drezdn at 8:25 AM on May 12, 2015

I always liked that O'Brien gets to punch out an alien who's shown shrugging off phasers in the earlier scene...
posted by Zalzidrax at 11:12 AM on May 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

I watched this episode a couple weeks ago, but reading the synopsis it occurs to me - did they completely forget about the dabo girl story line in this episode? I don't recall any resolution to it.

They completely forgot about the dabo girl storyline. Or, possibly, it was there as a bit of "comic" business at the beginning to show how unscrupulous and handsy Quark is ("It's in the dabo girl's contract! How hilariously unconscionable!") before moving onto "real" troubles on the station.

It really bugs me.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:02 PM on May 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

This episode had a moment that made me annoyed by how many dudes there are. The defaults are "male" so often. Why can't more of the random security guards or bad guys or whatever be ladies or something else? Dudes, dudes, dudes.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:15 PM on November 2, 2023