Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Move Along Home Rewatch

May 23, 2015 3:40 PM - Season 1, Episode 10

Some members of a new species from the Gamma Quadrant come to Quark's and have some fun.

Let the popcorn throwing commence!

posted by Solomon (13 comments total)

Why did the Wadi turn up in a Bajoran shuttle?

Sisko souting "Exit!" was more amusing to me than it should have been.

Even in the middle of a life or death situation, Quark still manages to annoy Odo a little more by asking him to blow on the dice. Dax, Kira and Sisko squabbling over court-martials was fun too.

I think the premise of the episode was quite interesting - put the main characters in a completely strange situation and watch how they manage. The actual execution, not so much. Keeping activity on the station more in line with "normality" would have been better, I think, because it would have highlighted the weirdness inside the game. Perhaps if the Wadi had been more calm and measured with a surprising love of this particular strange game, the episode would have gone better. As it was, I think that the game and the players were too similar and that was what was part of what made the episode not work.
posted by Solomon at 4:44 PM on May 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

Apparently the writing staff were well aware that this one didn't work, and for years afterward whenever they were stuck on a story that just wouldn't click somebody would shout, "Move along home!"

I don't remember despising this one, but I remember it being really not good. I also remember cringing at the sight of Benjamin Sisko hop-scotching and singing the nursery rhyme. In later seasons maybe he would have shrugged and embraced the ridiculousness a little bit, but at this point he had a kind of wounded, glowering dignity and watching him get humiliated like this is just not fun. This feels like a story that would've been fun on TOS or maybe could've worked as a lighter TNG, but for DS9 it's a poor fit.

(1966 Captain Kirk probably would've hop-scotched like it was no thang. Hell, he probably would've smirked through it. The man survived far worse assaults to his dignity. Picard would have been very unhappy about doing it, but he would've executed the hopscotch quickly and efficiently and he'd just shrug off Troi's giggling. Sisko looks like he wants to murder.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:17 PM on May 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

Allamaraine!

I like the LARP Trek strips about this, they make more sense.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:18 PM on May 23, 2015 [4 favorites]

I don't mind this episode, though I think if they would have played up the TOSness of the episode it might have worked better (like the Voyager episode that's practically a TOS homage).
posted by drezdn at 9:07 AM on May 24, 2015

Allamaraine!

Second shap.
posted by scalefree at 9:26 AM on May 24, 2015

I did like the head Wadi guy's reaction when Quark is surprised that the game had no real-world consequences. It was like, dude, we're gamers, not psychopaths.
posted by creepygirl at 9:28 AM on May 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Let's do this!

Sisko's attempts (throughout the series) in "Well son, here's the thing about women..." speech-ifying... never go well.

Bashir is _so_ ernest... ah, thanks Commander. Scare him.

I love how quickly Quark's mood shifts from "terrified, imminent death" to "... I can win more gemstones?"

Over the next six and a half seasons, both Sisko and Kira mellow a lot, but in completely different ways. I haven't seen the first season in long enough that the change is jarring, but I look forward to the journey.

Okay. The rhyme was painful.

It wasn't as bad as I remember... but yeah. Let's move along...
posted by Seeba at 2:04 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

It was FAR worse than I remembered. Such a boring, nonsensical, terrible episode.
posted by zarq at 6:56 PM on May 24, 2015

Joel Brooks (Falow, the Lead Wadi) is a total "That guy." Even if the material wasn't great here, he works it for what it's worth.
posted by drezdn at 7:08 PM on May 24, 2015

Over the next six and a half seasons, both Sisko and Kira mellow a lot, but in completely different ways.

Yeah, I'd say maybe Sisko finds his sense of humor. As the seasons go on he's a lot more likely to smile and make sly asides and be amused by stuff. (Although he gets understandably grim as the war drags on.) Kira maybe gets more grounded, sadder and more weary. Not like she's crushed by life, but maybe she's less likely to shoot first and more likely to sigh and look for some kind of compromise. Early on she's always like, THIS IS BAD AND WE MUST FIGHT IT, and later she's more ready to pinch her nose and make a deal even if it's with somebody she despises. Saving lives comes to matter more to her than being right.

Joel Brooks (Falow, the Lead Wadi) is a total "That guy."

Yeah, but now that I think of it, he's not quite as ubiquitous as he used to be. Those Guys can see their fortunes rise and fall too. Remember when Ned Beatty was in everything? He was the That Guy king. But other than Lots o' Hugs Bear in Toy Story 3, I don't think I've seen him in anything since the mid-90s.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:34 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Remember when Ned Beatty was in everything?

He was even in Homicide: Life on the Streets.
posted by juiceCake at 10:35 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

This episode is nowhere near as bad as I remembered it. It's not great, the part where they're struggling in a cave with Dax audibly wincing seems to go on for twenty minutes! But I'd far rather watch this one than "The Passenger" or "Dax" or "Q-Less."
posted by tomboko at 6:21 AM on August 27, 2023

> Sisko looks like he wants to murder

Huh! I thought he looked like he was having fun, once he started hopping and singing.
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:02 PM on November 5, 2023