Trek Thursdays: Trekking Towards Sixty #12 — ‘Bar Association’ And ‘Hear All, Trust Nothing’

On September 8th, 1966, an intrepid crew of explorers boldly went where no one had ever gone before on television. At that moment, Star Trek was born. A series that launched a franchise that has kept a firm grip on audiences for decades.

As the sixtieth anniversary approaches, we here at Comicon are ready to celebrate one of the greatest science fiction franchises. While Star Trek has graced the silver screen, most of its life has been on our television screens. So, that’s where our focus shall remain.

Every week through September 8th, we’ll be spotlighting two Star Trek episodes, from any and every iteration, that we feel are some of the greatest. At this point there are over 950 episodes of Trek, so it goes without saying some favorites won’t make the cut for this list of 60.

One of the beauties in the many Trek series lies within the episodes that are a bit off the beaten track. Those which focus on building characters, be they main cast or supporting cast, in new and interesting ways. They eschew any big sci-fi mystery or action piece to give us a slice-of-life viewpoint into the universe and the space the series occupies.

Today’s episodes both fit the bill because of their focus on characters as well as races. Each takes the time to really delve beyond the surface level descriptors and do something grander. That both happen to connect with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a series and a narrative space speaks volumes, again, to the brilliance of that show and its foundations.

-RED ALERT: SPOILERS FOLLOW-

“Bar Association”
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Season 4, Episode 16 (02/19/1996)

Synopsis: When businesses labor practices become even more unfair at Quark’s (Armin Shimerman) bar, the employees do something unheard of for Ferengi: they go on strike.

Before Deep Space Nine, there wasn’t a lot to the Ferengi beyond their profit-minded motivations and an air of creepiness. Their first appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation had them as one-note antagonists wearing furs and using energy whips. Shimerman played one of those first Ferengi and made it a mission to bring more nuance and depth to the people when he agreed to play Quark.

Much like the Klingons on Star Trek: The Next Generation, this exploration became a feature of DS9 through its whole run.

Beyond Quark, though, we saw more of what it means to be a Ferengi (or not) through Rom (Max Grodénchik) and his son Nog (Aron Eisenberg). It’s Rom who takes the show here.

After dealing with an ear infection that puts him out of commission, Rom begins to reflect on how unfair his brother Quark’s treatment of him and the other bar employees has been. Rom reaches the point of using a forbidden word in Ferengi culture. He wants to form a union, getting some spurring on from Chief Miles O’Brien (Colm Meany) and his talk of a heroic ancestor (“He was a union man.”).

This whole episode is memorable and feels light at first, but it is very consequential. Rom’s placement within the rest of the series is formed here. It makes great use of the fact he’s always shown to be tech savvy — a detail Nog bemoaned when petitioning to join Starfleet Academy to avoid being in an unused potential position like his father. The incomparable Jeffrey Combs returns as the conniving Liquidator Brunt, we get to see Nausicaans again, and this sets up some of the misfortune that will befall Quark’s bar down the line with Brunt and Ferengi culture.

There’s a B-story about Worf (Michael Dorn) having trouble living on the more frontier-like station compared to the U.S.S. Enterprise. Unlike many secondary stories, this one was woven into the fabric of the A-plot, so there is a nice logical overlap. We get an O’ Brien and Worf fight (offscreen), and the moment that leads to Worf beginning to live alone on the U.S.S. Defiant.

“Hear All, Trust Nothing”
Star Trek: Lower Decks – Season 3, Episode 6 (09/29/2022)

Synopsis: The crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos ends up spending an unexpected day on Deep Space Nine, where some familiar faces and cultural stereotypes make appearances.

Oh gosh, the moment that Deep Space Nine shows up on screen — beautifully rendered in animation — with a hint of the theme series sent chills down my body. That series was one of the best and my all-time favorite Star Trek. Having Lower Decks revisit the station in the time after the DS9 finale was so well done.

I love how it’s a typical plot at first. The crew of the Cerritos gets frustrated at being bounced around with last minute changes and being left to “figure things out” because they are treated as the sub-tier of Starfleet ships. Beyond that, we get some really good depth with Ensign D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and the stereotypes and cultural misunderstandings about Orions.

Not only do we see the station again, but we get Shimerman voicing Quark and the return of Nana Visitor as the voice of Colonel Kira Nerys, sill in place running the station. Having Shaxs (Fred Tasticore) be old Bajoran Resistance allies with Kira is one of those “of course” chef’s kiss moments. Their increasingly animated back-and-forth about who owes who for saving lives was a laugh riot.

Quark’s is now super popular and a lucrative franchise — a fact that we see here and in glimpses through other Trek shows of this era.

There’s a bunch of chaos and action with the race the Cerritos crew is assigned negotiate with. Turns out Quark got into some trouble with the tech used for his new replicators, and Tendi has to deal with another Orion who tries to live up to their pirate reputation in a very braggy and big persona way. Much like the Ferengi on DS9, this episode — and the series as a whole — does a lot to open eyes about the Orions.

And just like other alien species in Trek, the Orions got the “everyone in this group fits this one demographic or stereotype spot” treatment. Exploring each race more over time demonstrates that this view was ridiculous. Like human beings, there are different types of people in every species with very different personalities, mindsets, views, beliefs, and more.

While Tendi fights off the bad stereotypes surrounding her people that the other Orion brags about, we learn the reasons why through this episode and beyond.

Lower Decks is always a fun and funny ride, but when it does character-building episodes, it does them really damn good.

Come back next week as we dive into two more of Star Trek’s greatest episodes.