Civil Defense (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"Civil Defense" is the 53rd episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the seventh episode of the third season. The fictional 24th century Deep Space Nine space station goes on lock-down after a computer glitch.

"Civil Defense"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 7
Directed byReza Badiyi
Written byMike Krohn
Featured musicJay Chattaway
Production code453
Original air dateNovember 7, 1994 (1994-11-07)
Guest appearance(s)

This science fiction television show episode originally aired on television on November 7, 1994.[1][2]

Plot

While renovating the station's old ore processing unit, Chief O'Brien and Jake Sisko accidentally trip an old Cardassian security program, which was set to put the station on lockdown in the event of a Bajoran uprising during the Occupation.

O'Brien, Jake, and Commander Sisko are trapped in the ore processing unit. Fail-safes in the system prevent the rest of the crew from accessing the area or beaming out the trapped people. When Jake enables himself, his father, and O'Brien to escape by crawling through an ore chute, a recording of Gul Dukat announces that the rioting Bajorans have escaped, and the entire station locks down. Major Kira, Dr. Bashir, and Dax are trapped in Ops. Odo is dismayed to find himself locked in his security office with Quark.

As the crew works to lift the lockdown program, another fail-safe is tripped. The Dukat recording warns the crew that the whole habitat ring will soon be flooded with poisonous gas. Garak appears in Ops; as a Cardassian, his access codes allow him to travel around the station during the lockdown. He advises the crew to shut off the life support system, which will prevent the release of the poison gas. When they do so, the Dukat program announces that the station will self-destruct in two hours. When Garak tries to hack into the computer impersonating Gul Dukat, yet another fail-safe constructs a disruptor that fires random blasts around Ops, requiring the crew to take shelter.

Suddenly, the real Gul Dukat beams into Ops. He teases the crew about their predicament before deactivating the disruptor. Dukat attempts to use his leverage to get Major Kira to agree to having a Cardassian garrison placed on the station, but she refuses. Dukat is prevented from beaming away by a new security program, designed to prevent Dukat from abandoning his post during a worker revolt. Now, no one—not even Dukat—will be allowed to leave the area before the self-destruct.

O'Brien and the Siskos have managed to blast their way out of the ore-processing unit by detonating leftover ore. From Ops, Dax manages to shut down the force fields set up in all the station's halls. With ten minutes left, Sisko makes his way to the computer that controls the station's shielding, and fortifies the shields just enough to absorb the energy of the station's self-destruct system, saving the station.

Reception

In a 2014 review of this episode, The A.V. Club called it a"fine hour of television" and praised it as a "thrilling, intelligent story which satisfies genre expectations...." [1]

In 2016, Vox rated this one of the top 25 essential episodes of all Star Trek.[3]


References
  1. Handlen, Zack. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Civil Defense"/"Meridian"". TV Club. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  2. DeCandido, Keith R. A. (2013-11-08). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "Civil Defense"". Tor.com. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  3. Siede, Caroline (2016-09-06). "Star Trek, explained for non-Trekkies". Vox. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
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