Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 2.16

Shadowplay

Dax and Odo investigate a planet in the Delta Quadrant where they discover omicron particles. The particles interfere with their scanning devices aboard the runabout. They beam down to the planet and discover a town of people living there. The people at first suspect that Dax and Odo have something to do with the recent disappearance of some of the people of the village. Dax and Odo convince the villagers that they are not responsible for the disappearances and then start to work on trying to figure out what happened to the missing people.

Benjamin Sisko insists that Jake get a job. He assigns him to be Chief O'Brien's assistant. Benjamin expects that Jake will one day join Starfleet. Jake isn't so sure about that but he doesn't say anything to his father about his feelings about joining Starfleet.

Vedek Bareil visits the space station. He and Kira spend dome time together. They hang out and play springball in a holodeck. Everything goes great but then something Bareil says clues Kira in as to what he's doing there and who is behind his visit: Quark. Kira stays on top of things and keeps Quark from getting away with anything during Odo's absence.

Dax and Odo figure out what happened to the missing people. It is the generator at the center of the town that is the issue. It is starting to fail and everyone in the village is just a hologram created by the generator. They shut it down, with the villagers permission and fix it but in doin so they learn that Rurigan, the village elder, unlike everyone else, is not a hologram. He's been there for 30 years, ever since he fled his home planet (Yadera Prime) when the Dominion took over.

The generator is turned back on, after it has been repaired. Dax and Odo say their goodbyes and head back to Deep Space Nine.

Thoughts

I like this episode very much. The subplots involving Jake and Kira were okay but the main story had some moments, especially towards the end, that I found to be quite moving. I feel, at the same time, that this episode has some similarities to other episodes of Star Trek. The question of whether holographic beings are sentient came up in this episode and has definitely come up before in The Next Generation with episodes like 2.03 Elementary, Dear Data.

Notes

Kenneth Tobey played the part of Rurigan. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. He appeared in one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955). He was in at least three movies that I have watched including The Thing from Another World (1951), The Bigamist (1953), and A Man Called Adam (1966).

Kenneth Mars played the part of Coylus, one of the villagers. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. He was also in Radio Days (1987).

Noley Thornton played the part of Taya, the granddaughter of Rurigan. She was also in an episode of Next Generation. I thought she was quite good as Taya.

Philip Anglim makes his fourth of eight appearances as Vedek Bareil in this episode. He was last seen in 2.03 The Siege.

This is the sixth of at least 37 episodes that was written by Robert Hewitt Wolfe. The previous episode he wrote was 2.09 Second Sight. He wrote one episode of The Next Generation and produced 51 episodes of DS9.

This is the only episode of this show that Robert Scheerer directed. He directed 11 episodes of The Next Generation (including 2.09 The Measure of a Man, 3.10 The Defector, 5.17 The Outcast) and two episodes of Voyager.