Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 10: Move Along Home [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a nice Star Trek episode, in the classic style of discovering new life and new civilizations.

Sisko and his crew do not often "boldly go" anywhere in the first few seasons (being grounded by Starfleet to DS9?), but every once in a while a new species will happen upon the promenade. In this case, it's the Wadi, the first formal contact between a Gamma quadrant species and the Federation. In the Wadi's culture, games and gaming is everything, and cheating the greatest crime. Enter Quark... stage left...

After Quark is discovered cheating, Sisko, Dax, Bashir and Kira are punished for the Ferengi's crime, and placed in a maze, forced to face numerous challenges and perils...

This is a nice little episode. It was refreshing to encounter a Trek culture not obsessed with war and the military, nor suffering from the same. It really does not act as a lead in to other episodes, but that's ok...

The Vulcans make first contact with a new race, the Wadi, in the Gamma Quadrant and send the Wadi to DS9 to meet Sisko and the rest of the senior staff. This quite illogical set up sends an odd group of humanoids to DS9 and all that Sisko knows is what they are called. They are given zero background information. They don't know anything about this culture, how to properly greet them, what their values are or anything. That whole premise is stupid enough to lose a star. If they had said that the Nagus met them and sent them to Quark's, that would make more sense. It would seem that the silly Wadi are a bit too trivial for the Vulcans, so they figured we inferior humans would enjoy their company more. Nice, heh?

The Wadi don't care for formal chit-chat - their culture is game-driven - they love to learn new games and strategy. Falow, the apparent leader of the group of visiting Wadi asks to be led to the games. They go to Quarks and quickly master the game of Dabo, cleaning Quark's clock in the process. To keep from going bankrupt, Quark implements some cheating technology to even the odds and the Wadi catch him in the act. Quark pleads innocent, then pleads for mercy and the Wadi introduce him to a new game, called Chula. Quark doesn't have much of a chance, but is discouraged when part of the rules of the game are that you must learn the game as you play.

As the game begins, we shift to Sisko's quarters where he's all tucked in and getting comfy in his bed. As he turns over, he finds that he is no longer in his bed, but in a large room with the lights blazing. He's naturally disoriented to find himself not only somewhere he's never been before, but to find himself wearing his uniform, his communicator and with a tricorder in his holster. He tries to find a way out of wherever he is and he runs into Dax, Bashir and Kira who all found themselves in this weird place with no explanation.

As we shift back and forth between the 4 senior officers trying to find their way out of the geometrically designed rooms, and then to Quark's where he has 4 game pieces he's moving, it becomes obvious that Falow has somehow trapped Sisko and company in the game and Quark has their lives in the palms of his hands.

Sisko, Bashir, Kira & Dax must "advance" from one level to another, figuring out the rules which become more complex as the game continues - all the while, they have no idea that Quark is moving the pieces that determine their fate and that their actions determine how many gemstones he wins as he gambles with their lives.

First they must play celestial hopscotch, then they are exposed to lethal gas at a "through the looking glass" type of party in which they must figure their way out before they succomb.

When Jake tells Odo that his father is missing, Odo discovers that Sisko isn't even on the station. When he goes to tell Kira, he finds her missing as well and soon discovers that 4 officers are AWOL and there are no records of how or when they left the station. When he goes to Quark's, he finds Quark in the middle of playing Chula. When he announces that 4 officers are missing, Quark has an epiphany and Quark and Odo look in horror at the tiny game pieces and realize the stakes are higher than either of them could have imagined.

Even though they have a complete Federation crew aboard, they're no one we really know or trust - Worf hasn't arrived yet and O'Brien is on earth, escorting Keiko to her grandmother's 100 birthday. Odo beams aboard the Wadi ship to investigate, but the rest of the Federation crew just turn bolts and oil cogs - because Odo never asks them to assist - they are basically worthless and they don't even seem to notice that their 3 most senior officers and the Bajoran attache are missing. Whatever!

The game is interesting and can be a bit of a nailbiter as Sisko realizes that Falow must be testing them, but never realize that they are in Quark's gnarled hands... but in these early episodes, holes in the plots abound and this episode is no different. Peppered in with intriguing scenes, is non-stop eye-rolling.

MOVE ALONG HOME is what you get when you take the original Star Trek series, add a dash of the television classic, The Prisoner, and mix it all up in the plot of "The Celestial Toymaker" episode of Doctor Who. That is to say, it's not wholly original, and it's not mind-blowingly good, but it is certainly an entertaining piece of television, and an hour that I enjoyed.

This episode is another of those stories where real-life people become pawns in a much larger game -- literally. Sisko, Bashir, Dax, and Kira are the game-pieces in question, while Quark and Odo are on the outside looking in - with Quark being the one with his hand on the dice. Much of the story is played for laughs, which is good since as a straight drama it probably wouldn't have worked. But the gags are never less than enjoyable, and at best, they are laugh-out-loud funny.

This isn't a great episode of television, but it's certainly watchable. It entertained me for the most part, and I can't complain too much about that. It's breezy, amusing, and doesn't take itself very seriously.

The name of the game is Chula...and it comes from melding two of the words of a popular children's game called "Chutes And Ladders" - no kidding! The writers of this episode took a close look at several types of games in order to come up with the design for the one played here, hence the name Chula. 'Move Along Home' is another one of those shows in the Trek catalogue that cause fans to debate its merits. Though it strays from the course of events that have unfolded in the previous nine episodes it still provides some solid entertainment and manages to create some suspense as well.

Sisko, Kira, Dax and Bashir prepare to welcome the Wadi, a new alien race from the Gamma Quadrant, to DS9. Upon arrival the Wadi dispense with the stuffy diplomacy of First Contact and insist they be taken to Quark's Bar so they can play games. Once there they tempt Quark with some valuable looking gemstones and he escorts them to the Dabo table - immediately. When the Wadi prove too adept at beating the odds of Dabo, Quark begins cheating them so they will "stop cutting into his profits." The Wadi's leader Falow catches the Ferengi cheating and challenges him to a game called Chula. Falow won't tell Quark the rules explaining to him that he has to learn them as he plays the game. When the two begin their game Sisko, Kira, Dax and Bashir awaken to find themselves trapped in a bizarre and surreal labyrinthine structure. Jake reports his father is missing to Odo who further finds that the other three officers are also missing. Soon he and Quark realize that the four game pieces Quark is playing Chula with are representative of the four missing officers and that he may or may not be playing for their survival.

'Move Along Home' is mainly concerned with spotlighting the character of Quark and he is fun to watch throughout the episode, changing from a shrewd businessman into a groveling pathetic mess. Granted, it is easy for anyone to reason that the Wadi aren't going to bring harm to the four officers but it is reasonably suspenseful and the set design is terrific. There's plenty of humor scattered throughout as well and both Odo and Kira vent about their uneasy association with the rules and regulations of the Federation. The story is derivative of an episode of the superior television series "The Prisoner" (titled 'Checkmate') where the residents of The Village are used as chess pieces in a chess match. Chula looks to be quite an intriguing game! If you took the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, crossed it with Stratego and added a few rudimentary rules of chess you would come close to the game of Chula. There are a few sly references to Dungeons & Dragons here and if you're familiar with that game you'll pick on them.

A new species from the Gamma Quadrant forces the crew to play a new and seemingly deadly game.

This episode was pretty good! Sisko, Dax, Kira and Bashir gets traped in a game due to Quarks cheating at his bar.