Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 68: Explorers [VHS]

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Sisko builds a ship. The man and his boy do some bonding. Dukat has a cameo. That's about it. Yet somehow "Explorers" winds up being a nice little character piece with an air a serenity about it that showcases the genuine affection between the two Siskos. This is one of the handful of episodes that captures the two characters together and actually does a little something with it. Not much really, but enough to make for a pleasant hour.

Episode title: Explorers

Teleplay by: Rene Echevarria

Story by: Hilary J. Bader

Directed by: Cliff Bole

After continuous attempts at political drama, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine gives us a story about the basic "wagon train to the stars" idea by the way of "Explorers", an episode dealing with space flight in it's primitive stages.

This is managed with a story that deals with Commander Sisko coming across records of an ancient Bajoran solar sail ship that supposedly carried a small crew of Bajorans to Cardassia in sublight speeds.

The Cardassians have denied this, of course and Sisko desides to prove the design spaceworthy by building it from the records and making a little trip with Jake.

So begins a journey by Sisko and Jake, as they take on a trip towards Cardassia.

The episode is clearly meant to be a character story, as it follows Sisko and Jake on a small ship, talking about their lives, their past and their future, but all this is done in a surprisingly shallow way and these scenes don't offer anything substantial about the characters.

It is nice to see some attempt at deppening Jake, but "Explorers" portrays him like all the episodes he has been shown briefly before it. As an immature teenager and a destinationless and superficial character. The acting performances don't help these scenes either.

Also the framing plot is far too unbeliavable and coincidence-based, and the pacing of the episode doesn't work adequately, partly due to the bad addittional plot about Bashir meeting the only person who outdid him in med school.

"Explorers" is watchable and I appreciate the effort put into a purely character-driven episode, but the execution of that good idea lacks considerably.

In an attempt to prove that Ancient Bajoran's did leave their solar system, Commander Sisko builds a simple starship like the ones used by the Bajoran's and he and Jake set-off. A rather dull episode that concentrates on the relationship between both Sisko's, although some engaging subjects arise and more about Bajor is discovered, the cracking dialogue and pace is too irratic to watch in full.