‘CALL TO ARMS’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
The season finale to Season 5 of ‘Star Trek: DS9’! The season sort-of ends on a cliff-hanger and it’s a pretty big game-changing one at that. One I’m sure not many viewers of ‘DS9’ would have expected.
In the episode, more Jem’Hadar ships are coming through the wormhole. The DS9 crew also learn that the Romulans and other major powers have signed non-aggression pacts with the Dominion. 😮
Things seem pretty grim. War with the Dominion is inevitable. Sisko is determined to stop further Dominion reinforcements reaching Cardassia when he has received orders from Starfleet Command.
The crew need to find a way to block the wormhole connecting the Alpha Quadrant and the Gamma Quadrant. They do it by setting up a field of self-replicating mines in front of the wormhole in space.
The plan is devised by Jadzia, O’Brien and Rom. I like how Max Grodénchik as Rom comes up with the idea of self-replicating mines whilst worrying about his wedding to Chase Masterson as Leeta. 😀
There’s a problem with the mine-field in space however. The mines can’t be activated until they’re fully deployed. Thus it takes time for Jadzia and O’Brien in setting up the mine-field using the Defiant.
Once deployment begins, the Dominion gets wind of this. Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun declares that DS9 will be attacked unless the mines are removed. Sisko however refuses to adhere to the warning.
The DS9 team have another problem. Starfleet reinforcements are limited and mostly unavailable. Sisko asks J. G. Hertzler as General Martok to patrol the border as the Defiant deploys the mine-field.
Sisko also endorses the non-aggression pact offered to Bajor by the Dominion in the hopes it will keep the planet out of the upcoming war. Kira is very surprised by Sisko endorsing the decision here.
Thankfully in the episode, Sisko officiates Rom’s marriage to Leeta. Once Rom and Leeta are married, Rom sends Leeta with other Bajorans to evacuate the station as a result of the non-aggression pact.
Melanie Smith as Tora Ziyal, Gul Dukat’s daughter also gets sent to Bajor, evacuating the station. I like the final goodbye she has with Andrew J. Robinson as Garak. It’s pretty clear that she loves him.
I’m also glad that O’Brien sent his wife and children off from Bajor to Earth during the time of crisis regarding the coming war with the Dominion. I had wondered what had happened to them recently.
Once the Bajorans have evacuated, Starfleet personnel remain to defend the station until the mines have been completely deployed. Thus the stage is set for the siege of DS9 by the Dominion forces. 🙂
I found the outer-space battle between DS9 and the Dominion/Cardassian forces pretty exciting. I wish the battle scene was longer as it could have echoed something like ‘Lord of the Rings’ in space.
Whilst Dominion/Cardassian forces are met by DS9’s armaments, Martok’s Klingon ship called the Rotarran helps Jadzia and O’Brien finish deploying the mines by fighting off the Jem’Hadar warships.
Thankfully, the minefield is activated. Sisko orders the Starfleet personnel to evacuate as well as surrender DS9 to the Dominion. So yeah, the DS9 crew lose their valued space station to the enemy.
Fortunately, a combined Starfleet/Klingon task force wiped out an important Dominion shipyard whilst the Dominion was occupied with DS9. Eventually however, all of the Starfleet crew evacuate.
It’s a sad time for the Starfleet members of DS9. Dax and Worf get separated on different ships, but agree to marry each other if they survive the war. Odo and Kira also reconcile feelings to each other.
Jake however stays behind on DS9 to serve as a reporter for the Federation News Service, much to Sisko’s dismay. Rom also acts as a spy for the Federation whilst he works at Quark’s bar on DS9 here.
Kira thankfully disables the station’s system by activating a pre-set computer program to prevent the Dominion locating the mine-field. She, Odo and Quark welcome the new Dominion occupiers to DS9.
Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat leads the group as well as Weyoun. Despite, the Cardassians and the Dominion claiming the station, they find Sisko’s baseball in his office – a message that he will return.
‘Call to Arms’ is a dramatic episode to conclude Season 5 of ‘DS9’ with the space station lost to the Cardassians and the Dominion. It’s geared me to find out whether the DS9 crew get the station back.
On Disc 7 of the ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Season 5’ DVD, as well as ‘Trials and Tribble-ations: Uniting Two Legends’ and ‘Trials and Tribble-ations: A Historic Endeavor’, there are the documentaries ‘Crew Dossier: Miles O’Brien’, ‘Inside DS9 with Michael Okuda’, ‘Michael Westmore’s Aliens: Season 5’, ‘Deep Space Nine Sketchbook: John Eaves’ and ‘The Ferengi Culture’. There’s also a photo gallery and some Section 31 hidden files.
‘Call to Arms’ (DS9) rating – 9/10
‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Season 5’ DVD rating – 9/10
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