‘PROGRESS’ (DS9)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This is quite a good Major Kira episode in the ‘DS9’ series. It explores Kira’s character as she interacts with a Bajoran man who refuses to leave his home on one of the Bajoran moons. It’s good character drama.
In the episode, Bajor is planning to tap the core of their moons to provide energy. It’s a process that will make the moon uninhabitable. Major Kira and Lt. Dax make sure that the moon’s been evacuated.
Usually when I think of a moon, I think of them as uninhabitable and unable to support life. Interesting how in ‘Star Trek’ that there are moons that are very much like a planet with a breathable atmosphere.
When finding that there are still people on the moon, Kira beams down to investigate. She’s surrounded by farmhands with pitchforks before finding they’re led by an elderly farmer called Mullibok.
Brian Keith guest stars as Mullibok. He’s well-known for starring in many films such as the 1961 Disney live-action film ‘The Parent Trap’. He has also voiced Uncle Ben in the 1990s ‘Spider-Man’ TV series. 😀
Mullibok refuses to leave his home on the moon as he believes he’ll die once he leaves. He’s stubborn old man, but Kira grows fond of him when she interacts with him in the episode. It’s a nice connection.
Kira and Mullibok share a lot in common especially with regards to the Cardassian occupation of Bajor many years ago. Kira tries to convince Mullibok to leave his home on the moon, but he’s very resilient.
This episode also features Michael Bofshever as Minister Toran who oversees the project regarding Bajor’s moon. Michael Bofshever was in ‘Star Trek VI’ and he’s played a Romulan in alien form in ‘TNG’.
Toran is unhappy with Kira’s report about Mullibok on the moon when she gives it to him and Sisko. Toran sends Kira back to that moon with two security guards and remove Mullibok by necessary force.
Kira attempts to reason with Mullibok whilst he goes about finishing building a kiln he has. The security guards meanwhile arrest his two farmhands: Terrence Evans as Baltrim and Annie O’Donnell as Keena.
Mullibok becomes furious once he sees his farmhands being arrested and attacks one of the guards. As a result, Mullibok gets shot. Angrily, Kira demands the security guards summon Bashir to the moon.
Thankfully, Bashir attends to Mullibok’s wounds in his house whilst his farmhands are evacuated to Bajor. Mullibok still refuses to leave his home and Kira decides to stay as she builds the rest of his kiln.
Sisko gets Bashir to recommend that Kira must remain on the moon for humanitarian reasons regarding Mullibok for a day or so. Sisko very soon goes and visits Kira at Mullibok’s home on the moon.
I like that scene where Sisko persuades Kira not to stay with Mullibok whilst he refuses to be evacuated. Sisko tells Kira how he thinks very highly of her as a friend and that Bajor needs people like her hereon.
There’s another plot going on where Jake and his friend Aron Eisenberg as Nog try to make a profit in selling Cardassian yamok sauce Quark doesn’t want. Nog is wanting five bars of gold pressed latinum.
Jake and Nog make a succession of trades in order to get the gold pressed latinum. This goes from getting self-sealing stem bolts to a strip of land on Bajor. Nog gets so frustrated with the trades they make. 😀
Eventually, Jake and Nog see an opportunity when the Bajoran government wish to secure land for a building project. Those two boys offer their strip of land to Quark for five bars of gold pressed latinum.
Back with the Kira/Mullibok story, Kira continues to bond with Mullibok as well as care for him during the night on the moon. Mullibok though seems to treat Kira like a nurse whilst she is attending to him.
The next day, Kira wakes up to see Mullibok putting the finishing touches on his kiln. He still refuses to leave his home. He states so long as his cottage stands, he’ll remain on the moon. Kira then decides.
She quickly destroys the kiln with her phaser and soon sets Mullibok’s cottage ablaze. Upset, Mullibok keeps insisting that he’ll die if he leaves the moon. Kira insists to Mullibok that she will not let him die.
‘Progress’ is a very good episode examining Kira’s character and her relationship with the old Bajoran man Mullibok. I hope Mullibok is still alive by the end of the episode, since it is left rather open-ended.
‘Progress’ (DS9) rating – 8/10
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