In the Hands of the Prophets (20 Jun. 1993)

Vedek Winn, a candidate in the race for the open Kai position, stirs up trouble on DS9 when she attempts to boycott Keiko's school for not teaching Bajoran religious beliefs.

Director:

David Livingston

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Rick Berman (creator),

Stars:

Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Avery Brooks	...	Commander Sisko
Rene Auberjonois	...	Odo
Alexander Siddig	...	Doctor Bashir (as Siddig El Fadil)
Terry Farrell	...	Lieutenant Jadzia Dax
Cirroc Lofton	...	Jake Sisko
Colm Meaney	...	Chief O'Brien
Armin Shimerman	...	Quark
Nana Visitor	...	Major Kira
Louise Fletcher	...	Vedek Winn
Rosalind Chao	...	Keiko O'Brien
Robin Christopher	...	Neela
Philip Anglim	...	Vedek Bareil
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Eugene Fairman	...	Promenade Vendor

Storyline

Keiko is teaching the station's children about the wormhole. Suddenly Vedek Winn, one of the most important religious leaders of the Bajorans and a possible candidate to become the next Kai, arrives. She despises the scientific way Keiko chooses to explain the phenomenon and calls it blasphemy. She will not allow it and takes the Bajoran children of the school. Both Keiko and Winn are not willing to give in and Sisko travels to Bajor to get the support of Vedek Bareil. Meanwhile chief O'Brien finds an interlock is missing from his toolkit. Together with a new engineer, Neela from Bajor, he starts looking for it. They find it back in a corridor together with the remains of ensign Aquino. It looks like an accident, but O'Brien has his doubts.

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Plot Keywords:

school | religious fundamentalism | philosophy | explosion | bomb | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 June 1993 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Chief O'Brien and Dax are looking at the schematics of the encrypted file which displays the security overrides of the forcefields leading to Runabout Pad A, it is the exact same animation used in one of the previous episodes "Dramatis Personae" (#1.17) when Odo is helping Sisko and O'Brien.

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Goofs

When Odo questions Quark on the Promenade about Ensign Aquino's murder, you see Morn walking in the background from right to left. A few moments later in the same scene, when Odo and Chief O'Brien are talking, you see Morn walking by in the background again, also from right to left.

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Quotes

Bajoran Vendor: Seek the Prophets!
Odo: [growling under his breath] Seek them yourself.

User Reviews

Introducing Kai Winn

The episode that introduces Oscar-winner Louise Fletcher as Winn, a chillingly sinister religious zealot who would go on to appear in several more episodes during the series run. Still known as Vedek Winn at this point, she's in line to become the next Kai, the Bajoran's spiritual leader, and immediately brings intense conflict by busting into teacher Keiko's class and implying that teaching the young'uns science about the wormhole without mentioning the awesomeness of the prophets is tantamount to blasphemy. She then has Sisko over to her quarters, calls him Emissary, and justifies her actions by worrying about the "consequences" of what will happen if the kids aren't trained up right. Meanwhile, O'Brien and his hottie fellow engineer Neela investigate the death of an engineer who happened to borrow one of Miles's tools before getting melted in a plasma conduit. Was it an accident, or was he murdered? And by who? And why? Sisko appeals to another Vedek, the much mellower Bareil, to try to defuse the situation before the station descends into total chaos.

It's not as brilliant as the preceding episode, "Duet", but "Prophets" is pretty good too, with a tightly interwoven set of story lines, further ugly truths about Bajoran culture (and beautiful faith in the goodness of individuals), and some good performances. Mostly, though, the characters are in service of the plot, and they are sketched somewhat broadly for DS9, which generally delights in nuance and complexity. It's a good stand-alone episode that shows the other sides of our allies, the Bajorans, and will make you think twice about blindly accepting them as victimized good guys. As usual, Louise Fletcher turns in a great performance as an ice-cold, dogmatic ball buster, and it's very entertaining to watch her and Avery Brooks's unflappable Sisko go head to head.