Rivals (2 Jan. 1994)

Quark meets his match when a new rival opens a casino opposite Quark's Bar on the Promenade; meanwhile the station is suffering issues of high improbability.

Director:

David Livingston

Writers:

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

Stars:

Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Avery Brooks	...	Commander Sisko
Rene Auberjonois	...	Odo
Alexander Siddig	...	Doctor Bashir (as Siddig El Fadil)
Terry Farrell	...	Lieutenant Jadzia Dax
Cirroc Lofton	...	Jake Sisko (credit only)
Colm Meaney	...	Chief O'Brien
Armin Shimerman	...	Quark
Nana Visitor	...	Major Kira
Chris Sarandon	...	Martus Mazur
Rosalind Chao	...	Keiko O'Brien
Barbara Bosson	...	Roana
K Callan	...	Alsia
Max Grodénchik	...	Rom
Albert Henderson	...	Cos

Storyline

Martus, an El-Aurian, tries to con a lady but gets arrested by Odo for conning a couple earlier. In his cell he meet Cos, a dying alien with a strange gambling device. Cos tells he had a string of bad luck. After Cos dies, he takes the device. Shortly after he hears the couple decided not to press charges and is released. He tries to sell the thing to Quark, but he is not overly interested. Feeling very lucky decides to become Quark's rival and opens another casino on the Promenade. Meanwhile O'Brien has constructed a racquetball court to get some physical exercise. He finds out Dr. Bashir plays it too. He even was captain of the team of his medical school. O'Brien is no match for Bashir, much to his frustration. He keeps challenging Bashir. Bashir fears for O'Briens health and tries to stop playing.

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Plot Keywords:

luck | 24th century

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 January 1994 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Whoopi Goldberg was to have played Guinan, her recurring role from Star Trek: The Next Generation, in this episode. But she was unavailable due to her movie work.

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Quotes

Martus Mazur: It seems that overconfidence comes in small packages around here.

User Reviews

A change of luck

This episode opens with Martus Mazur, an alien of a race with a knack for getting people to tell their secrets is arrested by Odo for defrauding an old couple. While in a cell he talks to his cell mate who has a small device which he claims has changed his luck. When this man dies Martus takes the device and soon has a change of luck of his own; Odo releases him and after talking to a Bajoran shop keeper he turns her shop into a new casino where he has replicated several much larger versions of the machine. Quark is understandable not happy when his clientèle start going to the new establishment. Meanwhile Chief O'Brien has built a court for a squash like game in which he hopes to find somebody to play against; unfortunately for him Dr. Bashir is an expert at the game and easily beats him. When Quark learns of the competition between to two he decides to arrange a grudge match between them to whip up custom for his bar... whether they want such a match or not. Something strange is starting to happen on the station, people's luck is changing, some are for the better and others for the worse, at first it is considered just chance but when Dax sees that the spin of neutrinos in the station isn't as expected she realises that something is changing the laws of probability on the station.

While it wasn't a classic episode it had some good moments, it was fun to see the rivalry between Bashir and O'Brien. A slight downside was that there was no explanation about why they bet on the strange device, there seemed to be an equal chance of winning or losing with no skill involved; one might have well tossed a coin... like people were in Quark's before the new place opened.