The Search: Part 1 (26 Sep. 1994)

Instead of waiting for the Jem'Hadar to attack, Sisko wants to try a different approach. He wants to take a new class starship to try to find the Founders.

Director:

Kim Friedman

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry, 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
Colm Meaney	...	Chief O'Brien
Armin Shimerman	...	Quark
Nana Visitor	...	Major Kira
Salome Jens	...	Female Shapeshifter
Martha Hackett	...	T'Rul
John Fleck	...	Ornithar
Ken Marshall	...	Lt. Commander Michael Eddington (as Kenneth Marshall)

Storyline

The crew of the station is preparing for the expected attack of the Jem'Hadar, but the prognoses are not looking good. Within two hours the station will be taken over. Suddenly a cloaked ship is detected very close to the station. They are being hailed by captain Sisko. He's on board of the Defiant, a prototype of a new class of starships, a warship specifically designed to fight the Borg. The ship is flawed, but equipped with cloaking technology borrowed from the Romulans. Sisko and Starfleet's idea is not to wait for the Jem'Hadar to attack, but to penetrate into the Dominion's territory to try to found the Founders and try to solve matters the diplomatic way.

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Plot Keywords:

24th century

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 September 1994 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First appearance of Michael Eddington.

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Goofs

Before escaping from the Defiant, Odo and Kira get into a heavy fight with the Jem'Hadar. Since the Jem'Hadar have a genetically inbred deference for any Changeling, as established only a few episodes later, it is highly unlikely they would have attacked Odo or even touched him at all.

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Quotes

Commander Sisko: [about Starfleet Headquarters] I used to get a thrill just walking into that building. I'd look around at the admirals and think: One day that's going to be me. One day I'm the one that's going to be making the big decisions!
Lieutenant Jadzia Dax: [smiles] Curzon always said that was very funny.
Commander Sisko: Did he?
Lieutenant Jadzia Dax: What I mean is, he could never see a set of admiral stars on your collar. He thought that just making the decisions would never satisfy you. You had to implement them, see the results, face the consequences. Curzon ...
[...]

User Reviews

The arrival of the USS Defiant

Series Three of Deep Space Nine opens a few months after the last series ended; most of the senior staff are discussing what they can do to counter the Jem'Hadar threat to the station. None of the options look very promising and to make matters worse a cloaked ship is detected very close to the station. As Major Kira takes the station to red alert the ship decloaks to reveal itself as the USS Defiant, a new Star Fleet warship captained by Commander Sisko. Sisko wastes little time before taking the Defiant through the worm hole to seek out the mysterious and possibly mythical Founders. Talks with aliens Quark has done business with leads them to a relay station. Shortly after finding after learning where the station sends its messages a shield activates and captures O'Brien and Dax. The mission is so important that Sisko abandons them, heading onto the coordinates they found, unfortunately here they are intercepted by the Jem'Hadar despite being protected by a Romulan cloak. As the Jem'Hadar board the Defiant Odo escapes in a shuttle with an injured Major Kira and heads to the Omarion Nebula, somewhere he felt drawn to ever since shown it on charts earlier in the episode. Here they find a planet on which there is a strange lake, a lake made up entirely of beings like Odo.

This episode was a good introduction to the series and a great introduction for the Defiant even though as the episode ends it looks as if the ship might be lost before the mission is over. It was also nice to finally meet Odo's species even though we learn nothing about them at the conclusion of the first part of this two part story. With Dax and O'Brien left at the relay station and the Defiant boarded by the Jem'Hadar I can't wait to see the next episode to learn how the crew extricate themselves from the situation.