Episode complete credited cast: | |||
Avery Brooks | ... | Cmdr. Benjamin Sisko | |
Rene Auberjonois | ... | Odo | |
Alexander Siddig | ... | Doctor Bashir (as Siddig El Fadil) | |
Terry Farrell | ... | Lt. Jadzia Dax | |
Cirroc Lofton | ... | Jake Sisko (credit only) | |
Colm Meaney | ... | Chief Miles O'Brien | |
Armin Shimerman | ... | Quark | |
Nana Visitor | ... | Major Kira | |
Cliff De Young | ... | Croden (as Cliff DeYoung) | |
Randy Oglesby | ... | Ro-Kel / Ah-Kel | |
Max Grodénchik | ... | Rom | |
Gordon Clapp | ... | Hadran | |
Kathleen Garrett | ... | Vulcan Officer | |
Leslie Kendall Dye | ... | Yareth (as Leslie Engelberg) | |
Majel Barrett | ... | Computer Voice (voice) |
A Mindaran ship has arrived with the brothers Ah-Kel and Ro-Kel, known as smugglers, and a mysterious individual, Croden, has been spending quite a lot of time in Quark's bar. He is from the Gamma quadrant and there are reports of them having extensive conversations. Odo doesn't trust it and he;s right. He catches Quark negotiating with the Mindarans about an artifact that was probably stolen. He can't stop Croden however from killing Ro-Kel while trying to steal the artifact. While Ah-Kel vows revenge, Croden tells Odo something that really piques his interest. He mentions he has seen shape-shifters before and calls them Changelings. Croden tells they once lived on his planet, but were driven out, but he encountered them again on a secret planet. Odo is skeptical, but gets interested when Croden shows an artifact that contains a living shape-shifting fluid. Written by Arnoud Tiele (imdb@tiele.nl)
A really great episode from the first season of Deep Space Nine. It acts as both a good charactor building story of Odo and adds some interesting background in relation to Odo's Changeling history. We're also given some hints regarding Odo's race that will feature more prominently in later episodes. The other aspects to 'Vortex' which really establish DS9 as a show which likes to draw upon 'grey areas' is the charactor of Croden, where one dismisses him at first but develops an affection towards him as the story unfolds. Previous episodes of the first season try to build on the good/bad nature of various individuals, but this is the first one which I think works exceptionally well.