A Man Alone

Episode aired Jan 17, 1993
TV-PG
46m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

2.7K

YOUR RATING

Armin Shimerman and Peter Vogt in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

Action Adventure Drama Sci-Fi Thriller

Ibudan, a criminal Odo has dealt with before, returns to DS9 only to be murdered shortly after - leaving Odo to be the prime suspect. Jake and Nog's trouble-making prompt Keiko to do somethi... Read allIbudan, a criminal Odo has dealt with before, returns to DS9 only to be murdered shortly after - leaving Odo to be the prime suspect. Jake and Nog's trouble-making prompt Keiko to do something helpful for the station's children.Ibudan, a criminal Odo has dealt with before, returns to DS9 only to be murdered shortly after - leaving Odo to be the prime suspect. Jake and Nog's trouble-making prompt Keiko to do something helpful for the station's children.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

2.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
This was the first regular episode of the series to be made, but Past Prologue (1993) was chosen to be broadcast first. This explains why several firsts occur in this episode, such as O'Brien's wife and child arriving at the station and Keiko establishing the school, Jake and Nog meeting and becoming friends, Rom being introduced by name as Quark's brother, and Jadzia explaining right away to Bashir why Trills aren't interested in romance. It also explains why some details of the series had not been completely worked out yet (as in the immediately preceding pilot), such as Max Grodénchik's Rom lacking his familiar voice and mannerisms (and mispronunciation of "human"), Rene Auberjonois' Odo lacking the trademark gravelly low voice, the Bajorans not wearing their trademark earrings, and the people referred to as "Bajora".

Goofs
In this, his first appearance on the series after the pilot, Aron Eisenberg's (Nog) opening credit is misspelled as "Aron Eisenerg".

Quotes
Quark: [about Odo] He's an ill-tempered, overbearing, cross-patch. But he was no Cardassian collaborator, and he's no killer.
Zayra: I can't believe you're defending him, Quark. You're his worst enemy.
Quark: Guess that's the closest thing he has in this world to a friend.

Connections
Featured in What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2018)

Soundtracks
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Main Title
(uncredited)
Written by Dennis McCarthy
Performed by Dennis McCarthy

User reviews11

Review

Featured review

7/10

A proper Odo introduction

A Bajoran is killed on DS9 and it causes civil unrest.

This is an enjoyable episode, but for me does not work as a murder mystery (if it was intended that way), and the baddie is very one-note. However, I did quite like the sci-fi concept used in the explanation even though it's not a particularly cinematic reveal. What it does well is establish characters further and set up the dynamics for what is to come on the show.

Odo mostly takes centre stage and he is portrayed as strong minded and firm principled character. To me he is like a cross between Bones and Spock, as he has the outsider's perspective on humanity, but also a passionate and somewhat grouchy persona. His ideas about justice is presented strongly and the concept of him serving the same role during both Cardassian and Federation control of DS9 makes the character more compelling.

His love-hate dynamic with Quark is nicely set up by Quark's contribution to the story and a good exchange of dialogue between them. Also the connection he has with Kira is subtly introduced by her attitude towards him here.

Other side-plots and moments are reasonably good but offer little except small amounts of character establishment. I like the idea of both Keiko and DS9 needing the school, but the behavioural issues of Jake and Nog feels forced. Dr Bashir's sex-pest pursuit of Dax is fairly tiresome already.

Rene Auberjonois is excellent in all his scenes and leads this episode well. Nana Visitor has some good moments along with Avery Brooks.