S04.E10: Our Man Bashir

[John Potts]

Quote

Julian indulges in a new (very familiar looking!) Holodeck program in which he plays a British Secret Agent (00DS9?) which Garak intrudes on. When sabotage requires the rest of the command staff to require an emergency beam out, the only place that can store their patterns is the Holodeck, which incorporates their likenesses into the program. Julian now has to find a way to keep all the characters alive lest their patterns be lost.

OK, while this is undoubtedly a completely silly episode and the science makes even less sense than normal (Eddington can't keep their physical patterns for more than 30 seconds? Scottie can manage 70+ years!), I just LOVE it. Sure, it's highly derivative (not that James Bond is exactly original), but it's just FUN. The names are ridiculous (Honey Bear? Mona Luvsit*?), the accents outrageous and no scenery goes unchewed, but it's a fun swipe at (then) contemporary spy fiction and there's plenty of Garak snark to point out just how ridiculous the whole thing is. And I love the fact that Julian saves the day by destroying the world!

* I'm amazed this name hasn't been used in one of the films already - still not as good as the Bristol Pantosoc production For Your Thighs Only which had "Titania Tosmioff"

[SVNBob]

43 minutes ago, John Potts said:

The names are ridiculous (Honey Bear? Mona Luvsit*?)

Don't forget Anastasia Komonanov.  Obviously inspired by the name of the character played by TNG alum Famke Janssen.

[legaleagle53]

This was a fun episode, and it was one that would be referenced a couple more times throughout the show's run.  It also served as part of the inspiration for Vic's Lounge and for Vic Fontaine himself later on.

Nana Visitor, incidentally, said that this was one of her favorite episodes as well, and that she loved being the "Bond girl" as part of the homage to Ian Fleming's work.  And I've no doubt that the rest of the cast and crew had fun making this episode and getting to do something so deliberately and deliciously cheesy.  I mean, that's half the fun of the real James Bond movies!

Edited April 11, 2017 by legaleagle53

[blueray]

I like this episode too as it is a fun one. I love how Garak adds in how a "real" spy would act, not that he'd admit to anything.

Also it shows smart Rom actually is. I love the scene where he explains how he had to use random stuff to keep the holodeck working.

[Maverick]

 I'd call it more of a tribute than derivative.  Unfortunately, MGM called it copyright infringement which prevented any future visits with Bashir, Julian Bashir (you'd think they would have learned after tangling with the Conan Doyle estate on TNG).  I thought making Garak take the whole thing as an affront to his profession was genius.  Best line was "Kiss the girl, get the key.  They never taught me that one in the Obsidian Order."   I also loved Dr. Noah commenting that somehow he didn't expect to win after Bashir floods the Earth.  

[readster]

Also a favorite one mine, I also love a great exchange between Rom, Quark and Odo. 

Rom: "We've had to make a lot of adjustments to this holosuite."

Odo: "There's a spatula in there!"

Quark: "Hey, Rom knows what works." 

[rmontro]

I don't think I liked this episode as much as some other posters here, but I loved seeing Captain Sisko as that bizarre Dr. No character, or whatever that was.  Hilarious, especially that outfit.  Who's his tailor, Dr. Evil?

[Maverick]

Both Dr. Evil and Sisko's Dr. Noah had outfits based on Dr. No's  Neru jacket look in the the original Bond film.  

One of my favorite parts is when Bashir floods the world and Noah muses "somehow, I never expected to win".

As a Bond fan, I loved this episode.  It was a great riff on the early era of that franchise.  Unfortunately, such a good one it got Paramount in trouble and ensured we never got another Secret Agent Bashir episode.