Star Trek DS9 - Season 4 - Episode 25
Star Trek DS9 - 4x25 - Body Parts
Originally Aired: 1996-6-10
Synopsis:
Misdiagnosed with a terminal disease, Quark sells his body parts on the Ferengi Futures Exchange to pay off his debts, then finds himself unable to break the contract. [DVD]
Filler Quotient:
0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Numerous major long term plot threads are serviced here.
Problems
None
Factoids
- This episode was conceived as a way to keep a pregnant Nana Visitor on the show.
- This episode establishes that 500 bars of gold pressed latinum equals 10,000 strips, or 1,000,000 slips.
Remarkable Scenes
- Brunt accusing Quark of being a philanthropist.
- Quark seeking to hire Garak to kill him.
- Keiko explaining morning sickness to Kira.
- Quark and Garak arguing over the death method.
- Everyone chiming in to help Quark in the end.
- Rules of Acquisition; 17. A contract is a contract is a contract. But only between Ferengi. 239. Never be afraid to mislabel a product.
- Morn Appearances; 1. In Quark's bar in the teaser when Quark announces that he's dying. 2. Talking to a Starfleet officer in the background just after the opening credits. 3. At Garak's shop getting a new pair of trousers. 4. Is one of the people coming in to help restock and refurnish the bar. Morn brings in a chair and sits on it. :)
My Review
This is a rather silly Ferengi episode, but a rather clever O'Brien / Kira / Keiko episode. Unfortunately, most of the time is squandered on Quark's silly situation. Very little plot is given to Kira and the O'Briens. This plot would have been worth a few more points if Quark's and the O'Briens' allotted time were reversed.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
While I love the O'Brien's, and would have enjoyed seeing more of their story, in this case I was more than willing to do without, since any story about them would also involve Kira, whom I cannot stand.
I thought the Ferengi plot was more entertaining anyway.
until the very last moment i actually though garak would appear out of nowhere and try to fulfill his part of the contract, killing quark without he even knowing it...
I actually thought this was a cute and entertaining episode. I really like Quark and Rom, so I enjoyed it. I also agree with John that Kira is really not my favorite character. (I don't love Jadzia, either.)
The contract says Brunt gets Quarks bodyparts when he dies. Is there a timelimit or something? I don't see why he needs to kill himself.
Brunt can still get his parts when he dies in 50 years or whatever.
@The Obam-Hadar: Brunt directly quotes the contract - the dessicated remains must be available within 6 days. Surely this means 6 days since the auctioning.
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I think this episode is definitely above 3 for me. 6, maybe 7? What I enjoy the most is the delightful acting. I always was fond of Ferengi episodes due to the actors and them having to perform in that kind of heavy makeup, and they always put up a great show, intentionally caricaturish. And the comedy was just really good as it usually is on DS9.
Rule of acquisition 17
A contract is a contract is a contract... but only between Ferengi
As long as Quark is not in drag I usually enjoy a Ferengi-centric episode, especially when Brunt is involved 😆