In the eighth episode of the fourth season of Deep Space Nine, THIS EPISODE IS ADORABLE. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
OH MY GOD, HOW IS THIS EPISODE REAL. I don’t know how “Little Green Men†came about, and I almost don’t want to know. But in the midst of a season full of some of the most serious and upsetting stories Deep Space Nine has given us, the show goes for full-on absurdity. BECAUSE QUARK’S SHIP IS THE CAUSE OF ROSWELL. I just typed that and started laughing. You know why? It’s perfect. It’s such a deliciously ridiculous idea, and thankfully, the show runs with it.
I expected that the show would cover Nog’s time on Earth, and… well, now I hope we do actually get an episode about that. I’d be interested to see it, as well as an episode about Morn. WHY DOESN’T HE TALK. Anyway, I love the surprise that comes from the journey instead. I expected it in a general sense; there was no way they had an eventless trip to Earth. It’s Quark, y’all. Nothing normal ever happens around him. BUT CRASHING TO EARTH IN 1947 WAS NOT SOMETHING I CONSIDERED ONCE.
It’s so beautiful. Quark, insulting humans with every breath. Quark, realizing he can manipulate these tiny balls of bigoted righteousness for profit. Quark, being faced with temporal paradoxes and saying FUCK IT I WANT TO MAKE MONEY. This episode works with no one but these three Ferengi, and I love that. I love that a Ferengi episode made me EXCITED! There’s even a moment where things get a little scary because I started to think that Quark was truly going to pull off the worst business plan of all time.
Yet “Little Green Men†never strays too far from the sense of humor it has for Quark or the Americans. I am perfectly fine with the ridiculous stereotypical Americans in this episode too, not just because it’s funny, though. If we accept Roddenberry’s vision of the future, then a trip back to 1947 would be horrifying for anyone from the time of the Federation. Bigotry, fear, paranoia, and hatred was kind of a huge thing in 1947. I daresay that for anyone other than a straight white cis dude, it was a nightmare scenario, an active dystopia playing out every day. Thus, the military characters here seem barbaric in comparison with who we usually see. It works! And it makes sense to me that a Star Trek show would pit the scientists against the military. THAT IS VERY MUCH SOMETHING RODDENBERRY WOULD LOVE, Y’ALL.
I didn’t find this to be the most intellectually challenging episode, but I adore how fun it was. This family works together to get back home (after convincing Quark that using time travel to set up an empire is a bad idea 100% of the time), and in the process, we get to see both Nog and Rom do brilliant things. Hell, this episode outright states that Rom lacks self-confidence, which is the only reason anyone thinks he’s not a genius WHEN HE TOTALLY IS.
Bless this episode. What a treat.
The video for “Little Green Men†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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