The Delta Flyers - The House of Quark

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

The Delta Flyers is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Terry Farrell & Armin Shimerman. In each podcast release, they will recap and discuss an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This week’s episode, The House of Quark, is hosted by Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, & Armin Shimerman.The House of Quark: Quark is forced to marry a Klingon widow after he takes credit for the accidental death of her husband, the head of a powerful Klingon House. We want to thank everyone who makes this podcast possible, starting with our Production Managers Megan Elise & Rebecca McNeill.Additionally, we could not make this podcast available without our Executive Producers:Stephanie Baker, Jason M Okun, Marie Burgoyne, Kris Hansen, Chris Knapp, Janet K Harlow, Rich Gross, Mary Jac Greer, Mike Gu, Tara Polen, Carrie Roberts, Tom Paynter, AJC, Nicholaus Russell, Lisa Robinson, Alex Mednis, Holly Schmitt, James H. Morrow, Roxane Ray, Andrew Duncan, David Buck, Tim Neumark, Randy Hawke, Ian Ramsey, Feroza Mehta, Jonathan Brooks, Matt Norris, Izzy Jaffer, Jan Hanford, Sam Mikelic, Francesca Garibaldi, Thomas Irvin, Jonathan Capps, & Sean T.Our Co-Executive Producers:Liz Scott, Sab Ewell, Sarah A Gubbins, Luz R., Michelle Z, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Courtney Lucas, Elaine Ferguson, Captain Jeremiah Brown, E & John, Deike Hoffmann, Anna Post, Shannyn Bourke, Lee Lisle, Sarah Thompson, Holly Smith, Amy Tudor, Mark G Hamilton, KMB, Dominic Burgess, Mary Burch, Sandra Stengel, Normandy Madden, Joseph Michael Kuhlman, Darryl Cheng, Elizabeth Stanton, Tim Beach, Victor Ling, Shambhavi Kadam, Tae Phoenix, Donna Runyon, Nicholas Albano, Danie Crofoot, Steve Lugo, Rob Traverse, Penny Liu, Stephanie Lee, David Smith, Stacy Davis, Heath K., Andrew Cano, Kevin Harlow, & Chris GarisAnd our Producers:Philipp Havrilla, James Amey, Patrick Carlin, Jake Barrett, Ann Harding, Trip Lives, Samantha Weddle, Paul Johnston, Carole Patterson, Warren Stine, Jocelyn Pina, Mike Fillmon, Chad Awkerman, Mike Schaible, AJ Provance, Claire Deans, Maxine Soloway, Barbara Beck, Heidi McLellan, Brianna Kloss, Dat Cao, Stephen Riegner, Debra Defelice, Alexander Ray, Vikki Williams, Cindy Ring, Alicia Kulp, Kelly Brown, Jason Wang, Gabriel Dominic Girgis, Shanyn Behn, Maria Rosell, Heather Choe, Michael Bucklin, Lisa Klink, Dominique Weidle, Justin Weir, Jesse Bailey, Mike Chow, Matt Edmonds, Miki T, Heather Selig, Crystal Powell, Rachel Shapiro, Stephanie Aves, Seth Carlson, Amy Rambacher, Jessica B, E.G. Galano, Annie Davey, Mark Lacey, Jeremy Gaskin, Charlie Faulkner, Estelle Keller, Carmen Puente, Greg Kenzo Wickstrom, Lauren Rivers, Jennifer B, Dean Chew, Linda Daireaux, Mars DeVore, Robert Allen Stifflerf, PJ Pick, Preston M, Rebecca Leary, Ryan Mahieu, Andrew Cook-Feltz, Karen Galleski, Zackery Voss, Loretta Reyes, Timothy McMichens, Dawn Colleen Smith, Cassandra Girard, Andrea Wilson, Willow Whitcomb, Mo, Leslie Ford, & Douglas Lawrence-Plant, Daniel Chu, Scott Bowling, Ed Jarot, & James VanhaerentsThank you for your support!This Podcast is recorded under a SAG-AFTRA agreement.“Our creations are protected by copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws. Some examples of our creations are the text we use, artwork we create, audio, and video we produce and post. You may not use, reproduce, or distribute our creations unless we give you permission. If you have any questions, you can email us at [e-mail] Sponsors:* Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/TDFSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-delta-flyers/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Greetings, everyone, welcome to the Delta Flyers journey through the wormhole with quark, Dax, and their good friends, Tom and Harry. Join us as we make our way through episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Your host for today are my fellow Trek actors, Armand Shimmerman, Robert Duncan McNeil, and myself, Garrett Wong. For the complete and exciting version of this podcast, check out patreon.com forward slash the Delta Flyers and sign up to become a patron today. Hello, gentlemen. Hello.

Hello. Hello. I'm just going to jump to the cut to the chase, as they say. I don't know who they are, but they say it. Cut to the chase. Armin, this is a fabulous episode. I loved it. I really, really did.

It felt like it had elements of classic trek in there with all the Klingon stuff. incredible performances all around, especially yours, the script. I love the balance of the B story and the A story. I can't say enough about how much I liked it. And I was very fortunate to not only get a phenomenal script, but to be surrounded by old friends, old friends. Most of the guest stars are old friends in mind. Mary Kay Adams was not.

I met her on the set, and we'll talk about that. But everybody else was an old dear friend. That's amazing. I was surrounded by just good, good vibes, good vibes. Mary Kay Adams praised the series, especially Armin Sherman. Here's her quote, the first time that I sat in the chair and they were applying the Klingon makeup, Armin came over to me before we were even on camera and he said, this is going to be a very long day.

And as the day goes on, you're going to feel more and more disoriented because of all the stuff they're going to put on you. It happens to everyone. It happens to me. If there's ever a moment where you feel really unsure or if you don't know what's going on, take me aside and we'll work through it. I was so touched by his kindness and his honesty. Being a guest star can be kind of hard.

A lot of times you walk into the middle of a well-oiled machine and they don't know you, and they don't really want to know you and are like, here, catch up. That moment meant the world to me. Oh. Thank you, Mary Kay. Puller aside, yeah. Wow. Oh, I'm not surprised.

She didn't start her day until very late on the first day. I remember it was late in the evening when they brought her on the set. And God knows how long she'd been sitting there. Yeah, I'm not surprised that she said lovely things about you, Armand. You seem to really be, you know, aware and really kind to people you work with. If I may tell a story, and this has nothing to do with Trek. It has to do with another show that I was on called Beauty and the Beast. and I had a good fortune to work with Ron Pearlman, who was The Beast.

And he once said to me, when you're number one, and I wasn't, but when you're number one on the call sheet, it's a party. Shooting an episode is like a party, and you are the host of the party, and it is your responsibility to make sure that everybody at the party feels comfortable. I remember that advice from Ron and I took it to Hardy. Yeah, very wise words. Robbie, this is the episode where there was a special guest that came down to watch filming with that's right that's right that's right that's

right it would be mr stephen hawking and this is where doctor doctor steven excuse me dr stephen hawking and this is when armin was pretty much flabbergasted i'm pretty sure what he saw him on set took a picture with him and this was a highlight a highlight for armin shimmerman to to meet dr stephen hawking yeah there's a story behind that when we get to what i think is the scene where that happened i will relate the story. Great. Give you a little bit more details. Great.

We got to wish some happy birthdays. Eve England has a birthday on November 27th. Happy birthday Eve. Happy birthday, Eve. Happy birthday. Dear, dear Eve, we miss you. Next up, we have Alicia Culp, whose birthday happens to be one day after Eve, England, November 28th. So happy birthday to Alicia.

Happy birthday, Alicia. Happy birthday, Alicia. There's another birthday that I want to shout out to, and that is Max Kredenczek, who is November the 12th. Oh, wow. November the 12th? I didn't know he was a Scorpio. Oh, yeah. We're all Scorpio's.

Yeah, totally makes sense. That's Keely's birthday. That's my daughter's birthday. Oh, really? November 12th, yeah. Huh. Wow. Did not know that.

That's crazy. Scorpios are awesome, Garrett. We're all. We're awesome. Well, on the cruise, Keely definitely made friends. with Max's daughter and played with her all the time. Good. But who knew Max shares her birthday?

I did not know that. I just saw an astrology thing that listed all the horoscope signs, the best to be in a relationship with to the worst. And Scorpio was at the bottom. It was like the hardest, the hardest to be in a relationship with. Well, Kitty's on the cusp of being a Scorpio, and I am right in the middle of being a Scorpio. So, and we've lasted for me. I don't know. Yeah, you guys have don't know. You've balanced each other out.

What was at the top of the list, Robbie? I can't, I can't remember. I was just looking for my sign. Gosh. I don't remember. You better send me that link if you come across it again. I want to see it. Okay. Let us jump into our poetry synopsis. Robbie will do his limerick. I will follow with the haiku. Armand will follow with his etymology. All right. Right. Here we go. my poem my limerick poem for the house of quark here we go quark's bar is empty and a clingon dies then quarks kidnapped this could be his

demise caco feels crappy miles wants her to be happy in the end corks a hero and that's the real prize oh that's nice that was that that fit the limerick mold sometimes it flows and Sometimes it doesn't. Can you stitch that on a pillow and I'll put it in my hands? Start needle pointing right away. Robbie, this is more merch for our store. Robbie McNeil. Pillows.

So fringy pillows. Frostitch. Okay. Here's my haiku for House of Quark. Quark confronts Klingon. Sudden death. Quark must marry. Brave.

brave quark prevails. Oh, I'll take a pillow of that, too. Okay, yes. Matching pillows. Well, I want to hear the etymology that you want with on this one. So I decided to go with the obvious on this one. It's House of Quark. So what's a quark?

Quark is any member of a group of elementary subatomic particles that interact by means of the strong force and are believed to be among the fundamental constituents of matter. So that's one at definition of quark. A second definition of quark. Quark is a fresh dairy product made from milk that has been soured and strained. It's a sort of cheese. Third definition of quark. It is also a publishing platform that offers a variety of features.

So there are many versions of quark and my character being one of them. I only knew about the subatomic matter definition. I didn't know you could also be a cheese. Yeah. In fact, I believe there's a brand in Germany called Kvark, which is Bob. Really? Oh, wow. And in Canada, you could be used in Poutine.

Yes. Yes, you can. They have cheese there. Love Poutine with some cork on it. It's a little bit of cork. There you go. Well, thank you for the etymology. You're welcome.

Yeah. Let's talk about guest stars right now. First of all, Mary Kay Adams, who Armand did not know until the beginning of filming, played Groka. She is a descendant of U.S. President's John Adams and John Quincy Adams. My goodness. Yes. Later, she auditions for the role of Chalon Arroya, another character in DS9. But she does reprise her role of Broca, I think, one more time in a later episode. And she was a series regular on Babylon 5. She did, I think, about 16 or 20 or something episodes.

Oh, wow. And really quite wonderful on that show as well. Do you want to talk a little bit about her right now? Sure. My meeting of Mary Kay Adams was unforgettable. So she talks about me seeing her in the chair. I'm not so sure it was on the first day that I said that, because I really do remember not meeting her

until she walked onto the set. And she walked into the set, and I thought, okay, she's a guest star. She's going to be just a little bit nervous. She wasn't nervous at all. The scene that we did originally, the first scene that we did together, was where she throws me over the bar.

And she did that full force. This woman is a force of nature, I thought. And it just went uphill from there. It was really love at first sight. I adored her. She was terrific. She was a joy to work with. I can't speak enough praise for her.

And she was committed to playing that part 120%. I adore her. And whenever I see her, it's easy to fall back into those first days when we first met. She's just great. She's great. And played Groka beautifully. And that's, I think, why they brought her back for another episode. Yeah.

Yeah. She's great. I wonder, she came off as if she had some theater training to me. Yeah. Do you know about any of that? I don't know. I don't know if she did or not. It's likely.

Most of us did. So the odds are that she probably did as well. She was crisp and just really strong. And for that story, for a female to take over the head of that house, she had the gravitas to do it. She had the weight to do it. Yeah, like Nanav Visitor, she found this role to be liberating, that she didn't have to play a secondary.

very woman's role, if I may put it in the way, and that she could be as strong as she was often asked not to be. And they often said to her, you know, Mary Kay, pull it back a little, pull it back a little. But here they just said, go for it, go for it, go for it. And she was extraordinarily happy to do that. And she did it brilliantly. And really, I mean, she threw me across that bar and went, who the hell is this? Great.

You know, a lot of times guest stars are definitely very nervous. and she came off like she was, you know, an old hat at this and very comfortable. And she relished it as well. It looks like she really enjoyed doing it. And as I said before, she probably waited a long time to get put on the set. So she probably had a lot of time in the trailer to really gear up in this first scene. How long do it take to, I feel like I'm at a convention asking you at the table. How long would it take for a Klingon to get their makeup on?

Do you know, three hours? Because she has hair as well as makeup, it probably is around three hours, maybe longer. And anyone getting into that prosthetic makeup is going to be a little bit nonplussed by that. I never felt that she was. I think she relished being in the makeup. I think it gave her permission and opportunity that she didn't normally have. And she just ran with that makeup and that character. And we all adored her.

Yeah, even with the Klingon makeup on, I thought she was absolutely gorgeous, very beautiful woman. Yeah, yeah, she worked the makeup beautifully and her real energy came through the makeup as opposed to being, you know, covered in prosthetics, when you're covered up that much, you need your eyes. And if you watch really closely, her eyes are enormously expressive. And they're a little bit like Bob O'Reilly's eyes. But she's just, it all came at through her performance, her tone of voice, and the eyes.

Yeah. Only a little bit like Bob. I don't think anyone can be. No, no, no, only a little bit. But there is a lot of this. There's a lot of that. I can't even stretch my eyes as big as Bob can open them. I'm going to say right now.

Yeah. It's a talent. Yes, he is. Let's talk about the other guest stars. We have Carlos Carrasco playing DeGore. And he has made three guest star appearances in two. Space 9 and one guest appearance on Voyager as Barat in Fair Trade, the episode I was not in. So there you go.

Barat. Carlos, in fact, has done a ton of theater. And I met Carlos doing Richard II at the Tapeer, Mark Tapeer Forum, where we bonded. I was probably closer to him than anybody else in the cast. And they were all lovely people. But I had a special relationship with Carlos. And so when he came on the set to do this episode, I was overjoyed. Oh, great.

That's great. Next we have Bob O'Reilly, our good friend Bob O'Reilly, as Galron, who has appeared previously in The Next Generation as the same character. And he has played Galron for nine years and also appeared as Scarface in the TNG episode Manhunt and as Kago or Kago in an Enterprise episode Bounty. So Bob O'Reilly is definitely no stranger to Star Trek. at all. And no stranger to me, again, we met doing a play. We did Mr. Roberts together at a theater called the Colony Theater. And Bob and I have been great friends for a very long time.

We've done a lot of social stuff together. Let me read a little tidbit about Robert O'Reilly. Robert O'Reilly, or Bob Riley, makes his first Deep Space Nine appearance as Chancellor Galron. In this episode, Ron Moore commented, it wasn't a conscious decision to have Galron make the transition from TNG to DS9, it was more the fact that on this show, you feel all of the Star Trek universe is fair game because it's all part of the same franchise. So any element that I want to borrow legitimately seems fine. Ira Stephen Bear joked, I think that Ron and Gowron have a secret pact. They've never been seen together.

I think Ron might be Gowron. And it's funny because Gailon has Ron at the end of the day. Yeah, yeah. I never thought about that. That's funny. Ron Moore wrote this, right? So Ron Moore was brought in basically to write this specifically because of his experience writing Klingon episodes from Next Generation. So that's, oh, wow. Yeah, one of the reasons. He is the Klingon expert. He is definitely the Klingon expert. Exactly. I did not know that. Yes. And now you do, Robbie. We also have Joseph Ruskin or Joe Ruskin, who plays Tumek. Yeah, Joe Ruskin, playing Tumek, appeared as Gult. in the TOS episode, The Gamesters of Triskelian. So he was in a TOS episode. He played a Vulcan Master in the Voyager fifth season episode of Gravity.

So he's been on our show as well, Robbie. And then a Suleban doctor in Enterprise's first season episode, Broken Bow, the pilot. He was one of five Trek actors to appear in both TOS and Enterprise. Major Barrett, Clint Howard, Jack Donner, and Vince Dedrick

are the other four. Wow. Yeah. So Joe Ruskin's been around, quite a bit. Joe Ruskin is one of my life's mentors. Really? Joe Ruskin is a god in my heart and in my house. Kitty and I both feel the same way about Joe Ruskin.

Joe Ruskin did more for actors than any other actor I know. Wow. He served for 20 plus years at the Union Screen Actors Guild and on the Pension and Health Fund. Wow. He did more in negotiations for actors than anybody else I know. He gave his life to being a union representative for actors. He was a phenomenal actor.

I first met him when I was just out of college in a theater group called Theater 40, where I was impressed by his work. Later on, decades later, I directed him in The Crucible at our theater at Anteas. He was an Anteas member. Joe Ruskin was a, was a, was a, was a naval hero during World War II. Wow. Joe Ruskin, when he steps on a screen, there is such gravitas, there is such dignity in his characters. I have nothing but awe for Joe Ruskin.

And it's a shame that he has passed away. I saw him just before he died. And that was a very hard day. I, I absolutely adore. Joe Ruskin. Oh, thanks for sharing that. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that because he's wonderful in this,

but I had no idea of what a impact he had on so many people's lives. That's great. He did. You had a lot of the things that we benefit from is because Joe put it into negotiations. Wow. And he and I served on a foundation committee together, and he was the chair of this committee. It was giving scholarships to actors.

and brilliant, I always tried to emulate what he was doing. Just incredible man, incredible man, and a terrific actor and a terrific man. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. Who knew that all actors owe a debt of gratitude to this man for all the work he's done? But I will say, there's a quote from Mary Kay Adams who said, I loved working with Joe Ruskin. I'm a huge fan of his. And in the episode, he's playing my servant, which was a. a kick. So she was pretty excited that she's sharing screen with this gentleman who

playing her servant in the episode. Wow. All right. And we also have Rosalind Chow as Kako O'Brien, of course, and Max Grudenshik is Rom. Once again, written by Ron D. Moore, but story by Tom Benko, the editor, which he is the only person. Oh my gosh. Robbie. Tom Benko is the only person to have written, directed, and edited Star Trek. Wow. Only one. Only one. of the history of Star Trek, of all the, how many, how many years have we been out there? Six decades now, seven decades, whatever it is, a long, long time. He's the only one, write, direct, and edit, Star Trek. Wow. I think Tom Banco edited my first directing job. Sacred ground. Sacred ground. I think Tom was the editor on that, I'm pretty sure.

And he was great to work with, I'm sure. He's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was great. Okay. The actual director of this episode was Uncle Les, Les Lendell. There's one other actor who was in this episode, John Bennett, who played Kozak. Oh, yeah. I didn't write that down. Yes, John Bennett played Kozak, and he was the stunt double and stand in for Avery Brooks, correct? That's right.

Oh, wow. So again, another friend, because I knew everybody behind the camera as well. So it was great to work with John Bennett. But John, this was, I think, the first. time a stand-in got the opportunity to speak on camera. Although I do see Randy Odo's stand-in all through this episode, but he doesn't say anything. Well, he did a great job because that's hard to play that kind of drunk and, you know, without going too far. But he was great. And it was more than just a, you know, perfunctory, you know, quick one-law. He didn't say like, yes, ma'am.

No, it was a scene. He actually had a scene. It was a scene. Good for him. But he had been on the set for a long time and so he was very comfortable and it was great to work with him i bet avery was happy too i think so i would imagine i would think so yeah and he he must have been over the moon uh to get this opportunity to actually do a juicy scene with with arm and shimmerman so there you go and i i think he got a couple of other scenes and other episodes he wasn't the only one they were very good eventually of giving almost all of the stand-ins some lines so that they could be a principal great that's great that's great yeah i've noticed that already we're only beginning season three and that's already happened on your show that you had stand-ins you know background people

things like that i don't think we did that quite as well on Voyager it was much later in the run that any of the stand-ins got opportunities they eventually did i think most of them but it was much later in our tiny stuff yeah it's lip service it was just one or two words really like yeah you guys over there you know you guys did well you did well and the episode starts with a cameo with one of our background people he's not a standing but yeah it starts with mourn yeah and mourn was originally just background yeah yeah he's got a thumbs up moment i noticed well all right let's dive into the the plot so we start off in quirks and there's a it looks like a dabbo girl with in there. I noticed for the first time when the Dabo girl turned around, she had like spots on her

back or something? Was that like, did they do that for all the Dabo girls? I don't know. I concentrated more on their costumes than on the back of their name. I didn't see spots. I saw it look like it was makeup that was smeared on there or something. It could be. It looked like, you know what I'm saying? It was not consistently. It was more patches. It was in one half of the back and kind of a weird pattern. So it looked like to me, maybe his hand was holding her back when they walked out. Maybe there was some makeup on his hand. Oh, maybe it was an accident. I think it was an accident. It drew my attention. Yeah. I'd never noticed it on Dabo girls before. So I didn't know if it was an alien thing that was consistent or if that just happened to be the first time.

But it definitely drew my attention. Oh, we're on the same page. We both were like, what's, wait, what is that? What's that makeup? I haven't seen that. Yeah. We've never seen that before. Okay. But she's there. She kind of whispers something, I think, to mourn at the bar. And the bar is empty, by the way, except for those two. At this point, we just see them. And then they get up, Morn gives a thumbs up, and then we pan over. Are we to assume that Morn is going to get lucky?

Is that what the... That's what it looked like. Yeah. I laughed immediately. I'm like, look at Morn. Not only an action figure doll, but also he's going to get lucky. Morn gets a little loving. Look at this. Yeah.

But it pans over. We see Quark and Romm. And I just want to say, as this shot... progresses. It is one of the best opening oneers that less did a oneer here all the way through until until I think you go over to to talk to Kozak. It's all one shot and beautifully staged, very elegant the way it kind of pulls back and pans and the staging. Anyway, Quark and Romer at the end of the bar. The place is empty. Quark thinks it's because Cisco mishandled the Dominion situation. He should have just made a deal. Just made a deal with him.

But now people are scared. And isn't that very good writing for people who hadn't watched the first couple of episodes of the third season or the ending of the second season, that we sort of tell people where it's at here, that we're in the midst of this dominion attack or a possible dominion attack? Yes, the threat. Yeah, it's a great way of avoiding a recap and just putting it into the scene. But it motivates your story in a great way, too.

We're both the A story and the B story. one of the first lines quark saying rule of acquisition 286 when morning leaves it's all over that was beautiful now i don't know at the time but i do know now i didn't realize that was a joke i thought because they always gave me rules of acquisition really 286 there is no 286 they end to 285 right so i've learned that in the years since so it's a joke you know it's all over when morn leaves but i didn't know that the time i do know that now so that's funny that's funny i look at that shot of max and i together and i cannot remember i i have a possible memory that that this was was my choice from i think it was a carrie grant and claudette colbert it happened one night

where they're sitting there waiting to be picked up uh while they're hitchhiking yeah and i and i think i got Max and I to do that. I may be lying right now, but I think I have a memory of that. I feel like I know the image that you're talking about from that movie. And yeah, it's kind of a classic callback to the kind of out of luck. No hope. No hope. Yeah. Yes. Things aren't going well. But yeah, it was great. This Klingon wakes up in the background. He's drunk. Rom goes over to talk to him. But then Rom comes back and says he doesn't have any money. He's out of money. And Rob's afraid to say no to this Klingon. And Kork says, watch and learn. We think that Kork's going to go stand up to him. But the Klingon is very scary. And Kork tries to laugh it off,

make a joke out of it. That's the funny part, though. Rom says he says he's out of money. He's asking for credit. Gork replies, credit, I'll handle it. Watch and learn. And when Kouzak is so threatening, Quark says, my name is cork, I'd like to discuss arranging a line of credit. He goes right into the credit immediately, which is hilarious. But he does start off by banging the cups on the TV. He tries to be tough for a second. But the Klingon pulls out a knife and goes to stab Kork, and there's a little scuffle. They end up rolling around on the floor, and suddenly Kork pops up, and the Klingon has fallen on his knife.

for, you know, in that rolling around, the Klingon has fallen on his own knife and he's dead. Yeah. It's just, yep. Clingons die quickly from their knives. In this episode, they do, yeah. I think, I may be wrong, correct, everybody out there, correct me if I'm wrong. But I believe Klingons have two hearts. That is correct.

That's true. According to Dan Curry, who's the one that designed the in Klingon anatomy and where all the organs go, That one, do you know that painting? I'm sure you know the painting. I have seen it. I've seen it. Yeah. So it's possible, you know, he got stabbed in a heart.

Yeah. A heart. A heart. A heart. Or maybe it's slid across, slipped both of them or something. But he dies pretty fast. Yeah. I actually looked at this, at that confuffle and said, is that me or is that George?

Is that me or is that George? Is that me or is that George? And I really couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. Really? You think you did it? I might have done it.

I might have done it. Because it was simple enough. Yeah. Or George did. And I couldn't tell which of us had done it. I would always let my stunt double do it. There's any danger at all of me breaking something. Yeah.

You do it. Stunt double. Yeah. Danger wasn't versed to letting me risk life and limb. That's funny. Well, we go to titles off of this terrifying moment. Quark's going to be in trouble. Yeah.

This is not going to go well for Quark. But we do see that we're back in Quarks after the titles. Bashir and Odo are there. There's a large crowd gathered outside, a look staring into the bar. Rom really wants the body out, but Quark sees this crowd gathered and says he wants to put him on display. Like, this is good for business. And business is really bad right now.

So Quark says, we've got to do something, or else I'm going to have to make. make some cutbacks beginning with your salary, Rahm. And that changes Rom's opinion. When Odo comes over to ask what happened, Rom immediately says, work did it. Work killed him. He does a 180 very quickly when his salary is at stake. Well, yeah, especially because that cutback was cork cutting it back to zero, meaning he's getting nothing. Yes. Yeah. There's a lot of comedy in this episode, too, by the way. And so many funny moments. And the quote is, Ram says, my brother killed him in self-defense Odo Sniffs you killed him

Quark replies I'm sorry I couldn't avoid it he was abusive vulgar a typical drunken Klinger Wow Yeah Quark is he's owning this Which leads into this very public

Story he tells I wrote down very Shakespearean It was it was It was Shakespearean I was like, Bravo. There's a lot of my Shakespearean talents in this episode, yes. Yes, I could see it. I love that line, that sentence.

There was a furious exchange of blows, and I'm like, oh, my goodness. Why is Bashir using a medical tricorder on the dead Klingon's body? I don't know. I mean, it's pretty cut. Is he doing an autopsy, maybe? Autopsy. You can see the, well, he doesn't have to do anything. It's very evident.

He's dead because of a. a blade in the heart yeah normally i would say oh that's his residual scene you know he's there to get a residual but he has another scene so it didn't have to be i think it was just less's way of of saying that you know a murder had happened which which instigates rams saying i wish he was out of here okay yeah yeah did anybody else notice the gurney the medical gurney that he was lying on it it had like a wing on it oh it had it i'd never seen this in star trek before it looked like you know those pallets at Home Depot where you push around your stuff that have the handle it looked like a medical version of the Home Depot palette thing like it had a it had a railing

and was laying on it and i've never seen it before maybe we'll see it more dead cling on aisle three please yes it looked like he was shopping in Home Depot so you think prop department actually said look just go to go to Home Depot right now go grab it we'll readdress this as our it looked Star Trek-y for sure but it just I'd never seen it before I was like wow that's an interesting set piece fun to watch it again for that okay anyway Quark tells this story big climactic moment I love your turn at the end made me laugh out loud yeah where you say what did you say at the very I'd rather not talk about I'd rather not talk about this very funny good good stuff goodness. The point of this scene is

this is the key to getting business back. If I can own this, people are going to want to come in and hear the story. They're going to want to come see where this guy died and where this all took place. So it's going to be good for business. We go to, I think, O'Brien's quarters. The O'Brien's quarters next.

Keiko is tending a bonsai tree when O'Brien comes in. Comes home from his workday. He's sharing some of his highlights. She's really quiet. She's not responding. He asks how her day went. And she kind of casually throws out, I closed the school. There were the last two Bajoran kids left to go back to Bayjor.

Everybody's afraid of the dominion. So there's no point in having a school anymore. I did notice in this, I don't know if you guys did, when Miles comes in and it kind of holds that two shot of him in the background and her in the foreground, that was a split diopter. So meaning that they could keep Miles in focus in the deep background and her in focus in the foreground. I was impressed by that.

Yes. Yeah, it was a very clever choice of less to do that. It did, though, for me, when he moved forward, you could see some artifacting around his because they must have had to move that. What is artifacting? Explain that to me. Just the edges of his hair were out of focus.

Because they were playing with focus for the foreground and the deep background marks, when he made that move forward, they had to compensate for that, and it wasn't perfect. So there was some strange focal artifacting going on. If I could, I don't know how else to describe it. But for the first position, before he moved forward, it was beautiful.

It was a great split on the focus and well, well done. Yeah, I thought it was great. So you're saying that when he did move from that stationary position to move forward, the focus puller had to adjust his focus as best as they could, and that's why the artifacts came up? Yeah, basically a split diopter is like, I'll do it on my camera. It, they put in a, do it this way, they put in a, like a magnifier. So if I'm in focus in the foreground, this part that they slide in,

will keep the background in a different focus, you know, in, in focus as well, but it's a different depth. As miles move forward, I think what they had to do is slowly slide this out. They'd have to do something with it. Okay. So they'd have to pull this out to make the plane, the focal plane different on his move. And so it was a tricky move. I'm just, I was impressed that they, usually in a split diopter, you don't make, you don't have any staging because it'll give away the fact that you've got a split diopter.

So they had to do something technically. Could that be the reason why that scene was as dark as it was? Could have been. I mean, when we got into the quarters, I thought, wow, this is dark. There was some dark stuff in this whole episode. There was a lot of dark stuff in this episode. And this was Jonathan's third episode because he had just come in this season, right? So he did the two-parter and this was his first episode, standalone episode.

Jonathan was the director of photography. Yeah, Jonathan West. So it might have been Jonathan doing things maybe differently than Marvin had done it or experimenting. or, you know, but it did seem dark to me. And you're right, there are other scenes that are dark. Yeah, yeah. But I'm going to say that darkness in the scene sort of matches the tone of Keiko's depression.

That's right. Yeah. So I think that works great. Yeah. Well, Miles is definitely aware that she's lying. She's not okay. Even though she says, I'm fine. I just shut down the school.

I'm fine. But he's picking up, she's not great. A lovely, lovely performance by Roslyn Chao. just really you could see her trying to be happy at the same time you knew something was wrong and and and cullum as well picking that up it's just really a lovely scene yeah she kind of came off as if she was shell-shocked in a way it's like she's just gone through this crazy trauma it's just just in a zone in a weird zone for sure just lost she felt she seemed a bit lost perfect perfect perfect yeah perfect in space lost literally hey that's a catchy phrase

Maybe they can use that for a show. Yeah, maybe. All right. We go back to Quarks. Business is great now. Yeah. The place is packed. Odo's standing there, though.

Odo's watching Quark. Quark says, you don't have to keep an eye on me. I'll be fine. I'm not going to kill anybody else today. I like you say, I'm not going to kill anybody else today. Today. Today. He's really holding on to this tough guy reputation.

Odo informs him that Kozak is the head of a very powerful Klingon family. Right. ask, you know, do you want to change your story? Cork says no. And Odo leaves. And Rom comes over, he says, maybe you should tell the truth. But Cork says, no, this is about Ferengi Pride now.

Right. And if the family comes, I'll stand up, look them in the eye, and offer him a bribe. Great writing, Ron Moore. Great execution. Thank you. Herman Schmerman. Yes, great writing.

Great writing. Yeah. Both truthful and funny. Yes. Yeah. Ron's such a good writer. He's good with character. He's good with plot and story and all that,

but he's especially good with, like, character voices. And in this moment, we are reminded of Rom's affection for his brother, and I would venture to say the other way around as well, but certainly that Rom cares about his brother, even if he's going to cut his salary down to nothing. Well, Quark tells Rom that he's going to bribe the family if they show up.

He walks around a corner, and suddenly he's grabbed by a Klingon, shoved up against the bulkhead. Dun-tun-ton-ton. Carlos. Carlos. Yes. You killed my brother. He says, yes.

And lovely shots. Maybe you can explain these shots. I've seen a couple of them in this episode. They're not close-ups, but my God, the way they were lit, they looked like paintings to me. These close-ups of Carlos, of myself, of other people. This just the way they framed it and the way they lit it, it was just, wow, I've just never seen that sort of effect on the show before. And again, that may be Jonathan West.

I think it's Jonathan. I think it's Jonathan. I mean, Les Landau is a great director and is great at shopmaking, you know, coming up with frames that are interesting and blocking all that. But the color palette, the tones of the face, all of that is Jonathan. That's Jonathan painting with light for sure. Good job. And he might have been using different lights.

you know, Marvin, every DP's got their own kind of toolkit. Marvin's got his toolkit he knows in this situation. I'm going to light, like, I'm going to use this instrument at this level. And Jonathan has a whole different toolkit. So you're going to see different. Well, it was a combination of the way that it was framed and the way it was lit. And I thought brilliant on both counts. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, beautiful. It was really well thought out. It was intentional. All these shots in this episode, Less is great at making intentional shots and not just shooting coverage. You know, it's really... And no over the shoulders until later in the episode. I haven't seen any over the shoulders.

It's either a master shot or it's really one of these beautifully constructed shots. Yeah. So quarks held up against the wall. DeGore's holding him there. I noticed, by the way, Carlos's bottom teeth. Did you notice his dentures up top? And I saw that on Giroka as well. there's another shot with grilke and i thought was this purposeful because i thought is that a mistake

until i saw it on grilka as well and went well no i guess they decided to do this to just do top dentures and leave their natural bottom teeth yeah and there was like makeup or something on their teeth on hers there was on his his look great i thought he went to a cling on orthodontist oh his teeth teeth yeah his his real teeth yeah but there was there was some sort of makeup or or something like brown or something Like he had too many cigarettes or something. No, really? On the bottom of the teeth. Yeah.

I was impressed how beautiful they were for a cling on. I thought he, his parents spent some money on his teeth. So that's a budget issue. Probably. Not doing a full set of top and bottom cling on teeth. Yeah. Probably. Yeah.

But he's holding you there. Cork is terrified. And Cork's about to tell him that this was an accident. He's terrified. He's going to tell him the truth. But Degor cuts him off. He doesn't even let him. He knows what he's going to say.

He's like, He says if it was an accident, then the shame of his dishonorable death would be passed on to his family. But, Degor says, if he died fighting with honor, then there will be no revenge and Cork's life will be spared. So he's basically like backing you into a corner here. Yeah, because he's going to kill you if it's an accident. Yeah, if it was an accident, I'm going to kill you. So you better say you did it. Right.

I think I did that scene on my tiptoes. If I remember correctly, they didn't give me a box. I literally had to stand on my tiptoes for that whole scene. Oh, my gosh, cramping. Sounds like a cramping situation. See, the thing is, wasn't the entire scene shot in those close angles, right, back and forth? I think so, yeah. There was no wider shot.

So why on God's Green Earth, why didn't they give you that apple box is my question? I don't get that. Because the actor didn't ask. Yes, probably. I bet you did the tippy toes, and they're like, oh, great, this works great. Because he grabs you, Carlos grabs you and brings you up. And I think the up was you on your tippy toes. And when he, at that point, you just stayed there.

And you didn't just stayed there. Which would have been great if you had an apple box and he just lifted you onto the Apple box. And you would have just stayed there that way too. Carmen, I think all your ballet training really helped in this. Thank you. Yes. All, uh, four seconds of it.

Yeah. All of it. After, uh, DeGore basically backs him into a corner. Quark says, yes, it was an honor to kill him. So he sticks with the story that he, that he, in self-defense, had to kill this Klingon. Yes. And, and DeGore even says, make sure you tell your customers that.

Like, he wants Quirk to spread the news. To spread the news. Yes. But the best part of this scene is the end. DeGore goes, Kappa, to Klingon, you know, word. And Cork goes, ma-ha, court does, I don't know, what did you do, Arm, you went, me-ha. It was very funny. Thank you.

I'm not sure if that's scripted or not. I don't remember if that was scripting or not. Oh, let's see. I've got the script. I think, Armand, if you threw in a little Yiddish there, that would have been funny. If you went like that at the end. Guzintai. What?

It says, Quark says, you can count on it. DeGore says, shouts. Kapla. Right. Which means success. Yeah. And then it says quark flinches, but DeGore heads off down the quarter, leaving Quark to catch his breath.

You added it. You added that in. That is not in the original script. I think that's one of the only ones I ever had. It's a very rare ad lib. See, the reason why I'm so excited is because we never got to ad lip. It's so when any action gets anything in, I applaud. So good job, Armagh.

And it was great. It was a great ad lib. It turned out very well. We had the same dictum, which was that we couldn't ad lib. So not even an extra art of the or and, not a thing. I think you were safe there because it was a button on the scene that you knew they could have cut it out if she didn't like it. Yeah.

We go to O'Brien's quarters again. He is making a very romantic dinner of noodles. And I don't know what else, but the noodles look good. Vegetables. I think there were some vegetables. There were some vegetables. He said, doesn't he say something like the canopays are ready? Yeah.

She comes. And he's like, you're early. The canopays are ready. It's very funny. But he's made this beautiful romantic dinner. She asked why. And he says, because it's a holiday. It's, I'm married to the most beautiful in the woman in the galaxy days.

Yes. That was very funny. He says that's an old Irish tradition, by the way, which I don't think that's true. I think he made that up, but I don't think that's an official Irish holiday. But it should be. It should be, yes. Keiko says, too bad it only comes once a year. O'Brien says, actually, it's a very irregular holiday.

Crops up all over the place, sometimes twice a day, which is very funny too. And cute. Very cute, yes. Cute banter. Mm-hmm. A loving couples banter, you know? Yes. It gives a sense that, oh, things are getting better.

He's not as in a dark cloud anymore. And that he has indeed cheered her up. Yeah. And that all goes well for a while. Yes. Well, they celebrate with some good smooching at the end of the scene. And it's another oneer, by the way. Les Landau did this whole scene of him preparing the meal,

her coming in all the way to the smooching as a oner. Good job, Les. And I love the innuendo that they're going off to bed several times that night. Yes. yes there seems to be a time lapse here when we come back the next morning they're coming out of the bedroom seems like they've had lots of smooching had a great night he's heading off to work they make a lunch date here so romances is happening for sure making a lunch date i had a question though where's molly in this whole story yeah um yeah

where is she Molly's I don't know going off with Jake and Nag I suppose I guess Uncle Jake and Uncle Nagger looking after her

okay I mean I'm not sad that we didn't see her it just feels like that they should have talked about her or you know I don't know

I don't even know what they would have said she's got a play date or something with the Bajoran no the Bajorans all left I don't know but they should have said something

yeah maybe when she walked in after, you know, she got in the mood, she, uh, Keiko could have said, so where's Molly? And he said, I sent her off to, you know, whatever. Something. Yeah. Yeah. That would have helped cover it because it was conspicuously absent for me that they never even talked about her.

We never saw her. When she becomes an important point, uh, later on in the episode. Yes. As far as the discussion about what Keiko's going to do. Yeah. Yes. Exactly. At the end of the scene, though, it's, Keiko seems sad again.

It's a very nice look on her face. But, yeah, she kind of sits down and just kind of back into her sadness. Yeah, her funk is perfect. We go back to Quarks. I think Quark is counting his latinum on the bar or something. A lot of latinum. That's a lot of bars of latinum. It sure is.

A lot of bars of latinum. Boy, this whole charade really has paid off for you. You've done very well. This reminds me of the prior episode with all the isoliniar chips. the excessive amount of isolated chips on the ground. And now prop department throws an excessive amount of latinum here. So something's going on here. Yeah, they've got too much in their budget for props.

There you go. You need to cut back that prop budget. Cork is checking his takings for the day when there's a cloaked figure in the background. Another bar is closed and the door is wide open. This door is wide open. Well, he's got like millions of dollars on the bar. exactly it's got a ton of latinum sitting there the door is wide open yeah uh and then you know we're about to see what happens to the latinum in the moment as well yes but this is this is uh mary k adams

first scene that we shot that you shot oh wow well she lowers her hood we see that it's uh a cling on female we hear that it's a voice first we hear that it's a female that's right that's right she asks are you quark and cork says that depends on who's asking and that's when i think does she take it off at that point my name is gropos i think she takes it off and says that she's cozac's widow yeah or cosac was her husband yeah and uh she asks quark if he died honorably and cork says yes going along with the story he told de gore like yeah died on in an honorable fight then she pulls a knife he dies over the counter latinum flying everywhere yeah yeah yeah Latin I'm flying everywhere.

I mean, really. Latin I'm flying everywhere. And no attempt to try to pick it up either. No. Well, she's got a knife now. Another knife. Another knife. You keep getting cling on knives pointed at you.

Better than being strangled on the throat. That's true. That's true. But she wants the truth. She wants to know. She doesn't believe that he died on our boy. He says Kozak died after accidentally falling on his knife. He does tell the truth here.

And then she says, hmm, you're a good liar. Yeah. And hyposprays him with a cling on hypospray and catches him and beams the two of them out. They disappear. And the latinum is left on the bar and the floor. We should have a door wide open for Morn to come in and take as much of my profits as he possibly can't. Oh, my gosh. I want to see that scene.

That's the missing scene. Fabulous work by Miss Mary Kay Adams. Oh, yeah. They get beamed out. Quark's kidnapped. We go down to Grilka's house, down to her, the house of Grilka, I guess, you might call it. On Kronos, the actual Klingon home world. Yes, exactly. Yes.

Quark is knocked out on the couch, but he wakes up, learns that he's on Kronos, yes. And this older Klingon, Tumek, comes in. Joe. Joe. He explains that Kozak died without a male air. He didn't have any children or any male children. And Tumac says that Degore is a big, fat liar, basically. Yep.

What did he call him? A ptock? A ptock. Yeah. That Patach's name is not spoken in this house. Yeah. Yes. That's a bad, bad.

Yeah. Yeah. His family, I guess, they've been sworn enemies of Cossack's house for seven generations. So explain that to me. How does seven generations of family, produced two brothers. It did seem a little excessive, this description of their feud. It was trying to make the point that they really, they've hit each other for a long time.

They're brothers, right? So aren't they the same family? Same family. You would think so. A little confusing. This is the only time, the only episode of D-Space 9 to feature scenes on Ronos, on the home world. Really? The only one.

And in fact, the next time that we actually see any. anything on chronos. We don't even see it on Voyager. The next time we see it is on Enterprise in the pilot episode of Broken Bow. That's the only time, the next time, seven years later from this particular filming of this episode. Yeah. Wow. Interesting. All fact. Yeah. Well, Tumac does inform Quark that Degor is a liar. If this was an accident, then Grilka could have become the head of the house. But if it's an honorable fight that he died in, then covex house could fall. That could be the end of his house,

which is what DeGore wants. Yeah. They talk about something called special dispensation is the actual term that they used. That's right. And that would be granted only if it was an accident, right?

So that's what she's trying to go off of. It's like life insurance. Yes. Like having an insurance policy. It's clang on life insurance. Anyway, Grilco arrives, gives quark a furry vest, which I loved.

Before we get on to Grilke, I've already complimented Joe a lot. I'm going to compliment him again. His performance, giving that, you know, laying the groundwork for the problems and is so grounded, is so real, is so, there's a lot of humor in this episode, even in the non-comedic scenes, but Joe's gravitas, Joe's sense of dignity, so informs this scene. And even when he's not, on screen when his character's not there, that dignity stays for the whole episode. It gives the Klingons much more respect. Yeah. I agree. He set the tone. He truly set the tone. Yeah.

Yeah, he was great. Well, after he gives you the rules of the Klingon home world and how houses can fall or stay, Grilko arrives, gives you this furry vest that I loved. Another heavy garment to wear. Thank you very much. Well, she does say, put this on her, I'll kill you. So you're going to put it on. And then Tumex says to her something like, you know, are you sure you want to do this mistress?

And she goes, nope, the decision's made. There's no other choice. And she starts speaking some Klingon, tells Tumek says, repeat my words to Quark, tells him something to say. He repeats the words. And then Grilke kisses you and then spits. I wouldn't say spit. I would say hawks is what the right word is. Hawks. She hocks to us, basically. Okay. Yeah, it's done. You're married. Your husband and wife. Yeah. I'm sorry. I just want to go back to Groka's when when Cork is saying, why? And about putting this robe on and Groka says, because if you do not, I will kill you. And I just added this image of that's just how Klingon life is. The mom says, like, finish your dinner. And the kid goes, why? Because if you do not, I will kill.

kill you like that's just the ongoing theme in all interpersonal relationships yeah i actually think that's very an important theme actually during the course and i will talk about that when we get to themes at the end of the program but uh it is that their culture it is their culture yeah yeah well you're married congratulations arm thank you very much i have to talk about the kiss yes you would think that would be enjoyable and normally it would be when i had to kiss i was very aware of the sharp teeth oh yeah and i knew that if I didn't close my lips completely over the prosthetics, whoever I was kissing was going to get bitten. And I don't know if I would draw blood or not, but certainly it was not going to be comfortable. Right. So it was a matter, okay, I have to go in for this kiss. I have to

close my mouth in a certain way to make sure that they don't get. And then, of course, I always had my makeup artist in my ears saying, don't get your makeup all over their makeup. So I had to be really care kisses were actually quite difficult for for rangy yeah it sounds complicated because yes if you tightly close your lips to protect your fellow actor you also risk cutting yourself that's right that's right with the teeth in you know and that was preferable to me i'd rather i rather would have cut my own lip than to cut married case let yeah okay congratulations again good kissing good marriage i love the wedding i laughed i cried it was great no gifts though. There were no gifts. I don't know. No, I didn't see the gifts. No. We go to the commander's

office next. Cisco is leading Dax and Kieran and kind of shift assignments going through what they're going to do to prepare for the dominion and defend the place. And O'Brien enters. Oh, yes, the dominion. That is happening, isn't it? Yeah, a little B-story, C story. But O'Brien enters. Dax immediately clocks that something's up with his marriage. Wife problems, I think she says. And Kira does not get it. She's like, she just doesn't get it. Cisco says, you know, Kira, the old man will explain on your way out. So he basically orders Kira to leave and Dax and give Miles and Cisco some alone time. Miles says to Cisco that she's acting like she doesn't care about the school closing, but he knows that she does. And he asked

for permission to convert the empty cargo bay into an arboretum. And Miles says she gave up her whole life to be here with me and Cisco agrees that take the you know take the cargo bay

convert it sounds great so if that's going to make her happy he's all for it so that was a nice scene it's a very nice scene and when I watch it because I have x-ray vision I see two actors who really enjoy their company together

having a good time doing a scene together I see a lot of love and friendship between two actors playing a scene together. That is obvious to me when I'm watching the two of them together. Yeah, it was really nice. It felt very natural and didn't feel forced or overworked in any way. It just felt really present. Yeah, it was good. We go to the Clingon Great Hall now, and Degor is in the middle of claiming the title and property of Cossack's Fallen House.

when Grilke arrives in the doorway and says, nope, ain't going to happen. She says this petition's out of order because she has a new husband. And as is her right, if the death was honorable, she calls Quark in. I love when quark comes in. You scurry into the middle and then you do sort of like a curtsy or something. Yes, you did a. This is a Ferengi. Yeah, even the Klingon's right.

But that's the Ferengi thing. But you did a curtsy with it, too. Yeah, I did a curtsy. It was not going to make any enemies, please, no enemies. But we've seen Cork do this in other episodes, like when he's begging for, I just remember him going, please, doing this in a prior episode, the same movement. Did you invent that? I did. I did.

Yeah, I remember exactly when I invented, I think in the first season. Great. It's very cool. Well, I loved your entrance. Degor is furious, though, when Grilka shows up. He says he will own this title. He will have Groka's head and Quark's head will sit on the gates of his property when he, you know, owns all. I don't know if it's his property or outside of the, of the, the Kronos Council Hall.

I wasn't quite sure, which sounded very Elizabethan to me that, you know, the heads of traders are put on the tower gate. On the spikes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that made me cringe. I didn't want to see a quark head on a spike. Oh, come to my garage.

I have a lot of quirkheads. It's a lot of old quirkheads. I just want to talk about the Great Hall for a second. So this episode includes scenes set in the Great Hall where the Klingon High Council meets. Producing this setting posed a budget challenge for David Livingston, who had his producer had on at this point. And this was solved by building only half of the Great Hall set. And then redressing the set between shots to show the other half of the hall. Oh, clever.

They did. Yeah, they cheated it. And there was a ton of smoke used. Yes, there was. Yes, there was. There was a ton of smoke in Grilkas, too. That reminds me when I first saw Grilkas. In her home?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there was a ton of smoke in this one. And now we come to the entrance of Dr. Hawking. Oh, really? I believe this. It's either this one or the other great hall. scene but certainly was in a great hall scene we had just taken a break the smoke was billowing from

from the set um and out of the smoke came dr hawking being pushed by rick burman onto the set well he was already they were already on the set but but into my presence anyway yeah and judy brown the script coordinator was sitting next to me now you have to understand to to appreciate this story, we rarely saw Rick Berman on the set. Oh, yeah. He was never there. Same for us. Ever there.

And I said to Judy, I saw Dr. Hawking, and I went, oh, my God, look who's here. And Judy said, yeah, and he brought Dr. Hawking with him. Very funny. Very funny. Rudos to Judy Brown. And I got a chance to meet Dr. Hawking. I asked him some stupid, perfunctory questions, which he responded with his computer voice.

And it was one of the high points of my doing the show and of life, for instance. He was very gracious. And I don't know if it was that day or soon after. I asked Rick, wow, why were the two of you on the set? And Berman told me that Hawking heard that I was working that day, and he wanted to meet Quark. Wow. Wow.

So. That's incredible. That is, that is, my God, you can imagine how I felt. I still feel that way. Oh, my gosh. I remember the day that Stephen Hawking, Dr. Stephen Hawking, came to visit the sets. I only got to see him out in the street between our stages. And I remember seeing Rick there in a hand.

full of other people. You saw him then. Yeah, I was working that day. I did not. I don't know if you were working. I don't know. Clearly, I was not working. And this was our first season. We had not been on the air yet when we were filming and Stephen Hawking came to visit. Yeah. And I remember that moment. But it had been the same day? I think it was the same day. Yeah. Did he see you? Did you lock eyes with him? We talked, like Armin said, there was some perfunctory. I remember having a brief you know hello introduction with him but i don't remember details of what that wasn't a long conversation but i remember for me seeing him visit and we hadn't been on the air yet we were probably on our third or fourth episode maybe right and i remember it was a day where i was like it hit me how big

this job was that we had just started you guys were three years in you were in your third season but we had only just begun months you know a couple of months before maybe hadn't been on the air yet and to have Stephen Hawking coming to visit our sets, you know, your set and our set as well, I went, oh my God, this is a big deal. Those moments, Armin, like you describe, it's those moments that are just make Star Trek different than any other job I ever had.

Well, back in our Clingon Hall, Cork hears the threat about his head's going to be on a spike by the gates. He tries to make a deal. DeGore says he's going to kill him. And Gowron does say, we'll consider this carefully till then let it be known let let let this house be known as the house of quirk quirk doesn't pronounce it right yeah you have to correct him quark quark it's very funny yeah bob played it brilliantly he was brilliant he was brilliant had he been on ds9 before

no but but he and i were old friends uh-huh so yes he had played a cling on before he was talking to me, an old friend of his. So it wasn't that uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, Bob's great. I think that there's some note saying that this is the only time that Gowron appears without Worf, the character of Worf being in the same scene with him. Oh, really? Because that happened in TNG, and then I guess later on, when Worf does join the DS9 cast, I think maybe there's some scenes, yes, but typically when you see Gowron, you see Worf as well. And then in this episode, clearly, there's no Wharf.

We didn't need no stinking war No need no stinking wars We go back to Grilka's house Grilka is mad because Quark spoke He wasn't supposed to speak She's like just do what I tell you She's very frustrated Feels like she's

Her solution is not working out the way she She pictured Quark says well what are your ideas Crickets She doesn't have any ideas Right still doesn't have any She does admit to quark in the scene that her family has lost money and influence and that DeGore holds their debt.

And Quark says, well, make me an equal partner. Let me look at their finances. I can find a way out for us. And she does mention here that Clingons don't mess with filthy ledgers. Like, that's not for Clingons. But she does reluctantly agree to let Cork try to help because she doesn't have any ideas how to get out of this. And I believe this is, for me, the most thematic moment in the episode, which I'll

talk about again later, but here is the two cultures radically different, finding they have something in common where they can both help each other. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a nice scene. All the scenes with the two of you in this episode, I think, are really great. You know, your actor chemistry is really good. She was a doll. I remember that episode in her work very fondly. I would do anything to work with Mary Kay again. Yeah. She seems like a lot of fun. You know how in the beginning of this scene, Groka says, I told you not to say anything. Well, in the actual script, there's another scene that was dropped. Yeah, so there's a conversation via subspace between Rom and Quark, where Rom appeared quite unconcerned about Cork's three-day absence.

He's got two Dabo girls on each side. That's right. Cork told of this- scene. Yeah, yeah, we shot. Oh, you filmed it. It's just not in the episode. Oh. Cork told of his marriage and advise Rom to stay away from the Dabo girls, but said he would be back. Rom agreed, but after the conversation ends, he enjoys the company of two Dabo girls with him. Quark then tells Groka that he was worried about Rom ruining the bar. Groko hands him his robe and urged him not to say a word in the Great Hall. So this is why she, yeah. So we never heard her say that.

No. I still tracked for me, though. Did it? I assume that she could have said that off camera. Okay. Seems reasonable. Yeah. And Rahm is ecstatic to be running the bar.

Oh, I'm sure. See, I would love to have seen that shot too. He's in pig heavens. Very funny. We go to the replomat. O'Brien is working on his plans for the, the, Arboretum. Yeah, the cargo bay conversion to the Arboretum, working on a pad.

Bashir arrives. It kind of hovers behind him looking over his shore. shoulder. There's a silent, you know, back and forth between looks between him, which I thought was very funny. And then Miles asks his opinion. And Bashir has figured out that Kekko is sad because school's closed. And Miles says, well, you think this plan will work? You know, the arboretum and you've seen my plans. You know the situation. Bashir says, yeah, it'll work for about two months. He says, during any serious disagreement, a smile and sweet words will buy you two hours. Flowers will buy you a week. An arboretum, well, that's at least two months. But in the

end, you're going to have to solve the underlying problem. It's true. Yeah. No amount of flowers and gifts thrown at this is going to ever sweep that issue under the rug forever. You have to confront it and deal with it. Yeah. How wonderful that our writers were dealing with a feminist issue. Yeah. That a man is not going to solve a problem for a woman. And a woman's career is as important to her. This is what Bashir says, you know, you're the station chief. I'm the doctor. She's a botanist. She has every right to follow her career just as we have our right to follow ours. It's a lovely moment. Thank you very much, Ira and company, for writing that into the episode. Yeah. Yeah. Until she's a botanist again,

she's not going to be happy. So Bashir lays that out on the table and O'Brien hears it. You know, he gets it. It makes sense to him. We go back to Groka's house. Quarks got the information he wanted out of the computer console. He figured out that Degor is behind the weakening of Cossack's family, that he's been attacking every part of their assets for years. And then what does she say?

You mean Degore's been scheming and plotting like a, she starts to spheranky. Like a, like a, like a, but she does. finish it. That was a funny bit. Quarks is like a Ferengi. Is that what you're going to say? And I remember that moment. Again, I'm struggling to try to rectify the Ferengi reputation during Deep Space Nine. And so I remember this was one of those opportunities where I could say, yes, but we're just as good as you are. Yeah. Well, you've figured it out. You say, I've got all this evidence here. I can talk to counsel through it. and Grilka, even though maybe it's not the Klingon way,

she does realize that it's the best way to do it. She thinks quark allows them to take, she just say, what does she say? She says, that is why I'm going to let you take your hand off my thigh instead of shattering every bone in your body. Is that what you're referring to, Robbie, right there? Yes. Yeah, it's a close up. It's at 50-50.

So you see the two of them smiling, very close, almost romantic. Almost romantic. It looks like she's only. almost about to kiss me before she says it does look like that yeah and she delivers the whole line with a smile on her face and then we laugh we just laugh yeah you pull your hand up of the thigh while you're still smiling you're well smiling your hand comes up like this like I'm not touching anything it's great if you recall there was a prior episode where cork's hand was on dax's thigh when they were playing the cling on sorry the Ferengi game oh the Ferengi game yeah with the little

lazy Susan thing going on. Same thing. So there's a lot of hands on thighs. In the pilot, or the first episode of Deep Space 9, Kira says the same thing to me. That's right. If you don't take your hand off my thigh, yes. Yeah, you are the hand on thigh person, for sure. Cork is.

Yes, hand on thigh. That's where I am. Mary Kay Adams commented working on the scene in the house of Cork where I tell Cork to get his hand off my thigh was great fun. The entire crew kept cracking. up every time we did the take so there you go she was just a blessing to work with she was just great it looked like it too so yeah and and and it made my performance better because she was so wonderful to work with as was all the others as well all of them it's a very proud of my performance in this episode because because my friends made me do better they made me do better and you made

them do better too everybody added to a really elevated episode I think there was a true synergy happening in this episode for sure yeah yeah watching it i could feel that it just felt like it was in the pocket you know what i mean like there weren't any you know off key notes happening in story or performance it was just right in the pocket it was great we could go back to the cling on great hall it's a hilarious bit at the top where cork is talking them through the ledgers so if you you'll see from the gross adjusted assets tabulation column j the net value of the land acquisition It's just great. It's accountant talk. And they all have pads. They're all looking at these pads.

They're so, such fish out of water. And Quark is absolutely in his element here talking about the accounting. I do want to mention one of the Klingon High Council background actors was Bill Blair. He got this at the last second. So someone else was supposed to do this job. And they backed out or they couldn't do it. And they called Bill at the last second, which he was ecstatic to come play a member of the Klingon High Council.

And there were a lot of. Klingons. That's a lot of makeup. That's a lot of makeup. Yeah. Gowron is very mad at Degor when he sees all these spreadsheets. Right. And then Degor makes his move. He says, I've found some new information. Kozak didn't die honorably. He died in an accident. Right. And Quark denies it when suddenly Rom walks in. Oh, hello, brother. So you can't get a break here, arm them in this. Every time you seem to be on top of it and like the right, you got

all the cards, something happens and Rom walks in. Yeah. So DeGore is basically demanding vengeance through personal combat with Quark. That's what he wants right now. We go to Grok's house and it opens with Quark saying come this way, brother, or come this way.

Again, a very dark scene. Very dark. A very dark scene. Yeah. Quark and Rom are trying to sneak out basically. They're like enough of this. Let's get out of here. Tumek and Groko stop them, though. Groka says she thought he was different. She's really disappointed. She thought he had something stronger inside than just a small piece of latinum. She says, I was wrong. She says, go ahead, run. I don't want you in my house anymore. And they leave. Poor cork and rom are feeling a bit of shame, maybe there.

No. Well, maybe, maybe, maybe. What I loved about that moment was after a speech like that on trick would usually convince all the heroes to do something heroic yeah usually you get a speech like that and then they go okay we should do this and and sure enough they do and the first words out of quark's mouth is let's go let's go oh that's right all right we're out of here i love turning the star trick ethos on its head in that moment i like this exchange that goes on for a while after you're left there with after her speech you know you say let's go and he doesn't move and you're like you think i should say and fight is that what you're thinking so there's a little bit of a debate there but yes you ultimately quirk says okay well now let's get out of here yeah let's get out of here there's a little bit of

fricking frack as well yes it's a rather quick exchange back and forth yeah You know, kudos. I fact, probably came out of weekend rehearsal or something. I thought that played very well. Again, a different sort of rhythm than normally happens. We're left in this scene to think that Quark and Rom are just, they're bailing on this. Yeah, they're not going to be a hero. And we cut inside the Great Hallnecks, they're all there, but no quark.

So we think he's run. And just as Gowron is about to give to Gore the house and all the assets and give him everything, cork and rom arrive, Quark has a batleth in his hand. That's the picture behind you that we're looking at, right? That's the scene. That's the scene. But he's holding it like a rifle on his shoulder when he walks in. I think the picture is the moment right before I throw it to the grind.

Ah, because you do prepare like you're about the fight and then you toss it on the ground. Yeah, Quark comes in looking like a hero, which is a shock and a surprise after that last moment. And it has a great introduction, very Shakespearean introduction. Yes, yes. Quark, son of Caldor. That's right. I have come to answer the challenge of Degor, son of whatever. Yeah, yeah.

Wonderful monologue for Armin after he throws a bat let the way. My goodness, the go ahead and kill me. This is, you know, that whole bit. Do you want to talk any bit about that, Armin? Again, some lovely Shakespearean-like prose, which is right up my alley. So I relished it. It was, you know, like a T-bone steak. It was great.

And they've given me lovely speeches before. But that particular speech was just delicious. When I read it for the first time, I thought, oh, God, couldn't I have more of ease? Yeah, it was just terrific. Well, we loved watching you eating that steak because, boy, did you, I ate it with salt and pepper. You treasured every morsel of that steak, and we were right there with you. We were salivating with you watching you eat that steak. And just an insight into my Shakespearean background is that sometimes I would on

mona-mata-poeticize the words. In other words, make the words sound like what they mean. This is something you have to do as a Shakespearean actor, at least when I do it or when I teach it. So I got an opportunity to use some of those simple Anglo-Saxon words and put music into them, put specifics, as we like to call them, specifics into them that made it much more interesting than just what the words on the page were.

Yeah, beautifully delivered. And the ideas here of like, because Quark's, smart at him. He has. Yeah. He's like, it's a risk, but he's, it's a risk. Yeah, you play this, this final move of, I'm not going to fight you. But if you do this, you're going to die without honor. And you know a Klingon doesn't want to do that. Right. There's no honor. There's no glory in an execution. And he's playing not only to the Gore, but he's playing to the whole council. Yes, especially to the whole council. Because DeGore at the end of this monologue, he doesn't care. He's like, whatever you say, Fringe, he's ready to hack you down into pieces. But that's when

Our good friend Bob O'Reilly jumps in and stops Carlos from shishabababing you. So, yeah, it's a wonderful, wonderful scene. Yeah. I do like after Bob O'Reilly, Gowron stops him and says, you know, to Degore, you're a disgrace. Yeah. And then he turns his back and he does this move of like puts his hands, turns his back. Bob O'Reilly does. Then all the other Klingons is the camera pans down.

They put their hands and turn. And it was really well done. It was a memorable moment for sure. And you can see the shame that that causes in Carlos. Yes. Yes. Because he's been excommunicated. Isn't that what it basically happens?

Like we don't acknowledge your existence whatsoever. You're no longer Klingon. You're dead to us is what it was. Yeah. And he's escorted out. He's actually taken out of the entire, the High Council. They remove him from the premises. He's dragged out of there.

Grilca asked Quark, how can she? repay him? And he says, well, I want to divorce. I want to go back to that latinum that's still on the floor. That's still on the floor scattered everywhere. She thinks for a beat after he asked for divorce. And then she suddenly slaps him across the face. And then she spits on him and says, okay, it's done. We're divorced. It's pretty easy. It's real simple. On chronos. Compared to some, compared to some, it's really. Exactly. I mean, that's okay. You guys do recall the last time we see Quark getting slapped like that was from his girlfriend, the Cardassian.

Do you remember that when she- That's right, that's right? His true love. So a lot of slapping of quark happening. So, all right. And I'm rubbing my cheek, which I'm watching the episode going, I know I can't feel anything. And I'm looking at the makeup and I'm going, wow, it's actually doing what it's supposed to do.

It's actually moving with my fingers. good I love Rom's expression when she walks out she kisses you so you get divorced she's saying to you

she gives you what you wanted and then she kisses you after the slap and the spit walks past Rom and Rom's just he's just his jaw is wide open frozen

it's hilarious he's a phenomenal comic actor and the rubbing of a cheek to me felt like this was a really memorable wonderful moment in a way oh you you know that you don't want to you don't want to forget about this yeah i'm gonna remember this moment forever yeah yeah it's as affectionate as the kiss yes yes yes but she does

refer to you at the end she says kapla quark son of keldar and cork you do reply kappla and not mehah like you did earlier i'm not sure if it was the last scene we did but i knew it was the last seen in the episode. And there's a real sense of me saying goodbye to her. I remember that distinctly. A real thing. I hope you come back. This has just been a great week. Thank you, Mary Kay. And she does. From what I hear. According to Garris, she comes back. Yeah, she does. We go back to Quarks Cafe here. We're looking down, the camera's up high, looking down on a very busy daubo table. And Keiko, Keiko's watching, and she doesn't get why people even play daubo. I don't either

I don't either What does she say Don't they get sick of it Yeah That's what she says Just don't see what people see in this game And Anyway

Miles is Finally ready to break This idea to her He says There's an expedition Going down to Bayjor They need a botanist And she should go

And her first response is No I can't go We made a deal I'm going to be here with you Because you're here And he says I know you're not happy And I just

want you to be happy to be a botanist. That's what you're meant to be. And he says you're the best one in the galaxy. Best botanist in the galaxy. Yeah. We also find out that this expedition is a six-month expedition. So Kiko does bring up, what about Molly? O'Brien says, well, you can take Molly with you. So finally we hear. Finally, we hear Molly's alive. Molly's alive. Oh, yeah. We have a child, don't we? Yes, absolutely. What about our kid? Yeah. She's alive. Okay, good. We cut downstairs. You're back in the original spots. I love the staging. I don't know if it was scripted,

but for less to put you to bookend the beginning of the episode and the end of the episode, but how things are the same but different. And I think in both, Randy walks away in both. I think Randy, who is a stand-in for Renee,

who's there in Starfleet uniform, I think he walks away in both, I think. So it's even more of a book-in. Yeah, yeah, it's a great echo from the beginning. Your brothers are sitting at the bar, business is kind of slow, slowing down again.

Quark's kind of down about all this. He's down about business, probably down about the Grilka thing, you know, a little bittersweet in some way. He's been through a lot. And he's gotten something he's always wanted. I know it's something Armin always wanted. He's gotten respect. Yeah, absolutely.

Rahm is still impressed and amazed about what Quirk did. He asked to hear the story again. Quirk, you know, is kind of reluctant. but he says, okay, I'll tell you, but I'm going to take this time out of your paycheck. He doesn't want to let that opportunity go by. So he begins to tell the story of how he was a hero. How much taller DeGore was than he was.

Yes. It's taller than he remembered. Yes, a meter taller than I remembered. Going back into some great storytelling. It's a great ending, though. I love it. Yes. Agreed.

Agreed, agreed, agreed. Wonderful job, Barman. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I'm very proud of it. And good job to all the guest stars. Oh, my God, yes. Really? Very impressive. Great script. Ron Moore did a great job. Les Landau directed it beautifully. All the acting is great. One of my favorites. Absolutely. And it's not a Starfleet story. Even O'Brien, it's not what he does with Starfleet or Starfleet. It's what he's doing on the personal side. Yeah. It's marriage.

This is not a Star Trek episode. There's very little Starfleet involved. Starfleet. Although I did love, one of the things I loved about it was it felt Star Trek-y because of the Klingons, the big Klingon. Yeah. It didn't feel Starfleet-y. Absolutely, you're right. But I loved getting some of that classic Trek, the Trek aliens and visiting, diving into that world and that culture in a way.

that felt comfortable. Well, Ira was smart enough to get Ron to do the story. So, yeah, and Ron is expert to Klingon. Ira was also smart enough to purchase this story from Tom Benko. So we have to thank Tom Benko for coming up with this whole idea. And Ira had as much desire to rectify or to burnish the reputation of the Ferengi as I did. So you've got these two cultures coming together to form a story. Just brilliant, quite brilliant.

So the concept for this episode started with Benko pitching an idea for Cork to get a reputation as a fighter after an altercation with a Clingon. Moore had a reputation among writers for having a talent for a Clingon episode, so after he worked on TNG episode, Sins of the Father. And so finally there was a desire to do a comedy episode with Clingons, and this was their chance to do that. But it all started with Tom Benko.

Yeah, it had some comedy, but I wouldn't call this a comedy. No, but what they did so brilliantly was it is a comic episode, but it's not your typical Three Stooges Ferengi episode. It's a clever, sophisticated, everything fits together really well. That's what made this so delicious for me was I didn't have to be a fool in most of this. Not that he became a hero, but rather I didn't. The jokes are that come out of character.

They come out of situation. They aren't necessarily three stooges jokes. Not that that happened a lot. I really felt this is a little bit more sophisticated than I had played before for the most point. So many lessons in this. So many great lessons about careers and gender assumptions with Miles and Keiko.

All kinds of lessons. I could go on and on. But the biggest lesson for me, is that to remember that you are more capable, you're capable of more than you think, that all of us are capable of more than we think, to be put in these little boxes and think, oh, that's all I can be. You know, I'm a Ferengi. I just do this.

No, Ferenghis can be heroes. Klingons are capable of more. They can do accounting. They can do accounting, too, yes. So I think the lesson of that we're all capable of more than we think we are is my takeaway for this. Great. What about you, Armin? What are you thinking?

I would totally agree with what Robbie just said. And to go further, what I wrote was, all cultures have something to learn from other cultures, even when cultural differences are most pronounced. Absolutely. I mean, the difference between the Ferengi culture and the Klingon cultures is night and day. And yet, both learned something in this episode.

Just what you said. Garrett. Yes, for me, I think I'm going to say. say that sometimes when your back is up against the wall you have to think outside the box and stand on tiptoes yeah or you get to stand on tiptoes that's right yeah so yeah so the whole you know the whole decision of cork to to basically throw down the batlet and say yep this is an execution go ahead i'm not going to win in well i'm not going to win in a fight against you go ahead but there's no honor in this so that was definitely thinking outside the box right the

The whole thing with Grilko, when he was asking her, what's your strategy? He had no clue. And he's like, well, let me look at the books, the accounting of it. Again, that's thinking outside the box. So a lot of times that's what's needed to proceed or move forward or have a more successful ending where solution is thinking outside the box. Excellent, excellent. And our Patreon poll or theme of moral this episode is submitted by Anne, and that is courage and honor doesn't always take the form you expect. nice yeah yeah i like that too yeah we've had a wonderful time reviewing recapping and discussing this

episode with armin thank you for joining us again armin really a great pleasure yeah this was so much fun yep for everyone um our next episode will be equilibrium with terry so we'll see you then for all of our lovely patreon patrons please stay tuned for your bonus material and a little more time with armin of course So, you know, and You know, I'm going to be