Episode: "Body Parts"
Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 4, Episode 25
Original Air Date: June 10, 1996
Garak episode!
Quark has learned he is dying of a rare and untreatable disease. True to form, he turns disaster into financial opportunity by selling off his eventual remains to the highest bidder. Fortunately, he soon gets news that the doctor was in error and he's not actually dying. Unfortunately, our old friend Brunt (Jeffrey Combs) was the winning bidder and he intends to hold Quark to the agreement: either have himself killed or break the deal, thus incurring the full wrath of the all-powerful Ferengi Commerce Authority (FCA).
Nearly thirty years later, "Body Parts" is better-remembered for its B-plot. Keiko is injured in a runabout collision with an asteroid. With her pregnancy at-risk, Dr. Bashir transports the fetus from Keiko to Kira who will now serve as the surrogate.
It's been a "problem" throughout the history of episodic television: what do you do when an actress becomes pregnant? The most famous television pregnancy was Lucy Ricardo's in I Love Lucy. Initially even the word pregnant was avoided. Fortunately, it was easy enough to write the pregnancy into the story because, conveniently, the on-screen parents were also genuinely married off-screen. But what do you do when the female character is unmarried? Obviously, in our puritanical, patriarchal society, we can't have that. Vice-President Dan Quayle's criticism of the fictional character Murphy Brown and the show's response are still considered key moments in the history of American cultural politics.
So what to do for Nana Visitor (Kira)? What had Trek done before? Gates McFadden was pregnant through part of the NextGen run and the bump was always cleverly hidden behind a desk or another set piece. For Kira, they made a very different choice, one that opened up narrative possibilities regarding surrogacy. Was it the right choice? The actress was happy with it. Without a doubt, that's the most important consideration.
Let's give the A-plot its due. Both Quark's and Rom's divergence from Firengi cultural expectations is an important, foundational arc of Deep Space Nine. It's every bit as important as Odo's relationship with the Founders, Dax's rebellions against Trill norms and Worf's exile from the Klingon Empire In fact, is not this broader question the very heart of the DS9 story: In a pluralist society, what is your relationship with your "home culture?" What do you embrace? What do you reject? What are the consequences of either choice? Each principal character - and many of the secondary ones - arrive at different answers over the course of the series and the choices shape their journeys.
As ever, the Garak part of the story is a treat. Quark hires our favorite tailor/spy to kill him. The scene in which they plot Quark's own perfect murder is delightful.
One more thought before we leave this episode, this one from the Purple Penguin: Deep Space Nine - even more than other Star Trek series - consistently promotes the idea of strength in community living. In this, the show is a rare challenge to the monomyth of individualism which dominates American culture. In "Body Parts," we see this most obviously in the way the entire station steps up to help Quark reopen the bar after Brunt shuts it down. And it's in the pregnancy transfer story, too. Of course, Kira will help the O'Briens in their time of need. Because that's what you do in a caring, nurturing community.
The Creators
When showrunner Michael Piller left DS9 after Season 2 for
Voyager, there was an opening with the slightly older series. The job went to Ira Steven Behr, to that point a co-executive producer for the show.
Behr was born in New York City, October 23, 1953. After graduating from Lehman College, he moved to LA to pursue a screenwriting career. Prior to Trek, he worked on several TV series including Bret Maverick, Fame and The Bronx Zoo. Behr was originally hired as a producer for NextGen but left after one season, feeling stifled. Piller persuaded him to come back for DS9.
Pertinent to this week's episode, one of Behr's most important contributions from the beginning was the development of the Ferengi. As previously discussed, the Ferengi were originally intended as the primary adversaries for Picard's Enterprise but that didn't work out. In fact, most TNG Ferengi episodes are hopelessly weak. Quark was really the first likable Ferengi in the franchise. Among other things, Behr introduced the idea of the Rules of Acquisition, the guiding principles of Ferengi commerce.
Behr's post-Trek work includes stints with Crash, Alphas and Outlanders. He was also an important driving force behind What We Left Behind, a documentary about the making of DS9 built around interviews of cast and crew. He is married to Laura Behr who has four choreography credits on Star Trek series.