Move Along Home

"Move Along Home," is often dismissed as one of the series' more eccentric episodes, but I find its charm undeniable. Yes, it's quite silly, with an unusual premise: the crew, especially Sisko, Kira, Dax, and Bashir, are unwillingly pulled into a bizarre game by the Wadi, an alien species fascinated with chance and challenge. However, the episode's fun lies in its surreal, almost whimsical atmosphere. Watching the crew try to solve strange riddles and puzzles adds a playful, unpredictable vibe uncommon in Star Trek. It doesn't advance any major story arcs, but it gives the actors a chance to show new sides of their characters, caught in an absurd, almost dreamlike scenario. Sure, it lacks depth, but "Move Along Home" is pure enjoyment-an amusing change of pace that proves even a serious sci-fi series can afford to take a lighthearted detour.

Allamaraine!

This episode has one huge plus: these aliens acted in a somewhat alien manner and seemingly without the station crew even understanding it. Most Trek aliens behave like humans usually with some exaggerated trait and it's known and loudly trumpeted. Proud Warriors, Space Romans, etc.

Here, it's true they appear to have the exaggerated trait of gamers, but ultimately nobody really knows. Maybe this IS how these aliens do first contact. But at the end of the day, they sweep in and sweep out and you never really know.

This sort of thing should have happened all the time in first contact situations.

Another plus is this one is VERY memorable.

The main downside to me is that this episode was too early. It's a bit like TNG's "Naked Now" in that respect, though not as severe.

Another problem is I can't even fathom how Quark figured out the missing staff was somehow inside the game.

First contact has been made with aliens called the Wadi in the Gamma Quadrant and they are on the way through the wormhole and to the space station. Where do these aliens want to go but Quark's for some gambling. That's what these folks are all about games of all kinds.

But Quark cheats a little as he considers these people rubes. But when they catch him at it, the aliens have him play a game of their own. Sisko, Kira, Dax, and Dr.Bashir find themselves as pawns in a game of the aliens faced with all different kinds of perils. How they do depends on how well Armin Shimerman spins the alien dice.

The story is a bit silly, but the cast regulars and guests do sell it.

DS9 makes first contact with a species from the gamma quadrant.

This is an odd episode that has a reasonably good premise, but when the final reveal comes it feels a rather pointless experience to me.

There are some positives, such as some of the character exchanges between Sisko and Jake, Sisko, Dax and Kira and Odo and Quark. You get a good sense of characters loyalty to each other from the situations they are seemingly put in.

Many visuals are a good standard, particularly the cave scenes that feel quite exciting and well made. Plus the general design of the game both internally and how it physically appears within Quark's.

The Wadi are not the most inspired of alien designs, particularly supposedly coming from the far reaches of the gamma quadrant. As a first impression of what DS9 would be serving up using the wormhole concept, it is quite poor.

There are a number of annoying moments such as the crew trying to stop the game with the 'we are not amused' attitude and making futile attempts to talk to characters who do not acknowledge them. The allarmaraine nursery rhyme sequence is (briefly) almost as painful as watching Captain Kirk and Spock's humiliation at the hands of Parmen. Dr Bashir (also briefly) is again poorly characterised.

When the final reveal comes it is exactly what you thought it might (but hoped it wouldn't) be.

Haven't seen this in a long time and it is not the best episode of DS9, but like early TNG episodes, early DS9 episodes tent to get better over time.

When this episode and DS9 first aired, I did not like it very much, now I like it. When Voyager first aired I did not like it either and I hoped that the same would happen, what happened to DS9 a couple of years earlier. But it never happened.

This is actually very entertaining with kind of a surprise ending. Just watch it, you will like it. The characters are not fully developed yet and feel fresh.