Babel

A strange illness starts affecting the community of DS9.

This is a solid episode that has an interesting concept done in an enjoyable way.

I love the idea of the station being riddled with technical problems and Chief O'Brien being up to his eyes in problems like some sort of tradesmen in demand. This is plausible for the early days of the Federation's takeover of DS9. Colm Meany is a very believable Engineer and this story works well.

It is also quite entertaining to see the station down to a bare minimum of staff trying to sort the problems out. Kira Nerys, Odo, and Quark have some memorable character moments during the situation, and Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonoir, and Armin Shimerman respectively are on good form.

The actual form the virus takes is a little bit naff and slightly laughable at times, but it does not spoil the episode for me. When the solution comes in the end it's down to one character finding a suitable way to motivate someone to find the cure. This isn't very Star Trek in its approach, but it's cool all the same.

Avery Brooks reminds me (in Star Trek context) of William Shatner in that he is a strong charismatic lead actor, but in some instances he can stray a bit over the top.

This is an Underrated Star Trek episode. If I watched it in another time period, I would not understand its value. However, there is currently a worldwide pandemic. In a way befitting a science fiction; It has shown very well what will happen in a pandemic. The process is lifelike, just faster. With the importance of the situation, the tempo in the episode was successful. With real life experience, I was very excited while watching the episode. An important detail was the unexpected spread of the virus. As a result, Star Trek is always one step ahead.

Have you ever seen an episode of a show that you enjoyed but you also felt that if you hadn't seen it your life wouldn't have changed one bit? Well, that's how I felt about "Babel". It's not a bad show to watch but is very slight to say the least and does nothing to really advance the narrative.

When the show begins, O'Brien is frustrated with all the broken systems on the station. However, everyone's frustration soon is stretched to the limits when a weird virus breaks out on Deep Space 9. Suddenly, and without warning, people begin speaking gibberish-- long strings of random words with no meaning. And, oddly, they write the same way and no one can understand anyone who comes down with the virus. Not surprisingly this virus is NOT naturally occurring but was created by someone--but who and why and how to stop it is a HUGE concern.

This is a silly episode that is quite original but also pretty dumb at the same time. Not terrible but not exactly one of the series' finest moments.

This unusual episode takes a very different look at a standard Star Trek plot - the ship-wide seemingly insurmountable threat story.

In fact, it starts out as a comedic episode following Miles O'Brien around as he tries to repair chronically failing Cardassian technology all over DS9. Shortly after, however, the story takes a very sinister turn as O Brien becomes heavily aphasic and is followed very quickly by many others on the station. Eventually, Sisko quarantines the station, and Kira is sent on a mission of mercy to try to locate the one person who may be able to save the crew.

Brooks and Visitor turn in excellent performances in this episode, and the episode is important in the development of O'brien, Jake and Ben and Kira's characters. And there is a good amount of conservative exposition about the Bajoran underground.

A solid, if not entirely original, episode.

Pretty good premise and treatment of the science aspect, but guys, it's a virus and NOBODY puts on a mask? Sisko cuddles his afflicted son Jake, when as a leader he needs to avoid infection. As-yet unaffected personnel don't practice distancing. What-- are we to infer that people in the future have outgrown or forgotten such basic precautions?

Still very watchable, though the suspense is somewhat dulled by the certainty that as in all medical mystery Treks, the cure will be found in under 50 minutes screen time-- unless it goes to a two-parter.