3x22 Explorers

[7.8/10] I love the politics of Deep Space Nine. I love the spirituality it engages with. I love the espionage and subterfuge that's always bubbling under the surface. I love the clash of civilizations, whether it’s Starfleet and the Maquis, the Cardassians and the Bajorans, or the Dominion and the Alpha Quadrant. I love the space battles and daring escapes and anomalies of the week that keep things both exciting and interesting.

But I also love that we get the occasional breather episode, or side plot, where Star Trek becomes less about the grand movement of nation against nation or mortal man versus all-powerful beings, and more about how our glorious spacemen are, in fact, regular people who do things that fuel their passions. Uhura and Spock play music together. Picard and Data learn to put on Shakespeare together. Janeway blows off steam in a Victorian-inspired holonovel.

These things are not essential, nor do they affect the course of man’s history among the stars. But they make our heroes feel like more well-rounded people. And they give us a chance to get to know them, in the quieter, humbler moments of their lives that exist beyond the weekly crisis or explosion.

So count me as a fan of “Explorers”, where the main story sees Commander Sisko rebuilding an ancient Bajoran spacecraft simply for the love of the game. After discovering some antiquated blueprints of a solar sail vessel the Bajorans of old supposedly used to traverse the stars, Benjamin wants to follow in their footsteps. He chooses to do things the old fashioned way, using their tools, their designs, and their limited resources to build something that honors their journey.

There’s something truly lovely about that. Veteran Trek director Cliff Bole shoots Sisko’s construction process with a loving hand. A montage with creative shots conveys Benjamin’s devotion to the project. Swooping shots of the finished ship show off the intricacy and meaning the commander has imbued into this cause. And the design work, both on the elegant interiors, and the gentle insect-like qualities of exteriors, evince the sense of a conveyance with one foot in our future and another in a simpler time for Bajor. An abundance of care is on display, in Sisko’s attitude and in his final product, and the clear affection and devotion to the cause is infectious.

Despite that, there’s not a whole hell of a lot at stake, which after an intense season, is actually refreshing. The biggest prize hanging in the balance is bragging rights. Benjamin wants to fly the thing, in the style of old, past a major landmark (spacemark?) that would prove the legends right and show that ancient Bajorans could have made it all the way to Cardassia. None other than Gul Dukat gives an ominous warning about the attempt, but for the most part, if Sisko fails, the only thing he’ll really lose is a historical debate and a bit of personal pride.

Personal pride is at the center of the B-story here too, which is, if anything, even lower stakes than Sisko’s story. Dr. Bashir gets all flustered when it turns out the one person who outshone him at medical school, who earned a plum posting on the Lexington, is stopping over on DS9. Much of the subplot centers on him flitting about and fretting over how to handle someone he didn’t really know but who he continues to have mixed feelings about given how she bested him.

(As an aside, it’s interesting for longtime fans to notice small elements introduced without much fanfare that will become significant parts of the show, like Leeta and, not for nothing, Sisko’s goatee!)

In truth, I found it pretty sitcom-y at first. Something about Julian micromanaging the look of his sick bay or vacillating over whether to go over and talk to her or fuming when she seemingly blows him off is played a little too broad for my tastes. And yet, this one lands somewhere sweet and affirming.

For one thing, it seals up the Bashir/O’Brien relationship that's been brewing for seasons now. While a bit silly, Miles reassuring Julian that he’s polarizing to the point that people either love him or hate him, and admitting that Miles himself doesn’t hate Julian is downright sweet in an off-kilter way that somehow makes him sweeter.

And for all Bashir’s hand-wringing over whether this person who bested him will lord her achievements over him, it turns out she (a.) mistook him for an Andorian back in school and (b.) envies him, expressing a wish for the exciting life he leads over the dullness of her otherwise prime posting. That too is a nice affirmation that, for all Julian’s anxieties over this fellow doctor being able to outclass him and take away his life, she in fact respects him and admires his choices. It’s a wholesome place to wrap up a story that risks being too much.

But it’s not the only story in the episode that starts with a certain interpersonal awkwardness and ends in a place of mutual respect and connection. The major thing that's at stake in Benjamin’s voyage in his Bajoran sailing vessel is his relationship with Jake. More than anything, “Explorers” is one of DS9’s vaunted fatherhood episodes, with a lot of meaningful and fun conversations between father and son as Jake comes along for his dad’s big ride.

And there, they talk about the big things in life. Sisko tells Dax that he’s worried about his son growing up and growing apart, not having time for his old man’s fascinations anymore. Jake reveals to his dad that he wants to be a writer, and even has a fellowship waiting for him back on Earth. They speak of the experiences needed to fuel good writing, worries that run in both directions about homesickness and being on your own. In a particularly charming move, Jake is worried about his dad not having him around as much as Benjamin’s worried about his son finding his way on his own, with the younger Sisko even wanting to set his dad up with a freighter captain who wants to meet him.

The content of these conversations is compelling, even if the dialogue veers toward being on-the-nose at times. But what makes them really endearing is the dynamic here. This isn’t about evading enemy vessels or negotiating complicated diplomatic situations. It’s about a parent and a child relating to one another, worrying about each other, bonding together in the face of a difficult but low-stakes challenge where the only thing on the line is a bit of honor.

The connection between father and son mirrors the journey of the ship they’re steering together. With just the right sci-fi twist, this sub-light solar sailer that's supposed to be able to make it a minor hop from Bajor at most finds itself in an unexpected tachyon eddy and arrives at Cardassia. Gul Dukat himself congratulates them on making the trip, with his government acknowledging “new” evidence that ancient Bajorans made the same journey. In the same way, despite some inevitable growing pains and differences, Benjamin and Jake find common ground, with the elder Sisko agreeing to go on a date with this mystery woman, and the younger one deciding to stick around on the station to get more real life experience before trying to transform it to fiction.

The beauty comes in those slower moments, where people pursue their passions, fret over past awkwardness, and traverse both the stars and the vicissitudes of parenthood at once. The glory of Star Trek is that it has room for it all: fireworks-filled confrontations and soft vignettes of the more mundane but undeniably human. I wouldn’t trade one for the other, but by god, it’s nice to have both.