The Story of a Little Ship That Took a Little Trip

DS9 - 6x14 - "One Little Ship"




O'Brien: "Don't hit it too hard...you'll shatter the control panel."
Dax: "Don't worry, I have a light touch."
Bashir: "Not according to Worf."


"One Little Ship" isn't the most serious, grounded, or plausible episodes of Star Trek.  It is, however, one that I love.  The plot isn't all that deep; rather, the episode is a showcase for the wonderful special effects as a runabout and its crew are shrunk down in size.  During a study of a spatial phenomenon, the USS Rubicon is shunk, and Commander Dax, Dr. Bashir, and Chief O'Brien are each shrunk to the size of about half a centimeter tall.  

Kira and Sisko laugh about the prospect
of tiny Starfleet officers

At the beginning of the episode, Kira is incredulous.  She finds the entire idea of shrinking the crewmembers hilarious, and is overcome with a case of the giggles.  According to the episode's writers, Kira is the stand-in for the audience.  They're basically letting the audience know, "yeah, we know this is ridiculous.  Just go with us on this one."  


Worf: "I do not see what is so humorous about being small."
Nog: "Neither do I."


The runabout and crew should return to their normal size upon exiting the anomaly, but a Jem'Hadar attack on the USS Defiant causes the experiment to go awry.  The runabout exits the anomaly, but remains tiny in proportion to the rest of the universe.

Tiny O'Brien and Bashir can't breathe
the normal-sized air

The runabout crew find themselves navigating through the corridors of the Defiant, narrowly avoiding the Jem'Hadar, and aiding the captured crew in retaking the starship.  Kudos to the science advisor for reminding the writers that a tiny person wouldn't be able to breath the huge air molecules they would encounter.  Therefore, when Bashir and O'Brien enter an airtight compartment, Dax beams a pocket of air ahead of them.  Good thinking, I might not have caught that if I were writing the episode.

The Rubicon fires minuscule antimatter
warheads around the engine room

All in all, I really enjoy this episode, even though the plot isn't that deep.  One plot element that was introduced but later dropped from the series is the idea of Alpha Quadrant-bred Jem'Hadar being superior to those bred in the Gamma Quadrant.  Also, one small problem I had was with the Rubicon firing tiny photon torpedoes at the Jem'Hadar.  Don't those cause antimatter explosions?  Maybe phasers would have been a better idea than shooting highly explosive bullets around the warp core?




Highly enjoyable, and visually very exciting.  8/10.

Sisko: Mr. Worf, I think your wife is here.

Next week: