Body Parts (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"Body Parts" is the 97th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 25th episode of the fourth season. Quark runs afoul of Ferengi traditions, again.

"Body Parts"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 25
Directed byAvery Brooks
Story byLouis P. DeSantis
Robert J. Bolivar
Teleplay byHans Beimler
Featured musicDennis McCarthy
Production code497
Original air dateJune 10, 1996 (1996-06-10)
Guest appearance(s)

Meanwhile, a major crisis afflicts the O'Brien family (Miles, Keiko, and Molly) and their unborn child after an away mission gone wrong on a Danube-class Runabout spacecraft.

When it was broadcast on television in 1996, "Body Parts" achieved 5.1 Nielsen Points.[1] This was the lowest rating yet in DS9 Season 4 and for all of DS9 up to that time, although the ratings did drop further.[2]

This episode writes in Nana Visitor's pregnancy by transferring Keiko's pregnancy to Major Kira following an accident.[3]

Plot

Quark learns from his doctor that he has a rare disease that will kill him within a week. To raise money to pay his debts before he dies, he auctions off his remains, selling them to a high bidder at 500 bars of gold-pressed latinum. A few hours later, he finds out that his medical exam was in error, and in fact he isn't going to die.

The buyer who bought his remains turns out to be Quark's old adversary Brunt, from the Ferengi Commerce Authority. Brunt demands what he has paid for: Quark's desiccated remains. Quark explains that he isn't going to die, but Brunt does not care. Quark thus faces the dilemma of either killing himself, or breaking a contract, thereby violating a sacred principle of Ferengi society. Doing so would mean the end of Quark's business license and ostracism from other Ferengi.

In order to honor his contract, Quark decides to hire ex-spy Elim Garak to kill him. Garak demonstrates possible methods of murder to Quark, but Quark is afraid to go through with any of them.

That night, has a dream in which he meets Gint, the first Grand Nagus of the Ferengi and author of the sacred Rules of Acquisition. Gint tells him the Rules are really only "suggestions" (only called "rules" for marketing purposes), and advises him to break the contract.

The next morning, Quark tells Brunt that he is breaking the contract. Brunt immediately revokes Quark's Ferengi business license and seizes all of his assets. To Quark's astonishment, his close customers come to help him out by using his bar as a "storage facility" for all the items he needs to conduct business. As a result, he is shortly back in business, cut off from Ferengi society (except his brother Rom), but finding himself feeling richer in true friends he never imagined he had.

In a side plot, the pregnant Keiko O'Brien is injured in a runabout accident, and to save her unborn son's life her fetus is transplanted into Major Kira. Kira has no problem with being a surrogate mother, but Keiko and her husband Miles are at first uncomfortable with the thought of another woman carrying their child. They eventually come to terms with it, and ask Kira to move in with them so they can be closer to the child.

Reception

In 2018, SyFy recommend this episode for its abbreviated watch guide for the Bajoran character Kira Nerys.[4] This episode is noted for Kira taking on a pregnancy with a science fiction twist.[4] The episode has another plot line that follows the adventures of the bartender Quark.[4]

References
  3. People Magazine - Michael A. Lipton - July 15, 1996
  4. Krishna, Swapna (January 16, 2018). "A binge-watching guide to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Kira Nerys". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
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