Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 72: The Adversary [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 72: The Adversary [VHS] Review

The threat of the Dominion has hung over Deep Space Nine since the Federation discovered the existence of the shapeshifting Founders in the third-season opener (episode 47, "The Search, Part I"). In the third-season finale, the Founders infiltrate the Federation. The newly promoted Captain Sisko leads a special mission to the Cardassian sector aboard the battle cruiser Defiant, which turns into a fight for survival when a tubular parasite infects the power and communications centers and a shapeshifter spy takes over the ship. Echoing elements of Alien mixed with John Carpenter's remake of The Thing (including a smartly plotted twist of the blood-testing scene from the latter), the crew scours the ship in nervous search--the agent could be posing as any one of them--while the spy tries to lure Odo away from the "solids" (as they call non-shapeshifting races) to their cause. Balancing action with an atmosphere of paranoia, the episode injects some much-needed adrenaline into the show with a series of tense standoffs and a race against time. We're no closer to understanding the Founders' motives, but by season's end we have a good idea as to the threat they pose to all races on this side of the galaxy. --Sean Axmaker