User Reviews

This is a potentially grew idea for a trek episode that doesn't quite come together in the end. Maybe the lack of nefarious goals or they could have gone farther with the imagined personalities? This ultimately is about an alien spaces performing their version of first contact using space magic. There's not much here in terms of suspense or stakes beyond uncovering the mystery.

What I enjoyed about it:

• Saucy Jadzia ---- Bashir, I am giving you a free pass for making out with imaginary Jadzia ---- Imaginary or not (at the time not known) you have to green light that scenario. And a big fist pump to awesome wingwoman real Jadzia for being cool with it a few scenes later.

• Molly is hands down the cutest child actress in trek history. The cuteness level is off the charts in this one.

• I laughed out loud at Odo chasing Space Ostriches off the promenade. I also found it hilarious that the Ostriches followed Odo's instruction to move out. Odo's ability to maintain order crosses over to all forms of life. Worf is the all time most unintentionally hilarious character in Trek history but Odo puts up some real strong showings in DS9.

I have no real major complaints about the main story arc beyond not adding anything to the DS9 universe or characters within it.

1.15 "If Wishes Were Horses"

A strange anomaly appears near the station and at the same time, members of the crew begin inadvertently conjuring people and objects from their imaginations. The crew must discover the link between the two phenomena and find a solution before the expanding anomaly destroys the station...and the entire Bajoran system.

This is a whimsical and mostly entertaining episode with a ton of technobabble but not much story. It's more lighthearted and fun than your typical DS9 episode, but ultimately inconsequential and pointless.

THE GOOD

-It's fun to see the different encounters that the crew imagines. Odo fantasizing about Quark being in jail is perfect.

-"Commander is there something you'd like to tell me?" "I don't have time for games, Odo." Sisko is the best.

-Buck Bokai is strangely charismatic, even if he is the most unathletic-looking professional athlete imaginable. I'm glad they bring him back for other eps.

THE BAD

-The plot is silly and pointless.

-The imaginary Dax draping herself all over Bashir is...yeesh. Tough to watch.

THE UGLY

-Buck Bokai is the baseball player referenced by Data in the TNG season 1 episode "The Big Goodbye." Data says that he broke Joe DiMaggio's streak of consecutive games with a hit, which Buck also references himself doing.

-It's a dangerous gamble that Sisko takes when he refuses to consider the deal with Rumplestiltskin. He says the system is in no danger, but everything in the ep indicates that the imagined objects became completely real. If the rift was real too, the system was actually in great danger. But if the aliens had the power to create an anomaly like that, they must be extremely powerful, almost Q-like. One would hope that they wouldn't allow their power to be used to arbitrarily wipe out an entire system, but their enigmatic nature makes it impossible to say one way or the other.

-Thoron is an isotope of the radioactive noble gas radon. It occurs naturally as part of the reaction chain of certain isotopes of thorium decaying into lead. Why the aliens would be emitting thoron I can't even begin to guess.

-Going off the above point, there is a lot of technobabble in this ep and frankly none of it makes sense. Even though I have good deal of basic knowledge in many different science disciplines, I couldn't find much, if any, real science behind the technobabble and I'm pretty sure it was all gibberish.

-The aliens tease returning "next year" but they never appear again. Probably for the best.

The crew's imaginations run riot and it's all great fun. There are bizarre happenings on DS9 - Rumpelstilkskin, a legendary baseball player, Bashir's dream Dax, strange animals, snow and on and on. But things quickly become more serious as a space rift threatens the station. I am reminded yet again in this episode as to how much the writers liked the Quark character - he so often get the best lines in the show. They're throwaway lines but so very often pithy and amusing. In this case Odo and Quark are having a usual acrimonious discussion and Quark makes a suggestion that Odo finds offensive and Odo says "That's disgusting," and Quark replies "It's a living." There is both tension and a wishful fantasy in this show. Since, as of yet, I don't care much for the Bashir character, his pining for the imaginary Dax is hokey. But O'Brien's distress is believable and touching. A fun and engaging episode and a meeting with a new, unknown alien species. I wonder if we'll see more of them.

Shortly after Jadzia Dax discovers an anomaly strange things start to happen aboard the station; after Chief O'Brien finishes telling his daughter the story of Rumpelstiltskin the lead character appears in her room, Dr. Bashir is awakened by an imaginary version of Jadzia who seems rather more fond of him than the real one and a baseball player follows Jake out of the holodeck. It appears that the anomaly has brought people's imaginations into reality. While the people brought into existence seem to be nothing more than an annoyance the anomaly itself is growing in a way which is reminiscent of a previous event which destroyed an entire star system; the crew must find away to prevent it from destroying the station and the Bajoran system..

Although I'm a fan of DS9 I found this episode to be particularly weak; the idea of people's imaginations coming to life seemed more suited to a fantasy series than Sci-fi... at least Quark's imagined floozies added a bit of gratuitous eye candy.

"Be careful what you wish for...it might come true". This not a dramatically original concept for TV & movie stories; Hollywood has been churning out productions featuring this storyline ever since the days of silent pictures.

In this installment, however it's presented with such fun, playfulness and energy that you can't help but sit back and enjoy the ride, thanks to a very clever script, excellent direction, wonderful supporting actors, and as much skin & sexual innuendo as we've seen in DS9 up to this point. It's obvious that the actors had a great time filming this episode, and their enthusiasm is contagious.

The key to this episodes success, as with most great theater, is immediate & consistent connection with the characters- identifying through personal experience what they are going through makes the viewer feel like "a part of the action". This "opportunity for empathy" is presented in abundance here- all the viewer needs to do is pick his or her particular flavor. Who hasn't had steamy fantasies about a co-worker? Or wondered what it would be like to meet a favorite hero face-to-face? Or sat at a desk in school or at work and daydreamed about being out on the baseball field?

Everyone- regulars and guest stars- turns in an solid performance here, but Michael J. Anderson as Rumpelstiltskin particularly shines; his portrayal is so warm, interesting and appealing that one starts to wish he was a regular character on DS9. Anderson is a veteran of many TV and film appearances, but is perhaps best known to TV audiences as "Samson", the surreal & avuncular carnival boss in HBO's excellent miniseries, "Carnivale" (2003-2005).

"If Wishes Were Horses" is tremendously entertaining, fun to watch, and one of the best installments of the first season. Don't miss this one!