When you live in a place inhabited by a variety of different communities, misunderstandings and miscommunications are bound to occur. It's a chronic problem on Deep Space Nine, but never so bad as in the first season episode "Babel". An airborne disease takes over the station and one by one people are rendered incapable of speaking or understanding any language. It's a fantastic concept, one that could've been taken a lot further than the episode takes it, but it's still an excellent episode.
I love how it begins. The focus is on an overworked Chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney), still trying to get station systems working properly after the departing Cardassians wrecked it. He also has to deal with complaints from everyone--from a random freighter captain to Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks) himself.
Then, responding to another maintenance request, he starts spouting gibberish. English words come out of his mouth but they're all randomised, not linked to each other in any meaningful way. It turns out to be an old device created by the Bajoran resistance he'd accidentally tripped when repairing replicators but I like the idea that his inability to finish his work might finally render him feeling so ineffectual that it culminates in him not even being able to communicate.
But the plot about the Bajoran device is good, too. The Resistance had made something designed to make communication at even the most basic and personal levels useless, a really devious piece of sabotage. It makes sense that the device would persist to plague its very creators now that they're in the position of power. It's this kind of story that always made the Bajoran political plots so interesting.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is available on Amazon Prime and Netflix.
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