Defiant

episode 54 production #455 written by Ronald D. Moore directed by Cliff Bole original air date: 1994.11.21

This episode is a rare example of DS9 taking a storyline started on TNG and resolving it. In TNG episode Second Chances we learned of a transporter accident many years prior that resulted in then Lt. William T. Riker being duplicated, with one Riker being beamed back aboard his ship and the other being stranded on the planet. Later, the Enterprise returns to the planet and discovers the duplicate Riker, who chooses to call himself Tom to set himself apart from Commander Riker.

As a fan of TNG and DS9, this is a fun episode to watch. You start off thinking that Commander Riker is paying a friendly visit to DS9 and you've got yourself a chance to see how members of the two crews interact with one another. Then, Riker puts the moves on Kira - as only Riker can do - gets himself aboard the Defiant, steals the ship and rips the sideburns from his face revealing that this is not the Riker we're used to. It's Tom! Usually shows have a rule that the episode won't focus on the guest star, but that the guest star will help one of the regular cast members to learn something about themselves. Here, however, it's very clearly all about Tom Riker. Well, not just Tom, but Will too. It's about how Tom is trying to distinguish himself from Will. At first, he thinks it's by choosing a different side, but ultimately we see they both have the same heart and sense of right and wrong. Essentially, Tom does the right thing for the wrong reasons.

There's a nice humanizing moment for Dukat when he mentions that he's missing his son's birthday celebration. This is yet another way in which DS9 adds shades of gray, basically humanizing the show's Hitler.

One element of this episode, however, puzzles me. The scene in which Riker blows off O'Brien. My original reaction was that Tom Riker has a problem with transporter operators since one left him stranded on a planet for 8 years. But that doesn't seem too likely. My only real guess is that Rom was afraid that O'Brien might recognize that it wasn't Will he was talking to. I can only speculate that Tom did his homework on both the Enterprise's crew as well as DS9's. He knew about Dax's time with Will. It's interesting to note, however, that Tom Riker was discovered at the end of TNG's 6th season which corresponds to the end of DS9's 1st season, about one and a half years prior to this episode which means that they never would have met before this episode.

Points of Interest:

This is the first and only time we see the actual airlock leading to the Defiant.

This episode features the first mention of the Cardassian Detapa Council.

Sisko reveals that not only was he in charge of the shipyard where the Defiant was constructed, but he also helped design the ship.

Riker was still serving aboard the Gandhi, the ship that Captain Picard helped him join, before he joined the Maquis.

Quote of the episode: "Be a Starfleet officer one last time. Think of your crew. I know you want Tom Riker to go out in a blaze of glory that they talk about for the next ten years. Don't drag them along with you." - Kira