Body Parts (episode)

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"Body Parts"
DS9, Episode 4x25
Production number: 40510-497
First aired: 10 June 1996
← 95th of 173 produced in DS9 →
← 95th of 173 released in DS9 →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 173 released in DS9 Remastered  
← 421st of 726 released in all →
Teleplay By
Hans Beimler

Story By
Louis P. DeSantis & Robert J. Bolivar

Directed By
Avery Brooks
49930.3 (2372)
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When Quark learns that he is dying, he auctions his vacuum-desiccated body to raise capital.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Jadzia, O'Brien and Worf discuss the trip that Bashir, Kira and Keiko are on in the Gamma Quadrant.

Quark treats Rom to a glass of snail juice, to celebrate his return from Ferenginar and to announce that he is dying. Quark declares he has Dorek Syndrome with just six days to live. To raise money to repay his debts he puts his vacuum-desiccated remains on the Ferengi Futures Exchange.

The shuttle craft with Bashir, Kira and Keiko returns from the Gamma Quadrant and is visibly damaged. O'Brien learns that Keiko was injured in an accident in the Gamma Quadrant and Bashir had to move the baby to Kira to save it's life and that due to the short gestation period of Bajorans, Kira must carry the baby to term.

At first, it seems no one but Rom wants to buy a piece of Quark. However, Quark is overjoyed to find that an anonymous bidder wants to buy all 52 discs for 500 bars of latinum. Convinced the anonymous bidder is The Nagus and fearful that the bid will be retracted, Quark accepts the bid and sells his remains.

O'Brien is helping Keiko to recover in her quarters when Keiko expresses frustration at having to make appointments to see her own child. Keiko and O'Brien do not know what to do about the situation.

Quark begins to arrange paying off his debts and arranging his funeral when Bashir informs him that his doctor on Ferenginar had made an error and he is not going to die. Quark is excited about the prospect of suing his doctor, but when his anonymous buyer shows up, Quark finds it was Brunt, who considers Quark a menace to Ferengi society. Ferengi law obligates Ferengi to honor all contracts, so Quark is plagued with the prospect of killing himself.

Kira visits Keiko and O'Brien show how much the baby is kicking. They invite her to remain for dinner and initially Kira does not want to impose. But Keiko insists that since Kira is carrying her baby she is now family and that besides dinner, the O'Brien's also want to make a proposal.

Quark visits Elim Garak's shop in order to hire him as an assassin. Rom initially believes that Quark will have Brunt assassinated but Quark reveals he wants Garak to kill Quark to hold up his end of the contract. Garak agrees after denying at first that he ever did such work. However While running through simulations of how Quark is to be assassinated they argue about how it is to be done (Breaking his neck made too much noise when the vertebrae snapped, the knife ruined Quark's clothing, the disruptor vaporized the body, the nerve gas smelled bad, poison wouldn't work as Quark wouldn't willingly eat poison) and come to the arrangement that it is to be a surprise. The first Grand Nagus (who looks suspiciously similar to Quark's brother Rom) comes to him in a vision. The Nagus (or at least Quark's conscience) tells him to break the contract, and he reluctantly does so. Brunt then immediately revokes Quark's business license, and slaps legal documents on the walls preventing any Ferengi business to continue and seizes all of his assets. Quark is left with no other choice but to close the bar immediately and indefinitely, and is forced to ask his customers to leave.

Kira arrives at the O'Briens' quarters where she has agreed to live for the duration of the pregnancy. Kira tells Molly O'Brien that she is her aunt Kira and that Molly is welcome to play in her room anytime.

Quark sits in the bare area on the Promenade where his bar used to be, having been left with nothing, not even the shirt on his back which needs to be returned later. Rom tries to cheer him up by offering Quark some of his old clothes, but to no avail. However Julian enters with a crate of drinks, claiming that a patient gave them to him as a gift and as he cannot accept them he is willing to give them to Quark. Then Jadzia arrives with a dozen glasses she was given as a gift by her sister that she claims are too ugly to keep. Then Captain Sisko arrives and asks Quark if he can store several sets of tables and chairs in the area, since it's currently free. Quark can scarcely believe what is happening, as the crew and residents start bringing in everything he needs to continue the bar. Rom reminds his brother that Brunt didn't take all of his assets away as Quark still has his friends aboard the station.

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[edit] Memorable Quotes

"I have Dorek Syndrome."
"But that's incurable!"
"That's right! Which explains the dying part!"
"But Dorek Syndrome, it's so rare!"
"It strikes only one out of every five million Ferengi. I finally beat the odds."

- Rom and Quark talking about the latter's illness


"Would you buy a book called Suggestions of Acquisition?"

- Rom, speaking as the first Grand Nagus about the fact that the Rules of Acquisition were a marketing ploy


"I want to hire you. Not as a tailor. As an assassin."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh yes you do. You weren't always a tailor."
"You're right. I used to be a gardener. Now if you have something you want weeded..."

- Quark and Elim Garak


"I don't want you to kill Brunt, I want you to kill me."

- Quark, asking Garak to assassinate him to satisfy a contract with Brunt for Quark's remains


"Computer, remove corpse"

- Garak, after showing Quark another possible method of assassination he dislikes


"I'm going to die, don't you worry about that, I just want to find the right way."
"Right way?"
"I don't want to see it coming. Or hear it or feel it or smell it. I just want to go on with my life and then "snaps his fingers" I'm dead."
"Ah, you want to be surprised!"

- Quark and Garak, arguing over how Quark is to be assassinated


"May I have your attention, please? Brunt, FCA. As of this moment, no further Ferengi commerce may be conducted in this bar! No Ferengi may be employed by this bar, no Ferengi may eat or drink in this bar, and no Ferengi... no Ferengi may do business with THAT MAN! Confiscation of assets will begin immediately."
"Ladies and gentlemen, this bar is closed until further notice. Thank you for your patronage."

- Brunt and Quark


"It's as if I have to remind her she's pregnant!"
"Yeah. I guess the extra weight, the morning sickness, the mood swings, the medical examinations... they aren't reminders enough."

- O'Brien and Dax


"Look at them brother. And you thought you had no assets."
"Sisko, Dax, Bashir, Morn? They're my assets?"
"To name a few."
"I guess you're right."

- Rom and Quark

[edit] Background Information

  • Both the writers and actor Armin Shimerman consider this to be a very important episode in terms of Quark's character. According to René Echevarria, "We really dug down to find what this episode was about, and in the process, we managed to find out who Quark is, and how Ferengi he is." Similarly, Hans Beimler says, "The substance is that Quark has a line that we will not cross. He has a very clear ethical code and lives by it. This is comedy, but it deals with some very serious business. Quark is a very complicated guy with a lot of complicated issues. He's not just a silly Ferengi. The more you explore the character, the more you see that he's very sophisticated and complex." Shimerman concurs, "Quark had always believed he's an outsider on the space station, and that the only thing that's his own are his Ferengi ways. He believes in the Ferenginess of himself. So to give that up - because a contract is a contract is a contract - is a major moral dilemma." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • According to writer Hans Beimler there is a political metaphor behind Brunt's somewhat irrational hatred of Quark; "Quark grates Brunt because Quark has been able to do things that Brunt doesn't think of as pure or quite right. It's the way certain people view expatriate Americans who may have traveled and had a different life experience. They say, 'How could you leave America?' So he spent fifty-five years in Africa, that doesn't mean he stopped being an American, he just an American experiencing another life. And that's what Quark is. He's gone out of the Ferengi world, but it doesn't mean he's stopped being a Ferengi." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • As most fans know, the reason the O'Brien baby "transplant" storyline was created was because actress Nana Visitor had become pregnant in real life. Producers didn't want to go down either of the two most obvious routes open to them: 1) have the character of Kira become pregnant by Shakaar, or 2) 'hide' the pregnancy by shooting Kira in such as way as to never show her stomach (this had been done during the fourth season of The Next Generation with the character of Beverly Crusher and would be done again in most of the fourth season of Voyager with B'Elanna Torres). As such, they sought to discover another way to tackle the problem, ultimately coming up with an idea to allow them tie in Visitor's real pregnancy with Keiko O'Brien's fictional pregnancy. What a lot of fans don't know however is who actually originated the idea of doing the transplant - Laura Behr, Ira Steven Behr's wife.
  • The idea of the transplant storyline was popular with both of the "real" parents to be: Nana Visitor and Alexander Siddig. According to Siddig, "Teleporting the baby was a great idea." Visitor is more vocal; "Suddenly my baby was part of the plot! I was very grateful that they thought of such a clever way to allow me to be pregnant on the show and not just be filmed from the neck up, which would have really limited everything I could do. I'm hugely grateful for that." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • The FCA notice placed on the wall by Liquidator Brunt at the end of this episode would remain in place until the fifth season episode "Ferengi Love Songs", at which time Quark has his license restored by Brunt.
  • Brunt's references to Quark's mother and his union troubles refer to the episodes "Family Business" and "Bar Association" respectively.
  • Referenced Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: #17 ("A contract is a contract is a contract... but only between Ferengi") and #239 ("Never be afraid to mislabel a product")
  • From this episode onwards, Andrew Robinson (who plays Garak) would be credited as 'Andrew J. Robinson'. According to Robinson, the J stands for Jordt - his grandfather's first name. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
  • This episode also introduces a new runabout, the Volga. The episode "By Inferno's Light" later makes it clear that this is not a replacement for one of the other three runabouts but a fourth runabout.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and references

[edit] Guest stars

[edit] Special guest star

[edit] Uncredited co-stars

[edit] References

Alvanian brandy; Bajorans; Divine Treasury; Dorek Syndrome; Ferenginar; Gaila; Gint; Gorad; Grand Nagus; Ishka; Jadzia Dax's sister; latinum; O'Brien, Kirayoshi; makara herb; Nerve gas; Orpax; Pax; Quark's; vole; Volga, USS; Yridians; Zek; tesokine; Torad V; Cliffs of Undalar; Ferengi Futures Exchange; vacuum dessication; contract

[edit] External links


Previous episode:
"The Quickening" 		Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Season 4 		Next episode:
"Broken Link"
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