Vortex

This Story: Season 1 Episode 12 (production code 412)
DS9 Overall: Episode 12
Trek Overall: Story 280, Episode 292
Airdate: 19 Apr 1993
Written by Sam Rolfe
Directed by Winrich Kolbe

Notes

• The first episode where we get any inkling on Odo’s background – and the first mention of “Changelings”.
• There’s a reference to Lenoard McCoy in this episode with Odo’s dialogue of “I’m a Security Chief, not a combat pilot”.
• There is a loose reference to the TNG episode “The Vengeance Factor” as two of Ah-Kel’s crewmen are said to be Gatherers.  Both that episode and this one were written by Sam Wolfe.
• Morn is referenced by name for the first time in this episode.  Likewise the joke that he talks too much but we as an audience never hears that starts here as well.
• Jake Sisko doesn’t appear in this episode.
• Randy Olgesby played both of the twins in this episode. He also had a recurring role in Season 3 of Enterprise as “Degra”.
• In this episode, Odo is knocked unconscious.  This contradicts later episodes which state that it’s not possible for a Changeling to have this happen.  Best guess is they hadn’t yet worked out the character fully at this point – similar to why Spock smiles in “The Cage“.
• The Vortex visually looks identical to the nebula we saw in TNG in “The Best of Both Worlds” as well as “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan“.

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