Body Parts (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

"Body Parts" is the 97th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 25th episode of the fourth season. When it was broadcast on television in 1996, "Body Parts" achieved 5.1 Nielsen Points.^[1] This was the lowest rating yet in DS9 Season 4 and for all of DS9 up to that time, although the ratings did drop further.^[1]

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on the space station Deep Space Nine. This is one of several episodes to focus on the Ferengi, an alien species known for their devotion to earning profit. In this episode, the Ferengi bartender Quark, believing himself to be terminally ill, auctions off his remains; when he turns out to be in perfect health, he must either violate the contract, or end his life in order to deliver the merchandise.

This episode also writes actress Nana Visitor's real-life pregnancy into the story by having the pregnancy of the character Keiko O'Brien transferred to Visitor's character, Major Kira Nerys, following an accident.^[2]

Plot[]

Quark learns from his doctor that he has a rare disease that will kill him within a week. To raise money to pay his debts before he dies, he auctions off his remains, accepting an anonymous bid for 500 bars of gold-pressed latinum. A few hours later, he finds out that his medical exam was in error, and he is not about to die.

The bidder turns out to be Quark's old adversary Brunt, an agent of the Ferengi Commerce Authority. Brunt demands that Quark fulfill his end of the contract by providing his own remains, ignoring Quark's protests that he will live. Quark faces the options of killing himself, having someone kill him, or breaking the contract—an act that will lead to the loss of his business license, confiscation of his family's property, and ostracism by other Ferengi.

Quark decides to honor his contract and attempts to hire ex-spy Elim Garak to kill him. However, he is afraid to approve any of the killing methods that Garak proposes. That night, Quark has a dream in which he meets Gint, the first Grand Nagus of the Ferengi and author of the sacred Rules of Acquisition. Gint tells him the Rules are really only "suggestions" (called "rules" merely for marketing purposes), and advises him to break the contract.

The next morning, Quark refunds Brunt's latinum and breaks the contract. Brunt immediately revokes Quark's business license and seizes all of his assets. To Quark's astonishment, his customers and the Deep Space Nine station staff come to his aid by carrying in all the supplies and equipment he needs to resume operations, on the pretext of using the bar as a storage room. Even though Quark is cut off from Ferengi society (except for his brother Rom), he is back in business and feeling richer than before due to the friends he never imagined he had.

Meanwhile, the pregnant Keiko O'Brien is injured in a runabout accident; to save both her and the pregnancy, Dr. Bashir performs emergency surgery to transfer the fetus into Major Kira's body. Kira has no problem with being a surrogate mother, but Keiko and her husband Miles are at first uncomfortable with the thought of another woman carrying their child. They eventually come to terms with it, and ask Kira to move in with them so they can be closer to the child.

Production[]

The writers had learned that Nana Visitor was pregnant and were not sure how to work her pregnancy into the show. They had already made Keiko O'Brien pregnant and did not want to have two visibly pregnant characters, but they did not want to limit Kira Nerys either by hiding her behind a desk, as they had done with Gates McFadden's character in Star Trek: The Next Generation during her pregnancy. Ira Behr mentioned this to his wife Laura and she simply suggested they move the baby from Keiko to Kira.^[3] Science consultant André Bormanis thought the idea strained credulity, but it was his job to make it at least sound plausible. Bormanis consulted with a pathologist John Glasco who thought it was implausible although maybe not impossible with the help of future technology.^[4][5]

Reception[]

In 2018, SyFy recommend this episode for its abbreviated watch guide for episodes featuring the character Kira Nerys.^[6]

In 2020, James Whitbrook writing for Io9 ranked this a "must watch" episode from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.^[7]

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Body Parts

• "Body Parts" at IMDb
• Body Parts at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Body Parts at StarTrek.com