Rivals (episode)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

"Rivals"
DS9, Episode 2x11 Production number: 40512-431 First aired: 2 January 1994
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Teleplay By Joe Menosky Story By Jim Trombetta and Michael Piller Directed By David Livingston
Unknown (2370)
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Quark feels threatened when a con artist opens a competing bar.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Memorable Quotes 3 Background Information 3.1 Video and DVD releases 4 Links and References 4.1 Guest Stars 4.2 Special Appearance By 4.3 Uncredited Co-Stars 4.4 References 4.5 External Links

Summary

Martus Mazur is a con artist arrested by Odo while he was attempting to con a woman out of her lifelong dream of investing in asteroid mining. He was charged by an elderly Pythron couple for an unrelated incident. While in holding Martus came into possession of an alien gambling device which seemed to give him uncanny luck -- the first example being the elderly Pythron couple dropping their charges.

Martus was then released and after attempting to sell Quark the gambling device, decided to instead open a competing bar called Club Martus, which included large scale replicas of the alien gambling device.

Meanwhile, Quark had lost all his customers to Club Martus and desperately sought a way to revive his business. He learned of recent racquetball matches between Bashir and O'Brien, which O'Brien had been losing miserably, much to his annoyance. Quark decided to use this as a new business scheme to attract customers, and under the guise of faked emergency calls brought O'Brien and Bashir to his bar to force them into a tournament which Quark's customers would place bets on.

Many of the crew began reporting an abnormal amount of unusual coincidences and minor accidents, and Jadzia found that the laws of probability were seriously being altered when she discovered neutrinos were not spinning as they should.

During the match between O'Brien and Bashir, O'Brien observed he was playing far better than he had ever played in his life, while Bashir was doing terribly. Through simple trials of throwing the ball against the wall they found that it infallibly bounced its way straight into O'Brien's hand, which O'Brien described as impossible, although Jadzia corrected him in saying that it was "not impossible, simply improbable."

By searching for neutrinos that were spinning in one direction in high concentration, Jadzia and Sisko discovered the Club Martus replicas of the alien gambling device were actually altering the laws of probability and destroyed them. Odo then arrives to arrest Martus, as the Pythron couple had changed their minds and decided to press charges after all.

Martus, placed in a holding cell, observes Odo confining the elderly lady. She has been charged with scamming Quark using the asteroid mining story. Martus talks Quark into a loan for passage off the station so Quark will no longer have any competition.

Memorable Quotes

"Officer! You've got a dead prisoner in here!"

- Martus

"Medical school... captain of the team at medical school."
"Who are you talking about?"
"Bashir!"
"You had a game?"
"No, he had a game. I just kinda stumbled around the court for 90 minutes and made a complete ass of myself!"

- Miles and Keiko O'Brien

"Sector champion, my eye. He's vulnerable to every one of my best shots. I just... I just couldn't get them there! This time."

- Miles

"I thought he was going to have a heart attack."
"Come on, Julian, it couldn't have been that bad."
"No, really! His face was flushed, I could have taken his pulse just watching the side of his neck!"
"Then why didn't you stop it?"
"Well, don't think I didn't try. After the first game, I told him I had an appointment, he ignored me. After the second game, I told him I was getting tired. He didn't believe me. And then his racket broke, and I thought, 'Finally...' But no. He made me stay there while he went away and replicated another one."
"So what finally happened?"
"While he was gone, I called my assistant and told her--" [grabbing some salt off another table] "May I?... Told her to call me back after five minutes and say there was an emergency at the infirmary."
[laughing] "That's terrible!"
"There was no other way out. Otherwise there would have been an emergency-- Chief O'Brien's coronary."

- Julian Bashir and Jadzia Dax

"Next time, you either play your best game or you don't play."

- Miles O'Brien, to Julian after Julian throws a game

"I'll take 100 times what you got here."
"Not in this spacetime continuum, you won't."

- Martus and Quark

"My benevolence is known far and wide."
"Oh, it's legendary, I'm sure."

- Quark and Martus

"He's a con artist, a crook..."
"One more won't make much difference."

- Benjamin Sisko and Quark

"You owe me! You begged me to stay here when you first came on board, and I did. Against my better judgment."
"I didn't beg, I blackmailed you."

- Quark and Benjamin Sisko

"If it's action you want, you've come to the right place. Excitement? We've got it all. Thrills and spills, victory and defeat. Look no further, we've got it all! And here he is-- the reigning champion of Starfleet-- a legend on both sides of the wormhole. Ladies and gentlemen, Miles 'The Mechanic' O'Brien!"
"What's this all about? I got an emergency call."
"Well, so did I. But I don't see any emergency!"
"And the challenger. He's fast, he's deadly, he's Julian Bashir. They call him 'The Doctor'. The grudge match of the galaxy!"
"Get down here!"
"And... all for a worthy cause. Yes, these noble competitors have insisted that I donate half the house's winnings to the Bajoran Fund for Orphans!"
"Orphans?"
"The Mechanic versus The Doctor. Tomorrow, 1200 hours. Only one will emerge victorious, so place your bets and, in the meantime, the tables are open."

- Quark advertising O'Brien and Bashir's match (with interspersed incredulous comments by the competitors)

"I'm going back to Quark! At least then I'll be cheated by family!"

- Rom, to Martus

(pumping himself up as he dresses in the mirror) "You can beat his backhand. Keep the ball low, and to his left. Corner return on the serve. Then kill shot left. If he returns again, high back wall. And remember..."
"Win or lose, tonight we celebrate."
(Miles turns to leave) "Miles, wait... a silk handkerchief, medieval Japanese design... scented with my perfume."
(Keiko ties the handkerchief around Miles's forehead, they kiss, and then she thumps his chest) "Kick his butt."

- Miles and Keiko

"Taken in by one of your own victims and no one to turn to but me? I can't remember when I've been so entertained."

- Quark, to Martus

Background Information

• Jim Trombetta's original pitch for this episode focused on the butterfly effect, which was also the original name for the show. The story revolved around Quark being given a device that grants him good luck, but at the expense of those around him. Martus Mazur wasn't in this version of the story; instead, he was added later by Michael Piller. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
• Michael Piller conceived Martus Mazur to be the wayward son of Guinan. Guinan herself was to appear in the episode but Whoopi Goldberg was unavailable. All the references to Guinan were removed and only Martus's status as an El-Aurian was retained. Also, this episode was the first to name Guinan's species, although Guinan herself is not identified as an El-Aurian until Star Trek Generations.
  ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• The producers originally hoped to make Martus a recurring character, but dropped these plans because they were less than thrilled with the finished episode.
  ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• Referenced Ferengi Rules of Acquisition: #47 ("Never trust a man wearing a better suit than your own") and #109 ("Dignity in an empty sack is worth the sack").
• The costume worn by Alexander Siddig as Julian Bashir during the racquetball match was auctioned off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction. The shoes are, in reality, silver-painted Nike air shoes.
• In reality, all neutrinos have left-handed spin (and all anti-neutrinos have right-handed spin) so Dax's expectation that neutrinos should be left and right handed with equal probability under normal circumstances was incorrect. André Bormanis mentioned this error in his book Star Trek Science Logs.

Video and DVD releases

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 16, 27 June 1994.
• As part of the DS9 Season 2 DVD collection.

Links and References

Guest Stars

• Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien
• Barbara Bosson as Roana
• K Callan as Alsia
• Max Grodénchik as Rom
• Albert Henderson as Cos

Special Appearance By

• Chris Sarandon as Martus Mazur

Uncredited Co-Stars

• Sam Alejan as a Starfleet medical officer
• Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn
• David B. Levinson as Broik
• Randy James as Lieutenant Jones
• Brian Demonbreun as a Starfleet science officer
• Mark Lentry as a Lieutenant Commander
• Kevin Grevioux as a Starfleet security officer
• Mary Meinel-Newport as a Bolian woman
• Robin Morselli as a Bajoran officer
  • Unknown actress as the Club Martus Dabo girl

References

47; Bajoran War Orphans Fund; Bolians; Club Martus; dabo girl; El-Aurians; gambling machine; hyvroxilated quint-ethyl metacetamin; Isiks; laws of probability; Naming Day; Nog; Pakleds; Plygorian mammoth; Pythrons; Quark's; racquetball; solar neutrinos; Starfleet Medical Academy; Vlugtans; Vlugta asteroid belt

External Links

• Rivals (DS9 episode) at Wikipedia

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 2

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