Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) Nor the Battle to the Strong (1996) User Reviews

Jake experiences combat

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 23 June 2010]

When Jake accompanies Doctor Bashir to a conference in order to write an article he doesn't realise just how boring it will be, so when they receive a message saying that a Federation colony is being over-run by Klingons he encourages the Doctor to go and help thinking it will provide him with a more interesting story. When he gets there he realises that war isn't that glamorous; the first injured person he meets says he was injured in battle but it is clear that he shot himself to get away from the fighting. Jake is shocked to learn that a trained member of Star Fleet would display cowardice. When the power supply is destroyed Jake must accompany Dr. Bashir to the runabout to retrieve a back up power supply but when they come under fire Jake flees and after stumbling across a battle field he finds himself in a shell hole with a dying soldier who gave his life so that his squad could get away. Here Jake must confront his own perceived cowardice. He manages to get back to the hospital where he is relieved to find that Dr. Bashir has survived. They don't have long though till the Klingon's attack and when they do Jake must grab a rifle and fight if he is to survive.

Up until now Jake had been a little to perfect, sure he didn't want to join Star Fleet but we had been told that he showed great promise as a writer. Here though we see that he is no less flawed than ordinary people of his age, and few of us know how we'd behave in such a situation so it is hard to condemn his character's actions. The only thing I wasn't so keen on in this episode was that when his father heard that Jake was in a combat zone he took the Defiant and flies for three days to get there, this doesn't seem that believable, after all it isn't his personal ship.

A surprisingly affecting episode

[cgravesmontalbano · 8/10 · 24 January 2021]

Everyone likes to bring up "The Siege of AR-558" as a pinnacle when discussing DS9's exploration of war, but this episode often gets overlooked, which is strange because it might actually do a better job of showcasing the grim reality of war.

First, the characters: these are not trained soldiers fighting a monolithic enemy, they're what's left of a federation outpost, mostly made up of medical professionals working under stresses unforseen in their lives.

Next, the emotion. "Siege" introduces us to interesting new characters, which ultimately take screen time away from the stars, sometimes at the cost of development. narrowing down the emotion of the episode to Bashir and Jake was a smart move; since these are your main characters, using them to bounce off each other with anger, demand, sadness, betrayal works well. Especially with Jake as a true fish-out-of-water.

In "Siege", everyone gets their glory moment, and the battle is won, despite some key losses. In "Nor the Battle", that trope is effectively dropped, in favor of more-sardonic, M*A*S*H style moments. There are no 'heroes of war' here, just conversations like "you're gonna see a lot of people die for no reason, soldiers are going to have PTSD, and no lessons will be learned."

In a way, Jake has spent much of his life around war and death, but this was the first time it probably seemed visceral and real to him.

The arrogance of youth.

[ArnoudMeulendijks · 9/10 · 23 July 2017]

The arrogance of youth. Many a young person thinks they know it all and can do it all, but crumble under pressure. That is what this story is about. A good subject for a Star Trek story, that gets further elaborated in 'The Siege of AR-558' and 'It's only a Paper Moon' with Nog being the main character.

Be careful what you wish for

[HarbingerUK · 8/10 · 8 May 2023]

This is a good episode about wanting to see excitement and valour but being brought sharply up by the horror of a war up close. Very reminiscent of All Quiet On The Western Front.

Every plays their part well and Bashir and Jake are stalwart characters, the battle hardened surgeon operating on his meal as if it was a patient and he hadn't just been involved in patients dying from battle and the youthful optimism and despair as the reality sets in, hitting hard and eroding the rose tinted glasses of nativity.

However all of the above was mainly so I can rage about how when Jake is offered the last packet of water from a battle injured soldier he opens it with such abandon that it splashes everywhere and the he effectively throws the water towards his face and hopes some goes in his mouth.

I wanted to slap him!!!!

Solid Jake episode

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 25 November 2022]

Jake the aspiring writer experiences a war zone.

This episode has some powerful themes and good character moments, but certain scenes lack the required authenticity.

I like the arc that Jake goes through and the themes such as courage under fire are sensitively tackled by the writers. It also creates a sense of dread about the impending Klingon attack. Cirroc Lofton does a fine job leading the story and Alexander Siddig is also in good form.

For me though when filmmakers attempt this type of story, the horrors of war need to hit harder. Unfortunately due to the budget, scheduling and likely censorship of DS9, this could not happen. You also know there is no real danger associated with Jake and Bashir as they are regulars characters.

For me it's a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.

"The Red Badge of Courage" It Ain't

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 26 October 2018]

Jake Sisko is kind of a throw-away character. For me, he just sort of fill out his father's world. He spends so much time on that upper level of the Promenade watching people walk by. His whole writing thing seems so dull, like they had to have him do something. Anyway, this is the heaviest episode where he is featured. He arrogantly thinks that he will go to the medical outpost, have an experience, and write about it. The problem is that he sees death and experiences cowardice, his own and others. It is a major growth experience. He needs a rougher edge. Until he shows up at the makeshift hospital, he is still acting lice a child. We'll see.

Flailing in the Future

[sjboutchyard · 6/10 · 11 December 2021]

This episode is mostly an examination of fear and the flight or fight response in the face of war, which is an admirable subject matter. My two largest issues with the episode are when Jake and Julian left the compound to get the generator they ran like they had never done so before, and the space mortars firing on them were ridiculously ineffective. When Jake and Julian were running their arms and legs were flailing about so badly I thought they were going to fall with every step despite being in no serious danger. Do directors coach people to look that pathetic?

When it came to the "mortar" rounds being fired at Jake and Julian, even contemporary munitions would have 15-30 yard kill radius and will wound and concuss people even further out, and yet they had rounds blowing up a couple feet away with little effect. I know it's fantasy but if you attempt to make depictions of war a little less ridiculous it's easier to sympathize with the terror and emotions the characters are trying to portray.

Time for Jake to grow up a bit more...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 5 January 2015]

When the episode begins, Dr. Bashir is in a runabout doing whatever when they learn that the truce between the Klingons and Federation has broken down. As a result, a colony has been attacked and there are casualties. While Dr. Bashir would love to go help, he's hesitant because Jake, a non-com, is with him. However, Jake insists that they go--after all, he understands the risk and he's over 18. Plus, there is a part of Jake that wants to experience life since he has visions of being a brilliant writer. Instead of an exciting adventure, however, Jake finds that war sucks and makes you want to wet your pants!

This is a decent episode--not great, but decent. But it also made me think of a few things. First, Dr. Bashir is the only doctor anywhere near the colony? That seems very odd. Second, what Jake learns is amazingly obvious--especially if he'd read "The Red Badge of Courage". Decent but that's all.

Decent episode, didn't see the reason for Jake's angst

[Hughmanity · 7/10 · 1 September 2020]

This is a decent episode about Jake having the confidence of youth, thinking war would just be more interesting fodder for his writing.

Then he sees real death in the infirmary and gets caught up in the actual fighting and learns it's a lot different than when written on the page.

What I didn't understand was why he thought he was a coward just for running in the other direction when a ton of bombs were going off all around him. He ran away from bombs that could have killed him, so what? What was he going to do if he reached Bashir, somehow protect him? It just didn't make much sense to me. It was the fog of war, he ran to save his life, big deal.

Also didn't understand the guy who blew off his own foot in order to get out of the fighting, then just blurts out for all to hear that's what he did and ruins his career in doing so? Just doesn't seem like real motivation.

Anyway, Jake is the best and least annoying of all the Star Trek "kid characters" so I'll give him a break. He did the best he could with spotty writing on this one.

An examination of Jake's flight or fight responses.

[thevacinstaller · 5/10 · 14 July 2021]

This episode is good in spots but it suffers from the 'I knew that already' syndrome. I respect the message of this episode ----- the romanticism of war as being something thrilling to experience until you actually experience the horrors of it yourself.

I like Jake Sisko ---- he's damn good at playing a playful Jake Sisko having light hearted moments on DS9 but this episode requires a level of acting skill that Cirroc just does not have ---- I'm not trying to be a jerk but I wasn't convinced by the performance.

At the end of the day this episode is an examination of Jake's flight or fight response to war and that's just not enough to keep me engaged. It needed something else ---- Maybe a Klingon antagonist who is fueled by a love of war to bounce off Jake's fear? Some type of chewy conflict/comparison to engage with.