'Hippocratic Oath'
Season four, episode four
I was about thirteen when I saw my first episode of DS9 and I'm rather ashamed to admit Bashir was my favourite character mainly because he was the only young reasonably attractive male in the cast. Thankfully, I quickly outgrew this shallow behaviour and, in turn, found Bashir's arrogant boyishness quite irritating in the first couple of seasons where he was portrayed to be much like a hyperactive puppy the others had to rein in. However, mid-way through the series, the character began to change, becoming far more interesting in his own right proving the DS9 scriptwriters had a talent for delivering character development. 'Hippocratic Oath' is a hallmark episode in the character's progress from moving away from being the fresh-faced kid of the main cast.
The episode sees Bashir and O'Brien crash-landing on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant where they are captured by a group of renegade Jem'Hadar who need a doctor to produce them more Ketracel White, the drug their bodies have been engineered to need for survive. But while O'Brien wants nothing more than to leave the Jem'Hadar to their inevitable painful deaths, Bashir feels that his duties as a doctor means he is obliged to help them.
This is a great episode in terms of character development and in excellent Star Trek storytelling where Starfleet officers are caught between doing what is right and their human impulses for revenge. It portrays the chalk-and-cheese friendship between the hardened, war veteran O'Brien, who is falling back into soldier mode as war between the Founders and Federation looks imminent, and the more idealistic, benevolent qualities that contribute to making Bashir a good doctor, who is torn between the Hippocratic Oath and the truth that the Jem'Hadar are a deadly race.
Season four, episode four
I was about thirteen when I saw my first episode of DS9 and I'm rather ashamed to admit Bashir was my favourite character mainly because he was the only young reasonably attractive male in the cast. Thankfully, I quickly outgrew this shallow behaviour and, in turn, found Bashir's arrogant boyishness quite irritating in the first couple of seasons where he was portrayed to be much like a hyperactive puppy the others had to rein in. However, mid-way through the series, the character began to change, becoming far more interesting in his own right proving the DS9 scriptwriters had a talent for delivering character development. 'Hippocratic Oath' is a hallmark episode in the character's progress from moving away from being the fresh-faced kid of the main cast.
The episode sees Bashir and O'Brien crash-landing on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant where they are captured by a group of renegade Jem'Hadar who need a doctor to produce them more Ketracel White, the drug their bodies have been engineered to need for survive. But while O'Brien wants nothing more than to leave the Jem'Hadar to their inevitable painful deaths, Bashir feels that his duties as a doctor means he is obliged to help them.
This is a great episode in terms of character development and in excellent Star Trek storytelling where Starfleet officers are caught between doing what is right and their human impulses for revenge. It portrays the chalk-and-cheese friendship between the hardened, war veteran O'Brien, who is falling back into soldier mode as war between the Founders and Federation looks imminent, and the more idealistic, benevolent qualities that contribute to making Bashir a good doctor, who is torn between the Hippocratic Oath and the truth that the Jem'Hadar are a deadly race.