The Alternate
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 10 January 1994
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- David Carson
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 432
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Bill Dial; story by Jim Trombetta and Bill Dial
Dr Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who studied Odo for years, arrives with news of life signs in the Gamma Quadrant that may lead to Odo's people, but the trip unleashes something dangerous.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Odo's old mentor, the Bajoran scientist Dr Mora Pol, brings word of a Gamma Quadrant planet showing DNA readings similar to Odo's. Odo, uneasy around the man who once treated him as a laboratory specimen, joins Mora, his assistant and Dax on an expedition. They find a strange monolith and collect a small life form, but a volcanic eruption releases gas that knocks out everyone except Odo. Back on the station the sample appears to escape, and a violent creature attacks Bashir in the infirmary. Mora realises that the creature's appearances match Odo's regeneration cycle: the gas has affected Odo, and when Mora pushes him too far, Odo himself becomes the creature. The crew trap the creature in a forcefield on the Promenade until Odo returns to normal. Odo and Mora each apologise, and Mora admits he never fully considered how Odo felt.
- 01Producers considered having Rene Auberjonois also play Mora, as Brent Spiner did with Dr Soong, but the time needed for Odo's makeup ruled it out.
- 02David Carson's final Star Trek television episode before he directed “Star Trek Generations”.
- 03The idea began with Jim Trombetta wondering what a shapeshifter with a split personality might look like.