Whispers
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 7 February 1994
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- 47581.2
- DIRECTED BY
- Les Landau
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 434
WRITTEN BYWritten by Paul Robert Coyle
O'Brien returns from a trip to find his wife, his daughter and his crewmates all acting strangely, and he becomes convinced that the whole station is plotting against him.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Told largely in flashback as O'Brien flees in a runabout, the story follows his return to the station after preparing security for peace talks with the Paradans. Everything feels wrong: Keiko is distant, Molly is wary of him, his crew have been reassigned without his knowledge, and Sisko and the others hold meetings without him. Bashir gives him an oddly thorough medical. Convinced there is a conspiracy against him, O'Brien escapes and heads for Parada II, pursued by his colleagues. There he discovers the truth: he is not the real Miles O'Brien. He is a replicant, built by the Paradans with all of O'Brien's memories, and programmed to sabotage the peace talks by killing the rebel negotiators. The real O'Brien, abducted by the Paradans, is alive. Dying, the replicant asks him to tell Keiko that he loves her.
- 01The story drew on the 1974 thriller “The Parallax View”. Ira Steven Behr likened it to “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” from the body snatcher's side.
- 02Paul Robert Coyle's original pitch had O'Brien find no one remembered him, and another O'Brien serving on the Enterprise.
- 03The runabout Mekong appears here, replacing the Ganges, destroyed in “Armageddon Game”.