Fascination
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 28 November 1994
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- Avery Brooks
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 456
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Philip LaZebnik; story by Ira Steven Behr & James Crocker
Lwaxana Troi arrives for Bajor's Gratitude Festival with her heart still set on Odo, just as the station's residents start falling for the most unlikely people.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
The station prepares for the Bajoran Gratitude Festival. Kira welcomes Vedek Bareil, O'Brien eagerly awaits Keiko's return from her work on Bajor, and Lwaxana Troi arrives, still determined to win Odo's affections. Lwaxana suffers a string of headaches, and each time, the people around her are gripped by sudden infatuation: Jake declares his love for Kira, Bareil pursues Dax, Dax throws herself at Sisko, and Kira and Bashir fall for each other. Meanwhile, Keiko tells Miles that her project will keep her on Bajor for another seven months. The couple quarrel, and he later offers to give up his post to be with her. At Sisko's party the chaos peaks, with Dax punching Bareil and Quark grabbing Keiko. The crew finally realise that the telepathic Lwaxana is the source. Bashir diagnoses Zanthi fever, which makes her project her feelings onto others, and once she is cured everyone returns to normal, with the O'Briens reconciled.
- 01The story was inspired by Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, and the writers watched the 1935 film version to prepare.
- 02The second of Lwaxana Troi's three meetings with Odo. She had already appeared in six episodes of The Next Generation as Deanna Troi's mother.
- 03Quark's commemorative pens carry an etching by the Bajoran artist Ermat Zimm, a nod to production designer Herman Zimmerman.