Paradise Lost
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 8 January 1996
- ON
- First-run syndication
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- Reza Badiyi
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 484
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Ira Steven Behr & Robert Hewitt Wolfe; story by Ronald D. Moore
With Earth under martial law, Sisko starts to suspect that the Changeling crisis is not quite what it seems. Part two of two.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
With Earth under martial law, Sisko discovers that the planet's power was not cut by Changelings but by cadets of Red Squad, an elite Academy group. The trail leads to Admiral Leyton, who is using fear of the Dominion as cover for a military coup. With help from Odo and Nog, Sisko gathers evidence, and a Changeling disguised as O'Brien taunts him with the claim that only four Changelings are on Earth, and fear will do the rest. Sisko learns that Lt Arriaga has been manipulating the wormhole to suggest a cloaked Dominion fleet is coming. Leyton has Sisko locked up as a suspected Changeling, but Odo frees him. The Defiant sets out to bring Arriaga to Earth as a witness, and Leyton orders the USS Lakota, under Captain Benteen, to stop it. The two ships exchange fire, but Benteen refuses to destroy the Defiant. Confronted by Sisko, Leyton resigns and the emergency is lifted.
- 01The story was heavily inspired by the film Seven Days in May, and the title comes from John Milton's epic poem.
- 02Robert Foxworth could not play General Hague in Babylon 5's “Severed Dreams”, another military coup story, because of his commitment to this two-parter.
- 03The former officers of the Okinawa mentioned in the episode are all named after characters in Joseph Heller's Catch-22.