History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E10OurManBashir

* ShoutOut: Besides the Film/JamesBond films, the title is a nod to the Bond spoof ''Film/OurManFlint''.
** Also, the plot of the holosuite program bears a striking similarity to ''Series/TheManFromUncle'' episode "The Shark Affair," which features a villain who kidnaps experts in a variety of fields with the intention of repopulating the world with them after a global disaster.

* FailsafeFailure: The holosuite safeties, of course. Saving the crew wouldn't be much of a challenge if Bashir and Garak weren't in mortal danger. And earlier, the warp core breach on the runabout is preceded by the usual litany of broken failsafes. At least in that case, the fact that the accident is deliberate sabotage makes the failures reasonable.

* ShownTheirWork: Keeping someone saved in the computer would take an insane amount of memory space. One person would take 2x10^45 bits of space, as shown in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xafTmjEXGU0 Because Science episode.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E20Qpid Qpid]]". Whereas "Qpid" was made to capitalize on the release of ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'', "Our Man Bashir" was made to capitalize on the release of ''Film/GoldenEye''.

* NowWhat: Enforced. The holonovel program can't comprehend Dr. Noah winning through Bashir being a turncoat, even as Bashir activates Noah's device and destroys the world. Noah assumes at every turn that it's a ploy by Bashir to defeat him, and even when he has achieved victory due to Bashir activating the device, he admits that somehow he didn't expect to win and resumes his attempt to kill Bashir because defaulting to the standard narrative is the only way the computer has to resolve the issue.

'''Garak:''' ...I think I joined the wrong intelligence service.

* BrickJoke: When Eddington sees Rom's jury-rigging on the ''Defiant'', he mutters "O'Brien is gonna kill me." After our heroes materialize on the ''Defiant'' transporter pad, the first thing O'Brien says is an indignant "What'd you do to my station?!"

* AffectionateParody: Of 1960's spy films, particularly ''Film/JamesBond''.

* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: Garak initially thinks that Bashir is playing "some kind of [[MillionairePlayboy rich dilettante]] with [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob a fascination for women and weapons]]." His amused/confused response when Bashir explains exactly what the genre they're in sets the tone for the entire episode.

* MsFanservice: Caprice, Mona, and Anastasia/Kira combine ImpossiblyLowNeckline with ShesGotLegs. Honey/Dax joins in with her LettingHerHairDown as TheGlassesComeOff. And, of course, the background dancers at the nightclub.

* BettyAndVeronica: Within the holonovel, and within ''Bond'' convention, there are two possible LoveInterest characters: the demure HotScientist Dr. Honey Bare, and the [[DatingCatwoman friendly spy]] [[EnemyMine from the other side]], Colonel Anastasia Komananov. Drama comes from the fact that part of the program dictates that one of them will be killed in accordance with genre convention before the program terminates.

* HotScientist: Dax as Honey Bare, complete with lab coat, glasses and [[PrimAndProperBun hair bun]]. Bashir gets her to [[LettingHerHairDown let her hair down]] and [[TheGlassesGottaGo let the glasses go]].

* MeaningfulName: A guy named '''Noah''' wants to [[Literature/TheBible flood the world]], leaving only a few humans left on his "ark" atop Mount Everest.

* AffectionateParody: Of ''Film/JamesBond'' films.

* ForeignCussWord: Anastasia/Kira mutters something in Russian when she wakes up in Noah's house.

* HotScientist: Dax as Honey Bare, complete with lab coat, glasses and [[{{PrimAndProperBun}} hair bun]]. Bashir got her to [[{{LettingHerHairDown}} let her hair down]] and [[{{TheGlassesGottaGo}} let the glasses go]].

* OffTheRails: Bashir's solution to the scenario requiring either Anastasia/Kira or Honey/Dax to die to save the world is [[spoiler:to filibuster for a while and then activate the world-ending doomsday machine himself]]. The computer's confusion at trying to resolve this twist is visible on Noah/Sisko's face.

Clad in a tux, Bashir tosses an eyepatched henchman through a pane of glass before introducing himself to his attractive [[GirlOfTheWeek lady friend]] as "[[TheNameIsBondJamesBond Bashir. Julian Bashir.]]" Their passionate kiss is broken by an excited golf clap from the other side of the room, which turns out to be Garak in a tuxedo. Bashir chides him for intruding on the privacy of his holosuite adventure, but Garak persuades the doctor to let him join in. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong

* ContinuityNod: Garak says that it's not hard to create artificial earthquakes before Bashir shushes him. Captain Picard and his officers discussed just that back in "Devil's Due", which would've involved tractor beams, something that didn't exist on 20th-century Earth.

* AbnormalAmmo: A champagne cork. [[BondOneLiner "A lot of kick for a '45 Dom]]."

Clad in a tux, Bashir tosses an eyepatched henchman through a pane of glass before introducing himself to his attractive [[GirlOfTheWeek lady friend]] as "[[TheNameIsBondJamesBond Bashir. Julian Bashir.]]" Their passionate kiss is broken by an excited golf clap from the other side of the room, which turns out to be Garak in a tuxedo. Bashir chides him for intruding on the privacy of his holosuite adventure, but Garak persuades the doctor to let himjoin the adventure. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong

Oddly, Bashir's holosuite program is unaffected. As Bashir is filling Garak in on the details of the Bond spy life, they are interrupted by a friendly KGB spy, Colonel Komananov, played by none other than Kira Nerys with a bad Russian accent. After a talk with Ops, they come to the conclusion that the physical patterns of the runabout crew were stored as characters in Bashir's program. He and Garak must continue to play out the holosuite adventure; with the computer unstable, trying to leave or shut down the program could erase the crew's patterns.

In the story, Komananov reveals Bashir's mission, which is to investigate a series of artificial earthquakes, coinciding with the kidnapping of several leading geologists. One of them is a Dr. Honey Bare, replaced by Dax, who will suffer a plot-mandated death if Bashir and Garak don't play along with the story. And if Bare dies, Dax dies too.

The episode opens with a sharply-dressed Bashir in the holosuites, throwing an eyepatched henchman through a pane of glass before introducing himself to his attractive [[GirlOfTheWeek lady friend]] as "[[TheNameIsBondJamesBond Bashir. Julian Bashir.]]" Their passionate kiss is broken by an excited golf clap from the other side of the room, which turns out to be Garak in a tuxedo. Bashir chides him for intruding in his privacy, but Garak is his usual persistant self. With some cajoling, he convinces Bashir to let him join in on the fun.

->'''Garak:''' Don't worry, Doctor. We're going to have a wonderful time. After all, WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong

Meanwhile, the ''Orinoco'' has just returned from a conference with Sisko, Kira, Worf, O'Brien, and Dax aboard. An engine malfunction, apparently the result of sabotage, forces Eddington in Ops to make an emergency beamout just as the runabout explodes. Feedback from the explosion shorts out the energizer coils, leaving the five crewmembers trapped with no way to rematerialize. To prevent their patterns from being lost in the buffer, Eddington makes an unprecedented move and attempts to save the patterns to the station's computer. The massive amount of storage required by their complex neural pathways causes nearly the entire station to shut down, leaving them in the dark, uncertain if the process even worked.

Oddly, Bashir's holosuite program is unaffected. As Bashir is filling Garak in on the details of the Bond spy life, they are interrupted by a friendly KGB spy, Colonel Komananov, played by none other than Kira Nerys with a bad Russian accent. After a talk with Ops, they come to the conclusion that the physical patterns of the runabout crew were stored as characters in Bashir's program. He and Garak must therefore stay in the holosuite; with the computer unstable, trying to leave or shut down the program could erase the crew's patterns.

As it turns out, neither can they sit on their hands and wait. Komananov reveals Bashir's mission, which is to investigate a series of artificial earthquakes, coinciding with the kidnapping of several leading geologists. One of them is a Dr. Honey Bare, replaced by Dax, who will suffer a plot-mandated death if Bashir and Garak don't play along with the story. And if Bare dies, Dax dies too.

The group is interrupted by Falcon, the henchman from the prologue, only he now wears O'Brien's face. After subduing him and his minions, Bashir and Garak realize that the holosuite safeties are off. When Bashir stops Komananov from finishing off Falcon, Garak points out that he now poses a mortal threat to them, but Bashir refuses to sacrifice anyone unless absolutely necessary. Outside the holosuite, Rom is MacGyvering an interface with the ''Defiant'' that will let them use its transporter to merge the crew's physical and neural patterns.

Bashir's next stop is a casino in Paris, posing as a geologist in hopes of being picked up by the same people who abducted Bare. They meet Mr. Duchamps (Worf), who takes them to a retreat high on Mt. Everest owned by his employer, BigBad and LargeHam extraordinaire Hippocrates Noah (Sisko).

->'''Bashir:''' Diabolical.
->'''Noah:''' Visionary.

Being a [[BondVillainStupidity Bond villain]], Noah arranges a [[ComplexityAddiction suitably contrived execution]] for Bashir and Garak by handcuffing them to one of his lasers set on a 5-minute countdown. While Honey Bare is doing some final checks for the laser, Bashir manages to seduce her (despite Garak's [[DeadpanSnarker unhelpful banter]]) into giving him a goodbye kiss, during which he pickpockets the key to their cuffs.

Bashir puts together a ScaramangaSpecial and heads back towards the control room to ensure neither Bare nor Komananov will suffer a scripted death, but by now Garak has had enough. He insists that Bashir is being foolishly idealistic, putting both of them at excessive risk trying to save everyone instead of making the pragmatic choice as a real spy would. Bashir retorts that, danger notwithstanding, the program still follows the rules of his SpyFiction, which gives them the advantage. Garak is unconvinced and goes for the exit, so Bashir shoots him. The wound is only superficial, but Garak is so impressed by Bashir's display that he falls in line.

->'''Garak:''' Doctor... I do believe there's hope for you yet.

Rom and the others are almost ready to save the crew, but Bashir and Garak need to buy them some time. In the control room, though they take Noah by surprise, they are quickly ambushed themselves by Duchamps, leaving them in a precarious situation. Bashir goes on a [[HoldingTheFloor lengthy speech]] about how he's accepted the futility of his position - a speech clearly inspired by Garak's own just a moment ago - and goes so far as to trigger the BigRedButton himself, destroying the world. Noah muses about how he didn't expect to win before [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves turning his gun on Bashir anyway]], but Rom comes through at the last second and the five crewmembers are beamed out of the holosuite and onto the ''Defiant'' with both mind and body intact.

As they're leaving, Garak admits to feeling educated by the experience, and suggests they enjoy the program together again tomorrow, if Bashir still feels up to it.

->'''Bashir:''' Oh, I think it's safe to say that Julian Bashir, Secret Agent, [[AndTheAdventureContinues will return]].

* TheBadGuyWins: Invoked by Bashir so that Sisko will live.

* BrickJoke: When Eddington sees Rom's jury-rigging on the ''Defiant'', he mutters "O'Brien is gonna kill me." After our heroes materialize on the ''Defiant'' transporter pad, the first thing O'Brien says is an indignant "What'd you do to my ship?!"

* InstantSedation: The cigar stuff that Worf/Duchamps blows at Bashir, Garak, and Anastasia/Kira. Somewhat {{Justified}} as inhaled sedatives tend to work fairly quickly. Besides, it's a James Bond holonovel, so reality doesn't necessarily apply.

* LargeHam: Nana Visitor butchers that Russian accent for all it's worth.

* MsFanservice: [[UpToEleven Yeah, baby, yeah!]] Caprice, Mona, and Anastasia/Kira combine ImpossiblyLowNeckline with ShesGotLegs. Honey/Dax joins in with her LettingHerHairDown as TheGlassesComeOff. And, of course, the background dancers at the nightclub.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The reason Garak breaks into Bashir's program is that the Dr. is famously talkative about many things, but is surprisingly secretive about this new holosuite program he's been having fun with.
* PlugNPlayTechnology: Averted for once. It takes several hours for Rom to interface the holosuites with the Defiant, though it apparently has more to do with Rom's many years of budget DIY repairs than their Cardassian design. (Which makes sense. By now Starfleet must be experts at interfacing with the station's technology; they are probably less prepared to interface with a plasma-conducting spatula.)

* ScaramangaSpecial: Of course Bashir would have one.