Move Along Home

TNG Season 1 Episode 9
Air Date: March 14th, 1993

Allamaraine, count to four,
Allamaraine, then three more,
Allamaraine, if you can see,
Allamaraine, you'll come with me

First contact with the Wadi from the gamma quadrant occurs on DS9. Only the Wadi people are more interested in games then diplomacy and demand to be taken to Quarks. After 6 hours of winning in Dabo, Quark starts cheating and eventually gets caught. The Wadi leader suggests a different game, a fair game. He sets up the board with four pieces and asks Quark to roll. What he doesn't realize is Cmdr. Sisko, Lt. Dax, Doctor Bashir and Major Kira are all transported into this game.

As the game progresses, the senior staff have to deal with challenges in the game too. When Quark realizes that the pieces are actually people and he has to sacrifice one, he begins grovelling. It is the first time he really shows concern for a person other then himself. At the end he takes a shortcut hoping to win right there but he ends up losing all pieces. But then the senior staff appear and the Wadi leader says "It is only a game".

This is one of my favorite DS9 episodes, at least among the light hearted ones. The poem at the beginning that I wrote is sung by a little girl in the game that is playing a hopscotch while singing it. When the episode started I caught myself singing this song. I even remembered the words after all these years.

Quotes

"First contact is our most important mission, Jake. It has to be handled delicately. You might say, it's sort of like a first date with a girl." - Cmdr. Sisko

"Use your tricorders for proximity checks every two minutes. And if all else fails, just yell again, Doctor. We'll find you." - Cmdr. Sisko

"If you were hurt, I'd leave you behind." - Lt. Dax
"Then I'm glad I'm not the one who's hurt." - Cmdr. Sisko

"Wait a minute, Odo, you can't just go storming onto their ship without their permission!" - Lt. Primmin
"Oh, is that Starfleet policy?" - Const. Odo
"That's right." - Lt. Primmin
"Well, I'm not in Starfleet!" - Const. Odo

"Double their peril, double your winnings!" - Falow

"Fine! Fine! Fine. Fine. I can't do it. I beg of you. A terrible mistake has been made. This is all a misunderstanding. Please, I've learned my lesson. I'll never cheat again. I'll never cheat again! Please! Just don't make me do this. Anything but this. Please. Please. Please." - Quark