Two classic Hollywood movies inspired Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2, episode 13, “Armageddon Game”, but few of those influences appear on-screen. “Armageddon Game” is widely regarded as the DS9 episode that establishes the friendship between Chief Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney) and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) as they end up on the run from the combined forces of the Kellerun and T’Lani. Facing death bonds the two Star Trek: DS9 characters for life, creating one of the franchise’s most enduring friendships. However, Bashir and O’Brien’s ordeal in “Armageddon Game” is a lot more contained than had been originally planned.
With a teleplay co-written by Morgan Gendel, Ira Steven Behr, and James Crocker, “Armageddon Game” went through several changes in the writing process. Originally, it was Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) who joined Dr. Bashir to dispose of the Harvester weapons, rather than O’Brien. However, it was decided that this didn’t fit the existing plans for Bashir and Dax, so Jadzia was swapped for Chief O’Brien. The manner of how O’Brien was exposed to the weapon was also changed, this time by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine producer Michael Piller, who instructed Morgan Gendel to make it more like a “chase movie”. However, that format would also change, meaning that the episode’s two big Hollywood influences were largely dropped in the finished script.
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Midnight Run And North By Northwest Inspired DS9’s “Armageddon Game”
While writing “Armageddon Game”, Morgan Gendel followed Michael Piller’s advice to create a “chase movie” episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. For inspiration, Gendel watched Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and the cult classic action comedy Midnight Run, starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. In North by Northwest, Cary Grant (recently played by Star Trek: Discovery‘s Jason Isaacs in Archie) plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive who’s mistaken for a spy. Thornhill is forced to go on the run, and in one of the film’s most iconic scenes, Cary Grant runs through a cornfield, chased by a crop duster.
Like Thornhill, Bashir and O’Brien get in over their heads as they become embroiled in a wider political conspiracy to erase all knowledge of the Harvester weapons. It’s also easy to see how Midnight Run influences “Armageddon Game” and its portrayal of friendship. In the classic Robert De Niro movie, his no-nonsense bounty hunter Jack Walsh is paired with Charles Grodin’s neurotic mob accountant, Jonathan Mardukas. Both men are polar opposites, but as they’re chased across country by a rival bounty hunter, the mob, and the FBI, they form a close friendship, not unlike O’Brien and Bashir in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Why Star Trek: DS9 Abandoned Its Hollywood-Inspired Chase Episode
While elements of both North by Northwest and Midnight Run remain in “Armageddon Game”, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode lacks any of those movies’ big set pieces. O’Brien and Bashir aren’t chased across open land by a starship, for example. The reason for this is purely budgetary, as according to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, Morgan Gendel’s script contained multiple starships, several locations, and various exteriors. While Gendel was clearly just responding to the brief given to him by Michael Piller, it sounds like he wrote a Star Trek movie rather than an hour of television inspired by two classic Hollywood movies.
As a result, “Armageddon Game” became a smaller character piece, with Bashir and O’Brien hiding out in an abandoned facility. A line of dialog is added so that war veteran Chief O’Brien can advise the young and inexperienced Bashir that they’re better off in hiding rather than running from location to location. Although Star Trek: Deep Space Nine showrunner Ira Steven Behr wryly, and correctly, pointed out that “Armageddon Game” is “a chase movie on one set”, this more contained version gives O’Brien and Bashir some lovely moments, making it a hugely important episode for their characters.
All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Paramount+.
North By Northwest
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North By Northwest is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most popular films and was released in 1959. The film centers on Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), an average advertising executive in New York who is hunted by foreign spies who think he is actually a secret agent. The film co-stars Eva Marie Saint, whose character Eve Kendall acts as a love interest to Roger.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.
