User Reviews

When Jake joins Nog ion what should be a routine flight to Ferenginar he doesn't expect that they will run into a squadron of Jem'Hadar fighters. It looks like they are doomed but a Star Fleet ship comes to the rescue; the USS Valiant. The Valiant is identical to the Defiant but its crew is a group of cadets. They were on a training mission when the war with the Dominion began and their regular officers were killed in combat. Star Fleet is unaware that the ship is only crewed by cadets but they are continuing with the mission to discover a secret Dominion ship. The Valiant's captain makes Nog their chief engineer as he has experience with the identical Defiant and knows a few tricks to improve performance. While the cadets act professionally it is clear that the stress of the situation is getting to them; one starts to cry after talking about home with Jake and the captain can't sleep and is secretly taking pills. They manage to find the Dominion battleship but instead of returning to the Federation with the valuable information the captain arrogantly believes they can take it out themselves; a decision that will lead to the loss of the Valiant and most of her crew.

When we first came across the ship crewed entirely by cadets I thought we were in for a group of Wesley Crusher types: teenagers excelling in an adult world in situations where adults had difficulties but thankfully they weren't like that. They clearly didn't have the maturity to correctly analyse the situation and most of them ended up dead because of it. This prevented the episode from being cliché and gave it a realistic and exciting conclusion.

...that I rather hoped a few of them -- especially the "First Officer" -- would survive just so they could sit in a Starbase medical ward and contemplate the true depths of their failure and stupidity. I also kinda wanted to see the "Captain" live long enough for Sisko took look him straight in the eyes and explain exactly how he felt about the fact that this "Captain" threw his son in the brig for expressing an opinion to his friend and almost got him killed for precisely the reasons Jake gave to boot. *Those* scenes would have upped may rating by at least two full stars.

In fairness, I will give credit to the show for attempting to give us an intelligent look at how the real world (or galaxy) actually works and how kids and teenagers are often unprepared for the stakes involved. The episode showed some flashes of potential, and there was a solid idea hiding in there somewhere. The fact that the galaxy can be a hard and unforgiving place is often glossed over in other Star Trek series, where everything turns out for the best at the end of an episode, or an episode arc, and there are few permanent repercussions. The idea was there. The execution was serviceable (and not, imo, as terrible as some reviewers seem to think) but not particularly impressive. This episode, to me, represents the germ of the sort of realistic issues of dangerous long-lasting consequences that set DS9 apart from other ST series, but lacked sufficient development to really stick in the mind in the way that, say, By the Pale Moonlight did.

I've just watched this episode again - am on the full journey - and whilst not my favourite episode actually felt the need to review.

I share the opinions of others this was a missed opportunity that TNG usually handled so well. I never liked the "red squad" idea. It is elitist, and seems at odds with the ideals of the federation. Don't get me wrong I support meritocracy but red squad seem unrestrained. This was evidenced in this episode.

So why did this miss the mark? It remained ambiguous, despite all the evidence. The "captain" was despite all his potential, an idiot. He (and the crew) deserve credit for functioning as they did for so long. But let's be clear, he made some significantly bad decisions because of an ego the size of a galaxy class starship.

As pointed out by others, there was no opportunity for an acceptance of the monumental cock ups he authored. The biggest one being that his charge 'into the valley of death' meant a huge tactical advantage about the design of the dominion ship was lost because he attacked it.

As a viewer you are left without any catharsis, even Nog's acceptance of the failure is not enough. So close - but not what it could be.

... but in fact they are arrogant brats who overestimate their skills by a factor of 1000. And to put a cherry on top of this, the cadet first officer of the Valiant is not just named Karen but she also is a space Karen. (To all women named Karen: No offense.) They are the most annoying bunch of Starfleet "officers" you'll ever see, and everytime the first officer opens her mouth you'll just want to shout at her to shut the ef up!

In case you still haven't seen this episode, Spoiler Alert!

From the moment "Captain" Waters informs Nog about their "mission" you can see their demise coming in with warp 9. And in the end when everyone except Nog, Jake, and their CPO Collins gets killed and/or vaporized I couldn't help to think "Finally, this Karen has shut up for good!"

A terrific episode with terrific effects. Nog and Jake run into a ship run by bratty Starfleet cadets, cadets are written as arrogant and prided specially the captain and the first officer. In the end, the ship is destroyed and Defiant and Capt. Sisko comes to rescue of Jake, Nog and one of the cadet.

In this episode we are introduced to the first 'Defiant-class' ship that isn't the Defiant itself. (May stand corrected there?). I must admit I never 'loved' the design: it just looks like a flattened transporter to me.

The ship has been commandeered by very young 'red guard' star-fleet cadets after the senior officers all died. Haven't seen that happen on a ship before ... even the 'Equinox' crew survived mostly.

It is quite a sad episode, but its nice to get off the station and get a glimpse at some new characters and 'normal' star-fleet.

The action sequences are very good in this episode too!

This episode is an experimental episode and that is exactly what makes it kind of fun... Red Squad is mentioned first time in Paradise Lost, but you never get to see them, that's the first What if... The secoond What if is that it's a crew of 18 year olds ... You can blame these teenagers for average acting, but the script isn't poor, nor is the action of that episode... There are no slow or boring moments in this episode, what is shown is how a group can be manipulated by ideology in a collective... The Crew is on a mission to find an Advanced Dominion Battleship, so you get to see the Dominion battleship at multiple angles which is one of the coolest ships that John Eaves has designed... Now people would say, yeah, but what's the point of this episode? If you are looking for moral of the story, the moral of the story is don't send teenagers to war and that is why I guess many parents might have hated the episode, because most of the crew gets killed, but hey, they made a point...

Well, if this episode does anything ----- It does strengthen the idea that no one under 35 should be the captain of a starfleet ship.

I gotta be honest ---- When I was watching this episode I was considering if the cast was comprised of super trek nerds from the late 90's who posted on usenet groups and who finally were rewarded by getting to be star trek cosplayers in this episode.

There was potential in this episode. I like the idea of the young Captain completely losing his mind and roaming about the galaxy looking to go out on a blaze of glory. This was my personal head canon as I watched the episode because it did not make any sense why the Valiant did not return to a starbase ------- They rescued Nog/Jake about 5 minutes from a giant federation space station. Huh?!

I agree with what the episode is saying ----- wisdom is earned through experience. This just needed to be re-worked in the writers room. Maybe have some true conflict with one of the bridge officers who realizes what a mess they are in? Have that Spock/McCoy presence to add some conflict into this story. How about this fictional bridge officer ends up saving the day in the finest starfleet tradition? Maybe Jake Sisko gives a passionate speech that lights this match?

When I have to start writing fan fiction that is a bad sign.

Where to begin? After just finishing the episode, the ending pissed me off. So many things don't make any sense. First off, Starfleet would never have a ship full of cadets during war time. They would have maybe 10 at most. Looks like when they do their obnoxious red squad chant (most obnoxious 10 seconds of television) there's close to 50-60 of them. Only one legit captain and the rest were caddets? Not remotely plausible and down right dangerous. This is proved with the end results. On top of that, every caddet was beyond annoying and grating. Obnoxious. I get that's what they were directed to do, so I blame poor directing mixed with poor acting. It's a terrible episode due to the conclusion they come to. One of the caddets survives and has the gaul to say the captain was a good one and that the crew failed him. Are you out of your mind you brainwashed fool? Your captain killed EVERYONE! Except Jake, Nog and the caddet who lived on the moon (sorry Luna). Then what really made me mad was Nog telling Jake to print the story in a way to let people make up their own minds. Um no. If Jake writes the truth about what happend on that ship, no one is walking away thinking the caddet captain did anything right. It's a mess of an episode that doesn't make you think. It is obvious these inexperienced caddets have no business running a war ship. It is obvious they are all going to die. No twists. No turns. Just idiots doing dumb things because they have no experience. It was glorious watching them blow up. Still love DS9, just a bad episode.

This episode is pretty awful, like a Tommy Wiseau directed Ender's Game adaptation. The plot is pretty thin, but not the worst. It suffers from poor acting and taking itself way too seriously. Starship Troopers worked because of the heavy satire, but this episode falls on its face and is an endless cringe-fest.

Red Squad, who didn't learn from their earlier blind faith in a changeling, are at it again exuding tinges of a hitler-youth group. The "Red Squad! Red Squad!" moment after a motivational speech from their stimulant addled captain comes across as a "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chant at an international sporting event.

I'm not sure what the viewer is supposed to be left with at the end of the episode, but I kept checking the playtime to see when it was going to be over. The first third has a decent setup, but starts to decline rapidly. A very skippable episode as far as the series goes.

This episode reminded me of the TNG episode "The first duty" in which Wesley Crusher and some of his cadet friends want to perform a highly risky and forbidden shuttle formation maneuver called Kolvoord Starburst. They fail miserably and cause the death of a friend which they try to cover up to not get kicked out of Starfleet.

In this episode the infamous Red Squad is in command of a sister ship of the Defiant and rescues Nog and Jake from a Jem'Hadar attack. The ego of the young new captain is so big that he risks the lives of his crew members in an attempt to destroy a new Jem'Hadar battle cruiser. And he also fails miserably doing so of course, causing anyone to die but Jake, Nog and one other crew member.

Pride comes before the fall. That's what this episode is about. While Nog quickly becomes part of the crew and is blinded by the new rank this arrogant captain grants him (I wonder how a kid, that only took over the captain's position from the former real dead captain is able to promote a cadet, but that is another story), Jake is the usual coward again and only wants to save his own skin. In the end he is right though and the whole mission is a suicide run. But the way he acts and whines in every scene is just typical for Jake again.

All in all a rather weak episode. The Red Squad crew is a bunch of bigheads that think they are the elite of Starfleet although they are just about 18-20 years old.

This episode is ultimately disappointing because very few characters survive, and those that did learn no lessons from the actions they took, or the actions of those around them that caused so much death and destruction, all for the sake of ego.

The episode begin after the cold open, with Nog and Jake en route to Ferenginar, for Nog to deliver a special message from Starfleet to Grand Nagus Zek. Jake has weaseled his way into taking the trip with Nog, promising he wasn't coming along as a reporter, then immediately breaking that promise and showing zero remorse for using his so-called best friend, yet again.

So they're traveling along, and suddenly a squadron of Jem'Hadar ships are on top of them. They pass by, but then as Nog warps the shuttle away, one turns to follow. They're under heavy fire when another ship appears; it's the Defiant's sister ship, the Valiant. Nog and Jake are beamed aboard, and the Valiant destroys the Jem'Hadar.

Once aboard, Nog and Jake quickly realize there are no adults. The Valiant was originally crewed by a small group of adult officers, with a crew of cadets in training. Their mission was to locate a new type of Jem'Hadar warship and collect data on it for Starfleet.

Somehow during this mission, every adult officer was killed, leaving the cadets in charge. If I was a suspicious type, I'd wonder if Kiddie Captain Watters and First Officer Karen had conspired to murder the last adults left, so they could take charge of the ship. At any rate, there is no hint of anything like that here; just a ship of young fools, driven by their egos and the arrogance of youth, rather than common sense and training.

These young fools decide to ignore orders to return to headquarters, which you know must've been given to Kiddie Captain as the adult Captain was dying, and they instead continue the mission. When they come upon Nog and Jake, they have been in several battles, and are having problems with their warp drive, etc.

This is right up Nog's alley, and he begins making suggestions for repairs. When Kiddie Captain learns Nog has real-world knowledge of the Valiant's systems, he manipulates Nog with some heavy flattery and a field promotion to Chief Engineer, with a Lt. Commander's rank. Nog is beside himself with happiness, even tho you can see he is still somewhat conflicted.

Later when they do find the new Jem'Hadar war ship, and they've used a stealth probe to collect all kinds of data for Starfleet about it, the mission is complete and for the most part, a success. However, Kiddie Captain is high on pills and ego, and decides they should not just collect their data and go, but destroy the warship.

Jake gives a blah speech to try and convince them this is the wrong thing to do, to which Kiddie Captain responds with exactly what an untrained, unprofessional kid would; he bellows "We're Red Squad and we can do anything!" He then leads the entire kiddie crew in a chant of "Red Squad" which gives you the ickies all over. Nog who was clearly skeptical, slowly gives in and begins chanting as well.

Later, we see Nog making the needed changes to the torpedoes, and Jake is using the time alone with him, he thinks, to try and convince Nog that this is not right. These kids have no business going up against a huge Jem'Hadar warship. But by then Nog has drank all the Kool Aid and is fully on board.

And then we then see that Kiddie Captain is not only an egomaniacal, pill popping jerk, he's an eavesdropping weasel as well. He has been watching and listen to Nog and Jake's conversation. He sends two crew members to throw Jake in the brig, for having the temerity to question his orders.

Well, things go about exactly as you'd expect them to go when the Kiddie Crew of the Valiant goes up against a huge new Jem'Hadar warship; they are blown to bits, but luckily not before Nog has broken Jake outta the brig and they, along with crew member Collins, get away in an escape pod during the explosion of the Valiant.

We next see the Defiant picking up the escape pod's distress call, and Nog, Jake and Collins are rescued. Jake goes into the infirmary to visit with Nog and Collins, and Nog asks Jake if he's going to write about what happened, and what he's going to write. Jake asks what Nog thinks he should write, and Nog replies that he should write that it was "a good ship, with a good crew, that made a mistake. We let ourselves blindly follow Captain Watters, and he led us over a cliff."

To which the addled Collins replies "That's not true. Captain Watters was a great man. If he failed, it's because we failed him."

Nog tells Jake, "Put that in your story too. Let people read it and decide for themselves."

And I gotta say, what an utter load of bullsh!te. This is the problem with reporting today, you've got truth being reported alongside propaganda, and people must guess which is true and which is not. And they almost always choose that which aligns with what they believe already, because it confirms their bias.

People don't get to 'decide' what is true and what is not. There is truth: "Watters is a pill-popping, egomaniacal child, who was unfit and unprepared to hold an office, much less a command." And then there's propaganda: "Watters was a great man, and we failed him, and that is the only reason why all these people are dead and our mission failed."

Ultimately for me, this was a disappointing episode as much for that ending, as anything else.

This episode makes no sense. One of Starfleet's most advanced warships is on training maneuvers with a crew of cadets IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR. Apparently the captain is the only actual commissioned officer aboard and conveniently DIES. Instead of making best speed to a starbase, the entire crew decides they have what it takes to take on a Dominion dreadnaught. Riiiiiiiiiight.....

The ridiculous premise, ABYSMAL acting, and complete lack of story makes this episode feel like a YouTube fan production. It doesn't advance the season's story arc nor does it advance Nog's or Jake's character arc. It wastes an entire episode on the misadventures of an "elite" crew of OBNOXIOUS cadets who apparently have all lost their common sense, including at least one VULCAN.

This was a totally wasted opportunity for Nog's character to evolve beyond the whiney, obsequious quisling he was before joining Starfleet. This could have been a story pitting his leadership and experience against the obsessive cadet "captain" for control of the Valiant - alas no. He is the same old Nog, submissive as ever. So much so that he places himself - a COMMISSIONED STARFLEET OFFICER - under the command of a CADET.

In a complete cop-out, the entire crew of cadets - save one - conveniently dies in their attempt to attack the behemoth battleship. There is nobody left to hold accountable. If there was any sense of reality in this episode, Nog should have been court martialed and drummed out of Starfleet for dereliction of duty that cost the lives of the crew and the loss of the ship.

When watching TOS, I make it a point to skip "Spock's Brain" because it SO BAD. You don't really miss it. The same can be said for "The Valiant."

Have to admit I was pretty stoked right at the beginning when the Valiant swept in and saved their @$$! I also have to say as someone whom can't stand Jake Sisko, I was extremely happy to see him get told to basically STFU and get out of the way. I really liked Nog's storyline in this episode as well, showed his character's true potential as a young engineer after his time with O'Brien and time in Star Fleet Academy. In Nog's speech to Jake while working on the torpedo he almost sounded like a Klingon with his talk of duty and honor. You could see his drive and devotion and for once he was totally competent in his duties. Jake even gets thrown into the brig, BONUS! The only thing Jake contributes to the storyline is mor sniveling and whining as normal. He speaks as his "father's" son and what his father would do if he was there, yet in Jake's only brush with battle it proved him to be a coward with a yellow streak down the middle of his back that left Julian alone and (possibly) to die. I would have liked to see a slightly different ending, maybe the Defiant or another ship come in at the end to save the ship and at least some of the crew...or something like that. Just didn't care for the ending and of course, the continuous "I'm a reporter" whining and crying from Jake, could really do without him!

The plot is riddled with holes: Valiant is trapped 'deep' in Dominion space, but is somehow close enough to rescue Jake and Nog who left a starbase only a couple of minutes before; the Federation is at war, but instead of pressing one of its most powerful ships into service leaves it at the disposal of the Academy for 'training cruises' (redolent of the Tenth Fleet being off on a training exercise while Betazed is being invaded) - no wonder the Federation is losing the war, it really doesn't seem to be taking it seriously; Red Squad is repeatedly referred to as 'the best of the best' but is a bunch adolescent psychos, one of which is reduced to a blubbering mess after a two-minute conversation with Jake; Nog, previously a driven cadet now drafted into active service, immediately drinks the KoolAid and joins the Cadet Cult; none of the cadets look old enough to even be at the Academy, let alone be part of 'the best of the best' (especially the blubbering 'Chief' Collins); everyone dies, except Jake, Nog and Collins, so no one gets to learn from their mistakes. The list just goes on and on...

The special effects are up to the usual high standard, the acting is pretty good (one has to assume that the cadets are so insufferable because they were directed to be), but the whole thing just fails to gel. Unless you have a thing for space battles, exploding ships and unlucky escape pods, this is definitely one to miss when you're rewatching a season or the series - it adds nothing to any of the plot lines or character development. In fact, it adds nothing to Star Trek at all.