DS9's "Our Man Bashir," 21 Years Later

"Our Man Bashir," one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's most-entertaining hours, aired on November 27, 1995 -- or a mind-boggling 21 years ago today. The episode, in which the DS9 crew replaced the characters in Dr. Bashir's secret-agent holosuite program following a transporter issue (rather than a holosuite malfunction), was pure 007-style fun. StarTrek.com takes a Bond, er, fond look back at "Our Man Bashir" with these details, figures and anecdotes:

Ronald D. Moore wrote "Our Man Bashir" based on a story pitch by Robert Gillan. The late Winrich Kolbe directed the episode.

The episode's working title was "Untitled Holosuite."

"Our Man Bashir" had the distinction of having the single-longest shoot -- nine days, vesus the usual seven -- of any DS9 episode. That was due mostly to the unusually high number of intricate stunts and the many detailed sets the episode required.

Best line: "Bashir. Julian Bashir."

Alexander Siddig and Nana Visitor -- who later married and divorced -- were dating when they filmed "Our Man Bashir," thus their obvious chemistry. Actually, Visitor noted in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, "It was the first episode we did after Sid and I got together as a couple."

Mona Luvsitt and Honey Bare are clear homages to the names of old-school Bond females.

According to Memory Alpha, via the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, "Although Ronald D. Moore attempted to avoid directly referencing any of his primary influences, it seems that some names and situations skated a little too close for comfort. After this episode aired, the producers go an angry letter from MGM, the studio which holds the rights to the James Bond property. The DS9 Companion doesn't reveal the content of the letter other than to say, 'apparently MGM did not find imitation to be the sincerest form of flattery.' As such, in the fifth season espisode 'A Simple Investigation,' which returns to Bashir's holonovel, the references to Bond are far more subtle."

Other influences on the episode included The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Wild Wild West, Our Man Flint (note the similarity to the title of the episode) and Matt Helm.

Which DS9 regular did not appear in this installment? That'd be Cirroc Lofton.

Another great line, this one uttered by Garak: "Kiss the girl, get the key. They never taught me that in the Obsidian Order."

Marci Brickhouse, who played Mona Luvsitt, later guest starred on Suddenly Susan, Baywatch, Boy Meets World, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Dragnet, among other shows. These days, she works as an artist.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, "Our Man Bashir" debuted a mere 10 days after GoldenEye, the first Bond film in six years, opened in theaters.

"I think it's safe to say that Julian Bashir, secret agent, will return," Bashir tells Garak at the end of the episode, yet another tip of the cap to the Bond films.

"Our Man Bashir" earned two Emmy Award nominations: Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series and Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Jay Chattaway).

"I think 'Our Man Bashir' was probably one of the most-important episodes in terms of changing attitudes towards Bashir," Siddig told StarTrek.com in September 2016, referring to the fact that, for a long time, he felt Bashir was an "unpopular" character. "I think that was probably one of the most-influential episodes. I don’t know if it’s one of the best, but it is certainly super-influential. I remember opinions began to change after that episode. So that would probably be an important one, historically."