The Strange Connection between Buffy and DS9

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer is my kind of show. And I’ve never watched it until now. I know, I know, how could that happen? How could I go almost 15 years and never watch a show that I was bound to love? I tell you, I don’t know. It just happened. Now, through the magic of Netflix streaming, I am now trying to right this terrible wrong. *wink * I have watched up to episode nine of season one. And yes, I love it. I love the characters, the silly plots, the vampires/demons/witches and such, the writing, and the plain Joss Whedonness of it.

Now, to Deep Space Nine. I started watching reruns of the show in the late nineties. I have never been a big Star Trek fan, but this incarnation of the Star Trek franchise really grabbed me. As with Buffy, I loved the characters, the storylines, the writing, the range of aliens we meet, and the humor. Because it’s been so long since I’ve seen any of the episodes, again I decided to take advantage of its availability on Netflix streaming and watch it from the beginning of season one.

Since it’s sometimes hard for me to decide which series I want to watch, Buffy or DS9, I decided to watch an episode from each series every night. So, I have watched episodes 1 through 9 of both Buffy and DS9. And I found a strange connection to the two series when I got to episode 9 of each series.

Episode 9 (episode 10 if you count the two hour pilot as two episodes) of Deep Space Nine is called “Move Along Home,” and it’s about a new species of alien, the Wadi, that come on to the space station. Quark, the Ferengi, who runs the bar and casino on the promenade of the ship is caught cheating the Wadi at the gaming table. Not too happy about this, the leader of the Wadi asks Quark if he wants to play one of their games. The object of the game is to “move along home” (thus the name of the episode). The game sucks the four highest officers who are onboard the ship (Captain Sisko, Major Kira, Lieutenant Dax, and Doctor Bashir) into the game where Quark’s next move could be a matter of life or death.

In "The Puppet Show," episode 9 of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (which I watched immediately after “Move Along Home” of DS9) a new character is introduced: Principal Snyder, who is played by none other than Armin Shimerman, who plays Quark in DS9. Interesting connection, but that’s not the only coincidence between the two episodes. When Buffy is walking in the halls of the high school after school hours, the principal tells her to “get along home.” Okay, so he said “get” instead of “move,” but four years after the “Move Along Home” of DS9, Armin Shimerman (who was still playing Quark in DS9 at the time) repeats all but one word of the title of that episode.

That is all.