Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series)

Statistical Probabilities (1997)

Alexander Siddig: Doctor Julian Bashir

Photos 

Quotes 

• Doctor Bashir : It's not our place to decide who lives and who dies! We're not gods!

  Jack : Maybe not. But we're the next best thing.

• Doctor Bashir : The only reason Patrick gets so emotional is because he likes you.

  Chief O'Brien : He does?

  Doctor Bashir : Yeah, they all do.

  Chief O'Brien : What, because I got rid of that noise?

  Doctor Bashir : No, no, it's not just that. They feel comfortable being around you. What was the word Jack used? "Uncomplicated".

  Chief O'Brien : "Uncomplicated"?

  Doctor Bashir : Oh yes, they're amazingly insightful. They have ways of seeing things other people don't.

  Chief O'Brien : And saying things other people don't.

• Jack : Bashir, was it? Rings a bell, rings a bell. Bashir-Bashir-Bashir-Bashir-Bashir-Bashir-Bashir... a-ah! Got it, got it! Uh, 15th century poet, Singh el Bashir. Any relation, hm?

  Doctor Bashir : Yes, actually.

  Jack : His work was totally derivative. He was a plagiarist. You knew that; you-you had to know that. Yet you come in here, bragging about it anyway, hm-hm. Why?

  Doctor Bashir : You're the one who brought it up.

  Jack : Well, what was I supposed to do, just let you get away with it?

• [Jack has a recording of Weyoun's negotiations run in native language mode] 

  Jack : Got you! D'you hear that? He used the passive voice transitive.

  Doctor Bashir : Since when could you speak Dominionese?

  Jack : Since this morning.

• Chief O'Brien : The way you're acting, you'd think nobody with half a brain could possibly disagree with you.

  Doctor Bashir : Frankly, I don't see how they can.

  Chief O'Brien : I can see two possible explanations for it. Either I'm even more feeble-minded than you ever realized, or you're not as smart as you think you are.

• Doctor Bashir : [on Chief O'Brien]  He's married.

  Lauren : Too bad.

• Lauren : The Chief doesn't like any of us. Do you, Chief?

  Chief O'Brien : Julian...

  Jack : He's just jealous you're spending so much time with us.

  Lauren : His wife's away. He misses his friend.

  Chief O'Brien : I do not.

  Lauren : It's all right, Julian. Go play with your friend, we'll be fine.

  Doctor Bashir : You want me to play with you, do you, Chief?

  Chief O'Brien : No!

  Lauren : Yes, you do.

  Doctor Bashir : [laughing]  Come on, let's go to Quark's.

• Chief O'Brien : After being with them, I can understand how the rest of us must seem a little... uncomplicated.

  Doctor Bashir : Well, I wouldn't say that exactly. More like... slow.

  Chief O'Brien : Ha-ha. Must be very frustrating for you.

  Doctor Bashir : I don't mind. Makes me feel superior.

  Chief O'Brien : Ah, glad to be of service.

• [the mutants have suggested that the Federation surrender to the Dominion in order to save billions of lives] 

  Captain Sisko : Surrender is not an option! Now, I'm happy to hear your group's advice on how to win this war, but I don't need your advice on how to lose it.

  Doctor Bashir : We can't win this war!

  Captain Sisko : I don't care if the odds are against us. If we're going to lose, then we're going to go down fighting, so that when our descendants someday rise up against the Dominion, they'll know what they're made of!

• Doctor Bashir : So we go down fighting. How terribly courageous of us.

• Doctor Bashir : [at the dabo wheel]  Sooner or later, no matter how perfectly I play, no matter how well I hedge my bets, I'm going to lose!

  Quark : Why are you trying to spoil everyone's good time? Look around. These people are enjoying themselves. Half of them know the odds are against them, but they don't care. They're here because they wanna believe they can win. Is that so bad?

  Doctor Bashir : They're fools!

• [Bashir is playing another risky dabo game] 

  Doctor Bashir : Maybe there's a better bet. But sometimes, when the odds are so stacked against you, you've just got to take a chance.

• Doctor Bashir : [in Sisko's quarters, after Bashir has just met four patients who were all genetically enhanced like he was]  All I kept thinking was "there but for the grace of God go I".

  Lt. Commander Dax : How do you mean?

  Doctor Bashir : My parents managed to find a decent doctor to perform the DNA resequencing on me. These four weren't so lucky. They all suffered unintended side-effects and by the time they were five or six they're parents were forced to come forward and admit they'd broken the law so that they're children could get treatment.

  Captain Sisko : Perhaps they waited too long?

  Doctor Bashir : Yeah, there was nothing the doctors at the institute could do for them. These cases are so rare. There's no standard treatment.

  Major Kira : I can't imagine it was a very stimulating environment for them?

  Doctor Bashir : That's what Doctor Loews saw when she first came to the institute. She got permission to separate them from the other residents so that she could work with them.

  Odo : Why did she bring them here?

  Doctor Bashir : She thought they might respond to meeting someone like them who was leading a normal life. She was also hoping that one day they might be able to live on they're own and be productive.

  Chief O'Brien : Well, let's hope they don't get too productive. It might make the rest of us look bad.

  Lt. Commander Worf : It is not a laughing matter. If people like them are allowed to compete freely then parents would feel pressured to have they're children enhanced so they could keep up.

  Odo : That's precisely what prompted the ban on DNA resequencing in the first place.

  Doctor Bashir : Giving them a chance to contribute doesn't necessarily mean sanctioning what was done to them. They didn't ask to have they're DNA tampered with. They were only children. And why should they be excluded just because they're parents broke the law?

  Captain Sisko : You're right. It's not quite fair. But even so... it seemed like a good way to discourage genetic tampering.

  Chief O'Brien : Besides, it's not as if we're trying to exclude them from anything. We're just talking about... limiting what they're allowed to do.

  Doctor Bashir : Like joining Starfleet?

  Lt. Commander Worf : Exactly.

  Doctor Bashir : [to Worf]  Are you saying that I shouldn't be allowed to wear this uniform?

  Lt. Commander Worf : Well, you are an exception.

  Doctor Bashir : An exception. I should be used to that. I've been one all my life. First, because of the DNA resequencing and now because I've been allowed to join Starfleet.

  Lt. Commander Worf : Perhaps I should not have said anything?

  Doctor Bashir : No, no it's alright.

  [this conversation has obviously made everyone very uncomfortable, not just Bashir] 

• [last lines] 

  Bashir : So, are you ready to go?

  Jack : Not so fast. There's one thing I need to know, Doctor. If we can come up with a way to beat the Dominion, will you listen?

  Bashir : I can't think of anything I'd like better.

  Jack : Good, good, good. Let's go then. Let's go.

  Bashir : Bashir to O'Brien. Four to beam out.