“If Wishes Were Horses” 30th-anniversary reflections

Bedtime stories are supposed to be fun, but one gets a bit too real for Molly O’Brien when the straw-spinning imp Rumpelstiltskin shows up in her room. Not the kind of visitor you want as a firstborn child. But that’s just the start of a surprising evening for the crew of Deep Space Nine. London Kings baseball legend Buck Bokai pays a visit to Captain Sisko, and Doctor Bashir finds himself in bed with Jadzia Dax just hours after being rejected over dinner. The weirdness continues to grow until the station and the entire Bajoran system become threatened by a spatial rift. As the crew races the clock to find a solution, Sisko realizes that both the problem and the solution lie in their imaginations.

In this episode of The Orb, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 30th-anniversary retrospective that will take you through all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, one episode at a time. In this installment, we discuss “If Wishes Were Horses,” its fun veneer, the wealth of character and social commentary that lies beneath, and why Miles must be feeling like Lando Calrissian.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00)   We Should Be Awarded Brass Balls (00:02:47) Leprechauns are Scary! (00:10:32) The Danger of Imagination (00:13:07) Facts Matter (00:14:04) Julian and Jadzia (00:19:18) The Fickleness of Fantasy (00:26:41) The Beauty of Affinity (00:28:16) The Star Trek V Connection (00:35:51) First Contact (00:41:32) Final Thoughts and Ratings (00:44:29) Closing (00:47:16)

Hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing

Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer)