Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Heart of Stone

"Heart of Stone" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and originally aired on February 6, 1995 in broadcast syndication. The story was written by Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, while the episode was directed by Alexander Singer and the score was created by David Bell. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located near a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy. In this episode, Odo (René Auberjonois) and Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) are trapped on a small moon near the Badlands, while on the station Nog (Aron Eisenberg) tries to get Commander Benjamin Sisko's (Avery Brooks) support for his application to Starfleet Academy. The idea behind the main plot was inspired by a scene from the novel Sometimes a Great Notion. However, the rock prop used was unpopular with the cast and crew, and post-production effects were required. The episode was the first of an ongoing plot thread with Nog entering Starfleet, which initially concerned Eisenberg as he thought he was being written out of the show. The episode was the fourth most watched episode of the third series, with 8.3 million viewers. Critical response was mixed, with negative comments directed at the idea that the situation was created by the female Founder (Salome Jens).