STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE: THE 34TH RULE

It's strange, but here actor Armin Shimerman skillfully mimics every character from the "Deep Space Nine" series except his own, that of bar-owner Quark. He sounds the perfect Odo, for example, and brother Rom and Captain Sisco. But he seriously underplays Quark--deliberately, I think, to give the character more gravity and depth. I miss the flamboyant, wheedling, whining, dripping-with-greed Quark, yet the story is well conceived and everything else about the presentation is satisfying. The story line involves an elaborate plot by the Grand Nagus (ruler of Ferenginar) to provoke and then avoid an interstellar war in order to make a profit. D.R.W. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 99]