I’ve had ARENA on my to-see list since… well, I guess since 1989.

(And Keiko O’Brien was played by Rosalind Chao — ethnic Chinese playing Japanese! CULTURAL APPROPRIATION! MARCH IN THE STREETS!)

Here we get the introduction of the Bajoran/Cardassian dynamic (including Marc Alaimo as the first example of a Cardassian, much as Armin Shimerman was the introductory example of a Ferengi long before he became Quark).

Funny thing about that: Deep Space Nine wasn’t the first time Marc Alaimo and Armin Shimerman were together in a story taking place primarily on a space station either. The otherwise relatively forgettable 1989 movie Arena featured Marc Alaimo as a sleazy extraterrestrial (but bipedal and fairly human-looking) criminal kingpin named Rogor who “unofficially” runs an interstellar space station from behind the scenes, and Armin Shimerman as the rather aptly named Weezil, a sharp-toothed black marketeer, information and power broker, and all-around lowlife scoundrel who helps find Rogor a saboteur to rig the final fight of the boxing tournament in the space station’s titular arena. About all the movie was missing was expies for Captain Sisko and Constable Odo.

Comically mundane “alien” detail: Ensign Ro Laren reveals that, among Bajorans, the family name comes before to personal name, so she should be addressed as “Ensign Ro,” not “Ensign Laren.” Yeah, we’ve never seen that kind of thing on Earth…

Well, O’Brien Keiko (as they would call her at home in Japan) might know a few things about that…