Best DS9 characters

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Kooz, Aug 23, 2012.

  1. Kooz

    Kooz Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Time for another top 5--the best characters from DS9. I've rewatched every episode, and became a real fan of the show this time around (I was a B5 guy back when they aired against each other). Here's my take on the top 5 characters. Let's hear yours, and remember, keep it to 5!
     
  2. G2309

    G2309 Captain Captain

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    It's hard to choose. It says a lot for the show that they had so many good non human characters.
    I liked how they used the Ferengi characters of Quark, Rom and Nog. They were a lot more fleshed ot than many of the Klingon charcters we saw. Even though that was a more popular species.
    Quark had some great observations on what was happening and it was fun o watch his scheming.
    I like how Nog (Not Jake or Wesley) became the model starfleet officer.
     
  3. Kooz

    Kooz Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Yeah, I remember hating Nog initially, but as his character matured, he grew on me (no pun intended). As did Jake, by the way. The episode where he grows up after Benjamin dies, and spends his life learning physics to reunite with his father made me tear up.
     
  4. Kooz

    Kooz Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Of course, for most of that episode, his character isn't played by the same actor, so...
     
  5. Rush Limborg

    Rush Limborg Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Here's my list:

    Ezri Dax is my #1. After a long period of overall dark and intense storylines, culminating in the tragic death of Jadzia and the near-crushing, emotionally, of Sisko...the creators brought in a young and sweetly beautiful ninth host of Dax, who viewed the universe--and life--with a childlike innocence and idealism, and a romantic heart. And the best part--she was thrown into her new life, and has to gather herself together, to discover the heroine within herself. And she does. :)

    Odo is my close second. Of all the characters, he is the one I identify with the most. His firm, uncompromising sense of Justice--his hard-boiled attitude...and his status as an outsider--all are things I admire about him, and sympathize with. And he's a secret romantic, to boot. (Funny note: I took a "What DS9 Character Are You?" survey, some time ago. Guess who it picked for me. ;))

    Third place--Julian Bashir. Other than courting and winning the heart of the beautiful Ezri...he self-conciously models himself after James Bond, and has a great sense of style and charm to that effect. He's a gentlemen, and a genius--and like Odo, he finds himself an outsider--but for a much different reason.

    Fourth--Garak. Plain. Simple. Garak. :cool:

    Fifth--Luther Sloan. Many see him as a villain--understandably, as he does some pretty nasty stuff! Still, there are many fans--myself included--who see him as much more--a tragic hero, and antihero, who proved willing and able to, quite literally, sacrifice his Life, his Fortunes...and his Sacred Honor, to do what he thought was necessary and proper to protect and defend the Federation. William Sadler played him wonderfully, conveying this sense of tragedy in moments like the ending sequence of "Inter Arma Enin Silent Leges," when he seems to have a look of sad understanding towards Bashir. (And for a brief moment...it seems like the feeling is mutual.)


    Close sixth--Quark. Arrogant, greedy, ruthless. Gotta love the guy.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2012
  6. Kooz

    Kooz Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Great list, Rush! Very well-reasoned...
     
  7. Rush Limborg

    Rush Limborg Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Thank you, Koontz! Yours was quite good, youself! :)
     
  8. DevilEyes

    DevilEyes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    1. Kira Nerys
    2. Odo
    3. Quark
    4. Garak
    5. Dukat

    honorable mentions: Miles O'Brien (he was created on TNG though), Ben Sisko
     
  9. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    I like O'Brien because he's such a great everyman and played by such a brilliant actor.

    Bashir has to get a mention as being one of the best developed characters in all of Trek. He convincingly developed from being an obnoxious know-it-all rookie to a compassionate and humane man.

    Sisko for just developing into a great captain and generally being a bad-ass.

    Ezri must get a mention for making such an impact in just one season.

    Picking a 5th one is very hard. But rather than one of the regulars, I think I have to opt for Garak. Surely this choice speaks for itself (and tells lies, as it does so)?
     
  10. Romulus Prime

    Romulus Prime Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    1. Sisko
    2. Dukat
    3. Garak
    4. Damar
    5. Quark

    And I agree with Rush's Ezri assessment. TBH, I wish they would have written her character like this from the start.
     
  11. DS9 Gal AZ

    DS9 Gal AZ Captain Captain

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    Rush Limborg chose Alli McTrill - er, I mean Ezri Dax - as his #1? Shocking!!!
     
  12. Rush Limborg

    Rush Limborg Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^Well, I'd think everyone would've known, ahead of time.... ;)

    It's the other four that would provide new insights on my part, to some extent.
     
  13. d'Anconia

    d'Anconia Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Here's my list:

    #5. Damar.
    Damar is one of the best charachters in DS9. The best thing about his charachter was that it didn't really develop until the last season. His performance in The Dogs of War makes it one of my favorite episodes in the entire series. They never really showed the revolutionary side of Kira in the show, only a few bits of it, and referenced it. And Damar basically plays that role there.

    #4. Kira Nerys
    I like Kira because of her sharp temper, and her ability to lead. I think one of my favorite events that revolved around her was when she stood against the Romulan commander for supplying weapons to their hospital on the Bajoran Moon. She really took great risk there, risking the loss of the Alliance right in the middle of the Dominion war, and even risking death. Also, her role in the end of the war was very strong. While Sisko and the crew were fighting in space, she was the one who fought on ground. Her final, brief, alliance with Garek and Damar was perfect for the end.

    #3. Dax
    I am going to count Jadzia and Ezri as one, by just calling the symbiont. I think that Jadzia's charachters evolved the most after Worf came onto the show. They had shown earlier that she was a real klingon at heart, but Worf's appearnce, and their relationship gave more emphasis to that. Also, I wasn't very pleased with her role before season 3. It didn't feel very fitting that she fought amonts Kor, Koloth, and Kang. She just didn't fit well. But she did fit well as a warrior beside Worf.
    Ezri, on the other hand, is an okay charcter. The best thing I liked about Ezri was her relationship with Sisko. Jadzia had a stronger relationship with him, but she didn't really help him alot that much. At the start of the last season, her introduction was perfect. Sisko was distraught and gloomy, and she cheared him. I don't know, it just seemed like a great way to introduce a charachter.

    #2. Counsellor Martok
    He was a real leader. He fought Jem'Heddar ships with victory after victory. His enthusiasm makes him my favorite True Klingon Warrior. Martok was also smart, not just a warrior who fights randomly without thinking and just slaughtering. He carefully came up with plans to fight the ships, and be able to escape them, not just sacrificing himself.
    His relationship with Worf was also very strong, one of the best in the entire series. His trust in Worf was amazing, and I think was the real inspiration behind many of his victories. He actually was quite inspiring within the series itself, such as in the prison cell.

    #1. Sisko
    Sisko is by far my favorite character in DS9. He was a perfect leader. In comparison to the otheer captains, I would rate him 3rd though (after 1. Piccard, and 2. Kirk). Sisko was really bad-ass. He didn't care what it took to acheive his goals, he just did them. And he was really confident. I only started to like him after he after he fought over the role of the Emissary, because his character only evolved after that. Before that, he was just a captain, who had a sacred title. But after that, he came to respect the title, and actually took actions that reflected his visions of the Prophets. He was completely confident that the Prophets had the power, and that they would help him. He was willing to fight the entire Jem'Heddar fleet alone inside the wormhole. I mean, that is true dedicaton (to the values of the Federation...).
    He also understood the prophets, he respected them, and he was willing to fight for them (such as when he didn't interfere when Jake's body was possesed).
    It was very saddening that he had become a prophet. I mean, It's not bad, but from the perspective of the crew, or Jake, or yates, it was sad. He deserved to stay human, and become an Admiral and go on and take his place among the high ranks of the Federation.
     
  14. Spock/Uhura Fan

    Spock/Uhura Fan Captain Captain

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    The best and my favorites might not be the same, but let’s see:

    My favorites:

    1. Jadzia Dax
    2. Odo
    3. Worf
    4. Sisko
    5. Everyone else

    The best in terms of originality and significance in the series to me.

    1. Sisko
    2. Odo
    3. Worf
    4. Kira
    5. Gul Dukat
     
  15. Spock/Uhura Fan

    Spock/Uhura Fan Captain Captain

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    Looking at other people's lists really reminds me that this series had some really great characters. :)
     
  16. kythe

    kythe Commander Red Shirt

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    I think DS9 had some of the most well-developed characters of all of Star Trek. They were such a great ensemble cast that I have a hard time choosing between them.

    That said, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Kai Winn yet. She was such a great "villain", if you could call her that. She was someone I loved to hate.
     
  17. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    This is for BEST. List not in any order.

    1. Kai Winn. Great actor, great character.. every time I watch it I get the chills when she has the opportunity with Kira to change her direction and she does not. Seeing her with the disguised Dukat was beyond creepy, Trek's best train wreck you couldn't tear your eyes away from.

    2. Gul Dukat. Unlike most people I loved his descent into cultish madness. He had a great character arc and a great ending. And more great--the acting again.

    3. Quark. Fantastic, funny.. not a one schtick trick but a very developed character who had unique relationships with the other characters. Love interests, hate interests (Odo), family interests.. this guy has more going on than most Trek folk.

    4. Odo. Quite unique, he could have ended up the Spock/7/Data character of DS9 but thankfully finding his humanity was only an adolescent phase. What we did get was the very interesting story of someone trying to find who he was with little to no reference points. A unique and original character who was able to surprise us.

    5. Weyoun. I love this quote from Jeffery Combs about playing the character:

    "So when the process started, I began to see how sort of royal and regal he was, and there was something kind of Japanese, but also he was the courtier in the court, he was the foppish, coiffed, graceful diplomat who would go from one party to another and make them all run smoothly. And he would do anything he could, with a smile, to make it look as easy as possible, and get exactly what he wanted. So I took a little spice from the French court as well.
    "

    I think Comb's character was a work of art, his best Trek role. And so much humor! Damar's hatred of him is fabulous.


    Those would all be in my favorites list as well other than Odo who I never really liked. I'd have to replace him with Ezri in favorites :adore:
     
  18. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    1. Garak
    2. Kira
    3. Julian
    4. Ezri
    5. Nog
     
  19. Captaindemotion

    Captaindemotion Admiral Admiral

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    I like all of the Trek series and each had at least a few memorable characters. But the thing with DS9 is, partly due to their fixed location and the fact that this meant guest characters could credibly reappear, but mostly to the writing, even their recurring characters were more memorable than many regulars in the other shows.

    Characters like Damar, Kai Winn, Nog and Eddington and Martok got more character development than the likes of Harry Kim or Travis Mayweather ever got.
     
  20. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    DSN's static location allowed them to bring back recurring villians, all shows were capable of having recurring characters and some did have recurring characters not that they had much development


    VOY had a great opportunity to build a cast of recurring characters, it's just a shame they didn't aside from a few characters who appeared every now and then they seemed to have a lot of one shot crew members.