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Deep Space Nine Rewatch

I've been re-watching all things Star Trek, and I just got to DS9 after finishing TNG. Quite honestly, I'm finding it a little slow. I just finished "Babel" (S1 Ep 4). Does it get better?
 
^I think that's the common consensus. I'd argue that the first two seasons are erratic, though significantly better than TNG's first two seasons.
 
Give it a season. If you still don't like it than decide if you want to keep going or stop.

Will do. I remember liking it when it was on, at least the Dominion War stuff. I was a little kid at the time, and I guess I just don't remember this part of the series. I'm definitely going to stick with it.
 
In The Cards & Call To Arms

I finished (What I consider) the best season of Star Trek tonight, Season 5 of Deep Space Nine. When I last talked about this season, I was at the close to midway point of the season with Purgatory and Inferno, but the back half of the season really does have some great stuff to it, with episodes like Blaze of Glory, Children of Time, and Soldiers of the Empire (At least the ending with Worf joining the House of Martok). I also consider Ferengi Love Songs a big guilty pleasure of mine, probably on the level of Rules of Acquisition in terms of Ferengi Episodes.

However, I want to talk about the two episodes that ended this season with a bang. The first is probably my favorite comedy episode in all of Star Trek, In the Cards. There is something funny, but sentimental about this episode and the use of that comedy to provide the sentimentality at the end was really well done by the writers. The story is crazy, Jake and Nog trying to give a gift of a Willie Mays rookie Card to Ben and having to go through hoops to get it from a guy who might be a little crazy. The plot is a little preposterous, but this is an episode that knows not to take itself seriously, and it really helped the comedy, I thought. I mean you have a cellular regeneration machine so you are not bored to death, the souless minions of orthodoxy, and Jake and Nog ensuing hyjinks that go back to Season 1, and one of the funniest lines in the entire series, "Lions, Giegers and Bears...oh my". Also, the scene where Jake wants Nog to loan him money is hilarious, especially the notion of humans trying to better themselves being turned on it's head.

What makes this episode work, though is the ending. You have this wacky story, leading to an ending that makes you smile and think things are going to be ok. This episode went from dark and depressing to light and happy and it was just so much fun to see how they got there. This is an episode this forum doesn't talk about very much, but when it comes to comedy shows, I place this one at the very top, with a Piece of the Action right below it.

I also saw Call to Arms to finish up the season and man this episode still is amazing all these years later. I probably could have done without the Leeta/Rom story, but everything else was just really cool, and Kira really is a bad ass with the "If Dukat wants the station back, he can have it". We also get a continuation from In the Cards with Bajor agreeing to the Non Aggression Pact, which really can say this occupation arc could have been 8 episodes long. Also, that battle sequence was a lot better than what we saw in Way of the Warrior, even though it was shorter. I really wish we had seen more of the big Jem'Hadar battle cruisers. Also, I noticed a few things about this episode that kind of wraps of the season:
  • Dax saying yes to Worf about marrying him, a call back to Looking for Par'Mach
  • Jake joining the Doctor in the infirmery, calling back to Nor the Battle to the Strong
  • Garak and Odo's discussion, calling back to Way of the Warrior
  • Sisko's Baseball playing a vitol role, calling back to If Wishes were Horses

I was thinking about Best of Both Worlds watching this episode, as I was when I did the Voyager rewatch and thought about BOBW and Scorpion. While I like BOBW, I find it's rewatchability lacking. Episodes like Call to Arms and Scorpion are really rewatchable and I think because there were more cool visual effects. Call to Arms was a hell of a way to finish Season 5, and I am really excited to get into the Occupation arc. It sure got off to a kick ass start.
 
Watched the first four episodes of the occupation arc last night and wanted to just talk a little about Rocks and Shoals. This episode might be the best of this arc. Both what is happening on the planet and on the station were geipping but this episode gets into the nuts and bolts of why the Jem'hadar are what they are. Obiediance brings victory and victory is life. It also showed how tragic war can be, with the Jem'hadar walking to their deaths. Meanwhile on the station, that Yassem suicide still gets me every time. That whole storyline changed because of that small but very powerful scene.
 
Finished the Occupation arc and watched You are Cordially Invited tonight. Sacrifice of Angels still has the best space battles in all of Trek, and Sisko's "Nobody stops till we reach Deep Space Nine" is his "Let history never forget the name, Enterprise" moment. It's a shame whenever there are highlights of Trek, you don't see Sisko here in Sacrifice of Angels, even though I have seen Odo's "Never Underestimate the element of surprise" line.

There's always controversy about the ending with the Prophets getting involved. Yeah it's a literal Duex ex machina thing, but because the prophets are already established and Sisko's journey as Emissary has allowed him to finally embrace it, I'm always wondered why this doesn't make sense to people. Other than destroying the wormhole, this war would pretty much be over with the Dominion victory had those ships come through. They weren't going to destroy the wormhole, so what else could they have done?

You are Cordially Invited is an interesting episode to me. It's great Worf and Dax are finally getting married, but is it me or did Jadzia have every right to be angry at Sirella and just the whole process. It seems to me she has done everything that Worf has asked of her and she's not getting anything in return, other than marrying Worf. I guess it is here where I wish we had Season 2 Dax, the comic relief but was still really smart and more in control.

Also in regards to Sirella, I wonder if it was ever established why Martok married her? I don't see the attraction, especially considering they seem to be so opposite from each other. Maybe the saying is true, opposites attract.

Now that the occupation arc and marriage is done, it feels like the show is getting back to normal. Season 6 is a season I consider to be just average, so it will be interesting to see if my opinion improves somewhat.

I did love Jadzia's Klingon wedding dress though. That was an awesome design.
 
In most weddings, the bride and groom are not just marrying each other, they're becoming a part of each other's family too. That has both good and challenging aspects. In the episode, Jadzia had no family, which is just strange.

Martok was presented as being from a lower class family, the first of his family to be an officer instead of enlisted. Sirella was from a great family with centuries (millennia?) of history and believed to be descended from the Imperial family. She was several steps up the social-political ladder, and beautiful. Martok wouldn't have wanted a doormat wife, he'd want one proud and with a mind of her own, like Sirella, even though she was aggravating at times. She's not such an opposite personality, even if their social origins are different. (I bet after the end of the series Sirella was thrilled with being the chancellor's wife.)
 
I'm not posting much in here anymore because of lack of interest but I'm watching Change of Heart now and I contend this is the episode Jadzia should have died. She sacrifices herself so the mission could be completed and then Worf wouldn't have been brooding most of season 7.

I'm hoping to get to Tears of the Prophets this week and I know I will come to Jadzia's death and be more angry than Arrow fans were when Laurel was killed.
 
I'm in the final season on my DS9 rewatch. Season six was basically what I expected it to be, really inconsistent with some of the worst episodes of the series in the second half (Profit and Lace, Valient, Times Orphan) but I think the thing that really sours me on this season is they went big and ambitious with the six episode opening arc, but then it was like the War wasn't really happening. Yeah you had mentions and great episodes like In the Pale Moonlight, but I almost wonder if the Dominion War could have been over in Season 6. Let this season be the war season (Set up in Call to Arms) and lets not have episodes like Who Mourns for Morn or Profit and Lace. You can still have episodes like His Way for the character moments, but let's get this War over with and then focus Season 7 on the aftermath. Hell, you wouldn't have to change much either. Jadzia can still die doing her duty instead of being in the Bajoran shrine, Worf will still feel awkward around Ezri, Season 7 can really focus on the aftermath of the war and maybe fulfilling Sisko's original mission of bringing Bajor into the federation.

Season 6 did have great underrated episodes though. Sound of Her Voice was really reflexive, Inquisition was probably tied with The Quickening for Bashir's best episode, and that 6 episode opening arc was really well done. I just wish the writers would have really gone all out with the Dominion conflict and had maybe a 6 episode ending arc starting with In the Pale Moonlight to End the War.

As for Season 7, it's off to a pretty strong start. Image in the Sand and Shadows and Symbols are a decent opening (Even though bringing back Benny Russell and Quark joining the Klingon Mission might be misfires) but there are two episodes I do want to mention: Afterimage and Take me Out to the Holosuite.

Afterimage is a great Ezri episode and I say it was very necessary to have something like this as the third episode of the season. It establishes the new Dax, and it forces Worf to realize what an asshole he is. I always feel for her at the end, when she breaks down and cries. She's the outsider, she knows she can't fill Jadzia's shoes, and even her Job is not what it used to be.

The second episode was Take me Out to the Holosuite. This episode kind of starts Season 7 on the path of "Why are these episodes here when there is a war on" but it's still fun. I know everyone talks about Worf and death to the opposition and we will kill him, but my favorite moment in the entire episode is Odo quoting the rule book kicking Ben Sisko out of the game. I'm a baseball fan, and with Spring Training back today, I almost feel like this is the episode to watch before the start of any Baseball season. They really got a lot of the quirkiness of the game right, even though we didn't get a fake ball trick at first. I was a little surprised at that. Anyway, I love this episode, as a baseball fan.

Really looking forward to some of these episodes again, like Siege of AR-558, It's Only a Paper Moon (I actually met Eisenberg last year at the convention and we talked about this episode a lot), Tacking into the Wind, When it Rains..., Inter Arma Enim Silint Leges, and of course What you Leave Behind.
 
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