Favorite 'Little' Moments Of DS9...

Don’t forget snark— nobody does snark better than Garak

 

Be sure to get your daily dose of Quark Snark as well!

 

Quark snark

 

One great Garak bit I don't think has been mentioned yet is when he's regaling Odo with tales of his year as a gardener on Romulus in "Broken Link."

GARAK: My specialty was Edosian orchids. Beautiful, but highly toxic.
ODO: As I recall, Proconsul Merrok was poisoned.
GARAK: Funny, I don't remember that. But then again, so many Romulan dignitaries died unexpectedly that year...

I have watched that final scene of "Image In The Sand", the Ezri intro, a million times. I just find it so beautiful and moving.

I also love during the final arc, when Worf seeks Ezri's counsel on the situation with Gowron, and she has an awesomely blunt & concise deconstruction of the whole thing.

EZRI: The Klingon Empire is dying, and I think it deserves to die. I see a society that is in deep denial about itself. We're talking about a warrior culture that prides itself on maintaining centuries old traditions of honor and integrity, but in reality it's willing to accept corruption at the highest levels. Who was the last leader of the High Council that you respected? Has there even been one? And how many times have you had to cover up the crimes of Klingon leaders because you were told it was for the good of the Empire?

And she's right -- they did in fact have to do that constantly throughout 11 years of Klingon storytelling! And I never put it together till Ezri blew up their spot in the final act.

It's in a widely disliked episode, but I love the way Armin Shimmerman plays this realization in "Ferengi Love Songs":

ISHKA: So how come you're still here, Quark? You should be back on Deep Space Nine, celebrating your victory. You've proven yourself a true Ferengi. You've betrayed friends and family for personal gain.
QUARK: It sounds so good when you say it.
ISHKA: But?
QUARK: I think I've been hanging around humans too long. I think I'm developing a...
ISHKA: Conscience?
QUARK: It's been coming for a long time. I've fought against it, I really have. But living with those people day in and day out, being exposed to their ethics, their morality. It's like I've been brainwashed!

 

In Sacrifice of Angels when the Defiant is breaking through the Dominion line and the Klingons come charging and blasting the enemy, the look on Garak’s face: his expression of joy is like a kid on Christmas morning. Worf is his new bff!

 

Just rewatched Emissary again. Not any particular moment, but those first scenes are really good in establishing how alien and uncomfortable the place is to Sisko at that moment - walking along the promenade seeing an Bajoran monk warily eying him, seeing those dead Bajorans killed at the last possible instant by the leaving Cardassians, meeting Quark who is a completely unknown factor (he could have been every bit as ruthless as other Ferengi seen up until that point), meeting Kira who seems more aggressive and angry than is wise, even for her own good...

 

Sisko: Hammock Time!

 

- Bashir and Garak discussing Shakespeare over lunch.

- Worf's 'you fight well -- for a tailor'.

- Weyoun, Sisko and Dukat sitting together in Quark's. The whole scene is great, especially the moment when Weyoun drinks that toxic stuff.

 

I saw that a half dozen times? before noticing that line... a groan but a groan can be enjoyable...

Emissary comes across as a sort of film. Everything is heightened, more significant, more emotional. When the regular episodes get underway, suddenly everything is more detached.

 

Interesting observation. Never had that thought that explicitly, but I think it's correct.

I suppose in Emissary the alienness of the station is an integral part of the story being told, and it can be safely done so since it is still only the pilot episode.

It is, however, slightly ad odds with the more general Trek formula 'here we are coasting along in an unknown, dangerous area in this little relatively safe haven we call our ship that feels like our temporary home, and then something happens to challenge or imperil us'. In a way, all other series conforms somewhat to that, even if they are in the midst of enemy territory, such as in Voyager or 3rd season Enterprise. So the station had to feel like 'home' relatively quickly, and let the threatening 'alienness' be found on Bajor and its conflicts, the Gamma quadrant, but not as status quo on the station - as an individual emerging crisis at best (station hit by an ion storm, station hit by an unknown virus or unknown defense programs stored in Cardassian computers, etc).

I suppose they could have been still bolder and presented the station as an alien place where Starfleet officers didn't feel at ease for much longer. That would have made for an interesting series, but perhaps the leap from the standard in a single series would have been too big - DS9 stepped far enough out of the standard formula as it was. But perhaps such a thing could have been done in a new Trek series after people had grown accustomed to DS9.

 

When Vic tells Nog that the only real thing in the whole scenario is Nog.
When Weyoun asks the female shapeshifter if Odo is coming with them and the look in his eyes when she says no.
When Dukat tells Sisko that he forgives him too and gives him back the baseball and the look in Sisko’s eyes.
To name a few.

 

Okay, good one... I think there's been far too much coddling of Trek fans who supposedly need things comfortable, easy, and familiar. Is this Star Trek or isn't it? Drop them in the deep end, but do it in a riveting way that holds onto viewers. I now love the idea of a weirded out Sisko and son, who find nothing easy or comforting at DS9 for many episodes. I'm all for denying viewers comfort...

 

Kira with Quark’s head in the holosuite and the reaction afterwards with Kira watching.

 

Just reminded of this one:
In Badda-bing Badda- bang, after the caper has been successfully pulled off, Miles rejoins the rest of them after his “”strip search.” Bashir says, “Where have you been?” and Miles says, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

 

Were the holosuite's safeties off … or on?

 

"A Simple Investigation", Kira and Dax gossiping about Odo and Arissa. It makes the station a 'lived in' place, where these people live and work with each other every day, care about what's going on in their lives and talk about all the minutia that goes on in life.

 

While Dax and Kira are gossiping, Sisko comes down and Dax tells him Odo spent the night with a woman. Sisko says, “That’s nice.” They both give him a look and he adds uncertainly, “isn’t it?”

 

Nana in the flapper outfit when Odo takes her on their anniversary date in "The Sound of Her Voice"

 

One of my favorite scenes in all of television, not just DS9 and Star Trek is at the end of Heart of Stone when Sisko confronts Nog, demanding to know why Nog keeps hounding him to become is apprentice so he can join Starfleet and Nog just breaks down and explains its because he doesnt want to end up like his father. That scene is the spark of why Nog is one of my favorite characters.