"Explorers"
I'm making progress! Sisko has a goatee, Jake got a fellowship, Leeta's first appearance, O'Brien "doesn't hate" Bashir ("now I don't... not hate you!"), and Jake tries to hook his father up with Kassidy Yates.
"A freighter Captain?!" We've also begun the phase in the series where they tried to make Dukat seem not-so-bad. And yes, I first came online about a year after this episode aired, and people were actually thinking maybe he wasn't so bad. Little did they know... but that's getting ahead of myself!
The A-Story: The Ancient Bajoran Ship. I liked seeing Sisko build it. I liked Jake deciding to go along even though he didn't really want to. I wouldn't have minded knowing more about Jake's story. And good on them proving it was possible for the Bajorans to achieve interstellar travel the way they did. I don't know how believable it is, but I don't care.
The B-Story: Watching Bashir and O'Brien get drunk was great fun. Bashir finally meeting up with the Valedictorian of his class at Starfleet Medical went how I would've expected. And nice to see that Bashir ended up getting the better assignment on Deep Space Nine.
To quote Jake, "What better place to gain experience than Deep Space Nine?"
I give it a 9.
Highlight of the Episode: When Jake had his father going for a split-second about joining the Maquis.