Re-Watching DS9

[Farscape One]

4 seems to be the magic number with seasons in the franchise, at least ones that reach that point. (Except DISCO season 4, though that was the only one that stuck the landing.)

TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT... all had their fourth season be their show's best. Even LOWER DECKS season 4 was the best one of that series.


This is why I'm hopeful that SNW's upcoming fourth season will be their best. Or at the very least, comparable to its first.

 

[Dar70]

4 seems to be the magic number with seasons in the franchise, at least ones that reach that point. (Except DISCO season 4, though that was the only one that stuck the landing.)

TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT... all had their fourth season be their show's best. Even LOWER DECKS season 4 was the best one of that series.


This is why I'm hopeful that SNW's upcoming fourth season will be their best. Or at the very least, comparable to its first.

I don't know man. After seeing that puppet clip I'm not hopeful. Don't forget the older shows had a longer filming hiatus between seasons. Steaming shows often film two seasons back to back with little to no break. So I'm pretty sure it's gonna be more of the same.

 

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- The Fourth Season
Part I: General Thoughts

An ambitious season that pulled off practically everything it set out to do. The season was bookended with the Changelings trying to destabilize the Alpha Quadrant and unfortunately doing a pretty good job of it. In the first episode, the Federation and the Klingons turn on each other. In the last episode, Sisko and crew think Gowron is a Changeling. In the middle, the Federation came this close to turning into a military dictatorship. To top it all off, Eddington is revealed to really be part of the Maquis and tells Sisko that the Federation is even worse than the Borg, "You assimilate people and they don't even know it." Everything's been shaken up. "Shaken, not stirred."

Cue the gun barrel. Amidst all of the upheaval, DS9 wasn't afraid to have some fun. Like with a James Bond spoof and an episode where the Ferengi end up being the aliens discovered at Area 51 back in 1947. "Baseball, root beer, darts... atom bombs!" A lot of black humor as well, like when Quark was paranoid about when or where Garak might kill him, after he asked him to.

The most prominent change was the addition of Worf, and this is where I have to bring up the elephant in the room. Even though Worf was added to DS9 to satisfy the demand for bringing in more TNG Fans who stopped watching, to be brutally honest, DS9 was moving pretty far away from TNG by this point. Almost all my friends who liked Star Trek only liked TNG. Maybe the TOS Movies. None of them, that I knew of, suddenly became DS9 Fans just because Worf was there. I would've loved it if they had, but it wasn't to be. On the other hand, I think it's just as well because Worf didn't become the main focus of DS9, he just happened to bring something to the table which already had a lot to begin with. And one of DS9's key strengths is how it contrasts itself to TNG.

It's amazing how many of these episodes came across to me as being ahead of their time. Make them HD, change the aspect ratio to 16:9, and adjust the color-grading, then some of these episodes would fit into the 21st Century quite well. "Rejoined" with its mature take on same-sex relationships and the "Homefront" & "Paradise Lost" two-parter confronting paranoia and showing the dangerous path toward dictatorship immediately come to mind. "Rules of Engagement" comes off as hard-edged military sci-fi that would've been right at home on Battlestar Galactica if everyone were Human or Cylon.

This season had the usual variety of episodes: Bajoran, Cardassian, Maquis, Ferengi, Klingons, Trill, the Maquis, the Mirror Universe, time travel, Torture O'Brien, you name it. But there was also a prominent trend throughout: turn as many characters as possible into outcasts! Worf becomes an outcast (again), Quark becomes an outcast, Dukat becomes an outcast, Ziyal's an outcast by default, Garak was already an outcast, Odo completely becomes an outcast, and Dax was this close to becoming an outcast!

I'll look at the characters one-by-one next, but that's for another post.

 

[Lord Garth]

Babylon 5 is no longer on Tubi. It's a damn good thing I bought the entire series on DVD.

Moral of the Story: Don't trust streaming services. One day your favorite show is on there. The next, it's gone! That's why I'm also glad I have all of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, PIC, and the first 10 Star Trek Movies on DVD or Blu-Ray. You never know.

 

[ichab]

Babylon 5 is no longer on Tubi. It's a damn good thing I bought the entire series on DVD.

Moral of the Story: Don't trust streaming services. One day your favorite show is on there. The next, it's gone! That's why I'm also glad I have all of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, PIC, and the first 10 Star Trek Movies on DVD or Blu-Ray. You never know.

In addition, it's a good idea to have them on physical media NOW because studios are dropping physical media. A lot aren't bothering with resupplying stock and then your only choice is ebay/ second hand market which can be very expensive.

 

[Elaise]

In addition, it's a good idea to have them on physical media NOW because studios are dropping physical media. A lot aren't bothering with resupplying stock and then your only choice is ebay/ second hand market which can be very expensive.

The second hand market I in my area is pretty cheap, I have gotten most of my 4k collection from it. As quart would say, and for a great bargain

 

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- The Fourth Season
Part II: The Main Characters (1st Part)

Looking at all the individual characters one-by-one, I'm going to run through them in order of who appears in the credits. Except for Jake. He'll be part of the Supporting Characters.

Sisko - Not quite as huge of a season for Sisko as Season 3, though he was a strong presence even in episodes where he wasn't the main focus. "Homefront" & "Paradise Lost", "Accession", "Shattered Mirror", and "For the Cause" are what I think of as his main episodes. Standing up to a Corrupt Admiral, establishing that he really wants to be Emissary, helping to keep the Terran Resistance going, and being put in a tough spot where one of his officers turns out to be a Maquis and Kassidy gets caught right in the middle of it. No, I haven't forgotten about "The Visitor", but I'll get to that when I get to Jake. I think where Season 3 showed a lot of character growth for Sisko, Season 4 is Sisko being Sisko in his prime. We see a lot of the Sisko/Kassidy relationship, Sisko being a father to Jake, and Sisko helping Worf with his transition to life on DS9. Nice to finally see where Sisko grew up in New Orleans as well!

Odo - Just like with Sisko, Season 3 was more of an Odo Season than Season 4. If anything, I'd say this season is the aftermath of "The Adversary" for Odo. In "The Way of the Warrior" and "Homefront" & "Paradise Lost", he's helping Deep Space Nine and Starfleet Command with training exercises for tracking down Changelings. In "Broken Link", he's tried by his fellow Changelings and turned into a solid. The other main Odo episodes this season were also follow-ups from previous seasons. "Crossfire" was a follow-up to Odo's feelings about Kira. "The Muse" had Odo helping Luxana, who -- after nine combined seasons of TNG and DS9 -- finally married and divorced someone, and had a new baby. But back to Odo. He's mostly making observations about solids and, early on, having some professional clashes with Worf about Security. Finally, all through the background, the sense that people might be prejudging him just because he's a Changeling.

Worf - DS9 had to take a TNG Character and turn him into a DS9 Character. In the process, Worf went through an ordeal. "The Way of the Warrior" quietly buried his relationship with Troi by setting up something potentially with Dax. Alexander was immediately established as being back on Earth with Worf's foster-parents. Then Worf was turned into an outcast again by being against invading Cardassia and siding against Gowron. He made an enemy of the Empire, the House of Mogh was dissolved, and Kurn was essentially "killed off" by erasing his memories and giving him a new identity. Bottom line: his entire life was turned upside down. Beyond that, he had to adjust to how different life on Deep Space Nine was compared to the Enterprise, how Odo handled things differently than he would've, and getting used to being in Command instead of Security/Tactical. Being the First Officer of the Defiant was a great way for Worf to gain more experience in command, which led to him having to deal with different types of personnel besides just Security ("Starship Down") and having to make tough calls with no easy answers ("Rules of Engagement"). His prominent episodes, where he was the focus of the either the A-Plot or the B-Plot, were "The Way of the Warrior", "Hippocratic Oath", "Starship Down", "The Sword of Kahless", "Sons of Mogh", "Bar Association", and "To the Death". Big Season for Worf.

To Be Continued...

 

[korblborp]

Babylon 5 is no longer on Tubi. It's a damn good thing I bought the entire series on DVD.

Moral of the Story: Don't trust streaming services. One day your favorite show is on there. The next, it's gone! That's why I'm also glad I have all of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, PIC, and the first 10 Star Trek Movies on DVD or Blu-Ray. You never know.

i was in the latter half of season 3 when they started doing this "one at a time" thing on YT and dropped it from prime and tubi. i do have b5 on disc but unfortunately the last time i watched them that way, they were real screwy, and several episodes were so unwatchable they froze the player up, like they were severely scratched but they arent...

 

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- The Fourth Season
Part II: The Main Characters (2nd Part)

Dax - It makes sense that after Worf, we talk about Dax. This season took where Dax was going before and went even further with it. First with "Rejoined", like with what happens if Dax wants to resume a relationship a previous host had? Then adding the twist that it's someone of the same gender. I think early on in the fourth season was the latest time they could do this, before they got too far along in setting up such a close friendship with Worf that you think they might become romantically involved. Given Dax's history with the Klingons, and light of "Blood Oath", it made sense that Worf and Dax would click together right from "The Way of the Warrior". Later on, she's the one who goes alongside Worf on a quest ("The Sword of Kahless") and explainins his actions to others ("Sons of Mogh"). Then she develops a rapport with one of the Jem'Hadar in "To the Death", and the is the only one to do so other than Sisko. So, I would say they really focused on the warrior or warrior-adjacent aspect of Dax this season. She still gives advice to Sisko, however. Her friendship with Bashir develops deeper as a friendship, and she's a huge help for him in "The Quickening". Her quips and one-liners went up this season. She was a strong supporting character throughout the season, but it came at the cost of having more episodes devoted primarily to her.

O'Brien - What a season for O'Brien! He's a fast friend for Worf given that they know each other from the Enterprise. But he also has to set Bashir straight when he gets too sympathetic for the Jem'Hadar in "Hippocratic Oath". Then, after half a season of having several great scenes but never being the main focus, he gets hit with the Ultimate Torture O'Brien Episode: "Hard Time". Everything else before that was the calm before the storm. An episode so intense and then it's never mentioned again. Then he gets hit with "Body Parts" where his unborn son is transferred from Keiko's womb to Kira's womb. That's messed up! Long story short, O'Brien doesn't get the main focus much, but when he gets it, it really counts!

Quark - "Come to Quark's! Quark's is fun! Don't walk, run!" Quark spends most of the season trying to be the most Ferengi Ferengi he can be. At least outwardly. But what he says in "The Way of the Warrior" foreshadows what happens to him in the penultimate episode of the season: "Body Parts". He talks about how vile, bubbly, and happy the Federation is but after a while you start to like it. Then, after Brunt completely outcast him from Ferengi Society in "Body Parts", the DS9 crew -- i.e. The Federation -- are the ones who help to put Quark's bar back together. In-between those episodes came "Bar Association" where Quark gives in this worker's demands behind Brunt's back. Despite warming up to the Federation, he's against Nog joining Starfleet. But he starts to begrudgingly gain some respect for Rom, who formed the Union in "Bar Association" and then quit the bar to become a Bajoran Officer as an Engineer. My favorite episode with Quark this season, though, was "Little Green Men" where he, Rom, Nog, and Odo end up in 1947, and they turn out to be the Area 51 aliens! That was hilarious! So, a good season for Quark.

To Be Continued...

 

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- The Fourth Season
Part II: The Main Characters (3rd Part)

Bashir - Each episode where Bashir had focus brought out a different aspect of the character. "Hippocratic Oath" showed how much Bashir wants to help the Jem'Hadar and how much wants to cure them of their addiction to Ketrecel White. He believes so much in his ideals that it puts him at odds with O'Brien, even though they make up later. "The Quickening" takes that drive to another level, where he's determined to stay on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant for weeks, not being satisfied until he finds some type of cure. "Starship Down" and, to a lesser extent, "Rejoined" reinforce that Bashir and Dax are just good friends. Which I think the writers wanted established early on in the season, so they could bit-by-bit grow the relationship between Worf and Dax without having to worry about Bashir. "Hard Time" really puts into focus how much Bashir wants to help his friend, O'Brien, as he's going through extreme PTSD. And "Our Man Bashir" puts a focus on Bashir's holosuite programs front-and-center with a timely spoof on James Bond. I'm pretty sure that episode came out the same month as Goldeneye. Part of me wishes we could've seen Bashir and O'Brien's holosuite programs where they're aviators, but I like the running gag that we never get to see those. I'd call it a stable season for Bashir.

Kira - When I ran through the list of episodes, I found that Kira had a lot more focus than I realized. "Indiscretion" and "Return to Grace" have Kira very reluctantly working with Dukat but she takes his daughter, Ziyal, under her wing. One core thing about Kira is that she doesn't take nonsense from anyone, and that luckily still comes through, no matter what the situation with the Cardassians happens to be at the moment. "Starship Down" addresses Sisko keeping Kira at arm's length, and ends with Sisko inviting Kira to a baseball game. It also got down to how Kira had really seen Sisko: as the Emissary. The only issue I take with that is I don't think Kira would've argued with Sisko so much earlier on in the series if she revered him so much, so it must've been something that gradually came to her. In "Accession", when another Emissary arrives, she embraces him, until he tries to make her live a life she doesn't want, since there was such a strict caste system on Bajor before the Occupation. So, that makes Kira accept Sisko as the Emissary even more. "Crossfire" sets up Kira's romantic relationship with Shakaar. I think they work as a couple... And then "Body Parts" comes along and gives Kira Keiko's baby! That's never not going to feel weird! So, Season 4 ends with Kira in a situation that goes completely against how she'd been the rest of the season, as a woman with a life of her own. Now she has to live a domestic life with the O'Briens. I have to wonder how Shakaar feels about all of this.

And with that, I've covered all the Main Characters this season. Sorry I had to break it up into three posts over three days, but I consider that to be a good thing. There was so much character work done this season that I really had to take the time to think about everything they'd been through. There was so much focus on the characters themselves that this season is the first time I'll be having a category devoted to just the Supporting Characters and that'll be coming up next.

 

[Poltargyst]

Dax - She was a strong supporting character throughout the season, but it came at the cost of having more episodes devoted primarily to her.

Why is more episodes devoted to Dax a "cost"?

 

[Lord Garth]

Why is more episodes devoted to Dax a "cost"?

I identified a lot more episodes where she was either supporting another main character like Worf or Bashir than episodes that were focused squarely on her. I think there could've been more episodes where she was either the sole focus or the sole focus of an A-Plot. The only one from the fourth season looks to be "Rejoined". I think there's a difference between a Dax Episode and a Dax & Worf Episode.

Obviously, I enjoyed what we got (look at how I rated everything), but I'm still going to point out where there's room for improvement as it occurs to me.

 

[Poltargyst]

I identified a lot of episodes where she was either supporting another main character like Worf or Bashir than episodes that were focused squarely on her. I think there could've been more episodes where she was either the sole focus or the sole focus of an A-Plot. The only one from the fourth season looks to be "Rejoined". I think there's a difference between a Dax Episode and a Dax & Worf Episode.

Obviously, I enjoyed what we got (look at how I rated everything), but I'm still going to point out where there's room for improvement as it occurs to me.

Oh I took it the other way, like having more Dax-focused episodes was a bad thing.

 

[Lord Garth]

Oh I took it the other way, like having more Dax-focused episodes was a bad thing.

Glad to clear things up!

 

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fourth Season
Part III: The Supporting Characters

I'm not going to cover everyone, just the people who stood out and who I have the most to say about. So, who's in this category will change from season-to-season.

Jake - This season leaned heavily into Jake being the writer. Definitely in "The Visitor" and also in "The Muse". The transition from kid to young adult is complete, even with Odo telling Jake he's free to enjoy the view of the Promenade and isn't going to chase him off. After Nog goes off to Starfleet Academy, Jake doesn't have anyone to interact with except his father, and Mirror Jennifer in "Shattered Mirror". So, not as much for Jake to do this season. But he did have "The Visitor", one of the most powerful episodes of the season, showing how far he was willing to go to retrieve his father.

Garak - They really have fun with Garak having been a spy this season. First alongside Bashir, telling him how it's really done in "Our Man Bashir". Then later on when Quark wants to find a way to die in "Body Parts" and not see it coming. He's the character with a lot of the best lines. Garak's exchanges with Drex in "The Way of the Warrior" and commenting on it afterwards being the prime example. When he gets a chance to try to wipe out the Changeling Homeworld in "Broken Link", he takes it. Some more lunches with Bashir. We see the beginning of a friendship with Ziyal, which makes sense since they're the only Cardassians on DS9 and have nowhere else to go.

Dukat - Like Worf, Dukat's had his life turned completely upside down. It looked like a big enough change that was Military Advisor to the Detapa Council, but then he discovers his long-lost half-Bajoran daughter Ziyal, his family disowns him and he loses everything. Then, when the Cardassians won't stand up to the Klingons, he fights Klingons himself in a Klingon ship and brings Ziyal along. He's now in constant danger. When Kira takes in Ziyal, who's no warrior, to live on Deep Space Nine, I think Dukat sees Kira as a lifeline. She'll keep his daughter safe, and now it's an excuse to be part of Kira's life. Otherwise, Dukat's constantly fighting the Klingons, he's in a terrible situation, and it makes sense why he would make the desperate moves to makes later on in the series to get back into a powerful position. This season was the first major turning point for Dukat.

Nog - We don't get to see too much of Nog, which is understandable since he's at Starfleet Academy, but I'm glad they didn't just write him out of the show except for the occasional guest-appearance like they did with Wesley when he left for the Academy. We even get to see a little bit of Nog's life at the Academy in "Homefront".

Rom - This was a huge season for Rom. Not just standing up to Quark but forming a Union and becoming an Engineer for DS9. "When did you get to be so smart?" Quark asks. "I've always been this smart, I just lacked self-confidence," says Rom.

Morn - When Morn wasn't busy doing what he does, he was at Quark's. In fact, I'm at Quark's right now, and I'm going to ask Morn about how things were for him this season. So, Morn, what can you tells us? Wait, don't get up. Don't go... Morn's off with flirting with another Dabo Girl. I'll ask him later.

And that's it for the Supporting Characters. Next up, some the Big Picture of Season 4, then it'll be a wrap, and onto Season 5!

 

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- The Fourth Season
Part IV: The Big Picture

On the surface it looks like Season 4 is spread out pretty far: Klingons one week, the Dominion the next, the Maquis after that, then the Ferengi, the Bajorans, the Cardassians, etc. They're not as thoroughly connected as they would become later on, but I noticed that one has an effect on the other who has an effect on another still.

Bajorans --> Federation --> Dominion --> Klingons --> Cardassians --> Maquis

The Bajorans invite the Federation to have Starfleet run Deep Space Nine and provide protection. They discover the Wormhole. The Federation starts exploring the Gamma Quarant. The Dominion tell them to stay on their side the Wormhole and then start trying to weaken the Alpha Quadrant. One big part of that is having everyone paranoid of the Changelings. That leads the Klingons to invade the Cardassians. This jeopardizes peace with the Federation, but also weakens the Cardassians, which in turn empowers the Maquis. That's the throughline.

When looked at from a distance, the fourth season is like seeing a string of dominoes on their way to finishing their collapse.

At the beginning and end of the chain above are the Bajorans and the Maquis. What do they have in common? They've both fought the Cardassians. In retrospect, all of it points to the Cardassians being as much of an enemy as the Dominion.

I didn't forget about the Ferengi in the string above, but they're coming at the Dominion from a different direction, outside of this whole sequence, since they just want to do business with them. Thus giving the Ferengi a completely different point-of-view from everyone else when it comes to the Dominion; especially the Federation.

I've seen other reviewers comment on how the fourth season shifted focus away from the Bajorans, Cardassians, and Maquis. I disagree. I don't think the fourth season shifted focus away from them. It expanded its focus, which meant that with an expanded focus that some things that had more focus would have less focus this season, especially if the new pieces added to the puzzle needed attention to establish how they fit into DS9's deep canvas. As the characters deepened, so too did the Alpha Quadrant itself. Which couldn't have been done elsewhere since the TNG Movies only came out every two years and VOY was in the Delta Quadrant, thus making it something only DS9 could do.

There's not too much more to say other than DS9's expanded focus gave the season a lot of variety, so there was no chance you'd get bored watching the same thing every week. There was also no chance for anything to sag. There was no mid-season slump this year. At no point did the season feel like it was spinning its wheels. Episodes that were less eventful felt like a breather between more eventful or significant ones. I feel like everything this season added something.

Looking forward to finally starting the fifth season, this upcoming week!

 

[WarpCore]

i was in the latter half of season 3 when they started doing this "one at a time" thing on YT and dropped it from prime and tubi. i do have b5 on disc but unfortunately the last time i watched them that way, they were real screwy, and several episodes were so unwatchable they froze the player up, like they were severely scratched but they arent...

The actual data is stored on the inside of the top film. That can simply break down over time without physical damage to it. Could also be your player. Laser or reader could be dirty or a chip or cap inside worn over time. You'd know by trying other media and you probably have.

That to say, DVDs and Blu-ray definitely don't last forever, regardless if they're burned or stamped. Rip them ASAP in my opinion if you still can. Legality of format shifting or space shifting varies country to country.

 

[Lord Garth]

The actual data is stored on the inside of the top film. That can simply break down over time without physical damage to it. Could also be your player. Laser or reader could be dirty or a chip or cap inside worn over time. You'd know by trying other media and you probably have.

That to say, DVDs and Blu-ray definitely don't last forever, regardless if they're burned or stamped. Rip them ASAP in my opinion if you still can. Legality of format shifting or space shifting varies country to country.

Fortunately, the B5 DVDs I bought play fine. So, I shouldn't have anything to worry about on my end for the purposes of this thread. If I do run into problems, I already have a contingency plan in place. One way or another, I'm seeing this through to The End.

Funny thing: the last time I watched B5, there was a Blizzard. The next time I'll watch B5 (this week), it'll be following another Blizzard. It takes picking up where I left off to a new level.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Sisko - Not quite as huge of a season for Sisko as Season 3, though he was a strong presence even in episodes where he wasn't the main focus. "Homefront" & "Paradise Lost", "Accession", "Shattered Mirror", and "For the Cause" are what I think of as his main episodes. Standing up to a Corrupt Admiral, establishing that he really wants to be Emissary, helping to keep the Terran Resistance going, and being put in a tough spot where one of his officers turns out to be a Maquis and Kassidy gets caught right in the middle of it. No, I haven't forgotten about "The Visitor", but I'll get to that when I get to Jake. I think where Season 3 showed a lot of character growth for Sisko, Season 4 is Sisko being Sisko in his prime. We see a lot of the Sisko/Kassidy relationship, Sisko being a father to Jake, and Sisko helping Worf with his transition to life on DS9. Nice to finally see where Sisko grew up in New Orleans as well!

I need to disagree here most strenuously, at least in terms of assessment. The things you point to are major developments for the character. Or to take Sisko's own words, "it was a big step." As much as onboarding Worf took up a lot of stories, Sisko was clearly in charge. Indeed, I'd say that Way of the Warrior was more about showing Sisko as a strong leader and a romantic lead. Moreover, the episode, and others, makes clear that he is not merely reacting to events around him, he makes decisions that have consequences. And he gets a family in the way he didn't in previous seasons. The scene he was with Kasidy in WOTW is incredibly sexy, but far more than the casual relationship shown in the third season. Strangely enough, he takes on all these feminine attributes, using cooking to win her heart, while being entirely masculine. The betrayal he feels in For the Cause goes right to the heart of how he sees his family life. (It is not lost to me that the uncomfortable scene he has with Jake--"This is what is important"--gets mirrored at the end of Rapture.) The father he gets is formidable, played by a actor who can hit above Brooks' weight and who challenges Sisko without losing his charm. Finally, he accepts the mantle of Emissary to the Prophets--his religious destiny--completely and unequivocably. Even as when he has few scenes, Sisko's weight is felt. I credit Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who seems to have grown as a writing during this period, capably balancing multiple stories within the same episode.

 

[TomEvans]

I think my post was getting too long. It wouldn't let me post the rest. I could've sworn I've made longer posts before, but anyway, better safe than sorry. Continuing on.

The first scene between Sisko and Dax gives a pretty sense of the Dax character. She's wise but not above-it-all. She can be down-to-Earth, or rather down-to-Bajor, and is spiritual without being religious. She's the Science Officer. That makes her a contrast to Kira who's not down-to-Earth and is religious but never got a chance to get in touch with her spirituality. It's not something we see right here, but I think Dax and Kira will symbolize Science and Religion getting along and working together. As far as Dax and Sisko, I think their friendship is an example of how friendship can endure from one lifetime to the next. Definitely a sci-fi/fantasy concept, but also religious and especially if you believe in reincarnation. Jadzia isn't a reincarnation of Curzon but Jadzia Dax is as close to reincarnation, relative to Curzon Dax, as this series will get. "I'm still the same old Dax. More or less."

When Kira and Bashir have their scene together, it's crazy to think of how Bashir sounded. Kira's been through Hell. All her life. She didn't want this. She didn't want any of this. Then Bashir waltzes in and says, "I wanted this! This is where the adventure is! This is where heroes are made!" Yeah. Definitely the right thing to say right in front of Kira...

I liked seeing the flashback when the Dax symbiont was transferred from Jadzia to Curzon. It gave a face to associate with Curzon whenever Sisko calls Jazia, "Old Man."

When O'Brien briefly visits the Enterprise to say goodbye, I appreciated the moment O'Brien got to have with Picard and it contrasted with Sisko. O'Brien actually knows Picard. In my head-canon, I think O'Brien wanted to say goodbye properly before he started his assignment on DS9 but didn't have time, they needed him right away. He didn't have time almost the entire time the Enterprise was docked at the station, and it was important to him to say his goodbyes will he still had a chance, before the Enterprise left.

Then as soon as the Enterprise leaves, Dukat shows up. Seeing him walk right in. Wow. We had no idea at the time... but you can see how slimy and untrustworthy he was even here. "I miss this office. I wasn't happy to leave it." Right there, from Day One! It was planted right there! The opening arc of DS9 Season 6 where Dukat had regained control of the station was inevitable. It was always there.

When Dukat asks Sisko what he thinks of Kai Opaka, you can just tell Dukat's met Opaka before. If it hasn't already happened in a novel set before the series, that's a story just waiting to be told. And maybe it has, it's been over 30 years. But, if it hasn't, it should.

Anyway, we've now had all our character introductions. Sisko and Dax have found the Denorios Belt, and they're on their way to find the Gateway to the Celestial Temple. This is where I'm going to stop things for now. The next part, I'm going to go at-length about, and I want to be wide-awake when I do it. Right now, in my time zone, it's 2:45 AM as of this typing and I'm getting tired.

Night everyone! I won't go this in-depth with episodes after "Emissary", but I wanted to get off the ground on a solid foundation, going into my take on everything the pilot introduced.

You would think that there would be a Starfleet astrophysicist assigned to the station, to study this new phenom... instead of some boring doctor.