New Appreciation for the First Season!

[Red Ranger]

People,

I've been catching some of the eps from the first season of DSN, and I've revised my opinion a bit. While a lot of folks generally find S1 a bit uneven -- a criticism I still somewhat agree with -- the really good eps stand out.

I also hold that DSN didn't really "take off" till the Dominion became a real threat. But in S1, the eps that were most effective were the ones dealing with the Gamma Quadrant. It gave S1 the feel of an anthology. And the eps enforced the idea that the Gamma Quadrant was quite a different place than the Alpha Quadrant.

Aside from Emissary, arguably one of the best series openers ever of all ST shows, my two other favorites were Captive Pursuit and Move Along Home. Whether it was a society built around hunting a species genetically engineered for that purpose, or a culture that seemed to place innocent people in danger just for the sake of a game, both showed the unusual attitudes of people from the Gamma Quadrant.

Now, after the Dominion showed up, that eerie sense of mystery was eventually eliminated. From that point on, the only other Gamma Quadrant people we saw had something to do with the Dominion. It's a bit of a shame, but it was inevitable as we found out more about the shape of the cultures inhabiting the Gamma Quadrant.

What do you all think?

Red Ranger

 

[TrekAlliance92]

I really enjoy S1 of DS9, and it's always cool to run into another fan of "Move Along Home," which I still find one of my favorite DS9 episodes. (Yes, I prefer it to "Far Beyond the Stars" and "In The Pale Moonlight," sue me :P) I like the more Trek-like vibe, and especially what I feel DS9 should have been more about TNG-in-reverse, with aliens/threats/anomalies/etc. coming to the station peppered with occasional runabout/other starship missions.

Other episodes I really enjoy from this season were "Q-Less," a worthy Q episode, "Babel," a great medical plot, and "Dramatis Personae," a classic alien-mind-warp plot. And, yes, "Captive Pursuit" was great too.

 

[Damask]

What I really like about the first season is the station itself. The dark despressing thing that just seems to be a new world in itself. I love the early seasons for their focus on the interal DS9 stuff. I love the Dominion War but love the station more. It's like a character in itself.

 

[3D Master]

The thing is, that the hunter species and there prey ARE Dominion species. (Or at least were meant to be, but since it was never contradicted, we can still assume they were so.)

Notice how the prey, Tosk, is essentially a weaker version of the Jem'Hadar. Same skin, same reptilian concept, same shrouding ability.

The idea was, that Tosk was something the founders gave the hunters as a 'thank you' for services rendered.

Anyway; the Dominion is a large conglomerate of species like the Federation. They'd be the anti-Federation. Like the Federation, we originally were going to see a myriad of species as crews for the Dominion fleet. The Hunter species, would have been one of them.

 

[Red Ranger]

The thing is, that the hunter species and there prey ARE Dominion species. (Or at least were meant to be, but since it was never contradicted, we can still assume they were so.)

Notice how the prey, Tosk, is essentially a weaker version of the Jem'Hadar. Same skin, same reptilian concept, same shrouding ability.

The idea was, that Tosk was something the founders gave the hunters as a 'thank you' for services rendered.

Anyway; the Dominion is a large conglomerate of species like the Federation. They'd be the anti-Federation. Like the Federation, we originally were going to see a myriad of species as crews for the Dominion fleet. The Hunter species, would have been one of them.

Well, far be it from me to invoke the dreaded canon word, but I must! Sure, we can infer that the hunter species was probably a part of the Dominion, or at the very least, has some kind of relationship with the Dominion. But this was never explicitly stated.

We did see several major species from the Gamma Quadrant who were either part of the Dominion or had some ties to them, most notably the Founders, the Vorta, and the Jem'hadar.

Other species like the Karemma and the Dosai did business with the Dominion. We're not sure if the Wadi were part of the Dominion, though.
So for the most part, we did see that the Dominion was a multi-species anti-Federation.

Red Ranger

 

[ToddKent]

I remember really enjoying season one when it first aired. It really felt like they were trying something different. It had an eerie vibe to. I also remember being interested because several cast member weren't Starfleet offices (Kira, Odo, Quark, even Jake). I thought it gave the show a different dynamic.

I also think "Move Along Home" gets a bad rap. When Odo yells, "Well, I'm not in Starfleet!" and illegally boards the alien ship it made me think that this show was going to go in different direction than the first two.

Odo had more of an edge in the earlier seasons that I think he lost as the series progressed. He went from a badass to the guy who pines for Kira and whines about his people in the later seasons.

 

[SoM]

By far and away the best episode of DS9 S1 was Duet (for me, it's one of the best eps in the whole show). Second-best was In the Hands of the Prophets (making a strong one-two punch to end the first series).

Once those two are out the way, nothing really leaps out as particularly good - I recall Progress, Past Prologue and The Nagus, but they were decent rather than great eps.

 

[PorthosShadow]

Obviously season one isn't the best season in DS9's run but it wasn't all that bad and if it gets low marks its mainly because it had alot of stand
episodes which is expected and not a major detraction. It still had a hand full of good ones...

1. "The Emisseary" - I'm with others, this the best Trek pilot in so far.
2. "Move Along Home" - "Its only a game" is the best one liner in DS9.
3. "Battlelines" - Its a really good science fiction themed story.
4. "Progress" - One of the first good Kira centric episodes.
5. "Dramatis Persona" An absolute riot to see our heros as pirates, arrr!
6. "Duet" Hands down, the best of the season. Deep emotions and story.
7. "In The Hands Of The Prophets" - Religion in Star Trek, theres an idea.

 

[Tachyon]

I like the first season a lot. It had many well written episodes.