Faranight watches DS9

[Faranight]

I got a bit inspired by Trentman359's thread where he chronicled his viewing of DS9 and thought I would do the same At first I thought I'd just reply in his thread but I guess it's a bit too much of a hijack, so I'll just make my own instead.

Feel free to reply to any of my comments or just discuss the episodes.

I usually watch one or two episodes per day depending on workload, but since I watch the episodes in story-chronological order I usually alternate between two series and thus watch an episode of each series every day or two.

I'm currently at the beginning of season 3 and will thus start from there.
I've watched the whole series once before a few years ago but don't really remember much of the details.
I hope I'll have the time to finish this through

Here we go then:

S03E01-02 Search part I and II:


Pt I: Sisko takes an untested Starfleet warship into the Gamma Quadrant in an attempt to find the Founders of the Dominion. (Season Premiere)

Pt II: On his homeworld, Odo learns about his people; Sisko discovers that the price of peace with the Dominion may be too high; The Founders learn that the only way they are going to take over the Alpha Quadrant is by eventually fighting a war.


These two episodes together with the last one in season 2 are the basis for the the rest of the series and mark the start of the "good part" in my opinion. We get to see the first (well, almost first) glimpses of the new badguys who quite clearly show their hostile intentions towards any alpha quadrant species trying to enter the gamma quadrant. We also get to see the new federation warship, the Defiant, which will play an important part in the series.

I've seen these episodes once before in my previous viewing a couple of years ago, but can't say I really remembered much at all. Maybe the few memories I had spoiled it a bit, because I didn't think this episode was at all as exciting as I thing the producers had wanted it to be. It is after all a two parter with the crew getting split up in a battle where they meet a superior enemy. The ending was pretty predictable and not very unique from a sci-fi point of view.

On the character development side we get to see a whole lot about Odo and his background. I can't say I really liked Odo in these two episodes as he behaved quite strangely. Granted he was pissed off at Starfleet and under emotional pressure about his background, but I still feel he acted too irrationally for a man in his position.

Overall it's still two nice episodes that initiates the better part of the series.

S03E03 - House of Quark

After Quark lies about killing a Klingon in his bar, the dead man's widow abducts Quark to the Klingon homeworld to marry him.

I found this episode quite a lot more enjoyable than I remembered it (I've watched DS9 once about two years ago or so).
Even though Quark was pretty much forced to do what he did he at the same time showed both kindness and bravery. He is absolutely one of my favorite characters so far.

His Klingon wife also showed some of the nicer sides of Klingons and not just anger and violence :P. And she was hot too , probably the cutest Klingon I've seen so far.

About the Keiko story ... I felt it was a bit weird that she had to close the school just because all students except Jake and Nog had left the station due to the Dominion incident in the previous episode. I mean, it's not like she has to worry about the economic issues. Teaching seemed to be one of her passions and she could probably have continued doing it. Oh well, since botany is her main profession the new job on Bajor might be better for her.

More posts to follow as I watch more episodes.

 

[DevilEyes]

These two episodes together with the last one in season 2 are the basis for the the rest of the series and mark the start of the "better part" in my opinion.

Fixed.

"The House of Quark" is not just the only Quark-centric episodes that I count among my favourite DS9 episodes, it is also one of the few Klingon episodes I really like. It showed that Ferengi, like Klingons, don't have to be used as one-dimensional representations of a particular trait. The only Klingon episodes I ever liked in TNG/DS9 were those that showed their society in a more complex way, and revealed that not all Klingons are as honor-bound as Worf and that honor and tradition are often just catchphrases that the power-hungry, or the greedy, use to get what they want. This one has a particularly interesting perspective on things, by letting Quark expose the greedy Klingon's hypocrisy, and Quark really has a grand moment that earns him the deserved praise as as "brave Ferengi", showing the Klingons that courage is not about being big, strong and able to fight.

If I remember it right, Quark had an interesting dialogue during the "Search" trilogy, when he talks to Sisko and makes good points about human prejudice towards Ferengi. The writers seemed to have realized at this point that Ferengis can be written as something more than just a stereotype and comic relief.

 

[Faranight]

These two episodes together with the last one in season 2 are the basis for the the rest of the series and mark the start of the "better part" in my opinion.

Fixed.

Ah your absolutely right. I don't know why I wrote like I did, cause I really enjoyed the first two seasons while watching them.

"The House of Quark" is not just the only Quark-centric episodes that I count among my favourite DS9 episodes, it is also one of the few Klingon episodes I really like. It showed that Ferengi, like Klingons, don't have to be used as one-dimensional representations of a particular trait. The only Klingon episodes I ever liked in TNG/DS9 were those that showed their society in a more complex way, and revealed that not all Klingons are as honor-bound as Worf and that honor and tradition are often just catchphrases that the power-hungry, or the greedy, use to get what they want.This one has a particularly interesting perspective on things, but letting Quark expose the greedy Klingon's hypocrisy, and Quark really has a grand moment that earns him the deserved praise as as "brave Ferengi", showing the Klingons that courage is not about being big, strong and able to fight.

If I remember it right, Quark had an interesting dialogue during the "Search" trilogy, when he talks to Sisko and makes good points about human prejudice towards Ferengi. The writers seemed to have realized at this point that Ferengis can be written as something more than just a stereotype and comic relief.

If I remember correctly from my last DS9-watchthrough I wasn't very fond of the ferengi centered episodes, but since I've enjoyed both the two episodes so far I'm looking forward to watching them again and am pretty sure I'll like them more this time around.

 

[Faranight]

S03E04 - Equilibrium

Jadzia Dax is plagued by disturbing hallucinations that allude to the dark past of the Dax symbiont.

A Dax-background episode where we get to know a bit more about the Trill and also about their more dark side. I don't know if it is only the impression I had got from other episodes, but I always thought about the Trill as a somewhat more morally and ethically "superior" people - so it was nice to get to see the backside in this episode.

If you like Terry Farrell this is a really nice episode with a lot of scenes were she is a bit more casual than normal. There are also a lot of shots which show what a beautiful woman Terry really is .

We also get a first hint about Kira maybe thinking of Odo in a more "more-than-friend" way when we get a short awkward moment when Kira calls Odo cute while he is trying to do a bit of cooking.
There is also a scene in this episode showing Jadzia Dax in a more affectionate way with Bashir than she usually shows.

Overall a nice episode.

 

[Faranight]

S03E05 - Second Skin

Kira is kidnapped by the Cardassians, who try to convince her that she is really one of them.

This is absolutely one of my favorite episodes so far in the series.

The story was actually a bit exciting and had an unexpected twist in the ending (at least for me :P). We get additional background information on Kira, about the cardassians, and most interesting of all - about Garak. I don't really remember the details at all about him, so it's fun to see episodes about his background to try to piece together the memory fragments

The episode also touched on other interesting topics, like psychological warfare, politics etc.

One of my favorite Star Trek quotes also comes from this episode;;

"Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder."

- Garak

Concidering states like Cardassia or more "down to earth" ditos such as the former DDR, this quote feels quite deep.

 

[DevilEyes]

S03E05 - Second Skin

Kira is kidnapped by the Cardassians, who try to convince her that she is really one of them.

This is absolutely one of my favorite episodes so far in the series.

The story was actually a bit exciting and had an unexpected twist in the ending (at least for me :P). We get additional background information on Kira, about the cardassians, and most interesting of all - about Garak. I don't really remember the details at all about him, so it's fun to see episodes about his background to try to piece together the memory fragments

The episode also touched on other interesting topics, like psychological warfare, politics etc.

One of my favorite Star Trek quotes also comes from this episode;;

"Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder."

- Garak

Concidering states like Cardassia or more "down to earth" ditos such as the former DDR, this quote feels quite deep.

 

[Faranight]

S03E06 - The Abandoned

Quark finds an abandoned Jem'Hadar child, and Odo is the only person who can control him.

An interesting episode where we get more information on the Jem'Hadar (the dominion foot soldiers). We get to know that they are genetically engineered with an awesome growth rate which pretty much mean they can be grown in a lab from a small embryo to a fighting soldier in a matter of weeks.
We also get to know that they have a genetically engineered loyality (or instinct) to serve shapeshifters (a.k.a. The Founders) and a love for killing anything that is not a Jem'Hadar or a founder.

"He was afraid of me. I could see the fear in his eyes."
"Commander Sisko was trying to do what's best for you. He was trying to help you."
"He's not my friend, he's my enemy! And I now know that anyone who is not a Jem'Hadar is my enemy."
"Does that include me?"
*The Jem'Hadar walks away without answering*

- The young Jem'Hadar and Odo

The above quote is from the end of the episode and shows, interestingly enough, that the Jem'Hadar seems to be able to overcome their loyalty to a Founder. This, I reckon, will be something we'll see happening later in the series.

Too bad for the Jem'Hadar that the Founders also made them dependent on a hard-to-replicate drug from birth as an additional way of controlling them. Not exactly role model parents

The episode also contained a little more friendly Odo-Kira interaction pointing even more to a possible future relationship.

Overall a nice episode which reminded me a lot of the TNG episode where they try to reprogram the Borg they later name Hugh.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

S03E05 - Second Skin

Kira is kidnapped by the Cardassians, who try to convince her that she is really one of them.

This is absolutely one of my favorite episodes so far in the series.

The story was actually a bit exciting and had an unexpected twist in the ending (at least for me :P). We get additional background information on Kira, about the cardassians, and most interesting of all - about Garak. I don't really remember the details at all about him, so it's fun to see episodes about his background to try to piece together the memory fragments

The episode also touched on other interesting topics, like psychological warfare, politics etc.

One of my favorite Star Trek quotes also comes from this episode;;

"Treason, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder."

- Garak

Concidering states like Cardassia or more "down to earth" ditos such as the former DDR, this quote feels quite deep.

I LOVED that episode--but I think my favorite element of it was the way that Kira and Tekeny interacted. Nana Visitor and Lawrence Pressman really sold the emotions in the scenes they shared together, and I just about cry myself, during the part where Kira breaks down and Tekeny is trying to comfort her and do everything he can to fix this situation--even though you can tell it's completely breaking HIS heart.

And I think that here, we finally got to REALLY see a side of the Cardassians that had only been hinted at before...we got to see that they were a diverse people, that they were NOT all butchers and bigots. It's so easy to see just how deeply moved Tekeny was by the whole thing--that at the end, he knew very well that she was a Bajoran, and not his daughter, and that didn't diminish the respect...and, I dare say, love...that he had for her.

If you liked this episode...all I will say is, be ready for "Ties of Blood and Water" in Season 5. You'll need a tissue box for that one. (And no, I won't spoil it.)

 

[Faranight]

Oh, I didn't notice until now you actually had that quote in your signature

I LOVED that episode--but I think my favorite element of it was the way that Kira and Tekeny interacted. Nana Visitor and Lawrence Pressman really sold the emotions in the scenes they shared together, and I just about cry myself, during the part where Kira breaks down and Tekeny is trying to comfort her and do everything he can to fix this situation--even though you can tell it's completely breaking HIS heart.

And I think that here, we finally got to REALLY see a side of the Cardassians that had only been hinted at before...we got to see that they were a diverse people, that they were NOT all butchers and bigots. It's so easy to see just how deeply moved Tekeny was by the whole thing--that at the end, he knew very well that she was a Bajoran, and not his daughter, and that didn't diminish the respect...and, I dare say, love...that he had for her.

I agree, that scene where Kira seems to break was unusually emotional and well done. It's unfortunate there are so few scenes that can actually move you like this one.

If you liked this episode...all I will say is, be ready for "Ties of Blood and Water" in Season 5. You'll need a tissue box for that one. (And no, I won't spoil it.)

I'm looking forward to it allready

 

[Faranight]

S03E07 - Civil Defense

Sisko, Jake, and O'Brien accidentally trigger an old Cardassian security system which believes that the Occupation is still going on and the station has been taken in a Bajoran workers' rebellion.

Quite an enjoyable episode where we get to see parts of the stationwe seldom otherwise see. If I remember correctly we only see these mining parts of the station a few times, even though they were very important in the stations history.

As a person interested in computers and computer security this episode makes me wonder what the computer system designers were actually thinking :P. It seems to be a jumble of different systems and such a jungle that not even Starfleet has yet managed to rid it from old Cardassian trojans. Chief O'Brien and his team really should get rid of those old systems for securitys sake, even though it might be a massive job.

It was also fun to see some almost-friendship between Odo and Quark while they were trapped together. In the end Odo tries to explain it away, but I guess he sort of likes Quark as a fun adversary.

We also get to see Gul Dukat turning from a bad guy wanting to re-station cardassian troops on the station to a temporary good guy when his own life is threatened. This is also the first moment were we get to know that Dukat might have a thing for major Kira

S03E08 - Meridian

Jadzia falls in love with a scientist on a planet called Meridian by its inhabitants. The catch is that his planet and its inhabitants shift between this universe and a plane of pure energy, re-emerging into our universe for only a brief period at 60 year intervals. Back on DS9, Quark tries to obtain a holo-image of Major Kira for an erotic holosuite program.

Reading here on the boardsthere seems to be a concensus that this is one of the worst episode of the series, and on the memory alpha page it says that this was concidered probably the worst of the season by a large part of the cast.
I don't know ... I can't say it was a very good episode, but still enjoyable enough to at least not call it the worst :P.

The Jadzia love story felt pretty corny and unconvincingly acted. It just doesn't seem that plausible to me that someone with eight lifetimes of experience would give up all her friends and her hard earned career for someone she met just a week ago.
This love story would have been more interesting with a spot counting scene, if you know what I mean .

What saves this episode is the funny B-story where Quark tries to obtain a holoimage of major Kira to use in a "holoporn"-program for a customer. It's fun to see the producers at least in someway address this issue we've all probably thought of once or twice - holosex-programs with cast memebers . I guess they did so a bit in the Barkely-episodes of TNG, but there it wasn't very explicitly.

I must say I'm quite surprised Kira allowed her body to be used in the program with Quarks head attached and not the other way around. This way the customer could still use the program .... at least if the lights are off

S03E09 - Defiant

When Commander William T. Riker from the Enterprise arrives on Deep Space 9, he takes a liking to Kira, who gives him a tour of the Defiant. But Riker is revealed to be not who he claims to be when he attacks Kira and steals the ship.

Thomas Riker, Will's accidental transporter twin, has returned and has since we last saw him changed careers to terrorism.
I don't know ... Thomas as a Maquis terrorist? It doesn't feel very right to me. It would be fun to know how such an insident would affect the real Will Riker. Having your duplicate, with the same psychie (spelling?) betray Starfleer? That has to at least award you a few psych evaluations

We get some more juicy information on the cardassians when we learn that the Obsidian Order has started arming themselves behind the backs of the central command, even though their having military equipment is strictly forbidden in their mandate. Naughty naughty!

We also briefly see the more "human" side of Gul Dukat when he and Sisko contemplates the problems combining their jobs with raising their children.
Third time allready this season we get to see non-Obsidian Order cardassians as at least having some good guy-elements in them. I guess this is to try to move more of the dislike of cardassians towards the evil OO.

 

[DevilEyes]

I must say I'm quite surprised Kira allowed her body to be used in the program with Quarks head attached and not the other way around. This way the customer could still use the program .... at least if the lights are off

OMG

This could be an interesting poll question: "What is sexier - Quark's body with Kira's head, or Kira's body with Quark's head?"

 

[Faranight]

S03E11-12: Past Tense

Trapped three hundred years in the past, Sisko, Bashir and Dax find themselves confronting one of the darkest hours in Earth's history...

A two parter which also goes straight into my favorite episodes list. The plot is that the trio end up in San Fransisco in the year 2024 due to a transporter accident (maybe Bones was right in not wanting to use those darned things ). In this time period social problems has led to the erection of so called "Sanctuary Zones", pretty much modern day ghettos, where unemployed, the ill and other unwanted society groups are kept as to not contaminate the normal society. In these ghettos there is close to anarchy where the inhabitants should be happy if they manage to hold on to their food rationing cards and thus are able to get fed.

Sisko, who has an interest in 21st century history, knows that in just a few days an uprising will take place in the camp - a riot which will eventually lead to the reintegration of camp inhabitants into the society. Unfortunatelly though, the man who is to lead this riot, Mr. Bell, is killed while trying to help Sisko and Bashir in a fight. With this sort of timeline contamination they can no longer stay passive - now they have to take on the role of Mr. Bell and make sure history plas out as it should.

In my opinion this was a very entertaining story, while it at the same time is quite thought provoking. It's a clear address to the ghettos of the nazi era, while it at the same time critizes the modern day treatment of the less fortunate people in out society - a pretty interesting mix.
While I think it's a pretty extreme possibility very unlikely to happen, it's still an interesting thought.

A fun thing with this episode is that the Internet plays an important part. Here, called the Interface, is used as the media outlet to expose the injustices the camp inhabitants face. This interface seems to be quite heavilly restricted and controlled by the government.
Terminals used for accessing the net seem to be quite large and come built into tables

The episode is a classic time paradox. Sisko has knowledge of the history - travels back in time - ruins history - fixes it due to his memory of how things should play out. Cause and effect are thus reversed.
Oh well, it's nothing unusual in Star trek and other tv/film, and it does always make for an entertaining story.

 

[Faranight]

S03E10 - Fascination (the order got a bit mixed up :P)

Ambassador Lwaxana Troi visits the station to attend the Bajoran Gratitude Festival, resulting in an outbreak of passion throughout the station as people admit their secret feelings for others.*

Aah Lwaxana .... probably the most irritating character in all of Star trek, but still someone you don't want to be without :P.

A light and fun episode. The only thing I really miss is a scene in the end where we see an embarassed Dax trying to explain what the heck happened to Sisko

*I guess this description is a bit exagerated as the feelings shown was explained in the episode to probably be just "latent subconsciouss feelings". Thus they won't affect the group dynamics, which it otherwise probably would

Well, now I'm chronologically at the date of Voyagers start, so the next four episodes will be Voyager. More posts to follow in a few days

OMG

This could be an interesting poll question: "What is sexier - Quark's body with Kira's head, or Kira's body with Quark's head?"

I'd take Kiras body any day of the week

 

[Faranight]

S03E13 - Life Support

After a serious accident, Bashir struggles to save the life of Vedek Bareil while Kai Winn concludes a peace treaty with Cardassia. Jake and Nog reluctantly explore the differences between Federation and Ferengi cultures.

An ok episoder which would have been better if there were an prequel-episode with more background to the Bajor-Cardassia-treaty. Since it is the background to the whole series I feel like we deserve a whole episode of negotiations. Oh well, maybe I'm just a sucker for political episodes/movies :P.Kai Winn is as usual entertaining to watch. In this episode I had a hard time deciding if she did the right thing or not. :P
I really like the way the actress, Louise Fletcher, portrays the character. Winns behaviour and manner really creeps me out :P

R.I.P Bereil.

 

[Faranight]

S03E14 - Heart of Stone

Searching for a Maquis raider on an unstable moon, Kira is trapped in an expanding crystal formation that threatens to engulf her if Odo cannot set her free. Meanwhile, Nog attempts to persuade a skeptical Commander Benjamin Sisko to write him a letter of recommendation to join Starfleet Academy.

A nice episode with, at least for me, an unexpected twist in the end. Usually I would be a bit pissed after being led to believe something with such big consequences as Kira and Odo hooking up would happen and then in the end finding out I got fooled - but here it was just really fun. And I guess I don't really want them as a couple, so that might help too :P

We again get to see how much the Founders want Odo back. I guess he should consider himself quite lucky that the otherwise so mean Founders aren't too hard on dissidents :P

It's fun to see Nog subjected to a test which was such an obvious one that if Nog didn't realise that he certainly is not starfleet material :P
Looking back at the tests Wesley Crusher had to go through in order to get into the academy I have a hard time at this point seeing Nog actually making it in. However, as I've seen the series before I know he will :P

 

[Faranight]

S03E15 - Destiny

An ancient Bajoran prophecy of doom complicates the first joint Bajoran, Cardassian, and Federation science mission, which is a wormhole relay station, an attempt to establish a permanent communications link through the wormhole.

Also one of my favorite episodes so far.
It's nice to see the bajoran religion getting another episode since I feel it's been quite underused so far. We get to know that Kira really is quite religious and that Sisko begins to accept his role as a possible Emissary. I like how this episode ends in a sort of "don't take religious texts literally!" way.

The B-story was nice. Cardassian women ... wawawiiwa (as Borat would have said)! I wish real life women were like these Cardassians, i.e. they will want to have your babies if you just are irritated at them .
Anyways, it seems O'Briens previous dislike for Cardassians is getting weaker, which is a nice development for him.

 

[Faranight]

S03E16 - Prophet Motive

Grand Nagus Zek has become a philanthropist, and Quark worries that he may have gone insane.

Even though I managed to fall asleep during this episode I found it really enjoyable. These ferengi-centered episodes are always so light and relaxing

The grand nagus is turned into a socialist(!) by the Prophets and rewrites the rules of aquisition. How about;

* 1: If they want their money back give it to them.
* 10: Greed is dead.
* 21: Never place profit before friendship.
* 22: Latinum tarnishes, but family is forever.
* 23: Money can never replace dignity.
* 285: A good deed is its own reward.

source: Memory Alpha


Fortunately enough Quark manages to get the Prophets to make the Nagus once again see the importance of profit.

I'm a bit unsure if I liked the fact that it was the Prophets who conducted the brainwashing. Wouldn't they after all know that they'd change back later anyway since they can see the future?
Maybe they could have had some new gamma quadrant race come visit and subsequently play around with the ferengi during negotiations or something instead? There are too few gamma-aliens visiting anyway. (Allthough I guess that can be explained by the Dominion not letting anyone through.)

Anyways, it was fun with the very subtle capitalism-socialism-aspect of the episode

The B-story was about Bashir getting nominated to the most prestiguos medicine award. I'm quite glad he didn't win as that would have been a bit too typical.

 

[Faranight]

S03E17 - Visionary

O'Brien makes repeated jumps through time; a Romulan delegation visits the station.

An ok episode dealing with both time travel and Romulans. We get to see the romulans throwing the relatively good atmosphere between them and the federation out the airlock. I wonder if theis means they'll want their cloaking device back ... they didn't mention it as far as I recall. Maybe they forgot about it . Sisko seemed to take it a bit too diplomatically though, afterall they did plan to destroy the station (and probably thus starting a war with the federation). I would have thrown them in the brig immediatelly.

I would also send an angry letter to the Romulan fleet about their crazy mess-up-time-propulsion. It's the second time now that their ships tears the space-time-fabric into shreds :P

A bonus star goes to O'Brien for managing to talk remotely to Sisko while in his pyjamas with no communicator.

A -point is awarded the writers for weird technobabble. It seems like time travel is second nature to even a doctor from the dialogue :P

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Faranight--About "Destiny," I was also glad that the alarmist interpretation was dismissed. And yet they were able to do it in a way that doesn't have to be seen as religion-bashing. After all, you could say events still did follow the text...

 

[DevilEyes]

The B-story was nice. Cardassian women ... wawawiiwa (as Borat would have said)! I wish real life women were like these Cardassians, i.e. they will want to have your babies if you just are irritated at them .

The interesting info about Cardassian manner of courtship/flirting made me come to the following two realizations:

1) Dukat must have really enjoyed Kira snapping at him all the time.
2) Some Cardassian cultural beliefs are remarkably similar to the cultural beliefs of human fanfic writers.