First time watching DS9

[Rahul]

Well, Patrick Steward pronounces Picard with a solid "d" at the end. But in the German dub, the "d" is silent (*insert random Django joke*). Generally, all the French bits in the German parts are pronounced correctly (given that he barely speaks any French, only pronouncing his or his family's name). Apart from that, he speaks clear German, without a French accent (which Patrick Steward doesn't fake either).

As far as certain characterisations of specific cast members in different languages goes: This one probably deserves its own thread. I'm just watching and reviewing DS9 as a whole for the first time, in English. Maybe others can help you more?

BTW because of your post I have just watched half an episode of TNG, for the first time in French

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Ha! The first time I saw Trek in French was jarring. In general, TNG was easy to understand in both languages, especially those episodes with high amounts of technobabble. I cannot myself remember any major bits of dialogue that conveyed a different meeaning in dub, just unique word choices.

If you are watching the show for the first time, please just enjoy. I would hate for you to make a special effort to compare dialogue in two langauges on my account. Nonetheless, thank you for the offer.

 

[Rahul]

Dax


Synopsis
President Logan from '24' decides to kidnap Jadzia Dax to convict her of the murder of his father, a general, by Dax' previous host, Curzon. After that fails, the characters try to reenact TNGs 'measure of a man' with a symbiont instead of an android.


Review
The idea of this episode is quite neat: Tell us more about Dax and her symbiont by putting her on trial for crimes committed by her previous host. There is only one problem: Jadzia Dax doesn't work as a character. We know she has lived previous lives. But at this point we have not the slightest idea how all of the symbiont stuff works. And neither have the writers apparently.

This would have been a great opportunity to explore the relationship between Dax and Jadzia. But there is none.

In TNG the Trills and those crab-thingies from 'conspiracy' completely took over the body of their host. Stargate explored this concept extremely good: The Goa'uld take over the bodies of their host and dominate it. But there exist also the Tok'ra, which share their bodies. They switch who has control over the body, but either one also knows all the time what the other one thinks and wants to do. So they can share their bodies and being open about what the "other one" thinks, but sometimes there is conflict, and the Tok'ra can seize control of the whole body against the will of the host, resulting in great conflict (especially when no one is evil, but just has different motives or beliefs).

Just to show what can be done with the concept of symbiont and host. Jadzia Dax completely falls flat on all those levels. Have they fused to one being? Can they communicate with each other? Who has more control over the body, with whom do you talk if you talk to Jadzia?

These all are questions the writers should have decided on, but apparently they decided on making the rules on the run. Because of this all the arguments in the court room are meaningless. We can not decide if Sisko or the Klystrone are right in their judgement, because neither we nor the characters have the facts. We are simply supposed to root for Jadzia because she's a main character.

Which leads to the biggest problem of the episode: There is NO way these questions are still unanswered. Data was the first Soong-android, so the rules about the rights of androids were made up with him. But he Trills are (as it seems) a species that has combined with symbionts for a long time, and at least some of them (Jadzia, maybe another previous Dax) has been a member of Starfleet. There is no way neither the Trill society (a whole species that lives with this challenge) nor Starfleet (who does background checks on criminal activities on applicants) have had to deal with this exact situation before and found a solution (depending on the working of the symbiont-host relationship that -again- we, the viewers, still don't know anything about).

The backstory that Odo unraveld (with Dax having an affair with the generals wife and the general himself being the traiter - being killed because of this and posthumously becoming a hero and his widow and Dax having to live with these lies) was actually quite great.



Pros
-The first time one of the man characters (Odo) leaves the station and we see a new planet! Boldly going and all that...
-Curzon Dax' and the generals widows backstory was quite interesting (frankly, more than the episode....)
-We didn't knew a lot about Dax before. The writers tried to change that. They failed. But they tried.
-Sisko and Kiras acting were great



Cons
-As I mentioned before: The biggest problem is that we don't know how the Dax symbiont works, therefore all the arguing in the trial was meaningless and became boring because of this
-The alien make-up looked awful. One of the stupider rubber-forehead aliens. Especially jarring since only two important characters (Dax' kidnapper and his mother) appeared. It would have been possible to create a better look for the two


Grade
3/10


Else
I have decided not to give a Dr. Evil-Award to Dax for sleeping with another mans wife because she/he got called out on this and had to deal with the consequences.

 

[Rahul]

I think I should make my grading system a little bit clearer:

10: a perfect episode
9 - 8: a very good episode
7 - 6: a good episode
5: a perfectly average episode
4 - 3: an episode with a few bigger flaws
2 - 1: a bad episode
0: the worst

After DS9 started with a bang (being completely different and way more human than TNG) we are now in the middle of a streak of mediocre and below average episodes. I know (because I have already seen most episodes of season 1) that the episodes get much better approaching the latter half of the season. But it's probably bad timing that DS9 got so many average episodes in the beginning, because this would be the time when most new viewers decide if they stick with a new series or not. This may explain why DS9 had to struggle a lot with ratings in the beginning, even though it would become a very good series later on.

 

[Rahul]

The passenger



Synopsis
When Kira and Bashir dick around in the Beta quadrant, a criminal takes over the body of Julian Bashir. Mind swap-episodes show not to be what they used to be. If they ever were.

Review
Oh boy. All the previous episodes have been either good or slightly above or below average. This one is the first bad episode. And it's really bad. It seems that the creators of DS9 ran out of ideas but had an episode to fill, and just took the first script they saw from the pile of rejected scripts for TNG. There is literally nothing exciting or new about it. A mind swap (or being taken over by another mind) could still be a very scify-y idea, and a scary one! But there is absolutely nothing exciting about this episode. Everything has been seen before and much better executed. You could see every twist (he is in Julian!) a mile coming, and you have to ask if the characters really are that stupid for not realising the obvious. The way it was handled, and how the bad guy pulled it off managed to let me down even after 40 tiring minutes of hoping the episode will be over soon.

Pros
-there is really not much to say. They ran a common scifi-subject so much into the ground that I hope to not see it again for a looooong time.


Cons
-The criminal taking over Bashir wasn't even cunning. It was really hard to watch the main characters so long noticing that something about Julian is different. Especially since everybody seemed to know the bad guy was still alive and has taken over somebody. In fact, they failed to notice it untill the end when he reveals himself. Not a good move to make the main characters of your show that dense.
-Julian Bashir talking half an hour or so about how awesome he is while being in a runabout with Kira. The guy is quite sympathic, but the way he is written lately is insufferable.
-The second species we meet from the beta quadrant are rubber forehead aliens. At least they look better than the ones in 'Dax'.


Other musings
DS9 is not the only show to fail the mind-being-taken-over plot. Other series (Voyager, Stargate Atlantis) failed at it pretty much too. There is not much joy in seeing your main characters being completely gullible and missing the obvious.
The next scifi-series to take on that topic again really needs to work hard to find a new angle on this plot and make it scary again.


Grade
2/10


Dr Evil-Award
For the DS9 officers: When Ty Kajada (the female captain of the prison ship) takes a phaser and destroys the device in which the mind of the criminal is hold, no one tries to stop her or arrests her afterwards. Murdering a murderer is still murder.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Re: "Dax"

Technically speaking, it was not a Federation trial, but a hearing in which the Federation was one party in a Bajoran venue, a people who were arguably still establishing their own jurisprudence.

You're right to point out the relationship between this episode and Measure of a Man. It seems that Dax trying to recapture the magic of the other. As much as the hearing in Dax came to no legal precedents (and hearings usually would not), the drama of the episode was supposed to be driven by the actress, much in the same way as MOAM. Data isn't necessarily saved by the science in the hearing, but by the exploration of his personality. Throughout the episode, Brent Spiner makes us feel that there is a person behind the machine, even in his modesty with regard to his relationship with Tasha Yar. In Dax, Terry Farrell needed create distinctions between her character and its past (or past host). Others argue that the concept of past lifetimes was unmanageable, but there have been plenty of characters in film and television who have had the past come back to haunt them. Farrell seems like a dead fish for most of the episode. I don't get the feeling that she is sacrificing herself for someone's honor, but she is just resigned and withdrawn. Whereas the episode is unsatisfactory for not coming to in-universe conclusions about the race, it should have focused on the character. The actress really was not up to par.

 

[Rahul]

Valid points Bad thought! I would argue that even though I'm not a big fan of Terry Farrells acting, she could only work with the material she's given. And this entire episode depended on the nature of the Trill-host relationship, one that apparently hasn't been decided on by the creators yet. It rarely works if the writers have to tip-toe around the central question of their episode.


What I should have mentioned in the review: I really liked that the Federation has a unilateral extradition treaty with the Klaestrons. That made the situation more complex and the whole world of DS9 much more believable. And it prevented the Klaestorns from becoming one the usual "planet of the hats" , instead giving them depth and a complex backstory, without reducing the whole race to one 'shtick'.

 

[Dobian]

My only issue with "Dax" was that they took the easy way out at the end. Curzon was innocent, so the argument over whether Jadzia is responsible is moot. Would have been much more powerful if he was actually guilty and a real decision had to be made. Shows like this often use that tactic, pose a moral question that presents real consequences whichever way you choose, then giving a convenient "out", so we never get to see those consequences.

From the episodes I have seen, it seems like the host/symbiont relationship is a real fusing, so when you talk to one you're always talking to both. Decisions might be made by two "core processors", but they work in tandem. There are examples of this in real life, people with multiple personality disorder. I am friends with someone with this disorder. The different personalities actually form a contract with each other regarding personal behavior and decision making. They'll write things down so the others can read it when they are in control. Even when one is in the "driver's seat" as they say, that personality's actions are made with an understanding of their responsibility to the others. They call it functional MPD, and these people have no desire to cure their condition and merge back into one.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

My only issue with "Dax" was that they took the easy way out at the end. Curzon was innocent, so the argument over whether Jadzia is responsible is moot. Would have been much more powerful if he was actually guilty and a real decision had to be made. Shows like this often use that tactic, pose a moral question that presents real consequences whichever way you choose, then giving a convenient "out", so we never get to see those consequences.

I don't think the episode is being as deliberate in its evasiveness as you think. While the question of Dax's legal culpability is not resolved by the hearing (which is admittedly frustrating), the arguments of the hearing are focused on whether there is a continuity of cognition, personality, and emotion between hosts. That question is addressed outside the hearing, particularly when Jadzia Dax says:

I feel the shame of Curzon's indiscretions. When one of my kind stumbles, Benjamin, it is a mistake that's there forever. I can't tell you which part of Curzon Dax couldn't stop himself from acting shamefully with another man's wife. I can tell you that he did love her, for whatever that's worth.

The memory of the affair affects Jadzia, but in a way that was different from Curzon. From a mixture of poor writing and poor acting, the point doesn't come across, but it is indeed addressed. If Jadzia had said in court that she could feel shame for Curzon's missteps, it might have strengthened the case that she was not culpable.

 

[Rahul]

Move along home


Synopsis
You know what everyone hates? Trapped-in-holodeck storys. So lets do a trapped-in-holodeck story! In stupid!

Review
Argh. This is easily the worst hour of television I have ever seen. And there is a lot of shitty reality-tv out there. But this one takes the cake. It fails on all leves of entertainement.

The first official first contact with a new species from the Gamma quadrant. Should they be alien? Or interseting? Noooo. Let's take some fat guys cosplaying as space hippies, don't put them in any make-up and tell them everything they need to know about their species is the word 'gamer'.

The plot? Stupid. The aliens? Even worse than stupid. The 'game'? The must ugly and boring set ever. The solution to the "challenges" in the game (people get sick. people who drink the drinks don't get sick. Drink the drinks! Jump and Sing child rhymes! Quality Entertainement!) are the most easily solvable, unimaginative 'challenges' I have ever seen. The viewer should share the thrill of the game for their lives? How about not telling the viewer ever how the game is even supposed to work.

This episode is just baffling. The best thing about it: IT'S THEIR BIG BUDGET EPISODE! The most expensive since the pilot for god's sake!!!! All previous episodes took place on the station. THIS is the one where they decided to build new sets for? Add expensive action-scenes in caves? Build a new starship-model for the aliens? What. The. Hell.


Pros
-The best thing of this episode: After it's over it can only get better!

-Quarks breakdown when he had to chose which of his players he had to sacrifice was the only redeeming scene in the episode
-also, the twist at the end was nice (that is was -surprise- only a game, even though the stupidiest one in the galaxy


Cons
-literally everything else
-As of now, every visitor in Quarks bar looks more alien than the 'aliens' from the Gamma quadrant, the freakin' other end of the galaxy!
-Bashir forgot his uniform. Apparently you can not replicate those and Garak the tailor is too good a character to appear in this crappy episode


Other musings
There is an inherent problem with DS9 as a series at this point: Nobody seems to care what is on the other end of the wormhole! We heared that a few vulcan ships flew through to look around on the other side, but it didn't sound very exciting, especially not for being the biggest opportunity in the century. Neither the DS9 crew nor any other Starfleet ship flew through it to, you know, boldly go and seek out new civilisations and all that stuff? It should have been at least mentioned. Or better: show us! Starfleet ships docking the station, Starfleet personal enyoing a last rest before flying into the unknown, and some of our main characters wishing farewell and secretly hoping to join them on their adventures on the other side of the galaxy.

During the last few episodes I catched myself wishing the Enterprise would show up and we could watch them flying into the Gamma quadrant and having andventures instead.

Then again, if this is what lies on the other side of the wormhole, I wouldn't want to travel through it either.


Grade
0/10
I don't know the rest of the series, but this has chances to become the worst episode of DS9, if not Star Trek as a whole. Even Voyagers much loathed 'Threshold' had a few neat ideas. This one... not.

 

[Rahul]

The Nagus


Synopsis
We learn the Ferengi aren't aliens. They're trolls. Literally incarnates of youtube-comments. The only way those guys ever could have gotten into space had to be magic.


Review
The first Ferengi episode. It's about Ferengi stuff.


Pros
-Someone might say Quark is ugly. But the grand Nagus is truly disgusting. Even his remainings looked nauseating. I liked that!
-We learn a bit more about the Ferengi
-The way the Grand Nagus 'died' was funny. Like most things surrounding him.
-After I ranted about it in the review before: The exploration of the Gamma quadrant is finally adressed! Even though it's by the Ferengi and not the Federation...


Cons
-There's not much besides the Ferengi plot, which itself isn't that exciting


Grade
3/10
There isn't much wrong with this episode, and it certainly had a few funny moments. It's just that an intergalactic power struggle -over a bar- is not exactly the reason why I watch science fiction.


Dr. Evil-Award
Rom: For trying to murder his brother. TWICE! And getting away with it.

Honourable mention: Sisko and Odo.
Even though they catched Rom and the Nagus' son in the very act of attempted murder, neither one is arrested. Apparently the law applies only when you don't know the captain and the chief of security. Rom should be in jail! And not having parental care for Nog.

 

[MacLeod]

Well "Move Along Home" is dire and is definatly one of DSN's weaket episode but every seriers is allowed one clunker TOS: "Spock's Brain", TNG: " Shades of Grey", VOY: "Threshold"

 

[Rahul]

Vortex


Synopsis
Quark is an accomplice to murder. No one cares. The suspect whispers 'shapeshifter' and Odo is completely under his spell. DS9 is interesting again. NOW WITH SPACE BATTLES!

Review

This episode started awfully mediocre, with a lot of bad DS9-season-one-tropes. Quark cons a (as it's later reveald innocent) man into staging a robbery, leading to the murder of a criminal. Sisko and Odo are dickheads to the alien twin of the murdered. Seriously, even if he's a gangster, having his brother killed is a tragedy. And Sisko and Odo should sympathise with him, not talk down to him with "see crime is no good?".
The twin swears to have revenge, and the (suspected) murderer is in Odos jail. After he tells Odo about a colony of changelings and shows him a shapeshifting artefact, Odo is completely smitten to his charms. And then it's Odo and him alone in a runabout, bringing him to his homeplanet where he should be trialed. Been there, done that.

But then something happened.

Odo may have looked completely gullible. But he isn't. He is still a man of honour, doing his job. And even though he desperately wants to find out more about his people, he's still reliable! It's the furios twin, following with another spaceship, that forces Odo to change course. We learn that the backstory of his suspect is actually quite more complicated and convincing. He does everything (even crimes) to protect his little daughter, but once she is saved gives in, and in the end even saves Odos life and tells him everything what he knows, even giving him his little gimmick. Odo, being convinced of his innocence, let's him go, to live as an outsider on Vulcan, a strange alien world, much like he himself does on DS9. (Even though he could have used his testimony to convict Quark, but that's a different story). Making this quite an emotional journey!

And there's a bitchin' space battle in a nebula at the end!


Pros
-The story started slow, but turned out to be great!
-All the stuff happening in the Beta quadrant had great adventure-vibe
-The space battle at the end was awesome! It looked much better than most space battles in TNG, and because of the superb model work even better than a lot of the later CGI-battles
-The vulcan ship exploring the Gamma quadrant was so nice to see! And it adds a lot to the world-building.


Cons
-Why did Sisko decide to transfer the guy back to his homeworld in the first place? He is suspected of murder, there should be a trial and prosecution! The Federation did not have an extradition treaty with his people in the Gamma quadrant. For all they know, they could lie and not punish him after all, or put him on a death row without a proper trial (turns out, he was innocently convicted on his homeworld the first time).
-The Quark-subplot goes nowhere. At this point, Quark is involved in so much serious crime there's literally no reason why anyone still allows him to be on board (besides being an interesting character of course). A few chady things here and there, okay. But currently we have robbery, murder, small arms traffic and what the hell not. That's a bit much.

Others
-How does Odos shapeshifting work exactly, especially in the beginning of the episode? I totally believe that he can change his volume. But unless he's a walking nuclear reactor, there is no chance he could change mass (and thereby weight). So when he changed into the glasses Rom served during the robbery, Rom should really have wondered why a few drinks weighted as much as a human being. Also, can Odo split up? Because he was the glasses, the tablet fell on the ground!
-A few of the shots were recognizable re-uses of the Mutara nebula from Wrath of Khan. But for a TV-show there was a remarkable number of new VFX-shots!
-Another species from the Gamma quadrant turns out to be just rubber forehead aliens. But DS9 is relatively good with them. On TNG and VOY I often asked myself if they even had a make-up departement for their aliens of the week.


Grade
7/10
Started slow, became a really good episode in the end.


Dr- Evil-Award
Quark: For conning an innocent man into a staged robbery, leading murder.

Honourable mention: Sisko. For transferring a suspect, not a convict to a civilisation he knows nothing about, especially not how their justice system works.

 

[Rahul]

Well "Move Along Home" is dire and is definatly one of DSN's weaket episode but every seriers is allowed one clunker TOS: "Spock's Brain", TNG: " Shades of Grey", VOY: "Threshold"

Yep. It's just unfortunate that their bad episode is so early in the series. That being said, all the episodes you listed are miles better than 'Move along home'. Any one of them had at least a few interesting ideas. The only episode equally bad or even worse (on top of my head) may be ENTs 'bounty'. Don't get me wrong, I really like DS9 so far, but this episode is really one of the worst things I have ever seen.

Actually, I think a series, especially such a long running one, is allowed to have a few stinkers. The only important thing is that there are other, awesome episodes. I read a book about producing a series (by one of the Star Trek guys, but I don't remember whom), with last minute changes, deadlines, and scripts that fall flat on the last minute, meaning last minute re-writes and stuff like that. It's actually amazing how coherent tv-shows are most of the time.

That being said, I still enjoy bashing the really bad ones!

 

[MacLeod]

Vortex


Synopsis
Quark is an accomplice to murder. No one cares. The suspect whispers 'shapeshifter' and Odo is completely under his spell. DS9 is interesting again. NOW WITH SPACE BATTLES!

Review

This episode started awfully mediocre, with a lot of bad DS9-season-one-tropes. Quark cons a (as it's later reveald innocent) man into staging a robbery, leading to the murder of a criminal. Sisko and Odo are dickheads to the alien twin of the murdered. Seriously, even if he's a gangster, having his brother killed is a tragedy. And Sisko and Odo should sympathise with him, not talk down to him with "see crime is no good?".
The twin swears to have revenge, and the (suspected) murderer is in Odos jail. After he tells Odo about a colony of changelings and shows him a shapeshifting artefact, Odo is completely smitten to his charms. And then it's Odo and him alone in a runabout, bringing him to his homeplanet where he should be trialed. Been there, done that.

But then something happened.

Odo may have looked completely gullible. But he isn't. He is still a man of honour, doing his job. And even though he desperately wants to find out more about his people, he's still reliable! It's the furios twin, following with another spaceship, that forces Odo to change course. We learn that the backstory of his suspect is actually quite more complicated and convincing. He does everything (even crimes) to protect his little daughter, but once she is saved gives in, and in the end even saves Odos life and tells him everything what he knows, even giving him his little gimmick. Odo, being convinced of his innocence, let's him go, to live as an outsider on Vulcan, a strange alien world, much like he himself does on DS9. (Even though he could have used his testimony to convict Quark, but that's a different story). Making this quite an emotional journey!

And there's a bitchin' space battle in a nebula at the end!


Pros
-The story started slow, but turned out to be great!
-The space battle at the end was awesome! It looked much better than most space battles in TNG, and because of the superb model work even better than a lot of the later CGI-battles
-The vulcan ship exploring the Gamma quadrant was so nice to see! And it adds a lot to the world-building.


Cons
-Why did Sisko decide to transfer the guy back to his homeworld in the first place? He is suspected of murder, there should be a trial and prosecution! The Federation did not have an extradition treaty with his people in the Gamma quadrant. For all they know, they could lie and not punish him after all, or put him on a death row without a proper trial (turns out, he was innocently convicted on his homeworld the first time).
-The Quark-subplot goes nowhere. At this point, Quark is involved in so much serious crime there's literally no reason why anyone still allows him to be on board (besides being an interesting character of course). A few chady things here and there, okay. But currently we have robbery, murder, small arms traffic and what the hell not. That's a bit much.

Others
-How does Odos shapeshifting work exactly, especially in the beginning of the episode? I totally believe that he can change his volume. But unless he's a walking nuclear reactor, there is no chance he could change mass (and thereby weight). So when he changed into the glasses Rom served during the robbery, Rom should really have wondered why a few drinks weighted as much as a human being. Also, can Odo split up? Because he was the glasses, the tablet fell on the ground!
-A few of the shots were recognizable re-uses of the Mutara nebula from Wrath of Khan. But for a TV-show there was a remarkable number of new VFX-shots!
-Another species from the Gamma quadrant turns out to be just rubber forehead aliens. But DS9 is relatively good with them. On TNG and VOY I often asked myself if they even had a make-up departement for their aliens of the week.


Grade
7/10
Started slow, became a really good episode in the end.


Dr- Evil-Award
Quark: For conning an innocent man into a staged robbery, leading murder.

Honourable mention: Sisko. For transferring a suspect, not a convict to a civilisation he knows nothing about, especially not how their justice system works.

Well to be fair to Sisko does it really matter how their justice system works? For example let say you are suspected of committing a crime in Italy it doesn't matter what your justice system is like and you shouldn't hide behind it, as justice should be served under the jurisdiction in which the crime/suspect crime took place. True for example many nations on Earth won't extradicte in capital cases unless the Death Peanlty (for those countries/regions that still practice it) is removed from the table. But in the case of UFP would they consider that an internal matter for a planet they don't have a treaty with?

But I digress

But I can't really comment too much on the episode in question as it has een a long time since I watched it.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Well "Move Along Home" is dire and is definatly one of DSN's weaket episode but every seriers is allowed one clunker TOS: "Spock's Brain", TNG: " Shades of Grey", VOY: "Threshold"

Yep. It's just unfortunate that their bad episode is so early in the series. That being said, all the episodes you listed are miles better than 'Move along home'. Any one of them had at least a few interesting ideas. The only episode equally bad or even worse (on top of my head) may be ENTs 'bounty'. Don't get me wrong, I really like DS9 so far, but this episode is really one of the worst things I have ever seen.

Actually, I think a series, especially such a long running one, is allowed to have a few stinkers. The only important thing is that there are other, awesome episodes. I read a book about producing a series (by one of the Star Trek guys, but I don't remember whom), with last minute changes, deadlines, and scripts that fall flat on the last minute, meaning last minute re-writes and stuff like that. It's actually amazing how coherent tv-shows are most of the time.

That being said, I still enjoy bashing the really bad ones!

MAH was not nearly as offensive as TNG's Code of Honor, and watching the crew skip to Allameraine is more entertaining that watching Weasely Crusher not get laid on the pleasure planet in Justice (and, of course, having him spared death).

 

[Inactive-Shapeshifter]

I liked "A man alone" pretty much because it's the first episode focused on Odo, showing a little more about how he is, how he fights for justice and how he behave as a character in general.

 

[Rahul]

MAH was not nearly as offensive as TNG's Code of Honor, and watching the crew skip to Allameraine is more entertaining that watching Weasely Crusher not get laid on the pleasure planet in Justice (and, of course, having him spared death).

'Code of Honour' was horrifying in how offensive it was. But it at least had a few good Tasha Yar scenes. And 'Justice' was, if not a lot else, nice to look at (with all the exterior scenes and location shoots instead of a studio set, not what you might think of ).
'Move along home' was just unpleasant in how boring it was and, quite frankly, ugly to look at.

At this point it really makes no sense to compare the worst of Star Trek, it will come down to personal preference. And my 'worst of all time' would be Enterprise's 'Bounty' for both how boring and offensive it was. Closely followed by 'Move along home' for just being boring, but reaching a whole new level of it.


Edit:

Well to be fair to Sisko does it really matter how their justice system works? For example let say you are suspected of committing a crime in Italy it doesn't matter what your justice system is like and you shouldn't hide behind it, as justice should be served under the jurisdiction in which the crime/suspect crime took place. True for example many nations on Earth won't extradicte in capital cases unless the Death Peanlty (for those countries/regions that still practice it) is removed from the table. But in the case of UFP would they consider that an internal matter for a planet they don't have a treaty with?

Prisoner extradition really only works between constitutional states. The USA for example has an unilateral extradition treaty with all the states of the European Union, so if you commit a crime in Italy or the USA you will be prosecuted. The USA does not extradite prisoners to 'unlawful' states like Iran or Somalia, because it can't be guaranteed that the suspects will be granted a fair trial. This episode makes it clear that this species plays more in the league of Iran regarding constitutional rights of their citizens, which is why I think this time Sisko acted wrong (while I completely stand behind his actions in 'Dax' under similar yet different circumstances). It's a minor nitpick, and admittedly something Picard would think about more than Sisko, and it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the episode, but it's still problematic and nitpicking is part of the fun for reviews!


Thanks for your comments!!

 

[Rahul]

@shapeshifter:
Yeah, 'A man alone' is pretty much my favourite regular episode up to this point. I think only the pilot ('Emissary') is a little bit better for telling more of a personal story within its great scope, but that had a two hours length that helped. And I really like Odo! Both his character and his alien traits are really well fleshed out, and René Auberjonois is a fine actor that brings a certain loneliness and seriousness to the character.

 

[Rahul]

Battle Lines

Synopsis
The first shuttle crash on DS9 takes place with a runabout in the Gamma quadrant. There, Sisko, Kira and Bashir discover a punishment colony where an eternal battle takes place. The soldiers, immortal, get reanimated when they die, forced to forever fight a senseless war, exiled on this forsaken moon.
The DS9-crew uses this opportunity to its full potential: to get rid of the boring Bajoran spiritual leader.

Review
This was a quite effective episode. The 'death' of the Kai during the crash was brutal and senseless. No grandiose exit, last words or anything like that (even though that will change later), just meaningless death. Nana Visitor was really amazing as Kira this episode! We learn a lot more about her character, her nature as a fighter, not in a boring exposition way, but by experiencing it first hand.

Pros
-an amazing performance by Kira. This is truly her episode!
-The microbes (or whatever) that revives the fallen soldiers being the same plot device that keeps everyone who once has dies on the planet (because its reanimation is only there in effect) was a great story idea
-The young soldiers in their shabby uniforms were quite convincing

Cons
-As already in the pilot, the Kai seems not too convincing as a spiritual leader, especially not one that has lead her people through a horrible occupation.
-together with the weird guys from 'Move along home' we now alread have two(!) species from the other end of the galaxy that look exactly like humans.
-The plot drags a little bit and has no real closure.
-The actions of the leaders from the opposing sides really do little sense.


Other musings
-The starfleet crew is lucky to be allowed to stay on DS9 in Bajoran space. People could be rubbed the wrong way when you "accidentally" loose their spiritual leader.
-what happens to the religios hirarchy on Bajor? I mean, the Kai is technically still alive... Could they choose a new one? Or do they have to fly now to the Gamma quadran every time they want to consult their leader?

Grade
5/10
A fairly average plot with an amazing performance by Nana Visitor