Give me a top 10 list of Deep Space Nine episodes to start watching

[Tosk]

From season three onwards, it's easier to list my skips rather than watches. Between the good episodes and the ones that are just okay but important for later, there's not many I consider 'disposable' for want of a better word. If I had to skip eps in seasons 3 to 7, this would be the ones...

Season 3
Meridian
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Shakaar

Season 4
Shattered Mirror
The Muse

Season 5 is a weird one because I have no hard-and-fast skips, but I do have four "I guess they're not terrible, but I don't care much" choices.
Let He Who Is Without Sin
A Simple Investigation
Business as Usual
Ferengi Love Songs

Season 6
Resurrection
Who Mourns For Morn?
Profit and Lace

Season 7
The Emperor's New Cloak


Every episode on this list has something positive to offer though.

 

[Qonundrum]

My top ten, just without Letterman style jokes:

1. Duet - plot twists galore, you will be hooked
2. Paradise - proves Sisko will do what Jean-Luc would not. Heck, not since a Kirk episode do we get something like this and "Paradise" sells it all really well
3. The Way of the Warrior - season 4 premiere is almost a soft reboot but retains direct continuity to the preceding seasons, kicking into high gear for a fantastic ride
4. Little Green Men - a lovely bit of comic relief from season 4 mixed in with some great dramatic tension that both episode and season have in much quantity
5. Our Man Bashir - DS9 meets James Bond, with GREAT results.
6. Sons of Mogh - this is a great Sisko episode.
7. Far Beyond the Stars - this is THE Sisko episode and the set up for a finale that ultimately did not take place, for better and/or worse but that would become a thread in of itself.
8. The Maquis - sets up a new faction for the Federation to deal with
9. Move Along Home - it's not your typical early DS9, but is a game changer for one character and tries to shake things up and do something different
10. The Valiant - a season 6 story that has a few things to say, quite a few. Gotta roll with it on a couple small things, but Ronald D Moore is one of the best gems that 90s Trek had to offer.

Honorable mention (a few, of many):

• The Jem Ha'dar - introduces another big bad into the show, and in compelling new ways
• For the Uniform -- this is the penultimate story in a mini arc involving a certain character culminating after a couple of years and DS9 has had too many characters, but that aside I won't namedrop. I hadn't seen the previous episodes involving said character, but not since Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan have we had such an engaging opponent AND the perfect tone and style that really kicks this into high gear. It's great. Plus, Sisko gets to do more Siskoey stuff that even introduces a sort of controversy, but not since TOS has Trek really dared to tell BIG ideas and to do it with panache instead of a soapbox made out of balsa wood in the way a number of TNG episodes went, but before I digress...
• The Sound of Her Voice - another season 6 standout, it's one of those that is more visceral than complex plotting but - dang - the powerful payoff is there.
• Ditto for "The Visitor", which is excellent indeed, though "Voice" doesn't have the (few) plot nitpicks that "Visitor" has. The plot nitpicks are not detracting either
• In The Pale Moonlight - a pivotal episode, and in season 6, it hinges on a fair amount of plotting from the last few seasons so having some background for those, is what makes this one great

IMHO, if you weren't hooked on DS9 between seasons 1-3 as a regular viewer/fan, you likely will be after a few episodes of season 4. Signed, someone who was casual and lukewarm to 1-3 but really got hooked into 4 and appreciated reruns of 1-3 more as a result as there's a lot of good stuff there too.

 

[TheMoonIsMadeOfCheese]

Statistical Probabilities

Honestly, I quite liked this episode. Of course, the concept of "supergenius calculates future" is a bit wishy washy from a scientific standpoint, but I thought it's an interesting lens through which to view the Dominion War.

I have gone with popular opinion for some, and my opinion for others (Profit and Lace should be deleted). But Move Along Home I've always found fun and enjoyable,

Seconding the opinion on P&L. Move Along Home gets an unfairly bad rep. Sure, it's pointless and ridiculous, but it's not terrible.

From season three onwards, it's easier to list my skips rather than watches. Between the good episodes and the ones that are just okay but important for later, there's not many I consider 'disposable' for want of a better word. If I had to skip eps in seasons 3 to 7, this would be the ones...

Not much of a mirror universe fan, I see. Though to be fair, if you skip one of them you might as well skip the rest. The Emperor's New Cloak is another one that I find enjoyable in a silly way (if you ignore the Massive Continuity Error).

 

[Tosk]

Not much of a mirror universe fan, I see. Though to be fair, if you skip one of them you might as well skip the rest. The Emperor's New Cloak is another one that I find enjoyable in a silly way (if you ignore the Massive Continuity Error).

I like the first one, and I don't hate the second one, and I enjoy the comedy of the final one...but overall yeah, I'm not a big fan.

 

[Oddish]

Move Along Home gets an unfairly bad rep. Sure, it's pointless and ridiculous, but it's not terrible.

I see "Move Along Home" as a twist ending (no one was in any real danger) looking for a an episode worthy of it. It wasn't the best DS9 episode, but it was typical of a new series finding its feet. I'd say it compares favorably with some early TNG shows.

Profit and Lace was just bad on multiple axes.
- It was supposed to empower women... instead it insulted them. If Ferengi women were do business-savvy, why didn't they just get another one? Or bring more than one?
- Instead of having Ferengi achieve equality via evolution ("Angel One", whatever its issues, understood that), it was more "Iskka waves her magic wand and POOF"
- The resolution made no sense. One financial bigwig out of 400 was enough to turn the whole tide? Really?
- And finally, why use Quark, anyway? He pretty much opposes female equality.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Move Along Home gets an unfairly bad rep. Sure, it's pointless and ridiculous, but it's not terrible.

I see "Move Along Home" as a twist ending (no one was in any real danger) looking for a an episode worthy of it. It wasn't the best DS9 episode, but it was typical of a new series finding its feet. I'd say it compares favorably with some early TNG shows.

Move Along Home encapsulated the feelings that many fans were feeling with the series at the time: after the high stakes of the premier, DS9 was unimportant, frivolous, and perhaps, derivative. And it did so with a nursery rhyme.

 

[kkt]

Emissary
Progress
Duet
Necessary Evil
Whispers
The Wire
The Collaborator
Hard Time
Thing's Past
The Darkness and the Light

I didn't actually do a top ten, but more best standalone episodes unconnected to arcs.

Fair enough, however if you don't watch anything that's connected to an arc you're missing a lot of great episodes. DS9 is just not a show that's friendly to skipping around. Is this supposed to be the "tasting menu" to persuade the original writer or a friend to watch the whole show?

 

[Oddish]

Move Along Home encapsulated the feelings that many fans were feeling with the series at the time: after the high stakes of the premier, DS9 was unimportant, frivolous, and perhaps, derivative. And it did so with a nursery rhyme.

Fair enough. I would consider it a 4/10 episode, sub-par but not horrible. But episode ratings are subjective.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Fair enough. I would consider it a 4/10 episode, sub-par but not horrible. But episode ratings are subjective.

It's just context. The pilot had huge stakes and played big emotions, but the episodes that followed felt inconsequential.

 

[Oddish]

It's just context. The pilot had huge stakes and played big emotions, but the episodes that followed felt inconsequential.

That's the problem with getting such a strong start.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

A strong start could've given them plenty of momentum if they'd taken advantage of it, but the series didn't really seem to care much about all the things it had set up until the very end of season 1. It got there in the end, but it was a slow start.

 

[somebuddyX]

Fair enough, however if you don't watch anything that's connected to an arc you're missing a lot of great episodes. DS9 is just not a show that's friendly to skipping around. Is this supposed to be the "tasting menu" to persuade the original writer or a friend to watch the whole show?

That's pretty much it. I skipped the arc ones so if they actually used my suggestion there would still be surprises.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

That's pretty much it. I skipped the arc ones so if they actually used my suggestion there would still be surprises.

I think many Dominion episodes are safe for newbies to watch depending on the amount of prior information required. As RHW put it, most episodes were designed to be enjoyed as a stand-alone episode. The elements of serialization were introduced after the fact. There is no big surprise in DS9, and I would argue Behr hates right-angle plot twists. I think there are maybe five surprises: two from "The Final Chapters"; two involving Dukat's Treachery, thus not a real surprise. The only one left is the identity of the Founders, but anyone would realize with simple searches that Odo 's people are the series' antagonists. Something spectacular, like call to Arms, is perfectly safe: the crew is rushing to prepare against an impending attack. OTOH, Sacrifice of Angels requires a lot of knowledge about Sisko's relationship with the Prophets and Dukat's family life.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Top 10 from each season right?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Top 10 from each season right?

Yes, Winter 1993, Spring 1993, Summer 1993, Fall 1993, Winter 1994, ...