I just rewatched Emmisary for the second time.

[Semah]

DS9 was my favorite of the series, but I never really got into it until the Dominion plot heated up. I literally had not watched it since it originally aired. My memories of it were that it was lacking (keep in mind it premiered alongside TNG, when the latter was producing some of its highest quality episodes. But there it was on a VHS tape at the library, and I've been flooding myself with all things Trek of late, so I figure, why not?

And it was really good!

Bad makeup and some characters still figuring out what they're supposed to be (Kira, I'm looking at you) it was a solid piece of storytelling that kept my interest from beginning to end. The Wolf 359 scene was very well done, as well as the Picard/Sisco meeting scene. I had remered the Prophets scene as being really drawn out and dull, but I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging it was. The "It's not linear, is it?" bit was a punch in the stomach.


Well, damn. Does this mean I'm going to have to rewatch the whole thing now?

 

[Navaros]

DS9 has a few great episodes in Season 1, Captive Pursuit, Duet, In the Hands of the Prophets. The rest in Season 1 are pretty bad and often unwatchable.

Season 2 gets a lot better but still not as good as the later seasons.

The Dominion episodes are indeed the very strongest of the series, but there are many great episodes to be found before then as well. Yeah, you pretty much do have to watch it all again to discover what they are. You'll never get a perfect list from any fan because not everyone likes the same things.

 

[Semah]

DS9 has a few great episodes in Season 1, Captive Pursuit, Duet, In the Hands of the Prophets. The rest in Season 1 are pretty bad and often unwatchable.

Season 2 gets a lot better but still not as good as the later seasons.

The Dominion episodes are indeed the very strongest of the series, but there are many great episodes to be found before then as well. Yeah, you pretty much do have to watch it all again to discover what they are. You'll never get a perfect list from any fan because not everyone likes the same things.

The Sisko as Emmisary story arcs never resonated with me the first time through, but I was far more intrigued by the premise this time through. I think I'll watch a smattering of it from different seasons to get a feel for what I like best before I pick seasons to buy.

 

[Odo's_Bucket]

I love 'The Emissary'. It's one of my favorite episodes still. It sets up the next seven years very well and there is some hardcore genuine acting in that episode.

 

[The Caretaker]

I find Season 1 of DS9 really enjoyable, not so much for the quality of the stories but more for the nostalgia value. I love watching how the series settled and seeing how all the elements were refined along the way. I even love Move Along Home, there's more of an innocence to the storytelling that became lost once the series became more sombre with the Dominion War story arc.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

The Emissary story arc didn't really grab me the first time through but I'm appreciating it more as I rewatch it. Rapture being a high point, although Reckoning is good, too.

 

[Semah]

I love 'The Emissary'. It's one of my favorite episodes still. It sets up the next seven years very well and there is some hardcore genuine acting in that episode.

Patrick Stewart really shines in his few scenes. He does more with one look after Sisco says "We met in battle." than many lesser actors could have done with dialogue. And Avery Brooks holds his own with him.

 

[Piper]

I've always ranked Emissary very highly. I don't think it's quite as strong a pilot as VOY's Caretaker, which is a more all-round satisfying tale, but it's suddenly streets ahead of the other series', introduces the characters well and lays the groundwork for much that was important in the early years.

 

[scottydog]

I find Season 1 of DS9 really enjoyable, not so much for the quality of the stories but more for the nostalgia value. I love watching how the series settled and seeing how all the elements were refined along the way. I even love Move Along Home, there's more of an innocence to the storytelling that became lost once the series became more sombre with the Dominion War story arc.

I agree with you here. And I'd also like to add that when years go by between my viewing of episodes, I often find that my assessment has changed.

 

[Jono]

I have to admit the first time I saw "Emissary" my favourite bit was the opening where you see the Borg cube own the Federation ships and then from that point on I didn't have any real interest in the show. Years later when I got back into the show and Trek in general I rewatched the pilot and it is also now one of my favourite episodes. The scene with Sisko and the Prophets where he admits he is stuck in the past really gets me. Here we have our hero, who is meant to be big and strong and ready for all comers, and he is reduced to tears...it made him more "real" in my eyes then any of the other captains in the TNG era.

 

[Triskelion]

You watched it 4 times?

 

[Cyke101]

I have to say, I lovelovelove the Picard scenes. Seeing one of my childhood heroes getting talked to like that made me cringe, and regardless of one's position of whether or not Picard was accountable for Locutus' crimes, it wasn't as if Picard could hit Sisko with reasoning since Sisko was truly and genuinely sincere about his attacks on Picard. That's just deep and masterful dramatist writing there, where neither character is wrong but you can't help but feel the tension. It's a testament to Stewart and Brooks as actors, really.

And then, to top it off, now that I have 15 years of hindsight, how surreal was it to see a prophet in the form of Picard, and then Locutus? Salvador Dali would be proud.

 

[Semah]

You watched it 4 times?

Yeah, that title doesn't make a lick of sense.

I have seen the episode a total of twice in my lifetime.

 

[Triskelion]

You mean in this timeline

 

[Semah]

You mean in this timeline

*brain go splodey*

 

[Anika Hanson]

I didnt enjoy it as much as the pilot episodes of TNG or YOY but I still enjoyed it. In particular the Worf 359 scenes and those of Sisko with the prophets. I think it set the show and characters up quite nicely.

 

[ClayHefner]

I love Emissary. It gets better every time.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I watched "Emissary" over the weekend - having converted the wife to TNG through watching the box sets, I thought I'd start with DS9. I wasn't optimistic as all the things she said she liked about Star Trek TNG weren't necessarily present for DS9.

To my surprise, she really enjoyed it and we moved on to "A Man Alone" and "Past Prologue" the next evening. Also, I enjoyed it immensely myself. I hadn't seen it in probably...eight or nine years? It really stands up well still.

I like Season 1 a lot, and am looking forward to watching them all again for the first time in nearly a decade. Yes, even "Move Along Home"!

 

[Red Ranger]

People,

I liked Emissary a lot, too, when I first saw it, despite some choppiness in the ep and the sketchy nature of some of the new characters. I remembered being annoyed at first by Kira's voice, for example, and thinking Bashir was a bit of a tool -- which was the point, of course!

I must say I liked it better when the Wormhole Beings didn't act like mystical beings, but rather as an unusual life form that at first had trouble understanding linear existence. I got a kick out of the beings asking "What is this?" They really were genuinely puzzled by the concept that linear existence had an end, death.

And the part where Sisko realizes he's been living in the past, unable to get over Jennifer's death, was quite powerful, when he sobs, "No, it's not linear!"

Red Ranger

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

My opinion on this episode is shared by a friend that watched it with me and who isn't even a Trek fan: "Emmisary" is a masterpiece of story telling. it's a good trek story, it's a good story about reflection and mortality, and a good story about the human condition. it's a good story, period. It is what any sci fi story should strive to be, something that's challenging, that makes you think, while perhaps provideing adventure and fights and all of that, but it goes deeper.