It's been a LONG while since I watched DS9.....

[Tyjos Azari]

I just recently today purchased the first 3 Season DVD Sets.

I haven't seen Deep Space Nine in a year or two.

I've almost forgotten what are the good episodes out of Seasons 1-3 to watch.

I think Season 3 doesn't end on a Cliff Hanger not sure [I hate getting a bunch of DVD Sets and the last one I have ends on a cliff hanger]


Help this old DS9 Fan get back into the game so to speak.

 

[carlmarx]

Well, its only my opinion, but for me the best and most important eps of the first 3 seasons would be:

Season 1
Emissary
Past Prologue (first Garak ep)
Captive Pursuit
Vortex
Duet (generally considered a classic)
In The Hands of The Prophets (first Winn ep)

Season 2
The Homecoming/Circle/Siege
Cardassians
Necessary Evil (generally considered a classic)
The Maquis I & II
The Wire
The Jem'Hadar

Season 3
The Search I&II
Second Skin
Defiant
Past Tense I&II
Improbable Caste/The Die Is Cast (generally considered a classic)
Explorers
The Adversary (not really a cliff-hanger, no, but pretty ominous and foreboding)

Those are the big ones for me, anyway.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

DS9 didn't really do true cliffhangers, but the season finales normally served to set up the first few episodes of the next season. Anyway, break 1 and 2 down if you like, but watch all of Season 3 - for my money it's as good as any of the subsequent ones (except maybe 5).

 

[Tyjos Azari]

Ah, Emissary was a good episode I just haven't seen it in a long while.

I still got the old episodes downloaded somewhere on DVDrs but I wanted the DVD sets cause those are much better to use.

Any good Ferengi/Quark Episodes in the first 3 seasons?

I think there are I just can't remember the names...

I'm looking for Romulan Episodes as well...

I did like the episode where Q Showed up his once and only appearance and Sisko Punched him and he never went back.

 

[C_Miller]

If you bought them, why not go through the whole thing? Sure, there are some bad episodes, but the great part about Deep Space Nine is that even the worst episodes have some good character moments (Except for Meridian and Let He Who is Without Sin... don't know what was going on in those). When you get to the end (or Season 5, which as far as I am now), it will all pay off because you will have a firmer grasp on these character and this show was very character driven. That's why I never understand the people who say start at Season 4, when the war stuff starts to come full force. What good is a war if you don't care about the people fighting it?

 

[Tyjos Azari]

I like the first seasons of Deep Space Nine, it's like the first seasons of enterprise before the Xindi Storyline.

There seemed to be a great deal of awesome episodes in the first 3 seasons. I love the Mirror Universe episodes....mmmm Hot sexy Intendant Kira and Mirror Universe Dax.

 

[DevilEyes]

Any good Ferengi/Quark Episodes in the first 3 seasons?

I think there are I just can't remember the names...

The House of Quark is great.

Rules of Acquisition is OK. I like Profit and Loss, mostly because it introduces Cardassian dissidents and because it's a good Garak episode, but it's also fun to see DS9 do Casablanca with Quark in Bogart's role. (Though BTW it makes a lot more sense than the real Casablanca with the "oh she must stay with her husband because he's a resistance leader" nonsense (or what? She's his support system and he'll fall apart without her?) because Natima is a leader of the dissident movement, rather than a leader's wife.

I'm looking for Romulan Episodes as well...
.

I don't think there are any in the first 3 seasons apart from Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast, and The Search.

Well, its only my opinion, but for me the best and most important eps of the first 3 seasons would be:

If I was going to recommend someone a rewatch, I'd definitely add more episodes to that list.

Season 1
Emissary
Past Prologue (first Garak ep)
Captive Pursuit
Vortex
Duet (generally considered a classic)
In The Hands of The Prophets (first Winn ep)

That's pretty much it, though Battle Lines is sorta important because of what happens with Kai Opaka.

Season 2
The Homecoming/Circle/Siege
Cardassians
Necessary Evil (generally considered a classic)
The Maquis I & II
The Wire
The Jem'Hadar

+
The Alternate (it's not great, but it introduces Dr Mora who'll return in season 5, and we learn more about Odo's past)
Whispers (great episode)
Profit and Loss (we learn more about Cardassian society, with the introduction of the dissidents, and it's a good Garak episodes)
Blood Oath (brings back the 3 Klingons from TOS, and Kor will return later in the series)
Crossover (the only good DS9 MU episode)
The Collaborator (Winn becomes kai)
Tribunal (it's not really that important, but it's a great piece of black comedy about a totalitarian judicial system)

Season 2 is very underrated, IMO.

Season 3
The Search I&II
Second Skin
Defiant
Past Tense I&II
Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast (generally considered a classic)
Explorers
The Adversary (not really a cliff-hanger, no, but pretty ominous and foreboding)

+ The House of Quark (great episode And yes, Grilka also comes back in season 5)
Equilibrium (we learn more about the Trill, and Joran comes back a couple of times)
Civil Defense (simply because it's fun, especially with Dukat/Garak animosity)
Life Support (Bajor and Cardassia sign a peace treaty, and Bareil dies)
Destiny (more Cardassians? Always a good thing. And interacting in a fun way with O'Brien? Even better)
Shakaar (involves important political changes on Bajor and introduces a recurring character)
Facets (a good Dax episode - and one where we finally get to meet all of the former hosts)
maybe also
Family Business (no, I don't think it's good, but it is important for future Ferengi storylines)

Or you could just watch the entire season, just skipping Meridian and Fascination. Yes, I know that some people like Fascination, but I absolutely loathe and despise it. And it's not even all that funny.

 

[Michael]

I don't think there are any in the first 3 seasons apart from Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast, and The Search.

Visionary heavily features Romulans as well.

 

[TheGodBen]

If you bought them, why not go through the whole thing? Sure, there are some bad episodes, but the great part about Deep Space Nine is that even the worst episodes have some good character moments (Except for Meridian and Let He Who is Without Sin... don't know what was going on in those).

Meridian had the awesome b-plot about Quark trying to get a holo-recording of Kira so that Jeffrey Combs could be having the sex with her. It's worth watching for that, just make sure to fast-forward ALL the Jadzia stuff.

 

[Tyjos Azari]

Right now I just wanna watch some good old DS9 Action all the pre-Dominion War stuff.

I should be getting my sets by next week.

 

[C_Miller]

If you bought them, why not go through the whole thing? Sure, there are some bad episodes, but the great part about Deep Space Nine is that even the worst episodes have some good character moments (Except for Meridian and Let He Who is Without Sin... don't know what was going on in those).

Meridian had the awesome b-plot about Quark trying to get a holo-recording of Kira so that Jeffrey Combs could be having the sex with her. It's worth watching for that, just make sure to fast-forward ALL the Jadzia stuff.

To tell you the truth, I actually forgot all about that. The a-plot was bad enough to just block out the rest of the episode.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I don't know why everyone hates Meridian so much. Yes, it is rubbish, but DS9 has far worse episodes! The Muse, Let He Who is Without Sin..., Ferengi Love Songs, Profit and Lace... Meridian is actually pretty watchable compared to those.

 

[mythme]

at least I can see what they were going for in those aforementioned episodes even if the end result was a dud. I see nothing redeeming in Meridian; the "concept" of a planet going in and out of phase is intriguing, but they handled it in such a bland manner and wrote Jadzia completely out of character.

 

[TheGodBen]

Meridian never stood out for me until I was doing my second rewatch of the series after getting the DVDs, that's when I noticed how mind-numbingly awful the a-plot was. It was character assassination for Jadzia, it was poorly acted, it squandered the potential of the subject matter (a planet that goes out of phase or whatever) to do a romance of the week story. But the worst crime of all was how boring it was. The b-plot was very good and used Quark, Kira and Jeffrey Combs brilliantly, but that only served to make the a-plot's awfulness stand out more. Sometimes on DS9 the comedic b-plot was irritating because it got in the way of the serious a-plot, this was one of the rare cases where the reverse was true.

Meridian shouldn't be put down on the same level as Let He Who is Without Sin, but only because of the b-plot propping it up. Judging it purely by the a-plot, it's definitely down there with the worst of them.

 

[Saito S]

Meridian never stood out for me until I was doing my second rewatch of the series after getting the DVDs, that's when I noticed how mind-numbingly awful the a-plot was. It was character assassination for Jadzia, it was poorly acted, it squandered the potential of the subject matter (a planet that goes out of phase or whatever) to do a romance of the week story. But the worst crime of all was how boring it was. The b-plot was very good and used Quark, Kira and Jeffrey Combs brilliantly, but that only served to make the a-plot's awfulness stand out more. Sometimes on DS9 the comedic b-plot was irritating because it got in the way of the serious a-plot, this was one of the rare cases where the reverse was true.

Meridian shouldn't be put down on the same level as Let He Who is Without Sin, but only because of the b-plot propping it up. Judging it purely by the a-plot, it's definitely down there with the worst of them.

I pretty much agree with all of this, word for word.

But I highlighted that phrase to make a point: THIS, to me, is perhaps the biggest problem with "Meridian", among many other Trek eps. Romance of the week is probably the WORST of all Trek's commonly recurring story types. Gonna reprint what I said about this ages ago, in some other thread:

These eps (all the series have them) where one of the main characters falls head over heels for the guest character whom they met like twenty minutes ago, and then through a series of events that inevitably range from contrived to unbelievable, break off the "relationship" by the end of the ep (since, naturally, the main cast member has to leave when the ship leaves, whereas the guest character/love interest must stay behind/can't abandon their people now/will die if they try to leave their planet/etc etc etc )... that stuff is just ridiculous. It's never been a good idea upon which to base a story, and doesn't work in Trek any better than it does in anything else.

 

[ChadHydro]

I don't know why everyone hates Meridian so much. Yes, it is rubbish, but DS9 has far worse episodes! The Muse, Let He Who is Without Sin..., Ferengi Love Songs, Profit and Lace... Meridian is actually pretty watchable compared to those.

The reason you even THINK about watching Meridian is for Jeffrey Coombs . Love that man, otherwise it's amusing to watch Quark squirm trying to get the holo-recording but pretty rubbish otherwise.

Yeah I really dislike The Muse. Probably haven't watched it since the first time I saw it.

 

[Tyjos Azari]

Well I picked up DS9 Season 4 today....so I think there are a few good episodes in that season as well.

 

[Tyjos Azari]

Well I got the first 3 seasons today and I'm Enjoying Emissary.....


The Rest of the Series should arrive by the end of this week.