My journey in Deep Space

[trentman359]

"In the Pale Moonlight"

"Sisko must work with Garak to help bring the Romulans into the war on the side of the Federation."

Garak is a mad genius, its that simple. I must say his plan was flawless. Sisko knew what he was getting into but he somehow didn't want to admit it to himself. The episode was brilliantly told. I loved how it was Sisko dictacting to his personal log, it almost felt like a play. Well I got another episode in my top 5.
Heres the order so far:
1. The Visitor
2. Far Beyond the Stars
3. In the Pale Moonlight
4. Duet
5.

 

[trentman359]

"His Way"

"Odo consults with a holographic lounge singer about how to win the love of Kira, and ultimately succeeds."

I might be in the minority, but I liked it. Vic Fontaine is the most lovable character on DS9 since Morn made his debut. I know we will see more of Vic and I just wish that he had come sooner.

 

[Lateralus]

You guys should check our Mr. Darren's This One's From The Heart. It was released as DS9 ended and has every song he sang while playing Vic.

It's actually a very enjoyable album.

 

[Thor Damar]

"In the Pale Moonlight"

"Sisko must work with Garak to help bring the Romulans into the war on the side of the Federation."

Garak is a mad genius, its that simple. I must say his plan was flawless. Sisko knew what he was getting into but he somehow didn't want to admit it to himself. The episode was brilliantly told. I loved how it was Sisko dictacting to his personal log, it almost felt like a play. Well I got another episode in my top 5.
Heres the order so far:
1. The Visitor
2. Far Beyond the Stars
3. In the Pale Moonlight
4. Duet
5.

It is one of Mr Garak's finest moments a truly excellent plan that achieved the desired outcome with very little cost.
(Why do I suddenly have Luther Sloan's voice in my head...)

 

[Too Much Fun]

Jeez, everyone picks the same favourite episodes. I think all of those are pretty overrated, except for "The Visitor". The others are all good in parts, but don't add up. "Duet" and "In the Pale Moonlight" both end awesomely, but get really grating in the build-up, and "Far Beyond the Stars" is the opposite - strong start, atrocious ending.

 

[trentman359]

Those episodes immediately grabbed me and I felt they deserved those spots. What would be your top 5?

 

[Too Much Fun]

Hey, thanks for asking instead of just being defensive. I think I'll need to finish watching the whole series before I decide for sure (still on season 7), but for the moment, I'm thinking...

1. Trials and Tribble-Ations
2. You Are Cordially Invited...
3. To The Death
4. Re-Joined
5. His Way

I don't think these are necessarily the best from an objective standpoint, but they're the ones I've enjoyed most so far. I admit I have a bias towards Dax-heavy episodes, but beyond that I think these are also episodes that have a good amount of strong dialogue, moving character arcs, fun action, minimal technobabble/exposition, and effective comedy and/or drama from start to finish. And like "Far Beyond the Stars" and "In the Pale Moonlight", many of them involve people getting really emotional at times, but I think much less irritatingly than Avery Brooks does as he goes WAY over-the-top in those.

 

[Vykan12]

Yikes, the first half of season 7 is pretty bad, I only found Chimera and maybe 2-3 other episodes memorable out of the first 15, and there were also some real stinkers in there. Maybe that's why Trek series usually end by the 7th season- total burnout.

 

[trentman359]

"The Reckoning"

"After the discovery of an ancient Bajoran artifact, the Emissary puts his first officer's and his son's life in danger when a Prophet and a Pah-Wraith take over their bodies to wage an ancient war."

Sisko's character has completely changed as he now has 100% faith in the prophets. Quite a leap of faith for him to take. I guess I'm not too heavy on Bajoran centric episodes.

 

[trentman359]

And like "Far Beyond the Stars" and "In the Pale Moonlight", many of them involve people getting really emotional at times, but I think much less irritatingly than Avery Brooks does as he goes WAY over-the-top in those.

I like my Avery Brooks over-the-top.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Those episodes immediately grabbed me and I felt they deserved those spots. What would be your top 5?

1) In the Pale Moonlight (About damn time somebody showed that the Federation is less than perfect.)

2) Duet (SO much power to this one--and this is the first time we see Kira really start to grow as a character.)

3) Ties of Blood and Water (This one made me bawl like a baby. I'm not kidding.)

4) The Siege of AR-558 (For the Trekiverse, this is one hell of a powerful depiction of war.)

5) What You Leave Behind (Would rank higher if the Dukat/Winn arc had been better-written, but otherwise very good.)

 

[Thor Damar]

1) Duet: a powerful episode examining the nature of occupation, personal and Societal guilt and the aftereffects of Imperialism. It also dealt very clearly with the subject of racism on both sides all in all a great Bajorian/Cardassian ep.

2) Changing face of Evil: purely for Legate Damar's redemption and his kickarse 'resist' speech at the end.

3) Second Skin/Ties of blood and Water: Two great Kira episodes in which she reevaluates her conceptions of individual Cardassians and starts to overcome the wounds of the occupation. And of course there is the late and great Legate Tekeny Ghemor who seals the show.

4) Return to Grace: One of my favorite Dukat episodes. He becomes a hero but we still see shades of the Dukat who would sell Cardassia out later on. This episode also first introducted Damar

5) What you leave behind: A great finale, Marc Alaimo's acting helps to make the Dukat/Winn subplot watchable and Damar got tragic hero's death (that he managed to survive a half a dozen shots and still get a last word out is certainly impressive).
The ruin and genocide on Cardassia was deeply upsetting for me and is a tribute to the writers and actors and their ability to make an ruthless race of oppressors into sympathetic characters that you can root for. (well, I did anyway)

 

[Robotech Master]

^Hey folks, watch the spoilers!

Remember this is trentman's first time through.

 

[trentman359]

Ya, I had to skip over those.

"Valiant"

"Jake and Nog are rescued from the Dominion by a Starfleet ship manned by very young officers who are determined to prove themselves at any cost."

What a bunch of punk kids. They might have been elite cadets but they know nothing about being Starfleet officers. What ever happened to that "very important" message for the Grand Nagus? That plot line dropped fast.

 

[trentman359]

"Profit and Lace"

"A feminist revolution led by Quark's mother on Ferenginar leads to the deposition of the Nagus and forces Quark to impersonate a female in order to impress an important businessman."

When this episode started and Quark was forcing one of his employees to perform sexual acts on him, I didn't quite know what we were getting into. Turns out we have a man who poses as a woman and has to run away from a rapist. Possibly one of the worst episodes of DS9. No, I shouldn't say that. Nothing is worse than "Meridian."

 

[Vykan12]

Are you kidding? Quark going transvestite is one of the more awesome things to happen to DS9 :P

 

[Thor Damar]

^Hey folks, watch the spoilers!

Remember this is trentman's first time through.

'Slaps forehead'.

Do'h, I forgot that not everyone has seen those episodes. My bad

 

[Vykan12]

Spoiler: DS9 season 7

When the dominion surrenders, why is it only the one changling woman who is apprehended? You'd think the entire great link would've been punished in some way, and even with Odo giving them a fresh perspective, they could have the potential to repeat their mistakes. A good deal of episodes are devoted to portraying Star Fleet as an organization that are willing to drop principles when it comes to getting certain things done, why would they suddenly become so forgiving to the changlings simply because they surrendered?

 

[Lindley]

Spoiler: because...

After the wormhole was mined, the Gamma Quadrant had pretty much zero impact on the course of the war. So while other Changelings may have been involved in the preliminary planning, they were not directly responsible for the prosecution of the war in any way. At least not beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

[Vykan12]

Spoiler: DS9 season 7

That's completely besides the point. The founders started the war and they're responsible for the existence of the Jem Hadar and the Vorta. Just because they had others to do all their dirty work (never mind it was their own genetically engineered creations), that doesn't undermine the fact that they're essentially committing 2nd degree mass murder throughout the course of the Dominion War. However, from what I can tell, all the blame seemed to have been placed on that single changling woman. As far as I understand, all the changlings except Odo shared the same contempt for the solids, not to mention they did use some operatives on occasion, such as their Earth infiltration. I would've expected that after the changling woman surrendered, more punitive action would've been taken against the founders. You don't just leave the people responsible for a quadrant spanning war to live as they always did, the Federation isn't so naive as to forgive that sort of thing.

And, even if the Federation feels forgiving, the founders still pose a threat. Who is to stop them from making another Jem Hadar army in total secrecy, then launching another full-scale attack against the Alpha quadrant?