Only the good ones, season 4

[MyCylon]

Wow, another week has passed (time is just flying for me at the moment) and so it's time for me to set up another poll. As always, you can vote for the episodes you'd like to see in YOUR custom season - season 4 this time around. So pick only the episodes that you think make this a great season and drop those that weaken it in your view.

You can also check out the polls for the previous seasons:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3

Happy voting!

 

[MyCylon]

Voting for episodes in season 4 is more fun for me. I think this is an excellent season - the one where DS9 REALLY took off for me.
The interesting thing is that it's not quite as ambitious as the seasons that follow in that there are far more stand alones. However, most of them are strong enough to make the season come together as a worthwhile whole, I think. Also, the ongoing material that IS there, is great, I think.
The biggest complaint I have is probably that there wasn't more follow up to the great Homefront/Paradise Lost. I think this should have had more repercussions.

To make this a little shorter than what I usually do, I'll just briefly comment on the two episodes I left out:

Shattered Mirror: This is an enjoyable, action-packed episode, I think. However, as I said before, I think the mirror universe should have been put to rest after the first crossover episode in season 2. As the storyline progressed, it just became more and more contrived and hard (even impossible) to swallow for me. The way the resistance manages to get the Defiant's construction drawings is - plain and simple - ridiculous and lets DS9's crew look stupid, I think. And that they'd manage to then actually BUILD such a high-tech ship also seems too much of a stretch.
Still, from an entertainment point of view, this is far from a stinker.

The Muse: I actually don't mind this episode. I find it reasonably entertaining and don't think it's anywhere near DS9's worst episodes. Still, it's pretty pointless, all in all, and I don't really need to see L. Troi on DS9, thank you. However, I find her more palatable here than most of the time on TNG, and I like what Odo is willing to do for her.

As for the other episodes, well, I find they're all at the very least 'good' or very entertaining (e.g. Little Green Men), have something to add in terms of the characters (e.g. Bar Association for Rom though I really wish they could have dropped Leeta - she's SO annyoing!), challenge the status quo (The Way of the Warrior, Homefront/Paradise Lost, For the Cause), or they're simply fantastic (The Visitor which is the real gem here and one of my all-time favorites).
I still really like this season. It's great fun almost all the time, I think.

 

[Photon]

Ahhhh, S4. MY opinion, the greatest season ever in Trek. So many good episodes its hard to choose and very few clinkers (Muse).
Way of the Warrior
The Visitor is great Trek and really goood TV.

 

[MyCylon]

Before setting up the season 5 poll, here's the rundown of the shows that would make it into this season if an episode needed at least half the amount of votes of the top scorer:

01 The Way of the Warrior
02 The Visitor
03 Hippocratic Oath
04 Indiscretion
05 Rejoined
06 Little Green Men
07 Starship Down
08 Our Man Bashir
09 Homefront
10 Paradise Lost
11 Return to Grace
12 Accession
13 Hard Time
14 For the Cause
15 To the Death
16 The Quickening
17 Broken Link

It's interesting to see that applying this logic, three Worf shows don't make the cut - The Sword of Kahless, Sons of Mogh and Rules of Engagement. I didn't expect that though I will say that - though good episodes - they do belong to the weeker offerings IMHO.
Less surprisingly, two Ferengi shows also fall below the marker - Bar Association and Body Parts. I'm especially surprised where the latter is concerned. I personally rather liked it. That's the way Ferengi episodes should have been (or like Business as Usual, for that matter).

I am not surprised that The Muse got so little love I don't mind it personally but I'd already been feeling the 'love' for this episode in other threads.

 

[BigFoot]

I actually picked all the eps except for The Muse.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Decided to go with the 13 episode season rule (okay I cheated with Way of the Warrior being one episode), so some decent episode were cut, but...

Keepers:
The Way of the Warrior

Indiscretion

Homefront

Paradise Lost

Crossfire (Kept for Odo's sake)

Return to Grace

Bar Association (i kept it because I wanted to keep BODY PARTS)


Rules of Engagement (beside Way of the Warrior, my only Worf keeper...reminds us that the Klingon and Feds are still in conflict)

For the Cause

To the Death (Borderline disposable, except for Weyoun)

The Quickening (Maybe I just wanted a Bashir episode)

Body Parts (I don't hate the Ferengi)

Broken Link


Dumped:

Everything else, and yes, THE VISITOR included. Not that it was bad, but it was useless to the ongoing story, thus disposable.

SONS OF MOGH...I hate. Better to leave Kurn's fate even more ambigous than this episode's ending.

 

[Harvey]

There's hardly an episode I don't like from this season, however, as a whole, the Klingon-human conflict could have been handled better. It just didn't affect the show like the Dominion War would in seasons six and seven.