The least disliked episode of DS9 - Season Five

[BlueStuff]

This is a game that we play every few years, and it's generally a lot of fun, providing a chance to mentally revisit those episodes you may not have thought about in a while. With that in mind, why not play again?

So, here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your least favorite or the one you deem the 'worst.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, please leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode just because you feel they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Hall of Champions
2011 - In the Pale Moonlight
2013 - In the Pale Moonlight
2017 - Improbable Cause
2019 -

Season Five

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Let He Who is Without Sin...
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Darkness and the Light
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Business as Usual
Ties of Blood and Water
Ferengi Love Songs
Soldiers of the Empire
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Empok Nor
In the Cards
Call to Arms

 

[Starflight]

Starting with Ferengi Love Songs, shouldn't be too controversial a choice, I hope.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Let He Who is Without Sin...
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Darkness and the Light
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Business as Usual
Ties of Blood and Water
Soldiers of the Empire
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Empok Nor
In the Cards
Call to Arms

 

[Farscape One]

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Darkness and the Light
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Business as Usual
Ties of Blood and Water
Soldiers of the Empire
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Empok Nor
In the Cards
Call to Arms

This was another superb season, butva couple episodes can go. "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN..." is one. Except for the revelation of Worf's childhood, the episode really is best forgotten.

 

[BigDaveX]

The Darkness and the Light. An otherwise-okayish story, ruined by an ending that absolutely butchers Kira's character and throws everything she's learned over the previous four years right out of the window.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Business as Usual
Ties of Blood and Water
Soldiers of the Empire
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Empok Nor
In the Cards
Call to Arms

 

[Seven of Five]

Aside from the interesting O'Brien/Garak scenes in the beginning, Empok Nor is forgettable.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Business as Usual
Ties of Blood and Water
Soldiers of the Empire
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
In the Cards
Call to Arms

 

[NovaStar]

Business as Usual is out for being pretty much, "Business as Usual." Not as enlightening or strong as the others.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Ties of Blood and Water
Soldiers of the Empire
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
In the Cards
Call to Arms

 

[Claudia]

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
In the Cards
Call to Arms

"Soldiers of the Empire" is out - sorry, but few Klingon episodes really capture my interest, this isn't one of those.

 

[tomswift2002]

“In The Cards”. This one should’ve been dealt out. The A-story was so-so.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Doctor Bashir, I Presume?
A Simple Investigation
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Call to Arms

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I eliminate Doctor Bashir I Presume. It ruined a good character with a stupid retcon impossible to square with the first five years of his behavior.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
For the Uniform
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
A Simple Investigation
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Call to Arms

 

[Brennyren]

I'm doffing "For the Uniform." Our Hero poisoned a planet's atmosphere to settle a personal score, and ended the episode congratulating himself on his skill at "playing the villain," to the applause of an indulgent Jadzia. "Playing the villain"?

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
A Simple Investigation
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Blaze of Glory
Call to Arms

 

[Sakonna]

"Blaze Of Glory" doesn't hit me right. I was somewhat frustrated by both Eddington follow-ups, actually, they contain lots of good stuff but both could be much better.

And I hate the retcon that he was THE leader of the Maquis. Why does every character on this show have to be THE leader of their society?!?

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
A Simple Investigation
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

 

[Damian]

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
A Simple Investigation
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

I eliminated "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places". It wasn't a favorite of mine. I didn't hate it per se, it was just meh. I know it was a watershed episode for Jadzia and Worf (maybe part of it was that I kind of hoped eventually she would end up with Bashir, as corny and obvious as that may sound)

 

[Takeru]

A Simple Investigation, it bored me to death, others may enjoy it but it wasn't for me.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
The Assignment
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll take out The Assignment. It's average really, with the wife-in-jeopardy plot being a bit tame. Colm Meaney did well with it though.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
The Ascent
Rapture
The Begotten
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

 

[BigDaveX]

The Ascent. Solid, but it doesn't really stand out all that much compared to the others here.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
Rapture
The Begotten
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

 

[Sakonna]

"The Begotten" The subplot is terrible. The bickering men having to be kicked out by the womenfolk. Just ugh. And the Odo story is just very egh. It's fine, but an arc like this really demands a resolution better than "fine."

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
Trials and Tribble-ations
Things Past
Rapture
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

 

[Seven of Five]

This is stupidly hard now. I'll eliminate Things Past - it was nice going back in time to the Occupation again, but it didn't quite stick with me all these years later like Necessary Evil did.

Apocalypse Rising
The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
Trials and Tribble-ations
Rapture
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

 

[Claudia]

The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
Trials and Tribble-ations
Rapture
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

"Apocalypse Rising" is gone... just the weakest of the bunch for me.

 

[Takeru]

Rapture, it's quite good but the rest is simply better.


The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
Trials and Tribble-ations
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Ties of Blood and Water
Children of Time
Call to Arms

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Eliminating Ties of Blood and Water. Good episode and good sequel episode, but it's up against a bunch of really good episodes. Kira's exploration of her feelings about the moral nuances of Cardassians involved in atrocities has been done better in other episodes.

The Ship
...Nor the Battle to the Strong
Trials and Tribble-ations
In Purgatory's Shadow
By Inferno's Light
Children of Time
Call to Arms