The least disliked episode of DS9 - Season Six

Now that's a shocker - the reigning two-time winner didn't even make it to the finals!

Tears of the Prophets is done; events behind the scenes were too clearly orchestrating Dax's death, with the writing feeling like a scramble to get it done rather than organically.

A Time to Stand
Rocks and Shoals
Behind the Lines
The Magnificent Ferengi
Waltz
Far Beyond the Stars
Inquisition

 

The consensus is that it is a wildly inconsistent season, but still has great episodes. One episode (ahem!) from this season is widely considered among the franchise's best.

 

Eliminating Waltz. Making Dukat insane was not good for his character.

People consider season 6 a step down in quality? I think of it as one of the best seasons. The Occupation arc and the grind of the Dominion War led to some of their best storytelling.

A Time to Stand
Rocks and Shoals
Behind the Lines
The Magnificent Ferengi
Far Beyond the Stars
Inquisition

 

I saw it coming a mile away.

 

I also wasn't aware of that consensus. I thought S6 was considered among the best of DS9.

 

Far Beyond The Stars or In The Pale Moonlight?
It seems like people are eliminating episodes for major flaws rather than for personal preferences. I suppose I shouldn't assume that everyone disliked the season opening arc.

 

ITPM is regularly ranked by critics among the top ten, if not five, episodes of all Star Trek's episodes.

I doubt it.

 

For a game where any person can eliminate any episode at any time, it's surprising how few consensus faves were eliminated early in the TNG game. The DS9 version has more the amount of chaos I'd expect from this format.

 

The Magnificent Ferengi is a really fun romp, but it doesn't hold up to the rest.

A Time to Stand
Rocks and Shoals
Behind the Lines
Far Beyond the Stars
Inquisition

 

I always felt season 6 was among the best of the franchise, and of DS9.

I am very shocked "IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT" was eliminated so early. I thought it would at least make it to the final 3.

 

I don't consider season 6 a step down in quality, I would just consider it more erratic. The highs are higher and the lows are lower than in season 4 and 5, which maintained more consistent overall quality levels.

I loved it! It is not without its flaws, but taken together, the station occupation arc is really a highpoint of DS9 for me.

The rule could be that previous winners get a wild-card slot in the finals. I don't know if I even like that idea, just tossing it out there...

 

I like that idea. It gives them a chance because some might get rid of them just to make sure they don't win again. Plus, it should make the final one very interesting...

 

I'm surprised Inquisition made it this far. But it's out. It wasn't bad, but I get it, totalitarian society with kangaroo courts. Some good lines, some good moments, but not quite enough to support 43 minutes.


A Time to Stand
Rocks and Shoals
Behind the Lines
Far Beyond the Stars

 

Hopefully people are voting out popular episodes because they honestly think it's the worst episode remaining and not just because it's a threat to win. If people are voting like that it makes the game less fun. Explicitly stated in the rules you're not supposed to vote strategically.

 

Takeru provided ample reasoning for his choice, no reason to assume any nefarious intent.

 

I saw you making snippy comments a mile away.

So what? I don't like the episode and I told you why. If you have a problem with that don't play this game, this isn't about what episodes critics consider to be the best.
One of my favorite episode this season is Statistical Probabilities which was eliminated early, did I complain about that?


Anyway, Rocks and Shoals is out, there was bery little tension in Sisko et al crashing, as if they weren't going to get out of there, it also felt like a retreat of The Ship. The DS9 scenes are fun but I could have done without the entire crash plot.
I also considered eliminating Far Beyond the Stars which is really just an inconsequential dream sequence but at least that made things uncertain, anything can happen in that scenario. Rocks and Shoals didn't have that.


A Time to Stand
Behind the Lines
Far Beyond the Stars

 

To be completely honest, I was actually expecting In The Pale Moonlight to fall much earlier than it actually did. Not that I actually dislike the episode at all - with the possible exception of The Way of the Warrior and Trials and Tribble-ations, it's probably my favourite episode of the series - but since Discovery launched I've had the definite sense of a backlash starting to develop against DS9, and opinions towards Voyager mellowing out a little. It'll be interesting to see what happens when this game moves onto that show.

Anyways, I'll take out Behind the Lines. A very solid episode, it just feels too much like set-up for the following two-parter, whereas the other two episodes stand by themselves

A Time to Stand
Far Beyond the Stars

 

Indeed, but it'll have to wait until the end of the season, and just a short game at that. Maybe a standard round and then the top 5 or so episodes in the finals.

 

I guess it will be me who picks the last one of the season. I will say goodbye to "FAR BEYOND THE STARS". It is a solid episode, and is one of my favorites, but the whole thing only gets revisited again once. Dream sequence episodes never really did it for me overall... it's their own reset button.

"A TIME TO STAND" delivered on pretty much every level. It was tense, with the Federation/Klingon alliance losing the war. It set a lot of things up for the season. And the crew's reactions to no biobeds, chairs, or sandwiches were some of my favorite exchanges of the series.


A Time to Stand

 

It's a brilliant episode, and deserves the win after In The Pale Moonlight went out early. It's such a grim season opener and it will be interesting to see how it fares in the final round.

In terms of how season six rates amongst other seasons, it's definitely a step down from S5, and I'd also rate it below S7. Whilst it's inconsistent, there are still some good episodes amongst the fluff. The opening arc, Far Beyond the Stars, Inquisition and In the Pale Moonlight are all wonderful.