The least disliked episode of DS9 - Season Three

[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 Three

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Meridian
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[BlueStuff]

I'll do us all a favor and boot Meridian. The B-plot with Quark is actually decent, even fun. It's the main plot that's an affront to the senses; one of the poorest, most repellant romance stories in all of Trek.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Life Support
Heart of Stone
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary

 

[tomswift2002]

“Heart Of Stone” This is one that is cringe-worthy.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Life Support
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Shakaar
Facets
The Adversary[/QUOTE]

 

[BigDaveX]

Shakaar. I don't quite know what it is, but I really never took to the title character; something about him always came across a little too Marty Stu-ish for my taste, especially given what we're told his cell got up to during the occupation.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Life Support
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Removing Life Support. The whole thing just felt extremely contrived, and the whole thing about the 'spark of life' felt forced.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Distant Voices
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Sakonna]

"Distant Voices." For me it's the only ep that doesn't work with the eventual reveal of Bashir's genetic enhancements -- that's the defining issue of his life and we spend this ep inside his subconscious. There's no way it doesn't come up.

The terrible old man makeup and terrible old man performance from Siddig don't help either.

Great alien design on the Lethean, though!

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Fascination
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Seven of Five]

Fascination is a pretty silly episode, so that's my first choice for S3.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
The House of Quark
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Sakonna]

Removing Life Support. The whole thing just felt extremely contrived, and the whole thing about the 'spark of life' felt forced.

Mild Discovery spoiler, re: the backstory of a secondary bridge character:

Spoiler

Not to mention, Airiam over on Disco seems to have no trouble maintaining her spark-of-life through waaaaaaaay more robotic fixes! http://discovery.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=4025&fullsize=1

 

[Armus]

Season 3 was a definite step down from Season 2 in my book; The writing seemed more self-conscious and indulgent. The pinnacle of indulgence was Fascination. So awful.

 

[NovaStar]

The House of Quark just never did it for me. Too silly.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Through the Looking Glass
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Starflight]

Gonna be boring and predictable and take out the mirror episode again. Can't stand any of them.

Ferengi episodes are in my line of sight next, unless anyone else plans on getting them first.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Family Business
Facets
The Adversary

 

[NovaStar]

Family Business is out even though it features Kasidy Yates. Don't really care for it.

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
Equilibrium
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Farscape One]

The Search (I)
The Search (II)
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Facets
The Adversary

"EQUILIBRIUM" gets the boot. Not a bad episode, but it seemed to drag on in certain parts.

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll get rid of The Search II. It was quite a step down from the first part, what with the dream sequences the Founders put the DS9 crew into. At least the rest of the Odo/Kira/Changeling part of the episode is interesting.

The Search (I)
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Explorers
Facets
The Adversary

 

[BigDaveX]

Explorers; the main plot is actually pretty solid, but it's let down by the Bashir sub-plot, which feels like something lifted from an unproduced Season 1 script.

The Search (I)
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Prophet Motive
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Sakonna]

"Prophet Motive." I actually like Ferengi episodes more than most, but this is one of the weaker installments, it's all just so easy and gimmicky (and where's Nog? Nog would have been a great addition to this story!)

I do appreciate how they slide the Prophets back onto the series for the first time since "Emissary" via these Ferengi shenanigans. It's the second time they pulled that move, after the Dominion intro in "Rules Of Acquisition", and it's an impressive trick to make work TWICE.

The Search (I)
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Facets
The Adversary

 

[tomswift2002]

“Second Skin” is gone. It just doesn’t move.

The Search (I)
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Seven of Five]

I'll get rid of Facets next. I really enjoyed watching Jadzia's Zhian'tara, it was just the bit much with Odo/Curzon in the last act wanting to stay as they were that I wasn't fully on-board with.

The Search (I)
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (I)
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
Facets
The Adversary

 

[Takeru]

Past Tense 1 is out, I've never liked that two parter, it's boring.

The Search (I)
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (II)
Destiny
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

 

[Farscape One]

The Search (I)
The Abandoned
Civil Defense
Defiant
Past Tense (II)
Visionary
Improbable Cause
The Die is Cast
The Adversary

Removing "DESTINY". Not a bad episode, just not as good as the others left.