The Most Disliked Episode of DS9, 2023 Edition - Season 5...

[Bad Thoughts]

Saving The Ascent. It is my comfort episode. It was wondeful comedy between Odo and Quark. And the episode manages to show large character change for Nog without it being questionable. And Jake can't spell!

"THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"THE BEGOTTEN"
"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"
"BLAZE OF GLORY"

 

[Sakonna]

"Ferengi Love Songs" The Rom/Leeta story is trash, but do I love the Ferenginar portion. Cecily Adams premiere as Ishka! She was great in that part, despite how little she was typically given to work with.

"THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"THE BEGOTTEN"
"BY INFERNO'S LIGHT"
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"
"TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER"
"SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE"
"BLAZE OF GLORY"

 

[Oddish]

"The Begotten" has its issues, but I enjoyed it. Rene Auberginois and Nana Visitor are both great in how they have to process their grief, even if (in Odo's case), that grief is mixed with joy. And the more I see of Kira, the more awesome she gets.

THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"BY INFERNO'S LIGHT"
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"
"TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER"
"SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE"
"BLAZE OF GLORY"

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Rene Auberginois and Nana Visitor are both great in how they have to process their grief, even if (in Odo's case), that grief is mixed with joy.

"Hey, Rene, you're foster dad to a bowl of goo this week!"

The man was a legend.

 

[Qonundrum]

While the epic "fresh food vs replicator" scene was a bit stale,

"BLAZE OF GLORY"

Is an overall decent ending to Eddington's arc. And now, it's clip show time!

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Plan B or no plan B, is that the question? Break it down* even more, since plans 1A, 1B, and 2A flopped...

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Note to self: When faking it regarding troop numbers, have a microphone and some random speakers strewn about to make a basic attempt of illusion almost begin to work.

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Don't eat while watching this, you'll want to regurgitate and that's only appropriate when you're a big birdy feeding your four hatchlings...

* to break it down even more even more:

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Now look up the "In Living Color" parody of that video and laugh your blank off!

And here it is! (454) MC Hammer- In living Color Parody - YouTube


What's left:
"THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"BY INFERNO'S LIGHT"
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"
"TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER"
"SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE"

 

[Seven of Five]

By Inferno's Kight is next for me. It's not as grand as the first part, yet the twists keep coming, with the Cardassians going to bed with the Dominion, and the Klingons and Starfleet becoming friends again.

I have no idea what is going to win now. The only one I don't really like that's left is Doctor Bashir, I Presume.

THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"
"TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER"
"SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE"

 

[CitadelZombies]

"Soldiers of the Empire" is a fun Klingon episode. How Martock got his groove back.

"THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"
"TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER"

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Hey, I took out Darkness and Light already.

 

[Farscape One]

I dont feel like this episode gets a lot of praise, but I really like "Empok Nor" it's a real good Horror/Thriller. I do find Garak kinda scary in this as well.


"THINGS PAST"
"THE ASCENT"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"THE BEGOTTEN"
"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"
"BLAZE OF GLORY"

Thank you! I also love "EMPOK NOR". TNG did horror the best out of all the shows, with VGR being second place with horror. But this DS9 one was a lot of fun. Always loved the atmosphere and mood of it.

(Also, thanks for saving "SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE"...a.k.a. STAR TREK: KLINGON. LOVE this one, and is always a rewatch.)

Saving The Ascent. It is my comfort episode. It was wondeful comedy between Odo and Quark. And the episode manages to show large character change for Nog without it being questionable. And Jake can't spell!

"THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT"
"THE BEGOTTEN"
"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"
"BLAZE OF GLORY"

My wife thanks you for saving "THE ASCENT", as it is her favorite after "IT'S ONLY A PAPER MOON". (I love "THE ASCENT", too, but she is even more of a fan of it.)


Saving "TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER".

Excellent acting by Visitor, as always. Great episode. (Made even better, on a personal note, due to me actually having an email chat once with Robert Hewitt Wolfe about this one and him sharing his personal story around this one.)


"THINGS PAST"
"RAPTURE"
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Saving Rapture. I think it is a fresh take on religion from Trek, and it managed to tie up what were becoming loose threads with a promise of what would happen in the distant future. I love how willing Sisko was to forgive, and the perspective on his family and Kira's beliefs.

"THINGS PAST"
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"

 

[Qonundrum]

One episode easily deserves to be the rest, but

"THINGS PAST"

isn't one of them. It's definitely underrated, though some treknobabble hinders it, and some have argued it commits "character assassination" too. But that more arguably happens in one of the worst episodes that remain:



What's left:
"DOCTOR BASHIR, I PRESUME"
"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"

 

[BlueStuff]

Doctor Bashir, I Presume - a controversial character twist, yes, but it's handled with aplomb by all the actors involved. It's also more interesting than the comparatively standard episodes remaining.

"A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION"
"BUSINESS AS USUAL"

 

[Seven of Five]

Oh no, I love both of these episodes. An impossible choice.

I'll save A Simple Investigation because its a great ROTW, and Auberjonois was great.

 

[Farscape One]

And "BUSINESS AS USUAL" wins season 5.

Wow... this game was done in less than 4 hours! I think that's a record. A lot of well deserved love for this season. (Fun fact: except for 2019, "A SIMPLE INVESTIGATION" has been the runner up every time.)

I'll start season 6 later today. Hope to see everyone there.

Thank you all for playing.

 

[Qonundrum]

Doctor Bashir, I Presume - a controversial character twist, yes, but it's handled with aplomb by all the actors involved. It's also more interesting than the comparatively standard episodes remaining.

The actors elevate it, and it begs new questions for sure - and not just the Rom/Leeta nonsense as well. But the genetic enhancement bit is another of those surprise twists of the sorts that beg questions like "Wasn't genetic engineering banned?", "Why can't I get some of that?", "Rom's had a bit of a change all of a sudden?", "Wait, how many kids did Sarek breed and/or adopt? Sybok was enough of a chore and yet he continues to bring up nonSpockian kids who seem to cause havoc all over the galaxy, where's Dr Spock? Oh wait...", "Do 1.795372 + 2.204628 make 4.014159265 in that other dimension we know nothing about until next week?", "Isn't Section 31 that part of Studio 54 that nobody talks about, unlike the rubber-walled room that's easier to hose down than the holodeck?", and so on...

 

[Oddish]

Doctor Bashir, I Presume - a controversial character twist, yes, but it's handled with aplomb by all the actors involved. It's also more interesting than the comparatively standard episodes remaining.

DS9 had a character who was fading into the background, and they took steps to develop him, to add a new wrinkle to his character.

When VOY's writers tried to do the same thing with a similarly fading character, they were emphatically shut down from above.

That's why DS9 is considered to this day to be the pinnacle of character development on Trek... while VOY gets called the "Doctor and Seven Show".

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Doctor Bashir, I Presume - a controversial character twist, yes, but it's handled with aplomb by all the actors involved. It's also more interesting than the comparatively standard episodes remaining.

AMSHA: You don't know. You've never had a child. You don't know what it's like to watch your son. To watch him fall a little further behind every day. You know he's trying, but something's holding him back. You don't know what it's like to stay up every night worrying that maybe it's your fault. Maybe you did something wrong during the pregnancy, maybe you weren't careful enough, or maybe there's something wrong with you. Maybe you passed on a genetic defect without even knowing it.
RICHARD: Amsha
AMSHA: No, this is important. You can condemn us for what we did. You can say it's illegal or immoral or whatever you want to say, but you have to understand that we didn't do it because we were ashamed, but because you were our son and we loved you.

 

[kkt]

And Jake can't spell!

Jake doesn't bother with spelling when he's getting the words to a story down. Spelling can be corrected later, but if you break the flow of words while they're coming you may never get them back.

 

[kkt]

Saving "TIES OF BLOOD AND WATER".

Excellent acting by Visitor, as always. Great episode. (Made even better, on a personal note, due to me actually having an email chat once with Robert Hewitt Wolfe about this one and him sharing his personal story around this one.)

Is Wolfe's story something you could share?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Jake doesn't bother with spelling when he's getting the words to a story down. Spelling can be corrected later, but if you break the flow of words while they're coming you may never get them back.

May I suggest that Jake forgets to spellcheck? How else would Bashir know that he could not spell his name?