The most liked episode of DS9: Season 3

[dub]

We're continuing to vote for our favorites. Here are the results so far:

Season 1: "Duet"
Season 2: "The Wire"

Now it's time to vote for your favorite episode from season 3. After we're done with each season, we'll vote for the favorite overall.

The poll will be open for a week to give as many people a chance to vote as possible. Comment on your favorite, but don't forget to vote!

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This is getting tough, as it should. The series gets better and better for me as it goes. But if I have to choose one, I must go with "Second Skin." Seeing Kira as a Cardassian was one of the most shocking things to witness. And it was so memorable. Her acting in this episode was awesome. I felt her pain as the seeds of doubt grew within her (and within me as a viewer) as to her true race. I only wish they left the ending ambiguous as originally intended...is Kira really a Bajoran or Cardassian? Of course, she would choose Bajoran and live as Bajoran, but it would have been interesting to just leave the question of her real identity open. Of course, Garak is also in this episode and he has some great lines as usual! Anyway, I so love this episode. And it was wonderful on my rewatch as well, because my wife who was watching for the first time gasped out loud when she saw Kira as a Cardassian, which was great fun for me to witness! But like I said, this season is full of good ones, and I'm excited to see what you all choose as your favorites.

 

[garaks the best]

My fav is second skin as well.

 

[RAMA]

One of the most re-watched episodes for me is The Adversary. So I decided to name it the best of season.

RAMA

 

[BruntFCA]

I went with Improbable Cause but really both episodes of the 2-parter are perfect.

 

[AnniOfNine]

This was so hard for me, but I had to vote for Second Skin. It was a great story.

 

[jimbotron]

My favorite is Civil Defense. It was a great idea for a bottle show. You got Dukat coming in all smug and superior only to get knocked down. It has Dukat and Garak going off on each other, which is always fun.

O'Brien forgot to reformat the hard drive.

 

[jpv2000]

I went with The Die is Cast. Really like that one.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

My favorite is Civil Defense. It was a great idea for a bottle show. You got Dukat coming in all smug and superior only to get knocked down. It has Dukat and Garak going off on each other, which is always fun.

O'Brien forgot to reformat the hard drive.

Of all the Disaster type episodes in Trek, Civil Defense is the most fun, especially Garak calling out Dukat as he hit on Kira.

 

[jimbotron]

Yup, it is DS9's "Disaster" though much better. Add in Garak and Dukat, and subtract whiny children.

 

[Richard Baker]

I went with 'Civil Defense' as well. It really addressed something which was in the shows bible but rarely featured. Star Fleet had taken control of an ALIEN space station and was trying to use unfamiliar equipment at times. With control freaks like the Cardassians it is not surprising to have hidden control programs.
The Phaser unit appearing in replicators is brilliant! Check for concealed weapons all you want, the computer will create and fire them when it wants to. Having Dukat strolling through the beams was funny as hell and the look on his face when the program decided he was also part of the problem and removed his authority was priceless.

The only downer was having the massive destruction overload just turn into a light show at the end. After all that buildup they should have had some significant damage at least (to be spotlessly repaired before the next show of course)

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I love Second Skin. Kira as a Cardassian was possibly the best plot idea ever on DS9. This is a top five episode for me. Maybe top one.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

"Improbable Cause" is my favorite. The scene where Odo confronts Garak in his office is great- "You blew up your own shop, Garak!"

--Sran

 

[lurok]

Such a strong season, it would be easier for me to vote the ones I don't like. Have never rewatched Past Tense two-parter, Equilibrium, Meridian and The Abandoned. Find them unwatchable. If I had to name guilty pleasures of season, would be Civil Defence, Fascination and Explorers. Last two especially feel they're about characters.

 

[Jono]

It has to be "Explorers" for me.

 

[dub]

Just a few short hours to get your vote in before this poll closes! You all are voting for some wonderful episodes. Makes me want to re-watch right now!

 

[garaks the best]

I am shocked meridian isn't winning.

 

[dub]

I didn't think "Meridian" was the best episode of the season by any stretch, but I certainly didn't think it was as bad as most people make it out to be. I actually thought the reveal of Quark's head on Kira's body was hilarious! I wasn't thinking "oh that's awful! Get that out of my head," like I guess most people did. I just thought it was a good laugh. I thought Jeffrey Combs played his role well as usual. He was sufficiently scary, creepy and mysterious. Which made it all the more funny when his perverted dreams were shattered. But top episode of season 3? Certainly not.

Less than 20 minutes left to vote!

 

[dub]

The winner with 7 out of 28 votes (25%) is...


The Die is Cast


Here is a wonderful extra about that episode from the DVDs with commentary from director, David Livingston:


[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJJIEAuQJfQ[/yt]


And for all of you battle scene junkies, here are some heart-pounding moments from the episode:


[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vSp9CLyImA[/yt]


Some interesting facts from Memory Alpha:

• This episode was the first with Ira Steven Behr as Executive Producer. One of the major changes he made to the series was that action sequences, specifically space battles, had to be shown on-screen more often and not just referred to, as TNG had repeatedly done. As the episode budget of DS9 shows could now accommodate more extensive battle sequences than TNG could do during its series run, starship fights became more commonplace in later seasons – especially during major Dominion War episodes. This particular episode marks the first signs of this change, as it features the biggest on-screen battle in Star Trekhistory up to that point (the Battle of the Omarion Nebula).

• Visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel was instructed to come up with a way to do the battle scene without going over-budget. His solution was to create transparencies of the models of the Romulan warbirds and theCardassian ships, and to use those transparencies in the background. Coupled with the fact that they were in the background, Hutzel ensured that the camera never lingered on one of them too long, so as to ensure viewers didn't spot the effect. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

• The shot where the USS Defiant destroys a Jem'Hadar fighter and then flies through the debris took 4 days to film. (Deep Space Nine Chronicles)

• Writer Ronald D. Moore, director David Livingston, composer Dennis McCarthy and actor Rene Auberjonois were all extremely proud of the scene where Garak tortures Odo. Livingston says, "I think the scene is the best in the episode. It's very intense, very dramatic, very powerful;" McCarthy explains, "I had to express the horror of what Garak was doing to Odo and yet still put some shred of humanity into the music to show that Garak was suffering too, because Garak was having a hard time doing this. It was an opportunity to get very atonal musically. I don't believe that we ever heard a major chord on that show;" and Auberjonois notes, "I felt like some character from King Lear. The acting method I used was very Shakespearian." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

• This episode is the halfway point of Star Trek's current run of 726 episodes.

• This was the first Star Trek episode to have a two-parter with different names.