The most liked episode of DS9: Season 6

[dub]

Time for Season 6. Here are the results so far:

Season 1: "Duet"
Season 2: "The Wire"
Season 3: "The Die is Cast"
Season 4: "The Visitor"
Season 5: "Trials and Tribble-ations"

Now it's time to vote for your favorite episode from season 6. 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!

---------------

I'm going for another one that will probably not win, but hey, I'm a hopeless romantic. You guessed it. "His Way." They finally kiss! Come on! I waited forever for this! You know, I thought about mentioning some other episodes here that are among my favorites, but I would end up listing most of the season. I laughed. I cried. I rejoiced. I got angry. There are obvious favorites in this season, so I'll let you all battle it out. Have fun!

 

[garaks the best]

Lots to choose from this season but i went with in the pale moonlight because garak+sisko equals amazing episode.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Far Beyond the Stars: the episode that best brought forward the theme of Afro-futurism that ran through the series.

 

[R. Star]

Season 6 had a lot of great episodes to choose from as well.

I always thought Far Beyond the Stars was just... way out of place . A great message but one that kinda derails from the whole Star Trek setting. I get the sense Brooks probably pushed this one, which hey... star demands happen. At least he didn't ask to drive a dune buggy like Stewart did in Nemesis.

Anyways, my vote goes to In the Pale Moonlight. The first person narrative of Sisko really carries this episode. You can see how a normally good person can start down the slippery slope of morality. This episode really captures the grim situation of the war and Garak is just masterful in doing this thing in thoroughly manipulating everyone in his own unique style. Irony points for Sisko ripping into Dukat for some of the same things he did, and same justifications he did, a few episodes in Waltz.

Honorable mentions go to You are Cordially Invited, the Magnificent Ferengi and Who Mourns for Morn? for some fun, light hearted episodes among the otherwise grim story arc and for the six part epic from A time to Stand to Sacrifice of Angels, which the collective whole was greater than the sum of it's parts.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I always thought Far Beyond the Stars was just... way out of place . A great message but one that kinda derails from the whole Star Trek setting. I get the sense Brooks probably pushed this one, which hey... star demands happen. At least he didn't ask to drive a dune buggy like Stewart did in Nemesis.

I don't think he specifically advocated for such an episode. Instead, he conditioned the producers and writers by talking about his own interests in the portrayal of African-Americans. From my perspective, the episode provided an allegory for the development of the Emissary that fed into future episodes.

 

[tomalak301]

A lot to choose from but I went with Inquisition. The Doctor Bashir episodes seemed to get better with each passing season.

 

[BruntFCA]

In the Pale Moonlight is not only my favorite DS9 episode but also my favorite Trek episode.

"That was the moment I made the decision. It was like I had stepped through a door and locked it behind me. I was going to bring the Romulans into the war."
- Sisko

"My father used to say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I laid the first stone right there. I'd committed myself. I'd pay any price; go to any lengths because my cause was righteous. My... intentions were good. In the beginning, that seemed like enough."
- Sisko

"People are dying out there, every day! Entire worlds are struggling for their freedom! And here I am still worrying about the finer points of morality!"
- Sisko

"Who's watching Tolar?"
"I've locked him in his quarters. I've also left him with the distinct impression that if he attempts to force the door open, it may explode."
"I hope that's just an impression."
"It's best not to dwell on such minutiae."
- Sisko and Garak

"That's why you came to me, isn't it captain? Because you knew I could do those things that you weren't capable of doing. Well, it worked. And you'll get what you wanted: a war between the Romulans and the Dominion. And if your conscience is bothering you, you should soothe it with the knowledge that you may have just saved the entire Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal... and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer. I don't know about you, but I'd call that a bargain."
- Garak

"So... I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing, a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it. Because I can live with it. I can live with it... Computer, erase that entire personal log."
- Sisko

 

[LiLiKitty]

Wow, I'm having a hard time deciding between In The Pale Moonlight and The Magnificent Ferengi, a dilemma I didn't expect. In The Pale Moonlight is simply amazing. But The Magnificent Ferengi is just so goofy that I smile every time I think of it! I'll vote for In The Pale Moonlight, but The Magnificent Ferengi is one of the most successful Trek comedies and deserves to be feted for that.

 

[lurok]

As much as I love FBTS (and I really do), Moonlight is just a superior episode. I think one of the best of all Trek. Season 6 has some really great ones. Shame about season 7.

 

[Jono]

SoA deserves a vote, so I gave it one.

 

[_C_]

Time for Season 6. Here are the results so far:

Season 1: "Duet"
Season 2: "The Wire"
Season 3: "The Die is Cast"
Season 4: "The Visitor"
Season 5: "Trials and Tribble-ations"

Now it's time to vote for your favorite episode from season 6. 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!

---------------

I'm going for another one that will probably not win, but hey, I'm a hopeless romantic. You guessed it. "His Way." They finally kiss! Come on! I waited forever for this! You know, I thought about mentioning some other episodes here that are among my favorites, but I would end up listing most of the season. I laughed. I cried. I rejoiced. I got angry. There are obvious favorites in this season, so I'll let you all battle it out. Have fun!

I voted for His Way too!

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

season 6 had some great epsiodes but voted for the magnificent ferengi

 

[TheSubCommander]

In the Pale Moon Light is my favorite of Season 6. My other favorites

Rock and Shoals: You almost feel sorry for the Jem'Hadar.

Favor the Bold: I was totally pulling for Sisko in this one! When they cut to the scene with the fleet, I was like hell yeah!

Sacrifice of Angels: I actually felt sorry for Dukat om this one.

Waltz-probably Dukat at his worst (and craziest), and Marc Alaimo at his best.

 

[dub]

The winner for season 6 with 14 out of 31 votes (45.16%) is:

In the Pale Moonlight

Here's how it ends. SPOILER alert:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StF9jrhw-pU[/yt]

then, of course, there's this infamous scene...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qKcJF4fOPs[/yt]

Lots of interesting behind-the-scenes about this episode and the story writing process on Memory Alpha. Here is a tidbit about how the show was received by fans:

• According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. 555), this episode is generally considered by both fans and staff as the darkest Star Trek episode ever made, and the one most antithetical to Gene Roddenberry's initial views of Starfleet, the Federation and 24th century Humanity.
• Despite this, the episode has proven one of the most popular among fans. When the series ended in 1999, a poll run in Sci-Fi Entertainment had this episode as the highest rated show of the entire seven year run, followed by "The Visitor" and "Far Beyond the Stars". Furthermore, this episode has an average rating of 4.8/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of October 14th, 2008), making it one of the highest rated episodes on the entire site.
• Andrew Robinson nominates this as one of his favorite episodes, after "The Wire", "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast". According to Robinson, this episode is about Garak teaching Sisko that "You can't go to bed with the Devil without having sex." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 555)
• Of this episode, writer Michael Taylor says, "It showed how Deep Space Nine could really stretch the Star Trekformula. It pushes the boundaries in a realistic way, because the decisions Sisko makes are the kinds of decisions that have to be made in war. They're for the greater good." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 556)
• In a separate interview, Robinson made a similar point, stating that this episode demonstrated how Deep Space Nine explored more difficult issues than the other Star Trek series. He commented, "asically it exposes the American innocence, that we want to do these things in the world, but we're not really willing to take the consequences of our actions, and sometimes we have to do very dirty things, and we have to hurt people, and we pretend that that doesn't exist, that Americans would never do that. We dealt with issues like that and I don't think... you know... the other shows really went as far as we did."