What is DS9's Biggest Misfire?

Looking over the current thread on DS9's worst episodes, I realize how easily they are ignored. They are often forgettable from the start, not really attempting to move the series forward in any way. They tend to be little adventures or small detours for one of the characters.

On the other hand, think that there are a few episodes that attempted something big and fell short. They may not be the worst, but they show unrealized ambition.

The episode that comes to my mind is season two's Sanctuary, the story of the Gamma Quadrant race that fails to find a home on Bajor. The Skreea did not need to be sympathetic; I think that the flaky makeup made them feel "undesirable" and "unclean." Two things didn't work: there's little sense given that settling Bajor is essential for the Skreeans; and all the decisions to rejection their refuge are never depicted. This might have been another good political episode.

 

Biggest misfire in the whole series was Bashir being genetically engineered, IMO. He was much more interesting before all his successes were retconned to be attributed to genetic tampering.

 

Quark's sex change

Hugo - that is all

 

For an individual episode, Valiant. The concept had some potential - elite cadets on a mission behind enemy lines - but the execution was just awful in every respect. Some of the worst writing, casting, acting and directing in Trek history, all in one episode.

More broadly, the Bajorans were never that interesting, and the early focus on them was a bit of a turn-off for DS9. It also ran the mirror universe into the ground, and the Bashir-Ezri romance was horrible.

 

I just watched Paradise Lost a few days ago and I still wonder why Red Squad was allowed to continue after they were accessories to treason. Granted they might not know what they were doing, but they are elite cadets in Starfleet Academy. If you want something like that, at least change the name or something.

In terms of DS9's biggest misfire, (Other than bad episodes like Profit and Lace) Jadzia's death always bothered me. She doesn't go on the mission on the defiant and is instead killed doing something she wouldn't do in any of the prior seasons. And then when Dukat says "It wasn't meant for you" or something like that, it took the whole concept of "Fridging" characters to another level, especially when we see the aftermath. Jadzia deserved better.

 

They never seemed to figure out how to end the Maquis arc in a meaningful way. I mean, it was essentially brought to a close by the Dominion arc beginning, by killing them all off pretty quickly and never mentioning them again.

I'm not gonna say the whole Maquis arc was a misfire, as there were some episodes in it were very good, but in terms of DS9's first attempt at longer term storytelling, it certainly seemed to fall a bit flat and there were some weird attempts to get storytelling out of it, like the whole Thomas Riker thing.

Second misfiring arc that comes to mind was the O'Brien / Orion Syndicate arc and their connection with Ezri's family. I never quite got where they were going with that.

 

The Search, Part 1 was a great episode. We saw the Defiant for the first time and we go and look for the Founders. Then we get The Search, Part 2 and most of what happens there really didn't happen at all. It was just a simulation, it was all in their heads, a variant of the dreaded Reset Button™. Ugh, talk about a major disappointment.

 

Totally agree on:

- Bashir GM storyline
- Bashir and Dax
- Jadzia's end

What do people think of the Dukats daughter? I'm not sure why they killed her off, I like the idea of Dukat being unstable after and that led him to the Path Wraiths, but I dunno. It just seemed a bit uncanny valley-esq.

Also, contraverisal - I didn't buy Odo Kira love thing. I just couldn't see it being real for her. Poor Kira, all her love interests seem to die eventually, so I guess maybe that's something.

 

I agree about the Julian-Ezri relationship. I don't know that I'd call it the biggest misfire, but it is an annoyance in the otherwise mostly excellent final episodes. I never really got it. I know people say, "well, now Bashir can be with Dax!" but that is exactly what I don't like about it. Ezri is a person, not a consolation prize. It didn't help that I found Bashir's pining over Jadzia annoying rather than poignant, or whatever the show was going for. When he and Quark got all mopey over Jadzia wanting to have a baby because that meant she was happy with Worf, I was thinking, "wow, you guys are shitty friends." Which, I expect that from Quark, but it felt like Bashir was being rewarded for that in the end, and it just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

If we're not talking about specific episodes, but storylines, I must say the character assassination of Dukat. He went from being one smart , if self-absorbed, magnificent bastard, one of my favourite Trek villains, to a crazy cult leader who teams up with Kai Winn to release the Pah-wraiths.

 

They basically reduced the Maquis to Eddington. I think the two episodes that focused on him are good, but there is some depth clearly lacking.

Short answer: they were going nowhere. The writers were tasked with writing a Sisko story that involved time travel and the Prophets, and they screwed it up royally. At the last minute, Behr suggested they write something for Ezri. I think it was bound to be an uninspired story

I can take or leave the character. She was a good as an object that allowed Kira, Garak and Dukat to play off one another. On the other hand, I don't know why she was the "sacrificial angel." Her death was tragic, but it did not seem as if something special was lost.

 

Ziyal played a good function in the plot. Dukat's last emotional investment outside himself, and final tie to the guise of decency. Also gave a plausible reason for Kira to be near to Dukat by choice. The writers couldn't quite figure out what age to write her as.

Bashir/Ezri wasn't the best storyline but I wouldn't call it a complete misfire. With the time they had I think they sold it better than other big season 7 Trek romances like Worf/Troi and Chakotay/7.

I liked the Maquis arc but I don't like the complex Eddington developed.

 

I think I would have to say the Mirror Universe. The first episode was fun and good, and the Intendant Kira was always fun, but the episodes themselves were increasingly uninteresting and silly (and not fun enough). Instead of being a continuing storyline, they should have kept it to maybe two episodes: one to show how Mirror Spock's peace mission was disastrous for the Terran Empire, and a second to show how the accidental re-contact with our universe again changed the Mirror Universe's direction. That would have been simple and effective.

 

It was somewhat like all that Bashir achieved in his life was really the doing of the doctor who increased his intelligence, instead of Bashir being the responsible party.

I think that comes down to they were under the false impression that they were following lawful orders.

Misfires, having the Dominion arc be as long as it was, DS9 became largely a one trick pony and if you were not invested in the sole arc there was little else going on. To be honest, the multi-season arc eventual lead me to stop watching the series constantly.

TNG over a similar time period presented a large number of different themes and topics.

Ezri, maybe if they had hired a different actress, or simply wrote her differently. Personally I think it would have been far more interesting if "Ezri" had been male, and had still sought to have romantic/sexual relationships with Worf and Bashir.

Rom becoming the Grand Nagus felt way too "small universe."

 

The bajoran religion being implied true and Trek devolving into fantasy-if I wanted energy fights and mysticism I'd watch Star Wars which handles that sort of stuff a lot better.

Bashir and Jadzia not getting to together is a misfire.

No Romulan voice being another.

The dominion war being DS9's main plot point from what seasons 4-7. It was a war story not Trek.

Worf not dying being another.

The mirror universe becoming pedestrian and not integrated why not have the federation support the Terran rebellion or the cardassian-federation alliance supporting the embattled cardassians in prime verse.

Sisko being an asshole with a war fetish.

The Vulcans being slaughtered in plot and characterization treatment.

Kassidy Yates being Sisko's second wife.

Jake Sisko existing

Hard Time being the most anti-roddenberyian thing ever.

DS9 wanted to be dark and grim yet couldn't go as far as plausible else it would lose the right to call itself Trek, Bashir being the butt of failure especially in the earlier seasons and '"maturing" by losing his idealism. Okay if idealism equals naïveté then the founders should have been exterminated if they wanted to be dark then they should have gone all the way.

Kira being insufferable in the early seasons, unbearable both in temperament and tomboyish appearance.

That's all I can think of.

 

For me, the biggest misfire is the missteps in the last few episodes. "Extreme Measures" is fine, but uninspired. It's story is not compelling or essential enough to warrant a full hour of focus, especially after such great momentum had been built with the multiple plotlines in the previous 6 episodes. In "The Dogs Of War", the Ferengi material is a disaster and the Bashir/Ezri subplot is also pretty iffy. And "What You Leave Behind" is marred by the execution problems of the Winn/Dukat story.

To be clear, I LOVE the final arc of DS9, and "What You Leave Behind" is one of my favorite series finales period. There are certainly a lot of earlier episodes or mishandled storylines that are worse (Risa, Lumba, this Vulcan is killing people for taking photographs while laughing, etc). But the final arc problems bother me the most, because they're landing at the point where it's most important to get things right. You don't want the two shows going into the finale to be disappointing, whereas if the same episode was in the middle of season 3 or whatever I wouldn't have found it as bothersome.

I think it's really hurt by the repeated recasting, it prevents the arc from holding together as well as it otherwise might. I liked both Tracy Middendorf and Melanie Smith in the role, but they don't blend into one consistent character at all.

I totally agree. If you were doing it today, you could have Bashir as bi and still ending up with the new Dax.

 

I agree with that. I didn't like the Zek/Ishka romance at all, and I think if they were going to have Ferengi culture become more progressive it should have been done in baby step victories instead of transforming it from a laissez faire monarchy to a liberal capitalist republic over the space of two years.

 

I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for this. And it's probably more my fault(for watching the show so many times) and less the writer's fault, but in the biggest, "coolest," episodes, There are often what has been termed "exposition dumps." These happen on TNG and VOY too, usually when they're sitting around the conference table. They'll repeating things over and over for us(the audience) that would never happen in a real conversation. DS9 does this a lot. The Season 6 opener "A time to stand," and the 4 or 5 episode arc that follows is just full of them. Some of these are my favorite episodes ever, but I get to cringing while viewing them now. Even Quark is guilty. [SIZE=16px]In public, trying to be discreet, says this:

Kira- "Will he (Sisko) get here soon enough?"
Quark- "He's only got seven hours.....before they detonate the minefield and start bringing the reinforcements in through the wormhole...."
[Sacrifice of Angels]
[/SIZE]
Or Sisko:

"The Centaur? That's CHARLIE REYNOLDS' ship"
"Dax, across the border... Maximum Warp! I hope CHarlie Reynolds knows better than to follow us into Dominion space."
"CHarlie never did know when to quit"
"I don't want to leave Charlie out here stranded on the wrong side of the border."

Ehhh ehhuhh

"Charlie likes to swing for the fences. Stay tight"

SAY IT AGAIN!!! SAY CHARLIE ONE MORE TIME!!! I DARE YA!<Sam Jackson voice>




........"You think Charlie will outrun them?" "Charlie's been in tight spots before. He'll make it."

AAAHHHHHH!

 

I don't mind expo dumps it's a courtesy thing to the audience.

 

And Reynolds later turned up in a few novels based on that.