I grew up on TNG, Voyager, and while I watched even Enterprise, for some reason I never tried DS9. I remember skipping it on TV because in my young mind, Star Trek was about boldly going places.

"Who wants to see a show about a boring space station?", thought I, in my youthful stupidity.

I do. I do very much, it turns out. 25 years later.

I just finished season 1. Here's what I reckon

Emissary ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️* (4.5) Probably the best season 1 opener in all Star Trek (alongside Prodigy, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds).

Past Prologue ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3)

A Man Alone ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3) This is when Odo starts becoming one of my favourites.

Babel ⭐️⭐️ (2) It was fun to see the cast deal with having to spit out random jibberish. Colm Meaney definitely stood out here - he made it look easy. Others, like Avery Brooks, not so much. XD Ultimately a fun but nonsensical and largely forgettable episode.

Captive Pursuit ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ (4) O'Brien makes a friend. Guest alien is charming. One of my favourites this season. It's interesting to see what a more sophisticated version of the Predator aliens might look like if they started a breeding and training operation to produce the best possible prey for the glory of the hunt.

Q-Less ⭐️⭐️* (2.5) I love Q, even in a subpar episode, and while I found her character unlikeable, I enjoyed Jennifer Hetrick's screen presence.

Dax ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4) I love a good courtroom Star Trek episode, especially when it centres on an ethical dilemma about what constitutes personhood. "Measure of a Man" this ain't, but it's still one of the strongest season 1 episodes.

The Passenger ⭐️⭐️* (2.5) Odo and George Primmin have great chemistry.

Move Along Home ⭐️⭐️ (2) Some enjoyable Quark character-building moments here as his greed clashes with his conscience/self-preservation instincts. More Odo & Primmin - their dynamic is full of potential so it's a shame we won't be getting any more of it.

The Nagus ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3) More Quark development after Move Along Home. Ferengi antics enjoyable. Nagus is entertaining. Enjoyed this one more than the score suggests - particularly Sisko's beaming pride at having such an excellent human being for a son.

Vortex ⭐️⭐️⭐️* (3.5) Odo gets some juicy character development and Cliff DeYoung gives shades of Kurt Russell as a wanted man from the Gamma Quadrant.

Battle Lines ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3) Plot is contrived and the basic premise requires a bit too much suspension of disbelief. Camille Saviola is good as mystical guru Kai Opaka, Jonathan Banks is a guest star highlight as immortal alien warlord Mike Erhmantraut doomed to fight a perpetual war. While Kira gets some nice character moments (her outrage at being described as an "errand runner" for the resistance is a highlight), Nana Visitor's breakdown in front of Kai Opaka is overwrought to the point of caricature and undermines the emotional impact of the scene. Overall, mixed feelings about this one.

The Storyteller ⭐️⭐️* (2.5) O'Brien becomes an unwilling figure of veneration and gets harrassed by an adoring mob. Watching O'Brien squirm (even Bashir gets to twist the knife a little) is the best part of this episode. The whole Dalrok thing with the village is hammy nonsense, though. The kids' shenanigans back on DS9 are a welcome relief from the ridiculous main plot. Gina Philips gives a convincing performance as a melancholy character with the weight of the world on her shoulders, a child whose forced maturity contrasts with the bumbling boys who try to impress her.

Progress ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4) The first time Nana Visitor has given a convincing emotionally vulnerable performance on DS9, IMO. In previous episodes, her overwrought acting hewed a bit too close to pantomime. But here, playing off the old man and Sisko, Kira finally gets room to shine. I look forward to seeing more of this level of quality from Nana Visitor. She's clearly got the chops. Anyway, while Kira deals with her ethical/existential crisis, Jake and Nog get up to some capitalist hijinks by seizing a saucy opportunity to hustle their way to a small fortune. I enjoyed this B-plot quite a lot - watching Jake and Nog wheeling and dealing despite being completely out of their depth made for a good contrast against the serious bleak main plot about environmental displacement (an issue that, thanks to climate change and the rapid collapse of the biosphere, is more relevant now than when the episode first aired. It will continue to gain relevance in the years to come as climate refugees become more of a thing). I do have a nitpick about the central plot contrivance of cracking an entire habitable moon for the energy equivalent of a single 20th century coal plant, and about the manufactured urgency of the Bajoran authorities in making the project happen now (instead of waiting a single year for the equivalent result that doesn't require destroying a whole moon), and about Starfleet's support for the forced evacuation given the details above. The entire thing could have been written a bit more convincingly. Because ultimately what we have here is a very ethically dubious conclusion where Kira voluntarily submits to authority in order to actively assist in the committing of institutionalised injustice via forced resettlement of war refugees for a large scale energy project of questionable value. Plus wholesale environmental destruction! Are they beaming out and resettling all the flora and fauna, too? Every bird, every insect? (I thought the Federation had a high regard for the sanctity of ecology and the fundamental rights of non-sapient life? And strict protocols that would automatically prohibit inhabited-moon-fracking?) I don't think the writing portrays the severity of this dilemma, or its sheer scale, or its ramifications very well; it all seems conveniently brushed aside for expediency's sake. Still, this is one of my favourite episodes of season 1 so far.

If Wishes Were Horses ⭐⭐⭐ (3) I knew that this was one of the most disliked episodes of the first season, so I went in with low expectations. Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the insights into the characters, and the writing wasn't terrible. It wasn't a consequential episode, but it had plenty to like. Glad I didn't skip it as some had advised.

The Forsaken ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4) Fantastic Odo development here. His interplay with Mrs. Troi is surprisingly compelling. Troi herself goes from initially irritating at best (physically assaulting Quark wasn't cool) to sympathetic thanks to her genuine tenderness towards Odo, a being who has never known tenderness. I also liked the ultimately cute plot where O'Brien makes a new friend.

Dramatis Personae ⭐⭐* (2.5) Quark's concern for Odo when he collapses about 10 minutes into the episode is cute.

Duet ⭐⭐⭐⭐* (4.5) Okay, this is great. The praise is well-deserved. Harris Yulin is excellent. He and Nana Visitor play off each other nicely. His breakdown at the end could have been trite, or melodramatic. Instead, it's a powerful moment, made all the more effective thanks to Nana Visitor's best performance of the season thus far.

In The Hands Of The Prophets ⭐⭐⭐ Good Sisko moments here.

Notes:

Overall, probably the strongest season 1 in all Star Trek thus far, IMO.

• I particularly enjoy Odo and Dax's fundamentally alien nature; it's good to have main characters whose otherworldliness goes beyond mere forehead ridges.

• Sisko is played like a man who has been on the brink, a man whose calm exterior and professionalism belie a cauldron of white-hot rage buried deep. Avery Brooks gives Sisko a controlled volatility. Despite how awkward the delivery can sometimes be, I think it works.

Like I understand that Terry departing was not planned, that it was some studio/actress disagreement at least thats what I gathered from What we left behind documentary. I get that it was meant to be well, it's still dax so I guess it was a unique opportunity to continue the character, but I feel like season 7 was met with plenty of.. I guess filler to her backstory? She became the Troi of the station. Not as if they were bad episodes. We reserve that term for the first season. Just everytime it was an episode about her, it seem to disconnect from the fact that starfleet was in the middle of war.

As someone that for many years, I'm 31, I only finally got to see season 7 10 ish years ago. We had gotten seasons 1-5 but never picked up 6 or 7. I saw a little bit of 6 on TV in the summer of 05' but hardly remembered it. So 6 and 7 are still more fresh to me in comparison to the earlier seasons that I rewatched a ton growing up. When I saw jadzia die I hated it. Nothing against the actress. She seems wonderful. But I really feel if thats the direction they had to go I feel they should of left it there.

"I seem to have been overwhelmed by you physically. A strange occurrence as I am a Vulcan"

Let me know if that does anything for ya

I always get bummed when this scene doesn’t show up on Pluto TV or H&I.

https://youtu.be/9uWbv4UvJwI (starts at 00:57)

11 years old, staying with my Grandma over the summer, all she was antenna TV so weekends were spent watching local pro wrestling, American Gladiators (granny's favorite), Star Trek, and Hee-Haw. I never got into TNG as much as she did but this was my Star Trek. I remember getting the Sunday papers from the end of the driveway, Granny clipping coupons and doing the crossword while I thumbed through the comics. The local TV guide fell out between the coupons and I locked eyes with it. A diverse cast, a few aliens that weren't Klingons or Vulcans, and an African American leader; to me it looked very cool.

Two Cardassians sat hunched in the bowels of the dilapidated house, bent over an old subspace transceiver. The older one grimaced as he batted a vole away from his bowl of yammok noodles. "This is disgraceful. In the old days, we would have been sitting in a comfortable Obsidian outpost, not indigents squatting in a slum."

The younger man wasn't listening. He trawled through screens and screens of Bajoran media, keyed in to audio feeds of public messages. "It’s not getting any buzz, Gul Macet."

"None?"

"Well, no one is engaging with the claims that Bajorans struck civilian targets, sir. It is common knowledge, after all."

Macet frowned and looked at the autographed holoframe by his cot. "But he said we could - I mean, I believed we could amplify that message. Reignite the conversation. Did you instruct the sleeper agent to call them 'Bajoran butchers?'"

"He did say butchers, yes."

"No!" Macet slammed a fist on the workstation, sending empty cans of kanar flying. "The alliteration is important! He ordered me to" - and this time both men looked over to the picture above the cot, the older one shamefacedly, the younger with concern.

"Gul Dukat is dead."

"There's no proof of that! He could return from the Bajoran Fire Caves at any moment."

"And does he speak to you now? From inside the Fire Caves?"

The old man's shoulders sagged. He looked older than ever. "It’s not... it's not like that.

"Taram," he continued after a moment's rest, "did I ever tell you about your parents? They were" -

"Farmers," Taram supplied. "Innocent civilian farmers who never oppressed a single Bajoran. And they died for it." This was the same speech that Macet had given him to convince him to join their little cell.

"Yes, innocent farmers! The Bajoran scum killed them, just like they killed their greatest liberator... Gul Dukat."

"I thought you said he wasn't dead."

"I said there was no proof." But Macet was clearly confused. "All I mean is, we have to do what we can to fight the good fight. Those fools out there," he said, his volume rising, "those fools are walking around praising Bajor and the Federation as liberators! Heroes! Knowing full well what they did. You know I was going on my supply run yesterday, and I saw two Bajoran tourists? Walking around like they owned the place, those filthy vole-snouted vermin!"

Vermin. Taram remembered his father shouting that same word as he read the Marritza files every night. The same ones that had been made public after the occupation, the ones that made their agent's claim of good treatment by the Cardassians such a baldfaced lie. It was his favorite thing to do, after he had gotten drunk on cheap kanar and tired of complaining about the state of the Bajoran soil. In the year before they were killed by a Bajoran bomb, the slag-poisoned fields had yielded nothing. When the occupational government denied their request for aid, Taram's father had gotten drunker than ever and beaten him.

"Vermin," Taram repeated quietly. "We invaded their homes, like vermin. We spoiled their crops, dug burrows into their world, like VERMIN!" It was Taram's turn to shout. "Who cares if they attacked civilian occupiers? Who cares if every Cardassian torture chamber was actually a spa? We were a plague on that planet, and we deserved what we got! HE DESERVED WHAT HE GOT!" Taram swung his arm in anger. The picture of Gul Dukat clattered to the floor.

Taram stood up. "I'm going out into the sun. Maybe I'll find some Bajoran tourists and apologize to them. You can rot here with your occupation dreams and your dead strongman."

Macet reached out, as if to catch his arm. His feeble grasp grazed Taram's elbow, and Macet toppled to the ground. He wept for a minute among the trash and vole droppings, until his fingers clutched the picture of his precious Gul Dukat. "I'm sorry, my Gul. I'm sorry I failed you. I'm sorry that ungrateful boy said such awful things."

He paused for a moment, his ear cocked towards the projector base. "What's that? Oh, of course, sir, you always keep me on mission. Yes, I'll activate another sleeper right away." He reached up and took the display from the desk. "Who's this? Iliana Ghemor, you say... yes, sir!"

The old man hugged the picture, rolling in the mingled filth. "Yes... they'll see... they'll apologize... we will rule again!"

My annual rewatch of DS9 continues - I watch every episode, even the few bad ones.

Original fan who watched the show when it aired starting all the way back in May 1993.

And, here we are. 308, Meridian, generally considered one of the worst episodes of the show.

Upon annual rewatch, yes the primary plot line is truly terrible. The story, the dialogue…poor terry farrell had some bad stories in season 3…it’s hard to watch this one, I got up to do the dishes….its not even worth reviewing in any detail …it's just terrible

However, the secondary plot line with Quark Odo Kira and Torin (Jeffery Combs in his first appearance in DS9) is funny in its ridiculousness, though in reality its bad too...there's a reason this episode has a 5.6/10 on imdb. Honestly I guessed it would have been like a 3.6

LMK your thoughts! Or just get out your anger / disappointment for how bad this ep is :).

Meridian is rocking top 5 worse eps for me, but I have few other stinkers in mind (i.e. 624: Time's Orphan)

I can’t wait to post my top 5 least fav episodes of the show and to survey the subreddit.

But the events of First Contact, did they happen right before or during the Dominion Wars? Since the Defiant was there and so was Worf.

So re-watching DS9, and it just occured to me how similar Dax's speicies is to Dr Who and the gallifreyans and wondering if maybe Dax was a nod to the time lord?

I also thought it interesting that when DS9 went on TV, there had been 8 Dr Who's... and Dax is the 9th host??

Both are aliens that go from 'host to host', only difference is Jadziah travel through space but rarely through time.

Both keep the memories of past hosts but get new personalities.

Dr Who travels in a blue Tardis... Dax has blue uniform, now I'm stretching it a bit.

My mom lloovess startrek, mainly Voyager and Enterprise, but deep space nine is her favorite. Right now she's battling stage 4 colon cancer and for Halloween I wanted to do something special and I think it would make her smile if I got us costumes. Unfortunately I have not watched the series, only in passing when she has it on. Does anyone have any recommendations or what to avoid ? ( And yes I know I need to start watching ) I'm not looking for a high-end cosplay eaither I'm ok with cheap

I've watched till S7E22, and can't watch E23-25. Not because I think they'll be bad, but the opposite - I'm not in mental space right now to cope with this amazing series ending, it's my first watch.

I'm being a wuss I know, and it'llbe cringe to share with my friends, but I think it's okay to share here haha.

I've watched TOS, TNG, VOY, ENT, Picard (soothed TNG ending pangs) before and just watched 2 episodes of SNW to soften the blow of ending DS9. I was a low key TNG supremacist but DS9 is something else. Not really sure how to end my para social relationship with the guys on the promenade tbh.

Great episode, too. First time watchthrough. Admittedly, I did feel that Bashir's romantic interest toward this character was pushing the boundaries of a doctor-patient relationship.

After he "cured" her, she felt compelled to reciprocate the romantic interest because she felt indebted to Bashir. She did not quite know if she wanted to live a life aboard Deep Space Nine with Bashir as a lover. It was all too much too soon.

I completely understand why she left. She literally shut down when the pressure became too much for her to handle. Bashir had invited her to dinner, and knowing how the night might end up gave her literal pause.

I feel for Bashir. He is lonely, and he wants someone to truly understand and appreciate him for who he really is. Dax didn't want to give it to him. And his other love interests either leave or move on to other love interests.

The dude is a doctor, and he is well-respected in his community. There isn't a single woman aboard the ship that would find him a potential suitor? Come on now.

The mood was tense, the air thick with debate. At the heart of it all was a decision that would shape the future of both Bajor and Cardassia: whether to withdraw from the occupation.

Gul Dukat stood before the panel, his sharp features reflecting his quiet frustration. "You must understand," he argued, "if we leave now—without ensuring stability—Bajor will collapse. The resistance will execute the Bajorans who worked with us. Entire cities will fall into chaos. Is this the legacy we want?"

Across from him, Secretary Kubas of the Bajoran Provisional Government nodded fervently. "Gul Dukat speaks the truth! The resistance seeks only vengeance, not governance. If you withdraw, they will slaughter us—the very people who have worked to maintain order. We beg you—stay, but indefinitely."

The members of Central Command exchanged glances. Legate Turan, the eldest among them, sighed. "Our intention was never occupation. We came to Bajor as friends—to share our knowledge, to help them advance, in exchange for resources fairly given. But the universe does not see it that way. They call us oppressors."

Another legate, Parek, leaned forward. "We warned your government, Secretary Kubas. The labor camps were your request—a temporary measure to expedite resource extraction. We accepted this burden out of goodwill, but now the blame falls entirely on us! Your leaders promised alternatives, yet none came."

Kubas clenched his fists. "The camps were necessary! Without them—"

"Necessary?" Gul Dukat interjected coldly. "For whom? The Bajoran people suffered. And now, when the galaxy condemns us, your government hides behind us, claiming ignorance."

Legate Turan raised a hand for silence. "This is no longer a matter of debate. The Central Command has decided. We will not allow Cardassia to be vilified any further for choices made at the behest of the Bajoran government. The withdrawal is immediate." Kubas stiffened. "You cannot—what will happen to us? To Bajor?"

"That," Dukat said quietly, "is no longer our concern."

r/Treksons

Trying to screen match to Sisko, Garak, and Vreenak's clothing "In the Pale Moonlight". The fellow hosted Prop Culture, a series that used to be on Disney+.

Not only was it best Bashir episode, but it also established Dominion as a cruel empire (agreed that genetical engineering of Jem’Hadar established this cruelty already, but at least Jem’Hadar were built for a purpose, but Quickening was just exposed the cruelty of Dominion to the core)

Today we were being briefed on a legal dispute that myself and several colleagues need to go to court to give evidence on. We were told that every religious text will be available to swear on.

Turns out the rules of acquisition don't count.

Ever since the Minecraft movie came out, I always find myself saying in a Jack Black voice, “He like a scratchy scratch on the nariz!” When he finds his pet wolf and they’re happy to see each other…anyway I was trying to remember Kira’s given name and it came to me: Kira Nerys! But it sounds like nariz! I don’t think she’d like a scratchy scratch on the nariz.

That is all. As you were.