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Deep Space Nine (DS9) Seasons 3-7 Guest Reviews

Season 1 - Season 2 - Season 3 - Season 4 - Season 5 - Season 6 - Season 7

 

Season 3

Meridian Stardate 48423.2: Dax falls in love with a guy on a planet that keeps disappearing. Dax wants to disappear with him.

I only watched this episode because of the silly side plot that was Quark and Jeffery Combs. And I only watched THAT because I wanted to see Quark in bed saying "I've been waiting for you" *bite*", because that's the funniest thing I've seen in DS9 for a long time.
But yeah, other than that little tidbit, the episode is boring and unbelievable. I'm surprised that within a day or so, Dax is ready to give up her life as a joined Trill and her Starfleet career, just to be a spirit with this dude she just met. And that's pretty much ALL THAT HAPPENS. The whole romance thing only really works if it isn't someone she only met a few days ago.
In my opinion, half of this episode is worse than Silicon Avatar. I'd give it a one for the other half, but even that's feeling too generous.
Rating: 0 (Hon. David Kulessa)

The Adversary Stardate 48962.5: Synopsis in main DS9 listing

"The Adversary" is a thriller that provides some of the best suspense in all of Star Trek. The episode almost reminds me of ST:FC. The twists and turns throughout the episode keep it entertaining and interesting. The special effects seem to be rather good for a television show of its time.
Rating: 9 (Chris)

 

Season 4

The Visitor Stardate not given: An aged Jake Sisko tells the young aspiring writer Melanie the story of his life. When Jake was 18 years old, his father, Ben Sisko, apparently died in an accident on the Defiant when he was hit by a light bolt from the warp core during an experiment. But time and again the captain rematerialized in the following years. Jake, who had become a successful author in the meantime, his principal work being the novel Anslem, decided to start over and study subspace mechanics. But the attempt to to exactly reproduce the experiment to retrieve his father from subspace failed. Ben was just able to tell his son to finally let go. Old Jake expects Ben to appear one last time, and he takes a poison to die in the very moment when his father is with him. Now that the cord between the two is broken, Ben is hurled back to the moment of the accident. He ducks when the lightning bolt strikes, gaining a second chance to live with his son.

This episode starts off slow, and if I didn't already know that they were going to show the future (which I've always loved) I probably would have skipped it. This slow start is almost forgotten, however, once old Jake stops talking and we go back to the present, when the accident that took Ben Sisko away actually happens.
Jake's situation is a very odd one, and I don't know how I would cope in his shoes. It is hard to simply go on with your life if your father appears every ten years, acting like it's only been a minute. What happens after he dies? He might be caught in this eternal flux for the rest of eternity! What kind of a son would simply let his father go on like that? Given that, I can understand Jake's situation perfectly. All in all, it's a very depressing episode. The scene near the end with old old Jake and normal Ben is touching, and when Ben hugs Jake and Jake's all "Yo what, dad?" my mother started crying and hugging me. I didn't feel like crying, but it was a very good episode.
Although I would have liked to have seen a different Dax. I have nothing against Terry Farrell, but how long can she live? Having Nicole de Boer would have been great, and a good insight into what would come later (although the producers didn't know at the time, so I guess it's not their fault).
Remarkable quotes: "Let go, Jake. If not for yourself, then for me. You still have time to make a better life for yourself. Promise me you'll do that... Promise me!" (Ben Sisko), "For you, and for the boy that I was. He needs you more than you know. Don't you see? We're going to get a second... chance." (Old Jake Sisko)
Remarkable dialogue: "I'm not sure I could ever get over losing somebody like that; right in front of my eyes." - "People do. Time passes, and they realize that the person they lost is really gone... And they heal" - "Is that what happened to you?" - "No... I suppose not." (Melanie and Old Jake Sisko)
Remarkable actor: Rachel Robinson, the woman who played Melanie, is actually Andrew Robinson's (Garak) daughter.
Remarkable fact: Cirroc Lofton and Avery Brooks both cite this as one of their favourite episodes, as do many of the staff.
Rating: 10 (Hon. David Kulessa)

 

Season 5

Trials and Tribble-ations Stardate not given: Synopsis in main DS9 listing

Obviously "Trials and Tribble-ations" deserves a high rating just because it is so much fun to watch. The special effects used are outstanding and it is nice to see a higher quality model of the original Enterprise for the first time. I appreciate how the old corny "technology" of the time period was treated. I also appreciate how the writers decided to handle the Klingon forehead problem by only recognizing it but not explaining it- "We do not discuss it with outsiders." Of course, Enterprise will later explain the problem rather well without causing any problems with Worf's statement here.
I only wish the writers took the opportunity they had here to explain or show some things about the old Enterprise that are still a mystery. Perhaps they could have shown the warp core so we could finally see what it looks like and where it is located exactly. Is it directly under the engineering deck that is commonly shown throughout TOS? I would also like to know why we never see any windows on the interior of this ship, yet they are clearly visible on the outside.
Remarkable ship: The Enterprise!
Nitpicking: If time travel is so easy to accomplish by the late 24th century, one would think that someone would have already intentionally screwed up the time line in their favor. I could see some Ferengi taking advantage of an underdeveloped planet like what Quark intended to do in DS9 "Little Green Men" or what the two Ferengi did in VOY "False Profits".
Rating: 9 (Chris)

 

Season 6

Far Beyond the Stars Stardate not given: Experiencing a vision from the Prophets, Sisko sees himself as Benny Russell, a science-fiction writer in the 1950s, who struggles with civil rights and inequality when he writes the story of Captain Benjamin Sisko, a black commander of a futuristic space station.

This episode will stick (to pardon the pun) IN MAH MIIIND for as long as I remember DS9. Hell, the actual STORY isn't even that great (I'd rate it as average) but seeing all the regulars in their normal get-ups is quite fun. They really fell into their roles well (with maybe the exception of Kasidy Yates because she didn't change all that much. And O'Brien because his character was annoying) and I believed every word of it. Michael Dorn obviously had fun, and the rivalry between Armin Shimerman and Rene Auberjonois was a funny contrast. Weyoun and Dukat as racist cops was well done.
The whole "Brother Benny" thing didn't catch me. Blah blah, get out of the way old man. In the end, this episode had no mark on the actual series. He had an amusing vision, that's about it. Until "Shadows and Symbols" there seems to be no real purpose to it.
All in all, a very enjoyable episode.
Remarkable facts: Galaxy was a real science fiction magazine from 1950 to 1995. The Galaxy magazine cover was actually a painting used in TOS: "Court Martial", slightly edited. Despite the fact he made a total of 282 Star Trek appearances, this is the only time that Michael Dorn appears on Star Trek as a Human.
Remarkable quote: "I'm a human being, damnit! You can deny me all you want, but you cannot deny Ben Sisko. He exists! That future, that space station, all those people, they exist in here (points to head), in my mind! I created it! And everyone of you know it, you READ it! It's here, you hear what I'm telling you!? You can pulp a story, but you cannot destroy an idea! Don't you understand, that's ancient knowledge. YOU CANNOT DESTROY AN IDEA. That future, I created it, and IT'S REAL! Don't you understand?! IT IS REAL! I CREATED IT, AND IT'S REAL! It's reaal..." - Benny Russell
Rating: 9 (Hon. David Kulessa)

In the Pale Moonlight Stardate 51721.3: Captain Sisko plots with Garak to forge Dominion plan's to invade Romulus, in order to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War on the Federation's side.

There have been 702 episodes of Star Trek spanning 5 series. Looking at that it would probably seem difficult to choose the number one episode ever. However when matched up against all others "In The Pale Moonlight" is definitely the front runner for best ever.
In past episodes we had seen that there were dark sides to the seemingly perfect Federation but never had we seen to dark sides of the main characters that we love. In this episode we see Sisko plotting with a spy to fool an Empire into joining the Federation's war effort. In short he is willing to have the Romulans sacrifice their soldiers lives to lessen the Federation casualties. Avery Brooks and Andrew Robinson pull off an absolutely amazing acting performance together which is especially impressive when you consider that the two didn't appear on screen together much besides this episode.
In one of the most powerful scenes in Trek history Sisko confronts (and beats up) Garak after learning the Romulan ambassador's shuttle was destroyed. In the scene Garak explains his method on how it will bring Romulus into the war and all it took was the life of one Romulan ambassador. Sisko tries to respond before he realizes he can't argue with Garak's results because he agrees with him.
Remarkable scenes: Jadzia and Bashir discussing the names they recognized on the casualties list. Jadzia imitating a Romulan with Sisko. The closing scene where Sisko finishes up and deletes the log.
Remarkable quotes: "I can live with it." (Benjamin Sisko), "It's a FAKE!" (Ambassador Vreenak)
Rating: 10 (Tim Roberts)

In the Pale Moonlight Stardate 51731.3: After getting tired of the numerous casualty reports, Sisko wants to bring the Romulans in the war on the side of Starfleet and the Klingons. Together with Garak, the only man on the station who would have the resources to pull off something like that with 'proof', they fabricate a forged datarod with secret plans of a Dominion invasion of Romulus. Senator Vreenak of the Romulan Senate visits the station, discovers it's a fake, and goes away. However, his ship mysteriously explodes (with a little help from Garak), which brings the Romulans in the war after all.

There are a few episodes of all the Star Trek series which give me goosebumps, and this is one of them. Not because it's packed with battlescenes and action, because it's not. But because it's full of ethic and moral struggles. What would we do if we were in Ben Sisko's place? This is the main question I asked myself during this episode. And that's what I think Star Trek is all about. Making you think. The Original Series were full of episodes which made you think about topics like racism and war; albeit a little unsubtle. This Deep Space 9 episode is a lot subtler. What lengths do you have to go through to bring an ally into the war? Does saving billions of lives justify murdering one or two persons? It reminds me somewhat of the quote made by Spock and repeated in some episodes later in other series: "The good of many outweighs the good of the one, or the few". Is that really so? I myself think it is. And like Ben Sisko, I think I could live with it.
Remarkable filming: This episode was not shot chronologically, which is rare in Star Trek episodes. Also, the scenes with Sisko recording his log were, in my opinion, very powerful.
Remarkable quotes: "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!" (Benjamin Sisko), "I was the one who had to look Senator Vreenak in his eye, and convince him that that a lie... was the truth." (Benjamin Sisko)
Remarkable dialogues: "Welcome aboard, Senator. I'm captain Benjamin Sisko." (Benjamin Sisko) - "So, you're the commander of Deep Space 9. And the Emissary to the Prophets, decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor and... oh yes! The man who started the war with the Dominion." (Senator Vreenak), "Oh, and one other thing. Vreenak believes he's on the winning side, so until you can prove otherwise, you may have to put up with a certain... usurpic attitude." (Garak) - "Uhm, Mr. Garak, after having spent a week with you, I have developed a very, very thick skin." (Benjamin Sisko)
Nitpicking: Apparently, the Romulans are not as secretive as I was led to believe in earlier episodes. Garak seems to know a lot of details about how the Romulans, and even their equivalent of the Obsidian Order, the Tal Shi'ar, operates. I find that highly unlikely.
Rating: 10 (Alex Bouwmeester)

 


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