I'm a fan of television. Not a huge fan to the extent that I spend hours in front of the TV watching more important people doing important things, but I like TV because I feel it is the best mode of entertainment to establish character growth and a sense of tangible bigness specifically because it lasts so much longer.
DS9 was a show I watched only a year or two ago and it quickly skyrocketed to my #1 slot. I've made the claim that I have never seen a bad episode so I've been in the mood to retest my theory and decided to use this topic as a forum for that purpose. I won't be writing a summary of the episode but I may do a quick blurb over the important bits as well as providing some context.
Deep Space 9 started around season 6ish of The Next Generation and features a space station orbiting the planet Bajor and the wacky antics of its crew. Bajor had previously been occupied by a "neighboring" group of aliens known as the Cardassians for quite a few generations. The Cardassians mined the ever loving fuck out of the planet and enslaved it's people, the Bajorans, and typically were giant a-holes. Deep Space 9 was originally constructed as an outpost by the Cardassians but when the Bajoran resistance finally kicked out the Cardassians they took over the base and asked the Federation to help run things.
Cue our "hero", Benjamin Sisko, A Lt. Commander of the Federation, and veteran of the Wolf 359 Incident aka The Day The Borg Attacked, entering the picture and tasked with running DS9.
Episode 1: Emissary
A simple set up episode that leaves a lot of intriguing shit to mull over. Our main characters are
Benjamin Sisko - Commander of the Star Base
Jake Sisko - Benjamin's Son (14ish? by the time the show starts)
Miles O'Brien - Chief Engineer and a series veteran of The Next Generation
Major Kira Nerys - A Bajoran Major who is the 2nd in Command of DS9. She also has quite the temper.
Quark - A Ferengi, full time bar owner, part time crook.
Nog - Quark's Nephew
Rom - Nog's father
Odo - A shapeshifter of sorts, he is the chief of police/security
Jedziah Dax - A complicated character, Jedziah Dax is actually 2 characters in one. There is the host, Jedziah and the symbiote, a trill named Dax. When they merge they become one being. She is the chief science officer. Dax's last host, Curzon Dax, was a kind of friend and mentor to Benjamin Sisko.
Julian Bashir - The chief medical officer, golden child, Mr. My Only Flaw Is That I Am Too Damn Awesome and no, I wish I were kidding when I said that... actually I don't, I find Julian to be fascinating and his journey from awesome medical officer to an even more awesome medical officer to be endearing.
The first thing that stood out for me now and what I was getting a glimmer of during my first viewing is how incredibly expressive the faces of these actors are. I can't speak for everyone but the subtlety of it all really does a lot to draw me into the characters
- The interactions between Sisko and Picard is just wonderful. Picard had been Assimilated into the Borg during the Wolf whatever incident and Sisko lost his wife during it. It's obvious Sisko blames Picard on some level because of it and when he brings it up, Picard just shuts down as if unable to even bring himself to defend anything. It's so rare to see Picard shut down and speechless and the fact that its done by this novice Commander speaks more volumes in the stunned silence then many other shows can do with dialogue.
- Ok the acting in this episode is kind of so so at times. The main cast does great but when a side character comes along who is clearly not as talented as them there is a break from the immersion a bit. Not enough to kill it, but it did distracted for the whole 3 minutes that this character was around.
- Gul Dukat - I didn't want to mention him in the characters section because he isn't exactly a main character. Rather he is the main villain. Gul Dukat is a Cardassian and the former commander in charge of the occupation of Bajor. Once a powerful officer brought low by his failings. He has an air of sophistication and weight that makes great villains great villains. He too undergoes his own character transformation through out the series that mirror's Siskos'.
- Dukat and Sisko's interaction is excellent. I won't say it was the most moving thing in the series but it does set up a lot of things to come. The situation is that Dukat is visiting DS9 as a liason and meets Sisko in the commander's room which used to be Dukats'. My favorite line comes shortly after their meeting. Dukat says how he misses the office and Sisko's smile widens and replies with "Feel free to visit any time you are feeling homesick"
Wormhoes, Aliens and Prophets Oh My - Ok we finally get to the other main gimmic of the series. There is a stable wormhole to another part of the galaxy right outside of DS9. Almost all conflicts stem from this thing. Sisko ends up meeting a group of Aliens within the tunnel who seem to respect him on some level. The Bajoran's believe the tunnel is the Celestial Temple and the aliens are the prophets of their religion. Sisko ends up becoming a major figurehead in their religion as well by taking on the role of Emissary to the Prophets. Personally I just like calling him Space Jesus but eh to each their own. More on this as time goes on
Not much to say other then that. It's a good starting episode.
Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:27 pm by 
Subject: Dag Reviews Star Trek: Deep Space 9 *Obviously Spoilers* 
