I always thought it a shame the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine never reached the mass audience that TNG had. I have my theories as to why it had trouble sustaining viewership, but I will save that for another post. I understand that the first two seasons were rather slow, but by the fifth season, DS9 had really found itself and went on the produce some of the best episodes of Star Trek in general. Not that there wasn’t anything to criticize, but I think DS9 overall was a misunderstood child.
I found picking my top ten for this series both easy and hard. Some were obvious choices, while many others were difficult to include or exclude, because there really were a lot of good ones to choose from. I wanted very much to include some of the spy stories with Dr. Bashir, episodes with the Vic Fontaine hologram, and ones with some truly fantastic battle scenes. I think ultimately it boils down to personal taste. Like my TNG favorites, many of these had an influence on my novel.
Here are my top 10 DS9 episodes:
10. “Take Me Out to the Holosuite” – Sisko and the crew go up against an all Vulcan crew from the starship T’Kumbra in a game of baseball. OK, so this one is a little bit of a silly episode, and the way Rom made his hit near the end was even sillier, but it was a welcome break from all of the serious war episodes of the seventh season. Emotion vs. logic has always been a center debate for Star Trek, and this one just manifests it in a game of baseball. A fun episode.
9. “Valiant” – In this episode, Jake and Nog are rescued by the U.S.S. Valiant after an attack by the Jem’Hadar, and find that the crew is run solely by Red Squad cadets. This episode is a shot at youth and elitism. I’ve had my fair share of dealing with the elite, both in the academic world and in the finance world, and I’ve never understood all of the chest-thumping. To me, if you’re good, then just be good. Why do you have to show everybody that you can piss farther than everybody else?
8. “The Reckoning” – The Bajorans discover an ancient tablet that foretells a battle between the Prophets and the Pah-Wraiths. I’ve never been one to like any episodes that leaned heavily towards issues of faith and religion, but I very much liked this episode. It really highlighted the difference between Sisko and the Kai in matters of faith. Though I never thought the Kai made for a very good Star Trek villain, this episode really showed how much of a chicken and a phony she really was.
7. “Treachery, Faith, and the Great River” – This one is a personal favorite. There are two stories going on simultaneously: 1) Odo is tricked into rescuing a Weyoun clone, and 2) Chief O’Brien needs to get a hold of a graviton stabilizer and finds himself in trouble when Nog tries to get one for him. The idea of a ‘good’ Weyoun always amused me; almost as if two negatives cancel out to make a positive. Nog also explains to Chief about ‘The Great Material Continuum’ in how goods flow through the Star Trek universe (like “a mighty river!”). In a simplistic sort of way, it actually makes a lot of sense.
6. “The Visitor” – The father and son relationship between Ben Sisko and Jake was always a nice touch that none of the other captains in Star Trek had. In this episode, future Jake talks to a young aspiring writer about the loss of his father and how it affected him, with a very touching ending. Relative to other DS9 lists, I have this episode ranked rather low (most have it a #1 or #2), not because I think less of it but because it doesn’t rank high in the “re-watchability” factor for me. As much as I really liked the episode, I don’t find myself sticking in the DVD to watch it again and again.
5. “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges” – As Dr. Bashir prepares for a conference on Romulus, Sloan appears from Section 31 with a covert assignment for him. The relationship between these two characters was always an interesting one to me, and Section 31, a rogue organization that serves to protect the citizens of the Federation at any cost, was one of the coolest institutions ever conceived of for Star Trek. Section 31 is again one of those things that Roddenberry never would have approved of, but if you are going to look at humans in a realistic way, then an organization like Section 31 is certainly likely. I might have also put the episode “Inquisition” under my Top 10 as well (when Section 31 is first introduced), but there is a lot to be confused about in this episode if you haven’t yet watched “In Purgatory’s Shadow”/”By Inferno’s Light.”
4. “Dr. Bashir, I Presume” – Here, Julian Bashir’s secret of being illegally genetically enhanced is discovered and made public. I’ve personally always liked Dr. Bashir, but many fans didn’t back in the first few seasons. For them, I think this episode was a turning point. As “perfect” and arrogant as Dr. Bashir always seemed to be, this gave him a vulnerability, or at least, an explanation as to why he was the way he was. I first thought it hilarious that Dr. Bashir’s dad was Baboo from Seinfeld. The episode itself delves into some sticky issues about the ethics of genetic manipulation, the beginnings of which we are already facing today. As a side, I think our fantasies about becoming ‘stronger, faster, smarter, and essentially better-at-everything’ through genetic manipulation is unlikely.
3. “The Die is Cast” – This was the second episode to a two-part story involving a plan for the Romulans and the Cardassians to make a preemptive strike against the Dominion. The build-up of this episode was skillfully done; the majority of the two-part story was about Garak and Odo, only to turn around in the final moments and make us realize what the Dominion has really set up for them. When we realize this, we can’t help but think, “Oh sh*t.” This was also one of the first episodes that demonstrated the awesome power of the Defiant.
2. “Duet” – An unidentified Cardassian shows up on the station, and when he is suspected to be a war criminal of the Occupation, he is locked in a brig and Kira is assigned to determine his true identity. This episode kept us guessing over who this Cardassian really was, and climaxed in a way that invoked deep sympathy for the character. Love it or hate it, this episode made us face up again to the horrors of the Holocaust. I was only a child when this episode came out, so it was difficult for me to appreciate it at the time. But after watching it again some years later, I was reminded of what a powerful episode this was.
1. “In the Pale Moonlight” – In this episode, Sisko and Garak work out plan to bring the Romulans into the war. This one is the top of everyone’s list, but I wanted to make a special point about this episode. Not only is it one of my favorites among DS9 episodes, it is probably my favorite among all of Star Trek. The interplay between Sisko and Garak was absolutely flawless in this episode. Garak has always been the dark hand of the Starfleet crew; because of his background and experience he was always able to do things that needed to be done, things that would normally be unspeakable for a Starfleet officer. This episode gets at the core of exactly what is wrong about Roddenberry’s utopian universe: when we are backed into desperation, we will do whatever it takes to survive.
