Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Seventh Season
Original air dates: September 1998 – June 1999
Executive Producer: Rick Berman
Executive Producer: Ira Steven Behr
Station log: Just as with TNG, DS9 went into its seventh season knowing it would be the last. Even more than the show it spun off of, though, DS9 went even further with it, knowing that they would have to end the war, and also with a much bigger cast of characters to deal with.
And one of those characters was new, as in addition to closing out the series, they had to introduce a new Dax, with Nicole de Boer joining the cast as Ezri, the newest host of the Dax symbiont, following Terry Farrell’s departure.
And so some characters and situations were brought back for a final hurrah: the Jack Pack in “Chrysalis,” Kor in “Once More Unto the Breach,” the Mirror Universe in “The Emperor’s New Cloak,” Ferengi politics in “The Dogs of War,” the spectre of Joran Dax in “Field of Fire,” Section 31 in “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges” and “Extreme Measures,” and so on. Plus, the Klingon political arc that started way back in TNG’s third season (“Sins of the Father”) finally comes to a spectacular finish in “Tacking Into the Wind” with Gowron killed by Worf and replaced by Martok, and the ongoing Bajor-Cardassia mishegoss is turned totally on its head during the closing arc when Kira is assigned to help the Cardassians fight the same guerrilla war against the Dominion that Bajor fought against Cardassia. Oh, and the Pah-wraith thing is dealt with too.
The biggest task the season had to face was, of course, the Dominion War, which remained an ongoing element, not just in terms of actual fighting (e.g., “The Siege of AR-558”) but the effects of the war on those fighting it (“Field of Fire,” “It’s Only a Paper Moon”). And then the final nine episodes were given over to closing out the Dominion War in spectacular fashion.
The war didn’t prevent lighthearted episodes from sneaking in, of course, with some welcome comic relief coming from the blissfully crisis-free holosuite episodes “Take Me Out to the Holosuite” and “Badda-Bing Badda-Bang.”
And then the show came to an end with a two-hour finale in which not everyone got out alive (Damar, Mila, Weyoun, Winn, Dukat), and not everyone stayed on the station (Sisko, Odo, Worf, O’Brien, Garak).
Highest-rated episode: “Tacking Into the Wind,” the season’s only 10, with honorable mention to “It’s Only a Paper Moon” and “Once More Unto the Breach,” the season’s only 9’s. All three of the season’s strongest episodes were scripted by Ronald D. Moore, which is not surprising.
Lowest-rated episode: A tie between the back-to-back episodes “Prodigal Daughter” and “The Emperor’s New Cloak,” one of Trek’s more painful exactas, both rating a 1.
Most comments (as of this writing): WE HAVE A WINNAH! I didn’t think anything would unseat “Darmok,” but for reasons I’m not exactly clear on, “The Dogs of War” has set a new DeCandido Rewatch record with 118 comments. Yes, really. Any other year, “Shadows and Symbols” probably would’ve taken the prize with 84.
Fewest comments (as of this writing): Bizarrely, “It’s Only a Paper Moon” with only 26, a very poor quality-to-comments ratio.
Favorite Can’t we just reverse the polarity? From “Extreme Measures”: Bashir instructs O’Brien how to construct a multitronic engrammatic interpreter, which enables him to ENTER SLOAN’S BRAIN!
Favorite The Sisko is of Bajor: From “’Til Death Do Us Part”: Sisko has to agonize over whether or not to follow the Prophets’ instructions or do what he wants in his heart more than anything. Considering the last time the Prophets asked something of him, his son almost died, I wouldn’t blame him for just telling the fuckers to go pound sand…
Favorite Don’t ask my opinion next time: From “Tacking Into the Wind”: Kira kicks eighteen kinds of ass in the episode, running half a dozen operations, critiquing all of them, coming up with the plan to take a Jem’Hadar ship equipped with a Breen weapon (which works very well, and she’s the one who improvises best when it goes to shit, thus salvaging it, including a good imitation of Luaran’s speaking pattern), and taking Rusot down about fifty pegs. Oh, and verbally kicking Damar in the ass when he was already down (he says, mixing his metaphors).
Favorite The slug in your belly: From “It’s Only a Paper Moon”: Dax continues to not impress as a counselor, though she starts out promising by letting Nog find his own way without overwhelming him with too much talking, when he’s already done too much. However, she blows it by actually believing that a hologram could do a better job than she can. And then, to make matters worse, the hologram actually does do a better job than she can. (Yes, it makes my head hurt, too.)
Favorite There is no honor in being pummeled: From “Tacking Into the Wind”: Having already been responsible for Gowron’s ascension to the chancellorship—first by killing his only competitor for the job and then by aiding him in his civil war against that competitor’s family—Worf is now responsible for the end of his reign and installing his successor. Oh, and he also was the one who orchestrated the placement of the emperor. Busy guy…
Favorite Rule of Acquisition: From “Penumbra”: Quark tries to cheer Dax up by saying that Worf had to have survived because he hadn’t yet paid Quark for the three barrels of bloodwine he bought for the Koraga crew before they went out to battle. There’s no way Worf would go to Sto-Vo-Kor owing Quark money, it’d ruin the afterlife for him, knowing Quark had something over on him.
Favorite Preservation of mass and energy is for wimps: From “Chimera”: Odo is thrilled to meet another of the one hundred infants who were sent out like he was. He’s less thrilled when it turns out that he’s kind of a dick.
Favorite For Cardassia! From “Strange Bedfellows”: Damar semi-officially begins the Cardassian resistance by freeing Worf and Dax and giving them the means to return to DS9 and a) report the Breen alliance and b) let the Federation know that Damar is rebelling. (I was going to say, “Damar is revolting,” but some jokes are just too obvious…)
Favorite Plain, simple: From “What You Leave Behind”: Before they can attack Dominion HQ, Garak laments to Kira that he dreamt of returning to Cardassia, possibly even coming back to live with Mila. But instead, Cardassia is destroyed, the house levelled, Mila killed. Kira urges him to fight for a new Cardassia, but Garak says he’d rather just fight for revenge. “That works, too,” Kira mutters.
Favorite What happens in the holosuite, stays in the holosuite: From “Field of Fire”: Bashir and O’Brien tell Ilario that if there’s anything he wants or needs, he has but to ask. He asks to join them on the holosuite, and they give an empahtic “no,” saying that it’s too personal to share. This despite the fact that Odo, Garak, and others have joined them on the holosuite in the past. Either way, this scene was fodder for O’Brien/Bashir slash fiction for years. (After Ilario’s killed, they feel incredibly guilty about not letting him join them.)
Favorite Victory is life: From “Once More Unto the Breach”: Ten Jem’Hadar ships are taken out by a single Bird-of-Prey commanded by a senile Klingon. Sucks to be them.
Favorite Tough little ship: From “The Changing Face of Evil”: Rest in peace, Defiant.
Favorite No sex, please, we’re Starfleet: From “What You Leave Behind”: Dax and Bashir are now officially a couple, continuing the tradition of the couple-that-doesn’t-become-a-couple-officially-until-the-finale that we got with Worf and Troi (who at least had been moving in that direction for most of the season) in “All Good Things…” and would get again with Chakotay and Seven of Nine (totally out of left field) in Voyager’s “Endgame.” (Sadly, Enterprise did not continue this tradition, thus depriving us of the totally unexpected Sato-Reed romance…)
Favorite Welcome aboard: As is the show’s wont, it added more recurring characters in the seventh season: Deborah Lacey recurred as the image of Sarah, Sisko’s biological mother; John Vickery, Vaughn Armstrong, Mel Johnson Jr., Stephen Yoakam, and James Otis all appear in several episodes of the closing arc as Rusot, Seskal, Broca, Velal, and Solbor, respectively; and then there’s the role of Senator Cretak, played twice by Megan Cole and once by Adrienne Barbeau.
This in addition to the usual recurring regulars: Marc Alaimo (Dukat), Casey Biggs (Damar), Rosalind Chao (Keiko), James Darren (Fontaine), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Louise Fletcher (Winn), Max Grodenchik (Rom), Hana Hatae (Molly), Barry Jenner (Ross), Salome Jens (the female changeling), Penny Johnson (Yates), Chase Masterson (Leeta), Robert O’Reilly (Gowron and a holographic accountant), Brock Peters (Joseph), and Andrew J. Robinson (Garak). Plus David B. Levinson (Broik) and Cathy DeBuono (M’Pella) get actual dialogue in “The Dogs of War” after being silent background extras for years (no such love for Mark Allan Sheppard as Morn, who remains silent….).
Returning for a final engagement, as it were, are Tim Ransom as Jack, Hilary Shepard Turner as Lauren, Michael Keenen as Patrick, and Faith C. Salie as Sarina in “Chrysalis”; John Colicos as Kor in “Once More Unto the Breach”; William Sadler as Sloan in “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges” and “Extreme Measures”; Julianna McCarthy as Mila in “The Dogs of War” and “What You Leave Behind”; and Wallace Shawn as Zek with Tiny Ron as Maihar’du in “The Emperor’s New Cloak” and “The Dogs of War,” with Cecily Adams back as Ishka in the latter episode.
Standouts among the (very few) one-time guests include Gregory Wagrowski, magnificently snotty as Solok in “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”; Neil Vipond, superbly world-weary as Darok in “Once More Unto the Breach”; Raymond Cruz, scarily PTSD as Vargas in “The Siege of AR-558”; Art Chudabala, incredibly charming as the doomed Ilario in “Field of Fire”; Marc Lawrence, Mike Starr, and Robert Miano, picture-perfect as 1960s Vegas gangsters in “Badda-Bing Badda-Bang”; John Fleck, delightfully slimy as Koval in “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”; and Kitty Swink, sufficiently haughty as Luaran in “Tacking Into the Wind.”
But the champeens of the season are Jeffrey Combs, who plays two different versions of Brunt and several different iterations of Weyoun, including playing both in one episode (“The Dogs of War”), and J.G. Hertzler, who not only plays Martok but also is magnificent in the completely different role of Laas in “Chimera.”
Favorite Keep your ears open: From “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”: “Let’s make a deal, Doctor: I’ll spare you the ‘ends justify the means’ speech and you spare me the ‘we must do what’s right’ speech.”
Sloan cutting off the inevitable argument between him and Bashir (also one of my favorite lines in the history of Trek).
Favorite Trivial matter: A tough call, but probably “What You Leave Behind,” just because there was so much there to talk about.
Walk with the Prophets: “The more things change, the more things stay the same.” This is a remarkably schizophrenic season. On the one hand, you have far less of the fatigue that you saw in TNG’s final season. In fact, it was more the opposite: DS9 went balls-to-the-wall, trying to do as many cool things as they could, ending with a truly ambitious nine-episode arc to end the Dominion War (and the series).
The problem with being ambitious, of course, is that sometimes you fall short. There are a lot of things thrown at the wall this season, and they don’t all stick. Way too much time is spent on things like the Pah-wraiths (only used to good effect once, in “Covenant”), Section 31 (killing the closing arc’s momentum in “Extreme Measures”), and shoehorning the new Dax into the ensemble (giving us crap like “Afterimage” and “Prodigal Daughter”). The character of Vic Fontaine is way overused, sometimes to good effect (“It’s Only a Paper Moon,” “What You Leave Behind”), sometimes not (“Image in the Sand,” “The Siege of AR-558’s” teaser, “The Emperor’s New Cloak”).
But there’s an argument to be made that a noble failure is still noble and worth watching. For all the failures of the closing arc (mistaking the end of the war for the end of the show, the idiotic stuff involving the Prophets and Pah-wraiths, Worf and Dax’s endless bickering, ENTERING SLOAN’S BRAIN!) it’s overall a tremendous thrill ride that gives us some of the finest moments in Trek history, including Damar’s path to redemption, Kira coming full circle, Worf once again influencing Klingon politics, Sisko and Yates getting married, the Breen attack on Earth, and tons more, culminating in an end to the war that’s about compassion rather than military force (Odo curing the Founders in exchange for surrender) and a lovely final drink in Vic’s Place with a superb toast by Sisko followed by James Darren providing a lovely rendition of “The Way You Look Tonight.”
In the end, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine did an amazing job of building on the foundation laid down by its two predecessors, giving us complex characters, interesting stories, shades of gray, non-facile solutions to problems, some truly superb acting, and actions having long-term consequences. One need only look at the progress made by so many characters: Nog, going from a sneak-thief in “Emissary” to a junior-grade Starfleet lieutenant in “What You Leave Behind.” Damar going from Cardassian thug to hero of the revolution. O’Brien going from hating Bashir to becoming his best friend. Bashir’s maturation, Worf loosening up (and then tightening back up after Jadzia’s death), Jake growing up, and Garak and Odo becoming part of a family despite their inclination and best instincts.
It’s been a true thrill ride, and there’s no shame in occasionally missing the mark because you simply aimed really really high. Bravo to them for that.
Warp factor rating for the season: 7
Keith R.A. DeCandido thanks all of you for this wonderful ride through Star Trek’s second spinoff, and hopes you’ll all join him for his Star Trek The Original Series Rewatch starting Tuesday the 3rd of March with “The Cage.”
If they had just not done the whole pah-wraith thing, the wrap-up would have done true justice to everything that had gone before. But they just don’t seem to have quite known what to do with them or the Prophets, and it muddled everything else. I’m not entirely sure what the best way to use the wormhole aliens would have been, but as has been discussed here, moving to the good vs. evil business cheapened and weakened the show.
I always felt like there were two threads that weren’t satisfactorily closed off. Section 31 was the big one. Sloan’s brain might have closed off the character, but there’s still the issue of a rogue agency within Starfleet and the Federation, deciding all on its own what’s best for the galaxy with absolutely no oversight. Some indication that the agency had been blown wide open and was being investigated by the authorities would have been a lot more satisfactory.
The other loose end was the Breen. They spent most of the season making them into something mysterious and dangerous, and then the Breen just lose along with the Dominion. I had the feeling that the Breen constituted a fairly large threat even without the Dominion backing them up, and yet we get nothing.
Still DS9 remains my favorite Trek series and not least because they really examined Rodenberry’s utopia and showed us the worms in the apple.
Thank you for a most entertaining re-watch of the best Trek series ever.
— Michael A. Burstein
Just wanted to say goodbye and thank you. It’s been fun going through DS9 again, and I’m looking forward to seeing you again for The Original Series!
Your favorite “Tough little ship” is, unsurprisingly, my favorite “Tough little ship.” So glad you chose that one. :)
I was hoping for a Voyager rewatch, but a new TOS rewatch with KRAD at the wheel is even better!!!! LLAP!!!!
And speaking thereof, RIP Leonard Nimoy. Your fans will “remember” you for eternity.
TOS rewatch? All of the yes!
Also highly fitting today, though it’ll be odd rewatching those episodes knowing that there’s only one of the TOS holy trinity still with us now. RIP Leonard Nimoy, a terribly sad day for us all.
But still, a great rewatch of DS9. I rarely disagreed with the verdict, and I always enjoyed it. Thanks KRAD.
Definitely a final season worth remembering. Certainly not perfect, but no 26 episode season ever is. Definitely better than TNG’s final season, even though that one had All Good Things….
In the end, it was the hard work and dedication put forth by both the writers and the cast that made it all possible. Even though it’s been nearly 16 years since it ended, I still admire their efforts.
Kudos to all of them, and especially to Rick Berman, Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Hans Beimler, and the late Michael Piller.
@@.-@, Hey Keith?
No love for SF Debris’ euology for the Defiant?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgIOdcBkkzg
Sorry, but it just makes me laugh every time. :)
No pressure, Keith, but I wouldn’t mind getting a series recap now that DS9 is done. And if I can con you into doing that, maybe we could get one for TNG as well? At the very least, it could it me a few more Fridays.
An excellent point you make. The only way to never fail is to never try. Thanks for all these rewatches! Looking forward to the TOS rewatch!
Thank you for reminding me why this was my favorite of all the series.
My comments never seemed to show up so I gave up… But I have read every single rematch through ds9 and tng and wanted to say thank you so much for the trip down memory lane. It has been fantastic and truly appreciated. I hope you will attend to voyager next?
ps I loved the episode in sloans brain..
thanks a tonne krad,
i only posted once before but I’ve read every rewatch as you posted them :)
love ds9
love your perspective on everything (well, except for when you gave sacrifice of angels a 5)
bought and read a stack of the relaunch novels because you mentioned them occasionally – loved the parts you wrote so thanks for those too!
TOS rewatch…again?
Why?
I’m out. No need to rehash that.
Sorry, don’t get it.
It’s been fun. Thanks KRAD!
Thank you for a great re-watch.
Slainte mhor!
a-j
Thank you KRAD for this.
It wasa great and fun ride that I wasn happy to make part of my weekly schedule. Cheers and here’s to the next series.
Thank you – I’ve enjoyed reading these as I went through my own rewatch. I have become convinced that DS9 is the best Trek…not a popular opinion among Trek fans but I stand by it.
@17: A great many Trek fans agree with you, actually! We had this conversation some weeks ago, I think. If I remember correctly, the answer we came up with was that DS9 is more appreciated by hardcore fans than by casual viewers.
@14: Not sure if your “why?” was rhetorical, but the introductory post answers the question.
@18 I had not seen the introductory post, but all the reasons he listed I’d gone through in my head and rejected. I guess there’s not enough love for VOY and ENT for a KRAD rewatch.
Oh well, maybe TOR will hire CLB for the other spin-off series.
@19: Keith has said multiple times that he’s simply not interested in doing Voyager. A commenter made an excellent point: if he doesn’t enjoy the show, the rewatches won’t be much fun to read. And Keith pointed out that they wouldn’t be any fun to write, either. So if it’s no fun for him, it results in no fun for us, and why do it?
But I agree with you that Christopher would likely be a good choice as an alternative, if they do it down the road. I only know him through his comments here and on TrekBBS, but he seems quite well-qualified, and I’d read a CLB Voyager rewatch if one came to pass.
Thanks KRAD for the rewatch.
It urged me to watch the entire DS9 for the first time, and it was well worth it. I’m currently in the middle of season 2 of ENT, and I was pretty sure you would have done that (skipping VOY). Your decision to go with TOS has somewhat surprised me: I guess I’ll catch up with you in a year when I’ll be finished with ENT.
Meanwhile, does anyone knows a good episode by episode analysis of ENT I can refer to?
@21
I’d recommend Jammer’s reviews of Enterprise (and indeed all Trek).
@20 – Already proposed in the Dogs of War comments, Chistopher stated that he would not be doing a Voyager rewatch (but that was also in the context of not knowing that a TOS rewatch was coming up).
Hi Keith,
I don’t post much, but have read every re-watch post. This was my first time through the series – thanks for the love and care you put into each post. I look forward to watching TOS with you too.
Thanks also to the many regular commenters. Its great to get a different point of view to Keith from other knowledgable fans, and to compare my response to that of other first time watchers (thanks Lisamarie!)
Thank you to Keith for all the wit, humor, insight and knowledge he brought to this entire re-watch.
Thanks to TOR for hosting and for fostering such great community of commentators.
After all this, I don’t find myself with much to say – but thank you so much for doing this, and thank you to all of the other commenters too. This has been a highlight of my week for years.
Thanks for the ride, KRAD!
I’m still sad you’re not doing Voyager or Enterprise, but I understand your reasoning: I just wish I knew enough about the making of the series to do the Voyager rewatch myself. (I didn’t get the chance to watch Enterprise when it aired, so that one would be just a straight-up watch, instead of a REwatch.)
…on the other hand, I still haven’t gotten around to watching the Original Series yet, so this’ll be at least a bit of fun for a couple more years. See you in the 23rd Century!
I really wish the show could have had another season so they could have dealt with some of the aftermath of the war.
I think the biggest problem with seasons 6 and 7 was how they dealt with the Prophets and Pah Wraiths. They made them too big. The Prophets started out as being a much more mysterious force that influenced the universe in small ways but with big results. To just have the Pah Wraiths becoming evil demons who want to destroy the universe took out a lot of the mystique and made them far less interesting.
I think it would have been far better if the Prophets and Pah Wraiths had influenced the course of events in more subtle ways. Like in “Sacrifice of Angels,” instead of just making the Dominion fleet disappear, the Prophets could have sent Sisko back in time just a few minutes so that the Defiant arrived just in time to stop the minefield from being destroyed. Instead of the Pah Wraiths giving Dukat magical powers to burn the galaxy, they could have just given him the ability to alter his own past so that he could “fix” his past mistakes.
I think this was a pretty nice summary to leave us with. Anyway, I would like to echo many of the other commenters in thanking you profusely for doing these rewatches. We’ve been following since partway through TNG(I think we caught up about season 3 or 4) and it’s been a fun couple of years.
Don’t know if I’ll follow TOS…to be honest, I was looking forward to having some time freed up to do other things, as fun as this rewatch has been.
Thanks for DS9 final season recap, Keith. Excellent writing and analysis.
I got extra turned on to real science fiction while watching TOS with my dad in the late ’60s, but I have to say DS9 is the best and the one that affected me the most.
RIP Leonard Nomy!
Aww, thanks phonos :)
Two questions:
why haven’t they made any Star Trek films using the DS9 and Voyager casts, like they did with TNG? Is it because the actors lost interest in these roles, or is it because the producers lost interest in the series?
Whatever happened to Cirroc Lofton? I loved the actor and we sort of grew up at the same time, so he was like a vicarious representation of me as an adolescent in Star Trek.
@32
They haven’t made movies out of DS9 and Voyager because no one would watch them.
I can’t help you with Cirroc Lofton.
I disagree that no one would have watched movies based on DS9 and Voyager. There were plenty of fans of those shows during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
I suspect it’s more because the actors had become tired of the roles and didn’t want to be typecast.
A little over a year late but I want to add my thanks to krad for the re-watches, TOS, TNG and DS9. I’ve been through them all now. I’m sorry there won’t be re-watches of Voy or Ent but I understand his reasons. These essays must have been a lot of work and who wants to do work you won’t enjoy?
This was a watch, not a re-watch for me. I’d seen some episodes of DS9 when it first aired but had dropped out within the first season. I’m glad I stuck with it this time. I will say that DS9 was probably better SF and better drama than the other series were. But, I confess, by the time I reached the end of it I was just tired. Most of DS9 wasn’t fun, at least in these latter seasons. I have already watched a half dozen episodes of Voyager and am enjoying them more than I did most of the last season of DS9. Not from the quality but simply because they were -fun- and more reminiscent of TOS. But I am glad to have seen DS9 now. When I’ve finished watching Voyager and then the movies, I’ll be able to say I’m a completist in the ST universe.
Again, thanks to krad for his essays and to the posters for their discussions that helped make even the bad episodes’ discussions interesting.
Well, that was it. At the beginning, I said DS9 was my least favorite, and sadly, that didn’t change over the course of the 7 seasons. I mean, it was still enjoyable for most of the time (it IS Trek after all), but it wasn’t as enjoyable as TNG or TOS.
Things I liked:
– The more serialized story telling. It allowed for better character developement and massive story archs over serveral episodes
– The relationship between Ben and Jake. It was refreshing to see a real father/son relationship for once.
– The O’Briens. Too bad Keiko was often reduced to play “the nagging wife”, but it was good to see O’Brien being a real family man.
– Jake and Nog. Real kids doing real kids things.
– A lot of episodes. Too bad I am so bad at remembering episode names, lol.
Things I didn’t like:
– It’s too religion based. The whole notion of Prophets and Pah-Wraith and prophecies is hard to watch, sometimes.
– I don’t like all the war stuff. It’s Star Trek, not Star Wars. For me, Trek was always about exploration, not about wars. I know there have been war stories before in TAS/TNG, but it hasn’t been the underlying story arch for most of those shows runs.
EDIT: Wait, there isn’t a Voyager rewatch? Where should I get all the information about references to other episodes and guest and the like from now? :O
;)
EDIT again: I also went through all my comments and corrected the spelling mistakes. I sincerly apologize to anyone who read them in unedited form. I was typing on mobile most of the time and the autocorrection did more damage than it really helped me. Plus, I came to realize the keyboard app I was using was buggy and would sometimes chose the wrong word, and not the one I was tapping on.
Just finished my whole series rewatch, together with @krad’s rewatch posts. The series is great, I also found this religion prophet – pah-wraith bullshit too much, just like waka, but i DID enjoy that it touched heavy topics like war, the great characters and good story arcs, so in the end i have TNG and DS9 as my favourite ST series…and kudos for all the rewatch posts, they were great to accompany the episodes, i enjoyed both the analysis and the perspectives they brought to the episodes.
The COVID-19 quarantine is keeping me indoors, so I decided to binge-watch DS9. I had never been a fan of the show before, viewing it as “To boldly stay in one spot in space,” or “As The Wormhole Turns.” But I always had the sense that there was some Trek-lore missing from my knowledge by not having watched it all.
I have gained some appreciation for it during the binge, aided by KRAD’s rewatch comments. I still skipped some episodes, mostly in the last season, especially those dealing with Vic Fontaine and the one that was all-baseball. I mean really, is the show supposed to be a vehicle for indulging one or two writers’ obsessions with one particlar lounge singer?
But I liked the time-travel episodes, ignoring the gooby-gooby about how they got there and back. I enjoy alternate-history fiction. And I like the Dominion war series, though I always thought the Founders’ motivation was rather flimsy.
Thanks for a great review of all the episodes, and for tolerating my noobness. On to Voyager!
You’re missing out on some good character episodes if you skip those episodes.
Belated thanks to folks who’ve found DS9 and then found these rewatches. Very gratifying. *happy author smile*
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Season Seven of “Star Trek Deep Space Nine” is not one of my favorites. I don’t know. Aside from the revelation about Section 31’s attempt to commit genocide against the Founders, the Cardassians’ rebellion against the Dominion and the first half of the series finale, I found this season rather frustrating or boring. Or both. Pity.
Don’t take this personally, but I have never been that impressed with Season 7 of “Deep Space Nine”. The only aspects of it that I had truly enjoyed were the arcs regarding the attempted genocide of the Founders and the Cardassians’ rebellion against the Dominion. The Duhkat/Kai Winn arc had its moments, but . . . eh.
The Klingon Civil War came out of no where. Was this an attempt to cushion the revelation about the Federation/Section 31 plot against the Founders? It felt like it. Ezri Dax came a season or two too late for me to appreciate her. And her romance with Julian Bashir was a joke. I lost interest in Sisko’s arc regarding his role as the Emissary. Jake Sisko was basically pushed to the background. So was Miles O’Brien. Aside from the Section 31 arc, which wasn’t very long, Bashir wasn’t used much during this season.
It was just too much contrived and occasionally sloppy writing for me to enjoy this season.
“There’s no shame in occasionally missing the mark because you simply aimed really really high.”
“…mistaking the end of the war for the end of the show…”
I think there are lots of shows that we could say did a better job of ending their show and hitting the bulls-eye even after aiming really high, but the one that comes to my mind is Star Wars Rebels, having just recently binged-watched it. (It’s both serial and episodic the way DS9 is.) The first episode showed us that Lothal, the main character’s home world, was occupied by the Empire. Season 4, a big serial-of-a-season, builds up to its liberation. Rather than saying “lets end the show by having our friends participate in the battle of Endor,” they said “We started on Lothal, we’ll end there.” I personally would call that series finale a noble success.
Claudia: I don’t take it personally at all, why would I? If everyone agreed with me, the world would be very boring.
Having said that, I actually agree with several things you say. The only exception would be your comment that, “The Klingon Civil War came out of no where,” as it didn’t at all — that was a culmination of a decade’s worth of stories on two TV shows, going all the way back to “Sins of the Father” on TNG.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Waka and TH
I find it interesting that you found the religious elements too much. Since most SF barely acknowledges religion, if not denying it all together, i found a series that not only acknowledged it, but usually treated it with respect and nuance, refreshing. The Pah-Wraiths were badly handled and the treatment of the Prophets did become too simplistic toward the end. But overall, I greatly enjoyed its inclusion.
I also thought it ironic that DS9 and Babylon 5, whose proponents clashed so often, both treated religion well.
Poker Player:
Give the baseball episode a chance. It is a real treat. I like it better each time I see it.
I started watching all of TNG followed by DS9 for the first time when the pandemic started last year. Sadly I’ve reached the end now but it’s been a blast! Reading these rewatches along the way added a lot to the enjoyment. It made me appreciate the good ones more and helped suffer through the bad ones, because there was always something to look forward to.
So huge thanks to KRAD and all the commenters! You guys rock!
Abu: Glad these rewatches made a good supplement to your marathoning of the shows!
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Started rewatching TNG on Netflix just before the pandemic hit in January 2020 and have now reached the end of DS9, just two seasons of Voyager to go to rewatch the whole of what I would class the TNG timeline through.
On judging DS9 in its entirety rather than it’s uneven final season I still rate it as the strongest Trek show brought to air.
if I were to list a top 10 of my favourite Trek episodes then 5 of those episodes in that top ten would be DS9 episodes including the number one place. (In the pale moonlight)
chadefallstar: I really hope that “January 2022” was a typo for “January 2020,” and you’re not a time traveller warning us of another pandemic that’s gonna hit early next year……………………….
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@50 Krad
Lol .. edited :).
Before the Department of Temporal Investigations come after me.
Thanks again for these Krad. Watched seasons 1-4 when they aired, finally finished the show a few years ago with these rewatches alongside, and rewatched the whole shebang over the last few months remotely with a friend. The characters are the show’s real strength – I’ll take Odo, Kira, Garak, Quark, Dukat (until the final arc), Weyoun et al over pretty much any of their equivalents in other shows.
That said, having recently watched/rewatched all of SG1 and Babylon 5 as well, I do think DS9 comes off a little worse. It’ll always mean more to me because of where I was in my life when I first saw it though.
BornToPootle: Thank you! I love hearing that people are reading these entries along with their own rewatches.
Also, I did a seasonal rewatch of the entire Stargate franchise for this site in 2015 that may be of interest after your going through SG-1:
https://www.tor.com/series/stargate-rewatch/
—-Keith R.A. DeCandido
I made it to the the end! I never thought I’d appreciate DS9, and now I do, thanks to KRAD and all the regular commenters. It’s funny, because at the moment I think that DS9 is the better show (continuity, story arcs and the like), but I like most of the TOS and TNG characters better. I just never invested in the DS9 main cast aside from O’Brien, Worf, Jake, and Jadzia. All my favorites were peripheral characters (Nog, Garak, Weyoun) Though my biggest take away is probably the development of the Ferengi. SO much more interesting and well developed than on TNG. I’m going to go back and watch TOS again while following KRAD’s posts, they really increase my appreciation of the episodes. Thanks, I’m glad this series of posts exists.
evala: Thank you so much! Your comment totally made my day!
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Krad,
I have to echo evala’s comment. I don’t always agree with your evaluations, but you always make your reviews fun, enjoyable, and informative. I often learn new things about the episodes I had never known or noticed before.
While it would feed my ego temporarily if everyone agreed with me, it would also be very boring. And fun, enjoyable, and informative are what I’m going for.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
At first I was hesitant to post a comment since the recap was posted years ago, but seeing other 2022 comments has emboldened me! I just finished my watch of DS9, and I wanted to echo with my thanks for these recaps. I found them an enjoyable way to reflect on the episodes. I watched most of the other Star Trek series with my family growing up, but haven’t had anyone to watch DS9 with (the husband can’t get past the corniness and the special effects. boo hiss.), so reading along with these discussions gave me a nice feeling of experiencing DS9 with others.
Overall I really enjoyed the series. Jadzia Dax was my favorite due to her confidence, sass and being aesthetically pleasing, though everyone being in love with her did eventually grate. I also had a soft spot for Quark, since he was a familiar face (albeit covered in prosthetics…) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, my favorite TV show. Seeing his real face was one of my favorite parts of “Far Beyond the Stars.”
bookish dragon: Thanks so much for commenting and the kind words! It warms my heart every time someone says they’ve been using these rewatches during a watch of their own…..
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Took me a bit to come back and say thank you for the recaps on DS9. I’m well into the Voyager ones as I am making my way through that show for the first time. I’m glad all the pronouncements that you’d never do Voy did not hold, as it’s a joy to have you and all the commenters to continue to follow along with
kalyarn: Thanks, and I’m glad I went back on my word, too. *laughs*
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill recently announced that their podcast, The Delta Flyers, will continue on beyond their rewatch of “Endgame”…as a rewatch of Deep Space Nine!!! But making that news extra sweet is that joining them as hosts are actual DS9 series regulars Armin Shimmerman and Terry Farrell. How wonderful it will be to hear the DS9 actors reminisce on every single episode, as well as I’m sure offering fond memories of Rene Auberjonois and Aron Eisenberg. Plus, I’d love to hear more on Farrell’s thoughts on her ouster from the series, and her reaction to Nicole DeBoer inheriting the mantle as the “new” Dax. Only snag with this new podcast is that rewatches of DS9 won’t actually begin until the current actors strike is over.
I thought this was an improvement over Season 6, but only just. There were plenty of things going on that I enjoyed, but overall I just got kind of tired of the war, and I got really tired of the Pah Wraiths, so I wasn’t thrilled that it wrapped up with a 9 part arc about the war (which at least ended strongly) and the Pah Wraiths (which ended awfully). There were still a few classics to be found (Once More Unto the Breach, It’s Only a Paper Moon, Tacking to the Wind), and at least I didn’t absolutely hate any of the episodes (though Prodigal Daughter, The Emperor’s New Cloak, and Extreme Measures didn’t work for me), but for a show that had four amazing seasons in a row, it’s still a letdown.
krad, here’s a another thank-you to you (and to the rest of the fan and pro commenters spread out over the last decade) for these Deep Space Nine rewatch writeups.
Over the last few months I’ve done my own first systematic DS9 rewatch, happily reading along here. Your insights as a fan, a Trek fan, a writer, and a Trek writer were wonderful to read. (I also learned here about Erdmann and Block’s ST:DS9 Companion, and after tracking one down I see I have a lot more reading to do.)
I’d nearly memorized TOS in college in the 1970’s, and I watched TNG & DS9 as they aired. I also became a big B5 fan.
One lesson from all that is that as a viewer and a fan you’re lucky if a show can beat Sturgeon’s Law on episode quality–which these did easily, even counting the many clunkers.
Voyager and Enterprise did not, IMHO, and lost my interest pretty quickly. But because I see you’ve since gamely rewatched these as well, I’ll give them a try–I enjoy your insights that much.
I hope you’re interested and able to do a Discovery rewatch someday – I’m looking forward to retirement and I need something to do :-)
Thanks again Keith to you, the Tor team, and the commenters for your writing and for fostering this community.
Thanks so much!
FWIW, I’ve been reviewing the new episodes of the various new Trek shows since 2017 as the episodes have come out. You can find them indexed here:
https://decandido.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/guide-to-my-reviews-of-star-trek-discovery/
It’s not the same as a rewatch, but I think you’ll enjoy them. (Especially when I speculate about stuff and then am totally wrong. *laughs*)
Again, thanks!
—Keith R.A. DeCandido