“Deep Space Nine”: Season One

I never had a whole lot of exposure to the “Star Trek” universe growing up. I’d seen a couple of the films, but most of my “Trek” experience came from my semi-regular viewing of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes. And I’d never seen much – if any – of the “Deep Space Nine” series. It seemed odd to me to have a space series set on a space station, rather than a spaceship; plus, I probably felt one “Trek” series was geeky enough. So, with those two combined, I’d never given DS9 a shot.

But with my recent “Star Trek” binge (stay tuned for my “Star Trek extravaganza post, in which I rank the first 10 “Star Trek” films; yes, I’ve since seen them all), I became more interested in the universe. And a friend (thanks Amanda!) pointed out that DS9 was her favorite “Trek” series, so I boldy went where many a geeky man (and woman) has gone before and started a DS9 binge, and I must say – despite a few hiccups and missteps – I had been missing out on something rather great.

The premise focuses on a formerly Cardassian space station, near the planet Bajor. The Bajorans had recently been freed from a brutal occupation by the Cardassians. And the Bajoran Provisonal Government has invited the United Federation of Planets to have joint control over the station, now called Deep Space Nine. The Federation also hopes Bajor will become a part of them. And they soon discover a wormhole, which leads to the largely unexplored Gamma quadrant and opens up new opportunities and dangers.

Through this set-up, the series explores themes of terrorism, religious fundamentalism, revolution, occupation, government rebuilding, racism, sexism, genocide and war crimes. And the series approaches these themes often in creative ways.

DS9 characters include: the fair, understanding – though sometimes necessarily stern – station leader, Cmdr. Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), who is grieving over the death of his wife and now raising a son on his own; his second-in-command Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), the top Bajoran presence who used to be a guerilla fighter during the occupation and has a great distaste for and distrust of Cardassians; Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) is a shapeshifter and security chief at the station, he’s the only one of his kind that he knows about and is trying to fit in as a humanoid; Doctor Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), a young and eager doctor who is perhaps a bit too naïve for his own good or the good of the station; Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell), the station’s science officer, who is a Trill, a race who harbors the memories of its previous hosts and its current one, at one time and in a previous male host, Dax was a good friend of Sisko’s; Chief of Operations Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney), who works hard to keep the station running, even when it means sacrificing time with his family; Sisko’s son Jake (Cirroc Lofton), who is growing up, learning about the universe and girls (which is harder to explain), he gets in trouble, but he has a sincere respect for his father; and Quark (Armin Shimerman), a Ferengi who runs the bar and gambling joint on the station, he’s always out to make a quick profit, but he has his loyalties and his moral code.

It’s hard to decide which character’s my favorite, thus I haven’t selected one yet. But top contenders so far include the by-the-book Odo who is softer than he’d care to admit; the passionate and feisty Kira with a great heart; or the hilarious Quark, whose priorities may often be ruled by profit but who can usually be relied upon in a crisis.

Now onto the first season. It’s certainly a good start and has kept me wanting to watch more, even if there are some less-than-appealing episodes. So, it’s time for the worst three and best three episodes of this first season (in my opinion, of course). Now… starting with the worst :

Worst Three (in chronological order):
The Passenger (1.09) A baddie stows away … in Doctor Bashir’s body, and boy is there much unintentional humor here. Siddig just overdoes the evil, and it comes across as fake and forced. He should stick with Bashir; he’s much better at that character.

The Nagus (1.11) A boring Ferengi episode as the Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn) pays Quark a visit. Probably not all Shawn’s fault, but Zek’s quite annoying, and as such, the episode becomes a tad boring and painful.

If Wishes Were Horses (1.16) This is probably my favorite of the “Worst 3,” but it falls short. Something seemingly goes wrong with the holosuites and people’s imaginations start to come alive. Good concept but not the best in execution. The hologram characters aren’t very interesting, and it has a “it-was-all-a-dream”-type ending that just cheapened what came before it (even though what came before wasn’t all that great to start with).

Best Three:
Progress (1.15) Bajor wants to tap the core of one of its moons, but in order to do so, Kira must visit the moon and get a stubborn farmer Mullibok (Brian Keith) to move. Keith does an excellent and moving performance in this story that presents a human face to the effects of eminent domain. It’s great when a sci-fi show can convincingly bring-up timely and real issues in a fictional setting.

Duet (1.19) Once again, Kira has a great guest star to deal with, as she must try to find out whether a visiting Cardassian Marritza (Harris Yulin) is a notorious war criminal. Yulin also does a wonderful and memorable job, portraying a man who may or may not be responsible for countless deaths. The episode’s a great Holocaust analogy and asks whether every member of a race can be blamed for the atrocities that those in charge commit.

In the Hands of the Prophets (1.20) Tension on the station escalates when Vedek Winn (Louise Fletcher) visits the station to find out the students are being taught that the Bajoran prophets are really wormhole aliens. It’s another wonderful allegory, this one paralleling religious fundamentalists’ problems with public school teaching about evolution, etc. And Fletcher’s frighteningly evil, the kind that hides it with a nice smile. All in all, a great season finale.

The first season certainly hooked me, and I’m already well into Season Two (and I just started watching DS9 at the end of September!), so there will be a post on that sometime after I complete it.