The Schizoid Reviewer: The Worf Factor, the Kira Conundrum, and What 
Went Wrong with DS9's "Best Season Ever"
by Christine M. Bichler

This review should have been written months ago. Much of it, in fact, 
was actually composed within the week following Deep Space Nine's fourth 
season finale. But something kept me from finishing the piece, which has 
been languishing in my computer's hard-drive lo these many moons. It is 
only now, with the series' fifth season looming on the horizon, that I 
feel compelled to put an end to my own hedging, to post the review and 
have done with it simply so that I can get it out of my system and get 
on with my life. 

Of course, most writers recognize that ongoing resistance to finishing a 
piece is often a sign of trouble -- of conflict or uncertainty within 
the writer. I tend to be a procrastinator by nature. A frightening 
amount of what I write is hacked out and revised dangerously near to the 
last minute. Dragging my heels is a part of my writing pattern that I 
usually don't question, but simply take in stride. However, in trying to 
pin down the positives and negatives of DS9's fourth season, I found 
myself beset with sharply conflicting reactions that were so difficult 
to explain that for a while, I simply gave up trying.

Nevertheless, my own "schizoid" critic's reaction is what finally 
convinced me that I *had* to finish this review. If something was 
bothering me that deeply about a show I used to have unreserved 
admiration for, then I figured that I'd better speak up -- and that I'd 
better do it before the fifth season got underway.

Simply put, I'm baffled by the amount of praise that DS9's fourth season 
has generated. Some critics and fans have gone so far as to rank it as 
the series' "best season ever." That's a sentiment I can't share. In 
fact, I was rather disheartened by the overall thrust of DS9's fourth 
season. This isn't to say that individual episodes haven't been good. In 
many respects the quality of DS9's writing, especially in terms of plot 
and pacing, was at the most consistently high level that's yet been 
seen. But in the midst of all the spaceship-battles, "high-action" 
content, Klingon mythos -- and even some excellent moments of 
character-development, there was something missing in the fourth season, 
as well as something utterly by-the-numbers in the many of the 
respectable, workman-like scripts that were being dramatized. Even the 
season's most-heralded showpiece, "The Visitor," felt to me not like a 
DS9 episode, but like warmed over TNG -- and that, I think, is where the 
problem lies.

What made DS9 my favorite hour of television for all of its first three 
seasons was the way it tended to take Star Trek cliches and subvert 
them. DS9 won my affection through its similarity to shows like "Blake's 
7" -- with its idiosyncratic characters, its politically complex 
stories, its moral ambiguities. Even in its fledgling season, this show 
did things that no Trek series had ever done. It made a point of 
animosity and even mistrust between its characters. It featured a female 
lead who was brash, assertive, complex -- and who had her own agenda. 
DS9 was filled with scarred souls and cosmic wayfarers: the former 
terrorist first officer, the bereft Starfleet commander, the 
angst-ridden alien in the security office, the double-dealing Ferengi 
trader. Even the more conventional Starfleet characters had little 
quirks of personality that set them apart from the terminally 
well-adjusted cast of TNG. Deep Space Nine was about recovering from 
losses -- a somber reality that the reckless adventurers of classic Trek 
and the politically correct crew of the Next Generation never really had 
to confront. DS9's intense focus on one world -- its culture, its past, 
and its politics, drew me to the show's Bajoran dilemma, which seemed at 
the time not only an inspired borrowing from TNG, but a metaphor for 
political strife happening around the world. For me the move from TNG to 
DS9 was a definite step forward for Trek, a step up in complexity and in 
quality storytelling.
 
Imagine my surprise, three years after its premiere, to hear folks 
grumbling, on the Internet and in other places, that DS9 was "not good 
Star Trek," that it was boring, and the most ridiculous charge of all, 
that it "didn't go anywhere" -- as if dramatic movement and movement 
through space in a starship were equivalent concepts. Over the first 
four seasons of its existence, DS9's creators have tried to abate such 
criticism in various ways, shifting the focus of the show in the third 
season and again in the fourth in an attempt to deliver more "action" 
plots and space exploration to appease disgruntled Trekkers. The fourth 
season featured a blatant, unprecedented, and much-publicized concession 
to fallen away TNG fans as Worf, a central character from the Next 
Generation, was brought on board as a DS9 regular.  In tandem with the 
arrival of Worf, the Klingons were re-introduced as Trek "bad guys" 
opposing the Federation, and still more "action" oriented plots were 
promised. There was no attempt to be subtle about the revamping of DS9 
-- the producers made it clear that they were out to correct whatever 
"problems" had caused the show's slipping ratings in hopes that fans who 
had given up on DS9 would now "resample" it.

The result? Well, the "new" DS9 *hasn't* become unrecognizable from the 
show it used to be. Not quite. Not yet. In fact, in some perverse ways 
the show has proved itself inherently resistant to its producers' 
efforts to turn it into a TNG clone. Much of its darker tone remains -- 
as does its habit of coming back to its characters, rather than "crisis 
of the week" plotting, as the source for its most resonant dramatic 
conflicts. But so many elements of DS9's original focus and outlook  
have been either jettisoned or reshaped in the effort to achieve some 
nebulous, platonic ideal of  "Trek-ness" that it's becoming a little 
difficult for anyone who enjoyed this show during its first three 
seasons not to feel disgruntled by Paramount's insistence on continually 
fiddling with and "fixing" something that was never broken to begin 
with. Why, we wonder, is DS9 being treated like a Star Trek's "problem 
child" when in fact it has always been the best and the brightest of the 
lot? Like Odo in season-three's  "The Search," many DS9 fans came "home" 
during the drama's fourth season to find themselves in strangely foreign 
territory. There is -- justifiably, I think -- some resentment among DS9 
fans that Paramount took "our" show, the show that we loved, and 
completely re-landscaped it to suit the perceived tastes of some fickle 
 TNG fans who never really cared about DS9, its world, or its characters 
to begin with.  My own feeling is that despite the alterations, DS9 is 
still a good show, in terms of being well-crafted science fiction, but 
that it has lost or willfully abandoned  much of the originality and 
contrariness that made it stand apart from other Trek series and 
endeared it to those of us who like our TV sf a little rough around the 
edges.

Some few vestiges DS9's original pioneering spirit were, as mentioned, 
still intact during the last season -- if you knew where to look for 
them.  For me, the most effective shows this year were those like 
"Hippocratic Oath" and "For the Cause," that contained what I have come 
to think of as qualities of the "old" DS9 -- good solid character 
development, a sense of moral ambiguity, and the judicious use of 
conflicting loyalties,  intricate political machinations, and the themes 
of deceit and betrayal. I also tend to favor shows that display a good 
sense of continuity with larger, ongoing story threads. Historically DS9 
has done a better job with long-term continuity than any other Trek 
series. This season was relatively disappointing in that respect, 
especially after the "continuity-fest" that was season three. We did see 
an intriguing ongoing story built around Gul Dukat this year (would that 
it had been more subtly developed) in "Indiscretion" and "Return to 
Grace," but this season's best examples of continuity occurred in "To 
the Death" and "Broken Link," which seemed driven by complications that 
had been set up long before. There was nothing here to measure up to the 
narrative scope of last year's "Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast," 
but in the circumstances I was grateful for any continuing story threads 
at all. This season also featured a respectable number of 
character-focused dramas: "Rejoined," "Crossfire," "Hard Time," and the 
wildly overrated "The Visitor" -- as well as some truly delightful comic 
pieces: "Our Man Bashir," "Little Green Men," and the wildly 
*underrated* "The Bar Association," all of which provided a refreshing 
change of pace from the pervasive drive toward "action" and  Klingon 
head-butting. 

Given the pervasive "Klingon" thrust of this season, it is perhaps 
surprising that so many of the original DS9 cast fared as well as they 
did this year. Despite reduced screen-time in many cases, most of the 
original DS9 characters managed to hold their own quite well, though I 
would venture to say that mostly they managed to develop in spite of the 
"Worf factor" rather than because of it. 

Worf was put to excellent use in helping to bolster the character of 
Dax, and it was largely due to Worf's presence that the once nebulously 
characterized Jadzia finally came into her own as a tough, funny, 
take-charge woman -- a sort of spiritual Klingon with a sense of humor. 
I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this year the writers 
finally figured out just who Jadzia Dax really is. Interestingly enough, 
however, Dax's best episode had little to do with anything remotely 
Klingon. In "Rejoined" Terry Farrell was able to project a clear sense 
of Dax as a character perfectly at home inhabiting either a male or a 
female body, and as a person haunted by the past regrets of several 
lifetimes. These paradoxic qualities have always been at the heart of 
the Dax character, but very rarely do they get the kind of in-depth 
exploration afforded here. "Rejoined" was one of the season's high 
points, and proved that Dax *can* be an interesting character on her 
own. As much as I'm amused by the Dax/Worf dynamic, I certainly hope 
that next year we'll see more of Jadzia in stories that focus on *her.* 

Sisko in many ways seemed a more richly-textured personality than he has 
been in the past. His relationships with fellow crew members tended to 
emphasize the captain's authority and command abilities, and while I 
have mixed feelings about the Star Trek habit of constantly presenting 
captains as parental figures for the rest of the crew, I must admit that 
I enjoyed watching Sisko "chew out" so many errant underlings this year 
in surprisingly realistic military fashion. Avery Brooks was also given 
plenty of opportunity to display the character's emotional extremes, 
from patient father and tender lover to anxious son. Sisko's family 
history and relationships provided nice dramatic context for the events 
of "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost," and his relationship with Cassidy 
Yates, initially a tossed-in bit of fluff, became painfully real in the 
wake of her betrayal of his trust in "For the Cause." I sincerely hope 
that we have not seen the last of Yates. Her revealed alliance with the 
Maquis changed her character rather suddenly from a pleasant distraction 
to a believable "person" with guts and an agenda -- and in a season 
where we saw precious few examples of strong women exhibiting strong 
behavior, Cassidy Yates' allegiance to a power other than the Federation 
was a welcome breath of fresh air.

O'Brien and Bashir also got some nice development this year, most fully 
in "Hippocratic Oath" and "Hard Time," two of the finest episodes of the 
season, both of which tested the always somewhat tenuous friendship 
between the two men. Bashir's constant struggle is that of an idealist 
having his idealism tested through fire, and the writers haven't 
forgotten that. The character also retains a healthy sense of youthful 
play, exhibited to hilarious effect in "Our Man Bashir," another of the 
year's best episodes. O'Brien, DS9's everyman, once again found his way 
into another bizarre identity crisis in "Hard Time," and is now facing 
an increased sense of parental responsibility under rather unusual 
circumstances :) It's easy to undervalue an "ordinary" character such as 
O'Brien, but his presence as good Starfleet soldier and average family 
man has proved very useful over the years as a reminder of all those 
equally average folks back home on Earth, whom we hardly ever get to see 
in this "ideal" universe of the future. O'Brien's commentary was 
especially thought-provoking in episodes such as "For the Cause," and 
"To the Death," which explored issues of loyalty and personal values. 
O'Brien often functions as a reminder of how we ourselves might react in 
moments of severe crisis -- and it's good to be reminded that even in 
the Star Trek universe, just behaving as a decent human being is not 
always an easy job. 

Odo, too, was in fine form this year, despite being largely neglected by 
the writers early on. In the wake of season three's major plot 
developments involving the Founders, this neglect seems curious. One is 
tempted to suspect that the need to "integrate" Worf into the cast got 
in the way of developing the Dominion storyline with the subtlety it 
deserved. Nevertheless, Odo was almost always fascinating on those few 
occasions when he was allowed center-stage. We got a powerful glimpse of 
his inner life in "Crossfire," mainly thanks to the masterful 
performance of Rene Auberjonois (quite possibly the single best 
performance in Trek this year). Several episodes later, however, the 
writers demeaned the character by putting him through a sham marriage to 
Lwaxana Troi, in what was probably the most unbelievable plot of the 
season. "Broken Link," however, was a lovely and poignant story, graced 
with a fascinating climactic moment of mythic power. The startling 
notion of turning Odo into a human being weaves a bit of magic into the 
Star Trek universe, and unlike some hard-core sf fans, I've never been 
opposed to that. Particularly in a show like DS9, where people have 
destinies and the millennia-old "Prophets" are inclined to send visions 
to unlikely saviors, a touch of old-fashioned enchantment doesn't seem 
that out of place. The only unfortunate thing about "Broken Link" was 
it's timing. As a follow-up to last year's season finale, "The 
Adversary," this episode should have happened much earlier in the fourth 
season, and in the meantime, the audience should have been given a good, 
clearly developed sense of Odo's personal anguish over killing one of 
his own kind.

Quark, unfortunately, slipped even further to the edges of the DS9 
universe in the fourth season. Some of this marginalization seems 
unavoidable given the nature of the character, but I'm starting to 
dislike the feeling of segregation that creeps into Ferengi-based 
episodes. (Why do we have "Ferengi" episodes but not "Human," "Bajoran," 
or "Trill" episodes?) DS9's Ferengi shows have gotten appreciably better 
over the years, and lost much of the overwhelming silliness that 
characterized early efforts such as "The Nagus," but it still seems a 
shame to me that Quark stories have to be "partitioned off" in a sense, 
from the rest of the show. Having said that, I must add that this year's 
"The Bar Association" struck me as a marvelous and believable treatment 
of the relationship between Quark and his brother Rom, whose sibling 
rivalry has evolved into a theme of surprisingly complexity and 
seriousness over the last four years. "Little Green Men," was mostly 
pure comic relief, but engagingly utilized the Ferengi as commentators 
on human affairs in the best Star Trek tradition. Quark's new status as 
a Ferengi "outsider" as a result of his actions in "Body Parts" will 
hopefully integrate his character a bit more closely with the other 
series regulars, although complete assimilation into Bajoran/Federation 
society would hardly be desirable from his viewpoint -- or from my own 
:) The character's devious and occasionally treacherous behavior has 
always been part of his charm -- and the biggest reason why the other 
characters would be foolhardy to trust him completely. A good way to 
keep Quark viable as the colorful character he's always been would be to 
focus more episodes on the life of the station, as opposed to the recent 
penchant for showing us lots of away missions.

As for the cause of all the Klingon-based hoopla, Worf himself was a bit 
of a disappointment in his first season with DS9. Outside of his 
relationship with Dax and some cute bickering with Odo, he came across 
as rather juvenile -- constantly placing himself in the glare of Sisko's 
reprimanding gaze. Moreover, with rare exceptions like "Sons of Mogh," 
most of the Worf-centered episodes didn't tell us anything about the 
character that we hadn't already heard time and again on TNG. Worse yet, 
however, was the disastrous effect that Worf's presence seemed to have 
on some of DS9's long-standing character-dynamics. Dax's subtle 
confidante/mentor relationship with Benjamin Sisko seemed to all but 
vanish this season, obscured in the barrage of Dax/Worf flirting and 
innuendo. Worf's presence also intruded into roles that were previously 
held by other characters. He seemed to take over Kira's function as the 
"aggressive" member of the crew, and simultaneously to usurp Odo's 
position as the resident outsider. In retrospect, I don't think that 
either the DS9 writers or most of the fandom gave much consideration to 
the way that Worf would alter the once-subtle character dynamics of this 
show. DS9 seems to have become a more blunt and macho "action" show 
through the constantly emphasized Sisko/Worf dynamic, while Dax and Kira 
have receded into the background as advisors to the captain. 

The addition of Worf to the cast also dovetailed with DS9's general 
adoption of the Klingon ethos as its overriding theme, thus obscuring 
the show's original Bajoran/Cardassian dynamic almost to the point of 
invisibility. (Perhaps I should have smelled the coffee back in 
mid-season three when Vedek Bariel was killed off. He seems to have 
taken most of the Bajoran storyline with him to the grave.) Klingons in 
measured doses don't have to be a problem, and indeed can be a lot of 
fun. They certainly provided some of the most compelling conflicts on 
TNG in its heyday -- as well one of DS9's most engaging moments for Dax 
in season two's "Blood Oath." But DS9 seemed to be a more 
subtly-textured universe before the Klingons moved in next door. After 
three years of wonderfully tangled scheming and backstabbing among the 
Bajorans and Cardassians, the writers' sudden decision to bring in 
shiploads of Klingons to bulldoze everyone else in the quadrant feels a 
little bit like watching the Roman Empire get trampled into dust by the 
Vandals and the Visigoths -- or like watching a bunch of ill-mannered 
little boys tear down a sandcastle in their desire to rid the universe 
of "icky girl stuff" which apparently is what good character development 
and complex settings have been designated by some in the Paramount 
hierarchy. 

Appropriately enough, DS9's embodiment of the now out-of-favor Bajoran 
ethos, Major Kira Nerys, once the most believable and heroic female 
character in Star Trek history, was this season shamelessly converted 
into a bland sex object, stripped of all her angst and complexity, and 
forced to fill out peripheral roles in other people's storylines. This 
transformation of one of Trek's few strong and believable heroines into 
a mere slinky space babe had to be this season's most reprehensible 
marketing ploy.  It is difficult to express just how much this turn of 
events depresses me. Kira in DS9's first two seasons was a watershed 
character that, strangely enough, almost no one seemed to notice. With 
the advent of "Voyager" there was a spate of media hype about Trek's 
bold new attempt to banish sexism from its universe, but almost no one 
bothered to point out that Kira Nerys had been boldly challenging gender 
stereotypes for a full two seasons before Kathryn Janeway was ever 
invented. Moreover, the early Kira was a character who had flaws to 
overcome and struggles to win. It is depressing indeed to see this 
wonderful character vanquished at last by the very stereotypes that she 
originally defied. This year, instead of confronting her past or giving 
orders to Klingons on the bridge of the Defiant, Kira got to be pregnant 
-- and even that didn't seem to occasion any meaningful reflection for 
her. The character's strongest moment during the entire season was in 
"Return to Grace," where she played second banana to Gul Dukat. Her 
position as Sisko's CEO has been effectively usurped by Worf.

DS9's creators have publicly defended the changes to Kira's character, 
reasoning that aggression should no longer be her defining 
characteristic (clearly not, since all aggression on the show is 
seemingly now reserved for Worf). But what I miss most about Kira is not 
her aggression, which the writers still seem able to dredge up when the 
mood strikes them, but her *complexity.* In seasons past, Kira was a 
thinking, feeling person with her own well-defined concerns. This year, 
Kira's heart and mind were seemingly out to lunch as she smiled her 
incessantly cheerful way through most of the season. The Major remained 
blissfully unaware of Odo's love for her in "Crossfire," blindly 
followed the dictates of a religious lunatic in "Accession," turned into 
a quivering bundle of nerves and sentiment in "Starship Down," stood by 
and cheerfully watched her best friend go through a sham marriage in 
"The Muse," and finally, blandly agreed to move in with the O'Briens so 
that they might co-opt her life while she's carrying their child. None 
of this behavior squares with the smart and fiercely independent woman 
that we saw in DS9's first three seasons. If you doubt it, take another 
look at season one's "Duet," "Progress," or "Battle Lines." The 
difference will astound and appall you.

The other major disappointment for me this year was the superficial 
treatment afforded to the Kira/Odo relationship over the course of the 
season. These two scarred souls have been my favorite DS9 characters 
almost since the beginning of the series. I've loved their edgy, 
painfully honest rapport with each other ever since "Past Prologue," and 
have enjoyed watching their friendship develop and subtly change 
throughout the course of the show's first three seasons. Their unique 
bond as friends and kindred spirits was, quite simply, the most truthful 
and fascinating male/female relationship I'd ever seen on any sf 
television show, and, as icing on the cake, it was always delightfully 
free of stereotyped gender role-playing. (Indeed, it very frequently 
inverted standard gender roles. Watch Odo taking the "wife's" 
argumentative stance during the pair's "marital" dispute in the teaser 
for "Heart of Stone.") In season three, DS9 writers displayed unheard-of 
gutsiness by allowing Odo to openly declare that he was, in fact, in 
love with Kira. I was convinced at that point that Star Trek had at long 
last divested itself of a long-standing fear of adult emotions and 
over-reliance on adolescent parodies of love. At last, it looked like we 
were going to get a real, adult, alien love story with depth and 
complexity. I looked forward to a dramatically tense season of my 
favorite Trek characters trying to figure each other out.

But in season four, all the subtle development that had gone into this 
relationship was suddenly dropped like a twelve-ton brick. Odo and Kira 
as individuals became obscured by all the Klingon bat'leth-rattling and 
starship dogfights. Even their platonic friendship retreated into 
obscurity. Not surprising, I suppose, in a season where all of DS9's 
subtler relationships (Sisko/Dax, Garak/Bashir) seemed to suffer from 
the same ham-fisted oversimplification. Even "Crossfire," the single 
episode this year to focus explicitly on the Kira/Odo relationship, 
seemed strangely perfunctory, as though the writers were fulfilling an 
obligation to this storyline -- and rather grudgingly, at that. For the 
rest of the year Kira and Odo had perhaps three conversations that could 
be construed as personal, and even in "Crossfire" there were precious 
few glimpses of the vitality of their old friendship. Part of the 
problem here, of course, was the afore-mentioned shallow treatment of 
Kira throughout the fourth season. If I wanted to be glib, I would posit 
that the writers decided it was preferable to leave Odo pining away 
after a bland, blind love object rather than getting him romantically 
involved with his smart and passionate best friend.  

As to whether "Crossfire" represents a "resolution" to the Kira/Odo 
story, I'm sure it doesn't.  The characters are going to have to 
interact with each other on some level for at least two more seasons. 
The only question is whether that level of interaction will be 
interesting and believable, or as thin and artificial as it was this 
past year. There is much still to be resolved between the two 
characters, regardless of whether they ever become romantically 
involved. I certainly hope that the Kira/Odo issue hasn't been sidelined 
in favor of pursuing a more conventionally cutesy mating dance between 
Dax and Worf. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the dynamic 
between Kira and Odo is the one great Star Trek love story that has been 
lurking at the heart of DS9 since the very earliest of its episodes. If 
it were pursued properly, it could make every other Trek romance look 
like superficial fluff. And at the risk of making jaws drop at 
Paramount, I think that Odo is more than sexy enough for the likes of 
Kira. He has warmth, wit, passion to burn, marvelous eyes, and a *great* 
voice. The only thing that Worf seems to get passionate about is 
defending his honor and practicing with his mek'leth. Enough said.

I await the coming fifth season with equal portions of anticipation and 
dread. There are more stories yet to be told about DS9's denizens, but 
for now, I'll refrain from making too many wishes or predictions. If 
they can get Kira out of those damn six-inch heels and I can see a bit 
more of Odo, I'll probably be much happier than I was this past year. 
For now -- here's my complete ratings run-down of individual season-four 
episodes. Enjoy.

Way of the Warrior -- A decent story with snappy dialogue was needlessly 
blown into a two-hour Trekstravaganza replete with Klingons, 
Cardassians, and photon torpedoes galore. Worf, the apparent centerpiece 
of season four, was given plenty of room to strut his macho stuff, 
mostly with entertaining results. Unfortunately, the other (read: 
original) DS9 regulars mostly got lost amid the special effects and 
one-liners. Redeeming graces: Quark and Garak's "root beer chat," and 
the always welcome presence of Gul Dukat. Grade: B

The Visitor -- Yet another Trek "what-if" story, this one gradually 
transmutes into a blatant rehash of TNG's "Inner Light," which 
presumably is the reason that such a large segment of fandom went ga-ga 
over it. There were some nice performances here, and some amusing 
insights into the possible futures of characters like Bashir, Dax, and 
Nog. But the episode squandered its most intriguing premise -- what 
*would* happen if Sisko were to die with his work as Emissary left 
unfinished? This angle was given short shift in favor of some weepy 
melodrama, which might still have worked but for the fact that we all 
knew that everything was going to be cleaned up with a handy Star Trek 
temporal erasure at the end. Call me a heretic, but I was *bored*, and 
as we all know, boring is worse than bad. Grade: C

Hippocratic Oath -- One of the year's finest and most underrated 
episodes, "Hippocratic Oath" boasts a genuinely character-driven plot in 
the best DS9 manner, loaded with angst and honest conflict firmly rooted 
in the personalities of O'Brien and Bashir. Action speaks louder than 
words in this script, and the principals are revealed as much by their 
behavior as by their words. Gorun'Agar, the first honorable Jem'Hadar 
soldier we've seen, is a compelling and memorable character, and I'd 
really like it if he managed to survive this episode to turn up at some 
later, critical juncture (hint, hint). A cute Odo vs. Worf subplot is 
icing on the cake (just as long as Odo gets to win :). Grade: A

Indiscretion -- Despite generating some nice, eerily sexual tension 
between Kira and Gul Dukat, this episode offers surprisingly little 
in-depth exploration of either character. Nevertheless, it does provide 
a nice set-up to future complications. Grade: B-

Rejoined -- Another season high-mark, and possibly the best ever episode 
featuring Jadzia Dax. While the Trill taboo stuff seemed somewhat 
contrived, Terry Farrell did a wonderful job of portraying Dax as a 
being with both masculine and feminine qualities. This is that rarest of 
Trek rarities -- a one-shot love story that actually *works.* Grade: A

Little Green Men -- A highly entertaining romp through sf B-movies with 
Rom and Quark as the principals. A clever, dead-on parody. Grade: A

Sword of Kahless -- Gobs of fun the first time around, this episode 
doesn't hold up well to repeated viewing. Both Worf and his Klingon pal 
Kor are just behaving too stupidly to give them much credence. 
(Although, to be fair, handling enchanted thousand-year-old swords is 
rarely a wise idea in any fictional universe). There is some nice 
hat-tipping to the oral tradition at the beginning of the episode, but 
the only real reason to watch it more than once is Jadzia Dax, who is 
cool-headed throughout and marvelously quick with her phaser. Grade: C

Starship Down -- A hatchet-job of an episode. Here we go again

26 responses total.

with the "Nerys is intimidated by Sisko cause he's a religious figure" 
routine. Spare me. There was never any hint of that in the whole of 
DS9's first two seasons. Worf manfully takes over a damaged Defiant 
while presumed first officer Kira is reduced to weeping and holding the 
injured captain's hand ala Beverly Crusher. Oh yes, and Odo is nowhere 
to be seen, because if there were a changeling on this ship, the 
episode's main plot device would be dead in the water. Redeeming graces: 
Cute scenes with Quark, Dax, and Bashir. Grade: F

Our Man Bashir -- A riotous James Bond parody with all the fixin's. If 
you gotta do a holodeck episode, this is the way to do it. Bonus points 
for Rom's jury-rigged holosuite technology, and Odo's double-take when 
he hears Kira speaking in a goofy Russian accent. This is an episode 
that only gets more entertaining with successive viewings. Grade: A

Homefront -- A beautiful set-up episode that unfortunately didn't 
generate a big enough pay-off. Nevertheless, this first of two parts is 
a nice paranoia-fest, and gets extra points for the engaging character 
of Ben Sisko's dad. Grade: A-

Paradise Lost -- Trek once again trips over itself to get everything 
back to status quo at episode's end. After a beautiful lead-in from 
"Homefront," this episode provides a too-neat wrap-up and an 
oversimplified explanation of the Big Conspiracy to Subvert the 
Federation. A distinct disappointment. Grade: C

Crossfire -- A brilliant performance by Rene Auberjonois and a unique 
"Odo's-eye-view" of life on the station might have made this episode an 
instant classic, but Kira's behavior here was that of a vapid teenager, 
and Odo's failure to divulge his "big secret" (as well as Kira's failure 
to figure it out) was a transparent stalling device on the part of the 
writers. Having said that, the good parts of this episode were still 
exceedingly good -- Odo has never seemed so human and so tragic -- and 
there was even one funny bit: Odo and Worf trading tips on how to be 
anti-social. The Odo/Quark relationship has rarely been put to better 
use. Shakaar, however, is so bland here that he makes Vedek Bariel look 
like Mr. Personality. Grade: B

Return to Grace -- A much better Dukat/Kira episode than "Indiscretion," 
this one adds the delicious complication of making Kira into the 
guardian of Dukat's half-Bajoran daughter. Grade: B+

Sons of Mogh -- An absorbing Worf-focused episode that actually explores 
previously uncharted emotional territory for the Klingon. Nice 
supporting parts go to both Odo and Dax -- and Sisko gets to rag his 
officers -- Ouch! Grade: A

The Bar Association -- The most underrated episode of the year. Rom 
leads Quark's employees in a strike and gets some socko character 
development in the process -- including a comic near-romance with a 
feisty Dabo girl. Okay, so Trek writers won't be winning a Nobel prize 
for economic theory any time soon, but the episode is still fun to 
watch, and Quark and Rom's sibling rivalry makes so much sense it's 
frightening. Grade: A

Accession -- The only Bajoran political episode of the year is once 
again completely botched (shades of last year's "Destiny"). Sisko 
agonizes about his responsibilities to the Prophets while Kira 
complacently falls into line with the dictates of a rival Emissary. We 
hear about riots but we don't see any. We hear about Kai Winn and don't 
see her either -- and then Sisko's rival is conveniently whisked away by 
the Prophets in the nick of time. How profound! Not. The sad part is 
that this premise had the potential to re-ignite the Bajoran political 
saga once again. Ah, but we don't do Bajorans any more -- we do 
Klingons. They're far less complicated. Grade: F

Rules of Engagement -- Despite some interesting use of first person 
narrative from characters such as Quark and Dax, this pedestrian attempt 
at a courtroom drama remains a yawner -- and it doesn't really tell us 
anything about Worf that we haven't heard a thousand times before. 
Suffice it to say that after watching this one you'll never want to hear 
the words "Klingon" and "honor" in the same sentence again. Ever. The 
only fun parts here are watching Odo go about the minutia of his job 
with thoroughgoing professionalism, and watching Sisko chew out Worf. 
Grade: F

Hard Time -- Another thought-provoking plunge into virtual reality with 
DS9's everyman, Miles O'Brien. Colm Meaney turns in Star Trek's other 
singularly great performance of the year in this absorbing fable about 
what happens to human beings when we are pushed to our limits. O'Brien's 
"imaginary" friend, Ee-char, seems far more "real" in the dramatic sense 
than most Trek guest characters that purport to be flesh and blood. 
Grade: A+

Shattered Mirror -- Sigh. Yet another underwhelming, overrated 
mirror-universe episode, this time visited by Sisko and Jake. The chief 
appeal of these forays into alternate reality, as near as I can figure 
it out, seems to lie in watching Nana Visitor strut around in high heels 
and black leather. Nothing wrong with that -- but I can't possibly be 
alone in wishing that mirror-Kira had a few less hormones and a few more 
brains. Mirror-Worf was amusing, and I still like Smiley and dirt-ball 
Bashir. But most of this episode was thoroughly predictable. How much 
fun can I have in a Star Trek universe where Odo is dead, anyway? And 
why is bright little Jake Sisko maturing into such a gullible young man? 
Grade: C+

The Muse -- Some isolated sweet moments between Auberjonois and Majel 
Barrett aren't enough to redeem a singularly implausible storyline -- or 
is that doubly implausible? I have no idea whether the "Odo and Lwaxana 
Get Hitched" plot is sillier than the "Jake Sisko Meets the 
Lifeforce-Sucking Vampire" subplot. You be the judge -- provided you 
want to sit through it a second time. Grade: F

For the Cause -- A brief return to DS9's glory days from the first and 
second season. Suspicion, betrayal, and backstabbing galore fuel a 
genuinely twisty and suspenseful plot. The writers deftly put to use the 
dramatic strengths of Sisko, Worf, Odo and Eddington -- and there are 
some nifty debates about the nature and definition of terrorism. Grade: 
A

To the Death -- A good strong Jem'Hadar episode with some nice 
foreshadowing of what's to come in future episodes. Odo and Dax get some 
good onscreen moments, but Worf comes across as more than a bit 
juvenile. Grade: A-

The Quickening -- A nice character development episode for Dr. Bashir. 
Nothing flashy, just a good, solid, character-driven story of the kind 
that DS9 used to excel at. Grade: B+

Body Parts -- Among the most disappointing episodes of the season. The 
much-ballyhooed "Kira as surrogate mother" plot gets the absolute 
minimal development that the writers can get away with, and the main 
Quark story, while cute, doesn't really add up to a lot (although it's 
rather nice to see our favorite Ferengi questioning his "traditional" 
values). Rom gets some nice development here, though, and Garak is 
snickeringly funny as the would-be paid assassin demonstrating his 
wares. Grade: D

Broken Link -- A beautiful bit of Trek mythos, finally bringing the 
season around to where it should, by all rights, have started. My main 
complaint is that Odo's anguish over killing the other changeling in 
last year's "The Adversary" got so little overall buildup this year that 
"Broken Link" had almost too many elements to pack into the measly hour 
that it was allotted. Wrenching pathos, another lovely performance by 
Auberjonois -- and the Kira/Odo relationship even got a little play here 
after being utterly neglected in the wake of "Crossfire." Oh yes, and 
did I mention that Odo is gorgeous in the nude? Grade: A

Christine M. Bichler is an editor and part-time college English 
instructor. During the free time that she doesn't have, she edits "Love 
and Justice," a Kira/Odo fanzine.

#0 and #1 were written by Christine Bichler, Chanur on grex.  It was 
posted to Usenet's rec.arts.startrek.reviews and it will be printed in 
the Motor City TARDIS newsletter.

Nice, insightful reviews.  I'm not a "fan."  I just watch.  As such, I often
have trouble recognizing the episodes by name alone.  It'd help if you work
in few references to the most memberable plot line when talking about each
story, so us non-fans can say, "Oh yet, that one."  Only fans know titles.

I apologize in advance to the sysops for the response I am about to give...
*ahem*
CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHY PEOPLE ARE STILL DOING THESE GODDAMN 50+ SCREEN
POSTS!?! PUT IT IN A FILE OR SOMETHING, NOT IN THE ITEM! AND IF YOU INSIST
ON POSTING IN THE ITEM, DON'T GET LONG WINDED, GET TO THE POINT!
*ahem* thank you....
*gats down from the soapbox and leaves....*

Sorry, cyberpunk, but there is no consensus on that.  Personally, I'd much
rather see this in the item.  It is easy enough to skip over if you don't want
to see it, and it is a pain in the butt to dredge it out of a file if you do.

I'd ask the author to include a "This item is huge, stop now if
you're not interested!" message next time, but other than that,
I'd just as soon see it here rather than in a file.  (Especially
with BackTalk now working, some of our users may not be able to
access a file, although I feel sorry for anyone who views
this item through our Web connection...)

I meant to change the title of the item ti include a warning that it is long
but backtalk crashed on me.  Let's see if I can change it now from within
Picospan....

And Cyberpnk asks for long text to not be in "the item" as if this text is
taking over some item that he was trying to follow.  This is a separate item.
I stand by my decision to put the text in the conference.  Welcome to grex,
cyberpnk.  No one here is called sysop.

The first season, that was when we had an episode in which our heroes were
in a runabout "100,000 kilometers" from the space station, heading toward
it at "warp" speed, and had time to carry on a conversation about it. Yeah,
really good sci-fi.

I'll leave it up to someone else to add the text if this reference to the
conference if needed, but I found the way for you to get a brief description of
each Deep Space 9 episode.

http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/quick.html

        Well, I would say the Worf/Dax relationship got taken to a 
new level.

        Good humor and inside joke as Kira blames Bashir for her
(transplanted) pregnancy.

I was thinking of this item as I saw that last show.  The short conversation
where Odo asks Kira "What part of the family are you?" was very effective.

Hi. This is the reviewer speaking (who also happens to be kaplan's
girlfriend). Re: response 4 -- I'm sorry if I pissed you off with the length
of the piece, however, I should point out that last year, when I posted a long
review to the DS9 item, I got slammed for posting my text "in the item." I
apologized profusely to those I had offended. It was precisely to avoid
offending those same folks that Jeff suggested to me that I should use the
review to start a separate item. In other words, I started this item -- and
in the absense of any rules about length on a post, I think I'm entitled to
start it off any way I damn well please. Obviously it does no good to try to
avoid offending some people, as they will be offended no matter what you do.
Myself, I tend not to think in sound bites. Sometimes analysis of something
takes a little space. Next time I will post a warning that the review is long,
but I am finished with apologizing to people who don't even try to use
reasonable language to voice their complaints, and who obviously don't
appreciate the fact that I was trying to be polite by making this a separate
item. I do apologize if I'm over-reacting here. I'll say no more on the
subject.

Re: response 8, it should be obvious from the review that I do not grade Star
Trek episodes by making elaborate calculations about warp speed. As far as
I'm concerned, accurate technobabble doesn't make a good episode. Science
fiction, like all *fiction*, is about people, not lights speeds and fancy
gizmos. DS9's first season may not have been the best thing ever seen on tv,
but it had one singular good grace that TNG sorely lacked in it's opening
season: character development -- much of which was *lost* in the fourth season
as time was wasted on dopey Klingon antics. Thankfully, the writers now seem
to be over that phase.

Re: response 11, I adored the Odo/Kira scene in the last episode. Did my heart
good to see Odo vent a little jealousy :) -- IMO he's still the sexiest
character in Trek, even though that brick-wall Worf apparently gets to walk
off with all the girls. (O'Brien and Kira? Excuse me?)

And yes, I am a *fan* It's not a naughty word. :)

I agree it's not a naughty word, but some people are and some people aren't,
and I'm not.  I enjoy the show and don't mind talking about it, but I miss
episodes left and right and though I enjoyed your review, I spent half the
time wondering which of the episodes you'd mentioned I'd actually seen.  You
could somewhat widen the audience for this kind of review by sneaking in a
few pertinant details about each episode you mention as an act of mercy for
the incompleat fan.  Doesn't take much.  In about half the episodes you
already gave enough detail to allow even me to say "Oh yeah, that one."

I do like your taste though.  DS9 is clearly the best series, largely because
it has the most really strong characters:  Odo, Kira, Cisco, Bashir, Quark
are each in their own way delightful, plus a consistantly good cast of
supporting characters (Nog, the Kardasian tailor (I forgot his name - that
*proves* I'm not a fan), plus one-timers like Worf's Brother (they should have
dumped Worf and kept his brother -- now *there's* a Klingon)).  DS9 almost
suffers from an embarrassment of richs as far as character goes.  They can
hardly find room for them all in the episodes.  And though not all episodes
are written as well as one would like, they *do* all seem to have at least
a few delightful scenes.  (eg, I loved the opening bit of this last episode
(I don't know the name - I am not a fan) where Bashir is trying to eavesdrop
on the O'Brian's but can't quite hear until Quark comes by with his big ears.
It serves the expositional purpose of reminding us of the O'Brian family
problems, but doesn't even show them or let us hear more than a muttering in
the background.  Instead we get the story filtered through Quark's odd
perspective, plus we get Bashir's very different (and conflicting) reactions
to it.  We get the needed exposition done, plus some character development
for no less than five characters, only three of whom we see and only two of
whom speak, plus it is funny, not at all forced, and works with no set-up
whatsoever (it is set-up).  I just love stuff like that, and I've never seen
any in B5 and almost none in Voyager.  Those just stomp flat-footed through
their stories.)

An interesting episode, and we finally got to see a (future?) journalist in
Trek. I was, of course, hoping to see one of the vehicles called Hoppers.

Yeah, not seeing the "Hoppers" was kind of annoying.  But I thought the
episode was a quite grown-up and thoughtful perspective on war and heroism.
Jake's confrontation with cowardism bordered on being disturbing, because it
is so different from what we see on almost any television show, where all the
heros always blaze bravely into face of the enemy.  Jake is instead terrified
and confused.  Weirdly, I found it hard to relate to, though I know I'd do
little better.  I see TV heros every night who face scarier situations
fearlessly.  I kept wanting Jake to "redeam" himself in a blast of heroism.
He does, but only kind of.  In the end the wrapped up the story with
acceptance rather than redemption.  This wasn't a brilliant show, but it was
an intelligent show.

The DS9 Tribbles episode was good fun.  Worf's reaction to tribbles and
old-style Klingons were hilarious.  Dax and Bashir in 60's Star Trek hair-
style were also a gas.  But I spent too much time watching the editing
rather than the story.  Not that the story was much to boast about.

Still, the whole thing was done in a fine sense of fun.  And that's really
what it is all about.

To travel forward in time, you do not need a mystical Orb, or for that
matter a time ship from the 29th century. All you need is enough delta-V to
accelerate to near light speed and slow down again. The closer to
lightspeed you get, the faster you go forward in time.

To go backward in time, all you need is a faster-than-light drive, which
are abundant in the Federation.


I see the Federation has time cops, eh? And they didn't bust Sisko's chops
over that incedent where he filled in for Gabriel Bell? Anyways, how would
the time cops know that a violation has taken place? Any changes would
create a future where the time cops' memories and archives are also
different. What do they compare history to, to determine whether it has
been altered?


I would like to know "why" the Klingons in TOS and the ones in the current
Trek universe are different.

We don't talk about that.

Seriously, we don't.  They changed because when the started doing TNG they
had access to better makeup technology and wanted to make the Klingons look
less human and more Klingony.  The official explaination for the change given
at the time was "The Klingon's didn't change.  They always looked like this."
You might as well be asking why special effects weren't as good looking in
the old series as in the new series.

So Worf's answer is *the* answer.  "We don't talk about that."  There
literally is no answer.  We're looking at a gaping logical hole in their
fictional universe, and the only way to deal with it is to pretend it isn't
there.

Funny, but hardly any of the issues Drew raises interest me at all.  The way
you travel back in time is ... you don't.  It's impossible.  But that doesn't
mean time travel stories aren't a whole lot of fun.  I care about character and
plot, and an occasional good joke, not technological feasibility.  Time travel
is a good joke, not a good technology.

And isn't Sisko unfair!  He won't let Dax say hi to Kirk or her old Klingon
friend but he greets Kirk himself.  If I were Dax I'd hold that against him!

Clearly the lighting and makeup were much less subtle in the old days, but
was that all that made it feel different?  I wonder if the film or cameras
made the old footage and the matching new footage on the Enterprise and the
space station contrast so sharply with the Defiant.

I love the old look.  They didn't have the money for those intricate sets,
so they'd just put colored lights on most of the walls.

Thanks for the comments, Luke Sockwarmer. You're right -- I probably 
should include some brief episode descriptions in my review. I'll try to 
do that in any furture installments. As a writer, I usually assume that 
my audience comes to my material without supplemental info, but when I 
go into "fan-girl mode" that editorial stance can be easily forgotten. 
Also, this was a hard piece to write -- and I was a little afraid of 
making it *even* longer. But you're right -- anything I can do to 
broaden my audience (and DS9's) is probably a good idea.

I've been just loving this season to pieces so far. The writers seem to 
have made a conscious decision to return to the characters and the 
exploration of their relationships. I loved all tangled and 
rampant sexuality of "Looking for Par'Mach..." (Quark's Klingon ex-wife 
-- Dax/Worf story) and "Nor the Battle to the Strong" (the Jake story) 
was essentially a re-make of Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage." 
I also like the fact that Bajoran mythos is making a comeback through 
some of the plot devices: Keiko was possessed by one of the 
"anti-Phrophet" wormhole entities in "The Assignment" and Kira gets to 
use a time-travel orb in the tribble-ep. (Now, if she would just open up 
one of those orbs and receive the life-changing revelation that Odo 
loves her ... :-)

The Tribble episode was gobs of fun. I loved the sight of Dax ogling 
Spock, and the insinuation that her former host had slept with McCoy. 
Odo holding and stroking the pet Tribble was a hoot (I'm willing to bet 
money that he's the one who brought the little rascals back to the 
station) -- and that sarcastic comment about "the Great Tribble Hunt"? 
Wonderful. Time-travel certainly hasn't been this much fun since Dr. 
Who. One of my girlfriends pointed out that the time-cops were a parody 
of "Dragnet." When I re-watched the thing, I caught the "Friday" 
reference. That clinched it. Anyway -- I thought the meshing of the old 
and new footage was amazing. What a ride!

Looks like we're gonna get one more light-weight episode before they 
bring on the heavy drama stuff: Odo-angst, Bajoran politics, Kira 
giving birth, etc. Should be quite a season.

 

        I wish TOS series actors would have been given their proper
place in that episodes credits.  Don't know how payment for the
use of them in a new episode worked out (maybe be new item).

        Okay, here goes:  Kronus, the Klingon home-world had a
civil war.  The Imperial Klingons, the ones we see now, became
rulers of the planet after they successfully evolved the 'new
look'..an exo-skeliton structure continuing up from their back-
bone over the crown of the head to include the now much tuffer
forhead.  Some where able to go through the evolution within their
lifetime, others did not.  Those that did not change, of course
became known as the Static Klingons.

One of the older ways of explaining the difference between Klingons was that
the TOS Klingons had been crossed with human stock to make them better
equipped to deal with humans, then later (TNG) the real Klingons started
showing up.  :P

Will the "Worf goes to Risa" episode wasn't any kind of high point.  The
reformist villians were just too ridiculous.  If these clueless guys are the
best Right Wing Moralists the Federation can come up with, then the Federation
must really be degenerate.  "How are you going to fight the Borg when a little
rain is all it takes to spoil your vacation!"  Huh?  Is that suppose to make
some kind of sense?  The villians are so implausible that the heros can't do
much except stare at them in bafflement.  Doesn't make much of a story.
I guess we needed the Dax/Worf character/relationship development.  We get
the usual rather over-simplistic childhood story explaining why Worf is such
a bore.  The Bjoran ritual of separation is cute.  Some laughs.  Next week
looks more lively.

I think the week after the Risa show was "Things Past" -- a really wonderful
angsty Odo show. I guess I ought to think about posting my season five review
here -- I never did finish my review of season six, which contained that fun
little Odo/Kira musical "His Way" with James Darren. It was pretty darn cool.

I'd like that.

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