Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 6

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 5

SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.

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601: A Time to Stand 1997 September 29

(First watched 2008-07-08)  Given the ending of the previous episode, I really thought this episode would begin immediately thereafter, with an attack on DS9 by Federation forces.  However, the jump forward several months into a war not going well is much more interesting.

Also, Admiral Ross.  That's a character I'd run across in reading the ~Nemesis-era TNG novels, but I think this is his first on-screen appearance.  Not that it was very big.

I was kind of surprised to see Jake going around freely on the station, but... I guess the Dominion aren't running a "harsh" occupation; at least yet.

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602: Rocks and Shoals 1997 October 6

(First watched 2008-07-08)  Interesting takes on similar subjects, in expected roles and whether to continue with them with the good of various people at stake.  Kira and Odo try to keep things as good for Bajor as they can, but find themselves becoming more like collaborators of old.  On the other hand, the Jem'Hadar soldier finds himself troubled by his doubting of his Vorta master.  In the end a crazy suicide protest convinces Kira and Odo they must resist, but the Jem'Hadar decides to retain his loyalty to the Vorta; even when he knows the Vorta has betrayed his men and sent them to their death.

I also couldn't help but notice the Starfleet side only had two characters who weren't regulars or regular guests, and picked them out as dying redshirts pretty quickly.  However, one of the two actually survived.

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603: Sons and Daughters 1997 October 13

(First watched 2008-07-08)  Boy, Alexander got big!  And... for some reason all warriory unlike before.  Well, at least wannabe warriory.

Kira and Odo seem reluctant to let Jake in on their resistance.  But sheesh, if he found out about it on his own, mightn't it be best that they use him?  They haven't even done anything yet and they've already got leaks to people outside of the resistance.

So AGAIN Dukat almost tricks Kira into being friendly with him before she realizes it.  She really ought to have caught on to that by now.

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604: Behind the Lines 1997 October 20

(First watched 2008-07-09)  Boy, Kira and Odo keep repeating the same difficulties.  Oh, we should try to lay low and keep Bajor safe.  No, we should rebel!  No, we shouldn't rebel THAT much.  Yes we should!  But this time the difficulty was with Odo, freakylinking with strange shapeshifters in his quarters, messing with his mind and causing Rom's capture.

I guess they took my advice about letting Jake in on their resistance, though.

Elsewhere, Sisko gets a "promotion" and just spends all his time worrying about the Defiant boldly going successfully on missions without him.

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605: Favor the Bold 1997 October 27

(First watched 2008-07-10)  Odo, you dope.  What happened was exactly what you were warned about.  This repeated back-and-forth of Odo and Kira being good enough resisters (or not) is getting to be the lamest bit of this serial string.  On the other hand, Rom is pretty awesome; being a big part of things and not wanting his freedom to take priority over saving that minefield.

Sisko and hundreds of other ships start to take on a Dominion fleet twice as large, while leaving critical areas of the Federation poorly defended... what sort of deus ex machina will be necessary for everything to turn out alright?  Well, I guess all the Dominion ships could be shittily ran because the Jem'Hadar are running out of their ketracel-white.

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606: Sacrifice of Angels 1997 November 3

(First watched 2008-07-12)  Hmm.  Big events, though some seemed pointless or on the other hand miraculous.  I know the plan wasn't that the Defiant would be the only ship to bust through enemy lines and make it to DS9, but given that was the case they could've accomplished the same by cloaking and avoiding the battle altogether.  In fact, the ship would've been in better shape.  That battle sure was big, though.  A larger Federation fleet than seen in the two battles against the Borg near Earth, but an even larger Cardassian/Dominion fleet against it.

Then the wormhole aliens/Prophets just up and disappear thousands of Dominion reinforcements because of concern about The Sisko?  Could he just make them do whatever he wants at this point, by threatening to put himself in danger if they don't?  Then again, they mentioned some sort of penance... but I haven't seen it.

So Ziyal... ouch.  And what will become of Dukat?  He can't exactly be an effective Cardassian administrator and Dominion ally if he's a crazy man in Federation/Bajoran custody.

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607: You Are Cordially Invited... 1997 November 10

(First watched 2008-07-20)  From a show point of view I guess it's a good thing Worf and Jadzia got married on an accelerated schedule and during a time of war; it gives a good excuse as to why none of Worf's old crewmates were in attendance.  I'm glad Alexander could be there, though.

Martok's wife and the end solution bothered me.  For all that Klingons are always shown to value strength, you'd think Jadzia's not putting up with her shit and fighting back would be considered the "honorable" thing.  Whereas in the end she basically consents to grovel to get her approval.

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608: Resurrection 1997 November 17

(First watched 2008-07-21)  Long-lost or previously-unknown-of person comes, forms a rapport with someone they sort-of have a connection with, and turn out to be scheming.  We've seen it before and before and before.  The only question is how repentant they are about it in the end.

I'm still surprised that the technology for transporting between the two universes seems to be mature, yet it's used so infrequently; and only in the area of DS9.

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609: Statistical Probabilities 1997 November 22

(First watched 2008-07-28)  Bashir meets his... less successful brothers-in-genetics.  A group of sort of Super Rainmen that begin providing Starfleet with situational analyses and future forecasts regarding the war against the Dominion, which takes a bad turn when they forecast that the Federation has no chance, and the best bet for preventing deaths is either to surrender or help the Dominion win as quickly as possible.  That one of their own group foiled their plan goes far to making the point that, as Dr. Bashir said, if they couldn't even predict what someone in the same room was going to do, shouldn't that cast some doubt on their forecasts for the galaxy at large?

Interesting, but I'm not sure I like Dr. Bashir being the only non-dangerous genetically engineered person... ever.  Khan's group, takes over the world in the 20th century and causes havoc in the 23rd century.  In Enterprise, the offshoot of Khan's group causes havoc in the 22nd century.  On DS9 now, even the group that doesn't seem to want to rule everything almost ends up giving the Federation away because they think it's in everyone's best interest.

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610: The Magnificent Ferengi 1997 December 17

(First watched 2008-08-05)  Weird.

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611: Waltz 1998 January 3

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612: Who Mourns for Morn 199 February 4

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613: Far Beyond the Stars 1998 February 11

(First watched 2008-08-25)

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614: One Little Ship 1998 February 14

(First watched 2008-08-25) A kind of stupid premise... but I appreciate that they handled it about as seriously as possible. And the set design of the circuit board tiny O'Brien and Bashir are walking around on is something totally unique.

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615: Honor Among Thieves 1998 February 21

(First watched 2008-08-27) O'Brien goes undercover, and has to deal with the fact that even criminal operatives involved in ambassadorial assassination aren't complete scum.

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616: Change of Heart 1998 February 28

(First watched 2008-09-02) Worf so worried about his wife that he abandons a mission which could make a huge difference in an interstellar war? Iiiiiii dunno about that one.

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617: Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night 1998 March 28

(First watched 2008-09-03) Feels like a combination of different things we've seen multiple times before. We get to see occupation Bajor/Terok Nor again. We get to see Dukat's actions as prefect. We get to see the complicatedness of the collaborator issue. We get nonintrusive time travel.

And then Kira almost (intentionally) killing her mother? Iiiiiii dunno about that one.

I realize this is a TV show, but isn't the basis of this story an incredible coincidence? Dukat had a relationship with Kira's mother? It could go a long way to explaining his obsession with her, yes. But unless the earlier situation helped bring about the later one (and I don't think the Bajoran provisional government was taking suggestions from Dukat as to who to put in charge of their newly capture space station), it is absolutely lottery-winning odds that among billions of Bajorans, Dukat ends up connected to both mother and daughter.

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618: Inquisition 1998 April 8

(First watched 2008-09-04)  Death!!

Bashir, captured by the Starfleet CIA.

Did they really think the Dominion let him escape purposefully so he could act as a spy? But while he was imprisoned, they had him replaced by a Changeling operative! That seems much more useful.

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619: In the Pale Moonlight 1998 April 15

(First watched 2008-09-07) Sisko takes a trip to the dark side, and lets Garak take him further.

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620: His Way 1998 April 22

(First watched 2008-09-07)  Vic was... some hologram.  It's like what TNG's Moriarty could've been if he was fine with being a hologram.  Well, and was a cool lounge singer.

It's quite a feat to put such different types of episode back-to-back.  From dark dealings of deceit to Odo playing on the holodeck and finally pairing up with Nerys.  No danger at all outside of the emotional... no B story at all, really.

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621: The Reckoning 1998 April 29

(First watched 2008-09-07)  Jake looks really nasty all possessed.  I could see him and Apophis having it out.

Winn is back to being an ass.

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622: Valiant 1998 May 6

(First watched 2008-09-14)  A crew filled with cadets?  This is what some people were worried about for the upcoming pre-TOS film.  I'm also reminded of Stephen Ratliff.

Considering the troubles Nog and Jake used to get into, it's weird seeing an episode start out with them on a runabout trip in professional capacities as a Starfleet officer and journalist.  If they were in a runabout four seasons back they probably stowed away.

I liked that in the future they always take medicine through a hypo, but for visual effect they still had the boy captain popping pills.

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623: Profit and Lace 1998 May 13

(First watched 2008-09-14)  A second episode in a row with a cast primarily composed of minor characters, though at least this time they were recurring ones.

Jeez, they went through a lot of trouble with Quark.  They didn't just have him dress in drag, but had Bashir surgically change his gender for a one day bamboozle?  I guess it paid off, but it seemed to be going too far.

I like how thanks to the advanced technology at their disposal, heart replacement is spoken of as a routine, safe operation.  Though it makes me wonder why Picard has a fake.  Or maybe Ishka has a fake now, and the wording just didn't make it clear.

So... Rom is a closet cross-dresser?

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624: Time's Orphan 1998 May 20

(First watched 2008-09-14)  Weird.  Since Molly is such a minor character (pun unintended), for a while I thought they'd really use this opportunity to completely change her or write her off.  But I guess in the end Wild Molly pulled a Children of Time on herself.

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625: The Sound of Her Voice 1998 June 10

(First watched 2008-09-15)  Talking to three years in the past unknowingly... another interesting sci-fi premise.  However, I guess nobody bothered checking the records so as to notice a three year gap from Lisa's story.  Interesting, though, to hear that Starfleet is still sending out those many-year exploratory missions.

The next-to-last Jadzia episode and she's barely in it?  Though I'm sure it wasn't unintentional that they all ended up at a funeral at the end, with O'Brien saying that someday they wouldn't all be there.

B story was interesting.  I thought for a while Jake was going to get in on the illegal doings; an upgraded version of he and Nog's doings back in the day.  But no... just allowing Quark to say it out loud ended up with Odo letting him get away with it.  I suppose it's a good thing we don't know anything about those crystals or why they're illegal--it makes Odo's willingness to let not only Quark but the other wanted man get away with it seem less disturbing.

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626: Tears of the Prophets 1998 June 17

(First watched 2008-09-15)  I just realized that Admiral Ross is played by the same guy who had a recurring role as Carl Winslow's boss on Family Matters.  I don't know that I can look at him as seriously again.

Garak once again on the Defiant?  They really so short on Starfleet that he's needed?  Not that I'm saddened to see him around.

Last season's finale also ended with a comment on Sisko's baseball.  But this time it's not meant to show that he'll definitely be back, but that he might not.  Also, he said "home" referring to Earth.  So much for his fancy speech early this season about how even if Starfleet changed his assignment, when he went home it would be to Bajor.

So Dukat now blames Sisko for his daughter's death... rather than the man who killed her?  Ben hadn't even been on the station for months; he wasn't even involved as far as being one of the new resistance who were her friends.

Worf's now had the mother of his child and his wife murdered.  And people wonder why he's grumpy.

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 7