Star Trek the Rewatch III: Deep Space 9

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Boldly Spinning Where We’ve Always Spun Before!

So back in the early 90s, before Internet access became a widespread thing, most of us hung out on online networks like Compu$erve, GEnie, and BIX. Because the community was small, and because the a-holes who dominate the world and the Internet were still waiting on AOL and Prodigy to let them ruin online discourse, we got to hang out online with people like Damon Knight, Wil Wheaton, and… Joe Michael Straczynski (JMS). I bring this up in a DS9 topic because JMS used GEnie to bounce off ideas for, and promote, Babylon 5. And those of us who were holding court with him, obviously, were already on board for B5. (I still have my “Grid Epsilon Irregulars” t-shirt, which JMS offered to his GEnie supporters.) And Joe had pitched B5 to Paramount, who rejected it. And then launched their own dramatic space series with a station full of interesting characters, Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

The reason for the rambling B5/“Online Was So Much Better” intro is that our affinity for B5 and our connection to JMS meant that a lot of the vocal online SF community was immediately critical and suspicious of DS9. They’d been heavily influenced by JMS’s ideas! B5: The Gathering was so much better than DS9! And Star Trek people are supposed to like each other!

Of course, time passed, and both series ended up capturing my – and those of many other SF fans – heart. They were great in their own ways. And DS9 went from “meh, probably a ripoff” to my second-favorite Trek series of the 20th century.

When I met my girlfriend of five years online, she had “If I was a Deep Space 9 character, I’d be Jadzia Dax” in her profile. That made me write to her. (Luckily, she didn’t put her other idea, “if I was a Voyager character, I’d be B’Ellana Torres,” becuase I’d known Voyager was her favorite Trek I’m not sure I’d have contacted her!)

So all this rambling is just a preamble to a DS9 rewatch. She and I just started rewatching the show. Other than a few standout episodes, I hadn’t watched most episodes of the series since they first aired in the 90’s (never did watch all those TNG/DS9 VHS recordings), so it’s almost like new Trek to me!

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So excited for you!!

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This is a show I have not watched (all of) and have started to watch since acquiring a DVD box set.

I am through half of season 2.

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I am jealous of you guys, truly.

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This is as good a time as any for an 8th(?) or so rewatch, I suppose. Is it only on Paramount+ these days?

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Sadly yes. The DVDs aren’t expensive, though. It also goes on sale on Apple fairly often, and you can get the whole series for $30 every now and then.

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Yeah, I guess in this case the DVD’s would be fine, since there’s sadly no remaster so no loss of quality. Kind of surprising I don’t already own them, come to think of it.

I remember not that long ago when DS9 and TNG were on nearly every streaming service, but I guess P+ has to find value somehow.

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Yeah they were on Netflix for the longest time until Paramount took them back for their own service.

Edit: $60 through a third party seller on Amazon. That’s a steal with all its extras.

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Wow, yeah, that IS a steal. Thanks!

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I was a late adopter of DS9 primarily because in the Show Set on a Space Station Wars I was firmly a B5 guy, and I couldn’t really wrap my head around Trek set primarily in one stationary location. I respected that it did so, it just wasn’t what I was looking for from Trek.

I came around on DS9 by the time it hit syndication though that meant I have never really seen the episodes in airing order, just as they popped up for replay, each just its own little bubble of time. So stuff like the Dominion War still never really processed correctly for me. I really should correct that one of these days but man - how many seasons were there? Eight or nine? I dunno. Maybe I’ll just do what I’ve done with TNG, read along and enjoy vicariously through all of you.

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Seven, same as TNG (and Voyager, for some reason).

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And really you can cut out most of the first two seasons. Then you’re only signing yourself up for 5 seasons and change. Hell, you can make it an even 5 if you cut out the real stinkers from the rest of the run.

It’s worth it.

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Just spreading the love.

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Also, this guide is useful for one’s first time through.

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I started watching DS-9 but it never really hit its hooks in me. I stopped watching before the Dominion Wars and haven’t really watched it in reruns. I don’t have it on streaming so I can’t really rewatch alongb with everybody but I am interested in seeing people’s opinions on the episodes. I may have to start watching random reruns.

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If I could only watch one Star Trek series for the rest of my life, it would undoubtedly be DS9. Not only is it the best ST show, it is one of the best sci-fi TV series ever made. The first couple seasons are a little meh (like TNG) but once the full cast is in place and the Dominion is introduced, it is pure bliss.

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Catching up and I watched these a couple of weeks ago, so these will be pretty short…

EP 1&2: Emissary
Originally shown as a two-hour pilot and split into two episodes for syndication, we meet Ben Sisko and the DS9 crew as the Federation comes in to help the Bajorans manage the station soon after the Cardassians leave, trashing the place on their exit. Really well done as far as Star Trek pilots go (so much better than the TNG pilot), but the conflict between the crew is overplayed as everyone gets comfortable with their roles. The tension between Sisko and Picard is played well – Sisko’s professional, but Locutus was responsible for his wife’s death. Sisko’s love for his son Jake is evident from the get-go, and it’s probably the first well-portrayed father/son relationship in Trek. (Worf and Alexander was not it.) Heavy on the exposition, but a good intro to the series overall.

S1E3: Past Prologue
Another episode doing a lot of work setting up the universe, with a Bajoran terrorist that Kira has ties to arriving on DS9. Our intro to plain, simple Garak, who surprisingly becomes one of the best characters in the series. I have no idea if Siddig (Bashir) and Robinson (Garak) were actively playing an unrequited sexual tension between their characters, but knowing all the fanfic that exists now about that, it’s pretty amusing to watch them get to know each other. :)

S1E4: A Man Alone
Weakest of the first six. Odo is accused of murder, but it’s of course an unlikely setup. Honestly, this one didn’t stick much in my memory even though I watched it a month ago.

S1E5: Babel
A mysterious virus causes the crew to get aphasia and speak gibberish, and the solution shows us that this is not Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek crew. Sometimes self-preservation is more important than rules.

S1E6: Captive Pursuit
Our first encounter with aliens from beyond the wormhole turns out to be a species that’s bred to be hunted. Even O’Brien says “f the rules” once he’s assigned to DS9. Tosk is just adorable, and the interplay between him and O’Brien is a lot of fun. The story follows the predictable path, but it’s an enjoyable ride.

Next up! Q and Vash!

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“You exist here.” Fucking kills me every time. Like, they understood trauma years before so many others did.

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DS9 made it abundantly clear that they were willing to break Gene’s rules where they saw fit. But it always felt like they did it to add nuance and humanity to the stories they were trying to tell in Roddenberry’s world. A world that they still respected greatly even if they were willing to openly show the Federation utopia as something that was really just an ideal worth fighting for and not quite an achieved reality yet. I really wonder if only being a few years after Gene’s passing helped them constrain how far they were willing to stray. Would those same creators making DS9 in the 2020s end up with a show that looks more like what Kurtzman or Abrams have done? To be clear, I think we’ve had some really good Trek the last few years, but I don’t think we got there until someone realized maybe they didn’t need to try to reinvent what Star Trek is quite so hard.

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DS9 made me like the Ferengi, and that is a difficult thing to do.