Star Trek DS9: The Series Begins / by Mark

Let's get started--

  • "The Emissary" is a two-part premiere. Most of the episode introduces the characters, and I gave a synopsis last entry. Sisko comes on board to run the station with Kira as his second.  Odo catches Nog, Quark's nephew (Aron Eisenberg), in some larceny. Sisko goes to meet with Picard in the Enterprise--awkward since Locutus killed his wife. Picard's here for more exposition about the Bajorans. He also orders Sisko that he's to make sure the Bajorans are ready to join the Federation. Sisko replies that 's looking to get out of Starfleet. Back on DS9, Sisko offers Quark a role as "community leader", in order to keep the Promenade (the "strip mall" on the station) alive. Odo is impressed with Sisko's tactics. Kira's convinced civil war is inevitable unless the reclusive Bajoran religious leader calls for unity. As if on cue, Sisko is called to talk to her. We get some religi-babble, something that looks like a glowy holy grail, and then Sisko has a vision--he's on a beach, and his wife is there--it's when they first met. More religi-babble--he's told he has to find the "celestial temple" in order for her to call a truce. Back on the station--Quark's got his bar up and running. It's full of aliens with lost of make-up--welcome to Tatooine! O'Brien and Picard have a final moment on the Enterprise. Back on DS9, we meet one of the the series baddies, Cardassian Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo, introduced on--you guess it--TNG), who used to run the station. Dax figures out where the temple is, and Odo knocks out the Cardassian ship (he sneaks on board as a bag) long enough for Sisko and Dax to leave in a a shuttle without being detected. The shuttle gets pulled into a sudden wormhole that takes them to the Gamma quadrant. It turns out to be stable--they're able to go back in, but find themselves on some kind of surface within it. Another grail grabs Dax and returns her to DS9, while Sisko gets all glowy and sees his life before him. His wife, son, Picard, and that Bajoran leader all appear as entities. More technobabble on DS9, they decide to move the station to the wormhole, and we get the first hint of Odo's origin. Glowy Sisko explains the concept of time to the entities (these "advanced" entities seem to be very stupid) while O'Brien does some techno-magic to move the station. Sisko explains humanity through baseball while the Cardassians fleet arrives to attack the station (Dukat's ship went through the wormhole and it disappeared). Sisko relives the death of his wife, Kira tricks the Cardassians into thinking the station is fully armed long enough for the wormhole to reappear with Sisko. The wormhole (and the series) will be a permanent installation.
  • "A Man Alone" gives us more detail about our new cast. Bashir wants Dax (he considers the Trill shared entity to be "fascinating"). Odo and Quark hate each other, but hang out together a lot. Keiko O'Brien doesn't like life on the station--she's a botanist with no job. Sisko and Dax have a complicated relationship--Dax is hundreds of years old, but is now a beautiful woman. Jake tries to make a friend out of Nog, who turns out to be a bad influence. Odo wants to throw a murderer off the station, but Sisko stops him. The guy gets a shiv in his back during a holosuite massage--did Odo do it? Unlikely--he was in a "regeneration cycle" (in a bucket) at the time. There's a reference to the Alderaan spaceport in the dead man's records--an in joke. Meanwhile, Keiko decides to start a school for the kids, and Bashir investigates the crime. Due to a possible conflict of interest, Odo is taken off the case, and is attacked by a mob. Before it gets too ugly, Bashir comes in with the answer--the victim was actually a clone, designed to be killed in order to incriminate Odo. The real murderer is brought to justice.
  • "Past Prologue" introduces Garak (Andrew Robinson), a Cardassian still on the station who may or may not be a spy. He befriends Bashir, who acts like a little kid more than normal for the character. Meanwhile, a Bajoran ship is attacked by a Cardassian, and survivor Tahna (Jeffrey Nordling) requests asylum. He's an old friend of Kira, and apparently a terrorist. Kira goes around Sisko to a Federation adminal to make sure he gets asylum--that won't end well. The Cardassian demands the "terrorist" be returned to him, but Sisko grants temporary asylum. Lursa and B'Etor (the Klingon Patty and Selma) arrive to meet with Tahna, while Bashir and Odo listen in on a "business" transaction. Of course, Tahna tries to play Kira for a fool. She confides in Odo, and he "helps her" talk to Sisko. Meanwhile, more intrigue with Bashir and Garak--they learn through Patty and Selma that Tahna has a bomb. Sisko arranges a setup with Kira on the ship transporting the bomb. It turns out he wants to take out the wormhole. After some tense moment, Tahna surrenders--he considers Kira to be a traitor to her people.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (and all the Trek series) is available on Netflix.