The Overriding Arc: Deep Space Nine Season Six

Season Five ended about as darkly as it possibly could. 

The station was in Dominion hands, Kira, Odo and Jake had stayed behind and Sisko was joining the fleet to take on the Gamma Quadrant's greatest power. So not much to resolve then.

Sensibly this isn't all wrapped up in 44 minutes and the first six episodes create a mini-arc never before seen on the show. It certainly set Deep Space Nine apart to not only conclude the previous season's cliffhanger as always at the beginning of the following year but not to completely resolve it for several weeks. It also meant I was shelling out for the videos every two weeks.

Time to Stand, Rocks and Shoals, Sons and Daughters, Behind the Lines, Favor the Bold and Sacrifice of Angels isn't without its faults or the sense of dragging out time to fill but it achieves much given the extended development time. The opening pairing do focus more on the activities of Sisko and the Starfleet officers from the station (accompanied by Garak in place of Worf who is bunking with Martok on the Rotarran) and having them confined to either a tiny starbase, Defiant or the Jem'Hadar ship they captured in The Ship precisely a season before. The fish-out-of-water element was a master-stroke but the six-parter fell a bit flat in it's mid-section with the focus shifting from the Defiant crew to the beginnings of a resistance cell on Terok Nor and the return of Worf's rapidly aging son, Alexander. Seeing his speedy maturation makes me wonder if he might have dropped by Genesis. 

There's a lot of backstory in there as well as the sprinkling of Sisko being removed from the front lines which lasts for all of two episodes before he's back in the command chair of the Defiant preparing to take back the station. Favor the Bold is all about set up, maneuvering the players into their cliffhanger positions ready for the retaking of Deep Space Nine. The sections which do take place on the station I found dragged when highlighting the actions of the Founder and Odo gelling around but Dukat, Weyoun and Dumar were always watchable and the sparring between them here and through the remaining two seasons of episodes were some of the best bits worth waiting for.  The final battle sequence in Sacrifice of Angels and the recapture of the station are some of the show's best space pieces by far - so good that they were reused extensively in What You Leave Behind.  The conclusion is satisfying and I know that it's rated amongst the series best - however I prefer the standoff and double-dealing that takes place in Rocks and Shoals between Sisko and the injured Vorta overseer, Keevan.

Wrapping up the arc almost as a bow on the box is You are Cordially Invited. Notable for the wedding of Worf and Jadzia. And that's it. It's one of those necessary episodes but I never caught the excitement. They got married. Great. Let's move on - which would usually be a good thing to say but we slam straight into one of my all time least liked episodes; Resurrection. Jeez this is awful. I dislike Bareil in the Prime Universe so giving us the mirror version was like pouring salt into a wound. The problem is that Bareil was a drippy character and by this point the originally well-realised Mirror Universe was growing tired and a little too full of character co-incidence. Note - I love Deep Space Nine but this and The Emperor's New Cloak are dire. No argument. Close the case.

The season is abruptly pulled up and returned to form with Statistical Probabilities and the Jack Pack. I once believed these guys to be super-annoying but I loved it this time and the dynamic of the more vocal three members of the group is fantastic. It's easy to see why a season seven sequel happened because they're so good with Jack himself one of Deep Space Nine's most memorable returning characters.

In line with this, Bashir does get some serious meat this season with his next top role coming in the overlooked Inquisition. I say overlooked purely because it's not one that would leap into a "Best of..." list but should be recognised as a classic of the show and I mean for more than the arrival of Sloane and Section 31 an organisation that would reappear in both Enterprise and Star Trek into Darkness. They are the perfect foil for the enhanced physician and coupled with Statistical Probabilities is another episode to create a memorable returning character in the final year. Bashir's story turn might not be to Siddig's liking but it did provide a lot more intrigue and depth to the doctor that I for one welcomed. 

While Bashir got some great moments, season six also carries the best Ferengi episode Deep Space Nine ever did and I regret it took me 20 years to realise that it was such a moment of excellence. Finally they got the balance of comedy and adventure spot on with The Magnificent Ferengi enhanced by a surprise turn by Iggy Pop as a Vorta. There's even death by misdemeanour as Moogi is part of a prisoner exchange on the off-kilter Empok Nor. The script sparkles, Quark and Rom have never been better and dropping in extended family and the ever-magnificent Jeffrey Combs makes this ever watchable. Tragically the other Ferengi episode in season six, Profit and Lace is total bilge of the worst kind. A sex change Quark is not something I ever need to see again - well, at least until the next full run-through in about four years time. 

Kira is the character who gets a noticeable retreat from the front line in season six accounting for Nana Visitor's real-life pregnancy. Always watchable and a highlight of the show, her absence mid-year is glaring but she does have the brilliant highlight of Wrongs Darker than Death or Night. It's one that I've added to my "I totally underrated this episode back in the day" list with it's rapid removal of characters and the eventual one-on-one confrontation that takes place. Nerys and her captor are well-matched - not quite to Marritza levels from Duet but a comfortable top three I would suspect and this one is much more sinister and calculating to the end. Visitor plays her terror on the money here and I would definitely say this is a hidden gem of the year and maybe the series as a whole.

What you do notice about this year and I loved then as much as I do now is the appreciation as a character that Sisko achieves. Kicking off with the good-but-not-Duet episode, Waltz it's a year that totally encapsulated why Avery Brooks was the perfect choice as the station commander. Anything with Brooks facing off against Marc Alaimo is worth 44 minutes of your time and this one is no exception. It's a twist on that Duet formula with the main character here being in the more submissive position and placing it in neutral territory also adds a sense of dangerous loneliness.

Brooks performances in season six only get better though with Far Beyond the Stars close behind and one of the truly format-breaking episodes in Star Trek's history. With the cast fully out of makeup the story directly targets some of the darker aspects of the 20th Century but it is Sisko/Benny Russell that steals the show here and it's easy to forget that there are hints to the larger picture within this brilliant tale all based around the "issue" of a black space station captain. The beating Russell receives at the hands of the two cops played by Alaimo and Jeffrey Combs is truly shocking, more-so being intercut with Weyoun and Dukat delivering the blows. Brooks' delivery of his final speech is just as emotionally hard-hitting as the closing moments of The Visitor. Truly a classic to this day and at this point Far Beyond the Stars was my favourite on the original watch through.

That didn't last for long though since just six episodes later we hit the utterly franchise-shaking, mid-digit waving In the Pale Moonlight. Amazing to look back to years one and two and see that the writers were head-scratching as to how to deal with Sisko yet three years later his character was solidly defined, exciting to watch and brilliantly played by Brooks. 

This episode was a show-stopper with the finest, darkest ending the show ever experienced - indeed he could live with it. The unusual pairing of Sisko/Garak makes this story sparkle as we see the descent towards the point of no return loom ever closer. The added twist that the plan actually fails is quintessential Deep Space Nine proving that life is never the perfect picture that many a The Next Generation episode used to excel at on a weekly basis. There is impact here, there is a price to pay and in some respects it would have been nice to see someone work out - some way down the path - that the Romulans were tricked into believing their ambassador was assassinated by the Dominion. One of the five episodes I've watched the most ever and I never get bored.

O'Brien's annual mangle-run comes from Honor Among Thieves and the first appearance of the oft-mentioned Orion Syndicate. It's OK but the trouble is if you're expecting the levels of Hard Time you'd be disappointed. That's not to say it's bad but it's not quite hitting those heights. Miles' relationship with Bilby is great and would be explored further in season seven's Prodigal Daughter. The O'Brien family story close to the end of the season though is poor in comparison. Never been a fan of Keiko/Molly stories and fortunately this is the only one that ever got made. I'd agree with general opinion that it's one of the series weakest episodes and it isn't helped by season six being one of the strongest batches ever. In another year it might have been average but here it sits firmly below par.

In other news mind there is the shouldn't-work-but-does One Little Ship. It could well have been a terrible episode filled with shoddy effects and a story that might have made us cringe and recall Land of the Giants however by adding in some Alpha and Gamma Jem'Hadar, Sisko hatching a cunning plan and just three of the crew being miniaturised aboard a Runabout it's a concept that works and Deep Space Nine gets away with - I reckon Voyager could have attempted it but could well have failed.

Actually season six did have it's fair share of oddments - Who Mourns for Morn? was a Quark story at heart with some neat double-crossing and a nice selling ploy that it focused on the ever-present (and apparently super-talkative) barfly. Valiant too was a little out of the norm, relying on Jake and Nog to carry the story while also reintroducing us to Red Squad last seen in season four's Paradise Lost. It's a good outing for the pair and I have found that their episodes have been a lot stronger than I remember. That and a lot more enjoyable; Cirroc was underrated I think and that might be because Jake just isn't your typical Star Trek main character and the show is better for this. He offers the other side, the non-establishment opinion and with Valiant it's his perfect soapbox in what is an utterly futile and mindless mission.

However, it is a year best documented for the death of Jadzia Dax.

The Worf/Dax relationship had been gestating since he arrived in The Way of the Warrior with their wedding earlier in season six then followed some time later by the ill-fated away mission in Change of Heart. I wouldn't say it's a standout story of the year, again because of the calibre of episodes that surround it, but it is important in relation to the Worf/Dax dynamic and also to see Sisko take him down a peg or three for his choice of wife over mission.

Tears of the Prophets was highly anticipated but just misses the mark that Call to Arms hit in season five. Marking the turning point in the war with the Dominion and a major victory with some top notch battle sequences, the events on the station do tend to make Sisko's success take a back seat. His choice to take his baseball to Earth and that the season ends on a very downbeat captain peeling potatoes in a back alley is one of the most understated closes of any batch of episodes produced.

Jadzia's death isn't as senseless as Tasha Yar's although being at the hands of Dukat makes it ever so poignant and adds another layer to the structure of the series and the tensions between Sisko and the former Cardassian despot. Also having two episodes back to back involving the death of a Starfleet officer is a little much. I still love it as an episode and it's a fantastic 45 minutes but the element of danger, the unknown is missing which filled every word of Call to Arms. Sisko might be gone but knowing that there was a year left ensured there was no doubt he would be back. Removing the wormhole and reintroducing the Pah-Wraiths meant they were still a force to be reckoned with and certainly one that meant the Dominion weren't the only problem to be solved in the final year.

What were your memories of season six? Was this the best of times for Deep Space Nine? What were the highlights?

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Where's Ten Years Gone?

With a flypast from two starships named Enterprise as Archer, Kirk and Picard recited the now famous "Space, the final frontier..." opening, the titles rolled and that was it.

Ten years ago today, 13th May 2005, These are the Voyages..., the last and by no means best episode of prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise aired. Yep, it's a decade since the crew of the NX-01 skipped a few years of adventures to tell one last story and become guest stars in their own finale. Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis tried their best to play Riker and Troi as if they were actually discussing events that happened during The Pegasus. Note to fans, that was an episode made 12 years earlier so any form of consistency was lost to begin with however much effort was put in.

From recent reports it continues to be nailed into our skulls that there's going to be no new series on TV. While the cash is rolling in thanks to the rebooted JJ Abrams universe which has already seen two multi-million dollar movies take the big screen by storm and a third, suggested to be titled Star Trek Beyond, lined up for 2016 it's movies or nothing. Think about this though - it was ten years from the end of The Original Series to the release of The Motion Picture and we've been lucky enough since the end of Enterprise to get two new movies and a whole ruck of fan series and flicks that have satiated some of our thirst for original Star Trek content. In some respects the future never looked so good especially in comparison to that barren decade of the 70's.

Now Some Kind of Star Trek has given a fair amount of column inches to the rumours, the stories, the suggestions and even THAT Captain Worf series. We could easily spend this 10th anniversary of the end of first run Star Trek by crying into our blood wine and lamenting its passing or moaning about the way in which JJ chose to take the franchise or that the likelihood that a new Star Trek TV series is an eternity away (please let's not get into that Jonathan Frakes angle).

So instead of picking over old bones once more, let's be uplifted. While These are the Voyages... might have been a poor way to say goodbye, what were the five best ways that Star Trek closed a season? What were the best finales the show produced over 49 years? I'm going to take a pot shot and select my favourites. Be free to disagree.

The Best of Both Worlds

Let's start with the obvious one and work away from it. Undoubtedly one of the biggest episodes of all time and arguably the defining cliffhanger in Star Trek history. The Riker sub-story, Picard captured, the return of the Borg, a seemingly lost cause, a magnificent, haunting soundtrack; all add to make this hit every single marker you could want. The conclusion is nowhere near as good simply because there was no way it could live up to the hype of part one. Those final few moments where we realise it really is that bad are seminal.

Notable Quotable: "Mr Worf - fire". - Riker

Key Moment: The cube ship appears for the first time accompanied by that haunting choral theme which plays out across the rest of the episode - we have engaged the Borg.

Cliffhanger: Jeez. Millions went into meltdown as resistance seemed to be 100% futile. Boxsets make it do much easier. Note that in part two however it's not Worf that does the firing but Geordi....!

All Good Things...

It formulated the way to make a show finale for both Deep Space Nine and Voyager with both series attempting to provide a "full circle" experience. Returning Q, linking three distinct time periods and bringing back a couple of our favourite characters made this a must see in every respect. Let's not forget it also marked the first time a Star Trek show had chosen to finish rather than being cancelled. Science fiction was growing in popularity thanks to the show and the future for Star Trek was increasingly bright with Deep Space Nine closing a second season and Voyager due for premiere in the following January of 1995. We all loved that final scene at the poker game and the whole episode was an exhilarating experience that did the show 200% justice and I can watch it again and again and again in a heartbeat. It's not about the suspense here, it's about the experience.

Notable Quotable: "Bye bye Jean-Luc it's been such fun but alas all good things must come to an end." (either than or the last line...) - Q

Key Moment: Admiral Riker's suped-up Enterprise-D blows the hell out of two Klingon warships.

Cliffhanger: Not applicable. This was the end. Until Generations....

In the Hands of the Prophets

Deep Space Nine planted itself firmly on the map with the closer from it's first season. In the Hands of the Prophets is all about the placing of key characters, a reflection on the pilot episode and the preparation for season two. Usually we'd expect (as we'd come to see on The Next Generation) that the finale would be simply concluded in the first episode after the summer break. Deep Space Nine broke that mould by introducing Winn and Bareil ahead of the election for Kai that would take another year to occur plus examined the pairing of Sisko and Kira and their journey since Emissary. A masterstroke that firmly said they would be back for a second year and that it would develop from the events of the first season. Still a tense episode, it's a lot more about the people and the Starfleet officers' acceptance that the station is becoming their home just as much as it's about the assassination plot. Watch it back after a thorough rewatch of the show and it's still brilliant. Bajoran politics never seemed so amazing.

Notable Quotable: "Is the Emissary of the Prophets blaming me for this act of terrorism?"

"The commander of this station is." - Winn and Sisko

Key Moment: The bombing of the school. Hands down that's one way to make fans take note of your season closer.

Cliffhanger: None. All about the set-up.

Call to Arms

It was a toss up between this and The Jem'Hadar because both of them were huge Deep Space Nine game-changers that altered the way in which the series progressed. Call to Arms finally delivered the long-awaited Dominion War in dramatic character-driven style that became the show's trademark. Dark, as far from optimistic as you could ever expect and grounded in the reality that Starfleet are on the back foot, there's a foreboding that this is going to get even worse before it gets better. Losing the station to Dukat and his Dominion allies was a masterstroke we would never have predicted when Emissary aired. This was a close knit family who had come to see the gloomy Cardassian mining station as home and didn't want to leave - a big change from where we were at the start of the show. I won't bore everyone about the whole baseball scene but needless to say it's simply one of the best episodes ever made and far better than Janeway losing Voyager in Basics.

Notable Quotable: "...But no victory could make this moment any easier for me. And I promise, I will not rest until I stand with you again. Here; in this place where I belong." - Sisko

Key Moment: Sod it. The baseball bit. I love it.

Cliffhanger: Not officially but that fleet sure isn't just for show. Deep Space Nine didn't like to do proper cliffhangers because almost every week was one by this point.

Equinox

The what-Voyager-could-have-been story which was one of the best things the show ever did. A similar small science vessel forgets its principles for the sake of a quick trip back to the Alpha Quadrant. John Savage is perfectly cast as "Rudy" Ransom and the chilling modifications to the ship's EMH are a horrifying twist, showing just how far the captain is willing to go. Ultimately it's a comparison of how far the show and the cast have come since Caretaker. Experimenting on aliens is always a winner for the moral dilemma and while we kind of knew that Voyager would be OK, it was more about what the heck was going to happen to the Equinox crew. Personally I also think it's Voyager's best ever two-parter with the quality just as strong in part two and I'm a sucker for the Nova Class.

Notable Quotable: "May I ask you something, captain to captain? The Prime Directive: how often have you broken it for the sake of protecting your crew?" - Ransom

Key Moment: Hard choice but switching the two EMH's was a clever twist.

Cliffhanger: We never thought Janeway would be killed but it's all about the set up of where the characters are and how Voyager has been abandoned for dead by Equinox.

And now you're wondering about The Original Series  and also Enterprise? Fair enough. For me none of their season closers came close to the quality of these five. For The Original Series there was no real season close feeling - it was just another episode to turn out and for Archer's shift, it never reached the levels of excellence that I decided to go with. I, of course, look forward to your suggestions and reasons!!!

So what was your favourite closer or are you still lamenting the passing of Enterprise? Let us know in the comments below!

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Lots of Birthdays!

It's a Bumper Birthday two weeks ahead with a whole host of names who have appeared or been involved with Star Trek celebrating another year ahead.

In fact there are a few very notable names - two Klingons, a Q, an engineer, an empath, a Vulcan, the only man to beat the No Win Scenario, a legendary writer and the man responsible for creating the look of many an alien over the past few decades. (DC Fontana 25th March 1939 and Michael Westmore 22nd March 1938 not pictured above!)

So where am I heading with this? Well, while a lot of sites will, of course, go loopy over the birthdays of The Shat and Mr Nimoy on the 22nd and 26th respectively yet I want to just take a break from the norm and celebrate the work of two of these figures from the franchise in the form of J G Hertzler and Michael Westmore.

Yep, an unusual combination but then we're not known for keeping to the norm are we?! That's not to say that any of the others are lesser mortals or ever less worthy of birthday shout-outs but I have to admit to being something of a Martok fan. J G Hertzler also has the claim to be in the first scene of Deep Space Nine, acting in the role of the Vulcan captain of Sisko's ship, USS Saratoga  as well as Roy Ritterhouse in Far Beyond the Stars, the shapeshifter Laas in Chimera and the Hirogen champion in Voyager's Tsunkatse. Also he'll soon be seen in the fan production Star Trek: Axanar as Captain Samuel Travis. While all worthy of a mention none come close to his brilliance as Martok (changeling or not!).

While we first saw the general in The Way of the Warrior it wasn't until season five's BIn Purgatory's Shadow that we met him properly. For me he was one of the key secondary cast of Deep Space Nine from that moment. Martok was the archetypal Klingon, believing in the glory, the honour and certainly the thrill of battle as well as proving to be a valuable asset and ally to Sisko during the later years of the series. More of a thinker and a planner than other Klingons we had met, there was always a glint in that eye that betrayed something more - a man of many layers and definitely a great counter to both Worf and Gowron. This of course gives me a blatant excuse to round out three of his greatest moments.

Becomes Chancellor

With just a touch of help from Worf, Martok takes the reins of the Empire from the apparently glory-hunting Gowron. Well-deserved there and it's, for me, one of the best episodes of the final ten (Tacking into the Wind) if only for the epic hand to hand fight that has been brewing since the mid-point of The Next Generation let alone The Way of the Warrior. Martok's relunctance to accept the mantle of leadership is absolutely in keeping with the character who has always wanted to be a warrior in the ranks rather than giving the orders - something even alluded to in his choice of a Bird-of-Prey as his flagship.

Vs Worf

While Sons of the Empire isn't going to make your top ten, it's a good solid Klingon episode that sees Worf assist Martok in gaining the respect of his crew on the Rotarran and return to the warrior form that had eluded him since escaping from the Jem'Hadar prison camp. It's a significant turning point in the character and sets him up well for the events of the next two years. It also leads Martok to welcome Worf into his family's house since the House of Mogh no longer exists.

Drinking Blood Wine on Cardassia Prime

Now a controversial one. While Sisko and Admiral Ross might not have approved it's a good nod from the writers back to a reference in season six that the three of them will be drinking together on Cardassia when it falls to them. Just to see Martok savouring victory is worth the admission price alone. One of the things Deep Space Nine always managed successfully was their ability to drop hints in early and then bring them to reality a year or so later when you least expected it. Or had just damn well forgotten.

We could also have included his first appearance fighting the Jem'Hadar or perhaps his reluctance to command the Ninth Fleet but for me, these are three of the strongest memories I have of Hertzler's character. Honestly this doesn't do it justice and I'll be putting a larger piece together soon.

Then there's Michael Westmore. The face of the 24th Century you could say. Responsible for the look of many a creature from The Next Generation through to Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise and the later four classic movies we'd like to pay homage to his top three creations.

Cardassians

Those classy spoonheads appeared back in The Next Generation before becoming the staple baddie of Deep Space Nine for a few years as well as providing that show with a ton of backstory. Reptilian in look it's instantly recognisable and incredibly intricate when you start to really examine the structure of the neck and how it's actually very, very skeletal on the outside. It's not just one piece though as each section around the eyes, ears and chin are all separate bits that combine to create the finished look. Think about doing one and then consider that there were a lot of these guys walking around for seven years.

Odo

One that went through a heck of a lot of changes over the course of Deep Space Nine - in fact even over the course of a season as Auberjonois' features were blended more and more into the smooth face with those three distinct worry lines on the forehead. Perhaps the even more challenging part of Odo's creation was his disintegrating states we saw in The Die is Cast, Broken Link and later as part of the virus spread to the Great Link in the final ten part arc. It's one thing to create a great character makeup but another to destroy it and still make it look good....

The Trill Spots

It's the classic, the one that gets quoted over and over again but you know what? It's brilliant. Every episode and for every day the Trill spots were hand painted onto Terry Farrell to portray Jadzia Dax. We all know that each set was numbered but it's just one of those things that shows how dedicated to his art Michael Westmore was during his time with Star Trek. To think that every set was different and to have the patience to do that for six years!

So Happy Birthday this week and next to this host of Star Trek stars! Perhaps you have a favourite moment we haven't highlighted or one from the others who are celebrating. If you do, why not drop it in the comments below!

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Deep Space Nine @21

You can also view our articles on Emissary and the first season of Deep Space Nine right now by clicking on the links. What are your thoughts 21 years on? Is it just as good, worse or better than ever?

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