The Autobiography of Benjamin Sisko

Producing an autobiography of a character who has transcended the physical plane has to be one of the most difficult assignments to come from this book series.

Edited (wink wink) by Derek Tyler Attico, the story of Benjamin Lafayette Sisko is the one that I’ve been personally waiting for since the books first appeared. 

So how does one circumvent the obvious flaw that Sisko ‘can’t’ write this book? Well I won’t ruin that little twist but suffice to say it makes this volume extremely unique when it comes to how these have been written to date.

And if you’re wanting this to be a detailed first person account of Deep Space Nine, be prepared for a wait and also for it not to take up that much of the book. This really does go right back to the start of Sisko’s life. This autobiography provides a deep dive into three generations  of the Sisko line packed into the hotel/restaurant/home that exists in New Orleans. There’s even time to offer glimpses at older history emphasising the importance of family bonds that exist not just in that structure but also down the years in Ben’s Starfleet journey. 

Covering everything from Sisko's childhood, coupled with it's distinct lack of technology, Attico's work follows a path from adventurous and highly inquisitive youth through to maturing teen and into Starfleet officer. The journey feels natural and the level of detail not only traces its roots back into episodes of Deep Space Nine but into a deeper cultural exploration that hasn't been as apparent in other works from this ongoing series.

Attico's research into Sisko is certainly extensive but it doesn't suffocate the story. Rather than relying on just the material we've been drip fed through 176 episodes of the show, the reader can explore Ben's first encounter with a transporter or a tricorder with the same sense of wonder that the character himself does. 

But that feeling of family and personal bonds is always present. There is loss, not only of his wife at the battle of Wolf 359 but earlier in respects to grandparents and his mother as well as more complex relationships with his sister and younger twin brothers. 

Indeed, a good three quarters of the autobiography is filled with events that viewers and fans of the show will not have seen or were just hat-tipped such as Cal Hudson meeting his future wife or the way in which Sisko became Captain (later Admiral) Layton's first officer on the USS Okinawa. 

The clarity of events pre-DS9 is just staggering; the construction of the Defiant for instance brings both Leah Brahms and Cmdr Shelby into play while Attico has brilliantly woven in the single episode character of Tryla Scott (TNG's Conspiracy) both logically and seamlessly.  This feels like the true defining of the Ben Sisko character that, for a good part of DS9 was actually avoided although perhaps not consciously. 

Yes, there were nods to his sister, visits to the Sisko restaurant and the occasional appearance of Brock Peters' Joseph Sisko but for the most part Atttico has had a clean slate/ sandbox to play in and explore. Opinion; he's done it with aplomb and style. There's still enough legroom in here for future canon events to sneak into the narrative but this does show the development of the person before he was the Emissary and commander of Deep Space Nine. In the cases of both Janeway and Picard we've been privy to key events from earlier in their lives whether by visions of parents or Q interventions but Sisko avoided all of that bar two moments in Emissary that added meat to his back story.

DS9ers will adore this book which not only explores Sisko's backstory but actually utilises soome (I'm reliably informed) of Derek Tyler Attico's own personal history and experiences to flesh out Starfleet's finest captain (fight me on it!).

Some Kind of Star Trek: The Podcast Episode Four

Episode Four is now live and ready for your ears!

This time we're looking at the following:

News

• The latest news and promo on Star Trek Beyond including THAT Sulu revelation
• Updates on the 2017 TV series for UK viewers
• Axanar

Main Topic

Mental Health in Star Trek

Drop over to Tiff's special podcast addition article and once you're done there, here's some suggested episodes to view

• The Original Series
• Charlie X
• Dagger of the Mind
• The City on the Edge of Forever
• Wolf in the Fold
• Whom Gods Destroy

• The Next Generation
• Hollow Pursuits
• Sarek
• The Best of Both Worlds, Part II
• I, Borg
• The Inner Light

• Deep Space Nine
• Hard Time
• Far Beyond the Stars
• Shadows and Symbols

• Voyager
• Nemesis
• Pathfinder
• Imperfection

• Enterprise
• Fallen Hero
• Twilight

Listen to the fourth episode RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW from Soundcloud!

OR you can drop onto iTunes and search SOME KIND OF STAR TREK and subscribe. 

Please take the time to rate and review - and maybe even suggest something for a future episode!

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That Young Ferengi: FCD Interview with Aron Eisenberg

I'm going to kick off and say that Aron Eisenberg is one of the nicest and most accommodating people I have ever interviewed. Fact.

Life recently has not been easy for the Nog actor as he explained on stage at First Contact Day 2016. He underwent a kidney transplant in December last year and it really has been a very emotional rollercoaster of a time. But he's fighting back and keen to work. Judging by the seemingly endless queue of people looking for an autograph, he's as popular as ever although it didn't quite start out that way as I discovered.

A part of the show from the first episode and almost the first scene, Eisenberg had no idea that his then-unnamed character (referred to as Quark's nephew only in Emissary) would become a recurring role; "I honestly didn't know how long I was going to be on the show or how long they were going to keep writing Nog in. Every episode, I thought, might be my last so even up to the seventh season I thought I could be done at any time. 

"That's probably my own insecurities thinking this  could be it. Once I got to the last episode of season seven I thought that's it I'm in it for the long haul and I was finally able to mellow out a little bit. I was always worried that I would get a script that would have me flying out the airlock if I didn't keep myself at the best level I could."

For seven years Eisenberg challenged himself with each story he was given; "The script dictates what I had to do so I couldn't change anything. The challenge never went away because they were always giving me new stuff to work with and it was always wonderful and exciting because they gave me such great stuff to do with Nog. Such a great arc with the pinnacle being Seige of AR-558 and It's Only a Paper Moon which was really the story of Nog. There were more stories done after the show that I would love to explore but I don't know if I'll ever have that opportunity."

Even in the novels Nog has been a major character such as in the latter stages of The Fall series for example. "I always hoped that some show would bring him back," continued Aron, "but I kinda lost hope with the new show when I heard that it was going back to the original timeline."

Whether that jump back to The Undiscovered Country is purely for ethos rather than the setting is still speculative of course but Aron is realistic that his character won't be returning given one speculative idea about the proposed time period.

One of the things that always struck me with Deep Space Nine was just how strong the supporting cast was and Aron appeared to agree; "It was such a large cast of people and it needed to be that way because it was on a space station so they had to bring stories to the station rather than The Next Generation that was going to the stories.

"Since the station was there they needed people constantly coming in and out...but they still kept everything connected to the story they built the foundations with and we had such a wonderful group of actors that were all immensely talented." Aron is quick to name Marc Alaimo, Casey Biggs, Jeffrey Combs and of course JG Hertzler among the  amazing cast that joined the show in recurring roles and made the show the unique Star Trek experience it became.

It was a very wonderful show and one of the reasons that the show was so good was because Paramount really didn't care about it. They jumped onto Voyager because it was their sendoff for [the] UPN [network]. We were the black sheep of the family which I think gave a lot more freedom to the writers to tell the stories that they wanted to tell without someone else saying they couldn't do things and got left to their own devices."

Deep Space Nine certainly went against the formula when it came to how it used the cast, even giving Nog his own episode in the final season; "They entrusted that episode to me (It's Only a Paper Moon) and I feel I did a god job and I've got many compliments especially from veterans and hats off to the writers for telling that story. At first I was the B story and they couldn't seem to fit enough of what they wanted to into it so they tried to make it the A story with a B story and they still couldn't make it work. They looked at it and asked "what is the story we want to tell?" They wanted to tell the story of Nog, a young officer dealing with the effects of war and that's what happened."

"I was so honoured they trusted me and a few years ago I asked one of the writers why they kept giving me stuff for Nog and he said it was because they knew I could handle it and I kept proving I could do it. I pushed myself to do the best I could and cared about every episode, every scene I was a part of and it paid off because it kept giving me more work. I wish it could have given me more work after the show!"

Eisenberg's passion and love for Deep Space Nine is evident in spades as he talks about his experiences which saw his character develop from the thieving nephew of the bar owner to a respected junior officer over the course of the series. In my personal opinion and something I put to the actor, was that Nog actually had one of the best and most encompassing story arcs of anybody in the show.

"Max and I had some of the best character development," recalled Aron, "We did! Sometimes you hear actors talk about their show - and not just in Star Trek - and they don't want to talk about the show that made them famous and brought their celebrity to them. I have the complete opposite point of view on that. I loved that show. I was so blessed to have what I have and if I never work again at least I have that. It's more than a lot of actors can say. I will always be a part of Americana. 

"During the (FCD) panel we were asked about how it felt to be immortalised [by TV] and when you're asked that you sometimes don't talk about what you want to discuss because you don't want to monopolise other people but the truth of the matter is its amazing to be part of something."

So did Star Trek go above Aron's expectations? Was it more than he had hoped it to be?

"When you start out as an actor you don't know what the road is going to be. You just want to work and do something you love, be part of shows, to grow, to excel and do the best you can just as anyone in any job; to go up the ranks and do better and something you love to do. That's all I wanted and then to get Star Trek and all these great things and great stories from Heart of Stone to Valiant to It's Only a Paper Moon and to be able to do what I love and have this range - I couldn't have asked for more.

Thinking of all those big Nog episodes of which I would also include Empok Nor, Eisenberg had the chance to star alongside such luminaries as Andy Robinson and James Darren. "It was a blessing and to go head to head with these amazing actors was incredible."

Eisenberg actually got a call from casting that James Darren wanted to rehearse with him. "I was like wow!" Said Aron who was invited to go over to Darren's house to run through the script for It's Only a Paper Moon. 

"It led to a stronger relationship with James that I think came through on set and in the episode. With Avery Brooks it was the same. Avery has a very strong personality and it comes across on the screen and it comes across when you're working with him. It's a wonderful feeling working with Avery because he's right there with you and I mean right there."

His most memorable experience with the Sisko actor came during the third season of the show just as Nog's Starfleet journey was beginning; "In doing Heart of Stone I remember we rehearsed it with the line "Tell me Nog, what is it you want?" he never grabbed me and in the first take we got to that scene he grabbed me and pulled me into him and I remember thinking "This is awesome, right here, right in the moment!" and I remember telling myself very quickly in a heartbeat that I can either go "holy s**t what's going on?!" or I can run with it. I made the right decision and went with it and it was such a wonderful scene to do because he's right there with you. He throws the ball, you thrown it back, he throws it again and you throw it back."

While Aron offers a lot of praise to Brooks for that scene, he's most complimentary in relation to all who were associated with the show; "To be honest you feel that way with everybody. I couldn't have had a better show to work with. The crew was awesome, the production was awesome and the cast was awesome. Sometimes I don't think I can ever get something as good as that ever again."

So what's ahead for Aron Eisenberg? Well, he's just out of recovery after his kidney transplant and now trying to find his way back. During his First Contact Day talk, Aron talked emotionally about his kidney transplant, how the first kidney had seen him through the birth of his sons and the seven years of Deep Space Nine, willing that it would stay healthy and give him that bit more time before requiring a replacement.

"I put acting on the back burner because I was raising my boys," explained Aron whose sons are now 17 and 19. "I really want to get into production and make movies and I miss acting so much. I'm trying to figure out how to get back."

Recent news from the Star Trek lines is that Eisenberg will be returning as Nog in the upcoming second instalment of Renegades. "But it's not just about Nog." he's quick to point out, "I would love to play him again, even in the new TV show but I don't think that's going to happen."

So for Aron Eisenberg the future offers a lot of possibilities and it was great to see him looking well and captivating the crowd at First Contact Day. I wish him all the best for the future.

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The End: The Finality of Deep Space Nine Season Seven

After the excitement, action, adventure, character building and general all out war, season seven of Deep Space Nine had a lot to live up to.

Shame is that it followed the greatest season of Star Trek ever produced which meant it was on the back foot to start with and, honestly, it never recovered. Season seven is still brilliant and a fitting way for Deep Space Nine to end with a true closure of the multiple arcs that had run through the show since Emissary but it would be a heavy trip to the finale.

Opening with the two-part continuation to Tears of the Prophets from season six, Image in the Sand and Shadows and Symbols take us to the heart of Sisko's dilemmas as visions, a stabbing and the return of Dax all happen within the space of 45 minutes - and then we get a yomp across the desert planet of Tyree and a spin off into the world of Benny Russell just to top it all off. As season openers go it's low on the bangs and effects but ticks the box for edge and sparkling story whether it's the Sisko line or effectively the alternate A-story with Kira holding the fort on the station with the Romulan Empire trying to assert its position.

The revelation that Sisko's mum was a prophet might get him on Jerry Springer in the 20th Century but for some reason it's not that hard to believe thanks to the arcs and threads woven through the previous six seasons of the show. It's a good one with a very different feel most likely due to those scenes on the desert planet. 

The thing is that introducing a new character in Ezri this late in the game was always going to be difficult but Afterimage does go some way to fill in the new Trill beyond a bout of space sickness and a badly fumbled, hasty joining. Garak is clearly the stronger character in the odd pairing but it's great to see the inexperience and exuberance of the new arrival attempt to take on the super-enigma of the Cardassian tailor/spy. Ezri is a great character but the series doesn't insist on spending a ridiculous amount of time introducing her and focusing on her as Voyager lavished on Seven of Nine. 

Instead we just get on with things. Take Me Out to the Holosuite is a cunningly little diversion from the upcoming finale, divulging us into the possibilities of the holodeck and also exploring those competitive tendancies that exist within Sisko. Facing him off against Captain Solok is a high point of the year and he might be the most unemotional Vulcan we've ever met - and that's saying something. 

Season seven does avoid the family thread that The Next Generation chose to weave in its final year but it does manage to tie up all those bits we've wondered "what happened to..." and Chrysalis is a perfect example. Following on from the introduction of the Jack Pack from Statistical Probabilities it's much more about the relationship between Bashir and Sabrina once she reconnects with the world. In the literary Star Trek universe this pairing is still going strong today (at least it was in the last Section 31 novel, Disavowed).

Likewise the later Prodigal Daughter rounds out the "Bilby" storyline from season six's Honor Among Thieves with O'Brien's involvement with the Orion Syndicate taking another turn as he tries to track down his former, deceased associate's wife. Simple enough but then this is Star Trek which also means it somehow manages to link up with Ezri's unsurprisingly dysfunctional family. Oddly this is an O'Brien episode where he's not in some sort of severe mortal peril and manages to survive dying at least once which makes it a good year for the chief but not so brilliant for the story quality.

Ezri does get one final solus episode in season seven with Field of Fire. It's something very different but draws on Dax's darkest rebirth using Joran to help catch a killer. Not being directed to the guilty party from the beginning is a hard call in the story but finding him isn't what this is about. The gun is pretty cool and the way in which the killings are taking place is cleverly executed. Joran's effect on Ezri's personality is fairly marked and Nicole De Boer puts in a fine performance here. 

While season seven rounds out stories it just manages to hit the mark on brilliance. Treachery, Faith and the Great River and Once More Unto the Breach which follow it really encapsulate a lot of the best and worst of the year. Both are effective follow-ups and round outs to stories, the former giving us a more insightful look at the background and origins of the Vorta while the latter closes off the "Kor Trilogy" which has taken us through Blood Oath and The Sword of Kahless to this point. Both have original, unique stories but somehow the greatness that was instilled into the sixth season just isn't quite there. 

Jeffrey Combs is superb as the faulty Weyoun defector and it does manage to also explore Odo's feelings about his connection to the Great Link and where he really stands with his people and those who regard them as deities. In a sense Chimera also touches on that aspect with JG Hertzler heavily disguised as Laas a Changeling with a far more advanced use of its shape-changing abilities. Laas is a much softer character for the Martok actor to play and I don't think he's 100% successful at it. Nor is the story a winner with Odo having to battle with his conscience and the ideals of his people all over again. It's a path that's been trodden numerous times especially since season three's The Search.

Perhaps it's expectation lets them down and even now I still feel a bit deflated watching this season - because I have some very clear recollections of these stories, because I'm just bidding time until the ten-parter and thirdly because I just know it's not totally delivering. Looking at it another way there is a lot that needs to be tied up and there may well have only certain manners in which this could be done and still leave enough to provide a decent final dash to the line with the closing arc but more on that in a bit.

Covenant too is a sequel of sorts although if it was necessary I'm never totally sure. It does follow on from Empok Nor and reminds us of the many talents of Dukat but it doesn't seem to give anything at the end and reflecting on the later episodes and how the former Cardassian gul is portrayed I'm not sure that this exposure was required. It does mean that Kira gets one last chance to go head to head with him and who can scoff at any opportunity to see Visitor and Alaimo sparring once more.

Continuing the sequel and closure aspect of season seven is the atrocious Emperor's New Cloak. Now Resurrection last year was poor and Bareil tended to leave me cold on a good day but this one is my low point of the whole season and one of the lowest of the show as a whole. The Mirror Universe was a brilliant addition to the Deep Space Nine mythology and made it feel a lot closer to The Original Series than The Next Generation thanks as well to those classic Klingons and a magnificent 30th anniversary episode. Yet once we'd closed the show on Shattered Mirror and taken a season break from the adventures of Smiley and the Terran rebellion it all seemed to take a slide didn't it?

Making this a Ferengi Mirror Universe episode frankly took the p**s. Sorry, yes I swore but there's no excuse for this one and having Vic Fontaine turn up was butt-clenchingly awful and shocker, Ezri appeared too. All a bit convenient and self-indulgent. I bet Avery Brooks was glad he'd been killed off over there after Crossover.

But then there are some stunners that kick where it matters. The mid-year eps are a bit average yet The Siege of AR-558 is brilliant. Dark, uncomfortable and horribly close to the bone in its portrayal of ground war it contrasts starkly with the space-bourne warfare we're usually accustomed to. Nor the Battle to the Strong in season five had shown the aftermath of a ground battle but here we see the beginning, middle and end in all its gory detail with It's Only a Paper Moon two stories later dealing with the fallout as only Deep Space Nine can. While these two can make uncomfortable viewing they highlight the show at its finest and I can never imagine The Next Generation and certainly not Voyager ever attempting to deal with such events and then have the balls to tackle it again all within the space of a few episodes of the final year. Kudos where due, a great move.

Another hat-tip has to be made to Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges or, "In Times of War the Law Falls Silent". With the benefit of hindsight you can see where the Section 31/Bashir arcs have evolved from because this is Julian playing the spy game for real. He's indulged in holodeck adventures as a secret agent but the reality is nearly as bleak as The Siege of AR-558. Adding in the Romulans just teases the excellence of the episode and having it all turn a bit sour for the doctor is a nice move - again as with It's Only a Paper Moon, only Deep Space Nine could have nailed it this well.

Which brings us, triumphantly to the final spread of episodes encompassing all from Penumbra through to What You Leave Behind. And what an arc that is. It seems that everyone gets their fair share of action here so let's head on through.

Starting out with Worf missing and Ezri determined to find him leads us into the revelation that the Breen are now allied with the Dominion which then narks off Legate Damar who finally sees that the writing is on the wall, makes it clear he's going rogue and leads to the formation of the Cardassian terrorist group and a visit from Kira, Odo and Garak. Of course there are two memories we all carry from this line of the story - Damar's "For Cardassia!!!" and Colonel Kira getting herself a Starfleet field commission.

Back on the station Sisko gets married and discovers he's going to be a dad and then leads the fleet to the Cardassian homeworld where the war is put to rest and Martok gets to sup some blood wine. Sadly that's not the end of the road because as we know, Dukat has been wooing Kai Winn and turned her, successfully, over to the Pah Wraiths. Cue ultimate showdown between Sisko and Dukat and the captain's apparent demise as he enters the Celestial Temple.

Jeez. That was the briefest summation of all time. Now I adore the final ten episodes of Deep Space Nine like no other multi-episode arc. It is still unrivalled in Star Trek history in terms of scope, continuation, finality, characterisation and overall damn greatness. The 10 part arc does everything you could expect and more - even to a point where I felt disappointed by What You Leave Behind... because it was so final. I love what the novels have done since 1999 however the show is a perfect bottle, a beginning, an end and one heck of a middle. Look at what is achieved here and you realise how much had gone into the seven seasons and how the producers ensured that the viewers were paid off as best as possible and as fully as possible. 

Rom becomes Nagus, Bashir and O'Brien nigh on cose down Section 31 and Garak gets to go home. Even a couple of straggly bits from The Next Generation were closed (Gowron!) but the pace never slowed and there was still character evolution to the bitter end especially around the brilliant roles of Kai Winn, Odo and Dumar who all take big steps within the overall story here.

I have no doubt I will cover off the arc in more detail in a separate pot in the future because a season overview is the last place I'll do it any justice but here are some of Deep Space Nine's strongest stories, its most inspired moments and heartbreaking goodbyes. All even better a second, third or fourth time round. This was the first time I've watched it all the way through from Emissary and certainly you do appreciate the box-ticking closure that Deep Space Nine attempts in season seven a lot more than either The Next Generation or Voyager managed effectively.

For everything it got right or wrong though, season seven of Deep Space Nine is the strongest and most concrete ending to any Star Trek series ever. There is nowhere left to go, the character arcs are resolved and we have a firm conclusion to 176 episodes both with the 10 episode arc and the double-length finale.

So that's it for Deep Space Nine. I'll leave the season one Voyager review over to Matt but I'll return shortly with my look at the second year of Janeway and crew in a short while.

Fan of the final season? Was it the best closing year of any Star Trek show?

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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