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Star Trek Deep Space Nine – The Complete Sixth Season Review

The Star Trek Collection is a worthy hobby and certainly the largest of the television series DVD Collections (The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise). At around 880 minutes, it is 4 episodes (1 Disc) less than TNG, and at least 2 Discs less than TOS. However in total, for the definitive, Star Trek collection, we are still looking at approx 30 boxes with 700 hours of viewing. That is 1 month of non-stop Star Trek. No DVD series comes remotely close to that. Get going collecting right now and build up on each succession over the years. By the end you will have a very serious anthology that defines the word awe. This is the kind of item that requires 1 hour a day of your time for the next few years. It is a cherished memory that served your fathers and will serve your children also. Our very planet, Earth, has advanced because of Gene Roddenberry’s admirable concept. Roddenberry nailed the premise of the series when he said that he wanted to create a show with characters that we could look up too. They are like our family. Watch what they do. Then go and spend your life striving for the same on Earth. What engineer, medic, scientist, teacher, worker cannot say that Star Trek has not influenced them? The show is this significant in the development of our species. Parents respect and quote its authority and it is not hard to see why. The DVD case may be the best of the lot. The shadowy design is foreboding of a darker trek inside. The case opens to reveal the 6 discs and a collectors’ DVD-ROM of a section of a model graphic of DS9 (collect all complete the computer model). The discs are held in an open (no cardboard covering) plastic flip holder like in the TOS seasons. However these collectors’ boxes are being replaced by the new slim line boxes that are cheaper. These are simply a cardboard holder with four to five slim DVD case holders with 1 to 2 discs in each holder (The slim line boxes do not contain the special collectors’ DVD-ROM). There are 4 episodes per disc. However the last disc, disc 6 is devoted to Star Trek interviews and trailers with the usual expected extras…and then some more. Often the bonus disc may contain the last episode or two of the season, so watch out for those. Sometimes the episodes are ordered not in the sequence they were filmed, but in the sequence that they aired, however each episode has been numbered according to the order they were filmed in. This means on one disc you have shows 4, 2, 12 and 1, in that order. The sound has also been remastered to 5:1 Dolby Digital! Since the show was shot in full frame, these dimensions are retained.

Star Trek, Deep Space Nine (DS9), Season six is mostly about the retaking of DS9 back from the Dominion and Cardassians, saving the Alpha quadrant and the death of one of the leads.

The same crew is back. DS9 is commanded by Benjamin Sisko. Jake Sisko is his son. Odo is the station’s metamorphosing police constable and a Bajoran operative. Doctor Bashir is the Starfleet doctor and Chief O’Brien is chief engineer. Quark is a Ferengi host who owns a casino and bar. Major Kira is Sisko’s first in command, and a Bajoran. Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax is a Trill woman (and a long term friend of Sisko) assigned by Starfleet as technical advisor. Gul Dukat is a leading Cardassian. The Cardassian Garak helps Sisko. Rom and Nog are fully operating as part of Starfleet. Also Weyoun, a male Vorta, who appeared prominently in season five features extensively in season six.

Season Six of DS9 is mostly about undercover missions, Jem’Hadar, Worf’s son, the DS9 occupation, morale, Dukat’s daughter, Klingon weddings, Vedek Bareil, genetic-engineering, Quark’s mother, Dukat’s madness, Morn, racism, shrinking, mobsters, duty vs. relations, Kira’s mother, Section 31, Romulans, Vic Fontaine, wraiths, red squad, Ferengi law, Molly O’Brien, distress calls and the death of a crew member.

Best episodes are Sacrifice of Angels, You Are Cordially Invited…, One Little Ship, Inquisition, In the Pale Moonlight, His Way, The Reckoning, Valiant, Tears of the Prophets.

DS9 Season six is the best of seasons one to six. A few dodgy episodes aside this season is clearly outstanding in all departments. The leads are strongly engaged in their roles and the Dominion War is in full swing with lots of movie quality battle sequences. The Defiant is now as popular as the DS9 station itself. The Founders, the Vorta and Cardassians make for a compelling enemy. Following on from the darker ending to season five the full invasion looming through the wormhole brings with it lots of suspense. DS9 has been transformed into Terok Nor and the crew must battle to get it back. The CGI in this season is a huge leap for the Star Trek series in general. It really is movie quality and the battles are colossal. The last episode however sees an important crew member who has been with DS9 since season one die. The wormhole also has a serious problem and it looks like the DS9 team will never be the same. So we look to season seven to pick up the broken pieces and wonder how the Federation will ever be able to stop the shadowy forces that threaten their freedom.

If you want to discuss the demise of the unmentioned crew member see comments below.

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Customer Reviews

A marvelous season despite being the series most controversial – Robert Moore – Chicago, IL USA
As many have noted, Season Six of DS9 is clearly the most controversial. Most of this is centered on the confusion surrounding the departure of Terry Ferrell from the show. My belief is that studio was not willing to provide her with the kind of money she wanted in order to stay on the show rather than pursue the rather mediocre sitconm

The unquestioned highpoints of the season revolve around increasing developments in the war with the Dominion. These ongoing plotlines are what make DS9 so much more involving than the other shows in the STAR TREK series. There were a number of exceptionally good episodes and a number of outstanding Gul Dukat twists, as he continued to be one of the most interesting characters on the show. Several of the standalone episodes were superb, such as the outstanding “Far Beyond the Stars,” in which Sisko has a vision of himself as a pulp SF writer in the 1950s, with all of the usual cast members appearing without make up. Just as good is “His Way,” in which James Darren made his first appearance as holodeck lounge singer Vic Fontaine and helped Odo to loosen up and, as Sebastian the Crab would put it, to “kiss the girl” (coincidentally, in THE LITTLE MERMAID Rene Auberjonois did the voice of the chef who was intent upon making Sebastian part of the prince’s dinner). This season featured as many truly great individual episodes as any.

On the downside, the romances on the show were all appalling. Both Dax and Worf on the one hand and Odo and Kira on the other were completely lacking in chemistry. I never believed any of them as couples. The brute fact is that STAR TREK had no memorable romances. The best of the bunch was probably VOYAGER and even then only Tom and B’Elanna. Most of the romances seem forced, like Worf and Deanna on TNG and the absurd pairing of Neelix and Kes on VOYAGER. Or the almost random pairing of Seven of Nine and Chakotay, who had developed absolutely no history or nothing that would lead one to anticipate their getting together at the end of the series. It is just not one something the show did very well.

I personally didn’t mind the demise of Jadzia Dax. I didn’t dislike Terry Ferrell, but I wasn’t an especial fan either. I loved the concept of Dax, but that didn’t go away in Season Seven with the appearance of Ezri Dax. In fact, I loved the whole idea of Ezra, who was completely untrained to become a host to the Dax symbiote. But this is all a matter of preference. I fully understand those who found the departure of Terry Ferrell to be a minor tragedy (even if I don’t share their sense of bereavement).

One thing to point out about the show is what a superb creative team they had. Many of the producers and writers went on to bigger and better things. René Echevarria, for instance, went on to be one of the main people tasked with carrying out James Cameron’s ideas for DARK ANGEL and later headed up THE 4400 (along with Ira Steven Behr), before moving on to be Executive Producer on MEDIUM and CASTLE. The writing team of Bradley Thompson and David Weddle wrote several very fine scripts for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Peter Lauritson stayed with STAR TREK for a while longer, working on ENTERPRISE, before going onto THE STARTER WIFE and now THE MENTALIST. Terri Potts after DS9 went on to work on two groundbreaking comedies, FREAKS AND GEEKS and UNDECLARED. And of course, no one did better than Ronald D. Moore, who became show runner on ROSWELL before moving over to be show runner of CARNIVALE, before going on to reinvent TV SF with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

Still, whatever the faults of Season Six, and I will be frank in saying that I found fewer (except in the romantic relationships department) than most, the series remained as satisfying as ever.

Gul Dukat for President – A. Edward Azad – Brooklyn, NY
This season is, in my view, the apex of DS9. This is probably due to the fact that it’s the last season with the original cast intact. Dax, a character I’ve personally loathed, finally wins you over in her final episodes. Terry Farrell really shines in the wedding episode, “You Are Cordially Invited”, and shows that her evolution from ‘annoyingly-cryptic wise man’ to a spunky amazon was a decision which saved her character. No more walking around with her hands behind her back all the time, as if that makes her a more convincing 700-year-old! For awhile she reminded me of Dean Cain’s Superman who always walked around with arms folded. So, a toast to Dax, everyone!

Basically, the whole cast is hitting all cylinders. Avery Brooks rocks the house in “In the Pale Moonlight”, undoubtedly the most well-constructed and nuanced episode in the series — and the second best EVER, in my view. It’s no coincidence that the best DS9 episodes usually feature Andrew Robinson as Garak (the same was true in what’s probably THE best episode, season four’s “The Way of the Warrior”). Speaking of that one, Worf has continued to solidify his place in the DS9 pantheon most elegantly. This romance with Dax, while stilted at first — then again, you could say that of all of them — is the sweetest relationship on Star Trek. Worf’s role on the station is always murky; he’s prickly with most of the crew, and takes a hard-line stance on most of Sisko’s decisions. His marriage to Dax is the factor which ‘locks’ him into the show. Alternatively, Odo’s budding relationship with Kira is a bit wobbly here; it seems Odo’s infatuation was more interesting when they were kept apart. Once he and Kira are on-screen together, it seems slightly inbred for these salty war buddies to lock lips on the crowded promenade.

The Dominion War (finally) heats up with some space battles; whole fleets of Federation ships, Klingon Birds of Prey, the whole works. The CG effects are surprisingly solid too, considering how much time has passed. I think they’re still superb. Of course, it’s not action sequences where DS9 excels, but episodes like “Waltz”, where the nefarious Gul Dukat finally goes off his rocker. Marc Alaimo’s Dukat is not a flat villain; he has virtues, but they’ve been long since buried, which makes him more compelling.

There’s still a few clunkers in this season. The one where Quark gets a sex change (blargh) comes to mind. However, I almost welcome that episode since it finally killed off DS9’s affinity for excessive Ferengi episodes. Another flop is “Wrongs Darker Than Day Or Night”, which begins with Sisko cavalierly granting Kira permission to futz around with the space-time continuum. Yeah, sure. The story doesn’t work at all, nor does the revelation that Dukat kept Kira’s mother as a concubine. Wait, just how LONG was Dukat the prefect of Bajor? Supposedly, he caught flak for being the last (failed) Cardassian to hold that post; yet here, he’s ruling over the planet twenty years in the past. Maybe Cardassians are long-lived, or something. Anyway, the show would’ve worked better if a younger Dukat was merely *stationed* on Bajor in the past, instead of ruling over it.

The Best and Worst of DS9? – Pooneil the Paranoid Android – Madison, Wisconsin
This season began with an exciting deviation from the standard episodic format of Trek shows, and indeed from the accepted style of science fiction/action shows in general. The first half-dozen episodes are a basically continuous little arc which finds the station itself occupied by the Federation’s enemies, and the cast split in half — some of them depart the station to carry on the war with the fascist Dominion, while others remain on Deep Space Nine as a resistance against the occupation.

That makes the first few episodes exciting drama, but keep in mind that the Dominion War was never more than an efficient Second World War-style conflict in space, with little or no dramatic subtext or relevence, and the consequences of the war never quite reach our heroes. The Dominion themselves were static bad guys, obsessed with conquering the galaxy, and they never develop beyond that defining trait. This entire arc is ultimately disappointing, because it never goes quite as far as it could.

The following episodes of the season descend into DS9’s usual mishmash of comedic Ferengi-centric buffoonery and generic sci-fi nonsense, with many holographic adventures and run-ins with various villains, and plenty of bland soap opera from the main cast. Worf and Jadzia Dax get married, which is a bad move for both of them; Odo and Kira fall in love, which was likewise ill-conceived; a holographic lounge singer listens to the crew’s problems. The war is all but forgotten, and moves forwards from time to time in jarring fits and starts, such as the season finale which sees Jadzia murdered by the series’ villain, and some setbacks for the rest of the cast. This all could have been built up much better, if the writers/producers had only bothered to plan out their show and invest it with some kind of structure.

A few good episodes arrive in the middle of the mess: in “Far Beyond the Stars” Captain Sisko has visions from the godlike Prophets that cast him in the role of a 1950’s science fiction writer, and he experiences racism for the first time on Star Trek. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the ongoing story of the series, but it’s a good hour of television anyway and it’s fun to see the cast playing different roles (without their alien make-up!). It’s a classic sort of Trek episode almost lost amid all the war and bustle.

Special features include a number of interviews with actors, writers, and producers, and features on Dax and other characters. There are no commentaries, which is unfortunate. STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE was a mixed up show from the beginning, never quite sure what it was about or what it wanted to accomplish, and even the much-hyped Dominion War can’t quite redeem it.

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