User Reviews

This double episode provided a great introduction to the new series, unlike other Star Trek series it isn't set on board a shiny new space ship but on a battered former Cardassian space station belonging to the recently liberated planet of Bajor. On arrival the station's new commander, Benjamin Sisko, isn't too keen on his new assignment which is first since he lost his ship and his wife in a battle with the Borg three years previously. When he arrives he is met by Chief Miles O'Brien who shows him round the station and introduces him to the Bajoran liaison officer Major Kira Nerys who is distrusting of Star Fleet's motives. While talking to her there is a security alert due to a break-in in one of the station's shops. The two thieves are arrested by the station's police officer; a shape-shifter by the name of Odo. Quark, the uncle of one of the thieves tries to get his nephew released and Sisko says he will release him on one condition: he reopens his bar rather then leaving the station. This might seem a strange deal but Sisko knows he must re-establish confidence in the station's population if he is to be successful.

He is soon summoned to the surface of Bajor by spiritual leader Kai Opaka who tells him that he is The Emissary of the Prophets and that it is his destiny to find the Celestial Temple, to help with this she gives him a strange orb which causes those who look at it to have visions. Back on the station he meets new Star Fleet arrivals Dr. Julian Bashir and science officer and old friend Jadzia Dax, who Sisko calls Old Man despite her being a young woman, this is because she is a joined Trill and Sisko knew the symbiont's previous host. He soon sets Dax to work studying the orb and this leads them to the sight of an anomaly which turns out to be a stable worm hole to the Gamma Quadrant. As the two of them return they find themselves on a strange planet in the worm hole; could this be the Celestial Temple? When the people on DS9 learn of the worm hole the race is on to lay claim to it. The Crew struggle to move the station to location of the worn hole before the Cardassians can get there as whoever can control that space will be in charge of a staging post for exploration and trade with the Gamma Quadrant.

Being a fan of DS9 I'd seen the series a couple of times before I recently re-watched this episode; I think it did a very good job of introducing a cast of characters who with the exception of Chief O'Brien are new to the Star Trek world. These introductions are done in a way that doesn't seem forced yet shows us what each character's role will be. With the introductions out of the way we are quickly into the action which is fairly exciting. The cast all did a great job and it was nice to see a cameo by Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.

ST:DS9:01-02 - "Emissary" (Stardate: 46379.1) - this is the pilot episode of "Deep Space Nine", the 3rd new series in the world of Star Trek. We begin with in Stardate 43997 during the first Borg attack on Earth in the TNG episode "The Best Of Both Worlds", where we see the soon-to-be Commander Sisko (played by Avery Brooks) as an officer on one of the Federation ships trying to attack the Borg cube (under the command of the newly assimilated Picard - now known as the Borg Locutus). In the process the Saratoga is destroyed, along with his wife (however his son Jake does survive).

Now, forward 3 years to the present - Sisko is offered the command of the remote station Deep Space Nine, which is situated on the edge of Federation space, a station that only until recently belonged to the Cardassians. The station also orbits planet Bajor, a planet that has just gained independence from the aforementioned Cardassians. The Bajorans, as a Federation protectorate, allows the Federation to control the station, though they have their officers there (including the hot-tempered Major Kira Nerys). Also along for the ride are Dr. Bashir, the shape-shifting Constable Odo, the sneaky Ferengi Quark (who owns a bar on the station), the Trill Jadzia Dax (who knows Sisko from a previous body the Trill inhabited), and the newly promoted Chief O'Brien (from the TNG Enterprise) and his family.

While Sikso and crew must bring the station up to speck, they start investigating an anomaly - one that will have far repercussions for this sector of the galaxy. At the same time, Sisko must deal with his own nemesis, that of Picard (whom he associates with the death of his wife) who comes to the station. Sisko must also decide whether to stay as Commander of Deep Space Nine.

A worthy introduction to a new (and darker) Star Trek world.

This series begins with something we have never seen: A Space Battle: Between The Borg and The Federation at Wolf 359. We get to see the saucer section of Admiral Hanson's Excelsior Class cruiser being vaporized by Locutus of Borg. Benjamin Sisko is a Lieutenant Commander on The Saratoga taking orders from a Vulcan (J. G. Hertzler) and the Bridge has been patched together to become a battle bridge. The Saratoga is a Miranda-Class ship like The Reliant from Star Trek II; it gets disabled and then destroyed in short order. Sisko's wife Jennifer (Felicia M. Bell) is killed. A Bolian Ensign drags Sisko away from the body and as he watches from an escape pod, Sisko's whole world is destroyed.

Three Years Later, Commander Sisko is assigned to the Bajoran Space Station. We get our first look at DS9 through the window of the ship Sisko and his son Jake (Cirroc Lofton) are traveling on: The Moment the Station is shown the music changes to incorporate strands from the theme of Deep Space Nine.

This intro is the only connection to The Next Generation we get; there is nothing else familiar, even O'Brien who we knew from TNG is wearing a new kind of Uniform for the space station. As Sisko walks through the station it seems that the bloody Cardies have left few things intact: there is junk piled everywhere, most of the systems offline.

Our first impression of Major Kira is to remind us of Ensign Ro (Michelle Forbes, who was offered the role but at the time did not want to commit to a seven year contract). And Nana Visitor does seem a lot like Ro, if something is bothering her she has no trouble telling us. Sisko makes the mistake of asking her, and he gets a bellyful before an alarm goes off in The Assayer's Office. A small Ferengi Child named "Nog" (Aaron Eisenberg) is robbing the place blind, with some Alien GangBanger. This is our introduction to "Odo" (Rene Aberjonois, of "Benson")-The thug tosses some nasty-looking spiked weapon at Odo's head which turns into Jelly and passes it right through!

Most of the merchants on the Promenade area of the station are leaving, and Sisko needs to get them to stay somehow. He uses the incident with Nog to force the cooperation of Quark, Ferengi owner of the Gambling Joint, who was packing up. Nog's incarceration forces him to stay and be "Community Leader!"-This is another thing not ever seen in any Trek before: A "Hooman", a Bajoran, an Unknown Alien Shapeshifter, and a Ferengi, all having a discussion: and from that moment it becomes the standard for seven years of Alien Crosstalk.

Sisko finally responds to a summons by Captain Picard, and his dislike of Picard is evident: Picard was Locutus, who caused the death of his wife. Picard gives him his orders: make Bajor ready for Federation Membership. But Sisko tells Picard he is considering leaving Starfleet, "In the Meantime" (This is a common ST Phrase, used in ST: VI by the Federation President)-He will do the job he was commanded to do. We see the worry on Picard's face and that his hand was in the picking of Sisko for this job.

We get to meet Kai Opaka, the spiritual leader of Bajor (Camille Savoilla), giving us an impression of ancient Spirituality. She is concerned for "The Prophets" and gives him the most sacred object of Bajor: The last remaining Orb (The Orb of Contemplation). She exposes him to it, and he is brought back to the day he met Jennifer on Gilgo Beach. It has come to me, that is was not a "Vision": Somehow he was actually brought there.

The final two Starfleet officers arrive: Dir. Bashir (Sid El Fadil) and Dax (Terry Farrell)-This was Sid's first television show and that freshness, that air of inexperience works well. He puts a huge foot in mouth when he tells Kira about "Frontier Medicine."

Sisko puts his "Old Friend" Dax to work (Jadzia is 28, but she has the memories of a 300 plus year old Trill Symbiote, plus those of Curzon Dax, Sisko's Mentor)-The Trill were given a "Specieslift" here, they were given Famke Jansen's Spots. Dax finds that the Orbs have come from The Denorios Belt: But they can't go looking because Gul Dukat, the former Cardassian overseer, is waiting for them to leave so they can follow. Kira creates a ruse to make the Cardassian's leave; Odo sneaks on to the Cardassian Ship and sabotages it. O'Brien has to KICK the Cardy Transporter to get Odo back.

Sisko and Dax find The Wormhole, the only Stable Wormhole known to exist, instantly making Bajor a commodity. The Prophets stop the runabout because they want to have a Tete-a-Tete with "The Sisko"

More things start happening: Ducat follows them in to the Wormhole and gets into trouble, more Cardies arrive, and the Station is moved to the wormhole. Kira, O'Brien and Dax (returned to the Station in an Orb Device) figure out how to move the station, and bluff a Cardy Gul.

Bajor gets The Wormhole and the Prophets agree to let them use it. Sisko tells Picard he changed his mind. Picard, knowing the officer he picked, never sent Sisko's request.

Picard should have been more involved with this series, but he was not The Emissary, it was always The Sisko. "Because it could be no one else" as Sisko's real mother tells him in Season 7.

In the whole seven year run, the story never swayed from what was laid down here. It was always Bajor and The Prophets, and the Emissary, Benjamin Sisko.

ST:DS9:01 - "Emissary" (Stardate: 46379.1) - this is part 1 of the 2-part pilot episode of "Deep Space Nine", the 3rd new series in the world of Star Trek. We begin with in Stardate 43997 during the first Borg attack on Earth in the TNG episode "The Best Of Both Worlds", where we see the soon-to-be Commander Sisko (played by Avery Brooks) as an officer on one of the Federation ships trying to attack the Borg cube (under the command of the newly assimilated Picard - now known as the Borg Locutus). In the process the Saratoga is destroyed, along with his wife (however his son Jake does survive).

Now, forward 3 years to the present - Sisko is offered the command of the remote station Deep Space Nine, which is situated on the edge of Federation space, a station that only until recently belonged to the Cardassians. The station also orbits planet Bajor, a planet that has just gained independence from the aforementioned Cardassians. The Bajorans, as a Federation protectorate, allows the Federation to control the station, though they have their officers there (including the hot-tempered Major Kira Nerys). Also along for the ride are Dr. Bashir, the shape-shifting Constable Odo, the sneaky Ferengi Quark (who owns a bar on the station), the Trill Jadzia Dax (who knows Sisko from a previous body the Trill inhabited), and the newly promoted Chief O'Brien (from the TNG Enterprise) and his family.

While Sikso and crew must bring the station up to speck, they start investigating an anomaly - one that will have far repercussions for this sector of the galaxy. At the same time, Sisko must deal with his own nemesis, that of Picard (whom he associates with the death of his wife) who comes to the station. Sisko must also decide whether to stay as Commander of Deep Space Nine.

A worthy introduction to a new (and darker) Star Trek world.

This is the best pilot for ST out there! Let's just say that this is just the pilot, and it seems a little time passed before the shot the second episode because it has a completely different feel that will become the norm for the rest of the series. Avery Brooks will tend to over-act but this becomes more balanced as the series progresses. Finally we get a child character you can like too, in Jake Sisko (way less annoying than Wesley IMO).

I think this is the greatest Star Trek nay sci-fi series ever made, and when it ended, I was left with an overwhelming sense of loss. I felt like I had lost some really great friends and I would never see them again. So I ask why? Why did they end it and never look back? This series was rich with spin-offs, potential movies - a never-ending cash cow, and yet it ended abruptly after wasting an entire season devoping Ezri instead of tying up the loose ends. Why? Now that you know how I feel about the show, I will point out some major plot holes in this and all episodes of the series DS9.

Chief O'Brien was a Lieutenant Transporter Chief on the Enterprise, a commissioned officer. On DS9 he suddenly becomes a non-commissioned officer Chief rank and loses the ability to give orders to anyone but the engineers- and later submits to Ensign Nog who was but a child a year before to him. As I understand the only way to rid yourself of a commission is to lose it via insubordination or to resign it. Neither of these were likely to occur when they were sending him to the MOST important place in the quadrant at that time - DS9. So I ask again. Why? Second of all, I don't know if there are branches of service in ST since they never mention it as far as I know, but a star base is basically territory. And territory is held by an Army, so why send a commander in the Starfleet Navy to do that job? Isn't that the job of a StarArmy or perhaps an elected official?

If people of the future don't need money, yet ferengi still value the non-replicatable gold-encased liquid latinum(the gold is a worthless container for up to a few drops of latinum) for it's rarity, then how does the cast ever afford to go to Quark's, or the holo-suites, or anywhere on the promenade, including tailoring by Garak? If Starfleet gave them some sort of pay, the rest of Starfleet would want pay too and that would unsettle the entire concept of the entire ST universe. They kind of address this a tiny bit later on by Sisko threatening Quark to do his bidding because they let him operate for free, but he never says "free services for the crew" and there are times when they make payments on quark's thumbpad so money is being exchanged. Oh by the way, in the first season of TNG they mention gold as being valuable still - so that's weird. Plus, no one complained about replicated food on the Enterprise they thought it was great, so why now on DS9? Why pay for food when you can get it for free in your room?

Lastly, why dock on the station at all? They have transporters that can beam them anywhere aboard the station (they could only beam you to a few set locations on the enterprise mind you) and their cargo. So why not park outside at full stop in a "parking lot", unattached, and transport in? You would think quarantining thru bioscrubbers in the transporter to maintain station welfare would be a major concern. They never address this issue, people just hop right on the station and exchange hugs and handshakes and air as it decompresses onto the station.

And now I will answer a Why for you. The reason why you rarely see Bajoran ships (Season 7 Episode 2 "Shadows and Symbols") is because they basically have none of their own. The ones they do have are decades old and from "The Occupation" or before. They are sub-warp, and have vastly inferior weaponry and shields. Because they are in the process of joining the Federation they are under Federation protection and (we assume) will soon acquire new non-Bajoran Federation ships as part of that induction.

In "Emissary", the pilot of DS9, we explore the outpost known as Deep Space Nine, under new command and new control under Commander Sisko and the Federation respectively. With the retreat of the Cardassians from Bajoran space, a power vacuum has been created that the Federation has been asked to occupy in the interim. When a stablized wormhole is discovered near DS9, the Bajorans and Federation see it as a golden opportunity for science and trade. As Sisko and company attempt to rebuild the old jalopy, the Cardassians try to gain control of this new wormhole.

I respect what the show is trying to do so I give it the benefit of a doubt. I know a lot of people adore this show and its serialized nature which is uncommon to the Star Trek universe. As far as the pilot episode goes though, they just cram way too much exposition and plot into this. It's a real tough spoonful to swallow but it is behind us now so hopefully all the character beats and plot foreshadowing we get here pays off in the future. Sometimes just cramming it all in and getting it over with is better in the long haul anyways... It doesn't make for an engaging 90 minutes of television though.

The initial episode of Deep Space Nine introduces us to the cast and the premise of the show, that of Ben Sisko, a space captain with more than a little PTSD after surviving an attack of the Borg that killed his wife and nearly killed him...led by Jean-Luc Picard who was under Borg control at the time.

The PTSD has Sisko ready to resign his commission and quit Starfleet. He has to deliver that decision, though, to the one whom he holds responsible for the death of his wife, Captain Picard. After a tense confrontation, Picard offers him (or exiles him, depending on your perspective) to a remote space station, the property of the Bajorans who had recently thrown off their occupation by Cardassian forces, and in so doing threw the Cardassians off Deep Space 9. Naturally, the Cardassians trashed the place like a drunken rock band on their way out.

So now it's Sisko's job to try to maintain diplomatic relations, even amidst his own staff. He arrives on the station with his teenage son, creating a dynamic similar to that between Lucas and Mark McCain on the classic western "The Rifleman", a good comparison since the station is as "final frontier" as anything in the ST franchise. We are introduced to the residents of the station including a casino manager, a grouchy lawman, a Bajoran first officer who resents Starfleet coming in and taking over, a female science officer whose body holds a symbiote with the memories of all its previous hosts including a former male friend of Sisko. (The latter would have made shipping these two characters AWKWARD...) But wait, there's more! Just outside the station is a stable wormhole that passes to the Gamma Quadrant. When Sisko enters the wormhole, this is where this whole episode goes straight down the tubes. There's a very long sequence where alien beings (the Prophets of the Bajoran Temple) assume the forms of people from Sisko's past; it is very confusing and can only be summed up in two words often repeated through the scene: not linear. The point being that Sisko's memories keep him from moving forward, while at the same time proving to the Prophets that he understands the consequences of decisions he has made. This is important because Bajoran leader Kai Opaka has identified him as the emissary to the Prophets, an important figure in Bajor's religion.

Anyway, they so lost me with that "not linear" business that it took me a couple of years to return to the show. Thankfully, the characters and plots became far more compelling by this time. Thus my lousy review is limited solely to the pilot, not the series as a whole.

Was still coming down off the high of the series finale of TNG as it was extraordinary. This show was a brand new concept. I was a little unnerved by it's premise, 'To Boldly Stay Where No One Has Stayed Before'. O boy was I wrong! Commander Ben Sisko was played with depth, emotion and so much integrity by Avery Brooks from minute one. The opener of this series was superb. Revisiting the battle of Wolf 359 was genius. The tension between Sisko and Picard was so well done. Patrick Stewart there to show all how to do it I'm sure! The Station is in the Bajoran System. The episode rolled on and the Wormhole is discovered. It is stable, a first for the Federation The Cardassians and Bajor were both relatively young races for Star Trek, but both were interesting and had so much room for development. The crew, Dax, a Trill with lots of oomph and wonderful character. Doctor Julian Bashir, an annoying at first character but who blossomed into one of the show's best. Major Kira Nerys, the Bajoran Liason and First Officer of the Station. Odo, Chief of Security and affectionately named 'Constable', a Shape shifter with an unexplored background. Miles Edward O'Brien, Chief Of Operations who has transferred over from the USS Enterprise and finally Jake Sisko, the latter Sisko's son. Ben having lost his wife, Jennifer at the battle of Wolf 359, explaining Sisko's earlier angst with Picard. This was one of Trek's better pilots and set it up for a very very interesting seven year run

I still recall watching the premiere of this series and much enjoying it. Sometimes after so many years, one's opinion of a television show can change - but not in this case. From the start the show is riveting; the opening scene of the destruction of the Federation ship, the Wolf was amazing as was the Dax's and Sisko's journey through the wormhole and Sisko's encounter with the aliens. Strong plot with a strong ensemble cast. The only weak link in the cast (the character, not the actor) is Dr. Bashir. He's certainly likable enough but just not as interesting as the other characters. The stark, ominous sets add to the reality of what life must be like on an outpost (whether in the Old West or new space) - dark, grim and forbidding.

ST:DS9:02 - "Emissary, Part II" (Stardate: 46392.7) - this is part 2 of the 2-part pilot episode of "Deep Space Nine", the 3rd new series in the world of Star Trek.

Commander Sisko is offered the command of the remote station Deep Space Nine, which is situated on the edge of Federation space, a station that only until recently belonged to the Cardassians. The station also orbits planet Bajor, a planet that has just gained independence from the aforementioned Cardassians. The Bajorans, as a Federation protectorate, allows the Federation to control the station, though they have their officers there (including the hot-tempered Major Kira Nerys). Also along for the ride are Dr. Bashir, the shape-shifting Constable Odo, the sneaky Ferengi Quark (who owns a bar on the station), the Trill Jadzia Dax (who knows Sisko from a previous body the Trill inhabited), and the newly promoted Chief O'Brien (from the TNG Enterprise) and his family.

While Sikso and crew must bring the station up to speck, they start investigating an anomaly - one that will have far repercussions for this sector of the galaxy (including with the Cardassians - in the form of Gul Dukat). At the same time, Sisko must deal with his own nemesis, that of Picard (whom he associates with the death of his wife in the battle with the Borg 3 years before) who comes to the station. Sisko must also decide whether to stay as Commander of Deep Space Nine.

A worthy introduction to a new (and darker) Star Trek world.

Angry Sisko--at Picard weird aliens in human form--awfully cerebral and a bit like Farpoint wormhole discovered dead wife

Up until Commander Sisko enters the wormhole, this is a pretty good initial episode for "Star Trek: Deep Space 9". However, when Sisko meets up with aliens living within this passageway, things get pretty dumb.

When the show begins, you see the battle between the Borg (commanded by Locutus) and the Federation. In the battle, Sisko is nearly killed and his wife is killed by these intergalactic jerks. As a result, Sisko is really ticked...and it doesn't help that Captain Picard is the one who assigns Sisko to command the space station since Picard WAS Locutus when he was absorbed into the Borg two seasons earlier. Oops. In addition, Sisko runs about the space station and the planet Bajor meeting folks and pretty much introducing them to the audience.

When a stable wormhole opens up near Bajor, however, the show changes moods very quickly. Now he meets aliens who instead of sitting down and talking with him, they occupy the essence of people Sisko has known and they interact VERY quickly--with one fast intercut scene after another after another. It's very artsy and cerebral...and incredibly boring and dumb. It also is chocked full of too much information being thrown at the audience through the aliens. It came very unnaturally and should have been handled more deliberately. As a result, 2/3 of the way into the show, I felt like turning it off! My family begged me to do so but I was able to persevere until the very end. A rather awful introduction as a result of all this silliness.

There's a lot that needs to be established in a good pilot and I feel that DS9 did an excellent job laying down the foundation of what the show is about.

Here's what the pilot established: Sisko is the emissary and is haunted by his traumatic life events, Kira is a kicking bajoran who doesn't hold back her feelings and doesn't like starfleets involvement in bajorian affairs, Odo is a grumpy shapeshifter who doesn't know his origins, Dax is a hot trill and a highly skilled scientist, Obrien is a gruff engineer who can solve mechanical issues by kicking computers, Bashir is a teenager but also a highly trained Starfleet doctor, Bajor is in political turmoil, Bajorans are highly religious and who can blame them? The 'god's talk to them and give them flashbacks! The Cardassians shoot first and ask questions later, the prophets have no concept of linear time and they are responsible for the worm hole.

I like this episodes quite a bit. Specifically I enjoyed the parts with Sisko and Prophets. One of the aspects of trek that I have always enjoyed is when it tackles personal/political/social problems and we start out the entire series with an episode that digs into the effects of PTSD and we get a very trek moment of Sisko being the diplomat; trying to understand this new species.

There is a lot more that I could go into but this episode did a fine job of establishing the characters and universe this setting takes place in.

1.01 "Emissary"

Newly reassigned Commander Benjamin Sisko and his hodgepodge crew attempt to restore a former Cardassian space station into something resembling a Federation outpost, far on the outskirts of Federation space and crewed by a combination of Starfleet and Bajoran personnel. They get way more than they bargained for when a the first stable wormhole in the galaxy is discovered in their backyard, and a showdown ensues with the Cardassians, who are bitter about having to abandon Bajor and eager to claim the new discovery for themselves. But the inhabitants and creators of the wormhole are far more than they seem, and their role in the Bajor-Cardassia conflict will have consequences that stretch for years in the future and indeed beyond the bounds of time itself.

Star Trek: The Next Generation had so much success that Paramount decided not to even wait until it was off the air to begin a spinoff, with season 1 of DS9 more or less coinciding with TNG season 6. Gene Roddenberry having recently passed on, the new series would not be guided by his unrealistically optimistic vision of the future, but rather be a far more human and gritty view of the future. Deep Space Nine is really the most relatable and emotion-infused of the Star Trek shows by far. Building off of what was established in TOS and TNG, DS9 was able to create the deepest and most complex of all the many ST series without being bound by Roddenberry's overly-restrictive mandates that everyone always get along and Federation society being portrayed as perfectly utopian. What we get instead is a refreshingly honest and wholly human (ironic considering the most human characters are often aliens) depiction of life in the 24th century.

As for the episode's story, it was brilliantly set up by TNG in episodes like "The Wounded" and "Ensign Ro." Long before "Emissary" ever saw the airwaves, we were already quite familiar with the worlds of Bajor, Cardassia, and the conflict that has raged between them for generations. This is very fortunate, because the plot of "Emissary" is quite complex, and not having to engage in an excessive amount of world-building allowed the writers to spend more time setting up the characters and their specific conflicts, which are equally as complex as the plot (even more so, actually).

Due to this prior exposition, "Emissary" is able to concentrate so purely on its plot and characters that it ends up being the best ST pilot to date (granted, the bar was not high). The story is not only engaging, but it sets up a conflict that will persist without tiring for seven seasons (and beyond), while also introducing some of the deepest and most layered characters to ever exist in the ST universe. Although its highest points never match those of TNG and TOS, its consistency across seven season makes DS9 equal to those shows in terms of overall quality and it all starts with a pilot that far surpasses "Farpoint" or the various TOS pilots.

THE GOOD

-Using Picard to launch the show was brilliant. The scenes he is in a great, but DS9 takes things to the next level by having Picard be in many ways the bad guy. This is a man we have spent five seasons growing in admiration for, and suddenly our new protagonist despises him to the core. What genius way to distance these shows from each other. The undisguised contempt Sisko shows for Picard, combined with the deep pain seen in Picard's eyes at the mention of Wolf 359 is just an incredible interaction between two great characters. A million points to the writers (and Patrick Stewart) for these scenes.

-It's honestly amazing to me how the story threads that are started in this episode are carried through so seamlessly for seven seasons. You'd think that the Cardassian-Bajoran conflict would run its course within a few seasons, but the incredibly complex dynamics of the wormhole, the Prophets, and especially the Dominion allow that conflict to persist for the entire series run without ever drying up narratively. This episode becomes truly brilliant when viewed through the lens of all seven seasons.

-Colm Meaney. He was crimally underutilized on TNG and moving him to DS9 was a great decision to let an all time great actor have a starring role that was long overdue.

THE BAD

-Odo's makeup isn't great in this ep. He looks skeletal.

-Nana Visitor is a bad actress and her character mostly annoys me. She's not as bad as, say, Troi or Neelix, but she definitely is a weak spot in an otherwise pretty good cast.

-I've never been a fan of the DS9 uniforms. I think the TNG ones look much better and I wish they had just used those.

-The sequence with Sisko talking to the Prophets in the wormhole drags on for way too long. The episode is great until this point and then it really bogs down with frustrating dialogue and no plot movement. If this sequence had been edited down we might be looking at a 10/10 episode.

-I'll get into it more as I review more eps, but Avery Brooks is such an awkward actor. He overacts and his delivery of lines is often sharply at odds with the emotion he is supposed to be conveying (like when he seems to be smiling while chewing out a subordinate). From watching interviews and other extra content of him, it's clear to me that he is simply a weird dude, and that has made it slightly easier for me to swallow his unusual acting style...but only slightly. I think that Sisko is the most well-written of the ST captains by far, but Brooks' weirdness as a person and an actor makes me rank him slightly below Picard and probably equal to Kirk on the all-time captain rankings.

THE UGLY

-"Never trust an ale from a god-fearing people." Quark needs to try a Belgian abbey ale!

-Why are the Bajorans allowing Cardassian warships back into their space? I get that Bajor can't really do much about it, but it seems like a glossed-over point that should have been a major diplomatic issue. There's no way that, after almost a century of planety occupation and rape, the Bajorans would be cool with Cardassian soldiers taking shore leave on one of their stations.

-There is a lot of effects shots of Odo shapeshifting in this ep. I guess the effects budget must have been slashed for future eps because Odo's shifting is seen very rarely for the next few seasons.

-Interestingly, in the Wolf 359 scenes, Sisko's Vulcan captain is played by J.G. Hetzler, who would go on to play a starring role much later in the show as General Martok.

Well, that escalated quickly.

You think you are going to take over a space station and do some light dusting but instead you discover that you have a destiny to make contact with space gods and embark upon a personal journey of reflection to help deal with a life changing trauma thus providing you with new found focus in life.

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This is a rock solid pilot to DS9. Our ensemble cast are firmly established with a clear spotlight being presented upon Kira the feisty Bajoran officer. We have a looming threat of Cardassians at the doorstep, a mystery involving Sisko and the space aliens, a mystery about Odo the changeling, and heck --- they even brought over a TNG character to sooth the fragile minds of those afraid of something completely new.

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Sisko comes off successfully as a regular guy and provides a good contrast against the stiff but pleasant Captain Picard.

The acting is a bit rough and raw in parts but that is completely understandable since it is a pilot.

It's a big swing and I respect star trek that takes chances.