Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 29: Second Sight [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 29: Second Sight [VHS] Review

Star trek Deep Space Nine Episode 29

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 15: Progress [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 15: Progress [VHS] Review

Original airdate: 5-10-93. Stardate: 46849.3. A first-season highlight, "Progress" combines an amusing subplot involving Nog (Aron Eisenberg) and Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) with a moving dilemma faced by Kira (Nana Visitor) on the nearly evacuated Bajoran moon Jeraddo. It is there that Kira encounters Mullibok (Brian Keith), an elderly farmer who refuses to leave. Kira's efforts to persuade the old man lead to a painful examination of their shared heritage and violent history against the Cardassians. This interplay (blessed by the fine performances of Visitor and TV veteran Keith, in one of his best roles of his later years) lends the episode an emotional urgency that intensifies Kira's tension between her turbulent past and present obligations to Federation duty and Bajor's future. While Jake and Nog pursue amateur profiteering that turns surprisingly in their favor, "Progress" combines humor with the kind of ethical and emotional crises that allowed DS9 to maximize its first-season potential. --Jeff Shannon

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 42: The Wire [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 42: The Wire [VHS] Review

Garak and Bashir have been having lunch once a week for over a year, and yet the doctor really knows nothing about the Cardassian. Garak's life is an intricate puzzle of lies within lies. And then something happens, and Dr. Bashir slowly discovers what seems to be a truth of sorts about the mysterious tailor. The titular wire is a mind-control device buried deep within the Cardassian Garak's brain. It was planted there years ago by the Obsidian Order and designed to protect him and shield him with heightened endorphins if he was ever captured and tortured. The trouble is that Garak was not captured but exiled, and his very existence is torture. He spends his life on a station that is too cold and too light; and he is surrounded by people who hate him. So one day he activated the device to dull the pain.

"The Wire" solidified the Bashir/Garak cult in DS9 fandom and it garnered critical and internal praise. This episode, along with "Duet," is one of the best explorations of the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation and features the first appearance of the mysterious Obsidian Order. And there's the whole Odo-spying-on-Quark thing going on. Paul Dooley fairly oozes evil banality as Enabran Tain, and Siddig El Fadil is smugly hoity-toity as Bashir. The incredible Andrew Robinson manages to convey Garak's painful endorphin withdrawal through heavy Cardassian make-up. "The Wire" is, in a word, great. --Kayla Rigney

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 11: The Nagus [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 11: The Nagus [VHS] Review

Wallace Shawn makes his first of many memorable appearances as the Grand Nagus, the daffy, duplicitous leader of the Ferengi business empire. If the Ferengi are the comic relief of the DS9 universe, then the Grand Nagus is its clown prince and Shawn's lisping rants and devious cackles make him a terrific gnome of a corporate pirate. Boarding the station with imperial pomp, he indulges in a few choice holosuite fantasies and proclaims Quark his successor before abruptly dying, leaving Quark the target of a treacherous assassin. In a related story, Commander Sisko frets over his teenage son's friendship with Nog, Quark's mischievous nephew and the only boy his son's age on the station. It's a nicely handled drama of single-father frustrations and teen independence, but Quark steals the episode as he bounces between nervous paranoia, greedy scheming, and cocky power plays, doing his best Godfather impression while striking deals with former rivals. It's a whole new lesson in the Ferengi "Rules of Acquisition." --Sean Axmaker

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 13: Battle Lines [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 13: Battle Lines [VHS] Review

Original airdate: 4-25-93. Stardate: Unknown. With thematic echoes from the original series episodes "The Alternative Factor" and "Day of the Dove," this DS9 adventure begins when Kira's Bajoran spiritual leader, Kai Opaka, pays a surprise visit to DS9 and eagerly accepts Sisko's offer of a runabout tour of the wormhole. A signal from a small moon in the Gamma Quadrant leads to an attack on the runabout, and the Kai is killed in a crash landing survived by Sisko, Dr. Bashir, and the grief-stricken Kira. They soon find themselves enmeshed in a perpetual war between two opposing groups of humanoids, whose horrible fate is to be repeatedly killed and revived, forced to endure eternal battle due to the presence of biomechanical microbes that curse them--and anyone else killed in battle--to everlasting life. A vivid study of the folly of hatred, with a suspenseful subplot and a revealing glimpse of Kira's spiritual convictions, "Battle Lines" is superior Star Trek in the Roddenberry mold, intelligently crafted and ethically compelling. --Jeff Shannon

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 7: Q-Less [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 7: Q-Less [VHS] Review

Original airdate: 2-7-93. Stardate: 46531.2. While the premiere season of DS9 was sharing airtime with the final season of The Next Generation, writers were encouraged to bridge the gap between the series, which resulted in lightly enjoyable episodes like "Q-Less," in which Capt. Picard's omnipotent nemesis (played with fey sarcasm by John de Lancie) gives equal time to Sisko and the crew of DS9. Also making the leap from the NextGen episode "Qpid" is Vash (Jennifer Hetrick), Picard's paramour and intrepid archaeologist, rescued by Dax from the Gamma Quadrant and arriving on DS9 with valuable artifacts that Quark is eager to auction off for profit. It all leads to the revelation of a mantalike alien life form, which is old hat for Trek fans, so this episode's greatest asset is the banter between Q and Vash, in their one and only DS9 crossover. --Jeff Shannon

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 18: Dramatis Personae [VHS]

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 18: Dramatis Personae [VHS] Review

The "frontier town" aspect of Deep Space Nine always promised more conflict than previous Star Trek series, and "Dramatis Personae" presents a what-if scenario that pits all of the main characters against each other in a cauldron of deceit, betrayal, and conspiracy, brought on by a mysterious, telepathic energy that brings out the worst in everyone involved. At one extreme is Kira, who plots a Bajoran takeover of the station, and at the other is Dax, who sits passively in Ops, content to indulge dreamy reveries while chaos explodes around her. Even as a manipulated "play" caused by an alien force, this scenario allows the cast of DS9 to cut loose and shatter the barriers of proper decorum, and the result is a rare case of Star Trek anarchy, in stark contrast to the dutiful efficiency of a "normal" Federation crew. Edgy and fun, this is Trek with its hair down, leaving everyone embarrassed but admirably nonplused. --Jeff Shannon