Review for Star Trek - Deep Space Nine - Series 3 (Slimline Edition)

Introduction

I’ve come to the next instalment of my favourite Star Trek series of all, and this is where what makes Deep Space Nine so engaging, so different from all of the other Star Trek incarnations came to pass. Season 1 set up the premise, the idea of a space station in the middle of beyond, with all of the serial story possibilities open to it, but in aping The Next Generation, failed to capitalise on it until the very last couple of episodes. Season 2 was where Deep Space Nine started to show what it really was capable of, with longer story arcs, with characters having to live with the consequences of their actions instead of warping off to a new planet each week, and there actually being character development over the run. It also took The Next Generation’s clean and perfect future world, and dirtied it up a bit, further developing the conflict between the Federation and the Bajorans who were reluctant to have them there, and the Cardassians who no one wanted, but were there anyway, and throwing Federation terrorists into the mix. Season 3 is where Deep Space Nine becomes epic, as it’s here that the Dominion is revealed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

At the edge of the final frontier there’s... politics. The planet Bajor has finally been returned to its population after decades of occupation, oppression, and exploitation by the Cardassian Empire. The wrecked world needs help getting back on its feet, and the provisional government has called in the Federation and Starfleet to administer the space station the Cardassians left behind, now dubbed Deep Space Nine, in the hope that it will become a hub for trade and commerce in the sector. To that end, and to move the Bajorans toward eventual Federation membership, Commander Benjamin Sisko has been assigned to DS9, although he only reluctantly accepts the posting. And not all of the Bajorans want the Federation there, certainly not the Bajoran liaison, his second in command, Major Kira Nerys. But when they discover a wormhole in the nearby Denorius Belt, the first known stable wormhole in existence, offering a shortcut to the Gamma Quadrant, Bajor suddenly becomes the centre of galactic attention, and that might be just the excuse the Cardassians need to move back in again.


At the end of the previous season, following a year of rumour and hearsay, the Federation finally encountered the major power in the Gamma Quadrant, the Dominion, in the form of their military, the Jem’Hadar. It was a less than diplomatic encounter which aptly demonstrated the Dominion’s technical superiority. Since that incident, the staff of Deep Space Nine have been trying to formulate a suitable defence should the Jem’Hadar come through the wormhole, but nothing they have even comes close.

26 episodes of Season 2 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are presented across 7 discs, with extras from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Disc 1
1. The Search, Part I
2. The Search, Part II
Three runabouts and a space station aren’t much for the first line of defence against the Dominion, but the odds might just have shifted when Commander Sisko returns from Earth with a powerful warship at his command. On top of that, the Defiant is the one Starfleet vessel mandated to carry a cloaking device. That needs security, so with the Defiant comes a Romulan, T’Rul to oversee the cloak, and Starfleet security Lieutenant Michael Eddington, an arrival that ruffles Odo’s feathers to the point that he resigns as head of station security. Not that there’s much time for soothing hurt feelings, as Defiant’s first mission is to go discreetly into the Gamma Quadrant, and seek out the elusive Founders, leaders of the Dominion, to establish diplomatic and peaceful relations, to assure them that the Federation has no expansionist designs. Odo comes along at the behest of Major Kira, as a representative of the Bajoran government, but the search for the Founders ends almost as soon as it begins when the Jem’Hadar attack. Odo manages to escape with an injured Kira, leaving the Defiant dead in space, the fate of its crew uncertain, and he manages to make it to a rogue planet in a nearby nebula where he finds... other shapeshifters. Odo’s finally come home, but home is unlike anything he was expecting.


3. The House of Quark
With the threat of the Dominion, the station is becoming a ghost town. Quark’s is in a big slump without any customers. That’s all except one drunk Klingon that refuses to pay. He pulls a knife, and in the ensuing, inebriated scuffle, falls on it and dies. But for Quark, that is reinterpreted as a glorious battle, the kind of story that draws the customers back into the bar. That is great until the Klingon’s relatives show up. Quark finds himself in the middle of Klingon politics, and on top of that, married to the dead Klingon’s widow, Grilka.

4. Equilibrium
Jadzia’s never played a musical instrument before; indeed none of the previous Dax hosts had any musical talent. So when Jadzia starts playing a tune on Jake’s keyboard, it’s the start of something very odd. Suddenly her personality is changing, and then she starts hallucinating. That warrants a trip back to the Trill homeworld and the Symbiosis Commission for help. But it turns out that a secret that the Trill want to keep buried might just cost Jadzia her life.


Disc 2
5. Second Skin
Kira Nerys is a Cardassian. DS9’s Bajoran second in command was supposed to visit Bajor to clear up some discrepancies in her files, but woke up on Cardassia Prime, as a Cardassian woman named Iliana Ghemor. And it appears that she always was Iliana, sent undercover to Bajor as a resistance fighter, after her memories were altered, only now having been recovered by the Obsidian Order. And now, a doting father looks forwards to being reunited with the daughter he had considered lost, and the Obsidian Order want to debrief their agent, and Iliana Ghemor can’t even stand her own face...

6. The Abandoned
When Quark buys some ship wreckage salvaged from the Gamma Quadrant, he’s not expecting to get a baby into the bargain. Commander Sisko has his hands full dealing with his own son Jake rapidly heading towards adulthood, but Jake isn’t maturing half as fast as this baby, who like all children is adorably cute, but very rapidly loses his charm when he grows up to become a Jem’Hadar. The only one on the station he will defer to is Odo, but when Starfleet learns of the child, they see the chance for a tactical advantage.


7. Civil Defense
Routine maintenance goes wrong when the wrong file is deleted from the station computer. Suddenly the computer thinks the station is still under Cardassian control, and given the crew’s panicked attempts to repair the fault, that the Bajoran ore-workers have revolted against their Cardassian overseers. Its response is automatic, lethal and ongoing. And while the crew attempt to regain control of the station, an automated message from ‘Governor’ Dukat continues to taunt them.

8. Meridian
The Jem’Hadar aren’t going to stop Starfleet from exploring the Gamma Quadrant, although with Sisko taking the Defiant, they’re being a little more discreet about it. A gravitational anomaly takes them to a system where a world suddenly appears. Meridian is an odd world, with it and its few inhabitants spending decades in another dimension, and then popping back into this one for a few days of corporeal existence. And after meeting one of the inhabitants who likes her spots, Jadzia decides to stay.


Disc 3
9. Defiant
Kira Nerys is having a bad day at work, leaving her grouchy enough to get prescribed medical leave and compulsory R&R from Doctor Bashir. But rest and relaxation suddenly becomes a lot more interesting when Commander William Riker of the Enterprise shows up looking to enjoy some leave time, and he also prevails on Kira to get a tour of the station, and the Federation’s beefiest little starship, the Defiant. Only he’s there to steal the Defiant, and take it on a mission for the Maquis, as William Riker isn’t exactly William Riker.

10. Fascination
The Bajoran Gratitude Festival is taking place on Deep Space Nine, although some of its residents have more to be grateful than others. Kira is grateful that Bareil is visiting, Chief O’Brien thinks he’s grateful to see his family again, Odo’s a little more ambivalent about the arrival of Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi, and Jake certainly isn’t grateful that he’s broken up with Mardah, the Dabo girl. Romance is in the air, but suddenly, people’s romantic intentions are taking wrong turns.


11. Past Tense, Part 1
12. Past Tense, Part 2
A simple trip to Earth goes drastically wrong, when the Defiant’s transporter, the cloaking device, and a passing singularity combine to send Dax, Bashir, and Sisko back in time to the 21st Century. They wind up in San Francisco of 2024, where the United States is still suffering under the burdens of social inequality. Without ID or money, and disoriented from the effects of the transporter accident, Sisko and Bashir are picked up by the authorities, and presumed to be homeless and jobless. In 2024, that means being reassigned to the Sanctuary District where the homeless, unemployed, and mentally ill are ‘provided care, and housing, and the opportunity to get back on their feet’. In reality, the Sanctuary District is a walled ghetto where the less well-off are forgotten about. Fortunately Dax rematerialises elsewhere, and a Good Samaritan finds her before the authorities do. Despite the inequalities and criminality they witness, Bashir and Sisko try and remain uninvolved, especially as they’re on the cusp of history, the Bell Riots in the Sanctuary District that will finally force the US to take care of its more unfortunate citizens. But during a fight over food ration cards, Gabriel Bell comes to the aid of Sisko and Bashir, and is killed. Suddenly history has changed, and Starfleet never existed.

Disc 4
13. Life Support
A Bajoran transport arrives suffering extensive damage and carrying casualties. Vedek Bareil is critically injured, and although Kai Winn is unharmed, she’s concerned about potential sabotage. It turns out that she’s been negotiating a peace treaty with the Cardassians, with considerable help from Bareil. That help seems lost when Bareil dies, but through a combination of luck and extensive intervention, Bashir manages to revive him. Bashir advises that he go into stasis until he can better understand Bareil’s condition, but Winn needs him alive and aware to help with the negotiations, and it turns out that Kira needs him alive too.


14. Heart of Stone
Returning to Deep Space Nine, Odo and Kira are diverted by a distress call from a freighter under attack by the Maquis. The Maquis ship leads to an unstable planetoid in the Badlands, where instead of finding a criminal, Kira gets trapped by a strange crystal which starts to slowly envelop her. It’s down to Odo to find out how to free her. Meanwhile, back on the station, the Ferengi Nog has made an unlikely life choice.

15. Destiny
With the peace treaty in place, three Cardassian scientists are coming to Deep Space Nine to help establish a permanent communications link through the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. It seems an ideal project in the name of peace and rapprochement, but then an obscure Vedek named Yarka arrives on the station, to warn the Emissary that a 3000 year old prophecy predicts disaster should the project go ahead.


16. Prophet Motive
Grand Nagus Zek, leader of the Ferengi is paying a visit to the station, which is usually a cause for panic for Quark, but this time the panic is more pronounced than usual. Grand Nagus Zek is a changed man, but it’s the kind of change that at worst could mean the end of all Ferengi civilisation. The best that could happen is the end of a short eventful life for Quark. The Nagus, the greediest businessman in the quadrant, has become a philanthropist.

Disc 5
17. Visionary
O’Brien suffers an accident while at work that doses him with radiation. It’s something that Bashir needs to treat, or it could prove fatal for O’Brien. And this is a good thing? For suddenly O’Brien is being shifted back and forth through time, skipping ahead by five hours to find futures that look increasingly disastrous, for him personally and for Deep Space Nine as a whole. He might just have a chance to prevent the worst future coming to pass, if the radiation coupled with the time shifts doesn’t kill him first.


18. Distant Voices
Dr Bashir isn’t feeling too great about his impending 30th birthday, something that Garak seems keen on celebrating. But this birthday is about to get a whole lot worse when a Lethean shows up, wanting to buy some very illegal biomimetic gel. Unable to take no for an answer, he attacks Bashir. When Bashir revives, he finds himself on an almost deserted station, broken down, systems malfunctioning, with the few remaining crew members behaving out of character, and the Lethean stalking them all. Worse, Bashir starts rapidly aging.

19. Through the Looking Glass
Something’s wrong when Chief O’Brien walks into ops, pulls a phaser on Commander Sisko, and forces him onto the transporter pad to beam away. When they materialise in the Mirror Universe, all becomes clear. Smiley wants Sisko’s help. The Mirror Sisko died in an attack, and Smiley wants Sisko to stop a Terran scientist from helping the Cardassian Klingon Alliance from obtaining a sensor that will help them locate the recently formed Terran Resistance, hiding in the Badlands. The scientist just happens to be Jennifer Sisko, who in Sisko’s universe has been dead for five years.


20. Improbable Cause
Disc 6
21. The Die is Cast
Garak’s shop is destroyed in an explosion, but the tailor has a lucky escape. But the obfuscating nature of the Cardassian exile makes a tough investigation for Odo almost impossible, and he has to call in some big favours. It’s a hunt that takes him from a Flaxian assassin, to the Romulan Tal Shiar and beyond, with Garak ‘assisting him’ with every step of the investigation. But the conspiracy they uncover has far reaching implications, as it looks like someone in the Cardassian Obsidian Order is looking to start, and end a war with the Dominion in one fell swoop. Covering his tracks is what put a death mark on Garak, but now that Garak knows all, it might just be the rehabilitation that Garak has been seeking. And as for Constable Odo, he’s just walked into the lions’ den, as a massive war fleet heads to the Gamma Quadrant to pick a fight.

22. Explorers
Sisko comes back from Bajor enthused. Having learned of ancient Bajoran space travellers, rumoured to have reached Cardassia 800 years previously using simple solar sail technology, he’s got a new hobby. He’s going to build and sail an ancient Bajoran design, recreated as an exact replica. The hard part will be convincing Jake to join him on a little father son outing. Meanwhile Bashir isn’t looking forward to a certain class reunion.


23. Family Business
Just when it looks like the bar is doing good business, the Ferengi Commerce Authority sends Liquidator Brunt to pay a visit to Quark. It seems that in direct defiance of Ferengi tradition and law, his mother Ishka has been making a profit. That necessitates a trip back to Ferenginar for brothers Quark and Rom, but when they get home, they find that Ishka’s crimes are even worse. Their beloved Moogie is wearing clothes!

24. Shakaar
When the First Minister of Bajor dies, Kai Winn steps into the role. One of the first things that she does is to contact Kira to go to her home province of Dakhur and negotiate for the return of soil reclamators for an agricultural project in another province. It makes sense on the surface, but the farmers currently using the technology are Kira’s former fellow resistance fighters, including the leader Shakaar, and they’re not willing to give up the technology after only two months, that the former administration had promised them for a year.


Disc 7
25. Facets
A Trill symbiont being passed from host to host means the accumulation of several lifetimes of memories and experiences, and it’s a Trill ritual for the current host to interact with the past hosts through the use of telepathic memory transference, and the help of some close friends. Jadzia has been neglecting this ritual, but the time has come to face her past selves. You’d think that her reluctance might spur from the murderer Joran, who briefly hosted Dax, but actually she’s more nervous about seeing Curzon again, the man who as Dax drummed her out of the Initiate Program on Trill.

26. The Adversary
Benjamin Sisko finally gets that well-deserved promotion to Captain, just in time for an ambassador to show up with a mission for him and the Defiant. There’s been a coup on the Tzenkethi homeworld, destabilising the region, and putting the wary peace between the Tzenkethi and the Federation under threat. Sisko has to take the Defiant and show the flag. But this mission isn’t what it appears to be, and neither is one of the people aboard the Defiant.

Picture

Deep Space Nine gets a 4:3 regular transfer that is just about passable on an SD screen, and you have to be a little more forgiving to watch it on an HD panel. Just like for The Next Generation DVDs before it, the show may have been shot on film, but its special effects and final editing were completed on videotape. Even on 480 NTSC, the show will look soft, and it’s a tad softer on PAL DVD with its 576 line resolution. The clarity never approaches that which a DVD can offer, and detail levels are low, colour somewhat faded. There are also some artefacts in the transfer, such as rainbowing (note the pylons of the station during the opening credits for a regular example). Season 3 sees the special effects slowly continue to improve, and the debut of Deep Space Nine’s hero ship, the Defiant. There’s more of a consistency in the effects and the visuals this season, although still limited by the format.

Sound

You have the choice between DD 5.1 English and German, DD 2.0 Surround, French, Italian and Spanish, with subtitles in these languages, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish. I opted for the English track quite naturally, and found that the dialogue was clear, the show’s music and effects came across well, and the surround soundstage was put to decent use in conveying the action sequences, establishing the show’s ambience. It’s a pretty decent surround presentation for a 90s TV show. I found the volume levels lower than for the previous two collections, although it was already pretty low on those. I found I had to whack my home cinema volume up to halfway on this collection.

Extras

This slimline budget release of Deep Space Nine collects the seven discs of the clamshell box release, and repackages them into four thinpak cases, with one disc getting a case of its own, and the other six sharing three cases, held on opposing inner faces. They’re all held in a sturdy card slipcase, with the art not season specific.

The discs take their time in loading up, insisting on sending The Defiant through the wormhole before letting us see the main menu screens. The episode discs merely list the episodes, selecting one will allow you access to language options, scene select, play episode, and navigate back to the main menu.

All of the extras are on disc 7

The Birth of the Dominion and Beyond lasts 11:09, and the creators look at the debut of the main antagonists for the series, how they stacked up against the Federation, and the subtle creeping of the s-word, serialisation.

We get another instalment of Michael Westmore’s Aliens (12:33), as he looks at some of the make-ups he created for the third season, including a look at Kira as a Cardassian, old man Bashir, the Ferengi, and the evolution of Odo.

Time Travel Files – “Past Tense” looks at this season’s social commentary episodes. This lasts 6:50.


The USS Defiant looks at the debut of the new hero ship in Star Trek, why it differed from the usual starships, and the need to up the action quotient. This lasts 9:49.

Crew Dossier: Odo sees Rene Auberjonois interviewed about his characters for 11:36.

Sailing Through the Stars lasts 5:31, and looks at the set design and computer imagery that went behind the Bajoran solar sailer used in Explorers.

Finally there are the usual hidden Section 31 Files, little one or two minute Easter eggs hidden around the extras menu. There are seven in this set, offering brief viewpoints on selected episodes, Second Skin, Family Business, Past Tense, The Die is Cast and The Search.

Conclusion

This might just be my personal favourite of all seven seasons of Deep Space Nine. I know that in terms of story, of ambition, and of scope, Deep Space Nine will keep improving right till the end, and there is better yet to come, and I’ll even admit to liking many of the future episodes more than those in season 3. But from now until the end of the run, Deep Space Nine will manage a major misstep in each season right to the end, in some cases salvaging them, in some cases not. But in Season 4, I can foresee having a whinge about the arrival of a certain TNG character, and there are character developments in seasons 5, 6, and 7 that still annoy me. Season 3 has nothing like this. It’s got the storytelling and the character development spot on in this season. The actors are comfortable in their characters’ skins, there’s a perfect blend of comedy and drama, which few of the other Treks ever attempted, the closest modern Trek came to the feel of the original series, and Deep Space Nine’s writers break the cardinal Trek rule and start serialising the story, events in one episode will have consequences down the line.


In this season we see the start of the Dominion arc, hinted at all through season 2, but taking centre stage here right from the off. After the explosive events of The Jem’Hadar, the opening two episodes see the debut of a new ship, the Defiant, with which the crew head to the Gamma Quadrant to seek out the mysterious Founders that run the Dominion, and pull the strings of their Jem’Hadar and Vorta puppets. Just to make things really complicated, the Founders turn out to be Changelings, the very people that Odo has spent all his life searching for, and they turn out not to be very nice at all. Through the season, we’ll keep on encountering the Dominion, mostly in the form of the Founders, as they use their shape-shifting abilities to infiltrate the Alpha Quadrant and manoeuvre events to their advantage, as well as work on Odo’s loyalties. Right from the beginning, we learn that no Changeling has ever harmed another, which leads up the season conclusion.

Other character arcs that start in this season include the introduction of freighter Captain Kasidy Yates, as a romantic interest for Sisko, the arrival of Michael Eddington, security chief of the Defiant, whose ambiguous and torn loyalties between Starfleet and Sisko are quickly established, presaging a very complex arc for him in future seasons. Quark’s mischievous nephew Nog takes a major decision in his life when he decides to join Starfleet, while Sisko’s son Jake eschews Starfleet and embarks on a career as a writer. Quark gets a new dabo girl in Leeta who will also have an impressive role in further seasons, but in just a couple of episodes here, manages to shine. Rom too grows a backbone as he stands up against his brother both for their mother, and for Nog.


While Season 3 might be seen as the continuation of Odo’s self-discovery, the other main characters aren’t hard done by, although O’Brien manages to escape being tortured in this season, unless you count becoming the object of affection for a Cardassian scientist a torment. For Kira, one romance comes to a tragic end, but the possibility for two potential romances open up, although one is more likely than the other. Quark manages to get married and divorced, to a Klingon, saves the Ferengi Alliance, and comes close to losing it all when his mother decided to get emancipated. Bashir comes face to face with his mortality, and a rival doctor. Dax has what could be called a bad year as she has to face her past selves, first the hidden serial killer in her past, and then all seven of the Daxes in quick succession (Think of a multiple Doctor Who story and you’ll get the idea). And then every few episodes, Garak will turn up and the screen will come alight with the richness of character writing.

Key story episodes in this season include the opening 2-parter, The Search, which for me kicks off in spectacular fashion in its first half, with Odo finally finding his people, but loses itself in its own over-complication, and I always wind up caring less about the story than I do trying to figure out just when the actual mission ‘ended’ and when the Dominion simulation began. The Abandoned explores the nature of the Jem'Hadar in more detail, revealing their genetically engineered addiction to drugs. Heart of Stone is the first attempt from the Founders to tempt Odo back to their side, by preying on his carefully concealed and ever unrequited love for Kira. And then there is the epic two-parter of Improbable Cause and The Die is Cast, which begins with Garak blowing up his own shop, and ends with a joint Cardassian and Romulan attack on the Dominion, debuting the first of the fleet action special effects set-pieces that would set Deep Space Nine apart from its Star Trek peers. Finally, there is The Adversary, where the extent of Changeling infiltration and sabotage in the Alpha Quadrant is revealed. If the end of the second season indicated that the Gamma Quadrant wasn’t safe to explore, the end of the third season reveals that not even their home is safe now.


As for my favourite episodes in season 3, I’m overwhelmed with an embarrassment of riches, making it hard to choose. I really do like the Ferengi episodes, as they always have a wry sense of humour. The House of Quark, Prophet Motive, and Family Business are highlights for me. The Dax episodes always seemed as if they were stepping outside the Deep Space Nine storyline, just a chance to explore this weird multi-generational alien, but Equilibrium was an interesting story. I love the Cardassians, they’re a verbose and vain people at the best of times, and when you have characters like Garak, Dukat and Tain filling the screen, the show becomes a joy to watch, no matter how heavy the storyline; and it got pretty heavy with Garak torturing Odo at one point. Second Skin is a fantastic episode, with Kira waking up on Cardassia, seeing a Cardassian in the mirror, and made to believe that her whole life as a Bajoran was a lie. Civil Defense is a nice, Die Hard type episode, with a security system on the station being triggered to lethal effect (and Dukat showing up to gloat).

A few episodes later, Tom Riker (Will Riker’s transporter twin) shows up having joined the Maquis, steals the Defiant and launches an attack on Cardassian space (incidentally setting up Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast), and Sisko finds himself actually working with Dukat to hunt the Defiant down for the Cardassians. This episode starts to humanise Dukat for want of a better word, the former dictator of Bajor. One of Star Trek’s occasional forays into time travel, Past Tense offers some interesting social commentary, which unfortunately is even more relevant now than it was when the show was made. Destiny offers a little more of the Bajoran religion, and Sisko’s role in it as the Emissary. Explorers is a fascinating sci-fi concept episode which allows for some father son bonding for the Siskos.


In fact it’s easier for me to point out the episodes that I don’t like, as they are few indeed. I don’t think anyone likes Meridian, Star Trek’s take on Brigadoon (one of those TNG scripts I mentioned in the Season 2 review). In it the Defiant finds a paradisiacal planet that only appears in this universe for a few days every so many years. Dax meets someone, falls in love, decides to stay, can’t, and everyone leaves, reset button applied to the emotional fallout at the end of the episode. Distant Voices sees Bashir trapped inside his mind rapidly aging, and it’s the old age make-up (which actually won an Emmy) that puts me off this episode. Old age make-up never comes off well I find. Through the Looking Glass is this season’s Mirror Universe episode, and it isn’t quite dismal yet, I guess because the main storyline isn’t quite intense enough for it to seem a distraction. Finally Life Support is a rare Kai Winn episode that doesn’t work for me. It’s the prolonged ending of the Kira Bareil relationship, with the latter dying by pieces, Bashir gradually turning him into an android, piece by piece with consecutive surgeries, and Kira unable to let go. It seems to do a disservice to the characters, although when it comes to romance, the Kira character was rarely served well by the men she fell for, who may have been written as dashing as in Bareil or Shakaar, but came across as somewhat insipid. It’s clear that the Bajoran women got the personalities in their species.


It might not be the pinnacle of Deep Space Nine, but Season 3 sees it at its most consistent, standing alone, going its own way as a series, and really developing in some interesting directions when it comes to the characters and the world they inhabit. By the time Season 4 came around, the Next Generation had been off the air for over a year, but Deep Space Nine now had Voyager to compete with which was back doing the exploring starship thing. Ratings were slipping, and studio people were starting to panic, which would result in major changes at the start of season 4. So Season 3 is the last chance for a while that you’ll have for the pure, unadulterated Deep Space Nine.