DS9 Season 6

  • 3 Background information
  • 4.3 Companies
  • 6 External links

Episodes [ ]

Summary [ ].

The season begins three months into the Dominion War , and things do not go well for the former crew of Deep Space 9 .

The crew enters Cardassian space to destroy a ketracel-white installation, Sisko leads a battle to reclaim DS9, O'Brien infiltrates the Orion Syndicate , the Romulans enter the Dominion War , and Jadzia Dax is killed by a pah-wraith -possessed Dukat.

Many episodes in this season focus on moral issues in wartime, especially the hard choice between different calamities such as betrayal of principles, treason, and the deaths of dear or unknown people, e.g.:

  • " Statistical Probabilities ": Saving the people from the Dominion vs. granting the people a greater chance of survival
  • " Honor Among Thieves ": Letting a friend walk into a trap vs. supporting organized crime
  • " Change of Heart ": Probable death of the spouse vs. sure death of a stranger who is important for the mission
  • " Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night ": Collaborating with an occupying force and contributing to the oppression of your people to obtain benefits for one's family vs. using one's position to fight for the greater good at the expense of yourself and your family.
  • " In the Pale Moonlight ": Engaging in criminal activities to win an ally in the war

Background information [ ]

  • This season was broadcast concurrent with Star Trek: Voyager Season 4 .
  • Bradley Thompson and David Weddle joined the staff at the beginning of this season as story editors, replacing the departed Robert Hewitt Wolfe , while Hans Beimler replaced Wolfe as Ira Steven Behr 's writing partner. Both René Echevarria and Steve Oster were promoted from producers to co-supervising producers, with Oster supervising the day-to-day operation of the set and Echevarria supervising the composition of the scripts.
  • During part of the production of this season the producers were not sure if DS9 would have a seventh season and were prepared to tie up the series at its conclusion. However, DS9 had always been assured that it would have at least six seasons.
  • As a result of the Dominion War , the Gamma Quadrant is not visited a single time this season. It is seen for the final time in the series finale " What You Leave Behind ".
  • Although over the course of the first five seasons, the show's handling of Bajoran religion had been a somewhat controversial and not always popular subject, during season six, religion would become more important than ever, with Sisko 's relationship with the Prophets brought to the fore, occupying an increasingly important position in the narrative. There had been several episodes which dealt with his role as Emissary of the Prophets (the third season episode " Destiny ", the fourth season episode " Accession ", and the fifth season episode " Rapture "), but this season, and the next, would attach more and more importance to Sisko's relationship with the Prophets, as established in the show's pilot, " Emissary ". As well as this, the Prophets (who we had seen only three times prior to this season; in " Emissary ", " Prophet Motive " and " Accession ") would become far more important and would begin to get directly involved in corporeal matters.
  • Characters which ' crossover ' from other incarnations of Star Trek: Alexander Rozhenko (" Sons and Daughters ").

Credits [ ]

  • Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko
  • Rene Auberjonois as Odo
  • Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf
  • Terry Farrell as Lt. Commander Dax
  • Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko
  • Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien
  • Armin Shimerman as Quark
  • Alexander Siddig as Doctor Bashir
  • Nana Visitor as Major Kira
  • Dennis McCarthy ("A Time to Stand", "Behind the Lines", "You Are Cordially Invited", "The Magnificent Ferengi", "Far Beyond the Stars", "Change of Heart", "Inquisition", "The Reckoning", "The Sound of Her Voice")
  • David Bell ("Rocks and Shoals", "Sacrifice of Angels", "Statistical Probabilities", "Who Mourns for Morn?", "In the Pale Moonlight", "Profit and Lace")
  • Jay Chattaway ("Sons and Daughters", "Favor the Bold", "Resurrection", "One Little Ship", "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night", "His Way", "Time's Orphan", "Tears of the Prophets")
  • Paul Baillargeon ("Waltz", "Valiant")
  • Gregory Smith ("Honor Among Thieves")

Companies [ ]

  • Foundation Imaging ("Sacrifice of Angels", "Favor the Bold", "The Sound of Her Voice")
  • VisionArt Design & Animation ("Behind the Lines")
  • Digital Muse ("Favor the Bold", "Sacrifice of Angels", "Who Mourns for Morn?", "Change of Heart", "Inquisition", "His Way", "The Valiant", "Tears of the Prophets")

See also [ ]

  • DS9 Season 6 performers
  • DS9 Season 6 UK VHS
  • DS9 Season 6 DVD

External links [ ]

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6 at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
  • Deep Space Nine Season 6 episode reviews at Ex Astris Scientia
  • 1 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
  • 3 Daniels (Crewman)

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Published Feb 11, 2014

Remembering "Far Beyond The Stars"

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans can debate which of the show’s 173 hours was the best one ever, but there’s no doubt that “ Far Beyond the Stars ” – episode #13 of season six – will always wind up in the conversation and that it will almost always rank in the top 10.

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

An extraordinary show, directed by Avery Brooks, it gave us a Prophets-inspired vision of 1950s science-fiction writer Benny Russell struggling to overcome racism and prejudice as he aspires to tell the adventures of Benjamin Sisko, who, centuries in the future, captains a certain space station.

The episode works on so many levels. It’s pure science-fiction. It’s fantastic Star Trek . It’s a showcase for Brooks as both a performer and director. All of the show’s regulars and recurring actors get in on the action, playing vastly different roles than usual. It’s full of in-jokes. And best of all, we get to see the likes of Armin Shimerman, Rene Auberjonois, Nana Visitor, Michael Dorn, Jeffrey Combs, Marc Alaimo and J.G. Hertzler, among others, out of makeup.

To celebrate the 16th anniversary of “Far Beyond the Stars” – it aired on February 11, 1998 -- StarTrek.com thought we’d revisit some of the terrific dialogue and share some “Did you know” bits. Also, StarTrek.com reached out to several of the episode’s key players – including Shimerman, Visitor, Hertzler and Combs -- for comments/memories. So, here goes:

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

“It's a damn fine piece of writing is what it is. And 'Deep Space Nine' is a very intriguing title.” – Herbert Rossoff (Shimerman)

“Oh! She's got a worm in her belly!... Oh, that's disgusting. That's interesting, but that's disgusting.” – Darlene Kursky (Terry Farrell)

"You are the dreamer, . . . and the dream." – Preacher (Brock Peters)

“Oh yes. If the world is not ready for a woman writer, imagine what would happen if it learned about a Negro with a typewriter. ‘Run for the hills! It's the end of civilization!’” – Herbert Rossoff

“Wishing never changed a damn thing.” – Benny Russell (Brooks)

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

“I am a Human being, dammit! You can deny me all you want but you cannot deny Ben Sisko. He exists. That future, that space station, all those people, they exist in here, in my mind.” – Benny Russell

“I have begun to wonder. What if it wasn't a dream? What if this life we're leading - all of this, you and me, everything - what if all of this... is the illusion?” – Captain Sisko (Brooks)

"For all we know, at this very moment, somewhere far beyond all those distant stars, Benny Russell is dreaming of us." – Captain Sisko

DID YOU KNOW? "The Cold and Distant Stars” served as the episode’s working title.

“We’re writers, not Vikings,” as uttered by Julius Eaton (Alexander Siddig), is a sly spin on Dr. McCoy’s legendary “I’m a doctor, not a…” complaints about the limits of his abilities.

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

If you look closely, a memo above Rossoff’s desk – which is from Pabst – says "No one would believe that a cheerleader could kill vampires." That’s an inside joke for Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans; Armin Shimerman, of course, played the recurring role of Principal Snyder on Buffy . (See below)

Not surprisingly, Avery Brooks considered this his favorite DS9 episode. As he said on the DS9 Sixth Season DVD extras, “I'd have to say, it was the most important moment for me in the entire seven years."

The item on Herb Rossoff’s desk is a real-life Hugo Award? It belonged to Rick Sternbach.

The cover of the March 1953 issue of Incredible Tales depicts the surface of Delta Vega as seen in " Where No Man Has Gone Before ," while the Galaxy magazine cover art features a matte painting of Starbase 11, glimpsed in the episode " Court Martial ."

“Far Beyond the Stars” earned three Emmy Award nominations:  Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series, Outstanding Art Direction for a Series and Outstanding Costume Design for a Series (Robert Blackman).

ACTOR MEMORIES/COMMENTS

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

NANA VISITOR: “There are only two things that come to mind. One was that I fashioned my look on a self-portrait my mother had done of herself when she was my age at that time period -- and I looked eerily identical. In one of the shots I took the pose she was in --  hand to chin -- and it was a little secret homage to my mother. The other thing was how on-the-edge Avery's performance was. When his character collapses, I remember being alarmed and unsure that the actor was OK. I'd never gotten scared like that for another actor's welfare in all my experience. It was chilling to watch.”

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

ARMIN SHIMERMAN: “‘Far beyond the Stars’ is my favorite episode of DS9 . It is not just good Star Trek , but the best of Science Fiction, powerfully combining fantasy with social commentary. Racism is bred in the bone of American culture.Even in the 21st century, we all need to be reminded of the scars and tragedies that that plague left on our national conscience, so that we and future generations never forget its ugliness. It was brilliantly conceived by Marc Zicree, brilliantly written by Ira Behr and the staff, and most brilliantly directed by Avery Brooks. I especially remember Avery giving an Emmy-deserving performance as he broke down over the crushing of Ben's dreams. I had tears in my eyes as I watched off camera. I know many of the Niner fans did the same. Non-Star Trek fans often sneer at our franchise's frothy and light entertainment. ‘Oh yes,’ they say, ‘you pose some interesting questions; but to what end?’ I always suggest watching this episode to rebut the inanity of ‘To what end?’

“It is no secret that all the usual characters in our ensemble were asked to play other slightly tangential personas, which allowed some of us to come out from behind our prosthetic makeups. I distinctly remember Pat, our prop guy, saying to me, ‘Armin, it’s so disconcerting to look at you out of makeup at work.’ This after years of working week in and week out AND seeing me hundreds of times out of makeup. I remember think at the time, ‘Why?’ Sixteen years later, I still have no answer. It is a little known fact that, as first conceived, Zicree saw me as the less-than-collegial head editor that Rene played. For all sorts of reasons, I am very happy that Ira saw fit to nix that idea.

“One last memory,” Shimerman adds. “The scenic design staff would often leave small inconsequential messages on the sets of the Star Trek shows. As I lazed around my (Herb's) desk at the episode's writers' office while the lighting crew did their prep,I found a post-it attached to a folder. It was seemingly from an imaginary higher-up in the publishing office and read, ‘Herb, your idea of a young girl being a Vampire Slayer will never fly.’ I laughed and laughed. I believe that is the only time the production or anyone (except the actors) ever acknowledged my other existence on Buffy . To this day, I regret not saving that yellow message.”

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

MICHAEL DORN: "I just remember how wonderful it was to NOT be in makeup. Also, after being in makeup and watching most of the cast in makeup for a number of years you tend to forget how wonderful they are as actors when there playing human beings and contemporary parts. So solid, and with an ease that you realize why they are where they are in their career.It was a pleasure to watch on the set and to watch the finished product. But the 'wonderfullness' of the filming always had the caveat that it would be over soon and I'd be back in Worf-dom. So I enjoyed it to the fullest when it was happening..."

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

JEFFREY COMBS: “It was one of the most poignant,  powerful and masterful episodes in all of Star Trek. And that's saying something. I have vivid memories of the shoot. We shot exteriors on the New York Street on the Paramount lot. The fact that it was an all-night shoot was unique. I wonder if any other Star Trek episode ever did that? The street was filled with vintage cars and slews of actors and extras in period dress. It was like traveling in a time machine back to the 50s. So magical. I hung out a lot with Ira Steven Behr in between shots. It's one of my favorite episodes in all of Star Trek .I’m so proud to be a small part of something so great.”

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

J.G. HERTZLER: “I loved watching the acting chops of Rene and Armin, joyfully out from under the latex and chewing the scenery as they were classically trained to do. There were some great performances in that show, great writing in that show... and Avery directed with genius. As we sat around the table discussing the magazine stories to be included in the next issue, I drew sketches of all the actors there. I returned those drawings to the prop department at end of show... and wish I had them now! This is the one episode that could be transitioned into a series... think Mad Men , but in the 50's NYC: great images, great sci-fi, great changes in the Big Apple, and America. It would be brilliant. Anyone want to join me pursuing it?! Here's your chance.”

What was your favorite memory of "Far Beyond the Stars"?

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After a friend's ship is destroyed by the Dominion, a despondent Sisko contemplates resigning from Starfleet while experiencing visions of himself and his crew as sci-fi writers in 1950s America.

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

Penny Johnson Jerald

Joseph Sisko

Brock Peters

Cassie

Jeffrey Combs

News Vendor

Aron Eisenberg

Officer Burt Ryan

Marc Alaimo

Preacher

J.G. Hertzler

Benny Russell

Avery Brooks

Cast appearances.

Odo

René Auberjonois

Dr. Julian Bashir

Alexander Siddig

Jake Sisko

Cirroc Lofton

Chief Miles O'Brien

Colm Meaney

Quark

Armin Shimerman

Colonel Kira Nerys

Nana Visitor

Lt. Commander Worf

Michael Dorn

Captain Benjamin Sisko

Terry Farrell

Episode discussion.

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star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Far Beyond the Stars

Cast & crew.

Brock Peters

Joseph Sisko/Preacher

Jeffrey Combs

Weyoun/Officer Mulkahey

Marc Alaimo

Gul Dukat/Officer Ryan

J.G. Hertzler

Gen. Martok/Roy Ritterhouse

Aron Eisenberg

Ensign Nog/Newspaper Vendor

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  • AV Undercover

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine : "Far Beyond The Stars"

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Far Beyond The Stars"

“Far Beyond The Stars” (season 6, episode 13; originally aired 2/11/1998) In which Benny Russell writes his story…

(Available on Netflix , Hulu , and Amazon .)

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Metaphors are fine. Metaphors are, in fact, perfectly lovely and useful and amazing tools when it comes to telling stories. I love a good metaphor, because it’s poetic and just plain fun, coming at your brain sideways in order to trick you into understanding an idea by making you think about something else. A metaphor can be a kind of code, a form of subversion that ostensibly secrets a powerful message inside a seemingly harmless framework. Want to talk about the horrors of war without mentioning a specific conflict? Throw on some fake ears and foley in a few laser blasts, and call the whole thing The Battle Of Kanak’Kar or something. Want to discuss sexual orientation and gender issues? Put everything on another planet, with aliens who look just like us but are slightly different, and have a ball. The metaphor becomes not just a tool inside the text, but the text (or visual medium) itself. It creates a cushion of distance between the subject and the presentation, and that distance allows everyone to contemplate potentially divisive or explosive topics from a remove. Maybe you can’t change minds by tricking them, but it’s a start, and it’s better than staying silent, right?

Sometimes, though, a metaphor isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to scream—not talk about screaming, not have someone scream in some different, made-up language that nerds will obsess over for years to come; not couch a scream in diffidence or bury it in poetry. Just scream. Maybe then, someone will hear you.

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Star Trek has a long history of using science fiction tropes to deal with social issues. We did a semi-jokey Inventory on the subject four years ago, and it’s always been a symbol of the franchise’s noblest aims—to be more than just an adventure show, to have ambition beyond nifty monsters and star fields. But as admirable as that aim is, it’s too often a clunky, heavy-handed way to moralize. Check that Inventory more closely, and you’ll realize that while most of those episodes (and films) are fun, few of them rank in any of their respective series’ best. Using a metaphor to tackle a controversial issue is an approach that reeks of putting message before story, which can easily turn into an excuse to lecture an audience; after all, most messages come with a specific moral value attached, which means there’s little room for ambiguity or mystery. Force-feeding is rarely an effective means of storytelling or lesson teaching. At the time, it lets everyone pat themselves on the back for being progressive and clever; decades later, it looks pedantic, trite, and more than a little campy.

This isn’t always the case. Star Trek: The Next Generation managed to do issue episodes better than the original series, and some of its attempts are very strong stuff. But even then, the metaphor works best when it deals in broad terms. “Darmok” is a fascinating examination of the difficulties of communication between cultures, and the challenge of finding common ground. You could apply it to any number of disastrous encounters between different races of humankind, but there’s no need to. The fundamental truth transcends the specific. Something like “The Outcast,” which has Riker falling for an androgynous alien from a society where gender distinctions are harshly censured, succeeds, in part, because its soul isn’t just about the persecution of the homosexual or the transgendered. If you want to, you can take a powerful statement on the importance of tolerance and respect for all sexual orientations from the episode. But you can also look on it as a critique of totalitarian governments. Or just a tragedy about Riker losing a friend. By tapping into the universal concepts underlying specific cultural problems, TNG was able to get their point across without being anchored to one view. It’s a potent use of metaphor, and yet there’s a distance to it. The separation between our world and the ones we see on screen means that commentary comes at a remove. The remove makes the criticism easier to take, but it also diminishes its impact. This isn’t personal, the metaphor allows us to believe. We’re only observing. We’re not a part of this.

“Far Beyond The Stars” takes the metaphor and turns it inside out. It is not a subtle hour of television. It has its gimmicks, but the gimmicks are in no way relative to its effect. The double-casting—seeing familiar faces in different roles, seeing actors out of make-up, seeing Michael Dorn smiling—is fun to watch, but there’s something sad about it, too; something lost and awkward and lonely. This is not an episode which holds back. There is no happy ending for its hero. Instead of using the illusions of fiction to cloak or obscure painful realities, writer Benny Russell (Avery Brooks) attempts transcendence. There is no comforting distance between us and his situation, no camouflage for his pain. Even the time (Benny is in 1953 America) isn’t all that far away. There is no protection for an audience eager to cling to its illusions. This is a desperate man’s effort to cling to sanity, to speak and be heard in a place which demands his silence. The metaphor is not there to teach us a lesson about the suffering. The metaphor is there so that the suffering might rise above.

In case the four paragraph preamble to a point didn’t tip you off, I’m not entirely sure how to approach this one. It’s exceptional in a way that makes me nervous about dissection or critique. I’m used to writing silly things about reversed polarity and Cardassians and what not. Racial injustice is not something I feel qualified to discuss. I can’t quote you specifics on the struggles of African American pulp fiction writers from the 1950s, nor can I offer a personal anecdote in any way relevant to the matter at hand. To do the latter would be obscene; not because the episode is some holy, sacred object (I liked it a lot, and it’s grown on me since watching it, but it’s kind of crazy and clunky at times, sort of like this review), but because I, in my limited experience, cannot speak to Benny’s plight. When it’s Sisko, or Bashir, or Odo, or Kira—I get that. That’s easy. But actual systematic prejudice? I’ve had the biological and geographical luck to have been spared such a thing, and while I can empathize (great art makes empathy easier), I'm also reluctant to speak with any kind of authority on the subject.

Part of the value, then, of an hour like this (and yeah, it’s not all set in the past, and the way the script and Avery Brooks’ direction chooses to integrate the “reality” of the show with the “reality” of Benny’s world is quite striking) is by presenting a different perspective from the sort that usually gets center stage in popular entertainment. It’s true that Brooks is the first black lead of a Trek series, and it’s true that Deep Space Nine (much to its credit) has never tried to downplay or ignore this. Yet DS9 takes place in a comparatively utopian future. It’s a more pessimistic show than TNG , but that pessimism doesn’t take away from the fact that the Federation—the dominant “good guy” force—doesn’t discriminate based on race or, one would hope, gender or sexual preference. To the audience, Sisko’s blackness is an important step forward for the franchise, indicating a broader acceptance of non-white protagonists. In the context of the show, though, it’s just another part of who he is; it matters, but it doesn’t define him in the eyes of those around him. There’s something refreshing about that, of the fantasy of a future which has so many different kinds of people (human and otherwise) that you’re too busy trying to keep up to hate any of them. (Unless you’re a Cardassian. Things are pretty easy then.)

At the same time, though, there’s a lie in that fantasy, the same lie people tell themselves when they talk about “post-racial” America. The future is a lovely place to imagine, but we don’t live there, and in the present, things are more complicated, more frustrating, and quite often more awful. Today, diversity in television and film remains a pressing issue, because by clinging to narrow definitions of “protagonist”—by insisting that audiences are ready to see onl certain genders or ethnicities in certain roles—we are robbed of the width and breadth of experience that fiction is supposed to provide. Worse, many of us are robbed of a voice in that fiction. So the simple fact that “Far Beyond The Stars” tells a black story with a black hero and his black girlfriend and their black friends means something. What happens to Benny has, like “The Outcast,” resonance that goes beyond one person’s pain, but no matter how deep or far you go, Benny is still standing at the heart of it. It’s telling, and upsetting, to realize that it’s still unusual to see even an hour of television which doesn’t give us a white audience surrogate, that doesn’t have some square-jawed Caucasian strolling into a situation, taking its measure, and saving the day. There are white folks in “Far Beyond The Stars,” and some of them are quite nice, but even the nicest of them is fundamentally ineffectual. They can apologize, they can sympathize, they can even protest, but that’s as far as it goes. Benny tries and he fails, and even when the metaphysics take over, they can’t deny that simple fact. Anyone who’s watched enough TV has seen a story about a black man or woman being told what they can and can’t do, but for once, there’s no outsider standing to the side, shaking his head sadly. There’s just Benny and us.

That’s wrenching to watch. Strip away the sci-fi elements, and this is a straightforward tail of prejudice, with barely enough meat on the bones to carry it through an entire hour. Benny wants to write stories about a black captain; his editor, Douglas Pabst (Rene Auberjonois, who looks older than I was expecting), refuses to publish those stories because he doesn’t think the public is ready for them. They come up with a compromise—the stories will all turn out to be “dreams”—but the owner of the magazine pulps the issue, refusing to accept Benny’s work. Benny loses his job and collapses. He isn’t beaten to death (although his friend Jimmy, played by an amusingly unconvincing Cirroc Lofton, is shot and killed by the cops) or framed for a crime he didn’t commit. He just loses a chance to do what was most important to him, for no better reason than bigoted stupidity. Brooks spends most of his time as Benny playing it quieter than we’re used to seeing him. This is a man who keeps his head down, and then one day he raises it, and suffers for the effort. Benny’s big monologue is half-crazed poetry, the sort of broken heart madness that Brooks is so good at. He risks absurdity, but it’s earned. The hour manages its racism casually and oppressively, like getting the color of the paint on the walls right. Even Jimmy’s death is just something that happens, with no surprise at all. When the hero finally breaks under the pressure, it snaps the scene into focus. These aren’t just indignities. This is a constant battery of mental and physical abuse.

Brooks’ performance dominates the episode, which is for the best; the rest of the cast turns in work that’s varying degrees of successful. (Anyone wanting to get a clearer sense of everyone’s relative abilities would do well to watch this; apart from Brooks, I think Auberjonois, Penny Johnson, and Armin Shimerman come out the best). But even in the worst performances, there’s enough of a sense of the actor, and of the character we’re used to seeing them play, that it works. As for the metaphysics, well, it has its moments. Sisko’s transition from being stressed over his job and worried about the future to seeing visions of Benny and his world is defiantly odd, refusing to offer a simple, easy explanation for what’s happening. It’s not just a hallucination; Bashir determines Sisko’s neural patterns are spiking or whatever, much the same way they were spiking or whatever back when Sisko was getting visions from the Prophets. You could say, then, that this is the underlying truth of the entire series—it’s all just Benny’s fantasy—and I won’t say you’re wrong. But I’m not sure Benny’s world is ever solid enough to make that qualification mean anything. What we see is defined enough to make this episode work, but it doesn’t have the history or the breadth of the series as a whole to make the “It’s all in a writer’s head!” argument more than just a fun thing to speculate on in comment threads.

In terms of the character doubling, some choices are obvious: Dukat and Weyoun as asshole cops isn’t a huge surprise, and even though Cassie doesn’t have the same ambitions Kasidy does (for understandable reasons), her relationship with Benny is as strong as Kassidy’s is with Sisko. Other connections are subtler, like, say, O’Brien turned into the Isaac Asimov stand-in Albert Macklin, who loves machines much like an engineer would. Jimmy isn’t exactly like Jake (Lofton’s performance is endearingly forced, and he is, I think, the only actor to ever say the n-word on a Trek show), but his relationship with Benny is of the sort where you can imagine the writer trying to come up with something better for both of them, a situation in which the older man can impart some much needed knowledge to the younger. Seeing Odo as Pabst might be the coldest cut of all, as Pabst’s placating approach to his work is similar to Odo’s behavior during the Cardassian occupation: a shape-shifter who only chooses the form that will please his masters.

Yet Odo, our Odo, rose above this, and if you accept, for a moment, that Benny really did write everything we’ve been watching over the last six seasons, there’s something beautiful in how he tried to find ways to turn ordinary people into heroes. The writing staff at the magazine became a brave crew with complicated histories and passions; more, they became a family, one in which Sisko is first among equals. Cassie got a ship and adventure. Willie Hawkins, the lady loving baseball player became a warrior (a somewhat humorless and stiff-necked warrior, but when a guy keeps hitting on your girl like that, you gotta take revenge where you can find it). The asshole cops get justice as villains who will, in the end, be defeated. And Benny? Benny gets a space station and a loving father and a loving son. He gets the respect of his peers and the voice of the gods.

A metaphor—a secret lesson, a code to slip past the guardians of culture—that can do some good. It can be necessary, and useful, and just. But a metaphor can also be all that you have left. It can be a way out. A way free. "Far Beyond The Stars" succeeds because it does have universal concerns: the desire for respect, to be free to aspire without constraint. But by refusing to cloak those concerns in pure symbol, by reminding us that these things do happen, are, in fact, still happening every day, the episode escapes the trap of message and commentary and creates something unique. Maybe somewhere, Benny Russell is dreaming. And maybe someday, he won’t need those dreams.

Next week: We return to our regularly scheduled programming with a double shot of “One Little Ship” and “Honor Among Thieves.”

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Season 6 – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Where to watch, star trek: deep space nine — season 6.

Watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Season 6 with a subscription on Paramount+, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Avery Brooks

Capt. Benjamin Sisko

Rene Auberjonois

Michael Dorn

Lt. Cmdr. Worf

Terry Farrell

Lt. Cmdr. Jadzia Dax

Cirroc Lofton

Colm Meaney

Chief Miles O'Brien

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Currently available on 6 streaming services.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 6 (1997)

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26 Episodes

S6 e1 - a time to stand, s6 e2 - rocks and shoals, s6 e3 - sons and daughters, s6 e4 - behind the lines, s6 e5 - favor the bold (1), s6 e6 - sacrifice of angels (2), s6 e7 - you are cordially invited, s6 e8 - resurrection, s6 e9 - statistical probabilities, s6 e10 - the magnificent ferengi, s6 e11 - waltz, s6 e12 - who mourns for morn, s6 e13 - far beyond the stars, s6 e14 - one little ship, s6 e15 - honor among thieves, s6 e16 - change of heart, s6 e17 - wrongs darker than death or night, s6 e18 - inquisition, s6 e19 - in the pale moonlight, s6 e20 - his way, streaming, rent, or buy star trek: deep space nine – season 6:.

Currently you are able to watch "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 6" streaming on Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel or buy it as download on Apple TV, Amazon Video.

Season 6 of Deep Space Nine marks the height of the Dominion War arc, as it depicts the Federation and its allies in a desperate struggle against the Cardassian-Dominion alliance, which has occupied Deep Space Nine and the Bajoran system.

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star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E13FarBeyondTheStars

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine S06E13 "Far Beyond the Stars" » Recap

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine S06E13 "Far Beyond the Stars" Recap

Benjamin Sisko is now Benny Russell, an African-American writer for the Incredible Tales magazine. A newspaper vendor (Nog) is asking Benny if he is going to buy the magazine. His co-worker, Albert Macklin (O'Brien) shows up, and they head to the nearby office. Joining Benny in the office are Kay and Julius Eaton (Kira and Bashir), Herbert Rossoff (Quark), editor Douglas Pabst (Odo), and artist Roy Ritterhouse (Martok). Ritterhouse has drawings for the writers to base stories on. One sketch resonates with Benny: a space station. When a memo goes around the office that pictures of the writers are being requested by the magazine's audience, both Benny and Kay are asked to "sleep in late" by Pabst; as far as the readers know, Kay (who writes under a pseudonym) is a man and Benny is white, and Pabst would prefer to keep it that way, to Benny's chagrin. The ugly truths of the era's prejudices continue to rear their ugly heads, and while walking home from work, Benny finds himself confronted by two racist police officers ( Dukat and Weyoun).

Later on his walk home, Benny is singled out by a preacher (Joseph) who espouses the glory of the Prophets, and beseeches Benny to write the truth in his heart. Moved by the preacher's words and inspired by the drawing of the space station, In his modest apartment, Benny immediately sets to work writing a story. As he comes up with the name of his protagonist, "Benjamin Sisko," he opens the blinds to look out the window, but rather than seeing his own reflection, for a brief moment, he sees his protagonist, Sisko.

Benny finishes his story and shows it off to his friends at a diner the following morning: Cassie (Kasidy), a waitress and his girlfriend; Willie Hawkins (Worf), a rising baseball star combating prejudice in the major leagues; and Jimmy (Jake), a disillusioned petty criminal. Jimmy isn't so sure that the story would make print. The suspicion is confirmed when, even though most of Benny's coworkers commend his story, Pabst takes umbrage with the protagonist of Deep Space Nine and refuses to print it on the basis that the lead character is black.

Benny is disheartened. Walking home that evening, he is approached by the preacher once more, asking Benny to walk with the Prophets and to write the words that would lead them to righteousness. Undeterred, Benny sets to work on a new story, typing into the night another adventures of Benjamin Sisko. Throughout the next couple of days, Benny keeps having strange visions, seeing the people in his life as characters from his story; Kay as the feisty Kira, Willie as the proud warrior Worf, and Cassie as Sisko's love interest Kasidy. These strange visions distress him greatly, leading Benny to think he's losing his grip on reality and becoming Sisko .

The following day, Pabst explodes on Benny for continuing to write Sisko stories. Albert suggests ending his story as though it was all a dream, which may be the only chance that Benny has to have the story published at all, so he leaps at the opportunity. Beside himself with joy at finally having found success in his writing, Benny goes out partying with Cassie to celebrate. He is approached once more by the preacher, who cautions Benny that this is only the beginning, and the path of the Prophets would lead into darkness and despair.

Shortly afterwards, gunfire rings out. Benny goes to investigate and sees Jimmy dead on the streets. While trying to break into a car, Jimmy is shot by the same police officers that harassed Benny some nights before. The two officers brutalize Benny and beat him within an inch of his life for hitting one out of anger, with Benny seeing them as the villains of his story.

After taking a few days to recover, Benny heads back to the office to see his story finally hit the shelves. Unfortunately, when Pabst returns from the presses, Benny learns that the entire magazine had been pulped by the publisher. Benny believes the magazine was pulped because of his story. To make matters worse, the publisher has also fired Benny. Benny finally loses his grip, calling out everyone in the room and passionately defending not only his humanity, but Sisko and everything pertaining to Deep Space Nine : "You can pulp a story, but you can't destroy an idea!"

Benny suffers a nervous breakdown and is taken away in an ambulance, when he is approached one last time by the preacher, who commends Benny for walking in the path of the Prophets. When Benny looks out the windows of the ambulance, he sees a field of stars zooming by him as the Prophets' preacher calls him "the Dreamer, and the Dream."

  • There's a note from the editor on Herbert's desk rejecting the idea of a story about a cheerleader who kills vampires. Armin Shimerman was playing Principal Snyder in Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the time.
  • Roy is an artist. The actor, J.G. Hertzler is also an artist who was known to make sketches of the cast and productions during his downtime. Roy's drawings used in the episode, however, were not made by Hertzler.
  • Probably. Sisko does wonder at the end whether his vision of Benny was all fantasy or whether Benny's vision of Sisko is the fantasy. And it was actually intended for a bit to reveal at the end of the series that the entire show (and presumably the rest of the Trek franchise) was a story that Benny wrote.
  • One of Benny's colleagues also suggests this as a solution to get his "unrealistic" story about a black captain printed by adding a dream reveal at the end. The publisher still rejects it.
  • Ambiguously Christian : Russell is shown wearing a taqiyah, which was strongly associated with the Nation of Islam during the 50s, yet also seems taken-in by the Christian street preacher.
  • The newspaper vendor is excitable and in business for himself, much like Nog.
  • Kay is headstrong and pulling her weight in a traditionally male role, just like the freedom fighter Major Kira.
  • Julius is scholarly and even-tempered, much like Julian.
  • Herbert puts principles over business, quite the opposite of Quark, but he does quarrel with his universe's equivalent of Odo and bristles at the insinuation that he's a communist.
  • Albert is meek and tongue-tied, unlike the loud and bull-headed O'Brien, but he is interested in robots, something an engineer could sympathize with.
  • Roy is blunt and irreverent, much like Martok.
  • Pabst is a gruff authoritarian, much like Odo, although he goes along with societal injustices that Odo would surely rankle at.
  • Willie is a physical specimen and feels like an outcast on his team, like Worf in Starfleet, but he's gregarious and always smiling rather than a stiff Perpetual Frowner .
  • Jimmy looks down on Benny's fiction and is pessimistic, quite the opposite of the crusading journalist and novelist Jake.
  • Cassie is Benny's fiancée and interested in going into business for herself, just like the independent freighter captain Kasidy.
  • Darlene is vapid, very much unlike the wise Dax, and thinks that a woman with a worm in her belly is gross.
  • The street preacher provides moral guidance for Benny, just like Joseph does for his son.
  • The two cops are villains with government backing, just like Dukat and Weyoun.
  • As the Good Book Says... : The preacher naturally quotes from it, but Joseph Sisko does too, surprising Ben as he never knew him to do this. It's one of the few references to a real mainstream religion in Star Trek. Joseph: The question is, what are you going to do? Ben: The only thing I can do. Stay here and finish the job I started. And if I fail— Joseph: "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." Ben: I've never known you to quote from the Bible. Joseph: I'm full of surprises, aren't I?
  • Bittersweet Ending : No question, Benny's plight is a straight-up Downer Ending . But when he wakes up as Sisko again, he feels renewed energy toward "fighting the good fight."
  • Brits Love Tea : As an Englishman, Julius is unimpressed by one particular vision of the future—instant iced tea!
  • Bashir finds that Sisko is experiencing the same synaptic potentials in his brain as he did during "Rapture" .
  • Sisko living weeks as Benny Russell within the span of a few unconscious minutes mirrors Picard living years as Kamin in about twenty minutes during " The Inner Light " in The Next Generation .
  • Casting Gag : In Sisko's dream, Kay (played by Nana Visitor ) and Julius (played by Alexander Siddig ) are a married couple. In real life Visitor and Siddig had gotten married not long before this episode was produced.
  • Celebrity Paradox : One of the writers Benny mentions when reciting the list for the current issue of Galaxy is Theodore Sturgeon , who also wrote two episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series . So you have an episode of Star Trek mentioning a writer who wrote two episodes of the original series.
  • Chewing the Scenery : Benny's breakdown when he's fired. He sure seems like he's going to take that table with him.
  • Cigar Chomper : Roy Ritterhouse, Martok's character, frequently has a cigar clenched in his teeth. This allows him to affect a similar growling speaking style that Martok uses.
  • Continuity Nod : Worf's character, Willie Hawkins, is a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Willie Mays — same first name, team, and position, same rivalries, similar number (Mays wore number 24, while Hawkins wears number 42). It's not surprising that a Willie Mays-like character might appear in Sisko's vision of 1950s New York given his recent acquisition of Mays' rookie card last season...
  • Cover Drop : Rather than create an illustration that fits the story, the magazine artist draws a picture and the writers think up a story that will match it.
  • Crapsack World : This episode pulls absolutely no punches about 20th century racism, and the toll it takes on Benny and his friends; even Willie, an up and coming baseball player, can't improve his circumstances by much because "[White people] can hardly get used to the idea of me playing alongside them. Living next door to them? That's a whole other story." While it comes up less, the episode also notes the sexism of the era, as the magazine keeps the fact that they have a female writer secret and Kay has to write under a male pseudonym, and the Red Scare , as Herbert is infuriated (and likely privately concerned) that Pabst accuses him of being a communist.
  • Dirty Coward : Douglas Pabst is an example of moral cowardice; despite recognising that Benny being discriminated against is wrong, he does nothing about it and discourages Benny from making a fuss. (This is actually a bit of a leg up on his obvious real-world inspiration, John W. Campbell , who was an enthusiastic authoritarian and white supremacist.)
  • Food as Bribe : Herbert threatens to quit because the donuts are stale . Pabst lures him back with a promise of fresher donuts tomorrow. "I'll even throw in a couple of crullers."
  • Formula-Breaking Episode : The main story of this episode is about a writer facing racism in the '50s, with the main cast playing a different set of roles.
  • Framing Device : Sisko's experience as Benny is framed as a vision sent by the Prophets to keep him from losing his resolve.
  • Freak Out : Big time. All the racist abuse Benny deals with in his daily life comes out in a furious rant and ends up in a nervous breakdown.
  • Heroic BSoD : Sisko starts going into one when he learns that his friend Quentin Swofford has been killed. The vision from the Prophets is meant to help him work through it.
  • Benny is based on Samuel R. Delany , whose story Nova was similarly rejected by Analog magazine for having an African-American protagonist.
  • Albert Macklin, the writer of robots who eventually sells a novel to Gnome Press, is essentially Isaac Asimov , who sold I, Robot to Gnome Press. (Asimov was also a science consultant on Star Trek: The Motion Picture and inspired the concept of Data .)
  • Herbert Rossoff, with his brusque demeanor, outspoken liberal politics, and uncompromising dedication to his craft, is Harlan Ellison by any other scream.
  • Kay "K.C. Hunter" Eaton is based on Catherine "C.L." Moore , and the same reasoning underlies the use of initials. For the same reason, she's also a reference to D. C. Fontana .
  • Jules Eaton, her husband, is Moore's husband Henry Kuttner , who was one of H. P. Lovecraft 's proteges.
  • Douglas Pabst is John W. Campbell , both at his best (a dedicated and influential writer and editor) and worst (eccentric, racist, sexist, and authoritarian). Campbell was the editor who rejected "Nova," and, through his effective monopoly, ensured there was almost nowhere else to go.
  • The plot line about Benny's story is also inspired by the real world controversy surrounding the Comics Code Authority's refusal, on openly racist grounds, to allow publication of the EC Comics comic story "Judgement Day", by Al Feldstein and Joe Orlando. The story in question was a Robots Enslaving Robots satire of racism, in which the twist ending was that the disgusted human observer of the racist alien robots, whose face had been hidden in a spacesuit throughout the story, was revealed to be a black man. William Gaines's disgust at this caused EC to finally stop publishing comics altogether.
  • Rossoff lists the writers in the September 1953 issue of Galaxy when he threatens to join them: Theodore Sturgeon (writer, "Shore Leave" and "Amok Time" . Also making it a case of Celebrity Paradox ), Isaac Asimov (see above), and Ray Bradbury (who never had a direct association with Star Trek , but he did have a starship on The Next Generation named after him). Sturgeon really was the writer of the cover story of the real-life September 1953 issue of Galaxy .

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

  • Hope Spot : For a time, Benny is overjoyed that it looks like his story will be published after all. Then he's savagely beaten by two racist cops who have just killed Jimmy, spends weeks laid up, returns to work only to learn that the publisher had pulped the entire month's issue of the magazine rather than print Benny's story, and is then fired as well. On top of all that suffering, he suffers a breakdown and is carted away to a mental hospital.
  • Hypocritical Humor : Rossoff derides the cliched picture of a scantily-clad beauty menaced by a bug-eyed monster , then immediately picks it for his story. Rossoff: That is the worst piece of garbage I have ever seen. Ritterhouse: Thank you. Rossoff: I'll take it.
  • Insane Troll Logic : The idea of a Negro commanding a space station in the future is rejected by the editor because it's not realistic. Rossoff retorts, "And men from Mars are?"
  • Irony as She Is Cast : In-Universe . Greedy, hyper-capitalistic Ferengi Quark is cast as Herbert Rossoff, who Pabst suspects of being a communist.
  • There's a memo in the writing room criticizing the idea of a cheerleader slaying vampires .
  • The Benny Russell story revolves around whether anyone would be interested in a black captain of a space station, which is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine itself.
  • Herbert Rossoff is abrasive, self-important, and ill-tempered, but he's also an outspoken progressive and is Benny's staunchest defender, disgusted by Pabst's moral cowardice.
  • Willie Hawkins is pretty arrogant and constantly hits on Cassie, but he's friendly enough to Benny and seems genuinely concerned for him when Benny freaks out at one point. He's also quite friendly and appreciative towards his young fans, happily indulging them mobbing him for autographs.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall : Sisko is looking directly at the camera when he's pondering whether his life is merely the creation of some science fiction writer.
  • Mars Needs Women : One of the sketches Roy Ritterhouse comes up with (which the writers then have to create stories for) is of a beautiful, scantily-clad woman being menaced by what looks like a giant praying mantis. The writers scoff at the cliche, but that doesn't stop Herbert from offering to write it.
  • Match Cut : Dr Bashir hands Sisko a PADD showing his symptoms, and we instantly cut to Benny being handed a copy of Galaxy in 1950's New York.
  • Mood Whiplash : During the first scene at the Incredible Tales office, Herbert and Pabst get into their habitual 'battle of the donuts', the writers get assigned their stories for the next month — and then Pabst announces that the publisher is planning to run a picture of all the writers in the next issue, and he tells Kay and Benny they can "sleep in late" as he doesn't want the readers to know that the magazine employs a woman and a Black man as authors.
  • Most Writers Are Writers : In the alternate timeline, most of the main cast members are writers or other staff for a science fiction magazine.
  • The Incredible Tales cover also features the Delta Vega station from "Where No Man Has Gone Before", and Galaxy has a painting based on Starbase 11 from "Court Martial" and "The Menagerie".
  • Nightmare of Normality : The crux of the episode, with Ben Sisko (Emissary and Starfleet captain) deluded into believing himself a sci-fi writer in the 1950s.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed : The Incredible Tales staffers were based on various real-life genre authors. Benny is Samuel R. Delany , Albert Macklin is Isaac Asimov , Kay Eaton is a mixture of C. L. Moore and D. C. Fontana , Herbert Rossoff is Harlan Ellison , Jules Eaton is Henry Kuttner and Douglas Pabst is John W. Campbell .
  • Nothing Personal : Pabst tries to argue this over Benny being excluded from a photograph being published of the staff writers, but Benny certainly takes it personally.
  • The Oner : Benny's final speech is delivered in a single, long take.
  • Police Brutality : The detectives shoot Jimmy to death because "he had a weapon" (a crowbar used to break into a car) though it's indicated he wasn't actually threatening them. Benny hits one of them in anger over this, and they then brutally beat him, even when he's on the ground. Earlier, they give Benny trouble outside his place of work even though he wasn't doing anything.
  • Politically Correct History : Defied, unlike TNG's visit to the past, in which Geordi and Guinan both seem to have no difficulties in Mark Twain 's San Francisco. The widespread societal and institutional racism against African-Americans in the pre-Civil Rights US, both in its subtle and open forms, is openly acknowledged and is the main theme in the episode's plot. Additionally, the second-class status of women is shown.
  • Douglas Pabst utters the religious-based epithet "for Christ's sake". This was the first (and to date, only) time it was uttered in Trek franchise history and was one of the few times it had ever been heard on an American commercial television series. Even in the late 2010s it is rarely heard, even on cable/streaming.
  • Race Lift : In-universe, Pabst only agrees to publish Benny's story if he changes the captain's race to white. Benny doesn't budge.
  • Raygun Gothic : Particularly in the drawing that Roy Ritterhouse does of the space station, which looks just like it would have had the series been created in the Fifties.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech : Even as he's slipping into a Heroic BSoD , Benny Russell delivers an epic one to Pabst, and by extension the magazine and the entire system, before losing it completely. "To hell with you, and to hell with Stone! [...] Call anybody you want! They can't do anything to me. Not anymore. And nor can any of you. (starts crying) I am a human being, damn it. You can deny me all you want, but you cannot deny Ben Sisko. He exists! That future, that space station, all those people, they exist, in here (points to his head), in my mind. I created it, and every one of you know it. You read it! It's here! You hear what I'm telling you? You can pulp a story, but you cannot destroy an idea! Don't you understand? That's ancient knowledge. You cannot destroy an idea! That future, I created it, and it's real ! Don't you understand? It is real ! I created it and it's real! It's real!" (collapses)
  • Red Scare : A newspaper headline announces REDS TEST H-BOMB. Later, Rossoff loses it when Pabst accuses him of being a Communist.
  • Schrödinger's Butterfly : The episode ends with Sisko wondering whether he is real or merely the creation of Benny Russell.
  • Streaming Stars : As he's being carried off in the back of an ambulance, Benny looks out the rear windows and sees stars streaming past the window like a spaceship at warp.
  • Then Let Me Be Evil : Jimmy has chosen to embrace a hoodlum lifestyle, since he feels that white people are always going to treat him as a criminal and/or inferior person just because of his skin color and will never give him any quarter even if he is a perfectly law-abiding and well-behaved citizen, so he has decided that since it is seemingly no use leading an honest life, he might as well try to profit off of dishonesty and crime. Sadly, his choice leads to him being gunned down by racist police officers without just cause.
  • United Space of America : The drawing of a space station has USAF markings.
  • Visions of Another Self : A nearly episode-long instance of it.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds : The writers spend a great deal of the episode sniping at each other (especially Julius and Herbert), but they're clearly fond of each other despite it. When Benny is fired, the entire writing staff rally around him.
  • Why Didn't I Think of That? : One of the writers wishes he'd thought of using It Came from Outer Space as a title.
  • You Cannot Kill An Idea : Invoked almost word-for-word during Benny's rant.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine S06E12 "Who Mourns for Morn?"
  • Recap/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • Star Trek Deep Space Nine S 06 E 14 One Little Ship

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ST:DS9 episode guide – Detailing seven seasons of epic sci-fi adventure and intrigue

Once considered the black sheep of the Star Trek universe, Deep Space Nine has earned a repuation as a series far ahead of its time. Indeed, a look at these episode listings shows that DS9 could well have been the first-ever binge-worthy tv show. A few bottle episodes (“The House of Quark”, “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”) may be watched as purely isolated stoies while “Far Beyond the Stars” is set completely outside continuity, but the generally intricate plots and seaon-long story arcs help make DS9 well more popular among the contemporary viewing public…

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Season 2 episode guide

star trek deep space nine season 6 episode 13

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The seasons, the key episodes

Season 1 – Like all of the “new” Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine required a warmup period. Through seasons 1 and 2, the “A” listers of the Star Trek writing/production team were assigned to The Next Generation while DS9 was left with the generic sorts of plots that allowed exploration of character: Episodes like “Past Prologue” (Nerys’s loyalties are divided thanks to a terrorist friend), “Babel” (the automatic translator breaks down), “Dax” (The symbiote is accused of a murder she didn’t commit) and “Vortex” (Odo delves into his origins) and more are cookie-cutter stuff designed to flesh out characters and the environment rather than advance the ST mythos.

Season 2 – More warmup? Yes, essentially. The conspiratorial threat of “The Circle” pops up for a few episodes, but is vanquished immediately. Season 2 is perhaps most notable for the increasingly humorous interplay between the hypercapitalist Ferengi and Odo. The evil “mirror universe” concept, from which DS9 got lots of play through the seasons, in “Crossover” (episode #23). The season-closing “Jem-Hadar” introduces those badass killers along with their leaders, the Dominion.

Season 3 – Now things kick into high gear as DS9 becomes the flagship of the Star Trek TV universe with the conclusion of The Next Generation. The station is provided with a sort of mini-starship the Defiant, in order to peruse the Gamma Quadrant. And in the first three episodes of season 3 “The Search” parts 1 and 2; “The House of Quark”) is the potential of DS9 to effortlessly bounce from spacefaring drama to side-splitting sci-fi comedy. O yes, there’s time travel, too, as in “Past Tense” (#s 11-12).

Season 4 – The spectre of war begins haunting the proceedings from the opening two-parter, “Way of the Warrior” with a whole mess of Klingon ships looking to pick a fight with the Cardassians. By “Paradise Lost” (#12), the Federation is prepping for the inevitable cross-quadrant war with the Dominion skirmishes and conflicts break out throughout. This season includes another trip to the mirror universe in “Shattered Mirror” (#20), while “The Visitor” is the first DS9 episode to tell a story basically completely outside standard DS9 continuity.

Season 5 – Head trips abound in this season of DS9; by my count, Sisko, Dax, Worf, O’Brien and Bashir all participate in at least one episode wherein “Things are not as they seem.” The über-highlight of this season, though, is clearly “Trials and Tribble-ations,” the hilarious redux of the original series’ “Trouble with Tribbles.”

Season 6 – By the end of season 5, Dominion ships were creeping into the Alpha Quadrant, prompting Sisko to mine the wormhole to prevent their passage. War is declared, and thus season 6 of DS9 takes the ST universe to places it’s never been. The single darkest of all ST seasons, these 26 episodes are filled with edge-of-your-seat stuff that pushed forward the notion of heavy continuity of American television. Only by episode six (“Sacrifice of Angels”) does the station come back into Federation hands after its capture by Cardissian and Dominion forces in episode 1 (“A Time to Stand”), and the series enjoys its finest hour in the incredible “In the Pale Moonlight” (#19). But as though to show DS9 wasn’t dragging ST into pure wartime thrills, the incredibly deep (and utterly continuity-ignoring) “Far Beyond the Stars” (#13) is a more heartfelt examination of 20th-century racism than nearly anything in TV history.

Season 7 – The symbiote Dax gains a new humanoid body to start the season, setting the table for the wave of departures inevitable in a final season. All the individual stories are wrapped up – no, really, *all* of them, including one hell of a horrible fate for Gul Dukat – as all but Bashir, the new Dax, Quark and poor Jake Sisko leave the station by “All That You Leave Behind.” And check out that heartbreaking, full-circle last shot, with particular reference to the opening scene of the first episode…

Season 8 – Okay, so tehnically, DS9 never got reupped for a season 8; however, an interesting conceit in the 2019 documentary release What We Left Behind has essentially all the key stroy-/scriprtwriters developing a story for DS9 season 8, episode 1. The only negative to the imaginary episode creation is that we sadly shall never see the results. Anyone else miss this show...?

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Cast Photo

  • Avery Brooks as Cmdr./Capt. Benjamin Sisko
  • Rene Auberjonois as Odo
  • Nana Visitor as Maj./Col. Kira Nerys
  • Alexander Siddig as Dr. Julian Bashir
  • Colm Meaney as Chief Miles O'Brien
  • Armin Shimerman as Quark
  • Terry Farrell as Lt. Jadzia Dax [ 1-6 ]
  • Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko
  • Michael Dorn as Lt. Cmdr. Worf [ 4-7 ]
  • Nicole deBoer as Lt. Ezri Dax [ 7 ]

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The 10 best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes, ranked

For decades, Deep Space Nine was “that other Star Trek show.” It debuted in 1992, during the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation , the first Trek series to achieve mainstream popularity. DS9 overlapped in first-run syndication with TNG until 1994, and then with Voyager — which ran on primetime network television — from 1995 to 2001. Throughout its seven-year run, Deep Space Nine was never a top priority for studio Paramount or franchise executive producer Rick Berman. While this was a source of frustration for the cast and crew, the studio’s neglect also allowed them to take greater creative risks.

  • 10. In Purgatory’s Shadow/By Inferno’s Light (season 5, episodes 14 and 15)

9. Bar Association (season 4, episode 16)

8. past tense i and ii (season 2, episodes 11 and 12), 7. trials and tribble-ations (season 5, episode 6), 6. improbable cause/the die is cast (season 3, episodes 20 and 21), 5. rocks and shoals (season 6, episode 2), 4. duet (season 1, episode 19), 3. the visitor (season 4, episode 3), 2. far beyond the stars (season 6, episode 13), 1. in the pale moonlight (season 6, episode 19).

Under showrunner Ira Steven Behr, DS9 gleefully subverted the Star Trek formula , pulling open the cracks in the franchise’s futuristic utopia and refusing to be bound by the episodic nature of weekly television. DS9 ’s serialized stories and long character arcs may have made it harder to keep up with when it first aired, but it’s perfect for the modern binge-streaming model, which has introduced it to a whole new generation of fans. Thirty years after its debut, Deep Space Nine is finally receiving the respect it always deserved.

Selecting just ten episodes of DS9 to showcase is a challenge, as many of its most compelling stories are spread out across multiple episodes. Some of the episodes below are totally standalone stories, some are standout chapters in multi-part arcs that can be appreciated on their own, and some are two-parters that we simply couldn’t separate and had to list as a single entry. We hope you don’t mind us bending the rules just a bit — after all, that’s part of what made DS9 great to begin with.

10. In Purgatory’s Shadow/By Inferno’s Light (season 5, episodes 14 and 15)

By the middle of season 5, the Federation’s long-simmering conflict with the Gamma Quadrant’s conquering Dominion was nearing its boiling point. In a pair of episodes that mirrors a later entry on our list, shifty Cardassian spy Garak (Andrew Robinson) and surly Klingon warrior Worf (Michael Dorn) embark on a mission that seems inconsequential but turns out to have massive implications on the show’s ongoing narrative. Garak and Worf venture into enemy territory in search of Garak’s missing mentor, only to stumble across a far larger mystery. It’s a top-tier Garak story (and there are no bad ones), but it’s also a shining moment for Worf, who joined the cast of DS9 at the start of season 4 and was continuing to evolve as a character. While Worf had been a fan favorite on The Next Generation , his time on DS9 offered him far greater room for development, and By Inferno’s Light contains what might be his single greatest triumph.

At the same time, this two-parter is a vital turning point for one of Trek’s most interesting characters, dethroned Cardassian despot Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo). Over the course of the series, Dukat’s role oscillates repeatedly between obstacle and ally, depending on what best serves his personal and political ambitions. He’s driven simultaneously by a massive ego and an unquenchable thirst for praise and approval, and his desire to be seen as a righteous man is usually in direct conflict with his actions. In Purgatory’s Shadow is the culmination of years’ worth of development for his character, as the man who presided over the heinous Cardassian occupation of Bajor finally shows us what he’s really made of.

Lest it sound as though this series is all misery and violence, Deep Space Nine frequently offered viewers a respite from the grit and heartbreak in the form of light comedy and hijinks. In fact, until the premieres of Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds , DS9 was far and away the funniest Trek series, thanks to a game cast and an unpretentious writers’ room. While nearly every character gets to participate in the occasional zany misadventure, the center of much of the show’s comedy is the Ferengi, the species who functions as a grotesque parody of modern American greed and misogyny. Within the show’s main Ferengi family resides a dynamic that would be ripe for its own sitcom. There’s Quark (Armin Shimmerman), the amoral businessman who delights in exploiting his workers and hoarding his wealth; Rom (Max Grodenchik), his kind-hearted brother whose weak will and lack of common sense belies an unparalleled technical genius; and Nog (Aaron Eisenberg), Rom’s son, who breaks from tradition to join the ranks of the progressive and egalitarian Starfleet. The relationship between the trio, the Starfleet crew, and lovesick Bajoran bar employee Leeta (Chase Masterson) remains funny year after year.

But, of course, this is Star Trek, so even when it’s silly, it’s in the service of saying something interesting. In Bar Association , the employees of Quark’s Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade get fed up with their low pay and terrible treatment and do something that is outright forbidden in Ferengi culture: They unionize. Inspired by the words of Karl Marx and the long history of workers’ movements on Earth, Rom risks his job, his family, and his standing with his own culture to win the economic justice that his friends in the Federation take for granted. The episode is light and funny, but it’s also the most explicitly socialist episode of the franchise to date, making it a beloved favorite amongst Trek’s progressive fanbase.

Multiple live-action Star Trek series feature an episode in which our descendants from the utopian future are flung back in time to our present, usually resulting in some fish-out-of-water comedy and light social commentary. DS9 writers Robert Hewlett Wolfe and Ira Steven Behr took a different approach, dropping three of their characters into the audience’s near future for a harrowing drama about economic inequality and the American public’s apathy towards the poor and unhoused. Past Tense, Parts I & II beams Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks), Lt. Dax (Terry Farrell), and Dr, Bashir (Alexander Siddig) to 2024 San Francisco, where the poor are swept off the streets and confined to “sanctuary districts” so that the wealthy don’t have to think about them. When the trio materializes in the past with no money or identification, Sisko and Bashir (who are Black and Middle Eastern) are tossed into the ghetto, while Dax (the pretty white lady) is offered shelter by a rich entrepreneur. Inside the sanctuary district, Sisko realizes that they have arrived on the eve of a historic uprising and that it may be his fate to die there.

Past Tense was a projection of economic disparity 30 years in the writers’ future, but it became prophetic before it was even broadcast. During the filming of the episode, Los Angeles’ Mayor James Riordian proposed a strikingly similar initiative that would relocate the city’s homeless to a camp in an industrial park. The real-life “sanctuary district” never came to pass, but Wolfe and Behr’s depiction of the harsh divide between haves and have-nots in 2024 doesn’t skew too far from reality. But, importantly, Past Tense is not merely a portent of doom, but a call to action. One of the two-parter’s messages is the value of passionate, unruly, even violent activism in an environment where civility only benefits those in power. Asking the disenfranchised to quietly wait their turn for generation after generation doesn’t solve anything, and no one ever built a better future by smiling politely.

Star Trek’s 30th anniversary in 1996 happened to coincide with what could be considered the franchise’s peak in popularity, with two concurrent TV series on the air, the hit Star Trek: First Contact in theaters, and mountains of merchandise on sale. Both Deep Space Nine and Voyager produced special anniversary episodes celebrating Trek’s long history, and while Voyager ’s was the mostly forgettable Flashback , DS9 went all-out with a joyful and ambitious time travel adventure that used technology developed for the movie Forrest Gump to splice the cast into a beloved episode of The Original Series . In Trials and Tribble-ations,  Sisko and company are sent back to the 23rd century to keep a disgraced Klingon agent (guest star Charlie Brill) from assassinating Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner, via archival footage). It’s a nostalgia-soaked tribute in which the DS9 crew tries (and fails) to avoid interacting with the TOS crew.

For all that Trek traditionalists criticized this spin-off for breaking from the franchise’s format and challenging its long-held values, Trials and Tribble-ations  is proof positive that the cast and crew of DS9 absolutely adored classic Trek. It’s an exercise in pure joy, reflecting the nostalgia of fans without ever feeling cheap or exploitative. (This was decades before every new piece of Trek was expected to contain constant nods and Easter eggs in order to satisfy the demands of die-hards.) It’s no wonder why the episode is such a favorite, not only among DSNiners, but Trekkies who otherwise don’t care for this particular show’s take on Star Trek.

Deep Space Nine benefits greatly from its mixture of serialized and episodic formats. The Next Generation would habitually mix an important two-part episode into the middle of a season, but this would always be telegraphed by the opening title card. Deep Space Nine , on the other hand, used a model closer to that of The X-Files , in which a viewer might not know whether they’re watching a “monster of the week” story or an essential chapter in the ongoing mytharc until 30, even 40 minutes in. Improbable Cause starts out as a murder mystery in which shapeshifting Constable Odo (René Auberjonois) must figure out who tried to murder Cardassian expatriate Garak. This turns out to be an on-ramp to a much larger story with galactic implications, leading directly into The Die is Cast,  an essential early chapter in the series-spanning Dominion War storyline. (According to the official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , even the decision to make Improbable Cause into a two-parter was a last-second twist, as no one on staff could think of a satisfying way to resolve the plot in forty-eight minutes.)

At the heart of this twisty conspiracy story is a compelling character drama between Odo, a stiff and order-obsessed policeman, and Garak, an unpredictable secret agent whose conscience is frequently out to lunch. Garak makes an excellent foil to nearly any member of DS9 ’s ensemble, but there’s a particular chemistry between Garak and Odo as two diametrically opposed figures who share a common pain — they’re both isolated from their people, the only one of their kind aboard a station that their kin aims to conquer. The drama between them brings out series-best performances in both Auberjonois and Andrew Robinson, and neither character is ever quite the same again.

At the end of season 5, Deep Space Nine launched its most ambitious storyline yet, a seven-part saga that totally disrupted the status quo of the series. During the “Dominion invasion” arc, open war finally breaks out between the Federation and the Dominion, forcing our heroes to surrender Deep Space 9 itself to enemy forces. The station’s crew is divided, with Starfleet officers like Sisko, Dax, and O’Brien (Colm Meaney) fighting on the new, contested border and Bajoran nationals Major Kira (Nana Visitor) and Odo remaining to subvert the Dominion’s occupation of the station. The entire storyline is a series highlight, as each character is pushed to their limit in the effort to restore their home, but the third chapter, Rocks and Shoals , is the episode that stands out the most and is the installment that functions the best as its own, individual work.

Rocks and Shoals begins with Sisko and his Starfleet crew crash-landing on a barren planet, only a few kilometers from where an enemy vessel has, likewise, run aground. Both the Starfleet and Dominion camps know that their fate depends on which of their fleets comes to their rescue, but neither is equipped to send a distress call on their own. Can these opposing armies hold a truce long enough to save all of their lives? How do the Federation’s strict ethics survive the trials of war? The story also offers an inside look at the life of the Jem’Hadar, the Dominion’s genetically-engineered soldiers who are smart enough to know that they’re cannon fodder, but programmed to obey anyway. Meanwhile, on the station, Major Kira comes to grips with her new role as a tool of a fascist regime, and whether she can — or even should — keep the peace with the new Dominion leadership. Rocks and Shoals  is about the tragic nature of war, and the sad truth that there is no such thing as a “fair fight” between mortal enemies.

Since Deep Space Nine started airing before the end of The Next Generation , creators Michael Piller and Rick Berman aimed for the new spin-off to have its own unique perspective on the Star Trek universe. Where TNG ’s crew traveled the galaxy in a beautiful starship and encountered a new civilization every week, DS9 ’s would be pinned to a single location, a space station with an ugly history overlooking a planet recovering from a brutal occupation. Characters like Major Kira Nerys, who hail from said planet, cannot warp across the galaxy to escape their baggage. The story of the once-peaceful Bajorans and the cruel, colonizing Cardassians may not be the focus of every episode, but it’s never far away, and each time it’s revisited, our understanding of its horrors gets a little bit deeper.

In the first season episode Duet , former resistance fighter Major Kira comes face to face with a wanted Cardassian war criminal who presided over one of the occupation’s most horrific labor camps. From opposite sides of a detention cell force field, Kira and the Cardassian (played by guest star Harris Yulin) interrogate each other about their actions during the occupation, the lives they’ve taken, the crimes they’ve committed, and the guilt — if any — they hold onto from their experience. How does one justify genocide? How does one justify terrorism? In a “bottle episode” with no new sets or special effects, Duet proves the potential of a Star Trek that goes boldly inward rather than outward.

One of the many traits that distinguishes Captain Benjamin Sisko from his peers in the Star Trek franchise is his role as the adoring single father of a teenage son, Jake (Cirroc Lofton). Where Kirk, Picard, and Janeway have no room in their lives for family, Sisko makes room, and this is an essential part of his character. Jake may not be central to many episodes or storylines, but he’s always the most important thing in Ben’s life. The Visitor  puts that relationship through unimaginable strain when Captain is seemingly killed in an accident, leaving Jake an orphan. However, rather than being allowed to heal from this traumatic loss, Jake discovers that his father has become unstuck in time, reappearing every few years for mere minutes at a time. Ben is forced to miss huge spans of his son’s life, while Jake lets his own time go to waste by obsessing over saving his father.

The Visitor is the most heart-wrenching time travel episode in a franchise well-known for heart-wrenching time travel episodes, boasting one of Avery Brooks’ most compelling performances and a memorable turn by frequent Trek guest star Tony Todd as the adult Jake. Brooks nails the complexity of Ben’s ghost-like state, mortified at the time he’s lost while still treasuring every precious moment he gets with his son, who’s grown visibly older every time they meet. Meanwhile, Tony Todd embodies Jake over the course of decades, and even behind the layers of age makeup, he never stops being a wounded teenager who misses his father. The Visitor  was even nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Make-Up Design, which it lost to the Star Trek: Voyager episode Threshold  — ironically, one of the worst episodes of that series.

Though Deep Space Nine ’s more serialized structure allowed for greater complexity in its characters, the series also retained the flexibility offered by weekly episodic television. On a given week, DS9 might advance its ongoing narrative, or it might digress into a standalone genre experiment. The greatest of these experiments is Far Beyond the Stars,  in which Captain Sisko experiences strange flashbacks to the 1950s, where he lives out the life of science fiction author Benny Russell (also portrayed by Avery Brooks). While Sisko is getting swept away by these glimpses of the past, Russell is transfixed by visions of the future , one in which a Black man can be the hero of an epic space adventure, and he struggles to get his apparent imaginings published at the magazine where he works. Both of them feel as if they’re going mad, but which one of them is real? Which of them is the dreamer, and which is the dream?

While Star Trek has never been shy about the subject of racism, the franchise has usually approached it through the protective veil of science fiction allegory, with alien beings standing in for both the oppressor and the oppressed. In Far Beyond the Stars, the audience does not get to detach themselves from the conflict — this is the story of a Black American facing both passive and violent oppression at the hands of the white establishment. The only distance the episode offers is time — the notion that this sort of thing couldn’t happen in the 1990s or the 2020s — but even that doesn’t hold water. Instead, within the context of a Star Trek episode, the viewer is placed directly into the indignity of being a second-class citizen in the United States, and it hits hard. Avery Brooks’ performance (which he also directed) is so explosive that it dares you to call it hyperbolic, but in the face of constant danger and disrespect, how can any reaction truly be overstated? Far Beyond the Stars  is a testament to the power of fiction as an empathy machine, one that allows us to express our experiences and codify our dreams in a way that makes each of us a little more human.

Outside of the streaming era, In the Pale Moonlight might be the most divisive piece of Star Trek canon. Star Trek is, by nature, an aspirational show about human beings who have grown beyond our modern hang-ups and prejudices and been rewarded with lives of excitement and enlightenment. Deep Space Nine puts that utopia in jeopardy and, in so doing, questions whether or not it ever existed in the first place. While this is a prevalent theme throughout the series, the issue comes to a head late in season 6, at the height of the Dominion War. The Federation is losing, and their only chance of survival may be to draw their old rivals, the Romulan Empire, into the conflict. Since the Romulans won’t side against the Dominion without evidence of an impending attack, and no such evidence exists, Sisko enlists Garak to help him to manufacture some.

In the past, when a Starfleet hero was confronted with the choice to either do something unconscionable or die, said hero has chosen oblivion, only for the circumstances of the story to offer them some way out of the dilemma. That’s a fair decision for an individual to make, or even for a Captain to make on behalf of their crew, but what about when an entire civilization is at stake? Can the moral integrity of one person really be measured against billions of lives? In the Pale Moonlight  breaks the Star Trek mold by not offering Captain Sisko a way out. There is no third option, no saving throw, no deus ex machina. For once, right and wrong do not align with positive and negative outcomes. It’s an entirely atypical, deeply uncomfortable Star Trek episode, and not coincidentally, one of the franchise’s greatest hours.

All seven seasons of Deep Space Nine are streaming on Paramount+.

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Dylan Roth

As much as fans love to praise Star Trek as groundbreaking science fiction, it’s important to remember that, for most of the franchise’s history, Trek was weekly procedural television. Until the streaming era, each series was churning out roughly 26 episodes a year, and by the later seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, some of the creative crew had been in the business of making Star Trek for over a decade. The franchise was a crossover commercial success, the kind of success that the money men like to leave exactly as it is for as long as it’s doing steady numbers. The operation was essentially on rails, and there was a lot of pressure from the studio and the network to keep it that way, which accounts for the general blandness of Voyager and the early years of its successor, Enterprise. The waning years of Trek’s golden era were plagued by creative exhaustion and, consequently, laziness. Concepts from previous series were revisited, often with diminishing returns, and potentially groundbreaking ideas were nixed from on high in order to avoid upsetting the apple cart. That’s not to say that Star Trek: Voyager isn’t still a solid television show, and even many Trekkies’ favorite. The saga of Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and her gallant crew finding their way home from the farthest reaches of the galaxy may not be as ambitious as it could have been, but it is steadily entertaining, which is why new and nostalgic fans alike enjoy it as cozy “comfort viewing.” For our part, however, we tend to enjoy the episodes that have a certain emotional intensity or creative spark, that feel like conceptual or stylistic risks. As such, you might find that our list of the 10 best Voyager episodes differs greatly from some of the others out there. We like when Voyager dared to get heavy, or silly, or sappy, or mean. So, without further ado, let’s raise a glass to the journey ... Like Star Trek? Then check out how do I get into Star Trek? 10. Counterpoint (season 5, episode 10)

Counterpoint drops the audience into the middle of an ongoing story,in which Voyager is boarded and inspected by agents of a fascist government, the Devore. The Devore treat all travelers through their space with suspicion, but are particularly concerned with capturing and detaining all telepaths, who they view as dangerous. Despite the risks, Captain Janeway is attempting to smuggle a group of telepathic refugees to safety, all while putting on a show of cooperation for smiling Devore Inspector Kashyk (Mark Harelik). Much of the plot takes place in the background, obscured from the audience in order to build suspense. The real focus is on the evolving dynamic between Janeway and Kashyk, a rivalry that simmers into one of the Voyager captain’s rare romances. Kashyk works in the service of what are, transparently, space Nazis, but when he offers to defect to Voyager, can his intentions be trusted? Beyond its intriguing premise, Counterpoint is a particularly strong production with a lot of subtle hints of creative flair. Director Les Landau and director of photography Marvin Rush, who had been both working on Star Trek since the 1980s, shoot the hell out of this story, breaking from Voyager’s even lighting and predictable camera moves to make some very deliberate choices that build a great deal of tension around what is essentially a bottle episode. The makeup team, supervised by equally seasoned Trek veteran Michael Westmore, supplies a memorable and imaginative makeup design for an alien astrophysicist who appears in all of two scenes in this episode and is never utilized again. Most of all, Kate Mulgrew provides what may be her most subtle, human performance in the entire series, embodying Janeway’s famous conviction and strength of will while also granting a rare glimpse at her more vulnerable side without ever straying into melodrama.

Star Wars has contributed countless indelible moments and images to our popular culture, but if there’s one artifact that is most intrinsic to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, it’s the fantastical weapon of the Jedi Knights, the lightsaber. From the very first time audiences saw Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader cross glowing, humming swords aboard the Death Star in 1977, we’ve been absolutely obsessed, and storytellers across multiple media and nearly half a century have been only too happy to indulge our craving for increasingly elaborate lightsaber duels. Lightsaber fights come in all shapes and sizes, from emotional one-on-one bouts in live-action to wild animated free-for-alls, and selecting our 10 favorites from the franchise to date was no easy task. There are a lot of metrics by which to judge — the excitement of the action itself, how it’s shot, the story behind it, the use of environment, even the music to which it’s set — but the cream of the crop are those duels that either dominate one category or harmoniously balance each one. Will your favorites make the list? You’ll find we’re full of surprises …

10. The Ronin vs. the Bandit Leader (The Duel - Visions, season 1, episode 1)

If there's one thing that Star Wars does better than any other space opera, it's action. Since the debut of the original Star Wars film in 1977, the franchise has continuously upped its action game and put other franchises to shame. This week, the legacy continues with Ahsoka, a new Star Wars spinoff series heading to Disney+. If the trailers are any indication, fans are in for more lightsaber action and intrigue.

When considering the greatest action scenes in Star Wars, we decided that everything in the movies, the live-action series, and the animated series was fair game. However, the franchise's epic space battles have been left out of this list because we wanted to focus on the more visceral action scenes between two or more characters. After all, that is where the greatest drama can be found, as you'll soon see in our roundup of the 10 best Star Wars action scenes. 10. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Episode list

Star trek: deep space nine.

Nana Visitor in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E11 ∙ The Darkness and the Light

Rene Auberjonois and Alexander Siddig in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E12 ∙ The Begotten

Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E13 ∙ For the Uniform

Michael Dorn and Andrew Robinson in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E14 ∙ In Purgatory's Shadow

Nana Visitor and Melanie Smith in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E15 ∙ By Inferno's Light

Brian George, Alexander Siddig, and Fadwa El Guindi in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E16 ∙ Doctor Bashir, I Presume

Dey Young in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E17 ∙ A Simple Investigation

Steven Berkoff, Armin Shimerman, and Josh Pais in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E18 ∙ Business as Usual

Nana Visitor and Lawrence Pressman in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E19 ∙ Ties of Blood and Water

Wallace Shawn and Tiny Ron in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E20 ∙ Ferengi Love Songs

Terry Farrell, Scott Leva, and Sandra Nelson in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E21 ∙ Soldiers of the Empire

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E22 ∙ Children of Time

Avery Brooks and Ken Marshall in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E23 ∙ Blaze of Glory

Colm Meaney, Aron Eisenberg, and Andrew Robinson in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E24 ∙ Empok Nor

Aron Eisenberg and Cirroc Lofton in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E25 ∙ In the Cards

Chase Masterson, Aron Eisenberg, and Max Grodénchik in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S5.E26 ∙ Call to Arms

Jeffrey Combs and Marc Alaimo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E1 ∙ A Time to Stand

Phil Morris in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E2 ∙ Rocks and Shoals

Nana Visitor, Marc Alaimo, and Melanie Smith in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E3 ∙ Sons and Daughters

Rene Auberjonois and Salome Jens in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E4 ∙ Behind the Lines

Nana Visitor and Jeffrey Combs in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E5 ∙ Favor the Bold

Marc Alaimo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E6 ∙ Sacrifice of Angels

Shannon Cochran in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E7 ∙ You Are Cordially Invited

Nana Visitor and Philip Anglim in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E8 ∙ Resurrection

Hilary Shepard, Tim Ransom, Faith Salie, and Alexander Siddig in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

S6.E9 ∙ Statistical Probabilities

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Star trek 4's long delay is a direct result of j.j. abrams' biggest 2009 reboot change, why a controversial star trek: tng season 3 episode was banned in the uk.

A Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7 episode included a great callback to Star Trek: First Contact . Although Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation were directly next to one another in Star Trek timeline order , the two shows had little in common. DS9 was set on a space station, used a more serialized storytelling format, and dealt with much darker, more nuanced themes than the often very optimistic TNG . However, the two shows did experience some significant crossovers, one of them being Worf (Michael Dorn) joining DS9 's cast of characters in season 4.

Although he is perhaps best known as a main character on TNG , Worf's time on Deep Space Nine arguably added more nuance and depth to his character. Worf's arc on DS9 not only included his marriage to Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) but also his heavy involvement with the Klingon Empire's participation in the Dominion War, including the killing of Chancellor Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) during the season 7 episode "Tacking Into the Wind." During their fight to the death, one of Gowron's lines was a subtle but noticeable callback to something Worf said in a TNG movie almost three years previously.

Gowron’s DS9 Threat To Worf Is A Call Back To Star Trek: First Contact

Gowron's line referenced wof's threat to picard.

Gowron telling Worf “If you were a true Klingon, I would kill you where you stand!” on DS9 is almost a direct copy of Worf's " If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand! " to Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) in Star Trek: First Contact . Although different characters spoke the two lines, their context was quite similar, enhancing their connection. Both lines were spoken at the climax of their respective storylines during a moment of contention between two characters. Likewise, Worf's line in First Contact was because Picard had insulted his honor, while Gowron's line in DS9 responded to a similar insult from Worf.

Worf's threat to Picard still held a degree of deference to his Captain, showing that Worf's respect for Picard was the only thing keeping him from attacking.

However, given that both lines involve Worf, it is perhaps their differences rather than their similarities that make them more interesting. Worf's threat to Picard still held a degree of deference to his Captain, showing that Worf's respect for Picard was the only thing keeping him from attacking. In contrast, Gowron's line was a complete insult, making it clear that all respect between the two had been lost. These differences could be part of why Gowron and Worf's conflict in Deep Space Nine ended with violence , while Picard and Worf's confrontation during First Contact ended with Picard apologizing.

Star Trek: First Contact Is The Most Quotable TNG Movie

First contact had some great lines.

Including Worf's line, Star Trek: First Contact is arguably the most quotable movie featuring the TNG cast, with several other great moments that have stood the test of time. The most memorable of all the film's quotes was definitely Picard's impassioned speech to Lily Sloan (Alfre Woodard) about the Borg during First Contact 's climax , including his statement, "The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!" The scene perfectly illustrated Picard's hatred of the Borg and was a culmination of his emotional arc that had been building throughout the film.

Star Trek: First Contact 's introduction of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) changed the franchise's Borg lore forever and influenced the Borg's involvement in later shows like Star Trek: Voyager . The Borg Queen's existence and her connection to Captain Picard has even continued to have ripple effects in the modern franchise, such as in the second and third seasons of Star Trek: Picard .

Besides Picard's quote, lines like Worf's "Assimilate this!" during a fight with the Borg and the slightly tongue-in-cheek "And you people, you're all astronauts on… some kind of star trek?" from Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) combined to really bring home the quotability of Star Trek: First Contact . Long-time Star Trek writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga have a knack for writing quotable dialogue, and their combined efforts on the film helped to make numerous scenes pop . Other TNG movies certainly have their memorable moments, but most don't have nearly as many memorable lines.

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10 Best Rick Berman Era Star Trek Episodes, Ranked

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Producer Rick Berman oversaw what is largely considered the "renaissance era" of the Star Trek franchise. After decades of focusing solely on one specific crew -- William Shatner's James T. Kirk and his compatriots aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise -- the vaunted sci-fi saga suddenly grew in leaps and bounds. The success of Star Trek: The Next Generation prompted a trio of equally successful follow-ups, which ensured that Star Trek would never again be limited to just one group of characters. Despite troubling reports of offscreen behavior, Berman is one of the principal creative forces behind the entire era.

Between them, the four series encompassed 25 seasons consisting of over 600 hour-long episodes. It's one of the most prolific periods in the franchise's history, unlikely to be topped since more recent Star Trek series have fewer episodes per season , and naturally, it produced its share of can't-miss classics. The most notable episodes from the era are listed below, including entries from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. They represent the best of what is often informally referred to as the franchise's "Berman Era."

10 "Year of Hell" Gives Voyager an Unforgettable Villain

James darren, former teen idol and star trek: deep space nine actor, dies at 88.

Actor and "Goodbye Cruel World" singer James Darren has passed away.

Star Trek: Voyager often did well with fire-and-forget episodes, owing to its premise of being stranded on the far side of the galaxy. Of all the shows in the Berman era, it most resembles Star Trek: The Original Series in one regard: it was able to spend one episode on a single planet or problem, then move on never to return. At its very best, Voyager used the framework to explore fascinating concepts that nonetheless wouldn't hold up over a larger plot arc.

One such episode is "Year of Hell," a two-parter focused on an alien scientist using time travel to alter the path of the present. It's a brilliant notion that provides a plum role for Star Trek regular Kurtwood Smith , as the scientist who lost his wife in his temporal shenanigans and is now obsessed with getting her back. He makes a fantastic foil for the Voyager crew, and the show's format allows his story to be told without worrying about extending it past its potential.

9 "Terra Prime" Ends Enterprise Properly

Star Trek: Enterprise left too soon, cut short after only four seasons for reasons that had nothing to do with either ratings or quality. The series was forced to close its run on the most awkward of notes with the infamous "These Are the Voyages…" The second-to-last episode, "Terra Prime," is a far more fitting finale.

The foes this time are humans-first extremists, led by Peter Weller's icy villain , who first appeared in the previous episode, "Demons." They hope to disrupt the first part of the process that will lead to the founding of the Federation , threatening to send humanity into the past just as it's reaching for the future. It is gripping drama, embodying Enterprise's ethos of hope in uncertain times. While it deserved a longer run, "Terra Prime" gives it a spiritual ending worthy of the franchise's best.

8 "The Visitor" Breaks Deep Space Nine Fans' Hearts

Deep Space Nine is unquestionably the darkest series of the era , exploring the moral limits of the Federation on the edges of the frontier where right and wrong aren't always what they seem. Far from becoming a more cynical or callous series than the others, it often wore its heart on its sleeve. That was never more true than with "The Visitor," which focuses not on outer space, but on the guilt of a son who feels responsible for his father's fate.

Star Trek regular Tony Todd plays an older version of Jake, still haunted by his father's disappearance many years ago, and suffering a diminished writing career as a result. He comes to believe that he can restore his father, and his heartbreaking efforts to make it happen reveal the depths of the character's love and grief for his father. Thanks to Todd, it represents the franchise at its most vulnerable, and most human.

7 "Darmok” Gives Picard a Unique Challenge

Star Trek's various high-tech gizmos can easily solve a number of storytelling problems, most notably the nebulously defined "universal translators" which ensure that everyone a given crew meets can communicate with them effectively. "Darmok" brilliantly pulls the rug out from the notion when the Enterprise encounters a species that speaks entirely in metaphor. Without the context to understand their references, the crew is left baffled, prompting the alien captain to abduct Picard in a risky gambit to break through the impasse.

The episode effectively serves as a two-hander, with Patrick Stewart's Picard playing off against Paul Winfield's earnest alien Darmok. The latter is one of the most beloved stand-alone performances of the franchise, while the episode perfectly encapsulates Star Trek's devotion to ideas over effects. It pays dividends, not only is the episode an all-time fan favorite, but as Lower Decks later confirms, Darmok's species eventually joins the Federation.

6 "The Andorian Incident" Is a Showcase For Star Trek's Forgotten Aliens

This 36-year-old sci-fi sitcom is perfect for star trek fans.

Red Dwarf was one of the UK's biggest sitcoms throughout the 1990s. Yet, many fans praise the show for its links to another beloved sci-fi show.

Andorians have always been Star Trek's forgotten aliens -- founding members of the Federation who nonetheless have a shockingly small amount of screentime. The blue-skinned, antennaed species means lengthy periods in the make-up chair, which is why they tend to do better with animated characters like Jennifer in Star Trek: Lower Decks . Star Trek: Enterprise endeavored to change that by showing how the species came to form the Federation with the humans and the Vulcans.

Actor Jeffrey Combs became an absolute ace in the hole on that front, starting with "The Andorian Incident." In the days before the Federation, the Andorians are in a cold war with the Vulcans, and Archer finds himself in the middle when Combs' Shran levels serious accusations against his pointy-eared allies. For most of the episode, the Andorians are the villains , until a final twist that turns everything we knew about the Vulcans upside down, and sets the stage for an unprecedented alliance to come.

5 "Scorpion" Is Janeway's Finest Moment

The Borg may be Picard's white whale , but to Janeway, they're just an obstacle in her path. Some of Voyager's greatest episodes depict her grappling with the seemingly impossible task of taking them on, never more so than in the two-part episode “Scorpion.” The Collective may have met its match in Species 8472, forcing them into a precarious alliance with the Voyager crew.

Kate Mulgrew dominates the proceedings, as Janeway understands that the Borg can't be trusted and seeks to use their duplicity to her advantage. In addition to her brilliant chess game with the Collective, the episode features the introduction of Seven of Nine, one of the most beloved figures in the entire franchise. It's absolutely essential viewing for fans of Voyager both new and old.

4 "The Measure of a Man" Puts Data's Humanity on Trial

Brent Spiner's Lt. Commander Data became an instant favorite the moment he appeared onscreen, and his quest to become human constituted some of The Next Generation's very best outings. "The Measure of a Man" may be the cream of the crop, as an ambitious Starfleet scientist wants to dismantle and study him, claiming that -- as a machine -- he doesn't have the right to protest.

What follows is a trial to determine Data's status, with Picard serving as his advocate and Riker forced to prosecute him or else lose him forever. Star Trek tends to do very well with trial episodes in general, and Patrick Stewart is very comfortable with Picard's thundering speeches here. Underneath it all lies one of science fiction's oldest questions: can an artificial being have a soul? This question is explored in fascinating and ultimately affirming ways.

3 "Far Beyond the Stars" Dares to Look Racism in the Face

Star Trek has always served as a commentary on the existing world , daring to embrace contemporary issues and controversies in the midst of its far-future space opera. The boldest, easily, was " Far Beyond the Stars ," which re-frames the series as the imaginings of a Black science fiction writer in the 1950s. The characters all reappear as his associates and coworkers, who either encourage or stymie his efforts to tell his stories.

The episode takes a long, hard look at racism and representation not just in society in general, but in the same roots of the genre that Star Trek grew from. It offers no easy answers or comforting myths, pleading instead for increased awareness and representation. Its lessons continue to hold true today, both for Star Trek , and for pop culture in general.

2 "In the Pale Moonlight" Reveals Trek's Heart of Darkness

Though it doesn't look like it on the surface, the darkest moment in Star Trek history still belongs to Ben Sisko and "In the Pale Moonlight." Faced with a losing war against the Dominion , the Starfleet captain enters into a dubious bargain with Garak to leverage the Romulans into entering the fray. Doing so compromises every ethical principle he claims to uphold – including accessory murder – but it works. Two men are dead, and the Romulans have joined the war effort under false pretenses.

Deep Space Nine was always conceived as a look at the Federation's rough edges, where its vaunted ethics face all manner of tests and challenges. Sisko must ask himself what must be broken in the name of survival, and finds himself surprisingly comfortable with the answer. It gives Star Trek's famous saying "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" a decidedly dark permutation, as well as providing a stark moral debate that fans are still discussing to this day.

1 "The Best of Both Worlds" Is Still an All-Time Franchise Highlight

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Anson Mount opens up about the future of fan-favorite Captain Pike in the series' upcoming third season.

Very few moments in all of Star Trek -- regardless of project or era -- can match the memorable finale to " The Best of Both Worlds, Part I ." With Picard now transformed into a Borg, and prepared to aid them in the assimilation of Earth, Riker does the unthinkable by ordering the Enterprise to open fire on the cube, knowing that he is condemning his former captain to death . Season 3 ended on a cliffhanger -- a first for the franchise that left fans on the edge of their seats for the entire summer.

Data saves the day in the second part, and Picard is restored to his former self, but neither he nor Star Trek would ever be the same. The encounter would haunt him for the rest of his days, right up through the character's presumed swan song in Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard . The Borg officially arrived as major villains, and the franchise itself broke out of the stand-alone episode format that had dominated it since The Original Series . Resistance is futile, indeed.

The Star Trek franchise is now streaming on Paramount+.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

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  1. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Far Beyond the Stars (TV Episode 1998)

    Far Beyond the Stars: Directed by Avery Brooks. With Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Dorn, Terry Farrell. Captain Sisko has a full sensory vision of himself as an under-appreciated science fiction magazine writer in 1950s America.

  2. Far Beyond the Stars

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  3. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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  4. Far Beyond the Stars (episode)

    Experiencing a vision from the Prophets, Sisko sees himself as Benny Russell, a science-fiction writer in the 1950s, who struggles with civil rights and inequality when he writes the story of Captain Benjamin Sisko, a black commander of a futuristic space station. Joseph Sisko, Captain Benjamin Sisko's father, has left Earth for the first time to visit his son and grandson on Deep Space 9, but ...

  5. DS9 Season 6

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  6. Remembering "Far Beyond The Stars"

    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans can debate which of the show's 173 hours was the best one ever, but there's no doubt that "Far Beyond the Stars" - episode #13 of season six - will always wind up in the conversation and that it will almost always rank in the top 10.

  7. Watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 6 Episode 13: Star Trek: Deep

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  8. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Far Beyond the Stars

    Episode Guide for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 6x13: Far Beyond the Stars. Episode summary, trailer and screencaps; guest stars and main cast list; and more. ... Episode Info. Number: Season 6, Episode 13 Airdate: Wednesday Feb 11, 1998 Runtime: 60 minutes ...

  9. Far Beyond the Stars

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  10. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6 Far Beyond the Stars

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  11. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine : "Far Beyond The Stars"

    "Far Beyond The Stars" (season 6, episode 13; originally aired 2/11/1998) In which Benny Russell writes his story… (Available on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.)

  12. List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes

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  13. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

    5. Favor the Bold - As Martok's ship and Dax's Defiant play cat-and-mouse with Jem'Hadar ships, Siksko rallies them to retake Deep Space Nine. ***. 6. Sacrifice of Angels - Holy Fek'lhr, this one includes the mother of all Star Trek space battles: Six hundred Federation ships take on 1,200 Jem'Hadar and Cardassian ships in the ...

  14. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season 6

    Season 6 - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. A spinoff of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine" is set on a space station near the planet Bajor. This time, Commander Benjamin Sisko is in ...

  15. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series 1993-1999)

    Mon, Oct 6, 1997. Sisko and his crew crash on a barren world when their commandeered Jem'Hadar ship is shot down. They encounter Jem'Hadar who crashed there earlier, and have taken Nog and Garak hostage in exchange for medical aid for their Vorta overseer. 8.5/10 (2.4K) Rate. Watch options.

  16. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series 1993-1999)

    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller. With Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Cirroc Lofton, Alexander Siddig. In the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the galaxy.

  17. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 6

    26 Episodes. 26 Episodes HD . Buy . $29.99. $29.99. 26 Episodes. We checked for updates on 239 streaming services on September 12, 2024 at 4:33:58 PM. ... Currently you are able to watch "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 6" streaming on Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium ...

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    Bittersweet Ending: No question, Benny's plight is a straight-up Downer Ending.But when he wakes up as Sisko again, he feels renewed energy toward "fighting the good fight." Brits Love Tea: As an Englishman, Julius is unimpressed by one particular vision of the future—instant iced tea!; Call-Back:. Bashir finds that Sisko is experiencing the same synaptic potentials in his brain as he did ...

  19. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode guides

    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The seasons, the key episodes. Season 1 - Like all of the "new" Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine required a warmup period. Through seasons 1 and 2, the "A" listers of the Star Trek writing/production team were assigned to The Next Generation while DS9 was left with the generic sorts of plots that allowed exploration of character: Episodes like "Past ...

  20. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)

    A guide listing the titles AND air dates for episodes of the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. For US airdates of a foreign show, click The Futon Critic ... Season 6 : 125. 6-1 : 29 Sep 97: A Time to Stand: 126. 6-2 : 06 Oct 97: Rocks and Shoals: 127. 6-3 : 13 Oct 97: Sons and Daughters: 128. 6-4 : 20 Oct 97: Behind the Lines: 129. 6-5 : 27 ...

  21. The 10 best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes, ranked

    4. Duet (season 1, episode 19) Paramount. Since Deep Space Nine started airing before the end of The Next Generation, creators Michael Piller and Rick Berman aimed for the new spin-off to have its ...

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    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 7, episode 6, "Treachery, Faith and the Great River" explores Odo's status as a god. Odo is shocked to discover that Weyoun ( Jeffrey Combs ) wishes to defect ...

  23. The Nagus

    "The Nagus" is the 11th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located adjacent to a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy, near the planet Bajor.This is the first of several episodes in the series focusing on the ...

  24. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series 1993-1999)

    Mon, Oct 6, 1997. Sisko and his crew crash on a barren world when their commandeered Jem'Hadar ship is shot down. They encounter Jem'Hadar who crashed there earlier, and have taken Nog and Garak hostage in exchange for medical aid for their Vorta overseer. 8.5/10 (2.4K) Rate.

  25. Worf's Greatest Star Trek: DS9 Kill Secretly Paid Tribute To Picard

    A Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7 episode included a great callback to Star Trek: First Contact.Although Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation were directly next to one another in Star Trek timeline order, the two shows had little in common. DS9 was set on a space station, used a more serialized storytelling format, and dealt with much darker, more nuanced themes than the ...

  26. 10 Best Rick Berman Era Star Trek Episodes, Ranked

    Star Trek: Voyager often did well with fire-and-forget episodes, owing to its premise of being stranded on the far side of the galaxy. Of all the shows in the Berman era, it most resembles Star Trek: The Original Series in one regard: it was able to spend one episode on a single planet or problem, then move on never to return.At its very best, Voyager used the framework to explore fascinating ...

  27. One Little Ship

    "One Little Ship" is the 138th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is the 14th episode of the sixth season.. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the fictional space station Deep Space Nine, which lies adjacent to a wormhole connecting the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants of the galaxy. The later seasons of the series follow a war ...

  28. Der Parasit (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

    Mit 6,4 von 10 möglichen Punkten (Stand 2019) ist Der Parasit die in der Internet Movie Database am zehntschlechtesten bewertete Folge von Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. [2] Keith DeCandido bewertete Der Parasit 2013 auf tor.com als eine ziemlich schlechte Folge von Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Er mochte den Konflikt zwischen Odo und Primmin, die ...