DS9: “Emissary: Parts 1 & 2”

Date: June 5, 2020

Season 1, Episode 1

Musical Accompaniment: Man of Steel soundtrack by Hans Zimmer

Interstellar News: First, I want to wish a very Happy 34th Birthday to my husband. We purposefully planned to start DS9 today as it’s his favorite of all the Treks. Second, as of today, I have watched 225 hours and 33 minutes of Star Trek. That is 287 episodes, where movies count as one episode, for a grand total of 9 and a half days of my life. I also made an update to the Watch Order and spreadsheet.

I am also introducing a few new categories: “So what had happened was…” will be a quick summary of the episode, “…and then I found five dollars:” will be my thoughts on the episode that aren’t included in the summary. There will be others for favorite quotes by individuals. So far I have these three: Sly, Snarky, and Sage Sisko, O’Brien’s Ordeals, Kick-ass Kira, and Dax, She’s Too Old For You Bro.

Favorite Quotes:

Gul Dukat : Allow me to assure you that we only want to be helpful in this difficult transition. You’re far from the Federation fleet, alone in this remote outpost, with poor defense systems. Your Cardassian neighbors will be quick to respond to any problems you might have.

Sisko: We’ll try to keep the dog off your lawn.

Sassy Sisko is sassy.

Sly, Snarky, and Sage Sisko: “Each day affects the next.” and “It is the unknown that defines our existence.”

So what had happened was…: We open with the events of “The Best of Both Worlds” from First Officer Benjamin Sisko’s point of view on the Saratoga, where he is able to rescue his son Jacob but loses his wife Jennifer. Three years later he’s tasked to be the Starfleet representative on the former Cardassian station, Deep Space Nine, which is close to Bajor. O’Brien will be his Chief of Operations, but several new faces are introduced. Major Kira is a Bajoran and the First Officer, Odo is a shape-shifter and head of security, Quark is a Ferengi who operates a bar and gambling facility, Lieutenant Dax is a Trill and will be at the science station, and Dr. Bashir will be the Chief Medical Officer.

The station is a mess but Sisko needs to meet with Picard, which is awkward. After the meeting Sisko uses his knowledge of Ferengi plea bargaining to get Quark to stay and run the Promenade as people will need a place to blow off some steam after work. Sisko also meets with Kai Opaka, a Bajoran spiritual leader, and she shows him the Orbs and tasks him with finding the Celestial Temple. After the Enterprise leaves, a Cardassian ship arrives and Gul Dukat comes aboard, his men gamble, and they leave. Dax and Sisko take a shuttle craft through a wormhole that isn’t like one they’ve ever seen, it’s been constructed, and it takes them to the Gamma quadrant. Dax is sent back to DS9 but Sisko stays and attempts to communicate with the entities who live in the wormhole.

O’Brien is tasked with moving the station so they can lay claim on the wormhole. Dukat’s ship enters the wormhole and the other Cardassians do not believe Kira that it exists, so they engage in an attack. Meanwhile, Sisko is trying to explain linear time to the aliens he’s encountered and realizes he never learned how to live without his wife and he’s been carrying around his grief and anger for too long. The wormhole opens back up and Sisko’s ship is helping Dukat’s out, which allows an end to the battle, and the entities within allow Sisko to use the wormhole.

…and then I found five dollars: So we already had an episode in TNG called “The Emissary“, where we meet my beloved K’Ehleyr, what is this mess of reusing an old title? Is this like “THE Ohio State University”, sigh. Also, WHY ARE THERE NO BRAS IN SPACE?! At several points in the episode I uttered “fucking Cardassians”, then looked at my husband and asked if I’m going to say that a lot… he said “yes”.

As this is a new show and season, I watched the credits… nothing super exciting. I think this was a good episode that introduced everyone in the cast as well as could be expected given the number of people. Picard and O’Brien have their cutesy goodbye. Picard doesn’t steal the show in any way and O’Brien gets to have his try at 20th century technology hacks on 24th century equipment (when he kicks the transporter like you would an old CRT television to get it to work). We get to see Odo being super useful and good at his job, a Black man raising his son alone and being in charge of nothing that turns into an important something, and a Bajoran woman who is feisty as hell and I can already tell loyal to her cause and her people. This will be a huge departure from the previous Treks, but as I enjoyed Babylon 5 I think I will come to like this as well. For a first, and double, episode… I’m setting this a 6 pieces of cake, of an unusual size.

TA Out!