Posted on by Matthew

These Are The Episodes… Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1

Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine gets off to an admittedly slow start. Being the first chapter in a multi-year story, most of the episodes are either world-building –lots of weird things coming through the wormhole and the Federation working with Bajor, a world recovering from a 50-year occupation by the militaristic Cardassians– or character development. While this isn’t bad, it can make the season feel pretty slow overall. That being said, without all the character development, the later seasons wouldn’t pay off as well as they do because we wouldn’t understand the world or know the characters as well as we do.

So, These Are The Episodes… of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1.

Reminder:

  • Must See episodes feature the main plot or primary character development. These are required viewing to understand everything at the end.
  • Should See episodes feature secondary plot elements or character development, and while they aren’t required, they will give you a more complete experience with the show. If you have watched the should-see episodes so far, you should continue watching them now.
  • Take It or Leave It episodes are all one-offs and filler.

It’s worth noting that must-see episodes aren’t necessarily good and take it or leave it episodes aren’t necessarily bad and that ideally, you’d just be watching all of them.
Season 1 features 19 episodes. Six are must-see, six are should-see, 7 take it or leave it.

1×01 + 1×02 “Emissary“

  • Must See
  • Note: Two-Hour Episode
  • Sets up the entire series.
  • Relevant to Bajorans, The Prophets, Cardassians, Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, Bajor and the Federation
  • First Appearance: Benjamin Sisko, Kira Nerys, Jadzia Dax, Julian Bashir, Miles O’Brien, Odo, Jake Sisko, Quark, Opaka, Nog, Rom, and Dukat.

1×03 “Past Prologue“

  • Must See
  • First appearance of Garak.
  • Relevant to Kira.
  • Relevant to Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, Bajorans

1×04 “A Man Alone“

  • Take It or Leave It
  • Relevant to Odo

1×05 “Babel“

  • Take It or Leave It
  • Relevant to O’Brien, “station maintenance is difficult”, Cardassians

1×06 “Captive Pursuit“

  • Should See
  • Relevant to O’Brien
  • Relevant to “The Gamma Quadrant Is Weird”

1×07 “Q-Less“

  • Should See
  • Relevant to Benjamin Sisko
  • Callback to Star Trek: The Next Generation (Vash, Q)

1×08 “Dax“

  • Should See
  • Relevant to Jadzia Dax, “Dax is really old”
  • Guest Star: Fionnula Flannigan

1×09 “The Passenger“

  • Take It or Leave It
  • Relevant to Bashir. Ish.

1×10 “Move Along Home“

  • Take It or Leave It
  • Relevant to “The Gamma Quadrant Is Weird”

1×11 “The Nagus“

  • Should See
  • Relevant to Quark, Ferengi
  • First appearance of Zek

1×12 “The Vortex“

  • Take It or Leave It
  • Relevant to Odo
  • Relevant to “The Gamma Quadrant Is Weird”

1×13 “Battle Lines“

  • Must See
  • Relevant to Kira, Opaka
  • Relevant to Bajorans, “The Gamma Quadrant is Weird”

1×14 “The Storyteller“

  • Take It or Leave It
  • Relevant to Bashir and O’Brien are Bros
  • Relevant to Bajorans. Ish.

1×15 “Progress“

  • Must See
  • Relevant to Kira
  • Relevant to Bajorans, Cardassian Occupation of Bajor

1×16 “If Wishes Were Horses“

  • Should See
  • Relevant to Benjamin Sisko, Baseball, O’Brien Family
  • Relevant to “The Gamma Quadrant is Weird”

1×17 “The Forsaken“

  • Should See
  • Relevant to Odo, “Odo Has Feelings And He Feels Them”
  • Callback to Star Trek: The Next Generation (Lwaxana Troi)
  • Guest Star Majel Barrett

1×18 “Dramatis Personae“

  • Take It or Leave It
  • Relevant to “The Gamma Quadrant is Weird”

1×19 “Duet“

  • Must See
  • Note: This episode is a series best.
  • Relevant to Kira
  • Relevant to Bajorans, Cardassians, Cardassian Occupation of Bajor
  • Guest Star: Harris Yulin

1X20 “In The Hands Of The Prophets“

  • Must See
  • Relevant to Benjamin Sisko
  • Relevant to Bajorans, The Prophets, Bajor and the Federation
  • First appearance of Guest Star Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami
  • First appearance of Bareil Antos

Conclusion

Despite the slow start, we now have a good insight into our primary characters. We also understand what Bajor went through under the Cardassian Occupation and how the Bajoran political and religious structure work, all important points that will continue to arise throughout the series. In short, this season is slow, but it lays an important foundation for what’s to come, and there is a lot of stuff to come!

Next week we’ll move into season two. See you then!

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