S01.E01: Emissary

[Chip]

Stardate: 46379.1 - A new crew is assigned to a former Cardassian space station: Deep Space Nine. It is a joint Federation/Bajoran force, with Commander Sisko in charge, but his life is dramatically changed when he is declared the emissary to the prophets by a Bajoran priest.

 

[Meushell]

Sisko versus Picard. Given how we saw Picard suffer from the Borg, it was pretty gutsy to make this new not-even-a-captain holding a grudge against Picard. Sisko's emotion, flaws and all, are what I like about him though. Like the loving relationship with his son, which we see from the start.

I've heard that they wanted Ro Laren to be the Bajoran First Officer. Michelle didn't want to a regular. You can see this with the introduction of Kira. She gives off a Ro-ish feel this episode. A lot of that is probably due to the way the character is written and directed.

Overall, this episode gave a nice introduction to all the main characters and a few minor ones.

Anyone notice there is not a wormhole in the intro...since it wasn't discovered until after the intro.

[jhlipton]

On the other hand, I can see a lot of Starfleet officers not wanting anything to do with Picard.  Yeah, it wasn't "him" that slaughtered their friends and family, but looking on that face and rationalizing away would be hard.  All things considered, it would have been more diplomatic to have any other starship be the one that comes to DS9, but [PLOT!] then we wouldn't have the nice moments with Stewart.

It's a very good thing that Ben's favorite sport is baseball and not football (see George Carlin's wonderful take on baseball vs football) or, even worse, boxing.  Yeah, that will convince the Prophets that humans aren't aggressive!

[starri]

 

I've heard that they wanted Ro Laren to be the Bajoran First Officer. Michelle didn't want to a regular. You can see this with the introduction of Kira. She gives off a Ro-ish feel this episode. A lot of that is probably due to the way the character is written and directed.

They actually offered her roles on DS9 and TNG, and I suspect on VOY as well (there are a lot of similarities between Ro and Torres, especially at the beginning).  She didn't want to be typecast as just a sci-fi actress, and ultimately, as much as I think it was the show's loss, she probably made the right decision for her career.  I mean, she got an Emmy nomination for The Killing.  But I don't think they just plugged Kira into the Ro-shaped hole in the cast, because they were ultimately pretty different, given that Kira was a devotee of the Prophets and Ro more or less comes out and admits to being an atheist on TNG.

[HalcyonDays]

Sisko versus Picard. Given how we saw Picard suffer from the Borg, it was pretty gutsy to make this new not-even-a-captain holding a grudge against Picard. Sisko's emotion, flaws and all, are what I like about him though. Like the loving relationship with his son, which we see from the start.

I've heard that they wanted Ro Laren to be the Bajoran First Officer. Michelle didn't want to a regular. You can see this with the introduction of Kira. She gives off a Ro-ish feel this episode. A lot of that is probably due to the way the character is written and directed.

Overall, this episode gave a nice introduction to all the main characters and a few minor ones.

Anyone notice there is not a wormhole in the intro...since it wasn't discovered until after the intro.

I loved Sisko vs. Picard and thought the show was ballsy to go there. Even during my first viewing way back when. I mean, the show is trying to get Next Generation viewers to watch and they essentially diss Picard, who everyone (including me) loves. Risky but loved that scene. Too bad there were not more Sisko/Picard. Also told me right away that Sisko was going to be a very different Star Trek character. I also liked that he started as a Commander, not Captain.

From what I know, Michelle Forbes was offered the role but she said no, so they got Nana Visitor. I liked Ro, but I think Kira is vastly superior and a better fit for the DS9 universe. With Ro, you would have a rebel, but still someone torn between Bajoran and Star Fleet views. With Kira, she was all Bajoran and didn't need to adjust her behaviour simply because she was a part of Star Fleet. The first episode perfectly illustrates that.

And yeah, I noticed the missing wormhole too. Good job, show.

On the other hand, I can see a lot of Starfleet officers not wanting anything to do with Picard.  Yeah, it wasn't "him" that slaughtered their friends and family, but looking on that face and rationalizing away would be hard.  All things considered, it would have been more diplomatic to have any other starship be the one that comes to DS9, but [PLOT!] then we wouldn't have the nice moments with Stewart.

It's a very good thing that Ben's favorite sport is baseball and not football (see George Carlin's wonderful take on baseball vs football) or, even worse, boxing.  Yeah, that will convince the Prophets that humans aren't aggressive!

But the officers still have to (try) to follow protocol and Picard is technically Sisko's superior in rank, so Sisko cutting him off and angrily saying "he'll do his job to the best of my abilities" was awesome but also rebellous in a way.

I did think parts of the episode were slow. Sisko with the prophets, the white light was a bit slow for me. A lot of the scenes I loved had Kira in them. Her yelling at the Provisional gov't when she first meets Sisko and her annoyance with him. When she is cleaning up the Promenade with debris and her comment to Sisko about Starfleet not getting it's hand dirty, and especially the end when she faces off with Dukat.

With this show, it was the antithesis of a happy perfect Star Fleet family. Everyone is butting heads with each other in the first episode, even O'Brien, who is another perfect fit in the DS9 universe.

Edited April 17, 2014 by HalcyonDays

[Chip]

I was excited when Miles O'Brien came over from the Enterprise. I think this was a good character choice to make TNG viewers comfortable with the new show. I can see how Ro Laren would have made sense, but Kira fills that niche without the baggage of having been Starfleet. 

Sisko and the Prophets was slow but I liked it. It gave us an idea of how this show was going to have action, but then not shy away from more cerebral episodes also. The use of the Orb to provide back story for Dax and Sisko was a good touch. We saw just enough of the transfer from Curzon to Jadzia to know that trills are creepy.

[Gilmel]

I always thought it would have been interesting to have both Kira and Ro on the show. There would have been some interesting conflict and opportunities for character exploration there. And having another Bajoran in the main cast might have been nice.

[ShadowDenizen]

Sisko versus Picard. Given how we saw Picard suffer from the Borg, it was pretty gutsy to make this new not-even-a-captain holding a grudge against Picard. Sisko's emotion, flaws and all, are what I like about him though. Like the loving relationship with his son, which we see from the start.

I get that DS9 wanted to engage (Heh) the "TNG" fans right off the bat..

But having PIcard on really added minimally to the plot, other than to say "SIsko is a NEW kind of Commander"; I mean yes, there was some tension between he and SIsko, but it wasn't like they were ever about to truly breaks ranks and come to blows.

 

With this show, it was the antithesis of a happy perfect Star Fleet family. Everyone is butting heads with each other in the first episode, even O'Brien, who is another perfect fit in the DS9 universe.

Yes, they really introduced the "THis is a job, not a family" concept quite early int he series. Which brilliantly counterpoints the Jake/Sisko dynamic.(Though I do think Jake is one of the weaker players not only in the pilot, but the entire series.)

Intersting to see how that characters started: I think they established the base of Sisko's character pretty well int the pilot, but the only character who seemed really "fully-formed" right off the bat was Quark; seems like Armin Shimmerman really grokked onto Quark's role pretty quickly and seamlessly.

I was excited when Miles O'Brien came over from the Enterprise. I think this was a good character choice to make TNG viewers comfortable with the new show.

Agreed. But, more than just the TNG connection, O'Brien is realyl the "Everyman"; he's the character that we, the viewers, can empathize with immediately. He's familiar from TNG, he's got a realistic life (Wife, kid, etc.), and has recognizably human flaws (short-temper, a bit racist [certainly about Cardassians].

Edited April 18, 2014 by ShadowDenizen

[Ailianna]

I did watch TNG, though not religiously, but I never liked Picard.  So when Sisko had his scenes with Picard, it wasn't about him and a favorite character, for me, it was about this man, who I am just starting to get to know (Sisko) who has been through a terrible tragedy, having to deal with an arrogant, unfeeling boss (Picard) who doesn't even have the grace to in any way acknowledge that he (1) has no idea what Sisko is going though, (2) should be admitting that he has some relationship with the cause of the tragedy and (3) is acting like a cold, emotionless ass to this man.  That scene actually took me from apathy to active dislike for Picard.  Even if you knew his side of the story (as most viewers probably did) he was incredibly cold and bullying toward Sisko and for me, this showed that when he didn't have to deal with the fallout from his actions, he's basically a self-absorbed jerk.  So I was on Sisko's side from the very beginning of the series, and I never had a reason to change that throughout the whole series, or on any rewatch.

[BizBuzz]

Finally watched...hmmmm, interesting.

I am coming into this knowing absolutely nothing.  I don't mind being spoiled so that doesn't bother me, but I find it immensely satisfying that this series will not be about the adventures of traveling through space, but instead, life on a space station.  WOW, to think they had seven seasons dealing with life on a space station, that will prove to be fun to watch. 

Sisko, I could feel the emotion with the death of his wife, and at the person whose hands is responsible for it.  I wasn't a big fan of TNG, (liking the movies more than the series), but Picard was ok.  But like Ailianna, the whole scene between Sisko and Picard, well, if what they were going for was for me to instantly like Sisko more, well, the plan worked.

I felt over all it was a great introduction to the characters (have always loved Rene Auberjonois, ever since Benson days!) and I am looking at how this all unfolds.

[ShadowDenizen]

I am coming into this knowing absolutely nothing.

Well, Welcome aboard, BizBuzz!

I'm glad to see new people watching DS9 for the first time with our rewatch! Please continue to watch along and post in the episode threads as we go! (Personally, I always enjoy hearing peoples opinions as they watch for the first time! )

And, in these episode threads for the rewatch, we'll try to avoid spoilers for upcoming episodes, since we do have at least a couple of new watchers.  References up to the episode in question are fine, of course.

Edited April 21, 2014 by ShadowDenizen

[John Potts]

While the idea of aliens that exist "outside of time" is a neat idea, the writers didn't really think it through. After all, the Prophets/Wormhole aliens ought to already know the end of the conversation (to quote Phil Farrand, Nitpicker No.1, it should go "Hi Sisko, yes you can use the wormhole. Your wife's dead, get over it. And we love baseball too.") - and there are several cases where the Prophets act just as linearly as anyone else for example:

the Prophets should know that changing the Grand Nagus wouldn't work, they do
nothing when the Pagh Wraiths take over Keiko (even though she was
apparently trying to kill them!), sending back that old Emissary who wanted to
re-establish the Caste system and then undoing it... I'm sure there are others too.

 

Still, it was a real eye opener to have a station where nothing worked and nobody liked each other (at first, anyway), although it was a shame that they seemed to write Kira as if she was Ro Lauren (which she was initially intended to be, as I understand). Mind you, if I was an ex-Freedom Fighter I'd have decked Bashir for his patronising "Frontier medicine" Monologue!

[HalcyonDays]

While the idea of aliens that exist "outside of time" is a neat idea, the writers didn't really think it through. After all, the Prophets/Wormhole aliens ought to already know the end of the conversation (to quote Phil Farrand, Nitpicker No.1, it should go "Hi Sisko, yes you can use the wormhole. Your wife's dead, get over it. And we love baseball too.") - and there are several cases where the Prophets act just as linearly as anyone else for example:

the Prophets should know that changing the Grand Nagus wouldn't work, they do

nothing when the Pagh Wraiths take over Keiko (even though she was

apparently trying to kill them!), sending back that old Emissary who wanted to

re-establish the Caste system and then undoing it... I'm sure there are others too.

 

Still, it was a real eye opener to have a station where nothing worked and nobody liked each other (at first, anyway), although it was a shame that they seemed to write Kira as if she was Ro Lauren (which she was initially intended to be, as I understand). Mind you, if I was an ex-Freedom Fighter I'd have decked Bashir for his patronising "Frontier medicine" Monologue!

 

John Potts - Holy Cow, did you just include the name of Phil Farrand, of the Nitpickers Guide to Star Trek! That's amazing. I read those when I was much younger, specifically the Next Generation ones! Loved them, he was so precise and were awesome reads. I was praying for DS9 guides, but never saw them for sale!

 

They probably didn't change much for Kira's character, since it was supposed to be Ro, but there are lots of amazing Kira in this. They needed to sort out the character. I agree about decking Bashir - I liked his character a lot actually - later on. That scene had me cringing badly.

[John Potts]

Actually, the weakest part of the Pilot was the resolution - why would the Cardassians withdraw just because they had one damaged ship? I really don't buy the "Took the fight right out of them" line after Sisko tugboats their flagship back because you'd wonder how they ever conquered Bajor in the first place if they were such wusses.

 

HalcyonDays, there certainly as a DS9 Guide - I know because I got name checked in it (in the episode Defiant, in case you're interested), though it only covered Seasons 1-4. There were also a second NextGen book and a TOS book (possibly a Voyager one, but if so I've never seen it). You can always try Amazon.

Edited April 25, 2014 by John Potts

[ShadowDenizen]

Actually, the weakest part of the Pilot was the resolution - why would the Cardassians withdraw just because they had one daaged ship? I really don't buy the "Took the fight right out of them" line after Sisko tugboats their flagship back because you'd wonder how they ever conquered Bajor in the first place if they were such wusses.

 

I actually bought that.

 

The Cardassians are generally depicted as Quintessential "Bullies"; they talk a big game, and show some force at times, but more often than not they end up backing down when the pressure gets too high, especiallyu if the odds are not in their favor.. (Yes, the Occupation lasted 50 years, but eventually it became too high of a cost to maintain. Plus, I alwasy assumed the Occupation was more of an ambush-scenario on the Cardassian's part.)

Edited April 25, 2014 by ShadowDenizen

[Chip]

Hey everyone,

 

I know you are using spoiler tags, but any conversation about future episodes should really take place in one of the other topics. In the re-watch topics, we can refer to previous episodes but not future ones. 

 

But everyone should feel free to create any topics they want to and discuss regarding the entire series.

[Pippin]

A few general observations:

 

For me, regardless of how much I love(d) Enteprise, TOS and was fond of ST:NG, DS9 was always the series that encapsulated the best of Star Trek for me.  I loved how real the characters were, how they changed and grew but maintained their basic personalities, how the writers managed to use them all; I loved how the storylines arced and showed that even though things weren't perfect out there on the edge of the frontier, they still strove to do their best.  I loved how they showed how politics weren't immutable; that alliances could (and did) shift and change and what the results of those changes were.  And unlike the other series, I loved how there was an acknowledgement that there was a spiritual aspect to life and that aspect could and did take on many forms.

 

This pilot I count as the best of all the Trek pilots and is up there with other outstanding TV pilots (Lost, American Gothic, etc.) It sets up the situation, introduces all the major characters and tells a compelling story all at the same time.

 

Sisko immediately comes across as a different sort of Starfleet officer.  Not only his nearly-insubordinate behaviour with Picard, but when he wants Quark to remain on DS9, there's no speech about the "greater good" or any of that stuff; no, it's "I've got your nephew in prison so I've got your nuts and unless you do what I say, I'm gettin' a nutcracker.  You dig?"

 

It's fun to see Bashir the innocent, naive kind of goofy guy who constantly puts his foot in his mouth.  Dax is a little vague in terms of character because I think the writers didn't know quite what to do with her.  I agree Kira has echoes of Ro Laren but Nana VIsitor quickly made the character her own.  Odo is still sketchy, (although we do see he's really, really law & order -- almost to the point of fascist) but I like how they didn't have someone yell, "He's a shapeshifter!"   Show, don't tell, and they did just that -- show.  Jake was also sketchy but that's ok; he too would evolve.

 

Like I said, one of the best pilots -- ever.

[Mysis]

I enjoyed re-watching the pilot.  It's been a long time but I enjoyed it as much as the first time around.  Sometimes when it's been awhile since you've seen a show and re-watch, it's not as good as you thought.  Not the case here.  It was a geat start to the series even though, to me, it was a little slow during the scenes with the Prophets. But I liked that everything wasn't all bright and shiny - either with the setting or with the people.  Neither Kira nor Odo were overly impressed with or happy to see the Federation.  I liked the grittier feel but also liked the more spiritual side, if you will, concerning the Prophets and the religious beliefs of Bajor.

As always, Avery Brooks was awesome.  I loved him in this role.  Excellent choice.   I was originally bummed when Ro wasn't to be a part of the series but ended up really liking Kira from the pilot on.  Favorite moment of hers for me was the look she gave Bashir when he was going on about frontier medicine.  

 

[Donny Ketchum]

I watched the pilot with my boyfriend for the first time on Netflix, and I've gotta say, as a man of color, I thought it was a great choice to cast a protagonist of color after all of the lily-white protagonists of the past and future.  Sisko does seem like an interesting character, even though I actually found Avery's acting to be hit-or-miss.  Sometimes, he was spot-on, and at others, especially during the illusion with Jennifer, he seemed to overact a bit.

 

But I was glad that Kira and Odo came to like Sisko quickly due to how well he handled the guy whose nephew he had locked up.  That was a pretty good moment.

 

The Prophet part in the wormhole went by way too slowly for me, though.

 

I'll add more as I go along, but this really does seem like an intriguing series.

[Peace 47]

Man, I had resisted DS9 when I gave it a try in syndication in ... probably the late 90s.  But I just came off kind of falling in love with TOS on Netflix (first-timer), and I am a longstanding TNG fan, and so I thought I would give this another whirl because everyone always says this is the superior show.

I thought the pilot did an excellent job of world-building:  the station in ruins, how the main characters come to be there, the messy political and social situation in which they find themselves.  I really got a sense of purpose, potential obstacles and conflicts, etc.  When it started getting into the mysticism on Bajor, and how Sisko was going to be "The Emissary," it lost me a little bit because I'm not really all-in for religious prophecies and the main character being the key to something foretold (been burned on that with other shows and their convoluted resolutions), but if those wormhole beings don't exist in linear time, I can foresee how this comes together in a quasi-scientific explanation that I could eventually swallow.

Kira does come off as very Ro-ish, as people noted upthread.  As a big Ro fan, I'm a little sad we didn't get to see her in this role, as I also loved the O'Brien-Ro interaction in TNG's "Disaster" and would have liked to see their varying approaches continue to contrast.  KIra was awesome, though, in protecting the station from the attack.  Loved her photon torpedo strategy.

I thought that Sisko's communication with the Prophets (is that who they are?) was a truly excellent meditation on grief.  First, it was almost hilarious how Dax is so at peace with herself and her life that she saw the sunny day while Sisko saw the barren, stormy wasteland.  Perhaps a bit literal, but good exposition for a pilot.  And then, "Why do you exist here?"  Such an innocuous question from the questioner; such a loaded thing to process on Sisko's part.  He didn't even realize that he could let his survivor's guilt and grief go, which is something that rings true to me.

I'm not sure I'm ready to tear through DS9 in the same way I've just done TOS, but this was one of the strongest pilots I can recall seeing.  And I have to say the Odo and space effects were awesome, even if the sets and "heavy" objects were classic Star Trek in a way that made me smile.

Edited October 29, 2016 by Peace 47

[iMonrey]

Finally getting to re-watch from the beginning on H&I. DS9 had the most ambitious and elaborate plotting of the franchise IMO so it's hard to jump in somewhere in the middle, and I haven't watch this since it's original airing in the 90s so I've forgotten a lot of plot points.

Quote

Actually, the weakest part of the Pilot was the resolution - why would the Cardassians withdraw just because they had one damaged ship? I really don't buy the "Took the fight right out of them" line after Sisko tugboats their flagship back because you'd wonder how they ever conquered Bajor in the first place if they were such wusses.

I could be way off, but my understanding is that the Cardassians signed a peace treaty or at least a truce with the Federation, so the only reason they were pursuing the wormhole was under the guise of Gul Dukat's ship disappearing into it. Once he was towed out by Sisko, they had no justification for remaining there. They had more or less already ceded that part of space to the Federation.