1-2. Emissary

Summary

Upon the withdrawal of the Cardassian occupying force, the Federation takes command of the Bajoran space station Deep Space Nine. Assigned to command is Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), a troubled widower with a 14 year old son Jake (Cirroc Lofton) who still cannot accept the death of his wife at the battle of Wolf 359 three years earlier. Upon investigation of a Bajoran religious artifact, he and his science officer Lt. Dax (Terry Farrell) discover the first-known stable wormhole leading to the Gamma Quadrant, and Sisko makes contact with the noncorporeal aliens that live inside...aliens which are the beings worshiped on Bajor as the Prophets. Also introduced are the series' main cast: Sisko; Jake; Lt. Jadzia Dax, a joined Trill who knew Sisko in her previous host; Dr. Julian Bashir (Siddig El Fadil), the young, brash and perpetually flustered medical officer; Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), a former Bajoran resistance fighter and Sisko's first officer as well as the liaison to the Bajoran Provisional Government; Odo (Rene Auberjonois), a mysterious shapeshifter and the station's security chief; Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney), the station's chief of operations; and Quark (Armin Shimerman), the station's Ferengi barkeep.

Analysis

This, the two-hour pilot, is better than you remember it being, I guarantee it. It quickly establishes the series' tone as far removed from its predecessor, The Next Generation: conflict-soaked, mystical, and wrought with political drama as well as rife with interesting and widely varying characters. Many of the key relationships in the series are very concisely introduced: the Kira/Sisko friction (which falls away in subsequent seasons as the characters gained mutual respect and even fondness), the are-they-friends-or-are-they-enemies Odo/Quark thing, Julian and Jadzia's we're-just-friends dance and Sisko's warm and loving relationship with Jake, which I think the series has never gotten enough credit for. The sequences in which Sisko interacts with the Prophets are both intriguing and interminable...I think a good five minutes could have been shaved off them with no real loss. The establishment of the intertwining of the series' more corporeal plot and the threads of Bajoran mysticism is critical here, and will become a running theme...as will Sisko's reluctance to accept his role as the Emissary to the Prophets.

Rating: 8.5

Memorable Quote:

"You know at first, I didn't think I was going to like him." --Odo, re Sisko...a sentiment many of us share, but we like him now.

Classic Scene:

I think I'll choose one of the final scenes where Picard visits Sisko in his office and Sisko tells him to disregard his earlier request for a replacement. The torch is passed, indeed.

Sexually Slanted Line 'O the Episode:

"So, where can a man practice with his phaser around here?" --Bashir to Odo

The O/K Status Report

Some people say they can spot it this early. I'm not one of them. I think the farthest back you can go is the next episode, Past Prologue. It's clear that Odo and Kira have a prior acquaintance and perhaps even a pre-existing friendship, but I don't think anything more can be inferred.

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