The Nagus (OB 21 March, 1993) score: 6

In seven seasons and 150 episodes, a soft story will sometimes make it to the soundstage, where the cast and crew must sell it.  "The Nagus" lacks dramatic tension, but earns distinction by introducing Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn), perhaps Trek's most amusing recurring character, along with The Rules of Acquisition and Zek's catchphrase, "You've failed miserably!"  Note the Godfather homage, with a satiric twist: acting-Nagus Quark forgets about respect at the mere mention of profit.

"When in doubt, be ruthless." - Zek 

TNG's Ferengi were cartoonish villains (they'd have twisted their  mustaches, if they'd had mustaches); DS9 surrendered to common sense, making the lobed ones comic.  Rom lags, still fretfully malicious here.  He almost spaces Quark, and seems (nearly) capable of doing so.

A parallel subplot, trouble in the Jake/Nog friendship, includes a scene that's bittersweet in retrospect: Ben Sisko reminding his son human-Ferengi relations are problematic.  Despite the knowing parody of capitalism, these Ferengi are alien in having a culture and ethos based on selfishness.  (It's the job of the "Nagus" to "negate 'us.'")
Alas, cultural cobblestones were paved by Hollywood P.C., as DS9's Ferengi became more courageous while accepting gender equality.  Admittedly, "Zek" might imply a cultural dead-end, thus the need for reform.
** The problem with a Ferengi conference is keeping the characters straight: P.C. or no, they all look alike. ** 

Move Along Home (OB 14 March 1993) score: 7

There goes my credibility.

chula!

I've always liked this widely-panned episode.  Yes, the riddles could've been more involved, but maybe they're softened for first-time players ("only children enter on the first shap").  Everything's relative: "Move Along Home" surpasses "Journey to Oasis," the 1981 episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, riddles dispensed by Felix Silla as a blue gnome.
 
Despite nods to cheesy sci-fi (Irwin Allen), there's meaning here: the crew are punished for disrespecting the Wadi during first contact.  The obvious offender is Quark, who cheats at dabo after refusing credit for alien artifacts (without even learning their uses).  Bashir lost his dress uniform; Sisko rejects "childish games," a key character moment aligning the commander with today's career officers.
Speaking of character, Quark's groveling seems unlike him, but may be histrionic: he's decided begging's his best move.
The names emphasize DS9's medieval quality.  Their imposing visitor is Falow (Joel Brooks), a homonym with "fallow."  "Wadi" may recall the Mahdi, the messiah figure of Islam.  The repeated "Allamaraine" evokes Allemagne, the French word for "Germany."  Indeed, the writers took inspiration from old European and Egyptian games (as well as Dungeons and Dragons, and Chutes and Ladders, thus the name of the game, "chula").
** Precluded by its poor reception, sequels to "Move Along Home" would've been preferable to DS9's overrated mirror-universe arc. **  The episode looks ahead to Star Trek: Voyager's fascination with nested narratives. **

   

The Passenger (OB 22 Feb. 1993) score: 5

DS9 S1: another day, another disappearing alien fugitive

In 1993, I wrote to Starlog (#195) arguing DS9 was not true to Gene Roddenberry's vision.  The series won me over, but I don't regret the letter, which reviews the first season, most of which remains dreary and disposable.  (And re-reading the letter ... there were some feelings to work through in accepting a post-Roddenberry series.)

Something only vaguely referenced in my long-ago rant is the young season's crutch plot: an alien fugitive uses an unusual power/characteristic to elude capture.  On The X-Files, Vantika (of "The Passenger") would've been a human mutation, or perhaps a demonic entity.  Compare also the Kyle MacLachlan-starring The Hidden (1987), which foregrounds action-comedy, not giving viewers a chance to think.

DS9, however, is harder sci-fi grounded in politics, and the Kobliad's tricks veer too close to sorcery.  The script compensates with technobabble, as viewer eyes glaze.
Otherwise "The Passenger" tracks well enough, and there are good Odo-Quark bits, as well as a straight-faced Julian telling Kira he amazes even himself.  The episode is well-cast, but makes little of the intersection of three security experts (Odo, Starfleet's Primmin, and the Kobliad agent, Kajada).

Nor is there much to say about Kajada being at once predator and prey.  As metaphoric conscious and unconscious, this could have distinguished a hide-in-plain-sight turn, after "A Man Alone," "Captive Pursuit" and "Dax."

** Siddig is terrible as alien-possessed Bashir, such that the director must share blame. **
** DS9 tended downward with Bashir in altered states: "Distant Voices" (S3), "Extreme Measures" (S7).**  

Dax (OB 14 Feb. 1993) score: 2

Anne Haney as Judge Renora

Sci-fi viewers understand the need for the occasional bottle show, but "Dax" is based in a writer's cheat.
Ilon Tandro tries to abduct, then extradite Jadzia Dax for the murder of Tandro's father, a general.  Most of the episode is a courtroom debate on whether Jadzia can be held responsible for the actions of Curzon Dax.

The problem: the Trill would've long ago codified such matters.  (The species may be new to viewers, not to the Star Trek universe.)
As Roger Ebert would say it's the idiot plot, dependent on characters being ignorant of what they should know.  The climax has Ilon Tandro remembering the Trill do consider new hosts responsible for past behavior (even a Starfleet judge would've heard this to start).  He's interrupted by his mother, who alibis Curzon, at the expense of the family reputation.  A pretty good line -- the accused "was in ... my bed." -- is wasted here.
Note the centenarian judge flashing a look at Enina Tandro (the widow), as if to say "thanks for showing up after wasting everyone's time."  The attentive viewer feels the same. 

Q-Less (OB 7 Feb. 1993) score: 3

Q was important to TNG as a foil for Picard (and thus Starfleet), and its most prominent recurring character.  If he was a poor fit for DS9, it's understandable the fledgling spinoff had to learn the hard way.

DS9 was designed to add grit to a Star Trek that had grown complacent: these flawed characters couldn't warp away from their choices.  They were subject to political blowback.  Omnipotent Q knocks this reform all to hell.  (Even DS9's wormhole prophets, though localized and thus limited, never quite paid off.)
Indeed, Q seems to disappear from the second half of "Q-Less" as Sisko and company sleuth the station's beeline for the wormhole, discovering a homesick alien, evidently related to those in (Q's debut) "Encounter at Farpoint."

The theme of "Q-Less" seems to be the frustrations of male control amid more instinctive or intuitive forces, such as Vash and her relics, and the alien refugee.  In the best scene, Q himself spoofs human machismo, impersonating a 19th century bare-knuckle boxer (Sisko punches him out).  Like the title pun ("clueless"), however, it never ties together, or even makes sense: when Vash rejects him, why doesn't Q respond with his usual coercive punishment?

Q and Vash make a great team, but not between the pylons.  

Captive Pursuit (OB 31 Jan. 1993) score: 8

The first DS9 episode that clips right along, assuming our familiarity with setting and characters.  While not particularly original as a story -- every sci-fi series does The Most Dangerous Game, and the original Predator was a recent memory -- it works.  And I've always loved the hunters' uniforms, so Gerry Anderson.

Although Sisko cites exploitation, the story blissfully cuts to an action climax, with O'Brien inspiring Tosk to continue his flight: "change the rules."  TNG might've bogged down in speeches.

We love TNG but it could be stuffy, without a McCoy or Scotty for fresh air.  On DS9, most of the regulars stand ready with the sardonic.  Note that here, both Odo and O'Brien cite personal pride (reputation) as motivation. 

The only scripted misstep: the failed attempt to stir an O'Brien-Quark rivalry.

We're told Tosk are bred as prey, an honored role, thus foreshadowing the Jem'hadar, while the hunters look to the Hirogen of Voyager.  The name "Tosk" may derive from "caste."

    

Babel (OB 24 Jan. 1993) score: 5

Whereas TOS made a "Journey to Babel," everyone comes to DS9.  

Jaheel will try to ditch multiculturalism

Virtually the entire station catches (viral) aphasia, making communication impossible, in a borderline episode that I've downgraded slightly. 

From 2003 notes: "the main problem is the episode isn't about anything."  

In 2008, I was less literal: 

"every society's held together by common beliefs, here symbolized by language.  Disrupt these, you divide and conquer."  

Then and now, it seems unfortunate the inventor of a weaponized contaminant is named "Dekon."  Maybe the writers were distracted: the aphasia has little to do with Bajorans vs. Cardassians.  Instead it materializes cultural anxieties, as the fractious station reaches breaking point.  The message (for the U.S.) is still timely: is a common language enough?  Note also the virus begins in the replicators, food being central to cultures and, sometimes, to culture clash.

Themes aside, the flaw is more prosaic: the aphasia scenes don't work.  (Per IMDb, director Paul Lynch never returned to Trek after DS9's first year.)  That leaves a hand-me-down version of "Darmok," partially redeemed by Odo/Quark interplay.  Whereas Brooks and Visitor still seek their character, Auberjonois and Shimerman are up-to-speed.    

A Man Alone (OB 17 Jan. 1993) score: 4

The heavy lifting here is character development, with the emphasis on Odo as stubborn loner even as he realizes the stance is increasingly untenable.  As one character says, his enemy (Quark) is the closest Odo has to a friend.

DS9 is the least science-fictional Trek, an occasional problem as the series finds its legs: there's nothing in "A Man Alone" that couldn't be crime drama or Western, until the last-act reveal of cloning.  It doesn't help when the motivations are flat and broad, down to comic relief: watch the extras milk Jake and Nog's prank.

Still, I can't be too hard on this one, as it further develops the complicated backstory -- genocidal Cardassians, traumatized but proud Bajorans, canny Ferengi, alien-to-be-named Odo -- soon to yield better narratives.
The character-name "Ibudan" is a near-anagram for Danube, perhaps an early German/Nazi reference.
In retrospect, as TV matured past comforting cliches, so did Trek: Odo will stay a misfit, Kira's loyalties remain divided, and Julian spends six years vainly chasing Jadzia. 

Past Prologue (OB 10 Jan. 1993) score: 7

Tahna Los: looks are deceiving

This episode has an early-days clunkiness, e.g., the characters are unsure how to pronounce "Bajor(an)."  Also, Tahno Los isn't quite convincing, but I have trouble taking a blond (man) seriously.  That foible aside, a solid episode, and early showcase for the series' secret weapon, "simple tailor" Garak.
 
DS9  wastes no time locating one of its major themes, the shifting line between national allegiance and progressive diplomacy.  Star Trek always made time for terrorists, although the spitefulness of this one's mission (blowing up the wormhole), and the story's emphasis on action over theme, soothed studio nerves as their new show launched.

As such, "Past Prologue" is a window to both of the political issues bound to sunder the franchise.  In the 21st century, even mixed sympathies for terrorism got pushed to the margins, while the franchise's resistance to gay rights became disastrous.

Admittedly I realized this long after the fact, but Season 1 teases Kira as a possible lesbian: there's no hint of flirtation with Tahna, and she's gradually less butch as the series unfolds.  Presumably, this was a half-hearted gauging of fan reaction, and again for Voyager (Torres, maybe Kes) and Enterprise (Malcolm).

When an organization becomes an institution, change is agonizingly slow.  Still, this long delay before inclusion is the franchise's greatest cowardice.

Emissary (OB 3 Jan. 1993) score: 9

"Emissary" is probably the best (aired) Trek pilot, a blink ahead of "Where No Man Has Gone Before."

On first viewing, I considered this "very promising."  Like TNG's debut "Encounter at Farpoint," it's entertaining despite a diffused storyline.  Hallucination sequences recall "The Cage" (the original TOS film later folded into "The Menagerie"): "Emissary" appreciates franchise lore.  Sisko's flashbacks to Wolf 359 might imply a coded Vietnam veteran.

In 2003, I added:

"Kira's a one-note character, but Brooks is brilliant, as is David Carson's direction.  Takes Trek cliches (like the godlike alien) and makes them new.
The Cardassians and Bajorans could be read as Iraq and Kuwait, or Israelis and Palestinians."  

In outline, the introduction of Ben Sisko is routine, similar to that of Hawk in 1980's "Time of the Hawk" (the Season 2 premiere of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century).  In both, the ethnic Other blames the (audience's) white hero for the death of his wife, and in a broader sense for abuses suffered by his people.  The ensuing story is structured for forgiveness, but this pacification achieves dignity through treatment and performance (Thom Christopher in the prior case).  A key difference: unlike Hawk, Ben has son Jake to carry the line. 

Brooks's theatrical vocalizations are remarkable, variously expressing horror, grief, joy, excitement, etc.  These may not have been well-received (never again as prominent), but they help make "Emissary" a classic of mainstream science fiction.