If Wishes Were Horses (O.B. 16 May 1993) score: 5

In his Cinefantastique feature previewing DS9 (April 1993), Mark A. Altman made-new-friends by quoting a studio flack:

"Do not call (Quark's facilities) sexual Holosuites or a brothel!" 

a quote from TOS "Shore Leave"

Presumably, this inspired the production's press blackout of the magazine, but is quoted here to illumine DS9's penchant for fantasies and hallucinations (see also "Distant Voices," "Our Man Bashir," "Far Beyond the Stars" as well as the Vic Fontaine and "crossover" segments).  Such a range deflects criticism, in reminding the viewer of the fantasist in the mirror.

"If Wishes Were Horses" unreels pleasantly enough, as the crew sleuths the sudden appearance of baseball great Buck Bokai (Ben's holo-character), a submissive Jadzia (Julian's desire), and Rumpelstiltskin, the latter promising to save the station in exchange for Molly (Miles and Keiko's first-born, of course).  Answers come as grinding technobabble, but it helps that the cast is uniformly excellent.  Keone Young was cast by a baseball fan, clearly, in that he'd make an unconvincing representative of most any other sport.  Michael John Anderson is better known for art-TV (Twin Peaks, Carnivale), while Terry Farrell has a ball as alt-Jadzia.

Star Trek is a plot-based confection, so from "The Naked Time" forward, character fancies are off-format.  They're also inevitable, given the need for 22 episodes per.  For narrative tension they'll update The Odyssey -- the lotus-eaters, Circe, the Sirens -- with Trek regulars little more likely to die than Odysseus (the latter's shipmates, then, were early redshirts).

Ultimately, "If Wishes Were Horses" is similar to "Shore Leave," "Spectre of the Gun" et al., as the regulars prevail by disbelieving the figments.  The tag hints at a sequel, never produced.  On the other hand, the episode's aliens are so reticent, who can say?

** Rumpelstiltskin joined the scenario after Colm Meaney rejected leprechauns as problematic stereotype.  Of course, interrogating same would've duplicated the Dax subplot. **
** DS9 stepped nearer self-definition with Ben Sisko's love for baseball, otherwise extinct.  Despite pace-of-play hand-wringing, there's little sign of baseball expiring, but Buck Bokai was nevertheless prophetic: we're told he broke DiMaggio's streak (of consecutive games with a hit), whereas Ichiro Suzuki (then 19) was destined to be the global "hit king" (if MLB and Japanese-league stats are combined).  

Progress (O.B. 9 May 1993) score: 6

Finally, a Star Trek series has a female character (more than one) to carry an episode without strain.  With "Progress," DS9  avoids Voyager's mistake (whatever happened with those Maquis-Starfleet tensions?), paying off Kira as the former terrorist bending to politics.  Here, her agonized arc recalls Admiral Jarok (James Sloyan) in TNG "The Defector," with Sisko attenuating Picard's dressing-down of a traitor.
It's tempting to overrate "Progress," but the stalling isn't all Mullibok's.  This is another DS9 that's sci-fi just barely, indeed, torching a farmer's hut likely caused a few Vietnam flashbacks (it's questionable this scene would've gained approval for a 1970s or 80s episode).

"Progress" works because of the cast, with Brian Keith one of the franchise's great guest stars.  Just as Star Trek has Westerns in its DNA, before his Family Affair Keith starred in Nevada Smith (with Steve McQueen) and Sam Peckinpah's The Deadly Companions, while gracing dozens of TV series; he was the lead in Peckinpah's short-lived The Westerner. 

Like Charlton Heston in Will Penny, Keith in "Progress" lends instant weight to the study of a formidable pioneer turned victim, because aged at epochal change.

** Trivia question: which DS9 guest dares address Kira Nerys as "girl," "child," and "dear"?  If a clue is needed, Mullibok also reckons her "halfway pretty." **
** In the B-story, "self-sealing stembolts" might've been inspired by the self-sealing bags available to comics and magazine collectors, a group which includes a few Star Trek fans and reviewers. **   

The Storyteller (O.B. 2 May, 1993) score: 4

Star Trek Voyager takes a licking, but it got up-to-speed better than either TNG or DS9.  Showrunner Jeri Taylor was both focused and in her prime.  Compare DS9 S1, produced during TNG's final season with Star Trek: Generations on the white board.  With Berman and Piller spread thin, latter S1 falls off the table, as one timeworn script runs into the next.

Miles O'Brien, captive audience

To be fair, "The Storyteller" is hard to appreciate for a TOS fan, being a qualified remake of "The Paradise Syndrome."  Again, circumstances make a Starfleeter shaman of a native group: here, it's O'Brien as the accidental "Sirah," facing the dragon equivalent, evoking both Forbidden Planet and The Village.  As in the 1968 episode, the crewman must be extricated (a jealous local brandishes a knife) without disrupting the culture.

"The Storyteller" adds a B story reminiscent of TNG's "The Dauphin," about a pretty young alien leader interacting with Jake and Nog (Varis is played by Gina Philips, later of Ally McBeal and Boston Public).  Like all Star Trek series, DS9 attempted to lure kids and families, with the Jake-and-Nog combination working better than most (Wesley, Naomi Wildman).
"The Storyteller" was a leftover script from TNG, but that's not the problem, in fact the rewrite launches the satisfying O'Brien-Bashir relationship.  While there's nothing terrible here (except perhaps the effects for the Dal'Rok), there's also little that's memorable.  Also, a plot surrounding the fitness of new leaders is awfully similar to "The Nagus," then green in memory.
But as Doris Day sang, que Sirah, Sirah. 

Battle Lines (O.B. 25 April, 1993) score: 6

At this point in the original run, I was still resisting Deep Space 9 : "attempts a substantive episode, but there's really no moral question here, no decision to be made ... a ripoff of 'Day of the Dove.'" 

Well, Jonathan Swift and Paths of Glory both predate "Day of the Dove."  And there is a moral question, if nothing new: how do we stop hating?  "Battle Lines" has no answers, except to leave Kai Opaka on the planet as possible savior.  Note these alien fighters seem to have no spirituality of their own; perhaps it fell to their all-encompassing conflict. 
The point of the episode, of course, is combatants who've long forgotten what started the war.  In turn, they seem forgotten by those who cast them into exile.  Still, it's interesting Brokeback Mountain will use the name Ennis.  For Baby Boomers, Nol-Ennis evokes the grassy knoll of JFK assassination lore.
I've vaguely dreaded reviewing this episode, ever more pointed.  Its gloomy, blasted prison is the American civic landscape.  We tear at each other in the press, then ask leading questions of strangers to distinguish Ennis from Nol-Ennis.  Some disingenuously hope for progress, as generations turn, but any student of history knows we are cursed with immortality.   

Kai Opaka shows up later in the series, but I won't bother checking.  We know it's eternal dusk, and the Ennis and Nol-Ennis are at each other's throats.

** It's no coincidence this episode defines the Federation as non-military (per the DS9 Companion, Rick Berman imagined more of a trading alliance).  Sisko describes an alliance for mutual scientific, cultural and defensive benefit. **  

Vortex (O.B. 18 April, 1993) score: 5

Sam Rolfe got an Oscar nomination for co-writing The Naked Spur, one of a cycle of five Westerns directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart.  By hiring Rolfe to write "Vortex," Peter Allan Fields closed a circle, having broken in with Rolfe's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  Rolfe also co-created Have Gun - Will Travel, a key credit for Gene Roddenberry. 

Odo sneaks a prisoner from DS9

Unfortunately, the above makes a better story than this episode, which loses much of its appeal now we know about Odo's people.
Like The Naked Spur, "Vortex" uses the stock plot where a lawman protects a prisoner in transit.  Here, the threat comes from a vengeful Miradorn, the survivor of a meeting gone awry (at Quark's) where his twin was killed.  Like the Trill, and later the Dominion, the Miradorn are a joined species, but it makes little difference.
A shape-shifting pendant gives Odo personal interest in the journey, as he seeks his origin.  But his bumbling charge Croden is bluffing, and the constable learns little except that his kind are sometimes called "Changelings."  (According to The Deep Space 9 Companion, this is the first episode in which Odo smiles.)  Croden is a Rakhari, another race unworthy of a sequel. 

Recalling Season One-era comparisons to Gunsmoke and The Rifleman, "Vortex" is well-paced filler.  While crowded with aliens, their motivations are as familiar as greed, survival and familial bonds.  The major sci-fi note is the climax, a reprise of the ignite-the-vapors ploy. 

**  The smuggled object (for which Quark schemes) resembles a Faberge egg.  Hard to say whether the writer knew about the prop, but in this context, the glimmers of revolution against the repressive Rakhari regime evoke Russia.  (The 1917 Bolshevik revolution doomed the Romanovs, for whom the eggs were fashioned.)  **

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.