Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, while technically a spin-off of The Original Series, is more accurately described as a spin-off of its big sister, Star Trek: The Next Generation. Set in 2369, the series follows the trials and tribulations of a space station at the edge of explored space.

Premiering in 1993, it was the first Star Trek series to address multi-episode and multi-season story arcs. For the most part, it’s based on a space station instead of a starship and dealt with themes of religion, war and interpersonal conflict that was often avoided in TNG but was a near weekly occurrence on TOS. Due to the involved and overlapping plot lines a significant chunk of the series is required watching in order to keep track of everything.

I did watch these episodes along side TNG and Voyager in relative chronological order based on the stardates provided, which was an effort that ultimately was not entirely necessary, but fun nonetheless. With a few exceptions, the overlap does not matter between the three series. However, if you want to have a viewing experience that most closely matches that of what it was like watching these shows as they aired in the 90’s, then I suggest this approach.

All episodes are listed for each season. Each episode is indicated with either a “W” for watch or an “S” for skip. I also opted to order my viewing in “chronological order” as best determined by the initial stardate given in the episode. If there isn’t a stardate, I placed it where it made the most sense relative to the other episodes. Eventually, each title will link to a post that discusses the reasoning for seeing an episode and skipping an episode.

Lastly, episodes that are “essential” are indicated with an * in the Ep. No. column. Essential episodes are selected on a number of factors including character development, other cannon connections, and cultural impact. In other words, these often are best of the best of each season.

Season 1

The first season of DS9, while a bit uneven, definitely carved out it’s own path for the fledgling series. Much of the “worst” episodes of the entire series are contained in this inaugural season which means a total of 65% of the episodes are worth watching with five episodes considered essential for the series.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
01×01* & 01×02*	Emissary	46379.1	W
01×03	Past Prologue	Unknown	W
01×04	A Man Alone	46421.5	S
01×05	Babel	46423.7	S
01×06	Captive Pursuit	46477.5	W
01×07	Q-less	36531.2	W
01×19	The Passenger	Unknown	S
01×10	Move Along Home	Unknown	S
01×11*	The Nagus	Unknown	W
01×12*	Vortex	Unknown	W
01×13	Battle Lines	Unknown	W
01×14	The Storyteller	46729.1	S
01×15	Progress	46844.3	W
01×16	If Wishes Were Horses	46853.2	S
01×09	Dax	46910.1	W
01×18	Dramatis Personea	46922.3	S
01×17	The Forsaken	46925.1	W
01×19*	Duet	Unknown	W
01×20*	In the Hands of the Prophets	Unknown	W

Season 2

DS9’s sophomore season was a full run of 26 episodes. Most of the series-long story arcs are established over the course of the season as well as continuing to lay the groundwork for another spin-off series, Star Trek: Voyager.

At least 10 of these episodes are essential viewing and 77% of the season is necessary to see to understand the overall arc(s) of the series.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
02×01*	The Homecoming	Unknown	W
02×02*	The Circle	Unknown	W
02×03*	The Siege	Unknown	W
02×05*	Cardassians	47177.2	W
02×05	Invasive Procedures	47182.1	W
02×06	Melora	47229.1	S
02×07	Rules of Acquisition	Unknown	W
02×08	Necessary Evil	47282.5	W
02×09	Second Sight	47329.4	S
02×10	Sanctuary	47391.2	S
02×12	The Alternate	47391.7	W
02×11	Rivals	Unknown	S
02×13	Armageddon Game	Unknown	S
02×15	Paradise	47573.1	W
02×14	Whispers	47581.2	S
02×16	Shadowplay	47603.3	W
02×17	Playing God	Unknown	W
02×18*	Profit and Loss	Unknown	W
02×09*	Blood Oath	Unknown	W
02×20*	The Maquis | Part I	Unknown	W
02×21*	The Maquis | Part II	Unknown	W
02×22	The Wire	Unknown	W
02×23*	Crossover	Unknown	W
02×24	The Collaborator	Unknown	W
02×25	Tribunal	47944.2	W
02×26*	The Jem’Hadar	Unknown	W

Season 3

Season three really kicks into high gear with several main plot lines, including the Klingon War, The Dominion, and Rise of Bajor. When this season first premiered, the TNG cast headed out on their first silver screen adventure in Generations while Star Trek: Voyager got lost in the Delta Quadrant.

A whopping 92% of the season is watchable, and it truly is necessary to do so in order to watch the remainder of the series. 10 episodes are essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
03×01*	The Search | Part I	48213.1	W
03×02*	The Search | Part II	48217.7	W
03×03*	The House of Quark	48224.2	W
03×04	Equilibrium	Unknown	W
03×05	Second Skin	48244.5	W
03×06	The Abandoned	48301.1	W
03×07	Civil Defense	48388.8	W
03×08	Meridian	48423.2	S
03×09*	Defiant	48467.3	W
03×10	Fascination	Unknown	W
03×11	Past Tense | Part I	48481.2	W
03×12	Past Tense | Part II	48481.2	W
03×13	Life Support	48498.4	W
03×14*	Heart of Stone	48521.5	W
03×15	Destiny	48543.2	W
03×16	Prophet Motive	Unknown	W
03×17	Visionary	48576.7	W
03×18	Distant Voices	48592.2	S
03×19	Through the Looking Glass	Unknown	W
03×20*	Improbable Cause	Unknown	W
03×21*	The Die is Cast	Unknown	W
03×22	Explorers	Unknown	W
03×23*	Family Business	Unknown	W
03×24	Shakaar	Unknown	W
03×25	Facets	48876.3	W
03×26*	The Adversary	48959.1	W

Season 4

Season four sees the arrival of a familiar face and dives deep into a conflict with the Klingons and the coming troubles with the Dominion continue to build. The TNG’s second silver screen outing, First Contact also premiered on the silver screen during this season.

92% of the season is required viewing and 12 episodes are essential.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
04×01 & 04×02*	The Way of the Warrior	49011.4
04×03*	The Visitor	49034.7
04×04	Hippocratic Oath	49066.5
04×05*	Indiscretion	Unknown
04×06	Rejoined	49195.5
04×07*	Starship Down	49263.5
04×08*	Little Green Men	Unknown
04×11	Homefront	49170.65
04×09	The Sword of Kahless	49289.1
04×10	Our Man Bashir	49300.7
04×12*	Paradise Lost	Unknown
04×13*	Crossfire	Unknown
04×14*	Return to Grace	Unknown
04×15	Sons of Mogh	49556.2
04×16	Bar Association	Unknown
04×17*	Accession	Unknown
04×18	Rules of Engagement	49665.3
04×19*	Hard Time	Unknown
04×20	Shattered Mirror	Unknown
04×21	The Muse	Unknown
04×22*	For the Cause	Unknown
04×23	To the Death	49904.2
04×24	The Quickening	Unknown
04×25	Body Parts	49930.3
04×26*	Broken Link	49962.4

Season 5

Season Five ran during the 25th Anniversary of The Original Series and pays an incredible tribute to the mother series. This season concludes the Maquis arc while advancing the Changeling and Dominion stories towards war.

Ten episodes are essential viewing with 92% of the season required viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
05×01*	Apocalypse Rising	Unknown	W
05×02	The Ship	50049.3	W
05×03	Looking for par’Mach in all the Wrong Places	50061.2	W
05×04	…Nor the Battle to the Strong	Unknown	W
05×05	The Assignment	Unknown	W
05×06*	Trials and Tribble-ations	4523.7	W
05×07	Let He Who is Without Sin…	Unknown	S
05×08	Things Past	Unknown	W
05×09	The Ascent	Unknown	W
05×10*	Rapture	Unknown	W
05×11*	The Darkness and the Light	50416.2	W
05×12	The Begotten	Unknown	W
05×13	For the Uniform	50485.2	W
05×14*	In Purgatory’s Shadow	Unknown	W
05×15*	By Inferno’s Light	50564.2	W
05×16	Doctor Bashir, I Presume	Unknown	W
05×17	A Simple Investigation	Unknown	S
05×18	Business as Usual	Unknown	W
05×19	Ties of Blood and Water	50712.5	W
05×20	Ferengi Love Songs	Unknown	W
05×21	Soldiers of the Empire	Unknown	W
05×22	Children of Time	50814.2	W
05×23*	Blaze of Glory	Unknown	W
05×24*	Empok Nor	50901.7	W
05×25*	In the Cards	50929.4	W
05×26*	Call to Arms	50975.2	W

Season 6

The penultimate season of Deep Space Nine sees the start of the Dominion War which will continue on through the end of the series. With the war arc taking center stage, the writing is a bit more focused and some of the best episodes of the series, if not the franchise, occur throughout the 26-episode run.

Of that total, 81% are required viewing with 16 episodes considered essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
06×01*	A Time to Stand	Unknown	W
06×02*	Rocks and Shoals	51096.2	W
06×03*	Sons and Daughters	Unknown	W
06×04*	Behind the Lines	51145.3	W
06×05*	Favor the Bold	Unknown	W
06×06*	Sacrifice of Angels	Unknown	W
06×07*	You are Cordially Invited	51247.5	W
06×08	Resurrection	Unknown	S
06×09	Statistical Probabilities	Unknown	W
06×10	The Magnificent Ferengi	Unknown	W
06×11*	Waltz	51408.6	W
06×12	Who Mourns for Morn?	Unknown	S
06×13*	Far Beyond the Stars	Unknown	W
06×14*	One Little Ship	51474.2	W
06×15*	Honor Among Thieves	Unknown	W
06×16*	Change of Heart	51597.2	W
06×17	Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night	Unknown	W
06×18	Inquisition	Unknown	W
06×19*	In the Pale Moonlight	51721.3	W
06×20	His Way	Unknown	W
06×21*	The Reckoning	Unknown	W
06×22	Valiant	51825.4	S
06×23	Profit and Lace	Unknown	S
06×24	Time’s Orphan	Unknown	S
06×25*	The Sound of Her Voice	51948.3	W
06×26*	Tears of the Prophets	Unknown	W

Season 7

The final season of DS9 delivers all the punches and payoffs that were hard earned over the past six seasons. Picking up where the tragic season finale left us, we meet a new face, while continuing the Dominion War arc. Meanwhile the TNG crew head out on their third silver screen adventure, Insurrection.

88% of the season is required viewing and a whopping 16 episodes are essential!

Note, Paramount referred to the final nine episodes as “The Final Chapter” and are numbered in the list below for reference. Again, we have a stardate issue with Part V that simply has to be ignored for these episodes to work.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	Stardate
07×01*	Image in the Sand	Unknown	W
07×02*	Shadows and Symbols	52152.6	W
07×03*	Afterimage	Unknown	W
07×04	Take Me out to the Holosuite	Unknown	S
07×05	Chrysalis	Unknown	W
07×06	Treachery, Faith and the Great River	Unknown	W
07×07*	Once More Unto the Breach	Unknown	W
07×08*	The Siege of AR-558	Unknown	W
07×09	Covenant	Unknown	W
07×10	It’s Only a Paper Moon	Unknown	W
07×11	Prodigal Daughter	Unknown	W
07×12	The Emperor’s New Cloak	Unknown	S
07×13	Field of Fire	Unknown	W
07×14*	Chimera	Unknown	W
07×15	Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang	Unknown	S
07×16*	Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges	Unknown	W
07×17*	Penumbra | Part I	52576.2	W
07×18*	‘Til Death Do Us Part | Part II	Unknown	W
07×19*	Strange Bedfellows | Part III	Unknown	W
07×20*	The Changing Face of Evil | Part IV	Unknown	W
07×21*	When It Rains… | Part V	52684.3	W
07×22*	Tacking Into the Wind | Part VI	Unknown	W
07×23*	Extreme Measures | Part VII	52645.7	W
07×24*	The Dogs of War | Part VIII	52861.3	W
07×25 & 07×26*	What You Leave Behind	52902.0	W

With Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I became enamored with the franchise. The challenge with it was that it was syndicated on the Fox television network. It was frequently and regularly preempted by baseball, football, and “breaking news” when it aired in Ohio in the mid-nineties. Often the local station wouldn’t rebroadcast the episode at a time when a pre-teen would have been allowed to watch it- assuming they rebroadcast it at all. Which, given the serialized nature fo the show, made it really difficult to track what was going on from week-to-week. I don’t think I actually saw the series in its entirety until Netflix began streaming the show in the aughts – almost ten years after it went off the air.

Once you’ve worked through this series, you will likely agree this is probably the best of Star Trek. I hope (in vain I think) that at some point CBS will go to the effort of remastering this amazing, and increasingly topical, series. Overall, you will watch 84% of the series.