The initial episode of Deep Space Nine introduces us to the cast and the premise of the show, that of Ben Sisko, a space captain with more than a little PTSD after surviving an attack of the Borg that killed his wife and nearly killed him...led by Jean-Luc Picard who was under Borg control at the time.
The PTSD has Sisko ready to resign his commission and quit Starfleet. He has to deliver that decision, though, to the one whom he holds responsible for the death of his wife, Captain Picard. After a tense confrontation, Picard offers him (or exiles him, depending on your perspective) to a remote space station, the property of the Bajorans who had recently thrown off their occupation by Cardassian forces, and in so doing threw the Cardassians off Deep Space 9. Naturally, the Cardassians trashed the place like a drunken rock band on their way out.
So now it's Sisko's job to try to maintain diplomatic relations, even amidst his own staff. He arrives on the station with his teenage son, creating a dynamic similar to that between Lucas and Mark McCain on the classic western "The Rifleman", a good comparison since the station is as "final frontier" as anything in the ST franchise. We are introduced to the residents of the station including a casino manager, a grouchy lawman, a Bajoran first officer who resents Starfleet coming in and taking over, a female science officer whose body holds a symbiote with the memories of all its previous hosts including a former male friend of Sisko. (The latter would have made shipping these two characters AWKWARD...) But wait, there's more! Just outside the station is a stable wormhole that passes to the Gamma Quadrant. When Sisko enters the wormhole, this is where this whole episode goes straight down the tubes. There's a very long sequence where alien beings (the Prophets of the Bajoran Temple) assume the forms of people from Sisko's past; it is very confusing and can only be summed up in two words often repeated through the scene: not linear. The point being that Sisko's memories keep him from moving forward, while at the same time proving to the Prophets that he understands the consequences of decisions he has made. This is important because Bajoran leader Kai Opaka has identified him as the emissary to the Prophets, an important figure in Bajor's religion.
Anyway, they so lost me with that "not linear" business that it took me a couple of years to return to the show. Thankfully, the characters and plots became far more compelling by this time. Thus my lousy review is limited solely to the pilot, not the series as a whole.
The PTSD has Sisko ready to resign his commission and quit Starfleet. He has to deliver that decision, though, to the one whom he holds responsible for the death of his wife, Captain Picard. After a tense confrontation, Picard offers him (or exiles him, depending on your perspective) to a remote space station, the property of the Bajorans who had recently thrown off their occupation by Cardassian forces, and in so doing threw the Cardassians off Deep Space 9. Naturally, the Cardassians trashed the place like a drunken rock band on their way out.
So now it's Sisko's job to try to maintain diplomatic relations, even amidst his own staff. He arrives on the station with his teenage son, creating a dynamic similar to that between Lucas and Mark McCain on the classic western "The Rifleman", a good comparison since the station is as "final frontier" as anything in the ST franchise. We are introduced to the residents of the station including a casino manager, a grouchy lawman, a Bajoran first officer who resents Starfleet coming in and taking over, a female science officer whose body holds a symbiote with the memories of all its previous hosts including a former male friend of Sisko. (The latter would have made shipping these two characters AWKWARD...) But wait, there's more! Just outside the station is a stable wormhole that passes to the Gamma Quadrant. When Sisko enters the wormhole, this is where this whole episode goes straight down the tubes. There's a very long sequence where alien beings (the Prophets of the Bajoran Temple) assume the forms of people from Sisko's past; it is very confusing and can only be summed up in two words often repeated through the scene: not linear. The point being that Sisko's memories keep him from moving forward, while at the same time proving to the Prophets that he understands the consequences of decisions he has made. This is important because Bajoran leader Kai Opaka has identified him as the emissary to the Prophets, an important figure in Bajor's religion.
Anyway, they so lost me with that "not linear" business that it took me a couple of years to return to the show. Thankfully, the characters and plots became far more compelling by this time. Thus my lousy review is limited solely to the pilot, not the series as a whole.