Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) The Way of the Warrior (1995) User Reviews

One of the "big" episodes of the series

[garrard · 9/10 · 22 October 2009]

The first episode of season four was a two-hour installment, bringing in Michael Dorn, reprising his Next Generation "Worf" character, now joining the DS9 cast. The plot itself involves a "proactive" strike by the Klingons against the Dominion by attacking Cardassia, much to the irritation of the Federation The show introduces J. G. Hertzler as "Martok" and features bug-eyed "Gowron" as brilliantly played by Robert O'Reilly.

Andrew Robinson, as always, gets to scene-steal as the sardonic and crafty Garek. An encounter between him and some angry Klingons results in some spicy dialog uttered by the Cardassian tailor. Garek also gets to exchange "pleasantries" with Marc Alaimo's "Gul Dukat".

Besides the superb acting of regular and guest cast members, the show has stunning special effects, especially the scene when the armada of Klingon ships "de-cloak", revealing that they surround the space station. Also, a fight between Klingons and DS9 personnel is well-choreographed Good writing, acting, and sfx makes this a landmark episode in the seven-year history of the show.

This cat has teeth.

[thevacinstaller · 8/10 · 8 April 2020]

An engaging action/adventure episode of star trek. A payoff for all the slow boil build up of the past 3 seasons. (I like slow boil episodes --- hell, I'm happy with 3 people standing around talking to each other for 45 minutes...)

It did not take long for paranoia about The Dominion to cause fracturing within the Alpha Quadrant.

Any episode we get Sisko fighting scenes is a good time. Easily the best fighter of all the Starfleet captains. Worf is no longer an alien punching bag --- he now moves around like a Yodi/Bruce Lee hybrid laying a path of his victims before his feet.

The idea of Worf joining the DS9 crew actually worked well for in this episode. It was well structured and thought out instead of just providing us with one throw-a-way line like the movies.

The Series Hits Its Stride

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 20 October 2018]

When I watch DS9 before, something came up and I stopped watching it. I wasn't driven to go back because while the third season was pretty good, it didn't grab me that intensely. This episode really brought me back into the fold. Here we are brought into a set of conflicts involving the Klingons, the Cardassians, the Bajorans, and others. The Klingons heavy handedly move into the station and begin pushing people around. They have decided to do battle with the Cardassians, assuming the Federation will join them. They seem to think that joining the Federation gives them privileges. Meanwhile there are beatings and confrontations, with Sisko having to stand up for the principles of Starfleet. The central figure that makes and impact and causes a great deal of tribulation, is our friend Worf, who served on the Enterprise with Picard. This is a sophisticated episode that follows political and philosophical motivations. Excellent.

Worf joins the DS9 crew

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 12 May 2010]

As season four begins there is one obvious change... Sisko has shaved his head and his new appearance makes him look far more serious. When a fleet of Klingons arrives at DS9 it soon appears that they are going to illegally search any ship leaving Bajoran space in case they are transporting any founders. Needing a Klingon officer to help him deal with the local Klingons Captain Sisko contacts Star Fleet and they dispatch Lt. Commander Worf who had previously served on the Enterprise in "The Next Generation". His inquiries lead him to find out that the Klingons are planning to invade Cardassia, where the government has recently collapsed and the Klingons suspect Dominion involvement. Star Fleet decides not to get involved but Sisko thinks this could lead to further problems so lets Garak learn what is happening to he can warn Cardassia.

This was a great introduction to season for, Michael Dorn's Worf is a welcome addition to the Deep Space Nine cast and he is thrown straight into the action and must decide whether he will side with the Klingons and Star Fleet. Even though he was only in for a little while Andrew Robinson did a great job as Garak, the high point being when, after being badly beaten by a group of Klingons, tell the doctor that he came off better as he was able to get off some particularly cutting remarks.

Finally, a reward for loyal fans, and a treat for casual SF watchers

[lebedeff-27-786848 · 9/10 · 13 July 2016]

This double-length season opener does many things well, combining some of the best elements of old-school Trek with more contemporary action sci-fi. It seems to me like a resurrection of the series, a celebration, and in some ways a reconciliation with the loyal fans who were becoming disappointed in the franchise, but who decided to give DS9 another chance.

After a slew of boringly "skippable" episodes packing the end of the previous season, the rapid fire plot developments that fans get in this episode are refreshingly welcome. Of course, some "slow" Trek episodes are excellent too (a great example being the episode that follows this one), but fast, well-done *and* meaningful is worth embracing.

Firstly, so many things happen in this episode that it could be overwhelming; however, it's not, thanks to the writers' compression of the dialogues into pithy character-exposing vignettes and pithy exchanges. Garak (Andrew Robinson) and Gowron (Robert O'Reilly), in particular, elevate their zingers nearly to the point of camp, but they're darned entertaining. Political discussions are kept to relevant points, and they're over before they get dreary.

As for the action, there is more overall ass-kicking in this episode than perhaps in the previous three seasons combined. We can even foresee the re-thinking of action's role during the opening credits, in which the usually soporific score picks up a driving beat; the CGI artists add all sorts of things flying around, with little folks in space suits on the hull doing sparky things. As for the space battles in the episode, it seems like the CGI folks used up half a season's budget to make them happen. The station, for once, shows its teeth, and pretty much everyone gets to show off their hand-to-hand combat skills.

And this is why I mentioned old-school Trek: Klingons, phasers, and fisticuffs. Didn't Roddenberry envision Trek as sort of a space western? Well, there's a good, old showdown in this episode which many Trek fans have been waiting for since the 60s. And speaking of Klingons, there are mobs of them, and as part of an apparent re-invigoration of the series, (no spoilers) a fan favorite rejoins the franchise. As for lovable villains (it's not a spoiler to mention this guy), Gowron makes a spectacularly bug-eyed, "glorious" appearance.

The only minus that I could find in this episode, if I tried hard, would be that because of the pacing the characters come off as two-dimensional. In defense, however, for one, this is a season opener: for the sake of new viewers, a writer is often pressured to reintroduce every character in a quickly digestible manner. Secondly, this is Trek having fun, and the "speculative fiction," head-scratching aspect of Trek is traditionally all about the situations, not the characters.

A very satisfying episode for fans, and a totally decent watch for SF enthusiasts.

This is NOT CGI

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 8 December 2011]

When I first heard about this 'sode, I thought, "Oh, here we go, they just HAD to add Worf - They must be Slipping". Maybe that was correct, but what happens here in THIS 'sode was just the tangent Deep Space 9 needed as a kick in the glutinous buttocks. It wasn't just the appearance of Klingons, adding a new threat to a situation that was already becoming untenable - But the producers injected the question: "How do you deal with Klingons?" The answer they postulated, was "With Another KLINGON" - And so they picked the RIGHT Klingon to do it. The Klingons harass Garak and Cassidy Yates and have some agenda that they are not talking about.

WORF was, is, as Kehylar (Worf's original mate) said, "The Perfect Klingon - The Ultimate Minimalist" - Little did we know that Worf would save DS9. Not as a character in the series, but as a pivoting point that so many story arcs revolved around. So I am very glad Worf put on his forehead and Bat'leth once more.

Of course right away we realised that eventually Worf would end up with Jadzia. It was as if, this was planned from the earliest revelations that the Dax symbiote, who was Curzon before Jadzia, knew more about Klingons than the Klingons did. Dax IS a Klingon, and the Jadzia host embraced the interest in the Klingon Culture that Curzon had developed over his lifetime. Unlike the next host Ezri, who had problems with Klingon Familiarity - Not even liking Raktajino

And so this 'sode is the exact middle of DS9, the Klingons break the Kitohmer accords merely as an excuse to go to WAR once again. The Klingons MUST Fight, they HAVE to provoke a situation and this is what Gowron did. Now Gowron is WITHOUT HONOUR: We put up with Gowron during TNG because Picard was his Arbiter of Succession. And perhaps Starfleet wanted to send Picard to deal with Gowron, but the Enterprise D had just been destroyed by the Tah-kecks Lursa and Be'tor! So with his succession so far in the past and the convenient lack of the Enterprise D to send, Gowron provokes this whole situation. The only thing Starfleet could have done was send Worf, there was no Enterprise E yet. And so this situation comes to a "Klingon Forehead", and Worf comes to DS9 as does General Martok - Who we find out later, is not quite Martok- who seems to be blindly following Gowron into the blazes of battle. And it is WORF who sacrifices his honour, ONCE AGAIN, "For the Good of the Empire" - Because he will NOT follow Gowron blindly like a Targ.

The last portion of this 'sode has the best up to this point space battle ever filmed for a TV show - THIS IS NOT CGI! This was major... The Trek effects department overextended themselves to give us this gift. Although WAR was never in Gene's canon for Trek, the DS9 production crew had to give us this scenario. WHAT IF the Klingons were to invade a Federation-Held Territory- what would that look like? How would the Federation DEAL with it? So many beautiful Klingon ships, destroyed. DS9 special effects later used the same technique in several battles including Federation Starships, Cardassian Cruisers, Klingon Birds of Prey, and Jem'Hadar warships (which looked like beetles). So this Klingon Attack on DS9 was the first of many scenes in DS9 that mimicked and homaged "Victory at Sea" - The award winning commentary and documentary of WW-II Naval Battles. And since the Federation Command Structure is Maritime, it is a very apt homage.

This is the battle that SHOULD have been shown in "Best of Both Worlds" which we did not get to see in TNG at any time. ONLY in Deep Space 9 could we go just beyond the borders of Roddenberry, to see what these battles looked like, and so, in The Emissary, we get a SMALL Taste of WOLF 359... But in Way of the Warrior, we get to see the whole thing.

So watch this ep as the Klingons Attack DS9. In "The Emissary" Sisko creates an illusion of armaments on the station made of "Thoron Fields and Duranium Shadows" - But in THIS 'sode-- It is no illusion, much to the chagrin of the Klingon Fleet of Vor'cha class cruisers and Birds of Prey and even the Old Style TOS Klingon Battle Cruisers. Gowron has a bitchin new Battle Cruiser... When the Photon Launchers and Phaser emitters rise from the upper pylons of DS9 it's "Where did those come from!" - Well that PA'TAK Gowron finds out, doesn't he? And the Trek crew of extras and stuntees must have had a blast... We get to see Worf and Sisko handling Bat'leths and Mek'leths and there are phaser and disrupter blasts galore... Too bad nobody was "waporised" (As Chekov would have put it).

Initially, this 'sode seems to veer away from the Founders/Dominion story arc - But as we watch the subsequent seasons of DS9 - The Involvement of The Founders becomes apparent.

Enjoy this 'Sode, I certainly did! DS9 was probably the last show ever not to use CGI in humongous space battles, and it paid off in full.

Questionable premise but great episode

[Hughmanity · 9/10 · 20 August 2020]

The return of Worf, a three-way battle between Klingons, Cardassians and the Federation, and a serialized reboot to the episodic Star Trek all make this episode a 9/10 for me.

The only nitpick here is the premise is a bit ridiculous. The Klingons feel threatened by the Dominion so they decide to attack the....Cardassians? There is a throwaway line where Worf acknowledges that this is an "excuse" to return to conquering ways, but backing out of a treaty to fight both the Cardassians and the Federation while under threat from the Dominion makes zero sense.

Gowron has always seemed clever in previous episodes but in this one he seems like a fool. I half expected him to be revealed as a changeling by the end of the episode, which would have made sense. Turning the Alpha Quadrant races against each other would be a textbook Dominion play. But no such luck, at least not yet.

Im watching in order so if it does turn out that Gowron is a changeling then it makes no sense why he wouldn't have been blood tested, given the Klingon General's aggressive testing of Sisko and Kira.

Anyway, it's great to see Worf again and I'm re-hooked on DS9. Let's go!

Lots of stuff happenin' here--though I didn't think it was always logical.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 28 December 2014]

This is a double-length episode and like many of these lengthy episodes and season openers, LOTS of stuff is happening! The biggest change is Worf becoming a regular on "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" but Captain Sisko is now bald and once again pretty much ignores his commanding officers' orders. This isn't new but is at least the third time Sisko gets away with this!

The show begins with Worf begin transferred, at least temporarily, to DS9 because some problems are now brewing with the Klingons around the wormhole. They have arrived en masse on the station and they are in a VERY argumentative mood. Why all the posturing and anger on the part of the Klingons? What is their goal? And how does this all fit into the wicked Founders' plans?

This show is decent because LOTS happens and there is lots of action. On the other hand, the show is NOT especially logical and Sisko's intervention in the Cardassian-Klingon war makes little sense--nor does his risking everything to save Dukat and the Cardassian council. Sitting back and just letting things take their course would have made a lot more sense. Plus, how is it that Sisko wasn't taken up on charges for his latest insubordination?!

By the way, in a tiny role aboard the Defiant you see Patricia Tallman--the same lady who would begin playing Lyta the telepath on "Babylon 5"this same year. Several other Trek actors would also appear on "Babylon 5" and vice-versa over the years, such as Andreas Katsulas playing a recurring role as a Cardassian on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as well as a regular role on "Babylon 5". So, for fans of both franchises, this is a particularly noteworthy episode.

Battle stations

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 8 July 2022]

The Klingons descend upon DS9 in an effort to thwart the Dominion threat.

This is a very memorable double episode.

It has everything in terms of entertainment, starting with a compelling plot full of political intrigue and big moments. The strategic ambition of the Klingons, in their dealings with the Federation and Cardassians is used superbly for drama, action and character moments.

Adding Worf to the mix of DS9 was a fantastic decision, as a strong character is necessary for many of the subsequent stories and Michael Dorn's presence improves the entertainment value of the cast. He has the right mix of heroism and deadpan humour.

Most characters have enjoyable moments such as Dukat, Gowron, Quark, Garak, Odo, Sisko, and Worf. Classic scenes for me include Garak's measurements, Quark's root beer, and everything involving Worf, particularly his introduction.

There are some scenes that feel like their purpose is to help stretch the running time and slow down the momentum slightly, but they are certainly not badly made.

Visually it's excellent, especially the action scenes, which are some of the best from this era of Star Trek.

Good episode expect the boring Penny Johnson Jerald

[Filmreader · 9/10 · 20 June 2020]

This is a good episode. The only negative is the appearance of Penny Johnson Jerald that, as I wrote in other review (and I will do it again in other posts) I lever liked her in any TV series or films. For me she is a completely boring actress.