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Algernon_Asimov's guide to 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'
I've compiled an episode guide for 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'. This shows major milestones and character development - hopefully without giving away too many spoilers.
If you want to know which episodes are essential to watch (and which to avoid!) in the early seasons of Deep Space Nine, this is the page for you!
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Season 1
| Episode | Title | Key points / milestones | Characters featured | Essential? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 & 2 | Emissary | Commander Sisko, a man still suffering the consequences of the Battle of Wolf 359, takes command of space station Deep Space Nine in orbit around Bajor, after the end of the Cardassian occupation. A wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant is discovered nearby. | All | Engage! |
| 3 | Past Prologue | First appearance of Garak. Cross-over appearance of Lursa & B’Etor. | Kira | meh |
| 4 | A Man Alone | Jake and Nog first meet. Keiko starts a school. | Odo Keiko Rom | meh |
| 5 | Babel | Gibberish virus. | Avoid | |
| 6 | Captive Pursuit | First visitor from the Gamma Quadrant. | O’Brien | Just for fun |
| 7 | Q-Less | First and only appearance of Q. | Sisko Q Vash | Just for fun |
| 8 | Dax | Examination of Trill host/symbiont relationship. | Jadzia | meh |
| 9 | The Passenger | Mysterious dead/non-dead person. | Odo Bashir | Avoid |
| 10 | Move Along Home | First official delegation from Gamma Quadrant. Commonly regarded as one of the worst episodes of the series. (But I like it!) | Quark | Just for fun |
| 11 | The Nagus | First appearance of Grand Nagus Zek. Development of Jake/Nog friendship. | Zek Quark Jake Nog | Just for fun |
| 12 | Vortex | Odo character development. First mention of "changelings". First time Morn is mentioned by name. | Odo | meh |
| 13 | Battle Lines | The end of Kai Opaka's story. | Opaka | Engage! |
| 14 | The Storyteller | O'Brien the storyteller. Beginnings of O'Brien/Bashir friendship. | O'Brien | Avoid |
| 15 | Progress | Kira versus crusty old Bajoran farmer. Jake and Nog and self-sealing stem bolts. | Kira Jake Nog | Just for fun |
| 16 | If Wishes Were Horses | Dreams become real. Sisko gets his baseball. | Avoid | |
| 17 | The Forsaken | First appearance of Lwaxana Troi. Nice character development of Odo. | Lwaxana Odo | Just for fun |
| 18 | Dramatis Personae | Psychic invaders take over the crew. | Avoid | |
| 19 | Duet | Widely acknowledged as the best episode of 1st season DS9, and one of the best of the series. Kira and a Cardassian war criminal. | Kira | Engage! |
| 20 | In The Hands Of The Prophets | First appearance of Winn (huzzah!) and Bareil. Keiko's school in trouble with Bajoran religion. | Winn Kira | Engage! |
Season 2
| Episode | Title | Key points / milestones | Characters featured | Essential? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Homecoming | [Part 1 of 3] Bajoran war hero turns up. | Kira | Engage! |
| 2 | The Circle | [Part 2 of 3] Coup on Bajor. | Winn Bareil | Engage! |
| 3 | The Siege | [Part 3 of 3] Take-over of Deep Space Nine. | Engage! | |
| 4 | Invasive Procedures | Threat to the Dax symbiont. | Jadzia | meh |
| 5 | Cardassians | Controversy about Cardassian war orphans on Bajor. | Garak Dukat | Engage! |
| 6 | Melora | Wheelchair-bound Starfleet Officer. | Bashir | Avoid |
| 7 | Rules of Acquisition | Grand Nagus Zek sends Quark to Gamma Quadrant. First mention of the Dominion. | Quark Zek | Just for fun |
| 8 | Necessary Evil | How Odo got started in law enforcement during Cardassian Occupation. | Odo Kira Dukat | Engage! |
| 9 | Second Sight | Sisko meets a mysterious woman. | Sisko | Avoid |
| 10 | Sanctuary | Refugees from Gamma Quadrant, fleeing the Dominion. | Kira | Engage! |
| 11 | Rivals | Quark has a business rival. | meh | |
| 12 | The Alternate | Odo's mentor visits. Odo character development. | Odo | Engage! |
| 13 | Armageddon Game | Development of Bashir/O'Brien friendship. | O'Brien Bashir | Just for fun |
| 14 | Whispers | O'Brien gets worried about his colleagues' behaviour. | O'Brien | meh |
| 15 | Paradise | O'Brien and Sisko stuck in a pre-technological paradise. | Sisko O'Brien | meh |
| 16 | Shadowplay | Odo and Jadzia investigate disappearing people from a colony. Odo makes a friend. Jake tries apprenticing with O'Brien. Bareil/Kira sparks. | Odo Jadzia Jake | Just for fun |
| 17 | Playing God | Jadzia mentors a Trill initiate from the joining program. | Jadzia | meh |
| 18 | Profit and Loss | Quark's old flame is a Cardassian dissident. We learn something about Garak's background. | Quark Garak | meh |
| 19 | Blood Oath | Three old Klingons - Kor, Kang, and Koloth - invite Jadzia on a mission of revenge. | Jadzia | Just for fun |
| 20 | The Maquis, Part 1 | Introduces the Maquis [for the purposes of setting up 'Voyager']. | Sisko Dukat | Engage! |
| 21 | The Maquis, Part 2 | Sisko and Dukat work together against the Maquis. Sisko's famous "It's easy to be a saint in Paradise" speech. | Sisko Dukat | Engage! |
| 22 | The Wire | Garak is getting headaches - but nothing is ever simple with Garak. | Garak | Engage! |
| 23 | Crossover | 1st "mirror universe" episode. | Mirror | Just for fun |
| 24 | The Collaborator | The election of the Bajoran Kai: Winn versus Bareil. Did Bareil collaborate with the Cardassians? | Bareil Winn Kira Odo | Engage! |
| 25 | Tribunal | O'Brien on trial in Cardassia for being a Maquis. | O'Brien Odo | Engage! |
| 26 | The Jem'Hadar | We meet the Dominion's soldiers: the Jem'Hadar. | Sisko | Engage! |
Season 3
| Episode | Title | Key points / milestones | Characters featured | Essential? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Search, Part 1 | The Defiant arrives. A new security officer. The search for the Dominion's Founders. Odo searches for his people. | Odo Sisko | Engage! |
| 2 | The Search, Part 2 | The Dominion makes approaches to the Alpha Quadrant. Odo meets the Changelings. | Odo Sisko | Engage! |
| 3 | The House of Quark | Quark kills a Klingon and gets involved in a Klingon feud. | Quark | Just for fun |
| 4 | Equilibrium | Jadzia learns about a new previous Dax host. | Jadzia | meh |
| 5 | Second Skin | Kira is really an undercover Cardassian operative and meets her father. | Kira | Engage! |
| 6 | The Abandoned | Quark finds a Jem'Hadar baby. Odo raises it (they grow fast!). Sisko meets Jake's girlfriend. | Odo Jake | Engage! |
| 7 | Civil Defense | An old anti-slave-uprising program is accidentally triggered on the station. Dukat comes to help and gloat. | Just for fun | |
| 8 | Meridian | A planet shifts in and out of existence. Quark tries to capture Kira's image for a special hologram request. | Jadzia Kira | Avoid |
| 9 | Defiant | Commander Will Riker (from the Enterprise) comes to Deep Space Nine. Sisko and Dukat try to prevent a Maquis attack. | Riker Kira Sisko Dukat | Engage! |
| 10 | Fascination | Lwaxana returns to DS9. Everyone's in love with the wrong people at the Bajoran Gratitude Festival. More Odo development. | Lwaxana Odo | Avoid |
| 11 | Past Tense, Part 1 | Sisko, Bashir, Jadzia find themselves on Earth in 2024, and get involved in the Bell riots. | Sisko | Engage! |
| 12 | Past Tense, Part 2 | The timeline is broken and needs fixing. | Sisko | Engage! |
| 13 | Life Support | Bareil is dying, but is needed by Winn for peace negotiations with the Cardassians. | Bareil Winn Kira | Engage! |
| 14 | Heart of Stone | Odo and Kira trapped in a cave. Essential Odo character development. Nog wants to apply to Starfleet Academy. | Odo Nog | Engage! |
| 15 | Destiny | Emissary "trilogy" I: An old Bajoran prophecy predicts that three Cardassians and the Emissary will destroy the wormhole. | Sisko Kira | meh |
| 16 | Prophet Motive | Grand Nagus Zek has rewritten the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. | Quark Rom Zek | Just for fun |
| 17 | Visionary | O'Brien gets flashes of the future while Romulans demand information about the Dominion. | O'Brien | meh |
| 18 | Distant Voices | Bashir finds himself on an abandoned Deep Space Nine, with Garak and the crew acting strangely. | Bashir | Avoid |
| 19 | Through the Looking Glass | 2nd "mirror universe" episode. | Mirror | Just for fun |
| 20 | Improbable Cause | [Part 1 of 2] Garak's tailor shop gets blown up, and Odo investigates. As usual with Garak, there's more to things than meets the eye. We meet Enabran Tain. | Garak Odo | Engage! |
| 21 | The Die is Cast | [Part 2 of 2] The Cardassian Obsidian Order and the Romulan Tal Shiar are working together. Garak and Odo have some intense moments. The Battle of the Omarian Nebula changes things irrevocably. | Garak Odo | Engage! |
| 22 | Explorers | Sisko builds an old-style Bajoran lightship, and he and Jake enjoy some father-son time while flying it to Cardassia. Jake tells his father he's going to be a writer. First mention of Kasidy Yates. | Sisko Jake | Engage! |
| 23 | Family Business | Quark's mother is in trouble with the Ferengi Commerce Authority. First appearance of Brunt. Sisko finally meets Kasidy. | Quark Nog Brunt Sisko Kasidy | Just for fun |
| 24 | Shakaar | Election for the new First Minister of Bajor. Kira's old leader, Shakaar, runs against Winn. Kira/Shakaar. | Kira Shakaar Winn | Engage! |
| 25 | Facets | Jadzia performs the zhian'tara ritual, which allows her to meet Dax's previous hosts "in the flesh". Nog passes the Starfleet Academy tests. | Jadzia Odo Nog | Just for fun |
| 26 | The Adversary | Sisko is promoted to Captain. The Defiant is sabotaged. Changelings enter the Alpha Quadrant. | Sisko Odo | Engage! |