10 Best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes Not About The Main Characters

hey guys shawn here for trek culture and i'm here to talk about a video i'm really really excited about because today we're going through the series that has the greatest supporting cast out of any other show in the franchise that is right i'm sean ferrick i'm here for track culture and here are the 10 best star trek deep space nine episodes not about the main characters number 10 soldiers of the empire now we've been introduced to general martok in stages at this point we were first introduced to what turned out to be a changeling clone of him in way of the warrior who came back then in apocalypse rising then we were introduced to the real martok as a prisoner in in purgatory's shadow now while this version of martok is a much better klingon for one of the better words there's much deeper sense of honor there there's an actual sense of honor there not being a changeling helps that but when he's given his own command we start to see there's problems here soldiers of the empire details not just martok's struggle to get back to his own sense of self but also what happens on a klingon ship when their commander just for whatever reason can't cut it martok was broken in that prison and yet he was just thrown back into the forces the iks return which would become a slightly iconic bird of prey after a while was about to shake itself apart on their mission to rescue the bemoth thankfully wharf and dax are able to lend a hand but this is very much a klingon episode martok in being challenged by wharf is effectively able to get his mojo back this is one of the better klingon centric episodes it was directed by levar burton we get a fantastic engage shot of martok and camera zooms into jg herzler and it also it really shows us other stories from the dominion war or in the days preceding the dominion war that you don't normally see on a starfleet ship number nine for the uniform michael eddington was not the sympathetic character that say roe lahren or even calvin hudson were they also defected to the mackey but you really got a sense that you know there was a reason behind what they were doing role aaron she grew up in the labor camps carl hudson has had to watch all of his friends and family effectively succumb to the demilitarized zone which in a way is eddington's story as well but eddington's arrogance stops you from really identifying with him for the uniform is a great episode because even though he is very much painted as the jean valjean of the situation with cisco playing the part of javert you still never really side with eddington he shoots himself in the foot when he shoots at the uss defiant and the uss malinche which means that he has effectively become a threat on starfleet's radar now while he was just bothering the cardassian starfleet effectively let him alone cisco didn't but starfleet did not such after this this episode is the infamous episode that shows cisco poisoning the world that the maki had settled on just so that he could capture eddington again it is a fabulous exploration of a misguided hero sure eddington's motivations may have been in the right place but the way he went about it unfortunately you are rooting for his downfall in this episode more so than any of the others including blaze of glory this shows you who eddington really is it's an excellent episode number eight valiant in the opening moments of this episode jake cisco and nog are in the uss shenandoah the runabout they're on their way to ferenganar when suddenly they're ambushed by a gemadar fighter then seemingly the defiant appears out of nowhere to destroy it only it's not the defiant it is a defying class ship the uss valiant this is a ship crewed entirely by red squad the squadron of elites cadets that have been introduced in home front and paradise lost and also soft introduced in the next generations the first duty although they are not named to that episode that's basically what they are now these are a bunch of cadets who have been stuck behind enemy lines for the entire duration of the war to date and they have got this god complex into their minds particularly captain tim waters now they've seen a lot and they've been quite successful in what they've been trying to do they've been trying to shadow the gem had our battleship the enormous new cruiser that the dominion are using but then they get it into their heads that a defiant class ship can take on and destroy one of these normally i make the joke here of well it goes about as well as you'd expect but actually it's really quite tragic because everything was so avoidable in this episode had waters put you know the mission ahead of his own search for glory the valiant would have come home all of the cadets would have survived and it would have been fine instead he effectively orders a suicide run without realizing it's a suicide run nog who had been quite enamored by this crew originally especially when they promoted him to chief engineer starts to see what's going on in the nick of time jake called it pretty much from the off they and one other cadet are able to escape but everyone else is killed showing that having a powerful ship does not guarantee success and victory number seven defiant now actually on a theme with the previous entry we have thomas riker arrives and takes command of the uss defiant now thomas reicher as you'll remember was created as a result of a transporter accident he was introduced in the next generation six season episode second chances we were left wondering what star trek was going to do with thomas reicher there was effectively another jonathan frakes walking around out there and here it's followed up on beautifully because this starfleet officer and he is starfleet through and through tries his hand at being a maquis and he just it's not for him because he starts by putting on the charm he uses the charm to get aboard the defiant uses that same charm to get kira to give him control of the defiant and boom away he goes the episode is similar to the wounded in that he then starts a one-man war against the cardassians with obviously some help from some of the rest of the maquis but there was no way to win this situation this was never going to have a happy ending we do get a little bit of a teaser for what's going on in the auris sector which we'll be followed up on both later in the season and later in this list really this is an example of jonathan frakes getting a time to shine thomas riker getting something to do effectively he's playing the hero it's it's a slightly romantic story in a way although the only people who find it romantic are kira toward the end and of course riker himself he tried his hand at being a revolutionary it didn't work out but we did not see a body he was beamed off that ship we didn't see a body thomas riker for season two of picard calling it now number six once more onto the breach this seventh season episode really explores what happens to a klingon warrior when they begin to age out john colecos returns as core the dahar master who of course originated in the original series came back then for blood oath and the sword of chaos and now is left desperately seeking a purpose at this time of the klingon empire he had of course become friendly with wharf before because they were initially overcome by the sort of chaos together but they they basically worked it out so wharf is more than happy to help his friend martok on the other hand not so much it turns out that earlier in both of their careers core had blacklisted martok from joining the service which meant effectively he couldn't become an officer in the klingon defense forces martok has never forgotten that and never forgiven that so he's not best pleased when warf turns around and says yeah i kind of made him a third officer sorry they go off on a hit-and-run mission to the dominion they're only taking clothes ships it's going to be small skirmishes unfortunately core is suffering from failing memory now that failing memory becomes a serious liability when both martok and wharf are incapacitated during a battle core takes over and as a direct result of that one of their ships is destroyed core is effectively left in disgrace for a little while there's taunting and teasing from the klingon officers who previously supported him he does manage to find a way to claw it back though it turns out there are 10 gemidar attack fighters chasing them and they're able to spot them through the use of polaron beams now one ship has to go back and hold them off long enough for these ships to make it to the federation border wharf elects to go and is knocked out by corps corps manages to get his blaze of glory showing that just because someone has grown old does not make them useless they may not be suited for every task but as core proved a fighter can still fight no matter how old they are number five improbable cause the die is cast now we've got a two for here for the fifth entry because this two-part episode from the third season really is one story and it concerns very much garrick and in abraham tane although he really only comes into it mostly toward the end of the first episode for the predominance of the second now the episode opens with a bang sorry quite literally as garrick's shop explodes this draws odo into the investigation and odo finds out that garrick blew up his own shop someone is trying to off obsidian order operatives and someone did try and come for garrick but garrick basically got there first a huge web of intrigue is spun that involves those cardassian ships that were in the uriah sector and bizarrely the romulan tau shiar odo and garrick are very surprised when they're sitting in a run about and a warbird decloaks above them they're brought before in aberrantane and the true purpose is revealed the obsidian order has been working with the tal shiar putting together this massive fleet to attack the dominion by destroying the founders homeworld therefore crippling the entire empire convinced this idea can have no repercussions whatsoever they go to the omari and nebula and in fairness they destroy most of the planet's crust unfortunately the dominion knew all about this plan encouraged this plan and have sprung a surprise attack destroying both the obsidian order and tal shiar fleets in one strike garrick and oto managed to get out of there thanks to the defiant showing up just in time but this would be one of the opening salvos of what would become the war between the dominion and effectively the alpha quadrant number four waltz if you are looking for the best golducott episode look no further this is it after all of the years of playing nice and oh aren't i so great and everything ducat's true villainous nature was properly revealed in in purgatory shadow by inferno's light when cardassia joins the dominion they led the assault against deep space nine which managed to rest it from federation control they then lost deep space nine during operation return in the episode sacrifice of angels and this is the episode that leads on from that one ducat opens the episode sitting in a cell aboard the uss honshu on his way to his trial cisco is there as well to give evidence against him when the ship is attacked by a cardassian ship and destroyed when cisco next wakes up he's on a desolate planet with ducat ducati saved his life who'da thunk it what follows is an incredible incredible two-hander where mark alimo gets to really shine i mean really marco limo has never been better than this episode you get to see just what he really thinks about the occupation about bajor about the federation and about the alpha quadrant and you get to see he's really quite annoyed that there's no statues of him anywhere on bajor he beats a crippled cisco to within an inch of his life but in true to cut fashion doesn't just leave him to die he sends a message to the defiant so that cisco can be rescued but cisco is alive with one certainty in mind ducat has completely sunk into evil at this point and it only gets better from there number three the sound of her voice this is an often overlooked episode but if you look at it closely it's actually one of the best character explorations that deep space nine has to offer captain lisa cusack is odd on this list in that she's the only one not to actually appear in the episode only her voice she is trapped on a planet and she's transmitting through some sort of atmospheric interference now the defiant was able to pick up her signal and you can hear her absolute joy and elation as she hears their voices then the defiant turns and starts heading toward her it's going to take a couple of days to get there so they have to keep her awake by just simply talking to her and we get to hear it's almost like explaining deep space nine to an audience member who knows to ask the right questions and it's an excellent episode in introducing this character who we never meet who becomes the heart of the episode becomes just the hope and dreams for everyone in the defiant at this point through her we get to see a better exploration of bashir of cisco of even cassidy yates as well the episode's twist is of course tragic but it's also handled in quite a heartwarming fashion now as an irishman myself i'm very very aware of these they hold an irish wake for the sadly deceased lisa cusack where chief o'brien leads the toasts and everyone although having lost their new friend feels a little bit closer to each other it's an episode that took its chance to slow down during the dominion war and it was in my opinion a perfect character study thanks to lisa cusack number two the wire there was no question as to whether garrick's big episode was going to be on this list or not now when you think of other garrick episodes of course i'm sure the first one that pops to mind is probably in the pale moonlight but i would argue that that is more of a cisco episode than say a garrick episode whereas the wire this is andrew j robinson shining from start to finish now as it transpires this is second season ds9 so garrick starts to suffer from really intense pains spoiler it turns out there is a device in his brain that gives him a flood of endorphins he left it running for two years living on the station with starfleet because he couldn't stand the reality of a situation that has begun to break down and is killing him bashir does what he can but really he needs to know more about garrick and then follows the wonderful lie after lie after lie after lie that garrick spins even to save his own life he cannot bring himself to tell the truth he tells stories about his old friend elam about their old mentor in abraham tane he tells stories about shooting down of civilian transport of bajoran slaves then stories of letting it go that all went into garrick's exile from cardassia it's only in fact when bashir goes and meets with an abraham tein that he learns a modicum of truth that this elim that garrick mentioned that's garrick's first name he's managed to not disassociate himself because he knows the truth in his head but he's managed to pin the blame almost on somebody else so when bashir asks him in the end so what part of it was true [Music] jericho's well it was all true even the lies [Music] especially the lies and number one it's only a paper moon there's no question nogg's big episode this was always going to be number one on this list nog returns to the station having received an injury during the siege of ar-558 where he was shot and lost his leg he comes back with a cane a limp and a lot of trauma in his mind he is not ready to be back in service but of course he tries to throw himself into it straight away then he discovers vic fontaine and he goes and starts to immerse himself in the world of 1960s las vegas it's it's somehow a pairing that on paper shouldn't match vic fontaine and nog the ferengi and yet it's perfect he is able to help vic fontaine in terms of expanding his business and vic is able to help him escape reality for a little while now this takes a turn when jake comes to visit him in the hollow suite and points out that it's not real nog reacts quite violently to this because he's not ready to accept reality now he very nearly loses a friend over this but vic pulls him up on it he's able to point out that nog doesn't use his cane while he's in the hollow suite allowing noc to realize that some of the pain at least was in his head but also that there comes a time when there's only so long you can run away from something before you have to sit there and face it vic does that for nog it's beautiful it's heart-wrenching and aaron eisenberg is superb in this episode it is one of the best explorations of ptsd that star trek has ever done and i do include next generations family in that as well it is clearly eisenberg's finest hour probably james darren's finest hour as vic fontaine and it is one of the best episodes of deep space nine overall and that's it for our list today guys if you reckon that we absolutely missed an episode from this list please drop it into the comments below please don't forget to like share and subscribe remember you can catch us over on twitter at trekculture you can catch myself at sean ferrick as well look after yourself make sure that you're looking after your friends your family everyone is close to you and uh don't go looking for powermock in all the wrong places live long and prosper

Channel: TrekCulture

Views: 189,577

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Id: fFLl4JJ26OE

Length: 19min 51sec (1191 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 23 2021