Star Trek : Deep Space Nine (Series 6) - My review
Deep Space Nine is my favourite series of all time. I have recently finished watching it and want to spread the joy.
A few months back I got excited at the launch of new TV channel Virgin 1. They had advertised to be “The new home of trek”. They committed to showing my favourite TV series of all time, daily, in a primetime slot. This made me very excited, it had been a very long time since I had seen this show on TV, and on VHS rentals for blockbuster!
I started watching the show every day (well SKY+ it anyway) and despite the poor broadcast quality on the virgin channel (audio and video compression was very high) I really got into the show and couldn’t wait to watch each new episode. However, Virgin 1 did the dirty on us Trek fans. At the end of series 5, the show suddenly stopped. No warning, nothing! They were not showing it anymore! A few weeks later they advertised it was available for Virgin on demand. A service a very small minority of the population have (limited to cable areas and virgin subscribers). This was an awful way to treat us loyal fans.
Luckily, Amazon came to the rescue. The slim line versions of the DVD seasons have been reduced down to less than £16! When the full DVD box sets came out they were more than £80 a pop! Quite a saving to be had…
Anyway.. back to the series itself. Season 6 contains many notable episodes. The season starts with an ongoing story arc with the occupation of DS9 by dominion forces. These episodes offers fresh new stories to be explored as well as perhaps the best space battle in Trek history to finish it off.
The season continues with wonderful episodes that are anything but rehashes of previous episodes. Nearly every episode is unmisable and offers something new to the watcher! Now I like traditional science fiction trek episodes - scary aliens, big space battles, techno babble. However many episodes in this season manage to look at the more emotional and dramatic side of life on deep space nine without becoming dull and boring to me! It provides a wonderful balance which keeps you interested. Stand out episodes for me include ‘Valiant’, ‘Who mourns Morn’ and the season finale - ‘Tears of the Prophet’.
Truly this season is one of the best seasons not just of Star Trek but of Science Fiction in general. Anyone who has been a casual Star Trek needs to get this season on DVD and watch it properly! (Even better if you were to watch all previous 5 seasons first). Retailing at some places for less than £20 there is no excuse not to order it now!
If you do get it - let me know what you think in this blogs comments!