Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews LL

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

“Penumbra” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode, but a good one, I give it three stars out of five.


“’Til Death Do Us Part” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode, but a good one, I give it three stars out of five.


“Strange Bedfellows” See this for a plot summary.

Since I have earlier explained that i don’t like Kai Winn (almost the entire series, she’s a conservative religious fundamentalist), I should say that although I’m not a big fan of the Pah-Wraith aspect of the last couple seasons, I do kind of like the idea of Winn following them. She’s so bad it’s easy to believe that she would go down that path.

Another aspect of politics for this episode is Damar turning against the Dominion. It kind of reminds me a bit of how the most threatening resistance to Hitler came from the military. I read somewhere that some of the officers involved did have good democratic politics and weren’t just rebelling because Hitler was losing the war and Germany was bound for destruction. The odds are that many of the Cardassians who join the rebellion have backgrounds in the movements for democracy on Cardassia. On the other hand, based on statements in the next episode, Damar seems unconcerned about democracy but upset about not being treated as a full-partner by the Founders, Vorta, Jem’Hadar and Breen.

Overall, though, a non-political episode. But a good one, I give it three stars out five.


“The Changing Face Of Evil” See this for a plot summary.

One thing I kept forgetting to bring up earlier is the holo-suite program Bashir and O’Brien use about the Alamo. At the very best it wasn’t a good choice by the creative staff. Although I can’t remember many details, and so far cannot find a VERY good source on the internet, the Texas Revolution was more or less part of the Westward expansion by white American settlers. ST should have gone with something else.

Besides that and further development of the Cardassian rebellion, a non-political episode. But a good one, I give it three stars out of five.