The Essential Deep Space Nine

Any post you read here is something I wrote while procrastinating on something that will eventually end up on the front page of this website. I have come to accept that it’s an essential function of how my important work gets done. Perhaps someone out there will accidentally benefit from those procrastinations or at least find some joy in them. Star Trek Deep Space Nine is an excellent show and ahead of its time in some ways. Unfortunately it was produced during an era when shows needed to deliver a lot of stories in a given year. If you’ve considered watching the show but the 24+ episodes per season, across seven seasons seems like a tall order, here are the essential stories to watch. No commentary from me, give the list a try and if it’s working for you then you’re welcome. If the list isn’t working for you then you’re probably not going to enjoy the other episodes that I didn’t include.

Season One
01 & 02 “The Emissary'“
03 “Past Prologue”
06 “Captive Pursuit”
08 “Dax”
11 “The Nagus”
13 “Battle Lines”
19 “Duet”
20 “In the Hands of the Prophets”

Season Two
25 “Cardassians”
27 “Rules of Acquisition”
28 “Necessary Evil”
32 “The Alternate”
33 “Armageddon Game”
36 “Shadowplay”
38 “Profit and Loss”
39 “Blood Oath”
40 & 41 “The Maquis”
42 “The Wire”
44 “The Collaborator”
46 “The Jem’Hadar”

Season Three
47 & 48 “The Search”
51 “Second Skin”
53 “The Abandoned”
55 “Defiant”
57 & 58 “Past Tense”
59 “Life Support”
60 “Heart of Stone”
66 “Improbable Cause”
67 “The Die is Cast”
68 “Explorers”
69 “Family Business”
70 “Shakaar”
72 “The Adversary”

Season Four
73 & 74 “The Way of the Warrior”
75 “The Visitor”
76 “The Hippocratic Oath”
77 “Indiscretion”
78 “Rejoined”
83 “Homefront”
84 “Paradise Lost”
85 “Crossfire”
86 “Return to Grace”
89 “Accession”
91 “Hard Time”
94 “For the Cause”
95 “To The Death”
98 “Broken Link”

Season Five
99 “Apocalypse Rising”
101 “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places”
108 “Rapture”
110 “The Begotten”
112 “In Purgatory’s Shadow”
113 “By Inferno’s Light”
114 “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?”
118 Ferengi Love Songs”
120 “Children of Time”
122 “In the Cards”
124 “Call to Arms”

Season Six
125 “A Time to Stand”
126 “Rocks and Shoals”
127 “Sons and Daughters”
128 “Behind the Lines”
129 “Favor the Bold”
130 “Sacrifice of Angels”
131 “You Are Cordially Invited”
134 “The Magnificent Ferengi”
135 “Waltz”
137 “Far Beyond the Stars”
142 “Inquisition”
143 “In the Pale Moonlight”
144 “His Way”
145 “The Reckoning”
150 “Tears of the Prophets”

Season Seven
151 “Image in the Sand”
152 “Shadows and Symbols”
159 “Covenant”
160 “It’s Only a Paper Moon”
166 “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”
167 “Penumbra”
168 “Till Death Do Us Part”
169 “Strange Bedfellows”
170 “The Changing Face of Evil”
171 “When it Rains…”
172 “Tacking into the Wind”
173 “Extreme Measures”
174 “The Dogs of War”
175 & 176 “What You Leave Behind”