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Hey all, I find myself in a bit of a situation and I hope you can help me with it. A friend of mine and his girl friend are currently making their way through Star Trek TNG (They just finished season 5). He has said he is unsure about watching Deep Space nine, even though he hasn't actually watched it. He said something about watching part of the first episode and seeing the Enterprise be destroyed. But... yeah that never happened so, I'm not sure what he is actually referring to. Now I think DS9 is consistently the best Trek series in the last 35 years, and I would like to get him into it. So I want to tell him one episode to check out to decide weather they want to check out the rest of the Series. Just "Here, season X, episode XYZ. If you watch that episode and are not interested in the series after that I will drop it."

My first thoughts were Way of the Warrior, In the Pale Moonlight, The Visitor, Children of time, and Trials and Tribbilations.

Here is the problem: DS9 built up a lot through out the series and many of those episodes (Way of the Warrior, Pale Moonlight and Children of time) would require him to know about the Dominon, Changlings, Gowron, The Female Changling, The Defiant, the Cardasian Empire, the Maquie, the War, and the Romulans. While some of that is information that can be filled in from what they have seen through season 5 of TNG (Gowron and the Cardassians), there is a lot of material that simple isn't there to really understand what is going on. In the case of Way of the Warrior, the destruction of the enterprise, who Jadzia is and why she seems to have a better understanding of Klingons then Worf doees, why the Klingons are 'afraid' of the dominion, What happened to the Cardassian empire that Klingons are concerned with, ect.

The Visitor, while being an amazing episode is 99% self contained and doesn't offer much in the way of hooks to check out the rest of the series. It's a single chocolate diamond among a shelf of emeralds. Far more then can be expected to know for a single episode. So I'm looking for a suggestion of a single episode, that has minimal pre-requisite for knowledge to understand the episode that is still a strong episode. Any suggestions? Thanks for the help.

Trials and Tribbilations... well I showed him Space Seed as a prelude to watching Wrath of Khan and his first reaction was to shriek "Oh my god that looks so crumby!" So... yeah. Also T&T is mainly a comedy episode, something that Trek very rarely does well so that just seems like it would be a bait and switch.

Any other suggestions to help me out?

TorroesPrime wrote: He has said he is unsure about watching Deep Space nine, even though he hasn't actually watched it. He said something about watching part of the first episode and seeing the Enterprise be destroyed. But... yeah that never happened so, I'm not sure what he is actually referring to.

Is he thinking of the destruction of the Oddesy? Maybe he saw a galaxy-class getting destroyed and somehow thought it was the Enterprise. It's not in the first episode, but considering how little he knows about the show wouldn't be surprising that he thought he was watching the first episode when he wasn't.

Dînadan wrote:

TorroesPrime wrote: He has said he is unsure about watching Deep Space nine, even though he hasn't actually watched it. He said something about watching part of the first episode and seeing the Enterprise be destroyed. But... yeah that never happened so, I'm not sure what he is actually referring to.

Is he thinking of the destruction of the Oddesy? Maybe he saw a galaxy-class getting destroyed and somehow thought it was the Enterprise. It's not in the first episode, but considering how little he knows about the show wouldn't be surprising that he thought he was watching the first episode when he wasn't.

It's possible, but that would be a heck of a mix up for him to make and call it the first episode.

i was in a similar situation; housemate who'd recently watched TNG for the first time & loved it, but was mostly uninterested in DS9 (apparently he'd gotten a negative impression from other fans). of course, since we share a living groom, all i had to do was sit down on the couch and put it on the tv. it took him awhile to warm up to it, since the show doesn't really start to hit its stride until the middle of season 2, but now we're in season 3 and he's realizing just how underrated DS9 really is. it's actually been a lot of fun rewatching a show like this with someone who's never seen it before & doesn't know what's coming.


as to good introductory episodes, i'd go with duet. it's a season 1 episode so it doesn't need much setup, but it really gets into the meat what DS9 is largely about, and makes for a great introduction to kira & odo, with nice little bits for all the other main characters as well. beyond that, it is in my opinion one off the best stories star trek has ever told: a complex story inspired by real world issues, an intriguing mystery with a charismatic antagonist, a protagonist who has to face her own deep personal flaws and is changed by the experience, and a great tragic ending.

as a second choice, i'd go with captive pursuit for something much, much lighter. i wouldn't call it anything special in the grand scheme of things, but it's the second-best season 1 episode in my opinion, and it centers on o'brian, which is fun for TNG fans. it's also arguably more representative of the basic season 1 formula: 'some guys comes through the wormhole, and cause a problem for the crew to solve'.

J!! wrote:since we share a living groom,

It's always good to have a groom that's alive. Tends to ruin the wedding when the bride notices he's dead.

TGLS wrote:

J!! wrote:since we share a living groom,

It's always good to have a groom that's alive. Tends to ruin the wedding when the bride notices he's dead.

Don't be silly, he obviously meant 'groom' as in the guy who looks after your horse. It's even more crucial for this sort of groom to be alive as zombies tend to spook the horses.

exactly

Unless the horses are also zombies.

If he likes Bottle-Episodes, I also would suggest 'Duet'. A very strong episode, and gives you a nice feeling of DS9 - and how it is different from TNG.

If he is more of an action guy, your Idea with the two parter "Way of the Warrior" is actually good: He is familiar with Klingons, and there is Worf, a very prominent TNG Crewman . The whole Klingon Plot feels very TNG-y, he should be right at home.

As a dramatic one, go for 'Hippocritic Oath'. Lots of drama and emotions, and very different to TNG in how the story unravels, the actions that have to take place, and the bitter consequences - and no happy end.

For Comedy, 'Little Green Men'. Let's him see how the Ferengi are actually a thought out species and can have some good character moments.

I'm going to recommend "Shadows and Symbols," where Worf, O'Brien, Quark, and Bashir attack a Dominion shipyard to get Jadzia into Stov-o-kor (or however it's spelled), Sisko searches for an orb, and Colonel Kira has a face-off with the Romulans over some plasma torpedoes. It loses some impact without the viewer having gotten to know Jadzia, but, I think it's easy enough to pick up that she and Worf were close, she's dead (well, dead-ish) and several other male characters had a thing for her. There's action, heart (Worf apologizes, and I think Dorn pulls it off really well), and dramatic tension (Kira facing off against the Romulans).

The Visitor is my second-favorite episode of Trek, after Best of Both Worlds. But I think it loses a lot of impact if you haven't gotten to see the Siskos interact a fair amount.