Don't get it twisted - DS9 is the most beloved Star Trek at TrekCulture.
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Revered as a true classic of the Star Trek universe and my all-time favorite series
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Deep Space Nine gave fans the USS Defiant, the villainous Gold Ducat
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Sisko's Baseball, and the Dominion. However, for all the great and the good that pervaded the seven seasons of cross-quadrant dealings
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that provided the hallmark of the third live-action series, there are a few questionable things that crop up during its run
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These points just don't really make any sense, or are unnecessary within the Star Trek franchise
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Questionable also means actions, people, and objects that leave fans scratching their heads so much that it causes splinters
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Now don't get us wrong here, DS9 is a fine, nearing perfect in my opinion, series
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that explores the perils of war and the intricacies of religion through a set of thought-provoking and at times truly outstanding stories
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Yet for every Kira Norris, there's also a Doral or perhaps even a Rumpelstiltskin
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More of these tend to fall into the earlier years of the series when it was still finding its feet and establishing its lore
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However, they might just be unforgivable errors that nearly disrupted the flow of everything so much
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that even the Prophets were begging for linear time. If you've come looking for a high-end intellectual DS9
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here you will be disappointed, and I'm sorry, As we plummet to the depths of Rom's closet, I'm Bree from Trek Culture, and here are 10 of the dumbest things in Star Trek Deep Space Nine
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Let's start with a classic, and a rabbit hole that might never end
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While Deep Space Nine's head of station security becomes a clear security risk himself by the beginning of Season 3
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there are character relationships which help to iron out that little wrinkle
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The bigger issue is his shape-shifting ability. From the very start, it's clear that his appearance is the best approximation that he can manage to humanoid
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This is backed up by the fact that his hair is based off of that of scientist Dr. Mora
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By the alternate future in Children of Time, his ability to retain form and define features has become substantially better
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So this then begs the question of how Odo's comm badge can exist
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There are two options here. One is that it is a comm badge and is somehow hidden within each form he takes
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whether it's a rodent in Man Alone or a spinning top in Shadowplay
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However, that doesn't explain how it's seen to dissolve when Odo changes form
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or when moving around in a gelatinous state, such as escaping from the Cardassian storage locker in Emissary
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Given the intricate circuitry taken to construct such a subspace communications device
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it seems very unlikely that Odo could create its functionality in such a minute detail, given that he finds noses rather difficult anyway. Take into account
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as well that he not only maintains his humanoid form, but also has the clothing too, which is in
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itself textured and moves as he moves. There's a lot to be dealing with when taking a solid form
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is all I'm saying. Number nine, the only engineer in Starfleet. Bless. Aside from being the most
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important person in Starfleet history, Chief Miles Edward O'Brien, has a really tough time
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when it comes to Deep Space Nine. There must have been occasions where he thought about requesting
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a transfer to go back and stand in the transporter room of the Enterprise-D. Evidently, a talented
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engineer, O'Brien is regularly tortured, not only by his storylines, but apparently by the fact that
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he's either the only engineer in Deep Space Nine, or the only one who actually knows what he's doing
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Take Babel, for example. O'Brien is running around attempting to fix multiple system failures
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which inadvertently leads to the release of the aphasia virus. Luckily, everyone recovers from
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their bout of story-borne illness, though Sisko is still peeved with the fact that his replicated
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coffee is still not right. Surely there's another engineer around to help. When Miles is away during
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the passenger and move along home in season one, the references to his absence tend to lean on the
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concerning side. For the previous six years, O'Brien has mainly been responsible for the USS
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Enterprise's transporters and not the whole engineering complement of a space station
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Either his teams are woefully untrained on maintenance, or the station should be written
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off as a health and safety hazard in every respect. Deep Space Nine does right this wrong
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the further along we go, with shiny examples of engineers perhaps exemplified by the ill-fated
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crewman Munez in Season 5's The Ship. Although, even by the time of the Bar Association, it's
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clear O likes to be busy rather than twiddling his thumbs in the transporter room 8 Defenseless Nine Aside from assigning a guy who runs the transporter room and a total newbie doctor to the most remote outpost in the Federation
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Starfleet lets the USS Enterprise do a runner while leaving the former mining platform
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with less defense than the 2024 Manchester United squad. And before I get any comments
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no, I didn't get that reference. Decked out with just six photon torpedoes and minimal phaser power
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this, and we'll quote, remote outpost at the edge of the final frontier
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gets a cheery wave and is left to its own devices, only for Cardassians to show up in a matter of minutes
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Kira even stamps this very clearly on the hull when confronting the Cardassian trio of the Galar-class ships
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stating that the Federation wouldn't leave them defenseless. It's a risky gambit that does pay off at least
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While the first meeting between Sisko and Dukat isn't phasers at the dawn
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it does bear ominous tones and the subsequent discovery of the wormhole only adds to the tensions in the quadrant
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Even when confronted with the potential contact from new and possibly hostile life from the gamma quadrant
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it takes another three years before DS9 receives any form of additional installed protection
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The Borg-busting USS Defiant is present from season 3 on, but it does spend a large amount of its time away from its home base
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At no point are there any other starships offering to provide backup should everything go south
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It does eventually receive an upgrade with more than standard defensive armaments following its elevation from remote to the most important location in the quadrant
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Still, there was a precarious three years before that time where it was just unprotected
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That's a little bit dumb. Number seven, prepare to dock somehow. The image of Deep Space Nine is now almost as iconic, if not equal to, that of the USS Enterprise
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The sweeping pylons majestically arching into the night, the concentric circles marking out the sections of the station
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and the fiddly docking ports. A firm statement of Cardassian dominance in the Bajoran sector
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the Norclass stations are a monstrous reminder of the occupation. However, when it comes to the
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practicality, they do leave more than a bit to be desired. Take the six pylons, for example
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Park anything of a substantial size against one of them, and there's inevitably a traffic jam as
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ships attempt to arrive or leave. Curving them inward looks glorious, but in terms of practicality
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their shape reduces the room for maneuverability significantly. Viewers have seen Dominion
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battleships and a Galaxy-class USS Enterprise docked there, but only ever one of them and never
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anything else at the same time. This severely reduces the operational capacity of DS9
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Perhaps the worst offender of this is the docking ring. With its recessed ports, ships are left to dock nose first
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Both the USS Defiant and Martox Ritaran are fine examples here and designed to fit and fiddle in ways for the crew to leave the ship via the nose section
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which is just blatantly missing on screen. The only sensible way to dock at DS9 seems to be the limited runabout pads
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only used for non-Federation craft in the form of the Romulan shuttle from In the Pale Moonlight
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Number 6. Plain Simple Ex-High-Ranking Cardassian Intelligence Agent Garrick As the meme sort of goes, especially the plain simple tailors
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Appearing only once in the first season and having to wait until season 2's Cardassian for a reprise
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Andrew Robinson's fantastic exiled station resident is a true highlight of the series
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and one of my all-time favorite characters. Odo does, as with Quark, keep tabs on his activities, but given Garak's talents and history
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that doesn't seem enough and is quite clear on several occasions. Capable of sneaking a subspace communicator out to Gul Dukat in The Way of the Warrior
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and more critically switching sides temporarily during Improbable Cause and the Dias cast
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Garak is given significant free reign when it comes to his place on the station
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probably up to the beginning of the sixth season. Even after torturing Odo for information
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his sins are quickly forgiven and forgotten, which is odd. Even Quark never did that
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There are advantages to his presence. I mean, he dropped Dr. Bashir into a changing room to
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overhear the Duras sisters' conversation. He knows one or two contacts in the Cardassian Empire
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However in the grand scheme of checks and balances there more than a swing towards highly dangerous than there is towards absolute ally In Broken Link Garrick almost manages to fire on the Founder homeworld which begs the question as to why no
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one was checking on his whereabouts. Number five, mirroring. A goateed Spock or a duplicitous
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Hoshi Sato might be conjured up in the mind when it comes to the mirror universe. However
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DS9 was the biggest advocate for the parallel timeline. Well, pre-discovery. With five outings
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tying in the alternate versions of the main and secondary cast, yeah, we're even looking at you
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Vic Fontaine. The big klaxon that can be heard in the background now is a reminder of just how
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difficult it can be to get into this universe in the first place. The original series Mirror Mirror
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required a transporter and a parallel set of skills, sorry, conditions, to make it all work
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By the time of the Emperor's New Cloak in DS9's final season
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there seems to be a regular bus service in operation. While it was customary for everyone in the main cast to appear at some point
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within the framework of the alternate 24th century, it wasn't necessarily mirror
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The original Federation was downtrodden rather than being the oppressors of the original series
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and it steadily got easier to cross. Considering the bells and whistles for potential domination and infiltration
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Smiley strolls onto DS9 as though he's been following a public footpath
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and then there's the idiocracy of the Ferengi stealing a Klingon cloaking device to get the Nagus back
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Dumbing down the potential and the darkness of the mirror universe, made all involved on both sides of the coin, look increasingly stupid
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And as for the Vic Fontaine appearance, while it's a little too far out of left field to make much sense
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though luckily he doesn't last for very long. Number 4. Mpok Nor
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As if by magic, another station appeared. Portrayed on screen at a fabulously jaunty angle
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so as not to be confused with its fully operational counterpart, Terok Nor
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Mpok Nor was conveniently forgotten about for a whole five years. And then Starfleet remembered it existed
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and decided to drop on by for an away day to scavenge parts for their main base of operations in that sector
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Echoing ghost stories, the eponymous episode from the late fifth season also highlighted the hazards of the Norclass Station
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But what really concerns here is that this place has been completely unchecked
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since the departure of the Cardassians, and is just packed full of useful materials
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Aside from the sleeping Cardassians and the psychosis-inducing gases, this is a perfect holiday spot at a commutable distance from Bajor
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It's rather odd that it's not a location that the Dominion ever considered using
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when they made their incursion into the Alpha Quadrant. More palm-to-the-face inducing has to be the fact that by DS9's seventh season
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Dukat has managed to reactivate and repopulate the station with his own cult
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seemingly without anyone even noticing. It all seems a bit off given that the war footing the Quadrant is on
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Mpachnor wasn't manned and repaired, or at the very least monitored given its proximity to both Bajor and the wormhole
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Tactically, that's a misfire of quadratic proportions. Number 3. Alamarain So as to not make this list predictable, let's move along home right now
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This far, no further. A toss-up between the fluffiness of the Dalrak and the Wadi's attempt at tabletop gaming was always gonna land Quarkside up
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However, these two episodes do carry one similarity. The problem is that neither actually needed to happen
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The villagers of the storyteller cause and defeat the angry Cumulonimbus cloud
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and just seemingly never question why it's only their village that's ever attacked
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But yet, Move Along Home is just a little bit more silly. Located in the very early days of DS9
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when character exploration and establishment were key to the future of the series
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The infamous episode almost manages to disassemble four of the main cast in just 45 minutes
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The game itself has a great build-up, yet it fails to deliver anything at any point aside from making Avery Brooks dance
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and some tragically quotable lines that have been served with classic reverence in Lower Decks
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It affects nothing. the reasons for Sisko, Kira, Bashir, and Dax to be within the game are non-existent
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and at no point is anything reasonably explained. Also, there seems to be no repercussions for the
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kidnapping and imprisonment of Starfleet officers. Number two, the time frame of what you leave
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behind. An unusual entry now focusing more on the storytelling narrative rather than a place
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person or situation Both All Good Things and Endgame deal with time travel and somehow DS9 closing chapter manages something similar if not immediately obvious
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There are two threads here to consider. One is that Sisko and the Federation-slash-Klingon fleet travel all the way to Cardassia Prime
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in order to end the war and bring the Dominion to justice. Interwoven with this, we have a second storyline wherein Dukat and Kai-Win travel to the fire caves beneath Bajor
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to awaken and release the Pa Wraiths. Ultimately, it becomes the setting for the final fisticuffs
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between Sisko and his Cardassian nemesis. Now let's place this into a bit more context
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The journey to Cardassia Prime, including a stock footage space battle and the subsequent drink, or lack thereof
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in the halls of government, take all the first half and trickle into the second hour
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Sisko then travels back to DS9 to celebrate the end of the war
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before he's interrupted and has to travel to Bajor for his last stand
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Consider that while all of that happens, Dukat and the Kai take a walk down into the fire caves
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and commune with the resident Pa Wraiths before the arrival of the emissary
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From an episode perspective, the two stories weave together and provide balance versus narrative
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However, in terms of the passage of time, it makes absolutely no sense at all that these events would take place at the same time
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Sisko manages to travel across a not-so-insignificant amount of space twice, and in that whole period, the two antagonists on Bajor have managed a few hundred feet underground
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They must be some slow walkers. Number one. And you're in the room
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Truly the Ferengi laser whip of the Deep Space Nine experience is the thankfully short-lived holographic communications array used in just two episodes
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Dr. Bashir, I presume, and for the uniform. Seemingly an inspired story choice
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the holographic communications device offered a new way of storytelling. Characters didn't just need to be on the view screen or heard over the speakers
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because now they could be seen on the bridge or in Cisco's office
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in a full life-sized three-dimensional view. On paper, this probably reads well, but in execution on 1990s TV
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it just couldn't pull off making the whole process less than awkward
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In For the Uniform, it does mean that Sisko can have a series of visceral one-to-ones with Eddington
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who also happens to have such a device. In Dr. Bashir, I presume, the presiding admiral is in the room for the key conversations
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However, in the staging, it's more than clear that we have an actor standing in a nicely lit rectangle
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In universe, it makes perfect sense, and it's a bold step forward
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But in terms of an absorbing story, it's just not that clever
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Discovery achieved this same effect with better results, making the characters appear to be more projection than physically present
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Ditched after just two episodes, the writers realized that it distracted from the feel of the series
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leaving characters to stand motionless and recite dialogue. So, why so dumb and why at the top of the list
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Well, because it's a brilliant concept that wasn't ready for its time
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and sadly wasn't completely thought through before its execution. Hi, I'm Duncan Relic, no relation, and I collect relics from before the burn
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Thanks to a temporal wormhole, I now have an unlimited supply of Trek culture t-shirts
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and I'm selling them to you! You could be wearing this stylish down and up t-shirt
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Or how about this fish watching design? Bright yellow on black. The colours I'd use in thumbnails, I tell you that for nothing
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I plan to take these designs and transfer them via quantum duplication onto hats, mugs and posters
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So look out for those. Back! Treat this unlimited supply as a limited time deal
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Get your t-shirt quick. Who's your daddy? And those were 10 of the dumbest things in Star Trek Deep Space Nine
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If you liked this video, then go ahead and leave it a thumbs up. It actually really does help
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an episode you can also find us on social media at trek culture on twitter and blue sky or at
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trek culture yt on instagram you can also find me on blue sky and twitter under the handle trekkie
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i've been brie from trek culture and until next time don't forget to live long and prosper
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