New Viewer Safely Stunned

Becca’s Take on Episode 1: “Emissary”

When the words flew up the screen, I braced myself for a star-wars-like space epic and cringed, afraid of what was to come. Not that Star Wars doesn’t hold its own, but from what I know about Star Trek its less about intergalactic warfare and more about exploration, community, and unity among alien races. One of the things that drew me to Star Trek (aside from the insistent prompting from Jim and Rhonda) is a classic phrase “set phasers to stun” and all that it represents. 

Lucky for me, the similarities between Deep Space Nine (“DS9”) and Star Wars ended at the title screen. Launching into the beginning scenes, we immediately got a flashback to Captain Sisko fighting what appeared to be an evil, cyborg Captain Picard. I’m sure if I had seen other Star Trek series’, I would have understood exactly what was going on, but being relatively new to the Trekkie world, I do not.¹ I know who Picard is and that he’s a big deal, but I don’t know anything about his storyline. I was initially wondering why they would start here – in a place that might be confusing for new fans. By the end of the near-movie-length first episode, not only did I know why, but I was aching to watch more! 

Before I get too much into the meat of the episode, I wanted to lay out what my expectations were coming into this adventure! I made a list of what I expect to see out of DSN season one. These are my DS9 Season One Expectations:

• Deep Space (generally)
• Hopefully a tribble or 2. Or 4. Or 12.
• Klingons! 
• A love story (I’m a sucker for a love story)

Okay so right off the bat we get the first and the last one. They are for sure in deep space and also there is a super tragic love story for Captain Sisko. In my notes I super tactfully put this as “Oh no – his wife is space dust.” I want more of Sisko and his son Jake! I am excited to see where their story leads. I am sad that his love story so far is so tragic but maybe the closure he got here will help him move forward? I don’t know but I want to find out! 

All of a sudden, we were on Earth (or so I thought). I have watched “Star Trek: Lower Decks” so I knew you could manipulate spaces on the ship but watching the fishing hole turn back into the ship in real life (not in cartoon form) was pretty cool! I was prepared for bad special effects because it was 1993, but I was pleasantly surprised by most of it! 

Moving back into the substance of the episode, we are introduced to Kira, and I can already tell she is going to be my favorite. She is sassy, and Bajoran, and doesn’t want to take any Federation Bullshit! It was funny to me that every time the Federation seems to get involved somewhere, the native people don’t want their help. How has the Federation (who seems to want to do so much good for the Universe) garnished such a terrible reputation? 

Before I could ponder this with more intensity, I watched an alien of some sort (who I later learned was named “Odo” turn to jelly and was stunned. Also, his “no weapons on the promenade” rule is just BEGGING to be broken. I didn’t count this episode, but I should keep a running tally of how many times this rule is broken, especially with Quark as the community leader! 

Watching Captain Sisko interact with the tear of the prophet and get to see his wife again almost made me cry! It was so cute watching him interact with her throughout the episode (even when he knew it wasn’t actually her). This leads me to one of the reasons I adored this episode. The way Sisko is able to deal with his grief and trauma through this episode is done so beautifully, I got a little teary at the end. It was nice to see him get a little bit of closure and come to terms with his new life on the station. 

This is a little out of order, but I HAVE to talk about Dax. So Dax (from what I can tell) is a Trill. A Trill is a slug inside of a body? That was something that I gathered generally. But wait – Dax used to be a man. Star Trek said trans rights back in 1993! I was floored when Sisko greets his old friend with affection and merely notes the change, but in no way changes how he interacts with him (from what I can tell anyway). It doesn’t feel like a big deal – no bigger deal than if she changed her hair. It was so refreshing to see – especially since some shows even these days do not handle this kind of plot line this well. I can’t wait to see more of Dax and learn more about her story! 

That brings me to the end of the first episode! I am excited to see more of these characters (especially Dax and Kira) and share my opinions as a new viewer, and new fan! 

Signing off – Becca H. 

¹ As of the writing of this post, I have seen Star Trek (2009); Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013); the first two episodes of Star Trek Discovery; and Star Trek: Lower Decks (in addition to DS9 episode one, of course). 

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