Over
the past three season reviews, I have been spouting the opinion that STAR
TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE is the best of all the series that that bear the
Trek moniker. However, it is with season four that even the uninitiated
will begin to see why I refer to DS9 as the superior Trek. In season four,
established storyline begin to deliver on the promises, plus it is during
this year that rich character development allows the cast to come into
their own. Also, season four marked another significant development for
the series- with NEXT GENERATION cast member Michael Dorn
transferring to DS9 along with his Klingon character, Lieutenant Command
Worf. Having the brooding Worf on DS9 certainly enhanced the darker
quality of this outpost of the Trek franchise. STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE
NINE- SEASON FOUR ($130) comes to DVD via Paramount Home Entertainment
in a seven disc set, which offers all twenty six episodes that were
broadcast during the forth year.
Disc
one contains the episodes The Way of the Warrior, The
Visitor and Hippocratic Oath. The Way of the
Warrior marks the arrival of a Klingon armada at DS9, under the
pretense of guarding the wormhole and the Alpha Quadrant from a Dominion
invasion. However, newly promoted Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) requests
that Worf, the only Klingon in Starfleet, be transferred to his command to
get at the truth. What Worf eventually uncovers, doesn’t bode well for
the Federation/Klingon alliance. The Visitor begins with an
accident in which Captain Sisko vanishes and is presumed dead, but then
briefly reappears again at regular intervals, which begins a lifelong
obsession for Jake (Cirroc Loften) to get his father back permanently. In Hippocratic
Oath Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Chief O’Brien (Colm
Meaney) are captured by a rebel band of Jem'Hadar that want to be freed
from the drug that keeps them subservient to Dominion.
Disc
two contains the episodes Indiscretion, Rejoined,
Starship Down and Little Green Men. In Indiscretion,
Major Kira (Nana Visitor) is forced to join forces with Gul Dukat (Marc
Alaimo) to rescue Bajoran prisoners from a Cardassian ship, only then to
discover his true motives for his assisting her. Rejoined
finds Jadzia (Terry Farrell) on the verge of breaking one of the most
significant Trill laws, when she is reunited with the spouse of a former
host to the Dax symbiont. In Starship Down, the Defiant is
attacked by the Jem'Hadar, which causes it to become trapped in a volatile
space body. Little Green Men tries to explain what happened
in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, when Quark (Armin Shimerman), Rom (Max
Grodenchik) and Nog (Aron Eisenberg) do a bit of unintentional time
travel.
Disc
three contains the episodes The Sword of Kahless, Our
Man Bashir, Homefront and Paradise Lost.
The Sword of Kahless takes Worf and Jadzia to the Gamma
Quadrant where they go in search of a legendary Klingon artifact. Our
Man Bashir places the good doctor in a holosuite adventure where
he plays a secret agent; however, a mishap places him and members of the
DS9 crew in actual peril, while inside the simulation. Homefront
brings Sisko and Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) to Earth, where it is
discovered that Changelings have been systematically replacing
high-ranking members of Starfleet. Paradise Lost finds the
situation on Earth dire, as the Changelings try to isolate Earth from the
Federation in preparation for war.
Disc
four contains the episodes Crossfire, Return to Grace,
Sons of Mogh and Bar Association. In Crossfire,
Odo’s hidden feelings for Kira start to bubble to the surface, when he
has to provide security for a Bajoran Minister that has expressed a
romantic interest in the Major. Return to Grace finds Gul
Dukat suddenly demoted and in need of Kira’s aid in restoring his
position with the Cardassian authorities. Sons of Mogh finds
Worf’s brother an outcast in Klingon society, and request that Worf end
his honor-less existence. In Bar Association, Rom finally
has had enough of Quark’s mistreatment, so he forms a union with the
other bar employees and goes on strike against his brother.
Disc
five contains the episodes Accession, Rules of
Engagement, Hard Time and Shattered Mirror.
In Accession, Sisko finds his position with the Bajoran
people challenged by a Bajoran who claims to be the true Emissary Of The
Prophets. Rules of Engagement finds Worf accused of wantonly
destroying a Klingon freighter that was carrying four hundred civilians.
In Hard Time, Chief O’Brien has difficulty readjusting to
life on DS9, after aliens implant false memories of a twenty-year prison
term in his mind. Shattered Mirror transports Sisko to the
mirror universe, after Jake is lured there by the alternate version of his
dead mother.
Disc
six contains the episodes The Muse, For the Cause,
To the Death and The Quickening. The Muse
marks another appearance of Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry), who
is very much pregnant and very much in need of Odo’s protection. In For
the Cause, Sisko is alarmed to discover that his lady friend
Kasidy Yates (Penny Johnson) may be a Maquis smuggler. To the Death
creates an unexpected alliance with the Jem'Hadar, who seek Sisko’s help
in preventing a renegade band from their ranks from seizing power. The
Quickening marks a mission of mercy in the Gamma Quadrant for
Bashir, who tries to find a cure for a disease inflicted on a race of
people by the Jem'Hadar.
Disc
seven contains the episodes Body Parts and Broken Link.
Quark’s Body Parts become a point of contention, when the
barkeep is diagnosed with a terminal disease and he sells them on the
Ferengi market. However, when the diagnosis turns out to have been in
error, Quark finds it near impossible to break the contracts for his bits
and pieces. In Broken Link, Odo is forced to return to The
Founders home world, where he is to face the judgment of his own people
for being the first of his kind to kill a fellow Changeling.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all of the episodes from STAR TREK: DEEP
SPACE NINE- SEASON FOUR available on DVD in the proper full screen
aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts. The quality of the
presentation is very similar to that of the first three seasons, which has
been generally quite good for this kind of material. STAR TREK: DEEP
SPACE NINE is an effects intensive show that utilized film for
principal photography, and then went to video for the postproduction work.
While not up to theatrical standards, the image is always fairly sharp and
displays reasonable definition, with the DVD easily besting a syndicated
rebroadcast. Colors appear well saturated and are reproduced without noise
or appreciable smearing. Blacks appear accurate and the whites are clean.
Contrast is held at the television level, which tends to flatten the image
a bit, but is not a significant concern. Even with four episodes allotted
to a dual layer DVD, digital compression artifacts are never particularly
noticeable.
All
the episodes that constitute STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE- SEASON FOUR
have been upgraded to Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtracks, as they were
for the preceding three seasons. For a television production, STAR
TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE was a well-recorded and mixed show, which is
evidenced in the fidelity of these 5.1 channel tracks. However, the
television origins of the sound mix remain fairly evident in the
implementation. The forward soundstage is dominant, with the rears lending
ambient support and musical fill. Surround "action" is limited
to an occasional effect- depending upon the nature of the particular
episode in question. Still, the 5.1 channel upgrades do provide for a
cleaner, better-defined sound that doesn’t demonstrate any of the
fuzziness of a matrixed track. Dialogue is always crisp and completely
intelligible. The bass channel provides solid support to the material;
enhancing engine rumble, but is never ground shaking. An English Dolby
Surround soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVDs, as are English
subtitles.
Full
motion video, 3-D animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s nicely
designed interactive menus, which utilize an interface reminiscent of DS9’s
Cardassian designed computer systems. Supplemental materials are contained
on disc seven and are fairly similar in format to those offered in the
first three seasons. Charting New Territory is an eighteen
minute program that looks at the significant episodes during the forth
season, as well as the addition of a new cast member. Michael
Westmore's Aliens Season Four runs eleven minutes and looks at the
creatures, aliens and other makeup effects that were applied in the forth
year. Crew Dossier: Worf is a fifteen-minute program
featuring Michael Dorn that looks at the character’s development, coming
off THE NEXT GENERATION and entering into the world of DS9.
Again, Easter egg hunters will enjoy exploring the seventh disc to locate
the Section 31 Hidden Files.
STAR
TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE is the best of all the series that take place in
the universe created by Gene Roddenberry, and season four is when show
begins to shine like the brightest star in the Alpha Quadrant. Once again,
Paramount has done their usual terrific job of transcribing the series to
DVD, providing good looking and fine sounding presentations that outshine
syndication. Long time fans and those discovering the show through the
glories of DVD will want to add STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE- SEASON FOUR
to their collections. Now, if season five would only hurry up and get here…
Over
the past three season reviews, I have been spouting the opinion that STAR
TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE is the best of all the series that that bear the
Trek moniker. However, it is with season four that even the uninitiated
will begin to see why I refer to DS9 as the superior Trek. In season four,
established storyline begin to deliver on the promises, plus it is during
this year that rich character development allows the cast to come into
their own. Also, season four marked another significant development for
the series- with NEXT GENERATION cast member Michael Dorn
transferring to DS9 along with his Klingon character, Lieutenant Command
Worf. Having the brooding Worf on DS9 certainly enhanced the darker
quality of this outpost of the Trek franchise. STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE
NINE- SEASON FOUR ($130) comes to DVD via Paramount Home Entertainment
in a seven disc set, which offers all twenty six episodes that were
broadcast during the forth year.
Disc
one contains the episodes The Way of the Warrior, The
Visitor and Hippocratic Oath. The Way of the
Warrior marks the arrival of a Klingon armada at DS9, under the
pretense of guarding the wormhole and the Alpha Quadrant from a Dominion
invasion. However, newly promoted Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) requests
that Worf, the only Klingon in Starfleet, be transferred to his command to
get at the truth. What Worf eventually uncovers, doesn’t bode well for
the Federation/Klingon alliance. The Visitor begins with an
accident in which Captain Sisko vanishes and is presumed dead, but then
briefly reappears again at regular intervals, which begins a lifelong
obsession for Jake (Cirroc Loften) to get his father back permanently. In Hippocratic
Oath Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Chief O’Brien (Colm
Meaney) are captured by a rebel band of Jem'Hadar that want to be freed
from the drug that keeps them subservient to Dominion.
Disc
two contains the episodes Indiscretion, Rejoined,
Starship Down and Little Green Men. In Indiscretion,
Major Kira (Nana Visitor) is forced to join forces with Gul Dukat (Marc
Alaimo) to rescue Bajoran prisoners from a Cardassian ship, only then to
discover his true motives for his assisting her. Rejoined
finds Jadzia (Terry Farrell) on the verge of breaking one of the most
significant Trill laws, when she is reunited with the spouse of a former
host to the Dax symbiont. In Starship Down, the Defiant is
attacked by the Jem'Hadar, which causes it to become trapped in a volatile
space body. Little Green Men tries to explain what happened
in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, when Quark (Armin Shimerman), Rom (Max
Grodenchik) and Nog (Aron Eisenberg) do a bit of unintentional time
travel.
Disc
three contains the episodes The Sword of Kahless, Our
Man Bashir, Homefront and Paradise Lost.
The Sword of Kahless takes Worf and Jadzia to the Gamma
Quadrant where they go in search of a legendary Klingon artifact. Our
Man Bashir places the good doctor in a holosuite adventure where
he plays a secret agent; however, a mishap places him and members of the
DS9 crew in actual peril, while inside the simulation. Homefront
brings Sisko and Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) to Earth, where it is
discovered that Changelings have been systematically replacing
high-ranking members of Starfleet. Paradise Lost finds the
situation on Earth dire, as the Changelings try to isolate Earth from the
Federation in preparation for war.
Disc
four contains the episodes Crossfire, Return to Grace,
Sons of Mogh and Bar Association. In Crossfire,
Odo’s hidden feelings for Kira start to bubble to the surface, when he
has to provide security for a Bajoran Minister that has expressed a
romantic interest in the Major. Return to Grace finds Gul
Dukat suddenly demoted and in need of Kira’s aid in restoring his
position with the Cardassian authorities. Sons of Mogh finds
Worf’s brother an outcast in Klingon society, and request that Worf end
his honor-less existence. In Bar Association, Rom finally
has had enough of Quark’s mistreatment, so he forms a union with the
other bar employees and goes on strike against his brother.
Disc
five contains the episodes Accession, Rules of
Engagement, Hard Time and Shattered Mirror.
In Accession, Sisko finds his position with the Bajoran
people challenged by a Bajoran who claims to be the true Emissary Of The
Prophets. Rules of Engagement finds Worf accused of wantonly
destroying a Klingon freighter that was carrying four hundred civilians.
In Hard Time, Chief O’Brien has difficulty readjusting to
life on DS9, after aliens implant false memories of a twenty-year prison
term in his mind. Shattered Mirror transports Sisko to the
mirror universe, after Jake is lured there by the alternate version of his
dead mother.
Disc
six contains the episodes The Muse, For the Cause,
To the Death and The Quickening. The Muse
marks another appearance of Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry), who
is very much pregnant and very much in need of Odo’s protection. In For
the Cause, Sisko is alarmed to discover that his lady friend
Kasidy Yates (Penny Johnson) may be a Maquis smuggler. To the Death
creates an unexpected alliance with the Jem'Hadar, who seek Sisko’s help
in preventing a renegade band from their ranks from seizing power. The
Quickening marks a mission of mercy in the Gamma Quadrant for
Bashir, who tries to find a cure for a disease inflicted on a race of
people by the Jem'Hadar.
Disc
seven contains the episodes Body Parts and Broken Link.
Quark’s Body Parts become a point of contention, when the
barkeep is diagnosed with a terminal disease and he sells them on the
Ferengi market. However, when the diagnosis turns out to have been in
error, Quark finds it near impossible to break the contracts for his bits
and pieces. In Broken Link, Odo is forced to return to The
Founders home world, where he is to face the judgment of his own people
for being the first of his kind to kill a fellow Changeling.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all of the episodes from STAR TREK: DEEP
SPACE NINE- SEASON FOUR available on DVD in the proper full screen
aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts. The quality of the
presentation is very similar to that of the first three seasons, which has
been generally quite good for this kind of material. STAR TREK: DEEP
SPACE NINE is an effects intensive show that utilized film for
principal photography, and then went to video for the postproduction work.
While not up to theatrical standards, the image is always fairly sharp and
displays reasonable definition, with the DVD easily besting a syndicated
rebroadcast. Colors appear well saturated and are reproduced without noise
or appreciable smearing. Blacks appear accurate and the whites are clean.
Contrast is held at the television level, which tends to flatten the image
a bit, but is not a significant concern. Even with four episodes allotted
to a dual layer DVD, digital compression artifacts are never particularly
noticeable.
All
the episodes that constitute STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE- SEASON FOUR
have been upgraded to Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtracks, as they were
for the preceding three seasons. For a television production, STAR
TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE was a well-recorded and mixed show, which is
evidenced in the fidelity of these 5.1 channel tracks. However, the
television origins of the sound mix remain fairly evident in the
implementation. The forward soundstage is dominant, with the rears lending
ambient support and musical fill. Surround "action" is limited
to an occasional effect- depending upon the nature of the particular
episode in question. Still, the 5.1 channel upgrades do provide for a
cleaner, better-defined sound that doesn’t demonstrate any of the
fuzziness of a matrixed track. Dialogue is always crisp and completely
intelligible. The bass channel provides solid support to the material;
enhancing engine rumble, but is never ground shaking. An English Dolby
Surround soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVDs, as are English
subtitles.
Full
motion video, 3-D animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s nicely
designed interactive menus, which utilize an interface reminiscent of DS9’s
Cardassian designed computer systems. Supplemental materials are contained
on disc seven and are fairly similar in format to those offered in the
first three seasons. Charting New Territory is an eighteen
minute program that looks at the significant episodes during the forth
season, as well as the addition of a new cast member. Michael
Westmore's Aliens Season Four runs eleven minutes and looks at the
creatures, aliens and other makeup effects that were applied in the forth
year. Crew Dossier: Worf is a fifteen-minute program
featuring Michael Dorn that looks at the character’s development, coming
off THE NEXT GENERATION and entering into the world of DS9.
Again, Easter egg hunters will enjoy exploring the seventh disc to locate
the Section 31 Hidden Files.
STAR
TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE is the best of all the series that take place in
the universe created by Gene Roddenberry, and season four is when show
begins to shine like the brightest star in the Alpha Quadrant. Once again,
Paramount has done their usual terrific job of transcribing the series to
DVD, providing good looking and fine sounding presentations that outshine
syndication. Long time fans and those discovering the show through the
glories of DVD will want to add STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE- SEASON FOUR
to their collections. Now, if season five would only hurry up and get here…