Top 10 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes

#10 – The Jem’Hadar (Season 2)

Beginning the list at #10 is the Season 2 finale, “The Jem’Hadar.” It’s in this episode that the crew of Deep Space Nine learn of a new threat to the Federation.

In the episode, Sisko, Jake, Nog, and Quark go camping on a Gamma Quadrant world, but are captured by mysterious soldiers called the Jem’Hadar – a new force to rival the Federation.

#9 – The Search, Part I and II (Season 3)

Continuing the list at #9 is the two-part episode “The Search,” which debuts as the series’ Season 3 premiere.

In Part 1 of the episode, Sisko takes the new USS Defiant into the Gamma Quadrant to find the mysterious leaders of the Dominion, and avert a war, while Odo discovers the truth about his people. In Part 2, Odo begins to reconnect with his fellow Changelings as Sisko attempts to negotiate peace with the Dominion.

#8 – Visionary (Season 3)

At #8 is the episode “Visionary,” where Chief O’Brien encounters himself in the future.

In the episode, poisoned by radiation, Chief O’Brien experiences several time shifts, each five hours into the future, witnessing a bar brawl, his own death twice, and the destruction of the station. He deliberately subjects himself to more radiation in order to time shift to the future to see exactly what causes the destruction. However, the radiation is too much, and the O’Brien of the past dies, while the O’Brien of the future goes back in time to tell Commander Sisko that there is a cloaked Romulan D’deridex warbird circling the station, plotting to destroy it.

#7 – The Die Is Cast (Season 3)

In the top ten episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “The Die Is Cast” comes in at #7.
During the episode, Garak has to interrogate Odo to prove his loyalty to his former mentor. At the same time, a Tal Shiar-Obsidian Order attack on the Founders is underway. But the battle doesn’t go as well as originally planned.

#6 – Call to Arms (Season 5)

The 6th best episode of the series is the Season 5 finale, “Call to Arms.”
In the episode, faced with the realization that the Dominion are taking over the Alpha Quadrant, Sisko decides to mine the entrance to the wormhole.

#5 – Valiant (Season 6)

Kicking off the top five episodes of DS9 is “Valiant,” where a Defiant-class starship commanded by an elite-squadron of Starfleet Academy Cadets is destroyed while attacking a Jem’Hadar Dreadnought.

In the episode, Jake and Nog come under attack by the Jem’Hadar and are rescued by a rogue Defiant-class starship under the command of Starfleet cadets.

#4 – Tears of the Prophets (Season 6)

Sitting at #4 on the list is the Season 6 finale, “Tears of the Prophets.”

In the episode, Starfleet Command begins an offensive against the Dominion, and Sisko is chosen to lead the invasion of Cardassia, but the Cardassian/Dominion Alliance has secretly reinforced their borders. Dukat returns to Cardassia with his latest murderous plot to cripple the Federation war effort.

#3 – The Way of the Warrior, Part I and II (Season 4)

The top three episodes on the list are full of action. The amount of special effects displayed in these episodes rival that of every other Star Trek episode produced to date.

Holding on to a #3 position on the list is the two-part episode “The Way of the Warrior,” which is the Season 4 premiere. In it, Worf joins the DS9 crew, as the USS Enterprise-D is now destroyed (Star Trek: Generations).

In Part 1 of the episode, the Klingon Empire withdraws from its peace treaty with the Federation and Worf is brought in to help keep negotiations. In Part 2, Worf must decide where his loyalties lie, as the Klingon fleet sets off to attack the station.

#2 – Sacrifice of Angels (Season 6)

The second best DS9 episode on my Top 10 Episode List is “Sacrifice of Angels.” This Season 6 episode depicted a major battle between the Federation, Klingons and the Dominion.

In the episode, Sisko commands the Defiant and 600 Federation ships against a Dominion/Cardassian armada to retake Deep Space Nine. Meanwhile, on DS9, Damar has Kira, Jake, and Leeta arrested.

#1 – What You Leave Behind, Part I (Season 7)

Finally, we come to the best episode of the entire series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine! Sitting pretty at #1 on our Top 10 Episode List is the first part of the series finale in Season 7, “What You Leave Behind.”

In Part 1 of the episode, on Deep Space Nine, Bashir wakes up with Ezri, O’Brien talks with his family about leaving the station after the war, and Sisko comforts a pregnant, nauseated Kasidy. It is the morning of the day the crew will leave for the final push in the war. The battle between the Jem’Hadar/Breen/Cardassian fleet and Starfleet/Klingon/Romulan fleet begins. Kira, Garak, and Damar, hiding on Cardassia Prime as insurgents, incite a worker revolt and power outage, which cuts off communication between the Dominion Fleet and the command center housing Weyoun and the diseased Founder. In retaliation, the Jem’Hadar wipe out an entire Cardassian city. Later on, the insurgents are about to be executed by a team of Jem’Hadar and Cardassian soldiers, but are saved when the Cardassians turn on them in revenge. Midway through the space battle, the Cardassian ships also switch sides, which Weyoun discovers when communications are restored. As an ultimate retaliation, the Founder orders the eradication of the Cardassian race, and the Jem’Hadar begin leveling the capital. Kira and the insurgents storm the command center, capture the Founder, and kill Weyoun, but Damar is killed. Though the Dominion’s Alpha Quadrant forces are facing defeat, the Founder will not surrender, presumably to inflict so much damage that the Alpha Quadrant powers will be deterred from attacking the Dominion.

Unfortunately, I’ve had to leave out Part 2 of the episode from my list because of the fact it was so incredibly boring. At the end of Part 1, you see the Founder refuse to surrender the war, and just before the opening credits of Part 2, you see the Federation plan their final assault on the Jem’Hadar/Breen fleet. So you get the impression that there’s going to be one last major attack scene in Part 2 showing the Federation/Klingon/Romulan/Cardassian fleet win the war against the Jem’Hadar and Breen, right? WRONG! After the opening credits of Part 2, the episode surprisingly switches gears from a massive assault scene (which would’ve resulted in high action and major special effects of ships attacking each other and being destroyed, just like in Part 1) to a peaceful resignation – which is ironic since in Part 1, the Founder explicitly states that she will not surrender the war. Instead of focusing on finishing the war, the episode focuses on remembering all of the good memories the crew of DS9 had throughout the entire series. The crew gathers in Vic Fontaine’s lounge on the holodeck and all of a sudden the episode reminds you of a classic 19th century black and white film. Part 2 was a complete joke. And although for some weird reason, Part 2 was rated by fans on the official Star Trek website as being a better episode than Part 1, I clearly disagree. In my opinion, the series’ producers Rick Berman and Michael Pillar wanted to find a cheap, inexpensive way to end the series, so after all the money they spent on the special effects scenes of Part 1, they didn’t want to spend any more in Part 2. To be honest, if the producers wanted to be that cheap, they should’ve incorporated the entire Part 2 episode into about 10 minutes at the end of Part 1, or just not have a Part 2 at all and end Part 1 with the defeat of the Dominion. Aside from the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise, this has got to be the second-worst series finale of all the Star Trek series to date.

Other Good Episodes

In particular, many fans of the series might wonder why I’ve left out a couple of other good episodes on this Top 10 Episodes List. I’ve tried my best to write a list incorporating what I believe are the best episodes of the series, based upon action, storyline and amount of special effects used. If you believe there was another good episode of the series that’s worth being mentioned, feel free to post a comment to my article and let everyone else know.