n Deep Space Nine's promenade, you can hear the drums of war being beaten ... louder and louder. Season five is where the threat of a war involving the Federation takes on a heightened reality. The Klingon Empire has been infiltrated by the Dominion, and by the end of the season Cardassia is under the Dominion's thumb and even Bajor has signed a nonaggression pact with the war-hungry race from Delta Quadrant.
By this point, DS9 is no longer a series you can casually jump in and out of. This is a season that's made for DVD, as it begs to be watched in order, given the dramatic developments in character and story that occur as the season progresses. Jake Sisko moves out on his own; Odo copes with being human, and with his growing feelings for Maj. Kira, who is the surrogate mother to O'Brien's soon-to-be-born son—and that's just scraping the surface.
But before the cliffhanger finale that marks the start of the Dominion-Federation conflict (the episode is, appropriately enough, titled "Call to Arms"), there's a host of other standout episodes.
"The Begotten" is a showcase for Auberjonois; a sick changeling merges itself with Odo, restoring to him the powers the Founders stripped away at the end of season four. Auberjonois gets another tour de force in "The Ascent," which brings the bickering yin-yang of Odo and Quark's (Shimerman) relationship to the fore.
There are plenty more interesting, solidly written, well-performed episodes in this season: "Apocalypse Rising," in which Sisko (Brooks), Odo (Auberjonois) and O'Brien (Meaney) pose as Klingons; "Let He Who Is Without Sin," which takes the flirtation between Worf (Dorn) and Dax (Farrell) to a whole new level; and "In the Cards," where Sisko's son Jake tries to do something small to help cheer his father up.
The most memorable episode of the season, though, comes early on, with "Trials and Tribble-ations." Though it sounds gimmicky—DS9's crew must travel back in time to Capt. Kirk's Enterprise crew, right about the time of the classic "Trouble with Tribbles" episode—the episode is a fun tribute to the Trek franchise. And through the magic of modern CGI, the mix of new characters and old works remarkably well.
Like its predecessors, the seven-disc set is in a flip-book style case. It includes five new featurettes, a still photo gallery and 10 Section 31 Hidden Files quick hits on a variety of topics, as well as 5.1-channel surround sound, which you can enable in the setup menu.
A story arc designed for DVD viewing
Past precedent has made us expect a season overview featurette. But this time around, that's missing—and considering that this season is the one that precedes the outbreak of war between the Federation and Dominion, it's a curious omission that does a disservice to viewers looking for a high-level overview.
Instead, we get a truly in-depth look at the making of "Trials and Tribble-ations." There are two featurettes—Uniting Two Legends and An Historic Endeavor—both running a generous 17 minutes in length, and both packed with interviews past and present with actors and producers. These segments are generally well produced, which makes it easier to overlook the occasional overlap on subjects covered between the two featurettes. Uniting focuses more on the origins and the actors' and producers' reactions to having the DS9 crew visit Kirk's Enterprise during the "Tribbles" episode; meanwhile, Endeavor sticks to the initial idea, the production design (with Herman Zimmerman and members of the art department chiming in) and the visual effects challenge of having the DS9 gang interact with Kirk's crew.
This installment's Crew Dossier is of Chief Miles O'Brien (Meaney), the former transporter chief who came over from the Enterprise. The short (11-minute) segment is nicely stitched together, using footage from episodes across the series' run interspersed with past interview clips with Meaney, and a mix of stock interviews and current ones with producers, writers and fellow actors. Sadly, there's more of everyone else's perspective on Meaney's character than there is from Meaney himself, and there's little mention of O'Brien's family life, which is odd considering that season five is the year his family grew by one with the birth of his son.
Inside DS9 with Michael Okuda draws on a mix of interviews to walk us through different aspects of the set design and props on Deep Space Nine. Not specific to season five, this seven-minute segment covers enough interesting minutiae to feel substantial—in spite of its relatively short length.
The final segment is the latest edition of Michael Westmore's Aliens. Westmore centers his reflections on the aliens that appear throughout season five."
The 10 Hidden Files segments run two to three minutes in length, and cover a wide range of topics. Auberjonois discusses "The Begotten" and "The Ascent"; Visitor reflects on the emotional resonance of "Ties of Blood and Water," and on how she refused to let her pregnancy impact her character's vitality; Robert Hewitt-Wolfe looks back on his experience on DS9, and why he left the show at the end of season five; Chase Masterson recalls a funny incident when playing opposite guest star Robert Picardo in "Doctor Bashir, I Presume"; Shimerman talks about Quark's new mother in "Ferengi Love Songs"; and Ronald Moore and J.G. Hertzler (General Martok) reflect on "Soldiers of the Empire"; frequent DS9 guest star Jeffrey Combs recalls how he came to play three different characters on DS9, including the obsequious Dominion envoy, Weyoun.
