Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Fourth Season; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Third Season

Bajorans, Cardassians, Ferengis--oh my!--and, beginning with the third season, the birth of the series' major story arc--the battle against the Dominion's minions ("we are everywhere"). Welcome to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 1993-1999 Trekkie series that boldly went where no man, woman, or Borg had gone before: to a more character-driven show set aboard a (mostly) stationary space station in the further reaches of east bejeezus. Collecting all 26 of the third season's episodes, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Third Season takes viewers back to Terek Nor, the Cardassian space station overseen by Federation Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), with help from Bajoran Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), shapeshifting Chief of Security Odo (Rene Auberjonois), blue-collar Chief Operations Officer O'Brien (Colm Meaney, coming over from Star Trek: The Next Generation), Trill Lieutenant Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell), Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and occasional hindrance from Quark (Armin Shimerman), who runs DS9's major onboard conceit--the Promenade, a Star Wars-intergalactic-bar-inspired watering hole/mini-mall where folks (of all species and races) sling back exotic drinks, gamble at the Dabo tables, and check out the latest fashions at Garak's Clothiers. Of course, there has to be more to the show than just weird drinks and weirder threads, and season three serves up a solid mix of plot-driven ("The Search" and "Past Tense" two-parters, "The Die Is Cast," "The Adversary") and character-driven stories ("Second Skin" [Kira, a Cardassian !?!], Quark's hilarious family relations in "Family Business"). As with the ST:TNG boxed sets, this includes a solid mix of extra featurettes: a "making-of," a profile of Odo, a look at alien design, and a revisiting of the "Past Tenses" and "Explorers" episodes, as well as seven "hidden file" Easter egg 2-5 minute shorts. .Season four got off to a slam bang start with the addition of ST:TNG's Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) to the DS9 cast in the action-packed extended season opener "The Way of the Warrior." Of the 25 episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Fourth Season, standouts include the touching father-and-son time travel story "The Visitor," Bashir and Kira's campy antics in "Our Man Bashir," the daring same-sex (at least externally) love story "Rejoined," the true secret behind the Roswell aliens revealed in "Little Green Men," and the haunting infectious disease thriller "The Quickening." This set's featurettes include a season overview, profile on Worf, segments on alien design and set decoration, and 10 hidden file Easter eggs. Both the third and fourth season sets look and sound sharp (although the packaging is a bit on the flimsy side). Like its predecessor, ST:TNG, the DS9 franchise would live long and prosper for a respectable seven-year run. Sure to be popular, these sets are definitely recommended. (R. Pitman)