MovieFreak.com - "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Sixth Season" DVD Review

Paramount presents Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in standard 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The transfer is not without its flaws, but the overall presentation is fresh and updated. The print image looks healthy and the quality is pretty good. However, noticeable grain occurs in even the slightest of dark scenes. Dark tones and black levels are inconsistent, but it’s not a major issue. Colors are fresh and at times quite vibrant. The use of colors on the show is remarkable as each set and form of clothing includes a variety of nice colors. Color detail is at times inconsistent, but good nonetheless. The special effects shots look very good and they make a very nice impression, especially during the battle sequences. I didn't find the grainy aspects too distracting, but it depends on the individual. For a TV show, however, I find it is acceptable. The overall video presentation maintains pretty decent picture quality.

Paramount presents Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Not a lot of surround sound occurs as the front speakers are mostly hard at work. The speakers put out enough bass and balance to make dialog clear and easy to understand. This presentation creates a welcome environment for the show’s sound effects, which at times penetrate the rear speakers. The score comes across quite nicely as well in this 5.1 soundtrack; it is composed and used appropriately. Overall, the audio presentation is pretty good. [Taken from my DS9 Season Four review.]

This 7-disc set may not be very affordable to most people, but the episodes and the following extras display highly recommendable quality. All special features are located on disc 7.

It all begins with Mission Inquiry: Far Beyond the Stars (8:45). You get interviews with the principals and Ira Steven Behr, among others, talking about the episode and what it meant. Most notably it paid homage to the struggling writers behind the sci-fi stories, but it also addressed the social issue of racism. There's some behind-the-scenes footage also, but overall this featurette lacks the detail and depth of previous mission inquiries.

The second featurette is 24th Century Wedding (10:50), which obviously refers to You Are Cordially Invited, the episode where Worf and Jadzia tied the knot, so to speak. Interviews are with Michael Dorn, Terry Farrell, Ira Steven Behr and other cast principals. The featurette also focuses on the party scene in Jadzia's quarters. Aron Eisenberg remembers improvising his dance during the scene, although he notes improvisation hardly ever occurred while filming the show. The overall sense you get here is that the cast had a lot of fun making this episode.

Crew Dossier: Dr. Julian Bashir (14:20) focuses on Alexander Siddig's character throughout the show's seven years. It should be interesting to note that the original plan for his character was quite sketchy, but Siddig encompassed the role admirably so the character was fleshed out in more detail. It references Bashir's relationship to O'Brien that began in Armageddon Game and continued through many future episodes, as well as touching on the romance and genetic enhancing of the character. Siddig recounts working with Data (Brent Spiner) on the last scene in TNG's Birthright: Part 1 where he forgot to take off his special shoe slippers. Andrew J. Robinson also appears to give a little background on the relationship between Garak and Bashir. I think Alexander Siddig enjoys talking about the character and he's clearly enthusiastic about some of the things his character did on the show. It's good to know his interview is not from several years ago but actually from just last year during the DVD's production.

In Crew Dossier: Quark (16:55), Armin Shimerman reveals in a new interview how he tried to make Quark 3-dimensional and paint a new, more realistic picture of Ferengis. He also addresses the love/hate relationship between Quark and Odo, as well as talking about the evolution of his character over the show's seven years. Shimerman makes an amusing observation that "Ferenginar looks like Seattle on a bad day." He also notes Quark fired a phaser only three times. In a little surprise, Max Grodénchik shows up for about six seconds to address his character, but where is the rest of his interview? Perhaps we will see more of him on the Season 7 DVD, but I kind of doubt it. I also get the sense from Shimerman that he's quite enthusiastic talking about Quark and other things. This featurette pays deserving tribute to the man who is Quark. Hehe.

Then there is Sketchbook: John Eaves (9:10), which is about Eaves as the show's illustrator. The various designs and sketches of instruments from Season 6 episodes are referenced in this ultimately uninteresting but nevertheless decent featurette. A photo gallery is also included with pictures from the set as well as the Indiana Jones DVD trailer.

By now you should know what the Section 31 Hidden Files are all about. They're tiny featurettes, usually 1-3 minutes in length, discussing particular events during a season. The only problem is you have to select certain "hidden" spots in the special features menu. The hidden files for this release are actually pretty darn interesting and it really pains me that the DVD producers had to be so freaking sophisticated in presenting these. The TNG DVD sets listed all the special features in plain sight. I just don't understand the whole "hidden" agenda and frankly it's getting quite tiring now to browse through DS9's special features. To save you some time I will list what most of the hidden files are about.

06-Rene Auberjonois recalls some of the scripts reading "harrumph", which is Odo's signature grunt. He told the writers not to write it because he knew when to do it.

So I think it's quite evident that these hidden files are worth watching and deserve the "space" on the special features menu instead of appearing "hidden". I also wish the show's supporting cast would get more interview time, such as Marc Alaimo, J.G. Hertzler, Andrew J. Robinson, Max Grodénchik, and Aron Eisenberg, among others. Well, perhaps they will reappear on the Season 7 DVD set. It would only be a nice and deserving gesture on the producer's part. We'll see. So that's it. All in all a pretty good arrangement of supplemental material.

You can select to view the episodes with optional English subtitles. The DVD’s menus are interactive and easy to navigate. Each episode runs approximately 45 minutes and is organized into 8 chapters.

I don't want to state the obvious again, but Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 6 is terrific. I enjoyed almost all of the episodes except for some that dragged a bit. The opening 6-episode story arc worked very well as did the rest of the episodes, some of which were quite exceptional. Paramount's DVD presentation offers pretty decent video and audio quality, as well as a pretty good selection of special features. The 7-disc set is quite expensive at $90-100, but fans should definitely pick it up. Season 6 is worth it. Very highly recommended.

THE SEASON/SHOW	9
THE VIDEO	8
THE AUDIO	8
THE EXTRAS	8
OVERALL (not an average)	9