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

Starring: Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Nicole DeBoer, Michael Dorn, Cirroc Lofton, Colm Meaney, Armin Shimerman, Alexander Siddig, Nana Visitor

Orbiting the liberated planet of Bajor, a Federation space station (Deep Space Nine) and its crew guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the Galaxy. Season 7 concludes the Dominion war on a high note, and resolves character arcs and remaining plot threads.

So it took me six months to finally start writing this review. I'm not sure what more to say about the series. In its seventh season, Deep Space Nine shows a few signs of wear and tear. That is, there are still the token filler episodes, five to six of them at least. That's too much. This is mainly due to the introduction of Ezri Dax (Nichole deBoer, The Dead Zone), the new character who joins the station after the departure of Terry Farrell last season. Her name should give you an indication of who she is, so I'm not going to say it plainly. It's better to experience her identity in the first two episodes. Well, the filler episodes this season have to do with Ezri in one way or another. Prodigal Daughter deals with her parents and criminal brother, which was boring, but I did enjoy Field of Fire more than I should have.

Instead, the writers should've made a strong commitment to end the show in great fashion but also wrap up all the subplots and other threads developed in prior seasons. The final ten episodes act as one large story arc, usually ending with a cliffhanger each time. The episodes deal with the Federation's final battle against the Dominion and the Cardassians. They also showcase some characters as they die and become heroes at the same time. The only weak element about this arc is the slow and insipid storyline featuring a disguised Dukat (Marc Alaimo) making a play at Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher). It's just too stretched out, and really this plotline wastes time that could've been spent on wrapping up an additional plot or character thread.

I won't spoil the outcome of the war, but in a sense there is not much spoiling anyway. Despite the lack of a cohesive whole of episodes, there are still some good ones among the pack. Take Me Out to the Holo-Suite is a nice episode where Sisko (Avery Brooks) challenges an old Starfleet Academy acquaintance, the Vulcan Captain Solok, to a game of baseball on the holosuite. The Siege of AR-558 is a good episode that featured some nice suspense. I also liked Treachery, Faith, and the Great River where Odo (Rene Auberjonois) encounters a cloned Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs), as well as The Emperor's New Cloak where Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Rom (Max Grodénchik) enter the parallel universe to save Grand Negus Zek (Wallace Shawn).

Overall, I got through all 26 episodes without a problem or major complaint, except that the season needed at least three more episodes to really wrap everything up. In that sense I'm a little disappointed, but no big worries, I have moved on since watching the last of the show this past December.

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. [Taken from my DS9 Season 6 review.]

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 4 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.

Ending an Era (14:00) is pretty self-explanatory. We get the usual interviews with the writers and producers, plus the actors offering their thoughts on the show by looking back at a 7-year body of work. Some of the conversations here are great.

Crew Dossier: Benjamin Sisko (13:00) features an interview with actor Avery Brooks. This man is pretty interesting and offers some comments. He discusses the show, his character and his relationship with actor Cirroc Lofton. Of all the crew dossiers, this one is my favorite simply because Brooks is so interesting to watch. Others also appear to comment on the character of Sisko. Overall, this is a very nice and comprehensible look at the Captain of our favorite Federation space station.

Crew Dossier: Jake Sisko (11:00) addresses the character's growth over the seven years and his relationship with Sisko/Brooks. Yet this featurette somewhat disappointed me, mainly because the producers didn't bring Cirroc Lofton back for a new interview session. Instead, we see a young Cirroc from a brief 1992 interview talking about his character. The 1999 on-set interview with the actor plays for most of the time here and it's fine, although the background noise is unwelcome. For all intents and purposes, I expected a fresh perspective from Lofton. All of the other crew dossiers featured all-new interviews conducted throughout late 2002 and early 2003, except for the Miles O'Brien one, which was somewhat disappointing also. Either Mr. Lofton was not available for comment or the producers thought they had enough footage to create this featurette without fresh input. All I can do at this point is stay back and feel betrayed.

The Last Goodbyes (14:00) looks at the show's final episode What You Leave Behind and offers clips of the production's wrap party covered by Entertainment Tonight. On-set footage of the DS9 crew assembling at Vic Fontaine's is great to watch. You can almost sense the anxiety of the actors as they are about to wrap the final episode. At the wrap party, Ira Steven Behr and Avery Brooks both make touching and reflective speeches. Other actors say their goodbyes, if you will, through interviews conducted during the walk on the red carpet. Though I think this featurette should've been longer, it's still a commendable way to address the departure of a great show.

Rounding out the extras is a Photo Gallery and a trailer for the Indiana Jones DVD Movie Collection.

Next are the Section 31 Hidden Files. They're tiny featurettes, usually 2-4 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. This becomes annoying fast, however. The hidden files for Season 7 are just great. Supporting and guest stars get a chance to talk about their respective characters on the show. Here is a quick rundown:

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 eight chapters.

Season 7 starts off nicely, then goes on a bit with mostly moderate episodes in the middle, and during the last 10 episodes creates tension, wraps up character threads, and graciously concludes what has become a terrific TV show. Watching all seven seasons of DS9 for the past 10 months or so has been both exciting and enjoyable. As great shows end, new ones will be found. Next year Paramount will release Star Trek: Voyager in the same pattern as DS9 and perhaps it will find me just like this one.

On a similar note, I recently watched the last season of Babylon 5, a science-fiction show that is similar to DS9. Several comparisons could be made that would present a lot of similarities. The backgrounds of both shows are kind of interesting, too, but I won't discuss them here. I also prefer not to go into Babylon 5 too much here so you'll just have to read my review. But I can say that the show is awesome and a very exciting sci-fi TV show experience.

The video quality for this seventh DS9 set is again pretty good, but varies from time to time. Audio is perfectly fine. We get the last of the crew dossier series in this release, as well as two featurettes addressing the departure of a great show. I don't find these extras overwhelming, but they're very good. If I would allow myself to nitpick, I'd say there are not enough great extras here to satisfy me wholly, which is why I'm scoring the extras a 6. I liked the extras on the Season 6 DVD set a bit more.

If you're a fan of this show, do yourself a favor and pick up this 7-disc set at retail price ($90-100) at your nearest Best Buy for you will receive a bonus disc. Despite a few inconsequential episodes, Season 7 retains a highly recommended commendation.

THE SEASON/SHOW	8
THE VIDEO	8
THE AUDIO	8
THE EXTRAS	6
OVERALL (not an average)	8