Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Five

Faster than you can say "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam" ("today is a good day to die," in Klingon), Season Five of DS:9 arrives hot on the heels of Season Four, and with two seasons left to go, it won't be long until all seven seasons are easily acquirable on DVD format and you can feel like a loser for owning them all (and Next Generation, don't think that's gone unnoticed) but also bask in the serenity that comes from a complete collection. At least until they start farting out Voyager. As if the first couple seasons of DS:9 were a rollercoaster going up the tracks after some minor ups and downs, it's nothing but full speed ahead with the last seasons, barrelling down the tracks with a palpable velocity and Season Five marks this transition nicely. Not only is the Federation embroiled with a cold war-like standoff with the Klingons over the Klingons' war with Cardassia, but the Founders and the Jem'Hadar (the anti-Federation), become more pronounced and ominous as the season progresses, until the season finale, where Deep Space Nine (a Cardassian space station occupied by the Federation that orbits the world of Bajor, special because of the wormhole located next to it that connects the Alpha quadrant to the Gamma quadrant) is up for grabs itself. In terms of all out action, it may not be the best season (that award goes to the final season and the war between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants) but it does posses possibly DS:9's most popular episode: "Trials and Tribble-ations." Throughout its not too sparse but not too luxurious extras, a large amount of time is spent dissecting this episode and with good reason: it takes one of Star Trek's fave episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles," and through Forrest Gump-like effects places the crew of DS:9 into the actual original episode (complete with Kirk, Spock and McCoy) pretty seamlessly. There are also featurettes on various cast and crew episode favourites and the standard Aliens featurette, but with the expanding character arcs, developing plots and strong stand-alone episodes, the episodes are the reason to own, and the best is still yet to come. Plus: photo gallery, more. (Paramount)