The BEST episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Every episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!

When the Cardassian occupation of Bajor ended in 2369, the mining space-station Terok Nor was left abandoned, its systems ripped out. By invitation of the provisional Bajoran government, Starfleet stepped in to oversee the rebuilding and day-to-day operations of the newly christened Deep Space Nine. DS9 soon became a center of travel and commerce thanks to a newly found stable wormhole leading to the largely unexplored Gamma Quadrant.

Last Updated: 1/2/2024Network: SyndicationStatus: Ended
Share:
What You Leave Behind (1)
star
8.49
1455 votes

#1 - What You Leave Behind (1)

Season 7 - Episode 25 - Aired 6/2/1999

Stardate: Unknown Sisko launches the Federation/Klingon/Romulan attack against the Dominion on Cardassia. Kira, Damar and Garak destroy a power supply on Cardassia as the Cardassian population rises against the Dominion. Kai Winn asks Gul Dukat to join her in releasing the Pah-wraiths from the Fire Caves. Bashir and Ezri spend the night together on the eve of the war. The Founder Leader orders the execution of Damar, Garak and Kira after Jem'Hadar forces capture them; however, Cardassian forces free them. Meanwhile, on Bajor, Kai Winn recites from the Kosst Amojan in an attempt to release the Pah-wraiths.

Directors: Allan Kroeker
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
What You Leave Behind (2)
star
8.45
562 votes

#2 - What You Leave Behind (2)

Season 7 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/2/1999

Stardate: Unknown Sisko launches the Federation/Klingon/Romulan attack against the Dominion on Cardassia. Kira, Damar and Garak destroy a power supply on Cardassia as the Cardassian population rises against the Dominion. Kai Winn asks Gul Dukat to join her in releasing the Pah-wraiths from the Fire Caves. Bashir and Ezri spend the night together on the eve of the war. The Founder Leader orders the execution of Damar, Garak and Kira after Jem'Hadar forces capture them; however, Cardassian forces free them. Meanwhile, on Bajor, Kai Winn recites from the Kosst Amojan in an attempt to release the Pah-wraiths.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Call to Arms
star
8.42
1581 votes

#3 - Call to Arms

Season 5 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/16/1997

Stardate: Unknown Leeta and Rom get married. Sisko decides to mine the wormhole, which will likely start the war. When their plan is detected, Sisko is forced to evacuate the station and endorse the non-aggression pact between Bajor and the Dominion. While patrolling the border, General Martok detects the first wave of Dominion ships headed for Deep Space Nine. All remaining Starfleet personnel are ordered to leave the station. Kira, Odo, Quark, Rom, Morn and Jake stay behind on the station and disable it as it is handed over to the Dominion.

Directors: Allan Kroeker
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
In the Pale Moonlight
star
8.28
1680 votes

#4 - In the Pale Moonlight

Season 6 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/15/1998

Stardate: 51721.3 Sisko and Garak lure the Romulans into the Dominion war in order to get them to join the Federation/Klingon Alliance. Without them, the Federation and Klingon Empire would eventually lose the war and fall under Dominion rule.

Directors: Victor Lobl
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Trials and Tribble-ations
star
8.18
1653 votes

#5 - Trials and Tribble-ations

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/1996

Stardate:4523.7 While returning to Deep Space Nine with the Bajoran Orb of Time, the crew are thrown back to the 23rd Century. They must infiltrate the original Starship Enterprise in order to stop an undercover Klingon from poisoning a shipment of grain being carried.

Directors: Jonathan West
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Sacrifice of Angels
star
8.16
1726 votes

#6 - Sacrifice of Angels

Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/3/1997

Stardate: Unknown Captain Sisko and his taskforce engage the Dominion as Starfleet pushes to reclaim DS9. Meanwhile on the station, the Dominion tries to complete its plan for removing the mines from the wormhole, and meet internal resistance.

Directors: Allan Kroeker
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Way of the Warrior (1)
star
8.10
1599 votes

#7 - The Way of the Warrior (1)

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/2/1995

The Klingons attack Cardassia in an attempt to overthrow the planet's newly installed civilian government. When the crew of Deep Space Nine saves the members of the new government, they fall under attack from the Klingons as well. Worf is transferred to Deep Space Nine.

Directors: James L. Conway
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Die is Cast
star
8.01
1551 votes

#8 - The Die is Cast

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/1/1995

Garak must decide whether or not to kill Odo to please his mentor on the eve of a joint Romulan-Cardassian attack on the Dominion.

Directors: David Livingston
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Favor the Bold
star
8.01
1695 votes

#9 - Favor the Bold

Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/27/1997

Stardate: Unknown Odo struggles with his choices between his friends and the link. Sisko faces a suicide mission in order to reclaim Deep Space Nine. Rom is ordered to be executed. Ziyal is assaulted by Damar - Kira sees this altercation and nearly kills Damar over it.

Directors: Winrich Kolbe
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
By Inferno's Light
star
8.01
1576 votes

#10 - By Inferno's Light

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/17/1997

Stardate: 50564.2 When the Dominion fleet comes through the wormhole, it soon becomes clear that Cardassia has allied itself with the Dominion and that war is not far off. As the forces of the Alpha Quadrant assemble, the changeling posing as Dr. Bashir is wrecking havoc on Deep Space Nine.

Directors: Les Landau
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Way of the Warrior (2)
star
7.96
772 votes

#11 - The Way of the Warrior (2)

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/2/1995

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
In Purgatory's Shadow
star
7.96
1534 votes

#12 - In Purgatory's Shadow

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/10/1997

Stardate: Unknown After a coded Cardassian message from the Gamma Quadrant is detected, Garak and Worf attempt a rescue. However, they are captured by the Jem'Hadar and imprisoned in the same cell as Enabran Tain, General Martok, and the real Julian Bashir, who had been secretly replaced several weeks prior without any notice. The Jem'hadar fleet invades the Alpha Quadrant when an attempt to seal the wormhole is sabotaged by the changeling-Bashir.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Search (2)
star
7.94
1647 votes

#13 - The Search (2)

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/3/1994

Odo begins to connect with his fellow Changelings as Sisko attempts to negotiate peace with the Dominion.

Directors: Jonathan Frakes
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Tacking Into the Wind
star
7.89
1373 votes

#14 - Tacking Into the Wind

Season 7 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/12/1999

Stardate: Unknown Bashir works around the clock to find a cure for the Founder's disease. Kira makes plans to steal Breen technology that would make the Federation ships immune to Breen/Dominion weaponry. Damar learns that his family was killed by the Dominion. Worf challenges Gowron's corrupt leadership of the Klingon Empire, which results in Gowron's death. Bashir and O'Brien plot to capture a member of Section 31 who may hold the cure for Odo's illness.

Directors: Mike Vejar
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Tears of the Prophets
star
7.89
1452 votes

#15 - Tears of the Prophets

Season 6 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/17/1998

Stardate: Unknown Sisko is ordered to launch attacks against Cardassia and the Dominion. In his absence, Dax is left in command if the station. Gul Dukat is possessed by a Pah-wraith in an attempt to destroy the Bajoran Wormhole and the Prophets. Dukat manages to destroy one of the Bajoran Orbs, and kills Jadzia in the process, although the Dax symbiont is saved. The Bajoran Wormhole implodes, the Orbs go dark, and Sisko is forced to take time out while the war continues.

Directors: Allan Kroeker
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
A Time to Stand
star
7.88
1684 votes

#16 - A Time to Stand

Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/29/1997

Stardate: Unknown Several months after Deep Space Nine was handed over to the Dominion, the Federation is losing the war. Being relieved of command of the Defiant, Sisko is placed in command of a salvaged Jem'Hadar warship they discovered several months earlier, and must destroy the main Ketracel White production facility in the Alpha Quadrant. The mission is a success but it leaves the ship without warp engines and stranded 17 years from the nearest Federation Starbase.

Directors: Allan Kroeker
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Changing Face of Evil
star
7.86
1269 votes

#17 - The Changing Face of Evil

Season 7 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/28/1999

Stardate: Unknown Worf and Ezri return safely to Deep Space Nine. The Breen launch an attack on Federation Headquarters, while Damar secretly forms plans to free Cardassia from Dominion rule. Sisko is informed that the Breen have launched an attack against the only foothold the Federation has in Dominion territory. Kai Winn and Gul Dukat try to find a way of releasing the Pah-wraiths from the Fire Caves on Bajor.

Directors: Mike Vejar
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Paradise Lost
star
7.86
1459 votes

#18 - Paradise Lost

Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/8/1996

As Sisko and Odo prepare for a Dominion invasion they discover a plot to place the Federation under military control.

Directors: Reza Badiyi
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Little Green Men
star
7.86
1564 votes

#19 - Little Green Men

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/13/1995

Quark, Rom and Nog are accidentally thrust back in time to Roswell, New Mexico, Earth in 1947.

Directors: Alexander Singer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges
star
7.83
1232 votes

#20 - Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/3/1999

Stardate: Unknown As Dr. Bashir leaves for a medical convention on Romulus, a member of Section 31, who asks him to get as much information on the Romulan Government as possible, approaches him. It soon becomes clear that Bashir may be caught in a confused double cross.

Directors: David Livingston
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Jem'Hadar
star
7.82
1535 votes

#21 - The Jem'Hadar

Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/12/1994

Sisko, Jake, Nog, and Quark go camping on a Gamma Quadrant world but are captured by mysterious soldiers called the Jem'Hadar and meet a force to rival the Federation.

Directors: Kim Friedman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Siege of AR-558
star
7.81
1278 votes

#22 - The Siege of AR-558

Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/18/1998

Stardate: Unknown Sisko plans an attack that will allow them to tap in to the Dominion's communication array in the Alpha Quadrant on the planet AR-558. He must also find a way of revealing the 'Houdinis'; mines which hide themselves in subspace and explode without warning. Nog loses his leg during a battle.

Directors: Winrich Kolbe
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Broken Link
star
7.76
1357 votes

#23 - Broken Link

Season 4 - Episode 26 - Aired 6/17/1996

Odo is forced to return to his people, the Changelings, to face judgment for killing one of his own.

Directors: Les Landau
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Search (1)
star
7.75
1788 votes

#24 - The Search (1)

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/26/1994

Sisko is assigned the mission of taking the Defiant into the Gamma Quadrant to make peaceful contact with the founders of the Dominion.

Directors: Kim Friedman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Past Tense (2)
star
7.74
1360 votes

#25 - Past Tense (2)

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/9/1995

Sisko assumes the role of a pivotal historic figure in order to restore the timeline.

Directors: Jonathan Frakes
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV