Best DS9 Stand Alone episodes (list them all)

[McDuff]

What are the best DS9 Stand alone episodes?

Especially those with high sci-fi concept. For example, "Time Travelling", "Meeting aliens who grow young instead of growing old", "Meeting aliens who can read thought", etc.

I feel like watching those types of episodes but don't recall the DS9 episodes much. In fact, if you can name all stand alone episode which are descent enough it would be pretty helpful.

I know "Visitor" was great. "Visionary" is also a stand alone episode. But can't recall much more DS9 stand alone episodes.

 

[RyuRoots]

Honestly, if you just want independent "Wow, look at this wacky/crazy alien-of-the-week!" episodes, you're better off just watching...really, ANY of the other shows.

 

[Alienesse]

One of my favorite stand-alone DS9 episodes is "Far Beyond The Stars". I'd say it's actually the opposite of the alien-of-the-week show because all the cast members play human characters. It's refreshing to see them in a such a different environment and the story itself is wonderful. I loved the idea of the whole DS9 universe being the creation of a 1950s writer.

 

[tomalak301]

The Visitor

Even though I'd argue there are a lot of DS9's episodes that "Stand Alone." While the War was in the background (Klingons and Dominion), there was really only two times that each took center stage and that was the Occupation Arc and the Final Chapter.

 

[Jono]

Defiant
The Ascent
The Crossover
Move Along Home
Explorers
Starship Down
Hard Time
To the Death
Trials and Tribble-ations
Soldiers of the Empire

 

[CaptJimboJones]

Honestly, if you just want independent "Wow, look at this wacky/crazy alien-of-the-week!" episodes, you're better off just watching...really, ANY of the other shows.

Actually, DS9 had plenty of those, particularly early in its run.

 

[McDuff]

Defiant
The Ascent
The Crossover
Move Along Home
Explorers
Starship Down
Hard Time
To the Death
Trials and Tribble-ations
Soldiers of the Empire

Thank you and others for your help.

I know stand alones are not DS9 strong point but I feel like watching those kind of stories. I like the storylines diversity brought up by those plots. Especially those with high sci-fi concept behind them. Keep them coming.

 

[Jefferies]

Worthwhile stand alone episodes that do not follow a longer story arc and that are based on a scifi concept:

Season 1:
Dax
Battle Lines


Season 2:
Invasive Procedures
Whispers
Paradise
Crossover


Season 3:
Second Skin
The Abandoned
Through The Looking Glass
Explorers


Season 4:
The Visitor
Hippocratic Oath
Rejoined
Little Green Men
Our Man Bashir
Hard Time
The Quickening


Season 5:
Trials and Tribbleations
Children of Time


Season 6:
Statistical Probabilities
Far Beyond the Stars


Season 7:
Treachery, Faith and The Great River
Chimera


I would like to point out though that your criteria means that a lot of epic and great episodes are omitted from this list.

 

[DS9 Gal AZ]

Dude, nobody's mentioned "Duet" yet? Seriously!

 

[Jefferies]

I wanted to list Duet, but its not exactly a scifi concept show. It's a character/morality play. The very best of its kind but not what the OP said he/she was looking for.

 

[Kai Winn]

it's ok, really, but no match for jetrel.

 

[AntonioE1988]

Where DS9 really succeeded is in its character pieces, and in that vein "The Visitor" is the best imho. "In the Pale Moonlight" was an awesome, dark episode as well for Sisko. "Hard Time" was an excellent episode for Miles. These three remain favorites of mine.

Of the big event episodes, I really liked the Season 6 closer "Tears of the Prophets" as well as the Season 4 opener "Way of the Warrior" (spectacular battle sequence at the end there). My favorite of these, though, and for sheer guilty pleasure, is "Sacrifice of Angels". The big battle mixed with the bittersweet ending is awesome. Quintessential DS9.

 

[Greg Cox]

Duet

Little Green Men

Trials and Tribble-ations.

 

[McDuff]

I just watched Hard Time. It was a great episode. A really nice sci-fi idea of having Miles living with the psychological consequences of 20 years implanted memory imprisonment.

 

[Cyke101]

Though not the best, one of my favorites is Take Me Out to the Holosuite. Yes, it's part of the Dominion War arc, but frankly it has so little to do with the war that it might as well be a stand-alone episode. The war just gets a line or two of lip service and that's it, which is really no different than the stand-alone episodes that name-dropped the Dominion but otherwise had no hand in the build-up to the arc.

 

[Jefferies]

Though not the best, one of my favorites is Take Me Out to the Holosuite. Yes, it's part of the Dominion War arc, but frankly it has so little to do with the war that it might as well be a stand-alone episode. The war just gets a line or two of lip service and that's it, which is really no different than the stand-alone episodes that name-dropped the Dominion but otherwise had no hand in the build-up to the arc.

I have always disliked that episode. It's portrayal of the Vulcans betrays an utter disregard for Vulcan culture and attitudes on the side of the DS9 writing staff. The Vulcan Captain is depicted as a petty racist biggot. His views border on fascism. I have always found it disturbing how this episode asserts that someone with views like that could become a decorated Starfleet Captain.

 

[Cyke101]

Though not the best, one of my favorites is Take Me Out to the Holosuite. Yes, it's part of the Dominion War arc, but frankly it has so little to do with the war that it might as well be a stand-alone episode. The war just gets a line or two of lip service and that's it, which is really no different than the stand-alone episodes that name-dropped the Dominion but otherwise had no hand in the build-up to the arc.

I have always disliked that episode. It's portrayal of the Vulcans betrays an utter disregard for Vulcan culture and attitudes on the side of the DS9 writing staff. The Vulcan Captain is depicted as a petty racist biggot. His views border on fascism. I have always found it disturbing how this episode asserts that someone with views like that could become a decorated Starfleet Captain.

Butbutbut it was funny. And Spock > the entire crew of T'kumbra, so Vulcan reputation among viewers is still intact. If anything, this episode reminded the audience how important it was to take a breather now and then -- "It's just a TV show, so we should really just relax." Lastly, it's a great Rom episode.

And an afterthought -- while not high concept, it's a lot in the realm of classic sci-fi in that we don't get a lot of technobabble and we don't get "science-as-magic" that would define Star Trek as traditionally sci-fantasy. Rather, we do get an episode where the conflict is solved by the characters' personalities (not their equipment), and the super-advanced technology is used to connect to the modern day; there's a parallel, but not a giant one, that even with all this tech, it really is teamwork and camaraderie that unites a group. Not the strongest character-driven episode, but I'm surprised at how much the episode moves forward because of the characters.

 

[JoeD80]

A couple that I like that haven't been mentioned yet:

Necessary Evil
Civil Defense

 

[Nightdiamond]

"The Sound of Her Voice", not necessarily a popular episode, but it had pretty good sci fi element to it.

Sisko and his crew answer a distress call from a stranded Starfleet captain.

They talk, interact and joke with her through the com system only later to learn that she died three years prior- they were talking to some time-displaced signal.

It had a TOS feel to it, something you can imagine TOS doing.

"Far Beyond the Stars", because the very theme of the episode entailed science fiction and imagination.


"Duet" was purely psychological and intense, made you feel like you watched 3 hours of something, if you got into the dialog.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I see the OP got plenty of suggestions over the weekend (although I have to strenuously object to the inclusion of Move Along Home in ANY list of "Best DS9 ______" (fill in that blank with whatever - MAH probably won't make the list. )

That episode of DS9 is one of the worst, IMO - definitely in my bottom 5 episodes of DS9.

All that said, to the OP - not sure what you are getting at here, in requiring only stand-alones. Because the meat and potatoes of DS9 - the thing that makes this show awesome, is the epic tale of one of the most pivotal events in Federation (indeed, AQ!) history - the Dominion War.

Almost everything else, IMO, are really character development episodes. Which are a good thing, in that they help you to care about these characters.

But if you really want to say you've seen, remembered, and understood the essence of DS9...the stand-alones by themselves will not get you there.