What TNG Episodes Set Up DS9?

[C_Miller]

Okay, so this summer when I finally get a chance to replace my DVDs, I'll be going through the series with a friend of mine who's relatively interested. The only thing is they're completely new to the Star Trek universe, save for maybe seeing the new movie. My question for you fine people is what TNG episodes to start out with that introduce some important elements of the show.

My thoughts are Best of Both Worlds (Maybe Q Who to set up that), Ensign Ro, The Wounded and Chain of Command. Those seem like the big ones, but I might be blanking. I guess I could show her the Worf arc, but I feel like the big parts are explained in Way of the Warrior and I think there really isn't much pay off for that and it comes four seasons down the line anyways.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Admiral Shran]

The Best of Both Worlds, Ensign Ro, The Wounded and Chain of Command are all excellent choices. Chain of Command especially. If those episodes didn't set up DS9, I don't know what would.

One I would advise not to show is The Host. Your friend will only end up massively confused about the Trill.

 

[happydave]

The twist in Defiant doesn't really make sense unless you've seen Second Chances, but that doesn't air until Deep Space Nine's pilot had already aired. It's not a important thing anyway.

 

[tomalak301]

I would show episodes that heavily feature O'Brien. The Wounded is a great choice, but I'd say maybe Data's Day as it shows him and Kaiko getting married, and Disaster for the birth of Molly. The last one isn't all that important, but one of the things I did appreciate in the first season of DS9 was O'Brien trying to raise a family on the station. Some backstory on him and his character might go along way.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Preemptive Strike is where we first see the Maquis (or what will become the Maquis).

Carrying on with the Maquis/Cardassian/Seeds of Unrest theme is Journey's End.

Lowers Decks, besides focusing on the crewmembers of the Enterprise-D who aren't "stars", also features a subplot involving a Cardassian defector.

And then there's The Chase, which involves the "origin of humanoid life" and highlights some interesting moments involving not just Cardassians, but Klingons and Romulans as well.

None of these are "required", but I do recommend them as they do help fill in stuff that expands upon things seen later in DS9. At the very least, Preemptive Strike and Journey's End help to give a better understanding of the origins of the Maquis.

 

[tomalak301]

Preemptive Strike is where we first see the Maquis (or what will become the Maquis).

Carrying on with the Maquis/Cardassian/Seeds of Unrest theme is Journey's End.

Lowers Decks, besides focusing on the crewmembers of the Enterprise-D who aren't "stars", also features a subplot involving a Cardassian defector.

And then there's The Chase, which involves the "origin of humanoid life" and highlights some interesting moments involving not just Cardassians, but Klingons and Romulans as well.

None of these are "required", but I do recommend them as they do help fill in stuff that expands upon things seen later in DS9. At the very least, Preemptive Strike and Journey's End help to give a better understanding of the origins of the Maquis.

The thing with those episodes though is they aired while DS9 was actually on. It was more enhancing DS9 rather than setting it up. That's why it was so hard for me to come up with episodes because it's really the first 5 seasons and not a lot were there to chose from.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

I went beyond the topic question, and focused on the second question "what TNG episodes to start out with that introduce some important elements of the show."

Because the problem is exactly what you stated.

 

[heavylids]

It looks all the episodes have already been mentioned that I thought of. I believe part of the genius of DS9 was expanding on ssues that were briefly addressed in TNG.

 

[DoBa]

I just watched Lower Decks. It made me sad.

 

[DevilEyes]

In addition to the other episodes mentioned (The Best of Both Worlds, The Wounded, Ensign Ro, Chain of Command), Worf's arc on TNG and his history with Gowron is very important for his arc on DS9, so definitely show Sins of the Father/Reunion/Redemption... and I suppose The Emissary before those, since it sets up the rest of them.

You should show them Second Chances at some point to make them understand Defiant better.

I would show them the Maquis episodes (Journey's End, Preemptive Strike) right before/after The Maquis, as they all fit together, even though the DS9 episodes actually explain them better.

I would also recommend showing TOS Mirror, Mirror (for the MU arc).

Definitely don't show them the TNG Ferengi episodes or The Host, they would just be confusing.

 

[steveman]

Aside from DS9, what I find interesting is that TNG's producers made an effort to make an oblique reference to Chakotay in "Preemptive Strike." Ultimately, the reference is contradicted, canonically, by information that appears in VOY's "In the Flesh," but it was still a neat idea.

 

[Rom's Sehlat]

About that Bajoran woman who was in Starfleet... how did she enter? As Sisko was telling Nog, it's hard for a non-Federation member to join Starfleet. She probably needed a very strong personal recommendation. A cadet with a special recommendation like that probably would have been punished in a manner more severe than what she got for that action. Does that make sense?

 

[DevilEyes]

About that Bajoran woman who was in Starfleet... how did she enter? As Sisko was telling Nog, it's hard for a non-Federation member to join Starfleet. She probably needed a very strong personal recommendation. A cadet with a special recommendation like that probably would have been punished in a manner more severe than what she got for that action. Does that make sense?

The clumsy Bajoran officer on Voyager whose name I can't remember said that she had an advantage in the Academy because Starfleet favored exiled Bajorans for political/sympathy reasons.

 

[T'Girl]

I might add "Relics" to the list, it just a brief conversation between Picard and Scotty, but where Picard relates a story of how during a previous command he had to run from the Cardassians show that the problems with them goes back quite a ways.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

About that Bajoran woman who was in Starfleet... how did she enter? As Sisko was telling Nog, it's hard for a non-Federation member to join Starfleet. She probably needed a very strong personal recommendation. A cadet with a special recommendation like that probably would have been punished in a manner more severe than what she got for that action. Does that make sense?

The clumsy Bajoran officer on Voyager whose name I can't remember said that she had an advantage in the Academy because Starfleet favored exiled Bajorans for political/sympathy reasons.

Tal Celes.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Nobody mentioned, yet, the episode were the Gul Dukat twin appeared, and O'Brien's experience with Cardassians was first explored.

 

[HaventGotALife]

Nobody mentioned, yet, the episode were the Gul Dukat twin appeared, and O'Brien's experience with Cardassians was first explored.

That's The Wounded, and it has been mentioned a couple of times. Everyone had hit the major points. However, there are others. The High Ground, and its stance on terrorism may show where Star Trek was at the time DS9 was conceptionalized. Data's Day, which relates more directly, could be added to the list. O'Brien and Keiko get married. Rightful Heir is another about the Klingon story-arc. Emperor Kahless is mentioned several times in the show.

 

[Terra Pryme]

There's The Chase, which involves the "origin of humanoid life" and highlights some interesting moments involving not just Cardassians, but Klingons and Romulans as well.

This episode doesn't really apply unless you count the fact that Salome Jens appeared toward the end, looking similar to the Founder leader she would later portray on DS9. If you're going with episodes with actors showing up on both series, you'd may as well include TNG's "Homeward" since Penny Johnson (Jerald) appeared as the alien who was pregnant with Nikolai Rozhenko's child, then later portrayed DS9's Kasidy Yates.

One TNG episode that does apply to this topic would be "Q-Pid", in which both Q and Vash appeared, and followed up from their exploring the Gamma Quadrant in DS9's "Q-Less".