History Recap / StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E01E02Emissary

** The Prophets are depicted rather differently here to how they would be later in the series, and are shown as a race of isolationist {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s who don't particularly care about corporeal beings (much less Bajorans). As the series went on, they were developed into BenevolentPrecursors who were revealed to have guided Bajoran civilization, and even certain aspects of Sisko's life. Note that this isn't actually inconsistent, due to the nature of their non-linear existence, but it can come across a little jarring after seeing later episodes, where the show more fully embraced the religious aspects of the Prophets.

* StableTimeLoop: The pilot sets one up for the series: the Prophets exist outside linear time. And it's implied that much of their actions stem from Sisko, the first linear being to meet them, told them about themselves. They at first know nothing of the orbs or the Bajorans worshipping them as gods. It's only through Sisko that they learn this, and proceed to act accordingly, sending their orbs out in time. Which in turn is what allowed Sisko to find the wormhole and meet them in the first place. [[spoiler:Later episodes would show this runs much deeper]].

* WhamLine: "Resistance is futile." The opening lines of the series instantly put us right back into the darkest hour of the ''Next Generation'' era up to that point. TNG viewers immediately know what's coming, that it's not going to end well, and it will set the darker tone that will become part and parcel of [=DS9=].

* WhamLine: "Resistance is futile." The opening lines of the series instantly put us right back into one of the darkest hours of the ''Next Generation'' era up to that point. TNG viewers immediately know what's coming, that it's not going to end well, and it will set the darker tone that will become part and parcel of [=DS9=].

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: Odo snarks that Quark would make a good community leader as he has all the character references of a politician.

* AuthorAppeal: [[https://twitter.com/writergeekrhw/status/1263213882467684352 According]] to Robert Hewitt Wolfe, series co-creator Michael Piller was a ''massive'' baseball fan. This inspired Sisko and Jake's beloved family hobby (and the iconic scene of Sisko using the sport to explain linear time to the Prophets).

** Quark actually has Rom's prosthetic nose, as Armin Shimerman's own prosthetic wasn't ready yet.

** Odo. His default form (which dips into the [[UncannyValley Uncanny Valley]] both in-universe and out) is revealed to be a puddle of golden-orange goo. He is apparently able to change size, shape and mass at will.

* ArsonMurderAndAdmiration: Odo approves when Sisko uses the threat of Rom's incarceration to stop Quark from shutting down his business. Given the amount of times Odo will blackmail or threaten Quark into doing his bidding in future, it's not surprising.

** The broad strokes of Odo's backstory when he's arguing with Kira about joining the mission to rescue Sisko. He was first found in the Denorios Belt, i.e. the location of the newly-discovered Wormhole. He also has no idea where he comes from or if there are even others like him. Odo naturally feels there's a good chance the answers to those questions lie on the other side of the Wormhole in the Gamma Quadrant. [[spoiler: This search, of course, will become one of ''the'' most crucial storylines of the entire series.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The broad strokes of Odo's backstory when he's arguing with Kira about joining the mission to rescue Sisko. He was first found in the Denorios Belt, i.e. the location of the newly-discovered Wormhole. He also has no idea where he comes from or if there are even others like him. Odo naturally feels there's a good chance the answers to those questions lie on the other side of the Wormhole in the Gamma Quadrant. [[spoiler: This search, of course, will become one of ''the'' most crucial storylines of the entire series.]]

** The Orbs are introduced in a way that suggests they would be PlotCoupons, with Kai Opaka stating there were nine Orbs which Sisko must reclaim from the Cardassians. This is never mentioned again after this episode.

** [[EstablishingSeriesMoment The opening scene itself.]] Every other installment of the franchise opened with an okay situation which eventually goes south. Here, it opens right in the middle of the devastating Wolf 359 battle, signifying a DarkerAndEdgier take on the mythos.

** Also an EstablishingCharacterMoment: the awkward, stammering greenhorn Bashir is ''highly'' competent and assertive when he's actually being a doctor.

** O'Brien asks "Have you ever worked with Bajoran women?" as if Kira's (and Ensign Ro's) opinionated and argumentative nature is a cultural trait. As we'll see, the character of Bajoran women are as diverse as the SugaryMalice of Vedek Winn to sex kitten Leeta.

But everything changes when Sisko takes a short trip around the Bajoran system in a Runabout. He and his old friend, and science officer Dax, discover a stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, but on the return journey, Sisko is captured by the aliens who live inside the Wormhole, who dump Dax back on [=DS9=]. While Sisko tries to explain the nature of linear time and corporeal existence to the SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, the crew on the station must race to move it to protect the wormhole from the Cardassians, who are on their way back with a renewed interest in Bajor.

** Gul Jassad's subordinate suggests withdrawing and waiting for reinforcements to retake the station, which he refuses because Starfleet can also get reinforcements in a short time.

* WhamLine: "Resistance is futile". The opening lines of the series instantly put us right back into one of the darkest hours of the ''Next Generation'' era. TNG viewers immediately know what's coming, that it's not going to end well, and it will set the darker tone that will become part and parcel of [=DS9=].

** This isn't the first time that [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E13DejaQ someone uses a low-level subspace field to make a heavy object lighter and easier to push]].

-->'''Odo:''' You know, I didn't think I was going to like him.

** Bashir's "frontier medicine" comments, as well as referring to Bajor as "the wilderness", ''really'' rub Kira the wrong way.

* ChekhovsGun: A very long-range one. O'Brien uses TechnoBabble to make it appear that the station is armed with 5000 photon torpedoes and dozens of phaser banks in order to bluff the Cardassians. Four seasons later, [[spoiler:the Klingons attack and their sensors show that the station really ''does'' have multiple phaser arrays and 5000 torpedoes - and the Klingons initially suggest that the station is really unarmed and that the same TechnoBabble from this episode is being used to fake it.]]

** The Orbs are introduced in a way that suggests they would be PlotCoupons, with Kai Opaka stating there were nine Orbs which Sisko must reclaim from the Cardassians. This is never mentioned again after this episode, with the orbs eventually finding their way back to the Bajorans once they hash out a peace treaty with Cardassia later in the series.

* EnemyMine: Under the Cardassian occupation, the Bajoran people[[labelnote:*]] except for a few [[TheQuisling quislings]], as we'll see over the course of the series[[/labelnote]] were pretty much solidly united against them, putting aside old divisions in the face of a common foe. Now that they are gone, those old quarrels are beginning to resurface (TruthInTelevision, as Earth's own history can attest). Both Quark and Kira fear this will lead to the Provisional Government collapsing and Bajor falling into civil war.

* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Odo wonders aloud if the answers to his questions (where he came from, what he really is, etc.) can be found on the other side of the wormhole. He finds out a couple seasons later.
** Kira says that the collapse of the Bajoran Provisional Government will lead to civil war. This becomes a serious possibility at the start of Season 2.

Following a 60 year occupation, the Cardassian Empire has withdrawn from Bajor, leaving behind a planet stripped of many of its natural resources and a population scarred by decades of subjugation and mistreatment. The Federation has agreed to help the planet rebuild, and to this end, it will be sharing command of the abandoned Cardassian space station Terok Nor (now renamed Deep Space Nine) with the Bajorans. Commander Benjamin Sisko will be in charge, but he still has issues from the loss of his wife at the [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds Battle of Wolf 359]], and to make matters worse, he also has to deal with his Bajoran first officer, who is deeply mistrustful of Starfleet and even her own government, and the damage done to the station as the Cardassians left. In the meantime, the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration USS Enterprise]]'' has showed up, and while Sisko knows that Picard was not in control of what Locutus did at Wolf 359, he finds himself bitter at Picard for what happened to his spouse and his shipmates in the battle.

Taking a short trip around the Bajoran system in a Runabout, Sisko and his old friend and science officer Dax discover a stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, but on the return journey, Sisko is captured by the aliens who live inside the Wormhole, who dump Dax back on [=DS9=]. While Sisko tries to explain the nature of linear time and corporeal existence to the SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, the crew on the station must race to move it to protect the wormhole from the Cardassians, who are on their way back with a renewed interest in Bajor...

* EasilyForgiven: Averted, Sisko's actions towards Picard (and his resignation) weren't going to be immediately swept under the rug (see the entry for SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome below)

** [[EstablishingSeriesMoment The opening scene itself.]] Every other installment of the franchise opened with an okay situation which eventually goes south. Here, it opens right in the middle of the devasting Wolf 359 battle, signifying a DarkerAndEdgier take on the mythos.