Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Season 3

My favourite episodes are (in no particular order):
- THE SEARCH 1 & 2 (Odo meet his "family")
- THE HOUSE OF QUARK (very funny)
- SECOND SKIN (Kira's worst nightmare comes true)
- CIVIL DEFENSE (The look on Dukat's face halfway through the episode is priceless)
- DEFIANT (Tom Riker (from TNG's "SECOND CHANCES") steals the Defiant)
- PAST TENSE 1 & 2 (Great drama, great acting)
- VISIONARY (I always like stories dealing with time travel)
- DISTANT VOICES (A very surreal episode)
- THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS (another mirror universe adventure. The Mirror Kira is one of my favourite characters)
- IMPROBABLE CAUSE/THE DIE IS CAST (Great acting by Andrew Robinson and René Auberjonois (Garak & Odo)
- FACETS (We "meet" all of Dax's former hosts, including Curzon)
- THE ADVERSARY (a very claustrophobic episode with a surprise ending)

The extra's are all in the same league with those of season 1 & 2, with a feature on the Dominion, ODO'S CREW DOSSIER, MICHAEL WESTMORE'S ALIENS and several hidden files.
If you are a fan, as I am, you will already have bought this. If you are not, you will soon be if you buy it.

By the third season the series had really begun to hit its stride. The basic premise had been established, main characters and conflicts had been introduced and now new themes needed to be found and developed. The series had been criticized as not having enough action, especially when compared to TNG. Conflict needed to be introduced and it was on many levels. The on-going quest of Odo to find his own people was addressed and expanded to incredible levels. Kira was forced to face her beliefs about her faith, her people and herself. We learn more about the Ferengi and their culture as Quark and him family struggle to evolve with its changes. Sisko deals with changes in the Federation, the Bajoran and his own family. O'Brien faces his own mortality and the ever present conflict in his own family. Jadzia lays to rest her past lives and Bashir enters into new relationships. And those are just the main characters!

The Federation itself recovering from the recent assault by the Borg, and trying to maintain uneasy relationships with Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians now is becoming aware that threats exist from the Dominion.

The groundwork is laid for upcoming seasons including the format of story lines building over a series shows in arcs. The on-going themes already established by this series of making the characters more multi-dimensional than either TOS or TNG by incorporating more of their lives into the story is continued and expanded as are the mirror universe and time travel premises.

The additional features include about 45 minutes of interviews with the producers, writers, actors and others focusing on certain aspects of the show or particular episodes. The 'hidden files' (I found 7) are segments about 2 minutes each appear to be snippets from the interviews but are well worth the effort to access them.