Season 5 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine offers many important markers in the series' history. The beginning of Worf and Dax. The start of the Dominion War. The return of Michael Eddington.

Oh, and Tribbles. Lots and lots of Tribbles. For it was this season that brought us one of the coolest, most technically intriguing eps in Trek history — "Trials and Tribble-ations," which sent some of the DS9 crew back in time and re-visited one of The Original Series' most popular episodes. The episode offers a lot of little thrills (some might argue that seeing Dax in a TOS uniform is chief among them) and unites present Trek with past. It also makes for a bright, humorous counterpoint to some of the moodier Dominion-focused outings. The DVD set contains two featurettes on the historic episode, offering a glimpse at both the origins of the episode and the technical challenges it presented.

Season 5 isn't all about Tribbles, however. The mid-season two-parter "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light" sets the stage for the Dominion War and offers a nice spotlight for Garak. The poignant "Children of Time" puts an interesting spin on the whole time travel paradox and confronts Odo's feelings for Kira head-on. "Ties of Blood and Water" gives us even more of Kira's back story, while "Rapture" offers both a fascinating twist to Sisko's Emissary role and a picture of the emerging family dynamic between Benjamin, Jake and Kasidy Yates. And "Call to Arms" caps things off nicely and sets up a bunch of new conflicts for the next season. All this, plus two Eddington-heavy episodes! Whether you're a fan from back in the day or are just now discovering DS9, this set belongs in your collection.

[Sarah]