I figured that he was also more of your typical command officer, not Picard or Kirk. In the modern navy, Commanders are the senior officers on several different kinds of ships. Sisko, up until the events of the first episode, had only the fact that he managed to survive Wolf 359. When he assumed command, I always thought that it was then that he really blossomed into the type of leader that Picard and Kirk were.
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Captains led starships. Commanders led stations. Sisko was promoted to Captain when the Defiant was stationed at DS9 to fight the Dominion, at which point he was Captain of the Defiant and Commander of DS9.
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Fair point, but still…
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Saw Brooks’s Othello in 2005 at a performance in DC. He was, of course, perfect.
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I just couldnt grok DS9. The only fun episodes were those involving Quark. Or Zek, the Grand Nagus (Wallace Shawn!)
I don’t think that’s quite accurate; the Defiant was introduced at the beginning of Season 3 and Sisko wasn’t promoted until the last episode of the season.
In our world, any naval officer who commands a ship is addressed by naval custom as “captain” while aboard in command regardless of their actual rank. IIRC this has been shown to be the case in Starfleet as well; I believe there was an episode in which Data was temporarily assigned command of a starship during an incident with the Romulans and the crew addressed him as “Captain” even though his actual rank was Lieutenant Commander.
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Looks like we’re both right; Sisko was Captain while commanding Defiant but was promoted to that rank permanently later.
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Another recognized method for fast-tracking one’s way to that rank is to simply have some of your pirate buddies point guns at Tom Hanks.
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One of his finest of many fine episodes. This and “Far Beyond the Stars” are my favorites of the series. One thing the 80’s/90’s version of Star Trek did well was hire amazing actors for their lead characters, and Avery is among the finest (though I’m personally partial to Janeway as my favorite captain, but that’s just because I watched Voyager before I got into DS9, and she’s such a delightful dork when she gets on a science rant).
Also, what a wonderful example of father/son relationships, in a media obsessed with “families always butt heads and don’t get along.”
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Or to get yourself fired as a prep school poetry teacher…
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And he only got more bad ass as the series goes on, too.
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It could be cool if, when Piccard ends, they can replace it with Sisko; hopefully with better writers.
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As a teenager/young adult watching the show as it aired, this didn’t really resonate with me, but as an adult who’s more aware of the social issues facing African Americans, I can see exactly how important having a black man as a father figure, especially a single father is. And now I’m in a frame of mind to better appreciate the writing of Ben and Jake’s relationship in general in a way I couldn’t then.
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I would risk it all for 90s Nana Visitor. But then again, I find Ensign Ro crazily attractive too. Maybe I just have a thing for Bajorans as opposed to the actresses. 
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Yeah, Kira was bad ass, especially when she was angry…
She probably transformed the most across the series and had to go through the most - rebuilding bajor, PTSD, forgiveness…
Also… her and Vedek Bariel… 
He should have been Kai, not that snake in the grass Winn.
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The most precise and beautiful enunciation of any actor ever! Sadly he’s only narrated a few audiobooks, but one of those is Roots, with a 30hr play time!
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My fave was always Kai Opaka. 
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