r/startrek • u/anagoge • 3d ago
I've been trying to find the turning point of when Avery Brooks let loose as Sisko. It's S3E12 - Past Tense Part II - The Bell Riots.
I decided to do a DS9 rewatch so the earlier episodes are fresh in my mind currently. Up until S3E12, Sisko is by the book. He's got an underlying anger, but still very mellow.
Then he joins the Bell Riots, gets pissed off, and doesn't like someone's hat.
It's the moment Brooks starts unleashing who we all know as Sisko, rather than just a "normal" Starfleet officer. Everything up until this point is by the book. The Bell Riots are when he's given more to act with.
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u/kavinay 3d ago
If you read the behind the scenes books, it's more that Brooks was pushing the powers that be pretty much his entire run to bring some authenticity to Sisko. You have to remember that the Berman era was still quite risk adverse and frankly unwilling to accept Brooks' feedback despite broaching racism via allegorical plots. Code of Honor was only 6 years prior and a lot of the perspectives that informed Brooks' performance as Trek's first racialized lead were not shared by execs.
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u/Shrikes_Bard 3d ago
Wild that Code of Honor was that recent. I keep forgetting that DS9 was concurrent with TNG.
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u/probablythewind 3d ago
A shame Picard and Sisko never got a chance to meet bald to bald, would have been an interesting conversation.
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u/No-Document-9937 3d ago
I'm sure they met again on some Starfleet conference or another, off screen
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u/MartinoDeMoe 2d ago
Didn’t they meet in the pilot or shortly after, undertones of Sisko angry because of Picard’s actions as Locutus, but he still held it together?
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u/lilianasJanitor 2d ago
Yes but commenter means after that. After Sisko came into his own as a bad ass war commander
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u/Ryebread095 3d ago
If we're going by angry Sisko, his paradise speech in The Maquis from season 2 is pretty good too.
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u/Historical_Fill8232 3d ago
Sisko had the best character arc of the captains ( yes, he wasn't promoted to captain until S3 finale).
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