Quote Originally Posted by Darth Ultron View Post
This is a very good example of a literal deus ex machina. And it is very artificial and forced.
Its a Divinely-based resolution to the plot. But its not "Deus Ex Machina" in the least.

And its perfectly natural within the show's premise, and was an integral part of Sisko's character development path he was set on SINCE THE BLOODY PILOT

You get the arc episodes at the end of the season and that start of the next...the fall of DS9 to the Dominion and the (2nd) occupation. However, you have the problem that it is a Star Trek show. So you have at least half, maybe more of the creators of the show screaming that they can't do there own ''very special episode'' as ''the dumb arc'' has ''messed everything up.'' The ''message zealots'' want to use the show to ''rip a story from the headlines'', and ''give it a unique spin'' and then ''put forth their own awesome one sided solution'' . But, again, this is at least half the Star Trek creators...and fans, for that matter. And you can't have ''very special message shows'' in the middle of a war arc(as they scream that Roddenberry would never have done a war arc too). So the ''war hawk'' creators got only a couple shows to do their ''war arc'', and then it was demanded that they hit the reset button and go back to normal ''very special message shows''. And as you see just about the whole middle and end of season 6 is just ''normal stories'', with a ''what war? Oh, um, yes it is still on going, um way over there...now forget about the war and watch our very special message show''.

So you get the War Arc for a couple shows at the start of the season, but they have the hard limit of ''at the end of Sacrifice of Angels, you must hit the reset button and drop the war arc so we can do our very special message shows.'' But the War Hawks had written themselves into a corner....how could they do all that in just the last act of one episode.
Funnily, all of your criticism there can be laid down at the feet of Rick Berman, who was thr armchair producer of the series; instead of the actual producers of DS9. The writers WANTED changes to the status quo. They wanted extended story arcs and significant war moments.

We are lucky the show's creators managed tl get what we got. If you want to understand why Voyager and Enterprise sucked, you have to understand that Rick Berman had a more active hand in its production.

And they had only one choice: deus ex machina.
No they didnt. Like I said, they could have had Rom save the monefield just in time.

1.First is was so dumb for the Wormhole Aliens to just ''suddenly'' protect Bajor. Oh, sure they, um, watched over it during the Cardassian Occupation and did not lift a finger against the Dominion for several seasons...but, now, suddenly, for no reason they act. Sure....
This is a stupid criticism. The Prophets could see the future. It is so easy to explain that the Prophets understood that the Cardassian Occupation would end and that it shaped Bajor in the right direction; while a Dominion occupation would end in complete genocide.

2.So....at the time the dominion and Bajor have a treaty. They are friends. Yet Sisko lies and is like ''they will destroy Bajor!'' And gets the wormhole aliens to fall for this lie. As if the fleet of Dominion ships would zip through the wormhole and be like ''destroy Bajor!''. Sure, why would they join the battle and wipe out the Alpha Quadrant allegiance...
Everyone knew that the only reason the Dominion kept its end of the bargain regarding nonaggression treaties was because they didnt had the forces in the Alpha Quadrant to take on everyone at the same time. So they divided and conquered; having people seeing that the Dominion was true to its word with Bajor meant they had no reason to intervene in the war againt them. This was clearly established in the show; were you paying attention?

And yet, the moment the extra 2,800 ships crossed over, the Dominion/Cardassian alliance could take over everyone else. So there would be​ no point in keeping pretences.

3.So um Rom ''turns off DS9's phasers'' so they can't take out the mines....and um, somehow turns off all the stations weapons too....wow, amazing work.
Again, have you even watched the show you are criticizing?

The weapon system is a Station System, accessible from inside. Last i checked, its not possible to access a mine's internal system before it explodes in your face.

Then, it wasnt the weapon's systems Rom tried disable at first, but the technodoodad that allowed the disabling of the mines. When he couldnt do that in time, he was asked to instead disable the station's weapons.

And it was estsblished in a complete episode that Rom not only was a brilliant engineer, but could figure out how to operate/tamper with the station's systems somewhat better than O'Brian.

4.The scene before the Defiant gets to the station we see plenty of Dominion ships around the station, but when the Defiant zips over....there is not a single Dominion warship anywhere? Oh, guess they were all sent into battle? That is how you do ''a battle'' right? You never keep any ships protecting your base. And yet...low and behold...when the Dominion evacuates just a couple of minutes later...there are plenty of ships around for them to use.
Since its been said many times in the show that Dukat sent pretty much anything he could to stop the Federation fleet, and since DS9 was pratically a battlestation at this point, i fail to see your plot hole.