Critics reviewing the latest Star Trek: Deep Space Nine DVD set have given the series kudos for its focus on character development and developing the Dominion storyline in its third year on the air.

• Steve Krutzler at TrekWeb couldn't contain his enthusiasm for DS9's third season, calling the characters "the most developed and unique of any Trek series" and praising the writing staff for the show's serialisation, which "enhanced our new heroes and made each story richer than the next". His highlights for the season included "Second Skin", "Defiant", the "Improbable Cause"/"Die Is Cast" two-parter and the season finale, "The Adversary", which provided "some of the best suspense Trek has ever seen".

  While generally positive about the extra features that were included, Krutzler said the omission of material on the USS Defiant was a "glaring oversight". He also said the featurettes were "stunningly lacking of cast interview footage". But on the whole, the set came up trumps, scoring 4 out of 5 stars in the full review.

• IGN DVD's Jeremy Conrad also praised DS9's serialised direction and the development of the Dominion War arc, giving the episodes an overall score of 8 out of 10. Video and audio quality also rated highly, with the transfer said to be "better than the broadcast episodes".

  On the extras front, Conrad said 'The Birth of the Dominion and Beyond' is "one of the best featurettes yet on the DS9 sets, as it deals with one of the key elements that will define Deep Space Nine through its final four seasons; The Dominion". Overall, DS9's third season was given a mark of 8 out of 10 in Conrad's complete analysis.

• "The highlight of season three must be the rich writing that generated delightful dialogue and complex characterizations," wrote Yuan-da Eddie Feng at DVD Town. He cited episodes such as the Kira-Odo two-hander "Heart of Stone" and "Explorers", in which the two Siskos bond over a Bajoran solar ship, as particular highlights.

  Feng said the video transfer was "a tad soft", but added the colours were "vivid" and "visual effects work looks very good". He was ambivalent about the sound quality: the dialogue and music "come across very well", but "most of the bass comes from pulsing energy fields and hydraulics, so the audio doesn't sound very full on the low end".

  In the full review, the set was given a score of 7 out of 10 for audio and video quality, 6 for extras, and 7 for overall entertainment value.

The Deep Space Nine third-season DVD set can be ordered from Amazon.com for $97.49, 25% off the list price. Amazon.ca is retailing the set for 30% off the recommended price at CDN $128.79.

In the United Kingdom, the DVD package will be released on June 23, while German fans can pick up the set a day later on June 24. To pre-order the European (Region 2) sets and support TrekToday, please use the following links: Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.de.

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