10 Best Final Lines In Star Trek Episodes

This line forms the dramatic conclusion to the season six Deep Space Nine episode Favor the Bold. As Sisko prepares to retake the station from the Dominion, he first quotes an "old saying" (from Virgil’s The Aeneid) – "fortune favours the bold" – wondering whether his gamble will pay off. In any case, with the Cardassians and the Dominion preparing to take down the minefield at the entrance to the wormhole, they have little choice but to go then and there. The audience is left with a 'To be continued…' and one of the greatest Star Trek cliff-hangers of all time.

This two-parter forms the end of an epic six-episode arc – a rare, if not unique, form of storytelling for Star Trek at the time – that follows the beginnings of the Dominion war and the occupation of the station. It turns out that we very nearly didn’t get this final line, however. The writers had intended that this arc, which continued the events of the season five finale, would be completed in four episodes. Realising they needed more room for the plot, this was increased to five, with Favor the Bold as the last episode, and then eventually to six with Sacrifice of Angels.

We’re glad they did, as even the more colloquial tone of Sisko’s "I guess we’re about to find out" adds to the tension, and deftly anticipates the monumental space battle that took place in the episode that followed.