Deep Space Nine Anniversary
2 min read
Twenty years ago, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted on television.
Deep Space Nine was the third televised series, but unlike the first two, it took place on a space station, not a starship, and that was deliberate, according to Co-creator Michael Piller. “Coming with the wind at our backs, it really felt as if we had figured out what made Star Trek work, and that we could bring all the vision that Gene Roddenberry had about space and the future to a different kind of franchise,” he said. “We didn’t want to have another series of shows about space travel.”
The pilot Emissary did well, ranking first in five major markets; New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington D.C.
Deep Space Nine not only featured a strong ensemble cast, but some of the best recurring guest characters in Star Trek, including Garak, Gul Dukat, Weyoun and Damar. Viewers were also introduced to the Vorta, the Changelings, and the Jem’Hadar.
Unlike the original series and The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine had continuing story arcs, especially in the later series with the advent of the Dominion War.
Often considered a darker, grittier Trek, Deep Space Nine was either loved or hated by Trek fans, but the show did well enough to run a full seven seasons.
For this Star Trek fan (dating back to 1971), Deep Space Nine was the second best televised Trek series, coming in just behind the original series in quality. Rich characters and interesting stories made Deep Space Nine a must-see, with comedy episodes such as The Magnificent Ferengi, In the Cards and Take Me Out to the Holosuite, and dramas such as In the Pale Moonlight, The Visitor and Far Beyond the Stars.
Happy Anniversary, Deep Space Nine!
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Happy Anniversary!
Let history (or JJ 😉 never forget… DS9!
Happy Anniversary
Wow. I’ve never felt so old.
Happy Anniversary!!. I also rate DS9 as my second favourite Star Trek series behind the original series.
Thank you, TrekToday, for posting about the anniversary of this amazing series. The beauty of the stories and character development that progress in the mid to later seasons make rewatching the earlier seasons a joy! I know I’ve posted about this before, but I found this series for the first time last year on Netflix. I watched a few episodes here and there when it first aired, but at the time I didn’t “get it.” Now with Netflix and the ability to watch EVERY episode without spending hundreds of dollars on DVDs, I see the beauty of the series. I’m a huge fan of great stories and character development. This series not only developed its main characters thoroughly, but also introduced and developed guest characters who were arguably more fleshed out than some of the main characters of other Trek series! The last shows and especially the finale reveal how much the writers truly cared about the story, characters and the series in general. I’m watching the show again this time with my wife. We just started season 3, and now she’s getting hooked! Happy birthday, DS9! And oh, I would definitely invest in the blurays — so please Paramount, bring them on!
Basically the best television series the Alpha Quadrant ever produced. The only contender on even a galactic scale would be the Kazon Nistrim’s long-running sitcom, “The Worse-Than-Mullets”.
Everyone knows WTM went downhill after the original show-Maje left during season 2
Everyone knows WTM went downhill after the original show-Maje left during season 2
Thanks for posting about this Trek Today! You guys rock! Happy 20 DS9! 😀
Babylon 5 was better. The producers behind DS9 had stolen so many ideas from the rival science fiction series(something that B5 creator J. Michael Stracynzski once pointed out), it’s a small wonder that Stracynzski and Warner Brothers didn’t pursue a lawsuit, claiming both copyright infringement and plagarism. DS9 was the beginning of the end for Star Trek at that point. The beginning of low ratings, recycled storylines, and a bad dose of franchise fatigue.
Kroyka!!! Will we have to endure your tirades against DS9 now in addition to those against fan films and your cheap shots at the moderators here?
It’s Straczynski, not Stracynzski. He actually never accused Rick Berman and Michael Piller, creators of DS9, of plagiarizing his concept. He merely suspected that the studio executives saw it as an inspiration to create a series with a similar premise.
You’re only saying that because you’ve never seen Masterpiece Theatre in the original Klingon… Don’t accept the dub.
Yeah, because Babylon 5 invented the idea of a space station. lol
I call it as I see it. And the tirades against fan films(Farragut and STC)as you described are based on factual evidence in the links provided. Only human arrogance would make those blind to the facts concerning those controversial and illegal issues(clearly another sign that society hasn’t improved for the better in these times of decadence).
And yes, I don’t like DS9. Despite only two episodes that were worth watching(Blood Oath and Trials-And-Tribble-ations), the series was trying to capitalize on the Babylon 5 concept. Not the smartest of artistic decisions on Rick Berman’s part.
I don’t like Voyager. I don’t like Enterprise. And with the exception of the Enterprise-B scenes from Generations and First Contact, I did not like the rest of Generations. I did not like Insurrection. And I certainly did not like Nemesis.
Nevertheless, it was not the smartest of creative decisions on Rick Berman’s part. There are way too many similarities between Babylon 5 and DS9. The Shadow Wars and The Dominion Wars are an example of that. DS9 was a darker and more bleaker Star Trek. George Takei criticized the show as being the opposite of the values that Gene Roddenberry had created. Roddenberry’s wife and Trek acctress Majel Barrett-Roddenberry even gave conflicting opinions on whether Roddenberry would have approved. Going so far as to say he would have hated it. Then later to say that the only reason the original series didn’t have more space battles was because of the lack of money and technology at the time. That Gene “knew what the fans liked.”
Honestly, I concur one hundred percent with what Takei and Roddenberry described. Berman, Ronald Moore, Brannon Braga, and whoever else was on the staff at that particular time took ‘way too many trips to the well’ and wrung the Star Trek franchise dry.
Definitely NOT the smartest of creative and artistic decisions!
All the more reason why I enjoy J.J. Abrams reboot of Star Trek. Not only did he bring life back to it, he(hopefully)erased any chances of DS9 and Voyager ever coming into existence in the new timeline.
DS9 was far more hard-edged than any other Star Trek series IMO. Some of Voyager was pretty good too. B5 was very good with great stories, but most of the CSI was simply dreadful though. Most of the problems with the late-1980s to 1990s was there was too much of a choice, and by saturating the television audience meant that it killed most of the sci-fi space operas / space melodramas on commercial television (except for the Stargate series and its spin-offs.) Space stations were actually before even the original StarTrek series, much of which could be credited to Arthur C. Clark in the 1950s. You could argue even that B5 and DS9 ripped-off the ideas from Star Wars. Ie. The Death Star. It is rather hard to say who stole what from whom. (Many of the ideas could arguably be dated to the books even in the 1920s and 1930s.)
I also think most of these series are showing their age, as some of the technology being used is currently commonplace rather than being necessarily futuristic or insightful of the future. I see the point of some that sci-fi (or all music, TV and movie melodrama is has evolved as far as it can go and has almost reached a dead end. There is nothing much ‘new’ or ‘original’ anymore, with everything being a rehash of rehash. I.e. How many times can you do a reinvented a twist on Shakespearean storylines?
Frankly we are starting to need another sci-fi Star Trek series, say in the 31st or 32nd Century, where other kinds of stories could be developed within a post-Federation universe. As for movies, I cannot wait to see something on the lines of A.C. Clarke’s “Songs of Distant Earth”, whose story is based on a scientifically constrained universe, where it takes centuries to travel between the stars by basic physics and the future is based on our real fragile biological limitations.
That is my view anyway.
I know what you mean about how there is nothing new and original anymore. Especially with everything being a rehash of a rehash. Ronald Moore’s unnecessary remake of Battlestar Galactica being one of those bad ideas. Same with Jace Hall’s remake of V. Now Hall is repeating the same mistake by re-making Space:1999(a series that many thought would have been spared of the remake scourge).
Aside from Shakespearean storylines, how many times can the industry reinvent a classic from our generation? Or even a classic from the generation before?
There is still a wealth of original material out there that has yet to be mined. The problem is is that the industry’s current executives are just too chickenshit and cowardly to take a chance on something new, fresh, and original.
Nobody wants to see the same old shit over and over again. All that does is just reflect badly on the original source material that has been adapted before. Let alone show the lack or originality, integrity, and quality in the cinematic and television arts.
It’s time for Hollywood to wake up and smell what it is currently sitting in. This remake/stagnation shit has got to end and some new material needs to be brought into the entertainment medium.
Berman and Pillar were asked to create a series with such premise. If you want to blame someone, blame the studio. When it comes to the series itself, I think they did a pretty decent job. It’s a bit different from previous Trek shows, true, but it certainly wasn’t unoriginal, derivative and brainless like this new reboot by Abrams. Let’s hope this new timeline (read: mistake) is adequatelly corrected in the future by competent and truly creative people.
Why are you even on this page if you don’t like Star Trek?
I like Star Trek. I just don’t like the excessive and useless spin-offs that has divided fandom into two polar, feuding opoosites
Correction, that’s opposites.
When are you going to stop hating the new movies? They brought new fans to the franchise, and revitalized it. Playing around with some things doesn’t make it a disaster, or even bad, and it has to do this. rather than let so-called fans
like you keep the franchise stale and moribund.
We had what you wanted with Prometheus, if you cared to see it.
I suspect that easily bored (and boring) people like you wouldn’t be able to take any ‘new’ sci-fi movies or TV shows based on novels at all, due to the amount of SFX and CGI that would be needed to bring said stories to life (and you also be complaining about how the movie/TV shows were different from the original novels.) If you and the other whiny asshole think that you can do better, let’s see you get up off of your ass, go back to school, learn how to write scripts/handle a camera/direct, and tthen let’s see you come up with something. Until then, you’ve just diverted attention from the celebration of DS9, and have annoyed people (I know that you’re annoying me with your whiny bullcrap screeds.)
Last thing for you and the other whiners to remember: There is NOTHING new under the sun. Understand that and you’ll get through life better.
The only thing that you’re calling out is that you can take a shit and then try to sell said shit (opinion) as hard facts, hoping that other people don’t have a keen sense of smell. But, we do, and we don’t care about your whiny bullshit hatred of all recent Star Trek or sci-fi. Go back to your hole and find something else to get bugged about.
Bullshit-you’re a whiny so called ‘fan’ (like many others) that’s destroyed the franchise with your obdurate need to keep Star Trek trapped in the founding moment (Star Trek: TOS and TNG) but not letting it get beyond that. Please keep to yourself, and keep watching the old series until your eyes bleed.
Who really cares, you silly troll? Do as I’ve advised, and get a life.
Eh? I saw Prometheus. What has that to do with a possible movie “Songs of Distant Earth” or a new Star Trek series?
I have suggested nothing like Prometheus!
Not to continue this, but I am curious…Stating that there are only two episodes of DS9 worth watching suggests you watched every episode of all 7 seasons to arrive at that conclusion. With so many worthless episodes (2 worth watching according to you, 174 apparently worthless), why on earth would you invest all of that time into watching this “useless” spinoff? Surely after (at most) 3 or 4 seasons of torturing yourself and rolling your eyes at this B5 ripoff, you would stop watching?
All I see is that you’re acting like a bully. is OK to have a contrary view, but your foul untempered language was totally uncalled for. The way I see it, such lack of civility combined with ad hominem attacks simply weaken your own specious arguments. Also having an opinion is not being a ‘whiner’.
Please watch your language. Children may be reading this.
My ‘attacks’ are due to your being a whiny butt-hurt fan who thinks that the franchise owners and the franchise runners owe them something-they don’t, all that they owe you is product, and they’ve done that well, with good and bad results alike. Beyond that, they don’t owe you much. Please think on what I’ve said and stop being such trolls about Star Trek, past present, AND future.
Better yet, read this article and reflect on what’s said in it (Obnoxious Trekkies) and then get back to the rest of us when you have some perspective (and maybe a little distance.)
It doesn’t matter; anything, new or old, would be a disappointment for you, simply because you think that you’re above us and other fans of Star Trek, and also above other kinds of sci-fi. The attitude is what I’m talking about.
Excuse me, but are you a mod?
“…simply because you think that you’re above us ”
Eh? I suggested nothing like this. Funny. I’ve somehow bought the entire series of DS9, Babylon 5+movies, Voyager and Enterprise, and have all the Star Trek movies. I’ve watched them many times and still enjoy most of them. Why would I do that if I was disappointed, as you say? DS9 is by far my favourite of all of these. My favourite sci-fi book is the truly brilliant “Songs of Distant Earth” by far, mostly by the characters and the quite plausible realism. (If you haven’t read it, do so!)
Nothing is perfect, and that is true for nearly everything on TV.
If that is somehow threaten to you, well that isn’t my problem.
BTW. Do you have anything positive to say here? You’ve attacked and try to negate every man and his dog, but yet you say nothing of this story at all! Why is that?
Wow. Haven’t you got a problem!
I’m not the one with the problem, sir, you are. Get over yourself and your entitlement issues about the Star Trek franchise.
You haven’t had anything positive to say about the 2009 Star Trek movie or DS9 since you’ve posted here, I’m just responding to you and your negativity-heck, somebody has to. As I’ve said before, you should stick to the original series, and stop being such a dogmatic believer in the founding moment of the franchise.
If you want brainless, unoriginal, and derivative, Starship Farragut and Star Trek Continues are just around the block. John Broughton and Michael Bednar made the foolish error in judgement by having Vic Mignogna as a business partner. Look what it got them last year and the year before that concerning Starship Ajax and Kitumba.
And yes, I do also blame Paramount for their shortsightedness concerning DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, the last half of Generations, Insurrection, and Nemesis. Still, Rick Berman had a hand in it, and he still should be blamed for his mishandling of the franchise. Same goes for Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga, too.
If you want brainless, unoriginal, and derivative, Starship Farragut and Star Trek Continues are just around the block. John Broughton and Michael Bednar made the foolish error in judgement by having Vic Mignogna as a business partner. Look what it got them last year and the year before that concerning Starship Ajax and Kitumba.
And yes, I do also blame Paramount for their shortsightedness concerning DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, the last half of Generations, Insurrection, and Nemesis. Still, Rick Berman had a hand in it, and he still should be blamed for his mishandling of the franchise. Same goes for Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga, too.
If you want brainless, unoriginal, and derivative, Starship Farragut and Star Trek Continues are just around the block. John Broughton and Michael Bednar made the foolish error in judgement by having Vic Mignogna as a business partner. Look what it got them last year and the year before that concerning Starship Ajax and Kitumba.
And yes, I do also blame Paramount for their shortsightedness concerning DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, the last half of Generations, Insurrection, and Nemesis. Still, Rick Berman had a hand in it, and he still should be blamed for his mishandling of the franchise. Same goes for Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga, too.
Well said, sir. Well said.
It would be great if people like trekfan got past the Edward Jellico mentality(arrogance and having a close-mind)and just accepted the reality concerning Abrams’ reboot of the franchise.
Regretfully, such fans have turned Star Trek into a snobbish social club(i.e. a fetid and festering sewer/pigmire for pernicious vermin who have no comprehension of the English language and refuse to accept change). Sounds like the mentality of those involved in that conspiracy in Star Trek VI-The Undiscovered Country.
Like Spock once said, “The universe will unfold as it should. Change is essential process of all things.”
It’s regretful that some Trekkies or Trekkers don’t practice what they preach regarding Star Trek. They end up twisting it and perverting it for their own demented and foolish purposes.
Maybe that’s another reason why Star Trek had gone into that period of franchise fatigue. Mentalities of extreme viewpoints who share a common interest, but can not or will not find some common ground to iron out their differences.
Most illogical.
Or as Leonard Nimoy jokingly said on SNL back in 2009, “They’re dickheads.”
A most accurate and precise description.
Given your aforementioned statement, and a rude one at that, I’ll take back the compliments that I extended you in my other post.
I do welcome new science fiction. Even those based on novels. But only those that are fresh and brand new. Not a remake of films that have been done before. Not even remakes based on novels that have been adapted into film and television before.
For your information, I have written scripts before. Three of which I have submitted. Whether the rights to them will be bought.and later filmed, I do not know. That decision lies with those who handle that end of the production spectrum.
Tell me something. Have you written any scripts and submitted them?
It seems to me that your annoying, whiny bullshit screeds say otherwise(i.e. differently).
Understand this. There is still a wealth of new material out there that is yet to be mined. The industry, at the moment, is too gutless to take such a chance. Once you comprehend the meaning of that description, you’ll get through life better.
Concerning the two episodes, I was informed by some friends as to what they were about. Being a fan of the original series, I decided to see how those two were handled. After that, I did not invest anymore time in viewing the rest of DS9.
I could say the same about you, judging by your rude displays of temperment in your posts.
SJStar was quite accurate in his posts about your character.
I’m afraid you are incorrect in your description. I was not involved in the destruction of the franchise. When the franchise began to self destruct, I left Star Trek fandom for a period of twelve years. When J.J. Abrams brought life back into it, I returned and reviewed Insurrection, Nemesis, and some episodes of Enterprise(the latter three confirming my suspicions and those of others as being the low points of the franchise).
I might also add that I am more of a fan of TOS. I do respect TNG, but I do not follow it as much.
Considering your aforementioned posts, maybe it is you who should keep to yourself. You have certainly shown your true colors by attacking those who do not share entirely in your opinions.
Are you speaking for yourself or for others? Judging by your use of insults and other ‘colorful metaphors’ toward others in your posts, it seems to me that you do not care for other individuals on any thread. Labeling them as ‘whiny’ because of their opinions do not make your points of view credible or sound in content or fact.
As for your sense of smell, judging by your colorful and profane postings, it is clear where your sense has been before. In an area where the phrase ‘the sun don’t shine’ could be applied no less.
Logically, therefore one must deduct that hypocriscy has an influence in your arguments and opinions.
I have seen the article in question and I have used that as a basis for my arguments and opinions concerning certain disturbing and controversial issues involving Star Trek fandom(along with other links that support certain facts concerning issues related directly to the article’s subject in question).
Obviously, your usage of foul untempered language and other attacks have clearly proven what problems the article has stated.
That’s a lot of baloney in one post…
Let me reply to that nonsense.
I certainly don’t consider Star Trek to be an elitist social club or anything like that. On the contrary, everyone was welcome to come aboard during all those decades and still is. However, I do believe there are certain standards that Trek should uphold. Those standards were evidently abandoned in the new Trek. Unfortunately, your infatuation with JJ Abrams and with his infantile version of Star Trek prevents you from seeing that. You’re blindly devoted to defending that man and his miscreation and launching personal attacks on anyone who even slightly criticizes it. What are you, his lawyer? Oh, you also mentioned a sewer. Well, if something resembles a sewage facility it’s the engineering of the Enterprise and the bridge of that Romulan mining ship in that Abrams’ Trek reboot. And if that were the only bad thing about this whole reboot. I’m afraid the perversion and twisting you’re talking about is not coming from outside, but from the inside.
Change? Oh, definitely, Star Trek needs to change… from this state of current degeneration.
And, by the way, it was not very polite of Nimoy to call anyone a “dickhead”, especially not the people who have been supportive of the franchise for such a long time. I think he’s a dickhead for saying that, and also for being a sell out.