Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...

This thread is for what's generally considered to be 'the other star trek' series. Star Trek Deep Space Nine first aired on 3rd of January 1993, and ran for seven seasons, the last episode airing in 1999. It has the distinction of being the first Star Trek series not to be created by Gene Roddenberry, a fact that would come back to the show on many occasions.

Set aboard a starbase rather than a starship, it was also the first star trek series where the leads were not all Starfleet officers. The story has it that the Cardassian Union, a brutal race that had been at war for many centuries with the Federation (recently signing a treaty), were pulling out of Bajoran space, and ending their occupation of the planet Bajor, a planet they had been in control of for several decades. The Bajoran people, eager to not allow the Cardassians to return any time soon, petitioned the Federation for membership, and asked for assistance in running a space station in orbit of the planet.

Formerly known as Terok Nor, the station was renamed Deep Space Nine. A Starfleet crew was assigned to work with a Bajoran crew, a Starfleet Commander (Benjamin Sisko) being put in actual command of the station. Soon, Sisko would discover that DS9 was alot more strategically important than he or anyone else ever could have imagined...

From the first two series dealing with the Cardassian and Bajoran tensions, to the short war with the Klingons, then on to the Dominion War, Deep Space Nine was one of the darkest, well written, and brilliantly put together sci-fi drama series' ever made, imo... Even though it tended to take second billing to the Next Generation (and imo, the far inferior Voyager), DS9 still pulled in high ratings, and was continually acclaimed by both critics and fans alike...

So yeah, thats the intro... I don't believe any fan of star trek should miss this series, or any fan of well-written, richly themed drama television in general...

@ wikipedia
@ star trek.com
@ memory alpha (star trek wiki)

I absolutely loved this series. Gul Dukat in particular, was a spectacular character. 😄

Originally posted by TricksterPriest
I absolutely loved this series. Gul Dukat in particular, was a spectacular character. 😄

he was... and he really grew throughout the series, changing all the way through until waltz when he finally faced up to how evil he was...

I didn't like the way the series ended with the Pah Wraiths and Dukat being posessed, etc. I wish they'd have delved deeper into the Gamma Quadrant angle on that show. That could have opened the entire franchise to more races other than the Changelings/Founders.

Originally posted by illadelph12
I didn't like the way the series ended with the Pah Wraiths and Dukat being posessed, etc. I wish they'd have delved deeper into the Gamma Quadrant angle on that show. That could have opened the entire franchise to more races other than the Changelings/Founders.

hmm

i see what you mean... i can understand that, but i think the dominion itself was a cool enemy, and one of the better star trek ones...

I love DS9. In my opinion it's the best of the series. Admittidly the first season struggled to find it's footing, as most spin-off's tend to do. But after that, especially the extended Dominion arc and the character growth over the series, make it my favourite.
O'Brien was my favourate character, partically because he went from being a background character to being a main character, and partially because of his relationship to Bashir.
That last episode still brings tears to my eyes for a number of reasons. And off the top of my head is the only series finale that I can think of that has done as much.

Yeah DS9 had a lot going for it. But it took a very long time to get up to speed and they dropped the ball for the last series (and killing off Gowron- after making him an idiot- was particularly unforgivable).

So, err... good middle! And a good showing all around for a show set, basically, in an airport terminal. No conincidence that it really picked up after they made it a more mobile show with the Defiant etc.

Oh and whilst the Dominion were good foes collectively, the Founders were dull as ditchwater.

Eck. Star Trek! Whatever next? Kenny Loggins?

Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel
I love DS9. In my opinion it's the best of the series. Admittidly the first season struggled to find it's footing, as most spin-off's tend to do. But after that, especially the extended Dominion arc and the character growth over the series, make it my favourite.
O'Brien was my favourate character, partically because he went from being a background character to being a main character, and partially because of his relationship to Bashir.
That last episode still brings tears to my eyes for a number of reasons. And off the top of my head is the only series finale that I can think of that has done as much.

i agree with alot of that... o'brien was great, as was his relationship with bashir, they really came accross as just two regular guys most of the time...

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Yeah DS9 had a lot going for it. But it took a very long time to get up to speed and they dropped the ball for the last series (and killing off Gowron- after making him an idiot- was particularly unforgivable).

So, err... good middle! And a good showing all around for a show set, basically, in an airport terminal. No conincidence that it really picked up after they made it a more mobile show with the Defiant etc.

Oh and whilst the Dominion were good foes collectively, the Founders were dull as ditchwater.

dropped the ball? howso?

while i can see what you mean about gowron, he had been established as far back as TNG as being a politician more than a warrior, when he offered keyhlar (sp?) a seat on the council if she influenced picard's decision as arbiter of succession...

was it rushed? sure, i could agree with that, but gowron had been setting himself up for it for a while, his initial reluctance to send ships to aid in the retaking of ds9 one example...

he was never a great military leader, probably the reason martok was responsible for most of the major ship movements during the war, until gowron's jealousy showed through...

It's really that in TNG Gowron was portrayed as the smart Klingon, which did a lot towards opening up the idea of what Klingon was (Worf was a bit hampered in showing that because he wasn't really much of a Kilngon) and in DS9 he just became disposable Kilingon idiocy.

I don't think the plot went anywhere interesting in the last series; it just played out and... bleh.

There were things about that last season of DS9, that I really liked. Martok's development was a favorite of mine. As well as Ezri Dax having to confront a buried, psychotic lifetime. I'm a huge fan of the Breen.

The finale was both lame and fitting. The final confrontation was lame, though revisiting past memories for most of the cast members was really great.

I loved DS9 and think its one of the best, it could be due to my love of the defiant......watched every episode and yes there was a slow start but in the end it really paid off 🙂

I dunno, that whole last episode seemed very self-indulgent.

Mind you, none of the new series have really had great finales. TNG was appalling (you know you are in trouble when you have to make a major late re-write because your lead actor has pointed out the huge flaws that the writers didn't), Voyager was dull (no surprise there- 'Voyager is pants', to quote Chakotay... almost as good as "I am so bored, kill me now"😉, Enterprise didn't even have one- it was actually a TNG episode...

It was pretty good

Originally posted by Ushgarak
It's really that in TNG Gowron was portrayed as the smart Klingon, which did a lot towards opening up the idea of what Klingon was (Worf was a bit hampered in showing that because he wasn't really much of a Kilngon) and in DS9 he just became disposable Kilingon idiocy.

I don't think the plot went anywhere interesting in the last series; it just played out and... bleh.

hmm

maybe, though it could also be that they decided to make martok a deeper character, bringing worf into his house, his tales of marriage, his wife's introduction for the wedding... martok was more the representation of current klingon's than gowron... i didn't feel gowron was changed that much, but he did fade into the background once martok came along imo...

Originally posted by Acrosurge
There were things about that last season of DS9, that I really liked. Martok's development was a favorite of mine. As well as Ezri Dax having to confront a buried, psychotic lifetime. I'm a huge fan of the Breen.

The finale was both lame and fitting. The final confrontation was lame, though revisiting past memories for most of the cast members was really great.

i would have LOVED learning more about the breen, they seemed like an interesting enough enemy...

Originally posted by starlock
I loved DS9 and think its one of the best, it could be due to my love of the defiant......watched every episode and yes there was a slow start but in the end it really paid off 🙂

the defiant is a simply awesome ship... it broke a trend in star trek, whereby ships and crews always had to think their way out of trouble, while the defiant just blew the crap out of any obstacle it came accross...

Originally posted by Ushgarak
I dunno, that whole last episode seemed very self-indulgent.

Mind you, none of the new series have really had great finales. TNG was appalling (you know you are in trouble when you have to make a major late re-write because your lead actor has pointed out the huge flaws that the writers didn't), Voyager was dull (no surprise there- 'Voyager is pants', to quote Chakotay... almost as good as "I am so bored, kill me now"😉, Enterprise didn't even have one- it was actually a TNG episode...

self-indulgent? sure, but i think given how hard they'd worked on the dominion war's final ten episode arc and the series in general, i'd forgive them that just a little...

thats true, finales are generally poor trek wise... though i did really like the ds9 one (except the re-use of battle scene footage, that annoyed me, damn budgetary constraints)

Oh yeah, I remember that, Same when the Cardassian resistance was destroyed. It's always worrying when a show as well financed as Trek has to re-use footage.

Martok... see, thing is, he was just another Klingon warrior. And fair enough, he was entertaning, but you cannot keep making them the stereotyope. Gowron was actually widening the idea of what Klingons were and how they were a viable race.

I am a trekkie. Always has been always will be. I love SD9 as much as I love TNG.. Ben Sisko was a good Captain. Gul Dukat make an absolute splendid villain. All the supporting characters from Quark to even Mourn were great. My fave episodes are Duet, Crossover, Way of the Warrior, parts 1 & 2 and What We Leave Behind. I also thought that Odo was quite the fascinating character. And most definitely when Worf joined, then DS9 really picked up and storylines became real good and the action heated up quite nicely.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Oh yeah, I remember that, Same when the Cardassian resistance was destroyed. It's always worrying when a show as well financed as Trek has to re-use footage.

Martok... see, thing is, he was just another Klingon warrior. And fair enough, he was entertaning, but you cannot keep making them the stereotyope. Gowron was actually widening the idea of what Klingons were and how they were a viable race.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Oh yeah, I remember that, Same when the Cardassian resistance was destroyed. It's always worrying when a show as well financed as Trek has to re-use footage.

Martok... see, thing is, he was just another Klingon warrior. And fair enough, he was entertaning, but you cannot keep making them the stereotyope. Gowron was actually widening the idea of what Klingons were and how they were a viable race.

i know what you mean, and yes, i agree to a certain extent...

but iirc, klingon culture is such a one way street, that those who weren't born and bred warriors were never going to get very far in klingon society...

there was an ep of tng that dealt with that i think, a while back, the name eludes me...

I'm glad he developed as he did, especially in his relationship with Worf

To me that relationship was very good. They had an excellent father/son bonding.

there was an ep of tng that dealt with that i think, a while back, the name eludes me...

I can try to find out for you.