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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
← 4th of 9 Star Trek series →
The DS9 series logo
Abbr.:
DS9
Created by:
Rick Berman
Michael Piller
Studio:
Paramount Pictures
Original network:
Syndicated (by Viacom)
Production dates:
1992 – 1999
Original run:
3 January 1993–2 June 1999
Seasons:
7
Episodes:
173 (3 are feature-length)
Timespan:
2369 – 2375
<!--LINK'" 0:14--> <!--LINK'" 0:15-->
Starbase Deep Space 9
The cast in <!--LINK'" 0:18--> – <!--LINK'" 0:19-->
The cast in Season 1 – Season 3
The cast in <!--LINK'" 0:22--> – <!--LINK'" 0:23-->
The cast in Season 4 – Season 6
The cast in <!--LINK'" 0:26-->
The cast in Season 7
For additional meanings of "Deep Space Nine", please see Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the fourth Star Trek series and entered production in 1992. It was broadcast in first-run syndication from January 1993 until June 1999.
It was the first Star Trek series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller rather than by Gene Roddenberry. It was also the only series to air alongside another Star Trek production throughout its entire run, airing alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1993 until 1994, and then with Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 until 1999.
Main Title Theme (seasons 1-3) file info
Main Title Theme (seasons 4-7) file info
(Themes composed by Dennis McCarthy).
Contents
1 Summary
1.1 The characters
1.2 Alien races
1.3 The mirror universe
1.4 Technology
1.5 Costumes
2 Background information
2.1 Development
2.2 Serialization
2.3 Legacy
3 Main cast
3.1 Starring
3.2 Also starring
3.3 Special guest stars
3.4 Special appearances by
3.5 Recurring characters
4 Executive producers
5 Staff writers
6 Episode list
6.1 Season 1
6.2 Season 2
6.3 Season 3
6.4 Season 4
6.5 Season 5
6.6 Season 6
6.7 Season 7
7 Related topics
8 Media
9 External links
Summary
Deep Space Nine goes where no Star Trek series had gone before – DS9 was the first Star Trek production not based on a starship, but instead, a starbase, known as Deep Space 9 (the starship USS Defiant was introduced in season 3, but the station remained the primary setting of the series). The show is known for its complex characters and storylines, engaging battle scenes and darker (less Utopian) atmosphere. Unlike its predecessors Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine tended to avoid an episodic format for most of its run and instead featured multiple-episode story arcs.
The show broke the "standard format" for Star Trek shows a number of times as well, with a direct, first-person narrative providing the commentary for the episode "In the Pale Moonlight", a retelling of a classic TOS episode from a different angle in "Trials and Tribble-ations", life in the racially segregated 1950s in "Far Beyond the Stars", and a reintroduction of the concept of "black ops" to the Star Trek universe with Section 31: "Inquisition". The show also broke with tradition – and with the two Star Trek series that followed it – by featuring a commanding officer as the star of the show at the rank of commander, rather than captain, for a significant portion of its run, until Sisko was eventually promoted to captain in "The Adversary". Additionally, a number of the episodes and main storylines focused entirely on characters who weren't members of [[Starfleet: for example, those revolving around Kira, Odo, Jake Sisko, and Quark. (DS9: "Progress", "Shakaar", "The House of Quark", "Heart of Stone", "Prophet Motive", and more)
The characters
Unlike other Star Trek series, DS9 also had a large cast of recurring characters. Such characters included Nog, Rom, Elim Garak, Dukat, Vedek Bareil Antos, Winn Adami, Weyoun, the Female Changeling, Damar, Martok, Kasidy Yates, Leeta, Brunt, Ishka, and Zek.
Miles O'Brien, and later Worf, were two characters imported from TNG. Worf – a major character from TNG – played a large role on DS9. Several Next Generation characters also had recurring roles on the show, such as Keiko O'Brien and Gowron. Several other TNG characters made appearances too, such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Thomas Riker, Q, Lwaxana Troi, Kurn, Lursa, B'Etor, Admiral Alynna Nechayev, Vash, Toral and Alexander Rozhenko. In addition, Julian Bashir and Quark also had one-time appearances on The Next Generation, in "Birthright, Part I" and "Firstborn" respectively. Quark (and the station itself) also made a cameo in the pilot of Star Trek: Voyager, "Caretaker". Characters from The Original Series were also re-introduced in DS9, including Kor, Kang, Koloth, and Arne Darvin.
The series also featured a number of episodes in which the character of Miles O'Brien was subjected to particular trauma. This became an in-joke among the DS9 writing staff, who called them "O'Brien Must Suffer" episodes and went to great lengths to produce at least one such episode per season. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?))
Alien races
The series focused on several races that were first featured on TNG, such as the Bajorans, the Cardassians, the Trill, and the Ferengi. Later, the Klingons and the Romulans (both created in TOS) became pivotal species in the series. Many other species made appearances on the series, including Vulcans, Bolians, and Benzites. The series also created many species of its own, most notably the Changelings, the Vorta, and the Jem'Hadar, who formed part of the Dominion.
Jadzia Dax and other Trills portrayed in DS9 were distinctly different from how Trills had been depicted in the TNG episode "The Host". In DS9, the relationship between host and symbiont was described more as a truly symbiotic relationship rather than the symbiont dominating the host. Trills now having spots, rather than prosthetic make-up, was due to studio executives feeling that Jadzia Dax actress Terry Farrell was too attractive to cover her face up. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 23, No. 6, p. 21)
Another significant change was the relationship Ferengi had with Humans. The Ferengi on TNG had originally been intended to be a new adversary comparable to the Klingons in TOS, although the writers had quickly realized how ridiculous the Ferengi were as villains. In DS9, the Ferengi were mainly entrepreneurs and the Ferengi Alliance was a politically neutral economic power.
Deep Space Nine also featured several regular characters who were not members of Starfleet, with Kira Nerys, a member of the Bajoran Militia, and Odo, the station's chief of security, as well as civilians such as Quark and Jake Sisko.
The mirror universe
The series spent some time exploring the mirror universe, which had not been seen since the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror". The mirror universe was featured in five episodes of the series: "Crossover", "Through the Looking Glass", "Shattered Mirror", "Resurrection", and "The Emperor's New Cloak".
Technology
The show also focused on a wider array of uses and depictions of functions for holographic simulations (known as a holodeck in TOS and TNG but as a holosuite in DS9). In addition to many obvious activities (such as those referenced by Chief O'Brien and Julian Bashir) which were completely in keeping with holodeck usage on The Next Generation, the numerous applications of the holosuites on DS9 included them being used as: a recurring background for people to hang out in, in the form of a 1960s Las Vegas lounge (in numerous episodes); a weapons showroom (by Quark); and the location for a baseball game between teams assembled by Sisko versus Solok, a long-time rival Vulcan captain (in "Take Me Out to the Holosuite").
Costumes
DS9 initially featured a noticeable change in Starfleet uniform to a reversed color scheme of the TNG uniform, which is a black design with the division color on the shoulders and a grayish-indigo undershirt underneath the uniform, resembling the cadet uniforms seen on The Next Generation. This was mostly implemented as a continuation of Star Trek's pattern of changing uniforms over time, although factors such as the discomfort of wearing TNG-style uniforms played a role as well. What came to be known as the "DS9-style" uniforms were more of a variant than a switch, however, due to the cost of producing all-new uniforms. This is why, for example, the DS9 crew themselves wear "TNG-style" uniforms in the beginning of DS9 pilot episode "Emissary" and, even after TNG had gone off the air, the dress uniforms and flag officer uniforms on DS9 up until the sixth season (as well as uniforms on Earth, as seen in the fourth season episodes "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost") were "TNG-style", while the "DS9-style" uniforms were also later used in Star Trek Generations as well as throughout Voyager and continued to be used in DS9 up to "The Ascent". These discrepancies were corrected with the later switch to a unified, "gray-on-black" format with the division color undershirts, which was used through Star Trek Nemesis and were also used in this series, starting with "Rapture" and for the remainder of this series, though the old "DS9-style" uniforms in this series appeared four more times following the uniform change in the episodes, "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light" as well as seen on a photograph of "Field of Fire" and in the flashback scenes of "What You Leave Behind" and the old "DS9-style" uniforms continued to be used for the duration of Voyager.
Background information
Development
The decision to set the series on a space station, rather than a starship, spawned when Brandon Tartikoff originally approached Rick Berman about the show, in 1991, and specifically said he wanted it to have a format that was new for Star Trek but was classically western; if The Next Generation was Wagon Train in space, Deep Space Nine was to be The Rifleman in space – a man and his son coming to a dilapidated frontier town on the edge of known civilization. Berman brought this concept to Michael Piller, and together they set about creating a western in space. As Robert Hewitt Wolfe later explained, "We had the country doctor, and we had the barkeeper, and we had the sheriff and we had the mayor, we had it all, it was all there. We had the common man, Miles O'Brien, the Native American, Kira." Indeed, the producers initially discussed setting the show at a colony on an alien planet rather than on a space station. This idea was ultimately rejected because it was felt that it would involve too much location shooting, and because they felt that fans of Star Trek wanted to see story lines set primarily in space, not on a planet. (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)
The change of venue to a space station was largely intended to differentiate DS9 from The Next Generation, because the producers felt that having two shows about a starship airing simultaneously would be unacceptable. As co-creator and executive producer Rick Berman later explained, "Because there were two years of overlap with The Next Generation, we could not create a show that took place on a spaceship. It just seemed ridiculous to have two shows and two casts of characters that were off going where no man has gone before. It was a land-based show, it was a show that in a sense was taking place on a space station. So it had to be an entirely different concept." (Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
The decision to set the show on a fixed station rather than a traveling starship was also based upon a desire to look deeper into the actual workings of the Federation and to see how it dealt with the type of problems one wouldn't find in a show set upon a starship. Michael Piller felt that, by having the characters standing still, they would be forced to confront issues not usually applicable to people on a starship. Whereas on The Next Generation, issues raised each week could simply be forgotten about the following week as the ship visited somewhere else, on a space station, events couldn't be forgotten or left behind but instead had to have implications for the future. As Piller explained, "We didn't want to have another series of shows about space travel. We felt that there was an opportunity to really look deeper, more closely at the working of the Federation and the Star Trek universe by standing still. And by putting people on a space station where they would be forced to confront the kind of issues that people in space ships are not forced to confront. In a series that focuses on a starship, like the Enterprise, you live week by week. You never have to stay and deal with the issues that you've raised. But by focusing on a space station, you create a show about commitment. It's like the difference between a one-night stand and a marriage. On Deep Space Nine, whatever you decide has consequences the following week. So it's about taking responsibility for your decisions, the consequences of your acts." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?)) Similarly, in 2002, Piller stated, "If you look at The Next Generation, it's really about movement. You don't ever stay in one place long enough to get to know anybody. Well Deep Space Nine is a show where everybody is forced to stay week after week, so each episode, each show, is fundamentally dealing with the people who have to learn that actions have consequences, and they have to live with the consequences of their actions on a weekly basis." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)
Setting the show in a fixed location meant that a large cast of recurring characters could be built up with relative ease; much more so than in The Original Series or The Next Generation before it, or Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, or Star Trek: Discovery since. As Rick Berman, speaking in 2002, stated, "The show was land-based, but the benefit we got from that was that by staying in one place, it enabled us to create twenty or thirty secondary and recurring characters, which really enriched the show because of all the multi-layers of relationships that have existed over the years. It's a very character-driven show as a result, and I think that makes it quite unique." (Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
The decision to set the show in a fixed location was regarded as a benefit by the series' staff writers. For example, Ira Steven Behr, speaking in 1996, commented, "We have certain advantages that I think no other Star Trek series has had, because we do have a base of operations that doesn't travel through space, which is the space station. Every story we do, the repercussions, the consequences don't disappear. It's not like the other shows where you have an adventure and then you zoom off into the great unknown. We are here, we have made a home, what we do has consequences. And I think we're able to do this mosaic, this fabric of life in the future, which I like." Similarly, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, speaking in 2002, stated, "I think if Next Generation and The Original Series were about going out there and discovering new things about other races, Deep Space Nine is about staying in one place and discovering new things about ourselves. Not that we didn't go out there and discover things, but we had the same characters, we didn't change location every week. Sisko couldn't just solve a problem and sail off into the sunset, and never have to go back to that place again. That place was always there, and that problem could always come back to haunt him. So, in a lot of ways, it was a more complex show." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)
The series was designed to have more interpersonal conflict than its predecessors, while still staying true to the universe that Gene Roddenberry had created. Rick Berman commented, "[Deep Space 9]'s an alien space station that doesn't work the way they want it to, and that in itself created a lot of conflict. At the same, our core characters are Starfleet officers; Sisko, O'Brien, the doctor and Dax in no way vary from The Next Generation in terms of the lack of conflict among themselves. That was a rule we had to follow." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 5) Berman also commented, "What we wanted to do was something that was almost paradoxical – bring conflict but not break Gene's rules. They still play paramount importance in what we're doing. We created an environment where Starfleet officers were in a location that they weren't happy about being in, and they were in a location where the people who lived there weren't all that happy about them being there." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 8)
The show's main cast was intentionally assembled to create conflict (Quark and Odo, Kira and Sisko, etc.), so as to contrast the relatively tranquil atmosphere aboard Federation starships. This was another very specific decision taken by the producers. Gene Roddenberry's golden rule was that there was to be no conflict among Starfleet characters, so the producers decided to introduce non-Starfleet characters so conflict could come from within the show rather than always coming from outside (as it did on TNG). Rick Berman recalled, "We [....] created a situation where we had people who were members of our core group who were not Starfleet: the security shapeshifter Odo; the Bajoran Major, Kira; the bartender, Quark. A group of our integral people are not Starfleet officers, and the ones that are Starfleet officers aren't crazy about where they are, so we have a lot of frustration and conflict." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 8) Writer Joe Menosky explained, "You can see right away they're not the perfectly engineered Humans of TNG. They seem more real. I don't know if that makes them as attractive to viewers or not. But they are really different, and they represent a different way to tell a story. And it was definitely a conscious choice to create that potential for conflict." Similarly, Berman stated, "Viewers didn't see that group of loving family members that existed on the first two Star Trek shows." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?)) Michael Piller also commented on this somewhat controversial aspect of the show; "One of the primary goals of the development process was to come up with a show that had more inherent conflict than The Next Generation. In order to do that, you have to understand that Gene Roddenberry had a very specific vision for humanity in the 24th century. What that meant for The Next Generation was that everybody gets along remarkably well on the Enterprise. There's very little room for interpersonal conflict between those people. In this series, we set out to create a situation that would provide natural conflict. We've populated the show with several aliens, primarily Bajorans, as we are stationed on the edge of the Bajoran star system. And the Bajorans are very different people than we are. They are people who are very spiritual and mystical and have a whole different way of looking at life than the 24th century humanist views which many of our Starfleet people will have. So immediately, there are conflicts. And then there's additional aliens from elsewhere who are thrown into the mix. So, as regular characters, not all the people are Starfleet, not all the people are Human, and as a result, you have this continuing conflict, because people who come from different places, honorable, noble people, will naturally have conflicts." (Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
Unlike with TOS and TNG, Gene Roddenberry wasn't directly involved in conceptualizing DS9. Regarding Roddenberry's involvement in the series, Rick Berman stated, "Michael and I discussed it with Gene when we were still in the early stages, but never anything conceptual." "We never got a chance to discuss it (the concept) with Gene. By the time we had it to the point that it was discussable, he was in pretty bad shape and not really in the condition that it would have been wise to discuss it with him. On two specific occasions I was with him at his house and we tried to bring it up, but it wasn't really appropriate." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 328) Director Paul Lynch remarked, "My gut feeling is that Gene would be jumping up and down. This is definitely a different take on what Gene spawned, but I think he would love it [....] While it's quite different, Deep Space Nine is also, in many ways, quite the same. All of Gene's moral requirements are upheld in this show. If we've done anything, we've expanded on what Gene created." (The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine issue 1, pp. 10 & 12)
Initially, Berman and Piller were at a loss for a title for the series and toyed with calling the series "The Final Frontier". During further development, the station was temporarily dubbed "Deep Space Nine", which not only stuck permanently as the name of the station, but also the title of the show itself. Despite this, the two co-creators were reportedly dissatisfied with the name. (Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Unauthorized Story, pp. 17-18)
Miles O'Brien was brought aboard DS9 and made a part of the space station's senior staff because the producers felt that Colm Meaney was too talented an actor to confine his character to a transporter room. Additionally, they hoped the TNG crossover would help boost the new series' ratings.
In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?), Michael Piller explained the rationale behind each of the principal cast members, why each character was chosen, and what each one was to bring to the mix;
Jadzia Dax: "The Trill is a great race. They had some interesting ramifications on TNG. A Trill character would provide great potential for dichotomy and paradox."
Odo: "We knew that we needed some kind of Data/Spock character who looks at the world from the outside in. And the idea that an alien entity would have to find some way to pass as Human was fascinating, and seemed to give us an avenue into the kind of 'complexion of humanity' stories that we wanted to tell."
Quark: "A Ferengi would provide the show with instant humor and built-in conflict. I saw Quark as the bartender who is a constant thorn in the side of law and order, but who has a sense of humor about it. He'd be someone who could obviously throw lots of story dynamics into play."
Julian Bashir: "We decided to create a flawed character. He'd have to be brought down to size in order to grow. And we wrote him as kind of a jerk for much of the first season."
Miles O'Brien: "After we decided we were bringing him over to the new show, we thought, 'How do we use him?' We'd already decided to focus on Bajor, with this long backstory, establishing his bitterness towards the Cardassians, so it worked very nicely together."
Kira Nerys: "We liked the idea of having somebody working with the commander of the station who would be a thorn in his side, who would represent a different point of view. We knew we'd get conflict and interesting dynamics between the two characters."
Benjamin Sisko: "Every hero needs a journey. You want to take your leading man on a quest where he has to overcome personal issues as well as whatever space stuff happens to be out there. The idea of a man who is broken and who begins to repair himself is always a great beginning for drama."
The first officer aboard DS9 would have been Ro Laren, but she was replaced by Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) because Michelle Forbes did not want to commit to a six-year contract working on DS9. Indeed, the reason the producers had decided to set the show on Bajor in the first place was because of Ro.
Following the highly rated appearance of James Doohan as Montgomery Scott in TNG: "Relics", it was reported, in 1993, that Doohan had been urging Paramount to add him to the cast of DS9. It was also rumored that William Shatner had expressed interest in participating in DS9 in some capacity. (Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Unauthorized Story, p. 15)
During pre-production for the series, the producers were especially keen to ensure that the aesthetic of the show was very different from anything yet seen in the Star Trek universe. For example, Director of Photography Marvin Rush said the producers told him that they wanted "a darker, more sinister place" than the Enterprise-D. Rush himself described the final look as "dark and shadowy." Similarly, Herman Zimmerman said, "The marching orders for the station were to make it bizarre." Finally, Supervising Producer David Livingston summed up the differences between DS9 and TNG by comparing the Enterprise's bridge with Deep Space 9's Ops; "The bridge is a very easy set to shoot. It's a three-wall open set with a lot of room, big and cavernous. Ops, on the other hand, is a multilevel set with a lot of cramped areas and very contrasty lighting. It's more interesting visually." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?)) As Colm Meaney elaborated, "Because it was an alien space station, it gives the whole thing a very different feel I think to Next Generation or the original show, where you have the Enterprise, which is this very perfect environment. This is much more kind of dark and eerie, and also nothing works, the whole thing is a terrible mess." (Deep Space Nine Scrapbook: Year One, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
From the very beginning, DS9's darker aesthetic, more antagonistic characters and less Utopian setting were somewhat controversial among die-hard fans of Gene Roddenberry's universe. As Ira Steven Behr, speaking in 1996 (about halfway through the show's seven-year run), stated, "At the beginning of Deep Space Nine's life, there was feelings that this was not a show that Gene would approve of by some of the fans, feeling that, you know, we had gone away from the image of the future as a paradise, that we had much more conflicts between our people, life isn't always great. But I think Gene, just by his very nature as a creative individual, as a writer, as a forward-thinking person, knows that any franchise has to move forward like a shark, or it dies. And I think he would understand what we're doing, and I think he would like what we're doing, and I think we're in the pocket of the Star Trek universe, and we try to push the envelope. And I see nothing wrong with that, and I have a hard time believing that Gene would see anything wrong with that." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features) The sense that DS9 was too "dark" to be a Star Trek show only increased over the years, with episodes such as "Nor the Battle to the Strong", "In the Pale Moonlight" and "The Siege of AR-558", and topics such as Section 31 charting territory never before seen on a Star Trek show, and creating a great deal of controversy among fans of both The Original Series and The Next Generation.
Robert Hewitt Wolfe recalled that Sisko holding the rank of commander led to unfavorable comparisons to the other series. "Whenever people would do articles about Star Trek they would talk about the three captains: Kirk, Picard, and Janeway." The decision to promote Sisko to captain was prompted by the producers feeling that he deserved the higher rank as much as the other lead characters. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. 253))
Identifying one way in which he believed DS9 differed from TNG, Colm Meaney stated, "On Next Generation they were dealing with more philosophical ponderings where we on DS9 tend to deal with more hands-on immediate crises that I think of as more resonant with the problems we have in the world today [….] I think that's probably the single main difference. We connect more with contemporary issues, issues relevant to the 1990s, than did Next Generation." ("Mr. Goodwrench", Star Trek: Communicator issue 105, p. 20)
Serialization
The series is best remembered for an approach to serialization, predating the format of the late-2010s Star Trek series. Ira Behr commented: "The fact that Discovery is serialized or that Picard is serialized doesn't mean much to me, because how could they not be serialized in 2019? They get to just stay with the times. It's easy to be serialized now. Thank God they're doing that, but it would only be worthy of discussion if they didn't do it. The serialization was a bold move. I look back at it now and I was really a bit of an asshole, because everyone was saying people can't keep up with it. The show was syndicated and on at different times. I didn't care about any of that. I just wanted to do the best show we could do. I could understand why certain people involved and other producers and studios would feel that that was a little bit of an annoying take, because it did hurt the fan base, but at the time, I wasn't thinking about the future. I just wanted to do the best show we could do". [1]
Ron Moore commented, "I think a lot of Battlestar was born at Deep Space Nine in that Deep Space started as much more episodic because of the nature of the show, it became more a continuing serialised structure. I really liked that, and I discovered I really liked that style of storytelling, and also particularly when we got into the later years of Deep Space, and we started telling the Dominion War story (1997-99), we would sit and argue and fight with the powers that be at Trek about making it a more realistic war, about making it grittier, and ugly; adding more ambiguity to the characters, and roughing it up a little bit, and I kept bumping my head against the strictures at Trek. What Star Trek is could not accommodate things that I wanted to do, so I started to have this sort of pent up frustration about ‘well if we were really going to do it right’, these ideas would sit in the back of my head so when Battlestar came along, I could now do all of those things that I was never allowed to do at Deep Space." [2]
Due to the non-episodic nature of DS9, some of the series was lost on the casual viewer when it first aired. Many also believe that the changing television landscape contributed to DS9's ratings trouble, as local TV stations which had aired TNG in prime time became WB and UPN affiliates and pushed syndicated programming to the margins. Subsequent Star Trek shows Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise had network support from UPN and a guaranteed time slot. DS9 was also the only series to run opposite another Star Trek show (first The Next Generation, then Voyager) for the entirety of its run (the first twelve episodes of the third season aired without another series on). Additionally, certain markets, notably in the UK, would only play one Star Trek series, in its entirety, at a time. Thus, events alluded to in The Next Generation or Voyager that happened in Deep Space Nine took months to "sync up."
Legacy
Deep Space Nine remained a fan-favorite series throughout its seven-year run, with reviewers consistently lauding the series for its bold shift in tone from The Next Generation. Most notable among such changes was the concept of inter-personal conflict – something which Gene Roddenberry himself was said to have forbidden.
Said Ronald D. Moore, DS9 producer and screenwriter:
"I'd like us to be remembered as the Trek series that dared to be different. We took chances in a franchise that has every reason to play it safe and spoon-feed the same old thing to the audience week after week. We challenged the characters, the audience, and the Star Trek universe itself. Sometimes we failed (sometimes spectacularly) but we never stopped trying to push the show into new directions."
Robert Hewitt Wolfe remarked, "The truth of DS9 is, we had a great ensemble cast. Michael Piller created all these terrific characters [with the exception of Worf]." ("Flashback: The Way of the Warrior", Star Trek Magazine issue 127)
Several former producers and head writers from DS9 have been involved in other sci-fi series, including the creation of the "re-envisioned" Battlestar Galactica, as well as The 4400, Farscape, Medium and Outlander.
In 2019, the documentary What We Left Behind was released. The documentary featured interviews with the actors, writers, production staff and fans, as well as featuring segments in which the writers pitched a new episode.
There was also a rivalry with another popular and critically acclaimed television series, Babylon 5, created and produced by J. Michael Straczynski for Warner Bros. The two productions, which ran largely concurrently, were observed to be so similar that Babylon 5 fans accused Paramount, to whom Straczynski had previously pitched his series, of plagiarism. Considering how fellow Star Trek alumni like Walter Koenig and Andreas Katsulas had major roles in the rival series, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry agreed to a guest appearance in Babylon 5 as a gesture of goodwill to encourage a reconciliation between the two sets of fans. Rick Berman commented that rivalry was: "purely a fan thing," adding: "there was a time when, I don’t know whether it was specifically Straczynski or other people, it was implied that he had pitched an idea similar to DS9 to Paramount and that it had been rejected and that, lo and behold, a year or so later DS9 came about. The implication being that Michael Piller and I perhaps stole all or part of his idea, which was always amusing to Michael and I because it was completely untrue. We had no knowledge of this gentleman. If he did pitch something to Paramount, we never heard about it. DS9 was a show that was created by Michael and me and Brandon Tartikoff, who was the recent head of Paramount at the time, without any knowledge of Straczynski or of anything that he had ever pitched. So when we were accused of stealing his idea it was a little sad but at the same time a little comical to us." [3]
Main cast
The first season promotional image of the cast of Deep Space Nine
Starring
Avery Brooks as Commander/Captain Benjamin Sisko
Also starring
Rene Auberjonois as Odo
Nicole de Boer as Ensign/Lieutenant jg Ezri Dax (1998-1999)
Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf (1995-1999)
Siddig El Fadil as Doctor Bashir
Beginning in 1995, El Fadil was credited as Alexander Siddig and moved between Shimerman and Visitor in the opening credits.
Terry Farrell as Lieutenant/Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (1993-1998)
Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko
Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien
Armin Shimerman as Quark
Nana Visitor as Major/Colonel Kira
Special guest stars
Steven Berkoff as Hagath
Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien
Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun
Meg Foster as Onaya
Jonathan Frakes as Thomas Riker / William T. Riker
Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami
Salome Jens as the Female Changeling
Penny Johnson as Kasidy Yates
Richard Kiley as Gideon Seyetik
Richard Libertini as Akorem Laan
Andrea Martin as Ishka
Bill Mumy as Kellin
Brock Peters as Joseph Sisko
Andrew Robinson as Elim Garak
Tim Russ as Tuvok
William Sadler as Sloan
Michael Sarrazin as Trevean
Wallace Shawn as Grand Nagus Zek
Kurtwood Smith as Thrax
Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard / Locutus of Borg
Leigh Taylor-Young as Yanas Tigan
Clarence Williams III as Omet'iklan
Special appearances by
Bernie Casey as Calvin Hudson
James Darren as Vic Fontaine
Robert Picardo as Lewis Zimmerman / Emergency Medical Holographic program
Chris Sarandon as Martus Mazur
Vanessa Williams as Arandis
Recurring characters
Cecily Adams and Andrea Martin as Ishka
Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat
Philip Anglim as Vedek Bareil
Casey Biggs as Damar
Jeffrey Combs as Liquidator Brunt
Max Grodénchik as Rom
Aron Eisenberg as Nog
Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien
J.G. Hertzler as General Martok
Barry Jenner as Admiral Ross
David B. Levinson as Broik
Kenneth Marshall as Michael Eddington
Chase Masterson as Leeta
Robert O'Reilly as Chancellor Gowron
Duncan Regehr as Shakaar
Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn
Executive producers
Rick Berman – Executive Producer
Michael Piller – Executive Producer (1993–1995)
Ira Steven Behr – Executive Producer (1995–1999)
Staff writers
Ira Steven Behr, Staff Writer
Hans Beimler, Staff Writer (1995–1999)
René Echevarria, Staff Writer (1994–1999)
Ronald D. Moore, Staff Writer (1994–1999)
Bradley Thompson, Staff Writer (1996–1999)
David Weddle, Staff Writer (1996–1999)
Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Staff Writer (1993–1997)
Episode list
Season 1
DS9 Season 1, 19 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
Emissary 1x01/02 40511-721 46379.1 1993-01-03
Past Prologue 1x03 40511-404 Unknown 1993-01-09
A Man Alone 1x04 40511-403 46421.5 1993-01-17
Babel 1x05 40511-405 46423.7 1993-01-24
Captive Pursuit 1x06 40511-406 46477.5 1993-01-30
Q-Less 1x07 40511-407 46531.2 1993-02-06
Dax 1x08 40511-408 46910.1 1993-02-13
The Passenger 1x09 40511-409 Unknown 1993-02-20
Move Along Home 1x10 40511-410 Unknown 1993-03-14
The Nagus 1x11 40511-411 Unknown 1993-03-21
Vortex 1x12 40511-412 Unknown 1993-04-18
Battle Lines 1x13 40511-413 Unknown 1993-04-25
The Storyteller 1x14 40511-414 46729.1 1993-05-02
Progress 1x15 40511-415 46844.3 1993-05-09
If Wishes Were Horses 1x16 40511-416 46853.2 1993-05-16
The Forsaken 1x17 40511-417 46925.1 1993-05-23
Dramatis Personae 1x18 40511-418 46922.3 1993-05-30
Duet 1x19 40511-419 Unknown 1993-06-13
In the Hands of the Prophets 1x20 40511-420 Unknown 1993-06-20
Season 2
DS9 Season 2, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
The Homecoming 2x01 40512-421 Unknown 1993-09-26
The Circle 2x02 40512-422 Unknown 1993-10-03
The Siege 2x03 40512-423 Unknown 1993-10-10
Invasive Procedures 2x04 40512-424 47182.1 1993-10-17
Cardassians 2x05 40512-425 47177.2 1993-10-24
Melora 2x06 40512-426 47229.1 1993-10-31
Rules of Acquisition 2x07 40512-427 Unknown 1993-11-06
Necessary Evil 2x08 40512-428 47282.5-47284.1 1993-11-14
Second Sight 2x09 40512-429 47329.4 1993-11-20
Sanctuary 2x10 40512-430 47391.2 1993-11-28
Rivals 2x11 40512-431 Unknown 1994-01-02
The Alternate 2x12 40512-432 47391.7 1994-01-09
Armageddon Game 2x13 40512-433 Unknown 1994-01-30
Whispers 2x14 40512-434 47581.2 1994-02-06
Paradise 2x15 40512-435 47573.1 1994-02-13
Shadowplay 2x16 40512-436 47603.3 1994-02-20
Playing God 2x17 40512-437 Unknown 1994-02-27
Profit and Loss 2x18 40512-438 Unknown 1994-03-20
Blood Oath 2x19 40512-439 Unknown 1994-03-27
The Maquis, Part I 2x20 40512-440 Unknown 1994-04-24
The Maquis, Part II 2x21 40512-441 Unknown 1994-05-01
The Wire 2x22 40512-442 Unknown 1994-05-08
Crossover 2x23 40512-443 Unknown 1994-05-15
The Collaborator 2x24 40512-444 Unknown 1994-05-22
Tribunal 2x25 40512-445 47944.2 1994-06-05
The Jem'Hadar 2x26 40512-446 Unknown 1994-06-12
Season 3
DS9 Season 3, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
The Search, Part I 3x01 40512-447 48212.4-48214.5 1994-09-26
The Search, Part II 3x02 40512-447 Unknown 1994-10-03
The House of Quark 3x03 40513-449 Unknown 1994-10-10
Equilibrium 3x04 40513-450 Unknown 1994-10-17
Second Skin 3x05 40513-451 Unknown 1994-10-24
The Abandoned 3x06 40513-452 Unknown 1994-10-31
Civil Defense 3x07 40513-453 Unknown 1994-11-07
Meridian 3x08 40513-454 48423.2 1994-11-14
Defiant 3x09 40513-455 48467.3 1994-11-21
Fascination 3x10 40513-456 Unknown 1994-11-28
Past Tense, Part I 3x11 40513-457 48481.2 1995-01-08
Past Tense, Part II 3x12 40513-458 Unknown 1995-01-15
Life Support 3x13 40513-459 48498.4 1995-01-31
Heart of Stone 3x14 40513-460 48521.5 1995-02-06
Destiny 3x15 40513-461 48543.2 1995-02-13
Prophet Motive 3x16 40513-462 Unknown 1995-02-20
Visionary 3x17 40513-463 Unknown 1995-02-27
Distant Voices 3x18 40513-464 Unknown 1995-04-10
Through the Looking Glass 3x19 40513-466 Unknown 1995-04-17
Improbable Cause 3x20 40513-465 Unknown 1995-04-24
The Die is Cast 3x21 40513-467 Unknown 1995-05-01
Explorers 3x22 40513-468 Unknown 1995-05-08
Family Business 3x23 40513-469 Unknown 1995-05-15
Shakaar 3x24 40513-470 Unknown 1995-05-22
Facets 3x25 40513-471 48876.3 1995-06-12
The Adversary 3x26 40513-472 48959.1 1995-06-25
Season 4
DS9 Season 4, 25 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
The Way of the Warrior 4x01/02 40514-473 49011.4 1995-10-02
The Visitor 4x03 40510-476 49034.7 1995-10-09
Hippocratic Oath 4x04 40510-475 49066.5 1995-10-16
Indiscretion 4x05 40510-477 Unknown 1995-10-23
Rejoined 4x06 40510-478 49195.5 1995-10-30
Starship Down 4x07 40510-480 49263.5 1995-11-13
Little Green Men 4x08 40510-479 Unknown 1995-11-15
The Sword of Kahless 4x09 40510-481 49289.1 1995-11-20
Our Man Bashir 4x10 40510-482 49300.7 1995-11-27
Homefront 4x11 40510-483 49170.65 1996-01-01
Paradise Lost 4x12 40510-484 Unknown 1996-01-08
Crossfire 4x13 40510-485 Unknown 1996-01-29
Return to Grace 4x14 40510-486 Unknown 1996-02-05
Sons of Mogh 4x15 40510-487 49556.2 1996-02-12
Bar Association 4x16 40510-488 Unknown 1996-02-19
Accession 4x17 40510-489 Unknown 1996-02-24
Rules of Engagement 4x18 40510-490 49665.3 1996-04-08
Hard Time 4x19 40510-491 Unknown 1996-04-15
Shattered Mirror 4x20 40510-492 Unknown 1996-04-22
The Muse 4x21 40510-493 Unknown 1996-04-29
For the Cause 4x22 40510-494 Unknown 1996-05-06
To the Death 4x23 40510-496 49904.2 1996-05-13
The Quickening 4x24 40510-495 Unknown 1996-05-20
Body Parts 4x25 40510-497 49930.3 1996-06-10
Broken Link 4x26 40510-498 49962.4 1996-06-17
Season 5
DS9 Season 5, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
Apocalypse Rising 5x01 40510-499 Unknown 1996-09-30
The Ship 5x02 40510-500 50049.3 1996-10-07
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places 5x03 40510-501 50061.2 1996-10-14
Nor the Battle to the Strong 5x04 40510-502 Unknown 1996-10-21
The Assignment 5x05 40510-504 Unknown 1996-10-28
Trials and Tribble-ations 5x06 40510-503 4523.7 1996-11-04
Let He Who Is Without Sin... 5x07 40510-505 Unknown 1996-11-11
Things Past 5x08 40510-506 Unknown 1996-11-18
The Ascent 5x09 40510-507 Unknown 1996-11-25
Rapture 5x10 40510-508 Unknown 1996-12-30
The Darkness and the Light 5x11 40510-509 50416.2 1997-01-06
The Begotten 5x12 40510-510 Unknown 1997-01-27
For the Uniform 5x13 40510-511 50485.2 1997-02-03
In Purgatory's Shadow 5x14 40510-512 Unknown 1997-02-10
By Inferno's Light 5x15 40510-513 50564.2 1997-02-17
Doctor Bashir, I Presume 5x16 40510-514 Unknown 1997-02-24
A Simple Investigation 5x17 40510-515 Unknown 1997-03-31
Business as Usual 5x18 40510-516 Unknown 1997-04-05
Ties of Blood and Water 5x19 40510-517 50712.5 1997-04-14
Ferengi Love Songs 5x20 40510-518 Unknown 1997-04-21
Soldiers of the Empire 5x21 40510-519 Unknown 1997-04-29
Children of Time 5x22 40510-520 50814.2 1997-05-05
Blaze of Glory 5x23 40510-521 Unknown 1997-05-12
Empok Nor 5x24 40510-522 50901.7 1997-05-19
In the Cards 5x25 40510-523 50929.4 1997-06-09
Call to Arms 5x26 40510-524 50975.2 1997-06-16
Season 6
DS9 Season 6, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
A Time to Stand 6x01 40510-525 Unknown 1997-09-29
Rocks and Shoals 6x02 40510-527 Unknown 1997-10-06
Sons and Daughters 6x03 40510-526 Unknown 1997-10-16
Behind the Lines 6x04 40510-528 51145.3 1997-10-20
Favor the Bold 6x05 40510-529 Unknown 1997-10-27
Sacrifice of Angels 6x06 40510-530 Unknown 1997-11-03
You Are Cordially Invited 6x07 40510-531 51247.5 1997-11-10
Resurrection 6x08 40510-532 Unknown 1997-11-17
Statistical Probabilities 6x09 40510-533 Unknown 1997-11-22
The Magnificent Ferengi 6x10 40510-534 Unknown 1997-12-17
Waltz 6x11 40510-535 51408.6-51413.6 1998-01-03
Who Mourns for Morn? 6x12 40510-536 Unknown 1998-02-04
Far Beyond the Stars 6x13 40510-538 Unknown 1998-02-11
One Little Ship 6x14 40510-537 51474.2 1998-02-14
Honor Among Thieves 6x15 40510-539 Unknown 1998-02-21
Change of Heart 6x16 40510-540 51597.2 1998-02-28
Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night 6x17 40510-541 Unknown 1998-03-28
Inquisition 6x18 40510-542 Unknown 1998-04-08
In the Pale Moonlight 6x19 40510-543 51721.3 1998-04-15
His Way 6x20 40510-544 Unknown 1998-04-22
The Reckoning 6x21 40510-545 Unknown 1998-04-29
Valiant 6x22 40510-546 51825.4 1998-05-06
Profit and Lace 6x23 40510-547 Unknown 1998-05-13
Time's Orphan 6x24 40510-548 Unknown 1998-05-20
The Sound of Her Voice 6x25 40510-549 51948.3 1998-06-10
Tears of the Prophets 6x26 40510-550 Unknown 1998-06-17
Season 7
DS9 Season 7, 25 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
Image in the Sand 7x01 40510-551 Unknown 1998-09-30
Shadows and Symbols 7x02 40510-552 52152.6 1998-10-07
Afterimage 7x03 40510-553 Unknown 1998-10-14
Take Me Out to the Holosuite 7x04 40510-554 Unknown 1998-10-21
Chrysalis 7x05 40510-555 Unknown 1998-10-28
Treachery, Faith and the Great River 7x06 40510-556 Unknown 1998-11-04
Once More Unto the Breach 7x07 40510-557 Unknown 1998-11-11
The Siege of AR-558 7x08 40510-558 Unknown 1998-11-18
Covenant 7x09 40510-559 Unknown 1998-11-25
It's Only a Paper Moon 7x10 40510-560 Unknown 1998-12-30
Prodigal Daughter 7x11 40510-561 Unknown 1999-01-06
The Emperor's New Cloak 7x12 40510-562 Unknown 1999-02-03
Field of Fire 7x13 40510-563 Unknown 1999-02-10
Chimera 7x14 40510-564 Unknown 1999-02-17
Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang 7x15 40510-566 Unknown 1999-02-24
Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges 7x16 40510-565 Unknown 1999-03-03
Penumbra 7x17 40510-567 52576.2 1999-04-07
'Til Death Do Us Part 7x18 40510-568 Unknown 1999-04-14
Strange Bedfellows 7x19 40510-569 Unknown 1999-04-21
The Changing Face of Evil 7x20 40510-570 Unknown 1999-04-28
When It Rains... 7x21 40510-571 52684.3 1999-05-05
Tacking Into the Wind 7x22 40510-572 Unknown 1999-05-12
Extreme Measures 7x23 40510-573 52645.7 1999-05-19
The Dogs of War 7x24 40510-574 52861.3 1999-05-26
What You Leave Behind 7x25/26 40510-575 52902.0 1999-06-02
Related topics
DS9 directors
DS9 performers
DS9 recurring characters
DS9 studio models
DS9 writers
Character crossover appearances
Composers
Undeveloped DS9 episodes
Paramount Stage 4
Paramount Stage 17
Paramount Stage 18
Media
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novels
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics (IDW)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics (Malibu)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics (Marvel)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine soundtracks
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on VHS
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on LaserDisc
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on DVD
Star Trek television series
The Original Series • The Animated Series • The Next Generation • Deep Space Nine • Voyager • Enterprise
• Discovery • Picard • Lower Decks
Companion series: After Trek • Short Treks • The Ready Room
In development: Prodigy • Strange New Worlds • Untitled Section 31 series
External links
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Wikipedia
List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters at Wikipedia
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at the Internet Movie Database
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at TV.com
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes at the iTunes Store
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Wikiquote
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English
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
VIEW SOURCE
Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
← 4th of 9 Star Trek series →
The DS9 series logo
Abbr.:
DS9
Created by:
Rick Berman
Michael Piller
Studio:
Paramount Pictures
Original network:
Syndicated (by Viacom)
Production dates:
1992 – 1999
Original run:
3 January 1993–2 June 1999
Seasons:
7
Episodes:
173 (3 are feature-length)
Timespan:
2369 – 2375
<!--LINK'" 0:14--> <!--LINK'" 0:15-->
Starbase Deep Space 9
The cast in <!--LINK'" 0:18--> – <!--LINK'" 0:19-->
The cast in Season 1 – Season 3
The cast in <!--LINK'" 0:22--> – <!--LINK'" 0:23-->
The cast in Season 4 – Season 6
The cast in <!--LINK'" 0:26-->
The cast in Season 7
For additional meanings of "Deep Space Nine", please see Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the fourth Star Trek series and entered production in 1992. It was broadcast in first-run syndication from January 1993 until June 1999.
It was the first Star Trek series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller rather than by Gene Roddenberry. It was also the only series to air alongside another Star Trek production throughout its entire run, airing alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1993 until 1994, and then with Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 until 1999.
Main Title Theme (seasons 1-3) file info
Main Title Theme (seasons 4-7) file info
(Themes composed by Dennis McCarthy).
Contents
1 Summary
1.1 The characters
1.2 Alien races
1.3 The mirror universe
1.4 Technology
1.5 Costumes
2 Background information
2.1 Development
2.2 Serialization
2.3 Legacy
3 Main cast
3.1 Starring
3.2 Also starring
3.3 Special guest stars
3.4 Special appearances by
3.5 Recurring characters
4 Executive producers
5 Staff writers
6 Episode list
6.1 Season 1
6.2 Season 2
6.3 Season 3
6.4 Season 4
6.5 Season 5
6.6 Season 6
6.7 Season 7
7 Related topics
8 Media
9 External links
Summary
Deep Space Nine goes where no Star Trek series had gone before – DS9 was the first Star Trek production not based on a starship, but instead, a starbase, known as Deep Space 9 (the starship USS Defiant was introduced in season 3, but the station remained the primary setting of the series). The show is known for its complex characters and storylines, engaging battle scenes and darker (less Utopian) atmosphere. Unlike its predecessors Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine tended to avoid an episodic format for most of its run and instead featured multiple-episode story arcs.
The show broke the "standard format" for Star Trek shows a number of times as well, with a direct, first-person narrative providing the commentary for the episode "In the Pale Moonlight", a retelling of a classic TOS episode from a different angle in "Trials and Tribble-ations", life in the racially segregated 1950s in "Far Beyond the Stars", and a reintroduction of the concept of "black ops" to the Star Trek universe with Section 31: "Inquisition". The show also broke with tradition – and with the two Star Trek series that followed it – by featuring a commanding officer as the star of the show at the rank of commander, rather than captain, for a significant portion of its run, until Sisko was eventually promoted to captain in "The Adversary". Additionally, a number of the episodes and main storylines focused entirely on characters who weren't members of [[Starfleet: for example, those revolving around Kira, Odo, Jake Sisko, and Quark. (DS9: "Progress", "Shakaar", "The House of Quark", "Heart of Stone", "Prophet Motive", and more)
The characters
Unlike other Star Trek series, DS9 also had a large cast of recurring characters. Such characters included Nog, Rom, Elim Garak, Dukat, Vedek Bareil Antos, Winn Adami, Weyoun, the Female Changeling, Damar, Martok, Kasidy Yates, Leeta, Brunt, Ishka, and Zek.
Miles O'Brien, and later Worf, were two characters imported from TNG. Worf – a major character from TNG – played a large role on DS9. Several Next Generation characters also had recurring roles on the show, such as Keiko O'Brien and Gowron. Several other TNG characters made appearances too, such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Thomas Riker, Q, Lwaxana Troi, Kurn, Lursa, B'Etor, Admiral Alynna Nechayev, Vash, Toral and Alexander Rozhenko. In addition, Julian Bashir and Quark also had one-time appearances on The Next Generation, in "Birthright, Part I" and "Firstborn" respectively. Quark (and the station itself) also made a cameo in the pilot of Star Trek: Voyager, "Caretaker". Characters from The Original Series were also re-introduced in DS9, including Kor, Kang, Koloth, and Arne Darvin.
The series also featured a number of episodes in which the character of Miles O'Brien was subjected to particular trauma. This became an in-joke among the DS9 writing staff, who called them "O'Brien Must Suffer" episodes and went to great lengths to produce at least one such episode per season. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?))
Alien races
The series focused on several races that were first featured on TNG, such as the Bajorans, the Cardassians, the Trill, and the Ferengi. Later, the Klingons and the Romulans (both created in TOS) became pivotal species in the series. Many other species made appearances on the series, including Vulcans, Bolians, and Benzites. The series also created many species of its own, most notably the Changelings, the Vorta, and the Jem'Hadar, who formed part of the Dominion.
Jadzia Dax and other Trills portrayed in DS9 were distinctly different from how Trills had been depicted in the TNG episode "The Host". In DS9, the relationship between host and symbiont was described more as a truly symbiotic relationship rather than the symbiont dominating the host. Trills now having spots, rather than prosthetic make-up, was due to studio executives feeling that Jadzia Dax actress Terry Farrell was too attractive to cover her face up. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 23, No. 6, p. 21)
Another significant change was the relationship Ferengi had with Humans. The Ferengi on TNG had originally been intended to be a new adversary comparable to the Klingons in TOS, although the writers had quickly realized how ridiculous the Ferengi were as villains. In DS9, the Ferengi were mainly entrepreneurs and the Ferengi Alliance was a politically neutral economic power.
Deep Space Nine also featured several regular characters who were not members of Starfleet, with Kira Nerys, a member of the Bajoran Militia, and Odo, the station's chief of security, as well as civilians such as Quark and Jake Sisko.
The mirror universe
The series spent some time exploring the mirror universe, which had not been seen since the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror". The mirror universe was featured in five episodes of the series: "Crossover", "Through the Looking Glass", "Shattered Mirror", "Resurrection", and "The Emperor's New Cloak".
Technology
The show also focused on a wider array of uses and depictions of functions for holographic simulations (known as a holodeck in TOS and TNG but as a holosuite in DS9). In addition to many obvious activities (such as those referenced by Chief O'Brien and Julian Bashir) which were completely in keeping with holodeck usage on The Next Generation, the numerous applications of the holosuites on DS9 included them being used as: a recurring background for people to hang out in, in the form of a 1960s Las Vegas lounge (in numerous episodes); a weapons showroom (by Quark); and the location for a baseball game between teams assembled by Sisko versus Solok, a long-time rival Vulcan captain (in "Take Me Out to the Holosuite").
Costumes
DS9 initially featured a noticeable change in Starfleet uniform to a reversed color scheme of the TNG uniform, which is a black design with the division color on the shoulders and a grayish-indigo undershirt underneath the uniform, resembling the cadet uniforms seen on The Next Generation. This was mostly implemented as a continuation of Star Trek's pattern of changing uniforms over time, although factors such as the discomfort of wearing TNG-style uniforms played a role as well. What came to be known as the "DS9-style" uniforms were more of a variant than a switch, however, due to the cost of producing all-new uniforms. This is why, for example, the DS9 crew themselves wear "TNG-style" uniforms in the beginning of DS9 pilot episode "Emissary" and, even after TNG had gone off the air, the dress uniforms and flag officer uniforms on DS9 up until the sixth season (as well as uniforms on Earth, as seen in the fourth season episodes "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost") were "TNG-style", while the "DS9-style" uniforms were also later used in Star Trek Generations as well as throughout Voyager and continued to be used in DS9 up to "The Ascent". These discrepancies were corrected with the later switch to a unified, "gray-on-black" format with the division color undershirts, which was used through Star Trek Nemesis and were also used in this series, starting with "Rapture" and for the remainder of this series, though the old "DS9-style" uniforms in this series appeared four more times following the uniform change in the episodes, "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light" as well as seen on a photograph of "Field of Fire" and in the flashback scenes of "What You Leave Behind" and the old "DS9-style" uniforms continued to be used for the duration of Voyager.
Background information
Development
The decision to set the series on a space station, rather than a starship, spawned when Brandon Tartikoff originally approached Rick Berman about the show, in 1991, and specifically said he wanted it to have a format that was new for Star Trek but was classically western; if The Next Generation was Wagon Train in space, Deep Space Nine was to be The Rifleman in space – a man and his son coming to a dilapidated frontier town on the edge of known civilization. Berman brought this concept to Michael Piller, and together they set about creating a western in space. As Robert Hewitt Wolfe later explained, "We had the country doctor, and we had the barkeeper, and we had the sheriff and we had the mayor, we had it all, it was all there. We had the common man, Miles O'Brien, the Native American, Kira." Indeed, the producers initially discussed setting the show at a colony on an alien planet rather than on a space station. This idea was ultimately rejected because it was felt that it would involve too much location shooting, and because they felt that fans of Star Trek wanted to see story lines set primarily in space, not on a planet. (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)
The change of venue to a space station was largely intended to differentiate DS9 from The Next Generation, because the producers felt that having two shows about a starship airing simultaneously would be unacceptable. As co-creator and executive producer Rick Berman later explained, "Because there were two years of overlap with The Next Generation, we could not create a show that took place on a spaceship. It just seemed ridiculous to have two shows and two casts of characters that were off going where no man has gone before. It was a land-based show, it was a show that in a sense was taking place on a space station. So it had to be an entirely different concept." (Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
The decision to set the show on a fixed station rather than a traveling starship was also based upon a desire to look deeper into the actual workings of the Federation and to see how it dealt with the type of problems one wouldn't find in a show set upon a starship. Michael Piller felt that, by having the characters standing still, they would be forced to confront issues not usually applicable to people on a starship. Whereas on The Next Generation, issues raised each week could simply be forgotten about the following week as the ship visited somewhere else, on a space station, events couldn't be forgotten or left behind but instead had to have implications for the future. As Piller explained, "We didn't want to have another series of shows about space travel. We felt that there was an opportunity to really look deeper, more closely at the working of the Federation and the Star Trek universe by standing still. And by putting people on a space station where they would be forced to confront the kind of issues that people in space ships are not forced to confront. In a series that focuses on a starship, like the Enterprise, you live week by week. You never have to stay and deal with the issues that you've raised. But by focusing on a space station, you create a show about commitment. It's like the difference between a one-night stand and a marriage. On Deep Space Nine, whatever you decide has consequences the following week. So it's about taking responsibility for your decisions, the consequences of your acts." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?)) Similarly, in 2002, Piller stated, "If you look at The Next Generation, it's really about movement. You don't ever stay in one place long enough to get to know anybody. Well Deep Space Nine is a show where everybody is forced to stay week after week, so each episode, each show, is fundamentally dealing with the people who have to learn that actions have consequences, and they have to live with the consequences of their actions on a weekly basis." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)
Setting the show in a fixed location meant that a large cast of recurring characters could be built up with relative ease; much more so than in The Original Series or The Next Generation before it, or Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, or Star Trek: Discovery since. As Rick Berman, speaking in 2002, stated, "The show was land-based, but the benefit we got from that was that by staying in one place, it enabled us to create twenty or thirty secondary and recurring characters, which really enriched the show because of all the multi-layers of relationships that have existed over the years. It's a very character-driven show as a result, and I think that makes it quite unique." (Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
The decision to set the show in a fixed location was regarded as a benefit by the series' staff writers. For example, Ira Steven Behr, speaking in 1996, commented, "We have certain advantages that I think no other Star Trek series has had, because we do have a base of operations that doesn't travel through space, which is the space station. Every story we do, the repercussions, the consequences don't disappear. It's not like the other shows where you have an adventure and then you zoom off into the great unknown. We are here, we have made a home, what we do has consequences. And I think we're able to do this mosaic, this fabric of life in the future, which I like." Similarly, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, speaking in 2002, stated, "I think if Next Generation and The Original Series were about going out there and discovering new things about other races, Deep Space Nine is about staying in one place and discovering new things about ourselves. Not that we didn't go out there and discover things, but we had the same characters, we didn't change location every week. Sisko couldn't just solve a problem and sail off into the sunset, and never have to go back to that place again. That place was always there, and that problem could always come back to haunt him. So, in a lot of ways, it was a more complex show." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features)
The series was designed to have more interpersonal conflict than its predecessors, while still staying true to the universe that Gene Roddenberry had created. Rick Berman commented, "[Deep Space 9]'s an alien space station that doesn't work the way they want it to, and that in itself created a lot of conflict. At the same, our core characters are Starfleet officers; Sisko, O'Brien, the doctor and Dax in no way vary from The Next Generation in terms of the lack of conflict among themselves. That was a rule we had to follow." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 5) Berman also commented, "What we wanted to do was something that was almost paradoxical – bring conflict but not break Gene's rules. They still play paramount importance in what we're doing. We created an environment where Starfleet officers were in a location that they weren't happy about being in, and they were in a location where the people who lived there weren't all that happy about them being there." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 8)
The show's main cast was intentionally assembled to create conflict (Quark and Odo, Kira and Sisko, etc.), so as to contrast the relatively tranquil atmosphere aboard Federation starships. This was another very specific decision taken by the producers. Gene Roddenberry's golden rule was that there was to be no conflict among Starfleet characters, so the producers decided to introduce non-Starfleet characters so conflict could come from within the show rather than always coming from outside (as it did on TNG). Rick Berman recalled, "We [....] created a situation where we had people who were members of our core group who were not Starfleet: the security shapeshifter Odo; the Bajoran Major, Kira; the bartender, Quark. A group of our integral people are not Starfleet officers, and the ones that are Starfleet officers aren't crazy about where they are, so we have a lot of frustration and conflict." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 8) Writer Joe Menosky explained, "You can see right away they're not the perfectly engineered Humans of TNG. They seem more real. I don't know if that makes them as attractive to viewers or not. But they are really different, and they represent a different way to tell a story. And it was definitely a conscious choice to create that potential for conflict." Similarly, Berman stated, "Viewers didn't see that group of loving family members that existed on the first two Star Trek shows." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?)) Michael Piller also commented on this somewhat controversial aspect of the show; "One of the primary goals of the development process was to come up with a show that had more inherent conflict than The Next Generation. In order to do that, you have to understand that Gene Roddenberry had a very specific vision for humanity in the 24th century. What that meant for The Next Generation was that everybody gets along remarkably well on the Enterprise. There's very little room for interpersonal conflict between those people. In this series, we set out to create a situation that would provide natural conflict. We've populated the show with several aliens, primarily Bajorans, as we are stationed on the edge of the Bajoran star system. And the Bajorans are very different people than we are. They are people who are very spiritual and mystical and have a whole different way of looking at life than the 24th century humanist views which many of our Starfleet people will have. So immediately, there are conflicts. And then there's additional aliens from elsewhere who are thrown into the mix. So, as regular characters, not all the people are Starfleet, not all the people are Human, and as a result, you have this continuing conflict, because people who come from different places, honorable, noble people, will naturally have conflicts." (Deep Space Nine: A Bold Beginning, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
Unlike with TOS and TNG, Gene Roddenberry wasn't directly involved in conceptualizing DS9. Regarding Roddenberry's involvement in the series, Rick Berman stated, "Michael and I discussed it with Gene when we were still in the early stages, but never anything conceptual." "We never got a chance to discuss it (the concept) with Gene. By the time we had it to the point that it was discussable, he was in pretty bad shape and not really in the condition that it would have been wise to discuss it with him. On two specific occasions I was with him at his house and we tried to bring it up, but it wasn't really appropriate." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 328) Director Paul Lynch remarked, "My gut feeling is that Gene would be jumping up and down. This is definitely a different take on what Gene spawned, but I think he would love it [....] While it's quite different, Deep Space Nine is also, in many ways, quite the same. All of Gene's moral requirements are upheld in this show. If we've done anything, we've expanded on what Gene created." (The Official Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Magazine issue 1, pp. 10 & 12)
Initially, Berman and Piller were at a loss for a title for the series and toyed with calling the series "The Final Frontier". During further development, the station was temporarily dubbed "Deep Space Nine", which not only stuck permanently as the name of the station, but also the title of the show itself. Despite this, the two co-creators were reportedly dissatisfied with the name. (Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Unauthorized Story, pp. 17-18)
Miles O'Brien was brought aboard DS9 and made a part of the space station's senior staff because the producers felt that Colm Meaney was too talented an actor to confine his character to a transporter room. Additionally, they hoped the TNG crossover would help boost the new series' ratings.
In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?), Michael Piller explained the rationale behind each of the principal cast members, why each character was chosen, and what each one was to bring to the mix;
Jadzia Dax: "The Trill is a great race. They had some interesting ramifications on TNG. A Trill character would provide great potential for dichotomy and paradox."
Odo: "We knew that we needed some kind of Data/Spock character who looks at the world from the outside in. And the idea that an alien entity would have to find some way to pass as Human was fascinating, and seemed to give us an avenue into the kind of 'complexion of humanity' stories that we wanted to tell."
Quark: "A Ferengi would provide the show with instant humor and built-in conflict. I saw Quark as the bartender who is a constant thorn in the side of law and order, but who has a sense of humor about it. He'd be someone who could obviously throw lots of story dynamics into play."
Julian Bashir: "We decided to create a flawed character. He'd have to be brought down to size in order to grow. And we wrote him as kind of a jerk for much of the first season."
Miles O'Brien: "After we decided we were bringing him over to the new show, we thought, 'How do we use him?' We'd already decided to focus on Bajor, with this long backstory, establishing his bitterness towards the Cardassians, so it worked very nicely together."
Kira Nerys: "We liked the idea of having somebody working with the commander of the station who would be a thorn in his side, who would represent a different point of view. We knew we'd get conflict and interesting dynamics between the two characters."
Benjamin Sisko: "Every hero needs a journey. You want to take your leading man on a quest where he has to overcome personal issues as well as whatever space stuff happens to be out there. The idea of a man who is broken and who begins to repair himself is always a great beginning for drama."
The first officer aboard DS9 would have been Ro Laren, but she was replaced by Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) because Michelle Forbes did not want to commit to a six-year contract working on DS9. Indeed, the reason the producers had decided to set the show on Bajor in the first place was because of Ro.
Following the highly rated appearance of James Doohan as Montgomery Scott in TNG: "Relics", it was reported, in 1993, that Doohan had been urging Paramount to add him to the cast of DS9. It was also rumored that William Shatner had expressed interest in participating in DS9 in some capacity. (Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Unauthorized Story, p. 15)
During pre-production for the series, the producers were especially keen to ensure that the aesthetic of the show was very different from anything yet seen in the Star Trek universe. For example, Director of Photography Marvin Rush said the producers told him that they wanted "a darker, more sinister place" than the Enterprise-D. Rush himself described the final look as "dark and shadowy." Similarly, Herman Zimmerman said, "The marching orders for the station were to make it bizarre." Finally, Supervising Producer David Livingston summed up the differences between DS9 and TNG by comparing the Enterprise's bridge with Deep Space 9's Ops; "The bridge is a very easy set to shoot. It's a three-wall open set with a lot of room, big and cavernous. Ops, on the other hand, is a multilevel set with a lot of cramped areas and very contrasty lighting. It's more interesting visually." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. ?)) As Colm Meaney elaborated, "Because it was an alien space station, it gives the whole thing a very different feel I think to Next Generation or the original show, where you have the Enterprise, which is this very perfect environment. This is much more kind of dark and eerie, and also nothing works, the whole thing is a terrible mess." (Deep Space Nine Scrapbook: Year One, DS9 Season 1 DVD special features)
From the very beginning, DS9's darker aesthetic, more antagonistic characters and less Utopian setting were somewhat controversial among die-hard fans of Gene Roddenberry's universe. As Ira Steven Behr, speaking in 1996 (about halfway through the show's seven-year run), stated, "At the beginning of Deep Space Nine's life, there was feelings that this was not a show that Gene would approve of by some of the fans, feeling that, you know, we had gone away from the image of the future as a paradise, that we had much more conflicts between our people, life isn't always great. But I think Gene, just by his very nature as a creative individual, as a writer, as a forward-thinking person, knows that any franchise has to move forward like a shark, or it dies. And I think he would understand what we're doing, and I think he would like what we're doing, and I think we're in the pocket of the Star Trek universe, and we try to push the envelope. And I see nothing wrong with that, and I have a hard time believing that Gene would see anything wrong with that." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD special features) The sense that DS9 was too "dark" to be a Star Trek show only increased over the years, with episodes such as "Nor the Battle to the Strong", "In the Pale Moonlight" and "The Siege of AR-558", and topics such as Section 31 charting territory never before seen on a Star Trek show, and creating a great deal of controversy among fans of both The Original Series and The Next Generation.
Robert Hewitt Wolfe recalled that Sisko holding the rank of commander led to unfavorable comparisons to the other series. "Whenever people would do articles about Star Trek they would talk about the three captains: Kirk, Picard, and Janeway." The decision to promote Sisko to captain was prompted by the producers feeling that he deserved the higher rank as much as the other lead characters. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (p. 253))
Identifying one way in which he believed DS9 differed from TNG, Colm Meaney stated, "On Next Generation they were dealing with more philosophical ponderings where we on DS9 tend to deal with more hands-on immediate crises that I think of as more resonant with the problems we have in the world today [….] I think that's probably the single main difference. We connect more with contemporary issues, issues relevant to the 1990s, than did Next Generation." ("Mr. Goodwrench", Star Trek: Communicator issue 105, p. 20)
Serialization
The series is best remembered for an approach to serialization, predating the format of the late-2010s Star Trek series. Ira Behr commented: "The fact that Discovery is serialized or that Picard is serialized doesn't mean much to me, because how could they not be serialized in 2019? They get to just stay with the times. It's easy to be serialized now. Thank God they're doing that, but it would only be worthy of discussion if they didn't do it. The serialization was a bold move. I look back at it now and I was really a bit of an asshole, because everyone was saying people can't keep up with it. The show was syndicated and on at different times. I didn't care about any of that. I just wanted to do the best show we could do. I could understand why certain people involved and other producers and studios would feel that that was a little bit of an annoying take, because it did hurt the fan base, but at the time, I wasn't thinking about the future. I just wanted to do the best show we could do". [1]
Ron Moore commented, "I think a lot of Battlestar was born at Deep Space Nine in that Deep Space started as much more episodic because of the nature of the show, it became more a continuing serialised structure. I really liked that, and I discovered I really liked that style of storytelling, and also particularly when we got into the later years of Deep Space, and we started telling the Dominion War story (1997-99), we would sit and argue and fight with the powers that be at Trek about making it a more realistic war, about making it grittier, and ugly; adding more ambiguity to the characters, and roughing it up a little bit, and I kept bumping my head against the strictures at Trek. What Star Trek is could not accommodate things that I wanted to do, so I started to have this sort of pent up frustration about ‘well if we were really going to do it right’, these ideas would sit in the back of my head so when Battlestar came along, I could now do all of those things that I was never allowed to do at Deep Space." [2]
Due to the non-episodic nature of DS9, some of the series was lost on the casual viewer when it first aired. Many also believe that the changing television landscape contributed to DS9's ratings trouble, as local TV stations which had aired TNG in prime time became WB and UPN affiliates and pushed syndicated programming to the margins. Subsequent Star Trek shows Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise had network support from UPN and a guaranteed time slot. DS9 was also the only series to run opposite another Star Trek show (first The Next Generation, then Voyager) for the entirety of its run (the first twelve episodes of the third season aired without another series on). Additionally, certain markets, notably in the UK, would only play one Star Trek series, in its entirety, at a time. Thus, events alluded to in The Next Generation or Voyager that happened in Deep Space Nine took months to "sync up."
Legacy
Deep Space Nine remained a fan-favorite series throughout its seven-year run, with reviewers consistently lauding the series for its bold shift in tone from The Next Generation. Most notable among such changes was the concept of inter-personal conflict – something which Gene Roddenberry himself was said to have forbidden.
Said Ronald D. Moore, DS9 producer and screenwriter:
"I'd like us to be remembered as the Trek series that dared to be different. We took chances in a franchise that has every reason to play it safe and spoon-feed the same old thing to the audience week after week. We challenged the characters, the audience, and the Star Trek universe itself. Sometimes we failed (sometimes spectacularly) but we never stopped trying to push the show into new directions."
Robert Hewitt Wolfe remarked, "The truth of DS9 is, we had a great ensemble cast. Michael Piller created all these terrific characters [with the exception of Worf]." ("Flashback: The Way of the Warrior", Star Trek Magazine issue 127)
Several former producers and head writers from DS9 have been involved in other sci-fi series, including the creation of the "re-envisioned" Battlestar Galactica, as well as The 4400, Farscape, Medium and Outlander.
In 2019, the documentary What We Left Behind was released. The documentary featured interviews with the actors, writers, production staff and fans, as well as featuring segments in which the writers pitched a new episode.
There was also a rivalry with another popular and critically acclaimed television series, Babylon 5, created and produced by J. Michael Straczynski for Warner Bros. The two productions, which ran largely concurrently, were observed to be so similar that Babylon 5 fans accused Paramount, to whom Straczynski had previously pitched his series, of plagiarism. Considering how fellow Star Trek alumni like Walter Koenig and Andreas Katsulas had major roles in the rival series, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry agreed to a guest appearance in Babylon 5 as a gesture of goodwill to encourage a reconciliation between the two sets of fans. Rick Berman commented that rivalry was: "purely a fan thing," adding: "there was a time when, I don’t know whether it was specifically Straczynski or other people, it was implied that he had pitched an idea similar to DS9 to Paramount and that it had been rejected and that, lo and behold, a year or so later DS9 came about. The implication being that Michael Piller and I perhaps stole all or part of his idea, which was always amusing to Michael and I because it was completely untrue. We had no knowledge of this gentleman. If he did pitch something to Paramount, we never heard about it. DS9 was a show that was created by Michael and me and Brandon Tartikoff, who was the recent head of Paramount at the time, without any knowledge of Straczynski or of anything that he had ever pitched. So when we were accused of stealing his idea it was a little sad but at the same time a little comical to us." [3]
Main cast
The first season promotional image of the cast of Deep Space Nine
Starring
Avery Brooks as Commander/Captain Benjamin Sisko
Also starring
Rene Auberjonois as Odo
Nicole de Boer as Ensign/Lieutenant jg Ezri Dax (1998-1999)
Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf (1995-1999)
Siddig El Fadil as Doctor Bashir
Beginning in 1995, El Fadil was credited as Alexander Siddig and moved between Shimerman and Visitor in the opening credits.
Terry Farrell as Lieutenant/Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax (1993-1998)
Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko
Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien
Armin Shimerman as Quark
Nana Visitor as Major/Colonel Kira
Special guest stars
Steven Berkoff as Hagath
Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien
Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun
Meg Foster as Onaya
Jonathan Frakes as Thomas Riker / William T. Riker
Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami
Salome Jens as the Female Changeling
Penny Johnson as Kasidy Yates
Richard Kiley as Gideon Seyetik
Richard Libertini as Akorem Laan
Andrea Martin as Ishka
Bill Mumy as Kellin
Brock Peters as Joseph Sisko
Andrew Robinson as Elim Garak
Tim Russ as Tuvok
William Sadler as Sloan
Michael Sarrazin as Trevean
Wallace Shawn as Grand Nagus Zek
Kurtwood Smith as Thrax
Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard / Locutus of Borg
Leigh Taylor-Young as Yanas Tigan
Clarence Williams III as Omet'iklan
Special appearances by
Bernie Casey as Calvin Hudson
James Darren as Vic Fontaine
Robert Picardo as Lewis Zimmerman / Emergency Medical Holographic program
Chris Sarandon as Martus Mazur
Vanessa Williams as Arandis
Recurring characters
Cecily Adams and Andrea Martin as Ishka
Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat
Philip Anglim as Vedek Bareil
Casey Biggs as Damar
Jeffrey Combs as Liquidator Brunt
Max Grodénchik as Rom
Aron Eisenberg as Nog
Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien
J.G. Hertzler as General Martok
Barry Jenner as Admiral Ross
David B. Levinson as Broik
Kenneth Marshall as Michael Eddington
Chase Masterson as Leeta
Robert O'Reilly as Chancellor Gowron
Duncan Regehr as Shakaar
Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn
Executive producers
Rick Berman – Executive Producer
Michael Piller – Executive Producer (1993–1995)
Ira Steven Behr – Executive Producer (1995–1999)
Staff writers
Ira Steven Behr, Staff Writer
Hans Beimler, Staff Writer (1995–1999)
René Echevarria, Staff Writer (1994–1999)
Ronald D. Moore, Staff Writer (1994–1999)
Bradley Thompson, Staff Writer (1996–1999)
David Weddle, Staff Writer (1996–1999)
Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Staff Writer (1993–1997)
Episode list
Season 1
DS9 Season 1, 19 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
Emissary 1x01/02 40511-721 46379.1 1993-01-03
Past Prologue 1x03 40511-404 Unknown 1993-01-09
A Man Alone 1x04 40511-403 46421.5 1993-01-17
Babel 1x05 40511-405 46423.7 1993-01-24
Captive Pursuit 1x06 40511-406 46477.5 1993-01-30
Q-Less 1x07 40511-407 46531.2 1993-02-06
Dax 1x08 40511-408 46910.1 1993-02-13
The Passenger 1x09 40511-409 Unknown 1993-02-20
Move Along Home 1x10 40511-410 Unknown 1993-03-14
The Nagus 1x11 40511-411 Unknown 1993-03-21
Vortex 1x12 40511-412 Unknown 1993-04-18
Battle Lines 1x13 40511-413 Unknown 1993-04-25
The Storyteller 1x14 40511-414 46729.1 1993-05-02
Progress 1x15 40511-415 46844.3 1993-05-09
If Wishes Were Horses 1x16 40511-416 46853.2 1993-05-16
The Forsaken 1x17 40511-417 46925.1 1993-05-23
Dramatis Personae 1x18 40511-418 46922.3 1993-05-30
Duet 1x19 40511-419 Unknown 1993-06-13
In the Hands of the Prophets 1x20 40511-420 Unknown 1993-06-20
Season 2
DS9 Season 2, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
The Homecoming 2x01 40512-421 Unknown 1993-09-26
The Circle 2x02 40512-422 Unknown 1993-10-03
The Siege 2x03 40512-423 Unknown 1993-10-10
Invasive Procedures 2x04 40512-424 47182.1 1993-10-17
Cardassians 2x05 40512-425 47177.2 1993-10-24
Melora 2x06 40512-426 47229.1 1993-10-31
Rules of Acquisition 2x07 40512-427 Unknown 1993-11-06
Necessary Evil 2x08 40512-428 47282.5-47284.1 1993-11-14
Second Sight 2x09 40512-429 47329.4 1993-11-20
Sanctuary 2x10 40512-430 47391.2 1993-11-28
Rivals 2x11 40512-431 Unknown 1994-01-02
The Alternate 2x12 40512-432 47391.7 1994-01-09
Armageddon Game 2x13 40512-433 Unknown 1994-01-30
Whispers 2x14 40512-434 47581.2 1994-02-06
Paradise 2x15 40512-435 47573.1 1994-02-13
Shadowplay 2x16 40512-436 47603.3 1994-02-20
Playing God 2x17 40512-437 Unknown 1994-02-27
Profit and Loss 2x18 40512-438 Unknown 1994-03-20
Blood Oath 2x19 40512-439 Unknown 1994-03-27
The Maquis, Part I 2x20 40512-440 Unknown 1994-04-24
The Maquis, Part II 2x21 40512-441 Unknown 1994-05-01
The Wire 2x22 40512-442 Unknown 1994-05-08
Crossover 2x23 40512-443 Unknown 1994-05-15
The Collaborator 2x24 40512-444 Unknown 1994-05-22
Tribunal 2x25 40512-445 47944.2 1994-06-05
The Jem'Hadar 2x26 40512-446 Unknown 1994-06-12
Season 3
DS9 Season 3, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
The Search, Part I 3x01 40512-447 48212.4-48214.5 1994-09-26
The Search, Part II 3x02 40512-447 Unknown 1994-10-03
The House of Quark 3x03 40513-449 Unknown 1994-10-10
Equilibrium 3x04 40513-450 Unknown 1994-10-17
Second Skin 3x05 40513-451 Unknown 1994-10-24
The Abandoned 3x06 40513-452 Unknown 1994-10-31
Civil Defense 3x07 40513-453 Unknown 1994-11-07
Meridian 3x08 40513-454 48423.2 1994-11-14
Defiant 3x09 40513-455 48467.3 1994-11-21
Fascination 3x10 40513-456 Unknown 1994-11-28
Past Tense, Part I 3x11 40513-457 48481.2 1995-01-08
Past Tense, Part II 3x12 40513-458 Unknown 1995-01-15
Life Support 3x13 40513-459 48498.4 1995-01-31
Heart of Stone 3x14 40513-460 48521.5 1995-02-06
Destiny 3x15 40513-461 48543.2 1995-02-13
Prophet Motive 3x16 40513-462 Unknown 1995-02-20
Visionary 3x17 40513-463 Unknown 1995-02-27
Distant Voices 3x18 40513-464 Unknown 1995-04-10
Through the Looking Glass 3x19 40513-466 Unknown 1995-04-17
Improbable Cause 3x20 40513-465 Unknown 1995-04-24
The Die is Cast 3x21 40513-467 Unknown 1995-05-01
Explorers 3x22 40513-468 Unknown 1995-05-08
Family Business 3x23 40513-469 Unknown 1995-05-15
Shakaar 3x24 40513-470 Unknown 1995-05-22
Facets 3x25 40513-471 48876.3 1995-06-12
The Adversary 3x26 40513-472 48959.1 1995-06-25
Season 4
DS9 Season 4, 25 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
The Way of the Warrior 4x01/02 40514-473 49011.4 1995-10-02
The Visitor 4x03 40510-476 49034.7 1995-10-09
Hippocratic Oath 4x04 40510-475 49066.5 1995-10-16
Indiscretion 4x05 40510-477 Unknown 1995-10-23
Rejoined 4x06 40510-478 49195.5 1995-10-30
Starship Down 4x07 40510-480 49263.5 1995-11-13
Little Green Men 4x08 40510-479 Unknown 1995-11-15
The Sword of Kahless 4x09 40510-481 49289.1 1995-11-20
Our Man Bashir 4x10 40510-482 49300.7 1995-11-27
Homefront 4x11 40510-483 49170.65 1996-01-01
Paradise Lost 4x12 40510-484 Unknown 1996-01-08
Crossfire 4x13 40510-485 Unknown 1996-01-29
Return to Grace 4x14 40510-486 Unknown 1996-02-05
Sons of Mogh 4x15 40510-487 49556.2 1996-02-12
Bar Association 4x16 40510-488 Unknown 1996-02-19
Accession 4x17 40510-489 Unknown 1996-02-24
Rules of Engagement 4x18 40510-490 49665.3 1996-04-08
Hard Time 4x19 40510-491 Unknown 1996-04-15
Shattered Mirror 4x20 40510-492 Unknown 1996-04-22
The Muse 4x21 40510-493 Unknown 1996-04-29
For the Cause 4x22 40510-494 Unknown 1996-05-06
To the Death 4x23 40510-496 49904.2 1996-05-13
The Quickening 4x24 40510-495 Unknown 1996-05-20
Body Parts 4x25 40510-497 49930.3 1996-06-10
Broken Link 4x26 40510-498 49962.4 1996-06-17
Season 5
DS9 Season 5, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
Apocalypse Rising 5x01 40510-499 Unknown 1996-09-30
The Ship 5x02 40510-500 50049.3 1996-10-07
Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places 5x03 40510-501 50061.2 1996-10-14
Nor the Battle to the Strong 5x04 40510-502 Unknown 1996-10-21
The Assignment 5x05 40510-504 Unknown 1996-10-28
Trials and Tribble-ations 5x06 40510-503 4523.7 1996-11-04
Let He Who Is Without Sin... 5x07 40510-505 Unknown 1996-11-11
Things Past 5x08 40510-506 Unknown 1996-11-18
The Ascent 5x09 40510-507 Unknown 1996-11-25
Rapture 5x10 40510-508 Unknown 1996-12-30
The Darkness and the Light 5x11 40510-509 50416.2 1997-01-06
The Begotten 5x12 40510-510 Unknown 1997-01-27
For the Uniform 5x13 40510-511 50485.2 1997-02-03
In Purgatory's Shadow 5x14 40510-512 Unknown 1997-02-10
By Inferno's Light 5x15 40510-513 50564.2 1997-02-17
Doctor Bashir, I Presume 5x16 40510-514 Unknown 1997-02-24
A Simple Investigation 5x17 40510-515 Unknown 1997-03-31
Business as Usual 5x18 40510-516 Unknown 1997-04-05
Ties of Blood and Water 5x19 40510-517 50712.5 1997-04-14
Ferengi Love Songs 5x20 40510-518 Unknown 1997-04-21
Soldiers of the Empire 5x21 40510-519 Unknown 1997-04-29
Children of Time 5x22 40510-520 50814.2 1997-05-05
Blaze of Glory 5x23 40510-521 Unknown 1997-05-12
Empok Nor 5x24 40510-522 50901.7 1997-05-19
In the Cards 5x25 40510-523 50929.4 1997-06-09
Call to Arms 5x26 40510-524 50975.2 1997-06-16
Season 6
DS9 Season 6, 26 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
A Time to Stand 6x01 40510-525 Unknown 1997-09-29
Rocks and Shoals 6x02 40510-527 Unknown 1997-10-06
Sons and Daughters 6x03 40510-526 Unknown 1997-10-16
Behind the Lines 6x04 40510-528 51145.3 1997-10-20
Favor the Bold 6x05 40510-529 Unknown 1997-10-27
Sacrifice of Angels 6x06 40510-530 Unknown 1997-11-03
You Are Cordially Invited 6x07 40510-531 51247.5 1997-11-10
Resurrection 6x08 40510-532 Unknown 1997-11-17
Statistical Probabilities 6x09 40510-533 Unknown 1997-11-22
The Magnificent Ferengi 6x10 40510-534 Unknown 1997-12-17
Waltz 6x11 40510-535 51408.6-51413.6 1998-01-03
Who Mourns for Morn? 6x12 40510-536 Unknown 1998-02-04
Far Beyond the Stars 6x13 40510-538 Unknown 1998-02-11
One Little Ship 6x14 40510-537 51474.2 1998-02-14
Honor Among Thieves 6x15 40510-539 Unknown 1998-02-21
Change of Heart 6x16 40510-540 51597.2 1998-02-28
Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night 6x17 40510-541 Unknown 1998-03-28
Inquisition 6x18 40510-542 Unknown 1998-04-08
In the Pale Moonlight 6x19 40510-543 51721.3 1998-04-15
His Way 6x20 40510-544 Unknown 1998-04-22
The Reckoning 6x21 40510-545 Unknown 1998-04-29
Valiant 6x22 40510-546 51825.4 1998-05-06
Profit and Lace 6x23 40510-547 Unknown 1998-05-13
Time's Orphan 6x24 40510-548 Unknown 1998-05-20
The Sound of Her Voice 6x25 40510-549 51948.3 1998-06-10
Tears of the Prophets 6x26 40510-550 Unknown 1998-06-17
Season 7
DS9 Season 7, 25 episodes:
Title Episode Prodno. Stardate Original Airdate
Image in the Sand 7x01 40510-551 Unknown 1998-09-30
Shadows and Symbols 7x02 40510-552 52152.6 1998-10-07
Afterimage 7x03 40510-553 Unknown 1998-10-14
Take Me Out to the Holosuite 7x04 40510-554 Unknown 1998-10-21
Chrysalis 7x05 40510-555 Unknown 1998-10-28
Treachery, Faith and the Great River 7x06 40510-556 Unknown 1998-11-04
Once More Unto the Breach 7x07 40510-557 Unknown 1998-11-11
The Siege of AR-558 7x08 40510-558 Unknown 1998-11-18
Covenant 7x09 40510-559 Unknown 1998-11-25
It's Only a Paper Moon 7x10 40510-560 Unknown 1998-12-30
Prodigal Daughter 7x11 40510-561 Unknown 1999-01-06
The Emperor's New Cloak 7x12 40510-562 Unknown 1999-02-03
Field of Fire 7x13 40510-563 Unknown 1999-02-10
Chimera 7x14 40510-564 Unknown 1999-02-17
Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang 7x15 40510-566 Unknown 1999-02-24
Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges 7x16 40510-565 Unknown 1999-03-03
Penumbra 7x17 40510-567 52576.2 1999-04-07
'Til Death Do Us Part 7x18 40510-568 Unknown 1999-04-14
Strange Bedfellows 7x19 40510-569 Unknown 1999-04-21
The Changing Face of Evil 7x20 40510-570 Unknown 1999-04-28
When It Rains... 7x21 40510-571 52684.3 1999-05-05
Tacking Into the Wind 7x22 40510-572 Unknown 1999-05-12
Extreme Measures 7x23 40510-573 52645.7 1999-05-19
The Dogs of War 7x24 40510-574 52861.3 1999-05-26
What You Leave Behind 7x25/26 40510-575 52902.0 1999-06-02
Related topics
DS9 directors
DS9 performers
DS9 recurring characters
DS9 studio models
DS9 writers
Character crossover appearances
Composers
Undeveloped DS9 episodes
Paramount Stage 4
Paramount Stage 17
Paramount Stage 18
Media
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novels
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics (IDW)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics (Malibu)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics (Marvel)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine soundtracks
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on VHS
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on LaserDisc
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on DVD
Star Trek television series
The Original Series • The Animated Series • The Next Generation • Deep Space Nine • Voyager • Enterprise
• Discovery • Picard • Lower Decks
Companion series: After Trek • Short Treks • The Ready Room
In development: Prodigy • Strange New Worlds • Untitled Section 31 series
External links
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Wikipedia
List of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters at Wikipedia
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at the Internet Movie Database
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at TV.com
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes at the iTunes Store
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at Wikiquote
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