Star Trek Deep Space Nine Retrospective/Review - Star Trek Retrospective, Part 10

by the mid-1990s the star trek franchise had seemingly done the impossible once again star trek the next generation began life looked down on by most of pop culture and die hard track fans who proclaimed any new show without kirk spock and mccoy was borderline blasphemy however by its fifth year the next generation had proven its detractors wrong with an average audience of 10 million viewers coming to see it as must-watch television and pop culture at large now saw the show was the new definitive version of star trek its success was incredibly impressive but while audiences had eventually accepted a new crew on a new enterprise going boldly where no one has gone before surely the idea of a star trek show confined to a static space station could never hope to pull off the same trick for a third time [Music] star trek the next generation was an unabashed smash hit for the franchise and for its owners the familiar trio of kirk spock and mccoy now had real competition as cultural icons from the new crew of the enterprise d and in contrast to the franchise's first television outing the next generation commanded a massive regular audience and was a huge money maker for paramount television the executives of the studio had regarded star trek as their crown jewel property for many years and as they were riding high on the success of the next generation they approached executive producers rick berman and showrunner michael piller about the possibility of creating yet another star trek spin-off show to differentiate this third spin-off from the hit tng executive brandon tartikoff was the one to suggest a more stationary setting rather than another trek show following a spaceship tartikov brought up the wagon train inspiration behind the original series and the next generation saying if the next generation was wagon train in space this new show has to be the rifleman in space a man and his son coming to a dilapidated frontier town on the edge of civilization at first berman and pillar considered setting the new show in a federation colony before eventually settling on a space station for budgetary reasons as various ideas were thrown around the writer's room the name of the station was decided as deep space nine at first this wasn't intended as the overall title of the show with berman preferring the title star trek the final frontier however deep space nine had simply stuck in conversation as development of the show continued michael piller realized this new type of setting would mean a significant change in the way they approached their star trek stories he said we felt that there was an opportunity to really look deeper more closely at the workings of the federation and by putting it on a space station where they would be forced to confront the kinds of issues that people in spaceships are not forced to confront in a series that focuses on a ship 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 as berman and pillar continued to develop the show they began to assemble the writing team for the series ira stephen bear who had previously written for the next generation's third season was the first to join as he previously functioned effectively as michael piller's second in command in the writers room on tng robert hugher wolff also joined the team among many others something which the writers mutually agreed with pillar on was to create a cast of characters with far more interpersonal conflict with each other during the next generation gene roddenberry had famously created an edict of no workplace conflict on the enterprise his reasoning being that by the 24th century human beings had evolved beyond petty squabbles in the early years of the next generation however this hampered many writers who felt they had no avenue to create compelling drama which is more often than not built on conflict while michael piller had found a way of eventually creating this much-needed conflict when he took over a showrunner this conflict still had severe limitations imposed on it by the time deep space nine was in early development roddenberry was in ill health and so had no direct involvement with the series the writers wanting to be respectful of roddenberry's original edict came up with a clever way to get around this limitation by adding more alien non-starfleet characters while devising the larger setting for the show pillars suggested utilizing the cardassians as they had been well received by audiences of the next generation and were popular among the writing staff as well the recurring character of roe laren had also been extremely well received and so the writers decided the fallout of the cardassian occupation of bajor provided the perfect backdrop for this western inspired frontier station already deep space nine was shaping up to be a marked departure from the star trek norm it was stationary rather than exploratory taking place on the edge of civilization and rife with conflict the key to making sure long-time trekkies and newcomers would accept something so different was certainly the characters for the first officer of this station originally michael piller and rick berman wanted to bring roland over to deep space nine as her character effectively introduced audiences to the cardassian occupation of bajor however actress michelle forbes declined the role instead wanting to focus on breaking into feature films and didn't want to commit to a potentially long-running series therefore the writers used laryn as inspiration to create the character of major kieran reese ultimately the writers found this helped them in their goal of creating more interpersonal conflict by having a first officer outside of starfleet actress nana visitor landed the role after a strong audition she later reflected on the audition saying the role piqued my interest because it wasn't a mother or a wife or a prostitute or a killer kira was fully realized i decided to remain in character as kira throughout the audition process i later heard the producers thought i was perfect for the role but thought i'd be a nightmare to work with nana visitor was born at nana tucker adopting the surname visitor several years into her acting career in which she won major roles on broadway along with her stage work she made several guest appearances on various tv shows throughout the 80s such as macgyver and remington steele for the security chief on the station pillar wanted to follow in the tradition of spock and data in creating an outsider character who looked in at humanity he described odo as the comedian of all curmudgeons so instead of data who worships humanity and wants to be that and spock who would deny it odo has been forced to pass as humanoid his entire life to look like us and act like us because it's a lot more socially acceptable and he resents that tony award-winning actor renee oberginois landed the part obergenois led an acclaimed stage career since the 1960s performing opposite other legendary actors such as frank langella and christopher plummer he had previously appeared in star trek vi the undiscovered country as colonel west a small role originally cut from the theatrical version of the film but restored for the home video release when he was initially sought out for the character the actor was hesitant he said when the script was first sent to me and i read the description of the character my daughter said to me oh dad yeah this is yours you're gonna get this my kids were completely confident that this part was for me which considering the nature of the character i don't know if i should take as a compliment or not as production ramped up iris stephen bear was a little unsure of aubergine was casting at first saying i was told six months before the series began that odo was going to be a clint eastwood type and when we started creating the first couple of episodes we sent writers off to wright clint eastwood then i was told rene obergenois and i said clint eastwood rene auberginois clint eastwood rene does not compute and then i saw what he brought to the role and i had to call up a bunch of writers and say guys i apologize but this is better than we ever imagined as the writers came up with these new characters they wanted to bring in an alien species that had already been established in the next generation eventually they settled on a trill as previously seen in the tng episode the host aliens who carry a symbiotic life form with each host inheriting the memories of previous hosts the writers enjoyed the idea of a character who looked like a young woman but who possessed knowledge and wisdom far beyond her years actress terry farrell landed the role after a nerve-wracking audition farrell was already an enormous star trek fan and so jumped at the chance to appear in the latest spin-off despite finding the alien nature of the role intimidating farrell had previously made a number of tv and film appearances such as in paper dolls and quantum leap among others after being cast makeup designer michael west more set about adapting the trill makeup previously seen in the next generation although the results were less than impressive many of the producers deemed terry farrell too good looking to be covered up by thick latex pieces so wes moore decided to adapt the design he had created for famke janssen in the tng episode of the perfect mate in keeping with the western motif the writers wanted to have a saloon bartender type character and thought a natural fit for such a character would be a ferengi armin shimmerman was one of star trek's reliable ferengi performers having appeared as one of the very first ferengi in the tng episode the last outpost although after the abysmal first outing for the ferengi shimmerman was pleased to see a more layered character in quark and sought to fix the supposed damage he had done to the ferengi in his initial performance as i have previously said in my lore evolution series i think shimmerman was being a bit hard on himself one of the early relationships the writers were set on establishing relied on the crusty banter between quark and odo overtly inspired by the dynamic between humphrey bogart's rick blaine and claude reigns captain louis renault in casablanca another familiar face in the cast was irish actor colin meaney made famous in trek circles for portraying the fan favorite chief miles o'brien the character and actor was extremely well liked among the writers and mini was keen to expand on the role he had so enjoyed playing for the station's doctor at the time the writers had very little in terms of the actual character the original character brief described in the casting calls and other archive material are pretty bare bones in keeping with the western motif though the writers envisioned an intelligent scholar type whose naivete is soon tempered by the harsh realities of frontier life among those who auditioned for the role was edward roll higgins but in the end the part was given to sudanese british actor alexander siddik siddig's full birth name is sedig l tahir when he began his acting career and indeed for the first few seasons of deep space nine he was credited as sedig al-fadil however he changed this yet again to alexander siddig siddik had gained attention for his role as king faisal in the made for tv sequel to lawrence of arabia a dangerous man lawrence after arabia this performance caught the eye of rick berman who at first wanted siddig not for the station's doctor originally named julian amaros but later changed to julian beshear but instead berman asked siddik to audition for the station's commander benjamin cisco however he was deemed far too young for the role of commander benjamin cisco the producers searched high and low for the right actor among those who auditioned were robert gwillem keith allen pip torrens ralph brown anthony head joelin baker peter firth nick brimble stefan khalifa and even peter capaldi as a quick side note while researching for this series i found this picture of peter capaldi back in the 70s attending the very first star trek convention in the uk and i just think that's adorable eventually a name which the producers were keen on was avery brooks who had previously been considered for jean-luc picard brooks had led an acclaimed stage career particularly for his performance in the one man show paul robson as well as a slew of shakespeare performances he made his television acting debut as the lead in the 12 years a slave adaptation at solomon northup's odyssey later he played the character cletus moyer in roots the gift alongside levar burton however his most recognizable role to tv audiences at the time was as hawk in the crime drama series spencer for hire and in subsequent spin-offs when his agent first told him he was being considered for a star trek role brooks apparently burst out laughing and dismissed the idea of hand assuming he would be playing an alien and forced to act under heavy makeup even after finding out the character was human brooks was still unconvinced after he had received the script brooks's wife was the first to read it and insisted he consider auditioning when he did eventually read it for himself he was surprised by the high quality of the writing and decided to audition allegedly while on his way to the paramount lot his car broke down and he assumed he would lose out on auditioning but luckily berman and pillar were able to schedule a new audition date after this one audition the entire creative staff on the show knew brooks was the best choice for the role he was offered the part on the condition he'd do it without a beard and with his hair to clearly distinguish the character from hawke this again made brooks extremely hesitant to accept but in the end he took the job he did so after a conversation with his wife and children in which he recognized the importance of portraying an african-american man in a command position it's more like a star trek soap opera as the space station turns really kind of mediocre at best just watch say the second half of the second season and search online for the five to ten best episodes the whole idea of star trek is the idea that they would be exploring new worlds and going where no man has gone before not bumming around a space station talking about their feelings they broke gene roddenberry's rules for star trek anything else is losing precious time you could use for something more pleasant like breaking each bone in your hand with a rusted hammer just like with the next generation deep space 9 received fervent fan backlash after its announcement for the next generation the backlash was centered on the new cast of characters but for deep space nine the backlash surrounded the core concept of the show a spaceship going boldly where no one has gone before was what defines star trek for many people and so a trek series stuck on a space station seemed completely ludicrous as more information about the show became known the darker tone and grittier setting also angered some fans who believed deep space 9 would be in violation of the all-important gene's vision of a bright utopian future also like the next generation deep space nine would be released in a first run syndication format skipping a primary network and rolling out nationwide on smaller local stations this once again guaranteed a full first season beginning with a feature-length pilot episode titled emissary for the look of this new show the production enlisted almost the entire art department for the next generation including production designer herman zimmerman illustrator rick sternak graphics designer michael okuda and visual effects supervisor robert legato among many others because it took some time for the kardashians to become involved in the backstory of the show the design of the titular station took quite a while to nail down we were going in the entirely wrong direction we wanted something that looked like it might have docking facilities and cargo facilities and it might have layers and layers built upon it just wanted something that looked very busy and efficient in its own way but not necessarily not necessarily 2001 or certainly not starfleet-ish in one of hermann's original sketches he showed a circular hoop-like space station hermann was under the impression that we would have to rotate it for gravity mike okuda and i gently kidded him about the fact that we've had artificial gravity generators on star trek for for many many years little did we know however that that that hoop design would come back after many many piles of sketches to become the main design point for the station it was actually rick berman's idea to to break the the hoops at the top and the bottom and that was the final piece that uh that they find the shape of the space station for the interior sets the design team went about creating some truly massive spaces far larger standing sets than previously used on any star trek production even though the studio space available meant zimmermann had to reduce many sets in size the upset alone was over two stories tall and the promenade was even larger emissary was one of the most expensive pilot episodes paramount television had ever produced because of the sheer scale of the sets large numbers of extras makeup designs and visual effects the cost of the first episode was estimated to be roughly 12 million dollars david carson who had directed a number of tng episodes including yesterday's enterprise directed emissary he worked with cinematographer marvin v rush to create a darker atmosphere for the series utilizing haze and higher contrast lighting they also used cranes to move the camera through the massive sets and effectively introduce the audience to these new spaces the schedule was extremely tight and hours were long with some regular call times being as early as 4am and not wrapping until 10pm as production continued urgent last-minute script revisions put even more strain on the cast and crew some of whom began referring to the shoot as deep nine later in the shoot patrick stewart jonathan friggs and brent spiner paid a visit to the set and sensing the low morale of the crew decided to try and lift their spirits by singing dancing and performing some on-the-spot vaudeville routines which seemed to do the trick in cheering everyone up after an arduous month-long shoot emissary wrapped principal photography for the visual effects the show relied on the now highly experienced in-house team led by robert legato an ambitious sequence at the beginning of the episode depicted the famed battle of wolf 359 the aftermath of which was previously seen in the next generation usually legato was permitted four days to shoot effects elements for any one episode but this opening battle alone took 14 days to shoot other notable effects included the pioneering use of cgi to create the bajoran wormhole and odo's shapeshifting for the score of the episode and the main theme for the entire series dennis mccarthy composed the music because of the gritty run-down nature of the station mccarthy came up with the idea of a triumphant melody but played only by a single lone horn illustrating the isolation of the station but also the potential for hope after a herculean effort to finish the premiere episode the production team felt as if they had learned everything they needed to learn for future episodes of the show the only question was would audiences and critics actually like it on the 3rd of january 1993 the first episode of deep space 9 was released it waits at the edge of the final frontier it waits for an untested crew to begin an unprecedented journey but most of all it waits for you star trek deep space nine on january 4th the wait will be over [Music] in contrast to the debut episode of the next generation emissary is a much more successful pilot episode for the third star trek spin-off the darker tone and grittiness of the show was made crystal clear as the episode begins showing the viewer the famed battle of wolf 359 from the other side while we previously only saw the aftermath of the engagement here the truly terrifying destructive power of the borg led by the face of jean-luc picard hits the audience hard with our new protagonist benjamin cisco losing his wife and ship within the opening minutes of the episode the following act of the episode continues to showcase how much of a departure this new star trek show intends to be rather than the luxury hotel-like setting of a galaxy class starship the titular station is naturally oppressive in its design run down and crime riddled with lingering damage from the brutal cardassian occupation what stands out most though is the meeting between cisco and picard knowing the audience likely spent five years already getting to know jean-luc picard in the next generation and holding the character up as a fan favorite the noble federation idealist and fatherly starship commander the natural instinct for any writer would be for these two to meet each other as equals or for cisco to sing picard's praises echoing the feelings already instilled within the audience instead cisco's personal trauma and conflicted feelings over his assignment comes out as thinly veiled anger toward picard without overtly stating it cisco makes it clear he doesn't want to be in this room with picard and certainly doesn't want to be running the station the performances from both actors are simply fantastic the result of two highly experienced stage and screen actors nailing a strong script it's a scene which by design leaves a bad taste in your mouth and is once again a meta-textual statement about deep space nine as a show while picard and cisco don't get along the typically warm and fatherly picard does reappear during o'brien's departure from the enterprise it's a quick scene nothing overly melodramatic but it still succeeds in being a touching farewell between the two characters the middle portion of the episode is where emissary starts to meander somewhat though nothing to the degree of the blatant padding and encounter of farpoint it's a symptom of the episode feeling the need to convey as much setup to the audience as possible this story in this plot is so clearly centered on benjamin cisco that when we are diverted into more expository scenes it can make the pacing feel a little sluggish by the time we're halfway through the episode it still isn't clear where the actual plot is going that is until the wormhole appears nearby cisco makes contact with the bizarre non-corporeal aliens inside it and a returning cardassian squadron gears up to attack the hopelessly outmatched station here the station is utterly battered by the cardassian ships with an emphasis placed on the threadbare resources the crew have to work with and the wounded occupants bashir has to fight to save it isn't anything spectacular but it's a tense action set piece the true climax of the episode though occurs during cisco's contact with the mysterious alien beings inside the wormhole in some ways the dreamlike structure of these scenes resembles the later time shifts seen in all good things cisco begins the dialogue in total confusion as does the audience but over time he manages to piece together the nature of the life forms he's talking to and helped him to understand the starkly different existence he experiences as the exchange continues the non-corporeal non-linear nature of the aliens forces cisco to confront his trauma stemming from the death of his wife quite frankly this is gut-wrenching to watch with avery brooks's performance fully embracing the pain of his character as he attempts to convey the deep sense of loss he feels fighting to form words with every strained breath i don't know if you can understand i see her like this every time i close my eyes it took three years for the writers of the next generation to bring picard to this level of emotional vulnerability but here in deep space nine's very first episode here was benjamin cisco essentially bearing his soul to the audience i don't know about anyone else but this moment never fails to make me tear up as the episode draws to an end with the station still in one piece and cisco finally starting to heal the arrival of new ships and a bustling social scene serve as a signal of hope despite how desperate things may seem and how insurmountable the obstacles emissary ends on an optimistic note initial reception to the episode was generally strong and overall much more positive than the mixed reaction to encounter at farpoint it managed to grab an audience of almost 19 million viewers while a far cry from the 27 million of the next generation's debut this was a more than healthy number of viewers for a new spin-off which was running concurrently with the definitive incarnation of such an iconic franchise season one of deep space nine is quite mixed overall compared to its largely strong first episode now make no mistake deep space nine's first year while not a home run is a much higher caliber than the next generation's first season which at times was borderline unwatchable michael piller's character-centric storytelling philosophy carries over to deep space nine nicely as a result the deep space nine ensemble is overall much better established than their tng counterparts were in their first year despite the notable departures from the next generation though there is a feeling that early deep space 9 was also still relying a little too heavily on some of the tropes the preceding show established episodic stories can certainly still work well in this new setting but a lot of the times it feels like the writers in attempting to continue with typical star trek plots missed out on some storytelling opportunities unique to this setting what i mean by this is the continued reliance on planet alien or anomaly of the week episodes in a show like the next generation these kinds of one-off adventures feel perfectly natural as the enterprise is always in motion traveling to new places where it can encounter these things but in deep space nine in order for these types of episodes to work the characters either have to take a run about through the wormhole to visit a new world or have something come through the wormhole and board the station now there's nothing conceptually wrong with this of course in fact many of these episodic adventures are perfectly enjoyable for the most part aside from some unfortunate outings like move along home or queueless but by relying on this particular formula it's as if the writers were trying to contort deep space nine into the next generation despite the fact they made conscious choices to differentiate the shows it all feels a bit counterintuitive again that's not to say these episodes were inherently bad just a little underwhelming as a use of this new setting for a star trek show however one notable exception to this is our first highlighted episode the kiranori centric duet kira arrests a cardassian named maritza believing him to be a war criminal due to him having an illness unique to a pedorian labor camp during the cardassian occupation however due to the lack of evidence and moritz's own denial kira and the station team have to probe deeper at first the truth seems to have been found when maritza admits to in fact being guldar heel a mass murderer but as the investigation continues not all is as it seems star trek is well known for its historical allegories and for duet the writing team drew direct inspiration from the fallout of the second world war and the horrific legacy of the holocaust writers peter fields and ira stephen bear were heavily influenced by the robert shaw adaptation the man in the glass booth in their conception of the script it's a densely layered story with themes of prejudice justice and deep-rooted societal trauma while there are plenty of intriguing twists and turns what makes duet so memorable are the simply incredible two-hander scenes between nana's visitor and guest star harris yulin when his guise is seemingly destroyed not only does darheel not deny his crimes he revels in them declaring how proud he is of his work and torturing major kira by insisting no matter what the majorans do to him he has already won the performances from both actors are simply brilliant with them each delivering their lines like blows in a fight the way they circle each other during the debates attacking one another's beliefs justifying their actions and darhil seizing on every opportunity to strike a devastating verbal blow that's what justified my actions that's what gave me strength nothing justifies genocide what you call genocide i call a day's work the true power of the episode though comes from its final twist when it's revealed the cardassian prisoner is not to darheel but is maritza a file clerk from the same labor camp so guilt-ridden by his failure to stop the atrocities of his superiors he chose to disguise himself as darhil in order to expose cardassia's crimes and give bajor some semblance of justice it's one of the key turning points in major kira's character as she finds herself facing a person she naturally assumed to be her enemy just as traumatized and haunted by the occupation as many of her own people admittedly the final scene does come off as slightly contrived when a bajoran bystander murders maritza on the station promenade but luckily it doesn't dampen the true scale of the tragedy among the cast and crew the episode was widely regarded as a favorite and earned widespread critical praise as well although its first season was a mixed bag overall duet showed deep space 9 was a show which really had something to say the finale of season 1 isn't in the same league but it's an episode which i believe is worth highlighting all the same in the hands of the prophets while caico o'brien teaches her class about the science behind the bajoran wormhole she is interrupted by a fundamentalist bajoran vedic who demands keiko either teach the bajoran religion to her class or stop teaching the science behind the wormhole as the dispute escalates cisco is placed in a tough position having to reconcile his duties as a starfleet officer with his status as the emissary drawing on yet more historical parallels in the hands of the prophets evokes the debate which is often seen regarding the content of the american school curriculum and how big of a role religion plays in it writer robert hewitt wolff specifically cited the scopes trial as a source of inspiration however the episode is more broadly about a person or persons forcing their beliefs on others the episode saw the introduction of win adami played by louise fletcher being most recognizable as the villainous nurse ratchet and one flew over the cuckoo's nest fletcher instills a win with a truly detestable personality utterly fundamental in her beliefs but never shy about manipulating and deceiving others to get what she wants what i ultimately respect about the episode though is the refusal to outright dismiss religious beliefs as a concept this is something which wasn't always true in the next generation as gene roddenberry's vision of a utopian future is seen as utopia partly because religion seems to have all but vanished from human society it's a well-known fact gene roddenberry saw religious belief as a roadblock to progress this attitude is most clearly reflected in episodes like who watches the watchers in which a society rekindling its belief in a supernatural deity is stated as a sign of regression millennia ago they abandoned their belief in the supernatural now you are asking me to send them back into the dark ages of superstition and ignorance and fear no this is in stark contrast to in the hands of the prophets in which cisco tries to communicate the importance of religious tolerance with all this stuff about the celestial temple in the wormhole it's dumb no it's not my point is it's a matter of interpretation it may not be what you believe but that doesn't make it wrong while the events of the episode are propelled by religious extremists the story and the show in general never paints the bajoran religion or any religion as inherently negative this episode ultimately succeeds in delivering a nuanced message and sets the stage for some far more complex and thematically rich stories in the show's future season 1 wrapped things up on a generally positive note while it wasn't a smash hit with critics and audiences the quality of the episodes was far above the largely poor first year of the next generation it managed a regular audience of 8 million viewers less than its concurrent flagship show but a healthy sized audience all the same in the wider pop culture though deep space nine was seen as the black sheep of the star trek franchise in many ways both the original series and the next generation offered the quintessential star trek experience many casual viewers expected of the crew of the enterprise going boldly where no one has gone before a stationary star trek show telling darker more complex stories with far more unfamiliar characters didn't capture the wider zeitgeist in the same way that being said the viewing figures and generally positive reception were more than enough to guarantee further adventures deep space nine second season is still far from the height of the show but it has a higher frequency of strong episodes and that goes for both the episodic adventures and more important episodes which would leave a lasting impact on subsequent seasons one of the stronger episodic entries this season however is whispers after miles o'brien returns from a conference he starts to notice a number of suspicious behaviors from those around him his wife and daughter seem distant and uncomfortable around him he sees his colleagues talking in hushed whispers behind his back and his regular duties seem tailor made to distract him more than anything else as o'brien's paranoia builds he becomes convinced his family and colleagues are in on some kind of conspiracy which he is determined to uncover miles o'brien had become a fan favorite during the next generation precisely for his down-to-earth relatable nature in stark contrast to the angelic superhumans often seen crewing the enterprise for this reason he was also a favorite among the writers and was a perfect fit for the grittier deep space nine time was well spent showing us o'brien's new struggles as he fought to maintain the cobbled together systems of the station often seen with tools hanging out his pockets and sleeves firmly rolled up a lot of time was also dedicated to o'brien's domestic life with caico o'brien receiving much more screen time this was arguably the first time an authentic feeling family was depicted in star trek o'brien wasn't a chisel jawed space adventurer or wise negotiator he was a blue collar worker simply trying his best to get by this is what made o'brien centric episodes so enjoyable to watch throughout deep space nine as his every man perspective came as a breath of fresh air he was far more vulnerable than many of the other characters and therefore the threats he faced seemed all the more insurmountable whispers is a great use of o'brien as a character the script and directions succeed in creating a palpable sense of something not being quite right a tension which escalates throughout the episode until the final twist the o'brien we have been following actually being a clone of the original something only he was unaware of is just twilight zone to a t a simple twist the one which works devastatingly well due to colin mini's earnest performance and the likeable nature of o'brien as a character arguably it was whispers which began the torturing o'brien trend which continued for the rest of the show o'brien centric episodes became exercises in how to best put the character through absolute hell such as in season two's tribunal and the much later hard time another character who found their feet in season 2 was jadzia dax the writers have since admitted being a little lost with the character in ds9's first year trying to effectively balance the youth of the actress and age-old wisdom of the character proved difficult and dax's personality took a long time to really define at first the writers attempted to create a presence similar to a audrey hepburn meets spock but this direction didn't satisfy the writers or terry farrell by season 2 it clicked largely by going in the exact opposite direction instead of the typically wise elderly persona expected from a character several centuries old instead the writers decided to make dax a wisecracking ultra confident party animal and swashbuckler it was a change which worked brilliantly and led to levar burton while guest directing an episode giving the character the nickname action barbie something farrell happily embraced a great example of how this changed opened up more possibilities for the character is blood oath three legendary klingon warriors kang koloth and core arrive on the station to see if dax is willing to fulfill a blood oath taken by dax's previous host curzon the oath in question being to find an exact revenge on a pirate leader who murdered each klingon warrior's first born son one of whom was godson to curzon long-time trek fans are gifted with the return of john colocos michael ansara and william campbell each reprising their klingon roles from star trek the original series each one gives a powerhouse performance and the fact terry farrell is never overshadowed by them is quite impressive the writer is finally figuring out what to do with the dax character and the actress embracing the new direction almost serves as a metatextual story for the dramatic tension of the episode at first the three klingons refused to bring dax along believing jadzia isn't tough enough for the mission and telling her she isn't beholden to the oath corzone took with them her determination to fulfill kerzon's oath manages to win them over though and her scientific knowledge actually allowing them to reach their target is illustrative of dax combining the strengths of her past and present incarnations blood oath also builds on the strengths of klingon-centric episodes as seen in the next generation with the writers more overtly than ever pulling from the classic epic poems of homer and vigil and combining that style with the rich character-driven stories of william shakespeare just like whispers blood oath is the birth of one of deep space nine's strongest threads outside of the main cast however deep space nine was already building up a large ensemble of recurring characters each of whom were given extra attention thanks to the nature of a stationary series one of these characters was garrick played by andrew robinson a rumored cardassian spy who insists he's merely a humble tailor what made garrick so memorable was the bizarre glee he seemed to take in deceiving other people not only was almost every sentence out of his mouth obfuscating the truth but he delivered each line with such obvious insincerity he almost begged people to want to know more even egging them on when they inevitably became frustrated by garrick's lies andrew robinson instilled the character with so much humor and wit garrick was intensely likable but also totally untrustworthy as the character made more appearances a strange bond arose between him and dr bashir with an implicit romantic tension championed by the two actors and several writers at first he just wanted to have sex with him that's absolutely clear that's all he wanted from him come to my shop i got some nice clothes for you but you'll have to change first but then it really got complicated however this relationship did come to a head of sorts in the episode the wire after a typical lunch date with bashir garrick begins suffering intense head pain eventually the source of the pain is discovered to be a cybernetic device in his brain which seems to be breaking down what makes the wire such a terrific outing for garrick is the ambiguity as garrick's condition deteriorates his usual defenses seem to break down and he starts to reveal the dark deeds of his past and the reason for his exile from cardassia but as the episode goes on garrett continues spewing more contradictory stories further increasing the mystery surrounding his past in the end all we know for sure is that he was indeed a cardassian spy but that was already obvious from garrick's first appearance and we're left wondering if there is a kernel of truth within the numerous stories garrick told or if everything he said was another lie the true magic trick of the episode though is how this refusal to open up somehow strengthens the relationship between bashir and garrick a lot is left for the audience to interpret perhaps garrick's painful confession of his past sins although a lie is his attempt to pushing bashir away because he truly does feel a connection to him and doesn't want bashir to see him suffering then again this could be garrick attempting to win one last personal victory to confound the good doctor with yet another made-up tale either way it's an episode filled to the brim with great performances bristling dialogue and everlasting intrigue what i want to know is out of all the stories you told me which ones were true and which ones weren't they're all true even the lies especially the lies one of the more pulpy outings for this season is crossover while on the way back from the gamma quadrant a freak accident sends kira and bashir into a parallel universe after some investigation they discover it is in fact the mirror universe previously visited by captain kirk during the original series however since that visit the terran empire has fallen and a new klingon kardashian alliance brutally rules the alpha quadrant obviously the fun in any mirror universe episode is watching the regular actors break type and play mustache twirling villains in this ultimate world major kira is a sociopathic overseer odo is a cruel prison warden cisco is a pirate and scoundrel and miles o'brien is basically the same amidst the more thematically powerful and dark stories which characterize ds9 the show's four rays into the mirror universe were a nice detour into some flash gordon-esque pulpy action adventure of rugged but brave resistance fighters rebelling against tyrannical villains for the most part crossover kicked off a generally enjoyable ongoing storyline for the show a place for the writers to let loose and have some fun season two saw the continued political turmoil of bajor with an extremist faction attempting to take control of the station and later the emergence of the maquis a rebel group formed after the federation hands over several colonized worlds to the cardassian empire this was an event which would have widespread consequences for the series and the wider star trek universe although a big part of their creation was to establish them for the upcoming star trek voyager they also drove writer ira stephen bear to pursue something he and other writers had long sought to do serialized storytelling with star trek the original series and the next generation it's pretty easy for any newcomer to jump into a random episode and enjoy a self-contained one-off adventure although there are some recurring characters and plot points over the next generation seven years it mostly relied on a problem of the week format while this had proven successful in the past ira stephen bear was keen to shake up this formula for deep space nine as michael piller had said during the development of the show having a stationary series meant cisco and his crew couldn't simply move on from the events of an episode their problems and the consequences of their actions would linger and affect later stories as season 2 was coming to a close the launch of star trek voyager required much more attention from rick berman and michael piller the latter of which would leave his position as ds9's showrunner iris even bear was chosen as pillar's replacement and he was keen to implement his vision of more serialized stories however these ambitions clashed harshly with rick berman's stance on serialization because of the first run syndication format deep space dang was released on episodes of the show were sometimes aired at different times over the many channels it broadcast on bermud argued this would make following an ongoing storyline extremely difficult for an audience who may be confused if they missed an episode on the other hand bear argued that the rise of dvr technology more easily allowed audiences to stay up to date with episodes and the dedication of many star trek fans would ensure these storylines would be carefully curated for anyone who fell behind more than that though this would allow for better stories richer character arcs and bigger events within the show the seeds for bear's ambitions were planted in the season finale the gem hedar while embarking on a father-son camping trip which cisco was forced to also accept the presence of quark and his nephew nog they encounter an alien on the run from a race of brutal warriors known as the gem hedar sisko was then told about a powerful faction in the gamma quadrant called the dominion who sees starfleets trips through the wormhole as an intrusion into dominion territory what starts as a standard capture and then plotting escape scenario slowly escalates until the characters and the audience understands the true power of their new foe we are first given hints of this when talak talan leader of the gemadar group demonstrates his ability to beam through the station's shields and effortlessly pass through a security force field but it's the finale which truly signals the dominion throwing down the gauntlet when gemhadar ships engaged the uss odyssey during its mission to rescue cisco the choice to make the odyssey another galaxy class vessel is by no means an accident by deliberately evoking the audience's memories of the galaxy class enterprise the ultimate symbol of federation advancement power and comfort this allows the episode to shock the viewer by having three small gemhedar ships pulverize the odyssey using weapons which can easily penetrate the ship's shields and a final suicide run to destroy the odyssey entirely the sheer power and ferocity of this new enemy has made crystal clear while the true scale of the episode's events aren't immediately apparent the gem hedar is a striking introduction to what would become deep space nine's most important story for season three although on paper ira stephen bear was co-shoe runner with michael piller in practice bear had effectively taken the reigns of the series and was now primarily responsible for its creative direction ronald d moore and rene eshevara also joined the show full time in season 3 having previously contributed some story notes in prior years season 3 is another step up from its preceding year while ds9 was still to hit its stride bear and the writers were growing far more comfortable with their characters and it shows in the amount of well-crafted standalone episodes as well as larger spanning arcs this season saw yet another powerful cardassian major chirocentric episode full of twists and turns in second skin a contained battle with the station computer virus and civil defense and dax revisiting her previous hosts embodied by her friends and colleagues in facets however the episodes i've chosen to highlight are the two parters in arc heavy installments with bear remaining determined to implement serialized storytelling the rapidly developing dominion arc was to be further expanded on in the third season's debut episode but for that particular outing the writers realized they needed the show to become a little more mobile and so they introduced the uss defiant the defiant was created mostly out of practicality as bear was laying the groundwork for the dominion arc he realized the station needed a better method of defense than the handful of runabouts which had been used thus far it would also be more convenient to transport the entire cast through the wormhole rather than having to divide them among shuttles originally ronald d moore named the ship uss valiant however as voyager was currently airing he was told to come up with a name which didn't begin with v therefore he used the name defiant in reference to the uss defiant which had appeared in the original series episode the tholian web the concept of the ship proved controversial behind the scenes as rick berman resisted the idea of the federation making a purpose-built warship this controversy was further compounded when moore wanted to include a cloaking device on the ship in violation of the in-universe treaty between the federation and the romulan empire in the end moore and bear were able to convince berman the defiant was a unique ship in a unique situation and could only use its cloaking device in the gamma quadrant they also added in the backstory of the defiant being a prototype ship created to fight the borg the ship was designed by artist jim martin initially he approached the ship as a beefed-up runabout but was later told to make it a fully fledged starship his following designs were inspired by the maki raider which martin had previously designed it would be the first starfleet vessel shown on screen without external warp nacelles model builder tom mayninger helped martin refine the final design taking inspiration from ferrari sports cars to achieve the final look its small size proved advantageous for hermann zimmermann when it came to building sets as the production didn't have a hell of a lot of available room therefore the interior of the defiant was more submarine-like more confined while a studio model was built for the series a cg model was also created by vision art for use in the new opening credits as well as a handful of other more complex shots in later episodes following the introduction of the gem hedar at the end of season 2 season 3 kicks things off with a bang in the search parts 1 and 2. rather than waiting for the dominion threat to intensify cisco and the crew take the newly commissioned defiant in search of the dominion leadership known as the founders in the hopes of reaching a peaceful solution as the mission grows desperate odo finds himself drawn to a mysterious world where he at last finds his own people the elation of this meeting is suddenly undercut however when odo's people are revealed to be the founders themselves the idea behind the dominion was created by ira bear and fleshed out by robert hewitt wolff they wanted to give a face to the gamma quadrant and so bear gave wolf the task of creating not just one primary antagonist but three the dominion embodied a kind of anti-federation a vast alliance of worlds all working together but out of fear and oppression rather than peaceful cooperation wolfe described the vorta and gemhedar as the carrot and the stick respectively the vorsa functioned as negotiators and traders to expand dominion influence whereas the gem hedar bring other worlds to heal should the vorta not succeed michael piller had come up with the idea of making odo's people the founders of the dominion and when he pitched it to the writers he was delighted to discover they had been thinking the exact same thing it proved to be the perfect way to conjure all kinds of rich dramatic material for odo after yearning to reconnect with his own kind for so long having them be the biggest threat the alpha quadrant has ever faced was a stroke of genius the search is essentially another showcase of the threat posed by the dominion the deadliness of the gem hedar had already been established in season two but the search demonstrates the dominion's force of will and innate ability to manipulate other factions to suit their needs it's only thanks to odo's connection to the founders our main characters escape with their lives and far from the peaceful resolution cisco had hoped for the dominion remain as determined as ever to bring the federation to its knees amid season two parter which has nothing to do with the dominion storyline but is still a powerful outing for the series is our next highlighted episode past tense during a trip to starfleet headquarters a transporter accident sends cisco bashir and dax back in time to the year 2024 when they are assumed to be vagrants they are sent to a closed off neighborhood known as a sanctuary district a barbaric so-called solution for keeping the poorest of society out of sight and out of mind cisco soon deduces they have arrived at a pivotal event in u.s history which they must play a part in to ensure the future they came from still happens as a franchise star trek is known for its social commentary a great many episodes are often driven by thinly veiled allegories to real world issues and in past tense that veil is very thin indeed the episode almost shouts its message from a soapbox and it comes dangerously close to becoming preachy but at the same time the writers were horrified to discover the closed-off ghettos of their dark future scenario were actually being proposed by the los angeles mayor while the episode was being filmed there was an article about how the mayor of los angeles was talking about putting aside part of downtown los angeles as a haven as a haven for the homeless that was what the sanctuary districts were and it was literally there it was in the newspaper and we were just a little freaked out the episode also justifies its heavy-handedness by so thoroughly and sincerely exploring its themes with real tactfulness you work here you see these people every day how they live and you just don't get it this is an angry story angry at the injustice dealt out to the most vulnerable in society and beseeches the audience to find their sense of empathy far from everything being wrapped up in the end with a morally upstanding monologue the exploration of the issues in past tense is messy and brutal the solutions to these problems are hard imperfect and obstacles enormous but as is so poignantly put by dr bashir causing people to suffer because you hate them is terrible they're causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care that's really hard to understand another two part of this season is an important chapter in the dominion arc the companion episode's improbable cause and the dye is cast when a bomb destroys garrick's tailor shop the resulting investigation from odo leads the two to uncover a conspiratorial plan by the cardassian obsidian order and romulan talciar to attack the founder homeworld and the dominion what makes the episode so memorable aside from the typically great mystery writing is the episode's focus on garrick and odo as apparent andrew robinson and renee oberginois have simply electric chemistry and the characters bounce off one another in truly interesting ways odo the stalwart police officer always in search of the truth being paired with garrick a habitual liar and expert manipulator makes for the perfect odd couple but there's also an intrinsic contradiction within both characters odo despite his determination to uncover the truth in his criminal cases is a fiercely guarded individual who rarely reveals anything about himself meanwhile garrick despite never telling the truth seems to delight in baiting others with tantalizing clues about his past throwing them both into the world of interstellar secret police is the ideal way to explore the depths of both characters this culminates in a famously dark scene in which garrick tortures odo using a device which prevents him from shape-shifting garrick's inherent charm and likability is made quite disturbing when we see first firsthand the acts of abject cruelty he is capable of and no doubt performed many times in his earlier life and after sustaining so much pain we finally get a proper confession from odo of his true desire to return to his people and reconnect with them it's perhaps the greatest poetic justice then when the joint cardassian romulan fleet realizes they have been led into a trap the two organizations which pride themselves on expert manipulation and carefully crafted lies being completely outplayed by the dominion is the best kind of dramatic irony this is a two-parter which demonstrates yet another unique strength with deep space nine while the other main characters make a daring rescue with a defiant these two episodes take place almost entirely outside of starfleet following alien characters and their non-federation perspectives something rarely if ever seen in the next generation season 3 finishes things off nicely with the adversary in which the dominion yet again lulls the characters into a carefully orchestrated trap after being promoted to captain cisco was dispatched on a mission by ambassador krajensky to take the defiance to zenkathy space as a show of force to the federation's old enemy after an apparent coup on their home world but while on route the crew discover krajensky is in fact a changeling infiltrator there to instigate war between the federation and zenkathy in order to weaken both factions what follows is the well-worn trope of rising paranoia as the crew start to suspect each other of not being who they say they are a familiar idea but well executed in a contained sharply directed thriller the cramped submarine style sets further enhancing the tension it's a true edge of your seat experience ending with odo killing another changeling in self-defense an act which would have vast repercussions for the following season by the fourth season not only had the next generation reached its end but the events of star trek generations resulted in a tearing down of the standing tng sets and freeing up additional television resources as the tng crew made their successful jump to the big screen this allowed deep space 9 to partly revamp itself this coincided nicely with some new plans which ira stephen bear was conjuring surrounding a new klingon arc originally the writers had planned to change links on earth story to serve as the cliffhanger finale for season three but paramount executives didn't want a cliffhanger episode to end the season for whatever reason so instead bear started bouncing around ideas with ronald d moore and robert hewitt wolff after briefly considering an arc involving the vulcans leaving the federation bear returned to a line written by more for the dies cast in which a changeling imposter states after today the only real threat to us from the alpha quadrant are the klingons and the federation and i doubt that either of them will be a threat for much longer and thus the writers started devising a klingon-centric story after bringing the idea to rick berman berman suggested bringing in the character of wharf from the next generation and adding him to the main cast while the writers were enthusiastic about bringing in wharf many of the cast were quite apprehensive including michael dorn himself the actor had been playing the character for over seven years by this point and wasn't sure about committing to multiple seasons of another star trek show when word of warf's edition reached the main ds9 cast many of them felt as if the higher-ups at paramount weren't confident enough in the series and felt like they needed to add a more popular character with this idea in mind many of the cast were worried worf would take focus away from the other characters in the end though these concerns were quelled when bear moore and wolf explained the details of their story arc to dorne he became very interested in reprising his role also when dorne began working with the ds9 cast the actors got along extremely well and any worries about characters having their spotlights taken away quickly faded season 4 of deep space 9 is where the show finally hits its stride and it does so in a massive way season 3 was already a match for the high bar set by the next generation but deep space 9 season 4 is simply spectacular the entire production feels far more confident with a revamped opening theme and credits which bring life to the previously run down backwater station the approach to cinematography also changes slightly with a richer color palette and less reliance on atmospheric haze for a sharper more vibrant look overall but it's the writing which is truly exceptional the characters have been so firmly established by this point and each episode consistently finds unique and interesting arcs for them out of a collective 25 episodes only muse is the truly weak outing which in terms of a batting average far exceeds even the best seasons of the next generation this is when deep space nine really emerged from out of the shadow of its predecessor the premiere of season four is truly deep space nine firing on all cylinders cisco and the crew become suspicious when a massive klingon fleet mobilizes outside the station accompanied by general martok and eventually chancellor gauran himself after failing to uncover their true intentions cisco enlists the help of worf to investigate the klingons eventually he discovers galron's plan to invade the cardassian empire believing it to have been infiltrated by changelings due to a recent revolution seeing the evidence to be shaky at best merely an excuse to galvanize the klingon empire cisco comes to believe the klingons must be stopped before their war spreads following the collapse of the federation klingon alliance and the daring rescue of the cardassian leadership the station prepares for the inevitable battle way of the warrior essentially embodies everything great about the show at this point the character-focused drama as worf is once again forced to choose between his starfleet duties and his cultural heritage the twists and turns of political intrigue which keep the audience guessing the boldness of the stories with the klingons breaking their decades-long peace with the federation and from season four onwards the jaw-dropping scale of the action visual effects supervisor gary hutzel was essentially told in season three by iris stephen bear we are going to war thanks to advances in motion control technology this allowed for more ambitious shots to be achieved on a tight tv budget and schedule but the final battle seen in way of the warrior was something which had never been done before on television even the contemporary babylon 5 where large-scale space action was made a bit easier thanks to its pioneering use of cgi was yet to attempt set-piece action as big as this it was an immense undertaking for the team but one which paid off in droves propelled by dennis mccarthy's outstanding music and interspersed with impressively staged stunt work the entire sequence is utterly breathtaking although the station manages to hold off the klingon fleet the consequences of this monumental action would continue to inform future episodes from here until the very end of the series after such a massive opening episode for the season one would assume the writers would be hard pressed to top it but in the episode immediately following way of the warrior they managed to do just that precisely by going in the exact opposite direction in the visitor beginning literally with a dark and stormy night an elderly jake cisco is visited by a young woman who wants to ask him about his writing to help give her the answers she wants jake tells her the story of how his father died he recounts a story in which while on a scientific expedition jake sees his father seemingly killed right before his eyes however in the following months and even years benjamin cisco continues reappearing trapped in a time-dilated realm which keeps intersecting with jake while way of the warrior thrilled with its epic scale and drama the visitor moves its audience with a tragic emotional tale of loss grief and the bond between father and son ever since the beginning of the show the relationship between benjamin and jake was brilliantly written and performed helped by the real life affection the two actors had toward each other with avery brooks even on occasion introducing cyric lofton as one of his children it's a relationship which felt true to life in its flaws with jake and his father not always seeing eye to eye but it also enhanced the dramatic potential of both characters benjamin cisco having to raise a child as a single father while also holding the station together and being a religious icon presented tough challenges for the man meanwhile jake cisco also had to struggle against these obstacles while trying to lead an ostensibly normal adolescent life despite the problems which they each faced in their lives the love they felt for each other remained clear as day this is what makes the visitor such a heartbreaking story jake and ben each functioned as each other's rock and so jake losing his father was already traumatic enough but to have that trauma extended by cisco's reappearances is almost an act of cosmic cruelty jake is literally incapable of moving on as the symbol of his grief constantly comes back to remind him of how deep his loss is meanwhile cisco is trapped begging his son to forget him as he sees jake wasting his life in a desperate quest to bring his father back the companion framing device adds a lot to the story as well as guest star tony todd wonderfully relays the events to his guest melanie turning the story into a larger than life fable the true genius of this framing device though is when it ties into the story being told as the sun rises melanie comes to understand that jake sisko is preparing to see his father one last time having realized his own death is the only thing which can save his father and give him back the life he wasted i challenge anyone to watch this climactic scene without crying because i have to say it's a challenge i always fail we're going to get a second jake my sweet boy my retrospective of the next generation i highlighted the episode conspiracy from season one it was an episode tracy tormey wrote to deliberately piss off gene roddenberry and in that video i said roddenberry ended up fully endorsing the script however this is not quite accurate tormey's original concept for the titular conspiracy was to be independent of any alien infiltration plot and instead the culprits would be the real starflee admiralty this was vetoed by roddenberry as he was adamantly against portraying starfleet in any negative light although alterations were made to conspiracy the idea of a corrupted starfleet admiralty was revisited in the two-parter home front and paradise lost when a diplomatic conference is attacked on earth cisco believes the changelings are responsible and so he returns to earth with odo and jake to strengthen earth's defenses against a possible dominion takeover but as the perceived danger increases cisco grows suspicious of starfleet's true intentions the theme of sacrificing one's principles in times of crisis is a rich well of story ideas which star trek has visited many times most recently in the first season of star trek discovery but the groundwork for such a story is expertly laid out in this two-parter for the majority of part one the audience is largely on cisco's side having seen the real threat the founders pose to the federation but it's the excellent brock peters as joseph cisco who motivates us to call into question the necessity of these extreme security measures echoing some ideas touched on in the next generations the drum head homefront paradise lost demonstrates how paranoia and the grip of fear can so quickly erode civil freedoms and how rhetoric involving national security can easily be turned into tools of oppression you can't go around making people prove they are who they say they are that's no way to live i'm not going to go along with it eventually cisco gets to the bottom of what's really going on uncovering a plot by admiral layton to overthrow the federation president and enact martial law as a way of guaranteeing the federation's security it's a truly shocking revelation a plot which escalates to a finale in which two starfleet vessels actually engage one another in battle the scope of such a plan has real weight within the star trek universe which as mentioned before is a massive departure from the vision of the future gene roddenberry had in mind but as the writers and myself have often argued if star trek is to serve as a source of inspiration illustrating humanity's failings as well as our achievements is integral to communicating powerful moral messages to the audience and this two-parter gives us a stark warning which is worth heeding in any time period while the machinations of the dominion were only a smokescreen for homefront paradise lost their connection to odo conjures more great drama in the season 4 finale broken link odo suddenly collapses during his routine duties and bashir discovers oda was suffering from a strange degenerative condition with no way to cure it ultimately the crew decide the only way to help odo is to take him to the founder homeworld over the first four seasons of deep space nine odo came to be seen as quite a conflicted character and has had somewhat of a reappraisal in recent years from certain sections of the fandom renee oberginois never gave a single bad performance throughout the entire show and is innately likable due to his cumulative nature his trademark harumf literally being written into the scripts however from a moral perspective there are a lot of complex questions surrounding odo his time serving aboard the station during the tyrannical rule of the cardassians is a dark subject to tackle while he is lauded in universe for his pursuit of justice regardless of whoever occupies the station several episodes and a number of fans have noted how this admiration can be misplaced the cardassian legal system is shown to be corrupt and unjust making one ask if odo should bear some responsibility for the oppression doled out by the cardassians other episodes such as bar association showcase an authoritarian streak in the way odo sees things from what chief o'brien tells me about strikes they sound like trouble i don't like mobs in my opinion if you need one to get what you want it's not worth getting on the other hand odo is a character who is torn in many directions he's a shapeshifter attempting to fit in with solids leading to a lot of resentment he yearns to rejoin his people but can't abide the dominion potentially hurting those he cares about he is determined to put a stop to criminality and uncover the truth but in doing so his methods often violate personal privacy and he seems to condone a means justify the end's attitude none of this is to say oda was a badly written character in fact this complexity makes him intensely compelling to watch and it's this complexity this inner conflict which drives the drama in broken link after submitting to judgment for killing a fellow changeling in the season 3 finale odo is punished by his kind in possibly the cruelest way he is made humanoid a solid odo and the rest of the crew barely have time to absorb the full magnitude of this change before another shocking turn of events provides the hook for the following season the possibility of gauron in fact being a changeling [Music] season four of deep space nine was an absolute triumph again while the ratings didn't match the smash hit levels of the next generation it had maintained its healthy and loyal audience the season had garnered widespread critical acclaim although it retained the title of the black sheep of the star trek franchise it was an installment which was making some very big waves for season five of deep space nine robert hewitt wolff chose to leave the writing team at the end of the year after five years working on the show he wanted to leave things on a high and go on to pursue new challenges in a bit of dramatic irony the year wolf left would also be the year the writers made an effort to further the dominion conflict arc the dominion themselves having been mostly created by wolf season 5 also saw a uniform change to a grey and black design they were created by robert blackman and introduced in the film star trek first contact meanwhile companion show voyager being set far away from the federation stayed with the older design while the uniforms do look very smart personally i've always preferred the more colorful starfleet uniforms season 5 in terms of a batting average isn't quite as consistent to season 4 occasionally falling back on a few tired plots here and there that being said the number of high caliber episodes is still staggering with some of the most profound developments in the larger story arcs for the first half of season 5 the klingon war arc continues remaining prominent in several episodes and highly influencing wharf's journey as a character because deep space nine was the first star trek show to truly tell a war story the depiction of this conflict marked a number of firsts for the franchise although we had seen plenty of space combat in previous shows and movies deep space nine made an effort to show the grittier ground level conflicts of the war such as in the episode nor the battle to the strong when dr bashir is diverted to assist the starfleet outpost under siege from klingons jake cisco asks to accompany him and report on the war one of the elements i've always appreciated about deep space nine is how often it shows as a perspective of the star trek universe outside of starfleet jake cisco is the antithesis of tng's wesley crusher in many ways although his father is a highly decorated starfleet officer jake never expresses any desire to join starfleet and instead pursues his passion of writing both creative writing and journalistic writing this is what allows this episode to more thoroughly explore the horrors of war by viewing events from jake's perspective the sense of adventure which jake desperately seeks at the start of the episode quickly fades as jake is brought face to face with the dead and dying jake being so in over his head gives way to some very unheroic but very understandable actions when jake is caught in the thick of the fighting by the end of the episode jake only manages to survive by the skin of his teeth he emerges from the story suffering from a deep trauma and lingering guilt but just like the audience any naive notions of war being glorious and honorable have been replaced with a realization of the much harsher truth ever since the beginning of the klingon war arc worf was given yet more rich character development building on his excellent arc from the next generation being torn between his duty to starfleet and his klingon identity when worf chose to stand against gauran in way of the warrior the fallout of his actions is exponentially worse than the exile he faced during his family's conflict with the house of duras by the end of season four the house of moog warf's own family effectively ceased to exist his lands and ships seized by the high council and his own brother kern given a new identity after warf's own actions indirectly drove his brother to suicide worf spends much of the arc feeling isolated fighting feelings of guilt and wrestling with his own sense of personal honor therefore it's incredibly surprising but in retrospect quite obvious when wharf and dax develop a romantic attraction to one another at first glance the two characters are total opposites wharf is emotionally closed off usually brooding and scowling entirely dedicated to his duties and honing himself for battle whereas jadzia dax is a wisecracking lover of science who embraces all of life's indulgences but even during their first meeting dax's reverence for klingon culture likes a spark between the two and over the many episodes they serve together a mutual respect and admiration grows despite wharf's seemingly perpetual grumpiness jadzia also recognizes a passion within him and his honor makes him a loyal and dedicated friend to many on the station similarly although jazia seems to relish all the indulgences worf hates he also comes to recognize her strength of character and her capacity for self-sacrifice in a lot of ways both of them are very similar when it comes to stubbornness but also courage and zeal thanks to the chemistry between both actors and the writers finding consistently interesting stories to center on the two characters the romance between worf and dax became one of the most endearing relationships on the show as the fifth season of the show got underway the production team realized they were coming up on the 30th anniversary of star trek and wanted to do something special to commemorate the occasion on companion show star trek voyager this commemoration came in the form of the episode flashback however for deep space nine they commissioned trials and tribulations while returning the stolen orb of time to bajor a hitchhiker barry waddle in reality a disguised klingon agent named arn darvin transports the divine 100 years back in time to starbase k7 during a visit from the uss enterprise under captain kirk deducing darwin plots to alter the future the crew disguised themselves in period accurate uniforms and set off to capture darwin while keeping a low profile in contrast to deep space nine's gritty and thematically rich overarching stories trials and tribulations is simply a wonderful piece of self-indulgent fun more than anything it's undeniably impressive as the ds9 cast are nearly seamlessly integrated into the original series footage using a clever combination of slick editing and blue screen compositing while here and there you can spot a feathered edge or a difference in resolution for the vast majority of shots the result is totally convincing yes it's very ridiculous and filled to the brim with fan service such as getting stuck into the bar fight addressing the continuity problems surrounding the klingon makeup design change dax fawning over every aspect of the period but similar to works like galaxy quest this is a loving send up of the series executed with tongue firmly embedded in cheek and the passion the cast and crew have for the original show shines through in the episode it's a delightful little treat for long time star trek fans with an infectious light-hearted energy it's an episode which always puts a smile on my face when revisiting later in the season a deep space nine returns to its darker roots in for the uniform previously in the season 4 episode for the cause cisco is betrayed by recurring character michael eddington who defects from starfleet to join the maquis in a powerful closing monologue eddington outlines a starkly convincing argument for why the federation may not be the force for good it usually is assumed to be you know in some ways you're even worse than the borg at least they tell you about their plans for assimilation you're more insidious you assimilate people and they don't even know it for the uniform sees eddington return as cisco is determined to hunt him down and make him answer for betraying his oath to starfleet like in many of the best deep space nine outings there's a great deal of moral ambiguity surrounding the episode it's a story about personal honor and the moral codes by which people hold themselves to eddington's reasons for joining the maquis are largely sympathetic but according to cisco his betrayal of starfleet is simply inexcusable and a great rivalry emerges between the two with eddington taunting cisco by referring to him as a javert from les miserables and as the events of the episode unfold one wonders if eddington is correct in his assessment of cisco with the captain's motivations seemingly being more about getting back at someone who beat him rather than scoring a victory for some righteous cause but what's fascinating is how the episode refuses to render judgment on cisco even when he orders the atmospheric bombing of makki colonies to force eddington to turn himself in in many ways cisco becomes exactly what eddington believes him to be and this question surrounding cisco's character is left open for the audience to answer by the end it's an intriguing dramatic thread which the writers would return to later in the show especially as the conflict with the dominion finally comes to a head as the episode by inferno's light draws to an end the audience braces themselves for an inevitable dominion invasion prompting a sudden unified defense of the station by a joint federation klingon romulan force but just as the fleets are about to engage the station's crew is shocked to discover the cardassian union having been battered by the previous klingon invasion joins forces with the dominion the architect of this secretive alliance being none other than the greatest villain ever in the star trek universe gold cut marco limo had made a splash in star trek long before ds9 in the next generation episode the wounded in which he played the very first ever on-screen cardassian gulmussette when it was later decided the cardassians would play a central role in ds9 alimo was cast as one of the show's principal recurring characters making his debut in deep space nine's first episode the actor has since confessed to feeling slightly lost in how to approach the character having received little input from the writers the reason for this however is because the writers believed alimo had already nailed the part from day one and i have to say i agree as the former prefect of bajor during the cardassian occupation we are led to believe ducat has a blood of millions on his hands and he certainly exudes a villainous quality during his first appearance but over the course of the show he often found himself serving alongside the ds9 crew rather than fighting against them he's a man of immense ego self-delusion and narcissism but also incredible charm in numerous scenes ducat has made it disturbingly likable with alimo delivering his lines in a self-assured grandiose tone and injecting moments of humor and right wit but underneath the charm is an incredibly threatening and manipulative individual who is utterly committed to the idea he can never be wrong he always manages to justify the atrocities he is responsible for seeing himself as the hero of his own story and believing he above all is deserving of the power and adoration he craves his arc throughout the first five years of the show is simply astonishing going from a prominent military leader to a disgraced outcast after the revelation of his half-major and daughter zial forced to work alongside major kira possibly the person who despises him the most he eventually becomes a freedom fighter working behind enemy lines launching raids against klingon forces with his stolen bird of prey after so passionately and sometimes convincingly explaining his motivations to the main characters and by proxy the audience ducat reminds everyone of his true colours when an alliance with the dominion propels him to leader of all cardassia as an absolute dictator being such a compelling villain he almost manages to overshadow the secondary antagonist of this arc weiyun played by the legendary geoffrey combs as a quick tangent jeffrey combs is easily one of my personal favorite actors ever and i would highly recommend viewers check out his work in the reanimator series combs had originally auditioned for commander riker back in the 80s a role which even he didn't think he was right for eventually he landed a small part in the deep space nine episode meridian before landing the role of the spineless liquidator brunt of the ferengi commerce authority being well liked due to that particular recurring role comes was offered yet another part and was cast as wei yoon who first appeared in the episode to the death wein and goldicott make the perfect odd couple as a set of villains whereas ducat is domineering and completely self-centered wyon is sickeningly polite and totally dedicated to the dominion founders this absurdly pleasant demeanor is also used to enhance wein's menace as he seamlessly flips between being endlessly accommodating to ordering mass executions without a moment's pause his genetically engineered predisposition to diplomacy also makes weiyun a devilishly cunning figure expertly navigating a labyrinth of veiled threats in innuendo the dynamic between these two leads to some of the best scenes in the entire series truthfully ducat would like nothing more than to ring wayne's neck and wyoon sees ducot and the cardassians as mere tools to be used by the founders both of them understand each other's true feelings but maintain an alliance of false pleasantries to keep the peace watching these two work together on their machinations of conquest is endlessly entertaining bolstered by this new alliance season 5 ends with yet another epic battle to defend the station but this time the crew cannot hold out against a combined cardassian gemhedar fleet and so are forced to abandon the station with the main characters divided the stage is set for deep space nine's epic next season [Music] as production for season six began the creative team weren't sure if deep space nine would be getting a seventh season most of the permanent staff and all of the regular cast were only contracted for six years deep space nine's ratings had also been steadily declining over the previous seasons this was due in large part to the changing tv landscape when it came to the local stations ds9 was released on as mentioned earlier both the next generation and deep space nine were released using a first run syndication format skipping an original network before going into reruns these local stations were being bought up by larger conglomerations and this often led to a shifting time slot for the series making it harder for viewers to stay up to date with the unfolding storylines this was the main reason star trek voyager was used as the flagship show for paramount's own network upn because of these circumstances the writers of deep space nine started to devise a way to bring the show to an end by season six should it be necessary however as production began paramount chose to renew the series for a seventh and final season the same number of seasons as the next generation however this renewal came with a price which we'll talk about later although deep space nine had previously featured the klingon war arc the dominion war was an event on a scale never before seen in the star trek universe and so the writers took the opportunity to examine a number of narrative themes intertwined with war itself most of which are touched on in the first six episodes of the season this mini arc follows multiple threads cisco and those of his crew who escape the station embark on a mission to ketra cell white production in the alpha quadrant the highly addictive drug which keeps the gem hedar in line this thread is kicked off with a classic world war ii style adventure story with a daring raid behind enemy lines before crash landing into a tense battle of wits between cisco's strike team and some maroon's gem hedar what i've always liked about the gem hedar on a story level is how much nuance is woven into a pretty common sci-fi trope while the klingons relish battle and make formidable warriors the gem hedar are literally engineered from birth for warfare being entirely artificial creations it would be easy to use the gem hedar only as henchmen for the main characters to defeat but during their conception robert hewitt wolff made sure to give the gem hedar their own cultural identity and personal code of honor paving the way for numerous great one-off gemhadar characters during the episode rocks and shoals cisco almost finds a kindred spirit in the gemhedar leader ramataklan although the gemhadar are naturally more brutal it becomes clear ramataklan like cisco is driven by a powerful sense of duty to his people and is deeply caring of those under his command therefore when the vorta leading the gemhedar kevin manufactures a deal to save his own skin in the face of a looming gemhedar rebellion the cruelty of the conflict between the two sides is made soberingly clear benjamin cisco has a lot in common with ramataklan and a bond of mutual respect forms between them but thanks to the wants of their more powerful leaders they are forced to slaughter each other in a desolate hellhole nor the battle to the strong effectively captured the horrific reality of war but rocks and shoals demonstrates war's inherent injustice as well meanwhile we follow major kira among others under the dominion occupation of the station and it's through this thread the writers examine the subject of resistance and collaboration at first kira in a reasonably justified stance advocates appeasement of the occupying dominion forces not wanting to provoke the wrath of the gemhadar or the cardassians but as many others point out in appeasing the dominion major kira's actions legitimize their rule and slowly erodes bajoran freedoms much of this arc is woven into gul ducat's truly disturbing obsession with major kira though lest anyone think this obsession has anything to do with romance ducat sees kira nuris's yet another prize to be one for himself in his mind if he could somehow win over one of the cardassian occupation's most fierce resistance fighters his belief in himself and his actions during the occupation would seem even more justified kira's arc throughout these first few episodes reaches a climax and a number of excellent scenes the first is when she realizes what dakota is attempting by using kira's relationship to his daughter and lavishing her with gifts with the goal of forming some kind of sick family with ducat as its patriarch of course then following the shocking suicide of a bajoran vedic kira suddenly realizes how complacent she has become with the occupation and comes to see herself as a collaborator but while major kira ultimately manages to recognize the truth of her situation and form an improvised resistance cell odo's loyalties and morals are called into question when he becomes close with a female changeling with time running out until the dominion reinforcements pour through the wormhole this mini arc comes to a head in the two-parter favor the bold and sacrifice of angels deep space nine's action set pieces were already impressive following the spectacular battle seen in way of the warrior but by season six the capabilities of the visual effects team had increased thanks to a heavier reliance on cgi collaborating with foundation imaging which had also worked on babylon 5 the deep space 9 team were now capable of rendering something even grander in scope for this two-parter outnumbered and out-gunned this epic clash between federation and dominion forces is truly something to behold as galaxy-class ships pummel cardassian cruisers and excelsior and miranda-class ships dive headfirst into the fray counting on their sheer determination alone to reach the other side while some may call the ending of this mini arc a literal deus ex machina with the bajoran prophets erasing the dominion reinforcements from existence a heavy sense of foreboding hangs over the scene as the audience is left to wonder what the penance which the prophets told cisco he have to pay will turn out to be similarly goldencard's unhinged rage over his defeat is pushed into a full-on psychotic break when his daughter is murdered in front of him by his second in command damar while the people celebrate the return of the station to federation hands and the main cast is finally reunited that sense of unease lingers though this was a victory the war with the dominion is far from over the dominion threat would come up again in numerous episodes throughout the season but one which i've chosen to highlight isn't a dark and twisted tale of complex moral questions but another delightful romp in the magnificent ferengi as i outlined in my lore evolution video on the ferengi they vastly improved as a people since their first appearance in tng's the last outpost they were originally intended to be the mainstay villains of the next generation but upon their debut viewers and even the writers thought they were utterly pathetic by the time deep space nine began the ferengi were re-characterized from scheming villains to greedy ultra capitalists with their rules of acquisition book serving almost as their holy text even so the ferengi focused episodes following quark rom and their associates were a bit of a mixed bag there are a number of strong outings such as house of quark in which quark is able to successfully use his ferengi cunning to outwit a klingon rival there's also bar association in which rom forms a union to fight back against quark's rampant exploitation of his workers there are also some truly abysmal ferengi episodes such as prophet and lace which also appeared in season six the magnificent ferengi represents all of the strengths of ferengi driven stories using an inspired concept when quark and rom's mother is taken hostage by the dominion the brothers decide to form a magnificent seven style team to venture out and rescue her while some of the humor surrounding the ferengi can veer into cringe-worthy and unpleasant the magnificent ferengi is absolutely hilarious with some scenes which have me holding my sides even after multiple re-watches the roster of characters is wonderful including the recurring character nog played by aaron eisenberg brunt once again played by jeffrey combs quarks ruined arms trader cousin gala and ferengi assassin lek not to mention a surprisingly good turn from guest star iggy pop as the vorter yeldren as well as the return of kievan from rocks and shoals where he finally gets his just desserts the magnificent ferengi is mountains of fun with terrific twists and turns creative comedic scenarios and a reaffirmation of what made the ferengi a surprisingly rich storytelling tool when used well but amidst the space battles and adventure in later deep space nine comes a smaller two-hander story in waltz as ducat is transported to his trial cardassian forces attack and destroy the ship marooning an injured cisco with an insane gold cut in many ways waltz is the opposite of season one's duet whereas duet saw kira trying to prove a prisoner was a monster waltz sees a monster trying to force his prisoner to believe he is a good man the action is so contained it almost feels like a stage play with brooks and elamo delivering bravura performances throughout cisco tries his best to keep ducat at bay in order to stay alive while dukkhat is tormented by visions of those in his life representing pieces of his own psyche the image of major kira embodying ducat's conscience self-doubt and sense of guilt and gnawing away at him meanwhile damar serves as his ego constantly reassuring him he is always in the right and finally wei yoon represents his malice and cruelty pushing him to murder cisco and chastising him for any show of weakness when cisco can no longer hide his revulsion of ducat and having been severely beaten for an attempt to signal starfleet he finally works up the courage to attack ducat's self-image and force him to see the truth of what he is after a ferocious back and forth all of the self-deception and twisted reasoning comes crashing down and the full unrestrained monstrousness which has always existed within ducat comes crashing to the surface i should have turned their planet into a graveyard the likes of which the galaxy had never seen i should have killed them all although cisco manages to escape with his life an unhinged genocidal ducat on the loose is a terrifying prospect another unique outing for the season it comes in the form of the acclaimed far beyond the stars after the death of a close friend due to the ongoing war cisco suddenly starts to see visions of 20th century earth eventually these visions overpower him and he becomes benny russell a science fiction writer in the 1950s after seeing a drawing of a space station benny begins writing deep space nine quite frankly there is so much to talk about with this one episode it warrants its own entire video essay and to sum up all of its rich details and powerful themes in the time i have is virtually impossible on a surface level the episode offers fans a nice treat and seeing many of the actors out of their heavy prosthetic makeup such as rene obergenois armin shimmerman and michael dorn among others i especially appreciate michael dorn as a fictional baseball player willie hawkins as great as dorne is as worf he rarely gets the opportunity to show his range as an actor so it's welcome to see him play a charming celebrity type the setting alone feels like it could be its own show with the writers of the episode clearly conveying their deep love of classic sci-fi literature with many references and nods to authors and stories of the era while the characters are influenced by their main ds9 counterparts each one also exists as their own fleshed-out character at the same time the entire setting is also a meta commentary on the relationship between the ds9 cast and crew and the fans of the show but there's also some trademark ambiguity as the episode leaves the audience to decide if deep space nine really is all imagined by benny russell as i said there is so much to discuss in this episode but central to the story is the subject of racism a despicable part of the backlash to deep space nine i mentioned earlier beyond the space station setting was the resistance to a non-caucasian actor in the lead role despite the progressive ideals often conveyed in star trek bigotry does rear its ugly head in the fandom which also extended to star trek voyager following the announcement of a female captain and to this day one can find a vast array of moronic comments complaining about so-called forced diversity in the more recent star trek shows on this subject in particular i would highly recommend this excellent essay by friend of the channel captain pikachu in order to tackle this subject properly the production team asked avery brooks himself to direct the episode it was a tall order as although brooks had directed several episodes before he had never directed one in which he had such a large role in front of the camera as well however he saw it as a unique opportunity to do this story justice and so he accepted the job the drama of the episode stems from benny's editor douglas pappst rejecting deep space nine because of its black lead character as the other writers debate the morals of holding the story back eventually they hit upon a less than perfect compromise to keep the story as is but make it the dream of a contemporary man in benny's personal life he also has to contend with abusive police officers who gunned down a young friend of his before savagely beating him weeks after his beating benny arrives back at work excited to finally see his story in print only to be informed the magazine won't be printed that month and benny himself has been fired the final monologue by avery brooks is simply gut-wrenching to watch as the actor director consciously drew from his own experiences with racism from the scene all of the cruelty and pain benny has experienced for no other reason than the color of his skin breaks through to the surface with brooks delivering a raw and stunningly powerful performance it is real i created it and it's so real it's really they call cut and he's not coming out and i know what that feels like as an actor you're gone and he was he was gone i'd have to say that it was the most important moment for me in the entire seven years resuming the dominion war arc two more important episodes came later in the season the first of these being inquisition the station is boarded by a team from starfleet intelligence led by the mysterious sloane who accuses dr bashir of being a sleeper agent for the dominion just as my re-watch of the next generation made me reappraise several elements i had previously disliked my latest re-watch of deep space nine has led me to reassess my opinion on the character of julian bashir alexander siddig and the writers have admitted to feeling a little lost with bashir at first there were few defining character traits to go off and a general lack of depth to him as a person this often led to some pretty bland bashir centric episodes in early deep space nine and an inconsistent performance from siddig however his evolving friendship with miles o'brien made the character far more likable and his much needed depth came in the form of the season 5 episode dr bashir i presume in which we discover bashir was genetically engineered by his parents something strictly illegal within the federation since then bashir became far better utilized in the series with the writers playing up his intellect and sometimes a smug sense of superiority to great effect inquisition is a strong example of beshear being used well but it's the finale of the episode which would have huge implications for the larger star trek universe after escaping sloan's deception sloan goes off to reveal himself as part of section 31 a rogue organization within starfleet dedicated to doing whatever it deems necessary to protect the federation what makes this such a bold idea is the overt departure from the idea of the federation being the unquestioned good guys establishing section 31 feels like the natural culmination of the criticisms previously made by michael eddington while their goal is to ostensibly uphold the federation ideals of civil freedoms and equality doing so by any means necessary makes them extremely dangerous however what makes them disturbing is the implication that many high-ranking starfleet officers and federation politicians may not only know of section 31's existence but also endorse it this means justifying the ends debate and portraying the federation as more morally grey than first thought also informs the following episode in the pale moonlight a distraught cisco recounts his actions in trying to bring the romulan empire into the war against the dominion to his captain's log outlining the web of bribery deception and murder which he is complicit in directly to the viewer what makes in the pale moonlight so striking following the debut of section 31 is how personal the events are made not only are the main characters losing friends and colleagues on an almost daily basis the true master stroke of the episode comes where we hear of the fall of beta zed the homeworld of diana troy not only is this devastating for the in-universe characters but it also makes the conflict more personal for the viewer each time cisco is about to put a stop to his plans some new incident pushes him further along the path it goes without saying avery brooks is phenomenal in the part but his performance is further complemented by andrew robinson's garrick who helped cisco in his plan to deceive the romulan empire into joining the war their final scene in which cisco realizes garrick's own plan to implicate the dominion in the murder of romulan senator vrinak which garrick is directly responsible for and cisco was inadvertently an accomplice to is stunning to watch while cisco berates and even beats garrick for his actions garrick is entirely correct and that it achieves the exact result cisco wanted it's impossible to imagine the stalwart jean-luc picard ever condoning the same actions but then again deep space nine is full of actions which many assume starfleet in the federation would never do to begin with while cisco ultimately concludes that he can live with his actions final judgement is once again left to the audience as mentioned previously season six was for a brief moment expected to be the last for deep space nine before a renewal for a seventh season however most of the cast and crew were only contracted for six years and so for a seventh contracts were renegotiated with paramount and it's here we have to discuss the conduct of executive producer rick bourbon over the years cast and crew from several star trek projects have given personal accounts of some truly reprehensible behavior by berman at best a number of writers and other producers including ira stephen bear and ronald d moore among others have accused bourbon of being too creatively conservative unwilling to take gambles and instead content to stick to a tired status quo however at worst berman has been accused of rampant misogyny and even homophobia while there isn't time in this video to go into a full list of all of these incidents i'd recommend this video by renegade cut some would respond to these stories by dismissing them as hearsay but in my opinion there are simply too many corresponding accounts to believe there's no truth to them one way in which berman's behavior adversely affected deep space nine was with the departure of terry farrell according to the actress when it came time to renegotiate her contract for the series she was essentially given a take it or leave it offer which was considering how popular the character of jadzia dax was in the show totally unreasonable yet each time farrell attempted to engage in a dialogue she was essentially blocked from doing so basically he was trying to bully me into saying yes he was convinced my cards were going to fold and i was going to sign up he had another producer come up to me and say if you weren't working here you know you'd be working at kmart i was like what the hell are you talking about i had a career before this coupled with other stories from farrell in which rick berman repeatedly commented on her breast size and it seems to me she was essentially bullied out of the show rather than being bullied into signing up for a seventh season and i bear absolutely no ill will toward farrell for essentially having enough of the and choosing to move on reportedly iris stephen bear was kept out of the loop and by the time he did hear about all of this terry farrell had already decided to leave the show thus during the season six finale girl ducat being possessed by the paw wraiths essentially the bajoran equivalent of demons beams onto the station and murders jadzia dax the paw wraiths then attack the wormhole closing it seemingly for good although the allied forces achieve a victory against the dominion with cisco having lost his friend and cut off from the prophets he feels as though he has failed his duties and the season ends with cisco taking a leave of absence and returning to earth for the seventh season ira stephen bear recalled telling the writers in the seventh season i want to make sure no story remains on the sidelines i've told everyone this should be the strangest season yet we should do whatever we want get every story out of our system we want to tell go places where people don't expect the show to go wrap up as many threads of this series as possible and end on a satisfying note season 7 saw the dominion war escalate with the breen joining the dominion and turning the tide against the federation and its allies with a daring attack on earth and even the destruction of the defiant itself this season also saw the introduction of esri dax played by nicole deboer the trill host following jadzia while the final season of deep space nine contains some of its greatest episodes some of the more standalone entries are a little disappointing with the main arc coming to a close some of these one-off stories feel like strange departures from what is clearly the most important drama of the series personally i don't mind some of the sillier outings such as take me out to the hollow suite but others like prodigal daughter has always struck me as quite dull and the end of the mirror universe story arc is crushingly disappointing in the emperor's new cloak however much of the dominion focused episodes continued to meet the high bar which was expected by this point in episodes such as the siege of ar-558 and the return of section 31 in inter armin ennim silit legis the season also sees warf dealing with the fallout of jadzia's death only to be confronted by esri dax but more on that later the first episode i wanted to highlight from this season is the shakespearean esque once more unto the breach being the last survivor of the klingon trio from season two's blood oath john colocos's reappearances as core were always welcome once more unto the breach sees cord joined wharf and general martok on a raid against the gem hedar with martok feeling overshadowed by such a legendary warrior and core grasping at one last chance for glory it's a story about legacy and immortality as kord tries desperately to cement himself as a giant among klingon warriors grappling with his advancing age and senility meanwhile martok having worked his way up from a low-born family to a revered leader competes with the old master to ensure his own name is enshrined in history as i mentioned in my tng retrospective i came around to the more klingon-centric stories in that show and deep space nine built on the strength of those stories brilliantly klingon stories and the characters within them are mythical and grandiose and that aforementioned shakespeare comparison isn't hyperbole the great deeds and hard-fought battles intertwined with the inner turmoil and psychology of these characters is expressed beautifully in some of the most fantastic dialogue ronald d moore has ever written for star trek but after years of wasting away on the station watching his friends die and his faculties fade the open ending ensures core is granted his wish to live on as a legend it's an excellent self-contained story although we would see more from the klingons later in the season returning to starfleet our next highlighted episode explores another horrific side of war in it's only a paper moon after losing his leg during battle nog returns to the station severely depressed and retreating into the hollow suite where the self-aware program vic fontaine tries to help him played by the late aaron eisenberg nog was one of the most unexpectedly nuanced characters in the entire show starting out as a relatively minor role to fill out the ferengi ensemble nog later made history when he became the first ferengi to join starfleet after recognising the inherent unfairness in ferengi society's prophet obsessed culture while nog still maintained pride in his ferengi heritage he soon turns into a capable and resourceful starfleet officer sometimes even using his ferengi perspective to solve problems other starfleet officers couldn't yet at the same time nog never became a wesley crusher style child prodigy he still wrestled with his fears while serving aboard the defiant but always remained dedicated to his duties unloyal to his shipmates which is what heightens the tragedy of his horrific war wound during the siege of ar558 post-traumatic stress syndrome is something which has been known to exist since the first world war but only recently has the condition started to lose its stigma and those who suffer from it being offered the help they need during the late 90s ptsd was still something which was largely misunderstood and it's only a paper moon who handles the topic with incredible care vic fontaine played by real-life las vegas singer james darren is exactly the person needed to help nog start to recover from his ordeal eventually reaching the source of his trauma and confronting his feelings so he can begin to heal according to aaron eisenberg himself it was an episode which truly struck a chord with people but i didn't think anything was going to happen to me and then suddenly dr bashir is telling me he has to cut my leg off i couldn't believe it if i can get shot if i can lose my leg anything can happen to me babe i can't tell you how many times a veteran has come up to me and they would say that show that show helped me it helped me when i came back it helped me get through you know whatever the individual was dealing with and that's powerful while it's only a paper moon is highly acclaimed i feel a severely underrated episode from season seven is the esri dax focused field of fire when a serial killer is suspected to be loose on the station esri pulls from one of her previous hosts the psychopathic giran to try and find the killer's identity and bring them to justice nicole deboer was in a truly unenviable position when she joined ds9 seventh season not only was she joining a well-established cast who had all worked together for many years she was also replacing an extremely popular character among the fanbase but thanks to some strong writing and an overall terrific performance the character of esri dax is a welcome addition to the show in contrast to the rogueish action barbie which was jadzia dax esri dax is a much younger often out of her depth ship's counsellor who only acquired the dax symbiote by chance therefore she begins the season incredibly apprehensive and shy feeling overwhelmed by the expectations of the crew who served with the jadzia and by her larger role in the ongoing war but it's precisely this contrast which created so much compelling drama for the character it's almost a meta narrative for deboer having to follow farrell and the unease the actress likely felt over joining the series what's also smart from a creative point of view was the decision by the writers not to replicate the dynamic jadzia had with the rest of the crew with esri refusing the old man nickname from cisco and instead pursuing a relationship with bashir rather than worf field of fire is a solid showcase of the character's potential and deboer's acting range as the murder mystery unfolds with jiran serving as the hannibal lecter to esri's clarus starling yet having such a psychotic bloodthirsty persona in her head makes esri vulnerable to being taken over by duran's personality and as her investigation continues she risks becoming the very thing she hunts it's a clever bit of science fiction crime drama with an inventive transporter-assisted rifle serving as the murder weapon and an extremist vulcan making for an effective twist villain from what i've seen on various ranking sites this isn't a very well liked episode but in my opinion it's well worth a second look due to the scope of deep space nine's ongoing story threads rather than attempting to wrap up the series with a feature-length two-parter like the next generation instead the writers decided to end things with an epic 10 episode long finale encompassing almost half the season as i've been writing this video i've found it incredibly difficult to touch on every notable episode character and story thread in the series for this final 10 parter this problem is made exponentially worse as there is just so much to unpack however what i've chosen to highlight here for the most part are the antagonists namely gul'damar ducat kywin and chancellor gauron damar played by casey biggs has a simply stunning character arc over the course of the show his first appearance in the episode returned to grace sees him serving as a minor bridge officer under ducat later elevated to dakot's second in command during the occupation of deep space nine before taking ducat's place as ruler of all cardassia for most of his appearances damar functioned as a villain despising major kira and using every opportunity to assert his authority while ducat had the charm and cunning to bend others to his will dimar became a puppet ruler usually spending his time drinking and fraternizing obeying whatever command the dominion gave him however by season seven after watching the dominion turn on the cardassian people going from allies into an occupying force damar is forced to go underground and form a resistance which in the most poetic dramatic irony is aided by kira by this point a colonel this arc is masterfully crafted over the years and squeezes every bit of compelling character drama out of the stories as is possible and the transformation of damar from a too big for his boots lackey to a sympathetic revolutionary leader is remarkable meanwhile the klingon focused threat takes a sudden turn when gauran takes direct command of the klingon forces when it becomes clear gauran is merely using his position to discredit martok warf directly challenges him to single combat galron was a fan favorite character from his very first appearance in the next generation and known for his trademark bug-eyed madness although this transformation into antagonist seems sudden it's also perfectly natural when one examines his history gauran is essentially a decent klingon warrior elevated to all-powerful leader by those better suited to the job he became chancellor and won the klingon civil war only thanks to wharf and federation involvement crippling the house of duras even when the klingon invasion of cardassia was revealed to have been orchestrated by the dominion it still took a long time for gauran to commit the empire to war with the dominion therefore when gauran is overshadowed by general martok his true conniving and self-centered nature is revealed it's fitting that wharf being the one chiefly responsible for his ascent to chancellor is the one to strike the finishing blow which ends his rule and his life meanwhile a disguised ducat worms his way into kywin's bed in his quest to destroy bajor by unleashing the paw wraiths louise fletcher nailed the character you love to hate from her first appearance in season 1. since then wind schemes and extremism made her a constant thorn in cisco and kira's size the final 10 episodes managed to do the impossible by making the viewer despise her even more by essentially offering her a chance at redemption and having her completely blow it even when it becomes clear she is in league with the pa wraiths and has been sharing a bed with gold cut she refuses to relinquish her power which is all that really mattered to her by the conclusion of the series in what you leave behind wynn and ducat seem to delight in casting off any and all illusion of moral goodness and instead bask in their own wanton destruction in the final episode with the dominion war brought to a conclusive end with cardassia in ruins and millions dead the episode takes its time in saying goodbye to the station and its characters odo having lived the best days of his life beside the woman he loves chooses to give it all up and at last return to his people o'brien parts ways with his dear friend bashir for a teaching post at starfleet academy and wharf has appointed the federation's ambassador to the klingon empire with all the epic space battles out of the way these closing scenes of the episode take their time in paying tribute to each character and tearfully saying goodbye i have to say each time i reach the end of the series i have to fight the urge to cry the most controversial exit however is benjamin cisco after his ultimate confrontation with ducat his physical self is destroyed and his essence returns to the wormhole although he promises to one day return he must for now leave his son and new wife cassidy yates to be with the prophets with the station now under kira's command life continues irrevocably changed but with that hope for a brighter future restored star trek deep space nine is an absolute masterpiece but one which earned its status as the black sheep of the franchise at the time it was far from the quintessential image most of pop culture had of star trek it wasn't going boldly visiting strange new worlds its stories were long running and often dark and complex with few easy answers for its audience its characters never reached the same status as the household names of kirk spock and mccoy or picard riker and data but it's a show which has only improved with age the changing tv landscape and rise of streaming services has allowed modern audiences to more easily follow its long-running stories while it may not have explored strange new worlds in the way we expect the show built something beautiful over time instead and it did explore complex moral questions and deep personal themes its characters never became as iconic but their arcs and relationships were more layered and nuanced than any other show in the franchise it was a show which took bold creative risks and strived to accomplish something which had never been seen on television before while it isn't the star trek i grew up watching and of course i'll always enjoy the more episodic adventures aboard the uss enterprise deep space nine is without question star trek at its absolute best [Music] meanwhile as the crews of deep space nine and the uss voyager were embarking on their adventures how was the next generation crew faring on the big screen thank you for watching if you like these videos subscribe and hit the bell icon to stay up to date on my new uploads if you want to help the channel grow join my patrons or my youtube members where you can see videos early as well as some other exclusive content speaking of which i'd like to quickly thank all of my patrons and members who are now appearing on screen have a good one and as always live long and prosper

Channel: Rowan J Coleman

Views: 396,956

Rating: 4.8974471 out of 5

Keywords: star trek, star trek deep space nine, star trek deep space nine retrospective review, star trek deep space nine review, star trek deep space nine series review, star trek the next generation, star trek the original series, star trek voyager, star trek enterprise, star trek discovery, spacedock, generation films, trek culture, star trek retrospective, star trek retrospective part 10, rowan j coleman

Id: KQXQm1081xo

Length: 118min 16sec (7096 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 25 2021