Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the fourth Star Trek television series, following Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was also the first Star Trek series that didn’t adhere to the original scripting plan. Instead of following a crew on a Starfleet starship, Deep Space Nine instead centered its stories on a space station.

Not only did Star Trek: Deep Space Nine change its setting, but it also represented a major departure from its storytelling. Yes, they still had plenty of adventure, but the storylines were filled more with political intrigue and deeper dives into its characters and their complexities. Another departure from the Star Trek norm is that Deep Space Nine was serialized without standalone episodes.

Avery Brooks Led The Deep Space Nine Cast

One of the many things Star Trek: Deep Space Nine could hang its hat on is its excellent cast. The series was led by the formidable Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko, the very first African American Starfleet Commander and eventual Captain. Sisko goes through a number of changes throughout the seven seasons from a grieving widower with a pre-teen son to the fearless leader of the Federation.

René Auberjonois is Deep Space Nine’s chief of security, Odo. His character is a Changeling, one who can assume any shape he wants, though he is mainly seen as an adult male. Terry Farrell appeared in the first six seasons of the series as Trill, Jadzia Dax. Farrell decided to walk away from the series for the final season stating the show’s hectic schedule and issues she was having with series creator Rick Berman.

Alexander Siddig portrayed Chief Medical Officer Julian Bashir. Another character who went through a change, he first appeared extremely arrogant and friendless, only to see it revealed later on that illegal genetic enhancements were the cause of his high intellect.

Colm Meaney played Chief of Operations Miles O’Brien for the entire seven-season run. Married with a daughter and son, he was one of Julian Bashir’s best friends. O’Brien was first seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Armin Shimerman and Nana Visitor were two additional main characters in Deep Space Nine. Shimerman played Quark, a Ferengi bar owner on the space station who is often involved in shady business schemes. Visitor played First Officer Kira Nerys who is the second in command behind Sisko.

Cirroc Lofton appears as Jake Sisko, the young son of Benjamin Sisko. Jake initially has no desire to live on the space station, but over time he begins to appreciate it. He desires to be a writer and over the final three seasons is able to make that desire come true.

Finally, Michael Dorn was brought on as Worf in season four as a way to help kick up the ratings. His character eventually became an important one as his storyline with Farrell’s Dax became a key one. The pair eventually married in season six, but Dax’s death wrote Farrell from the series and the Dax symbiont was given to Ezri Dax, who was played by Nicole de Boer for the finals season.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Ran For Seven Seasons

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ran for seven seasons, tying it with Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager for the longest-running series in the Star Trek Universe.

Its 176 total episode count puts it only two behind Star Trek: The Next Generation for the most episodes for a Star Trek series. This was also the first Star Trek series that did not have the involvement of Gene Roddenberry, the franchise creator.

Instead, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. Berman got his Star Trek legs under him when Roddenberry requested Berman (a Paramount executive at the time) to be part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation team. Berman’s eventual involvement with TNG appeased Paramount so much that they then asked him to create another Star Trek series which turned out to be Deep Space Nine.

The first two seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine centered mainly around the space station, but when the third season began, the series introduced the USS Defiant so more stories could take place outside of the space station. Another change came in the series’ fourth season when Michael Dorn arrived as Worf, the same character he played on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He remained on the series until the series finale.