Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series that
debuted in 1993 and ran for seven seasons, finishing in 1999. Based
on Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, it was created by Rick Berman
and Michael Piller, and produced by Paramount Pictures.
DS9
began while Star Trek: The Next Generation was still on the air, and
there were several crossover episodes between the two series. Unlike
its predecessor, DS9 often broke the rules laid down by Gene
Roddenberry and by
all accounts, Roddenberry, before his death in 1991, had concerns
about the idea. It took two more years to develop, and when it
finally aired in 1993 reasons for that concern were evident right
away. The show was dark (literally), characters argued a lot, no one
went anywhere, and the neighboring natives were hardly ever friendly.
Yet for all that the show went against the grain of the Great Bird's
original vision of the future, it undeniably caught the mood of the
time, incorporating a complex political backdrop that mirrored our own.
DS9
chronicles the events surrounding space station Deep Space 9, a
former Cardassian ore-processing station, which is under the joint
control of the United Federation of Planets and Bajor, the planet it
formerly orbited. The station was repositioned close to the recently
discovered Bajoran wormhole. As a result of the wormhole, the station
becomes a cornerstone of interstellar trade and political activity in
the Bajoran sector and the quadrant.
According
to co-creator Berman, he and Piller had considered setting the new
series on a colony planet, but they felt a space station would both
appeal more to viewers and save money due to the high cost of
on-location shooting for a "land-based" show. However, they
were certain that they did not want the show to be set aboard a
starship because Star Trek: The Next Generation was still in
production at the time and, in Berman’s words, it "just
seemed ridiculous to have two shows - two casts of characters - that
were off going where no man has gone before."
In the
first episode, the crew discovers a uniquely stable wormhole, which
provides immediate access to and from the distant Gamma Quadrant,
making the station an important strategic asset, as well as a vital
center of commerce with a largely-unexplored area of space. Inside
the wormhole live aliens who do not experience time in a linear
manner and have difficulty understanding other lifeforms who do. To
the religious people of Bajor, these are the Prophets and the
wormhole itself is the long-prophesied Celestial Temple. Commander
Benjamin Sisko, who discovers the wormhole with Jadzia Dax, becomes
revered as the Emissary of the Prophets, a spiritual role which
initially makes him extremely uncomfortable.
In the
casting, there was a clear intent to differentiate the show from its
predecessors. Genre stalwarts Tony Todd and James Earl Jones were
considered for Commander Sisko (later Captain Sisko) before Avery Brooks.
DS9 was the first Star Trek series to include main characters who
were not members of Starfleet. Kira Nerys is an officer in the
Bajoran militia, Odo is a Changeling who worked for the Cardassians
during the Occupation of Bajor, while Jake Sisko (Commander Sisko's
son) and Promenade
bar owned
Quark are civilians. Ro Laren from TNG (Michelle Forbes) was
reportedly the first choice of the producers as the first officer,
but as Ms. Forbes did not wish to commit to a television show, Kira
Nerys was created instead. Among Starfleet characters, Miles O'Brien
is the first enlisted (non-commissioned) main character, reprising a
supporting role he played on several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Over
the course of its seven-year run, DS9’s core cast underwent two
major changes. The first change, at the start of the fourth season,
was the addition of Michael Dorn as Worf, who had recently spent
seven years on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The original reason
for this was to boost ratings, but the Klingon soon became an
integral part of the show. Worf eventually married Jadzia Dax.
The
second change was the departure of Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax). This
was more of an abrupt change, and it came about because Farrell did
not wish to renew her contract at the end of the sixth season,
because she wanted more screen time than she was getting, given the
increasingly large cast of DS9. Jadzia was the host of the Dax
symbiont; the writers did not want to lose Dax, so they introduced
Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) to provide a new host after Gul Dukat
killed Jadzia.
Alexander
Siddig (Julian Bashir) appeared in the opening credits by a
shortened form of his birth name, Siddig el Fadil, for the first
three seasons. He appeared as Alexander Siddig after he married
co-star Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys), which placed their names together
in the alphabetical cast credits, although his stated reason for the
name change was that he discovered that nobody watching the show knew
how to pronounce 'el Fadil'. Siddig continued to be credited as
Siddig el Fadil when he directed.
The
very nature of the show - being set on a space station rather than
aboard a starship (though the USS Defiant, NX-74205, was added in the
third season) fostered a rich assortment of recurring characters, and
it was not unheard of for "secondary" characters to play as
much, or even more, of a role in an episode as the regular cast.
Of
particular note to Star Trek fans is Jeffrey Combs, who made his Star
Trek debut on DS9. Combs would go on to appear in thirty-one episodes
of DS9, playing four distinct characters - five if one counts the
"mirror universe" version of Brunt. In "The Dogs of
War", he also became one of the few Star Trek actor to play two
distinct roles (Brunt and Weyoun) in a single episode. He later
played a prominent role as Shran on Star Trek: Enterprise.
Morn,
a minor character who frequents Quark's bar, is silent but
omnipresent. According to Emmy Award-winning make-up designer Michael
Westmore, on the first day of filming the series, the director chose
Morn somewhat randomly from among several prosthetic characters to be
a barfly at Quark's, and he went on to spend the next seven years
there. Westmore and others named Morn as an anagram of the character
Norm from Cheers, who also spent seemingly all of his time sitting on
his favorite bar stool and drinking. Ironically, although Westmore
went to great lengths to ensure that Morn could talk in case the
character ever got a line, he remained silent; this became a running
joke, with other characters frequently commenting on what an
extremely talkative person he was.
Rom
(Max Grodenchik) is a Ferengi, Quark's brother, and the father of
Nog. Rom lacked confidence in himself mainly due to Quark's habit of
frequently calling him an idiot. Quark did this, however, because he
genuinely believed his brother could never succeed on his own; by
putting Rom down, Quark thought he was protecting him. But, after
four years living among Federation and Bajoran citizens on the
station, Rom left this job a Quark's Bar to become a engineer on the
space station.
Leeta,
portrayed by Chase Masterson, is a Bajoran and is employed as a Dabo
girl in Quark's bar. She married Rom after having a brief romantic
relationship with Dr. Julian Bashir. Although initially played as a
stereotypical "airhead", over the course of the series it
was revealed that she was in fact an intelligent woman who chose to
maintain a carefree attitude. She was a ringleader when Quark's
employees attempted to start a union, and also volunteered to play
temporary host to one of Jadzia Dax's former personalities. She also
once explained that Dabo girls actually have to be good at math, to
assure that the house always makes a profit in the long run.
Nog,
(Aron Eisenberg) with best friend Jake Sisko, is one of the first
students in Keiko O'Brien's school. They spend their teenage years
living on the station. Jake would become a writer and Rom becomes the
first Ferengi in Starfleet.
Vic
Fontaine (played by James Darren) is a holographic crooner in an
idealized version of 1960s Las Vegas. He is charismatic and extremely
perceptive. He is used as an informal counselor by crewmembers of
Deep Space 9, and he took it upon himself to get Odo and Kira
together romantically. Unique among holographic characters, he is self-aware
and knows he is a hologram. He has the ability to turn his program
on and off. After Vic helped Nog deal with a traumatic battlefield
experience, Nog arranged for Vic's program to run constantly so that
Vic could experience a full life within his holodeck environment.
According
to co-creator Berman, he and Piller had considered setting the new
series on a colony planet, but they felt a space station would both
appeal more to viewers and save money due to the high cost of
on-location shooting for a "land-based" show. However, they
were certain that they did not want the show to be set aboard a
starship because Star Trek: The Next Generation was still in
production at the time and, in Berman’s words, it "just
seemed ridiculous to have two shows - two casts of characters - that
were off going where no man has gone before."
The
very nature of the show - being set on a space station rather than
aboard a starship (though the USS Defiant, NX-74205, was added in the
third season) fostered a rich assortment of recurring characters, and
it was not unheard of for "secondary" characters to play as
much, or even more, of a role in an episode as the regular cast.
Morn,
a minor character who frequents Quark's bar, is silent but
omnipresent. According to Emmy Award-winning make-up designer Michael
Westmore, on the first day of filming the series, the director chose
Morn somewhat randomly from among several prosthetic characters to be
a barfly at Quark's, and he went on to spend the next seven years
there. Westmore and others named Morn as an anagram of the character
Norm from Cheers, who also spent seemingly all of his time sitting on
his favorite bar stool and drinking. Ironically, although Westmore
went to great lengths to ensure that Morn could talk in case the
character ever got a line, he remained silent; this became a running
joke, with other characters frequently commenting on what an
extremely talkative person he was.
Rom
(Max Grodenchik) is a Ferengi, Quark's brother, and the father of
Nog. Rom lacked confidence in himself mainly due to Quark's habit of
frequently calling him an idiot. Quark did this, however, because he
genuinely believed his brother could never succeed on his own; by
putting Rom down, Quark thought he was protecting him. But, after
four years living among Federation and Bajoran citizens on the
station, Rom left this job a Quark's Bar to become a engineer on the
space station.
Leeta,
portrayed by Chase Masterson, is a Bajoran and is employed as a Dabo
girl in Quark's bar. She married Rom after having a brief romantic
relationship with Dr. Julian Bashir. Although initially played as a
stereotypical "airhead", over the course of the series it
was revealed that she was in fact an intelligent woman who chose to
maintain a carefree attitude. She was a ringleader when Quark's
employees attempted to start a union, and also volunteered to play
temporary host to one of Jadzia Dax's former personalities. She also
once explained that Dabo girls actually have to be good at math, to
assure that the house always makes a profit in the long run.
