Line #9 Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine


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5	[[caption-width-right:350:The main personnel of Deep Space Nine.[[note]]L-R, farther back: [[TheEngineer Miles]] [[FightingIrish O’Brien]], [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Odo]], [[ActionGirl Kira]] [[ColonelBadass Nerys]], [[TheShrink Ezri]] [[TheNthDoctor Dax]], [[HospitalHottie Julian]] [[DeterminedDoctor Bashir]], [[IntrepidReporter Jake]] [[TagalongKid Sisko]]. Front row: [[TheBigGuy Worf]], [[TheBartender Quark]], [[TheCaptain Benjamin]] [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne Sisko]]. Not pictured: [[BadassBookworm Jadzia]] [[TheNthDoctor Dax]]. [[/note]]]]
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8	->''"Think of it: Five years ago, no one had ever heard of Bajor or Deep Space Nine. And now all our hopes rest here."''
9	-->-- '''Chancellor Gowron'''
10
11	''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' is the second of the "next generation" of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' shows, airing after ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' for two years, then alternating with UPN's ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' for the remaining five years. The show was aired from 1993 to 1999, and like ''TNG'', was offered through FirstRunSyndication as opposed to any exclusive television network. Set on an orbital {{space station}}, [=DS9=] traded the WagonTrainToTheStars premise for "[[SpaceWestern Fort Apache in Space]]". Ira Behr, the showrunner, cited ''Series/TheRifleman'' as another influence (particularly the [[PapaWolf father-son]] dynamic).
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13	[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E10ChainOfCommand When we last left Next Gen]], the remote world of Bajor had just booted out its [[WeWilluseManualLaborInTheFuture occupiers]] the Cardassian Empire through a war of attrition and a fair amount of terrorism. With the planet and its people battling the aftermath of several decades of exploitation and spiralling into disorder, Starfleet sends a detachment of officers led by Commander Benjamin Sisko as a diplomatic liaison to provide aid and help Bajor rebuild; they take up residence at formerly Cardassian space station ''Terok Nor'', [[MeaningfulRename rechristened]] Deep Space 9, as a makeshift Starfleet outpost. In the pilot, a one-of-a-kind stable [[OurWormholesAreDifferent wormhole]] leading to an uncharted corner of the galaxy is discovered. Instantly, Bajor is transformed from a [[NothingExcitingEverHappensHere rustic backwater]] into the most valuable piece of real estate in the Alpha Quadrant, and [=DS9=] is assigned to monitor the wormhole's traffic. What's more, the appearance of the wormhole is seen by the Bajorans as fulfilling a religious prophecy and Sisko is declared to be "[[TheChosenOne The Emissary]]", adding further complications to his duty of mediating relations between Bajor and the Federation. The appearance of the wormhole also catches the attention of the Dominion, a [[EvilCounterpart far less cuddly]] counterpart to the United Federation of Planets, and the tensions between the two governments shape much of the show.
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15	''[=DS9=]'' changed the franchise's approach to WorldBuilding, since the fixed location and proximity to one particular planet allowed the show to delve more deeply into the political landscape of the ''Star Trek'' universe, fleshing in details and nuance. If you thought of the ''Enterprise''-D (and, later, ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'') as out there exploring the frontiers and sketching the outlines of the known galaxy, then ''this'' show was coloring in the drawing that had already been made.
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17	At the time, ''Star Trek'' tended towards a TheMainCharactersDoEverything and MonsterOfTheWeek approach, with the result that the number of characters who managed to appear in every season of a show, despite not being in the main cast ''of'' that show, was very small: four in the three seasons of ''The Original Series'' (at least one of whom never spoke a word), and then a nameless (at first) ''[=TNG=]'' speaking part who went on to operate the transporters. ''[=DS9=]'' added the next ''seven'' such {{Fake Guest Star}}s: Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Max Grodenchik (Rom) and Creator/AndrewRobinson (Garak) had their characters introduced within the first two episodes and held prominent roles all the way up to the {{series finale}}. Relatedly, this is also where that nameless speaking part -- Miles O'Brien, played by Creator/ColmMeaney -- became an AscendedExtra, joining the opening credits of this show and managing to get his wife Keiko (Creator/RosalindChao) and daughter Molly (Hana Hatae) into all seven seasons. (O'Brien appeared in two episodes of ''[=TNG=]'' Season 6 prior to transferring to Sisko's command, and returned for the Season 7 SeriesFinale, making him one of the only characters in the history of television to appear in every season of ''two'' shows.) The last major recurring character was Morn, the [[TheVoiceless never-heard-but-always-talking]] extra who hung around the bar; he appeared in more episodes than ''actual'' opening-credits star Cirroc Lofton, and even had an episode revolve around him... despite the fact that he never once had a line.
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19	Another part of the ''Star Trek'' formula left behind was the sense of actions without consequence. Part of that was due to former ''TNG'' writers (namely Ira Behr and Creator/RonaldDMoore) [[WriterRevolt rebelling]] against Creator/GeneRoddenberry's spotless, optimistic future: at the beginning of the story nobody on the station ''or'' on Bajor particularly got along with each other; and, unlike the ship-based series that had come before, the crew couldn't simply [[ButNowIMustGo jump to warp]] at the end of the episode and leave the Problem of the Week behind to sort itself out. Rather than simply being standard [[PlanetOfHats Planets of Hats,]] the Bajorans, Cardassians and even ''TNG's'' failed recurring villains the Ferengi were thoroughly developed, with their societies, politics, conflicting factions and beliefs becoming crucial aspects of the narrative. The show employed {{Myth Arc}}s more extensively than other ''Treks'', and by shifting the focus away from Starfleet's bold explorers to [=DS9's=] overworked jarheads, living and interacting on a daily basis with people who at first regarded them with varying levels of suspicion, resentment and contempt, the writers were able to scrutinize the Federation as it appears to outsiders: a [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent toothless alliance]] which still has problems with bureaucracy and some [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans skeletons in its closet]]. Though the show still comes across as optimistic about the future of humanity, it asks several questions about the Federation's place in the galaxy and the capacity for humans to accomplish great things -- even if those great things become IDidWhatIHadToDo.
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21	''Deep Space Nine'' is very frequently compared to ''Series/BabylonFive'', the ''[[DuelingWorks other]]'' 90's cult SpaceOpera show set on a space station incorporating matters of faith, interstellar war, and {{Deconstruct\|ion}}ing the future. (Indeed, Creator/JMichaelStraczynski has implied that {{Creator/Paramount}} effectively stole a treatment he pitched to them and [[DolledUpInstallment stuck a "Star Trek" brand]] on it.) Both shows are were ahead of their time: their strong focus on {{Character Arc}}s, GrayAndGreyMorality and {{Story Arc}}s feel much more normal to audiences that have since seen shows like ''Series/TheSopranos'' and ''Series/BreakingBad'' turn those tropes into the holy grails of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Television_(2000s%E2%80%93present) Peak TV]]. Today, they're BetterOnDVD; when they aired, both shows struggled: ''[=B5=]'' had to be {{Uncanceled}} at one point, and ''[=DS9=]'' is the LoveItOrHateIt OddballInTheSeries of ''Star Trek'' as a whole.
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23	The show originally aired in UsefulNotes/{{syndication}} but has gone on to be shown in reruns and on numerous streaming services.
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25	In 2017, Ira Behr and Adam Nimoy announced they were crowdfunding a documentary about the series, ''[[https://ds9documentary.com/about/ What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', which was released in June of 2019. In addition to bringing back most of the major players (including Aron Eisenberg and René Auberjonois before their untimely deaths), the film examined ''[=DS9=]''[='s=] cultural impact, particularly its post-wrap rise in popularity in syndication and streaming, and featured Behr getting the old writers' room together to plot a "what if" season 8 pilot.
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27	Related works in the Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse include the ''Literature/TerokNor'' trilogy, a sub-series of ''Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra'' which chronicles the Occupation of Bajor and features many of the Bajoran and Cardassian characters, and the ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'' continuation series; ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' features [=DS9=] as a player hub, with many of the characters from the show (voiced by their original actors) returning for the ''Victory is Life'' expansion.
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29	!!This series provides examples of the following tropes:
30	[[index]]
31	* StarTrekDeepSpaceNine/TropesAToD
32	* StarTrekDeepSpaceNine/TropesEToL
33	* StarTrekDeepSpaceNine/TropesMToP
34	* StarTrekDeepSpaceNine/TropesQToZ
35	[[/index]]

Context Series / StarTrekDeepSpaceNine