History Trivia / StarTrekDeepSpaceNine

* VindicatedByReruns: The series polarized ''Star Trek'' fans when it aired, but years after it left TV it found a new audience on Creator/{{Netflix}}.

* VindicatedByReruns: The series polarized ''Star Trek'' fans when it aired, but years after it left TV if found a new audience on Creator/{{Netflix}}.

* ActingInTheDark: Creator/AlexanderSiddig didn't know that his character was actually a Changeling impersonator for several episodes until the episode where it was revealed. The reveal that Bashir was an augment in "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" was similar (in that case, because the writers had not actually planned it out too far ahead of time), and much of Siddig's frustration with the storyline was because he was not able to "prepare" his performance in earlier episodes to fit.

* ApprovalOfGod: Garak/Bashir shippers frustrated that a pairing with so much subtext and build-up over time never became canon can at least rest assured that Creator/AndrewRobinson and Creator/AlexanderSiddig, the actors who played them, have both been vociferous in their desire for the relationship to have been able to go there, and speculation about it at conventions. They even wrote a play called "The Nexus" where they practice confessing love to each other, and performed a fanfiction about them on Zoom where Garak and Bashir [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tq8zaSObWU&ab_channel=SidCity are a married couple 20 years after the end of the series]]. Writer and showrunner Ira Stephen Behr also said in the [=DS9=] documentary that it was a missed opportunity not to have Garak come out as gay.

* CreatorsPest: Creator/AndrewRobinson didn't care much for [[EvilCounterpart Mirror Garak]], finding him to be a boring [[FlatCharacter one-note]] toady who lacked all of his Prime counterpart's nuance and menacing aura. The character's [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E12TheEmperorsNewCloak final appearance]], where the Prime Universe Ferengis brag about how much more clever and competent their Garak is, followed by [[spoiler:Mirror Garak being injected with his own virus and left for dead]] may have been a wink to the sentiment.

* FanCommunityNickname: Fans of the series are called "niners".

* {{McLeaned}}: Jadzia Dax was killed off after contract re-negotiations with Terry Farrell fell through (the early makeup calls were getting to be too much; several cast members had reached their wit's end by that point). Terry left the show in Season 6 to join the cast of ''{{Series/Becker}}''. She later regretted this decision, calling Jadzia a "superhero."

* ApprovalOfGod: Garak/Bashir shippers frustrated that a pairing with so much subtext and build-up over time never became canon can at least rest assured that Creator/AndrewRobinson and Creator/AlexanderSiddig, the actors who played them, have both been vociferous in their desire for the relationship to have been able to go there, and speculation about it at conventions. They even wrote a play called "The Nexus" where they practice confessing love to each other, and performed a fanfiction about them on Zoom where Garak and Bashir [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tq8zaSObWU&ab_channel=SidCity are a married couple 20 years after the end of the series]]. Writer and showrunner Ira Stephen Behr also said in the DS9 documentary that it was a missed opportunity not to have Garak come out as gay.

* ActingInTheDark: Creator/AlexanderSiddig only found out that his character was actually a Changeling impersonator for several episodes until the episode where it was revealed.

* FanNickname:
** Kai Opaka was called "Deep Space Nun" during the first season but was PutOnABus midway through the season.
** A number of fans refer to Jadzia as "Sex Giraffe" due to her giraffe-like spots and, [[MsFanservice well...]]
** Website/SFDebris coined the name "Ben Sisko's Mutha***in' Pimp Hand" for the ''Defiant'', which appears to have caught on over the Internet.
** [=SFDebris=] also coined "This is the one that even the Prophets call 'The Sisko'. First name: 'Don't F*** With'."
** Damar was derisively referred to as "Dumbar" on certain fan forums for his [[TheDragon blind loyalty]] to Dukat. [[spoiler:Of course, this was before his HeelFaceTurn.]]
* GayPanic: This was the initial reasoning behind the character of [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Ziyal]] - Garak was just a little ''too'' into Bashir for the executives' comfort (this was absolutely deliberate, by the way - Andrew Robinson, who played him, said he played Garak as omnisexual and very into Julian). He never got together with her, and seemed frankly baffled by her romantic feelings toward him, so the jury's out on how effective she was.

* ScienceMarchesOn:
** Near the end of ''[=DS9=]'', Dr. Bashir asks Odo to donate part of his natural goo to help figure out how to grow new organs. Come the early 21st Century, and humans have nearly perfected the ability to grow organs in a lab - not, admittedly, organs that can change to become the one that is required by an impending surgical procedure (which is what Bashir was aiming for).
** Bashir wanted it to help find a way to grow organs on the battlefield - it's on thing to grow a new organ for a lung transplant when someone has been ill for a couple of months, but it's hard to know how many lungs, hearts, etc to have on standby on a battlefield, nor do you often have the time to grow them as the patient could die before they are fully mature.

* GayPanic:vThis was the initial reasoning behind the character of [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Ziyal]] - Garak was just a little ''too'' into Bashir for the executives' comfort (this was absolutely deliberate, by the way - Andrew Robinson, who played him, said he played Garak as omnisexual and very into Julian). He never got together with her, and seemed frankly baffled by her romantic feelings toward him, so the jury's out on how effective she was.

** Melanie Smith was 34 when she played 20-year-old Tora Ziyal in the show's fifth season. Oddly enough, this was downplayed by Ziyal's first two actresses, Cyia Batten and Tracy Middendorf, who were 22 and 25 years old respectively; however, the producers decided they were both too young for the ShipTease they wanted to set up between Ziyal and Garak.

*** As did Creator/MichaelDorn.

** It's been said that Creator/AveryBrooks, Creator/ArminShimerman, and Marc Alaimo took their roles very seriously (Brooks' temperament was partially due to MethodActing, Shimerman always fought against Ferengi as comic relief and Alaimo, despite [[FakeGuestStar technically being a guest star]], would behave as though he was the lead). During the first few years with ''TNG'' filming next to them, when people were actually talking and laughing, the producers knew that Marina Sirtis had wandered over to visit some friends. Upon joining the cast in the fourth season, Creator/MichaelDorn said it took him some time to get everyone to lighten up.

* HostilityOnTheSet:
** Creator/AveryBrooks ran a tight ship. The cast all called Avery Brooks "Mister Brooks" on-set, which is eyebrow-raising. Brooks was a stage actor long before he stepped on a TV set, and that's just not how casts roll. Creator/AlexanderSiddig claimed that Brooks took to him because they were both people of color. Brooks later terminated their friendship, and Siddig claims to not know what he'd done. The problem may have been ideological: Siddig is on record as beng totally indifferent to his character's race; he changed his stage name from the very Arabic "Siddig El Fadil" to the very European "Alexander". Brooks, on the other hand, grew increasingly vocal about addressing Ben Sisko's ancestors in-story, from directing the acclaimed episode "Far Beyond the Stars" to adding in a line denouncing the racism of mob-controlled Las Vegas, to convincing the writers to change the show's ending as it looked like Sisko was abandoning his pregnant wife. Brooks declined to grant an interview for the ''What We Left Behind'' documentary, the only major cast member to do so (though Ira Steven Behr insists that Brooks had considerable input behind the scenes) and he is also the only Berman-era Captain who has declined to reprise his role for the Kurtzman-era ''Trek'' revival, apparently claiming that he would only be interested in returning if he could do a two-man show with Cirroc Lofton, the only cast member he got along well with.
** Creator/TerryFarrell has stated that Rick Berman, who cast her in the role, was very misogynistic and would openly complain about her bra size. It got particularly bad during the first two seasons, before Berman was called away to manage the movies and ''Voyager''.

** Baseball players in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E04TakeMeOutToTheHolosuite Take Me Out to the Holosuite]]". Aside from Avery Brooks (Sisko) and Cirroc Lofton (Jake), the actors playing the Ferengi were the best baseball players in the cast. In fact Max Grodenchik (Rom) played college ball. The [[ButtMonkey Ferengi]] being who they are, however, forced them to play left-handed and employ other tricks to look horrible on film.

** Creator/AveryBrooks ran a tight ship. The cast all called Avery Brooks "Mister Brooks" on-set, which is eyebrow-raising. Brooks was a stage actor long before he stepped on a TV set, and that's just not how casts roll. Creator/AlexanderSiddig claimed that Brooks took to him because they were both people of color. Brooks later terminated their friendship, and Siddig claims to not know what he'd done. The problem may have been ideological: Siddig is on record as beng totally indifferent to his character's race; he changed his stage name from the very Arabic "Siddig El Fadil" to the very European "Alexander". Brooks, on the other hand, grew increasingly vocal about addressing Ben Sisko's ancestors in-story, from directing the acclaimed episode "Far Beyond the Stars" to adding in a line denouncing the racism of mob-controlled Las Vegas, to convincing the writers to change the show's ending as it looked like Sisko was abandoning his pregnant wife. Brooks declined to grant an interview for the ''What We Left Behind'' documentary, the only major cast member to do so (though Ira Steven Behr insists that Brooks had considerable input behind the scene) and he is also the only Berman-era Captain who has declined to reprise his role for the Kurtzman-era ''Trek'' revival, apparently claiming that he would only be interested in returning if he could do a two-man show with Cirroc Lofton, the only cast member he got along well with.

** Creator/AveryBrooks ran a tight ship. The cast all called Avery Brooks "Mister Brooks" on-set, which is eyebrow-raising. Brooks was a stage actor long before he stepped on a TV set, and that's just not how casts roll. Creator/AlexanderSiddig claimed that Brooks took to him because they were both people of color. Brooks later terminated their friendship, and Siddig claims to not know what he'd done. The problem may have been ideological: Siddig is on record as beng totally indifferent to his character's race; he changed his stage name from the very Arabic "Siddig El Fadil" to the very European "Alexander". Brooks, on the other hand, grew increasingly vocal about addressing Ben Sisko's ancestors in-story, from directing the acclaimed episode "Far Beyond the Stars" to adding in a line denouncing the racism of mob-controlled Las Vegas, to convincing the writers to change the show's ending as it looked like Sisko was abandoning his pregnant wife.

** Avery Brooks ran a tight ship. The cast all called Avery Brooks "Mister Brooks" on-set, which is eyebrow-raising. Brooks was a stage actor long before he stepped on a TV set, and that's just not how casts roll. Siddig claimed that Brooks took to him because they were both people of color. Brooks later terminated their friendship, and Siddig claims to not know what he'd done. The problem may have been ideological: Siddig is on record as beng totally indifferent to his character's race; he changed his stage name from the very Arabic "Siddig El Fadil" to the very European "Alexander". Brooks, on the other hand, grew increasingly vocal about addressing Ben Sisko's ancestors in-story, from directing the acclaimed episode "Far Beyond the Stars" to adding in a line denouncing the racism of mob-controlled Las Vegas, to convincing the writers to change the show's ending as it looked like Sisko was abandoning his pregnant wife.

** The station's second-in-command is a tough woman with a take-no-prisoners attitude. The doctor is talented but arrogant and a bit of a playboy. A main actress unexpectedly quits the show before the final season.

* ArchivedAppearance: The 30th anniversary episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" would feature most of ''The Original Series'' cast (save for Creator/GeorgeTakei as Sulu, due to him not appearing in "The Trouble With Tribbles"--he would appear on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' instead) by reusing footage from that show and superimposing the ''Deep Space Nine'' cast over it, having been inspired by ''Film/ForrestGump'' and their successful use of this technique to do so.

** Re: the series finale twist ("[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E25E26WhatYouLeaveBehind What You Leave Behind]]") of Sisko [[spoiler:dying in the Fire Caves and becoming a Prophet]], Creator/AveryBrooks was firm: ''Hell'' no. Given the fact that he was [[UnfortunateImplications an African-American male ditching his wife and newborn child]], Brooks was uneasy about the message they would be sending. The writers suddenly saw his point, and the ending was rewritten to make Sisko's departure more ambiguous.

** Socialist Creator/WallaceShawn plays Grand Nagus Zek, leader of a race whose greatest value is acquiring profit.

** Nothing too extensive, but the behind-the-scenes attitude was very dour on the show. It's been said that Creator/AveryBrooks, Creator/ArminShimerman and Marc Alaimo took their roles very seriously (Brooks' temperament was partially due to MethodActing, Shimerman always fought against Ferengi as comic relief and Alaimo, despite [[FakeGuestStar technically being a guest star]], would behave as though he was the lead). During the first few years with TNG filming next to them, when people were actually talking and laughing the producers knew that Marina Sirtis had wandered over to visit some friends. Upon joining the cast in the fourth season Michael Dorn said it took him some time to get everyone to lighten up.
** Creator/AlexanderSiddig claimed that Brooks took to him early on in the series, noting that they were both POC on a sci-fi show. This bond did not last, when Brooks terminated their friendship mid-way through the run and was hostile to him from then on. Siddig claims to not know what he'd done. [[note]]The difference may have been ideological: Siddig is on record saying that Bashir just happening to be of North African descent and that being wholly incidental to his character was enough of a powerful statement for him in terms of racial progressivism (he also changed his stage name from the very Arabic "Siddig El Fadil" to the European "Alexander" partway through the show's run); Brooks, on the other hand, grew increasingly vocal about addressing Benjamin Sisko's African-American heritage in-story, from directing the acclaimed episode "Far Beyond the Stars" to adding in a line denouncing the inherent racism of 20th century Las Vegas and convincing the writers to change the show's ending as it looked like Sisko was abandoning his pregnant wife.[[/note]] Brooks allegedly was difficult to work with as a director as well as a cast member, and only a few of the regular cast would consider him a friend.
** Creator/TerryFarrell has stated that Rick Berman was very misogynistic towards her and would openly complain about her bra size. This situation was apparently particularly bad for Farrell during the first two seasons.

** Melanie Smith was 34 when she played 20-year-old Tora Ziyal in the show's fifth season.