Star Trek Las Vegas: Deep Space Nine 20th Anniversary Reunion

It took two separate panels to accommodate the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 20th Anniversary Reunion at Creation Entertainment’s Las Vegas convention August 11. Creation assembled a nearly complete cast of 16 DS9 main cast members for the commemorative event. And in between panels, when writer-producer Ira Steven Behr walked on stage with the cast, the scene brought hundreds of camera flashes in Rio Resort and Casino’s main theater. You don’t have to be a die-hard DS9 fan to appreciate these increasingly rare convention reunion moments. Fans, actors — even sideline observers can’t help but get a little choked up. Who knows when, where or if an ensemble like this will be on the same stage together again?

After introductions and pleasantries, Creation’s panel moderator Adam Malin immediately got to the heart of the matter, quizzing DS9 actors about their characters’ interactions and development. Parallels between the relationships of actors and characters were explored — such as the father and son relationship between Sisko and Jake. For example, in real life, Cirroc Lofton, who played Jake, said Brooks served as his mentor. He said Avery Brooks wanted to sure he knew his lines: “Every day he’d ask me: ‘Are you ready for this. ‘”

cirroc_microphone

“Look at him now,” said Brooks of the 35-year-old Lofton. “He’s all grown up,” he remarked, as Lofton stood up beside him, comparing his height. “He’s taller than me now.” Armin Shimerman (DS9’s Quark) jumped off his chair to pose next to them on his knees, poking fun at his much taller fellow cast members.

avery-cirroc-armin

Exploratory Panel
In describing another kind of on-set relationship, second panel member Chase Masterson described her character’s (Leeta) romance with and eventual marriage to Rom, played by Max Grodenchik. She stressed in the late 90s, while so many TV shows were filled with dysfunctional couples, Leeta’s and Rom’s relationship was a normal and happy one.


Chase Masterson (Leeta)

One of the more complex relationships of the series was that of Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) and Odo (Rene Auberjonois), which developed from a connection of two co-workers to a close friendship — then from a romantic attraction to the ultimate unconditional love.

nana  rene
Nana Visitor (Kira)                                        Rene Auberjonois (Odo)

Michael Dorn and Terry Farrell explored the growth of their relationship as well, although Farrell wasn’t always comfortable with the sometimes mischaracterization of Jadzia Dax as a “gossipy” simbiont, exchanging trivialities with Quark. Dorn retold how his Worf character really developed with Deep Space Nine, especially as Dax’s love interest, even though he said “Worf was “still a bit of a cranky pants.”

terry

 Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax)


Ira Steven Behr greets a packed room at Star Trek Las Vegas

Fan Value
Star Trek convention reunion panels always draw a wide range of questions. Fans dissect characters, analyze relationships, pour over the significance of events and story lines. Yet Star Trek fans never grow tired of hearing the stories. They lean on these anecdotes, hoping that some unknown tidbit of the series might pop out, some new twist or little snippet of a set scenario may still be uncovered. They know these cast member conversations are priceless souvenirs of every convention.

marc aron
Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat)                Aron Eisenberg (Nog)

Happy to work
And although some panels may come off like the intro segments of late night talk shows, the Deep Space 9 cast acknowledged it was a serious bunch; they didn’t subscribe to many pranks on or off the set. Similarly both 20th anniversary DS9 reunion panels had a serious, subdued but sentimental tone. Each actor recollected about the development of their roles over the seven-year series run. Some said they felt just happy to be employed, adding they felt very much at ease with the group, no matter at what point they had joined the series. Others described their roles on the show as being “just like any other job,” at least at first, adding they did not expect their roles to continue past a few episodes or maybe one season. Also, at the time of filming, most agreed they did not get acquainted with each other off the set. DS9 cast members told fans, these Star Trek conventions also have been opportunities for them to get to know each other better, reconnect and catch up with each others’ career projects and personal lives. Almost every actor seemed to agree, they had no idea the show would “become this big” or “have such a major impact” on society.


The entire DS9 cast assembles for a photo op

Probably the least complex character was nightclub owner singer-emcee-hologram Vic Fontaine, played by James Darren, who joked his character was around in the last season to give love advice and entertain. At the end of their Deep Space Nine panel, Avery Brooks joined Darren for a reprise of Cy Coleman’s song they performed as Fontaine and Sisko in Season 7, episode 15, “Badda Bing, Badda Bang.” One can hope this song, “The Best is Yet to Come” could be a simple, but prophetic wisdom — both for the Star Trek franchise and convention reunions.


Avery Brooks and James Darren strike up a duet


Max Grodenchik (Rom), Chase Masterson (Leeta) listen to Casey Biggs (Damar)


Second DS9 panel answers fan questions


Armin Shimerman says Quark, like any human, was “just trying to make a buck”

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Thanks Nancy for the excellent report. Saw Avery Brooks on William Shatner’s documentary. The man can play piano. And Avery Brooks knows jazz.

Watching Season 4 of TNG on BluRay and seeing so many important aspects of DS9 being introduced for the very first time, and now this? This is a great time to be a Trekkie.

Loved DS9 soo dearly.

Please can we get better coverage of the many other conventions out there, that are much more fan oriented and friendly?

or here is a idea, you could take submissions from your many readers who attend the many trek conventions around the world, to write up reports on them.
There are hundreds of better run and managed conventions out there beyond Creation who deserve a write up. And the promoters of those conventions actually care about and listen to fan input.

You’re in my spot.

Great report, Nancy.

I miss these guys a lot. DS9 is one of the very few series that I re-watch once a year when I can.

I met Alexander Siddig in Cairo when he was shooting the movie “Cairo Time”. A friend of mine helped me to get an extra position in the movie & it was great to see Siddig in person. He was a down to Earth guy with a very nice attitude.

I know it is not possible but I wish if they could make a DS9 DVD movie one day.

I really miss having these guys come visit every week. Great series and an awesome cast. Hope you can get a YouTube video of this.

Argh, I don’t even want to think about the day that cast reunions become a rarity! Please don’t suggest that they will become rarer and rarer! [Although, that may well be so — sadly. :-( ]

Anyway, great to know that these reunions are such fun. I miss going to Trek conventions.

By the way, all of the cast look amazing. Which goes to prove, once again, that Trek stars are the best stars of all!

So who were the no shows? See some people behind people in the big picture.

Colm Meany and Alexander Siddig?

#8

Sure looks like it. I imagine it’s because both are currently working (Siddig on Da Vinci’s Demons and Meaney on Hell on Wheels).

REMEMBER THE ALAIMO!!!

Gul Dukat, what a great character.

All the women of DS9 are still babes. :-)

And every cast member looks like they could step right into their old roles with no problem at all.

I’m a bit shocked that Avery Brooks showed up. He’s been, by reputation, a bit of an academic recluse in recent years.

I really think that of all the different Trek series, DS9 is definitively the one with the greatest diversity of regulars / semi-regulars, although TNG and Voyager are not that far behind. Every one of them has their own story to tell and it seems very clear to me that they could carry on a conversation about their various personal experiences for many, many hours and hold the audience’s attention.

Come to think of it, though, I haven’t seen much coverage of cast reunions of ENT actors. As they are the most recent alumni in the world of Trek TV, it would be interesting to compare and contrast their views with those of more seasoned actors. Of course, Scott Bakula’s been around for a while as an actor, no doubt, and he himself could probably regale us with quite a number of stories.

I think I’ll do a Google search on “whatever happened to….” a few of the ENT cast I haven’t read about in years. For example, what as Linda Park done recently? Inquiring minds want to know. ;-)

Where’s Ezri :(

This was a very underrated tv show, I didnt watch it much because it premiered the year I graduated HS in 1993, and now im 35, and have picked up the season sets on dvd, i really have enjoyed it quite a bit, great charachter devolpments especially when Worf comes on board the station I believe, the episode is, The Way of The Warrior

#11. Hat Rick – August 17, 2013

I second that emoticon, emotion, motion….

Even Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn).

ezri was so brief n i never really bought her…just didnt think the old man would symbient with her personality…i dunno seemed a bit too soft n weak to me…i know she did her best…her difficulties with worf were the best part….oddly ezri was the only character on ds9 i didnt really buy probably cuz i really liked terry farrell…..and it was so late in the series….the other thing i didnt like was sisko becoming the emissary entity thing…somehow thought roddenberry wouldnt want so much religion especially fulfilling prophecy etc….i know it was foreshadowed almost since the first season…so not a surprise….and it was handled well…has behr ever said why he likes to be blubeard? pirate envy?

It’s too bad DS9 never made it to the big screen, even as a brief spot in one of the TNG movies. When Ds9 was good, it was really good. It’s not really on TV anywhere or Netflix. Too bad, I’d like to see it again.

This was SUCH a good series.

It may be less accessible than the others, due to the fact that it focused more on reoccurring characters, politics etc rather than just crazy adventures; but it was for this reason that it was so amazing! You just kinda have to watch it from start to finish to get the most out of it… which is true of any series really. I loved their eps in the Evil Universe; Sisko pulled off his bad-ass role real well

Except TOS…

CBS.com has DS9 to watch for free, along with the other series.

Bring Back DS9! :-)

17) Unless you have timewarner cable in which case your SOL right now in terms of CBS.com

Really wish you would put the spotlight on the far superior conventions that are held around the country and world, by superior organizers and promoters other than Creation.

Surely it can’t be that hard to round up people willing to write up about the great conventions put on by promoters who actually care about the fans and their guests/
I can think of a number of the posters on this site who would be happy to help out with articles on the convention scene outside the CON that is creation

Definetely the best Trek-show.

#20

If you’re so familiar with these then why don’t you stop complaining about the lack of coverage and write about them?

After TOS, DS9 is my favorite Trek show. And in some ways it is the BEST Star Trek show! ‘The Visitor’ is in my top three Trek eps EVER!

if TOS would have been made in the ’90 it would have looked a lot like DS9

I would love to see a video of this pop up somewhere. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the TNG cast reunion videos on YouTube.

RE: #14 Jim Nightshade – August 18, 2013

Agree on all counts. Ezri was cute, but that was about it. The poor actress had NOTHING to work with other than whiney, teenage-like dialogue.

For some reason they intentionally wrote that character to be annoying and succeeded.

He, The Gang grew old gracefully..!

Such great writing on DS9. We got our ‘splosions of the week, but mostly spent time with characters we liked.

I hope new fans are discovering this largely underloved series.

Oh, and… Terry? YES. OK, yes already. Now stop stalking me. (Or rather, please start!)

DS9 is on US Netflix.

#8 an #9: Siddig showed up a couple of days earlier. Colm was at last year’s Las Vegas convention in connection with TNG’s 25th anniversary. Nicole did indeed attend Sunday’s cast reunion, and you can see photos of of her over toward the right side of the line of chairs at StarTrek.com.

DS9 was easily the best Trek on TV. It was really the ONLY Trek, other than TOS, which actually focused on character development. Consider how one-note Worf’s character was on TNG, versus how fully developed the character became on DS9. He finally made Klingons more than just caroonish stereotypes, and turned them into a richly realized race.

Or compare DS9’s world to the massively sterile world of TNG. On Picard’s Enterprise, apparently when everyone is finished with their workday, they retire alone to their quarters, to sit quietly and paint or play their trombones. The only fraternizing occurs in Ten-Forward, where you must sit quietly and converse in hushed tones without showing much emotion. Then you return alone to your quarters to play that trombone.

DS9 showed that there was actually life after your day job ended. I believe most of the TNG problem came from Roddenberry, who apparently insisted that all interpersonal conflict had been eliminated in the future, and therefore avoided showing any interpersonal relationships. Luckily Roddenberry wasn’t much involved in DS9, and finally the characters could BREATHE again.

Voyager and Enterprise both returned in some ways to the TNG-level of sterility, but had their moments, and at their best were better than TNG overall.

But none held a candle to DS9, when Trek finally came back to it’s TOS roots and gave us so many great stories.

Sign me up for buying the entire DS9 series on blu-ray, if they’ll ever do it.

#15

It’s on Netflix. The wife and I are mid-way through season two!

#15 – Every Star Trek show is on Netflix. Even the cartoon! :)

Colm Meany is awesome in Hell on Wheels. One of my favorite shows.

DS9 is not on Canada Netflix or television, nor is B5, Battlestar Galactica. We have very little to choose from for good science fiction. I find with all the cheap to produce reality shows invading our television, every year good shows are losing out, and so are we. I think unless netflix or something like netflix is willing to take a chance on a good science fiction show, we will likely not see another quality science fiction show on television. It is simple numbers, spend a few hundred thousand dollars on an episode of reality tv, and the return on investment is millions in advertising. Why would they spend a million + on a scifi show when you will not make the same margin. It is all numbers, it has nothing to do with good storytelling unless it will pull in advertising dollars. Some of the best science fiction, if you miss the beginning it is hard to get into them. Most people want to turn on the tv, watch something, and not think to much about it. Most scientific fiction people are the opposite, they like things that challenge them. DS9 was a show that challenged the viewers, I think that is what we miss the most.

I really miss DS9, the way it ended it would be difficult to have a full reunion and as someone else stated it would have been nice to have gotten a scene or two on DS9 in one of TNG movies. Hell, they got Worf in every movie even thou he was assigned to DS9 and Janeway showed up in Nemesis, we should have at least had Kira show up.

A few things. People have complained about Star Trek Into Darkness’ conspiracy plot. Yet Deep Space 9 did a conspiracy plot with Federation officers planning on staging a coup to fight the Dominion in “Homefront’ and “Paradise Lost.”

Deep Space 9 is a talky show. And that’s fine. Yet, J.J. Abrams called Star Trek, ” a little talky.” May 8, 2009. Entertainment Weekly, page 30. And here it is. It’s a show beloved by most Trekkers.

Section 31 was introduced in Deep Space 9. It’s mentioned in Star Trek Into Darkness as one of the groups assisting Admiral Marcus. (That’s from memory, so correct me.) Section 31 was mentioned in the movie..

The evil Rick Berman :-) and Michael Piller created Star Trek: Deep Space 9. The mere mention of Rick Berman gets some Trekkers lathered into a frenzy. But can we give him credit for creating Deep Space 9 and for setting its tone? I say yes. While darker, many DS9 episodes were true to Roddenberry’s vision which is what Berman tried to keep. Adventure. Heart. Intelligence. Those attributes marked DS9.

Basement Blogger, the more we talk about DS9, the more I think Trek is ready for the small screen again — that is, by rights.

What I mean is that if there is an audience for intelligent programming, and shows that don’t exclusivly play on cheap thrills, then there must be an audience for a Trek show like DS9.

The problem is that the fragmentation of the TV landscape has resulted in more money and shows spread over a greater number of venues. A series that might have found a home on a broadcast network might have to settle for a cable network instead. While a greater number of channels theoretically means greater choice, in reality, it also means that the level of financing that one could have expected in the past from the deeper pockets of broadcast networks just simply isn’t there. And SF shows are notoriously expensive to produce.

None of this is new to people who follow the business even casually, but it does seem to be a serious problem for quality shows. And when niche networks such as the SciFi Network (is it even named that anymore?) make bad decisions, then the result is even more ominous for those in search of quality.

A flight to quality might work on Wall Street, but it seems all too rare in that town we call Tinsel.

DS9 is the best of all Star Trek

Bring it back on Bluray!

Dad! We’re here to rescue you!

Oh the 90’s….they peak of Trek. Good time to be a fan. Sad to watch the sunset on that chapter of Star Trek.

Great report!

I was in Vegas a couple days after this and wish I could have been there sooner.

DS9, man, what a great show!

And they all look good now, too.

@14. Nicole DeBoer? – I’m pretty sure she’s the one in the Union Jack T-shirt in the first and second group pic.

To this day I’d still blow my nut on Jadzia, Ezri and Leeta. Or whatever their real names are – does anyone really care?

Miss Colm Meaney and Alexander Siddig :(

Colm is busy. He is building railroad hubb, and making some serious problems to Cullen Bohannen. XD

As far as Rick Berman, I don’t think he ruined Star Trek at all, even though Voyager and Enterprise were less than stellar entries into the panthenon. Mostly I blame Brannon Braga for the down-trend. He wasn’t involved in DS9, though, and ISB and Michael Pillar were, so there was that.

And to the US vs. Canada Netflix thing, I think there are contractural issues involved … some shows are produced, sold and marketed as US only, and international distribution is usually a separate thing. Netflix doesn’t have all those contractural things ironed out yet (neither does YouTube or Hulu, for that matter). Someday they will, but that’s cold comfort right now.

DS9 was a “talky” show, but there were a number of episodes that were quite dramatic (“In The Pale Moonlight” is my favorite) and showed a wide range from all the cast members – wider than any of the other Trek shows, even TOS (which is my all-time favorite). And there weren’t as many formulaic Trek episodes (since they were on a space station, it was a little hard for Sisko to say “Ahead, warp factor one” at the end of every episode), which kept it fresh. The whole Bajoran religion thing seemed forced sometimes, and the more spiritual elements weren’t included as homages to modern-day religion but rather as indictments of same. And the “pah wraith” thing was, IMNSHO, just goofy. Dukat, for example, didn’t need the pah wraiths to turn him evil – he was evil enough on his own.

My 2 cents.