Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered on January 3, 1993. The third Star Trek series – created by Michael Piller and Rick Berman – ran concurrently with the final seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the early seasons of Star Trek: Voyager. Set on a space station with an African American lead (Avery Brooks) and an increasingly serialized story, the series has always stood somewhat apart from the rest of the franchise.
In an in-depth profile on Variety in honor of the 25th anniversary, Ira Steven Behr (showrunner for seasons 3-7) talks about how the show evolved to be more and more different than standard Star Trek:
“The standalone episodes just kind of bored the hell out of us for the most part. We were struggling. Then the episode that seemed to work at the end of season one had the double whammy of ‘Duet’ and ‘In the Hands of the Prophets.’ So by the end of season one, I felt that I had a handle on what the strength of this show was, which was building on this complicated backstory [creators] Michael [Piller] and Rick [Berman] had given the show.”
Actor René Auberjonois (Odo) also talked about how DS9 was a different kind of Trek show, with different kinds of characters:
“What evolved was kind of a third-child mentality of not being everyone’s cup of tea, but the people who liked it were passionate about it and really enjoyed the neurotic quality to our characters. Every single character on ‘Deep Space Nine’ had some deep psychic problem they had to work out. It was being developed at the time of the riots in Los Angeles and the burning of South Central. And also politically Bosnia and Yugoslavia. Everything was falling apart. There was a real darkness, and I think that deeply influenced the style of the show.”
And actress Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys) also talked about how her character didn’t fit the Star Trek mold:
“Some people in the ‘Star Trek’ world were like, ‘That’s not what a woman in “Star Trek” should be. That’s the wrong thing to be teaching,’” Visitor says. “But what I saw her as was a woman of appetite and gray area — lots of gray area. Very fallible, but growing and trying. And that’s all over television now.”
See the full Variety article for more, including more photos.
DS9@25 on Twitter
Some of the cast and creatives behind DS9 also took to Twitter to talk about the show and celebrate the anniversary.
Mike Piller and I set out to create the first Star Trek series without Gene. Turned out pretty damn well. Can’t believe it was25 years ago.
— Rick Berman (@berman_rick) January 4, 2018
It’s Deep Space Nine’s 25th Anniversary. The reason I know this is because I’ve been working on the DS9 documentary for five of those years and we’re not done yet. Stories, songs, cast, crew, fans, HD footage, and…Kerry McCluggage as Kerry McCluggage.
— Ira Steven Behr (@IraStevenBehr) January 3, 2018
25 years ago today,Deep Space 9 premiered on USA TV. Its a date & existence is worth remembering.I raise a glass to all the people I worked with,all the stories we told,and to the old & new fans who found inspiration & pleasure in what we did.I am honored to be a part of legend.
— Armin Shimerman (@ShimermanArmin) January 4, 2018
Star Trek: DS9 changed my life. It was an honor and a blessing to portray the role of "Nog". I will forever be thankful to the people that gave me the job, continued to give me amazing stories to tell, to my wonderful co-stars & to all of the fans for watching the show. <3
— Aron Eisenberg (@AronEisenberg) January 3, 2018
DS9 Soundtrack announced by La-La Land
In other DS9 news, La-La Land Records announced they are doing another release of music from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The four disc CD set will have a limited run of 3000 units with a retail price of $59.98. The set goes on sale on Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at 12 pm pst with the first 200 purchasers getting a signed front tray card by composer Dennis McCarthy. See their Facebook announcement for more details and full track listing.
Yeah, Rick, I’d agree. It did turn out pretty damn well.
Good job, and happy anniversary.
Hands down the best Trek show ever made! Can’t believe its been 25 years. I’m glad its so loved today.
Nana Visitor is right. This sort of storytelling is all over TV now.
Because it’s feckin’ great!
I remember watching the premiere episode of “Deep Space Nine” as clear as if it was yesterday. I was with my two best friends at their apartment in Arlington, Virginia. Met them a little over a year earlier at the premiere of “Star Trek VI”, and they’re still my besties today–we watched the premiere of “Discovery” in my home theater just a few months ago!
I even remember where I was sitting, because I also remember jumping up and yelling “OOOOHHHH!” when those two Nebula and Ambassador-class starships attacking the Borg cube did that *snazzy* hard 90-degree turn to port during the opening Wolf 359 flashback sequence. (I also barked my shin on my friends’ coffee table when I did that maneuver, which probably helped cement the memory.)
Happy silver anniversary to my favorite Star Trek series.
DS9 ages like good wine, developing body and texture; TNG ages like bread, first fresh, warm, and aromatic, then progressively more stale on its way to moldy.
I’d use ‘burnt toast’ as the descrip of how TNG aged; it was always mostly inedible, but occasionally there were a couple parts where you could scrap off the black stuff that still proved tasty underneath.
DS9 for me is still the only non-TOS show that really matters and that I found engaging a large portion of the time, even first-run. Not saying it had the perfect staying power of french fries, but that unless the chefs screwed up, it was usually something I could eat and then go back for seconds or thirds on. (only ep that I really revised my opinion on was the finale, which I thought was horrible the first time, and then when I re-viewed it a few years later, it blew me away.)
Very good analysis, kmart. The burnt toast
And fine wine analogies were spot on. I liked TNG in that it brought Trek back. But I found the show lacking when you looked at it on its own merits. DS9, on the other hand, did indeed age well and seemed learn from many of the failings of TNG. It is still my favorite of the post TOS shows.
Glad it’s getting some notice now. When it was on, it seemed like the only magazine to regularly support the show and tout its virtues was TV Guide.
Aside from TOS, DS9 is my favorite entire series. Yes, I love many, MANY episodes of TNG and a few of Voyager, but love DS9 as a complete series.
At first, I was quite ambivalent about the show. Yes, I loved “Duet” and “In the Hands of the Prophets,” but it wasn’t until “The Jem’Hadar” that I thought, “I can’t miss another episode of this show!” They blew up a Galaxy-class starship. I was beyond gobsmacked.
Having rewatched DS9 recently, I find that some episodes got eerily even more topical over time: For example, you’ve got religiously motivated terrorism (“In the Hands of the Prophets”), society becoming more paranoid because of terrorism (“Homefront”), a refugee crisis (“Sanctuary”)…
I am watching DS9 right now with my son (who will have his 9th birthday on January 14th) and am looking forward to the pre-ordered and pre-paid “What We Left Behind” Documentary Blu-ray.
I hope a remastering project like that of TNG will start this year.
My favorite Star trek Show! Depth, conflict, great characters, excellent writing. I wish that it had lasted longer!