Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) 7.7
Orbiting the liberated planet of Bajor, a Federation space station guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the Galaxy. |
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) 7.7
Orbiting the liberated planet of Bajor, a Federation space station guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the Galaxy. |
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| 0Share... |
| Complete series cast summary: | |||
| Avery Brooks | ... |
Captain Sisko
(173 episodes, 1993-1999)
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| Rene Auberjonois | ... |
Odo
(173 episodes, 1993-1999)
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| Cirroc Lofton | ... |
Jake Sisko
(173 episodes, 1993-1999)
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| Alexander Siddig | ... |
Doctor Bashir
(173 episodes, 1993-1999)
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| Colm Meaney | ... |
Chief O'Brien
(173 episodes, 1993-1999)
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| Armin Shimerman | ... |
Quark
(173 episodes, 1993-1999)
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| Nana Visitor | ... |
Major Kira
(173 episodes, 1993-1999)
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| Terry Farrell | ... |
Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax
(148 episodes, 1993-1998)
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| Michael Dorn | ... |
Lt. Commander Worf
(102 episodes, 1995-1999)
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The stable wormhole discovered by the Deep Space Nine crew is known to the Bajoran people as the Celestial Temple of their Prophets. Sisko, as discoverer of the wormhole and its inhabitants, is therefore the Emissary of Bajoran prophesy. The wormhole's other end is in the Gamma Quadrant, halfway around the galaxy from Bajor. That section of space is dominated by the malevolent Dominion. The Dominion is led by the Changelings, the race of shapeshifters to which Odo belongs. As of the beginning of the sixth season, Cardassia has joined the Dominion, and together they are waging war on the Federation and their Klingon allies. The war is quickly becoming the most costly war ever for the Federation, and the Deep Space Nine crew must fight to protect their way of life. Written by Matthew D. Wilson <mdw1900@rit.edu>
In your honest opinion, when do you believe that DS9 stopped simply being "at least as good as TNG..." to achieving the greatness that we all come to love and enjoy today?
Although the producers attempted it with "Past Tense, I & II" (it was more of a self-congratulatory pat on the back for the writers, but the earth didn't move, and it didn't generate the kind of buzz that "The Best of Both Worlds, I & II" produced, which they had hoped for, but simply did not happen, because oftentimes, you can't force lightning in a bottle..) for me, it happened when I saw "Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast." At that moment, I realized that these very 2 episodes were something that I had never seen out of Star Trek before, and both episodes simply blew just about everything else out of the water! The dialogue-intense "Improbable Cause" and (at the time..) the f/x-heavy "The Die Is Cast" (Star Trek's 1st, all-out, full-blown fleet battle!!) packed a one-two punch that not even "Emissary," "The Best of Both Worlds, I & II," and "Past Tense, I & II" could beat in terms of sheer brilliance, awe, and execution. At that moment, I knew that there was no turning back for DS9. Prior to "Improbable Cause/The Die Is Cast," I had always compared DS9 to TNG, or DS9 to its then new sister show VOY...but no longer.
It feels good to know that (not coincidentally..) this occured at the exact moment Michael Piller handedover the baton to Ira Behr (the transfer of power happened between the 2 episodes..). If you want proof, just look how Behr allowed Avery Brooks to have a goatee in the following episode, the episodes were more action-packed (no longer limited to the once or twice a year "token action moments" in Piller's otherwise pacifistic approach..) and you hardly heard much technobabble from that moment onward...
Those 2 incredible episodes finally completely won me over that DS9 could stand on its own 2 feet, and create superior episodes that needed no comparisons whatsoever to its sister series TNG and VOY. Everything was uphill from there and onward...DS9 didn't have to prove itself to anybody, being free to showcase episodes without the limitations that constricted the show that came before it, and the shows that came after it.