It was 25 years ago today -- January 3, 1993 -- that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered. The show, created by Rick Berman and the late Michael Piller, thoroughly polarized the fan base. It was so dark and so different in every way from either The Original Series or Star Trek: The Next Generation that many fans tuned in or tuned out, and loved it or loathed it… immediately.
After all, we're talking about a Star Trek series set on a space station at the edge of a wormhole, with precious few starships, barely any beaming up and down, and next to no space battles. The central characters didn’t get along all that well, especially at the beginning, and they boldly went… nowhere, and explored… well, nothing, aboard a grungy, claustrophobic space station.
And, speaking of characters, no Trek series ever boasted such as an unending, diverse gallery of recurring pot-stirring figures, which resulted in memorable recurring roles for a galaxy of top-notch actors. DS9 also delved into politics and discord, deeply so, and later presented a controversial and extended war arc. And while Sonequa Martin-Green now plays Trek's first female African American series lead on Star Trek: Discovery, Avery Brooks paved the way as Trek's first African Amercan male series lead, Benjamin Sisko, on DS9.
This was most definitely not your parents’ Star Trek – and that was no doubt the goal of the show’s creators/executive producers, Berman and Piller, as well as Ira Steven Behr, who made an indelible mark as a writer, co-executive producer and showrunner. A quarter century after the premiere of "Emissary," the arguments continue: Was DS9 the best or the worst of the Star Trek spin-off shows -- or somewhere in between? Was it different just for different’s sake?
Now, we put it to you, the fans:
In what ways has the perception of DS9 changed since the show premiered 25 years ago?
What are your strongest memories, pro and/or con, of DS9?
Do you think Gene Roddenberry would have loved or hated the show? (Remember, Berman informed Roddenberry of his plans for DS9 shortly before Roddenberry’s death in 1991, and Roddenberry’s wife, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry gave her de facto blessing by recurring on the series as her TNG character, Lwaxana Troi)
What was DS9's finest moment? "Far Beyond the Stars" or "What You Leave Behind" or perhaps another episode?
