star trek deep space nine 30th anniversary

IDW honors 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' 30th anniversary with new comics miniseries

Writer Mike Chen and artist Angel Hernandez share the captain’s chair for "Deep Space Nine - The Dog of War"

As sci-fi fans who love our furry friends, we can all agree that there needs to be more dogs included in our favorite franchises. Except for Cosmo the Wonderdog and "Spaceballs'" Barf, there's an unacceptable void when it comes to a diversity of cosmic canines sniffing around the universe.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of " Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ," IDW Publishing will be gifting us a new five-issue comic book miniseries " Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Dog of War " in April of 2023 with a particularly valuable Welsh Corgi called Latinum at the core of its fun storyline.

Written by acclaimed sci-fi author Mike Chen ("Star Wars: Brotherhood," "Light Years From Home") and paired with veteran "Star Trek" artist Angel Hernandez ("Star Trek: Picard - Stargazer," "Star Trek: Discovery - Adventures in the 32nd Century"), "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Dog of War" reunites readers with those popular wormhole residents and its eclectic space station crew. You can check out our picks for the best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes to catch up on the acclaimed Trek series.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Dog of War #1 ebook: $4.99 at Amazon for pre-order

Return to Deep Space Nine in April 2023 for a new adventure with the station's crew and an adorable Corgi (not to mention Quark)!

" The Dog of War " seeks to conjure up a "lost episode" set within the canonical timeline of the original "Deep Space Nine" show that first hit the airwaves on January 3, 1993 and ran for seven seasons.

Check out the project's official synopsis:

"In the new miniseries, an extremely rare purebred corgi from Earth makes its way aboard Deep Space 9 when Quark cuts a deal to procure it for a potential buyer. After all, a Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all! But the corgi named Latinum comes with unexpected cargo that shakes Captain Benjamin Sisko to the core: a Borg component discovered by a crew sent to uncover Cardassian technology after the station’s reoccupation."

"'You mean the greatest TV show ever made?'" says Chen in an official statement when quizzed about his affection for "DS9." "I'm absolutely ecstatic to hang out with "DS9's" crew, and I hope that this story touches on all of the characters and intensity that made the show so powerful and great: Sisko's history with the Borg, the Dominion War, Garak's great outfits, Jadzia being Jadzia, Miles and Julian's holosuite adventures, and so much more. Also, Quark gets a dog. If that doesn’t earn your latinum, I don’t know what will!"

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For "Star Trek" senior editor Heather Antos, "Deep Space Nine" represents the defining "Star Trek" show for a whole generation of fans, and with all things ‘90s back in style, the timing is totally ripe.

"So to be able to tell an additional episode in comic form for the series’ 30th anniversary is extra special," says Antos in IDW's press release. "Mike Chen’s passion for the crew of this celebrated space station is unprecedented, and no one knows the visual world of "Star Trek" quite like Angel Hernandez. Plus…who wouldn’t want dogs in 'Star Trek?'"

" Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Dog of War #1 " launches in April of 2023 with multiple variant covers including Cover A by series artist Angel Hernandez; a "Star Trek: Lower Decks" wraparound Cover B by Chris Fenogolio; and Cover C by "My Little Pony" artist Andy Price which links with covers across all five issues to create a tail-wagging diorama of "DS9" characters with lookalike pooches.

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Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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Screen Rant

Watch star trek: deep space 9 cast reunite for 30th anniversary video.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor, Colm Meaney, and Terry Farrell reunite for a round table discussion of the show on its 30th anniversary.

Several cast members from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have reunited on the 30th anniversary of the show. The Star Trek universe began surprisingly inauspiciously back in 1966 with Star Trek: The Original Series , the show created by Gene Roddenberry that introduced iconic characters like Spock, Sulu, Uhura, and Captain James T. Kirk to the science fiction canon. That series only lasted three seasons and a total of 79 episodes before going off the air in 1969. Although there was a short-lived animated series from 1973 to 1974, the live-action part of the franchise wasn't resurrected until Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, which led to three sequels and the first follow-up series, Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 .

Although the franchise now includes many television series and films, with Paramount+ especially bringing on a wealth of new material in the last half a decade, Deep Space Nine was only the third Star Trek series to ever hit the airwaves. The series, which follows a space station that is jointly administered by the Cardassians and the Bajorans following the cessation of a major conflict between their races, ran for seven seasons and 176 episodes, from 1993 through 1999. Over the years, only seven cast members appeared on every episode of the series, including Colm Meaney as Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien and Nana Visitor as Bajoran military liaison Kira Nerys .

Related: Star Trek: Discovery Continues A Running Deep Space 9 Joke

IGN reunited several original cast members of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for a round table discussion hosted by Scott Collura. In attendance were Visitor, Meaney, and Terry Farrell, who appeared on 148 episodes as Lt. Cmdr. Jadzia Dax. In addition to discussing the show's impact and overarching themes, they share how the advent of streaming has propelled the legacy of Deep Space Nine to a new generation. Check out the video below:

So far, none of these three performers has made a major appearance in a Star Trek property since the end of Deep Space Nine (though Farrell did reprise her role in the 2017 fan project Star Trek: Renegades ). However, given their willingness to reunite for this special, it seems like it might just be high time to mount a new project with them for Paramount+. While the entire cast, which included Avery Brooks, Alexander Siddig, and Michael Dorn as Worf , may not be able to reunite, there is probably a slot for them somewhere, even if it is as a cameo in a show that's already on the air.

With the upcoming Star Trek: Picard season 3 mounting a full-on reunion of the crew from Star Trek: The Next Generation , the time seems ripe for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to be given the spotlight once more. However, even if that is not the case, at the very least fans can appreciate the actors' willingness to be candid about their work on the show and generous with their time. Thirty years on, the series is still an iconic part of the fabric of the Star Trek universe, and they clearly recognize that.

Source: IGN

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Published Jan 3, 2023

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's 'Emissary' at 30: An Appreciation

We take a look back at the series' premiere.

StarTrek.com / Rob DeHart

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted in first-run syndication on January 3, 1993, with a two-hour pilot entitled " Emissary ."

It was — especially compared to Star Trek: The Next Generation — the dark Star Trek , a gritty, angry, contentious spin on Gene Roddenberry’s Wagon Train to the Stars concept. Characters who disliked each other? A commander who didn’t want to be there? Who had a young child on board with him? A space station that boldly went… nowhere? Is this even Star Trek at all?

30 years on, it’s safe to say, the answer is YES .

For many fans, DS9 is their absolute favorite of the live-action Star Trek series. Others appreciate it more now in retrospect, as it grew on them over time. And, yes, there are those fans who, to this day, still despise the show. It’s why, as we say, there's a Star Trek series for every type of fan.

So, as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , we've got some “Emissary”-centric facts to share!

StarTrek.com

The idea for DS9, the initial kernel, came from then-Paramount Pictures boss Brandon Tartikoff, who, according to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , put the notion of “a man and a boy in space” in the ear of Rick Berman, who teamed with Michael Piller to create the show.

Production on the pilot, “Emissary,” started on August 18, 1992.

As late as August 11, 1992, while “Emissary” was still in pre-production, Dr. Julian Bashir was named Dr. Julian Amoros.

The last series regular cast was Terry Farrell, who arrived on set after production commenced on “Emissary.” In fact, she shot her first scene on Day 11.

David Carson directed “Emissary,” and his fine work on the DS9 pilot won him the coveted opportunity to helm Star Trek Generations .

Patrick Stewart was billed as Special Guest Star, playing Captain Picard/Locutus.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Benjamin and Jake Sisko Get Ready for Their New Journey

DS9 boasted the largest and best ensemble of recurring guest stars of any Star Trek series:

• The premiere episode introduced Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat, Aron Eisenberg as Nog, and the uncredited Mark Allen Shepherd as Morn, while Max Grodenchik portrayed a character credited as Ferengi Pit Boss and John Noah Hertzler (who came to be known as J.G. Hertzler) appeared as the Vulcan Captain.
• Later, of course, fans were introduced to such frequent returnees as Jeffrey Combs, Andrew Robinson, Casey Biggs, Chase Masterson, Penny Johnson, Barry Jenner, Salome Jens, Wallace Shawn, Robert O’Reilly, Brock Peters, Louise Fletcher, Frank Langella and Rosalind Chao, among others.

In the Air Date Schedule provided to the media by Paramount in advance of DS9’s debut, “Emissary” was referred to as Episode #721, with the pilot to be delivered to stations on December 23, 1992.

Two months after its premiere, when the pilot re-aired on March 1 and March 8, it was split in half and referred to as “Emissary Pt. I (#401)” and “Emissary Pt. II (#402),” respectively.

The official “Emissary” press material provided to the media suggested that newspapers, radio stations, TV publications, etc., introduce the series as follows:

Program Highlights

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE: “Emissary” – On a distant outpost at the edge of the final frontier, an untested crew embarks on an unprecedented journey in the two-hour series premiere of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE.

Advertising Copy

At the edge of the final frontier for an untested crew to being an unprecedented journey.

TV Log Listings

Tonight, the wait is over. STAR TEK: DEEP SPACE NINE Series Premiere!

“Emissary” notched 18.8 percent of the syndicated audience, according to the Deep Space Nine Companion , and ranked #1 in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C., all major markets.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — The Journey

Recognition

“Emissary” received Emmy Award nominations in the Outstanding Art Direction, Outstanding Sound Mixing, Outstanding Sound Editing and Outstanding Special Visual Effects categories. It won for Outstanding Art Direction, with the award shared by Herman Zimmerman, Randall McIlvain and Mickey S. Michaels.

This article was originally published on January 3, 2013.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

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New 30th Anniversary series ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Dog of War’ set for April

An extremely rare purebred corgi from Earth makes its way aboard Deep Space Nine when Quark cuts a deal to procure it.

IDW has revealed they’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with a new miniseries. Called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Dog of War , the five-issue series will launch in April 2023 and will be written by Mike Chen with art by Angel Hernandez. The “lost episode” miniseries is set within the timeline of the original Deep Space Nine show.

“When editor Heather Antos asked if I liked DS9, my reply was, ‘You mean the greatest TV show ever made?’” says Chen. “I’m absolutely ecstatic to hang out with DS9’s crew, and I hope that this story touches on all of the characters and intensity that made the show so powerful and great: Sisko’s history with the Borg, the Dominion War, Garak’s great outfits, Jadzia being Jadzia, Miles and Julian’s holosuite adventures, and so much more. Also, Quark gets a dog. If that doesn’t earn your latinum, I don’t know what will!”

So what’s Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Dog of War about?

In the new miniseries, an extremely rare purebred corgi from Earth makes its way aboard Deep Space 9 when Quark cuts a deal to procure it for a potential buyer. After all, a Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all! But the corgi named Latinum comes with unexpected cargo that shakes Captain Benjamin Sisko to the core: a Borg component discovered by a crew sent to uncover Cardassian technology after the station’s reoccupation.

“Entering the world of Deep Space Nine means discovering new nuances, new creatures, and new situations that are a wonderful visual and artistic challenge,” says Hernandez. “I sincerely hope the fans get swept up in this Trek project, one overflowing with incredible ideas and very much keeping in the spirit of the TV show.”

The first issue will feature covers by Angel Hernandez; a wraparound Cover B by Chris Fenogolio, featuring the cast of Star Trek: Lower Decks; and Cover C by longtime My Little Pony artist Andy Price (connecting with covers across all five issues to create an amazing diorama of DS9 characters with lookalike canine companions), plus special retailer incentives including a black-and-white variant of Hernandez’ cover and two Deep Space 9 schematics variants with and without trade dress.

“Deep Space 9 is the defining Star Trek show for an entire generation of fans, so to be able to tell an additional ‘episode’ in comic form for the series’ 30th anniversary is extra special,” says Star Trek senior editor Heather Antos. “Mike Chen’s passion for the crew of this celebrated space station is unprecedented, and no one knows the visual world of Star Trek quite like Angel Hernandez. Plus…who wouldn’t want dogs in Star Trek?”

For more on this news, check out the official press release below.

SAN DIEGO, CA (December 14, 2022) – For some, returning to the mouth of a wormhole might seem like a dangerous proposition, but for others—notably fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—it’s a dream come true! To celebrate the three decades since the fan-favorite TV series debuted, IDW proudly announces the April 2023 launch of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Dog of War, a wild new five-issue comic book miniseries bringing back everyone’s favorite space station crew. The Dog of War marks the comic book debut of celebrated novelist Mike Chen (Star Wars: Brotherhood, Here and Now and Then), partnered with Star Trek comics artist extraordinaire Angel Hernandez (Star Trek: Picard—Stargazer, Star Trek: Discovery—Adventures in the 32nd Century) to create a “lost episode” set within the timeline of the original Deep Space Nine show. In the new miniseries, an extremely rare purebred corgi from Earth makes its way aboard Deep Space 9 when Quark cuts a deal to procure it for a potential buyer. After all, a Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all! But the corgi named Latinum comes with unexpected cargo that shakes Captain Benjamin Sisko to the core: a Borg component discovered by a crew sent to uncover Cardassian technology after the station’s reoccupation. “When editor Heather Antos asked if I liked DS9, my reply was, ‘You mean the greatest TV show ever made?’” says Chen. “I’m absolutely ecstatic to hang out with DS9’s crew, and I hope that this story touches on all of the characters and intensity that made the show so powerful and great: Sisko’s history with the Borg, the Dominion War, Garak’s great outfits, Jadzia being Jadzia, Miles and Julian’s holosuite adventures, and so much more. Also, Quark gets a dog. If that doesn’t earn your latinum, I don’t know what will!” Entering the world of Deep Space Nine means discovering new nuances, new creatures, and new situations that are a wonderful visual and artistic challenge,” says Hernandez. “I sincerely hope the fans get swept up in this Trek project, one overflowing with incredible ideas and very much keeping in the spirit of the TV show.” “Deep Space 9 is the defining Star Trek show for an entire generation of fans, so to be able to tell an additional ‘episode’ in comic form for the series’ 30th anniversary is extra special,” says Star Trek senior editor Heather Antos. “Mike Chen’s passion for the crew of this celebrated space station is unprecedented, and no one knows the visual world of Star Trek quite like Angel Hernandez. Plus…who wouldn’t want dogs in Star Trek?” Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Dog of War #1 will be available in April with several variant covers for fans and retailers to enjoy, including Cover A by series artist Angel Hernandez; a wraparound Cover B by Chris Fenogolio, featuring the cast of Star Trek: Lower Decks; and Cover C by longtime My Little Pony artist Andy Price (connecting with covers across all five issues to create an amazing diorama of DS9 characters with lookalike canine companions), plus special retailer incentives including a black-and-white variant of Hernandez’ cover and two Deep Space 9 schematics variants with and without trade dress. For fans craving more stories of Benjamin Sisko, be sure to pick up IDW’s ongoing Star Trek comic book series, set after the events of Deep Space Nine. For information on how to acquire copies of IDW’s Star Trek comic books, please contact your local comic shop or visit www.comicshoplocator.com to find a store near you.

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Shuttle Pod 118 – Celebrating The 30th Anniversary Of ‘Deep Space Nine’

| May 7, 2023 | By: Shuttle Pod Crew 0 comments so far

Shuttlepodder Jared Whitley invites John Duchak and Laurie Ulster to join him in a celebration of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ in honor of the show’s 30th anniversary. After a not-so-quick overview of the series as a whole, they each pick three episodes to talk about—not the most venerated ones, necessarily, but ones that stuck out to them as favorites that demonstrated some aspect of what the show does best.

NOTE: We’ll be back in a few weeks when we can reconvene with the full complement of the Shuttle Pod crew for a ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 3 wrap up.

10 Best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes To Watch For The 30th Anniversary

Deep Space Nine changed the game for Star Trek fans by highlighting utopia's imperfections. Its 30th anniversary gives fans a chance to celebrate it.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered 30 years ago in January 1993. It was the first Star Trek project launched without the direct involvement of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry , and it changed the franchise in ways that are still being felt. DS9 had a darker tone than its predecessors, Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation .

RELATED: 10 Star Trek Characters Who Never Got The Promotion They Deserved

DS9 set itself apart from the Star Trek franchise in multiple ways. The show's main setting was a space station instead of a starship. Its stories were serialized, as opposed to Trek 's more episodic tradition. Through its seven seasons, DS9 redefined Star Trek with some classic episodes, many of which warrant a re-watch for the show's 30th anniversary.

10 DS9 Set Itself Apart From The Start

Emissary - season 1.

Viewers weren't sure what to expect from DS9 when the project was announced as the newest Star Trek spinoff in late 1992. When its premiere episode, "Emissary," aired in 1993, it helped establish audience expectations. DS9 established a grittier, darker tone from its opening, as series lead Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) assumed command of a station in ruins. He was a new sheriff in a western town plagued by crime, fear, and oppression.

"Emissary" is one of the best pilots Star Trek has ever produced, packing a lot of critical information into its two-hour runtime. Viewers learn about Sisko's tragic backstory, tying the series into Next Generation ​​​​​​, as well as vital information about his mission to prepare the long-oppressed Bajorans for admission to the Federation.

9 The Dominion Changed Star Trek Forever

The jem'hadar - season 2.

DS9 's premiere introduced the concept of the Bajoran wormhole, a gateway to the Gamma Quadrant, thousands of light-years from Federation space. Gradually, the show began sneaking in references to the Dominion, the power that governed the Gamma Quadrant.

RELATED: The 20 Most Powerful Star Trek Species, Ranked

In DS9 's season two finale, Sisko and crew find themselves in battle with the Dominion's loyal, merciless soldiers, the Jem'Hadar. A confrontation between the Federation and the Dominion is made all but inevitable when a Jem'Hadar attack ship makes a kamikaze run at the USS Odyssey, designed to look like TNG 's version of the Enterprise.

8 Changelings Sowed Mistrust Throughout DS9's Run

The adversary - season 3.

The finale of DS9 's third season begins on a happy note, as Sisko is promoted to the rank of Captain. However, it only goes downhill from there. DS9 's dedicated warship, the Defiant , is dispatched along with a Federation ambassador to avert the renewal of hostilities between the Federation and the Tzenkethi.

It turns out, though, that the ambassador is one of the shape-shifting Founders, the same species as DS9 security chief Odo (the late Rene Auberjonois) and the Dominion's rulers. It confirms that the Dominion used their shape-changing powers to infiltrate high levels of the Federation, serving as a dire warning that an imminent attack could come from within.

7 A Dominion-Planned Coup Threatens Starfleet

Paradise lost - season 4.

The Star Trek franchise has long been recognized as an idealized Utopian future where war, poverty and disease have been eradicated, and humanity lives in peace. "Paradise Lost" puts the highest ideals of the Federation and Star Trek to the test when fear of the Dominion leads to a Starfleet plan for a military coup.

Sisko has to prevent his former commander, Admiral Leyton, from using burgeoning panic over Dominion infiltration to overthrow the Federation's government and install a military regime in the name of security. DS9 reminded audiences that peace and stability can be very fragile things.

6 DS9 Could Have Fun, Too

Take me out to the holosuite - season 6.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is known for its grim-and-gritty qualities. However, DS9 was always capable of levity. Some of the show's best episodes took a break from the looming threat of war to have fun.

RELATED: Star Trek: TNG's Best Episodes Involving The Holodeck

In "Take Me Out To The Holosuite," an old Starfleet Academy rival of Sisko's visits the station and reignites their enmity. Sisko learns that his opposite number's Vulcans enjoy the long-forgotten Earth game, baseball. He and the DS9 crew issue a challenge, and the two crews settle their differences on a holographic baseball diamond. The Klingon taunts offered up by Michael Dorn's Worf ("Death to the opposition!") alone make this Deep Space Nine episode worth checking out.

5 Sisko Was A Father First And A Captain Second

Explorers - season 3.

Star Trek 's history is filled with iconic relationships and Captain Sisko's close bond with his son Jake (Cirroc Lofton) is among the franchise's most important connections. While things felt more difficult for them later in the series, "Explorers" looked at the sweeter aspects of their family bond.

With his son growing into adulthood quickly, Sisko realizes his time for special moments with Jake might be running out. Despite Jake's initial grumblings, the two work together to build an ancient Bajoran solar ship from scratch. It's basically a father and son restoring an old car, but with a 24th-century spin, and it humanizes both Sisko and Jake.

4 War Puts The Federation's Back Against The Wall

Sacrifice of angels - season 6.

With the Federation officially at war with the Dominion, Deep Space Nine is occupied by enemy forces. Sisko leads a Federation battle fleet to retake the station, only to find a Dominion fleet twice the size of his own standing in his way. What follows is probably the best example of a space battle in Star Trek 's history.

"Sacrifice of Angels" is also a great encapsulation of DS9 's legendary cast of recurring characters . The series regulars all get their moments, but bit players like Marc Alaimo as the villainous Cardassian Gul Dukat and Jeffrey Combs as the slimy Weyoun, all get their chances to shine, too.

3 DS9's Cardassians Are A Cruel Mirror Of Human History

Duet - season 1.

A critical aspect of Deep Space Nine 's plot is Bajor's gradual recovery from 50 years of occupation at the hands of the cruel Cardassians. It was often used as an allegory for many of the worst chapters of human history, and "Duet" doesn't let up in its depiction of the lengths the despotic Cardassians went to in order to suppress the Bajorans.

Station first officer Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) finds a suspicious Cardassian who claims to have been one of the occupation's most insidious war criminals. Kira confronts her own background as a terrorist during the occupation and the episode ends with one of the darkest and most tragic revelations in Star Trek history.

2 DS9 Explored Injustice In The Real World

Far beyond the stars - season 6.

A lot of the political allegory Star Trek is known for is fairly subtle but "Far Beyond The Stars" went in a different direction. Sisko received a vision from the godlike Prophets and experienced life as Benny Russell, a 1950s pulp science fiction writer who proposed a daring new story concept: a deep space station lead by a Black commander.

RELATED: Star Trek's 10 Most Fearless Characters, Ranked

As Russell, Sisko experiences the blatant racism of the era in uncompromising terms and finds his story denied by his editors due to its "radical" concept. The final moments of the episode are positively heartbreaking, as Russell reaches his breaking point and crumbles under the weight of the injustices forced upon him.

1 DS9 Showed That Heroes Aren't Always Right

In the pale moonlight - season 6.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's sixth season was the apex of the series. The Dominion War reached its peak, and the heroes of the Federation were pushed into even more ambiguous moral territory. No decisions made by any Starfleet captain, though, were as morally-questionable as Sisko's in "In The Pale Moonlight."

In an effort to bring the Romulans into the war, Sisko schemed with the untrustworthy former spy, Garak (Andrew J. Robinson) to coax the Romulans onto Starfleet's side . Together, they produced false evidence of a planned Dominion attack on Romulus. Complications developed, pushing Sisko further down the rabbit hole. The episode unfolds in a flashback, as Sisko struggles to rationalize his actions to history and, ultimately, to himself.

NEXT: 10 Star Trek Retcons That Improved The Franchise

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Deep Space Nine was ahead of its time for all the reasons it was Star Trek’s ‘problem child’

The show’s commitment to complexity defines the series’ best episodes

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Share All sharing options for: Deep Space Nine was ahead of its time for all the reasons it was Star Trek’s ‘problem child’

Last week, when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine celebrated its 30th birthday, the official Star Trek social media presence marked the occasion with only the barest of acknowledgements: a congratulatory tweet asking fans to name their favorite episodes, a new listicle of great quotes from the series, and not much else. An official anniversary logo and merchandise were rolled out, but with relatively little fanfare. There are, after all, five new Star Trek shows to talk about , including a reunion of the beloved Next Generation cast due in February on Star Trek: Picard. Paramount’s relative quiet about the anniversary is disappointing, but hardly surprising. As fans of the series — or its stars and producers — will tell you, it’s always been this way. Deep Space Nine was Star Trek’s problem child from the very beginning, and that’s exactly what made it so ahead of its time.

The show’s struggle for recognition is detailed in the 2018 documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine , which is essentially a love letter from the show’s former showrunner Ira Steven Behr to his cast and crew. Spinning out of the smash hit Star Trek: The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine launched in first-run syndication on January 3rd, 1993, and it was immediately apparent that this wouldn’t simply be the same premise with a different cast. (This was before Law and Order, CSI, or NCIS found massive success with exactly this model, juggling as many as three series at once with the premise Crime: But Elsewhere.)

Rather than simply send another Starfleet crew on a mission to go boldly where no one has gone before, creators Rick Berman and Michael Piller decided to take Star Trek back to its roots as a space western. If Star Trek was “ Wagon Train to the Stars,” as Roddenberry had often pitched it, Berman and Piller wanted their series to be Gunsmoke . Instead of riding into a new town/planet, confronting a problem, and moving on, their new heroes would live on space station Deep Space 9, the future equivalent of a frontier settlement where adventure comes to them. Consequently, this would leave the characters unable to simply wash their hands of the consequences of each episode and move on down the space trail. They’d be forced to clean up their own messes and rebuild the place — and themselves — a little differently each time.

But, for a franchise whose heroes champion “infinite diversity in infinite combination,” Star Trek’s fanbase has a predictable habit of dismissing the new and different. Viewers rejected DS9 for a variety of reasons, from the reasonable (“What happened to that tireless Star Trek optimism?”), to the ridiculous (“You mean the station just sits there? ”). Even after The Next Generation came to a close in 1994, Trekkies who were resistant to the off-beat space drama could simply wait for the premiere of its more familiar, less ambitious successor, Star Trek: Voyager , the following January. Deep Space Nine enjoyed a few scant months as the only new Trek on television, after which it was essentially buried in favor of Voyager , the flagship series of the new UPN television network.

Just as importantly, the launch of both UPN and The WB in 1995 meant that first-run syndicated dramas were muscled out of prime time slots, and where Voyager aired nationwide on Mondays at 8 p.m., DS9 ’s schedule was erratic. (In my market, DS9 ran on Saturday nights at 7 p.m., unless the Mets were playing a night game.) This was particularly problematic given Deep Space Nine ’s commitment to serialized storytelling, which only deepend across its seven seasons. If a viewer missed an episode, which was likely to happen, they could potentially miss key story or character developments, and even showrunner Ira Steven Behr admits in What We Left Behind that it was not a boon to the show’s ratings at the time.

It is, however, perfect for streaming television, where Deep Space Nine found a new lease on life in the 2010s. Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation are timeless, but decades after their release, Deep Space Nine is the classic Star Trek series that feels the most modern . While certainly not the first of its kind, it’s an early example of television’s growth from a medium for short stories to a canvas for sprawling odysseys. Moreover, existing in the very ’90s middle ground between story-of-the-week and full serialization puts it in the now-precious sweet spot in which every episode feels like a satisfying dish rather than a single bite of a meal that’s being spread out across ten courses. This is closer to the model being employed today by its younger cousins Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Prodigy , and Lower Decks , which have overall enjoyed a warmer reception than their fully serialized older sisters Discovery and Picard .

Though the depiction of an inclusive future for humanity has been one of Star Trek’s watchwords from the very beginning, Deep Space Nine is the classic series that comes the closest to meeting today’s standards for diversity. The series doesn’t just give the franchise its first Black leading man but also its most conflicted and textured, in single dad/station commander In That Order Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). In What We Left Behind , Cirroc Lofton, who portrays Sisko’s son Jake, laments that Deep Space Nine is rarely mentioned in conversations about Black television shows despite the prominence of a Black family and the multitude of storylines involving exclusively Black actors. (In fairness, behind the scenes, DS9 was almost exclusively white.)

DS9 offered its female characters far more interesting and prominent roles than its predecessors. Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) is a former terrorist who now serves the planet that she killed to liberate, but the new government is a shambles and ghosts from her violent past seem to hide around every corner. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) has lived half a dozen lifetimes, both as a man and as a woman, and grows over time from a dime store Spock to the show’s endlessly lovable rogue. Recurring character Winn Adami (Louise Fletcher) might be Star Trek’s most fascinating antagonist, a religious leader whose faith and judgment are clouded by insecurity and political ambition.

But, above all, what makes Deep Space Nine feel the most urgent of all Star Trek shows past and present is that, more than any of its siblings, it embraces nuance. Star Trek is, and has always been, didactic, a means by which storytellers can approach delicate or controversial topics from a safe distance or with a new context. Deep Space Nine is no exception, but rather than spending 40 minutes attacking a social problem head-on and having the captain deliver a clear thesis statement before the credits roll, DS9 tends to leave the audience with room to draw their own conclusions. The dilemmas faced by Captain Sisko and company are more complex, as are their resolutions, which often do not fully satisfy the characters. Not only does this make for more interesting television, but it also tends to age much better than clear-cut “message episodes,” which are necessarily painted by the specific biases and blind spots of their time. There are still some absolute groaners in the bunch (“Profit and Lace” comes to mind, in which Quark goes undercover as a woman and predictable sexist hijinx ensues), but Deep Space Nine shows its age less than other Star Trek shows because it explores complex issues through complex characters and over extended periods of time, rather than simplifying and moralizing.

Captain Sisko is forced to make terrible choices — up to and including an outright war crime — in order to save the Federation from being conquered by the totalitarian Dominion. Like the violence performed by Kira Nerys during the occupation of her homeworld, these dark deeds are framed as both shameful and necessary. The same ambiguity applies to the Maquis, antagonists of the early seasons of the series who wage war against the Cardassians after the Federation trades away their homes as part of a peace treaty. It’s Sisko’s job to protect that peace, but even he must agree that the colonists are justifiably enraged by being betrayed by their own government. The righteousness of the Federation itself is called into question when Dr. Julian Bashir uncovers its amoral secret intelligence branch, Section 31, whose own actions are downright evil. Deep Space Nine never surrenders to full, nihilistic, ethical relativism; there is always a line between right and wrong. But, unlike on The Next Generation , where the strict Kantian philosopher Jean-Luc Picard sits in the captain’s chair, that line is not static.

This, too, attracted the ire of the Trek faithful back when the show was on the air. Star Trek sometimes feels like a cult, not only because of the dedication of its fans but because it does, in fact, try to tell you how to live. That a new installment of this quasi-holy text — the first composed entirely after the death of creator Gene Roddenberry — would question or contradict this vision of the future was abhorrent to some, but it in fact adds an ingredient that is essential to any faith or philosophy: doubt. Doubt that our heroes are incorruptible. Doubt that our current values are the best ones. Doubt that our own experiences are universal. Deep Space Nine does not throw away the ideal future of Star Trek, but it does attack its dogmatism. And, at a time when the only thing that moves faster than information is judgment and we are increasingly desperate for new ways of thinking and living, there’s never been a better time for a long, interrogative look at the world of tomorrow.

Star Trek: Discovery is cracking open a box Next Gen closed on purpose

Star trek: discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants, the 10 horniest episodes of star trek, ranked by cultural impact.

How Deep Space Nine's Dominion War Nearly Wrecked Star Trek's Utopia

How deep space nine 's dominion war nearly wrecked star trek 's utopia, over five years of hot and cold conflict, deep space nine charted the deadliest war in star trek 's history—one that pushed the federation to its limit..

Star Trek likes to imagine itself as a franchise that is largely above conflict , but it is defined by it : and how its most idealized heroes in Starfleet and the Federation react to, and become shaped by it. While Trek ’s history is littered with devastating battles , few conflicts hold a mirror to Star Trek quite like the bloodiest of them all— Deep Space Nine ’s Dominion War .

As one of the most legendary moments in the conflict celebrated its anniversary earlier this week—marking the airing of “In the Pale Moonlight” , where Captain Sisko sells his soul to bring the Romulan Star Empire into the war on the Federation’s side—we’re taking a look back at the longest game a Star Trek show ever played in setting up what would become one of its most memorable arcs, and a story that would forever shape its legacy .

Although Federation-aligned and independent powers of the Alpha Quadrant had begun colonizing Gamma Quadrant holdings and engaging in trade with the region’s myriad beings almost as soon as the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole in 2369—the first stable wormhole discovered in the Milky Way Galaxy—it was not Starfleet, the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union, or the Romulan Star Empire, nor any of the major military powers of the Alpha Quadrant, that first received intelligence about the Dominion’s existence, but the Ferengi Alliance.

Operating in intelligence secured by the Grand Nagus Zek, the Ferengi successfully entered a trade agreement with a major mercantile faction of the Dominion in the Karemma, in an attempt to secure the Ferengi as a major economic power on the other side of the wormhole. But while their alliance with the Karemma was established, solid intel or interaction with the wider Dominion remained out of reach for the Alpha Quadrant powers beyond intelligence reports from trading Gamma Quadrant species: the Dominion was solidifying its own borders, securing new worlds, and conquering species while lying in wait.

First Contact

Starfleet’s first formal contact with the Dominion set the stage for the scope of the war to come—but open conflict with the Dominion was still several years away. In 2370, after encountering the military arm of the Dominion in the Jem’Hadar, Commander Sisko, Deep Space Nine’s chief Starfleet administrator, and Quark were held hostage as Jem’Hadar forces destroyed multiple Alpha Quadrant colonies as a warning that the Gamma Quadrant was their territory. In an attempt to make a show of force of its own, Starfleet dispatched the Galaxy-Class starship Odyssey as well as several runabout shuttles on an expedition to recover Sisko.

Although Sisko was rescued, the show of force didn’t work. Immediately engaging with Starfleet, the Jem’Hadar’s technology proved more than a match for the Federation’s, with the Odyssey unable to damage the Dominion attack ships. They were no match for the Jem’Hadar’s ruthless tactics either, when the Odyssey was destroyed in a suicide run during the engagement. Sisko and the survivors were left to return to the Alpha Quadrant with a warning: the Federation had no idea what hell it had just unleashed.

A Cold War Begins

The destruction of the Odyssey did not mark the beginning of open conflict, but sparked realizations on both sides of the wormhole— a Dominion invasion of the Alpha Quadrant was not a hypothetical, but an inevitability. The Dominion began establishing simulations for how the various Alpha Quadrant powers would react to a potential Dominion encroachment beyond the Gamma Quadrant. Meanwhile, Starfleet entered production on the first explicitly designed warship in its fleets, the Defiant -class escort, stationing the first of its kind at Deep Space Nine, right at the wormhole’s entrance.

Deep Space Nine itself became the center of Starfleet’s plans for an early military footing. The Federation’s presence on the station was increasingly militarized even beyond the Defiant ’s stationing there, fortifying the station with increased defenses, and the establishment of a series of relays and listening posts on the other side of the wormhole as an advanced warning system. However, beyond the military might of its Jem’Hadar forces, the Dominion had another trick up its sleeve: a quasi-intelligence branch of changeling agents, preparing to infiltrate branches of each Alpha Quadrant power.

The Fall of the Obsidian Order

The Alpha Quadrant’s own intelligence agencies attempted to combat changeling subterfuge with increased security sweeps and detection, but the Dominion pivoted its earliest infiltrations at two intelligence targets in particular: the Romulan Tal Shiar, and the Cardassian Obsidian Order. Spurred by the discovery of a plan by Cardassian intelligence to assault the changeling homeworld, Dominion operatives lured the Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar into a joint operation in the Omarion Nebula in 2371—where a massive force of Jem’Hadar ships decimated the Cardassian-Romulan task force.

With the Tal Shiar badly damaged, Romulan planning to the war pivoted to neutrality, staying away from engaging with the other Alpha Quadrant powers. But the destruction of the Obsidian Order crippled Cardassia’s power structure: without the threat of the Order policing dissidence, Cardassia itself was facing a power vacuum prime for the Dominion to capitalize on.

Emboldened by the success at the Battle of the Omarion Nebula, the Dominion moved further into destabilizing the Alpha Quadrant. Infiltrating the upper echelons of Klingon Command under the guise of General Martok, a changeling operative influenced Chancellor Gowron into making public moves to seize Cardassian territories while the Union was distracted by internal conflicts. Drawing condemnation from the Federation, Gowron reacted by shattering a tentative peace between the Empire and the Federation that had lasted for nearly a century by formally pulling out of the Khitomer Accords that had established the Klingon-Federation Alliance.

Given free reign to effectively continue a war of attrition against the Cardassian Union, Gowron’s warmongering provided two advantages to the Dominion: the Klingons badly, badly damaged the Cardassian Union, itself already weakened by the civilian government’s overthrowing of the Cardassian military command’s rule over the world. But the Federation’s distraction by the Klingon powers also gave Dominion agents an opportunity to repeat their successes within Starfleet Command. After a changeling agent bombed a conference in Antwerp, dissident voices in Starfleet Command attempted to stage a coup d’etat—however, it failed after being exposed.

The Dominion’s influence in the Klingon Empire, however, allowed it to attack the Federation even without infiltration from within. The Martok agent convinced Gowron, emboldened by successes against the Cardassians, to begin staking claim on existent Federation territories in late 2372, formally beginning a new Klingon-Federation war.

Invasion and Union

Although a cease-fire in the conflict between the Federation and Klingons was secured relatively quickly after the exposure of the Martok agent, the ensuing chaos—as well as an attempted Borg assault that vastly damaged Starfleet’s military strength in Sector 001—had primed the Alpha Quadrant for the Dominion. Half a year later in 2373, the Dominion reaped the seeds it had sown in years of infiltration and subterfuge. With Cardassia drastically weakened through internal and external strife, a beleaguered Gul Dukat entered negotiations with the Dominion to formally develop an alliance, allowing the Cardassians to stage key territory retrievals on the Klingon front with Dominion backing. Plans by Starfleet to seal the Bajoran wormhole and cut off any threat of a Dominion invasion were thwarted by an agent posing as Dr. Julian Bashir, DS9's Starfleet medical chief, who successfully managed to stablize the wormhole’s integrity even further—allowing the Dominion to regularly transport a steady stream of supplies and military power to Cardassian space.

Growing tensions and small border conflicts on the fringes of what was now Dominion-Cardassian territory saw the Federation and Klingons bury the hatchet formally, with the Empire re-entering the Khitomer Accords. But even with one wound patched up, war was now inevitable, and Starfleet launched a plan to mine the space around Deep Space Nine and the Bajoran wormhole, effectively delaying further transport of Dominion materiel into the Alpha Quadrant. A field of self-replicating mines pushed the Dominion into action, sending a message to Captain Sisko and Starfleet at the station: disable the mines, or the Dominion and Cardassians would take Deep Space Nine and do it themselves.

Starfleet made its first humbling gambit: just days later, an overwhelming Cardassian-Dominion force assaulted Deep Space Nine, but not before the mine field was armed—and not before Starfleet withdrew from the station entirely, leaving the Bajoran security forces staged there to welcome Dominion control. In exchange, the distraction caused by the Dominion pressing so much of its Alpha Quadrant forces into action a Deep Space Nine allowed a joint Starfleet-Klingon allied force to invade Cardassian space, destroying a key Dominion shipyard and hampering initial production efforts of Alpha Quadrant-made weaponry.

On stardate 50975.2, the Dominion War turned hot.

A Sacrifice of Angels

Although the sacrifice of Deep Space Nine in exchange for mining the Bajoran wormhole was a key early victory for the Federation-Klingon alliance, it was pretty much the only one in the opening months of the war. Klingon and Starfleet forces were regularly pushed into retreat on all fronts, overwhelmed by the Dominion’s sheer numbers and their superior technology. Morale began to plummet—especially after a devastating battle in the Tyra system all but destroyed Starfleet’s Seventh Fleet, losing nearly a hundred ships and thousands of officers in a single engagement.

But while large scale conflict was going badly for the alliance, small-scale operations and individual skirmishes played to its military strengths. Small task forces managed to infiltrate Dominion space and successfully destroy significant amounts of the Dominion’s supply of Ketracel-White, the drug that sustained the Jem’Hadar as an effective fighting force, creating a supply crisis, while others sabotaged major sensor arrays to stem the flow of Dominion intelligence.

The War Digs In

The Dominion kept pushing, encroaching closer and closer to core Federation worlds like Vulcan and Bolarus. And as efforts back in the Bajoran system to disable the minefield around Deep Space Nine began to bear fruit, Sisko realized the Federation needed a win to steady morale and to avoid what was increasingly looking like a devastatingly swift loss to the Dominion: take back the station where the war had first begun in the first place.

Despite initial resistance from both the Empire and Starfleet Command, Operation Return was put into action in late 2374, securing an overwhelming victory for alliance forces. Although the mine field was ultimately destroyed, Deep Space Nine was retaken, and nearly 3,000 Dominion warships traversing the wormhole were mysteriously vanished away by the entities—believed by the Bajoran people to be their spiritual pantheon, the Prophets—that called it home. Having withdrawn ships from various fronts to defend DS9, Dominion advances on Federation and Klingon space were stalled throughout the Quadrant, and Gul Dukat, broken by the death of his daughter during the attack on DS9, was captured by the alliance, leading to new leadership in the Cardassian wing of the Dominion under Damar.

A Pale Moonlight

The third major battle for Deep Space Nine lead to a slowdown in the overall arc of the Dominion War, as both sides consolidated forces and territories. Formal peace talks even began between the two sides, but eventually stalled out. With direct access to the Gamma Quadrant now barred by the wormhole’s inhabitants, the Dominion ramped up direct production in its Alpha Quadrant holdings, stemming the Ketracel White shortage crisis through a trade agreement for a version of the drug developed by the Son’a. Its strength restored, the Dominion launched a surprise assault that put the Federation on the precipice: distracting alliance forces, an invasion fleet from the Kalandra sector managed to occupy Betazed, the homeworld of a major Federation member, in just 10 hours, successfully repulsing multiple Starfleet attempts to retake the world.

Through Betazed, the Dominion was on the doorstep of the heart of the Federation—attacks on Vulcan, Bolarus, Andor, Tellar, Alpha Centauri, and even Earth were now on the table. Once again on the back foot and with the war ramping up again, the alliance needed a win. As presented in one of the finest hours of all seven seasons of Deep Space Nine , “In the Pale Moonlight,” Captain Sisko, working with the Cardassian tailor Elim Garak, successfully managed to stage a deception for the Romulan Star Empire, assassinating a Senator carrying forged evidence of a Dominion plan to invade Romulan space. The Romulans took the bait, formally entering the war on the side of the Alliance—and all it cost was the life of one Romulan senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet officer.

Turning Tides

The opening of the Romulan front gave the Federation opportunity and space to reach out and secure diplomatic ties with smaller besieged powers in the Alpha Quadrant, to gain access to further staging grounds and material support. Bolstered by the significant military power Romulus brought to the table, a clear pathway to the end of the Dominion War was laid out by alliance command: a direct invasion of Cardassia, the heart of the Dominion’s stronghold in the quadrant.

As 2374 came to a close, the Alliance began striking its first major offensives into Cardassian space, taking the highly contested Chin’toka system as well as Kalandra—which would eventually lead to the liberation of Betazed months later. Consolidating the new flashpoints on their fronts, the Klingons successfully managed to launch several deep-strike raids into Cardassian territory, destabilizing military infrastructure even further. Section 31, the secret intelligence wing of Starfleet, also successfully developed and laced the changeling homeworld’s great link with a morphogenic virus, greatly destabilizing their security and ability to conduct sabotage and intelligence gathering operations.

The Dominion, however didn’t go down without a fight. As the Alliance encroached further, Dominion command entered an alliance with the Breen Confederacy—something it had kept secret from its Cardassian allies, promising the Breen several Cardassian systems in exchange for their loyalty. As the Dominion ignored the Cardassian’s requests for support against the Federation and Klingons, fractures began to grow between the two entities. But the Breen’s surprise entry into the war in 2375—by launching an unprecedented shock bombardment on Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, the first hostile assault on Earth in centuries—as well as the use of powerful new weaponry that allowed them and the Dominion to almost completely eradicate Alliance forces holding Chin’toka to put the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans on the defensive.

A Revolutionary End

Another lull in the war’s grander momentum after the second battle of Chin’toka allowed the Alliance to recover its lost military power and develop a counter to Breen weaponry—but it also gave the increasingly disenfranchised Cardassians a chance to undermine the Dominion from within. Left ignored after the Dominion’s pact with the Breen, Damar staged a rebellion against their former allies—one that, while swiftly put down, managed to put the Dominion and Breen on the back foot, withdrawing from much of their holdings to consolidate power directly around Cardassia.

Although Cardassian dissidence had been largely quelled, however, it wasn’t eradicated—with the Alliance sending operatives to help Damar respark a popular revolution on the world, distracting the Dominion long enough for the Alliance to gather its forces into one final effort, the plan that had been its dream the year prior: the invasion of Cardassia Prime.

The Final Battle

With the local uprising successfully putting Cardassian under a power blackout, Alliance forces entered Cardassian space in late 2375, engaging Dominion, Cardassian, and Breen forces. A Jem’Hadar attempt to quell rebellion on Cardassia, killing millions of civilians in targeted bombings, saw the Cardassian fleet break away from the Dominion and Breen, fracturing their tentative defensive lines and giving the Alliance direct access to the planet.

Forced to accept terms of surrender—in exchange for a cure for the morphogenic virus now ravaging the changelings and their homeworld—the Dominion stepped down, and several days later, its leadership signed the Treaty of Bajor on Deep Space Nine, formally bringing an end to the Dominion War. The remaining Dominion forces retreated back into the Gamma Quadrant, and Deep Space Nine’s Bajoran security forces officer, the changeling Odo, returned with them to deliver the morphogenic cure directly to his people’s homeworld.

The Legacy of the Dominion War

Meanwhile, while most perfunctory borders of space occupied by the Alpha Quadrant powers prior to the Dominion’s invasion in 2373 were restored by the Treaty of Bajor, the quadrant had undergone a significant rebalancing of power that would impact interstellar events for decades to come. The near-total destruction of the Cardassian Union created a power vacuum in its former territories, while the Breen, albeit humbled by the Dominion’s retreat, had established its expansionary goals as well as its significant military threat. The aftermath of both its initial war with Cardassia and then as part of the Alliance diminished the Klingon Empire’s own status as a major power in the quadrant for the next decade, as it looked internally to reconsolidate and rebuild—leaving the Romulan Star Empire and the Federation as the defining players in the Alpha Quadrant.

Although the Dominion War had brought with it a sense of uneasy diplomacy that was unprecedented in either faction’s history for centuries, tensions between Romulus and the Federation would renew shortly after—amplified first after the Reman commander Shinzon staged a military coup in 2379, attempting to attack Earth in the process, and then six years later, when a secret sect of the Tal Shiar dedicated to the destruction of synthetic life staged a terrorist attack on the Utopia Planitia shipyards at Mars, largely destroying a Federation taskforce intended to aid with evacuation efforts intended to save the populations of Romulus and Remus before their system’s star went supernova. After the attack the Federation decided to formally halt attempts to help the Romulans and Remans, leading to the near extinction of both sibling species when the Romulan star went supernova in 2387.

Although major conflict on the scale of the Dominion War would not return to the Alpha Quadrant for many years to come, its scars lingered for decades, especially as the Federation and Klingon Empires became the de facto remaining powers by the turn of the 25th century. For now, it remains what we know to be the bloodiest conflict in Star Trek ’s history—one that challenged the very ideals of its entire utopian dream to their very core.

‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Best Crossover Character Changed the Show Forever

It also results in some of the best relationships within the Star Trek universe.

The Big Picture

• Worf's arrival on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine deepened the exploration of Klingon culture and his personal identity.
• Worf's relationship with Jadzia adds depth to his character and highlights his humanity.
• Worf's struggles adjusting to life on DS9 test his loyalty, friendship, and honor.

Worf, son of Mogh ( Michael Dorn ), is a beloved character initially introduced to audiences in Star Trek: The Next Generation , known for his battle-hardened stoicism and the comedic relief that his upright and rigid demeanor brings. Worf crossed over to Deep Space Nine in the fourth season, much to the delight of Star Trek fans. Initially, his arrival on DS9 allowed the show to explore the Klingon Empire in-depth by extrapolating his inner conflict between his roles as a dutiful Federation Officer and a fierce Warrior of The Klingon Empire.

However, Worf's presence on DS9 would also forever change the series , allowing a deep exploration of the machinations of the Empire through its saga with Gowron ( Robert O'Reilly ). His relationship with Jadzia ( Terry Farrell ), a Trill learned in the ways of the Klingon, would help highlight Worf's humanity, act as a romantic counterpoint to his rigidity, and provide context for the curious observer. Jadzia and Worf are similar in some respects, as they both have multiple identities to reconcile. Jadzia would be the first non-Klingon woman that Worf could be with in the traditional sense, giving a vulnerability to the character that would carry on throughout the series and provide a deep richness to DS9 that helped cement it as a critical series in the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

In the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the galaxy.

What Is 'Deep Space Nine' About?

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the fourth series in the Star Trek universe, created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller . Deep Space Nine ran from January 3, 1993, to June 2, 1999, for 176 episodes over seven seasons. It was the first Star Trek series to be created without the involvement of series founder Gene Roddenberry , the first to be set on a space station, and the first to boast a Black captain in Benjamin Sisko ( Avery Brooks ). The series follows the exploits of a hybrid crew of Starfleet and Bajoran officers on the titular space station, in orbit above Bajor and adjacent to a wormhole leading to the distant and mysterious Gamma Quadrant. Starfleet has come to oversee the transfer of power from the oppressive Cardassian Empire to the Bajoran civilian government, which has been under the heel of the Cardassians for some time.

The series is much darker than its predecessors . At one point, Major Kira Nerys ( Nana Visitor ), the first officer of Deep Space Nine, is a Cardassian prisoner of war, and even Sisko himself saw his wife killed during a Borg raid on a space station. The currents of trauma that run through the ensemble invoke feelings of loneliness, desperation, and fear, which the characters must overcome in typical Starfleet fashion. The well-roundedness of the characters makes them very compelling and adds a layer of sophistication to the series, which, while present in its predecessors, came into its own during DS9 and became a recurring theme on the show.

One particular theme that runs through Deep Space Nine is the duty to one's station and the duty one has towards one's individuality. This exploration of where duty and individuality meet is present in many characters. Take Odo ( René Auberjonois ) , for example, a Founder separated from his people and planted firmly in the camp of the Alpha Quadrant. In contrast, his people wage war on the planets of the Federation. Odo must choose between his people, Starfleet, and his cultural identity and individuality. So, too, must Kira, whose hatred for the Cardassian is a defining feature of her character, and who has to learn to overcome this so that it does not interfere with her duties to Starfleet. This war between the Founders, their allies, and Starfleet is the primary conflict in the series . They are a formidable race of shapeshifters backed by the Jem'Hadar, a warrior race of beings whose soul existence is to crush opposition. They are a tough, genocidal race, terrifying in their methods and fearsome enough to give the Klingon Empire a run for its money.

Worf's Arrival Changed 'Deep Space Nine' for the Better

Worf joins the crew of Deep Space Nine during the feature-long premiere episode of Season 4 in "The Way Of The Warrior." At the beginning of the episode, the Klingon Empire, led by Gowron, shows up at the space station to aid them in their fight against the Founders. This is a serious boon for Starfleet and the Alpha Quadrant, as the Klingons are such fearsome and brutal fighters that they may tip the balance of power throughout the war. But they push things too far, illegally searching Bajoran ships and starting a war with the Cardassians, whom they believe to be comprised of the shapeshifting Founders. Worf is brought to gather intelligence by reaching out to the Empire. He is very close with Gowron, who has absolved Worf and his family of their generations-long disgrace. Worf learns of the Klingon plans to invade Cardassia and must choose between fulfilling his duties to Starfleet or joining Gowron in battle. Worf's choice to maintain his honor by remaining in Starfleet is a moral choice that tests his individuality against those of his bloodthirsty cultural traditions.

Throughout the series, Worf meets Deep Space Nine's chief science officer, Jadzia Dax, a Trill and the host of the symbiont that once belonged to Curzon Dax . Due to the Dax symbiont carrying all its previous hosts' memories, Jadzia can tap into Curzon's familiarity with Klingon customs. The characters are exciting foils to one another. Worf is glib, stoic, and utterly humorless, while Jadzia is more irreverent and open, owing to the many past lives she recalls through her symbiont. However, the two also have more in common than one might think ; they are both people who have multiple identities. The critical difference is that Jadzia has reconciled her identities, while Worf remains at odds with his.

Jadzia is the only person aboard Deep Space Nine who can genuinely understand Worf , and it is this factor that blossoms their innocuous meeting into what may be one of the most fantastic love stories ever told in the Star Trek universe. Their connection is marvelous as their conflicting natures are both points of contention that allow for humorous moments where Jadzia's tenderness assuages the beast within Worf. It is delightful to watch Worf babysit chief operations officer Miles O'Brien's ( Colm Meaney ) daughter, paving the way for the couple to conceive a child of their own — which is made all the more tragic by Jadzia's murder and Worf's spiral into despair.

Worf Had a Difficult Time Adjusting To Life On Deep Space Nine

Initially, Worf has his former Enterprise crewmate O'Brien to help ease his transition into life on the space station. The two were close, and their relationship strengthened on The Next Generation , after Worf helped O'Brien's wife Keiko ( Rosalind Chao ) give birth to their daughter. When Worf joins the crew of DS9, O'Brien is among the first to receive him to help him acclimate — introducing him to Doctor Julian Bashir ( Alexander Siddig ), a rival suitor for Jadzia's affections and eventual boyfriend to Ezri ( Nicole de Boer ), who becomes the host of the Dax symbiote after Jadzia's untimely death.

O'Brien is the only person Worf can genuinely confide in after the death of his wife, and he heartbreakingly confesses to his friend that he fears Jadzia's soul may never make it to Klingon heaven because she hadn't eaten the heart of her enemy after a night of too much blood wine. Worf longs to be with his wife in the afterlife, making Ezri's relationship with Bashir a sore point for the commander. But Worf eventually becomes a friend to Ezri, who, in effect, helps Worf to properly grieve Jadzia's death so that he can move on and step up to be the man that the Klingon Empire needs.

It isn't an easy transition for Worf after he accepts the commission of Special Operations Officer on Deep Space Nine — yet Captain Sisko has incredible foresight when he offers Worf the position. He sees Worf as a profoundly knowledgeable and capable military strategist whose intuition and extensive knowledge of warfare, particularly Klingon warfare, would greatly benefit the station and Starfleet. This position puts Worf in direct opposition to his people and weighs heavily on his mind. By siding with Sisko over Gowron, Worf again sees himself as an outsider among his people . His frustrations are palpable, but he can sublimate these into his work and subsequently earn a place of deep respect in Sisko's heart. It is summed up rather nicely between the two with a hearty handshake when Worf accepts the role of Ambassador to the Klingon homeworld.

Until this point, Worf wants to restore his family's honor, and ironically, he loses it again while pursuing what he believes to be honorable. Here is the show's crux: how far someone is willing to go to do what they believe to be correct. Sisko tests the bounds of his morality while making difficult choices about defeating the Founders. Odo turns his back on his people. On the fringes of the known universe, a brave crew of deeply traumatized heroes will learn exactly that. Worf's crossover on Deep Space Nine marks the point where the series descends into a dark rabbit hole spurned on through the fog of war, but it also results in some of the best character relationships within the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—The Dog of War

Publisher description.

Don’t miss out on this exclusive “lost episode” celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fan-favorite show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine! An extremely rare purebred corgi from Earth makes its way aboard Deep Space 9 when Quark cuts a deal to procure it for a high buyer. After all, a Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all! But Latinum the corgi comes with unexpected cargo that shakes Captain Benjamin Sisko to the core: a Borg component discovered by a crew sent to uncover Cardassian technology after the station’s reoccupation. Brought to you by acclaimed author Mike Chen (Star Wars: Brotherhood, Here and Now and Then) and Star Trek comics artist extraordinaire Angel Hernandez (Star Trek: Picard—Stargazer, Star Trek: Discovery—Adventures in the 32nd Century)! Collects the entire mini-series.

More Books by Mike Chen & Angel Hernandez

Star Trek 4 Has To Happen In 2026

• Star Trek 4 is crucial for the 60th anniversary celebration in 2026 to honor the franchise's legacy with a big-screen mainstream blockbuster.
• Star Trek 4 is in development with new screenwriter Steve Yockey.
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds offers an opportunity to honor the 60-year milestone with Kirk and Spock on the USS Enterprise.

Star Trek 4 needs to be released in 2026 to properly celebrate Star Trek 's momentous 60th anniversary. Star Trek: The Original Series premiered on September 8, 1966, and the franchise is going stong going into its sixth decade. The J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek 4 is currently in active development with new writer Steve Yockey tackling script duties. Star Trek 4 has the opportunity to honor Star Trek 's 60th-anniversary milestone and continue the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the beloved USS Enterprise crew in Star Trek 's alternate Kelvin Timeline.

In 1996, Star Trek celebrated its 30th anniversary with crossover episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager . DS9 's “Trials and Tribble-ations” sent Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and his crew back to the 23rd century to save Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the USS Enterprise. Voyager 's "Flashback" featured Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) interacting with Captain Sulu (George Takei) and Commander Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney). However, Star Trek ’s 40th anniversary passed without much fanfare, although Star Trek Beyond was released in 2016 to mark Star Trek' s 50th anniversary. Star Trek 4 must now seize the opportunity to release in 2026 to honor Star Trek 's 60th anniversary .

Every Star Trek Movie Ranked (From Worst To Best)

Star trek 4 has to release in 2026 for star trek’s 60th anniversary, star trek beyond, the franchise's latest movie, was released in 2016.

The 60th anniversary of Star Trek in 2026 presents a perfect opportunity for the release of Star Trek 4 in tandem with wider franchise celebrations. Despite persistent interest from fans and cast members, a movie continuation of the alternate Kelvin Timeline has been in development hell for almost a decade. Star Trek 4 offers a return of the Chris Pine-led USS Enterprise cast for what has been dubbed its “ final chapter .” While details remain unknown, the timing for Star Trek 4 is crucial. Ten years after the release of Star Trek Beyond , Star Trek 4 must embrace the 60th anniversary deadline to avoid missing a huge opportunity.

Star Trek evolved from a groundbreaking science fiction show into a cult phenomenon.

A 2026 movie release would make Star Trek 4 the centerpiece of Star Trek' s 60th anniversary celebrations . Aligning with other franchise festivities to blend innovation, continuity, and tradition would appeal to longtime fans and modern audiences and offer a unique chance to celebrate everything and everyone great about Star Trek . Celebrating 60 years since Star Trek began and evolved from a groundbreaking science fiction show into a pop culture phenomenon and multi-decade global movement, Star Trek 4 could unify the franchise's legacy with a modern generation and pave the way for a new era of Star Trek .

Star Trek On Paramount Plus Can Also Mark Star Trek’s 60th Anniversary

But a new star trek movie in theaters is a bigger draw for star trek's 60th anniversary.

Paramount+ positions itself as " the home of Star Trek ," but uncertainties loom over the future of Star Trek content on the platform, with shows like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Lower Decks coming to an end. Multiple Star Trek series cancelations diminish Paramount+’s potential to celebrate Star Trek's 60th anniversary with a wide range of legacy characters through animation, archive footage, or live-action. In 2026, only two Star Trek shows are expected to be streaming on Paramount+: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Director Toby Haynes's Untitled Star Trek Origin Movie has been announced for a 2025 release.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is Paramount+'s best bet to honor Star Trek's 60th anniversary. Strange New Worlds is renewed for season 4 , which could potentially be released in 2026 following season 3's expected 2025 premiere. Since it also has Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Lt. James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) aboard the Starship Enterprise, Strange New Worlds is Paramount+'s best opportunity to honor Star Trek's 60 years . However, the return of Captain Kirk, Spock, and the USS Enterprise to movie screens in a multiplex blockbuster like Star Trek 4 would be an even bigger event to capture mainstream audiences in 2026 and give Star Trek 's 60th anniversary the prestige it deserves.

All Star Trek series (except Prodigy), and J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Prodigy is available to stream on Netflix.

Star Trek movies I-X are available to stream on Max.

Star Trek 4

Writers Steve Yockey

Studio(s) Paramount

Distributor(s) Paramount Pictures

Cast Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho

Franchise(s) Star Trek

prequel(s) Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Beyond

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While most 2024 offerings arrive in October, the first ornament of the year hits stores this July, when Hallmark celebrates the 60th anniversary of “The Cage” with The Keeper . This is the Talosian leader who kept Captain Pike hostage in the original Star Trek  pilot episode; it’s priced at $19.99.

Moving into the fall’s character spotlights, Hallmark is starting with the beloved chief medical officer of the Enterprise- D: Beverly Crusher! With so many licensees often leaving Crusher out of the roster of character-themed releases, it’s nice to see Hallmark including the good doctor in their 2024 lineup.

Clad in her trademark blue coat and with trusty medical tricorder in hand, the Crusher ornament will available in October for $19.99.

Also from  The Next Generation is the first electronic ornament for 2024, recreating the encounter between Ambassador Spock and Data in “Unification II.” This ornament will be priced at $29.99 when released in October, and plays audio clips from the Next Gen episode.

For this year’s “modern  Trek ” release, Hallmark turns to  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with an ornament featuring Captain Pike seated in his  Enterprise command chair. The base of his chair plays  Strange New Worlds audio clips, and will be available for $21.99 this October.

Moving next to Trek movie anniversaries, Hallmark celebrates the 30th anniversary of  Star Trek: Generations with the first-ever  USS Enterprise -B ornament! Hallmark’s Kevin Dilmore once highlighted the technical challenges that held back the Excelsior -class design for many years back in 2021, so it’s nice to see this long-awaited ship will make it to fans’ collections.

The Enterprise- B ornament lights up and will be available for $34.99 in October.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture also hits a big anniversary this year, and Hallmark will be honoring that milestone with a pair of miniature ornaments tied to the film. A small edition of the refit  USS Enterprise will be released at a $10.99 price point, and a small sculpt of Science Officer Spock wearing his TMP-era uniform will be $9.99. Each will be out in October.

Finally, the fan-favorite  Star Trek homage  Galaxy Quest hits its 25th anniversary this year, and Hallmark will be taking us back to 1999 with a new ornament of that film’s  NSEA Protector spaceship.

Like the other 2024 releases, the  Protector ornament will be out this October for $24.99.

What’s your favorite of this year’s Hallmark  Star Trek ornament offerings? Is there one you were really hoping for that didn’t make 2024’s lineup? Let us know in the comments below!

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• Hallmark Ornaments
• Keepsake Ornaments
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: The Original Series
• Trek Merchandise

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