Star Trek Deep Space 9 - TV Review & Retrospective
Written by: Lee Fenton
This article was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the hard work and dedication of the writers and actors, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist. In fact, no films or television would.
We stand in solidarity.
Created by Rick Berman (former show runner on Next Generation) and Michael Piller in 1993 – it ran for 7 seasons until 1999. The show ran concurrently with Star Trek The Next Generation (for its first two seasons) until Next Gen finished its run in 1994.
Deep Space Nine differs quite a bit from its predecessors. Its setting replaces the traditional ship with an advanced space station. This was a huge departure from previous entries in the franchise, which were a direct homage to naval films of the past.
DS9' characters did not come 'pre-baked' but were be solidified over the first few seasons, and than devoloped through character arcs that gave them new, yet easily definable traits. A whole breadth of shows fail in that department; either relying on Flanderization or a return to earlier behaviors and tropes. This causes viewer dissonence, since these chracters go through life changing events, but somehow revert to old ways - with no explanation given in-canon. This is bad writing; in the mid 90s it was generally what you expected from television dramas
Deep Space Nine however chose the hard route and wrote a serialized story line about galactic war, comprising the second half of the series and spanning from season 4 to season 7. Viewers are drawn into the narrative as it forces these static characters to become dynamic version's of their former selves. It transformed the show from your standard sci-fi monster-of-the-week serial - into an exploration of the human psyche.
I would hesitate to go as far to say Deep Space Nine is hard science fiction, yet I dont want to put it in the category of space-fantasy; IE Flash Gordon, Dr. Who, Star Wars, and the like. Star Trek has always tried to be a bit more than pulp; as it is inspired from Arthur C. Clarke, or Issac Asimov's vein of sc-fi vs Jules Verne, or Frank Herbert, and other more fantastical science fiction writers. It is less operatic space-fantasy and more a nuanced look at reality and the existential.
Deep Space Nine really doubles down on this premise; writing characters that are more complex than its predecessors, and commenting on issues, that are truly shades of gray. It deals with real world issues like the treatment of people of color, trans rights, and other social issues.
Deep Space 9 was also the first Star Trek series to feature an Afro-American as captain; and Benjamin Sisko is written in away that indeed brings the issue of equality to the fore front. Avery Brooks delivers a ground-breaking and heart wrenching performance as Captain Sisko, a performance that should have earned him an Emmy nomination (the series was nominated 31 times and won 4 of them, for visual, art, makeup, sound and wardrobe). It did at least cement him as a black actor on primetime tv - that was crafting a truly monumental experience [on the screen] for marginalized people's everywhere.
If you like your science fiction to be escapist, this may not be for you.
However if, like me - you prefer your sci-fi deep and philosophical, look no further.
