|
Thus began a second sequel to the original Star
Trek, not with a whimper, but with a bang. It acted as an
accompaniment to Star Trek: The Next
Generation, which was winding down its own tv series in
preparation for the jump into films. The events in Deep Space Nine
ran concurrent with those of its sister production, with some of the cast
of the latter appearing in the former, most notable Colm Meaney, the
former Enterprise transporter chief, first seen on tv in an
episode of Z Cars in the 1960s. Set on a Federation-run space
station orbiting the newly-liberated planet Bajor, the series' main
concern was the welfare of the Bajoran people, as their civilisation
emerged from 60 years of Cardassian captivity and the complications that
arise from their attempts to create an ordered world. At first glance,
that might seem a rather dry formula, but the series was as creative and
original as anything from the Star Trek stable, and the pilot
story, The Emissary began the series in explosive fashion, detailing
Commander Sisko's part in the battle against the Borg at Wolf 359, part of
the ST:TNG story, The
Best Of Both Worlds.
DS9's crew were as varied as that of Enterprise-D's.
Station commander Ben Sisko is a mature, powerfully-built widower who is
responsible not only for the crew and visitors on DS9, but also for a
young son. His wife Jennifer was killed at Wolf 359, three years before.
In his approach to a command position he is much like Jean-Luc Picard, but
is far less restrained and perhaps not quite so logical. He tends to lose
his temper when controlled diplomacy is called for. Nevertheless, he does
his job well, and is much respected by his colleagues. Dr Julian Bashir is
a young, energetic station doctor, full of idealism and dedicated to his
work. Sometimes that enthusiasm can get him into trouble. Major Kira is
the Bajoran liaison officer. As energetic as Bashir, she is a dedicated
member of the Bajoran military, and shows a deep love and concern for her
homeworld, as it emerges, sometimes inharmoniously, from Cardassian rule.
Jadzia is a Trill who was selected to become the host for a symbiont
organism named Dax, a rare honour among her people. This combines her
learning with Dax's eight lifespans of accomplishment. Odo is a
shapeshifter with (initially) no knowledge of his origins, and his pet
hate, the Ferengi bar owner, Quark, is as shifty and business-minded as
any of his species.
Apart from the main command team, who are all up to
usual Federation standards in their efficiency, Colm Meaney, who played
Chief Petty Officer, and then Senior Chief Specialist, Miles O'Brien of
the Enterprise, continued in the role when he took up a permanent
post on the station, arriving along with his Sino-American wife, Keiko,
and their baby daughter Molly from Enterprise on Stardate
46388.2, just two days before the new commander took up his post. He was
the first to be seen wearing Starfleet's (at this time) experimental new
uniform of a type of 'boiler suit' with the same colours as the standard
uniform but reversed. Sisko's son Jake soon made a friend of young Ferengi,
Nog, whose uncle is Quark, and various supporting characters made
infrequent appearances throughout the show's run.
It took quite a while for DS9 to get to British network
tv, eventually appearing on BBC2 in 1995, so initially fans had to seek it
out on the satellite station, Sky One. Despite a relatively lukewarm
reception in this country, a second season was produced in late 1993,
ready to be picked up by Sky for showing the following year, and the
series became firmly established both sides of the Atlantic. The pilot
episode was originally produced as a 90-minute special (and was shown as
such on BBC2), before being restructured as a two-part story. Its director
was David Carson, also responsible for the movie Star Trek Generations,
which explains the quality of this pilot's explosive action scenes.
Stardates given in italics are official studio estimates, but were not
given on screen.
|
|
|
|
Created by: Rick Berman and Michael
Pillar, Based on Star Trek created by
Executive Producers: Rick Berman, and
Michael Pillar (Seasons 1-3)
Co-Executive Producer: Ira Steve Behr
Associate Producer: Steve Oster
(Seasons 1-2), Terri Potts (Season 3-4)
Creative Consultant: Michael Pillar (Season 4)
Producers: Peter Lauritson (Seasons 1 & 3),
Peter Allan Fields (Season 2), and
René Echevarria (Season 3)
Co-Producer: Steve Oster (Season 3),
(Season 4)
Supervising Producers: David Livingston
(Seasons 1 & 3), James Crocker (Season 2),
Ronald D Moore (Seasons 3-4), and Peter
Lauritson (Season 4)
Line Producer: Robert della Santina
Main Title Music: Dennis McCarthy
|
US Production/UK Screenings:
Season 1: 20 Episodes
1993/15th August - 11th December 1993
Season 2: 26 Episodes
1993-94/3rd April 1994 - 16th April 1995 1
Season 3: 25 Episodes
1994-95/23rd April - 15th October 1995 2
Season 4: 25 Episodes 3
1995-96/12th May 1996 - 12th January 1997
Season 5: 26 Episodes
1996-97/29th September 1997 - 23rd March 1998
Season 6: 26 Episodes
1997-98/19th October 1998 - 19th April 1999
Season 7:
25 Episodes
1998-99/20th September 1999 - 20th March 2000
A Paramount Production
174 colour episodes, 2 x 89-minutes, rest x 44-minutes
(Sky One)
|
|
