Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted on January 3, 1993, and it
immediately polarized the fan base. It was
so dark and so different in every way from either the original Star Trek or Star Trek: The Next Generation that many fans tuned in or tuned out, and loved it
or hated it… immediately.
A show that unfolded 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? A main crew that didn’t get along and boldly went… nowhere, and
explored… nothing? A seemingly unending, diverse gallery of recurring pot-stirring characters? Stories about politics and discord and, later, a
controversial and extended war arc? An African-American commanding officer? Grungy, claustrophobic sets?
This was most definitely not your parents’
Star Trek – and that was surely the goal of the show’s creators/executive producers,
Rick Berman and the late
Michael Piller, as well as
Ira Steven Behr (who made an indelible mark as a writer, co-executive producer and showrunner). Nineteen years later, the debates still rage on: Was
DS9 different just for different’s sake? Was it the best or the worst of the Star Trek spin-off shows?