DS9 Stories/News: That’s What He Said, Ira Steven Behr & Gul Dukat

“The problem I find with a lot of writers, including myself, is that once you get involved with a character you start to get to know him and you humanise him,” Behr told Star Trek The Magazine, 2002.

“Michael Piller did the rewrite of ‘Defiant’ where he had Dukat talk about his children; My reaction was, ‘Uh oh, we’ve crossed the line.’ I realised that he was going to lose all credibility as a villain; we were going to shower him with our usual writerish empathy. [...] I really responded against that. Here was the guy who had been in charge of Bajor, and right away we were looking for excuses for him.”

Behr himself had little sympathy for the character. “I had certainly done my bit in making Dukat a kind of swashbuckling villain, but I always thought the Cardassians were horrific; I think anyone who doesn’t is obviously confused. They did a horrible thing, and I have little sympathy for that,” he said.

He was also pleased with the way DS9 resolved the character. “I think he got what he deserved, let me put it like that,” Behr explained. “I can’t say I feel sorry for him, I really don’t. He and Wynn were two characters I just could not sympathise with. Though we tried in all fairness to give them their points of view and give them their attitudes, they were very deluded, and they did horrible things.”

DS9 Stories/News: Michael Westmore’s Aliens (1)

DS9 Season 1

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Michael is responsible for many makeup development in DS9 which includes:

Cardassian makeup and how Marc Alaimo influenced the design of every Cardassian character that would follow. During the DVD specials, Michael talks about how the “spoon” of the Cardassian forehead was inspired by an abstract painting of a woman he saw in a restaurant in Studio City

The Tosk from “Captive Pursuit“, who was made to resemble an alligator

The Wadi from “Move Along Home“, who were decorated with tattoos instead of spots or stripes

The Miradorn from “Vortex“, with their unusual neck design including a flap of skin coming over their necklaces, as opposed to running underneath

The Kobliad from “The Passenger“, which was again inspired by trying to keep the actress attractive but still indicate that she is an alien

The “tailheads“, as seen on the promenade in numerous episodes, are also mentioned, and how light the tails actually are

The creation and evolution of the Bolian makeup from its beginning with actor Michael Berryman in TNG: “Conspiracy” to the actors on Deep Space Nine

A Niner’s World: Stuff You Should Know – Sisko Is Moses

Ira Steven Behr compares Sisko to the Biblical figure, Moses, who fails to reach the Promised Land, and to the character of Ethan Edwards from the 1956 Western film, The Searchers, who neglects to return to his family once his task is complete.^[52] It was determined that this facet to Sisko’s character justified the use of divine intervention to resolve the Dominion threat

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Ronald D. Moore commented that the story of Moses was one of the inspirations for Benjamin Sisko‘s character arc. (AOL chat, 1997)

German monk Bernhard Janzen, who was writing a dissertation about religious symbolism in Star Trek, compared Sisko’s smashing the Reckoning Tablet in DS9: “The Reckoning” to Moses smashing the Ten Commandments. [1]

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Moses

DS9 Stories/News: Jadzia Dax

Site: http://www.beertripper.com/startrek_chart/star_trek_number_2_Dax.html

Terry Farrell played Jadzia Dax throughout the first 6 seasons of Star Trek Deep Space Nine.  (Until Jadzia Dax died at the end of season 6.  Season 7 of Deep Space Nine is the one season of Star Trek I have never seen.  Conincidence?)

Personally, I think Jadzia Dax was the best character on Deep Space Nine.  Obviously, she has the looks, but she seemed smart and a bit of a smart ass as well.

I could be wrong, but I believe the Lesbian Kiss below was the most famous scene from Deep Space Nine’s entire 7 year run.

 

DS9 Stories/News: Dominion Leaders

Site: http://dominion.tvheaven.com/dompers.html#thotgor

Thot Gor

This shadowy and mysterious character joined the Dominion as part of their alliance with the Breen. Thot Gor proved himself a capable and effective leader of the formidable Breen forces allied with the Dominion. The favor which Thot Got found with both Weyoun and the Founder proved a source of distress to Legate Damar and may have preciptated Damar’s betrayal of the Dominion.

Cardassians

Legate Dukat

Unpredictable, savage, and mentally unstable, Dukat commanded the mining station Terok Nor during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor and later went on to help forge the alliance between the Cardassians and the Dominion. However, his lackluster military strategy is considered one of the key factors in allowing the Federation to retake Terok Nor/DS9. The death of his traitorous daughter Ziyal at the hands of Damar led Dukat to mental collapse and imprisonment by the Federation authorities. After escaping confinement, reports placed Dukat throughout the Alpha Quadrant, allegedly proselytizing for the cult of the pah-wraiths. These reports were confirmed by Dukat’s possession by the Costa Mogen, during which he murdered Jadzia Dax and temporarily sealed the worm hole linking the Gamma and Alpha Quadrants. Confirmed reports from reliable Dominion sources indicate that Dukat later transformed himself into a Bajoran through plastic surgery, presumably in an attempt to further infiltrate the cult of the pah-wraiths. Nothing is known of Dukat’s current whereabouts.

Tora Ziyal

Beautiful angel of light and mercy, Ziyal was the half-Bajoran, half-Cardassian daughter of Dukat. Forced to work in a dilithium mine during the early days of her life, Ziyal was eventually liberated from this dreary life by her father. Though initially ashamed of Ziyal for her mixed heritage, Dukat eventually came to recognize her for the perfect creature of goodness that she was. Unfortunately, Ziyal fell in with the criminal element during the Dominion occupation of Terok Nor/DS9 and was persuaded by the members of Colonel Kira’s terrorist cell to assist in the liberation of the criminal saboteur, Rom. For this betrayal of her people, Ziyal was murdered by Damar, sending her father into a void of insanity from which he never emerged.

Legate Damar

Dukat’s successor as commander of the Cardassian forces allied with the Dominion, Damar abandoned the familial fold of the Dominion allies presumably after pollution by the Federation captives, Worf and Dax. After turning against the Dominion, Damar encouraged his forces to do the same with some limited success. He received assistance in his crusade against his former allies from the noted terrorist Colonel Kira Nerys. Damar was killed in an ill-planned assault on the Dominion headquarters at Cardassia Prime.

Legate Broca

This lumbering oaf served as commander of Cardassian forces and liaison to the Dominion following the defection of Legate Damar. An uninspired and uninspiring leader, Broca distinguished himself only in his unswerving loyalty to the Dominion. However, Broca was ultimately executed by the Dominion when the Cardassians unanimously turned against their Dominion and Breen allies.