There are many reasons why I love Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and why it remains my favorite of the Star Trek franchise.
Reason #65: Kukalaka
Doctor Julian Bashir‘s first patient was Kukalaka. As a child Bashir restuffed and stitched his teddy bear back together performing his first surgery at the age of five. And he’s been mending his friend ever since.
Kukalaka is refered to in a handful of episodes including “In the Cards” when Bashir enlists the help of Jake Sisko and Nog to recover his childhood friend from Lita (who refused to give him back after the pair’s relationship ended) and, if you’re quick, you can catch a glimpses of him in Bashir’s quarters in “The Quickening” and “Inquisition.”
Kasidy Yates is the captain of the freighter Xhosa. She is played by Penny Johnson (a woman whose lips I’d murder to have), and she is a strong, practical woman who plays Captain Benjamin Sisko’s love interest. Jake Sisko, Benjamin’s colorful son, plays matchmaker and hooked them up. At first it seems like there is nothing between the two, until Kasidy expresses a love for baseball, which is Captain Sisko’s favorite game. They hit it off and start a serious relationship.
Kasidy is a smuggler for the Maquis, an enemy of the Federation and Starfleet. Clearly, she had her reasons for being a collaborator, and when she had to go to jail, she did so willingly and alone so that her crew could be protected. It is never revealed why she chose to collaborate with the Maquis. In fact, other than a few minor details, nothing is known about this beautiful, strong woman who becomes Captain Sisko’s wife. It’s a complete injustice, as Kasidy is a very interesting character. I’ve always wanted to know how she became a freighter captain, the relationship she had with her crew, some of their adventures, and details about her year in prison.
You already know my feelings about DS9’s wardrobe. They attired Kasidy in some of the ugliest, most hideous, velveteen uniforms I’ve ever seen. I felt like Penny should have argued with the costume department and fought tooth and nail for a decent uni. Also, her hairstyles left a lot to be desired. Somebody should have been punched in the face for that mess. The only time she looks decent is when she sports a beautiful teal dress and her purple robe.
One of the writers, in a case of epic failure, thought that it would be good for the Captain to knock up his wife at the end of the series, give her a bullshit ass first trimester, and then forget that she was pregnant. I scoffed at this, because Kasidy never struck me as the housewifely type. She didn’t cook, wasn’t a homemaker, and showed little interest in having children. She loved her job and she fought for it when her husband decided to get up to some tomfoolery and convince her superiors to give her paid leave to keep her out of the shipping lanes during the Dominion War. She dispensed with that shit quick, fast, and in a hurry.
Ankhesen said that Kasidy actually quit her job when she got pregnant, and had to take care of Jake after her husband went to be with the Prophets. I call shenanigans on that bullshit as well. The Kasidy that first appeared in Season 3 would not have done anything like that. And Jake was an adult, so I know she wouldn’t have taken care of his grown ass. But still, I liked the character, especially since she was the only black woman seen with any regularity on the show. She had brains, style (in spite of her hideous wardrobe), grace, athletic ability, and guts. Therefore, this makes her worthy of Boss Chick status.
This is based on an idea from DarklyInclined, who was wondering how I might rate the rather protracted Dominion War featured in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine versus the one-season Xindi conflict (a subset of the much larger Temporal Cold War) as shown in Star Trek: Enterprise. I thought I’d also open the topic up to other wars in Trek, since those two weren’t quite the only wars shown in all of the series.
This will be a lengthy post. I’ve been working on it for a while now. I tend to write essays instead of simple replies; apologies in advance. Non-Trekkies who don’t really give a shit might want to head for another thread. For those Trekkies not well-versed in the subject matter, I will include links to pertinent data where applicable. Those who do choose read this, please bear with me.
You could make it more fun by taking a shot of your favorite alcoholic beverage anytime I bash Rick Berman & Brannon Braga (two of Trek’s longtime writers/producers, both of whom were blamed for Star Trek’s demise and the early cancellation of Enterprise, if not the near-total downfall of UPN itself) or anytime I mention Ronald D. Moore and Ira Steven Behr (two longtime Trek scribes who later moved on to Battlestar Galactica on SyFy) in a positive light. You’ll be happily plastered by post’s end.
Which did you think was done best: the Dominion War from DS9 or the Xindi conflict from Enterprise (or a different conflict featured in one of the other series, like the Klingon/Federation Cold War from TOS or the brief war against the Klingons in DS9 that served as a prelude to the Dominion War)?
Or, for a much more broad, open-ended question (if it suits you): do you think Star Trek handles a mature subject such as war well or poorly?
Dominion War
If you really don’t care about my lengthy diatribe on the Dominion War vs. the Xindi conflict (maybe because you didn’t live your entire life in your parents’ basement and you actually did have a social life), just skip past this and post your response already. Otherwise, feel free to keep reading.
Eh..?
I’ll open the discussion with my response…
…
I think Deep Space Nine handled the Dominion War fairly well. They didn’t just rush into it head-on. The writers gave it a great build-up, slowly tip-toeing into it, mentioning the Dominion here and there throughout Season Two (the Dominion were first mentioned in “Rules of Acquisition“, a Ferengi episode, no less!) before introducing us to their foot soldiers, the genetically-grown Jem’Hadar, in the Season 2 finale. Even after that, the Dominion didn’t quite take center stage yet, opting instead for a Cold War against the Alpha Quadrant powers, during which they covertly started two wars involving the Klingons – a war between the Klingons and the Cardassians (which the Maquis would get involved in) and renewed hostilities between the Klingons and the Federation. After destabilizing the Alpha Quadrant’s major powers, the Dominion finally invaded. Brilliant tactic! By then, the Federation was so shell-shocked from having to deal with wars on all borders (save the Romulan Neutral Zone) that they barely had the resources to fight the Dominion, a nigh-unstoppable force compared to the Federation.
Jem’Hadar
The Dominion seemed militarily superior in all respects: non-stop construction of warships while the Federation was still trying to convert aging exploration vessels into battleships; they could grow Jem’Hadar at an exponential rate (and even tailor-make them for warfare in that part of the galaxy) while Starfleet couldn’t recruit new officers fast enough; the Dominion were united while Starfleet was divided between the pacifists and the war-mongers (usually represented by a shadowy “rogue” group of Starfleet Intelligence called Section 31, a sort of Starfleet “Men in Black” that utilized very dirty tactics like assassinations, cover-ups and even genocide to preserve the Federation; this was the series’ attempt at exploring a darker side of Starfleet that I, for one, appreciated). Good mix of drama, tension and action all around, plus it was an interesting examination of the Federation through darker lenses than we’re used to.
Section 31
While Deep Space Nine’s executive producer, Rick Berman (Roddenberry’s hand-picked successor), wanted the Dominion War to last only three or four episodes tops, DS9′s lead writers – Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore (themselves chosen by Berman for their outstanding work on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, both of whom would later helm the Battlestar Galactica reboot and create its prequel series Caprica) – conned him into allowing the Dominion War to play out until its “natural” end, which came during the final episode of the series. Say what you will about the Dominion War as a storyline and how it diverges from Roddenberry’s utopian vision of the future or about Deep Space Nine as a series, I think the Dominion War worked successfully (mostly), given its purpose as a method of deconstructing Roddenberry’s notions of the Federation as a utopian society. Ira Steven Behr re-imagined Deep Space Nine as a darker, grittier version of Roddenberry’s vision, and given how the series was written before that (set aboard a Cardassian space station by Michael Pillar – the brain behind some of the best TNG episodes ever, including “The Best of Both Worlds” – who imagined the series as a “frontier town in space” filled with broken individuals, former terrorist “freedom fighters”, orphaned aliens and unscrupulous bartender/merchants), the series worked well as such. The Dominion War, while I admit it was rather protracted (and ultimately weakened the hell out of Season 7, when the writers had to figure out a quick way to end the war in only one season after building the story arc to be a lengthy epic), worked overall as the ultimate test of Roddenberry’s dream.
When such a dream – the notion of humankind striving to better itself through peace and cooperation – is threatened by outside forces, what will humanity endure to protect it? The approach to this was very realistic, from the major portions of the story (“Operation Return“, the re-taking of DS9 after it was taken over by the Dominion) to the humdrum day-to-day stuff (Sisko’s grim ritual of posting casualty reports from the war every Friday). Ultimately, the war took a bitter toll on everyone involved, especially Captain Sisko; he would later commit acts that many Trek fans consider cardinal sins against Roddenberry’s lofty ideals – specifically helping a former Cardassian spy murder a Romulan senator in cold blood and blame the Dominion for it in the masterpiece episode “In the Pale Moonlight” – just to bring a quicker resolution to the war by bringing the Romulans into it. By the series’ end, the Federation is saved, and all the major goals of the series – bringing an end to the Cardassian threat and putting Bajor on the fast-track to membership in the Federation – have been met, along with the added bonus of creating a tentative peace between the Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans. Additionally, Ira Steven Behr was able to inject a bit of Judaism into the story through the Bajorans and their Emissary (messiah figure), Benjamin Sisko, whose story arc Behr based loosely on Moses.
On the creative side, many of the elements Rick Berman and Michael Piller brought to Deep Space Nine had been established in The Next Generation — the use of Ferengi, Cardassians, Bajorans and wormholes provided powerful strands of connection to the familiar universe first established by Gene Roddenberry and since enjoyed by millions of viewers. But this new series demanded many unfamiliar things, ranging from an alien space station filled with ill lit corridors, commerce, even a casino, to exotic new species and religious subtexts. It was a strange new world indeed that Star Trek explored boldly as ever.
On the technical side, Berman and Piller were able to provide the same important connections in the look and feel of the latest series by drawing their key production people from the pool of talented individuals who had worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Production designer Herman Zimmerman returned to design the dark and alien sets of the Cardassian space station. Michael Okuda led the art department’s effort to come up with an entirely new system of Cardassian control surfaces and data displays. Director of photography Marvin Rush brought a rich lushness to the new sets. Costume designer Robert Blackman refined Starfleet uniforms once again and ably met the challenge of a never ending stream of new alien races. Michael Westmore faced the same challenges in devising more and stranger alien races for Blackman to clothe. Visual effects that The Next Generation viewers had come to expect would be maintained and surpassed on the new series.
Early Deep Space Nine design
The task of designing the space station Deep Space Nine— which had to be a new, iconic and alien looking image that could be quickly recognized when seen on a small television screen — was a long, involved process that took several different directions before evolving into the final design we now take for granted. It was production designer Herman Zimmerman who was assigned to come up with this fresh and unique look that would be the centerpiece of the new Star Trek.
Early discussions about the look of the station led to a concept that eventually did not work. “It took us a couple of months of going in the wrong direction to find the right direction,” Zimmerman told Star Trek: The Magazine in 1999, “partly because the producers weren’t sure exactly how they wanted to direct us with the visual elements.”
We started out charged with getting a ‘Tower of Babel’ concept of a space station built over a couple thousand years of separate, disparate cultures, so the technology from one part of the station to another would be of various ages and various cultures, not necessarily interfacing one with the other, and there was this sense of confusion because of that.
“The initial take on it was that it was a very old, ancient type of station — maybe not symmetrical in shape,” Rick Sternbach, co-creator of the Deep Space Nine station, explained.
As Berman and Piller continued to refine the concept of Deep Space Nine, we [Sternbach, Zimmerman and Michael Okuda] continued to evolve some of the exterior station drawings. We started with a very large number of sketches and very quick CGI shapes that we could build in our computers.
We could create a lot of shapes, make multiple copies of shapes and kind of put little pieces together and rotate them around and see how they would work. Also we could see if they would provide enough of a strange alien look that would be approved as Deep Space Nine.
And now: What you need to know about the first season.
My mother requests that we begin this post with a link to the ST: Deep Space Nine opening theme song.
Take a good, long look at that monstrous, stately space station.
Prepare yourself to love it.
The series begins with a quick recap of the relevant events from Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes “The Best of Both Worlds” parts 1 and 2. In short: Locutus of Borg (aka Captain Jean-Luc Picard) used his insider knowledge of Starfleet’s tactical capabilities to utterly slaughter the Federation fleet. 39 ships and more than 10,000 people were lost.
It was super awful badtimes.
Among the dead was Jennifer Sisko. It’s her husband, Benjamin Sisko, former first officer aboard the lost USS Saratoga, who will be in charge of Deep Space Nine.
Observe: it’s pretty.
We good? Okay, let’s go.
1×01-02: Emissary parts 1&2
I know, I know. 90-minute pilot. One of the desires I have while beginning to watch massive, already-aired TV shows is to skip immediately to totally loving it. And, to do that, I usually have to skip over something like a 90-minute pilot, or at least skim through it. You are perfectly free to do that now.
But here’s what you’ll be missing:
Sisko resenting the hell out of Picard. It’s beautiful. Their scenes together, which could have been a simple info-dump, instead become a study in simmering bitterness. Especially if you’re coming to this series after watching TNG, it’s a jarring and wonderful thing to see Picard cast as the villain.
Avery Brooks meowing like a cat.
Post-meow satisfaction.
Everyone’s terrible pilot episode makeup.
Dr. Bashir as the mouthpiece of the most horrifyingly colonial, patronizing, and naive attitudes that you may have heard from young Westerners who “spent a few months in Africa” or “found the real India last summer”. Early-seasons Bashir is often the Federation at its worst. It’s awesome.
Chief O’Brien finally getting to leave the transporter room of the Enterprise. This marks the last time I’ll care about O’Brien for the next season or so.
Terrible pilot episode CGI. You can barely tell that Odo’s supposed to be made of pudding.
Witnessing non-linear beings begin to understand linear existence. COME ON, SCI-FI FANS! THAT’S FREAKING AWESOME.
1×03: Past Prologue
Here is where the action begins. And by “the action” I obviously mean “Garak”. Once upon a time, the writers of this series sat around thinking to themselves, gee. Julian Bashir sure is unlikeable! What we need, they thought, is a grounding relationship for him. Something that people can really invest and engage in.
I’m relatively sure a couple non-Garak things happen in this episode, but I’m guessing they’re few, and to be perfectly honest I couldn’t care less. I think it’s about Bajor. Whatever.
Oh, and I promise that Garak doesn’t always dress like a watermelon. That will never happen again. I apologize.
1×05: Captive Pursuit
He is Tosk.
This is a very good representation of how DS9 does monster-of-the-week episodes. It’s pretty adorable. O’Brien learns to be slightly less speciesist. Tosk is Tosk.
1×10: Move Along Home
Do not watch this episode.
Please don’t watch this episode.
I am not kidding.
1×17: The Forsaken
Yeah, I just skipped half the season. And I like this season! But I’m being real with you, internet. The rest of the season is okay, but this is an episode that will make you care about a man made of pudding. More than that, it makes you really, really like Lwaxana Troi. And that is something special.
Betazed: a planet full of retired professional figure skaters.
In the B-plot: Chief O’Brien adopts a giant Tamagochi.
1×19: Duet
There are Cardassians in this episode.
Rocking the off-kilter spoon like a boss.
Watch it.
1×20: In the Hands of the Prophets
This season is a bit shorter than the rest, and it ends here, with an object lesson on the dangers of forcing a creationist bias into education. Spoilers: this practice ends in tears.
I will admit, this is a quiet choice for a season finale. It’s a deceptively quiet episode. What it does well, though, is crystallize the tension that exists between the Bajoran religious establishment and the Federation citizens who live on DS9. The very basic differences in their motivations, the difficulty both sides have in seeing past their biases, and the care Sisko takes to adopt a Bajoran perspective, all these persist and evolve as themes through every season.
But what is Jake wearing.
Stop, it Jake. Please, stop.
Jake must be stopped.
In the next post: Secrets! Lionel Luthor! Drug abuse! Ill-advised away missions! Imaginary girlfriends! Mirrorverse! And Garak dresses like a watermelon again, I totally lied about that. But it’s only once more.
There are many reasons why I love Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and why it remains my favorite of the Star Trek franchise.
