Producers noted virtually no negative reaction to the romantic pairing and eventual wedding between Worf and Dax, which was essentially interracial. Producers cited that on the generally open minded nature of the Star Trek fan base.
As was the case with all other Star Trek programs, the series depicted a number of mixed race romances, notably married couples O’Brien and Keiko, and Rom and Leeta.
Aron Eisenberg was approaching his mid 20s when cast as Nog, who began on the series in his pre to early teens. In addition, Eisenberg was only 17 years younger than Max Grodénchik who played Nog’s father Rom.
The name Deep Space Nine originated from an early working title, and predated the decision to set the series on a space station. Producers intended on coming up with a new title after the show was fully developed, but stayed with the Deep Space Nine name feeling it had an intriguing quality to it.
Fans of the series were referred to as “Niners”.
O’Brien and later Worf were the only two regulars on a Star Trek series to be carried over from another.
Terry Farrell was the only regular Star Trek actor or actress not to return in any way after their character was killed off.
This is the only “Star Trek” TV series not to have any human female as part of the main cast.
Worf and Jadzia Dax were the first pair of regular Star Trek characters to be married to each other. Tom Paris and B’Lanna Torrez eventually got married on Star Trek: Voyager, and later Riker married Troi in _”Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002)_. O’Brien was only a recurring character at the time of his marriage on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and his wife Keiko was not a regular character on either TNG or DS9.
O’Brien was the first regular Star Trek character to be established as being married from the start of a Trek series. (He had gotten married on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Data’s Day as a recurring character on the show). In addition, Sisko was the first Star Trek Captain to be permanently married when he wed Kassidy Yates.
Despite being credited as a regular, Cirroc Lofton appeared in only 85 of the show’s 173 episodes. Morn, the most frequent recurring character, appeared in 92 episodes.
In the episode “By Inferno’s Light”, several of the main characters are imprisoned in a Dominion POW camp. One of the characters, Elim Garak, must overcome his fear of claustrophobia to try and get them out. This has a lot of comparison with Charles Bronson‘s character in The Great Escape.
Although all Star Trek series dealt with complex social issues, Deep Space Nine had darker undertones and seriously dealt with genocide, terrorism, bigotry, racism, shell shock and the consequences of war much more than other Star Trek series.
According to numerous episodes, time on the Deep Space Nine space station is based on the length of a standard Bajoran day, which is 26 hours.
The appearance of the Trill symbiont is different from when it initially appeared on the episode The Host. In that episode, the symbiont’s appearance was made to resemble a caterpillar with the head of an octopus. According to Make-Up Supervisor Michael Westmore, the symbiont was re-made for this series to be more “stream-lined” to make it easier to handle. Also, the appearance of the Trill hosts had changed as well. In “The Host”, the Trill people had semi-ridged foreheads and no body spots, but in this series, they have normal foreheads, and body spots. In “The Host,” the Trill was also terrified of being transported, insinuating that it would damage the symbiont, but neither Jadzia nor Ezri ever mentioned concerns with being transported.
Executive Producer/Co-Creator Michael Piller said that when coming up for an idea for the series concept of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there were initially three ideas toted around: Another starship adventure, a space station concept, and a remote frontier colony. The frontier colony idea was briefly considered, with the idea that since Star Trek was compared to Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. in outer space, the new series would be compared to Gunsmoke, but on a remote planet. The frontier colony idea was eventually dropped since it would’ve required a lot of on-location shooting, and the space station idea was ultimately developed instead.
The primary design of Deep Space Nine is based off a gyroscope, but with the top and bottom parts removed. Some of the earlier designs of DS9 by Herman F. Zimmerman had complete hoops, also like a gyroscope.
Benjamin Sisko is the only Captain in a Star Trek series that didn’t start out as a Captain at the beginning of the series. From Seasons 1-3, Sisko held the rank of Commander. It wasn’t until the Season 3 finale, The Adversary, where he was finally promoted to Captain.
Carl Weathers auditioned for the role of Captain Benjamin Sisko.
The character Elim Garak is a former spy who works as a tailor on the station. In many of ‘John Le Carré”s spy novels a tailor is one of the main characters (and is often also acting as a spy). “The Tailor of Panama” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” are two examples.
The role of Jadzia Dax was initially offered to Famke Janssen, whose character makeup from The Perfect Mate inspired the change in Trill character makeup from a forehead prosthetic. Both she and Michelle Forbes (see above) turned down the roles in order to remain available to appear in feature films.
The name of the alien race “Ferengi” is derived from the Persian word for “foreigner”, which is Farangi.
The character ‘Benjamin Sisko’ was ranked #50 in TV Guide’s list of the “50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time” (20 June 2004 issue).
Wolf 359, mentioned as the battle site between the Borg and the Federation where Sisko lost his wife, is a real star that is 7.5 light-years from Earth.
Malcolm McDowell once said he’d like to appear on DS9, but only if his nephew – Alexander Siddig (who plays DS9′s Dr. Bashir) – would direct the episode. Unfortunately, this never panned out, mostly due to scheduling conflicts.
The Bajoran monetary system uses the Lita as currency. The Lita is actually the name of the currency of Lithuania.
The tankards used for Klingon bloodwine are actually measuring cups used in baking.
In a scene where Bashir and O’Brien come out of the holo-suite and talk to Quark dressed as WWII RAF pilots, most of O’Brien’s jargon comes from a Monty Python sketch, RAF Banter.
Armin Shimerman was a regular on both this series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the same time.
Although we only rarely see it, there is an ATM in Quark’s bar. It dispenses the various types of currency used by major races visiting the station: Federation credits, Bajoran litas, Cardassian leks, and Ferengi latinum.
The square glasses used in Quark’s bar are actually candle holders turned upside down.
According to an April 2003 interview, Avery Brooks was initially required by contract to appear with hair in order to prevent confusion with his Spenser: For Hire character, Hawk. In later seasons, as Sisko became established, Brooks was allowed to shave his head and re-grow his beard.
In one episode, while Kira is still pregnant the O’Briens’ baby, she screams at Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) “This is all your fault!” This is an in-joke referring to the fact that actress Nana Visitor and Siddig were expecting a child in real-life.
The uniforms initially worn on DS9 were designed to look different from those worn on its parent show, Star Trek: The Next Generation Beginning with the movie Star Trek: Generations, however, these new uniforms were adopted by the TNG crew and Starfleet as a whole. From the mid-5th season of DS9 and Star Trek: First Contact another type of uniforms were issued by Starfleet, while Star Trek: Voyager (having no way of knowing about the change) retained the earlier version, distinguishing the two series from each other again. It is also worth mentioning that the DS9-style uniforms are very similar to the ones worn by Starfleet cadets in TNG, most notably in The First Duty.
The guy who is often in Quark’s bar is named “Morn”, which is an anagram for “Norm” from Cheers, who was often in the bar. Like Norm, Morn always sat in the same seat at the bar.
Reportedly, Gene Roddenberry was made aware of plans for DS9 not long before his death in 1991, making this the last Star Trek TV series that he was connected with.
Martin Sheen was considered for the role of Sloan, the Section 31 operative.
Both Armin Shimerman (Quark) and Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) have appeared as one of the first actors to portray members of their respected species, and both appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Shimerman played the the Ferengi officer Letek on the TNG episode “The Last Outpost” (#1.04), while Alaimo played the Cardassian officer Gul Macet on the TNG episode “The Wounded” (#4.17).
The subplot of Kira carrying the O’Briens’ baby was to explain away Nana Visitor‘s pregnancy.
Stars Alexander Siddig and Nana Visitor were married in real life in 1997 (after the show’s fourth season).
In the episode “Man Alone,” the planet Alderaan is listed as a recent place visited by a murder victim. Alderaan is the planet destroyed by the Death Star in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
In the episode Trials and Tribble-ations, Crew from Deep Space Nine are hijacked into the episode Trouble with Tribbles from Star Trek. The set of the original Enterprise was re-created for this episode in detail except for the orange grating often seen in engineering areas. Apparently, the company that made it had discontinued its production.
The spots on Jadzia Dax were not stenciled. Instead, they were drawn on personally by Michael Westmore each day, a process which took over an hour.
