While deciding what to review at the start of the year, happy 2025 by the way, I realized it’s been a bit of an unintended tradition to review something Star Trek. There was only one possible thing I could review, since I never reviewed an episode from this series yet, let’s start with the opener to what is widely thought of as the best Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine.
The seeds of Deep Space Nine go back before its first episode. But deep dives and retrospectives of the show can tell you that far better than I can. What this show does is start with a bang. Compared to the previous two shows or even the movies (the animated one is considered a continuation of the original series) this one throws us into action that has already started, but also one familiar to people that were watching TNG. For this is the battle of Wolf 359. We see one of the ships trying to stop the Borg cube commanded by Locutus. Here we meet the star Commander Benjamin Sisko played by Avery Brooks, loses his wife in the battle, but manages to rescue his son Jake.
Elements from the later seasons, like the Cardasians and Bajor, as well as the character of Miles O’Brien all started in TNG and will play a major role in this show. For after that opening we get the rundown of what’s happening. As mentioned in TNG The Cardassians had been occupying Bajor, but they finally gave up after years. The provisional government have asked the Federation for assistance in this difficult period and are going to do so from the old Cardassian station Terok Nor which has now been renamed Deep Space 9. The station under joint Bajoran and Federation command, though officially Bajoran.
Getting there, the place is a mess. The Cardassians stripped the place before they left. But what’s more precarious is the political instability. All the different factions that were united against the Cardassians now no longer have a unifying element. After a talk with his Bajoran first officer Major Kira Nerys played by Nana Visitor he visits the spiritual leader of Bajor who shows him one of the sacred Orbs. After a vision he’s told that all the others were taken by the Cardassians and that he must find the Celestial Temple if she is to unite her people into a stable government.
The opening is very strong and I’ll leave what happens later for the most part for you to see. The story has an appearance by the Enterprise and Picard to help transition viewers into the new show, its treated with much tension. For while Miles has a friendly farewell from his old captain, Sisko last met Picard in battle as Locutus. The two clash with different viewpoints and personalities so while not at each other’s throats, there is a clear disdain for Picard and his situation coming through from Sisko’s tone.
One element I love more than any other in this opening is the meeting with the Prophets. For years of god-like energy beings in Star Trek – these in a series far more disconnected from the man obsessed with them to the point he would put them in episodes that had nothing to do with them (Roddenberry was an arse). The Prophets come across as the most alien and interesting of them (even more than the Q who are the other good examples of that concept). These are aliens who are so alien, the concept of linear time is alien. How they are presented as communicating is also done in a way that feels like your mind trying to comprehend in some way what you are talking to but can’t fully.
Deep Space Nine’s first episode is a must see. The show hits much of the points that would be built on to great effect all in this first episode. We are introduced to many of the characters that would go on to become some of the best and most memorable in Star Trek, and importantly, many of them are aliens. Races that were once just one note mono cultures stuff to the point of parody, will get fleshed out, notably the Ferengi thanks to the work of Armin Shimerman who played Quark. Also new aliens like the shape shifter Odo played by the late René Auberjonois start the first threads of their character journey here. You can also get the first bits of friction between certain characters that would go on to make many great episodes later on.
The rest of season 1 has a few duds in it. The first episode is not one. Mystery, suspense, one of the best examples of trying to communicate with an otherworldly entity or entities I’ve ever seen yet with emotional pay off, all of which is to set the starting point of the series. I considered saying status quo, but the show grows and develops so I can’t think it would go to some base point. It also can be understated how big a deal it is that the lead character Sisko is black, to the point there was tension in the programme development if it would be accepted by people. If you ever see anyone complaining about Star Trek suddenly being political, while there are earlier examples going all the way back to the start, POINT THEM IN THE DIRECTION OF DS9!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
