Part II, Chapter XLV: "Into Deep Space"
“The fans consider the early seasons to be a lot weaker than out later stuff, and that’s down to a few things. First, the cast hadn’t quite had that time to figure out how well they gelled, so some of the relationships were still in the “beta stages”, and of course, not all of the final cast was there yet. But more importantly, from a writing perspective, we just couldn’t agree on what direction we wanted to take it. So some of the stories could seem out of place.”
- J. Michael Straczynski on the early seasons of
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
The fans awaited the release of the first season of
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with bated breath. The hype that had built up around the new series was of some reassurance to the producers, who were concerned that many would not make the move over to the show. However, the presence of some relatively high-profile actors would help to bring fans over not only from
The Next Generation, but also
Doctor Who.
The opening story, “The Emissary”, would initially be aired as a two-hour special, in the hopes that providing a big story for an opener would help to draw audiences in. The presence of computer-generated imagery would assist in this, as it allowed for bigger and more exciting space battle scenes, at a reduced cost over the models used for
The Next Generation.
The “soft-crossover” that took place during “Birthright” in
The Next Generation’s seventh season would see a slight boost in ratings for the show, though it consistently performed slightly worse than that show, having an average 7% viewership share, as opposed to
The Next Generation’s 11%. [1]
The show’s first season would receive primarily positive reviews, with the actors praised for their characters, though certain stories, “Move Along Home” in particular, would be criticised for their writing. Fans however, were, for the most part, reassured by the solid performance of the season. [2]
List of Episodes of Season 1 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
Emissary (Part I)
Emissary (Part II)
Lakota [3]
Past Prologue
A Man Alone
Command Decisions [4]
Babel
Captive Pursuit
Q-Less
First Aid [5]
Dax
The Passenger
Move Along Home
Disparate Parts [6]
The Nagus
Vortex
Battle Lines
The Storyteller
Progress
If Wishes Were Horses
The Forsaken
The Leftovers [7]
Dramatis Personae
Duet
In the Hands of the Prophets
Main Cast of Season 1 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: [8]
Commander Benjamin Sisko – Laurence Fishburne
Constable Odo – René Auberjonois
Dr. (Lt. j.g.) Julian Bashir – Siddig El-Fadil
Lt. Jadzia Dax – Famke Janssen
Jake Sisko – Cirroc Lofton
Chief Miles O’Brien – Colm Meaney
Quark – Armin Shimerman
Lt (j.g.) Andrew Kelly – Christian Slater
Major Kira Nerys – Nana Visitor
Recurring Cast of Season 1 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: [9]
Captain John Sheridan – Peter Capaldi
Anna Sheridan – Kirsten Dunst [10]
Admiral David Gardener – Pierce Brosnan
Keiko O’Brien – Rosalind Chao
Rom – Max Grodénchik
Nog – Aron Eisenberg
Elim Garak – Andrew Robinson [11]
Gul Dukat – Marc Alaimo
Vedek Winn – Louise Fletcher
Vedek Bareil – Phillip Anglim
Grand Nagus Zek – Wallace Shawn
A second season would be ordered by Paramount, with the intention for the second season premiere to open their new television network, UPN. That it had retained so much of the audience of
The Next Generation while maintaining distinct from it was a sign that the show could be a real success. [12]
[1] A slight increase over OTL's 6%. I'm attributing this to the cast being slightly more well known overall, and science fiction being more popular than OTL. Of course, at some point the market may saturate.
[2] You can pry "Move Along Home" out of my cold dead hands. It's really one of DS9's worst episodes, but god, do I love it. The cast suffered in OTL for the "Allamaraine" scene, and so they must also here.
[3] Introduction of the USS Lakota and the Sheridans. Sisko and Sheridan strike up a friendship over shared experiences, including being single parents. Anna Sheridan is John's daughter, but she ends up spending a lot of time on the station while the Lakota is in the Gamma Quadrant.
[4] First time we properly see Brosnan's Admiral Gardener. Story will focus around Starfleet's issues with Odo as Head of Security.
[5] Dr Bashir begins instructing Kelly as a first responder and emergency nurse, The story will focus mainly on their relationship.
[6] Jadzia and Dax have to be separated briefly when they fall ill with a rare disease. We get to see a bit of what Jadzia was like before her joining, and she begins to fall for Bashir, but they know she will be uninterested when rejoined.
[7] Kelly finally decides to deal with his grief, asking his colleagues for advice. We get to see a little of everyone's past, but it's primarily a "moving on" story for Kelly.
[8] After Laurence Fishburne, they're arranged alphabetically by surname, as in the opening credits. I may move to a table in the near future, to give more order to it.
[9] Yep, recurring cast get one too for this show. Someone is only listed here if they appear in more than one season. They may only appear once in this season, but they'll be back.
[10] Rather than her small role in "Dark Page" for TNG, she takes this recurring role. The film Interview with the Vampire is butterflied, for reasons I'll be getting into in a few updates time.
[11] As the attitude towards overtly non-heterosexual characters in Trek is more open, Robinson gets to portray Garak as omnisexual as he intended.
[12] Butterflies are flapping their wings here. DS9 Season 1 will be the only to be syndicated. It, rather than TTL's version of Voyager, will be the flagship show for the network. This will change a lot of things, mainly with whatever Voyager ends up being.