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Deep Space Nine’ seems to be the Star Trek series that comes across as the most over looked one among fans and by the wider public. While people can easily rattle off terms and characters like Kirk, Spock, Data, Phasers, Klingons and Vulcans, very few of the general public know who or what an Odo, Dominion and Prophets are. However, with DS9 while the show may not have influenced fans outside of the star trek community, it could be argued that the shows influence can be seen in the way television was written once the show climaxed in 1999. It can also be viewed as a show ahead of its time as it would go on to mirror future events that have shaped the world we live in.
I’ve said it many times while discussing DS9 with friends and feel pretentious each and every time I say it that “DS9 is a post-9/11 show in a pre-9/11 world”. Think about it, a show about an American commander sent to a distant outpost following an occupation by an oppressive enemy to help bring that occupied country into a global community. A commander with the conviction of the gods on his side who are by his side and guide him through the difficulties of war and against a radical man dragging groups into war. Working alongside that commander, is a religious freedom fighter who used guerrilla tactics to fight a foreign occupying force from when she was a child, now forced to work alongside a nation she distrusts in an uneasy alliance.
Religious issues are prominent in a lot of television shows these days, when we see in our modern world what the power of religion does to some people’s mindset and how it is the cause of so much drama. Characters often face their own religious crisis or face tough choices because of their faith. DS9 was one of the first Trek shows to deal with religion; TNG did not even acknowledge it and it was touched upon in one or two of the original series episodes. The power of religion, figure heads and the danger of it in the hand of zealots were prominent in many episodes of DS9, as was the power of faith to Kira and Sisko in our lead cast. Never once did we see Kirk or Picard seek help in the form of prayer or with their faith. As an atheist I like to believe that by the 24th century there won’t be religion and that we will embrace science, critical thinking and evidence instead of fairy tales, much like we saw throughout Star Trek.
However in Gene Rodenberry’s world in a future without drama, conflict and where there is global harmony while admirable, it doesn’t make for interesting character drama. Is there any more divisive issue in the world when it comes to conflict than religion. People inspired by their religions choose to fly planes into towers, fight political campaigns around concepts like what would God think of rape or here in Scotland where religious groups are fighting against homosexual equality. In DS9, the Barjoran religion created a lot of personal and external conflict from episode one to the finale. When people talk about DS9 and why it is their favourite series out of the bunch, then it is usually down to the conflict between the characters, the shades of grey and drama. At the heart of DS9 was faith, look at when the Barjoran religious leader committed suicide to make her point and inspire a fight back against the Dominion and Cardassian occupation of the station, that sort of event could easily have been pulled from the headlines of this world now.
‘In the Pale Moonlight’ is one of my favourite episodes of Trek and seems to be a real fan favourite. Once again it was an episode where the character decisions and choices could easily be pulled from the headlines that would follow the series several years later. The episode revolved around Sisko getting involved with deceptive and tricky individuals to involve the Romulans in the war against the Dominion. We saw the same thing happening here in the UK when Tony Blair involved Alistair Campbell to get the result he needed using dodgy dossiers instead of digital chips! I could write pages and pages about episodes that would go onto mirror real life once the show climaxed.
For those involved in re-watching the show then the series has more resonance now and feels like a different show when you watch it a world where we have had wars in the middle east, governments lying, paranoia about the enemy amongst us and conflict between leaders around the world and uprisings.
On a production level, Deep Space Nine was the first trek series to have arcs that would span episodes, seasons and the entire series. Decisions were never right or wrong, good or bad, black or white; it was always shades of grey. DS9 was brave to go down this route as American television in the 90’s was largely very episodic and would often hit that reset button at the end of the show, this was mostly down to the popularity of syndicating shows in the states and episodic television worked well for this. However shows like The X-Files and Deep Space Nine started to shift away from this style of television and focus on arcs.
The cast of the show wasn’t just the seven regulars who got their names in the opening credits, the show had twenty plus recurring characters who had more character growth than anything in Voyager and The Next Generation. Now we are spoiled for television adopting these sorts of styles, look at The Wire, Homeland, Dexter and the shows coming out of HBO and Showtime. The most popular shows for sales of box sets and that have the best online buzz are those with long arcs that involve characters, recurring casts and stories that develop over weeks, months and years that keep you hooked in. Shows like Battlestar Galactica that involved a lot of the DS9 writing crew with its success and plots, showed that DS9 was a prologue to this sort of show and why Voyager as a show failed. The boldness and braveness of DS9 for sci-fi television has paved the way for other genre shows like Battlestar and Walking Dead for example.
Next time, we discuss how Trek has influenced technology, scientists and our modern world, think about how the unloved middle child to some, has been an influence on television and many of the modern television shows we all love and spend so much time discussing on twitter, Facebook and downloading minutes after it’s aired in America. Then when you watch the episodes how it was a show ahead of its time with the plots, dramas and issues the characters faced in the television world of the 90’s that seem very post 9/11.
