User blog:ARTaylor/25 Years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Premiering on January 3rd, 1993, the series was a spin-off of The Next Generation. The series helped established one of the first multi-media universes airing concurrently with the remainder of the The Next Generation seasons and films and later alongside its own spin-off Voyager. Titled DS9 for short, it was the first series in the franchise to not have the involvement of original Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who only gave his blessing for the series shortly before his death.

In a change from the previous three series, the series follows the crew of a space station that becomes involved in galactic changing events. Rather than focusing on space exploration, the series revolved around dealing with social, political, economic, and religious themes. It is also the only series in the franchise to have a black commanding officer.

The series lasted one-hundred seventy-six episodes across seven seasons, two episodes short and just as many seasons as The Next Generation. While it was never as successful nor fondly remembered as its predecessors, it did do amazingly well with fans and is considered better than the series that followed. It was nominated for Emmy Awards each year of its run, winning four total. It was widely praised for its diverse cast and deep themes. It was not without its detractors. The Original Series actor George Takei felt it was the opposite of what Roddenberry wanted. Though Dorothy Catherine Fontana felt he would have liked it being a war veteran himself.

The series featured the acting talents of Michael Dorn returning to Lt. Commander Worf reprising his role from The Next Generation as a series regular and becoming the longest running actor in the franchise, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as the voice of the computer and Lwaxana Troi both from TNG, Jeffrey Combs as numerous characters but most noticeably Dominion leader Weyoun, Marc Worden as Worf's adult son Alexander Rozhenko, Tim Russ as the Mirror Universe version of his Voyager character Tuvok, Michael Bell as Bajoran Borum, Phil Morris as the Klingon Thopok, Brian Keith as Bajoran farmer Mullibok, Alan Oppenheimer as Starfleet captain Keogh, Bumper Robinson as the Jem'Hadar teenager, Steven Weber as Bajoran colonel Day Kannu, James Cromwell as commerce minister Hanok, Don Stark as Yridian trader Ashrock, John Beck as Cardassian agent Raymond Boone, Jonathan Frakes as the duplicate of his TNG character Thomas Riker, Loren Lester as a Teplan attendant, Edward Albert as Bajoran Zayra, Jonny Rees as Cardassian Ekoor, Keone Young as holographic baseball player Buck Bokai, and John Eric Bentley as a Klingon officer.

LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, and Michael Dorn went on to direct several episodes. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, D. C. Fontana, Burton, Frakes, Dorn, and Morgan Gendel all wrote for the series.