Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The series ran for one-hundred seventy-three episodes across seven seasons from January 3rd, 1993 to June 2nd, 1999. The series followed the crew of the space station Deep Space Nine as it helps the newly liberated planet of Bajor while discovering the galaxy's first stable wormhole.
The series was the fourth in the franchise and a spin-off of the massively popular The Next Generation. The series was the first to be based on a station rather than a ship, the first to focus on a black captain, the first to regularly feature religious themes, and the first to not involve franchise creator Gene Roddenberry. The series was the brainchild of Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The previous series, which focused on the Enterprise, was based on the classic western series Wagon Train, so this show was based on fellow western series The Rifleman. The show was the first in the franchise to regularly employ computer graphics particularly with the numerous shapeshifting characters and the spaceship Defiant. Though he was uninvolved, Gene Roddenberry was aware of the series' development and offered his blessings before his death in 1991.
Though the series was successful on its own, it never could escape the shadow of its predecessor. This was partially due to an industry-wide trend at the time to feature less syndicated series as independent stations joined new networks. This also started a trend of new Star Trek series featuring lower ratings than the one before. Despite this, fans and critics praised the series. It was nominated for Emmy Awards every year of its run as well as two Hugo Awards. Minority viewers praised the fact that black and North African characters were prominently featured. Critics lauded the morally ambiguous characters. Though original series actor George Takei believed the characters were the opposite of what Roddenberry would have wanted though original series write Dorothy Catherine Fontana thought he would have appreciated it. The series would feature its own spin-off titled Star Trek: Voyager.
The series featured the talents of Rene Auberjonois as Constable Odo, Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Commander Worf, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as the voice of the computer and Lwaxana Troi, Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun and Brunt, Marc Worden as Worf's son Alexander Rozhenko, Tim Russ as T'Kar and Mirror Tuvok, Michael Bell as Borum, Phil Morris as Remata'Klan, Brian Keith as Mullibok, Katherine Moffat as Vaatrik Pallra, Bumper Robinson as a Jem'Hadar Teenager, Steven Weber as Colonel Day, Edward Albert as Zayra, Deborah Strang as Admiral T'Lara, James Cromwell as Hanok, Debra Wilson as Lisa Cusak, Don Stark as Ashrock, John Beck as Boone, John Eric Bentley as a Klingon, Jonathan Frakes as Thomas Riker, Loren Lester as an attendant, and Jonny Rees as Ekoor. LeVar Burton, Auberjonois, Frakes, and Dorn all served as directors. Barrett-Roddenberry wrote an episode of the series.