Summary
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's first season unfairly maligned despite great moments and innovations, establishing its unique character-focused approach.
- DS9 expanded on the Ferengi's place in the franchise, crafting a compelling family dynamic through Quark and exploring Ferengi culture and society.
- Deep Space Nine tackled the consequences of Starfleet's actions and inaction, delving into the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor and the complex Bajoran society.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is one of the most acclaimed series in the Star Trek franchise, but season 1 is unfairly maligned despite its great moments and innovations. Set aboard a space station, and fronted by Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), DS9 was conceived as something very different from Star Trek: The Next Generation. While DS9 certainly has issues finding its voice in the first season, all the elements that would make it unique are in place from the start. DS9's pilot "Emissary" is a perfect distillation of the Star Trek show that it would become, a character-focused series that tackled the complexities of war and religion through a sci-fi lens.
Season 1 does lose its way, usually when it does stories that could easily be episodes of its parent show, Star Trek: The Next Generation but even then, it still tried to do them differently. For example, DS9's Q (John de Lancie) episode serves to prove that Sisko isn't Picard, but the subplot involving Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) and bartender Quark (Armin Shimerman) is even more crucial. The USS Enterprise-D never had anybody as untrustworthy as Quark as a regular crew member, so his presence on DS9 allows the story to unfold without the writers having to also introduce a brand-new character. This is just one of many innovations introduced by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that appear from the show's very beginnings.
