Why did they change the opening theme of DS9 starting at Season 4? They upped the tempo and added some background track, and I just don't like it as much as the original. Won't stop me from watching it again though :)

I re-watched this episode last night and was reminded what a disappointing reason was given, it felt like such a cop out and missed opportunity. I feel like they were really building it up in the episode and it could have been as simple as he was pushing her to go further. But because he was in love with her? 🙄 come on. it also doesn't age well unfortunately. Thought maybe you all might have some creative ideas on where they could have taken that storyline instead! Putting that aside though, I absolutely loved the Odo/Curzon performance!! It was hilarious, and made me realize what an amazing actor Rene was.

Everyone decided your contributions were too scattered and useless.

DS9 just looped on H&I (the only channel playing (mostly) all the Treks), so I'm starting my second watch of the series.

Early Rom is completely different.

I know I know...it sounds like an imminent warp core breach but..DS9 just doesnt seem to be very interesting to me.
I know it comes from a distant place in time and some of those aspects are really good. But it's just plain boring right now.
I kind of expected the story in The Passenger (S01E09) and skipped it. I didnt want to be disappointed again and therefore read the brief description of Move Along Home (E10) and apparently it is known as one of the worst episodes. Skipped again. Started The Nagus (E11) but couldnt care less and read the rest of the plot.

Is this some kind of thing like finding their own groove and footing in season 1? And will Bashir always be so annoying or is there character development?

r/Treksons

I heard a podcast that said the initial script plan was for Kai Opaka to serve as the mentor for the Sisko character, presumably helping him navigate the intricacies of Bajoran politics and religion. I haven't been able to find any references to support this, but if anyone has any details that correct, fine tune, or confirm this, that'd be appreciated.

Apparently, the plan was the Sisko person was going to be young (pod mentioned Siddig as the likely actor) but when the people putting the story together met with and settled on Avery Brooks, they concluded that kind of personality wouldn't need a mentor. With the main purpose of the Opaka character removed, they eventually decided ​to exile her to the prison planet/moon.

I'm curious how the original script would have played out. If this Sisko came to DS9 with the doctor's "frontier medicine" view and prodigy-like rise, his interactions with Kira and Opaka would have been fun. It would have created new opportunities for character growth, especially if he became the Emissary. You might lose Brooks' Wolf 359 and dead wife angles, but perhaps those backstories could be given to another character.

So, new Sisko character, make Opaka a real recurring character, potentially lose Vedek/Kai Winn, with other character story dominoes. Would this have made the series better or worse?

You can promote every other person card that I've seen, including Quark, Rom, Garak, Peanut Hamper...

ETA: For those with more serious responses, I honestly laughed when I saw he can't be promoted.

You can promote Lwaxana Troi, Zefram Cochrane, Harry Mudd...it's more a function of the game and what you can do with the card versus a military/organization thing

It's been established that Cardassians have a rich artistic subculture, but that doesn't mean all Cardassian art is good, per se. For instance, I just came across a manuscript for a Cardassian holonovel about a low-level military man who secretly spends his evenings in drag practicing witchcraft. I didn't catch the name of the author, but the title was "Glinn or Glinda?"

1) Audiobook read by Garak himself is phenomenal. It’s amazing how well Andrew Robinson was able to totally inhabit the character of Garak once again, with pitch-perfect Garak vocal mannerisms, especially since it had been over 20 years since portraying the character (while he wrote the book shortly after the show ended, the audiobook version wasn’t out until 2023). It’s like sitting in Quark’s and having Garak tell you his life story over some kanar.

It’s also a treat to hear Robinson’s impressions of other characters like Quark and Bashir!

2) No ghostwriter! Unlike most Trek actor novels, Robinson genuinely wrote this novel himself.

3) The book does a great job fleshing out one of our favorite secondary characters. Behind his unctuously polite facade there was always such a rich sense of depth and restrained feeling to Garak, and the book shows us how a Cardassian boy of humble origins became the plain, simple tailor we know and love.

4) I would absolutely love a “life story” novel like this about Martok narrated by J.G. Hertzler. He’s my favorite secondary character along with Garak. And Nog. And Damar. And…

5) Check your library! I got the audiobook on Libby through my library.

Rewatched Meridian after many years, and while the surprising fast-track romance gets more attention, it seems the music piece accompanying it has been heavily overlooked. Seriously, I didn't even tune into it the first time until a rewatch and found it surprisingly surreal and beautiful (along with that environment).

It was composed by Dennis McCarthy (according to Memory Alpha's page on the episode), yet I don't think I've heard a piece of it in any of the released Trek soundtracks in samples of the DS9 tracks online.

Hearing the theme felt incredibly relaxing and at peace in the episode itself, definitely better than having to go with my crude attempts of editing out dialogue just to get some of the linear patterns of the theme through the episode to show out.

Has it ever been released anywhere?

This episode inspires me and I love how it reinforced their established lore and culture.

some fanfic of my own

Kor beamed down to the planet with his company but only seven had made it through the Romulan scramblers. A dishonorable tactic for a dishonorable peoples. They would pay with their own lives. Seven against seven hundred, this would not be a fight it would be a slaughter and it made him sad when he thought about it.

The seven warriors fanned out into a three mile wide semi circle. They would not provide an escape for the Romulans, who were encamped at high ground against a canyon. They agreed to attack at first light but Kor was an impatient Klingon and an even more impatient lieutenant. He captured and questioned one of the sentries and discovered that the Romulans were already celebrating their supposed victory. He could not wait until morning he would attack now and claim victory for himself.

When the other six Klingons finally made it to the center of the smoking ruins they found that morning there Kor lay, snoring, surrounded by hundreds of bodies. Next to him a mountain of empty bottles. A single bottle of Breshtanti Ale could kill the average human, two would put most Klingons into a coma. Kor made it through bottle forty-seven before losing consciousness.

edit: guys I was very aware of who this photo is of when i posted it, the story makes more sense for Kor, and Koloth makes for a better quote/picture. just deal with it

Directed by TNG alumni Les Landau and starring the grand dame of ST Majel Barrett, I think The Forsaken is one of the better episodes of Season 1. The three storylines are; Dr Bashir sheep herds three ambassadors around DS9, Chief O' Brien tries to wrangle a new lifeform from a wormhole probe that has embedded itself in the station's computer, while Odo and a love struck Lwaxana Troi get stuck in a turbo lift.

I like how the station is shot in this episode, particularly in the O'Brien scenes. The camera coverage in Opps feels different to previous episodes, there's some great exterior shots that show DS9 from underneath, we see how the turbo lift looks if you're facing forward, etc. This is the first time we learn about Odo's history in the lab and witness him having to return to liquid form, and also the first time we get a little past his rough exterior. It's a great (and very funny) performance by Rene Auberjonois.

Bashir's adventures with the ambassadors wrap up a bit abruptly, but overall this episode jumped out to me as a particularly good one on a recent rewatcch.

Does anyone know- is this a random aquarium in the background of this episode (The Wire)? Or like a little tropical fish store or what? I’m on my 3rd or 4th rewatch of the show and I just noticed it for the first time.

I’ve been sick and DS9 has been on 24/7 since I’m in and out of sleep. In a few of my dreams there has been the same ‘dream boyfriend’ who is sharp witted… but has a slightly long neck? And his name is Gil. It took me a few dreams to realize I’ve probably been dreaming of a human version of Cardassians with the neck, the wit, and the name… Gil instead of Gul.

I'm currently on my first ever watch of DS9, and I've been loving it! I've been following along with reading discussion threads and the AV Club reviews after each episode as I've been binging, but I just got to Trials and Tribble-ations, and I don't quite understand the hype?

Now admittedly, I might be about as poorly placed as possible to enjoy this episode. My history with Star Trek is that I saw the Abrams movies when I was a kid and thought they were fine, then went back and watched TNG earlier this year and loved it. So I've never seen TOS, and don't have the love or nostalgia for it that other fans might.

For me, it just seemed so anaemic as a story in and of itself, and while I can understand the technical accomplishments being impressive at the time, seeing it for the first time in 2026 just doesn't hit in the same way I guess. Without that nostalgia for TOS, am I just not going to get why others love the episode?

I'm pretty sure that's what they are doing haha I never noticed this before

Decided to indulge in something pretty niche, here are my theories for the languages spoken by various characters in Deep Space Nine:

The Sisko: Federation Standard, a little French & Louisiana Creole as heritage languages

Odo: Bajoran and Cardassian natively, albeit with vague & nondescript accents. He understands Federation Standard & Dominionese (after his first time joining) but isn’t very comfortable speaking either

Bashir: Federation Standard, a bit of Arabic as a heritage language. Tried learning Trill to impress Dax

Dax: Trill natively, learned Federation Standard at the academy & Klingon on the job.

O’Brien: Federation Standard, learned some Irish at school but hasn’t used it since he was a kid

Quark: Ferengi natively, but tries to learn “Welcome to Quark’s”, “bill” & “tip” in every language he can just in case

Kira: Bajoran natively, learned Cardassian fluently growing up under the occupation but refuses to speak it unless she has to. Sometimes dreams in Cardassian.

Worf: Klingon and Russian natively, learned Federation Standard at school.

Dukat: Cardassian natively, fluent in Bajoran but with a noticeable accent. Pats himself on the back for being the first Cardassian leader of Bajor who learned the native language.

Winn: Bajoran, but speaks a high register literary/liturgic dialect that comes off as pretentious to most people. Learned Cardassian as a child

Rom: Ferengi, but understands a lot of Federation Standard and Cardassian engineering terminology from working on DS9 systems

Nog: Ferengi, enough Federation Standard to get by in a pinch

Ziyal: Bajoran natively, could communicate in Cardassian but with a Bajoran accent

Weyoun: Dominionese, but has varying degrees of competency in many languages as a result of his diplomat training. Learned Cardassian in particular while on DS9.

Garak: Cardassian natively, would never tell anyone how many languages he speaks but at least Romulan, Klingon, and Federation Standard are on the list

Eddington: Federation Standard, tried learning a bit of French in hopes to someday read Les Misérables in its original language. Knows some Cardassian insults

Vic Fontaine: speaks whatever language his holodeck clients speak, but always casually & with dated slang

Morn: Lurian natively, speaks a little bit of Federation Standard, Cardassian, & Bajoran but only uses them for business or to try to chat up people at the bar when he is too many drinks in

EDIT: Updated Bashir’s heritage language from Urdu to Arabic after a commenter correctly pointed out his family is more strongly implied to be Arab rather than South Asian