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Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Episodes[]

Title Episode Production number Stardate Original airdate
"Emissary" 1x01/02 40511-721 46379.1–46393.1 1993-01-03
"Past Prologue" 1x03 40511-404 Unknown 1993-01-09
"A Man Alone" 1x04 40511-403 46421.5 1993-01-17
"Babel" 1x05 40511-405 46423.7–46425.8 1993-01-24
"Captive Pursuit" 1x06 40511-406 Unknown 1993-01-30
"Q-Less" 1x07 40511-407 46531.2–46532.3 1993-02-06
"Dax" 1x08 40511-408 46910.1 1993-02-13
"The Passenger" 1x09 40511-409 Unknown 1993-02-20
"Move Along Home" 1x10 40511-410 Unknown 1993-03-14
"The Nagus" 1x11 40511-411 Unknown 1993-03-21
"Vortex" 1x12 40511-412 Unknown 1993-04-18
"Battle Lines" 1x13 40511-413 Unknown 1993-04-25
"The Storyteller" 1x14 40511-414 46729.1 1993-05-02
"Progress" 1x15 40511-415 46844.3 1993-05-09
"If Wishes Were Horses" 1x16 40511-416 46853.2 1993-05-16
"The Forsaken" 1x17 40511-417 46925.1 1993-05-23
"Dramatis Personae" 1x18 40511-418 46922.3–46924.5 1993-05-30
"Duet" 1x19 40511-419 Unknown 1993-06-13
"In the Hands of the Prophets" 1x20 40511-420 Unknown 1993-06-20

Summary[]

The Provisional Government of Bajor invites Starfleet to help them rebuild after the Cardassian Occupation. Commander Benjamin Sisko is selected to take command of their space station, formerly known as Terok Nor that is then designated by Starfleet as Deep Space 9. As part of the agreement between the Federation and Bajor, Starfleet will help them to become a member of the Federation.

The Federation involvement in the Bajor sector changes galactic history forever, as Starfleet discovers the Bajoran wormhole, the only stable wormhole known to exist, that leads to the largely unexplored Gamma Quadrant of the Galaxy.

The other crew of Deep Space 9 include Kira Nerys, functioning as the Bajoran liaison officer, Odo as the security chief of the station, Julian Bashir as chief medical officer, Miles O'Brien as the station's chief of operations, and Jadzia Dax, a joined Trill as the station's science officer.

Residents of the station include Quark, a Ferengi barkeeper, his brother Rom and Rom's son, Nog. Benjamin Sisko's son Jake and Miles' wife Keiko O'Brien and daughter Molly O'Brien also live aboard the station. The most enigmatic station resident is the station's tailor, Elim Garak, who has a mysterious past.

In their first year together, the crew are infected with an aphasia virus, visited by aliens who make the wishes and fantasies or fears of all station residents come true, meet a hunted species of aliens, known as Tosk and have an encounter with the omnipotent Q. Quark briefly becomes Grand Nagus, Lwaxana Troi visits the station, a Cardassian called Aamin Marritza tries to get his people to admit to the crimes they committed on Bajor, and the disappearance of Kai Opaka thrusts Bareil Antos and Winn Adami into the spotlight.

Background information[]

Reception[]

  • Production staff have admitted that the first season of DS9 was somewhat lacking in direction. According to co-creator and executive producer Michael Piller, "When you look at the first season of Deep Space Nine, essentially what I think you see is our intention to do stories that bring in fans of The Next Generation. If you create a space station that is at the crossroads of the universe, then you basically have the justification for bringing in old friends from past episodes. Their ships would normally come through this crossroads, and we felt that was a good way to bring viewers to the show. I think by the second season, we were looking more at standing on our own two feet, and we hadn't been entirely satisfied. When we really started doing stories about our space station, and really made it unique to itself, that's when the series, I think, really became special." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD, Special Features) Ira Steven Behr commented, "There are things I find weak about some of these shows that have nothing to do with the writing. Many of the shows at the beginning of the season lacked pacing." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 42)
  • Piller also explained, however, that the first season was something of a training exercise for the writers; "I think that when you have a wonderful group of actors, you learn how to write for them in the first season. Every show has a shake-down period during the first season, and Deep Space Nine was no different. But I can tell you that we learned so many things as we got to know our actors." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD, Special Features)
  • Rick Berman was pleased with the season, particularly compared to the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Berman commented, "I'm very pleased with the way the first season has gone in a lot of respects. First seasons of television shows tend to be potentially very chaotic. The first season of Next Generation certainly was. This season has been very peaceful in terms of the actors, the crew, the writers and the budgets. As far as the episodes, there are things about them that I love and things about them I don't love. That's the way it is, if we were completely satisfied with what we did, we wouldn't be doing what we do. We're always looking to make things better. What I'm most pleased with is the fact that the concept is working and we've managed to create 20 stories that I think all hang pretty well on the armature that we've built, the backstory and the characters." (The Deep Space Log Book: A First Season Companion, p. 7)
  • Behr commented:" I really liked the pilot. I thought the pilot gave us a great jumping-off point. But part of the frustration was the pilot really worked and now we're doing this scattershot kind of technique in season one, where we seem to be scrambling all over the place, trying to find our identity. And the identity was firmly established in the pilot, so why are we looking to change that, or go in other directions? Let's just follow the path that was laid out in the pilot. Why are we deviating and trying to go back in time or go back to "The Next Generation"? The pilot wasn't "TNG," why are we trying to do episodes that could easily be adapted for "TNG"? It was just finding our mojo, which we found towards the end of season one". [1]

Trivia[]

Credits[]

Starring[]

Also starring[]

Guest and co-stars[]

Crew[]

The following credits are based on the production order of the episodes.
Executive Producers
Co-Producer
Producer
Supervising Producers
Line Producer
Associate Producer
Casting by
Music by
  • Dennis McCarthy ("Emissary", "Babel"–"Q-Less", "The Passenger"–"Move Along Home", "Vortex"–"The Storyteller", "The Forsaken", "Duet", "In the Hands of the Prophets")
  • Jay Chattaway ("A Man Alone", "Past Prologue", "Dax", "If Wishes Were Horses", "Dramatis Personae")
  • John Debney ("The Nagus", "Progress")
Main Title Theme by
  • Dennis McCarthy (credit appears only in episodes not composed by McCarthy)
Director of Photography
Production Designer
Editors
Unit Production Manager
  • Robert della Santina
First Assistant Director
  • Venita Ozols-Graham ("Emissary", "Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit", even-numbered episode from "Move Along Home" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
  • Richard Wells (odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet") (credited as Richard D. Wells in "A Man Alone")
  • Gail Fortmuller ("Dax")
Second Assistant Director
Costume Designer
Art Director
Visual Effects
Visual Effects Supervisors
  • Robert Legato ("Emissary")
  • Gary Hutzel (odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "The Nagus", "Vortex"–"Progress", "The Forsaken", "Duet")
  • Bob Bailey ("Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit")
  • Glenn Neufeld ("The Storyteller", "Dramatis Personae", "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Post Production Supervisor
Scenic Art Supervisor / Technical Consultant
Senior Illustrator/Technical Consultant
Set Decorator
Make-up Designed and Supervised by
Set Designers
Illustrator
Visual Effects Coordinators
  • Michael Backauskas ("Emissary")
  • Cari Thomas ("Emissary", even-numbered episodes from "Dax" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
  • Judy Elkins ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet")
  • Mari Hotaki ("Emissary")
  • Sue Jones ("Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit")
Wardrobe Supervisor
Script Supervisor
Special Effects
Property Master
Construction Coordinator
  • Richard J. Bayard
Scenic Artists
  • Doug Drexler ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Q-Less", even-numbered episodes from "Dax" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
  • Denise Okuda ("Emissary", "Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit", every other episode from "The Passenger" through "Duet")
Hair Designer
  • Candace Neal (credited as Candy Neal from "A Man Alone" through "Dax")
Make-up Artists
Hair Stylists
Sound Mixer
Camera Operator
Chief Lighting Technician
First Company Grip
Key Costumers
  • Maurice Palinski ("Emissary", even-numbered episodes from "Past Prologue" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
  • Phyllis Corcoran-Woods ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet")
  • Jerry Bono ("Emissary", even-numbered episodes from "Past Prologue" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
  • Patty Borggrebe-Taylor ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet")
Music Editor
Supervising Sound Editor
Supervising Sound Effects Editor
Sound Editors
Production Coordinator
Post Production Coordinator
Visual Effects Associate
  • Laura Lang-Matz ("Emissary", "Dax"–)
  • Cari Thomas ("A Man Alone"–"Q-Less")
Production Associate
Science Consultant
Main Title Design
Stunt Coordinator
Pre Production Associate
Casting Executive

Credited in "Emissary" only[]

2nd Second Assistant Director
  • Michael Baxter
Additional Visual Effects Supervision
  • Gary Hutzel
Video Playback Operator
Video Consultant
  • Liz Radley
Re-Recording Mixers
Assistant Editor
Visual Effects Assistant Editor
Transportation Coordinator

Uncredited crew[]

Make-up Artists
Dean Jones, Michael Key, Gil Mosko, Vincent Niebla, Karen Westerfield
Nancy J. Hvasta Leonardi - Makeup Artist ("Dramatis Personae", "Duet", "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Hairstylist
Susan Maust
Sound Editor
Jeff Gersh
On-Line Editor
John Carroll
Morphing Designer
Dennis Blakey
Wormhole Designer
Michael Dallas Gibson
Supervising Visual Effects Compositor
Patrick Clancey
Production Associate
James Martin
Orchestrator
Joseph Smith
Musician
Bass: Norman Ludwin
Rigging Gaffer/Lot Best Boy
Daniel R. Purinton
Production Accountant: Hala Gabriel
Intern
Marc Bernardin
Set Teacher
Rhoda Fine

Companies[]

Filmed with
Panavision cameras and lenses
Video Optical Effects
Digital Magic
Special Video Compositing
CIS Hollywood
Motion Control Photography
Image "G"
Computer Animation
Editing facilities
Unitel Video
Post Production Sound
Modern Sound
Miniatures
Matte Paintings
Illusion Arts ("Emissary")
Major League Baseball Trademarks Licensed by

Media releases[]

External links[]

First season in series Seasons of
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Next season:
DS9 Season 2
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