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When "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" premiered in syndication on January 3, 1993, it generated a good deal of nervousness, if not outright skepticism, from the franchise's finicky fanbase. That Trekkies would make the new series earn their respect was expected to a degree. They'd done likewise when "Star Trek: The Next Generation" debuted in 1987 -- not because they were closed off to anything different from "The Original Series" but simply due to them having high standards for what a science-fiction show could accomplish. Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" franchise catered to thinkers and seekers, especially people who loved a good yarn but also wanted something to challenge their notions about what it means to be a citizen of this vast, mysterious universe.

While "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" took some getting used to (primarily due to it upending the "Star Trek" formula by taking place on a space station instead of...

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In the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" episode "The Magnificent Ferengi", Quark (Armin Shimerman), one of the franchise's best characters, learns that his mother Ishka (Cecily Adams) has been captured by the evil Dominion. At first, Quark wants to assemble a team of crack Ferengi commandos, consisting of his brother Rom (Max Grodénchik), his nephew Nog (Aron Eisenberg), his cousin Gaila (Josh Pais), and a fighter named Lek (Hamilton Camp) to get her back, but soon comes to understand that his "crack squad" kind of sucks at military maneuvers. Instead, he arranges a meeting on an abandoned Cardassian space station called Empok Nor where he, with a Vorta prisoner in tow, will negotiate a prisoner exchange, using his keen sense of Ferengi deal-making.

On Empok Nor, Quark meets a Vorta general named Yelgrun, a smooth-talking creep with every intention of...

Star Trek has never been shy about tackling social issues, and its conscience has been one of the things that set it apart from other science fiction shows of the era. Its far-flung setting and far-future timeline let them talk about all manner of hot-button topics, cloaked in comparatively harmless guises to help it all go down a little more smoothly. The classic Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3 episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" used the vagaries between two alien species to act as a stand-in for racism, is a telling example. That can be a two-edged sword, however. While Star Trek is excellent at injecting social commentary into its fiction, it very rarely addresses those issues directly.

When Star Trek does directly tackle social issues (like the environmental message in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), it takes care to present them in a pleasant light instead of confronting the darker consequences.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended in 1999 on a cliffhanger of sorts with Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) leaving his wife and unborn child to join the Prophets. Though he promised to return, that promise has gone unfullfilled, unless you count Idw Publishing's current series of comics that has not only brought Sisko back but given him adventures galore.

In 2015, however, there was a different kind of adventure worked out in idea form. Ida Steven Behr, the showrunner for the series, gathered his team of writers, which included Rene Echevarria, Hans Beimler, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and Ronald D. Moore, and together, they plotted out what could have been the first episode of the 8th season of Deep Space Nine. [Via Screenrant] On the Deep Space Nine documentary, What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine, Behr revealed what they envisioned.

The new series was set twenty years after the...

Five years ago, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine teased season 8, which, unfortunately, can't happen. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended in 1999 after seven seasons, wrapping up the saga of the space station commanded by Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). Unlike Star Trek: The Next Generation, DS9 did not move on to become a movie franchise. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's cast went their separate ways, but the series lives on in streaming and found an even greater appreciation from audiences 30 years after it first aired.

In 2019, 455 Films released What We Left Behind: Looking Back At Deep Space Nine. The documentary was spearheaded by DS9's showrunner Ira Steven Behr and reassembled most of the show's actors and creative team to look back on the triumphs and controversies of Deep Space Nine. What We Left Behind's centerpiece was Behr gathering his core writers, Rene Echevarria, Hans Beimler, Robert Hewitt Wolfe,...

When Gene Roddenberry was offered the chance to bring his universe back to television in 1986, conventional wisdom suggested the show was doomed to fail. However, Star Trek: The Next Generation surpassed Star Trek: The Original Series in ratings, number of seasons and, in the hearts of some fans, is the superior show. Just like The Original Series, nearly 40 years after it debuted, there are a number of The Next Generation episodes that are controversial and wouldn't play well if released today.

To be clear, Star Trek was always "woke," but each series was also a product of its time. While there was diversity, equity and inclusion in front of the camera, the same could not be said for behind it. While The Next Generation storytellers intended to tell inclusive, progressive stories, sometimes they failed. Other episodes were quite daring for their time, with actual societal progress revealing their limitations. In many cases,...

In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", the Enterprise-d is flying merrily through space when it encounters a colossal negative space-wedgie in its path. They crew finds it is a portal through time, leading to a point in history 22 years in the past. A ship flies out of the portal. It's the Enterprise-c, commanded by the stalwart Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neill).

When it does, however, everything about the Enterprise-d's timeline shimmers and shifts. All of a sudden, the Enterprise-d is a combat ship. The crew all become weapons-toting soldiers, now embroiled in a year-long war. It seems that the Enterprise-c exited its own timeline at a crucial point in galactic history, when it was facing a losing battle at the hands of the Romulans. When it vanished into the future, the battle never ended, and a full-scale war broke out. 22 years later, the Enterprise-d is still fighting the same war.

"Star Trek" was initially meant to be a portrait of a technological utopia set in a future when humanity had outgrown war, shed religion, and put money behind it. In the best of cases, the franchise revealed a world without want or starvation, having become so well-organized that resources could be freely shunted about the galaxy on miraculous faster-than-light starships. Most notably, starting with "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Federation vessels were equipped with magical food replicators, which rearranged energy into edible matter. One could walk up to a food slot on the wall -- everyone's personal quarters had one -- and order anything from a glass of water to a six-course meal. Famously, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) would order "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot."

Replicators are such a miraculous technology, that the writers of "Star Trek" had to begin inventing limitations merely for dramatic reasons. It's now been established repeatedly...

Garak's complex past and capacity for redemption make him the perfect embodiment of DS9's mission to create flawed characters. Garak reveals hidden depths in early episodes, showcasing a balance between personal interests and the greater good. Garak's role in misleading Romulan Star Empire in "In the Pale Moonlight" highlights DS9's complex morality plays.

Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Cardassian tailor, is the one character that best embodies the core ethos of the show. First introduced in Star Trek: DS9 season 1, episode 3, "Past Prologue", Garak was one of the show's most fascinating characters. Alongside Quark (Armin Shimerman), Garak helped to bring nuance and dimension to a species that had previously been presented as two-dimensional villains in Star Trek: The Next Generation. As a result, Garak became one of the best loved members of the recurring Star Trek: DS9 cast.

Garak was a former Cardassian spy,...

One of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s best episodes, “Far Beyond The Stars” could have been radically different from what eventually aired. The DS9 season 6 episode took place in the heat of the serialized Dominion War arc, which saw Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and the titular space station on the front lines of a battle for control of the galaxy. While the Dominion War fueled most of the show's storylines by season 6, "Far Beyond The Stars" tells a largely standalone story, an epic morality play in grand Star Trek tradition.

Captain Sisko receives an all-consuming vision from the Bajoran Prophets, finding himself transported to 1950s New York and taking on the guise of Benny Russell, a science fiction writer. As Benny, Sisko experiences the sort of rampant bigotry and discrimination that so dominated that era of American life. Benny also begins writing the stories of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine crew,...

There are multiple story ideas from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's hypothetical season 8 that can be made canon in the wider Star Trek universe. DS9 season 8 was conceived as part of the retrospective documentary What We Left Behind - Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The documentary reunited showrunner Ira Steven Behr with writers Ronald D. Moore, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, René Echevarria, and Hans Beimler to "break" the story for a possible reunion series. As well as providing insight into where the writers saw DS9's characters in the years since the series ended, it also provided a demonstration of how their writers' room worked back in the day.

The overall storyline of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 8 centered around a Section 31 plot to destroy the Celestial Temple. This plot to remove religion from the Star Trek universe would have pitted old friends against each other,...

Ryan Britt Aug 7, 2019

Ira Steven Behr’s Star Trek labor of love is finally available to the general public. Here’s what you need to know...

If you’re a hardcore Trekkie, you probably already know about What We Left Behind; the crowd-funded documentary that looks back on the legacy of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. And if, you don’t, the best way to describe the doc is that it’s a snapshot of a particular fandom, curated by someone who helped create that fandom in the first place.

Producer and showrunner Ira Steven Behr wasn’t the creator of Deep Space Nine (that would be Rick Berman and the late Michael Piller), but, he certainly is the biggest advocate of the series these days. In What We Left Behind (a riff on the show’s series finale titled “What You Leave Behind"), Behr interviews the expansive cast, crew,...

Warning: If “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” was a seminal show for you in the ’90s, the documentary “What We Left Behind” will probably make you cry. The platonic ideal of a loving tribute, this crowdfunded documentary directed by “DS9” showrunner Ira Steven Behr and “The Captains” producer David Zappone gathers nearly every key member of the “DS9” family to look back on arguably “Trek’s” most progressive and game-changing series.

Behr puts himself front and center in the documentary, breaking the fourth wall periodically as a quasi-narrator and guide through “DS9’s” legacy. Full of touches that will invoke memories of the show’s most iconic moments (including a hysterical post-credits gag or two), “What We Left Behind” is almost like Behr’s memoir of the making of the show, albeit with a ton of familiar faces popping in to add their two cents.

Only Avery Brooks, who played...

Last month, we brought you news that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writer and showrunner Ira Steven Behr was raising money for a documentary that would explore “the changing legacy” of the series. Behr was inspired to reunite with fellow DS9 writers Ronald D. Moore, Rene Echevarria, and Hans Beimler to imagine what an eighth season would have brought, as well as write a whole new episode. Well, fans will soon learn exactly What We Left Behind, as Indiewire reports the documentary has just surpassed its fundraising goal.

Behr & Co. were initially seeking $150,000 to film their documentary, but DS9 fans showed up en masse and boosted donations to well over $600,000. Those extra funds mean What We Left Behind will have a 90-minute runtime instead of the planned 60 minutes. There will be cast interviews with the likes of Terry Farrell, Michael Dorn, Nana Visitor, Colm ...

Imagine TV and Showtime are teaming to develop the period drama series epic "Conquest" about the fall of the Aztec empire says Deadline.

Ron Howard is attached to direct while he and Brian Grazer will executive produce along with Jose Rivera ("The Motorcycle Diaries") who will work on the script.

Set in Mexico in the early part of the 16th century, the story will deal with the complicated strategic battles and rivalry between between Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes and Moctezuma II, the final ruler of the empire.

"Star Trek" scribe Hans Beimler will serve as consultant on the project which was initially planned as a feature but will now become a series. Showtime certainly has experience in lavish period dramas with shows such as "The Tudors" and "The Borgias".

Ron Howard of Imagine TV and Showtime's David Nevins have teamed up to develop Conquest, a period drama centering on the conflict between Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes and Moctezuma II, the last ruler of the Aztec empire. Oscar-winner Howard is attached to direct the series, which will be scripted by the Oscar-nominated writer Jose Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries). Howard and Rivera will also executive produce the project alongside Brian Grazer. Hit the jump for more on Howard's passion project. Deadline reports that Conquest will tell the story of Spain's conquest of Mexico and the futile resistance of Moctezuma II and his army. Historical accounts of the conquest suggest complicated games of cat and mouse between the Spanish military man and the emperor of the New World, which should make for rich storytelling. The show is described as “a classic war story about two powerful men and their people ultimately leading...

Exclusive: Showtime entertainment president David Nevins is getting back in business with his former company Imagine TV in a big way. Showtime has put in development Conquest, a sweeping period drama that has been a passion project of Imagine principal Ron Howard. Oscar-winner Howard is attached to direct Conquest, which will be written by Oscar-nominated scribe Jose Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries). Conquest, from Imagine TV and 20th Century Fox TV’s cable division Fox21, tells the story of famed Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes, who led the Spanish conquest in Mexico, and his clash with Moctezuma II, the last ruler of the Aztec Empire which fell at the hands of Cortes and his men. Filled with blood, lust, gold, magic and mythology, Conquest is described as “a classic war story about two powerful men and their people ultimately leading to the destruction of the Aztec culture and the men themselves.” Imagine...

I had never heard of The Middleman, the comic book it was based on or creator-writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost) before I was given the job of reviewing Shout Factory’s DVD of the complete (and cancelled) series. To be up front, I wasn’t too enthused at the prospect of watching an ABC Family show that required me to view 12 episodes (nine-plus hours), listen to four commentaries and then have to finish it up with an entire disc of special features. In hindsight, well...it Was a tremendous amount of time to dedicate to a DVD review, but time well worth it. The Middleman is an entertaining, engaging, jolly, smile-inducing TV series made by genre fans for genre fans that has more references than the New York Public Library. If you don’t giggle or grin when you see Frank Herbert Junior High School in an episode, then this Isn’T the show for you.

New York -- Cartoon Network is taking a big step into live-action, prepping a slew of programs that represent the channel's largest slate in a long time.

The channel has more than a dozen projects in development including projects from writers David Titcher ("The Librarian"), Paul Dini ("Lost") and Mike Werb ("Face/Off," "The Mask"), among others. Chief content officer Rob Sorcher said that the network could possibly go to pilot with three of the projects this year, then launch a night of live-action programming sometime in 2010.

"That would absolutely be a win for us," Sorcher said Thursday.

The channel opened a Burbank-based scripted development series about a year ago. Last year, the network said it would pursue two avenues with live-action scripted series -- one in fantasy, action and adventure and the other in comedy.

"This is part of the overall expansion of programming at Cartoon Network," Sorcher said.

Variety reports that Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, who recently walked away from Disney's The Alamo, is now considering another project centering around Mexican history. Universal, along with Howard's Imagine, have made a preemptive buy of The Serpent and the Eagle, the story of how Spanish conqueror Cortez flattened the Aztec nation and plundered its riches with the help of an Aztec princess-turned-slave. Written by Hans Beimler and Robert Wolfe, Howard has not yet committed to directing the film, as he is also looking at helming The Burial (possibly starring Denzel Washington), and the Universal/Imagine picture Cinderella Man, which would star Russell Crowe as Depression era boxer and folk hero Jim Braddock.