Intrigue, prophecy, Armageddon: Deep Space Nine

Abstract

Deep Space Nine, which was launched in January 1993 with Berman and Piller as both creators and executive producers, provides a parallel narrative to the last two seasons of TNG (which were broadcast simultaneously). Its major writers, Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Peter Allan Fields, had all contributed to a number of Next Generation episodes and were thus very familiar with the ‘rules’ of the Star Trek universe. Behr, Wolfe and Fields all proved adept at the ‘political’ stories that dominate the series, with Behr — an accomplished comic writer who had provided comic pieces such as Qpid for TNG — also specialising in the regular ‘Ferengi stories’. Michael Piller made frequent contributions to the writing in the first two seasons, with more occasional contributions from Rick Berman, Jeri Taylor and Naren Shankar. After season two, when TNG came to an end, the addition of Ronald D. Moore and Rene Echevarria gave the team added depth. As the product of a settled and experienced group of writers, DS9 maintains a consistency of themes and storylines that no previous Star Trek series had been able to achieve. Many episodes were co-written by several members of the team, with the result that, at least until Moore and Echevarria’s arrival, it is harder to distinguish the style of any one writer.