60 Fun Facts About Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Who created Star Trek: Deep Space Nine?

It was the first Star Trek series made without Gene Roddenberry's direct involvement.

How many episodes of Deep Space Nine were made across its seven seasons?

The first season began mid-way through the broadcast year, so it was shorter than a usual Trek run.

Deep Space Nine was the first Star Trek series not set aboard a starship. Where is it set instead?

Berman and Piller considered a colony planet, but a station was cheaper than location shooting and avoided competing with TNG's ship.

Who plays Benjamin Sisko?

Brooks also directed episodes, including the acclaimed 'Far Beyond the Stars', in which he starred.

The station was built by the Cardassians during their occupation of which planet?

Under Cardassian rule it was a mining and refinery station called Terok Nor.

What was the station called under Cardassian rule, before it was renamed Deep Space Nine?

Gul Dukat commanded it as the last Cardassian prefect of Bajor.

The wormhole discovered near the station leads to which distant part of the galaxy?

The Bajorans regard the wormhole as the Celestial Temple and its inhabitants as the Prophets.

The Bajorans revere Sisko as what?

The two-hour pilot was titled 'Emissary' for that reason.

In the pilot, Sisko's wife Jennifer dies aboard the USS Saratoga in which battle against the Borg?

That is why Sisko is so cold toward Picard when they meet in the premiere.

Which prototype warship was introduced in season three to allow stories away from the station?

It was originally to be called Valiant, but that was dropped to avoid confusion with Voyager.

The station's warship was conceived within the story as a prototype built to fight which enemy?

After the original was destroyed in season seven, an identical ship, the USS São Paulo, was renamed Defiant.

Which Next Generation character joined the main cast in season four?

Michael Dorn's Worf ended up with more Star Trek appearances than any other character.

Odo, the station's security chief, belongs to which shape-shifting species?

The Founders who rule the Dominion turn out to be his own people.

Who plays Odo?

The 1992 writers' bible described him as a 'middle-aged curmudgeon' found in the Denorios asteroid belt with no memory of his past.

The Dominion's genetically engineered shock troops are called what?

Both races worship the Founders as gods.

In which second-season episode is the Dominion first mentioned?

The Dominion War itself does not begin until the fifth-season finale, 'Call to Arms'.

Which recurring DS9 actor played both the Ferengi Brunt and the Vorta Weyoun, both in 'The Dogs of War'?

Combs had auditioned for Riker on TNG; Jonathan Frakes later recommended him for DS9.

Elim Garak, the station's Cardassian tailor, is a former agent of which secret police organisation?

Andrew Robinson, who played him, was Scorpio in Dirty Harry.

Who plays Gul Dukat, Sisko's arch-enemy?

StarTrek.com called Dukat 'possibly the most complex and fully-developed bad guy in Star Trek history'.

Which Cardassian, introduced as Dukat's aide, eventually leads an insurgency against the Dominion?

His rebellion is one of the key turning points of the war's final arc.

Who becomes the first Ferengi to join Starfleet?

'It's Only a Paper Moon' follows his recovery from PTSD after losing a leg in the war.

Which comedian and Princess Bride actor plays Grand Nagus Zek, leader of the Ferengi?

Quark's mother Ishka eventually engineers a women's-rights revolution on Ferenginar.

Who plays Quark, the Ferengi bar owner?

Max Grodénchik, who plays Quark's brother Rom, originally auditioned for Quark.

Which Klingon general succeeds Gowron as Chancellor after Worf kills Gowron?

'Blood Oath' reunited three Klingons from the original series: Kor, Koloth and Kang, played by their original actors.

Morn, the regular at Quark's bar, is famous for what?

He had a line in the pilot script that was cut for time, which inspired the joke.

Odo's morphing effects and the show's first CGI starship were built by which effects company?

The Defiant was the first fully CGI starship used in regular Star Trek production.

To save money on fleet battle scenes, the effects team used what in the background?

The station itself stayed a physical model right up to the final scene of the series.

How much did the physical model of the Deep Space Nine station sell for at Christie's in 2006?

The station's Emmy-winning main theme by Dennis McCarthy featured a lonely solo trumpet, later joined by a brass chorus.

Who composed the Deep Space Nine main title theme, which won an Emmy?

The theme's solo trumpet was meant to convey the isolation of the outpost.

In 'Trials and Tribble-ations', the crew are digitally inserted into which original series episode?

It marked the original series' 30th anniversary; Voyager's tribute was 'Flashback'.

In 'Far Beyond the Stars', Sisko envisions being Benny Russell, a sci-fi writer in New York in which year?

The regular cast appear as 20th-century humans without their alien make-up.

In 'In the Pale Moonlight', which power do Sisko and Garak scheme to bring into the war?

Garak plants a bomb on Senator Vreenak's shuttle so the forged evidence will be believed.

In 'The Visitor', the elderly Jake Sisko is played by which actor, better known as Candyman?

It lost the 1996 Hugo Award to the Babylon 5 episode 'The Coming of Shadows'.

In 'Duet', Kira interrogates a Cardassian claiming to be Gul Darhe'el, the 'Butcher of' which labour camp?

He turns out to be a file clerk named Marritza who wants Cardassia forced to admit its crimes.

In 'Little Green Men', Quark, Rom and Nog are thrown back to 1947 and become the aliens in which event?

Quark had been planning to profit from the trip by smuggling volatile kemocite.

In the Mirror Universe episodes, who rules the alternate reality?

The Terran slaves eventually form a resistance across four further episodes.

Section 31, the Federation's shadowy black-ops group, was introduced in which episode?

It is later revealed to have attempted genocide against the Founders.

Jadzia Dax is which host of the Dax symbiont?

The previous host, Curzon, was Sisko's old friend, which is why Sisko calls her 'old man'.

Who plays Ezri Dax, introduced in season seven after Jadzia's death?

The producers made the new host female so Nana Visitor would not be the only woman in the main cast.

Dr Julian Bashir's big secret, revealed in season five, is that he was what?

His father agreed to serve two years in prison so Julian could keep his Starfleet commission.

Miles O'Brien is unique among regular Star Trek characters because he is what?

Colm Meaney's O'Brien has the second-most appearances of any Star Trek character, behind only Worf.

Bajoran custom puts the family name first, so what is Major Kira's given name?

She grew up in a labour camp during the fifty-year Cardassian occupation and fought in the resistance.

Vic Fontaine, the holographic Rat Pack-style lounge singer, is played by which 1960s teen idol?

Ira Steven Behr first wanted Frank Sinatra Jr. and then Steve Lawrence for the part; both passed.

Who took over from Michael Piller as showrunner in 1995 and ran the series to its end?

Piller left to run Star Trek: Voyager.

Where does the final confrontation between Sisko and Dukat take place in the series finale?

Kai Winn poisons Dukat as a sacrifice to the Pah-wraiths, who possess him instead.

At the end of the finale, who becomes commander of Deep Space Nine?

Odo returns to the Great Link to cure his people, and Worf becomes Federation ambassador to the Klingons.

Why was Sisko's departure to the Prophets in the finale changed from permanent to a promised return?

An earlier draft had Sisko dying at Cardassia and being resurrected by the Prophets.

How many Emmy nominations did Deep Space Nine receive during its run?

It won four, including two for make-up.

Deep Space Nine was pitched as the sci-fi equivalent of which type of Western?

The trading-post idea is why the show could support so many recurring civilian characters.

Which former original series star criticised DS9 in 2007 as the polar opposite of Roddenberry's vision?

Writer D. C. Fontana disagreed, arguing that Roddenberry, a WWII veteran, would have appreciated its dark themes.

Where was Benjamin Sisko born?

His father Joseph runs a Creole restaurant there, and Sisko himself is a devoted baseball fan.

At whose request did Rick Berman and Michael Piller create Deep Space Nine?

Paramount commissioned the series after the success of The Next Generation, and it debuted in January 1993.

On what date did Deep Space Nine's final episode air?

Its run began on January 3, 1993, halfway through the sixth season of The Next Generation.

Which Next Generation director recommended Jeffrey Combs for DS9 after working with him on 'Meridian'?

Combs had once auditioned for Riker, the role Frakes won, and later played Brunt and Weyoun.

Who plays Quark's brother Rom?

Rom eventually leads a strike at Quark's bar and marries the Bajoran dabo girl Leeta, played by Chase Masterson.

Which Ferengi character engineers a women's-rights revolution on Ferenginar?

Quark and Rom's mother was played first by Andrea Martin and later by Cecily Adams.

Which DS9 episode unites the original-series Klingons Kor, Koloth and Kang?

Kor appears in three DS9 episodes in all, alongside regular Klingons Gowron and General Martok.

The Maquis storyline is rooted in which Next Generation episode about settlers refusing to leave their planet?

Native American colonists stay put when their world is handed to Cardassia under a treaty, and Federation citizens take up arms.

Who created Babylon 5 and suspected Paramount had used his pitch materials to shape DS9?

He had pitched his station show to Paramount in 1989; the studio announced DS9 two months after Warner Bros announced Babylon 5.

According to an April 1999 press release, DS9 was the number one syndicated US show among which group?

It also topped adults 25-54, though Paramount's promotional muscle went to its network show Voyager.