November 21st, 2021
The Star Trek series Deep Space Nine ran from 1993 to 1999; some readers may be unfamiliar with the series. It was generally held in low repute by most Trekkies, but that’s because Deep Space Nine (henceforth DS9) took a radically different approach. Where all the other Star Trek series and movies delivered lots of action, adventure, and weird social situations stemming from weird aliens, DS9 concentrated on drama — you know, people stuff.
My wife and I just finished watching the entire series — all 179 episodes — on Netflix. We did not binge watch. Instead, we watched one episode every night for six months. The experience confirmed my long-held belief that DS9 is the best of the Star Trek products (although I have not seen the latest productions).
As I mentioned, most Trekkies look down on DS9. That’s because they’re geeks: they really don’t care about all that people stuff. They want to see phasers, quantum torpedoes, actors loaded down with gobs of latex, and weirdo transmogrifications of reality generating even weirder situations.
Take, for instance, the greatest episode in DS9, which is also the greatest episode in the entire Star Trek oeuvre: “Duet”. I won’t attempt to explain the episode here; you must first know the characters to truly appreciate the story. It contains the most powerful speech any character has ever given in any Star Trek production — and it’s an evil, ugly speech, breathtaking in its cynicism — yet unchallengeable. And the ending is a master stroke. You’ll never see drama this powerful on any other Star Trek show.
If you really must cheat by watching the central snippet, here it is:
But you will not experience the full impact of this episode if you do not watch the entire show.
If you can’t understand why DS9 is the best of the Star Trek productions, I suggest you stick with game design and refrain from wasting your time with interactive storytelling.