Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre	Science fiction
Running time	About 42 min. per episode
Creator(s)	Rick Berman Michael Piller
Executive producer(s)	Ira Steven Behr Michael Piller Rick Berman
Starring	See cast
Country of origin	United States
Original run	January 3, 1993– June 2, 1999
No. of episodes	176 ( List of episodes)
Preceded by	Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Followed by	Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series. Debuting in 1993, it ran for seven seasons, finishing in 1999. Based on Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, it was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, on Brandon Tartikoff's request, and produced by Paramount Pictures. The main title is sometimes abbreviated to ST:DS9, or simply DS9. The show is a spin-off of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

DS9 began while Star Trek: The Next Generation was still on the air, and there were several crossover episodes between the two series. Unlike its predecessor, DS9 often broke the rules laid down by Gene Roddenberry, such as the prohibition against interpersonal conflicts between the main characters. In contrast with the other series, DS9 took place on a space station instead of a starship. It also depended on continuing story arcs, many recurring characters, and darker themes.

About the show

Conceived in 1991, shortly before Gene Roddenberry’s death, DS9 chronicles the events surrounding space station Deep Space 9, which is under the joint control of the United Federation of Planets and Bajor. In the pilot, the station is moved to the recently discovered Bajoran wormhole, allowing access to the unexplored Gamma Quadrant. The station quickly becomes a cornerstone of interstellar trade and political activity.

The wormhole is inhabited by aliens who do not exist within normal space and time. To the religious people of Bajor, these are the Prophets and the wormhole itself is the long-prophesied Celestial Temple. Commander Benjamin Sisko, who discovers the wormhole with Jadzia Dax, is hailed as the Emissary of the Prophets, a spiritual role that makes him uneasy.

According to co-creator Berman, he and Piller had considered setting the new series on a colony planet, but they felt a space station would both appeal more to viewers and save money due to the high cost of on-location shooting for a "land-based" show. However, they were certain that they did not want the show to be set aboard a starship because Star Trek: The Next Generation was still in production at the time and, in Berman’s words, it "just seemed ridiculous to have two shows—two casts of characters—that were off going where no man has gone before."

DS9 was well received by critics, with TV Guide describing it as "the best acted, written, produced, and altogether finest" Star Trek series. However, some fans grew dissatisfied with the show’s generally darker themes and objected to the stationary setting. Some fans of the series call themselves " Niners", after a baseball team which appeared in the seventh-season episode " Take Me Out to the Holosuite".

Although DS9's ratings were initially solid, it was never as successful as Star Trek: The Next Generation, and its ratings declined in later seasons. A number of reasons were given for this decline, including an increasingly crowded television marketplace (the show Babylon 5 aired about the same time, mining similar themes), cannibalization of viewership between it, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager, and viewer fatigue. Nonetheless, it remained the top rated first-run syndicated drama series throughout most of its run.

The show is best remembered for its well-developed characters and its original, complex plots. The main writers, in addition to creators Berman and Piller, included Ronald D. Moore, Peter Allan Fields, Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Joe Menosky, René Echevarria. Richard Manning, and Hans Beimler.

Cast

Main characters

Featuring the most diverse cast in Star Trek history, DS9 was the first series to include main characters who were not members of Starfleet. Kira Nerys is an officer in the Bajoran militia, Odo is a Changeling who worked for the Cardassians during the Occupation of Bajor, while Jake Sisko and Quark are civilians. Though Ro Laren ( Michelle Forbes) was the producer's first choice as the first officer, Kira Nerys was created because Forbes did not wish to commit to a television show. Among Starfleet characters, Miles O'Brien is the first enlisted (non-commissioned) main character, reprising a supporting role he played on several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

During its seven-year run, DS9 faced two major cast changes. The fourth season added Michael Dorn as Worf, who had recently finished seven years on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The original reason for this was to boost ratings, but the Klingon soon became an integral part of the show. Worf later married Jadzia Dax.

The second change was the abrupt departure of Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax). Feeling that the large cast of DS9 limited her screen time, Farrell did not renew her contract at the end of the sixth season. She joined the Ted Danson TV show "Becker" for four years. Because her character was the host of the Dax symbiont, the writers introduced Ezri Dax ( Nicole de Boer) to provide a new host after Gul Dukat killed Jadzia.

Alexander Siddig ( Julian Bashir) appeared in the opening credits by a shortened form of his birth name, Siddig el Fadil, for the first three seasons. He appeared as Alexander Siddig after he married co-star Nana Visitor ( Kira Nerys), which placed their names together in the alphabetical cast credits, although his stated reason for the name change was that he discovered that nobody watching the show knew how to pronounce 'el Fadil'. Siddig continued to be credited as Siddig el Fadil when he directed.

Recurring characters

The setting of the show—a space station rather than a starship—fostered a rich assortment of recurring characters. It was not unheard of for "secondary" characters to play as much, or more, of a role in an episode as the regular cast. For example, " The Wire" focused almost entirely on Garak, while " Treachery, Faith, and the Great River" featured an A-story about Weyoun and a B-story about Nog. Lasting consequences and the presence of familiar faces were among the reasons Berman and Piller chose to set the series aboard a space station.

Of particular note to Star Trek fans is Weyoun, played by Jeffrey Combs (of Re-Animator fame), who made his Star Trek debut on DS9. Combs has stated that he had auditioned for the role of William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but when Jonathan Frakes (who won the part) later directed the DS9 episode " Meridian", he recommended Combs for a part. Combs would go on to appear in thirty-one episodes of DS9, playing four distinct characters—five, if one counts the " mirror universe" version of Brunt. In " The Dogs of War", he also became one of the few Star Trek actors to play two distinct roles (Brunt and Weyoun) in a single episode. He later played a prominent role as Shran on Star Trek: Enterprise.

Another prominent character was Gul Dukat, played by Marc Alaimo. Dukat was one of Trek's most complex characters, starting out sometimes cooperative, though usually antagonistic, and undergoing several transitions before ultimately becoming purely villainous by the show's conclusion. Commander of the station before it was turned over to Federation control, Dukat remained a part of the Cardassian military through the beginning of the Dominion-Cardassian alliance's war with the Federation, until being driven mad by the loss of his daughter.

Morn, a minor character who frequents Quark's bar, is silent but seemingly omnipresent. According to Emmy Award-winning make-up designer Michael Westmore, on the first day of filming the series, the director chose Morn somewhat randomly from among several prosthetic characters to be a barfly at Quark's, and he went on to spend the next seven years there. Westmore and others named Morn as an anagram of the character Norm from Cheers, who also spent seemingly all of his time sitting on his favorite bar stool and drinking. Ironically, although Westmore went to great lengths to ensure that Morn could talk in case the character ever got a line, he remained silent; this became a running joke, with other characters frequently commenting on how extremely talkative he was. So great was the affection for the silent character that a special episode called " Who Mourns for Morn?" was written for him in the sixth season.

Several of the prominent recurring actors are also known for their work on other projects, the most notable being Academy Award winner Louise Fletcher (the Bajoran spiritual leader Kai Winn) and sci-fi veteran Salome Jens (the Female Changeling). Other celebrities seen in guest and recurring roles included Vanessa L. Williams, Wallace Shawn, Lark Voorhies, James Cromwell, Gabrielle Union, Iggy Pop, Steven Berkoff and James Darren. John Colicos reprised his Star Trek: The Original Series role as Kor on several occasions.

Plots

DS9 also differs from preceding Star Trek series in that it contains more story arcs that span several episodes and even seasons. Its predecessors tend to restore the status quo ante at the end of an episode so that each episode could be seen out-of-order without compromising its plot. On DS9 however, not only are events in one episode often referenced and built upon in later ones, but sometimes several episodes in a row are cliffhangers. This trend is especially strong near the end of the series’ run, by which point the show was intentionally very much a serial, as the producers felt it enriched the show.

One such story arc is Benjamin Sisko’s role as a religious icon. He initially faces it with open discomfort and skepticism, referring to the Bajoran Prophets simply as "wormhole aliens" and striving to keep his role as commander of the station distinct from any obligations that the Bajorans try to place on him. Later, he becomes more accepting of his role and, by the end of the series, he appears to openly embrace it.

The station crew early on contend with a terrorist group known as the Maquis. Rooted in the events of The Next Generation episode " Journey's End", in which Native American settlers refuse to leave when their colony world is given to Cardassia as part of a treaty, the Maquis are an example for the show’s exploration of darker themes: Its members are Federation citizens who take up arms against Cardassia in defense of their homes, and some—such as Calvin Hudson, a long-time friend of Sisko's, and Michael Eddington, who defects while serving aboard the station—are former Starfleet officers. The show’s violent departure from traditional Star Trek themes can be seen in episodes such as " For the Cause", in which Eddington tells Sisko, "Everybody should want to be in the Federation. Nobody leaves paradise. In some ways you’re even worse than the Borg. At least they tell you about their plans for assimilation. You assimilate people and they don’t even know it."

The second-season episode " Rules of Acquisition" introduces the Dominion, a ruthless empire in the Gamma Quadrant. It is led by "the Founders", a race of shapeshifting Changelings—the same race as station security chief Odo. They were once persecuted by non-shapeshifters (whom they call "Solids") and they seek to instill "order" upon those who might otherwise cause them harm—including nearly all Solids. The Founders have created or genetically modified two races to serve them: the Vorta, sly and subversive diplomats, and the Jem’Hadar, their fearless shock troops. These races worship the Founders as gods.

The Dominion forms an uneasy alliance with the Cardassians in the fifth-season episodes " In Purgatory's Shadow" and " By Inferno's Light" and goes to war with the other major powers of the Alpha Quadrant. Throughout the series, loyalties and alliances change repeatedly: pacts with the Cardassians are made, broken, and remade; a short war with the Klingons flares up and is settled, and (through Sisko's machinations) the formerly neutral Romulans ally with the Federation.

Another example of DS9’s darker plot material is Section 31, a secret organization that exists within the Federation, dedicated to preserving the Federation way of life at any and all cost. This undemocratic shadow group, introduced in " Inquisition", justifies its unlawful and ethically questionable tactics by claiming that it is essential to the continued existence of the Federation. Section 31 features prominently in several episodes of the Dominion War arc; such darker plot elements, as well as DS9’s relative lack of exposure compared to its predecessor, garnered the show a reputation as the "black sheep" of the Trek family.

At the start of DS9’s third season (" The Search"), with the threat of a Dominion attack looming from the other side of the wormhole, Commander Sisko returns from a trip to Starfleet Headquarters on Earth with the USS Defiant, a prototype starship that was originally built to fight the Borg, but was determined to be 'overgunned and overpowered'. It remains stationed at Deep Space Nine until its destruction in season seven, providing not only defense but also an avenue by which plotlines could progress without being limited by the stationary nature of the setting. After the ship is destroyed in a skirmish against the Breen, a new Defiant-class ship is assigned.

Many fans believe that the Dominion War was the height of DS9 and, according to Michael Piller, tend to overlook the first two "pre- Dominion" seasons. However, Piller has indicated that the second season was his favorite.

In DS9, the Ferengi are no longer an enemy of the Federation, but rather an economic power whose political neutrality is, for the most part, respected. Several episodes explore the capitalist nature of the Ferengi, while others delved into the race’s sexist social norms. Ferengi are guided in their lives and in their business transactions by the Rules of Acquisition. During the course of the series, Rom's son Nog transformed from a juvenile delinquent into the first Ferengi in Starfleet, attaining the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade) in the series finale.

Interpersonal conflicts between regular characters were previously forbidden by Roddenberry in Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but feature prominently in DS9. This was brought about at the suggestion of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s writers (many of whom also wrote for DS9) because they felt that the prohibition limited their ability to develop interesting stories. In Piller's words, "people who come from different places—honorable, noble people—will naturally have conflicts".

Several of the characters also have their own personal demons. For instance, Jadzia Dax, a Trill, has seven lifetimes' worth of memories as a result of her joining with the Dax symbiont. Security chief Odo, a Changeling, yearns to find others like him and wonders if he is unique; later, he finds that his own people are the ruthless leaders of the Dominion and is torn between his desire to join them, his sense of morality, and his love for Kira Nerys. Meanwhile, Worf struggles (even more so than on Star Trek: The Next Generation) with conflicting loyalties to the Federation and his own people, the Klingons – as well as life on the station, which he finds is not at all what he expected.

Themes

DS9 sheds some of the Utopian themes that permeated the previous versions of Star Trek, leading both to praise and criticism from both fans and general viewers. Some fans, in particular, hated how the show seemed to imply that the utopian society of the Federation was merely a sort of hypocritical disguise hiding its true "Borg-like" character. Its darker setting—being based on a station in a region of space recovering from sixty years of brutal occupation—focuses more on war, religion, political compromise, and similar issues.

The most prominent theme is that of the deeply religious Bajoran people attempting to rebuild their world and their economy after sixty years of Cardassian occupation and oppression. The relationship between the Bajorans and the Cardassians is intentionally portrayed as a powerful Holocaust allegory mixed with other themes such as Soviet-era Russia. The Cardassians had put the Bajorans to work in forced slave labor camps under terrible conditions, killed them with impunity, and now refuse to acknowledge the atrocities that occurred during the Occupation, which is explored in episodes such as " Duet", " Necessary Evil", and " Waltz".

The relationship between the Cardassians and the Bajorans is colonial in nature. Much like Kipling’s " The White Man's Burden", the Cardassians believed themselves both technologically and culturally superior to the Bajorans they had subjugated. According to Dukat (in "Waltz"), at the time of first contact, Cardassia was at least a century ahead of Bajor "in every way", and the brutality of the occupation would not have happened "if [the Bajorans] had accepted their place in history." The Cardassians strip-mined Bajor for resources and set up forced labor camps under the guise of civilizing a backward people. Guerrilla tactics by Bajoran fighters led to their freedom in the same way that many colonies gained their independence in the 1960s and 1970s.

As with many former colonies, Bajor struggles to establish a stable democracy and is wary of the involvement of the "well-intentioned" United Federation of Planets. Kira Nerys in the pilot episode states "We finally drive the Cardassians out, and what do our new leaders do? They call up the Federation and invite them right in!" The planet, thrust into the galactic spotlight after languishing in obscurity, nearly plunges into civil war on several occasions, most notably the three-part arc of " The Homecoming", " The Circle" and " The Siege", and again in " Shakaar".

The universe portrayed in DS9 is one of power politics practiced by the galaxy’s great powers. Prior to the series, the Federation had been depicted as a near utopian society guided by human rights (or rather sentient rights). In contrast, as depicted in DS9, it tries to balance its high ideals with practical political realities. Episodes revolving around this theme include " Improbable Cause" and " The Die is Cast", where the major powers sit by while a joint Cardassian- Romulan fleet attempts to obliterate the Changeling homeworld; " The Way of the Warrior", a two-part tale of political intrigue and conflict between the Klingon Empire, Cardassian Union, and Federation; " Homefront" and " Paradise Lost", in which the Federation risks turning into a military dictatorship; and " In the Pale Moonlight", which focuses on Sisko, who, in his own words:

"I lied, I cheated, I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all... I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing: A guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant."

Another theme DS9 visits on several occasions, including Sisko's struggle in "Pale Moonlight", is the idea that the universe is not perfect and there is often no right or wrong answer to difficult situations. This theme is embodied by the Maquis storyline; members of the Maquis are neither enemies nor criminals; they take up arms against Cardassia in defense of their homes. A quote from Sisko in the second-season episode " The Maquis, Part II" embodies not only the Maquis but also the stark contrast between DS9 and its predecessors:

"On Earth there’s no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet headquarters and you see... paradise. Well, it’s easy to be a saint in paradise. But the Maquis do not live in paradise. Out there in the Demilitarized Zone, all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints... Just people. Angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive. Whether it meets with Federation approval or not."

Reception

Praise

Despite debuting in the shadow of The Next Generation, DS9 achieved a considerable level of success in its own right. According to a press release through Newswire on April 7 1999, it was the #1 syndicated show in the United States for adults 18-49 and 25-54 throughout its run in the National Television Index. The characters of DS9 were featured on the cover of TV Guide ten times during its run, including several "special issue" editions in which a set of four different-covered versions were printed.

Additionally, the series won a number of awards. It was nominated for Emmy Awards every year of its run, including makeup, cinematography, art direction, special effects, hairstyling, music (direction and composition), and costumes. Of these, it won two for Makeup (for " Captive Pursuit" and " Distant Voices") and one for the Main Title Theme Music ( Dennis McCarthy). It was also nominated for two prestigious Hugo Awards for Best Dramatic Presentation, for " The Visitor" and " Trials and Tribble-ations", although its competitor show "Babylon 5" managed to win the awards instead.

The show was different from the previous Star Trek installments for its character and plot development. Villains are of particular interest. For instance, StarTrek.com in an article about Star Trek's greatest villains described Gul Dukat as "possibly the most complex and fully-developed bad guy in Star Trek history". Dukat was the focus of several episodes, such as the sixth-season episode " Waltz", in which he has gone insane and begins to hallucinate, and " Covenant", in which he becomes a twisted messianic figurehead for a group of Pah Wraith-worshipping Bajorans.

Critique

Only recently did supporters of DS9 say that the series was allegedly conceived while Gene Roddenberry was still alive but not put into production until after his death. This has led to debate over whether he would have approved of the show, and a contingent of Star Trek fandom felt it took its darker themes too far. In particular, many were annoyed that DS9 somehow hinted that the utopian aspects of Federation society was actually just a show of sorts, a hypocritical disguise hiding the Federation's fascist and totalitarian plans for the galaxy. Although writer/producer Ira Steven Behr has acknowledged that some fans feel the show has "gone away from the image of the future as a paradise", he defends the show as moving forward and believes Roddenberry would have understood their motivations and, as a "forward thinker", been pleased with the results. Additionally, Michael Piller, who spoke very highly of Behr's contributions, believed one of the series' most redeeming qualities was that the repercussions of past episodes remained with the show and characters were forced to "learn that actions have consequences".

Taboos

DS9 is also notable for breaking several cultural taboos during its run. Most prominent among these is the issue of homosexuality. Gay and gay-friendly fans of the franchise had been waiting for a Star Trek television spin-off to address how the utopian society dealt with the issue of sexual orientation, since Gene Roddenberry had promised to tackle the issue in 1987. While Star Trek: The Next Generation would occasionally gingerly address the issue through gender identity, DS9 had two episodes with lesbian kisses.

The first same-sex kiss on a Star Trek television series was shown in the episode " Rejoined". In that episode, Jadzia Dax and another Trill named Lenara Kahn at one point embrace in a passionate kiss. While it was only technically a lesbian kiss – as the two had been married in earlier lives when the Dax symbiont was in a male host and in love with the female host of the Kahn symbiont – none of the other characters expressed any shock at temporary homosexuality. Writer Rene Echevarria made a conscious effort not to glamourize the kiss and make it a ratings booster, wanting it to be romantic rather than sensational. This aired a year and a half before the controversial "out of the closet" shift in the sitcom Ellen, and proved troublesome for some local affiliates. It would be followed up by the seventh-season episode, " The Emperor’s New Cloak", which features the Mirror Universe versions of Kira Nerys and Ezri Dax kissing in a clearly lesbian or bisexual context and the Mirror Universe Leeta exhibiting an unmistakable interest in the Mirror Ezri (and vice versa). Although none of these instances dealt directly with a homosexual character per se, the pre-Ellen same-sex kisses were often compared to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode Plato’s Stepchildren, which featured one of the first interracial kisses to air on United States network television. (see also LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe).

In addition to homosexuality, there were several instances of potentially offensive language during the series' run, unprecedented for the Star Trek franchise (although Star Trek: Enterprise went much further, even using the phrase "you son of a bitch" in its pilot). The episode " Far Beyond the Stars", much of which takes place in 1950s Earth, features a scene in which Cirroc Lofton, as an African-American man, claims that blacks will never get to space except to "shine the shoes" of whites, to whom his character feels blacks "would always be niggers." Although not the first time the word had been used on American television (it was commonly used in dramas in the 1970s as well as the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family), by the late 1990s, the word had all but vanished in any context in mainstream media. Another occurrence likely went unnoticed among American audiences; in the episode " Time’s Orphan", Irish Chief O’Brien utters the British and Irish swear word " bollocks". In addition to these, the series spawned and used several racial epithets for alien races in the series, namely "spoonhead" and "Cardies" for Cardassians.

Books

Pocket Books has published several dozen books based on DS9 since its premiere in 1993. Some of these were novelizations of memorable episodes, such as "Emissary", "The Search" and "What You Leave Behind", which were usually published a few days after the episode officially aired in the United States. Several novels were part of "crossover" series between the Star Trek franchises, while others were part of other franchises but dealt with events laid out in DS9. For example, The Battle of Betazed tells of how Deanna Troi attempted to resist the Dominion occupation of her world (Betazed had fallen to the Dominion in DS9 episode " In the Pale Moonlight"). Most focus on the station and its crew, with a notable exception being Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe’s Legends of the Ferengi.

Of particular importance among the books published after DS9 concluded its run is Avatar, a two-part novel published on May 1, 2001, which continued DS9’s legacy by picking up where the series left off. It began season 8 of DS9, into which A Stitch in Time (a biographical look at the life of Elim Garak, written by Andrew Robinson) was incorporated retroactively. The events of "What You Leave Behind", DS9’s series finale, caused some radical changes to occur in season 8. As Benjamin Sisko had entered the Celestial Temple, Colonel Kira was given command of the station while a new Commander named Elias Vaughn took over her position, Garak became the leader of post-war Cardassia, Odo (now a part of the Great Link) helped the Changelings rebuild, and Rom presided over the Ferengi Alliance, among other things.

Outside its line of novels, DS9 has been the subject of several comic books and other publications. One comic is a spin-off, detailing Nog’s experiences at Starfleet Academy. Another DS9 comic series became an exceptional example of licensed Star Trek works influencing each other, a major character from WildStorm Comics’ N-Vector, Tiris Jast, appeared in the Avatar, Part I novel. Other publications, such as the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual and Deep Space Nine Companion, are common to all Trek series. DS9 series influences were included in role-playing game reference books from Last Unicorn Games and Decipher. Additionally, several novels have also been released in audio form, narrated by Rene Auberjonois (Odo).

Games

Several video games have been released over the years focusing on DS9, although they are relatively few in number compared to Star Trek: The Next Generation. The first was Crossroads of Time, a side-scrolling platform game released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis in 1995. The game takes place around the time of the series premiere, borrowing some stories from early episodes such as " Past Prologue" and creating others. A number of problems reportedly impeded the game’s development process, and it met with mixed reactions. No further games were released outside the PC platform, although DS9’s influence (particularly the presence of the Dominion) is present in many other games.

Other games had similar results. Three DS9-themed games were released for the PC: Harbinger (1996), The Fallen (2000) and Dominion Wars (2001). A little-known board game was released as part of the now-defunct "component board game" series, which included an intercompatible board name for Star Trek: The Next Generation. DS9’s role-playing book, was one of several which failed to be released into wide circulation when Decipher, then publisher of the Star Trek role-playing game, discontinued its line.

The series features prominently in the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, particularly its second edition. In the game’s first edition (originally the Star Trek: The Next Generation Customizable Card Game), Deep Space Nine was the titular fifth set released, followed by one entitled "The Dominion" and several other DS9-themed sets. In the second edition, however, DS9 has a much stronger presence. In this version, there are two types of cards for the United Federation of Planets, which may be placed at Earth or Deep Space Nine. The Ferengi, Dominion, Cardassian, Bajoran, and Maquis affiliations are comprised primarily of DS9-derived material, while the Klingon affiliation also borrows strongly from it.

Other merchandising

Along with the rest of the Star Trek franchise, DS9 has been the subject of many merchandizing attempts. Action figures, keychains, and models, and other items have been released. The station itself, which is highly recognizable and iconic of the series, is the subject of many of these items. Paramount also sells Starfleet uniforms; among the styles is the so-called "DS9-style" uniform, which is primarily black with a division colour (red for command, yellow for engineering or security, blue for medical and the sciences) on the shoulders.

DS9 is also well represented at Star Trek: The Experience, where both Quark’s Bar & Restaurant and the Promenade have been recreated faithfully. The former takes formal reservations or walk-ins, and is open daily from 11:30am-10:00pm (11 on Fridays). It serves Star Trek-style food and drinks, hosting gatherings such as conventions as well. The latter (called the Shopping Promenade) was the natural choice for a place to sell various souvenirs and rarities; among the items for sale are Niners jerseys, official Starfleet uniforms and action figures.