DS9 Season 1 — memory alpha

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

The first season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine debuted on 3 January 1993, with twenty episodes that ran through 20 June 1993.

Episodes

Title	Episode	Production number	Stardate	US release date
"Emissary"	1x01/02	40511-721	46379.1–46393.1	1993-01-03
"Past Prologue"	1x03	40511-404	Unknown	1993-01-09
"A Man Alone"	1x04	40511-403	46421.5	1993-01-17
"Babel"	1x05	40511-405	46423.7–46425.8	1993-01-24
"Captive Pursuit"	1x06	40511-406	Unknown	1993-01-30
"Q-Less"	1x07	40511-407	46531.2–46532.3	1993-02-06
"Dax"	1x08	40511-408	46910.1	1993-02-13
"The Passenger"	1x09	40511-409	Unknown	1993-02-20
"Move Along Home"	1x10	40511-410	Unknown	1993-03-14
"The Nagus"	1x11	40511-411	Unknown	1993-03-21
"Vortex"	1x12	40511-412	Unknown	1993-04-18
"Battle Lines"	1x13	40511-413	Unknown	1993-04-25
"The Storyteller"	1x14	40511-414	46729.1	1993-05-02
"Progress"	1x15	40511-415	46844.3	1993-05-09
"If Wishes Were Horses"	1x16	40511-416	46853.2	1993-05-16
"The Forsaken"	1x17	40511-417	46925.1	1993-05-23
"Dramatis Personae"	1x18	40511-418	46922.3–46924.5	1993-05-30
"Duet"	1x19	40511-419	Unknown	1993-06-13
"In the Hands of the Prophets"	1x20	40511-420	Unknown	1993-06-20

Summary

The Provisional Government of Bajor invites Starfleet to help them rebuild after the Cardassian Occupation. Commander Benjamin Sisko is selected to take command of their space station, formerly known as Terok Nor that is then designated by Starfleet as Deep Space 9. As part of the agreement between the Federation and Bajor, Starfleet will help them to become a member of the Federation.

The Federation involvement in the Bajor sector changes galactic history forever, as Starfleet discovers the Bajoran wormhole, the only stable wormhole known to exist, that leads to the largely unexplored Gamma Quadrant of the Galaxy.

The other crew of Deep Space 9 include Kira Nerys, functioning as the Bajoran liaison officer, Odo as the security chief of the station, Julian Bashir as chief medical officer, Miles O'Brien as the station's chief of operations, and Jadzia Dax, a joined Trill as the station's science officer.

Residents of the station include Quark, a Ferengi barkeeper, his brother Rom and Rom's son, Nog. Benjamin Sisko's son Jake and Miles' wife Keiko O'Brien and daughter Molly O'Brien also live aboard the station. The most enigmatic station resident is the station's tailor, Elim Garak, who has a mysterious past.

In their first year together, the crew are infected with an aphasia virus, visited by aliens who make the wishes and fantasies or fears of all station residents come true, meet a hunted species of aliens, known as Tosk and have an encounter with the omnipotent Q. Quark briefly becomes Grand Nagus, Lwaxana Troi visits the station, a Cardassian called Aamin Marritza tries to get his people to admit to the crimes they committed on Bajor, and the disappearance of Kai Opaka thrusts Bareil Antos and Winn Adami into the spotlight.

Background information

Reception

Production staff have admitted that the first season of DS9 was somewhat lacking in direction. According to co-creator and executive producer Michael Piller, "When you look at the first season of Deep Space Nine, essentially what I think you see is our intention to do stories that bring in fans of The Next Generation. If you create a space station that is at the crossroads of the universe, then you basically have the justification for bringing in old friends from past episodes. Their ships would normally come through this crossroads, and we felt that was a good way to bring viewers to the show. I think by the second season, we were looking more at standing on our own two feet, and we hadn't been entirely satisfied. When we really started doing stories about our space station, and really made it unique to itself, that's when the series, I think, really became special." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD, Special Features) Ira Steven Behr commented, "There are things I find weak about some of these shows that have nothing to do with the writing. Many of the shows at the beginning of the season lacked pacing." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 42)
Piller also explained, however, that the first season was something of a training exercise for the writers; "I think that when you have a wonderful group of actors, you learn how to write for them in the first season. Every show has a shake-down period during the first season, and Deep Space Nine was no different. But I can tell you that we learned so many things as we got to know our actors." (New Frontiers: The Story of Deep Space Nine, DS9 Season 2 DVD, Special Features)
Rick Berman was pleased with the season, particularly compared to the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Berman commented, "I'm very pleased with the way the first season has gone in a lot of respects. First seasons of television shows tend to be potentially very chaotic. The first season of Next Generation certainly was. This season has been very peaceful in terms of the actors, the crew, the writers and the budgets. As far as the episodes, there are things about them that I love and things about them I don't love. That's the way it is, if we were completely satisfied with what we did, we wouldn't be doing what we do. We're always looking to make things better. What I'm most pleased with is the fact that the concept is working and we've managed to create 20 stories that I think all hang pretty well on the armature that we've built, the backstory and the characters." (The Deep Space Log Book: A First Season Companion, p. 7)
Behr commented:" I really liked the pilot. I thought the pilot gave us a great jumping-off point. But part of the frustration was the pilot really worked and now we're doing this scattershot kind of technique in season one, where we seem to be scrambling all over the place, trying to find our identity. And the identity was firmly established in the pilot, so why are we looking to change that, or go in other directions? Let's just follow the path that was laid out in the pilot. Why are we deviating and trying to go back in time or go back to "The Next Generation"? The pilot wasn't "TNG," why are we trying to do episodes that could easily be adapted for "TNG"? It was just finding our mojo, which we found towards the end of season one". [1]

Production

This season was broadcast concurrent with Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6.
Gene Roddenberry was well aware of the concept of DS9 before his death so this was the last Star Trek series with which he was connected. [2]
Characters who 'crossover' from TNG include Miles O'Brien (as a main character), Jean-Luc Picard (also as Locutus) in "Emissary", Lursa and B'Etor in "Past Prologue", Keiko O'Brien & Molly O'Brien as recurring characters from "A Man Alone", Q and Vash in "Q-Less", and Lwaxana Troi in "The Forsaken".
Many important recurring characters make their first appearances in this season, including Gul Dukat ("Emissary"), Nog ("Emissary"), Rom ("Emissary", first named in "A Man Alone"), Morn ("Emissary", first named in "Vortex"), Elim Garak ("Past Prologue"), Zek ("The Nagus"), Maihar'du ("The Nagus"), Winn Adami ("In the Hands of the Prophets") and Bareil Antos ("In the Hands of the Prophets").

Credits

Starring

Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko

Also starring

Guest and co-stars

DS9 Season 1 performers

Crew

The following credits are based on the production order of the episodes.
Executive Producers

Co-Producer

Peter Allan Fields (credited in all episodes except "Emissary")

Producer

Peter Lauritson

Supervising Producers

David Livingston
Ira Steven Behr (credited in all episodes except "Emissary")

Line Producer

Robert della Santina ("The Nagus", "The Storyteller", "In the Hands of the Prophets")

Associate Producer

Steve Oster

Casting by

Junie Lowry-Johnson, CSA
Ron Surma

Music by

Dennis McCarthy ("Emissary", "Babel"–"Q-Less", "The Passenger"–"Move Along Home", "Vortex"–"The Storyteller", "The Forsaken", "Duet", "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Jay Chattaway ("A Man Alone", "Past Prologue", "Dax", "If Wishes Were Horses", "Dramatis Personae")
John Debney ("The Nagus", "Progress")

Main Title Theme by

Dennis McCarthy (credit appears only in episodes not composed by McCarthy)

Director of Photography

Marvin Rush

Production Designer

Herman Zimmerman

Editors

Robert Lederman ("Emissary", every third episode after "Q-Less")
Tom Benko, ACE (every third episode after "A Man Alone")
Terry Kelley ("Past Prologue")
Richard E. Rabjohn (every third episode after "Babel")

Unit Production Manager

Robert della Santina

First Assistant Director

Venita Ozols-Graham ("Emissary", "Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit", even-numbered episode from "Move Along Home" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Richard Wells (odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet") (credited as Richard D. Wells in "A Man Alone")
Gail Fortmuller ("Dax")

Second Assistant Director

Alisa Matlovsky ("Emissary")
Gail Fortmuller ("A Man Alone"–"Q-Less", "The Passenger"–"Progress")
Michael Baxter ("Dax")
B.C. Cameron ("If Wishes Were Horses"–"In the Hands of the Prophets")

Costume Designer

Robert Blackman

Art Director

Randy McIlvain

Visual Effects

Robert Legato

Visual Effects Supervisors

Robert Legato ("Emissary")
Gary Hutzel (odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "The Nagus", "Vortex"–"Progress", "The Forsaken", "Duet")
Bob Bailey ("Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit")
Glenn Neufeld ("The Storyteller", "Dramatis Personae", "In the Hands of the Prophets")

Post Production Supervisor

Terri Martinez

Scenic Art Supervisor / Technical Consultant

Michael Okuda

Senior Illustrator/Technical Consultant

Rick Sternbach

Set Decorator

Mickey S. Michaels

Make-up Designed and Supervised by

Michael Westmore

Set Designers

Joseph Hodges ("Emissary"–"Dax")
Alan S. Kaye ("Emissary")
Nathan Crowley ("Emissary")
Tom Betts ("The Passenger"–"In the Hands of the Prophets")

Illustrator

Ricardo F. Delgado

Visual Effects Coordinators

Michael Backauskas ("Emissary")
Cari Thomas ("Emissary", even-numbered episodes from "Dax" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Judy Elkins ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet")
Mari Hotaki ("Emissary")
Sue Jones ("Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit")

Wardrobe Supervisor

Carol Kunz

Script Supervisor

Judi Brown

Special Effects

Gary Monak

Property Master

Joe Longo

Construction Coordinator

Richard J. Bayard

Scenic Artists

Doug Drexler ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Q-Less", even-numbered episodes from "Dax" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Denise Okuda ("Emissary", "Past Prologue", "Captive Pursuit", every other episode from "The Passenger" through "Duet")

Hair Designer

Candace Neal (credited as Candy Neal from "A Man Alone" through "Dax")

Make-up Artists

Hair Stylists

Sound Mixer

Bill Gocke

Camera Operator

Joe Chess, SOC

Chief Lighting Technician

William Peets

First Company Grip

Bob Sordal

Key Costumers

Maurice Palinski ("Emissary", even-numbered episodes from "Past Prologue" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Phyllis Corcoran-Woods ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet")
Jerry Bono ("Emissary", even-numbered episodes from "Past Prologue" through "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Patty Borggrebe-Taylor ("Emissary", odd-numbered episodes from "A Man Alone" through "Duet")

Music Editor

Stephen M. Rowe

Supervising Sound Editor

Bill Wistrom

Supervising Sound Effects Editor

Jim Wolvington

Sound Editors

Ashley Harvey (all episodes except "Emissary")
Miguel Rivera ("A Man Alone"–"The Storyteller")
Dan Yale ("A Man Alone"–"Babel")
Sean Callery ("Captive Pursuit"–"In the Hands of the Prophets")
Steffan Falesitch ("Vortex"–"In the Hands of the Prophets")

Production Coordinator

Heidi Julian

Post Production Coordinator

Dawn Hernandez

Visual Effects Associate

Laura Lang-Matz ("Emissary", "Dax"–)
Cari Thomas ("A Man Alone"–"Q-Less")

Production Associate

Kim Fitzgerald

Science Consultant

Naren Shankar

Main Title Design

Dan Curry

Stunt Coordinator

Dennis Madalone

Pre Production Associate

Lolita Fatjo

Casting Executive

Helen Mossler, CSA

Credited in "Emissary" only

2nd Second Assistant Director

Michael Baxter

Additional Visual Effects Supervision

Gary Hutzel

Video Playback Operator

Joe Unsinn

Video Consultant

Liz Radley

Re-Recording Mixers

Assistant Editor

Eugene Wood

Visual Effects Assistant Editor

Ed Hoffmeister

Transportation Coordinator

Stewart Satterfield

Uncredited crew

Make-up Artists: Dean Jones, Michael Key, Gil Mosko, Vincent Niebla, Karen Westerfield
Nancy J. Hvasta Leonardi - Makeup Artist ("Dramatis Personae", "Duet", "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Hairstylist: Susan Maust
Sound Editor: Jeff Gersh
On-Line Editor: John Carroll
Morphing Designer: Dennis Blakey
Wormhole Designer: Michael Dallas Gibson
Supervising Visual Effects Compositor: Patrick Clancey
Production Associate: James Martin
Orchestrator: Joseph Smith
Musician: Bass: Norman Ludwin
Rigging Gaffer/Lot Best Boy: Daniel R. Purinton; Production Accountant: Hala Gabriel
Intern: Marc Bernardin
Set Teacher: Rhoda Fine

Companies

Filmed with: Panavision cameras and lenses
Video Optical Effects: Digital Magic
Special Video Compositing: CIS Hollywood
Motion Control Photography: Image "G"
Computer Animation

VisionArt Design & Animation
Rhythm & Hues, Inc. ("Emissary")

Editing facilities: Unitel Video
Post Production Sound: Modern Sound
Miniatures

Brazil-Fabrication & Design ("Emissary")
Gregory Jein, Inc. ("Emissary")

Matte Paintings: Illusion Arts ("Emissary")
Major League Baseball Trademarks Licensed by

Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. ("Emissary")

Media releases

External links

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1 at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1 at Ex Astris Scientia

First season in series

Seasons of
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Next season:
DS9 Season 2