Why is it Deep Space "9"?

[R. Star]

I can get why the Bajorans would want to rename it from Terok Nor... but why isn't it Bajor One or something? Why did the Federation get to name it? Only reason I can think of is a base with a Federation name might keep the Cardies away.

[Melakon]

The Bajorans might have renamed it FU Spoonheads.

[JirinPanthosa]

I think Voyager referenced 'Deep Space 5' at some point. Just like TNG had 'Starbase 23' or whichever it was in Future Imperfect. The Federation just really sucks at naming things.

[dub]

Christopher wrote:

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There used to be a good Usenet post by Robert Hewitt Wolfe that systematically demolished the accusation, which was preserved on Google Groups and which I had bookmarked for easy reference, but now I get a 404 Not Found for it.

Did you try the Wayback Machine for that bookmarked URL:
http://archive.org/web/web.php

[Captain Nebula]

toughlittleship wrote:

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Does anyone know how the writers chose "Nine" as the number of the station? Is nine the coolest sounding number?

Deep Space Nine was originally acquired for viewing/distribution by WGN (and/or affiliates) which was Channel 9 in the Chicago area. Coincidence?

[Melakon]

Captain Nebula wrote:

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Deep Space Nine was originally acquired for viewing/distribution by WGN (and/or affiliates) which was Channel 9 in the Chicago area. Coincidence?

I left the Chicago area in 1990, and at that time, WPWR Channel 50 was carrying TNG. They didn't stick with the franchise?

[Christopher]

dub wrote:

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Did you try the Wayback Machine for that bookmarked URL:
http://archive.org/web/web.php

Yes, I tried that before I posted. No luck.

[DeepSpaceWine]

Melakon wrote:

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I left the Chicago area in 1990, and at that time, WPWR Channel 50 was carrying TNG. They didn't stick with the franchise?

Regarding syndication, apparently WGN pulled off a feat and stopped letting all the big series pass them by. Before DS9, WPWR-50 had gotten TNG, Baywatch, and Highlander. After then? WGN got DS9, Hercules, Xena, and every Tribune series (obvious why). WGN had more spending power than WPWR. They got the WB and now CW affiliation. They're still affiliated with the Cubs, Bulls, and now air Blackhawks games (since that idiot owner of their finally died and his son got with the 20th century and started televising games), air some White Sox games (split with WCIU. All these teams air about half or more of their games on the RSN).

WPWR was great for many years with syndicated series and syndicated cartoons. They became the UPN affiliate and were one of the stations Fox bought around 2000 or so. It's been downhill for them ever since. After UPN ended, they became the affiliate of that junkbin of a network My Network TV. The dual-ownership (WFLD & WPWR) ran the station into the ground (WFLD has taken a nosedive too. Their news operation is in shambles and is a complete joke with high turnover behind-the-camera, distant last in the ratings for many years, they have idiots running the controls [messed with the signal right as the Giants won the World Series. Literally everything's fine til the last at bat, numerous weather warnings for non-existent weather during the World Series]. IIRC WPWR was always better-run back in the day but WFLD's quality has definately gone down the past several years). WFLD dumped many shows it no longer wanted on WPWR. WFLD & Fox used the channel as its garbage can. It's quite sad to see it now (judge shows 7 days a week, crappy MNTV remnant syndication, AHL hockey). WPWR-50 did have the strip-synd reruns of TNG thru IIRC 1996.


Off the top of my head, the rest of the syndicated series in the Chicago market...
* WGN: Vanishing Son, Universal Action Pack, Adventures of Sinbad, Nightman, Adventure Inc, The Lost World. Everything except DS9 IIRC was 2-weeks behind due to WGN laziness with splitting their signal between WGN & WGN America. I'm not sure why DS9 was exempt from that (it aired Sundays in the first 3 seasons, Saturdays in the back 4 seasons as part of a block with Hercules, Xena, Earth: Final Conflict).

* WPWR: PTEN series (Babylon 5, Kung Fu: TLC, Time Trax, Pointman), Baywatch Nights, Tracker, Highlander: Raven, V.I.P. Amazon.

* WCIU: Conan, Tarzan, Flipper, back 2 seasons of Poltergeist: The Legacy. I think they had the Mortal Kombat series. They clearly got what was left, what WGN & WPWR passed on. The station's original lineup resembled METV + Svengoolie. Later on they added Stooge-a-Palooza before both ended up being switched over to the Me-channels.

* WFLD Fox-32: syndicated reairs of Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits, 2 seasons of Poltergeist: The Legacy. A pretty stupid move because so often it ended up being pre-empted for baseball or football. Actually seemed worse than WGN for pre-emptions.

ABC-7 actually had Relic Hunter.

[Melakon]

Thanks, DeepSpaceWine. I remember one time, between '87 and '90, and don't know what local station it was, but it was very late at night, I got home from work, and there was some badly dubbed Italian movie on.

It was some sort of medieval inquisition type thing in a dungeon. I can't really be specific about what happens in the film due to maintaining decorum on the board, but it involved a naked woman chained to a wall and a guy with a set of tongs who does something horrible with them. Lots of badly dubbed screaming.

I was sort of shocked that it was actually being shown on broadcast instead of a cable station. But I never found any news stories about it that week, so I don't know what the hell was going on.

i was living west of Highway 59 at the time, near Aurora, so maybe someone intercepted the signal. Though I had cable.

[Kestrel]

Lindley wrote:

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Deep Spaces 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were sabotaged and destroyed. Deep Spaces 6, 7, and 8 all disappeared without a trace 24 hours after going operational. To this day no one knows why....

I was thinking something very similar myself!

[Photon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JC7fyl7SzI

[MacLeod]

Perhaps unlike the desingation Starbase X, the Federation uses the designatiopn Deep Space x to refer to starbases that are/where initially built initally outside of Federation sapce.

[King Daniel]

Because all the cool names like Vanguard were taken in the 23rd century

It sounds like email address. deepspace9@starfleet.ufp.net

[Captain Nebula]

Melakon wrote:

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I left the Chicago area in 1990, and at that time, WPWR Channel 50 was carrying TNG. They didn't stick with the franchise?

WPWR still ended up with Voyager, if I remember right.

[JirinPanthosa]

I always assumed that Nine made the most sense in terms of meter.

Deep Space Nine is three words which consist of two similar-sounding consonants divided by a long vowel sound.