S8 of ST: Deep Space 9 Could have been the best season of any Trek
- Thread starter Photon
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Season seven of DS9 would have been so much better if the Dominion war had ended at the end of season six. They could have moved on to other matters and story lines.
Season eight. Would have loved it if TPTB had largely jettisoned the Dominion, the Cardassians and the Romulans. Dealt with the after math of the war on the characters, and the Federation.
Season eight. Would have loved it if TPTB had largely jettisoned the Dominion, the Cardassians and the Romulans. Dealt with the after math of the war on the characters, and the Federation.
A season or two with Nana Visitor as the lead would have been awesome! Great idea, Photon!
It should be interesting to see what the writers come up with in the documentary.
A postwar season of DS9 would have been like S5 of B5.
Maybe not. Deep Space Nine as opposed to B5 is more equipped to do stand-alone stories because in the end it is still a Trek show. You don't even really need a major overall threat like the Dominion was. Just tell character stories dealing with everyone get ready for Bajor to be welcomed in the Federation at the end of the season. Federation rebuilding itself can be addressed but you really only need to focus on what is directly happening to and around the station. Now getting all the characters back would be a issue. I can see certain ideas. O'Brien is sent to start plans on building a new modern space station to replace DS9. Odo and Garak come back as ambassadors. Worf gets restless on the Klingon Homeworld and becomes Kira's new first officer. Rom is always on vacation and visiting the station. Plus Quark is causing trouble and he is always having to deal with him. Sisko returns and becomes more Emissary than he has been before but then as time moves on he finds he misses just being a regular human and starts wanting to get more involved in things and ends up becoming the new sole Captain of the Defiant.
Jason
Jason
I agree that the series would go on without the Dominion War--it was never the writers' intentions to make it the thing that defined the series. OTOH, I could see them picking up another storyline or theme and running with it for an eighth season. Obviously, the work they did inspired them, and not just the arcs, but the ability to return to the problems that the characters faced. Moreover, the writers, most notably Rene Echevarria an David Weddle, became huge fans of The Sopranos. Not only did that affirm they work they were doing on "The FInal Chapters," I think it would rally them to do more. I could see them sitting down in the late Spring of '99, saying, "Now that the war is out of the way, what story will we tell next season."
Perhaps an outer space Maffia try to take over the station one step at a time? And the season ends where they've won without any real opposition? 
JB
JB
There could have been interesting Ferengi storylines season 8. Quark taking up a capitalist hardline against his brother's reforms, and meeting up with a group of rebel Ferengi that want to use him as the face of the resistance because he's the Nagus's brother. The Ferengi economy goes into a recession because Rom doesn't know how to balance his reforms with fiscal reality. And Quark goes along with this at first but then finds out about an assassination attempt against Nog to get him installed instead, which he then has to foil. Then maybe Quark and Nog try to work together to balance modern reforms with economic freedom and health.
I suppose they could have had Sisko go Daniel Jackson, and explained Odo coming back by making him the Dominion Ambassador to the Federation. Then ended the season with Bajor finally joining the Federation.
Also they could have had Ezri do that ritual where she talks to all her previous hosts, only instead of occupying friends, they found a way to put the previous hosts into holosuite characters, so Terry Farrell could have been Jadzia, and maybe tried to briefly sabotage the process of putting her back in Ezri so she could have more time with Worf.
I suppose they could have had Sisko go Daniel Jackson, and explained Odo coming back by making him the Dominion Ambassador to the Federation. Then ended the season with Bajor finally joining the Federation.
Also they could have had Ezri do that ritual where she talks to all her previous hosts, only instead of occupying friends, they found a way to put the previous hosts into holosuite characters, so Terry Farrell could have been Jadzia, and maybe tried to briefly sabotage the process of putting her back in Ezri so she could have more time with Worf.
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Thought about this quite a bit.
Kira runs the station obviously. Dax and Bashir, for better or worse, are focal points while you ease in some new characters. I'm assuming they would bring in a new Starfleet first officer of some kind and I would imagine at least one new cast member otherwise. Nog becomes a major character and ends up taking captaincy of the Defiant at some point down the road.
Kasidy's baby becomes the focal point of religious extremists and there are running subplots of people want to kill it, kidnap it, etc. A lot more of sciency/exploration episodes now that they're free to do that without the Dominion threat.
At some point there's a major catastrophe and the station is heavily damaged, like 3 or 4 of the big docking pylons sheared off. Just to give us something different to look at for a while. They figure it's not worth rebuilding so they start building a new station not far away, and this takes like the whole rest of the season. We can jump back and forth between the old one and construction of the new one. There are sabotage attempts, political intrigue, etc.
Then the end of the season the new station is finally finished and they implode the old one in a big ceremony and people cry and stuff. Then you open season 9 with sort of a brand new start and we gradually see the show take on more of a Bajoran look to everything as they start to run things more and more.
I see the relationship between Kira and Jake becoming the heart of the show. Not sure if I'd want to see them become romantic but they have a shared bond/grief over Benjamin's absence. But maybe they could become romantic. They look good together at least.
Kira runs the station obviously. Dax and Bashir, for better or worse, are focal points while you ease in some new characters. I'm assuming they would bring in a new Starfleet first officer of some kind and I would imagine at least one new cast member otherwise. Nog becomes a major character and ends up taking captaincy of the Defiant at some point down the road.
Kasidy's baby becomes the focal point of religious extremists and there are running subplots of people want to kill it, kidnap it, etc. A lot more of sciency/exploration episodes now that they're free to do that without the Dominion threat.
At some point there's a major catastrophe and the station is heavily damaged, like 3 or 4 of the big docking pylons sheared off. Just to give us something different to look at for a while. They figure it's not worth rebuilding so they start building a new station not far away, and this takes like the whole rest of the season. We can jump back and forth between the old one and construction of the new one. There are sabotage attempts, political intrigue, etc.
Then the end of the season the new station is finally finished and they implode the old one in a big ceremony and people cry and stuff. Then you open season 9 with sort of a brand new start and we gradually see the show take on more of a Bajoran look to everything as they start to run things more and more.
I see the relationship between Kira and Jake becoming the heart of the show. Not sure if I'd want to see them become romantic but they have a shared bond/grief over Benjamin's absence. But maybe they could become romantic. They look good together at least.
DS9 S8 would've been awesome.
The hardships of the war are over, now they have the hardships of rebuilding and repairing, the Cardassians are a shell of their former selves, the capabilities of the mysterious Breen have been discovered, the Klingon and Romulan Empires have been dealt a harsh blow, Bajor has lost its Kai and Emissary, there is so much fodder for great story telling, plus a new group of characters entering the mix and taking their place on the station adding whole new dynamics.
The hardships of the war are over, now they have the hardships of rebuilding and repairing, the Cardassians are a shell of their former selves, the capabilities of the mysterious Breen have been discovered, the Klingon and Romulan Empires have been dealt a harsh blow, Bajor has lost its Kai and Emissary, there is so much fodder for great story telling, plus a new group of characters entering the mix and taking their place on the station adding whole new dynamics.
Definitely a lot of story potential left over. We never saw Bajor admitted to the Federation, so that's an open question. There's a lot to explore with the rebuilding of the Federation, Cardassia Prime, etc. And with several of the characters being spread out, that added to the potential. We could explore what's happening with the Klingons through Worf, the Dominion with Odo, the Ferengi with Rom and Leeta, and the O'Briens could provide an opportunity to see what's been going on on Earth since the war. I don't think they need to necessarily have everyone come back to the station; I think it widens the story to not have them do so, or at least at first. Tying it together perhaps could be the return of Sisko. Maybe he's returned from the Celestial Temple out of concern for the Red Angels 
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This. Thinking back to the end of the show I remember I wanted it to go on as well. But now as I'm older (and – hopefully – a little wiser) I kind of think they did the best thing they could do: leave the audience wanting more. The story of the war was concluded and I don't think a season about showing the characters rebuilding after the war would have been very exciting.
Agreed. I also wished there had been a season 8 when the show concluded but thinking about it now, it was probably best they ended it when they did. I think it would have been anticlimactic.
Maybe there was an equivalent of the seven year itch among Trek series showrunners of that era. It could be that, after seven seasons, they developed the urge to move on to do something else. They seemed to have a limit of seven seasons.
Seriously, DS9 had a good seven year run. In hindsight, I think the show did find a good point to call it quits. The end of the war was probably the appropriate time to conclude the series.
There are a lot of post war stories that could be told. I am still very much interested in what happens after the war. But I think it might be better for a new series and new cast to tell those stories.
Seriously, DS9 had a good seven year run. In hindsight, I think the show did find a good point to call it quits. The end of the war was probably the appropriate time to conclude the series.
There are a lot of post war stories that could be told. I am still very much interested in what happens after the war. But I think it might be better for a new series and new cast to tell those stories.
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