How Would You Change "Deep Space Nine"?

I found a thread that asked how fans would change "Voyager". Now I'm asking how would any of you change "Deep Space Nine"?

 

Kill Dukhat.

No Garak.

Starship from the beginning not the Defiant.

 

Is it just my deja vu, or did we talk about this already?

- Farrell does leave at the end of season 6, but she and the producers negotiate use of her footage in flashback scenes so she can be in Worf's recording, finale montage etc. and there's less backstage drama about it

- Kira kills Dukat, like she swore she would do.

- maybe one or two less alternate universe shows.

 

Oh, yeah, no MU.

 

What did I ever do to you?

 

Looked at me funny. Those eyes follow me everywhere.

 

More Gamma Quadrant aliens. Think of VOY and all they aliens beyond the Borg in that quadrant. I'd like to meet all sorts of vastly different beings out there. Maybe we also visit Bajor's ultimately doomed colony on the other side of the wormhole and see the farthest edges of the frontier on the other side. Deeper in, we see some powers resisting the Dominion who have yet to be conquered. Maybe also on the outskirts of Dominion territory we meet some of its client states not a part of it yet that might be susceptible to in-fighting and Alpha Quadrant manipulation. The show is more about life out there beyond the wormhole than the Klingons and Romulans here. At some point late in the series, yeah, maybe introduce the Borg. Sisko suddenly is himself a liability in developing events between the two mega-powers.

The Bajorans are going through massive social upheaval post-withdrawal and the Prophets being aliens. There are Holy Wars and ultimately a great Reformation before ultimately Bajor triumphantly, despite Cardassian manipulation and indeed a second invasion attempt, joins the Federation.

Dukat remains similar to how he was in earlier seasons where you can somewhat sympathize with him, his perspective, be charmed by his manner and dynamism...and therein lies the danger. Especially as we meet his rivals in the Central Command, Detapa Council, etc that he Frank Underwood-like outsmarts to remain our main baddie. But, you see him being a bastard and can't but hate him for the grief he gives us. You know, I hate the killing of Jadzia. But if it weren't Red Eyed Dukat (a caricature of a baddie) but a very sober bastard coldly, even flippantly, doing something awful, that might have worked better. You the viewer would want his head, and, by series' end, finally, you'd get it.

 

Well, skip Profit & Lace, for a start...

 

No MU eps after Crossover.
More refined montage in What You Leave Behind, as well as some scene shuffling to make the timeline of the finale make a bit more sense.
And I'd drop a handful of other eps along the way, but not too many.
Finally, I'd finish it in HD and release it on Blu-ray.

 

I'd have Farrell remain as Dax through the final season.
No Mirror Universe, no Q, omit at least 1 Ferengi episode ("Profit and Lace" would be first choice).
Let Sisko have his preferred bald / goatee look from the beginning.

 

More Sisko with his shaved, goatee look, more Garak, more Cardassian intrigue, less prophets.

Not much to change though.

 

This.

 

No Star Trek?

It may seem more like an academic exercise, but Brandon Tartikoff 's concept started with a sci-fi version of The Rifleman, not another spin-off of Star Trek.

 

I would like to see, as the writers did intend, the Dominion more as an other/anti-Federation, more species in different roles and relationships though based on domination rather than just the big, seemingly only, three. Although it was nice to also eventually see the Cardassians as members. Maybe also explore more tensions among the Jem'Hadar (and the Vorta).

Not make Winn such a bwahaha evil bad opportunist.

Not glorify Martok so much and maybe have other recurring Klingon characters.

Have the other crew members and Jake learn more and feel conflicted about or disapproving of Sisko's controversial actions.

Make Eddington less crazy evil and/or have other recurring Maquis leader characters.

Explore more why Kira and Dax are good friends and also have some open conflicts between them.

Probably not have Odo's betrayal in the start of Season 6, that was too extreme and of course afterward just overlooked.

 

Dump the whole "Ishka singlehandedly takes Ferengi females from chattel to equals" arc. Either let the Ferengi keep being sexist pricks, or reform them in a more believable manner.

Yes. If she didn't want to do every episode, let her. Just pay her less and blow more on special effects.

 

I would enjoy seeing that.

 

Bareil doesn’t die when he did and instead becomes the big bad that turns to the Pah-Wraits that Sisko has to kill. Winn stays a scheming politician of little consequence.

Dukat doesn’t go insane when Ziyal dies. He stays with the Dominion but is killed by Damar when Damar “wakes up”.

Jadzia doesn’t die but is forced to transfer off DS9 after the events of “Change of Heart”. But she’s on one of the ships near by so she is still a regular at Quarks, with Worf, etc…

The war ends 2-3 episodes earlier in S7.

Sisko doesn’t go with the prophets.

 

Ditch the mirror universe episodes; they're too wimpy with the mirror personas and it gets way too convenient later on in everyone going back and forth.

End the show after season 6. That also takes care of the low-ball baseball episode.

Sisko is promoted to Admiral at the end.

Ditch Lwaxana as DS9 already did a lot to differentiate itself from TNG.

Ditto for Q, sad but true, since doing so also gets around any pesky creative thinking such as "The Dominion were than unspoken creation of Q's as a retort to Sisko punching the living daylights out of him that he never got to gloat about."

Make the Bashir/Dax stuff more convincing or spend more time developing him and Melora, or at the very least developing him with Miles and Keiko instead.

Rewrite "Let He Who is Without Sin" so that the idiotic "death by jahrama-snu-snu" whatever subplot could be excised, with more time to properly focus on the bigger plot points that seemed fairly rushed and pushed aside to tell us how some people break up on Risafantasyland where no diseases also exist.

Have one or fourteen fewer takes on the Sluggo Cola jingle - once was decent enough to get the point across.

Bring back the Wadi (another Q invention?)

Edit in film, or at least remaster from the original 35mm negatives before they turn irreparably into vinegar. Even if it cost $200 per season instead of $80. The audience is surely there?

 

I liked Season 7. Including the baseball episode. If we're going to drop poorly-conceived episodes, how about "Let He Who Is Without Sin."

Leave Q to TNG and Voyager. One Q episode in DS9 was one too many.

 

More on vinegar, it's not about that condiment for fried fish that's rather tasty, or even the bottle of stuff you're told to drink every night to burn pounds of belly fat overnight but instead does more to slowly dissolve your enamel, thus allowing cavities and other problems for your teeth:

https://www.filmpreservation.org/preservation-basics/vinegar-syndrome
http://www.micrographics.co.nz/vinegar-syndrome-acetate-film-degradation/
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/preservation/preservation-glossary/vinegar-syndrome
https://missingepisodes.proboards.com/thread/9603/vinegar-effect
https://glenbow.ucalgary.ca/vinegar-syndrome-and-acetate-film/
https://www.postmagazine.com/Public...PER-COMBATING-VINEGAR-SYNDROME-IN-FILM-S.aspx
(Dang, they used all-caps. Must be more hyper than me before my morning quart of coffee...)
https://documentarchive.info/the-ru...egar-syndrome-can-have-on-microfilm-and-film/
https://gawainweaver.com/news/vinegar-syndrome
https://www.organizingphotos.net/store-photo-negatives/

etc

Best of all:

https://www.learnfilm.photography/e...-about-making-negatives-last-for-generations/

That's still assuming the quality of the film stock used, how many canisters are stored next to each other, adequate ventilation along with the temperature and humidity aspects since one you have a nice little whiff of vinegar it's going to spread, etc... Even then, the occasional film batch may still degrade before its time. How often do those salt mines get fresh air flowing? (Now it makes a little more sense why so many original tapes and films were housed in that climate-controlled warehouse that burnt down last decade... under the best conditions and if the stock was made from ideal materials at ideal conditions, it's feasible that they can survive centuries... though a little restoration work is inevitable for scratches, hue fade (esp. reds), etc... ) That said, the article also states the ideal storage conditions for the longest theoretical storage interval (centuries, if all is perfect...)

Also, store any film canisters on the thin edge - vertically. Do so horizontally, like how most of us stack plates in the cupboard, and, thanks to the dreaded power of gravity, you'll probably get a crease along the edge where the sprocket holes are, if the film is brittle it'll break and be much no fun to repair, and greater chance at warping too...

More fun on how to not handle film here:
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/preservation/guide/handbook/damage
Dang, that one's really depressing to read...