I did consider that. However, Sisko's status as Emissary kind of tethered him to the assignment. It's likely that the Bajorans would have objected to his removal.
Why wasn't Sisko promoted at the start of Season 3?
- Thread starter suarezguy
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I'm not sure he had the 'emissary' status that early among many Bajorans. Only Opaka mentions him so in the episode (and it may have been a revelation she only got at the moment); it may have taken some time to convince the others
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The U.S. had significant colonial possessions, and bases in a lot of other places besides. Panama and Puerto Rico, Guam and the Marianas and Saipan, The Philipines, Hawaii. Bases in Iran, other mideast countries, the U.K., Germany, Canada, Greenland...
Not quite as many bases as were necessary for, say, Britain in the coal-powered steamships era, but still significant.
The independence of a nuclear-powered carrier is exaggerated. Yes, her nuclear fuel can last for years. But the carrier operates as part of a task force; it has to, for protection against air and submarine attack. The task force as a whole needs regular resupply: fuel for the other ships in the task force, fuel for the aviation wing, spare parts and supplies for almost everything, food, a hospital ship if they're in combat operations and take casualties.
Bombers from the United States can only reach anywhere in the world through in-flight refueling, which requires bases elsewhere in the world with tanker airplanes and fuel storage to accomplish that refueling. Looks like we're back to wanting lots of bases all over the place.
Deep Space Nine wasn't that important of a place at first. It wasn't even a lock that the Bajorans would not turn to civil war. They called the government the provisional government and that all sort of played out at the beginning of season 2 with The Circle Trilogy. Plus Sisko wasn't even sure if he wanted to stay in Starfleet and I eel he might have been ordered their against his wishes. I think the Admiral that sent him their would hope it would rekindle Sisko's interest in his career and he would stop stagnating at the Shipyards. By the time season 3 had come to a end he had overseen a peace treaty between Bajor and Carddisa. Protected the station from any Dominion invasion. Bajor itself was being called a Paradise were as in season 1 and 2 the planet was still sufering from all the strip mining and exploitation the Carddisians had done. He had also handled his role as Emissary pretty well.
As for why to show us. The main reason is because it makes for good drama. If he starts off as Captain then that doesn't really add anything. By seeing him promoted it's kind of fun. "The Adversary" alone is made a better story by adding the promotion stuff to the episode. It just adds more character texture to the show.
Yes. That was also one of DS9's strengths... they monitored the characters' service time and ranked them up when appropriate, even if they didn't have an on-screen promotion scene. This was even true of Bashir; though he wasn't typically addressed by his rank, they made sure he quietly advanced from ○● to ○○ on his collar.
Jadzia also went from ○○ in "The Emissary" to ○○● by "The Way of the Warrior." Of course, not Starfleet, but Kira went from Major to Colonel in the final season.
Nog went from jail to Purple Heart.
NOG: Chief, I was just coming to see you. Can you believe it? They made me an Ensign.
O'BRIEN: I hadn't realised things were going so bad.
Sisko's character arc had mainly centered around his role as Emissary, not whether he started the series as a Commander or Captain.
Then it doesn't matter what rank he started the series at.
I think his main arc was actually going from a guy who is 100% Starfleet and sort of growing and changing in ways most Starfleet officers don't. The show starts off with him looking at DS9 just as being a job and one he might not keep and someone in deep pain who has refused to move on with his life because of the trauma of Wolf 359 to man to has found a home and wants to build a house on Bajor. He has fallen in love again with Kassidy Yates and has fully accepted the role of being Emissary which like most Starfleet people, found uncomfortable due to a lifetime of Prime Directive thinking pounded into him. Not to mention becoming a war hero.
Him being Captain is not really so much a arc. It's not like they did a lot of stuff were he was trying to someday become Captain like they did with Riker and Burnham and even Tilly in one of the more pointless character arcs. Him not being Captain at the start though helps showcase the idea of a man whose career has stalled. Who hasn't moved on much in those years after Wolf 359. Combine that with the fact that he was sent to a broken down station were the odds of success were not even good sort of shows that Starfleet must not be to high on him either at that moment. If he starts off as Captain it means he has done something between Wolf 359 and the pilot to earn that promotion. His career must be doing fine if he is still moving up the ranks. You don't want to send that message at the start.
It shouldn't have, but Paramount started pushing the line that the legitimate hero of a Star Trek series was the captain, not the commanding officer or even the individual, of the ship, not a station or a team or a mission, etc, with the development of Voyager. It's now in the public consciousness of what makes Trek.
And it's stupid to boot. It creates a painful mythology that the only way to be a success in Star Trek is as a captain in Starfleet. Not as a parent, not as a chef, not as an admiral or a commander. Only the captain.
Which in itself is ludicrous. Virtually every lead character of all the shows are heroic in one way or another.
Scotty, Data, Bashir, Kira, O'Brien, Paris, Tucker, Uhura... none of these characters were ever captain, and they were all heroes. Or pretty much the entire cast of PRODIGY... I'd call them heroes, too. And they weren't even part of the Federation.
Even Quark... over time, he did heroic things, despite himself and his upbringing. (Which is quite impressive on its own... Starfleet officers are basically trained to be heroes. Quark only had the influence of the Federation around him to help him do those heroic deeds.) Like in "THE HOUSE OF QUARK"... facing D'Gghor when he didn't have to. Or "SACRIFICE OF ANGELS" when he broke Kira and the others out of Security.
I didn't forget those two. I mentioned Bashir specifically because since his rank was never used, it would have been easy enough not to bother ranking him up. Someone on the DS9 crew was actually competent about ranking realism. We needed that person in the other three Berman era series!
There's a meme, which I have no idea how to import. It has four pictures of Nog, labeled CIVILIAN, CADET, ENSIGN, and LIEUTENANT. And next to it, four pictures of Harry: ENSIGN, ENSIGN, ENSIGN, and ENSIGN. Summarized the main difference between the two shows.
Sisko's character arc was based on his multidimensionality. Skeptic becoming a believer. Widower becoming a lover and a husband. Administrator and leader. Father and son. Pupil and mentor. He was a cook, a builder, an ardent fan of baseball, and a man who took pride in his heritage. No other Trek character has grown the way he did, though Nog is pretty close.
It didn't matter much to me; I was fine with Sisko being either rank. But as someone who is known for being fussy about character rank, I am not in a position to judge others for being the same way.
As I said, the character journey of Ben Sisko debunks that in a big way.
Indeed, there are many examples of heroism from the rest of the cast, starting in the original movies and TNG. But how much do they really matter,and doesn't there heroism only make sense with regard to the big dog in the big chair?
Many of these characters have stunted growth despite their accomplishments. Even on DS9, lauded for it's character development and decentered stories, people stay in the same places. Everyone is doing the same job after hundreds of episodes and more than a few movies. After 25 years, Uhura is still answering the phone? Can't Bashir leave the infirmary to someone else while he researches Changeling and Jem'hadar biology?
Picard showed older characters growing, but mostly offscreen, and then forced them back into their old roles at the end.
And in the capatins seat, they are the premium heroes. Perhaps it would make sense for Sisko to stay on the station when the war started to plan strategy with Ross, but does he also still run the station? Shouldn't that have been Kira's job? Shouldn't Dax have remained as CO of thr Defiant? Janeway is such a singularly heroic figure that she gets to thank herself for getting the crew home in the final episode.
To be fair that mindset has always been part of Trek. It's close to one also to the idea that every show has to be set on a Starship, DS9 was going against both unwritten rules. Main hero isn't a Captain and it's set on a space station and not a starship and heck it isn't even set on Starfleet space station. It's one of the reasons the show is good. Even in it's concept it was breaking some of the unwritten rules you supposedly have to have to do a Trek show.
He wasn't a captain at the start, but it made sense for him to be captain later. Done deal.
A Trek show sometimes has to do things that don't make sense. A big one is what was pointed out earlier: characters staying in a given assignment (or even regressing to it) when they should move onward. The actor is popular or you don't want to alter the mix. BUT, DS9 tried its hardest to make sense within the available parameters.
A Trek show sometimes has to do things that don't make sense. A big one is what was pointed out earlier: characters staying in a given assignment (or even regressing to it) when they should move onward. The actor is popular or you don't want to alter the mix. BUT, DS9 tried its hardest to make sense within the available parameters.
