Why didn't DS9 capture a large audience like all the other Treks?

[DeepSpaceWine]

(at the time, TNG, Baywatch, and DS9 was the holy trinity for these shows. TNG went off with a well respected run.

These were all very highly rated at first, though by the mid '90s, Baywatch's ratings had cooled down, and by the late '90s, its ratings had declined considerably.

and DS9 found itself with TONS of syndication shows, Stuff like Xena even if it was fantasy was still trying to dislodge DS9 as a top dog syndication.

Trying to? Xena did! Hercules did too! DS9 was #1 in first-run syndicated action/dramas for a few seasons, then Hercules rose up and managed to take the top spot, the Xena. Xena held the top spot for a few years, though it wasn't #1 every week. In the late '90s, the order most weeks was Xena #1 Hercules usually #2 DS9 usually #3.

It's weird to think of Hercules having more a following than DS9, but one has to remember at the time, the fantasy genre's revival was new. All viewers had before 1995 was 2 Conan movies & Red Sonja (and the 64 episode Conan the Adventurer cartoon if you were a kid. That one's usually overlooked compared to Transformers and the like, but it was on a Thundercats level of quality. Don't ask me what happened to episode 65). It was stunning, the terrain (New Zealand) looked unlike anything else on tv then, and here was a series with monsters, warlords, Greek gods and the like. Those shows really took off in the 96-97 season when they developed a gallery of recurring characters (like Ares, Aphrodite, Autolycus [Bruce Campbell], Joxer, all had just 1 app. the previous season), though their ratings were great earlier on too. For fans of the genre (especially kids/teens who had played Zelda games or RPGs), it was the 1st tv show they saw in that setting. It was like the Lord of the Rings trilogy for genre fans before Lord of the Rings was made.

Then when UPN and the other channel (think it was called CW) came on board, it was basically a block package of syndication. Voyager was the lynch-pin for UPN. This forced DS9 into all sorts of odd hours, and even a fan would have a hard time finding it. (Not like the internet today where you could look it up when it was showing.)

WB was the other channel. I'm not sure about DS9 being forced into odd hours. Even with the programming glut (the huge number of shows available around 1996 & 1997) and the expanded networks, there still was some choice syndicated slots available and even on its worst week*, DS9 was still the 3rd highest rated syndicated show out there. A channel putting Xena, Hercules, or DS9 into an overnight timeslot would be shooting itself in the foot (unless it were a network channel [any but WB, UPN] in a small market with no real indy station). In my area, those 3 shows and a 4th show (Sinbad, then Earth: Final Conflict) were on Saturday afternoons in a 4-hour block. It was wonderful. And during most of its run, DS9 was #1 or #2. If a channel had all 3 shows and had few good timeslots for syndication, obviously those are the shows you put in those slots. Shows like Nightman, Viper, Outer Limits, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, were given crappier timeslots. Oh, and EFC's ratings didn't even compare to DS9. Its ratings didn't even come close to Herc or Xena even at their worst.

Not sure about Highlander's ratings, though to run 6 seasons without a consortium like Tribune at its back (ahem, EFC), it had to have at least decent ratings. In my market, it was given Saturday night around 6, 7 or 8 (I forget when). Saturday was the network's weakest night, which is why they abandoned it except for filler content or reruns after 2000. From what I've seen, the best timeframes for syndication were around noon to the 10PM hour or so on Saturdays. UPN & WB gobbled up most of the days of the week, preventing counterprogramming against the network's schedule (AKA finding the weakest nights or hours for the networks and presenting a show whose audience wouldn't be watching its competitor shows at that time). But many syndicated shows just felt like they belonged on Saturdays (or at least the weekend). The syndicated set of shows felt like the successor to the kung fu and monster movies of Saturdays in the '70s/80s.


*: except for 4/14/97. Not sure what happened that week. Maybe it was omitted from the ratings listing?

 

[Distorted Humor]

These were all very highly rated at first, though by the mid '90s, Baywatch's ratings had cooled down, and by the late '90s, its ratings had declined considerably.

I was posting from memory, which may be faulty. I just remember when DS9 Started, TNG, Baywatch, and DS9 where the big three first run syndicated shows. Baywatch ratings fell quickly, and TNG rode off to the sunset, and was replaced by Hercules and Xena. So then it was Xena, Hercules, and then DS9, and DS9 was never "Top dog" except for perhaps a short about of time, and I would have to check the history of ratings to see. You would most likely know.

Trying to? Xena did! Hercules did too! DS9 was #1 in first-run syndicated action/dramas for a few seasons, then Hercules rose up and managed to take the top spot, the Xena. Xena held the top spot for a few years, though it wasn't #1 every week. In the late '90s, the order most weeks was Xena #1 Hercules usually #2 DS9 usually #3.

Indeed, Xena was VERY popular. If I remember right, Hercules was the older show and Xena was a spin off that was much more popular. Of course, there was a TON of First run syndication shows, as everyone wanted to make TNG/Baywatch (or Xena/Hercules/DS9) type money.

It's weird to think of Hercules having more a following than DS9, but one has to remember at the time, the fantasy genre's revival was new. All viewers had before 1995 was 2 Conan movies & Red Sonja (and the 64 episode Conan the Adventurer cartoon if you were a kid. That one's usually overlooked compared to Transformers and the like, but it was on a Thundercats level of quality. Don't ask me what happened to episode 65). It was stunning, the terrain (New Zealand) looked unlike anything else on tv then, and here was a series with monsters, warlords, Greek gods and the like. Those shows really took off in the 96-97 season when they developed a gallery of recurring characters (like Ares, Aphrodite, Autolycus [Bruce Campbell], Joxer, all had just 1 app. the previous season), though their ratings were great earlier on too. For fans of the genre (especially kids/teens who had played Zelda games or RPGs), it was the 1st tv show they saw in that setting. It was like the Lord of the Rings trilogy for genre fans before Lord of the Rings was made.

Indeed, it was the right series at the right time, and Xena had a lot of women viewers as well. I remember it was a "fun" show, good popcorn entertainment.

In my area, those 3 shows and a 4th show (Sinbad, then Earth: Final Conflict) were on Saturday afternoons in a 4-hour block. It was wonderful. And during most of its run, DS9 was #1 or #2. If a channel had all 3 shows and had few good timeslots for syndication, obviously those are the shows you put in those slots. Shows like Nightman, Viper, Outer Limits, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, were given crappier timeslots. Oh, and EFC's ratings didn't even compare to DS9. Its ratings didn't even come close to Herc or Xena even at their worst.

Not sure about Highlander's ratings, though to run 6 seasons without a consortium like Tribune at its back (ahem, EFC), it had to have at least decent ratings. In my market, it was given Saturday night around 6, 7 or 8 (I forget when). Saturday was the network's weakest night, which is why they abandoned it except for filler content or reruns after 2000. From what I've seen, the best timeframes for syndication.

Indeed, of course, I am not sure if there is any first run syndication shows left, which is a shame as many of these shows where creative and provided some good viewing. Nowadays it just CSI and Law and Order reruns!

Lot of the creative shows now are going to have to be sold as cable shows, and I am not sure a cable channel can afford to produce a show that had the production quality of Star Trek. (Even if Special effects are dirt cheap due to CGI compared to old fashioned effects.)

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm just surprised a show can be profitable with only 4 million viewers in a country that size. But then Star Trek was always gold dust for the merchandising, reruns, and international audience I guess.

The only way TNG was able to be made was by ensuring it had healthy pre-sales in international markets. Here in Australia, TNG was promised to the TV network which had most recently bought rescreening rights to TOS - but...

it was also pre-sold to CIC-Taft Home Video, a sister company to Paramount Pictures Australasia. A "12-month video holdback" was going to prevent the series from screening on TV, to give the sell-thru two-episodes-on-one-tape per month a chance to sell. Then the network with the rights declined to go through with the purchase and TNG left to the network that had screened TOS back in the 60s.

These international deals were essential to the US success or failure of TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Here in Australia, we generally had Deep Space Nine on around 11pm on a Thursday night, after the rugby league footy show. Quite often it would start later, as Footy Show was running overtime. Zero advertising, so it was really word of mouth.

But, as with TNG Down Under, the series came to sell-thru VHS first. Two episodes per monthly tape, with a "12 month video holdback" preventing it from airing on TV until CIC-Taft Home Video had made their money on video sales. Most diehard fans had already followed the show this way, so its arrival on TV was almost irrelevant to them. TNG had won its late-night timeslots and the advertisers were extremely pleased to have their cheaper late-night ads on the #1 program, than to be a mere #3 in prime time.

Sadly, this trend was not going to get broken, and VOY and ENT were destined to follow DS9 onto TV in later and later timeslots.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

These international deals were essential to the US success or failure of TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT.

An interesting tidbit, here.

 

[PopBoy]

It didn't get enough time to breathe. Despite being, for me, the best written and directed series of the bunch. After series 2 it really took form and its a shame we had to wait two years before the good stuff to arrive. Purely subjective of course.

 

[DeepSpaceWine]

It didn't get enough time to breathe. Despite being, for me, the best written and directed series of the bunch. After series 2 it really took form and its a shame we had to wait two years before the good stuff to arrive. Purely subjective of course.

The title is rather inaccurate. Ignoring TOS since that was a different era (where if a show captures under 25% of the total audience it's considered a failure), DS9 had higher ratings across its run than 2 of the other 3 series. Only TNG beat it. The title should be: Why didn't DS9 capture a large audience like TNG?

It might just be TNG had a configuration (cast, writing style, setting) that was more condusive to drawing in more viewers, including a more casual, non sci-fi audience. There have been posts noting TNG was strangely popular among white cops, a demographic you wouldn't think would be into anything Star Trek. Some of it may have been just like TOS was ahead of the times, DS9 might've been, a little too far ahead for comfort cast-wise.

Back in 1993, some (emphasis to not touch off a flame war) whites may not have been comfortable with a black in command whose name wasn't Cosby... even a toned down, calm, quiet Sisko (they let him grow the goatee, show some attitude, then shave is head and show a whole lotta attitude later on when they realized they could turn Sisko into Hawk and not scare away the existing audience). Then there was Kira, who, seriously, in Season 1-2 came off as a militant lesbian... with that giant chip on the shoulder Bajorans have and make others fully aware of. On TNG, Worf was a Klingon which kind of nullified the perception of race (like who considers Teal'c black vs. who considers Teal'c the stock stoic warrior?). LaForge had high recognition from Roots, which was highly watched (it may seem like a contradiction, though I'm not sure what kind of audience it had vs. who hated it since it was before my time. The only mini-series I 'remember' the aftermath from, and I use that word very loosely (to the point of being a bit deceptive), is The Day After. I just remember Roots "was big" (so was Shogun apparently, but nobody talks about it).

But from my experience, back then the only people that were really uncomfortable with Sisko's race (early on) was those who are now old people, people ~ the 50s or older back then. And yes, I don't know why whites who had problems with blacks getting prominent roles on tv were fine with Bill Cosby, just like I don't know why parents groups who flipped out over weapons & violence in cartoons attacked GI Joe, Transformers, practically every 80s cartoon, Power Rangers, but were totally fine with Ninja Turtles (despite katanas, sais, & nunchucks) .

And Kira, I was a loyal Trek fan who saw since I became aware of Star Trek in the early '90s, almost every season (and most to all episodes of every season) while the shows were in their 1st-run, wondered "WTH with her character" as a kid. She came off like, as I said, a militant lesbian from a race of aliens with a lot of attitude. I can see why they added Bareil, changed her hairstyle, and toned down the attitude a little bit and toned it down especially with Sisko (like turning it down from a 12 to a 6 or 7) and anyone else besides Quark & guest stars. She was just the kind of character (THEN) that could drive viewers away (whereas Gul Dukat plays the ***hole but plays it with style). I missed the back half of DS9 Season 1, all of 2, and parts of 3 because DS9 really turned me off early on with the absolutely boring episodes in Season 1 (I now regret not tuning back in at Season 2). I'm saying the cast of DS9 didn't seem to be a configuration to draw the wide net TNG cast (don't get me wrong, it's certainly no niche art house cast either, though Kira early on did come off like that) and several Season 1 episodes, particularly a swarm of Bajoran episodes, bored people to tears and drove them away, never to return, or not returning til Seasons 2, 3, 4, or with the DVDs or Spike TV's run of DS9.


DS9's ratings would have gone down in its last few seasons no matter what it did because of the rise of cable (it still should have gotten the best weekend time slots in syndication though along with Hercules & Xena). So, I don't think it's a matter of breathing room. Heck, if it was "breathing room", Voyager was the one that needed it (I say that as someone that really likes VOY). It had weak ratings and except for "Scorpion" as a season finale and some season premieres, those non-loyal viewers had zero inclination to tune in for the season finales. DS9 got big rating bumps (despite airing in mid-late June) for 3 of its season finales (both DS9 & VOY got a bump to form a hill with their finale, TNG got a mountain), whereas people had no interest at all to catch the cliffhangers in "Basics", "Equinox", or "Unimatrix Zero" (Seven, in a dress... Borg... cliffhanger... and people didn't tune in?), plus "Hope and Fear". And all those finales aired in late May, in the midst of sweeps. DS9 got bumps for "The Adversary", "Broken Link", "Call to Arms", but as noted with "The Jem 'Hadar", it was flat, and "Tears of the Prophets" was beaten in the ratings by "Profit and Lace", "His Way", and every other S6 ep people savagely revile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DS9 looks like it tried to draw in an audience. Notice where "The Jem 'Hadar" is, mid June 1994, just a few weeks after TNG's big finale in late May. That episode has the Odyssey, a Galaxy class starship, and uses it as a redshirt ship to show the power and danger of the Dominion. It was in the prime position to say "see everyone new tuning in looking for Trek to watch, we can have action, intrigue. We can be not boring", but it had crappy ratings (2nd lowest of Season 2) and its reairing in Sept 1994 was the lowest rated broadcast of the series until March 1996! People missed that episode, "The Search" lost about 1/8th its audience between part I-II. In spite of the new elements and the intrigue, ex-viewers & casual viewers & on the fence viewers just weren't sticking.

I think whatever hard to hold audience TNG managed to hold, DS9 failed to hold them with the nightmare that was Season 1. That was their chance; Season 1 had the high ratings, but had a very high bleed (like VOY S1) because the episodes turned people off (not "Captive Pursuit" though). It just be we're chasing illusions, that TNG had a status beyond other Star Treks, an appeal in itself, and the number of fans of Star Trek itself was smaller, and DS9 got that audience, VOY got less of them.

I have wondered about why so many people tuned out. The gradual bleed seems to indicate those numbers were inflated, that in all the debate about casual viewers and loyal viewers, we missed that there are, let's call them "captive viewers", viewers who aren't dedicated fans but when they're watching tv at that time, will watch DS9 because it's mildly interesting to them. When these viewers got cable, they bled away because they suddenly could find something on, oh about 60-70 channels back then, or could spend the hour drifting, flipping through all the channels (tuning out on the gamble/hope of finding something they might like more than DS9). When DS9 got pre-empted for sports, common in springtime (baseball), they weren't loyal enough to take note of the special day/time and catch the episode, thus the spring slump the show always had (at least that's my guess to its cause). I think back before cable became big, a lot of shows were relying on captive viewers for a big ratings boost on top of the loyal viewers and the ever fickle, ever fleeting casual viewers.

 

[MacLeod]

The first 2 seasons were generally mediocre writing and non memorbale episodes. Only from season 3 did it really take off, but by then a lot of audience would be turned off to giving it a go. Who would remember someone they never watched?

As opposed to S1-2 of TNG, if I had to compare just those two seasons DSN would win on balance, and TNG didn't hit it's stride until S3. ENT was beginning to hit it's stride around S3 as for VOY it began to hit it's peak around S3 as well.

 

[Distorted Humor]

TNG was a institution, I know a lot of other people in there 30's and 40's who watched TNG as there was nothing else on, it was family friendly, mostly unoffensive, and it had charm. I mean, it had Data, troi in a catsuit (back when this was unheard of), mr. Reading Rainbow (people forget that reading rainbow was VERY popular back in the day). I know tons of people who never watch science fiction but if it is TNG they will smile and go "I remember watching this". TNG was a home run that somehow attracted non-trek fans to watch it. Perhaps it was due to the fact that for a lot of viewers, even cable, you had your 4 broadcast networks, your independent ones showing TNG and Baywatch, ESPN,TBS showing braves games,WGN playing Cubs games, TNN, PBS, and A&E as "things to watch".

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Not enough of the people who sampled the show liked it well enough to stick with it; it's not more complicated than that.

 

[Harvey]

Not enough of the people who sampled the show liked it well enough to stick with it; it's not more complicated than that.

It's probably a little more complicated than that. A more fractured audience than when Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered and a less ideal time slot certainly seem likely contributing factors. But, yes, simply put, not enough people who sampled the show stuck with it.

 

[moriluk]

I am only in season 3 so my opinion my change.

I think you mostly nailed it. T&A and setting. But it is also lacking memorable characters (remember, we are not talking about hard core star trek fans but rather average viewers).

All star treks use T&A. TOS had lots of sexy 60's girls/aliens. NG had it's moments. Voyager (I am sure it has been discussed here ad nauseum). Enterprise. But not as much (so far) on DS9.

Setting. A space station. I am already bored. & the new factions are not so interesting either. Yes, I know the Nazis...er I mean the Roman Empire...er..I mean the Cardassians were really bad people. Hey, did Kira ever mention the occupation?

The characters are just not as memorable. The average person (even one who hates star trek) knows Kirk, Spock, Picard, Data, Worf, & Seven of Nine. But here there is not so much. Sisko somewhat stands out. He is your typical bad ass black man; deep voice, takes no crap, gets things done, doesn't lose fights, etc. The rest are ok if you are a hard core star trek fan, but nothing really stands out.

 

[JimCanuck]

Some fans loved the darkness, they (mistakenly?) think it made the series "realistic." What I saw were people making a series of poor moral choices. James Kirk made hard choices and never lost himself in the process. Ben Sisko gradually lost himself through the years, he never pulled back from his various compromises. Each compromise was reasonabe in of itself, but they built up. I want to be able to look up to the series lead, it got to the point I couldn't do this with Sisko.

Well that is just the thing, Sisko isn't a robot, he is a human, humans make decisions and have to live with them. Picard might as well have been replaced by a robot like Data and it would have made no real difference over all. The series just showed that the Federation was perfect and nothing could change that. In reality nothing is prefect and no matter how much you try to pull the wool over your own eyes, the world, and by extension in SF the galaxy is not a friendly place nor will it ever be.

What makes Sisko a leader, and a better one at that then Picard is that he can make the choices he knows need to be made whether or not they are agreeable with his moral beliefs.

In episodes like "In the pale moonlight" you see Sisko take actions he was raised, and trained to think are wrong and should not be taken. But he does it anyways, why you might as, because he is a leader, he has a entire space station to think about, and he knows that if the Dominion pass his little out of the way Station, the rest of the Federation is not prepared for war. This episode by the way got one of the highest reviewer ratings then any other Star Trek Series because of it.

But in the end, Sisko still was able to sleep at night, knowing the war was over, he refused to drink over the bodies of his enemies because, the monster that lives in war, can be bottled up inside and hidden away in peace time. Which shows the true test of character, if your willing to do the wrong thing for the right reasons in extreme situations, just to be able to go home afterwards and go back to believing in your morals and ethics without remorse over what happened.

TNG, the Federation was at war (hot and cold) with the Cardassians though out the series run, but the show didn't dwell on the war, even though entire episodes were devoted to the war, not entire seasons. The Dominion were the latest evil group. they really had no reasonable point of view. If the Dominion had had a truly legitimate grievance against the Federation, well it would have made the whole war thing less tiresome for many.

DS9 and ENT kind of pushed away from the notion that everything is prefect and everyone is happy, that people have to do things they are not proud of to keep the rest of the people asleep quietly in bed.

At the end of the day, while places like Earth which are isolated from the rest of the galaxy, might seem like paradise there will always be areas of war and conflict, starvation and greed, that will be at the boarders of any Federation or country out there.

Star Trek mentions war, shows small engagements of a handful of ships, but never really shows the decisiveness of full scale war between enemies who control hundreds of worlds. Until DS9 that is, and that in itself makes the series a great one. It would be like watching the news, about how great the developed world is, and skipping even considering that the 3rd world exists.

I hate to quote Sloan, but he was right, and in time DS9's cast started to realize just how right he was as their own moral values and beliefs were challenged as they attempted to bring victory over the Dominion.

"The Federation needs men like you, doctor. Men of conscience. Men of principle. Men who can sleep at night... You're also the reason Section Thirty-One exists -- someone has to protect men like you from a universe that doesn't share your sense of right and wrong."

With TNG at times it seems everyone stayed single, played it safe with words, and seemed as if their lives were defined only by their jobs and roles.

Well that is just it, the whole crew was part of the show, it was not about bits and pieces of stories but one continuous story spread over 7 seasons in the end with DS9. Which actually made it a "series".

TNG on the other hand, watch any one episode and it is its own 45 minute mini-movie. Just like TOS, and Voyager was not much better, sure it was the same common goal, but it was structured to the point that no more then a handful of episodes really followed or referenced each other. Which makes it a bunch of mini-series at best strung together. Which in the end is rather dull.

Jim

 

[DevilEyes]

I am only in season 3 so my opinion my change.

I think you mostly nailed it. T&A and setting. But it is also lacking memorable characters (remember, we are not talking about hard core star trek fans but rather average viewers).

All star treks use T&A. TOS had lots of sexy 60's girls/aliens. NG had it's moments. Voyager (I am sure it has been discussed here ad nauseum). Enterprise. But not as much (so far) on DS9.

Jadzia, Kira, Leeta, later Ezri. As far as women go.

Setting. A space station. I am already bored. & the new factions are not so interesting either. Yes, I know the Nazis...er I mean the Roman Empire...er..I mean the Cardassians were really bad people. Hey, did Kira ever mention the occupation?

The characters are just not as memorable. The average person (even one who hates star trek) knows Kirk, Spock, Picard, Data, Worf, & Seven of Nine. But here there is not so much. Sisko somewhat stands out. He is your typical bad ass black man; deep voice, takes no crap, gets things done, doesn't lose fights, etc. The rest are ok if you are a hard core star trek fan, but nothing really stands out.

Sisko, Kira, Odo, Quark, Garak, Dukat, Weyoun, O'Brien, Winn... DS9 had the highest number of memorable and interesting characters out of any Trek show.

 

[lurok]

Sisko, Kira, Odo, Quark, Garak, Dukat, Weyoun, O'Brien, Winn... DS9 had the highest number of memorable and interesting characters out of any Trek show.

memorable and interesting, but more subtle/less stereotypical. Only saw DS9 after VOY/TOS, but I can see why audiences might have had trouble. You really have to watch most (if not all of) series to get a full picture of these characters: esp, Garak, Odo, Dukat and Winn (Kira, Quark, Weyoun and O'Brien less so but they all have their own series-based character development). If you didn't watch through all series, there's a lot you'll miss, which you wouldn't necessarily with the other Trek series (esp TOS, VOY, TNG to an extent and prob ENT - which to me is closest to DS9)

 

[ReadyAndWilling]

These international deals were essential to the US success or failure of TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT.

really?

 

[Photon]

1) Hang out w/Chief O and Bashir
2) Play practical jokes on Kai Win
3) Play some of Quarks games and holosuites
4) Try to get in Jadzia's pants (preWorf of course)

 

[JimCanuck]

Jadzia wouldn't mind to see you try and defeat Worf in a battle for her heart. After all her character is way too interested in Klingon culture not to take a new husband.

Jim

 

[DeepSpaceWine]

All star treks use T&A. TOS had lots of sexy 60's girls/aliens. NG had it's moments. Voyager (I am sure it has been discussed here ad nauseum). Enterprise. But not as much (so far) on DS9.

Seven did not have a significant effect on the ratings. "Scorpion, Part II" was high, though "Scorpion" was VOY's "Best of Both Worlds" and "Scorpion" had high ratings (relative to Season 3), and Seven only appeared in Part 2. The only eps with boosted ratings were Part 2 & "The Gift". After that, ratings returned to normal and continued the slide down.

And "Favorite Son" was a very TOS-esque episode, though when DS9 went TOS-esque, it was "Trials and Tribble-ations".

 

[Sadara]

Well on a simpler note, I was a teenager when DS9 first showed up and to me it didn't feel like Star Trek at first because it was set on a space station and not a starship. How could it be Trek if they weren't exploring anything?

That said, I stuck with it and liked it much better once the Dominion was brought in. Now DS9 is my second favorite series behind TOS and Damar is my favorite character in Trek period. Deep Space has a great deal going for it in terms of plot and character development. An excellent series that had a great deal to say.