The one thing I do miss with Babylon 5 compared to the various Star Trek shows is location shooting. I know being on a space station, they wouldn't do it as often, but it would have been nice.
Deep Space Nine without Star Trek
- Thread starter Bad Thoughts
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The one thing I do miss with Babylon 5 compared to the various Star Trek shows is location shooting. I know being on a space station, they wouldn't do it as often, but it would have been nice.
They did loads of location shots. Surface of Mars, Centauri Prime, Drazi Honeworld, Narn. Couple of establishing shots on Minbar too, and the Proxima Colonies, from orbit. The whole of the UK stood out in one shot in End Game.
It's difficult to imagine DS9 as not Star Trek because it drew so much from Star Trek mythology. A good deal of everything they did with Klingons, Ferengi and Romulans drew from the knowledge base assumed in the audience from watching TNG.
If DS9 had not been Trek, they would have had to spend more time establishing their own mythology and establishing the basic history of all the races they reference.
If DS9 had not been Trek, they would have had to spend more time establishing their own mythology and establishing the basic history of all the races they reference.
I disagree, it's not necessary for a new Series to establish its mythology right away. And DS9 didn't do that. The prophets, for example, evolved throughout the series and we learned new things even at the very last episode. For example Sisko, at first it really looked like the prophets knew nothing and had to be explained a lot of things about him. But then we learn that Sisko is himself part prophet. His "mother" speaks to him more and more humanely, in the end, she really talks like a mother without the affectation of a prophet. All this tells me that not only did it take the whole series to reveal the prophet's mythology to us, but that mythology changed several times throughout the series.
DS9 established their own mythology about the Cardassians and the Bajorans. They were mentioned in TNG but they weren't major players. But they made very heavy use of what we already knew about the Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans. Not to mention that if TNG hadn't established the Federation as extremely idealistic, it wouldn't have been as big a deal when Sisko did not so idealistic things.
Still, there are some differences between TNG and DS9, even about the Characters themselves. On TNG Worf seems very anxious about matters of honor in the Klingon Empire, he's ready to die to save his family honor. On DS9 he's punished even more than he was on TNG, Gowron takes away everything including his brother's possessions but Worf doesn't care about that and his solution to his brother's problem is a cheat, something TNG Worf would never have agreed to, definitely not the Worf that was ready to die to impose his Klingon tradition among a group of pariahs that didn't seem to want them.
Take a closer look at TNG Worf and DS9 Worf, they're two very different characters. And there are plenty of other details that don't quite fit. Dax' Trill is quite different from the Trill we saw on TNG as another example. DS9 has its own mythology that it doesn't share with other series.
Babylon 5
Regarding Worf on DS9, I think he was written better there than on TNG. He seemed to grow more in season 4 and 5 on DS9 than all 7 years of TNG combined.
I think a lot of it has to do with his position and switch to command. In a leadership role, you have to be able to see more options and anticipate more than when he was in security.
I think a lot of it has to do with his position and switch to command. In a leadership role, you have to be able to see more options and anticipate more than when he was in security.
In some respects, DS9 Worf is the opposite of TNG Worf.
During the second season I actually thought DS9 had potential to be "more Star Trek" than TNG was during its final season. At that time TNG was doing technobabble thrillers and character drama while DS9 was doing more exploring in more ambitious stories. Cults in Paradise. A return to the mirror universe in Crossover. A look at an alien criminal justice system from a human perspective in Tribunal. A real highpoint was The Maquis twoparter which was an in depth look at the ramifications of the Cardassian Federation treaty.
The show evolved and became more of serialized Star Wars epic in the end.
The show evolved and became more of serialized Star Wars epic in the end.
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