If you were in charge of DS9...

[Pemmer Harge]

Speaking of Jadzia's death, I'd have ended Tears of the Prophets with it, rather than having Sisko on Earth by the end of the episode. It wasn't a great death as it was, but shifting the focus onto Sisko reduced its impact, in my opinion.

To be honest, though, that's only scratching the surface of the problems with that episode, fairly entertaining though it was.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Everything's clear in hindsight, but if I had my druthers:

- Introduced the Dominion from the start, but actually have Federation-Dominion relations be civil at first and then deteriorate by season four.

- No Mirror Universe.

- No Klingons turning against the Federation. Relations could become strained over how to deal with the Dominion (which would bring about Worf's arrival on the station), but things would not have fallen to the point where the Federation and the Klingons are fighting each other instead of the Dominion.

- More TNG guest stars, including ultimately an appearance by Troi to see how Worf's doing (awkward situation with Jadzia, yes!).

- After Jadzia dies, the next Dax host is a young man (sorry Worf and Julian).

- No Pah-wraiths.

- Dominion War ends during the middle of season seven.

- In the final episode, we see Bajor finally join the Federation; Sisko promoted to admiral and Chief of Bajor Sector Operations; and Kira become a Starfleet captain and take over command of DS9.

 

[Navaros]

- I would never put either Dax character on-screen. Both are absolutely irrelevant and useless to the plot of the show, and Jadzia is inherently annoying in addition.

- I would have removed Bajorans. They too are inherently annoying, with the exception of Kai Winn, who is the only good thing to come out of the whole race.

- I never would have put Keiko O'Brien on-screen, who is always inherently annoying.

- ditto for Ishka/Moogie

- I would not have ruined the Ferengi race by turning them into copies of hewmons.

- I would have developed the wormhole aliens or whatever I replaced them with, rather than leave them as generic talking heads.

- I never would have fubared Dukat

- I would have rewarded Quark in WYLB instead of shafting him by having either his Cardassian or Klingon girlfriend come back to marry him

- No MU episodes.

- No filler episodes at all. If it ain't meaningful Grade AAA Trek, there is no reason to waste precious episode slots on it.

- I would have had a scene to counter the shameful way that Picard was presented as being superior to Sisko in Emissary. This time, Picard would rightly be shown as inferior to Sisko, probably by kneeling in front of Sisko and crying.

- I either wouldn't have had Ziyal, or contracted one and only one actress to play her.

- I would not have wasted alot of Season 4 screentime on a pointless war that went nowhere.

- I would not have tried to retcon in ludicrous nonsense that the earlier episodes do not and cannot possibly support (i.e. Bashir changeling, Martok changeling, Sisko's dead father being alive, etc. etc.).

- I would have developed changeling impersonation angle for alot more than 2 episodes.

- I would have had the Dominion win the war and take over the station in the finale.

- I would have had the Federation condemn the genocide disease and demand that the cure is provided immediately after Bashir found it, regardless of the war being on.

- I would have made Winn (probably in a different incarnation since I'd remove Bajorans), Weyoun, Dukat, and Garak regulars who all constantly receive a ton of screentime.

- I would have introduced the Dominion in the first episode and kept that storyline going til the finale.

- I would have ramped up the serialization to near 100%.

- I would have prevented Odo from having wussy tendencies.

- I would have had Odo and the Founders all be near-unstoppable T-1000-like killing machines who are constantly on the frontlines massacring their enemies with great effectiveness.

- I would not have Sisko abandon his son in the finale, nor lie about returning.

- I would cast an attractive woman instead of Kasidy to be Sisko's girlfriend, probably the one from Season 2 who he fell in love with.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Also, I'd have focused significantly more on Bajor.

 

[carlmarx]

I would've made "Blaze Of Glory" a 2-parter. It wouldve dealt with the Cardassians trying to extradite all Maquis who are prisoners in the Federation, and openly attacking Maquis settlements, so we could actually see that happen.

It would somehow involve both Eddington and Thomas Riker, with Sisko asking for Eddingtons help like the actual episode goes and Kira tracking down Riker, who escaped from prison when the Dominion attack. Both Eddington and Riker would die at the end, in a final scene where the Dominion pwn the Maquis and Sisko is ordered not to get involved and has to watch them all die.

Does any of that make sense? I just was thinking it up today.

 

[carlmarx]

Oh and include the rest of Bajor in the resistance against the Dominion occupation. It wouldve been interesting to see how Weyoun and Dukat together would deal with a Bajor whose government supports the non-agression pact but whose citizens are rising up against them. Would Dukat behave the same way as he did during the Cardy occupation? How would Weyoun react? That may have been of interest.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I most certainly would either eliminate the Mirror Universe episodes, or would rewrite them in very different manner. No silliness, no overacting, no evil bisexuals and evil lesbians. The Intendant would be violent, ruthless and terrifying, but she would be convinced that she is right about what she is doing; she wouldn't be a sex-obsessed hedonistic bisexual narcissist. In other words, she would be someone more believable as an evil version of Kira, rather than a completely different person played by Nana Visitor.

God, yes. The Mirror Universe was the worst thing to happen to DS9.

I mean, for starters, I don't get where a person's sexual orientation would change according to what universe they're in--I mean, that's biology as far as I'm aware, not a matter of choice. Hedonism I could see being a choice...a version of Kira with exclusively male slaves, I could've seen that. But the bisexuality stuff? Only would've made sense if we'd seen evidence of bisexuality in the canon universe.

Which is why I WOULD buy it if we'd seen Garak swing both ways...I think the evidence is there that he was sexually ambiguous. And MAYBE Dax, though it would only make sense with a symbiont she had relations with before, given that symbionts are asexual and DO have feelings for each other regardless of their hosts' genders...I don't think the symbionts even have a concept of sexual orientation. But the feelings of the host get in there too, though, and I think that Jadzia, and Ezri Tigan were heterosexual.

But Kira? Other characters? Sorry...I don't think the evidence is there to make that believable.

BTW...what's interesting is that the person you're describing that YOU would want to see Intendant Kira be like is pretty much a mirror of Prefect Dukat.

That's interesting. I was describing a malevolent, exaggerated version of some of Kira's less pleasant traits. If the 'dark side' of Kira is a bit like Dukat, that would certainly explain some aspects of their relationship.

Personally, I DO think Kira's dark side could've been like Dukat, easily. Dukat, too, is unforgiving (well, except wherever Ziyal's concerned). And Dukat DID definitely commit sexual crimes, so I can see where an Intendant Kira would've had male slaves...not necessarily been ALL about sex to where she couldn't think straight when required, but I could well have seen her trying to do the Dukat trick of convincing some man that he loved her. Basically the same warped psychology Dukat wielded on Meru, except Kira doing it perhaps to Sisko because she wants to be LOVED by her Terran slaves.

What I do see is that she can have quite a temper, she isn't very forgiving, tends to see things in black and white terms, can commit violent and ruthless actions when she thinks she is doing what is right. The person I described is the kind of evil Kira I could imagine. Maybe she could have turned out like that if Bajorans were one of the oppressors and she was taught to despise humans.

Like I said, Intendant Kira would be very much like Prefect Dukat in that case. Boy when Dukat gets it into his head he's doing something right, he does follow it like a religion.

The character of the Intendant would actually make more sense as Mirror Dax . But not Mirror unjoined-Jadzia or Ezri Tigan. Curzon Dax was flamboyant, over-sexed, and loved to enjoy life to the full, and these qualities have seeped into Jadzia Dax in a less extreme, milder form. I could perhaps buy a Mirror Jadzia Dax who would be a malevolent, exaggerated version of Dax who is a total opportunist and hedonist who keeps sex slaves. She may perhaps even be convincingly bisexual, since Dax does not have a gender and has been both male and female.

Yeah, I can see that too. I mean, I always thought that Jadzia's personality started to be overrun by Curzon's after she found the Klingon thing. (Which may be where Ezri got her deep fear from, in addition to the unanticipated joining.) But like I said, it makes sense since symbionts are asexual and may have their own brand of desires that they couple with those of their hosts.

Speaking of Jadzia's death, I'd have ended Tears of the Prophets with it, rather than having Sisko on Earth by the end of the episode. It wasn't a great death as it was, but shifting the focus onto Sisko reduced its impact, in my opinion.

I didn't think that was a problem...I think it was really shocking to end the season with Sisko in THAT bad a state, and made a pretty powerful statement about just how dark things had become.

 

[Braxton]

Personally, I even think there's an argument to be made that "Sacrifice of Angels" should have ended with a dead Odo instead of a dead Ziyal. (Which of course would've made for a VERY dark couple of next seasons, possibly even nuBSG dark in the final chapter. But it would've made sense.)

That would have been interesting to see unfold.

I would've made "Blaze Of Glory" a 2-parter. It wouldve dealt with the Cardassians trying to extradite all Maquis who are prisoners in the Federation, and openly attacking Maquis settlements, so we could actually see that happen.

It would somehow involve both Eddington and Thomas Riker, with Sisko asking for Eddingtons help like the actual episode goes and Kira tracking down Riker, who escaped from prison when the Dominion attack. Both Eddington and Riker would die at the end, in a final scene where the Dominion pwn the Maquis and Sisko is ordered not to get involved and has to watch them all die.

Does any of that make sense? I just was thinking it up today.

I agree completely with this. It would have been a good way to end the Maquis arc. Though I wouldn't have Starfleet order Sisko to not get involved. Instead, I'd have him and the others realize that getting involved would be futile. The fallout from this would be seen over a couple episodes as small remnants of the Maquis flee what used to be the DMZ and get picked up by Starfleet. The political ramifications of the Federation taking in these people and giving them sanctuary while the Cardassians demand they be extradited would have been interesting to see.

 

[Deks]

Although, I will say that I don't necessarily agree that Sisko was an idiot for seeing them as religious figures and potential gods. They certainly were religious figures to the Bajorans, and had the power of gods. Can you honestly say that if you were having the experiences that Sisko was having (SF officer or not), that you would not have a tendency to see them as gods? I most likely would.

What I said earlier (and now in this post) is just my personal opinion on the subject matter:

I don't ascribe to religious aspects, and Sisko had more than enough previous experiences as a SF officer to know the experiences he had with the wormhole aliens were very explainable through scientific aspects.
The aliens in question may have been religious figures to the Bajorans, but they certainly didn't have abilities of 'gods'.

As I said, attributing divine aspects to entities with abilities that presently (or permanently) surpass your own is utterly pointless.
At least it is from my own perspective.

I prefer looking for answers to questions and admitting the unknown is simply that ... the unknown, instead of attributing 'religious' aspects in order to explain things immediately.
Sometimes I have a theory that people like to have an answer to everything in order to avoid being perceived as 'ignorant'.
Not knowing something is hardly a crime, but religion is also not the solution since it doesn't provide detailed answers into how/why things work.

So, no, if I experienced the same things like Sisko did, or even things that surpassed that, I STILL wouldn't attribute them to 'divine' aspects of any kind, because I perceive such aspects to be utterly unintelligible, intellectually degrading and downright primitive.
I would analyse, study what happened, try to find the real answers behind the experiences.
And ultimately, if I came to the conclusion I cannot yet explain how/why it happened, I would simply say it was unexplainable (to me).

Besides, I don't conform to the word or aspect known as 'belief'.
I have theories that are subject to change at any given time, and I don't stop questioning.
I do the same thing with everything that is well established.
Why?
Because I don't deal in absolutes, and know that we are fallible in EVERYTHING we do (even entities with extreme abilities as depicted on Trek did mistakes).

DS9 (like other Trek shows) was written in order to conform to the contemporary audience which is for the most part also religious.
Other shows tended to avoid this issue, but Trek pretty much established that SF and Humans in general surpassed religion as a whole.

Oh ... one more thing.
Since we're on the topic of what we'd do differently for DS9 ...
Upgrade the station much sooner (as in Season 1 to Season 2 perhaps).

 

[Joe Washington]

1. I wouldn't have Sisko forgive Picard so easily at the end of the first episode. I would have let that take some time.
2. Have the first season end with the DS9 crew's first encounter with the Dominion who have been growing annoyed by the number of arrivals in their part of space. The Federation is forced to make an alliance with the Dominion to prevent all-out war between the sides. Under the terms of the alliance, arrivals are allowed to go through the wormhole but while they are in the Gamma Quadrant, they are to be kept a close eye by Dominion forces.
3. The Federation-Dominion alliance falls apart when DS9 discovers that the Founders are planting Changeling spies in the Alpha Quadrant to find weaknesses within the infrastructure of the major AQ powers including the Federation to prepare for the day in which it'll wage aganist the Federation. The Founders had no intention of following through with the alliance. They just pretended so they can gather up useful information.
4. The Federation/Klingon War never happens but the Klingons do butt heads with the Federation when it comes to deciding on ways to deal with the Founders and the Dominion.
5. Sisko's mother being a Prophet or Sisko himself becoming a Prophet never happens.
6. Dax gets a male host instead of another female one in Season 7 but despite the host's gender, Bashir still falls for this Dax. We would have gotten to see a homosexual romance between two male major characters.

 

[Dick1979]

- In the final episode, we see Bajor finally join the Federation; Sisko promoted to admiral and Chief of Bajor Sector Operations; and Kira become a Starfleet captain and take over command of DS9.

I had always thought it would have been a good idea to have Sisko already be a captain at the beginning of the series, then be promoted to admiral at the end of season three. This would IMO have served the series better in that Sisko could make important decisions without having to run it by star fleet every time.

If you think about it, during the first three seasons, Sisko was outrank by every captain of a federation starship that docked at the station.

 

[C.E. Evans]

- In the final episode, we see Bajor finally join the Federation; Sisko promoted to admiral and Chief of Bajor Sector Operations; and Kira become a Starfleet captain and take over command of DS9.

I had always thought it would have been a good idea to have Sisko already be a captain at the beginning of the series, then be promoted to admiral at the end of season three. This would IMO have served the series better in that Sisko could make important decisions without having to run it by star fleet every time.

If you think about it, during the first three seasons, Sisko was outrank by every captain of a federation starship that docked at the station.

I tend to agree, but I think the idea was that DS9 was originally supposed to be a slightly rundown space station of no real strategic importance and the CO position only rated a commander's billet at the time. That changed immediately with the discovery of the wormhole and later first contact with the Dominion, but it took a few years for Starfleet to wake up and promote Sisko to captain.

 

[RandyS]

Three words: Full frontal nudity.

In every scene.

Only for both the Daxes.

 

[ClayHefner]

- scrap MU after the first episode. Alternatively, make the MU stories darker and less humorous. In the MU, Sisko should become what Dukat was in the regular Universe.
- Make the Dominion War only last one season (maybe several years "real time" though) +4-parter conclusion in the next one, leave the final season for something else
- Make the final confrontation between Sisko and Dukat a planetwide conflict
- Sisko survives, Dukat maybe survives
- We see the beginning of change in the Ferg society, not a complete turnaround in less than one year. Why not end on a serious note, with Zek assassinated or exiled and the dreams of a new Ferenginar taking a huge blow.

 

[carlmarx]

I wouldve ended it with the series essentially coming full circle- Bajor would be admitted into the Federation. Sisko would be promoted to Admiral, Kira would be a Starfleet commander now in charge of DS9. Her mission- to help Cardassia rebuild after the Dominion occupation and prepare it for entry into the Federation. Garak would be the Cardassian attache to the Federation and Kira's first officer.

I also wouldve had Damar live. Killing him seemed like the easy way out.

Overall, I think this couldve been accomplished if they ended the war atleast a few episodes before the end of the series.


And as a side note, I wouldve fixed "The Reckoning" to make a little more sense. In "Rapture" and "In The Cards", Kai Winn has faces a serious dilemma in regards her view of Sisko- they even seem to be getting along by the end of s5 somewhat. Then in The Reckoning she does an about face and goes right back into hypocritical bitch mode. To facilitate this better, I wouldve brought back Opaka for that episode. Winn would feel threatened by the return of such a beloved religious figure. But it would turn out Opaka has been brought back as an instrument of the Pagh Wraiths, unbeknownst to to everyone else. She would bring about the reckoning and Winn would stop it. Opaka would die, but not before warning Sisko and Kira that the agh Wraiths would make another attack on the Prophets, using another person as their Emissary. That would turn out to be Dukat. I think that would have made more sense character-wise for Winn, added more of a logical flow to the Pagh Wraith storyline between seasons 6 and 7, and also tied up the Opaka loose end.

 

[DevilEyes]

I wouldve ended it with the series essentially coming full circle- Bajor would be admitted into the Federation. Sisko would be promoted to Admiral, Kira would be a Starfleet commander now in charge of DS9. Her mission- to help Cardassia rebuild after the Dominion occupation and prepare it for entry into the Federation. Garak would be the Cardassian attache to the Federation and Kira's first officer.

I also wouldve had Damar live. Killing him seemed like the easy way out.

Overall, I think this couldve been accomplished if they ended the war atleast a few episodes before the end of the series.

Hmm, I don't think so. I think this would be great material for season 8 if the show were to last that long, but it's too much for just two episodes. The end of the war was a huge thing, there would be no need to diminish its significance by having all those stuff happen right after it, and even the significance of those events would be diminished by having them happen in such a rushed way. And finally, it would just seem too much like "HAPPY ENDING" where everyone is happy and celebrating and the Federation is victorious and everyone loves the Federation and is becoming a part of it... No. Just no. I think it was clear that Bajor will eventually, and probably quite soon (but not a couple of weeks later - something like, say, a year later) become a member of the Federation, so there was no need to actually see it happen. And I also would dislike the implication that the only "happy ending" for Bajor or Cardassia is to become a member/prospective member of the Federation.

Also, I don't like the idea of Garak as the first officer. For starters, he is a civilian, secondly, he has... other skills, this position would be completely wrong.

 

[Deks]

Sisko's anger towards Picard was plain idiotic to begin with.
That's just primitive behaviour on Sisko's end and one of the reasons why I thought that he was a weak character.
Likeable at times, but really an idiot for the most part.

Sisko had no idea that Picards actions at Wolf 359 were not voluntary?
He needed someone to blame?
Blame yourself for bringing your wife and kid along into a battle against an opponent of which you knew by that time would have had everything necessary to potentially finish you off easily, and that they gained that knowledge by force.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The major character changes I would have made:

1. Sisko - His evolution from Starfleet officer to Bajoran religious icon should not have been so smooth. Starfleet should have put their foot down when he advised Bajorans to stay neutral on the advice of some wormhole aliens who, as far as Starfleet knew, were on the Dominion's side. Sisko should have had to fight for his religious evolution within the context of the atheistic Federation.

Also, I really think there needed to be some heavy price to pay for the ass-save the Prophets gave him in Sacrifice of Angels. Something on the order of Jake's death.

2. Dax - From the start, I would have made more of Dax's several lifetimes of knowledge. Dax never seemed special enough. I also like this idea:

Dax gets a male host instead of another female one in Season 7 but despite the host's gender, Bashir still falls for this Dax. We would have gotten to see a homosexual romance between two male major characters.

3. Dukat - The notion that he would become the puppet of the pagh-wraiths conflicts with his depiction as being driven solely by his ego and self-aggrandizement. More likely, he would have made a typically arrogant mistake of thinking he could manipulate the pagh-wraiths against both Feds and Doms and wrangle his way back into power. But he would have never been a true believer in anyone but himself.

It would have been glorious to see Dukat's lunatic levels of egotism shaking things up for everyone! Of course, it's still the fire-caves for him in the end, but he would have died as he lived.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I actually think Dukat DID make exactly the mistake you describe--but his mistake cost him a good measure of his free will and from that point forward he was irrevocably doomed. It's almost like what would've happened if he'd arrogantly thought he could make an ally of the Borg. In a way, it's actually quite ironic for such an egotist to go out that way--so confident in himself that he thought he could withstand the Pah-Wraiths with his will intact, but instead they merged with his personality and in the merger got the upper hand. An egotist dying without true free will...definitely an ironic and almost poetic fate, much like traitors in Dante's Inferno whose souls were taken down to the lake of ice even before their bodies passed away.

 

[EnsignRicky]

I wouldn't have dragged out the Dominion war for thirty seven hyperbolic seasons.