If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done differently?

[Jadzia]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

Make the Bajorans more normal.

Huh?

Of all the alien races, they Bajorans are arguably the most human.

With most alien races, there are some biological or cognitive differences which makes them interesting, and makes some interesting storylines, but the Bajorans don't. So their only potential to be an interesting race is through their back-story and culture:

-- Their back-story with the cardassian occupation is fine, but I got tired of hearing those references to it after the first three seasons.

-- I found their culture simply uninteresting. Their politics and ritual stuff is all tied up with their religion, which is inaccessible enough to make it difficult to relate to them.

So all in all, they just come across to me as humans who are not normal.

 

[Judas Ascendant]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

I would've settled the war with a good old fashioned food fight.

Also there would have been more breakdance fighting, especially between the Klingons and the Jem'Hadar.

"Victory on the dancefloor is life!"

"Today is a good day for you to get served."

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

^

I would have actually done more with Sisko's getting over Jennifer in the first few seasons. Maybe even see Picard more and see how the two got on over the years.

The Dominion War should not have ended just like that. It should have continued, but be on the wane, with the Dominion clearly beginning the retreat. The Sisko's story, of course, would have ended at the right moment. But maybe some additional foreshadowing included, with The Sisko appearing thorughout the series giving out enigmatic messages to our heroes. (Yes, it's easy to do that with hindsight, the producers may not have foreseen where the show was heading so early on.)

I also agree that the occupation of DS9 shold have lasted the whole of that season, complete with new opening titles and stuff.

I think Dukat and Winn should have had their roles reversed, continuing Dukat's moral ambiguity from previous years before tarring him with the religious nut black-hat guy. Winn on the other hand should remain an evil, evil bitch with no hope for redemption. Just sayin'...
And make Dukat's first name "Ravescene". Just to annoy the fans.

Get a proper resident Starfleet captain in command of the USS Defiant, complete with a full crew. The Captain of course should be someone who runs a strict and tight ship and takes no guff from anyone, not even Sisko. Essentially Gordon Ramsay in space. Played by Sean Bean.

One of the series regulars should have left to join the USS Voyager. Maybe a minor annoying character who contributed little to the series by that point, but who had the most potential for character growth given time, and who would fit in with a starship dynamic rather than a rusty Cardassian station. [Insert punchline here]

I also agree we should have a regular Romulan on the station. But it should be Senator Vreenak.

Get more Dax hosts. Yes, I did prefer Jadzia over Ezri (who didn't? [[several hands raised] - everyone]), but we needed more old men and women as well as young ones, just to make things interesting. So what if it means Dax becomes the Kenny McCormick of the Star Trek Universe? The Dominion could use this as a cunning plan to eventually wipe out the whole population of the Trill homeworld.

More franchise shops on the Promenade! Surely Starbucks wil survive into the 24th Century? How about a Sports Locker? Greggs the Bakers? Woolworths? (They'll be bought up by a Ferengi consortium this century... just you wait. )

Give Vic Fontaine a holographic rock'n'roll rival which he must compete with. Played by Rick Astley.

More of Meaney's Moobs. [NO! - someone]

Bring back TNG's Gul Macet!

The DS9 Holiday Special. Starring Morn and his family. You can work out the rest by yourself.

 

[PheonixRising]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

The degeneration of Dukat from a complex flawed character who believed he was acting in the best interest of his people, to an evil two dimensional villian really took something away from the show. DS9 prided itself on its 'shades of grey' and yet after all the character development done with Dukat, he was reduced to an evil shell. It was kind of a cop out. I recall in one of the 'behind the scenes' books that the producers thought Dukat was too beloved by the audience and people were starting to sympathize with him. I think that was a bit heavy handed. If anything I always thought Dukat was the 'guy I loved to hate.' Very similar to Baltar on BSG.

I also disliked the introduction of Ezri. While I enjoyed her character much more in the novels, because she was introduced in the final season, there were too many episodes that had to be devoted to her development. I wanted more epsidoes devoted to the war and instead precious time was spent developing a new character in the critical final season.

This one is just a nit pick, but Rom as the Nagus seemed totally contrite and unbelievable. It seemed it was throw in there to tie the Ferengi threads of the series into a nice neat bow. It wasnt neccessary.

Saying that, this was all in all a fantastic show.

 

[Myasishchev]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

This one is just a nit pick, but Rom as the Nagus seemed totally contrite and unbelievable. It seemed it was throw in there to tie the Ferengi threads of the series into a nice neat bow. It wasnt neccessary.

Saying that, this was all in all a fantastic show.

I think they really missed the boat by not having the Ferengi take part in the last push into Cardassia.

First, we hadn't seen a marauder in years, since early TNG, and it was a fine looking ship.

Second, you'd think the first thing Starfleet-friendly Nagus Rom would do would be to hire the services of dozens of daimons to assist Starfleet. And, if only for considerations of realpolitik, avenge the Dominion's depredations of their citizens (specifically his moogie).

Third, it's suitably Ferengi to enter a war in the last weeks, for maximum gain and minimum investment. There's probably a rule of acquisition about that somewhere.

In fact, I'd have liked to have seen onscreen all the minor powers said to have rallied behind the Federation, like the Gorn. Just one Gorn on Cardassia Prime, eating a Jem'Hadar.

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

No Pah Wraiths, a lot less Prophets stuff. Less Klingon stuff (maybe more of them as enemies).

Introduce Ezri a LOT earlier, like maybe the beginning of S3.

More MU eps.

 

[MorganScorpion]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

I'm surprised no-one else has said it - I'd have a Garak-Bashir relationship with a happy ending that sees them married, and living on Cardassia.

I'd downplay the Klingons. and reduce the amount of screentime given to the Ferengi. However, when the Ferengi did get screentime, I'd take them seriously. I hate comic-relief aliens.

Jadzia Dax would not die. She wouldn't marry Worf either.

I'd make Odo a better shapeshifter, able to replicate human faces. Also, it seemed weird to me that he was able to change his biomass as well as his appearance.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

I'm surprised no-one else has said it - I'd have a Garak-Bashir relationship with a happy ending that sees them married, and living on Cardassia.

Sure, why not.

BTW: Since Ezri would be available, can I have her for Christmas?

 

[Norrin Radd]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

I think the show should've ended with Bajor gaining full Federation membership. I thought that was kind of the point of the show from the very beginning.

The Pah-Wraith thing was poorly done. They were built up as the biggest threat, but I took them much less seriously than I did the Dominion.

Dukat and Kai Winn. Just plain wrong.

Not a big fan of Ezri at ALL.

 

[Annorax]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

- More of Sisko getting over Jennifer's death
- Bring in Vic Fontaine earlier in the series, give him a real casino to compete with Quark's and a mobile emitter based on The Doctor's (surely O'Brien could come up with something after hearing it's possible)
- Either don't the large war and do something smaller, with far less of a Dominion presence trapped in the AQ after the wormhole is mined, or do the large war effort right, with Sisko being promoted to rear admiral early in season six, turning command of the station over to Kira, and running the entire Ninth Fleet from DS9 with no Ross or Nechayev to get in the way
- Have Rom not discover Quark's fooling with the holosuite during Nog's Academy admission tests, causing Nog to work even harder to get Sisko to give him one more shot a year later
- Permanent Romulan presence on the Defiant, probably T'Rul
- Lose the entire Dukat and Winn pseudo-romance storyline and replace it with him killing her early on so that Bajor can struggle with the war effort and electing a new Kai at the same time. Possibly resolve the issue with Opaka returning in the last episode.
- No fucked up Rapture storyline that keeps Bajor out of the Federation. Replace with the growing pains of merging the Militia into Starfleet and Odo being conflicted about whether to accept a Starfleet commission.
- Bring Ezri onto the station early in season six, unjoined, as a brand new assistant counselor straight out of Starfleet Medical. Have her develop a bit of a crush on Bashir, and develop the relationship until Jadzia dies, Ezri happens to be the only Trill on the station, and Sisko's fleet has no ships that can manage the trip to Trill fast enough to save the symbiont. Ezri trying to figure out whether she actually wants to be joined would be a funny episode.
- Mirror Universe episodes should've had Smiley's rebellion be part of a Vulcan-based resistance movement dedicated to re-establishing Spock's nonviolent, reformed Terran Empire. Have primary universe O'Brien occasionally assist Smiley with designing new warships to take up against the Alliance. And for the love of the prophets, don't have Sisko, ANY Sisko, sleeping with Jadzia again.
- End the Dominion War a couple episodes early to deal with the aftermath, show the Female Changeling's war crimes trial and Sisko and Kira testifying against her, then add in the last episode a new Weyoun coming to DS9 to request Allied help with fighting off a Borg invasion of the Gamma Quadrant, leading to a possible movie involving both DS9 and TNG cast members.

 

[DarKush]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

Some things I would've liked to have done on DS9:

-A DS9/Borg episode in Seasons 1-3. I wanted to see Sisko get his revenge against the Borg. It didn't have to be a cube, perhaps a scout ship.

-A little more exploration of the Gamma Quad before the war.

-Showed the Tzenkethi. Maybe made them a secondary villianous group early on in the series.

-Resolution of the Tom Riker storyline. I think it would've been cool to see Kira go rogue or undercover or whatever to rescue Tom Riker.

-Added T'Rul to the cast, as a supporting or recurring character.

-Fleshed out Eddington. I thought initially he was flirting a bit with Kira. I would've expanded on this.

-Didn't mind the Klingon-Federation War, but I would've made it longer and a bit more brutal. I would've had Kurn come onboard, not Worf. Though I liked Worf on DS9 eventually, it took me a while to warm up to him, and I still liked him on TNG because he seemed more unique on there. (However, if Worf had remained onboard, I would've liked a Troi, Worf, Alexander episode, and a couple TNG people should've been at Worf's wedding-Levar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, and Marina Sirtis always seemed eager to return to their roles). Why I would've chosen Kurn though? He's a pretty unexplored character. He's also a culturally 'purer' Klingon and I could see how much more of struggle it would be for him to turn his back on Gowron and to be kicked out of the Empire. Also, the cultural clashes would be more intense.

-Added the Hunters ("Drai") to the Dominion.

-Made the Tholians or Gorn the new allies of the Dominion instead of the Breen. Also, made it clear that the Son'a were also part of the Dominion alliance. Poorly fleshed out villians, but I loved their ships and wanted to see them again.

-Would've killed Jadzia in "Change of Heart."

-Not brought Ezri Dax on as a regular character in Season 7.

-Tied the Pah Wraiths and Dominion more closely together. I thought it would've been better to have Dukat convince the Founder that he could use the Pah Wraiths to open the wormhole, allowing the Dominion ships to come through.

-Would've kept the Dukat/Wynn pairing. But I would've left Dukat a blind "Bajoran" beggar, and Wynn would've gone on to be the anti-Emissary committed to releasing the Pah Wraiths to attack the Celestial Temple.

-The final battle would commence in the Celestial Temple as the Defiant tried to help the Prophets hold off the Pah Wraiths and a Dominion fleet trying to come through.

-Admitted Bajor into the Federation.

 

[Myasishchev]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

^The Son'a: poorly fleshed out villains.

This made me chuckle a bit.

 

[steevo]

Re: If you were the creator of DS9, what would you have done different

As another poster said, I would have pushed for the Ferengi to make that last push into Cardasssia.

Other than that, I am pretty much status quo with how the series unfolded. I thought it was perfectly logical to have the Federation and the Klingon Empire at odds, as this was one of the ways the Dominion were trying to conquer, thus they were near impossible to beat.

Think about it, when the series began, DS9 was a broken down space station, with much distrust among the inhabitants. As the bigger enemy emerged, the Federation, Bajorans, and later the Klingons and even the Romulans found a way to work together to vanquish the Dominion. This, to me is what made DS9 the best Trek (next to TOS, of course).