I started this in another thread and it wasn't on-topic so I thought I'd give this forum a chance to chew on it, add to it, challenge it, and generally have some fun with the questions and themes of Deep Space Nine.
Deep Space Nine does not establish the Star Trek universe. The Trek universe is of a colorless, nationless, egalitarian Starfleet that attempts to learn what it can about the life-forms that it encounters and provides aid and support to all aliens. This is found in Star Trek (along with a competent and valued crew in the Original Series) and in Star Trek: The Next Generation (which emphasized Starfleet more as pacifists, re: respect for life). It is important to know the Trek universe for Deep Space Nine to stand out.
DS9 puts the Star Trek universe in danger. We take on a peace mission with the Bajoran people, who have responded from years of war and occupation in a very peaceful way, and in doing so, have gained attention for potentially becoming a member of the Federation. In many ways we prop up the government with Starfleet's military strength. The Cardassians do not dare try to re-conquer Bajor and we are able to act as mediators for potential internal conflict. Part of their peaceful approach is their religion and the strength, leadership, and morals it brought to their people during a time when they lived on fighting for their freedom alone. They gain political relevance by finding the Wormhole--a gateway to an unexplored region of space located in Bajoran territory. Still, the young government and the potential power that the religious leaders could gain are a source of conflict and therefore drama in the first few seasons.
Despite the Bajorans laying down their weapons, there's also hatred for the former oppressors. Major Kira Nerys is a big part of this. She hates not just Gul Dukat, who oversaw the Occupation of Bajor, and the military leaders of the Government. She thinks all Cardassians are responsible and the race is generally evil. It even calls for her to side with the Maquis, a separatist sect of the Federation, unhappy with the Cardassian-Federation Peace Treaty that reminds Kira of her own past as a résistance fighter. She survived on her hatred, but now there's really no place for it on the station. This softens in the later seasons, but at the beginning of the series, she is a bigot. It is necessary for membership for Bajor and Cardassia to heal the wounds of the Occupation.
Enter the Dominion. I alluded to this earlier, but the Founders and the Bajorans have much in common. They both have been mistreated in the universe and have responded in very different ways. The Founders, shape-shifters, now are xenophobes that genetically engineer "solids" to do their dirty work. They have no respect for them. They do not value their lives. They are to do the Founders bidding and that's it. Yet, their vows of allegiance have led to a culture of seeing the Founders as gods. The series has given us a dark Bajor, an understandable enemy (like Ben Sisko towards Picard, Kira Nerys towards Cardassians) that had appeared in alternate timelines (TNG's Parallels, the DS9 alternate universe).
Meanwhile, the Federation has been put in the same situation the Bajorans faced with the Cardassians. If they lose this war, they will be resistance fighters against the enslavement of the Dominion. They face several moral dilemmas because of this conflict. First, they are told not to come through the "gateway." Will they continue to explore? Second, they are told the Founders are "everywhere." How will they defend themselves when the Dominion threat becomes real in the Alpha Quadrant? Third, because Alpha Quadrant powers are aligning with the Dominion, should we start a war now before they have us surrounded? And finally, what is the larger moral imperative: to end the war fast and restore our way of life (respecting life, exploring, etc.) or keeping our morals, prolonging the war, and risk that we may end up losing? In the end, elements of the Federation make a moral decision to attempt genocide of the Founders. It ends the war. They make a similar choice the Bajorans made by committing to just ending the war because they were not strong enough to face them and defeat them. The most successful missions, like hitting the Ketrecel White facility in the Alpha Quadrant, were essentially covert ops or terrorist activities. We became the Bajorans during this threat. So what will we do in the aftermath of committing genocide? We never got an answer to that question. It is relevant because the Federation has violated their morals. Will they return to center or not? That's the question I wanted answer.
All of this is interesting to me because the series is so different from the rest of Trek. It has a purpose and does it well. It asks interesting and relevant questions. I didn't look at it like this when it first aired. It took living through the threat of international terrorism from al Qaeda for the material to deepen for me.
So what do you all think were the relevant questions posed by Deep Space Nine?
Deep Space Nine does not establish the Star Trek universe. The Trek universe is of a colorless, nationless, egalitarian Starfleet that attempts to learn what it can about the life-forms that it encounters and provides aid and support to all aliens. This is found in Star Trek (along with a competent and valued crew in the Original Series) and in Star Trek: The Next Generation (which emphasized Starfleet more as pacifists, re: respect for life). It is important to know the Trek universe for Deep Space Nine to stand out.
DS9 puts the Star Trek universe in danger. We take on a peace mission with the Bajoran people, who have responded from years of war and occupation in a very peaceful way, and in doing so, have gained attention for potentially becoming a member of the Federation. In many ways we prop up the government with Starfleet's military strength. The Cardassians do not dare try to re-conquer Bajor and we are able to act as mediators for potential internal conflict. Part of their peaceful approach is their religion and the strength, leadership, and morals it brought to their people during a time when they lived on fighting for their freedom alone. They gain political relevance by finding the Wormhole--a gateway to an unexplored region of space located in Bajoran territory. Still, the young government and the potential power that the religious leaders could gain are a source of conflict and therefore drama in the first few seasons.
Despite the Bajorans laying down their weapons, there's also hatred for the former oppressors. Major Kira Nerys is a big part of this. She hates not just Gul Dukat, who oversaw the Occupation of Bajor, and the military leaders of the Government. She thinks all Cardassians are responsible and the race is generally evil. It even calls for her to side with the Maquis, a separatist sect of the Federation, unhappy with the Cardassian-Federation Peace Treaty that reminds Kira of her own past as a résistance fighter. She survived on her hatred, but now there's really no place for it on the station. This softens in the later seasons, but at the beginning of the series, she is a bigot. It is necessary for membership for Bajor and Cardassia to heal the wounds of the Occupation.
Enter the Dominion. I alluded to this earlier, but the Founders and the Bajorans have much in common. They both have been mistreated in the universe and have responded in very different ways. The Founders, shape-shifters, now are xenophobes that genetically engineer "solids" to do their dirty work. They have no respect for them. They do not value their lives. They are to do the Founders bidding and that's it. Yet, their vows of allegiance have led to a culture of seeing the Founders as gods. The series has given us a dark Bajor, an understandable enemy (like Ben Sisko towards Picard, Kira Nerys towards Cardassians) that had appeared in alternate timelines (TNG's Parallels, the DS9 alternate universe).
Meanwhile, the Federation has been put in the same situation the Bajorans faced with the Cardassians. If they lose this war, they will be resistance fighters against the enslavement of the Dominion. They face several moral dilemmas because of this conflict. First, they are told not to come through the "gateway." Will they continue to explore? Second, they are told the Founders are "everywhere." How will they defend themselves when the Dominion threat becomes real in the Alpha Quadrant? Third, because Alpha Quadrant powers are aligning with the Dominion, should we start a war now before they have us surrounded? And finally, what is the larger moral imperative: to end the war fast and restore our way of life (respecting life, exploring, etc.) or keeping our morals, prolonging the war, and risk that we may end up losing? In the end, elements of the Federation make a moral decision to attempt genocide of the Founders. It ends the war. They make a similar choice the Bajorans made by committing to just ending the war because they were not strong enough to face them and defeat them. The most successful missions, like hitting the Ketrecel White facility in the Alpha Quadrant, were essentially covert ops or terrorist activities. We became the Bajorans during this threat. So what will we do in the aftermath of committing genocide? We never got an answer to that question. It is relevant because the Federation has violated their morals. Will they return to center or not? That's the question I wanted answer.
All of this is interesting to me because the series is so different from the rest of Trek. It has a purpose and does it well. It asks interesting and relevant questions. I didn't look at it like this when it first aired. It took living through the threat of international terrorism from al Qaeda for the material to deepen for me.
So what do you all think were the relevant questions posed by Deep Space Nine?
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