Should DS9 have continued on after season 7?

[Shazenab]

No. It ended perfectly .

Perhaps the best ending in trek history, besides The Next Generation. Both series, as it happens left us with the most questions.

I tend to love shows that don't patronise their audience with a definitive end. The conclusions you create are far better than anything a writer can portray.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Yes...and no.

Some of you folks may remember a thread I'd posted some time back, on my ideas for a what-might-have-been Season 8.

Basically, I'd advocated expanding the entire final arc of 7, expanding it to also encompass 8, slowing down the pace a bit, so that more, if not all, of the loose ends would be tied up.

But hey--the more Ezri, the better.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

No, I think they told their story well in seven years and it shouldn't have been dragged out unless there had been MAJOR changes, such as the Dominion winning the war, most of the existing main characters getting killed, and the show changing to Star Trek: Resistance largely with a new cast. But that wouldn't have been DS9. It would have been a spinoff series with a stronger-than-usual tie to the originating series.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Yes...and no.

Some of you folks may remember a thread I'd posted some time back, on my ideas for a what-might-have-been Season 8.

Basically, I'd advocated expanding the entire final arc of 7, expanding it to also encompass 8, slowing down the pace a bit, so that more, if not all, of the loose ends would be tied up.

But hey--the more Ezri, the better.

That's sort of how I feel about things. (Including the Ezri bit, I admit.) I think one more season would have been completely fine, and slowing down and extending the final arc would have been terrific.

I'm still quite pleased with the final product though. It's just that things like the events of "The Changing Face of Evil" could have served to set up a very dark, intriguing eighth season in which the Alliance gives its everything for a tug-of-war with the Dominion before finally taking the lead.

Oh, and more on the Breen.

 

[CobraCommander]

I believe that DS9 had a full and great seven season run. In Season 7, they had some of the greatest battle scenes and great storylines. The last episode of the series tied up many loose ends and gave Sisko a fantastic send off. I feel that more seasons would have drained the show into a burnt shell that we would all look back to with scorn. For example, JAG lasted for 8-9 seasons but lost its spark after Season 7. I don't think many people even know how it ended (including myself). Cobra

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Hm, I guess the final arc could be expanded into one season with more detail and stuff, and the next season (the ninth season) would be an epilogue for those that stayed behind. I'd have Sisko, Kira, Bashir, Dax, Quark, Garak and O'Brien on the station still, but with showing how O'Brien and Garak will (respectively) eventually leave. And the ninth season could show the consequences of the war for both Cardassia and the Federation, but also Bajor's entry into the Federation, at which point Sisko would meet his destiny and face Dukat once and for all.

Just my two cents.

To add, I do like how the show is, btw. I don't mean to say its not good - its my favorite Trek show. I just wish it could have been extended a bit, just to be even more perfect. Though, I must admit, I did find Sisko's exit a tad ridiculous.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Yes...and no.

Some of you folks may remember a thread I'd posted some time back, on my ideas for a what-might-have-been Season 8.

Basically, I'd advocated expanding the entire final arc of 7, expanding it to also encompass 8, slowing down the pace a bit, so that more, if not all, of the loose ends would be tied up.

But hey--the more Ezri, the better.

That's sort of how I feel about things. (Including the Ezri bit, I admit.) I think one more season would have been completely fine, and slowing down and extending the final arc would have been terrific.

I'm still quite pleased with the final product though. It's just that things like the events of "The Changing Face of Evil" could have served to set up a very dark, intriguing eighth season in which the Alliance gives its everything for a tug-of-war with the Dominion before finally taking the lead.

Yep. I always thought that the final sequence of "Changing Face..." would have been an EXCELLENT season finale.

Oh, and more on the Breen.

[breenspeak]5498192325421495084598702!!![/breenspeak]

("Agreed!")

 

[Too Much Fun]

I vote yes, only because I hate how Sisko ended up. They wouldn't even need a full season to fix that...a mini series or even just a single episode could do the trick. There are a lot of things that bothered me about the series finale, but the only lasting result that left a bad taste in my mouth was the vagueness of what happened to Sisko. I would have liked a follow-up just to establish once and for all that he's either dead or comes back to be with his new family unit. Same goes for "Nemesis" and all that Data nonsense.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

The original take on things was that Sisko was going to be stuck in the Celestial Temple forever. When he's told earlier in the season that pursuing marriage with Yates would bring only sorrow, this clicks a lot more. It adds greater finality, too.

Avery Brooks, however, felt that the undertones of a black man leaving his pregnant black wife were bothersome and he didn't feel particularly comfortable with the ending, simply because of the racial issues. So the writers honored his request to alter things and instead, we get the more open-ended dialogue.

I don't mind either way, but 'you shall know only sorrow' doesn't really... eh.

 

[MikeS]

Sisko's fate seemed pretty clear to me.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Alright, perhaps a poor word choice. The point is, his eternal placement in the Celestial Temple seems to click a bit more with the statement that he would know 'only sorrow' if he married Kasidy, or at least the Prophets' belief that he would. Being able to go back a year later, or 'yesterday', or whenever... doesn't seem terribly sorrowful to me.

SISKO: "This is depressing, but also really cool. Keep the lights on for me, baby, 'cause I'll come back eventually. Know only sorrow? More like, learn a bunch of neat party tricks to impress the neighbors during our inevitable dinner parties!"

 

[Roberta Lincoln]

I think another season would be like the last season of Babylon 5 -- many people didn't like the post-war/reconstruction. Still, if they had made it, I would have watched it!

 

[Cepstrum]

I would've liked it to go another few seasons, focus on the aftermath of the war, rebuilding Cardassian (especially interesting if close-by Bajor was a key helper!), a conclusion of the Bajoran political situation (either joining or not joining the UFP),

and *most* importantly, delaying the start of my beloved VOY until it was ready and SFX/CGI had improved and dropped in cost!

But I do think DS9 was wrapped up nicely, and I can understand both the tight-knit writers and actors could be burned out. I doubt they'd even be up for a later direct-to-video movie miniseries.


And I *don't* think I'd like these later DS9 seasons if they brought in a new writing team, recast many of the actors, etc., which they'd probably have to do because of burn-out as well as the ever-increasing salaries needed to pay key veterans.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Cepstrum, you cite delaying Star Trek: Voyager as part of your rationale, but that show began in DS9's third season, so... I'm not sure I follow. What do you mean?

 

[Cepstrum]

Ooops. I guess I was wrong about which season DS9 was in when VOY began.

And I wasn't clear; I'd just been discussing VOY. One of the things some VOY fans regret is that UPN forced Berman, Taylor, and Piller to create and start VOY in 1995 when they wanted to hold off for several years.

So in my ideal world, DS9 would run from 1992 to about 2000 or 2002. Then VOY would start near its end, say in 2000. That way we'd have gotten both way better SFX and allowed the producers more time to focus on developing VOY, like they wanted.

(Still, I remain a committed VOY fan. It's what got me into Trek!)


Sorry for being unclear, Jeff O'Connor. My fault.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

No problemo, my friend. I get what you mean. Since coming to this site for the first time, I've learned more tidbits about my favorite franchise than I can even recall offhand. The thing about Voyager is one of them.

A shame that what happened, happened. I don't remember disliking the show, though. It still turned out okay, but I can see where that hiatus would have helped.

 

[Cepstrum]

No problemo, my friend. I get what you mean. Since coming to this site for the first time, I've learned more tidbits about my favorite franchise than I can even recall offhand. The thing about Voyager is one of them.

A shame that what happened, happened. I don't remember disliking the show, though. It still turned out okay, but I can see where that hiatus would have helped.

You're very gracious. I *love* VOY; it's the only show I own a few DVD seasons of. And it kind of introduced me to Trek.

My principal regret about the timing is that there could've been far cheaper, better, CGI SFX had they waited. They had to start with expensive models then switch to rather primitive and expensive CGI.

 

[flemm]

I do think there were plenty of storylines and lots of creative energy left in the show, so hypothetically, sure, a season 8 could have been a lot of fun.

That said, I'm pretty happy with the DS9 we have, and many of the stories and character arcs were tied together beautifully, so I don't really find myself regretting that the show ended when it did.

A show can get canceled early, or run on too long, or it can say what it has to say, then leave the stage before it peeters out or becomes stale. DS9 definitely falls into the latter category as far as I'm concerned, which means seven seasons was probably enough.

 

[DS9 Gal AZ]

I don't think we needed another season. I didn't want the show to go all X-Files, on me, i.e., limp on for two more sucky seasons without major cast members. That being said, a tv movie/special in which Sisko returns to his family would have been cool.