30th Anniversary DS9 Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

I lost track of time. The retrospective entries will start soon, but in the meantime let's look at the series bible:


(There will be different optical effects going the opposite direction through the wormhole)

Did this actually happen? I don't think it did. I'm not sure what the "different optical effects" would actually be. A different color?

[The Prophets] have been sending out orb-like probes from the wormhole, one orb every century for a thousand years, seeking contact with other lifeforms.

We only know of five Orbs:

Contemplation-DS9 Bajoran Temple
Prophecy and Change-Bariel's monastery
Emissary-the so-called "tenth Orb", discovered late in the series so it doesn't count for the series bible
Time-Temple of Iponu on Bajor
Wisdom-on Bajor


The expanded universe names the others:
Held by the Obsidian Order until the relaunch novels-Destiny, Souls, Truth, Unity

Memory-lost in space for thirty years until rediscovered in the relaunch novels)
Possibilities-left behind on Cardassia until the Star Trek Online era

Peace-11th, accidentally send to the Gamma Quadrant


And of course the Millennium books reveal that the Pah-Wraiths made three red Orbs, but that's another story.


So after the Occupation Bajor had three, one of which was lent to DS9.



Bajoran terrorism during the last several decades has been a significant problem for the Cardassians.


Whether or not the Resistance counts as "terrorism" is a can of worms I care not to open. I'll only say that I kinda thought that terrorists tend to threaten civilians, and I doubt that there were that many Cardassian civilians in Bajoran space during the Occupation.


The Bajora desperately need help. They have asked for membership in the Federation and have been granted preliminary acceptance. But the political situation on the planet is terribly unstable. Factions that had been united in opposition to Cardassian rule have resumed age old conflicts.


Okay, so "Bajora" doesn't mean proto-Maquis like we all thought, it was an early alternative to "Bajoran" like "Vulcanian." That raises further questions in light of the events of "Ensign Ro", but let's move on.


It's sad to say that although Kira brought up the factional conflict a few times, we never really saw any evidence of that except for the time Winn wanted to steal those reclamators from Shakkar. In fact we saw more religious factional conflict than political factional conflict.

The Starfleet team's mission is to spearhead the arduous diplomatic and scientific efforts that accompany the lengthy entry procedure.



Picard said as much, but I don't recall seeing much of this on display. The diplomats were working offscreen, Sisko's problem was keeping things calm on the station. In fact, it occurs to me that perhaps this role was taken away from Sisko in light of this "Emissary" business. A Starfleet officer can't get much done politically if you're never sure if the Bajorans are agreeing with Captain Sisko or Emissary Sisko.


Due to the turmoil on the planet, it is deemed unsafe to create a Federation base on the surface so, at the request of the provisional government, Starfleet takes command of a recently abandoned Cardassian space station in orbit of Bajor.


Really? We never saw that much conflict directly between the civilians and Starfleet. It was usually civilians vs. Provisional Government or civilians vs. the church. Furthermore, if Starfleet Security can't protect one building from phasers and grenades they're pretty pathetic.


[Two hundred Bajorans and fifty Starfleet are on the station]


This number seems pretty low considering the size of the station. If the implication is that the Cardassians trashed the place so well that 90% of the station in uninhabitable in the beginning, it would've been nice to tell us that.


Plus, y'know, we know that there are a bunch of aliens on board as well. A couple dozen Ferengi, for starters.



Ships need to stop at DS9 to be outfitted and tuned with special impulse energy buffers to travel safely through the wormhole. [An explanation of how ships cause pain to the Prophets].


I'm glad that this plot point was dropped. It would've caused a lot of headaches for the writers, plus the big question of why Gamma Quadrant ships don't cause pain to the Prophets.


...sexual holosuites upstairs.


I get that a lot of Quark's clientele are looking for a virtual brothel, but I'd still like to know what differentiates a normal holosuite from a sexual holosuite. Would the tech be all that different? One thing that occurs to me is the difference between a regular hotel and a love hotel. If Quark tends to specialize in single-user experiences, why are the holosuites so big? Surely you could make the projections more advanced in a smaller room.


[Runabouts have a max speed of Warp 4.7]


Cute, real cute. Of course on the actual show they tended to use Warp 5 as max speed.



A multi-purpose room for meetings and dining is located directly off the cockpit.

Not really. There's a corridor between the cockpit and aft compartment with the crew quarters and science labs.



It's the Delta Flyer that has direct access, dum-dums.



These ships are the symbol of the Federation presence in this sector.



Which begs the question: why do the runabouts not look like Starfleet ships in the slightest except for the nacelles? Why do they look so similar to the station?


[The Bajoran's religious way of life conflicts with the Federation's secular way of life].


I'm offended by the way so many people assume Federation=atheist. I've mentioned before how the expanded universe has many examples of religious people. They're just kept offscreen because there's no point in bringing religion up if you're not going to take it seriously and use it in a way that advances the story.


SF Debris brings up the issue in his review of "Balance of Terror." Angela Martine engages in some pretty blatant religious behavior before her wedding. It makes sense in that context because she's about to get married and she obviously considers this a spiritual event.



Even in Voyager people are pretty accepting of religious belief as long as it doesn't interfere with their work.