Trivia for Star Trek Deep Space Nine

[Dimitris]

Trivia for
"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993)

Alexander Siddig was producer/creator Rick Berman's first choice to play Benjamin Sisko, but he was eventually deemed too young. Instead, he got the role of the genetically-enhanced Julian Bashir.


Among the actors to read for the role of Captain Sisko was Eriq La Salle who would later be cast as Dr. Peter Benton in ER. James Earl Jones and Tony Todd were also offered the role.


Among the finalists for the role of Sisko was Gary Graham, best known for the TV series 'Alien Nation' (1989) (qv).


Kira was a last-minute addition to the cast; the original plan was to include the 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (1987) (qv) character of Ro Laren, but Michelle Forbes didn't want a series at the time.


The role of Jadzia Dax was initially offered to Famke Janssen. Both she and Michelle Forbes (see above) turned down the roles in order to remain available to appear in feature films.


The character that eventually became Vic Fontaine was written for Frank Sinatra Jr.. in Season 4. Sinatra, despite being a fan of the show, turned it down, declaring that he only wanted to play an alien. After meeting with Robert Goulet, and attempting to get Steve Lawrence, Tom Jones and Jerry Vale, the producers eventually decided on James Darren in Season 6. Darren would go on to appear in 8 episodes, including the series finale.


Dax was originally envisioned as an alien from a low-gravity world forced to get around in a wheelchair and who flew around her quarters; the concept was scrapped and recycled into the character of Melora because the "flight" cables were too difficult to rig.


The spots on Jadzia Dax were not stenciled. Instead, they were drawn on personally by Michael Westmore each day, a process which took over an hour.


In the episode Trials and Tribble-ations, Crew from Deep Space Nine are hijacked into the past episode of Star Trek "Trouble with Tribbles" The set of the original Enterprise was re-created for this episode in detail except for the orange grating often seen in engineering areas. Apparently, the company that made it had discontinued its production.


After production ended and the sets were dismantled, the Defiant bridge set was declared "fold & hold" and placed in storage. It has been redressed and reused as the bridge of an alien cargo ship and a Klingon battlecruiser on "Star Trek: Voyager" (1993) (qv) and the bridge of the ECS Fortunate on "Enterprise" (2001) (qv).


In the episode "Man Alone," the planet Alderaan is listed as a recent place visited by a murder victim. Alderaan is the planet destroyed by the Death Star in Star Wars (1977).


Stars Alexander Siddig and Nana Visitor were married in real life in 1997 (after the show's fourth season).


The subplot of Kira carrying the O'Briens' baby was to explain away Nana Visitor's pregnancy.


Each of the three live-action Star Trek series after the original "Star Trek" (1966) has had a cameo appearance by a character from its predecessor series in its premiere episode: "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had Dr. McCoy, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" had Captain Picard, and "Star Trek: Voyager" had Quark. This tradition was broken ith "Enterprise (2001)" (qv), since it precedes all the other series in chronology.


References are frequently made to Starfleet "ground troops," and some Starfleet characters have different uniforms (a black uniform with a small colored stripe across the middle). Fans generally accept that these characters are part of a Starfleet Marine Corps, although this has never been explicitly stated onscreen. There was a Starfleet Colonel West in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991); West was most likely a Starfleet Marine, since navies do not have the rank of colonel.


Reportedly, Gene Roddenberry was made aware of plans for DS9 not long before his death in 1991, making this the last Star Trek TV series that he was connected with.


The number 47 pops up an inordinate amount of times on computer screens, serial numbers, dates and so on. This tradition was started by writer/coproducer Joe Menosky and was soon picked up by the rest of the production team. Menosky said that he choose that particular number because when he was a graduate student at Pomona College, Professor of Mathematics Donald Bentley proved as a joke that all numbers are equal to 47. Interestingly, the later series "Alias" (2001) also featured the number 47 many times, and incorporated it into its ongoing storyline.


In the 5th season episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" the names of the Federation temporal investigators "Dulmer" and "Lucsly" are anagrams of "Mulder" and Scully" from 'The X-Files' (1993) (qv).


The Star Trek ranking systems are all based upon actual human ones. The Starfleet ranks are those of the US Navy (specifically the US Navy, the British Royal Navy has similar ranks but they do differ slightly). Bajor and the Klingon Empire both use the ranks of the US Army/Air Force. And it is a little-known fact that the Cardassian ranking system is in fact based upon that of the ancient Roman Empire - Legate, for example, was a rank just below General in the Roman military.


Andrew Robinson, who plays Garak, was originally intended to play Odo. However, the producers decided to go with 'René Auberjonois' , instead.



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[Dimitris]

People close to J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of "Babylon 5" (1994), claim he contacted Paramount with his idea for a show about an interstellar space station as he knew Paramount was the only big production company with a long tradition in science-fiction. The people at Paramount turned it down and Straczynski continued his search for a money-strong production company. Not long after Paramount announced the plans for "Deep Space Nine", a show strangely similar to "Babylon 5" (1994). In the opening of episode 5.5, "The Assignment", Chief O'Brien ('Colm Meany' ) mentions the the name "G'Kar", which was the name of one of the principal characters of "Babylon 5" (1994), which could lend credence to this possibility.


The guy who is often in Quark's bar is named "Morn", which is an anagram for "Norm" from Cheers, who was often in the bar.


The uniforms initially worn on DS9 were designed to look different from those worn on its parent show, "Star Trek: the Next Generation" Beginning with the movie Star Trek: Generations (1994), however, these new uniforms were adopted by the TNG crew and Starfleet as a whole.


In the episode where Kira gives birth to the O'Briens' baby, she screams at Dr. Bashir ( Alexander Siddig) "This is all your fault!" This is an in-joke referring to the fact that actress Nana Visitor and Siddig were expecting a child in real-life.


According to an April 2003 interview, 'Avery Brooks' was initially required by contract to appear with hair in order to prevent confusion with his "Spenser: For Hire" (1985) character, Hawk. In later seasons, as Sisko became established, Brooks was allowed to shave his head and re-grow his beard.


The square glasses used in Quark's bar are actually candle holders turned upside down.


Although we only rarely see it, there is an ATM in Quark's bar. It dispenses the various types of currency used by major races visiting the station: Federation credits, Bajoran litas, Cardassian leks, and Ferengi latinum.


During the series, Nog becomes the first Ferengi in Starfleet. Thus far, all five Star Trek series have featured at least one character who is the first of their species in Starfleet.


Armin Shimerman was a regular on both this series and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) at the same time.


In a scene where Bashir and O'Brien come out of the holo-suite and talk to Quark dressed as WWII RAF pilots, most of O'Brien's jargon comes from a Monty Python sketch, RAF Banter.


In the Klingon military, the officer rank system is organized like this: Ensign, Lieutenant, Commander, Captain, Major, Colonel, General. There is also a 'bekk', which is an enlisted rating.


The Bajoran officer ranks are: Ensign, 2nd lieutenant, 1st lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, General. Cardassian ranks - that we know of - are Gil (equivalent to a Starfleet naval lieutenant), Glinn (commander), Gul (captain), Legate (admiral).


The tankards used for Klingon bloodwine are actually measuring cups used in baking.


Buck Bokai, a baseball player of the 21st Century, broke Joe DiMaggio's record for consecutive hits in 2026. While the name is never mentioned, this fact is mentioned in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) episode "The Big Goodbye."


Buck Bokai's baseball card, a collectable featured on Benjamin Sisko's desk, had actor Keone Young on the front, in character, but showed "Trek" model maker Gregory Jein, who invented the "history" of the character, on the back. The pair bore an uncanny resemblance to each other.


In the episode "Homefront," Sisko notes the names of some of the officers whom he served with on the U.S.S. Okinawa: Daneeka, McWatt, Snowden, Orr, and Moodus. All of these are the names of characters in Joseph Heller's book "Catch 22".


Mark Allen Shepherd, in addition to his regular role as Morn, appeared as a Bajoran officer (whom Quark asks to sit in Morn's usual place at the bar) in the episode "Who Mourns for Morn?".


The design of Ops incorporates ideas that were considered but dropped for The Bridge on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), such as the upper level office, the briefing table in the center of the room, and the transporter being built into the set.


The Bajoran monetary system uses the Lita as currency. The Lita is actually the name of the currency of Lithuania.


The character Elim Garak is a former spy who works as a tailor on the station. In many of 'John le Carré' 's spy novels a tailor is one of the main characters (and is often also acting as a spy). "The Taylor of Panama" and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" are two examples.


Malcolm McDowell once said he'd like to appear on DS9, but only if his nephew - Alexander Siddig (who plays DS9's Dr. Bashir) - would direct the episode. Unfortunately, this never panned out, mostly due to scheduling conflicts.


Wolf 359, mentioned as the battle site where Sisko lost his wife, is a real star that is 7.6 light years from Earth.


On occasion, sets from "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) are used as other Starfleet locales. (For example: a holosuite grid in the episode "Inquizition", the entire U.S.S. Bellerophon [which was an Intrepid-class starship just as Voyager is] in the episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges.")


The character 'Benjamin Sisko' was ranked #50 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" (20 June 2004 issue).


The 'Star Trek Crews' from all the Star Trek series were ranked #2 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).



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