Captain’s Log

Our Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Project Rhonda’s Take

What Is This About?

Unlike my husband, anyone who knows me would not describe me as a fanatic. I simply do not have an addictive personality, unless curiosity can be an addiction. I have always been curious about the world though and reading became my first doorway to the world. Like Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, I learned how to read by having been read to as a child. I have deeply held memories of my mother reading us whatever she happened to be reading⸺the daily newspaper, uplifting articles from Guideposts, or stories from those blue covered Bible Stories for Children. My first solo reading adventures were stories by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. I was a freshman in high school before I discovered the literature that would most challenge my desire to seek out new worlds: Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, and Harlan Ellison. Some of you see the name Harlan Ellison and you immediately jump to the connection of one of the most famous episodes of The Original Series: “The City on the Edge of Forever,” but I was well into adulthood before I knew one of my favorite writers wrote an episode of a “genre” (ironic disdainful quotes added by my inner teenager) television show.

Like my husband, I grew up on a steady diet of television in the age of three channels and PBS. When my dad bought me my first television, a portable, pink plastic black & white unit, one of the first things I watched on its five-inch screen was Jason & the Argonauts. Doctor Who was a passing fancy. If I caught an episode I’d watch it (or fail to watch it during summers at my grandparents house when Grandma Bee would turn it off and declare that “Time travel was the Devil’s work!”). Well into syndication by the time I was old enough to remember such things, 

Star Trek was part of the daily diet. I remember loving it early on and looking forward to a new episode the next afternoon. Of course, sometimes a new episode was one that had run already and they often seemed like they were supposed to be in some order that didn’t exist. Didn’t Kirk look a little older yesterday than in today’s episode? Whatever happened to Yeoman Rand? Oh, wait, there she is again! While Kirk “got the girl” every episode, it is undeniable that most women, including my mother, found Spock to be the sex appeal of the original series. I, however, have always been and will always be a Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy fan. His Southern gentleman approach to advising his captain and his irascible harassment of Spock’s Vulcan nature and those blue, blue eyes made him my first television crush.

I’m sure I wouldn’t have called myself a “strong feminist” before the age of ten, but my clear preference for wanting to see Yeoman Rand or an episode where Lieutenant Uhura had more to do than say, “Hailing frequencies are open, Captain!” speaks to an attitude that would be developed over the years. In fact, this attitude was well-formed by the time The Next Generation aired in 1987. My brother, who was also a science fiction fan, and I would watch episodes together, but I quickly turned against the show. No longer was Star Trek about brave new worlds and pushing boundaries. The storylines were as pastel as the carpets! There were several women who held leadership positions, but two of them were in “caretaker” roles (Doctor Crusher and ship’s counsellor Deanna Troi) while the toughest, Tasha Yar, was killed off by the end of the first year. My little feminist heart wasn’t interested. Still, there were times when I watched an episode with my brother and his girlfriend (now wife) when they held viewing parties in her father’s basement. I caught the odd episode in The Cave, my college’s snack bar. I’m not sure if it was a weekly thing, but I remember sitting in the TV room with a few other students while it played. We sat at separate tables eating our grilled cheese and sipping Coca-Cola or hot tea and not speaking. The show had improved over the years, I could tell, but I still couldn’t forgive the writers for these “soft” female characters.

Fast forward to meeting my husband in 1996. Deep Space Nine was already in its third year, which, as Star Trek lore would have it, is when a show fully hits its stride. I don’t remember the conversation that led to us watching an episode together. I assume a new episode was airing and he wanted to see me the same night. I know now that would’ve been a huge sacrifice for Jim. He says that you can never ruin a “first time” with a television episode because you will never recover the amazement of that first viewing: It must be preserved with full attention, no talking, and no eating. But, he wanted to share his loves with me so he was willing to risk my possible distraction (young love is like that). Luckily (for him), I fell in love with Benjamin Sisko, Jadzia Dax, Kira Nerys, and Odo, but it was, more likely, the Cardassians who really made my heart beat. Seriously, Garak was full of intrigue and the collar bone on Gul Dukat made me swoon. Soon, we were digging out his VHS copies (yes, taped from original airings) to begin at the first episode, “Emissary.” It was then I discovered the intense storytelling of the series: Sisko was a deeply flawed man, Kira was part of a resistance and now finds herself “The Man,” Odo had been a collaborator and was still the trusted security of the station. Dax was probably the character who had changed the least, but that was because, as a Trill host, she had the wisdom of seven previous lifetimes. This gave her the confidence I came to adore about her. She was distinctly a woman who knew her own mind and knew how to make her way through the world.

Deep Space Nine allowed me reentry into the world of Trek at one of the boon times of the franchise. When I stepped aboard the deep space station, The Next Generation was off small screens, but was having epic adventures on the big screen. I was pleased to see that Doctor Crusher and Deanna Troi were allowed to be complex characters and to carry big guns! Voyager remains one of my least favorite Treks, but there was undeniable joy in watching Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway lead with strength and compassion, Roxann Dawson show intelligence as Lt. B’Elanna Torres, Jennifer Lien as Kes provide a moral center, and, later Jeri Ryan provide sex appeal while kicking butt and making us all question our own humanity. I have to admit that The Doctor, played by Robert Picardo, is my favorite Voyager character. Like Dr. McCoy before him, he provided much needed levity!

Since first watching DS9 together, there are few times that Star Trek has not been on rotation in our home. After DS9 and Voyager, we rewatched all TOS TV episodes⸺in order⸺and then the movies, which we’ve rewatched numerous times over the years. Then, Enterprise and, of course, the J.J. Abbrams Kelvin-universe movies. In the wilderness years between The Next Gen movies and Discovery, I finally let Jim talk me into watching the seven seasons of The Next Generation. Watching those first three seasons was painful for me and took more than one occasion of Jim convincing me to stick with it, that “the best” was yet to come, if I could just make it to season four. How he didn’t give up the fight when I was ruthless in my criticism of the storytelling, the acting, and the sets, I’ll never know (I guess mature love is like that). Like many fans before me, it was the cliffhanger of season three and the opening episode of season four, known as “The Best of Both Worlds,” that finally cemented me as a Next Gen fan and deepened my love of the Star Trek universe.

I am thankful Jim shared Deep Space Nine with me and I am thankful that my crush on him meant I gave it a chance. I discovered my favorite Trek and I will hold it dear regardless of all the Trek that kept it out of the limelight in the 1990s. I’m glad to see that a resurgence of interest in Trek due to new shows, like Discovery and Lower Decks, has people revisiting the earlier shows. I am hoping that DS9 will finally garner its due (and, please, please, let Paramount upgrade the episodes for a high-definition life!). Too often it is maligned as “not real Trek” because it was based on a space station. “Where is the adventure in that?,” detractors decry. I argue it is the strength of DS9. Because they were stationary, the adventure became an internal one between the characters and within each character. I want to teach a college creative writing course on plot and character development using Deep Space Nine as our model text. It is unique amongst the Trek canon for having been developed not as standalone, planet of the week episodes for syndication, but as serialized stories that allowed the characters to grow, adapt, expand, fail, struggle, and return stronger at the broken places. While I am glad that my friends can now binge watch the entire 176 episodes one after another, I would encourage them to take time between episodes to let the characters walk around inside their hearts and minds. I hope, if you partake of this journey with us, you will ponder the choices the characters face. Oh, there will be moments of joy with Dabo girls at Quark’s Bar so don’t fear being weighed down by angst, but know that you will not forget the crew of Deep Space Nine. Once you join us, you will be part of the family.

Are you ready? As Sisko says, “Fortune favors the bold” (S6, e6 “Sacrifice of Angels”) so let us be bold together!

Return to Mission Logs

Return to Admiral’s Briefing

Go to Lieutenant Ray’s OR Lieutenant Matt’s Personal Log