Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered in 1993 during the final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was a stark tone-shift for the Star Trek franchise, focussing on character development and story arcs that spanned its entire 7 seasons, while also primarily taking place on a diverse space station with little space exploration. The fanbase has always been polarized as to how that went. I loved it.

The series initially focussed on whatever random situation the crew of Deep Space 9 encountered, and eventually spent much of the first 4 seasons brokering peace between the Cardassians and the Bajorans. For its last 3 seasons, the space station became the front line of the epic Dominion War between the Federation Alliance and Breen-Dominion Alliance. These last seasons had some of the most emotional and character-focused war stories I have ever seen on television, not to mention some of the best ship battle sequences on Star Trek television.

The main cast was extensive, featuring Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko, Nana Visitor as Colonel Kira Nerys, René Auberjonois as security chief Odo, Armin Shimerman as bartender Quark, Alexander Siddig as Doctor Julian Bashir, Terry Farrell as science officer Jadzia Dax, Nicole de Boer as science officer Ezri Dax (taking on the Dax symbiotic in later seasons), Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf, Colm Meany as chief engineer Miles O’Brien, and Cirroc Lofton as Sisko’s son Jake Sisko. Villains appeared often, but Marc Alaimo as Dukat was the primary antagonist throughout the series. Finally, a personal favorite of mine from the recurring cast, Andrew Robinson as spy-turned-tailor Elim Garak.

Following Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard was no easy task, but Brooks as Sisko pulled it off from day one. He brought a gravity and humanity to the role that is difficult to describe. Sisko felt always in charge, yet often vulnerable. There was no occasion he didn’t rise to, no matter how unsure of himself he was at the time. He did his job, and carried the weight of that job, because it was his job. There are many great characters with their own great actors throughout the series, but Brooks as Sisko is uniquely captivating. And, since Brooks himself is so incredibly cool too, here’s a clip of both:

The series is packed full of stories that explore the personal impact of war, politics, and religion, far too much to cover here. There never has been a better time to re-watch it, or watch it for the first time. You can stream Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for free on Amazon Video if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, or buy the complete series on Apple TV for $204.93 (so maybe just watch it on Amazon). Also, you can stream What We Left Behind for free on Shout! Factory TV, it’s a 2019 documentary about the series.