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thoughts-i-have-had-in-passing · 2 years

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DS9 trivia/quotes from my DS9 Companion, Part XIV:

The Circle

‘The Circle’ was the second episode in a three episode arc, and the first multi-episode arc Deep Space Nine ever produced. Multi-episode arc would become something of Deep Space Nine’s signature move as the years went on, and it was here that the waters were tested and the early foundations were laid.

‘The Circle’ was written by Peter Allan Fields, who said that he enjoyed participating in the endeavour, but that it wasn’t easy. “We wrote them all at once. So whatever Ira put in his episode, I would have to justify. I couldn’t write an episode that was in diametric opposition to his.” – Peter Allan Fields

Nevertheless, Part 2 of the trilogy was a strong episode. “Part 2 was the good stuff, the political stuff that takes in a lot of levels, a lot of character.” – Ira Steven Behr, writer of the previous episode ‘The Homecoming’

One thing that didn’t quite work as well as they hoped however was the character of Li Nalas. “He did get a little lost in parts 2 and 3. Maybe if there had been one guiding hand through all three shows, his story would have paid off as well as I’d hoped [in providing the initial setup].” – Ira Steven Behr

‘The Circle’ included a favourite scene of both the director, Corey Allen, and of fans, and that is the opening section of Act 1 where Kira is packing to leave the station, having lost her job to Li Nalas. “[The scene] had all the cast coming by to say good-bye to Kira, with Philip Anglim coming in as the [visual] punchline.” – Corey Allen

Allen stayed up until 1:00am the night before the scene was to be shot, prepping. “In the morning, we got the cast together while Marvin Rush was lighting the set and gave Marvin a run-through to let him see what the moves were. Then they went off and rehearsed it like the stage people that most of them are. I watched these marvelous actors take that thing and mold it into a scene with flashing hues and wonderful blocking, enjoying themselves and each other. Then we had one run-through on the lit set and filmed the whole thing in one take!” – Corey Allen

That one take did not make it to screen, unfortunately, because in television close ups are king, however Allen did ask for – and received – a copy of the single take for himself, and presumably still has it somewhere. (note from the blogger: It is still illegal to rob peoples’ houses, I checked.)

The other sequence that didn’t make it to air without getting a rather significant cut in it was the dream that Kira has in which she almost kisses Bareil. A kiss was filmed, and it was “a very hot and heavy kiss that was pretty torrid.” – Peter Allan Fields

However the producers wanted to maintain a bit of mystery as to the direction of Kira and Bareil’s relationship, and so had the kiss cut from the final episode.

The original concept for Bareil as thought of by Robert Hewitt Wolfe was that of a wise old man, but Michael Piller instead thought he should be “young and vigorous”.

The look of Bajoran casual wear also changed in this episode. Costume designer, Robert Blackman kept the colour palette but changed the texture of the clothes to be less ‘flat-finished’ and have greater texture, a change that was also reflected in the Promenade set. “It became more bazaar-like, with banners and more neon. It had been too utilitarian, too perfect.” – Robert Blackman

The hardest scene to film was one in which Odo morphs from a label on a cargo container to that of a rat. Lighting that was too different between the set and the green screen, footage that didn’t match up between the effects and the takes, and the most difficult of all: working with a rat.

“You have to get it on the first or second take. Because by the third, the rat is no longer hungry for peanut butter, and you can’t make it do anything.” – Glenn Neufield, Visual Effects Supervisor

#ds9 #DS9 Companion #The Circle #Bajor #Kira Nerys #Nana Visitor #Season two #the rat won't go #young and vigorous Bareil #yes really

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spockvarietyhour · 2 years

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got it again recently for a price that wasn't 200.00USD.

#i had it when it first came out but lost it in subsequent moves #DS9 #DS9 Companion #and it is in good shape too #personal

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vaguely-concerned · 19 days

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this expression is cracking me up so much. so demure. dare we say it -- bordering on coquettish. julian for the love of god dom him already what are you fucking waiting for

#garashir #star trek #star trek ds9 #ds9 #elim garak #julian bashir #garak pouting theatrically is something that can actually be so personal (to me)#look how upset he is that julian not only didn't yes and him but also just shot his companionable bullshit down completely #he's trying to learn how to play and julian is giving him an f- in it (something that is possible to achieve and normal to dread)

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tuttle-did-it · 2 months

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help i just remembered everything Donna Noble has gone through and now I'm so sad

I've seen all of ST:TNG and all of ST:DS9 and I gotta be honest... I think Donna has suffered more than any other DW companion, and maybe even more than Miles O'Brien.

#donna noble #dr who #doctor who #10/14/donna #catherine tate #david tennant #tenth doctor #fourteenth doctor #ten/fourteen #I think Donna Noble suffered way more than #miles O'brien #o'brien must suffer #star trek #star trek ds9 #ds9 #has anyone done this yet #donna is the best companion ever and there is no way to convince me otherwise because there are too many facts that support this #dr who 60th anniversary #well Miles was in that prison for decades so maybe not? but she's also suffered for over 15 years I dunno

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fictionz · 2 years

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Good for drama, bad for everything else.

#star trek #ds9 #deep space nine #ira steven behr #robert hewitt wolfe #kai winn #bareil #deep space nine companion

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taya-ki · 1 year

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When he holds ur face real nice :)

#his hands are probably nice and warm for a lizard too lol #this is kinda a companion piece to give ur tailor a kiss haha #i might finish it digitally! we'll see #cuties fr #garashir #julian bashir #elim garak #star trek fanart #star trek ds9 #star trek #deep space nine #ds9 fanart #ds9 #sketch #been THINKING bout this sketch tho yknow

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thenotoriousscuttlecliff · 5 days

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Funny seeing fans talk about shows like Next Generation having longer seasons meant there was more room for character development while everyone who actually wrote for that show has spoken endlessly about how frustrating it was that they could barely do any character development no matter how many episodes they had. They had to really push just to be allowed to deal with the fallout of Picard being assimilated.

#star trek #the next generation #tng #roddenberry was opposed to almost every bit of character development the writers proposed #he didn't want the characters to have any personal problems that would create conflict with each other #starfleet officers were all supposed to be the best of the best #any traumas they went through would be gone by the end of the episode #hell there's one tos ep were spock literally erases kirk's memory so he isn't heartbroken anymore about his lover's death #roddenberry wanted the characters to always be the same at the end of an ep as they were at the start #and many overseeing the show tried remain true to that ever after he was gone #but many of the writers struggled with it and pushed back #which ultimately resulted in ds9 #the next gen and ds9 companions are good books to read if you want a lot of insight into what it was like making those shows #memory alpha also has a lot of bts information as well

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charlesemersonwinchesteriii · 10 months

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happy bomb in a tribble tuesday

#STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9 #BEST LINE FROM BEST EPISODE #I started it and then when I saw what they were doing I GASPED ALOUD was like pointing at the screen and going oooh woahhhh so cool!!!!#and then I immediately went back and watched The Trouble With Tribbles so I would get what was going on lol #I love DS9 but sometimes there is like. pre-work u have to do before viewing certain episodes. and nobody warns u about it #somebody should put together a guide or sth for those of us who don't wanna watch all of TOS and TNG beforehand #Starky's Original Posts #can't imagine how lost I'd be if I hadn't watched a couple hours-long Star Trek video essays before starting the show omfg #DS9 is so fucking funny bc they will catch u up to speed if u forgot sth from last season but if u didn't see TNG ur on ur own #Miles out of nowhere: well Worf that's just because you hardly see your son!#Hapless DS9-only viewer: WORF HAS A SON????? WH--#also I love how much DS9 hates its companion shows. Picard killed Sisko's son. The doctor from Voyager ruined Julian's life.#STAR TREK ON STAR TREK HOSTILITY #it fucking loves TOS though as seen from this episode #which is just the perfect punchline to it all. perfect no notes.#in conclusion society if Garak got to see Julian in that little TOS uniform getup..............

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philosopherking1887 · 2 years

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According to the Deep Space Nine Companion book, Martin Sheen was considered for the role of Luther Sloan. Can y'all imagine the mindfuck that would be President Bartlett as the head of Section 31? Especially with the use the fandom has been making of him lately...

#luther sloan #section 31 #star trek ds9 #star trek deep space nine companion

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dimensionalspades · 11 months

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I appreciate that in Dogs of War they just straight up had Julian and Miles play Fallout with Latinum as the dog companion.

#more wasteland julian and miles pls look at them #they mention mutants and raiders #who's the mc and who's the companion #i love them they're nerds #It's ds9 - The Dog of War #In general it's been fun #sisko and dax hearing the inkspots blaring like 'found them'#.more of a joker than the ace ; ooc.#might get some icons from it but there's not a ton of Julian

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thoughts-i-have-had-in-passing · 2 years

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DS9 trivia/quotes from my DS9 Companion, Part XXIII:

The Homecoming

The final two episodes of season 1 were warmly received, so much so that it inspired the writers to try for bigger and deeper. “We’d taken eighteen episodes and established the show, the concept, the franchise, and now it was time to dig deeper and see just how far we could go. So we decided to do a show that deals with Bajor, and the station, and the tenuous relationship between the Starfleet officers and this new environment they’re living in: the station. We thought it would be bold to do a three-hour show. We were nothing if bold-bold and stupid.” – Ira Steven Behr

Michael Piller chose a storyline originally written by Jeri Taylor for TNG. “Michael saw it and said, ‘You know, that’s a much better story for DS9 than TNG. I want it.’ I said ‘You can’t have it-it’s my story. I need it for my series.” – Jeri Taylor

Said story then sat undeveloped for the remainder of season one, prompting Jeri Taylor to talk to Michael Piller about it. “So I went to him and said ‘Michael, if you’re not going to use that story, give it back.’ And he said, ‘No, no, no. It’ll surface, I promise you.” – Jeri Taylor

The original story focussed on a Bajoran woman who was picked up by the Enterprise, who wanted to rescue the leader of the Bajoran resistance, someone who was held in deep respect by the Bajoran people, and was languishing in a Cardassian prison. And once they broke him out he didn’t want to be a leader anymore, only to ‘somehow’ become a leader again. (The somehow is a direct quote, I get the impression that bit wasn’t fully worked out in the original draft).

Each episode in the trilogy was assigned to a different person. Steven Ira Behr did the teleplay for episode one, Peter Allan Fields was assigned part two, and Michael Piller took part three himself. This required the three men to work closely together to ensure that the story flowed smoothly. “We broke the first two stories before I went off and wrote ‘The Homecoming’. But we broke the third one at the same time I was writing, so I’d run in, sit in the story meeting and then go back and write. We all know what everyone else was doing.” – Ira Steven Behr

Several ideas were agreed upon in the very beginning: that the station would be boarded, that Sisko and the Starfleet officers would be forced to become guerrilla fighters, that the Bajoran religion would be highlighted, and that there would be heavy emphasis on character development. One change that was made was that the reluctant hero of Jeri Taylor’s story became a mistaken hero instead.

Some critics didn’t (and still don’t) like the incorporation of religion in DS9, but Ira Steven Behr felt it was important. “What I always say is, ‘You do religion because you set people off’. That’s the reason to do it. That’s why writers are told not to do it, and that’s why it’s become tougher and tougher to do it on the series. That we did it at all was amazing, and I can’t believe that no one [in the audience] seemed to notice. We were the only show on TV that consistently dealt with matters spiritual and no one seemed to care, which I find very strange.” – Ira Steven Behr

The Cardassian prison camp was filmed in Soledad Canyon, described as ‘one of the most hellacious location choices imaginable’. Freezing cold early in the morning and evening, extremely hot the rest of the time, bugs, snakes and bees all frequently encountered, but on the other hand, Unit Production Manager Bob della Santina loved the ‘wonderful scope’ of the site.

It was very unpopular with Colm Meaney. In his own words: “The first day back in the second season, and you’re slowly trickling back into it and then-boom-you’re out there in this blazing heat, with no cover or vegetation anywhere. It was a very long day and by the end of it, we had been burned and blistered. For someone like me, with my background-well, I wasn’t built for those conditions.” – Colm Meaney

“Colm and I were sick to our stomachs. We were seriously wondering if we were going into heat prostration. It was the perfect location for Cardassia IV, because it was like hell.” – Nana Visitor

Unfortunately for the cast, the location looked great on camera and so would appear again in ‘The Ship’ and ‘Rocks and Shoals’.

A lot of money was spent on the first few episodes of the season in order to come out with a bang. Although this meant that some later episodes would have to film on a restricted budget, this was considered a sacrifice worth making.

Frank Langella, who played Minister Jaro, went uncredited by choice. “He wanted to do the show. He did it for his children, because they loved the show. It was not done for money or exposure.” – Winrich Kolbe, director

Quark was firmly established as a ladies’ man in this episode, when the Boslic captain came in to order a drink and flirted the hell out of the part.

#ds9 #DS9 Companion #The Homecoming #Bajor #Colm Meaney #Nana Visitor #Season two

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intertrek · 1 year

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It appears I have found the dill variety to plant in my garden loloolololol

#dukat #gul dukat #probably won't be good for companion planting #ds9

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chacusha · 2 years

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DS9 Companion liveblogging (5/14?)

First half of season 3 (3x01-3x10):

Interesting context on the first part of season 3, which was the only time when DS9 was the only new Star Trek show on air (between the end of TNG and beginning of VOY): Quark and Odo were apparently the favorite characters, people wanted more travel outside the station, and were lukewarm toward the Bajoran religious and political plots. Fascinating.

The Defiant was originally going to be called the Valiant but that name was vetoed because it was too similar to Voyager. Both ship names come from TOS episodes.

Some interesting notes on the reveal that the Founders are Odo's race: Behr and Wolfe joked about the Founders being Odo's people throughout season 2, then Michael Piller separately floated the idea to them and they cracked up and decided to propose making that happen. And Auberjonois was worried about the reveal because he'd always joked that the day Odo's backstory is revealed, that's when he's getting written out of the show. But he was reassured that they had more directions to take Odo's character post-reveal.

^ I'm sorry, it will always be funny to me that Bareil had a sizeable fan club. Interesting notes about why Eddington was brought in. (Eddington's character is apparently influenced by a character of the same name in the film In Harm's Way. I am unfamiliar with this film though.)

3x01 "The Search Part I": There's a note here about how Armin Shimerman didn't like the scene where Sisko asks Quark to kiss the nagal staff since there is an air of mocking Ferengi culture to it, but I love that scene. 👀 (For horny reasons lol.) Also apparently the prop sculptor (Dragon Dronet) based the head of the staff on Quark since he was given Quark's picture as a reference and didn't realize the prop was meant to belong to another character entirely.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Jadzia's very short-lived hairstyle in this season opener. Apparently it was controversial so it was changed afterward.

3x03 "The House of Quark": Love this episode because of all the ridiculous drama of Klingon noble houses and inheritance law meeting very polar opposite Ferengi sensibilities. There's some notes here on how Gowron's actor Robert O'Reilly was pleasantly surprised to transition to DS9 after TNG ended. Also, this is sweet:

Looks like Keiko's temporary departure from the show was to free up Colm Meaney for film projects (mentioned earlier) and to allow more focus on the Bashir/O'Brien relationship.

The story behind 3x04 "Equilibrium" is so funny. Basically, a producer got really into a stage magician and bought a pitch for a DS9 episode that just had the magician as a guest actor and his act involving masks, and the writing team had to create a whole plot around it: "Moore recalls that the original storyline had something to do with 'the circus coming to Deep Space 9, and this magician was in it, and we thought, "Well, we're not gonna do that."'" -- lmao. Initially it was about Odo before they realised that masks worked better as a metaphor for Trill hosts.

Apparently, the original plot of 3x05 "Second Skin" involved O'Brien as the secret undercover Cardassian instead of Kira, but the writer couldn't make it work with the Keiko/Miles marriage resulting in a human baby. Also some interesting thoughts on a more ambiguous version of the ending we got, where it is Kira's determination to be Kira and Bajoran that is what makes her so:

(The theme of this episode is that everyone is wearing a fake deceptive appearance (i.e. a second skin): Kira, Ghemor, the Defiant and Sisko, Garak, etc.)

Wow, lots of interesting notes on 3x06 "The Abandoned" -- so many I can't really summarize them all. Briefly: a lot of teenagers growing up/maturing in this ep including Jake, the Jem'Hadar, and Odo himself; Avery Brooks (who directed this ep) felt it was very much an allegory for how to deal with a generation of troubled, addicted, and potentially violent youths and what it says about society if it gives up on them (very much grappling with race and class issues although through sci-fi allegory and not direct analogy); Mardah's time on DS9 spanned from 2x17 "Playing God" to 3x10 "Fascination"; the way people worry about the age difference and Mardah's job but no one in this episode blinks an eye at her and Jake's interracial relationship, a casual depiction of a post-racial world; Jake gets a new outfit; Sisko also gets a dignified three-piece outfit for the dinner with Mardah, to indicate how seriously he's taking meeting Jake's girlfriend and how he doesn't want to embarrass Jake.

Also some interesting notes on Odo getting quarters in this ep (including the scene where Kira gives Odo flowers that he puts in his old bucket, and later flings that bucket/vase in 4x13 "Crossfire" -- Auberjonois added that detail to the "Crossfire" scene) and also makeup restrictions on babies/children, which constrained the young Jem'Hadar looks.

I like how the synopsis of 3x07 "Civil Defense" only covers the A and B plots of the Ops group and the ore processing group, making no mention of the Quark and Odo C plot. It's okay -- the two of them literally contribute nothing plot-relevant to that episode lmao. Reading the summary, I really love this episode. It's one of my favorites just for the ridiculousness of the security program that has Dukat cringily chastising rebelling Bajoran workers and responding to an increasingly severe hypothetical uprising in a way that manages to come off as both smug and panicked, and his boss publicly shaming him for abandoning his post lol. Like, nothing about this security program makes sense; it's all just done for the lols and for the sake of making things increasingly dire. I suppose maybe it establishes that there is just something buffoonish about the way the Cardassian military (/fascist governments more generally) operate. But mostly it's just a very silly plot.

On polishing the script for 3x07 "Civil Defense": "'He [Michael Piller] hated it, he hated it, he hated it,' states Behr, likening the tortuous experience to one he and the other staff writers on TNG went through to turn 'Yesterday's Enterprise' into a solid script." -- So surprising to hear this, because the final result (of both episodes) is so good! I am considering reading whatever is the TNG equivalent of this book because I have so many questions about what they were thinking / what was going on in some of those episodes and plotlines...

^ O-omg... 😂

^ I always wondered about this... I like the look without the belt better too, although maybe if it were around longer it would have grown on me.

^ I agree. 3x10 "Meridian" sucks. It has some interesting cinematography because Frakes directed it but the romance in it is so painful and unconvincing.

Dang, I didn't realize the alien in this episode was Jeffrey Combs' first Star Trek role ever. (Apparently, Frakes cast him because he remembered him from the Riker audition! -- according to Memory Alpha, not this book.)

^ I always kind of wondered (1) when did the writers first get the idea to make Odo's feelings for Kira romantic, and (2) when in the timeline of their relationship did Odo develop his crush (kind of wondering the same question, just from a Doylist + Watsonian point of view). For (2), I think this is the earliest explicit moment (it has kind of a "I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me" kind of vibe going on with Odo), although I suppose the feelings could have started earlier. But it looks like the answer to (1) is sometime after this point. Interesting!

(Also, I feel kinda bad for Quark in this episode as I think a lot of the humor is a bit mean-spirited/at his expense. But at the same time, Kira and Odo ganging up on Quark is a great dynamic (see also: 2x24 "The Collaborator").)

Some interesting notes on 3x09 "Defiant" on where the story idea came from (they wanted to do something with Tom Riker and have a plot where the Maquis are gaining strength due to his help/leadership); the humanization of Dukat; Tom's characterization (vs. Riker); that this episode sets up that the Obsidian Order are planning something but what exactly was not decided at this point; and the dangling plot thread of what happened to Riker. I agree that it always bugged me that you never find out what happened to Tom (Frakes says he envisions Kira would at some point get sent to Cardassia to get him out of his sentence). He and Kurn are two great TNG characters that DS9 brought back just to do something vaguely depressing with, and I'm honestly tempted to just render those plotlines non-canon. 🤷‍♀️

Some interesting notes on (1) 3x10 "Fascination" being an homage to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and (2) how the set design and costumes were played with in light of that:

Also, OMG:

^ I mean, Quark does have cartoon character energy... Shimerman's evaluation of the episode is a bit cranky but he's not wrong.

More on the earlier note about Odo's crush on Kira from "Meridian": "And it ["Fascination"] openly reveals a plot point that only had been hinted at previously: the fact that Odo loves Kira. Interestingly, this was a case where an actor's performance strongly influenced the producers. 'There was a moment in 'The Collaborator,' Behr recalls, 'where Rene [Auberjonois] does a take with Nana that we hadn't been expecting. And we all looked at it and said, "Odo loves her. That's what he's playing!" Recognizing the rich story possibilities, Behr's team took the ball and ran with it, giving Auberjonois plenty of material to play with in the coming seasons." (I'm guessing he was referring to "Meridian," not "The Collaborator.")

Oops, I have to end this post a bit early because apparently I am hitting Tumblr's limit for images in posts. (Also, I know I focus on Odo and Quark a lot in my notes. I am biased.)

#star trek: deep space nine #ds9 companion liveblogging #book liveblogging #st ds9

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