Summary

  • Both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager initially struggled to differentiate themselves from their parent show, Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • Both shows introduced unexplored regions of the universe, but often encountered species that were too similar to those already established in previous series.
  • The introduction of the wormhole and the Dominion in Deep Space Nine allowed the show to explore new creative possibilities and challenge the ideals of the Star Trek universe.

Both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine suffered from the same problem in season 1. The first and second spinoffs from Star Trek: The Next Generation quickly sought to differentiate themselves from their parent show with mixed results. DS9 set down roots on the titular space station with the intention of exploring the consequences of Starfleet's actions in real time. Voyager was hurtled thousands of light years from home, giving Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) the chance to vastly update the Star Trek canon when it came to alien life.

And yet, in both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager season 1, there was a palpable feeling of both shows having a default setting. That setting had been established by their parent show, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the weakest episodes of DS9 and Voyager are pale imitations of the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D. With completely new regions of space to explore, both Voyager had a chance to do something brand new and exciting, but they had a stumbling start.

Voyager And Deep Space Nine Had The Same Star Trek Season 1 Problem

Captain Janeway Captain picard Captain sisko Star trek deep space nine next generation voyager

In seeking to establish themselves as separate from Star Trek: The Next Generation, both spinoff shows introduced unexplored regions of the universe. Via the wormhole discovered in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's pilot episode, Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and his crew were able to make first with a variety of species from the Gamma Quadrant. On Star Trek: Voyager, the titular starship was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, where it encountered a long list of strange new worlds and civilizations. The only problem with this was that, often, these strange new worlds were surprisingly similar to those that had already been established in both TNG and Star Trek: The Original Series.

After the trademark Star Trek encounter with an omnipotent alien - in this case the Caretaker - one of the first aliens encountered by Janeway are Star Trek: Voyager's Kazon, effectively more aggressive, less intelligent Klingons. In the DS9 episode "Move Along Home", Sisko and the crew meet the Wadi, a race of alien game players that could be literally any other similar species introduced in TNG or TOS. The Kazon and the Wadi are good examples of how Voyager and DS9 initially struggled to embrace the creative potential of their new territories.

The Wormhole And Dominion Eventually Fixed DS9

Captain Benjamin Sisko and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Dominion War

In the end, the wormhole and the Gamma Quadrant became the making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as it paved the way for the extraordinary Dominion War arc. Where Star Trek: Voyager traveled through the Delta Quadrant spreading the ideals of the Federation, DS9 found the Gamma Quadrant to be far more hostile. Effectively, the Gamma Quadrant and the Dominion held a dark mirror to the Alpha Quadrant and the Federation. Where the Federation was an egalitarian coalition united by common goals, the Dominion was a military superpower that subjugated species. This distinction allowed DS9 to interrogate the tenets of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek by pitting it against its greatest ever threat.

The wormhole and the Dominion reminded viewers that the Star Trek universe was still vast and unexplored. The fact that the Dominion was also made up of some of the most alien species in Star Trek - the Changelings, Vorta, and Jem'Hadar - also helped Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to tread new ground. Star Trek: The Next Generation's two spinoffs spent too long trying to replicate their parent show's success, and it was only when they began to embrace the creative possibilities of the Gamma and Delta Quadrants that they began to stand on their own two feet.