What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

My brother is a Trekkie. His favorite is TNG. He actually missed parts of the DS9 series while it was running and didn't like it enough to get caught up. Me, I just dig SciFi but missed most of the Star Trek series while they ran on air. I've since gotten caught up and I'm pretty much the opposite of the brother: don't much care for TNG but love DS9. We both went to this documentary and enjoyed it, so that should tell you something.

My guess is that people who watch this may revisit DS9 and give it a second chance. You're no longer just coming off TNG and you've matured, so the experience will probably be somewhat different.

Some reviewers complained about the political aspect of this production. Most anything you watch on TV that has any kind of substance is making a statement about our society. And it influences us or at least tries to. There is nothing wrong with that. It's not like they're telling you what party to join or who to vote for. I'm actually amazed that there are Trekkies out there who break down at the slightest hint that a character may have been anything other than straight. Let's be better than that.

I've loved DS9 since it was first broadcast, own the DVDs and have binged-watched it numerous times on Netflix. The documentary reminded me once again why I love these characters as portrayed by actors of incredible talent. The writing staff, whom you view through the doc as they came up with ideas for a new episode, were first-rate. It wasn't all fun and games putting on this great show for 7 years, and you hear from the actors and the producers how very tiring it was, but for the most part, it was upbeat and extremely enjoyable.

Like a lot of Star Trek fans I grew up watching TNG as a kid. It was one of the few shows my entire family watched every Sunday as a family. Finally, in 1993 DS9 came on and it aired right after TNG every Sunday so we watched it.

By the time season 3 rolled around I was in my mid-teens and was more interested in spending time with friends and playing sports in high school, so I did not watch Deep Space Nine again....until it hit Netflix in 2011 for the first time.

The first show of the Star Trek's that went live on Netflix was Deep Space Nine. Wow...just wow. It was obvious to me my young teen self under appreciated those first two seasons and then the rest of the series. It was amazing.

Then in 2016 I watched the entire series again. One episode everyday when I hit the treadmill. The 44 minute episodes were perfect amount of time for my daily workout with my IPAD.

I finally watched the series for the third time because of the Cornavirus pandemic, and powered through the entire series in about three months.

I just finished the series yesterday and watched the Documentary today for the first time. What a bookend.

Ira did an amazing job on this documentary. It did not feel overwhelming but sweet and sincere and enough to make me feel great again about the franchise. Not a huge fan of Ira's politics, but I am the type that still respects other people's beliefs.

Overall, Deep Space Nine is one of the greatest TV shows of all-time and thee best Star Trek series.

This documentary series is a must watch for any fan. Highly recommend. 9/10.

P.S.

My wife and I asked each other of all the Star Trek crews which one would you want to belong to and hang out with. Both of us simultaneously said, "DEEP SPACE NINE".

I just watched this on my 65" TV and besides that its a nice documentary that gets a bit boring in the later 30 minutes I just wondered where they got all those HD quality scenes of DS9 from!

I mean my DSP is just DVD quality and I know theres people rendering that to HD quality since 2019. But this documentary was done in 2018 - and ALL the "old" scenes from DSP shown are perfect 1080 HD on my 65" TV.

So guys, when they could do that in 2018 why didnt they do it to the whole series already?

Loved the doco. Well worth the many years since I plonked down some $$ to get it made. My only negative was what they said about Garak. I don't see it and I don't think it's needed. He was perfect the way he was portrayed.