‘WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND’ (DS9)

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Here we are on the series finale of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’! This is the last episode of Season 7 of ‘DS9’ and it’s also the ninth and final part of the ‘final chapter’ saga focusing on the Dominion War. It may also be considered the ninth and tenth final parts as it’s the equivalent of two episodes.

Like ‘TNG’s series finale ‘All Good Things…’, ‘DS9’ ends on a bumper episode lasting for about an hour and thirty-two minutes. This does seem ironic considering ‘DS9’ ends on a nine/ten part ‘final chapter’. Then again, ‘What You Leave Behind’ does feel like an epic and well-deserved final episode.

It’s strange to compare how ‘DS9’ began being ‘TNG’-like aboard a space station to ending up being an epic saga featuring well-written characters, good storytelling and gripping drama. ‘DS9’ will always be considered for me a great ‘Star Trek’ TV show as well as being underrated by the public. 😐

It’s astonishing that ‘Star Trek’ shows like ‘DS9’ and ‘Voyager’ don’t get held in the same regard as the original series and ‘TNG’. But then, I like watching ‘Star Trek’ anyway and in my opinion, the ‘DS9’ series is the best ‘Star Trek’ TV series I’ve ever seen. But is everything fulfilled on a satisfactory note?

The story has the Federation and their allies, the Klingons and the Romulans, preparing to embark on a final offensive in the Dominion War. The battle sequences in space featuring Federation, Klingon and Romulan ships against Jem’Hadar, Cardassian and Breen ships are really exciting indeed.

I wish the outer-space battle scenes had more of the feel of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ epic battle feel and the heroic, glorifying nature to overcome impossible odds. And this was before ‘The Lord of the Rings’ film trilogy happened. But for what they are, the outer-space battle scenes are very impressive.

On their way to Cardassia Prime, Sisko receives a vision from his mother, Deborah Lacey as Sarah, who is one of the Prophets. She tells him that his journey’s end lies not before him, but behind him. Sisko is uncertain about what his mother meant, but he ventures forward into the biggest battle yet.

Meanwhile on Bajor, Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat returns to Louise Fletcher as Kai Winn after being a blind beggar on the streets. Winn is still pretty cruel to Dukat after discovering he wasn’t a Bajoran and that he did awful things during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor years ago. Dukat is no better.

I actually think Winn and Dukat are made for each other, considering they’re selfish in their ambitions and want power and glory for their own agendas. Winn and Dukat make for the Fire Caves on Bajor in order to release the Pah-wraiths. Winn soon backstabs Dukat by making him take a cup of poison.

Meanwhile on Cardassia Prime, Kira is still with Andrew Robinson as Garak and Casey Biggs as Damar. They sabotage Cardassia’s power grid in order to cut off communications between the command centre and the Dominion outer space fleet that is fighting against the Federation alliance.

Salome Jens as the Female Changeling is very angry about this and she orders the Jem’Hadar to wipe out a Cardassian city. Kira, Garak and Damar soon get captured by Jem’Hadar soldiers, but before the Jem’Hadar can kill them, their Cardassian allies turn against them in order to help Damar’s cause.

In outer space, Starfleet and their allies suffer many losses. Thankfully, all hope isn’t lost as the Cardassian ships soon switch sides and fight against the Jem’Hadar and the Breen, turning the tide of the battle. The Female Changeling gets angrier and she orders the Cardassian race to be eradicated.

It’s horrible and goes to show how cruel the Changelings can be in being the leaders of the Dominion. The Jem’Hadar soon begin to leave more Cardassian cities. The Federation alliance fleet prepare to mount a final offensive as they get closer to Cardassia Prime and the Dominion defences.

On Cardassia, Kira and her team manage to storm the command centre and capture the lead Founder. Damar is killed in the process, but so is Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun once Garak shoots him in anger. The Founder initially refuses to surrender, intending to make things harder for the alliance. 😐

When Kira explains to Sisko aboard the new Defiant, Odo beams down to the command centre on Cardassia in order to persuade the lead Founder to change her mind. They link with each other, joining bodies and Odo soon cures the Founder of the Changeling disease Section 31 had imposed. 🙂

Once that happens, the lead Founder orders the Dominion forces to surrender. I did think that was too quick in the lead Founder being willing to surrender once Odo had cured her of her disease. Perhaps there was a lot more going on between them when they linked each other in the episode. 😐

Odo meanwhile tells Kira that he’s agreed to cure the other Founders of the disease, but he would have to join them permanently. This is sad as Kira and Odo’s romantic relationship seems to be short-lived. Kira and Odo might not see each other again once he’s returned to join the Changelings.

Back on DS9, the lead Founder agrees to stand trial for the Dominion’s war crimes against the Federation. She’s signed an armistice in the presence of Barry Jenner as Admiral Ross in order to end the war. Thus the Dominion War comes to an end as most of our DS9 crew prepare to say farewell. 😦

The crew celebrates at Vic Fontaine’s simulated 1960s lounge in the holosuite and James Darren as Vic Fontaine sings ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, which Fred Astaire sang in ‘Swing Time’. Sisko, Kasidy, Jake, Worf, Ezri, Quark, Odo, Kira, Bashir and O’Brien are there, having become close friends.

Sisko eventually senses something happening on Bajor and he soon goes off to confront Dukat and Winn in the Fire Caves. Winn’s hopes of becoming the Pah-wraith’s emissary are dashed as they possess Dukat instead and resurrect him. Dukat has red glowing eyes once Sisko is confronting him. 😐

Sisko is easily subdued by Dukat who has his new-found Pah-wraith powers in him. Winn tries to destroy the book she used to summon the Pah-wraiths, but Dukat kills her in the process. Once Dukat is distracted, Sisko manages to push him and the book into the fiery chasm, but he falls in as well. 😮

Thankfully, Sisko manages to survive, albeit in the wormhole where Sarah tells him that the Pah-wraiths will never emerge again. Sisko has also been made into a ‘god’ by the Prophets. He can’t return to DS9. He has to stay where he is in the ‘celestial temple’ until the time comes he can return.

With the DS9 crew puzzled by Sisko’s disappearance, he soon comes to his wife, Penny Johnson as Kasidy Yates, in a vision. Having a last goodbye with each other, Sisko assures Kasidy that he will return, though he doesn’t know when. It might be in a future Season 8 or it might in a tie-in novel. 😐

The episode concludes with a number of goodbyes, making the ending very heartfelt and emotional. O’Brien goes off to become a teacher at Starfleet Academy with his wife Rosalind Chao as Keiko, his daughter Hana Hatae as Molly and his son Kirayoshi. O’Brien and Bashir have their farewell together.

Worf is also appointed to become the Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire with J. G. Hertzler as Martok the new Klingon chancellor. There will come a time when Worf needs to be on the Enterprise-E for ‘Star Trek: Nemesis’, but apart from that, Worf seems to have a bright future. 😀

Kira also takes Odo to the Founders’ planet where he joins the Great Link and cures the Changelings of their disease. The farewell scene between Kira and Odo is lovely as they still love each other despite parting from each other. 🙂 It was bittersweet to see Kira and Odo part from each other at the end.

It was funny when Odo refused to say goodbye to Quark and they didn’t become buddy buddies by the end. 😀 Aron Eisenberg also gets his well-earned promotion as lieutenant by the end. Kira returns to DS9 and has now become the station commander. Hopefully things will be good on the station. 🙂

The final shot of the episode is of Kira joining Sisko’s son Jake as they gaze out of a window at the wormhole. The episode backtracks to a view of DS9 in deep space with the incidental music featuring a hint of the theme tune closing things off. Overall, a very satisfying conclusion to the ‘DS9’ series! 🙂

I feel mostly everything has been resolved in this grand finale of the ‘DS9’ series. There is a sense the show can carry on, but this is the best place to stop. ‘DS9’ is definitely one of my favourite ‘Star Trek’ TV shows and it’s so good that it ends on a really heartfelt note with the characters saying goodbye.

By the way, Ezri and Bashir continue to have their relationship by the time the episode comes to an end. I wonder how the ‘DS9’ series would have continued had there been a Season 8. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to see and have photos with the ‘DS9’ cast at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ in 2018.

On Disc 7 of the ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Season 7’ DVD, there are the documentaries ‘Ending an Era’, ‘The Last Goodbyes’, ‘Crew Dossier: Benjamin Sisko’, ‘Crew Dossier: Jake Sisko’, ‘Special Crew Dossier: Ezri Dax’, ‘Morn Speaks’ and ‘Deep Space Nine Sketchbook: John Eaves’. There’s also a photo gallery and some Section 31 hidden files.

‘What You Leave Behind’ (DS9) rating – 9/10

‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Season 7’ DVD rating – 9/10

‘WHAT WE LEFT BEHIND: LOOKING BACK AT ‘STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE’

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Tim Bradley with the cast and crew of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Terry Farrell at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Nana Visitor at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Armin Shimerman as Quark in Quark’s bar at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Michael Dorn at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Rene Auberjonois at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Alexander Siddig at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Nicole De Boer at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Cirroc Lofton at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

Tim Bradley with Chase Masterson as Leeta at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ at the NEC in Birmingham, October 2018

In October 2018, my Mum and I attended the ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ convention. At the event, we went to see the premiere of the behind-the-scenes documentary ‘What We Left Behind’ which celebrated 25 years of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’. It was pretty incredible to watch.

I remember the ‘DS9’ showrunner Ira Steven Behr, who directed the documentary with David Zappone, introducing ‘What We Left Behind’ to us convention attendees, including me and my Mum, about to watch it. We saw the documentary on the big screen as though it was like a movie. 🙂

I currently own ‘What We Left Behind’ on DVD. Watching the documentary again after seeing it on the big screen at ‘Destination Star Trek’ was a treasure to behold. It’s amazing what I could remember from watching the documentary on that big screen in 2018 and what I was rediscovering.

It’s also sad that contributors to the documentary like René Auberjonois (who played Odo in the series) and Aron Eisenberg (who played Nog) passed away a year or so after the documentary was made. I recall seeing René and Aron at ‘Destination Star Trek’ from having photo shoots at the event.

‘What We Left Behind’ is rather unique! Ira Steven Behr doesn’t make the documentary bog-standard with the behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews. There are additional elements that make this documentary love-filled, portraying how the cast and crew were passionate in making ‘DS9’.

Revisiting the documentary on DVD, I’d forgotten that it started with an opening musical number sung by Max Grodénchik (who played Rom in the series). There’s also an introduction by Andrew Robinson (who played Garak) before we get right into the behind-the-scenes interviews themselves.

The people who get interviewed in the documentary include cast members like Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell, Michael Dorn, Nicole de Boer, Cirroc Lofton, Alexander Siddig, Colm Meaney, Armin Shimerman, Aron Eisenberg, Max Grodénchik, Andrew Robinson, Casey Biggs, Jeffrey Combs, Marc Alaimo, Wallace Shawn, etc. 🙂

There are crew members that get interviewed like ‘DS9’ co-creator/executive producer Rick Berman, writer/story editor Robert Hewitt Wolfe, writer Ronald D. Moore, production designer Herman Zimmerman, director of photography Jonathan West, make-up supervisor Michael Westmore, etc. 🙂

It was amazing to discover that ‘DS9’ wasn’t well-received upon initial transmission and that the original series and ‘TNG’ are regarded more highly. I like how the documentary explores the hurdles it went through in order to get the TV episodes made and the challenging topics it discussed.

I like how in certain points in the documentary, there was a writers’ reunion room, led by Ira Steven Behr, where they prepared a potential Season 8 opening episode involving the death of Nog and the return of Captain Sisko. I really would like to see that Season 8 and its opening episode of ‘DS9’ made. 🙂

A thing I noticed about the making-of documentary is that it featured clips of episodes with HD re-mastering. I thought there was something different about the episode clips as I watched them since there’s more colour and texture to them. The ‘DS9’ series I have on DVD doesn’t have that HD quality.

It was good to hear the fans’ feedback and viewpoints on what they made of the ‘DS9’ series. This included them talking about the women featured in the series like Kira and Jadzia Dax; what they thought of Bashir initially and how certain topical issues like LGTB got addressed in the ‘DS9’ show. 😐

There are certain things about the ‘DS9’ series addressed that wouldn’t have fitted in with Gene Roddenberry’s original vision for ‘Star Trek’. This includes the Dominion War aspects and how there was resistance to that story arc. I like how the documentary addressed that in the cast and crew interviews.

I’m glad the documentary focused on the development of characters like Sisko, Kira and Odo, the changeover from Jadzia Dax into Ezri Dax, etc. It was a surprise to find how certain actors felt unappreciated during the making of the show like Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) and Terry Farrell (Jadzia).

The documentary closes with a musical number sung by Casey Biggs (Damar), Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun), Armin Shimerman (Quark) and Max Grodénchik (Rom). In the end credits, I found it funny how Ira Steven Behr and Nana Visitor (Kira) debated about what was cut out from the documentary.

‘What We Left Behind’ is a fine testament and retrospective on the making of ‘Star Trek: Deep Space’ on its 25th anniversary. I’m pleased my Mum and I saw it at ‘Destination Star Trek Birmingham’ in October 2018 and it was superb to watch the documentary again on DVD in 2021.

The DVD/Blu-ray special features are as follows. There’s an introduction from Ira Steven Behr and the gang on the DVD/Blu-ray special features; ‘A Brief History of Deep Space Nine’, ‘What We Left Out – Deleted Scenes’, the filmmaker HD discussion, ‘More From The Fans’, ‘Behind the Scences on the ‘Variety’ Photoshoot’ and a theatrical trailer for the documentary.

‘What We Left Behind: Looking Back at ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ rating – 9/10