There’s a reason we have such wide access to “Star Trek” in the modern streaming marketplace, and it weirdly has everything to do with Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004. MTV produced Jackson’s show, and CBS broadcasted the Super Bowl itself, and both those companies were subsidiaries of parent company Viacom. CBS was headed by one Les Moonves, and MTV by Tom Freston. When the two men began bickering over who should accept blame for the “malfunction,” the head of Viacom, Sumner Redstone, decided to split Viacom into two halves, with Moonves overseeing one half and Freston overseeing the other.
The problem with the split is that the CBS half owned the TV rights to “Star Trek,” and the MTV/Paramount half owned the film rights. Both wanted to take advantage of their respective “Star Trek” properties, and Paramount did this by making the J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” movies. The CBS half took advantage by proliferating “Star Trek” on home video and streaming as much as they could. That’s the reason why so many “Star Trek” DVDs began appearing on shelves in the mid-to-late 2000s and why “Star Trek” seemed to be available on every streaming service.
And once it was on streaming, all of a sudden, a serialized series like “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” was easier to consume.
Actress Nana Visitor, who played Major Kira Nerys on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” from 1993 to 1999 felt that the streaming model — which permitted Trekkies to marathon through whole seasons in a matter of days — was incredibly friendly to her series. She said as much in a 2019 interview with ScienceFiction.com, expressing gratitude that DS9 experienced a late-stage resurgence.
Deep Space Nine is streaming-friendly
Unlike the “Star Trek” shows that preceded it, “Deep Space Nine” dabbled in serialized storytelling, entrenching itself in ongoing story arcs and building out its ensemble of characters. Most TV shows of the era (soap operas notwithstanding) were presented in a syndication-friendly episodic structure, allowing viewers to watch them in whatever order they happened to encounter them in reruns. “Deep Space Nine,” however, clearly longed to break out from that model, and the series, especially in later seasons, began to interconnect in a more dramatic fashion. This was unusual for TV shows in the 1990s.
Visitor was naturally pleased that new audiences were finding “Deep Space Nine,” and said that the streaming model allowed it to thrive far better than its old syndication days. In her words:
“I think that one huge reason is that serialization, ‘back in the day,’ actually worked against us. If you missed an episode, it wasn’t easy to find it, and then you were left with questions of what was really going on. When you could finally just binge-watch the series, it made a huge difference to people. People who were initially lukewarm to the series or didn’t quite ‘get it. ‘ To re-watch it — and I’ve heard this from fans over and over again — they said ‘at first I didn’t get it, but now that I’ve binge-watched it, and oh my God!’ They got more out of it, of course.”
Speaking as someone who’s done it, I recommend a “Deep Space Nine” marathon. Like all “Star Trek” shows, it starts a little slow, and it’s still devoted to singular “case of the week” episodes for the most part, but the characters, setting, and premise are fascinating throughout.
Kira was a great and complex character
Visitor also felt that her character, Major Kira, was ahead of her time. Kira was the first officer on the titular space station, but also served as an intermediary between Starfleet and her home planet of Bajor. She had spent most of her life fighting and killing the vicious Cardassians, who militarily occupied her planet, and now has to learn, essentially, how to work a desk job. She’s frustrated by a lot and struggles with her instincts to fight everyone, all while struggling to figure out what the right thing to do is. To that point, Visitor said:
“I think it really speaks to our times, and I think people are more used to seeing characters like my character. They are prolific now, they are all over the place, women who aren’t perfect or who don’t fit a particular mold. We are feeling easier with these things.”
Visitor also wanted to assure readers that she never changed her tune on “Deep Space Nine.” She always loved it, even in the era when “people didn’t get it.” She loved her character, loved the fame it brought her, and loves that she still gets to talk about it. As she stated:
“I was always proud of the show when I was doing it. When I finished it, I deeply loved the show and appreciated the incredible opportunity that I had, all those years ago, to play a character that really didn’t exist anywhere else, as far as I was concerned.”
“Deep Space Nine” is currently available to stream on Paramount+. Your marathon awaits. Some feel that it’s the best “Star Trek” show, and it would be fun to find out if you agree. You can start with one of the 15 best episodes, if you want.
