When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, he envisioned it as a pacifist show. The diplomatic aspect of the franchise was further explored in the future installments, especially in The Next Generation. However, with Deep Space Nine, Ira Steven Behr introduced the Dominion War, which remains one of the most important events in the IP’s decades-long existence.
But while it turned out to be a huge hit among fans and critics, co-creator Rick Berman was initially against this shift in the franchise, as he didn’t want to stray away from the IP’s roots.
Rick Berman Vehemently Pushed Against the Dominion Wars in Deep Space Nine
Amidst all the wars in the franchise so far, the Dominion War is one of its most detailed conflicts. Fought between the Dominion, the Cardassian Union, and the Breen Confederacy, against the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire, it’s often regarded as the most pivotal moment in the franchise’s history. Moreover, the war had long-term implications in the Star Trek universe, which took place over the course of the final two seasons of Deep Space Nine.
But before all the factions could butt heads, it was the showrunner and co-creator Rick Berman, who had a conflict of their own behind the scenes. In order to stay true to the IPs’ roots, Berman was against Robert Ira Steven’s concept for a war-centric arc, whose groundwork was laid in the first five seasons of the show, eventually leading to a lot of arguments between the two.
The whole idea of the Dominion Wars, the idea that Ira wanted an arc that was going to last a season or perhaps longer, he and I had a lot of disagreement about that. And that was all based purely on the fact that Gene had been very specific to me about not wanting ‘Star Trek’ to be a show about intergalactic wars, interspecies wars. He didn’t want it to be about humans fighting wars against other species.
While Berman eventually folded to Steven, he was taken aback by the duration of the war-centric arc in the acclaimed show.
The Dominion Wars Went on Far Longer Than Rick Berman Expected
To Ira Steven Behr’s credit, despite straying away from the roots of the franchise to incorporate the Dominion Wars, which lasted from 2373 to 2375, he ensured to portray wars in a negative light. As for the its duration, which took two seasons to conclude, Berman wasn’t initially thrilled by this extension, as he originally thought the entire arc could be done within a “half-dozen episodes”.
I felt that the whole arc of these wars was something that could get done in half-dozen episodes. Ira felt differently and he pushed it, and it went longer than I’d hoped it’d go.
While it’s easy to see why Berman was against the whole idea, as it doesn’t exactly fit the spirit of the Star Trek IP, this show remains one of the best entries in the franchise even two decades later.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
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