My favourite Star Trek series is Deep Space Nine. That might have been a very controversial thing to say once, but history’s been especially kind to the third Star Trek show that aired from 1993 to 1999. Though its two preceding series are still more popular, and even its successive two series are better known, if only for their failings, fans of DS9 know that this overlooked middle child of the franchise was by far the most bold, innovative, rich, and thoughtful Star Trek series, truly “going where no one had gone before” despite being set on a solitary space station. Ahead of its time in terms of its story arcs, serialization, character complexity, and juggling of themes, it arguably fits in more in the current television climate than it did in the 1990s, and as more people are discovering it, Deep Space Nine is getting a much deserved re-evaluation.
What We Left Behind (a reference to the final episode) is a crowd-funded documentary made in honour of the shows’ twenty-fifth anniversary last year. Directed by David Zappone and showrunner Ira Steven Behr (who also “hosts” it), the film discusses the series, why it was different, and the impact it had, featuring interviews with the extensive cast of the show, the crew, even a former network executive, and the fans. Interspersed with this tribute is a reunion of Behr with four of the shows’ best writers (Ronald D. Moore, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Rene Echevarria, and Hans Beimler) holding a faux pitch meeting to outline the premiere episode of a hypothetical season eight, complete with nicely done updated sketch illustrations.
This was a fan-financed project and it definitely shows. While the movie doesn’t look necessarily cheap, there is a general cheesiness to a lot of its atmosphere of the kind you usually see at fan conventions. For instance, the film opens and closes with four performers from the show (Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik, Jeffrey Combs, and Casey Biggs) crooning a DS9 themed song, and a couple times throughout the doc, Andrew Robinson interrupts Behr’s tangents with an ad lib in the attitude of his fan favourite character Garak. It’s all silly, but it’s a kind of silliness that has an innate charm to it, especially considering how much fun everyone’s having. If there’s one thing the group interviews show, it’s that the cast of DS9 clearly got along better than the casts of just about any other Trek show.
The narrative this film is presenting is that of DS9 as the underdog validated. At various points, the doc shows cast and crew reading fan letters from when the show was on the air criticising it for straying from Gene Roddenberry’s vision, its lack of mobility with regards to the exploration theme, as well as generic dumb complaints that wouldn’t be out of place on the internet today. Multiple times it’s referenced how even now DS9 is frustratingly forgotten as to its significance (I know I was a little taken aback when Star Trek Discovery claimed to be going to all sorts of new and dark places with the franchise that DS9 had been to in the 90’s). Behr believes it was this very obscurity however that gave them licence to experiment, and the doc makes a very good case for that, taking us through the series’ story and character milestones and pivotal moments to illustrate how it challenged the perceived status quo of not only Star Trek but the television drama itself.
Unfortunately this movie’s central theme can feel hyperbolic at times owing to the occasional disingenuous presentation. Firstly, even though this was clearly a passion project for Behr, a little too much emphasis is placed on him. I know documentarians are often forced to be stars of their own films, but Behr really shouldn’t be the face of the movie poster no matter how alluring his blue goatee is. There are also a couple of the short fan interviews, including one with a child, that come across almost certainly staged, which isn’t a good look for any non-fiction film. Parts of the writers room conversation ring false, as does a scene inserted purely for Behr to express humility at not doing more for queer representation on the show (I don’t doubt Behr’s sincerity on that point, just its delivery felt immodest –there’s a reason he’s not an actor). There are some technical issues as well: as great as it is to see remastered DS9 excerpts on the big screen, it only brings the poor quality of the reused convention footage into starker relief. And I’m not sure if it’s the remastered visual effects or my memories glossing over them, but the clips of the space battle scenes do not look good on a theatrical scale. But then this is a movie that’s meant to be seen on the home screen.
And really the biggest triumph of this movie is in how much it succeeds as a celebration of DS9. It’s a heartfelt, sincere tribute full of love and care that does an excellent job acknowledging how and why the series has cultivated such a strong and devoted following -whether it be from the endlessly engaging characters, the compelling stories, or the groundbreaking content. Though you could argue whether the people involved (Behr especially) are too prideful or are exaggerating its impact slightly by comparing it to the best of modern TV, DS9 really did address issues no other Trek show did and in a more consistent way than any other Trek show did. It dived deep into themes of war, religion, prejudice, politics, terrorism, security, identity, and morality; one of its greatest episodes, “Far Beyond the Stars” tackled racism more directly and potently than anything else in the fifty-three year old franchise. Each of the characters were multi-faceted, their personal arcs, problems, and complexities not disappearing from episode to episode. Jeffrey Combs at one point says “it pursued the journey inside not the journey out”, and I think there’s no finer way to put it.
Seeing the cast reminisce is an utter delight. Everyone has their little stories and anecdotes, but also share their feelings about working on the series and what it means to them. Armin Shimerman is very upfront about how important the show was, Alexander Siddig and Michael Dorn express real pride at how it’s been received, and Terry Farrell opens up about the hardship of leaving before the last season. Even Aron Eisenberg, who played Nog, one of the shows’ repertory players (though with an astonishingly developed arc) gets emotional about the impact it had on him. Seeing them talk so fondly of their experiences and their characters reminds me why I love the show and why I’m still gobsmacked actors like Nana Visitor, Marc Alaimo, Andrew Robinson, and especially Avery Brooks aren’t bigger stars.
Entertainment Weekly once described Deep Space Nine as “the best show on television that no one noticed”. The existence of What We Left Behind proves that some did, and that more have been coming to it through syndication or streaming (the doc is ultimately an endorsement of the series on Netflix or Amazon Prime) in the twenty years since it ended. It’s a doc explicitly made for the fans, so nobody who hasn’t watched the show is going to get much out of it apart from a nascent charm. But for those fans I’d definitely recommend it. For everyone else I recommend Deep Space Nine wholeheartedly!
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