Star Trek: Deep Space Ninenever jumped to feature films, but a movie crossing overDS9andStar Trek: The Next Generationcould have jumpstarted theStar Trekfilm franchise afterStar Trek: Insurrection.Star Trek: Deep Space Nineaired for 7 seasonsin syndication from 1993-1999.DS9didn’t achieve the popularity ofStar Trek: The Next Generation, whileStar Trek: Voyagerwas considered asTNG’s heir apparent by Paramount. AfterTNG, no otherStar TrekTV seriesleaped to movie theaters.ADS9andTNGcrossover was a missed opportunity.
1996’sStar Trek: First Contactwas the apex of theStar Trek: The Next Generationmovies. Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) big-screen battle with the Borg grossed over $92 million and was a smash with audiences. 1998’s follow-up,Star Trek: Insurrection,was a downturn, earning only $70 million and disappointing fans. It would be four more years until the finalTNGmovie, the disastrousStar Trek: Nemesis. Meanwhile,Star Trek: Deep Space Nineended in 1999.Bringing Captain Picard and Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) together in a movie was not considered by Paramount, but what if it did happen?
How A DS9 Movie Could Have Saved Star Trek’s Film Franchise
Picard & Sisko Together Would’ve Been A Star Trek Movie Event
After Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) inStar Trek Generationsand the Borg inStar Trek: First Contact,what theStar Trekmovie franchiseneeded was another big event to entice audiences into movie theaters. Captain Picard meeting Captain Sisko could have been that milestone. Picard and Sisko met once before, inStar Trek: Deep Space Nine’s series premiere, “Emissary,” but after 1999, this would have been a Picard who was a bona fide movie star, while Sisko had become a godafter the Emissary joined with the Prophets of Bajor.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast & Character Guide
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had the biggest cast of characters of any Trek show, meaning that Captain Sisko had numerous allies in the Dominion War.
AStar Trekmovie crossover betweenTNGandDS9would have been epic, and a must-see for Trekkers. Several story threads could have tiedDS9andTNGtogether, starting with Lt. Commander Worf(Michael Dorn), who bridged both shows. WithDS9’s Dominion War concluded, Bajor would have been a natural battleground, as it’s Sisko’s spiritual home while Picard has ties to it fromStar Trek: The Next Generation. Chief Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney) could have also been a conduit between the twoStar Trekcasts.
Both TNG and DS9 could have become viable film franchises concurrently.
A successfulStar Trek: TNGandDS9movie crossover would have sparked fan interest afterStar Trek: Insurrectionstumbled. From there,Star Trek: The Next Generationcould have passed the torch toDS9continuing theStar Trekmovies, or bothTNG andDS9could have become viable film franchises concurrently, perhaps opening the door toStar Trek: VoyagerandStar Trek: Enterprisedown the line. Instead,DS9, Voyager,theTNGmovies, andEnterpriseall ended by 2005.
Why A Star Trek: DS9 Movie Never Happened
Star Trek Was Suffering From Franchise Fatigue
Star Trek: Deep Space NineandStar Trek: The Next Generationcrossing over in a movie is wishful thinking, and there are reasons why it never happened. By the end of the 1990s,Star Trekwas suffering from franchise fatigueafter decades of continuous (and repetitive) TV series and movies.DS9was never as popular asTNG,and Paramount did not see it as capable of inheriting theStar Trekmovies the wayTNGdid fromStar Trek: The Original Series.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Cast: Where Are DS9’s Actors Now?
Deep Space Nine had one of the most talented casts in Star Trek history, as proved by their impressive list of credits after DS9 ended.
Crossing over thecasts ofStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Deep Space Ninein a movie would also have been an expensive proposition. DS9’s cast was even more expansive thanTNG’s, and over a dozen characters would have fought for screen time even before villains and ancillary characters. Further,Paramount preferredStar Trek: VoyagertoDS9, but Captain Kathryn Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) show also wasn’t considered movie-worthy because of its relatively poor ratings compared toTNG.
Kate Mulgrew made a cameo inStar Trek: Nemesisas Admiral Janeway.
Ultimately,Star Trekunder the aegis of executive producer Rick Berman was in its waning days at the start of the 2000s, andStar Trek: Enterprisewas the last gasp of the glory years ofStar Trek: The Next Generationa decade earlier. Left alone by Paramount,Star Trek: Deep Space Nineproved itself to be ahead of its time, pioneering serialization,and delivering a series that seems even more relevant 25 years later.Star Trek: The Next Generation’s movie franchise could have benefited from a crossover withDS9,but it wasn’t a viable idea to Paramount, and will forever be a ‘What If?’ scenario.
