âAll the essays are fun to read, and they pin their subjects just as you would expect⌠A must for <i>Star Trek</i> audiences and those who muse about the future of mankind living in communities in space alike.ââ<i>Popcultureshelf.com</i>
Despite the fact that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended over twenty-five years ago, there has yet to be a stand-alone assessment of the series. This collection corrects that omission, examining what made Deep Space Nine so unique within the Star Trek universe, and how that uniqueness paved the way for an altogether new, entirely different vision for Star Trek. If the Star Trek slogan has always been "to boldly go where no one has gone before," then Deep Space Nine helped to bring in a new renaissance of serialized television that has become normal practice.
Furthermore, Deep Space Nine ushered in critical discussions on race, gender, and faith for the franchise, science fiction television and American lives. It relished in a vast cast of supporting characters that allowed for the investigation of psychosocial relationships--from familial issues to interpersonal and interspecies conflict to regional strife--that the previous Star Trek series largely overlooked. Essays explore how Deep Space Nine became the most richly complicated "sci-fi" series in the entire Star Trek pantheon.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Michael G. Cornelius and Sherry Ginn
Part One. Narrative: Creating and Crafting the Story of Deep Space Nine
âEvery choice we make has a consequenceâ: Serialized Storytelling in Star Trekâs Episodic Universe
Val Nolan
The Static Space Opera: Dispersed and Sedimental Saturation of the Star Trek Storyworld
Florent Favard
Thinking Space: Identity and Cognition in Deep Space Nine
Franklin R. Halprin
Trauma, Psychological Development, and the Triumph of Kira Nerys
Sherry Ginn
âA very unformed beingâ: Odoâs Rhizomatic Journey Toward Selfhood
Erin Bell
Part Two. Race, Gender, Religion: Examining Themes and Tropes Illustrated on Deep Space Nine
Class Division and Biopolitics in âPast Tenseâ
Douglas Rasmussen
The Unkillable Idea of Benny Russell: Afrofuturist Temporalities and âFar Beyond the Starsâ
Dylan Reid Miller
(Un)Radical Feminism: Gender and the Limits of Imagination
Rowan Bell
Siskoâs Conversion Experience and the Secularism of William James: Exploring Faith, Religion, and the Visions of the Prophets
Drew Chastain
Traversing/able Sacred Space: The Bajoran Wormhole as Spiritual Journey
Michael G. Cornelius
Epilogue
Sherry Ginn
Appendix A: List of Deep Space Nine Episodes by Season
Appendix B: List of ÂNonâDeep Space Nine Star Trek Episodes Cited in Text
Appendix C: Star Trek Filmography
About the Contributors
Index