Is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine the Jan Brady of the franchise?

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is returning in comic book format.

Captain Benjamin Sisko has been with the prophets for a long time, but he’s finally returning, in comic book format at least. According to CBR [via DailyStarTrekNews], Comic writers Jackson Lansing and Collin Kelley and IDW Publishing are releasing a series in Ocober based around the beloved captain, the first of which takes place in the two-year period between the return of Voyager from the Delta Quadrant and the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. So the entirety of the series will take place before Nemesis which happened in 2380, but it won’t take place at Deep Space Nine.

For fans of Deep Space Nine, this comes as good news, even though Captain Sisko won’t be in live action. As Daily Star Trek News mentioned in its report of the comic book, a lot of fans felt that “our beloved series was the ‘Jan Brady’ of the franchise, not getting as much love as its bigger sister (TNG) or its little sister (Star Trek: Voyager).” And that’s a fair point.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first series to reintroduce Star Trek to television since Star Trek: The Original Series went off the air in 1969, and Star Trek: Voyager was the first Trek series to have a female captain which attracted attention, both positively and negatively. But Deep Space Nine was in the middle, not taking to the skies and searching the galaxy like those that had gone before it. And though the series did last seven seasons, it rarely gets mentions in the current Trek landscape.

But Deep Space Nine broke down some barriers on its own as it was the first Star Trek series that had an African-American captain (first commander) as well as a female second-in-command (if you don’t count the TOS original pilot). It had the most aliens that were major characters, and it was the only Trek series where the captain had a child that stayed with him. And though there wasn’t a dedicated starship that everyone traveled on during each episode, there were plenty of space battle and away mission episodes. So there’s absolutely no reason why this series should be ignored.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is, essentially, a hidden gem that a lot of Trek fans haven’t watched.

When the series aired, its ratings weren’t stellar, and I don’t know about the numbers since it aired on streaming channels. But I do know that many fans didn’t watch the series when it aired and haven’t watched it yet. Some fans were deadset against a series that wasn’t set aboard a starship and refused to watch it.

But over twenty years have past since the series ended, and with the newer Star Trek series drawing in the viewers and directing them back to the older series like The Next Generation and Voyager, it’s far past time for the spotlight to shine on Deep Space Nine. And the only way that’s going to happen is for Star Trek to promote it again, whether through the introduction of characters into the newer shows, a live-action visit to the space station, or even episodes where the focus is about what happened on Deep Space Nine. There are plenty of ways for the powers-that-be to direct viewers to this incredibly brilliant show.