Robert Justman thought Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had a role problem with Captain Sisko

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine came on the heels of Star Trek: The Next Generation, opting to tell stories from the decks of a space station rather than a spaceship. At first, viewers weren't quite sure if they were going to like that side of Starfleet. But the series became exceedingly popular over its seven season run, with some of the episodes, like seaon four's "The Visitor," being continually named as the best of Star Trek.

Robert Justman, the co-producer of Star Trek: The Original Series, and the person considered responsible for finding The Next Generation's Captain Picard, Patrick Stewart, didn't have the same good feeling about Deep Space Nine as the fans did, according to an interview that was included in Star Trek All Good Things: A Next Generation Companion. It wasn't so much that he had a problem with the series as a whole. He had more of a problem with the role of Captain Sisko.

Though Justman called Avery Brooks "a marvelous actor" who had a "lot of power and energy," he didn't think Sisko was a role that "made anything happen." Justman just felt "there was a problem there."

"Sisko was a role that really didn't make anything happen. It's a tough role, and [Avery Brooks] was an actor who displayed such flash and fire in [Spencer: for Hire] when he played a guy named Hawk. He's a marvelous actor and has a lot of power and energy and anger, but he was playing against himself, and the character wasn't as proactive as, say, Bill Shatner, had been.""

- Robert Justman

Comparing Brooks' Sisko to Shatner's Kirk isn't quite just as they were two vastly different roles that required different acting methods. Kirk was the captain of the USS Enterprise, a job he clearly wanted and loved wherease Sisko didn't want to be on Deep Space Nine. Having lost his wife and becoming a single father, he was still dealing with the pain of the past, and so it makes sense that those feelings would come across in his interactions with others.

Justman was certainly entitled to his opinion, but I don't agree that Sisko didn't make anything happen. He was a strong commander, didn't back down from a fight, and kept his crew in line while also showing them a healthy dose of respect. He faced overwhelming odds with the Dominion War, something neither Kirk or Picard had to face, and, in the end, he protected the space station and the people he'd sworn to protect.