‘Deep Space Nine’ On The Trek Alone

For the first time in three years, the people of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” are alone in the uncharted vastness of Trekkiespace, testing out a new Starfleet ship called the Defiant.

With “Star Trek: the Next Generation” retired into permanent rerun syndication and “Star Trek: Voyager” not yet commissioned for active duty, that means “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (Sundays, 5 p.m., KXLY) is the only game in town.

The second spin-off series from the original “Star Trek” went into production last month on its third season, which will begin the week of Sept. 26. It will be presenting the only first-run shows in the “Trek” canon until 1995, when Paramount is expected to launch “Star Trek: Voyager” as the first building block of its new broadcast network.

That seems to guarantee “Deep Space Nine” will be getting all the attention from Trekkers for at least half a TV season. But nobody connected with the show seems relieved to be out from under the shadow of the higher rated “Star Trek: the Next Generation.”

“There’s so much inter-connectedness between the two shows that there’s been virtually no sense of competition,” producer and co-creator Rick Berman told TV critics. “It’s almost as if it’s all one big group of people who are producing two television shows.”

For that matter, Michael Piller, who co-created the show, says it will inherit “all the political, historical and storytelling elements” that have been in “Star Trek: TNG.” “Voyager” will not.

Still, there seems to be an effort to re-energize “Deep Space Nine” this year to take advantage of the unique situation. Changes are being made that the producers hope will bring in viewers who might have liked the other show better.

One of the new gimmicks will be the Defiant, a much larger spaceship attached to the deep space station No. 9. Built by Starfleet to battle the evil Borg, it will accommodate many more people, which means more roving space stories for more characters.

The new ship will be introduced in the seasonopening, two-parter called “The Search.” That episode aptly demonstrates Berman’s point about the linkage between the two series: Cast member Jonathan Frakes from “Star Trek: TNG” is directing the second hour of the episode and, of course, the Borg originated in the other show.

Piller said the new ship will carry 30 to 50 crew members and will have a bridge where the officers can assemble.

“A lot of stuff is going to be happening in the Gamma Quadrant that’s going to take us through the Worm Hole into this unexplored region of space,” said Piller. “Quite a few surprises are in store.”

One of them won’t be the rumored diminishing of actor Avery Brooks’ role as Commander Sisko. All the cast members will be returning for season three, including Brooks, who did two more backto-back “Spenser” TV movies during the hiatus, reprising his role as Hawk.

“That’s absolutely false,” Piller said of the rumor. “In fact, we’re planning to broaden the role of the commander. Sisko is a man who had a tragedy to overcome in order to go on with his life. We believe it’s time he no longer live in the past, so we’re really going to be emphasizing his role as a hero this season.”

Lots of rumors turn out to be true, Piller concedes, because the show probably has the worst script security in television.

“They seem to be out on the convention circuit by the time we finish them,” he said of the scripts. “We’ve been told that people go into our offices in the middle of the night and take things out of our computers.”