[Editors Note: The following ran in issue #24 of CCSTSG Enterprises, the
monthly newsletter of the Central Connecticut Star Trek Support Group (7
Quarry St./Vernon, CT 06066, for more info), a few weeks ago. At Shore
Leave 14, in Hunt Valley, MD, on the weekend of July 11-12, 1992, Majel
Barrett Roddenberry addressed the large audience on the subject of Deep
Space Nine by reading extensive excerpts out of the writers' bible and
answering questions. She also made some interesting comments on other
issues surrounding Trek in the post-Gene era. I captured Majels
presentation on tape and transcribed it for my newsletter. Note: I have
verified the spelling of proper names where possible, but some
discrepancies may exist.]

Majel Barrett Roddenberry speaking:

  The first thing I'd really like to do is to thank all of you who did
send cards and letters last year. I've come to tell you that I appreciate
it from the bottom of my heart. I've tried to send back thank-you notes to
everyone. I hope you all got them. The second thing I want to thank you
for is having me back here again. I think it was probably about four or
five years ago that I was here before. It could be twenty eight as far as
I know -- I don't know, I've been hanging around Star Trek that long. 

  Now, I don't talk, I dont give speeches or anything like that. Gene did
that. And I don't sing -- Michelle does that. Jimmy tells jokes with an
accent. All I do is gossip, so... So basically, I'm here for you to ask me
questions and Ill try to answer them. If I don't know the answer, I'll
make one up.

  What I am going to do, though, in whatever order you'd like it, is to
tell you about Deep Space Nine. I have the Bible with me. You can't have
it, I'm not allowed to sell it to you or give it to you, or let you look
at it, but I certainly can read it to you. If you would like me to start
with that I will. [Applause] Okay. It would take me a long time to read it
word for word, so Im going to do a little bit of skipping, but you're
going to get the general idea:

  [Reading from the series bible:]  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the
series, set in the next generation of Star Trek lore, follows a team of
Starfleet officers who take command of an alien space station situated
near the Bajoran Worm Hole, one of the most strategic locations in the
galaxy. The Bajoran Worm Hole. Worm holes, simply put, are shortcuts
through space. You go in one end, come out the other in seconds to find
yourself billions of kilometers away. All known worm holes previously
encountered in the Star Trek universe have been unstable. Their ends can
whip randomly around the universe, and they last for brief periods of time
before collapsing. But in our pilot episode, the first stable worm hole is
discovered near the Denarias asteroid field close to the planet Bajor.
Like other worm holes it is only visible when an object enters or exits
through it. A brief journey through the Bajoran Worm Hole will take a
starship to the Gamma Quadrant, normally a sixty-year journey at warp 9.
The ride is a spectacular light show: very brilliant colors surround the
ship, while inside, strange visual distortions affect perceptions as
passengers tear through the space-time continuum. This worm hole is a new
passageway to hundreds of unexplored sectors of space and it will turn
Bajor into the leading center of commerce and scientific exploration in
the sector, attracting travelers from all over the galaxy. In the first
episode, we learn that the worm hole has been artificially created by a
species of aliens that do not live in the same space-time continuum as we
do. Thus, we encounter them unexpectedly within the worm hole itself. They
have been sending out orb-like probes from the worm hole, one orb every
century for a thousand years, seeking contact with other life forms. 

The Backstory. The Cardassians and Bajor are known to Star Trek audiences.
A century ago the Cardassians conquered the planet Bajor, an ancient
society dedicated to spiritual pursuits. The mysterious orbs that have
arrived each century are among the fundamental sacraments of the Bajoran
religion. Bajoran terrorism during the last several decades has been a
significant problem for the Cardassians. Just before our series begins,
the Cardassians have completed mining operations on Bajor, stripping the
planet of all its resources. They have decided to unilaterally withdraw
from Bajoran space and give up the headaches that the Bajorans have caused
them. 

  Well, they have not left quietly and in revenge for the years of
terrorism the Cardassians ravaged the planet, poisoned the wells, scorched
the ground and, striking at the heart of the Bajoran people, have
desecrated the ancient monastery that is the center of spiritual life. The
Bajoran desperately need help. They've asked for membership of the
Federation and have been granted preliminary acceptance. But the political
situation on the planet is terribly unstable: factions that have been
united in opposition to Cardassian rule have resumed age-old conflicts.
The Starfleet team's mission is to spearhead the arduous diplomatic and
scientific efforts that accompany the lengthy entry procedure. All of this
is about to be complicated by the discovery of the worm hole. 

  Deep Space Nine. The station designated DS9 by Starfleet was assembled
haphazardly over several years by Cardassian and Bajoran work teams and
anybody else who happened to offer services at a premium. It was used by
the Cardassians primarily to monitor mining operations on Bajor and to
service incoming and outgoing crews. About two hundred people, mostly
Bajorans, still live there. By episode three, there will be about fifty
Starfleet officers and crewmen stationed there. When the Cardassians
abandoned Bajor they stripped the station of all advanced technology and
defense capability and the Starfleet team has a huge job of making it
operational again. In fact, it will never work up to our requirements and
will always be causing the engineering crew a lot of headaches. 

  The Ops controls are a hub of activity; there are shuttle bays for
smaller vessels. On a given day there might be anywhere from 10 to 300
visitors to DS9 as ships come through with foreigners, scientists,
merchants, and spies. Most of the visitors stay on their ships but there
are special quarters for some guests. In the first episode, we learn that
the ship's power sources are destructive to the ionic field that is home
to the aliens who created the worm hole and live within a different
timeframe. During that experience, we are told how to travel through
without harming them.

  One aspect of life on the space station hasn't changed since the
departure of the Cardassians. During their tenure they sold commercial
concessions to the highest bidder to provide services to the mining crews.
The result is the Promenade. Unlike any space interior ever seen on Star
Trek, it's somewhere between a free port and a flea market, bustling with
aliens of all sorts when are ships in, intriguing and unusual characters
at every bend. There's gambling and smuggling, alien grifters at work
here, bars with sexual holo-suites upstairs. Right next to the traditional
ships stores are the Bajoran temple and the kiosk serving live food. Part
of the job of the Starfleet team will be to try to tame this honky tonk
atmosphere. They will have Runabouts [ed: a new class of smaller ships],
which allow our characters to travel to numerous star systems with a
maximum speed of 4.7, operated by a two-man crew, with a single pilot in
control if necessary. They can transport up to forty people, but that's a
crowd. There are cramped, uncomfortable sleeping quarters for six people. 

  Bajor. Bajor is the world we will visit most often because of its
proximity to the space station. Striking architecture with rounded domes
and spherical shapes mark the landscape. The ancient Bajorans were great
architects and engineers before humans were standing erect. The people are
deeply mystical. On their planet we will find monks who meditate and chant
in chords. They are people who believe in spiritual phenomenon, are
devoted to a nonsecular philosophy that goes against the Federations
logical, scientific way of life. Their religious leader, known as the Kai,
is curious and insightful and develops a strong bond with our Commander. 

  The Characters.

  Benjamin Sisko, human Starfleet commander with a twelve-year-old son,
whose gentle, strong, soft spoken demeanor belies the temper that he is
constantly trying to control. And when he loses it, he gets furious with
himself. He's a man of action who gets impatient with too much talk, but
as he has become more mature, he's learned to stop and think twice about
losing control. He has a weakness for baseball, a sport that died out in
the 22nd century and he frequently goes to a holo-suite to have a chat and
a catch with one his legendary ballplayer heroes. Sisko was on a starship
with his wife and son at the famous encounter with the Borg led by the
Borgified Picard, and his wife was killed. That leads to bitterness toward
Picard. Picard: Have we met before? Sisko: Yes, we met in battle. Since
that tragedy, he has been assigned to shore duty on Mars where he was on
the team reconstructing the fleet at Utopia Benecia Yards. Sisko objected
to being assigned to DS9. He told Starfleet he had a son to raise and had
been asking for an Earth assignment, not this. His important work on DS9
gives him a new direction, but his is still very much a life framed by
tragedy.

  Major Kira, a former major in the Bajoran underground. Kira is now an
outspoken critic of the provisional government. Having fought for freedom
all her life, it has angered her to see the older leaders throw it all
away through their petty dissensions. She has been trying without success
to reach the Kai herself to air her grievances. It is very possible she
was sent by the government to be the Bajoran administrator at the space
station simply to get her outspoken voice out of ear shot. [Addressing the
audience:] This part was to have been played by Ensign Ro, but Michelle
decided she wanted to try to be a movie star instead, so she turned it
down. And it's a shame because it was a good character. But the
character's just been renamed, the character will still be there -- it
just won't be Michelle who's playing it. [Reading again:] Kira loathes the
Cardassians. She committed atrocities against them in the name of freedom,
some of which bother her. But others in the Bajoran underground begin a
new wave of terrorism and she is forced into a moral quandary about
tracking them down and bringing them to justice. Former terrorists
consider her a turncoat. 

  Miles O'Brien... will be played by Colm Meany. [Applause] O'Brien has
been the transporter chief on NexGen for five years. This assignment
represents a promotion to Master Chief of Operations, and a tremendous
career opportunity for him. [ed: Not to mention Colm Meany.] He has a
wife, Keiko, and a three year-old baby girl, Molly. Molly just happens to
be Rick Berman's three year-old daughter. He will be in charge of the
comings and goings of vessels, plus the nuts and bolts maintenance of the
station. He's constantly frustrated by the jerry-rigged way this place is
put together. He saw the Cardassians commit unspeakable atrocities and
lost a close friend at the massacre at Setma III. The war changed and
hardened him. The first man he ever killed was a Cardassian who jumped him
on patrol. As he tells the story to another Cardassian in the NexGen
episode, The Wounded, I never killed anything before. When I was a kid I
would worry about having to swat a mosquito. It's not you I hate,
Cardassian: I hate what I became because of you.

  Jadzia Dax is a science officer ranked lieutenant, an alien woman, very
attractive, late 20s. Dax is a Trill, the joined species first encountered
in the NexGen episode The Host. A Trill is comprised of two separate but
interdependent entities -- a host and a symbiant. The host provides the
humanoid body, the symbiant is an invertebrate, androgynous life form that
lives within the host. It looks like a short, fat snake. Many centuries
ago [on the Trills home world], the symbiants lived underground while the
humanoids were on the surface. Due to an environmental disaster, they were
forced to join to survive. As time went on this mutual support evolved to
become a biological dependency, and thus two individuals became one. They
speak with one voice. The symbiant's life span is far longer than the
host's and, as a result, one symbiant will be combined with several hosts
during it's life. When a host dies, doctors surgically remove the
symbiant. The worm then burrows itself into the new host. Dax's host was
joined with her when she was an adult. The symbiant part of her is 300
years old, a brilliant scientist with an innate wisdom who can draw upon a
library of knowledge built from six lifetimes of experience. Kira forms a
very close relationship with Dax and often tells her to loosen up. Dax
admires Kira for her youthful energy, her purpose and her drive and
becomes something of a mentor to her. Dax and Sisko have worked together
before; the only problem is that back then, Dax was still in the host body
of an elderly man and was something of a mentor to Sisko. Her sexually
appealing new form will create a certain tension between her and Sisko,
which they will both resist. After all, he's still having a hard time
getting used to the fact that she's a 300 year-old worm. But he does not
hide the respect and affection he has for her.

  Odo, an alien male, middle-aged curmudgeon, and a shape-shifter. In his
natural state he is a gelatinous liquid. He was Bajoran law enforcement
officer on the space station under the Cardassians. Starfleet decides to
have him continue in that role, since he's extremely savvy about the
Promenade and all who frequent it. His back story is: 50 years ago, with
no memory of his past, he was found alone in a mysterious space craft that
appeared in the Denarias asteroid belt. He was found by the Bajorans and
lived amongst them. At first he was sort of an Elephant Man, a source of
curiosity and humour as he turned himself into a chair or pencil. Finally
he realized he would have to take the form of a humanoid to assimilate and
function in their environment. He does it, but resents it. As a result,
Odo performs a uniquely important role in the ensemble: he is a character
who explores and comments on human values. Because he is forced to pass as
one of us, his point of view usually comes with a cynical and critical
edge. But he can't quite get it right, this humanoid shape, though he
continues to try. So he looks a little unfinished in a way. He's been
working on it a long time. Someone might ask him: Why don't you take the
form of a younger man. His answer: I would if I could. He has the adopted
child syndrome, searching for his own personal identity. Although he
doesn't know anything about his species, he is certain that justice is an
integral part of their being, because the necessity for it runs through
every fiber of his body -- a racial memory. That's why he became a law
man. He has a couple of Bajoran deputies; he doesn't allow weapons on the
Promenade, and once every day he must return to his gelatinous form.

  Quark is the Ferengi bartender. The Ferengi race has been a part of
NexGen since the very beginning. They are ugly, sexist, greedy little
aliens who are interested only in profit and getting their hands on
anything of yours they happen to fancy. Quark runs many of the
entertainment concessions on DS9, including the bar, restaurant, gambling
house, and the holo-suites upstairs where your every fantasy can be played
out. He spends most of his time behind the bar. If there is some scam
being run in the sector it often involves him. But beyond the malevolence
he is a charming host, in a Ferengi sort of way, and forges an interesting
relationship with Sisko. They actually enjoy sparring together now and
then. The Ferengi lends a hand to dissolve a problem for the commander --
as long as there's something in it for him. His completely sexist attitude
makes Kira an obvious adversary, and he is consumed with passion for Dax.

  Then we have Dr. Julian Amoros -- human male, mid 20s, rank of
lieutenant commander, fresh out of Starfleet, graduated second in class,
brilliant specialist in multi-species medicine. He arrives at DS9 with
gung-ho expectations about adventures in Starfleet. He's naive and
charming and cocky all at the same time. He's chosen this remote outpost
instead of the cushy job he was offered at Starfleet medical because this
is where the action is, where heroes are made, in the wilderness. Dr.
Amoros is still wet behind the ears and has a lot to learn. He is the
antithesis of Kira who is street wise savvy but wiser and cynical. O'Brien
becomes Amoros' confidant. As a man who has seen combat and a decorated
veteran of Starfleet duty, O'Brien represents an ideal to the young
doctor. Julian greatly respects Sisko, but is terrified of him. He is
anxious to live up the commander's expectations. Sisko is amused by Julian
and is very patient with him.

  Recurring Characters.

  Jake Sisko, the commander's son. An Army brat who doesn't remember life
on Earth, has been aboard four different starships, and stationed on two
planets. This transient life style has taught him how to scope out a new
terrain and assimilate quickly. At the same time he has an inner fear of
forming new friendships because he loses them so easily. He dreams of
going to live on Earth. He collects holodeck programs of various places on
Earth that he uses to try to fulfill his fantasy. Deep inside he knows
that his mom would still be alive if they did not live in space, and he
has a suppressed bitterness about it. His father promised there would be
other kids on the station; as it turns out there are only a handful of
various alien species. Only one is his age, Nog, a Ferengi teenage boy who
is a bad influence. Jake is close with his dad; they are buddies. The boy
has no technical expertise at all [great applause]. He struggles with his
homework but is dedicated to doing his best.

  Keiko is O'Briens wife. She wondered what a botanist would do on a space
station -- she was happy on the Enterprise -- but she agreed that the
promotion was an incredible opportunity for her husband. She's not
entirely happy on DS9, and in the early episodes she sees serious
shortcomings in the educational facilities and volunteers to be the
station's tutor.

  Then there's Lwaxana Troi. [Loud applause: I'm with you!] Lwaxana is
Deanna's mother, established on NexGen as the Auntie Mame of the galaxy.
When circumstances bring her to the space station she forms a romantic
attachment to Odo and finds reasons to come back to see him. He tries to
discourage her: Maam, I turn into a liquid form at night. Lwaxana: I can
swim. [Audience glee: Boy, were off and running.] 

  One of the other Ferengi who works for Quark is his teenage son, Nog,
who becomes friends of the commanders son. Nog is a bad boy, the kind of
kid your parents didn't want you to associate with.

  And Gul Dukat is a 40s male, deceptively amiable Cardassian commander
who represents the continuing threat to our people. The military empire
and its borders are only a short distance away from Bajor and DS9. He used
to be the Prefect of the Bajoran province when it was under Cardassian
denomination. Thus he is the former landlord of the space station. 

  Kai Apaka is the spiritual leader of Bajor, who provides sharp
counterpoint to the secular nature of Starfleet. She challenges
conventional human logic. The Kai seems to have an awareness on a higher
plane of consciousness and knows things she cannot possibly know. Although
our people do not accepts her powers at face value, we cannot always
explain them, either. She speaks in vague, mystical indirect language,
forcing her listeners to seek her meaning. 

  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine brings into the Star Trek universe an
original set of characters as diverse and memorable as the crews of the
first two series. It also provides far more interpersonal conflict than
we've seen before in the 24th century. If, as Gene Roddenberry always
said, Star Trek is Wagon Train to Space, then think of Deep Space Nine as
Fort Laramie on the edge of the frontier.

  [Closing the Bible...] This one is going to have a lot more humour, a
lot more probably what you'd call action, and a little sex and violence.
Were going to mix it up a little bit. I hesitate to use the word violence
-- you're all going to get the wrong idea. But I think you know what I
mean. Its not going to be even as cerebral as Star Trek. So... I'm going
to take questions now.

Q:     Did Gene have anything to do with this?!
Majel: [Laughing] Uh, he knew about it, but he was not about to become
involved. He had done what he wanted to do and that was it. He just wished
them Godspeed and go ahead. And as long as the name Star Trek is on it,
yes, the estate will have a part of the action.

  With Deep Space Nine coming, what they'll be doing is running them in
tandem. The NexGen will introduce Deep Space Nine, so in your home town,
if whatever station is carrying the NexGen does not have it backed up with
Deep Space, yell at em. They'll listen to you. Really! It is being offered
to the stations that are already carrying Next Generation. Other stations
were coming in and saying, We'll give you more money than you were asking
for, and for a while I think Paramount toyed with it, then decided this
was not real good public relations. So they went back and offered it on
the same basis that the Next Generation is picked up on. And most of them
have picked it up. If your channel has not, honest, yell at em! They
listen to things like that.

Q:     Will Deep Space Nine be carrying a handicapped character?
Majel: Not the way it is right now. They had, at one point, a very, very
interesting character they said they worked and worked and worked on, and
they just couldn't get the character to work. It was a doctor, and it was
a female, and she was wheelchair bound because, there's no gravity on her
original planet, and everybody floats. When everybody came to see her in
her lab, they would have to be in a wheelchair, because there would be no
gravity. It was a very interesting character, but they said they just
couldn't make it work in connection with the other characters. 

Q:     When will Deep Space Nine be on the air?
Majel: It will be on January of 93. We start filming in August. The sets
are already being built. And we're taking up three stages, which means
that the Star Trek productions will have six permanent stages on the
Paramount lot -- something unheard of.

Q:     Do you think the two series running together will take anything
away from either one?
Majel: I don't think so. Supposing you liked one and didn't like the
other? You know how to use the on and off button. No, I don't think so.

Q:     Will ILM be doing the special effects?
Majel: Everything is crossing over. So, what we use on one we'll be using
on the other. It's going to be one big happy family. It'll be two shows,
but one group. Michael is going to oversee the makeup on both of them. Bob
Blackman is going to oversee the costumes on all of them. It'll have the
same beautiful, marvelous technicians. We hired the best, now we just sit
back and let them do their work.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paramount announced the cast for Deep Space Nine on Monday, getting the
front page of USA Today's life section on Tuesday.  I looked through the
Star trek Newsgroups for the info before posting this, so if someone else
has already posted the info, sorry for the Deja Vu.

    S T A R   T R E K  :  D E E P   S P A C E   N I N E

    CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT


AVERY BROOKS (Commander Benjamin Sisko, in charge of DS9): His most
  memorable role was as Hawk on the ABC series "Spencer: For Hire" with
  Robert Urich.

NANA VISITOR (Major Kira Nerys, Bajoran first officer): Played the role of
  Bryn Newhouse on the short lived series "Working Girl" (based on the
  film)

RENE AUBERJONOIS (Odo, he shapeshifting alien and "special character" of t
  the show): Well known as Clayton Endicott III on the long-running ABC
  sitcom "Benson", he was also Colonel West in "Star Trek VI", the role
  that was put back into the film for the video version (he presented
  Operation Retrieve and was also the assassin at the end of the movie).

TERRY FARRELL (Lieutenant Jadzia Dax, the Trill science officer): Long
  list of credits including the films "Hellraiser III" and the Rodney
  Dangerfield film "Back to School"; her major TV credit was as Laurie
  Caswell on the Lloyd Bridges/ABC series "Paper Dolls"

COLM MEANEY (Chief Operations Officer Miles Edward O'Brien): We all know
  him from the same role in ST:TNG.

ARMIN SHIMERMAN (Quark, the Ferengi administrator): Long list of TV guest
  credits including "Beauty and the Beast," "Quantum Leap," "Murder She
  Wrote," "LA Law" and "ST:TNG" (he played Ferengis in both "Last Outpost"
  and "Peak Performance" as well as the uncredited Wedding Box in "Haven")
  (yes, that was Armin's face)

SIDDIG EL FADIL (Dr. Julian Bashir, Lieutenant J.G.): A British-born Arab
  actor for which DS9 marks his American acting debut.

CIRROC LOFTON (Jake Sisko): A twelve year old African American actor seen
  in the film "Beethoven"; this marks his TV debut.

Rosalind Chao (Keiko) will be a semi-regular on the show, as she is on
  TNG; no mention on the castings of Nog, Quark's son; on Gul Dukat, the
  Cardassian captain; or on the Bajoran spiritual leader (whose name
  escapes me.)

Credit to Jim Shaun Lyon for compiling the additional info not included in
the Paramount Press Release.