Aug 29 - Retro Review: Hero Worship A young boy who is the sole survivor of a disaster that killed his parents decides to emulate Data.
Aug 21 - Retro Review: New Ground Worf's human mother brings his son Alexander on board, insisting that she can no longer raise the boy.
Aug 14 - Retro Review: A Matter of Time When a visitor from a future era arrives on the ship, Picard asks for assistance about how to save a dying planet.
July 31 - Retro Review: Unification, Part Two Picard learns the reason for Spock's visit to Romulus: an attempted reunification of the Vulcan and Romulan races.
July 17 - Retro Review: Unification, Part One Shocked to learn that Spock may have defected to the Romulans, Picard and Data cross the Neutral Zone in to find him.
July 10 - Retro Review: The Game When an interactive game becomes addictive to the crew, Wesley Crusher and his new girlfriend must save the day.
June 20 - Retro Review: Disaster Troi must take command of the ship while Picard struggles to work with three children and Worf delivers Keiko's baby.
June 6 - Retro Review: Silicon Avatar A scientist pursuing the Crystalline Entity discovers that Data's brain holds her son's memories.
May 30 - Retro Review: Ensign Ro A court-martialed Starfleet officer from occupied Bajor is sent to help locate a terrorist leader.
May 23 - Retro Review: Darmok Picard is exiled with the leader of an alien race who speaks in incomprehensible metaphors.
May 9 - Retro Review: Redemption, Part One When Picard is asked as Arbiter of Succession to oversee Gowron's installation, Worf resigns from Starfleet to fight against the Duras family.
As Deep Space Nine celebrates its tenth birthday, executive producer Ira Steven Behr has spoken about how the writers brought human drama into the show.
"We brought frailty back. People aren't always sitting around talking about how to solve problems people are the problem," he told Joe Nazzaro at Star Trek Monthly. "I think we tried to make the characters grow and become more multi-dimensional. If you kept your ears open, you'd hear things on DS9 that relate to problems and attitudes and philosophies. It's nice to see we're going to survive the 20th century, and this is still the optimistic Gene Roddenberry universe, but there are relatable human frailties within that perfect world."
Ironically, Behr and DS9 co-creator Michael Piller would tell writers that it was actually the Ferengi that were the closest to 20th century humans in the show, with all the "desires, needs, hopes and greed" that humans have. But according to Behr, there was only one true 20th century character — Miles O'Brien. "He was the only guy in all of Star Trek that I could relate to. He's intelligent, but not that intelligent, he's a little bigoted, he's a little sexist, he's a little everything and I think that was a nice character to have."
However, if it wasn't for Michael Piller, Behr might not have even worked on the show. Behr passed up working on TNG in season two, but joined the following year. "I stayed and produced the third season with Michael, and at the end of the season, I ran like hell," said Behr, who didn't care for the show's utopian ideals. It was later that Piller brought up the matter of DS9, and Behr was interested. "I had lunch with Michael and Rick Berman, and they said, 'There will be more humour, more conflict, more characters to play with, less tech. People will be more neurotic and unhappy and dark,' and I said, 'Okay, I think I can do that!'"
Behr enjoyed the experience, and the creativity it provided. "To feel creative like that only makes me want to do more creative work, it doesn't tire you out," said Behr. He'd be happy to return to do more DS9, but is adamant that it won't happen. "Of course I'd want to be involved. [But] do I think it's ever going to happen? No."
The full interview, in which Behr talks more about DS9, as well as executive producing Enterprise lead-out show The Twilight Zone, can be found in issue 101 of Star Trek Monthly.
