The Star Trek: DS9 Episode So Complex, Various Writers Sent in Scripts
Originally proposed as a "man against machine" bottle episode, Mike Krohn developed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 7, "Civil Defense". Apart from the script for the 1995 TV movie, Ed McBain's 87th Precinct: Lightning, Krohn's sole other writing credit would be the DS9 episode. Mike Krohn gently considered the brief time he spent in DS9's writers' room "breaking" the plot in Cinefantastique, Volume 27 Number 4/5, noting:
"I never attended a break session before. I had the most fun I have in years. There is a buzz in the room you have Ira, Robert, Rene, and occasionally Ron in. You all seem to be astronauts joined to the same rocket. You simply get together and bring it about. Krohn was accordingly commissioned to write the script, but before completing the final draft she had to step out owing to other commitments. After that, practically every single staff writer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine took turns drafting the last draft; none of them could turn around a story that satisfied producer Michael Piller. In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, DS9 writer Ronald D. Moore said that "to make the jeopardy interesting, to find the inner story" was the challenge in crafting "Civil Defense."
"Civil Defense" is a hidden jewel of a DS9 episode.
When I thought back on "Civil Defense" in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, Ira Steven Behr said that the Episode concluded "terrific at the end". Among the best elements in "Civil Defense," Behr picked out the hostile sequences between Garak and Gul Dukat. Three years in, this great Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode reminds the viewers that they are witnessing a converted Cardassian space station rather than a safe and shiny Starfleet base. Though the writers had challenges, "Civil Defense" is also noteworthy for motivating Bo Yeon Kim, the next generation of Star Trek scriptwriter.
Bringing Star Trek to Life takes a village.
Though practically every writer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had a run at one really difficult Episode, Star Trek episodes are usually a team effort amongst several creatives. Rare for screenplays to come from one writer, as seen in the outstanding retroactive documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Staff writers or freelancers would provide ideas; the tale would be "broken" in the writers' room prior to being allocated to the original ideator, or another writer able to create a workable script.
This is the reason some of Star Trek's finest episodes had numerous writers credited for narrative and teleplay accordingly. Star Trek TV programs had to provide 26 episodes each season back in the 1990s, hence they were anxious not to waste ideas. Should a plot concept not quite fit, say Star Trek: The Next Generation, it may then be developed as an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Mike Krohn joined DS9 with an episode that passed through the hands of several writers under a procedure whereby aspiring writers could send plot ideas speculatively.
DS9 boasts the largest cast of characters in any Trek Show.
The fourth series in the venerable Sci-Fi run is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, or DS9. Rick Berman and Michael Piller developed DS9; stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series tracks a group of people living in a space station close to a planet known as Bajor.
Among the Star Trek series, it is among the more sophisticated, subtle, and character-driven ones. The show looked at a range of difficult subjects like religion, politics, war, and peace over its existence. Along with the regular Starfleet crew, Deep Space Nine's cast was more varied than past Trek episodes, with Bajorans, Ferengi, and Cardassians among other races and cultures.
Writing a Difficult Episode for "Civil Defense"
Bo Yeon Kim featured Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 7 "Civil Defense"—in a (since deleted) post on the CBS website where Star Trek: Discovery writers chose their favorite classic episodes. It goes to show that one child who went on to keep the franchise alive decades later found inspiration in all the effort Mike Krohn, Ira Steven Behr, and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writers' room put forth. Read the quotation from Bo Yeon Kim below:
"There's always that one episode when everything just "clicks" for you, the one that lets you recognize when you're helplessly in love with a show. For me on DS9, this was that episode. Slightly veiled as a bottle show (for which I have tremendous love), it had a fantastic mix of action and comedy through which every character could shine. It also cleverly made use of the space station and its infamous Cardassian station past to create (quite literally) a ticking time bomb.
