Why Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Meridian" Made Its Showrunner Call Himself A "Moron?"
One Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode was so badly regarded among the production crew that Ira Steven Behr dubbed himself a "moron" for ever considering the plot concept. Pitched as "Star Trek does Brigadoon," Ds9 season 3, episode 8, "Meridian" drew on the Gene Kelly movie musical. Tommy Albright (Kelly), in Brigadoon, falls in love with Fiona Campbell (Cyd Charisse) after stumbling into a Scottish village only seen once every 200 years. Under Jonathan Frakes' direction, DS9's "Meridian" finds the USS Defiant on a planet just visible every 60 years.
Lt. Jadzia Dax ( Terry Farrell) plays the Gene Kelly part in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's rendition of Brigadoon. In "Meridian," Dax develops feelings for Deral (Brett Cullen), but is unable to remain with him as the planet phases out of her home dimension. Terry Farrell and Avery Brooks have some excellent material to perform, but ultimately the Ds9 crew was let down by "Meridian". Ira Steven Behr attributed the shortcomings of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion episode on "I love Brigadoon so I'm idiot enough to say, 'Let's do an episode based on Brigadoon. I am a moron.'"
Why Star Trek's "Meridian" Made Ira Steven Behr Say "I Am A Moron"?
A Hollywood studio picture with a $3.019 million budget, Brigadoon was a lot of money back in 1954. From a standpoint of perspective, Brigadoon's budget for 2024 would be over $34 million when inflation is factored in (via Federal Reserve Bank Minneapolis). Simply said, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine lacked anywhere close to this degree of budget per episode, hence "Meridian" could never expect to be Brigadoon. "...to make that show really work, we would have needed another $200,000 for opticals," said Ira Steven Behr in Captain's Log Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Voyages.
Underlining Ira Steven Behr's judgment, visual effects supervisor Glenn Neufeld describes the "horrendous" process they went through attempting to phase off Meridian's residents from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. The book describes how challenging "Meridian" was with regard to visual production and writing. While Hilary Bader notes it's the least favorite of the Star Trek episodes she worked on, Ronald D Moore doesn't think "nobody enjoys [Meridian]. Thirty years after it debuted, is "Meridian" truly as horrible as the production crew believes it to be, and is Ira Steven Behr's "moron" remark justified?
Really All That Bad is the Brigadoon Episode of Star Trek: DS9?
Season three of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, episode eight, "Meridian," is hardly as awful as its reputation claims. Although the episode surely has technical flaws, the regular viewers will find some great character development. First, "Meridian" has a fun comedic subplot centered on Jeffrey Combs' first-ever Star Trek performance's sleazy alien Tiron. The slower material taking place on Meridian itself is lifted by Quark's more complex attempts to acquire a holo-image of Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor).
Terry Farrell has some amazing stuff for Jadzia Dax in "Meridian," even though her primary storyline is fairly shallow and boring. It's quite poignant the scene where Jadzia and Sisko talk about her choice to remain behind with Deral. Terry Farrell and Avery Brooks have amazing chemistry by now in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which serves to lift one of the poorer seasons 3 episodes. It only goes to show that Ira Steven Behr's evaluation of himself as a "moron" is overly harsh; even the worst Star Trek episodes have at least one quality worthy of recommendation.
Deep Space Nine: A View Back at a Classic Series Star Trek
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.
Rich mythology, sophisticated characters, and gripping narratives abound in Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Choosing a more serialized narrative that explores the complexity of the galaxy and probes the life of its characters, it deviates from the episodic pattern of other Star Trek shows. Among the most praised and cherished Star Trek series is regarded to be this one.
