Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 7 – “A Few Badgeys More”
Summary
- Deep Space Nine’s cameo in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 proves the need for a real revival of the beloved series.
- The Dominion War from Deep Space Nine is crucial to the storyline of Star Trek: Picard season 3, but fans were disappointed by the absence of DS9 characters.
- The crossovers between Star Trek: Lower Decks and Deep Space Nine demonstrate that an animated revival may be a logical and successful way to bring back the show.
Deep Space Nine makes a surprise cameo in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, and the sight of Captain Benjamin Sisko’s (Avery Brooks) space station proves that it’s high time for a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine revival on Paramount+. DS9 went off the air in 1999 after a revolutionary 7-season run where the Star Trek series embraced serialization and told deeper character-driven story arcs that predicted modern-day Prestige TV. Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard have included DS9 crossovers, but the beloved series and its cast are due for a real comeback.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Dominion War was the foundation of Star Trek: Picard season 3’s central plot line about Changelings secretly infiltrating Starfleet. Picard season 3’s first half was largely a mystery about why Captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) wanted to steal the remains of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and what it had to do with Changelings replacing Starfleet Officers and hunting Picard’s son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers). The crimes Section 31 perpetrated against Changelings during the Dominion War is ultimately what drove Vadic to seek vengeance against the United Federation of Planets, but DS9 fans were disappointed that no characters from the series appeared in Picard season 3 when much of its story was built upon the fallout of the Dominion War.
Deep Space Nine’s Surprise Return In Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4
Deep Space Nine makes a brief surprise return in Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 7, “A Few Badgeys More.” Badgey (Jack McBrayer), the evil A.I. created by Lt. Samanthan Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) returns to seek revenge on his “father” and the USS Cerritos. But after Badgey is split into different personalities, the original corrupt Badgey expands his plot to take over the galaxy. Badgey becomes one with subspace and takes over every starship and starbase in the galaxy, including Deep Space Nine, which is shown to be overtaken by Badgey. Thankfully, Badgey sees the uselessness of galactic domination and chooses, instead, to ascend to a higher form of being.
The sighting of Deep Space Nine follows up the previous Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 episode, “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place,” which saw the returns of Grand Nagus Rom (Max Grodénchik) and his Bajoran wife, First Clerk Leeta (Chase Masterson). Lower Decks season 4, episode 6, featured substantial updates to the Ferengi, including Rom signing the Ferengi Alliance’s formal intent to join the United Federation of Planets. Lower Decks season 4’s DS9 crossovers pick up where Lower Decks season 3, episode 6, “Here All, Trust Nothing,” left off as the USS Cerritos visited Deep Space Nine and Lower Decks brought back Nana Visitor as Colonel Kira Nerys and Armin Shimerman as Quark.
Lower Decks’ Crossovers Means It’s Time For A DS9 Revival
Star Trek: Lower Decks is the only Star Trek series thus far to return to Deep Space Nine and bring back its beloved characters voiced by the original actors. By virtue of its late 24th-century setting, Lower Decks has not only proven to be the ideal vehicle for revisiting Deep Space Nine, but the animated comedy has done so as much as it can. However, each flyby to DS9 is merely a reminder of how badly fans want to see a full-on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine revival, preferably in live-action.
There is a palpable hunger to see not just the DS9 characters who have already come back like Kira, Quark, and Rom, but other fan-favorites like Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), Chief Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney), Lt. Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer), and Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton). Of course, perhaps the biggest hurdle is if Avery Brooks would return as Captain Benjamin Sisko, and this may be the most prevalent issue preventing a live-action Deep Space Nine revival. However, Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ crossovers show that animated DS9 works as well, and it may be the most logical way to revive the show 25 years later. Either way, it’s time to bring back Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
