Deep Space Nine was the third series in the Star Trek franchise. It told the story of a Space Station in the far corner of the galaxy. It was introduced while Star Trek: The Next Generation was still on the air and while it had many crossovers with that show, it also had some notable brushes with the granddaddy of the franchise - the original Star Trek series.

   The first crossover came in the episode Blood Oath and did not involve any of the classic Star Trek regulars but rather, like the Next Generation/Classic Trek crossover "Sarek", involved a number of classic Star Trek guest characters. In this case instead of one old Vulcan ambassador, the crew of Deep Space Nine had to contend with three old Klingon warriors: Kang, Koloth and Kor - all who had previously butted heads with a certain James T. Kirk.

   Ah, but since the time frame of classic Trek, around eighty years earlier, the Klingons and the Federation had made peace. These Klingon warriors come to the station in peace... at least in regard to our heroes. It seems that around eighty years ago (probably just after Trek got cancelled) an albino alien caused the deaths of these warriors children. They swore an oath to find the Albino and kill him... kill him bad.

   But there was a fourth person who has taken this oath - Curzon Dax, their Trill comrade. The Trill are a race who "join" with small parasitic/symbiant creatures they then share consciousness with. When the host dies, the symbiant is placed in a new host, carrying its memories to the new host. The story begins with the warriors gathering together having finally discovered the location of the Albino. Only they find that Curzon Dax has died, replaced by Jadzia Dax, Deep Space Nine's female science officer. They agree to let her honor Curzon's oath and proceed on their mission to kill the Albino. Although they succeed, Kang and Koloth die in the process.

   The only surviving Klingon, Kor, would return in a later episodes. At one point he returned and with Dax and Worf - the Star Trek franchises' resident Klingon - hunted down the legendary Klingon artifact the Sword of Kahless. Kahless was the Klingon people's greatest hero. With the discovery of the sword though, Kor and Worf began to turn on each other. Was the sword ensnaring them with some supernatural influence or was it simple greed over the power and recognition the discovery would bring to its finder? In the end Worf and Kor decided the best thing was to leave the sword "lost" and left it floating in deep space.

   Kor returned again having suffered the worst fate a warrior can - he lived to be old. Desiring battle, Kor found himself too old and forgetful to be a proper leader. With the Klingon empire embroiled in war, the other Klingon warriors could not trust their fate to his hands. In the end however, with the help of DS9's resident Klingon Commander Worf, Kor convinced his superiors to allow him one last chance and in a final act of bravery Kor sacrificed himself and his ship to help the Klingon's win an important victory. He died a hero.

   Deep Space Nine also pulled off a rare crossover feat - a crossover with another show involving NO characters making a crossover appearance. How do you do that? You make the crossover guest an entire dimension as opposed to a person.

   In the classic Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" due to a transporter accident Captain Kirk found himself trapped in a parallel universe where everything was basically turned on its head. There was no "Federation" but rather an "Empire". The crew of this universe's Enterprise were cutthroat dopplegangers of the crew he knew. The only one even close to being like his own crew was Spock. Being logical like his counterpart, Spock might possibly be able to be reasoned with. Before leaving Kirk tried to convince Spock to try and change things for the better in his universe. As is so often the case in Trek with these attempts to change things for the better (Kirk leaving Khan and his people on a planet to make their own, Picard using Hugh to infect the Borg with the desire for individuality...), this action turned out to be a horrible mistake.

   Deep Space Nine's Kira and Bashir accidentally found themselves thrust into the same parallel universe in the aptly named episode "Crossover". As it turned out, Spock had taken over the Empire and made honorable, good changes to it that led to its destruction and subjegation by a group called the Alliance which enslaved mankind. Way to go Kirk! Try keeping your trap shut next time. With the help of the parallel universe's Captain Sisko's (DS9's leader in the regular universe), Kira and Bashir escaped back to their own dimension and in the process inspired Sisko 2 to try to make changes for the better to his universe. For God sake people, didn't the Kirk debacle teach you anything??? Deep Space Nine would return to this universe again and again in other episodes.

   The final major crossover was perhaps the best. It was a full fledge no holds barred crossover with DS9's crew meeting up with Kirk's. And not old Kirk but the Kirk as he was in the original show. "Trials and Tribble-ations" found Sisko and crew traveling back in time and into a classic Trek story.

   In the Star Trek episode "The Trouble With Tribbles", Kirk had come face to face with two frightening foes - the Klingons and the tribbles. The Klingons and the Federation were both trying to claim a world named Sherman's Planet for their own. At Space Station K-7, Kirk was ordered to guard a shipment of Federation grain called quadrotriticale intended for Sherman's Planet. There were Klingons on the station and the man in charge of the grain, Nolz Baris was more than a little nervous. The head of the Klingons was in fact Koloth mentioned in the earlier crossover.

   Also on the station was flim flam man Cyrano Jones who was selling small fury creatures named Tribbles as pets. One problem: as it turns out, when tribbles eat, they reproduce. The station and the Enterprise is soon lousy with tribbles. Soon the tribbles eat all the grain. Opening a grain bin, tons of tribbles fall on Kirks head - all dead. It seems someone posioned the grain. But how? The Klingons never got near it. Luckily for the crew there is one other unique thing about tribbles - they hate Klingons. Kirk quickly uses the tribbles to uncover the fact that Baris's aid Arne Darvin is in fact a disguised Klingon spy. The heroes win. The End. Or was it really that simple?

   "Trials and Tribble-ations" found Arne Davis still living disguised as a human, ostricized by his fellow Klingon's for his failure. As the episode starts, he quickly takes advantage of the DS9 crew and travels back in time to change things. His plan: to plant a bomb disguised as a tribble on Space Station K-7 in order to kill James T. Kirk, the great enemy of the Klingon people, and thus regain his reputation. Sisko and company dress in period costumes and travel back in time to foil his plot. Through the use of digital editing, the show manages to nicely splice the DS9 crew into scenes from the original episode, even having Kirk yell at DS9's Mile O'Brin and, using footage from another episode entirely, having him talk with Captain Sisko disguised as a new crewman on the Enterprise.

   But the kicker had to be the way the episode dealt with a certain continuity problem between the two series. On the original Star Trek, the Klingons basically looked just like humans but with slightly different skin color and big fu manchu mustaches. But with the first Star Trek movie, the Klingons had gotten a major makeover to make them look more alien. In all new Trek, the Klingons have huge ridged foreheads. No explanation of the change was necessary really... until this episode. Sending the crew, including Klingon crewman Worf, back to this old episode where they would meet up with the old style Klingons meant they would have to acknowledge the change. Stunned at how these Klingons looked, the crew ask Worf for an explanation and his response to their questions is a classic (go watch the episode - I'm not blowing the best part of the show!) as is this whole epsisode. Very funny.

Other Star Trek Crossover Links
Star Trek and Enterprise
Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek and Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek and Team Knight Rider

Other Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Crossover Links
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Enterprise
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager

Links To Star Trek Related Web Sites
Cynics Corner (Star Trek Episode Reviews)
The Official Star Trek Web Site

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