Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd

I guess one comment that I read probably sums this book up quite adequately: it is not a nobel laureate grade novel but enjoyable nonetheless, though probably more suited to hard core trekkies. Now I am far from being a hard core trekkie, though when this series came out I did get my hands on a few of the books (actually, considering the number of the Deep Space Nine books I ended up reviewing I would have to say somewhat more than a few). In a way there were a lot more books out there, including university books, that I would have preferred to read. This book was little more than a side distraction that I read while pouring over university texts.

This is the first book in the Deep Space Nine (DS9) series and is also the novelisation of the pilot episode. While the original concept of going where no man has gone before still exists, this series has taken a more static approach to the other series which involved travelling around the galaxy exploring new cultures. The original series was very basic in this regards, and while The Next Generation had originally began with the same premise, over the seven series that it aired the focus changed to creating more of a consistent universe in which the action takes place.

Another difference with this episode is that it takes place on the frontier becomes a lot more political, particularly with the Bajorans. Bajor has been under Cardassian occupation for 60 years and they have recently won their freedom. It is unclear what it is that made them retreat, whether it being the resistance fighters, or simply because the Cardassians had plundered the planet of everything valuable and decided that it was no longer needed. In a way having to deal with resistance fighters on a worthless planet can be a little too much.

It is the political aspects of the series that makes it quite interesting, however throwing in the existence of a stable worm hole which allows access to a section of the galaxy light years away opened up a lot more possibilites. As mentioned in the series, the wormhole is stable, which is a phenomena in and of itself, and pretty much turns Bajor, and the space station, from a backwater colony to a very important trade and transit point. As becomes clear later on in the series, not all of Bajor are particularly happy about their homeworld becoming the centre of attention. In many cases there is a lot of nationalistic fervour among the Bajorans and some of them simply want to be left alone.

This also creates on running tension in the series. The Cardassians have left and pretty quickly the Federation arrives to set themselves up. Many of the Bajorans simply see the Federation as another occupier that has come in as the others have left. Those of us who are familiar with the series understand that the Federation do not see themselves as occupiers, but rather a system of government designed to promote cultural differences and individuality amongst their members. However there is a catch, the Federation rules determine that members must meet certain ethical standards to be able to be admitted. In a way they are meant to be enlightened. There are a number of episodes, and movies, that do explore the development of the Federation.

However, it is interesting to see another side of this oh so wonderful Federation. In a way, as I have protested for so long, Star Trek seems to take a very high view of the potential of humanity. However in this series it seems to begin to be stripped away. Coming onto Deep Space Nine we suddenly discover that there is money in the form of gold pressed latinum. This is one of the first times that we are introduced to money in the Star Trek Universe. In a way the development of the replicator has meant that anybody can have anything that they want, but it seems to sit side by side with the money making antics of Quark the Ferengi. However, I feel that I have probably written enough with regards to this book and will quietly move on for now.