What had changed by the time Deep Space Nine began?

By the time Deep Space Nine came around, you had a whole bunch of television series that were, in a sense, Star Trek spin-offs. When Deep Space Nine came on the air not only did it have to compete with these, it had to compete with Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Deep Space Nine was extremely different from anything before it having to do with Star Trek. Deep Space Nine was a show about politics. Maybe that�s why it never took off with fans as well as The Next Generation did. It was not about exploration, which Star Trek has always been about, it was about a political dispute.

At this stage, was the market becoming too saturated?

I think Star Trek was very saturated when Deep Space Nine came onto the air. People want to watch Star Trek, but I�m not sure they want to watch it two hours a week.

I think there was a certain depressing attitude about it. The sets were very dark, the themes were sometimes very dark, the plots were dark. I think people struggled with wanting to see this show, week in and week out, even though it was very well written.