Sisko and Picard had their differences, but the similarities between a Star Trek: DS9 episode and a classic TNG episode give them common ground.
Summary
- “Dramatis Personae” was a bold episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that showcased the early dynamics between Sisko and Kira.
- Unlike the original “Inner Light” episode, “Dramatis Personae” kept the characters on the station, adding an unsettling tone to the story.
- The experiences in “Dramatis Personae” and “The Inner Light” had lasting impacts on Sisko and Picard, as seen in later episodes of their respective series.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1 copied a classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, and swapped Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) for Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). In DS9 season 1, episode 18, “Dramatis Personae”, the crew of the station are exposed to the telepathic archive of a fallen Gamma Quadrant civilization. This results in the DS9 crew re-enacting a violent and devastating power struggle that threatens to destroy the fragile alliance between Sisko and his Bajoran Number One, Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor).
“Dramatis Personae” is an episode that highlights how bold Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was from its earliest stages. It works primarily because it takes place during DS9 season 1, when Sisko and Kira are still figuring each other out. That adds a layer of ambiguity to the mystery of the telepathic archive that simply wouldn’t be there if an audience was familiar with the DS9 cast and their dynamics. It also flips one of Captain Picard’s best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, “The Inner Light”, because this DS9 version keeps everyone aboard the station and in uniform, which adds an unnerving tone to proceedings.
Sisko And Picard’s Star Trek Feud Went Deeper Than The Borg
It’s no secret that Sisko blamed Picard for the death of his wife at Wolf 359, but Star Trek: DS9’s pilot reveals a deeper reason for their feud.
Star Trek: DS9 Copied Picard’s “Inner Light” For Sisko
In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5, episode 25, “The Inner Light”, Captain Picard experiences the dying decades of the planet Kataan via an alien probe. The probe is referred to as an “ancestor simulation“, effectively allowing future generations to experience the past in vivid detail. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1, episode 18, “Dramatis Personae”, a Klingon ship unearths some energy spheres that turn out to be the telepathic archive of the final days of Saltah’na society. When the spheres are shattered, the psychic record of this devastating political upheaval infects the crew, and triggers a mutiny, killing every Klingon aboard.
The telepathic archive was then passed on to Deep Space Nine’s senior staff, with Sisko and the crew having a very similar experience to Picard. While Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “The Inner Light” takes place largely inside the simulation, “Dramatis Personae” shows the cast carrying out the activities of the dead Saltah’nans aboard DS9. As if to further emphasize the connection between the Sisko and Picard episodes, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Captain spends the majority of the episode building an intricate clock, in the same way that Picard-as-Kamin learns to play the flute in “The Inner Light.”
Sisko’s Clock And Picard’s Flute Would Remain In Their Star Trek Shows
The experiences that Sisko and Picard have in “Dramatis Personae” and “The Inner Light” would leave a lasting impact on their characters. Captain Picard’s Ressikan flute can be seen in subsequent episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard. In TNG season 6, episode 19, “Lessons”, Captain Picard falls in love with Lt. Commander Nella Darren (Wendy Hughes), and tells her of the importance that the flute holds for him. Later, in “A Fistful of Datas”, Picard compiles a trio of Mozart pieces to be played on his flute, showing that the lessons of the ancestor simulation remain with him.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would later do a more successful version of “The Inner Light” in Captain Sisko’s best DS9 episode, “Far Beyond the Stars.” That episode saw Sisko inhabit the body of struggling sci-fi writer Benny Russell as he battled racial segregation in the 1950s. That experience would stay with Sisko, much like Picard’s experiences as Kamin. Sisko’s experiences with the telepathic archive in “Dramatis Personae” also clearly affected him. The clock that Sisko labored on remained in his office for the rest of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s seven seasons.
