20 years since "Emmissary"? Happy birthday, DS9!

In honor of Deep Space Nine's premiere anniversary week—and YES, it was a syndicated show, and premiered on a different night in each market city where it was shown, for a week after Sunday, Jan. 3, 1993 ...

Here's a mystery DS9 "premiere" photo (at right, and below): Can you identify it? While you ponder, here's also a quick dive into a vidchat with Ira Behr from 2011 (below the fold), the fourth of a series we ran a year ago, as he waxes on about DS9 at my urging—and why it's appreciated more as the years go by than it was back in the day. (Some of you newer readers may never have seen it; it was shot during his first-year tenure as showrunner on Alphas.) I always am peeved a bit at how we always celebrate the premiers of series, but not the finales or other major moments—but there you go. We are only human... at least, us Sol III natives, anyway.

So, the mystery picture first:

And now Ira reminiscing (and for a spacer):



Gee, did you really need help on this? Our mystery pic is a rare shot of the Promenade going up on Stage 17 from what you might call even before the Terok Nor days: the spring of 1992 prior to the pilot filming that summer—"the biggest standing set in all of Hollywood" for seven years, as the Paramount tour guides used to brag. This shot does not do its scope justice, even with the crew guys for scale... but you get the idea. And a cool snapshot in history. Enjoy!

The Chair-ies turn proud and loud

Maybe it's the allusion to The Big Lincoln of monument fame, as a seat of not just power but historical power. "Iconic" seems a weak word, indeed.

And of course, thank modern tech and online communities like the propmakers for making this New York Times story about the "Chair Club" even possible: members can now be easily traced.

Even though these guys pooh-pooh the incarnations, I've witness The Chair Effect lure sitters one by one like a magnet many times over on the Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer sets ... as well as the Kirk versions at convention, "Mirror Darkly" Defiant onstage, the Exhibition/Tour and Cawley bridge incarnations...

But am I the eternal nerd for always feeling more comfortable in those latter examples by leaning on the rail just behind, or on the chair arm just to the right, of The Chair? Dammit, Jim, you know what I mean!

Now, if you want to talk building a swivel-down exam bed with the body functions monitor and the surgical support arm—now you're talkin' a geekout.