10 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episodes That Were Almost Completely Different

2. In The Pale Moonlight (Season 6 Episode 19)

Another fan favourite, In The Pale Moonlight is told by Sisko through his Captain’s log in a series of flashbacks, as he unfolds the story of the lengths he would go to in the name of ending the seemingly unwinnable Dominion War.

Facing insurmountable odds, the Federation’s last hope in the war is an alliance with the Romulans, who remain neutral in a position where their enemies will likely destroy one another. Desperate to convince Romulus that they will be the Dominon’s next target once the Federation falls, Sisko enlists the ethically manoeuvrable Garak to manufacture evidence to be found by a visiting Romulan diplomat. Despite the destruction of all of Sisko’s moral lines, and the death of the aforementioned diplomat, the Romulans do indeed join the war, and Sisko deletes his entire log entry.

Avery Brooks’ narrative monologue is one of the defining moments of DS9’s run, so the fact that the episode originated as Jake investigating Bajoran First Minister Shakaar seems baffling. Shakaar was later dropped from the script when Sisko and Garak’s collusion was established, before Jake was written out entirely as the writers could not convincingly create conflict between such a loving father and son. As interesting as a ‘space Watergate’ episode would be in any other circumstance, it has to be said that it would not have held a candle to the finished product.