Star Trek: 10 Greatest Captain Sisko Speeches
5. We Are Explorers
When Deep Space Nine began in 1993, it was arriving in the shadow of The Next Generation, which even by that time had become a hugely popular show. That said, The Next Generation's early years were somewhat mired by comparisons to The Original Series, so when it came time for a new pilot to air, Emissary needed to do something different.
Sisko, a commander as opposed to a captain, was not the level headed diplomat that Picard was, nor the action hero that Kirk emulated. He was the working every man, raising a son alone, assigned to a far off sector. His trauma from Wolf 359 held onto him like a vice, though with the Prophets, this became his gateway to helping them understand humanity.
That may be the most important thing to understand about Humans. It is the unknown that defines our existence. We are constantly searching, not just for answers to our questions but for new questions. We are explorers.
The Prophets knew nothing of linear time, and therefore struggled to understand the search for knowledge and the unknown. Sisko, trapped as he was in the moment of his wife's death, was able to find closure, yet help them to understand. This may, perhaps, be one of the purest examples of what Star Trek set out to do back in the 60s. It delivered a powerful message, while helping the audience explore strange new worlds.
We were explorers together and Sisko was our guide.