Star Trek: 12 Subplots That Went Nowhere

Deep Space Nine was the pinnacle of serialized Star Trek storytelling with very few of its major threads or subplots going unresolved in the show's seven season run.

While the show is famous for the Dominion War arc and, to a lesser extent, its handling of the Maquis, the primary focus of Deep Space Nine's first few seasons was Bajor and Sisko's mission to bring the Bajorans into the United Federation of Planets. This directive was clearly stated by Captain Picard in the pilot episode, "Emissary", when he told then Commander Sisko his orders were "to do everything short of violating the Prime Directive" to ensure Bajor would be ready to enter the Federation.

This goal was nearly achieved too, in the fifth season episode "Rapture", but, as the coming war with the Dominion manifested itself as visions of locusts over Bajor, Sisko persuaded the Council of Ministers to delay membership. The issue was flirted with off and on a few times, but Bajor's independence became a major plot point by the end of season five and early in season six.

The Dominion War became Deep Space Nine's driving storyline in its final two season and Bajor's Federation membership fell by the wayside.

According to writer Hans Beimler: "It wasn't an oversight. The question was, does that really matter? Ultimately it doesn't really mean that much."