Star Trek Deep Space Nine

The original StarTrek never touched money or religion. Only in rare passages in the books do we hear the unit of currency is the "Standard Credit", and of course in a Utopia nobody takes them very seriously. And if a starship is the ultimate expression of the power of the state, the state knows better than to interfere in religion. No religious expressions on board.

The DS9 epic leveraged "wormhole aliens", which the cultures they affected worshipped as divine prophets. And it made relentless fun of the mercantile hankerings of Ferengi males lusting after "latinum" profits.

Following crit some may consider a spoiler. Read at own risk...

But the primary plot arc of the entire series was Benjamin Sisko's redemption and ascension. He entered the pilot episode spiritually barren, and suffering the loss of his wife at the Battle of Wolf 359. The Bajorans declared him their religious "emissary" - prophecies written by prophets who do not experience linear time are rather difficult to ignore. Sisko ended the epic, in a scene tacked onto the end of the series finale, after the other plot resolutions, by sacrificing himself in a denouement ripped directly off from the Mount Doom and Grey Havens chapters of LordOfTheRings.

Many epics end with the main character sacrificing himself to save his world.

There now, you've blown it for people who hadn't reached the end!

I apologize to anyone who has yet to become a JrrTolkien fan...

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One of the things I really liked about DS9 was that they had to re-examine their own beliefs in the light of their daily interactions with people who had wildly different beliefs. After all it's easy to hold on to beliefs when everyone else on your ship believes in the same thing. Even the Cardassians got a chance to present what they considered to be the positive aspects of their social structure.--AdewaleOshineye

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The original StarTrek never touched money or religion. There was -some- touching upon of religion in the original StarTrek. Just none of it occurring on board, expressed by the crew.

Examples:

• the primitive culture that worshipped 'Vaal'
• the "sun" worshippers in the "modern day Rome" episode
• Adonis was found having relocated to another planet after humanity grew up or whatever
• Don't forget the episode with Lucifer in StarTrekAnimatedSeries:)

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Were there ever lyrics for the DS9 theme, as there reportedly were for the original series theme?

Hopefully not. The reported lyrics for the original theme sound as if written by someone who was stoned out of their mind at the time.

And the sappy, syrupy lyrics for the theme song of the current series "Enterprise" are even worse. :)

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On the CD of the pilot music there's a version with an electric-guitar track which I think is far cooler than the one they went with for the show... --KatieLucas