What We Left Behind

"What We Left Behind," as explained by its subtitle - "Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," is a retrospective feature about the third series in Gene Roddenberry's franchise. Also known as the red-headed stepchild, mainly because it dared to stray from the established formula, "Deep Space Nine" was a show about conflict and resolution, whether that be through characters or a season-spanning war. It was also about exploration, as all the "Star Trek" shows are, only here it was about the exploration of life and humanity; the journey inside.

"Deep Space Nine" was also an important part of my life. While I loved (and still love) "The Original Series" and "The Next Generation," the show introduced dramatically exciting elements to the property, as well as a ton of interesting new spaceships and alien races. Race is one thing the series dealt with in a more forceful way than its predecessors, especially casting an African-American in the lead role, although Avery Brooks wouldn't become "Captain" Sisko until the fourth season. But it gave birth to the greatest episode of "Star Trek" so far, season six's "Far Beyond the Stars," which had Brooks not only giving a superb performance as a black sf writer in circa 1953 NYC, but also directing.

"What We Left Behind" (its title a reference to the finale episode "What We Leave Behind") tries to be something more than the usual talking heads documentary, although there are a lot of those too. Anchored by series writer and exec producer Ira Steven Behr, the film interpolates the usual interviews with cast and crew with footage of five writers from the show brainstorming a hypothetical first episode of season eight. This is an intriguing and entertaining feature; their ideas are pretty good, all based around the concept of bringing back Sisko from the celestial temple. This is the right thing to do - there's no "Deep Space Nine" without its captain/emissary.

One good thing about the picture is that when it came out, there was an entire decade between the end of the show and the launching of the film. This means there are some good home truths coming out, such as why Terry Farrell's Dax got killed off, and why they wouldn't let Avery Brooks shave his head and have facial hair until four years in, and you learn a good deal of the cast felt underappreciated. The really shitty part is that Behr and co had to crowdfund the documentary. Why Paramount/CBS didn't do this is beyond me, when you look at how much they've spent on terrible shows and movies in the franchise since. They were able to get some scenes from "Deep Space Nine" remastered in HD, and they look fantastic, particularly the iconic battle scene from "Sacrifice of Angels." But supposedly because of the TNG Blu-ray sets not selling particularly well, it's unlikely they'll put DS9 out in HD, despite the almost universal acclaim the show has received in recent times.

It's not a perfect film. The beginning is awkward, with Max Grodénchik opening the picture crooning like he's in Vic Fontaine's lounge, and Avery Brooks was unable to participate, although he does appear in archival interviews. There's also no discussion about the music, but I guess I should be used to that. I guess really, I'd like it if it were longer, as there are some good discussions about scenes in episode but nothing really in-depth. Imagine a lengthier version set in seven sections looking at each season in more detail, but I guess the big question is who's going to pay for it. Which is stupid, but if Hollywood is better at one thing than making money, it's losing money.

There is a Blu-ray available from Shout! Factory, although it's USA only and as such locked to Region A. Apparently there are some deleted scenes and bits on there - I watched it on Amazon Prime (yeah, I know), and there was zilch. I guess that sums up the show. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

"What We Left Behind" is a beautiful account of a beautiful piece of art made in spite of the stupidity of studio execs. The fact that we're still talking about the controversy of putting a black man in the lead of high-profile show and that having his head shaved with a goatee would have been too "street" is pretty fucked up, and look at the reaction of certain "fans" at the character of Michael Burnham in "Star Trek: Discovery" – A black woman, how shocking! There's a lot of fun in the picture, such as the breaking of season eight, and things like the off-screen camaraderie of the Ferengi, where Armin "Quark" Shimerman would have the Ferengi cast of an episode hang out at his house to rehearse, or the artistry of the sets, such as the gigantic Promenade set with its interactive lighting. And of course, it would be remiss to mention Garak being super gay for Bashir.

The film reminds us truly what has been left behind, with the show still in a sort of limbo, both in terms of HD availability, and its place in not only science fiction history but television history, with its influence on serialised television hugely understated. As before, it's awful that this had to be crowdfunded in the first place. But it's a wonderful reminder that, after all these years, "Deep Space Nine" still speaks to us all, perhaps more relevantly than we ever expected.

And that is true science fiction.