Deep Space Wine: A Star Trek Deep Space Nine Companion

We're back, nerds! Ready for a whole new season of jumja sticks, underboob dabo ladies, and hot takes on our favorite Star Trek series.  "The Homecoming" takes its inspiration from a 1960s Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But the tale about false narratives holding more power than truth feels more relevant today than ever.  And of course, this episode kicks off an epic thr...

Yes, it's the award show you never asked for but didn't know how badly you needed. In this DS9 Season 1 retrospective, Lily and Cole bestow awards for acting, costumes, makeup, props, and more -- including best and worst episode (but spoiler: neither goes to Move Along Home). It's the glitziest night in the quadrant, and you don't want to miss it.  🥂 Drink pairing:  Roku gin a...

Jumja sticks! Sexy Vedeks! The Sydney Opera House as fashion accessory! It’s the explosive season finale of DS9, and Lily and Cole are as fired up as a schoolhouse on fire. Showrunner Michael Piller intended “In the Hands of the Prophets” to serve as a bookend to the pilot, “Emissary,” revisiting Sisko’s relationships with Bajor, the Prophets, and his devoutly religious first officer, Major Kira....

Intended as a low-budget ‘bottle show’ to save money before the season finale, ‘Duet’ devotes most of its runtime to two characters steeped in conversation with each other. But this dense story of a tug-of-war between justice and vengeance has come to be regarded as one of the finest hours of Star Trek.  Cole and Lily delve into the post-WWII historical context that inspired 'Duet', incl...

Is this unhinged tale of intrigue, betrayal and horology giving more Shakespeare or soap opera? We say both, and all the better for it. And though there's plenty of camp silliness on the surface, naturally Lily and Cole dive deep. Cole sees the 'play within the play' setup as a revealing metaphor for television acting, using it to interpret what each DS9 cast member brings to his or...

Get your Kleenex ready - it’s time for the episode that makes all of us melt into a puddle. And if you haven’t got your pail nearby, thank the drag gods that Lwaxana Troi is here to scoop you back up. Lily and Cole deep-dive into Lwaxana’s drag queen energy, what her fabulousness brings to the comparatively sterile world of Star Trek, and particularly what her arrival means for queer-coded self-ac...

Thought this episode was nothing but Rumpelstiltskin and rabid emus? Think again! Lily plumbs the depths of the station residents’ imaginations to psychoanalyze their deepest desires and greatest fears, uncovering some surprising insights along the way. Meanwhile Cole revisits The Secret , the runaway 2006 self-help bestseller all about "turning thoughts into things," to evaluate just ho...

What’s one stubborn farmer standing in the way of progress for an entire planet? Everything or nothing, depending on how you measure value. Nog and Jake spend the episode measuring it in wrappages of yamok sauce, bars of latinum, and gross of self-sealing stem bolts. Meanwhile, Major Kira is forced to reassess her values in a postcolonial Bajor where the black and white of wartime have blurred int...

In the second half of our conversation with Star Trek director and producer David Livingston, we turn a spotlight on his directorial credits 'The Nagus' and 'The Storyteller.'  Along the way he shares behind-the-scenes casting insights, reveals his favorite character relationships, and argues what, in his opinion, makes Deep Space Nine the most enduring and addicting Star Trek...

If you watched any Star Trek in the 80s, 90s, or 2000s, you've seen David Livingston's name countless times on the bottom of your TV screen. Working behind the scenes from the very first episode of The Next Generation, he quickly graduated to the role of producer for all seven seasons of The Next Generation and began directing in that series' fourth season, starting with The Mind&ap...

🧙‍♂️ A good story can be a powerful thing—it can rally us around a shared cause, give us hope, or even vanquish our fears. But of course, a story is nothing if it’s not told well. In this tale of monsters and myth-making, the medium is the message. “The Storyteller” serves up two charming stories, which both play like Bajoran folktales: while Bashir and O’Brien unwittingly reenact Rudyard Kipling...

Kai Opaka, the spiritual leader we all deserve, returns to DS9 to suffer a tragic crash and embrace a messianic destiny. We trace the episode’s influences from Greek mythology to the New Testament to Dante’s Inferno. Also covered: Sisko’s daddy energy, and Star Trek’s toxic relationship with cave sets. 

In "Vortex," Odo gets an unwitting lesson in manipulation and seduction from a wily stranger promising him answers about his origins. So today, Lily schools us in every pickup tactic the episode pulls straight out of the pickup artist playbook. Meanwhile, Cole points out all the western genre motifs drawn from the classic film that inspired "Vortex," 1953's  The Naked Spur...

The Godfather meets The Merchant of Venice meets West Side Story meets … the inconceivably talented Wallace Shawn. But first, we need to address the golem in the room: just how problematic are the Ferengi? 🍷 Wine pairing:  Paolo Scavino Barolo ❤️ Find us on Instagram:  @deepspacewine_podcast

It's the episode everyone loves to hate -- but would it be so Allama-wrong if we sort of loved it? Get out your klon peeg sticks and join us for a riveting game of chula — or what Sisko and company might call the world’s worst team-building exercise. (Just a fair warning: we pre-gamed with plenty of wine beforehand to psych ourselves up for this one...)   🍷 Wine pairing:  Big Valley Bianco f...

Yikes! What possessed a certain actor in "The Passenger" to give us this, uh,  questionable performance that will live on forever in infamy? (Unlike the supervillain Vantika, as hard as he tries.) In their review, Lily and Cole decide that the episode may be a silly grab bag of horror tropes, but it still makes for a worthwhile ride.  🍷 Wine pairing: Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Amphibolite...

Who are we with and without our memories? And are we always sentenced to inherit intergenerational trauma? It’s debate club hour on DS9, and Lily and Cole are going deep. We also propose an in-universe explanation for why Jadzia acts like such a wet sock in season one! (Warning: excessive references to 90s courtroom dramedy Ally McBeal.)  🍷 Wine pairing: Chablis "Terroir de Courgis" fro...

Two familiar faces from the Enterprise arrive on DS9, and O'Brien is ready to spill all  ☕️ the ☕️ tea! 🍷 Wine pairing: "Love Sick Puppy" Dolcetto from Vino Volta Wines ❤️ Find us on Insta: deepspacewine_podcast *A note on the audio: We're sorry about this week's less than stellar quality, but we'll be back in fine form next week!*

Cole gets triggered by airborne viruses, quarantines and lockdowns, while Lily has apparently repressed the entire COVID pandemic. (Who else is jealous of her?) We also briefly dip into the Old Testament before tracing the evolution of the rom-com form, from Jane Austen to When Harry Met Sally to its pinnacle in modern storytelling (Odo and Quark).  🍷 Wine pairing: "Esoterico" orange wi...

Recreational hunting is the target in this episode that, for exactly once in the whole show, lets Chief O’Brien have some fun. Meanwhile, Doctor Bashir is permitted half a line of dialogue, which is no more than Season 1 Bashir deserves. And Lily and Cole ask: what does it actually mean to be sentient? 🍷 Wine pairing: " Charlie-Foxtrot" Gamay Noir from Ravensworth ❤️ Find us: On Insta @...

Lily and Cole hail Star Trek as modern-day Shakespeare, only with more Klingon cleavage. Also featured: Moral Foundations Theory, seasonal color palettes, and everyone’s favorite plain, simple pansexual tailor, Garak.  🍷 Wine pairing: "Magical Animal" Chardonnay from Brave New Wine ❤️ Find us on Insta: @deepspacewine_podcast or Facebook @ Deep Space Wine Podcast

Cole contextualizes DS9’s 1993 pilot against the collapse of the Soviet Union; Lily mocks Jake’s onesies and Captain Sisko’s weird intonation choices. But we’re both thrilled to discover that “Emissary,” like a great wine, is bold, rich, and even better with age.  🍷 Wine pairing: Village Pinot Noir from Gentle Folk ❤️ Find us on Insta @deepspacewine_podcast or Facebook: @Deep Space Wine Podcast

Lily invokes Atticus Finch and completely changes Cole’s mind about this multi-layered episode involving a very tennis-obsessed murderer. We also dare to ask the question: is it still champagne if it’s bottled on Koris I? 🍷 Wine pairing: Premier Brut Blanc de Blancs from Idée Fixe ❤️  Find us on Insta: deepspacewine_podcast