Mr. Behr is the Executive Producer of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and has been associated with that show since its inception in 1993. He began his relationship with "Star Trek" as a producer and the writer of several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is here to discuss the exciting series finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - coming in two weeks!

Question: With DS9 shutting down production, are there any plans for another series on the drawing board, or will we fans have to be content with just STV and reruns???
Sue

Ira Steven Behr: I'm sure there will be a new Star Trek series some time in the future, but as of now, no one has said word one about what the content will be or ask me to participate in any way, or when that will be either.

Q: Why are you ending Deep Space Nine when its ratings are so good??
Brendan

ISB: Deep Space Nine was always meant to be a 7 year series. Why? You'd have to ask the Paramount accountants.

Q: Hey... I have a question and I hope this gets thru. Now that DS9 is over in the production stages and as you look back, do you think DS9 has developed from an exploratory role into a warlike role?
Brian

ISB: I think over 7 years, DS9 has developed many different story lines. The Dominion War was only one of them. You may well ask why DS9 developed so many shows about the Prophets and the spiritual side of Bajor and Sisko. The reason is: we always felt that Deep Space NIne gave us an opportunity to cover the waterfront of stories, themes, ideas. I also think Star Trek hadn't really looked at war from too many different sides. We've talked about how war is bad in the franchise, but basically it's been cool shots of ships blowing up. The cost was slight. We thought it was time to dig a little deeper and see what we uncovered. But again, it was only one of the threads, albeit an important thread.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK HOW PEOPLE WILL VIEW DS9 IN 20 YEARS? DO YOU FEEL THAT IT WILL BE REGARDED AS THE BEST OF ALL THE TREK SHOWS PAST/PRESENT? I THINK SO.
DERRICK

ISB: Thanks for the kind words, Derrick. I don't know what people will make of DS9 20 years from now... but since we're a character-based show, I think we will age well. The plots, the special effects, even the themes may seem corny in time, but the relationships will remain truthful. The only reason the original series remains valid today is because of the relationship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. I think that if the character relationships work, if you care about the people, both human and alien, you have a chance to hold credence in the years to come. And if not, we took a good shot.

Q: I'm really going to miss new DS9 episodes, I really enjoy DS9 a lot, and just to say thanks for DS9 a great show, Do you plan on staying with Star Trek in any capacity, if not I'll be disappointed.
Charles

ISB: No one has approached me with continuing my relationship with the Star Trek franchise. Certainly, if the series felt right to me and felt like it was going to take chances and not play it safe, I'd have some interest. But I think there's a very complicated relationship between DS9 and the powers that be. I think they're very proud of the show creatively, but I think they see it as a real anomaly within the franchise. And they could never be sure what kind of wacky thing I would do on the next show. So it's really kind of up in the air right now. But I really like this nice feedback.

Q: Are any of the talented writers from DS9 going to jump over to Voyager next season? How about you?
Cmdr. Spock

ISB: Ron Moore is on Voyager even as we speak but he is the only one who felt like making that leap into that Delta Quadrant.

Q: Thousands of actors out of work in Hollywood, yet you hire Jeffrey Coombs to play TWO different roles. What's up with that?
M. Dorsey

ISB: We all feel that Jeff is one of the best actors to ever stand on a Star Trek soundstage and, believe me, there was consideration for him to play even more than the THREE roles that he played. But cooler heads prevailed. But we all love Jeff and he's one of the many, many, many people I'm going to miss now that the series is over.

Q: What will happen to the magnificent Promenade set? Will it remain standing as a tribute to 7 great years? Or used in a Voyager episode or a movie?
S. Hunter

ISB: The magnificent Promenade set exists now only in our memories, kind of like the Road Warrior. In other words, it's been gutted, torn down, demolished, and all those other grim and destructive words that spell "the end" of a very beautiful, very special set.

Q: Is there any set piece or prop or costume that you saved (or wanted to) as a souvenir?
Wobbly

ISB: Actually, a couple little things found its way to Casa Behr. I guess the only one I'd talk about is the Defiant plaque. The reason I wanted that is along with Sisko's new look and promotion to Captain, a ship to battle the Dominion was one the first things I fought for when I took over the show. There was some reluctance to give us the Defiant because Voyager was premiering, and they wanted that to be the coolest ship in town, but you can't fight the Dominion with a couple of runabaouts, and thus was born the Defiant. And indeed it turned out to be 'quite a tough little ship' as Riker said. So that plaque means a lot to me.

Q: What was your favorite episode of DS9? Or scene or line of dialog?
Lucy

ISB: I can't pick one episode. I'll throw out a couple that really mean a lot to me:
"Duet"
"Past Tense" 1 and 2
"Little Green Men"
"Our Man Bashir"
"His Way"
"Far Beyond the Stars"
"Chimera"

In terms of dialogue, the line that certainly helped us define the series was in "The Maquis, Part 2" which I will now botch... where Sisko talking about earth says: "It's easy to be a saint when you're living in paradise, but we're not living in paradise." and suddenly we realized that DS9 gave us an opportunity to go places and discuss themes and have attitudes that certainly TNG would never have been able to touch because this was a show that did not live in paradise.

Q: Was the filming of the last episode an emotional experience for you?
Sigmund

ISB: Yes Sigmund, it was very emotional, not just for me, but for the entire cast and crew. 7 years is a long time. The only other thing I've done for 7 years is go to elementary school, and then you have to go to Kindergarten. So yeah, it was very tough to say goodbye to all those people who had come to mean so much to me. The French have a saying, "to say goodbye is to die a little". Usually I think the French have their heads up their ass, but in this case they're right.

Q: Two questions please, and thank you for the years of great entertainment. First, I have heard the rumour of there being 20 special guest stars on the final episode, is it true? And second, is the final episode 2 hours or will we grip seats for two weeks!
pandsandp

ISB: There will be 20 guest stars in the final episode hopefully all your favorites will be there. The only two offhand who are missing are Rom and Leeta and some of the other Ferengis. And yes it will be a two-hour episode, 89 minutes and change, actually. It will later be cut down into two separate episodes, but those shows will be missing about six minutes of footage. So my advice is to definitely go with the two-hour premiere finale.

Q: I know you didn't create the Ferengi, but have certainly been instrumental in their development. What was your inspiration?
T.K.

ISB: Well at first, it was just interest in the Quark/Odo relationship, so you might say I kind of slipped in the back door when it comes to Ferengis. David Livingston pitched me a story in the first season about a summit meeting between the criminal heads of all the various races we know and love: Klingon, human, Romulan, Ferengi, etc. I didn't think that idea really worked, but it gave me the idea to do what became the Nagus episode. The response from Rick and Mike was extremely positive and next thing I knew, I was the Ferengi maven.

Q: What can you tell us about the final episode?
Ricky

ISB: I think it's going to be pretty much fan friendly we're trying to give closure to many of the characters, many of the plot lines. It has action, it has romance, it has humor. It does not have Tom Riker, but 3 out of 4 ain't a bad batting average.

Q: Hello Ira. Many thanks to you and the staff for seven great seasons. I'll miss it. Despite all the rumours, why hasn't there been serious discussion for a movie or mini-series. DS9 would fit greatly into the genre of a first class mini-series.
Michael303

ISB: I suppose it's possible that DS9 will have some kind of after life in the future. I think part of that decision will be based on how the finale does, what the fan response is, but like I said earlier, the sets, for the most part, have been torn down, which I have to take as a kind of an ominous sign. But I think what needs to be remembered, is that DS9 existed for 7 years, 176 episodes. We have a tendency in this country to always want more. It's like people used to talk about why did the Beatles break up? Why couldn't they stay together for another 10 years? I think it would be better to be thinking,:"Hey, isn't it great, look at all the wonderful music they made while they worked together." The Sex Pistols only recorded one album, but they said virtually everything they had to say in that one album, and they changed the face of pop music in many different ways. So let's try to concentrate on what DS9 was able to do, rather than mourning some alternate universe where it could have done more, or existed in another format.

Q: Hello Mr. Behr. Why has the staff of writers at DS9 decided to kill Gowron? Why did they pick Worf to do the killing? Thank you for your time.
WEJEY

ISB: I'd like to think that everyting we do on DS9 is based on what the characters and the story demands us to do. Gowron has been a "problem" for many years. And certainly in these last DS9 episodes, he's become a very dangerous man. It just felt like Worf would have to deal with him. At one point, we did consider Martok being the character who would kill Gowron, but it just felt wrong. It had to be Worf. The history of the franchise demanded it.

Q: Did you have any story ideas for the "final chapter" which did not get implemented?
Jam

ISB: Well, once again, I'd rather concentrate on what we were able to jam into that final episode, but just so you have some idea how we think... there was a part of me that did want to end the show on Benny Russell, the character Sisko played in "Far Beyond the Stars" At one point, Benny, now an old man, was going to die of natural causes and as he died we would go back to the station and end the series in the middle of a conversation between Quark and Kira, as if with his death, they cease to exist. The other idea was to have Benny Russell come to Deep Space Nine and in the midst of some kind of crisis suddenly realize that there was a camera pointed at him, and walk off the set through the soundstages, outside into the Paramount street, and I wanted to follow Benny Russell up to Rick Berman's office, where he would tell Rick that the series was over. But I think what we wind up doing is pretty cool too.

Q: Is there any episode that you regret having done?
Voyage_Paris

ISB: This is going to sound incredibly self-serving, but the truth is... no. In fact, in a perverse way I'm very proud of the episodes that did not work because most of the time those were the episodes where we tried something different we took a chance, we failed. So what. I'd rather fail by taking a chance than be afraid of taking that chance. I think the one thing we never really accepted was that we were a TV show under a lot of pressure, like all TV shows, time pressure, money pressure, creative pressure. We tried never to let any of those things stop us. So like I said we took a perverse pride in going where angels fear to tread. And sometimes we found out that the reason they feared to tread there was because you can get your ass handed to you on a silver platter. But all in all I think our track record was pretty good. And don't you want to have episodes that you love to hate?

(Spock's Brain?)

Q: What part of your average DS9 day are you going to miss the most?
Michael

ISB: Probably though the list is rather large, if I had to pick one thing,. I'd have to pick the story breaks. They could be so painful and so frustrating yet we always managed to solve the problems facing us. And just to have all of us in that room together overcoming our separate egos to work together for a common goal was a very special thing. I'm going to miss that energy. I'm going to miss that commitment to do the best work possible. I'm going to miss that fearlessness. And I'm going to miss the people.

Q: Mr. Behr, MANY THANKS to you and the cast/crew of DS9 for 7 great seasons! The last 2 months of DS9 have been the best TREK to date. How long did it take you to write the DS9 FINALE?
DAVE

ISB: Unfortunately, Hans and I got stuck doing a rewrite on another script and that cut in to our time for writing the finale. In fact, we were so rushed we weren't able to finish the script until after the final production meeting. Believe me, that is NOT the way you want to produce a TV show. But that's part of the game you play, the chance you take and ultimately I think the show turned out quite special. But it reminds me one last time that TV isn't for the faint-hearted. You have to be able to work under enormous pressure, and there is no excuse for failure. You have to write, whether you're tired, whether you want to or not, whether you're having personal problems.

Also it was hard for Hans and I to write the last script, because we knew that once it was over, the show was over. Psychologically, each morning, we felt we were marching a little bit closer to the edge of the abyss. We had this feeeling that if we did not finish the script then DS9 would never perish, would never come to an end. And we could stay working in those offices for the rest of our creative lives.

I remember when we wrote the end, instead of sitting back and feeling the sense of accomplishment, maybe shaking hands or hugging, or just smiling, we looked at each other, and started grabbing the notes we had gotten already on the first half, and went right back to page 1 to start the rewrite. It was a pretty miserable experience, looking back on it.

Q: Will Chancellor Martok be seen in the last episode?
Mogh

ISB: Yes, J.G. Hertzler is one of those actors like Jeff Coombs who we like to use every week. And maybe this is a good time to just take a moment and salute all the DS9 stock of supporting players. So let's hear it for Marc Alaimo, Andrew Robinson, Louise Fletcher, Salome Jens, Casey Biggs, Barry Jenner, Max Grodenchik, Chase Masterson, Aron Eisenberg, Jimmy Darren, Rosalind Chao, Penny Johnson, Wallace Shawn, Cecily Adams... I cannot tell you how much these people mean to me and to the writer-producers of DS9. All of them were just so enthused and happy to be working on the show all of them contributed so much to the series they helped make my 7 years here such a pleasure and I really, really do want to work with them in the future. I think we had as fine a supporting cast as could be found on TV.

Q: hello Ira, looking back, what if anything, would you have changed regarding - sets, character development, relationships etc?
SU

ISB: The major thing I would have fought for if I had it to do all over again was to have made Sisko a captain from the very beginning. Captains are the heroes of Star Trek. And to have a commander as the series lead just felt wrong for the fans. Maybe if he had been younger, it would have worked. But Avery's clearly a mature man, a leader, so why not make him a captain? It still bothers me. Also, I would have shaved his goddamned head and kept the beard. The actor clearly wanted it. And to make it this long drawn out ordeal, when we should have made it that way from day 1 is a real regret. But outside of that, my other regrets are really too small to mention.

Q: Do you think there's a character that bears any resemblance to you in anyway?
Parislover

ISB: I'd have to say at this stage of the game after 7 years, all of the characters kind of if not resemble me, speak with my voice and kind of have my attitudes. If not, I would have to say that I didn't leave much of a mark on the show. I mean certainly when you see the O'Brien/Bashir relationship, the Sisko/Kasidy relationship, the Odo/Quark relationship, Work and Martok, Rom and Quark, the list goes on and on, but all those relationships reflect attitudes, feelings, and friendships that I've had in the past and I have today. Also, a lot of the things that characters have said that speak to the franchise as a whole pretty much reflects the way I feel about it, but that comes as no surprise.

I've been told we have to wrap it up.

Hopefully I'll be able to do this again in a month after you all have been able to see the final show, and we can all get touchy-feely and wax poetic about DS9 but it has been a wonderful experience for me. I hope that through the writing and through the episodes, I've shared that experience with the fans. DS9 really reflects a Star Trek series as run by Ira Steven Behr. That there's people out there who appreciate the show, who find it interesting, who enjoy it, is a wonderful feeling for me. I think DS9 was a very special Star trek series and a very special TV series. It was character-driven, it dared to try many different kinds of story telling, both dramatic and humorous, it was never cozy television. It challenged the audience, at least it tried to challenge the audience. And those of you who stuck with it, I salute as being real fans. So thanks for that. Enjoy the end of the series, and I'll talk to you in a month.